Mr Morden asked the same question "What do you want?" to the Narn, Centauri and Minbari representatives on Babylon 5 in Season 1. These are the major species on Babylon 5. Yet, why didn't he ask the humans, given that humans are in charge of Babylon 5 and are arguably the most important species on Babylon 5? How could humans be missed out? As a member of the human race, I feel somewhat left out and unimportant.
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5I believe that you are referring to the humans on Babylon 5. I am not sure if you have seen the whole Babylon 5, but to avoid spoilers as much as possible, the Shadows had some influence on (some important) humans back on Earth, and I strongly believe the question "What do you want?" might have been the beginning of the conversation.– Edmund DantesOct 20, 2017 at 7:00
1 Answer
Because in the episode where Morden goes around asking the ambassadors what they want he is intercepted by Kosh before Morden gets to Sinclair and Kosh tells Morden,
"They are not for you."
JMS confirmed online that "they" were humans. (Source) Being warned off by a Vorlon was enough for Morden. But the Shadows obviously made contact with other powerful humans at some point, such as Vice President Clark and Psi Corps
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1I'd always thought the implication was that the shadows had already asked the humans, in the person of Morden himselfand the rest of the crew of the ship he "died" on.– RacheOct 20, 2017 at 20:28
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Do you have a source for the JMS confirmation? I also assumed that it was easy for the Shadows to infiltrate humans because the Icarus was a human ship. Oct 20, 2017 at 21:32
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@Rache The questions asked by the Vorlons and the Shadows were, IMO, attempts to manipulate the lesser races. Because of the way television works we only ever see them asking people important to the story. However, I believe the implication is that the Shadows only asked people in positions of influence, people the Shadows could initially do favours for then manipulate to further their own ends. Nobodies like Morden became slaves of some sort. Oct 21, 2017 at 1:00
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SPOILERS (not that there weren't some above anyway) @durron597 Source added, thanks for reminder. I don't think the Icarus crew being human is of special importance to them infiltrating human society. It seems the Shadows had an easy time manipulating members of any race that weren't an Old One or a Vorlon sycophant like the Minbari. They easily infiltrated the Centauri and the Drakh became subservient without those races, so far as we know, first having a handful of explorers land on the Shadow planet. The special importance of Icarus is Anna/Sheridan backstory and the waking of the Shadows. Oct 21, 2017 at 1:25
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@Smartybartfast the blond dude who warns Londo to get off of Babylon 5 is also human. We also see Morden in a meeting with members of the Psi Corps later on. I'm sure the shadows knew exactly how frightening their physical appearance was, but given the lack of contact between races prior to Babylon 5's existence, a human trying to get access in the highest levels of the Centauri government would have been impossible. Oct 23, 2017 at 16:12