Cracher-Mortel

A Cracher-Mortel (CRA-shay mor-TEL; Fr. Cracher "to spit" + Mortel "deadly" or "mortal") is a puffer fish-like Wesen that first appeared in.

Baron Samedi is seen outside the crime scene of Richard Mulpus' death and the assault of Sergeants Wu and Franco. He had apparently spit on both Richard Mulpus and Lilly O'Hara. He is later seen in the hospital, taking away Lily from the ICU.

On a solitary road, Baron Samedi had called someone to fix his car. He states that "she just died, I cannot bring her back to life." The repairman takes a look inside, and simply turns the key to start the engine. The Baron then woges and spits on the repairman.

Later on, he enters a bus, looks around at the passengers, and proceeds to spit on them, making each of the passengers members of his zombie army.

He kept his victims in a storage container, where he would come with a new batch of zombies and place them in the container, telling them that their time would come soon.

In the hotel room of Eric Renard, the Baron enters and bows, warmly welcoming the Prince to Portland.

Eric and Baron Samedi are still in Eric's room and Eric says that he has never seen how the Baron's spit works, and asks him demonstrate. The Baron agrees, so Eric calls Lucas into the room and the Baron woges and spits in his face. Eric is fascinated and asks if Lucas is in pain, to which the the Baron replies, "excruciating."

The Baron is next seen leading a voodoo style ritual and chant near the container yard with several of his victims including Lilly O'Hara and Al. On completion of the performance he sends the zombies into Portland.

When Nick, Monroe, Rosalee, and Juliette arrive at the container yard, the Baron spots them, and putting the next step of the plan into action, releases more zombies from containers and sends them to attack the heroes. When Nick leads the zombies away from the others, the Baron attracts Nick's attention. After Nick chases him down across the tops of containers, the two fight. The Baron leg swipes Nick and opens the top of the container they're on. Nick tackles him into the container, and the Baron runs off and hides in the container. The Baron sneaks up on Nick and spits in his face. Nick collapses and the Baron puts him inside a coffin. Eric arrives inside the container and is happy to see what the Baron has done with Nick.

Baron Samedi brings Nick to the airport and has him loaded onto a private plane. When two airport cops ask for identification, he woges and spits on them. Once the plane is in the air, he notices Nick's coffin moving around before the top bursts open. He spits on Nick again to call him down. He turns his back to return to his seat, but Nick jumps up and attacks him. The fight ends up in the cockpit, where the Baron tries to get Nick back under control, but is unable to. The fight causes the pilot to crash the plane, which kills the Baron.

Biology
When woged, Cracher-Mortel gain large round heads covered in short spikes on their scalps, jawlines, and chins. These spikes replace their hair, both scalp and facial. Their faces are tan in color with accents of a sickly-green on the sides and toward the backs of their heads. They have big eyes and a wide mouth, which is often curled into a malicious grin. When mustering up their spit, their heads inflate. The more spit they muster, the larger their heads get. The inflation of their heads causes the spikes to become more erect.

Cracher-Mortel have the ability to spit tetradotoxin (TTX) from the mouth, which near instantly seeps into their victim's skin and shuts down the neurosignals of nerves and heart cells and causes suspended animation. In this state, the victim's breathing and heartbeat are essentially undetectable without special equipment, he or she becomes paralyzed, and the victim is usually pronounced dead and buried alive. Atropine and scopolamine toxins reanimate the victim in a permanently zombified state. In this state, the victim is in a trance and will perform whatever task is asked of them by the Cracher-Mortel. Zombification has been a tradition of Vodun bokurs of Yoruba for several centuries. The state that a Cracher-Mortel victim enters after being touched by the green spit is similar to Lazarus syndrome. This entire process is known as Dämmerzustand. There are four distinct stages that the victim goes through, its only in the fourth and last stage that they are curable. When in the final stage, they are consumed by rage and aggression and basically lash out at any one and anything they see. In this stage they possess a considerably higher pain resilience, one was able to jump out of a second story window and land onto of a car, then try to run away, another shrugged of two punches from Nick and he had to smash him head first into a brick wall to knock him out. The process is excruciatingly painful, one victim described it like their "skull was imploding".

The spit has a different effect on Grimms as the rage stage comes earlier and the Grimm is left disoriented and confused. Once the rage stage begins, the Cracher-Mortel can no longer control the Grimm like they can with normal people. Once a Grimm awakens in their zombified state, they are immune to a second dosage of Cracher-Mortel spit; it simply absorbs into their skin without a trace.

Cracher-Mortel also possess enhanced physical abilities and are incredibly durable; they also do not tire easily. Cracher-Mortel are strong enough to match blows with a Grimm, and fast enough to out run one for a reasonable while. They are able to do all of this even in their human form.

Behavior
Cracher-Mortel are confident and incredibly dangerous Wesen. They have no problems with infecting innocent people with their spit and using them as "zombie" slaves. They also have strong linkages to Voodoo ceremonies, as they are responsible for inspiring multiple events. They are generally intelligent and cunning, as well as sophisticated and dress smartly; often wearing a suit and a top hat. They are also very calm and have a sadistic sense of humour.

Cracher-Mortel also have a slight reputation for starting revolutions, using the zombie victims to create chaos.

Excerpt from Grimm Diaries
"I had followed the Voduo priest to Bois Caïman alligator woods near Cap-Français. Hired by the crown, I was to determine if the priest was Wesen. The priest's name, Dutty Boukman, translated as "the book man," given to him because he had taught slaves to read. As Boukman presided over the Voduo ceremony, one of the slave women started dancing, a knife in her hand. I found her movements exotic and alluring, until she slit the throat of a black pig and gave the blood to those around her, who all swore to rise and to fight and to kill."

"He was referred to as the Baron, with several names attached to him. Samedi, Cimetière, La Croix, and Kriminel.* He is the head of the Guédé Family of Loa, one of the Voduo deities, who accepts those who have died into the realm of the dead. Later, I was to witness him wake a man who appeared to be lifeless, and who was about to be buried. When I finally found the courage to confront him, I found that I was dealing with a Cracher-Mortel, whose spit can induce a death like trance. But I was forced to retreat, unable to dispatch the Baron."


 * Note: Dutty Boukman was a hero of the Creole people who was thought by many to be an earthly manifestation of any of the four barons mentioned here. He was worshipped and eventually given the title of "Zamba Boukman", a god of creation. According to the legend, this man died for the greater good and is obviously not the same man as Baron Samedi. (Although Grimm generally only follows real world events and such loosely.)