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| “ | Thus, despite the risk to my person I return to claim my own— starting with Castle Heterodyne! Come along, and bear witness! And then, A new era awaits! | „ |
| ~ Zola Malfeazium making her debut. |
Zola Anya Talinka Venia Zeblinkya Malfeazium, also called Zola Dorée, and falsely known as Zola Heterodyne (or Zola "Heterodyne" in quotation marks on character lists), is a major antagonist in the print-and-web comic series Girl Genius by Phil & Kaja Foglio.
She was first introduced both to Agatha and the reader in Volume VII (Agatha Heterodyne and the Voice of the Castle), where she appeared in the Mechanicsburg town square claiming to be the long-lost Heterodyne heir. Both Agatha and the viewers could tell this was a lie. Indeed she was part of a conspiracy to take the Castle Heterodyne for powerful noble families.
Then, when we saw more of her in the castle, the conspiracy aspect of her showed itself to just be the tip of the iceberg.
Biography[]
Pre-Comic[]
Zola was the daughter of Demonica Mongfish and an unnamed Mr. Malfeazium. As Demonica was the daughter of Dr. Lucifer Mongfish and sister of Lucrezia, this means that Zola is the niece of Lucrezia. The heretical Geisterdame Loremistress Milvistle found refuge among the Malfeazium family for years, where they were able to study her and make their daughter Zola immune to Lucrezia's mind-controls with her help.
Fast dorward several years, and Zola is working as an actress and waitress in Paris, namely a nightclib called the "Island of the Monkey Girls". This is around the same time a certain Gilgamesh ("Gil") Wulfenbach was attending university in the same city. Gil worked incognito so Zola didn't know he was a Wulfenbach, Zola too was incognito so Gil didn't know who she was either. Zola often found herself kidnapped and in need of rescue on Gil's part to the point that he even found it annoying. Their relationship ended when she moved out of the city.
Castle Heterodyne[]
Zola first appears in-comic (in Volume 7) in the town square of Mechanicsburg, proclaiming herself to be the long-lost Heterodyne seeking to reclaim her Castle. It is clear she is under the command of the "Storm King Conspiracy" of the Knights of Jove. She then walks towards the Castle with her minions, making a Black Squad group giarding it disappear, and then enters the building herself.
When she makes it inside, one of the first things Zola does is make contact with Prof. Hristo Tiktoffen, one of the prisoners in the castle and a member of the conspiracy. Zola reveals that she has her own goals that oppose those of the conspiracy; while they wanted her to take over the castle, she wanted to destroy it and shut it down (or "kill" it, as it is an AI). She knew full well that Agatha was there, too, and when the two met Zola promised "freedom and gold" (Vol. 8 p. 024) to any prisoner able to kill Agatha, on pain of death (ibid. p. 27). Contrary to the advice of her fellow prisoners, she chased Agatha into unexplored parts of the castle.
Eventually (in Volume 9), Zola bumped into Gil yet again, with neither of them knowing about each others' true natures. Zola continues her act as the Heterodyne by saying she was discovered by the conspiracy, while Gil claims to be a pirate arrested by the Baron rather than his son. Agatha manages to catch her with Gil by surprise with a machine of hers, and while holding the two down she unknowingly reveals Gil's true identity to Zola. She is able to negotiate with Agatha to let her go.
Much later on (in Volume 10), after Agatha, Gil, and Tarvek completed a SVV procedure, Zola shows up again in the secret lab of Lucrezia Mongfish by knocking everyone there out with a gas bomb. She then takes off Agatha's locket while waking her up, so she can talk with Auntie Lucrezia (possessing Agatha) herself. Zola convinces Lucrezia/Agatha to put one of her copies in Zola's head. She does so, but Lucrezia/Zola isn't the one in control of the body, since Zola's family conditioned their daughter to be immune to Lucrezia's mind overlays. Zola now has a copy of all of Lucrezia's memories trapped in her mind where she can search through them. Tarvek showed up, and Zola got into a three-way fight between herself, Lucrezia/Agatha, and Tarvek - however Zola escaped from the battle with a grappling hook, leaving the others behind.
Zola is later (also Volume 10) found in the castle by Higgs and Zeetha who then chase her. While running from them, she bumps into Agatha, Gil and Tarvek in the castle's greenhouse. Zola, to their surprise, proves herself able to hold her own in a fight against Agatha, Gil, Tarvek, Zeetha, Higgs, and Violetta at once. During the fight, she took 11 doses of Movit (with this dose being stated to normally be lethal). She disappears for a while before (in Volume 11) coming back to fight Agatha, Tarvek, and Higgs in the Library. Fueled by "hate and drugs" (Vol. 11 p. 031), Zola goes all-out on Agatha and Tarvek. However, the battle later goes against her favor, as Tarvek is able to pin her down and beat her bloody in a fit of rage. Zola only survives through last-minute intervention from Gil, which allows her to fly away with her propeller-suit.
After the bloody fight (also Volume 11), Zola found her way to the Mechanicsburg hospital where she could be treated. In the hospital, she was able to meet and gain the trust of Lucrezia/Anevka, telling her about Klaus Wulfenbach's slaver wasp. This hospital scene is the last we see of Zola in person for several volumes of the comic, and several years in-universe. Off-screen, she is able to get out of the city before the Baron's final attack.
The Queen of the Dawn[]
Two years after the Battle of Mechanicsburg, a figure known as the "Queen of the Dawn" rose to power in northern Europa. She made her debut in the town of Holfung-Borzoi as a singer who united various warring kingdoms; to the people it appeared to be her charisma and charm, but closer investigation showed that it was using Slaver Wasps and similar mind-control technology. She is able to unify a sizable portion of northern Europa under her rule in a very short period of time. Gil, who in the meantime was made Baron, hears a report of this Queen (in Volume 15) and instantly suspects that she is The Other/Lucrezia Mongfish or at least a servant of her. He's not the only one who thinks so; Tarvek and the Lord High Conservator have similar suspicions.
Later in Paris (in Volume 17), the Queen of the Dawn appears in person to attend a party. Upon seeing her for the first time Tarvek noted that he "could swear that she's actually Zola" (Vol. 17 p. 044). Later in the volume, the reader sees that Tarvek was right as the Queen takes off her mask and we can see that it's Zola.
The Queen arranged for her Geisterdamen under Madame Velix to take over the city of Paris. She almost succeeded in her plans but the Geisters are driven off by Agatha Heterodyne and Master Voltaire; although she never let it out that she was behind it and was able to escape scott-free. The aftermath of the Paris defeat started to show cracks in the Queen's dominion - freedom fighters were able to mount a resistance against The Other's collaborators, a faction of Geisters were able to defect, and new Wasp Eater weasels are helping the Wulfenbach regime better counter revenants.
Appearance[]
Zola is roughly a similar age as Agatha (which would make her somewhere around 18-20 at her debut, and somewhere around 20-22 post-timeskip). She also has much of the same physical features as her. But when compared to what the "original" Lucrezia looks like, Zola looks much more like a Mongfish than anything else (similar head shape, hair color, et cetera). And, of course, she wears a lot of pink.
Personality[]
Personality-wise, she's a Mongfish through-and-through; clever, decieteful, ambitious, and prideful. However she is much more self-restrained than her aunt ever was or is. Unlike Lucrezia she is rarely ever impulsive or emotion-driven. Her lack of impulsiveness is probably because of her lack of Spark. As a result she's much more willing to play the long game, rather than go for an instant but short-term victory. This doesn't make her any less of an opportunist, just a more careful one.
Zola's skill as an actress shows itself. When we first meet her she looks like a dumb pawn in a conspiracy, but the more we see her the more we realize she is cunning in her own right. She's even able to fool Lucrezia multiple times. When in public she often acts in a theatric manner, talking dramatically and making a spectacle.
In terms of her demeanor, she is more or less the opposite of Agatha Heterodyne. This can be seen in the way the two enter Castle Heterodyne; Zola marches in with trumpets while acting like a movie princess, where Agatha in contrast enters in secret and immediately gets to work. As the comic goes on Zola slowly turns into a bloodthirsty, raging maniac who is very unlike the kindhearted Agatha.
Powers and Abilities[]
Zola is notable for being one of the few major villains in Girl Genius to not either have the Spark or even be the creation of someone who does. By no means does this make Zola a weak opponent. Some of her skills include:
- Acting skills: Given that she has worked as an actress in Paris, she's naturally good at acting. Given her behavior in the comic you may say she's just as much a consummate actress as Auntie Lucrezia. She uses this skill to outsmart the Castle itself.
- Smoke Knight training: In the Girl Genius universe, the Smoke Knights are an elite order of warriors that specialize in stealth, to the point that they can make themselves practically invisible. While they serve House Valois in name, their members have divided loyalties. At one point Zola mentions (Vol. 10 p. 070) that she recieved training as a Smoke Knight. This means that disguises, stealth, advanced first aid, poison expertise, bladed weapons expertise, and athletics are all among her skills.
- Advanced scientific knowledge (via Lucrezia): While Zola may not be a Spark, she has all the knowledge of one - more specifically all the knowledge of The Other. After getting Lucrezia/Agatha into giving her a copy of her personality, she is able to sift through all the memories of Lucrezia on her own. This includes how to rebuild all of her inventions like Slaver Wasps. However she is unable to build on that work as she doesn't have the Spark herself.
- Command Voice: Zola apparently has some form of the Command Voice, given how she can command Slaver Wasps, Revenants, and Geisterdamen. It isn't clarified if this is because she has a copy of Lucrezia in her head or because she's a blood-relative of her; probably both at once. Since she isn't Lucrezia herself this power is slightly weaker in her.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the first scene she appears in, Zola is seen pointing to Castle Heterodyne and proclaiming "Yonder lies the castle of my father" (Vol. 7 p. 028), while Agatha talks about how cheesy an actor she is. This is referencing a (misquoted) line from Son of Ali Baba (1952) said by the actor Tony Curtis, which is often quoted as an example of goofy acting.
- In a group of Yahoo! Groups chat posts (unfortunately the links are dead, but it's archived at Pastebin), Kaja Foglio explained that the "Island of the Monkey Girls" is a nightclub in Paris where Zola worked as a waitress. Gil mentions (Vol. 9 p. 028) she also worked as a dancer; given how Othar talks about the nightclub (Vol. 3 p. 030), you have to wonder what kind of dancer she was.
- Zola once 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. Meanwhile, Martellus hints (Vol. 13 p. 51) that he planned to install a fake Heterodyne heir before his plan was disrupted by Agatha.
- With the above point in mind, Zola Malfeazium can be seen as a distaff counterpart to Martellus von Blitzengaard. Both are pretenders to a title (Heterodyne/Storm King) who are enemies to a legitimate heir (Agatha/Tarvek). 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.
External Links[]
- Zola Malfeazium on the Girl Genius Wiki
 Villains
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Forces of the Other Knights of Jove & affiliates Wulfenbach Empire Misc. | ||