BTW, I was chuffed that both you and cahn spotted the half a sentence about Heinrich advising AW to start his own war in Fredersdorf's timeline. I just couldn't resist. In addition to the whole similarity of temperament and talents, there's this: if Fritz dies in the summer of 1741, Heinrich most likely really doesn't have negative memories of him. (Unless Heinrich was the brother visiting and raiding the larder, but even then, he was young enough to maybe not have noticed how ticked off Fritz was, unless they both responded like in my emojis.) And no idea of how negatively Fritz would have impacted the lives of his siblings. Or how his ability to piss off half of Europe would result in Prussia's political isolation. No, Fritz is probably a (dead) hero to him, more an example to follow (instead of a warning example) than anything else.
As I mentioned in my reply to Mildred's comments, when writing I did consider Fritz figuring out the truth just before the last of older Fredersdorf is gone, but refrained for various reasons - there was enough angst already, and Frederick the Great should not find out time travel to alter the past was possible. (And Heinrich better not find out there was a timeline where AW was King etc.) Mildred said yes, but otoh she wouldn't mind reading stories where he does, and/or the time wars between Fritz and Heinrich.
Now, leaving aside what Heinrich would do for the moment, let's focus on Fritz: if he got a hold on the potion Saint-Germain and Fredersdorf co-invent in this story, where would he go? Because of the forgetting factor, chances are he only could do it once, and would have a limited amount of time before he's forgotten why he came. The obvious temptation is to save Katte's life, but how? Also, there are other factors to consider, such as: if Katte does not get executed in Küstrin while Fritz is a prisoner there, Fritz and Fredersdorf likely never meet, and Fredersdorf stays an obscure soldier in some backwards regiment. And of course, depending on when Fritz goes back (i.e. how long has he been King until then?) - if he tries for a scenario where he does successfully escape with Katte after all (by not writing that fatal letter, by making his escape attempt much earlier during the South German tour with Dad, etc.), he'd have to consider he won't become King, and I have a hard time imagining later day Fritz, who has tasted power, creating a world where he'll be powerless even for love.
So, if the aim of the time travel is to save Katte, I could imagine two alternate things:
- he goes back to when they started to become friends and snubs Katte unforgivably instead, unleashing the full cruel-tongued Old Fritz on him. No friendship with Katte = Katte lives, whether in Prussia or elsewhere, and Fritz still becomes King. Fritz may or may not also use the brief time he has to contact Schwerin and ask for Fredersdorf to be transfered to Potsdam if he can engineer that without making Dad suspicious
- he kills FW by opium, err, in some way not traceable to him. Then he becomes King, and can keep Katte and Wilhelmine. (May or may not use the limited time to ask for a Fredersdorf transfer as well.) The problem here is that Fritz in rl even under the most dire provocation never seems to have considered killing FW, but hey, if Heinrich gets to be a fratricide in an AU despite not having made any move in that direction in rl, Fritz becoming a patricide can also be on.
Lastly: or older Fritz, who now knows a thing or two about MT, doesn't do anything Katte related at all with that time travel potion and instead goes back to give the order to march to Vienna in 1741. That would be a Fritz during the 7 Years War travelling back. :)
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Re: The Adventure of the Time-Traveling Valet
Date: 2021-01-02 06:13 am (UTC)BTW, I was chuffed that both you and
As I mentioned in my reply to Mildred's comments, when writing I did consider Fritz figuring out the truth just before the last of older Fredersdorf is gone, but refrained for various reasons - there was enough angst already, and Frederick the Great should not find out time travel to alter the past was possible. (And Heinrich better not find out there was a timeline where AW was King etc.) Mildred said yes, but otoh she wouldn't mind reading stories where he does, and/or the time wars between Fritz and Heinrich.
Now, leaving aside what Heinrich would do for the moment, let's focus on Fritz: if he got a hold on the potion Saint-Germain and Fredersdorf co-invent in this story, where would he go? Because of the forgetting factor, chances are he only could do it once, and would have a limited amount of time before he's forgotten why he came. The obvious temptation is to save Katte's life, but how? Also, there are other factors to consider, such as: if Katte does not get executed in Küstrin while Fritz is a prisoner there, Fritz and Fredersdorf likely never meet, and Fredersdorf stays an obscure soldier in some backwards regiment. And of course, depending on when Fritz goes back (i.e. how long has he been King until then?) - if he tries for a scenario where he does successfully escape with Katte after all (by not writing that fatal letter, by making his escape attempt much earlier during the South German tour with Dad, etc.), he'd have to consider he won't become King, and I have a hard time imagining later day Fritz, who has tasted power, creating a world where he'll be powerless even for love.
So, if the aim of the time travel is to save Katte, I could imagine two alternate things:
- he goes back to when they started to become friends and snubs Katte unforgivably instead, unleashing the full cruel-tongued Old Fritz on him. No friendship with Katte = Katte lives, whether in Prussia or elsewhere, and Fritz still becomes King. Fritz may or may not also use the brief time he has to contact Schwerin and ask for Fredersdorf to be transfered to Potsdam if he can engineer that without making Dad suspicious
- he kills FW by opium, err, in some way not traceable to him. Then he becomes King, and can keep Katte and Wilhelmine. (May or may not use the limited time to ask for a Fredersdorf transfer as well.) The problem here is that Fritz in rl even under the most dire provocation never seems to have considered killing FW, but hey, if Heinrich gets to be a fratricide in an AU despite not having made any move in that direction in rl, Fritz becoming a patricide can also be on.
Lastly: or older Fritz, who now knows a thing or two about MT, doesn't do anything Katte related at all with that time travel potion and instead goes back to give the order to march to Vienna in 1741. That would be a Fritz during the 7 Years War travelling back. :)