'The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance': How powerful is Aughra, a Yoda-like figure who helps the Gelfling in their quest?
Spoilers for the 1982 film 'The Dark Crystal'
It is a wondrous time to be on Netflix. With its latest offering in fantasy adventure series 'The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance' scheduled to release at the end of this month on August 30, 2019, the streaming service is bringing to its platform marvelous stories filled with adventure from the magical world of Thra.
The original 1982 movie titled 'The Dark Crystal' tells a deep complex saga of the victory of good over evil. The fantasy adventure is a story about a Gelfling Jen, who is entrusted with the task of fixing The Dark Crystal, which was broken thousands of years ago and whose damage has cost an almost irrevocable alteration to the way of life, and restoring life to normalcy before it is too late.
This whole time, Jen has been told that he is the only Gelfling left in all of Thra who could repair The Dark Crystal and fulfill the prophecy that says that it will be a Gelfling who will put a stop to the atrocities of the Skeksis. But on his quest, he meets Kira, a female Gelfling and together they set out to fight the Skeksis and save Thra.
The rich, beautiful and detailed magical world of Thra in the movie was brought to life by Jim Henson's puppetry. In fact, 'The Dark Crystal' universe is filled with myths, legends, prophecies and everything that constitutes a magical fantasy. 'The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance' is a prequel to this story. Featuring a massive star cast, the series tells the story of the years preceding the events of 'The Dark Crystal'.
But the 1982 cult classic barely gave us much information about the surprisingly powerful character that is Aughra. In 'The Dark Crystal', Aughra's character is akin to that of Yoda's. She lives alone and has been anticipating The Great Conjunction and when she meets Jen, she gives him the information and motivation to fulfill his destiny. This is, unfortunately, all that is said and discussed about Aughra in the movie. But truth is, she is the most powerful character in the universe.
According to the graphic novels, 'The Power of The Dark Crystal', Aughra is described as the Great Mother. Thousands of years ago, Thra and The Dark Crystal itself birthed her out of a tree to bring knowledge, language and understanding to the many races of Thra. Just how Adam had traveled the world revealing the names of rocks, trees and creatures, Aughra had similarly provided information to the creatures of Thra. While she is respected far and wide, Aughra was not worshipped.
She shared a very special relationship with the Gelflings, who are Thra's version of human beings. Intelligent beings, Aughra taught them farming, hunting, and building a society. In return for her knowledge, the Gelflings taught her how to dream fast, which is a Gelfling-exclusive ability of sharing dreams and memories when holding hands.
After she completed her journey across Thra, Aughra spent time concentrating on astronomy and would spend a good deal of time drawing out near-perfect planetary trajectories to predict the future. During this period of time, for a thousand years, everything in Thra was just peaceful - this was known as the Age of Innocence. We expect to gain a deeper insight into Aughra and her adventures in the upcoming series - specifically more on what she was upto before the events of the movie.
The 1982 movie is currently streaming on Netflix. 'The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance' is set to release on August 30, 2019.