Please note that many of these categories are rather broadly defined and many characters have unclear allegiances. Characters may change categories. Listing is alphabetical by first name (so as to keep the main protagonist at the top...)
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Protagonists
Agatha Clay / Heterodyne
Our Protagonist, a Spark, raised by Parental Substitutes Adam and Lilith Clay. The story begins with her breaking through when the locket suppressing her abilities is stolen.Tropes associated with Agatha:
Alternate Character Interpretation: invokedFrom this comic, is she a poor misunderstood woman who just wants this whole business over, or is she genuinely a classic Mad Scientist who can and will do anything that she needs to, and after she's done will sweep away the pieces of whoever and whatever gets in her way?
"Is it right to leave a fellow sentient strung up like this?" "Well, that depends upon the nature of the experiment..."
Designer Babies: Considering that the Heterodynes "so rarely produce girls," it's implied that she was altered as a fetus to match her mother's specifications.
Happily Adopted: Agatha has always known that Adam and Lilith Clay were friends of her uncle's, but still calls them her parents.
Her Heart Will Go On: Lars. It's also worth noting that both Tarvek and Gil have gotten hurt while chasing after Agatha. She just can't seem to keep her suitors healthy. And she's got serious issues about it, too — most likely due to Lars' death.
Meaningful Name: Heterodyning means to alter a frequency by creating another frequency to interact with it. Part of the Heterodyne Spark is the ability to instinctively hum in a way that heterodynes with any background noise so that it gets cancelled out, removing distractions from their work.
Agatha's locket, which was created by her uncle Barry, is a true Heterodyne locket - when she wears it, it heterodynes her brain. When she was younger, it suppressed her brain waves so that she could never focus enough to truly use her Spark. Now that she has fully broken through, it can't fully suppress her Spark anymore, but the same properties cancel out the brain waves of the implanted copy of Lucrezia in her head, preventing her from taking over Agatha's body.
Parental Abandonment: Her original parents are gone at least until Lucrezia shows up, her Uncle Barry who was like a father to her disappeared when she was seven, and her parental substitutes get ripped to shreds. They get better and will presumably come back into her life later.
Pimped Out Dress: A clockwork themed ballgown, that can even be taken off by pressing a button.
Originally from Britain, Wooster first met Gil in Paris and agreed to enter his service as a manservant. He claimed not to know Gil's true identity at the time, and was apparently very surprised when he found out. However, Wooster turned out to be more than a Jeeves; in reality, he was a secret agent for British intelligence, and therefore likely DID know who Gil was, which is very impressive seeing as Gil's childhood friends didn't. Turns out Gil knew Wooster's real identity, and was perfectly willing to go along with the pretense until events pushed him into making use of his knowledge.Classy and unflappable Wooster is currently working for Gil, and thus is a Protagonist, but his ultimate loyalty is to "Albia" (the British Crown), an as-of-yet unknown force.Tropes associated with Ardsley:
Badass Normal: He commandeers a rifle from one of the Baron's troops (after somehow ditching Agatha's party), fires from the top of one of caravans and is ready to snipe the Baron (see Shoot the Dog below), delivers an Offhand Backhand to Bangladesh Dupree, and later enters and exits the Jaegergeneral's airship from the window. He also survived being Gil's assistant for at least a year before the comic starts.
Dragon with an Agenda: A heroic example, as he is still loyal to the queen, whatever that means.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Boris tries to invoke this when Wooster reveals the Baron's plan to level Mechanisburg to the Jager Generals, claiming that he's allowed The Other an opportunity to escape. Wooster doesn't buy it, but admits that the Queen will take an interest in the matter if things do go south.
Spy Drama: This didn't really feature in the comic itself until this strip. There is, however, a custom ad for the Spy Battle browser game that portrays his past as being ridiculously martini-flavored.
Shoot the Dog: Is prepared to do whatever it takes to complete his mission, even killing Baron Wulfenbach.
Tall, Dark and Snarky: One of the tallest protagonists, dark haired, and he's British, so snark is a given.
Da Boyz
Oggie, Maxim, and Dimo
Fan Nickname for the three "wild" Jägermonsters who discovered Agatha while she was incognito and have followed her, to protect their new mistress, ever since.Tropes associated with Da Boyz:
Amazing Technicolor Population: Dimo is green,and Maxim is purple. Oggie is (relatively) normally coloured by human standards, which makes him the odd one out by Jaeger standards.
Attractive Bent Gender: In the Cinderella story, Maxim... is beautiful. Oggie and Dimo avert the attractiveness.
Bishounen: Maxim, the purple one, was originally designed as an in-joke for Kaja. Lampshaded in the Cinderella side-story, when he's supposed to play an ugly stepsister... well, see for yourself.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Da Boyz have funny accents, are generally not too bright and more than a little goofy. Then something happens, and suddenly all the goofiness is gone and you're reminded that Da Boyz are in fact 200+ -years-old Super Soldiers...
Cute Little Fangs: Until they open their mouths and reveal that the "little" fangs are huge.
Cute Monster Boys: Maxim and Oogie. Oogie, oddly, is more of a charmer than Maxim despite not being as pretty, even being able to sweet-talk human girls.
Kavorka Man: They claim to be "irresistible to vimmen," although how much so remains to be seen. Given how many times women seem receptive to Oggie's flirting, he apparently lives up to it.
Maxim and Oggie both found interested girls during Maxim's interaction with Old Man Death. Then again, apparently in Mechanicsburg and its suburbs Jägers are heroes.
Loophole Abuse: After failing to get Old Man Death's hat by fighting him for it, Maxim then tells him he wants a sandwich, so Old Man Death tells him "you name it, I make it". Maxim asks for a "Prince of Sturmhalten's Big Bet", which refers to a prince who lost a bet, and ate his own hat; to live up to his boast, Old Man Death had to make Maxim a hat sandwich.
Really 700 Years Old: They don't look particularly old, but Word Of God is that they're between 250-300 years old, and Oggie has at least one adult great-great-grandchild (Who looks and acts suspiciously like the person telling the main story, who is a stand in for the author).
The Smart Guy: All three are pretty intelligent, especially compared to the average Jägerkin. Dimo is clearly smart compared to the other two. Vote for Girl Genius in topwebcomics.com and the incentive even calls him "The Smart One."
Undying Loyalty Explicitly explained to be a choice on the Jägers' part. They are not compelled to serve the Heterodynes; rather, every Jäger has made a conscious choice and vow to serve the Heterodynes for life before they drank the Jägerbrau.
Created by Agatha as a lab assistant, Dingbot Prime is an oh-so-cute little clank, about the size of a pocket watch. When not otherwise engaged he spends his time making other, more specialised but less durable, Dingbots. What is amazing about Dingbot Prime is that it seems to be self aware; if this is true to even a small degree then it would be a miracle due to its tiny size. Even more incredibly, it's been theorized to have inherited some of the Spark!Tropes associated with Dingbot Prime:
Action Bomb: Or rather the bots it creates sometimes do this.
Fan Nickname: Doesn't have an actual name in-comic, other than "Agatha's little clanks." On that note, fans are considering dubbing groups of dingbots "devotions."
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Despite being the size of a large pocketwatch there is every chance Dingbot Prime is self aware, and possibly a Spark of itself.
Gilgamesh Wulfenbach
Son of one of the major antagonists, Gilgamesh is one of the possible pairings for Agatha (probably the canon one, consideringthese) and has much more obvious motivations. May be wasped.Tropes associated with Gil:
Genre Savvy: From the first volume he had a hunch that it Agatha who was the new Spark.
Heroic RROD: When his body can no longer handle the feats of epic Badassery he's performing. Has happened at least twice: after he beat up Vole and after throwing Merlot's clank.
Manly Man: To Tarvek, he's more action oriented and a little less socially apt.
Made of Iron: After being kicked by Zeetha into a wall, the wall had a number of cracks— with him not even bleeding yet.
Long before that, he also took several bullets and kept standing unfazed while facing down the army of war clanks attempting to invade Mechanicsburg. And then he kicks a former Jaeger's ass for underestimating him while being dragged off for medical care.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Apparently what Gil was doing in Paris as mentioned below under Rich Idiot with No Day Job. Agatha believes him to be doing this in Castle Heterodyne, and Tarvek is amused to find out that he isn't.
Out of Focus: He drops out of the story for most of the second arc. Lampshaded with a gag panel here.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Tarvek's Blue, oh-so-very much. Gil is passionate, dogged and relentless in everything he does, and prefers Crazy Preparation to Chess. This means he's hopeless in situations that can't be prepared for... like romance. He has to get by on honesty... and can be a bit brutal about it.
Rich Idiot with No Day Job: While studying in Paris, Gil cultivated the image of himself as a womanising layabout and opium fiend who was involved with pirates and constantly getting involved in the schemes of crazed minor Sparks, in order to keep anyone (especially Tarvek Sturmvoraus) from figuring out that he was the Baron's son (though the trouble with crazy Sparks was mostly for the sake of an absent minded chorus girl he had befriended).
Shirtless Scene: This is how many he's been getting: The wiki had a poll at one point about when editors thought he would next put a shirt on. One of the options was "Gil owns a shirt?"
Shock and Awe: Can call down electricity with a nifty rod. The most notable example of him doing this, interestingly, is also an example of the Trope Namer- rapid dominance through a spectacular display of power.
Created by a Spark to control cats to act as a spy network, Krosp I is a failed experiment with delusions of lordship who has given Agatha much valuable political advice.Tropes associated with Krosp:
Badass Longcoat: He's given quite a nifty red and gold one while he's with Master Payne's Circus with Agatha.
Gone Horribly Right: A humorous example; his creator wanted an intelligent cat capable of exercising control over his non-sentient brethren. He succeeded perfectly, but it turns out that cats don't really make good spies...
Royals Who Actually Do Something: When Agatha sarcastically swears fealty to him, he takes her seriously and accepts her as his subject. He considers it his responsibility as her king to keep her safe.
A mechanic who served in army of a Spark beaten by Klaus and ended up "on the beach" after his Walking Tank ran into Bang's team. First met right at the beginning when he and his brother steal Agatha's locket. He is later mistaken for the spark that created Agatha's first clank. He turned up again in Castle Heterodyne and seems to have fallen into the role of Agatha's minion by default.Tropes associated with Moloch:
Characterization Marches On: He was quite nasty in his earliest appearances, so he was much more deserving of the abuse he got early on. Being in Castle Heterodyne around more Ax Crazy folks seriously mellowed him out, to the point that he's currently considered a nice guy. Or perhaps his brother's influence (plus, y'know, his belief that Agatha had murdered him) was corrupting and he improved in its absence.
The very first thing he does when he meets up with Agatha again in Castle Heterodyne is to apologize for his behavior back then, claiming he was really scared and under a lot of stress. Agatha forgives him.
Chick Magnet: To a lesser degree than one might expect in this crazy universe, but despite his general scruffiness and not having been seen to try to get girls, he's clearly attracted both Violetta and Snaug, with bonus UST-source Sanaa Wilhelm.
Cut the Juice: his solution to being told that the machinery can't be shut off. Earned him a Dope Slap.
Due to the Dead: Those who died in the Castle don't get used as raw material, he rules. And even hardened criminals listen when he says so.
The Engineer: He doesn't have The Spark, but he does have a great deal of skill in machinery and problem solving. He knows that, given enough time, he can solve most problems with a lot of hard work and a bit of common sense.
Heel Face Turn: See Characterization Marches On above. A generous soul might call him the first villain of the series. Even if not, he's more morally grounded now than he used to be.
A pair of the Heterodyne Boys' earliest creations, Punch and Judy are common characters in Heterodyne stories. As student work, they are both somewhat flawed; Punch lacks a voice and Judy has mis-matched eyes, although most people don't know that. Punch is often portrayed as a foolish klutz, but Da Boyz report that he is a very intelligent and cunning planner as well as a funny and kind-hearted individual who spent his spare time making toys for children. They were loyal and were given the job of looking after Agatha under the pseudonyms of Adam and Lilith Clay.Tropes associated with Punch and Judy:
The Speechless: Punch until Gil's repair, as it's Punch who tells him "Thank you." for his actions to save Agatha. Gil apparently did some upgrading while he was in there.
Tarvek Sturmvoraus
First encountered when Agatha travels through the city of his father, Tarvek is the the Prince of Sturmhalten, and a descendant of the legendary Storm King. He's seemed to be on everyone's side, playing everyone against everyone else, though recently he seems to be genuinely on Team Agatha. He is a powerful Spark and a keen intellect. The other possible pairing for Agatha.Tropes associated with Tarvek:
Simply glancing at an abstract operations table tells him that an entire Wulfenbach military unit has been subverted and was about to flank and destroy much of the Wulfenbach army.
At one point, Gil accuses Tarvek of plotting something. When Tarvek asks what makes him think this, Gil's response? That Tarvek is breathing.
Designer Babies: The Mongfish family "made sure" that he would be throne-appropriate: male, Sparky, and free of problems like predisposition to alcoholism, non-Spark-related insanity, lycanthropy...
Dysfunction Junction: "The only way to keep my family in line would be to bury them in a row."
The Fashionista / The Dandy: You expect royals to be very well dressed. So this was not evident except one phrase out-of-continuity, but remember how he sat "doodlinggirls and clockwork"?..
Meaningful Name: "Sturmvoraus" means "storm ahead" in German.
Minored in Ass Kicking: He relies on others to fight for him whenever he can. Since arriving in the castle, though, he's had to reveal that yes, he's a match for Gilgamesh in a fight (which means any fair fight with him would rip Europa apart).
Missing Mom: The only thing we know about his mother is the identity of one of her ancestors.
Pet the Dog: Had Violetta Reassigned to Antarctica, which she hated him even more for... then she discovered just how many of his bodyguards had been killed since.
The Rival: To Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. In principle, he resents the Wulfenbachs in general and Gil specifically for the swaths of his messed-up life that weren't directly caused by his own family. In practice, his relationship with Gil hovers somewhere in between Friendly Enemy and Vitriolic Best Buds.
Tykebomb / Phlebotinum Rebel: He was intended since before birth to be a figurehead for the Storm King conspiracy, but he'd much rather pursue his own plans.
Unreliable Expositor: One of the reasons the Sturmhalten arc is so confusing is because he keeps lying to everyone.
Xanatos Speed Chess: He tries to do this practically all the time, with varying degrees of success.
Young Conqueror: He wanted to be this, but things aren't working out for him.
Violetta
Violetta is a Smoke Knight, although she herself says she's not very good at her job. Her job is to keep Tarvek alive, which is proving to be far more difficult than it should be considering he was confined to a hospital bed when she took that duty.Tropes associated with Violetta:
Big Screwed-Up Family: A cousin of Tarvek's from an offshoot branch of the Sturmvoraus family, which has been guarding the main house for generations. Surprisingly sane, considering the lineage, but then being not of the central bloodline could be what saved her.
Impossible Thief: Specialist in misdirection and sleight of hand, to the point that she can switch out a hostage for a straw dummy, while said hostage is still being held by his captor, and she's in full view of said captor, across the room. It just has to happen off-panel.
Only The Knowledgable May Pass: She tried to pull this one on Moloch, arguing that he had to be trained or have secret knowledge when they first met.
Servile Snarker: She gets away with way more abuse of Tarvek than most Sparks would probably allow. Hell, he even rewards her by allowing her to switch allegiance to Agatha.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: By herself. Her Smoke Knight training mostly requires her to be the former, but both she and Tarvek (while he was in an illness-induced delusional rant) have commented on how much she'd desperately like to be able to dress nice and be girly once in awhile.
Zeetha, Daughter of Chump
Warrior woman from the lost city of Skifander, she no longer knows how to get back and, until Agatha mentioned it, was uncertain as to whether her homeland even existed. She has trained Agatha to be a warrior and still fights for her interests.Tropes associated with Zeetha:
Always Someone Better: Gets the concept explained to her by Higgs. Interestingly, he doesn't do it by beating the crap out of her (although he probably could), but just by explaining why she's been losing.
Dual Wielding: With what appear to be either Katars and/or Patas, weapons used in our world's India with H-shaped grips and often with some kind of hand guard added to the grip.
On a related note, she and Gil now have the same (or similar) eye colour — most notable during their conversation after he wakes up at Mama Gkika's. They used to be green in earlier volumes.
Tarvek's debatably-living sister. After an ill-concieved Mad Science experiment of her father's (attempting to download the Other's mind into her brain) left her at death's door, her brother constructed a new robotic body that she could operate from within her life-support tank. Over time, the original Anevka weakened as the clank Anevka picked up the slack, without ever quite realizing it. By the time of the events of the comic, biological-Anevka was dead.Tropes associated with Anevka:
A pirate queen in the pay of the Baron, though even he finds her taste for violence and random slaughter distasteful. Nevertheless he keeps her about as she is a very skilled warrior and hunter and sometimes, you need a butcher.Tropes associated with Bangladesh:
Psycho Electro: In the first arc, she gets her hand mangled and ends with a medical device meant to facilitate faster healing. By the time of her next appearance, she has modified it to electrocute people Joker-style.
Bangladesh: Do I come into your lab and tell you how to torture rats? Gil:Frequently. Bangladesh: Exactly! So I know what I'm doing!
Undying Loyalty: To Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. If the Baron tells her to do something, she does it. End of story.
Baron Klaus Wulfenbach
One time friend of Agatha's parents, Klaus disappeared shortly before Agatha's parents married and returned to find Europa in utter chaos. He imposed order on Europa, not by negotiating and being nice like the Heterodyne Boys but by imposing his Iron Will on an ever increasing area of the globe. Was recently reported killed when the Great Hospital exploded and/or was kidnapped by incarnations of the Other. We're not sure yet. And...he's fine, dandy, and taken control back from Gilgamesh.Tropes associated with Baron Klaus:
Asskicking Equals Authority: There's a reason he has a "Don't make me come over there." rule with places he takes over. Provoking him is not recommended.
Awesomeness by Analysis: How his Spark manifests itself. The most obvious use is the ability to dismantle and improve the designs of other Sparks. But it also lets him "find the right monster for the right job."
Gilgamesh:"My father once wrote a monograph on how to communicate in the workplace." Dimo:"...iz dat so?" Gilgamesh:"All seven popes ordered it burned."
Genius Bruiser: Klaus is very strong - he can, for example, punch out Jagers. This probably has to do with the fact that he is a construct.
Genre Savvy/Dead Man Writing: the Baron has left standing orders that if he ever disappears for any length of time, Gil would be appointed as Baron immediately. This is presumably to limit the damage the Other can do if they manage to grab him.
Historical Villain Upgrade: He's been depicted pretty badly in most of the Heterodyne stories, ranging from a cowardly comic relief to a flat-out traitor to the Heterodynes. Fortunately for those who put on these plays, Klaus isn't a Slave to PR and doesn't care what they say. Though he's well aware of this.
Characterization Marches On: His portrayal in the Heterodyne Stories has shifted markedly to the worse since he started conquering stuff.
According to the books, another reason he puts up with his portrayal in those stories is because he secretly finds it hilarious.
Put on a Bus: This was Lucrezia's intent, anyway. But he came back before the main series even started. Word Of God states that the place he was sent was Skifander.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He's the absolute dictator of most of Europe. Except he only has one rule, "Don't make me come over there." What will make him come over there? War and playing with Sealed Evil in a Can.
"If someone can't handle an unpleasant truth? Lie to them. If somone won't listen to reason? Make them. If people don't choose to live peaceably—Don't give them a choice. If you don't like the rules—change the game.
The Un Twist: Supposedly the Baron died when the battles in Mechanicsberg started and the hospital got bombed. Very few were surprised when the Baron showed up, very much alive some time later.
The head of The Baron's administrative staff, Boris is a microcosm of how the Baron operates, and why it may be preferable to the previous system.Originally a librarian with an eidetic memory serving a Spark (far from a calm profession in and of itself) his master decided to add an extra pair of arms, strength, speed, balance... and turn him into the ultimate juggler. When the Baron took down his former master he was given a far less demeaning job. He is now the Baron's right hand man and chief administrative secretary.This is a job that he has excelled in. His brilliant and utterly humourless mind and enhanced physical abilities make him exactly the sort of person that a man like the Baron would need at his side, showing the Baron's talent for getting the right monster for the right job.He and the Jägers have a love/hate relationship, as in: They love to pick on him, he hates their attitude.Tropes associated with Boris:
Badass Bookworm: All the modifications intended to make him a juggler are extremely useful in combat. Boris is perfectly capable of beating up a Jäger.
Blessed with Suck / Cursed with Awesome: His modifications could be seen as either or both. Boris himself hasn't been seen to complain about it, though, at least not since the Baron freed him from his original Spark.
A man possessed with a quest to eradicate all sparks, including himself (eventually) for the damage they do to the world. Harder to kill than James Bond.Tropes associated with Othar:
Anti-Villain: Feels bad about killing Sparks, and a lot of them do need to die...
The Atoner: Implied. Norway has a gigantic crater where its capital city of Oslo used to be. Othar's twitter makes reference to something called "the great wall of Norway" and labels it a mistake. Something must have inspired Othar to believe that killing all Sparks was the only sane solution.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: One of the things that prevents him from being just an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain; he is a genuinely good person, at least to ordinary people. Sometimes ends up saving the very people he wants to kill, but don't count on this.
Confound it! An entire train full of helpless Sparks AND dangerous monsters AND a handy chasm nearby. Someone is tempting me. So not fair!
This is ridiculous. There were only two and a half innocent people on this train (Jäger =0.5 person). Surely I can skip the last one. Yeah.
No. I can't. This is what being A Hero is about. I should never have taken that aptitude test back at the university. I wanted to be a chef.
Hand Wave: Played for Laughs when Vole seemingly shatters his spine with a diving kick. Othar springs right back up and decks Vole, to the astonishment of Tarvek. Othar then remarks that he is wearing "Special trousers. Very heroic."
Hero with Bad Publicity / Villain with Good Publicity: He's managed to become both. The common folk love him. Considering how his "crusade" puts him in conflict with sparks that are genuinely dangerous to the populace and Othar is motivated to clean up the "sparky menace" to protect the non-sparks (and the common folk are unaware of his being a mass-spark-murdering maniac), this is not unjustified.
In Spite of a Nail: According to his Twitter account a Spark's experiment with time travel and alternate realities has revealed that every Othar has some kind of predisposition to deciding to wipe out Sparks. He briefly wonders if there's something about the Othars that causes them to simply have suicidal craziness before dismissing the idea.
It Runs on Nonsensoleum: Othar apparently has "special trousers" that allows him to No Sell having an irate Jaeger landing on him and breaking his back. No, we have no idea what that means either.
Jerkass Has a Point: Squibs, a much put upon minion in the radio drama 'Minor Heroes', sums it up best:
Let me see if I understand this. He thinks all the problems in Europe are caused by mad scientists that build all the monsters. The mad scientists who vie with each other to see who can turn the population into clowns or bats or inanimate objects the quickest.The raving lunatics who set off volcanoes and unleash flash floods upon innocent cities. Othar wants to destroy these people, and you think he's insane.
And Klaus secretly acknowledges that Othar has a point. He had apparently been in the habit of subtly directing Othar in the direction of dangerous Sparks who hadn't technically violated the Baron's Peace up until Othar started killing Sparks that Klaus considered useful.
Offscreen Teleportation: Dropping him out of sight, by whatever means, never seems to stick. He managed to get back up onto Castle Wulfenbach by unknown means at least twice, escaped being tossed out an airship, and appeared unscathed after having being dropped down a bottomless shaft by Castle Heterodyne.
He also manages to find his way into Gil's super secret lab, a place nobody else in-story (including Klaus) seemed to be aware of, simply because he is a hero and finding secret villain lairs is what heroes are good at.
Overshadowed by Awesome: He's plenty effective, provided he isn't going up against uber badasses like Gil, Klaus or Agatha.
The mysterious force of mysteriousness that almost conquered Europa before vanishing mysteriously. May be Agatha's mother.Tropes associated with The Other:
Though she got the name because after a while, all the usual suspects for who could be destroying Europe were dead by her hand, meaning that all the devastation was caused by some other party.
Mood Whiplash: When the Other first makes an appearance she's all smiles and motherly comfort for her faithful Geisterdamen, who are weeping with joy at her return — her mood changes swiftly once the Other realises things have gone to hell in her absence.
Demonic Possession: Yet another. Getting the feeling there are a lot of theories?
The one that seems to be rising to the top is that the Mongfish family is part of an Ancient Conspiracy under the command of "The Other", some bodiless entity that is periodically downloaded into suitable daughters with the "Summoning Engines".
Master Actress: Klaus says she is, but this comes off as an Informed Ability since she likes to gloat and is so different from the person she's impersonating. Although maybe if she knew anything at all about the girl she is pretending to be, she'd do better.
Offing the Offspring: Her first child with Bill, Klaus Barry, was killed in the attack on Castle Heterodyne, and it's strongly implied that this was deliberate on her part. Even Agatha, having already seen how evil she can be, had some trouble with that idea.
The only Jägermonster ever to be kicked out from the Jägers. He bears a strong grudge against the House of Heterodyne over this, and is eager to kill Agatha as soon as he discovers that she's a real Heterodyne.Tropes associated with Vole:
In the first two panels he appears in, he rips a man's arm off to prevent his hand from releasing a dead man's switch. It pretty much sets the tone for the character.
Hidden Depths: Much like Da Boyz above, he's much smarter than he looks and displays dangerous cunning.
He's also capable of stealing his gun back from the Impossible Thief in the party.
Undying Loyalty: Averted hard. Vole was kicked out of the Jägers for trying to kill Bill and Barry for not being the bloodthirsty monsters the rest of the family was. He serves Baron Wulfenbach willingly as The Mole for Professor Tiktoffen, and he's not even all that broken up when he finds out he's dead too.
The Starscream: Deliberately promoted to the role by Gil, who wants a superstrong lackey who'll constantly try to kill him.
Once everyone had heard there was a Heterodyne girl running around, she stepped in (along with a conspiracy) to provide one. Agatha was... not happy about that.Tropes associated with Zola:
Ass Shove/Trouser Space: Lucrezia notes (after knocking her out, restraining her, and presumably searching her) that some of her equipment was "in rather uncomfortable places, I'd imagine".
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. After taking the Moveit 11, her physical appearance has gone steeply downhill.
Boobs of Steel: She's stacked. She's also a better fighter than either the Other or Violetta. After downing a Psycho Serum, she punches Zeetha in the face and then stabs her in the gut with her own sword.
The Chessmaster: Recent events have proven her to be the genuine article.
Mad Love: Towards Gil, very much. Also recently towards Tarvek, but her sanity is slipping, so there's a chance she still thinks it's Gil.
Master Actress: Oh yes. Also involves the second part of the trope, where the audience thinks she might actually have Split Personalities. Of course, in this case, that's not so far-fetched.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Has a bit of a habit provoking them in the current arc. So far, Lucrezia would like to "thank" her for that, Higgs tried to mess her up, and now Tarvek wants to end her.
Shout Out: One of the times Gil had to rescue her it was from a crazy man in an opera house. Apparently it was also one of the few times it wasn't her fault she was in trouble.
Slasher Smile: When the Castle dies, she has a frighteningly Sparky look of triumphant glee on her face. Also here.
Villain Decay: Subverted. She undecays completely over the span of two strips, and then some. Then goes from an incredibly dangerous intelligent opponent to an incredibly dangerous physical one when she downs the Moveit 11. Then, she decays AGAIN to an extent when she goes completely utterly psycho, and undecays yet AGAIN when she gets back to the hospital..
Xanatos Speed Chess: She is "very good at improvising when things go wrong."
The last thing Judy (AKA Lilith) told Agatha was to get to the Castle. Castle Heterodyne is a masterpiece of Malevolent Architecture and Artificial Sentience. It is also badly damaged, currently suffering from multiple personalities and brutally sadistic even when running normally.Tropes associated with Castle Heterodyne:
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The castle is badly damaged, but since it was originally imbued with intelligence by a Heterodyne even the fixed parts aren't exactly sane.
Boring Invincible Hero: Not the castle itself, but it seems to assume that any "real" hero can automatically survive any and all deathtraps without explanation.
Jackass Genie: Castle Heterodyne prefers to interpret all orders it's given in whatever way allows it to have the most fun, for which read: "cause the most casualties and destruction".
A thoroughly mixed bag of sparks, contructs, criminals and psychopaths sentenced to repair Castle Heterodyne, thus killing two birds with one stone from the Baron's perspective. Provides a ready pool of minions (or mooks) for whomever is currently ascendent.Tropes associated with the Castle Heterodyne Inhabitants:
Action Survivors: Sentencing is based on points. Try to rack up too many points too fast and you'll get killed for sure, play it too safe and you'll never get out, making for some very savvy survivors.
Death Is Cheap: Mittelmind is part machine and is able to be brought back to life in short order if something blows up in his face, assuming the body is mostly intact. Diaz... isn't so lucky.
Mad Scientist: Goes without saying. There's even a mad Social scientist.
Meaningful Name: Possibly if Snaug is pronounced like 'snog'. Kissing. A small hint? Probably would classify as a Punny Name, too.
The Mole: Professor Ticktoffen, who is apparently the "inside man" for both the Baron and the Knights of Jove. He's actually the inside man for himself. And he knows how to control the Castle.
Sanity Slippage: Occurs to Snaug, apparently. Her boss, Mittlemind, wipes her memory yearly for her birthday. This may be a hint of losing it or just her yandere getting stronger.
One of the inhabitants of Castle Heterodyne. We first encounter her reporting on her repair efforts in Castle Heterodyne. She seems to be constantly competent at avoiding the death traps and kicking ass which is probably genetic given her brother. She also befriends Agatha when she arrives at the castle, meaning that she may well be around for a while.Tropes associated with Sanaa:
A mixed bag of Sparks, nobles, and young people with connections to both, kept on Castle Wulfenbach to be schooled... and to discourage stupid behavior in their families.Many of them remain as of yet un-named but two, Sleiphnir O'Hara and Theopholous DuMedd, have recently re-entered the story. Theo is notable as Theo is Agatha's closest known living relative, the son of Lucrezia's sister.Tropes associated with the Castle Wulfenbach Students:
Get a Room!: After Theo starts to really spark out near fan-of-science Sleipnir, their resulting... chemistry leaves the other present characters very eager to leave and give them the room.
Gilded Cage: They're happy, healthy, and well treated, but it's also true that they are hostages. At least one of them regretted having to leave, though he may have had otherreasons.
The leaders of the Jägermonsters. There were originally eight of them, however one was killed in battle, leaving only seven:
"Dose three old ogres". They seem to act as military advisers for Klaus. There are three of them, General Zog (the big one, top left), General Khrizhan (the huge one who seems to be in overall command, bottom left) and General Goomblast (the freaking massive one, top right).
"Mamma" Gkika is another general, and one of only two female Jägers seen so far (bottom right). She runs the bar/hospital where incapacitated Jägers wait for a Heterodyne to come along to heal them up.
General Gargantua, who appeared after Agatha was proclaimed the new Heterodyne.
General Zadipok, who is currently missing for unknown reasons.
A "tricky general" who is said to be "keeper of many secret things." He apparently wishes to remain hidden until the Other is removed from Agatha's mind.
Bar Brawl: Mamma Gkika organizes one every evening to let the incapacitated Jägers in her care blow off steam. Except for Thursdays when they have a Poetry Slam...
Cavalier Competitor / Spirited Competitor: They don't hold grudges over any finished campaigns. And apparently keep kill-counts, arguing with each other over which foes did "count" and which weren't enough of sport. Goomblast also liked the idea of Combat by Champion, though his opponents declined.
Genre Savvy: Despite their Undying Loyalty, they seem to know better than to completely discount accusations against their mistress just because the person making them was trying to get her killed.
Gentle Giant: All of the generals seem perfectly capable of being personable and making very polite conversation over a pot of tea (Zog less so). They are, however, still Jägers.
Genius Bruiser: Perhaps due to their age the generals seem far more on the button as far as politics are concerned than many people, never mind Jägers. Case in point: when it's revealed that Klaus plans to destroy Castle Heterodyne because Agatha's the Other, and Boris tries to stop the Generals from declaring for her by deceit, they ask Boris to tell them what he knows rather than killing him out of hand.
Hidden in Plain Sight: This is how Mamma Gkika's remains hidden, it is underneath a much gaudier tourist trap of the same name.
Lightning Bruiser: At least, General Goomblast. Wulfenbach assault team seeing a huge Jäger General with a light fencing sword missed the clue why they should be terrified. Oh, and he also seems to be ambidextrous.
Nice Hat: General Zog and General Gargantua (like most Jägers) both have one. Fandom is divided as to whether Goomblast's skullcap (seemingly riveted to his skull) counts. Khrizhan lacks one, a very rare thing in a Jäger. However, in this strip, we're told he had to abandon a very impressive uniform in Mamma Gkikka's sometime in the past. Gil's hat may be built out of (or on) Khrizhan's.
Really 700 Years Old: Almost literally, their ages are in the neighborhood of 600-700 years.
Shipper on Deck: Agatha/Gil, although Zog got beaten up by Khrizhan for suggesting they push it along.
Slasher Smile: Goomblast has a mouth a shark would be envious of.
Super Serum: Mentioned as the source of change and confirmed by Word Of God. They are humans transformed by the "Jägerdraught". Perhaps due to advanced years causing additional mutation, side effects of repair or perhaps because they might have been in the original batch, most Generals are a LOT less human than the regular Jägers.
On the other hand, apart from her aqua hair, sharp teeth and pointed ears, Mama Gkika can almost pass for human (and in fact does, hiding in plain sight among her human showgirls who dress up as Jägers).
Undying Loyalty: Explicitly explained to be a choice on the Jägers' part. They are not compelled to serve the Heterodynes; rather, every Jäger has made a conscious choice and vow to serve the Heterodynes for life before they drank the Jägerbrau.
Jenka
The female Jäger (one of only two we have met so far, the other being Mama Gkikka) who seems to be Da Boyz immediate superior officer but who spends quite a bit of time away from them. She was away when Da Boyz were caught by Othar and then left again to get orders about Agatha. She has turned up and left again once more since. Her mysteriousness, femaleness and general awesome has lead to a lot of speculation about her nature and origins.Tropes associated with Jenka:
Really 700 Years Old: No actual word on her age, but the last generation of Hetrodynes don't seem the type to make Jägers and she seems to have seniority over Da Boyz.
Women Are Wiser: She comes across as being calmer and careful than Da Boyz.
Master Payne's Circus of Adventure
A traveling Heterodyne Show that takes Agatha in for a while after she saves them from a wandering monster-clank. Zeetha was originally one of them, but decided her place was with her student when the rest of the Circus was Put on a Bus.Tropes associated with the Circus:
Belligerent Sexual Tension: Abner and Pix start out this way, then get together soon after Agatha joins the circus.
Arguably, the whole circus is this. They play heroes on stage, but they don't do any actual heroics - traveling the Wastelands is dangerous enough without it.
An old man who runs a gourmet sandwich shop with his granddaughter. Used to run with the Jägers and put them to shame. As such his hat is very imporant to Jägers as the more important and Badass the hat's owner the more awesome and Badass the hat. As such it seems he has to put up with the occasional attack on him for it, often enough at least for there to be a three tries only rule.Tropes associated with Old Man Death:
I'm just a human. Rode with the Jägers. Never. Lost. A. Fight.
Foregone Conclusion: It was obvious that Maxim was going to get Old Man Death's hat as soon as you saw it- while the purple hat with red trimming looked out of place on an old man in a red shirt and an apron, it already matched Maxim's outfit perfectly. It actually looked pretty similar to his old hat, only more ornate.
Former Teen Rebel: As was mentioned, "rode with the Jägers", i.e. was an auxiliary to the most Badass and evil army in Europe. Now runs a sandwich shop.
Grandpapa Wolf: The fight with Maxim over his hat was going fine, and was fairly friendly, until Maxim tried to hit on the waitress, his granddaughter.
Hash House Lingo: He knows the ingredients of the most obscure sandwiches you can imagine.
And there is apparently a story behind every one of those oddly named sandwiches. The "Red Heterodyne" (Fried bat wing with mushroom sauce on pumpernickel) apparently stemmed from the long-dead Red Heterodyne getting trapped in a cave network for several years after a raid gone bad, forcing him to live on bats and mushrooms (And developing a taste for them) until he could get out. The "Prince of Sturmhalten's Big Bet" (Hat sandwich) stemmed from Prince Viden of Strumhalten saying that he'd eat his hat if Goot Heterodyne could get a cathedral built in Mechanicsburg.
Moral Dilemma: Maxim forces him to choose between his reputation as a sandwich-maker and his hat. He chooses his reputation.
Subverted, he's apparently fine with it, he really didn't care about the hat, and he told his granddaughter "your grandmother always hated that hat".
Plus the Jager used his brains in the end instead of his fighting skills.
Nice Hat: Played with, he freely admits his hat is nothing special, but the fact that it is his makes it irresistible to the Jägers.
Rescued the Baron from a crashed airship after a major confrontation. The Unstoppable honorific is well-earned; he's introduced by a flashback tto a scene where he sustains two broken arms, a broken leg, an infected bite and a bullet in his other leg — and still completes his mission.Tropes associated with Higgs:
Badass: The cast page calls him "The Unstoppable Higgs". That probably qualifies him as a Memetic Badass too, actually.
Berserk Button: If that's how he is when it's someone he was STARTING to like, God help you if you ever hurt someone he's SURE about. See also Roaring Rampage of Revenge below.
It seems he's seen older Heterodynes drink from the Dyne and specifically compares Agatha's reaction to "Old Igneous".
As of this comic, it appears that Higgs might just be a Jager. His response to Zola mocking Zeetha is "Yes... but I vas starting to like her." He has never displayed a hint of an accent before. Looking back at all of his appearances, his ears are noticeably pointy, much like the Jagers.
At the very least, the Jagers know him. He was brought to Mama Gkika's for treatment, and here Dimo deflects Gil's question about that while giving Higgs a conspiratorial smile.
Tarvek notes that he got permission to leave his post from Agatha.
Made of Iron: Gets bashed into a wall by a powerful clank and dusts himself off like it was nothing here
Also here where he lands from a long fall with simple bent knees as opposed to Zeetha who has to roll and their quarry who has to use a zip line/grappling pistol.
Minion Shipping: With Zeetha. It may or may not be one-sided - Zeetha seems thoroughly smitten by Higgs' smooth talking and quick thinking (badassery notwithstanding), but Higgs alternates between snarky apathy and justified fear with regard to Zeetha.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Higgs is fast when he's angry. So fast that he's a near invisible blur of motion to someone already on a potentially fatal dose of stimulants. Oh dear.
Unreliable Narrator: The story that initially earned him the fans' love and respect was related by him to the group of soldiers that found him. It hasn't quite... meshed with what we've seen of him.
Just to be clear: It turns out he's more badass, not less. Considering how Made of Iron we've seen he is, what Higgs went through to get the injuries Dr. Sun mentioned has to have been far, far worse than he reported.
Would Hit a Girl: He has no problems with getting into a truly vicious fistfight with Zola, and he's not pulling his punches. Of course, neither is she...and she has a sword!
Zen Survivor: Despite everything he's gone through, his expression of perpetual apathy has slipped exactly four five times since his first appearance: Getting bitten by DuPree, explaining his tale while being heavily drunk, being threatened by Zeetha, finding out his new boss is Gil and holding a critically wounded Zeetha in his arms while threatening Zola with what may be a Jäger accent.
The von Mekkahns
Carson von Mekkahn was the seneschal of Castle Heterodyne until he retired and passed the job on to his son, who died just days later when the Other attacked. When Baron Wulfenbach politely took over Mechanicsburg a few years later, Carson made it seem that the von Mekkahn family had gone extinct in the Other's attack, going into hiding under the alias of "Carson Heliotrope" and running Mechanicsburg in secret. Carson has since retired again and his grandson, Vanamonde, now runs the town from a coffee shop. After Agatha sparks out in Vanamonde's coffee shop, Carson helps her enter Castle Heterodyne.Tropes associated with the von Mekkahns:
Bald of Evil: Carson, sort of. He probably wasn't both bald and evil simultaneously, but he's bald now and apparently served the evil Heterodynes before Agatha's heroic father and uncle — he rode with the Jägers in his youth and could describe Agatha's grandfather's usual reaction to invading war clanks.
Bluff The Impostor: Carson tries this on Agatha at first, asking if Punch ever mentioned him. He is quite surprised that she knows Punch couldn't talk, though this still isn't enough to convince him.
Former Teen Rebel: Carson. Again, rode with the Jägers in his youth, under the old evil Heterodynes. Is now retired, lives with his daughter-in-law, and seems to have mostly spent his days soaking up rays on the balcony before being introduced in the comic.
Obfuscating Stupidity/Rich Idiot with No Day Job: To outsiders, Vanamonde looks like a young loafer who does nothing but laze around and drink coffee. In reality, he wrote a definitive book on coffee (under a pen name), is (according to Carson) "more competent than he appears", and, oh yeah, secretly runs Mechanicsburg.
Alternatively, he may or may not have an actual day job at the coffee house: it has been referred to has "Van's Coffee House" in this cast page, he has paid for the coffee engine and he tends to use first person pronouns about it. He isn't shown to be particularly active though.
People Puppets/Unusual User Interface: Part of Carson's duty as seneschal. He has special holes drilled in his skull that let him use the Throne of Faustus Heterodyne to become Castle Heterodyne's puppet so that Agatha can talk to it in the crypt. Vanamonde's skull hasn't been prepared for such a thing yet, but the Castle is looking forward to it.
Psychic Link: Carson didn't even notice he had this until he felt Castle Heterodyne die.
Retirony: Inverted by Carson, who retired just in time to miss dying in the Other's attack. His replacement, who was also his son, died instead.
Carson: Don't try to boggle me, Mister Talking Cat. This is Mechanicsburg. You are by no means the strangest thing in this town.
Skeptic No Longer: Agatha's performance in the coffee shop (and her coffee) make Vanamonde a believer. By the time Agatha forces Castle Heterodyne to back down from punishing Herr Diamant for expressing his skepticism, Carson is convinced she's real too.
Spell My Name with an S: There's some disagreement on whether it's spelled Mekkahn, Mekkan, or Mekkhan.
When first encountered Von Pinn seemed to just be another of the many monsters given jobs by the Baron. It eventually emerged, however, that she was the nursemaid at Castle Heterodyne when Agatha was born and this has made things rather interesting. Pursued by many Jägers as the height of womanhood and absolutely terrifying, Von Pinn seems to hate Agatha, fear what she is to become (whatever that is) and want to protect her.Tropes associated with Von Pinn:
Wetware Body: It now appears that she is the Muse Otilia, transferred into a construct body as part of Lucrezia's experimentation. Why she did this, where the body's original mind, if any, ended up, and what this will mean is still up in the air.
One of Klaus's old friends. A Spark who runs the Great Hospital in Mechanicsburg. Prone to threatening to beat some sense into his friends and students who are being foolish — and then backing it up if need be.Tropes associated with Doctor Sun:
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