Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas
Speaker 1: and monsters. In time, the Skexies of Thraw saw nature
Speaker 1: as a thing to be broken, reconstructed, and used as
Speaker 1: they saw fit. Their perverse outlook famously resulted in the
Speaker 1: creation of such horrors as the Ramba, aigeing Gartham and
Speaker 1: spying crystal bats, but unless obvious example can be found
Speaker 1: in the humble lock snake, as witnessed in the Dark
Speaker 1: Crystal Age of Resistance and related by Adam Caesar in
Speaker 1: the Dark Crystal Bestiary. The lock snakes were a variety
Speaker 1: of serpents noted for their mineral hardened scales and inclination
Speaker 1: to wrap around an object and tightly bind themselves on
Speaker 1: that object by latching under their own tail. Presumably, this
Speaker 1: tactic would protect the creature in the wild from predators
Speaker 1: that would otherwise snatch them away, much in the same
Speaker 1: manner that an eagle may take off with a terrestrial snake.
Speaker 1: The presumably arboreal lock snake would simply hunker down and
Speaker 1: bind itself around a branch and trust its unbreakable rock
Speaker 1: like exterior to protect it. The Skexies, of course, saw
Speaker 1: only potential purpose in these creatures, and adapted them for
Speaker 1: use as an actual locking mechanism on cabinets and books
Speaker 1: to keep out unwanted individuals. And should that individual manage
Speaker 1: to break the bond, well, then they have to deal
Speaker 1: with the snakes bite. The particulars of how authorized users
Speaker 1: of the lock snakes unlocked the serpent remains something of
Speaker 1: a mystery, but it seems as if they might be
Speaker 1: trained to respond to a particular master. Likewise, their use
Speaker 1: would seem to be time limited, useful only for temporary
Speaker 1: absences from the vicinity of these rised chest tome or
Speaker 1: other possession. The concept of the lock snake is of
Speaker 1: course linked to the terrestrial tradition of the araborous, the
Speaker 1: symbol of a serpent biting onto or swallowing its own
Speaker 1: tail forming a loop, as well as a potent paradox
Speaker 1: of self consumption. Nothing quite like this exists in the
Speaker 1: natural world, but the image the symbolism, as we've discussed before,
Speaker 1: is potent. Now, as for the detail that Caesar shares
Speaker 1: regarding the diet of the lock snakes that they consume
Speaker 1: minerals to strengthen their scales. This does have some parallels
Speaker 1: in our natural world. Beavers, for instance, consume an iron
Speaker 1: rich diet which helps fuel the iron rich enamel of
Speaker 1: their powerful teeth. Various animals may consume minerals from time
Speaker 1: to time to offset dietary deficiencies, and the use of
Speaker 1: swallowed stones or gastroliths to aid in digestion has been
Speaker 1: documented in various reptile, bird, and mammal species. Given the
Speaker 1: avian characteristics of the Skexies themselves, it's not unthinkable that
Speaker 1: masters of the Dark Crystal might have consumed stones to
Speaker 1: aid them in the digestion of their many strange meals
Speaker 1: in their grotesque banquets. Tune in for additional episodes of
Speaker 1: The Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email
Speaker 1: us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of I
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