Violetta the cynical and self-doubting is unlikely to believe that she killed Madwa and/or that Madwa will stay dead if she did. (I'd love to know how Violetta fooled Steelgarter.) If she didn't puree Madwa's brain, Lucrezia can revive her. Even if she did, Lucrezia may have backups.
The win here is getting the lantern, without which even Madwa will have trouble taking out the whole crew, especially exhausted & when they have warning.
Evil Overlord List, item #89: «After I capture the hero's superweapon, I will not immediately disband my legions and relax my guard because I believe whoever holds the weapon is unstoppable. After all, the hero held the weapon and I took it from him.» I’d expect Smoke Knights to have something similar.
I'm sure she took all reasonable measures and a fair pile of unreasonable ones, but that may not be enough. We may not find out either way for quite a while -- or Violetta may explain on the next page.
There's obviously a time between the last two panels, during which Violetta takes and closes the lantern. I think it's likely that in that time, Violetta makes very sure that her target really was Madwa and is really, truly, permanently dead. That would be a bit too gory to show.
So Violetta has just gotten enough XP to level up again! :-) She's also accomplished something truly notable in Smoke Knight society. That should be good for a couple of scoops of self-esteem.
One of Lucrezia's areas of expertise is mind transfers. She may be able to rebuild Madwa from backups, even if Violetta did a quite thorough job on the original. I trust Violetta not to be overconfident, here.
That in no way detracts from Violetta having fooled Madwa into monologuing for an audience, taken her down, and recovered the lantern (and possibly a lot of other interesting things Madwa had on her person). Nor from out-sneaking Rakethorn.
There aren't mental duplicates of anyone else that I can think of, but she does have the technology. Possibly there's a technical reason it's limited to just her, possibly she just wouldn't want to share that capability, but it seems like if she cared she could have backups of her critical agents. OTOH, it's easy to argue that she doesn't value anyone else that highly.
In the introduction to one of the novelizations (I think), there was a brief bit about how capable Sparks draw others into their orbits, and the fact that within a few months of her breakthrough Agatha had two Storm King claimants, Baron Wulfenbach's heir, an expert swordfighting princess, and a Smoke Knight in her group of sidekicks was an indication of her absolutely terrifying potential.
That got me to wondering, though--Sparks distort reality with their mad science, right? How much do they unconsciously do the same thing? Is Violetta a more capable Smoke Knight now in part because that's what Agatha needs her to be, and Agatha has the power to make her better?
It's reminiscent of what Terry Pratchett had to say about the power of stories, particularly in _Witches Abroad_.
I think Violetta has been either seriously underestimated by pretty much all the smoke knights, or she has been actively sandbagging for years. Consider the various scrapes she has come out on the winning end of, not by luck or overwhelming talent, but through tactics and outsmarting her opponents. She is formidable, full stop.
I'm also waiting for the other shoe to drop about her "death." That squid has been on the mantlepiece for way too long, I need some closure/exposition here!
...that for the longest time, she had no faith in herself - being assigned what to her was scut-work and having to watch over a person she hated can do that.
Since she took up with Agatha, she's been valued for who and what she is, which can do wonders for self-confidence. :)
See the pagemadfilkentist linked above. French Ninjutsu is a complicated skill set. Violetta may be not quite as good as these two at snooping around, but she's clearly better at surviving deathtrap mazes. Also, being underestimated is not even a running gag, it's a hallmark. All members of their clan pretend to be less capable than they are.
She has occasionally been shown to be weaker than other smoke knights. She's also been shown to be very capable. Which allows the Professors to tweak it as necessary. Her actual skill level is "Whatever is convenient to the current plot, or makes a good joke".
Violetta has stated that she specializes in sleight of hand and misdirection. This was a well done misdirection. Attacking Madwa face-on is normally suicide. She made her turn her back. Even if Madwa realized Violetta wasn't in the light immediately, she could only cover one direction with herself now between two foes.
Violetta (and everyone else in the party) has been through an outlandish amount of mayhem and repeatedly pushed her skills to their limits since winding up in Agatha's company. She's racked up a whole lot of practical experience under extreme circumstances. She's earned her power-ups. The inspirational aura of a spark doubtless contributes -- this is important, keep doing your best work! -- but I hope that's more like motivation and dedication and less like reshaping people. The spark aura is already alarmingly mind-control-y in a story that has strong opinions about mind control.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 05:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 06:57 am (UTC)Well, it did to me, at least. Madwa would disagree.
No pun intended, but a welcome one nevertheless
Date: 2021-12-22 07:57 am (UTC)I hope that shiv has that stuff
Date: 2021-12-22 06:11 am (UTC)Re: I hope that shiv has that stuff
Date: 2021-12-22 10:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 10:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 10:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 04:34 pm (UTC)Incidentally, I appreciate the setup last strip that she's running on empty. It makes her missing Violetta a bit more believable.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 02:31 pm (UTC)GO GO VIOLETTA
no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 04:46 pm (UTC)Speaking of which, Violetta didn't check that Madwa is really dead.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 05:16 pm (UTC)The win here is getting the lantern, without which even Madwa will have trouble taking out the whole crew, especially exhausted & when they have warning.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 05:02 pm (UTC)I’d expect Smoke Knights to have something similar.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 05:25 pm (UTC)So Violetta has just gotten enough XP to level up again! :-) She's also accomplished something truly notable in Smoke Knight society. That should be good for a couple of scoops of self-esteem.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 09:10 pm (UTC)That in no way detracts from Violetta having fooled Madwa into monologuing for an audience, taken her down, and recovered the lantern (and possibly a lot of other interesting things Madwa had on her person). Nor from out-sneaking Rakethorn.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 11:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-22 10:13 pm (UTC)That got me to wondering, though--Sparks distort reality with their mad science, right? How much do they unconsciously do the same thing? Is Violetta a more capable Smoke Knight now in part because that's what Agatha needs her to be, and Agatha has the power to make her better?
It's reminiscent of what Terry Pratchett had to say about the power of stories, particularly in _Witches Abroad_.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 03:01 am (UTC)I'm also waiting for the other shoe to drop about her "death." That squid has been on the mantlepiece for way too long, I need some closure/exposition here!
I think part of it may be...
Date: 2021-12-23 07:46 am (UTC)Since she took up with Agatha, she's been valued for who and what she is, which can do wonders for self-confidence. :)
no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 05:13 pm (UTC)French Ninjutsu is a complicated skill set. Violetta may be not quite as good as these two at snooping around, but she's clearly better at surviving deathtrap mazes.
Also, being underestimated is not even a running gag, it's a hallmark. All members of their clan pretend to be less capable than they are.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 05:26 pm (UTC)Her actual skill level is "Whatever is convenient to the current plot, or makes a good joke".
no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-23 09:32 pm (UTC)