Girl Genius XIV: A Lightning Arc in All But Speed!

[GaeasSon]

Oy! And NOW we get the great thread titles.

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"Screaming defiance from the highest tower"

"Yes! yes! yesyesyesyesyesyesyes!"

[petersohn]

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I really liked the Castle's callback to his previous prediction

Did it actually make such prediction? When?

[Turalisj]

I think that was back when Agatha first entered Der Kestle, years and years ago.

[Deliverance]

Did Agatha really just give the castle a free hand in proving that it had regained its powers? It sure sounds like such an authorization to me. She should know better!

[factotum]

Did Agatha really just give the castle a free hand in proving that it had regained its powers? It sure sounds like such an authorization to me. She should know better!

At this point, so long as whatever it does is aimed at the invaders, it's all good, surely?

[Persephone_Kore]

Well, her parents are still on Castle Wulfenbach....

[Southern Cross]

It's about time!

[eee]

Ah, so it WAS Gil, but he's leaving now. Good enough...

Did Agatha really just give the castle a free hand in proving that it had regained its powers? It sure sounds like such an authorization to me. She should know better!

Yes, it certainly seems in her exuberance that Agatha gave der Kestel carte blanche: How far it takes that will demonstrate how loyal der Kestel is to Agatha's wishes. She's made clear she doesn't want unnecessarily killing or destruction in the past. If der Kestel strikes out with subtlety and restraint, that will be one thing. If it unleashes nukes, that will be another...

[stsasser]

Oy! And NOW we get the great thread titles.

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"Screaming defiance from the highest tower"

"Yes! yes! yesyesyesyesyesyesyes!"

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"somewhat in love"

[Lix Lorn]

Aha! This was a great page. What I wanted a week or two back

[Avilan the Grey]

Aha! This was a great page. What I wanted a week year or two back

"Fixed it for you" as they used to say when I was young on the interwebz.

[Lix Lorn]

Lol. But we didn't know what we wanted then, other than 'out'.

[Deliverance]

At this point, so long as whatever it does is aimed at the invaders, it's all good, surely?

Given the castle's sense of humour, acceptance of collateral damage, and the general foreboding that's been building up - such as via Moloch's comments about nobody having seen it powered up fully recently - I am not sure we can take that for a given.

[Felius]

I can't wait till monday, where Der Kestle will put the Fear of god The Heterodyne back on everyone's hearts.

[Ravens_cry]

Ah, giving ambiguous/open ended commands to the Castle has rarely ended well.

[Rockphed]

Ah, giving ambiguous/open ended commands to the Castle has rarely ended well.

Ulp!

[St Fan]

Not too surprisingly, whatever sedative Gil gave Franz might have been lightning-fast in taking effect, but it didn't knock out a dragon of that size for very long. Gil should have seen it coming.

And yes, Agatha giving free rein to the Castle does look quite unwise... but I think it's clear she was already quite close to the Madness place.

At least the townfolks are gonna be happy... she's acting like a true Heterodyne.

[eee]

Given the castle's sense of humour, acceptance of collateral damage, and the general foreboding that's been building up - such as via Moloch's comments about nobody having seen it powered up fully recently - I am not sure we can take that for a given.

Fire wheels.

If they scare Mamma, they MUST be bad. I would assume der Kestel will go for them first...

[HandofShadows]

Now I am going againt what most people think, but I really don't see Agatha winning this. Or if she does win it's going to be as bad or worse than a loosing.

[Traab]

Win OR lose, all of europa is going to go up in flames. It only remains to be seen just how bad it will be. If this is a last gasp of agathas, the more damage she does, the more chaos the rest of the world will fall into. As things stand right now, if the baron was entirely himself, he would be spending the next 20 years putting down rebellions again. If Agathas last ditch efforts cause significant damage to the barons forces, then it will be civil war that WILL likely cost him a large part of his empire as he tries to regroup with what he has left. If Agatha WINS it will be even worse. As NOONE will have the forces needed to do more than carve out a city sized kingdom for themselves, and its likely outside powers will be there to carve out chunks of europa for themselves.

[petersohn]

Remember that the Baron is being controlled by the Other, whose main purpose is to bring chaos to Europa. If Agatha wins, the Empire falls and there will be chaos. If the Baron wins, the Other will control Europa and therefore there will be chaos.

Anyway, my bet is that the Castle will beat the Baron's forces but will die as a result of this, leaving Agatha to her own devices to solve any remaining problems.

[Qwertystop]

Fire wheels.

If they scare Mamma, they MUST be bad. I would assume der Kestel will go for them first...

Just because it has power now doesn't mean it remembers all the stuff it forgot.

[Kizor]

Win OR lose, all of europa is going to go up in flames. It only remains to be seen just how bad it will be. If this is a last gasp of agathas, the more damage she does, the more chaos the rest of the world will fall into. As things stand right now, if the baron was entirely himself, he would be spending the next 20 years putting down rebellions again. If Agathas last ditch efforts cause significant damage to the barons forces, then it will be civil war that WILL likely cost him a large part of his empire as he tries to regroup with what he has left. If Agatha WINS it will be even worse. As NOONE will have the forces needed to do more than carve out a city sized kingdom for themselves, and its likely outside powers will be there to carve out chunks of europa for themselves.

This is all entirely sensible. Good job.

Ten bucks says that Agatha will figure it out and find a way to ally with the Baron.

[datalaughing]

Anyway, my bet is that the Castle will beat the Baron's forces but will die as a result of this, leaving Agatha to her own devices to solve any remaining problems.

I doubt this is the case. Word of Foglio says we'll be leaving Mechanicsburg before much longer. Agatha wouldn't leave unless she was sure the town would be defended in her absence. If she won and the Castle was destroyed, she'd want to stay until she could construct new defenses powerful enough to ensure the safety of the town. She's made it clear that she's not going to run. So if she loses she'll die or be a prisoner of the Other (via the Baron). Both of those seem pretty unlikely at this point. Really the only thing that makes sense is, the Castle is now powerful enough to take on anyone and anything. So she can leave the town to it and maybe the Jaegers and feel ok.

This is all entirely sensible. Good job.

Ten bucks says that Agatha will figure it out and find a way to ally with the Baron.

That would be quite the accomplishment, seeing as he's currently being controlled by Lucrezia, and even if he wasn't, he knows he's been wasped and that Agatha has (or might have, he can't be sure) the power to control him. Under the Other's control, he'll stop at nothing to capture or kill her. Under his own control he won't want her within a million miles of himself. So either way, an alliance would be pretty difficult to set up.

[petersohn]

I doubt this is the case. Word of Foglio says we'll be leaving Mechanicsburg before much longer. Agatha wouldn't leave unless she was sure the town would be defended in her absence. If she won and the Castle was destroyed, she'd want to stay until she could construct new defenses powerful enough to ensure the safety of the town. She's made it clear that she's not going to run. So if she loses she'll die or be a prisoner of the Other (via the Baron). Both of those seem pretty unlikely at this point. Really the only thing that makes sense is, the Castle is now powerful enough to take on anyone and anything. So she can leave the town to it and maybe the Jaegers and feel ok.

I guess that since most the immediate thread will be eliminated by that point, the Jägers and other minions (such as Franz) will be able to defend the town and allow Agatha to leave.

That would be quite the accomplishment, seeing as he's currently being controlled by Lucrezia, and even if he wasn't, he knows he's been wasped and that Agatha has (or might have, he can't be sure) the power to control him. Under the Other's control, he'll stop at nothing to capture or kill her. Under his own control he won't want her within a million miles of himself. So either way, an alliance would be pretty difficult to set up.

My guess is that Klaus will need to be killed, and it will be Gil's job to do it.

[Kizor]

datalaughing: That is true, but I am blatantly cheating. Note Agatha's winged trilobite - the Wulfenbach sigil is a winged rook.

[datalaughing]

datalaughing: That is true, but I am blatantly cheating. Note Agatha's winged trilobite - the Wulfenbach sigil is a winged rook.

http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/Badges The Wulfenbach and Sturmvoraus sigils have also appeared with and without wings in the comic. There's lots of fan speculation as to the significance of one or the other. The facts is, we just don't know what it means yet.

[petersohn]

The Wulfenbach sigil had no wings before Klaus created the Empire (it can be seen on the original Castle Wulfenbach in Klaus's flashback). My theory is that the wings represent some kind of connection with the Empire. The Sturmvorauses were technically allied with the Empire, but probably not since long, thus can we see both winged and non-winged sigils. It is also a strong possibility that in time Agatha will ally with the Empire. My theory is that it will happen after Gil takes over.

[smuchmuch]

You'd think she'd learn.

Kinda annoyed that the whole thing with Gil was yet another pointless distraction, tho.

Wasn't there one last loose end somewhere ? (Last pannel seemd to hint he had something more plannned. Or, I suppose that may have been him getting delusional to the end and we'll never hear ofhim ever again.)

[Lix Lorn]

I read that as a joke, the funny thing being that after all this, he gets a handful of coins, and calls it winning.