The Thunderskin

The Thunderskin is an Hour which "beats to protect the skin of the world". He was originally a musician who loved the Red Grail and ascended under her as a Name. He later came to love the Ring-Yew, and was flayed by the Red Grail as part of a treaty to placate the Horned Axe, as well as to help the Grail challenge the power of the Twins over the aspect of Heart. He ended up ascending to become an Hour through the Peacock Door, and now beats endlessly as a being of storms, dance, and eternity.[2][3][4] His aspect is Heart[5] and his hour is 4 a.m.

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Events

Ascension to a Name: There are several stories describing the Thunderskin as a mortal musician who followed the Red Grail and became one of her Names and lovers. He appears to have originated from Phrygia.[6][7]

The Flaying of the Thunderskin: The Thunderskin was sacrificed to seal the pact between the Red Grail, the Ring-Yew, and the Horned Axe, and is included alongside them as Hours honored by the Sisterhood of the Knot.[3][4]

The War of the Roads (1450-1580): It is implied as an Hour tied to the Sisterhood that the Thunderskin had some part in the War of the Roads.

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Servants

• Percussigants: Strange creatures of the Thunderskin which resemble headless, flapping bears who dance ceaselessly.[8]
• Peel: One of the Great Hooded Princes, who chose to break from his comrades and instead flay himself and follow the Thunderskin. He is mentioned several times in the Exile legacy as an acquaintance of the player, and may be encountered in the game under mysterious circumstances.[9][10][11]
• The Sisterhood of the Knot: While not one the trinity of female Hours the Sisterhood of the Knot revered, his sacrifice sealed the pact between them, and so he is acknowledged as well by the Sisterhood, who held substantial power in several Histories before being severely weakened by the War of the Roads.

Relationships

• The Wheel: In many ways the Thunderskin appears to be a successor to the Wheel, inheriting his role as a protector of the world, as well as being associated with thunder, eternity, motion, and skins. The True Blood of St Januarius, a Heart ingredient tied to the Thunderskin, also contains the memory of the Wheel.[12][13][14][15]
• The Ring-Yew: The Thunderskin at some point came to love the Ring-Yew, which seems to have been a factor in its sacrifice.[4]
• The Horned Axe: The Thunderskin’s sacrifice was presented as restitution to the Horned-Axe for the Lithomachy and the deaths of the other gods-from-stone.[4]
• The Red Grail: The Red Grail was the Hour which the Thunderskin originally served and ascended under, and she was the one who orchestrated his sacrifice and flayed him. It is unclear how much power the Red Grail still holds over him.[16]
• The Witch-and-Sister/Sister-and-Witch: Like the Thunderskin, the Twins ascended under the Grail, but became independent Hours. The Red Grail created the Thunderskin as a Heart-Hour in part to help her challenge their dominion over that aspect. Even now these Hours will appear at times in opposition to one another.[16][17]

Other Notes

• The Thunderskin’s ascension is a significant event in the politics of the Mansus, likely marking an end to open hostilities between the Horned Axe and the other Hours, fulfilling a duty left vacant since the death of the Wheel, sealing the alliance between the Sisterhood Hours, and shifting the balance of power among the Hours as a whole.[4]
• The Heart path of the Change ascension ends with the player joining the Thunderskin’s eternal dance. [24]
• A cult of the Thunderskin is encountered in the Exile legacy, where the player must defend Mireya the Visionary from their wrath after she spies on them.[25]
• The sacrifice of the Thunderskin is also invoked in a minor variant method of the Grail ascension involving the sacrifice of a lover.[26]
• The flaying of the Thunderskin is seen in the Priest legacy, where the player experiences “The Vision of the Pines” from the perspective of the Heart Relentless itself.[27]
• The Phrygian language is tied to the Thunderskin, as the tongue in which he pleaded at his ascension while being flayed.[28]
• The Congregation of St. Felix appears to hold a shrine to the Sisterhood of the Knot, with an enameled chalice-drum in honor of the Red Grail and the Thunderskin alongside symbols of the other Hours they worship.[29]

Real World References

• The Thunderskin takes the place of the Emperor in the Tarot of the Hours. The Emperor can represent structure, authority, and protection. He is a ruler and defender of the world, which perhaps references the role the Wheel and now the Thunderskin has in preserving the Wake in some form.
• One unique version of the story of the Thunderskin’s ascension describes a figure called the “Pine-Knight”, his quest to find the Cinnabar Cup, and his eventual transformation into the Vigilant Storm in the presence of the Mountain-Mother. This parallels stories of the quests of King Arthur’s knights to find the Holy Grail, with the Thunderskin as one of the questing knights. He may represent Percival specifically, who sought to heal the Fisher King (the Wheel) with the power of the Grail (The Red Grail). “The Skeleton Songs” are even dedicated to “Sir Parsival of the Red Cup”.[18][19]
• The story of the Pine-Knight is contained in a set of works tied to Rosicrucianism, a spiritual movement in Europe during the 17th century. The Rose Cross symbol used by this movement may be the origin of the naming scheme for several volumes written by members of the Sisterhood of the Knot. [20]
• The Thunderskin is also tied to Marsyas, a musician who lost a contest to Apollo and was subsequently flayed alive, with his skin nailed to a pine tree.This story also ties the Thunderskin to Cybele, a Phrygian mother goddess whom the Red Grail heavily reflects.[7]
• The story of Attis is yet another connection between the Thunderskin, the Red Grail, and the gods and myths of Phrygia and Greece. The goddess Cybele had a consort named Attis, who in Ovid’s Metamorphoses transforms himself into a pine tree, and whose priests are eunuchs.
• Mr. Agdistis, who helps guide the player during the Heart path of the Change ascension, bears the name of an androgynous deity connected to Cybele, whose castration in one story leads eventually to the birth of Attis.[21]
• The Thunderskin was said to protect Januarius, who is almost certainly Januarius I of Benevento, a Christian Saint in the third century whose preserved blood in Naples is said to miraculously liquefy three times a year. [15][22]
• St. Januarius ties the Thunderskin to Janus, a god of doors, beginnings, and endings who is occasionally alluded to in Cultist Simulator, through the Grail Apostle Legacy.[23]

Theories and Questions

• At first glance, the Heart aspect appears to be named after the Thunderskin as the Heart Relentless, but he is not the oldest of the Hours with that aspect: the Twins existed prior to his ascension, and likely the Ring-Yew and Velvet did as well. Perhaps it wasn’t named after him after all, and instead the Grail simply shaped him to be as much an embodiment of that aspect as possible?
• It is possible that an additional reason for the Thunderskin’s sacrifice was simply the jealousy of the Grail, who may have actually loved him and felt betrayed by his love for the Ring-Yew. It is also unknown whether the Ring-Yew loved him in return.[30]
• The coupling of the Thunderskin and the Red Grail implied in “The Velshorn Inscriptions” has some interesting implications regarding the Crime of the Sky, which compels immortals who have children with each other to consume their offspring. Perhaps the Grail “coupled” with the Thunderskin while he was still mortal?[6]
• It's possible the Thunderskin's "gelding" as a mortal translated into his immortal state, thus rendering it's impossible for him to commit the Crime.[18]
• The similarities between the Thunderskin and the Wheel are curious, particularly since the Wheel still turns in the House of the Moon. How exactly does the Thunderskin protect the Wake, and were there consequences with this role being vacant for so long after the Wheel’s death?
• The Pine-Knight brings to mind also the Lodge of the Sage Knight. While not the same character, the Sage-Knight is a Name who appears to serve the Red Grail, which suggests that the two could be part of a larger tradition in service of the Grail. [31][32]

In-Game Sources

1. The Thunderskin, the Heart Relentless 2. Heart 3. Read 'Against the Sisterhood of the Knot and the Foulness of their Depraved Customs' 4. Read 'The Morphy Codex' 5. Unceasing Mysteries 6. The Velshorn Inscriptions 7. Study 'Apollo and Marsyas' 8. Summon a creature of the Thunderskin 9. Read 'The Flayed Tantra' 10. Search for Something Unseen 11. At the Fane of Owls 12. Alakapurine Shears 13. Kingskin Bodhrán 14. Thigh-born Thorax-Sweet 15. True Blood of St Januarius 16. Read 'Those Who Do Not Sleep' 17. We call upon the Sister-and-Witch, who cannot be touched 18. Read this volume of the Orchid Transfigurations 19. Study the Skeleton Songs 20. The Rose of Nuriel, The Rose of Waznei, The Rose of Hypatia 21.The Last Dance 22. Januarius 23. Janus' Savour 24. LIFE, UNENDING 25. Duende Midnight 26. The Feast of the Heart's Remembrance 27. The Vision of the Pines 28. Scholar: Phrygian 29. Secret Devotions 30. A quicker way to the Seventh Mark? 31. The Lodge of the Sage Knight 32. 'Got Your Book...'

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