| “ | You're going to a very dangerous place, so be careful. The thing that slumbers there, it is not human. |
” |
— The Faun, Pan's Labyrinth
| ||
| Pale Man | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Others | Hombre Pálido (Spanish) | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Species | Unknown | ||
| Gender | Male | ||
| Place of origin | The Creature's lair in the Underworld, Spain | ||
| Current status | Alive | ||
| Biology | |||
| Body type | Humanoid | ||
| Height | Human sized | ||
| Diet | Carnivore | ||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Behind the scenes | |||
| Universe | Pan's Labyrinth | ||
| Created by | Guillermo Del Toro | ||
| Designed by | Sergio Sandoval | ||
| Performed by | Doug Jones Sounds of pig shrills (vocals) | ||
Pale Man is a grotesque child-eating creature that appears in the Pan's Labyrinth film. He is played by Doug Jones, who also played the Faun.
Overview[]
His body resembles a pale, old man. Visible nostrils and mouth similar to those of a manta ray. He ultimately eats children, but also fairies. His eyes can be placed in the sockets in his hands rather than the face. The table that the Pale Man sits and slumbers at is filled with all the food and drink but it was not permitted for a child to eat or else the creature wakes up to attack. Although the creature was a slow runner, he is still a dangerous monster who wants to eat a child who entered his lair.
Gallery[]
Del toro's original sketch of the pale man.
The description of the pale man placing his eyes on his palms.
Concept art 1
The sketch of the creature by Sergio Sandoval.
Concept art of the pale man's mural wall
Concept art of the pale man's mural wall (2)
Notes[]
- The Pale Man was heavily influenced by Goya's painting "Saturn Devouring his Son".
- Certain characteristics of the Pale Man may also have been partly inspired by German and Scandinavian folk tales, in which persons or monsters representing the dead (or being dead themselves) are usually portrayed as blind or at least very near-sighted, and often also as child-eaters.
- He was designed to look like an overweight man who lost all of his weight, leaving his skin hanging off him everywhere.
- The Pale Man was also influenced by the real life Japanese legendary monster Tenome, the ghost of a blind man whose eyes are located in the palms of his hands.
- The creature was originally gonna be a skeletal lifeform who sits in the throne and also having a more human like face with eyes, but Del Toro thought it would be scary without the eyes.
- As revealed in a comic short, the pale man was banished to the room where he remained motionless; the dagger in his lair was stated to be the only weapon to defeat him (although it was actually an item that used for him to be staying alive, so it is unknown if the pale man survived after Ofelia took the dagger away from him).