Well, here we are…in the final three days before the 100th episode. It’s so cool–and a little surreal–to be here, looking back on the days when we weren’t even sure if our “weird little show that could” would even get a second season! It’s been a wild ride of plot twists, shirtless rage, questionable CGI, and occasionally-butchered German.

I remember the exact episode that made me go from “this is kind of interesting” to “I am in love, I must start a blog immediately.” It was “Leave It to Beavers.” That episode, particularly the scene where Nick begs the Eisbibers to help themselves, was and always has been the epitome of everything I love about Nick Burkhardt as a character and Grimm as a show.

Since then a lot of things in the show have changed, and Nick has changed…not always for the better. But in some ways, it’s still the show I fell in love with four years ago. Its characters, the dark world they inhabit and the gray morality that allows them to survive in it, and the way this changes–and sometimes destroys–the dynamics within their little team: these are why I come back Friday after Friday, year after year.

Well, that and…the mysteries.

Over the last five years, Grimm has presented and refused to answer more questions than any show I can think of. Most shows would answer a few questions each season only to present even bigger ones, but not Grimm! It would rather heap the questions on top of each other for half a decade, until the majority of its fans have gone well past demanding, or even begging for, answers and into the realm of waiting helplessly for them to just put us out of our misery. Hell, even Lost didn’t leave me hanging on any one thing for this long!

So as we slog through the time remaining before we finally go “Into the Schwarzwald,” I thought I’d do a rundown, in three parts, of some of the most tantalizing questions that Grimm has yet to answer, starting with the ones we’ve been asking since Day One.

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Part of the Grimm Writers’ ability to keep us on our toes has been their unusual approach to melding the mytharc with character arcs and monsters of the week. It’s never completely apparent which one we’re getting, for one thing, and they have no problem whatsoever mixing heavy with the last two while making us wait for the first one…and wait, and wait, and wait some more. Only to drop a new clue on us when we least expect it.

In a way, it’s built an odd sort of trust. For one thing, I never go into a new episode of Grimm thinking “oh here we go, filler episode!” For another, I know that no matter how long they go without mentioning the mytharc, they always come back to it eventually.

How many times have we thought we were getting just another MotW when, lo and behold, they pulled us back into the story they’ve been telling from the beginning? Isn’t it great/frustrating? Great because here’s a show that never leaves its roots behind…frustrating because we just want to know already.

So…without further ado, here are the burning questions we’ve been asking ever since Aunt Marie first showed up on Nick’s doorstep with a trailer full of books and weapons in tow:

The Keys

The first time we heard about the keys was in the pilot episode, when Nick was given one by Aunt Marie. At the time, all Nick knew was that he had to keep the key safe and hidden. And for a long time, that’s all we got.

Until the season two premiere, when we learned just a little more. Apparently, these keys once belonged to seven knights–ancestors of the Grimms, no less–who fought for the seven royal families sometime during the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204). During the sacking of Constantinople, these knights discovered a treasure of incredible power. Afraid of what their masters would do with so much power, the knights hid the treasure and put a map to it on the keys.

According to Sean in the season two episode “Endangered,” the Royals spent a lot of time and money (and spilled a lot of blood) to obtain four of the seven keys. Although at some point they must have lost a few of them, considering Team Grimm is in possession of five (and thus most of the map) as of the season five episode “Map of the Seven Knights.”

There wasn’t a lot about the keys in seasons two and three, aside from one or two brief moments in which Nick would look at the one he had. Until, that is, Rolek Porter showed up in season three and passed the key in his possession on to Nick, just before his death. And then we got yet another season of practically nothing before the last two episodes, which brought the keys front and center. At last.

So far, we still don’t even know what the keys lead to, except that it’s supposed to be incredibly valuable and very powerful, powerful enough that, in the wrong hands, it could lead to world domination.

According to the portion of the map Nick now has, the treasure is hidden in the Black Forest. But what is it? And how do they expect to get it with only five of the seven keys? And for that matter…who has the other two? The Royals, perhaps?

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Sean Renard

What are his motives? What is his endgame? Who is he, really?

Okay, so we know a bit about the last one. First introduced as Nick’s no-nonsense boss, Captain Renard was almost immediately revealed to be shady af when he ordered Adalind Schade to kill Aunt Marie while she was lying in the hospital. It became increasingly obvious over the course of season one that Sean was not to be trusted, and that he had secret ambitions–and plans for Nick. His identity as a half-royal, half-zauberbiest who had successfully hidden his Wesen identity from Nick for over a year just served to make him seem more dangerous, and more mysterious.

Now, two years later, it’s never been made explicitly clear what Sean’s original motivations were. He clearly wanted Nick in Portland and on his side, even under his control, but for what purpose? More importantly, has his endgame changed, or have his methods for achieving it simply shifted to accommodate new information? Was he seeking to control Nick because he’s shady and dangerous, or because he was worried Nick might be shady and dangerous (I mean, given the Grimms’ reputation, it makes sense)?

Matters aren’t helped by Renard’s inability to play well with others. He has worked with–and pissed off–so many groups over the years, it’s hard to pin down where his loyalties lie. He had no problem condoning and facilitating criminal and even murderous acts in his city, yet he seems fiercely protective of it at times as well.

The royals of House Kronenberg are his family, but there’s no love lost there, on either side. His friend and spy Sebastien was fiercely loyal to Renard, to the point that he died for him…but Renard didn’t seem overly grieved to lose him (then again, the man’s control over his emotions is the stuff of legend).

He worked with the Resistance for a time, but that seemed to be more a means to an end than anything else, and it’s fairly clear he and the Resistance never trusted each other. And at the moment he seems inexplicably embroiled in a weirdly flat side-plot to get his friend elected to office.

Only one thing is certain: he loves his mama.

Okay, yes he does, but in all seriousness: the only certain thing is that before joining Team Grimm, Renard seemed to be after the seven keys that create the Map of the Seven Knights himself. But he hasn’t made any attempt to take them from Nick and Co. since he joined up in season two. Is this because his endgame has changed, or because he decided the best way to get what he wanted was to throw in with Nick?

Who knows…maybe by this time next week, we’ll find out!

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Grimm Heredity

Okay, I know that’s not a photo of anything sensible, like the Grimm family trees shown in “Map of the Seven Knights.” But I couldn’t find one and there wasn’t time to make one, so here. Have Trubel with a book.

This is one mystery we’ve gone over and over at FYNB, most notably with D’s

Grimm Punnet Squares. We’ve talked about how gender roles might influence how Grimm genes are passed, whether Grimm might just be another type of Wesen, and even had some back and forth with the Grimm Writers on twitter on the subject!

As the writers themselves have said, the secrets to “Grimmetics” are considered big-M Mythology. As such, the answers are being kept super secret, known only to Jim and David. Which is all well and good, but c’mon guys. It’s been YEARS.

What we do know for sure? Well, not much:

• There are concrete and observable physical differences between a Grimm and a Kehrseite, at least in the corneas of their eyes.
• These physical differences remain present and observable even when the abilities they afford are latent.
• Male Grimms’ abilities show up later in life than female Grimms’.
• A female Grimm and male Kehrseite are capable of having a Grimm son (Nick’s parents).
• A male Grimm can have a son who displays no Grimm abilities.

It was once implied that the death of a family member could trigger abilities in a male Grimm, but this is questionable considering a) Nick’s abilities began to appear before Marie died, and b) Josh showed no abilities after his father died. Then again, Josh could simply be a squib, so-to-speak…but the sample size here is just too small to know anything.

How does it really work? We can only guess. And beg the writers to tell us.