I came across this illustration by Warwick Goble for the fairy tale “Momotaro,” and I remembered this old idea/headcanon I had for the TV series Grimm.
So the backstory in Grimm is that Grimms (who weren’t always called that; they’ve had many names throughout history - the Romans knew them as “Decapitators”) have been fighting Wesen (who I’m pretty sure weren’t always called that in every corner of the world), and these battles formed the basis of many fairy tales. And in addition to being the inspiration behind creatures like ogres, dragons, and trolls, the Wesen also inspired fairy tales with talking animals, like the three bears and Reynard the Fox.
The story of Momotaro is that he traveled with three animal friends and fought a band of Oni who lived on an island, because they would raid the land and terrorize villagers. In the Grimm universe, that would make Momotaro a Grimm, and the three animals and Oni Wesen (though given that they live in Japan, “Yokai” would probably be what they’re called; no idea what a Grimm would be called in Japan, though…).
It’s an idea I’ve had since I watched the show a few years ago; I honestly have no idea what to do with it (I did write another Grimm-related thing recently, but it’s still a rough draft), so it’s just something that’s been in my head for a while.
