• the site
• the manga
• the mangaka
• manga scans

• the phantomhive household

ciel phantomhive

sebastian michaelis

the servants

elizabeth middleford

lord and lady phantomhive

• jack the ripper arc

  madam red

  grell sutcliff

  lau

• indian arc

  prince soma

  agni

• minor characters

• jack the ripper arc
• indian arc
• assorted period items
• tea & desserts
• miscellaneous

background: Grell is Madam Red's somewhat ineffectual butler. Mostly, he tends to hang around the edges of the scene, fretting over the socially-unacceptable things that his mistress continually gets up to. When something is not up to Madam Red's exacting standards, she takes it out on Grell whether or not it's actually his fault. His tea is said to be far inferior to Sebastian's.

[highlight for spoilers] In reality, however, Grell is anything but ineffectual. Rather than a butler, his true profession is collecting souls as a shinigami (or grim reaper). Grell, however, is not satisfied with the apparently slow pace of his job. As a result, he decided to spice things up. When he encountered Madam Red after her first murder, he made a deal with her: he would assist her in her killings as long as she let him in on the... fun. And thus the partnership behind "Jack the Ripper" was born.

When the truth behind the murders is discovered by Sebastian and Ciel, the two butlers face off at the scene of the final crime. Grell's weapon, his death scythe (modified into the shape of a chainsaw), manages to not only give Sebastian a difficult fight, but also provides most of the backstory for the arc-- when a shinigami's scythe cuts someone, it displays their memories. Grell kills Madam Red when she refuses to kill Ciel, saying that she's outlived her usefulness, and in the process reveals her motivations for the crimes through the memories that emerge.

Though the battle is a long one, Sebastian eventually prevails. Grell is saved at the last minute from dying at the hands of his own chainsaw by his boss, William. The last we see of Grell, at least for now, is his battered form being carted off back to the shinigami headquarters to be punished for the illegal actions of modifying his scythe and killing people not already marked for death.

personality: Meek, easily scandalized, and highly nervous, Grell's personality is entirely at odds with his mistress's. As a result, the other characters tend to either ignore or walk all over him.

[highlight for spoilers] This mild personality is entirely a facade. Grell's true personality is just as flamboyant as Madam Red's-- suiting, as red is his favorite color-- or perhaps even moreso. The real Grell is a cheerful sadist who enjoys flirting and bloody murder, sometimes at the same time. He refers to himself with feminine pronouns and has more than a passing interest in Sebastian; at one point he sighingly compares the two of them to Romeo and Juliet during their battle (Sebastian is horrified). His interest in Madam Red was first piqued when he learned of her issues regarding childbirth, as Grell confesses to her that he, too, wishes that he could bear a child. OVerall, he appears to have a tenuous grasp on sanity at best, switching from childish irritation to murderous rage at the drop of a hat.

butler catchphrase: "これでも執事です / Kore demo shitsuji desu / Even with all this, I'm a butler" OR "これでも執事デス / Kore demo shitsuji DEATH / Even with all this, I'm a death butler." The Japanese verb "to be", "desu," is put into katakana, which means that it can also be read as "death," which is a play on Grell's role as a shinigami.