Forum:Tarvek, Violetta, and the Legacy of the Storm King

I have a horrible idea. I think Tarvek is being set up to die.

Hear me out; the Storm King conspiracy, at its core, was set up to have the Heir Apparent of the Storm King come to Mechanicsburg and rescue a set-upon Heterodyne Heiress from evil, no good, war-clank thingys. Said rescue would lead to love, wedded bliss, and the restoration of an Empirical Europa under a descendant of its last unanimously acknowledged ruler.

The only problem (okay, there are tons of problems – but one of the big ones) is that Tarvek, the Storm King Heir Apparent, isn’t the one who was seen rescuing the town by calling down ''lightening! ''It was Gil.

Now, unless Girl Genius is working toward something of a XXXenophile ending (which I would be whole-heartedly behind, btw - “two boys for every girl!”), the Heterodyne Heiress is only going to have one husband. It’s already been well established that Agatha has strong romantic feelings for Gil. It’s also been show that she has affection for Tarvek, but it seems like it might be less romantic and more… just plain friendly. In the story of the Weasel Queen, Tarvek is shown at the end with a camera – not a token of romance like Gil is holding (flowers). When Tarvek was dying of the Resplendent Immolation, Agatha kissed him on the head – as opposed to Gil, whom she kissed on the mouth.

Now, back to my sinking feeling that Tarvek isn’t long for this world. My primary concern is Violetta. It seems odd to me that any member of the Smoke Knights could be considered incompetent – they are an elite fighting squad, raised from birth to protect and serve the descendents of the Storm King. The fact that she professes her incompetence rather vocally, yet has shown considerable aptitude (Theo blow-up doll anyone?), is strange. Also, the Smoke Knights are tools of the Knights of Jove – a group of people originally dedicated to the preservation of the Storm King legacy. Imagine being raised from birth in that kind of mentality; the appearance of The Other, no matter how charismatic, could not possibly have undone generations of indoctrination that the Smoke Knights must have lived.

I really started re-thinking this girl when I went back through the comic (I wanted a chance to truly appreciate the insane amount of foreshadowing that was going on). While rereading the bit with Gil taking down the battalion of War-clanks (with lightening!), I was reminded that Violetta was there for the event. Disguised as a secretary, with a cloak-clasp with a peculiar sigilon it. It took some digging to find where else I'd seen it – it was on the armor of the Storm King in the Vienna opera. That clasp at her throat could have been anything; her job was such that no one would care if she wore the sword and gear of the House of Sturmvoraus, or the Goddess glyph of the Knights of Jove. But Violetta chose to wear the heraldry of her greatest loyalty; trilobite jewelry and the lightening glyph of the Storm King.

This told me that Smoke Knights, or at the very least Violetta, hold there loyalty to only one thing – the legacy of the Storm King. Not to the House of Sturmvoraus, not to the conflicted Knights of Jove, and not to The Other. This makes me think that she will act to protect that legacy - even if the Heir ends up being someone other than Tarvek.

With that in mind, it perhaps makes a bit more sense why Violetta willing took Tarvek into Castle Heterodyne. It was long after the Nurse (whom I am going out on a limb and am assuming was the Smoke Knight in the hospital) was killed – which means long after Violetta got tapped as Tarvek's bodyguard. It was also long after she'd witnessed Gilgamesh Wulfenbach call lightening in defense of his Heterodyne Heiress. If she had left Tarvek at the hospital, the Baron would have had him contained until the mess at Strumhalten got figured out. Tarvek's immediate freedom was in danger, not his life. So why drag him into a deathtrap, where she (and not a highly guarded hospital) could influence his survival?

Perhaps it had something to do with the Storm King himself? From Gil’s (and Zola’s) own admission,Andronicus Valois is thought to have sown his wild oats far and wide. What was to have stopped one of those children from being a member of a minor noble house? Like maybe, the Wulfenbachs? Or, perhaps, Gil’s as yet un-named mother’s (I don't actually believe that, I've got a soft sport for Milvistle, but it is a valid question)?

Would this ambivalence of descendance cause a weak spoke in loyalty for the Smoke Knights? Despite the generations of education demanding that her loyalty be to the Heir of Valois, Violetta rather easily switched her allegiance to Agatha when presented the opportunity. I think this is another demonstration of where her true loyalties lie – with the legacy. She is more than happy to play bodyguard to Agatha, because now she is protecting the Storm King's bride – the one part of the legacy with no questions attached.

And lastly, a question of story-craft – Tarvek's presences as a potentially likeable good-ish guy makes for difficult story telling. Or rather, not the telling, but the ending. The only way for Tarvek's story to conclude happily (from his current point of view) is for him to wed the Heterodyne Heiress and be announced as the Storm King. And what if he does accept that Agatha isn't the girl for him? Reference back to my question of husbands; there just isn't a viable bride for him, Heterodyne or otherwise (unless he's going to go after Zeetha, but don't think Higgs would have any of that). I just can't think of a way for his story to end well. In the end, I think he may have to go the way of Lars – a perfectly suitable beau for Agatha who ends up dead as a means of moving the story along.

In conclusion, I ask: when the time comes that Violetta must act to protect the legacy of the Storm King, a legacy which demands a love between a Heterodyne girl and a Heir of Valois, will she prove her thus-far behavior a charade and sacrifice Tarvek in favor of a King who has already proven he can commanded a storm and is already in place to rule Europe?

(my brain is tired now...)

Satyr