Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25266931-20141008232543/@comment-24891101-20141015214213

Because that's reflective of the motif I most associate with the Grimm: Bloody evolution. The natural world, and the hazards therein, is something that we as a species cannot negotiate with. I have summarized this view elsewhere, so I shall be brief:

Early humanity developed in a world replete with natural hazards. We could have easily gone extinct back then. Nature was not malevolent, since there is no agency, but for every species that survives, many more go extinct. The Grimm are a representation of the dangers that the natural world presents. Small groups of early man could have been killed if a lion chanced upon them. The principal defence was and is our intelligence, as our principal advantage on the offensive is our persistence, embodied in our endurance. When we harnessed fire and made tools, we gained an advantage, and could beat back the night and the terrors lurking therein; no longer were we so much at the mercy of the natural world. We built civilizations, and yet nature sill troubles us; we've not mastered it, nor come to peace. Disease still ravages us, hurricanes claim many lives, and you, hiking alone in the forest, can still be killed by a bear. There is no peace possible.