Legion

This article is about the Red Dwarf character. For the Red Dwarf episode, see RD: Legion.

"My name is Legion, for we are many."
-Legion ("Legion")

Legion was the name given to a gestalt entity, originally created aboard the Legion Station in Deep Space by some of the greatest minds of the 23rd Century.

The wish-granting entity was later resurrected to become a composite of the boys from the Dwarf, and attempted to hold them hostage so that it could exist again.

Biography

Creation

Legion was created by some of the greatest minds in history, for example Heidegger, Davro, Quayle and Holder. They were experimenting in collective intelligence when Legion was created as the product of that research. When composed of those great minds, Legion was one of the most intelligent sentient beings in the universe (supposedly). The facility when seen in the episode is littered with pieces of art, which according to Kryten's connoisseur chip, fulfilled all 10 requirements for being masterpieces. Also, he was quite the engineer, indicated by the hard light drive that gave Rimmer a physical form and a star drive that he gave to the Dwarfers, although whether the malfunction that occurred when they set it off was caused by Legion himself or just by a mistake made by the Dwarfers is unknown (most likely the latter as it worked, but due to a bad connection to the existing engines, it didn't take them with it). However, after a while, nature took its course and Legion confirmed that the scientists never left; they just died of old age. Though it's left unsaid this would seem to indicate that Legion held them prisoner in order to maintain his own existence, as he later attempted to do with the Dwarfers.

Encounters with the Dwarfers

Legion-mashup — Legion's face revealed: a mash-up of the Dwarfers

When the Dwarfers showed up in the Legion episode, he seemed to be attached to life and did not want to return to, as he put it, "A limbo state of nonexistence", attempting to make the group happy to encourage them to stay. After discovering the truth about his nature, the Cat initially assumed that Legion couldn't hurt them without hurting himself, but unfortunately the combined magnification of the crew's neuroses meant that he was capable of insanely irrational behaviour. Fortunately, Kryten managed to eliminate the threat posed by Legion by knocking out Lister and Cat and turning Rimmer off, leaving Legion only able to duplicate Kryten's personality; with Kryten the only source for his psyche, he was now incapable of malice, and was automatically conditioned to help the human crewmembers over his own self. As he helped Kryten move the Cat and Lister back to Starbug, Legion commented that, having experienced their combined minds, returning to his state of non-existence would be almost like promotion.

True Name

It is unknown whether Legion was his original name that the scientists gave him. He is only known as Legion due to the metaphor "My name is Legion, for we are many", in direct reference to his status as a gestalt entity.

Personality

Legion's personality depends on whoever stays on his ship.

Skills

Mimosianbanquet — Legion eats the Mimosian banquet with Anti-Matter Chopsticks

Depends on his components. While made up of the greatest geniuses of the 23rd century he was evidently a scientist skilled in many fields as well as a master artisan. While composed of the Red Dwarf crew he probably possessed knowledge such as Cat's fashion sense, Lister's love of Indian food, and Kryten's sanitation techniques. In his later incarnation, Legion possessed a genius-level intellect due to having the combined intelligence of the four Dwarfers. In his original incarnation, in which he was formed from the combined intelligence of multiple celebrated scientists who were already geniuses in their own right, his intelligence was so vastly beyond the genius-level that it is difficult to fathom. He remembers what he did in previous incarnations, but if his combined intelligence is insufficient to comprehend what he did, he won't remember how he made it or why.

Quotes

Legion: My name is Legion, for we are many.
Legion: I just want you to be happy!
Legion: (After stabbing his own hand and thereby stabbing all the Dwarfers hands) The next hint of insurrection, and the scalpel ends up here! (Indicating his groin)
Kryten: That kind of tough talk doesn't scare us!
Cat/Rimmer/Lister: YES IT DOES!

Behind the Scenes

When Nigel Williams turned up to film the 'citadel' scenes, it was discovered that his costume didn't fit, meaning he had to be sewn into it and was trapped inside for the duration of recording.

Trivia

Legion's name and his assertion "My name is Legion, for we are many" are references to a Bible story, (Mark, chapter 5), where Christ drives out a host of demons from the body of a man. When Jesus demands that the demons identify themselves, they reply "My name is Legion, for we are many."