User blog comment:Zathronas/Analysis by an author: Part 2 Antagonist, the Darkness/@comment-3387274-20131219202133

I actually think your argument here is flawed.

Consider that the entire main cast are supposedly the strongest of their generation in Vale, and are a chosen few, and compare their abilites to the mobsters or the White fang's fighters, and it readily becomes clear how the Grim alone could threaten humanity by shear numbers. Based on what we have seen a single large grim would be capable of devastation on a grand scale if it got into a populated area, and given that Beacon's instructors did not intervene upon the appearance of either Deathstalker or Nevermore, one is led to conclude that the huge Grim are not freak occurences.

With that in mind, I agree that the primary antagonistic force is not likely to be the grimm, but for entirely different reasons. The Grimm are a passive threat; while they actively attack humanity, there is no serious indication yet that these attacks are increasing in ferocity, or that there has ever been a time without Grimm. Humanity is defending rather than trying to eliminate them, and as a result they become a mere plot device or fact of the setting, providing reasons for our cast to be combat trained for example.

As there is no drive to break the current status quo on the part of either humanity or the Grimm, there is not likely to be any change in circumstance that could reveal the true antagonists as of yet. The only thing we have seen likely to cause this is the growing scale of Roman and Cinder's operations, which do not appear to be directly related to the Grim.