The Drakh and the Keepers
WARNING: Contains Spoilers Through the Fourth Season
Click HERE to see a picture of a Drakh.
Well, the Drakh are evidently a race that becomes VERY important by the fifth season, but I've only seen up to the fourth, so this page will be mostly guesswork and opinion until I can catch up, which will be months from now.
First of all, the first Drakh we see is when Delenn's ship runs into one on her way back to Minbar in early-ish Season Four. They look rather sinister, having a kind of skull-like mask over their face and an eerie way of phasing in and out. Other than that I can't tell you what they look like, as the phasing made them rather hard to see. Their ships open up petals like a flower, kinda, but despite that comparison to something relatively benign and pretty, they are creepy-looking.
Their phasing may be related to the Shadows' ability to go in and out of hyperspace at will. When the Shadows went beyond the rim, they left behind an ominous message that they had NOT been totally defeated--that even though they were gone, OTHER races, allies of theirs, remained behind and were more than willing to carry on their work as revenge against the other "younger races" (which are now, you realise, the OLDER races by default...).
The main thing the Drakh MAY be known for--and I haven't seen the fifth season so I don't KNOW if it's them doing it or not--is the Keepers. These are yucky little tentacled things with one huge buggy out eye that wrap around someone's neck and extend microscopic tendrils right through their skulls, into their brains, where they can control the person's actions and words (and thoughts?). If the person under control tries to resist, the Keeper is in a great position to STRANGLE them! Nice, huh? They are usually put on people in power, or people in sensitive positions to be able to infiltrate secret organisations.
Physically, the Keepers are small and weak--their strength lies in the fact that they are invisible unless they go to sleep--and that is NEVER, unless the person they are controlling drinks themselves almost into a stupor. This knocks out the Keeper, who has a smaller system than the person they are controlling and therefore less tolerance for alchohol, BEFORE it knocks out the person and, for a short while, drunk as a skunk though they may be, the person can be themselves again. (I wonder if this is a dark echo of Vir's funny little lighthearted line in "The Parliament of Dreams"--after Londo DRINKS himself into oblivion, Vir jumps up and yells out "He has become one with his inner self!" And to get control of your mind, or, your "inner self" while under the influence of a Keeper, you have to drink heavily...) I assume that heavy knockout drugs or the like would also do the trick...
Also, the Keepers can never be FULLY removed. Even if you shoot them, stab them, etc, there are always tendrils left in the brain and they grow back very fast, within hours sometimes. However, I still hold out hope that SOME way will be found to get rid of them...
Why do I care so much? Well, you see, the Keepers were first seen in that horrendously dark and tragic flash-forward from "War Without End" (or "The Neverending War to End All Neverending Wars") in which poor LONDO had one on him and was a decrepit old wreck! And even though he BEGGED G'Kar to KILL him while it was still asleep, it WOKE BACK UP ANYWAY before the job could be done and when he died, he was STILL not himself!!
Not to mention--the No-Name Regent (Formerly Minister) Dude, poor little foofy thing that he is, finding one on his own shoulder right after he got promoted...
Shudder...sniff...what HORRIBLE endings for such great characters! Especially Londo!
Erm, excuse me, I got carried away there. My point is, these are CREEPY things and if the Drakh ARE behind them, then they are a formidable enemy and I wish them the most painful of deaths. Not that I'm predjudiced or bitter or anything...
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