[Image ID: two digital illustrations, the first of witch depicts the recipe for a grimwalker. Listed from top to bottom is "Galderstone" drawn next to a blue crystal, "Palistrom Wood" drawn next to a log of blue wood, "Stonesleeper Lungs" drawn with a pair of stone lungs, "Selkidomus Scales," drawn with a section of purple fish scales, and "Bone of Ortet" drawn with the skeleton of a human left hand. The second illustration shows Belos from the waist up clutching the hand skeleton in his fist and saying, "How amusing, Caleb. Your left hand will become my right." Both images have dark backgrounds.]
More of my thoughts on this theory beneath the cut! (Spoilers for Thanks to Them)
Okay so we all know Hunter is a grimwalker made from one of Caleb's bones, but I'm convinced it was his left hand specifically.
Like much of the fandom throughout season 2, I was intrigued by Hunter's gloves and his seemingly increased sensitivity regarding his hands. Like most people, I believed he had some scars there, or heck at least eczema, and couldn't wait for the show to finally reveal the mystery of Hunter's hands.
But then Disney Channel released the Monstober promo featuring this clip from Thanks to Them.
[image ID: A screenshot of Luz and Hunter staring straight ahead while Gus looks very excited. Hunter is noticeably not wearing gloves as he holds a flip-phone like object and his hands have no visible scars.]
And I just went!!! what the heck!!! all that build up for nothing!? His hands were just so casually revealed like that? The episode wasn't even out yet and I was already going out of my mind trying to figure out what was going on there.
And then I got to Chapter 16 of Mr_Spinner's incredible fic Strength in Body and Mind and it all started to make sense. I won't spoil too much of the story for those who haven't read it yet, but a part of the plot involves Belos making a grimwalker out of Hunter's wisdom fangs, and this grimwalker often experiences pain in his teeth because of that. Hunter's hand(s) could very likely cause him pain for the exact same reason. Then couple that with the fact that as the Golden Guard, Hunter is often referred to as "The Emperor's Right Hand Man." No matter which hand was used, Belos would think that was hilarious, this is the same guy who came up with the name "Hunter" for a witch hunter's grimwalker.
So why the left hand specifically? Well, first in Hollow Mind it's Hunter's left hand that starts to tremble when the bird palisman disintegrates
[image ID: Two screenshots from Hollow Mind. The first shows Hunter's left hand holding a bird palisman as it smokes and turns to ash. The second is a moment after, showing Hunter's left hand is now empty and he is holding it with his right hand to stop it from shaking.]
and in Labyrinth Runners, it's his left hand again that hurts when Gus high-fives him (and no offense to Gus but that was not a very forceful high five).
[image ID: a screenshot from Labyrinth Runners. Gus has just high-fived Hunter and Hunter is recoiling and wincing in pain.]
BUT THEN Thanks to Them aired and I got the most compelling evidence of all.
As a semi-tangent, I'd like to point out first that Belos enters Hunter's bloodstream through the cut on his right hand. This of course is coincidence that Hunter hurt himself there, but it once again underlines the "Right Hand Man" title. This is relevant as the right hand is the only part of his body that Hunter is later not able to regain control over from his possession, which makes sense.
But the part that he first regains control over is his left hand.
[image ID: two screenshots from Thanks to Them showing Possessed Hunter. In the first, Hunter is using his left arm to restrain his right arm that Belos is using to harm Flapjack. In the second, Hunter punches himself in the face using his left hand.]
How interesting would it be if out of all the parts in Hunter's body, the part he was first able to take back from Belos was the part donated to him from Caleb? The only part of him arguably not made by Belos? I think it would be very cool.
Please note that Belos himself is left handed, so if he is having to use his non-dominant right hand here that implies there has to be some serious resistance from the left. It is also the left hand that Hunter uses to throw the Titan's blood in the water, which makes sense given everything I've speculated so far.
Now, there are a couple counter arguments to this theory, the greater of the two being the fact that a hand is made of 27 individual bones. Why wouldn't Belos make 27 grimwalkers then? I propose that they are each too tiny. I mean come on. How could a teeny metacarpal carry the same weight as a femur or a rib? I think it would also be interesting if being made from many small bones instead of one large bone could have contributed to Hunter looking "the most like" Caleb.
The other less substantial argument is that it's actually Hunter's right hand that hurts after Willow shakes his hand in Any Sport In A Storm. To that I would argue Willow is strong. Like, really strong. She shook his hand so vigorously that his entire body was jerking around. I think that would hurt under any circumstances, plus Hunter seems to recover from this quicker than the above mentioned instances.
So what do you all think? I'd love to hear more people's thoughts and theories!
why is nobody talking about the first (successful) grimwalker
Belos probably loved that thing (twistedly so) to death. he though he had succeeded. maybe it didnt exactly look right but it was Caleb’s. maybe it wasn’t perfect but it was Caleb’s. his baby. his nephew.
What if Grimwalkers originally are a type of spectral dog/wolf demon or a type of shapeshifters like the basilisks. That's why they have so many books about them. Belos may have been able to create fake ones, but they have to have excisted as a species at some point for them to be extinct and have legends about them. There simply can't be an entire species that exist only with galderstones as hearts. there aren't enough of them (they are super rare).
a grim = a dog/wolf/shapeshifter
walker = person/ someone who walks on two legs?
Hunter loves wolves
conclusion: Grimwalker = werewolves or wolfwalkers .(wiki)
(maybe a conection to titans since King looks like a small black dog )
ahh ok, i'll try to be as brief and thorough as i can be lol but basically:
(toh spoilers ahead ofc)
In the last episode we saw THIS book...
...open on a page about a "grimwalker" specifically, in which there is a list of ingredients (for stuff like heart, keratin, lungs, bones???), there are different life stages illustrated (from fetus to adult i'm guessing), and there are picture of red/pink eyes and a side profile, both of which look just like hunter's
soooo since details like this are very rarely shown for no reason in animation, this must mean it is somehow relevant
so now there's this theory that this is all related to hunter, either that he IS a grimwalker (so like?? artificially/magically built by belos, or a clone, or sth like that?? honestly no idea what it means exactly lmao) or that he is needed to MAKE a grimwalker (and that belos just saw some characteristics needed for that in hunter, like the eyes, and that’s why he took him in), and that it's all somehow tied to the day of unity (since belos keeps saying that "the titan has big plans" for him and it'd be "such a hassle" to replace him) (so specifically hunter is possibly needed for... some kinda ritual? a sacrifice?? a vessel? either way probably nothing good UM run hunter)
there are some holes in either theory honestly, like:
in hunting palismen, hunter says that he is a powerless witch (as many of his ancestors were) so he never thought he'd "have a future in a world like this", that is until belos "found him", gave him the staff with artificial magic, and said that the titan had big plans for him (once again. not suspicious at all, dude).
so if belos indeed had created hunter, then how could he have "found" him?? would a guy create an actual person/clone (specifically one whom he's gonna need in the future for some important stuff), JUST to drop them when they're little and take them in later on, once they've matured enough? possible ig, but not very likely lmao cuz. why? for what? like, unless hunter is misremembering (which is not very likely since it seems like it was later on in his life), then that's rly what happened. so????? hm
and like if he's needed as a vessel, as some ppl think, wouldn't belos care for him more, if he wanted to kinda "take over his body"? (nah, i RLY hope this one is wrong, like that is SICK, you're a sick man, belos, PLS let this one be wrong) make sure hunter sleeps well, doesn't risk his life/injuries, etc? (and we don't know for sure, but it is kinda implied that hunter's scars may have been belos' fault too, so. oof if that's the case) like, yeah, belos does command hunter to stay safe in the castle in the last episode but whether it is cuz he wants him to not be hurt at all or just cuz he'd almost died and belos cannot let that happen... no idea (surely not cuz he actually cares abt him tho, that's unfortunately certain)
BUT YEAH UH. GUESS WE’LL SEE? this is all basically added up from scraps so once we know more, the fandom will probably draw more detailed/correct conclusions.
honestly though, this could lead to a very interesting story arc if any version of the theory was true (AS LONG AS everything ended happily ofc)
although I am pretty sure that belos rly does have something (bad) planned for hunter for the day of unity (grimwalker-related or not), so i just rly rly hope that he manages to realize/find out whatever belos is planning and GET the Fuck OUTTA THERE before it’s too late, or else i will go absolutely feral.
And if the theory ISN'T true? then i'm very very happy for him cuz we all know boy doesn't need even MORE problems and trauma in his life
either way i'm throwing hands with belos 🤛 🤛 get ready, dude, you're going Down
ok anyone else curious why it is belos cannot or will not make another grimwalker until hunter is dead
like its weird enough that he has been capable of making a clone army this whole time of seemingly a pretty powerful person but even when hes betrayed he is unwilling to make another to assist with the day of unity
ik theres a lot grimwalker theories out there so im curious if anyone has an explanation or idea as to why this might be.
all right so today an anon sent me an ask about whether the hunter-is-a-grimwalker theory could be a red herring (and i deleted it accidentally i’m so sorry) so here’s a post just explaining my personal ideas for this!
i don’t think it’s a red herring, personally, because as the very lovely @cecelovesrats said, the similarities between hunter’s side profile and the side profile from belos’s grimwalker book are eerily alike:
the hooked nose, the eye color, it all matches up! adding in philip’s desire to learn more magic, this works perfectly, as i suspect that the level of magic required to make a grimwalker is extremely high, looking at the ingredients:
-a galdorstone: used to create the heart as well as the power of a grimwalker. hunter’s been shown to not have any regular magical capabilities (ie not having a bilesack), but he can do that cool magic glitchy thing which feeds into the whole power thing:
(side note: he has a rainbow thing that appears before he glitches out)
-palistrom wood: presumably for nails, hair, etc. it’s blue, as shown:
but i think that since it changes color based on a witch/warlock’s personal animal, it could’ve changed color to match the hope philip had that hunter would look like his brother. they do have the same hair color, so it’s highly possible that this could’ve happened!
i’m not really sure about the stonesleeper lungs or selkidomus scales, but they could’ve just been used to “build” the rest of a grimwalker’s body. oh, also, i’m pretty sure bone of ortez has to do something with king- maybe that’s why he’s in the finale, since bone of ortez is capitalized and we see luz in king’s home in the trailer!
cece also pointed out that hunter looks extremely similar to philip’s brother, and he has a palisman like flapjack!
cardinals, throughout history, have been used to represent loyalty and the importance of family and friendship! if the flapjack is the same cardinal philip’s brother had, this could be an extremely big clue as to if hunter is a grimwalker or not. (thank you cece for all of this :>)
now, if hunter isn’t a grimwalker, then what else could he be? cece suggests that he could possibly be a descendant of the wittebane brothers (would explain how hunter doesn’t have a bilesack, since his ancestry would be human and witch, and belos’ story about him finding hunter might be true!), and i’m inclined to agree.
ok that’s about all i have for this :3 hope this answered your question, anon!
i’m still not 100% convinced on the theory that hunter’s and by extension all the grimwalkers’ organs/bodies are made of the grimwalker ingredients (like their heart would be made of stone and stuff). i personally think there’s some magical transformation into biological material instead
