In the story of “The Changeling Folklore Explained,” Emma does not give a specific reason for why she takes the human child. However, it is possible that she is motivated by one of the reasons listed above. It is also possible that she is simply acting out of her own curiosity or desire to experience something new.
Ultimately, the reason why Emma does what she does is up to the reader’s interpretation. However, the story raises some interesting questions about the nature of changelings and the motivations of fairies.
Fall Into Darkness
But the happiness that the couple experience when little Brian comes into the world aboard a New York subway train is short-lived. Brian never seems to sleep for very long, and Emma starts experiencing notable symptoms of sleep deprivation and depression. She also receives distressing images sent to her phone that delete themselves before she can show Apollo, which leads him to believe she has started imagining things and needs to be medicated.
Eventually, Emma is almost unrecognizable and becomes convinced that Brian isn’t even a baby, seeking out advice from other mysterious mothers on the internet. One of them gives Emma a big bag full of heavy chains when Brian’s odd behavior, like biting her and screaming in an unnatural way, seems to increase. But this behavior is only apparent to Emma and no one else. She tries to convince Apollo that the church should get involved and baptise Brian, but he resists and becomes angry with her.
When it becomes clear that Apollo doesn’t see the same insidious things about Brian that she does, Emma decides to take matters into her own hands, with upsetting consequences. She chains up Apollo, assaults him with a hammer, and kills Brian. The details of the baby’s death aren’t fully revealed, thankfully, but it appears that Emma used boiling water to commit the act before going missing.
Apollo is left devastated and confused. He tries to track Emma down and attends grief counseling, where he recites from a fairy tale he was obsessed with as a child: “A baby is a dream made real, but a dream is a fairy’s favorite meal”. This prompts a woman at his group session to share a similar story to Emma’s about receiving disappearing images and becoming convinced that her own daughter had been replaced. She has also talked to “The Wise Ones”, the same group of witches that Emma had been in contact with, and seems to be preparing to kill her daughter, too.
Why Did Emma Do It?
But why did Emma really kill Brian? Well, we can note that her baby is indeed the changeling of the show’s title, and that “changeling” refers to a human-looking creature that has been discussed regularly in folklore throughout Europe over many hundreds of years.
More often than not, a changeling is believed to be a fairy that is left behind when a child is stolen by other fairies, but the novel The Changeling by Victor LaVelle, on which the series is based, follows the myths and legends of Scandinavian folklore and tales, specifically Norwegian, and these are different.
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