Gustave doesn't have a hand. Simon doesn't have hand.
The terrible, terrible creature of the dark, created as a cruel joke just to scare a child, requires the help of the brave to make it complete - to join the workshop and do work.
They put it together part by part, and he needs this to exist, handless otherwise, helpless.
So in my mind, legends say that a monster lives in the dark, a horror no man can fathom, a pure mix of hatred and cruelty. To survive, to stay, to be it needs to collect what is not his - hands. Arms.
Those unfortunate enough to caught its attention are doomed to lose their limbs, one way or another, sooner or later.
For the monster never settles, never finds peace.









