Recap / With This Ring Episode 43

Episode 43: Triumph of the Will

Takes place 3-11 April 2011.

Short version

The Team encounters the Krieger brothers, who led the Nazi assault on the Watchtower, and kills them with assistance from a non-evil clone of Adolf Hitler.

Longer version

Paul gives the Justice League a performance evaluation, resulting in several equipment upgrades such as Superman wearing a shield against kryptonite radiation. Unfortunately, Nabu flatly rejects his offer to provide a strong, resilient and easily repairable golem body.

Immediately afterward, the undead Einherjar on the Watchtower are reanimated, suggesting that a portal to Valhalla has been opened. The Team is sent to find the likely suspects, Wolf and Albrecht Krieger.

Paul's group visits a man named Helmut Schreiber, who turns out to be a clone of Hitler, but who is unaware of the fact and is living peacefully with his architecture practice and his non-Aryan wife and children. The Kriegers attack the house, disabling Paul and Schreiber with the Spear of Destiny, and announce their intention to use Schreiber as a sympathetic focus to retrieve Hitler's soul and create a magical champion of fascism. However, Rocket creates enough of a distraction for Paul and Schreiber to break free and strike back, killing both of their assailants.

In the aftermath, the Team receives substantial bounty payments for the Kriegers, and Sephtian advises Paul that the Spear should be locked away safely, as it is extraordinarily dangerous but he doesn't know a safe way to destroy it.

The Renegade meets with the Light and learns that they have recruited Mordru, who was able to return to the material universe due to Klarion's death. He also introduces Sunset Shimmer to Atlantean magic literature.

The title is a reference to a Nazi propaganda film of the same name.

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• Amplifier Artifact: The Spear of Destiny constantly maintains a magical connection to everyone on Earth, allowing the wielder to bypass most of the usual safeguards that make it difficult to, for example, casually mind control the world. Paul's magic contact wants to destroy it, but can't think of a safe method. It also works as an Anti-Magic weapon.
• Annoying Laugh: The Brain's laugh sounds like a crackling noise.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Paul first meets Helmut Schreiber, the latter recognizes him immediately. Paul automatically assumes that this is because he knows him as the Cake Man, but is swiftly proven wrong when he identifies Paul as the Orange Lantern.
• Better the Devil You Know: Possibly. Klarion's death in the Renegade timeline left a power vacuum that allowed Mordru to return to the world.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Canis finds the fact that Hitler started a war that killed millions of people unimpressive compared to what Apokolips has done for eons across the universe.
• Call-Back:
  • Queen Clea laid a feast for the Renegade for being the one to kill Ocean Master.
  • The fact that Paul is evaluating members of the Justice League was mentioned by Guy in Date Night.
  • The Einherjar that the League and the Team fought back at New Years reanimate, indicating that the Kriegers have returned from Valhalla.
• Can't Take Criticism: Nabu's response to OL critiquing his less than stellar record against Klarion is to teleport away and sulk like a child.
• Character Tiers: At Batman's request, Paul gives the Justice League a performance evaluation. They both insist it's merely about everyone finding ways to improve, but realistically, when you produce Top Trumps cards for the whole League, they're gonna compare themselves to others.
  Paul: Now, the first thing you'll note-.
  Guy: Is that Lanterns rule.
• Clones Are People, Too: Helmut Schreiber is nothing like his source material and much of the fight is helping him keep his freedom.
• Costume Evolution: Diana is getting help from Ted Kord and Io on getting a new set of armor, though it isn't quite ready yet.
• Consummate Liar: Odin is one, especially about where he gets his power.
• Culture Clash: Paul has to explain to Canis why they aren't killing Helmut Schreiber in a way the Apokoliptian understands.
  Paul: Canis, this isn't Apokolips. We're here to achieve a very limited objective while at the same time not creating difficulty for our superiors. Killing a Brazilian citizen without an exceptionally good reason would create such a difficulty.
  Canis: Because you cannot be sure if someone of significance favours him in ignorance of his true nature. And you do not wish to challenge your elders by assuming a right which belongs to them alone.
  [Beat]
  Paul: Okay. Let's go with that.
• Death Is Cheap: Discussed. M'gann asks Paul and Kon if people come back from the dead a lot on Earth, and wonders if it's possible on Mars as well.
• Didn't See That Coming: The Renegade didn't expect the Light to induct a new member alongside himself, especially not someone on his scale of power like Modru.
  "Were you expecting someone other than Mordru?"
• Dramatic Irony: Much of the humor comes from Helmut Schreiber being nothing like his source material.
  Rocket: Is that Adolf Hitler, his black wife and their three children?
  Paul: Well-. Well-. Well. Until they get further away from the house I can't do a genetic analysis, but working backwards from existing genetic records and their physical appearances… Probably?
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Prince Jon reveals that he was able to die an honorable death and reunite with his Valkyrie lover after he was frozen alive, thawed out centuries later, and ultimately killed by something he called blast clay, i.e. dynamite, because Odin didn't think to make him immune to something like that when cursing Prince Jon.
• Establishing Character Moment: When Helmut Schreiber first meets Orange Lantern and Rocket, he surprises the both of them. As opposing to knowing OL as the Cake Man, Helmut remembers OL as the hero who was important in the Klarion terrorist incident and sees Rocket as his daughters' idol and role model. This establishes him as Family Man who is as far from a Nazi as you can get.
• Foreshadowing: While briefing the Justice League on how they can better defend Earth from alien threats, he brings up the Thanagarian Empire as one possible threat. This gets Hawkwoman to briefly deny this can happen. This is only the beginning of what would become a one-sided grudge on Hawkwoman's part.
• Get Out!: Helmut Schreiber says this after Paul reveals that he's a clone of Hitler.
• Hope Spot: Paul broaches the subject of a golem body to Nabu with the hope of this allowing Zatara his freedom again. Nabu refuses the offer without even giving his reasoning for doing so.
• Horny Vikings: The remains of the Einherjar come back to life, indicating that there is a portal open to Valhalla.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Helmut Schreiber repeatedly stabs Wolf Krieger in the chest with the Spear of Destiny.
• Lampshade Hanging:
  • After the Renegade ditches the escorts escorting him, Lynne, and Sunset, his daughter asks him:
    "Grayven, are you doing that thing where you annoy people for fun again?"
  • Lia Briggs knows Paul is referencing something stupid by calling her 'Miss Allimrac' but is too hungry at the moment to care.
• Laugh Themselves Sick: OL and Rocket do this after finding out about Helmut Schreiber and his black/mixed blood family.
• Leeroy Jenkins: After the Renegade recovers Manchester, he accuses the latter of being this.
  Manchester: Fook off. I've been shot.
  Renegade: I can't imagine why that happened.
  Manchester: You were the one who gave me those fookin' fiyals. What'd'ja think I was gonna do with 'em?
  Renegade: I gave them to you because I wanted to demonstrate the nature of the people you work for. I thought you'd use your position to gather more information. Gather allies. Plan, like I know they tried to train you to. I didn't expect you to try killing them all off yourself one by one, You- I [pokes a finger just above one of Manchester's wound] -are a Muppet.
• Make Sure He's Dead: Representatives of several nations assign a minor magician to inspect the Kriegers' bodies, which will then be cremated, mixed with silver and calcium oxide, exorcised, and scattered widely in secret locations. Paul killed Albrecht in the first place with a mixture of regular ammunition, crumblers, mage slayers, and even angel-feather rounds.
• Morally Superior Copy: Helmut Schreiber, a clone of Hitler, was raised as a normal orphan due to an issue in keeping track of him when he was an infant and became a Nice Guy who eventually married and had children with a black woman.
• Mythology Gag: Mordru's One-Liner is taken from the time he revealed himself to be the new Doctor Fate. The line even has a link to an image of that event.
• Nature Versus Nurture: Paul tells Rocket that he believes the latter is a bigger deal than the former. It also proves true with Helmut Schreiber, who is nothing like his genetic progenitor.
• Oh, Crap!: After seeing that Mordru has been made a member of the Light, the Renegade realizes that it won't be easy for him to take them down if needed.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Paul visits a vampire to study her powers and determine whether vampirism has market potential.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: When critiquing Nabu's showings against Klarion, Paul wants Nabu to feel insulted, but does so in a way that sounds like he isn't intentionally doing so.
• Phlebotinum Overload: Paul's Spell Eaters are unable to cope with the Spear of Destiny, instantly being overwhelmed even after Paul replaces the one he's wearing.
• Point of Divergence:
  • Due to the Renegade being more discreet when getting data, scry wards aren't as common in the Renegade timeline as they are in the Paragon timeline.
  • As the Renegade never needed to go to Atlantis to get protection from magic, Spell Eaters don't exist in the Renegade timeline.
  • Wolf Krieger didn't get in touch with Klarion and Vandal Savage in the Renegade timeline, so he's still in the preparation stage of his plan.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: Paul answers a rhetorical question that Superman asks before realizing that he was being rhetorical.
  Superman: Remind me again why we lined these storage rooms with lead?
  Paul: In case you were storing radiological materials, probab-. Rhetorical, sorry.
• Riddle for the Ages: The Renegade tells Sunset that the reason ancient Atlanteans all turned themselves into what they are now was lost to time due to their continent sinking.
• Shout-Out:
  • Paul calls the purple healing ray a gun that shoots life.
  • When visiting Lia Briggs, who's a vampire, he calls her Miss Allimrac.
    • Paul also thinks of Ulli and Marquand while dealing with Lia.
    • When allowed inside her house, Robin asks if she'll say "Welcome to my house!".
  • Paul briefly references Carpe Jugulum when talking to Guy about Lia Briggs.
  • Rocket asks Paul if he's ever read The Boys from Brazil after they see Helmut Schreiber and his family.
• Stunned Silence: The Renegade is able to briefly catch Lex off guard by mentioning his daughter Lynne.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Paul takes no chances when it comes to taking down Albrecht Krieger and fires everything he's got at him. After Albrecht is incapacitated by the numerous bullet holes in his chest, Paul then shoots two shots into his eyes.
• Thought They Knew Already: The Brain assumed that the other members of the Light already knew his real name and simply used his nom de guerre out of professional courtesy.
• Values Dissonance: Discussed between Aqualad and Rocket. The former doesn't understand racism, while the latter doesn't get Purebloodism. Aqualad even lampshades it.
• Vigilante Man: Manchester Black tries this, but gets himself shot and nearly killed before the Renegade seizes him and gives him a talking to.
• Wardrobe Malfunction: Discussed. Superman tells Paul that he wears a belt because his trunks used to get pulled down when he flew too fast.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: Paul adds angel-feather-tipped ammunition to his arsenal, for destroying demonic magic.
• Wham Line: Upon seeing Helmut Schreiber, Rocket asks:
  "Is that Hitler?"
• Word of God:
  • Baroness von Gunther may not have known what actually happened in the concentration camps.
  • Chester was shot by invisible gunmen.
  • The Renegade didn't use a purple healing ray on Chester partially because it wouldn't get rid of bullet fragments, and partially because he was a bit annoyed at what Chester did.
  • Mr Zoat explains why he added the scene where the Renegade was nuked in Stars, Crossed, Part 2.
  • Paul is evaluating the members of the Justice League because Batman wants the news to come from someone other than himself, as well as a sort of interview for OL.
    • It's explained that this allows Batman to look like a neutral debate moderator.
  • The Renegade won't just Awaken Queen Clea because it would make his involvement obvious.
  • Queen Clea's choices, and the reason Venturia is suspected of working with Ocean Master, are explained.
  • Paul suspects that Atlanteans can't be Dannered or Garricked.
  • Part of why the Renegade didn't leave Earth after quitting the Team is to show Alan that he didn't really become a supervillain. Also, the Renegade won't allow the Controllers to control his OLC.
  • The red light is powered by an emotion that doesn't have an exact word in English. There is a word for it in Qwardian, which translates as something like 'the certain need to unmake'.
    • Mr Zoat later explains that Red Lanterns are driven to unmake their targets, with no regard of anyone else's opinion.
  • Paul backed off after Nabu said he won't be taking the golem body because he knows he will have other opportunities to undermine Nabu.
  • Paul thinks the League needs bigger and better weapons to properly defend the Earth against alien invasion and that it shouldn't be restricted by previous treaties preventing such weapons.
  • Nabu hands over minor criminal magic users after impairing their ability to use magic.
  • Mr Zoat explains how Shade, the Changing Man and Shivering Jemmy can be on Earth when there's already a Lord of Chaos there.
  • What the Norse call giants are the same class of being as what the Greeks call Titans.
  • Mr Zoat reveals that, in this story, Prometheus helped with the conception of Hephaestus by creating a device for her.
  • Wolf is stronger than Beton Brut.
  • Paul remembers Earth 12 from a wiki he read, so he calls it that in-universe.
  • Gerri Brauer is around.
  • Something happened to Uncle Sam which has rendered him unavailable. Also, the Light have a new member who can keep most people from being consciously aware of him.
  • Mr Zoat isn't using the version of Uncle Sam from Vertigo Comics
  • Paul doesn't remember Ice's background.
  • Paul can't use his ring to absorb the excess heat of his Spell Eater because the heat is a side effect of it reaching magic capacity.
  • Spell Eaters can be made bigger in order to absorb more magic, though that comes with its own problems.
  • Adding more features to a Spell Eater is impractical at best.
  • A combination of the Kriegers teleporting in and the wards around the house prevented Zatanna and Canis from realizing Paul and Rocket needed help.
  • Wolf remembers how his last fight against OL went, so he mostly ignored Rocket and focused his efforts on OL.
• You Cloned Hitler!: The Kriegers did, but didn't follow up properly, and "Helmut Schreiber" has settled down happily with his architectural practice, his African-descent wife and their three children. Paul and Rocket can't stop laughing when they find out. Unfortunately that's not the end of it; even though the clone isn't ideologically a Nazi, he's still a potential Targeted Human Sacrifice to get the original's spirit back as a kernel of a new god of Fascism.

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