Skeletons

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Does skull only count as a skeleton? :thinking:
Regardless Skeletor rules.

Time for semantic argument, “what counts as a skeleton?”

I submit exhibit A: The CryptKeeper. Skeleton? Yea or Nay?

Nay.

That is a decaying corpse. If active, an animated decaying corpse. Skellingtons have to have no skin, muscles or eyeballs to emote with, just posture and body language.

He does have some eyeballs and some other flesh dangling, this is true. However, there is no way that flesh is enough to do anything. Tissue that is so far decayed is not capable of motor function. Those bones are moving on their own, just like a skeleton.

But he has eyeballs that can be used to show where he is looking. Skeletons must use their entire head to do the same. The bone-only aspect of their social interactions is their defining quality.

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So here’s an argument I never would have foreseen myself making:

Is this a skeleton?

I’d say yes. It’s a skeleton with eyeballs.

Scott’s example is a not-yet skeleton. We have a word for that. It’s called a corpse.

Opinion: Skellingtons can’t have eyes. But, at a certain point of decay, a corpse becomes a skellington even if there is some flesh left. I like @Apreche 's take that once the flesh can in no way contribute to motion it becomes a skeleton.

Clearly there’s some edge cases. Papyrus and Sans have eyeballs and eyebrows(??):

Hmmm this is a very good point. No one would deny that they are skeletons despite the eyes. Perhaps @lukeburrage is correct that eyes alone are still in skeleton territory. I do still disagree that any amount of flesh disqualifies from the definition of skeleton.

I’m not sure they have eyeballs.

Clearly, they have eye sockets and in those sockets there is some kind of light… maybe magical… but I don’t think you could say they have actual eyeballs with pupils, irises, etc.

The most important skeleton

IMG_20191018_234537

I don’t think any amount of flesh disqualifies a being as a skeleton.

But here’s the thing, NO VISIBLE BONE certainly disqualifies Scott’s example.

To be a skeleton with flesh, the flesh has to be hanging off the bone structure. A skeleton fully enclosed within a sheath of flesh, with no bone visible, is an animated corpse, not a skeleton.

Saying “If the muscles aren’t doing the work, that’s enough” doesn’t cut it. All animate dead things are moving without muscle power.

An animated corpse is a skin-and-flesh-covered skeleton, but it is its own category. Their character comes from how badly they are decayed, but also from their skin tone, their hairstyle and colour, their gender, etc.

An animated skeleton is a separate category. At first glance gender isn’t always visible, and only through motion can you tell if it’s a lady skeleton or a man skeleton. Race isn’t a thing with skeletons either.

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Well, not in the way you mean. :upside_down_face:

I agree with Luke’s description of what is and what isn’t an undead skeleton

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Species distinctions are certainly a thing in skeletons.

Luke is clearly correct here. There are bound to be difficult edge cases, but the meaning of a word relates to the essence of a thing, and the essence of a skeleton is clearly visible and well-distinguished bones.

Language would never get anywhere if words had to be strict categories.

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With that in mind, and to come back to my original question, where does Skeletor fall? He only has his skull visible, the rest of him is healthy-ish flesh. Definitely not a skeleton, but definitely not an animated corpse either. A lich?