# Grot — Metropolis character guide

> Grot in Metropolis by Thea von Harbou.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Grot

**First appearance:** 0001-metropolis

## Snapshot

The foreman of the machine halls, keeper of the great engines whose roar is the heartbeat — and the voice — of Metropolis.

## Who they are

Grot stands at the lever of the god-machine, the man whose hand keeps the city's mechanical heart beating through the long ten-hour shifts. He is both master and servant of the apparatus: when the great Metropolis suddenly falls dumb, it is in his hall that the silence becomes audible, and he is the one who must answer for the voice that has been strangled. His authority over the workers and his intimacy with the machines make him a hinge between Joh Fredersen's order above and the human weariness pressing up from below.

## Relationships

### [Freder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/freder)

_professional_

Freder and Grot have a professional relationship, with Grot as a foreman who initially opposes but later aids Freder.

### [Maria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/maria)

_professional_

Grot initially sees Maria as a troublemaker but later respects her role as a mediator.

### [Josaphat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/josaphat)

_professional_

Grot and Josaphat have a tense professional relationship, with Grot as a foreman and Josaphat as a worker advocate.

### [Freder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/freder)

_professional_

Freder and Grot have a professional relationship, with Grot as a foreman who initially opposes but later aids Freder.

### [Freder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/freder)

_professional_

Freder and Grot have a professional relationship, with Grot as a foreman who initially opposes but later aids Freder.

## In the story

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/iv)

Mentioned as the foreman who found the plan in a dead worker's pocket.

### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/xv)

Grot throws himself before the Heart-machine to defend it from the mob, but is seized and dragged away.

### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/xvi)

Mentioned as the guard of the heart-machine who was trampled to death, an event that triggered the catastrophe.

### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/xviii)

Initially enraged over his destroyed machine, he helps pull children from the pit but later tries to trap Maria, blaming her for the machine's destruction.

### [XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/xx)

Opens the door for Josaphat, initially hostile but later shows remorse for the woman who saved his children.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/grot
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters