WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Masters of the Universe: Revelation #3, available now from Dark Horse.
Netflix's Masters of the Universe: Revelation gave fans a surprising look at the world of Eternia after the end of the original Masters of the Universe cartoon. But instead of looking to the future, the series’ comic book tie-in has looked into the past to explore the backstories of its main characters. Having already tackled the source of He-Man's powers and Skeletor's secret past, the comic turned its eye to uncovering Evil-Lyn's backstory and the hidden meaning behind one of her old secret identities.
Masters of the Universe: Revelation #3 by Kevin Smith, Rob David, Tim Sheridan, Mindy Lee, Rico Renzi, and Deron Bennett opens with a young Lyn running away from her abusive caregivers, who were attempting to chop off her hand so she could never use magic again. Scared for her life, Lyn scampered into the sewers and eventually made her way to Majestra’s lair. The elder woman offered Lyn a piece of the rat she was cooking, which Lyn devoured rapidly. Afterward, Lyn asked Majestra to teach her how to use magic so she could protect herself. Majestra agreed on one condition, Lyn could never use her powers for evil.
As she was learning how to use magic, Lyn would venture into the surface to steal food. On one of these excursions, she returned to the house she had left a decade before. Lyn was going to use her magic to torture her abusers as payback for the way they treated her. But before she was able to commit the act, Majestra pulled the pink orb they used to control their powers. Enraged, Lyn fled into the city and eventually made her way into an alley where she was followed by two thieves. The thieves were suddenly stopped by a green beam thrown by Skeletor, who appeared from a portal behind Lyn.
Skeletor convinced Lyn to come with him. He took her to Hordak’s ship, where he told her that he had been watching her for some time. Intrigued and hoping he would teach her more magic, Lyn accepted Skeletor’s offer to train her. But he had one condition, she had to kill Majestra. The duo teleported to Majestra’s lair and Lyn confronted her former master, stating that she would no longer accept her power being artificially limited any longer. Empowered by Skeletor’s magic, Lyn killed Majestra and took the magic orb. Having surrendered herself to the power of evil, Lyn was molded by Skeletor to become his right-hand-woman and continues to help him in his quest to take over Castle Grayskull.
While this marked the end of Majestra, Evil-Lyn carried on her legacy in a way in the original cartoon series.
The first time Majestra appeared was in He-Man & the Masters of the Universe Season 1, Episode 2 “The Shaping Staff.” In the episode, Evil-Lyn used the titular shaping staff to transform into “Magestra” to kidnap the king of Eternia but was foiled by He-Man before she could fulfill her evil plan. In Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Evil-Lyn took the guise of Majestra to convince Teela and Andra to steal a goblet, then deliver it to Castle Grayskull. While the two identities share a similar name, the Magestra from the original show was a young, white-haired sorceress while the Revelation version resembled Evil-Lyn’s former teacher.
The comic did what the Netflix show did best, take one seemingly innocuous piece of trivia from the original show, then use it to craft a meaningful and impacting story that explores what's at the heart of the franchise's characters. The story behind Evil-Lyn's alter-ego was truly tragic and reveals that people aren't born evil. Instead, they become evil through abuse and hardship. Now that Kevin Smith has revealed that Part 2 of Masters of the Universe: Revelation will have a heavy focus on Evil-Lyn, it's possible that even more of her time with the original Majestra will be revealed.