The Grimm Aren't Scary

INTRO:

Making my videos on the Maidens was fun enough, and people seemed to really enjoy it. It’s been nice to be able to let myself be more critical of RWBY again, so why not keep the ball rolling? And next up on the list to take shots at is the supposed centerfold of the show’s conflict and worldbuilding: the Creatures of Grimm.

With their name lifted from the Brothers Grimm, these monsters are what have driven humanity behind the walls of the four kingdoms, and they’re why the world needs Hunters. Much of the older volumes teased at their mysterious origin, with some genuinely intriguing moments in the World of Remnant episode about them, as well as Oobleck’s mentioning of Grimm intelligence as a Goliath calculates all the ways it could crawl through the screen to murder you.

But in practice, the Grimm are rather dull. They have a neat aesthetic, especially in the fact their color scheme matches the Red, White, Black, and Yellow of Team RWBY (or at least, that Team RWBY used to have). But most of the Grimm are easy to kill, and rarely are they ever used to explore the follies of mankind that they supposedly are said to feast on.

Essentially, they’re just tools for cheap conflict when the plot keeps us from using any of the character villains. And yes, that does function fine, but it’s rather boring, especially when so many of those character villains are just evil for the sake of being evil, which begs the question of why even have them in addition to the Grimm?

So today, we’re gonna explore why the concept of the Grimm isn’t really being brought to fruition, and how RWBY could try to do so in the future, or how they could’ve in previous volumes. Because believe it or not, they were actually right on the money a couple of times.

WORLDBUILDING FLAWS:

The Creatures of Grimm are monsters of darkness originally created by the God of Darkness, but are now under the command of Salem. Their primary goal has always been the destruction of humanity, not for sustenance, but because that was the purpose of their creation. Grimm don’t need to eat, they don’t go after animals unless it’s over territory, and they’re known to become more intelligent as they age.

The Grimm are also drawn to negative emotions. Whether they specifically feed on these emotions to grow stronger isn’t clarified, but the framing draws attention to their interest whenever the crowds in Volume 3 are upset, which eventually sparks the full-on Grimm invasion following Penny’s death.

Like the Maidens, the Grimm are an interesting concept that isn’t fully explored. Rather, they’re used for superficial conflict and rarely anything more. Describing the Grimm, they sound like demons that exist solely because of the follies of humanity, and thus should exploit that and use it to empower themselves at every opportunity. The older they get, the better their understanding of the depths of human darkness. In reality, though, most Grimm are only drawn to negativity whenever the show needs immediate conflict and drama, and it’s never to actually make a comment about society. We’ll explore that point later, but right now let’s focus on the fact the Grimm, for the most part, are pathetic cannon fodder.

Attack on Titan does something similar in its worldbuilding with… well, the Titans. Spoilers for Attack on Titan season 1 from here, so… you’ve been warned. And for the record, no, I haven’t seen season 2 yet, so don’t you dare spoil me, heathens.

The Titans are humanoid giants of unknown origin that have pushed humanity to the brink of extinction. To survive, humans have built massive walls within which they live. To their knowledge, this is the only human settlement left, and it’s heavily classist, with the rich and powerful safely kept in the innermost wall, and the poor and working class left in cities on the outer walls that are far more likely to fall to Titan attacks.

To survive, the humans also have what’s called the Survey Corps… okay yeah, I know the dub calls them the Scout Regiment, but Survey Corps sounds so much cooler. Whatever you call them, they’re trained to fight these Titans and defend mankind as human shields. When you break it down, it’s essentially the same as the Grimm confiding humanity to select locations, where they rely on Hunters to keep them safe.

That’s not saying RWBY ripped off Attack on Titan. That’d be like saying any Magical Girl series ripped off Sailor Moon. Common tropes and setups are expected in any story, or within specific genres, and RWBY has enough differences to stand on its own. The reason I bring up these similarities, however, is to illustrate my point on why the Grimm are so lackluster.

Whenever Titans are involved in anything, Attack on Titan clearly shows how much of a threat they are. There’s almost always a body count whenever they attack, and the characters’ reactions and despair signal to the audience just how intimidating these monsters are. The first episode ends with a Titan eating the main character’s mother alive for god’s sake. When have the Grimm ever done anything even comparable?

In RWBY, the Grimm are regularly slaughtered by students like they’re nothing. The Beowolves in the Red Trailer and the initiation episodes, along with the Ursa, are minor roadblocks, and while the Nevermore, King Taijitu, and Death Stalker do prove challenging, they’re nothing more than that: challenges. They aren’t horrifying threats that have definitely killed before and very well could kill professional Hunters, let alone these kids who haven’t even started classes at Beacon.

And while we may all joke about Kevin the Dragon (or Wyvern, technically), what does he even do aside from spawn more Grimm and break Beacon Tower. He’s not involved in any fights, no one directly targets him, and he plays no role in Cinder and Pyrrha’s fight aside from this one cool shot. He even disappears until Ruby’s Deus ex Silver Eyes go off. Like… where is he supposed to be during Pyrrha’s death?

The only Grimm that have proven to be legitimate threats are the Nuckelavee in Volume 4, the Queen Lancer in Volume 5, the Apathy in Volume 6 (more on them later), and… yeah that’s it. And even then, the Nuckelavee and Lancer are just challenges like the initiation Grimm, while the Apathy don’t provide any material for combat. The Leviathan is laughably underwhelming and irrelevant to what the characters are going through, and the Hound… well, we’ll get to him later.

The best example of the Grimm’s lack of threat has to be the Breach, though. When you make the top priority of Hunters to keep Grimm out of the kingdoms, and then you get an invasion of Grimm in the capital, surely there should be a high body count including some notable characters. Or… any body count. Instead, it’s just series of characters beating the shit out of some dumb monsters for 10 minutes with no lasting consequences, and no lessons learned.

Likewise, the origin of the Grimm is incredibly generic and underwhelming. A lot of the Grimm’s intrigue had to do with the mystery surrounding them early on in the show. Now, that mystery is gone, answered with them being the generic homicidal creation of the God of Darkness who just left them behind. There’s no true story here that ties them into mankind’s sins.

Another example I wanna explore is one from Tales of Berseria, so Berseria spoilers incoming. In this game’s world, there are monsters called Daemons that, like the Grimm, have forced humanity to the brink of extinction, making them rely on warriors called Exorcists to protect them. It’s generally believed humans are turned into Daemons through a disease of unknown origin called Daemonblight.

In reality, there is no such thing as Daemonblight. All humans create a substance called Malevolence whenever they experience negative emotions. Produce too much Malevolence, and that human, and potentially any humans around them, will be transformed into Daemons. A huge theme explored in the game is whether people who’ve become Daemons have relinquished their humanity, and whether it’s their own fault what’s become of them.

This explanation of what Daemons are and how they come about directly ties into themes the game wants to explore. By comparison, the Grimm were just created by some dude made out of grape-flavored jelly to break his brother’s toys for funzies.

So, the Grimm in practice are boring, unthreatening, and breathtakingly underutilized. But let’s talk about how this concept could be done justice by discussing the Grimm that have left the biggest impact on most people: the Apathy.

WHAT DO THE GRIMM REPRESENT? (Why People Love the Apathy):

During Volume 6, the group arrives at Brunswick Farms, a seemingly abandoned settlement that’s actually filled with people who died in their beds. As though they just never got out of bed and stayed that way until they passed. We later discover this was caused by the Apathy, a Grimm which causes its victims to lose the will to go on. Normally they’ll take your lethargy as an opportunity to tear you to shreds, but even if they can’t reach you, this exhaustion will be enough to kill you on its own eventually.

Good buildup and use of horror framing and music aside, the reason the Apathy work is because they directly tie in with the struggles of the characters. At least, in theory. After Jinn’s vision and the discovery of Oz’s lies and Salem’s immortality, the characters are left in the middle of nowhere, unsure of whether even going to Atlas is worth the bother when they can’t destroy their enemy. They’re debating whether to just toss the Lamp somewhere and go back home. They’ve become apathetic, which the Apathy tie into.

They don’t explore it nearly as much as they should, but it’s the strongest writing around the Grimm in the show, and should be the bare minimum across the board. Not only does it establish this particular Grimm as a legitimate, sincerely intimidating threat, but it also helps as a way to explore character arcs and themes in a more substantive way. Imagine if every Grimm, or even just older Grimm, were tailor-made to correspond to specific struggles and arcs in the way the Apathy are..

For another example, I’m gonna point to W.I.T.C.H. The animated series, at least. In the show’s second season, we’re introduced to four new minor antagonists called the Knights of Destruction. Their leader, the Big Bad Nerissa, makes it a point to target the Guardians (the main characters) in their home lives through subtle methods, and as such, the Knights draw power from specific negative emotions the girls experience.

There’s Ember, who feeds on pain and misery, Tridart, who feeds on fear and despair, Khor, who feeds on anger and fury, and their leader Shagon, who feeds on hatred. Each of the knights is used to explore the girls’ struggles, be they episodic or continual, the primary example being the lead character Will’s hatred of Shagon when he makes her believe that he’s kidnapped and tortured her boyfriend Matt.

There are also visual cues to show you that this is all intentional. Whenever a character experiences negative emotions around the Knights, you see those emotions manifest as an Aura that the Knights absorb and draw power from. There’s even an episode where Tridart draws so much fear from one character in particular, he basically becomes a titan in his own right.

So imagine with me if we had Grimm more like the Knights to help explore what the characters are going through. Yang’s abandonment issues, for example, especially during Volumes 4 through 6. Maybe we could’ve had some type of Grimm that exploits her fears that the people she loves will all leave her, or a Grimm that exploits Blake’s self-loathing for what she’s put her friends through. It’d make them far more relevant than the random sea dragon, especially if we could visually see some kind of aura that signals negative emotions from the characters that the Grimm feed on.

You could even take it a step further and use it to explore societal issues: the Faunus, for instance. Since Atlas is supposed to be the most bigoted, systemically unjust place on Remnant, you could have a Grimm that feasts on that. It draws power from the racism humans harbor towards Faunus, and is even intelligent enough to try and amplify it. If you want the younger fledgling Grimm to be your standard cannon fodder, then some of those visual cues for negative emotion will probably be enough, but having the stronger, more unique Grimm hyperfocus on specific issues the characters experience would make them far more resonant.

Even the Hound could stand out as a Grimm that’s able to shapeshift and speak. It seems to be in incredible pain while it’s growing its wings, so maybe it’s more like a human than other Grimm, or is even a human Salem twisted into a Grimm abomination. It’s the ultimate expression of negativity and darkness corrupting a human and tuning them into a monster. Something far more sinister than a cute demon doggo that my friend Cynzi wants merch for… though for the record the Hound is still adorable and a better character than Cinder and I would die for him, and yes we’re serious on that merch, get to it, RT.

[Cynzi’s idea here]

You heard ‘em, RT. Make it happen. Also I want the Hound to laugh at Cinder. Just a full-on 30 seconds of the most horrifying, bone-chilling laugh you’ve ever fucking heard, all cuz Cinder’s a goddamn idiot. Give it to me.

CONCLUSION & OUTRO:

So… yeah. The Grimm are boring. They’re a great concept that’s not being used as it should. Nowhere near as egregious as the Maidens, but… close. I hope I’ve explained my case well and, moreover, that you enjoyed. Also wanna note I know a lot of you have been dying for Volume 8 content. If you didn’t see, I made a community tab post a couple months back that I’d be abstaining from reactions this year. I’ve been watching Volume 8 privately and loving the experience, as I feel keeping my distance from fandom discourse, and ESPECIALLY Twitter, has been a great move for my mental health. I hope you all understand.

Anyways, if you did enjoy this video and would like to see more content like this from me, then be sure to not only subscribe to the channel, but also to ring that bell for notifications because YouTube hates creators. And if you’re willing and able, please consider supporting myself and the channel over on Patreon for early videos, video scripts, and access to the private Union of War Discord server.

I’m the Unicorn of War, and I’m serious about the Hound plushy. I’ll take that over overpriced hoodies with concept art that’s sadly gayer than anything in the show.