Never Question My Methods

“Indeed,” said Merlin with wryness, “I mean just that, Sire. I am a wizard and not a logician, as you are a king and not a philosopher. Any effort to compound this offices is inadvisable.”

–Thomas Berger, Arthur Rex

There was one important thing I had to ask Thor:

“Do you know Blackwolf as Richard, or just as Blackwolf?”

This is because while Blackwolf is a character, he’s also a personality of Richard Washington. This is by no means a secret, Blackwolf mentions the struggles of his mortal alter ego fairly often in blog posts. But I hadn’t yet spoken with Richard, despite numerous conversations on the phone.

“Yeah, I know Blackwolf as Richard, he has several other personaes as well,” Thor told me, “Blackwolf and Richard are the two that most people interact with. Blackwolf is the strongest of his personalities, and Blackwolf keeps everything together.”

I’d also spoken with Boris Hladek, the cameraman for some of the shows that Thor and Blackwolf performed in, and he confirmed that he’d spoken to Blackwolf and Richard, and that Richard was just a regular, quiet person.

So I asked to schedule another with Blackwolf again, and we arranged to meet by the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.

Initially, it seemed like he wasn’t going to show, and I just sort of stood around. When you plan to meet a wizard, it’s a given that they’ll be easy to spot. After a few minutes, I think heard a jingling of bells, and then, Blackwolf from the top of the steps of the Bethesda Terrace Arcade.

It is a strange thing to hear your name shouted by the voice of an ancient wizard, or someone who sounds very much like one, from afar. Especially in Central Park. Slightly dumbfounded, I called back, “That’s me!” and Blackwolf began his long trudge down the arcade steps.

For a long time, we talked about the same things we had before: his television appearances, the legend of Blackwolf, his costume, and I began to wonder if I was ever really going to get an idea of just how this character came to be. Because if you are a lifetime resident in Harlem, to say nothing of New York City, there are simply less conspicuous costumes you that you could adopt rather than full-blown wizard robes and a jingling staff.

I kept coming back to Richard’s past, and not getting anywhere, and then after a certain point, I just didn’t have any questions. We had gone over everything twice. And then, after a long conversation about Blackwolf’s musical preferences (he is a big fan of Lordi and a few other fantasy-themed heavy metal bands), I asked him if he’d always been a fan of heavy metal. And then Richard came up in conversation:

“Richard was a child of the seventies,” Blackwolf told me, “Ah yes, Frederick Washington and Ola Mae Avery, his beloved parents . . . they were divorcing, and the lad was obviously too young to understand the basic concepts. T’was his mother who obtained physical custody of him.”

Richard’s mother worked as a registered nurse in the psychiatric ward of Bird S. Coler Memorial Hospital, and from what Blackwolf told me, this is when the tension started. “She was of the opinion that her only son and heir was basically a nutcase . . . in other words, a wacky person.”

This is something that Blackwolf doesn’t really like to talk about, but growing up, he struggled with what sounds like a tremendous amount of anxiety. He hadn’t yet seen Star Wars, which he credits as key to understanding how imagination could be applied to every day life. As a child, he could be violent sometimes. This lead to his being prescribed an anti-anxiety and antipsychotic drug called Stelazine.

Angered by the drug’s draining effects, Richard flushed his pills down the toilet and never looked back. He doesn’t take drugs, and he doesn’t drink anything stronger than Coca Cola (he’s not a fan of Pepsi).

After the death of his mother, who died of a heart attack on New Year’s day in 1990, Richard was overcome by grief. He created the character of Blackwolf as a way to overcome the depression and fear that was consuming him. And then, in a costume that was initially comprised of bedsheets (before Thor the Barbarian’s wife, Muninn, made his current outfit), Blackwolf the Dragonmaster walked the streets of New York, and later, broadcast television.

(This is part three of a five part article, part one can be found here. Part two can be found here. Part four will be posted Monday next week.)

[Part one of five.]

New York City’s unofficial wizard can sometimes be found in Central Park. He has a pointy hat, a cloak, and a staff with jingling bells and stars. He also has a long white beard. It’s a Santa Clause beard, actually, but you get used to it.

Sandals are his preferred footwear, and his glasses have been repaired with string. Occasionally during conversation, he will close his eyes in deep thought.

His name is Blackwolf the Dragonmaster, and he isn’t in New York by choice. He was assigned to the city by the High Istari (1), a group of seven mages who realized that New York was in danger of losing its imagination.

I met Blackwolf in June 2006. He was reading AM New York by a fountain in Central Park. Often, you’ll find people from The Daily Show or David Letterman filming segments for the show in this part of the park. I had just bought a small microphone for my iPod, and was walking around recording noises to add to music. Blackwolf’s costume was very elaborate, and there was something familiar about him, so I walked up  and asked him if he was an actor.

“What I am, is New York’s unofficial wizard, sir,” he told me, and then he proceeded to detail his origin as the humble Paidraig of Abbelaix, the high servant of the King in Ireland before the time of Christianity.

While Blackwolf has a natural storytelling ability, I found the written version of the tale on one of his websites. Here is a brief excerpt from the novelette-length story:

Padraig of Abbeyleix, son of Saemus, was the only child of that warrior’s bloodline, his mother having died in childbirth. As a boy, Padraig had always considered his father to be a hero; indeed, the vast majority of Saemus’ moral characteristics would serve him immensely when, in his later years as Blackwolf, he would pass these same qualities on to his own son, the Mage and Sorcerer, Master Yen Sid. But it was during his youth — specifically, his teenage years — that Padraig of Abbeyleix underwent his most important education . . .

Despite being handy with a sword, Padraig preferred being caretaker to the royal court, and was extremely content with this. But his life took a sharp turn when Vasamoose, (see proper spelling bellow) Visomus a bishop, planned to assasinate the High King of Ireland, by planting a poisoned goblet for him at Paidraig’s retirement party.

Paidraig, after singing a song for the King, accidentally knocked over this poisoned goblet. While this was a source of merriment in the dining hall, Vasamoose, Blackwolf told me, “Inwardly seethed with wrath,” and cursed Paidraig to walk in the shape of an old man by day, and a black wolf by night. “Hence, my more legendary name, Blackwolf.”

Eventually he was discovered by the seven mages known as the High Istari, who were impressed at how the legend of Blackwolf had spread throughout the land. They were looking for a Dragonmaster, someone to stoke the fires of imagination throughout the land, and watch after the dragons who cannot live without it. It was clear to them that Paidraig was the man for the job. After a trial period of one year, the dragons decided that Blackwolf should be the permanent dragonmaster, hence he was made immortal.

And then he was dispatched to New York City.

To be continued

(1) Blackwolf describes the High Istari as a group of glowing men in beards and cloaks.