#gil

Cause you’ve got Gil as, like, a classic case of ‘born to be a Pulp Hero, forced to be an Evil Emperor’. He really just flat-out Does Not Enjoy anything to do with running the empire and would much rather have fun light-hearted adventures where he gets to be a straightforward good guy. The only reason why he keeps being Baron Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, ruler of the Wulfenbach Empire, is cause he does legitimately believes in his father’s reasoning that the Empire is the only way to keep some semblance of stability in Europa and that he’s the only qualified and righteous person to maintain that Empire. From his perspective, the only reason why he fights to maintain his power is just selflessness. The selfish thing would’ve been to abandon it to do the things that actually bring him joy. 

And on the other hand, you’ve got Tarvek Sturmvoraus. And like, their circumstances aren’t actually all that different. Tarvek was also born into a position of power, forced into being the Villain (you have to be a schemer and kind of a terrible person to survive as a Valois), he was also molded since childhood (since before he was born, actually)

...into being the One Person Who Could Bring Stability to Eruopa. The main difference is that… Tarvek actually enjoys it. Even with all the family trauma and the occasional hint at self-loathing for being manipulative schemer, Tarvek does genuinely enjoy schemes and intrigue and maneuvering politically-complicated situations and being in charge and… basically all of the things that Gil hates doing but tolerates for the sake of the ‘Greater Good’ - Tarvek just revels in the opportunity to do it and do it well. 

…Of course, this element of ‘responsibility’ and ‘for the greater good’ is part of why their two attitudes are so different. Like, since probably the moment Gil discovered he was Baron Wulfenbach’s son, this whole business of ruling the Empire was framed to him as a matter of duty for the sake of the whole of Europa. For Gil, being ‘in charge’ always meant worrying about the expectations of his father and the needs of others and trying his best to do right by them (whatever this IS actually doing right by them is maybe a different matter…But right now we are focusing on Gil’s intentions, which were always motivated by a sincere sense of duty). 

Meanwhile, Tarvek… certainly the idea of making Europa less war-torn and chaotic is part of his motivation to become the new Storm King....

With the idea being that compared to the Wulfenbach Empire being built entirely out of intimidation and brute strength and refusing to play the traditional games of politics and monarchy (like retaining the ‘lesser’ title of Baron), an Empire built on the legacy of the Storm King will be seen as more legitimate and valid and thus lead to a more stable peace. Plus, he probably just flat-out sees himself as a more competent potential ruler than Gil is. 

(He definitely did before they properly ‘re-met’, and by now most of this “oh, well done, Wulfenbach, I guess you are not as thick-headed as you seem lol” stuff is obviously just teasing, but I dunno if anything Gil did has ever crossed the line to “Oh, maybe he is legitimately Better at This than me….”)

… But also, like, if this was purely a matter of practicality and bringing stability to Europa he probably wouldn’t be banging on about Klaus being a ‘usurper’ and ‘illegitimate’ as much as he does. This is absolutely also about his aristocratic pride and Power, about how being the Storm King: Savior of Europa is good for his Ego. And unlike Gil, Tarvek definitely grew up surrounded by the idea of being powerful/being ‘in charge’ just means that you can do whatever the hell you want to the Little People. 

Tarvek’s maybe not the Worst of the Lot, but, like… his original plan to ‘bring stability to Europa’ also apparently involved use of Lucrezia’s technology. He only started internalizing the idea of ‘horrific permanent mind-enslavement is bad when it happens to anyone and not just the Pretty Girl I Like’ in the middle of the Castle Heterodyne arc. 

Tarvek definitely started kinda in the mindset of “being In Charge = having power = I do as I please” that existed alongside his more benevolent concerns and ‘this is for the greater good’ reasonings. And that also plays a part in why power and prestige is way more Desirable to him than it is to Gil. But also… through his misadventures with Agatha and with Gil, he IS unlearning these more Unscrupulous Ideas of power… and he’s still enjoying that stuff just as much. He just likes Doing Politics!

So, I mean, it feels like the Solution for both of their Conflicting Needs should be very easy. Gil is already learning that he does actually trust Tarvek…

Maybe he can also learn to trust him to do all of the political running-an-empire-shit he hates?