Who is the Scarlet Hand in Sisters Grimm? The books took seven volumes to name the one behind it
A red handprint turns up where a crime has happened, and nobody in Ferryport Landing will say what it means. Michael Buckley kept that answer sealed for four years of publishing.
The Sisters Grimm began in 2005 with The Fairy-Tale Detectives and ran nine books through 2012. The premise: Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, descendants of the Brothers Grimm, are sent to live with their grandmother Relda in a town full of Everafters — fairy tale characters, living permanently in upstate New York. The girls' parents have vanished, and the family's job is keeping the Everafters in line.
Apple's animated version, from Titmouse and Apple Studios with showrunner Amy Higgins, premiered 3 October 2025 with six episodes adapting the first book, and took 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from five critics. Season 2 arrives 2 October 2026 with another six, picking up a year after the parents' disappearance. Ariel Winter voices Sabrina, Leah Newman voices Daphne, Laraine Newman voices Relda, Billy Harris voices Puck, and Harry Trevaldwyn voices Mirror.
What the Scarlet Hand actually is
It's an organization of Everafters, and its stated goal is to bring down the magical barrier that keeps them all inside Ferryport Landing, then put humanity to work underneath them.
The reason the Grimms are the target is structural rather than personal. The barrier is tied to the Grimm bloodline. It holds as long as a Grimm lives in the town, which means the only route out runs through the family — every member of it.
- The symbol — a blood-red handprint. Members wear it on their chests, and the group leaves prints at crime scenes, sometimes covering entire rooms.
- How the Grimms learn the name — Jack the Giant Killer shouts it while giants are carrying him off.
- Known members — Little Red Riding Hood for a period, Natalie Beast, Jack, the Black Knight, and the Jabberwocky.
- The mole — Pinocchio, exposed in book seven as the Master's inside man.
The name at the top
The books call the leader the Master and keep it there through six volumes. The reveal lands at the end of The Everafter War, book seven, published by Amulet Books on 1 May 2009.
The Master is Mirror — the magic mirror living in Relda's attic, on the Grimm family's side of every door, for the entire series to that point.
His motive is his own imprisonment. Mirror built the Scarlet Hand to get out of the glass. He took Veronica Grimm's baby because a member of the Grimm family can unlock the Book of Everafters, and access to that book would let him rewrite his own story and come out human. Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck go in after him, which is where book eight, The Inside Story, takes place.
Where it ends
Book nine, The Council of Mirrors, closes the series by breaking the alliance apart from the inside. The Scarlet Hand's rank and file end up on the Grimms' side against the Master, on the reasoning that whatever Mirror is now is worse than the family they were built to kill.
Seven books of a red handprint, and the hand belonged to the thing hanging in the hallway.
Apple's series has not reached this material. Season 1 covered book one; season 2 covers a year after the parents' disappearance, which puts the show several volumes short of the attic. Trevaldwyn is credited as Mirror in both seasons, which is either standard adaptation or a very long setup.
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