Skeletor

Origin

Skeletor hails from the dimension of Infinitia, He came to the planet Eternia when a great war in his dimension opened a gateway to Eternia.

Creation

First appeared in Masters of the Universe mini comic #1. He was a concept created by Lou Schiemer in promotion for the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe TV series. first written up by Don Glut.

Character Evolution

Minicomics

Skeletor was originally a demon from another dimension, where his species fought in a great war, he ended up on Eternia as the great war created a gateway to Eternia. Eventually he learns of the magic fires of Castle Grayskull that would give him ultimate power and rule the planet of Eternia. He finds that legends tell that the true king of Castle Grayskull will find the two halves of the Sword of Power and will claim his place as king of the castle and ruler of Eternia. After failing to trick the Warrior Goddess of Castle Grayskull (Teela) and He-Man he retreats with both halves of the sword banished into another dimension.

Later many attempts are made to distract He-Man or defeat him. Some attempts involve new henchmen in which Skeletor would send, such as Man-E-Faces, Trap Jaw or Mer-Man or creating situations where He-Man must fight would be allies. One of his attempts to destroy the castle was using a giant artifact that draws all the magical energy from across the planet and makes a beam of energy that could breach the walls of the mighty castle.

In the third series, The comics started to reflect more closely to the cartoon show He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. He was described as a demon from another dimension. He makes many attempts to break into the castle or get the Sword of Power from He-Man and his friends. In one issue in "the Masks of Power" Skeletor helps He-Man from his cage by forcing his minions to help He-Man fight off a couple of demons who steal the Masks of Power.

Even later we find out that Skeletor worked with the Evil Horde when he was first learning magic. Skeletor's former master Hordak was leader of the Horde and betrayed his pupil when he tried to take King Randor's daughter Adora, Skeletor betrayed him and gave away his location. The two have been bitter rivals fighting for power ever since.

In the mini comic of series 6 "The Search for Keldor", Skeletor recruits Ninjor from the past and Scare Glow an evil spirit from the future to stop King Randor from finding out what happened to the kings brother. "The secret of Keldor, could very well destroy me" Skeletor said. in this issue he brings back He-Man's doppelganger Faker. Though Skeletor was defeated He-Man waits for the next year when they can find out what happened to Randor's brother.

DC Comics

After the banishment of the two halves of the power sword in the mini comics, Skeletor captures the Goddess who gave He-Man his power and offers to let her go on the condition He-Man retrieves several amulets. Much of the original background of the character remains the same from the mini comics. He attempts to get He-Man to get him 3 amulets in order to secretly retrieve the Swords of Power from the other dimension.

It would be at the end of the series that Skeletor would defeat the wizard who was holding the Swords of Power and Skeletor would take one half and He-Man would gain the other half. Later on, Skeletor would have sent a creature into a vortex to attack the Earth to draw in its mightiest hero. Superman ended up in the magical vortex and ended up on Eternia where he tried to fight Skeletor but was mind controlled by Skeletor's magic. He used Superman to try to break into the castle and take the magical power for himself.

Marvel/Star Comics

Skeletor often plays a little role in this series as most of his appearances deal with his rival Hordak and the Horde. He works with He-Man when Hordak unleashes a robotic crab monster called Monstroid. Though He-Man saved Skeletor from doom, he left He-Man to drown and die at the bottom of the ocean. He would later make a creation which looks like He-Man called Faker, a robotic doppelganger to fool the Sorceress and the royal family thinking he is He-Man, though his initial plan failed to get him into Castle Grayskull he would later use Faker from allowing Randor to find out the secret of Keldor.

Skeletor comes up with an idea to be rid of He-Man and creates a chrono bomb that would explode and send He-Man or the power sword into the future. The trigger was set when He-Man's brainwaves were close to the bomb. While Prince Adam who is He-Man was near the bomb, set it off and sent his sword into the future. Prince Adam heads to the future to find Skeletor controls every inch of Eternia.

Without He-Man to oppose him over the years Skeletor eventually captured the Sorceress and broke into Castle Grayskull becoming its new king. There he took many secrets from the castle itself and proclaimed himself god of Eternia. As a reminder to instill fear into the people, he erected a monument which acted as a grave site for his missing foe. "Here Lies He-man". As master of everything he often uses people as play things and even allowed a small rebellion to exist just for the fact of his amusement.

It would be when he captures the past Prince Adam and his present self that both the princes use the power sword and reveal to Skeletor that He-Man was Prince Adam the entire time. The present He-Man fights Skeletor as the entire castle crumbles on top of them killing them both. Though it was the end of that future Skeletor the one in the past still lives and constantly fights He-Man.

New Adventures of He-Man Minicomics

Skeletor receives a signal from a temporal portal and tricks wayward visitors that he is Eternia's greatest hero, and that he will join them as soon as they take all the magical power from Castle Grayskull. As he begins to board their ship ready to dispatch them and take the power for himself Prince Adam arrives. As the two fight, both claiming to be the hero of Eternia, the travelers take them both back to the future, just as Skeletor gets the upper hand Prince Adam uses his sword and reveals to Skeletor that he has been He-Man all this time, but the resulting magical wave destroys much of Skeletor's flesh. He takes the moment when they are not looking to escape into a pod with several tools and spare parts. He begins repairing the damage to his body by replacing flesh with mechanical parts.

He would later join a group of mutants from the moon of Nordor in which he organizes them to attack the planet Primus, but only to leave He-Man to kill himself. He acts as an adviser to Flogg the leader of the Mutants who he still plans to overthrow. Using Flogg to enact plans and making him think it was his idea Skeletor steals the Crystal of the planet Primus which keeps the planet's atmosphere in check. Though defeated he says that his evil is just the beginning.

MV Creations/Image

Much of the characters background and history was changed when the series was changed in 2002. Skeletor, former half-brother to King Randor known as Keldor failed to kill the Council of Elders who ruled over Eternia for many centuries. Jealous of his brother's success and bringing fame and power to himself, Keldor left in self-imposed exile to gather knowledge of magic and build up his forces. Along his way he learned of magic from the disembodied spirit of an ancient evil known as Hordak.

Along his travels he meets Beast Man, who is a notorious killer on the Berserker Islands, and is initially defeated by Beast Man. Keldor and Beast Man were captured by the royal guards of those islands and brought to the king to be cooked as a meal. The two break out of the prison and manage to end up in the arena where the two fight off the guards. Keldor saves Beast Man's life by way of using his new magical powers. Beast Man follows Keldor mainly out of fear.

He learns of the ancient fortress in the dark hemisphere of Eternia called Snake Mountain, and uses it as his base of operations as he begins to build his army. Skeletor is building his army and at this time he finds a tower of technology guarded by the "Wizard" and his bodyguard. Though losing many men, Beast Man lays siege to the outside of the tower while Keldor goes inside to stop the defenses from destroying his men. He meets the wizard and his blind bodyguard. The bodyguard is a gifted swordsman who was infected by a magical spell robbing him of his vision. Keldor tricks him into saving the swordsman's vision from what was left of it, in exchange he kills the wizard and pledges loyalty to Keldor's forces. Later on the swordsman gets a new visor with 3 different optic sensors and other energy projection gadgets. He would later call himself Tri-Klops.

As the war of the Great Unrest begins, Keldor begins to bring more allies into his fold, Kronis, Evil Lyn, Mer-Man, Clawful, and Whiplash. He then decided it was time to storm the Hall of Wisdom and take the magical power from the Council of Elders. Being an accomplished swordsman himself Keldor engaged his half-brother Randor in melee combat without the aid of his Havoc Staff. Though defeated in combat, Keldor tried to use a flask of acid but backfired back onto his own face. He retreated with his men back into the dark hemisphere where he was stuck behind a mystical barrier which would not allow him to come back to the light hemisphere of the planet.

During this time which he just suffered his defeat at the hands of Randor, Keldor went to the sanctuary of Hordak and wished Hordak to save his life. Hordak did, but with a price, stripping the flesh off of Keldor's face, all that was left was a floating skull where a head once was. Hordak proclaimed him Skeletor where Keldor once stood. Though the incident left him mentally scarred, Skeletor went back to Snake Mountain to take control of his forces.

Kronis, one of Skeletors top lieutenants, challenged Skeletor for power and failed in his first attempt. He was banished from Snake Mountain in disgrace. it would be months later that Skeletor would meet Kronis again but with an army of his own to try to defeat Skeletor and his army. The two dueled on top of Snake Mountain where Skeletor destroyed Kronis's right arm, and stripped some of the flesh off of his face, then shattering his lower jaw. Surprised by Kronis's ability to gather an army and challenge him, he gives Kronis to Tri-Klops to fix him up. Given a new mechanical arm and jaw, Kronis became Trap-Jaw.

Major Story Arcs

Shards of Darkness

Skeletor was taking power from the Shakkarn Crystal over many years which he claims slowly increased his power but only as much as the crystal allowed him too. He would later have his minion Evil Lyn betray him in order for her to use He-Man to as a tool to take suspicion off herself to bring more power for herself. This backfired and Skeletor took the crystal and the shard that made the crystal incomplete. With the power he defeated a corrupted He-Man.

It was later in the main mouth chamber of Snake Mountain that He-Man broke free and fought Skeletor with his own Havoc Staff. though nearly beaten He-Man chases after the crystal. Though only for an instant, He-Mans spirit was gone, Skeletor watches as He-Man destroys the crystal and creates a magical explosion.

Dark Reflections

His major role came from finding a magical liquid from the ancient forgotten Temple of Schneidor, where he used its power to power a dimensional gate to allow him to breach the mystic walls of Castle Grayskull. Thinking he had defeated the Masters, he went on with his plan. it was later in combat with the Masters of the Universe that disrupted the crucial alignment of the array by Man-At-Arms, When Duncan disappeared in the gate, Skeletor destroyed it in hopes that Man-At-Arms would not return.

It was later when the evil Duncan was heading for the Castle that Skeletor stopped him and learned of this secrets about how he is a rebel hero in another dimension fighting off King He-Man. He followed Duncan back to Castle Greyskull with an army of his skeleton warriors and his minions. There he fought He-Man and learned that his sword was the key to get into the castle. When finally inside the castle he was to retrieve his dimensional gate when brief contact was made with his former master Hordak. Though briefly taken care of, Skeletor retreated with a new ability to teleport away.

Powers

Skeletor is trained in many forms of magic, most of which he trained himself in. His blasts have been powerful enough to blast He-Man back into feet of solid rock on many occasions, also breaking through the magical wall that kept him back for so long, with a little help of a machine. Most of the his magical powers can come from his staff called the Havok Staff or when he spent years draining the powers of the Shakarran crystal. He is a skilled swordsman, going toe-to-toe with the younger King Randor in the 2002 series, but has been matched when he came across Tri-Klops as Keldor in his pursuit of power. He is a cunning tactician.

Other Media

Television

He-Man is perhaps best known from the Filmation cartoon, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe that ran from 1983 to 1985. The show kept some aspects of Skeletor as calling him a demon from another dimension though none of his origins were ever shown. His main minion that followed him everywhere was Beast Man in the series. Later would have more appearances from other minions in which skeletor would use to defeat the most powerful man in the universe.

Skeletors plans were often ways to either defeat He-Man or ways to conquer Eternia, most often trying to capture the Castle Grayskull. Every time he is defeat by He-man and his friends. More back story would later be revealed as Skeletor was a member of the Horde and was trained in magic by his mentor Hordak. It would be later he betrayed his mentor by giving the secret location of his base after Princess Adora was kidnapped in the Secret of the Sword series. He made on and off appearances on She-Ra Princess of Power as either trying to defeat She-Ra or trying to fight Hordak for power in the Horde Army.

The New Adventures Of He-man (1990)

He-Man was later revived in the fall of 1990. when Mattel tried to syndicate He-Man again with an updated version. but Filmation having closed their doors to He-Man. Skeletor returned in this series but with a whole new look and a different voice actor that had given him a more of a joker-like personality. He followed He-Man into the future but joined up with the Mutants who were attacking the world of Primus.

Skeletor acted as adviser to the leader Flogg, who was a dim-witted leader. He would help him capture Primus in return that Skeletor be the one who defeats He-Man once and for all. The series lasted 2 season and ended with a final battle with Skeletor and his female companion being sealed in a space ship and send off exiled into space itself with no way of controlling the ship.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)

In fall of 2002. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe returned to television. this time was done by Mike Young Productions. This was by most fans classified as one of the more favorite series as more was put into character development and continuity. The series started with a 3-part episode entitled; The Beginning. In this we learn the origins of Skeletor. In the commentary of the series the writers explained that Keldor was Captain Randor's half-brother, both having the same father. Keldor attacked the Hall of Wisdom in order to kill the Council of Elders and take their power for his own and rule Eternia.

In the battle with his half-brother he began losing parts of his face as a trick to throw acid on his brother backfired and was killing him. Forced to retreat to the dark hemisphere he was sealed behind a mystical wall which separated half of the world from each other. During this time, Keldor was forced to go to the sanctuary of his mentor Hordak who was sealed in another dimension. Hordak removed the rotting flesh and left a floating skull where his head once was. he was then dubbed Skeletor and commanded his force again but with much less sanity he once had.

16 years later he would destroy the mystical wall that kept him from the light hemisphere and take revenge on the Council who apparently have not been seen since his defeat. Then he launched an attack on the Castle Eternos home of now King Randor and kidnapped the king in a bitter grudge match. Though losing at his first encounter with He-Man he would return time and time again to defeat He-Man then later try to capture Castle Grayskull after discovering its power.

He was not in much of season 2 as its primary focus was on King Hiss and his Snake men. He was later called upon by Hordak to release him from the dimension of Dispondos. Though he betrayed his former master and destroyed his sanctuary. In season 3, Skeletor would have taken the body of King Hiss after his defeat in front of his snake god Serpos.

Movies

Masters of the Universe (1987)

Skeletor in the movie finally captured Castle Grayskull and held the Sorceress prisoner, though he has his minions his army in this movie is black robot storm troopers. He manages to chase He-man to the planet Earth, but sends his minions to get the cosmic key he has with him as that is a tool that could defeat him. In the end of the movie Skeletor gains god like status but loses it when goes into melee combat against He-Man.

Skeletor was played by Frank Langella. He was often called the best Skeletor actor and person to portray the overlord of evil. He took the role after he watched his son watch the show a lot and loved doing the role.