|
- "Is he dead? Yay! Oh.. No, he's hanging on to the shutters. Shame. Still, this is definitely the funniest thing I've ever seen. You three really are incompetence on a stick."
- -The skull reveling at Lockwood & Co.'s difficulties on a job, The Hollow Boy
The skull was the name given to a particularly pernicious male Type Three ghost, whose Source is a skull. After being fished out of the sewers by the Fittes Agency, the skull is encased within a silver-glass jar. Stolen from the Fittes Agency by George Cubbins, the skull came into the possession of the Lockwood & Co. agency. There, it underwent torturous experiments at the hands of Cubbins before revealing itself by talking to Lucy Carlyle, a new agent for the company. The skull sometimes provided useful information to the group, but also had a habit of being perverse, revealing dangerous secrets, making witty comments and nonchalantly suggesting casual murder as a solution to problems. The jar containing it was silver glass, made by the Sunrise Corporation.
On the Lockwood & Co. TV series, the Skull is voiced by Michael Clarke, known as "Clarkey" of the comedy group Crybabies.
Biography[]
Lifehood[]
Little is known of the skull's past history prior to entering ghosthood, though it is known he was alive during the mid-late Victorian times. It is believed that he was for a time, prior to death, a disciple of Dr. Edmund Bickerstaff, a man obsessed with the secrets of death who created a dangerous relic known as the bone glass.[1]He was extremely proud of being his servant, and even during his ghosthood, attempts to help him. The Whispering Skull, Lucy discovers that George Cubbins and Quill Kipps have been kidnapped by Albert Joplin (Researcher obsessed by the ghost of Edmund Bickerstaff and his Bone Glass). The skull describes him as 'a great man, a visionary, a pioneer that came to a sad end.
The skull's previous human form, as seen by Lucy Carlyle while on the Other Side, is described as "slouching in a corner..., a thin and rangy youth, hair spiked, hands in pockets," with his distinguishing grin, "which gleamed sardonically." [2]
Ghosthood[]
After death, this individual became a Type Three ghost. The rarest and most unusual of spirits, Type Threes had the power to communicate directly with those possessing the proper Talent. At one point the skull said that what made him different was that he wanted to come back. This detail might give us a clue to how the skull came back as a ghost. Though it was unknown when he died, his skull was found in the Lambeth sewers, and the spirit mentioned that he came to a bad end. Lockwood, in book 5, mentioned that the youth had been dead for 60 years, before being trapped within a sealed jar and claimed by the Fittes Agency. They claimed the relic would be disposed of in its furnaces, but actually took it away for its own studies. The ghost remained in that jar for another 50 years, before it was stolen by George Cubbins, shortly following his dismissal as an agent with the company.[1]Lucy found she had a connection with the ghost jar.
With Lockwood & Co.[]
Lucy examining the Skull for the first time
Following its theft, the skull was transported to 35 Portland Row, London, England, where it became the property of the Lockwood & Co. agency, George's new employer. There, it was subjected to numerous experiments, conducted by George in his quest for information about ghosts. George would shift it from place to place, run the jar under water, place it in the oven, anything in the hope of provoking a reaction. The ghost, however, would only manifest as a murky green plasm which would sometimes congeal itself into the visage of a repulsive looking face and make rude expressions.[1]
Things took a sudden turn following the hiring of Lucy Carlyle as an agent with Lockwood and Co. Following the first major successful case with Carlyle on the job, the skull chose to speak with her, revealing itself to be a Type Three ghost. It told her that "Deaths in Life and Life's in Death and, and what was fixed is fluid", but after she angrily shut the lever and ignored it, it reverted back to its previous form and would not speak again. Though they tried a variety of experiments, it did not speak again for many months, though it would still sometimes materialize. During this period, it was again subjected to various tortures by Cubbins, including placing it in daylight during the noonday sun and baking it in an oven.[1]
Finally, as Lockwood & Co. began investigations on a particularly challenging case, the skull broke its silence. To everyone's irritation, the skull provided little information or insights at first. It actually first insisted on speaking to Carlyle alone, insulting her intelligence, calling Cubbins "fat," and suggesting that Anthony Lockwood was deceitful, referring to a locked room in 35 Portland Row, one which it claimed Carlyle would never have left alive had she entered. Afterwards, Lockwood and Cubbins entered the scene and the skull again cut off communication, leaving the group to stew with the insinuations it had made. Following this, the skull was again subjected to a series of experiments by Cubbins in the oven, but after six minutes of 300 degrees fahrenheit heat, he was only able to get it to form rude expressions.[1]
The Skull began talking once again as the group's effort heated up into the investigation of the Bone Glass, a mysterious relic greatly desired by the members of London's underworld. The Skull hinted that it knew of the relic's origins, that it had been created by its master, Edmund Bickerstaff. It offered Lucy assistance in seeking out a vital clue within Bickerstaff's derelict mansion, but proved perverse, very nearly leading Lucy to her death at the hands of some very dangerous ghosts.
Later during the case, when Lucy and Lockwood returned to 35 Portland Row to find George missing, the Skull told Lucy that he had gone to see his master and would not be returning. The two then set out to rescue George, Lucy bringing the Skull along. Despite its perverse words and urgings to Lucy let it out, it actually helped her, guided her to the mechanism needed to enter the catacombs that George had entered and later provided her the advice she needed: to smash the glass, thus freeing her and everyone else from its influence.
Following these events, Lucy and Lockwood & Co. chose to retain the skull, despite its proven pernicious nature and having more than once nearly led them to death. During missions, it often provided acerbic and sometimes insulting commentary, but also proved a useful tool, able to sense the presence of ghostly activity in ways even they could not. The skull was aggravated by the arrival at Lockwood & Co. of Holly Munro, hired by Lockwood as a new secretary for the organization in the wake of its greatly increased clientele. It resented Holly, often making rude faces behind her back, but Holly herself was entirely unaware of its true nature as a Type Three. Though Lucy tried to hide it, the Skull knew all too well that Lucy herself disliked Holly and took any opportunity it could to needle her about it. When investigating Aickmere Brothers Department Store for the source of the Chelsea outbreak, the Skull warned Lucy that one of the ghosts was hunting her. As she and Holly were moving an injured Bobby Vernon, while trying to escape a Poltergeist, Lucy admitted that she spoke with the Skull, and it was a Type Three. After Lucy had fallen into the hole in the store, losing the pack with the Skull, Holly retrieved the Skull and kept it safe until she returned it to Lucy.
Lucy took the Skull with her after she resigned from Lockwood and Co., as it continued to assist her as she worked as a freelance agent.
Characteristics[]
Personality[]
- "Here's my tip: lure her down to Kitchenware and brain her with a skillet. ... Holly. It's a golden opportunity. There are lots of pointy things there too, if you prefer. But basically a simple smack with a rolling pin would do fine."
- -The skull, suggesting murder as a solution to Lucy's personal problem, The Hollow Boy
The skull was perverse and sarcastic, often delighting in its attempts to create conflict between the members of Lockwood & Co. It also possessed a violent nature, having no problems with casually suggesting murder as a solution to problems.[3] Despite this, the skull could be helpful, and sometimes provided valuable insights and advice that made the difference in cases for Lockwood and Co. The skull also seemed to value companionship, as its misbehavior could sometimes be quelled by Carlyle's threats to abandon it where it would never be found again, if it didn't help her.[1] Following Carlyle's departure from Lockwood & Co. and subsequent hiring as a freelance agent, the skull was her only regular companion in her independent investigations. It often aided her, while maintaining its sarcastic personality, and would sometimes talk with her when she was otherwise alone at home. After she agreed to again work a case with Lockwood and Co., it began for a time treating her as a "jilted lover", which suggests that the skull enjoyed being Lucy's only friend, and was a bit jealous when Lucy started hanging out with Lockwood and Co. again. However, things took a turn when the skull was unexpectedly stolen from her.[2]The skull also took delight in teasing Lucy about Lockwood, especially when it saw the two of them leaving 35 Portland Row to go to the graveyard (where Lockwood revealed his family's graves). He said that "graveyards can be used for a lot of activities," which led Lucy to get quite agitated. Overall, though, the skull does care for Lucy. The Skull often pleaded with Lucy to release it from its silver-glass jar. Though Lucy would not, it continued its entreaties every so often, the subject almost becoming a running gag between the two, until Lucy finally agreed in the battle against Ezekiel.
Skull's personality differs in the Netflix adaptation. He was more interested by Lucy and her ability to communicate with him, and was focused on things that had to do with Bickerstaff, but none of his snarkiness or humor was there. He didn't make any perverse jokes about Lucy dying, either. This could be due to the fact that a lot more of Skull's personality started coming in during the third book of Lockwood & Co., and the Netflix adaptation only covered the first two.
Abilities[]
While contained within the jar, the skull's abilities were severely hampered by the silver around it. Once freed, the skull demonstrated immense power, being able to hold back Ezekiel with no effort at all, and was able to generate gusts of spirit-wind powerful enough to send two humans flying at speeds faster than an explosion could propagate.[4] After throwing Lockwood and Lucy out of the way of the explosion, Skull's source was later collected by Lucy. He didn't rematerialize for a week, and Holly suggested that maybe letting him out of the jar encouraged him to help Lucy, and move on, as he should've done a century ago.
Relationships[]
The skull abhorred George Cubbins, who had regularly tortured it mercilessly in the past as he conducted experiments on it. It nevertheless sometimes seemed bemused by George and his fascination with the mysteries of the afterlife.[1] The skull also detested Holly Munro, who was fussy and insisted on keeping it covered with a cloth. It seemed amused by Carlyle's friction with Munro and sometimes suggested methods for her murder.[3] Though not as antagonistic towards Lockwood as George, the skull nevertheless seemed to enjoy hinting that Lockwood was keeping dark secrets from Lucy.[1] Despite often being antagonistic with her, the skull in some ways seemed to value the rapport it had built with Carlyle once it had begun speaking to her.[3] He was annoyed when Quill Kipps referred to him as being "tame," telling Lucy to let him out and he would show him just how tame he was. Lucy, however, refused to comply and when Kipps asked if he was offended, saying he could see his "horrid mouth" moving, told Kipps "It's fine, really. It's cool with it."[5]
Trivia[]
Lucy holding up the Skull against the Bone Glass in "Not The Eternal"
- In Netflix's Lockwood & Co. television series, the Skull plays a somewhat different role in the events surrounding the case of Edmund Bickerstaff. In "Not The Eternal," when George Karim is captured by Pamela Joplin, Lucy insists on being the one to take his place and look into the Bone Glass instead, explaining to Joplin that she had a rare and unusual Talent. Joplin acquiesced and chained her up as George had been. When, however, she lifted the cloth from the Bone Glass, Lucy held up the jar containing the Skull. As a stream of energy seemed to channel towards the jar, the Skull shouted that something was wrong, that it had changed, and that it was a trap, that it was not the eternal. He shouted that they had to destroy and Lucy did. Afterwards, he no longer spoke to her, and was still not speaking by the time everything had been settled and the agents of Lockwood & Co. had returned to 35 Portland Row.
- In The Empty Grave, Lockwood talks to the ghost about how it was dead for 60 years, and then in the jar for another 50. This would make him dead for 110 years, and the Bickerstaff situation was 130 years ago[6], implying that Skull had lived on for a while after the incident. Contrast to this though, he appears as a youth slightly older than Lucy as a ghost, so his age doesn't add up. It is more likely these parts were written without intention to make them too serious to Skull's background.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 The Whispering Skull, chapter needed specified
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Creeping Shadow
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Hollow Boy, chapter needed specified
- ↑ The Empty Grave, V: Fittes House, Ch 26
- ↑ The Empty Grave, I: The Tomb, Ch. 1
- ↑ The Whispering Skull