Gretel
protagonist · human
Frightened for a month, useless by her own account, and then the only person in the story who actually does anything.
What they are like
- Kind
- 9/10
- Brave
- 10/10
- Clever
- 8/10
- Honest
- 7/10
- Curious
- 5/10
- Patient
- 8/10
How we meet them
Crying into a blanket so as not to be heard. She is not introduced as brave or clever, only as small and afraid, which is what makes the ending land.
Personality
Anxious and entirely honest about it. She does not become brave by stopping being frightened; she acts while still frightened, which is the harder version.
What they want
At first, to be looked after. Then, when there is nobody left to do it, to get her brother out of that stable.
How they change
The best arc in any Grimm tale. She spends a month believing she is useless, and then does the one thing nobody else could have done.
How they speak
Almost nothing for most of the story. Her decisive line is three words long and it is a lie: 'I don't know how.'
How the story treats them
The witch calls her a stupid girl thirty seconds before she loses to her. Gretel calls herself useless every night for a month. Both are wrong.
One surprising thing
She is the only child in the famous Grimm tales who rescues someone else without any magic, any helper, or any adult.
If they were real today
She would be the one who freezes in the drill and then moves first in the real thing.
Things they say
- “I don't know how.”
Key moments
Crying into the blanket
She hears the same conversation Hansel does and reacts the way most people would. The story does not judge her for it, which matters.
A month of being useless
Carrying water, scrubbing, feeding her brother for the witch, and telling herself every night by the stove that she cannot think of anything.
I don't know how
Told to climb into the oven, she says three words that get the witch to bend down instead, and then she does not think about it at all.
“I don't know how.”
Who they know
Characters like Gretel
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