7

Having watched The Dark Crystal at a young age, I grew up thinking that the Mystics had three arms. However this source says that they have four.

I know they used puppetry for all of the creatures in The Dark Crystal, so that created some limitations in what they were able to depict. Were there any shots in the film that clearly depicted the Mystics as having four arms?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
10

You can see a Mystic's four hands in the sequence below, at timestamp 0:12

enter image description here

and within the first few seconds of the film starting, just after the opening scene with the Skeksis

enter image description here

and again in the sequence, just before they send the gelfling off on his quest

enter image description here

Improve this answer
6
  • The first three aren't very clear, esp. #3, but it is pretty clear in #4. Thanks!
    – user151841
    Jun 3, 2016 at 20:38
  • 4
    One of the mystics actually does have only the three hands; he is missing one, like his skeksis counterpart.
    – Buzz
    Jun 3, 2016 at 22:11
  • @Buzz which one?
    – user151841
    Jun 3, 2016 at 22:42
  • 3
    It's UrTih, the alchemist. His only notable role in the story is that he is the one that winks out of existence when his other half, SkekTek the scientist, dies. So a viewer would be highly unlikely to spot the artificial limb unless they were looking for it. (SkekTek's metal arm is obviously much more prominent.)
    – Buzz
    Jun 4, 2016 at 1:27
  • And if you want a closer look, urSol the Chanter was donated to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum, and is on display (pittsburgh.verylocal.com/…)
    – FuzzyBoots
    Sep 6, 2019 at 15:42
5

Following up on my comment above about urSol the Chanter being at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, we were visiting the museum today. The puppet was not on public display, but one of the workers brought us down to view it. Behold, four hands:

urSol the Chanter, left side urSol the Chanter, right side

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.