Lawrence “Larry” Saunderson

Lawrence “Larry” Saunderson Larry Saunderson is a good reminder that a Grimm villain doesn’t need magic, a transformation, or some ancient connection to another realm. Sometimes he just needs a warehouse full of animals and absolutely no concern about what happens to them after somebody pays. Britney and Avril find him while tracking Dr. Helena Moreau’s money through an illegal exotic-animal auction in New Orleans. They go in pretending to be wealthy socialites, Alexis and Bridget Rockwell, and Larry is very happy to welcome them. He’s already looked at their fabricated online lives. He also decides that meeting a customer means he can grab her, so he manages to make himself unpleasant before the tour has even started. The market itself is awful. Rare animals, dangerous animals, creatures that shouldn’t be there at all. He even presents a thylacine as the last of its kind. That ought to make somebody think about protecting it. In Larry’s business, it makes it something valuable to sell. He talks about buyers who want animals for reasons that include eating them. He gets his percentage either way. There’s no real curiosity about the animals themselves beyond what makes somebody want to buy one. And that’s how a man like Larry ends up supplying someone like Moreau. Her representative, Mr. Flitter, buys plenty and has money. As far as Larry is concerned, that makes him one of the good customers. Flitter turns out to have bat wings. Larry doesn’t even believe that part when Britney and Avril tell him. He’s helping keep this whole operation supplied without needing to understand what his customer is actually doing. Once the women’s cover is blown, the friendly salesman act disappears. His men shoot them with tranquilizer darts and he has them taken to an abattoir. They wake up hanging upside down, with restraints that prevent them from using their powers. He wants to know who sent them, and he’s quite comfortable having them tortured to find out. Then his own treatment of animals helps undo him. A tiger named Sasha is brought in. She isn’t immediately eager to attack, so the handler uses a prod on her. When she bites off Avril’s hand, she also removes the restraint keeping Avril’s magic suppressed. Avril gets her powers back, heals the injury, and the interrogation falls apart very quickly. What I like about that scene is that Sasha isn’t suddenly revealed to be the evil creature Larry needed her to be. Once the situation changes, she’s calm enough for Avril to pet. The people running the place were the ones forcing the violence. Larry gives up the ship and pier they need to find Moreau’s next shipment. When the agents leave, Sasha stays with him. We don’t actually see her kill him, so I wouldn’t write him off as confirmed dead. What we do see is a man who has spent the story treating living things as stock suddenly having to worry about what one of them might do to him. He’s a smaller villain than Moreau, but he matters. She needs supplies, transport, and people willing to look the other way. Larry is one of those people, and for him the motivation is simple enough: the money spends. Spoilers for Red Agent: Island of Dr. Moreau #2–3.