Thra

Thra, the planet with three moons and three suns. The planet that is said to be triangular in shape but no explanation to how that shape became to be or if the planet even rotates but what is sure is that it is flat. Seasonal climate changes are regular and include Winter, Summer, Autumn and Spring as it is on Earth. Thra is kept alive by the Crystal of Truth which strives off the Three Brothers(also known to be the three suns it orbits) by distributing it's energies throughout the Crystal veins that are disbursed throughout the entire planet. The energy was then converted into 'essence' that feeds the planets inhabitants and would be reclaimed upon the death to restart the cycle. One of the species on the Thra would then learn to utilize this to their advantage and grow power and essence hungry which in turn caused the planet to take on a Darkening that changed the inhabitants and drive them mad right before their death. Thra homed many cultures, such as the 7 clans of Gelflings, Seedlings, Thrushpogs, Vindles, Podlings, Fragors, Gruenaks, Skeksis, the Mystics, the Guardian of the Crystal, Aughra (who was created by Thra) and so many different types of wildlife, big and small, all of which play a major role in Thra. Though all are connected in one way or another, the Skeksis strived to rid Thra of any other culture aside themselves and would feed off the essence of each culture to maintain their health, youth and "live forever", or so they say. The victims of this would then become zombie like and serve the Skeksis or die.

As the Darkening spread across the land, Skeksis hunted each culture until they were no more, and only got worst when Aughra foretold the future of the Skeksis stating that they would be defeated by the hand of a Gelfling and the Crystal of Truth would then be healed causing the Darkening to end. They then hunted more until all the tribes were on the verge of extinction, forcing all tribes, and creatures to go into hiding and learn new methods of survival. Eventually they failed and the survival of Thra and the Crystal fell in the hands of the very last two Gelfings, Jen and Kira. Jen's mission which was appointed to him by his master, a Mystic (also known as Master urSu) was to find Aughra and retrieve the shard of the Crystal and make it whole again. He then joined up with Kira and they both retrieved the shard from Aughra who warned they had until the Great Conjunction (when the 3 suns and 3 moons aliened) to complete their task or Thra would stay in the Darkening forever.

While battling the Skeksis in their own castle, home of the Crystal, the Mystics returned to the castle they were once shunned and split apart from, for the rejoining of the Crystal and restoration to Thra causing them to merge with the Skeksis and turn into their original form of urSkeks. Thra would then go back into the light only leaving parts of the planet to remain Dark, a tragic effect of the Crystal's damage, and start a new age, races and tribes to emerge.

The world of Thra and all its creatures/cultures remind me something similar to that of todays world just a bit less on the puppetry side. Though only fantasy it has teachings of what is and what could be. Multiple tribes and races define what our world is made up of as well as the politics within the story line. Skeksis strive throughout the entire story for power and to fully take over, not caring of the cost or what the effect on the people or the land would be (sound familiar). They continuously killed numerous tribes to gain the upper hand and ensure that they would be the superior life form and live forever. While obviously we do not have a monarchy, a Crystal of Truth or a flat world for that matter, we do have a government who while trying to save some will sacrifice many more lives that are equally as important for different reasons. A world where if something is new or not understood it is feared or hated by many which brings a strain of violence or cancerous hate that spreads throughout the world, similar to the Darkening. We also have the 'heroes' that similar to the Gelfings, strive to make the world a better place one race at a time no matter the differences between everyone. What we are missing and have yet to find are our very own Jen and Kira to lift the Darkening and bring light to the world.

As a child I grew up loving this story and wishing to be apart of Thra and it's adventure. To live amongst the different tribes of Gelfing and ride into the castle with Jen and Kira and save Thra from the evil Skeksis was something I longed for; But as an adult I realize, Jim Hensen took Earth and made it into his own fun less scary version and called it Thra.