I recall how, when the series was first airing, some people accused Joe of doing "LotR with the serial numbers filed off." He had much to say about his love of it, that the references were in homage, not plagiarism. I agreed.
That being said, let us not forget Lorien, the first of the old ones, who seems like a combination of several Valar and Eru rolled into one. After a fashion, he takes the self-sacrificed Sheridan "out of thought and time," guides him through "strange paths," and helps him back to life -- but only until his "tasks are finished." Both the Vorlons and the Shadows (who seem in the end more like renegade Ainur, each trying to sway the "Children" to their notion of how the universe should be) defer to him as if he were their father.
I'm quite sure there are other things; I'm just not thinking of them right now (too early in my day).
