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In the last episode of season 4 (The Deconstruction of Falling Stars) the story jumps forward a million years and shows an evolved human in an encounter suit.

The head of the encounter suit is very similar to a human's head. Would it be correct to suppose that the head of the Vorlon's encounter suit is also similar to a Vorlon's real head before they evolved?

enter image description here

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  • 1
    I don't think any of this is particularly spoiler-ish.
    – Valorum
    Mar 24, 2019 at 17:41
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    Well. I think that that episode is very spoilerish. IMO.
    – Spkit 2000
    Mar 24, 2019 at 17:42
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    Given that we see at least one other "evolved" human much earlier in the show (one Mr Jason Ironheart) the fact that humans go on to become an elder race is really not at all a spoiler.
    – Valorum
    Mar 24, 2019 at 17:44
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    For the record, spoiler tags don't work in comments.
    – Valorum
    Mar 24, 2019 at 18:03
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    Thanks. Glad to know that I am making a fool of myself. :P
    – Spkit 2000
    Mar 24, 2019 at 18:08

3 Answers 3

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No.

There is an episode, "Falling Towards Apotheosis," also in season 4, where

the Vorlon's true appearance is actually depicted, and they are clearly not bipedal at all, with no obviously discernable head.

See the Vorlon's true form.

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  • >! I am not sure that that was their original shape. >! Almost all the 'ascended' beings (Lorien, Vorlons, humans) looked similar. As spheres of energy with tentacles if they needed to attack or grab anything.
    – Spkit 2000
    Mar 24, 2019 at 17:59
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    Suggest then you might want to edit your question to make it clear you're asking about their look prior to becoming fully evolved.
    – Kai
    Mar 24, 2019 at 18:02
  • However, also not all of them look that way, since the Shadows do not.
    – Kai
    Mar 24, 2019 at 18:05
  • I was only asking about the Vorlons. The Shadows dont use an encounter suit, and I am not sure that they have ascended in beings of pure energy as the Vorlons.
    – Spkit 2000
    Mar 24, 2019 at 18:09
  • @Spkit2000 Had the Vorlons become "pure energy"? If so, how could Kosh be "poisoned" in the pilot episode?
    – Astralbee
    Apr 4, 2019 at 8:59
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No, the suit is merely to hide their true form which appears more ethereal. Each race views them differently. This was explained in the episode where Kosh saved Sheriden from falling from the transport car. Each race views a Vorlon as a deity from their planet's culture.

Further infomation can be found here - https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Vorlon

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Encounter suits are supposed to be for practical reasons - to allow a being to live in an environment in which it could not ordinarily survive. However, the Vorlons wore encounter suits for a different reason - to conceal their true appearance. Of course, they had conditioned all races to see them differently, so arguably they were concealing that deception rather than their "true" appearance; still, Kosh was able to leave his encounter suit and rescue Sheridan proving that he didn't need it to survive. He was weakened after this, not because of the exposure to the environment, but supposedly because so many people had seen him.

The purpose of the Vorlon's suit to deceive would suggest then that it was nothing at all like their "true" appearance. But are we talking their true appearance now, or before they "ascended"? The screenshot in another answer possibly shows their current form without any manipulation, but that might not be what they originally looked like. The human encounter suit that you have drawn a comparison to looks a little like human features now, but what does an ascended human look like? Perhaps the idea of an encounter suit for an ascended human is to make their appearance more like their ancestors.

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