Grimm



Grimm are monsters introduced in the pilot episode: "Ruby Rose" of RWBY, which inhabit various parts of Remnant.

They are described as "creatures of destruction" and lack a soul; hence, they are unable to use Aura. They are in turn also drawn to feelings of negativity such as envy, sadness, loneliness, and hatred and will often congregate towards the source of these emotions.

History
The Grimm are said to have appeared soon after the dawn of mankind. They targeted early Humans, seeking to destroy them and all of their creations. At first, it seemed as though they would succeed, as Humans did not have the strength to fight them. However, Humans discovered the power of Dust and with it, the Grimm were driven back. During this time Humans enjoyed a time of peace and soon formed their own kingdoms, which grew to survive and prosper. This time will not last forever however.

While Grimm are initially mindless and heedless of the risk to where they will simply attack any humans on sight, some Grimm are so powerful that they have survived to live for hundreds of years and in that time they have evolved and learned from their experiences fighting humanity. In doing so they have exhibited restraint and the patience to avoid taking unnecessary causalities in futile conflicts, instead staying close to humanity's borders, waiting for the opportunity to come where they can finally strike, and are thus always an ever present danger.

Additionally, the Grimm appear to be the predominant species in the world of Remnant, as Humanity and Faunus appear to be limited to four primary pocket settlements referred to as Kingdoms, which are guarded by Hunters, as well as several villages with mixed success. Attempts by the Kingdoms to expand beyond their borders is often met with resistance, and even failure, as the loss of an entire sector of the city of Vale overrun by the Grimm can attest to.

Biology
Grimm come in a variety of shapes and sizes, the latter appears to be a factor of age, and are said to be the only creatures without souls thus being deprived of the use of Aura, instead making up for this with strength and savagery. Grimm are stated to be attracted to generally negative feelings such as sadness, hostility, anger etc and even congregate to areas that although long since abandoned still hold residue of these feelings.

Grimm typically form packs or other types of large groupings with other members of their own specific species. While some lone Grimm may stray from the pack for hours or even months they will inevitably rejoin their group to continue their hunt and instinctive drive to hunt humans.

The longer a Grim lives the bigger they get, with some species ranging from the size of your average bird of prey to massive saurian beasts after hundreds of years. At least one species have demonstrated the ability for learning from their mistakes, again requiring hundreds of years, preferring to avoid unnecessary conflicts and with it unnecessary casualties though the hostility remains as shown by their preference to patrol the boarders of Kingdoms for any weaknesses they might exploit.

Beacon Academy Initiation
As part of Beacon Academy's initiation, new students must team up in the Emerald Forest and fight their way to a temple, encountering several different types of Grimm in the process. Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee are attacked by a large pack of Beowolves, but are forced to flee when Weiss' attack causes a fire due to Ruby's accidental interruption.

Yang Xiao Long is also attacked, but by two Ursai that only manage to sever a strand of her hair, sending her into a blind rage as she defeats one of the Ursa, as the other is killed in one strike by Blake Belladonna before Yang can finish it off. Likewise, Lie Ren is attacked by a King Taijitu, which he defeated through the use of his Aura.

While searching for the abandoned temple, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos find a cave that they confuse for the temple. While exploring, Jaune grabs on to the stinger of a Death Stalker, believing it to be one of the relics. Pyrrha then runs out of the cave and its resident, a Death Stalker, follows her out, breaking down some rocks covering the entrance to do so. Once outside, it flings Jaune, who is still hanging onto the supposed "relic," into the air and Pyrrha flees from the Death Stalker.

The Death Stalker chases Pyrrha to the temple while Ruby and Weiss are carried there by a Nevermore. Upon arrival, they meet up with Yang, Blake, Nora Valkyrie, and Ren, the latter two arriving at the temple via Ursa. The two Grimm chase the eight students to a larger part of the temple where Team JNPR are able to kill the Death Stalker by using a plan devised by Jaune: hacking off its stinger and then hammering it into the creature's head.

Meanwhile, Team RWBY were able to defeat the Nevermore by using Gambol Shroud as a giant slingshot to launch Ruby at the Nevermore. Using Myrtenaster's  Dust capabilities  and the recoil of Crescent Rose to propel herself, Ruby successfully beheads the creature after dragging it up the face of a cliff. The defeat of the particularly fearsome Grimm using the plans of Jaune and Ruby led to them being made the leaders of their respective teams.

Episodes Covering These Events
 * The Emerald Forest
 * The Emerald Forest, Pt.2
 * Players and Pieces

Start of Classes
In the first class of Grimm Studies, Weiss, in an attempt to prove herself superior to Ruby, volunteers to take on a Boarbatusk in a class demonstration. In the battle, the Boarbatusk manages to disarm Weiss, but she eventually retrieves Myrtenaster to both block and kill it.

Later on, in the Forever Fall forest, it is revealed that there are larger Grimm creatures of the same name, although in The Emerald Forest, a larger than normal Beowolf was briefly seen. In Forever Fall, Pt.2, a much larger Ursa was seen attacking Cardin. Unlike the smaller ones, it had many larger spikes and armor plates on its back. However, it is defeated by Jaune with slight help from Pyrrha's Semblance.

Episodes Covering These Events
 * The Badge and The Burden, Pt.2
 * Forever Fall, Pt.2

Hunting the White Fang


After intelligence is uncovered about a White Fang base in the ruined Southeastern block of Vale, Mountain Glen, Team RWBY, alongside veteran Hunter Bartholomew Oobleck, is dispatched to the Grimm-infested area in preparation for a full scale invasion to confirm the White Fang's base.

Before departing, RWBY encounter Team CFVY, who report that the number of Grimm outside the city are increasing, backing up an earlier warning from Ozpin. The headmaster reminded Team RWBY before they left on their mission that that, normally, students as young as them would not be permitted to confront such large concentrations of Grimm.

The Grim living in the area seem limited to Beowolves, small Nevermores and Goliaths. The latter seem to prefer roaming the wilderness outside of the ruins. While the girls occupy their time with slaughtering the Grimm, Bartholomew seems to prefer to spend his time studying the ruins, the plant life, and the Grimm, when possible.

Episodes Covering These Events


 * Field Trip
 * Search and Destroy

Trivia

 * Grimm follow a color theme of red, white, black, and a little yellow.
 * The name for the creatures of Grimm may be a reference to the Brothers Grimm or Grimm's Fairy Tales, a famous classic collection of German fairy tales compiled by the brothers.
 * When killed, some Grimm are known to emit smoke. This can clearly be seen in The Emerald Forest, after Yang kills an Ursa, and later in The Badge and The Burden, Pt.2 after Weiss kills the Boarbatusk. This occurs again in Search and Destroy, after the pack of Beowolves was killed. This could mean that when Grimm are killed, their bodies will eventually evaporate.
 * The White Fang wear Grimm masks because humans tried to make monsters out of them, so they wear the faces of monsters as a symbol.
 * The Grimm creatures' vocal sound effects were done by William Orendorff.
 * The Grimm, and their various subspecies, appear to be either common knowledge or a subject taught in combat schools. This is evidenced by the cadet Hunters being able to identify and name the Ursa and the Death Stalker by sight.
 * As of The Badge and The Burden six species of Grimm were introduced: the Beowolf, Ursa, King Taijitu, Death Stalker, Nevermore, and the Boarbatusk.
 * In this episode, every known Grimm species (so far) was seen in sketches in Peter Port's lesson.
 * Whether or not the "birdie" that Ruby crashes into in The First Step, Pt.2 should be classified as a Grimm is disputed.
 * There may be a market for selling Grimm pelts, mostly likely as trophies or decorations. Nora mentions a dream in which she and Ren make money by selling the pelts of Ursai. Whether or not this market exists outside of Nora's dream is unknown.
 * In Forever Fall, Pt.2, a Grimm silhouette is seen in the credits, being an Ursa, and the first time a character from the show has not been seen.