Grelliam

Grelliam is the het ship between Grell Sutcliff and William T. Spears from the Black Butler fandom.

Canon
Grell runs away from the Grim Reaper Dispatch in 1885 to live with Angelina Dalles and murder women not on the death list using an illegally modified death scythe. William investigates her and shows up to arrest her in 1888, after she is gone for three years. In February 1889, Grell is released from her sentence and becomes an active grim reaper again. William is apprehensive about this. In April 1889, after Grell and Ronald Knox are badly wounded on board the Campania by Undertaker, William shows up to recover them and make sure they continue to collect souls. Grell is just thrilled she gets to see William again.

In the anime OVA The Story of Will The Reaper, William recalls meeting Grell for the first time in 1799, almost a century ago, when they were both training to become full grim reapers. She is a more talented reaper than he is, but he is more consistent and cautious. They are assigned to reap the soul of the human writer Thomas Wallis together and although Grell encourages William to hurry up, he encourages her to wait until Wallis dies. After Wallis compliments Grell’s appearance, she changes her mind and tries to physically fight William to let Wallis live, but William defeats her in battle, allowing Wallis to die and causing Grell to fall in love with William. This OVA was inspired by Yana Toboso’s statement that William owed a debt to Grell for saving him in the past.

In the 2013 version of the musical The Most Beautiful DEATH in the World, Grell sings about her attraction to William and Sebastian, flanked by Sebastian and William, who dance with her. Grell likes to name drop William in the musicals, even those in which he doesn’t appear. In the musical Lycoris that Blazes the Earth, William appears at the end to arrest Grell. At the end of the musical Tango on the Campania, Grell expresses that she misses William. William is the only character to have been mentioned in every musical, despite not appearing in all of them, because Grell always name-drops him.

Fanon
Grelliam is one of the most popular ships within the Black Butler fandom, although it is rivaled by SebaGrell. Grelliam became notably more popular after the release of the anime’s OVAs. Many fans believe that William used to, or currently does have feelings for Grell but hides them due to embarrassment, an inability to express his emotions, or his fear of homo/transphobia. The ship is popular because of the contrast between Grell’s expressive personality and appearance and William’s dull appearance and cold, introverted nature. On AO3, Grelliam is the most written ship for both William and Grell. It is also the second most written in the Black Butler tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

ART

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * William is Grell’s favorite crush.
 * Grell is stronger than William.
 * The Story of Will the Reaper is Yana Toboso’s favorite of the anime’s OVAs.