Zola Malfeazium


 * "She was a dancer."
 * "A dancer, huh?"
 * "That's what it said on her card."
 * Gil and Zeetha

Zola la Sirène d'Or, known earlier in the story as Zola "Heterodyne," is at all. Rather, she is the of The Storm King conspiracy, a plot to seize power over large parts of Europa from Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. The plotters hope to gain public support the world that Zola is the heiress to House Heterodyne and by marrying her to the heir of House Valois, thus staging a new fourth act to The Storm King (opera), this time with a happy ending (for them). Zola's was to take over Castle Heterodyne.

Character Analysis
The part Zola plays in the conspiracy is very much the anti-Agatha: she's flashy, where Agatha is subdued; she's overdressed, where Agatha dresses practically; she the crowd, where Agatha  the crowd to play to her. And, above all, Zola is living a lie, where Agatha is trying to find her true self. That by itself would justify labeling her as a villain, but there's more. Zola has no problem killing or maiming when she thinks it's necessary , where Agatha is (on her better days) kind-hearted and heroic. Further, Zola is in league with some very bad people who want to seize power for its own sake, where Agatha is struggling to survive and to protect the world from the Other.

We'll Always Have Paris
Prior to the opening of our story, Zola when he was a university student in Paris, where her chosen occupation often brought her into contact with the local Sparks and their insane devices. Gil knight in obfuscating armor to Zola's damsel in distress, but romantic sparks apparently never caught fire between them, perhaps because she  her end in a Sparky conversation. Because Gil was living incognito in Paris, Zola was unaware that her friend was the son of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. Gil knew her as a foolish pawn, though not - to his knowledge - a malicious one. Their acquaintance ended when Zola abruptly left Paris. Oddly, all her bills had been paid off, though she had had before.

Arriving at Mechanicsburg in Style
Zola makes in Mechanicsburg  Vienna, probably having spoken to the conspirators' Council there. After descending from a pink, very pink airship festooned with Heterodyne trilobite sigils, she catches the eye of the crowd in a matching flamboyant pink outfit. She delivers a bombastic oration (nauseating Agatha and Krosp), summarily banishes the Black Squad that tries to stop her (with the help of her only named minion, one Herr Vikel), and begins a grandiose procession to Castle Heterodyne. Where Agatha refuses to subject her friends to the danger of entering Castle Heterodyne, Zola that all her minions accompany her, resulting in at least one death.

Zola's pageant and managed by House Strinbeck and House Oublenmach, among others. They are moving years earlier than planned to take advantage of the and to secure the legitimacy conferred by controlling Castle Heterodyne before the other Heterodyne heir recently  in Sturmhalten can undo all their years of preparation.

Taking Castle Heterodyne
Inside the Castle, Zola with Professor Tiktoffen, a conspiracy member who has been studying the Castle for years. Though the, , and believe she plans to take control of the Castle, Zola begins issuing orders  its mind, using a device  piece by piece over some time. Zola promises to any prisoner who manages to kill Agatha and blows away the Woman With the Veil Hat pour encourager les autres when the latter sensibly objects to chasing Agatha into unexplored parts of the castle.

When Zola encounters Gil in the Castle, she accepts his story that he a pirate who entered the castle in search for treasure. Although Zeetha is suspicious of Gil's reasons for playing along with Zola, Gil reveals that he's never known the Pink Fake to be. Agatha soon catches up with Zola and Gil and Zola with ease, revealing Gil's ruse along the way.

However, true to the ability of the Professors to spin a tale, this formerly reviled character becomes more sympathetic when it's revealed that she really does care for Gil, even willing to when she thinks his life is threatened and.

We have also that Tarvek was acquainted with Gil in Paris, and was sometimes  by some of the adventures and scrapes that Gil got into, which are likely to have included some of the ones related to Gil rescuing Zola. Tarvek was originally that it was Zola who was selected for this plot, but when he, he suggests that she's more competent than we had previously believed.

Aliases
Between fan discussion and Agatha's temper, Zola has accumulated a considerable number of nicknames. In the comic, starting from her first appearance in Mechanicsburg, she has been called:

As well as a variety of descriptive phrases such as "the girl they groomed to be the Heterodyne" and "" and "that idiot from the Island of the--".

Possibly relevant outside information
Zola declaims, a line attributed to Tony Curtis from "Son of Ali Baba", in which he played a thief. The line had become a cheesy legend in its own right because Curtis's native (Bronx) accent rendered it as "Yonder lies da castle of my fodda." Curtis denies saying exactly those words; he has never denied the accent.

Questions and Theories

 * Does Zola that she is the Heterodyne? Who told her that?
 * If not, then who has orchestrated the device to kill the Castle?