My feeling, though, is that JMS's treatment of Lennier's fate is just JMS going on a homicidal rampage against his own character, which he's not above doing.
Ah, that's true. Demonising the other actual or possible love interest for the sake of the OTP really annoys me in fanfic, and while I'd expect JMS to be above it, I can't think of Anna's story as being anything else. (Possibly Talia's, too, in a weird way - canon seems committed to the idea that Ivanova can't be happy in any relationship ever.) And I suppose that's what Lennier's betrayal scene was, or what it could have been with a few slight changes. If Delenn had thought any less of him after it, I'd definitely have been throwing things at the screen and shouting.
I think that was JMS's intention with the diary - to thow out something so OOC that it undermines anything we might have liked about Lennier.
That diary was such a strange thing that the first time I saw OaR, I was tempted to think Delenn was just making it up. (I'm pretty sure she wasn't, though, especially since she's trying to get Sheridan to forgive Lennier at the time.) Honestly, if she'd said "We searched his quarters on Minbar and found that he'd paid three bounty hunters to kill you," I don't think it would have sounded any stranger than the mention of the diary.
It's just like 'Deconstruction' or Garibaldi's brainwashing - anyone who has anything negative to say (or feel, or imply) about Sheridan must have something wrong with him. It's what I'm most angry at JMS about.
Maybe he saw Delenn's scenes with Lennier as doing that in the last two seasons, even without the diary. Although it would have been exceptionally OOC for Lennier to say anything against Sheridan, the way that he was close to Delenn in a way Sheridan just couldn't be meant Sheridan wasn't everything to her. That wouldn't be a bad thing for anyone else, but since it's Sheridan and Sheridan can Do No Wrong...
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-05-06 08:59 pm (UTC)Ah, that's true. Demonising the other actual or possible love interest for the sake of the OTP really annoys me in fanfic, and while I'd expect JMS to be above it, I can't think of Anna's story as being anything else. (Possibly Talia's, too, in a weird way - canon seems committed to the idea that Ivanova can't be happy in any relationship ever.) And I suppose that's what Lennier's betrayal scene was, or what it could have been with a few slight changes. If Delenn had thought any less of him after it, I'd definitely have been throwing things at the screen and shouting.
I think that was JMS's intention with the diary - to thow out something so OOC that it undermines anything we might have liked about Lennier.
That diary was such a strange thing that the first time I saw OaR, I was tempted to think Delenn was just making it up. (I'm pretty sure she wasn't, though, especially since she's trying to get Sheridan to forgive Lennier at the time.) Honestly, if she'd said "We searched his quarters on Minbar and found that he'd paid three bounty hunters to kill you," I don't think it would have sounded any stranger than the mention of the diary.
It's just like 'Deconstruction' or Garibaldi's brainwashing - anyone who has anything negative to say (or feel, or imply) about Sheridan must have something wrong with him. It's what I'm most angry at JMS about.
Maybe he saw Delenn's scenes with Lennier as doing that in the last two seasons, even without the diary. Although it would have been exceptionally OOC for Lennier to say anything against Sheridan, the way that he was close to Delenn in a way Sheridan just couldn't be meant Sheridan wasn't everything to her. That wouldn't be a bad thing for anyone else, but since it's Sheridan and Sheridan can Do No Wrong...