Vir Cotto

Vir Cotto is a character from the fictional Babylon 5 universe, played on screen by Stephen Furst. He is a Centauri male who was from a family of minor nobility.

History

Vir was born into a family of minor nobility. He was considered the family joke, or "black sheep."

First Years at Babylon 5

Vir was initally assigned to Babylon 5 as an assistant to Ambassador Londo Mollari - another Centauri of noble descent. The Ambassador's position was at first considered a joke to the Centauri government. As a result, the assistant's position was not considered a particulary important or prestigious position. At the time, Vir was an embarrassment to his family, and his family arranged for him to be assigned to this position as a means of getting him as far away from them as possible.

Over the next few years, Vir proved himself to be an able assistant to Ambassador Mollari. During this time he developed a friendship with Lennier - the fact that they both served as assistants to Ambassadors gave them a common bond. As the prestige of the Ambassador's position began to rise, the Centauri tried to have Vir replaced with another assistant. However Mollari insisted Vir remain, and threatend to resign himself if Vir was not allowed to stay.

Representative to Minbar

Eventually, Mollari pushed for Vir to be assigned to the Centauri liaison's office to Minbar. Officially, Mollari arranged to have this happen in order to help Vir further develop in his career. Privatly, he admitted to Delenn that he didn't want Vir around with the events - namely the Shadow War - that were soon to come.

Vir soon left for his assingment on Minbar. He put most of his observations of the Minbari into a report. When he returned to Babylon 5 for a visit, he presented the report to Londo to see what Londo thought of the report. Londo proceeded to edit the report - rewording it to make the Minbari society seem stagnant and decadent - in order to stroke the egos of his superiors on the homeworld. During this visit he was attacked and seriously injured by G'Kar when G'Kar took a telepathic drug that enabled him to assault Mollari telepathically. When Vir recovered, he went back to Minbar to attend a ceremony.

Shortly afterwards, Vir returned for a second visit to Babylon 5. During this second visit, President Clark of the Earth Alliance declared Martial Law. At the same time, the third wife of the late Centauri Emperor Turhan Lady Morella arrived to visit the station. Morella was a seer whom Londo hoped would give him a visit. When Captain John Sheridan of Babylon 5 read the order, Londo and Vir were escorting Morella through the Zocalo. Soon after the order was read, Nightwatch officers began breaking up crowds. However their aggressive attitude towards people in the Zocalo boiled over into a full scale riot when a Nightwatch officer picked a fight with a man. While trying to get Morella back to safety, Vir was hit on the head by a flying bottle.

Soon after the riot, Lady Morella was helping treat Vir's injury. When Mollari offered her a cloth, he touched her hand and she had a vision of his future. Later she revealed what she had learned. Part of this was that Mollari would someday be Emperor. She then turned to Vir and told him that he also would be Emperor. Vir began laughing, assuming that she was joking. She informed him that she never joked when it came to prophecy. When Londo said that he and Vir could not both Emperor, she told him that one of them would be Emperor after the other had died.

When the Centauri reoccupied the Narn homeworld, Vir felt tremendous guilt over what his people had done to the Narn. Eventually, he began using his position on Minbar to get Narns away from their home and get them proper care. He did this by setting up a false bureaucrat - "Abrahamo Lincolni" - who had sufficient authority to issue documents to Narns to allow them to travel.

A marriage was soon arranged between Vir and Lindisty - who was the daughter of a prominment Centauri family. Initally the two seemed quite compatible. The brother of one of the Narn that Vir helped get away attacked him, and he kept Lindisty from harm. The Narn was killed by Captain Sheridan, but right before he died the Narn yelled "Shon-Kar" - a Narn blood oath. This led to the discovery that Vir was helping Narns. It was soon discovered that the Narn and his family were after Lindisty because she had participated in genocidal activites on the Narn homeworld.

When it was discovered that Vir had been helping Narns, Vir was punished by being removed from the liaison officer's post and reassigned to Mollari. At the same time, the marriage between himself and Lindisty was put on hold.

The Shadow War

Vir once again acted as Mollari's assistant. When Mollari decided to have Lord Reefa eliminated, Mollari put an elaborate ruse into effect. Mollari met with G'Kar to convince him to return to Narn, and gave him a holographic device. Mollari then forced Vir to go to G'Kar and tell him that there was information on the Na'Toth - G'Kar's former assistant. Vir believed that, as a result when Lord Reefa took him prisoner and had him scanned telepathically, Reefa believed this was the reason G'Kar was returning home. When G'Kar arrived home, Lord Reefa took several guards and intercepted G'Kar and his party in the caves under the capital city. At this point G'Kar activated the holographic device Mollari had given him. The Narn learned that Reefa had arranged for the bombing of their homeworld, and was responsible for the deaths of up to 6 million Narn. G'Kar put a data crystal on Reefa that had plans on it that would help the Narn resistance. The Narn then beat Reefa to death. When Reefa's body was found it looked like Reefa was going to double cross the Centauri and as a result got betrayed by the Narn.

Emperor Vir Cotto

With the death of Emperor Mollari at the hands of G'Kar, Vir killed Mollari's keeper. After being approached by several Drakhs, he managed to escape from the throne room by jumping out the throne room window on to a waiting shuttle. From there Vir went to the Minbari homeworld.

The remaining heads of the Centauri houses met him there. He was able to persuade the nobles into recognizing his claim as Emperor. He ordered the military forces to begin a campaign against the Drakh.

After the Drakh left Centauri Prime, Emperor Cotto set about the reconstruction of the Centauri homeworld, which had been damaged by Drakh bombs. He was given Interstellar Alliance assistance in this.

When Sheridan found that he was dying, he invited Vir Cotto to Minbar to have one last meal with him. When it came time to toast colleagues who had died, Vir lifted his glass to Londo Mollari.

Current Status

After Sheridan's death, and the destruction of the Babylon 5, Emperor Cotto returned to Centauri Prime. Former Babylon 5 security chief Zack Allen accompanied him, and served as his assistant. Emperor Cotto continues to rule the Centauri with wisdom and justice.