From TES issue 37 (January 2006)

Series 7. Level 1/2/3.
GRIMALDINE
This bald Celtic wizard was frequently seen throughout the Dungeons of series 7. He had followed Brollachan to Knightmare with the purpose of rescuing the creature from Lord Fear's evil clutches and taking it back to his home world. For this reason, Grimaldine had a good deal of enmity towards Lord Fear, a fact of which he made no secret. Consequently, Grimaldine often took on the role of a very powerful ally to dungeoneers. However, he was still working to his own agenda, and needed to be handled carefully.

Anthony Donovan (who also played Brollachan) wore the wizard’s rich green robes, which linked Grimaldine with his homeland: "The hills and forests are my places, and I walk in this land not by choice." - Grimaldine. Indeed, Grimaldine often referred to himself as Grimaldine of the Green, as well as admitting he was "sometimes of the grey." However, we never got any clues about what this strange claim might mean. From what Lord Fear later revealed about Brollachan's homeland, however, we can deduce that Grimaldine and Brollachan both came from Cornwall. This seems to fit in with Grimaldine's comment that his own world was "closer to your world than this one." But is Cornwall an area noted for its Celtic connections? I'm not sure...

Grimaldine's plan to recapture Brollachan involved trying to break in to the Black Tower of Goth, which was Lord Fear's new palace in series 7. Grimaldine learned from the first dungeoneer of the season - Simon IV - that the only entrance into the tower was through the Sewers of Goth, which is why the green wizard could frequently be found hanging around in the sewers. However, every time he got that far, he seemed to feel the need to return to level one in time for the next dungeoneer's quest, rather than breaking into the Black Tower as he had supposedly been planning. This little oddity has always rankled with me...

If Grimaldine had bothered looking in other areas of the Dungeon, he would have discovered that Lord Fear stood no chance of holding Brollachan in the Black Tower of Goth, because the creature kept popping up all over the place to ask dungeoneers questions! However, despite Grimaldine's lack of observation skills, we can assume (particularly as neither of them was in series 8) that he managed to catch up with Brollachan and take him home at the end of the series, as Lord Fear and his minions lay crushed beneath an enormous troll.


Fear Factor: 5 A commanding presence.
Killer Instinct: 0 Never showed any malice towards dungeoneers.
Humour Rating: 2 Never had much time for a laugh.
Oscar Standard: 8 A convincing, memorable performance.

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