Grace Van Dahl

Grace Van Dahl
Family	Unnamed ex-husband Elijah Van Dahl (husband; deceased) Charles Van Dahl (son; deceased) Sasha Van Dahl (daughter; deceased) Oswald Cobblepot (stepson)
Affiliation	Van Dahl family
Occupation	Socialite Waitress (formerly) Con Artist
Status	Deceased
First	"Wrath of the Villains: Mad Grey Dawn"
Appeared in	6 episodes (see below)
Portrayed by	Melinda Clarke

"That old man was a shriveled-up wreck when I met him. I made him feel young again. I brought him back to life. And what has this gutter rodent done? Played stupid board games and whined about his wretched mother. That vermin has to go."

—Grace Van Dahl^[src]

Grace Van Dahl was the wife of Elijah Van Dahl, mother of Charles and Sasha, and step-mother of Oswald Cobblepot. She was a cold-hearted manipulator who showed no remorse for killing her husband.

Biography

Marrying Elijah Van Dahl

Grace lived a life of poverty and her first husband was abusive toward her two children, Sasha and Charles. She worked as a waitress at a diner where she met Elijah. Grace, sensing an opportunity for social climb, grew close to Elijah and he offered her and her children sanctuary at his estate. They later married, making Charles and Sasha heirs to Elijah's massive fortune and catapulting them into a life of privilege.

Meeting Oswald Cobblepot

During a trip to the Gotham City cemetary, Elijah met Oswald Cobblepot, his biological son. Elijah took Oswald home and introduced him to his new family, declaring over dinner that Oswald was his only biological son. Grace, Sasha, and Charles tried to force Oswald away by outing him as a criminal, but Elijah vouched for him, believing he had changed. Later, Grace switched out Elijah's heart medication for Peppermints.

Grace ordered Sasha to seduce Oswald and when she failed, Charles volenteered to try. When Elijah's heart condition worsened and he seemed inclined to include Oswald in his will, Grace and Sasha conspired to poison Oswald. Instead, Elijah drank the poison and died.

Death

Grace's corpse.

After Elijah's death, Grace and the children turned on Oswald and made him their servant. Grace and Sasha insulted his cooking, disparaging his mother's recipe and calling his mother a slut. Their constant bullying eventually broke through Oswald's Arkham conditioning, causing him to snap and kill Charles and Sasha off-screen. He cooked them into a roast dinner which he served to Grace before killing her too to avenge his father's death and as a punishment for the way she, along with Charles and Sasha, mistreated him.

Post-mortem

Oswald left Grace's body at the dining table while he toasted to her. It eventually began to decompose, at which point he installed her head as centrepiece in the Van Dahl household.

Appearances

Season 2

• "Wrath of the Villains: Mad Grey Dawn"
• "Wrath of the Villains: Prisoners"
• "Wrath of the Villains: Into the Woods"
• "Wrath of the Villains: Azrael" (corpse)
• "Wrath of the Villains: Unleashed" (corpse)
• "Wrath of the Villains: Transference" (head)

Season 3

• "Mad City: Ghosts" (mentioned)