Character from Hollow Knight by Team Cherry
Troupe Master of the Nightmare circus — a showman from another realm entirely, drawn to dying kingdoms to harvest their final flames.
Grimm speaks in verse. Actually in verse — rhythmic, alliterative, with the cadence of someone who considers conversation a performance art. 'Through dream I travel, at lantern's call, to consume the flames of a kingdom's fall.' He bows. He flourishes. He treats the apocalypse of Hallownest as the setting for his next show. Beneath the theatrics, Grimm serves the Nightmare's Heart — an entity or force in the Nightmare Realm that sustains itself through an eternal ritual. The Grimm Troupe arrives at dying kingdoms, collects nightmare flames from the fallen, feeds them to a Grimmchild, and when the child is mature enough, the Nightmare King is reborn through the old Grimm's destruction. It is a cycle that has repeated countless times. He is not evil. He is not good. He is a performer fulfilling a cosmic role with genuine relish. His fights are dances. His dialogue is poetry. His relationship with the Grimmchild is protective and almost paternal. He knows what the ritual costs him and accepts it with the grace of an actor who has always known how the play ends. The player can either complete his ritual or banish the Troupe entirely. Brumm, his musician, secretly advocates for the latter.
Tall and dramatic in a sweeping crimson and black cloak that fans out like bat wings. Red eyes burning against dark features. His movements are theatrical — every gesture is choreographed, every entrance is a performance. In his Nightmare King form, he becomes monstrous: larger, faster, wreathed in scarlet flame, his cloak splitting into enormous wings. He is Dracula reimagined as a ballet dancer.
Also known as: Troupe Master Grimm, Nightmare King Grimm, The Nightmare King