Jeffrey Sinclair

"Mister, I don't care if you had a personal message from God complete with stone tablets!"

- Sinclair, dressing down the Psi Cop Bester

Jeffrey Sinclair, later known as Valen was a protagonists during the first season of the TV series Babylon 5 television series.

Sinclair was played by the late Michael O'Hare.

Early Life
Born on Mars Sinclair was the son of David and Gemma Gildea Sinclair. Coming from a long line of fighter pilots, Sinclair learned how to fly from his grandfather. After the death of his father Sinclair entered a Jesuit school where he learned how to appreciate mornings.

Sinclair attended Earthforce Academy, where he encountered John Sheridan, who would one day succeed him as Babylon 5 commander.

During the Earth-Minbari war Sinclair flew as a pilot during the Battle of the Line. Over 10,000 Earthforce people fought in the battle, and fewer than 200 survived. Sinclair was one of the survivors. Taken on board the Grey Council's ship during the battle, the Grey Council scanned Sinclair with a triluminary. To their horror they realized that not only did Sinclair have a Minbari soul, but the device said he was the reincarnation of their great religious leader Valen. The Minbari stopped their assault and surrendered to the humans. A Minbari telepath blocked out Sinclair's memories of his time on the Minbari ship, and 24 hours later he was put out on his fighter. When found he was shocked to learn that the war was over, and humanity had "won."

In 2253 Sinclair rode on a shuttle piloted by Michael Garibaldi on a tour of the Martian surface. Their shuttle crashed and the passengers were forced to make their way back to civilization, it was during this time that the two men became friends.

During this time he also became friends with the Minbari Ambassador Delenn, who was keeping an eye on him following the realization that he was carrying Valen's soul.

Babylon 5
In the 2250s Earth was finally able to bring a Babylon station - Babylon 5 - online with assistance from the Minbari government, who made their assistance conditional on being able to name the station commander. The Minbari rejected every candidate until they came to Sinclair, who they finally accepted as station commander. Sinclair accepted, askeing Garibaldi to join him as his chief of security.

Ranger One
Sinclair retained command of B5 until early 2259, when he was recalled to Earth and then named Ambassador to the Minbari. On Minbar he became aware of the Anla'shok, or Rangers, and soon became their leader. He would become the first Entil'za of the Rangers in 1,000 years.

Babylon 4
"I welcome you and present this place to you as a gift. I am called Valen, and we have much work ahead of us."

- Sinclair as Valen, introducing himself to 13th century Minbari

Sinclair went back in time 1,000 years with the Babylon 4 station to the Earth year 1260 in order to provide a new base to replace the space station the Shadows had destroyed. Using the chrysalis device Sinclair transformed himself into a Minbari. Jeffrey Sinclair took on the new name Valen. He united the castes and with the help of the Vorlons and a few other races the Minbari drove the Shadows back to their homeworld.

His fiancé Catherine Sakai, who had disappeared from the 23rd century eventually joined Valen in the distant past. The two left Minbar due to the persecution they were facing. Valen was last seen around 1360 AD, when he disappeared. His body was never found. Valen's children returned to Minbar, adding human genes to the Minbari gene pool. Over the next 1,000 years the descendants of Valen became too numerous to count, and included his friend Delenn.

Trivia

 * Michael O'Hare left the series at the end of the first season. Series creator J. Michael Stracynski gave no reason for the change but said it was a mutual and friendly parting, and that he hoped O'Hare could return to wrap up Sinclair's part in the story.  It was only after O'Hare's death that Stracynski revealed the real reason why O'Hare had left the series - that O'Hare's mental illness made it impossible for him to continue working on the series.  O'Hare had confided in Stracynski that he was mentally ill, who promised to keep the secret until his grave, but O'Hare told him that he could reveal it after he had died.