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Adalbert von NN Blog Entry |
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August 2, 2024, 12:00:09 AM 8/2/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's characters from my anthro WWII storyline are Herzog Adalbert von NN and Herzogin Adelheid von NN (full last name never given, so I use the genealogy term "NN"). They're from a very old line of dukes and duchesses and are the parents of Adel, AKA Ratdog, and Edelgard. They're long deceased by the time of the main story; I can't get into their history here (it's...weird), but most of it's already in Edelgard's Tumblr entry. There'll be more about them later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding their design, they're roughly late Victorian/Edwardian era and a bit later. Adelheid's bouffant/pompadour may be a bit much. Everyone in this family seems to possess bright blue eyes and warm/muddy gray fur. TUMBLR EDIT: This part will be truncated in the next entry to save repetition. You'll see these two have finally, grudgingly received first names. I couldn't figure out how to label them when I eventually put them up on Toyhou.se...I still haven't figured out how I'm going to label the older generation of von NNs, but I guess I'll wait till I get there to deal with that. You'll see that, like siblings Adel (Ratdog) and Edelgard, their names, Adalbert and Adelheid, have the same root meaning (Adel) referring to German nobility. Yes, both of them, husband and wife, share this peculiar naming trait. Because husband and wife are also brother and sister. I warned that it's weird. See Edelgard's entry, where the saga of the von NN family was first laid out in detail. So, I REALLY needn't go into excessive detail again regarding Duke and Duchess von NN and their sad ending, though as always, I know I'll end up repeating at least a bit...I'll try to limit myself. Long story short (and I admit I had to stop typing and delete and make it shorter), despite Adalbert's efforts, Edelgard succumbs to extreme mental imbalance, likely a result of the family's severe inbreeding, and murders both parents in a fit of rage. She spares Adel, but warns him to flee before she might end up killing him, too. When he returns, he finds the family castle abandoned and Edelgard gone; the indication is that she wandered off into the snow, similar to their grandparents, to die of the cold. Her likely death (and the grandparents') is sadly echoed many years later when Adel, crushed by years of loss and grief, commits suicide by opening all the doors and windows of his home to the wind and snow, drinking himself into a stupor, and freezing to death. Even though he lucked out in the genetic lottery and avoided Edelgard's fate, he still ends up succumbing to the "family curse," such as it is. The way certain things pass down through the generations, not only connecting family but repeating history, is a major recurring theme in this story...just that, in the case of the von NNs, it's a bit more literal. There's meant to be a sequence in the story where Ratdog (Adel's wartime sniper alias) declines a genealogist's offer to draw up his family tree (for obvious reasons...no branches), telling the guy, "I already know my family, why do I need anyone to tell me who they are?" The genealogist draws up Godfrey Klemper's tree instead. A bit of irony is discovered here, in that Klemper is shown to descend from "a long, proud line of peasant-farmers" who have lived in the same general area of northeastern Germany for hundreds of years. (Just FYI, Klemper's family is dirt poor, yet NOT inbred.) Why ironic? Ratdog's family--which he reveals to Klemper is a long, unbroken line of dukes and duchesses, going back at least five hundred years--resided in the same general area, and in their heyday, maintained a massive amount of farmland, which was almost certainly worked by peasant laborers...sort of like serfs, not much higher in status than slaves. Chances are high that Klemper's direct ancestors once toiled for Ratdog's direct ancestors, and now Ratdog and Klemper, a Junker and a farmer's son, are romantically involved. Ratdog--who before now had disowned his extinct family, and presented himself as a peasant type--inquires if this knowledge changes anything between them; Klemper mulls it over, yet says no, he can't think of any reason why it should; although he uses much simpler language, he says that nobody should be defined by the actions of their ancestors. Klemper, as superstitious as he is, doesn't believe in familial curses. Yet the more pragmatic, non-superstitious Ratdog certainly does, because he's seen the evidence firsthand. Just another FYI: No, there is no child abuse or coercion in the von NN family history. It's not like the Dannecker family with its long tradition of generational (parent/child) incest, child abuse, and force. The von NNs just practice sibling marriage between consenting, age-appropriate parties; icky, yet not nonconsensual or abusive. Adalbert and Adelheid do love each other, just as their brother-sister parents did, and presumably their sibling parents before them going back who knows how far; by their time, the direct family line of two siblings is all that's left, so this is likely a situation that went on for quite a long time as offshoots of the family all withered away. Brother/sister marriage is pretty much all the later generations of von NNs know, so of course it's all they do. Edelgard--who, Ratdog tells Klemper, he was certainly intended to marry and carry on the family line with once he came of age--broke this tradition only with the murder of their parents and by sending Adel away; although close, the two never were in love, and this might have been one of Edelgard's underlying motivations in telling her brother to go: Not only did she not wish to harm him physically, but she likely didn't want their sibling relationship to be tarnished in the same way as previous generations, as she and Adel simply didn't feel that way for each other. Rather than submit both of them to a possibly unwanted/unhappy marriage, Edelgard seized control of her own fate for the first time in her life, and ended the family curse. (Or at least...tried to.) Adel attempts to ensure the end of the family line first by secluding himself and abandoning their name (the full surname, which is incredibly rare for obvious reasons, is never given--they've long lost almost all importance and recognition along with their workers and most of their lands, just this weird isolated line of nobility living in the middle of nowhere, keeping strictly to themselves--and Edelgard destroys all mentions of the name remaining in the castle), yet accidentally fathers a son, Hans; Hans dies young, and Adel vows that the cursed name will die with him. He doesn't count on falling in love with Klemper, though the relationship seems "safe" as it can bring forth no children...yet in another twist of irony, Adel fails at his attempt to let his line die out, when Klemper is killed and Adel ends up with former enemy Didrika, who also lost her soulmate. Adel and Didrika have a son and a daughter, and their daughter, Tatiana, has a son of her own--Hans, named after his long-deceased half-brother--and they all require a surname. As Adel ensures the name is never revealed, his children assume a completely new surname: von Adel (of Adel). The von NN family name dies out with Adel's suicide, yet his line continues after his death, now named after him. I'm sure that at least some generations of the von NN family weren't entirely thrilled with the prospects of marrying each other--similar to arranged marriages, they probably had to get used to the idea first--but as I said, there's no known family history of coercion. I also imagine at times there were additional siblings, brothers and sisters who weren't involved in carrying on the line (the oldest brother and/or sister would carry this responsibility), though they too, in their extreme geographical and social isolation, knew no other way of life, and so never got married or bore children to carry on the family name. (There IS the possibility of extra brothers/sisters having children out of wedlock with the increasingly rare neighboring peasants/laborers--meaning Adel could have a few distant relatives still out there--yet none from the direct line, and none with the family name. As their isolation became near-complete, and the von NN family was whittled down to just two surviving siblings per generation, this possibility died out as well.) Edelgard and Adel were the first generation, it seems, in centuries to even think of breaking this custom, largely because of Edelgard's mental instability. Surely there was a "weird" sibling here and there, though they seem to have been rare; from the looks of it, the von NN gene pool was relatively stable, without a bunch of troublesome recessive traits: The grandparents, Adalbert, Adelheid, and Adel, at least, were outwardly normal and healthy. With such a long history of inbreeding, however (Adel never clarifies how far back it goes, but given the typical reasons for such behavior--isolation, and desire to keep a pure bloodline--it likely goes back quite far), it's to be expected that a recessive trait would make itself known, and this finally happens with Edelgard. By a random genetic quirk, she inherits and displays this trait, while it remains dormant in Adel (he admits to Klemper that, despite having no way of knowing for sure, he believes he does carry this genetic trait, and it's the reason he doesn't want kids); and in yet more irony, this inbred family trait is what leads to the family name's extinction. Edelgard doesn't exist in a vacuum, however. Nurture, not just nature, does play its role. Her mother's early mistreatment and lifelong rejection of her, followed by a rash cruel comment by her father when he discovers his wife's body ("You're a monster!"), go far toward contributing to the underlying problem; although Edelgard manifests violent tendencies from the start, Adalbert's compassion and dedication to making sure she's loved and treated properly, along with her refusal to harm Adel even when given the chance, prove that at least to some extent, she's redeemable. There are simply too many circumstances working against her, however, for it to stick. The "family curse" hits poor Edelgard in more than one way. All this having been said...Adalbert and Adelheid are generally decent people, though Adelheid is highly flawed. She's the one to initially reject Edelgard and lock her away in an isolated part of the castle, where she spends her early years mostly neglected; even Adalbert has little to do with her. Adel is the one to first show her kindness--the little boy, while exploring, finds her room and gets in, and shows no fear of her, not even when she holds a scissor to his neck on their parents' arrival. Adelheid persists in her refusal to show warmth or love to her own daughter, though this is largely because she fears for Adel's safety--as the firstborn son, he's the sole carrier of the family name. Despite the family tradition, Edelgard is ultimately expendable, her brother is not. Adelheid lavishes her affection on Adel and ignores Edelgard, which has serious consequences for her later. Something just now occurred to me, however, that Adelheid's behavior might not ENTIRELY be based on her concern for Adel and the family line...she almost OVERreacts in her treatment of a mentally fragile little girl. Could this be a more moderate manifestation of the same emotions that overwhelm Edelgard later on...? Adalbert displays no such overreaction. He disagrees with Adelheid's decision to lock their daughter away, and insists on rehabilitating her once she refuses to harm her little brother. He takes over all the duties a mother normally would, washing, brushing, and cutting Edelgard's knotted, filthy hair, scrubbing her clean in a washtub and wrapping her in a big fluffy towel, and dressing her in the most beautiful, lavish little dresses he has the few remaining staff sew up for her. He adorns her with ribbons and jewels and shiny shoes and beams at her in the mirror, as proud as any father could be; he teaches her German, and history and literature and mathematics and science, and also teaches her the expected arts of sewing, cooking, cleaning, and how to read and understand the Bible and pray. He spoils both children, but Edelgard more, to make up for Adelheid's neglect, with fancy clothes, toys, and candies; Edelgard carries around her hand-sewn babydoll, though she barely pays any attention to it, perhaps mimicking her mother, instead watching Adel play with his favorite hand-carved wooden horse. Edelgard makes occasional efforts to earn her mother's affection, before giving up entirely, the two avoiding each other outright; and despite Adalbert's efforts, she's always rather aloof toward him as well. Adel is the only one she seems to connect with, much to Adelheid's chagrin. (By now Adelheid has decided Adel will have nothing to do with her as a bride, family tradition be damned. Adalbert thinks he'll just wait her out; who else would Adel end up with...?) Adalbert's hard work redeeming his broken daughter, unfortunately, doesn't pay off. His and the teenaged Adel's plans to go out hunting are scuttled when Adelheid falls ill and Adalbert stays behind to tend to her; Adel heads out alone. Edelgard stops by her mother's room; despite her illness, Adelheid flies into a fury, demanding that she get out. Normally, Edelgard would just leave, yet this time, seeing the hatred in her mother's eyes--maybe, indeed, this is exactly what she inherited from Adelheid--something inside her sparks, the old destructive rage that Adalbert tried so hard to suppress, and Edelgard reaches over toward her mother's vanity and picks up a hatpin. Adelheid continues spitting at her angrily as she approaches, not realizing what's about to happen until Edelgard reaches the bed and raises her arm; then her eyes go wide and she shrinks back but there's nowhere to go. Edelgard brings the hatpin down. Adalbert responds to the strangled screaming he hears coming from upstairs, dashing up the steps, rushing down the hallway, bursting into Adelheid's room. "Adelheid! Adelheid--?" he calls as he nears the bed, yanking back a gauzy drape. "Adelheid! What..." And then trails off in disbelief at the grisly sight that greets him. He lets out a cry, hurries around to the side of the bed, reaches out for her, getting her blood on his clothes, crying her name repeatedly yet she's obviously gone. Hearing a noise, he jerks aside and spots Edelgard. "Edelgard," he exclaims, "what..." but then sees the bloody hatpin, and the blood all over Edelgard herself. "Vater...?" Edelgard says imploringly, and holds out her arms as if for a hug. Any other time, no matter what the risk, he would have obliged; anything to let his daughter know he loves her. Now, however...he hates her. "You..." he whispers, loses his voice, then gains it again. "You're...you're a monster!" His voice rises into a cracking shriek: "A monster!!" he screams again, leaving no room for doubt; Edelgard's eyes widen in genuine surprise, then narrow and darken, a small crinkle marring her nose. Just like Adelheid, Adalbert realizes just a moment too late what's coming; he lets go of his wife and tries to evade his own daughter, yet she's smaller and much faster and has not fear, but pure hatred, fury, and betrayal on her side--"Edelgard!!" he manages to yell, "Edelgard, stop!"--before she launches herself at him, hatpin raised. Adel returns to a silent, seemingly empty home. Even the few remaining help staff seem to have gone. "Vater? Mutter...? Edelgard?" he calls as he wanders around, then, puzzled, heads upstairs. He finds his parents...the trail of blood...and Edelgard with gore spattering her and the dripping pin in her hand. Adel doesn't try to run. Doesn't scream at her, what has she done. "Edelgard," he says softly, tears streaming from his eyes, voice choking. Edelgard mentions how their mother reacted, why she reacted in turn--when Adel says, "But...Vater. Vater's always been good to you. Why...?" Edelgard's eyes glitter with spite, and Adel takes pause--he's never seen her look that way about their kind, patient, loving father. "He called me 'monster,'" Edelgard says, and her tone of voice makes it plain that this, this one unplanned, un-thought-out comment, was far worse than anything their mother ever did to her. She expected this from Adelheid...not from their father. Adalbert ended up betraying her worst of all. Adel attempts to entreat Edelgard to let him help her, yet she's adamant that he leave--she has enough self-awareness to know that he'll never truly be safe as long as they live under the same roof. He refuses to go, refuses to turn his back on her like their parents did, until she screams at him. He hastily gathers a few things, pauses before the entry in the great hall--"I'll come back for you," he calls out into the echoing castle, a promise, though there's no response. He departs, trudging back out into the snow. By the time he returns a few days later, the castle is completely abandoned, its doors and windows thrown open, snow gathering in drifts all throughout the halls and rooms. Adalbert's and Adelheid's faces and names have been effaced from everything in the residence. Adel searches the nearby forest, calling for Edelgard until his throat goes raw, yet he never sees her again. He imagines her, like their grandparents, curled away in a cave, cold and stiff and still. Many years later...long after the death of his little son Hans, the very last of his name (an accidental son whom he nevertheless loved more than life), long after the death of Klemper (emotionally volatile, mentally broken Klemper, who lashed out so much at first, certain Ratdog would abandon him, yet he never did, as by then he well understood the hurt--Klemper's wounded expression looked the same as Edelgard's, after Adalbert's betrayal)...Adel opens all the doors and windows of the little stone cottage he built after leaving the castle, opens a bottle, and drinks until both the shivering and the tears fade into numbness, curls up on his bed with the toy horse which Klemper had brought back to him, and lets his eyes drift shut. He's thinking of Klemper, longing to see him again even if only in a drunken dream (he doesn't believe in an afterlife), yet he can almost swear he hears Edelgard's voice faintly calling his name. Eventually he doesn't hear that anymore, either. Something breaks with Adel's death. Not just his adult children's hearts; son Godfrey grieves, yet suspected what was coming, but daughter Tatiana is inconsolable. Adel had just met his new grandson (for whom Tatiana had hoped to ask him to be the godfather), and had given his blessing to name the baby Hans. He isn't Hans von NN, but Hans von Adel, as Adel's own children never learn his real surname...it dies with him, just as he'd wished it to. Yet so, apparently, does the "curse" he'd come to believe in after all. Godfrey and Tatiana grow up healthy and happy (they're close, but the family tradition itself died with Adalbert and Adelheid), and although the loss of their parents breaks their hearts, they carry on. Tatiana asks Adel's wartime acquaintance, Otto Himmel, to be godfather in his place, and he consents; he lost his mother to suicide, and comforts her in her pain. Hans grows up, carrier of an old name and a new name, surrounded by the sort of pride and love that Adalbert and Adelheid wanted to show their children, yet never quite could. Please see ADELHEID'S ENTRY. [Adalbert von NN 2024 [Friday, August 2, 2024, 12:00:09 AM]] |