"I'd rather be damned by my honesty, than caged by my lies." - Omega Maverick
There is a man lounging in the shade of a caravan, just on the edge of the makeshift site for the performers while the Circus is in full swing. He is one of those people who lives what he says hates dishonesty. The circus troupe loves this man with genuine smiles and open love for animals, who seem to gravitate towards him. He is carefree and mirthful, often enticing the children and older youth into games designed to help hone their skills or teach them needed lessons. The little ones love him and call him Red Man for his red red hair with violet roots and hazel-red eyes that gleam red-violet in the dark. The older members alternate calling him a genius and miracle worker for how he works with the children. But he waves them off a light laugh, citing previous experience and working to understand how to work with all kinds of people. It's become more of an inside joke at this point, instead of the argument it was, because all involved agreed to disagree.
Red Man gets visitors from time to time and he responds to different names, depending on who he is speaking with. When he was asked, he responds by saying that all of his names, his identities, are just as real as he is and each is an individual person. He is all of them and they are versions of himself that have emphasized different characteristics of himself. However, he is still the same Red Man that lives kids and animals, who occasionally critiques their performances to make them better, who has made a point to get to know each individual person that makes up the troupe and their families, who will not tolerate any form of dishonesty. He is still the same man who says he'd rather not perform just yet, that he just wants to travel with them because he misses the lifestyle after he left his previous troupe for family reasons. He is still the same and that is all that matters to the traveling circus troupe who have adopted him as one of their own.
He's been with them for a little over a year when there is an incident that tells them that Red Man has claimed them as his own just as much as they have claimed him in return. It is during a performance when several troupe kids go missing and Red Man practically burns at the thought. He hunts them down and makes them pay while the children are in another room. He protects them from the sight of his destructive wrath as he takes them home. Several older members with older eyes understand exactly what had happened and now recognize the significance of one or more names he has been called. They do not judge, simply accept. From all walks of life, people have come to the circus for a respite. Some come for a single performance the return home and others just stay longer, like him.
One kid renames him Red Skull, after catching a glimpse of what he did when rescued them. The kid clings more to him with hero-worship and Red Man-Red Skull laughs as he accepts it. He become Skull of the circus, Skull the protector. He stays and is pulled back into the performing aspect when he gets his hands on a motorbike. When he crashes and walks away with no injuries, his little hero-worshiper calls him the Immortal Skull. The moniker sticks and is added to the program list of performances.
As both a performer and a man who detests lies the solution is the new persona of Skull who is every bit of him as every other one he has created. There is no lie, no secrets, no dishonesty hiding when he crafts a new self and that holds true with Skull. Skull embodies all of his performer's skills and tricks and showmanship at the forefront of his very essence. There is no lie here. Skull is him and he is Skull just as much as he is Claire, Jakob, Felix, Vino, Wilhelm, The Handyman, Railtracer.
(Of course, in the Underworld there were stirrings because while the kills were attributed to this 'Red Man/Red Skull', depending on who you asked, most recognized the work as belonging to one man. The Red Shadow wasn't as gone as everyone had thought.)