Count Bleck

"Bleh heh heh heh heh heh... The man known as Blumiere died long ago. Now there is only Bleck! The Dark Prognosticus's choice to fulfill the prophecy. Nothing more!"

- Count Bleck

Count Bleck (real name Lord Blumiere) is the main antagonist in the game Super Paper Mario. Count Bleck is responsible for bringing forth the Chaos Heart by forcedly marrying Princess Peach to Bowser, so he can use the Heart to open The Void, which will ultimately engulf all dimensions. He leads a troop of minions to help move along his plans, including Nastasia, the assistant that has powers to force people under her control, O'Chunks the strong, dim-witted follower, Mimi the shapeshifter and Dimentio the evil jester (and to a lesser degree, Mr. L, a brainwashed Luigi). In the end, however, he changes his ways and redeems himself by helping Mario save the world.

Background
Count Bleck was once a member of the Tribe of Darkness, whose ancestors stole the Dark Prognosticus from the Ancients shortly after the Pixl Rebellion, to insure that it would not be used for evil. It is unknown what world or dimension Bleck came from, but it is mentioned that the tribe lived in a castle located in the middle of a dark forest. It is slowly revealed in vague flashbacks that Count Bleck, when he was known as Blumiere, originally had a human girlfriend, Lady Timpani, whom he cherished and loved. Apparently, Blumiere accidentally fell off a mountain, was knocked into unconsciousness, and was found on the brink of death at the cliff's base by Timpani who nursed him back to health at her home. When Blumiere awoke, he was shocked to find that a human saved him as he was from the Tribe of Darkness. Timpani dismissed the thought and said that anyone with a heart would save an injured one.

The pair soon fell in love and Blumiere attempted to escape from his castle home to see her again. His abusive father, who scolded him for making such an attempt, caught him. He was able to sneak away nonetheless and became more and more interested in Timpani who returned his feelings. Eventually, Blumiere's father found out what was happening, threatened Timpani telling her to stay away from the tribe. Timpani was scared for her life and told Blumiere that they could no longer see each other. Blumiere would not accept this and told Timpani that they must go somewhere where their love would be accepted and where they could get married. Timpani agreed and the pair made plans to leave. However, before these plans could be put into effect, Blumiere's father abducted Timpani and used his dark magic to curse her to wander dimensions until her game ended. Blumiere was filled with shock and horror when she suddenly went missing and demanded to know where she was. His father revealed what he had done to her and told Blumiere that it was for the best.

Overcome by rage and grief, Blumiere went insane and decided to exact revenge. He stole the Dark Prognosticus, which the tribe had kept since its ancestors stole it, and used to it to gain ancient knowledge of powerful magic. Blumiere's spirit and personality soon faded away as he was corrupted and changed into Count Bleck, a villain motivated by grief and regret. Using his new powers, Count Bleck has murdered his father and destroyed his entire tribe out of thirst for revenge. After killing his own people, Bleck either constructed or found a fortress and called it Castle Bleck to serve as a base of operations and as a home, which was located in a realm composed entirely of darkness.

However, Bleck still had a small lingering hope that Timpani might still be alive. He went from world to world, searching for the woman he loved. He never found her though, no matter how much he searched. One of Carson's stories tells of a man who came across a bat held captive in a trap (assumed to be Bleck) The man let the creature go and then camped out for the night. When he woke up he saw that the bat had transformed into a woman who pledged her life to the man out of love. This woman is inferred to be Nastasia.

The Count and his new assistant returned to his castle where Bleck realized that the woman he loved was gone forever. In reality, Timpani was still alive as she was found barely clinging to life by Merlon in Flipside. Using the powers of the ancients, Merlon transformed Timpani into a Pixl, but she had no memory of her past life and was christened Tippi by Merlon. All that was left for Count Bleck was to avenge her supposed death by destroying everything that took her away from him, existence itself. Bleck decided to fulfill the last prophecy written in the Dark Prognosticus, which would end the existence of all worlds and dimensions.

Bleck gathered more followers, who would carry out his plan. He had O'Chunks, Mimi and Dimentio on his side. When Nastasia found Luigi in Castle Bleck, Nastasia brainwashed him and turned him into Mr. L. The 4 of them attacked Mario, Bowser, Peach and Luigi several times, though they all failed. Dimentio was shown to be more sinister and evil then Count Bleck, and even planned to betray him (this betrayal was hinted at throughout the game).

Super Paper Mario
Eventually, Count Bleck put his plans into action and targeted the Mushroom Kingdom. He attacked the kingdom, raided the castle, and abducted Princess Peach who would be essential to his plans. He next attacked Bowser's Castle, where Bowser was having a confrontation with Mario and Luigi, who thought that Bowser was the one who kidnapped Peach. Count Bleck appeared and opened up a humongous portal that sucked Bowser, his entire army, and Luigi into it, leaving Mario out cold. Bleck forced Peach and Bowser to get married in a chapel of his own creation, in order to create a rift of negative energy from such a horrible event occurring. The negative energy cultivated itself into a vessel called the Chaos Heart. Bleck used this newly formed heart to open an inter-dimensional rift known as the Void, which will eventually grow wide enough to consume the entire universe.

After the ceremony, Bleck had Bowser and a portion of his army locked up in his castle and ordered Nastasia to put the rest of Bowser's army under mind control so that he can extend his army. In the meantime, Bleck sent his army and minions to different worlds and dimensions to cause havoc and chaos. One such minion was Mimi, who Bleck sent to occupy Merlee's mansion in order to secure the Pure Heart that was located there. Mimi did so, locking up the fortune teller's pets and chasing her down to the basements. Mimi took complete control of the mansion and converted it into a base of operations for Count Bleck's army. She then placed a curse upon the building that would cause all visitors to be locked within the mansion until they pay off their debts with Rubees. They were all forced into slave labor while Mimi collected their Rubees and locked them away in a safe at the top of the mansion.

As Bleck continued with his plans, he lied to his henchmen by telling them that he will create a new world when the others are destroyed. In actuality, he was planning on leaving them all in ruin and killing himself since he had nothing left to live for even though he cared deeply about his minions. When the hero of prophecy, Mario, appeared Bleck sent his minions out to defeat him and gave some of them powers to help obliterate Mario. No matter what minion Bleck sent though, O'Chucnks, Mimi, and Dimentio all met with failure and defeat. Now seeing Mario more than just a mere annoyance, Bleck turned to the Dark Prognosticus and learned that a man in green shall serve as the perfect host for the Chaos Heart and will be the determining factor in whether the prophecy of destruction is true or not.

Luigi fit this description perfectly and Count Bleck sought to use him for his plans and purposes as a result. The caped villain then ordered Nastasia to use her mind control abilities on Luigi who assumed a new persona under this control known as, "Mr. L". Bleck hoped to use Luigi to insure his success and sent him to destroy Mario and his companions. Mr. L failed as well though, but Bleck was not worried as long as the void continued to grow and the prophecy remained on schedule. Mario eventually arrived at Sammer's Kingdom, which was only seconds away from destruction at the time. Here Bleck meets the heroes face to face and reveals that this will be the first world to feel the full effects of the void. Tippi questions Bleck's motives for doing such a sick and evil thing, but Bleck merely scoffs at her and says that all worlds are meaningless. It is here that Bleck realizes that Tippi may be in fact Timpani, but leaves nonetheless as the world came to a violent end.

When Bleck returned to his castle, he felt remorse for the first time for what he was doing. Seeing Tippi made him question his actions and made him realize just how evil he had become. However, Count Bleck couldn't close The Void for he was still in control of the Chaos Heart, which he believed would be destroyed only if its owner perished. Since there was no way to stop the prophecy, Bleck ultimately concluded that his remorse was pointless and continued his plans. Much of those plans were faltering though as Mr. L joined the ranks of the heroes, after being attacked by Dimentio and released from his mind control as a result, and the heroes continued to destroy his forces.

As the heroes gathered the seventh Pure Heart, Count Bleck desperately made another attempt to stop them. He released Bonechill from the Underwhere along with his entire army so that they can do his bidding. Bleck consolidated a portion of the army with his own, who were instructed to stand guard at Castle Bleck, while the rest attacked the Overthere to obtain the last Pure Heart before the heroes did. This last attempt was in vain as the heroes defeated Bonechill and his army, restored the Overthere and Underwhere to peace and order, and obtained the last Pure Heart.

Amazed that the heroes had come so far, Bleck made preparations for their arrival. Before he could however, Dimentio told Bleck that Tippi had uttered the name, "Blumiere". This fully proved to Bleck that Timpani, the woman he loved, was truly alive after all. Bleck felt extreme sadness and began to regret his actions, but ultimately decided to go through with his plans, believing that he had gone too far to stop. He ordered his entire army to take their posts around the castle, preparing himself for the final showdown. Little did Count Bleck know that Dimentio had been plotting against him for quite some time and made his own plans to overthrow Bleck and control the Chaos Heart to destroy and remake the universe.

The heroes made their way throughout the castle, with Bowser, Peach, and Luigi all gone missing after each one fought and won a battle against one of Bleck's minions. When Mario and Tippi confronted Count Bleck, the count attempted to destroy them using his magic. At this point, Bleck was actually hoping to lose so that Tippi can live on in a world that will also live. He couldn't show this, however, as only his destruction can end the void, which can not be done if he doesn't fight. He is first shown to be invincible as the Chaos Heart protected him with a barrier, discouraging Mario. However, the power of the Chaos Heart was negated using the power of the Pure Hearts, allowing him to be defeated by the four reunited heroes and was left weak, frail, and hopeless. Wanting to die because of all his evil deeds and to stop the void, he asked Mario, Peach, Bowser, Luigi, and Tippi to finish him off.

Before anything else could happen though, Dimentio appeared and attempted to finish Count Bleck off by blasting him with a magic beam, but Nastasia jumped in front of him and took the blast instead, seemingly dying in the process. Even though Count Bleck was still alive, Dimentio still took control of the Chaos Heart and revealed his plans to use the Void and the Chaos Heart to create an entirely new universe in his image. Dimentio then imprisoned Tippi, Count Bleck, and Nastasia in Dimension D, brainwashed Luigi into becoming Mr. L once again, and then fuses himself, the Chaos Heart, and Luigi into Super Dimentio. Tippi and Count Bleck reestablished their love, and with the help of O'Chunks and Mimi, the Pure Hearts were restored and Dimentio was defeated. In order to banish the Chaos Heart and close The Void, Count Bleck and Tippi demonstrated the true love they possessed and married.

What exactly happened to Lord Blumiere and Lady Timpani afterwards is a mystery, although it is said that they are both alive and happy somewhere unknown. Indeed, the very final scene of Super Paper Mario (appearing even after the staff credits) depicts two figures standing on a green hill in the midst of a bright meadow.

It is heavily implied that these two figures (who appear to be a man and a woman) are Lord Blumiere and Lady Timpani living out their lives in the unknown place. In a manner similar to how Tippi became human when she reverted back to Lady Timpani, the Lord Blumiere form of Count Bleck seen in this picture also appears to be slightly different. Blumiere looked almost identical to Count Bleck except that he was taller and his hat was noticeably larger.

Personality
Count Bleck is unique among Mario's rogues gallery as he is the only villain so far who is motivated by sadness and regret and not by a lust for power or control. He is a tragic villain whose actions are born from the purest of emotions, love. Regardless, Bleck has demonstrated a lust for destruction and disregard for all life except those close to him. He at first seems to be a stereotypical villain with no feelings, but it is soon revealed that Bleck is an emotionally tortured person who is not as evil as he appears.

Prior to his meeting with Timpani, Bleck was known to be extremely kind and cherished all life and the universe itself. When he met Timpani, he fell in love and showed to be an extremely caring and devoted man to the woman he loved. This came to a tragic end however, when his father sent Timpani away to other dimensions to die. The loss of Timpani made Bleck vengeful towards the world. Bleck wants to destroy the universe because he thinks that life is meaningless without Timpani.

This turned Bleck into an evil and sadistic villain who sought the destruction of all worlds. Bleck showed how evil he had become immediately after his transformation into a villain by murdering his own father, in an act of revenge, and wiping out his own dimension. Bleck sought to kill all that is and had an overwhelming amount of hatred at all worlds as he saw them as the things that took his love from him. Even though Count Bleck was evil, he still was capable of doing kind acts such as freeing a bat from a trap who would go on to become Nastasia, his closest minion. Bleck is also shown to be very polite and not openly sadistic, but still harbors much hatred and anger.

Bleck also cares very deeply about his minions with the possible exception of Dimentio who had a more sinister agenda of his own. Bleck treats O'Chunks, Mimi, and Nastasia as if they were family and feels very close with all of them. He is very forgiving towards them and never punishes them with any type of physical or mental torture or abuse. The form of punishment is writing papers or singing songs in which Bleck does not even issue. Nastasia instead issues these forms of punishments. The Count is also shown to be very upbeat, despite his tragic origin and is always smiling. Bleck also seems to be very likable, as all his henchmen have a strong bond with him, with the only exception again being Dimentio.

The story starts with Bleck wanting nothing more than the destruction of the entire universe, but gradually shows him to be more humane and remorseful of what he's become. By the end of the story, Bleck is shown to be a very caring and loving person who only did his evil deeds out of his love for Tippi by avenging her apparent death. In the end, it was Timpani who made him realize the error of his ways and they both saved the universe together. His love for Tippi is what made him evil, but it is also what redeemed him. In the end, Bleck was not only a tragic villain, but a tragic hero who sacrificed his life to stop what he had started.

Powers and Abilities
In addition to being able to use the Dark Prognosticus, Count Bleck has many other magical powers granted by the Chaos Heart that aid him in and out of combat. His most obvious and frequently used power is his ability to freely float without any hindrance to gravity. This power is particularly important due to his lack of visible legs. He also often shows his ability to teleport at will by "flipping", along with the Dark Prognosticus which always teleports at his side. Also, he can use the Chaos Heart's power to shield him from any harm.

In combat, Count Bleck uses his cane to conjure globs of dark energy and hurl them at Mario and other foes. These globs are unique amongst projectile attacks in that nothing can block them; not even Peach's parasol or Barry. He can also summon a huge vortex of dark energy that sucks up his enemies, however, this skill is simply thwarted by running away from it. Bleck can temporarily slow the flow of time as well, throwing his enemies off. Finally, he can speed himself in a way similar to using a speed flower of red energy and simply ram into his opponent, damaging them, although this can leave him vulnerable to Barry's spiky barrier, which, if activated quickly, will damage him and protect the player.

Count Bleck is also shown to be quite clever and intelligent. He also is very charismatic, as his followers are loyal to the end, and his capable of easily persuading others to join his cause (and having both of his female minions develop crushes on him, a very slight one in Mimi's case). However, it's much more effective for him to rely on Nastatia's mind controlling powers to gather more minions.

Trivia

 * In Japan, Count Bleck is known as Count Noir (French for "black") and his real name Blumiere is Lumière (French for "light").
 * Bleck often speaks in third person, often saying his name instead of just simply using "I". The reason for this is not known, although it may be that he views Bleck as a separate person since his true personality died when he became evil. This is supported by the fact that he speaks normally after his redemption. When he talks in the third person it also sounds like a narrative from a book, possibly inferring that he spoke like that because after reading the Dark Prognosticus, he knew everything he was going to say already.
 * The texture used for the shadowy inside of his cape is the exact same texture used for the background in Outer Space.
 * Count Bleck's face is similar to that of the Black Chest Demons from the previous Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. This is most likely a coincidence though and is not meant to suggest any sort of connection.
 * While "Bleck" is normally used as an onomatopoeia for disgust, it could be interpreted as a corruption of the word "Black" (as in darkness).
 * Count Bleck is mentioned in Paper Mario's trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and gets his own sticker.
 * Interestingly, Count Bleck uses a shield supposed to be created by the Chaos Heart, but he also uses this shield before the creation of the Chaos Heart.
 * A possible comparable character is Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
 * Both are, at first, villains, but as the game/series progresses, they turn out to be tragic villains, and eventually tragic heroes (or, in Shadow's case, at least an anti-hero).
 * Count Bleck wanted to avenge Timpani's supposed death; while Shadow's hatred of humanity--and consequently, his desire to destroy it--stemed from the murder of his best friend Maria.
 * By the end of Super Paper Mario, Count Bleck decided to aid Mario in defeating Dimentio; at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 (Shadow's debut), Shadow helped stop the plan of world destruction he had started.
 * In addition, Count Bleck regains his good nature and lives happily ever after with Lady Timpani; Shadow eventually decides to put Maria's death behind him and move on with his life.
 * Finally, both have similar powers: Both can hover (Count Bleck uses magic, while Shadow has small jet engines in his shoes), and both can manipulate the space/time continuum (Count Bleck again uses his magic, and Shadow uses a skill called "Chaos Control").
 * Count Bleck's characterization is notably similar to that of the vampire Count Vlad Tepes Dracula in both the 1992 film and the Castlevania series. Both were originally good characters, but ended up becoming tragic villains who wanted to see nothing more than the end of the world after their love of their life was killed.

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