KOSH
SPECIES: Vorlon
HOMEWORLD: Unknown
DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
ORGANISATION: Vorlon Empire
STATUS: Vorlon Ambassador to B5
ALLEGIANCE: UNKNOWN
ACTOR: Ardwight Chamberlain

The Vorlon ambassador to Babylon 5 who remains inside his encounter suit, not so much for protection from unsuitable environs, but lest he be recognized, and speaks via a translation device mounted on the front of the encounter suit. On the whole Kosh prefers not to become involved in the affairs of other races, rarely attending meetings of the Babylon 5 Advisory Council and abstaining from votes in matters which always seemed to be not of his concern, being a master of what would seem to be cryptic responses unless seen in a larger context than the original question. This seems in stark contrast to what is evidence about past Vorlon activities points to; when John Sheridan was saved from a fatal fall from the sabotaged core shuttle nearly all the races recognized Kosh as a principle being from their history, Valeria to the Minbari, G'Lan to the Narn, Droshalla to the Drazi and so on, although he was invisible to Londo Mollari. All of these figures are of great importance to the races concerned which implies that the Vorlons have had a significant influence in the development of most of the races in explored space. On certain occasions however, when Kosh has become involved, it has always been a decisive act, destroying the Earth Alliance shuttle carrying Jha'dur for example, and most noticeably saving John Sheridan from his plunge, although the latter was almost certainly out of necessity.

Following his confrontation with Morden and his Shadow escorts on Babylon 5, where he firmly requested that the Shadows leave the station and their obvious refusal to comply he was prepared to let the matter lie rather than force the matter to develop into anything more serious, instead initially colluding with Delenn in preparing for the inevitable battle to come, although he was not without his doubts about her, eventually summoning an inquisitor, Sebastian, to test her suitability. Later, after entering his mind while comatose aboard a Streib ship, he was to take John Sheridan under his tutelage to prepare him for "fighting legends" in the war with the Shadows, cautioning him from going to Z'ha'dum, although his typically cryptic response of "if you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die" could be taken any number of ways. Kosh's last act, after a significant amount of goading and threats from John Sheridan was to give him a much needed victory against the Shadows, sending a Vorlon fleet into battle in Brakiri space despite his insistence that it was not yet time for the Vorlons to become involved, enabling Sheridan to create an alliance out of the various races. The price for this act was to be high, Kosh was killed in his quarters by Morden's escorting Shadows in an act of vengeance, leaving only the charred and cracked encounter suit behind and John Sheridan with a dream-vision that he was not to blame himself for what transpired, he had been correct to act as he had in forcing the Vorlon's hand.

Following his death the Vorlon Empire agreed to send a replacement ambassador to Babylon 5 who would effectively assume his identity knowing that where it to become common knowledge that the Shadows had killed Kosh it might shatter the fragile alliance to fight the Shadows that John Sheridan had managed to create between the other races as a result of the Shadow defeat in Brakiri space. Their only other request was that the remains of Kosh's suit and his belongings be placed aboard his transport, which then plunged into the local star as its final duty to Kosh.