But also, I think, Londo uses G'Kar as a way out. I mean, very literally, at the end, he has to ask G'Kar to kill him, to strangle him so they die at each others' hands.
Have you read The Shadow of his Thoughts, the short story JMS wrote about Londo for Amazing Stories? It's set a few days after his coronation, and your remark reminded me of it. In case you haven't, here are the relevant excerpts:
1) Beginning of the story: "The dream was the same. It was always the same. The chakat lay on the ground before him, its four legs bound by ropes, horns scratching the dry ground beneath its head. The sun was hot overhead. A voice, always the same voice, whispered from behind Londo. You know what you have to do. What you have always done. Londo stared at the creature, and its gaze met his own. The eyes that looked back at him were fierce, proud, unbowed. And somehow familiar. In the dream it said to him, soundlessly and wordlessly but with absolute clarity, It is duty. You cannot fight duty. I can't do it, Londo thought back, and looked down. The sword was in his hand. Yes, you can, it thought at him, and it struggled to raise its head, exposing its throat. Waiting for the death blow. Sobbing, Londo brought down the sword, and watched the life fade away in the creatures eyes."
In the course of the story, Londo meets a young seer, Shiri, and her ambitious and greedy mentor, Delasi. 2)"'And how long have you been a prophetess?' Londo asked. The countryside passed slowly outside the carriage. 'She has been able to see since she was barely a child of three seasons,' Delasi said. 'An advanced case, to be sure,' Londo said. 'You would almost think that a child who could see at three could be allowed to speak at sixteen.' Delasi's lips pursed in a way Londo found most satisfying. With her silence won, for the moment at least, he looked back to Shiri. 'What can you tell me of my future, child?' he asked. (...) Shiri considered her words carefully. 'I see little joy, and much sorrow,' she said at last. 'I see fire and death and pain. I see you betrayed by almost everyone you have ever trusted.' 'Almost everyone?' 'Your greatest enemy is also your greatest friend, and the trust you place in him is rewarded at the end of days. He is your freedom, and you are his. And in the end...' She hesitated, then forced herself to continue. 'In the end, you die in the arms of your friend, and he dies in yours, that a world might live.' For a moment, Londo felt the world slide out from under him. The image she had described was a dream that had always been with him, the dream of his own death, in which he and G'kar of Narn ended their long and strange relationship by strangling one another to death. (...) Until this moment, he had always believed that the dream pointed to a final act of vengeance by one against the other. But now, in her words, for the first time he allowed himself the possibility of hope. That a world might live, she had said. But which world? Narn or Centauri Prime?"
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a way out (1)
Date: 2004-02-12 12:56 pm (UTC)Have you read The Shadow of his Thoughts, the short story JMS wrote about Londo for Amazing Stories? It's set a few days after his coronation, and your remark reminded me of it. In case you haven't, here are the relevant excerpts:
1) Beginning of the story:
"The dream was the same. It was always the same. The chakat lay on the ground before him, its four legs bound by ropes, horns scratching the dry ground beneath its head. The sun was hot overhead. A voice, always the same voice, whispered from behind Londo. You know what you have to do. What you have always done. Londo stared at the creature, and its gaze met his own. The eyes that looked back at him were fierce, proud, unbowed. And somehow familiar. In the dream it said to him, soundlessly and wordlessly but with absolute clarity, It is duty. You cannot fight duty.
I can't do it, Londo thought back, and looked down. The sword was in his hand. Yes, you can, it thought at him, and it struggled to raise its head, exposing its throat. Waiting for the death blow. Sobbing, Londo brought down the sword, and watched the life fade away in the creatures eyes."
In the course of the story, Londo meets a young seer, Shiri, and her ambitious and greedy mentor, Delasi.
2)"'And how long have you been a prophetess?' Londo asked. The countryside passed slowly outside the carriage.
'She has been able to see since she was barely a child of three seasons,' Delasi said.
'An advanced case, to be sure,' Londo said. 'You would almost think that a child who could see at three could be allowed to speak at sixteen.'
Delasi's lips pursed in a way Londo found most satisfying. With her silence won, for the moment at least, he looked back to Shiri.
'What can you tell me of my future, child?' he asked. (...)
Shiri considered her words carefully. 'I see little joy, and much sorrow,' she said at last. 'I see fire and death and pain. I see you betrayed by almost everyone you have ever trusted.'
'Almost everyone?'
'Your greatest enemy is also your greatest friend, and the trust you place in him is rewarded at the end of days. He is your freedom, and you are his. And in the end...' She hesitated, then forced herself to continue. 'In the end, you die in the arms of your friend, and he dies in yours, that a world might live.'
For a moment, Londo felt the world slide out from under him. The image she had described was a dream that had always been with him, the dream of his own death, in which he and G'kar of Narn ended their long and strange relationship by strangling one another to death. (...) Until this moment, he had always believed that the dream pointed to a final act of vengeance by one against the other. But now, in her words, for the first time he allowed himself the possibility of hope. That a world might live, she had said. But which world? Narn or Centauri Prime?"