RIP Mira Furlan

For those who don’t know, though most folks who follow the blog probably watched Babylon 5: Mira Furlan was Delenn.

She passed away earlier this week from complications from West Nile Virus. She was only 65.

From the deeply compelling portrayal of the power of compassion and sacrifice in “Confessions and Lamentations,” to one of the most pump your fist in the air verbal smackdowns of all time in the ridiculously awesome episode “Severed Dreams,” she filled the character with tangible depth.

The scene:

So many of the actors and actresses of that show have passed away, many far, far too early to be denied their talents. This one hit me hard, as if all of the cast that has passed to date all went at one time.

It was a formative show for me, and in a way, for TV as well. Long, multi-season plots that were one continuous story from beginning to end (though life threw curveballs) was certainly novel, if not unprecedented.

It inspired several of my early GURPS campaigns, and of course my wife and I quote scenes to each other to this day.

Rest in Peace, Ms. Furlan. I’ll leave you with these words, almost certainly penned by JMS but delivered flawlessly by Delenn:

Capt. John Sheridan : I wish I had your faith in the universe. I just don’t see it sometimes.

Delenn : Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station, and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. And as we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective.

Delenn : The universe puts us into places where we can learn. They are never easy places, but they are right. Wherever we are is the right place and the right time. The pain that sometimes comes is part of the process of constantly being born

She knew her health was failing, and so left us a note, as well:

“I look at the stars. It’s a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That’s where I’ll be going soon. ‘We’re all star stuff,’ I suddenly remember Delenn’s line from Joe’s script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid. In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That’s all.”

-Mira Furlan