Schwarzwald (The Big O)

Schwarzwald (シュヴァルツ・ヴァルト, Shuvarutsu Varuto, lit. "Black Forest") first appears in Act:04, "Underground Terror". His real name is Michael Seebach (マイクル・ゼーバッハ, Maikuru Zēbahha), a reporter for Paradigm Press. As a reporter, Seebach was obsessed with bringing the truth to the people of Paradigm City, but became frustrated as the Paradigm Corporation continually censored his work. Eventually his search for the truth would become an obsession, and Seebach began living a double life. In time he became even more obsessed with his work and cut himself off from human contact, including his wife and children. But Seebach's obsession also resulted with an attempt on his life by Paradigm which disfigured his face.
Seebach eventually decided to journey into the underground of Paradigm City, where he encounters a megadeus Archetype, with him running off after Big O's fight with the Archetype. He reappears in Act:12, as the pilot of Big Duo.
In Act:17, thousands of copies of Schwarzwald's writings, a prophecy foretelling the coming of the Leviathan, peppered the city. By episode's end, it is revealed Schwarzwald has been dead for a long time. Schwarzwald appears to Big Duo's new pilot, Alan Gabriel, in Act:24. The apparition declares Gabriel not worthy of piloting it and, subsequently, the megadeus kills him. Schwarzwald's final act is a letter delivered to Roger Smith. The contents of the letter are unknown but may be the monologue on the nature of "truth" delivered by Schwarzwald in voice over. Roger Smith wondered "if [Schwarzwald] was still wandering the city relentlessly in search of his own personal truth, even after his body had perished."
In the Manga, his appearance before the accident is revealed. He seemed to be a middle-aged man with a short beard, dressed in a trench coat and hat. It also reveals the origin to his alias, as it was part of a poem his mother taught him when he was a child.
Category:Villain
Category:Characters
Category:Male