Grandmaster

"Now without further ado, it's main event time."

- The Grandmaster to Sakaar

The Grandmaster is the ruler of Sakaar who has a fascination with gaming and enjoys manipulating lesser life-forms in the Contest of Champions. When Grandmaster took Thor as his new contenders, he was soon horrified to learn that Thor already knew his current champion, the Hulk. As Grandmaster feared, Thor soon escaped Sakaar with the Hulk, resulting in a new uprising which resulted in him losing his position over the people of Sakaar.

Fascination with Champions
The being who would later be known as the Grandmaster was born millions of years ago alongside his brother, Taneleer Tivan. While his brother became obsessed with collecting objects of all kinds, the Grandmaster became obsessed with manipulating life-forms into fighting each other nearly to death.

Ruling over Sakaar
One day, the Grandmaster became the ruler of planet Sakaar. On the planet, he became a tyrant towards his people, but they loved him only because of the Contest of Champions, a gladiatorial event held in the arena. The Grandmaster took under his wing one of the Valkyries after the massacre of the Valkyries by Hela. Brunnhilde became not only the servant of Grandmaster but also his bodyguard alongside Topaz. Brunnhilde succesfully captured the Hulk, after the latter arrived to Sakaar right after the Battle of Sokovia, out of hope to find love by people in another world. The Hulk later became the new champion in the contest, and since, he became truly beloved although he became a prisoner.

Enslaving Thor
"What have you brought me today? Tell me." "A contender."

- Grandmaster and Valkyrie

After encountering Hela in Norway, Loki asks Skurge to transport them back to Asgard. However, Hela kicks Loki and Thor out of the Bifrost Bridge, causing them to crash land on Sakaar. Because time flows differently in Sakaar, Loki arrives two weeks before Thor, even though less than a day has passed for Thor. Loki manages to win the Grandmaster's favor, becoming his new ally, while Thor gets his hair shaved and is forced to compete in the Contest of Champions. However, the Grandmaster informs Thor that should he win against the champion, he would be freed.

Hulk vs. Thor
"Hey Sparkles, here's the deal: You want to get back to ass-place, ass-berg, wherever you came from..." "Asgard!" "Any contender who defeats my champion, their freedom they shall win." "Fine, then point me in the direction of whoever's ass I have to kick!"

- Grandmaster, Loki and Thor

Inside the arena, Thor discovers that the Grandmaster's champion is none other than Hulk, whom he hasn't seen since the Battle of Sokovia. Thor attempts to calm him down with Black Widow's lullaby, although he fails. Thor almost defeats Hulk at the end, before the Grandmaster sabotages the fight to ensure Hulk's victory.

After the arena fight, Thor is still held captive by the Grandmaster. Thor attempted to convince Hulk and 142 to help him save Asgard, but neither is willing. He soon manages to escape the palace and find the Quinjet that brought the Hulk to Sakaar. The Hulk follows Thor to the Quinjet, where a recording of Natasha Romanoff makes the Hulk transform back into Bruce Banner for the first time in two years.

Manipulating Loki
The Grandmaster orders 142 and Loki to find Thor and the Hulk, but the pair come to blows and Loki forces her to relive the deaths of her fellow Valkyrie at the hands of Hela; she decides to help Thor, taking Loki captive to prove her goodwill. Unwilling to be left behind, Loki provides the group with the means to steal one of the Grandmaster's ships.

Sakaaran Uprising
"I just, I gotta say. I'm proud of you all. This revolution has been a huge success. Yay us! Pat, pat on the back. Pat on the back. Come on. No? Me, too. 'Cause I've been a big part of it. Can't have a revolution without somebody to overthrow! So, ah, you're welcome. And, uh, it's a tie."

- Grandmaster to Sakaar's citizens

The group then liberate the other gladiators who, led by Korg and Miek, staged a revolt. Loki attempted to betray his brother Thor to gain a reward from the Grandmaster, but Thor anticipates this and leaves him behind. Loki is soon found by the gladiators.

After the great uprising, the Grandmaster is ultimately defeated by the people, and he confronts his subjects, who are still fighting the revolution started by the gladiators. He claims the revolution a tie, noting that he was an integral part of their uprising since without him, they would have nothing to rebel against.

Personality
"Slaves is such a harsh word, I prefer "prisoners with jobs.""

- Grandmaster

The Grandmaster is very eccentric, described as a hedonist, a pleasure-seeker, an enjoyer of life, as seen when Valkyrie tells that one of his ships is a pleasure vehicle for orgies. Additionally, the Grandmaster also enjoys dancing, being a very skilled dancer.

The Grandmaster is also a charming individual, knowing how to act calm and almost laid-back during dangerous and intense situations, such as when he was surrounded by several scavengers without any protection and tried to trick them into standing down by calling their endeavor a "draw". He makes sure to give respect and reward to those who please him and work for him, as seen by the extravagant living quarters given to his champion, the Hulk.

Despite his friendly demeanor, he is also ruthless tyrant, capturing and usually executing anyone who breaks his rules or tries escaping him, as seen when he executed his cousin, Carlo for committing high treason and attempting to escape. This is somewhat contrasted by his even-temper and sense of rational, demonstrated when he declared merely interrupting him was not enough reason to justify ordering an execution.

Powers
"Time works real different around these parts. On any other world, I would be millions of years old. But here on Sakaar..."

- Grandmaster


 * Longevity: The Grandmaster has an extraordinary long lifespan, claiming to be around fourteen million years old.
 * Telepathy: The Grandmaster has the ability to read minds.

Weapons

 * Melt Stick: The Melt Stick is the Grandmaster's weapon of choice.
 * Control Disk: Grandmaster uses control disks to force gladiators to participate in the Contest of Champions.

Vehicles

 * Commodore: Grandmaster mainly used this ship for parties and orgies.
 * Statesman: to be added

Family

 * Taneleer Tivan/Collector - Brother
 * Carlo † - Cousin and Victim

Allies

 * Sakaaran Guards
 * Topaz † - Bodyguard
 * Beta Ray Bill - Former Prisoner and Champion
 * Ares - Former Prisoner and Champion
 * Man-Thing - Former Prisoner and Champion
 * Bi-Beast - Former Prisoner and Champion
 * Dark-Crawler - Former Prisoner and Champion

Enemies

 * Revengers
 * Scrapper 142 - Situational Ally turned Enemy
 * Loki - Former Guest
 * Hulk - Former Servant and Champion
 * Thor - Former Prisoner
 * Sakaaran Rebellion
 * Korg - Former Prisoner
 * Miek - Former Prisoner
 * Doug † - Former Prisoner
 * Sakaaran Scrappers

Trivia

 * In the comics, the Grandmaster, along with the Collector, is one of the Elders of the Universe. In a competition with the Cosmic Entity Death, he captured various heroes from Earth and forced them to fight against each other. He was also the custodian of the Mind Stone before Thanos took it for the Infinity Gauntlet.
 * The Grandmaster's clothing colors are references to how he originally appeared in the comics. He wore gold clothes and had blue skin and red eyes.
 * The Grandmaster's role in Thor: Ragnarok is analogue to the Red King, the ruler of the Sakaaran Imperial and master of the Sakaaran arena, in the Planet Hulk Storyline.
 * While in the comics and in the animated TV shows he appeared in, the Grandmaster's real name En Dwi Gast was never revealed during the film or by the film's producers not even by Taika Waititi.

Behind the Scenes

 * Jeff Goldblum described the character as "a hedonist, a pleasure-seeker, an enjoyer of life and tastes and smells." He also said that director Taika Waititi encouraged improvisation in order for Goldblum to "make the character his own".
 * Goldblum revealed on an interview that the Grandmaster was born shortly after the and is 14 million years old; however, the Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago.
 * Unlike his appearance in the comics, the Grandmaster does not have blue skin. This is because the filmmakers did not want to detract from Goldblum's personality by concealing his appearance, especially since Goldblum had already played a blue-colored character in.