Girl Genius/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Please note that many of these categories are rather broadly defined and many characters have unclear allegiances. Characters may change categories. Listing is alphabetical by first name (so as to keep the main protagonist at the top...)

Protagonists

Agatha Clay / Heterodyne

Our Protagonist, a Spark, raised by Parental Substitutes Adam and Lilith Clay. The story begins with her breaking through when the locket suppressing her abilities is stolen.

Tropes associated with Agatha:

Ardsley Wooster

Originally from Britain, Wooster first met Gil in Paris and agreed to enter his service as a manservant. He claimed not to know Gil's true identity at the time, and was apparently very surprised when he found out. However, Wooster turned out to be more than a Jeeves; in reality, he was a secret agent for British intelligence, and therefore likely DID know who Gil was, which is very impressive seeing as Gil's childhood friends didn't. Turns out Gil knew Wooster's real identity, and was perfectly willing to go along with the pretense until events pushed him into making use of his knowledge.

Classy and unflappable Wooster is currently working for Gil, and thus is a Protagonist, but his ultimate loyalty is to "Albia" (the British Crown), an as-of-yet unknown force.

Tropes associated with Ardsley:

  • Badass Normal: He commandeers a rifle from one of the Baron's troops (after somehow ditching Agatha's party), fires from the top of one of caravans and is ready to snipe the Baron (see Shoot the Dog below), delivers an Offhand Backhand to Bangladesh Dupree, and later enters and exits the Jaegergeneral's airship from the window. He also survived being Gil's assistant for at least a year before the comic starts.
  • Battle Butler
  • Dragon with an Agenda: A heroic example, as he is still loyal to the queen, whatever that means.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Boris tries to invoke this when Wooster reveals the Baron's plan to level Mechanisburg to the Jager Generals, claiming that he's allowed The Other an opportunity to escape. Wooster doesn't buy it, but admits that the Queen will take an interest in the matter if things do go south.
  • Offhand Backhand: Delivered to Bangladesh DuPree, of all people, and widely considered his Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Sarcastic Devotee: Though he grows out of it, he starts off as a man with little faith in Agatha.
  • Servile Snarker: As Gil's right-hand-man. Gentleman Snarker might be more accurate now we know his real background.
  • Spanner in the Works: When he derails Boris' manipulation of the Jägergenerals.
  • Spy Drama: This didn't really feature in the comic itself until this strip. There is, however, a custom ad for the Spy Battle browser game that portrays his past as being ridiculously martini-flavored.
  • Shoot the Dog: Is prepared to do whatever it takes to complete his mission, even killing Baron Wulfenbach.
  • The Stoic
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky: One of the tallest protagonists, dark haired, and he's British, so snark is a given.

Da Boyz

Oggie, Maxim, and Dimo

Fan Nickname for the three "wild" Jägermonsters who discovered Agatha while she was incognito and have followed her, to protect their new mistress, ever since.

Tropes associated with Da Boyz:

 General Goomblast: Dimo! Hy am shocked at dis behavior!

Boris: Still, it was rather clever of him...

General Goomblast: Hy said Hy vas shocked.

Dingbots

Dingbot Prime was created by Agatha as a lab assistant, Dingbot Prime is an oh-so-cute little clank, about the size of a pocket watch. When not otherwise engaged he spends his time making other, more specialised but less durable, Dingbots. What is amazing about Dingbot Prime is that it seems to be self aware; if this is true to even a small degree then it would be a miracle due to its tiny size. Even more incredibly, it's been theorized to have inherited some of the Spark!

Tropes associated with Dingbots:

Gilgamesh Wulfenbach

Son of one of the major antagonists, Gilgamesh is one of the possible pairings for Agatha (probably the canon one, considering these) and has much more obvious motivations. May be wasped.

Tropes associated with Gil:

Krosp I, Emperor of all Cats

Created by a Spark to control cats to act as a spy network, Krosp I is a failed experiment with delusions of lordship who has given Agatha much valuable political advice.

Tropes associated with Krosp:

  Krosp (to Gil on their first meeting): "I'm serious! Mess with me and your shoes are mine!"

Moloch von Zinzer

A mechanic who served in army of a Spark beaten by Klaus and ended up "on the beach" after his Walking Tank ran into Bang's team. First met right at the beginning when he and his brother steal Agatha's locket. He is later mistaken for the spark that created Agatha's first clank. He turned up again in Castle Heterodyne and seems to have fallen into the role of Agatha's minion by default.

Tropes associated with Moloch:

Punch and Judy

A pair of the Heterodyne Boys' earliest creations, Punch and Judy are common characters in Heterodyne stories. As student work, they are both somewhat flawed; Punch lacks a voice and Judy has mis-matched eyes, although most people don't know that. Punch is often portrayed as a foolish klutz, but Da Boyz report that he is a very intelligent and cunning planner as well as a funny and kind-hearted individual who spent his spare time making toys for children. They were loyal and were given the job of looking after Agatha under the pseudonyms of Adam and Lilith Clay.

Tropes associated with Punch and Judy:

 Belloptix: But... didn't he have a... lighter side?

Maxim: Oh yah! He build very amuzing toys for de orphan cheeldren!

Tarvek Sturmvoraus

First encountered when Agatha travels through the city of his father, Tarvek is the the Prince of Sturmhalten, and a descendant of the legendary Storm King. He's seemed to be on everyone's side, playing everyone against everyone else, though recently he seems to be genuinely on Team Agatha. He is a powerful Spark and a keen intellect. The other possible pairing for Agatha.

Tropes associated with Tarvek:

  Kaja Foglio: Yes, Sturmvoraus is apparently a house of evil fashion designers...

Violetta

Violetta is a Smoke Knight, although she herself says she's not very good at her job. Her job is to keep Tarvek alive, which is proving to be far more difficult than it should be considering he was confined to a hospital bed when she took that duty.

Tropes associated with Violetta:

Zeetha, Daughter of Chump

Warrior woman from the lost city of Skifander, she no longer knows how to get back and, until Agatha mentioned it, was uncertain as to whether her homeland even existed. She has trained Agatha to be a warrior and still fights for her interests.

Tropes associated with Zeetha:


Antagonists

Anevka Sturmvoraus

Tarvek's debatably-living sister. After an ill-concieved Mad Science experiment of her father's (attempting to download the Other's mind into her brain) left her at death's door, her brother constructed a new robotic body that she could operate from within her life-support tank. Over time, the original Anevka weakened as the clank Anevka picked up the slack, without ever quite realizing it. By the time of the events of the comic, biological-Anevka was dead.

Tropes associated with Anevka:

Bangladesh DuPree

A pirate queen in the pay of the Baron, though even he finds her taste for violence and random slaughter distasteful. Nevertheless he keeps her about as she is a very skilled warrior and hunter and sometimes, you need a butcher.

Tropes associated with Bangladesh:

 Bangladesh: Do I come into your lab and tell you how to torture rats?

Gil: Frequently.

Bangladesh: Exactly! So I know what I'm doing!

  • Undying Loyalty: To Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. If the Baron tells her to do something, she does it. End of story.

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach

One time friend of Agatha's parents, Klaus disappeared shortly before Agatha's parents married and returned to find Europa in utter chaos. He imposed order on Europa, not by negotiating and being nice like the Heterodyne Boys but by imposing his Iron Will on an ever increasing area of the globe. Was recently reported killed when the Great Hospital exploded and/or was kidnapped by incarnations of the Other. We're not sure yet. And...he's fine, dandy, and taken control back from Gilgamesh.

Tropes associated with Baron Klaus:

 Gilgamesh: "My father once wrote a monograph on how to communicate in the workplace."

Dimo: "...iz dat so?"

Gilgamesh: "All seven popes ordered it burned."

 Klaus: Dupree, if you come in here, I will kill you--with the power of my mind.

DuPree I...I'm pretty sure he can't really do that.

    • Upon seeing Gil cutting through an enemy army like a hot knife through butter, an onlooker had this to say:

 Councillor: Hmph. His father would have hit the wall and started another sweep by now.

 "If someone can't handle an unpleasant truth? Lie to them. If somone won't listen to reason? Make them. If people don't choose to live peaceably--Don't give them a choice. If you don't like the rules--change the game.

  • The Unfettered: "I did it alone. Because I had to. And it worked".
  • The Untwist: Supposedly the Baron died when the battles in Mechanicsberg started and the hospital got bombed. Very few were surprised when the Baron showed up, very much alive some time later.

 Gil and Tarvek: I knew it!

Boris Vasily Konstantin Andrei Myshkin-Dolokhov

The head of The Baron's administrative staff, Boris is a microcosm of how the Baron operates, and why it may be preferable to the previous system.

Originally a librarian with an eidetic memory serving a Spark (far from a calm profession in and of itself) his master decided to add an extra pair of arms, strength, speed, balance... and turn him into the ultimate juggler. When the Baron took down his former master he was given a far less demeaning job. He is now the Baron's right hand man and chief administrative secretary.

This is a job that he has excelled in. His brilliant and utterly humourless mind and enhanced physical abilities make him exactly the sort of person that a man like the Baron would need at his side, showing the Baron's talent for getting the right monster for the right job.

He and the Jägers have a love/hate relationship, as in: They love to pick on him, he hates their attitude.

Tropes associated with Boris:

Othar Tryggvassen, GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!

A man possessed with a quest to eradicate all sparks, including himself (eventually) for the damage they do to the world. Harder to kill than James Bond.

Tropes associated with Othar:

 Confound it! An entire train full of helpless Sparks AND dangerous monsters AND a handy chasm nearby. Someone is tempting me. So not fair!

This is ridiculous. There were only two and a half innocent people on this train (Jäger =0.5 person). Surely I can skip the last one. Yeah.

No. I can't. This is what being A Hero is about. I should never have taken that aptitude test back at the university. I wanted to be a chef.

 What a double edged sword a reputation is. Save thousands, thwart evil, bring peace... kill one corrupt quester and it's all out the window.

Now I'm just "The Guy Who Killed A Quester." It demonizes me, and ignores all of my finer points. Bit of a resume stain, to be honest. Sigh.

Questers are usually pillars of honesty. Therefore it's understandable that people are skeptical when you badmouth one. My rep vs. theirs.

  • Hero Antagonist: Plus or minus a little serial murder.
  • The Hunter: Of sparks.
    • Hunter of His Own Kind: He is one. He's a spark, with a goal of killing every other spark, then killing himself when he's the last one left. Being also insane, he isn't very consistent at that either, when it runs into other delusions.
  • Idiot Hero

  Like all prisoners in the castle, I'm outfitted with an exploding collar. Ha! The fools, my head is the least dangerous part of my body.

  • Implacable Man
  • In Spite of a Nail: According to his Twitter account a Spark's experiment with time travel and alternate realities has revealed that every Othar has some kind of predisposition to deciding to wipe out Sparks. He briefly wonders if there's something about the Othars that causes them to simply have suicidal craziness before dismissing the idea.
  • It Runs on Nonsensoleum: Othar apparently has "special trousers" that allows him to No Sell having an irate Jaeger landing on him and breaking his back. No, we have no idea what that means either.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Squibs, a much put upon minion in the radio drama 'Minor Heroes', sums it up best:

  Let me see if I understand this. He thinks all the problems in Europe are caused by mad scientists that build all the monsters. The mad scientists who vie with each other to see who can turn the population into clowns or bats or inanimate objects the quickest.The raving lunatics who set off volcanoes and unleash flash floods upon innocent cities. Othar wants to destroy these people, and you think he's insane.

    • And Klaus secretly acknowledges that Othar has a point. He had apparently been in the habit of subtly directing Othar in the direction of dangerous Sparks who hadn't technically violated the Baron's Peace up until Othar started killing Sparks that Klaus considered useful.
  • Large Ham: Most sparks chew scenery when in The Madness Place -- Othar does it all the time.

 Othar: So -- all the vipers are in residence!

Gilgamesh: I can't believe you still talk like that.

  "That letter is a fraud! Othar Tryggvassen may do things that lesser men find objectionable or slightly illegal, but I never apologize!"

The Other

The mysterious force of mysteriousness that almost conquered Europa before vanishing mysteriously. May be Agatha's mother.

Tropes associated with The Other:

Lucrezia-Mongfish-specific:

Captain Vole

The only Jägermonster ever to be kicked out from the Jägers. He bears a strong grudge against the House of Heterodyne over this, and is eager to kill Agatha as soon as he discovers that she's a real Heterodyne.

Tropes associated with Vole:

Zola La Sirene D'oree AKA Zola "Heterodyne" AKA Zola Anya Talinka Venia Zeblinkya Malfeazium

Once everyone had heard there was a Heterodyne girl running around, she stepped in (along with a conspiracy) to provide one. Agatha was... not happy about that.

Tropes associated with Zola:

 Tarvek: "How are you even still moving?"

Zola: "HATE! Hate and drugs! Lovely, lovely drugs! I'm a beautiful, chemical, killing machine!"

  • Up to Eleven: The scene where she downs the Psycho Serum is literally called "Zola goes up to eleven." Ah, Foglios, we love you.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Hoo boy...
  • Villain Decay: Subverted. She undecays completely over the span of two strips, and then some. Then goes from an incredibly dangerous intelligent opponent to an incredibly dangerous physical one when she downs the Moveit 11. Then, she decays AGAIN to an extent when she goes completely utterly psycho, and undecays yet AGAIN when she gets back to the hospital..
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: She is "very good at improvising when things go wrong."
  • Yandere: If this page is of any indication.


Martellus von Blitzengaard

Also known as "Tweedle". Spark. Another candidate for the throne of Storm King, the one who walked into Mechanicsburg to "save Heterodyne" (fake) and make himself king.

Tropes associated with Martellus:

Violetta: Those are Tweedle's? But he was always- I mean- He made these little bear things. They... they sang.

  • Mad Scientist: Specializes in biology, including fancy poisoning and Sparkhounds. Oh, and these singing "little bear things".
  • McNinja: And a top-tier one.

Smoke Knight: Your Grace, with all respect, von Blitzengard is good at this sort of thing. Better than any of us. It's one of the reasons he was able to make his claim to the title stick.


Assorted

Castle Heterodyne

The last thing Judy (AKA Lilith) told Agatha was to get to the Castle. Castle Heterodyne is a masterpiece of Malevolent Architecture and Artificial Sentience. It is also badly damaged, currently suffering from multiple personalities and falls under "sadistic deathtrap" even when running normally.

Tropes associated with Castle Heterodyne:

Castle Heterodyne Inhabitants

A thoroughly mixed bag of sparks, contructs, criminals and psychopaths sentenced to repair Castle Heterodyne, thus killing two birds with one stone from the Baron's perspective. Provides a ready pool of minions (or mooks) for whomever is currently ascendent.

Tropes associated with the Castle Heterodyne Inhabitants:

Sanaa Wilhelm/Sanaa Tryggvassen

One of the inhabitants of Castle Heterodyne. We first encounter her reporting on her repair efforts in Castle Heterodyne. She seems to be constantly competent at avoiding the death traps and kicking ass which is probably genetic given her brother. She also befriends Agatha when she arrives at the castle, meaning that she may well be around for a while.

Tropes associated with Sanaa:

Castle Wulfenbach Students

Sleipnir O'Hara, Theopholous DuMedd and Zaemae Yahyae Ahmad ibn Sulimaen al-Sinhaejae

A mixed bag of Sparks, nobles, and young people with connections to both, kept on Castle Wulfenbach to be schooled... and to discourage stupid behavior in their families.

Many of them remain as of yet un-named but two, Sleiphnir O'Hara and Theopholous DuMedd, have recently re-entered the story. Theo is notable as Theo is Agatha's closest known living relative, the son of Lucrezia's sister.

Tropes associated with the Castle Wulfenbach Students:

The Jäger Generals

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/generals2.bmp

The leaders of the Jägermonsters. There were originally eight of them, however one was killed in battle, leaving only seven:

  • "Dose three old ogres". They seem to act as military advisers for Klaus. There are three of them, General Zog (the big one, top left), General Khrizhan (the huge one who seems to be in overall command, bottom left) and General Goomblast (the freaking massive one, top right).
  • "Mamma" Gkika is another general, and one of only two female Jägers seen so far (bottom right). She runs the bar/hospital where incapacitated Jägers wait for a Heterodyne to come along to heal them up.
  • General Gargantua, who appeared after Agatha was proclaimed the new Heterodyne.
  • General Zadipok, who is currently missing for unknown reasons.
  • A "tricky general" who is said to be "keeper of many secret things." He apparently wishes to remain hidden until the Other is removed from Agatha's mind.

Tropes associated with The Jäger generals:

  • Amazing Technicolor Population: Mama Gkika takes it a step further by having a "fun color change-y hepidermoose [epidermis!"] She kept on the down low by staying caucasian-human-colored, but now can "mek vit the pretty colors again".
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Jäger. Generals.
  • Bar Brawl: Mamma Gkika organizes one every evening to let the incapacitated Jägers in her care blow off steam. Except for Thursdays when they have a Poetry Slam...
  • Big Red Devil: General Gargantua got this look. And wears Spikes of Villainy.
  • Cavalier Competitor / Spirited Competitor: They don't hold grudges over any finished campaigns. And apparently keep kill-counts, arguing with each other over which foes did "count" and which weren't enough of sport. Goomblast also liked the idea of Combat by Champion, though his opponents declined.
  • Combat Pragmatist: The Generals make a game of who can score the most kills in a battle. General Khrizhan points out the others' cheating, not because he thinks it's unfair, but because he doesn't want to get called out for doing everything the others are doing.
  • Dark Action Girl: Mamma seems to be half way between this and Lady of War.
  • Femme Fatalons: Seen on Mamma here. And she keeps them perfectly lacquered even when in "uniform".
  • Four-Star Badass: All of the Generals are brutally competent warriors. Four of them working together can utterly crush an entire airship of elite Wulfenbach air-assault troops.
  • Funetik Aksent
  • Genre Savvy: Despite their Undying Loyalty, they seem to know better than to completely discount accusations against their mistress just because the person making them was trying to get her killed.
  • Gentle Giant: All of the generals seem perfectly capable of being personable and making very polite conversation over a pot of tea (Zog less so). They are, however, still Jägers.
  • Genius Bruiser: Perhaps due to their age the generals seem far more on the button as far as politics are concerned than many people, never mind Jägers. Case in point: when it's revealed that Klaus plans to destroy Castle Heterodyne because Agatha's the Other, and Boris tries to stop the Generals from declaring for her by deceit, they ask Boris to tell them what he knows rather than killing him out of hand.
  • Hidden in Plain Sight: This is how Mamma Gkika's remains hidden, it is underneath a much gaudier tourist trap of the same name.
  • I Call Her "Vera": Mamma Gkika's "Dollink".
  • Implausible Fencing Powers: General Goomblast is capable of disarming his enemies such that their (poisoned) swords impale them. While fighting six on one.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Gargantua can apparently throw his Spikes of Villainy with deadly accuracy that should be impossible with their curved shape.
  • Lightning Bruiser: At least, General Goomblast. Wulfenbach assault team seeing a huge Jäger General with a light fencing sword missed the clue why they should be terrified. Oh, and he also seems to be ambidextrous.
  • More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: While standard for most Jägers, Goomblast takes a bit further.
  • Nice Hat: General Zog and General Gargantua (like most Jägers) both have one. Fandom is divided as to whether Goomblast's skullcap (seemingly riveted to his skull) counts. Khrizhan lacks one, a very rare thing in a Jäger. However, in this strip, we're told sometime in the past he had to abandon a very impressive uniform in Mamma Gkikka's, which got recycled for Gil. Gil's hat may also be built out of (or on) Khrizhan's.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Almost literally, their ages are in the neighborhood of 600-700 years.
  • Shipper on Deck: Agatha/Gil, although Zog got beaten up by Khrizhan for suggesting they push it along.
  • Slasher Smile: Goomblast has a mouth a shark would be envious of.
  • Super Soldier
    • Super Serum: Mentioned as the source of change and confirmed by Word of God. They are humans transformed by the "Jägerdraught". Perhaps due to advanced years causing additional mutation, side effects of repair or perhaps because they might have been in the original batch, most Generals are a LOT less human than the regular Jägers.
      • On the other hand, apart from her aqua hair, sharp teeth and pointed ears, Mama Gkika can almost pass for human (and in fact does, hiding in plain sight among her human showgirls who dress up as Jägers).
  • Undying Loyalty: Explicitly explained to be a choice on the Jägers' part. They are not compelled to serve the Heterodynes; rather, every Jäger has made a conscious choice and vow to serve the Heterodynes for life before they drank the Jägerdraught - it's a gamble, but "de vuns vot live gets all kinds ov goodies", evidently including toughness and immunity to aging.

Jenka

The female Jäger (one of only two we have met so far, the other being Mama Gkikka) who seems to be Da Boyz immediate superior officer but who spends quite a bit of time away from them. She was away when Da Boyz were caught by Othar and then left again to get orders about Agatha. She has turned up and left again once more since. Her mysteriousness, femaleness and general awesome has lead to a lot of speculation about her nature and origins.

Tropes associated with Jenka:

 Jenka: I forgive. Once.

Master Payne's Circus of Adventure

A traveling Heterodyne Show that takes Agatha in for a while after she saves them from a wandering monster-clank. Zeetha was originally one of them, but decided her place was with her student when the rest of the Circus was Put on a Bus.

Tropes associated with the Circus:

Old Man Death

An old man who runs a gourmet sandwich shop with his granddaughter. Used to run with the Jägers and put them to shame. As such his hat is very imporant to Jägers as the more important and Badass the hat's owner the more awesome and Badass the hat. As such it seems he has to put up with the occasional attack on him for it, often enough at least for there to be a three tries only rule.

Tropes associated with Old Man Death:

 Heh, even today your grandmother is a remarkable woman.

  I'm just a human. Rode with the Jägers. Never. Lost. A. Fight.

  • Foregone Conclusion: It was obvious that Maxim was going to get Old Man Death's hat as soon as you saw it- while the purple hat with red trimming looked out of place on an old man in an orange shirt and an apron, it already matched Maxim's outfit perfectly. It actually looked pretty similar to his old hat, only more ornate.
  • Former Teen Rebel: As was mentioned, "rode with the Jägers", i.e. was an auxiliary to the most Badass and evil army in Europe. Now runs a sandwich shop.
  • Grandpapa Wolf: The fight with Maxim over his hat was going fine, and was fairly friendly, until Maxim tried to hit on the waitress, his granddaughter.
  • Hash House Lingo: He knows the ingredients of the most obscure sandwiches you can imagine.
    • And there is apparently a story behind every one of those oddly named sandwiches. The "Red Heterodyne" (Fried bat wing with mushroom sauce on pumpernickel) apparently stemmed from the long-dead Red Heterodyne getting trapped in a cave network for several years after a raid gone bad, forcing him to live on bats and mushrooms (And developing a taste for them) until he could get out. The "Prince of Sturmhalten's Big Bet" (Hat sandwich) stemmed from Prince Viden of Strumhalten saying that he'd eat his hat if Goot Heterodyne could get a cathedral built in Mechanicsburg.
  • Moral Dilemma: Maxim forces him to choose between his reputation as a sandwich-maker and his hat. He chooses his reputation.
    • Subverted, he's apparently fine with it, he really didn't care about the hat, and he told his granddaughter "your grandmother always hated that hat".
      • Plus the Jager used his brains in the end instead of his fighting skills.
  • Nice Hat: Played with, he freely admits his hat is nothing special, but the fact that it is his makes it irresistible to the Jägers.
  • Not So Different: When he gets angry enough, he starts talking in the same Funetik Aksent as the Jägers.

Airman 3/c Axel "The Unstoppable" Higgs

Rescued the Baron from a crashed airship after a major confrontation. The Unstoppable ho norific is well-earned; he's introduced by a flashback tto a scene where he sustains two broken arms, a broken leg, an infected bite and a bullet in his other leg -- and still completes his mission.

Tropes associated with Higgs:

 Higgs: Uh--she--she ain't my Miss Zeetha, sir.

Tarvek: Oh, heaven forbid. I'm sure you'd desert your post and hare off to save any green-haired amazon.

  • Smoking Is Cool: That is one badass pipe.
  • Stealth Pun: His name and title/rank. In an old navy, a third mate (or seaman, third class) is also known as a bosun, making Axel the Higgs boson.
  • The Stoic
  • Unfazed Everyman
  • Unreliable Narrator: The story that initially earned him the fans' love and respect was related by him to the group of soldiers that found him. It hasn't quite... meshed with what we've seen of him.
    • Just to be clear: It turns out he's more badass, not less. Considering how Made of Iron we've seen he is, what Higgs went through to get the injuries Dr. Sun mentioned has to have been far, far worse than he reported.
  • Would Hit a Girl: He has no problems with getting into a truly vicious fistfight with Zola, and he's not pulling his punches. Of course, neither is she...and she has a sword!
  • Zen Survivor: Despite everything he's gone through, his expression of perpetual apathy has slipped exactly four five times since his first appearance: Getting bitten by DuPree, explaining his tale while being heavily drunk, being threatened by Zeetha, finding out his new boss is Gil and holding a critically wounded Zeetha in his arms while threatening Zola with what may be a Jäger accent.

The von Mekkahns

Carson von Mekkahn was the seneschal of Castle Heterodyne until he retired and passed the job on to his son, who died just days later when the Other attacked. When Baron Wulfenbach politely took over Mechanicsburg a few years later, Carson made it seem that the von Mekkahn family had gone extinct in the Other's attack, going into hiding under the alias of "Carson Heliotrope" and running Mechanicsburg in secret. Carson has since retired again and his grandson, Vanamonde, now runs the town from a coffee shop. After Agatha sparks out in Vanamonde's coffee shop, Carson helps her enter Castle Heterodyne.

Tropes associated with the von Mekkahns:

  • Bald of Evil: Carson, sort of. He probably wasn't both bald and evil simultaneously, but he's bald now and apparently served the evil Heterodynes before Agatha's heroic father and uncle -- he rode with the Jägers in his youth and could describe Agatha's grandfather's usual reaction to invading war clanks.
  • Bluff the Impostor: Carson tries this on Agatha at first, asking if Punch ever mentioned him. He is quite surprised that she knows Punch couldn't talk, though this still isn't enough to convince him.
  • Fascinating Eyebrow: Young Vanamonde has shown a strong skill in this.
  • Former Teen Rebel: Carson. Again, rode with the Jägers in his youth, under the old evil Heterodynes. Is now retired, lives with his daughter-in-law, and seems to have mostly spent his days soaking up rays on the balcony before being introduced in the comic.
  • Multicolored Hair: Vanamonde
  • Obfuscating Stupidity/Rich Idiot With No Day Job: To outsiders, Vanamonde looks like a young loafer who does nothing but laze around and drink coffee. In reality, he wrote a definitive book on coffee (under a pen name), is (according to Carson) "more competent than he appears", and, oh yeah, secretly runs Mechanicsburg.
    • Alternatively, he may or may not have an actual day job at the coffee house: it has been referred to has "Van's Coffee House" in this cast page, he has paid for the coffee engine and he tends to use first person pronouns about it. He isn't shown to be particularly active though.
  • People Puppets/Unusual User Interface: Part of Carson's duty as seneschal. He has special holes drilled in his skull that let him use the Throne of Faustus Heterodyne to become Castle Heterodyne's puppet so that Agatha can talk to it in the crypt. Vanamonde's skull hasn't been prepared for such a thing yet, but the Castle is looking forward to it.
  • Psychic Link: Carson didn't even notice he had this until he felt Castle Heterodyne die.
  • Retirony: Inverted by Carson, who retired just in time to miss dying in the Other's attack. His replacement, who was also his son, died instead.
  • Seen It All: Carson.

 Carson: Don't try to boggle me, Mister Talking Cat. This is Mechanicsburg. You are by no means the strangest thing in this town.

  • Skeptic No Longer: Agatha's performance in the coffee shop (and her coffee) make Vanamonde a believer. By the time Agatha forces Castle Heterodyne to back down from punishing Herr Diamant for expressing his skepticism, Carson is convinced she's real too.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": There's some disagreement on whether it's spelled Mekkahn, Mekkan, or Mekkhan.
  • Legacy of Service

Otilia Von Pinn

When first encountered Von Pinn seemed to just be another of the many monsters given jobs by the Baron. It eventually emerged, however, that she was the nursemaid at Castle Heterodyne when Agatha was born and this has made things rather interesting. Pursued by many Jägers as the height of womanhood and absolutely terrifying, Von Pinn seems to hate Agatha, fear what she is to become (whatever that is) and want to protect her.

Tropes associated with Von Pinn:

Doctor Sun Jen-djieh

"You are a terrible patient!"

One of Klaus's old friends. A Spark who runs the Great Hospital in Mechanicsburg. Prone to threatening to beat some sense into his friends and students who are being foolish -- and then backing it up if need be.

Tropes associated with Doctor Sun:

Xerxsephina von Blitzengaard

The fine your lady who happens to be sister of Martellus and thus another cousin of Tarvek. If this was not enough of a fair warning, too bad. The Princess is the Order's emissary to Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, and as such is personally responsible for the two main forces in Europa successfully finding the common ground and keeping the truce. She also runs a "totally not romantical, just political expediency" campaign to marry him herself.

Tropes associated with Xerxephina:

  • The Chessmaster/Manipulative Bastard: She did jump in a dangerous mess when she got a good reason, but never was shown fighting so far - and probably never needed to do it with her own hands. She rose to a very high status in a backstabbing family where she had to compete with anomalous charisma of Sparks without (apparently) being one herself. This girl is not only very good at acting, she's brilliant in diplomaty. Even when we know she is double-dealing (at very least), and half of the conditions she points out may "just happened to" be pulled together by her own deft hand, whatever she says is still hard to counter. And most of it comes across as the most sensible thing in any given circumstances.

Violetta: Jeez, Seffie, I hate it when you're right...

  • The Charmer: Such a nice young lady. Almost everyone likes Seffie. Including Tweedle and Gil, and now apparently Agatha. The scary enigmatic Grandmother apparently too... or at least Seffie implies this and no one objects.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The girl thrives in that family and the Order, what would you expect? She "supports" just about everyone, but only for her own reasons, so it happens...

Krosp: So you're related to that big chump back there?

Xerxsephina: (wincing) My brother. Yes.

Krosp: You've pretty much sent him to Wulfenbach, you know. Your family members are my kind of people... I'm told that's not a compliment.

Martellus: Aw... Seffie - I've missed that creepy laugh of yours.

Xerxsephina: Hee hee! Isn't it good?! ...but I'm still working on the harmonics.


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