Tarvek Sturmvoraus/Mad

A Sympathetic History
Tarvek considers himself the Storm King by right. Klaus Wulfenbach is thus an usurper. The possibility that Klaus would gladly hand over power to anyone capable of keeping the peace is not considered. Although Tarvek has no special devotion to the Other, his father clearly considers her as important or even more important than his son’s ascendancy. Aaronev was evidently using the Knights of Jove to serve the Other with the justification that the slaver wasps would be the most effective way to reëstablish the Storm King's rule

Aaronev, Anevka, and Agatha
When Tarvek first appears, he attempts to comfort his father and discourage him from taking his failure to find the Holy Child too seriously. Earlier, of course, when his father had sacrificed (nearly killing) his sister on the Other's machine, he had built Anevka’s body; either filial piety or a genuine disinterest — or sense of inability — to manage his father and the political power he wielded, along with the opportunity to recreate a van Rijn masterpiece, made this construction the preferred option (over, say, attempting to hold a regency in Sturmhalten). (Also, a change of power would have brought imperial entanglements which Tarvek clearly wished to avoid.)

When Agatha’s “commanding voice” registers as a match with Aaronev’s instruments — condemning her to a similar fate as his sister — Tarvek tries to discount it. When he consequently has an opportunity to accompany Agatha to the palace dining room, and the disfunctional Tinka appears (with the disfunction presumably due to Tarvek’s intrusion on her soma), he displays an “honorable” sense of obligation to repair Tinka that seems genuine and his expressing it unpremeditated and unmotivated by a desire to impress Agatha. When Aaronev has confirmed Agatha's identy, he continues to resist (though without effect) his father’s use of the chapel machine on her. On the other hand, he is briefly angered at Anevka’s effective end to Aaronev’s work (and life). Nevertheless, knowing that, in theory at least, (as we later discover) he has full control over Anevka’s body, he assists Anevka in her acquistion of Agatha’s command voice.

On the other hand, while his sister believes him to be working on improving the voice, he sends for Agatha and expresses considerable and hard to discount enthusiasm for the constructive project of rebuilding the Muses. There seems little doubt he would be up to this task, as Tinka at this point seems fully operational; evidently (as with Moxana) it was only a kind of depression due to separation from her sister that left her inoperative. Although he takes his identity as the Storm King seriously, and knows that Agatha is (or at least, believes herself to be) the daughter of Bill Heterodye, to all appearances, on Tinka’s and Moxana’s advisement, he attempts to release Agatha back to the circus, to allow her future participation with his projects to be voluntary. Evidently, he believes his control over Anevka’s body and the current imprisonment of Vrin leaves him in an adequately strong position to carry out any plans and even show generosity. Presumably the Knights of Jove and the Order (if they are different) and any other anti–Wulfenbach forces would also recognize his right to rule. And, of course, he perceives Agatha to be anti-Wulfenbach as well. There is no way he could have expected Dingbot Prime would have released the Geisterdamen.

The return of Lucrezia
All this comes to a tragic end once Lady Vrin and resurrects Lucrezia into her daughter's body. He, claiming to believe Agatha's return “impossible,” while learning the secrets of the Holy Machine. Lady Vrin, however, clearly continues to mistrust him. More tragically, perhaps, Agatha also distrusts him and fails to explain her plan to regain control while she sleeps. When the plan works, Agatha proceeds to attempt to expose to the Baron what has happened to her believing this this necessary to contain the Other even at a high personal cost. Of course, such disclosure would also expose Tarvek’s family’s collusion with the Other to the Baron, and likely Tarvek’s further ambitions as well, and this is too much for Tarvek to allow. Worse, the downward spiral continues when he accidentally reveals his plans to reestablish the rule of the Storm King (preferably without the Other’s involvement) to Lucrezia herself. Evidently he has to cut some sort of deal with Lucrezia to maintain her support for these plans, but he does not reveal to her Agatha’s own plan to reveal herself. Instead, while (not without trepidation) returning Agatha’s body to Lucrezia, he secretly modifies the message in the holographic projector she builds to identify Klaus, rather than herself, as the Other.

And then things get complicated.

Lord Selnikov, commander of the Knights of Jove, has been helping Anevka “imprint” her appearance on the people of Sturmhalten and relaying her orders to execute those who imprinted on Agatha’s, though he is disturbed by the political danger Lucrezia’s return presents. He is especially concerned for Tarvek’s safety, in particular his mental safety at the hands of the Geisterdamen, since a spark–infecting slaver wasp now exists. Meanwhile, Tarvek reveals the same wasp to the Geisters, apparently to gain their trust and respect. He says he is preparing to relocate with them.

Eventually Lucrezia, not yet realizing that the weapon she uses.

Infirmity
Allusions to the opera preceded his.

It seems Wulfenbach troops manage to retain custody of Tarvek and take him to the Great Hospital under heavy guard. Violetta releases him. She gives him Moveit. They attempt to escape to the Pink Airship, but it is already attempting to escape the Torchmen. So, they hide in Castle Heterodyne. Here, he attempts to give Agatha political advice.

At present, the stimulants have worn off and Agatha has taken him to a medical lab.