I end up thinking about this again, from time to time. How did G'Kar - and all the other followers of G'Quon for that matter - read his book for centuries, and not realize that "Mindwalkers" were telepaths until Garibaldi "discovered." it?
shareI think that the answer is unfortunately very easy. Many religions expect you to accept the words as written without any analysis. That doesn't mean that some believers may not question, doubt, and analyze anyway, but, for many religions, it's considered blasphemy and sacrilege. It may have been the case with the followers of the Book of G'Quon, we just don't know.
shareI suppose, but still. What could "mindwalkers" be, other than telepaths?
shareI suppose, but still. What could "mindwalkers" be, other than telepaths? - kerryedavis
Sure, and the Cincinnati Bengals aren't actually large cats, and the Los Angeles Rams aren't really rams, etc. Heck they're not even big Dodge pickup trucks! But that's kinda different. And especially with what they - especially G'Kar - already knew about the past war etc, how could he not make that connection?
I just think it could have - and should have - been handled better. Maybe in a way that shows the Narn knew about the telepath aspect etc, but hadn't figured out the part about telepaths blocking the Shadow vessels. It's a moment that tends to take me out of the story.
I'm not sure I understand the question. What if they did realize that the Mindwalkers were telepaths and that the Shadows destroyed them all. That doesn't necessarily connect with telepaths being a weapon against the Shadows, especially since back then the Narn didn't have space travel. The clue that telepaths could jam the Shadow vessels came from them running from ships with telepaths on them. No way the Narns could have known.
“You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -Harlan Ellison
I actually agree with that, which was part of the point I tried to make, apparently not very well. But the way it was written etc, it seemed like G'Kar et al hadn't even realized that "mindwalkers" WERE "telepaths."
shareThe mention of the Shadows seems to only be on a couple pages. It could be a section of the book that most pay little attention. The followers of G'Quon typically read through the section at some point, and then never got back to studying the details of that section.
Only someone like G'Kar, who delves into the book on a daily basis, would remember. Even then he only had a vague recollection and had to search for the pages. Even though G'Kar read from the book daily, it was still in a section he didn't recall that well.
For comparison, if one was to ask randomly ask 100 Christians what the book of Second Chronicles was generally about, one would get a LOT of blank stares. I have noticed over the years that just because someone may say they follow a certain religious book doesn't mean they remember all of it.
My signature is for sale. Reach out to dozens of people a year!
I bet if you ask Bible-readers about a certain person or whatever, they'd have much better answers than if you ask about a certain chapter and verse. Referring to a certain book or chapter etc would be different than referring to something like a story element. Like the difference between asking G'Kar "what's the x'th paragraph on page y?" versus "what about those soldiers of darkness?" He knew/remembered about soldiers of darkness. Then he looked up where they appeared in the book.
share