In the novel this character doesn’t appear as significant as he truly is. He resembles Clopin Trouillefou: he is either the king of the underworld or the chief of a jesters feast. He sneers, grimaces, theatricalizes, speaks in riddles. Like Ivan the Terrible, he likes to poor-mouth and make a sight of himself, often acts as a wretched stupid and weak person while enjoying the fact that he is in the position to afford to pull this off. He always plays to the gallery.

Bad Grief is in the control of the Town’s underworld. In the underground catacombs beneath the warehouses he has the say-so, and while in town his power is hardly present, it slithers like invisible tentacles and seizes those who get into its way.