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In the Shadows of Madness
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A Lovecraftian Look into the Babylon 5 Universe
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By Mark W. Chase
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"I have seen the dark universe yawning
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Where the black planets roll without aim-
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Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
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Without knowledge or luster or name."
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This brief poem named merely "Nemesis" was the opening for the
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terrifying story, "The Haunter of the Dark", by Howard Philips Lovecraft.
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It was a tale of a universe turned upside down, as were all the "Mythos"
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stories of this young, New England writer. The very essence of Lovecraft's
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mythos was that our universe was only a twisted delusion of a great, vast,
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inescapable darkness, of which mankind was nothing but the merest speck of
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insignificant matter. Rarely ever did the tragic hero of a story survive
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with his sanity, if he survived at all.
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Great, ancient beings, from the stars and beyond,prowl this universe--
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their nature and motives far beyond anything our feeble minds could hope to
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fathom. Fragments of the unspeakable darkness would float almost by
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accident to our world. By chance, some hapless mortal would stumble across
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it and his frail perception of reality would be shattered forever.
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The ultimate irony of it all was that mankind did in fact make a
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difference in the universe despite our apparent infinitesimal worth. The
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Great Old Ones did take notice of humans and had tried, and failed, to swat
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us from existence. Individuals, though driven mad, did affect the course
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of the dark fate within the mocking universe. Men fought against the
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darkness and won. Great Old One cults were defeated, Deep One outposts
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were destroyed, and unspeakable summonings were subverted.
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In possibly one brief glimmer of hope, mankind reached out and
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contacted the Elder Gods. They were a distant, but benevolent collection
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of entities who opposed the great darkness. They alone stood between our
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feeble world and the onslaught of unthinkable horrors.
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In the years of H.P. Lovecraft's mythos cycles from 1919-1937 a great
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darkness swept through the universe. In the years 2257-2262, it may have
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returned.
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* * *
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Already in its third season, Babylon 5 has taken on a mythos of its
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own. As the Babylon 5 saga moves into the Shadow War, the story has grown
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darker and more ominous. Or, as Susan Ivanova puts it in the third season
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introduction, "The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. It
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failed."
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But, she goes on to assure, "In the year of the Shadow War, it became
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something greater. Our last, best hope for victory." Against all odds,
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hope is always present -- unlike Lovecraft's writing where there is no hope
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at all.
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There are many parallels between Babylon 5 and Lovecraft's works.
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These parallels may be intentional, some many have be unconscious, or, they
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may all be simply coincidence. Whatever the case may be, I give you the
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relationships which I have uncovered.
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The most obvious parallel is between the Shadows and Outer Gods or
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Great Old Ones. In the Cthulhu Mythos, the Outer Gods were the demonic
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pantheon of ultimate, unspeakable darkness. However, the Outer Gods
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themselves were the epitome of chaos and madness, without soul or mind.
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They twisted and wallowed in the eternal night, playing horribly mocking
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sounds with their demonic flutes, and orbited the ultimate nuclear chaos,
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Azathoth, who resides at the center of the universe. The Outer Gods have
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been stripped of reasoning and ordered thought (as we perceive it anyway)
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so they may not be a perfect parallel with the Shadows. However, as we
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shall see, some of the Outer Gods are not at all mindless.
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If not the ultimate Outer Gods, certainly the Shadows are mirrored by
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the Great Old Ones H.P. Lovecraft wrote about. Not nearly as powerful as
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the Outer Gods, the Great Old Ones do have ordered reasoning (though still
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vastly alien to human reasoning). Cthulhu is the foremost well know Great
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Old One, but there are others, such as Hastur, Dagon, and possibly Shub-
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Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth.
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Some Lovecraftian authorities believe that Shub-Niggurath and Yog-
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Sothoth were not Great Old Ones, but were in fact Outer Gods. If this is
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the case, it would mean that not all Outer Gods are mindless. In
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Lovecraft's stories, both of these god-like beings acted in logical, if not
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humanly comprehensible, way. It is important to note that these Outer Gods
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still exist as cognitive entities. It is possible that the Shadows are
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drawn from this surviving group of hideous gods.
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The Great Old Ones are described by Lovecraft as having come to Earth
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from the stars. They used technology, as did many other minor races, such
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as the Mi-Go, the Elder Things, and the Great Race. They were masters of
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all the technologies and sciences, to the point of it being ultimate magic.
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Dark, black, sinister magic.
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The Shadows of Z'ha'dum are certainly masters of dark technology, as
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seen by their unholy Shadow ships. They dominate forbidden areas of space
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with godlike powers. Revelations in Babylon 5 episodes such as "Voices of
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Authority" tell us that the Shadows can see into souls, but they are apart
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from the energy which binds all life together. The Shadows are in our
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universe, but forever separated from it. Dark, cold, and ancient, the
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Shadows have slept for a thousand years, and are now awakening to renew the
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war against the First Ones.
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To express this parallel, I will give your a brief quote from the
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"Encyclopedia Cthulhiana": "The Great Old Ones were at a time members of a
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company of beings titled the Elder Gods. Because they practiced black
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magic, or they stole certain of the Elder God's sacred records, or even
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that they had the temerity to attack the homes of the Elder Gods
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themselves, the Great Old Ones were cast out by their brethren and
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imprisoned in various places in the stars, and even other dimensions.
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Having done this, the Elder Gods returned to their homes near the star
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Glyu'Uho, leaving the Great Old Ones within their prisons. There will come
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a time, though, when the Great Old Ones will break free of the strictures
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imposed by the Elder Gods, and they will come forth from their jails to
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challenge the supremacy of their captors once again."
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This almost sounds like something Delenn might say! Replace Great Old
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Ones with Shadows and Elder Gods with the First Ones, and you have it.
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In Lovecraft's mythos, the Elder Gods are not se, these flying polyps can become
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invisible, just like the Shadows. In contrast, the Vorlons were not wiped
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out by the Shadows, the Vorlons helped to defeat the Shadows.
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It must also be put forward that Morden could very well be the
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equivalent of Nyarlathotep. In Babylon 5, Morden appears to be nothing
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more than a Shadow/Centauri (and Earth Alliance!) go between. In H.P.
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Lovecraft's works, Nyarlathotep was the messenger of the Outer Gods. In
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Lovecrafts poem "Nyarlathotep", this dark messenger was a man; a man who
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brought final destruction to the human race. In many stories Nyarlathotep
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was in the form of a man, though he also had many monsterous forms as well.
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In all appearance this "man" was mortal, but he had sinister, dark powers
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at his command. If Morden ever becomes some hideous flying monster as
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black as the night itself, this parallel will be complete.
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Could the Book of G'Quon be the Babylon 5 equivalent to the
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Necronomicon? On several occasions, G'Kar has pointed out references to
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the Shadows, even pictures of their ships, all with terrifying revelations
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behind them. He even gave the book to Garibaldi, telling him that it would
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be helpful. I doubt the Book of G'Quon is a forbidden tome written by a
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mad Narn named G'abkul G'alkazard; and, as Babylon 5 appears to be much
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more optimistic than Lovecraft's tales, I will propose that the book of
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G'Quon is a "holy analogue" to the Necronomicon.
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As I have stated earlier, these speculations are my own, and in no way
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do they express the views of J. Michael Straczynski, Doug Netter, or anyone
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working in the production of Babylon 5. These ideas are my own and should
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not be taken out of context. Babylon 5 is a unique and completely
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innovative universe of possiblities. Like the universe of H.P. Lovecraft,
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the Babylon 5 universe has its own dark secrets -- secrets which man was
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not be meant to know, and of things which should not be.
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And so, I will leave you with a quote from the classic story "The Call of
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Cthulhu". The tale which started it all.
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"We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of
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infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences,
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each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but
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some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such
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terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that
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we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light
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into the peace and safety of a new dark age."
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Bibliography
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Harms, Daniel - "Encyclopedia Cthulhiana" (1994)
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Lovecraft, H.P. - "At the Mountains of Madness" (1936), "The Case of
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Charles Dexter Ward" (1941), "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928), "Dagon" (1919),
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"The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" (1948), "The Haunter of the Dark"
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(1936), "Nyarlathotep" (1920), "The Other Gods" (1933), "The Shadow Over
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Innsmouth" (1936), "The Shadow Out of Time" (1936), "The Whisperer in
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Darkness" (1931)
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Straczynski, J. Michael - the "Babylon 5" series (1993-1996), through
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Warner Bros. Television.
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Special thanks to Jon Fuller and Mathias Russ who assisted in the editing
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of this essey.
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If you have questions or comments to make, complaints or suggestions,
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please contact me at:
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mchase@cdc.net
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or log on to my web page at:
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http://www.cdc.net/~mchase/mearth.html
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