Anna Gray

Anna's character portrait from Detectives United

**Anna Gray** is a time-traveling detective and the player character in the *Grim Tales* series of games. She is the third and final player character introduced in the *Detectives United* series, although as the games continue, the player switches between her and the other two detectives as the story requires.

## Biography

### Grim Tales

Anna and her identical twin sister Luisa are the daughters of Richard Gray and his second wife, Anastasia Grim. Their mother died when they were young, and as of the opening of *The Bride*, the twins did not see each other for years as Anna was away at boarding school. They come together for the occasion of Luisa's wedding, which has been turned upside down by the bride's disappearance, which Anna must resolve.

Throughout the course of the series, Anna must assist various members of her extended family through the use of her special ability. She can travel through time to a fixed point provided she has some tangible object to serve as a focus, such as a photograph or dated document. Although she can't interact with any people she encounters when traveling back in time, she can manipulate objects in order to prevent various catastrophes, by which she is able to avert the long-term consequences of those catastrophes, which is usually someone's untimely death.

Anna can also travel *forward* in time if she's accompanied by someone who has come back from the future to bring her with them, such as when she first meets her daughter Alice in the installment *Guest From the Future*, but she cannot go forward by herself because she has no object to provide a focus.

### Detectives United

Exactly when the *Detectives United* games take place in the *Grim Tales* timeline is uncertain, but it's implied that the first game happens sometime between the bonus chapter of *Crimson Hollow* and the events of *Guest From the Future.* *Timeless Voyage* gives players their first look at Alice Gray, who appears briefly in a photograph in her mother's wallet; Anna doesn't comment on the photo, but the image is identical to Alice's appearance in *The Generous Gift,* which was released a few months later. *The Generous Gift* and *Trace in Time* each feature a newspaper which headlines the activities of the Detectives United; *Trace in Time* is confirmed to take place after the events of *Phantoms of the Past*, as the newspaper found explicitly references that plot.

Anna is the only female detective in the trio, and occasionally refers to her partners as "the boys." A beautiful and intelligent woman, she is a member of the supernaturally inclined Gray family, and has the ability to travel through time to fixed points in the past as long as she has something to provide her with a time and place. While in the otherwise frozen past, she can influence events and change details in order to prevent future tragedies, which factors into the resolution of all of the DU games to date. As in the GT games, Anna is assisted in the first three DU investigations by the ghost of her father, Richard, whose soul is bonded to the enchanted skull his daughter carries with her.

In *Origins*, she meets her new partners at the Black Swan Clinic, where she's searching for the personal artifact stolen from her by the Collector. She doesn't immediately endear herself to Brown and James, as she sets a trap for them in the misguided belief that they're enemies; however, the mistake is quickly cleared up and the three join forces to save the world. They remain confirmed friends afterward.

In *Darkest Shrine*, Anna and "the boys" split up to investigate the activities of S.H.R.I.N.E. in various locations around the world. Anna sets out for Blackhill, but is soon asked by Agent Shade to make her way to St. Mary's Orphanage to assist James, who is in trouble. They soon discover that parallel dimensions are also being threatened, and in the bonus chapter they learn that they each have a "dark doppelganger" in one of them. Dark Anna lures James and Brown to her home dimension by kidnapping Nathaniel Prior and some of the S.H.R.I.N.E. agents (who are now allied to Detectives United). Anna herself is not present for the events of the bonus chapter, being away on a visit to some of her many relatives, which creates some confusion for "the boys" when they first see Dark Anna.

In *Timeless Voyage*, the detectives find themselves on a cruise ship, apparently a gift from one of Anna's cousins. They arrive for the formal dinner and are wearing much dressier clothing than in their usual appearances; Anna, spotting her friends, warmly greets them by inquiring, "What handsome men do we have here?" But the cruise turns out to be a trap and the trio find themselves separated yet again; Dark Anna sends James a few centuries into the past, while Brown is thrown thirty years into the future. Anna herself, meanwhile, remains in the present, where she must battle the ghost of a Viking for possession of an artifact called the One Amulet (first seen in *Haunted Hotel: Personal Nightmare*). After her partners return with their required items, Dark Anna leaves them tied up next to a bomb, and Anna must use her powers to get free, save her friends, and stop Dark Anna. In the bonus chapter, she and Richard work to free James from mind control by Morpheus, the ancient nemesis of the Mystery Trackers, but she ends up in his control herself when she tries to rescue Agent Brown from the burning library. Fortunately, James is able to come to their aid.

In *Phantoms of the Past*, Agent Brown disappears on a secret investigation, and after two months of no contact, Agent Shade reveals his plans to James and Anna. Worried for their partner, they set off at once for the mysterious community of Restville, but James is almost immediately injured in a car accident on their arrival, so Anna must oversee the first stage of the investigation. She soon finds herself affected by the hallucinogenic and hypnotic properties of blue rose pollen, which keeps the entire town under a sort of spell, and has to fight against the intoxication in order to continue searching for Agent Brown. When they finally reunite, she subjects him to a brief battery of questions to confirm his identity, rather than risk working alongside his twin brother Mortimer, but is soon satisfied that he's the real thing. After traveling to the past to destroy some of the blue roses before they can be used against the townspeople, Anna and 'the boys' are able to subdue and arrest Mortimer Brown and free Restville from his control. She briefly references this incident in *Trace in Time*, upon finding a newspaper which headlines the events; she recalls how much she and James had worried about Agent Brown, and also how determined she is to never be in the presence of blue roses again.

In *Deadly Debt*, Anna is first seen exchanging pleasantries with both of her partners in Agent Brown's office. Later, she has a nightmare about a soulless man with a violin, and after conferring with James about his own vision, she and her partners team up once more to try to solve the frightening mystery. While investigating the first murder scene, Anna is imprisoned in a closet, and a magical runestone causes her to look and feel her true age. James comes to her rescue and restores her to her usual appearance, then escorts her safely home. Once she regains her strength, she's able to travel back to the past and intercept the cursed violin before it can wreak havoc, enabling her partners to make the necessary moves to destroy the true villain behind the events.

## Relationships

### Richard Gray

Anna's father is first introduced to players in *Grim Tales: The Bride*. He remains a fixture in both series, assisting his daughter in her cases and occasionally providing her with useful clues or items he finds. The exact nature of their relationship is difficult to describe, as Richard is very helpful to Anna but also incredibly snarky. In the second DU game, *Darkest Shrine*, he addresses her as "my favorite daughter," but it's impossible to tell whether or not he's being sarcastic. In *The Heir*, he is the one who more or less tricks her into performing a ritual which leaves her young and beautiful indefinitely.

### Anastasia Gray

Anna's mother died many years before the events of *The Bride*. She is rarely mentioned in most of the series, but her history is finally revealed in *Echo of the Past*. Among other things, we learn that the games are called *Grim Tales* because Grim was Anastasia's maiden name, and *Grim Tales* is a series of adventure stories starring her late sister Alexandra.

### Luisa Gray

Luisa is Anna's identical twin sister, and the title character in *The Bride*. She appears in multiple installments of the series, and in fact most of the Gray relatives whom Anna assists in her cases are Luisa's in-laws - her husband John's last name is also Gray, and the relations Anna helps are frequently *his*, not her own. Anna and Luisa are very fond of one another. In *The Generous Gift*, she is not seen, but she sends Alice a birthday gift with a tag stating that it's from "your favorite aunt."

### Dorian Black

Dorian is the subject of Anna's investigation in *Crimson Hollow*. At the end of the bonus chapter, they get married, and by the end of *Guest From The Future*, they are expecting their first child. He does not appear in that game, but returns in *The Generous Gift* to help Anna keep their daughter Alice safe from her kidnappers. From what we're shown in the GT games, his relationship with Anna is initially very antagonistic, but they grow closer and their marriage is a happy one. He even has his last name legally changed to Gray because he knows how important it is for her to continue her work with that name.

### Alice Gray

Alice is the daughter of Anna and Dorian. She is the title character in *Guest From The Future*, and a major participant in *The Generous Gift*, which takes place on her sixth birthday. She strongly resembles her mother both in appearance and abilities, and is the player character in the bonus chapter of *Guest From the Future*, where she must save her kidnapped mother. Anna is devoted to her child and will do anything to protect her. In the next game, *Heritage*, the little girl directly assists her mother in solving the mystery. In *Echo of the Past*, Anna learns about her aunt Alexandra, and discovers that she looked almost exactly like Alice.

Alice has not yet been mentioned in the *Detectives United* series, but in *Timeless Voyage*, Anna has a photograph of her in her wallet. (The child's appearance in the photo is identical to Alice as she appears in *The Generous Gift*, which launched a few months after *Timeless Voyage*.) Alice has a second photographic cameo in *Timeless Voyage* as well, when Agent Brown travels to the McGray estate thirty years in the future; he finds a picture of Anna and Alice with some of their McGray cousins.

### Dorian Brown

One of Anna's partners in the Detectives United, she and Brown share a mutually respectful and cordial relationship. Unlike the seemingly endless snark he directs at James, Brown always treats Anna with politeness. She is quick to acknowledge when he's helpful, such as enabling her to perform the rescue of James in the bonus chapter of *Origins*, and he in turn shows admiration for her abilities. They are both seen to evince concern for each other's well-being, such as in *Timeless Voyage* when Dark Anna sends them to different points in time. In the bonus chapter, when he finds himself trapped in the burning Mystery Trackers library, his first action is to text her a warning to stay away, and she promptly ignores the warning and goes to help him. In *Phantoms of the Past*, she's very concerned when he disappears while on a secret mission, and is only too willing to go with James to find their missing friend; upon reuniting, she becomes the first person in the entire series to address Agent Brown by his first name. Their relationship continues to be even friendlier in *Deadly Debt*, as they both make the comment that they are always glad to see one another.

### James Blackthorne

Like Brown, Anna seems to view their third partner James almost as a younger brother, which is more or less proven in *Guest From The Future* when it's shown that her daughter Alice calls him "Uncle James." He appears to have a great deal of admiration for Anna, and both she and Brown worry about him when he's in trouble and will go to great lengths to help or save him. He's deeply grateful to her and Brown when they rescue him in the bonus chapter of the first game, observing that the three were clearly brought together for a reason. As the series progresses, it's clear that Anna finds James to be a dependable ally; in *Deadly Debt*, she immediately contacts him after her strange nightmare, and when she finds herself in danger during her investigation, it's revealed that her 'panic button' sends a distress call to his cell phone, which he answers without hesitation. We also see James interact with Richard in a few instances, including saving Richard when the skull is stolen during *Darkest Shrine*, and Richard seems rather fond of the young man.

### Agent Shade

The two women of the DU team have few interactions onscreen, but they obviously know of and appreciate one another's skills and abilities. Agent Shade knows that Anna can get things done, and when James needs help during the events of *Darkest Shrine*, she calls on the time traveler to go to his aid.

## Trivia

* Anna is usually the player character in *Grim Tales*, though not always. Her earliest appearances didn't even give her a first name, with various relatives often calling her "Aunt Gray."
* In *Detectives United*, she dresses almost exclusively in purple outfits in the first three games, but starting in the fourth, she switches to shades of green. Her appearance in the two game series is different; while the GT games (after the ritual in *The Heir*) give her a modern appearance, the design used in DU gives her more of a 1940s look, almost in a film noir style. However, in *Timeless Voyage*, Agent Brown finds a photograph of her (with her daughter Alice) and she has her GT appearance rather than the one seen in DU.
* It's mentioned in *Guest From the Future* that Anna's birthday is August 29th.
* Her personnel dossier in the fifth DU game *Deadly Debt* describes her as "intelligent, fearless, and a natural leader."
* According to the bonus chapter of *Dual Disposition*, Anna's house is situated at 30 Monroe Drive, though the name of the community is unknown.
* Lori Caulfield, who voices Anna, is also the voice of Elizabeth McGray and Rosette Darkwood in *The Time Traveler* and Lady A in *Dual Disposition,* as well as Dark Anna in the DU games.

## Gallery

Anna as she appears in *Crimson Hollow*Anna, Alice, and two of their McGray relations, found by Agent Brown in the future of *Timeless Voyage*Photograph of the members of Detectives United, observed by James during the events of *Darkest Shrine*Anna in formalwear for dinner on the *Titan*, in *Timeless Voyage*Anna's immediate family tree (not interactive)