#young Skeksis

[candythemew]

Old sketch of a Young Lach.

[sturgeonsalad]

devin posting. enjoy these chaotic scribbles

[animatronicdoozer]

[boxheadpaint]

MEEPET - DARK/DRAGON

MEEPET suddenly appear one day in the bedrooms of young children. If they find a child crying, they'll wipe their tears with their pelts and try to make them laugh by acting out in silly ways.

Some believe MEEPET are born from children's nightmares , but have a change of heart and vow to make them happy instead. To keep from frightening them, it hides under a soft animal-like cloth.

TENDRAPET - DARK/DRAGON

Under their soft pelt, they have a frighteningly strong body. However, they strongly dislike fighting, as they are very docile- that, and it puts their pelts at risk of being damaged.

They are very gentle and usually good-spirited, but if one were to try and look under their furry cloth they'll go into a panic. It loves nothing more than to bring joy to others.

---

for @scarffles fakemon community prompt, a cute fuzzy dragon

based on the entirety of hensons puppetography from sesame street to dark crystal- mainly insprired by people seeing the dark crystal maybe a little too young and being scared by it, mystics/skeksis (mostly mystics), sheep and dog puppets, and gentle dragons

[scientistservant]

I have never heard of the Dark Crystal until I saw your posts. What is it about, and what do you like about it?

Oh ho?

Sit down, anon, and let me tell you the tale of... The Dark Crystal.

*theme music plays*

In a world called Thra, there exists a powerful gem called the Crystal of Truth. It is in tune to all of Thra, including the planet's most civilized race, the Gelfling.

A thousand years ago, new beings came to Thra: the Skeksis. The Skeksis, wise, hedonistic and benevolent, were tasked with protecting the Crystal of Truth by Thra's avatar/mother-nature of sorts, Mother Aughra. Because of their wisdom the Skeksis also ruled over the Gelfling and their seven Clans, while Aughra journeyed the stars and space.

But one day, the Crystal cracked, causing the Crystal to become corrupted, and a miasma, the Darkening, to spread throughout Thra. In an attempt to fix the Crystal, the Skeksis discovered Essence - the soul or life-force of every creature on Thra. Instead of taking life from the Crystal, they decided to take life from something else - the Gelfling. Because the Gelfling are the closest creatures to Thra, their Essence is pure, more potent.

The Skeksis became obsessed with Essence, and obsessed with draining Gelfling, killing them and drinking their Essence to obtain eternal life and youthfulness. All Skeksis, but the Emperor especially, were terrified of death. For when Skeksis die they do not return to Thra.

And so, a genocide occurred, and all Gelfling perished.

All but one. For there was a prophecy, told of a young Gelfling named Jen, who is destined to heal the Crystal and bring the Skeksis reign to an end!

What I love about The Dark Crystal is its world-building and characters. Its cast isn't just black and white in morality, it's more than that. The protagonists can make mistakes, and so can the antagonists. The Skeksis were good once upon a time, they once cared about the Gelfling, but their greed and fear of death overtook them. Thra is beautiful with many different settings and wildlife, even the Castle of the Crystal is gorgeous with it's fantastical and alien gothic architecture.

I'm mainly talking about the prequel series, Age of Resistance, here. It was made almost 40 years after the original 1982 film, but unlike many modern sequels and prequels it's not a cash grab at all; it was made with love and respect to the original, expanding on the world of Thra. Not saying the original film was bad, it's a wonderful piece of media! I just think it's lacking a bit in world-building and context, and Age of Resistance helps immensely.

As for characters, I'll be talking about the Skeksis, Gelfling, and Mother Aughra. There are other characters and creatures too, but I don't want to venture into spoiler territory!

The Skeksis

As I said above, the Skeksis are not from Thra. They are reptile-like alien vultures with a very hedonistic lifestyle. They adore food, various forms of entertainment, the most lavish of robes, and being praised for their wisdom and status as Lords of the Crystal.

Each Skeksis has a title and role they must uphold. For example, the Ornamentalist makes his fellow Lords' robes and decor for the Castle, while the Scroll-Keeper is in charge of the Castle library and keeps records of tomes and scrolls going back a thousand years of Skeksis rule.

All the Skeksis are important and unique, but the most popular and well-known by far is the Chamberlain. He has a "whimper" as a tic and speaks in slight broken English, yet is the craftiest, manipulative, and cunning of the Skeksis. A very Starscream/Littlefinger-type character, he's fantastic to watch. (He's one of my favourite characters, but not my top favourite, that honour goes to the Scroll-Keeper.)

The Gelfling

The Gelfling are small, elf-like humanoids that vary in looks, culture and skill between their seven different species/Clans. There is the Stonewood, Vapran, Drenchen, Spriton, Dousan, Sifan, and Grottan. Unfortunately, many Gelfling tend to be xenophobic and untrustworthy towards other Clans, though some do manage to become friends despite their differences. Most Gelfling are also illiterate, but there are a very small few that can read and write.

Gelfling are the closest beings to Thra, and have the special ability to Dreamfast with one another - a rather intimate gesture that allows them to share their memories and thoughts by touching hands.

They also differ between genders; female Gelfling have wings, while male Gelfling do not.

Because of their small noses and large eyes and ears, some of the fandom tend to call Gelfling "fairy mice", even giving them whiskers and tails!

Mother Aughra

Mother Aughra is Thra, and Thra is Mother Aughra. She is as old as the planet itself, and perhaps as old as the Crystal of Truth, too. She is connected to the Crystal, able to tell when it is healthy and when it is not.

She and the Skeksis used to be friends, admiring their wisdom and beauty, yet that all ended when she discovered what they had done to the Crystal of Truth.

Aughra is sassy and somewhat grumpy, yet she loves and cares for all the creatures of Thra, especially the Gelfling, who see her as a mother-figure. She has the ability to remove her one eye and use it to spy on others or to see things up close, even from far away.

If you enjoy the fantasy genre, puppets, practical effects, and alien worlds, I highly, highly recommend The Dark Crystal and The Dark Crystal Age of Resistance! There are also graphic novels, and YA novels by J.M Lee.

The world of Thra must never die!

[dailyadventureprompts]

Any opinions/ideas about the Nagpa? They’re basically just Skeksis so I like ‘em

You hit the nail on the head friend, Nagpa are Skeksis with the serial numbers filed off, along with some extra details that we can use for some delightful adventure hooks. Here's some Nagpa lore, with some of my own revisions:

Originally a coven of thirteen wicked mages, The Nagpa sought power above all things, eventually getting it into their heads that if they devoured the flesh of a god, they could ascend to a state of semi-divinity. This led them to attempt to summon, bind, and slay a god/throw their lot in with a divine civil war/whatever blasphemous action works with the backstory of your campaign

For this action, they were cursed so that their appearance befitted their monstrous character (withered vultures) and forced to wander eternally, abandoning their fine holdings and preventing them from easily congregating in one place. Still in possession of their great magic however, it's not unusual to find a Nagpa in possession of a number of lairs, a portable fortress, or flying domicile, skirting the rules of the curse while allowing them to maintain their opulence.

Because of their secretive dealings pre-curse, all Nagpa have an ability to detect when anyone within 100 miles speaks of them or any of their conspirators. They usualy hunt and kill those who are loose lipped about their existence, allowing them to remain secret for centuries and making them amazing narrative boogymen.

Maintaining schemes that last for generations at a time, it's not uncommon for a down-on-their-luck Nagpa to attach itself to some group using its lifetimes of knowledge and magical ability to bargin for what it desires.

Before We get into the adventure hooks, I wanted to share this amazing youtube comment that I found while doing research for this post:

Phileas Liebmann:

This is such a great scene. In just a few shots we learn everything we need to know about the Skeksis: they're decadent, they're cruel, they hold themselves higher than all other life, they despise each other, but are obligated to dine together nonetheless, hinting that they are traditional folk. Show, don't tell at its finest!

Hooks:

The locals speak of a withered figure who stalks about the badlands, trading treasures for secrets and enacting powerful magic at terrible prices. After dealing with one or two knockon effects of this entities dealings, the party end up meeting it through dumb luck or desperate need, at which point the vulture headed man introduces himself with humble modesty as "Your humble Grandfather Greatest". Grandfather can pay in rare treasures if they're willing to do him some favours, each a small step towards his return to true power.

A beloved sage is dead, murdered by magic, and his young apprentice is on the run. The bounty is steep, but when the party catch up to their quarry they hear a very different tale from her recounting: She and her teacher had spent years delving into a trove of lore from a fallen elven kingdom, but were attacked by some kind of vulture-witch after finishing their latest translation. Apparently the creature is still after her, and by telling them she's put them in danger as well.

Finding that a rover's life quite suits her, one of the nagpa has set herself up as advisor to a clan of travelling marauders, making herself indispensable by using her sorcery to aid their raids on various settlements. Convinced that the initial nagpa ritual still could have worked, she steers these brigands towards temples and other holysites looking to strip the meat off demigods and knaw the marrow of saintly relics.

Art

[mig-murgthenurg]

Fucking hilarious how the Narrator describes Gortash as a handsome young man then you finally see him and he's just-

The crustiest fucking Dilf you've ever layed eyes upon. This is not a "young man", that is the Emperor of the Skeksis wearing a human skinsuit fuelled only by coffee and spite.

[creeperchild]

Help, I got pulled into dark crystal by two certain people. (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE SKEKLA AND @devilbinx) *Cough* Anyways. Meet Skeksyn or "the Monarch". 

He will appear only in the movie.  After the Emperor died, SkekTek took a bit of his ashes in the hope to cheat Thra and death itself. He tried to find a way to be reborn again by an untested cloning technique. The experiment went well and soon out of the ashes and young Skeksis emerged. The doctor soon realized that he did not look like SkekSo or even remember anything, which means he created a new Skeksis out of the ashes. 

SkekTek proclaimed that this experiment was futile and wanted to destroy the youngling. But SkekZok believed that this was the emperor in some way and refused to let the scientist kill him. 

SkekTek couldn't refuse the Ritual-master and gave the newborn the name SkekSyn (Skeksis +Synthetic). Pleased with the name, the Ritual-Master gave SkekSyn the title "Monarch".

He immediately replaced SkekSo's place as the ruler, which SkekSil and SkekUng immediately displeases. Another issue is that SkekSyn has no counterpart, meaning that he has both sides. Good and evil. 

It will cause conflict under the Skeksis, but also they cannot do anything, because he is under the protection of SkekZok.

What a mess! He is also only the size of a Gelfling. 

I also need to headcanon that Jen takes WAY longer to get to the place. Because in the original movie he popped up within 24 hours  after SkekSo's death in that place. 

(Please bonk me if I did something wrong, I am new to this fandom! TELL MEEE)

Hope you like it <3

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal: Archive Edition #1 by David Anthony Kraft, Bret Blevins, Vince Colletta and Colortek. Cover by Blevins and Colletta. Variant cover by Frany. Out in July.

"The classic 1983 single issue adaptation of The Dark Crystal from writer David Anthony Kraft (The Savage She-Hulk) and artists Bret Blevins & Vince Colletta is lovingly restored and represented as part of BOOM! Studios' Archive Edition line! A thousand years ago. The planet Thra, two new races appeared when a Shard was shattered from the Crystal of Truth: the cruel Skeksis, who use continued corruption of the Crystal to extend their lives, and the gentle urRu, more commonly known as Mystics, who make their home in the Valley of Stones to await their destiny. A young orphaned Gelfling named Jen must flee from capture, being Thra's only hope… but enemies aren't all he'll find in the wild."

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

ok you've mentioned a sword lesbian getting sucked into a spider consciousness and i feel like i need the name of this series because that is a wild concept XD name drop, please?

MY TRAP CARRRRRRD!!!!

Tavra (sword lesbian) (tired) (middle sister) is a key main secondary character in the YA books spin off / au of The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance by J.M. Lee, of which there are 4

Shadows of the Dark Crystal (Naia POV) (Tavra has a bad day)

Song of the Dark Crystal (Kylan POV) (Tavra has a REALLY bad day)

Tides of the Dark Crystal (Amri POV) (Tavra has the most screen time but also depression. At least she's with her girlfriend again)

Flames of the Dark Crystal (Naia POV) (Tavra's bad day is mostly off screen but it starts and ends with her having happy moments with people she loves and that's allllll I care about)

she's the frowny grim slightly pathetic practical one who wants to believe in people, secretly dating the smiling yet somehow utterly scary cunning lady who's a bit more jaded about people's ability to change for the better than she is, but who also 100% believes that Tavra herself will always do that change without hesitation.

QUOTES TIME!!

Spider Tavra (hesitant): "My mother (the queen) will do the right thing."

Onica (her gf) (Sifa) (Far-Dreamer): "The right thing, eh? As she did when she found you were sneaking out to the wharfs to visit a Sifa Far-Dreamer?"

Spider Tavra (even more hesitant): "That was a long time ago."

Onica (sighing): "When your mother does the right thing, it will be what is right for the Vapra alone. She wears a heavy mantle in Skeksis colors, and it will not be easily changed for a suit of armor. Not everyone is like you, my love."

A Few Moments Later

Spider Tavra: "Brea (her little sister) is young, but she is not stupid. If she had reasons to doubt my mother, then so do we."

Tavra's also a bit too frank for a young insecure teen boy's ego to handle sometimes

Tavra: "I told you not to strike! If this had been a real battle, you'd be dead."

Amri: "Well, it's not. I thought I saw an opening, so I went for it. What's the point of practicing if you're not allowed to take risks?"

Tavra: "It wasn't a risk. It was a guaranteed failure."

Amri (has never used a sword before): "You don't know that."

Tavra (a soldier): "I did."

ONE BOOK EARLIER

Kylan (parents were killed when he was a kid): "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... do whatever I did. I just didn't want you to die. I hope you aren't angry with me."

Spider Tavra (ends up basically his new mom): "I'm not angry. My body will return to Thra. When my work is done, I will join it. Until then, I have no time to worry or complain."

(she will later find time to complain about not being able to hold her girlfriend anymore) (she and her gf will stick with Kylan at the end of the books, finally getting to have a life together like they always promised)

She's the second character we're introduced to (seen slogging miserably through a swamp) (a good set up for how life is mostly going to be going for her) and she kinda ends up as the foil / mentor for the three POV characters in the series

Knowing that her queen mother was both controlling AND distant explains a lot of her struggles expressing herself to the three teens suddenly dropped into her life, but also makes the fact that she tries so hard to keep them safe and learns to listen to them and cares so much about them VERY heartwarming

Tavra is the queen her people SHOULD have had....

... and also a gloomy sulker who sulks when she can't make herself understood

she's in the 1 season tv show of the same name too, where she is awesome and separated from her gf and the best sister ever and dies (probably)

[fishtail-tavra]

On the naming of the three sisters of Ha'rar by their mother, the whys and to what ends, a mushy mess of linked canon and headcanons.

TLDR: Seladon was probably named after her grandmother for sentimental reasons and to pacify the traditionalists, Tavra was probably named to try pacifying both the traditionalists AND the separatists only for it to kinda backfire, and Brea was probably just given a nice normal name which she ironically grew up to make a synonym of heresy and rebellion. Which probably pissed off Seladon. Tavra, local fun one, probably thought this was all very funny.

Sources / inspirations used:

The Netflix original Age of Resistance tv show,

the loosely connected Age of Resistance young adult novels by J.M. Lee (why doesn't the series have it's own overarching name?),

the loosely connected Age of Resistance comics focusing on young Mayrin by Mathew Erman (seriously it's four issues give them a title to tie them all together with this is silly).

Starting off with the assumption that, despite some fairly large differences in character design, creature design, world mechanics, and actual plots, the three above sources can at LEAST share the same basic traits and histories of their lead characters- at least up to final few trine preceding the start of the main events of the Age of Resistance.

Basic framework information:

At the end of her comics, Mayrin marries a Sifa captain named Kam'lu and moves away from her late mother's traditional ways.

During the book series, it's revealed that Mayrin's second daughter Tavra once rescued and has been in a steady forbidden relationship with a Sifa Far-Dreamer named Onica.

In the tv show, Brea interacts with Sifa without showing any personal knowledge of them or any sign she is aware of her own connection to them.

Kam'lu is not present in either the show or books when Mayrin's daughters are fully grown.

By that time Mayrin has become more traditionalist, though in both the books and the show she is shown ready to join the rebellion, and is murdered for it by the Skeksis.

Statements in the following mess that are canon in at least one source will have a bracketed exclamation point (!) placed after them. Sentiments that are implied in at least one source will have a bracketed asterisks (*) placed after them.

These indicators will be followed by a number matching a note of the specific source, as in 1 for the tv show, 2 for the books, 3 for the comics.

Now. From oldest to youngest, starting with...

Seladon the Second, heir to the throne

Mayrin’s relationship is the most expectant with her first daughter (*) 1-2, born during a time of youthful hope, who was named Seladon after Mayrin’s own dead mother, the late All-Maudra Seladon (!) 3.   The name is given with the intention of:

planning for Seladon the Second to be All-Maudra someday.

hoping that invoking her traditionalist mother will put at ease the traditionalists in Ha’rar.

trying to balance out Seladon’s half clan heritage, which the traditionalist strongly disapprove of in their own families, to the point of sending their children to the Order of Lesser Service when they’re caught becoming too close with someone from another clan (!) 1.

aware that the backlash to Seladon having a Sifa father will be worse in the wake of the Sifa’s recent attempted overthrow of Vapra power and bid for independence, which Mayrin barely managed to diffuse (!) 3.

further complicated by Mayrin openly choosing to abandon several of her traditionalist mother’s practices, including how tribute is paid to the All-Maudra, imposing Vapra traditions upon the other clans, and choosing to walk Raunip’s Pass with her Sifa husband instead of fly its dangerous winds as her mother challenged her to (!) 3.  

  As a result, Seladon the Second carries an old fashioned named, the possessive -n ending for women having gone out of style during her mother’s own generation in favor of the Thra invoking -ra or shorted -a endings becoming more common, as seen the contemporary names Fara, Mera, Deethra, Mira, Mythra, Naia, Arla, Eliona, Pemma, and Onica.   The bearing of such an important family name also led to:

adding to her sense of inadequacy and insecurity as she tries to live up to the name (*) 1.

instilling in her a loyalty to tradition and the established power structures, after modeling herself on the first All-Maudra Seladon (*) 1-2.

highlighting the perceived shame of her half Sifa heritage and disposing her to hate rather than defend it, in contrast with the celebrated memory of her namesake Vapra grandmother, further pushing her towards traditionalist values in a bid to make up for the differences between herself and the past All-Maudra.

increasing the existing tension between her and her youngest sister (*) 1 who’s own name carries no such great history to uphold.

tightening heer bond with their middle sister Tavra (*) 1, who’s common name is ancient and recently tied to their family, and who’s full name connects her to the part of their heritage Seladon the Second and Mayrin are most ashamed of, putting pressure on Katavra to prove herself in spite of it.

Tavra, Katavra, soldier    

Mayrin’s relationship is the most distant with her second daughter (*) 1-2, born during a time of building frustration, who’s common name is associated with Raunip’s Pass through the historical Tavra, a Gelfling woman who was once Raunip’s friend. Through this connection the name is also tied to Mayrin’s contentious past relationship with her own mother.   The name is given with the intention of:

referencing Raunip’s Pass, a narrow valley with dangerous winds that Seldon the First flew to show of her strength and skill, challenging her daughter Mayrin to do the same (!) 3.

naming her second born daughter after the idea of physically proving oneself a worthy heir to her late mother All-Maudra, to make up for Mayrin’s first daughter having a crooked wing (*) 1.

indirectly linking Tavra to her family while Mayrin, wary of presenting another imperfect heir and under pressured from Vapra traditionalists, holds off on publicly acknowledging Tavra as a princess of Ha’rar.

still being a suitable name for a princess to have if / when Tavra eventually proves herself a capable soldier and loyal Vapra, as she does when flying through a storm to the aid of others (!) 2 and returning home afterwards.

an propriate name for when Mayrin finally crowns her a princess of Ha’rar long after Tavra is a grown woman with her wings.

to help smooth out rising tensions around Mayrin’s struggling marriage to Kam’lu, allowing her to use the crowning ceremony to also give Tavra the full name Katavra, after Mayrin’s Sifa husband Kam’lu, and so honor both him and Tavra's act of flying to the Sifa’s aid.

  As a result, Katavra is mainly known by her childling name Tavra (!) 1-2, even outside of Ha’rar, allowing her to travel unrecognized as a soldier without speaking any outright lies (!) 2, with her full name only being used by those who know of and acknowledge her as a princess of Ha’rar (!) 1-2.    The circumstances of her belated crowning and name change by Mayrin also led to:

the mocking rumors of the “many daughters of Mayrin”, as mentioned by maudra Laesid's husband Bellanji after the rumors spread as far as the Drenchen swamps (!) 2, with some believing Mayrin has many other such children she refuses to legitimize, and others ironically joking that the All-Maudra gets all her daughters from other women instead of having them herself.

Mayrin becoming further shamed when the only daughter she named after her no longer present Sifa husband is rumored to be sneaking off to the wharfs to meet with a Sifa herself (!) 2.

a worry that Tavra will also be lost to her, as Kam’lu was, or fall in love with a Sifa who will bring more struggles down on her and her family, as Mayrin’s did.

leading to Mayrin demoting Tavra in the line of succession, possibly reflected in Tavra being seen standing third in line from the throne after both her older and younger sisters (!) 1, and threatening to disown her completely, which as Mayrin is also the Vapra maudra and All-Maudra would make Tavra an outcast among most Gelfling, in an attempt to rebuke her daughter into following her will, an attitude Tavra's Sifa partner Onica is quick to reference and still has not forgiven (*) 2.

with the unintended consequence of Tavra championing her little sister Brea’s increased involvement in the politics of Ha’rar instead (!) 1, a cause Mayrin can hardly oppose when she herself made Brea second in line to the throne.  

Brea, scholar

Mayrin’s relationship with her youngest daughter is the most forgiving but least respectful (*) 1-2, born during a time of weary resignation and after Kam’lu is gone and out of their lives (*) 1-2, Brea is named without any family member in mind.   The name is given with the intention of:

hoping Brea could have her own life mostly insulated from the pressures of leadership.

urging her youngest daughter to focus instead on becoming a scholar (!) 2 and making a name for herself the will be remembered beyond the history of her family.

trying ease Mayrin’s guilt over having to use her two older children so pragmatically as future All-Maudra and expendable soldier for the sake of their clan and people.

pushing back slightly on the idea of what a princess of Ha’rar should be.

indulging that last youthful memory of when she also cared more about truth than duty and felt she could change the way of things (*) 3.

  As a result, Brea’s name is common sounding and leads to:

helping her remain unremarked upon by the Vapra, who mostly prefer her to remain in the library with her studies where her scholarly lack of self-awareness and her seemingly un-princess-like behavior embarrass no one- a preference Brea is vaguely aware of but unsympathetic towards whenever her older sister Tavra arranges for her to be present at some important event she’s never been allowed to take part in before (!) 1.

suiting her reaction to important ceremonies, where she regularly shows irreverence for tradition or social norms in the pursuit of actual understanding and enacting positive change, even when it embarrasses her family (!) 1.

growing up sharing her name with many normal people recorded in history, who she notices and identifies with.

causing her to view herself as a normal person and normal people as perfectly capable of being remarkable.  

fueling her rebellious tendencies when faced with an arbitrarily hierarchical and unfair world (*) 1-2.

Final thoughts.

I think it'd be very funny if the Librarian of Ha'rar was named something like Bre'rian, or Brealyn, or Li'brea or such like.

Both for the punning (in the same vein of Katavra sounding like a mix of katana and cadaver, fitting for a soldier lady who keeps dying, add a librarian who's names sound like the word library),

also for the implication that Mayrin and the Librarian might have bonded over their shared Sifa heartbreak, to the point of Mayrin thinking of her friend when having to name her youngest and hopefully most scholarly child, who Brea would indeed grow up spending a lot of time with and rely on for help and wisdom.

(though having Brea full name be Brea'leth would also be a really cute call back to Mayrin's advisor, Dot'leth)

(and it would also be punny. Brea'leth... breath... vapra vapor... blah blah)

I also really like the idea of Mayrin threatening to disown Tavra, making Tavra sad for 0.5 seconds before she goes- "No wait, that is in fact an excellent idea. My sisters can rule together, once I convince them to stop yelling at each other for 5 minutes, leaving me free to someday sail off with Onica in to the gay pirate sunset. Perfect."

and all Mayrin can do is watch Tavra encouraging Brea to take up more princess roles in Ha'rar, happily stepping side for her little sister, while Mayrin screams internally.

the fun one strikes again. Younger Mayrin might have been proud.

[chaifootsteps]

hc that in the very early years of the Skeksis existing, they very rarely let each other go much further than arms-length. After seeing SkekHak and SkekYi die, they come to the conclusion that if they stick together as a group they'd be able to stop any further losses. Only time gave them the bravery to have distance between them, that and the "firm knowledge" that "Skeksis Are Eternal".

Young Skeksis cuddle heaps are canon, Jimothy Henson phoned from the dead to tell me himself.

[baccoart]

The Scientist's Pet

The Scientist skekTek was preparing to drain some Gelflings that had been brought in the Castle by the Garthim. Among them was a young boy from the Dousan Clan who caught his attention for his boldness, lack of manners, and of course, his beauty. The Scientist was fascinated and separated the boy from the others Gelflings as soon as he noticed him and kept him hid from the other Skeksis as his dirty little secret.

You can read my new Dark Crystal fic on AO3

Soon I will publish an erotic fan comic of this same fic

[balanceoflightanddark]

I feel like most think Chromatic Dragons are evil because they worship Tiamat instead of Bahumat, Tiamat is a goddess of Chaos which most people generally associate with acts of evil but chaos generally isn't evil it just is. While Bahumat the metallic god of Order is generally seen as good there are times when too much Order is stifling

Well to start, if I were to write Tiamat or Bahamut for whatever reason, I'd wouldn't try to stray too far from their moralities. I mean it's right there in their titles: Tiamat, Queen of the Evil Dragons and Bahamut, King of the Good Dragons. It's practically written in their DNA and concept. So trying to portray Tiamat as some woobie or Bahamut as being secretly evil would defeat the entire purpose of the characters.

I wouldn't even say that Tiamat is a Goddess of Chaos in a traditional sense. Chaos usually means the potential for change and the hope for a better future. Tiamat on the other hand seems to lean more to the "evil" in "chaotic evil". As in she's fully willing to commit to atrocities in order to further her goals. And indulge in her own whims and impulses instead of tearing down an oppressive order. Hell, for a Goddess of Chaos, she keeps a tight leash on her servants and has very problems with dominating them when they get too uppity. Aren't the Blue Dragons (Lawful Evil) amongst her most dedicated followers?

As a whole, I don't think Tiamat represents Chaos as a force for change. But rather as a force for shortsighted impulses and domination. She's the one who would dominate and use her domination as an excuse to indulge in her vices. Think a dragon version of a Skeksis and you get the drill.

Conversely, Bahamut is a bit closer to the "good" in "lawful good". His sphere of influence centers around justice, doing good deeds, and promoting acts of charity. He's not even focused on establishing some kind of societal order or regime since he rarely gets involved with mortals on a societal level. Usually, Bahamut only acts to right some kind of wrong or bring justice (which tends to be against his sister and her followers). In that way, he's more of a knight-errant than a king.

If Tiamat represents domination and living out one's impulses for the self, Bahamut focuses on helping others and holding the self to a higher standard. In that regard, the "lawful" is less societal and more living to a code of honor or strong morality. And their relationship is less "chaos vs order" and more "depravity vs nobility".

So with all this in mind, how would I handle Chromatics as a whole if it's less a societal standard and more a moral standard? Well to start, I sincerely doubt the Chromatics have too much love for Tiamat. Again, she keeps a tight leash on them and expects things like accepting consorts from them or reaping whatever portion of their hoards they have collected. And I did read that some Chromatics will try to keep portions of their hoard secret to keep out of Tiamat's hands. From this, I believe that their devotion to Tiamat is less out of reverence and loyalty and more wanting to stay on her good side. Thus, the idea of leaving her has to be a thought a lot of the Chromatics have.

Thing is, Tiamat is freakishly powerful and I doubt she'd want any of her children to get any ideas of rebelling. Even if somehow a Chromatic could break away from Tiamat and survive, they were still raised with the toxic mindset that their "mother" instilled in them. So it would be a pretty painful changing process if all they know how to be are vicious monsters. Add to that how many mortals rightfully think Chromatics are violent monsters, and you have a stacked deck.

Again, I do believe it is possible. It just won't be easy. If I were to write this sort of story, I would possibly have a young Chromatic who strikes out on their own from their parents who instilled that toxic mindset. Old enough to be self-sufficient, but young enough to still be mentally vulnerable and a bit awkward in terms of actually being vile. Basically enough of a threat to gain adventurers' notice, but not enough of a threat to have a massive bounty on their heads. From then, you could either see them begin to question themselves on what they're doing wrong. Not sure how Bahamut might see such a dragon though. On the one hand, forgiveness and mercy are part of his sphere. On the other, I did read that he was also pretty merciless when it comes to Chromatics (I mean, he's been in conflict with Tiamat and her brood for so long that it's hard to blame him). So it could go either way.

That's how I'd write the dynamic between Tiamat and Bahamut along with the Chromatics. Let me know what you guys think or if I'm missing something.

[pocket-watcher]

Are we discussing less common hypno awakenings in children's media?? I rewatched The Dark Crystal recently and the scene where Kira gets her essence drained by the crystal definitely um. Did something to my child brain. It's hard to sexualise now though, since the subject looks so young, and the skeksis doing it is uh. Well.

Really I think it was a case of "Hm, don't like that. Better jack off about it."

I’ve never actually watched the Dark Crystal but I get what you mean about it being weird to revisit media that had an effect on you as a child.

My version of this is My Babysitter’s A Vampire. I watched that show when I was way younger than the characters and there is so much fucking hypnosis it was like crack for my tiny undeveloped brain.

I didn’t really understand my interest at the time, but it definitely contributed to who I am today. Not helped by 9 year old me having crushes on literally every member of the main 5 (plus Jessie).

[theworldofthedarkcrystal]

additional highlights from dark crystal con:

* helena smee said the lamp Mira picks up was suprisingly heavy, but she does feel that it gave the motion more reality and groundedness, because Mira (Helena) reacts to the weight naturally

* kat smee and helena smee are sisters!

* kat smee said she was performing a musician podling during the skeksis dining scenes (in which helena was playing the collector), and it was an incredible sight because since all puppeteers were under the table, in real time no puppeteer could be seen, so she was looking down at the balcony at a bunch of skeksis feasting!  she said it was quite a sight

* helena smee talked about having fun puppeteering SkekLach The Collector because she is a more socially uninhibited skeksis and can make more fun movements

* kat smee said everyone was always excited for days they would puppeteer podlings, as these smaller puppets were easier on the body to puppeteer.  Dzenpo!!!

* brian meehl (dying mystic master 1982 OG) said he had to re-record the audio for the dying UrSu speech many times over many months because of the constant script re-writes.

* Steven Garlick (Jen) and Lisa Maxwell (Kira) spoke of three overall read-throughs that occurred while recording their voiceovers - 1, in their natural english accents, a 2nd, in affected American accents (they were both very young and at the start of their careers, so apparently the american accents weren’t the best), and 3rd, a take that was somewhere in-between - this last one was the take that was kept.  

* i mentioned to Tim Rose how much I like when SkekShod turns to tell SkekZok, “you should be emperor”, he turns, not the short way, which would have been away from the camera towards the SkekZok, but the long way, which is towards the camera towards the ritual master.  Tim Rose laughed and said “that would be because I couldn’t see where he was!!!”

these screenshots don’t do it justice - it’s a very funny dramatic turn.   possibly 270 degrees XD

* In a panel, when asked what additional stories he would like to tell in the Dark Crystal Universe, J M Lee said he would like to have a series about Tavra and Onica.   (here, here!)

* the costuming department worked in an odd space that had a disco ball.  eventually they figured out how to turn it on! (intel from the costuming panel)

* in a panel, Neil Sterenberg said he was very excited to say some of Rian’s speeches, because as a puppeteer mainly performing children’s cinema, he has never had an opportunity to say such dramatic speeches, and will never again have such an opportunity (his words), and it was great fun to plan how Rian was going to deliver those lines.