*narrowly avoids giggling Coke all over the keyboard*
On Morden's motivation - yes, I think so. As you said in your essay on Lennier, the destruction of Centauri Prime is the one thing we do know Morden wants (and the way he threatens Londo with that when we see him lose control makes me sure he'd still want it, even if he was dead and not serving the Shadows - well, sort of not serving them). He's spent enough time helping other people get what they want, and not having to do too much himself. I think he'd know exactly how to go about getting Centauri Prime to burn.
I also noticed the way Morden kept hinting that he was there because Lennier wanted him there. I suppose that's not completely out of the question, since we don't get told why particular ghosts return to particular people, but he really emphasises it. That would make Lennier doubt himself more, and make him even more likely to interpret anything Morden says in the worst way possible.
Oh, and I just thought - when Lennier tells him something like "I could not betray the Rangers any more than my fingers could betray my hand", isn't that almost exactly what Neroon says to Shakiri (only with 'my caste' instead) in season 4? (I think, anyway.) And at that point, Neroon is betraying his caste, pretty much, but it's for a perfectly justifiable reason. Maybe betraying the Rangers wouldn't have to be so bad, either. Of course Lennier wouldn't see it that way, and it didn't work out so well when he did betray them, but maybe if he'd been able to hear Morden's words differently...
If Neil Gaiman didn't notice that by having Lennier ask for wisdom he was making him into King Solomon, well, he should have.
And Solomon gets his wisdom to the point where people from all lands come to listen, doesn't he? So that could make sense in the context of Meditations on the Abyss, where Rangers from all over the galaxy are asked the 'What do you want?' question that Lennier taught them. (Although admittedly he's not the one asking it of them.) Wisdom from Morden would pretty much have to be knowing how to ask and answer that question, I think.
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branchandroot
Re: About that conversation with Morden...
Date: 2004-05-10 09:21 pm (UTC)*narrowly avoids giggling Coke all over the keyboard*
On Morden's motivation - yes, I think so. As you said in your essay on Lennier, the destruction of Centauri Prime is the one thing we do know Morden wants (and the way he threatens Londo with that when we see him lose control makes me sure he'd still want it, even if he was dead and not serving the Shadows - well, sort of not serving them). He's spent enough time helping other people get what they want, and not having to do too much himself. I think he'd know exactly how to go about getting Centauri Prime to burn.
I also noticed the way Morden kept hinting that he was there because Lennier wanted him there. I suppose that's not completely out of the question, since we don't get told why particular ghosts return to particular people, but he really emphasises it. That would make Lennier doubt himself more, and make him even more likely to interpret anything Morden says in the worst way possible.
Oh, and I just thought - when Lennier tells him something like "I could not betray the Rangers any more than my fingers could betray my hand", isn't that almost exactly what Neroon says to Shakiri (only with 'my caste' instead) in season 4? (I think, anyway.) And at that point, Neroon is betraying his caste, pretty much, but it's for a perfectly justifiable reason. Maybe betraying the Rangers wouldn't have to be so bad, either. Of course Lennier wouldn't see it that way, and it didn't work out so well when he did betray them, but maybe if he'd been able to hear Morden's words differently...
If Neil Gaiman didn't notice that by having Lennier ask for wisdom he was making him into King Solomon, well, he should have.
And Solomon gets his wisdom to the point where people from all lands come to listen, doesn't he? So that could make sense in the context of Meditations on the Abyss, where Rangers from all over the galaxy are asked the 'What do you want?' question that Lennier taught them. (Although admittedly he's not the one asking it of them.) Wisdom from Morden would pretty much have to be knowing how to ask and answer that question, I think.