Wednesday's Comic

[marycatelli]

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20170705#.WVxxaoTyuUk

snort That last panel. . .

I see Agatha is getting on her good side. Good. She needs allies.

Comments

[madfilkentist]

Continuing the discussion from last time, it is interesting that there seem to be no Geisterherren. That supports the clone or construct hypothesis, though there could be a Geisterherr in hiding. But I think they're far older than Lucrezia, or at least older than her home time period.

[spectrum_09]

Personally, I don't think the Foglios gave any consideration to the reproductive biology of the Geisterdamen. Eventually, the story gets to the home base, so we should find out.

[murgatroyd666]

Personally, I don't think the Foglios gave any consideration to the reproductive biology of the Geisterdamen.

The Professors planned out the entire saga well in advance of publication, although they seem to be embellishing it a bit as they go when new ideas occur to them. They have already provided evidence that Geisterdamen get frisky with one another. I have translated the text in the word balloons to bolster my case:

[spectrum_09]

Humans are the most sexually obsessed mammal. You know, maybe there was just one bed in the cell.

It always intrigues me that, even in a PG-13 comic, there are fans expanding any and every relationship into a sexual act. Does it really matter if the Geisterdamen engage in some form of sexual activity?

The novels have Geister speak as "just the sounds". It isn't a language. per se. You can infer a sense of it but not an actual translation. The Foglio's do not have a Geister-English dictionary.

[madfilkentist]

It makes a difference whether they're modified humans or were artificially created. Even if they're human in origin, they may be very long-lived (like the Jägers) and not capable of further reproduction. If they do reproduce by human means, there has to be more to them than we've seen.

The only recognizable bits of the Geistersprache suggest they're descended from a Linotype machine. But that's unlikely, even in the GG universe.

[murgatroyd666]

The Foglio's do not have a Geister-English dictionary.

So the Professoressa is reported to have claimed. But the untranslated words have been used in a consistent way, and fans have put together a rudimentary dictionary: http://girlgenius.wikia.com/wiki/Geisterspeak/Mad

[murgatroyd666]

Continuing the discussion from last time, it is interesting that there seem to be no Geisterherren.

Playing devil's advocate against my own hypothesis, there seems to be -- or will seem to be -- at least one Geisterguy: a seemingly disgruntled Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, as viewed through the Time Window. And the Geisterdame in view doesn't seem to think that his presence there is particularly unusual.*

Of course, Agatha has the Command Voice and also might be masquerading as The Other, so she might simply have told the Geisterdamen "Accept this person as a Geisterdame, however odd she may appear."
__________________________________
* Did you notice how many times I wrote "seem"? Those are weasel words!

[tikatu]

I think we know now why the Geisters think she is a "false child". Lucrezia in Zola probably "proved" to them that she was the true Holy Child--how she did it, we don't know yet.

[spectrum_09]

Or...

She is "false" as she clearly isn't going along with her mother's plans. Agatha is clearly opposing Lucrezia.

false = untrue, disloyal

[glorin_4]

This is my preferred interpretation.

[murgatroyd666]

But "False Child" implies the existence, or at least the possibility of, a "True Child." A better choice of words for your interpretation would have been "Disobedient Child" or "Traitorous Child."

My prediction: Zola, drawing on the captive copy of the Other in her neural trap and her innate ability to use the Command Voice, has convinced the Geisterdamen that she is the True Child.

Also a possibility: Lunevka, due to her synthetic Command Voice and her erroneous belief that the Other is in control of Zola's body, has convinced the Geisterdamen that Zola is the True Child.

[marycatelli]

Actually, no, it doesn't. If your lover proves false -- that is fickle, unreliable, disloyal -- it does not mean you have a true love.

This interpretation turns on that meaning of "false" not "an impostor pretending to be the true one."

[murgatroyd666]

... it does not mean you have a true love.

You do -- you just don't know who! ;^)

(Seriously, point taken.)

[tikatu]

This is where my mind is going now. I thought about the "fickle, unreliable, disloyal" bit before but the Geister in Wednesday's page calls Agatha an "Abomination" which makes me think "false" is more what Murg is describing.

Mostly noodles

[glorin_4]

I dearly hope Violetta's statement is a Chekhov's Gun.Silly, but still.

Re: Mostly noodles

[tikatu]

Code. It's code and something Gil or Tarvek (or the Librarians) may have to solve I think.

[murgatroyd666]

Does revivification work on Geisterdamen? Does it work on revenants, such as the stabbed Parisienne? You'd think the Good Guys would at least try to salvage some of the corpses so they could be interrogated.

The Baron wouldn't have hesitated to put a Geisterdame's head in a jar ...