Kenspeckle Grouse


The Sanctuary's top scientist, Kenspeckle is a paranoid genius with a neurotic phobia of vampires. He appears to be a perfectionist and is entrusted with the task of dismembering the Grotesquery once Skulduggery and Valkyrie steal it, however the Grotesquery wakes up and kills two of Kenspeckle's assistants. Kenspeckle later bemoans their deaths saying "They were good lads." In the book it says that he had always had a soft spot for Valkyrie. He vehemently refuses to take part in any violence(though he did use some kind of magic to defend himself in an attack), and constantly admonishes Skulduggery for putting Stephanie/Valkyrie in danger with such alarming regularity. He seems to have the ability to take away or to give pain. Grouse only appears in the second,third and fourth books, although a reference is made to a "cantankerous old man" that heals wounds in the end of the first book, presumably Grouse. In the fourth book Grouse is kidnapped by the Revenge Club and possessed by an evil spirit called a Remnant. Whilst in Grouse's body, the Remnant tortures Tanith by nailing her to a chair. Tanith later states that though it was not Grouse who hurt her, she cannot help but hate him for it. Grouse is also shown to blame himself, though he in fact has no recollection of torturing Tanith at all.