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| “ | I was away for a few years and I came back to a world in ruins. Death, destruction, chaos, the endless fighting—it was like the Heterodyne Boys had never existed. Things were worse than ever. So I stopped it. And I did it my way this time. No more negotiating. No more promises. No more second chances. And I did it alone. Because I had to. And it worked. | „ |
| ~ Klaus Wulfenbach explaining his rise to power (Vol. 3 pp. 97-98) |
Baron Klaus Wulfenbach is a major antagonist of the print-and-web comic series Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio.
His Good Ranking[]
What Makes Him Admirable?[]
- He devoted his life to making sure Europa's people lived in peace and freedom. His main motive as an antagonist is the well-being of his people and stopping the Other or different malevolent Sparks from plunging the continent in constant war. Additionally, he is only shown to act controlling when it comes to middle-managing aristocrats instead of the common people of Europa. He even lets the "Heterodyne Shows" performed by the people openly make fun of him. His only real rule is to not do anything that disturbs the peace.
- When his empire collapses, the reign of Klaus is remembered as a "lost golden age of antiquity" (Vol. 13 p. 125) in a mere two years by Europa's people, as the continent turns to chaos in his absence.
- He genuinely cares for and loves his son Gilgamesh, who he'd protect with his life. Arguably this is an even bigger motive as an antagonist than peacekeeping; he's terrified that Gil's love for Agatha will end the same way as his love for Lucrezia.
- He doesn't actually like being a dictator. Instead of being a power-hungry tyrant, he sees his power as a responsibility and a burden.
- He tries to make sure his troops don't do anything that harms the innocent. One of his hired hands, Captain Bangladesh DuPree, is held back from killing civilians mostly because of his orders not to. Similarly, as Gil explains (Vol. 7 p. 108), his empire has a policy of giving defeated enemy POWs the choice of either joining his army or going back home in peace "with a month's pay".
- He stopped malevolent Sparks such as the Other (who almost destroyed Europa), Dr. Vapnoople (who committed genocides), the Gilded Duke (who hunted his own people), etc. from tyrannizing civilians.
- When Princess Zulenna is killed by DuPree, he orders Zulenna's body to be taken to a lab so she can be revived (Vol. 3 p. 112).
- As he meets Agatha for a second time at Sturmhalten, he tries to be reasonable and plans to let her be free as long as she can prove her innocent. Klaus only starts being unreasonable when "Agatha" (who was under Lucrezia's mind-control - but Klaus didn't know that at the time) infected him with a slaver wasp and claimed to be Lucrezia herself.
- As Lucrezia is mind-controlling him in Mechanicsburg, Klaus sent Gil a secret message calling for help so that he can thwart Lucrezia's plans. He resists Lucrezia and manages to prevent things from getting even worse - pretty much saving Europa from being destroyed by the Other in the process.
- Before razing Mechanicsburg, his troops under his command ordered the civilians to evacuate (Vol. 12 p. 153) and ordered that "minimal damage" (ibid. p. 112) be done to the place.
- His personality copy - the "Klaus-in-Gil" overlay - is tempted to join Lucrezia and kill his son. Klaus-in-Gil refuses and pretty much says that everything he's done was for Gil's well-being and that he'd rather lose it all than let someone harm his son (Vol. 15 p. 43).
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He's still a paranoid and misguided dictator. He makes assumptions about Agatha due to her heritage, even if he does try to resolve it once. His motive as an antagonist amounts to thinking Agatha is a worse person than she really is.
- Even if he brings peace and stability, his empire's rule is based on brute military force. He'd commit cruelties, even to civilians, if he thought it needed to maintain peace. Unruly nobles are more or less kept in place via threats (such as taking hostages aboard his airship, though the hostages are treated well).
- Sometimes he resorts to cruel and unusual punishments for prisoners, most notably "brain coring"/lobotomy on some Sparks (granted, the only person we see this happen to - Dr. Vapnoople - was a brutal warlord beforehand).
- He shows no qualms in killing Agatha or her companions after the Sturmhalten encounter. He also threatens to kill her in the Siege of Mechanicsburg. Similarly, even if he evacuated civilians, he did still try to destroy the city of Mechanicsburg.
- He inflicts brainwashing on his son Gil and threatans to kill Agatha if he doesn't comply; Gil complies, creating the "Klaus-in-Gil" overlay. However, it should be noted that the novels (Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg to be exact) heavily imply that this action was caused by Lucrezia mind-controlling Klaus to do so, and therefore was not his own choice.
External Links[]
- Baron Klaus Wulfenbach on the Girl Genius wiki.
- Baron Klaus Wulfenbach on the Heroes wiki.
- Baron Klaus Wulfenbach on the Villains wiki.
- Baron Klaus Wulfenbach on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki.