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Alger Holt Blog Entry |
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November 18, 2022, 4:00:13 AM November 18, 2022, 4:00:44 AM 11/18/22: r/SketchDaily theme, "Antarctica/Free Draw Friday." I did Free Draw Friday. This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Unteroffizier (Sergeant) Alger Holt, sans cap (top drawing) and with cap (bottom drawing). Unlike many of my other characters he's actually pretty decent, mainly because he's involved in the resistance. There'll be more about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding his design, he's a standard schnauzer. I was originally going to make him an old German shepherd but changed my mind; still feel rather iffy, but oh well. TUMBLR EDIT: Holt, I believe, has been around longer than PFC Helmstadt--I believe he, like Senta Werner, slightly predates the circa-2000 reboot, and may have been a supporting character in an adult scene or two, though I'm not going to check--so he's neither one of the old characters nor one of the new. Still, I don't have much personal info about him yet, likely because he's not a main character. Perhaps I'll learn more in the future. I do know he's a veteran of the Great War and seems to be older than Inspector Dobermann, whose household he serves; I think also he's one of the first Wehrmacht troops who arrive to guard his estate. So he's most familiar with everything that's going on. He's also very observant, while remaining unobtrusive, which means he's often more in the know than others expect--he has the dirt on everybody. They're just lucky that, for the most part, he's not interested in acting on it. He's the one who's basically in charge of household affairs until Helmstadt arrives and takes this duty upon himself; rather than protest, Holt steps back and lets him. All the better to keep even more of an eye on things. Being a keen observer, Holt picks up on little details that everyone else easily misses. He fought alongside Jewish soldiers in the Great War, so when the national atmosphere begins to change, and the state turns against the Jews and others with the excuse that they betrayed Germany and led to their defeat, he knows this is a pile of BS. He's not sure what to do about it but he knows things are taking a very nasty turn before most of the others know. When Gunter Hesse, an old family friend who'd been staying with the Dobermanns but joined the Waffen-SS to go fight prior to Holt being stationed there, returns to recuperate from his injuries, Holt recognizes that he's bought into the lies hook, line, and sinker--unlike Dobermann himself, who dislikes the Nazis. All three of them served in the Great War, so it's kind of jarring how different their opinions on the matter are. Along with catching notice of all the little nasty things piling up as the Nazi influence grows, Holt sees all the little signs of resistance as well. It doesn't escape his attention when the home staff members give dirty looks or mutter under their breath about the Nazi officials who keep stopping by Dobermann's house to seek his approval. Dobermann's own disdain is pretty obvious--especially when he brings home Tobias Schäfer, a Jewish prisoner from the labor camp, to serve as the in-home physician. This isn't just audacious, it's illegal--and Hesse makes it clear where he stands, demanding Dobermann take him right back. Dobermann refuses. Even his wife Inga, whom Hesse admires and respects, refuses to get involved, and Schäfer stays. Holt finds the situation curious and interesting. The most interesting thing is how close Schäfer grows to the help staff, especially the kitchen workers, who welcomed him warmly when Hesse refused to eat at the dinner table with him. Holt often spots them talking quietly with each other (Schäfer is deaf, but he can read lips), and often out of the way of Hesse or the Wehrmacht guards. He suspects he knows what's going on before he gets any concrete proof. There's a good reason the Nazis want Dobermann's permission to use his property: The house is full of hidden passages that can be used to secretly observe and search for members of the resistance movement known as the Diamond Network, which is also known to use such passages. So far, Dobermann has put off granting such permission, but Holt believes the passages are being used anyway. Late one night while patrolling the house he comes across members of the help staff exiting a room where they'd been having a small party amongst themselves; he stops and confronts them. They reluctantly hand over a paper upon which Holt finds a layout of the house and the passages within. He stares at it for a moment before requesting a pen; then he draws in a few more passages he knows of, that the help staff missed. When he hands the map back, he advises them to be more cautious: If someone like him can find out what they're up to this easily, then someone like Hesse, who works in intelligence, can definitely find them out. It's not too long after that that he hears faint noises in the walls; he conceals himself to the side of where he knows a passageway enters into his room, and watches a section of the shelf slowly move aside. He puts his pistol to the head of the unknown man who peers in, and calmly demands to know who he is and what he's doing there. It soon becomes clear this is Josef Diamant, the founder and leader of the Diamond Network; the Dobermann help staff, via Dr. Schäfer, gave him the house layout, and he's exploring the passages to see how trustworthy it is. And speaking of trustworthy, Schäfer related to him what had happened with Holt stumbling upon the plot--they've been waiting to see if anything would come of this, but it's obvious Holt took no further action as Schäfer warned he might. Diamant suspects Holt may be an ally. Holt hesitates--nobody has ever come right out and asked him before, so for a moment he's not sure how to react. He doesn't waffle for long, though, and tells Diamant that when he served in the Great War, men like Diamant saved his life more than once; he figures he should return the favor. And like that, he becomes an informal member of the Diamond Network, helping to funnel escapees through the house and to safety. Although close to the Dobermanns, Holt never outs himself to them--Inga Dobermann finds out secondhand that he's involved in the resistance effort when she herself joins in, and Dobermann doesn't find out until this plan falls apart and Inga has to go into hiding. Holt and Diamant are the first on the scene when Inga shoots and kills a trespassing Nazi who threatened to report her, but Dobermann arrives before they can decide what to do. Although stunned and confused, Dobermann promptly orders Diamant to take Inga to safety, while he and Holt work out a cover story to explain the situation to anyone else who arrives. He leaves Holt in charge, and Holt, levelheaded as ever, manages to convince Helmstadt and the others who show up that Inga was killed defending herself, and Dobermann has taken her body to relatives (who don't exist); it's a weird, flimsy story that Hesse doubts when he arrives upon being called, but Holt is convincing, and nobody dares question Dobermann too closely as the "grieving widower." Hesse, normally a threat to Diamond Network activities, actually proves to be an asset in covering up Inga's faked death: His boss places him in charge of the investigation, meaning he chooses who participates and how exhaustive it is. At Dobermann's request, he keeps it low key and doesn't look too deeply past the dead Nazi involved. Inga's secret--that she's actually Jewish--remains safe, ironically, because the SS ensures that it does so. Even though he's been pulled into it unwillingly, Dobermann continues Inga's work in her absence, and Holt continues assisting, including making sure Hesse remains in the dark. He quickly discovers Sgt. Stephen Gerhardt, a new arrival at the estate, is in fact an American spy, based on a very slight trace of an American accent, and although he doesn't give away the Inga plot, he does help Gerhardt navigate his way through the complicated political situation on the estate. And he's on hand to help defend it and the staff when the s**t finally hits the fan upon Inga's return, resulting in a Nazi attack on the property; while the Dobermanns, Dr. Schäfer, and Gerhardt flee with Diamant, Holt stays behind with Senta Werner, another of Dobermann's Wehrmacht guards, and Wilhelm Volker, a young Nazi officer who decided to side with the Dobermanns at the last minute, to protect the remaining help staff and the house. He's spared by the arriving Allied troops when he offers to translate for them, and never faces any consequences as he never committed any war crimes. His participation in the plot of Ultima Thule is minimal as he remains at the Dobermann estate (now a base of operations for the remains of the Diamond Network as they deal with assisting displaced victims of the Nazis). Regarding his life after the war, currently, I know nothing; I'm pretty sure it's peaceful and uneventful, as that was the way he preferred to live his life, even though circumstances got in the way for a while. Knowing him, he probably continues to help out what remains of the Network. I don't think he ever gets into a relationship, though that could always change. He surely maintains some sort of casual contact with old friends such as the Dobermanns, Schäfer, and Diamant. I imagine he's just fine with the way his life turns out. [Alger Holt 2022 [Friday, November 18, 2022, 4:00:13 AM]] [Alger Holt 2022 2 [Friday, November 18, 2022, 4:00:44 AM]] |