History Fridge / GirlGenius

Why isn't Agatha embarrassed by being called "mistress" by her Castle or Jägers? Because she'd probably be talking to them in German or Romanian, where "mistress (femme master)" and "mistress (woman in affair)" are two different words, so there's no DoubleEntendre she'd hear. Colette would speak French, where "maîtresse" has the same double-meaning as "mistress" in English. TranslationConvention means we aren't ''seeing'' the characters switch what language they're talking in, but they probably do so throughout the story.

* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030421 Early on]], one of the Jaegers [[ItMakesSenseInConText sniffs an unconscious Agatha and declares she smells good.]] Why? As now known, she's the Heterodyne, and the Jaegers, who are all (excluding Vole) devoted to them, can identify Heterodyne heritage through smell. A crude throwaway gag turned massive foreshadowing.

* Klaus' story about [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110506 The Witch and The Wolf King]] seemed like a strange diversion from the plot, but it's actually incredibly important. The characters in the story are fictional counterparts to real people; Lucrezia is the witch, Klaus is the king who was turned into her obedient wolf, and Gil is the king's son who outsmarted the witch. This on its own is FridgeBrilliance -- However! It gets better! After the story's done, Klaus tells the storyteller that not only is this story from a storybook thought lost, but that Gil might still have it! So now the storyteller has a motive to find Gil, and relay the story he just heard in order to find this book. Except when Gil hears the story, he'll realize it's actually a message from his father. Given the story's ending, that message is probably "Kill Me". Even better, he's telling it as the OriginStory of the Storm King -- and though the jury's still out as to whether or not [[http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/The_Storm_King_%28title%29 that title]] is inherited or awarded, this is ''Klaus Wulfenbach'' we're talking about. He ''knows'' Gil can spin his lightning stunt into the title. And there is one character in the story who is ''not'' played by a major character: The "giantess nurse" who would not let the "king's son" leave the mountain until he proved his intelligence by pulling out the ''copper pin'' in her hair. The story's message is not "Kill Me", it's "Go get Von ''Pinn'', present her to this bitch, let her kill ''both of us'', then use that stupid myth that's causing all this trouble to get the nobles to shut up and accept you." Possibly the ''last'' communication he will ever have with his son, and [[Film/IronMan he's still taking him to school]].

* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080728 Here]], when the torchmen are activated, one spies the pink airship, scans it, and proclaims "Heterodyne mark. False." The obvious assumption is that there's some secret to the Heterodyne sigil that the Knights of Jove didn't know. But pay attention to the speech bubbles--that second one is the same as the [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080714 ones used for the Castle]]. So it ordered the torchmen to attack the airship, they said "Wait, it has the Heterodyne mark," and the Castle said "No, it's fake." [[KillEmAll The response to a fake Heterodyne mark is obvious]].

* At first, the ''Girl Genius'' setting seems like it would be an awesome place to live, with all the [[SteamPunk "Gaslamp Fantasy"]] trappings and elements and ''oh yeah'', it being ruled and maintained by a hypercompetent dictator who lets everyone do as they please as long as they don't trash the place. But, when you look at it, when people call [[ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder Sparks]] {{Mad Scientist}}s, they mean that they are ''mad''. Look at some of the things that are said or done by Sparks in the series -- note that, for example, when Professor Mittlemind [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090706 talks about how his Xmas good deed was letting the children out of their containment tanks]], everyone is more horrified at the idea he was letting the Control Group out (he wasn't) than the fact they were keeping kids in tanks and experimenting on them in the first place. Even Agatha, who, perhaps due to having grown up with her Spark artificially repressed, is considered one of the sanest Sparks in the setting, has no reply but to change the subject when [[GenreSavvy Moloch]] suggests that she [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20121109 really wants to fire Gil's lightning rod in the middle of a torrential downpour]]. There's a reason that HoistByHisOwnPetard is practically the ''de facto'' cause of death for Sparks. What makes things worse? Sparks ''rule the world''; check out Gil's comments in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090225 this strip]] about what goes on outside of the Baron's lands. So just what kind of CrapsackWorld ''is'' the Girl Genius setting?

* At face value, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150930 this page]] has Higgs StatingTheSimpleSolution in regards to Gil maintaining contact with Agatha: just write her letters. However, a much earlier page mentions that Gil spent year in a INeverGotAnyLetters situation in regards to his childhood friends. One can't speak for the other Sparks Higgs mentions, but Gil actually has a good reason to not think of letters as a reliable means of communication.

** It gets even better when you consider that 1) the cathedral is a blind spot for the castle, obsessively because the Hetrodynes never trusted the castle completely and 2) the Abbess is a plant for Martellus. For all we know they might all have been since the cathedral was built!

* in the 2020 holiday side story we learn that Oggie actually has tons of descendants that he still actively keeps contact with, but still he seems to give special focus to the Phil stand-in character/the Storyteller. first glance this seems to be a slight case of main character syndrome, but then you remember Oggie's backstory of his much loved wife and realize there is an in universe reason. His wife was a storyteller too. out of all their descendant's he is probably the one that reminds him the most of her in this generation because of that, so of course he would pay more attention to him

* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031210 Doctor Dimitri's bear collection.]] While the Foreshadowing of the [[spoiler: bear army]] is made clear later, another case can be seen in the background of the last panel. In the center of the pile of bears is a rag cat resembling [[spoiler: Krosp, Cat King and, as later revealed, leader of the bears]].
** Or even better, that's not a rag cat. That's [[spoiler:Krosp himself, watching Agatha show his master kindness. Which helps explain why he reveals himself to her not too long afterward.]]

* After the timeskip, Seffie tells Tweedle that a fake Heterodyne is "no longer an option." While the obvious reasons are because [[spoiler:Mecanicsburg is in stasis]] and Gil will ruthlessly hunt down any fakes, there's also the fact that due to [[spoiler:the giant statues Gil has everywhere]], everyone knows what Agatha looks like, to the point her face is being plastered all over advertising in Paris. The Knights of Jove have always proven adept at using propaganda to trick the people into fighting at their side--but in this case, they've been outmaneuvered.

* During the story of Airman Higgs, it mentions at the end some Wulfenbach soldiers gave him "lots of rum" due to having shot him and in doing so he went on a drunken babble about what happened, spreading the condition of Baron Wulfenbach and the existence of the Lady Heterodyne all over. [[spoiler: Considering the hints and later confirmation of him being a Jaeger General, he likely ''wasn't'' drunk but faking it and had his own reasons for wanting that information spread around as per his true loyalty to the Heterodynes.]]

* Of the Quickthaw variety, and more [[FridgeLogic Fridge]] {{Squick}} than anything else: Tarvek's devotion to giving his dying sister a new life in clank form is sweet, until you consider that [[spoiler:the reason that she was dying in the first place is that her father tried to download the mind of Lucrezia Mongfish, a woman to whom he was sexually attracted, into his daughter's body]]. Given that she appears to return his interest, at least to the extent that she constantly objectifies Tarvek (who she identifies as looking almost just like his father), perhaps it's best that he failed.

* A rather hilarious one. The Other ''hates'' the wasp-eaters, for good reason. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130610 Over here]], Agatha has given a wasp-eater 'The King's Touch' to counter Tweedle's little stunt meant to keep her on a leash. [[spoiler:If or when the Other emerges again, she'll have to keep a hated animal near her, or [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130605 suffer and die.]]]]

* At first, the ''Girl Genius'' setting seems like it would be an awesome place to live, with all the [[SteamPunk "Gaslamp Fantasy"]] trappings and elements and ''oh yeah'', it being ruled and maintained by a hypercompetent dictator who lets everyone do as they please as long as they don't trash the place. But, when you look at it, when people call [[ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder Sparks]] {{Mad Scientist}}s, they mean that they are ''mad''. Look at some of the things that are said or done by Sparks in the series -- note that, for example, when Professor Mittlemind [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090706 talks about how his Xmas good deed was letting the children out of their containment tanks]], everyone is more horrified at the idea he was letting the Control Group out (he wasn't) than the fact they were keeping kids in tanks and experimenting on them in the first place. Even Agatha, who, perhaps due to having grown up with her Spark artificially repressed, is considered one of the sanest Sparks in the setting, has no reply but to change the subject when [[GenreSavvy Moloch]] suggests that she [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20121109 really wants to fire Gil's lightning rod in the middle of a torrential downpour]]. There's a reason that HoistByHisOwnPetard is practically the ''de facto'' cause of death for Sparks. What makes things worse? Sparks ''rule the world''; check out Gil's comments in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090225 this strip]] about what goes on outside of Europa. So just what kind of CrapsackWorld ''is'' the Girl Genius setting?