In the Way Back
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Few facts are given about Blake's early life. As a boy he visited his uncle,
Ushton, on Exbar where presumably he became acquainted with Inga. He stated
in Bounty that he had studied some natural history, and in
Killer showed further historical knowledge, including that of
pre-atomic Earth.
| In the Way Back |
 In the Way Back | Four years prior to events in The Way Back he was, according to Foster, leader of the only meaningful dissident group against the Administration on Earth. According to Orac in Voice from the Past Blake founded the Freedom Party himself. His activities included attacks on "rehabilitation centres" - at the end of this period he was ambushed by Travis, and managed to shoot him and in fact believed he had killed him. His memory was erased, he was put forward to renounce his dissident activities and memory of that was then erased. |
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On Liberator he remembered
working on the Federation's matter transmission project, recognising aquitar
or something similar in the teleport bracelets. This work may have been
before or after his dissident period.
|  In Cygnus Alpha |
 In The Web |
At the suggestion of Alta Morag, Blake was charged with assaulting three
children, the children in question - Carl Deca, Renor Leesal and Payter Fen -
having had a fabricated memory of the assault implanted in their minds by Dr
Havant. Eleven charges were brought against Blake, and he was found guilty
of all of them. Eight of these charges were visible on screen and were
listed as follows:
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|  In Mission to Destiny |
 In Project Avalon |
Tel Varon, assigned to defend him, was killed investigating Blake's
allegations of a miscarriage of justice. Blake was sentenced to be deported
to Cygnus Alpha for life. Following his acquisition of the Liberator, his memory, or at least some of it, returned fairly quickly. He remembered his encounter with Travis, and he recognised features on Exbar.
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His recognition of sono vapour in Mission to Destiny, and his knowing
a means to counteract its effects, suggested some medical knowledge, as did
his use of the medical equipment on the Liberator in Breakdown.
His technique of stalking Travis in Duel met with Cally's approval.
He handled a sidearm with apparent familiarity in Space Fall. He was
the first person seen to use the teleport on Liberator, going down to
Cygnus Alpha.
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Notable brawls: Blake acquitted himself well against Vargas" followers on Cygnus Alpha. Initially taken by surprise by Cally, he quickly got the better of her and seemed to know how to disable her rifle. He defeated Travis in Duel. He broke a trooper's neck on UP-Project Avalon. Three Space World guards were knocked senseless by Blake in Redemption.
 | Bodycount: His first shot was with a Federation sidearm on the London, where he missed Raiker. He killed at least two of Vargas" followers in the fighting in the church and teleported Vargas into deep space. He first used a Liberator handgun on Cygnus Alpha, where a wild shot destroyed the idol on the wall. His first kill with this weapon was in Seek-Locate-Destroy, where he shot a trooper through a door panel. |
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He killed a programmed guardian in Time Squad, by pushing in
into a live power grid, but this was not necessarily deliberate as he was
pushing Jenna away from the guardian at the time. He killed an Amagon with
an exploding neck collar in Bounty; broke a trooper's neck in
Project Avalon; shot two guards on Space World and killed another with
a rod-like, pain-inflicting instrument. He later shot a guard on
UP-Weapon, the Assistant Kommissar on Horizon, two Goths holding Rod
captive, and "Stot" on Star One. He shot and killed Provine in Countdown.
On Gauda Prime he was seen to kill the
bounty hunter Tando, and shot down a flier containing an unspecified number
of gunrunners.
|  In Weapon |
 In Trial |
Captured by: the security forces on Earth in The Way Back; Vargas in
Cygnus Alpha, when he was also tortured; compelled to face Travis in
single combat in Duel; held prisoner along with everyone else in
Bounty and again in Redemption; interrogated by Largo in
Shadow; captured by Servalan and Travis in Weapon; by natives
in Horizon, where he was tortured with a disorienter and forced to
work in the mines; by Veron in Pressure Point along with Avon, Vila
and Gan; and by Travis and his crimos in Hostage.
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His mind was taken over once, when Ven Glynd used the artificial telepathy transmitter developed on Auron to send Blake the hypnotic signals used in his conditioning and bring him to Asteroid P-K118. After Avon destroyed the transmitter Blake remembered nothing of what had happened whilst under its influence.
Places visited: Blake was seen to set foot on Cygnus Alpha, Saurian Major, UP-The Web, Centero, UP-Duel, UP-Project Avalon, XK-72, UP-Bounty, Aristo, Space World, Space City, Zonda, UP-Weapon, Horizon, Earth, the Host, Fosforon, Exbar, Albian, Asteroid P-K118, Atlay, UP-Gambit, Goth, Star One and Gauda Prime - a total of 25 planets/space stations.
After (reluctantly) leaving Liberator his movements became unclear. According to Cally he left with Jenna, but Avon, on Sarran, learnt from Zen that Blake was in a quite different (unspecified) location to her. He was also reported as being uninjured. In Powerplay Zen reported that Blake was en route to Epheron of the Loritol system, by means unspecified. Blake was later said to be on Obsidian, one of many rumours that proved to be untrue. In Terminal Servalan stated that she had seen Blake cremated on Jevron, and appeared to believe this herself. In Blake, Orac referred to a trail of cause and effect by which Blake's movements could be traced, suggesting that he wandered to at least some extent before establishing himself on Gauda Prime. On that planet he posed as a bounty hunter to recruit a new army, including Arlen, not knowing she was a Federation plant. He was working with three other bounty hunters at this point, but Arlen killed two of them and Blake the other. His role was presumably convincing, since he was temporarily made a law enforcement officer - this, together with comments by Deva, suggests that he performed well. It is not, however, clear just how successful he was when it came to assembling his army to fight the Federation: very few personnel were seen in his base, and Deva and Klyn did not look like the sort of people a bounty hunter would go after. His modus operandi eventually proved disastrous, leading as it did to his being fatally shot by Avon.
Blake initially showed determination coupled with naivety. He attempted to negotiate reasonably with Vargas, and was tortured for his pains. He objected, on purely moral grounds, to the Lost's intended extermination of the Decimas. Later he became more pragmatic, although as early as Mission to Destiny he arranged for the deaths of the unknown party arriving to collect the Ortega's neutrotope from Sara. In Breakdown, Blake threatened to destroy Professor Kayn's hands unless the surgeon agreed to operate on Gan. Blake's willingness to carry out this threat was never tested. In the beginning he regularly consulted other members of his crew regarding his plans, but in Pressure Point told them nothing of his plans until reaching Earth. In Voice from the Past he stated "I command this ship", to which Jenna replied, "You lead: we don't take commands". In Seek-Locate-Destroy he refused to kill Travis on the grounds that Travis did not "matter enough"; by Gambit he found colder reasons for not doing so, claiming "that would be a mercy". Governor LeGrand told him he was renowned for his integrity, and regarded him as the leader in the triumvirate of herself, Blake and Shivan. Such high regard suggests that the child-molesting charges brought against him were generally disbelieved. On Gauda Prime he was seen to shoot a bounty hunter in the back.
 The Illusion of Blake from Terminal |
There is no indication of him seeking political power: he appeared to see
Sarkoff being reinstated as president of Lindor as an end in itself, and he
made no claim on Ro after removing the Federation from Horizon. Avon twice
referred to Blake leading the masses against the Federation, in Pressure
Point and Star One, but talked on both occasions in terms of
military leadership. Ven Glynd told him in Voice from the Past that
he needed tutoring in the art of protocol.
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| Blake made two promises that he probably failed to keep. In Shadow he told Bek he would return to Space City in three years, and in Hostage he said he would return to Inga on Exbar. Whether he eventually kept either of those appointments is unknown. |  |
Delta 714 on the edge of Sector 6 was described by Avon as a blind sun, having no planetary system. It turned out to be the system in which Terminal had come to be located.
The clear, pale yellowish liquid that separates from the blood when clotting takes place. In Duel, it was shown that mutoids needed such serum at regular intervals, presumably being unable to produce it on their own.
Mutoids could receive blood serum in two ways: in prepared cylindrical containers, placed in a chest unit underneath the tunic; or by drawing blood directly from others, by means of a hypodermic unit at the right wrist.
It appeared that only human blood serum was suitable for mutoids; because the mutoid brought down with Travis drew blood from a number of vampire bat like creatures, but found it unsuitable. As a result, it later unsuccessfully tried to draw blood from Jenna.
| The natives of Horizon used blowpipes to deliver darts tipped with anaesthetic or lethally toxic drugs. Direct hits were scored on Blake, Jenna, Vila, Gan (two hits required to render him unconscious) and Cally. Ro used a blowpipe dart to kill the Kommissar. |  |
A space rat, and along with Brig one of Atlan's henchmen on Caspar. He captured Vila and Dayna, and would have killed them on Atlan's order if Dayna hadn't pretended to be one of Dr Plaxton's former students. He was presumably one of the three space rats killed by remote-detonated grenades whilst pursuing the crew back to Scorpio.
| Rashel described herself as a labour grade slave and a bond slave, the latter term suggesting something of her duties. She said that bond slaves were "not supposed to overhear the conversations of the free grades". |  |
Mentioned by Cally when held prisoner on Crandor, saying that the legend of the Thaarn was the oldest story in it. Possibly a religious text, but unlikely since Cally refers to the Thaarn legend as no more than a story for children, and thus more likely a collection of myths and legends comparable to the Epic of Gilgamesh or the Mabinogion.
See also THAARN.
In Cygnus Alpha, Vargas consulted a book, presumably a religious text, to discover the meaning of Blake's coming. The book was hardback, shabbily bound (or frayed through age) and appeared to have been printed.
In Power, Gunn-Sar made a fleeting reference to books, suggesting that some Hommiks at least may have been literate.
| A cumbersome piece of equipment, exact use unspecified. Cally referred to having finished using it on Liberator and offered it to Dayna. Cally was seen using it again in Death-Watch, holding a large crystalline object under the screen. The object might have been a data storage device. |  |
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One of the planetary leaders conscripted by Avon for his alliance against the
Federation. Boorva represented Tarl, against which Zukan lodged territorial
claims.
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