Bloat (Wild Cards)
Encyclopedia
Bloat is a fictional character from the Wild Cards
series of books. He was created for the books by Stephen Leigh
. An adolescent boy transformed by the Wild Card virus into a monstrous Joker, he resembles a tiny human torso atop a massively bloated sluglike body. Introduced in One-Eyed Jacks as Governor of the Rox he comes to prominence and full awareness of his vast powers in Jokertown Shuffle.
Much of what occurs between that time and Bloat's first appearance as the governor of the Rox is uncertain. Throughout One-Eyed Jacks various characters notice graffiti bearing such slogans as "Bloat Floats" or references to the Rox, a street name for Ellis Island
, which has become a hideout for homeless jokers and the jumpers
that supply them with drugs and new bodies. Bloat finally appears towards the end of One-Eyed Jacks as leader of a gang of machine-gun toting jokers and possible mastermind behind the jumper reign of terror. It isn't until the beginning of Jokertown Shuffle that Bloat is seen to be just as much a prisoner of his criminal accomplices as he is an asset to their operation.
It seems likely one of the joker or Asian street gangs comprising the Shadow Fists
discovered Bloat soon after his parents abandoned him and decided to put his telepathic "wall" to good use. Transported or possibly towed ("Bloat Floats") to Ellis island, Bloat became the psychic security system of the Rox. The larger Bloat grows, the further out his Wall, a telepathic barrier inducing a nearly uncontrollable fear response, extends. Only those with icy self-control or the overwhelming desire to reach the Rox can pass this barrier which seems to almost physically push the intruder away.
by Hieronymous Bosch. Bloat's obsession with this piece of art grows ever greater as more and more control of the Rox (and the Jump the Rich scheme) slips from his hands. The island is overcrowded and his "loyal" joker followers are hooked on highly addictive rapture and pandering to buy fresh Nat
identities from the jumpers. Worse, the jumpers come under the control of a new leader, Dr. Tachyon
's psychotic grandson, Blaise
.
In addition to the jumpers, several other human teenagers live on the Rox, awaiting their initiation into the jumper gang. Among these is a teenage girl named Kelly Jenkins
toward whom Bloat develops a powerful unrequited love. When Blaise captures Dr. Tachyon
and jumps him into Kelly's body, Bloat demands the Takisian be released. Bloat's messenger returns with photos of the now female Tachyon being stripped and sexually assaulted by "her" grandson. In an attempt to console the imprisoned Tachyon, Bloat appears to her in dreams. His obsession with Kelly and the Dungeons and Dragons game casts these dreams in the mold of a romantic fantasy adventure. Tachyon (much to her annoyance) is placed in the role of captive princess and Bloat becomes the handsome swashbuckler known as the Outcast. Blaise is represented as a toad-like monster with a human face dubbed the Pretender. However, even in this dream world Bloat is unable to overcome his enemies and, when Tachyon finally conceives after multiple rapes, his depression deepens. Growing more desperate as the pregnancy progresses, Tachyon begs Bloat to take action and help her escape.
Around this time another figure appears in Bloat's dream world, an ice-skating penguin depicted in part of the stolen Bosch tryptych. Representing an aspect of Bloat's subconscious, the penguin jeers at Bloat's seeming helplessness, urging him to use his full potential. This precipitates the creation of the caverns beneath the Rox, the first true manifestation of Bloat's energy-to-matter powers. Devising a rescue plan, Bloat employs his nascent reality-altering abilities to create a secret passage into Tachyon's cell. The dimwitted, but loyal joker called Peanut is sent to lead Tachyon out through the haunted caverns beneath the Rox. The plan fails and jumpers capture the two fugitives. Bloat is forced to telepathically listen in when Peanut kills himself, thus preventing Blaise from discovering who truly engineered the escape attempt. Tapping into the telepathic powers of the one-eighth Takisian fetus inside her, Tachyon manages to resist Blaise's mind control and preserve the secret Peanut died to protect. In retaliation, Blaise beats and rapes Tachyon once more, and - as with Peanut's death - Bloat is forced to share her agony.
Ultimately, Bloat manages to secure Tachyon's release through a deal with the ace vigilante known as Black Shadow. Assisted by the joker girl Chalktalk, Black Shadow had invaded the Rox, intent upon assassinating Bloat and dismantling the Jump the Rich operation. Bloat realizes via telepathy that the vigilante has been under the influence of Puppetman
for many years and promises to reveal the other telepath's identity only if Shadow frees Tachyon from her basement cell. Fleeing in a boat provided by Kafka, Black Shadow and Tachyon are separated when the craft is blown apart somewhere in Hudson Bay
by National Guard
machine guns. Mostly by luck, Tachyon manages to reach the Jersey shore. She and Bloat will not meet again until after the first Battle of the Rox wherein the full potential of Bloat's vast powers is revealed to the world.
. The assault is well planned, consisting of multiple attacks on several different points along the perimeter of Bloat's wall. The wall itself is overcome by staffing the units solely with fanatical racists who possessed the overwhelming desire to reach the Rox-and, once there, kill everything that moved.
Several boats and helicopters carrying troops manage to break through. Despite a vigorous defense mounted by jokers and jumpers alike, troops penetrate all the way to Bloat's throneroom in the old Administration Building. In the process of capturing the huge immobile joker, gunfire from a National Guardsman
destroys the antique Bosch tryptych. Incited to a murderous rage by the ruined painting, Bloat fully taps into his reality-warping power and creates an army of demons, monsters, and fish-knights.
A complete rout follows. Less than half of the National Guardsmen escape. Some troops are still being hunted down or tortured when Dr. Tachyon returns to the island with help from the Great and Powerful Turtle
. Tachyon petitions Bloat to hand over Blaise only to learn her grandson fled to parts unknown amid the chaos, taking her stolen body with him. Bloat can only offer the mental image of a seashell (glimpsed as Blaise's mind shields slipped during the attack) as a clue to his location. Tachyon quickly concludes Bloat has interpreted a vision of her organic spaceship
as a seashell. Realizing Blaise means to steal her ship and permanently trap her not only upon earth, but in Kelly's pregnant body, Tachyon and the Turtle immediately set off to stop him. Bloat will never see Dr. Tachyon again.
, a military man rather than a musician in the Wild Cards series, a second invasion is already in the offing. Unknown to Bloat, before Tachyon left earth in pursuit of Blaise, she was briefly detained by government agents and questioned as to the strength and disposition of the forces upon the Rox. This time, the assault force is backed not by Nat soldiers, but by an elite team of aces the like of which has never been seen before. Among those recruited to end the Rox crisis once and for all were the aces Carnifex
, Legion, the Great and Powerful Turtle
, Reflector (the former Snotman
), wind-controller Cyclone and his daughter Mistral, Detroit Steel, Black Shadow, Cameo, Jerry Strauss
(calling himself the Impressionist to hide his true identity), and others.
Meanwhile, Bloat marshals his own forces. Modular Man's creator, Maxim Travnicek, offers the services of his powerful android bodyguard in exchange for asylum in Bloat's private kingdom. Dylan "the Huntsman" Hardesty flees to the island and offers his services to Bloat after narrowly escaping government agents led by Carnifex. Kafka, Patchwork, Andiron, Mustelina, Shroud and various other jokers with useful skills or aggressively oriented mutations also play a role in the coming battle. Some jumpers flee the Rox when the government makes a bogus offer of amnesty, while other jumpers sent into New York replace the aces Pulse and Mistral, joining their powers to the joker cause.
Cyclone is killed in battle when Molly Bolt, the jumper occupying Mistral's body, turns his daughter's powers against him. Maxim Travinicek is killed in an explosion, which frees Modular Man to obey his own judgement and flee the Rox. The nearly unstoppable Reflector is immobilized beneath tons of rubble, preventing him from getting enough leverage to use his vast strength. Bloat is compelled to reinforce the gates of his wall, which is now an actual physical barrier, against the Great and Powerful Turtle's telekinetic battering ram. Believing his lover, the ace Legion, to be killed in action, Turtle channels all his rage-fueled power into creating a massive tidal wave, which rolls over the entire Rox. At the last instant, Bloat pushes his power to its limit and transports the Rox into a pocket universe
, where the Jokers can finally live free.
Bloat later develops a powerful ability to make his fantasies real, transforming the Rox and the land around and under it into a surreal landscape and creating animated beings based in part on the images from the Hieronymous Bosch painting, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, and from The Lord of the Rings
, Dungeons and Dragons, and other fantasy sources. He eventually becomes powerful enough to warp the Rox into a parallel universe
.
Bloat's body is able to absorb nearly anything organic to fuel its massive growth. The cheapest food available on the Rox is the garbage and feces of the other inhabitants, which the island's sewage system pumps directly into his body through pipes. The concentrated waste he produces is called "bloatblack", which is continually expelled from all parts of his body; cleaning it is the least desired job on the Rox, often reserved as punishment for minor infractions.
Bloat has vast powers, but his greatest weakness is that he is still an insecure child and thus easily manipulated or intimidated.
Wild Cards
Wild Cards is a science fiction and superhero anthology series set in a shared universe. The series was created by a group of New Mexico science fiction authors, but it is mostly pulled together and edited by best-selling author George R. R. Martin with assistance by Melinda Snodgrass, also a...
series of books. He was created for the books by Stephen Leigh
Stephen Leigh
Stephen W. Leigh is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, artist, and musician. He also works as a lecturer at Northern Kentucky University, teaching creative writing.Steve Leigh lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.- Works :...
. An adolescent boy transformed by the Wild Card virus into a monstrous Joker, he resembles a tiny human torso atop a massively bloated sluglike body. Introduced in One-Eyed Jacks as Governor of the Rox he comes to prominence and full awareness of his vast powers in Jokertown Shuffle.
Character Background
Born Theodor Honorlaw, Bloat is a shy, overweight boy with a talent for painting and a fondness for role-playing adventure games such as Dungeons and Dragons. Picked upon by school bullies and ignored by girls, he seems destined to become an accommodating non-entity like his parents. When infected by the Wild Card virus his weight problem surges wildly out of control, especially in the lower half of his body, eventually obscuring and absorbing his legs. Unable to cope with their son's transformation, much less properly feed or care for him, Bloat's parents abandon him around the time he reached the size of a small bus.Much of what occurs between that time and Bloat's first appearance as the governor of the Rox is uncertain. Throughout One-Eyed Jacks various characters notice graffiti bearing such slogans as "Bloat Floats" or references to the Rox, a street name for Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
, which has become a hideout for homeless jokers and the jumpers
Jumpers (Wild Cards)
The Jumpers are a fictional criminal gang in the Wild Cards anthology series, first appearing in One-Eyed Jacks, the eighth book of the series. Various jumpers continue to play a major role in the next three volumes of the series, Jokertown Shuffle, Double Solitaire, and Dealer's Choice...
that supply them with drugs and new bodies. Bloat finally appears towards the end of One-Eyed Jacks as leader of a gang of machine-gun toting jokers and possible mastermind behind the jumper reign of terror. It isn't until the beginning of Jokertown Shuffle that Bloat is seen to be just as much a prisoner of his criminal accomplices as he is an asset to their operation.
It seems likely one of the joker or Asian street gangs comprising the Shadow Fists
Shadow Fists
The Shadow Fist Society is the name of a fictional criminal organization in the Wild Cards book series. They were created by John J. Miller, and featured in many of his Wild Cards short stories, but have also been used by other Wild Cards writers. The Shadow Fists are composed of three major gangs:...
discovered Bloat soon after his parents abandoned him and decided to put his telepathic "wall" to good use. Transported or possibly towed ("Bloat Floats") to Ellis island, Bloat became the psychic security system of the Rox. The larger Bloat grows, the further out his Wall, a telepathic barrier inducing a nearly uncontrollable fear response, extends. Only those with icy self-control or the overwhelming desire to reach the Rox can pass this barrier which seems to almost physically push the intruder away.
Governor of the Rox
While it is uncertain if he was elected or appointed, Bloat naturally falls into his role as governor of the Rox, using his mind-reading powers to adjudicate disputes between his joker and jumper "subjects." Immune to the jumper power, he cannot be replaced and, having grown too large to escape the island, has a vested interest in making things run smoothly. Eventually, he masterminds the "Jump the Rich" scheme, giving the jumpers direction and purpose rather than letting them blindly rampage through New York. In exchange he receives a cut of the loot, including the original tryptych The Temptation of St. AnthonyThe Temptation of St. Anthony
The temptation of St. Anthony is an often-repeated subject in history of art and literature, concerning the supernatural temptation reportedly faced by Saint Anthony the Great during his sojourn in the Egyptian desert...
by Hieronymous Bosch. Bloat's obsession with this piece of art grows ever greater as more and more control of the Rox (and the Jump the Rich scheme) slips from his hands. The island is overcrowded and his "loyal" joker followers are hooked on highly addictive rapture and pandering to buy fresh Nat
Nat (Wild Cards)
Nat is a slang term from the Wild Cards novels referring to normal humans uninfected by the Wild Card virus. Most often used by Jokers when referring to their uninfected oppressors, though also occasionally employed by Aces as a pejorative...
identities from the jumpers. Worse, the jumpers come under the control of a new leader, Dr. Tachyon
Dr. Tachyon
Dr. Tachyon is a character from the Wild Cards series of books. He was created for the books by Melinda M. Snodgrass. Tachyon is a geneticist from the planet Takis, whose people naturally developed various telepathic powers...
's psychotic grandson, Blaise
Blaise Jeannot Andrieux
Blaise Andrieux is a character from the Wild Cards series of books. Blaise is Dr. Tachyon's grandson. Blaise's mother was Gisele Bacourt, who was Tachyon's illegitimate daughter. He was raised by a terrorist group who taught him to use his mind powers to kill...
.
In addition to the jumpers, several other human teenagers live on the Rox, awaiting their initiation into the jumper gang. Among these is a teenage girl named Kelly Jenkins
Kelly Jenkins (Wild Cards)
Kelly Jenkins is a character from the Wild Cards series of books. Briefly appearing in One-Eyed Jacks, Kelly became a more prominent character in Jokertown Shuffle and Double Solitaire. A small town girl, she came to New York with dreams of becoming famous...
toward whom Bloat develops a powerful unrequited love. When Blaise captures Dr. Tachyon
Dr. Tachyon
Dr. Tachyon is a character from the Wild Cards series of books. He was created for the books by Melinda M. Snodgrass. Tachyon is a geneticist from the planet Takis, whose people naturally developed various telepathic powers...
and jumps him into Kelly's body, Bloat demands the Takisian be released. Bloat's messenger returns with photos of the now female Tachyon being stripped and sexually assaulted by "her" grandson. In an attempt to console the imprisoned Tachyon, Bloat appears to her in dreams. His obsession with Kelly and the Dungeons and Dragons game casts these dreams in the mold of a romantic fantasy adventure. Tachyon (much to her annoyance) is placed in the role of captive princess and Bloat becomes the handsome swashbuckler known as the Outcast. Blaise is represented as a toad-like monster with a human face dubbed the Pretender. However, even in this dream world Bloat is unable to overcome his enemies and, when Tachyon finally conceives after multiple rapes, his depression deepens. Growing more desperate as the pregnancy progresses, Tachyon begs Bloat to take action and help her escape.
Around this time another figure appears in Bloat's dream world, an ice-skating penguin depicted in part of the stolen Bosch tryptych. Representing an aspect of Bloat's subconscious, the penguin jeers at Bloat's seeming helplessness, urging him to use his full potential. This precipitates the creation of the caverns beneath the Rox, the first true manifestation of Bloat's energy-to-matter powers. Devising a rescue plan, Bloat employs his nascent reality-altering abilities to create a secret passage into Tachyon's cell. The dimwitted, but loyal joker called Peanut is sent to lead Tachyon out through the haunted caverns beneath the Rox. The plan fails and jumpers capture the two fugitives. Bloat is forced to telepathically listen in when Peanut kills himself, thus preventing Blaise from discovering who truly engineered the escape attempt. Tapping into the telepathic powers of the one-eighth Takisian fetus inside her, Tachyon manages to resist Blaise's mind control and preserve the secret Peanut died to protect. In retaliation, Blaise beats and rapes Tachyon once more, and - as with Peanut's death - Bloat is forced to share her agony.
Ultimately, Bloat manages to secure Tachyon's release through a deal with the ace vigilante known as Black Shadow. Assisted by the joker girl Chalktalk, Black Shadow had invaded the Rox, intent upon assassinating Bloat and dismantling the Jump the Rich operation. Bloat realizes via telepathy that the vigilante has been under the influence of Puppetman
Puppetman
Puppetman, the alias of Gregg Hartmann, a U.S. Senator and Candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books. He first appeared in the story "Strings" by Stephen Leigh in the first book in the series, and plays an important role in...
for many years and promises to reveal the other telepath's identity only if Shadow frees Tachyon from her basement cell. Fleeing in a boat provided by Kafka, Black Shadow and Tachyon are separated when the craft is blown apart somewhere in Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
by National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
machine guns. Mostly by luck, Tachyon manages to reach the Jersey shore. She and Bloat will not meet again until after the first Battle of the Rox wherein the full potential of Bloat's vast powers is revealed to the world.
Battle of the Rox
Shortly after Tachyon's escape, National Guard units are sent in to clear out the "joker squatters" and other assorted riff-raff infesting Ellis Island. Bloat's expanding psychic wall is interfering with shipping lanes and encroaching on the shore of New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The assault is well planned, consisting of multiple attacks on several different points along the perimeter of Bloat's wall. The wall itself is overcome by staffing the units solely with fanatical racists who possessed the overwhelming desire to reach the Rox-and, once there, kill everything that moved.
Several boats and helicopters carrying troops manage to break through. Despite a vigorous defense mounted by jokers and jumpers alike, troops penetrate all the way to Bloat's throneroom in the old Administration Building. In the process of capturing the huge immobile joker, gunfire from a National Guardsman
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
destroys the antique Bosch tryptych. Incited to a murderous rage by the ruined painting, Bloat fully taps into his reality-warping power and creates an army of demons, monsters, and fish-knights.
A complete rout follows. Less than half of the National Guardsmen escape. Some troops are still being hunted down or tortured when Dr. Tachyon returns to the island with help from the Great and Powerful Turtle
The Great and Powerful Turtle
The Great and Powerful Turtle is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books. Created by series editor George R. R. Martin, Turtle has appeared in several stories penned by his creator as well as a supporting character of varying levels of importance in stories by other Wild Card...
. Tachyon petitions Bloat to hand over Blaise only to learn her grandson fled to parts unknown amid the chaos, taking her stolen body with him. Bloat can only offer the mental image of a seashell (glimpsed as Blaise's mind shields slipped during the attack) as a clue to his location. Tachyon quickly concludes Bloat has interpreted a vision of her organic spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
as a seashell. Realizing Blaise means to steal her ship and permanently trap her not only upon earth, but in Kelly's pregnant body, Tachyon and the Turtle immediately set off to stop him. Bloat will never see Dr. Tachyon again.
Civil War
Deprived of his mentor/unrequited lover, angered by the recent National Guard attack, and intoxicated by his new level of power, Bloat declares the Rox to be the joker homeland. In a televised broadcast he officially announces the Rox's secession from the United States and new status as a sovereign nation. This action has devastating consequences. Under the leadership of General Frank ZappaFrank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, a military man rather than a musician in the Wild Cards series, a second invasion is already in the offing. Unknown to Bloat, before Tachyon left earth in pursuit of Blaise, she was briefly detained by government agents and questioned as to the strength and disposition of the forces upon the Rox. This time, the assault force is backed not by Nat soldiers, but by an elite team of aces the like of which has never been seen before. Among those recruited to end the Rox crisis once and for all were the aces Carnifex
Carnifex (Wild Cards)
Carnifex is a fictional character in the Wild Cards anthology series. Carnifex is Billy Ray's nickname given to him for his love of violence. Infection with the Wild Card Virus has given him superhuman levels of strength, speed and stamina, along with a rapid regenerative healing factor and a...
, Legion, the Great and Powerful Turtle
The Great and Powerful Turtle
The Great and Powerful Turtle is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books. Created by series editor George R. R. Martin, Turtle has appeared in several stories penned by his creator as well as a supporting character of varying levels of importance in stories by other Wild Card...
, Reflector (the former Snotman
Snotman
Snotman is a character from the Wild Cards book series. He was originally a Joker derelict who oozed a snot-like mucus from every pore of his body. However in Wild Cards volume V: Down and Dirty, he had an encounter with Croyd Crenson, better known as The Sleeper, during a time when Crenson's...
), wind-controller Cyclone and his daughter Mistral, Detroit Steel, Black Shadow, Cameo, Jerry Strauss
Mr. Nobody (Wild Cards)
Mr. Nobody is a character from the Wild Cards anthology series. His first appearance was as "the Projectionist", a throwaway cameo in the story "Shell Games" by George R. R...
(calling himself the Impressionist to hide his true identity), and others.
Meanwhile, Bloat marshals his own forces. Modular Man's creator, Maxim Travnicek, offers the services of his powerful android bodyguard in exchange for asylum in Bloat's private kingdom. Dylan "the Huntsman" Hardesty flees to the island and offers his services to Bloat after narrowly escaping government agents led by Carnifex. Kafka, Patchwork, Andiron, Mustelina, Shroud and various other jokers with useful skills or aggressively oriented mutations also play a role in the coming battle. Some jumpers flee the Rox when the government makes a bogus offer of amnesty, while other jumpers sent into New York replace the aces Pulse and Mistral, joining their powers to the joker cause.
Cyclone is killed in battle when Molly Bolt, the jumper occupying Mistral's body, turns his daughter's powers against him. Maxim Travinicek is killed in an explosion, which frees Modular Man to obey his own judgement and flee the Rox. The nearly unstoppable Reflector is immobilized beneath tons of rubble, preventing him from getting enough leverage to use his vast strength. Bloat is compelled to reinforce the gates of his wall, which is now an actual physical barrier, against the Great and Powerful Turtle's telekinetic battering ram. Believing his lover, the ace Legion, to be killed in action, Turtle channels all his rage-fueled power into creating a massive tidal wave, which rolls over the entire Rox. At the last instant, Bloat pushes his power to its limit and transports the Rox into a pocket universe
Pocket universe
-In science:A pocket universe is a concept in inflationary theory, proposed by Alan Guth. It defines a realm like the one that contains the observable universe as only one of many inflationary zones.-In fiction:...
, where the Jokers can finally live free.
Powers and abilities
Bloat's main power is the ability to project a psychic "wall" around himself, preventing any who are not intensely emotionally driven or strong-willed from entering it. He cannot consciously control or shut off the wall, and it expands over time roughly in proportion to his physical growth. He can read the minds of those within the radius of his wall, and communicate somewhat with other telepaths or those with sensitive minds.Bloat later develops a powerful ability to make his fantasies real, transforming the Rox and the land around and under it into a surreal landscape and creating animated beings based in part on the images from the Hieronymous Bosch painting, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, and from The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, Dungeons and Dragons, and other fantasy sources. He eventually becomes powerful enough to warp the Rox into a parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
.
Bloat's body is able to absorb nearly anything organic to fuel its massive growth. The cheapest food available on the Rox is the garbage and feces of the other inhabitants, which the island's sewage system pumps directly into his body through pipes. The concentrated waste he produces is called "bloatblack", which is continually expelled from all parts of his body; cleaning it is the least desired job on the Rox, often reserved as punishment for minor infractions.
Bloat has vast powers, but his greatest weakness is that he is still an insecure child and thus easily manipulated or intimidated.