B5: Kosh's "Hand" (series spoilers)

[McC]

Okay, what's up with this?

"The Gathering" (special edition) shows us Kosh speaking to pseudo-Sinclair from Kosh's perspective. Kosh reaches out a humanoid, glowing yellow hand to shake "Sinclair's" hand. It is at this point that "Sinclair" slaps the skin tab with the poison onto Kosh.

"Fall of Night" shows us Kosh exiting his encounter suit as a winged, angelic being. We later learn that this is a projected image rather than his true form.

"Falling Toward Apotheosis" (I think) shows us Vorlons without their angelic guise. They are luminous, squid-like beings (crystalline based life as I understand it).

Now, my question is this: how the fuck did Kosh extend his hand to "Sinclair"? I can accept that his hand looked the way it did because he was mentally projecting the humanoid image. But how did his hand actually exit his encounter suit? In "Deathwalker," he extends some kind of grasping arm out of his suit to retrieve the data crystal from Abbut. If it was easy for him to extend his hand, why did he not simply do so? Furthermore, how the hell could he do this to begin with? He's encased in an encounter suit, which presumably encases his entire body. It's not as if he can just reach through the fabric drape he has around the "shoulders."

[NecronLord]

Open hatch. Extend appendage.

[Sir Sirius]

Remember that Kosh and Kosh II flew through bulkheads in Falling Toward Apotheosis, if Vorlons can do that I doubt that reaching through the encounter suit would be much of a problem.

[NecronLord]

Which begs the question, why do they have an opening at the neck? Is passing through solid objects painful or uncomfortable for them?

[Aaron]

Which begs the question, why do they have an opening at the neck? Is passing through solid objects painful or uncomfortable for them?

Maybe it's just for show. We know that the Vorlons frequently employ deception, and use less advanced technology to hide their true capabilities.

[McC]

Open hatch. Extend appendage.

We see from the isolab scene that opening the hatch emits a blinding white light. No such light exists when Kosh is shaking hands with "Sinclair."

Remember that Kosh and Kosh II flew through bulkheads in Falling Toward Apotheosis, if Vorlons can do that I doubt that reaching through the encounter suit would be much of a problem.

I can't remember off hand, but didn't they damage the decks in doing so?

[NecronLord]

We see from the isolab scene that opening the hatch emits a blinding white light. No such light exists when Kosh is shaking hands with "Sinclair."

And the other times we see Vorlons outside their suits, the level of light emission is different. Meh. They presumably have dimmer switches, and Kosh was according to JMS, in both cases manipulating what is seen.

[SyntaxVorlon]

Okay, what's up with this?

"The Gathering" (special edition) shows us Kosh speaking to pseudo-Sinclair from Kosh's perspective. Kosh reaches out a humanoid, glowing yellow hand to shake "Sinclair's" hand. It is at this point that "Sinclair" slaps the skin tab with the poison onto Kosh.

"Fall of Night" shows us Kosh exiting his encounter suit as a winged, angelic being. We later learn that this is a projected image rather than his true form.

"Falling Toward Apotheosis" (I think) shows us Vorlons without their angelic guise. They are luminous, squid-like beings (crystalline based life as I understand it).

Now, my question is this: how the fuck did Kosh extend his hand to "Sinclair"? I can accept that his hand looked the way it did because he was mentally projecting the humanoid image. But how did his hand actually exit his encounter suit? In "Deathwalker," he extends some kind of grasping arm out of his suit to retrieve the data crystal from Abbut. If it was easy for him to extend his hand, why did he not simply do so? Furthermore, how the hell could he do this to begin with? He's encased in an encounter suit, which presumably encases his entire body. It's not as if he can just reach through the fabric drape he has around the "shoulders."

In the last case, for the meeting with Sinclair he was doing the equivalent of a hazmat/diver/spacesuited man taking off the glove, shaking hands with his friend, and putting it back on. Mostly a show of respect. You don't really have to do that with some silly robot or whatever that guy was.

[Batman]

In the last case, for the meeting with Sinclair he was doing the equivalent of a hazmat/diver/spacesuited man taking off the glove, shaking hands with his friend, and putting it back on. Mostly a show of respect. You don't really have to do that with some silly robot or whatever that guy was.

And that's assuming that Kosh didn't thanks to The Gathering decide that putting his appendages outside the encounter suit wasn't apparently a smart move.

[IronicTwist]

In "Deathwalker," he extends some kind of grasping arm out of his suit to retrieve the data crystal from Abbut. If it was easy for him to extend his hand, why did he not simply do so?

Kosh considered himself superior to Talia and Abbut. Why would reveal a part of himself to them, while he's concealing his appearance from everyone else? Remember, he was testing Talia, so he doesn't trust her yet.

Besides, he probably learned from "The Gathering" that's it's not safe to put out your hand, even for a trusted friend. Use the robot arm for now to carry the crystal to your quarters and retrieve it there.

[Lost Soal]

The suit may have been designed so that Kosh couldn't just pass through it without burning a hole through, and their may also have been an arm appendage built in to the suit which he was using.
For what its worth, the same question was asked in the series....

They never did give an answer.

[Skylon]

In "Deathwalker," he extends some kind of grasping arm out of his suit to retrieve the data crystal from Abbut. If it was easy for him to extend his hand, why did he not simply do so?

Kosh considered himself superior to Talia and Abbut. Why would reveal a part of himself to them, while he's concealing his appearance from everyone else? Remember, he was testing Talia, so he doesn't trust her yet.

Besides, he probably learned from "The Gathering" that's it's not safe to put out your hand, even for a trusted friend. Use the robot arm for now to carry the crystal to your quarters and retrieve it there.

Maybe Kosh hadn't even planned it, got all hung up over the fact that "holy crap, its Valen!" and couldn't resist shaking hands with him?

Course the real reason is I think JMS hadn't yet decided to make Vorlon's pure energy beings.

[McC]

Does anyone post to the usenet groups JMS posts to? If so, can you actually ask him for me?

[Lost Soal]

Does anyone post to the usenet groups JMS posts to? If so, can you actually ask him for me?

This question has been asked of JMS before. These were his responses, from JMSNews.com

From: STRACZYNSKI [Joe]
Subject: Yes, the origins of various of our...
To: GENIE
Date: 11/11/1992 4:45:00 PM



Yes, the origins of various of our races will be explored, and their
histories and cultures and backgrounds and languages. And just a note on the
"hand" question...it wasn't Lyta's pov of Kosh's hand, it was Kosh's pov of
Kosh's hand...maybe. Not everything is what it seems to be.

Especially the owls.

jms

From: J. Michael Straczynski <[email protected]>
Subject: Poisoning Kosh
To: CIS
Date: 5/6/1996 6:28:00 AM


Daniel M. Upton <[email protected]> asks:
> Why did Kosh cooperate with the effort to poison him?

Kosh extended a hand...because he recognized Sinclair.

Which is all I'll say for now.

jms
From: J. Michael Straczynski <[email protected]>
Subject: Poisoning Kosh
To: CIS
Date: 5/6/1996 2:44:00 PM


{original post had no questions}

It didn't have to get past the encounter suit; he was distinctly
shown extending a portion of himself *outside* the suit.

There you go, Kosh recognised Sinclair and extended a portion of himself as a show of respect,

[SyntaxVorlon]

That's IT!!!
It's the OWLS!

[Dalton]

Well, at the end of "Deconstruction of Falling Stars" we see that Vorlon-like humans can still manifest as humanoids. Perhaps Kosh did the same.