Jeffrey Sinclair
Jeffrey David Sinclair was born on
May 3, 2218 on Mars Colony. Sinclair's father was a fighter pilot for
EarthForce who participated in the Battle of Balos, the last engagement of the
Dilgar Invasion.
Sinclair enlisted in
EarthForce in 2237. During his time at EarthForce Academy, he met Catherine Sakai, with whom he had a relationship. After a year of living together, the two of them broke up, but continued to see each other off and on through 2258, when they became engaged. Sakai went missing in late 2259, while on a mission for the
Rangers.
In
2240, Sinclair was promoted to fighter pilot. Less than a year later, Sinclair was promoted to squadron leader; due to his rapid rise through the ranks, the rumor of the day was that Sinclair was on the fast track to making
Admiral. As squadron leader, Sinclair fought at the
Battle of the Line, the last major battle in the
Earth-Minbari War. During the course of the battle, his squadron was destroyed by the
Minbari, and his fighter was badly damaged. In a last act of defiance, Sinclair attempted to ram one of the Minbari cruisers. He failed in this when he was captured by another Minbari cruiser for interrogation by the
Grey Council. It was here that the Council learned that Sinclair possessed the soul of
Valen, a hero of the Minbari who led them to victory 1000 years ago against the
Shadows. It was concluded by the Grey Council that Minbari souls were being born into
human bodies. The discovery of what Sinclair possessed led theMinbari to surrender and return Sinclair to his fighter, the memory of his time aboard the Minbari cruiser telapathically blocked (though this block would not be permanent and would break down years later). Sinclair â€" and the Earth Alliance â€" believed that he had blacked out from the acceleration.
Sinclair was selected by the Minbari to command
Babylon 5, and took command in 2257, when the station was brought into operation.
In January 2259, Sinclair was reassigned as
ambassador to
Minbar, where he took command of the
Rangers. He was succeeded at Babylon 5 by Captain
John Sheridan.
In 2260, Sinclair received a 900-year old letter from himself on Minbar, revealing that he was, in fact, Valen. Armed with this knowledge, Sinclair took Babylon 4 back with him 1000 years to aid the Minbari in their first war against the Shadows, and in so doing, fulfilled Minbari prophecy by becoming the
One Who Was. It was here that Sinclair used the triluminary to transform himself into a Minbari, thus fulfilling the legend about Valen being "a Minbari not born of Minbar".
The canonical comic book trilogy
In Valen's Name seems to suggest that Catherine Sakai was found by Sinclair after his transformation to Valen.
The dropping of Sinclair's character after Season 1 was a controversial event for fans of the show. The creator, J Michael Straczynski, has said that originally he intended for Sinclair to be CO of Babylon 5 all through the series' run and finally at the end of the show take his place as Valen, but found that he had effectively "written himself into a corner": there was no more room for Sinclair's character development, and the character's nature wouldn't sit right with events planned later in the show's story arc. So Sinclair was replaced with a much more "down-to-earth" character in
John Sheridan.
