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| “ | Othar Tryggvassen may do things that lesser men find objectionable or slightly illegal, but I never apologize! | „ |
| ~ Othar on Twitter (2 Jun. 2008). |
Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer, is an on-&-off supporting antagonist in the print and web comic series Girl Genius by Phil & Kaja Foglio, and the protagonist of the "Othar's Twitter" character blog. A self-designated "hero," Othar's life-long goal is to rid the world of all Sparks, ending with himself. He is the nemesis of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach.
Biography[]
Othar Tryggvassen was born in Norway to unknown parents, and was a very strong Spark in his youth. At a young age, the city of Oslo was destroyed under unknown circumstances, which led to him taking his current path in life. He adopted the worldview that Sparks were the source of all the world's ills, and pledged to rid the world of all Sparks, ending with himself. He traveled the world to kill evil Sparks and convince the ones he considered good to join him.
According to the novel Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess, Othar was used as an asset by Baron Klaus Wulfenbach as a means to kill Sparks who were harming their own people but not technically breaking empire law. However, when Othar began killing innocent Sparks that were helping the empire, the Baron had Othar arrested and taken aboard Castle Wulfenbach.
It was aboard Castle Wulfenbach that Othar first met Agatha Heterodyne, who helped him escape his prison. Othar then fought Klaus and his son Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, before freeing every prisoner aboard Castle Wulfenbach and helping Agatha herself escape by airship. While escaping with Agatha, he explained his plan to kill all Sparks (including Agatha herself) to her, who threw him off the airship in response. He briefly met Agatha again in Zumzum before parting ways again.
In Mechanicsburg, Othar was captured by the Baron, who tasked him with retrieving Gilgamesh from Castle Heterodyne. Othar accepted the quest. In the castle, he accidentally kidnapped Tarvek Sturmvoraus instead, bringing him aboard Castle Wulfenbach by mistake. He showed up again while Gil and Tarvek were planning an escape, where he and Tarvek found themselves in Gil's flying machine falling towards Mechanicsburg. When they landed, Othar briefly helped Agatha defend the town from the Baron's troops.
Following the battle at Mechanicsburg, Othar became trapped in a time-bubble encasing the city. Two years afterwards, Gil (now the Baron) un-froze Othar as a test of his ability to free the town. He gave a rousing speech to some of the people attacking Gil's base, convincing them of humanity's basic goodness and getting them to switch sides.
Othar later escaped the base at Mechanicsburg and went to the kingdom of Holfung-Borzoi. He managed to convince some of the Geisterdamen, including one Eotain, to stop serving the Other. With his Geisterdame defectors, Othar met up with Gil, Tarvek, and Colette in Paris to aid in resistance against the Other and the Queen of the Dawn.
Personality[]
Othar Tryggvassen has a very black-and-white understanding of morality that borders on being alien to other people. He will often designate people as either "heroes" or "villains" based on seemingly incoherent standards; for example, he considers Tarvek Sturmvoraus to be a former villain redeemed by his love for Agatha, while he also considers Gilgamesh Wulfenbach to be an irredeemable evil-doer on the basis that he serves Klaus. Some of his inconsistent thinking can be seen on one of his Twitter adventures, where he "debates" someone by repeatedly shouting "THE BARON IS A SPARK AND MUST DIE!" at them.
Powers and Abilities[]
As befitting a self-proclaimed "gentleman adventurer," Othar has plenty of skills to call his own.
- The Spark - Despite his life goal of eradicating all Sparks, Other himself has the Spark. It isn't clear what specifically his "style" or focus as a Spark is, as we haven't seen many of his own creations. He appears to be particularly good at disassembling and repurposing the machines of others for his own purposes.
- Nigh-invulnerability - Othar appears to be superhumanly durable. He has survived being dropped from heights that should have killed him multiple times completely unharmed. Gil is shown to not understand how Othar does that. Castle Heterodyne appears to suggest that Othar's durability comes from being a hero.
Trivia[]
- The Foglios run a character blog on Twitter (see @Othar), which is told from Othar's perspective. The tweets are also archived (old | new) on the official Girl Genius website.
External Links[]
- Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer on the Girl Genius Wiki.
- Othar Trygvassen on the Villains Wiki.
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 Heroes
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