Draal

"I like you. You're trouble."

- Draal, to Susan Ivanova

Draal was a male Minbari hero from the Babylon 5 television series who was the second Guardian of the Great Machine of Epsilon III.

Draal was initally played by Louis Turenne, and in subsequent appearances by John Schuck.

A former teacher of Delenn, by the mid 23rd century Draal was feeling tired, and becoming disillusioned with Minbari society, feeling his people had lost their way. Intending to observe the ancient Minbari tradition of going out to the sea of stars, Draal visited Babylon 5 to see Delenn one more time. While he was there the Great Machine's guardian Varn decided that Draal would be a good replacement as Varn was dying and the planet would explode without a guardian to keep the machine stable.

Taking Varn's place inside the machine, Draal warned Varn's people and the Earth Alliance forces that the planet was off limits, and that attempts to land would be met with deadly force. When Varn's people did not listen Draal destroyed their ships to prove he was serious. Before they left Varn assured Delenn that with the few days he had left he would watch to make sure the machine truly accepted Draal, and that it would be a wonderous experience for Draal.

Over the next year the Great Machine rejuvenated Draal, restoring him to his appearance of thirty years ago. When he appeared to Captain John Sheridan to offer his services Sheridan was suspicious at first because Draal did not look like he did the last time, but tracing Draal's signal soon confirmed that Draal had been telling the truth. Sheridan and Delenn went to see Draal, who committed himself and the Great Machine to the fight against the Shadows.

The following year when the Army of Light was searching out the First Ones, Draal provided all the information he had available to the allies to help them locate First Ones. The information he provided led them to the Walkers of Sigma 957, who promised to help when the time came.

When Babylon 5 decided to seek indepenence against the tyrannical Morgan Clark Ivanova asked if they should consider asking Draal to help defend the station. Sheridan declined, stating it was their fight, not Draal's. He also wanted to keep Draal a secret as long as possible.

Draal opened the time rift in Sector 14 to enable Babylon 4 to be sent back in time to operate as the allied base in the previous war against the Shadows, and later closed the rift after the station had been sent back in time.

The next year was busy for Draal as a series of ground quakes had damaged the Great Machine, to the point that he could not take the time to meet with Ivanova when she came down to seek assistance in setting up a news station to counter Clark's propaganda.

Trivia

 * Turenne was unavailable due to health reasons to reprise the role of Draal during the second season. This led to the role being recast with John Schuck, with the explanation for the differences in appearance being that the machine had rejuvenated Draal to the point where he looked much younger than he did before.