Monster of the Week: The Pied Piper of Hamelin

When I found out it was Tell a Fairy Tale day, I figured it was high time to venture down the rabbit hole of fairy tale villains and monsters. I assumed I’d surface with an apex predator or a wicked queen. Until I stumbled upon and subsequently remembered the most unsettling and arguably most evil fairly tale villain of all: The Pied Piper of Hamelin. At first it’s hard to pinpoint why this guy is so creepy. After all, the Brother Grimm is full of stories where bad guys target children. It only took about five seconds of research before I found a reason that had me yelling “what the actual fuck???” at my computer.

*This* nightmare might be real.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin being followed by a group of deformed children surrounded by colorful smoke — *I created this image using AI technology and submit it to the public domain for common use. Please do so responsibly*—*and let me know! I want to see what y’all get up to.*

Creepy faces on those kids, huh? Normally I’d make the robot keep running until it behaved itself. But for this story, it kind of…makes sense.

Origins of The Pied Piper

Reality. That’s where this monster comes from.

Okay, you need more details? Fine. But first, the fable (at roughly 5x speed):

Small town has a rat problem. Guy in weird clothes shows up and says he’s the solution. Mayor promises to pay him to make the rats go away. Weird plays a song on his fife and all the rats run into the river. Mayor immediately says he won’t pay. Weirdo leaves in a rage, then comes back and plays his pipe to lure the children away. Depending on the version, the kids either disappear into the mountains, or drown as the rats did.

Already a creepy story. But creepier still is a note, found in the Hamelin town ledger, from the year 1384:

“It is 100 years since our children left.”

Other evidence includes a stained glass window depicting the event, as well as an inscribed on a house built in the 17th Century:

A.D. 1284 – on the 26th of June – the day of St John and St Paul – 130 children – born in Hamelin – were led out of the town by a piper wearing multicoloured clothes. After passing the Calvary near the Koppenberg they disappeared forever.

Of course, since this happened almost 800 years ago, we don’t have any forensic or eyewitness accounts beyond what’s here. We’re never going to know for sure…which there’s no way to prove it didn’t happen. Either way, I’m never going to think about this story without shivering just a little.

Powers and Abilities

When I think of the Piper, two things strike me about his character:

The ability to play music that entrances animal, human, or potentially any target he chooses
Absolutely zero compassion or flexibility when it comes to contract work

Now, to be fair: freelancing is a bitch when people don’t pay. Me, I try to meet people halfway. Set up a payment plan, maybe even arrange a trade of some kind. The Piper takes a different approach:

“Pay me or despair.”

While I can’t say I haven’t been tempted at times to level a similar ultimatum, robbing parents of their children and a town of its future seems…over the top.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Stephen King

While it’s not exactly a one-to-one comparison, The Pied Piper of Hamelin shares a lot of characteristics with a movie written by the master of horror himself. Stephen King’s made-for-TV mini-series, Storm of the Century, is a claustrophobic and deeply upsetting yarn about a small island off the coast of Maine (where else?) that is tormented by a malevolent being during the worst snowstorm in a hundred years. It’s the Pied Piper meets the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and yes, it is every bit as awesome as a mash-up like that should be.

SIDENOTE: As much as I love the show, I was and forever shall remain a little sad that it was never a book. I always felt like there was more to know about the islanders and their history. But unfortunately for me, it is one of about nine projects that King wrote straight for the screen.

I know–only nine. What a slacker, am I right?

The Pied Piper and The Paranormal

Even if you’re not a King fan, the malevolence that calls itself Andre Linoge is undeniably creepy. A lot of that creep comes from traits shared with the Pied Piper:

They’re both 99% human. Most of the time, they look and act pretty normal. Still there’s that 1% Other that makes a tiny part of you go, “Hey, something about this doesn’t feel right.” But you ignore it easily enough. Hell, it might even be your imagination. And even if it isn’t, it’s only 1% How bad can that really be?

I think we all know the answer to that question.
They both possess insurmountable power. It’s unclear from the context whether the Pied Piper’s ability is innate to him or the work of the instrument. Personally, I think the story looses some veracity if he’s a regular guy who happens to have a magic flute, so I choose to believe the latter. It certainly matches better with Linoge, who while human-presenting, is actually an ancient being who possesses, at minimum, mind control abilities and telepathy.
They each have one goal and they pursues it relentlessly. For the Pied Piper, it’s the money he’s owed. For Linoge, it’s a protege. These are their demands, and all argument to the contrary will fall on deaf, compassionless ears. If you are not part of the solution, you are an obstacle to be removed. With the powers they possess, that’s not going to be a problem.

NOTE: There is evidence to suggest Andre Linoge may have been…overselling his ability to kill the entire island. But even if that’s the case, he clearly had enough Bluff ranks to make dozens of people believe that, which is arguably a superpower of its own. For more information on this theory, read this analysis (it’s really good).

Conquering The Pied Piper

Bad news first: Once the Pied Piper’s got you in his sights, you’re already kind of screwed. And if you’re honest with yourself, when you’ve got a rat-obsessed weirdo waving a trumpet at you screaming “where’s my money bitch?” you know you made a bad choice, don’t you?

The good news is that getting him to go away is easy: Pay him. It’s only money, and bad things happen when you don’t pay your debts.

Just ask the good people of Little Tall Island.

Sins, Secrets and Paying the Piper

This brings me to the last commonality between The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Storm of the Century, and that’s the painful lesson that, no matter how long it’s been, the bill always come due. SOTC communicates this by assigning a sin to every member of the island. Every adult citizen of Little Tall has committed a wrong at some point in the past, and all of them have gotten away with it–until now.

To explain further, I’ll point to a moment in the script where one of the townsfolk gets up the courage to ask Linoge, “Why us?” He responds with a phrase repeated several times throughout the film: “Because island folk know how to keep a secret.”

This could mean that he knows he will get away with what he’s done to them. It could also mean that, because island folks keep secrets even from each other, he can expose them all as sinners. This adds fuel to his threat to walk them into the sea–if he is already the judge and jury who has found them guilt, whose to say he’s not the executioner too?

Also, by ripping off the pretty masks everyone wears and forcing them to look at the hideous truths underneath, he fractures relationships and weakens trust, destroying the community and turning them all against each other. In the end, he uses that discord to get what he wants. It’s…rough. And amazing. It makes you want to collapse under the weight of your despair and also makes you very grateful that you are where you are and not living on a small island in Maine in the middle of a snowstorm.

Unless you do live there. In which case, make sure to clear your conscience before any inclement weather heads your way.

Before I Sign Off…

I want to give a shout-out to the “Almost Monster of the Week.” Just before I rediscovered the Pied Piper, I came across a Grimm’s story called Death’s Messengers which features none other than the Grim Reaper.

You heard that right. The Brothers Grimm had a Death cameo in a children’s story. As if those guys couldn’t get any weirder.

The Pied Piper obviously beat him out for this week’s feature. But I’m sure he’ll have his chance. He’s kinda the OG when it comes to monsters. Seems pretty likely we’ll see him in here at some point.

Happy Monster Monday one and all!