- For the pre-scratch version of this character, see Meenah Peixes.
- For the company named after the pseudonym this character operates under, see Betty Crocker.
Her Imperious Condescension, also known by the eight-letter ancestral title the Condesce (/ˈkɒn.dɛs/ kon-dess), is the ancestor of Feferi Peixes and the empress of Alternia during and before the events of Hivebent, as well as during the lifespans of the trolls' ancestors.
Biography
As the Alternian Empress
She was responsible for banishing adult trolls from Alternia after the rebellion of the Summoner, apparently to diminish the risk of rebellions. It is also noted that she has an extensive lifespan and contact to a "deep undul8ing monstrosity" which is later confirmed to be her and Feferi's current/future Lusus, Gl'bgolyb, for whom she competed over with other prospective heiresses that shared her blood color.
She possessed a mental connection to Gl'bgolyb that allowed her to curb the power of the Vast Glub. The farther away she was, the weaker her connection with Gl'bgolyb would be, which weakened her ability to prevent the Vast Glub and at the same time swayed Gl'bgolyb's allegiance towards Feferi.
Her longevity allowed her to live up to and beyond the time of the Reckoning, and she possessed the ability to give others the gift of sharing a lifespan as long as hers with a "touch" (probably tying with Feferi's role as the Witch of Life or her pre-scratch role as the Thief of Life).
She survived both the Reckoning (due to her absence from Alternia) and the Vast Glub (due to her blood color) and traveled back to Alternia arriving 612 solar sweeps after the Reckoning. Upon her arrival she found her planet in ruins and her race practically extinct, ending her long reign over Alternia, but she would be offered a new purpose.
As English's Servant
The battle between the Handmaid and the Condesce.
She was chosen to replace the Handmaid as Lord English's servant, becoming his "emissary" to the places he is unable to reach himself. In order to do so, she had to kill the adult Handmaid, who had been waiting for this ever since she started to serve English.
She works under the pseudonym Betty Crocker (similar to Doc Scratch and Lord English). A few pages into Act 6 Act 1, the Betty Crocker logo. was changed
to the Condesce's Imperial Cypher, therefore practically confirming Betty Crocker's identity as the Condesce.
It should also be noted that Jane, as the "heiress apparent to a baked goods empire", is first introduced on "2x3prong day", which presumably relates to the Condesce's strife specibus.
On pre-scratch Earth
Nanna heavily implied that the pre-scratch identity of Betty Crocker was the Condesce as well. It is unclear how the Condesce managed to be in both the post- and the pre-scratch universe and if any duplication was involved or if she merely was able to travel from one to the other. Nanna states that she one day simply disappeared from pre-scratch Earth. Before that she raised Nanna and Grandpa after the death of her husband Colonel Sassacre.
On post-scratch Earth
During her time as Betty Crocker, in the post-scratch universe, she raised Jake's grandma and Jane's grandpa. She was especially cruel to them, even rumored to have gone so far as to murder their pet dog. At some point, Grandma left to go on adventures while Poppop remained, growing up to be a comedian. This mirrors the pre-scratch universe, where Nanna stayed behind while Grandpa left. Jake's Grandma started her own company as a rival to Crockercorp. To remind and instill the Condesce of her greatest fear, her master, Grandma took on the surname English, and created all sorts of inventions emulating Lord English himself. In Grandma's rebellion, however, the Condesce eventually confronted Grandma and killed her for her insubordination. Little is known of the conflict, except that Grandma was wounded by the Condesce's trident and that Grandma was able to get away, only to die from her wounds before reaching home. The Condesce also destroyed Grandma's and Jake's house immediately after Jake discovered the corpse of his grandmother.
Prior to the events of 2x3prong day, the Condesce hid on Earth between 50–100 years, secretly building up her Crockercorp empire and setting up the planet in preparation for her conquest, the start of which was seen here.Once she took over, she began establishing a variety of seemingly random and nonsensical laws, such as humans reproducing through donating their genetic material to drones, or artificially changing the color of humans' blood to establish a blood caste system. This was seemingly done to restore the conditions of her rule in Alternia. Though at first the Condesce wanted to rebuild the troll race, the clones she created were psychically killed by her "pet", who was brought on her battleship along with a number of other lusus species. It is possible that, as she bred several of the lusii in secret for a long time, she may have done so using some form of ectobiology (as she likely did with the trolls and humans). This being the case, the monstrosity she controls may be a clone of the original Gl'bgolyb, as it apparently has many of its characteristics and powers.
The Condesce, about to kill post-scratch Rose and Dave.
The Condesce gradually flooded the world through melting of the ice caps, and somehow brought Carapacians to Earth, likely through the powers of her master. Over time, she also managed to hone the psychic skills of certain members of her lost troll society for herself, demonstrating specifically the symbols of Vriska, Tavros, Sollux, and Aradia, which could explain her easy conquest of Derse in the post-scratch kids session of Sburb. It should especially be noted that she had full control over the God Cat, post-scratch Earth's first guardian, making her especially formidable.
As the Queen of Derse
She has replaced the Black Queen in the post-scratch kids' session of Sburb as evidenced by this Flash when she directs the Draconian Dignitary to investigate Dirk Strider's dream self's activity. In that Flash, her hand is shown glowing similar to the Handmaid, probably due to the influence of her master. In the said Flash, her hair seems to flow much like the tentacles of her lusus. It also appears that she is in possession of the Queen's Ring and may have killed her for it. The ring, however, lacks the orbs fourfold, matching Derse's lack of spires to receive prototyping data.
After she took over the post-scratch Derse offscreen, she was seen interacting with the Draconian Dignitary (to whom she lent the ring) and controlling GCat. GCat teleports Roxy to her feet later in the B2 Kids' session, where she stands floating over her.
DD reveals that she has kept Roxy as her newest prisoner. The next time we hear from her, she is intervening in a Serious Business conversation involving the Draconian Dignitary and Dad Crocker, which provokes the response of everyone bowing, sans DD, who simply doffs his hat, and Dad, who does not react whatsoever.
She later shows up in her flagship above Derse and proceeds to shoot a Psionic blast of energy from her eyes at its moon, destroying it and thus killing Dirk and Roxy, while Jack fires a similar beam from his mouth at Prospit's moon.
When Jade arrives in the session, she uses both her ability to commune with animals as well as her ability to manipulate people in order to take control of her. She then uses Jade to teleport the tiaratop onto Jane's head, placing her under the Condesce's control. She then uses the two of them to send Dirk into the Furthest Ring, and capture Roxy and Jake.
While Jade interrogates Roxy, it is revealed through their dialogue that the Condesce has captured Roxy with the intention of having her materialize a new Matriorb through the powers of Void (which allow Roxy to materialize objects that explicitly exist as nothing, or no longer exist). This revelation came with the added detail that she seeks to plant the new orb on a planet far from Lord English's reach, so that she may restart the troll race out of harm's way. Whether she truly cares about her race or simply wants something to tyrannically rule over again is unclear.
Game Over Timeline
She later appears on the scene of very concentrated dramatic tension on LOFAF, where Aranea had been stirring up trouble. The Condesce fires a psiioniic blast over a large portion of the planet's surface, where the scattered fight was taking place. Aranea, enraged at the destruction of her plans, uses Damara's powers to launch LOLAR at LOFAF in an attempt to kill her. The Condesce jumps out of the way, but her ship is destroyed. Aranea tries once more, this time with LOCAH, but the Condesce blocks with LOHAC. While Aranea deals with an attack from Terezi, the Condesce fields a similar assault from Rose. She throws her 2x3dent at Rose, impaling her in the chest. After retrieving her weapon, she fires a psiioniic blast in Rose's direction, who only narrowly avoids the blast, saved by Roxy. She then faces Aranea again, grabbing her by the throat, flicks the Ring of Life off her finger, and immediately snaps her neck. She then throws Aranea into the nearby wall of fire, which kills her with a Just death.
Personality
While she initially appeared as a dignified sinister ruler, the little of her personality that has been revealed is surprisingly lax. She speaks in a very informal manner and is quite fond of clowns and glitter. DD also implied that she has a genuine interest in cooking and baking. She also is, like any true queen, quite vain. While she is generally considered an antagonist she does have an interest in the defeat of her master, Lord English, up to the point where she attempts to collaborate with the B2 kids. Nonetheless, she is a complete sociopath.
Relationships
The Condesce was the object of Dualscar's flushed ambitions, though it would seem that she did not reciprocate. On Earth, she ended up entering a (presumably flushed) relationship with Colonel Sassacre.
Although she is Lord English's servant she appears to hate him with a passion.
Trivia
- The troll writing on her battleship says "Battleship Condescension", which has the same initials as Betty Crocker.
- Nannasprite referred to Betty Crocker as “baroness”, which matches the other eight-letter titles of the ancestors.
- Dirk later on
also referred the Condesce as the “Baroness”.
- Dirk later on
- Mindfang and the Draconian Dignitary both call her a witch. Feferi's mythological role is the Witch of Life, while Betty Crocker is also commonly referred to in-universe as the "Batterwitch".
- The Condesce seems to have some sort of connection with the Witch class; as she has had some kind of relationship with every known Witch player; Damara's post-scratch self, the Handmaid, was killed by the Condesce; Jade was under her control for a short time up until her death; and her descendant and Heiress, Feferi, was the Witch of Life.
- In part one of Openbound, Meenah even called her a “waterbitch”.
- "Glorious Monarch" is a title of the Black Queen (whom the Condesce replaced), which so happens to start with the same letters as "General Mills".
- Jake refers to her as “sea hitler” and “FISH HITLER”. Likewise, Roxy calls her “SNORKELBITCH MEGAHITLER”.
- While communicating via Serious Business she speaks similarly to Meenah. This could possibly mean that all post-scratch ancestors talked like their pre-scratch selves (as Aranea and Mindfang do, and Jane and Nanna do, more or less) or is just coincidence with the Condesce.
- It's shown here that the mind-controlled Jane and Jade, while still acting with the best interests of the Condesce in mind, are more than just puppets for her and have at least some measure of autonomy.
- The Condesce's giant hairdo is reminiscent of Gl'bgolyb's tentacles.
