[The E]

It's, in essence, a translation convention. One of the things that you should keep in mind about the Vishnans is that everything they chose to present to Sam Bei was filtered through a Vishnan-Human translator constructed by using Sam's memories.

Just to clarify what I said, because I don't think I was sufficiently good expressing it (and I still can fail it again), I didn't say that these other species were coincidentally close to the mythos because of their names or general status, but that their behavior, structure and numbers rendered pretty much close to the mythos at hand. Which is always a coincidence, even considering all the excellent caveats that you bring up.

Sam only saw what the Vishnans chose to show him. It is not guaranteed that they were 100% open and honest about their intentions, or which role they play in the overall cosmology of BP.

[Luis Dias]

Point taken, E. It didn't stop me from "mehing" in that precise plot point. If the story unfolds in such a way that it renders my small point moot, it would be awesome.

Mind, though, it won't have to do that to "buy me in". I'm bought already. Stories do not have to be perfect in every sense, specially in not-so-central issues like this.

[-Norbert-]

Wait... don't the Hindu have way more than 3 deities and Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu are just the highest ranking or something?

Also the Shivans might have had a hand in the picking of the name for them. For all we know, they might be monitoring or even manipulationg us in small ways since the stone age thanks to nagari sensitivity. Just look at Laporte! Ken is definately having an influence on her live, far beyond sleepless nights.
They might have intentionally planted that name in the mind of someone who would later suggest it, because it suits their purpose. Shiva being both a destroyer and protector certainly fits what we know/suspect of the Shivans (protecting the young ones, by wiping out the destoryers).
Or the Vishnans might have done it, because it suits their plans for Humanity, that we associate the Shivans with Shiva and them with Vishnu.

[Scotty]

There are some misconceptions about the Hindu Trimurti of Brahma, Vishu, and Shiva that I would like to clear up.

First of all, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, at least in the Bhagavad Gita, are not separate bodies.  There is only one of the three at any given time.  For example, the passage of the Bhagavad Gita cited by J. Robert Oppenheimer at the advent of the atomic bomb (Chapter 11, for anyone who wants to look it up), Krishna (and avatar of Vishnu) shows Arjuna all of his forms, of them being Shiva and Brahma ("And now I am become death, shatterer of worlds").

Brahma created the world from iniquity, and re-creates periodically (more on that later).
Vishnu preserves that which Brahma has created.
Shiva destroyes the universe, which Brahma then creates anew.

The destruction and creation occurs regularly every so often.  I can't recall the name or exact time period, but it's something like 1.2 billion years in a normal interval or something.

So, BP Doesn't follow Hindu mythology.  It borrows terms to get the point across.

[Luis Dias]

Brahma created the world from iniquity, and re-creates periodically (more on that later).
Vishnu preserves that which Brahma has created.
Shiva destroyes the universe, which Brahma then creates anew.

Seems sufficiently literal to me.

But I won't press the point. Whatever rocks your boat .

[Scotty]

The point is that only one exists at a time, and that it is literally impossible for them to be set against each other.

[General Battuta]

You don't have to use Hindu mythology. There are many other systems analogous to the one presented in Universal Truth.

For example you could call the two species the Insulins and the Glucagons if you preferred.

[-Sara-]

Another wild guess is that Brahmas aren't all that dead but grew far beyond even the level of excistance the Vishans and Shivans excist in (think the 'Q' or 'Organians' from Star Trek) and seek a more solid/physical replacement as they are no longer on one line with the Shivans and Vishans when it comes to plains of excistance. So far it seems the Shivans and Vishans have all the fancy toys but both aren't quite mature enough to play with them. They both have somewhat selfish agendas and probably innately aren't capable of deviating from their point of view: they respectively preserve and destroye but yet they are left in a decission-making role which conflicts with their biased views. If the latter comment is true, I imagine both Vishans and Shivans would are terrified of giving strangers (compared to them, a child race) that power and they're probably too arrogant to let go of their own views on how things should be ran given their old age.

Heck, alternately if the Brahmas still 'live' they may intent a different design which no longer upholds the 'holy' trinity which once was the Vishans/Shivans/Brahmas. Perhaps the GTVA/UEF are but a catalyst which has the potential to form some sort of galactic federation.

[PsychoLandlord]

Same here, I'd always kinda figured the Brahmans ascended past even the point the Vishnans operate at, and it left this enormous vacuum that forced the two "lesser" races to act as they did. They seemed lost, to me anyway.

[Liberator]

Another wild guess is that Brahmas aren't all that dead but grew far beyond even the level of excistance the Vishans and Shivans excist in (think the 'Q' or 'Organians' from Star Trek) and seek a more solid/physical replacement as they are no longer on one line with the Shivans and Vishans when it comes to plains of excistance. So far it seems the Shivans and Vishans have all the fancy toys but both aren't quite mature enough to play with them. They both have somewhat selfish agendas and probably innately aren't capable of deviating from their point of view: they respectively preserve and destroye but yet they are left in a decission-making role which conflicts with their biased views. If the latter comment is true, I imagine both Vishans and Shivans would are terrified of giving strangers (compared to them, a child race) that power and they're probably too arrogant to let go of their own views on how things should be ran given their old age.

Heck, alternately if the Brahmas still 'live' they may intent a different design which no longer upholds the 'holy' trinity which once was the Vishans/Shivans/Brahmas. Perhaps the GTVA/UEF are but a catalyst which has the potential to form some sort of galactic federation.

That would make the Vishnans the Vorlons and the Shivans the Shadows almost exactly.  Makes me wonder when Lorien is going to turn up.

[-Norbert-]

Maybe on the surface, but not really when you go into details.
The Shadows don't try to wipe out any species. They want to stir up conflicts among to younger races to help them evolve faster (Chaos through warface, evolution through bloodshed, perfection through victory), believing that the survivors of such wars are smarter, stronger and better. Only in chaos can growth occur, order is stagnation. Of course some species get wiped out, but for them that is regrettable but accepteble collateral damage. "Of course some are lost, but you can't let that get in the way of the goal" to quote a kind of ambassador of the shadows in the final episode of season 3.
The Shivans on the other hand wiped out the ancients without giving them a chance to "learn their lessen". Wether the Humans and Vasudans survival or the ancients annihilation is the exception from their usual way is anyones guess.

Unlike the Vishnans the Vorlons don't much care about the enlightenment of the younger ones, or about preserving anything. They just want to teach absolute order and discipline to the younger races, because they beliefe this is the only way for them to evolve, up to the point that, once the rules of engagment are broken, they wipe out whole planets that were "infected" with the Shadows' philosophy. They even were willing to destroy a planet which was the home of a primitive, albeit numerous (several millions, I forgot the exact number), species that wasn't even aware of the base the Shadows build on their world.

Lorien and his people "meditated between order and chaos" as the technomage trilogy put it. They believe and growth can only occur were order and chaos are in balance. That's why they left both the Shadows and the Vorlons behind as guardians.
We have no information on the Brahmans, except that they existed.... and even that isn't fully reliable information, considering the circumstance of how the 14th got privy to that info.

[Liberator]

[digession]
Based on information provided by Lorien himself, there may not have been any other of his people.
[/digression]

[-Norbert-]

And also based on cave paintings and writing Galen (and probably Sheridan too, though it's never mentioned or shown) saw deep in the caves of Za'ha'dum, were it is depicted and written, how the Shadows once followed the balanced path, but slowly turned towards the path of pure chaos.
Now granted, that is information from a book, but a book for which the author Jeanne Cavelos worked very closely with J.M. Straczinski (creator of Babylon 5). JMS said in an interview that it was 95% canon IIRC. The only book he said to be 100% canon was "To dream in the City of Sorrows".... which was written by his wife. Make of that what you will .

[-Sara-]

Then again maybe Laporte is a heavily medicated patient from the 21st century in a psychiatric ward, suffering of a horrible case of schizophrenia with all of BP happening inside her head.

[Deadly in a Shadow]

Then again maybe Laporte is a heavily medicated patient from the 21st century in a psychiatric ward, suffering of a horrible case of schizophrenia with all of BP happening inside her head.

And Samuel Bei is the gentle professor?

[-Sara-]

Chiwetel Steele, MD.

[-Norbert-]

But that would be one hell of a turnaround. Imagine BP 1 and 2 being a prophetic dream of the Jester and in BP3 we have to prevent the War in Heaven from ever happening.

[The E]

"It was all just a dream" is one of the worst storytelling tropes ever, since it basically invalidates everything that happened until the dream is revealed.

[General Battuta]

Chiwetel Steele, MD.

Fund it!

[-Norbert-]

"It was all just a dream" is one of the worst storytelling tropes ever, since it basically invalidates everything that happened until the dream is revealed.

Yes, but there is a difference between "It was just a dream" and "It was a vision of the future, that will come true, unless I prevent it".
Especially if it turns out to be a self fullfilling prophecy and everything will happen as it was shown in the vision, exactly because the protagonist tried to prevent it from happening.