It has come to my attention that not everybody on the Avocado can tell their Skeksis apart. Some people even think that all of them go MMMMMmmmm and not just skekSil, The Chamberlain.
So today’s Day Thread PSA is Know Your Skeksis.1
Broadly speaking, the Skeksis are characters featured in Jim Henson’s 1982 film The Dark Crystal and 2019 one-season prequel TV series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. While there are canonically 18 individual Skeksis (twice nine as they say), not all have appeared on film, with a few appearing only in tie-in novels and comic books.
In the 2019 prequel series, the Skeksis are the beloved Lords of the Crystal who rule Thra and serve as caretakers for its core crystal, which has been mysteriously damaged for centuries for some reason.2 In the 1982 film they are… no longer beloved and also the planet is not doing so great. Also something is going on with the urRu, some other weird folks hanging out on the planet who there are also 18 of. And I’ll stop here to avoid spoiling a 40 year old movie. Go watch it yourself! Or google the plot, that’s fine too.
To save page loading time, and also because not everyone wants to scroll past a bunch grotesque bird-lizard monsters as they casually go about their Day Thread, I have compiled this information in a slide show, with a cover image that is not a Skeksis.
Not a Skeksis. This is a bunny rabbit, not a Skeksis. 
skekSo, The Emperor – Jerry Nelson (1982)/Jason Issacs (2019). The guy who crumbles into dust in the original film, introducing a generation of children to the inevitability of death and decay in this our world of relentless impermenance. Anyway, in the prequel show he’s still… in tact. 
skekSil, The Chamberlain – Barry Dennen (1982)/Simon Pegg (2019). This is him. The MMMMMmmmm one. Takes a shot at the Emperor’s throne in the film, loses the challenge and is banished. Goes off to bother Jen and Kira, the film’s Gelfling protagonists. 
skekZok, The Ritual-Master – Jerry Nelson (1982)/Keegan-Michael Key (2019). The Skeksis high priest. As implied by the title, likes rules and protocol, but can get… uh, stabby when stressed. 
skekTek, The Scientist – Steve Whitmire (1982)/Mark Hamill (2019). Look, someone has to make the machine that drains all the sentient beings on the planet of their life essence, and this is that guy. Nobody asked about the backstory of his weird cyborg eye, but the 2019 prequel series gave it to us anyway. Yikes! 
skekAyuk, The Gourmand – Thick Wilson (1982)/Harvey Fierstein (2019). As it says on the tin, in charge of the menu. Hangs out a lot with The Ornamentalist commenting on things that are happening. 
skekEkt, The Ornamentalist – Brian Muehl (1982)/Alice Dinnean (2019). As it says on the tin, very into fashion. Often kills various native fauna in pursuit thereof. Spends a lot of time gossiping with The Gourmand. 
skekOk, The Scroll-keeper – John Baddeley (1982)/Neil Sterenberg (2019). Often travels Thra with The Collector gathering tithes from the Gelfling, to whom he is polite if not condescending (Oh, you can read!). Still plenty murdery though, don’t worry. 
skekLach, The Collector – Awkwafina (2019). Travels Thra with The Scroll-keeper, collecting tithes from the Gelfling. Even amongst the Skeksis, is pretty gross. 
skekVar, The General – Benedict Wong (2019). Pretty much all Skeksis are murdery; the General is murdery and stupid. Close to skekSo, not only in a henchmany way, but also out of a genuine shared love of wanton cruelty. 
skekMal, The Hunter – Ralph Ineson (2019). Yikes! This guy looks scary! The Hunter, as with a handful of other Skeksis, does not live in the Castle, and seems haler than his counterparts, even retaining use of the two extra back-arms that are atrophied in most Skeksis. 
skekGra, The Heretic – Andy Samberg (2019). There is no 19th story. There is no skekGra The Heretic. Sorry. 
skekUng, The Garthim-Master/The Second Emperor – Michael Kilgarriff (1982). This is the guy in the movie who takes over as Emperor after the original one crumbles into dust. Plays a fairly large role in the film, but I put him later in the slideshow because the older puppets are scarier. 
skekNa, The Slave-Master – David Buck (1982). Rules over Podlings who have been drained of their essence. Overall a major bummer 🙁 
skekShod, The Treasurer – Charles Collingwood (1982). As it says on the tin, in charge of the money, which, in the time of the film, seems pointless, but hey, you do you skekShod. 
skekSa, The Mariner. Appears only in tie-in print works. Sails with and is beloved by the Sifa clan of Gelfling. Surely is not also evil? Right? Whereabouts unknown in the time of the film. 
skekLi, The Satirist. Appears only in tie-in print works. In charge of spiders, apparently. And also satire. Whereabouts unknown in the time of the film. 
skekHak. Appears only in the Creation Myths comics. Dies.3 
skekYi. Appears only in the Creation Myths comics. Dies.4 
Not a Skeksis. Here’s that bunny again. Pretty cute, huh.
Images gathered from the very thorough TV Tropes page for The Dark Crystal. And the bunny from the Wikipedia page on bunnies.
Happy Day Threading!