Heartwarming / Girl Genius

"There, there, my dear Super-Soldier Henchmen Race creatures of unnatural science. Everything will be alright."

Because sometimes even mad scientists can be wholesome.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

---

First Journey:

Volume 1: Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank

• From very early in the comic, this little note from Phil.
• Also from the same period, regarding Agatha's missing uncle:
  Agatha: Maybe.. maybe he.. he never meant to come back!
  [Adam places his hand on Agatha's shoulder and firmly shakes his head.]
  Lilith: Agatha - your uncle loves you very much. Almost as much as we do.

Volume 2: Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City

• The Jäger Generals invite Agatha over to their office in order to give her back her stuff, before inviting her to stay for tea and supper. Before long, Agatha is happily chatting with them and enjoying their company. For once she's not being treated as a prisoner; she's being treated as a guest.
• When Dr. Dimitri starts having a nervous breakdown and begs Agatha not to tell the Baron about his handmade teddy bears, she promises not to tell a soul and comforts him as he calms down.
• After Gil commends Agatha for her earlier assistance in his lab and expresses interest in continuing to work with her, she practically beams with joy. Gil was the first person besides Adam and Lilith to treat her as an equal.
  Agatha: He listened to my suggestions! He actually tried out my ideas! Nobody ever listens to me! This is wonderful!

Volume 3: Agatha Heterodyne and the Monster Engine

• Princess Zulenna's reason for defending Agatha:
  "Her family saved mine. Everything that I am dictates that I do this."
  • After Zulenna's Heroic Sacrifice, Klaus orders his Lackya to take her to the lab so she can be revived, no matter what the petty rules of royal succession say. He also expects her to object, but points out that at the very least she will live to object.
    Klaus: The Fifty Families haven't got the authority or the power to forbid me anything. She was here under my protection — and I don't give a damn about their ridiculous games of succession.
    Lackya: But Herr Baron — she will.
    Klaus: That is her privilege. But she is the one who will choose!
• As Agatha, Krosp, and Othar are leaving Castle Wulfenbach, she takes a moment for an affectionate "so long" to newly discovered cousin Theo.

Volume 4: Agatha Heterodyne and the Circus Of Dreams

• Upon first meeting Agatha and realizing she's on the run from Baron Wulfenbach, Master Payne's circus turns her away in order to protect themselves, something they're NOT happy to do. But when a wild clank attacks them and Agatha returns to save them? They fake her death and take her in, no questions asked.
  Countess: You saved our lives and tried to save Olga's, even after we sent you away. We had to do this.
• Zeetha apologizes to Agatha for throwing a tantrum on her during their first meeting, before thanking her for saving the caravan and, more importantly, for letting her know she's not crazy.
  Zeetha: I never got a change to thank you, or to apologize for my earlier outburst.
  Agatha: That's okay. To lose everyone—it's awful.
  Zeetha: Not so awful now.
  Agatha: Oh?
  Zeetha: Agatha—I have been wandering for three years now, and you are the first person who has ever heard of Skifander. I was beginning to think that I had made it all up while I was feverish. You let me know that my home—my family—does exist.

Volume 5: Agatha Heterodyne and the Clockwork Princess

• Early in the story between Agatha and one of the Jägerkin, as Ognian bursts into tears and hugs her, so delighted to have found the master they were looking for and that, at long last, they get to return home. It manages to be touching in a mother-comforting-her-child kind of way, despite being between a mad scientist and one of her family's comic relief monster Henchmen Race. You find yourself going "awww" even though the "child" is over ten times the "mother"'s age, a couple feet taller when he isn't crouching, and has razor sharp teeth. Narm Charm works.
• We finally learn why Gil was so taken with Agatha. He'd all-but resigned himself to bachelorhood because he craved the company of a woman he could actually relate to and talk with, both qualities that Agatha - being another Spark - held in abundance.

Volume 6: Agatha Heterodyne and the Golden Trilobite

• A mix of Awesome, Heartwarming, and Tear Jerker in this strip, when Maxim mourns Lars and gives up his own, very beloved, hat in his honor.
  "He fight vit us Jägers und die for the house of Heterodyne. Dot make him as goot as vun of us. Ve don't leave our own behind. (...) So ven hyu bury him, make sure he gots a hat."

Volume 7: Agatha Heterodyne and the Voice of the Castle

• The expressions on everyone's faces when Agatha starts Heterodyning, as she's presenting the first Hope Spot they've had for an actual heir in decades.
• One from, of all people, Baron Wulfenbach. He watched his son take on an entire army by himself, and brilliantly bully them into submission with a combination of mad science and bare-faced bluffing. To see this he had to be moved despite his life-threatening injuries. His response? "Anything-- being paralyzed for life-- would be an acceptable price for seeing what I have seen my son do today."

Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones

• Moloch's first words to Agatha upon recognizing her are a heartfelt if speedy apology for his actions on Castle Wulfenbach and an agreement to help her hide her identity. He then grabs her to drag her out of the way of a wall of flying knives when it would have been much safer for him to flee on his own and quickly ends up helping her like a loyal minion despite his very loud insistence that he is not a minion.

Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm

• A small one:
  Gil: Ow! Why are you hitting me?! I love her and I want to help her!
  Zeetha: Now that, I'll pass along.
• Heartwarming/Awesome/Funny in this episode, which is a bit of a Mood Whiplash.
• Gil's scary look of determination.
  He's not going to die.
• Adorable and hilarious all at once: "I'm going to save you both. AND THEN I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
• This conversation between Gil and Tarvek manages to how much both of them care for Agatha while revealing that Gil really doesn't want Tarvek dead despite all his posturing:
  Gil: Of course we can get started now if you let me take yours apart to see how it works—
  Tarvek: Yes, well I think maybe you'd better.
  Gil: Um, What? Hey, no, I was just—
  Tarvek: You're hooked up to me so you'll keep me alive. Now you're expected to manage for both me and Agatha? I don't really see this working.
  Gil: Oh, come on, now. Surely we—
  Tarvek: If things even start to break down, we're going to cut me loose.
  Gil: That won't be necessary. If we do this quick enough—
  Tarvek: If we do, That's great. But if not no heroics. We save her. Right?
  Gil: *unhappy glare* Well... yeah right. ...Right. Um...of course.

Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse

• Something of a "Fridge Heartwarming" moment, but when Agatha is in a state of super-Sparkiness where she's on the verge of attaining Enlightenment Superpowers, there is one thing she says she needs to do first. That is, if Gil and Tarvek die, then it's all pointless. She "peeped into the infinite", and saw that every idea rushing through her head would be made pointless without the company of those she loved.
• Although this page comes off as a set-up for The Reveal with a bit of a Tear Jerker in the two second-to-last panels, it's actually a bit heartwarming if you look a bit further—to quote our forum:
  Agatha loves Zeetha enough to go be stupid. Tarvek cares enough about Agatha to struggle to stop her. Violetta cares enough about Her Lady to stop her. Tarvek cares enough about the cousin who "hates" him, and who he supposedly "hates back", to be frantic that she's going into deadly danger. Violetta cares enough about her role as protector and defender to John Wayne up anyway...when she KNOWS she is a "bad Smoke Knight", and KNOWS Zola has already kicked her butt soundly. And Higgs...Higgs "vas beginning to like" Zeetha. Enough to be devastated for her.
  It's a page just chock full of people loving and caring about each other. Each frame is a little jewel of emotional engagement.

Volume 11: Agatha Heterodyne and the Hammerless Bell

• Tarvek and Agatha discuss how the bit of The Other in Agatha's mind will be defeated for good when the chance arises. It's odd how Tarvek can sound so comforting and hopeful with such technical language, eh?
• Sleipnir and Theo have been giving us loads of these, such as when the ceiling over their workspace is in danger of collapsing—so Theo handcuffs Sleipnir nice and far away.
  Sleipnir: If you die I'll hate you forever, you selfish pig!
  Theo: Good! Yes! Hate me for years and years and years.
  • Another Theo/Sleipnir one—something big is coming for her, but she's still chained to the wall (for her own safety). Theo rushes over, but he can't find the key, so he shields her with his body as the danger approaches.
• Higgs is postponing Zola-related vengeance to make sure Zeetha's okay.
• Simultaneously heartwarming, awesome and saddening:
  […]I am Castle Heterodyne. My first charge is the safety of the Heterodyne family. All of Europa believes I have failed. And they will not believe otherwise until you are recognized. Publicly. By me. …And you will be. Even if it is my final act.
• "And I am fond of you, professor. Which is why I shall do this quickly." A rare moment of Castle Heterodyne NOT being gleefully sadistic.
• For pity's sake. Give him something to fight for! Attached to this moment of I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy is that for once, Tarvek actually didn't see any sort of political calculation in the situation. And Tarvek schemed to...keep his cousin, who thought they regarded each other with mutual disgust, out of danger.
  • Vole's observation at the end of that scene adds to the effectiveness. Even he, who considers the recent Heterodyne generations to be unworthy of the name (to the point of wanting to destroy them), doesn't dare raise his hand against Agatha in that moment.

Volume 12: Agatha Heterodyne and the Siege of Mechanicsburg

• A surprisingly touching one comes from Dupree and Gil. Dupree may be a vicious little psychopath, but she is completely loyal to the baron and always follows his orders if she interprets them in creative ways. When Gil confronts her on abandoning the Baron, she breaks down crying, pointing out that she tried to go back and save him, but failed. Gil comforts her with a hug telling her that if she couldn't save his father, then no one could. Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
• The first panel of this update edges into this when Agatha is examining Gil's lightning generators.
  Violetta: Did you notice he wrote your name on all the bolts?
  Agatha: Obviously he has too much time on his hands...but I thought it was very sweet.
  • It's been established before that the Wulfenbachs put their name on everything in their machines, the bolts included. This isn't the Spark equivalent of Gil doodling Agatha's name in his notebook, the lightning generators were intended as a gift.
• A match made in Warrior Heaven.
• Professor Mittelmind and Fraulein Snaug's weird twisted Spark-Minion relationship: they honestly care about each other and are just so cute.
  Mittelmind (pleasantly surprised): Fraulein Snaug! Astonishing! You're alive!
  Snaug (happily): Whee! And you're still a twisted mockery of life, sir!
  Mittelmind: Sauce!
• Ladies and Gentlemen, Tarvek has decided the hell with Wulfenbach and I Want My Beloved to Be Happy. He's in love and he's courting Agatha no matter what.

Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne and the Sleeping City

• Remember all that UST?. It's been resolved.
  • The previous strip containing the Anguished Declaration of Love from Higgs is even better.
• Turns out, Tarvek does care about Gil, politics be damned.
• On the Baron's paper doll, attached to one of the outfits is...a beaming little toddler Gil. And there's a cut out version of him to attach to the other outfits as well!
• The fact that for all his rough edges and Hero with Bad Publicity status, the Baron's reign is remembered as "[like ] some lost golden age of antiquity".
• The triumphant return of Airman Higgs.
• Maxina Agatha Gilliana Heterodyne Clay. As Adam put it, "When young Wulfenbach sets out to repair something, he doesn't do it halfway." His expression in the top panel is a look seen on many new fathers. And in case you missed it, Adam and Lilith named her after not only Agatha, but also Gil.
• The people of Mechanicsburg, from kids to monsters, asking their Heterodyne if their home can be freed.

Second Journey:

Volume 1: Agatha Heterodyne and The Beast of the Rails

• When accused by the Father Abbot of arranging for Lady Selnikov's arrival as part of a master plan, Martellus sincerely denies any involvement, genuinely taken aback at the thought of plotting against a church.
  • Or possibly taken aback at the fact that it never crossed his mind to do so.
  • And rather than be upset at the accusation, Martellus is impressed at the Abbott's astuteness, to the point of offering him an adviser position.
• Dr. Vapnoople really did have an army. Of intelligent bears all programmed to obey Krosp, proving he really felt his feline creation would lead.
  • Martellus reveals the bears are programmed to obey the doctor's "masterpiece". If that doesn't say Krosp's "poppa" loved him, nothing does.

Volume 2: Agatha Heterodyne and the City of Lightning

• When Gil saves Vole from the Time Bubble, he rages in pain while aging rapidly, turning huge. Bang stares for a moment before being overtaken with joy about the development. While we don't know how Vole will think about the situation, she obviously has absolutely no problem with the development.
• Gil and Agatha meet for the first time in two years.
• Klaus in Gil's body finally lays bare to Lucrezia in Agatha's body his REAL reason for everything he's done since returning to Europe:
  Klaus: Sanctuary or not- I will burn this fortress and every soul in it before I allow you or anyone else to harm my son.
• On the romance front, it turns out that Zeetha has a way to send messages to Higgs. At a set time each day, she slowly says a message, which Higgs sees on her circlet crest. The first message we see? I. Love. You.
• Bangladesh Dupree: Axe-Crazy Psycho for Hire, who spent most of the first few volumes helping the Baron hunt down Agatha with prejudice. When she and Gil finally catch up with her following the Time Skip? She can't outright say she realizes something's wrong with Gil, but she hopes that Agatha will be able to fix it.

Volume 3: Agatha Heterodyne and the Incorruptible Library

• Gil rescues Tarvek from the time bubble around Mechanicsburg and promptly gives him a huge hug. Note when he says "Ha ha! You're fine!" It's in a normal speech bubble, not the hyper-extended spark-use bubble. For a brief moment, he's just Gil again.
  • In the same vein, Gil also talks normally while Tarvek takes a bath and when he gets the book from Agatha. He can't fight against it all the time, but finding those he cares for interacting with him (in some way) seems to bring him back for a bit.
• When Violetta feels inferior standing next to two "real" Smoke Knights, Agatha takes a moment to remind her that she is the Smoke Knight who walked alive out of Castle Heterodyne, and has nothing to feel ashamed of.
• Crossing over with Awesome: Dimo reveals the reason behind the Jägers' "absence" from the Heterodyne stories: they were hated, and the Boys wanted to break from their family's reputation. When some were caught following, they were all ordered to remain in Mechanicsburg. Dimo thinks that Agatha should think about that. Here is her reply.
• These two strips, spoiler-laden implications aside, in which Higgs actually bothers helping and cheering up a recently recovered and artificially aged Vole despite the fact he used to be an utter monster.

Volume 4: Kings and Wizards

• As scheming as the Sturmvoraus clan may be, their matriarch still has a soft spot for old friends.
• Martellus may be a power-hungry bastard, but he has friends he dearly cares about and as such, is utterly pissed at what his ancestor did to them. He even calls them "good men."
  • Similarly, he later swears to Agatha that he would indeed set aside the lightning crown in an instant if it would stop The Other once and for all. While Agatha doesn't trust him in the slightest, she admits she believes it.
• For all his timidity, Aldin going out of his way to try and warn Agatha about how other great powers in Europe are going to watch her closely for any sign of her being a "bad" Heterodyne and take her out.

Volume 5: Queens and Pirates

• Gil finally catches up to and saves the chronically kidnapped Tarvek. Gil had been searching for him ever since Tarvek was kidnapped from Castle Wulfenbach, and once again Gil is finally able to take a long overdue nap once he has his old friend back in his possession.
  • Immediately after, Dupree wakes Tarvek up in the middle of the night to fill him in about Klaus' imprint on Gil's mind, and Tarvek readily agrees to help break it.
    Bang: "We." Huh... See — I'm good at killing things, yeah, but this is beyond me. I talked to the Heterodyne girl — and now I'm talking to you. Fix him.
• Krosp has returned - and he's finally rescued his poppa, Dr. Vapnoople.

Volume 6: The Exorcism Engines

• Tarvek and Higgs engage in some Casual Danger Dialogue regarding Higgs' true nature, and Tarvek is mildly surprised that Higgs hasn't told Zeetha yet.
  Tarvek: Oh, you mean she's only the latest?
  Higgs: No! Never! I've never felt like this for a woman! Ever! That's why it's so hard!
• Tarvek is told that Violetta is probably dead. His meltdown proves that despite their vitriol with each other, he really does care for her.
  • What's more, he wraps up by saying that if Violetta really is dead, then there are only two people left in the world he really cares about - Agatha and Gil.
  Tarvek: And this time, I'll destroy anyone who threatens them! Starting with these clowns!
  Higgs: And when we're done? I'm buyin' you a drink.
• At the climax of the fight, Krosp bites Vapnoople's arm in order to make him let go of Agatha, who he was about to drag into an alternate dimension to study the monsters, proving that he values Agatha above his own creator.
• Throughout the arc, Xerxe has been shown hunting for Agatha, presumably for something very sinister. It turns out that it was actually a desperate attempt to save her brother Martellus, who had accidentally infected himself with the "life link" dependency between him and Agatha he had originally infected Agatha with.

Volume 7

• This comic has something of a subtle one. After Dimo remembers that he told the cooks to stay put, and realizes they're in danger, he goes with Rakethorn to save them. This moment is powerful simply because it's a Jäger setting out to save them. Heroics are expected from Rakethorn, not so much from the ruthless warrior monsters of the Heterodynes.
• Oggie tells Zeetha about his long dead wife. She was a badass wandering bard who impressed both the then-current Heterodyne and the Jägers, and she took a shine to a pre-Jäger Oggie. She left the night he took the draft, taking nothing with her. He didn't see her again for ten years, when he found out that she had his son. After that they were together until she died, sixty-four years later. This time, she left him something: a family. Crosses over with Tear Jerker.
  • Once more that necklace he's always drawn with turns out to be a locket with her picture in it, and judging by the flashback, shes the reason he favors fez style hats, because it's what she wore.
  • Usually Jägers who befriend humans have to deal with losing them after a few decades. But for Oggie, as long as he has descendants he can still see his wife in them.
• When the group gets back, Albia leads a somber ceremony in which she proclaims the full names and ranks of the fallen (starting with Wooster). Why? Doing so etches their names in the memory of everyone who heard her for life, assuring they won't be forgotten.

Volume 8

• After years of strips required to get the Baron and Lucrezia out of their heads so they could even have such a moment, Gil and Agatha share a Dance of Romance, much to Tarvek's consternation.
• Tarvek gets to meet another of the Muses, recognizing Orotine immediately.
• Agatha gets to reunite with some old friends, from Master Payne's circus.
• Agatha then starts blaming herself for the death of Lars, and Krosp immediately tells her to not be sad over his death, but angry that Lucrezia had caused it.
• Agatha enacts a rather elaborate ploy (including having Dimo lead several actors from Master Payne's Circus dressed as Jägers onto the dance floor and constructing a giant automaton that she can control from its head so she could dance with Albia) primarily as a means to allow Zeetha and Higgs a chance to dance together.

Volume 10

• Higgs makes Gunner Thomas Crothers, who's been trapped on Big Rat Island with no creature comforts (and a whole lot of creatures who wanted to eat him) for several years, a cup of tea. Crothers' wonder is a joy to behold. And on the next page he's clearly savouring his brew.
• Neena apologizes to Albia for summoning her, believing that her current situation, as bad as it was, may not warrant such an extreme measure in her mother's eyes. Albia calmly reassures her daughter that she made the right call.
  Albia: Neena, you are our precious daughter. Your adventurous nature is a great joy to us. Of course we have come to your aid.
• When Monahan comes to Albia’s aid against Clank!Lucrezia, the elder queen thanks her newly awakened counterpart, warmly addressing her as “dear sister”. A couple pages later Monahan (apparently unnerved by her new state of being) and Albia are holding hands just like a Cool Big Sis would with a frightened younger sibling, making it clear that Albia now considers her family.

Side Stories

• In The Mechanicsburg Guild of Monsters, Dr. Hembelbrog recalls how the Heterodyne Boys, once they took over, razed the Monster District to the ground in order to destroy the Fleshyards, and might have done the same to the monsters living there — but the rest of Mechanicsburg came to their aid and took them in, protecting them from the new masters.
• Mechanicsburg demonstrates their regard for their dragon when he takes a trip outside the town:
  Vanamonde: In your travels, remember that you are the Great Dragon of Mechanicsburg—defender of the treasury—lurker in the dark—watcher over all that shines—and irreplaceable member of our great family! By this chain of office, let the world know that you are one of our own—protected by our lady—by the teeth and claws of her horde—by the hand of every denizen of our valley—and woe betide any who dares harm you!
  Franz: (tearing up) Awww! You guys!

Novels

• In Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess, Klaus describes Punch and Judy as "the two greatest people I have ever known." Heartwarming enough on its own, but more so when you remember that the most obvious people to compare them to would be the Heterodyne Boys, who everyone else sees as the greatest people the world has ever known. This is doubly so considering that they're constructs, not 'real' people. This justification has been used. Klaus clearly doesn't have the same views.
• In the final pages of Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg, after 'Gil' fights with Agatha and is removed by Franz, there's a moment where he and Klaus confer privately:
  • Gil reveals that due to him, Agatha and Tarvek all being hooked into the Si Vales Valeo procedure, all three of them are somehow now in synch and instinctively 'know' each other on some level, meaning Agatha was very quickly able to work out that the overlay of Klaus was in control.
  • It's made clear that while Gil is very angry about the mental overlay that's been inflicted on him, he also knows that it isn't his father's fault, he didn't want to do it and was forced to on Lucrezia's order, and he reassures Klaus that they'll fight back against Lucrezia and defeat her.