Crystal Skull: Difference between revisions

In the 20th century, skulls made of crystal were showing up, with people claiming to have discovered them, and that they had Mayan or Aztec origins, and were said to have supernatural powers. Well, it's likely these were hoaxes. Not only were no skulls examined found in a documented excavation, all were dated from no earlier than the 19th century.

But fiction follows [[Rule of Cool]], and the supernatural powers attributed to these skulls are plenty for shows.

Also, despite the skulls actually being made of crystal, works of fiction often depict them as skulls that are simply [[Gem -Encrusted]].

A [[Sub -Trope]] of [[Public Domain Artifact]].

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{{examples|Examples }}

* ''[[Indiana Jones and Thethe Kingdom of The Crystal Skull (Film)|Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of Thethe Crystal Skull]]'' had them as the skulls of extra-dimensional aliens with whole skeletons made of cyrstal.

* ''[[The Phantom (Filmfilm)|The Phantom]]'' revolved around gathering three mystic skulls carved entirely from precious materials.

* A crystal skull was found in a giant alien pyramid in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''. It matched one found in an ancient Mayan temple back on Earth. Apparently, Quetzalcoatl was actually a giant alien - [[All Myths Are True|no surprise there]] - and the skulls are a way of contacting him.

* ''[[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s Mysterious World'' used a crystal skull in its opening titles.

* The ''[[GURPS]]'' 3E supplement ''Warehouse 23'' has an entry on a Crystal Skull. It's a [[Famously Mundane, Fictionally Magical]] version of a crystal skull that was found in [[Real Life]] in British Honduras in the 1920s. It allows its owner to cast the Divination spell, and it can use all Telepathic powers on its own.

* The ''[[Nancy Drew (Videovideo Gamegame)|Nancy Drew]]'' video game, ''Legend of the Crystal Skull''

* ''[[Zork (Video Game)|Zork]]'' has a crystal skull treasure to collect.

* Parodied in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing (Video Game)|Kingdom of Loathing]]'' with the crystal skull, which is used to scare away monsters and turns out to consist of worthless glass.

* ''[[La -Mulana]]'' has one as a late-game item.

* A crystal skull appears in ''[[Spelunky (Video Game)|Spelunky]]'' as a treasure in [[Jungle Japes]] levels. Trying to take one automatically summons a ghost, but bringing it to the exit is worth a lot of money.

* A crystal skull was a powerful item sought in the first episode of ''[[Goldie Gold and Action Jack]]''.

* The second season of ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'' had a continuing plot of collecting the 13 crystal skulls. When they are brought together, one wish is granted to the bearer.

[[Category:TropeMagic Items Index]]