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The UrSkeks are a fictional species featured in the 1982 fantasy film The Dark Crystal and its companion book The World of The Dark Crystal. They were designed by Brian Froud.

Contents 1 Appearance 2 History 2.1 The first conjunction 2.2 The Division 2.3 Reunion and Departure

The UrSkeks were tall, luminescent beings of vaguely Gelflingoid shape. They sported large craniums and slim bodies. Only eight appeared in the end of the movie, with UngIm as their representative to Jen by reviving Kira.

• UngIm: Emperor skekUng + healer urIm
• SilSol: Chamberlain skekSil + chanter urSol
• ZokZah: Ritual Master skekZok + Ritual-Guardian urZah
• AyukAmaj: Gourmand skekAyuk + cook urAmaj
• NaNol: Slavemaster skekNa + herbalist urNol
• OkAc: Scrollkeeper skekOk + scribe urAc
• ShodYod: Treasurer skekShod + numerologist urYod
• EktUtt: Ornamentalist skekEkt + weaver urUtt

According to The World of The Dark Crystal, the UrSkeks were not native to Thra. They originated on a world where moral imperfections were found completely intolerable. The UrSkeks, of which there were originally 18 led by SoSu, were banished from their homeworld and entered the world of Thra via a portal opened by the shining of the three suns on the crystal of truth. There, they encountered Aughra who had just been badly burned by the intense heat given off by her close proximity to the conjunction. They healed her and together made exchanges of knowledge; Aughra teaching them the ways of the planet's nature and ecology while the UrSkeks taught her astronomy. They hollowed out the mountain containing the crystal that brought them to the world and created a magnificent castle. It wasn't long however before the UrSkeks began to recount their banishment and sought to rectify what they had been taught as their curse of self impurity.

Creating a network of mirrors around the crystal, the UrSkeks sought to trap the light of the next great conjunction to burn out the imperfections on their souls. For another thousand years they waited till finally it arrived. However, upon entering the light, rather than being cleansed, the UrSkeks were divided into two separate species; The Skeksis, commanded by skekSo and the UrRu led by urSu. A fight broke out, resulting in the crystal receiving a blow which chipped off a shard. The shard disappeared and the UrRu left the castle to the Skeksis.

Despite the separation, there was still a sympathic bond between each Skeksis and its urRu counterpart, a constant reminder that they were only halves of the same being. If either is wounded, the other feels the pain and suffers an identical injury. If one dies, both die in the same manner. It was one of the reasons why the UrRu were never attacked or bothered by the Skeksis and their creations.

By the time of the Dark Crystal, only ten Skesis/UrRu pairs remained. When the story begins, both skekSo & urSu passed on, leaving skekUng & urIm to succeed them repectively in their own ways. By the upcoming conjunction, thanks to the Gelfling Jen, the process that created the two races was reversed and the UrSkeks were reformed. Their new leader, UngIm, revived Kira before the UrSkeks departed into a higher level of existence and left the Gelfings as the keepers of the Crystal.