So, why do I keep writing fanfic about Mr Wooster? Except for the occasional moment like this, he's not a flamboyant character; his main functions in the story appear to be providing information when required (he's a spy, so naturally his memory is encyclopaedic) and getting into various scrapes that aren't, on the whole, his fault. He's had to put up with Gil going ballistic on him, Dupree trying to kill him, and his own country blaming him most unfairly for a pile of stuff. He's trying to balance his loyalties between his country, Gil and Agatha. Agatha's the only one who's still treating him decently, and even she has been known to embarrass him senseless at times.
Well, I didn't have any special affection for him over and above the other characters when I started out. I just needed a convenient British secret agent, and he was the only one available, so he got the job, as it were. But the more I wrote about him, the clearer a picture of him I had to develop, and I began to realise that he has a lot of qualities that aren't immediately apparent because he is so low-key. First of all, that worried expression in the picture (drawn by me, incidentally; it's only my second piece of fan art, the first one being a portrait of the very drawable Maxim) is fairly typical. Mr Wooster is, thank heaven, no James Bond. He's often worried and sometimes terrified, yet the crucial thing is that he never lets that stop him. That's real courage, and since I'm an anxiety sufferer it's also a personal inspiration. The point at which I understood that about him was the point at which he became what you might call my aspirational alter ego.
Another thing is that he never complains when he's treated unfairly. He just gets on with things. Personally, I'd absolutely forgive him if he had a massive grouse about either Gil or the authorities back home, but he doesn't. That's why I wasn't entirely surprised when another Girl Genius fan recently asked me if Gil had really treated Mr Wooster badly. Well... yes. See link, and all that. (To be fair to Gil, I'm certain he regretted it afterwards. He could have got what he wanted without imitating the action of a nuclear explosion, and he's bright enough to have worked that out.)
And then there's the fact that he's honest, which is not the first quality one expects to find in a spy. He is mustard at getting hold of information, but he won't lie or even mislead if he has any alternative (and, in fact, I can't think of a single example of him telling a lie anywhere in the comic). He's just not the naturally sneaky type; he's genuine and likeable, so no wonder he's good at getting information. People want to talk to him. His job can't be easy for him in many ways, even without being mucked about by his superiors, but although he must face a lot of moral dilemmas, he handles them and... well, as I keep saying, just gets on with things.
There's never any fuss about that. He doesn't think he's a hero. He's under ludicrously high expectations from other people, and he has pretty much the same ludicrous expectations of himself, so when he succeeds, it's no big deal for him. But in fact, if we've got to have spies at all, I very much hope they're all like him. And as a matter of fact, for your information, Mr Wooster, yes, you are a hero. Not because I made you one, either; you were one already. All I had to do was bring it out.
Well, I didn't have any special affection for him over and above the other characters when I started out. I just needed a convenient British secret agent, and he was the only one available, so he got the job, as it were. But the more I wrote about him, the clearer a picture of him I had to develop, and I began to realise that he has a lot of qualities that aren't immediately apparent because he is so low-key. First of all, that worried expression in the picture (drawn by me, incidentally; it's only my second piece of fan art, the first one being a portrait of the very drawable Maxim) is fairly typical. Mr Wooster is, thank heaven, no James Bond. He's often worried and sometimes terrified, yet the crucial thing is that he never lets that stop him. That's real courage, and since I'm an anxiety sufferer it's also a personal inspiration. The point at which I understood that about him was the point at which he became what you might call my aspirational alter ego.
Another thing is that he never complains when he's treated unfairly. He just gets on with things. Personally, I'd absolutely forgive him if he had a massive grouse about either Gil or the authorities back home, but he doesn't. That's why I wasn't entirely surprised when another Girl Genius fan recently asked me if Gil had really treated Mr Wooster badly. Well... yes. See link, and all that. (To be fair to Gil, I'm certain he regretted it afterwards. He could have got what he wanted without imitating the action of a nuclear explosion, and he's bright enough to have worked that out.)
And then there's the fact that he's honest, which is not the first quality one expects to find in a spy. He is mustard at getting hold of information, but he won't lie or even mislead if he has any alternative (and, in fact, I can't think of a single example of him telling a lie anywhere in the comic). He's just not the naturally sneaky type; he's genuine and likeable, so no wonder he's good at getting information. People want to talk to him. His job can't be easy for him in many ways, even without being mucked about by his superiors, but although he must face a lot of moral dilemmas, he handles them and... well, as I keep saying, just gets on with things.
There's never any fuss about that. He doesn't think he's a hero. He's under ludicrously high expectations from other people, and he has pretty much the same ludicrous expectations of himself, so when he succeeds, it's no big deal for him. But in fact, if we've got to have spies at all, I very much hope they're all like him. And as a matter of fact, for your information, Mr Wooster, yes, you are a hero. Not because I made you one, either; you were one already. All I had to do was bring it out.