Zola
From Girl Genius
| Zola, "La Sirène d'Orée" | |
 | |
| Name | Zola, "La Sirène d'Orée" |
| Age | |
| Occupation | Pretender |
| Residence | Vienna, currently Castle Heterodyne, formerly Paris |
| First Appearance | with trumpets and fanfares |
| Death | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | |
| Children | |
| Marital Status | single |
- "She was a dancer."
- "A dancer, huh?"
- "That's what it said on her card."
- Gil and Zeetha[1]
As Agatha arrived in Mechanicsburg to enter Castle Heterodyne, she was shocked to witness the arrival of a mysterious woman in a pink dress, descending from a pink airship, who proclaimed herself the Heterodyne heir that everyone was awaiting.
After this mysterious woman entered the Castle with her henchmen, we learned that her name was Zola, and much later we learned that she was the public face of the Storm King conspiracy, a plot to seize power over large parts of Europa from Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. The plotters hope to gain public support by convincing the world that Zola is the heiress to House Heterodyne and by marrying her to the heir of House Valois, thus staging a new fourth act to The Storm King (opera), this time with a happy ending (for them). Zola's goal was to take over Castle Heterodyne.
Of course, both we and Agatha know that she is not really a Heterodyne at all. Even so, as we do not yet know her surname, the cast list for Girl Genius refers to her as "Zola 'Heterodyne'". More recently, it has apparently been revealed that her stage name was Zola, "La Sirène d'Orée" or Zola, "The Golden Siren". (Note, incidentally, that d'Orée is a less common spelling of Dorée, the usual feminine form of the French adjective for "golden" in color.)
Contents |
[edit] Character Analysis
The part Zola plays in the conspiracy is very much the anti-Agatha: she's flashy, where Agatha is subdued; she's overdressed, where Agatha dresses practically; she plays to the crowd, where Agatha causes the crowd to play to her. And, above all, Zola is living a lie, where Agatha is trying to find her true self. That by itself would justify labeling her as a villain, but there's more. Zola has no problem killing or maiming when she thinks it's necessary[2][3][4], where Agatha is (on her better days) kind-hearted and heroic. Further, Zola is in league with some very bad people who want to seize power for its own sake, where Agatha is struggling to survive and to protect the world from the Other.
[edit] Story
[edit] We'll Always Have Paris
Prior to the opening of our story, Zola knew Gil when he was a university student in Paris, where her chosen occupation often brought her into contact with the local Sparks and their insane devices. Gil played swashbuckling adventurer to Zola's damsel in distress, but romantic sparks apparently never caught fire between them, perhaps because she couldn't hold up her end in a Sparky conversation. Because Gil was living incognito in Paris, Zola was unaware that her friend was the son of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach.[5] Gil knew her as a foolish pawn, though not - to his knowledge - a malicious one. Their acquaintance ended when Zola abruptly left Paris. Oddly, all her bills had been paid off, though she had had financial trouble before.
[edit] Arriving at Mechanicsburg in Style
Zola makes her first appearance in Mechanicsburg by way of Vienna, probably having spoken to the conspirators' Council there. After descending from a pink, very pink airship festooned with Heterodyne trilobite sigils[6], she catches the eye of the crowd in a matching flamboyant pink outfit. She delivers a bombastic oration (nauseating Agatha and Krosp), summarily banishes the Black Squad that tries to stop her (with the help of her only named minion, one Herr Vikel), and begins a grandiose procession to Castle Heterodyne. Where Agatha refuses to subject her friends to the danger of entering Castle Heterodyne, Zola insists that all her minions accompany her, resulting in at least one death.
Zola's pageant is financed and managed by House Strinbeck and House Oublenmach, among others. They are moving years earlier than planned to take advantage of the Baron's injuries and to secure the legitimacy conferred by controlling Castle Heterodyne before the other Heterodyne heir recently announced in Sturmhalten can undo all their years of preparation.
[edit] Taking Castle Heterodyne
Inside the Castle, Zola links up with Professor Tiktoffen, a conspiracy member who has been studying the Castle for years. Though the Mechanicsburg crowds, Tiktoffen, and Oublenmach and Strinbeck believe she plans to take control of the Castle, Zola begins issuing orders to kill its mind, using a device smuggled in piece by piece over some time. Zola promises freedom and gold to any prisoner who manages to kill Agatha and blows away the Woman With the Veil Hat pour encourager les autres when the latter sensibly objects to chasing Agatha into unexplored parts of the castle.
When Zola encounters Gil in the Castle, she accepts his story that he is actually a pirate who entered the castle in search for treasure. Although Zeetha is suspicious of Gil's reasons for playing along with Zola, Gil reveals that he's never known the Pink Fake to be malicious. Agatha soon catches up with Zola and Gil and crushes Zola with ease, revealing Gil's ruse along the way.
However, true to the ability of the Professors to spin a tale, this formerly reviled character becomes more sympathetic when it's revealed that she really does care for Gil, even willing to plead with the scary Heterodyne when she thinks his life is threatened and tend to him when he's down.
We have also learned that Tarvek was acquainted with Gil in Paris, and was sometimes discomfited by some of the adventures and scrapes that Gil got into, which are likely to have included some of the ones related to Gil rescuing Zola. Tarvek was originally unaware that it was Zola who was selected for this plot, but when he learns it's her, he suggests that she's more competent than we had previously believed.
[edit] Aliases
Between fan discussion and Agatha's temper, Zola has accumulated a considerable number of nicknames. In the comic, starting from her first appearance in Mechanicsburg, she has been called:
| Page | Alias | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 2007-04-27 (Friday) | The Lady Heterodyne | Zola "Heterodyne" |
| 2007-05-02 (Wednesday) | Miss Perfect | Agatha Heterodyne |
| 2008-02-15 (Friday) | A Heterodyne girl | Agatha Heterodyne |
| 2008-04-04 (Friday) | Cow | Veilhat |
| 2008-06-25 (Wednesday) | That crazy pink person | Agatha Heterodyne |
| 2008-06-25 (Wednesday) | A false Heterodyne | Agatha Heterodyne |
| 2008-08-18 (Monday) | Pinky | Agatha Heterodyne |
| 2008-08-22 (Friday) | The usurper | Castle Heterodyne entity clank |
| 2009-03-18 (Wednesday) | Pinkie | Zeetha, Daughter of Chump |
| 2009-04-15 (Wednesday) | Our impostor | Castle Heterodyne entity clank |
| 2009-04-15 (Wednesday) | That pink fake | Agatha Heterodyne |
| 2009-04-17 (Friday) | Sugarplum airship princess | Agatha Heterodyne |
| 2009-04-17 (Friday) | Miss Pinkie Psycho Pants | Agatha Heterodyne |
| 2009-05-04 (Monday) | Princess Psycho | Agatha Heterodyne |
As well as a variety of descriptive phrases such as "the girl they groomed to be the Heterodyne" and "Your fake Heterodyne" and "that idiot from the Island of the--".
[edit] Possibly relevant outside information
Zola declaims, "Yonder lies the castle of my father," a line attributed to Tony Curtis from "Son of Ali Baba", in which he played a thief. The line had become a cheesy legend in its own right because Curtis's native (Bronx) accent rendered it as "Yonder lies da castle of my fodda." Curtis denies saying exactly those words; he has never denied the accent.
[edit] Questions and Theories
- Does Zola really believe that she is the Heterodyne? Who told her that?
- If not Oublenmach and Strinbeck, then who has orchestrated smuggling in the device to kill the Castle?
- Is Zola, "La Sirène d'Orée" actually her stage name, or is "Zola la Sirène d'Orée" her name or name and title?
References
- ↑ Gil explains Zola to Zeetha.
- ↑ Zola blows away Woman With the Veil Hat.
- ↑ Zola summarily kneecaps Cucaracha.
- ↑ Zola loses a minion entering the Castle.
- ↑ Agatha reveals it abruptly.
- ↑ The pink airship was built in Stockholm and can turn "any color they want."
