Right from the start, Ryan Murphy made it clear that Twisty the Killer Clown was going to be the epitome of horror. And speaking as someone who is deathly afraid of clowns in general, killer or otherwise, he's been absolutely right. However, after Wednesday night's AHS: Freak Show episode "Edward Mordrake: Part 1," I'm starting to wonder — why does Twisty kidnap kids, but doesn't kill them? I mean… this is a guy who clearly has no problem killing people. We've witnessed as much several times already this season. So what's preventing him from doing the same thing with children?
For some reason, he doesn't want to physically harm these kids. (Just mess around with them mentally, I guess.) He even brings his captives toys to play with. But why? Ryan Murphy has promised to unveil a great deal of Twisty's backstory in Episode 4, which should shed some light on this subject. However, shouldn't stop us from taking a few stabs (pun intended) at the method behind the madness right now. After all, there are quite a few possibilities. Such as…
He's a Collector
Much like Spalding and his creepy doll collection in Coven, perhaps Twisty has developed some sort of kid obsession throughout his time as being a clown. I mean, you have to possess some sort of liking for kids in order to pursue a clown career in the first place, right? Maybe something happened to bring Twisty's fixation up to this, well… twisted level. He's already collected a blonde girl from the premiere, which explains why he went for the little girl's brother in Episode 3. You wouldn't want to have two of the same baseball cards, would you? Well, perhaps the same goes for collecting kids. (Gulp.)
He's a Protector
On the other hand, maybe adults were the ones responsible for whatever happened underneath his mask, so he therefore views all of them as a threat and tries to protect children from them whenever he can. To him, he may think he's saving them from a much worse fate. Did you notice how mean that little girl's brother was being to her? He constantly taunted her. At first I thought Twisty was going to kill him, but since he too was a kid himself, Twisty took away, maybe as a way to teach him a lesson while also saving this girl from having to ever be bullied again. Not that I'm saying that I think this clown is a hero because that is totally not the case. But I do think he may see himself that way, which could be the underlying cause of his behavior.
He's Just Lonely
Who knows how long he's been out by himself in those woods. For all we can tell, Twisty may have gotten tired of his retirement and felt the need for some company — whether they wanted to be there or not.
Images: Michele K. Short/FX; ahsource/Tumblr; hauntedgloryhole/Tumblr
