#sondergaard

I mean, for a living?

I mean, dude got a royal appointment, of a bizarre kind yet still very official, from King Christian X (with a mint!) to go be governor of the island. (Which I will not attempt to spell because the script is apparently no longer online for me to check.) How did that happen, first of all, and does that appointment or his own means pay for his food, the ships checking on him, etc?

We assume that he wasn't a diplomat just because, thematically, in the story it's relevant that Bunning IS one and Sondergaard isn't- technically he might be but it would kind of deflate the narrative if so. Sondergaard was living in Java- maybe just as a normal businessman expat? Was he just significant enough as a business figure to be known in the kinds of elite circles that would get him that sort of "appointment"? Does he have some kind of family wealth or other independent means? What brought him to Java in the first place?

“Doctor...”

...well I mean, it is DISTINCTLY its own thing, but now that my brain is very much in "oh my god Good Omens S2 is actually going to be happening nowish" mode, the similarities between Good Omens and Penguin Diplomacy really do kind of come into focus. Two representatives of larger "enemy" (well, not really, but it does work out that way in context) powers in a faraway location, both left by themselves in the middle of nowhere and, though initially at odds, starting to enjoy the solitude (and each other's company) when they're not bothered by their higher ups, becoming close with each other and, eventually, when the two higher-ups try to start conflict between their two sides, they manage to engineer a way to create a neutral zone for the two of them to enjoy.