Upamanyu Biswas
S. Craig Zahler’s 2015 Western film ‘Bone Tomahawk‘ opens a window into a nightmarish version of the American frontier. The narrative follows a group of gunslinging misfits led by Sheriff Franklin Hunt on a mission to rescue the abducted townsfolk who are taken captive by a cannibalistic Native American group known as the Troglodytes. After Samantha O’Dwyer, Deputy Nick, and Purvis are taken away by the cave-dwelling clan, the film provides a glimpse into their mysterious cannibal practices and dark hierarchical structures. The group pushes the boundary of the hell visited upon the townspeople of Bright Hope, blurring the line between civilized and uncivilized through the brutal reality of their savagery.
Troglodytes: A Fictional Lost Savage Race Deep in the American Frontier
The Troglodytes in ‘Bone Tomahawk’ are a fictional clan created by writer-director Steven Craig Zahler. Although the filmmaker initially wanted to adapt his 2013 novel ‘Wraiths of a Broken Land’ into a film, he scrapped the idea to pursue a similar story involving a rescue mission with a Western setting. He then conceived the notion of a lost race in the wilderness with their own intricate rituals and ways of being that deviate from the civilized world. “I’d like to play with some different stuff—in particular, making up my own tribe,” Zahler said about creating the clan, as per Deadline.
As far as Zahler was concerned, the primary inspiration behind the cannibalistic killers in the Deep West was the Lost World genre in literature, pioneered by writers such as the English author H. Rider Haggard. “And that comes a little bit more from the disciplines of lost race fiction, like H. Rider Haggard kind of stuff, really, than from Westerns. So that was the inception. There was certainly no movie that I was trying to emulate,” the filmmaker added.
Cannibalism and Inbreeding Define the Troglodytes
What makes the Troglodytes and their lifestyle stand out is that they are cannibals who indulge in inbreeding for the survival of the clan. Stark similarities can be found when they are compared to the legendary figure Alexander Bean, also known as Sawney Bean, who is believed to be the leader of a 45-member cannibalistic tribe in Scotland during the 16th century. According to legend, Bean was born to a family of farmers. Realizing that he didn’t enjoy the work of his parents, he left his home with his wife, Black Agnes Douglas. The two set up their abode in a cave in the open wilderness, allegedly robbing passers-by and consuming them for food. They gave birth to eight sons and six daughters during the same period, inducting the children into their practices.
Through incestuous relations, Bean’s sons and daughters produced fourteen granddaughters and eighteen grandsons for the clan leader. As his group’s size swelled, their victims supposedly grew in number, which eventually led to their apprehension and execution by King James VI. While Bean’s real-life existence is heavily contested, his legend and the workings of the fictional Troglodytes align in various ways. Both groups are lost from civilization, owing to their extreme customs, instilling fear within those who consider themselves enlightened. However, the Troglodytes’ roots are in Native American clans, while Bean’s group is Scottish.
The Troglodytes Are an Errant Native American Tribe
One of the distinguishing factors of the cave-dwelling Troglodytes is their separation from other Native American tribes from whom they are said to be descended. In a scene set at The Learned Goat, The Professor reveals to the townsfolk that the Troglodytes are barely considered human because of their heinous practices of cannibalism and inbreeding. However, reports of cannibalism among Native American tribes have surfaced in the past. For instance, the Tonkawa Massacre of 1862 occurred when the Tonkawa tribe was slaughtered by a Union Indian troop consisting of several tribes who held a grudge against them. Around 150 men, women, and children perished in the incident, which left the tribe severely weakened.
According to several historians, one of the reasons behind the attack was cannibalism. Allegedly, the Tonkawas had killed and consumed a young Caddo child, leading to open hostility from other enemy tribes. However, there were other political forces at play as well, like the Tonkawas’ allegiance to the Confederacy, a pact that brought a deep mistrust between them and other Native American tribes. Therefore, while the Troglodytes are entirely fictional, their cannibalism isn’t entirely unrealistic. They are, however, vastly more brutal and lost in their extreme behaviors than other tribes. Hence, even The Professor considers them a vile offshoot detached from his people, separating them from other Native American clans.
Read more: Bone Tomahawk: Is the 2015 Film Inspired by Real Horror Events?
