#grimfacts

Our first impression of Grim is his attempts to steal clothes from one of the sleeping students-to-be of Night Raven College.

He chases the prefect throughout the school demanding their clothing, until he is captured by Crowley.

He insists on taking the prefect’s place at the school as he can use magic. He is ejected from campus only to immediately return.

When asked if he believes himself to be the owner and the prefect to be the pet he responds, ‘of course,” which also comes up in Glorious Masquerade.

Upon realizing that the prefect has the ability to free him from his contract with Azul in Book 3 Grim says, “for the first time, I think I’m ready to recognize you as our prefect.”

Grim insists on sitting next to the prefect during Glorious Masquerade because “someone’s gotta look after ‘em,” and becomes distressed when it appears that the prefect may be harmed by the fire lotuses later on.

Grim will sometimes elude to playing games and watching movies with the prefect, saying more than once that he wants them to hurry back to the dorm to spend time together.

Grim is proud of how good the prefect looks in their outfit for Firelit Sky ( “That’s MY hench-human, after all”), asking them to buy him a toy from the marketplace.

The prefect’s participation in the exhibition match at the end of Book 2 is cut short by Grim striking them in the head with a Spelldrive disc.(While in-game Grim does not seem particularly concerned, novel-Grim is apologetic.)

Grim has a voice line of, “Spendin’ time with you ain’t half bad. So, uh…stick around, okay?”, and Grim’s jealousy of the prefect’s fondness for Stitch is a running theme in the “Lost in the Book with Stich” event.

Grim seems to greatly regret attacking the prefect at the end of Book 5, apologizing repeatedly once he has been saved.

・Grim 1 - Memory and Height

・Grim 2 - Animal vs. Monster vs. Cat vs. Dire Beast vs. Tanuki (pt1)

・Grim 3 - Animal vs. Monster vs. Cat vs. Dire Beast vs. Tanuki (pt2)

・Grim 4 - Grim, Ace and Deuce

・Grim 5 - Grim, Cater, Trey and Epel

・Grim 6 - Grim and the Prefect

・Grim 7 - A Great Mage, Grim’s Magic

・Grim 8 - Attention

・Grim 9 - Grim, Azul and Jade

・Grim 10 - Grim and Self Confidence

・Grim 11 - Envy, self-interest and more

・Grim 12 - Grim and Food (pt1)

・Grim 13 - Grim and Food (pt2)

・Grim 14 - Grim and Food (pt3)

・Grim 15 - Grim’s Experiences, Forcing and More

・Grim 16 - Grim, Malleus and Sebek

・Grim 17 - Grim and Jamil

・Grim 18 - Grim, Leona and Ortho

・Grim 19 - Grim, Idia and Kalim

・Grim 20 - Grim, Riddle and Ruggie

・Grim 21 - Stealing, Vil and More

Also catalogued on twstnote.com!

Grim says that he does not remember his family:

“I remember wakin’ up hungry and alone. It was real cold. I was waitin’ out there for someone to come get me for ages. What happened after that again? It’s all so foggy…”

In the prologue Grim says that he was waiting for the black carriage to come for him but it never did, presumably because “that dark mirror’s got no eye for talent,” so he “took the initiative” and came to NRC himself.

One of the more curious gaps in Grim’s knowledge is how he doesn’t seem to know where NRC is: he reacts with surprise to how remote the island is after Ace explains it to him, which begs the question how he was able to reach Sage’s island in the first place (and from where).

Grim does not seem particularly concerned about the gaps in his memory, saying, “I’m a forward-facin’ kinda guy anyway! The future’s way cooler than the past! Especially ‘cause I’m gonna be a rich and powerful sorcerer!”

He does seem to remember that he was called “Grim the digger” back home, though no information yet on where his home was.

Grim says, “This ribbon’s all I’ve worn for as long as I can remember!”

When Epel wishes to become taller during Wish Upon a Star Grim says that he’s never had a growth spurt, so “maybe I’ll wake up taller one of these days!”

Deuce says that Grim can’t expect to grow the same way they do as he is not human and Grim insists, “I’m sure I’ve got more growin’ to do! Just you wait, Deuce! I’ll be towering over you one day! I’ll do whatever it takes!” Epel responds, “I hope you can grow bigger too, Grim.”

Grim also comments on using stilts to become taller than Malleus during Glorious Masquerade.

Grim will blatantly steal food and he seems unashamed of it, saying that “stolen food tastes way better” and “everything tastes better when it’s forbidden.”

Grim steals carpaccio from Jade’s plate during Halloween (“Food’s way more appetizing when it’s someone else’s”), tries to take an apple from the prefect, decides to take apples from a farmer when Epel tells him no, goes after the prefect’s ice cream during Glorious Masquerade, steals a doughnut from Ace, clam chowder during Port Fest and hints at wanting to steal jewelry from Leona.

Much like how Grim is quick to insult Leona, he also makes a comment during Vargas Camp about Vil’s club members running away because they are scared of him.

Vil replies, “I simply give warning when they don’t do their jobs.” Grim responds, “That’s still pretty harsh.”

Vil has a voice line about finding Grim’s fur on his school uniform.

Grim does not seem fond of Vargas, who apparently would have Grim and the prefect sit on a bench that he used as a dumbbell during Vargas Camp.

I have seen questions before about whether or not Grim is actively floating around the school, as he appears to be, but this might just be one of the ways the game is adapting to the limitations of the visual novel format:

Grim asks the prefect to hold him for a picture, Deuce has a line about him “trotting around underfoot” and Grim asks Cater to lower his phone so that he can see the screen, which all may insinuate that he might just be walking around.

Grim seems to love attention, which is his sole motivation for solving the mystery of Book 2:

Crowley asks him to look into a series of accidents happening around campus and he refuses until he is promised the opportunity to participate in the Interdorm Spelldrive Tournament.

Unlike other characters that have been training for years for the opportunity to compete, Grim has never heard of Spelldrive and only becomes interested because he wants to be on TV: “I want everyone in the world fawning over me!”

Crowley does not fulfill his promise, instead arranging for Grim to participate in an exhibition match before the tournament itself. (Grim: “Well, so long as I’m the center of attention, I guess that will do.”)

Grim reacts to the announcement of the social at Noble Bell College with disdain until Crowley assures him, “I’m sure the other attendees will fawn all over you.”

At the event, he sets off magical fireworks during a festival so that people will be impressed by his magic.

Grim is reluctant to join Trein and the prefect with helping the townspeople during the fire lotus attack until Deuce assures him that he will be celebrated as a hero.

The event ends with a performance lead by Malleus, Azul and Idia, to which Grim reacts, “Wish I could be the center of attention like those three.”

Grim is happy with the attention he receives during Halloween until it gets to be too much, at which point he announces that Halloween is “just a big con” (the event ends with Grim getting the prefect to hold hime in a picture so that he can be “front and center”).

Grim also comments about wanting people to fawn over and cheer for him in a chat and a vignette.

Grim is often surprising the other characters with all things the does not know that are considered common knowledge: Lilia exclaims, “How could someone in this world have truly never heard of Halloween?” with the ghosts explaining that it is one of their world’s biggest events.

Grim surprises Ace and Deuce by not knowing about the Starsending event, with Deuce saying that it is “hard to imagine someone not knowing what it is.” (Ace: “Do you know anything!?”)

Grim does not know of “The Righteous Judge” or “The Kindly Bell Ringer” from Glorious Masquerade, and seems to have never seen a barber’s pole before. Similarly, he did not know any of the “Great Seven.”

Grim also had never heard of Beanfest or Spelldrive, despite it being a “world-famous sport.”

Back in Book 1 it seems Grim had never heard of “overblot,” despite being a magic user himself.

Other things that Grim does not seem to know about are corn dogs (originally: takoyaki), the word “holiday,” or what skiing is.

He is also revealed to have never heard of “Wonderlinks,” described as an extremely popular gaming console.

It is not unusual for Grim to whine and plead until he gets his way: he throws a tantrum when Jamil refuses to let him join the Firelit Sky event until Kalim convinces Jamil to relent, harasses Crowley into allowing him to attend the social in Glorious Masquerade, invites himself to lunch with Jack and Ruggie during Port Fest and demands to attend the Tamashina Mina event, despite never being invited.

Grim and the prefect share a smartphone.

Grim may not have the best personal hygiene, saying that he washed his hands a day before, so he shouldn’t have to wash them again before he eats.

How warm Grim’s fur keeps him may be a point for debate: during Harveston he is unfazed by the cold, saying, “I got this nice, tick coat to keep me warm" (also mentioned in Book 4, though he says his "nose is gonna freeze over"), but he complains about being freezing cold during Vargas Camp.

During Vargas Camp 2 Grim is swallowed whole by a catfish.

Idia explains that Grim:

1) is a dire beast with high blot density

2) is a magical fusion of a dire beast and some kind of animal

3) has a capacity for though that’s on par with humans

4) is lackluster with magic

5) potentially has phenomenally high blot accumulation, but they cannot get a precise reading

6) is resistant to all attempts at blot treatments

7) has traces of a powerful spell cast on him that may be a curse or a blessing, and involves ancient, 1,000+ year old sorcery: “it’s got layers of complex, interwoven magic…it’d take a century for (an) analysis to finish."

Idia decides that Grim’s magic reservers make him no threat as, “even if something DID happen, it wouldn’t be super disastrous.”

While as of yet unconfirmed, the “some kind of animal” that Grim has been fused with might be a cat: he is called a cat as early as the prologue, by Riddle, who later corrects himself.

When Azul asks about Grim sharpening his claws, Riddle says that he once caught him scratching up a sofa in the Heartslabyul lounge. Azul responds, "He always insists he's not a cat, but maybe he really is one..."

He is also called a cat by Jamil, Cater, Floyd, Ortho, Idia and Leona.

When Vil jokes about drawing Grim out of hiding in Book 6 by tempting him with tuna the prefect has the option to respond, “Come on, he’s not a cat.”

(Deuce calls Grim a cat on EN, but this is a line that does not exist in his original dialogue.)

Grim has also occasionally been called a pet, which he does not appreciate.

Grim has been called a variety of different things by the different characters: when he first appears Crowley repeatedly calls him the prefect's familiar but Grim insists that he is not.

Rollo makes the same assumption during Glorious Masquerade.

The prefect calls him a tanuki (an animal that is similar to a cross between a raccoon and a dog, “weasel” on EN) upon their first meeting.

Several other characters call Grim a tanuki throughout the game including Crowley, Leona, Ace and Kalim, but usually to insult him.

Grim has the joke, “that’s animal cruelty…not that I’m an animal” on EN, but that is something he has never said (there is a place on EN where Crowley refers to him as an animal but this was also an addition to EN: in his original dialogue, he is again calling Grim a tanuki).

The closest we come to Grim self-identifying as anything might be a line in the prologue where he says that dragons are “what all monsters yearn to be,” but it is unclear if he is including himself among “all monsters” or just making an observation about monsters in general.

When other characters call Grim a monster (Crowley, Ace, the prefect, Deuce, Jamil), they use the English-language word “monster" in katakana, audible in the audio.

In one scene Crowley says “monster” aloud, over a hidden meaning of another word: dire beast.