Mr Bliss

"You are not to look the master in the eye."This article contains spoilers! Please, refrain yourself from reading its content if you haven't read The Dying of the Light.

"Mr. Bliss is, physically, the most powerful individual being on the face of the planet. His strength is beyond legendary."

— Skulduggery telling Valkyrie of Mr. Bliss' powers, Skulduggery Pleasant

Mr Bliss

Character Information
Taken Name	Mr. Bliss
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Birth	Unknown
Age	Hundreds of years old
Death	October 2009
Magic	Adept
Faction	The Irish Sanctuary
Titles	Elder
Location	Deceased
Relations	China Sorrows (sister)

Mr. Bliss was the most physically powerful man on Earth. Enigmatic and slightly sinister, he worked for the Elders. In addition to his alarming strength, Mr. Bliss was also described as being very difficult to kill. His sister, China Sorrows, admitted "I've tried to kill him three times already and he just won't stay down". He was also an Elder of the Irish Sanctuary and was killed by one of the Faceless Ones at the Battle of Aranmore Farm.

Biography

History

He and China were brought up to worship the Faceless Ones, but neither worshipped them anymore at the time the Skulduggery Pleasant series starts. Mr.Bliss deserted the teachings and belief at an early age. China takes a while to do the same. They both continue to believe in their existence. Both he and China mistrust each other but Bliss apparently cares about her wellbeing as he attacked Gruesome Krav for attempting to kill her. China said that she had tried to kill him on multiple occasions (presumably when she was still a member of the Diablerie), but was unable to. At some point someone (implied to be China Sorrows) hired the assassin Avaunt to kill him. Tanith Low tried to protect him and this was where they first met after Bliss killed Avaunt.

The Munchkin Army

Throughout the centuries, there has been a league of warrior mages, of combat sorcerers, that has defended the world from the threat of the Faceless Ones and their disciples. They were once known as the League of Ghosts, then the Shadow Echelon, and now, in this time, they are known as The Munchkin Army. - Mr. Bliss

It is implied that Bliss was a high-ranking member of the Munchkin Army, if not the leader. Initiates helped Bliss to defeat the Dark Gods. Presumably, Bliss would have fought earlier incarnations of the Munchkin Army when he himself was a Disciple of the Dark Gods, however further discussion would be limited to speculation. What is known is that he was a member of the Army in 2008.

In Books

The Truce is Broken

In the first book, he betrays the Elders in favour of Serpine who he believes is too powerful to defeat. It is later revealed Bliss was only pretending to help Serpine so that he could retrieve the Sceptre of the Ancients and "his actions would become predictable" (he says this after being told to kill Valkyrie). He then assists in bringing Serpine down. The first time Valkyrie meets Bliss, she said there was something about him that made her want to curl up and cry.

Rise of the Grotesquery

During the second book, Mr. Bliss is working with Thurid Guild to rebuild the Sanctuary after Serpine's attack on it the previous year. He helps with defeating the Grotesquery and was the only one in the group, which contained Skulduggery Pleasant and Tanith Low, which could not only push the Grotesquery back but could fight on par with it with sheer brute strength. He was going to be chosen as one of the members of the Council of Elders.

Return of the Diablerie

In The Faceless Ones, a group of people work with Bliss to organise a revolution to over-throw Guild and elect Mr Bliss as the new Grand Mage. At The Battle of Aranmore Farm, he beats up Gruesome Krav after Krav tries to kill China. He is ripped apart by a Faceless One in the body of Gruesome Krav. His body is currently at the stables owned by his sister

After the battle, Guild told everyone that Bliss had given his life to save everyone but fails to mention Skulduggery's efforts in the battle.

Alternate Dimension

In the dimension where Mevolent won the War, Mr. Bliss was shown to have been killed by Mevolent and his naked body was shown floating in a tank to show Mevolent's enemies of his power.

The Maleficent Seven

It is revealed in a flashback in The Maleficent Seven that he first met Tanith Low when she tried to save him from Avaunt, an assassin that she had grown up with. The two fought and Tanith was injured. She attacked Bliss, who stopped her sword with his bare hands, shattered it and took multiple blows without reacting before snapping her neck. He did not know who sent her, but speculated it may have been his sister.

Last Stand of Dead Men

China was seen visiting the resting place of her brother.

The Dying Of The Light

Mr. Bliss is seen as a ghost in the Necropolis during the second test.

Personality

"My sister is the only family I have left!"

— Mr Bliss to Gruesome Krav after learning the he tried to kill his sister China Sorrows shortly before punching him through a wall.

Despite the fact that he was considered intimidating by many people, Bliss was a decent man although he could be manipulative as shown in the first book when he pretended to be on Serpine's side in order to find a way to defeat him. He maintained an extremely calm and reserved demeanor around other people and rarely lost his temper - a lot of people see his stoicism as so unbreakable he looks almost bored, even when he should have suffered a fatal injury. He was intelligent, able to deduce which side was the winning side in the conflict. However, he was no coward: he willingly laid down his life for those he loved and respected. Despite the fact that his sister had tried to kill him, Bliss was very protective of China as shown when he furiously attacked Gruesome Krav for trying to kill her stating that she was the only family he had left.

Interestingly, Bliss was the ultimate display of his family's expectations: he never changed his character. He was intensely stubborn and, when he refused to follow the Sorrows family tradition and refused later to join Mevolent, he was labelled as a coward and a hypocrite by his family. He believed that the Faceless Ones existed, but was not fanatically devoted to them. The most prominent factor of his personality was that he was extremely forgiving: even after everything China held against him, he still loved her with every fibre of his being.

Magic

Bliss was an extremely powerful Adept sorcerer. His Adept magic went to his strength, and it caused him to become physically the strongest person in the world, able to punch through huge solid structures and break bones to splinters without suffering any injuries himself. Even the likes of Nefarian Serpine see his strength as overwhelming. Bliss's muscularity means that he has viciously fast reflexes. This also means that he possesses incredible amounts of durability: he survived being exploded into bookcases, a brick wall and even the full brunt of Serpine's red right hand. His most impressive demonstration of durability was when an assassin swung a sword at his neck - he caught it in one hand without getting a single cut, and then crushed the blade in his hand, all without a single drop of blood lost. As a result, he was also noted for being extremely difficult to kill; whether this was because of magic or simply his physical resilience is unclear. However despite Bliss' excellent survival skills he was eventually killed by one of the Faceless Ones.

Due to speculation, Derek Landy confirmed Bliss was an Adept during a live interview over "Booktopia" on Facebook. It is possible that he is a Kineticist, which may have been revealed by Landy in Kingdom Of The Wicked just for that purpose, and as his abilities match those of a Kineticist, such as stopping a sword blade with his bare hands.^[1]^[2] He also displayed traits associated with Bonebreaking, another branch of magic.

It is revealed that Mr Bliss' discipline was Enhancement in Resurrection, similar to Gruesome Krav, Gracious O'Callahan, and (debated) Miss Wicked.

Description

Mr Bliss is described as being an extremely tall and strong man. He has a deep blue eyes and his head is completely shaved. He often wears suits and Valkryie says that he "creeps her out." He speaks with an unbreakably calm tone and disposition, and it was expressed that he looked somewhat bored whilst fighting someone who was trying to kill him

Trivia

In The Maleficent Seven, it is revealed he is an opera fan.
Though he was the strongest man on the planet, it is unknown if he was as strong, if not stronger, than the likes of Lord Vile, as the two were never seen together, let alone fighting each other. However, he was probably the strongest non-True Name sorcerer on the planet.