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Girl Genius

Malek: "…Does this mean no more kissing?"
Varpa: "...less kissing. This is important." [1]

Description[]

Varpa is a female Smoke Knight assigned to Xerxsephnia von Blitzengaard's (aka Seffie's) service. She has lighter red hair than most of the family, and wears metal gauntlets (or possibly has mechanical hands). She generally wears a hood that covers the right side of her face; this covers an eyepatch and shock of white hair . She also writes poetry about cheese under the nom de plume La Fromage Amore. (Or perhaps that's the title of a slim volume of her verse.)

Varpa is first seen[2] when Seffie directs her to “get in the way a bit” of Malek, another Smoke Knight that Seffie's brother Tweedle has sent to keep an eye on our heroine. Evidently her method of “getting in the way” involves a lot of kissing.[3]

Agatha's own Smoke Knight (by Tarvek's release), Violetta, is aware that the two Smoke Knights are following her group, but doesn't call them out until she discovers that one of Dio Zardilev's party has been killed and disguised (as Zardilev himself) using Ghost Spider venom, indicating the work of Madwa Korel, a Smoke Knight loyal to Lucrezia Mongfish, aka the Other. Varpa and Malek are evidently loyal to Grandmother and set aside other all other assignments to destroy those in the service of the Other. They accompany Agatha's group through the catacombs of the Immortal Library under Paris, and then on the chaotic journey across the city to Tweedle's planned masquerade ball.

In the process of said journey, Malek is killed by Eotain and Shurdlu, while Varpa gets speared in the shoulder. After getting quickly patched up , she vengefully takes out Shurdlu with a blow dart to the head and slips away from the battle, telling Agatha she will return to Seffie and send them more help. However, when Agatha eventually arrives in Seffie's general vicinity, there's no sign of Varpa; and the next time we see a Smoke Knight traveling with her, it's Sparafucile; whether Varpa reached her employer or is even still alive remains unknown.

References

  1. Ways to distract a Smoke Knight. (See last two panels.)
  2. It took a sharp-eyed fan with a good memory in the Girl Genius blog on LiveJournal to make the connection.
  3. Incidentally, a poster for Heterodyne-style snail cheese hangs in the Black Market where Violetta first noticed they were following Agatha's party.
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