Lyta Alexander Character Profile

Lyta Alexander was a rogue telepath with mysterious ties to the Vorlons. She was played by Patricia Tallman.

Lyta Alexander began as a commercial telepath, but within a few years her destiny caught up to her.

Note: This is a complete biography of Lyta Alexander. Therefore, it contains spoilers for Seasons Three through Five of Babylon 5. The biography is written in chronological order, so if you are watching Babylon 5 for the first time you can safely read the early parts of this article and stop before you reach the sections that would reveal events that you haven't seen on the show yet.

History

Lyta Alexander was a sixth generation telepath. Her lineage began with Desa Alexander. Following a telepath tradition, the family name was passed down from mother to daughter: Desa Alexander to Brenna Alexander to Michelle Alexander to Natasha Alexander to Lyta's mother and then to her.

In her travels with Psi Corps director Kevin Vacit, Natasha Alexander encountered a Vorlon on Venus. The Vorlon planted a seed in her mind that would draw her or one of her descendents to Vorlon space.

Lyta Alexander was born on December 10, 2225 on Earth and grew up in the Psi Corps. She earned her commercial telepath license in 2245 and began working for XenoCorp in 2247.

In 2252, Lyta joined the Psi Corps Intern Program. She worked for six months with Talia Winters and served as Psi Cop Alfred Bester's field assistant. When Bester drove a serial killer insane with telepathic images, Lyta lost her stomach for police work and returned to commercial telepathy.

The Commercial Telepath

Lyta Alexander arrived on Babylon 5 on January 3, 2257. Ambassador G'Kar offered to purchase access to her DNA, but she declined.

Dr. Benjamin Kyle convinced Lyta to perform a telepathic scan on Vorlon Ambassador Kosh, who was dying from an assassin's poison. She discovered that the poison was placed on the Vorlon's hand, apparently by Commander Jeffrey Sinclair. In addition to the indescribable experience of contact with a Vorlon that she shared with Dr. Kyle, the seed that Lyta had inherited from her grandmother began to grow in her mind.

In February 2257 Lyta was recalled to Earth where the Psi Corps interrogated her about her contact with Ambassador Kosh. She was able to hide everything from them.

The Rogue Telepath

Lyta Alexander escaped from the Psi Corps in June 2259 with help from the telepath underground railroad. She fled to Mars and joined a Mars resistance group. In October of that year, she worked briefly with Theresa Halloran, who at that time was known only as Number One.

When the Mars resistance discovered that the Psi Corps Sleeper Program had positioned a traitor on Babylon 5, Lyta decided to warn Captain Sheridan. She traveled to the station in December and worked with Sheridan to transmit the telepathic activation signal to the station's command staff. Her attempt to send the signal to Commander Susan Ivanova revealed that Ivanova was a week telepath. Lyta finally discovered that the traitor was Talia Winters shortly before Sheridan would have revealed his conspiracy to her.

Sheridan got Lyta off the station before the Psi Corps arrived. She returned to Mars where she contracted a ship to take her to Vorlon space. After three days of signaling without response, her captain became nervous. Lyta purchased a life pod and five days of supplies, and the captain left her in deep space.

At the end of her resources, Lyta was rescued by a Vorlon ship and taken to their homeworld.

The Vorlon Agent

Lyta Alexander was mentally and physically altered by the Vorlons. Her telepathic powers were increased, and she was given the ability to carry a Vorlon's essence in her mind. She was modified with gills to allow her to breathe the atmosphere in Ambassador Kosh's quarters. Unknown to her, she was also given additional information about the Vorlons and programmed to be a doomsday weapon.

In January 2260, Lyta began working for Ambassador Kosh. She would carry him in her mind, ferrying him between Babylon 5, the Vorlon homeworld, and wherever else he may have traveled.

When Ambassador Kosh was killed later that year, he was replaced by Ulkesh Naranek. Ulkesh was less tolerant of the younger races than Kosh was. He treated Lyta very poorly. She was ordered to remove her belongings from her room, and her telepathic contact with Ulkesh was more painful than it had been with Kosh.

Lyta Alexander helped Captain Sheridan by testing his theory that telepaths could disrupt Shadow ships. She also joined Ambassador Delenn and Susan Ivanova on the failed mission to Za'ha'dum to rescue Sheridan.

Growing disenchanted with Ulkesh, Lyta agreed to lead the Vorlon into a trap where he was killed by a combination of high voltage, security fire, and the last part of Kosh, which had been carried by Sheridan.

After the Shadows went Beyond the Rim, Lyta accompanied Sheridan and Bester to Za'ha'dum on a mission to recover Shadow technologies. However, as they approached the planet, she sent a telepathic signal to the planet that triggered a self-destruct mechanism.

Without a Sponsor

In mid-2261 the Vorlon bank account that funded Lyta ran out. She found herself with very few friends and was forced to move to smaller quarters. Zack Allan remained her friend and was attracted to her. Unfortunately, he chose to reveal his feelings to her at a time when she was in a trance due to an ancient Vorlon artifact. When she did not respond, he stopped pursuing her affections.

Lyta worked briefly for Michael Garibaldi, but he was forced to fire her when William Edgars ordered it.

Lyta was unable to secure commercial work because she had no reference from the Psi Corps. Bester took the opportunity to make a deal with her. He removed her name from the rogue list in exchange for her promise to give her body to him after she died. Bester hoped an examination would reveal what the Vorlons had done to enhance her powers.

The Resistance Fighter

Lyta Alexander aided Dr. Stephen Franklin with his experiments on the telepaths with the Shadow implants. As an integral part of the plan for the final assault against President Clark, she accompanied Franklin to Mars.

Lyta was able to extract the truth about Garibaldi's programming from his mind and broadcast it to Number One, preventing Garibaldi's execution and allowing him to rejoin Franklin. She helped Franklin and Garibaldi rescue Sheridan from an EarthForce prison.

The Shadow-enhanced telepaths were smuggled onto the EarthForce ships near Mars. Using an amplifier designed by Dr. Franklin, Lyta transmitted a telepathic activation signal to the telepaths. They woke up and began interfacing with the ships, disabling them.

The Follower of Byron

In 2262, Lyta Alexander aided Sheridan again by helping to install Ulkesh's ship in Ivanova's ship, The Titans. However, despite her many instances of aiding Sheridan and his allies, she once again found herself on the outside.

Lyta gradually grew closer to Byron Gordon's group of rogue telepaths, intrigued by this words. She began helping them and sided with them when Bester and his Bloodhound Units came to Babylon 5 to capture them. Lyta's enhanced telepathic powers were a tremendous asset to the rogues.

Eventually, Lyta grew close enough to Byron to make love to him. When she dropped all of her telepathic defenses during lovemaking, Byron discovered what Lyta had never known herself. The events that transpired when Lyta was on the Vorlon homeworld were revealed. The telepaths also discovered that the Vorlons had visited Earth and other planets for many years, kidnapped people for genetic experiments, and then returned to implant telepath DNA into the population.

The telepaths were angered by the knowledge that they were merely tools designed by the Vorlons to use in the Shadow War. They felt that since the Shadow War was over the Interstellar Alliance now owed them a homeworld of their own. When no help was forthcoming the telepaths became more aggressive, and Bester was called in for a final confrontation.

Byron ensured that Lyta was safe before he martyred himself. Lyta took up Byron's cause, charging the remaining rogue telepaths to "Remember Byron" as she telepathically transmitted the locations of Byron's safe houses. This phrase became the calling card of terrorist activities against the Psi Corps.

The Terrorist

Lyta Alexander contacted G'Kar about his offer five years earlier to purchase her DNA. The Kha'Ri agreed to her price, and the Narn provided her with money and several ships. Lyta used the money to fund terrorist activities against the Psi Corps.

When evidence in cases of sabotage against the Psi Corps led to Lyta Alexander, Zack Allan was ordered to arrest her. At this point Lyta no longer had any compunction about displaying her Vorlon-enhanced powers. She took control of the bodies of several dozen people in order to intimidate Zack. President Sheridan was on hand as Zack's trump card. As someone else influenced by the Vorlons, he was not affected by Lyta's powers. In a security holding cell she demonstrated her powers further by knowing through which surveillance camera her captors were watching her.

Consumed by his desire for revenge against Bester but restrained by the Asimov Laws that had been placed in his head, Garibaldi made a deal with Lyta. He arranged for the charges against her to be dropped. He took the money she was using to fund terrorist activities and converted it into a fund to help telepaths. However, the majority of the money was actually placed into a secret account to fund a force to fight against the Psi Corps. Lyta promised to remove the Asimov Laws from Garibaldi's mind after two years if the force was sufficient.

Lyta also revealed to Garibaldi that Vorlons had made her into a doomsday device.

The Final Years

Lyta Alexander left Babylon 5 with G'Kar on a ship he purchased named the Na'Toth. No one came to see her off except for Zack, but he did not let her know that he was there.

Lyta had many adventures with G'Kar. From time to time she would check in on Garibaldi's progress. At one point, she discovered clues that led her and Garibaldi to the Vorlon planet were telepaths were genetically engineered. There they met Kevin Vacit, still alive though very old after a relativistic sublight space flight. In exchange for Garibaldi's help on this mission, she finally removed the Asimov Laws from his mind.

Lyta Alexander was reportedly killed in an attack against a Psi Corps facility in 2265.