Zathras
| Zathras | |
|---|---|
| Babylon 5 character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | Babylon Squared |
| Last appearance |
War Without End (Zathras I) Conflicts of Interest (Zathras II) |
| Portrayed by | Tim Choate |
| Information | |
| Species | Unknown |
| Home planet | Unknown |
| Affiliated with | Great Machine |
War Without End (Zathras I)
Zathras is the name (see below for more information) of each a group of characters in the science fiction television series Babylon 5, all portrayed by Tim Choate. There were ten of these characters who appeared on several episodes throughout the series. The name of Zathras' species and homeworld were never revealed; in "War Without End", Zathras is seen living on Epsilon III and helping take care of the Great Machine with one other member of his race, although there is no evidence that this is their actual homeworld.
The oldest Zathras is the oldest living (110 years old) caretaker of the Great Machine, in the service of the mysterious and messianic "The One" when first appearing.
A slightly shaggy, slightly hunchbacked humanoid, Zathras is prone to deadpan delivery of somewhat cryptic, somewhat humorous, generally self-pitying statements such as "Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life. Probably have very sad death. But, at least there is symmetry." or "No one, ever listens to poor Zathras no, he's quite mad they say. It is good that Zathras does not mind, has even grown to like it." These speech patterns were patterned after J. Michael Straczynski's Polish-born grandmother's uneasy grasp of English as JMS wrote in his introduction to the episode "Babylon Squared" in Volume 2 of The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski.
He also refers to himself in the third person, although sometimes instead of himself he refers 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 may appear twice as "War Without End" features Tim Choate in a dual role as two Zathrases discussing the condition of the great machine. It is explained that the way to differentiate one Zathras from another is to listen to the inflection of the name. However, as he demonstrates the differences to Ivanova, she (and the audience) are unable to detect any difference between one and the others, though it may simply be due to humans lacking the aural sensitivity to detect the subtle differences in the inflections.
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