Part 35: Beast Within 14: Visit Historic Germany!
Part Fourteen: Visit Historic Germany!
Muthafucking Road Trip time!
So here are our options. Well, not much point in driving to Rittersberg, so let’s just do the Left-to-Right thing.
Gorgeous and very real. HISTORY TIME!
Neuschwanstein Castle was one of the castles that Ludwig built out of his intense fanboyism for Wagner. Over a million people visit annually, it’s been used in several movies such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and was used as the basis for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland. The Nazis considered blowing it up during WW2 under the “If we can’t have it, NO ONE WILL!!!” rule of villainy.
Anyway, let’s talk to this fellow! Oh. We can’t. So instead, let’s check out that mural.
Grace has no idea what’s going on. Maybe this “Tour Tape” option will shed some light? Actually, yes. It says simply that the paintings in this room are from the “Siegfried Saga”, also known as the Nibelungenlied, which is about a dragonslayer.
I have never read it, but it looks interesting at least. (Oh, and you better believe that Wagner made an adaptation of it.) Next room.
According to our Tour Tape, the master bedroom here was decorated with Tristan and Isolde as an inspiration.
Seriously, Ludwig needed a different hobby than stalking the shit out of Wagner. Next room.
Lohengrin this time. The tour says that before he “went batshit crazy” Ludwig had started to ban his servants from looking at him. Grace wonders what he was afraid they’d see.
The tape says that this mural is titled “The Miracle of the Grail”. That does not look like the cup of a carpenter to me.
Deeper in the room.
More goddamn swans. Can’t really check anything else out here, what’s through that door?
The fuck? According to the tape, this is a reproduction of “The Grotto” from the Tannhauser Saga. 
Of course it is. Also, apparently Ludwig’s will ordered the destruction of the castles upon his death. Okaaaay, that’s a little odd. There’s a door on the other side.
Let me guess, more Wagner-inspired art? Yeah, more Tannhauser stuff.
So, this was Ludwig’s study where he would plan his next masturbatory fantasy over Wagner, and occasionally do actual, you know, King stuff. Also, the tape says he was studying the occult before he died.
Going to have to figure out how to pillage that desk without a guard seeing. Next:
The Singers’ Hall, where Wagner would perform for Ludwig personally. It originally had paintings from Parsifal…but now it has a giant painting of a FUCKING WOLF.
And another one.
And another.
Dude had wolves on the brain. There’s one other room we could check out at the moment…
Ludwig’s private chapel.
And there is this door in the main hall, but we can’t use it at the moment. According to our tape, Ludwig was on his way to this door which leads to the tower when he was arrested. Okay, weird. And for the record, while 99% of the paintings shown here are accurate to the actual contents of the castle, anything with a wolf is bullshit. Well, on to our next stop, Herrenchiemsee Museum!
Nice enough.
GAHH! HOW HORRID!!! Partially because even though I don’t speak any German, I can somehow tell this woman is a total cunt as Grace buys her ticket. Well, there’s a fancy painting on the wall, let’s take a look.
I have no idea who this is, but there’s a plaque.
“The Eagle”, huh? Well, what else we got? Well, there’s a series of displays talking about his last days…
They…cut out his heart? Is that a werewolf thing? In the back of the room…
The sleigh from Grace’s nightmare. With a plaque!
That…doesn’t really clear anything up. Grace considers talking to the Smiths again, which personally, I see as a sign of PENDING MADNESS, but what do I know?
So Grace explains the dream and seeing the painting of the sleight, and they essentially respond with “We dunno.” Mrs Smith does admit that she’s been trying to “contact Ludwig’s spirit”, but has been unsuccessful due to a “wall of despair” she keeps running up against.
That’s all I got for this one, so NEXT TIME let’s see if we can’t figure something out here.