When separating the legends and their hierarchy, I had remembered a few legends that are deemed evil on the core of their stories.
So today we are going to talk about Capelobo, Mapinguari, Bicho papão and Corpo seco.
( @mxs-space + @masterof108puppets)
These four creatures - according to brazilian myths - are considered to be evil natured. But why exactly are they viewed as evil and why are they villains in this universe?
CAPELOBO:
Capelobo is a type of were-creature, but instead of turning into a wolf or a cat, it turns into an anteater. And they eat small animals and hunters, who can only be killed by a shot in the belly button.
I think he got with the other "villains" in order to find himself a cure for his transformation or simply a way of keeping control of his transformation that doesn't mean killing himself or having other people killing him (it's currently NOT working tho).
MAPINGUARI:
Another giant furry creature, he is a cyclops that has a huge mouth on his belly. He attacks humans that hunt and take things from the forest excessively without caring for its preservation.
He would probably turn evil by the influence of others. Perhaps someone would pull a Saga (kill their loved ones and blame someone else), but that doesn't mean that he is not terrifying. So - unfortunately - is the overused classic "misunderstanding" plot, except it should (somehow) make sense because he didn' t have enough contact with the rest of the good guys prior to meeting the bad guys.
BICHO PAPÃO:
By far the most known being of this list, seen that he is a type of "boogie man" for brazillian folklore. Except he kind of kidnaps and devours misbehaved kids during night time. Nothing new under the sun.
I don't really think I have to elaborate much on why this one specifically is evil, but I can add that he might kidnap people to devour their souls to recover and renew his strength and cosmos. He is probably evil by choice, as it's probably easier to cope with that then explain why one of the heros that were supposed to protect people is kidnapping and practically killing them.
CORPO SECO:
Last but never least, we have the absolute worse of them. And the reason is that - before anything - he was just some guy.
Corpo Seco (Dry Corpse in a literal translation) is the spirit of a man so vile that he was banished from both heavens and hell, being condemned to wander around and haunt anyone he comes across. In some adaptations, he possesses other people and manipulate the wind to create a hurricane.
At first, I thought it would be a better idea to have the dry corpse as a specter. But then I remember the curse and it would be hilarious to see that amongst the people that live in the underworld there is one of them who was banned and is trying to come back.
I even had an old sketch of how the legend of the Dry corpse would look like (I am currently working in a newer version):
The reason they act is currently a mystery to the elementals (thanks @masterof108puppets for the suggestion) and as to who is their leader, easily dry corpse, since out of the whole group he is the oldest and more experienced. He just keeps possessing younger people every time their current vessel is close to dying.
But - of course - this leaves a final question: "why are these guys considered bad guys while some other legends that are considered evil a part of the good guys crew?"
The answer is: because I don't want these other legends to be evil. And Cuca - who is a part of the evil folkloric creatures that are considerated evil - has this detail where she reincarnates and every new incarnation is more evil then the previous one, so - at one point - there was a couple of Cucas that were genuinely good and nice (and at this point the Cuca that they have has "reset" the cycle and is kinda good herself).
