Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-71.17.68.254-20130907025506/@comment-3146930-20140303134805

BenRG wrote: Darkcloud1111 wrote:

Also simply because a Grimm is kind, that doesn't mean it has a soul. Cardin is a big jerk, but he does have a soul. Grimm in general seem to have the same level of intelligence, if not a little more, as the animals they represent. This could mean that Grimm can be trained, but once again it doesn't mean they have a soul. This reminds me of the argument re.: souled vampires in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe - a soul =/= good. Plenty of humans through history with their souls and a heart of pure evil. That's why I always took Pyrrha's comment of them having 'no souls' as being shorthand for 'they are a completely different thing from a life-form as you understand it.'

They do start to smoke and (presumably) dissolve once they are killed. This could mean that once the body dies, the essence of the Grimm no longer has anything to hold on to and just dies off or transfers to another Grimm/animal.

That isn't a bad idea actually. Maybe when a Grimm dies, there is a short amount of time where the Grimm will release its essence. During this time, other Grimm in the area can absorb it and become stronger Grimm. If there aren't any Grimm in the area, then it just dissipates. This would explain why some Grimm are bigger then others. Maybe the reason that Ursa Major didn't have a partner was because it was killed and it absorbed its essence, becoming bigger and stronger. Maybe that is the reason that there are so few large Grimm, as multiple Grimm need to dye in order to collect that much essence.