The Dark Crystal
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"Another World, Another Time... In the Age of Wonder. A thousand years ago, this land was green and good, until the Crystal cracked. For a single piece was lost; a shard of the Crystal. Then strife began, and two new races appeared: the cruel Skeksis... the gentle Mystics."
- – The opening of the film
The Dark Crystal is a fantasy film directed by Frank "Yoda" Oz and Jim "The Muppets" Henson. It probably traumatized a bunch of internet critics when they were kids; it’s also one of the many fantasy films being produced during the 1970s, and (in parts) one of the most original. The entire film doesn’t contain a single human, as all its characters are portrayed by puppets. Eventually, the movie spawned a plethora of comics and books; it further boosted the career of Brian Froud, fantasy artist who specializes in pictures of trolls and elves. The folkloric kind.
If you’ve heard of this movie, it’s probably because of its extremely alien and original universe, from which the film and the series only show a fraction. The world of Thra is filled to the grim with creatures that either are so alien you can’t even describe them or so dangerous that Gygax might consider them too gross to even use in his campaigns. It’s also a world of beauty and magic, where every living thing is connected to one another, thanks to the titular crystal. It’s also being abused by a clique of elitist schmucks from which /pol/ has drawn many unfortunate comparisons.
As niche as The Dark Crystal is, it inspired a multitude of artists and DnD campaigns, as well as monsters, trying to reproduce the fairy-like enchanting vibe of the movie. In fact, the whole franchise inspired the Feywild plane.
A lot of people have criticized the movie for being creepy or scary, either because of the sadistic Skeksis and their schemes, or because of the sometimes weird off-putting appearance of the Gelflings, which for some people fall right in the uncanny valley. Most of them ignored that it was Jim Henson’s intention to make the movie scary, as children should be exposed to fear at some point. As for the uncanny valley stuff… Let’s just say the prequel series fixed this issue.
The Universe
The Dark Crystal is set on Thra, a planet in a galaxy far, far away from ours.
Races
The UrSkeks : The race that came to Thra a long time ago. Not much is known about them besides the fact that they are not of Thra and that their kin rejected them. Most likely, they were seeking refuge. They are curious creatures, although sometimes too curious for their own good. All the wisdom in the world didn’t stop them from touching the Crystal and end up dividing them into…
The Skeksis : The mean-spirited, BBEG of the Dark Crystal series. Although not as corrupted as they would become at first, the Skeksis are extremely methodological and always have plans in motion. They act and interact with Thra in ways that would completely change the land. Smart and cunning, they would eventually seduce the Gelflings with their words and make them their slaves, and salvage meaningless wars and quench their bloodlust. Why? Because they fucking can.
With time, their corruption and materialistic vision of the world would lead them to seek immortality, thus ending up in them sucking the power of the Crystal away and using it for themselves. While they would live longer and enjoy a few more years of hedonistic pleasures, the Skeksis would degrade and rot. Only being able to remain youthful and strong by drinking the essence of Gelflings which they crave.
They are the main reason why you remember the Dark Crystal. Creepy stalking scheming birds of pride who hate everyone and everything who tries to stop their plans. Each Skeksis has a unique personality and role in their community, and all of them are batshit insane. They all have names starting with “Skek”, and each of them are responsible for at least one grave event in the history of Thra. Unlike their other-half brothers...
The UrRu/Mystics : Slow, quiet and peaceful creatures that are the polar opposite of the Skeksis. They live isolated from the rest of the world and practice shamanism everyday. They live simple lives and follow their rituals in such manners that they’d make a Buddhist jealous. You would assume they’d fight the Skeksis on a daily basis because of their direct opposition to materialism and wrong-doing, but no. The Skeksis are always on the move, they make change, they adapt themselves to new situations and actually do something, the UrRu do not intervene and never attempt to change the world.
Needless to say, they don’t do a whole lot in the franchise. However, some of them are more rebellious, and actually try to do something and prevent Thra from being completely corrupted. The Archer and the Wonderer being two examples of that. Unfortunately, because of their reclusive habits, they are perceived as stuff of legends by the Gelflings.
As for the inhabitants of Thra…
The Gelflings : The protagonists of the series. Curious little elves who make one with nature, they are capable of “dreamfasting” with one another, which allows them to share visions or memories. They are also incapable of lying. While there are some small differences between the two sexes, the most notable is that female Gelflings have wings.
Unfortunately, despite all of this, Gelflings are also extremely naive. They were gullible enough to believe the Skeksis and hand them over the Crystal without asking questions, they’ve let themselves being thrown into wars against former allies and committing genocides in the name of their masters, using the protection of the Crystal as an excuse to purge races which didn’t obey their will.
Before the rise of the Skeksis, they were united and pretty much all looked the same, passing their days naked praying with Augrah. That all changed when the Skeksis started to mess with the crystal too much and usurp the leadership of the Gelflings. To achieve this, they used the usual divide and conquer tactic. The Gelflings were seperated in seven clans (or so it seems), which drastically changed their appearance and behavior accordingly.
The Firelings : Gelflings with fiery hair who can throw fireballs. They live by the center of the earth and are much taller than your average run-of-the-mill gelfling. So much so that their eldest members are likely as tall as giraffes. One of them was supposed to be the protagonist of the scrapped Dark Crystal sequel, but since the first movie wasn't much of a success, all we got was a short comic book series.
Mithra, the land in which they lived, thrived thanks to the power generated by the crystal, which heats its core. Understand that when it becomes corrupted, all it does is slowly killing their kind with a fleeting flame, slowly turning their fiery homeworld into a cold mausoleum.
The Podlings : Podlings are what you get when a hobbit makes out with a gnome. They are smaller than Gelflings, much more dim-witted, and take life as a party. They're also incredibly joyous and seemingly unnaffected by the current happenings of Thra. So much so that the Skeksis didn't even bother conquering them. They are friendly, until you start frightening or angering them. That doesn't mean they'll fight back, they'll just whimper and cry out for mercy. The Skeksis and the Gelflings use them as butlers. They don't seem to mind. Even Augrah has a whole family of them working for her.
The Boblings : Podlings, but with crab legs. They are as terrifying as you can imagine.
The Gruenaks : Slaves to the Skeksis, they are somewhat similar to the Podlings, they serve them in all sorts of ways. The two most notable being the ones that SkekTek owns personally, who he tied their mouths with fabric. Eventually, he used them with the corpses of a few Arathims to create the Garthim.
The Arathim : Tyranids if they weren't so bad. Big Spiders acting as a group-mind who live in the caverns of Thra. The Skeksis managed to generate hatred between them and the Gelflings, since the former refused to serve the cackling birds as their military force. When the two allied against their cause, SkekTek used an Arathim and a Gruenak to create...
The Garthim : Warforged beasts made for combat and built to serve the Skeksis, also the main reason of their success in the war against the Gelflings, which almost exterminated the elves of Thra. The most terrifying sight for a kid who watched the original movie back in the day. Still is a fucking horror that would give a tyranid hivemind nightmares.
The Makraks : Imagine if Dwarfs were literal bug men. Well that's what the Makraks are, bug people who dig holes and live in mines. They were supposed to appear as the slaves of the Skeksis along with the Garthims, but they ended up being cut for being too weird and ugly. They are still cannon, however, as the Skeksis' constant abuse of the Crystal eventually led to the destruction of their caverns, forcing them to migrate somewhere else. The cackling birds, using the sporadic attacks of the Makraks, striked by fear and anger by their discovery of the surface, allied themselves with the Gelflings to drive them away from their lands.
They were eventually led by Raunip, Augrah's son, to uncharted lands, where they could live in peace.
If you're looking for someone to blame the alliance of the Gelflings with the Skeksis, you can blame these guys.
Characters
Skeksis
SkekSo : The EMPURAAAAAH of the Skeksis. This guy could eat warpstones for breakfast. He is the head of state and the very reason why the Crystal became corrupted. He is the most prideful, hateful, maniacal and deranged member of his species. How so? He started the Darkening. The slow processus that which dries up Thra from its power and magic.
The Emperor is, without a doubt, an extremely serious menace, capable of leading a bunch of backstabbing bastards who cannot be trusted into creating a complex if self-sufficient bureaucracy that allows SkekSo to rule over the Gelflings with an iron fist, leaving all the dirty work to his SkekSi subordinates. While he isn't a warmongerer per say, because that Title fits SkekVar and SkekUng, The Emperor HATES being treaded on, meaning that if it you ever attempt to backstab, betray or even disobey him in any way, he WILL erase you and your kind from History. For example, the Makraks refused to give in their independence to obey the Skeksis, so SkekSo tasked SkekUng and SkekGra to simply get rid of them, and in the best of scenarios, enslave them.
SkekSil: The Chamberlain of the Skeksis EMPURAAAAAH. Most likely Tzeentch in disguise. The schemiest bastard of the bunch. And you know him well.
He craves power like the next guy who wants to usurp a throne and claim it for himself, but contrary to many others who go for the kill and claim the crown, SkekSil is simply buying his time. And while in the long run, it didn't work out pretty well for him, It is undeniable that, in the end, he had a long successful career as SkekSo's main councellor. Being the right hand of the Emperor doesn't bother him at all, if anything it helps him. Every Skeksis has a teeth against SkekSil, but his position grants him some sort of prestige among them. Although that prestige is oftentimes short lived.
He doesn't really make decisions, mind you, but he gives ideas to the people who make decisions. He's the one who told SkekTek to work on a machine that could collect essence, the latter of which will serve as SkekSo's rejuvinating gelfling juice. He was the first one to bargain with the Gelflings regarding the futility of the Resistance when the rest of the Skeksis were panicking. He was the first one to suggest to decridibilize Rian in front of his peers by using the Gelflings' stellar gullibility, he was the first one to call on SkekMal to chase after Rian, who none of the Skeksis even DARED to call by his name. If anything, he whispers to the ears of his allies AND enemies what to do. He doesn't play 4D Chess, but he can tell almost nine times out of ten what will be the next moves of BOTH players.
SkekSil sure love to look like an ally to you, he'll do everything in his power to earn your trust. Just make sure that in the past, you didn't do him dirty, because you're gonna regret it really fast.
/tv/ LOVES SkekSil, so much so that he is sometimes seen as the mascot for the /AoR/ threads. His signature whimpering became a catchphrase among many fans. He might aswell be the figurehead of the Dark Crystal franchise.
SkekMal: The one proof that what the Skeksis need to stay young isn't some weird juice that comes out of space gnomes, but literally hitting the gym. He's the alpha of the Skeksis, the strongest of them all, the original nightmare of anything that lives. So much so he could probably give the Doom Slayer the fight of his life. He could probably scare a Space Wolf. He could probably arm wrestle with Sly Marbo. He's also one of the only Skeksi with his other half actively trying to prevent him from commiting a massacre. The reason why he isn't ruling the Skeksis and acts as a subordinate to the Emperor is because leadership is for pussies.
Remember, the Age of Division is temporary, but THE HUNT IS ETERNAL.
SkekGra: The Heretic, formerly known as the Conqueror. Unlike the other members of the Skeksis cult, he realized that being a douche didn't amount to anything, and felt like his other half was missing. Simultaneously, his UrRu counterpart, Urgo the Wonderer, felt that too. Both tried to convince their kin to rejoin their brothers, but to no avail. The Skeksis because they never wanted to surrender the Crystal, and the UrRu because they don't want to reunite with their disgusting evil brothers.
So SkekGra and UrGoh abandonned everything, including their kin, and rejoined at the Circles of the Sun, a place so isolated that it's in the middle of a deadly desert. There isn't much known about them, but both seem to live pretty well, one appearing as the hectic, easily angered half, and the other the calm, tranquilled and constantly stoned other half. Yes, they do drugs. According to Rian, deadly drugs too.
Augrah
You know how every fantasy setting as a god of nature that represents the entire planet and the elves usually worship him or her? Well Augrah is just that, except she's not a god.
Augrah is what you get when a angry granny gets to become a goddess. She's tied to Thra, she speaks the language of Thra, she's tied to the Crystal, and you better believe she's gonna stick to her role as a guardian of Thra. She never takes any shit from anybody, and is capable of lecturing people on a whole lot of thing on top of giving a good lesson of humility, so much so she could probably give Archaon a good scare.
The Skeksis, being aware of that, gave her an observatory so that she could observe the stars for HUNDREDS OF YEARS, just so that she could shut up. Waking up hundreds of years later, she almost sunked into the abyss of knowledge the Skeksis gave her, and thus set herself on a mission to save Thra... Or well, find someone who can.
Gelflings
Jen and Kira: Jen is the main protagonist of the original movie. You can also call him Gelfling Jesus. Jen is a caring, loving and a "bordering-the-strange-valley"-ing character. He couldn't hurt a fly, and matter of fact, he never harmed anyone. Ever. Not even the genocidal maniacs who killed his parents. Jen, taking the Gelfling tradition of being naive as all hell, is absolutely clueless about Thra, learning most of what he knows from his Master, UrSu, the Mystic counterpart of SkekSo. Unfortunately, he forgot to tell him about the Crystal, the one thing he tells him to restore before he agonizes.
Jen is essentially the one character that guides the audience in the world of Thra, or rather, discovers the world with them. He isn't clueless because he's naive, but because narratively speaking, having a know-it-all character serving as your main guide in a completely alien world isn't the best thing to have. Imagine if Frodo was capable of lore-dumping on any character present in the Lord of the Rings.
Kira, on the other hand, is a crafty Gelfling girl who's friends with all the animals. Although she is incredibly frail and quite sensitive, she's more fit for adventuring and questing than his male counterpart. Unlike Jen, however, she was raised by Podlings and somehow learned how to speak their language and talk with animals.
What's remarkable about these two is that they become the ones to "replenish Thra with Gelflings" and soon after become their king and queen. Now how did they achieve that? Good question.
Thurma and Kensho: The two protagonists of the unmade sequel. Thurma is a fireling who comes to the still standing Crystal Castle to steal the detachable shard of the Crystal to restore the beating heart of Thra. That causes the Crystal to darken, again, albeit without creating copies of the Skeksis and the UrRu, who's souls seem to have been locked inside the Crystal after they were reunited as the UrSkeks. It's a long story.
Thurma is a hot-heated (again, no pun intended) fireling who's promissed to inherit the fireling crown by her mother, the queen (duh), who tasked her with a mission of rejuvinating the flame of their homeworld. She is determined and never questions anything said thing allows her to get what she needs/wants to get.
Kensho is a gelfling, who follows Thurma on her quest to her homeworld, and is the only one who isn't completely hostile to her. He's treated like an outcast, especially considering that he used to admire Jen and Kira as they both healed him from a grave illness, until they became much, much more conservative and said nothing of the newfound greed and fanatical ways of the new gelfling race. His melancholy is quite relatable. Though don't worry, he ends up becoming the new guardian of the Crystal and becomes quite the leader afterwards.
Rian: One of the three protagonists of the series, Rian is the son of the Captain of the Guard, and is on a quest to kick Skeksi ass after they sam them sucking and drinking the essence of his girlfriend. He is a badass, wields a vorpal blade, and takes on enemies three times his size. He simply isn't to be fucked with. Even when his entire kinship was against him and tried to hunt him down, he still fought for the truth about the Skeksis and free his people from their unjust rule.
Deethra: Also known as Deet, the one and only gelfling waifu, she is the second protagonist of the series, acting as an echo of both Jen and Kira. She's the first one to notice the effects of the Darkening on Thra, and thus acts as its messenger or savior. Unfortunately, she isn't much of a fighter, and, just like Jen, she is absolutely clueless about the world around her. Although, thanks to the useful friends that she makes along the way, she's able to save a lot of Gelflings from an imminent doom. There's also a theory going around that she's probably Thra incarnate, but that title goes Augrah, so most likely is that she is Thra's prophet.
If you watched the series, we can sense the tears on your fa/tg/uy cheeks.
Brea: Brea is the last daughter of the All-Maudra, a book worm and the brains of the main trio. She is particularly captivated by the mysteries of Thra and the origins of the gelflings, made mysterious thanks to the scheming plots of SkekOk, the Scroll Keeper and beholder of all the knowledge in Thra. Brea is also extremely critical of the Skeksis' ways and the manner of which they treat the common folk. Repulsed by the actions of her overlords, she joins Rian in his revolt, along with Deet. She has two sisters, Seladon, the eldest and successor to the All-Maudra, filthy Skeksis sympathiser, and Tavra, a princess warrior who does a lot of ass-kicking in the series, and who's quite humble about it too.
Hup: The best paladin to ever exist, beholder of the Holiest Podling Ustensil of Justice, Slayer of Arathim and Dominator of Skeksis, or spoon for short. He is a podling with a ubiquitous hold of the Gelfling and Skeksi language (i.e: English), and defends fair maidens from harm and unholy beasts. He wants to become a paladin, a title and role strictly reserved to Gelflings only. And judging by the sheer amount of stunts he does, he deserves it. THIS GUY STOOD UP TO SKEKMAL. No joke, sometimes if it weren't for him, half of the stuff that happens in Age of Resistance wouldn't happen at all. So Glory to the Podling Paladin!
The Movie
In all fairness, the movie itself isn’t particularly remarkable plotwise - it's Hero Journey. We warned you up front it's original only in parts. (But holy shit is it a labor of love.)
You can see the adventures of two pacifist gelflings who are clueless about their own world and don’t know what to do with the Crystal, not even knowing what it does. The Podlings act like a certain race of space-teddy-bears, the Mystics aren’t very present, Augrah acts like Augrah, and the plot doesn’t explain a whole lot of things. Maybe for the better because it gives the film a very mysterious and eerie atmosphere, your imagination fills the gaps between the holes left by the film. But if you’re not very imaginative, then it’s probably gonna be a bore for you.
However the film has one advantage that proves who’s the one carrying the entire franchise on their shoulders; The Skeksis, they are particularly delightfully despicable. Although a lot of them are absent or gone missing, the remaining ten are all you need to be frightened and amused by their shenanigans. Their rituals, their gestures and general attitude towards each other are frightening and fascinating at the same time. Although the series make an effort to "humanize them", the movie's Skeksis definitely are unique in their own right.
If you manage to get the rare directors cut of the film, you'll notice that the Skeksis speak a whole different language, a mixture of latin and ancient egyptian it seems, giving the movie even more of an alien vibe.
The Series
In 2019, out of nowhere, The Jim Henson Company and Netflix revived the franchise with its fantastic series Age of Resistance, which gave a completely different outlook on the world of Thra, introduced new characters and lore, but also gave us supplementary hours of Skeksis. When it was aired, a whole bunch of 4chan boards loved it to death, including /tg/, which forgave the uncanny factor of the movie and started shitposting about the series.
Age of Resistance explores the world of Thra before the Skeksis went on a genocidal rampage with the Garthim Wars, serving as a prequel to the film. The action takes place during the Age of Division, a time when all Gelflings were allegedly divided into seven clans, all of which occupying a different purpose in the society the Skeksis established after seizing full control of the Crystal and corrupting it.
After witnessing his girlfriend getting sucked out of existence and turned into essence thanks to the Skeksis figuring a new way of harnessing energy that rejuvinates them, Rian sets off to spread the word of their Overlord's treason. Meanwhile, Deet notices the premisces of the Darkening, a plague that will soon consume Thra if not stopped. Meanwhile again, Seladon, first daughter of the All-Maudra, succeeds her mother on the throne as the new sock-puppet of the Skeksis, unbeknownst to her, Brea, her sister, unravels the mystery of their civilization after she notice the unjustice of the Skeksis front and center.
From there begins the story of a revolt and a conspiracy, an entire species rises against their false idols and rediscovers their world with new eyes, as the dark evil lords of Thra attempt to salvage discord among them and seize control of the whole world. You probably already heard that plotline somewhere else, but in all honesty, what matters more in this series is the writing. Everything just clicks. There's not too much fluff being thrown around, nor is there a lack of new substance for this series that aims at expanding the lore and canon of Dark Crystal.
And then Netflix cancelled it, calling the series an "expensive disapointment", right after it won an Emmy. That day, the God on the Skull Throne stood up in anger and The Emperor shed a tear.
Now there may be a multitude of reasons why the series was cancelled. Primarily, it was already in producting since forever, and there were too many cooks in the kitchen adding flavor to the Dark Crystal cake (which can be observed from time to time in the making-of, the series itself and the official website). There was also a fuck ton of people who worked on it, so greenliting a season 2 would have required for all of these artists to come back for more. And apparently things were already in the works BEFORE Netflix made a decisions, but ulimately, the more seasons the series would go, the more expensive the show could have got, even though the series was already planned from beginning to end.
After a long production history, Netflix merely catched it up and gave it its final millions for its completion, and the fact that the series ended up as good as it is is a miracle. Another might be because the series was simply to expensive. And thus Netflix found it more logical to fund series which were already successful and piggyback the success of other franchises to make more money. After all, Dark Crystal is (and probably will remain) niche.
But if it the main problem was that the series was too expensive, then one question is left to be asked; what the fuck were they thinking would happen if they unceremoniously dump everything on their platform?
It's not the first time Netflix does this, after all recently they did kill the hype for Jojo's Bizarre Adventure by dumping the entirety of Part 6 in a single day. Netflix believes that all they need to do is to dump what they have on their streaming service and then hope that their elusive audience catches up on it, or that the mysterious algorithm recommends them this series. But if you know anything about algorithms and viewership, you know that the average normie will get himself recommended the same exact shit he usually watches. Which means that your grandma gets the old movies she used to watched, your fifty-something mom gets her telenovellas non-stop, your dudebro gets his pop-culture reference filled pseudo-intelligent blockbusters everytime he turns on Netflix. Meaning that shows that don't fit in the popular categories get shadowed by the algorithm.
What didn't help is that Age of Resistance was BARELY promoted, if not at all. They didn't know who to target the show to; the fans of the films who can be counted on your fingers? Fantasy fans? Neophytes who are all into Game of Thrones because of the dark and gritty tone of the seriess? Or try to generate interest based on the strange premise of following the adventures of gnomes fighting space lizards on a fantasy alien planet?
If anything, the announcement of its cancellation was the biggest amount of publicity Age of Resistance got because, as it was announced, Netflix was packing all the controversies in the world, all of which would be worthy of their own article if /tv/ had a wiki. The fact that such a show, which had a lot of care and craftmanship being put into it, was cancelled and not the myriad of shitty telenovellas about ugly teenage girls wanting to get laid along with the other shows which are so skub in their form, their name shan't be pronounced here.
/tg/ relevance
No matter what your opinion is on the Dark Crystal as a whole, it is undeniable that it had its small impact on the fantasy community, including the tabletop scene. We probably owe the Skeksis the existence of the Nagpa, as well as some creatures from the Chaos factions that are a part of Norsca's wildlife. The Gelflings themselves could be compared to Dungeons & Dragons' gnomes, and Thra itself most likely inspired the Feywild plane.
Age of Resistance was also HUUUGE on 4chan for a while, especially /tv/ and /tg/, who appreciated the series so much that the former did weekly threads about it and the latter discussed the possibilities of an original homebrew. Luckily for /tg/, a setting guide is in the works, probably hinting at the idea that the Jim Henson Company is trying to market on the fantasy community to carry on the legacy of the Dark Crystal. River Horse is still working on the Dark Crystal Adventure Game which will be most likely similar to the Labyrinth Adventure Game.
It's cancellation also led to the universal hatred of Netflix on the entire website, so well played, Netflix, well played. You failed so hard, Malal would be proud.
The Future of The Dark Crystal
For the most pessimistic of you, either prospects look grim for the franchise, and you can say that it is officially dead. With Netflix abandoning the ship before it even started to sunk and swiping it under the rug before giving it any chances, without any DVD or Blu-Ray releases, the series is dead and not coming back. And to top it all off, every single artist who worked on it moved on to other projects, primarily because Netflix was hesitant to get the show back. Or could it?
For the optismistic ones out there, still hoping to see a light at the end of the tunnel, a family-friendly series starring Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead, with fantasy creatures designed by Brian and Wendy Froud is in the works at the moment, and if it is a success, it could potentially bring back Dark Crystal on the bargaining table. The CEO of the Jim Henson Company is still not done with Dark Crystal, and she's eager to work on it again. So who knows, maybe things aren't so bad after all, eh?