Unsure of this one, but here goes:
What is the work?[]
The Adventures of Mark Twain is a 1985 stop-motion fantasy film about the characters Huckleberry Finn; Tom Sawyer; and Becky Thatcher meeting Mark Twain and how they get wrapped up in his adventure of piloting an airship to see Halley's Comet. Meanwhile, they also meet Dark Twain, Mark Twain's "evil" side.
Who is he? What has he done?[]
The Mysterious Stranger appears when Mark Twain pulls a lever. When Tom asks him who he was, the Mysterious Stranger readily identifies himself as an angel. When asked further, he informs him that his name was Satan. He then leads the three children into his world (which may or may not be Hell itself). It is a dark realm void of life; the Mysterious Stranger inquires them of their favorite fruits to eat, and he draws them from thin air. Shortly after, the Mysterious Stranger gives them clay and they create miniature people and a kingdom.
It is there that the Mysterious Stranger reveals himself as being a nihilistic being who notes that humans are interesting creatures, but that they were insignificant. Before the children's eyes, he crushes one of the small figures (that is alive) with his hand before escalating from his growing irritation at seeing the clay figures mourn the loss. He brings more catastrophe on the kingdom, suggesting that they use an earthquake next.
The kids are horrified to see his callousness, calling him out for murdering the inhabitants. The Mysterious Stranger states that he couldn't be evil for he did not know what that meant. His mask recedes into a skull as he says they could always build more clay figures if they needed them for they served little value. His segment concludes with the kids leaving him alone in his world as it crumbles beneath him.
Freudian Excuse? Mitigating factors?[]
None for excuses. He is just a misanthropic nihilist who views mankind as being below him. Moral agency...okay, this is where it gets touchy. He identifies itself as an angel, and as we all know, many renditions of the Devil are given free will and agency hence why in several denominations in Christianity they have Satan rebel against God.
Where it gets muddled is what the Mysterious Stranger says when the kids call him out for murdering the clay figures. He states that he cannot be evil for he did not know what that was. So it can be interpreted in two ways: either he truly does not comprehend human morality and runs on his own moral code, or he is fully aware that his actions are horrid but does them anyway for his own amusement. Watching the scene several times, from what I had gathered, the latter is the case. The Mysterious Stranger dismisses mankind as being below him and are only there so he could derive pleasure from their suffering. When he tells Tom that "we could make more if we need them," he makes it clear that he thinks so lowly about humans, they are easily expendable as if they were merely toys that get broken after a child plays with them only to be replaced.
The Mysterious Stranger does start off as being seemingly cordial with Huckleberry Finn and the others, even giving them their favorite fruits to eat whilst they travel his world, but a lot of that can be chalked off as him luring them into a false sense of security before trying to break them with his nihilistic philosophy.
Heinous standard[]
Brings a kingdom full of clay figures to life and granting them sapience...only to then cruelly destroy them with horrific indifference.
Conclusion[]
Indifferent on whether the Mysterious Stranger counts or not. He has been on my mind a lot lately.