Their service to the United States did not protect them from the collective punishment applied to all Chiricahua Apache.

This history complicates simple narratives about Geronimo as an unambiguous hero, though it does not diminish his significance as a leader and a symbol.

Among Apache people today, attitudes toward Geronimo vary.

Some see him primarily as a freedom fighter and a symbol of resistance.

Others emphasize the costs his decisions imposed on the broader Apache community.

Many hold both perspectives simultaneously, recognizing a figure who was neither saint nor villain but a human being making difficult decisions in impossible circumstances.

The skull mystery is, from an Apache cultural perspective, not primarily about the famous name.