The Blaze Family
The Blaze family is a family consisting of five persons: Billy Blaze, his father Arthur, his mother Susan, his brother, and his sister.
Members and Relations
The patriarch of the the Blaze family is Arthur Kenneth Blaze né Blazkowicz, a television talk show personality in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who, for the purposes of show business, has changed his last name from Blazkowicz to Blaze. He is married to Susan Elizabeth Blaze née McMichaels, and is the son of William Joseph "B.J." Blazkowicz—a top spy for the Allied Forces in World War II—and Julia Marie Blazkowcz née Peterson.[1]
Arthur and Susan have three children: two boys and one girl. However the name and age of only one of their children has ever been revealed.
Eight-year old Billy Blaze (full name William Joseph Blazkowicz II) is often assumed to be the middle of the three children, for reasons discussed below. More information on him is found in the article Commander Keen.
Arthur and Susan's other son is assumed to be older than Billy because it is his much-too-large football helmet that Billy dons every time he goes adventuring as Commander Keen. In one piece of fan literature he was given the name Robert "Bobby" Blaze.[2]
Arthur and Susan's daughter is mentioned only in the lyrics of the Keen 4 song You've Got to Eat Your Vegetables!. In the lyrics, penned by the song's composer Bobby Prince, Billy's sister sings:
- You've got to eat your vegetables... Na-na-na-na-na!
From her behaviour fans have thought she is younger than Keen. Though not strictly an official source, the song is an important and well-known Keen track, and the existence of Billy's sister not questioned among fans. Indeed, she has been given the unofficial names of Lily Blaze[2] and Becky Blaze, and is found in some fan-art.
In addition to Arthur Blaze and his immediate family, there is one other known, more distant, descendent of B.J. and Julia Blazkowicz: Sergeant Stan Blazkowicz, the protagonist of the DOOM series.[3]
Occasionally, Billy is baby-sat by his rival Mortimer's sister, Molly McMire. It is not known whether the Blaze family is well-acquainted with the The McMire Family.
Appearances
Keen's parents are first mentioned in the ending of Keen 1. It seems they had gone out and left Keen sleeping, but he had escaped to explore Mars. After repairing his ship, he beats them home, and is already back in bed when they get back. At first Keen's parents were a bit shocked to find Keen had brought a Yorp into house, but they let him keep Spot nevertheless.
Keen's mother is mentioned again in the Keen 2 ending. After Keen returns from the Vorticon Mothership and sleeps for a while, his mother comes to wake him up and tell him that there is no school that day because it had snowed.
Keen's mother is mentioned in the Keen Dreams story, telling Keen to eat his vegetables. She is mentioned in the game's ending too, talking with Keen about his change in attitude towards vegetables.
Keen's parents appear yet again in the Keen 4 story, calling Keen to supper, and almost finding him departing on the Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket. Keen stuns them both and departs for Gnosticus IV. At the ending of the game, the first picture of Keen parents can be seen, being still stunned and under a sky about to rain. At the ending of Keen 5, Keen helps his already rain-soaked parents back to consciousness, in the second (and last) picture of Keen parent's found in the games.
Lastly, Keen's parents are vaguely mentioned in the Keen 6 story, as being out of the house (while Keen is baby-sat by Molly). Keen is worried on what they will say if they come back and find the babysitter missing.
Keen's brother is mentioned in the story of all Keen games with the exception of Keen 5.
As previously mentioned, Keen's sister only appears in the lyrics of You've Got to Eat Your Vegetables!
References
- ↑ Official Hint Manual for Wolfenstein 3D
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Commander Keen: Ten Years On
- ↑ Wolfenstein RPG, DOOM II RPG