A half-baked idea ...

[murgatroyd666]

Back in Act I, much was made of the fact that Agatha apparently had succeeded in creating clanks with the power of the Spark -- i.e., independent creativity of near-supernatural caliber. But so far the Professors haven't done anything with her capability in the story.

During the two-and-a-half years of the time skip, the Other was actively fighting the Wulfenbach forces. But oddly enough, the Other's designs seemed to be variations on existing plans; they didn't seem to be particularly creative.

According to van Rijn's notebook, he was repeatedly visited by "The Muse of Time" ... a humanoid clank that never had the same appearance twice.

So ... Suppose Zola doesn't have the Spark, and Lunevka doesn't have the Spark, either. (Lunevka did modify Zola's hospital equipment, but she might simply have tweaked an existing design.) Back at Castle Sturmvoraus, the Lucrezias had mentioned a plan over the bodies of other women with the Summoning Engine, but doesn't seem to have happened. Either it didn't work, or else they didn't find host subjects who had the Spark. If the Other can't inhabit a brain that has the Spark, any victory she could score would be a hollow one.

Here's my guess: At some point in the future, Lucrezia-in-Agatha will take over Agatha's body again. (C'mon, you know it has to happen!) The various forms of The Muse of Time will turn out to be unsuccessful attempts by Lucrezia-in-Agatha to build a clank body that incorporates the Spark. Eventually L-in-A will succeed, and that clank will be the one we've called Enigma.

Opinions? Counter-arguments?

Comments

[skybreak]

I think Lu-in-Zola and Lu-in-Anevka both not having the gift of the spark is possible. Perhaps it requires the right sort of host brain and not just any old brain.

I also think Lu had the ability to travel through time as she seems to have visited the Geisterdamen regularly "since the beginning of all things" (date=20051230). And although Agatha seemed to use her mum's knowledge to free the Enigma (date=20160302) I think that Enigma/Muse/thing does not sound like a spark and I don't think it is either Lu's creation, nor does it hold her personality.
Does Van Rijn somehow use some of Agatha's clank making skills to design and construct the Muses he makes for Andronicus? Who knows :-)

And lastly I think that the "Muse of Time" that Agatha saw at the start of the story may have been herself in disguise. She knows she needs to steer her younger self down the lane towards Omar and Morloch and I can imagine her friends (nearby) telling her "look scary!" and she responds to them "like this?" which her younger self sees and hears.

[skybreak]

A thought: What if all the Geisterdamen are first generation? Maybe Lu make an army of clones (like the first lot of Storm Troopers in the Star Wars movies) and "no matter no long her absence..." refers to years and not generations?
So Lu is not doing -any- time travel.