Blackwolf the Dragonmaster

June 14, 2013 9:54 AM

“You know who I am, don’t you?” he asked. “Who’s that?” “I am BLACKWOLF the DRAGONMASTER. I am the unofficial wizard of New York.” Blackwolf's official web page. With Triumph the Insult Comic Dog More Triumph (starts at 4:06)
posted by josher71 (13 comments total)

I think the best part about this is that he's eating a filet of fish. There is something so nerdy about the filet of fish. Who gets a fish sandwich from Burger King.
posted by Teakettle at 10:06 AM on June 14, 2013

"But every man is his own psychiatrist, that’s what I say."

:: Prescribes self medication. ::

Works for me!
posted by Parasite Unseen at 10:09 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

This:

Because we all need to feel important. Not New York important, necessarily, but important. We all need to know that there’s a place in this world that only we can fill. Some people need bigger places than others, but everyone needs a place—a hole in the universe that only they can fill. This need is so deep and food-like and so human that we will do anything to fill it. We’ll go crazy to feel important. A protective, evolutionary sort of crazy. When the body has no food, it will break down muscle to feed itself. When the ego has no food, it will break down the mind to feed itself. If we have no place in this world, we’ll withdraw from this world, and inhabit one where we have a place.

...struck me as a very wise observation. Thanks for posting this.
posted by zarq at 10:30 AM on June 14, 2013 [14 favorites]

Once again, that line from John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation comes to mind: "The imagination is not our escape. On the contrary, the imagination is the place we are all trying to get to."
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:36 AM on June 14, 2013

Thanks. that was great.
posted by Fraxas at 10:38 AM on June 14, 2013

Right now, one Blackwolf is discussing something with one John Lithgow on The Twitter. It delights me to no end.
posted by joedanger at 10:45 AM on June 14, 2013

I don't mean to be patronizing by suggesting that other people's mechanisms for coping with difficult and painful circumstances are valuable only to the degree that they provide me with amusement, but I don't think this guy is delusional. I think he's fucking awesome.
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:54 AM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]

Previously. It's deja vu day on Metafilter for me.
posted by dios at 10:59 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Here's my Blackwolf the Dragonmaster story.

After seeing his Triumph appearance, I found his website and sent him an email, and asked if he'd be interested in having lunch with me. He insisted on speaking over the phone, so he gave me his number. I called the next day, and the phone was answered by an angry young man, presumably his brother or roommate. "Hi, uh, is Blackwolf there?" "RICHARD, PHONE." At the time I was still living in my hometown in Ohio, but knew I'd be in NYC in a couple of weeks, so we scheduled to meet at (the now-shuttered) Zen Palate in Union Square.

Figuring that I'd need some extra time to get my bearings as an out-of-towner, I was very, very early. And, unfortunately, so was Blackwolf. We're talking, at least a half hour early. The restaurant didn't have a table ready for us, so we both had to stand outside while we waited, and to kill time he regaled me with his impossibly arcane origin story.

Eventually they set up a table for us outside, and while we ate and chatted about, well, whatever, I heard a man shout "Hey, Blackwolf! How's it going!" Blackwolf stood up and merrily shouted back "Sir Robert! Come join us!"

The man who shouted Blackwolf's name was none other than Robert Smigel, Triumph himself. Smigel declined to join us for lunch -- I suspect he had better things to do than eat with a teenager and his wizard friend -- but I was impossibly excited to meet one of my all-time favorite comedy writers, and I got a picture and a handshake out of him.
posted by incomple at 11:47 AM on June 14, 2013 [16 favorites]

dios:Previously. It's deja vu day on Metafilter for me.

Blackwolf's spell of repeating has worked!
posted by dr_dank at 11:59 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

It's interesting that his Twitter handle/nick/whatever is MagecraftNYC, but he lists his real name (Richard Washington, which I assume is his real name). His Humans of New York interview/whatnot casts him as someone who is very devoted to his Blackwolf persona. Regardless, the Humans interview was actually charming and touching, for the real background to Blackwolf. People are fascinating.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:03 PM on June 14, 2013

“New York is a tough city. It deserves a tough wizard.”

I'll say it does.
posted by jquinby at 1:08 PM on June 14, 2013

The Humans of New York interview is surprisingly touching, and I'm happy for this post just for that. Bonus: it introduced me to that blog, which is really something fantastic. Thanks.
posted by kdar at 11:17 PM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]