User blog:Inferno Pendragon/PE Proposal: Mourioche

an unusual one for today's proposal and one from folklore, don't let the rather silly appearance fool you either because this is a terribly sadistic demon that is so nasty some even accuse it of being the Devil himself.. while normally I'd be against demons from folklore due to many conflicting beliefs and the general theme that all folkloric demons are horrendous critters this one is pretty high up there and could rival the likes of Robin Redcap and other suitably evil creatures even in a world full of such dangerous individuals..

today we explore the twisted Mourioche (be aware this figure is from French folklore, since I am just a half-sane Scotsman I'm NOT going to be an expert but I am taking what I can from this and I can safely come to the conclusion this monster may at minimum be a contender for PE (I've also talked with Queen Misery on this matter before and she knows a lot of different folklores from across the world, as some of you may already know).

https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Mourioche

Who is He?
depending on the lore Mourioche can either be a cursed Breton who sold his soul for magical ointment, a rogue jester from a magical kingdom or the Devil itself but in all takes he is a horrible, mocking trickster who delights in cruelty and misery upon any who get in his path - he may also take on a female form in the guise of Fausserole in order to harass and attack the clergy.

What Has He Done?
Mourioche has horrible deeds of varying severity but some of his "games" include:
 * drowning victims who ride on his back much like a kelpie, however he could stretch his back near-infinitely so as to carry multiple riders to their watery graves while laughing at their inevitable demise.
 * forcing those who stumbled upon him on roads into wrestling matches so he could throw them into muddy ditches and generally assault them.
 * forcing men into carrying him on their backs until they passed out in exhaustion.
 * pursuing any who would ignore him and terrifying them in any manner he could.

then we get to one of Mourioche's most infamous deeds:

" One of Mourioche's most grand and sadistic "pranks" of all involved him taking the guise of a ewe so a farmer would take him in, over the course of a few nights Mourioche continually changed forms and slaughtered the farmer's entire livestock before mocking him, he even went as far as abducting the farmer's children before fleeing as well as reportedly destroying half of the barn - the children were never seen again.. strangely despite his outrageous acts of malice he left a gold necklace for the farmer to find, apparently as a "gift" for the "fun". "

What's The Setting?
French folklore is just like any culture and is going to vary from region to region and even from individual to individual but Misery's fairly certain there's few (if any) cases of Mourioche being anything other than particularly nasty even by folklore standards : we've had many people argue before about whether or not folk tales are too dark for antagonists to count but even in the darkest parts of history there are beings and concepts that have been considered pretty much universally evil and the random brutalization of complete innocents just for one's amusement is definitely one of those evils that transcends culture and is seen as worthy of note, regardless of time period or region.

Excuses / Migating Factors
none - even if depicted as a cursed figure the tales of Mourioche depict him as a wicked creature and he's not built for any sympathy, in fact he's stated numerous times to be a sadistic bully and will flee in terror if someone stands up to him : a coward who preys exclusively on those weaker than himself deserves very little sympathy from anyone.

Conclusion
Misery has concluded that the "gift" left for the farmer was probably as much to taunt him than anything else, plus even if it wasn't there's no real honor in giving victims arbitary gifts, tyrants do so all the time.. torturing people for fun then "rewarding" them doesn't make you any less of a horrible person.

As for the rest of Mourioche tale.. I'd say he's a particularly nasty bogey (a kind of evil spirit) and more than capable of rivalling Robin Redcap (who was approved PE some time ago)