During this current slow news cycle, we figured it was a good time to address a question that keeps reoccurring lately among some new fans: Why Skeletor’s “Keldor” origin was never featured in the 1983-1985 classic Filmation cartoon series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe“.

While common knowledge to the die hard fanbase, this Keldor inquiry seems to come from fans who have newly entered the fold, seemingly due to the excitement of the new upcoming live-action “Masters of the Universe” movie staring Nicholas Galitzine.

The explanation begins in 1982 with the very first mini-comic (copyrighted in 1981) that came included with the very first “Masters of the Universe” action figures.

In that comic, Skeletor was first depicted as a being from “another dimension” where he lived with others of his kind.

That origin of Skeletor from the mini-comics was mostly carried over to the 1983 television series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” during the premiere one hour special titled “The Greatest Adventurers of All” which introduced (among other characters) Skeletor to the world of Eternia as a “demon from another dimension”.

Why there was no mention of the Keldor origin back then is because the creation of the Keldor character actually occurred years later, after the classic cartoon was no longer in production, spawned from one of the last mini comics ever to be released with the vintage ‘Masters of the Universe’ figures.

While Keldor was never confirmed to be Skeletor in that 1987 comic, in a He-Man.org interview no longer available online, mini-comic writer Steven Grant did confirm that was their intent:

STEVEN GRANT: “As far as I remember, Keldor was Skeletor … But, I don’t think that was ever going to be revealed … I seem to remember it as one of those things Mattel came up with out of the blue … Slur Keldor and you end up with Skeletor … His backstory wasn’t really worked out. Some sort of evil cosmic energies altered him. I think they were going for a Darth Vader thing, but it was a tack-on.”

But since the character of Keldor was introduced after production had completed on “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” (and “She-Ra: Princess of Power”), that is why this origin of Skeletor was never featured in the classic 1983 cartoon.

Here is our reimagining of Keldor, what his appearance may have looked like if he had in fact appeared in the “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” cartoon before transforming into Skeletor: