User blog comment:Da1337wolf/Speculating Aura and Dust/@comment-71.72.214.14-20130825195733

I don't know why you'd think that the Grim are undead merely b/c they don't have souls. In most of the religions that I'm familiar with animals don't have souls (of course there are exceptions such as Buddhism etc.), yet they are alive. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the Grim exist in such a state.

And I personally don't think the Grim were created by anyone (unless Monty brings evil deities into this, I really hope not). From the speech Pyrrha gave about Aura, and the opening narration in episode 1, it sounds more like the Grim are a physical manifestation of darkness or some similar negative energy present in the world. Which would mean that in order to defeat them humanity would have to overcome the darkness in themselves first, before conquering the darkness outside of themselves.