<p>Here's a villain so dastardly, so egregious, and so diabolical that he might certainly count. Meet the Bigger Bad of the How to Train Your Dragon animated franchise, Grimmel the Grisly.</p><p>
</p><p>CHARACTER`S TRAITS✓</p><p>(Does the character have a define personality? Or is it a one-dimensional character such as a mindless destroying beast?)</p><p>
</p><p>Grimmel isn`t trying to commit genocide on dragons for no reason. He`s a sadistic and egotistical dragon poacher who wishes to hunt down all dragons because of his belief of humanity as the superior species. He`s also very delusional, as he thinks what he`s doing is right. However, it`s certainly not genuine, as he tries to kill Hiccup in his final moments.</p><p>
</p><p>HEINOUS STANDARDS✓</p><p>(Does the character commit acts that are extremely heinous and unforgivable? Does the character stand out from the rest of the villains featured in the story they are part of?)</p><p>
</p><p>*Baseline Standard</p><p>**General Standard: Grimmel`s past being a generic genocidal poacher. He kills dragons for sport, and plus, while he chained Toothless and the Light Fury, he threatened the former to hold off all the other dragons or he kills the Light Fury whom Toothless loves. However, given his genocidal goals, it pretty much insinuates that he was going to kill the Light Fury anyway. Also, there`s something else that makes Grimmel even more scary. When Hiccup is in his house, he hears some rattling, and knows someone is there. The room Hiccup is in is very dark, with only the fire in the fireplace illuminating it. Then he hears Grimmel`s voice, and then Grimmel himself creepily shows up, attired in dark clothing. That scene is generally enough to make a *child* afraid.</p><p>**In-Story Standard: Grimmel passes it easily. While Drago Bludvist, the Big Bad of the franchise, makes it to Pure Evil status because he wants to control all dragons, tortured his Bewilderbeast until it was fully grown, indirectly brainwashing Toothless to kill Stoick the Vast, and using dragons and his human army to try to fulfill his quest in conquering the world, I think Grimmel also makes it to Pure Evil status, because of his wish to commit genocide on all dragons, giving Toothless a sadistic choice over the Light Fury`s life, and threatening Hiccup that if he doesn`t surrender Toothless, then he (Grimmel) will destroy everything he (Hiccup) loves. Also, while Drago uses true fear to control his dragons, Grimmel uses drug needles to control his dragons.</p><p>
</p><p>*System Standard: Okay, so after Drago`s death, the Warlords (Ragnar the Rock, Chaghatai Khan, and Griselda the Grievous) have taken over Drago`s army and hired Grimmel to capture Toothless so they can use the poor Night Fury to control the other dragons so they can conquer the world, but the Warlords are not Pure Evil because they are insufficiently heinous, as they have a take-over-the-world plot, but use generic methods to try to do so. However, Grimmel passes this as he is more calculating and cruel than they are, as he knew about the directions about how to succeed in his goals, and also drugged his Deathgrippers into obedience. Plus, he betrays the Warlords when he shows to them that he captured Toothless, but reveals that his true intentions were to kill him before committing genocide on all the other dragons as well. Griselda even calls him a snake for this.</p><p>
</p><p>MORAL EVENT HORIZON✓</p><p>(Has the villain crossed the Moral Event Horizon?)</p><p>
</p><p>Grimmel passes this several times.</p><p>
</p><p>*He killed a Night Fury in its sleep when he first met it instead of befriending it, and his tribe hailed him a hero. Because of this, he became very delusional into thinking that humans and dragons cannot co-exist, and that all dragons have to be wiped out from the world.</p><p>*He plotted to commit genocide on all dragons, starting with the Night Furies. The only reason why he didn`t kill Toothless is because he didn`t know the latter was sheltered with Hiccup.</p><p>*He drugged the Deathgrippers into obedience against their will using their own venom against them, knowing they are not immune to their own venom. How did he do this, you ask? He put the venomous drug needles into the collars he put on his Deathgrippers, which include *multiple* drug needles.</p><p>*He releases the Light Fury, but uses this to his advantage, as he sets up an unseen trap for Toothless and the Light Fury while they are introducing each other, but Hiccup was able to expose it. His trap was filled with poison darts which were made to drug dragons.</p><p>*He sneaks into Hiccup`s house when he is first seen, talking with his words echoing in the dark room they are in, and then he shows up. In the same scene, he also tranquilizes Fishlegs in a Toothless costume. Later, he has his Deathgrippers burn down Hiccup's house, threatening that is Toothless is not surrendered, then he will destroy everything Hiccup loves.</p><p>*He was annoyed by Ruffnut being obsessed with him, so he had her go on a large baby dragon to fly over to New Berk, and smiles sadistically when she leaves. He then uses her to track to where New Berk was so he and the Warlords` entire fleet can go there, and Ruffnut was so stupid in never looking back she didn`t even know Grimmel and the Warlords' fleet were following.</p><p>*He arrives at New Berk and chains both Toothless and the Light Fury, with the other dragons and their riders watching in fear. Grimmel gives Toothless a sadistic choice between calling the other dragons to help him and the Light Fury, and Grimmel kills the Light Fury, or he doesn`t call the other dragons for help, and Grimmel lets the Light Fury live. Grimmel does this by telling Toothless, “Hold them off, alpha. No reason for her to die, too,” while pointing his crossbow at the Light Fury. Toothless, fearing the Light Fury`s life, uses his body language to show he chooses the latter option, simply by holding off the other dragons. However, it`s very likely Grimmel was planning to kill the Light Fury anyway later on, due to his delusions about killing dragons.</p><p>*He betrays the Warlords by revealing his true intentions to kill Toothless instead of surrendering him to them, proving that he is more evil than them.</p><p>*He, in his final moments and knowing he is likely going to die, tries to kill Hiccup after the latter knocks him off the Light Fury, grabbing his prosthetic leg to take him down with him. He also angrily tears Hiccup`s flight suit armor wings and other parts of his armor before Hiccup takes off his prosthetic leg to separate himself from Grimmel. The Light Fury saves Hiccup and leaves Grimmel to plunge into the water at terminal velocity, finally killing him and ending his threat for good.</p><p>
</p><p>INDIVIDUAL CAPABILITY✓</p><p>(Does the villain use every resource they have at their disposal to cause a maximum of evil?)</p><p>
</p><p>Grimmel is very sagacious and calculating and has tons of weapons in his behalf, and he uses all of his resources to his advantage.</p><p>
</p><p>MORAL AGENCY✓</p><p>(Does the villain have an agency over their actions, and can distinguish right from wrong?)</p><p>
</p><p>Grimmel very clearly has a moral agency, as he is a human who is delusional and sadistic enough to attempt genocide on all dragons.</p><p>
</p><p>ONLY INDIVIDUALS✓</p><p>Grimmel passes this easily, as he is a single person.</p><p>
</p><p>NO REDEEMING QUALITIES✓</p><p>(Is the villain completely devoid of any altruistic quality?)</p><p>
</p><p>Grimmel, like Drago, is a complete madman and has zero redeeming qualities, being unable to be reasoned with.</p><p>
</p><p>Some might argue that he has some sympathy for dragons as he did release two of them. However, any sympathy he may have for dragons is certainly not genuine, as he only released the Light Fury so she can meet Toothless, and made a trap for the both of them so he can kill them. Plus, despite being annoyed with Ruffnut, Grimmel only releases her on a baby dragon so he can track down where New Berk is, and kill all the dragons.</p><p>
</p><p>Also, Grimmel is not an extremist nor an anti-villain; he`s more of a delusional creep who is motivated by his own twisted beliefs on dragons. He boasts about himself being the Night Fury killer, and even states that when he killed the Night Fury he captured, he became a hero. However, he never gives an understandable reason as to why he did what he did, so there`s nothing altruistic about Grimmel here.</p><p>
</p><p>NO SYMPATHY✓</p><p>(Is the villain completely unsympathetic and unforgivable with no Freudian excuse?)</p><p>
</p><p>The closest to an excuse Grimmel has is that he got praise from his village for killing a Night Fury, so he decided to kill the rest of the dragons and wipe them out from the world, but this is less a tragic backstory and more Grimmel trying to gain praise.</p><p>
</p><p>SCREEN TIME✓</p><p>(Are the villains` worst acts on-screen?)</p><p>
</p><p>Okay, so here`s four actions Grimmel`s not shown doing on-screen: (1) killing a Night Fury in its sleep and getting praise from his village for it, (2) killing all but one Night Fury, (3) managing to drug his Deathgrippers into obedience using their own venom, and (4) building the trap for Toothless and the Light Fury.</p><p>
</p><p>However, it`s very heavily implied that Grimmel has done so, as he has committed nine MEH crossings, five of which are shown onscreen. Also, action 1 explains how Grimmel became so delusional in why he killed so many dragons, action 2 explains why Hiccup and Toothless were wondering if there were more Night Furies and why Toothless was the last one left (even Eret, Son of Eret thought all the Night Furies were gone for good until Toothless showed up), action 3 explains why the Deathgrippers obey Grimmel with him still wanting genocide on dragons (even the Light Fury was drugged by the Deathgrippers` venom and wearing one of those types of collars aforementioned), and action 4 explains why a trap was made for Toothless and the Light Fury. Furthermore, Eret knows about Grimmel and his handiwork, and met him before. He knows that the needles in the trap are unique to Grimmel, and those same needles are used on the Deathgrippers, which further implies that Grimmel has done actions 3 and 4.</p><p>
</p><p>In short, this is very much off-screen villainy with huge on-screen effects.</p><p>
</p><p>WORST✓</p><p>(Is the villain the worst, or at least one of the worst characters in the story?)</p><p>
</p><p>Grimmel is, so far, one of the darkest villains in the franchise he`s in (alongside Drago, another Purely Evil villain), as he wants to commit genocide on all dragons. However, as said before, they both stand out in their own unique ways.</p><p>
</p><p>STORY TYPE✓</p><p>(Is the story “normal”, or purposefully over-the-top appalling? In which case, the Heinous Standards would be so high that it would be almost impossible to have a Purely Evil villain in the story.)</p><p>
</p><p>The How to Train Your Dragon animated franchise is pretty much family-friendly, so the storyline is pretty much “normal”. Judging by this criteria, Grimmel`s actions truly stand out.</p><p>
</p><p>CONCLUSION✓</p><p>Grimmel the Grisly is ultimately a true keeper in my opinion. What are your opinions?</p>