Evil-Lyn
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Evil-Lyn is a character in the popular toy line and cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
The only female member of the Evil Warriors, she is an evil witch who aids Skeletor as his second-in-command with her powers of darkness. She is vastly more intelligent than Skeletor's other minions and often comes much closer to defeating He-Man than anyone else. She regularly uses a crystal ball atop her wand to aid with her magic.
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[edit] Character history
[edit] Action figure
Evil-Lyn was introduced into the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1983, to add a female character to the Evil Warriors for gender diversity. Initially envisioned as an evil warrior-goddess and counterpart to Teela, her action figure was identical to Teela's in everything other than paint job, head mould and accessories. Although this original figure has bright yellow skin, none of the subsequent depictions of Evil-Lyn in other media (with the exception of a few minicomics, and some storybooks) carried this nonhuman skin colour through. The 2002 revamped toyline included a new Evil-Lyn action figure that was largely based on the original, although it was slightly redesigned to appear more distinct from Teela (although both figures used the same legs), including a long skirt open at the front. The new figure did not pay homage to the original's yellow skin, but instead opted for a pale Caucasian skintone with an unhealthy greyish hue.
A long-rumored inspiration for Evil-Lyn's original sculpt is 'Medea' in the classic Ray Harryhausen film, Jason and the Argonauts. As Medea, high cheek-boned, almond-eyed actress, Nancy Kovack, is painted in a yellowish metallic gold in one of the movie's most famous scenes.
[edit] Cartoon
Her appearance in the cartoon series by Filmation is somewhat modified; her helmet and clothing black and purple rather than blue and include a black cape, and her skin a pale Caucasian flesh tone rather than deep yellow like the action figure.
Introduced in the pilot episode "Diamond Ray of Disappearance", she is quickly established as one of Skeletor's main accomplices, capable of using all manner of magic spells to battle against the Heroic Warriors. She also frequently employs the use of magical disguises to trick the good guys, in episodes such as "The Shaping Staff", "The Curse of the Spellstone", "Evil-Lyn's Plot" and "The Royal Cousin".
She is also shown to frequently branch out on her own and conduct her own schemes away from Skeletor in episodes such as "Ordeal in the Darklands"; also using her services to aid other villains in "The Defection" and "Eternal Darkness". There seems to be a kind of rivalry between herself and Teela, based purely on the fact they were the only women in their respective armies. Although she is seen to have a similar feud with the sorceress Sybiline, as seen in "The Defection".
This is brought to the forefront in the episode "The Witch and the Warrior", Evil-Lyn's strongest episode of the series, in which she is forced into making an uneasy alliance with Teela when the two of them are stranded in the desert together. As well as showing a degree of respect for Teela's skills and intelligence above the levels of pure evil, she also reveals in this episode that she is only working for Skeletor so she can overthrow him once he conquers Eternia.
With her intelligence, fearlessness and her incredible magic skills, Evil-Lyn is clearly Skeletor's most powerful (not to mention reliable) ally, often left in charge when he is away from Snake Mountain. Other episodes which feature her working independently of Skeletor include "Journey to Stone City" and "No Job Too Small".
Although her background is never mentioned in the series, the series bible explains she was once a scientist from Earth called Evelyn Powers[1], who was on board Queen Marlena's space craft before it crash-landed on Eternia. Evelyn had been insanely jealous of Marlena for being chosen over her to pilot the shuttle. When the ship crashed as the result of an explosion from Skeletor's homeworld of Infinita, Evelyn had wound up on Infinita, where the evil powers of that world turned her knowledge of science into sorcery to aid Skeletor. This origin was used in a storybook entitled "New Champions of Eternia" but was unpopular with the show's writers and therefore never alluded to in the cartoon.
[edit] The movie
Evil-Lyn featured in the 1987 live action Masters of the Universe movie. Played by Meg Foster, she was shown here as Skeletor's main sidekick as in the cartoon, although the film added an extra dimension to her relationship with Skeletor by indicating a love interest between the two. While sharing the desire for power between them, Evil-Lyn's calm and seductive approach was shown to soothe Skeletor's wrath and mania in his moments of hysteria.
In the film, Evil-Lyn was placed in charge of Skeletor's troops on their mission to Earth to track down the heroes. In the final stages of the film, she deserts Skeletor after he absorbs the power of the universe all for himself without sharing it with her. Evil Lyn is not depicted as a powerful magic-wielder in the film and does not carry her distinctive orb-staff. In the film she rarely uses magic, in one scene she casts an illusion to make herself appear to be the dead mother of Julie and also uses her powers to keep the door of the music store closed while Julie brought her the cosmic key.
[edit] 2002 series
Evil-Lyn returned for the 2002 relaunch of the Masters of the Universe toy line and cartoon series. While her portrayal in the new show was very much in-keeping with the original series, her background was here expanded upon.
She was revealed to be the daughter of a mysterious sorcerer known only as "the Faceless One", who lived in isolation amongst the ruins of Zalesia and was guardian of a precious object called the Ram Stone. The Faceless One disapproved of his daughter's servitude of the evil forces and hoped that someday she would learn the error of her ways. The episode "Lessons" indicated that she still felt a family bond with her father when she returned the Ram Stone to him after it had been used by Skeletor in an attempt to breach Castle Grayskull. The show's second season expanded considerably on the theme of her disloyalty to Skeletor, as well as showcasing her origins. Unbeknownst to Skeletor, Evil-Lyn here formed a secret alliance with Kobra Khan to free King Hiss and the Snake Men, whom she believed would grant her greater power than Skeletor. After the release of the Snake Men, Skeletor sought to punish her by banishing her to the Forsaken Realm in the episode "The Price of Deceit". This episode featured a flashback to the time she first met Skeletor, when he was still in the form of Keldor. The young Evil-Lyn had managed to impress Keldor with her great knowledge and power, had fallen in love with him and played a part in saving his life, when after his injury at the hands of King Randor, she had taken him to the altar of Hordak, who gave him new life by turning him into Skeletor.
After the transformation Skeletor had become more and more twisted and evil, causing the love between himself and Evil-Lyn to fade as Evil-Lyn herself grew more twisted and desired to overcome Skeletor rather than work alongside him. This episode also indicated there were sparks of good left within her as she considered defecting to the side of good after He-Man saved her life following a call for help from her father.
Later, in the episode "The Power of Grayskull" Evil-Lyn learned that Skeletor had promised to free Hordak from the dimension of Despondos in return for having his life saved, but chose instead to destroy his sanctuary, knowing that Hordak could easily destroy him. She therefore chose to free Hordak by herself in order to gain the power that she needed, and once again concocted a scheme behind Skeletor's back, allying with Count Marzo in the episode "History" to free Hordak from Despondos. Failing in her scheme, she vowed to continue until she had freed Hordak. This plot was going to be expanded upon in the show's third season, but the cartoon was cancelled before any further episodes could be produced.
[edit] Trivia
- There is some ambiguity as to Evil-Lyn's age, namely, whether she is meant to be a young or older woman. Her deep, shrewish voice, arguably could belong to either. In the Filmation episode "Witch and the Warrior", Evil-Lyn removes her helmet for the first and only time during the series to reveal that she has white hair. While this suggests that she is at least middle aged, her white hair could be premature. It could also mean nothing as in the recent comic book series, her father was shown to have the same snow white hair before he became the Faceless One. So it is more than likely her hair color is the way it is because of genetics and nothing else.
- In the storybook 'The Sunbird Legacy', Evil-Lyn transformed into Screeech, much in the same way as The Sorceress could transform into Zoar. This is the only time that she ever displayed this ability; on all other occasions she and Screeech were shown to be separate beings.
[edit] Four Horsemen Studios
At the 2006 Comic-Con International in San Diego, Four Horsemen Studios offered an exclusive mini statue of Evil-Lyn, as part of the line that serves as a continuation of the discontinued 2002 Mattel action figures. The mini statue was painted in the traditional blue and yellow colors. The statue will also be released in Series 5 of the ministatue line, due in 2007, in the new purple color scheme.
[edit] References
- ^ Masters of the Universe Series Bible. He-Man.org.
