Characters / Girl Genius Knights Of Jove

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Loyal Order of the Knights of Jove

Various characters involved in the highly factional Storm King conspiracy.

The Fifty Families

The Fifty Families

The former ruling elite of Europa consisting of fifty noble houses all vying to have one of their own declared Storm King. Many of them were decimated by during the Other War while the rest were conquered by Baron Wulfenbach. Chafing under the Baron's rule, the Families united and secretly began conspiring to overthrow the Wulfenbach Empire.

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• Aristocrats Are Evil:
  • Their main goal is to get rid of Klaus and reinstall the Storm King as Europa's ruler in order to halt the meritocracy that's slowly growing under the Wulfenbach Empire and protect their various elitist traditions, caring little about the death and destruction their actions have caused or the fact they are likely inviting war and chaos to tear the continent apart.
  • They assisted Lucrezia in the Other War since, though she was causing mass destruction and enslavement, she was also wiping out a lot of the "upstart" Spark Houses. It's almost certain that if she hadn't disappeared then she would have eventually wiped them out as well.
  • In general, most of the Fifty Families are made up of people who are of incredibly low morality and are completely blasé about murder, betrayal and inflicting pain on others, even when it's done on their own family members.
• Artistic License – Politics: Often the term "royal" is used for all among the Fifty Families, despite many of them being nobility (dukes, counts, (reigning) princes, etc.) instead of royalty (kings, queens, (heir) princes, princesses, etc.). Granted "royal" is sometimes used for reigning nobles IRL, but mostly in common parlance and not anything formal. It would be weird, as an example, for Duke Strinbeck to say "my royal personage" IRL (unless he was a king's relative who also happened to be a duke).
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: The majority of the members shown so far are directly or indirectly related to one another, and most of them have tried to murder each other at some point either for personal benefit or mere enmity. Tarvek is shown to have been to related at least five other families and most of them, including his own, have tried to kill him at one point or another with it being made clear that this behavior isn't abnormal.
• Death Is Cheap: Averted. While resurrection is common in the Girl Genius universe, one of the major rules of nobility is that when you die you're removed from the line of succession, and your heir immediately inherits your titles and holdings even if you get revived.
• Enemy Mine: Most of the Fifty Families were bitter enemies but they've joined together in their hopes of defeating the Wulfenbach Empire.
• Evil Reactionary: By and large, the Fifty Families want to take over the Baron's empire because they want a "proper" monarch like in the "good old days" of the Storm King. Unfortunately, some factions are willing to collaborate with the Other to do so.
• The Ghost: Only about a fifth of the Fifty Families have been introduced, most of whom are lower-ranking members of their respective Houses.
• Gone Horribly Right: When several of the families decided to go ahead with their plan to overthrow Klaus ahead of schedule, they manipulated a large number of small rebellions into erupting simultaneously to act as distractions. Said rebellions quickly grew out of control and caused numerous other rebellions to pop up all over Europa, which completely derailed almost all of the Families’ plans.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Fifty Families' and Storm King conspiracy are prominent secondary antagonists right behind the Other but their current scheming and past dealings with Lucrezia are responsible for a lot of the tragedies in the story.
• It's the Principle of the Thing: Europa's nobility actually have little issue with how Klaus runs Europa nor does Klaus harass them unless they start causing trouble. The main reason they scheme to overthrow him, and potentially trigger a country-destroying war, is because he refuses to "play the game" and acknowledge that social rank is important or legitimate. Had Klaus declared himself emperor after taking Europa, the Fifty Families would have proudly served him as slaves. According to the novels, a couple members of the Storm King conspiracy defected to the Empire after learning Gil has a claim to a royal title through his mother's side.
• Leeroy Jenkins: The Storm King conspiracy's original, long-term plan to overthrow Klaus was fairly well-hidden and had a legitimate chance of succeeding. However, the appearance of Agatha and her injuring the Baron caused many members of the conspiracy to panic or try to take advantage of the situation, with some speeding up their plans to take Castle Heterodyne while others decided to go off-script entirely and try to kill Klaus or conquer parts of the Empire for themselves. This early playing of their hand not only caused them to reveal themselves to the Empire before they were ready to confront it but it also caused a lot their existing plan to fall apart.
• Motive Decay: Apparently, the Knights of Jove started off as a loyal order dedicated to the Storm King, which then got hijacked by the Other. After she was gone, it was mostly reduced to a few old farts who just used it as an excuse to hang out, drink and mutter about "the good old days". Then Zola's backers came along...
• Old Shame: They're terribly embarrassed about their origins. Not because of the part about their ancestors murdering their way to the top, just the parts where it sounded like their ancestors performed actual labor.
• Realpolitik: "The game", as the Families call it, is a never-ending, centuries-long series of wars, alliances and shady dealings between the nobles done in attempt to get one of their own declared Storm King.
• The Remnant: They're a shell of their former selves after the timeskip caused by Klaus' Take-Five Bomb. After the Other was done, there were only seventeen of the prior great houses left, and that's assuming the strife between then and the modern day hasn't whittled them down further.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Their standard criticism of the Baron's regime is that, being an unrecognized authority without a royal title, the Baron's empire "won't last a day when he's gone" (as his status as Just the First Citizen means his government only exists as long as he does). Eventually the Baron steps out of the picture, and (as predicted) the empire sank with it's captain. However, the reason why the empire collapsed is exactly because the Fifty Families refused to recognize it and tripped over each other when trying to take power.
• Secret-Keeper: An evil version. The Families knew that Lucrezia was the Other, with some being fanatically loyal to her, and they managed to hide it from Klaus for almost two decades.
• Super Supremacist: Many Families insist that only a Spark can be Storm King, even though Andronicus Valois wasn't one, and it's implied that Sparks are often given precedence in inheritance.

Andronicus Valois

Andronicus Valois, The First Storm King

A legendary ruler who commanded the Knights of Jove and ruled a large chunk of Europe roughly 200 years ago. Super-Spark Van Rijn constructed the Muses for him. He beat back the forces of Bludtharst Heterodyne as head of the "Coalition of the West," for which he was hailed as the "Storm King" and received the blessing of the "Five Good Emperors." According to an opera written about his life, he fell in love with Euphrosynia Heterodyne when he saw her menaced by her fiancé, Ogglespoon (who was her fiancé by arrangement with her father, not by her choice, supposedly). He tried to rescue her, only to be thwarted by a bonsai hedge maze. He then vowed to search for her forever, leading to the downfall of the Knights of Jove and his empire.

For "his" (in a way) appearance in Volumes 2-3 (16) and 2-4 (17), scroll to the bottom of this folder.

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• Ambadassador: He loved diplomacy and negotiation and used warfare not to destroy his enemies but to get them to negotiate terms of peace with him.
• Artifact of Doom: His mace The Platonic Solid was corrupted in some fashion by Bludtharst Heterodyne.
• Badass Normal: Going from his dialogue in the second novel's prologue, he most likely isn't a Spark nor does he have a particularly high opinion of them. And yet, not only was he able to conquer most of Europa but he managed to do it with diplomacy, bringing legitimate peace to the continent for a time. Ironically, his descendants insist that being a Spark is a prerequisite for becoming Storm King.
• Choice of Two Weapons: Has two, a sword and a mace. Voltaire destroys them both to prevent the maddened Andronicus from becoming basically unstoppable.
  • The sword, Archimedes' Lever and dubbed as "Slasher" by the Jägers, forged by Van Rijn, and basically capable of calling down lots of lightning. It was said that it was supposed to be so sharp that it could "cut day out of the night".
  • The mace, Platonic Solid and dubbed "Smasher" by the Jägers, that can send energy to melt solid rocks and turn people into gruesome-looking mind-controlled zombies. We've heard two evidently contradictory stories about its creation/source: Violetta says it was a gift from Albia, Queen Of England, while Simon Voltaire says that Van Rijn made it along with the sword. Turning people into mind-controlled zombies is apparently the result of the Platonic Solid being corrupted due to the work of Bludtharst Heterodyne (as confirmed by the Castle itself.)
• Deal with the Devil: The deal with Bludtharst Heterodyne to marry his sister Euphrosia, in exchange for both sides being at peace. The Heterodynes never had any intention of following through with this, and betrayed him.
• Enemy Mine: Part of the reason he was able to build his empire was the need for everyone to unite against the Heterodynes. Bludtharst Heterodyne even had "He Couldn't Have Done It Without Me" engraved on his tomb to rub this fact in.
• Foil: To Klaus. Both have large and impressive empires which try to focus Sparks toward productive goals, while building and maintaining infrastructure along the way. Andronicus conquered Europa with diplomacy and saw war as just a means to get his opponent to agree to peace talks. Klaus ended the Long War by conquering Europa with brute force and shows disdain towards negotiation. Also, both their declines in power can be attributed to Heterodyne women, with Andronicus' coalition collapsing because he put his faith in Euphrosynia and the Wulfenbach Empire lost control of Europa because Klaus refused to trust Agatha.
• The Good King: He was universally regarded as a good monarch in his own time.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: A light-hearted version in the novels. He instituted high fashion in order to keep the nobles distracted from fighting each other. Unfortunately, since he was King, he had to lead by example. While Valois utterly hates having to wear a dozen silk waistcoats, he does at least consider it a worthwhile price for relative peace. Taking half an hour just to undo his trouser buttons, on the other hand...
• The High King: The title of "Storm King" is implied to involve power over other kings on the continent. He apparently has the authority to restore the Fifty Families' to power, and the dominion of the Storm King appears to be over the entire continent (while we know some kingdoms like Holfung-Borzoi still exist).
• Lamarck Was Right: Dimo can confirm that he has Von Blitzengaard's voice and Von Sturmvoraus' nose.
• Mirror Character: In a sense, to Bill & Barry Heterodyne. They're both legendary heroes who one of the main characters (Tarvek/Agatha) claims the legacy of, they both brought untold peace to Europa, they both fell for The Vamp (Euphrosynia/Lucrezia) who (probably) led to their fall, and when they both disappeared, the continent was plunged into horrible war. However, the Heterodyne Boys were of the very family whom Andronicus battled to save Europa from; meanwhile, the arch-enemies of the Heterodyne Boys were the Mongfishes, who were members of the Knights of Jove that was originally meant to be the Storm King's honour guard.
• Oh, Crap!: The novels show exactly when Valois realizes trusting the Heterodynes was a Bad Move: The night before he's set to marry Euphrosia, the Muses come to him and outright tell him she's going to screw him over. And they can only tell him then and there because it's too late to do anything. At that point, Valois starts thinking, starts really thinking, about which one of the two lovers was the one who actually suggested marrying...
• Really Gets Around: By reputation at least. Multiple people have said that claiming descent from the Storm King doesn't mean much, because if the legends are true, half of Europa is descended from him. And his reign was only 8-10 generations ago. Apparently, at an impressionable age, the young Andronicus read a number of scholarly works that talked about a king being a fertility symbol, and thought this was a mighty fine idea.
• Shrouded in Myth: As noted, a lot of what the audience "knows" about him comes from an opera of dubious historical accuracy. Violetta also doesn't know the abilities of his signature weapons because legend describes them in obtuse, fanciful language.
• Succession Crisis: Because of his Really Gets Around tendencies, his disappearance left him with no legitimate heirs and far too many illegitimate ones. The resultant collapse of his kingdom came from the Fifty Families being unable to agree on who his rightful heir was - and they're still arguing about it two hundred years later.
• Walking Spoiler: It's incredibly obvious that there's some sort of major twist involving him. Considering everything we knew about him was told through the opera and third-hand comments, some kind of major reveal was practically inevitable.

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Tropes for "his" appearance in Volumes 2-3 (16) and 2-4 (17).

^{Click here to see "his" first appearance in-person.} 

The mad remnant of what was once Andronicus Valois.

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• Actually, That's My Assistant: Sees Agatha wearing her trilobite brooch and assumes she's the servant of the Heterodynes rather than 'The' Heterodyne.
• Ax-Crazy: When he is reawakened in the present, he's an enraged, psychotic husk of his former self that proceeds to go on a rampage through the streets.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Used to not be this, but he's now a practically radioactive green, complete with the ability to melt someone's skin to mere bone on touch. Or subject it to rapid aging. Or something.
• Berserk Button: Jägers. He really hates them. Da Boyz and Jenka eagerly tap-dance all over this button to distract him and get him so riled up that he can't fight properly.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Implied by Simon Voltaire, he was apparently corrupted by the enemies of the Shining Coalition, or at least his corpse was. In the current era, he has utterly lost his mind, believing all his former allies are "oathbreakers and wizards", demanding to know "where his bride was taken", believing his love is still alive despite it being two centuries since he was last active.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: When he enters the story, he is confused by his surroundings, last remembers the long dead Van Rijn smirking over one of his machines, and assumes treachery. He finds the modern Paris to be astounding.
• He Who Fights Monsters: An externally-caused version of this. After trying to rid the world of the Heterodynes and their monsters, he ended up becoming a horrific, undead, maddened evil Heterodyne-made monster himself.
• Humanoid Abomination: Was apparently transformed into a maddened undead monstrosity by his enemies, which his allies were forced to put down. When he appears in the current era, he looks increasingly monstrous the longer he fights - he starts off looking human except with green, glowing skin, but by the time Voltaire destroys his weapons, he's degraded into some kind of walking skeleton, and after that he's practically falling apart.
• Killed Off for Real: Eventually gets worn down completely by Master Voltaire, Da Boyz, Jenka, Martellus and Agatha, before finally being finished off by Martellus. His final end is no less tragic than he was first defeated - a maddened undead monstrosity put down by his last remaining old friend, the Jägers who were his old foes back in his glory days, his descendant and the descendant of the woman he loved, mistaking her for Euphrosynia and spending his last moments utterly thrilled that he had "found her", only for Martellus to crush his skull moments after. Of course, being the glory hog that he is, Martellus doesn't even take a moment to mourn his ancestor and contemplate his tragic end, he goes straight to literally claiming his crown for himself. Then again, said ancestor did corrupt his close friends/followers into undead monsters, thus forcing Martellus to Mercy Kill them, so it's understandable he would spare little thought to him.
• Love Makes You Crazy: He was already crazy to begin with after he was turned into some kind of monstrous construct, but he's so obsessed with Euphrosynia that he's demanding to know where she was "taken" (despite it being two centuries since she disappeared), and he's blaming Van Rijn for her disappearance, and angry at his former allies for not telling him anything, despite Voltaire quite clearly stating Euphrosynia's disappearance was entirely her fault and nobody actually knows what happened to her.
• Not Quite Dead / Immortality: If Muse Prende is to be believed. It's not clear if Andronicus is actually immortal or some kind of time traveler or has been held in suspended animation, but he is most certainly beyond just human at this point. As it turns out, Pende's Latern was shining on him. Anything caught in its light is frozen in time. Removing the latern... turned out to not be a good idea.
• Rasputinian Death: Putting him down the second time requires, in order, getting blasted multiple times by the Gendarmy, repeatedly electrocuted and buried in rubble by Voltaire, stabbed in the gut with his own sword by Martellus, having an entire building collapse on top of him, getting smacked around by the Jägers, Voltaire melting the weapons that grant him Immortality, Agatha blasting him with a Wave-Motion Gun, and, finally, having his head crushed by Martellus' final blow. To say it took everything the heroes had to put him down is not an exaggeration in the least.
  • To hear Voltaire describe it, killing him the first time was almost as difficult, and that was back when he was just a normal human with a couple of Spark-made weapons, rather than the One-Man Army Humanoid Abomination the readers see in the present.
• Sealed Good in a Can / Sealed Evil in a Can: Apparently was one of these. The jury is out as to which, with the Paris incident leaning towards "corrupted evil insane undead monstrosity".
• There Was a Door: This is how he decides to leave an underground chamber to go settle some matter. In Zeetha's words, his route is very direct.
• Walking Spoiler: The very fact that he still exists in some form is a spoiler.
• Was Once a Man: Andronicus was... corrupted somehow according to Simon Voltaire. His closest confidantes ultimately had to sacrifice much to end his deranged rampage. For all intents and purposes, everyone considers him to be undead.

Grandma

Terebithia, Matriarch of the Knights of Jove

The grandmother of Tarvek, Anevka, Violetta, Martellus and Xerxsephina, Terebithia is the leader apparent of the Knights of Jove and the Smoke Knights not loyal to Lucrezia. Absolutely hates Lucrezia, at least according to Violetta, and would rather refocus on the original objective of the Knights of Jove.

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• Ambiguously Evil: She's one of Tarvek's relatives? That's a bad sign. She's working against the Other's influence? Well, that's a good sign. But she's weirdly cozy with Zola/the Queen of the Dawn? That's yet another bad sign.
• Bluff the Impostor: Upon meeting Mister Obsidian she immediately attempts to stab him in the face even though he had the correct code phrase, only for the dagger to snap in two. He mostly takes it in stride, but Grandma retorts to his snark that disguises are easy and that anyone can learn a code phrase.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: As expected from anyone of Tarvek's extended family, let alone the head of it, she has her own plan that she's willing to throw others under the bus to attain.
• Cool Old Lady:
  • A subdued version as far as the setting goes - she apparently throws some wild parties. And she has some rather impressive dresses.
  • It is worth noting that she's the head of a family so unruly Tarvek once commented the only way to keep them in line would be to kill them, a family that's produced folks like Martellus, so she has to be doing something right.
• Deadly Decadent Court: She runs it and apparently has no problems with her kids and grandchildren killing each other and the in-laws. She once threw a party while Paris was under attack and half the city was flooded in the chaos. She even uses such events to make her parties more spectacular and gain power. She has spies everywhere. All this indicates that she is well aware of what is going on, well more than the grand majority of the general population, but is so high and almighty that she neither fears nor cares about the problems the lower classes face. If you aren't good enough to survive in her court, then relative or not, you deserve what comes to you. From what we heard of him, her husband wasn't any better.
• Defector from Decadence: An odd variation where she hasn't defected to the "good guys", but rather she still defected away from the most evil side. Unlike her (presumed) son-in-law Wilhelm and many other men of the cabal, who was madly loyal to Lucrezia, Grandma has been described as "hating Lucrezia", is outright opposed to and plotting against her, has taken control of at least a major part of the Knights of Jove away from The Other's objectives, and has basically ordered that all of her subordinates put aside rivalries and other cross-purpose agendas to take out anyone still loyal to Lucrezia, likely having performed a major purge of Lucrezia loyalists in the Knights of Jove during the timeskip. All of that said.. She cheerfully assists Zola!Lucrezia!The Queen of the Dawn in escaping from Paris when the latter woman's take-over plans get at least temporarily thwarted by Colette Voltaire becoming the new all-powerful Mistress of the city. Or at least being caught by Colette's forces, as always with this character, her motives for doing so remain vague, as it's entirely possible that she plans on acquiring Lucrezia's secrets via Zola still having Lucrezia trapped in her head.
• Dirty Old Woman:
  • When Tarvek, disguised as a servant, makes a joke about her whipping him, she cheerfully states that he sounds "just like his grandfather", which immediately makes Tarvek wish for Brain Bleach.
  • During The Reveal that she is close to Simon Voltaire, he calls her a "scheming flirt" as an Insult of Endearment, implying she's always been like this.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": She was usually referred to mainly as "grandmother" though this is because most of the time, she was with her family. She's revealed to be named Terebithia when Simon Voltaire, Master of Paris, refers to her as such. Given their First-Name Basis with one another, they've had a history and still soft spots for one another.
• Evil Matriarch: Probably. She's in charge of the Knights of Jove, which is not in any way a pleasant organization, but how evil is still an open question. For example, it's unclear whether she supports Tarvek or Martellus over each other, or, given the return of the original Storm King someone else.
• Good Parents: "Good" being in relative terms considering she's still a member of her family and just as much a schemer as her kids and numerous grandkids, but she's certainly a better parent/grandparent than Tarvek and Anevka's father ever was. She definitely cares about her grandkids, and the feeling is mutual - when she and Tarvek finally reunite, their discussion is quite cordial and even heartwarming, with Tarvek even concerned for her health. Specifically, bursitis in her dominant shoulder, which she complains hampers her ability to use a whip, while Tarvek notes that he told her to use her cane instead, though Grandma remarks that said cane makes her look old. Of course, they have this conversation immediately after she had Tarvek kidnapped and forcibly dragged to her.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Whatever her ultimate goal is, it's not known to us. As noted above, she's been said to "hate Lucrezia" but other than that her plans are unknown; it's not even clear which of her relatives, if any, she would prefer to see become Storm King.
• Hidden Depths: When she learns that Archimedes' Lever has started spewing lightning, she knows exactly what it means (Andronicus Valois is still alive) and immediately begins making plans to take advantage of this fact. How much of this is fore-knowledge as opposed to shrewd guess-work is currently unknown.
  • She's also well-acquainted with Simon Voltaire, the Master of Paris. She has invited him to several of her parties (though he never showed up despite promising to). Their quieted dialogue indicates they care a good deal about one another and even may have been intimate in the past. Furthermore, they're on first-name basis with one another and refer to one another in affectionate insults all while she supports him and gently clasps his hand.
• Life of the Party: Given that Martellus believes that having a death ray built into a party sleigh is totally in character for her, she must have thrown some truly wild parties in her time.
• Never Mess with Granny: She's getting up there in years and is shown to be suffering from arthritis, but still manages to efficiently run one of the world's most widespread spy networks, on top of being strong enough to crush a pistol with her bare hands (as Zola finds out the hard way).
• Whip of Dominance: She's a stern Evil Matriarch that has quite the reputation for using a whip. When she talks to Tarvek about whipping her servants into shape, she makes it clear it's not just an expression when she says she can't do it as well anymore because "her shoulders aren't what they used to be". She also implies she used her whip on her husband for kinky reasons, much to Tarvek's distress.

Sturmvoraus family

See Protagonists for Tarvek.

Aaronev VI

Aaronev Wilhelm Sturmvoraus VI, the Prince of Sturmhalten

The ruler of Sturmhalten, and the father of Tarvek and Anevka Sturmvoraus. He's pledged loyalty to Lucrezia Mongfish and does her work in the Knights of Jove. He's also a complete nutcase.

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• Ax-Crazy: In his royal theatre, the spot where the Prince sits has a built-in machine gun aimed at the stage, in case the play is too "boring". He'll still shoot even if he's amused. It just makes it harder for him to aim.
• The Caligula: He's an insane prince obsessed with un-sealing a Sealed Evil in a Can, even at the cost of his own family. This isn't even getting into how he treats visitors to the principality.
• Dirty Old Man:
  • Requests the circus to stage "The Socket Wench of Prague" - the play obscene enough to chase the performers out of a town in a usual case, and orders them to "tart it up" as well.
  • He's also obsessed with Lucrezia, and tries to resurrect her in the body of his own daughter, with the implication of fully intending to go all the way.
• Emperor Scientist: A Spark who runs a small, isolated town, and uses his position to intimidate people passing through, since his town is one of the few safe passages in the area.
• Feudal Overlord: He poses as a "good little vassal" of the Baron's empire, but in reality, his town is housing such an absurd amount of Other tech that it may as well be ruled by the Other themselves.
• Gold Digger: Well, at least Lady Vrin suspects so, but apparently he was trying to seduce Lucrezia to use her slaver wasps.
• I Was Quite the Looker: Overweight, balding and his hair's turned grey, but apparently in his youth he was the spitting image of Tarvek.
• Karmic Death: He's killed by Anevka, one of the girls forced into the "Holy Machine", right as he's forcing yet another girl in.
• King Bob the Nth: The fourth or sixth Prince Aaronev Sturmvoraus of Sturmhalten, depending on if you use the novel's counting or the comic's.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Tarvek tries to have his death passed off as a lab accident, which immediately draws the Baron's suspicion, since while Whilhelm had many faults, he was a stickler for lab safety.
• Middle Name Basis: Like his son Tarvek, people generally use his middle name Wilhelm in casual conversation.
• My God, What Have I Done?: If Tarvek's flashback (SPOILERS!!) is trustworthy, then Wilhelm was genuinely distressed when his daughter Anevka almost died after he hooked her up to the "Holy Machine".
• Offing the Offspring: By accident, in the case of the "real" Anevka.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, he shares a first name with his son, who answers to his middle name of Tarvek in conversation to distinguish them.
• Pervert Dad: Implied. He had an affair with Lucrezia. He then tried downloading Lucrezia's personality into his own daughter. Yech.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Not himself, but the Other, who he's devoted his life to un-sealing.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He only shows up in Volume 5 (and dies that volume), but he's the one who housed the Geisterdamen and their "Holy Machine" in Sturmhalten, making him more or less the one responsible for the Other's comeback.
• Town with a Dark Secret: Is the prince of one, where the "dark secret" in question is that almost everyone there is a Revenant infected by Slaver Wasps.
• Undying Loyalty: To Lucrezia. Aaronev is a villainous example, in that this loyalty drives him to the point of obsession with his family's "sacred task" of unleashing a Sealed Evil onto the world.
• Would Hurt a Child: Would hurt several children, in fact — mostly girls. So many girls that (as Tarvek later explained) it led to a gender imbalance among Sparks.

Anevka Sturmvoraus

Princess Anevka Sturmvoraus

Tarvek's debatably-living sister. After an ill-conceived Mad Science experiment of her father's left her at death's door, her brother constructed a new robotic body that she could operate from within her life-support tank.

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• Ax-Crazy: Can become this if in a bad mood.
• Came Back Wrong: One possible interpretation of her actions after having her heavily-damaged body placed in a portable life-support pod and hooked to a puppet-clank, which eventually replaced her without even realizing it; however, we never get a chance to see what she was like before her father strapped her into the Summoning Engine. Maybe she was always like this..
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: It's all but outright stated that the only reason she hasn't killed her brother is because he's one of the few people who could repair her body if something happened.
• Clothing Damage: When she kills her father, it burns her dress.
• Dead All Along: The real princess died ages ago. What we see is her personality imprinted into the robot she originally used to interact with the world. She didn't even realize she died!
• Faux Affably Evil: Her initial appearance has her being polite and considerate towards Agatha, which almost immediately vanishes, showing that Anevka (or rather the clank that thinks she's Anevka) is a dangerous and violent psychopath.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Well, princess, but in the novel, Tarvek mentions that when she's in a bad mood, she tends to kill whoever's nearby.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: While she mainly did it for her own agenda (but also for revenge), her father did deserve to be fried.
• Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: That she killed her father — even if he deserved it — is used to highlight just how ruthless and amoral she is.
• Man in the Machine: A variant. Subverted—the "man" died years ago, and the machine didn't even notice.
• Perpetual Smiler: Her mouth is designed to look like it's perpetually smiling.
• Psycho Electro: Anevka is a little too fond of using her shock abilities on anyone who gets in her way.
• Put on a Bus: She hasn't been seen since Tarvek deactivated her in Sturmhalten. He then removed her Cranial Processing Unit and replaced it with one containing the Other's personality. And hasn't mentioned that to anyone yet. This is concerning to say the least, especially as Other!Anevka was last seen controlling Klaus via slaver-wasp.
  • The Bus Came Back: Turns out the Clank Lucrezia that attacked Agatha's group trying to stop them from getting the Lucrezia in Agatha's mind out is actually the Other in Anevka's body herself. Once Tarvek learns this, he shows that he can still control her body in spite of all the modifications.
• Replacement Goldfish: She's nothing more than a replacement for real Anevka, there to make Prince Aaronev feel less guilt over using his own daughter as a guinea pig. Also for Tarvek.
  Tarvek: I am — was, very fond of my sister. I want you to know — my father was not the only one comforted by your presence.
• Robot Girl: Her mechanical body is designed to look like a human woman. She's more robot than she appeared.
• Robotic Psychopath: More than happy to kill family members if it gives her an advantage.
• Self-Made Orphan: She killed her father and it's strongly implied in the second novelization that she did the same thing to her mother.
• Shock and Awe: She can re-route her power system to deliver lethal electric shocks...
• Tomato in the Mirror: The real Anevka died long ago, leaving her personality imprinted on the robot half. This personality is unaware her human parts have perished entirely.
• Theseus' Ship Paradox: One of the heartbreaking human examples. Initially, Anevka's remains — contained in the carboy carried by footmen — controlled the clank body attached to the carboy by cables like a puppet, but as she weakened, the clank did more and more on her own. In the end, the clank didn't even notice when she died. The only one aware of the whole process was Tarvek, and apparently the clank was so much like his sister even he is unsure exactly when she died.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: She goes through many very fabulous costumes.
• Villainous Breakdown: After having nearly gotten away with her plan, she has a complete freak-out when Tarvek reveals what she really is.
• Villainous Princess: The princess of Sturmhalten and batshit crazy.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Once it's revealed that the real Anevka died and her clank body unknowingly grew self aware, the story treats her like she was nothing but a Replacement Goldfish Tarvek kept around to make himself feel better about failing to save his sister. However, she was still a perfect copy of Anevka's mind, fully sentient with human emotions and capable thinking and acting independently. When Tarvek stashes her Cranial Processing Unit away in a cupboard to reuse her body for Lucrezia, he tells her to "Sleep well, Anevka", so apparently he wasn't intending to just throw her away like trash.

von Blitzengaard family

Martellus von Blitzengaard

Martellus von Blitzengaard, Usurper of the Lightning Throne

A cousin of Tarvek and the self-proclaimed Storm King.

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• Acquired Poison Immunity: Tweedle is immune to the sedative-laced Corbettite cakes, which poses a problem for our heroine (who was not immune). However, an invisible hand came out of nowhere and konked him with a blackjack.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: His primary interest with Agatha is to marry her, thus fulfilling the old "Storm King x Heterodyne" prophecy and cementing his claim to the Lightning Crown. However, his skills with women appear to be less than ideal to say the very least.
• Artificial Limbs: Agatha helps him replace his left hand with a mechanical one after it's poisoned by a rebel Smoke Knight.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He was able to retain his hold on the Storm King title once Tarvek was written off pretty much by being a better killer than the assassins they sent after him.
• At Least I Admit It: He states that Tarvek was only using Agatha for his own ends. When Agatha asks if he's any better, he says "Of course not. But I'll be honest with you about it, which I can see he never was."
• The Atoner: Makes a point to stop pushing Agatha and wait on her to help him first. He refuses to be (intentionally) impolite or wake her up early in the morning for it. Agatha, still thinking he just wants to use her, calls him an idiot. He still fails, however, as he still tries to flirt instead of just admitting what he feels.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Martellus will attack his foe with absolutely no consideration for defense or feasibility of victory. Dreen? Smush it, it's done with. Wulfenbach clank brigade? Charge! Gil Wulfenbach himself? Damn the dead sparkhounds, my crippled hands, and crippled mecha that came here to extract me! KILL HIMMMMMM!!!!
• The Beast Master: His Sparky specialty seems to lie in modified animals.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: He tries to invoke this with Agatha; after a conversation with a Jaeger, he decides that the best way to impress her is to "be a bigger monster." Unfortunately for him, Agatha is not the monster her ancestors were, and therefore she doesn't appreciate his aggressive flirting. To his credit, he learns quickly and gives up on this particular strategy.
• Benevolent Boss: In general. His knights and sparkhounds are fiercely loyal to him and he returns their dedication. When Andronicus turns several of his men into zombies, Martellus puts them down as respectfully as he can and is furious with the man responsible. He also acknowledges the value in the Knights of Jove's smoke knights and tries to avoid wasting their lives if he can help it. That said, he's not above executing a minion who defies his direct orders and patronizes him in the process.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He's kind of been outclassed ever since his first appearance. And since then he's been treated as a chew toy by both Agatha and Gil. Except now King Valois, Baron Wulfenbach, and Master Voltaire are all dead or incapacitated, and Tarvek isn't in the best position to reclaim his position as top condender for the Storm King's throne, so Martellus has it on lock for the time being.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family:
  • As with all the Valois clans, he is deeply involved in their backstabbing scheming.
    Martellus: Every single time I think I have killed the person responsible for usurping my command, I find there's someone else higher up, still fighting me. Now, don't get me wrong, I can kill family members all day and know I'm making the world a better place — But smoke knights take time and money to train — And I'd rather not waste too many of them. So, will killing you solve my problem, or—
  • And then immediately subverted by the arrival of his little sister, who he seems to show genuine affection for, and who seems to reciprocate. Though she's still willing to risk him as bait.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • His introduction is... a bit embarassing. Despite having a showy entrance, he is completely outplayed by Klaus, his clank suit gets destroyed by a Dreen, and he's basically forced into a bit player role for the rest of the battle. It's only until Klaus suddenly shows up that he suddenly seizes his moment, nabs Agatha and surprises Tarvek with a poisoned knife, and even then it turns out this really ended up being surprisingly helpful for almost everyone involved.
  • Goes through a decent amount of this during the Corbettite arc, despite also being a serious threat at the time. The monks' general mocks him, the rampaging monster-train humiliates him more than once, Agatha subjects him to a Groin Attack and he loses an army of bears to Krosp. And then he gets talked down to by Klaus-in-Gil and Lucrezia-in-Agatha. And as a final insult, he gets blackjacked by Violetta, without any of the Corbettites seeing her.
  • This seems to be a recurring thing for him. While he ends the Paris arc in a good place, having done more to solidify his position as the Storm King, he's also despised by Agatha's group, Agatha is moving well out of his reach (England), his own sister is plotting behind his back to make sure Agatha hooks up with Tarvek instead of him (in a misguided attempt to get herself with Gil), the Empire, with Gil as its head, is unlikely to recognize him as Storm King despite his heroics in Paris given Gil would obviously favor Tarvek as long as Tarvek is an option (as evidenced by Martellus sending assassins after Tarvek to get rid of him), AND he loses said top assassin and many of his beloved sparkhounds in said assassination attempt.
  • In spite of all of this, he eventually claims the crown of the Storm King through defeating his ancestor, albeit with help. But then, see below under Hoist by His Own Petard.
• Casanova Wannabe: Several of his associates and family members imply that he has rather terrible luck with women. His blunt approach to everything seems to be a large part of the problem.
• Catch and Return: Does this with two poisoned knives (caught by handles) at once.
• Character Development: Since his arrival in England, he's shown some hints of this, including nixing a suggestion to have Agatha subdued and captured again — because he wants her to see him as a genuine ally.
• Composite Character: In-Universe, a Heterodyne show put on by Master Payne's Circus of Adventure combines Martellus' title and mechanical arm with Wilhelm Sturmvoraus' familial relations to an "evil mechanical daughter", namely Anevka Sturmvoraus.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Although he may seem like a goofy oaf at first glance, he has shown to be an exceptional combatant and strategist, in addition to being able to fight off and even kill a handful of Smoke Knights with no difficulty. And he is still a Spark after all, which is why Tarvek (reluctantly) keeps Gil from fighting him and even recruits him to help get The Other out of Agatha.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Trying to control Agatha by altering her body-chemistry makes him just as dependent on physical contact with her as she (originally) requires from him. He's damned lucky that Agatha, while she hates him and immediately created an alternative for touching him, prefers not to let him die.
  • When going to investigate 'The Beast', he assumes he'll be fine since the creature eats metal, not people — forgetting about his (now metal) left hand.
• Dragon Ascendant: He was Dimitri Vapnoople's apprentice when the latter man caused all kinds of trouble in Europa with his rampaging armies of animal constructs.
• Enemy Mine: Offers an alliance, since even if he considers Tarvek and Gil to be rivals for control over Europa, the fact remains that the Other is slowly but surely winning, and her victory would leave none of them an empire to fight over.
• Entertainingly Wrong: He promises Agatha that he'll be honest with her about not being any better than Tarvek, assuming his cousin never was. However, Tarvek has been up front about not being a good person.
• Evil Counterpart: Although he is initially presented as an Evil Counterpart to Tarvek (their Sparky predilections and means of education are even in contrast, as Tarvek's signature is reverse-engineering the Muses which he learned to do from Van Rijn's notes while Martellus's is modified animals like his Sparkhounds which he learned from his mentor Dr. Vapnoople), he mirrors Gil better. Like Gil, he's blunt, physically powerful, not good with people, and tends to treat his peers like children. At the same time, he has people he cares about and harming them or worse leads to both of them losing their shit. Unlike Gil, he's perfectly willing to use murder as a first solution, administers various types of mind control on people he can't kill for whatever reason, and where Gil tends to treat those who can't keep up with him as children to be corralled and protected, Martellus tends to treat those he sees as his "lessers" and as disposable pawns. It's Lampshaded by Tarvek's "Martellus insider" Norville, who thinks Gil and Martellus would get along well if Tarvek was dead.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Gets pissed off when his men are suddenly turned into zombie-like revenants thanks to a weapon wielded by Andronicus. He genuinely considered some of them his friends and when he has to put down them down, he tells them who they once were before telling them to rest.
  • And he appears to be genuinely fond of his sister, and has openly praised her intellect.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • He also claims he would set aside his crown in an instant if it would end the machinations of the Other once and for all. Agatha doesn't trust him an inch but decides she does believe him about that, likely because of the above.
  • He is fully aware that most of his family and erstwhile allies are as much or more of a stain on Europa as he is, and killing them is doing the world a favor.
  • The Corbettite abbot notes that supposedly, someone from Martellus' family stole something valuable from him, fled to their fortress, and released a monster imprisoned within while Martellus brought an army to their doorstep to recover his stolen property. Leading the abbot to accuse him of having planned the entire affair to give himself an excuse to "heroically aid the monks" via bringing his army into the stronghold of a famously independent sect. Martellus is taken aback by the accusation and swears he did not have such a scheme, before being impressed the abbot thought of something so devious and offering him a job as one of his advisors.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A relatively mild example, but Martellus is utterly baffled as to why stabbing Tarvek in the heart with a poisoned dagger caused Agatha to start trying to kill him with everything she had (which, unfortunately, wasn't a lot at that moment). In his own words, "Don't tell me you're upset about Tarvek? Don't worry, he's not longer of any use to you."
• Fluffy Tamer: Oddly enough, he seems to be a Sparky version of this (though he probably wouldn't bother with cute names). As noted below, he created singing bears, bred his own Sparkhounds (and evidently uplifted at least one of them) — and during the arc involving the Beast (a sentient train-like construct), his suggestions have involved animal behaviorist techniques (creating bait/toys to distract it). Maybe he'd be happier running a pet shop...
• The Friend Nobody Likes: He's been turning into this after getting handed several defeats by the protagonists; in the 2020 strips, he, Agatha, Gil and Tarvek are going to a royal ball in London as a group. He's an able Spark with considerable power who is willing to join the fight against the Other, so they're willing to put up with him now that he's toned things down a notch. But they still don't like him.
• Groin Attack: Agatha gives him perhaps the single most deserved one EVER. Shortly after meeting Agatha for the first time, he did something to her so she would die without regular physical contact with him. Agatha quickly replicates the effect with a wasp weasel, but after such an intimate trespass, the thought of any contact with him drives her to screaming rage. Similar attacks can thus be expected.
• The Heavy: He's the most present antagonist from Vol. XIII to around Vol. 2-2 (15). He's the one who kidnapped Agatha, meddled with her body, and pressured the Corbettites into recognizing his claim. But after entering Paris, he takes a backseat as the Token Evil Teammate of Agatha's party.
• Hidden Depths:
  • When interrogating a Jaeger he discovers fought his ancestor, the first Storm King, he surprisingly takes time to ask questions about Euphrosynia and why she betrayed Andronicus. The question and exchange afterwards reveal that he is a romantic like the rest of his family. In fact, it could be seen that his motivations for bad behavior is for pragmatic reasons along with his own shortcomings messing with it.
  • He does have some family he cares about along with the men who serve him he considers friends. The fact he acknowledges them as good men shows implies that he knows they are better morally than him. He ain't happy with what the Storm King forced him to do.
  • And he's proven to be very sharp on the subject of the mentality of animal constructs; evidently he was Vapnoople's apprentice for a reason.
  • Martellus actually appreciates Krosp giving him several "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Though insulting, Krosp is giving him useful criticism he can learn from.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: It turns out that his messing with his and Agatha's body chemistry resulted in him needing her physical touch to survive as much as she needs his. Or more so for a while, since she has the weasels she modified to alleviate the effect on her, while it took Martellus longer to create his own stopgap.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Grabs one when dealing with a mysterious creature at the Corbettitie base. He insists they won't be devoured since the monks have stated that the monster only eats metal. Not only do the monks point out that the creature wants revenge on them and thus they are very much in danger, but Tweedle has forgotten that his prosthetic hand is made of metal. Soon after that, he grabs Agatha in a borderline I Have You Now, My Pretty way... with predictable results (see previous entry).
  • Decides to use Andronicus' sword to attack the undead Andronicus in Paris, which Agatha instantly calls out for how bad a plan it is. Sure enough he's eventually disarmed and the sword is picked up by the person they very much did not want to have it.
• In Love with the Mark: While he started out viewing Agatha only as a potential political tool, it turns out that he's developed actual feelings for her — not that she knows that, nor would she be likely to believe it if someone told her. Besides, as Krosp points out, she (entirely justifiably) hates him.
• In-Series Nickname: Tarvek calls him "Tweedle".
• Kiss of Distraction: Gives one to the copy of Lucrezia possessing Agatha, resulting in her saying that she will save killing him for last and distracting her long enough to attach a helmet designed to extract her from Agatha's head. Agatha is later both thankful and disgusted. Interestingly, he appears likewise disgusted at having kissed Lucrezia, wiping his mouth after the aforementioned kiss.
• Klingon Promotion: Secures his claim to the Lightning Throne by killing the undead Andronicus Valois.
• Knight in Shining Armor: He tries to present himself as one of these upon meeting Agatha, with his army marching against the Baron's to protect Mechanicsburg.
• Large Ham: An Invoked Trope (unlike most Sparks) because he's playing the Knight in Shining Armor come to save the Damsel in Distress.
• Life-or-Limb Decision: Tweedle takes a poisoned smoke knight dagger to the left hand. He eventually cuts it off to stop the poison, and Agatha creates a prosthetic replacement for it while sleep-sparking (as she'd be unlikely to voluntarily help the brute).
• Love Potion: As he said, in the fifth panel of this, he was originally planning to control Agatha with a formula developed by his great aunt Rappaccini, which would have made her his adoring slave. The only downside is that it would have made her unbearably stupid. And since he recognized how strong a Spark she was, he realized she was too useful to do that to.
• Made of Iron: Took a chair to the back of his head from Agatha, only for him to shrug it off and tell her to stop it. Later recovered very quickly from being shot in the side. He also can still contribute Sparky ideas while recovering from a Groin Attack.
• Mad Scientist: He's a Spark, and was apparently the apprentice to Krosp's creator, Dr. Dimitri Vapnoodle.
• Moral Myopia: Played straight and partially justified. Tarvek honestly isn't that much better than Martellus is, yet more people respect and like Tarvek than Martellus. Tarvek is much more sociable and affable than Martellus and is more willing to talk first while Martellus is okay with killing right off the bat. Tarvek is also okay with killing in cold blood and can and will beat and strangle people to death with his own two hands. That being said, Martellus is much better at keeping his family in line as they are more easily scared than manipulated into submission.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: As seems to be traditional within his extended family. His name means "Hammer from the Manor of Lightning".
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Martellus didn't kidnap Agatha precisely when he did, then he, she, Krosp and Violetta would have been frozen in time by the Baron. This means that the Other could have successfully attacked Paris and London and the Beast could have destroyed the Corbettites. Similarly, if Gil had retrieved Agatha from the time field, then the Klaus imprint on his mind might have killed her on the spot.
• Noble Demon: Evil as he may be, he genuinely cares for his men and is horrified when they're zombified by the undead Valois. He puts them down with epithets before returning to fight the Storm King, this time utterly pissed off.
• Not Me This Time: He actually does this to himself. When the Master summons his army, Martellus starts freaking out.
  Martellus: EEK! Monsieur Machines! It's the Gendarmy! ...Wait... calm down... This isn't my fault. I've done nothing wrong.
  Master Voltaire: Martellus Von Blitzengaard! Why am I not surprised?!
  Martellus: AH! It wasn't me Master Voltaire, honest!
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: He's introduced getting duped by the Baron and having his clank effortlessly destroyed by a dreen, but then he goes and kidnaps Agatha and stabs Tarvek with a poisoned knife.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: As with the rest of the Sturmvoraus family, his seemingly goofy manner is all just an act to cover up a more sinister agenda, which becomes obvious when he whispers to Tarvek that Agatha should have been killed, since she will make a hard-to-control Puppet Queen. Violetta expresses surprise that he uses Spark Hounds, mentioning that he used to make miniature singing bears.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: While putting down rebellious family members, he states he knows he can kill family members all day and know he's still making the world a better place. And he's not wrong in that either.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • His most secure bolthole inside his home fortress was set up by himself, without any minions. Agatha questions why he didn't just kill them, and Martellus points out that this is a world where death keeps very few secrets.
  • He decides against using a special drug to turn Agatha into his adoring slave, since it would also destroy her intelligence and her Spark, and she's far too useful with those intact.
  • He tries to end his family's efforts to stop him asserting his authority as quickly as possible because, while he has no love for said family members and is perfectly willing to keep killing them, he's also killing valuable smoke knights that will take a lot of time and effort to replace.
  • Later, he orders his troops to not harm the mind-controlled civilians attacking them. When they complain, he points out they are being watched.
• Prince Charmless: Despite all of his hoity-toity talk, he's more or less just a brute. He kidnaps Agatha soon after meeting her, experiments on her in her sleep, and spends a lot of the following time creeping on her. The dude makes Othar Tryggvassen look like a more plausible romantic choice.
• Properly Paranoid: Has a deep-seated dislike of Dr. Rakethorn because it's clear to see to everyone, with the possible exception of Gil and Agatha, that he and Ms. Thorpe are cutting in between Agatha and any potential lovers. He hasn't called it out directly, yet, because he is more diplomatic and less smug about noticing it than Tarvek. It just seems to annoy him.
• Royal Blood: He is a descendant of the Storm King, and is next in line after Tarvek. Since Tarvek was written off as dead while trapped in the time bubble, he ascended to the throne.
• Smug Snake: He takes measures to ensure Agatha needs him alive, but he foolishly assumes that that alone will be enough to control her.
• Spear Counterpart: To Zola. Both of them are cousins to one of the main characters (Tarvek for Tweedle; Agatha for Zola) who, as part of the Knights of Jove's conspiracy, seek to usurp their respective cousins' rightful titles for themselves. They both introduce themselves with flowery speeches in Mechanicsburg. They both show themselves to be very prone to violence when in privacy. They were both students of one of Lucrezia's affiliates (Vapnoople for Tweedle; Milvistle for Zola). Interestingly, they both have their own Villainous Crushes on their counterpart's respective cousins.
• Stating the Simple Solution: When observing the machine that Lucrezia has modified alongside Gil and Tarvek, he takes in Tarvek's observations on them trying to find said modifications and proposing to just rebuild the machine from scratch than risk trying to undo it and miss something. The two acknowledge his point.
• Token Evil Teammate: Of Agatha's party during the Paris and England arcs, overlapping with being The Friend Nobody Likes. But after the England arc, he no longer needs Agatha and seems to be getting back into his antagonistic role.
• The Usurper: He took measures to have the cabal write Tarvek off after the Sturmhalten incident, since he was next in line to the Lightning Throne. Then he took measures to assassinate Tarvek. After the time skip, he maintains his grip on the throne by killing anyone who tries to take it from him, but it's clear that no-one (except maybe his sister) actually wants him to be king. Multiple factions try to get to Tarvek, with varying levels of success, under the simple logic that there's no way he can be worse than Martellus. His grip on the throne seems to be getting shakier. Krosp believes he won't survive the year, and the Muse of Geometries calculates his claim to be a "distant third, at best". Neither Agatha nor Gil will recognize him as the Storm King either, with Agatha stating "Not even if it will free Mechanicsburg," and Colette in her official capacity as the new Master of Paris was careful not to state him as such either, only recognizing his questionable claim.
• Villainous Crush: Tweedle happens to be interested in Agatha, part because marrying a Heterodyne is part of the whole Storm King mythos, and part because he's actually interested in her. Agatha on her side of things makes it clear that she's not interested.
• Villainous Friendship: When his henchmen are zombified by Andronicus Valois, he lays each of them to rest, reminding them of who they were, the good they did, and giving a brief blessing before returning to his battle with his ancestor. And when he does, he's pissed. What had been a battle for the throne of the Storm King is now personal.
• Villainous Valor: Whatever his other faults, he is in no way a coward.
• Villain with Good Publicity: What his aims are in the Paris arc: to use his grandmother's pageant-party to declare himself the Storm King publicly in a major city in such a way as to endear himself to people. His battle against the undead Andronicus plays right into this, even though Agatha, the Jägers, Tarvek, the Master, and Colette really do more of the work. It pays off as Colette, the new leader of Paris seemingly recognizes him as the Storm King afterwards. Of course, if he had been paying more attention to her wording, he would have realized she wasn't actually recognizing his claim, but just saying he could leave in peace.
• The Von Trope Family: So far the only major aristocratic character to carry the German "von", a sign of nobility, in his name.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: His plan to become the Storm King is solid. He knows how to exploit the politics of the nobility, and he gets religious leaders to back him, solidifying his claim. The problem is the Storm King has a mythology all on it's own, much like King Arthur, that he is ignoring. He is less familiar with the Muses than Tarvek is, having to ask one of them their name rather than recognizing them on sight like his cousin. The Muse in question, Orotine, tells him that he will need more than realpolitik to become the Storm King.

Seffie

Princess Xerxsephina von Blitzengaard

Xerxsephina "Seffie" von Blitzengaard is the far more level-headed sister to Martellus von Blitzengaard, acting as the liason between Baron Gil Wulfenbach and the Knights of Jove after the Time Skip and the resurgence of the Long War.

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• Arranged Marriage: She's trying to set one up between Gil and herself. She's well aware he's obsessed with Agatha, but is insistent that it would help stabilize everything if the two largest factions were joined by marriage. Gil is annoyed to note that she's right.
  • She elaborates to Tarvek later that she knows she'll end up in a political marriage one way or another, so she might as well choose who she wants to marry, and Gil is the best choice by far. It may not sound like a great marriage on paper, but she's determined to make it work.
• Affably Evil: Evil is a big stretch, but she is manipulative and can be uncaring towards others livelihoods. Nevertheless, she's unfailingly charming. Gil regards her as an old friend, and Tarvek (who hates his family as a rule) says that she's a doll, while acknowledging that she's all the more dangerous for it.
• Badass Normal: She isn't a spark but that doesn't hinder her ability to scheme and manipulate others, such as Gil or her brother. It also doesn't stop her from being just as crazy as a Spark.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She's decidedly not a fan of Gil's crush on Agatha. Later, when Queen Albia is attempting to encourage a romance between Gil and Trelawney Thorpe, Seffie is apoplectic.
• Evil Laugh: She's working on her harmonics.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: She has a couple of moments during the attack on Paris. First, she tells her grandmother that she shouldn't beat the servants... because it's bad for her shoulder. Next, when Colette has trouble controlling the gargoyles, she asks her to avoid killing Martellus, because she needs him alive for her master plan. On the other hand, usefulness seems to overshadow affection in this family as a rule.
• Mask of Sanity: Possibly. While she seems affable enough even if a bit eccentric due to wanting to perfect maniacal laughter, she COMPLETELY loses it when the tea she is drinking "becomes cold" and she smashes the cup against the table several times. Of course, the real trigger is her being confronted with the fact that Gil loves Agatha rather than her. When she comes out of it, she apparently doesn't process that she broke the cup and casually blames it on one of her underlings.
• The Matchmaker: Encourages Tarvek's crush on Agatha to get Agatha out of the way for her own crush on Gil, which also means she's opposing Martellus' claim to the Lightning Throne, as his claim basically hinges on him wedding Agatha.
• Men Like Dogs, Women Like Cats: When Tweedle decided to make an Uplifted cat, Seffie was all over the kitty, and noted that Tweedle is "more of a huge hairy dog monster person" (in reference to his Knights of the Hunt).
• No Sense of Personal Space: She's a bit hands-on when it comes to Gil. Not too much, not even enough for him to mention it, but enough to earn her a few glares.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: She is (at least when the subject isn't Gil) a more level-headed counterpart to her heavy-handed and brutal brother.
• Secret-Keeper: Surprisingly, Gil trusts her enough to use her as a diplomatic messenger, even giving her papers meant to be placed "under the rock in catacombs." Furthermore, she appears to know that Gil has his father riding around in his head.
• Stalker with a Crush: She has a borderline-psychotic crush on Gil and has been intercepting his letters since she was a child.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: Inadvertently starts a new fashion trend in Britain when she shows up at the Queen's court with candy in her hair, claiming it's fashion, rather than just admitting she slipped and fell and it got stuck in her hair.
• Underestimating Badassery: Like Klaus, Lucrezia, Vole, Martellus, and who knows how many others, Seffie underestimates Agatha.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: She's very flexible in her planning, to the point of tossing the entire Knights of Jove agenda in the circular file after everything went pear-shaped and forming an alliance with the heir of the Empire they'd been planning to replace.

Selkinov family

Lord Selnikov

Lord Rudolph Selnikov, Commander of the Knights of Jove

One of the Knights of Jove, Lord Selnikov assists Anevka in her attempt to usurp her brother. He also leads the Knights in their attack on Mechanicsburg, consequently getting himself killed by Gil.

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• Awful Wedded Life: He and Lady Selnikov despised one another, and Lord Selnikov is implied to have frequently cheated on her whenever she was away. The moment he realizes being reanimated will mean the end of his marriage he perks up and ask Dr. Sun is if he can have a plaque reading "Reanimated Abomination of Science" bolted to his forehead.
• Badass Normal: He's got no Spark, and is past his prime, but he's still surprisingly capable.
• Brain in a Jar: Thanks to a mix of Gil's lightning stick and Vole's method of "recovering" his body, it's what he's been reduced to.
• Death Is Cheap: He was killed by Gil's attack, but revived since the Baron determined he'd possess information that would be of use to them.
• Dirty Old Man: Missed the news about his brother in-law being killed because he gave his staff orders to leave him alone for several hours, while his wife was away in Paris. Ahem.
• Hidden Depths: While not a Spark, the novels mention he does actually have a reasonably sharp brain, once it gets going.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: He's not too fond of his wife or his brother in-law, Prince Aaronev.
• Oh, Crap!: Practically his default expression.
• Pragmatic Evil: During the attempted take-over of Mechanicsburg, he stated he wanted to make it at least look like he wanted to do it without bloodshed. He also advised against antagonising the Jägermonsters. He also switches sides to Wulfenbach rather readily, citing how despite them being so ruthless, it's a step up from being in the Decadent Court of the Knights of Jove.
• Secret-Keeper: He is one of few that knows about Spark-infecting wasp. The others are Prince Aronev and the creator of the device himself. Well, and Tarvek, but he wasn't supposed to know.

Margarella

Lady Margarella Selnikov, Sturmvoraus Dissident

Lady Margarella Selnikov (or "Aunt Marglotta" to Violetta) is the widow of Lord Rudolf Selnikov, a member of the Knights of Jove, and sister to Prince Aaronev.

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• Action Survivor: She's made it as far as Agatha's auspices without being offed by Smoke Knights, but she certainly is not fighter material. Subverted when it turns out she's orchestrated at least some of the railway attacks that seemed to be after her, in order to get to the Corbettites' base, and takes one of their members hostage, as seen here.
• All for Nothing: Turns out she was looking in the wrong vaults all along...
• Awful Wedded Life: It's made more explicit in the novels, but she and her husband did not have a happy union.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Turns out she was trying to get to the Corbettite fortress to go through their weapons stash, and deliberately leading the assassins to her.
• Killed Off for Real: Freeing the Beast? NOT a good idea. Violet herself verifies she is DEFINITELY dead.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Goes well with her rather black travel dress as well.
• Pet the Dog: As far as Violetta knows, either Margarella never tried to kill her or didn't try particularly hard, which counts as this in her book when compared to the rest of their family.
• Protectorate: Thanks to Agatha's Chronic Hero Syndrome. She remains so even after her identity is revealed by Wooster.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: She supports Tarvek over Tweedle, due to Tweedle being an absolutely horrible Storm King by any measure. She's on the lam because of it. This is zigzagged. It turns out she's not remotely a good person at all. And then later it turns out she wasn't working for either side, but the resolutely neutral Library. Except that the Library at the time was neutral in Tarvek's favor, so she may have still been a Tarvek loyalist after all. It's complicated.
• Villainous Breakdown: Loses it when her targeted Corbettite vault doesn't contain whatever it is she's looking for. She runs around frantically opening other vaults willy-nilly, until she gets to the one containing The Beast..

Other family members

Dio Zardeliv

Dr. Dio Zardeliv, Uncle Tick-tock

Violeta's great-uncle Dr. Zardeliv is a Spark and professor whose study is focused on time, making him very in demand after Mechanicsburg was frozen by the Take-Five Bomb. Last seen in the company of the rogue Other allied Smoke Knight Madwa Korel.

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• Faking the Dead: After leaving the Immortal Library he and Madwa killed one of the librarians he was with and doctored his corpse to look like Zardeliv.
• Killed Off for Real: His body was found on the smuggler's submarine he and Madwa used to get to England and was identified by Violeta, though Madwa's supposed body was found as well and she turned up alive.

Smoke Knights

Malek

Malek, A Stonemason at Heart

A Smoke Knight based out of Paris who serves Martellus von Blitzengaard.

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• Distracted by the Sexy: Varpa is able to distract him even though he knows that that's what she was sent to do, he's still following Agatha he's just not paying as much attention as he ought to.
• Hidden Depths: He studied Ecclesiastical Architecture at University and considers himself a stonemason at heart, as he puts it "Being a Smoke Knight is what I do not what I am."
• Hidden Weapons: None of his weapons are seen unless he's using them. It's likely Smoke Knights often wear capes to help make hiding weapons easier.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Skewered from behind while talking to Violetta.
• Impossible Thief: Smoke Knights are all capable of this and at one point he and Varpa are able to take Agatha's notes, read them over, and return them without being noticed by the two very good warriors on guard.
• McNinja: He's a Smoke Knight.
• Offscreen Teleportation / Offscreen Reality Warp: All part of the a good Smoke Knight's repertoire.
• One Head Taller: Malek is one of the taller Smoke Knights while Varpa is one of the shortest and they grow attached while working together and making out.
• Performance Anxiety: Malek is generally quite good at his job, but is used to working alone. Working with a partner leads to potentially fatal mistakes:
  Varpa: Are you trying to kill us?!
  Malek: I'm used to working alone! I get nervous when someone's watching!
• Stealth Expert: He and Varpa follow Agatha's group for a couple of days and are only noticed by the Smoke Knight in the group even though the rest of the group is made up of a couple of Sparks, a Warrior Princess, a Master Spy a Super-Soldier and a clever seasoned adventurer.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: He is a Smoke Knight so this is a basic part of his repertoire, he and Varpa were able to look over Agatha's notes while Dimo and Zeetha were on watch without even being noticed, though Violetta was aware of their presence.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: The Geisterdamen announce their presence in Paris and the fact that they've been alerted to Agatha's group by spearing him through the chest with some kind of hook on a rope and yanking him out of the carriage to toss him away off the rooftops.
• Worf Effect: The Geisterdamen occasionally need to show the audience just how deadly they are. Even top level Smoke Knights can be sneak killed by them. Though, to be fair, he was distracted at the time.

Varpa

Varpa, Poet and Smoke Knight

A Smoke Knight who serves Xerxsephina "Seffie" von Blitzengaard.

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• Badass Cape: Her dark purple cape is hooded so that she can hide her hair and eyepatch.
• Blow Gun: She uses a blow gun to take out a Geisterdamen with poison.
• Emotion Suppression: After Malek, who she'd been growing to care about, is unceremoniously killed and tossed off a roof by a Geisterdamen she has a conversation with Zeetha that hints this is part of a Smoke Knight's training though she takes a minute to get there herself.
  Zeetha: This could be a rough fight, are you going to be okay?
  Varpa: Of course. Smoke feels nothing. —and when they are dead I will be very okay.
• Eyepatch of Power: Though her low hood usually hides the eyepatch.
• Handwraps of Awesome: Varpa keeps her hands wrapped in bandages to prevent injury while fighting and to make handling poisons safer.
• Hidden Depths: She writes poetry about cheese, publishing it under a pseudonym.
• Hidden Weapons: None of her weapons are seen unless she's using them except the knife at her belt.
• Honey Trap: How she interpreted Seffie's order to "get in [Malek's] way a bit." In a twist, Malek was aware of what she was doing and didn't seem to mind.
  Malek: Does this mean no more kissing?
  Varpa: ...less kissing.
• Impossible Thief: Smoke Knights are all capable of this and at one point she and Malek are able to take Agatha's notes, read them over, and return them without being noticed by the two very good warriors on guard.
• Instant Seduction: Her Lady knows she's capable of this when she sends her to get in Martellus' Smoke Knight's way, and indeed by the time she's seen again the two appear to be in the early stages of a relationship though they've known each other for at most a day and a half.
• Kiss of Distraction: She's been distracting Malek from the mission Martellus sent him on with kisses but they've hit it off even though they know they're working against each other.
• McNinja: As are all other Smoke Knights she is essentially a European ninja.
• Offscreen Teleportation / Offscreen Reality Warp: All part of the standard competent Smoke Knight repertoire.
• Stealth Expert: She and Malek follow Agatha's group for a couple of days and are only noticed by the Smoke Knight in the group even though the rest of the group is made up of a couple of Sparks, a Warrior Princess, a Master Spy a Super-Soldier and a clever seasoned adventurer.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: All part of a Smoke Knight's repertoire. She and Malek were able to look over Agatha's notes while Dimo and Zeetha were on watch without either of them noticing.
• Uncertain Doom: The last we see of her, she's going to try and cross a revenant-infested Paris to reach Seffie's location. She's not there when we/the other characters finally arrive at said location, and the next time we see Seffie accompanied by a Smoke Knight attendant, it's not Varpa.

Veilchen

Veilchen, Smoke Knight

One of the Smoke Knights who worked for Tarvek's faction. He "parted ways" with the rescue party leaving them in an oubliette and told Violetta about the hunt on Tarvek's Smoke Knights when he was wounded himself. Seems to be a very popular dude.

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• The Ace: Tarvek explicitly calls him "one of the best."
  • Informed Attribute: He doesn't have chance to prove his competency and get Game-Breaking Injury because he forgets the monster they escaped.
• Bald of Evil: He's more of a cold-blooded professional, but the archetype is here.
• Game-Breaking Injury: His right arm is broken after the mission in the Sturmhalten sewers, forcing him to rest.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Sure, he escapes from an oubliette in pretty badass fashion, but forgets about the pursuing monsters that caused him to fall into the thing in the first place.
  • He also manages to forget that if you sneak through a sewer, you're going to pong a bit afterwards.
• Laser-Guided Karma: See Villain Ball below. He gets that after he abandoned the group for their fate.
• McNinja: As a Smoke Knight, he's basically a European ninja.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The monster catches him and he screamed. Next time he appears he reports to Tarvek.

Madwa Korel

Madwa Korel, Rogue Smoke Knight

The master of a rogue Smoke Knight cell that still serves The Other even after Grandmother divested the Knights of Jove cabal of her/it/them and all followers.

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• An Arm and a Leg: The freed Storm King grabs her arm and does something unpleasant to it, leaving a blackened remnant. Interestingly, it's fully restored later on.
• Didn't See That Coming: Madwa was fully prepared for many complications when stealing Prende's Lantern, able to lay hands on it even with the interference of Agatha and her allies, but the fact the lantern was keeping the revived Storm King in a state of stasis was not one of them, and she gets her hand rotted to a skeletal state when she's unexpectedly grabbed by him.
  • An Inversion occurs later on, in that she does see it coming, which is precisely why it takes her off-guard. Madwa surprises Raketorn and the sea-dwellers he's running away from with Prende's lantern, catching them all in a time stop before they even know she's there, and realises to her surprise that she apparently also caught Violetta in the act of sneaking up behind her to stab her In the Back, leaving her helpless and frozen, before dismissing the smoke knight's immobilised presence when trying to decide how to deal with the interlopers... only to then remember that the lantern only freezes time for any being caught in its light and Violetta's merely pretending to be immobilised right before she gets shanked. In her defence, she did note that she was very tired from non-stop patrolling right before then, leading to her slip-up.
• Enemy Mine: Not her specifically, but standing orders from "Grandmother" state that all Smoke Knight cells still loyal to the cabal are to set aside rivalries and cross purposes to seek out and destroy Madwa's cell (and any other rogue Other-loyal cells) should they be encountered.
• Evil Counterpart: To Violetta. While Violetta is a loyal Smoke Knight tasked with guarding Tarvek (and therefore also Agatha), Madwa is a rogue Smoke Knight whose loyalty is to the Other.
• He Knows Too Much: She is all set to kill the pilot that smuggled her past England's patrols to keep him quiet, up until being impressed by the fact that he knew all along and was too apathetic to care.
  Madwa: Well, now I kind of want to keep him.
• Impossible Thief: Think Violetta's pickpocketing ability, only better.
• Master Poisoner: Her poisons are well known to other smoke knights. Made from extremely rare ingredients, to boot.

• Ninja Log: She leaves this when she avoids incoming attacks. Yes, the model is similar to the person it stands for.
• Never Mess with Granny: She's an old woman, but still an expert smoke knight.
• Oh, Crap!: Has a brief moment of this when she realizes that Violetta is right behind her, knife raised and isn't in the time stop field projected by Prende's Lantern. Even she isn't quick enough to avoid getting a knife in the back.
• Old Master: In a profession that may not exactly have a long lifespan, Madwa is an old woman and still at the top of her game.
• Shout-Out: Of the ironic variety. Madwa has a diamond tattoo on her forehead — in Dune, this tattoo is worn by Suk doctors, who have been conditioned to be incapable of harming their patients. Madwa, of course, does nothing but harm her "patients" (though it's likely she actually is also a skilled medic, as this seems to be part of Smoke Knight training).
• Uncertain Doom: A dead body is pulled off a crashed submarine in England and identified as being her, but the reader never sees the corpse, and she's already shown how sneaky and deceptive she can be. It eventually turns out that yes, she's still alive.
  • Violetta exploits the mechanics of Prende's Lantern to fool Madwa long enough to get into position to stab her and retrieve the Latern. Knowing Madwa it's entirely possible she survived, but also knowing Violetta, she would make sure the elder Smoke Knight is Killed Off for Real. Violetta afterwards indicates that, as far she she can tell, Madwa is genuinely dead.
• Worf Had the Flu: While fooling Madwa and taking her down is undeniably impressive regardless of the circumstances, Violetta herself is quick to point out that it only worked because she was exhausted.

Other members

Zola "Heterodyne"

Zola "La Sirene Dorée," AKA Zola "Heterodyne", AKA Zola Anya Talinka Venia Zeblinkya Malfeazium, AKA The Queen of the Dawn

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.

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• Ass Shove: 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".
• Badass Normal: Lacks the Spark, but she's still a fully-trained Smoke Knight carrying enough weaponry under that pink camisole to arm a small nation. After getting dosed up on Movit #11, she's an even match for Higgs in a one-on-one fight.
• Bad to the Last Drop: according to Gil she either poisons it or is just bad at making it.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. After taking the Movit 11, her physical appearance goes steeply downhill.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Seems to be the cause of her attraction to Gil.
• Big Bad: Of the Adventures In Castle Heterodyne spinoff game.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: She's the daughter of Demonica Mongfish, one of Lucrezia's sisters, meaning she's also Agatha's cousin, but that hasn't stopped her from trying to kill her multiple times.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Even though the first impression of her is a harmless, gullible figurehead for the Storm King conspiracy, she starts fighting, no holds barred, when Agatha and her team throw a spanner in the works.
• Cassandra Truth: For once, is telling the complete truth to Lucrezia on 20100705, that she can't be Demonic Possession-ed. Lucrezia learns this to her own chagrin.
• The Chessmaster: Over the course of events, proven to be the genuine article.
• Damsel in Distress: Back in Paris, she was a kidnapping victim almost professionally.
• Dark Action Girl: A fully trained Smoke Knight and the main rival to Agatha in the castle.
• Deadly Upgrade: Via a Psycho Serum.
• Dumb Blonde: Subverted due to Obfuscating Stupidity. Gil and Tarvek eventually conclude that Zola, as the fake Heterodyne that was groomed by the Knights of Jove for years, is probably a lot more dangerous than she lets on, and a later confrontation proves them entirely right.
• Determinator: Manages to survive a Movit 11 overdose and briefly kills the Castle itself, and to add, by that point 70% of the bones in her body are likely non-functional, she's running on fumes and has a murderous Higgs hot on her heels, and she still escapes.
• Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: Whatever the Other's deal is, Zola managed to sucker it and snatch some of its secrets.
• Evil Counterpart: She is one to her cousin, Agatha.
  • Agatha spent most of her life unaware that she was a Heterodyne and still isn't quite comfortable with all the attention she's given. Zola was molded by the Order to be their fake Heterodyne and she loves making big, flashy scenes and being the center of attention.
  • They both spent their youths looking less competent than they truly were. Agatha's Spark was suppressed by the locket, making her seem much less intelligent than she actually was while Zola was Obfuscating Stupidity when she was studying in Paris to keep her cover. Likewise, Agatha manages to subvert people's expectations of her as a Spark and a Heterodyne by being kind and mostly in control of herself while Zola, who isn't a Spark and was originally thought to just be a pawn of the Order, manages to be more violent, crazy and ambitious than most Sparks.
  • Agatha doesn't like making people do things they don't want to do or forcing them into dangerous situations while Zola has no problem with using violence and mind control to make people do what she wants.
  • Both Agatha and Zola are interested in Gil romantically, but for Zola it was a case of both their fake cover identities interacting while in Paris (and the 'real' Zola may not even care for him all that much) while Agatha has only ever known him in his true identity. Gil on his side sees Agatha as an equal and is in love with her because of it, while he always saw Zola's fake identity as a Damsel in Distress he constantly had to rescue and never anything else. By the time he realizes how competent Zola really is he's thoroughly repelled by her.
  • Agatha had the Other forced into her mind and she constantly fighting to keep it from taking over. Zola willingly allowed the Other into her mind and she has the training and conditioning to control it and use it for her own benefit.
  • She is also one for Violetta. Both are Smoke Knights who have agendas that don't fit The Order's. Violetta doesn't really want to be part of it while Zola wants to manipulate it.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Is on the receiving end of this trope twice'.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Was set up as a fake Heterodyne, with the ultimate idea of her backers being that she would just happen to run into their chosen Storm King, and by the time anyone might've figured out what was going on...
• Faux Affably Evil: When in Mechanicsburg, manages to do a pretty good job of playing the "kind princess in waiting."
• Foreshadowing: She sure bears a strong familial resemblance to Lucrezia in that portrait, doesn't she?
• Giggling Villain: Her evil banter gets odder over the Castle arc. And she gets giddier as things continue.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: Standard Smoke Knight equipment.
• Hate Sink: When we first meet her she's a false heir with an annoying personality — right off the bat not a good look. As time goes on, however, she crosses the line from a nuisance to a psycho who wants to murder Agatha.
• The Heavy: For Volumes VII through XI, she's the one providing the most direct opposition to Agatha and friends in Castle Heterodyne. Klaus is hospitalized and the Other is trapped thanks to the locket, so it's Zola that's doing most of the fighting for the Castle arc.
• Hero Killer: Zola has become this. To date she has critically wounded Zeetha, Higgs, and Agatha.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Exactly what she's doing as the Queen of the Dawn is unclear. Her appearance in Paris was part of some kind of plan, but the situation was already out of control before she got there and she never got the chance to do any scheming. It seemed the basic idea was that she would perform at the opera house and the staff would wasp the crowd, giving her more control over Paris. It fails because the Library attacks the Opera House when they get wind of the plot and the new Master of Paris is more closely connected with the city than her father was, making such a move suicidal. She also uses the opportunity to purge her ranks of the Geisters who are loyal to the Other first and foremost.
• Lethal Chef: "Well, I always thought she just couldn't make coffee. Now, I'm not so sure."
• The Load: Apparently fulfilled this role in all of Gil's adventures with her in Paris, and when nabbed by Agatha she slipped into it again.
• Long-Lost Relative: "Hello auntie." To more aptly explain the family tree: Her mother was Demonica, Lucrezia's sister. Their other sister, Serpentina, was Theo's mother. So Zola, Agatha, and Theo are all first cousins on their mothers' side.
• Made of Iron: When she takes the Psycho Serum, she becomes so strong that it takes several No-Holds-Barred Beatdowns to make her flee.
• Mad Love: Towards Gil, very much. Also later towards Tarvek, but her sanity's slipping at the time, so there's a chance she still thought he was 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.
• Meaningful Name: Twofold: depending on grammar of the phrase and context in Slavic languages "Zola" can mean either "cinder" or an alternative form of the root "-zlo-" — "evil"^note There's a Russian parody that exploits the pun. And she tries to be the evil Cinderella of this story, going from Rags to Riches with all these nefarious plans.
• Motormouth: After a double-dose of Movit 11.
• Muggle Born of Mages: Unlike her cousins Agatha and Theo, at least one Aunt (Lucrezia), and her grandfather in the Mongfish family, Zola is not a Spark. This may be why the forces of the Other allied with the Queen of the Dawn have not really exhibited any breakthrough in Slaver Wasp technology, as observed by the Wulfenbach forces. Zola may have a captive essentia of Lucrezia in her head, but she herself is not a Spark.
• Mundanger: Zola doesn't have the Spark, nor is she a construct, but she is a well-trained Smoke Knight who came very close to killing the protagonists.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Her real last name is Malfeazium. And her mother was Demonica.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Zola is on the receiving end of one after a three way brawl between her, Agatha and Tarvek. After she stabs Agatha with a brooch pin, Tarvek (who is EXTREMELY cross about the various misfortunes up to this point and possibly losing Agatha too) delivers one to Zola, releasing a world of hurt directly into her face before trying to throttle her. Only Gil's misguided interference saves her life.
• Obfuscating Stupidity:
  • This is how it's done.
  • Judging from Gil and Tarvek's reactions, she's an absolute mistress of the technique.
  • She's a Smoke Knight, and no one ever suspected.
  • She even manages to trick Lucrezia.
  • It's at least implied that she even managed this on her allies, who knew she was doing it to others, with the Knights of Jove seeing her as someone competently evil, but ultimately easy to manipulate.
• Only Friend: She invoked it.
• Overly Long Name: Her full name is Zola Anya Talinka Venia Zeblinkya Malfeazium.
• The Power of Hate: She attributes her Made of Iron tendencies to this. And drugs. Lovely, lovely drugs.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: An Invoked Trope as part of her role as a fake Heterodyne. Even her death ray is pink. Even the death beam is pink.
• Psycho Pink: Her Princesses Prefer Pink asthetic turns into this trope as she gets high on Movit 11 and gets a bit of the Other in her brain.
• Put on a Bus: Dropped out of sight for a long time following events in Mechanicsburg, then finally resurfaced playing the part of "The Queen of the Dawn."
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Has a bit of a habit provoking them in the Castle arc. Lucrezia would like to "thank" her for that, Higgs delivered a beating on the spot, and Tarvek intended — perhaps still intends — to strangle her to death with his bare hands.
• 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.
• Sigil Spam: Covered head to toe in Heterodyne trilobite symbols, overselling her Heterodyne "heritage".
• Slasher Smile:
  • When the Castle dies, she has a frighteningly Sparky look of triumphant glee on her face. Also here.
  • Post-Movit Zola has these pretty often.
• The Starscream: For both The Order's fake Hetrodyne plan and Lucrezia.
• Uncertain Doom: The last we've seen of her to date, her plans to take over Paris have failed and she's fallen into the clutches of Tarvek's Grandmother.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Seemingly cannot resist letting people know she has beaten them.
• Unstoppable Rage/The Power of Hate: Claims this is what's sustaining her after suffering some truly grievous injuries.
  Tarvek: How are you even still moving?
  Zola: HATE! Hate and drugs! Lovely, lovely drugs! I'm a beautiful, chemical, killing machine!
• Villain with Good Publicity: Post-timeskip she's now known as the Queen of the Dawn and has a reputation for being a peacemaker. However, Gil and Tarvek suspect (without knowing the Queen's true identity) that she's been using slaver wasps and it's unlikely that Zola's ambition has faded over time.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: She is "very good at improvising when things go wrong."
• Yandere: Is one towards Tarvek, if her plan for him is of any indication.

Wolkerstorfer

Count Wolkerstorfer, Magnet Demon

"Have you seen my magnet? "

Count Wolkerstorfer is an absent-minded member of the Knights of Jove, with a sparky propensity for magnets. He is first seen attacking the Wyrm of Limerick, a Corbettite rail liner, and later plays an important role in the defeat of the Beast of The Rails.

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• Absent-Minded Professor: Wolkerstorfer has a few memory retention problems... He is nearly derailed from his mission in finding Lady Selnikov by Krosp until he runs through his memory again.
• Affably Evil: Appears genuinely personable and friendly, even while attacking the Wyrm of Limerick on behalf of Martellus.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: As a result of his forgetfulness, he tends to lose track of things in the middle of conversations.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: In many ways a forgetful Cloudcuckoolander. But he's AMAZING with magnets, and he's still capable of fending off major attacks singlehanded.
• Ditzy Genius: He's ditzy even by Spark standards, but he's a genius even by their standards too.
• Eye Beams: How he kills Baron Oomfumf. His mech's cyclopean eye rakes the Baron's tuba trombone battle wagon thing with a beam.
• For Science!: Seems to be his default mode of thought, though he's a lot calmer about it than many such individuals.
• Humongous Mecha: We haven't seen Wolkerstorfer himself, just his huge bulbous mech... unless that is his body. It's anyone's guess where Sparks are concerned.
• Magnetic Weapons: Wolkerstorfer is all about this, though not the typical rail/coil guns, but much more reality-breaking sparky applications. Martellus even calls him a "demon with magnets".
• Nothing Personal: It appears you really have to work at it to get him to form a grudge; after confronting Agatha and the Corbettite Monks and having them do some fairly serious damage to his mecha, he later cheerfully assists them in their fight against The Beast. He couldn't be angry over it, because from Agatha's and Matthias's invention he learned something fascinating about magnets!
• They Called Me Mad!: He seems to be not very well-regarded by his peers due to his inability to focus, leading to this response (following the offending party's death by eye beam).

Knights of the Hunt

The Knights in their human forms.

^{Click here for the Knights in their wolf forms.} 

A force of elite bio-modified warriors loyal to Martellus von Blitzengaard who serve as his minions. They can shapeshift between human and wolf forms.

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• Affably Evil: Norville thinks of Gil as a nice guy who would get along well with Martellus if they just sat down and talked for a bit, maybe even had some sandwiches. Well, that, and if Tarvek was killed.
• Ambiguously Human: It isn't clear if they're humans modified to turn into wolves or vice versa.
• The Dreaded: The confidence of Smoke Knights vanish the moment they see it's the Knights of the Hunt they're up against.
• Elite Mooks: They're very tough for minions. Tarvek is able to beat them, but not without several close calls on his part.
• Evil Counterpart: In a way, to the Jägers. They're both an army biologically modified elite fighters, they're both a race(?) of Boisterous Bruisers, and they're both fanatically loyal to their respective Master/Mistress.
• Monster Knight: On one hand, they're artificially-made werewolves who serve an evil Mad Scientist. On the other hand, they're loyal warriors of their (self-declared-)King, who in turn considers them "good men" worthy of respect in death and of his friendship.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: The Knights of the Hunt are bio-engineered fighters able to switch between a human form and a wolf form at will.

Duke Strinbeck

Duke Josef Carmelita Strinbeck, Impoverished and Odious Aristocrat

A member of the Fifty Families, and one of Zola's public backers on the Pink Airship. Suffers a fatal case of Lost to his Own Stupidity when Agatha begins repairing the Castle.

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• Aristocrats Are Evil: One of the conspiracy to promote Zola as a fake Heterodyne, and unlike most of the ones who show up later doesn't have any redeeming qualities, or even amusing ones.
• Asshole Victim: Rude, snide, violent and unpleasant, he makes it extremely easy for the Pink Airship crew to decide he's not-exactly-dead weight and throw him overboard, declaring afterward killing him doesn't count as mutiny. Even his own next of kin aren't taken aback when told of his demise.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Josef makes things much easier for the airship crew by threatening to have all of them flayed alive just because the captain punched him out for threatening to kill anyone who tried to get the ship to safety.
• Jerkass: Almost seems dedicated to being as big a one as possible, even refusing to let the airship crew report a fire, a shared duty of airship crew, when there's no reason not to, and sneering at them all the while.
• Noodle Incident: He lost his lands to toy automatons. Somehow.
• The Man Behind the Man: One of the front backers for Zola, but not remotely one of the most important ones. Which might explain why he was sent to Mechanisburg first...
• Too Dumb to Live: Official cause of death and all, which doesn't even count as a case of The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much since being too dumb to live is a recognized cause of death in the setting. And he more than qualified, first refusing to listen to the crew's warnings about Mechanisburg (the unconquered Mechanicsburg), then pulling a gun on them when they tried to not get killed by the town's defense systems, then threatening all of the crew, just as they needed to shed weight.
• Upper-Class Twit: According to the novels, even the other members of the Fifty Families thought he was unbearable. The only reason they gave him the time of day at all was because doing otherwise would've been gauche.
• Wrong Line of Work: Not that members of the Fifty Families tend to sully themselves with work, mind you, but a footnote in Agatha H. and the Voice of the Castle notes Strinbeck's unthinking rudeness and stupidity would've made him an excellent head waiter.

Associates

Van Rijn

R. Van Rijn, Royal Advisor to King Andronicus Valois

R.^note Possibly "Rembrandt", but this is yet to be confirmed in-comic. Van Rijn was a legendary Spark, surpassing his peers of the day (ie, 200-odd years before the events of the comic), and even Sparks of the modern day. He is best known for two things: being the close advisor of the original Storm King, and for constructing nine clanks of exquisite craftsmanship, the Muses.

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• Ambiguous Situation: In Voltaire's story, Van Rijn was described as having carted away Andronicus' corpse to give him a proper burial after the Shining Coalition finally defeated him. Flash-foward 200 years, and Andronicus is alive again, but as a decaying Humanoid Abomination. What and why Van Rijn did this, or if he was even involved, is left up to speculation.
• Beyond the Impossible: Managed to make sentient clanks in the form of the Muses, something that's considered widely to be impossible even 200 years later.
• Born in the Wrong Century: 200 years later, the exquisite craftsmanship and intricacy of his Muses remain unsurpassed by other clank designers. Although there have been hints he got a leg up thanks to his conversations with The Muse of Time.
• Bookworm: He founded an autonomous library of extreme bibliophiles.
• Dirty Old Man: The Muse of Time refers to him as a "presumptuous old lecher".
• The Ghost: His inventions and legacy feature heavily in the comic's plot, but Van Rijn himself has been dead for centuries by the present, and even in flashbacks, the kind of person he was is deliberately kept extremely ambiguous. (Though we do eventually get to see what he looked like.)
• Immortality Seeker: He sought to trap The Muse of Time in order to force from her the secret of immortality. Although it's been hinted that this was not done entirely for his own sake.
• Mad Scientist: He was a Spark, so this is a given.
• Never Found the Body: Well, technically someone finally did... 200 years later.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: At the very least, he constructed the Muses, forged the Storm King a powerful electrified sword, built an industrial sausage-works and was a talented painter and sculptor.
• The Paranoiac: Explicitly stated to be one in a footnote in one of the Girl Genius print novels, and there have been hints of this in the comic; his notebook is larded with codes within codes.
• Posthumous Character: By the time Agatha finds him, he is a long-mummified husk.
• Shrouded in Myth: Again according to the novel, not much was known about the guy even when he was alive.
• The Slow Path: Possibly, in his dealings with the entity he named The Muse of Time.
• Sweet Tooth: Among the hidden secrets inside his notebook Agatha finds numerous recipes.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: Sparks are well-known for Tampering in God's Domain, but Van Rijn was still greatly unnerved after he created the Muses about just what it was he'd created. Then they kindly told him it was alright.

The Muses

See Antagonists for The Muse of Time. See Von Pinn on Wulfenbach Empire for Oitlia.

The Nine Muses of R. Van Rijn

A set of clanks, built by Master Van Rijn, "The Greatest Spark of All Time" for "the Greatest King of All Time", Andronicus Valois. Their numbers include Otilia, Moxana, Tinka, Prende, Orotine, Mawu and Liza (the non-twins), Artimo and Contasia. Ludicrously advanced, even by modern Spark standards, most have been lost or gone missing due to people's attempts to replicate their technology.

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• All There in the Manual: Otilia, Moxana, Tinka, Prende and Orotine have all been named in the comic proper. Mawu, Liza and Artimo are identified in the third novelization, leaving Contasia as the odd one out, named elsewhere.
• Ambiguous Situation: Most of the Muses so far have recognized Tarvek as the heir to the Lightning Crown. However, Orotine, the Muse of Geometries, gave a non-committal statement when asked by Krosp if she supports either Tarvek or Martellus, only stating that Martellus was "a distant third, at best". If Martellus is third and Tarvek is (presumably) above him, who exactly is first or second? If the GURPS tie-in book is canon, then Gilgamesh is also descended from the Storm King and may be the true heir to the Lightning Crown.
• Cannot Tell a Lie: Prende claims she is incapable of directly lying to the Storm King, though the prologue of the third novel establishes they tended to be cryptically vague.
• Death by Despair: Moxana starts heading this way, thanks to being separated from Tinka.
• Exact Words: As Orotine explains to Gil, she's designed to give advice to the Storm King. She says this as she's giving advice to him, after she's already dismissed Tarvek and Martellus's claims.
• Fem Bot: Unlike most (gender-neutral) clanks, the Muses were explicitly designed in both form and personality to be female, and are referred to as such by other characters.
• Figure It Out Yourself: They were designed to teach and inspire, not directly lead. Apparently trying to just directly tell Andronicus stuff was physically impossible for them, and trying would've damaged them.
• Living MacGuffin: A minor case. Finding the Muses that remain and replicating the technology used to make them is a long-term goal of Tarvek's.
• Lost Technology: Their tech is far more advanced than anything a Spark of the modern day could develop. Tarvek's the only one who can reverse-engineer it, and only to a point.
• Off with Her Head!: Tinka is decapitated by Vrin and her Geisterdamen, but given she's a clank, and that Otilia's severed head could continue to sustain a functioning Clank intelligence (the Castle, not Otilia herself), odds are good that Tinka could be repaired.
• Phrase Catcher: Apparently even after three hundred years, people who see Orotine for the first time always feel the need to point out she's a Muse to her. She's come to expect it.
• Revenge: There is a final muse called the Muse of Vengeance, created to wipe out the Heterodynes for their crimes against Europa and their part in the Storm King's downfall (or at least to be unleashed against enemies of the Immortal Library.) It has long remained inactive, but the librarians have recovered its heart as a precaution since some of their leaders fear Agatha is probably every bit the monster her ancestors were.
• Shock and Awe: Tinka and Prende have both displayed the ability to zap folk, though higher amounts of voltage burn off any clothing or wigs they might have on them.
• Signature Headgear: One of Orotine's distinguishing features is she's always wearing a fancy hat emblazoned with the Fleur de Lis.
• Silent Snarker: Moxana may not be able to speak anymore, but she can still get her point across. After Krosp manages to outwit Master Payne, she rearranges her chessboard to signify he's been put in check.
• Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence: Somewhere between type 3 (comparable to humans) and type 4 (Super-Intelligence), which is to say significantly higher than most other Clanks, and an accomplishment by Van Rijn still unmatched in the comic's present day. Moxana and Tinka have regressed significantly in their state of disrepair, but still show occasional flashes of great acuity.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: They can move with astounding quietness if they need to. Even Smoke Knights like Violetta and Madwa have difficulty detecting their presence if they choose not to be noticed.
• The Voiceless: Moxana, who communicates exclusively through playing cards and hand signs. She used to be able to speak at some point, but apparently lost the ability to after being separated from Tinka.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Of the set, Otilia is stuck in Mechanisburg, Prende is (last seen) in Paris, Orotine is in England; Moxana and Tinka were last seen in Sturmhalten, before it was overrun by monsters and the Baron's forces. And Tinka had been decapitated. And at least one of them was deactivated by an unidentified Spark. The fate of the rest is unknown.
• You Are Too Late: They were programmed never to give Andronicus Valois a straight answer, merely hint towards what he should do. When they actually did give him a straight answer, it was because there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

Mister Obsidian

Mister Obsidian, Hired Muscle

Oh. That's not a good sign.

"Mister Obsidian", the only alias we know him as, has a rather apt name, being seemingly impervious to physical attacks. First appearing as a spy seemingly working for the Library, but actually working for Terebithia to bring Tarvek back to his family, by force if necessary.

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• Affably Evil: Very much all business but tries to be polite where possible. He even complains that he rarely gets the chance to be nice when doing his job.
• Establishing Character Moment: Curb-stomps Tarvek with ease without even needing to evade, with the first "holy crap" moment when Tarvek breaks a wrench over his head without the guy even moving.
• Implacable Man: See image to the right. This guy takes the cake.
• Made of Iron: He outclasses Higgs by virtue of being so durable that he simply doesn't even react to being hit, nevermind take any kind of damage. This trope might be close to literal in his case, if he's a construct. So far his capabilities border on Nigh-Invulnerable.
• Names to Run Away From: Mister Obsidian. With the latter word being generally associated with materials that are extremely durable.
• Servile Snarker: After Grandma attempts to stab him in the face in order to kill a would-be impostor, he expresses that she's "as suspicious, homicidal and unapologetic as ever".

Other

Martellus' Cat

An orange female cat who was the mouser of the British submarine that evacuated most of the heroes from the self-destructing Royal Society dome. Initially fawning over Krosp, she was turned into a construct with sapience and human-level intelligence by Martellus von Blitzengaard, both (presumably) as a counterpart to Krosp and (explicitly) a role much like Agatha's weasel has in terms of keeping Martellus healthy. This also results in a 180-turn in her mental disposition towards Krosp. (Physically she's still attracted to him.) Has noticeable lightning bolt markings above her eyes.

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• Ambiguous Situation: It hasn't yet been explained why Tweedle elevated her intellect along with making her an Agatha-substitute.
• Intellectual Animal: Similar to Krosp once made a construct, though she considers herself to be more intelligent than him.
• Meet Cute: She and Krosp boop noses.. and start hissing at each other.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Literally her first piece of dialogue post-uplifting.
• No Name Given: She doesn't officially have a name yet.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: With Krosp.
• Shout-Out: The aforementioned lightning bolts and her original uplifting setup are open homages to Bride of Frankenstein.
• Uplifted Animal: Again, much like Krosp, though the difference is that we actually get to see what she was like before she was uplifted.

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