Pan's Labyrinth featured the nightmarish Pale Man, and here's the creature's backstory and symbolism within the story explained.

Here's the backstory and symbolism of Pan's Labyrinth's horrifying Pale Man explained. Even a glance at Guillermo del Toro's filmography shows his love of monsters. Pretty much every film he's been a part of, from Mimic to The Shape Of Water, features a creature of some variety. The monsters in his films, ironically, tend to be more humane or sympathetic than the actual human characters, such as Shape Of Water or Ron Perlman's two movie outing as Hellboy.

Actor Doug Jones is also a regular collaborator with Guillermo del Toro and has played several of his most memorable monsters. This includes Abe Sapien in the Hellboy series and both the Faun and Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth. The latter movie is a dark fairy tale set in Spain in 1944 where a girl named Ofelia wishes to escape her existence and fascist stepfather. Jones' Faun tasks her with completing three tasks so she can claim her rightful place alongside her "true" father in the underworld.

The fairytale elements of Pan's Labyrinth are kept somewhat ambiguous, so viewers can either believe it's all true of that Ofelia is only escaping into her imagination. The Faun's second task sees her having to use a piece of chalk to enter the lair of the Pale Man, a lanky, blind albino creature that eats children. The monster is one of del Toro's most famous creations, but what does it symbolize?

The Pale Man represents all institutional evil feeding on the helpless. It's not accidental that he is a) Pale b) a Man. He's thriving now.

— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) February 2, 2017

Pan's Labyrinth doesn't offer much of a backstory for what the Pale Man is, though the Faun confirms its definitely not human. Its lair is decorated with paintings of it committing horrible killings, and in one corner there's a pile of children's shoes stacked high. In front of the beast is a huge banquet filled with delirious food, though the Pale Man isn't interested in eating it and it's left as a trap for children who enter its realm. Being desperately hungry Ofelia can't help but eat a couple of grapes, which awakens and infuriates the creature, who promptly eats two fairies accompanying her before she barely manages to escape.

Guillermo del Toro has offered a few readings of Pan Labyrinth's Pale Man. He sees the creature as symbolic of both the Catholic Church during that era in Spain and of greedy, rich white men in general. In an interview with Twitch Film in 2006, he stated "The Pale Man represents the Church for me, y'know? [He] represents fascism and the Church eating the children when they have a perversely abundant banquet in front of them. There is almost a hunger to eat innocence. A hunger to eat purity."

In that same Pan's Labyrinth interview, he offered another reading of the movie's ending. He claims the tests Ofelia has to pass aren't about retrieving the MacGuffins but showing her how to be truly immortal not by staying alive, but by not being afraid of death. To this end, del Toro believes the Pale Man is really the Faun - which is backed up by Jones playing both roles - and failing this test was all part of the lesson. That's also why the fairies the Pale Man devours are suddenly alive in the final scene.

Next: Pan's Labyrinth: The Real Meaning Of Guillermo Del Toro's Dark Fairytale