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The Shadows, Vorlons, and Lorien

"When most of the First Ones left, two of them, the Shadows and Vorlons, stayed behind.
Their job was to keep an eye on the younger races, help them along,
but.. they couldn't decide or agree on what had to be done.
The Vorlons believed that strength comes through order and discipline,
the Shadows believe in promoting
evolution through conflict, starting wars."
"Those are diametrically opposite positions."
"Exactly. Now, at first there was a balance between the two sides.
They abided by rules of engagement, respected each others positions,
but that changed over time."
-- Sheridan and Lennier in Babylon 5:"The Summoning"

"You see, John, back a million years ago, there were forces prowling
around the galaxy beyond anything that we could understand.
And, like anything else, most of them outgrew this little quadrant
of the universe and headed off toward greener pastures.
Now, two of them stayed behind. Shepherds, you might call them. They
wanted to look after the younger races, bring them around,
help them evolve into something better."
"One of these was the Vorlons. The other .. was, what you call, the Shadows."
-- Justin and Morden in Babylon 5:"Z'ha'dum"

The Shadows: "What do you want?"
In there system, strength comes through conflict and struggle.
Every thousand years they go out in the universe and start
attacking other races randomly. and setting the races against
each other. The survivors rebuild, stronger, better.
They are constantly changing, moving,and evolving.
Approaching life with this question leads to change but no stability.

'The others, the one who live here believe that strength only comes
from conflict. They want to release our potential, not bottle it up.'
-- Justin and Anna Sheridan, "Z'ha'dum

"Your race came out of the last war stronger, better. How much better,
how much stronger will they be after this war? You will rise from the
ashes with a strength and power beyond your imagination."
"Until you do it to us again."
"It is the cycle. It is the force of history itself. You cannot win
against that. We have embraced it. We've helped it along by creating
conflict. Weak races die, strong races are made even stronger.
Evolution must be served. There is no other way."
-- Shadows (in the guise of Franklin and Lennier)
and Delenn, "Into the Fire"

The Vorlons: "Who are you?"
In their system, Strength comes from order and discipline.

The vorlons go about manipulate and domineer the other races
for their own hidden agenda. The vorlons don't change,
they are frozen. Approaching life with this question,
leads to stability but no change.

Vorlons are like your parents I suppose. They want you to play nice,
clean your room, do it by the rules. I guess you could call them
lords of order." -- Justin and Anna Sheridan, "Z'ha'dum

"Despite their strength the Vorlons are delicate people. They do not react well to change,
and they are not very forgiving of mistakes. It's been a long time since one
of them died, they are taking it pretty hard." -- Lyta in Babylon 5:"Walkabout"1

"The Vorlons are very secretive. They don't want anyone to know what they look like,
what they breathe or how their biology works. I mean, who knows how
much that suit is really necessary and how much is just camouflage
to keep us from seeing what's inside."
-- Ivanova to Sinclair in Babylon 5:"The War Prayer"

Lorien: "Why are you here?" & "Where are you going?"
Lorien is the man in the middle,
planning for the future.