Zathras

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Tim Choate as "Zathras"
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Tim Choate as "Zathras"

The fictional characters of Zathras, portrayed by actor Tim Choate, were a race of 10 aliens of unknown origin who appeared on several episodes of the TV series Babylon 5.

The oldest Zathras was the oldest living (110 years old) caretaker of the Great Machine, in the service of the mysterious and messianic 'The One'.

Looking like a slightly shaggy, slightly hunchbacked human, Zathras was prone to deadpan delivery of somewhat cryptic, somewhat humorous, generally self-pitying statements, patterned after J. Michael Straczynski's grandmother's uneasy grasp of English.

He also referred to himself in the third person, although sometimes instead of himself he was referring to his brothers, as the story mentions that Zathras is one of 10 different brothers whose names all sound nigh-indistinguishably like 'Zathras'. This fact is revealed by a younger brother of the first Zathras - the second Zathras to be seen - who only appeared in one episode.

The first Zathras travelled 1000 years into the past on Babylon 4 with Jeffrey Sinclair, who (during the trip) transformed into the Minbari religious figure Valen in order to help the Minbari defeat the Shadows. The fate of the first Zathras is not known following the Minbaris' acceptance of Sinclair as Valen.

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