Walter Strong

Not part of Riordanverse The following article/section is from the Tristan Strong continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon.

Walter Strong
Biographical information
Full name	Walter Strong
Gender	Male
Alias	Grandad
Family	Nana Strong (wife) Alvin Strong (son) Jessica Strong (daughter-in-law) Tristan and Terence Strong (grandsons) Denise (sister-in-law)
Residence	Alabama
Status	Alive
Physical description
Eye	Dark
Hair	Gray
Species	Human
Behind the scenes
Appearances	Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky Tristan Strong Destroys the World Tristan Strong Keeps Punching

“	Boy don't need no counselor, he needs to work. Ain't no time for mopping when horses need feeding and fences need mending.	”
–Walter on his grandson’s mental state in , Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky.

Walter Strong is the father of Alvin Strong and grandfather of Tristan Strong.

Tristan Strong Trilogy

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Tristan Strong, his grandson.

Walter and his wife go to Chicago to watch their grandson in his first boxing match, hoping Tristan will carry on the family legacy of boxing. However, Tristan loses the fight and he expresses his disappointment in his grandson.

The following day he and his wife drive Tristan to their farm to spend a month recovering from his friend's death. During the car ride he tells Tristan to toughen up while his wife tells him to go easy on the boy. When they arrive he and Tristan work on a fence until dinner.

When Tristan returns from Alke, he suspilhusly watches his grandson wash sap out of his sheets and leaves him soap and towels on his dresser.

Tristan Strong Destroys the World

A month after Tristan arrived at the farm, they are training in the barn for a sparring match against Reggie Janson, another young boxer. When Tristan gets distracted, he calls a fifteen minute break before the sparing match. When Reggie arrives, he has doubts about it due to Reggie towering over his grandson. When they match goes poorly for Tristan, he does not make eye contact with his grandson. However Tristan soon knocks Reggie on his back and the match is stopped for fears that Reggie could get to aggressive. He congratulates Tristan on the match before going over to the other adults.

As his wife and grandson help out with dinner, he speaks with Tony and the other guests. When Tristan punches Reggie across the barn, the larger boy becomes enraged and charges at his grandson with him and Tony failing to stop Reggie before he punches out Tristan. However events happen that he is unaware of and his wife passes out. After Reggie's doctor looks her over, she says she passed out from exhaustion and they talk on the porch. Later he goes to check on his wife, after crying, and tells Tristan to let her rest. Later the Shamble Man comes to the farm and takes his wife as he and Tristan fail to stop him. After they leave, he calls the police.

Two days later, when his wife and grandson return home, he brings her cantaloupe for breakfast and pancakes and bacon for Tristan. He has a brief but solemn conversation with Tristan before going to his wife.

Tristan Strong Keeps Punching

Two weeks after his wife was taken and returned, he takes her and Tristan to a family reunion in New Orleans. He orders bags of fried clams as his wife tells him he should not be eating them. When Tristan seems distracted, he tells him to focus. After Tristan's phone gets snatched, he and his grandson go after the thief. They chase the thief, but they lose track of him. As Tristan looks around and sees a group of three drummers and a trumpet player. As Tristan gets frustrated, he points out the band of drummers and tristan says there were four before and realizes the missing musician is the thief. After describing what the thief looked like, they track him down to Louis Armstrong Park. The thief removes his hat and braids fall out, revealing that the thief is a girl. She reveals that she knows who Tristan is and tells him to follow her. After telling Walter he'll meet back up with him, Tristan follows the girl.

The following day he and his wife comfort a traumatized Terrence aboard the River Queen as they, Mami Wata, John Henry, Nyame, and Anansi. After telling them King Cotton is back and they have to act immediately, they reveal to Tristan that they will handle it and he is being sent home to Chicago with Gum Baby. He tries to protest, but they say his anger demonstrates during the previous night makes him to much of a liability and take the SBP from him. They say their goodbyes and leave.

Appearance

Grandad is a short old African American man wit a dark complexion and thinning gray Afro. His knuckles are scarred from decades of boxing.

Personality

Grandad Strong is a gruff old man who does not hesitate to criticize others. He also believes in the value of hard work and that it is the cure to anything. He also believes that keeping a championship title is better than earning it.

While he has a strong personality, he can be comforting at times, such as when he joined his wife in comforting Terence after he encounters a Coffle.

Trivia

• He and his son are boxers.
• He chews on grass when he is nervous, which he keeps in his pants pocket.