lalottered:

abybweisse:

lalottered:

lalottered:

abybweisse:

lalottered:

abybweisse:

abybweisse:

shinigami-mistress:

Hello Anon and thanks for the question. I actually think Grell probably can swim. When we see her after Campania floats, she is lying face down in the water.

I think this was to show she had been beaten up by Undertaker rather than to indicate she can’t swim. It is a bit ironic that she looks like she’s doing the dead man’s float though.

I hope that answers your question, Anon. Have a lovely day!

It’s my headcanon that Grell committed suicide by drowning, and this “dead man’s float” scene is a nod to it, even though in context of the scene it is indeed to show Undertaker had sent Grell over the railing and into the water.

I think casting Grell as Ophelia in the “Hamlet” episode of s1 was also a nod to how Grell actually died.

What finally led me to the headcanon is the pic of a long-haired reaper drowning in one of Sascha’s scenes, when he explains all reapers committed suicide. I think the long-haired one with bubbles rising to the surface (in a framed image) is Grell (and not Undertaker).

Notice that in an extra chapter (That Butler: Requested), Grell is cast as another character who ends up throwing themselves into the water (sea in this case) to die.

In the *original version* of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid”, The unnamed mermaid loses the man she loves to another woman. Given the option to kill the man and live on as a human (gaining an immortal soul) vs allow herself to die/become sea foam (and supposedly never have an immortal soul), she ends up choosing her own death. She throws herself off a ship and falls to the water, immediately becoming sea foam. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid

There is controversy regarding the ending that has the mermaid (in sea foam form) join the “Daughters of the Air”, who can gain immortal souls by doing 300 yrs of good deeds. Some say it was added later to give the story a happy ending, and that it might have originally ended with her death.

Since Yana-san has Arthur specifically mention Andersen, she probably is referring to his “original” version and not our modern Disney rework of the story. Grell might have chosen death (by drowning) instead of living with the sadness of being rejected. And then being recruited by the reapers is like a parallel to the mermaid joining the “Daughters of the Air”; collecting souls for some length of time will eventually lead to salvation/forgiveness. Of course, it’s never that straightforward. Even in the ending with those “Daughters of the Air”, these spirits can shorten the time it takes by certain methods, but if they are unlucky in this, more time will be added to their “service”. Grell’s time as a reaper might have been increased by helping Madam Red with her Jack the Ripper murder spree….

Anyway… more reason why I think Grell committed suicide by drowning.

Damn, you really explained that theory’s plausibility well, there!

For me, I started considering the theory as possibly canon after seeing this image:

Sure, it’s just artwork, and everyone’s underwater, but Grell looks so peaceful there… as if Toboso couldn’t picture the Grell we presently know in water, and pictured Grell’s suicide instead…

I mean look closely:

Grell’s position kind of looks like it was intentional (my guess; I don’t have any knowledge about what a suicide would look like)

Also, Grell looks so sad here…

Only Lizzy has that expression apart from Grell, but Lizzy’s human, and the arc’s plot explains why she would be (having to protect Ciel and all)

Also Grell’s mouth is the most open compared to all other characters, as if Grell was accepting the water to fill their lungs (other characters are nearly closed, or completely closed)

I don’t know, I might be over-interpreting the image.

Before I even got to the part where you mention Grelle’s open mouth, I was looking at the close-up and having the exact same thought. Grelle isn’t keeping the water out. Even the other reapers (Undertaker and Ronald) are shown here with closed mouths, so it isn’t just because Grelle is a reaper who cannot (now) drown. This could be another hint.

Good observation!

I have had so many mind fanfics involving Grell’s human life and drowning, and it seems more suitable than any other way of suicide (I’ve tried the knife in heart one several times, but it doesn’t seem suitable.)

My latest headcanon fanfic is Grell stabbing himself, dropping the weapon on the ground, and letting himself fall into the Thames river, making the whole thing look like a murder, as to not dishonor his family (I’ve got no evidence apart from the whole drowning theory, so don’t take this as canon info)

Just bringing this up again because I wonder if we could tie the image from the German Shinigami explanation about suicide in.

This one:

The upmost image pictures a long-haired person drowning…

But if we consider the OVA about Will showing Grell and Will when they were fresh from the academy, Grell probably lived in the 18th century.

I don’t know how long a reaper has to learn at the academy, but I do know that the fashion in that century was like this:

And although it was mostly wigs, this slideshow video says sometimes real hair was powdered white instead. 

Also men typically wore long colorful coats then, and Grell’s love for long and colorful clothing would be explained from that source…

That is if Grell were part of the high classes, which, judging from his fashion tastes, he might be:

Even his uniform has a longer coat.

I’m pretty sure long hair was a sign of wealth then, so if Grell was part of that class and had long hair before committing suicide, then he definitely drowned himself, as shown in the upmost panel of the manga’s page.

Also, I noticed Grell already seemed to be into men in the OVA (before he fell in love with Will), so perhaps his reason for committing suicide is either the fact he doesn’t want a forced marriage with a girl, and/or the fact that he probably wants to avoid dishonoring his family with his homosexuality (because gossip was common at that time in the upper classes, so secrets were very hard to keep). Bridges weren’t too sturdy at places and there were barely any barriers between the street and the river, so accidents were common, and thus a suicide could probably easily be disguised as a drunk accident (or a homicide?) or some other unfortunate event (like being pushed by a passing carriage or not seeing in the dark). Thus, drowning would have been the most effective way of committing suicide and making it appear as an accident instead, thus saving the family from gossip and dishonor.

Just some extra possible evidence to the theory. Tell me what you think about it, @abybweisse

Well, I do think the picture (in the manga) of the long-haired suicide-by-drowning is Grelle, despite the images from the ova and design art for it, showing Grelle with short hair.

Thanks for finding the 18th century men’s hair and wig fashion designs!

I always figured Grelle’s decision to commit suicide was either due to sexuality or gender identity issues and/or unrequited love for some man. Making it look like an accident or murder makes sense, if the point is to not dishonor the family. Many in the fandom still support the idea that it was slashed wrists, claiming it’s a method commonly used by women. However, drowning is one of the most common suicide methods for women, at least as common as cutting wrists/slashing arteries. Could be anything from drowning in the bathtub, falling into a river, walking right into the sea, or even jumping off a seaside cliff. Depending on how you do it, you can make any of those look like accidental drownings; you can’t make slashed arteries look like an accident.

Continuing with the appearance of an accident thing and family honor: In “Hamlet” (and I’ve mentioned this before in regards to Grelle and suicide) Ophelia’s death was mostly treated as an accident. The “story” went that she had climbed a tree and sat on a limb, but then the limb broke, sending her into the river or stream below. However, at the funeral, one of the sentries in attendance calls it a “suicide”, and Ophelia’s mother gets angry he said that. It could be that she knew her daughter had killed herself, but she was going to say it was an accident just to “save face” for the family name….

And Ophelia came from a noble family. Perhaps Grelle did, too, though I’m not certain. I said in a post just recently that I see Grelle as having been at least middle class. Of course, you don’t have to be middle class or higher to worry about things like honor or social standing. Even a lower class family might try to hide the truth of a suicide; they might be trying to improve their family’s status.

Ophelia had been spurned by Prince Hamlet, and many thought she’d gone quite insane. The little mermaid (originally) was also rejected by her prince and chose death.

Anyway, I think these are highly plausible:

• Motive(s): unrequited love and/or societal pressures related to sexuality/gender identity
• Method: Suicide by drowning. Intended to look like an accident or homicide (to maintain family honor), particularly if Grelle was from the gentry or nobility.

I found the Hamlet OVA to be a good hint at that too. Of all characters that could play Ophelia (I was thinking Lizzy could do, being Ciel’s fiancée and all), Grell was chosen. Also, when Grell told Ciel he was a terrible actor, Grell showed a great performance of “To be or not to be”, which coincidentally is the soliloquy in Hamlet that mentions suicide and death…

Also, if the idea that Grell was from a noble family is true, then the possibility of suicide by slit wrists would greatly be reduced, if Grell didn’t want to dishonor his family.