What is a Grell?

I took the name Grell from the Dungeons and Dragons monster (a floating brain with beak and tentacles) but over time I have come to associate it so much with myself that to see it in its original use shocks me. Regardless of this shift in attitude, I recently made up my mind to find an image of a grell to post on this blog. It was much trickier than I expected. The google search I initiated returned only unsatisfactory images. So I went to DeviantArt. THAT was interesting.

It seems that I share my name not only with a D&D aberration, a comic book artist, a former labor party politician, and a cricketer, but also with a...

How to describe him?

I'll let Wikipedia do it.

"Grell Sutcliff (グレル・サトクリフ ,Gureru Satokurifu?) is a flamboyant, cross-dressing, and homosexual shinigami who works as Angelina Durless's butler. He is initially portrayed as worthless and is often seen in the anime adaption trying to commit suicide after mishandling tasks. Eventually, Angelina put him under Sebastian's care, so he could learn to be a better butler. After this, he becomes infatuated with Sebastian. As a shinigami, he is characterized with red hair and shark-like teeth. Grell often refers to himself as a female and verbalizes his infatuation with Sebastian, much to the latter's disgust. He met Angelina while she was murdering a former patient. Although he was to remain neutral without killing for enjoyment, Grell and Angelina forged a partnership and continued the murders. They were known as "Jack the Ripper" thereafter. Grell's shinigami scythe is illegally modified to look and function like a chainsaw. When cutting someone with his Scythe, their past memories are played out like a video reel; this is referred to as "Phantasmagoria Theater". In the end, Sebastian almost kills Grell with the Grim Reapers' own scythe, but Sebastian is stopped by William Spears. William beats Grell and takes him back to headquarters. Grell has not appeared afterward. However, he has made a reappearance in the anime adaption, where his role is lengthened through missions William has assigned him to investigate. He is and his scythe is confiscated. Grell has to rely on scissors which are able to cut through anything. He is able to be easily manipulated with promises of "alone time" with Sebastian."

(From the Wikipedia article on a list of Kuroshitsuji characters)

Grell Sutcliff is a cross-dressing, gay demon butler with suicidal tendencies who wields a chainsaw that is actually an illegally modified scythe. He has, it seems, a great fan base on the DeviantArt. It is somewhat worrying.