| “ | "She who is pure of heart will have her wish granted by the Skull Heart." Though many whisper this, none understand what purity truly is. Wishing cheats the outcome, undoes the good it sets out to do. How can a world be fixed by such an intervention? It can not. | ” |
The Skull Heart is a powerful sentient artifact that plays a major part in the Skullgirls story. Every seven years after its previous destruction, it reappears to grant a wish to a woman. The wish can be of incredible magnitude, but it comes at a great price. The Skull Heart often twists even selfless wishes into brutality, ending wars by causing even more destruction, bringing back a loved one as an undead minion, and in return inhabits the body of the woman who wished upon it, in time turning the woman into a Skullgirl. A murderous, extremely powerful woman corrupted by the Skull Heart, capable of raising corpses as mindless minions, bringing about destruction in an endless cycle with the purpose of one day ending the world.
General information[]
The Skull Heart was created by the Trinity, the trio of goddesses of the Skullgirls universe, crashing down into the Earth many many years ago with the goal of eventually ending the world. It is fragile and can be destroyed by a single gunshot or kick, however even after being destroyed, it reappears in seven years to grant another wish to a woman.
Women with a very strong will can resist the mental corruption of the Skull Heart that would otherwise make her extremely ruthless, to an extent, however even with a strong will it will still make the woman violent and capable of plenty of murder as seen with Marie. However, Peacock tells her someday she will someday slip up and be just as bad or even worse than the people who wronged her, suggesting that one can only resist the Skull Heart temporarily.
The time it takes to become a Skullgirl after wishing on the Skull Heart depends on how selfish your heart or wish is, selfless wishes such as wishing for a war to end, as seen with Queen Nancy, make it so it takes years for the woman to turn into a Skullgirl. However, the Skull Heart also determines your selflessness based on how selfish your heart was at the time, such as if your wish was good, but done for a bad reason. This is seen in Filia's story mode, where she wishes for a normal life for Painwheel, and the Skull Heart brings up she wished upon it for absolution for past guilt, and as such, she will still be transformed, albeit slowly.
Black Dahlia's story mode provides some further insight into how the Skull Heart judges those who wish on it. In addition to the above-mentioned conditions related to selfishness, trying to make a benevolent wish on the Skull Heart will inherently ruin the outcome, as the artifact views such intervention as unnatural and incapable of doing good. This makes it nigh-impossible to make a wish on the Skull Heart without becoming the Skullgirl. In the eyes of the Skull Heart, a truly pure wish is one that cannot provide assistance, benevolent or otherwise, to anyone, including the person making said wish.
It was confirmed by developers that no woman has ever wished upon the Skull Heart without becoming a Skullgirl as wishes are selfish by nature.
History[]
It is unclear when the Skull Heart first appeared in the world, but it is known to have been created by the Trinity. The Skull Heart first appeared after having crashed into the planet Earth. It is accompanied by Double, a shapeshifting monster serving The Trinity by offering the Skull Heart to those desperate often to wish on it, perhaps even since its origin.
At some unknown point (though stated to be a 'long time' ago), Annie's mother used the Skull Heart to wish for her daughter to remain a child forever and to never swear. While the circumstances of this event are scarcely known, the affair likely affected Annie in a negative respect seeing as she promotes Anti-Skullgirls propaganda.
Fourteen years before the events of the game, Double delivered the Skull Heart to Selene Contiello, which led to the Medici Mafia coming after her. Seeing her family gunned down by the mob, Selene wished them back to life with the Skull Heart. The artifact twisted her wish by transforming her into a Skullgirl - thereby allowing her to bring back her family as undead minions.
Seven years later, the Skull Heart was at the center of a massive war between three nations. It came into the possession of Queen Nancy, ruler of the Canopy Kingdom. She wished for the three nations to stop fighting, and the Skull Heart obliged - by transforming Queen Nancy into the most powerful Skullgirl the world had yet seen. The three nations were forced to unite against the Skullgirl before she destroyed the entire world.
A few months before the events of the game, the Skull Heart resurfaced in the hands of Marie, an orphan girl who watched her best friend suffering under the abusive slavers of Rommelgrad. She wished to take revenge against the ones responsible for her friend’s slavery, becoming a Skullgirl in the process. After destroying the slavers, the newly-minted Bloody Marie began targeting anyone and everyone connected to the Medici Mafia, who backed the slavers. Due to her strong will, Marie was able to resist the Skull Heart's influence and focus on her wish.
Role in Story Mode[]
Most of the playable characters seek out the Skull Heart for various reasons - mainly to either use it or destroy it. At the end of Story Mode, each character gains possession of the Skull Heart after defeating Bloody Marie, and makes a choice on what to do with it. So far, Fukua's story is the only one that doesn't involve the Skull Heart at all.
- Filia chases the Skull Heart, intending to wish for her memories to return to her. After recovering some of her memories of her old friend Carol, and learning that she is connected to the Medici family, she decides to leave her past behind, and instead wishes for Painwheel to have a normal life again. The Skull Heart grants that wish, but tells Filia that she will be transformed into the next Skullgirl-- albeit slowly, because Filia believes she wronged Carol in her past, and seeks absolution for that guilt, misplaced though it is.
- Cerebella does not pursue the Skull Heart for her own wishes, instead using its location in order to capture and punish Ms. Fortune under the orders of Vitale, who was trying to steal the Heart. She succeds in killing Ms. Fortune, much to her regret later. It is unknown what happens to the Skull Heart after.
- Peacock knows Marie is fighting the Skull Heart deep inside herself, and kills her to free her of the Skull Heart, promising to take up her revenge in her place. When confronted with the Skull Heart, she uses her Argus System to destroy it. As the Skull Heart is destroyed, it mocks Peacock for thinking that it is over.
- Parasoul wishes for her little sister Umbrella to never become the Skullgirl. The wish is granted, but it warns her that Parasoul would become one in time. Double tells Parasoul earlier in her story that the Skull Heart does not care about age, as she and Marie try to turn Umbrella into a Skullgirl. It's made worse as Umbrella actually thinks the Skull Heart is her mother.
- Ms. Fortune sets out to wish for the Fishbone Gang to come back to life. However, after speaking with Bloody Marie, and learning about how her wish grew into something so horrible, she realizes the Skull Heart is only here to tempt people into doing the wrong thing, and decides to destroy it instead. The Skull Heart says that its destruction is a temporary setback and that the world is cursed to have Skullgirls until it exists no more.
- Painwheel destroys the Skull Heart because she refuses to be controlled by it. Despite this, the last scene in her story shows her with skull eyes; the telltale sign of the Skullgirl.
- Valentine comes to a dead end after obtaining the Skull Heart. After deciding that wishing back Last Hope wouldn't end well, she chooses to become the next Skullgirl and allow Painwheel to exact the revenge she wants.
- Double wrests the Skull Heart from Marie after her will proved too strong for the artifact to fully override. After apparently communing with the Trinity, she then resumes her hunt for a new girl to bear the Heart.
- Squigly is awoken from her eternal rest with the emergence of the next Skullgirl, Marie. Because of her parasite, Leviathan, she avoids becoming one of Marie's undead minions. She seeks the Skull Heart to destroy it, preventing anyone else in the future from using the Heart's power-- knowing from the experience before her death that doing so will only cause trouble. After destroying both the Skull Heart and Double, Squigly "dies" again and is buried, waiting to rise again when the next Skullgirl emerges.
- Big Band destroys the Skull Heart, although it warns him beforehand that it will only return to continue pursuing its mysterious agenda. Big Band defiantly brushes the warning aside, resolving to train the new generation of Anti-Skullgirl Weapons (such as Painwheel and Peacock) in preparation for the day when the Heart resurfaces.
- Eliza attempts to claim the Skull Heart for its power, although she is disappointed when Marie proves to be little more than skin and bone. Before she can do anything more, the Heart addresses her as the "Crimson Scourge" much to her shock. Then Double attacks her, apparently acting out of vengeance for the deaths of Aeon and Venus. Eliza then realizes that the two entities are some how influenced by her old enemy, Queen Lamia. After Double's defeat, the Skull Heart threatens Eliza as she flies out of Gehenna, swearing to destroy her no matter how long it takes. Eliza, unimpressed, sends a swarm of blood scarab constructs to destroy the Heart.
- Beowulf, after being rescued by Annie from Double, goes on to fight Marie. During the fight, Marie controls Grendel's arm and pins him down with it so Double will finish him off. However, he is rescued by Annie once again. While Annie fights Double, Beowulf fights Marie and starts thinking about how Grendel was being disrespected yet again and feels guilty about it. Grendel's spirit, however, urges him to cast his regrets aside to fight like a true warrior. After being attacked, Beowulf suplexes Grendel's arm and smashes the Skull Heart with The Hurting while Annie destroys Double.
- Robo-Fortune, upon defeating Marie, brings the Skull Heart back to Brain Drain, who sets about using it to power a new generation of machines. His experiments give rise to an army of giant Robo-Fortunes, which, with no Skullgirl to hunt, turn against humanity.
- After Annie defeats Marie, the Skull Heart tries to tempt her into using its power. Annie is having none of it, however, and destroys the Skull Heart as she reaffirms her vow on finding a way to stop the cycle of the Skullgirl.
- Umbrella, after defeating Marie with Parasoul's help, is almost tempted into making a wish on the Skull Heart when it creates an illusion of Queen Nancy. However, she is able to snap out of it thanks to the timely intervention of Parasoul and Hungern, and the Skull Heart is alarmed by how Umbrella was able to break free from its control. The Renoir sisters proceed to destroy the artifact together.
- Black Dahlia obtains the Skull Heart after killing Marie and uses it as bait to lure out and dispose of other enemies who come to claim it. Though she manages to kill Squigly, Eliza, Vitale, Valentine, Fukua, Painwheel, Robo-Fortune and even Lorenzo, some like Big Band and Brain Drain manage to escape her clutches. All the while, Dahlia confirms that she and her subordinates have no interest in the Skull Heart's powers, though their sadistic desire to sow chaos piques the Skull Heart's interest. Ultimately, Dahlia uses her wish to transport herself (and her minions) to a monster-infested hellscape where survival is a luxury to prove that she was right to "throw it all away". The Skull Heart deems this wish pure enough to be granted without her becoming the next Skullgirl, and vanishes forever upon granting it.
Fate[]
Over the course of the story there have been many endings that involve the Skull Heart. In the story the Skull Heart is usually destroyed by the end, though a few endings see it used for a wish.
- Filia's story: Used by Filia to wish a normal life for Painwheel.
- Cerebella's story: Ignored.
- Peacock's story: Destroyed.
- Parasoul's story: Used by Parasoul to wish that Umbrella would never become the next Skullgirl.
- Ms. Fortune's story: Destroyed.
- Painwheel's story: Destroyed.
- Valentine's story: Used by Valentine to become the Skullgirl so Painwheel could get her revenge on Valentine herself as redemption for doing her harm.
- Double's story: Retrieved by Double, but not used.
- Squigly's story: Destroyed.
- Big Band's story: Destroyed.
- Eliza's story: Destroyed, but regenerates later on.
- Beowulf's story: Destroyed.
- Robo-Fortune's story: Used to power an army of giant Robo-Fortunes, which destroy the world.
- Annie's story: Destroyed.
- Umbrella's story: Destroyed.
- Black Dahlia's story: Pure wish granted.
- Marie’s story: Shattered.
According to Aeon, all of the outcomes possible are all "threads of fate". While none of the threads is the "true" timeline, they all have a single common point where they converge.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- According to developers, the Skull Heart always reappears seven years after its destruction or the death of the Skullgirl.
- This has since been confirmed in Robo-Fortune's story mode.
- Alex Ahad has stated that if a current Skullgirl is defeated but the Skull Heart isn't wished upon nor destroyed, she will regenerate after an unspecified period of time.
- The reason men cannot wish on the Skull Heart is due to incompatibility based on the origin of the Skull Heart.
- Boys can't do much with the Skull Heart. They can look at it, punch it, yell at it, polish it, show it off as a trophy, turtle wax it.
- Skullgirls developer Alex Ahad has stated that someone who identifies themselves as a female, such as Poison from Final Fight, would be able to wish on the Skull Heart.
- So far, at least two Skullgirls are known to have received the Skull Heart from Double. It is possible that Double herself plays a role in the regeneration of the Skull Heart, or that she, as a servant of the Trinity, automatically gains possession of the Heart when it reappears.
- The lyrics of 'In a Moment's Time', the song that plays during the game's end credits, are sung from the perspective of the Skull Heart to potential Skullgirls.
- The Skull Heart is of alien origin, having crashed on the planet a long, LONG time ago. Alex implied that it may or may not have kickstarted evolution, but that part seemed like more of an idle musing on his part than a legitimate canon building block.
- In Peacock’s scrapped alternate ending, the Skull Heart says that they don’t make the rules making it likely the Trinity created all of its rules and all the heart does is follow them.
- The Skull Heart says that the reason it returns each 7 years specifically is due to the alignment of the stars.
- It is said that Skull Heart has a connection to Theonite and that Parasites are directly derived from it in some way, but it is not 100% clear how considering Samson and Leviathan have been around longer.
- The Skull Heart granting women a specialized type of blood might have to do with how real hearts are responsible for pumping blood throughout the body.