The Dark Crystal

Date

24.10.25

Discover how The Dark Crystal (1982) reveals faith, sacrifice, and restoration in this Christian devotional exploring light’s triumph over darkness.

The Dark Crystal

1982 (Rated PG)

Directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz Production Company: The Jim Henson Co./Universal Pictures

Starring Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Kathryn Mullen, Steve Whitemire, Dave Goelz

Jen, a Gelfing, is tasked with restoring a shard of the Dark Crystal to save the world of Thra from the evil race of Skeksis.

Opening Thoughts

I’m a big one for special screenings and anniversary showings of movies in theaters. This year alone I’ve watched anniversary screenings of This is Spinal Tap (41st), The Breakfast Club (40th), Clue (40th), The Goonies (40th), The Sound of Music (60th), and of course, Jaws (50th anniversary). So when I saw that Fathom Events was having a special screening of The Dark Crystal, I made plans to attend. On almost the spur of the moment, my friend Amie joined me. She and I don’t get to hang out much, so this was a treat. I was also pretty excited to find out that she’d never even seen The Dark Crystal.

“This is going to blow your mind,” I kept saying as we got our popcorn. “Just you wait. They don’t do practical effects like this anymore, everything is CGI now. But back then they did it all by hand and it’s incredible. There’s not a single human character in this movie, it’s almost all puppets, but I guarantee five minutes into the movie you’ll forget.”

During the movie, I kept watching her out of the corner of my eye, hugely enjoying her reactions. But what was the biggest and most pleasant surprise for me was at the end of the movie when she turned to me and said, “Wow! God showed me so much in that movie! I had no idea there were so many spiritual parallels! Have you done a blog post on this??” “Not yet,” I said, grinning. “Wanna help?”

So I’m so pleased to tell you that several of the points shared in this blog post were from my first-ever collaborator, my friend Amie! Read on to see what God showed US in The Dark Crystal!

SPOILERS for The Dark Crystal here!

Jen, a Gelfing, has been raised in secrecy and safety by a group of wise and good creatures called Mystics. Long ago the evil reptilian Skeksis killed Jen’s family and all of his people due to a prophecy that a Gelfing would destroy them. Before he dies, Jen’s master, the oldest of the Mystics, tells Jen that he needs to find a splinter of the Dark Crystal, a shard. He must use it to heal the Crystal before the three suns in the sky meet in an event called the Great Conjunction.

Jen makes his way to the home of Aughra, an astronomer who might be able to help him. Aughra presents him with a box full of crystal shards, but confesses not to know which one is the one Jen needs. He sorts through them, finally discerning the correct shard, only for Aughra’s home to be attacked by the giant beetle-like Garthim. They have been sent by the Skeksis in search of Jen, who have learned of his quest and fear the old prophecy. Jen manages to escape, but Aughra is captured and her home destroyed.

Jen becomes lost in the woods, and is shocked to see another Gelfing step out of the shadows, a girl named Kira. When they touch hands, they engage in “dreamfasting,” a sharing of their memories. Jen finds out that Kira’s story is the same as his, her friends and family killed by the Skeksis. Kira, however, was raised by the Podlings, a race of small, ethnic, fun-loving creatures who live close to the earth. The Garthim raid the Podling village in search of Jen, but he and Kira escape, while many Podlings are captured as slaves.

The next morning, Jen and Kira find themselves in an old Gelfing ruin, where they deduce the rest of Jen’s quest from hieroglyphics on the wall. Kira summons two landstriders to take them to the Skesis’ castle, but they are attacked upon their arrival. The landstriders perish, but Jen and Kira manage to make their way into the castle underground. While there, the Skeksis Chamberlain, who had been banished earlier by the Garthim Master, captures Kira and causes a cave-in, trapping Jen. He then presents Kira to the other Skeksis and is restored to the group. The Ritual Master declares that Kira, like all other Gelfing, must die to protect themselves from the prophecy, however the Garthim Master states that they must first drink her life essence, which will restore their youth, before she dies. He hands her over to the Scientist.

Kira is strapped into a chair and forced to look into the rays of the Dark Crystal, which saps her living essence. Jen, connected through their dreamfast, struggles out of the cave in, begging her to fight against them. Kira begins to call out in all languages to the animals held captive in the Scientist’s laboratory, who free themselves and Kira, throwing the Scientist into the lava-filled pit below the Dark Crystal. Kira goes in search of Jen.

Meanwhile, Jen has freed himself and made his way up the shaft beneath the Dark Crystal. He finds Aughra in the lab, and continues looking for Kira. Both of them find themselves across from one another in the balcony of the Great Hall that houses the Dark Crystal, trapped by the Skeksis below them. Jen sees in the sky the Great Conjunction is imminent, so he leaps onto the Dark Crystal, but drops the shard. Kira jumps down among the Skeksis and retrieves the shard, tossing it up to Jen as the Skeksis kill her. Jen, heartbroken, raises the shard just as the three suns meet, thrusting it back into the Crystal and making it whole once more.

Jen falls to the floor, cradling Kira in his arms. He watches in astonishment as the Mystics, who have traveled all the way from their valley to the castle, are merged with the Skeksis, to create new creatures, the Urskeks. The chief Urskek thanks Jen for healing them, and shares how at the time of the previous Great Conjunction, they cracked the Crystal with their pride and arrogance, which caused them to split into two races, the Mystics and the Skeksis. Jen’s bravery and sacrifice has made them whole again. In gratitude, the Urskeks bring Kira back to life. Then they disappear, leaving the Gelfings as custodians and caretakers of the now pure Crystal.

So What Did God Show Me?

-At the beginning of the movie, Jen is told by his master that he is to go on a quest. He is given almost no information as to the nature of the quest or what he needs to do to accomplish it. I was reminded of how often this happens with God. He asks things of us, but so often we don’t have all the information, and we must step out on the road not knowing where we’re going or how we’re going to accomplish what He’s asking of us. Sometimes we don’t even know all that it will entail. And it’s usually never simple.

What is simple, however, is how we respond to God’s directive. In Isaiah 6:8, God asks “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” and Isaiah responds, “Here I am. Send me.” Jen doesn’t understand what his Master is asking him to do, but he trusts the Master implicitly, and believes that what he is asking him to do is important, even though he doesn’t know why. “Oh Master,” he says. “I’ll go where you send me, though I barely understand. I’ll find the shard.” Jen loves his Master dearly, and out of that love he departs on his quest, trusting that his Master will guide him from afar. We also can trust that God will guide us and provide for us in whatever he calls us to do, even if we don’t understand.

-Aughra is a strange being, wise like the Mystics, but at the same time more mysterious than them. Jen goes to her at the request of his Master to obtain the missing piece of the Dark Crystal. Aughra at first appears grouchy and intimidating, but she knows Jen and knows of his quest. Jen is surprised to find out that Aughra has an observatory which she uses to study the heavens and the movements of the planets. She knows not only about the first Great Conjunction which caused the Skeksis and Mystics to appear, but also about the prophecy that a Gelfing will end the rule of Skeksis. She also knows that the next Great Conjunction will happen soon. Aughra reminded me of the Magi, the Wise Men of the Bible. These men were astrologers and mathematicians and historians, and knew of the prophecy of a virgin giving birth to the Messiah. They followed the movements of the stars and made their way to Bethlehem to worship the newborn King. They even went against Herod to protect the baby. Aughra helps Jen because she knows he will be triumphant and the Skeksis will fail.

-Jen has come in search of the missing shard of the Dark Crystal. Aughra gives Jen a whole box full of shards, confessing she doesn’t know which one it is and that he will have to figure it out on his own. Jen manages to narrow it down to three identical shards but he can’t tell which one is the right one. He plays a musical note from a unity harmony he learned from the Mystics and is able to discern the correct shard when it begins glowing.

Sometimes in life we are presented with decisions to make, and it can be difficult to discern what the correct choice is. The outcomes can look similar, so why should it matter what we choose to do? But Jen’s choice shows that all the outcomes are not the same. Imagine if Jen had chosen the wrong shard and tried to use it at the critical moment? It would have been a disaster and his quest would have ended in failure. It’s so much better to seek God’s voice and his wisdom to make the right choice at the beginning, especially when we don’t know what to do. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 says, “Test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.” We must always hold up our choices to the truth in Scriptures and use it to discern if something is right or not.

-Jen is shocked to discover that another Gelfing exists. His entire life he believed that he was the only Gelfing in existence, and the experience left him with deep loneliness and a longing that no one, not even the paternal love of his Mystic Master, could satisfy. When he meets Kira, Jen is full of joy and wonder and the two are able to “dreamfast,” deeply sharing of their inner selves in a way that they have never been able to do with their adoptive families.

In Genesis 2:18, God says it is not good for man to be alone, and creates a female partner for the man. Jen’s joy and wonder is reminiscent of the cry of Adam in Genesis 2:23-24 “‘At last!’ the man exclaimed. ‘This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’ This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” As the Urskek leader later says, “She is a part of you, as we all are a part of each other.”

While God is meant to be our ultimate satisfaction in life, we were never meant to go through life alone. Having family, friends, and especially partners can enhance and enrich our lives.

-The banished and disgraced Chamberlain is eager to restore himself to the Skeksis fold, and therefore he slyly tries to lure Jen and Kira to come to the castle with him, to “make peace” with the Skeksis. He is so convincing, Jen almost believes him. Jen is tired of all the Garthim attacks and death, and wants to believe the Chamberlain, that he desires only peace between the Gelfing and Skeksis. Thank goodness Kira is there to remind Jen that the Skeksis are evil and only want them dead.

The enemy tries to convince us that he wants to benefit us, he wants peace, he wants to give us what will make us happy. But it is critical that we remember that he is the father of lies and his only goal is our destruction. We must be wary, always wary of his deceptions. 1 Peter 5:8-9a urges us to “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.” The Holy Spirit is like Kira to us, convicting our hearts and warning us against the dangers of believing the enemy’s lies.

-The Mystics and the Skeksis are gradually revealed to be two halves of the same beings, the Urskeks. Jen commits a heroic sacrifice when he gives up everything to heal the Crystal and make it whole again by restoring the shard to its proper place. His actions allow the Mystics and the Skeksis to merge and become their whole, original selves once more.

The division and subsequent brokeness of the Urskeks is reminiscent of the fall of Adam and Eve…they too had something pure and broke it. We as divinely formed human beings took undefiled creation and relationship with God and then shattered it when we ate of the forbidden tree. The Mystics and Skeksis were separated from each other and we were separated from God. In each case, it took sacrifice to bring the two back together.

The division happened in the first place because the Urskeks were trying to purge themselves of their bad parts (ie, lust, greed, gluttony, etc), so they could be perfect beings, but instead ended up splitting themselves in half, into the Skeksis and the Mystics. While the Skeksis enjoyed the freedom their sin brought and ran from restoration, the Mystics knew from the beginning that neither race could survive in a half-life, and they had to reunite with their other halves. They couldn’t purge themselves of evil, purification was only possible through Jen’s sacrifice. This is so symbolic of our own spiritual lives! We in Christ can’t purge ourselves of sin, we are born sinful creatures and there’s nothing we can do in our own power to get rid of it. Christ had to come and die for us, sacrifice, to pay our penalty. Christ’s action is the only thing that overcomes our sin, not anything we do. But through his beautiful sacrifice of death, we are once again made whole, and our relationship with God is restored once more.

-When Jen completes his mission and heals the Crystal, life and light are brought back into the world. The Great Conjunction causes the power of the healed Crystal to activate, and the world of Thra is scoured of death and disease and darkness. Everything is made new/restored to its former glory.

The Bible in Revelation tells us the same thing will happen when Christ returns. Like in the movie it will not happen without struggle and strife. The people of Christ must be strong in their faith to endure what is to come in the Last Times. (Because after all, we are all living in the Last Times right now. The Bible says the Last Times began at Jesus’ Resurrection!) Like Jen, we as Christians and the Church as a whole is part of an ancient prophecy that will be fulfilled, and we each have a part to play until then. Like Thra restored, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, everything green and good, pure and untouched, and full of the Light of God. We can believe the promises of God that everything will happen as it is supposed to, and there is nothing the enemy can do to disrupt or change that. No matter what life looks like now, there is hope!

Closing Thoughts

When this movie came out, I was eight years old. Up until then my only experiences of Jim Henson’s work were the soft, colorful, friendly Muppets of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. I had seen The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper in theaters, and I loved the Muppets so much! (Still do!) So when I went to see this movie, what I was expecting in terms of characters was vastly different from what I ended up experiencing. There was very little cute and fuzzy about this movie, no, on the contrary, this movie has been listed next to other 80s fantasy classics like The NeverEnding Story and The Last Unicorn as one of the most traumatizing kids’ movies of that decade. This is why Gen X is so tough 😉

But despite its darkness, I was immediately transported into this other world of good and evil, heroes and villains, magic and wonder. It was not until much later that I was able to appreciate the deeper nuances of the story, and the genius behind them.

This year, the Jim Henson Company is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Jim Henson began doing puppetry on TV in 1955, and was a creative genius whose innovations in practical effects and puppetry are still legendary. He died far too soon, and I often wonder what else he would have produced had he lived longer. As a proud Gen X-er, I grew up with Jim Henson’s Muppets on Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and movies like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, and loved so much of what he did. I’m so glad this world was blessed with his creative genius. Even if it was for just a short time, his legacy will go on delighting for generations. You have a legacy too, and your life here touches many. Never forget that!

We are all broken people in a broken world. What has God given you to do to help facilitate restoration for our fallen planet?

Reading:
Isaiah 6:8

Challenge:
You may not understand everything about what God wants you to do, or how you will even accomplish any of it. But I challenge you today to do one thing that will bring you one step closer to completing your quest!