Transfiguration
From almost the very beginning of our journey to the Sea
of Stars, we have heard of Valen, A Minbari Not Born of Minbari... the
great leader of that race whom they revere above all others, nigh onto
godhood. We learn of him slowly, in small references, most notably the
invocation of his name by the phrase "In Valen's name."�
���These
three words are spoken as a blessing, an oath, and a prayer.
Valen, we eventually learn is none other than our beloved Jeffrey David Sinclair, once simply the leader of Alpha Squadron during the Battle of the Line, then commander of the Babylon 5 Station, who went on to serve as the first Ambassador from Earth to Minbar, and subsequently was appointed (in fulfillment of prophecy, many would acknowledge) Anla'shok Na (or Ranger One) and Entil'Zha.
On that fateful and appointed day, a letter was delivered to Anla'shok Na on Minbar -- a letter he himself had written, nine hundred years earlier. A letter which would begin (again) the series of events necessary to vanquish the returning Darkness. The letter sent him off on the ultimate quest, one which rivaled those of Hercules, Jason, Perceval, Frodo, and, yes, even Ulysses.
He once again traveled "home," to Babylon 5. Greeted and welcomed warmly by Old�Friends, there was little time for reminiscing. He, and the others also, were constrained by the urgency of their mission: traveling to Sector 14 to the time rift in order to take the Babylon 4 station through the rift, back one thousand years, to the time of the First Great War with the Shadows. For it was this anachronism which turned the tide for the original Army of Light and sent the Shadows into hiding for a millennium.
The time rift was a dangerous section of space, and had been under quarantine since Commander Sinclair and Security Chief Michael Garibaldi had returned from Sector 14 in 2258. Unlike the first journey through the time rift, the fellowship was now protected by time stabilizer devices provided by Draal, Custodian of the Great Machine, and Zathrus. But having already once traveled through the rift and back to his own time without a stabilizer, Sinclair would not survive to return to the 2260s again. And so it was (as it should be, as it had been, as it always would be) that he, the True Seeker, would take Babylon 4 one thousand years into the past, as a gift to the Minbari.
Now only one thing remained to be done. Using the triluminary, Sinclair constructed the device which would transform him into A Minbari Not Born of Minbari. He entered the chrysalis, as Delenn had done before him, sacrificing himself for not only humanity, but for all sentient life. With Zathrus to attend him, as Lennier had attended Delenn, Sinclair suffered the pain of this total transformation of his body. We can (at this point) only imagine the anguish Sinclair suffered during this time, for there are few records left to us of Valen. We know only that he made a gift of the station to the Minbari, accompanied by "Valeria"�(to the eyes of the Minbari), two Vorlon companions, with these words: