Alluveal
Regular
Re: Comparing John Sheridan to the \"Hero Formula\"
Yep, I'm digging up an old thread. I'm working on applying Delenn to this formula for a religious studies class. Keep in mind that I'm pretty much doing her journey and focusing on the Shadow/Vorlons and Human/Minbari need to unite to defeat them. Here's what I have so far.... a few new things added...
Stage 1: Initiation to the Quest
Call to Adventure
In 2235, Delenn left the temple and became an acolyte serving the Grey Council, the Minbari's nine-member ruling body. She studied under Draal, Rathenn, and Dukhat, the leader of the Grey Council. Delenn became Dukhat's personal aide, and by 2245 he selected her to fill an open position on the Grey Council. This was a surprising decision because she was still so young.
Refusal of the call
In June 2258, the Grey Council summoned Delenn to meet with them. They offered her the position of leader of the Grey Council, a post that had been vacant since Dukhat died. Delenn refused the position, believing that she had a destiny to help fulfill the prophecy that Humans and Minbari would work together.
Mission Statement
To serve the Grey Council.
Dukhat: "Why do you come here, Delenn?"
Delenn: "I come to serve."
Dukhat: "Who do you serve?"
Delenn: "I serve the truth."
Dukhat: "What is the truth?"
Delenn: "That we are one people, one voice."
Dukhat: "Will you follow me into fire? Will you follow me into darkness? Will you follow me into death?"
Delenn: "I will."
Dukhat: "Then follow."
Shock
The Death of Dukhat – the beginning of the Earth-Minbari War
Supernatural Aid
Kosh and Ulkesh help try to guide Delenn (Kosh more than Ulkesh.) Not only do they inform her that the humans are vital to the upcoming war with the Shadows, but later, during her moment of desperation, Kosh tells her “the Truth Points to itself” which leads her to choose Sinclair’s ship as he’s doing a kamakazi toward the Grey Council Flagship.
Stage 2: Liminal Journey Itself
Mentor Located
Dukhat and Kosh
Descent into the Underworld of Adventure
Becoming an ambassador to Babylon 5. Entering into space (which represents the great unknown / unconscious)
Coming Together of the Complex: Companions to the Quest
Meeting with the Goddess / God
Jeffrey Sinclair (the first commander of Babylon 5) – he represents her Animus for a short while then becomes a type of mentor.
John Sheridan – Animus in every way, eventually marries her. *God
Lennier – Animus, personal aid, confidante
Londo Mollari – Shadow and Trickster
G’Kar – Trickster
Marcus – Trickster Animus / Wise Fool
Encounter with Strange Threshold Guardians
Morden (shadow trickster / working for Collective Shadow)
Could also be Sebastian and Kosh to some extent.
Temptation Away from the True Path
Delenn being offered to rule the Grey Council (and the Minbari people) instead of following prophecty.
Adventure in the Realm of the Unknown
In January 2260, Delenn joined Sheridan's War Council. She suggested contacting other First Ones for help and invited Draal to participate as well.
Ordeal of the Quest
To defeat the Shadows, the ancient enemy.
This eventually turns into a quest to help civilization find their way through Order and Chaos. (Shadow War)
Courage Found and Exhibited
The Breaking of the Grey Council when the Warrior Caste refuses to fight.
April 2260, Delenn went to visit the Grey Council uninvited. The Grey Council had decided to not participate in the Shadow War. She convinced the Religious and Worker Caste members that they were wrong and broke the Council (which was prophecized by Valen,) leaving the Warrior Caste members alone.
Tasks and Trials
Meeting with Sebastian
In December 2259, the Vorlons sent an Inquisitor to test Delenn. Sebastian actually turned out to be Jack the Ripper, who had been kidnapped from Earth by the Vorlons and artificially preserved until they needed him. The Vorlons wanted to ensure that Delenn was not operating on ego, and Sebastian went to inhuman lengths during her interrogation. Again, Sheridan was concerned for her. This time he came to her aid, and they faced Sebastian together. Delenn's willingness to die for Sheridan helped convince Sebastian that her motivations were satisfactory to the Vorlons.
Transformational Moments
Apotheosis (becoming god-like)
The next month, Mr. Morden (an agent of the Shadows) visited Delenn to ask her, "What do you want?" This alerted her to the return of the Shadows. She continued building her chrysalis device for several months until December when she sent Lennier to confirm her suspicions with Ambassador Kosh. Lennier asked, "Have the Shadows returned to Z'ha'dum?" Kosh replied, "Yes." Delenn realized that the time of the next Shadow War that had been foretold by Valen was upon them. She felt it was her duty to help fulfill prophecy by building a bridge between the Minbari and the Humans so that they could work together to defeat the Shadows. She used the triluminary to activate the device she had built, and it entombed her in a chrysalis.
Delenn spent the first few weeks of 2259 in the chrysalis. Through mysteries not even understood by her, the chrysalis changed her body into something neither Minbari nor Human. She was a bridge between the two races. When she emerged, she had many physical characteristics of a Human woman.
Atonement with the Father
The “Father” in this case could be Draal or in some ways Sinclair. Since Delenn’s father and mother are not mentioned or deceased, it would be someone in a fatherly position. I am thinking this is more Sinclair.
Though, on another note, it could represent Dukhat. He was like a father to her (mentor) and her atonement with him could be the ending of the Earth-Minbari War after Sinclair was brought on board. That would make it quite circular. Atoning for one father (Dukhat) in order to save another future father (Sinclair).
Dragon Slaying
First War with the Shadows (Shadow Dancing) – learning that telepaths work against the Shadows.
Confrontation with Death
Sacrifice - Ego Death - Nekyia - and Resurrection
Coming upon the Treasure
Realization of what is going on – The Shadows and the Vorlons fighting a war of Ideology.
Pivot of Transformation
Gaining of the Boon
Resolving the Shadow War. Standing up to the Shadows and the Vorlons. Finding her own way through Order and Chaos.
STAGE 3: RETURN
Hero is Changed
Sheridan: "We are all alone now, just the younger races. We can't blame anyone else from now on. It's a new age, Delenn, a third age."
Delenn: "Why third?"
Sheridan: "We begun in chaos, too primitive to make our own decisions. Then we were manipulated from outside by forces that thought they knew what was best for us. And now .. now we are finally standing on our own. Lorien was right, it's a great responsibility. This is ours now."
Delenn: "Strange. The galaxy seems somehow smaller now that the First Ones are gone forever."
Sheridan: "It feels like the magic's gone now."
Delenn: "No, not gone. Now we make our own magic. Now we create our own legends. Now we build the future. Now we stop--"
Sheridan: "--being afraid of shadows."
Now we stop being afraid of that which is inside us – the unconscious. Now we embrace it.
Ego - Through Unconscious - Higher Self
As the Minbari Civil War reached its climax with fighting in the capital city of Yedor, Delenn plotted with Neroon to find a peaceful solution. Their solution was based on the fact that the Warrior Caste had returned to the old ways. By tradition, disputes could be resolved in the Starfire Wheel challenge. Delenn and Shakiri, the leader of the Warrior Caste, entered the Starfire Wheel, a ring of light that caused intense pain. Shakiri fled the Starfire Wheel first, thus yielding the Warrior Caste's claim to leadership. However, Delenn did not follow him out. When Neroon realized that she would die, he entered the Starfire Wheel and threw her out. He renounced his membership in the Warrior Caste and claimed membership in the Religious Caste before dying.
After recovering from her injuries, Delenn reformed the Grey Council. However, instead of including three members from each caste as Valen had, she included only two members each from the Religious and Warrior Castes. The other five members all came from the Worker Caste.
Projectio - Contribution to All Humanity and the World
Master of the two worlds
Delenn returned to Babylon 5 and drafted plans for the Interstellar Alliance. She asked Londo and G'Kar to support her plans, knowing that the Non-Aligned Worlds would follow suit if the Centauri and Narn agreed on something. With the other races on board, she journeyed to Earth to secure the Humans' participation. Delenn became the head of the Advisory Board that included Londo and G'Kar, and they elected John Sheridan to be the first ISA President.
Delenn becomes advisory counsel and also continues to run and rule over the Rangers. She retains her post on Babylon 5 yet is part of a great alliance. She is Delenn born of the Minbari yet she is also Delenn, wife to human John Sheridan. She may have become master of the human world in that regard—embracing her Animus.
Common Mythical Elements
Two Worlds
Human and Minbari
The Mentor
Dukhat and Kosh
The Oracle
Valen
The Prophecy
That one will unite the two halves to war against the Shadows.
That the Grey Council will be broken.
Failed Hero
The Minbari people on a whole. They did not live up to the expectations that Valen foresaw or what he set out to create by going back in time to B4.
Could also be the Vorlons and the Shadows. They failed as guardians.
Wearing Enemy's Skin
Shapeshifter
G’Kar
Animal familiar
Chasing a lone animal into the enchanted wood
Yep, I'm digging up an old thread. I'm working on applying Delenn to this formula for a religious studies class. Keep in mind that I'm pretty much doing her journey and focusing on the Shadow/Vorlons and Human/Minbari need to unite to defeat them. Here's what I have so far.... a few new things added...
Stage 1: Initiation to the Quest
Call to Adventure
In 2235, Delenn left the temple and became an acolyte serving the Grey Council, the Minbari's nine-member ruling body. She studied under Draal, Rathenn, and Dukhat, the leader of the Grey Council. Delenn became Dukhat's personal aide, and by 2245 he selected her to fill an open position on the Grey Council. This was a surprising decision because she was still so young.
Refusal of the call
In June 2258, the Grey Council summoned Delenn to meet with them. They offered her the position of leader of the Grey Council, a post that had been vacant since Dukhat died. Delenn refused the position, believing that she had a destiny to help fulfill the prophecy that Humans and Minbari would work together.
Mission Statement
To serve the Grey Council.
Dukhat: "Why do you come here, Delenn?"
Delenn: "I come to serve."
Dukhat: "Who do you serve?"
Delenn: "I serve the truth."
Dukhat: "What is the truth?"
Delenn: "That we are one people, one voice."
Dukhat: "Will you follow me into fire? Will you follow me into darkness? Will you follow me into death?"
Delenn: "I will."
Dukhat: "Then follow."
Shock
The Death of Dukhat – the beginning of the Earth-Minbari War
Supernatural Aid
Kosh and Ulkesh help try to guide Delenn (Kosh more than Ulkesh.) Not only do they inform her that the humans are vital to the upcoming war with the Shadows, but later, during her moment of desperation, Kosh tells her “the Truth Points to itself” which leads her to choose Sinclair’s ship as he’s doing a kamakazi toward the Grey Council Flagship.
Stage 2: Liminal Journey Itself
Mentor Located
Dukhat and Kosh
Descent into the Underworld of Adventure
Becoming an ambassador to Babylon 5. Entering into space (which represents the great unknown / unconscious)
Coming Together of the Complex: Companions to the Quest
Meeting with the Goddess / God
Jeffrey Sinclair (the first commander of Babylon 5) – he represents her Animus for a short while then becomes a type of mentor.
John Sheridan – Animus in every way, eventually marries her. *God
Lennier – Animus, personal aid, confidante
Londo Mollari – Shadow and Trickster
G’Kar – Trickster
Marcus – Trickster Animus / Wise Fool
Encounter with Strange Threshold Guardians
Morden (shadow trickster / working for Collective Shadow)
Could also be Sebastian and Kosh to some extent.
Temptation Away from the True Path
Delenn being offered to rule the Grey Council (and the Minbari people) instead of following prophecty.
Adventure in the Realm of the Unknown
In January 2260, Delenn joined Sheridan's War Council. She suggested contacting other First Ones for help and invited Draal to participate as well.
Ordeal of the Quest
To defeat the Shadows, the ancient enemy.
This eventually turns into a quest to help civilization find their way through Order and Chaos. (Shadow War)
Courage Found and Exhibited
The Breaking of the Grey Council when the Warrior Caste refuses to fight.
April 2260, Delenn went to visit the Grey Council uninvited. The Grey Council had decided to not participate in the Shadow War. She convinced the Religious and Worker Caste members that they were wrong and broke the Council (which was prophecized by Valen,) leaving the Warrior Caste members alone.
Tasks and Trials
Meeting with Sebastian
In December 2259, the Vorlons sent an Inquisitor to test Delenn. Sebastian actually turned out to be Jack the Ripper, who had been kidnapped from Earth by the Vorlons and artificially preserved until they needed him. The Vorlons wanted to ensure that Delenn was not operating on ego, and Sebastian went to inhuman lengths during her interrogation. Again, Sheridan was concerned for her. This time he came to her aid, and they faced Sebastian together. Delenn's willingness to die for Sheridan helped convince Sebastian that her motivations were satisfactory to the Vorlons.
Transformational Moments
Apotheosis (becoming god-like)
The next month, Mr. Morden (an agent of the Shadows) visited Delenn to ask her, "What do you want?" This alerted her to the return of the Shadows. She continued building her chrysalis device for several months until December when she sent Lennier to confirm her suspicions with Ambassador Kosh. Lennier asked, "Have the Shadows returned to Z'ha'dum?" Kosh replied, "Yes." Delenn realized that the time of the next Shadow War that had been foretold by Valen was upon them. She felt it was her duty to help fulfill prophecy by building a bridge between the Minbari and the Humans so that they could work together to defeat the Shadows. She used the triluminary to activate the device she had built, and it entombed her in a chrysalis.
Delenn spent the first few weeks of 2259 in the chrysalis. Through mysteries not even understood by her, the chrysalis changed her body into something neither Minbari nor Human. She was a bridge between the two races. When she emerged, she had many physical characteristics of a Human woman.
Atonement with the Father
The “Father” in this case could be Draal or in some ways Sinclair. Since Delenn’s father and mother are not mentioned or deceased, it would be someone in a fatherly position. I am thinking this is more Sinclair.
Though, on another note, it could represent Dukhat. He was like a father to her (mentor) and her atonement with him could be the ending of the Earth-Minbari War after Sinclair was brought on board. That would make it quite circular. Atoning for one father (Dukhat) in order to save another future father (Sinclair).
Dragon Slaying
First War with the Shadows (Shadow Dancing) – learning that telepaths work against the Shadows.
Confrontation with Death
Sacrifice - Ego Death - Nekyia - and Resurrection
Coming upon the Treasure
Realization of what is going on – The Shadows and the Vorlons fighting a war of Ideology.
Pivot of Transformation
Gaining of the Boon
Resolving the Shadow War. Standing up to the Shadows and the Vorlons. Finding her own way through Order and Chaos.
STAGE 3: RETURN
Hero is Changed
Sheridan: "We are all alone now, just the younger races. We can't blame anyone else from now on. It's a new age, Delenn, a third age."
Delenn: "Why third?"
Sheridan: "We begun in chaos, too primitive to make our own decisions. Then we were manipulated from outside by forces that thought they knew what was best for us. And now .. now we are finally standing on our own. Lorien was right, it's a great responsibility. This is ours now."
Delenn: "Strange. The galaxy seems somehow smaller now that the First Ones are gone forever."
Sheridan: "It feels like the magic's gone now."
Delenn: "No, not gone. Now we make our own magic. Now we create our own legends. Now we build the future. Now we stop--"
Sheridan: "--being afraid of shadows."
Now we stop being afraid of that which is inside us – the unconscious. Now we embrace it.
Ego - Through Unconscious - Higher Self
As the Minbari Civil War reached its climax with fighting in the capital city of Yedor, Delenn plotted with Neroon to find a peaceful solution. Their solution was based on the fact that the Warrior Caste had returned to the old ways. By tradition, disputes could be resolved in the Starfire Wheel challenge. Delenn and Shakiri, the leader of the Warrior Caste, entered the Starfire Wheel, a ring of light that caused intense pain. Shakiri fled the Starfire Wheel first, thus yielding the Warrior Caste's claim to leadership. However, Delenn did not follow him out. When Neroon realized that she would die, he entered the Starfire Wheel and threw her out. He renounced his membership in the Warrior Caste and claimed membership in the Religious Caste before dying.
After recovering from her injuries, Delenn reformed the Grey Council. However, instead of including three members from each caste as Valen had, she included only two members each from the Religious and Warrior Castes. The other five members all came from the Worker Caste.
Projectio - Contribution to All Humanity and the World
Master of the two worlds
Delenn returned to Babylon 5 and drafted plans for the Interstellar Alliance. She asked Londo and G'Kar to support her plans, knowing that the Non-Aligned Worlds would follow suit if the Centauri and Narn agreed on something. With the other races on board, she journeyed to Earth to secure the Humans' participation. Delenn became the head of the Advisory Board that included Londo and G'Kar, and they elected John Sheridan to be the first ISA President.
Delenn becomes advisory counsel and also continues to run and rule over the Rangers. She retains her post on Babylon 5 yet is part of a great alliance. She is Delenn born of the Minbari yet she is also Delenn, wife to human John Sheridan. She may have become master of the human world in that regard—embracing her Animus.
Common Mythical Elements
Two Worlds
Human and Minbari
The Mentor
Dukhat and Kosh
The Oracle
Valen
The Prophecy
That one will unite the two halves to war against the Shadows.
That the Grey Council will be broken.
Failed Hero
The Minbari people on a whole. They did not live up to the expectations that Valen foresaw or what he set out to create by going back in time to B4.
Could also be the Vorlons and the Shadows. They failed as guardians.
Wearing Enemy's Skin
Shapeshifter
G’Kar
Animal familiar
Chasing a lone animal into the enchanted wood
