This isn’t my personal interpretation of Grimgrim and Brat Finn but this is a fun idea I had that I decided to explore.
In this twisted timeline Gumgum became possessed/corrupted by Entropa (this happening before the party’s encounter with Inku) unable to save Gumgum the others were forced to retreat even though Entropa wasn’t at full power he was still too strong to fight head on.
Bartholomew ran into Inku who decided to have fun with this exiting opportunity and struck a deal with Bart that she would reunite Bart with Gumgum if he became her warlock, out of options and desperate to save his friend Bart agreed.
Bart hoped to use the power Inku gave him to eventually betray Inkoo and Entropa and save Gumgum, unfortunately he underestimated Entropa and couldn’t fully expel him from Gumgum but he was able to suppress him.
Because Inku couldn’t fully fulfil her end of the bargain Bart didn’t completely become lost to her still keeping a semblance of free will unfortunately things would go south regardless. With the other infinights gone and his own soul semi owned by the wicked lady Brat abandoned his new home reestablishing himself as a pirate
Brat now corrupted by Inku’s magic began to hate Grimgrim, he knew that Entropa was still in there and that Gumgum would never be the same again, eventually disassociating Grimgrim from Gumgum completely (perhaps even renaming him himself to further the distinction).
Brat would use his magic over emotions to keep Grimgrim calm and in check, at first to ensure Entropas rage would never resurface to the point of him returning, but eventually he decided to use his magic to control his emotions for his own benefit using him as a weapon, filling Grimgrim with rage so he would destroy anyone who apposed him and then calming him down so he would never turn his anger against him.
From Grimgrims perspective on the situation I’m tore, it either goes one of two ways. Either Grimgrim doesn’t realise he’s being used and genuinely believes Brat loves him, the part of Gumgum that’s still in there seeing Brat as his best friend and he doesn’t realise his emotions are being manipulated. He thinks that when others try to hurt Brat or when Brat wants him to hurt others his rage is his own, and that when he’s alone with Brat he feels calm and happy feeing safe around him. Associating calm and happieness with Brat while associating anything Brat doesn’t like with rage and pain.
Or
He knows he’s being used but he doesn’t care, a part of him wants to believe that Brat is still the Bart he once knew (Gumgum), but the other part of him wants to tear Brat apart for daring to use him (Entropa), both sides cancelling each-other out leading to apathy. After all, what’s the point in fighting Brat? he doesn’t have anyone else. His friends are gone, his family abandoned him, this is all he knows now, what would he do if he left? where would he go? Even if he did find anyone new it would probably end the same, at least here he can associate Brat with something familiar and pretend he has something worth fighting for.
As the years went by Brats corruption grew more and he couldn’t even acknowledge Gumgum as a part of Grimgrim anymore (if he ever could) as far as Brat was concerned his Gumgum died years ago and him using Grimgrim as a pawn was Entropas justified punishment. But then they were approached by a figure they haven’t encountered in years Little Jimmy, but this wasn’t their Little Jimmy this was a man from another place, another time.
Little Jimmy showed Brat and Grimgrim a world of what could have been a world where Entropa was defeated and they both enjoyed happy ending with their friends who never fell to darkness and envy grew within them. Little Jimmy informed them that it was these infinights that in their carelessness created timelines that ended in tragedy not just for them but countless others and he offered them a chance at revenge to which they happily took.
Things in the one shot play out pretty much the same, except after the fact Gumgum brings the Dia gems together and he and the others Travel to these alternate worlds to try and fix what went wrong and save their otherselves.
Above all else Grimgrim and Brat miss each other and would do almost anything to have what they believe was robbed from them, a chance to see eachother again as they once were.
Sometimes I think about Bart and Gumgums evil counterparts (Brat and Grimgrim) and wish people would talk about it because I feel like theirs a lot of potential here we are missing out on.
Firstly the idea of an evil Bart or Gumgum is already a fun idea to play around with, considering those two are arguably the most reasonable and kind members of their party and this idea becomes especially fun when you consider their dynamic with eachother.
During the bonus 3 shot when the infinights first battle with their otherselves they first fight Brat (evil bart) and Grimgrim (evil Gumgum) even when from a timeline where they lost their way and became corrupt they are still inseparable and dispite Grimgrim holding his own extremely well during the battle when Brat called him off and asked Grimgrim to follow him onto the island he did so with no hesitation.
There are a lot of ways you can look at those two especially considering we don’t really know how they got corrupted in their timelines, however this is my interpretation. Brat is Bart without spirit and Grimgrim is Gumgum without love.
Let’s start with Brat, his appearance is less saturated and more dark having a colour scheme similar to Inkoo. It’s easy to assume Bart either failed to save his parents, somehow he encounter Inkoo too soon and when they fought Bart wasn’t prepared and lost, or maybe even went to Inkoo willingly out of desperation or manipulation losing himself in the process. Another thing is when Gumgum interacts with Brat and Brat tries to “comfort” Gumgum he attempts to cast a spell that would fill Gumgum with rage and sorrow and I find that interesting, Bart is quite encouraging especially to Gumgum so it would make sence that Brat would have a similar trait however instead of positive reinforcement he would instead use manipulation into enforce negative emotions and control the behaviour of others, bring out the worst in someone rather then inspiring them for the better.
Grimgrims appearance is a larger angrier Gumgum with thorns growing from his body that he can rip off and throw at enemy’s. Now Gumgum is a self proclaimed flower wizard and flowers can be used for many lovely things they can be used for decorations, used for medication, used for magical rituals, some even eventually grow into fruits, however some flowers have thorns to protect themselves. Gumgum is a well intentioned and innocent character which would leave him vulnerable to being mocked, ostracised, or taken advantage of, we also know despite his kind nature he isn’t immune to negative emotions, he gets angry, he gets upset but he isn’t mean he loves his friends too much to let his anger get the best of him, he loves doing what’s right too much to use his powers for evil. Instead he uses his rage to help people and to fight for the greater good, however Grimgrim seems to have lost that. He isn’t a flower wizard he is a thorn barbarian his kindness and flowers have rotted away leaving nothing but the protective throne, that he not only uses as armour but as weapons against others even if it means ripping them off his own skin.
Also the potential of their dynamic they have for one another because you could take this in many ways but here’s the ways I can think of at the top of my head.
1. It’s almost the same as the cannon timeline, they’re best friends, closer than brothers, inseparable and love eachother dearly, except unlike in cannon they hate and distrust everyone else. Something that could potentially lead to something less wholesome if their paranoia and hatred of others develops into them becoming overly clinging of the only other person they can rely on, a once healthy love twisting into codependency.
2. I touched upon this a bit earlier about Brat using his magic to manipulate the emotions of others, but what if he didn’t just do that with enemies? Brat needing validation and protection takes advantage of Grimgrim using his magic to control his emotions to suit his needs and encouraging his self destructive behaviour and hatred for anyone and everyone who isn’t him.
Finally I just wanted to say how sweet it was when Gumgums finally realised Brat was just another version of Bart his first instinct was to go over to him give him a cupcake, offer friendship and asking to resolve the fighting peacefully. The idea that Gumgum just wants to be friends with everyone even after all this time, and unconditionally loves every version of Bart even the ones that don’t want to be friends with him is just too much.
Also the fact that Bart was upset seeing Kyforge in pain, saying something along the lines of “I’m sorry! I think we could have been friends in another life” then Kyforge saying “we are” and Bart just starts crying. Poor guy doesn’t want to see his friends hurt even though that’s technically not his friend.
This went on longer than expected, thank you for reading and if you have anything you’d like to add or take away feel free to share your thoughts.
