SkekVar ily

SkekLach and the Spitter

     This all just stared because I meant to capture a screenshot of SkekLach because she was being cute. During the speech about creating the garthim, she's giggling and being all excited when they're bringing in the slaughtered arathim while SkekVar the General is talking about Chamberlain’s plan. You can’t tell because it's a still, but she's shaking her fists up and down excitedly while she laughs. (Why do you have to be so disgusting but so cute?!)  During these scenes in episode 9, these are some of the happiest moments we ever from of the Collector. She’s her normal dreary self for the first half of the episode, but towards the end she gets much more... Joyful? For lack of a better word.

     I'm pretty sure she's the one who killed said arathim, because when she comes back she's covered in cobwebs, some of her hair peeks out of her cowl, and her pustules are EXTREMELY aggravated from the acid. While the Chamberlain is the one who dragged the corpse in, he’s relatively unscathed. Most likely due to following around the General and waiting for his move to manipulate him. The Chamberlain also leaves in the opposite direction of the arathim to inform SkekVar of his plan. While SkekLach knows nothing about said plan. Staying in the same general area. Arathim probably still attacking her as a distraction so that their newly formed gelfling allies can escape.

     Although they fail their mission and the Collector is temporarily blinded, she's also uncharacteristically happy after the fact. This skeksis over here just got a ton of acid spat in her face, got into a bunch of fights, seemingly lost, and the gelfling got away on top of that. Usually this would be when she'd be complaining about how useless she, and everyone else is. Or the pain she's in. But no! She's HAPPY?? I like to believe that she legitimately got into a fight offscreen and WON! And since she's one of the skeksis who dwells on the past the most, constantly lamenting upon her lost youth. I feel like she probably, in that moment. Was experiencing this high of positive emotion. This unsatiable adrenaline rush from getting back into the fray! Because right then and there she realized, be it herself or the essence surging through her veins, She's not useless.

For a brief moment she’s her old self.

    It's funny, also looking back on it; that even though she's in TONS of pain, this episode is where most of the happy SkekLach screenshots come from. seeing her happy is such a joy. It’s always weird seeing the perpetually depressed characters so motivated and happy, but it’s a welcome change of pace.

     All of this gives you a better grasp on her as a character. Originally I thought she was just overexaggerating her usefulness in that scene. (And she absolutely was) I felt that maybe it was to mask her failure, or make things sound better than they were. But now I'm thinking that she's legitimately VERY proud of herself for once. And she wants the court to know just how well she did. 

SkekVar the General meets The Scroll-Keeper and The Collector’s skekling for the first time during the little one’s presentation cerimony.

…Huh. So that’s where all those strange peeping noises came from! A baby!

My favorite faces I made for this are under the cut!

I was remembering some of Var and Lach’s interactions while trying to sleep last night and now I’m just crying because I thought of so many hcs about them being/used to be friends or at least warbuddies and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! Mostly bc they seem to be on good/nuetral terms, and When SkekVar goes Arathim hunting he specifically chooses Lach to come with him. And when she complains about not wanting to go, instead of just choosing another Skeksis, he asks her again. This time encouraging her going, “Come Now! It’ll be fun!” In which Lach replies in her trademark Eyore-like attitude: “Ugh. I doubt that…” Now I’m just thinking of them being goofballs together in their youth or just doing stupid stuff and sparring… Reminiscing about the good ol’days and various wars and it’s got me like:

I HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE BEAUTIFUL ART AND I DECIDE TO WASTE IT ON THIS!!

Expressions I’ve been working on over the month! I was challenging myself to improve my expressions and coloring by taking requests from an expression sheet on Instagram! All the people who asked for the expressions are credited in the images. ♥