Jeffrey Sinclair

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Jeffrey Sinclair
Jeffrey Sinclair
Name Jeffrey David Sinclair
Age
Gender Male
Race Human
Birth Place Mars Colony S1E08
Birth Name
Birth Date May 3, 2218, 09:15 E.S.T.
Callsign
alias
Nickname
Introduced [[]]
Death Unknown
Parents
Siblings
Children See Children of Valen
Relatives Descendant of Air Vice Marshal Sir Lawrence Sinclair, 1908-2001 [1]
"My ancestors were fighter pilots all the way back to the Battle of Britain."
Sinclair's father was an Earthforce fighter pilot during the Battle of Balos, the last engagement of the Dilgar War.[2]
Marital Status Engaged to Catherine Sakai in 2259
Role Through 2259: Earthforce Starfury Pilot
2256-2259: Commanding Officer, Babylon 5
2259-2260: First Earth Ambassador to Minbar (Covertly Entil'Zha to the Anla'shok)
Rank Commander
Telepath
Portrayed by Michael O'Hare

Jeffrey David Sinclair was the final Commander of the last of the Babylon stations at the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind. (pilot)

"Though we are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
-- Alfred Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses"

Sinclair was a pivotal figure in the history of both the Human and Minbari civilizations.

Contents

[edit] Childhood

Sinclair was raised a Catholic, and was even taught for three years by Jesuit priests, undergoing initial training for the Priesthood.[3]

"Commander, you are a far more spiritual man than I gave you credit for."
"There are a couple of Jesuit teachers I know who might disagree with you."
-- G'Kar and Sinclair, (S1E12)
"The time I really learned to appreciate mornings was during the three years I spent being taught by Jesuits. We used to get up at five o'clock every morning for sunrise Mass... then an hour of meditation before class. We would sit, quiet, at peace."
-- Sinclair, (S1E20)

JMS said:

"I was raised Catholic (though it wore off, I'm happy to report), so I gave some of that to Sinclair, escalating it to Jesuit training; gave him some of my fascination with history and religion and philosophy. I've also lost a lot of people over the years, and gave him some of the sadness that comes with that." [4]

Sinclair attributes two aphorisms to his father:

"The best way to understand someone is to fight him, make him angry. That's when you see the real person."
"Ignore the propaganda. Focus on what you see." (S1E01)

[edit] Early Earthforce Career

Sinclair enlisted in Earthforce in 2237 (S1E08). During his time at Earthforce Academy, he met Catherine Sakai, with whom he began a relationship. After a year of living together, the two of them broke up, but continued to see each other on and off over the next 20 years.

In 2240, Sinclair was promoted to Fighter Pilot. Less than a year later in 2241, Sinclair was promoted to Squadron Leader; due to his rapid rise through the ranks, the rumour of the day was that Sinclair was on the fast track to making Admiral. (S1E08)

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow. Affecting people who have not seen/read: Points of Departure

[edit] Battle of the Line

"The sky was full of stars and every star an exploding ship...one of ours."

As Squadron Leader, Sinclair fought at the Battle of the Line, the final battle in the Earth-Minbari War. During the course of the battle, his squadron was destroyed almost immediately by the Minbari, and his fighter was badly damaged. In a final act of defiance, Sinclair attempted to ram one of the Minbari cruisers. He failed and was captured by another Minbari cruiser for interrogation by the Grey Council. It was here that the Council learned that Sinclair possessed the soul of Valen, a legendary Minbari hero who led them to victory 1000 years ago against the Shadows.

"It is our belief that every generation of Minbari is reborn in each following generation. Remove those souls, and the whole suffers. We are diminished. Over the last two thousand years, there have been fewer Minbari born into each generation. And those who are born do not seem equal to those who came before. It almost as if our greater souls have been disappearing. At the Battle of the Line, we discovered where our souls were going. They were going to you. Minbari souls are being reborn, in part or in full, in Human bodies."
"So you stopped the war in order to avoid harming your own souls?"
"Yes."
-- Lennier and Ivanova, (S2E01)

The Grey Council concluded that Minbari souls were being born into Human bodies. The discovery led the Minbari to surrender and return Sinclair to his fighter, the memory of his time aboard the Minbari cruiser telepathically blocked (though this block would not be permanent and would break down years later). Sinclair believed that he had blacked out from the acceleration.

"The Council knew that our people, and yours, were not ready for this information. It could unravel our entire society. So we could not tell our generals the reason for the surrender. We had all memory of the examination erased from Sinclair's mind, and we let him go. It has been our secret. Now it is yours. It must be kept."
"Then why break the silence now? Why tell us?"
"Because changes are coming. Commander Sinclair was the first. There will be more."
-- Lennier and Ivanova, (S2E01)

Although Sinclair was awarded the Earthforce Silver Star for valour during the Battle of the Line, he soon realised that he had fallen off the promotions carousel. There was a 24-hour long hole in his mind and even though there were perfectly reasonable explanations for his disappearance, some people suspected that there was some connection between the missing hours and the Minbari surrender. It was only years later that Sinclair learned the truth. (S1E08)

"We didn't stop them, they stopped themselves and I wish to hell I knew why."

[edit] Mars Mining Colony

After the Battle of the Line, Earthforce used to give Sinclair busywork missions to keep him out of the way, suggesting he was something of an embarrassment. (comic06, Against the Odds)

Sinclair was assigned to the Earthforce base on Mars in 2248. He was there during the food riots in early 2251, and met John Sheridan during this crisis (S3E16 War Without End).

The Mars base included a corrupt mining colony, where Laurel Takashima was already stationed. Not succumbing to the culture of graft, but unable to receive a promotion as a result, she had become disengaged from her work. She eventually began to get into trouble with the Earth Alliance for breaking rules. Sinclair convinced her to bring her behaviour into line, and agreed to push for her promotion in return. (pilot)

Also on Mars, Sinclair met native-born Michael Garibaldi, while hiring him to pilot an unofficial shuttle mission over the surface of Mars. When the shuttle crashed, Garibaldi and Sinclair then had a trek of several days in order to make it back to civilization, during which the two men became firm friends. In fact, Garibaldi saved Sinclair's life twice on Mars. Both of them also witnessed one Shadow Warship excavating a second from beneath the surface of Mars, before discovering and destroying a secret operation involving Psi Corps and the Shadows, which was erased without a trace, presumably by the Shadows. (Comics 05-08, Shadows Past and Present series)

At some point, after speaking his mind in an ISN interview, Sinclair was transferred to a deep-range outpost "so far off the starmap, you couldn't find it with a hunting dog and a Ouija board." (S1E04)

Following his most recent breakup with Catherine Sakai, Sinclair began a relationship with an independent pilot and trader named Carolyn Sykes. Their relationship finally ended in 2257 when he refused to leave Earthforce and join her as a trader. (pilot)

[edit] Babylon 5 Commander

It was somewhat of a surprise when Sinclair was appointed as the first Commander and military governor of Babylon 5, taking command in on 9 March 2256, when the station was brought into operation. His position also included serving as the Earth Alliance Ambassador to the Babylon 5 Advisory Council. (pilot)

Sinclair had not been the first choice for the position; in fact, he had been nowhere near the top of the list of candidates. The Minbari, it seems, made their support of the station contingent on being able to approve the Commander, and rejected everyone right down the line until Sinclair. "They wanted you, Jeff." -- Garibaldi, (S1E13)

Sinclair took the job and immediately used his new authority to hire his friends Laurel Takashima and Michael Garibaldi as his Second-in-Command and Security Chief, respectively. He had hardly settled in when he was framed for the assassination attempt on Ambassador Kosh. Although Sinclair was eventually cleared of all charges, Dr. Kyle and Takashima were reassigned off-station. (pilot)

[edit] Sinclair and Delenn

Satai Delenn of the Minbari Grey Council was assigned to Babylon 5 with orders to watch Sinclair and told: "He must never know what happened. If he should find out, he must be killed. Do you understand, Delenn?" (S1E08)

JMS said that this was "Because if the word about the Sinclair/Valen/soul issue got out before their people could be prepared, it could rip Minbari society apart...and since the Minbari also believe in reincarnation, better to "recycle" Valen's soul than see the world he cared so much about torn asunder." [5] "Remember, they don't know about the time loop, they see it as a straight-line progression."

Delenn and Sinclair always had a special relationship, growing into a strong friendship over time ("...He's my friend, Lennier." War Without End, Part 1) From the beginning they shared meaningful and spiritual discussions, perhaps recognising fellow philosophers, seekers after truth (pilot).

After Sinclair saved her life from the Soul Hunter, Delenn whispered, "I knew you would come. We were right about you." This is a reference both to her belief that he shared Valen's soul, but also her recognition of him from her childhood revelation - A Minbari figure appeared to her, bathed in light, when she was a small child lost in the city and wandered into an abandoned temple; a vision, telling her that "I will not allow harm to come to my little ones here in my great house." (Note:"my little ones" being a coy bit of foreshadowing to her being a Child of Valen.) (S2E18)

[edit] Unpopular Decisions

Throughout his time in command, Sinclair bent more than a few rules, making new enemies in high places. "If I were you, Commander, I would watch things very carefully. You are not the most popular person in government circles right now." -- Senator Hidoshi, (S1E12)

Sinclair made numerous command decisions on Babylon 5 that were unpopular with his superiors, notably:

[edit] True Seeker

"He's probably the only true seeker we have."
"Then perhaps you do not know yourself as well as you think."
-- Sinclair and Delenn, (S1E15)

Sinclair spends much of his time on the station "looking for something worth dying for because it's easier than finding something worth living for." -- Garibaldi, (S1E04)

  • He deliberately put his life on the line at least five times to personally chase down murderous individuals: (pilot, S1E02, S1E04, S1E07, S1E15)
  • Delenn was afraid to take Sinclair onto Epsilon 3, "because I know in my heart that if I had, Commander Sinclair would be down there now. He is searching for a purpose. But his destiny lies elsewhere." (S1E18/19)
"It's a hard thing to live your life...searching for something and never find it." -- Sinclair, (S1E15)
"He's still fighting the same battle. He's never stopped. In one way or another, he keeps putting himself out there, caught in a loop.... " -- posted by JMS on Usenet 20 Feb 1994 [6]

[edit] Re-assigned

On December 30th 2258, Sinclair became engaged to Catherine Sakai and began planning the wedding, including Garibaldi as Best Man (S1E22).

"Commander Sinclair is being reassigned..." General Hague, (S2E01)

Then suddenly... everything changed when just minutes into the new year 2259 Earth Alliance President Luis Santiago was killed and Vice-President Morgan Clark assumed power. One of Clark's first actions as President was to re-assign Sinclair as Earth's Ambassador to Minbar and to turn over the command of Babylon 5 to Captain Sheridan.

[edit] Earth Ambassador to Minbar/Entil'Zha of the Anla'shok

On 3 January 2259 - two days after the assassination of President Santiago - Sinclair was recalled to EarthDome for a secret Presidential audience with Clark. There, a member of the Grey Council named Rathenn revealed some of what happened to him at the Battle of the Line. Rathenn did not reveal that Sinclair had the soul of Valen. (Comic01, In Darkness Find Me)

Sinclair was then assigned as the first ever Earth Ambassador to Minbar. He assumed his position on 12 January 2259.

[edit] Ranger One/Entil'Zha

History seemed to repeat itself as Sinclair had hardly settled in his new post before he was again accused of attemptted murder. Still, he soon earned the trust of the Minbari and was asked to take command of the Rangers, or Anla'shok in Minbari, a group of warriors who gathered information and watched for the return of the Shadows. There was some objection to his appointment, but eventually he proved his skills. (Comic3, In Harm's Way)

His title was Ranger One, or Anla'shok Na. He also took on the title of Entil'Zha, a term not used by any Ranger One since Valen. Sinclair began accepting Human candidates into the ranks of the Rangers.

Part-way through 2259, Sinclair sent a message to Garibaldi:

"Hello, old friend, it's been a while. I'm trusting this message to an associate of mine who is sworn to bring it to you at any cost--including his own life. My job on the Minbari homeworld is more than just representing Earth. The President doesn't know about that part yet and.. I don't think it would be wise of you to tell him. There's a great Darkness coming, Michael. Some of the Minbari have been waiting for it a long time.
The bearer of this message is one of my Rangers. Some are Minbari, most are Humans. They've been drawn here to learn to work together and prepare for the fight ahead.
Their job, for now, is to patrol the frontier, to listen, to watch, and return with reports too sensitive to trust to regular channels. They are my eyes and ears. Where you see them, you see me.
In the name of our friendship, I ask that you give them every courtesy and cooperation. I wish I could tell you more...I wish I could warn you. But the others don't think it's time yet. "Stay close to the Vorlon and watch out for Shadows. They move when you're not looking at them."
-- Sinclair, (S2E09)

By this time, Rangers had been on the station for about two months, and their army was growing. As was Sinclair's reputation.

"Back on Minbar there was a saying among the other Rangers. The only way to get a straight answer out of Ranger One was to look at every reply in a mirror while hanging upside down from the ceiling."
"Did it work?"
"Oddly enough, yes. Or after a while you passed out and had a vision. Either way the result was pretty much the same."
-- Marcus and John Sheridan, (S3E16, War Without End, Part 1)

[edit] Catherine Sakai

Two of the earliest Human Ranger candidates were Marcus Cole and Catherine Sakai.

Some sources claim that Sinclair and Catherine were married at some point in 2259.

In November 2259, Sinclair led these two Rangers on a mission to prevent the Shadows from exploiting the time rift in Sector 14. Catherine's fighter was lost in the time rift and disappeared into the past. (Novel09, To Dream in the City of Sorrows)

It is possible that this was when JMS says Sinclair's face was "scarred during Ranger training duties." -- posted by JMS on AOL 5/20/1996 12:25:00 PM

[edit] Disappearance

In 2260, Sinclair left Minbar after bidding farewell to his friends and colleagues there. From there, he travelled to Babylon 5 and onwards to an unknown destination.

There is no official record of his existence after this time.

[edit] Successors

After his departure, Sinclair was succeeded as Entil'Zha by Delenn in August 2260 (S3E19, Grey 17 Is Missing), then in January 2279 by President John Sheridan, and then in 2281 by General Susan Ivanova. (S5E22, Sleeping in Light)

"He had very few possessions. To be with him was to have the strangest feeling. As though he were only visiting this life and did not want to be overly burdened by it." -- Rathenn (S3E19, Grey 17 Is Missing)

After he had left, Delenn told Rathenn she would send Sinclair's possession to his family, therefore he clearly had some living relatives in 2260. (S3E19, Grey 17 Is Missing)

[edit] Controversy

Behind The Scenes: The following information is taken from Out-of-character remarks and/or commentary from those involved.

The dropping of Sinclair's character at the end of Season 1 was, at the time, a controversial event for B5 fans, although most would now agree that the eventual outcome strengthened both the arc and the show. JMS has said that originally he intended for Sinclair to be Commanding Officer of Babylon 5 all through the series' run and finally at the end of the show to fulfil his destiny (War Without End), but found that he had effectively "written himself into a corner": there was no more room for Sinclair's character development, and the character's nature wouldn't sit right with events planned later in the show's story arc. So Sinclair was replaced with a much more "down-to-earth" character in John Sheridan.

In his Limited Edition Script Volumes, JMS wrote that many fans all ask the fundamental question: Was the change in cast Michael's idea, the Babylon 5 team's idea, Warner Bros.'s idea, divine revelation, or some combination of three out of those four?

"Look, the fact is that for every online dweebizoid who suggests that they know the true and final inside story, the only people who really know the full situation are the four people in the room at the time the discussion took place.
And those are the only people who will ever know.
Which like it or not is exactly as it should be. Michael is a friend and a fine actor who I would work with again at the drop of a thespian should the opportunity and role arise.
And that, as far as I'm concerned, is the end of that.
The change happened. Life happened.
And life went on."
-- JMS "Babylon 5: The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski, Vol. 3", Synthetic Worlds Publishing, Los Angeles, 2006, pp. 1-2
Conjecture: The following information is purely conjecture and is non-canon.

I guess we can assume from the above that two of those four people were JMS and Michael O'Hare. Then, there must have been at least 'one' representative from Warner Bros., since changing the lead actor in a Sci-Fi series after only one year is a Big Deal. I think we can also assume that JMS trusts the other two 'completely', or at least trusts that it is 'strongly' in their interests to never reveal what took place. Possible candidates include B5's "patron saint Dick Robertson" and "studio liaison Greg Maday, was as sharp and incisive and perceptive a liaison as anyone could desire." And it's not too much of a stretch to guess that either Doug Netter , John Copeland or Richard Compton were present as Producers. Who knows? There is a good reason this is in the conjecture section.

[edit] See Also

[edit] References

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