Hi! It’s Annie!
I grew up with pretty much anything and everything Jim Henson… except for ‘The Dark Crystal’. Let’s be honest, I’ve always been a scaredy cat and the scene where the Podling gets his life force drained is one of the scariest scenes in anything ever. But when ‘Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ came out, I was all over it. I know a lot of people thought the Gelflings looked creepy, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen more beautiful puppets in my entire life. This series was gorgeous in every possible way. From the world building, to the puppetry, to the acting, all the way to the story itself. I think Thra has to be one of my favorite fictional places of all time. Brea’s library is one of my favorite places in any fantasy media ever, the forests are beautiful, I love the medieval cottages and castles. There’s not a single thing about this series that isn’t amazing. Except for the absolute crime that is Netflix dropping it for a season two. I will forever hate Netlifx for many reasons but that’s towards the top of the list. The series left not exactly on a major cliff hanger, but also not with everything solved and tons of new problems. And with the events of the movie ‘The Dark Crystal’ and the fact that ‘Age of Resistance’ is a prequel, we can all bet that the second season would have been much darker. There are plenty of theories about what might have happened between the series and the movie based off of what we know and I thought I might as well finally jump in! MAJOR SPOILERS for all ‘Dark Crystal’ franchises coming up.
Deet:
I think what happened to Deet is probably the biggest question out there right now. At the end of the season we see sweet and adorable Deet get taken over by the darkening. We know that right before the final battle, the sanctuary tree gave Deet the means to heal other creatures from the darkening. But when it came down to it, she had to channel the darkening in order to protect her friends from the Skeksis. It’s really hard to not love Deet. She’s one of the most beautiful puppets to ever come out of Jim Henson and they actually hired a young female puppeteer to help portray her innocence. She’s also a fan favorite. Nobody wants to see Deet remain as part of the darkening forever. Given that we knew that Deet had the ability to heal other creatures from the darkening, I think it’s safe to say that she would eventually have also been cured from the darkening. Though I’m unsure if it would be a permanent healing or if the darkening would take over again. I do think that Deet and Rian eventually become Jen’s parents in the future. But we also know that every Gelfling that isn’t Jen or Kira die before the events of ‘Dark Crystal’. Rather than thinking the Skesis are behind that, I think that this is probably more due to the darkening. Deet probably eventually succumbs to the darkening, but I don’t think it happens until later.
Rian:
I think it’s difficult to say whether or not he would perish fighting the Skeksis or with the darkening. Most warriors are shown going down fighting, so that is a real possibility. I think it’s very clear that Rian is Jen’s father. We even see a vision with Rian in Jen’s place, replacing the shard in the crystal. I feel like his future is a bit more clear, so I don’t have as much to say here. But I think you definitely see the resemblance between Jen and Rian.
Brea:
I know I might be one of the only one who thinks this at this point, but I do actually think that Brea is Kira’s Mom. I know a lot of people are arguing that Seladon and Kira look alike. I personally am not sure that is purposeful. I think you can definitely see the advancements in puppetry between the prequel and the original movie. I personally don’t think that Seladon and Kira look any more alike than Kira and Brea and I think the reason for the difference in looks is because of how different the process in making the puppets has become. What I do think is that we were told pretty clearly in the original Dark Crystal that Brea is Kira’s Mom. We know from the vision Deet sees that Brea is pretty clearly the woman in Kira’s flashback from the original film. Kira says directly that this woman is her Mom. There are a lot of people who think that Kira might have been mistaken and that Brea was just hiding Kira on behalf of Seladon who might already have died. I think this might be overthinking when we were already given a pretty clear answer. I also know that Kira was a baby when this happened, but I don’t think there’s any reason to doubt Kira on this one. Especially because she’s shown to be pretty wise and have a pretty good understanding of what happened to both herself and Thra. Seeing that Brea gets snatched there, it’s safe to say that she died at Skeksis hands. What’s a bit more difficult to tell is who Brea had Kira with. A lot of people have been throwing around Kylan, which I like, don’t get me wrong. But I’m not sure I’m completely convinced that Kylan is the father of Kira. We haven’t seen anything even resembling chemistry between Brea and Kylan in the first season. He was incredibly kind to her after the death of her mother, but I don’t think there was much beyond that. And I didn’t read any of their interactions as romantic, as much as I would have thought that was cute. But we did see Brea interact with Rek’yr, a Dousan that the group meets in the desert. Brea and Rek’yr seem to take an immediate liking to each other, even seeming to flirt a little. Brea continues to wear a necklace that he gives her throughout the rest of the episodes too. To kind of solidify this, Kira has a streak of green in her hair which is consistent with both Rek’yr and the Dousan clan. I feel like my Brea theories are more unpopular but I do think that Brea is the mother of Kira and I personally think that Rek’yr is the more likely father.
Onica:
A few people may be confused that I’m writing about Onica because she didn’t appear much in the first season. Onica actually appears a ton in the lore books for ‘Dark Crystal’ and was supposed to have an expanded role in the next season. In the lore books Onica is actually in a relationship with Tavra, which is queer representation I would have absolutely loved. Though it’s not great that they killed off Tavra so early on. We don’t do the “bury your gays” trope in this house. According to the lore books, however, Tavra actually still lives on and her consciousness is now in the spider creature. Kind of creepy and not really satisfactory, but at least it’s something. It would have been nice to explore this relationship more if we had gotten the chance. And to see Onica become an even more powerful soothsayer before she also might have been taken over by the darkening.
It’s ultimately a little depressing to talk about the demise of all of these adorable and gorgeous characters. I’m not as much of a fan of theorizing about how they all die. But, as a fan of romance, I particularly wanted to jump on the ship theories here. I absolutely loved people shipping Brea and Kylan, but after my most recent rewatch of the series I personally couldn’t really see it. Even when I was trying really hard to see it because I wanted to. But I do think there’s an equally cute pairing in Brea and Rek’yr. And Deet and Rian are obviously so adorable. I love them a lot. Maybe it was a good thing that I didn’t get another season because I really don’t want to see all these cute characters die and this amazing world be marred by a bloodbath. But I still hate Netflix for not clearing a second season and I will continue to do so. Forever.
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 