SkekOk
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In the film The Dark Crystal, skekOk is court Scroll Keeper for the race of Skeksis. The Skeksis rule a slowly decaying planet, which they drain to maintain their standard of living. Far from the rotting castle of the Skeksis, in a remote valley, live their alter egos, the natural and slow moving urRu. SkekOk's mirror image amongst the urRu is urAc the Scribe.
Like all the Skeksis, the Scroll Keeper wears an elaborate robe and represents the corrupted form of a glamorous ideal. Known as an Historian in pre-production notes for The Dark Crystal, skekOk is also likened to a professor, librarian or solicitor. His robe is described as pleated, printed pages resembling a book. It is mentioned that bookmarks may protrude from the robe, and that his surcoat may resemble a green tooled leather cover with marbled flyleaves. Other suggested visual elements for the Scroll Keeper include:
- a group of peasants doing illuminations
- live bookworms
- a long snout which gets caught in his books
- pressed flowers
- the most noticeable visual cue to the Scroll Keeper in the film is his line of eyeglasses
Movement notes for the Scroll Keeper focus on him propped up on a stool, peering into his tomes, with a tail flicking around the stool. It is mentioned that he may takes notes when the Skeksis meet, despite the fact that he is known to arrive late. Sound ideas mention him humming and shushing to himself. Character plans focus on a two-sided personality: "When head projects out of collar, he assumes an academic, pedantic tone. When head retreats into collar, he assumes other persona- babbling, cackling, childlike, falls asleep like dormouse."
The Scroll Keeper is listed as the finest featured and smallest of the Skeksis, a fact which gets him hit and laughed at in their cruel regime, and possibly imbues him with a perverse idolization of the brutish skekUng. SkekOk has his own power, however, in that he constantly rewrites the Skeksi histories to suit his allegiances and propaganda needs. SkekOk's traditional loyalty is to the Ritual Master skekZok. The World of the Dark Crystal book mentions that skekOk is the least honest of all the dishonest Skeksis, and the website habidabad.com calls him "actively corrupt".
