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For the persons in the show see here.
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Human Categories
Grimm
A subset of humans with the unique power to see Wesen for what they truly are. They've existed as long as Wesen have been around and aren't limited to one ethnic groupnote , but the ones seen on the show are Germanic in origin and are named after, as well as descended from, The Brothers Grimm.
- Adaptive Ability: It appears their powers work something like this, as after losing his sight Nick gained super hearing and the ability to sense the location of people and objects around him. And after being poisoned by Cracher-Mortel Venom, he gained incredible strength, durability and stamina, as well as the involuntary ability to slow his metabolism to the point where others think he's dead.
- Badass Family: Technically all Grimms are related somewhere along the lines, and they are a race of Badasses, that have been hunting and battling Wesen for thousands of years. All but the very strongest of Wesen fear them, and even they either admire or hate them.
- Bizarre Human Biology: The reason why some wesen tactics don't work very well against them, including Cracher-Mortel poison, and some backfire.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Or at least that's how Wesen perceive them. It is revealed in the Season 3 episode Synchronicity that when Wesen woge, much like how only the Grimm can see their true forms, they suddenly see the Grimm's eyes turn into solid black orbs that makes them see their true forms reflected back at them.
- By the Eyes of the Blind: Grimms have a mutant cone structure in their eyes similar to tetrachromatism. It is implied to be the source of their special ability to see woging wesen. This special perception isn't just live, it also works on visual media.
- The Dreaded: Among wesen in general, with only a few exceptions among the strongest and most dangerous races.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Something of a Downplayed Trope, but all the Grimms we've met so far have had pale skin and dark hair, possibly because they are all at least distantly related. However, they're definitely this to wesen. Nick truly turns into one whenever his body slows down because the lack of blood circulation turns him nearly gray with him being none the wiser that it's happening.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Grimm's aren't exactly superhuman, but they can see Wesen's true forms, are stronger than humans, posses immunity to certain Wesen abilities and can strip Wesen of their Wesen side with their blood (though we've only seen this work on Hexenbiests).
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Some wesen abilities backfire spectacularly against a Grimm. For instance, a gedächtnis esser trying to feed on Trubel’s mind instead managed to absorb only her worst, most traumatic experiences, leaving the creature a gibbering wreck and Trubel a much more mentally-healthy individual.
- Horrifying the Horror: Most wesen give humans nightmares. Grimms give most wesen nightmares.
- Hunter of Monsters: Pretty much a race of hunters, as they are renowned for hunting wesen.
- More Deadly Than the Male: Women develop Grimm powers in their early teens where men don't gain them until their late 20s (though its not clear exactly if this is the rule or Nick is very late developer, as its only been stated they gain them earlier, not by how much is normal). This tends to result in female Grimms being more ruthless, since they grow accustomed to horror and violence from a younger age where males are already mature and have developed personalities when the change hits them. This also means that, other things being equal, a female Grimm will have a decade more experience than a male Grimm of the same age. Although it appears male Grimms are physically stronger as Nick was able to restrain his mother and Trubel without too much trouble.
- Not Quite Human: Similar to Kehrseite, but not exactly the same.
- Off with His Head!: Their favorite tactic for killing Wesen throughout history, to the point they were once known as dēcapitāre, meaning "one who decapitates" in Latin.
- Super-Strength: Tend to have higher than average strength, able to fight off wesen who could easily kill others.
- True Sight: Capable of seeing partially woged wesen.
Kehrseite
Normal humans who remain unaware, but frequently the victims, of the dangers of the Wesen world that reside in the shadows. Comes from the German word meaning "Reverse Side".
- Go Mad from the Revelation: It's not so much that Kehrseite can't accept the otherworldly nature of Wesen, its more that most can't contemplate it especially when coming face-to-face with a fully Woged Wesen.
- Muggles: Normal humans, unaware of the Wesen world, and lack the ability to see a Wesen unless fully Woged...and very often its a bad thing if they are.
- You Are the Translated Foreign Word: Considering Most Writers Are Human.
Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen
Normal humans, just like Kehrseite, but they are in on the masquerade.
- Badass Normal: The Wesen world is dangerous and most have be incredibly strong and cunning to survive, or at have the protection of a Wesen. Hell since most Kehrseite Go Mad from the Revelation when confronted with the existence of Wesen, they are this by virtue of mental fortitude.
- Interspecies Romance: One of them, Kimber, was in a relationship with a Wesen but its not mentioned if it's treated as a Maligned Mixed Marriage like relationships between different Wesen species are.
- Secret-Keeper: They're in the know about the existence of Wesen and some like Hank and Wu help to find ways to keep to maintain its secrecy. Doubles as Secret Secret-Keeper since unlike with other Wesen or Grimms, one doesn't know if a normal person is a Kehrseite or a Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen until told which often invokes shock.
Kehrseite-Genträger
Normal humans who carry dormant Wesen genes. The traits of their offspring can often be shocking.
- Recessive Super Genes: A Kehrseite-Genträger is basically a normal human with Wesen genetics and has no baring on the child unless its with another Wesen.
- Superpowerful Genetics: In "Stories We Tell Our Young" Nick and Hank get a primer in wesen genetics from Monroe and Rosalee but the Gratuitous German obfuscates much of the meaning. Basically, same-type wesen-wesen pairings always produce wesen children. Wesen-human pairings have a 50% chance of producing a wesen child unless the human carries wesen genes (kehrseite-genträger), in which case it's always wesen. Pairings of different wesen types produce a special kind of offspring, which Monroe and Rosalee are very vague about. The term they use, vorherrscher, implies that it's a matter of dominant genetic expression of traits.
Non-Wesen Creatures
Golem
First Appearance: "Dyin' on a Prayer"
A protective spirit made of clay.- Knight Templar: They will brutally slay anyone perceived as a threat to the one they are to protect.
Grausen
First Appearance: "Stories We Tell Our Young"
A human displaying Wesen characteristics. Theories have abounded through history about what causes the condition, ranging from possession to genetic mutation. Nick and Julliette uncover evidence that it is actually a protozoan infection. Historically, Grausen were dealt with as children before they could mature, as those who were allowed to were incredibly dangerous psychopaths.- Super-Strong Child: One effect of the condition is the child can gain incredible levels of strength.
- Would Hurt a Child: Whenever a case surfaces, the Wesen Council takes quick and decisive action to make the victim "disappear". Since Grausen-afflicted children who are allowed to grow up become terrifying psychopaths, it's easy to understand why they take such a hard line. However, when Alexander, a panther-like Pflichttreue who loyally serves the Council, is sent to deal with one such case, it's very clear that he doesn't want to harm a nine-year-old boy.
Kinoshimobe and Jubokko
- First appearance: "Tree People"
- Gaia's Vengeance: Kinoshimobe only kill poachers and polluters and feed their bodies to Jubokko trees.
- Treants: Kinoshimobe are sentient trees that could fit in with Ents if they were a bit taller.
- When Trees Attack: They kill people with vines and then absorb them into the Jubokko, with their faces appearing on the bark.
La Llorona
First Appearance: "La Llorona"
A ghost who kidnaps and drowns children on Halloween.- Decoy Damsel: One method to separate parents from children is to appear to be drowning and calling for help. The parents will rush to help her, not paying attention to the child, giving her an opening to vanish and reappear near the child and walk away.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: She has the ability to vanish and appear at will. She also just vanished when Nick was struggling with her when midnight of Halloween ended.
- Serial Killer: She will take people's children and drown them every Halloween.
Mishipeshu
First Appearance: "Mishipeshu"
A Native American folklore creature also known as "underwater panther", and are spirits capable of possessing Humans. They can take possession of people who are on vision quests, and their hosts do not remember what the Mishipeshu did while in their body.- The Bad Guy Wins: In the same vein as the El Cucuy, they are not inherently evil, but they are also one of the few in the series who succeeded in their goals in the end.
- Guardian Entity: They act as these for individuals on vision quests when summoned.
- Our Spirits Are Different: The Mishipeshu are Native American spirits in the series; they are animals counterpart to the Thunderbird in actual Native American folklore.
- You Killed My Father: Their motive for the killings: to avenge the death of Simon George's father.
Volcanalis
First Appearance: "Volcanalis"
A wrathful demon drawn to volcanoes.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Has the power to navigate underground, move through earth as if it were air, and is able to trigger earthquakes and volcanic eruptions if suitably enraged.
- Greed: Volcanalis was renowned for its incredible greed: anyone who took the rocks from the Volcano’s base, which it considered its property, it would hunt down and kill. If enough were taken, it would cause the Volcano to erupt, killing everyone.
- Historical Rap Sheet: Was responsible for Mount Vesuvius erupting and the destruction of Pompeii.
- Implacable Man: Due to its nature it’s near impossible to stop, anything that gets in its way will just burn, bullets just melt upon impact, and it can travel through sheer rock with ease.
- Living Lava: He's made of lava.
- Logical Weakness: As a creature made of magma, it is vulnerable to extreme cold.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: It doesn’t matter where you take the rocks, it will find you. Volcanalis has a connection to the earth that no one can truly explain, but it allows it to always find what it considers its.
Zerstörer
Played By: Douglas Tait (Woged), Wil Traval (human)
First Appearance: "Blind Love"
Possibly a Wesen, possibly a demon from another plane of existence. The final antagonist in the series.
- Big Bad: Of the final season.
- The Devil: Very strongly implied to be either the literal one or the inspiration for it.
- Evil Sorcerer: Has a strong array of powers coming from his staff, including emitting shockwaves.
- Final Boss: The Zerstorer is the very final enemy fought by Nick in the series, and is the Big Bad in the final three episodes of the show.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Has glowing green eyes.
- Hero Killer: Zerstorer lays waste to the entire cast of Grimm regulars in "Zerstorer Shrugged" and "The End" except for Nick and offers to bring them back if Nick gives him the missing shard of his staff. Nick nearly gives it up, but refuses. The cast gets better after their deaths are reversed.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Zerstorer is killed with his own staff, but it requires Nick going through a Heroic BSoD and meeting the spirits of Marie and Kelly, who help him kill Zerstorer.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Can do this with his staff. He kills Wu and Hank with it in "Zerstorer Shrugged", and meets his end by said staff.
- Meaningful Name: Zerstorer means "destroyer", and Zerstorer destroys the Portland police station and most of the cast. It's also implied if he had gotten the shard from his staff and Diana, he would have gone on to destroy the world.
- Really 700 Years Old: Is implied to have been trapped in "the other place" for several hundred if not thousands of years.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: It's woged form is a black and red skinned, skull-faced demon that looks like sentient brimstone.
- Silent Antagonist: Initially. It never speaks when it first appears, but once it makes it to the human world, it starts copying words others say to it, though it doesn't seem to know their meaning until its final scene.
- Terminator Impersonator: Once he reaches Nick's world. An Implacable Man who appears through a portal, appearing as a (half-)naked man, and can only repeat words said to him. After acquiring clothes for himself, he makes his way to his target, killing people who get in his way as he goes. Eventually, he attacks a police precinct and leaves bodies behind in his rampage. Add to that the fact that he appears as a burnt-out being with an exposed skull, and you have what basically amounts to an Urban Fantasy version of the T-800.
- Time Abyss: May have been around since biblical times.
Wesen Species
Alpe
First Appearance:' "Breakfast In Bed"
Wesen who feed off the melatonin of sleepers.- Breath Weapon: Before feeding, they exhale a green gas that paralyses their victim.
- Sleep Paralysis Creature: They feed by sitting on top of people as they sleep, chemically paralysing them and draining their melatonin. They're the in-universe explanation for sleep paralysis and the image in the Grimm diaries strongly resembles Henry Fuseli's 1781 painting, The Nightmare, which depicts the condition.
- Vicious Cycle: As they're drawn towards the heaviest sleepers to feed on, they tend to target the same person night after night, because they're exhausted from previous feedings and more melatonin is available.
Anubis
First Appearance: "Once We Were Gods"
Jackal-like Wesen, once worshiped as Egyptian gods.
- Deity of Human Origin: It was believed that if someone was buried with an Anubis, they too would become a god, and so they were hunted a lot in Ancient Egypt.
- Due to the Dead: The Beati Paoli hunt their mummified remains so they can give them proper burial.
- Egyptian Mythology: Have a place in it, hence the name of their first episode, "Once We Were Gods". Apparently Ammit, Bastet, Khepri, and Tefnut are also wesen.
- Like a God to Me: Were worshiped as the god(s?) of mummification in the time of Ancient Egypt. This didn't work out as well for them as could be expected, but they are protective of the dead and death-related artifacts.
Aswang
First Appearance: "Mommy Dearest"
Ghoul-like Wesen from the Philippines.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: When they woge, their skin turns purple.
- Eats Babies: They eat the embryo of their grandchild in order to extend their lifespan. If they don't, they are implied to die within a month or so of its birth.
- Evil Matriarch: A female Aswang may surely seem this to her pregnant daughter-in-law.
- Horror Hunger: Aswang mothers have to eat the first born child of their own first born son or else they will die. No word on whether or not the reverse applies to male Aswang.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Wives of first born Aswang men must traditionally give up the fetus of their first pregnancy to their mother-in-law.
- Multipurpose Tongue: Their primary weapon and means of extracting the fetus from the mother's womb.
- Overly-Long Tongue: Seems to be at least twice as long as their bodies.
Ataktos Fuse
First Appearance: "the Seven Year Itch"
A cicada like Wesen.- Long-Lived: They never age as long as they consume protein.
- Really 700 Years Old: William Stillman, aa 189 year-old Ataktos Fuse, only appeared to be in this thirties.
- Serial Killer: Any one which lives past the average lifespan is this by default, having killed and eaten quite a few people.
Balam
Bauerschwein
First Appearance: "The Three Bad Wolves"
Pig-like Wesen. They are natural enemies of Blutbaden, ala The Three Little Pigs.
- Covered in Mud: Known for taking mud baths to help themselves think.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: This is certainly how the Blutbaden see them. They were traditionally hunted for sport, but both of their two main appearances have been about them turning the tables on their oppressors.
Blutbaden
First Appearance: "Pilot"
Wolf-like Wesen, related to werewolf myths. Natural enemies of Bauerschwein ala The Three Little Pigs.
- Achilles' Heel: They have a point on their backs that temporarily stuns them when struck.
- Animal Stereotypes: Of wolves. Powerful, frightening and explicitly loyal and protective of their own.
- The Dreaded: As one of the most dangerous of all Wesen, Blutbad are feared by multiple other wesen, and themselves only fear the strongest and most dangerous.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Hitler was one.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Their preferred method of attack, and since their victims are usually weaker than they are and unawares, it tends to work quite well.
- Noble Wolf: As a race on a whole they are renowned for their loyalty and devotion to those they consider friend. They will commonly join them even against near impossible threats, and will always avenge the deaths of their kin. However, their outright morality depends on the individual Blutbad. See Savage Wolf.
- The Nose Knows: A very keen sense of smell, as might be expected.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Transform between wolf-man and normal human, but in this case they're not human.
- Putting on the Reich: They were the Reich.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: When they become angry, their eyes turn red.
- Savage Wolf: As a race they are infamous for their brutality and violent nature, especially towards their prey. It is not uncommon for them to dismember their victims while they’re still alive, and some have been known to murder weaker wesen (especially Bauerschwein) simply for sport. However, their outright morality depends on the individual Blutbad. See Noble Wolf.
- The Scapegoat: Blutbaden are typically blamed for any Bauerschwein death, even suicides.
- Thicker Than Water: Will never attack one of their own.
- Wolf Man: The basis for the Big Bad Wolf.
Coyotl
First Appearance: Bad Moon Rising
Canine Wesen that resemble coyotes.
- Dirty Coward: They tend to run in terror from Grimms.
Cracher-Mortel
First Appearance: "The Waking Dead"
Pufferfish-like Wesen. Their poison can make zombie-like slaves out of their victims.
- Animal Motifs: Very aggressive pufferfish.
- Breath Weapon: Their spit which is a poison that causes a death-like trance in its victims for a few days before they regain consciousness. Afterwards, they go through four stages, starting with uncontrollable rage, then being feral but completely under the control of a Carcher-Mortel that infected them, before finally dying.
- Fish People: When woged, they resemble pufferfish.
- Hollywood Voodoo: What they're associated with, having inspired a lot of it.
- Night of the Living Mooks: The poison can be used in this manner.
- Spikes of Doom: Spikes pop out of their face when they woge.
- Technically-Living Zombie: The victims of their poison become this.
- Wicked Cultured: As a race they have a reputation both being slavers, and for wearing smart clothes such as old fashioned suits and top hats.
Cupiditia
First Appearance: "Blind Love"
Cupid-like Wesen.- Best Served Cold: They're very vengeful creatures and can wait and prepare for a long time.
- Love Potion: Their saliva is a key ingredient for love potion.
Daemonfeuer
First Appearance: "Plumed Serpent"
Dragon-like Wesen.
- Breath Weapon: They apparently do this by vaporizing the fat in their stomachs into an acetate vapor, vomiting that vapor into the air, then igniting it through static electricity.
- Draconic Humanoid: When woged.
- Dragon Hoard: A race of treasure mongers, in the olden days they used to steal gold and silver. However, in the present, several have adapted their tastes to a love of copper.
- Dragons Prefer Princesses: Invoked by Ariel. She kidnaps Juliette to be the Damsel in Distress so her father can fight Nick in an epic battle for the princess, and die with glory.
- Its likewise implied their species has been doing his for centuries, and this the root of the stories.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Their Breath Weapon relies on a fat-rich diet, and for traditional daemonfeuer that means eating mostly humans. That said, the presence of at least one in a traveling circus act without a string of murders behind it (or rather, without murders he'd committed) implies that they can get by on other forms of nourishment.
- Our Dragons Are Different: They're humanoid, and can turn into humans. Also the way they breathe fire has a pseudo-scientific explanation.
- Playing with Fire: Their Breath Weapon.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: It's heavily implied they're a martial species, several generations of the Eberhart family were in the military, their history is filled with battling Grimms and they view death in battle as an honourable way to die.
- Worthy Opponent: It's implied that they view Grimms as this, Ariel Eberhart seemed particularly excited to finally meet one for the first time.
Dickfellig
First Appearance: "Last Grimm Standing
Rhinoceros-like Wesen.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: In the comics, their eyes glow red.
Drang-Zorn
First Appearance: "The Bottle Imp
Badger-like Wesen.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: They have a very short temper. Especially when going through puberty.
- Mama Bear: Along with Papa Wolf. They are very protective of their young.
- Unstoppable Rage: It gets worse in puberty, to the point that the parents have to take the kid away to a secret place to train them how to control it.
Eisbiber
First Appearance: "Danse Macabre"
Beaver-like Wesen.
- Gadgeteer Genius: They tend to enjoy tinkering.
- Lovable Coward: As a whole, the species prefers to hide and not draw conflict onto themselves. In "Leave It To Beavers" Bud implied that he considered them Dirty Cowards for refusing to help Nick when one of them witnessed a Hässlich murdering one of their own, wanting to keep their heads down rather than risk upsetting the status quo.
El Cucuy
First Appearance: "El Cucuy
A boogeyman Wesen who punishes wrongdoers.
- Anti-Hero: El Cucuy punishes wrong-doers...by murdering them.
- Beneath Notice: Their among the few Wesen species who've managed to evade detection by the Grimms across the millennia. Nick can't find any mention of them in the diaries.
- Super-Senses: Super hearing to be exact.
- Super-Strength: Considering when woged an 80 year old Cucuy is able to casually overpower a guy in maybe his 30s or 40s.
El Cuegle
First Appearance: "El Cuegle
An infamous, yet misunderstood monster-like wesen.- Eats Babies: Their infamous for doing so, although they only do it because they have agonizing visions of those babies committing horrible crimes as adults.
- I Did What I Had to Do: They don't take pride or joy in their killings, but see them as necessary.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: When woged, they have three arms.
- Seers: They can see things that haven't happened yet, and not good things.
- Third Eye: They have three eyes, with one seeing the past, present and future.
- Tragic Monster: They really have no desire to kill or eat babies, but they have no choice, as the painful compulsion to do so is horribly difficult to resist, in addition to the fact that sparing the babies may end up having worse consequences.
Excandesco
First Appearance: "Trial By Fire"
Phoenix/fire demon-like Wesen that commonly commit arson.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Nero hired one to torch Rome to kill Christians.
- Kill It with Fire: A common trait is their willingness to do this, sometimes becoming professional arsonists.
- The Phoenix: The basis for this.
- Playing with Fire: By way of their Wreathed in Flames woged appearance.
- Wreathed in Flames: When woged.
Folterseele
First Appearance: Heartbreaker
A poison-frog Wesen species who only woge in response to sexual threats.- Child by Rape: Many, if not all of them, given their pheromones and how touching them is poisonous.
- Frog Men: Or frog women. Their humanoid Wesen with frog heads.
- Living Aphrodisiac: A negative, unwilling example. They tend to be attractive, and also vent out hormones which make them seem more so. This causes them to be frequent victims of rape, and to accidentally poison people who are drawn to and touch them under any circumstances.
- One-Gender Race: Possibly, as only three female Folterseele (all members of the same family) appear in the episode.
- Poisonous Person: Their touch is enough to kill in seconds (except presumably to other Folterseele). Their pretty miserable about the whole situation.
- Reflexive Response: They have no control over waging and poisoning anyone who touches them.
- Tarnishing Their Own Beauty: Folterseele women tend to brand their own daughters faces with hot irons to make them less attractive to men, both to keep them from being raped, and to keep them form being accused of killing the rapists by the police.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: At the end of their only episode Monroe and Rosalee make a potion to control their woges and let them touch people without poisoning them. It has the unfortunate side effect of turning their faces green (in a way that can be passed off as tattoos) but the first Folterseele it's tested on clearly finds it worth it.
-
Woobie Species: The Folterseele are one of the biggest woobie species' out there. They keep killing people without meaning or wanting to. They can never fall in love. They are at constant threat of being raped. They have to brand their own children faces (or watch other relatives do it) as the only way to make them less attractive.
Fuchsbau
First Appearance: "Organ Grinder"
Fox-like Wesen.
- Animal Stereotypes: Of foxes. Known as liars and often deals with shady business.
- Cute Monster Girl: The females are adorable when woged.
- Fantastic Foxes: They're based on foxes.
- The Nose Knows: As a canine species, they have a heightened sense of smell.
Fuchsteufelwild
First Appearance: "Nameless"
Goblin-like Wesen.
- Acid Attack: They can secrete acid from their muscles to enhance their cutting power of their bones.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: They turn green when woged.
- Berserk Button: The notion of losing is so infuriating to them that it's enough to drive them to murder and even suicide.
- Four-Fingered Hands: In live action, they only have three fingers per hand when woged.
- Fragile Speedster: Very agile, but need to rely on stealth and can be seriously hurt by gunshots.
- Our Goblins Are Different: Looks more or less the same, only with long sharp claws, the ability to excrete acid from them and incredible agility, speed and the ability to jump very high.
- Pointy Ears: Another noticeable feature when woged.
- Significant Anagram: All of their names are combinations of the letters in "Rumpelstiltskin".
- Sinister Schnoz: When woged, they sport long, sharply-pointed noises.
- Smug Snake: Prone to this sort of behaviour.
- Small Name, Big Ego: In-universe, which gives their immoral behavior.
- Sore Loser: They hate losing to the point of becoming violent and even suicidal.
- Unfortunate Names: Hank and Nick's decisions about their names, which are anagrams of "Rumpelstiltskin".
Fulicre
First Appearance: "Star-Crossed
Ox-like Wesen who, despite a dark history, were among the first to become civilized and avoid fighting with/hunting humans.- Human Sacrifice: Once scarified humans based on stellar constellations, and a handful still do this in modern days.
- Western Zodiac: They tend to believe in this.
Gedächtnis Esser
First Appearance: "Thanks for the Memories
Octopus Wesen capable of sucking out the memories of others.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: A rare aversion. Their powers are not derived from those of octopi, but from the "mind flayers" or illithid of Dungeons & Dragons.
- Cannibalism Superpower: Unlike their obvious fictional inspiration, the illithid of Dungeons & Dragons, gedächtnis esser don't physically consume brains. The rest of the trope, however, still fits.
- Cthulhumanoid: Their woged shape.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: A gedächtnis esser trying to feed on a grimm will quickly find itself on the receiving end, as all the grimm's worst experiences flood its mind.
Geier
First Appearance: "Organ Grinder
Vulture-like Wesen.
- Human Resources: They make traditional wesen medicines out of human organ meats.
- Organ Theft: Sometimes, they don't even wait to kill them first...
- Sadist: Noted for taking pleasure in the pain of others.
- Would Hurt a Child: Most of their victims on-screen are young teenagers.
Gelumcaedus
First Appearance: "Cold Blooded"
Alligator-like Wesen.
- An Arm and a Leg: An associated trait is their shaking people fast enough that this happens to them.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Alligator wesen.
- Sewer Gator: They are Alligator wesen who have occupied underground sewers since the the time of Ancient Rome.
- Sticky Fingers: They compulsively line their sewer lairs with knickknacks from their robberies.
- Worthy Opponent: Consider Grimms to be this, calling them decapitare, or "one who decapitates".
Genio innocuo
First Appearance: "The Other Side
Tortoise-like Wesen.
- Too Clever by Half: As a race renowned for their intelligence they often fall into this, creating situations they are unable to deal with.
Gevatter Tod
First Appearance: "Blood Magic"
Assassin bug-like Wesen who provide a vital, yet rarely discussed role in the Wesen community.- Don't Fear the Reaper: They use their saliva to peacefully Mercy Kill Wesen who are suffering from dementia, and posing a threat to society (and The Masquerade) with uncontrolled woging and potentially violent behavior, but only due this with the consent of the family, are very respectful and solemn Wesen, and there's no record of one of them ever having done anything to be targeted by the Grimm's.
Glühenvolk
First Appearance: "Endangered
Alien-like Wesen.
- Aliens Steal Cattle: Female Gluumlhenvolk crave cow organs while pregnant
- Little Green Men: Well, they're blue, but they're the source of many alien myths.
Hässlich
First Appearance: "Pilot"
Troll-like, vicious Wesen.
- All Trolls Are Different: They're based on fairy tale type trolls, particularly the Three Billy Goats Gruff, what with their obsession with bridges.
- Bald of Evil: Their hair disappears when they Woge.
Heftigauroch
First Appearance: "The Last Fight"
Bull-like Wesen. Although fierce fighters, they are peace-loving by nature and must be severely prodded into battle.
- Bullying a Dragon: Getting them to fight takes extreme measures, but when they are prodded enough, they are deadly fighters.
Hexenbiest & Zauberbiest
First Appearance: "Pilot"
Witch-like Wesen. Females are called Hexenbiest (German for "witch beast"), and males are called Zauberbiest (German for "wizard beast").
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: Of the two older Hexenbiests we've seen on the show (Catherine and Elizabeth, Renard's Mom) they don't look nearly old enough to have fully grown kids. While Renard lampshades this with "She's had some work done," it might be possible that they age slowly after a certain point thanks to their magic.
- Blood Magic: Especially emphasized in "power regeneration" rituals.
- Drunk with Power: Implied. In "Into the Schwarzwald," Adalind says that being a Hexenbiest really alters one's way of thinking in this respect, which would explain why Juliette went the direction she did and why Adalind is so reluctant to return to that state after becoming normal and vowing to have a stable family unit with Nick.
- Eyeless Face:
- When woged the eyes become sealed by their eyelids, though they can still see and move about normally.
- Elizabeth is only half this since she has one eye visible when woged, probably because the eyelid rots away with age.
- Juliette has both of her eyes in her woged form. Since Elizabeth and Juliette are the two most powerful Hexenbiests we've seen, this may indicate that retaining eyes in woge is a sign of power.
- Faux Action Girl: In universe example, they do posses some superhuman abilities, such as enhanced strength and Adalind and Catherine both seem to think that they have a chance against a Grimm, but no Hexenbiest has yet been shown to actually win a fight or be anything remotely a match for a Grimm. Except for Juliette, who was already an Action Survivor before becoming a Hexenbiest and gains extremely powerful telekinetic abilities after her transformation.
- Flanderisation: In the first season Hexenbiest power originally leaned more towards Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane with their potions that could cause bizarre but still not too extreme effects. Later seasons continued to up their magical potential, to the point where we’ve seen Hexenbiests with the power to shapeshift, manipulate time, and even alter reality (to an extent). Justified as the show’s made it very clear all Hexenbiests have different levels of power, with the more magical ones being acknowledged in verse as very powerful and introduced later on.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Subverted. Renard was initially the only Zauberbiest seen for a while, and he has much greater physical strength than Hexenbiests (Renard can go toe to toe with Nick in unarmed combat) but lacks the magical abilities (Renard is knowledgeable about Hexenbiest magic in an amateurish way, but never makes potions or the like himself); however, Season 5 introduces a Zauberbiest working for the main antagonists, who's not only capable of using magic but is more powerful than most other Hexenbiests seen so far. Renard's lack of magical power would seem to come from being half human.
- Hot Witch: In their human forms, yes. Not so much in their actual forms.
- It's All About Me: A racial trait. On a whole, Hexenbiests are notoriously egocentric and rarely consider how their actions affect others. They are likewise prone to excessive vanity, to the point of putting leeches on their face to make their skin look paler.
- Jerkass: It seems to be a racial trait that Hexenbiests have a tendency to be self-interested and antagonistic towards others (except in the case of their own children). Notably, when the effect of a spell turns Juliette into a Hexenbiest, she Takes a Level in Jerkass.
- Mind over Matter: Some have been shown to have telekinetic powers ranging from the ability to move small object, like coffee cups, to shaking large object, like houses.
- More Deadly Than the Male: Grimm zigzaged this trope greatly. Of all the adult hexenbiest we see, Eve was undoubtedly the strongest and she was thrashed by Bonaparte, a full Zauberbiest. He, in turn was done in by Diana, who's a child and very much in a league of her own thanks to her mixed heritage (3 part hexenbiest 1 part royal) and the side effects of a ritual Adalind performed to restore her powers while pregnant with Diana.
- One-Gender Race: Played with. Hexenbiests are explicitly female, while male Hexenbiests are called Zauberbiests, as Captain Renard is revealed to be half Zauberbiest thanks to his Hexenbiest mother. Yet there are some ill-defined differences between them, like when there's a magical seal that can only be opened by a Hexenbiest but not a Zauberbiest.
- Power Dyes Your Hair: While dark-haired Hexenbiests retain their own hair color, blonde ones' hair turns grey in woge. Adalind, her mother, and Elizabeth Lascelles all show this. Diana is the exception, but she's not a full-blooded Hexenbiest and her change is just in her eyes.
- Squishy Wizard: Downplayed. Although not to Grimm levels, they do possess enhanced strength and durability. However, even the most powerful Hexenbiests can die as easily as a human from a blade or a bullet.
- Vain Sorceress: Since all of the older Hexenbiests we've seen have looked younger than they should be, there's a good chance magic is involved to maintain their looks.
- The Vamp: Hexenbiests know how to brew Love Potions as seen with Adalind and Hank, and Elizabeth's old friend Henrietta was able to Charm Person Nick into almost kissing her without a potion even though he had burst in angry with her about Juliette's transformation a moment ago.
- Wicked Witch: As a whole, Hexenbiests are unpleasant and egocentric, masterful of magic, and their name is literally translated as "witch beasts".
- Would Hurt a Child: The Hexenbiest entry Juliette reads in the book has images of them using babies as ingredients.
Höllentier
First Appearance: "El Cucuy
Hellhound Wesen.
- Too Stupid To Live: They served as guards for Egyptian pharaohs in the afterlife, not being smart enough to realize that they would be locked in the tomb as well. They also display no fear of Grimms, and the Hollentier in "El Cucuy" immediately attacked Nick when he realized Nick was a Grimm.
Hundjäger
First Appearance: Cat And Mouse
Dog- or wolf-like Wesen.
- Mooks: They are used as enforcers by the Verrat.
- More Deadly Than the Male: One of the Grimm books in Nick's trailer advises that when dealing with a group of Hundjäger it's better to kill the females first, presumably for this reason.
Huntha Lami Muuaji
First Appearance: Double Date
Flatworm like Wesen with a secret that no Grimm before Nick has ever realized.- Ambiguous Gender Identity: All of them have a woged state, and both male and female human forms that they go back and forth between.
- Con Man: Many of them become this, using their multiple identities.
- Split Personality: On occasion (like after a testosterone injection) have their own distinct memories and personalities, and are constantly, obliviously searching for each other.
Indole Gentile
First Appearance: The Grimm Who Stole Christmas
Greek Wesen.
- Actual Pacifist: They've very peaceful Wesen.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: While they're supposed to be Greek, their name is in Italian (literally, it means "gentle disposition").
- Christmas Elves: They only appear in a Christmas special, and are elf-like in appearance
Jägerbar
First Appearance: Bears Will Be Bears
Bear Wesen.
- Bears Are Bad News: Several of the Jagerbars in "Bears Will Be Bears" participated in an ancient ritual called the Roe-Hatz that involved hunting and killing two humans.
Jinnamuru Xunte
First Appearance: "Mr. Sandman"
Fly-like Wesen native to Africa.
- Breath Weapon: Whether feeding or fighting off an opponent, the Xunte's first means of attack is to breathe a cloud of parasites into their target's face.
- Eye Scream: Blinds their victims by spewing parasitic worms into their eyes. Given time to grow, these worms then completely devour the eyeballs. Also a necessary part of curing the blindness, as someone has to scoop out the Jinnamuru Xunte's eye while it's still alive and in full woge.
- Flies Equals Evil: To its literal extreme. Flies are evil.
- Horror Hunger: Human tears are like opium for them, and they appear to suffer headaches for every minute they're not indulging in their addiction.
- Overly-Long Tongue: Commonly used for licking up their victim's tears.
- Super-Speed: They're capable of moving with incredible bursts of speed, in keeping with their fly-like natures.
Klaustreich
First Appearance: "The Thing with Feathers"
Cat-like Wesen. They have a tendency to be complete jerks with a nasty streak towards spousal abuse.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: They're noted to be very popular with women. Doesn't turn out so well because of the aforementioned abusive tendencies.
- Cats Are Mean: They're cal wesen and nearly all of them have a mean streak a mile long, with the males in particular being abusive to their domestic partners/spouses.
- Cat Folk: Of the common alley-cat variety.
- Cute Monster Girl: The females are much more adorable than the males.
- Jerkass: They tend to be real jerks, aligning with their rough, alley-cat imagery.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Implied. Monroe mentions that his high-school girlfriend, had a "litter" after being impregnated by a Klaustreich.
- Women Are Wiser: Every male klaustreich to appear in the show is some kind of would be-rapist or thug, while the two female ones to appear get a softer treatment (Heidi McDunnah is a Hooker with a Heart of Gold and Selina Golias doesn't accompany her boyfriend and his buddies out "Reini-bashing" and half-heartedly tries to talk them into staying home).
Königschlange
First Appearance: "Over My Dead Body
Cobra-like Wesen.
- Snakes Are Sinister: They're cobras.
- Shout-Out: The Königschlange in "Over My Dead Body" is named Arbok.
Koschie
First Appearance: "Red Menace"
Skeleton-like Wesen. They possess healing powers fueled by radiation.
- Atomic Superpower: When killing someone with their powers, they emit extremely high doses of radiation.
- Bald Mystic: When woged, Koschie all appear completely bald, in keeping with their unearthly, mystical natures.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: One of their prominent members was Grigori Rasputin. Indeed, the species was arguably inspired more by his legend than anything else; they're named after a Russian legend about a deathless sorcerer, they can soothe other creatures with their touch and often take on the role of holy men, their powers seemingly supercharge their sex drives, they can take a heck of a beating before going down, and, not to put too fine a point on it, their abilities involve nuclear power and radiation.
- Cast from Lifespan: Using their powers requires them to draw from this.
- Dark Is Not Evil: They look very creepy while woged and their powers are nothing short of horrific when put to violent ends... and yet, they're not automatically villainous, especially since their powers can be used for great feats of healing.
- Empathic Healer: They take on others' ailments to heal them. Their Healing Factor is why this doesn't cause serious harm for an extended period of time unless they use too much power.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When using their powers, they sport luminous green eyes.
- Healing Factor: A common trait is how hard they are to kill, to the point that the only thing that can seriously damage to their long-term health is their ability to heal others.
- Healing Hands: Can heal others on touch, though it harms the healer instead.
- Rasputinian Death: It takes a lot of effort to kill them, to the point that the Trope Namer was one of them. Myshkin drinks an entire bottle of poisoned vodka and stabbed in the heart, but it's not until he uses his powers to heal his assassin that he finally expires.
- Really Gets Around: Apparently, Koschie often experience overcharged sex drives as a side-effect of their healing powers, to the point that one of them sought out Renard's mother for a means of treating it. Myshkin, the one we meet in the episode, is a notorious womanizer — and it's taken quite a toll on his marriage as a result.
- Touch of Death: Can cause serious radiation burns and death instead of healing, if the Koschie so chooses.
- Volcanic Veins: When healing or woged, their hands and face become noticeably studded with glowing green veins.
Krampus
First Appearance: "Twelve Days of Krampus"
A ram-like Wesen with allusion to Santa Claus, but much darker.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Because they woge so rarely and few people who encounter them survive, most Wesen consider Krampus to be a complete myth, in spite of their very own nature.
- Child Eater: What it does to the naughty children on the last day.
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Kidnaps naughty children before Christmas.
- Literal Split Personality: A very interesting example, the Krampus Woges only during the last few weeks of December. Once there, it can't go back, and instead adopts its monstrous personality. Once the last day is up, it turns back to human form with no memory of what it had done. They don't even know they are Wesen.
- Super-Strength: To a very noticeable degree, they're among the few Wesen who are noticeably stronger than Grimms.
- A Taste of the Lash: Carry a switch, which they use to beat naughty children.
Lausenschlange
First Appearance: "Of Mouse And Man
Snake-like Wesen.
- Snakes Are Sinister: They're woge is very creepy and several (although not all) of the ones to appear are bullies and/or petty criminals.
Lebensauger
First Appearance: "The Hour of Death"
Leech-like Wesen.
- Blood Lust: Like actual leeches they can and do drink human blood. Due to their size this will kill the victim. As such some use it as a method of murder.
- Internalized Categorism: Because of their frankly hideous appearances and poor reputations, lebensaugen frequently suffer from self-image problems and struggle to never woge.
- Lamprey Mouth: When woged they have one of these.
Lowen
First Appearance: "Last Grimm Standing"
Lion-like Wesen.
- Animal Motifs: They are lions.
- Cat Folk: Specially lion people.
- Circus of Fear: Sometimes use their woges for them either as properties, or performers.
- Gladiator Games: In the past they hunted other Wesen and force them to fight each other, and some of them continue to do this in the present day.
- Juvenile Hell: Some lowen work as juvenile corrections officers, although the only one to appear in this capacity seems fairly benevolent and just uses her woge to keep potentially dangerous Wesen inmates from threatening anyone.
- King of Beasts: Lion wesen.
- Mentor Archetype: Many of them, good and bad, try to take roles of guidance and leadership amongst their relatives or others (especially youths) who they are responsible for. Many take it seriously, but others (such as those who still run Gladiator Games) exploit it.
- Panthera Awesome: The lion variety.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Lowen females seem to be excluded from some of their more traditional pursuits, which can cause them resentment.
- Summer Campy: Some of the more benevolent Lowen run father-son camping retreats for other Lowen and species such as Blutbad, conducing coming of age rituals, teaching the boys to master their woge, and how to hunt and live off the land in woged formed.
Luisant-Pecheur
First Appearance: "Kiss of the Muse
Otter-like Wesen more at home on the water than on land. Luison
First Appearance: "Cry Luison
Wolf-like Wesen from South America.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: The Luison in "Cry Luison" were quadruplets.
Malin Fatal
First Appearance: "Red Menace"
Boar-like Wesen.
- Full-Boar Action: Boar wesen.
- Go Through Me: They tend to find work as bodyguards, or serve as protectors for loved ones.
- Slashed Throat: A method of using their tusks when woged.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Gold eyed wesen.
Manticore
First Appearance: "The Good Soldier"
Half-lion half-scorpion Wesen native to Persia.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Has a scorpion tail.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Not actually immune to their own scorpion venom.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: A preferred form of assassination via the stinger tail.
- King of Beasts: Part Lowen.
- Lightning Bruiser: On top of being strong enough to catapult opponents across rooms, Manticores are also incredibly fast — especially when stinging.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: In-universe. It's part Lowen, but has a scorpion tail.
- Not Afraid to Die: As a trend, they don't fear death, hence why they're so prone to military service.
- Our Manticores Are Spinier: They resemble Löwen, but are distinguished by their teeth, longer, stringy manes, and having a scorpion tail (being one of only two tailed Wesen mentioned, and the only to appear). They are fierce and are not afraid of death, and often serve in the military.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Most of them end up in some form of military work in the era they live in, from the Crusades to modern wars. However, there's no set standard of honour or morality among them: some are principled commanders who try to do right by the soldiers under them, while others are cold-hearted mercenaries who will murder and rape without remorse.
- Scary Scorpions: Has the associated tail.
Matança Zumbido
First Appearance: Death Do Us Part
Electric eel type wesen capable of releasing massive jolts of electricity.
- Shock and Awe: The Matança Zumbido can release enough electrical energy to burn people to a husk.
- Stealth Pun: The name "Matança Zumbido" literally translates as "buzz kill."
Mauvais Dentes
First Appearance: "Bad Teeth
Saber-toothed tiger-like Wesen.
- Cat Folk: Saber-toothed tiger-like Wesen.
- The Dreaded: One of the most feared of all wesen, due to their reputation for wiping out entire villages.
- Lightning Bruiser: Among the strongest and fastest wessen enountered so far, which along with their penchant for brutality, adds to their terrifying reputation.
- Person of Mass Destruction: In centuries past, individual Mauvais Dentes would wipe out entire villages killing hundreds of people. In the present day only the Royal families have the power to control one.
- To Serve Man: As well as slaughtering, they also eat people, or rather parts of them.
Mauzhertz
First Appearance: "Of Mouse and Man
Mouse-like Wesen.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Back them into a corner and they can be dangerous.
- Shrinking Violet: Most Mauzhertz are extremely shy and cowardly.
Mellifer
First Appearance: "Beeware"
Bee-like Wesen.
- Bee Afraid: If you're an enemy of the hive, anyway.
- Bee-Bee Gun: Mellifer queens can control huge hives of bees.
- Bee People: Literally, both in biology and society.
- Hive Mind: Downplayed. They are individuals, but they share a subtle connection and all seem to work in unison when assigned to a specific job.
- Hive Queen: The master of both the Mellifer hive and the beehive.
- We Used to Be Friends: Apparently have a long, peaceful history of cooperating with the Grimms but the Portland Mellifer don't take Nick intervening in their attempts to kill Adalind Schade well.
Murciélago
First Appearance: "Happily Ever Aftermath
Bat-like Wesen.
- Bat Out of Hell: The Murcielago are bat-like Wesen with the ability to emit a screech that can rupture windows, lungs, eardrums and eyes.
- Super-Scream: They can screech loud enough to kill a person.
Musai
First Appearance: "Kiss of the Muse"
Muse-like Wesen.
- Magic Kiss: The musai's kiss instills the victim with an obsessive attraction that fuels artistic passion. Over time the obsession leads to madness and death.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: It seems this is one way Musai move on from one victim to the other, by having a new one kill the previous one.
- The Muse: An interpretation of it, with heightened artistic abilities once the attraction begins.
- Our Fairies Are Different: An elf-like Wesen with blue skin, pointed ears and large eyes. The musai's M.O. seems identical to the legend of the leanansidhe, inspiring artists to great creative passion but driving them to madness and death in the process.
- The Sociopath: Musai don't seem to believe what happens to those under their Magic Kiss is their fault. Much to the contrary, they're completely apathetic to it, with the one seen seeming almost amused by what she helps cause.
- True Love's Kiss: The only cure for a musai's Magic Kiss.
Naiads
First Appearance: "One Night Stand"
Mermaid-like Wesen.
- Arranged Marriage: Naiad couples apparently meet this way. This causes problems when a traditional Naiad is prepared to marry into a more progressive ones family.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: When woged, the females have glowing eyes, gills, and fins.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The three Mahario sisters have blonde, dark black, and reddish brown hair respectively. This (and their legal fathers hair, which is a different shade of brown) provide some early foreshadowing about the nature of Naiad families.
- Cute Monster Girl: Female naiads gain glowing gills, eyes, and fins, and retain the appearance of attractive females. Males, however, have dark red/yellow eyes and gain a row of shark-like teeth.
- Half-Human Hybrid: The the males are infertile, so the females must mate with humans to reproduce.
- Lineage Comes from the Father: Completely inverted. Naiad males are sterile and have no actual lineage, while all Naiad females are technically only 1/4th Naiad but their children still woge no matter how much blood from human fathers gets tossed into their genes.
- Meaningful Name: Their names come from the fresh water nymphs from Classical Mythology.
- Mermaid Problem: Averted; female naiads not only have sex with human men in their non-woged form but keep their legs in woged form as well.
- Nature Spirit: They are based off a type of nymph.
- Never Going Back to Prison: A variant of this. They'll go through a lot not to go to prison in the first place due to their need for constant moisture nature meaning that this would be a death sentence for them within days.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: They are a mer-type of Wesen. They don't get tails, just webbed hands and feet, and gills and they cannot breathe underwater without being woged.
- Straw Misogynist: More traditional male Naiads, with one responding to one of the Mahario sisters saving a man they'd tried to kill by sneering to her adoptive father that he doesn't know how to bring up his women.
- Two-Person Pool Party: Naiad women can only conceive in the water, although generally they prefer to do it in the river instead of an actual pool.
Pflichttreue
First Appearance: "Stories We Tell Our Young"
Panther-like Wesen.
- Cat Folk: Of the panther variety.
- Panthera Awesome: Panther wesen.
- The Reliable One: Their name translates into "One who is dutiful", and they're known for their intelligence, courage and loyalty. Alexander does demonstrate these traits during his appearances, and is one of the few Wesen who are not direct allies of the main characters that Nick is able to reason with.
Phansigar
First Appearance: "Highway of Tears"
- Multipurpose Tongue: Phansigar possess extendable prehensile tongues, which they use to strangle their victims, either into unconsciousness or to death.
- Religion of Evil: The originators of the infamous thuggee cults of ancient India.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: They are komodo dragon like wesen who commonly practice Human Sacrifice.
Pista Falsa
First Appearance:' "Breakfast in Bed"
- The Hermit: They tend to be reclusive, with even ones who live in urban areas avoiding much contact.
- Red Herring: Their woged form resembles one and they actually enjoy wrongfully making themselves the subject of suspicions for police investigations and laugh about it afterwards.
Raub-Kondor
First Appearance: "Endangered"
- Bird People: They're condors.
- Cold Sniper: They have excellent eyesight, and the two seen in the series work as snipers.
- Icy Blue Eyes: Their eyes turn blue when woged.
Reinigen
First Appearance: "Danse Macabre"
- Magic Music: At least some can control rats through music, as the origin for The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
- Swarm of Rats: Can control large groups of rats.
Schakale
First Appearance: "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau"
- Child Eater: One of their preferred meals is human children.
- Wolf Man: In this case they are jackals.
Scharfblicke
First Appearance: "Face Off"
- Bird People: They're owls.
Seelengut
First Appearance: "The Good Shepherd"
- Animal Stereotypes: Of sheep. They are timid and passive and have a herd mentality.
- Beware the Nice Ones: When pushed too far they can be dangerous, seen when a herd of them kill an asshole Blutbad that was scamming them.
- Extreme Doormat: Their herding instinct makes them very susceptible to being led without question.
Seltenvogel
First Appearance: "The Thing with Feathers"
- Bird People: They're a bird-like Wesen.
Siegbarstes
Played By: Eric Edelstein
First Appearance: "Game Ogre"
- The Dreaded: Are greatly feared throughout the community.
- Feel No Pain: The episode one appears in, "Game Ogre", explicitly mentions "congenital analgesia", the disorder that causes this.
- Implacable Man: Almost impossible to stop, making them amongst the most dangerous of all Wesen. So dangerous even Grimms are leery of taking them on in a straight fight.
- It's Personal: Known for taking grudges to the grave, typically the other person.
- Made of Iron: They are ridiculously hard to kill, have incredibly dense bones and have a high tolerance to pain. Even Grimms have a hard time fighting them.
- Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Though there's no mention made of their hunger, they are known as "ogres".
Skalengeck
First Appearance: "Pilot"
- Lizard Folk: When woged.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Their low intelligence and propensity for violence gives them a tendency for lives as petty thugs.
Skalenzahne
First Appearance: Last Grimm Standing
Crocodile-like Wesen.- Drunk on the Dark Side: Normally they live peaceful lives, and don't cause any trouble, but eating human (or Wesen) flesh can be addictive to them and makes them more savage and eager for more.
Spinnetods
Played By: Amy Acker
First Appearance: "Tarantella"
Very rare spider-like Wesen. The females must prey on male humans or Wesens once every five years or they age rapidly and die.- Animal Stereotypes: Of spiders. Sexy and seductive before they lure their male prey to devour their liquified organs.
- Black Eyes of Evil: When they woge.
- Black Widow: Pun thoroughly intended. Even Spinnetod males aren't guaranteed safety.
- Blessed with Suck: They are super strong, agile and can regenerate any torn limb. But if they're female they must feed on three human or Wesen males every five years, or they suffer massive rapid-aging from their bodies failing to properly "molt."
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: Females really like things that sparkle and will tend to take them as trophies after their kills.
- Forced into Evil: They really do not enjoy what they do, but their biological imperative to do so is extremely difficult to resist.
- Rapid Aging: What happens if a female Spinnetod fails or refuses to kill and eat three males every five years during the necessary period.
- Riddle for the Ages: It is left ambiguous whether or not the Rapid Aging affects their lifespan.
- Seductive Spider: The women are stunningly attractive which helps them find prey when they must feed and molt.
- Spider People: When woged.
- Spiders Are Scary: A beautiful woman seduces you and turns into a giant spider who sucks out your insides? Check.
- Tsuchigumo and Jorogumo: They heavily resemble, and are quite possibly the inspiration for the Jorogumo.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: We only ever see two, but one claims that their kind don't take pleasure in what they do and that it really tears them apart. The other shows this is true, as she is clearly torn apart by her own body's imperative to feed so that she can molt. Their only other option is rapid aging, which may or may not also limit their lifespan.
- Younger Than They Look: The Spinnetod who refuses to feed is only 26, but looks decades older thanks to the rapid aging. The only sign that she's not actually that age is her dark hair.
Steinadler
First Appearance: "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau"
Hawk-like Wesen.
- Bird People: They're hawks.
- Proud Warrior Race: Many of them join the military or serve as mercenaries and adventurers.
Taureus-Armenta
First Appearance: "Volcanalis"
Minotaur-like Wesen.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: They're bull-like Wesen.
Tawaret
First Appearance: "The Seven Year Itch"
A hippopotamus like Wesen.- Beware the Nice Ones: A fairly pleasant race which never gives Nick any trouble. But anyone trying to kill one of them should be very aware of their Offhand Backhand abilities.
- Big Beautiful Woman: The only specimen of its kind seen in the show was a woman who was heavyset and drew the attention of two men in one night. It's unknown if this is the universal among them.
- Old-School Chivalry: They enjoy gestures of this.
- Offhand Backhand: They're capable of killing anyone threatening them by simply woging and biting their heads off.
Varme Tyv
First Appearance: "Hibernaculum"
Snake-like Wesen who tend to be peaceful for most of the year, but display a dangerous sense of self-preservation during the winter.- Big Eater: Gouge themselves on as much food as possible in anticipation for their hibernation, much like real animals who hibernate for long periods of time.
- Deep Sleep: Most survive the winter by huddling together in some out of the way barn, sharing their warmth and remaining near comatose for the entire time.
- The Farmer and the Viper: Freezing Varme Tyv are likely to attack anyone who stops to help them, because there is no other effective way for those people to help them in time to save their lives.
- Snakes Are Sinister: When the winter cold starts, many of them stay alive by draining all of the warmth from humans (killing them). That being said, it's indicated that they do this less out of malice, and more out of a desperate need to stay alive, and are capable of otherwise living completely normal lives.
- Tragic Monster: Their willing to kill repeatedly and without hesitation to stay warm, but will freeze to death within minutes otherwise, and their actions are implied to be more instinctual than voluntary.
Vibora Dorada
- First appearance: Silence of the Slams
- Noble Demon: They make masks out of other wesens faces to empower luchadors, but only seem to target asshole victims, give clients a chance to back out of deals, and try to help anyone the Wesen conscience lingering in the mask may take over.
Wasser Zahne
First Appearance: A Reptile Dysfunction
An aquatic, reptillian Wesen.- The Bully: Prey on those weaker than them, if Logan Cobb, the sole member of their race to appear in the show is any indicator of the species as a whole.
- Lack of Empathy: Logan only shows mild irritation hearing a woman screaming for her husband, who he'd just killed.
- Never My Fault: Logan Cobb shrugs off any blame for having killed a person while pulling a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax.
- Sea Monster: They bear a certain resemblance to the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Wendigo
First Appearance: "To Protect and Serve Man"
Cannibalistic Wesen.- Dirty Coward: The sight of a Grimm usually sends them recoiling in fear.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Inverted. They're one of the only Wesen who sound higher pitched when woged.
- Sadist: They enjoy taunting their prey.
- To Serve Man: They eat humans.
Weten Ogen
First Appearance: Maiden Quest
A Lynx-like type of Wesen who have a patriarchal society. Wettbewerbsgewinner
First Appearance: Into the Schwarzwald
An avian/ reptilian Wesen featuring scales, spines and feathers in its woge.- The Big Guy: Implied by the fact that two of them are among the lynch mob that pursues Nick and Monroe through the Black Forest; clearly, they're not intimidated by a Grimm, and are among those called to deal with one.
- Punny Name: Translates to "Competition Winner," as the species were designed by Jessica A. Short, winner of a competition celebrating the show's 100th episode.
Wilahara
First Appearance: "Bad Luck"
A rabbit like Wesen, who are often murdered for their feet, which supposedly can serve as a fertility charm.- Run or Die: Many of them spend their whole lives fleeing for hunters after their feet.
Wildermann
First Appearance: "Big Feet"
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Transcendentalism was invented by many prominent wildermann thinkers, including Thoreau and Emerson.
- Beware of the Nice Ones: As a race they are commonly associated with tranquility and gentleness. However, they are physically stronger than the majority of Wesen, including Blutbaden, and are able to casually rip people apart. If enraged to an uncontrollable degree, they can be extremely dangerous.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The in-universe inspiration for this kind of cryptid, as well as for woodwoses in European folklore.
- Gentle Giant: Frequently associated with tranquility and nature.
Wildesheer
First Appearance: The Wild Hunt
Rare, wolf-like wesen who live to fight and kill.- The Dreaded: Even Blutbad are terrified of them.
- The Wild Hunt: Their name and the title of the episode they debut in indicates that they are the Grimm universe's source for this legend.
- Worthy Opponent: They actively look for these, killing anyone they deem a worthy challenge, and actually want to fight Grimm.
Yaguaraté
Played By: Sharon Leal, Dalpre Grayer, Jen Van Epps
First Appearance: "Eyes of the Beholder"
Tribal jaguar-like creatures known to be very hesitant about revealing their true natures to anyone. There is a street gang in Portland, known as the "Northside Cru", which is comprised entirely of Yaguaratés.
- Cat Folk: Of the jaguar variety.
Ziegevolk
Played By: Patrick Fischler, Brian T. Finney, Ari Montgomery
First Appearance: "Lonelyhearts"
Goatlike Wesen resembling satyrs. They can put anyone, particularly those of the opposite sex, under their spell with a single touch.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: The show outright says Casanova, Frank Sinatra, and JFK were Ziegevolk.
- Charm Person: The majority of Ziegevolk, those commonly known as "breeders", count as this, as their pheromone abilities merely make the other person more inclined to agree with them and make them appear more charismatic and attractive. It doesn't allow them to force people to obey their will. Unfortunately, some have further powers.
- Compelling Voice: Some Ziegevolk, those commonly known as "herders", possess the ability to enhance their pheromone powers by devouring a certain species of toad. In this case they can outright control and force their victims to obey their every word. The most powerful can have this bordering on outright brainwashing and can even rewrite memories.
- Dirty Coward: As a race they will pick running over fighting every day.
- Fauns and Satyrs: They're modeled after the classical depiction of fauns and satyrs, combined with the anthropomorphized goats of Grimms' fairy tales.
- Fragile Speedster: They possess goat like abilities to easily climb uneven terrain, as well as surprising speed and agility. However, they are no more durable than normal humans. This coupled with their cowardliness means they normally won’t stand and fight.
- Interspecies Romance: They are able to reproduce with human women.
- Kavorka Man: This is how they appear to the human society. Ziegevolk appear to be unattractive men who are able to land incredibly beautiful women due to their lust-inducing hormones.
- Love Is in the Air: Have the ability to charm anyone with their touch.
- One-Gender Race: Subverted Trope. It was thought that all Ziegevolk were male, up until webisodes "Love is in the Air". Rosalee expresses surprise when they find the female though, which seems to suggest that the females are exceptionally rare.
- Serial Rapist: Ziegevolk who do possess greater powers commonly misuse them to rape large numbers of women, thus the reason they are known as "herders" in the wesen community.
