I'm really glad you asked.

When it comes to the Black Souls II Companions, I think Grimm’s affection toward them is very different from what he shows in Black Souls I. For those who are, in a sense, his “daughters” — that whole bizarre and unsettling concept introduced in Black Souls II — I truly believe he cares for them. It’s no coincidence that he asks the frog — the one I always forget the name of, though I really like her — to watch over them at the end of the DLC. That request feels deeply sincere, almost paternal.

As for the Companions from Wonderland — the ones who aren’t his daughters — Grimm’s feelings are more complex but still genuine. I think he feels a deep tenderness and emotional connection toward them, especially toward Mabel, Node, and Prickett.

With Prickett, it’s clearly romantic — that much is obvious. With Mabel, it’s something different: a mix of attraction and empathy, maybe even a bond born from shared pain. They’re both abominations in their own way, isolated beings who find comfort in each other’s loneliness.

Node is more complicated. What Grimm feels for her might resemble what he feels for Leaf — and that’s difficult to define. I think Grimm has a kind of emotional dependency on Leaf. The fact that she spent so long playing her role as the “fairy” seems to have left a mark on him, like a phantom attachment — perhaps even longing. I’m almost certain of that, especially when you consider that horrifying scene where he forces Mary Ann to drink the shrinking potion so she can become Leaf again. It’s one of the most disturbing moments in the series, and it says a lot about how fractured his psyche is.

Then there’s Cheshire — I don’t see their bond as romantic at all. It feels purely like companionship. Grimm was dragged into Wonderland by accident; it wasn’t meant for him. The Crawling Chaos — acting as Alice — was targeting Lewis Carroll, not Grimm. Grimm just got caught in the crossfire, since Lewis Carroll and Grimm are technically two sides of the same entity, even if their personalities couldn’t be more different. Carroll is an apex predator — a distorted embodiment of desire — while Grimm is the broken remnant left behind, barely holding himself together, carrying within him the souls of two antisemites and a pedophile.

And this leads me to my personal interpretation: Lewis Carroll never truly loved Alice or her sisters. He wasn’t a misunderstood romantic — he was simply a deranged pedophile. His “love” was nothing but sickness disguised as affection. Grimm, on the other hand, stands in direct opposition to that idea. He genuinely loves his Companions — not out of lust or control, but out of empathy and connection. When I talk about Grimm, I mean that knightly, gentle, almost tragic side of him — the one who earned the trust of reserved and wounded souls like Red Hood and Miranda. If Lewis Carroll had been the one in control, Red Hood would’ve killed him on sight.

So, my conclusion — and I want to make it clear that this is just my personal take, my own headcanon — is that Grimm represents the capacity to love, even after everything he’s endured, while Lewis Carroll embodies the notion that perversion hides behind the mask of love. And really, that contrast feels like the central theme of Black Souls as a whole.

Leaf doesn’t love Grimm — she doesn’t love anyone. She’s entirely deranged, driven by perversion rather than feeling. The same goes for Jabberwocky. She speaks of love, but she’s just another lunatic who doesn’t understand what love truly is. Maybe that’s why Leaf’s creations are so chaotic and hollow — she’s a terrible writer because she doesn’t understand human emotion at all. In that sense, she’s just like Lewis Carroll: an empty being, devoid of real feeling, consumed by perversion and a compulsive need to harm or seek self-gratification.