How can I view special characters in SQL Server 2012 Management Studio grid view?

I found viewing the data as binary was the way to go for me:

SELECT @String as MyString, CAST(@String as varbinary(max)) MyString_In_Hexidecimal;

I found an ASCII table then helped decipher what was in the string.

Have a look at the answer in following post: (the one with pictures).

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11897950/how-do-you-view-all-text-from-an-ntext-or-nvarcharmax-in-ssms/11900246#11900246

You need "copy current cell 1:1", or you can use notepad++ as visualizer: