- “I always have questions.”
- ―Brea
Princess Brea is one of the three main protagonists of Netflix's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (along with Deet and Rian). She is the daughter of the All-Maudra Mayrin and the younger sister of Seladon and Tavra.
She, Rian, and Deet bring together all seven of their clans in an attempt to start a rebellion against the Skeksis and learn the true extents of their power and save the world.
She is portrayed by Anya Taylor Joy, who also portrayed Ilyana Rasputin/Magik from the X-Men Cinematic Universe and puppeteered by Alice Dinnean
Background
Brea is a Gelfling Princess of the Vapra clan who lived during the Age of Division. This was before the Skeksis ordered the execution of the Gelflings. She was is the youngest daughter of Mayrin, the All-Maudra of the Gelflings. She bores of the royal life and prefers to read the books and remain in the library of Ha'rar. This signifies she has a fascination with history and a love of books and craved adventure.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
End. Begin. All the Same.
Brea is introduced as the care-free princess and the youngest daughter of the All-Maudra Mayrin and allowed to spend her times in the library with the Librarian as her only companion. As she is reading, Brea asks if the Librarian has all the books she requested, he realizes he didn't get all the books she wanted and goes back to retrieve the ones she needs. Suddenly, Brea's second eldest sister, Tavra approaches and as Brea shows her sister things she found interesting and her illustrations of the mother of Thra, Mother Aughra. However, Tavra reveals that she is here for a serious matter: the Skeksis are coming to the tiding ceremony, and informs her younger sister that their mother is allowing her to attend, much to Brea's delight and wants to ask all the questions she wants to the Skeksis. However, Tavra advises her against it, as the Skeksis hate answering questions and insists they will be late if they delay any longer. Brea takes her book and says she will ask at least one question.
When she and her sister make their way to the castle, Brea hears that the Skeksis lords are there and separated from Tavra. She ran out towards the street but is nearly squashed by the Skeksis' carriage. SkekOk exits out of the carriage and warns Brea to be careful next time lest she be squashed. When he overhears the people whisper about her and call her "Princess," SkekOk instead invites her to ride with them. Grateful, Brea takes his invitation and is allowed in the carriage as other people begin whispering that she is blessed to travel with them. Brea is introduced to skekOk's companion, skekLach, and Brea begins to bond with SkekOk about knowledge and books while also wishing to take a look at his library. However, SkekLach, annoyed with his companions, discourages Brea against questions, as they can be very dangerous, SkekOk brushes his fellow Skeksis off and tells Brea that skekLach was never beautiful. Arriving at the All-Maudra's palace, Brea finds that her mother is crossed with her and ashamed, Brea joins her sisters' sides. Seladon scolds Brea and tells her that their mother will send her to the Order of the Lesser Services if she continues this behavior. Brea in turn tells her sister that Seladon is just jealous that she got to ride in the Lords' carriage and Seladon did not.
Brea sees the Auryale in the sky.
During the Tiding Ceremony, Brea watches as the Skeksis are appalled by how small one of the Gelfling farmers and his wife's tidings are. Brea insists that it is not fair, but Brea is denied all her thoughts by Seladon and Tavra. After the tidings ceremony, Brea goes to the library for more research about the Skeksis and when the librarian catches her, he attempts to dissuade her from looking any further. When Brea snaps she must know the truth, suddenly a magic force came from a book and wreaked havoc in the library, causing the librarian to retreat. As Brea stayed, a symbol formed before her eyes and ran to her mother's quarters. Tired of the day, Mayrin attempted to defect Brea's claims and said she read to many stories. However, Brea assured her mother this was real and wanted to dreamfast with her to show Mayrin the symbol she saw. However, Brea stopped when she saw her mother was wearing the necklace that the Skeksis had taken from the farmer and his wife. The duo begin arguing but Mayrin stops the fight. She tells Brea to start acting like a princess by attending meetings and attending to royal duties. Brea takes the necklace the Skeksis stole and gave it back to the farmer's wife
Nothing Is Simple Anymore
Curious about her symbol, Brea sought for more answers, and went to the Sifan clan, under the reluctant given advisement of the Librarian, because they were knowledgeable when it came to symbols. The librarian took her to see the village Elder, Cadia, who welcomed Brea but dismissed the Librarian. When Brea showed Cadia her symbol, he lied to her and told Brea that it symbolized the end of everything. He later attempted to give her powdered nulroot, known for its memory loss enducing properties, and lied, telling her that it would connect them to the Dream Space. However, Brea read all about nulroot and dropped her money. While Cadia and his assistant Onica picked up her money, she swapped the drinks, so this time, Cadia would drink it. He became enraged when Brea revealed she had switched the teas and grabbed onto her. Brea yelled for him to release her when Onica took a nearby jug and knocked Cadia out when he wouldn't release her. Onica promised to help Brea read her symbol, because it is not just a symbol for the end of everything, but the beginning as well. She tells Brea to find the brightest jewel in her mother's throne. When Cadia woke up, he had lost his memory, causing Brea to see that she was in so much trouble. When Mayrin figured out what to do with Brea's previous insubordination, Seladon manipulates her mother into sending Brea to the Order of Lesser Services.
What Was Sundered and Undone
Brea was forced to wear a ridiculous court jester hat and to learn her mistake during the Order of Lesser Services. One of the Gelfling girls, Juni, begins annoying Brea, who both reveal why they are in the Order. When Brea told Juni her offense, it left the Gelfling girl speechless. Fed up with washing a podling girl, Brea let the Podling go while she left, both promising not to tell on the other person.
When running away, Brea's sister, Tavra, tells Brea that there has been a murder at the Castle and that the Gelfling guard, Rian killed one of their own and was ordered by Mayrin to bring him to Ha'rar, leading Brea to tell Tavra she had a vision. At first thinking her sister is joking, Tavra takes Brea seriously when she draws the symbol in the dirt. Brea began blaming Seladon for most of her problems but Tavra disagreed and said that Seladon and her were more alike than they thought because they are both stubborn. Despite them coming across each other, Tavra and Brea hug, where the elder sister encourages her sister that the bonds of sistrhood would be tested but never broken before they go their separate ways. Brea manages to sneak into Ha'rar and she flies up to her mother's room while stealing the brightest jewel in her mother's room. She goes back to Onica and Cadia, but when she gets to the tent, Brea is afraid that she was too late, but Onica and Cadia had not left yet. Brea gave Onica the jewel, thinking it was a payment but Onica revealed that it was the chrysalis of a unamoth and that it would lead Brea to the answers she sought.
Brea used the unamoth that led her to her mother's throneroom and entered a chamber underneath the throne that the unamoth had opened
The First Thing I Remember Is Fire
Later, Brea went into the caverns beneath the throne room, where she discovered a trinket and used it to open a secret chamber after reading an inscription on the door that reads, "Thra's true balance will be found when natural order is sound." She found columns that contained the many symbols of the seven Gelfling clans and found she needed to activate the chambers with the amulet by going from the Gelfling hierarchy. However, Brea spends all night trying to figure out the code that she read from outside earlier but finds that every time she uses different combinations, the chamber stops activating. Brea discovers that she is approaching this the wrong way and realizes that the hierarchy was a lie.
She casted the amulet aside on a pile of rocks, which activates rock-like creature, Lore, when Brea realizes that all Gelfling are one and the same. He plays a recording made by SkekGra, instructing Brea that Lore will protect her on her journey to the Circle of the Suns to find out how to end Skeksis power. One of the Paladins overhear the recording and storm in the chambers with Seladon, who worriedly yells for Brea to get away from the creature and knows it spoke heresy. However, Brea stops the conflict before it gets worse and tells Lore that Seladon is her sister. Though Lore calms down, Seladon demands in horror to her sister what she did
She Knows All the Secrets
Brea convinces her mother to meet Lore.
Later, Seladon berates Brea for creating the creature below the throne. The bickering sisters were stopped by the arrival from their mother who yelled for them to stop fighting. Mayrin asked her daughter why she was not at the Order. Brea responded that she ran away but for good reason and the two sisters begin arguing, trying to get Mayrin on one of their sides. Their mother is convinced by Brea to meet the creature because she needs to take a chance with Lore. Mayrin is amazed by the creature and how the chamber remained hidden underneath her throne and asks how Brea discovered it. The teenager decides to show her mother through dreamfasting. However, during the trance, Brea and Mayrin are summoned by Aughra, who has also called other heroes of Thra, where she showed the Gelflings the true nature of the Skeksis by showing them Brea's, Rian's and Deet's experiences around the world. Aughra tells Brea, Rian, and Deet to go with the Circle of the Suns with Lore to seek answers.
Brea is called a traitor by her own sister.
Brea and her mother are sent back to the real world, where Brea discovered Deet and Hup in Ha'rar and they confront SkekVar and SkekZok, who are about to take seven volunteers to drain them of their essence. However, SkekVar murders Mayrin in front of Brea and Seladon who fall to their mother's side as Seladon calls Brea, Hup and Deet traitors before having them taken away.
By Gelfling Hand ...
Time to Make ... My Move
Prophets Don't Know Everything
The Crystal Calls
A Single Piece Was Lost
Physical Appearance
Brea is about the age of a human teenager, with fair skin, pink lips, hazel eyes, and long platinum blonde hair with two mini-braids. She used to wear a circlet to signify her status as a princess and had an elegant light blue, long-sleeved dress that was covered by a pink overall dress. At Order of Lesser Service, Brea was forced to wear a shorter dress and a dark blue and dull mustard yellow jester hat that had two bells that jingled as she walked. However, she discarded the hat as soon as she left the Order of Lesser Services.
Unlike her dress when she was in her royal duties, Brea's second dress had the same blue color, sleeves and design, except it was shorter. Her pink overall dress was replaced with a vest and she wore pink, arm sleeves that went from her wrist up towards her elbow over her long sleeves and she wore blue-gray boots, as well as dark leggings.
Personality
Brea was a very intelligent and clever Gelfling who would mostly hang out in in a library rather than attend her duties as a princess. Though she finds her studies as a princess tiresome, she wishes to go out into the world by joining Rian and Deet to spark the rebellion against the Skeksis.
She could not get along with her eldest sister, Seladon. However, according to Tavra, they are actually quite similar, being that they are both stubborn and have a complicated relationship with each other. However, after the death of their sister, Brea and Seladon fully reconciled because they are all the family they have left.
She also cares deeply for Deet, Rian, Hup, and Lore over their journey.
Powers and Abilities
- Retractable Wings
- Flight: Revealed in the prequel, unlike Kira, who could only use it to slow her falls, Brea can fly with her wings and slow down her falls when she jumps down from tall heights.
- Gelfling Magic - Brea has powers and abilities just like other Gelflings
- Dreamfasting: Brea can share her memories and thoughts with other Gelfling and vice versa whenever she is in physical contact with other Gelflings by touching hands. When she dreamfasted with her mother, they were summoned by Aughra to the Dream World and was able to communicate with her and her other friends, even though they were in different parts of the world
- Longevity - As revealed in The Power of the Dark Crystal, Gelflings can live for centuries, as with Jen and Kira. It possibly means that Brea ages the same rate as they do and is at the equivalent of a teenager.
- Knowledge: Brea spends time in the library and has grown with vast knowledge.
- Writing
- Excellent Memory: Brea has excellent memory, being able to remember what the Auryale looked like.
- Reading Books: Brea was capable of reading piles of books and learn so much.
- Drawing: Due to having a journal, Brea can be an excellent drawer as she drew the symbol of the Gelfling Clan that she witnessed in the library.
- Translating: Brea is able to translate ancient Gelfling runes, which is what she did before she met Lore.
- Connection to Thra: Similar to other Gelfling, Brea and her race are the closest connection to Thra and to Mother Aughra.
Relationships
Gallery
Trivia
- Brea is likely named for La Brea Avenue of Los Angeles where offices for Jim Henson Studios still remain.
- It is theorized that Brea is Kira's mother. However, due to the show being cancelled, it is unknown if this theory can be proven or otherwise..
- It is revealed in the prequel comics that Brea's possible father was Kam'lu, a member of the Sifa clan and a captain of the Sea.
- The Librarian comments on how Brea sounds like a Sifan Gelfling, which Rings true because her father was a Sifa
