[Ethri about to take the rest of the Sifa off to sea]
Naia: Stop! You can't go!
Ethri: Why? Don't you want the Sifa to be safe?
Naia: Of course I do! It's just... umm... . Onica, tell her.
Onica: The stars are not in position for this.
Tae: Like she said! Stars! Can't do it. Not today.
Tides of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because uh oh Amri’s in trouble!
Last times on book: Amri and co are on a quest to unite all the Gelfling clans, a quest that is starting off on the wrong foot already. Maudra Ethri of the Sifa told them no thanks and it turns out that she’s hosting the Skeksis Mariner skekSa. Sifa Tae gets poisoned while the heroes are adjacent and they get briefly blamed for it but skekSa sleuths out the real culprit. But while Dr. Detective Captain skekSa is healing Tae, Amri tries to stab the Skeksis for reasons that seemed like a good idea at the time.
Chapter 11
Maudra Ethri’s plan and spider crimes
With Tae healed and rehydrating, skekSa calls everyone into the accusing parlor. Which is still her lab but she’s sitting in a nice chair chugging something from a decanter.
“Go on, then. Let it all out. All the pieces are here. I will preside, to make sure no one gets untoward... or tries to kill me.”
The last she tossed like a stick on the fire in Tavra’s direction, though the spider had retracted all her legs so she looked like any other gem resting inertly on the table. Amri soured with guilt. He had been the one who’d tried to kill skekSa, not Tavra.
YOU GOOFED UP AMRI.
Amri wants to confess that the spider is blameless but since skekSa hasn’t retaliated, he holds back hoping that everyone can get out of this okay.
Since nobody volunteers to be first in the accusing parlor, skekSa volunteers Captain Staya to air his grievance. But instead he apologizes to Tae, saying he never meant for her to be in danger. He only wanted to drug her and pick her brain! Tae is wry about his apology but this isn’t want skekSa is here for.
“Enough apologies. I want grievances!”
Hah.
She’s been out on the sea alone so mama needs her drama fix!
At her prompting, Staya says that there’s been a rumor because of the pink petal message that the Skeksis have betrayed the Gelfling and that Maudra Ethri has called them together in Cera-Na not to rise up but to gather all the Sifa to flee.
Which Ethri casually confirms. Yes, they’re all leaving tomorrow at sunset.
Staya is aghast but Naia is furious. She tears into Ethri for abandoning the rest of the Gelfling. But Ethri says that as maudra “if I choose to lead my clan out from under Emperor skekSo’s claws, that is my choice to make.”
Staya has a different objection.
“But, Maudra, you ignore the signs! The wind is against us. The tide is against us. With every limb of its body, Thra pushes us back toward the south, yet you’d sail in the face of that? You’d trust a Skeksis over the signs of Thra?”
“I don’t need the wind or the tide! The Lord Mariner has looked after the Sifa since we first touched toe to the sea. Has sailed with us far from the Castle of the Crystal and the traitor Skeksis. We have our Sifa charts and navigators, and skekSa’s ship will break the waves for us. She has promised us this, and I believe her.”
skekSa’s only response was to take another swig of her drink, as if she were watching a performance and was pleasantly entertained.
Which, in fairness, has been her attitude throughout.
Interesting how she’s forcing the airing of these grievances when she’s part of them but it doesn’t really feel like she feels like she’s part of it.
But taking her favored clan out of the clutches of the other Skeksis who she doesn’t like, I wonder whose head that idea originated in.
Naia growls at Ethri that despite what Onica said, Ethri is just a coward and a traitor, and Ethri momentarily looks as lost and confused as Amri feels.
She’s the youngest Maudra and she’s suddenly been exposed to this idea that the power structure is feeding on the Gelfling in a very literal way. She has no trust that the All-Maudra will stand against the Skeksis given how she hasn’t so far. Even Onica doubts Mayrin’s commitment to resisting the Skeksis. And she was in the shared dream conference call!
The moment passes and Ethri gets her steel back and relays an ultimatum.
“Staya, you are welcome to remain in Cera-Na if it pleases you. Stay here and die. But if you will choose wisely, then you will set sail with the rest of the clain tomorrow night.”
Then she helps Tae to her feet and leaves the accusing parlor. And after a moment where Staya internally struggles, he follows after her. Which, I guess, is a metaphor for him falling in line. Probably.
With that out of the way, skekSa turns back to the elephant in the room, so to speak.
Hm. I wonder what Thra has that fills the ecological niche that elephants do.
“Now then, on to other matters.” In a single garish movement, she lifted the jar and flung it over a shoulder so it crashed against the wall. She leaned in and sneered. “Tell me what you want, Arathim. Spider. Have you reported all this to the Emperor, then? Shall I expect he and General skekUng will arrive shortly to dispatch me? Or will it be skekMal, your mad pet?”
OKAY!
So there’s a lot here.
First, skekSa is dramatic as heck.
Second, reasonably enough, she assumes that a Gelfling with a spider on him trying to stab her is an Arathim. And so working for the other Skeksis.
I didn’t realize that the bad blood between skekSa and the Castle was ‘send assassins at her’ level bad. Or, I guess, that she was paranoid to assume it is. Then again, a Gelfling with a spider on him did try to stab her while she’s about to sail off with an entire clan the next day so maybe that’s the most reasonable paranoid thing to assume.
I wonder if the Emperor did send assassins after her before. Not out of any desire to have her actually deaded but just to send the message that he’s not happy with her doing her own thing.
A lot of questions being raised.
Third, huh skekUng is the General. I wonder if skekVar exists in the J.M. Lee continuity. And what his title is.
Anyway, Tavra refuses to speak up and out herself so skekSa decides to grind her to spider dust. Kylan scoops Tavra off the table and insists that she’s not an Arathim.
“Of course it’s Arathim,” skekSa retorted. “It’s a spider, isn’t it? Sworn to Emperor skekSo. The crystal-singers, the silk-spitters, the whole squiggly lot of them. Make my scales crawl, they do.” She eyed Kylan suspiciously, but tossed the pestle over her shoulder to join the broken jar. “What’s going on here?”
Amri can’t think of anything to say so skekSa drops the matter, just promising that one day they’ll tell her. “I will wait. After all, I have eternity.”
Then she gives Amri his sword back as “A reminder of my generosity” and calls a boat to transport them back to shore since she can tell they’re afraid she’s going to do something while they’re on her ship.
Dang, skekSa, you’re so classy. You’re going to turn out to be evil but you’re doing a great job at it.
The group regroups on Onica’s ship and catch her up on what happened.
Kylan, that nerd (affectionate), asks Onica Far-Dreamer whether its true that all the signs are against Ethri’s plan.
“There are many signs, all with many meanings. What I know is that the tide is against a northward journey, and the wind this time of season would make it impossible if it weren’t for skekSa’s promise to help. And aside from that, no one even knows what’s across the Silver Sea. Ethri is well aware of all this, yet she plans to defy the signs... It is not the Sifa way. Something has come over her. I don’t know if it is the fear of the Skeksis, or that she is being manipulated by Lord skekSa.” Onica sighed and pushed her fingers through her hair before adding, “Worst of all, I fear she is no longer the Ethri I knew.”
Still low to medium key fascinated about this Unknown Continent. All the action of Dark Crystal just takes place on this one place. And if the coast sees snow up where the Vapra lives, how cold is the unknown land that Ethri wants to sail to?
Tavra comforts Onica, promising that they’ll speak with Ethri again and change her mind. And then apologizes to Amri for biting him, saying she didn’t take control of his body on purpose.
But he’s just imagining what would have happened if Tavra hadn’t stopped him. Hitting skekSa with a teeny little Gelfling sword and only enraging her, ensuring Naia’s death because he wanted to act the hero.
“I’m tired,” he said.
He took the sword from his belt and set it on the table beside Tavra. He found a darker corner of the cabin among the cushions and quilts, wrapped his cloak tight around his shoulders, and pretended to go to sleep.
It really annoys me that Maudra Ethri is one of the least popular Maudras, solely for the reason that in the show she's "boring" or "uninteresting" compared to her novel counterpart. Let me remind you that she can still have a large role later on in the show. There was no way they could have squeezed an entire narrative for her into season 1. There are plenty of characters who did not get enough shining moments like they did in the books, Maudra Mera for example, even Laesid, and she's one of everyone's top favorite Maudras! Sure, Ethri doesn't immediately live up to her portrayal in the books, but it's not that big of a deal. There's plenty of potential for her in any future seasons. Another thing that bothers people is that they left out her emerald eye. I also wonder why they left it out of her puppet design, but who knows? Maybe she'll lose an eye during the Garthim Wars or something and have it replaced with emerald then. I kind of wish people would stop complaining about how boring Ethri is, she's gorgeous and adorable in both show and book form, and I definitely hope to see more of her in the future. I love her in the books and I think there is plenty of time for her character to blossom. 💙
finally realized what skeksa going “HOW DARE YOU” was reminding me of (the BONE scene from brooklyn 99) and then i had to draw onica giving her some hard-hitting relationship advice
Hi, everyone! DK here with a question for you all. Between the books and the show, I’ve gotten a bit confused as to who has been maudra longest, so I made a list to try and determine the correct order. My question is: do you agree with the list, or have suggestions as to the correct placement?
Seladon I don’t want to include, not because I hate her, cuz I kinda don’t (I’m just upset that they didn’t .really give her much of a redemption arc, and selling off the other clans just so that your specific family lives is a major dick move). But because I don’t think, had there been a season 2, she would have called herself All-Maudra since the clans are united and the title is just a symbol created by the Skeksis to enforce a classist system.
Anyway...here’s my lists. Feel free to reply on whether you agree with me, or create your own list.
Longest - Maudra Argot
All-Maudra Mayrin
Maudra Mera
Maudra Laesid
Maudra Fara
Maudra Seethi
Shortest - Maudra Ethri
The middle four is where I get confused, cuz in the books Mera says she’s served longer than Laesid, Fara has served at least as long as the Quest for the Dual Glaive, and Seethi is a wildcard on this list. I got no clue for her, except that she was maudra when Periss was a childling in the books, and Periss is still in his teens, I think. At least younger than the cast of the books...except possibly Kylan, but I’m not sure about that, because they refer to Kylan as a boy, so I peg him for either being 18-19, where everyone else is around 20-21 except Tavra and Onica, who I age as 23 and 24 respectively.
So! Create your own lists or tell me if you agree. This will really help me out with my TDC:AoR fanfic on AO3, so thanks in advance - DK
