The Other

The Other is the ostensibly undisputed villain and common foe of the main Girl Genius narrative. However, the precise nature of the Other is unknown, so it can be observed that "the Other" is little more than a synonym for what is called in another forum "the [ Big Bad]". The Other may be a person or it may be an entity capable of possessing a person.

The Hive Engines
At the opening of the narrative, the firmest conception of the Other in the popular imagination is, roughly, "he who created the revenants and ruthlessly attacked Sparks". Creation of revenants is accomplished by infecting ordinary people with "slaver wasps" which are in turn produced by "hive engines".

The Other War
Main article: The Other War

Nineteen or so years prior to the beginning of the Girl Genius story, the Other came seemingly out of nowhere, attacked and effectively destroyed Castle Heterodyne, kidnapped Lady Lucrezia Mongfish Heterodyne, ravaged Europa, destroyed forty-three major Sparky Houses, and harried the normal citizens with Slaver Wasps and the resulting shambling Revenants. Few people knew what Baron Wulfenbach discovered—that hive engine technology resembled the style of the spark Lucrezia Mongfish, though it was fantastically more advanced.

According to reports, the Heterodyne Boys did everything they could to destroy wasp infestations and foil The Other's destruction. While some people assume that the Heterodyne Boys won the war, all that can be said for certain is that one day, the devastation stopped and the Heterodynes disappeared.

Lady Lucrezia (Mongfish) Heterodyne
Both Vrin and Klaus are convinced that Lady Lucrezia was the Other. Vrin met her when she appeared in the Geisterworld "in great distress", carrying the Holy Child. After the child was taken from the Geisterdamen, the Other returned and lead the Geisterdamen to the Shadowworld (i.e., Earth).

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, who made an extensive study of the Other's devices after the conclusion of the Other War, concluded that the principles underlying its devices were similar to those of Lucrezia Mongfish, though they were much more skillfully designed. Of course, the same would have been true if Lucrezia had been forced to serve the Other. Similarly, there may be a spark of whom the Baron is unaware whose style is even more similar to the Other's style than Lucrezia's is.

After Klaus is infected with a wasp outside of Sturmhalten, he identifies Lucrezia's mind gloating about the wasp from inside Agatha's body. The incident has likely cemented his opinion that Lucrezia was the Other 18-19 years ago, as well as convincing him that Agatha is the Other now. Klaus remains unaware of the events surrounding the "Holy Machine" in the castle at Sturmhalten.

Klaus, Baron von Wulfenbach
Baron Wulfenbach, fighting comrade of the brothers, after the war from wherever he had been exiled (coincidentally, ) and started to clean up the mess — leaderless Wasps and Revenants still wandered the land. In fact, because he was absent for the Other War and "benefited" from the power vacuum left at its cessation, and perhaps due to his own willingness to study, control, and destroy Sparks, some people began to entertain the notion that the Baron himself is the Other. For his part, Klaus demanded that any leftover technology that appeared the work of the Other be turned over to him immediately upon discovery.

These rumors were no doubt revived recently when a giant hologram of Agatha was projected above Sturmhalten, accusing the Baron of being the Other.

T'otheron of Mars
For eighteen years, to much of the world, The Other remained history, fading into horrifying legend. Because so few people were privy to the details, Theopholous DuMedd (incidentally, nephew to Lucrezia Mongfish) could convincingly create a character like T'otheron, Dragon King of Mars, based on what was known at the time.

Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer
While aboard Castle Wulfenbach, Agatha also encounters Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer (who is popularly considered a hero). Despite the similarity of the name (Othar, Other) and what turns out to be Othar's self-declared primary mission (destroying all sparks), few readers and no characters would seriously entertain the notion that there is any stronger relationship.

Agatha Heterodyne
Prior to the events at Strumhalten, Agatha displayed the ability to command wasps, revenants, and (very nearly) Vrin (even though she knew at the time that Agatha was distinct from her mistress).

Tarsus Beetle, at the time of his demise, was apparently aware of Agatha's command voice. He had acquired a hive engine that he had been apparently preparing to put into service, perhaps using Agatha to control it. What Beetle intended to do with the engine is unclear, though he may just have wanted to throw off the Wulfenbach yoke. Later, aboard Castle Wulfenbach, Mr. Rovainen, evidently acting on what he perceived to be Agatha's orders, activates the hive engine. In the course of battling the hive engine with Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, Agatha discovers that the warrior wasps defer to her command voice.

For a description of Agatha after Sturmhalten, see Possession below.

Possession
In Sturmhalten, Vrin forces Agatha into the Holy Machine, after which the Other's personality inhabits Agatha's body, vying for control with Agatha's personality.

House Sturmvoraus and the Geisterdamen manage to capture Agatha Heterodyne when she passes through Sturmhalten, the Sturmvoraus seat. Vrin tells Agatha that Lucrezia Mongfish was the Other and the Geisterdamen goddess. Using a machine rebuilt by Vrin, Geisterdame High Priestess, The Other takes possession of Agatha's body. The Other is unaware of events that have transpired in the last 18 years, including the rise of the Wulfenbach Empire. Agatha and the Other struggle for control of Agatha's body. While the Heterodyne music aids Agatha, the Other eventually seizes complete control. Agatha does not regain control until the Other puts on the Heterodyne locket, damping the Other into quiescence.

The locket, originally given to Agatha by her Uncle Barry, had recently been repair by Baron Wulfenbach. Interestingly, the locket no longer suppresses Agatha's spark.

The Lucrezia Clank
Prince Tarvek Sturmvoraus, with help from The Other in Agatha, also duplicates The Other into a high-level clank brain. He appropriates his sister, Anevka's clank body to create a second Other / Lucrezia. This Other and the Other in Agatha treat each other as allies. When last seen, the clank Lucrezia was escaping into caverns below Sturmhalten with the Geisterdamen, several Slaver engines and the Holy Machine.

Enigma
See main article Enigma. Enigma appears to Agatha in a time window. It is unclear whether the time-traveling Enigma is The Other, Lucrezia, Agatha, or some combination thereof.

Questions and Theories

 * What are The Other's motives? Why did the attacks on the Heterodynes and the sparks start?
 * Just how big is the conspiracy supporting the Other?
 * Could the Other be an outside entity that took possession of Lucrezia 19 years ago, just as it has recently taken possession of Agatha? If so where did The Other first come from?
 * Alternatively, is the Other nothing more than Lucrezia, who was really just evil all along? Was she a good enough actress to fool Bill and Barry into thinking she had reformed?  However, Agatha, even knowing what she knows about her mother, rejects the idea that Lucrezia was responsible for Klaus Barry's death.
 * Lucrezia's assistants were murdered and her notes were burned on the night of the attack on Castle Heterodyne, thus eliminating all evidence of what happened inside Lucrezia's lab that night. Did she do this to cover her tracks or was this done by someone else?
 * Who was the Geisterdamen's "Eternal Lady"? Was is Lucrezia; if so, did she have time-travel at her disposal?  Or, did Lucrezia merely take advantage of an existing prophecy?
 * What happened to the body of Agatha's mother?
 * What is the "destroyed gate" Lady Vrin mentions?
 * What was the device the Geisterdamen were transporting when they left Sturmhalten?
 * Are the Other in Agatha and the Other clank equal in all abilities? Can the Other continue to replicate itself indefinitely with the Holy Machine?
 * If there are multiple Others in the present, might there have been multiple Others 19 years ago?

Possibly relevant outside information
The Other is an important concept in continental philosophy. (The term "continental philosophy" itself "was first widely used by English-speaking philosophers to describe university courses in the 1970s [as a name for] phenomenology, existentialism, structuralism, and post-structuralism", etc.) A vague caricature of the idea is: The Other is the (innocent) person whom I make into an enemy in order to improve my Self. Therefore, the fact that the Big Bad in Girl Genius is named “the Other” is another clue that said Big Bad is not a traditional enemy such as T'Otheron of Mars, &c. but in fact an ... ephemera.