posted
SCI-FI is showing a rerun of the first season episode "Soul Hunter" right now. The nut-job of the week was supposed to capture the soul of Dukhat ten years previously. The Minbari prevented him because of their belief in reincarnation, similar to Buddhism.
I wonder... does anyone we know later on have the soul of Dukhat, as Sinclair had the soul of Valen?
My first thought -- perhaps young David Sheridan?
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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posted
As I recall, we discover in the course of the show that the Minbari belief in reincarnation was based on the triluminary reacting to Minbari containing the "soul" of Valen - specifically, Valen's descendants, and Valen/Sinclair himself. The idea of Minbari souls being reborn as humans was based on the glowey thing reacting to Valen's DNA (or whatever). I don't remember anyone ever mentioning anything about reborn souls except when talking about Valen, so I don't think Dukat (no H) is mentioned in that respect.
Mark
[ October 28, 2002, 16:54: Message edited by: Mark Nguyen ]
posted
Actually that, Dan had the spelling of the B5 Dukhat right. The Trek Dukat has no h
And it was mentioned, if not in "Soul Hunter" than in "River of Souls" that as far as the soul hunters were concerned, Dukhat's soul was lost forever. As for how the Minbari are concerned, I'm not too sure.
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posted
Well, that's true... the Triluminaries were reacting to Sinclair's DNA. However, I don't think that the Triluminaries were the sole basis of that belief. I always figured that the religious philosophy was something that predated the appearance of Valen. Remember Delenn's "star stuff" speech? This isn't just simple reincarnation -- it's a whole theory of the Universe. And remember that idea of "soul mates"? ("See you in some other lifetime...")
Now, it's not necessarily correct... but if the Minbari held such reverence for Dukhat, then they may be looking for him to return, just as they did for Valen.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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Just a minor point, Valen's soul was not "reborn" in a 1:1 ratio. Instead, IIRC every one of his descendants seemed to have a "piece" of it, if we can interpret the triluminary in that manner. If that is the case, then Dukhat's soul might not necessarily be reborn in just any one person, but might be more dispersed.
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posted
The Minbari belief is that their souls, unless captured by soul hunters, will be reborn in future generations of Minbari. This way, the "whole" is not dimininshed over the centuries even if the actual individuals are long gone. So, ideally, Dukhat's soul will be reborn in another Minbari, although they don't seem to think that Dukhat himself will return.
Why do I say ideally? Well, we also have the idea of the transmigration of souls, which says that, for quite some time, Minbari souls have been going elsewhere. Rathenn gave a date of 6000 years ago in one of the comics; Lennier put it at 2000 years ago in "Points of Departure", while Delenn put it at 1000 years ago in "War Without End." Obviously, nobody was sure when it started, and we don't know how the theologians came to this belief.
Now we come to the triluminary, whose one important function was that of an Actual Valen Descendant Detector. Even if they knew about Valen's different DNA, and even if they speculated that this is how the triluminary identified his descendants, how likely are they to conclude that the reason the triluminary glowed for Sinclair and other humans at the Battle of the Line was their sharing Valen's DNA? Then they remembered the transmigration theory, and decided that the triluminary actually detected the presence of Valen's soul, concluding that Valen's soul went to Sinclair and the other humans.
After the truth about Sinclair being Valen became known, Delenn nevertheless concluded that the transmigration of souls was tied to the DNA and moved the date to 1000 years ago. What probably happened was that the Minbari were stagnating for an indeterminate amount of time as a result of their own cultural rigidity, and not as a result of Sinclair's DNA mixing with their population.
Boris
[ October 28, 2002, 19:35: Message edited by: Boris ]
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Well, Delenn did say in "Soul Hunter" that the souls melt into each other, so that may imply that the souls aren't born 1:1...
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posted
Yes they basically halted the Earth-Minbari war cause they realised that the Souls of Minbari were being reborn in Humans - who they were slaughtering by the thousands.
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posted
I don't think the "one important function" of the Triluminary was as Valen Descendant Detector, that was just one function of many; if it had been the most important function, then it would never have been used as a mere interrogation device on a member of a species they were about to wipe out. That would have been disrespectful to a sacred relic, especially when even the Warrior Caste were showing signs of wearying of the war.
posted
There's also the question of whether the rebirth of Minbari souls in human bodies is still going on after Delenn's transformation. I seem to recall that her metamorphosis into her (mostly) human form was done in part to balance Sinclair's transformation into Valen. If the shifting of souls from Minbari to human began with Valen (as seems to be the party line with B5's backstory), then the implication is that Delenn's change should put an end to it.
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Perhaps... but David Sheridan the younger would be part Minbari, right?
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