Rip Blazkowicz was the cruel and shameful father of William J. Blazkowicz in Wolfenstein Reboot timeline. Unlike in the Original Timeline, who emotionally and physically abused both him and his mother. While not being a high ranking Nazi such as most of Traitor of Poland and United States and Wolfenstein's antagonists, e.g., Wilhelm Strasse and Irene Engel, his history with B.J. as well as his critical role in B.J.'s capture and subsequent execution makes him the secondary antagonist of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.
History[]
- "When d’you ever do right by me? Disobedient, ungrateful, sense like a flat tire and a mouth like a sewer. Oh, I saw where you was headed. I been down that hole myself. And I guaran-god-damned-tee you I did all my might to pull you out. What more do you want from me?"
- ―Rip's excuse on his abusive past actions to B.J. in 1961.[src]
Rip was born in America, to a poor Polish family with a bad reputation, which had moved to the United States to start anew. At a Polish American society gathering on August 1, 1908, Rip met a Jewish girl named Zofia and made her laugh at a monkey joke. Zofia became smitten with Rip, and the two met again at Uncle Anatol's that Sunday.
In 1910, Rip married Zofia just to obtain her father's investment capital to begin his own business in Mesquite, Texas. This plan failed as Rip turned out to be a poor businessman with his business faltering, his failures leaving him hateful, venting his frustration on the failure of his business onto his wife, son, and dog Bessie. Despite Zofia's father telling him to shut down the business, he refused, with it continuing to fail, causing his best friend and business partner, Frank, to end his friendship with him and his employee, Archibald, to resign in disgust because of Rip's failure, dishonesty, and deviousness.
During B.J.'s youth, Rip gave him a pocket knife, but it was taken by two bullies named Andy and Howie. Rip slapped William, ordering him to get it back, not allowing him back into the house until he did, considering the two bullies as having taken his "property". He also ordered B.J. to get his pocket watch from the well, as B.J. recalls when going to the farm in 1961. When his son began having nightmares about monsters in their basement, he decided to help his son, giving him a weapon to fight them. In a rare moment of compassion, Rip allowed his son to keep the gun so that the monsters wouldn't get him, showing some sense of care for his son, possibly for the benefit of his reputation rather than because he truly cared, or possibly so that B.J. would stop bothering him in his sleep.
In 1919, Rip learned about his son spending time with an African-American girl named Billie and saw the two under the poplar tree. Enraged, he returned home to discipline him, but was stopped by Zofia who had enough of his abuse, mocking him for not being the man she married. Rip slapped her unconscious, causing an enraged B.J. to throw vases at him until Rip strangled him unconscious. Later that day, he punished his son by tying him to a saw horse, putting a shotgun in his hands and forcing him to kill his pet dog, telling his son that "the old and the weak are doomed." B.J. can either shoot the dog, or purposefully miss, which will cause Rip to take the gun into his hands and shoot her himself. Either way, he allows his son and wife to bury her in the front yard.
Though not present in The Old Blood and The New Order, B.J. remembers his father locking him in the closet when he was bad. In addition, Rip warned his son to not swim in the Gulf since there was a red tide. B.J. disobeyed him, causing his skin to burn. When Annette Krause asked why people call him B.J., he tells her his father would call him Billy Boy, something Annette said doesn't fit him as an adult.
- "What happened was we had a big goddamned war, and now we've got a new government with new rules. They took her. She's gone. {...} They rounded up all the Jews, and the coloreds, and the queers. This is a white man's world now. White man's got to keep it Christian."
- ―Rip to William in 1961.[src]
Despite trying to teach his son, he saw B.J. as nothing but a waste, ruining their family name. When B.J. was old enough, he ran away from home and joined the United States Army. Rip was angered at this move, and Zofia was left heartbroken. Once Germany won the war, Rip, along with other like-minded neighbors, at one time exposed Zofia (who had Jewish heritage), along with all the other Jews, African-Americans, homosexuals, and other minorities to the Nazis, who sent them to extermination camps in New Mexico. The Nazis rewarded his collaboration, giving him a 2,000-acre ranch in Forney Lake, Texas around 1950-1951 (stating he hasn't returned to his home in Mesquite in decades). It is revealed that he also ratted out his former best friend, Frank, and his former employee, Archibald, out of spite for abandoning him and exposing his conning scheme. Überkommandant Erik Wechsler personally congratulated him for exposing them.
Events of The New Colossus[]
- " All them years, I was banging my head against the wall. Coming to see that everyone was against me. And when the Nazis took over, things got a LOT better. You play by their rules, and you can do very well for yourself. Ask anyone around these parts, Blazkowicz is a name of renown, and respect. EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH TURNS TO SHIT, AND I DO NOT NEED YOUR STINK ON MY NAME! Wanted murderer. Run off to the army as soon as you come of age. Broke your mother's heart."
- ―Rip openly admitting his admiration of the Nazi Regime and insulting his son.[src]
Rip's death at the hands of his son in 1961.
After defeating General Wilhelm "Deathshead" Strasse, B.J. remembers his childhood and his father's lesson while recovering from his injuries sustained in the battle. After B.J. nukes Area 52, Rip heard the news and correctly deduced his son would return home to Mesquite.
B.J. recovers his mother's heirloom engagement ring, intended for Anya, but quickly realizes Rip is in the room, who admits he hasn't been at their farmhouse in many years. B.J. bitterly reminisces about his horrible life with his father, who shamelessly retorts that he and everyone else was out to thwart him, despite his best efforts, and remarking that B.J. leaving for the military broke Zofia's heart - however, Rip also reveals that he sold out Zofia and other former associates to the Nazis for extermination, in exchange for a luxurious ranch up north, justifying it as a 'White man's world now", and praising the Nazis for giving him respect and a reputation, absolutely unrepentant. He holds B.J. at gunpoint, using the same shotgun with which he killed B.J.’s pet dog, Bessie. Despite B.J.'s pleas that he is his son, Rip kept his shotgun aimed at him and tells him to get on his knees.
The last shred of respect for his father finally gone, B.J. coldly states that he doesn't fear him, or being held at gunpoint anymore. When Rip pulls the trigger, B.J. deflects the barrel of the shotgun, causing the shot to miss, then punches his father in the face, pushing him backwards, before cleaving his left arm off and burying a hatchet into his chest, only to learn that he gave away B.J.'s position to the Nazis and Irene Engel through a call, as he musters his last words that the Nazis “heard everything”. Rip dies of his wounds, B.J. avenging the death of his mother and his pet dog Bessie years earlier as well as Frank, Archibald, and all the other innocents he ratted out to the Nazis.
Once B.J. destroys the first connector of the Ausmerzer, the house is upturned and Rip's body falls a thousand feet out of the house. His body is later recovered and the Nazis feign ignorance about having been in contact with him.
B.J.'s previous body is found by the Nazis and his death broadcast on the radio; meanwhile, B.J. returns to Eva's Hammer with a new body. After kick-starting the Second American Revolution, B.J. is assigned by Grace Walker to kill all of Engel's Übercommanders to prevent anyone from taking her place. In Mesquite, the Nazis rebuild Rip's home, using it as a film location until B.J. assassinates the commander, freeing the location from Nazi control.
Personality[]
- "I think of my father I see a ... fuck you and a fist flying to my face."
- ―B.J. to Rip in 1961.[src]
Rip Blazkowicz was a cruel, failure of a man, at home as well as at work. Rather than examine his own shortcomings as a businessman, husband, and father, he frequently and irrationally blamed his rotten luck on his family and minorities, fuelling his belief that the old and the weak are "doomed". According to his former best friend Frank, and former employee Archibald, Rip is a scheming, unscrupulous businessman who likes to con money out of customers and often displaying deeply unprofessional behaviour. Rip also embodies an extreme form of the prejudices of the time, opposing the idea of his son falling in love with an African-American girl, despite being married to a Jewish woman whom he freely admits was only for the money. The only time he showed any kindness to his son was when he helped him cure his nightmares by going down into the basement with him and Zofia to see the monsters. This flashback implies that he had some care for his son, but this was probably more likely to stop B.J. from waking him up at night, and give his son the strength to not embarrass him in public, since he cared for his name and reputation far above any other consideration. Due to his paranoid egocentricity, he is incapable of acknowledging any worth in his son; neither about his career in the army, nor as a symbol of resistance. Rip always spins every aspect of B.J. into an affront or personal insult no matter how unreasonable, possibly because he is somewhat rancorously jealous of the fact that B.J. has ultimately become much more than his father.
He is an unapologetic racist, spitefully calling B.J.'s friend Billie a racial epithet and viewing African-Americans as nothing more than a cancer to society alongside Jews, homosexuals, and other minorities or "deviants". He is also shamelessly greedy, since he married Zofia for money (even remarking on how he thought her "father would be an asset.") instead of love, and was perfectly willing to sell her and his former friends out to certain death for material gain, justifying that his wife did nothing but "make a living bemoaning" him. Furthermore, he was also extremely spiteful since he also ratted out his former best friend, Frank, and former employee, Archibald, to the Nazis, due to Frank ending his friendship with Rip, and Archibald abandoning him for squandering business opportunities - along with his terrible business ethics. He lacks any sense of remorse or self-reflection, defending his craven atrocities to B.J., claiming that the world is only for White Christians.
Despite insisting he tried "his damndest" to put B.J. on the right track as a father, it is clear that his abuse of his son is a comfortable, natural thing for him - even when confronting a fully grown, military-trained, muscular, armed B.J. wearing armour (which Rip dismisses as "that queer outfit"), and holding a reputation for mass-murder, he refuses to take him seriously and threatens him with a shotgun, expecting no resistance as though he were still a small, helpless boy. His reaction when B.J. brutally kills him is one of pitiful, confused surprise.
He is shown to be quite tough, since he manages to remain standing after a young B.J. throws several vases at him and barely reacts to getting his hand chopped off, but never displays anything approaching the inhuman resilience to physical trauma that his son would develop as an adult. Rip also appears to have experience with weapons, owning many firearms in flashbacks and wielding a shotgun during his final confrontation with B.J. His collection of firearms and dismissiveness of the Army might imply that Rip fought in World War I and suffered post traumatic stress disorder from his service, partly explaining his violent personality and paranoia.
In addition, he appears to care more for his belongings than his family, as he harshly slaps B.J. for losing his pocket knife, and once forced him to get his pocket watch from the well, stating that they have two options: either he buys himself a new watch or B.J. goes down the well to get it.
Relatives[]
- Unnamed Father
- Aunt Wilma (Possible Sister)
- Aunt Sara (Possible Sister)
- Cousin Wilma (Possible Niece)
- Uncle Anatol (Uncle)
- Zofia Blazkowicz (Wife)
- William J. Blazkowicz (Son)
- Zofia's Mother - (Mother-in-Law)
- Zofia's Father (Father-in-Law)
- Anya Oliwa (Daughter-in-Law)
- Jessica and Sophia Blazkowicz (Twin-Granddaughters)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- He confronts B.J. with a Double-Barreled Shotgun
- Rip has a lot in common with Irene Engel.
- His parenting toward B.J. is quite similar to how Engel treats Sigrun, since he always tried to turn B.J. into a brutish, insensitive man just like himself; he slapped B.J. after he lost his pocket knife due to a helpless situation, and forced him to fight back against a knife rather than using diplomacy, like Zofia advocated. This mirrors how Irene tries to make Sigrun into her own image; a murderer, racist, fanatic, and psychopath much like herself.
- His doomed fate is similar to Irene Engel since their demise is contributed to the fact that they turned their own children against them, except Rip's death is more directly linked since B.J. personally kills him. Furthermore, they also got killed by the same weapon: a hatchet.
- He was killed in the same manner that Irene Engel was, where B.J. chops his hand first and deals the fatal blow. B.J. axes him in the heart, while Irene is on the left side of her head.
- His name Rip somewhat reflects his fraudulent business ethics, since his name could be said to be based on the word ''Rip-off''.
- Before Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Rip's voice actor, Glenn Morshower also voiced Overlord in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and its sequel "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2". In one of his early film roles in his career, Morshower also has previously played a despicable character similar to Rip in the Steven Seagal action movie Under Siege as the equally unpleasant and arrogant Ensign Taylor.
- He dies without knowing the existence of his twin grandchildren - B.J. possibly considers his father to be too unworthy to be their grandfather to tell him about them.
- Upon re-meeting B.J. at the Mesquite farmhouse, Rip collates Nazi rule to the need for the "white man" to keep the world Christian, a reference to the colonial "White Man's Burden" ideology.
- In the original history of B.J. Blazkowicz, in the classic series, both of B.J.'s parents were Polish immigrants. In the reboot history, Zofia is Jewish (possibly not an immigrant as she comments that that's something special about Rip's father), and Rip is a second generation Polish-American; it was B.J.'s paternal grandparents who were the Polish immigrants. Rip's parents came to America in 1889. Assuming that Rip was born a year later Rip would be 21 in 1910. That would have made him around 70 or 71 in 1961.
- Rip bears a striking resemblance to Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States.
- If the player smashes the vase into Rip's face at the flashback sequence at the start of New Colossus, he will get a scar across his face. He'll then say "Oh, now you have fucked up, boy". In the following events, he would still have the scar as seen when William returns home.
- If the player doesn't melee-kill Rip, he will shoot and kill B.J. , and acts similar to an enemy soldier. In addition, he won't reload the double-barreled shotgun after two shots.
- His name is ironically an abbreviation for “Requiescat in Pace”, “Rest in Peace", or the more humorous and colloquial "Rest in Pieces", both phrases foreshadow his death within the events of the game. This abbreviation is also used as an Achievement/Trophy in the game for killing Rip.
- Unusually, Rip is strong enough to knock someone unconscious with just one slap, as seen at the flashback sequence at the start of The New Colossus.
- Rip's character is based on the alleged personality of Alois Hitler, Adolf Hitler's father.
- Rip is presumably Christian, considering before his death he mentioned "This is a white man's world now. White man's gotta keep it Christian," however, he marries a Jewish woman solely for financial gain, so it is possible he uses the term Christian merely as a moral excuse.
- Rip Blazkowicz speaks using an Appalachian accent, which may imply that he was originally from Kentucky or Tennessee.
| Organization | American Resistance · Black Revolutionary Front · Laserflop · Klasse Spielzeug · Kreisau Circle · Ku Klux Klan · Neumond · Scorpions · AXTO |
|---|---|
| Resistance | B.J. Blazkowicz · Anya Oliwa · Caroline Becker · Fergus Reid · Private Wyatt · Max Hass · Set Roth · Bombate · Super Spesh · Sigrun Engel · Grace Walker · Horton Boone · Mary Sue 'Professor' Ellington · Paris Jack |
| Nazis | Adolf Hitler · Adolf Zimmermann · Anselm Decker · Christoph Fischer · Irene Engel · Gruber · Helene Winter · Neydner · Orlando Mannheimer · Peter Trumbauer |
| Other | Jimmy Carver · Juna · Llewellyn Ewing · Rip Blazkowicz · Ronald Reagan · Rosa · Sabine Vogel · Zofia Blazkowicz · Shoshana |