Quote Originally Posted by theangelJean View Post
Been reading Volume 2 to my daughter and speculating about the "hostages" on Castle Wulfenbach. If he were only a dictator, then the premise would be as stated: keeping the fifty families in line on the pretext of "educating" them. But I was wondering if it was really the other way around. Get the heirs of the Fifty Families together, actually educate them, let them grow up knowing each other as comrades, get to know each other's strengths and flaws, let them foster their alliances and grow up into little monarchs who actually know each other ... having all of them "get along" with each other is probably too much to ask, but that's where knowing each other's weaknesses comes in.

And call them "hostages" ... Castle Wulfenbach was the safest place in Europa as far as Klaus knew. And would having an heir as "hostage" actually work to keep a family in line anyway? Especially if you took only one - what's stopping them writing off that child and anointing another?

I'm starting to think the premise of Girl Genius is a meditation on heredity. The past is a legacy of the attempts by the most powerful Sparks to control their child's future by whateer means available to them - Lucrezia by direct download, Klaus by experimental modification and reshaping Europa - and the story itself is of the children's journey navigating the results and finding their own path.

/thesis...
Here is the thing. He took the heirs because he was strong enough to demand it and make it happen. Why would that change for whoever the new heir would be? That doesnt even count the likely reaction to trying to repudiate your heir like rodin said. Secondly, there can be more than one reason for having them there. Its entirely likely that his goal was to unite the families and make them work together through their heirs, and also ensure their loyalty to him because he is the one who raised them, educated them, helped them build alliances for the future, etc etc etc. "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man". Basically, he is raising them to be loyal to him and taught his outlook on ruling while at the same time keeping the current nobles in power from doing anything too drastic because he has their kids to ensure they behave. Ideally gil would have taken over in another decade or 2 tops with his fellows full grown and ready to take over their family lands and titles and gil would have had a more stable empire to run.