Do Grace and a Madrigal have the Same Goal?

Grace Cahill and William McIntyre Seem to Have the Same Goal in Chapter One, Book One

By now, in the time of awaiting the seventh book and to find out what Amy and Dan’s branch is, most people have forgotten all about the events of the first book. However, I have lately started to go through all the books and take notes on anything that could possibly mean anything.

One of the things which I read extremely carefully was the very first thing we read, before we even knew what the names of the main characters were: Book one, chapter one. There we meet Grace, who I consider to be one of the top two most important people in the hunt, if not the most.

I believe that the interactions between Grace and her Madrigal lawyer are a huge clue to the secret.

Did you notice how they seemed to have the same goal:

“And if they don’t succeed…” (McIntyre)

“Then it all collapses. The family, the world, all of it. Five centuries of work will have been for nothing.” (Grace)

It certainly seems that Grace and William have the same goal, and we all know that the lawyer is indeed a Madrigal.

Does this mean that Grace is a Madrigal?

Not necessarily.

I say the above because although it seems extremely likely just from that, not to mention other evidence which I am not going to get into here, that Grace is a Madrigal, there are other explanations.

1. 1. The Madrigal’s are Masters of Disguise

As pointed out in various places (such as the card pack two handbook and card 72 prestige), the Madrigals impersonate other Cahill’s. It is possible that the real William was replaced by a Madrigal.

However, that seems extremely unlikely because of the fact that there is no proof, which is again the bar that we measure ourselves on here when searching for the clues. Although it may be an attractive idea, the chance of it being likely is, at this point, zero.

1. 2. It has been said that Grace Did Not Owe Her Allegiance to any One Branch

I cannot remember where, and I am sorry for that and will try to find it, but someone said that Grace choose to not side with any one branch. If that is true in the way that we are interpreting it, then she cannot be a Madrigal.

However, the Madrigals aren’t officially considered a branch, so I’m not sure if that means anything.

There have been rumors that there are good and bad Madrigals, or at least perhaps ones with different views. It is possible that Grace, The Man In Black (Fiske), and William all believe in the goal of the Madrigals, but believe that there is another way to get there.

In the Madrigal Maze game, and other places, it has been said that no one outside of the Madrigals knows their purpose. If that is true, then it would mean that Grace is technically a Madrigal, as said in other places, since she and William have the same goal and in the card pack two booklet, it says:

“I warned Grace she would be punished if she went after the clues. She should have listened.”

It is also possible, though, that Grace was a mix of all three branches, something that I’ll discuss later, which would mean that she technically is part of the Madrigals.

So, what’s your opinion on this?