User blog:Queen Misery/PE Discussion: Sawney Bean

this is a unique blog because I need to really think on this one even though it is ultimately rather simple:

Sawney Bean is a legendary Scottish cannibal and his name is very much associated with evil even to this day, hence it makes sense he was added to Pure Evil on this wiki even before Approval Blogs became a thing but there's a problem..

namely that as horrible a man as Bean was he was the patriarch of his own family unit, he cared for his wife and children - much as we can't approve the Peacock Family or several other family units of varying heinous standards we can't really approve Bean if he valued his clan.

I'm not saying by any stretch we should sympathize with these characters but we need to think on it proper, even if he's a horrendous serial-killer Sawney still fathered numerous generations of offspring and kept them hidden, he also taught them how to "hunt" and would of provided for his wife and children, as well as his grandchildren.. I mean he kept the entire clan thriving even in the cold, barren wilderness and while the clan engaged in incest and other cruelty none of the clan actively sought to kill their own kind, if anything Bean flew into a rage upon the execution of his clan and roared at all present that "it will never be over".

just think that compared to Soulis, another Scottish folklore villain, Bean has slightly more humanity (if deeply twisted) - since Soulis was a rich lord who abused his power and position for sheer sadistic joy and had absolutely no family nor friends save for the equally sadistic Robin Redcap (who himself was just a servant to Soulis).

Bean, on the other hand, may well of been a horrible cannibal and a serial-killer but unlike Soulis he also fed, clothed and trained his clan over many generations - considering the legends claimed the clan required a small army to defeat them Bean was clearly very capable in this regard, while he is never "father of the year" in any period he certainly must of been able to keep his sons at minimum fit and cunning, which means he valued them.. which is more than Pure Evil can normally achieve.