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1[[foldercontrol]]
2
3The ''Girl Genius'' wiki has its own [[http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Mad collection of WMG article]].
4
5[[folder:The Other and Lucrezia Mongfish]]
6[[WMG: Lucrezia Mongfish is not The Other, The Other was written over her like it was over Agatha.]]
7Lucrezia Mongfish clashed with Klaus and the Heterodynes more than once. You would think that she would have gone all out with her sparkings giving Klaus a good indication of her true power and yet Klaus believes that she was too weak to have been The Other, that she could never have designed the Hiver Engines. So what if the Geisterdamen came from wherever they came from, all those years ago, to find the distant descendant of their now dead royal-divine line? Lucrezia Mongfish, and thus Agatha, are related to that line and as such are suitable hosts for a far older intelligence that is the thing that the Geisterdamen worship.
8* I like this theory. Also interesting to note that the Geisterdamen and the slaver wasps do not even remotely look like they were made by the same people, despite sparks, including Lucrezia, having enough of a "style" that the Baron could link the engines to Lucrezia. Only problem: If this were the case, the Geisterdamen should already have had to build a device for downloading the Other, and have it work. So why did their second involve so much failure, and why did they at first think they'd failed? Perhaps they had the help of a powerful spark (perhaps the Heterodynes or Lucrezia herself; after all, they could've lied about what it would do) the first time but didn't have his notes when they went to Strumvoras for the second.
9** A) The Geisterdamen were NOT made by Lucrezia and B) Von Pinn doesn't look much like a glowing butterfly or a slaver wasp, now, does she?
10* Agatha herself appears to suspect this, based on her reaction when she's informed of the death of her brother. It would also set up a Luke/Vader/Emperor moment at the climax of the story
11** One problem with this theory is that Lucrezia indicates that she designed the overwrite-machine that stuffed her into Agatha's cranium. Also, the statement that the Geister-Goddess always came 'in the same lovely aspect', when the transfer machine clearly doesn't change what whoever gets turned into The Other looks like tends to throw doubt on the statement.
12*** Ah, but was that 'Lucrezia' (who was possessing Agatha at the time) really Lucrezia or the Other maintaining her disguise? And Vrin clearly states that the Other always wore the same lovely aspect ''when she was a novice'', which clearly implies that 1. She has visited the Geisterdamen in other aspects and 2. She wore Lucrezia's aspect for a specific period of time.
13*** On the other hand, we have no idea what the normal lifespan of the Geisterdamen is supposed to be, or how old Lady Vrin is, so....
14* Two things to point out: Von Pinn, and Agatha's locket.
15** When Von Pinn realizes that Agatha is Lucrezia's daughter, she does not rest in trying to kill her. Why would she do that do the daughter of her creator? Because Lucrezia informed Von Pinn about the possible transference of the Other's consciousness to Lucrezia's daughter. Lucrezia, [[WhatHaveIBecome for]] [[SplitPersonalityTakeover a]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone variety]] [[ICannotSelfTerminate of]] [[TakingYouWithMe reasons]], has given Von Pinn standing orders to kill her and anyone else who may be embodying The Other.
16*** Well, maybe not. She says that Agatha is "MINE" but that does not mean she wants to kill her. After all Von Pinn is a children's nurse and Agatha is one of her charges.
17*** It comes out later that Von Pinn was specifically created by Lucrezia to be her childrens' governess. Von Pinn was merely informing Klaus that Agatha literally belonged to her.
18*** On the other hand, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031107 Von Pinn tried to attack Agatha before]], but that was probably more to do with the "threat" she posed to the students rather than because she is Lucrezia's daughter.
19*** That was well before Agatha was outed as the missing Heterodyne.
20*** Agreed to the counter-arguments. Von Pinn wants to protect Agatha now that she knows. Her 'programming conflict' between protecting Gil's virtue and Agatha's... well, self... that should be a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.
21** Speaking of von Pinn, when we first saw her she was a monoped. Now that she returns to the castle, she is a biped, and the drawing makes this very, very clear. It was apparently her monepedalism that kept her from leaping after Agatha or climbing once Lilith had thrown Agatha up out of reach. Given the amount of planning that has gone into this story's visuals, I do not believe that this was an accident or 'oops'. There ''must'' be a reason. Maybe it is the removal of a restraint applied by Klaus. Maybe it is removal of a self-imposed restraint.\
22And whose side is von Pinn on now? Can you say ''wild card''?
23*** Von Pinn was never a monoped, she just wore a very tight skirt (with heavy strapping keeping it tight). See [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030728 here]] - the one page in her first scene where one can just about make out her feet. The unbinding of her legs, that might be a removal of restraint, but she has always been bipedal.
24** Agatha's locket belonged to Lucrezia before her, and Uncle Barry Heterodyne gave it to Agatha to prevent her Spark from acting up. But the locket has the convenient side-effect of also nullifying the Other's consciousness within Agatha. We presume that Uncle Barry endowed the locket with that capability. But wouldn't it make more sense for Lucrezia to have designed some way to oppose the Other for herself, knowing, as she probably does, the exact mechanics that make the Other's possession possible?
25*** This may have been Jossed already by the fact that [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061206 The Other, who responds to the name Lucrezia,]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061208 had no idea what the locket does.]] But, it could be that the copy of Lucrezia's or The Other's mind was made ''before'' the locket was made. Discuss.
26*** It may also be a different locket. Other-Agatha found this locket on Klaus in a case with the Heterodyne signal. Assuming that Klaus did get his hands on the broken locket ''and'' assuming that he would repair it, why would he create such a case for it ''and'' carry it around? I am leaning toward the idea that this is some kind of Heterodyne "Crown of The King" (see the Trelawney Thorpe story).
27** Von Pinn was constructed by Lucrezia Mongfish-Heterodyne as a nursemaid. But for that purpose she is incredibly overbuilt. This makes sense only if she was originally designed for another purpose OR if she was designed to defend her charge(s) as well as rear them.
28*** Confirmed. Von Pinn's mind is the transferred mind of Otilla, the Muse of Protection, so it definitely fits to build the body as a protector as well as a nursemaid.
29*** Von Pinn is a biological construct. When we first meet her, the popular rumour going round is that she's Lucrezia Mongfish. Maybe that's not wrong. Lucrezia was, we know, experimenting in intelligence transfer. She put the mind of Otilla in that construct body, and did something to her own mind. We still don't know what, other than her apparent ability to function like a hive organism, and that now she's considered- accurately or otherwise- to be synonymous with the Other- but, suppose Otilla's mind wasn't just placed into an anonymous lash-up- but specifically into a construct built from Lucrezia's own discarded physical form- so when she- as she saw it- acended to a higher form, she left behind her body, paired with the mind of a creature designed to protect the innocent- as the guardian of her child.
30* On the other hand, there's the possibility that Lucrezia might simply have been hiding how powerful she was to give Klaus et all the impression that she wasn't capable of that kind of thing, so when the Other began striking against other Sparks, she wouldn't be suspected.
31** Since there is time travel, it's possible that Lucrezia is fighting HERSELF as The Other, as in: Lucrezia's Spark causes her to develop greater and greater megalomania to the point where she becomes the other; however, earlier Lucrezia is visited by The Other, and seeing what she will become, develops fail-safe plans that she gives to Barry and Von Pinn(ie plans for the locket, instructions to kill Agatha).
32*** For that matter, forked timelines haven't been ruled out yet.
33** Klaus himself did describe her as "ruthless, manipulative, and a consummate actress." You'd think he would have considered that maybe, I don't know, she was ACTING. Heck, maybe Lucrezia knew that, as the MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter, it was pretty much just a matter of time before she shacked up with either Bill or Barry (or maybe even Klaus, hence her sexual relationship with him). Therefore, in the fulfillment of her role as "FemmeFatale with a heart of gold who's ultimately harmless and doesn't REALLY want to hurt anyone", she pretended to lack her phenomenal talents as a Spark and just created glowing butterflies (see the page where Klaus mentioned that she never displayed the level of talent the Other possessed), as opposed to the slaver wasps that take over people's minds and would probably put her over the MoralEventHorizon for the only two Heterodynes with anything resembling a moral compass since the dawn of time.
34** Suppose the very first theory w
35* I'm still holding out for the "Lucrezia possessed" theory, because it promises the most heart-wrenching tragedy at the denouement. But then again I've always been a romantic about such things.
36* I am holding out for the "Possessed Lucrezia" theory because I suspect that the slaver wasps were re-tasked by the Other, and were originally a means of protecting people against mind control.
37* Alright, WMG, riddle me this: As stated above, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061206 the Other responds to the name Lucrezia almost reflexively and has the same speech patterns/facial expression/body stance/gloating style as the Lucrezia Klaus was ''very'' intimate with.]] This could conceivably be the proposed 'actual' Other 'pretending' to be Lucrezia, despite the fact that most of this is subconscious and the fact that the Other has no access to any of Agatha's body language/memories, hence the Other would not have access to Lucrezia's; the fact that she seems genuinely surprised when Klaus guesses her identity; and the fact that if the Other could fake such cues, wouldn't it make more sense to '''turn them off''' in the presence of an adversary familiar with such things who could blow your cover completely?!? Ahem. In any case, why does the Other refer to Agatha [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060920 explicitly as her daughter in a private and whispered conversation with herself???]] Who is she pretending to be Lucrezia for there, the '''readers'''??!
38** Okay, I like a challenge. As noted above, Lucrezia is described as a "consummate actress," from which we can infer that she is capable of expressing a wide range of personalities and characteristics. Perhaps, this is merely a misinterpretation of an internal battle between "actual" Lucrezia and "the Other" Lucrezia. In infiltrating the Heterodyne family, the Other learned to respond to her name, and all the speech patterns/facial expressions/body stance/gloating style that everyone thinks belong to the "actual" Lucrezia are really indicative of the Other's personality. Ergo, her hatred of old rivals, her issues with Klaus, and even the decision to 'have' a daughter in the first place come from the Other, not Lucrezia. It would therefore make perfect sense for the Other to refer to Agatha as her own daughter. All of this points to an entity which is not in perfect control of its actions and responses, but is in fact very human-like in nature, which is consistent with what we've seen of the Other.
39* How about this: The Other is an alien entity from another reality/planet/etc that passes it's memories and goals down each generation. The host keeps their own personality, however, which is why the geisterdamen and the hive engines look so different--the geisters were created by a previous incarnation of the Other, but the hive engines were created by Lucrezia, after the Other got downloaded into her brain. However, Lucrezia didn't like the whole "give up this incarnation's personality" thing, and decided to design/redesign a summoning engine to copy her entire mind, rather than just the portion designated as the "Other."
40** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100702 This comic]] seems to confirm that theory. Maybe when the Other (in this case downloaded into Lucrezia) chose to 'return' to wherever she and the Geisterdamen came from, she took Lucrezia's memories and personality. If she was downloaded onto Lucrezia, say, on the day of the Other's attack upon Mechanicsburg, she wouldn't be the Other so much as the Other would be ''her''. The Other now has Lucrezia's personality and memories, loaded into Agatha, Anevka, and Zola. If she dies, she loses the memories she gained access to. If she 'returns', she keeps them, and if she chooses, their personality.
41*** Counterpoint: the "new/this calling" stuff she mentions just means "this/new copy from the Summoning Engine".
42** Recently "glorified slaver wasp" theory got a few more points. "The Other @ Agatha" [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100702 considers the self-destruction as a perfectly normal act]] as long as other copies will go on. If she was a former human and served herself rather than a "higher purpose", one could think the possessing entity have at least modicum of self-preservation.
43* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100712 This comic]] shows one version of the Other addressing another as "Lucrezia, darling". She could still be acting for Zola's benefit, but given that Zola can now see all of her secrets that's becoming unlikely.
44* When Lucrezia locks up Zola, Zola claims that the rogue geisters learned to see Lucrezia "for the fraud you are." Here's my theory: The original Other created the geisters hundreds of years ago and repeatedly imprinted itself on members of the Mongfish line throughout the generations. But when it got to Lucrezia, she managed to destroy it instead. But then she crossed the moral event horizon when she proceeded to steal all its secrets, pretend to be the Other, and invent the slaver wasps.
45* The time travel aspect provides a plausible, if convoluted, solution to the "The Other being Lucrezia but Lucrezia not being The Other" conundrum. Let me break this into 3ish parts:
46** Another troper mentioned above the possibility that Lucrezia really *is* The Other... but only if given time to develop megalomania far beyond that of a normal spark. In my theory the Lucrezia that was there on the night castle Heterodyne was attacked wasn't The Other. But if those events had not happened Klaus would have returned to Europa at about the same time he did but found the Heterodyne Boys still in residence in at Mechanicsburg and Bill and Lucrezia still married with at least two children and all things fine. Combine that with Klaus' interest in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040319 studying the fundamental nature of the spark]] with spark experiments' tendency to go awry and the likely hood of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041208 strife between him and Bill over Lucrezia]]... and you have a pretty plausible scenario for Lucrezia's spark being drastically amplified. Obvious problem: this puts her becoming The Other *after* "The Other Wars."
47** Solution: time travel. We already know that time travel is something that will happen in the Girl Genius story. It has been demonstrated for certain at least [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040126 once]]... and possibly a [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021111 another time]] as well. We know that Dr Mongfish, Lucrezia's father, was [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030825 known for researching portal technology]] (the fact that this is in a heterodyne story is inconsequential... such stories change events, not core traits of people and their disciplines) and both demonstrations of time travel appear to utilize portals of some kind. Finally it must be observed that The Other shows no attachment to her children beyond [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060920 their usefulness to her]]... even ordering [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061018 Agatha's death]], should she become [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100702 inconvenient]]. Finally we do not know that the summoning engine is actually needed for The Other to engage in possession. Perhaps her future self had a modified body that would allow her to do the same at will.
48** Hypothetical Timeline of Events: On that night Lucrezia was tinkering with one of her fathers inventions and activates it. Unknown to Lucrezia another such device (or even the same device is activated) in the not-to-distant future where The Other awaits. Somehow the portals link and The Other travels back to that moment. Lucrezia's assistants interfere with The Other and are [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070815 killed]] as Lucrezia escapes... her unborn daughter with her. At this point the castle takes note and, identifying the threat, attempts to kill The Other. The Other fights back [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070813 laying the castle to waste and killing Klaus Barry in the process]]. This is the fuzzy part... some how Lucrezia knows about the link between The Other, Herself, and the Geisterdamen... or perhaps she really is their original masters and The Other commandeered them from her... ether way she seeks to use the Geisters to [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051230 protect her unborn child]]. After giving birth she runs... knowing The Other will follow. The very fact that Lucrezia came to the Geisters "in high distress" indicates that she was *not* The Other at that time. From a literary stand point, the big bad is never "in high distress" until the final chapter. Also... The Other is shown repeatedly to have no interest in her progeny beyond basic utility and is quick to order Agatha's death if she poses even the smallest threat. There is no reason The Other would be distressed by Agatha being in danger... and it is unlikely The Other would task the Geisterdamen with protecting her. Then [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030217 Barry (presumably) steals baby Agatha away]]. Finally, The Other (now embroiled in a war with The Heterodyne Boys) [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051230 shows up and hears the story from the Lady Vrin (panel 6 and 7)]]. She correctly deduces that Agatha would make a tremendous bargaining chip and orders the Geisters into the shadow world (Europa) to find her. By the time they succeed... The Other has been defeated, The Heterodyne boys are missing, and Klaus has taken control of Europa.
49** Final Thoughts: I believe that, from The Other's perspective, she has not yet developed time travel. She will do so *after* her resurrection at Castle Sturmhalten, which will lead to her traveling to the distant past where the "Eternal Lady" mythos will be developed by the geisters for reasons as yet unknown. If my theory is right she probably spent most of her time during The Other Wars studying the event that let her travel back in time in an attempt to reproduce it. And the best part of all? How would Bill and Barry refer to a second Lucrezia running around? That right: *the other* Lucrezia, *the other* one, and after years of fighting her... just The Other.
50*** Semi-Confirmed. There is a [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20181223 Time Traveling Lucreazia.]]
51** It is possible, though unlike that the Anevka clank body is the Muse of Time body that Van Rijn captured, though heavily modified. In the March 23, 2022 comic, the Anevka body is thrown in the effluvia. Lucrezia states that the clank body would not be able to handle the power so maybe it partially melts and she burns off the energy by going back to Van Rijn's time just to get captured. I say it's unlikely as the similar calling in Agatha seemed to know that she had to free the Muse of Time version trapped in Van Rijn's lab, so presumably from the prospective of the calling in Agatha and Anevka, they had already been freed from Van Rijn's device.
52** As for the theory that the Lucrezia that existed during the attack on Mechanicsberg wasn't the Other, I feel I understand the timeline. The Other attacks the Castle and Lucrezia flees to the Geisters who are stated as having served Lucrezia's family for generations. In high distress, Lucrezia than jumps in the mirror by ends up in a different time period like what happened to Agatha. From there, Lucrezia goes through a series of events to return to her own time. She uses her skill to make a clank body, learn to become a queen, steals another woman's body, and hundreds of other such events to return to Agatha. During that period, she knows of her future interference in time and slowly loses her mind until she suffers full on MotiveDecay. She finally makes it back to as close to her own timeline as she can get, just to learn Barry had already stolen away Agatha. In a rage, she kills many of her Geisters and send them away. At some point, having completely forgotten that she wanted to ''protect'' her daughter, she attacks Castle Heterodyne to claim the unborn version in an attempt to change history. If this was a Clank version of her, maybe the mechanisms were damaged or poorly made, driving her fully insane and leading to the SelfFulfillingProphecy. Later, she gets transferred to a more suitable body and then decides she's in too deep and falls into a SunkCostFallacy. From there, she spends further centuries just dedicated to her studies, killing Queens, messing with Van Rijn, maybe messes with some ancient Greeks and Euphrosynia Heterodyne, and, more or less, causes a lot of the events that she read in history books, journals, and autobiographies. She realizes how essential her time travel was to creating her world that she develops full on [[AGodAmI god complex]] megalomania. It is even possible that instead of going insane, she feels like she has to go through time visiting Van Rijn, attacking the Castle, etc in order to perserve history. '''''Her history'''''. As for why Barry is missing, maybe he was sent to another time or just stuck in another dimension like Snackleford and will reappear as the same age he was when he disappeared or in another form similar to the Muse of Time aspect of Lucrezia.
53*** Going from there, it is also possible that Barry did do some time traveling and saw that Klaus was destined to be wasped which is why he concludes that he is a servant of the Other '''because he will be'''. Though, it is also possible that Barry just assume that Klaus was involved based on his history with Lucrezia. It is very convenient that Klaus disappeared just as the Other became active. Maybe something indicated to Barry that Klaus was involved with the Other because of something Lucrezia stole from him (perhaps via time travel) and used in the Other Wars that Barry recognized as being definitely Klaus's invention. Essentially, this could be a time traveling frame job. With Silas Merlot dead, there's no one (besides maybe Punch and Judy) who have read Barry's notes in their entirety. So unless they have some light to shed, Agatha who have to find Barry or his notes or his corpse to get the answers about what happened with the Other during the war.
54
55[[WMG:The Other is an older Lucrezia Mongfish.]]
56At some point, Lucrezia developed time and/or dimension travel technology and went to another time and place, where she stayed for decades or even millenia, developing her skills and her army. In doing so, she became so alien as to not even be human anymore, instead becoming something Other than human. Then she went back to her past, staged her own kidnapping, and started the war. Klaus even decides that Agatha is the Other because the Other's devices are similiar to Lucrezia's, but far too advanced. Lucrezia learns how to build such advanced devices during her time away. Using her technology, she disappeared the Heterodyne boys and Klaus to someplace else, although both Klaus and Barry are known to have come back. Also, the geisterdamen refer to being brought by their goddess to "this shadow world". The time machine also explains why the geisterdamen have worshipped her forever--remember Vrin's quote? "No matter how long she was gone, we always knew she'd be back"? Lucrezia just hopped in her time machine and travelled ahead, leaving the geisterdamen to catch up with her the long way. Later in the comic, Agatha will discover her mother's time machine, and this will lead to the portals seen earlier by Agatha herself in Beetlesburg, and by Captain [=DuPree=] in the wastelands.
57
58[[WMG: The Other is, in fact...]]
59Lucrezia Mongfish. Not a time-travelling version, not an ancient demon whatever-the-fuck from beyond the Moon possessing her, but the genuine one and only Lucrezia fucking Mongfish. Utterly '''mad''', I know, but this ''is'' WMG.
60
61[[WMG: Lucrezia is not the Other; a copy of her mind is the Other]]
62We know she perfected [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100407 mind transfer]], so it is possible that the Other is ''not'' her, but instead one of her "copies". She might even be one of the good guys fighting against the Other, which could be a [[AIIsACrapshoot defective copy]].
63* How about she isn't the Other, but she will become the Other. After all, time travel exists. Some sort of stable timeloop effect I'm thinking
64
65[[WMG: The Other is actually the evil part of Lucrezia’s mind.]]
66Let me explain. So Lucrezia marries Bill Heterodyne with intention of turning and staying good. But there are still some evil tendencies she couldn’t get rid of. So she starts to wonder: if she can transport one mind from its body to another, maybe there is a way to just transport only a part of this mind – the evil one. Being a Spark she decides it’s an excellent idea and quickly starts experimenting with her own brain. Unfortunately something goes wrong and the evil part of Lucrezia’s mind isn’t transported out but instead takes over her body. That’s why the Other seems to be a Complete Monster. She is one. She is distillated evil without any good qualities Lucrezia may have had.
67** A slightly alternate theory: rather than separating out the evil part, a reformed Lucrezia, intentionally or otherwise, initiated a process whereby her Sparky abilities were enhanced. It worked, but unfortunately, it "enhanced" other parts of her brain as well, cranking all of her worst traits (vanity, pride, hunger for power) up to eleven and creating the Other.
68
69[[WMG: A SealedEvilInACan corrupted Lucrezia, who then pumped it for knowledge]]
70* One of the items in Lucrezia's [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100908 pre-gloating checklist]] is "appease the dark one/god/[something]". The dark ______ was a SealedEvilInACan in a can which the trying-to-reform Lucrezia found. Being a Spark she tinkered with it, which resulted in her mind being corrupted. However, it had only escaped its can a ''little'', and needed her help to get all the way out. The now 100% evil Lucrezia kept it and its can in her secret lab, pretending to help it escape in order to pump it for knowledge, and used that knowledge to make leaps and bounds in the sophistication of her work. When she'd wrung the thing dry of information she then destroyed it (or maybe it got destroyed when the castle was attacked).
71
72[[WMG: Combining all recent revelations and some theories]]
73* The Other is imperfect mind replica of Euphrosinya Hererodyne, like Anevka in Tinka's replica, made after she and van Rijn betrayed Andronicus and botched attempt to capture/replicate powers of Muse of Time, which broke her mind and made her fully embrace "monster" side of her heritage, ignoring whatever "noble" notions Heterodynes cared of. Trying to save her, Andronicus made replica and uploaded it into daughter, which they conceived after (or even before) open betrayal of Andronicus. Oh, and that daughter founded house Mongfish, carrying both ruthlessness of Heterodynes and treachery of van Rijn. Over generations images worn down and suffered motive decay and now just want to rule, though at the beginning they founded cult dedicated to Muse of Time, initial obsession of the duo. When Lucrezia married Bill, previous iteration decided that this is a perfect opportunity and started all that plot. Oh, and since it's actually damaged copy instead of organic mind, Other's sparkiness is gone, and she has to rely on whatever each host invented before being hijacked. Well, at least before Lucrezia came and improved the process - seems like she invented both wasps and current brain uploading machine before all turning into Other, that's why Agatha's Spark is intact.
74** Also in that case we can surmise, that Lucrezia sort of hijacked the Other, overwriting most of initial personality with her memory, ditching all that stuff with cult and hijacking it for plain world domination, which broke the base among Geisterdammen.
75
76[[WMG: Lucrezia was driven over the edge by 200 years of solitary confinement]]
77* In the Corbettite fortress, Lucrezia rants about being trapped somewhere for a long time, waiting for a rescue that never came. When Agatha opens up Van Rijn's long-lost lab she discovers that his last act was to trap The Muse of Time in a glass prison. The Muse is actually Lucrezia's consciousness in a clank body - when she is downloaded into Agatha she mentions not being used to "being human" anymore. Being stuck in that lab for centuries with only a rotting corpse for company has completely driven her bonkers! She escapes into the timestream and presumably a "later" version of her consciousness is what the Geisterdamen implant into Agatha. It also explains how Agatha was able to break the Muse free - Lucrezia had a loooong time to come up with a solution.
78** Jossed: while she indeed spent 200 years in that lightbulb, that wasn't nearly enough for her - in one of her clank bodies she spent 500 years doing nothing but staring immovably at one of the Gates and her monitoring devices, keeping track of barely perceptible arrow oscillations, and the wording implies that's not the most boring thing she had to endure.
79
80[[WMG: Lucrezia is the Great Ancient Civilization]]
81* All by herself. At some point she was stranded in the ancient past of the Geisters' homeworld in one (or more) of her clank bodies, before the appearance of Geisters and creation of Mirrors. So, first she took a species of local wildlife and developed it into a servant race, with built-in obedience, later branched into wasps, and then finally cracked the mystery of teleportation, making first Gates. From this she conquered then-prehistoric Earth, but later her project went belly-up for some reason. Oh, and she had to do it the old-fashioned way, how the ordinary people do science, because clanks cannot have Spark, but also cannot expire from old age. That would take indeed a lo-ong amount of time, enough to justify her speech about being abandoned and trapped.
82** Jossed: even with time travel she haven't got to their epoch, and their workings are only slightly less of enigma to her than to everyone else, and only because she spent millenia studying them.
83
84[[WMG:The Other possessed Lucrezia at a ''very'' young age.]]
85Here's a middle ground between the "Lucrezia = The Other, end of story" stance and the "Lucrezia got possessed by the Other" stance. Back when Bill, Barry, Klaus, and Lucrezia were all just little kids, Dr. Lucifer Mongfish is tinkering around with portal/extradimensional/time/whatever technology. Then one day he forgets to lock his lab door after leaving, and overnight his daughter Lucrezia walks into the lab unattended - where the alien/demon[=/=]EldritchAbomination[=/=]time-creature/whatever we call "the Other" takes over little Lucrezia's body. She grows up, all the while nobody realizes Dr. Mongfish's daughter hasn't been in that body for decades. There: that way Lucrezia Mongfish can really truly the Other the 'entire' time, ''and'' the Other can be a shadow-spawn from beyond the stars with a base on the Moon or wherever.
86
87[[/folder]]
88
89[[folder: The Other and -others-]]
90[[WMG: The other is a time traveling evil clone/hidden identical twin of Agatha, an evil AI and a hive mind.]]
91The hive machines were created when the clone/twin was a '''novice''' and the Geisterdamen were created when she was advanced and time-traveled back to when she was a novice (although the Geisters may have existed before, in which case the clone/twin of Agatha was combined with their goddess.). Lucrezia had a slaver shoved down her throat one night and became a stealth revenant and was made to marry Bill (or, maybe Barry) and get pregnant, creating Agatha (and if the combination was involved a twin, the twin as well.).
92The other, after that, possessed Lucrezia and combined with her but pushed Lucrezia's mind into its subconscious. Other people '''did not''' notice that anything had changed. The other then time-traveled to were the Geisters were and got them to create the downloading device so she could go into her daughter (The other had possessed Lucrezia '''before''' Lucrezia's pregnancy but '''after''' the marriage. That technically makes Agatha '''the other's''' daughter.). The other then attacked the castle to kill the son and damage the castle.
93
94[[WMG: Othar is The Other]]
95Well, they're only one letter off. And [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070817 this comic]] notes that the Other seemed to focus attacks on the major Spark houses.
96* Except the Other is running around underground at the moment, and Othar's quite alive (some more).
97
98[[WMG: The "Other" is (was?) really just the ''old'' Heterodynes.]]
99Lucrezia is clearly a scheming power-hungry person, but this whole mess isn't entirely her fault. She just got curious while the boys were off adventuring and let loose some old stuff that had been hanging around for who knows how long. Since she married Bill, the castle/machines decided they could recognize her as a Heterodyne (after all, the castle is somewhat less than saintly, it would love the chaos). Of course, she was more than happy to run with the idea, apparently.
100* First: the MeaningfulName. Heterodyne is really just some [[GratuitousEnglish gratuitous Greek]] that means "other power". Now, Greek being Greek, depending on the story this could stretch as far in one direction as "powered by the other" or in the [[IncrediblyLamePun other]] to "power over the other" - but whatever, there's clearly a plot-important connection to the Other.
101** It seems much more likely that the name refers to heterodyning as the signal processing technique, which sounds rather a lot like the characteristic Heterodyne talent.
102* Second: the revenants - [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040324 at least one of them]] - recognize Agatha as the Other, well before possession by Lucrezia (if that really is the Other). Probably the Heterodyne bloodline being the key.
103** Also the Mechanicsburg citizens seem ''suspiciously'' loyal to even the idea of a real Heterodyne, almost as fanatical as the "normal" revenants in Sturmhalten.
104** Oh, and the Jaegers have been around for how long, still loyal to the Heterodynes? Probably revenant prototypes, they're clearly not your "normal" constructs. They also recognize Agatha instantly.
105* Third: Heterodyne history. The "Heterodyne Boys" are popular heroes, the older ones... not so much liked at all. If they developed these machines, would it even have been noticed in the general chaos they caused?
106* Fourth: Claus predicted Lucrezia would end up [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041208 trying something]]. Messing with ancient Heterodyne toys because she got bored seems like just the sort of something she would try.
107** The Geisterdammen clearly have to fit in here somehow, that's the biggest problem.
108*** Possibly related: the hive queen ''sings''. See: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040607
109* Seems to be Jossed at least in regards to the loyalty of the Jaegers, who wouldn't be loyal to the people who treat you like you're a person instead of a tool to be thrown away.
110
111[[WMG: The Other is similar to the Reapers from ''Franchise/MassEffect'']]
112The Other really is T'Otheron, Dragon King of Mars, DuMedd did not make him up (mostly), and his plan is similar to that of Mass Effect's Reapers. The martian dragons sent the Spark to Earth countless years ago, so the humans-turned-Sparks would build impressive and useful biological and mechanical constructs. When the humans have built everything the dragons need, the dragons activate "The Other" causing a program loyal to them to manifest in someone and take out any threats that might cause problems for their harvesting. Then, the dragons come through a portal, and strip the Earth of all life and machines. They use the parts to build more dragons.
113
114[[WMG: The Other went back in time and created itself]]
115An incarnation of Lucrezia did not turn evil and start the war. Rather, an evil Lucrezia sent her consciousness back in time, into her past-self's brain. So, the Other just came into existence.
116* Well, Lucrezia never turned evil because she was never good to begin with, she was just faking it to marry Bill, but otherwise this sounds interesting.
117
118[[WMG: The Other was created by Lucrezia's parents]]
119Mr. and Mrs. Mongfish had three beautiful, sparky daughters. Only two of them were evil. Their family's reputation hinged on making sure all three were evil, so they managed to create an artificial, evil personality to implant in their good daughter Lucrezia. They called it "Other Lucrezia" and raised her like they did the rest of their daughters. But as this daughter got older, the other personality split from Lucrezia's real personality. It was at this time, Lucrezia learned of her other personality. She decided to separate her personalities once and for all. The good one remained in her body, and the bad one was stored in a device, ready to be copied downloaded into a suitable body. The Knights of Jove became Guardian's of "Other Lucrezia" while "real Lucrezia" married Bill Heterodyne and bore him a son. When she was pregnant with Agatha, One of the Knights of Jove got "Other Lucrezia" a body and it attacked the castle. It saw how good it's former body had become, and was disgusted and no longer wanted anything to do with her, so she dropped the "Lucrezia" part of her name. The Body the other was stored in was destroyed in the attack, but as long as that machine has the ability to copy and download the other's personality, it will live forever.
120* Explain the naughty flashback scene.
121** Lucrezia Mongfish was good ''by the standards of the Mongfish family'', not by the standards of the Heterodyne Boys.
122
123[[WMG: The other is Lucifer Mongfish.]]
124The Other was a spark on the Mongfish family line, but according to Klaus, showed far more skill than Lucrezia. If I remember right, she worked with her father, explaining how she would know how to work The Other's machines. Her father used her to control the Geisters since they already worshipped her, and the ones that defected did so because they learned she was just a puppet. It would give a motivation for the attack on Castle Heterodyne- he could hardly risk her telling them everything. And Lucrezia's a smart girl who would have realized that; according to the castle itself she betrayed the Heterodynes, but it also recalls her putting a fair deal of effort into making both a functioning backup of the castle system and a fierce protector for her son. That's awfully conflicting. The airship accident Dr. Mongfish died in that Zola mentions could be why The Other dropped off the face of the planet. Could be where Barry and Bill caught up to him.
125* Lucrezia is confirmed by multiple parties to be the Other, and the difference in skill is due to TimeTravel - she spent unknown amount of time perfecting her inventions.
126
127[[WMG: The Calming Pie Guy will invent a pie that rids people of Slaver Wasps.]]
128And it will be called [[IncrediblyLamePun Shoofly Pie]].
129* I hope this is the right section of the page for this WMG... if not feel free to move it.
130
131[[WMG: Euphrosynia Heterodyne is part of the Other/Lucrezia]]
132* Euphrosynia vanished mysteriously while snooping around Van Rijn's laboratory, the place where time windows keep popping up. It seems likely that she ran into the Muse of Time (who I'm 90% certain is the Other/Lucrezia) or the extradimensional entities, who kidnapped her and either overwrote her mind or absorbed her knowledge into their own gestalt personality. This also gave them knowledge of Castle Heterodyne secrets that made it easier for the Other to stage an attack. Remember, Barry and Bill did not grow up in the castle and tried to stay away from home as much as possible so there's probably tons of stuff they didn't know about that hellhole.
133[[/folder]]
134
135[[folder: The Other's Goals or Plans]]
136[[WMG: The Other's master plan is an evil AssimilationPlot]]
137The Other/Lucrezia Mongfish has advanced knowledge of downloading and switching consciousnesses and minds, as seen with the Summoning Engine and the lab under Castle Heterodyne. The Hive Engines produce slaver wasps that prevent anyone infected from disobeying Lucrezia or her daughter. Also, Agatha's dingbots are self-replicating and have the spark themselves. If The Other gets full control of both Agatha and her dingbots, and combines them with the other two concepts, on a more massive scale, she could overwrite the entire planet. 1) The dingbots would act as a GreyGoo vanguard, dissembling cities and armies and then rebuilding them into more dingbots, with the added bonus of more summoning engines (they can only focus on one minor project besides replicating themselves at any given time, it seems). 2) The slaver wasps take over all the humans that were not scrapped for parts (though the dingbots have not been seen to do that at all yet). 3) The Other/Agatha/Lucrezia commands all dingbots and revenants to have their minds overwritten with her's, if possible. All Sparks that might resist are killed for good measure. Then, the dingbots and revenants, now extensions of The Other, rebuild the world into Lucreziaburg, which is also an extension of The Other (intelligent like Castle Heterodyne). She showed them all.
138* Othar's twitter BadFuture shows Europa after Other's victory - it's completely devoid of human life (except Tarvek and Othar himself) and dotted with strange hive-like crystalline constructions. So, more like OmnicidalManiac.
139** It could just be the result of a MutualKill between The Other and everyone else. That's why people like Tarvek would still be alive in bunkers. Or The Other could have just moved the enslaved survivors to worship she/they/it in the Geister headquarters. Plus, whenever The Other has shown up on-screen, she/they/it seemed to be all about ''controlling'' people but not so much wiping out humanity.
140
141[[WMG: The Other is going to pull a GrandTheftMe on Zola, forcing Agatha to make a SadisticChoice.]]
142Mainly, whether or not to give Zola her locket in order to suppress The Other. While this would seem like the [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] in a classic "Kill the possessed victim Y/N?" scenario, giving up the locket would put her at risk of being completely overwhelmed by Spark-induced insanity. This would also be risky because Zola may not be as good at suppressing The Other, even with the locket's help -- and if The Other managed to wrest control while she was ''wearing'' the accursed thing, naturally its first move would be to ''smash it''. But if she ''doesn't'' try it, even as a stopgap measure while working on a ''better'' third option, we'd be right back to "Kill Y/N?"... and how would Gil react?
143* Slight problem with this. Zola's already proven herself to be far better than Agatha at suppressing the Other's consciousness, right in this url: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100712 so...
144* Also, this would not be a sadistic choice, since Lucrezia and Zola eagerly agree on killing Agatha.
145
146[[WMG: The Other is trying to get/regain the Spark.]]
147* Gil notices that for some reason, the Other hasn't revealed any new devices in its war against him. Even the spark wasp was the creation of the Knights of Jove. The most logical explanation for this is that the Other doesn't have the Spark, leading to one of two possible sub-explanations depending on whether the Other is Lucrezia, or is possessing her. Either the Other is Lucrezia, in which case she lost her spark when she transformed into the Other (or possibly when her body died) and is trying to get it back by copying herself into a body with it, or else the Other is some alien force possessing Lucrezia, in which case it probably possessed Lucrezia to get her spark, accidentally destroyed it in the process, and now thinks that it's worked out how to possess Agatha without extinguishing her spark.
148** Alternatively, the Spark is at least partially biological. Two of the three known Other copies (Zola, Anveka) are bodies that were not Sparks to begin with, and as such, those Others are non-Sparks who remember being Sparks but can no longer enter the Madness Place. This means she's essentially crippled until she can find a female Spark body to possess - and there's a decided shortage of those thanks to the Geisterdamen's efforts.
149** During her tenure as Other at some point later in her own timeline Lucrezia switched to clank bodies, and the Spark is indeed biological in nature. So far her only known Sparky bodies are her original one (which, apparently, didn't last very long) and Agatha's, from which she was already exorcised.
150
151[[WMG: The Other never used Lucrezia's own inventions]]
152* After all, Sparks have enough of a personal style that you can see who designed a particular invention. So, if the Other is trying to hide her real identity as Lucrezia, it only makes sense that she wouldn't use her own inventions as 'The Other'. That's also why The Other hasn't produced any new inventions since her return: Because the people who did the Other's actual innovating are still gone. One of them was likely killed or captured by the Vespiary Squad, considering the presence of a mobile (aka, an improved) hive mother on board their zeppelin.
153** She didn't hide her style, partly because the few people capable of analyzing it were either unavailable (Baron) or figured it out anyway (the Boys). Later Baron actually deduces Other's identity from the style. But she herself indeed didn't invent anything after the initial conqueror kit, because she used clank bodies during her tenure as the Other, and they cannot have spark. So all adjustments had to be done by other sparks, like Snarlantz, though she could perfectly reproduce everything already invented.
154[[/folder]]
155
156[[folder:What Happened to The Other]]
157[[WMG: The [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021111 woman in the Time-Window]] is the true form of The Other.]]
158Furthermore, she is - at that time - locked in a battle of wills with Agatha. Her visible arm looks exactly like the one choking Vrin in the flashback, and she's clearly pointing directly at (pre-breakthrough) Agatha. Her full sentence, as cut off by the window, is "Do you want to go back to being like THAT?!", indicating that Agatha has found some way to permanently destroy The Other, but risks her own Spark in the process. So The Other pulls open a time-window to remind her what she'd turn into if her spark was lost...
159* Define 'true'.
160* We can see that these 'windows' occur in reverse order, and Klaus has guessed that they are windows into/from the future. But his conclusions surrounding Agatha are not as reliable as his others have been. Is it possible that they are windows into/from the past? (Once you have time windows, the question of past and future starts to become fuzzy anyway.)
161* Maybe not. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160304 Here]] you can see in the forth panel that the Muse of Time has a hand very similar to that of the woman in the very first time window and matching hair.
162** Except that Albia confirms Lucrezia is the true identity of the Muse of Time.
163
164[[WMG: The Other didn't vanish mysteriously, it found a capable proxy.]]
165Baron Klaus Wulfenbach didn't fight The Other to a standstill. He got infected, and now his campaign to force order on Europa -- by dominating increasingly large parts of it -- is a cover for doing The Other's work for it.
166* More-or-less jossed. There is the fact that the Other disappeared ''before'' Klaus returned - IE, as far as is known he didn't fight it to a standstill, but there is also the question of [[spoiler: why the Other would scheme to infect Klaus with a special and unique Spark-infecting slaver wasp and then rule Europa through him]] if the Other had already succeded with that exact scheme
167** Okay, maybe it's not really reasonable to suspect that the Other managed to beat Klaus via infection, but it's entirely reasonable that Klaus didn't just fight the Other to a standstill, but actually managed to push her out completely, leaving a huge gap in time in which there was no Other. However, that doesn't get rid of the wasps. Which means the Baron could still have been infected even while the Other wasn't around. Now, maybe this isn't him doing the Other's work for her, exactly, but it is him unconsciously making decisions that help the Other. Or even consciously doing so.
168*** Again: Klaus returned AFTER Other's disappearance and complete ceasing of attacks. And was infected ON SCREEN during the Sturmhalten arc. He never fought the Other, he "merely" mopped up it's followers, disorganised by disappearance of the commander, and the royal houses that restarted the Long War.
169
170[[WMG: The Other didn't vanish mysteriously, it's already won.]]
171Which means that the characters aren't trying to avert disaster, but actually attempting to overthrow the Evil Overlord.
172
173MASSIVE SPOILER! [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110330 This page]] reveals that the early revenants [[spoiler: were the exception, not the rule, and that there are many more normal-appearing people who are under control. It's possible there are enough that The Other didn't need to continue the fight]]. Total direct control isn't needed if no one has a meaningful way to combat or contradict its wishes.
174* Jossed: while indeed the sizeable chunk of population is infected, the Other did vanish just as mysteriously as it appeared, throwing the whole revenant army into disarray, and later had to be uploaded into Agatha from the backup copy. And said copy makes it clear she hasn't won yet.
175
176[[WMG: The fight with the Other goes well into the future]]
177
178The Heterodyne boys learned about the events of the present comic (and future ones) some time ago, at the very least at the time the Castle was attacked. Klaus briefly mentions that Barry told Dr. Beetle something that convinced him not to trust Klaus with the information about slaver wasps and Agatha, which would make sense if he learned that Klaus was going to become a revenant at some point. We've seen several points where Agatha (or possibly Lucrezia in her) used some form of time travel technology to view events in Moloch's past. In Othar's twitter account he mentions that Tarvek was able to use Lucrezia's technology to send him back in time to prevent a bad future. The Jagers are noted to really like to eat bugs and have a loathing of the Other. All of the Other's plans and the Heterodyne responses have been made by imperfect understanding of future events, trying to stack the deck in the favor (and probably manipulating the past to get the best tools).
179
180[[WMG: Othar attacked the Castle on that night]]
181So far we know there's a time travel, and Othar was informed that Lucrezia is the Other. But he does not know about surrounding circumstances and may think that she was the Other from the beginning. So, if he ever travels back in time to that period, that and his love to kill the Sparks before they cause trouble, may prompt him to nip the Other in the bud. Inadvertently kickstarting (part of) the plot.
182
183[[WMG:The Other, the Geisterdamen, and the Moon]]
184It's been speculated for a while that the reason [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100712 nobody has found the Citadel of Silver Light]] (which is where the Geisterdamen come from) is because it's on the moon. The Geisters carry around some moon-like symbols and their light blue appearance makes them look like lunar aliens. This speculation didn't have much evidence for a very long time -- ''but then'' in ''[[https://twitter.com/Othar/status/1369538680587653121 2021]],'' Othar's Twitter mentioned that Eotain (a Geisterdame who defected) was afraid of the Moon and she's been like this since the Geisters came to Europa. Maybe she's scared because she thinks her goddess can see her from up there? Could explain how the Other could drop slaver engines from the sky in the prologue of ''Literature/AgathaHAndTheAirshipCity''.
185
186[[/folder]]
187
188[[folder:Jäger powers]]
189[[WMG: The Jägers draw some sort of power from their hats.]]
190This is why "[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031017 any plan where you lose your hat is a bad plan]]" and also why [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071214 Dimo wants Gil to wear a big hat with his name on it]].
191* Alternatively, the Heterodyne that first made the Jägerkin had some sort of strange hat fetish, which he passed on to his creations. Given the other strange things that Sparks do, this isn't that far fetched.
192** It also conveniently gives the artist license to the full range of historical European regimental headwear in all of it's wild and wacky glory. Many of those hats are even goofier than the jaeger hats depicted, so anyone seeing you wearing one in public would know "[[{{Series/Firefly}} There goes a brave man]]."
193** Interesting to note, either one or two (depends how you count Goomblast's skullcap) of the Jäger generals are hatless.
194*** Krizhan's hat could be the one that Gilgamesh 'inherited' along with the rest of his outfit in Mamma Gkika's. The Jägers probably changed it slightly. This leads to an interesting conflict of interest if Krizhan seens Gil wearing ''his hat''.
195*** If anything, Gkika's knife/hairpin thing could be considered her hat.
196*** Mama Gkika doesn't wear a hat in her "human" guise because she is specifically NOT dressed as a Jager. The hairpin/knife is just part of her generally outlandish dress sense.
197* However, Maxim [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070209 gives up his hat to bury with Lars]] and still seems to function with no problem.
198** Quod erat demonstratum. Amusing thought, but it's more military vanity than anything metaphysical.
199* What if it's a sort of fail-safe? The jaegers were designed as soldiers by a line of bloodthirsty geniuses--presumably, there's not an easy way to limit their destructive impulses. Therefore, it could be that the jaegers are given hats, and the masters say to them "Any time you cause enough chaos to lose your hat, you've done a bad thing." Easy method of control. It also explains why they gave Lars a hat: He did something "worthy of jaeger," and he didn't have a hat, so they didn't want it to look like he had messed up.
200* The jaegers could work on similar principles to warhammers orcs, hats DO increase their power the same way that painting things red makes them go faster.
201* With new info from [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100521 recent pages]] the Hetrodynes made the hat fetish exist to keep their army from killing each other for fun. Take hats, not heads.
202* It's heavily implied that they are required to take the hat from their enemy's still cooling corpse.
203** In the above linked comic filler arc, it's stated that it's possible to steal it or trick him out of it, which (for a Jaeger would be more impressive), but the normal way is to make sure the original owner no longer needs it.
204* Maxim makes considerable efforts to obtain Old Man Death's hat, which seems to be quite sufficient for the purpose despite OMD being human, not Jager
205* Jaeger hats have to be won in combat - therefore, each hat represents a defeated enemy. And the historically accurate hats -- and yes, most of them are historically accurate -- represent a panoply of the elite regiments of Europe. The underlying message is the Jaegers can beat ''anybody''.
206
207[[WMG: The Jägers are sparky, or would have been.]]
208The creation of Jägers using Jägerdraught only has a 30% success rate, tops. The first Hetrodyne drank the water and became something very like a Jäger. As he was a Hetrodyne we can assume he was a Spark. Perhaps the Jägers, when human, ''were'' (weak) Sparks, or Sparks that had never broken through. Drinking the stuff causes a breakthrough and mutation, redirecting the power.
209
210Both Sparks and Jäger are pretty durable, Jägers more so. Their speech bubbles are similar to a Sparks when they are in the madness place, AND both are immune to Slaver Wasps.
211
212[[WMG: The JägerGenerals do have hats.]]
213They're just too big to wear. Look at [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080514 the one]] for impressing them and defending the town.
214
215* The Von Mekkhans are in charge of of Mechanicsburg, and could presumably give orders to the Jaegers. And their hat connects them to the Castle, making it the size of the entire town. Even better, it was built for them by the Heterodynes. No wonder everybody listens to them.
216[[/folder]]
217
218[[folder:Becoming Jäger]]
219[[WMG:The Jaegerbrau is more reliable than is being let-on.]]
220The casualty figures for users of Jaegerbrau are artificially inflated due to the early Heterodynes not selecting for physical compatability when choosing Jaeger candidates, they were chosing for ''Loyalty''. The Jaegermonsters are soldiers to their bones and consider things like espirit de corps and regimental honor to be things not unlike their very life's blood and breath. This keeps the Jaegers in-line, not any kind of implanted compulsion, but their own sense of duty and loyalty.
221* Also, Vole may be a result of a Heterodyne seeing what would happen if the 'Perfect' physical specimen were given Jaegerbrau, the result being a tall adonis-like Jaeger with few extranious monster-y features.. and precious little use for the Jaegertroth.
222** There certainly doesn't seem to be any "physical compulsion" aspect to any oaths they've taken, what with Oggie, Maxim, and Dimo sneaking into Mechanicsburg. On the other hand, we know Vole was a proper Jaeger once ("Hyu is no longer a Jaeger!"), and Maxim and Jenka are also not terribly monstrous.
223** Well he was probably too scared to act out while Heterodynes were still running around. Especially the older ones. I mean would you betray them? Once they disappeared and Wulfenbach came to power Vole took his chance. Maxim and Jenka might just be both loyal to the Heterodynes and lucky enough to not get too monstrous from Jaegerisation. It's not like loyalty and compatibility would be mutually exclusive.
224** It's said at some point that Vole turned against the Jaegertroth due to a personal grudge against the Heterodynes and not because of any biological characteristic. From what [[Troper/{{Nivenus}} I]] can remember he was thrown out of the Heterodynes' service (presumably as a punishment for something) and he subsequently abandoned his oath and swore vengeance on the family.
225*** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110722 According to Tarvek,]] Vole tried to kill Barry and Bill for being weak - i.e. not enough like the old Heterodynes. This would indicate that Vole approved of his former masters because of what they let him do, rather than because of who they were - more or less what I would expect from someone with all of the typical Jaeger aggression and none of the typical Jaeger loyalty.
226
227[[WMG: Gil is turning into a Jaeger]]
228* The "bad side effects" of Jaeger Battledraught on humans hasn't been described in any detail, and the only clues we have are a few pages of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080430 Gil acting uncharacteristically irrational]]. His voice bubble also gets all spikey, though not quite like it does when his Spark is showing. Though it could merely be a sight-gag, his teeth look peculiarly sharp. Mamma Gkika [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080505 warns him to avoid losing his cool]], saying "his face might stick like that". It is thus a distinct possibility that a spike in adrenaline (or pineal whatsists, or who knows what...) could trigger a reaction resulting in his transformation into a Jaeger. Given the sheer saturation of the universe with mad super-science, the supposition that Jaegers were created from humans through some kind of SuperSerum isn't improbable. It would also serve to [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060726 explain how Oggie's great-great-grandson]] (aka, [[AuthorAvatar Phil Foglio]]) is somehow human.
229** WordOfGod has confirmed that Jagers are transformed humans, and that a very important, but not the only step of the procedure is the ingestion of Jagerdraught. Whether this is the same as Jager Battledraught is unclear.
230** No offense, but [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081006 Gil's been drinking lots of weird stuff lately]]. There's got to be more to it than just drinking a single bout of whatever the magic potion is, or else the adventurous half of Mechanicsburg would ALL be Jagers.
231*** Which is not out of the question entirely. New Jagars have to come from somewhere, and making them out of Mechanisburegians ensures pre-existing loyalty to the Hetrodynes.
232*** Klaus would not risk his only son and heir on the unpredictability of Jägerbrau, even if he had the formula. Aside from what, does Gil look the ''least'' bit Jägerish in the time window? G'wan, look again, I'll wait for you to get back.
233* Gil's [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090522 strength seems to have increased somewhat]], I think. But then [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080428 Mama Gkika says]] that Klaus may have more of the Jaegers' secrets than he lets on.
234* Can this troper point out that, recently, Gil has (to quote Agatha), "got shot, and then threw a clank across the room. And now you're insisting that you're fine." Does this sound like a Jager to anyone else?
235* As of 19/11/09, His evil grin is even more Jaegerish than the usual evil grins given by the non-Jaeger cast. I'd say plausable. It would certainly make it seem like Gil was dead, as per Othar's twitter. The Time windows where he's fine? Agatha made an anti-Jaegerbraw somewhere between him becoming a Jaeger (Likely of whatever color he is when the Si Vales is done) and when he ends up in drag (ish).
236
237[[WMG: A Jäger's immediate descendants are more likely to survive the Jägerdraft]]
238Its not really explained what makes the difference between being one of the 90% and being one of the 10% but genetics could be a factor, and while WordOfGod clearly states that Jäger-ness isn't inheritable, whatever allowed the Jägerdraft to work sucessfully could well be.
239* As an extension of the above idea, it is possible that there has been a slight but noticeable improvement in the odds over the centuries since a)there's been at least six hundred years, or an average of twenty-four generations for natural selection to work it's magic, and b) given the number of Jägers, the size of Mechanicsburg, and the fact that it was historically a rather insular place apart from terrorising Europa, odds are that at least half the town has at least one of two Jägers in their family tree.
240
241[[WMG: Moloch von Zinzer will become a Jäger]]
242He insist on not being a minion, yet is most obviously staying by Agatha's side. And Jägers are quite known for insisting it was their personal choice to serve Heterodynes.
243[[/folder]]
244
245[[folder:General Jäger matters]]
246[[WMG: The Jägers originally adopted Nice Hats to make them more recognizable.]]
247Jäger appearance is [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051010 all over the map]], so if you see only one or two of them you might just think they're some random construct. But if you see a dangerous-looking humanoid ''wearing a fancy hat'' of whatever variety, you immediately have reason to consider that you may be dealing with a Jäger. The association with their honor would have come over time.
248
249[[WMG: Jagers were created in part by a stable timeloop for this time.]]
250Jagers like to eat bugs. Slavers are bugs. They were created to fight slaverwasps, and other stuff.
251* And Jägerkin are immune to slaver wasps. Noize!
252
253[[WMG: ''Anyone'' who turns Jaeger gets the accent.]]
254It's not just a sociolinguistic thing, and it might not be just because of the fangs. There are certain things the Jaegerbrau changes in consistent ways (biologically improbable muscle tone and bone density, pointy teeth, that sort of thing), maybe changes to the structure of the tongue and the top of the ventral side of the throat are one of them.
255
256[[WMG: In contrast: The Jaeger accent is ''not'' a result of the transformation.]]
257Jaegers don't age, extremely strong and hardy enough to have very low mortality rates even though they are constantly battling and their mad scientist masters would be able to rebuild them from scraps (or at least they did so for hundreds of years save for the 18 years when there was no Heterodyne in Mechanicsburg). It is entirely possible that all of the Jaegers we have seen have been around for hundreds of years, and their accent is simply the result of the language changing around them and they are still stuck with the way of speech they grew up with centuries ago.
258This is actually something that can be seen in real life even today, where very old people often talk in a very peculiar manner not because of senility or some voicebox problems, but because that's how they learned to speak the language sixty/seventy/eighty+ years ago.
259* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20140815 Possibly confirmed.]]
260
261[[WMG: Alternatively, it ''is'' just a sociolinguistic thing, in the sense that being a character in a story is being part of a unique society.]]
262Und Jaegers [[SelfDemonstratingArticle tokk like dis]] becoz really, if ''hyu'' vos a beeg scary monstery ting, [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality hyu vouldn't tokk in a normal voice]], now vould hyu?
263
264[[WMG: Jaegers don't automatically get sharp teeth.]]
265Most of them have to file their teeth into points. If they didn't, they would have a disadvantage against the Jaegers with tusks, the other Jaegers who ''do'' file their teeth, and anything with naturally pointy teeth (as well as being more attractive, in the opinions of the Jaegers who care about being aesthetically pleasing in ways other than intimidation). Some sort of increased bone density and/or constantly growing teeth keep this from being a structural problem (and they may also file their teeth to keep them from growing uncomfortably long; Dimo, for an exception that implies the rule, doesn't mind having longer teeth than most).\
266The exception is Jaegers with tusks (like the General). Those are unusual but not extraordinary side effects, like Oggie's horn.
267* Confirmed by Mamma Gkika: Jägers get variable properties and "nize" teeth apparently are part of those variables.
268
269[[WMG: Jaegerbrau works differently for girls.]]
270It completely skips the "9% go feebleminded or gibbering" and cuts down significantly on the 1% that get turned into {{Super Soldier}}s, but the neurological results (most importantly the insanely strong loyalty pattern) work out differently. That, or it's only recently that feminism has gotten to the point where more than a very rare Heterodyne (or the Heterodyne who ran the first clinical trials of the Jagerbrau) could consider a woman a viable candidate for the brew, no matter that she might be able to outmatch some of the weaker post-Jagerbrau males even as a human.
271
272[[WMG: Alternatively, most female Jagers are, at a distance, indistinguishable from male ones.]]
273Mamma Gkika's obviously female, but Jenka is perpetually hidden under the cloak, and it's plausible that the Jageresque mutations can blur the lines between male and female features. We could have seen plenty of female Jagers in the background scenes and just not been able to tell.
274* Jenka has been seen briefly [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131101 with less layers]]
275* And later seen in an entirely different outfit, showing that she looks [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151214 remarkably human]].
276
277[[WMG: Jagerbrau works differently for Sparks.]]
278It is (I think) canon that strong Sparks are just plain physically better. They're also neurologically different in a way that makes them incompatible with all [[spoiler: but one]] of the Slaver Wasps. Perhaps the Brau makes Sparks physically better without mutating them (much), and ''drastically'' cuts down on the risk of dying horribly or going uselessly insane. Perhaps the Heterodynes generally never bothered wasting Sparky test subjects and underlings by turning them into foot soldiers with a 99% chance of never being a useful spark again, and the ones who did ([[ForScience just to see what would happen]]) declared the experiment either tainted by improperly made Jagerbrau or boring because nothing interesting happened (this may, of course, explain the Unstoppable Airman Higgs).
279
280[[WMG: Mamma Gkika is an ''extremely'' senior Jaeger, from before the Heterodynes really bothered using the Jagerbrau on a massive scale.]]
281She doesn't have the hat thing (unless her hairpin is her hat), she has human-pink skin (except when it is green, blue or grey), and she expresses loyalty to the Heterodynes the way a human would, rather than the way a Jaeger would (not to say that the Oath is coerced, just that it is... ahm... "[[SeriousBusiness strengthened]]"). Presumably, she was made with an early formula of the brew and, because she wasn't put in the army, didn't get the "hats, not heads, hats=very big deal" training.
282* Except Mamma IS a General (it's canon) and does have a hat with her uniform when she comes to meet the new Heterodyne.
283** That page was released after the guess was submitted. It [[{{Jossed}} Josses]] the hat-stuff and the extrapolation that she doesn't have a hat because she wasn't a soldier, and confirms the authority (and probably but not necessarily the seniority), but doesn't say anything about when she was created in the scheme of things.
284
285[[WMG: Jagerbrau works differently for Skifandrians.]]
286And Mamma Gkika was a wanderer from Skifander who decided that the Jagerbrau was something she should drink, and that the warnings not to drink it were an affront to her awesomeness as a Skifandrian. Oggie might be half-Skifandrian.
287
288[[WMG: The Seventh General is the Assistant]]
289"He" is the keeper of many secrets. She almost never puts down that book. Most Jagers never take off their hats, she is only ever seen without her ''cloak'' in the presence of Generak Gkika.
290
291[[WMG: Alternatively, Airman Higgs is the Seventh General]]
292If all Jägers get some strange thing out of drinking the Jägerdraught, by law of statistics, there will be at least one whose strange thing is that he remains completely human-looking. General Gkika apparently knows a lot about him, at least enough to know that Higgs would prefer if he were the one telling Zeetha what makes him so special. He is also very strong and resilient and has very good reflexes (as proven in the fight against the Muse Otilia), and once or twice he has busted out an accent quite similar to the one the Jägers use.
293* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100505 He does have pointed ears...]]
294* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20101018 When he loses his cool he begins using "vas"]]
295* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160902 Confirmed]]
296
297[[WMG: Vole was a Heterodyne.]]
298There has recently been a lot of foreshadowing about Jagers and who they were in the past. This would explain why Vole alone among the Jagers looked down on his fellow Jagers and considered himself worthy to judge the younger generation of Heterodynes.
299[[/folder]]
300
301[[folder: Sparky Business]]
302[[WMG:Sparks are just BETTER when they are in the Madness Place, it even gives them access to genius outside their purviews.]]
303Like, bringing Spark level Genius to bear against predicting an enemy's moves and how to move their own bodies to maximize damage. Neatly explaining their occasional superhuman abilities in a fight.
304** All nigh-on superhuman combat ability so far has been shown by people either highly trained (Zeetha as a Warrior Princess, Violetta, Zola and Tarvek by the Smoke Knights, Gilgamesh as a badass put through a TrainingFromHell by his father) or drugged with a super-powered stimulant (Moveit). Sparks do tend to be physically powerful and have fast reflexes, but these abilities aren't necessarily beyond human capacity.
305
306[[WMG:Sparks are not limited to intellectual enhancements.]]
307They also have enhancements of other nervous system functions such as reflexes, perception and coordination; every major Spark that has been shown is also a BadassNormal when it comes to physical combat, taking out Jaegermonsters and War Clanks single-handedly. Additionally, when Agatha's De-Sparking medallion was fully functional, it make her a klutz as well as limiting her intellect and concentration.
308* Well, first off, the spark has been shown to be able to cause "mad" fits such as what Gil used to defeat Vole and to intimidate Wooster. And we already know that the spark grants unearthly charisma (especially the Heterodyne spark, though we've also seen Gil draw upon it for such and most sparks we've seen ''are'' ruling something and visa-versa). But don't rule out that Klaus is probably decked out with physical enhancements (that scar across his chest in the flashback with Lucrezia looks amazingly similar to that on, say, Punch), Gil may be slightly as well, and both have extreme training. But even as I type that my words ring hollow, as in all other cases the Jagermonsters seem nigh-invincible and the cast page even describes them as "possibly immortal", yet the Wulfenbachs have both beaten them up bare-handed. Perhaps the spark gives some recipients more of one gift than another; the Heterodynes got charisma out to wazoo while the wulfenbachs are superhuman in a way that surpasses even the best living war-machines. We already know that some get a longer or shorter stick overall.
309** In Klaus' case, [[AllThereInTheManual The Secret Blueprints]] hint (confirmed by WordOfGod) that he is a construct like Punch, in his case built from the three sons (all Sparks) of the Wulfenbach family, who were blown up in a lab accident; also recent comics hint that Klaus has somehow used certain of the "Jagermonster secrets" to enhance Gil. Thus we can't use either of them as the baseline as to how a Jager compares against a "typical" Spark.
310*** If Klaus is a construct, it adds a chilling context to the seemingly offhand joke made by a Jager at the University (about the time Dr. Beetle was killed): "If Gil fails his father's tests, he'll be broken down for parts!".
311*** Oh, Klaus is definitely a construct, and yeah - he knows how it works from the inside. The WordOfGod though didn't say he was made up from his brothers; that was a suggestion in the Secret Blueprints that's been latched onto as a Plausible Theory.
312*** It would be simpler to assume that he, as a friend of the Heterodyne Boys, would have been rebuilt by the boys when he got too badly hurt during one of their adventures. This would especially fit the "construct like Punch" description, as Punch was also made by the Heterodyne Boys.
313*** Mama Gkika did comment that the Jaeger healing potion she gave to Gil did work unusually well on him.
314** I think Gil and Agatha have both demonstrated that a Spark's physical powers are also due to the force of their personalities. Even Vole hesitated to face Gil when he was 'in his madness place' and Agatha's powers didn't fully manifest until she got really, ''really'' mad. It's pretty hard to prevail physically over people who can actually bend reality itself by sheer force of will.
315*** Part of it's just plain berserker strength.
316*** I think it's mostly berserker strength, backed up with mad science steroids and exercise routines. Imagine if all those crazy adds actually worked...
317
318[[WMG:The spark is partialy social in nature.]]
319Whilst there are some people just born with it there are also those with the innate ability lying dormant but it can be brought to the fore by the presence of other sparks. I base this on 5 points:
320
321# Ordinary people who spend a lot of time around sparks (like the citizens of Mechenburg) can develop sparkish tendencies.
322# We are given the impression by Master Payne that rural sparks tend to be less powerful.
323# Many of the most powerful sparks have university educations and many seem to hold university posts.
324# Merlot's current speech bubbles are the ones used for sparks, yet he is not supposed to be one.
325# Strong emotion can trigger a breakthrough.
326
327* Interesting concept, but:
328** 1.) Mechanicsburg has been ruled by probably the strongest Spark family in existence for hundreds of years. There's a good chance a large portion of its commonfolk have a sliver of Spark blood in them, whether Heterodyne or otherwise.
329** 2.) The way I see it, rural Sparks are not less powerful per sé, they just don't have access to the knowledge and equipment that cities and especially universities provide. Similarly why Leonardo da Vinci, undoubtedly an amazing genius, never built a functioning space-ship.
330** 3.) Universities are institutes of higher learning and science. Sparks are amazingly skilled scientists. Where else would you find them?
331** 4.) He may or may not be a (minor) Spark, but he's definitely absolutely insane. That does things to a man's voice.
332** 5.) No comment here.
333
334*** In fact, Sparks need not be scientists. It seems more like they apply the Spark to the skills they already possess. It is implied that witches were Sparks who used the Spark to make their love potions and whatnots work. Also, the Chef from Master Payne's Travelling Heterodyne Show is a Spark who works solely in the medium of pies. No real dent in your argument, but I thought I should bring it up.
335
336[[WMG: The madness place is contagious.]]
337In the last few pages, while discussing possibilities for Tarvek's treatment, Agatha, Gil, and Tarvek have all slipped into the wavy-lined "madness place" speech bubbles - even though Gil is clearly trying to stay clear headed, and Tarvek is dying. I propose that one Spark going into the madness place sets off other Sparks (perhaps only the particularly strong Sparks) in the area, either by some biological agent or in a purely psychological process, in a similar way to how yawns are "contagious."
338
339[[WMG: Agatha will become a light.]]
340The 'spark of brilliance' is a transition point, which can branch off into a 'flame', or a 'Light'. Flames bring illumination and heat, but burn you if you get too close, like Madboys and girls. They build monsters, death-machines, and enslave the populace for fun, but at the end of the day, they get radio. Electric lights, on the other hand, steadily emit light, aren't that dangerous, and are fueled by electricity, like Agatha. She makes things that are practically useful, driving her 'minions' into constructive work, instead of destruction. Also, she eased through her 'break-through', and didn't go nuts.
341* On the other hand, she did once design a merry-go-round capable of levelling a small town, and for every dingbot or coffee engine there's a death ray, each one bigger than the last.
342
343[[WMG: Sparks can't build anything precise]]
344Or more [[IncrediblyLamePun precisely]], can't build anything that requires tight tolerances, math or precision. There may be exceptions to this, of course, but as a general rule, Sparks are chaotic and build things in a chaotic fashion. The world still runs on steam, because internal combustion engines cannot be built to sufficient tolerances. We don't see complicated electronics, because that requires ultra-pure silicon and cleanrooms. No nuclear weapons, either, for the same reasons. Or it could be something slightly different, but a bit broader.
345* '''Sparks are chaotic''' and this prevents them from building anything that requires significant calculations, precision, or repeated experimentation. This is a world of mad science, not the scientific method. Discoveries are made almost solely by accident. Crazy things are built, yes, but there is a lot of stagnation. The nature of a Spark precludes proper science, in favour of SCIENCE!, which is not very effective at determining underlying causes or doing any sort of directed research. The nature of a Spark also prevents them from building anything particularly precise or requiring tight tolerance. Not a very good explanation, but I think you can get the gist of it.
346** This is likely why Wulfenbach is so powerful. Remember, his specialization is in ''analyzing'' other Sparks' inventions, determining how they work, and then implementing that tech across his empire. Sparks make inventions, Wulfenbach takes said inventions and turns them into ''technology''.
347** One of the novelisations says that non-sparks have trouble working with and duplicating spark tech (either it drives them mad, or doesn't work at all), and few-to-no sparks want to be production-line engineers. So there may well be incredibly delicate prototypes in circulation, but no-one to set up commercial production. Imagine trying to build a modern computer while having to make every single diode by hand. It's worsened, too, because there's only erratic cooperation between sparks. The existence of universities suggests there's some flow of information, but the world often feels like the plural of spark is [[Literature/{{Discworld}} war]]
348
349[[WMG: In the beginning...]]
350* ...there was but one spark and no humans (though other forms of life could have), the humans are the first spark's constructs (hence why the sparks are naturally charismatic) and the sparks are his descendants (its hinted that the spark tends to be inherited). It poses, however, the question about the origin of the first spark?
351
352[[WMG: "Warriors" like Zeetha are an alternate expression of the Spark]]
353* Instead of building impossible things, Warriors channel their power through their bodies to accomplish impossible feats of physicality.
354** It would explain why some Sparks (such as Othar, Gil, and the Heterodyne Boys) are so powerful in personal combat: They're redirecting a portion of their Spark into physical boosts.
355** It explains why Zeetha has not manifested any conventional Spark abilities despite being the daughter of at least one (and maybe two) powerful Sparks.
356** This also explains why the ''kulee-dok-zumil'' training is usually passed down from parent to child. Since the Spark is inherited, most Warriors will be the children of other Warriors.
357** The Het'rok'din was described as a mighty warrior, much more so than a mad inventor.
358
359[[WMG: Agatha will become a God-Queen]]
360* We've now learned that the God-Queens were once normal Sparks who had a ''second'' breakthrough, effectively making them to Sparks what a Spark is to a normal human being. This is foreshadowing that Agatha herself will experience a second breakthrough and become the first new God-Queen in ages.
361
362[[WMG: Von Zinzer will accept his fate and declare himself Agatha's chief minion]]
363* This way he'll be able to boss other minions around, and particularly - to order three his love interests stop trying to murder each other and form his harem instead. This will happen after Agatha accepts OTT with Gil and Tarvek.
364[[/folder]]
365
366[[folder:The Unstoppable Airman Higgs]]
367[[WMG: The Unstoppable Airman Higgs is Bill Heterodyne.]]
368Just look at all the amazing things he's done. It's hard to believe that an ordinary person could do them. He's clearly got mechanical knowledge, super-strength, and knows the Castle.
369
370As to the physical facts, he has about the same build as the Bill in the sepia flashback. He and Barry invented Agatha's locket, so it isn't out of the realm of possibility that they could make a stronger version that would supress his Spark. In this theory, he returned at the same time Barry did, and joined up with the Wulfenbach army as a way of quietly taking a look around. Now that he's encountered Agatha, he's trying to protect her without revealing his identity. Presumably, age has changed his face slightly (Possibly with the help of [[MagicPlasticSurgery SCIENCE! Plastic Surgery]]). Combine that with a different hairstyle, attitude, and clothes, and if he stays in the background nobody will pay close attention to him.
371
372* Hmm, I'd be more inclined to believe that the unstoppable Airman Higgs is Klaus Barry Heterodyne, who is not as dead and buried as people think. This also explains why he does not look exactly like Bill AND why he has the same color hair as Agatha.
373** If the above "this is happening nowish" WMG is true, that makes Higgs/KBH a 30something (30 exactly in 2002) which seems about right.
374*** Oooh, I like that idea. What if some test revealed that young Klaus had all the heroic traits of his father, but lacked the spark (he seems a skilled engineer, but the closest we've come to seeing him build something sparky is rigging an autopilot). Since the castle may have been set to kill a non-spark hetrodyne, Bill faked his son's death and sent him away to be trained as a hero.
375*** Unlikely, given the information provided in-universe. Klaus disappeared for only about 4 years, and KBH was born halfway through his disappearance. Klaus has also being back for less than 20 years. So KBH would be about Gil's age, not in his 30's like Higgs. Of course, time travel, a series of tragic (yet hilarious) accidents, or some period of rapid aging could account for the difference.
376** I suspect that he did in fact die, but was revived by Jagerdraught, which brought him back with Jager-like strength and speed (and accent, once his control slips) but burnt away his spark. He has been hanging about Klaus because its the safest place in Europe to be.
377* Jossed.
378
379[[WMG: Higgs is Bill Heterodyne, mk 2.]]
380Just take a look at the flashbacks involving the Heterodyne Boys, and compare to Higgs' face. It would also explain how he could find his way to Lucrezia's bedroom (remembering that Lucrezia and Bill were married), and how he could be so badass in combat.
381We know that Klaus had to patched together after "coming back", and that at least one of the Heterodyne boys did. He also know that revivification can lead to varying degrees of memory loss (hence why he doesn't recognise his daughter, and, for that matter, why he's serving as Airman/3c in the Wulfenbach air navy). The only problem is that the Jaegerkin don't recognise him as a Heterodyne, but that may be an artefact of whatever happened before he "came back", or the revive process, or he might just eat a lot of garlic...
382* Jossed.
383
384[[WMG: The Unstoppable Higgs is a predecessor to Punch and Judy.]]
385As above, mostly. Bill and Barry's homonculi are ''definitely'' the strong, silent type (which Heterodynes themselves tend not to be) and the castle's reaction to recognizing its masters would likely be stronger than "I know you!" One of its fellow servants, not so much. It's also a more direct explanation of his superhuman physical prowess.
386* A related theory, Higgs is a construct made by Barry to protect Klaus and potentially Agatha, and to keep an eye out for the Other.
387* Given that [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100419 this strip]] suggests he's far older than he looks, this sounds the most likely of the current theories.
388* Except that Punch and Judy describe themselves as "juvenilia" and say they weren't originally well-made, while Higgs would have to be a superiorly-crafted construct not to have been found out as one by now. If he were their predecessor and still made by Bill and Barry, he'd be even cruder.
389* Jossed. [[spoiler:He predates Punch and Judy by about 700 years.]]
390
391[[WMG: The Unstoppable Airman Higgs is a nephew or younger brother of Lucrezia Mongfish.]]
392The Mongfish family had evidently been involved with the Storm King plot for some time before the whole Other business, so it's not unreasonable that a member of that family might get access to Muse-related data, explaining Higgs' familiarity with Otilia's components. A Mongfish married in to the Heterodyne family, so it's not unreasonable that other members of the family might have visited before the Kestle-Shattering Kaboom, explaining Kestilia's recognition of Higgs. The Mongfishes were very gifted in biology, explaining Higgs' superhuman attributes. Lucifer Mongfish had at least three daughters (Theo's mom was "one of the less famous Mongfish daughters", meaning that there were at least two other than Lucrezia), two of whom had NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast (Lucrezia, Serpentina) and (most likely) personalities to match, so a lone male nephew or younger brother would probably learn from an early age to stay low-key and hidden lest he be subjected to the MadScience version of forced dress-up/tea parties/whatever else the girls could find to torment him with, explaining how Higgs has managed to avoid drawing any attention despite his great talent and ability. Anyone associated with the Mongfishes enough to know the truth about The Other but who opposed it for some reason would want to support Baron Wulfenbach but not let him know of said association, explaining why Higgs is a Wulfenbach airman. Finally, Lucrezia and Higgs are both blond.
393* Jossed. [[spoiler:Again, he's too old.]]
394
395[[WMG: Higgs is a construct meant for espionage.]]
396Likely been in "cold storage" for some time and taken out to keep tabs on all the major players in this plot to install a fake Heterodyne. Explains, among other things, why he saved Bang along with Klaus and why he also answers to Tarvek. If Higgs is gonna be any kind of important to the plot, there's gonna be a major problem with loyalties later on.
397* Jossed. [[spoiler:Espionage, yes; construct, no.]]
398
399[[WMG: Higgs is a variant Jaeger]]
400The muse/castle's comments suggest that he's older than he looks, and he's ridiculously strong and durable, just like a Jaeger. Maybe he drank a slightly different recipe of the Jaegerbrau or it was a .00001% chance that he would look like and speak like a normal human.
401* Now that Higgs has started [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20101018 talking like a Jaeger]], this seems more likely.
402** At first, [[Tropers/{{AFP}} This Troper]] just assumed he was Central European (you know, serving the Baron Wulfenbach?), but given what he says in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110128 this]] comic, I'm gonna have to go with IKnewIt ([[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Well, not 'knew it' in the sense of having the slightest idea, but I knew there was something I didn't know.]])
403** He no longer has the accent, but he seems to have retained some of the [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110128 speech patterns]].
404* ''Or'' he rode with the Jägers back in the day, like Old Man Death.
405* ''Or'' Higgs is a normal human in the process of going through the Jäger transformation process. He was normal on the airship, got really banged up during the rescue, was taken to Mama Gkika's to be patched up, and was in such bad shape that even the Jäger battledraught wasn't enough, and they had to give him the Jägerbrau to save him. It's implied from the scene with Gil at Mama's that anger causes problems for those who have drunk Jäger potions, and Higgs, who is normally unflappable, does finally lose his cool when Zeetha is stabbed.
406* ''Or'' Higgs is a fifth Jager General, explaining why he's highly intelligent, human-looking and able to speak without the overdone German accent.
407** Now that it's been revealed that [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120516 there are actually seven Jägergenerals and one is in hiding]] and that [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120502 some Jägers can change the colour of their skin]], this is becoming more and more likely.
408* ''Or'' Higgs is Vlad (the Blasphemous) Heterodyne, who first brewed (and tasted) the Jaegerdraught.
409** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110128 Last panel]]. "He's a smart guy." Pretty schmott guy, anyone? Also, nice hat.
410** He also put Gil's special hat on to convince that crowd.
411** If he were Vlad the Blasphemous, he would have had a spark incident by now, directly helped to rebuild the Castle, and would have acted like one of the Old Heterodynes. He's not Vlad.
412* I do Hereby note that Higgs ALWAYS has that hat on. We have NEVER seen it off him, even when he gets stabbed, kicked, punched, beat on, etc. by Zola... the hat stays on. When he is at Mama's, bandaged up, covered in hurts, smoking his pipe with his shirt off... the hat is still on his head. The man has some connection to the Jaeger... Maybe he was an attempt to make a Jaeger that had a higher success rate? Instead of the process by which less than 30% survive, they wanted something with a higher success rate so that they could have more Jaegers (they being older Heterodynes) and Higgs was the result?
413** Actually, there has been [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100217 one exception]] to his always having his hat on, and it carries on over the next several pages.
414* It's not just that he's MadeOfIron. In the comics pages from [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110128 01/28]] and [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110131 1/31/2011]], he refers to Tarvek as a "smart guy" (standard Jaegerspeak for Sparks) and seems overly concerned (given the situation) about being seen as a deserter.
415** And Tarvek notes "Oh, yes. So you did [get permission]. From the Lady Heterodyne, too, I noticed." And we know how Jägers feel about Heterodynes.
416* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160902 Confirmed]]
417
418[[WMG: Higgs is a Wulfenbach]]
419Based solely on facial resemblance to Klaus in the last panel [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20101018 here]]. Note; it distinctly ''changes shape'' to appear that way.
420** I don't know, people who are really really annoyed tend to look a lot different, though your idea has merit.
421
422[[WMG: Higgs is the original Heterodyne]]
423And has been living in/near castle heterodyne since it was built. Higgs is showing signs of being a Jager, but has almost 'no' monstrous features. The first Heterodyne to reach the sight of Mechanicsburg drank the waters of the river, but did not undergo a Jager-like transformation. The Jagerdraught was developed later to create (mentally) inferior super soldiers.
424* This seems to make some sense, but my theory is that he's one of the originals, but not "the" original. The castle knows him and chats with him, but doesn't mention it after he beats the living tar out of it. Although my other theories are even more far-fetched... I like your thinking.
425
426[[WMG: Higgs is a darker and edgier Barry Heterodyne]]
427Well, multiple characters are anticipating his return, and in the old Heterodyne stories, Barry is the one commonly shipped with exotic high priestesses. Would that explain Higgs's relationship with Zeetha?
428* Jossed.
429
430[[WMG: Airman Higgs is Agatha's brother]]
431[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100222 In this comic]], part of the castle recognizes him. He's blond, like Agatha, Higgs begins with the same letter as Heterodyne, and he's ''awesome''.
432** And they've got the same hairflippy thing, like how [[spoiler:Zeetha has the same ruffle in her hair that Klaus and Gil do.]]
433** However Higgs also mentions an old Heterodyne performing a similar experiment to Agatha's, suggesting a long lifespan. Of course that could just mean he's an ancestor. Or that time travel was involved [[spoiler: which would explain ''a lot'' about everyone]].
434* Jossed. [[spoiler:Unless her father and/or mother are 700 years old, there's no way Higgs is directly related to Agatha.]]
435
436[[WMG: Higgs is one of the Heterodyne Boys]]
437Does this even need to be addressed. Look at all that he has done.
438* Jossed.
439
440[[WMG: Higgs comes with the Dyne.]]
441Higgs belongs to the family of priests and priestesses who took care of the Dyne spring. The family was around before the Heterodynes arrived in Mechanicsburg. One of them showed it to the first Heterodyne. Higgs became unstoppable when Egregious unstoppered the Dyne and Higgs was rushed into the waters by the increased current. He kept his hat, though he had a different one then. It is all in the [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091102 comic]].
442
443[[WMG: Higgs used to be a Spark and a Heterodyne.]]
444We know it's most likely he was at Mamma Gkika's to be patched up, and presumably drunk the Battledraught. But there seems to be hints that he's a Jager (using Jager lingo, being very strong and durable, getting a bit of a Jager accent when angry). But he's not as dumb as your average Jager. The Jagers were likely not all that stupid before they became Jagers, it seems to dumb them down. Perhaps it did dumb Higgs down as well- it's just that he was a Spark and thus incredibly intelligent beforehand, and it just brought his intelligence down to a more normal level. There's also some evidence he knows mechanical things (getting on course to Mechanicsburg without any ranking as a pilot or navigator, see this http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070406 and also analyzing Otilia's apparent brokeness http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100217 ), while although not enough to merit a Spark, we've already established he may have lost that. As for being a Heterodyne, he knows about the layout of the castle, knows some family history, and the castle recognized him. Of course, this raises the question of why a Heterodyne got turned into a Jager. However, it's possible that he invented the Jagerdraught and decided to test it out on himself (remember that Sparks tend to be unreasonable in the Madness Place) without knowing the side effects. And... Here we are.
445* Okay, I take it back about Higgs inventing the Jagerdraught. That was apparently Vlad the Blasphemous http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091102 and he looks nothing like Higgs. Still, the theory stands, though it needs an alternative explanation.
446
447[[WMG: Higgs is a Heterodyne cousin who helped run the Jaeger armies.]]
448Part of the old family, someone close enough to not only run with the Jaegers but to have a familiarity with their generals and Mamma Gkika but outside of the purview of what makes a descendant of a Heterodyne part of the Jaeger-smelt, castle-commanding Heterodyne line. Possibly a lack of Spark, or a much weaker (but, as we've seen by comparing various sparks, not necessarily less effective) spark. If he was given powerup potion (and the healing draught necessary to keep his overpowered body from permanently ravaging itself) often enough that his body adapted to it, in order to [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership keep him near the top of the Jaegers' "people in charge" list]], it could account for increased lifespan and [[BadassFamily possibly]] strength beyond the typical Heterodyne.
449
450[[WMG: Higgs is a royal/noble, possibly a Heterodyne, who was revived from death sometime after the first "physically dead, legally dead" edict was put in place.]]
451Assuming he was a Heterodyne (he does have more than a passing resemblance to what would happen if Bill and Barry were combined), the castle recognizes him as someone who ''was'' one of her masters, but now he's not legally qualified to be in charge. He's old enough that he doesn't smell much like Bill, Barry, and Agatha (to the Jaegers), but rather like their great-great-great-great-great grandfather. Assuming he is [[RankScalesWithAsskicking of some other noble lineage]] (such as a [[BadassFamily Wulfenbach]] from before Gil's time, and possibly even the ''reason'' for the first "physically dead, legally dead" laws) who was revived and subsequently went for broke on collecting power-ups, this doesn't have much evidence for it but it also doesn't have any evidence ''against'' it.
452
453[[WMG: Airman Higgs is the seventh Jaeger general]]
454The castle knows him, he's well acquainted with the Heterodynes and their history, the other Jaegers (including at least one other Jaeger general) appears to know him, and if he's the 'shadowy' member of the generals it would make sense for him to infiltrate the Baron's ranks as part of his service instead of serving openly.
455* This overlaps with the theory of Higgs being a Jaeger, the most glaring evidence being his little accent slip back when.
456* He's also endured massive amounts of damage without flinching multiple times, done things no human character would be capable of, and he's rarely seen without his famous nice hat. Mamma Gkika has also more or less [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120430 subtly confirmed this theory]] by mentioning that Higgs has a lot of secrets that he'll only reveal when he's ready to, which is very similar to the Jager Generals' lines about the mystery General.
457* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160902 Confirmed]]
458* Now explicitly [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20200219#.Xk3pp5uNxxA confirmed]] to be the Jäger Spymaster General
459
460[[WMG: Airman Higgs is the son of Carson von Mekkham (a.k.a. the Seneschal)]]
461Higgs has a similar facial structure and hair, and is potentially old enough to be the father of Vanamonde. After the attack on Castle Heterodyne and the death of KBH, he also went into hiding and joined the Baron's forces to keep an eye on the Baron, as well as a chance to travel and search for the Heterodyne brothers. His strength and toughness comes from the Dyne river.
462* Jossed. [[spoiler:Unless Carson von Mekkham is centuries old, not likely.]]
463
464[[WMG: Higgs is a more or less ordinary human, but was raised by Jägers.]]
465He clearly has some kind of connection to the Jägers, but doesn't appear to actually be one of them. The fact that he seems to be tougher than most people (as well as most of his Jäger-ish traits) may be the effect of years of training and/or just being around the Jägers a lot as a kid. This also explains why he [[OohMeAccentsSlipping sometimes speaks with that accent]]. A lot of what he knows about the old Heterodynes might come from stories he heard growing up.
466* Jossed.
467
468[[WMG: Higgs is Barry's agent.]]
469Before Barry went into hiding he sent some of his old allies to various places in Europa to spy for him. This let him keep finger on the pulse and still remain safely hidden with his family. Higgs was one his agents. He was tasked with observing Klaus’ movements (since Barry apparently believed him to be under the influence of the Other) and keep him safe at the same time (since Klaus was still one of Barry’s friends).
470
471[[WMG: Higgs is a Jäger spark, and the seventh Jäger general]]
472Higgs was once a spark and friends with the Heterodyne family, he volunteered to drink the Jägerbräu [[ForScience For Science]] of course, turning into a Jäger caused him to lose the Spark, but he still retained most of his faculty's and original appearance, because of his great (by Jäger standards) intelligence, massive strength, and loyalty to the Heterodynes he was quickly promoted to general, he still looks human and is able to control his accent, which enables him to fit in easily, thus becoming the seventh "sneaky" general.
473
474[[WMG: Higgs is actually pretty young for a Jäger ]]
475between [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20200221#.Xqk0P2hKjIU this strip]] and [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20200415#.Xqk2ZWhKjIV this one]] we see the two diffrent Heterodyne's (technically 3) that were in charge when Higgs became a Jäger and the one in charge when Oggie did it, and between the two Oggie's Hetrodyne is in a much older style barbaric outfit compared to the guys in Higg's flashback. Now admittedly the Hetrodyne Oggie originally served under might just have been the kind of guy to dress up like that just because; Sparks can be eccentric like that, but on top of that Oggie and the rest of the boys seem to insist on referring to Higg's as "The Kid".
476If this is true it means that unlike the rest of the Generals who were promoted based on their age Higgs would have been promoted solely on his unique ability to be the only Jäger capable of being an undercover agent the way he has
477* Jossed. [[spoiler:He's old enough to be a general.]]
478[[/folder]]
479
480[[folder:Other Theories 1]]
481[[WMG: The Muses weren't Van Rjin's ultimate master pieces, it was the Storm King Bloodline]]
482It's very hit or miss, of course because genetics can be tricky. But consider this:
483
484'''[[AC:We Have Never Seen Tarvek Go Into The Madness Place.]]'''
485
486He also takes "No" for an answer rather well. Consider a ruler, a king, a bright and powerful spark, a madboy self absorbed and filled with a natural greed. It's only Klaus's intelligence and will power that keeps Europa in line, that keeps himself in check. Other sparks end up killing themselves as they try to order their giant human eating mutants around.
487
488Imagine a king with all that brilliance, but none of those tenancies. Isn't that the kind of Spark that could bring peace to Europa? And if those madness controlling genes got into the bloodlines of the worst of the worst sparks, like say the Hetrodynes...
489* Jan 17 2011: Tarvek seems to be going into the mad place. seems like he's just got a lot of control over his emotions like Baron Wulfenbach does.
490* He actually is in the Madness Place when he is introduced.
491* No to the "never in the Madness Place" bit. [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060331 He]] [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090807 has]] [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100426 been]] [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120903 in]] the Madness Place [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110117 before]].\
492BUT, you ARE correct on him willing to take "no" for an answer and about some of his other more reserved tendencies.\
493Also, it's worth noting that for all of those times he IS in the Madness Place, he's never seen doing anything ''too'' unreasonable. Even Agatha and Gil have been short-sighted when in the Madness Place at times. Meanwhile, "Mad" Tarvek is basically just super-focused rather than actually ''insane.'' So you may have a point there about his Spark being under better control.
494
495[[WMG: America nuked itself back to the stone age during the Civil War.]]
496hence no contact or anyone wanting to go there and check on them. Think VideoGame/{{Fallout}} [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] QueenVictoriasBomb.
497* Unlikely, people want to go there, they just can't get there. It's implied that the expeditions all die or disappear.
498** [[AWizardDidIt Mutants get 'em.]]
499*** I agree with the 'missing expedition' part, but I'm pretty sure that America is GROSSLY unlike anything in our timeline. As in, no colonization. Ever. Why? Native American Sparks, natch! There is probably some limited degree of communication, but check [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050117 this]] out and think of two things. One, why would the girl in the bottom right be the stereotype people have of the Americas unless the Natives were still running the place? Two, why would they have ANY American stereotype unless there were some communication back and forth to provide a frame of reference?
500*** It could be the stereotype of just the natives and they have a different stereotype of the colonists.
501*** She's also saying "Hoka hey". That's a Lakota Sioux phrase, inferring they have at least gotten far enough westward to encounter the Plains tribes.
502** It's only a small point, but one of the groups that Tiktoffen mentions as working with is "The Sons of Franklin", hinting that there are still ''some'' non-Stone-Aged people of European extraction in the Americas.
503*** Despite "Franklin" being a rather common name, I'm prone to agree that Benjamin Franklin was probably the intended reference. That said, there's no reason to think Ben Franklin's GGU equivalent can only exist if the Americas were colonized by Europe. Perhaps England also produced an Aberdeen Lincoln who led Cornwall in a war that freed a population of enslaved sentient clanks.
504* It seems by [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210607#.Yko69NvMKUk this comic]] that the Atlantic ocean is sealed off by some kind of storm based construct/guardian. Early America, despite being expansionist, was also isolationist in regards to European wars. It's possible that the Sons of Franklin set in place some kind of defense mechanism to prevent foreign interference. If the time period is after the 1860s, it may even have been put in place to prevent England from joining in the American Civil War assuming that a similar event did occur in this reality. That, or America wanted to protect itself from The Other. However, at least one Heterdyne Boys story seems to take place before The Other became active which could also put the great barrier as being put in place before the Civil War era (Bill's son was probably born in 1872 and the Civil war started in '61, so this is iffy). Regardless, it would therefore stand to reason that either the Americans can't reverse the effect or ''don't want to.''
505** Well, if you're trying to gain independance from a God Queen, having to resort to that level of deterrent makes a lot of sense.
506
507[[WMG:Fraulein Snaug is an ongoing experiment being conducted by Dr. Mittelmind.]]
508Her [[{{Yandere}} unusual and]] [[ClingyJealousGirl unstable]] [[MurderTheHypotenuse personality]] is the result of intentional meddling on the part of the mad social scientist. [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Wiping her mind every year]] not only helps her [[ThereAreNoTherapists cope with their terrifying lifestyle,]] but gives Mittelmind a clean slate to work with or, if new variables crop up, give him a new control group to which he can compare his experimental data. Her [[TheIgor fanatical devotion to him]] is also a result of this meddling. The ultimate goal may be to find a cure for Snaug's apparent status as a [[TheVirus (high-functioning) revenant.]]
509* Datapoint: The third print-novel strongly implies that she was one of the children that Mittelmind kept in a containment tank, leading to the likely possibility that yes, she's a lifelong experimental subject of ''some'' sort on his part.
510
511[[WMG:Ardsley Wooster is related to Trelawney Thorpe, Spark of the Realm]]
512It's not British nationalism that he claims the books of her exploits are the truth-he knows they really happened because she's related to him (WMG she's an aunt or other slightly removed relative.)
513* Unlikely, since Gilgamesh uses the example of the Heterodyne stories to refute his claims. Even if Trelawney Thorpe ''did'' exist and was a hero that's no guarantee the stories are actually factual.
514* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20171206 It's now confirmed that Trelawney Thorpe is real]], and Wooster knows her exploits really happened because he knows her as a coworker. No word yet on if they're related, but it's probably unlikely.
515* Pretty much Jossed, as it's been made clear that he's romantically attracted to her, and the Foglios are vanishingly unlikely to get squicky with relatives having sex.
516
517[[WMG:Gil and [=DuPree=] had an affair back in Paris]]
518Tarvek's flashback as far as showing Gil and [=DuPree=] together was indeed the exact truth. Obviously it didn't work out.
519* Dubious, considering that [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150410 Bang tells Zeetha Gil is "too much like my brother"]].
520
521[[WMG:Theo [=DuMedd=] is dating Sleipnir O'Hara.]]
522He promised to meet his cousin Agatha in Mechanicsburg, but she never did, and none of their other classmates are there. And when they first entered the castle, Theo referred to Zeetha's raunchy dancing and said to Sleipnir "I don't suppose you could..." and she retorted "No, I could not." Why would he even ask his classmate in all seriousness to dance erotically for him if they weren't dating? This is going to come back to bite them when Sleipnir's engagement comes up again.
523* [[spoiler: [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ggmain/strips/ggmain20100906b.jpg Confirmed!]] And judging by what Sleipnir said, they [[RunawayFiance don't seem to be worried about that engagement.]]]]
524
525[[WMG: Klaus Wulfenbach attacked Castle Heterodyne 18 years ago.]]
526At some point, Klaus will time travel to kill Lucrezia at Castle Heterodyne. Barry told Dr. Beetle not to trust Klaus for a reason. Bill and Barry were shocked when the castle's security systems revealed Klaus attacking Lucrezia, and causing the death of Bill's son.
527* Would make more sense if the Heterodyne Boys stated they where going after Klaus, rather than an utterly unknown "The Other".
528** Unless they believed they could [[HeelFaceTurn turn him back to their side]], and wanted to protect him from the distrust and suspicion he would suffer from the world at large if the truth were known.
529** What would make Barry not trust Klaus? The possibility that he is a revenant certainly would. Now he's a revenant.
530*** Maybe it's because they're going after "The Other" Klaus? The one that's clearly older and insaner and couldn't possibly be their missing friend.
531\
532The very first page of Othar's adventures talks about both transdimentional harmonics AND time travel. What if the incredible effectiveness of Bill and Barry Heterodyne in battling evil came from access to these things? This would be another familiar device (see Blish's ''The Quincunx of Time'', for instance). And it would agree, in a way, with the ''Dragon from Mars'' story.\
533\
534What secrets still lie in the Heterodyne library?
535* Keep in mind, though, that the lab and assistants were wiped out by the Geisterdamen traitors. Compare Von Mekkhan's account with Vrin's, you'll see.
536** This all ties into why some consider Klaus to be a ConsummateLiar: Apparently Barry told Dr. Beetle and Punch and Judy that Klaus wasn't to be trusted, possibly due to some sort of betrayal - such as attacking the castle. Judy, when finally meeting Klaus again, cryptically tells him "Barry came back." and when Klaus is confused and demands answers she accuses him of playing to the crowd. Since Klaus never gives any signs he understands what she's talking about or hints that he has some hidden, sinister motives: either Barry was mistaken for some reason, Klaus is a consummate liar, or that version of him hadn't attacked the castle yet... or they never realized that Lucrezia had gone off the deep end and is lying about Klaus - whatever, the point is that the destruction of Castle Heterodyne is a DrivingQuestion.
537
538[[WMG: Gilgamesh Wulfenbach is half-Skifandran.]]
539This would explain how Klaus knew Skif, how he recognized Zeetha as a warrior from Skifander, and why he hasn't seen his (Skifandran) wife in years. As for why Klaus is convinced that Zeetha was sent to kill Gilgamesh -- I'd wager that obscure cultural laws forbade that particular pairing, which is why Klaus had to leave so quickly!
540
541* Not necessarily the pairing in itself, but probably the breeding aspect- "I let you live" implies it wouldn't have bothered anyone if Gil hadn't come along. Which raises questions about his mother's part in this....
542** Actually the line was "I kept you alive" which has a different connotation all together.
543*** I agree, remember the rules about being forbidden to teach anyone but your daughters the Skif fighting arts? I bet the baron was taught by his wife and he taught his son, which was against the rules but certainly DID keep him alive.
544*** Keep in mind that Zeetha specifically tells Agatha on [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050216 this page]] "I am allowed to train one other besides my own daughters". Perhaps the Skifander culture is one of warrior-woman, which demands that sons born of their women are killed at birth (and, by extension, only the greatest warriors from the lands around are permitted to mate with them).
545*** It seems more likely that the Skifandran culture is an expy to the Greek Amazonian legends. They have men, but their men aren't warriors.
546** When Gil wakes up with Zeetha looking over him, he tells her that his father said that someone looking like her might be trying to kill him. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080409 When she reacts with extreme interest]], he tries to escape. What's interesting is that later, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080512 when he gets dressed in the Jagergeneral's clothes]] Zeetha says ''Ashtara above, it's PERFECT! WEAR IT! WEAR IT!'' and Gil's reaction is ''So it's true. You HAVE been sent to kill me.'' Now this might just be an over-the-top reaction to humiliation. But then again, it might not be. Zeetha gave away her cultural background with "Ashtara" and Gil's extensive library probably has at least one story involving Skifander or a similar, fictitious place.\
547There's another small point in that last example. Most of the time when we get a closeup of Zeetha, she's expressing something with her eyes: anger, surprise, curiosity. Here the word that seems to fit is mischief, which has the eyes narrowed rather than opened. It's hard to tell, but it looks like her eyes are drawn with the epicanthic fold typical of people from central and east Asia. Compare to [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070413 Dr. Sun, here]].
548*** (I figured Skifander was somewhere around the Middle East, since "Ashtara" sounds so similar to Astart/Ashtoreth/Asherah, a Caananite goddess of fertility.)
549*** Considering Gil is named after a Sumerian legend, it seems to support the theory.
550** Note also that Zeetha goes a long time in her leather underwear but soon after she and Gil guess that they are related, she robs the striped tunic (?) from Zola's pipe-hatted minion. We are distracted by the humor of ''I can get the clothes off of anyone quickly'' and by Gil's blushing when she offers to show him her goosebumps. But given the hardiness to which she is training Agatha, it doesn't seem likely goosebumps would be a big concern for her. Parading around in just-barely-modest leather underwear before a long-lost (half?) sibling is something else.
551** I don't see the conflict. In context it would mean that the Skif folks wanted to kill him and Klaus stole him away or hid him. He might think Zeetha was sent to track down the half-breed and finish the job. It would certainly explain Gil's fighting ability.
552*** Klaus mentions once (during the almost-torture scene with Othar) that he hasn't seen his wife in years, so that suggests his Skifander wife is still alive and maybe even that Klaus occasionally slips out to visit her.
553*** Actually, Gil's fighting ability comes more from having the best possible teachers all his life, and maybe a little Jägerish augmentation on the side.
554*** Okay, for the nuance of "I kept you alive," perhaps it's something similar to Zulenna's dilemma? I don't mean that the Baron got Gil "zapped back," but perhaps there's some rule about "if a person is so far gone, just let him die" or "if the infant or toddler didn't pass these tests for suitable warriorly hardiness, let him die." So Klaus could have "unnaturally" prolonged Gil's early life (and not "pulled the plug" so to speak) or rescued him from the people who were going to leave him on some mountaintop to die.
555*** That's not bad, and works in with a possible infanticide reason. It has also been put forth that he ''misunderstood'' a ritual or comment as threatening infanticide of some sort, and fled for that reason.
556
557* Zeetha is Gil's half-sister!
558** Now they have met, you think that she may have mentioned it. After all she would have been told at some point (probably).
559*** Maybe her memory isn't 100% after her bout of illness.
560*** Or, more likely, she was just a baby herself when he was born and she simply doesn't know.
561*** Agreed, in general. This seems likely, and I'd find it a fun twist (as if my opinion counts).
562** A point in favor: when Klaus first sees Zeetha, his response is "'''YOU'''!", as though he recognized her. Was Klaus mistaking Zeetha for his wife?\
563In which case, there might be a different reason, in theory, for her to kill Gil. It might be a question of succession to a position of power. (This trope was already used with Zulena, so we know it is valid in the GG universe.)
564* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050523 After rereading this comic, I think I might have come up with a way the Baron and Gil's mother could have met. Two Words: Holy Days.]]
565[[WMG: Klaus Wulfenbach is Zeetha's father]]
566* Klaus was in Skifander for at least three and a half years before the attack on Castle Heterodyne. Plenty of time to father two kids.
567** I'm betting they're twins. In the recent AMA on Reddit The Foglios said that the Skinfandir "don't like twins". Taken with the Baron's claim that he "let Gil live" this could suggest that one twin of the twins is killed, and Gil was going to be that twin. From here it's conjecture, but it would make sense that since Klaus is an important and powerful Spark, his Skinfandir wife would probably be important in their society. Like, say a queen like Zeetha's mother, maybe?
568* Zeetha's father is named Chump.
569** Given that the warrior tradition of Skifander seems to travel in the female line, and that Chump was a great warrior, I suspect that Chump was Zeetha's ''mother''.
570** In a vote incentive picture, she specifically uses the pronoun "he," as she insists that "he" ''is'' a great warrior.
571** Or else Chump was a false name or a mistake in translation. Klaus probably wouldn't have purposely used that as an alias, but it's possible that someone called him a chump, and the Skifandrians only assumed it was his name. (This is the kind of thing that would happen in a Heterodyne story, where Klaus would be the bumbling comic relief.)
572** It is entirely possible Klaus was not entirely stable when he encountered Zeetha's people and possibly in his mental state referred to himself as "''A'' chump", and there was confusion on the matter--Lucrezia certainly had just played him for one and he was probably not feeling like the world's smartest person at the time.
573* It's the best explanation for Klaus' behavior towards her.
574** He's clearly incredibly affected to see her, and knows her on sight.
575** In Sturmhalten, Klaus has just killed Lars, tried to kill Lucrezia/Agatha, and ordered his men to kill everyone in their party. And yet, when Zeetha tries to kill him, he doesn't kill her. He holds a knife to her throat and demands she stop fighting - why on earth would he make that exception for her? Then later we find out he thinks there's a very good chance she's here to kill his son - but Klaus still wouldn't kill her? He's certainly killed for less. He'd need a hugely important reason not to kill her - like the fact that she's his daughter.
576** It also explains why he doesn't tell Gil why she wants to kill him before he runs off to blow up in a time bomb. Almost any other information would be helpful to Gil - except the knowledge that she's his sister. If she really tries to kill him, that knowledge could make him hesitate at a crucial moment, or make him live with the fact that he killed his sister.
577* [[http://haus-of-klaus.livejournal.com/25974.html This Picture]] is an effective confirmation of this theory. She IS his daughter...
578** This leads me to another idea. What if their mothers were different? and that's why Gil had to die... he wasn't born of Chump's (read Klaus's) original mate?
579** The print-novels fill in the timeline a bit more; Zeetha says that Chump "ran off" when she was only a month old, which would make the "saving Gil the doomed twin" theory more likely.
580* In addition, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090318 both Zeetha and Klaus know how to condition themselves to function without sleep for a few days.]]
581** The way she puts emphasis on the sentence "''Hardly ever'' taught to ''outsiders''," and just the look on her face in the following panel...I think she's figured it out. She seems to be delaying Gil's revelation just so she can learn more about him.
582*** Gil's probably on the verge, too. He was about to ask who had taught the Skifandrian technique to his father before Zeetha cut him off.
583*** She is ''so'' stringing him out.
584* If bookplates drawn at fan requests count, then [[spoiler: WordOfGod is Chump is Klaus and therefore Zeetha's at least Gil's half-sister.]]
585** [[http://community.livejournal.com/haus_of_klaus/25974.html Evidence.]]
586* I would love this theory, except for one little hitch: Tarvek's analysis if Gil's heritage [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090918 here]]. I highly doubt Tarvek was lying, since a few pages before he asked "He's Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, isn't he?" --anyone have an explanation for this?
587** Misdirection. Layers within layers. Search and find a reasonable reason for the secrecy, you stop searching. He DID find that information... but it'd been planted.
588*** It isn't totally impossible that Gil could have been adopted but what we've seen so far (and the fact that Klaus warns Gil about Zeetha) suggests otherwise.
589*** In the [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090921 next page]], Tarvek concludes with "''' ''Arrgh!'' ''' It's so ''' ''obvious'' ''' now! He's the Baron's son! ''' ''Of course'' ''' that's what he was hiding!", so the adoption is not the case and Gil is really the son of Klaus.
590*** The Baron is [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040804 seen with infant Gil on his back]] when he returned from Skifander. Meaning that A: Gil is the Baron's biological son, and B: He was born in Skifander.
591* It's entirely possible that Gil and Zeetha are FULL siblings. Gil doesn't want to take on his father's title right away. But apparently he has another title: ''your highness''. Zeetha is a ''princess''. Her mother is a ''queen''. If Zeetha's mother is also Gil's mother, then Gil is a ''prince''. Why else call him "your highness"?
592** Thus, when the Queen had fraternal twins (which the Skifandrians don't like), one of them had to be killed, and for the good of the succession, it had to be the male one (Gil), so Klaus took Gill and left Zeetha.
593
594[[WMG: Gilgamesh Wulfenbach is Agatha's brother]]
595Complete with Star Wars kiss (and ring, and brother-sister incest, and...). Even the castle expects a male heir. Klaus talks about "keeping him alive". The promise of revealing "everything" on Gilgamesh's return to the hospital room. They way Vole is scared of him when he shouts. So the Jagers don't seem to detect him as a Heterodyne, but Agatha had her spark hidden - how hard would it be to hide something like that?
596* Alternatively, he's her half-brother. We don't know who Gil's mother was, but we do know that Lucrezia was having an affair with Baron Wulfenbach...
597** WordOfGod says Nooooo!!!
598*** Absolutely NO Leia/Luke. Aside from which, the male heir was [[spoiler: Agatha's older brother, killed as a toddler, Klaus Barry]]. C'mon, the Foglios are both twistier than that, and subverting most of the tropes anyway.
599** In any case for this to work he would to have had the affair with Lucrezia whilst Lucrezia was in her full blown "The Other" phase. Klaus clearly has no idea the two are related at the start of the comic.
600*** He had a glimmer.
601*** He had far more than a glimmer. He says that he had been "forced to conclude that it ''was'' her."
602* Jägers can tell a Heterodyne by his/her smell, so ''very'' hard [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090615 according to Krosp]].
603
604[[WMG: The Geisterdamen are constructs, created by Lucrezia.]]
605Hence why they worship her as a god.
606* Yeah, that's less WMG and more Really Blatant Obviousness.
607** Likely wrong. WordOfGod is that they lived near the Mongfish summer house, and the family were always puzzled by the worship. If Lucrezia created them, they wouldn't have been puzzled.
608*** [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20181223 Time travel.]] Meaning: they were created by Lucrezia after she learned time travel and turned into Other, and then tagged around Mongfish family on her orders to assist the young Lucrezia.
609* The wasp sniffing ferret thingie identified Vrin as a revenant. If they were constructs, she would have no need to waste her slavers on them.
610** Easy enough to explain away. She was around hive engines, so she might still smell like one, or the Geisterdamen and the wasps are made of the same 'stuff'
611** It's unclear what exactly the wasp-eaters can sniff, but Geisters are clearly subject to her command voice. It may be that the wasps are are derived from the technology used to ensure their loyalty to begin with, and there's enough biochemical overlap for ferrets to smell it.
612* No, not Really Blatant Obviousness. The sheer number of Geisterdamen is a huge amount to create in one lifetime - even factoring in the Alternate Dimension WMG below. We've seen what a race of constructs looks like - the Jagers - and no two of them are identical, being made as they are from individual humans. Finally, we have an example of what a Lucrezia Mongfish-style construct looks like - Von Pinn. Certainly less attractive and less well-hinged than your standard Geisterdame.
613** Not to mention Vrin says something about being "trapped in this shadow world" since Lucrezia disappeared. She and her father were experimenting with time travel, so who's not to say they haven't been to Alternate Dimensions as well?
614*** You don't know they were experimenting with time travel. They're more bio-Sparks than hardware.
615*** Her father is said to experiment with "blasphemous energies". Also, Lucrezia's time-travelling is [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20181223 canon]].
616** Time travel would allow Lucrezia to create a whole artificial race, starting with several good specimen. Or maybe an entire ecosystem, since there's many thousands of years to this history.
617* This makes more sense if the "The Other was dowloaded into Lucrezia" theory is true as it give much more time. Also they may have the appropriate bit of the reverent in them to make them loyal, thus setting off the weasels.
618* I always figured that they were made from the all the female sparks that went missing as young girls. Can't remember the page, but Lillith says this is one of the reasons they suppressed Agatha's spark when she was a kid. All those girls had to go ''somewhere''.
619** But they're all infected by slaver wasps. No spark can be infected by your basic slaver wasp.
620** They stole female sparks to stuff them into the engine.
621* Perhaps they're meant to be her equivalent of the Jagers... which may mean they're altered humans.
622
623[[WMG: The story is a valid historical account; Othar won.]]
624All Sparks end up killed off. Before dying, Othar convinces the rest of the world to cover up their existence, to avoid any possibility of new Sparks getting ideas.
625* In other words, Girl Genius is our world.
626* The story will end with a message from Phil and Kaja, telling everyone who's ever performed impossible feats of science to do better this time. They will then clamber through a time window to return to the end of the First Age of Sparks.
627
628[[WMG: The setting is an alternate history in which Germany won World War One.]]
629...and the emergence of Sparks is what helped them win it. All of the German language influences and theatre ranging from Wagnerian opera to gypsy-like travelling bands are evidence of the culture. Also, the proliferation of zeppelins in the real world was arrested by Germany's war reparations and many of the creators having ideological conflicts with those wacky Nazis.
630* But there were apparently Heterodynes and their Jaegerkin around at the time of the Storm King (in the opera synopsis), which I believe was mentioned as being in the 13th century. I have always just assumed that the story was actually set in the Germanosphere. Mechanicsburg is in Germany. Passholdt and Sturmhalten are in the Austrian alps. Beetleburg is in Germanophone Transylvania (look up Transylvanian Saxons). German crops up elsewhere because Germany is still the most populous counntry in Europe today, so imagine how important it is culturally in a world where America is apparently almost unsettled by Europe, Britain is shut out of continental affairs, and presumably Germans were never ethnicly cleansed from east of the Oder. If you assume Agatha left Castle Wulfenbach somewhere over Hungary, references to the Danube, the Carpathians, and Bucharest all seem to fit in. As to language, I think almost everything, spoken or written, is actually in German but comes under a TranslationConvention. Look closely, and German appears on unimportant notices. Things like "Jaegerkin" are for effect, and their accent is meant to have on the reader the effect their dialect has on the characters: make them hard to understand and not very sophisticated-sounding.
631** What are you ''talking'' about, Mechanicsburg is in Germany?? Look at the Map, it's in Wallachia if it's anywhere. Passholdt and Sturmhalten are probably southern Carpathian passes. You're too far west.
632** The opera synopsis does not mention the 13th century. And it's very unlikely that date is accurate, because the Storm King was 200 years prior to the events of the comic (Van Rijn, who [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050926 lived around 200 years before "now,"]] built the Muses [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050928 for the Storm King]]), and [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070416 the comic takes place at least long enough ago for "1677" to be ancient history]].
633*** Actually, the Storm King is 200 years prior to the ''Synoposis'', which may not be contemporary with the main story at all. In fact, it's quite unlikely, since the character presenting the synopsis is also one of the ''history professors'' (Kaja Foglio) who is presenting the story of Agathe Heterodyne to us. All of which means the opera could be an allegory about Agatha, Gil, and Tarvek set in the era of the storm king, much as Shakespeare used historical settings for his contemporary allegories (Hamlet, Theatre/{{Macbeth}}, and Julius Ceasar being the most notable).
634*** Of course, it could also mean the Foglios like to play silly games with the timeline, shmott guy.
635*** I'm saying from in-canon comments and one rash assumption based on a gravestone that the Storm King, being he's also a parallel of the Sun King's, is late Ren - 1600s. Add in Van Rijn, and 1300 is way too early.
636** All that said, you're right about one thing: the TranslationConvention. According to WordOfGod, which I'm not going to track down, yes; the language is something Germanic, translated for our sympathies. Given that America is apparently "sealed off" somehow, I suspect that [[strike:Europe]]Europa simply turned inward.
637*** As to the ''lingua europa'', agreed - WordOfGod that it's German, but it probably has a tonne of Roumanian loanwords, considering the effect the Heterodynes had on their western neighbours for centuries. Check the GG Wikia for the actual reference, it's easier to find there.
638*** Whoops, that 13th century thing was me becoming muddled about the Storm King and the building of the castle. Anyway, 1677 doesn't have to be ancient ancient. All the Heterodynes up to Bill and Barry (who is far from dying of old age) were mad, bad, dead, and presumably buried in the family crypt. Also: in a sketch, Klaus fills in his journal for 1882, is I could only find it. In any case, 1677 actually Josses the original point: sparks well before UsefulNotes/WW1. And it's an unnecesary point, too. German really was the influential as a business language in much of Europe, once, but assuming German would suddenly overspread Europe because of a German military victory in France is a bit far-fetched.
639*** No... Germany overspread all of Europe because ''Klaus conquered it''. In a matter of years. Alone. While carrying a lollipop-eating baby on his back. Uphill, both ways, through the snow, in a burlap sack, curing cancer on the way. Because he's [[MemeticBadass Klaus]].
640*** Nonono, ''Transylvania'' overspread all of ''eastern'' Europa. The empire stops roughly at the Rhone/Saone valley.
641*** The sketches are WordOfGod uncanonical. We are not allowed to snatch at crumbs that might interfere with The Funny. :grin:
642* The second novel talks about languages. As I recall, Romanian is the official language of the Empire (although Klaus is either a native German speaker or of German descent - there was a substantial ethnic German population in W. Romania). German is widespread as a second language, especially in trade and banking, and in the sciences; also, as mentioned above, it was more widely spoken before the Soviet era. Latin and Greek are scholarly, Arabic's used for some academic correspondance, French for formal diplomacy, English for international trade. I think we're told Agatha also has Russian. Almost any kind of well-educated person will be polyglot.
643[[WMG: 18 years ago, Lucrezia Mongfish waited until she was pregnant with a girl heir to finally launch her massive strike against Castle Heterodyne.]]
644She needed a female child to ensure that if anything went wrong, the Stormvoraus would be able to bring her back in the body of her daughter. She killed her lab assistants, made sure that her war engines crushed the castle defenses, and then fled with her geisterdamen to become The Other and take over Europa. (Well, it almost worked.)
645* How would she know she was carrying a girl? Steam-powered ultrasound machine?
646** Mad science!
647** If alchemy can un-rot a corpse, Mad Science can create a conveniently portable womb for either a test tube baby or a premature delivery (deliberately, at a time the gender was calculated to be differentiated). I need to stop before this line of thinking gains Squick.
648** The Mongfish family can apparently manipulate biology well enough to ensure the creation of a proper heir for the [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090408 Storm King]], and if they can ensure that the next Storm King is male, they can certainly ensure that the next Heterodyne is female. For that matter, if they can eliminate alcolism, unintelligence, and lycanthropy, what other genetic legacies might Lucrezia have given Agatha in the [[strike:womb]] test tube?
649** The Geisterdamen trashed Lucrezia's lab - compare Von Mekkhan's account to Vrin's. Who attacked the rest of the castle is another question.
650
651[[WMG: The story is taking place during the Napoleonic Wars of the GG Universe]]
652Leaving out the death rays, about everything (clothes, hair, architecture) is mostly early 19th century. We've all ready had some clear historical reflections: (Rembrant?) Van Rijn and the Storm (Sun?) King. And if you look at the political situation, it seems remarkably familiar despite the very different characters: after sudden events sparked chaos and devastation across Europe, a brilliant leader has brought order. But people have grown tired of him, his vast armies do battle with constant insurrections, the British remain defiant, and his "vassals" and "allies" are liabilities. He is determined to have a suitable heir because the other royals of Europe see him as a usurper and one of his biggest worries is a conspiracy to restore an ancient house to his throne (a house founded by somebody awfully like Louis XIV). And now, events which unfolded rapidly in a place full of Russian people threatens to cause the mass mutinee of the behatted German people who fill his armies and bring the Empire to its knees!
653* Bzuh? The last substantial insurrection was 'dot Magnetic Prince guy' three years before the story-as-current. The empire has more than enough resources to handle the 'vassal' states if they get frisky, but they're hardly micromananged. And what Russian people?
654* The clothing and hair are NOT early 19th century. They're a kind of wishy-washy ahistorical typical steampunk kind of late Victorian. The only thing remotely close to the early 19th century is Anevka's high-waisted festival dress, and that's a costume.
655* I'd say the historical parallels are with the Austro-Hungarians in terms of general area and willingness to be ruled, and maybe a bit of Bismark for style. But it's not a close analogy to either by any means, not least because the Long War equivalent never really happened (mercifully).
656
657[[WMG:The queen of Skifander, or some important person there, is a very VERY powerful spark.]]
658[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080519 Look]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080512 at]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080418 Zeetha's]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080502 headband]]. That may be a joke by the artist, or it could well be that there is a spark in Skifander who can make jewelry that match your emotions, and who can do it so easily they don't bother giving it other abilities, just making it for fun/appearances.
659** Uh, guys? I think you'd better take another look at the astrolabe in this [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050928 frescoe]].
660** Zeetha [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041103 didn't have the headband]] when she was captured by pirates. She picked it up in Europa.
661** But [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041101 she had the headband in Skifander]]. It's possible that the pirates stole it and she picked it back up before she left, or that she had it somewhere else on her person when she was kidnapped.
662*** From that image, it's likely her possessions were taken from, and later found by, Zeetha, since her (very large and unique) swords were also not present when she was captured, yet she has them as she ransacks the pirate base.
663* Well, assuming it's not just a little fun with the visuals and the headband is actually doing that, it's still quite possible that the headband ''does'' do other stuff that Zeetha forgot about, making it a sort of concealed-carry Chekhov's Gun. This is minor enough that I wouldn't even bother adding this, but I really wanted to use the phrase "concealed-carry Chekhov's Gun."
664* The [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041101 Queen of Skifander's hat]] is also tricked out with what looks like fans... Very sparky.
665* We know she's a powerful Spark because we've been ''told'' she's a powerful Spark. She has a card in The Works.
666* That is, it shows the wearer's mood? Indicating where it's the good time to start running if the wearer happens to be a well-trained warrior? Hmm...
667* It doesn't just seem to match the wearer's mood, it looks like it is almost completely replicating Zeetha's facial expression, albeit in a simpler form.
668
669[[WMG:The comic takes place in the late 20th-early 21st century.]]
670Agatha's slightly-older brother Klaus Barry was born in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070810 '72]]. What century isn't given, but the shape of the numbers visible suggests either "18" or "19." The easy answer is 1872: it puts the comic smack in traditional steampunk time (turn of the 20th century), matches up with the fashions and the German-influenced culture, and given that the description of the comic is "The Industrial Revolution became all-out war," there's already a sense of the 19th century. That in and of itself should be enough to point to 1972, really; but the establishment of the Wulfenbach empire becomes much more impressive if you throw in a hundred years of that all-out war before Order was reestablished. And if there was constant warfare, and the pseudoscience of the Sparks so effective, some of the science we know took place in the 20th century might not have happened.
671** I don't really follow. You present all the best arguments for 1872 (you left out the sketch showing Klaus with his 1882 journal)... and then an argument for 1972 that I can't make head or tail of. I don't see how shifting that death of Klaus-Barry a century down the line adds in a century between it and the Wulfenbach restoration of order.
672*** Sketches don't count.
673*** I think our friend made a typo. 8 and 9 are right next to each other on the keyboard.
674* I think it's late twentieth century too, but for completely different (and, I hope, slightly more sensible--or at least, better expressed) reasons. The Queen of England (presumably Victoria) is referred to as "The Undying Queen". Now, in my book, you don't get to be called "The Undying" until you're ''much'' older than it's ''possible'' for a human to be. In our continuum, Vicky died in 1901, and, given that we didn't have life-extension technologies back then, she presumably wasn't older than a human could possibly be. So, whatever the date, it's got to be long after 1901. Beyond that, I think the technology suggests a near-contemporary setting. Some of it is older than what we have today, and some of it is advanced far beyond our present capabilities. Now, in a world where mad scientists rule, they're going to horde that technology, and the technology available to your average peasant- or minion-in-the-street is going to ''be'' rather behind what we have today. So, to me, the gaslamp technology available to the "normals" suggests late twentieth century.
675** History has been mucked up enough that we have no reason to believe that the British royal family went the same way as ours did, and to my knowledge the Undying Queen has not been named in-comic. She's probably an ahistorical monarch. Or maybe the Undying Queen ''Elizabeth''.
676*** No, she has been named. It's [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061122 Albia.]]
677*** Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and Queen Victoria have all been referred to as "Albia" in the more overblown propaganda about them. So it could be any one of them, or even someone like Empress Maude!
678* Why are people so obsessed with making the timeline have similarities to our history? The experiences that shaped this world are so radically different from ours - the Storm King, the Heterodynes, Europa torn apart by generations of wars between Sparks, the Other, an ineffectual Church split seven ways - that any correspondence rationally ought to be no more than a curiosity.
679** What evidence is there to really support the timeline being 1872? First and siliest of all, Klaus Barry Heterodyne was born in '72 the current year should be at the least '92 and '95 at the latest in order for the cast to be early-twenties. Sparks and their Clanks and Constructs have been around for a very long time, but important events that should have happened by 1892 clearly haven't, England isn't ruling the British Empire, its just a minor kingdom, Europa lacks any of the recognisable nation-states, governance seems to be various city-states spread across wide barren areas that are united by the Pax-Transylvania enforced by the Baron. America is a barely known landmass, so that means any of expeditions either haven't left, haven't returned or their news was overshadowed by something more important. Haiti gets a mention so we know that some Spark settled there and that a Spark who was Native to America toured Europe with the Heterodyne Boys and had a pair of Six-shooters. Africa seems to be quite unknown.
680*** The entirety of the story has so far been set in Europe (apart from a third-party related flashback set in Skifander, but that could be anywhere). UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire was not in Europe, and its' influence in Europe was minimal. The British Empire had colonies in Africa, Asia, India, the Pacific and the Americas, and barely bothered with European affairs, unless it looked like one power was going to get too strong compared to the others around it, or threaten an access route to parts of the Empire. In such cases, the solution would either be throwing vast amounts of money at the problem (which it could afford due to the fact that it was, y'know, an [[ShapedLikeItself Empire]], or to send in the Navy (as the senior service and most effective naval combat force in the world for over 300 years) or the Army if there wasn't any handy coastline. The British Army was fairly large, but most troops were needed for garrison duties, so any involvement in Europe would usually be in concert with an Ally (with France and Turkey vs Russia in the Crimea; with Portugal and Spain, then Belgium, Netherlands and Germany vs France in the Napoleonic era), and the number of troops sent would be comparatively small. However, they were the best trained at rapid firing, so much so that in World War I, German officers thought they were facing massed machine guns when they only up against a rifle regiment. In the last two panels of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100827 this comic]], Wooster's actions and words are in accordance with the general modus operandi of the British Empire, and Boris' reaction makes it clear that "Her Majesty '''will''' take an interest" is a credible threat. In other words, it is totally unsurprising and expected that we have not seen anything of the British Empire, America, Africa, or anywhere else.
681*** Another interesting point is that the Sparks aren't a case of ReedRichardsIsUseless, so maybe what we're seeing here is 19th Century schizo-tech in the closing days of 14th Century Central Europe, which puts the year at 1392 if we assume the Seven Popes are the Avignon Papacy, the Antipopes, and the Rome, as the numbers fit and the dates match if we assume "How To Communicate In The Work Place" is published between 1352 which is roughly when Klaus started adventuring. If we assume it was something he published in the year 1352, then it is not implausible he was able to get at least 4 of the Avignon Popes and 1 of the Avignon based Antipopes to ban it, making 5 Popes. If the present year is 1394 then it is likely that Benedict XIII was able to issue a papal decree against the book, bumping the number to 6 Popes. The one remaining Pope is likely Urban VI, if we're going to assume a loose interpretation of the Pope that gets us 7 Holy See's that disapprove of the Baron's book. However the whole argument I just laid out above is probably meaningless due to the fact that odds of them explicitly choosing this obscure time-period for an off-hand joke are far less then them throwing in a random number of Popes as a way to shake up the alternate history and make us think that this version of Europe that the authors are creating is even more screwed up then we thought. Other points of interest: No Holy Land and no mention of conflicts between the Eastern European states and Asia Minor which is interesting if we're led to believe that Transylvania is the centre of Wulfenbach Europa.
682*** Stockholm is mentioned though, and seems to be a rather large industrial city (Zola's airship was built there) and by 1394 is doubtful that Stockholm would be more than a minor northern fishing town, even with all the sparks running around.
683** We wouldn't expect modern nation-states: sparks fight like rabid cats in a sack, and there's been two centuries of constant, widespread warfare. Also, a lot of the hinterland (and thus the agricultural base to support large urban populations) is trashed. England is stable because Albia has implemented widespread mind-control.
684
685[[WMG:Trelawney Thorpe, Spark of the Realm is related to Zaemae Yahyae Ahmad ibn Sulimaen al-Sinhaejae.]]
686We know she is a real person and some of the stories may well be based on fact. His father is the Iron Sheik and we do know which Trelawney Thrope story Gill likes the most after all...
687* That'd be amusing. It's hardly implausible.
688
689[[WMG:The Heterodynes are originally a Russian family, and the Jagers speak with a Russian accent.]]
690The authors have admitted that the language being spoken isn't English, but rather German or Romanian or something similar. Whenever I look at the Jagers' speech, I am reminded of the stereotypical "Russian Accent" that everyone and their father does. Ergo, while they may speak in German, the Jagers have a thick Russian accent that marks their speech and thus gives them the distinct speech patterns that remain when "translated into English".
691* It's closer to a stereotypical ''German'' accent. It could be meant to convey a cruder or more archaic version of German, or perhaps they're from Germany and everyone else is speaking Romanian, Austrian, [[spoiler:Hungarian]] no, that's way too difficult to be a lingua franca, but you get the point.
692* It would make sense given their names: Maxim is a Russian name, and Dimo is apparently a nickname for Dimitri. "Ognian" is Bulgarian, though, so I don't know where they were going with that.
693* Or perhaps the Jagers' speech is affected by their large fangs. Say 'water' and now say it again with your lower teeth touching your lips. Say 'this' but don't let your tongue go past your teeth. The rest of it is a sort of a Pidgin English, only Slavic routes instead of Hawaiian/Filipino (though Jagers wishing each other aloha is an amusing image).
694* Response to the above: The fangs, I think, are certainly part of it, as are the fact that they probably have lower class backgrounds than many class characters, the fact that German is likely not the native language of all of them ("Vole", if you say it "Voh-luh", is a Germanish sort on name, and the Captain speaks with a thinner accent and better vocabulary, backing up my theory), the fact that they're centuries old, and the fact that they probably speak a differant dialect: "Wir können alles... Ausser Standarddeutsch!". These are all rendered by a German accent in the English dub that made it to our world. Why pidgin English? Britain is a foe of the ruler of Europe, and highly isolated. German as a lingua franca in central Europe, where it historically ''was'', under the rule of a dude named ''Wulfenbach''... that makes more sense.
695** The bit about the class background of the Jaegers is backed up by [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081031 this strip]], in which one of the lower class crowd Gil and Zeetha draw to Castle Heterodyne speaks with a suspiciously similar accent, making the Jaeger accent most likely a lower class Mechanicsburg accent spoken around fangs.
696* To the guy above him: True, but none of this, however, makes the Heterodynes Russian: the Jägers all come from diverse ethnic backgrounds (Russian, Bulgar, whatever Andre is, German if that's what Vole is...), whereas the Heterodynes are definitely Transylvanians descended from a steppe warlord, which would make them Szecklers (Transylvanian Hungarians).
697** I think the Ht'rok-din predates the Szkely; I also think they came from further east, preceding the Mongols by a century or so.
698* To the guy still further up: Given that Graf Klaus von Wulfenbach, ruler of Europe is, going by the name, a Transylvanian Saxon, German is seen in the background a few times and in names (Lars, Snarlantz, von Zinzer, various Wilhelms, Passholdt, Sturmhalten, various Burgs...), and the real historical language-of-business status it had, German is probably being spoken for most of the comic. Romanian, I think, is used in the earlier part of the comic, where native Transylvanians are conversing. Austrian isn't a language, it's a type of Hochdeutsch (mountain/hill German, spoken by the Austrians, Swiss, and Germans south of the Main). Hungarian, though likely the Heterodyne native tongue, is, as you say, unlikely to be a standard language.
699** He doesn't use the 'von', and he's not a Graf.
700* To the orginal poster: One question: what's "German or Romanian or something similar"? They have as much in common as Catalan and Norwegian! Anyways, I can fake a German or Russian accent enough to fool the gullible, or at least impress them, and I'd say that Jägers are German. Besides being biased by the fact that they're called Jägers, turning a "th" to "d" is more German, in Russian accents you get a "z" sound. That-Det/Dot-Zet, among other things.
701** The obvious similarity would be that they're both consonant-stacking languages... although I might be inaccurately perceiving German this way due to the number of consonant ''letters'' put together (given that a common German grapheme can be three letters ('''sch''', for example)). German does allow a few consonant stacks not generally accepted in English (pflanze?); Russian goes all-out crazy with the number of consonants it stacks around a poor defenseless vowel, and even has words without any vowels at all. This puts both languages on the opposite side of the fence from "vowel languages" that stick to the CVCV model (like Hawaiian: pikapika) or allow vowels to touch but not (many) consonants (Japanese: tatewaki, shinsen).
702* WMG:I write way too much!
703*** Consider that they're mostly Mechanicsburg natives from a couple hundred to several hundred years ago, with some adventurous boys from out of town, and you have them speaking a German trade-tongue with archaic Romanian accents filtered through tromping all over Europe killing t'ings. Through fangs.
704
705[[WMG: The Muses and their Functions]]
706Look at [[http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/The_Muses this mural from]] [[strike: the Girl Genius Wiki]] the tympanum hall of Transylvania Polygnostic University. They are not meant to correspond ''exactly'' to the Greek nine, but their purposes are, from Left to Right:
707* Music, specifically musical instruments
708* Astronomy (as evidenced by the astrolabe in her hands)
709* Literature, probably oral and written storytelling
710* Comedy (the dark hair)
711* Hymns, or music for worship (the one with wings)
712** This one has actually been revealed as Otilia, Muse of Protection ([[spoiler:currently housing the conciousness of Castle Heterodyne, while its' own consciousness resides in Von Pinn]])
713* Tragedy or drama (silver hair is mature)
714* Mathematics (it's an art form for the Greeks!)
715And the last two, of course, are divination and dance. It is also possible that more than two survived, or that prototypes exist.
716** Did you know that the original Muses for the Greeks numbered one, three or four (before Hesiod settled on nine), and were named after such things as musical notes, or Memory, Practice, Song, Heart-delighting, Beginning and Meditation?
717** [[WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}} Not Important - But Interesting!]] :D
718
719[[WMG: The Knights of Jove are trying to set up a puppet ruler, and Tarvek's aware of it.]]
720If he wasn't told about Zola, but knows the plan anyway, he may be attempting to outflank his own allies by allowing Agatha to live. With a fake, highly trained and manipulative Heterodyne, and a real Valois blood descendant, the Knights may be attempting to set Tarvek up as a figurehead, while they use Zola as a means of controlling the real power through him, underestimating his own Byzantine-style devious streak. By attempting to get Agatha (or Lucrezia in Agatha's body) on his side, once he attains enough power, he could denounce the fake Heterodyne plot and those behind it as traitors to the true purpose of the order, consolidating power even more because people would flock to Agatha instead of Zola.
721* Wait, you're saying they're thinking they (the Council) will be able to play Tarvek once he's enthroned?
722** If they've monitored his breeding/creation and upbringing as closely as Zola implies, it's very likely they've overestimated their ability to continue micromanaging him, especially once Anevka threw a spanner in the works by killing Papa Sturmvoraus.
723
724[[WMG: Jenka is a Jager made from a Geisterdame.]]
725* She consistently keeps her mouth covered, possibly to hide an important marking or a scar.
726** For what it's worth, it appears she did this because she's embarrassed by her non-Jagerish teeth.
727* Her hair resembles that of a Geisterdame.
728* Vrin says that while the Loremistress Milvistle was killed, we haven't seen a body, and Vrin even admits there may have possibly been other traitors in the ranks. It wouldn't be completely inconceivable that either Milvistle was found by the Jagers and changed, or one of the traitor Geisterdamen went to them willingly.
729** This only really works if the Geisterdamen predate Lucrezia, rather than being made by her - turning someone into a Jaeger is a complex and difficult process, and I somehow doubt that Bill and Barry made any. Painfully mutating people into shock troops wasn't really their style. So it's unlikely that there have been any new Jaegers in, say, the last forty years.
730*** The Geisterdamen ''do'' predate Lucrezia. Her family was always perplexed by the fact that these strange creatures worship them. It wouldn't be very perplexing if Lucrezia had simply made them that way.
731*** Dude, this story has ''time travel''. (Unless of course you say "They can look in the past but not physically affect it," which is still a possible method of working out the details so far.) It's entirely possible for Lucrezia to have gone into the past to make the Geisterdamen, or to have sent some to the past, or to have visited the past just long enough to make a few of them... or it might be that the traitor went into the past to escape, and ended up being made into a Jager.
732** Anyway, a lot of Jagers have eclectic colouration. Unless Maxim and Dimo both had pink hair as humans.
733** Jenka has pupils. She can't be a Geisterdame.
734*** This is a world where people can make giant lightning guns, brainwashing bugs, four-armed people. I'm sure ''someone'' has invented colored contacts, or something similar.
735*** Don't be ridiculous, that's so implausible as to be nonsense. Now, a device of some sort to remove people's eyes and modify them or replace them with ones of different design...
736
737
738[[WMG:The Storm King and/or Geisterdamen are responsible for the deaths of every other Female Spark in Europe (besides Agatha)]]
739Just before Agatha's escape from Castle Wulfenbach, Judy explained that Female Sparks "disappear" as soon as they're discovered. While the culture of Europe at this time isn't going to be the best one to raise a female Spark in anyway, both the Storm King and the Geisterdamen remark about how many girls they've killed with the machine that transferred Lucrezia into Agatha's body. Given how long they've been looking for ANY Female Spark, could they have single-handedly kidnapped/murdered them all in their zeal to find Lucrezia's daughter? (and oy, something ELSE for Agatha to feel guilty about...) Also, now that they've "finished" with the machine, will we start to see other Female Sparks appear now that they're no longer hunting them down?
740* Well, even if that was the only reason, it'll probably be quite a while before we see any effects, probably years in-universe. Also note that I'm fairly sure there was at least two female sparks in the circus (Dame Aedith and Professor Moonstock), so it's not "female sparks are unheard of", just "female sparks have an even lower survivability rate than male sparks".
741** According to the Cast List, Dame Aedith is not known to be a spark. She's just an insane knife-thrower who hates (probably fictional) vampires.
742*** She certainly seems to be toting a stake gun during the Monster Horse Incident; either she had one of the actual Sparks whip it up for her (which, considering one of them was discussing the use of steam-powered feet and another is designing emotion control pies, seems rather...well..the phrase "foolhardy" doesn't cover it quite as well as "suicidally insane" does) or she built it herself, which implies at least mild sparkiness.
743** This troper personally doubts that the Sturmvoraus family and the Geisters would have bothered with ''every'' girl spark they ran across. Minor sparks probably went beneath their notice, while they focused on the ones that had a strong gift or came from a noble family, and would thus probably have a higher probability of being tied to Lucrezia and being a suitable subject. Which does raise some interesting questions about Anevka, now that this troper thinks about it. Had the prince merely gone insane from frustration and devotion by the time she was used as a subject, or did he have some ''reason'' to think that his daughter might have a genetic link to the woman's consciousness he was trying to bring back?
744*** My impression was that all of those myriad tests led to the conclusion that it had to be her daughter for the machine to work, but that at first they were hoping to get it to work on any female, then any female spark, then any strong female spark, then any noble female spark, and so on, whittling down the options until Lucrezia's own daughter was the only one it could possibly work on.
745** Are all of you people entirely forgetting Countess Marie? (Master Payne's wife, sparky chemist)
746* Is it possible that Othar got to the rest?
747* Is it possible that Geisterdamen are created * from* female sparks? There's hints that Jagermonsters are made from normal humans (something about a jagerdraught), and it would explain how the Geisterdamen keep up their numbers without a spark to create new ones.
748* It's not all that hard to figure out once you realize that Girl Sparks are a) valuable and b)vulnerable. The instant one shows any talent at all she's going to get targeted by every lecherous male spark in the vicinity hoping to make her his own. How much chance would a teenage girl stand against someone like Dr. Beetle, for instance?
749* There's also the children on castle wulfenbach. Children, male AND female, of sparky royal lines.
750* At one point, Agatha was told that, while minor sparks living in the countryside never really managed to amount to much, FEMALE Sparks would've burned as witches. (I have no idea when this page ran. The minor sparks thing was during the circus arc, after the monster horse attack, but I can't recall when the other part was explained.)
751** Judy [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040723 explained this]] when she and Punch came to rescue Agatha.
752*** If you pay close attention to the phrasing, countryside sparks are burned as witches and female sparks disappear.
753* Tarvek eventually clarifies that the [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210906#.YkpAqdvMKUk Geisters got most of them.]]
754
755[[WMG:The pirates who kidnapped Zeetha served Captain [=DuPree=].]]
756According to the Secret Blueprints, "Her plans collapsed when she returned from a solitary excursion to find her fortress a smoking ruin. Every last pirate was dead and the munitions and supplies that she had stockpiled in preparation for the attack were destroyed. There was no trace of the attacking army, and no hint of who was behind the destruction." [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041103 Sound familiar?]]
757* IIRC, this is implicitly confirmed in the comic. Compare the design of [=DuPree=]'s fortress as seen in her flashback to the design of the unnamed pirate fortress in Zeetha's flashback.
758* RuleOfFunny makes it nearly inevitable.
759* Confirmed. Bang finally learns it was Zeetha while they are both in England.
760[[/folder]]
761
762[[folder: Other Theories 2]]
763
764[[WMG:Skifander is on Mars]]
765
766(Given, some of these points are tenuous, but they add up, yes?)
767
768* One of its official titles is The Warrior Queen's Hidden Jewel - Mars is named after the War God.
769* Skifander is ''really'' hard to find, and in Zeetha's fever dreams of her journey from there, she 'hallucinated' objects floating on the ceiling, which sounds a lot like the freefall from an interplanetary journey. Also would explain why Lucrezia was so gobsmacked hearing that Klaus was able to get back from his exile there.
770* The pencil sketch of Klaus as 'Chump' (Zeetha's father's Skifandrian name) shows him in a harness reminiscent of John Carter of Mars' classic rig. Also, Tars Tarsus regularly called John Carter "Virginia" due to AccidentalMisnaming; "John Carter of the Army of Virginia". WordOfGod is that when Klaus arrived at Skifander after Lucrezia drugged him, his first words upon being asked his name were; ''Just call me "Chump."''
771* When Tarvek talks about his friendship with Gil when they were kids, he says that Gil didn't know his parents and wondered if he was a Lost Heterodyne, ''or'' the Storm King, "Or a... a Martian Prince or something." Since the Lost Heterodyne and Storm King positions have already been filled by Agatha and Tarvek, dramatic inertia suggests that Gil will be the third.(And as discussed elsewhere here on this page, it's been pretty broadly hinted that Gil is indeed a Prince, even if he'll never be allowed to take the throne.) Also, much later on, Tarvek notes that Gil walked into a certain situation "like a chump," a bit of foreshadowing for the inevitable in-strip reveal of Chump's identity. That's ''one'' confirmed unintentional prophecy on Tarvek's part.
772* Zeetha (and evidently all Skifanderians) have green hair.
773* The original Skifanderians (ie, Zeetha's ancestors) emigrated there via a portal.
774* In the second print-novel, Agatha mentions another title for the place that Barry told her: Guardian of the Red Mountain.
775* The city shows hints of being mostly domed or underground.
776
777(I know in my heart it is true.)
778
779[[WMG:The Heterodyne Boys, if they're still alive, are in America.]]
780I've got no factual basis on which to back this up. I just mention it because A) America's unexplained inaccessibility has to be a plot point, B) Bill and Barry traveled there extensively, and C) it's the one place on Earth nobody could find them.
781
782* By that logic Australia or New Zealand would be a better location:
783** A) Despite most likely being set in the late 1880s-early 1890s, geographical knowledge is far under-developed compared to our world, The Americas are barely known, but Haiti gets a mention so it seems people are aware of at least one landmass across the Atlantic, it may simple be a case that with an alternate history the sea powers responsible for global exploration like Britain, Spain, Portugal, France and the Dutch are not in the position to make those discoveries, the Conquistadors like Cortes and Pizarro never set sail because there was no one to fund the expeditions of Columbus, of the five countries that crossed the seas only England gets mentioned as an actual nation, not as the British Empire either so one could say that because of the presence of Sparks the pivotal events of history never happened because the Sparks caused ongoing wars that demanded funding from the governments over the expeditions for new colonies, were eclipsed by the importance of the wars between the various mad scientists or that no major nation-states really seem exist to provide the impetus to spread and colonise. Africa is barely touched upon, East Asia gets a reference with Doctor Sun Jen-djieh and his family, but things such as the Mongols reaching Hungary, The Silk Road and Imperial China were very widely known by the 1500s in Europe. That is unless the presence of Sparks caused faster technology development and we're actually dealing with an alternate history of 1290-ish Europe...
784** B) Bill and Barry loved to explore, seeing what's beyond the American Continents is certainly something they'd do, Flat-Earth/Counter-Weight beliefs aside, going back to North or South America (its never mentioned which, but Thundering Engine Woman doesn't sound like she's from any of the South American cultures) sounds a little predictable for them and other groups trying to make the voyage across might blab their whereabouts in order to gain public support in Europa.
785** C) Being so isolated from Europe it seems no one would find them at all if they layed low in the Antipodes. Also Australia isn't exactly the easiest country to explore, considering that Europe is a CrapsackWorld, imagine the horrors of Downunder?
786
787* WordOfGod is that America will not be represented. The next stops after England are Africa, Skifander and Geisters' home.
788
789[[WMG:The comic takes place on the Universal Studios Back lot.]]
790The true homeland of all MadScientist cliches. Complete with torch-waving 'eastern european' villagers with inexplicable Cockney accents.
791* They do seem to be mining all of the old Universal monster movie cliches, don't they?
792* I suddenly have this vision of a great Sparky battle [[Film/BlazingSaddles accidentally interrupting rehearsals for "The French Mistake"]]...
793
794[[WMG:Bill and Barry really did go to Mars in a rowboat, aka Theo's allegedly made-up story "The Heterodyne Boys and the Dragons from Mars" is a lot closer to what actually happened than most people would dare to think]]
795Think about it: An experiment gone awry in the belly of Castle Heterodyne leads to someone being possesed by an otherwordly intelligence with tragic and horrific consequences... and Theo's Mother is a Mongfish, after all. He may actually have insider information, even if it's just a half-remembered bedtime story from his chldhood.
796* [[{{Noaqiyeum}} This troper]] notes the following:
797** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030811 Giant biomechanical wasp-controlling monsters]]: [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040604 here, of course]]. There's also one in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080711 Castle Heterodyne's basement]].
798** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030818 Lucrezia possessed by the Other]]: Still a candidate for WMG.
799** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030818 Giant mechanical fish]]: Could be fantasy, could be [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071121 these things]].
800*** Could also be [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050321 the giant spiders the Geisterdamen ride]].
801*** My guess is it is the [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110323 Giant Mechanical Squid]] many [[GossipEvolution retellings of the stories.]]
802** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030825 Aperture science technology]]: [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040126 Ta-daa!]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021111 Also here]].
803** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030825 Power glove]]: Well, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060417 Maxim has one]], as does [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021111 this mysterious character]], but more importantly take a close look at [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051230 the only view we have so far that we can be sure is the Other (central column, bottom half)]]. (The two views of Lucrezia in the upper row do ''not'' resemble each other, though the first one looks like Lucrezia does at the other times we've seen her; conceivably the Geisterdamen ''are'' Lucrezia's invention that the Other took advantage of. This image is the only time we're sure we've seen "Lucrezia" between the attack on Castle Heterodyne and the present.)
804
805[[WMG:Likewise, The synopsis for "The Storm King" is a veritable stew of industrial strength foreshadowing (served with a good helping of RedHerring, of course!)]]
806Um, yeah. Why else would it have been in the comic?
807* AuthorAppeal
808** or BackStory
809*** Actually, sort of post-BackStory. The opera explains the plan the Knights of Jove had, which Gil and Klaus discuss [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070713 here]]. The opera's prophecy is what Klaus calls "practically a fairy tale."
810*** Not to mention propaganda
811
812[[WMG: Trelawney Thorpe, Spark of the Realm and Gilgamesh Wulfenbach have a romantic (or at least sexual) connection.]]
813* When Agatha is first brought to Gil's lab, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040206 she looks over the books he has and begins reading "Trelawney Thorpe in the Seraglio of The Iron Sheik"]] Gil instantly tries to distract her from it, and keeps doing so when she tries to go back to it. In that book, then, is an account of a night he spent in said Seraglio, and had a steamy encounter with Trelawney, which may have ended badly (or even more embarrassingly, with Trelawney actually having slept with him to gain information about the Wulfenbachs). He didn't want Agatha to a) think he was a sort of female-spark-player or b) he was too embarrassed by the outcome of the encounter to tell Agatha when he was trying to impress her. He even says that the stories are great, but total British propaganda - perhaps the Trelawney of the books (whom Gil, say, developed a celebrity crush on) was different enough in reality for Gil to be highly disappointed. Of course the book makes Gil out to be a sort of bumbling idiot prince who falls hopelessly in love with Trelawney. He keeps it around as a sort of schadenfreude to remind him of his own failures and not to repeat them.
814** Unlikely. Wooster and Othar have both alluded to Gil's history as a ladies man in Paris, but Gil complaints to Wooster that none of the girls he met really understand him. If he'd dated a Spark, he wouldn't have that problem. The Seraglio of the Iron Sheik is probably just pornographic, and he doesn't want Agatha seeing it/knowing that he reads that sort of thing.
815** Considering they're [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ggmain/strips/ggmain20180312.jpg only just meeting after the timeskip]]... the romantic tryst theory seems be holding less and less water. At least in the sense of it happening previously.
816
817[[WMG: Agatha's time windows are ''still'' affecting the plot]]
818Jenka says [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080310 she has it on the "highest authority"]] that Agatha likes Gil. Who would a wild Jaeger accept as highest authority -- who would '''also''' know how Agatha feels? One of Agatha's time windows opened in front of Jenka, and either future-Agatha explicitly '''told''' Jenka to look after Gil, or Jenka saw future-Agatha and future-Gil acting in a way that had "happy couple" written all over it.
819* Alternatively she could have heard it from one of the Jager Generals who seemed to be trying to [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031103 set Gil and Agatha up.]]
820** Alternatively alternatively, she's spent five minutes with Agatha and has functioning eyes.
821*** Functioning '''''nose'''''.
822*** Jenka never '''has''' spent five minutes with Agatha, and certainly not in any situation which would make Agatha's feelings for Gil evident to eyes or nose.
823** Considering that Jenka left to go get "clarification" on their mission, I'd say the Jaeger Generals are her "highest" authority. They were certainly trying to matchmake, and Agatha had a pretty obvious crush on Gil (the little kid "kick you in the shins and run away" kind of crush, or "the lady doth protest too much" crush, at that point.)
824*** Supported by a line in the novelization narrative, showing that General Zog smelled ''something'' he evidently found promising after he asked Agatha what she thought of Gil.
825** In this case, the highest authority is [[spoiler:Higgs as he is the only "real" general not trapped in Mechanicsburg (who isn't missing or dead)]] as Dimo doesn't count.
826
827[[WMG: The Geisterdamen are connected with Skifander somehow.]]
828Both seem to have matriarchal societies of warrior-women, and their languages are similar. Perhaps Zeetha really was sent to kill Gil, but she forgot about it when she became sick. Also, Shurdlu the Geister recognized Zeetha as being from Skiff on sight.
829* Tenuous, but perhaps:
830
831[[WMG: The Geisterdamen are Skifandrians from the future]]
832* Years pass, and Lucrezia/The Other uses time travel to supplant the local Goddess, assuming control of Skifander and occasionally pulling the Geisterdamen back in time to the "shadow world".
833
834[[WMG: The Geisterdamen are what happens when Skifandrians get the Spark.]]
835We've already established that, biologically, they've diverged noticeably (green hair, anyone?), and being a matriarchal society, it's not unlikely that male Skifandrian Sparks would suffer the same fate as female European Sparks, or even have sufficient incentive to [[GenderBender change their own sex]] en masse.
836* But Queen Zantabraxus is a spark. If Geisterdamen were sparky Skifandrians, certainly Klaus would have noticed something was up after he returned to Europa.
837
838[[WMG: The polar ice lords are dragons of the [[Webcomic/OzyAndMillie Llewellyn family]].]]
839[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php All we know about them]] is that they [[http://www.ozyandmillie.org/d/20030528.html tax fire]]. Need I say more?
840
841[[WMG: Zola was always fully aware of who Gil is. ]]
842She is the one playing him and he is underestimating her.
843* Remember, Gil has that ring he once gave Agatha on a chain around his neck ... and it has the Wulfenbach insignia on it.
844* Unless Zola is a very good actress, {{Jossed}}. Zola seems flabbergasted to learn Gil's surname.
845** But Zola ''is'' a good actress. How much she's acting around Gil is still up in the air, however.
846*** I don't see this as likely, even without recent events.
847*** This appears to be confirmed as of June 2010.
848
849[[WMG: Zola is still in contact with Tarvek/Violetta in some fashion. ]]
850Because she stated she will "Dance with all the boys" just like Agatha said. And she is saying it alloud to the castle to send it (and maybe Agatha) a message for some reason.
851* Oh please. That was just RuleOfFunny. Everybody's reading way too much into a stylistic thing.
852* Or it's a Mongfish thing since Zola's mother and Lucrezia (Agatha's mother) are sisters.
853
854[[WMG:Zola is the Lucrezia-Muse/clank, or an even newer Lucrezia copy.]]
855The Zola Gil knew from Paris is dead. This WMG is compatible with the previous two.
856* Wow, so the count of people who are, were, or will be the Other totals...about 714 by now.
857
858[[WMG: The Queen of England developed the mind-control Voice used by Lucrezia]]
859Gil has recently claimed that to go against the merest whim of Albia of England is "literally unthinkable", a statement which might imply she uses mind-control. Lucrezia uses a kind of mind-controlling voice, which Agatha has partly inherited. When Agatha first meets Sleipnir O'Hara, a Scottish spark and member of a noble family, Sleipnir inquires if Agatha is from England, a question which makes little sense, considering that Agatha is from an Eastern European family, and was raised in Transylvania. Thus, Sleipnir is at least partly familiar with Albia's Voice (and as a spark, would be unaffected by it), which is at least partly based in the English accent. Lucrezia learned the Voice from Albia at one point, and it was passed on to Agatha, meaning that when Agatha spoke, Sleipnir unconsciously recognised the English undertones to the Voice, prompting an instinctive inquiry if she was English.
860* Where did it say Sleipnir was Scottish? 'Cause last time I checked, O'Hara was an Irish name (in fact, pretty much the archetypal Irish name).
861** Sleipnir's the daughter of the king of Little Ireland, which is under Wulfenbach control currently.
862* Not only is it an Irish name, but in case ya'll hadn't noticed the ''Union Jacks'' in various background images, England and Scotland are one country. Which is not called England. Just because Germans and Englishmen make the mistake all the time doesn't mean you have to! [/Scotsman]
863** Albia ''is'' referred to as 'Her '''Brittanic''' Majesty' at one point, but 'England' seems to be used as a synonym. :/ [/fakeWelsh]
864** Oh, and another thing. Basing mind-control on an "English accent" doesn't work because they have about a thousand of 'em. Yorkshire mind control, anyone? Cockney mind control? Presumably you mean one accent, probably the literal Queen's English. While the idea that the classis BBC announcers sound so trustworthy and authoritative because of their sinister powers is amusing, I don't see it. While sinister vocal powers could plausibly be inherited, Agatha has been raised in German/Romanian/Hungarian/Whatever from day one and accents are not.
865** Please note that a) Ireland was under british occupation/protection/controll/... untill IWW. IT IS EVEN REFLECTED IN UNION JACK by having St. Patric's cross c) Both England and Scotland are two separated countries which are part of United Kingdom
866* This whole discussion is actually moot, since if I'm not mistaken Sleipnir's comment was about Agatha's "relaxed dressing habits". Taking the speech bubbles together "We're not all as relaxed about running around half-naked as you are. Where are you from, England?" This was a real stereotype around the end of the Napoleonic Wars, when the blockade had cut Britain off from over a decade of every other country in Europe becoming less scandalous, and something similar might happen given the apparent cold war between Britain and Wulfenbach.
867** Whuh? The blockade of the Napoleonic Wars was enforced ''by'' Britain, not against Britain. The reason for the stereotype of scantily-clad English women is because during the Napoleonic wars, the guy in charge was Prince George (later George IV), who was a noted womaniser and libertine, and so fashions for the upper echelons of British society became daringly low cut at the bodice, easy to hold onto at the waist, and easy to slip out of.
868*** I believe that stereotype was about women's clothing in general, not specifically English women. French portraiture shows much more revealing dress; English (and American) clothing was always more modest. Women of all countries wore very low necklines because that was fashionable, not because it made the dresses easier to take off.
869** Not only that, but a country that's mostly submerged is going to involve a lot of swimming, and therefore fashions suited to quick changes, drip-dry and NOT DROWNING.
870** Not to mention, think about what the climate must be like in what's basically an underwater greenhouse--it's either the ambient water temperature (unlikely as that's 'freakin' cold') or warmer than what real-world Great Britain is with no need to climate changes--no seasons, no winters, and a LOT of exhaled [=CO2=] to deal with in a closed-air system, even if you are close enough to the surface for direct ventilation. You wouldn't want to be wearing three or four layers or wool.
871* At the same time... The idea that there's some link between Albia and Lucrezia may not be out the window. Lucrezia jumped at Wooster's offer to be shipped over to England, if I remember correctly. Her reasoning was that she'd be protected from Klaus, but there may be something more to it.
872** Specifically, she said "Klaus will never be allowed into England while Albia rules." The use of her first name definitely insinuates some familiarity.
873*** How else would she be called? Lucrezia's not the type to say "Her Majesty", in the real world the Queen is called "Elizabeth II" by people in casual conversation all the time, and as far as we know Albia has no last name. It seems most likely that Lulu just wants away from Klaus, and Gil's threats to Wooster notwithstanding she's confident Albia can keep Klaus out. And there's the old "enemy of my enemy" thing. Britain didn't put an undercover agent practically in Klaus's back pocket because they're on cordial terms.
874
875[[WMG: Gilgamesh Wulfenbach is the new Storm King.]]
876Think about it. Charismatic, powerful, exceptionally strong spark, probably going to marry Agatha and have peace, ''carries around a stick that can call down storm bolts from the sky''...seems fairly obvious to me.
877* Tarvek is the True Heir by descent but Gil is shaping up to [[IncrediblyLamePun steal his thunder]]. Paralels both the political animosity between them (Tarvek hates the Wulfenbachs as (extremely competent) usurpers to the real royal families) and the LoveTriangle with Agatha. And there's a [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070713 fairy tale]] about the Storm King and a female Heterodyne...
878* Don't forget, Tarvek is probably responsible for that propaganda-laden production of the Storm King opera, and is milking his current incumbent state for as many Agatha-sympathy points as possible. The difference is, Tarvek is making an effort to convince the public of his sovereignty, and Gil isn't. How that's going to end up, who knows.
879** While the latest production might have something to do with the conspiracy, staged by members who are still in Vienna, the opera ''itself'' is likely older than Tarvek.
880*** "Might"? The Storm King looks like Tarvek, the Heterodyne Princess like Agatha, and Ogglespoon like Gil. Subtle as a brick to the forehead.
881*** As above, ''total'' propaganda move.
882*** This could be the Foglios just making sure everyone knows who's who. If the production is taking place during the same time as the Castle Heterodyne plot, Gil's face was ''not'' well-known to the public, or even most of the Knights of Jove, and even though Agatha's giant image had been seen at Sturmhalten, descriptions of her had been distorted enough by the rumor mill that Pinky was able to fake being her without anyone questioning her physical features. If the casting was ''actual'' propoganda, the actress in the opera would have looked like ''her'', not Agatha.
883* Maybe Tarvek and Gil were SwitchedAtBirth somehow.
884* Gil's mother is unknown, so she could be a descendant of the Storm King. Trouble is, if Baron Wulfenbach knew that, he shouldn't have been surprised when Gil brought up the Heterodyne/Storm King prophecy.
885* Volume 9--which focuses mostly on Tarvek and Gil--is called "Agatha Heterodyne and the '''Heirs''' of Storm." That's basically confirmation.
886* No, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130703 THAT'S]] basically confirmation.
887* And [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20200729 THIS]] is maximum confirmation.
888
889[[WMG: The Klaus Wulfenbach we know is a construct.]]
890In the hospital scene, we see his chest covered with a scar pattern similar to Punch's, and definitely too extensive to be explained even by the massive injuries sustained by having a house dropped on him. He is also very strong, and resilient enough to survive previously mentioned house. He also has dropped his more "traditional" (read mechanical) mad science in favour of the research of the Spark, presumably to transfer it to himself, which is exactly what this troper would do if he was trying to imitate a powerful Spark. It would also explain why he is so extremely picky about who is doctor is, but that could just be standard run-of-the-mill paranoia...
891* There was talk about him being made by his father from 3 of his sons somewhere in first chapters.
892** And apparently WordOfGod has confirmed it. DAMMIT! And I thought I was being clever...
893*** Sorry Charlie. You forgot the Naughty Flashback scene, too. Very very visible stitchwork. The theory about his origin comes from a subtle comment in the Secret Blueprints. There were three Wulfenbach sons at one point, but nobody's heard about or from two of them in a very long time. Fan theory is a massive lab accident, and his poor parents had to save who and what they could from the remains they found. Hey, at least it keeps the Fifty Families scared about him never dying (not with good maintenance!), although Gil seems to have them just about as twitchy.
894*** Oh, and no 'von'. Why does everyone keep putting in a 'von'?
895*** [[IncrediblyLamePun It's just von of those things.]]
896*** Because "von" signifies nobility in German. My guess is that the Foglios aren't (or at least, weren't) aware of this, explaining why the ruler of all of Europe has a commoner's name, while a lowly soldier (Moloch von Zinzer) is apparently of noble descent.
897*** Von does not signify "nobility" but rather "very old nobility". "Von" means something along the lines of "of" or "from", the last name being a place. All Von Somewheres are noble, but not all nobles are Von Somewheres. Besides, it's not at all unlikely that many old noble families lost everything except the name when the Sparks became a force to be reckoned with, or when society shifted from agrarian to industrial, or that strong Sparks could rise to, or for that matter, claim nobility without anyone daring to argue.
898*** In our world, 'von' signifies merely 'nobility'. Von ''something'', on the other hand, signifies old nobility (old nobility: von [hometown/castle name], newer nobility: von [previous surname]). That said, considering Dutch took exactly the opposite route (dropping the nobility angle but keeping the origin one), and that Girl Genius' history diverged from ours quite a bit into the past, nothing says it has to work like that in the Empire.
899*** They could simply not take it just to humiliate the rest of the royalty... "You got stomped by somebody who isn't even royal, nya nya nya..."
900*** Clearing up this "von" confusion, I quote [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von the other wiki's Page]] on the word, "...it can be said that almost all German nobles use von, but not all users of von are noble." It could just be where they're from/ the name of their father.
901*** One more interesting thing... Baron is the second-lowest noble title in Germany, above Knight. Klaus humiliating the rest of the royalty cannot be ruled out.
902
903[[WMG: Zola and Tarvek: [[PairTheSpares Spares to pair?]]]]
904* Dear God, I hope not.
905** However, Moloch and Violetta have been [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081112 getting pretty chummy]]...
906*** Although Moloch was clearly mooning over Wilhelm when Agatha came in.
907*** That could have more to do with Violetta and Moloch both being top-grade minions.
908
909[[WMG: Klaus will learn Agatha's locket is suppressing the Other, but will keep trying to "deal with" Agatha just to ensure the Other doesn't re-emerge.]]
910And now for the most bizarre WMG logic in history: ''I had a dream about this''. It involved a small dog at some point.
911* I am NOT a small dog. I'm merely short.
912
913[[WMG: The Wulfenbachs don't use the 'von' as a sign of democratic unity with their subjects, and to tick off the Fifty Families]]
914Hey, as long as I'm here, might as well throw in one. The 'von' has never been included in canon, yet shows up all over fan commentary. A barony in the Siebenbergen would certainly qualify for the particle in German or Sachsen, but Klaus at least doesn't use it. We know from the Secret Blueprints that his parents were responsible and caring rulers, and likely sided with the villagers and peasants rather than dabbling in the power games of nobility. I think it's a way of thumbing the family nose at those who are more interested in what they can accrue to themselves, rather than who they're responsible for.
915* Interesting... amusingly, that would be the exact opposite of [[ThoseWackyNazis Ribbentrop's]] fake "von". And of course there could be a legalistic aspect. Klaus is on top because he knocked heads, and Gil will be on top because he's the one Klaus taught to knock heads. Heriditary doesn't enter into it (I'd imagine that if for whatever reason Klaus couldn't produce a satisfactory heir, he'd just find one). Being "von Wulfenbach" would imply that his title, like those of the 50 families, is what gives him the right to rule. He doesn't hold for a second with their ideas of "legitimacy", so he's deliberatly abandoned any "legitimacy" that he had.
916* Or maybe [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070713 the Wulfenbachs were just a minor house]] and never used "von".
917
918[[WMG: Othar is Bill Heterodyne.]]
919For one reason or another he has decided it is best that there are no sparks. This is why Othar was going to save Agatha for last and goes after the Wulfenbachs. Not to mention his personality does somewhat match the showy-ness of the Heterodynes in tall tales. As the Dragon of Mars WMG above shows there is more than a passing resembelance to reality in those stories.
920* Something happened. Bill went Othar, ZenSurvivor and KnightTemplar, but Barry became jaded.
921* Look at Othar's love of Heterodyne shows.
922* It would also explain the treatment of Othar by the Wulfenbachs. They don't really treat him as a major threat considering his abilities and endurance. More of an annoying uncle who can take a great deal of punishment. Even the attempted lobotomy comes off as the Baron didn't have his whole heart in it, or else he would have sealed the door.
923** I.e. they kind of treat Othar as a living version of Gilgamesh's fencing clank. An acceptable rival. The Baron even left that thing besides Othar hoping he'd escape. It was just another test to see how Othar could/would escape, and if anyone could it would be him.
924* If not Bill, then some old sidekick to the Heterodynes.
925** Pretty much Jossed by Othar's twitter.
926** he has Twitter?
927*** anyways, it could actually make a certain sense, if bill bascially went insane. which seems to be entirely possible. somebody was killing sparks after the attack on castle Heterodyne, they killed a lot of them. it is implied it was the other, but Othar claims to be killing sparks (not that we've ever seen him succeed once, and he let Dumed go... how could he NOT realize the cousin to the heterodyne was a Spark?) but if he really has killed sparks for being sparks, it might have been Bill way back when, steadily losing it.
928*** "not that we've ever seen him succeed once"... Er, Twitter!Othar killed at least on Spark and her (possibly non-Spark) father (in his first outing IIRC); to paraphrase: "Her father pleaded with me to spare his daughter, saying that a parent's greatest nightmare was to see their child die. I couldn't put him through that. So I shot him first."
929*** In one comic, it said that after the attack on the Castle, "Master Bill was nearly insane." Hmm...I don't suppose, in 18 years, he crossed into full madness?
930** Also pretty much jossed by Sanaa knowing him as the brother she grew up with. Bill and Barry did not have a sister, so far as we know, and Sanaa's too young to be their sibling.
931
932[[WMG: The Heterodyne Boys knew Lucrezia was the Other, and designed the locket to shut down the Other if it surfaced in Agatha.]]
933This is slightly supported by [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021211 Dr. Beetle's panic at Agatha's missing locket]], and more strongly so by the effect of the locket on the Other after the download. I imagine at the time they didn't know if the Other would be transmitted from mother to daughter, and therefore saw Agatha's (''very, very early'') breakthrough as being the manifestation of the Other. This one is premised on the Other being a sort of parasite. That it shut down her Spark is just a side effect (and one she overcame).
934* One wrinkle in this theory is that Uncle Barry was scared by child!Agatha's heterodyning-- it's her humming, a manisfestation of the Heterodyne spark, that prompts him to give her the locket. Also, it's been said that Agatha's breakthrough went so smoothly because she'd been eased into it. She'd started designing dingbots back at the university, and the sleepbuilding came shortly after she'd lost her locket. It wasn't until the locket's affects had worn off completely that she was able to use her full Spark abilities. The gradual growing of abilities meant she didn't go insane like most.
935** It's far, far more likely that Dr. Beetle was afraid that Agatha would give herself away if her spark was exposed and reveal his treachery.
936
937[[WMG: Heterodyne trilobytes with Wulfenbach wings: The ultimate ending of Girl Genius is literally coded into the wallpaper.]]
938But... in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060109 this comic]] we see that Tarvek's crest also has wings. So the trilobyte with wings can either be Tarvek + Agatha, or Gil + Agatha.
939* However, if you look carefully Tarvek's wings and the Wulfenbach wings are different designs, and the wings on the wallpaper are Wulfenbach's.
940* Or the wings indicate not a marriage alliance but adherence to the Baron's Peace, which is why some of the Sturmvoraus insignia don't have it (presumably predating that).
941* It could be that Agatha has gained a mobile floating castle like Castle Wulfenbach (remember that Wulfenbach's crest was originally wingless), either by getting a new airship or turning Castle Hetrodyne or Mechanicsburg into a [[FloatingContinent floating island]]. Remember how the Castle want to go exploring the world as a yurt? Well, after Agatha revives it, maybe it can.
942** I always assumed the NonSequitur was due to Gil poking around in the Castle's innards.
943
944[[WMG: Von Pinn is a muse.]]
945In [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090713 this comic]], Von Pinn states that she has existed for over two hundred years, and was created by a "beloved king", likely the Storm King. According to Master Payne, the muses have been in hiding for over one hundred years, and were likely in circulation (and being disassembled)for some time before that. Lucrezia's connections to the Knights of Jove could explain how she got a hold of Von Pinn.
946* I'll give you the "created by/for the Storm King" thing, but I think it's pretty obvious she's a construct, not a clank. Unless you mean there are nine other muses, only constructs instead of clanks?
947* von Pinn is almost certainly a construct; we have seen her [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040903 bleed and experience pain]]. The Jaegers seem [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031107 smitten with her]], too. On the other hand, the non-canonical Cinderella story has an [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090105 impossibly realistic clank]] ... so who can be sure?
948* Alternately, the modifications that Lucrezia added to her made her look more of a construct than a clank. This is why she looks like Lucrezia; Lucrezia is a narcissist.
949* Alternately Alternately, Von Pinn is Otilia's mind transferred into a construct body. Lucrezia wanted to create the ultimate bodyguard/nanny for her babies, and while she was quite confident in her ability to create a construct who could take and dish out massive amounts of damage, she wasn't so sure of her ability to give it the right personality - she'd spent most of her life being DaddysLittleVillain, so she didn't have a lot of experience building things to protect and nurture the defenseless. But what's this? The Castle says the legendary Muse of Protection is tucked away in an old storage room (probably sent by the Storm King and Rembrandt Van Rijn to keep Euphrosynia and any future female Heterodynes "safe")? Why, that'd be the perfect personality! Let's just look at old Faustus's notes on personality transfer ... Then, after transferring Otilia into a body hardwired to interpret "keeping <female Heterodyne> safe" the way Lucrezia wanted, she thanked the Castle by transferring a backup copy of ''its'' mind into Otilia's old (and possibly now vacant) body. Of course, as a side effect of all this, Lucrezia then had experience with copying and transferring minds - and the Castle had a spare mind running on different hardware, hardware that could move around and wouldn't be affected by a device designed to shut down the Castle, which Lucrezia would have to lock away should she ever need the Castle fragmented and unable to stop her. Thus, Von Pinn is both a construct of Lucrezia's ''and'' a centuries-old guardian sent by a certain "beloved king" and instructed by her not-Lucrezia creator to keep the next female Heterodyne "safe"; and what appears to be Otilia doesn't answer to the Storm King's heir, wants to kill traitors to the Heterodynes, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090930 is]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100115 ticklish]], and, in at least one case, talks in a way that'd be quite in-character for the castle ("Heh heh heh. ''I'll'' get you loose. ''OOOH YEEEES...''"). How did Lucrezia manage to lock it away? Well, it's a male personality in a female body - she may have surprised it while it was occupied with [[http://www.sgvy.com/archives/Edda1/Issue1/Page6.html self-discovery]] (yet another reason for Von Pinn/Otilia to wish that Lucrezia's bones burn green).
950** Well, we now have confirmation of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100208 Der Kestle's mind being in control of Otilia's body]]. Otilia's mind being Von Pinn's (and both being thus due to Lucrezia) is still a WMG, though.
951** [[http://girlgeniuscomic.livejournal.com/103392.html This]] makes the Otilia-transferred-into-Von-Pinn theory look a lot more likely - Von Pinn fell down the hole to that pit a while ago and the result of an mechanical-to-biological transfer has now been noted as being down there.
952** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100510 And now it's all but confirmed.]]
953*** So, Von Pinn we know and Jagers love is in fact ''Otilia'', stuck in this construct body after a mind transference (by Lucrezia). ''If'' she yells at the castle for bad handling of the Muse body--which appears to be the case, because the party mishandling her ''current'' body is on the other side. That explains a lot.
954
955[[WMG: Albia's interest in Princesses]]
956We learn shortly after Agatha's arrival that the Queen of England has a "collection" of Princesses in her court. The reason for her interest, however, is yet-unknown, but it's an easy jump to consider that she's trying to groom them into being new God-Queens like she is and her fallen sisters were. She doesn't want to just ''give'' them that ability, though, as she wants peers - much like Gil, way back when, wanted a woman he could genuinely ''talk to'' on the Spark-level of intellect.
957
958[[WMG: Othar is Klaus.]]
959Both of them are very hard to kill. Granted, Gil's [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090812 comment]] was in the context of disease, but Klaus is nothing if not thorough. And since the guy ''lives'' on an airship, some sort of tweak to avoid defenestration makes sense. We also know they both like waffles, and both have a "my way is the right way" mentality. And finally, we know time travel exists in this setting. Put them all together, and you have a later-period Klaus driven insane by temporal paradox or attempts to get that wasp out of his head jumping back in time to "fix" all the problems he's experienced by eliminating the causes of them: Sparks.
960* And makes a special point of opposing himself and his son... why?
961** Haven't we ''all'' had one of those days where we could just go back in time and stop ourselves from doing such *** ing stupid things? Othar could be trying that with about ''thirty years'' of moves that seemed like a good idea at the time.
962* Why can't it be the other way around? Klaus looks a good deal older than Othar, not to mention all the surgical scars he has. Plus, it might explain, in a completely insane way, how Othar keeps surviving. Othar MUST go back in time, because Klaus is already there, and has even had at least one son. The universe simply won't allow Othar to die until the time-loop has been satisfied.
963
964[[WMG: Von Pinn is a revenant, of the stealthy variety]]
965The facts we know for sure: Von Pinn was not created by the Heterodynes or Lucrezia, but was given to them as a gift. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090713 She was originally charged with]] keeping Agatha "safe" for those around her, and then with "protecting" her, but she found loopholes to do both of those without Agatha having to survive. Even though she disagreed with her king she says she wouldn't even want to betray him if she could. But Lucrezia then gave her an order to keep Agatha alive, and she would very much love to be able to disobey that but cannot.
966
967Now the speculation. We know from Klaus that it's at least possible to make a slaver wasp that'll work on constructs, whether they all do or not (the only thing special about that one was that it'd work on a spark, so it's likely that they actually all would've worked on a construct). She's compelled to obey Agatha's voice until she realizes what's going on and makes a conscious effort to resist it; the same was true of Vrin, so at the time it seemed like this just meant this was a feature installed on all of Lucrezia's creations and Von Pinn was one of them. It was never explained why Von Pinn declared that commanding her "wouldn't work again", but it seemed up until recently that it was just like Vrin—the command voice carries a lot of weight, but if a sufficiently strong-willed creation knows that it's not really Lucrezia speaking they can resist. But then we learned that Lucrezia wasn't VP's original creator or the first to give her orders (though she's the only one whose orders she openly would like to be able to disobey). It would make a lot of sense if Von Pinn were a revenant; perhaps Lucrezia realized she'd figured out a workaround to her original orders and took matters into her own hands. However, this requires that:
968* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100730 Disproved]]
969
970[[WMG: Lucrezia really has been using her "Stealthy revenants" all along, sneakily.]]
971The Baron and his people ''claim'' that they're new, but think about it. A tool like that is much more valuable if kept secret, since they can just step up security and add four security keys to every important mechanism or something if her enemies found out about it. Everyone would be second-guessed, and eventually they'd find a countermeasure (read: the bug sniffing dogs). Far more useful is to have a few key players infected and ready to sabotage things or lead their troops to certain death, without leaving any evidence that she'd made them do it. The reason they're in the open now is that Agatha wasn't in on this subterfuge; Lucrezia never would have wasted her trump card by ordering one of her stealth revenants to activate the hive engine, but Agatha didn't even do that on purpose and certainly wasn't trying to keep anything hidden. Once an action had been taken which couldn't be attributed to anything but stealth-revenants, the Baron figured it out, ran whatever tests were necessary to verify it, and had his countermeasure in under three months. The reason these revenants are "new" is because this is first time they've acted so inexpertly as to be noticed.
972** Confirmed: The shambling revenants were the exception, not the rule.
973
974[[WMG: Omar was a stealth revenant.]]
975As [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=0000000000000000000002oy&page=95#2362 pointed out]] by Dr East on the forums, everybody assumes that the locket killed Omar, but when he steals it Agatha, in full madness mode (which makes the command voice much stronger, or at least makes her voice closer to Lucrezia's), [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021122 orders him to die slowly and painfully]]. By the end of the day, he caught an unexplainable illness which killed him. All that locket was was a mental suppressor--I could imagine it giving the wrong person a headache or making it hard to think, but we don't ''know'' that it should be strong enough to kill a non-spark. Wheras we know that the command voice can be used to command someone to die (not to kill themselves but to ''die''), since Lucrezia orders Vrin to die in book six and she seemingly chokes to death the instant the order is given. So while the amulet could have been what did him in, he might have simply died because he was a revenant and he was ordered to. This also has the bonus effect of explaining why the protagonists are so interested in retracing Moloch's steps once they get the time window--if he was a revenant, he had to have been infected somewhere, and figuring out where might help them find the hive.
976* It's worth noting that when Agatha tells her parents the locket was taken, they look in the thieves' market instead of the local hospitals, which means that ''they'' at least weren't expecting it to cause illness. Now, since it's presumably a unique piece of technology, it's possible they didn't know ''what'' kind of effect it would have on a non-Spark, but it's still suggestive.
977* It also had a label on the back, "return to Agatha Clay" and her address. Again, not something you put on what is basically a time bomb.
978* In addition! Moloch suffered NONE of the effects his brother did, even though he held onto the locket for quite a while. If it was the locket that did it, shouldn't he have dies as well, or at least gotten weak and ill?
979** Moloch broke the locket by throwing it in frustration, almost as soon as he took it from Omar's corpse. The other points still stand, though.
980* She's ranting at both of them, not just Omar. If he was wasped, it didn't happen to his brother.
981
982[[WMG: Othar is going to save Gil's life]]
983In a timeline where Othar never went into Castle Heterodyne, Gil is dead. However, we know from the 'future' scene that not only is Gil alive, but he's important to some stuff. Now, the only thing different in the two timelines, is Othar's presence. Thus, Othar is going to save Gil's life. Albeit, probably on accident...
984* It has been confirmed that Othar did go back in time (via mental time travel) and thus was in Mechanicsburg due to Tarvek's urging in a doomed future, and Gil surviving could easily dispel that future; he may even have saved him indirectly by bringing the Baron Tarvek (through shenanigans). It was confirmed in Othar's Twitter, but this troper doesn't want to dig up a specific tweet.
985
986[[WMG: Zola La Sirene d'Or is [[Literature/{{Wicked}} Glinda the Good]].]]
987Okay, another strange story, but some time after the end of it, Glinda looks at Oz, thinks it's hopeless and leaves after installing a shadow government and Figurehead (Probably a fake Scarecrow) She manages to tough through a lot, but gave up her magic for some reason (Emotional Baggage?) and ends up in Paris. Her money is no good there and ends up as a showgirl. She gets caught up with a lot of strange sparky schemes because through it all, she believes the best in people. She started finding her own two feet and quite possibly decided no more strange things when she meets Gil, and it's the Fiyero thing all over again, even if she doesn't know much of the Wulfenbach empire (Or even that he's the Baron's son).
988
989And she likes pink a little too much. Even when she ditched the very Glinda-ish dress, she still has a lot of pink. Just who does she think she needs to fool into believing that she's a Heterodyne in the castle?
990* Thoroughly disproven by this point, I would think. [[spoiler: Turns out, ALL of the above is merely an act. The real Zola is evil, evil, EVIL.]]
991
992[[WMG: The comic is the original timeline of ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'']]
993It's stated that time travel and Bardo shenanigans pretty much destroyed the previous timeline as we know it, and the Terminals had to remake it in a way that could survive alteration (and may well have destroyed themselves in the process). Othar may have a point; Sparks will eventually get into time travel, and the resulting time wars and temporal paradoxes will make time collapse on itself, and the Geniuses of the new timeline are a faded reflection of the power of the Spark.
994[[/folder]]
995
996[[folder: Other Theories 3]]
997[[WMG: Agatha is the daughter of Lucrezia and ''Barry'' Heterodyne]]
998Various forms of drama could have had Barry and Lucrezia get together in the time where they were missing. An affair, possibly due to Bill going insane and sending her into his brother's arms? Closeness after his possible death, turning into something more? What we know is that Barry, not Bill, was the one who brought Agatha back to live with Punch and Judy; and he had a locket which could shut down the Other - something which could have been used to rescue Lucrezia previously, if we got with the "the Other took over Lucrezia" theory. In any case, guilt over this emotional betrayal of his brother could have had Barry decide to tell Agatha he was her "uncle". Since she would no doubt hear all the Heterodyne stories growing up, it would after all be a rather sordid thing to inform a young child of. This theory may also account for Barry's general atmosphere of regret/shame in his flashback appearance, though that may simply be from the necessity of repressing Agatha's talents.
999* Disproven by WordOfGod. Agatha is absolutely, positively Bill's daughter.
1000
1001[[WMG: The thing that emerged from the pit January 20th 2010 is one of the Muses shown in the mural.]]
1002Compare (what's currently today's) strip and the one in back of http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050928 and tell me they aren't the same. (Note the headband, in particular). Edit: Called it!
1003
1004[[WMG:Moloch will be the next to contract Exploding Disco Syndrome]]
1005* Lucrezia!Agatha just bit him. Earlier, she got it from Tarvek by kissing him. Therefore, Moloch has it now, too. This does not bode well.
1006
1007[[WMG:Zola is an agent of the Master of Paris.]]
1008She pretends to be a DumbBlonde, but she's actually smarter than she looks and perfectly capable of killing when needed without loosing her cool - skills that come in handy when you're a spy. She kept getting involved in the schemes of minor sparks - and subtly nudging them towards failure - because the Master of Paris needed them stopped for the safety of his city. She knew who Gil was all along - getting Gilgamesh Wulfenbach involved whenever possible in order to evaluate his abilities and character was an important secondary mission of hers, since the Master of Paris would want to know everything he could about the heir to the empire. While in the course of her stumble-into-conspiracies-and-screw-them-up job, she became a part of the Knights of Jove's plot, and the Master of Paris realized that this was something much bigger and more dangerous than the other little problems she'd been solving for him and ordered her to drop the dumb act enough to get picked as their fake heir so she could do ... whatever would be most convenient for Paris. Once Zola gets in touch with her boss again and provides enough information for him to realize that Agatha is A) really a Heterodyne and B) not a threat to Paris (either directly via trying to take over the world or indirectly by destabilizing Klaus's peace), she'll probably be ordered to help Agatha - and to get the new Heterodyne to Paris ASAP. When the current crisis is over, she'll run into Wooster and they'll recognize each other and reminisce over some martini-flavored NoodleIncident before engaging in a long and entertaining series of backstabs as they each try to get Agatha to their respective governments first.
1009* Almost certainly Jossed.
1010
1011[[WMG:Tarvek is a decedent of van Rijn]]
1012Whether or not he's the scion of the Storm King is another question completely.
1013
1014[[WMG:Tarvek is the Storm King]]
1015Not "the heir to the throne of", but the original, thanks to a stable time loop which (obviously) hasn't happened yet (after all, Tarvek was capable of sending Twitter!Othar back in time.) Alternatively...
1016* Okay, I'm an idiot: Tarvek was capable of sending Twitter!Othar's ''consciousness'' back in time.
1017
1018[[WMG:Tarvek is van Rijn]]
1019Again, a stable time loop which (obviously) hasn't happened yet; after being thrown back in time, he will construct the Muses for the Storm King - as somebody who is fascinated with van Rijn's designs, who has constructed a replica - which became ''sapient!'' - of a van Rijn design, and who would have a knowledge of future technology at his disposal, he'd have no difficulty in claiming to be "the greatest spark of all time" - the only oddity is that Tarvek doesn't seem to enough of an egomaniac to make such a claim. (And of course, maybe it wasn't Van Rijn himself who slapped on that label..)
1020* A point in favor: in the novel ''Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess'' there is a footnote discussing van Rijn which says that 1. He was elderly when he made the Muses 2. He had a mysterious background and 3. He evidently went out of his way to avoid having his image depicted, and no such image exists.
1021* Possibly Jossed, we've finally seen a flashback-image of van Rijn, and he doesn't look like Tarvek particularly.
1022
1023[[WMG:Klaus is van Rijn]]
1024Same as above, essentially. He's smart enough, and since he almost certainly hasn't studied the Muses as obsessively as Tarvek, it removes the issue of "where did the Muse-construction knowledge come from in the first place". If traveling back was/will be a voluntary choice, he might agree to do it both to preserve history ''and'' to get himself safely away from The Other's control. A point in favor: like Klaus, Van Rijn was evidently a fan of waffles, to the point of including a triple-secret coded recipe for them in his notebook.
1025* Again, probably Jossed.
1026
1027[[WMG:Tarvek is Agatha's half-brother]]
1028Much as in the theory about Gil above. No affair has been explicitly shown, but Aaronev was clearly infatuated with Lucrezia. Problems include the description of Aaronev's consort as a Valois (which, admittedly, Lucrezia could be for all we know) and the Summoning Engine failing to work correctly on Anevka.
1029
1030[[WMG: The reason America is unreachable is there is a Spark version of [[UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla Tesla]] and Edison's war going on]]
1031Spark Tesla is a pretty terrifying idea and would explain why no one has returned from the Americas. I mean the guy was pretty close to one in RealLife.
1032* Due to the RuleOfCool, this theory is now part of this troper's head canon until WordOfGod says otherwise. They would also like to think that Tesla won.
1033* Someone on the Webcomic/GirlGenius Yahoo group suggested that "maybe the fight between Tesla and Edison ended a while back, with Tesla victorious, and Tesla's benevolent takeover of the Americas (working with Thundering Engine Woman) left the place a utopia; the reason we never hear back from overseas is that no one ever wants to leave."
1034** What, and Steinmetz wouldn't be the clear victor? Dude was a hunchbacked scientist who built a small city and then destroyed it with artificial lightning, lived with crocodiles, gila monsters and vultures, and was every bit the genius Tesla was. In real life. Adding the spark would largely be a formality.
1035
1036[[WMG: The Mongfish family is full of Bene Gesserit.]]
1037An extensive (and effective) breeding program, and at least one known instance of a control voice. Think about it.
1038* Which probably makes the Dyne [[Franchise/{{Dune}} the Spice]] good thing it's secret or whole continents could erupt in a war that spanned the globe. As opposed to the troubles Klaus settled, which were limited to less than 3 continents.
1039
1040[[WMG: Anevka really ''was'' Anevka.]]
1041Even if her human body was long dead she had her memories stretching all that way back to her childhood, long before she was connected to Tinka's body, she seemed to have emotions, she had free will, basically she had ''everything'' that makes a person a person, and with those memories that person ''was'' Anevka. Tarvek just denied it to rationalize away killing (or at least essentially causing a coma for) his sister.
1042* I think that she was like the muses that she was based on: a fully sentient construct. The difference is that she thought she was human.
1043
1044[[WMG: Mamma Gkika is a Jaeger who used to be / is a Heterodyne. ]]
1045Jaegers will only let Hetrodynes work on them, but they let Mamma patch them up. QED...
1046* there is not enough jagerdraught in the world to re-grow an [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060719 amputated arm]]. Though minor injuries are obviously treated easily.
1047
1048[[WMG: Wild Wild West (1999) takes place in the Girl Genius universe.]]
1049You've got giant mechanical spiders, crude cyborgs, what-have-you. Dr. Loveless is obviously a Spark, with his loyal minions and steam-powered wheelchair. Artemis Gordon is also a spark, albeit a low-key one. Professor Escobar and the other kidnapped scientists were also Sparks, complete with their own minions (Rita, for example). Those guys in foreign uniforms aren't all legitimate- some of them are warlords fleeing Wulfenbach. James West and Gordon are the start of the Secret Service, designed to police rogue Sparks.
1050* Slight problem with this theory, the Americas are completely cut off in Webcomic/GirlGenius canon so anyone from Europe wouldn't be able to get there. On the other hand, we don't know what the year is in the comic so the events of Film/WildWildWest could have happened before America was isolated or after comtact was re-established.
1051
1052[[WMG:Gil is not an only child.]]
1053We already know that Klaus likes to hide his children when they're young, and for good reason. He runs a tyrannical empire, and there are plenty of people who would love to get their hands on a juicy hostage. Any of the children on Castle Wulfenbach, even those with supposedly established backgrounds, could be a Wulfenbach. Might explain why Klaus was so broken up over Zulenna's 'death'.
1054
1055
1056[[WMG: At some point in the comic, Bang and Violetta are going to come to blows]]
1057Bang = [[SkyPirate Pirate]]. Violetta= Smoke Knight= {{Ninja}} (more or less). Both the RuleOfCool and the law of the internet demand that they fight.
1058** Another possibility: Pirate versus Spy, as Wooster's first SugarWiki/MomentofAwesome involved delivering an OffhandBackhand to Bangladesh. Of course, he's also managed to earn the muderous rage of ANOTHER of Klaus's minions, so Bang may have to take a number behind Dolokov...in any case, it's pretty clear all the BadassNormal characters will at some point have to have an internet cliche melee.
1059
1060[[WMG: Agatha is going to become a Jaeger]]
1061She's dangerously close to death and is going to put herself even closer to try to help her two beaus. Luckily, she's right next to the source of that famous potion that created everyone's favorite near immortal killing machines.
1062* Well, maybe not a Jager, since water from the Dyne is only an ingredient in Jagerdraught, and she doesn't know the recipe. But, given that Knife Heterodyne survived drinking the water, she has a very good shot.
1063** It certainly makes ''[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100409 SO MANY THINGS BECOME CLEAR!]]''
1064** Recent revelations suggest that she could end up ascending herself to be like Albia.
1065
1066
1067[[WMG: Lucrezia, The Other and the entity that the Geisterdamen worship, are three different things]]
1068The Other is a malevolent super entity, demon, spirit, thing; created, or discovered, by Lucrezia. It is very intelligent, a chess master, and will use anything to achieve its goals. Thus, it can possess people to further its means. Lucrezia experimented with mental transfer, and either:
1069A) formed The Other from scratch, and, like so many creations of sparks, it went rogue
1070B) formed the other by splicing various minds together (possibly including her own) into a gestalt consciousness, which was unstable, or
1071C) discovered a preexisting entity of pure mind (a spirit, ghosts, a god, or something) and then “downloaded” it.
1072Whichever one of these it is, at some point it fused with Lucrezia, voluntarily or involuntarily, creating the maniac we now know and... don’t love today.
1073
1074Originally, Lucrezia was exactly what she seemed to be, a fully human spark, who married Bill, joined the Heterodyne family doing a heel face turn, and is Agatha’s mother. Her experiments into the nature of the mind, and the control or transfer thereof, eventually produced/found The Other. They fused, and the Other orchestrated an attack on Castle Heterodyne, for some as-yet uncertain reason. It then left, met up with the Geisterdamen to pose as their goddess so it could take control, located the Knights of Jove, whipped them into shape, and then started bludgeoning Europe.
1075
1076The Geisterdamen worship some mother/fertility goddess, much like the Skifanderans, and may even be an offshoot cult/culture. For some reason (which will make sense and be very interesting when we eventually learn it) they worship a maternal lineage which Lucrezia and Agatha belong to. After The Other possessed Lucrezia, it decided to use the fact that the Geisterdamen are fanatically loyal to their goddess, and just such an army is a very convenient thing to have around. Vrin stated that when she was a novice, they were visited by Lucrezia, and that this was accepted by everyone as the true incarnation. When she came back much later, Lucrezia was now fused with The Other. Note that senior, more experienced priestesses were not fooled, and although the body was the same, they could tell something was different.
1077
1078
1079[[WMG: Based on [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100416 this page]], Agatha is turning into a mermaid.]]
1080
1081[[WMG: ''Agatha'' attacked Castle Heterodyne 18 years ago.]]
1082* Once she discovers who The Other really is, she decides to kill It by going back to the attack on Castle Heterodyne and using the attack as cover for a more covert assassination mission. Turns out she has to cause the attack first, though. She's already been shown travelling through time and being seen by [=DuPree=].
1083
1084[[WMG: The "windows from the future" use the same mechanism time-abominations do.]]
1085On the panel with EldrichtAbomination ([[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20140611 here]]) we see it looking through the window that look suspiciously similar to [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040126 the ones DuPree seen Agatha and co. in.]] Judging by current development of things it stands to reason that Gil or Agatha may obtain something like this.
1086
1087
1088[[WMG: A Hetrodyne ''really'' did]]
1089[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071102 Dance naked through the streets trying to shoot down the moon, turned all the tourists into monsters, and then built a very dangerous fountain out of sausages.]]
1090* To add to this, said Heterodyne also shut down the castle before being recognized.
1091
1092[[WMG: Von Pinn is the original personality of the Muse of protection, downloaded into a Jaegar-like Body]]
1093Today's comic seems to be saying this.
1094* This was already guessed, about a third of the way from the bottom of the page. Look for "Von Pinn is a muse."
1095
1096[[WMG: Klaus has a relationship with Bangladesh.]]
1097There arguments seem to be more of a SlapSlapKiss then actual hatred, and look at [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060315 this]], their closeness doesn't seem very, ahem, professional. Also, as dedicated and strong willed as Klaus is, he's still human and she's an attractivel [[AmbiguouslyBrown tan chick]], and why would Bangladesh do it? Well Klaus is [[MrFanservice pretty]] hot, and maybe Bangladesh likes old guys.
1098* In that panel he's is physically restraining her so that he can use the weasel on her. (Wow, ''there's'' something I'd say again.) There's nothing sexual about it at all.
1099** Also, Klaus is married, and given how much importance he puts on order and control, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to have affairs.
1100
1101[[WMG: The Heterodynes are Jewish!]]
1102... In this recent storyline ([[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100519 "Maxim Buys a Hat"]]), there's an awful lot of Jewish overtones to the story that don't make sense otherwise:
1103* The hebrew writing on the [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100528 schlognwurst]].
1104* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100602 "Always you gotta find problems!"]]
1105* "An dot's ven dey schtarted all dot krezy sekrifice schtuff during de [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100611 High Holy Dayz]]..."
1106So either the Heterodynes are Jewish or the rest of Mechanicsburg is (and there's no reason for those two to be mutually exclusive, so it's probably both!)
1107** Oh, come on, now. Everyone is Jewish because Mechanicsburg has a proper Delicatessen? By that logic everyone in NY City must be Jewish too!
1108*** I'm going to go out on a limb here, and guess that Mechanicsburg is not predominantly Jewish, but has a large Jewish minority population. Jews have been persecuted throughout the history of Europe, and they might want to side with the dangerous psychopaths to be on the winning side for once. Or maybe Jews migrated to Mechanicsburg to be under the protection of said dangerous psychopaths. Or maybe the Heterodynes of old were equal opportunity employers.
1109*** Or maybe ALL THE SPARKS ARE JEWS! (Which certainly gives Othar's mission some UnfortunateImplications)
1110*** Never mind ''Othar''--that's UnfortunateImplications for the whole damn comic. 99.9% of Sparks are evil geniuses who end up destroying everything around them in spectacular ways.
1111** Without a dominant Christianity in Europe, why would Jews be particularly persecuted (once Judea was no longer there to destabilise the Levant - we might still have had the revolt and its suppression)?
1112
1113[[WMG: Dimo is an NCO of some sort]]
1114* Oggie and Maxim seem to listen carefully to what he says. He is much less goofy than the other two. His gruff-but-caring attitude and low-key hardness fit the bill perfectly. He has been stated to be a fair bit older than the others. Even Maxim, who was apparently an officer, usually defers to Dimo's judgement. Everything about him practically screams OldSoldier and SergeantRock.
1115
1116[[WMG: Klaus is NOT a revenant]]
1117
1118We know that the slaver wasp he swallowed is specially engineered to work on sparks, but is it engineered to work on constructs? Klaus does obey the Other in the scene following his infection, but he is definitely intelligent and quick-thinking enough to let the Other think he is infected, and there is a clear advantage to that. Then again, the Other may have known Klaus was a construct, and taken steps accordingly.
1119** The Other would *HAVE* to know Klaus is a construct. Recall the Naughty Scene with Klaus and Lucrezia. She's seen the scars (ALL the scars, nudge nudge wink wink). It's more possible that his "Spark-induced fugue state" (whatever that means) that his four-armed assistant states he has is what gives him some means to abuse the loopholes in the orders any copy of The Other gives him.
1120
1121[[WMG: The Dingbots are going to pull a FaceHeelTurn]]
1122Not just that they are already exhibiting unstable characteristics, fighting amongst themselves. We've learned that Lucrezia worked out how to transfer consciousness between humans and machines. She's used the Muses in the past, but surely, a Dingbot, a clank with the Spark, would be even better? Look at the time window at the start of the story - notice the voice balloons. We've assumed they are just echos, but what if they signify a collective entity made up of many dingbot clanks, all speaking as one?
1123
1124[[WMG: Maxim and Oggie are brothers]]
1125They've referred to the other as "Brodder" at least twice, and it stands to reason that if one of them goes on a suicide mission, the other goes too.
1126* I interpreted it as it being more along the lines of 'brother in arms'. Plus, the Jaegers are a pretty close knit group so it seems fairly reasonable that to their mind they're all brothers (and the occasional sister).
1127
1128[[WMG: America isolated itself]]
1129
1130The Americas are isolated, and most of Great Britain is under water. This isn't a coincidence. The American Revolution happened in the GG universe, with a result similar to that in ours. At some later point, Britain tried reconquering America or interfering in her affairs one too many times, so American sparks sank huge portions of Great Britain into the sea. Their version of President Monroe then implemented their form of the Monroe Doctrine by literally sealing the Americas off from Europe.
1131
1132The fact that popular perception of American culture in Europe seems to show heavy Native American influences is easily explained by that fact that American frontier culture did have heavy Native American influences and were perceived as such. When the US sent troops to Britain(for training, prior to being sent to the Western Front) during the First World War, many British were surprised that the American soldiers weren't wearing buckskin jackets and ten-gallon hats, for example.
1133
1134* Or maybe it was done as a way of resisting the European conquest/settlement in the first place.
1135* Probably Jossed; it's been stated the guy who caused England to start sinking was a rebellious British noble.
1136* Tiktoffen mentioned working for the "[[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110704#.YkpJ1tvMKUk Sons of Franklin]]" and [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210607#.YkpIntvMKUl this comic]] shows that some lightning storm powered monster brings down everything that tries to go to America. Benjamin Franklin was known for an experiment he did with a lightning storm and a kite. The Sons of Franklin probably set up this defense system as an homage to their (presumably) founder.
1137
1138[[WMG: Zeetha's going to get KilledOffForReal.]]
1139Though it really depends of how much drama the authors want to milk from it, and how unlikeable they're aiming to make [[spoiler: Zola.]] As it stands now, it looks pretty certain she will [[spoiler:due to the [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice blade through the gut]] from Zola.]] If this DOES happen and stick, [[PlayerPunch dammit, Foglios, that's a low blow.]]
1140* If she does die, she'll get better. She appears in several short stories, all set long after the current events, including ''[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060515 Personal Trainer]]'', which appears to be canon, and, even though the radio plays are apocrypha (at best), the fact that she appears in those suggests that she is known as one of Agatha's companions in her days of [[KnightErrant knight-errantry]], which she wouldn't be if she dies permanently before Agatha comes into her own.
1141* I was under the impression that Personal Trainer took place at the circus.
1142** Personal Trainer takes place in a setting where Agatha sleeps in a giant bed with a large Heterodyne sigil on it. Not typical accommodations for circus performers. It's probably a fully-repaired and renovated Castle Heterodyne, which would mean that it takes place sometime into the future.
1143
1144[[WMG: If Zeetha dies (or dies and is 'zapped back'), Gil becomes heir to the throne of Skiffander.]]
1145Face it, we all get that Zeetha's Gil's sister. In this scenario, the Zulenna side story (with Klaus not caring about inheritance rules and her being brought back) isn't important itself but as foreshadowing--Zeetha is a princess, but if she dies [[spoiler: after Zola's stabbed her]] and is either KilledOffForReal or [[DeathIsCheap brought back]] she loses her ability to inherit the throne, and has only one sibling we know of--Gil, son of Klaus/Chump. The Skiffandrans were angry with Klaus and potentially out to kill Gil because he's in line for the throne.
1146** Big problem: that rule was made up by the 12 (?) royal families of Europa so Great great great grandpa wouldn't be on the throne forever and his desendants could actually inherit. It's not a universal thing.
1147*** Not a big problem. Just because that PARTICULAR law was made up by the European families doesn't mean Skifander doesn't have a similar rule. Without a law like that governing succession, there's nothing to prevent every country ending up with Albia--once you have an undying ruler, it's hard to get rid of them. Not to mention, she might NOT be bring-back-able, or even WORSE, Gil is older and the legitimate heir either way.
1148
1149[[WMG: Krosp has the Spark.]]
1150
1151[[WMG: The initial flashback about Airman Higgs is [[UnreliableNarrator Unreliable]].]]
1152There are too many contradictions between his character as established in the flashback, and as established in person. In particular, flashback-Higgs isn't nearly as MadeOfIron. Compare: in the flashback, he gets his arm broken by a territorial goose. In a later appearance, he gets slammed into a wall by Otilia and doesn't even blink. Besides that, he breaks his [[TheStoic Stoic]] facial expression twice just during the flashback, and only three times since then.
1153So now we must ask ourselves: what ''did'' happen? We know that he was at least a ''little'' injured when he arrived. Doctor Sun mentioned that one injury - supposedly, a bite from Bang - was infected, which suggests that the Doctor looked him over. If Higgs actually [[TheWorfEffect got hurt]]...
1154* At the barfight, it is implied that Higgs was healed in the same way that Gil was, and was healed with a Jäger potion. He may be showing some side effects from that.
1155
1156[[WMG: Agatha will transcend after....]]
1157At some point, Agatha will use the waters from below Castle Heterodyne to brew coffee. I believe a vaguely accurate term for what happens next would be LimitBreak, and manipulation of time and space would be the very least of her powers.
1158
1159[[WMG: Someone will build an Ironman-ish suit]]
1160Most likely Gil.
1161
1162[[WMG: Queen Albia is vital to England]]
1163To phrase it better: It seems that Albia '''is''' England. I believe that she was human at one point, (that would explain the heirs) but that some situation, a war possibly, forced her to fuse with England itself, allowing her to administer it's systems (maybe the AI controlling them normally was destroyed in an attack). This rendered her immortal, but unable to exit the machine, as that would make the remains of the islands fall apart. Also, when Gil threatens Wooster, he says he will '''destroy''' her, not kill her. So she rules to this day as Her Undying Majesty, possibly with her original persona gone just as Anevka's, but no one dares to disobey her, as she can control every part of the country - denying her is "literally unthinkable", because she's [[BigBrotherIsWatching everywhere]].
1164* Probably Jossed, she appears to be a separate (but still powerful and near-immortal) entity.
1165
1166[[WMG: Moloch will be the first member of Agatha's group that Othar runs into.]]
1167And then his talent for surviving will be stretched to its limits as Othar does his best to kill him dead. Othar was right there when Moloch successfully tricked Klaus into thinking he was a Spark worth watching, and the art on the next page [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040112 shows Othar taking note of him]]. Okay, he ''might'' be noticing that Moloch looks suspiciously relieved, but Othar being Othar it seems more likely that he's memorizing the face of a new target to take out when he has the time. And with Agatha proving so hard to find (possibly helped along with his ''big brother senses'' telling him that Moloch's having unpure thoughts about his baby sister) he might as well get ''some'' "good" done that day.
1168
1169Of course he won't succeed since we've seen Moloch in the time portal, but he might take down Mittelmind and Mezzasalma in the process so Agatha won't be stuck in the position of either keeping two obviously evil sparks as allies once she's done needing every bit of help she can get to fix up the castle, leaving two obviously evil sparks to their own devices, or becoming the type of person who betrays her own allies when they haven't given her cause to (yet, being [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment obviously evil sparks]])
1170
1171[[WMG:At Poetry slam night at Mamma Gikika's, They hit each other with bricks with poetry written on them.]]
1172Nuff said.
1173
1174* [[DisSimile But without the poetry written on the bricks.]]
1175
1176
1177[[WMG:[=DuPree=] is associated with the pirates that Zeetha killed; she knows where Skifander is, and this will cause drama.]]
1178
1179* No particular reason; but she is a 'pirate queen', and one of the pirates in that flashback sequence looks vaguely like her.
1180** Since [[TheBookoftheFilm The Book of the Comic]] and the [[AllThereInTheManual Secret Blueprints]] both mention that Bang's mother was a pirate queen whose fortress was destroyed and everyone killed, and Bang has yet to find whoever did it, this seems less like a WMG than a reasonable extrapolation.
1181** More than likely, I'd say it's pretty near certain. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041101 Have you checked the device (symbol or seal) on the airships that attacked Zeetha's lately?]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040123 Now look at Bang's forehead (extra-big view at the bottom).]] Look familiar?
1182** Somewhat confirmed, it was definitely Bang's pirates who Zeetha wiped out, though it's still unknown if [=DuPree=] knows anything about Skiff.
1183
1184[[WMG: Zola was created as a way to get revenge on Lucretia for abandoning her Father]]
1185
1186Lucifer Mongfish, Seriously miffed by his favorite daughter's heel face turn decided to get back at her. When Lucretia announces her second pregnancy, Lucifer takes his dim-but-devoted daughter [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Demonica]] and gets her to become pregnant (Most likely using Barry as the father, so the child will still register with the castle as an official Heterodyne heir) And then groomed this granddaughter to take over and destroy Castle Heterodyne when she was of age, effectively ruining Lucretia's new family. However, the Other attacked. Lucifer still used this to his advantage, by making Zola the "long-lost" Heterodyne Heir. He died before she became of age.
1187
1188[[WMG: Agatha started the whole thing by TimeTravel.]]
1189
1190The first time window we see scares Agatha into Moloch and Omar von Zinzer, who take her locket, thereby giving us a plot. Taking into account the facts that, we know Agatha has made time windows herself (without the arcing metal), and that she (in the window) was saying "Like THIS??" we can conclude that she was a rival spark who heard that Agatha had time windows and sought to do it herself, but... badly. The arcing metal and speech distortion were from the bad quality of the time window.
1191
1192So, Agatha would not have become a spark without the effects of her having become a spark... [[{{Literature/Dragaera}} That way lieth the headache.]]
1193
1194[[WMG: The spark is just a fantasy version of Autism]]
1195
1196It seems to intensify one's mental abilities in a certain area, at the expense of your social awareness. With proper training it can be molded into a useful trait, but if not recognized early, the spark can be devastating.
1197** If anything, it's more like the [[NeurodiversityIsSupernatural hyperfocus]] that comes with ADHD, but of course that doesn't come with the urge to build giant death rays.
1198
1199[[WMG: Tarvek or Klaus (or both) will sacrifice themselves to stop the Other]]
1200Klaus would probably do it to get rid of the Other once and for all, but Tarvek may do it to protect Agatha.
1201
1202[[WMG: Zola is Barry's offspring.]]
1203For some reason Zola thinks she has a right to claim the castle as the home of her father. Zola was willing to interupt Agatha to claim that she was entitled to call herself a Heterodyne. Somehow Zola is something special in physic, able to withstand a double dose of Movit#11 and the Princesses tweaking of Suns equipment. We also have the fact that while Bill usually got the girl, Barry got the high preistess. Would that apply to the relation between the Mongfish sisters?
1204
1205There are a lot of ways that Zola's path paralells Agatha's. Originally with the locket on Agatha got no respect. Zola with a reputation as a Parisian tart, still gets no respect. Both are pursuasive actresses. Both have hidden compentence, Agatha as a spark, Zola as a smoke knight/adventuress. They have both been on adventures with Gil. They both have saved/rescued him as well. Finally, they can't stand each other. Working with family is so hard.
1206
1207* Since She's been proven a member of the mongfish family, this would make Zola and Agatha Double first cousins.
1208
1209[[WMG: Slaver wasps are mini summoning/beacon engines]]
1210They download something into the brain itself (as opposed to a chemical agent or being a PuppeteerParasite along for the ride) which is why revenants can not be cured.
1211* Slaver wasps are small machines programmed with loyalty to the Other. Voice control and the like are included. When a wasp attacks it gets as close to the brain as possible, then copies over its programming. Each individual step in this process is something we know the Other could do.
1212
1213[[WMG: Zola will die to save Gil]]
1214After doing all they can to make her appear to be a horrible, unlikeable character she'll get a chance to take a bullet for Gil, proving that she really loved him all along. Alternatively...
1215
1216[[WMG: Zola will prove herself to be just as evil as Lucrezia]]
1217And Gil will be forced to kill her to save Agatha's life.
1218
1219[[WMG: Gil actually realized who he really was very early in his life]]
1220Specifically, just after he read the fake account stating that he was the son of a rural Spark. That's the reason he told Klaus about Tarvek's spying, once he realized that Tarvek was going to keep digging Gil knew that he had to do something to get Tarvek away from Klaus or Klaus would have killed Tarvek without hesitation.
1221
1222[[WMG: Jenka is Lucrezia, but not The Other]]
1223We haven't seen any Jägers recognizably infected with The Other, and Jenka keeps that scarf over her face.
1224
1225Lucrezia created The Other by duplicating herself, but then got caught by it, so she then had a copy of herself attempting to take over her mind and body, which the original wanted to stop. From her research she knew that death and revivification wouldn't save her, but that Jägers were immune (a flaw in her methods that she hadn't managed to fix before her creation turned on her). She went to Bill for help, and he agreed to put her through the process despite the chance she would die. Meanwhile, Barry set to work, studying Lucrezia's notes and equipment in order to see if there was something she missed, in case she was wrong and more had to be done.
1226
1227As it turned out, Lucrezia was right and she was freed from The Other. However, by the time "Jenka" was finished, The Other had already secretly spread to members of the castle's staff, and it didn't like the idea of Barry -- or anyone else -- finding a way to stop it.
1228
1229Castle Heterodyne was soon attacked from within by the infected staff, causing incredible damage to the castle itself, and forcing anyone who had avoided infection to flee. When Klaus returned, he had to fight off The Other and then regain order. Barry managed to get away and was working on a means to stop The Other, when Agatha (who was born before her mother became a Jäger, and was still a baby when the shit hit the fan), started to show early signs of The Spark. To hide her, he adopted a device he had been working on, which stupefied her just enough to do the trick, and made sure Punch & Judy understood that she had to keep it on (it would later kill Moloch's brother by accident, and prove useful for it's original purpose when Agatha became infected).
1230
1231Jenka, although a Jäger, is also still a spark, and is avoiding detection by approaching them selectively (she ran into Da Boyz and gained their trust, but hasn't joined the Jäger forces and doesn't actually report to them -- although it's unclear, it wouldn't be surprising to find the Jäger Generals know of her, even if they aren't sure who she is). However, most of the Jägers have had to tolerate Lucrezia before the attack and would know her on sight, even after the transformation, so she wears the scarf over her face. She smells different, and as long as she continues to speak and dress like a Jäger that is all she needs.
1232
1233* Unlikely -- she's seen working with Dimo at the Arguron King's pre-wedding party for Hoffman & Larana , without her scarf. It's unlikely that Dimo would willingly work with Lucrezia at that point. Then Andronicus [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20170419 recognizes Jenka when they fight in Paris]], and reveals that Jenka was assigned to work under Euphrosynia in some capacity. Jenka's at least 200 years old, probably older.
1234
1235[[WMG: Sanaa is doomed.]]
1236She's a classic MauveShirt type generally, and she and Othar have expressed the intention to start adventuring together once they're out of the castle, but in the radio dramas, presumably taking place after Agatha's in residence (and all the prisoners free), she's nowhere to be seen. Add in the fact that she's one of the legs of a LoveTriangle - in general [[ThePlotReaper not a healthy position]] to be in - and [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100908 this strip]] is going to become HarsherInHindsight before long, especially if [[MurderTheHypotenuse Snaug is responsible]] (although probably not).
1237* The radio dramas are a bit of half-canon, and there are other weird things about those, such as where Gil and Tarvek are (and why the hell they're adventuring with Othar). Maybe Sanaa becomes Gil's bodyguard.
1238
1239[[WMG: Agatha [[GenderBender wasn't always]] a ''girl'' genius.]]
1240Klaus Barry was a RedHerring - everyone was right to expect a boy. Barry and Bill, either [[Literature/LandOfOz to hide her]] or because they thought it fitting, or both, changed her sex very early in life. Note the obvious GenderFlip of title, and more importantly, the width of her shoulders - wider than many male characters, and nearly ''all'' the female characters but Judy.
1241* If she'd transitioned that young, her hormonal development would have given her a ''normal'' female skeleton. Kids' skeletons don't differentiate at all until the onset of puberty, and shoulder width is one of the last things to finish growing, in your mid-twenties.
1242
1243[[WMG: Everything in the operas is truth.]]
1244It really was a world of BlackAndWhiteMorality; there was simply the Heterodyne Boys against the forces of Evil, AKA The Other. After all of them disappeared, moral ambiguity crept in, and even those who were alive during that era became indistinguishable as good or evil. The re-appearance of The Other will force everyone she encounters to align absolutely again, and both sides will battle for dominance.
1245
1246[[WMG: The "attack" on Castle Heterodyne eighteen years ago was actually Lucrezia ''defending'' herself from the castle, having already committed infanticide.]]
1247Not only did Lucrezia need to have a daughter to ensure her continued existence as the Other, she needed ''not'' to have a son - the Geisterdamen religion speaks of a Holy Child, not Holy Children, and the symbol of their goddess ([[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051230 at the top of the page here]]) appears to be a stylized depiction of Lucrezia holding a female infant. Lucrezia knew or suspected that Klaus Barry's existence would give the Geisterdamen reason to doubt her divinity, and, having pretty much given up on the whole "one of the good guys" thing, killed her son as soon as she had reason to believe that she was pregnant with a girl, perhaps meaning to pass the boy's death off as a tragic accident. What she didn't count on was the fact that the Castle is apparently tasked with doing [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091118 whatever is necessary]] in preserving the line of succession, up to and including blatantly disregarding orders from the reigning Heterodyne. Lucrezia barely escaped with her life and was forced to cripple the Castle in order to a) get away and b) prevent it from telling Bill what ''really'' happened to his son.
1248
1249[[WMG: Klaus' little story is actually about Agatha]]
1250It's already got [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110509 a good king turned evil by a witch's power]] and more recently the story's got a child of the former good king being taken from their shattered home and raised by a supernatural servant until the child had matured enough to go out into the world. Is anyone else seeing parallels to Agatha's situation? Maybe Klaus just felt the need to just vent for once and did it in a way that wouldn't send everything into chaos.
1251
1252[[WMG: Klaus' little story is actually about Himself]]
1253A simple swapping over of Heterodyne and Mongfish makes it work. Lucrezia takes over the Heterodyne reign, Wulfenbach brings about the collapse of the regime by suggesting that she turn on the Heterodynes, leaving Wulfenbach to take over. Maybe the Heterodyne brothers' rule wasn't as good as people remember it?
1254
1255[[WMG: Klaus' little story is actually about Gilgamesh]]
1256Agatha as Other, the evil queen, takes over the Wulfenbach empire, turning him into a mad wolf. The prince, Gilgamesh, having learnt wisdom, returns and makes the Other slay his father, leaving himself to rule as a good king. Klaus knows he can't talk about the slaver wasp, so he's making a metaphorical allusion to his desires for his son.
1257* And the magic sword caused both the witch and the wolf to vanish forever, leaving the prince to rule as king. And then Klaus trapped himself and Agatha/Lucrezia (and Zola, and maybe Lunevka) in the Mechanicsburg time bubble. At least he intended to.
1258
1259* Clemethious Heterodyne and his army of monsters is Lucifer Mongfish and his daughters, as well as the Other's creations.
1260* The good and noble king who defeated the Heterodynes is Klaus himself, cleaning up after the Other and ending the Long War.
1261* The eldest daughter of Clemethious is Lucifer's eldest daughter Lucrezia, who is also the Other.
1262* The curse that turned the good king into a madwolf is Lucrezia infecting Klaus with a slaver wasp.
1263* The king's son and his nurse are Gil and Von Pinn, respectively.
1264* The witch's inability to remove the crown from the madwolf is representative of the fact that Lucrezia will only be able control the empire through Klaus.
1265* "For neither the witch nor the wolf was ever seen again. The prince took the throne, and ruled the kingdom wisely and well, for the rest of his days." This is Klaus telling his son to just kill him and Lucrezia, and that he will make a good emperor.
1266** If its true, it would also be his crowning moment of awesome - starting a plan to die with his enemy while already mind controlled. Well have to wait and see.
1267*** With his enemy standing right next not him not even noticing.
1268*** And furthermore, note how the message will get to its intended recipient, by all-but-directing the storyteller to inquire about it to Gilgamesh! Brilliant scheming on the part of the Baron!
1269* Semi-confirmed: That's certainly [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120210 how Tarvek interprets it]].
1270
1271[[WMG: Gil had a fling with [=DuPree=] in Paris]]
1272Firstly, when Gil goes into Castle Heterodyne he says he was a pirate. Zola thinks this is obvious for three reasons.
12731) He was always going on mysterious trips.
12742) He always had money.
12753) He did ''something'' with a [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090223 Crazy Pirate Girl]]
1276
1277Bangladesh checklist:
1278Crazy? Check.
1279Pirate? Check.
1280Girl? Check.
1281
1282That's not all. Check out panel 10 on [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090918 this page]]. That girl smoking the hookah looks familiar. Especially the skull on her forehead ...
1283
1284Of note is that she's in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090921 panel five of the following page]] as well.
1285
1286* Not evidence but [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120118 this]] at least suggests some intimacy between them.
1287* Alternatively, she ''pretended'' to be his lover, either as a cover or just because it's fun to embarrass him.
1288
1289* The novels stated that Klaus sent Bang to Paris to work with Gil, mainly so that Gil would learn how to deal with and if necessary fight against crazy people (Not that he let Bang know the real reason). They also mention rumors that they became romantically involved, but the author doubted their veracity, as both of them were still alive.
1290
1291[[WMG: Agatha will fall over dead any second now, courtesy of Zola.]]
1292* Anyone remember "Auntie Mehitabel's Natural Causes"? I don't recall that she ever received an antidote.
1293** Violetta gave her the antidote, check the couple of pages after she [=IDs=] the poison.
1294*** Headdesk. Don't know how I missed that.
1295
1296[[WMG: Jenka and Da Boyz will become the new Jaeger Generals]]
1297* think about it, there are three boys, always together, and a single girl (one of only two female jaegers) usually apart from them. they are smarter than most jaegers, due to their long time separated from the rest, making them good candidates.
1298** Confirmed, as of the storyline "Jaegermonsters To The Rescue".
1299[[WMG: Agatha and Gil are already married under Mechanicsberg customs.]]
1300When the Doom Bell rang, every non-Heterodyne that hadn't heard it before was immediately floored. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20111125 But Gil wasn't, despite not being old enough to be around when it was last rung]]. The only effect it had on him was his recognizing the implications of it being rung (Namely that Agatha had fixed the castle and was claiming her territory). Momma Glinka immediately referred to him as the Consort of Lady Heterodyne.
1301
1302If the Jaegers are referring to Gil as Agatha's consort because he wasn't affected by the bell, then something he and Agatha did made him immune to the bell and is considered part of a traditional Heterodyne wedding. The most obvious candidate would be Agatha transferring energy she got from drinking Dyne water into Gil. If that is the source, then this would incidentally also make her married to Tarvek, but as he doesn't appear in any of the scenes when the Doom Bell is ringing, the possibility can't be eliminated.
1303** Val Si Valeo (or whatever it's called) perhaps?
1304
1305* Why didn't the castle warn them about this? Because it ''wants'' Agatha to start churning out more Heterodynes.
1306
1307[[WMG: There are some kind of naturally occuring superhuman humans]]
1308
1309In this world, there are more possibilities than in ours. Remember, the setting is based on the premise of [[ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder a heritable subtype of humanity]], including the protagonist, with [[SuperIntelligence increased mental capabilities]], [[NeurodiversityIsSupernatural hyperfocus]] as a [[TheMadnessPlace superpower]] and [[MadScientist a particular view on experimental ethics]], so it might be possible for there to be some genotypes that leads to increased physical prowess (for example Ol' Man Death, maybe very common in the female population of Skifander)-especially considering that Sparks (especially Gil) have performed feats of extraordinary strenght and endurance.
1310* Don't forget Moloch's ability to drink (and possibly eat) ''anything''.
1311
1312[[WMG: Some constructs' traits are inheritable]]
1313WordOfGod is that Jaegerness doesn't get passed on (most likely to the relief of Europa's population) but that doesn't mean that the same applies to all the other constructs out there. Maybe some of the characters that we've seen do things that normal humans can't do have something interesting in their family tree.
1314
1315[[WMG:[=DuPree=] is going to go Yandere for Tarvek]]
1316And Agatha will have to watch her back until she officially gets together with Gil.
1317* Why would she care about Tarvek? She forgot about him the second Vole showed up and started ranting about oceans of blood and the empire going down in flames.
1318
1319[[WMG: [=DuPree=] and Tarvek had a fling back in Paris.]]
1320Tarvek met [=DuPree=] during his academy days, not long after reuniting with Gil. [=DuPree=], attracted to his relative innocence, developed a crush on him and, being [[HeroicComedicSociopath DuPree]], decided to act on it one night. At first Tarvek put up a fight on the basis of propriety, earning him the nickname "Prince How-Dare-You," but eventually relented. The "little scars" [=DuPree=] mentioned are her own handiwork. Tarvek was thoroughly embarassed after learning that [=DuPree=] was a pirate and faked his own death to get away from her. He wants Gil to shoot her to keep the details of the affair secret. [=DuPree=], still delighted by how flustered Tarvek gets in her presence, continues to carry a torch. Or, at the very least, ''really'' enjoys teasing him about it.
1321
1322[[WMG:[=DuPree=] is actually a former slave, a privateer, more or less the foster sister of Gil, and his personal future bodyguard.]]
1323* 1. From Zeetha's experience we know there is a market for human trafficking. The mark on Bang's forehead isn't a mark of position or lineage. It's a mark of ownership, from possibly Petrus Teufel of the Black Mist Raiders. A mark showing something was handpicked by him perhaps, and Klaus rescued her from this fate. Saw she was highly motivated for revenge and he became a father like figure to her and earned her loyalty. She later received the best training possible and was unleashed on the world as a rogue agent for Klaus.
1324* 2. She's a privateer since she isn't an outlaw in Wulfenbauch territory. Klaus destroys what he cannot control if it is in his territory. One pirate would not be a problem, so she is a privateer raiding OTHER pirates and territories and bringing Klaus the tech and sparks gained from the attacks with the added bonus of gaining the additional crew members when she breaks up slaving rings. When she went on her solitary excursion, her crew at her home base decided to mutiny and go pirate, leading Zeetha to do an unintentional favor by cleaning house. It's highly unlikely she would have had the most loyal crew when she earned her title as a pirate queen in territories besides Wulfenbauch's.
1325* 3. Her relationship with Gil reminds me of my own with my older sister. in the "Bang Finds Her Favorite Toy" chapter she gets a Cry Cute and Gil hugs her. Her face is quite angry and had anyone besides Gil hugged her, she more than likely would have torn into them. She kept an eye on him when he was in Paris and kept Tarvek from digging too close, to protect him. And in the same chapter previously mentioned Gil brings up they have fought before and it is occasionally fun. Very similar to how my sister and i treat each other. The worst fights I've ever been in have been scraps with my own sister, but should you harm one of us in front of the other, not even God can help you. It's just a given, knowing her loyalty to Klaus, should you harm Gil, you're a dead man in her eyes. She will make sure of it. When he mentions he doesn't want her to get wasped, his face isn't one of worry about having to fight her. It's sly, like he made a joke, leading me to believe he cares about her more than he would a hired gun.
1326* 4. Every important person has a bodyguard. Tarvek has The Smoke Knights(his cousin), Agatha has a RACE of bodyguards in the Jager, Gil HAD Wooster, Klaus' is [=DuPree=] atm, but the point is every major political figure has one. When it was revealed Klaus set it up so that Gil would be known as "your highness", [=DuPree=] was not surprised at the title. Just surprised he decided to pull his trick at that point in time, meaning she possibly knows much more than she's letting on about his familial situation and Klaus' future plans for the Wulfenbauch dynasty, concerning Gil.
1327** The novels give Bang's backstory. She was the only daughter of the queen of a minor nation (Of pirates) who was overthrown. Her mother raised her with the intent of her being able to retake her kingdom. But just as she was starting to get a sizable fleet built up, some unidentified group ([[spoiler: Which has been confirmed to be Zeetha acting alone]]) destroyed her base and most of her forces. Part of her employment terms with Klaus is that he has agents trying to figure out who trashed her base.
1328
1329[[WMG: Gil isn't infected and Klaus is.]]
1330All we have so far is Klaus' word that Gil's been infected and an easily faked test. Gil was around Klaus for a while after Agatha's escape, he could have easily been tested in a matter of moments and Klaus would have every reason to do so. So far nearly all of Gil's actions that we've seen (with the exception of saving Zola) don't seem to do much to help the Other and we have seen Klaus under Anevka's control. Once Gil takes a moment to actually think about it he'll realize how implausible Klaus' story is and break out.
1331* We've already seen that Klaus got wasped. This happened on-panel, just before "SHOWTIME!"
1332
1333[[WMG: Zola wasped Gil]]
1334One thing that I couldn't reconcile was why Gil saved Zola when Tarvek was killing her. He never explained why he needed her alive. One thing I noticed was that she asked for help, and Gil gave it, with a "Get off her, you—!" Rather over-the-top, and he seemed a little disoriented afterwards. Then we find out that Tarvek's notes stated that Gil was wasped back in Paris. Who did he spend a lot of time with (mostly "rescuing") in Paris? Zola. Who has shown that she's hiding a lot of things about herself? Zola. Who has a copy of Lucrezia firmly lodged in a corner of her mind? Zola. As much as I hate to think it, I think that Gil HAS been wasped, and he got wasped by Zola. ~RD
1335
1336[[WMG: Bang is fine and Klaus knows it]]
1337Bang is the Baron's wild card in all of this and having every spy who hears about recent events believe that she is incapacitated only allows her to work with even more freedom. We've seen how loyal she is already.
1338* Seems to be confirmed, she turns up after the timeskip looking fine.
1339
1340[[WMG: Klaus' mother will make an appearance]]
1341It is strongly hinted that Klaus is Chump. Higgs' comment about Zeetha's old grandma could be foreshadowing if Klaus' mother is still around.
1342* Unless Lucrezia also sent Klaus' mother to Skifander, which is unlikely, Zeetha was talking about her maternal grandmother.
1343
1344[[WMG: Agatha will [[MarryThemAll marry Gill AND Tarvek]]]]
1345Because [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090311 apparently the Heterodyne can do that]]. (Notice Violetta's objection to the idea wasn't on any sort of moral grounds at all.) Seriously though, it would unify the most powerful blocs east of the Rhine, and yes the arrangement is unusual, but a world which has had Sparks for a few thousand years isn't going to bat an eyelid at rulers with odd proclivities. Thankful it's something harmless, more likely.
1346** Since Agatha's Seneschal is willing to accept bets on this nature in the book he's keeping on who she'll end up with (Odds currently 5:1), it's at least plausible.
1347
1348[[WMG: The Slaver Wasp in Gil is different]]
1349It was put there by Zola. Zola already betrayed Lucrezia once, and Zola's family have been preparing for her return. We know Lucrezia's allies have been working on the wasps, after all, and that presumably includes Zola's family. Therefore, they may have developed a variation. Gil's wasp makes him do what ''Zola'' says, not what ''Lucrezia'' says.
1350
1351[[WMG: There is NO Slaver Wasp in Gil]]
1352Remember what the Baron said: "No matter what happens, I will do EVERYTHING IN MY POWER to HELP you." It's likely that Anevka/[[spoiler: Lucrezia]] is ordering him to do this, so he's doing what he can to subvert her. Right now? He just gave Gil an excuse to help Agatha while still allowing him the potential to take over the Empire at a later date (when he is 'cured' of the Slaver Wasp). Remember earlier in a time window, Gil was dressed like a Geisterdamen? This is the setup for that. It's highly likely (to me) that [=DuPree=] is fine and is going to break him out later under Klaus's orders, both of them going to serve Agatha and help her stop Anevka/[[spoiler: Lucrezia]] and Zola.
1353** Given that we ''know'' that the person holding the Wasp Ferret in front of Gil was a revenant himself, it's entirely possible that it was reacting to its handler.
1354** All but [[spoiler: ___confirmed___]] given Gil's and Agatha's interactions in the last few (as of 12/18/2012) comics.
1355
1356[[WMG: Vole is the seventh General]]
1357Think about it. He is perfectly positioned to know about the Baron's movements. He's definitely intimidating enough, and recently he chose to join forces with Gil, who is recognized by Mamma Gkika and Mechanicsburg as Agatha's consort/boyfriend. That way, he indirectly serves House Heterodyne, while still remaining behind the scenes. He went into hiding to spy on the Baron because the Jagers couldn't trust anyone but one of their generals. (If Da Boyz are considered smarter than average, well...) Being kicked out of the Jagers is his cover story, but he is obviously experienced playing the character. He allows Gil to beat him up sometimes and pretends to be scared of him so no one thinks he actually is competent enough to be a general. Also, being near the Baron lets him keep track of what's going on with the wasp, but being near Agatha will let him keep track of the Other. Gil was the happy medium. He will resume his position as general later.
1358* Jossed, at least in the sense he ''wasn't'' a General before. Now he may have matured enough to qualify.
1359
1360[[WMG: Punch and Judy have forgotten something important]]
1361When Gil told Agatha that he had revived her parents, he said that since he had done it so soon after their deaths, there would be ''almost'' no memory loss. This is not the same as ''no'' memory loss. There's probably something ''really'' important (Possibly something Barry told them just before his last disappearance) that they forgot.
1362
1363[[WMG: Klaus is unwasped]]
1364Yes, we saw him get wasped, but we last saw Bangladesh [=DuPree=] in possession of a single dose of something that might at a push be able to cure wasping. He might currently be pretending to still be wasped in order to draw out the Other.
1365** Alternatively, his body fought off the wasp(remember: when dealing with the Baron, almost none of the conventional rules apply), and he's obeying the Other's commands to lure her into a false sense of security.
1366** Something Klaus said when Dr. Sun [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091223 smashed up the Medical Transport Clank]] is contrary to this: "I have to save everything before she '''gets''' to me..."
1367*** Which was before Bang escaped with the anti-wasp mixture. Not that it matters currently because the wasp is frozen in time and some form of Klaus' mind is not.
1368
1369[[WMG: Gil has been wasped]]
1370That was Klaus' 'curing' him, in Lucrezia/Anevka's orders, and that's why he's not right (to quote Franz) now.She probably thought he would be her best chance at getting Agatha out of Mechanicsburg.
1371
1372[[WMG: Klaus' campaign against Agatha will ruin his empire whether he wins or not]]
1373The guiding principle of the Pax Transylvania is that so long as you don't wage war on your neighbors and turn over any artifacts of the Other to the Baron, he will leave you alone. But Agatha has only turned her city's weapons on those who first attacked her (And thus is merely defending herself against those who broke the Baron's Peace) and doesn't have any artifacts of the Other (Unless you argue that she IS one, which would be hard to explain to the various noble houses). Thus, to any outsider, ''Klaus'' has violated the Baron's Peace, which severely undermines the authority with which he operates.
1374
1375[[WMG: Othar has made [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050225 a sacred vow]]...]]
1376To rid Europe of Sparks. As a result, he [[MadeOfIron can't be killed]] while there are still other Sparks around.
1377
1378[[WMG: Dr. Mittelmind is Baron Wulfenbach's brother.]]
1379
1380A very, very, embarrassing brother. He looks similar and shares a few of the Baron's personality traits. He apparently knows the Baron, and mentions speaking with him. He's also pretty unhinged, so the Baron gave him a fake name and shoved him into Castle Heterodyne at the earliest opportunity.
1381
1382* Considering how much he enjoys himself while in Castle Heterodyne, maybe he asked his brother if he could be sent there. The Baron then realized he could kill two birds with one stone.
1383
1384** Or maybe all of these things, plus him having his memory edited to guarantee he wouldn't reveal himself.
1385
1386[[WMG: Barry Heterodyne was/is gay.]]
1387* This would explain why Barry having children would be such a complete surprise to the Baron. It would also explain why Lucrezia is so afraid of him. Barry would be a person whom both Klaus and Bill trusted implicitly, and who is completely immune to her preferred social tools, seduction and sexual manipulation.
1388** The fact that the Baron would suspect that Barry had an illegitimate child in the first place and that he was always depicted as getting the high priestess in the stories points to him being a womanizer.
1389*** OP here. The baron uses the words "a surprise on Barry's part" to describe the possibility of Agatha being Barry's daughter, indicating Barry having children was unlikely. Seeing as he travelled with the Heterodyne Boys for so long, he'd know. Also, the Heterodyne stories aren't exactly the most trustworthy sources. The only thing from the Heterodyne stories confirmed to be true is that the Iron Sheik exists, and built the Mechanical Camel. Stories!Barry's womanizing is quite easily explained as Tropology in action. Bill and Barry are the heroes. The hero always ends up with the girl. Bill is married to Lucrezia and heroes don't sleep around. Hence, the only hero available to get the girl is Barry. Klaus can't end up with the girl, the sidekick getting the girl is just silly.
1390** ''A surprise on Barry's part'' could perfectly well describe a hitherto unknown or unacknowledged bastard, though. If he's not married, doesn't have a regular mistress or girlfriend, and contraceptive use is commonplace, a child from a temporary relationship would be a surprise. It doesn't rule out gay (or bi), of course, but it doesn't necessitate it.
1391
1392[[WMG: Moloch is running Mechanicsburg]]
1393Agatha disappeared a few days ago. By now people have noticed his talent for predicting what bad things will happen next. As Agatha's chief minion he's likely to be effectively in charge until her return.
1394* Jossed. Mechanicsburg has been frozen in time, so from their perspective no time has passed. And in the absence of the Heterodyne, the Seneschal would be in charge. Chief Minion would be one of the Seneschal's key subordinates, however.
1395
1396[[WMG: Klaus's device stopped time in Mechanicsburg]]
1397The reason nobody has heard what happened to Mechanicsburg is that the Baron's little machine slowed time to a crawl for anything in the city. That's why ''everything'' in the town was lost, and why Agatha, Martellus, Krosp, and Violetta showed up 2 and a half years late, but didn't notice any delay. From their perspective, the teleporter worked instantaneously, but from an outside perspective, "instantaneously" was still two and a half years. We know from the time windows ''waaaay'' back that fiddling with time is possible in this universe, and the Baron knows it is; he could reasonably have figured out a device like this trying to replicate the time windows. Another thing is that the state of those in Mechanicsburg will not have changed; far from being liquified as Martellus claimed, Tarvek hasn't even pulled the knife out of his chest, for example.
1398* Seems to be confirmed as of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131014 October, 14, 2013]]
1399
1400[[WMG: Agatha’s future child will have [[ExtraParentConception more than one father.]]]]
1401If Agatha goes for MarryThemAll solution she will use her MadScientist skills and make so that her heir(s) is a child of both Tarvek and Gil. Since it was already established that DesignerBabies are possible in ''Girl Genius'' world (both Tarvek and Agatha are one of these) and that Sparks can raise the dead or create a single construct from a few people, I don’t think it would be much of a problem. Of course our Heterodyne Junior will be a mega-strong Spark and will wreak havoc since the day s/he learns to walk.
1402
1403[[WMG: The Dyne provides immunity from wasps]]
1404Not a single resident of Mechanicsberg is a revenant, and this is at a point where we're suspecting a large portion of Europa might be infected. Now we know the Jaegers are immune to wasps and humans become Jaegers by drinking something derived from the Dyne. We also know that the castle is supposed to take all of power out of the water before it reaches the city, however the castle has been broken for twenty years. So if the castle hasn't been taking ''all'' of the power out of the water then the people of Mechanicsberg have most likely been affected by the water and are now immune to wasps like the Jaegers are.
1405
1406[[WMG: Gil isn't really wasped. It was a deliberately false positive.]]
1407When Klaus tested Gil with a Wasp Eater, it tested him positive. But why wouldn't it have beforehand when it was being handled by Klaus (who himself is wasped by the Experimental Spark-Enslaving Wasp)? It's established that wasp eaters have to be trained to be detectors. What if one was not trained to go berserk at wasped people, but at Gil? "Princess Anevka" could have ordered it done in order to dispose of Gil. We'll find out when/if Agatha and her own new pet wasp eater get close enough to Gil...
1408* Another fact in support of this: The spark-enslaving wasp. The one that got Klaus was the first and so far only one (that we know of). We haven't seen Gil get wasped, and the spark-enslaving wasp obviously didn't exist in a usable state during his college days in Paris...
1409
1410[[WMG: The "Citadel of Silver Light" is the location of the time portal device.]]
1411In [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100712 this strip]], Zola sifts around in the captive copy of Lucrezia in her head and finds the location of some place called the "Citadel of Silver Light". The Citadel is the location of (or actually ''is'' ) the time portal device seen in the early parts of the series, with someone (presumably The Other?) using it early on to say something to Agatha before she even lost her locket, and again by Agatha, Gil, and Moloch to find his missing walking gunboat crewmates (with [=DuPree=] going "WTF?" both times at its appearance). Additionally, the Giesterdame seen in one of the panes with Agatha is (or is aligned with) the priestess Milvistle, who Zola also mentioned was disillusioned with The Other.
1412
1413[[WMG: Gil is trying to get his father back.]]
1414We know that [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131206 Gil has developed a way to liberate revenants]] and that he's been focusing a vast amount of his resources on control of the Mechanicsburg Valley. My theory is that his primary goal for the past two and a half years has been to figure out how to crack the time-bubble, allowing him to retrieve and de-infect his father.
1415Alternatively, he's already worked out how to reverse the time-bubble, but he needs Agatha to allow him to bypass the Castle defenses and safely recover his father.
1416* Pretty much confirmed; he ''has'' to get to his father and shut off the time-bomb before the CosmicHorror gets there.
1417
1418[[WMG: '''OTHAR TRYGVASSEN: Gentleman Adventurer''' inexplicably escaped the Take Five Bomb.]]
1419Due to the utility of his special heroic trousers, he escaped the trap most foul, and will show up and leave everyone else slack-jawed (except Agatha who now expects him to inexplicably extricate himself).
1420* As an extension Othar is now a Jäger, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131009 specifically this one]]
1421** Not exactly. He got caught in it, but was inexplicably able to be extracted without any side effects, and is probably going to start causing problems again.
1422** '''''JOSSED'''''. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151120 He has been extracted by]][[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151123 Wulfenbach time tunneler scientists, however.]]
1423
1424[[WMG: Xersephina is the top of the "pyramid" that was trying to dispose of Martellus.]]
1425Being his sister, she would have first-hand knowledge of how tyrannical he would be as Storm King, so she left orders to try and dispose of him should he come back after the Mechanicsburg incident. However, he was too good, and cut a bloody swath through those trying to kill him, so she decided to intervene a different way, hiding the fact that she was the one trying to have him disposed of.
1426
1427[[WMG: Aaronev wanted to copy himself over Tarvek the same way Lucrezia did with Agatha]]
1428We all know Aaronev was insanly in love with Lucrezia and he already showed willingness to sacrifice his own children for this obsession. There are suggestions that Lucrezia's original plan was to copy herself into Agatha and later - as the Heterodyne Princess - marry a claimant to the Lighting Throne, make fairy tale come true and take control over Europa. Why would Aaronev let Tarvek marry his lady-love, when he could copy himself into his son's head and have a happy ending with Lucrezia?
1429
1430[[WMG: Her Undying Majesty is Queen Elizabeth]]
1431The name implies that she is immortal, so age is not a factor, and there were a number of historical people alive during the time of her reign in the UK that would probably be Sparks who may have helped arrange her current state:
1432* John Dee was an expert in a wide range of fields (as well as the original 007. No, really) and may have created her immortal form.
1433* Creator/WilliamShakespeare was an genius with the english language. He may have developed the field of phycholinguistics to the point were whatever her majesty says, particularly after the right pre-condidtioning, just seems so reasonable that you can't go against it.
1434
1435
1436[[WMG: Old Man Death's hat can only be won via "de sottle"]]
1437* We know that, even leaving aside Sparky things, there are a lot of weird bits and pieces in this world. My theory is that Old Man Death's hat has been blessed by some kind of battle deity (possibly the one to whom the Dyne was dedicated) and as a result, its owner can only be defeated by wits, never by force.
1438
1439[[WMG: Oggie was chosen to be detached because he ate all of Klaus' waffles, and Klaus would have killed Oggie if the latter had stuck around.]]
1440* He ate all of ''something'', and it's implied that it's the reason Klaus is not at all fond of Oggie. And Gil does confirm that the rumors about Klaus and waffles are true. Klaus has shown himself quite level-headed about experiments interrupted... but we've never seen the desperation he could reach when out of waffles.
1441
1442[[WMG: Castle Heterodyne ''already'' has a functioning time machine...]]
1443...and has complete control of it, just like all its other sub-systems.
1444
1445It has been shown that Castle Heterodyne can talk with anyone in town it pleases, at any time, but with Mechanicsburg under some kind of time-freeze the Castle and everything in it would also be frozen. Yet, it's been revealed that the Castle can still talk to unfrozen visitors (even if with a little help, to add clarity)!
1446
1447The Castle is using the time machine to free itself enough to communicate. Now, the real question isn't where it is nor who controls it, but where (or when) did the time machine come from?
1448
1449[[WMG: Klaus copied a version of himself over to Gil, on the orders of The Other/Lucrezia]]
1450Looking at the last panel of this page http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131227.
1451** Half-confirmed. Klaus did copy a version of himself over to Gil ([[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20140811 http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20140811]]), but that it was on The Other's order is as yet unconfirmed.
1452
1453[[WMG: Oggie had kids after becoming a Jaeger]]
1454WordOfGod is that Oggie is between two-hundred and three-hundred years old. A great-great grandson is only four generations removed and assuming a rather generous average of thirty years per generation (although it was probably less) only adds up to one-hundred and twenty years. Ergo he'd have had to become a dad after becoming a Jaeger.
1455
1456[[WMG: Agatha will be given a weasel outfit by Da Boyz when she's ready to return to Mechanicsburg]]
1457The whole "birds and weasels" things that they mention during the Mechanicsburg is apparently because there's a tradition in Mechanicsburg where if a girl wants sex, she goes after her boy of choice while wearing weasel pajamas. Once Agatha's heading back to where both her prospective love interests are, they'll want to make sure she's properly equipped.
1458
1459Of course, since Agatha was raised in Beetleburg, she might not know about this tradition when she gets her new sleepgear.
1460
1461[[WMG: The marionette welcoming people to Paris]]
1462 is one of the Muses in hiding.
1463
1464[[WMG: Real-life equivalents of the cities Mechanicsburg, Beetleburg, and Sturmhalten]]
1465Mechanicsburg has a central castle hill and mountains around it, making Sighișoara / Schässburg a more likely candidate for its real-life equivalent than Sibiu / Hermannstadt, which lies in the plains. Furthermore, a footnote in the second novel speaks of fossils, which implies Mechanicsburg area was underwater at some point. Sighișoara has large salt deposits in the same vein.
1466
1467From what we see of Beetleburg, it would be a good match for Sibiu. Large, from what we see, on plains.
1468
1469Sturmhalten's equivalent would be Brașov / Kronstadt, which lies a bit over 100km from Sighișoara on a pass.
1470
1471However, Wulfenbach had a central castle hill, too, and might also have been based on Sighișoara.
1472
1473[[WMG: Moloch is descended from Spark-overthrown nobility]]
1474His last name is ''von'' Zinzer, which is an indication of nobility. But he was working as a common mercenary. Given that it's not all that uncommon for Sparks to overthrow the local nobility with their creations, the most likely explanation is that the von Zinzer's ancestral home was taken over some Spark, who was in turn defeated by a succession of other Sparks and neighboring nobles who didn't feel like returning the lands to its original owners. Without their lands, Moloch's family declined in wealth and importance until by the time he was born all that was left was the name.
1475
1476[[WMG: Drusus is the Master of Paris, or is at least working for him.]]
1477While it's possible he's physically unable to travel, which is why he has his redunant Clank bodies, the change in tone once "His Excellency" leaves shows he's at least got something else going on behind the scenes, and what better way to foil a rival's plans then introducing such a destabilizing element (Both Agatha and the people who will be looking for her) into the mix?
1478** Drusus isn't the Master, but he ''[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150817 is]]'' working for him. (At least officially, he's also serving as a spy/saboteur for someone else.)
1479
1480[[WMG: Agatha will bribe Klaus to stop going after her]]
1481With von Rijn's "[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160212 double secret waffle recipe]]".
1482
1483Klaus '''really''' likes his waffles.
1484
1485[[WMG: Mechanicsburg will be freed of the time bubble roughly six months after Agatha, Violetta, and Tweedle arrives through the portal]]
1486During the Battle of Mechanicsburg it was mentioned the Castle would need three years to properly recharge so it could power the City's full defences. The Castle has already proven it can operate within the time stop at least minimully. Most of that three years has been covered due to time-skip
1487
1488[[WMG: Surviving Von Zinzer Brothers, minus Omar, will join Wulfenbach Troops]]
1489Why not? Wulfenbach is the biggest fish in the pond. If they don't join directly, Surviving Von Zinzer Brothers will be part of trouble-makers that Empire must bring down, surrender, then join the Wulfenbach because it will give them job, pay, food, lodging and medical benefits.
1490
1491[[WMG: The Freed Girl Sanaa mentioned will turn to be ChekhovsGunman]]
1492''Surviving there, collecting points, and get her freedom'' before Agatha stepped in Mechanicsburg and freed the rest of prisoners. She didn't need Agatha to earn her freedom. Need I say more?
1493
1494[[WMG: Bohrlaika is Otilia in a new body]]
1495[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20140811 This comic]] has Bang call her "[Gil's] big metal nanny". It wouldn't be the first time Otilia started answering to a new name.
1496
1497[[WMG: Van Rijn's muses are more then just clanks, they are the actual muses, captured and put in clank bodies.]]
1498
1499[[WMG: Zola is the BigBad of the comic.]]
1500When she left the castle, her plan was to use the information she had from Lucrezia to control the other Lucrezias. Two and a half years later, she seems to have an [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20161226 insane amount of power over Europa]]. She may be the one behind all the current events related to The Other, and be using Lucrezia and the Knights of Jove as pawns. Heck, she could even turn out to be the one who set up the invasion of the Castle, by using time travel (and Madwa has just convenniently stolen a time travel device for The Other).
1501
1502[[WMG: Van Rijn knew something about the future.]]
1503I was rereading the archives during the break after the Paris arc, and [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090713 this]] page with Von Pinn going over her history stuck out. "My beloved king has charged me with the solemn duty to protect you." and "My creator did not charge me with your protection. ''His'' last orders to me were to keep you 'safe.'" -- we now know that she's referring to Storm King Valois and Van Rijn, respectively. She goes on that "[Van Rijn] meant ''safe for those around you''. ''He'' knew what you would be. ''He'' knew what would happen if you were not ''watched''." Valois and Van Rijn may have been referring to the Heterodyne family as a whole, but I'm not so sure. It sounds like they might have meant Agatha specifically - especially since Von Pinn wanted to follow orders creatively and guard her ''tomb'', if not for Lucrezia's interference; if she wanted to "guard" the family in that manner, she could have done it sooner. And now that we've gone to Paris, we know that Van Rijn has been studying time and was in semi-regular contact with a time-warping entity of some kind. Could she have told Van Rijn and/or Valois about current events; our could some have Van Rijn's experiments led him to observe them himself?
1504
1505[[WMG: Agatha will build a neural Heterodyner for Gil]]
1506* It's implied that whatever Klaus did to copy himself into Gil was based on what Lucrezia/The Other did to copy herself into Agatha. Which means that it probably has the same counters. And since Gil has broken all the way through, a neural Heterodyner won't be able to block his own brainwaves, instead merely suppressing the Klaus personality.
1507
1508[[WMG: The Dingbot Castle Heterodyne was made from the Fun-MADD control systems]]
1509The Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers were [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110824#.Y_PILpDMJ3s still]] out of the Castle's control after Agatha restored it (Otilia: "They cannot hear the Castle, but they obey me"), and the parts that Du Quay tried to use to take over Paris were stolen shortly [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150810#.Y_PHxZDMJ3u after the Other's attack]]. And after Agatha remade the stolen Castle parts into a Dingbot it could still take [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150902#.Y_PJVZDMJ3s remote control]] of other clanks.
1510[[/folder]]
1511
1512
1513!Crossover [=WMGs=]
1514
1515[[folder:The Unstoppable Airman Higgs]]
1516[[WMG:Airman Higgs is a descendant of Lancer from VisualNovel/FateStayNight]]
1517[[Awesome/FateStayNight Check]] [[Awesome/WebComics out]] each one's Crowing Moment of Awesome. I '''dare''' you say that it doesn't [[InTheBlood run in the family]]
1518* Is Higgs Irish?
1519* * Backhands above statement with Wrench* That doesn't even qualify as a question in this troper's opinion. Even if he Isn't Irish, they can still be related. This IS An Alternate reality to our own... even if this was our own (see above theory) it could STILL happen.
1520* Chuck Norris once read one episode of Girl Genius. The result was Airman Higgs.
1521
1522[[WMG: The Unstoppable Airman Higgs is actually Jolly Jack Tar]]
1523Trelawney Thorpe's sidekick, who NOONE thinks is for real? Trewlawney will certainly come into play in the inevitable England arc, and being the actionsurvivor hypercompetant sidekick of one of the greatest heros of the age would explain many things.
1524
1525[[WMG: The Unstoppable Bosun Higgs is actually a Time Lord]]
1526I can't believe everybody missed this one. A strip like Girl Genius has got to have a Time Lord. English accent? Check. Always in the right place at the right time? Check. Able to recover from being stabbed in the heart? Check. Looks like he's trying to pick up Zeetha as a Companion, too. (Lila anyone?) Most probably a descendent of Agatha's from the future. Also its funner to call him Bosun Higgs, you know, like the particle... (Higgs Boson)
1527[[WMG: The Sparks are actually subconscious {{Reality Warper}}s, and their technology is all MagicPoweredPseudoscience and {{Magic Feather}}s.]]
1528Explains how their devices can selectively violate the laws of physics pretty much at will.
1529* Well YEAH...
1530
1531[[WMG: Higgs is The Stig of ''Series/TopGearUK'']]
1532Some say that his elbows don't bend...and that he is imperturbable in the face of staggeringly absurd danger while showing a taste for wearing all white...all we know is, he's called Airman Higgs.
1533
1534[[WMG:Higgs is a [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Cylon]]]]
1535
1536[[DefensiveWhat What?]]
1537
1538[[WMG: Higgs is Creator/ChuckNorris]]
1539...Well, we were all ''thinking'' it.
1540** Explain the notable shortage of roundhouse kicks.
1541
1542[[WMG: Airman Higgs is god.]]
1543Ok, so it's a bit of a stretch, but would Airman Higgs be about the airborne equivalent of Bosun Higgs? and there you have the Higgs Boson!
1544
1545[[WMG:Airman Higgs is xkcd's Black Hat Guy]]
1546[[WMG: The army of bears were created by Vapnoodle to serve Krosp]]
1547As mentioned on the [[TearJerker/GirlGenius TearJerker page]], [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20141013 it's looking like the bears]] were created by Vapnoodle, for a "secret master from Castle Wulfenbach". If Vapnoodle created them, then they aren't Agatha's bears, because when Vapnoodle met Agatha he was not a spark. However, in the books Krosp refers to Vapnoodle as "Papa", so Vapnoodle could well be his creator. Also, [[RuleOfFunny it would be hilarious to give]] [[FridgeHorror the member of the group with the fewest morals command over an army that scares]] [[BadassArmy Jaegers!!]]
1548** Apparently confirmed. 'Poppa' did create the army of bears, and Krosp was pointed out as the bear's master by König, the lead bear ("This bear, and the bears this bear commands, are now under your command.")
1549[[/folder]]
1550
1551[[folder:Other Crossovers]]
1552[[WMG: Either [=DuPree=] or the Heterodyne Castle is the reincarnation of Richard from ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup''.]]
1553More seriously, perhaps one was inspired by the other. (I'm not sure which came first.) Come on. [=DuPree=]'s RebusBubble incident that led to the "World's Best Boss" trophy? Or the castle's dislike of being called "good"? Then again, I suppose the character type is just so much fun that it doesn't really need inspiration...
1554
1555[[WMG: [[Film/StreetFighter M Bison]] is a Spark]]
1556''Film/StreetFighter'' takes place in a timeline where Othar managed to kill off most, if not all, of the Sparks (or else they wiped each other out somehow, or else they're just not relevant to the movie's plot and thus don't show up due to TheLawOfConservationOfDetail)
1557
1558[[WMG: The power source for the Dyne is [[VideoGame/MetroidPrime Phazon]]]]
1559When we [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091030 first see it]], we see bizarre growths everywhere. We then find out in the next comic that it grants strength and has mutagenic properties. Not to mention seeing it create EliteMooks. And then we're told it's fatal in high doses and can be used as a vast energy source. It even glows blue. And then the clincher. With a more controlled application of the Dyne's power, Agatha enters [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100416 Hyper Mode]]. She even properly vents it before it overloads.
1560
1561So, yeah, the Dyne is full of Phazon, and I think I'll go as far as saying that Mechanicsburg is sitting on top of a Phazon Seed, with the Heterodynes as its guardians. The only reason it doesn't spread is because the Castle uses up all the Phazon it produces.
1562** Thanks for the idea, now my imagination can come up with all sorts of distracting stuff... Zero Suit Agatha?
1563
1564[[WMG: Othar is a Time Lord]]
1565* Because every WMG entry needs one. Besides, he has travelled in time, shows up in strange places he could never have gotten to by conventional means, and cannot die. He decided to sample Earth snack food after being given a Jelly Baby by the Doctor, and fell in love with popcorn.
1566** His twitter confirms that he has other versions of himself... Those who are messing with the time-line.
1567
1568[[WMG: Jagerbrau is the reason [[Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers Gilbert]] is still alive after the fall of Prussia.]]
1569He has the accent (at least in the dub), wears a nice hat on at least one occasion, and is a centuries-old supersoldier ...
1570
1571[[WMG: Girl Genius and Narbonic are in the same universe]]
1572The rules for sparks and mad scientists are practically identical, but a few hundred years later sparks are much less common (possibly due to Othar's quest) and thus normal people have forgotten/been mindwiped. Now the sparks that remain have much more advanced technology and research to draw from, and most people simply do not notice or rationalize away anything strange they encounter unless the veil is broken for them (again, possibly due to something Othar did).
1573* The ''Roleplay/TheMadScientistWars'' roleplay is based on this premise.
1574
1575[[WMG: One of the Jager family trees is based on [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Ork]] DNA]]
1576It explains everything! They're green, they have tusks, they speak with a FunetikAksent, they really enjoy [[strike: big shootas]] clenk gunz, they're nearly impossible to kill, and they're never happier than when fighting. It's just that one of the old Heterodynes combined a few Ork spores into a huge bio-experiment, giving us the Jagers we know and love.
1577* It's possible, but unlikely. Still, one of the recent Dark Heresy splats mentions a (mostly) Feudal World (called Heterodyne) that serves as an Adeptus Mechanicus experimentation base. But remember-not all the Jaegers are green.
1578
1579[[WMG: The Undying Queen Albia is the offspring of [[Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers England]] and a mortal woman, possibly an English princess.]]
1580Thus inheriting her mother's royal lineage and claim to the throne, and her father's immortality and indelible connection to the country.
1581
1582[[WMG: The Jagermonsters are Team Fortress 2 players.]]
1583Incredible strength, an obsession with hats, only a few are sneaky (and the ones that are are very sneaky indeed), and will only let themselves be worked on by particular mad scientists. It all fits.
1584
1585[[WMG: ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' takes place after Girl Genius.]]
1586Roughly a century or so after the events of Girl Genius; where most sparks have been killed off by each other or by society at large (ergo Othar's plan). Dexter happens to be a spark - given his genius, eccentricity, and mad lust of science for the sake of science. This explains how a small child could build such complicated machines (which is par for the course to a spark) and why he's always in conflict with Mandark, another spark - plus the penchant for maniacal laughter and willingness to resort to extreme methods.
1587
1588[[WMG: ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'' takes place in the ''Girl Genius'' universe.]]
1589So we have a town that is used to being ruled by a family of mad scientists, minions, and it all takes place in Transylvania. It seems to make a lot of sense. It would have to be a few centuries in the future, though, to explain why America is accessible.
1590
1591[[WMG: Wooster intends to steal Agatha's weasel.]]
1592Wooster seems remarkably interested in the wasp-eater when it arrived, and seemed quite surprised that it's as small as it is, which is an odd thing to remark upon. With the Other making serious headway in Europa with the slaver wasps, and Wooster being a loyal British agent, and currently disgraced at that, he may take the opportunity, now that he knows they're quite small and thus easy to steal, to acquire the weasel for Albia and Country.
1593
1594[[/folder]]
1595
1596!JOSSED (disproved) [=WMGs=]
1597
1598[[folder: Jossed theories]]
1599
1600[[WMG: Oggie is only part-Jager.]]
1601Aside from Mama Gkika, he's the only flesh-coloured Jager we've encountered; and whatever that ram's horn thing is, he's only got it one one side of his head. His lineage clearly becomes diluted somewhere down the line, judging by his great-great-grandson - who's to say it hasn't already started with him?
1602* There seem to be all kinds of Jager lineages with different skin tones - the Orks, the vaguely-drow-ones like Jenka with the bear, the purple ones etcetera. Since about the only constants of the Jagers are "speaking vith FunetikAksent", "being bound by their oath" and "enjoying breaking stuff far too much", assuming that one with pink skin and one horn isn't full Jager blood...well...like Stosh, who was clean-shaven, pretty much humanoid and appeared to be blond. Some of the early ones have distinctly simian appearance, with bow legs and elongated arms, but this seems to have been less conspicuous lately.
1603** Jagers seem to be pretty much any shape, size or colour that they see fit. Even in their first apperarance in black-and-white, there were obviously different ones. This is probably the reason for the elaborately non-uniform, cod-European "uniforms - ie that there is no single Jager style, although some wear unit-specific uniforms ( such as the laminar leg armour and flat-crowned hats worn by Klaus' bodyguard ) and some, like Da Boyz or Jenka, wear just about anything that takes their fancy
1604** Again, there are no part-Jagers. See below point.
1605* His great-great-grandson isn't proof of anything. Word of God has said (somewhere) that Jager children are 100% human.
1606** Interview with the girl!Maxim at the con. It's in the Wikia.
1607** Besides, there's no reason to assume that Oggie fathered any children as a Jager. It could be that Oggie had a family before becoming a Jager, and that his great-great-grandson is descended from a child fathered while Oggie was still human. That's how I always understood it.
1608*** No such thing as 'part-Jäger'. The Brau either killed you (90%), drove you mad or feebleminded (9%) or turned you into a super-soldier. Kinda like the Wild Card virus, really....
1609*** I don't recall seeing anything anywhere that says that Jagers can, or can't father children as Jagers. The pseudo-Jager bar girls seem to find Da Boyz attractive, and it seems to be reciprocated. Mama Gkika is VERY feminine in a sort of Wild West, Frenchy-from-Destry-rides-again sort of way.
1610*** WordOfGod has confirmed that Jagers can conceive, but the resulting offspring is completely human. No part-Jägers.
1611
1612[[WMG: Captain Vole loves Jenka.]]
1613Vole was expelled from the Jägerkin after Jenka disappeared, and the Jägers refused to help find her. Vole didn't know she was on a secret mission to find the Heterodyne heir.
1614* It is implied that all Jägers know about the mission. How else would they be able to know that they had not abandoned their masters?
1615** Then why didn't he say something to her at the Sneaky Gate, hm? Look at her and pause? Anything?? [pulls out the Mythbusters 'Busted' sign]
1616** Hell, there's more evidence for a prior love interest with Maxim. Let ''that'' one sink in...
1617** Jossed, or at least that wasn't the main reason. Vole apparently tried to ''murder'' the Heterodyne boys because he thought they were too soft. Also it seems to be suggested that the mission to find a Heterodyne heir was kept secret from Klaus and the regular world but was a loophole in their code that allowed them to serve Klaus.
1618
1619[[WMG: Gil's [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040915 Invisibility Device]] is sentient, has been following Agatha around, and in fact shows up in every panel.]]
1620Nobody notices because it works.
1621* Making it... the steampunk version of Jack from Gears of War?
1622* Gil's invisiblity device is the Heterodyne "power source", notice how the others keep thinking he vanished when looking through the telescope
1623* Not quite jossed, but called into severe question in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080811 this]] comic.
1624** Actually, I think it's quite thoroughly jossed!
1625*** Indeed. That was Theo and/or Sleipnir extricating Gil under cover of the heterodyne stealth orb.
1626
1627[[WMG: Zola is actually Klaus Barry]]
1628Well, it would explain so much. Overly pink. Heads all wrong. Lack of romantic entanglements. Always up for adventure.
1629
1630If you think about it doesn't Klaus Barry stick out as a Chekhovian Child? Besides we are in Mechanicsburg. Just because something is impossible doesn't mean it is not true.
1631* {{Jossed}}.
1632
1633[[WMG: Dingbots]]
1634* The reason why Agatha can build Sparky Clanks is that she had Van Rijn's notes to work from.
1635** Agatha was building dingbots when she was on Castle Wulfenbach. She didn't have van Rijn's notes until she was at the circus, the arc after that.
1636
1637[[WMG: There's gonna be an "amusing" incident with the revival process.]]
1638I've got a hunch that Agatha, Gil and Tarvek are going to mess Si Vales Valeo up - somehow - and end up [[FreakyFriday exchanging]] [[ManIFeelLikeAWoman their bodies]] for some time. HilarityEnsues.
1639* This Troper is betting that they'll screw up the Si Vales Valeo, and that the Other is going to end up in somebody other than Agatha's head... most likely Tarvek's...
1640** Jossed. When the process was completed, everyone was in their correct heads, the Other still suppressed by the locket. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100430 They just needed to burn off excess energy]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100503 (and get a few buckets of water dumped on them)]].
1641
1642[[WMG: Spain is ruled by Don Quixote and his army of Windmill-Constructs]]
1643Just [[RuleOfCool because]]. Why is this in the jossed folder? Has WordOfGod called it false, or was it considered "too crazy" for a wild mass guess page?
1644
1645* Because it's ''mad'', I tell you, ''MAD'' to tinker thus with the very fabric of the universe!
1646* Also because Girl Genius Don Quixote has already shown up in the comic! He was a Dragon. His fan name is Pretty Boy.
1647
1648[[WMG: Jenka's scarf is hiding a missing nose]]
1649Look at the lower left panel in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080310 this]] comic. Doesn't that area of Jenka's face look a little bit too flat?
1650* Corollary: This is somewhat negated by the fact that you can sometimes see the bridge of her nose, so perhaps she's just missing a chunk of it.
1651* Compare Gil in the second panel and Agatha in the last panel of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090821 this]] comic. ''Everyone'' is drawn with very flat faces in profile.
1652* One one hand we can clearly see the bridge of Jenka's nose [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050613 here]], however, face to face with Agatha, she doesn't ''smell'' her.
1653** She doesn't smell because her nose is ''covered''.
1654* Jossed - [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151209 Jenka appears in Paris with her face uncovered.]] It's implied that she wears the scarf because she's embarrassed by her non-Jagerish teeth.
1655
1656[[WMG: Skifander is in America]]
1657No one's ever heard of it, outside of a select few, and what's the one place on GG's Earth we know for a fact Europeans have an inexplicably hard time getting to?
1658
1659Also, theories on the wiki makes a pretty convincing case for it being in the [[http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/Skifander#Possibly_relevant_outside_information San Fernando Valley]].
1660
1661* Jossed, as according to WordOfGod, the events of the comic will never go to the Americas, but ''will'' go to Skifander at some point.
1662
1663[[WMG: The Tricky Jäger General is...]]
1664* '''Jenka.''' Da Boyz were detached from the main Jäger army for an important mission, but they reported to her. She's a general.
1665* '''Violetta.''' The Violetta we've been watching isn't the genuine Smoke Knight, but the general in disguise, getting as close to Agatha as possible by originally pretending to guard Tarvek Sturmvoraus (although he did release her to follow Agatha, for which she was honestly happy). Where is the original Violetta? Although she might have run away, I'm guessing her duties probably require her to stay nearby, so she's hiding somewhere in town (maybe at "Mamma" Gkika's, maybe not).
1666* '''Both.''' The two theories are not incompatible, and has Jenka been seen since Violetta appeared?
1667** ''"Both" is Jossed.'' We have seen Jenka and Violetta in two different locations at the same time [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131101 (Jenka inside with Agatha, Violetta riding for her life outside)]]. Either may still be the Tricky General, however.
1668
1669* Both of the individual theories above are Jossed, as the England arc confirms that [[spoiler:Airman Higgs is the hidden "Tricky" Jäger General]].
1670
1671[[WMG: The Undying Queen is not one person.]]
1672As noted a fair ways above, Albia ([[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061122 the only name we ever hear for her]]) is used for many queens. She has a progression through the maternal line, and each simply follows the political ideas of the previous queen(s), so the ideas never die. Alternatively, the queen is a clank or construct (the latter of which would be more than one person, just a little differently).
1673* Albion was one of the first names for England. Albia is just a feminized version. Also note that on [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060306 this]] page Gil mentions "What's left" of the island of England. Not only is Albia an undying anquitarian thinking machine, she's also ENGLAND, full stop.
1674** He also threatens to "destroy" Albia, which suggest she is an Clank or AI instead of a living organism. Or maybe just that he will destroy her entirely so there is nothing left for resurrection.
1675* Jossed. She's a single near-immortal.
1676[[/folder]]
1677
1678

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