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Jeffrey David Sinclair is a character in the Babylon 5 TV series. Sinclair was played by actor Michael O'Hare. Sinclair was born on Mars and educated by Jesuits. He was the original commander of the Babylon 5 station. He was replaced in the series' second season by Bruce Boxleitner as Captain John Sheridan.

Sinclair is characterized by a somber, almost brooding emotional state. He carries with him the survivor's guilt of having survived the Battle of the Line. He is also well read, with a keen appreciation for Tennyson's poem “Ulysses.” Sinclair is a formidable military strategist and equally adept at hand-to-hand combat.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

Earth Force Military Career

Sinclair comes from a family with a long history of military distinction. Sinclair stated that members of his family had been fighter pilots as far back as the Battle of Britain in World War II on Earth. Sinclair's father was a fighter pilot during Earth's campaign against the Dilgar. Sinclair was a Starfury pilot during the Earth-Minbari War, and was one of only 200 survivors at the Battle of the Line.

”There is a hole in your mind.”

During the Battle of the Line, Sinclair's fighter was hit and, in desperation, he attempted a suicide run at the lead enemy starship. He blacked out. For years afterward, he had no recollection of what happened to him during the following 24 hours. It was revealed in the series that he was captured by the Minbari and interrogated. Using a device called the triluminary, the religious caste discovered that Sinclair not only had a Minbari soul, but the soul of their most revered historical figures, Valen. Upon learning this, they immediately surrendered at the Battle of the Line. The reason for the surrender was kept a secret even from other Minbari, namely the warrior caste. They used a telepath to block the memory of his capture from Sinclair's mind.

Sinclair's missing 24 hours at the Battle of the Line concerned not only Sinclair but also the Earth Alliance government and the Minbari Grey Council. The Grey Council appointed Delenn to watch over Sinclair to ensure his memory of the interrogation wouldn't resurface. Agents from Earth attempted, without Sinclair's cooperation or consent, to reconstruct those memories, with limited success.

Commanding Babylon 5

When construction began on the Babylon station, Sinclair was not the Earth Alliance's first choice to be its commander. Because the first three Babylon stations were sabotaged during construction, and the fourth vanished without a trace shortly after going online, funds were scarce for a fifth Babylon station. The Minbari and other alien governments contributed additional funds to the project, on the condition they would have a say in who was named commander of the station. Sinclair was the Minbari's choice.

During Sinclair's time aboard Babylon 5, he made many enemies in high places. He was aware he was being watched closely by Earth-Gov officials, including members of the Psi Corps. Sinclair's handling of the dock workers' strike, the Jason Ironheart incident, a confrontation with Colonel Ari Ben-Zayn, and his perceived lack of cooperation with Captain Ellis Pierce of the EAS Hyperion caused friction between Sinclair and his superiors.

Life After (and Before) Babylon 5

In January 2259, shortly after the death of Earth Alliance President Luis Santiago, Sinclair was reassigned as ambassador to the Minbari. Santiago's successor, President Clark, felt it wasn't appropriate for the Minbari to select the base commander for an Earth Alliance outpost. During Sinclair's time among the Minbari, he worked to incorporate humans into the Rangers, known to the Minbari as the Anla'Shok.

The question of how Sinclair came to be carrying the soul of Valen was answered in Season 3's “War Without End.” Sinclair received a letter addressed specifically to him from Valen. It was later revealed the letter was self-addressed, as Sinclair himself was the historical figure said to be a “Minbari not born of Minbari.” With the help of Sheridan, Delenn, Susan Ivanova, the Ranger Marcus Cole, and a caretaker of the Great Machine of Epsilon 3 named Zathras, Sinclair took the Babylon 4 station backward in time to the last great Shadow War. There, he used it to help the combined forces of the Minbari, Vorlons, and other alien races defeat the Shadows. During the transit through time, Sinclair used the same device Delenn used in an earlier episode, "Chrysalis,” to become a Minbari-human hybrid.

The Minbari had a mixed reaction to the revelation that Valen was, in fact, human. Sinclair's ultimate fate, as well as the final location of the Babylon 4 station, was addressed in the canonical graphic novel In Valen's Name, but little is known for certain. What is known is that Sinclair, as Valen, founded the Grey Council, united the Minbari castes, defeated the Shadows, and established the Anla'Shok (Rangers). For this and other deeds, he was regarded as a messiah by the Minbari.

Sinclair Quotes

"It was the Dawn of the Third Age of Mankind, ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal . . . all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last, best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5."

“My father always told me: 'The best way to understand someone is to fight him, make him angry. That's when you see the real person.'"

"The last time I gave an interview, they told me to just relax and say what I really felt. Ten minutes after the broadcast, I got transferred to an outpost so far off the star maps you couldn't find it with a hunting dog and a Ouija board."

"Nothing's the same anymore."

“Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics, and you'll get ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-Tzu, and Einstein, and Morobuto, and Buddy Holly, and Aristophanes . . . [and] all of this . . . all of this . . . was for nothing. Unless we go to the stars.”

“We fought long enough. Maybe it's time we started talking with one another."