Delbert Grady (also known as Charles Grady and the Hotel Caretaker) is a major antagonist of the Stephen King multiverse.
Serving as the posthumous overarching antagonist of the Stephen King novel The Shining, and it's 1980 film adaptation The Shining and The Shining's Miniseries, a mentioned antagonist in Creepshow, and a posthumous antagonist of Doctor Sleep and it's 2019 film adaptation of the same name.
He was a previous caretaker at the Overlook Hotel and the man responsible for Jack Torrance's rampage. During the winter of 1970, he went mad and killed his family by killing his two daughters with an axe then shooting his wife with a shotgun before blowing his own head off with it. Unlike Jack Torrance, he actually succeeded in killing his family.
Biography
When Jack Torrance and his family arrived at the Overlook Hotel, Wendy had taken Danny on a tour through the hotel, in which they met Dick Halloran. Meanwhile, Jack had met with the Hotel managers, and started his work as the new caretaker whilst also working on new writing as his occupation as author. However, Jack was warned by the managers who told him the story about the former caretaker who went insane, murdered his family gruesomely and committed suicide.
Right after the meeting, Jack started his work as the caretaker, Danny still meets with Dick, and Wendy is touring the hotel. However, Jack begins to see strange and horrifying visions, which means that the spirit of the former caretaker is in the hotel, and he manipulated Jack into becoming psychotic. As Jack went insane much like the former caretaker, he created some kind of imaginative friend in the form of Lloyd.
His transformation into a psychopath gone even further when he had taken a roque mallet (or the famous iconic axe in the film), and gone on a murderous rampage, with Dick's fate either being injured in the novel or killed in the film.
Jack's rampage ends once Wendy and Danny defeated him, ultimately defeating the spirit of the caretaker in the process.
Personality
The Hotel Caretaker is an extremely diabolical, evil, ruthless and most of all murderous entity. When he was once human, he was much like Jack; a formerly kind, lovely, cocky and caring father for his children, but as he went insane, he murdered his family and himself. In addition to being so murderous and so powerful entity, The Caretaker is also incredibly manipulative as he manages to turn Jack into a lunatic psychopath.
The Caretaker is nearly impossible to defeat, and the only way and the only thing that can defeat him is none other than Danny Torrance, who is possessing the titular supernatural ability of The Shining.
Appearances
- The Shining
- The Shining (film)
- The Shining (miniseries)
- Creepshow 2019 (mentioned)
- Doctor Sleep
- Doctor Sleep (film)
Trivia
- In the scene where Jack is talking to Grady, it looks like he was a ghost, and Jack was just looking at the mirror.
