Girl Genius XXVI: Madness is the best possible response

[Fyraltari]

Yeah, during the days of Storm King sparks were called wizards so "ritual" doesn't seem out of place to describe a complex and poorly understood procedure.

[xroads]

Yeah, but the clear implication here is that this ritual has something to do with why the Jaegerdraught turns people into Jaegers, and thus why it doesn't appear to have done so for Zeetha--e.g. it's not just some ceremonial event, but something with actual power. Which is just weird, frankly, it's not something we usually see in Girl Genius because it's not very scientific (mad or otherwise) to require mystic rituals in order to make something Sparky happen.

To be honest, I've been working under the assumption that what Sparks do is magic. It would explain how they can blatantly defy physics. And why it's seemingly impossible for talented non-sparks to defy physics.

I do wonder sometimes just how much of the plot has been planned out in advance and how much is just Phil and Kaja winging it as they go. To me, this whole "ritual" thing seems like a retcon, a slightly clumsy justification for what Zeetha drank back in Mechanicsburg actually being the Jaegerdraught, which wasn't even hinted at back then. I've always believed that about Higgs, by the way--I think he was introduced just as a slightly jokey way of explaining how the Baron escaped a burning airship and ended up in the Mechanicsburg hospital, and they saw he was popular so inflated his role massively.

I agree that this probably a bit of a retcon. And I think the Folio's have even mentioned that Higgs wasn't planned as a long term character originally.

I think the Folio's are fans of Schrödinger's Gun, which is a very useful tool for serials. Especially one that has been as enduring as Girl Genius.

[Gauntlet]

The ritual to become a Jaeger - when combined with the Jaegerdraught - might usually be required because the recipient needs to be on the brink of death for it to work, and the ritual involves something very lethal. That way, it's something that is usually mandatory for the Draught to work, but in Zeetha's case she didn't need it because she was already in that state anyway.

[Manga Shoggoth]

We've hit the big 5-0 - New thread here!