What I'm reading from these pages is how absolutely impromptu this whole escape was.
Klaus is running for their lives with the total supplies of one (1) sword and one (1) baby.
If we're feeling generous, they also have one (1) baby blanket. But only one. (Skifander may be warm, but caves - sorry, Jules Verne - are not.) He doesn't have anything to carry baby Gil in (or put baby Gil on) if he needs two hands for something. If he wants to take that torch with him, he's going to have to put the sword away. He doesn't have so much as a water bottle, much less a baby bottle. No supplies, no backup, no plan, no nothing. This man looks like he's lucky he's got shoes on.
That doesn't sound like the Klaus we know now.
And that tells me that whatever happened in Skifander, there was no warning. None. Zero. Not even a rumor. Klaus didn't have time to think about this. He didn't see it coming. He didn't have time to plan for it. He didn't have time to consider other options. He didn't even have ten seconds to throw baby stuff into a bag.
He just grabbed baby Gil - maybe the only baby in reach - and he ran.
I'm convinced he didn't mean to leave Skifander. I'm coming around to the idea that he might not have left baby Zeetha behind on purpose - he just didn't have a baby sling to hand.
No wonder this man is such an absolute control maniac. Emperor of Europa in all but name, and all because back in Skifander, he got blindsided by something he wasn't prepared for.
I imagine that this is the thing driving Klaus. This fear. This moment he had nothing, and he was the only thing keeping his son alive.
I think Klaus has never left this moment. I think he exists here.
Zeetha and Zanta finally seeing each other again. We all know Zeetha had it hard, but Zanta did to, first she loses her son and Husband, but then she sends her daughter out to look for them and she doesn't return. Considering she's known to be a Spark i imagine when we finally get there we get to see some of the crazy projects she tried to go look for her
Shes also wearing mostly iron, because she is Queen, and my HC is that Iron is scarce in Skifander so to use some for jewerly is super high class.
just something random klaus probably told it in a story to young gilgamesh
klaus tells stories probably when gil was young i don’t really know( randomly wanted to draw this ) also proffesor moonbark said in sumeria which is interesting
Zeetha says that Queen Luheia’s Mirror is supposed to have been her ancestors’ portal to Skifander... but the way she talks about it, it’s been inoperative for a very long time. Which fits with Albia’s statement here about the mirrors going dark. (And if Albia’s “sister queen”—actual sister, or simply peer?—Luheia is a figure of legend to Zeetha, she’s likely either dead or otherwise out of the picture in Skifander...)
I’ve seen a lot of speculation about Skifander and the geisters having some kind of link, and about Albia maybe being connected to Lu, based on the unthinkability of defying Albia and Lu’s happiness at the thought of fleeing to England. Maybe Skifander, Albia, and the geisters share some kind of history? Not to mention the Muse of Time...
Also: is that just the royal we, or something else?
I seem to remember an early sketch of Albia that looked quite different, for example. I wonder what’s going on?
One Albia in multiple bodies? Multiple Albias? Something like Lucrezia’s “essentiae” or something different?
Or of course, maybe that sketch is how she looks on special occasions, and for day-to-day wear she prefers something more practical. There isn’t necessarily anything sinister going on. It just seems plausible.
I mean, it’s possible the Foglios just changed their minds about what she looked like, but given how far in advance a lot of characters in this series seem to have been designed (e.g. Colette, who’s more or less unchanged from the Works to her first appearance in canon), I wouldn’t count on it.
We fans do talk an awful lot about the various heirs to the Lightning Crown and who has the better claim and who exactly Orotine is talking about here, but nobody seems to be talking about the funniest option, which is:
ZEETHA FOR STORM KING!
Pros:
exact same claim to the Lightning Crown that Gil has
PLOT TWIST
life bond with the Heterodyne Princess? CHECK
funny
actually an actual princess already, okay
recognized as royalty by Albia
already dances with all the princesses
funny
it will upset Terebithia so much
it will upset Martellus so much
it will upset pretty much everyone we don't like
c'mon, this is hilarious
Cons:
Zeetha still wants to go home to Skifander
....
COUNTER-PROPOSAL:
Move the Court of the Storm King to Skifander permanently (1).
Pros:
already a royal court
Zantabraxus gets her daughter AND also probably her husband back
everyone who cares can push off to Skifander and leave Gil and Tarvek to run the Empire in Europa
Court of the Storm King now a separate diplomatic entity from Europa entirely, see also: just let Gil and Tarvek work okay
Court of the Storm King now a guaranteed nonthreat to the Wulfenbach Empire (Zeetha doesn't want to run Europa)
Zeetha can go back and forth through the Mirrors whenever she wants, and the Court probably doesn't need permanent Storm King supervision anyway
spymaster general Higgs can be on long-term assignment to the Court of the Storm King (that's where all the scheming nobles are)
the scheming nobles get to whine about being in exile; they'll love it, such drama, they're sooooooo suffering
backstabbing is OUT
frontstabbing is IN
bikini armor might be the official diplomatic dress of Skifander
so every time there's an official Wulfenbach Empire visit to the Court of the Storm King, Agatha gets to put her boys in these outfits:
(whole sequence included because Agatha having to think about it makes me laugh every time)
getting everybody to dress like that could be a Foglio brick joke. We don't know. how would we know
Cons:
possibly in a hundred years the Storm Kingdom of Skifander goes to war with the Wulfenbach Empire of the future
but that's the Triumvirate great-grandkids' problem and/or entertainment
ZEETHA FOR STORM KING!
The choice is clear.
(1) assuming the Queen's Mirrors are going to be fully functional by this point
I had a thought and - as ever - I'm making it everyone's problem.
You know how Zeetha's headband face reflects her emotions? How it matches her expressions in real time?
Can it be duplicated?
I'm having feelings about Zantabraxus maybe having a copy of it too. Of her knowing that her daughter's alive, and at least some of what Zeetha's feeling about whatever she's going through. But unable to know what's happening to her, or to do anything to help, or even to communicate with her daughter in return.
Just to witness, even just in fractions and facial expressions, and to wonder. Just to know that her daughter - the only child she has left, as far as she knows - is alive.
Spoilers for The Girl Genius Novel 4 –Mostly about Zeetha and Higgs
Okay I’m just going to start and say that so far I, in my obsession, mostly skimmed the book to find the parts with Higgs and Zeetha. So full disclosure there, I haven’t actually finished it yet. I got impatient with waiting for my physical copy and bought the ebook. I’ll read it properly with my physical copy arrives.
So I just have to say I’m really annoyed that the doubled down on the “Zeetha was being irresponsible and overconfident” bit—they even straight up admit that what happened was because of the plant and she was drugged, but still act like it was all her irresponsibility. That’s not how this works. When someone is drugged out of her mind—and to make it clear, yes so was everyone else, but they were aware they were drugged, Zeetha was clueless and so couldn’t fight it nearly as well—you can’t call them irresponsible and overconfident.
Not to mention, she didn’t even really do anything overconfident? She just briefly talks to Tarvek—that’s it. Also Higgs is the first one hit—he gets shoved back before Zeetha gets stabbed. He then also, while fighting very seriously—gets stabbed just like her? What exactly does he think would have gone differently had Zeetha not briefly talked to Tarvek?
And I get and understand that since this was his first wakeup call that he liked her (though I don’t think he actually realized truly realized until he’s on the clank—the way he words it makes it sound like he’s just figuring it out himself that he likes her, and wants her, and wants her to like him to) and so he’s not thinking straight and being overprotective—but I really wish the narrative would maybe point that out? Instead of acting like it’s a fact.
Like even if it’s just Mamma pointing out the he also got stabbed, after the fact, exactly like Zeetha did? Or Agatha tell Zeetha after her apology that no—you were unknowingly drugged—that’s not overconfidence, that’s not how that works?
Plus, honestly I feel that despite the fact he was trying to resolve her guilt when she first woke up, that Higgs focus on her “overconfidence” likely only worsened her guilt. She seems to take his opinion as fact as well…
Actually I think that a good chunk her trying to show off to Higgs is that she’s desperately trying to prove herself good enough after what happened. Both because she likes him and quite possible think all he sees in her is an idiot at this point, but also for her own sake… granted that second part is going into headcanon territory here.
(I have an headcanon/ fanon that Zeetha has a problem with “not being good enough” that comes from being a twin is Skifander, where her achievements were never good enough for a lot of people who saw her as a twin and nothing else, no matter how good they were or even if they were equivalent to those her age around her that got praised—so if that headcanon is true then well… Higgs words may have been a bit of a blow… Also in my fanon it’s her grandmother who is the worst of it too… so double blow?)
I should probably get over it, but it annoys me. I swear there was never anything major that indicated Zeetha had a problem with overconfidence until this subplot, so it still feels like it’s forced, and as the double down it feels even more so? Zeetha already gets to play worf whenever she’s fighting, it would be nice if she could at least not get called overconfident to. Especially in a world of Sparks—who are beyond overconfident and reckless—get to get away with it constantly?
(Yes, with the Horsie Beastie she gets a sprained ankle, but that’s the risk of fighting short ranged—and she was the only one of the group to work with someone else (Yeti) with a plan instead of just stumbling over everyone else. With Passholdt she’s very aware this is serious and they could die, and as she fought Lu in Agatha despite her boastings she was careful, both to test what Lu could do but also to not hurt Agatha to much (A wrong punch can kill someone after all).
Though I do like that it’s implied Zeetha did get Mamma’s blessing to join the fighting. And that other than her injury throbbing (as to be expected) she’s not shown once to actually be struggling with it. It’s not slowing her down, weakening her, or limiting her movements at all. She shows no sign of having trouble breathing, even after fighting or running, despite the fact her lungs had to have been punctured.
Though her injury… or rather her treatment… While it’s not confirmed here it is heavily implied she got the draught which, I mean yeah in canon it’s canon but still. I’m still not thrilled with the idea. Zeetha had been worfed so often that it just feels cheap—and kinda sad—that going forward she’ll likely win not through her own power (or even choice, she didn’t get to make the decision to take the draught after all) but through a mcguffin.
I would have also liked to see her power up come from either herself (Whether her keeping up as a badass normal, or some kind of war spark (I still hold onto the theory she had like, half the spark gene, and she had a psudo breakthrough when killing Bang’s fleet that maybe she’ll one day be able to control) or from something related to Skifander (since it is her character’s plot, and a huge part of her life.) Instead she once again kind feels like she getting overshadowed, whether by her connection it Agatha or her connection with Higgs. I like Ziggs, and it’s potential, a lot but I don’t want Zeetha downgraded to being basically Higgs girlfriends, which a lot of what has happened so far has felt like…
Well I’m just not thrilled.
I am hoping that her odd reaction (Two and half years in she’s neither mutated, or shown any enhanced ability in toughness or strength) to it is eventually going to mean that no—she didn’t react to the Jägerdraught in any normal way and isn’t becoming a Jäger. That her Skifandrian heritage (Which likely has something similar to the Dyne considering the connection of the Queens, and needing that power to become one…) basically neutralized it beyond taking the dyne water in its energy to heal her… or something. So she can get a proper power up through something else.
(I mean, I like the idea that Higgs won’t lose her to old age, but also kinda wish that a different method would be used to stop that… God Queen anyone XD. Though if all it did was make her un-ageing and that her power up comes from something else, I’m okay with that to.)
(…I still love the idea of God Queen Zeetha though… I mean, she almost more than Agatha has connections to that plot line thanks to Skifander.)
Also it’s confirmed she did die, briefly, which like… um, if she was that bad off maybe Higgs should have walked a little faster through the Castle, or let Agatha actually set her up on life support or something. They had set on Von Pinn rather quickly after all I mean… but whatever. They wanted her to die, for some reason. Probably to try and drive the overconfident point home… or something. (Or maybe to go God Queen you have to die, take the dyne water (or equivalent, it’s the energy that matters I think) and then get electrocuted… while the electrocution takes several years after the others that has all happened to Zeetha like it did Agatha…just saying…)
Also I’d like to say that Higgs stealing her swords was still a shitty thing to do. An understandably shitty thing to do, but a shitty thing to do regardless. While he may not know that, they are very important to her (they are the only thing she keeps in good condition before she meets Agatha, even her arm bands are grimy) and most importantly she’s an adult. Maybe take them away, still shitty but sure, but actually hiding them is infantilizing at best. Again him acting unreasonable because of sudden case of feeling, but I wish something had been made of it.
Also I want to make it clear, I’m not upset with Higgs actions. It’s great fodder for misunderstandings, a bit of angst, and grounds for them to have a good long talk that will end with their relationship growing stronger as well as character development. I’m just a bit annoyed with how the narrative as a whole is viewing them as well as… honestly… I no longer have much faith of the Fogilos when it comes to character three dimensionsness and development. So I’m… leery…
But enough of that, another thing to wonder
Who the heck is Omeetza that Zeetha briefly thinks is Higgs? IS this going to be a Time travel thing? Are the group going to end up in the past and become legends in Skifander? That would be hilarious. Makes me wonder what the “drive and burning singlemindedness” is about if it is/ will be him. 10 digibucks it has something to do with helping Zeetha. (Hopefully without overshadowing her though, please let the Skifander plot revolve around mostly her side of things, she’s been overshadowed so much.)
The other two options is that Higgs is just vaguely resembles a legendary figure, or that he’s been to Skifander in the past. The first one is boring, and also unlikely because why bring it up without fully explaining the legend then, and the last one I hope not, though, he does have an odd reaction when looking at the swords… so maybe he’s seen them before?
To be fair I understand him keeping that secret much more than him not telling Zeetha about the draught, he couldn’t answer that one as easily without letting his secrets go—plus knowing Zeetha he has no idea just how bad not knowing where Skifander is hurt even three years later. Though you would think that would have come up now that he’s confessed. And also I have a harder time think Zeetha would just let the fact he knew that go as easily. She might understand but I can’t help but feel it should hurt.
Alright back to a little salt though, I swear if it comes out that Zeetha wasn’t at least aware Higgs was a high ranking Jäger, if not a general or spymaster (though even those would be nice) then I’m gunna riot. The novels are even more clear how suspicions she is of him, and if Gil and Tarvek can figure it out—so can she. The Spark doesn’t help with noticing things like this (In fact I’d say generally it makes it harder) and Zeetha has just as much royal training as both of them. It would make no sense if she didn’t figure it out but let the secret lie until he told her. The only reason would be to make Gil and Tarvek more special in the main characterness, I swear…
