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Grandfather Saturnus AU - TV Tropes

  • ️Fri Jun 21 2024

A Girl Genius fic where, when Saturnus Heterodyne declared his intent to kill his sons and try again, his wife put her foot down and told him to retire and hand over the town to his eldest.

Decades later, Agatha is reigning as the Heterodyne, and her grandfather is not impressed by her potential suitors. But then there's that Gilgamesh Wulfenbach fellow, son of the biggest dictator of the continent, who rumors say is actually Gilgamesh Teuful, son of the bandit king who nearly toppled said dictator. He just needs some... encouragement to come to the castle.

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, meanwhile, is not happy to find that his son has been kidnapped. Again.

The first fic in the series is Helpful, in a Heterodyne Sort of Way, followed by the prequel Relatively Speaking, This Will Probably be Fine and Blood Will Out.

This fic provides examples of:

  • Affably Evil: Everyone in Mechanicsburg is polite to Teodora and her ward. Teodora is noticeably frosty with some of them, because she knows why they had to flee to a town full of monsters.
  • Cruel Mercy: The people of Mechanicsburg, and somewhat Saturnus himself, assumed that Teodora kept Saturnus around after his stroke as a sort of trophy, proving that she got the better of him in the end. Actually, she just wanted to help him.
  • Death by Despair: After multiple strokes, Doctor Sun tells Teodora that Saturnus is "too stubborn to die, but not stubborn enough to get better." He only begins to improve after interacting with Agatha.
  • Doting Grandparent: Saturnus loves his darling granddaughter (even if she is obsessed with all that silly "hero" business), and decides to help her out with her suitors. This includes vaporizing the ones he doesn't think are good enough, and kidnapping ones he thinks she'll like.
  • Everyone Has Standards: The Heterodynes have been villains for centuries, everyone knows it and they freely own up to it. They don't hold truck with convoluted intrigues like the Fifty Families.

    Saturnus: I’m a Heterodyne, you pampered tracker dog. We don’t sneak around. We face our enemy head on with acid cannons and laser guns like Hell intended!

  • Evil Cripple: After the death of his first grandchild and the destruction of the Castle by the Other, Saturnus has a heart attack followed by multiple strokes, rendering him unable to leave his bed. Even after he recovers, he can no longer climb stairs or travel far without a wheelchair. One of Agatha's first post-breakthrough projects is to upgrade his wheelchair into a spider clank to improve his mobility.
  • He Knows Too Much: Some poor word choice on Saturnus' part leads Klaus to believe that Tarvek somehow knows of Gil's ties to Skifander, and resolves to destroy Sturmhalten. Then Gil mentions that Tarvek somehow got the idea that he's a Teuful, and Klaus quietly crosses that off his to-do list.
  • Hidden in Plain Sight: In this AU, Barry decides to hide Agatha in Mechanicsburg, living with her grandparents. This works solely because of the locket suppressing her Spark; the second she gets a headache in public, everyone watching "knows" she can't possibly be a Heterodyne. It helps that Teodora is exactly the kind of person to take in a random orphan.
  • How They Treat the Help: While Saturnus isn't always nice to his subjects, he, like every Heterodyne Lord before him, has always repaid loyalty up with loyalty down. Teodora noted that the one argument that Saturnus won against Bill after the abdication was over Mechanicsburg's monster population, and that Bill had no right to cast out faithful subjects just because they offended his sensibilities.
  • I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Saturnus and Teodora have always disagreed on very nearly every single thing in existence. Despite this, Saturnus has always loved her unbeatable will to stand up to everyone, including him.
  • In-Universe Catharsis: Teodora knew how bad the mind-crushing locket was for Agatha, but continued to make her wear it even when Agatha knew what it did. She even tries to get her to put it back on, which Saturnus reluctantly agrees is the only choice. Once Agatha finishes breaking through, however, Teodora declares that the locket has served its purpose and smashes it with a hammer.

    "I," she said, "have been dreaming of that for the last seven years." She turned and offered the hammer to Agatha, smiling brightly. "Would you like a go? It's very cathartic."

  • I Warned You: Saturnus is extremely unimpressed with the Questor who genuinely believes the bullshit the Sturmvoraus spins for her.

    Saturnus: I sincerely hope you survive this. Writing "I told you so" on a tombstone just isn't as satisfying.

  • Mama Bear:
    • Teodora was such a force that when Saturnus expressed his desire to kill his sons and try again, she was able to put her foot down and force him to hand over control to Bill instead.
    • This manifests in a sad way with Agatha. Teodora continues having her wear the locket, despite knowing how much Agatha hates being stupid, because it's truly the only way to keep her safe. Saturnus and Teodora can't do anything if she breaks through.
  • Pet the Dog: Castle Heterodyne had been lonely after Saturnus stopped visiting after his heart attack, and is genuinely relieved when Agatha lets it know that he's still alive, and that he isn't mad with it, he just hadn't been medically fit to climb the hill and enter the castle.
  • Raised by Grandparents: Barry leaves Agatha with his own mother and father, instead of with Punch and Judy. Teodora knew, but Saturnus (and the rest of the town) were just told that she was an orphan. Saturnus figured it out relatively quickly.

    It had nearly given him another heart attack, the day she'd looked up from her book and he finally recognized his own eyes staring out at him from a girl who called him Lord Saturnus.

  • Refuge in Audacity: Prince Aaronev explains Tarvek rescuing Agatha and defecting to Mechanicsburg to the Baron by claiming that Agatha had abducted Tarvek on the Heterodyne's orders.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: In the canon universe, Teodora poisoned Saturnus and was killed by the Castle for it. Here, Saturnus handed the reins over to his eldest peacefully, with them raising their granddaughter.
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Saturnus tells Klaus that he misjudged him (for being a hero), and he's glad that Klaus has finally learned his proper place (ruling over the continent with an iron fist). Saturnus was one of the worst villains in the world in his prime, and Klaus hates being an emperor more than almost anything. He masters his expression before Saturnus notices how annoyed he is at the praise.