character profiler volume one

Skeletor (/ˈskɛlɪtɔːr/) is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Masters of the Universe franchise created by Mattel, serving as the archenemy of He-Man. He is typically depicted as a blue-skinned humanoid who wears a purple hood over his bare-bone skull. Skeletor is determined to gain the powers of Castle Grayskull and rule the universe; however, the incompetence of his henchmen is always an impediment to achieving his ambitions.

Full Name

Keldor

Species

Gar/Demon

Gender

Male

Family

King Randor (half-brother)

Relatives

Prince Adam/He-Man (nephew)

Princess Adora/She-Ra (niece)

Queen Marlena (sister-in-law)

King Miro (father)

Saryn (mother)

Alias

Skeletor

Evil Lord of Destruction

Overlord of Evil

True Ruler of Eternia

Conqueror of Dimensions

Beast of Gar

powers / Skills

Magic

Teleportation

Phytokinesis

Usage of illusions

Telepathy

Portal-creation

Petrification

Swordsmanship

Intellect

Superhuman strength

Trickery

Psychological manipulation

story

This implication occurs specifically in the 1986 minicomic entitled "The Search for Keldor", a story that involves Prince Adam and Randor searching for Randor's lost brother Keldor. When Skeletor learns of their quest, he muses that "they must never discover the secret of Keldor", as the truth will lead to his destruction.

In this story, King Randor announces that Keldor disappeared years ago. "He thought to master magic; when his experiments went wrong and he was lost in a dimension beyond time!" One of the few elements of Skeletor's back story that remains consistent throughout the various continuities is that he had come to Eternia from another dimension. Randor's statement about Keldor disappearing to another dimension is likely an attempt to reconcile Skeletor being He-Man's uncle with his Extra-Eternian origins. To find out what happened to Keldor, Rando,r and the Sorceress attempt to peer through a space-time rift that opens once every year.

Randor announces "I think I see Keldor... Or is it..." Before he can see anything else, Skeletor appears, determined to stop them from finding out anymore. Although Skeletor is defeated, he can prevent Randor from discovering Keldor's fate as the rift once again closes for another year.

Skeletor's frantic effort to cover up what happened to Keldor, combined with the fact that Keldor vanished to another dimension when attempting to become a master sorcerer, is taken as a heavy implication that the two characters are indeed the same. the same because the original MOTU toyline came to a toy line before the story could be resolved, it was never fully disclosed if this was officially intended to be the case.

Steven Grant, the writer-for-hire of the minicomic in question, stated in a he-man.org interview that "As far as I remember, Keldor was Skeletor... But, I don't think that was ever going to be revealed... I seem to remember it as one of those things Mattel came up with out of the blue... Slur Keldor and you end up with Skeletor... His back-story wasn't worked out sort of evil cosmic energies altered him. I think they were going for a Darth Vader thing, but it was a tack-on... The main idea was that if they found out Skeletor was Keldor, they'd be able to find out what had changed him and might find some way to reverse it."[7]

In the new continuity of the 2002 animated series, Skeletor's original name was Keldorrance as such is shown and his exploits partially depicted. However, it seems unlikely that he is related to Randor in this continuity, as he has Skeletor's blue skin and some other slightly nonhuman features while he was still Keldor. In a he-man.org interview with one of the producers of the 2002 series, it is revealed that Keldor is the half-brother of Randor; they have different mothers.

In the Masters of the Universe Classics toy line, further character development was introduced. This line has offered more in depth origins in-depthasters of the Universe characters and collaboration of all origins in an attempt to create a new coherent continuity. According to their revised back story, Keldor is Randor's half-brother. Keldor's mother was a member of the Gar race and he was ousted from the royal castle due to his Gar heritage. He roamed Eternia for knowledge, eventually learning the Dark Arts from Hordak. He then sought to unite Eternia by ruling it himself and battling his habattlingther with his army of fellow misfits. After losing the battle and desperate to survive, he turned to his mentor Hordak who merged Keldor with an entity known as the Demo-Man. Together they formed Skeletor.[8] Keldor also appears in the DC comics but was cursed by his father and became Skeletor.

Powers and abilities

Skeletor is an extremely powerful sorcerer with control over a vast range of dark magical powers, such as the ability to teleport himself and others over vast distances, send telepathic commands to his minions, grow plants, hypnotize, cast illusions, reflect magic, project freezing rays, and open gateways between dimensions. He also possesses considerable scientific skill and is shown to have skill in creating various machines and devices in both the Filmation and New Adventures animated series. The 2002 series also shows him as a highly-skilled swordsman, wielding dual swords and taking on multiple opponents.

He is usually armed with a magical weapon called the Havoc Staff, a long scepter crowned with a ram's skull—sometimes depicted with an embedded crystal ball. He can discharge bolts of mystic force from the head of the Staff, or use it as a focus for more powerful forms of magic such as the theft of dreams. Skeletor has also displayed the ability to discharge energy from his own body, as is seen in the 1987 film where he casts lightning from his hands and in the original animated series where he projects energy from his fingertips. In the 2002 series, his innate powers seem much more limited; though his abilities, when in conjunction with his Havoc Staff seem nearly unmitigated in scope and highly potent in raw power.

In the early mini-comics, Skeletor sometimes possesses one-half of the Power Sword. From this weapon, he could also project magical energies. He also performed remote viewing via crystal ball. He has also shown himself to be a gifted swordsman. As a master of the occult arts, he is also privy to much secret knowledge about the universe.

All versions portray Skeletor as being extremely cunning and intelligent. He is also very strong, although his strength is no match for He-Men. He has few weaknesses, aside from his inability to control his anger, and on occasion, his overconfidence can also be his undoing.

AnimalsEdit

Panthor in the Filmation animated series

Despite his generally callous attitude towards his henchmen and others, Skeletor displays a certain degree of affinity towards animals. Skeletor's most constant animal companion is Panthor.

Panthor is Skeletor's evil feline companion, a giant purple panther who serves as an evil counterpart to Battle Cat. Panthor is portrayed as Skeletor's pet, being at the right of his throne. However, unlike He-Man's Battle Cat, Panthor only appears in a handful of stories in the original series. While his role is similarly limited in the 2002 series, he is more prominent in the episodes in which he appears compared to his appearances in the earlier series.

In He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special, Skeletor also shows some affinity towards Relay, a partly-robotic dog who is a part of the Machines. When shot down by Hordak late into the special, Skeletor is at first ready to leave Relay behind on a snowy mountain top but decides to carry Relay with him when he can't bear to listen to his whimpering. Although Skeletor appears annoyed by Relay licking his face, he refuses to let Miguel or Alisha carry the creature.

In The New Adventures of He-Man, Skeletor becomes friends with a small mutant creature named Grr. After intimidating Grr to submission, he pets it and decides he likes it because the creature is as vicious as he.