Pastels
A Tribute to "The Minister/Regent" by Sovay Terasso.
When I first saw the anonymous Minister in "Sic Transit Vir", I had no idea he was going to become my all-time favorite minor recurring character. Sure, he was funny in a bizarre way, but he wasn't exactly favorite-character material, like Londo or Vir. If nothing else, however, I did remember him for his famously lame joke to Vir: "What's the only thing more dangerous than a locked room full of angry Narns?....One...just ONE!...angry Narn...with the KEY!" And with the rest of the viewing audience, I groaned and rolled my eyes and thought, "What a wacky little guy!"
Yes, the Minister--later to become the Regent--is a wacky little guy. And I love him for it.
He began to become a favored character in the Season Four opener, "The Hour of the Wolf". I don't know how it happened, but as soon as he appeared I immediately liked this ditzy little courtier. First of all, he was funny. He fluttered around the place with his giddy laugh, a classic example of near-terminal nervousness, trying to keep track of paperwork and show Londo around and not lose his head to Cartagia's wims all at the same time. He had a marvellously mobile face--a look of perpetual anxiety crossed with whatever emotion momentarily posessed him--and one of the wildest pairs of eyebrows I've seen in a long time. He was everywhere, like an embodiment of the Centauri Royal Court; he had all these little mannerisms that made him a delight to watch, such as the way his hands were constantly fluttering nervously (I NEVER saw him standing still), or his fastidious explanation of why Londo can't find his new coat (the Minister took the liberty of sending it to the cleaners). He was such a campy little character...but it made him so much fun to watch! He was the perfect Centauri courtier.
Secondly, he was likeable. Seemingly as decadent and shallow as they come, there was a real personality underneath all that goofiness. I found him much braver than he appeared. Yes, he was nervous and fluttery and had a seeming attention span of thirty seconds, tops--but he was not stupid. He noticed things. He went along with Cartagia's reign, bending with the wind in order to survive--but he was also the first one to warn Londo about Cartagia's madness, instead of letting it slide and pretending that nothing was wrong. He tried to do what he could without putting himself into too much danger; under Cartagia's whim-driven reign, even doing what the Minister did could have been enough to set his head on Cartagia's table with the rest of the "Shadow Cabinet". I think that he definitely understood what was going on, but tried not to think about it too hard. He survived by being silly and unnoticeable, not worth the time and energy to execute.
It worked...for a while.
Of course I was happy to see him promoted to Regent. After all, what better ruler could there be? This ruler wouldn't wage war on half the known galaxy or chop people's heads off because he was in a bad mood--for crying out loud, he was delighted just to be allowed to redecorate the throne room! That episode, "Epiphanies", is where I first consciously thought, "I LIKE this guy." It's a wonderful scene; the Minister babbles on about the virtues of family trees as opposed to family bushes, and how the title of Regent is just a ceremonial post and who would want it anyway?--and then he's all honored and stunned and flattered when Londo informs him that the Centaurum has selected him as Regent, and estatic when he realizes that this gives him the perfect opportunity to redecorate. For the first time, I got to see him as more than just frightened and ditzy, and all of a sudden he becomes a real and likeable character--which is why, when he stumbled up out of bed at the end of the episode, shakily reassuring himself that it was all "Just a bad dream!" I actually cried out when I saw the Keeper on his shoulder. The flashforward in "War Without End" affected me similarly, but at least Londo created that future for himself by his dealings with Mr. Morden. The Minister was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. (This ALWAYS happens to characters I like...)
The Regent of Season Five is a much darker character than the Minister of early Season Four. Driven by his Keeper to destroy his homeworld, he is a pathetic figure as he tries to do his best under overwhelmingly hopeless circumstances. One of his saddest times comes in the episode: "In the Kingdom of the Blind" as he talks to one Lord Jano: "Once I would have thought pastels, but we're well beyond pastels now. No, no bright colors...only darkness."
He does what he can--drinking to avoid his Keeper's control, trying to warn people, even asking a guard to kill him--but nothing works. To the outside world, which knows only that the Regent is acting stranger and stranger, he is just one more of the many mad Centauri rulers.
Even under the Keeper's control, the Regent is in many ways still the likeable ditz of the Royal Court. He wanders around the Palace late at night, he talks to himself, and he seems completely ineffectual in his capacity as ruler of Centauri Prime. Yet when the moment of truth comes, he shows himself to be capable of the same courage that pervades so much of Babylon 5. With his acceptance of his death and of who he is, a man who was never a hero but who always tried to do the right thing, he gained for a moment the heroism he never had. (I admit it: I got all weepy when we came to this scene in "The Fall of Centauri Prime". And I hardly ever cry.)
Ditzy courtier, haunted Regent, unexpected hero: my favorite minor recurring character. (And JMS never even gave this guy a name! Give me a break here!) I can't quite explain how such a goofy little Centauri came to be a character I'd actually cry over, and I'm sure I don't know why that Narn joke is funny. (I only said I LIKED him, I never said he had any TASTE!) But if nothing else, the Minister/Regent is the Centauri who will be forever immortal in my memory with just one line:
"I'm thinking...pastels?"
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