Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-3257939-20140105070225/@comment-28792888-20140717163358

TL;DR VERSION: Grimm likely have neither soul nor a conscience; just the ability to feel simple emotions like anger, confusion, etc.  Their lack of a conscience could explain why they're so violent and aggressive, as well as why they don't seem to grieve over their kin upon death.

About the Grimm being "just misunderstood:"

In the opening narration, it was said that the creatures of Grimm "set their sights on man and all of his creations." I could understand if what Pyrrha said was just what humanity believed, but this line is a little different. For one thing: opening narrations (or any type of narration exposition) is much less likely to give out false information than actual character dialog. This is mostly because the narrators are meant to be a symbol of final decision, and making them lie or be incorrect can lead to people seeing it as a plot hole or contradiction.

So, if we are to assume that this is true, a misunderstood creature would not "set his sights on man and all of his creations." If they're actively pursuing the destruction of humans, Faunus and their "creations" (assumedly including cities and structures), then they're truly violent and/or the perpetrators, not the victims.

As for the "humans attacked first and Grimm are protecting themselves" theory, I don't agree with that either. For one thing, almost every time we've seen a Grimm attack so far, it's been the Grimm who initiate the encounter. I doubt that would be their "instinct" if man had been the one to start hunting Grimm just because they look really evil. If that were the case, the eventual instinct would probably lead Grimm to avoid humans when possible and try not to run into them too much--which doesn't really add up when you realize that the Beowolves in the "Red" trailer saw Ruby, attacked her, and chased her when she just kept walking away. Even if they had been attacking because they saw her as a threat or because she was trespassing on their territory, when she walked away it would have clearly been a message that she wasn't causing trouble; and, if they really did see her as a threat due to humanity attacking the "peaceful" Grimm, they would likely have taken that oppurotunity to leave her alone. Same thing with the Ursa that Yang fought; they attacked first, had a clear oppurotunity to run away before she even deployed her weapons, and likely saw that she was far stronger than they. If Grimm were just afraid or mistrusting of humans, then that second Ursa would probably have run away as soon as Yang started beating its buddy to a bloody pulp.

As for the Grimm's emotions, I'd say it comes less from "conscience" and more from "sentience." In fact, I'd even say that it's a possibility that conscience comes from the soul and Grimm don't have it. Conscience isn't a giver of all emotions, as far as I'm aware/have been taught. It's mostly the thing that tells you your own morality: e.g, telling you when something you're doing is wrong and making you feel guilt, telling you when you did the right thing and making you feel pride, or absorbing the death of a friend and making you feel grief. I'd say that Grimm expirience the main emotions--anger, sadness, fear, happiness, etc.--but are unable to distinguish "right" from "wrong" or "cold-blooded murder" from "protecting oneself." This would explain why the Beowolves and Grimm didn't seem fazed by their friends' deaths: they don't have a conscience to grieve with. It would also explain why they're so volatile: they are physically inable to realize that what they're doing is morally wrong and/or "evil."

Wow... that was longer than I had meant it to be. I think I'd better go write a tl;dr version at the top of it...