but I really don't think Londo has ever actually hated him, or wanted him dead.
He does head seriously off to assassinate him in "Midnight on the Firing Line"! Having already gotten into a dramatic public brawl where they were literally, ironically at one another's throats. Tensions run so high during the crisis on Raghesh III—and there's family and guilt involved as well as political face—if Londo had been presented then with an opportunity to lock the Narn ambassador in a transport tube and throw away the key, he probably would have taken it. But he never tries it again. By the time G'Kar really is being hurt by the consequences of Londo's decisions, it isn't personal, which is one of the reasons it's worse.
But having G'Kar as his #1 goal when there are bombs falling on his city, and the palace, and him - that's fairly new.
It is a little of duellist Londo, fighter-pilot Londo, honestly: absolutely reckless in the face of danger. Paso leati.
I did hope that we'd get to see another instance of duelist Londo or fighter pilot Londo once more before the end - he's just so much fun when he does get to display some actual physical badassery! - and while we didn't get that, I will very happily take this.
I can also nudge you toward the possibility of fic where it comes into play.
I really think that surviving 15 years of Drakh infestation to die at G'Kar's hands, rather than by suicide or heart failure or drinking or one of 10,000 other possible causes, is down to his toughness both mental and physical.
Seriously. As you pointed out, the Regent lasted just about a year and half under his Keeper and it wasn't just that he was planned for disposal as part of the Drakh seizure of Centauri Prime, he was actively failing. Londo was stubborn.
The heart attack that he has in canon is due to guilt rather than physical failure (and I still can't get over that this it's actual canon that he almost dies from sheer guilt and grief; what is this show even).
You understand why I keep saying that encountering this show as my first real example of American long-form television screwed me up for life!
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He does head seriously off to assassinate him in "Midnight on the Firing Line"! Having already gotten into a dramatic public brawl where they were literally, ironically at one another's throats. Tensions run so high during the crisis on Raghesh III—and there's family and guilt involved as well as political face—if Londo had been presented then with an opportunity to lock the Narn ambassador in a transport tube and throw away the key, he probably would have taken it. But he never tries it again. By the time G'Kar really is being hurt by the consequences of Londo's decisions, it isn't personal, which is one of the reasons it's worse.
But having G'Kar as his #1 goal when there are bombs falling on his city, and the palace, and him - that's fairly new.
It is a little of duellist Londo, fighter-pilot Londo, honestly: absolutely reckless in the face of danger. Paso leati.
I did hope that we'd get to see another instance of duelist Londo or fighter pilot Londo once more before the end - he's just so much fun when he does get to display some actual physical badassery! - and while we didn't get that, I will very happily take this.
I can also nudge you toward the possibility of fic where it comes into play.
I really think that surviving 15 years of Drakh infestation to die at G'Kar's hands, rather than by suicide or heart failure or drinking or one of 10,000 other possible causes, is down to his toughness both mental and physical.
Seriously. As you pointed out, the Regent lasted just about a year and half under his Keeper and it wasn't just that he was planned for disposal as part of the Drakh seizure of Centauri Prime, he was actively failing. Londo was stubborn.
The heart attack that he has in canon is due to guilt rather than physical failure (and I still can't get over that this it's actual canon that he almost dies from sheer guilt and grief; what is this show even).
You understand why I keep saying that encountering this show as my first real example of American long-form television screwed me up for life!