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skekheck:
wavesofthra:
Anyone else here doesn’t like Skekmal?
I can see why people do like him, I guess.
I usually love combatant characters, but this guy just doesn’t have much……personality. I mean, the entire season he was just obsessed with his hunt.
Skeksil was awesome. He was a weaker skeksis. Master at manipulation and a quick thinker. Like that incredible scene where he was manipulating Rian in the carriage was just…wow.
I noticed how, when Rian said he’ll refuse to listen to the skeksis if they keep on killing gelfling, skeksil caught on that Rian’s main priority is other gelfling. He immediately adapted, saying if Rian doesn’t listen, the skeksis will kill all of the gelfling. He even stopped the carriage and let Rian have a chance to escape into the woods, but Rian stayed. It was a gamble skeksil KNEW he would win. He sucks, and in terms of the story, I hate him. But as a character, I love him.
I think that’s what Skekmal is missing. All he can do to try to get gelfling to listen to him is by threatening them with their lives. Like. Basic as fuck. I’m not saying he’s stupid, he probably has an average intelligence, but he just doesn’t have any personality. His entire character is “THE HUNT WILL NEVER END” I think the only scene with him that I liked was when the archer sacrificed himself to save gelfling. And what I mean by “like” is “thought it was sufficient”
He is different from the other skeksis, which is I think the main reason fans love him so much, but I like skekgra more for this reason. Even if skekgra were evil, but acted and appeared in the same way he does in the show, I would still like him. I haven’t read the comic books, so I haven’t seen Skeksa, but if she’s a more complex character that isn’t just obsessed with one thing the entire time, then I’ll probably like her too.
Any thoughts? Do you agree or disagree and why?
I may be biased here because skekMal is my absolute favorite character in the entire franchise, but there’s more to him than being obsessed with hunting.
“The Hunt” is his belief system of self-preservation, or better yet, a coping mechanism around his fear of death (which is heavily hinted in his last scene). He genuinely believes that killing things and wearing their remains transfers their strength to him. So when he says stuff like “only the Hunt matters” he’s not really talking about hunting, he’s talking about the endless pursuit of keeping himself strong to avoid death.
He might also look at what happened to the other Skeksis, who decided to live a more luxurious life style and how they withered away, didn’t want that for himself. So perhaps the other Skekis were a big motivation for him to keep himself fit and active and why he’s so obsessed.
And there’s a lot more interesting stuff about him too. Like how he’s considered a folklore character among the Gelfling and is a prominent villain in many Stonewood/Spriton songs and stories. Or how skekMal is kind of like the antithesis to Stonewood values (particularly their community, respect of life, and the fact that they hate hunting for sport) and that Rian is the perfect arch-nemesis for him. There’s also skekMal having a code of honor (whether he actually sticks to it is debatable) and he respects others’ ambitions (the way he just gave Rian to skekSil and telling him “I’ll respect your hunt”). And then there’s his relationship with the Dousan, with Rek'yr especially that’s surrounded in mystery (they’re on a name basis. No other Gelfling other than Rek'yr called a Skeksis by their name in the series).
Maybe he’s not as fleshed out as skekSil or some of the other Skeksis, but there’s way more going on for him underneath the surface and I find it all fascinating.
I can see your point, BUT
in my opinion, that’s what makes him so similar to the other skeksis. He is a leech who uses the strengths of many great gelfling heroes and warriors. His skills in combat, strength, and speed are all from other gelfling. If you ask me, he’s been consuming essence long before the other skeksis.
He seems to choose what to kill for something that may benefit him. He was told that Rian lied about the skeksis by skeksil, and he possibly believed that if he could get Rian’s tongue, he’d be showing that he can kill anyone, even someone who, in his perspective, can sweet-talk their way out of anything. So not only does he kill to better himself, but he also kills just to show that he can. That is a VERY skeksis thing to do.
(I even have a theory that he managed to get out of the pit of gobbles is because he consumed Ordon’s strength to allow himself to leave. It’s just a theory, only speculated by the facts that he jumped out of the gobbles so quickly despite seeming weak and helpless in it, and also the fact that he brought Ordon with him. He probably knew that consuming the strength of such a great gelfling hero would help him in that situation.)
All of the other skeksis are terrified of death as well. They hate it, they believe it mocks them, and they do anything necessary to avoid it. Skekmal really isn’t that different.
He is against stonewood values, but when you think about it, so are the rest of the skeksis, they just don’t show it in order to fool the gelfling into worshipping them. Rek'yr told him “I will not help you on another hunt” so it’s revealed that he didn’t do all of his hunts alone, and Rek'yr possibly had a dark past with skekmal. Any gelfling would be intimidated if they were threatened to talk with their life by any skeksis. Even if skektek told a gelfling he’d kill him/her if he/she doesn’t tell him what he wants to hear, he/she would be very intimidated.
If you ask me, the main difference is that he decides to completely leave politics and ruling Thra in order to keep himself alive and well. He seems to be more terrified of death than the rest of the skeksis. The look of utter shock and fear on his face once he realized that Urva was going to kill the both of them helps to prove that as well. To me, he’s just a stronger, faster version of skekvar.
Maybe I’m biased since rian is my favorite character and skekmal tried to kill him multiple times. Or maybe I’m biased because he kidnapped Brea who was my second favorite.
Or, maybe, what you find interesting about him isn’t what I consider to be interesting, like the fact he’s made it into gelfling folklore.
Sorry for the long response, I’ve always loved your account btw!

I agree that he is a lot like the other Skeksis when you boil him down, but you can say that for any of the others too. Those are core aspects they all share, but they are still unique and individualized in their own way. SkekMal is no exception.

And yeah, a big difference between skekMal and the other Skeksis was that he never wanted to be involved in politics or the Castle life but that’s still pretty significant. That still makes him unique out of all of the other Skeksis because that would drastically change how a character would be presented/act. He’s done it for a long time, way before skekGra decided to defect, and he’s managed to stay fit for nearly a thousand years. And then there’s his albeit twisted views, his code of honor (which no other Skeksis has), his belief systems, his life-style, his incredible willpower and endurance, interesting relationship with the Dousan, the in-world folklore surrounding him… all of these things differentiate him from the other Skeksis. These are unique to him.

Like sure, skekVar and skekMal are similar in that they’re combatant and more prone to violence but that’s all they really have in common. SkekVar is cowardly and insecure who hides behind a brutish persona. He cowered when he was about to be killed by Tavra and hobbled away when he got stabbed by Rian. Meanwhile, skekMal is far more tactful, braver, and could take three arrows but still commit to his objective even when he’s near death. Also, although skekMal relies on the Dousan to travel through the desert, he’s still fiercely independent unlike skekVar who, like the other Skeksis, relied on others to get what he wants.

Also minor things you mentioned I wanted to address:

In the AOR timeline at least, skekMal doesn’t consume essence (until he was forced to). It’s in his belief that when he makes trophies out of his kills that he gets stronger. We just don’t know if it legitimately does that. It could be a twisted view on Dousan charms (like the one Rek'yr gave Brea for protection) or just something he developed himself. Honestly, him staying active is probably why he’s so strong and agile at his age. Draining a Gelfling’s essence is a relatively new thing which was why Thra was rapidly declining. SkekMal was hunting creatures naturally. In the J.M. Lee books, however, he does (including bathing in essence to lure in Gelfling). But book!skekMal and show!skekMal are sdifferent characters, though.
Also it should be noted that skekMal’s prey didn’t just rely on Gelfling soldiers/warriors, it’s implied he hunted down other sentient creatures as well.
With the Gobble Pit situation, I think skekMal was able to free himself while using Ordon as bait to get out. It could also be because skekMal is much larger and the Gobble Pit would have trouble eating/digesting him compared to a Gelfling. Also, again, skekMal has incredibly willpower and endurance: he would not just let himself get eaten without a fight.
When I mentioned him being an antithesis to Stonewood values, it’s because skekMal’s folklore majority came from the Stonewood clan. So it would make sense to have the famous Stonewood folklore villain be pit against a Gelfling from the same clan. Of course, generally the Skeksis are against Gelfling values, but that doesn’t take that aspect away from skekMal and Rian’s dynamic. That’s still specific to him.

Yeah I do agree we just have very different viewpoints on what we find interesting about him as a character. And that’s perfectly okay. I was giving out my perspective and you don’t have to agree. But I think I’ve said enough.

And thank you! I’m glad you like my blog.