The Skeleton War is an unending conflict. The Skeleton War's combatants are not always known. Sometimes they are seen as being between skeletons and fleshlings, sometimes between skeletons and other skeletons, and often as being between skeletons and fuckboys. But in essence, the skeleton war is not between factions. The skeleton war simple is. Anyone with a skeleton is eligible to fight in the skeleton war, and a temporary covering of that skeleton does not exempt one.
Externally, the "Skeleton War" is a concept that became popular on tumblr and other such sites in October of 2014. After a hiatus of a year, it has become a meme or trope of sorts again in 2015. Along with the Skeleton war, the usage of skeletons as a in-joke of sorts became a generalized piece of ironic humorous lore on the internet. This is especially so when the skeletons are described as "spooky", or even more so by the intentional misspelling "spoopy", even going so far as to be "2spooky4me" (or "2spooky4u"), or, in the most extreme cases "3spooky5me". In addition, pictures both static and moving of skeletons moving, dancing and playing the trumpet are part of the internet's newfound obsession with skeletons.
The skeletons and their wars are an interesting example of internet culture and how it enshrines certain concepts, with no single cause, and with no single subject being parodied. The figure of a skeleton is at once both frightening and humorous, and it could be that the focus on the Skeleton War is a reaction to the now well-worn tropes of zombie apocalypse. While skeletons, like zombies, are a symbol of death, they are dry and sterile, lacking the visceral (in both senses) fear of the zombie's flesh.
Whatever the external motivations that the sociologically minded may try to place on the Skeleton War, I can say that I am happy to have served, and to be a skeleton, albeit one covered with a fleshy covering.
2015 HorrorQuest