There can be a range of interpretations, with many points of view, with many overlaps. For me, I love to give it certain living attributes, where the ground comes alive and sucks down its prey like a starving animal, but on its own timetable. To me, "greedy" means that the mire won't give up its victim without a fight, as if the bog is saying "the meal's all mine and I won't let it get away, or be taken away"! I also like the terms "hungry", "starving", "voracious", "gulping", "sucking", "slurping" and other things related to eating, which appeals to the "vore" aspect of quicksand drama.
Regarding "homicidal", it really paints a picture of the quicksand as being like a living creature that is intentionally "deadly" or "lethal", unless the victim is rescued from its hungry grasp in time! That increases the sense of urgency for the victim to be rescued or find a way to self-rescue, if possible, before it is "too late"! So, those attributes and their synonyms, as well as things such as "unforgiving", and "merciless mire" are quite popular in dramatizing quicksand encounters!
The main thing that sets off this "living" aspect is the fact that when the victim finds him/her self in it, that person is slowly being consumed by ground that starts to quiver, heave, pulsate and undulate or ripple all around with that person's struggles, moving as if it has come to life! And it may also burp, fart, bubble or hiss swamp gas, which adds to the "living" aspect, as explained below!
In some way, mud
IS alive, in the sense that it contains bacteria and other microbes (perhaps other things such as worms)! Also, you could look at the quagmire as a giant living
STOMACH, where anything organic that gets sucked in, or is already present, undergoes the process of
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION, basically an oxygen-free decomposition by bacteria and other microbes, which produces gas such as methane, carbon dioxide and other gases, such as hydrogen sulfide, which the mire then burps up, bubbling or hissing or farting out at the surface. Organic mud, unlike the mineral-based mud (sand, clay, silt), can constantly "digest" itself, and therefore will be able to produce many more swamp farts, whereas sand, silt and clay would have to wait for something organic to get inside it (sucked in, grown in as roots that eventually die, buried by mudslide, loose sediment deposited on top by water, etc.), to digest.
While technically, "quicksand" is supposed to be sand, and it is "quickclay" that is clay, and "quicksilt" that is silt, and just other bogs being peat, or other decomposed/ing organic matter, for the sake of sinking material, we tend to often lump it all into the "quicksand" category for dramatic effect, since they can all suck you down into the ground if they are deep enough!
The living aspect of quicksand really appeals to the "vore" enthusiasts, who have fantasies of being eaten alive. So, being sucked into quicksand that is being imagined as being alive, could be considered as "
GEOVORE"! A number of years back, I created a video with that very theme, with lots of appropriate
sound effects:
https://www.quicksandfans.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=12937So, basically, you have ground that sucks you in, tries to keep you from escaping, moves all around you, responding to your struggles, and digests stuff inside it using bacteria and other microbes, which will make it burp up (bubble, hiss, fart) gas! Easy to see why it can seem so alive!