Richard Gray

Richard Gray is the father of Grim Tales protagonist Anna Gray, whose soul is bound into the skull she carries with her. He assists with her investigations in that series and also in the crossover spinoff Detectives United.

Grim Tales
Coming soon.

Detectives United
Anna gets involved with the Detectives United sometime after the events of Crimson Hollow 's bonus chapter, although exactly where the two series first overlap is unclear. Timeless Voyage gives players their first look at Alice Gray, who appears briefly in a photograph in her mother's wallet; Anna doesn't comment on the photo, but the image is identical to Alice's appearance in The Generous Gift, which was released a few months later. The Generous Gift and Trace in Time each feature a newspaper which headlines the activities of the Detectives United; Trace in Time is confirmed to take place after the events of Phantoms of the Past, as the newspaper found explicitly references that plot.

Richard functions as something of a spirit advisor to the detective trio, although he is usually only accessible when Anna is the player character. Like in the GT games, his skull sits on her inventory bar, and it lights up and wriggles when he has something to tell her. We also see him interact with Agent Brown and James on occasion; the first time this happens is in Origins, when the Collector traps Anna in the past. She is able to maintain connection with the present just long enough to hand off Richard's skull to her partners, and he is able to help them construct the ritual needed to bring her back to them. When they confront the Collector, Richard is able to put a magical bind on him while the others work to subdue him. In the bonus chapter, he accompanies Anna and Brown to Louisiana, and does his part to help rescue "poor James."

In Darkest Shrine, Richard's skull is stolen by the agents of S.H.R.I.N.E. and the detectives must infiltrate the agency's headquarters in order to get him back. He has been subjected to some unpleasant testing by the time James finds him, and is grateful for the rescue, providing his daughter and her friends with inside information about just what their enemies are planning. He helps to trap Nathaniel Prior during the final confrontation. Like his daughter, he is absent for the events of the bonus chapter.

The events of Timeless Voyage take even Richard by surprise. Although he is normally able to detect when supernatural activity is taking place, he admits that he sensed nothing unusual about the trap which captures the detectives early in the game. When James is subjected to mind control in the bonus chapter, Richard leaves his skull and actively applies his powers to keeping the young man from doing irreparable harm.

Richard does not appear in Phantoms of the Past, which takes place after the events of Heritage. How he has left his skull and returned to life remains unclear, but it is presumed, based on the events of Trace in Time, that he is unlikely to return to the DU series.

Anna Gray
Richard assists his daughter in her cases and occasionally providing her with useful clues or items he finds. The exact nature of their relationship is difficult to describe, as Richard is very helpful to Anna but also incredibly snarky. In the second DU game, Darkest Shrine, he addresses her as "my favorite daughter," but it's impossible to tell whether or not he's being sarcastic. In The Heir, he is the one who more or less tricks her into performing a ritual which leaves her young and beautiful indefinitely. Their relationship as illustrated in the DU series is less contentious than in the GT games; many players find him more likable in DU.

Anastasia Gray
Richard's second wife died many years before the events of The Bride. She is rarely mentioned.

Dorian Black
Richard and his son-in-law have an unusual thing in common - their souls are bound into objects. While Richard's is bound into his own skull, Dorian's is bound into a portrait, and Richard remarks that he told him it was a bad idea to use something so fragile. We only see the two of them interacting during the events of Crimson Hollow, during which they snark at each other a great deal; it would be difficult to say whether they like each other at all, though they at least tolerate each other for Anna's sake.

Alice Gray
Alice is the daughter of Anna and Dorian, and the title character in Guest From The Future. Her grandfather, somewhat surprisingly, adores her; when Anna first meets her, he remarks to his daughter that "I won't spoil her. Much." In the bonus chapter of Guest, Alice is the player character, and Richard occasionally addresses her as "darling." In The Generous Gift, he is distressed by her abduction, or at least as distressed as he's capable of being, and does what he can to help Anna rescue her.

Dorian Brown and James Blackthorne
Richard is not often shown interacting with Anna's partners in the Detectives United. However, when he does, he treats them with as much politeness as his general personality will allow. He doesn't hesitate to help rescue James in the bonus chapters of the first and third games, and expresses gratitude when James returns the favor during the second game. By all appearances, he respects his daughter's friends, and they seem to do the same for him.

Trivia

 * Exactly how many descendants Richard has is not clear. He has fathered at least four children (Anna, Luisa, and another set of twins years before their birth) and possibly more, plus Thomas is his adopted son.
 * Like Anna, he's given a different appearance in the Detectives United games than in Grim Tales. In both series, he is somewhat translucent, but his coloring in the GT games is more human; the DU games show him to have a blue-black coloration. He also behaves a bit differently in the two series, smiling derisively and folding his arms in GT while maintaining a neutral expression and posture in DU.