Triluminary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the mysterious device in Babylon 5. For a faction in The Matrix, see Triluminary (The Matrix).

A device in the science fiction drama Babylon 5. The triluminary is triangular shaped Minbari device with a small chip in the centre. The full extent of its abilities are unknown. The primary use seems to be the ability to detect people who contain the DNA of the Minbari prophet Valen. Valen was really Commander Jeffrey Sinclair after he traveled back in time with Babylon 4 to help the Minbari defeat the Shadows in the previous Shadow War. In one instance Minbari ambassador Delenn used the triluminary as part of a device which transformed her into a Human-Minbari hybrid.

Also, in the final moments of the Earth-Minbari War, the Grey Council used a Triluminary as they attempted to interrogate Sinclair, whom they had captured. The Triluminary glowed brightly, indicating that Sinclair had a Minbari soul; in fact, the Council assumed that Sinclair was the reincarnation of Valen himself (rather than the other way around). The Council thus called an immediate halt to the war, since the fact that Minbari souls were being born in human bodies would mean that Minbari were effectively killing each other - a concept abhorrent to all Minbari.

In one episode, Delenn makes reference to Commander Sinclair getting the Triluminary from Epsilon Three, the planet that Babylon 5 orbits which houses the Great Machine that sent Sinclair back in time. However, the chip in the centre of the triangle looks like it could have been part of Sinclair's Identification Card, which would explain why it responds to his DNA - Valen constructed the triluminaries himself after time travelling to the past. The name Triluminary could refer not only to the fact that it is triangular in shape, but also because there are three of them, as mentioned by another Minbari in series one: "Take it, Delenn, no one will miss it. We have two others."