Skeith

Skeith is a character from .Hack//Series, he makes his debut in .Hack//Infection as one of the bosses of the game.

Story
Epitaph of Twilight

In the Epitaph of Twilight, Skeith is the first harbinger of the Cursed Wave to appear. Riding into battle from the Chosen Land beyond the Dividing Forest, he carries the Shadow of Death, which drowns all that stands.

.Hack//SIGN

Skeith appears at the very end of SIGN when he is summoned by Morganna. His first action is to Data Drain Sora, as punishment for betraying Morganna and allowing Tsukasa and the awakened Aura to escape. He follows them to Net Slum but before he can do anything, Helba deletes the area, allowing everybody, except Aura, to log out and escape.

.Hack//ZERO

Realizing that Skeith would draw too much attention, Morganna sealed him inside Sora. Disguised as a player, Skeith continued his hunt for Aura. It was in this form that he would encounter Carl.

.Hack//Liminality

Skeith, sealed inside of Sora, encounters Tomonari Kasumi and his girlfriend Mai Minase while they explore a field. Not wanting them to get in the way of his hunt for Aura, Skeith assumes his normal form and attacks both of them. As a result, Tomonari falls comatose, but Mai is able to escape and begins searching for answers about the attack in the real world. Skeith later tries to attack Junichiro Tokuoka when he follows Tomonari's footsteps, however Mai recognizes the tone that plays when he appears, and is able to escape with Tokuoka before Skeith can complete his attack.

.Hack//Games

Skeith is first seen by Orca and Kite in the dungeon of Δ Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field. He is busy chasing Aura and ignores them at first, but when Aura tries to give the Book of Twilight Skeith appears and challenges the two. Orca tries to fight against him, but as a normal player, his attacks are useless. Skeith data drains Orca and places him into a coma, but before he can attack Kite, Helba appears and drives him away.

Over the course of Infection, Skeith continues chasing Aura, attacking any players that get in his way, including Alph, Sieg, and Mai Minase. Eventually he manages to catch up with Aura at the field Θ Chosen Hopeless Nothingness. Kite and BlackRose arrive just as he begins to data drain Aura, segmenting her data into three parts and sending them to various places inside the system. Skeith attacks Kite and his party but is eventually data drained himself and defeated. Though he is destroyed, his death results in the birth of Cubia, the shadow of Kite's bracelet. Cubia then defeats Kite with one blast.

Later, a message in the BBS about a "Red Wand" and a "Twin Blade" call Kite's attention, and he goes to Λ Stalking Betrayed Nothingess, finding the Skeith's wand alone. When Kite tries to approach, the Wand turns into Sora, releasing him, and dessapears, and Kite obtains the Sora's blades.

.Hack//Another Birth

Skeith is shown to BlackRose in a vision created by Mia at Δ Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field. In the vision, she watches as Skeith defeats Orca and attacks Kite, but is driven away by Helba. Later BlackRose travels with Kite and Mistral to Θ Chosen Hopeless Nothingness where she battles with, and eventually defeats Skeith.

.Hack//XXXX

Skeith appears before Orca and Kite shortly after Orca receives the Twilight Bracelet from Aura. Orca attempts to fight Skeith, but Skeith renders all of his attacks useless and destroys him with his Data Drain attack. Before he can finish off Kite, Helba appears and drives the Phase off. Much later, a stronger Kite encounters Skeith while in a field with BlackRose and Mistral. After a hard and mostly unsuccessful battle, Kite manages to unleash the power of the Bracelet, destroying Skeith.

End of The World

Years after the Twilight Incident, Skeith's data was eventually discovered and salvaged by the genius programmer Jyotaro Amagi for use in the Salvage Plan. In order to control its power, Skeith's data was placed into an Epitaph PC. Sora was given as an example of someone who could control it, but since he was unable to be located, CC Corp was forced to find a different candidate. During the first test of the Epitaph PCs a strange error swept through the system, causing the person controlling Skeith's PC to fall into a coma. In the confusion, Skeith, still inside the Epitaph PC, was able to escape into the system, where it would remain hidden as The World was transformed into The World R:2.

.Hack//Roots

After logging into The World R:2 for the first time, the Adept Rogue Haseo unwittingly became the bearer of the Epitaph PC for Skeith. Hidden deep inside his character data the powers of the Phase only manifested in a few situations, occasionally causing Haseo to see things that normal players couldn't, or protecting him from data corruption. After being defeated by Tri-Edge, Skeith's powers were fully released inside of Haseo's character. Skeith briefly appears physically at the end of Roots, floating above Haseo in a ghostly form as he stares out at the Arche Koeln Waterfall, also hinting at Haseo's Xth Form.

.Hack//G.U.+

After Kuhn tells Haseo that he can summon an Avatar, Haseo swears to unlock its power. He gets his chance while fighting Endrance in the Arena. Endrance summons Macha during the fight and orders it to destroy Haseo. However Haseo manages to awaken Skeith who easily defeats Macha, destroying the AIDA known as Mia in the process.

.Hack//G.U. Games

Haseo, the main character of the .hack G.U games, also called "The Terror of Death", is scouted by Yata early as the Epitaph User for Skeith, which is contained within his PC. Though Haseo's first few attempts at calling Skeith fail, he is able to manifest Skeith as an Avatar after almost being wiped out by Bordeaux in the Arena. After this event, Haseo continues to improve his control over Skeith, by fighting against AIDA and Tarvos, when it accidentally goes berserk after being exposed to AIDA. However Haseo begins to abuse his Avatar by using it in other Arena matches, such as his fight against Alkaid. Wanting to prove how dangerous Avatars are, Kuhn the Epitaph User of Magus confronts Haseo and challenges him to an Avatar Battle. During the fight Haseo loses control of Skeith, and can only watch helplessly as it mercilessly beats and data drains Magus until its Avatar form is completely dissolved despite Haseo pleading it to stop. Horrified by what he has seen, Haseo begins to use Skeith more wisely.

Under the direction of Yata, Haseo continues using Skeith to hunt AIDA. He is also forced to use it when confronted with Endrance's Avatar Macha and Azure Kite's "Azure Flame God", an entity that is almost identical to the Avatars. His skill with Skeith continues to increase, and he gets a major power boost when Skeith transforms in response to his third Job Extension. With this form Haseo fights against Gorre, Innis, Corbenik, Fidchell, and several new forms of AIDA. At one point, Kuhn, Atoli, and Endrance pool their energy to give Haseo the power he needs to summon Skeith to fight against against Sakaki's Victorian.

When Haseo's PC and spirit are damaged by Ovan's "Rebirth" ability and the truth he has revealed, he finds himself in a dark room inside his PC, and Skeith confronts him directly, in the form of a white version of Haseo who speaks in a voice and manner that are nearly identical to Sora's. He mocks Haseo briefly before Haseo decides to continue, and declares that Haseo doesn't need him anymore. Haseo rebuffs Skeith, however, and says that he's taking him with him. This conversation is immediately followed by their upgrade into Xth Form, which also upgrades Skeith into his final form. This form takes a sharp turn from his other forms in appearance, and is drastically more powerful as it possesses the full combined power of the eight Epitaphs. After a short battle with the Azure Knights, Skeith is used to finish Aina's summoning of Aura. During the battle against Cubia, all of the remaining Epitaph Users fuse physically with Skeith.

Crossover Appearances
Project X Zone 3: Sacred Destinies

Skeith appears in Haseo's Solo Unit Attack.

Project X Zone: Fight For The Future 20XX

Skeith is one of the characters of the game.

Super X Dimensions

Skeith appears as a Boss Unit, Avatar Skeith is also summoned by Haseo during his Solo Unit attack.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale 2 (TheProjectXZoneFan1997)

Skeith appears in Haseo's Special Attack.

Gamers Frenzy 2

He is one of the characters from Bandai side.

Trivia

 * According to .hack//Another Birth, .hack//XXXX, and a concept art in CyberConnect2's website, the party that defeated Skeith was Kite, BlackRose, and Mistral.
 * According to the uncanonical and untrue Liminality Easter Eggs, Skeith was a program designed to collect data on human emotions and reactions to death for the ultimate AI.
 * Skeith's Red Wand is the item where Sora was sealed into for betraying Morganna during the end of SIGN, causing Sora's player to fall into a coma.
 * In the original Japanese version of Infection, Skeith's wand, which appears in the English version as a large, red staff with a "Q" shape at the tip, is actually represented by a Celtic cross. This was censored for the American release in favor of the Q-shaped version from .hack//SIGN, though it is still seen as the cross in some American media.
 * "Skeith" means "Shadow" in Old Scottish. The spelling of Skeith seems to have changed through the ages, being found as Skeith, Skuth, Skeycht and Skyith.
 * Skeith may owe its name to the Skeith Stone, an artifact found in Kilrenny, Scottland. Inscribed in the stone is a circular cross, outlined by eight leaf or eye shapes and a squigle that identifies it as a Chi Rho Cross (the one that looks like a P and a X combined, those being the Greek letters used to spell Christ).
 * Skeith is physically the smallest of all phases, and the only one with a weapon (during .hack// Project).
 * In .hack//G.U. Vol 4//Reconnection, Skeith gets another new form.
 * Skeith demonstrates the ability to talk in the GU Games, shouting "I have found you!" when Haseo releases him for the first time. In addition, he has a short conversation with Haseo in Vol.3
 * Skeith's theme song in G.U. is called "I'm Right Here."
 * During Skeith's theme song, a piece from the Hulle Granz Cathedral theme can be heard. It says "The man with shadow is on the quest for the Evening Dragon", in German. It's likely a reference to Haseo's journey: "Skeith" means "shadow", making Haseo the one with the shadow. Inadvertently, he searches for "the Evening Dragon/Twilight Dragon": arguably, Skeith's last form; the weapon to counter Cubia.
 * Skeith's avatar form in the .hack//G.U. Prototype trailer is identical to his original form in SIGN, Another Birth, and the original .hack//Games.
 * The scythe Skeith wields in his final form in Redemption is identical to the one that Haseo uses in his Divine Awakening, Plasma Blade.
 * Corresponding to Haseo's change from black clothing, representing his angst, to white ones in his Xth Form, Skeith's new appearance changes from merely a Grim Reaper-esque figure to a multi-winged angel (of death).
 * Both of Ryou Misaki's characters, Sora and Haseo, are linked to Skeith. Sora became an unwilling host for the Terror of Death and, ironically, the basis for the Epitaph PCs, one of which is the other character, Haseo. This comes full circle when Skeith appears to Haseo as a rather Sora-like copy of Haseo. When Haseo awakens Skeith for the first time, he yells "I have found you!" which could be a nod that he somehow know that Haseo and Sora are the same player, or that the lost data of Skeith was transferred from Sora to Haseo when the latter was created.
 * In the official art for Skeith's third form, there are eight swords floating behind it, though in the game itself the number's reduced to seven. Either way the swords may represent all of the Epitaph waves, having taken the data of all of them prior to his transformation.
 * Skeith is the shortest Avatar in the Infinity Eight, being within the same size parameters of Gorre. The reason for this is unknown; however, since Skeith end up fighting all the Avatars, this is most likely to show the scale difference between player and boss. In TRILOGY, Skeith does become bigger, though still no larger than Corbenik.
 * Skeith is fought 4 times, once in 2010, twice in 2009, once before fighting Posaune a 3rd time.