Narn

The list of ''Babylon 5'' characters contains characters from the entire ''Babylon 5'' universe. The Babylon station was conceived as a political and cultural meeting place. As such, one of the show's many themes is the cultural and social interaction between civilizations. There are five dominant civilizations represented on Babylon 5: humans, the Narn, the Centauri, the Minbari and the Vorlons; and several dozen less powerful ones. A number of the less powerful races make up the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, who assembled as a result of the Dilgar War occurring 30 years before the start of the series.

Main characters

Jeffrey Sinclair / Valen

Jeffrey Sinclair, played by actor Michael O'Hare, is the Commander of the Babylon 5 station in season one. After one full season, O'Hare and series executive producer/creator J. Michael Straczynski made the mutual and amicable decision for the character and actor to depart as a regular. O'Hare subsequently reprised the character of Sinclair briefly in season two and a two-episode guest appearance in season three, enabling the show to wrap up loose ends. As a result of this departure, there are several minor inconsistencies between the first season and the remainder of the show, most visibly in " And the Sky Full of Stars" and " Babylon Squared". At O'Hare's personal request, the full reasons for his departure from the show were kept secret until after his death in 2012. The following year, Straczynski revealed that O'Hare struggled with delusions and paranoia due to mental illness, which ultimately prevented him from continuing to act. However, Straczynski emphasized that O'Hare's fans, particularly those of his role as Sinclair, had helped him cope with his struggle in ways medication never could.

The character was born on Mars Colony. In an early episode of season one, Sinclair stated that his family had been pilots "ever since the Battle of Britain" and Sinclair's father was a fighter pilot for EarthForce who participated in the Battle of Balos, the last engagement of the Dilgar Invasion. Sinclair continued the tradition and became a fighter pilot. Sinclair enlisted in EarthForce in 2237. During his time at EarthForce Academy, he met Catherine Sakai, with whom he had a relationship. After a year of living together, the two of them broke up, but continued to see each other off and on through 2258, when they became engaged. Sakai went missing in late 2259, while on a mission for the Rangers. The season one episode " By Any Means Necessary" establishes that Sinclair received Jesuit education as a young man.

In 2240, Sinclair was promoted to fighter pilot, continuing a Sinclair family tradition that had extended as far back as the Battle of Britain. Less than a year later, Sinclair was promoted to squadron leader. Due to his rapid rise through the ranks, the rumor of the day was that Sinclair was on the fast track to making Admiral. As squadron leader, Sinclair fought at the Battle of the Line, the last major battle in the Earth-Minbari War. During the course of the battle, his squadron was destroyed by the Minbari, and his fighter was badly damaged. In a last act of defiance, Sinclair attempted to ram one of the Minbari cruisers. He failed in this when he was captured by another Minbari cruiser for interrogation by the Grey Council. The Council's Triluminary detected Valen's DNA in Sinclair, so they assumed, to their profound shock, that he possessed the soul of Valen, a hero of the Minbari who led them to victory 1,000 years ago against the Shadows. It was concluded by the Grey Council that Minbari souls were being born into human bodies. The discovery of what Sinclair possessed led the Minbari to surrender and return Sinclair to his fighter. The memory of his time aboard the Minbari cruiser was blocked -- though this block would not be permanent and would break down years later. Sinclair — and the Earth Alliance — believed that he had blacked out from the acceleration. When Babylon 5 was brought into operation in 2257, Sinclair was selected by the Minbari to command the newly constructed station. He was selected over many more senior officers, including Colonel Ari Ben Zayn, all of whom had been vetoed by the Minbari (they had stipulated that they should approve the choice of Station Commander, as they had shared the cost of construction).

In January 2259, Sinclair was reassigned as ambassador to Minbar, where he took command of the Rangers. He was succeeded at Babylon 5 by Captain John Sheridan. In 2260, Sinclair received a 900-year old letter from himself on Minbar, revealing that he was not the ''reincarnation'' of Valen, as the Grey Council believed, but in fact Valen himself. Armed with this knowledge, Sinclair took Babylon 4 back with him 1,000 years to aid the Minbari in their first war against the Shadows, and in so doing, fulfilled Minbari prophecy by becoming the One Who Was. It was here that Sinclair used the triluminary to transform himself into a Minbari, thus fulfilling the legend about Valen being "a Minbari not born of Minbari", also explaining why the triluminary responded so strongly to him during his interrogation by the Grey Council, as it had been programmed to respond to his DNA.

John Sheridan

* Bruce Boxleitner as Captain John Sheridan (seasons 2-5): Sinclair's replacement on ''Babylon 5'' after his reassignment, and a central figure of several prophecies within the Shadow War.

Susan Ivanova

* Claudia Christian as Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova (seasons 1-4, guest season 5): Second-in-command to ''Babylon 5''.

Michael Garibaldi

Michael Garibaldi was played by Jerry Doyle in seasons one to five. He is named after the Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi.Straczynski, J. Michael (Jms at B5)
JMS: Origin of name Giribaldi
The J. Michael Straczynski Message Archive, 9/26/1994

In the first three seasons, Garibaldi served as chief of security aboard the space station Babylon 5. He held the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. In season four, during the Shadow War, Garibaldi was secretly subjected to mental reprogramming, which was triggered after the war. Garibaldi resigned from his job as chief of security to work as an independent investigator, helping people find what they had lost during the war. Increasingly, he came into conflict with Babylon 5 staff. Eventually, Bester released Garibaldi from his psychic conditioning by making subtle adjustments to Garibaldi's personality.

Garibaldi started drinking again in season five. Eventually, his long-time lover Lise Hampton returned to Babylon 5 to help support him. They married soon afterwards, and he left Babylon 5 to help her run Edgars Industries on Mars, one of the largest corporations on the planet. During the fifth and final season of Babylon 5 he was the Director of Covert Intelligence for the new Interstellar Alliance, a post parallel to the real-life present-day CIA Director. After the episode "Sleeping in Light" Garibaldi returned to his family on Mars. Upon arriving home, he found that his daughter had won a tennis match. Garibaldi's life after Sheridan's departure was relatively peaceful. Series creator J. Michael Strac