Jen (The Dark Crystal)

### Friends

UrSu †, UrSol the Chanter, UrZah the Ritual Guardian, UrTih the Alchemist †, UrNol the Herbalist, UrAmaj the Cook,UrAc the Scribe, UrYod the Numerologist, UrUtt the Weaver, Kira, Fezzgig, Aughra, Podlings, Ydra, Mystics, urSkeks

### Enemies

SkekSil, SkekAyuk, SkekNa, SkekOk, SkekShod, SkekEkt, SkekZok, SkekUng, Garthim †

## Supernatural information

### Power(s)

Dreamfasting
Translating runes

### Possession(s)

Firca (two-way flute)
Shard of the Crystal

## Behind the Scenes

### Portrayed By

**Performed By:**
Jim Henson
Kathryn Mullen (assistant)
Kiran Shah (certain full body stunts)

### Voiced by

Stephen Garlick

“*In the valley of the Mystics, there lives a Gelfling, Jen. The Skeksis killed his family, destroyed his clan. Only Jen survived, to be raised by the wisest of the Mystics. But there is a prophecy. A thousand years have passed, and now, once more, the world must undergo a time of testing. Now it must he healed, or pass forever into the rule of evil. At this time, Jen is the chosen one.*”
―Narration about Jen[src]

**Jen** is a major character in *The Dark Crystal* universe. He is the main protagonist of the original 1982 film and the tritagonist of the 2017 comic, *The Power of the Dark Crystal*, and a cameo character in *The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance*.

## Appearances

### *The Dark Crystal*

As the emperor of the Skeksis is dying, so is Jen's master, urSu, who is the Emperor's counterpart. He is not comforted by the sound of his flute, as Jen is fairly close with his master, who raised him from infancy. Just a couple of days before the three suns join together, he was summoned by the Mystics' chanting. Jen learns from urSu that he must travel to the Skeksis palace and heal the Dark Crystal with the shard that was cracked off and informs Jen that the shard is with Aughra. To find her, Jen is told to follow the greater of their three Suns for a day until reaching her laboratory. UrSu tells Jen that he has until the Great Conjunction to get the Crystal healed or else, the Skeksis will be made immortal and their rule eternal. As soon as urSu speaks this to Jen, he fades from existence, leaving Jen with more questions.

Despite his master's death, Jen does as urSu told him, where he met Aughra. Seeing him as a Gelfling, Jen tells her that he is there for a crystal shard that was said to be with her. Aughra explains the Great Conjunction to Jen and gives him her collection of crystal shards. Jen asks which one is it, but she refuses to reveal which one it is because she cannot remember which one it is. A matter of hours later, Jen is able to eliminate the shards to three. However, he remains stuck until he remembers the Mystics' chant that can be used to identify which shard it is. Jen uses his firca (two-way flute) and plays the tune, and watches as one of the Shards glows purple. Aughra sees this and begins to explain what the Shard is for when the Garthim attack her home. Though Jen is able to escape, he cannot help but look back at her home and see it set on fire and he remains unsure if she was able to escape or not.

In his escape to the forest, Jen begins wondering what the shard is meant for, he is suddenly scared by Fizzgig and falls into a mud puddle. At that moment, Jen meets another Gelfling, this time a girl Gelfling. Both are surprised to see each other, as both of them thought they were the last of their kind. As she moves to help him, Jen suddenly begins seeing the Gelfling girl's memory and learns that her name is Kira and about her past, and she in turn, learns Jen's. He is eventually freed when Kira converses with the Nebrie that lives in the swamp. Jen is at first terrified of her, but Kira assures her new friend that the Nabrie is actually quite friendly. Kira, along with Fizzgig, join Jen on his quest to heal the Dark Crystal. However, neither of them are aware of what they must do with the shard.

Kira sees that she and Jen are being spied on via a crystal bat flying in the sky and she explains that the Skeksis can see what the crystal bats see. They enter Kira's village, the one Jen remembers from Kira's memories. He meets Kira's foster mother and all her friends. However, they are suddenly attacked by the Garthim and only Jen and Kira are able to escape. Angered and blaming himself for the attack on Kira's village, he discards the shard. However, Kira assures Jen it is not his fault, as the Skeksis have always destroyed everything. The next morning, Kira and Jen discover the runes of the ancient homes that their ancestors came from and learn through the runes that the shard they have is a piece broken off from the dark crystal and that Jen has to use the shard to heal it. The duo are interrupted by an exiled Skeksis, who attempts to manipulate Jen and Kira. However, they are quick to escape and use walkers to get to the Crystal Palace. They narrowly escape the Garthim after their transportation is killed when Kira saw her entire village being taken captive. The duo sneak into the Dark Crystal palace, where they confront Skeksil again. As he grabs both Jen and Kira, Jen uses the Crystal shard to cut Skeksil's hand in an attempt to free Kira. Despite wounding him, SkekSil throws Jen across the room and he is suddenly crushed by a pile of rocks. Fizzgig attempts to follow Kira, but she orders him to stay with Jen. Luckily, the impact did not kill the young Gelfling.

He makes it to the Crystal chamber through the Garthim's cave, and sees Kira across the hallway. However, they are discovered when Fizzgig excitedly approaches Kira as the Skeksis enter the room. They see there are two gelflings and a fight breaks out between the Skeksis and Kira, who has the shard with her. The Skeksis swear to let her go if they give her the shard, as Jen begs them not to hurt her if she does so. However, Kira refuses and tells Jen to heal the crystal as she throws the shard to Jen. After seeing Kira get mortally wounded by one of the Skeksis by a dagger and watching her die, Jen in a fit of grief takes the crystal shard and plunges it into its missing place, healing the Dark Crystal. With the urSkeks finally whole again, they revive Kira and leave Jen and her as crystal's keepers and rulers of Thra.

### *The Power of the Dark Crystal*

Jen returns in *The Power of the Dark Crystal*, where he and Kira have been ruling Thra for centuries and have repopulated the Gelfling population. However, the girl from the sun, Thurma wishes to use the shard of the Crystal of Truth to save her dying home. Jen and Kira refuse her demand as doing so would re-create the Skeksis and the Mystics.