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“ | I, Martellus von Blitzengaard, By the Grace of God and the Voice of Europa, am the newly-ascended Storm King. Come with me quickly - I will take you to safety. | „ |
~ Martellus introduces himself (Vol. 12 p. 155) |
Prince (or King to some) Martellus "Tweedle" von Blitzengaard is a major antagonist in Act 2 of the print-and-web comic series Girl Genius by Phil & Kaja Foglio.
Martellus is a claimant to the title of Storm King and a major player in the Knights of Jove. He's the cousin of rival claimant Tarvek Sturmvoraus. Martellus' role as antagonist is on & off, but he's only shown siding with the heroes out of self-serving pragmatism.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
The details of Martellus' earlier life are unclear. What is known is that he's one of the many people descended from the Storm King Andronicus Valois. In terms of ancestry, the Muse Orotine says he is a "distant third at best" (Vol. 21 p. 96) when it comes to claiming the Storm King's title.
At some point he inherited the Refuge of Storms, a fortress about 100 kilometers from Mechanicsburg, as his estate (Vol. 13 p. 67, p. 76). At one point in his life, he studied under Dr. Dimitri Vapnoople (Vol. 15 p. 15, Vol. 20 p. 9), who presumably taught him biology and how to make constructs.
Siege of Mechanicsburg[]
Martellus makes first in-comic debut (Volume 12) coming to Lady Agatha Heterodyne aid in the Siege of Mechanicsburg, leading an army of clanks run by his Knights of Jove. He was apparently called there by the Abbess of the Red Cathedral. His clanks are quickly destroyed by a Dreen. However, the Abbess supplies him with a new army of clanks, which Tweedle leads into battle against Baron Klaus Wulfenbach's invading forces.
He is next seen after the siege is lifted, asking the Lady Heterodyne to let him escort her. Agatha refuses and decides to go to the Red Cathedral on her own. At the cathedral, Tweedle and his cousin Tarvek Sturmvoraus have a talk about their differences in plans. At one point, everyone sees an object falling from the sky about to land in Mechanicsburg (which was actually holding Klaus Wulfenbach).
Upon this sight, Martellus grabs Agatha from behind and takes her to a hidden part of the cathedral. He throws a poisoned knife into Tarvek's chest as he is pursuing him. There, the Abbess is holding a green portal (later explained to be a Queen's Mirror) open for him. Martellus, the kidnapped Agatha, and her friends Violetta and Krosp all jump through the portal at the same time that Wulfenbach activates his hidden weapon in Mechanicsburg.
Timeskip[]
Martellus, Agatha, Violetta, and Krosp all jumped through the portal right as Wulfenbach's weapon froze Mechanicsburg in time. This caused the portal to malfunction, skipping them two and a half years into the future.
The portal led them to Martellus' headquarters known as the Refuge of Storms. He learned that his position had been usurped by someone, so he fought off several Smoke Knights and killed several relatives who were working against him. Eventually he took the kidnapped Agatha to his lab in the castle, chained her up, and modified her body chemistry in her sleep. The modifications meant that Agatha and Tweedle were unable to survive outside of each other's presence. After learning this, Agatha broke free, knocked Tweedle out, chained him, and modified herself to she was dependent on a weasel instead of on him. Martellus spent the rest of the time fighting off family members while also trying to track down Agatha's location. He reunited with his sister Xerxsephnia (aka "Seffie") von Blitzengaard, who caught him up to speed on what he missed over the past two years.
He eventually learned that Agatha had escaped the castle by building a mechanical sleigh. So he gathered his Knights of the Hunt - bio-enhanced wolf-human shapeshifters - to chase her down. He chased her all the way to Wulfenbach territory, where he fought off clanks and almost caught her before she got away. Following this, he ran away from Wulfenbach forces and met Baron Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. Martellus and Gilgamesh fought one another, with the battle being inconclusive as his Knights of Jove took him away against his will, as they believed it was too dangerous for him.
Following this encounter, he and his subordinates all worked to hunt down Agatha's location.
St. Szpac[]
Eventually, Tweedle found out that Agatha was under the care of the Corbettite Order of monks at the St. Szpac Depot Fortress. He went there personally with his armies (who attacked the fort unorderd, but not without Tweedle chastizing them after). He then left his airship to speak to the monks himself. At some point earlier on (Vol. 15 p. 31), the Pope of Belfast (whom the Corbettites follow) recognized the claim of Martellus to the throne of the Storm King. So when his kights came to St. Szpac, Martellus personally delivered the news (Vol. 14 pp. 96-97) to the Corbettite monks.
He learns that somebody had released the Beast of the Rails from Corbettite captivity. As a consiquence, Agatha and the Corbettites reluctantly work with him to defeat the Beast. They do so, celebrate their victory, and make plans to go elsewhere.
Paris[]
Martellus and Agatha agree to go to Paris together, not out of alliance, but because they both have business there. When he arrived in the city, his sister Seffie dragged him off where he learned the Master of Paris was planning a masquerade ball. So he planned to get his costume rrady for the big event.
When the masquerade ball happened, it was interrupted by several uninvited guests: the Queen of the Dawn, a horde of Geisterdamen, and the zombified corpse of Andronicus Valois himself. Martellus donned his armor and went into battle with the zombie-king, with the Knights of the Hunt by his side. The two had a spectacle of a public battle as all Paris watched. The zombie-king was worn down by Agatha, her Jägers, and the Master of Paris, and eventually Tweedle slayed him for good with his sword. This was followed by a giant parade celebrating Martellus as the "true" Storm King with all of Paris watching.
The next day, the newly-declared Master Colette Voltaire agreed with Martellus (Vol. 18 p. 2) that his rule would not extend over the city.
England[]
Agatha and Tweedle arranged to go to England. The two talk to each other before gong (Vol. 18 p. 6), where it's clear that Agatha still must work with him even if she doesn't like him. Soon after, Martellus sent a division of his Knights of the Hunt led by Lord Jaron to assassinate Tarvek, who was on his way to England by ship. His agents were defeated by Tarvek, who was aided by Smoke Knights and Gilgamesh Wulfenbach.
Much later (Vol. 20 p. 5), with Seffie's help, he lands in England in a life-support machine. This is just in time to attend the extraction of Lucrezia Mongfish's mind-copy from Agatha's body. Lucrezia/Agatha, joined by Lucrezia/Anevka, puts up one last fight against Agatha's companions where she even ascends to God-Queenhood. Lucrezia/Agatha is reduced in power by the touch of Martellus, who puts her in the exorcism engine to free Agatha once and for all. He then had to evacuate the area aboard a submarine.
Later, he attended a ball hosted by Queen Albia of England. Shortly after (Vol. 21 p. 70), Tweedle took an orange female cat and biologically modified her, making him dependent on the cat instead of Agatha to stay alive (similarly to what Agatha did to her weasel). He also made the cat more intelligent and able to speak, much like Krosp.
After the big event, Queen Albia escorted everyone away to deal with new events on the continent. It was arranged that Martellus would go with Agatha to retrieve Prendee's Lantern. But Tweedle had other plans; he stowed away (Vol. 21 p. 120) on an airship headed to Paris with Gil and Tarvek. He planned to use the current war as an opportunity to establish himself as king.
As of 2022, Tweedle's current state is unknown, but is most likely in Paris.
Appearance[]
Martellus is physically imposing, in a way that among human characters can only only be overshadowed by Klaus Wulfenbach. He is older than Tarvek Sturmvoraus, though how much older is unstated. Like most of his family members Tweedle has red hair. Apparently (Vol. 16 p. 87), he has a similar-sounding voice as his ancestor Andronicus Valous.
Personality[]
When introducing himself, Martellus acts all grandiose and formal, trying to pull off the look of a "knight in shining armor" or "prince charming" (though Agatha first thinks he's a tryhard). However in his private life he's clearly more rough around the edges. He's shown to be quick to violence rather than negotiation. For all his faults, he is evidently very brave and capable. He's not without guile and is shown to be quite intelligent on occasion. Generally though, he comes across as arrogant and occasionally as brutish.
Save for his sister Xerxsephnia ("Seffie"), he is suspicious of his family members (who, to be fair, tend to be schemers) and dismissive of Tarvek in particular. Among those he honestly cares for are his Knights of the Hunt, who he considers "good men" (Vol. 17 p. 89) and his friends. He claims to actually be in love with Agatha (Vol. 21 p. 36), even if this manifests in a creepy way.
Hunting (Vol. 13 p. 99) appears to be among his personal hobbies.
Powers and Abilities[]
Martellus naturally has many skills at his disposal.
- The Spark: Martellus is a Spark, meaning that he has heightened intuition and, at least in the natural sciences, superhuman intelligence. Sparks tend to have a particular focus, and Tweedle's focus appears to be zoology and general biology. His Knights of the Hunt, who can transform beween human and wolf forms, are Constructs of his creation (though whether they are modified or made from scratch isn't stated). He was able to modify the biology of people (e.g. Agatha) and animals (e.g. his cat) in short periods of time in unique ways. Other notable works include a healing potion for Oggie and improvised equipment for handling an ancient artifact. He's rarely seen in the Madness Place, though it has happened sometimes, and as it's unlikely that his Spark is weaker it's probably just under more control than that of others.
- Physical ability: Tweedle is very physically able. His fights with Gil and Agatha show he is able to soak up great deals of damage, in some cases without even flinching. He's much more physically imposing than other characters in the comic, save for Klaus Wulfenbach.
- Mechanical Left Hand: When his left hand was poisoned when fighting Smoke Knights, Agatha made (presumably in her sleep) a mechanical prosthetic hand for Tweedle. This mechanical hand is able to absorb hits from lightning, as his seen (Vol. 13 p. 136) in his fight with Gil.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- "Martellus" is Latin for "hammer". In the real world, the name was given to the medieval Frankish leader Charles Martel after the Battle of Tours (732).
- It's hinted (Vol. 13 p. 51) that Martellus planned to install a fake Heterodyne heir before his plan was disrupted by Agatha. Meanwhile, Zola mentioned (Vol. 9 p. 19) that the conspiracy to put her in power also involved a Storm King heir who she was going to marry.
- With the above point in mind, Martellus von Blitzengaard can be seen as a spear counterpart to Zola Malfeazium. Both are pretenders to a title (Storm King/the Heterodyne) who are enemies to a legitimate heir (Tarvek/Agatha). Both of them introduce themselves with a grandiose speech in Mechanicsburg, but both later show themselves to be quick to violence. Lastly, both are involved in the plans of Lucrezia Mongfish, even though they both are technically opposed to her.
- As of 2022, Tweedle's bio-modified cat isn't given an official name in the comic. However, fans (including the Girl Genius wiki) gave her the nickname "Rita".
External Links[]
- Martellus von Blitzengaard on the Girl Genius wiki.
Villains | ||
Forces of the Other Knights of Jove & affiliates Wulfenbach Empire Misc. |