G'Kar Character Profile

G'Kar was the Narn Ambassador to Babylon 5. Andreas Katsulas played the role.

G'Kar evolved more than any other character on Babylon 5. He began as a villain with a touch of humor, but evolved into a wise religious figure.

Note: This is a complete biography of G'Kar. Therefore, it contains spoilers for all five seasons of Babylon 5. The biography is written in chronological order, so if you are watching Babylon 5 for the first time you can safely read the early parts of this article and stop before you reach the sections that would reveal events that you haven't seen on the show yet.

History

G'Kar was born on the Narn homeworld around the Earth year 2201. At the time, he was only given a temporary name.

G'Kar grew up as a victim of the Centauri occupation of Narn. At the age of five, G'Kar spent six days in a shelter as the Centauri dropped bombs in retaliation for a rebellion.

A few years later, G'Kar's family worked as servants for a Centauri family in the city of G'Kamazad. They had hoped to flee Narn, but they were unable to leave due to G'Kar's mother's health. One day, G'Kar's father accidentally spilled hot food on their Centauri mistress. Her husband had G'Kar's father hung from a tree for three days. Ignoring his orders, G'Kar went to see his father. His father said he was proud of him. He asked G'Kar to fight the Centauri and be the things that his father couldn't be. After his father died, G'Kar ran away and began killing Centauri.

In 2209, the Centauri ended their occupation of Narn. The Narn began rebuilding their world, determined to never allow an invasion again.

At the age of ten, G'Kar chose his name. The name "G'Kar" indicated that he was a follower of G'Quan.

During the Earth-Minbari War, the Narn sold weapons to the Humans. In 2247, G'Kar secretly arranged a negotiation between Earth, represented by John Sheridan and Dr. Stephen Franklin, and Minbar, represented by Anla'shok Na Lenonn. When Londo Mollari learned of the secret meeting involving the Narn and the Humans, he assumed it was an arms deal and didn't want the Narn and Humans to estabish closer relations. He ordered a Centauri ship to destroy the Narn ship and bomb the bunker where the meeting was taking place. Lenonn was mortally wounded, and the Minbari captured the others. G'Kar was promptly released.

G'Kar reached the highest levels in Narn politics. In 2253, he ascended to the Third Circle of the Kha'Ri, the Narn ruling body. The same year his mate gave birth to a daughter named G'Ryka.

The Kha'Ri assigned G'Kar to be their ambassador to Babylon 5. This was a great honor because the Narn strategy at the time was make alliances to improve their position against the Centauri.

The Ambassador

In 2256, G'Kar came to Babylon 5 as the Narn Ambassador. Londo Mollari instantly recognized him as the Narn from his dreams who would eventually kill him. This merely added fuel to the enmity that already burned between the Narn and Centauri.

In January 2257, the Narn conspired with a member of the Minbari Wind Swords clan, Lieutenant Commander Laurel Takashima, and possibly others to assassinate Vorlon Ambassador Kosh and frame Commander Jeffrey Sinclair. A Narn ship brought the Minbari assassin to Babylon 5, and G'Kar had contact with him. G'Kar brought a motion before the Babylon 5 Council to have Sinclair extradited to the Vorlon homeworld. He blackmailed Centauri Ambassador Mollari for his vote, and contacted the Vorlon government to secure their proxy.

G'Kar contacted Minbari Ambassador Delenn, hoping to use the tumultuous situation as an excuse to form an alliance between their governments. When she rejected him, G'Kar insulted the Grey Council. Delenn responded by assaulting G'Kar with a gravity ring until he swore to never mention the Grey Council again.

G'Kar also contacted the telepath Lyta Alexander during this time. The Narn have no telepaths, and G'Kar wanted to purchase Lyta's DNA in an attempt to restore the telepathy gene to the Narn. He suggested either a direct mating or a DNA sample, which would result in a smaller payment due to the cost of growing a clone. Lyta was not interested.

G'Kar's suggestion of a direct mating was likely more at his own discretion rather than an order from his government. G'Kar had a weakness for Human females, and Babylon 5 had given him the opportunity to expand his horizons.

Tensions escalated in February 2258 when the Narn retook Ragesh 3 from the Centauri. G'Kar was a gleeful advocate of the Narn position, but the following month he and Londo negotiated the Euphrates Treaty to settle the dispute.

G'Kar's first attaché, Ko'Dath, died in a mysterious airlock accident only a few days after arriving on Babylon 5. Her replacement, Na'Toth, helped G'Kar outwit Tu'Pari, the Thenta Makur assassin sent to kill him by Du'Rog, and old political adversary.

As the ranking Narn follower on G'Quan on Babylon 5, G'Kar was responsible for leading his people in the observance of the religious celebration called the Days of G'Quan. This ceremony required a plant know as the G'Quan Eth. When G'Kar's plant was lost in an accident shortly before the observance in 2258, Londo Mollari got his revenge for Ragesh 3 by withholding a G'Quan Eth plant that he conveniently had on the station. Thankfully, Commander Sinclair eventually resolved the situation.

In August 2258, Mr. Morden visited G'Kar and asked him the Shadows' question, "What do you want?" G'Kar desired the annihilation of the Centauri, but beyond that his only goal was the safety of Narn. G'Kar's lack of destructive ambition spared the Narn from becoming allies of the Shadows.

When the Shadows destroyed the Narn outpost in Quadrant 37 in January 2259, G'Kar traveled to Narn to learn more. G'Kar became suspicious of the attack and feared that a new power had entered the scene... or an old power had returned. He traveled to several worlds on the Rim and eventually reached Z'ha'dum where Shadow fighters fired on him. He returned to Babylon 5 and studied the Book of G'Quan, convinced that the dark forces described in the book have returned. He warned the Babylon 5 Council about his discovery, and told them that Narn was sending a warship to confirm his story. Londo told Mr. Morden about the warship, and the Shadows intercepted and destroyed it.

In June 2259, Centauri Emperor Turhan visited Babylon 5. G'Kar planned to assassinate. However, before he could commit the act, Turhan suffered a heart attack. G'Kar learned from Dr. Frankly that the Emperor had planned to apologize to him for the Centauri occupation of Narn. This changed G'Kar's outlook completely, and he embraced the chance for peace. Unfortunately, at the same time the Shadows attacked the Narn colony in Quadrant 14, and the Centauri moved in to capture it. G'Kar hunted down Londo Mollari in a rage, but when Captain Sheridan stopped him, he chose to work to save Narn lives rather than exact his revenge. A short while later, he announced that the Narn were now at war with the Centauri.

Over the next few months, G'Kar did what he could to aid the war effort by seeking help from the other governments and protesting Centauri weapon shipments through Babylon 5.

In December 2259, Narn surrendered to the Centauri after brutal mass driver attacks. G'Kar's daughter escaped Narn to Earth and was adopted by Human parents. Following the Kha'Ri's orders, G'Kar requested asylum on Babylon 5. Londo Mollari announced that by the terms of the Narn surrender, G'Kar was no longer the ambassador and must be returned to Narn for trial. Sheridan and Minbari Ambassador Delenn sustained G'Kar's asylum, but he was forced to leave the council chamber.

Citizen G'Kar

No longer an ambassador, G'Kar was now known as Citizen G'Kar. He began organizing an armed resistance to the Centauri occupation of the Narn homeworld. He began purchasing weapons on the black market. Security Chief Michael Garibaldi secretly helped him.

During the early days for forming the resistance, another Narn on Babylon 5 challenged G'Kar's authority. G'Kar bargained that if he couldn't establish communication with the Narn homeworld then he would abdicate his position. Garibaldi used the Rangers to pass a message back and forth to Narn for G'Kar. This demonstration of his resources allowed G'Kar to maintain his leadership of the Narn on Babylon 5.

In January 2260, the Centauri-appointed Narn puppet government selected Na'Far to be their ambassador to Babylon 5. Ta'Lon, the Narn who was held captive with Sheridan by the Streib, was his bodyguard. G'Kar was ordered to return to Narn again, and the families of the Narn living on Babylon 5 were threatened if he didn't comply. G'Kar was willing to sacrifice himself, but the Narn on Babylon 5 convinced him to stay. Ta'Lon stayed on Babylon 5 to help G'Kar.

Over the next few months, G'Kar heard rumors of the Rangers and began to suspect that Delenn and the Humans were up to something. Remembering his suspicions of dark forces returning, G'Kar loaned his copy of the Book of G'Quan to Garibaldi.

At the end of February 2260, G'Kar arranged to purchase a quantity of Dust for the Narn resistance effort. Dust was a dangerous illegal drug that granted temporary telepathic powers. G'Kar was adversely affect by the Dust that he sampled. He went into a rage, kidnapped Londo Mollari, and attacked him physically and telepathically. Ambassador Kosh approached the deranged G'Kar and presented him with a vision of G'Lan, an angelic figure from G'Kar's religion. In his vision, G'Kar learned that that the Narn were a dying people, but he could still honor his father's last wish by dying with honor. All of the races were in danger, fighting to save each other, and some must be sacrificed to save the others.

This was the single most significant turning point in G'Kar's evolution. He learned to look for the higher goal of the survival of all species, and he accepted the possible necessity of self-sacrifice. G'Kar carried Londo to Med Lab and turned himself in to Security.

G'Kar spent the next several weeks in prison. He used this time to begin writing about what he saw in his vision and what he had learned from it. These writings eventually became known as the Book of G'Kar. Unknown to G'Kar, Ta'Lon stood guard outside his quarters the entire time he was in prison.

In April 2260, as he was losing control of his security forces to the Nightwatch, Garibaldi released G'Kar from prison. G'Kar offered a force of Narn to help capture the Nightwatch security officers and maintain the peace on Babylon 5 in their absence. The Narn also fought valiantly to defend the station during the EarthForce attempt to retake it after its secession from the Earth Alliance.

In July 2260, after providing aid to Babylon 5 for several months, G'Kar demanded admittance into the Conspiracy of Light. Delenn admitted to him that the Grey Council had known of the Shadows' return and had stood by as the Shadows helped the Centauri devastate Narn. If the Minbari had helped, the Shadows would have acted openly much sooner and destroyed the Narn utterly. G'Kar now understood that some had to be sacrificed if all were to be saved. However, he was unable to forgive Delenn at this time. Delenn welcomed him into their War Council.

Shortly thereafter, one of G'Kar's earlier contributions to the war effort came to fruition. By studying the Book of G'Quan that G'Kar had loaned him, Garibaldi deduced that telepaths were so much of a threat to the Shadows that they had wiped out all the Narn telepaths 1000 years earlier.

Alliances with Londo Mollari

In December 2260, G'Kar found himself in a surprising alliance of convenience with Londo Mollari. In exchange for Londo arranging the release of 4,000 Narn prisoners, G'Kar orchestrated the assassination of Lord Refa on Narn and planted evidence on his body to implicate him in the Narn resistance and discredit his House Refa.

G'Kar arranged for the Gaim to supply 500 nuclear weapons to use against the Shadows. When John Sheridan traveled to Za'ha'dum with Anna Sheridan, he took two of the bombs with him.

In January 2261, G'Kar noticed that everyone was so concerned about Sheridan's disappearance on Za'ha'dum that no one was interested in investigating Garibaldi's disappearance during the Shadow attack on Babylon 5. G'Kar learned that parts of Garibaldi's Starfury were being sold on Zathran 7. Despite the fact that the Centauri controlled that world, G'Kar went there to learn more. Marcus Cole joined him for a while, but after Marcus returned to Babylon 5 to follow up a lead the Centauri captured G'Kar.

G'Kar suffered terribly as a personal amusement for Centauri Emperor Cartagai. The guards brutally beat him and denied him water. However, this placed G'Kar in a unique position to help his people.

Londo Mollari enlisted G'Kar as part of his plan to assassinate Emperor Cartagia. They would all travel to Narn for G'Kar's public execution. Guards loyal to Londo were in place on Narn, and Cartagia would have only a few of his personal guards with him. Londo had arranged for G'Kar's chains to be weakened. At the proper time, G'Kar would break his chains and distract the royal guards while Londo assassinated the Emperor. In exchange, Londo would free Narn and withdraw the Centauri occupation force.

G'Kar's wait for the journey to Narn was filled with additional tortures. Cartagia demanded a scream, and ordered G'Kar to be struck with an electrowhip forty times or until he screamed. Forty lashes would cause death. G'Kar endured the torture until the 39th lash when he finally swallowed his pride and screamed in order to save his life long enough to play his part in the assassination. Cartagia also ordered his guards to pluck out G'Kar's left eye.

When the day of G'Kar's execution arrived, Cartagia noticed that his chains appeared weak, so he ordered his guards to replace them with stronger chains. Despite this, G'Kar summoned the strength to break his bonds and provide the necessary distraction. After Cartagia was assassinated by Vir Cotto, Londo kept his promise and ordered the Centauri withdrawal from Narn.

The Narn asked G'Kar to lead them, but he refused. He would remain a member of the Kha'Ri - now elevated to the First Circle - but he had no desire to be a dictator.

G'Kar returned to Babylon 5 in February 2261 and received medical treatment from Dr. Franklin. Two months later, he finally received an artificial eye implant. G'Kar was disappointed that it cosmetically resembled a Human eye, but he was plesently surprised to learn that it still transmitted images to his implanted neural net even when removed from his eye socket.

The next year and a half witnessed several examples of surprising cooperation between G'Kar and Londo Mollari.

G'Kar and Londo worked together in May 2261 by allowing Sheridan to patrol their mutual border with White Stars. This tricked the Non-Aligned Worlds into demanding that Sheridan also provide protection to them, an move that Sheridan wanted but the Non-Aligned Worlds had initially refused.

In September 2261, Londo came to G'Kar with a proposal for a joint declaration of support for Sheridan in the Earth Civil War. After much contemplation, G'Kar grudgingly agreed to sign the declaration, but not on the same page as Londo.

After the resolution of the Earth Civil War, Delenn drafted the proposal for the Interstellar Alliance. She secured G'Kar's and Londo's support to encourage the Non-Aligned Worlds to sign on.

G'Kar made a brief foray to his lecherous past when he left his prosthetic eyeball on a table pointed at Sheridan and Delenn's honeymoon bed.

The Voice of the Interstellar Alliance

By the year 2262, G'Kar had become well known as one of the most eloquent and insightful writers of the Interstellar Alliance. John Sheridan asked him to write the text for the presidential inauguration ceremony and a Declaration of Principles for the Alliance. G'Kar worked tirelessly on these documents. Unfortunately, G'Kar was forced to severely curtail Sheridan's oath fo office due to an assassination attempt. However, G'Kar's Declaration of Principles was one of the most beautiful documents ever written. At its heart was the realization that G'Kar had carried since his vision of G'Lan: "We are one."

Throughout this time, G'Kar continued to work on his own book.

When Londo Mollari suffered a heart attack, G'Kar stood vigil outside his room with Vir Cotto. When Londo regained consciousness screaming, "I'm sorry," G'Kar was deeply moved and seemed to know that Londo was speaking to him.

In May, 2262, Londo Mollari began making extended trips to Centauri Prime. Delenn convinced G'Kar to accompany Londo as his bodyguard since Londo was the strongest proponent for Centauri participation in the Interstellar Alliance.

During G'Kar's absence from Babylon 5, Ta'Lon feared that he might be imprisoned or killed on Centauri Prime. Ta'Lon entered G'Kar's quarters and found the Book of G'Kar. Since there was only one copy of the book, the Kha'Ri instructed him to return it to Narn. The members of the Kha'Ri were inspired by G'Kar's words. The book was sent to a printer, which reproduced it faithfully, including the coffee stains that Michael Garibaldi had left on page 83. Soon several hundred thousand copies were earning followers for G'Kar throughout the Narn Regime. Over the next few months, G'Kar rewrote the early portions of his book that he originally wrote when he was an angrier person.

In June 2262, G'Kar discovered that Na'Toth was still a prisoner in a dungeon in the Centauri palace, the victim of an imperial order that was never rescinded. G'Kar and Londo smuggled her out and returned her to the Narn homeworld.

Back on Babylon 5 during the Brakiri Day of the Dead, G'Kar slept in C&C since his quarters were in the Brakiri zone. When he learned of the experiences that other had during the night, he regretted his decision to avoid the event. During this return trip to the station, Dr. Franklin replaced G'Kar's prosthetic eye with one that cosmetically matched his natural eye.

In July 2262, Lyta Alexander approached G'Kar and reminded him of his offer to purchase her telepath DNA five years earlier. She offered to sell him many telepath DNA samples in exchange for money and five starships. G'Kar secured the Kha'Ri's agreement to her request. However, before he finalized the deal, he asked Lyta to also provide telepathic intelligence on the other ambassadors. Lyta refused, and G'Kar revealed that this was only a test. If she had agreed, he would know that he couldn't trust her. Since she declined, the original deal would go forward.

G'Kar and Londo returned to Centauri Prime after the Centauri Republic withdrew from the Interstellar Alliance in August 2262. G'Kar was promptly arrested. When Londo insisted that he and G'Kar must remain together, he found himself sharing a prison cell with G'Kar. They remained in the cell for four days. G'Kar urged Londo to leave, but Londo said his couldn't leave without compromising his principles. Finally, Londo feared that something terrible was about to happen, so G'Kar helped him leave without losing face by vomiting and creating a horrible stench.

As his last act as a free man before receiving his Drakh keeper, Londo visited G'Kar. The relationship between these two had gone through so much over the past several years. G'Kar told Londo that he could never forgive the Centauri, and the Narn could never forgive the Centauri, but G'Kar could forgive Londo.

On His Own

G'Kar returned to Babylon 5 to find a throng of followers who worshipped him as a religous icon. There was trouble at home also. The Kha'Ri demanded that G'Kar return to Narn to lead them or at least give them his blessing. They threatened to boycott the Interstellar Alliance if he didn't return.

G'Kar realized that he would have to leave Babylon 5 to escape his cult of personality. He purchased a small spaceship and named it the Na'Toth. G'Kar realized that he could kill several birds with one stone. He offered to take the troublesome Lyta Alexander with him. The second problem he helped to solve was the news brought by Tessa Halloran, the former Number One of the Mars Resistance. She said an assassin had arrived to kill Michael Garibaldi and Lise Hampton Edgars. G'Kar consented to an elaborate farewell ceremony as a trap for the assassin.

The plan succeeded. Unfortunately, there was a second assassin in the crowd with his sights set on G'Kar. He was a Narn follower of G'Kar who had built statues of G'Kar. G'Kar had broken one of his statues when he rebuffed his followers for their adoration. The Narn's shot missed G'Kar but wounded Lise.

After saying his good-byes, G'Kar recorded a message for Ta'Lon asking him to become the Narn Ambassador to Babylon 5.

G'Kar and Lyta set off in the Na'Toth. They had many adventures together, and G'Kar even began to explore the less-proper behavior of his earlier years in an effort to achieve balance in his life.

After parting ways with Lyta, G'Kar continued his travels among the stars. At the end of 2269 he returned to Narn to address a controversy surrounding his seat on the Kha'Ri. His daughter, G'Ryka, had been raised on Earth with the name Jerrica, but she had returned to Narn to discover who her parents were. When she learned that she was the heir to G'Kar's seat, others moved to put a more distant relative who had been raised on Narn in G'Kar's seat. G'Kar addressed the Kha'Ri and convinced them to give his seat to Jerrica.

G'Kar began to dabble in the situation on Centauri Prime. President Sheridan called him "the king's hand", referring to those who did the dirty work for their leaders. G'Kar provided information to Sheridan, but the President never knew how he obtained it.

One of G'Kar's methods was to disguise himself with a changeling net and walk freely among the people of Centauri Prime. In September 2275, G'Kar thwarted an assassination attempt against Prime Minister Durla that could have harmed Emperor Mollari. G'Kar was captured and spent the next few years in the Centauri Imperial Palace.

Part of his stay was spent as a "guest" of the Emperor, and part of his visit was endured under less pleasant conditions in a cell. To make a point to Londo about who was in charge, Prime Minister Durla had G'Kar's eye removed again.

In January 2278, G'Kar was summoned to the throne room after the exposure of the Drakh and the detonation of their nuclear weapons that returned ruin to Centauri Prime. Londo was drinking heavily, and G'Kar managed to catch a glimpse of his keeper that controlled Londo. Londo made several inflammatory statements, and G'Kar realized that he was trying to enrage him so that he would kill him.

G'Kar hid himself when the guards brought Sheridan and Delenn before Londo. After they departed, freed by Londo, G'Kar returned to the throne room. At Londo's request, G'Kar began to strangle him. Then the keeper awoke and commanded him to strike back at G'Kar. The two men - adversaries and friends - died with their hands at each other's throats, just as Londo had foreseen.

The Book of G'Kar immortalized G'Kar on Narn, and Emperor Vir Cotto imortalized G'Kar on Centauri Prime by building giant statues of G'Kar and Londo on opposite sides of the capital city, standing guard and watching each other's backs.