The Sorceress has a vision of Skeletor plunging Eternia into darkness and traces it to the Legacy Stones, ancient artifacts hidden in the citadel on the deserted island of Anwat Gar. He-Man and Man-At-Arms cross a stormy sea and fight through the island's defenses, from crushing stone guardians to giant statues, only to be challenged by Sy-Klone, the last defender of the stones. While they fight, Skeletor seizes the stones and dons the invincible Legacy Armor. He-Man takes up the second stone, outwits Skeletor with a feigned surrender and destroys both stones, then refuses to accept that Sy-Klone's purpose has ended.
"Doing your duty is important. But there's more to it than just following orders. The most important duty of all is to do what's right."
Sy-Klone: "I know of no Skeletor. I know only my duty."
Skeletor: "Correction, my Legacy Stones."
Beast Man: "Ah, you trying to get away? That hurts my feelings."
He-Man: "That's the problem with thinking you're invincible, Skeletor. Makes you careless."
He-Man: "And it is my duty to protect all of Eternia."
Sy-Klone: "If my duty no longer exists, then my purpose has been fulfilled."
What becomes of a guard when the thing behind the door turns out to be the danger? The Mystery of Anwat Gar opens on a vision rather than a fight: the Sorceress has watched Skeletor rise out of the Ocean of Gnarl and plunge Eternia "into a new age of darkness," and she traces it to the Legacy Stones, ancient artifacts hidden in the citadel on the deserted island of Anwat Gar. He-Man and Man-At-Arms head out across the water. The island starts fighting them before they reach the shore, first with waves that leave Man-At-Arms coughing, then with a hall of stone guardians that slam their shields together, then with stone guardians that leap from the roof of a red temple and a giant one that rises in front of it.
Waiting at the top is where we meet Sy-Klone, "protector of the Legacy Stones," who has never heard of Skeletor and has no interest in learning. He has outlived the reason for his post, and the episode is about what duty is worth once that happens. He-Man tries to explain the threat, and Sy-Klone answers "I know only my duty," then fights him, and while the two heroes trade blows Skeletor strolls in and takes the stones. The devotion that kept Sy-Klone at his post is the thing that lets the island fall.
Kevin D. Campbell's script builds toward that turn with real patience. The first act is a gauntlet with almost nothing said in it, so the island itself becomes the antagonist, and Man-At-Arms says as much: "It's as if the island itself doesn't want us to find the Legacy Stones." Once Skeletor speaks the incantation and puts on the Legacy Armor, the story changes shape again, from a puzzle into a duel between equals, and the fix it finds is a good one! Neither armored fighter can win, so He-Man stops trying, Skeletor mistakes it for a surrender, and the trick is spelled out for him: "That's the problem with thinking you're invincible, Skeletor. Makes you careless." A bigger punch would have been easier to write; this answer comes out of the characters instead.
The art direction leans hard into its setting, and it makes for a handsome episode. There is a white torii gate standing between rock spires, a giant stone face with sharp teeth looming over the jungle path, and a row of shield-bearing guardians crashing together in the corridor. Skeletor's horned Legacy Armor and ram-skull staff look as though they were dug out of the same temple. Sy-Klone's blue face, gold helmet and glowing chest dial make him look like part of the architecture until he moves.
On the voice side, Sy-Klone talks in formal declaratives ("You are interlopers and will be defeated directly"), which suits a sentry who has had nobody to talk to. Beast Man gets the comic relief, and his sulky "That hurts my feelings" when his quarry tries to slip away is a nice small laugh in a tense act.
The weak spot is the middle. Sy-Klone refuses to listen, so two heroes fight over a misunderstanding until the villain arrives. Heroes trading blows before they team up is the oldest move in the book, and a twenty-two minute slot explains it, since a fight is the quickest way to show us what Sy-Klone can do. But it means he spends his introduction being wrong, and his real argument with He-Man only comes after the stones are safe.
When it does come, it is the best scene in the episode. Sy-Klone insists "It is my duty to protect them," He-Man answers that it is his duty "to protect all of Eternia," and he destroys the stones. Sy-Klone, with nothing left to guard, decides it is time for "the last defender of Anwat Gar to finally rest," and He-Man tells him plainly that he disagrees. By Roboto's Gambit Sy-Klone is standing with the Masters, quoting proverbs at Teela. The closing words say the most important duty of all is to do what is right, and for once the lesson and the plot are the same thing.
- Production: The He-Man wiki lists this episode as Sy-Klone's first appearance in the 2002 series. He goes on to appear in Roboto's Gambit and later episodes as one of the Masters.
- Toys: The Legacy Armor worn by He-Man and Skeletor is based on the Samurai He-Man and Samurai Skeletor figures Mattel released in 2003, according to the He-Man wiki.
- Production: In a fan Q&A cited by the He-Man wiki, story editor Dean Stefan pointed out that Sy-Klone was never said to come FROM Anwat Gar, only to be the last defender OF it, which matches his own line about "the last defender of Anwat Gar."
- Fan observation: The He-Man wiki notes the island and its fighting style carry a Japanese influence, possibly drawing on Angkor Wat; the episode's red temple and white torii gate support the first half of that reading.
- Toys: According to the He-Man wiki, the Four Horsemen slightly modified Sy-Klone's look for his action figure, giving him a samurai warrior appearance.
- Continuity: The phrase that unlocks the stones is "Mighty stone legend old, Power unto me unfold!" The He-Man wiki's Legacy Stones entry lists this as the stones' only appearance.
- Continuity: Sy-Klone's next spotlight is Separation, where, per the He-Man wiki, the sight of the royal family sends him looking for his own, with Roboto for company.
- Voice cast: The He-Man wiki credits John Payne as Sy-Klone and Scott McNeil as Beast Man; McNeil also voices Stratos in the series.
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