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, also known by his real name, Lord Blumiere, is an evil count and the central antagonist of Super Paper Mario. During the game, he summons the Chaos Heart by forcefully marrying Princess Peach to Bowser and uses it to open The Void, which has the power to destroy all dimensions. He also leads a troop of minions, with its primary members being Nastasia, O'Chunks, Mimi, Mr. L, and Dimentio.

His name, "Bleck", is normally used as onomatopoeia for disgust, but can also be interpreted as a corruption of "Black", referring to darkness (his Japanese name is a play on the French word for "black", noir.) His real name is likely a portmanteau of blue, referring to his color, and lumière, the French term for light and a reference to his status as a member of the Tribe of Darkness.

Background
Prior to the events of the game, Count Bleck went by the name Blumiere and was a member of the Tribe of Darkness, a group that broke off from the Tribe of Ancients after stealing the Dark Prognosticus in a misguided attempt to prevent its powers from being abused. One day, Blumiere was found injured at the base of a cliff by a human girl known as Timpani and was nursed back to health by her. Despite his father's warnings to stay away from humans, Blumiere became captured by her kindness, and he frequently sneaked out of his castle to meet with her, and they eventually fell in love.

He later learned that his father threatened Timpani. Blumiere learned that they could not be in love here, so he proposed to her. Though before they could be married, his father abducted and banished Timpani from their dimension, wiped her memory, and cursed her to wander through worlds until the day she died. Upon learning of Timpani's disappearance, Blumiere traveled through dimensions to search for her, unaware that she had been found barely alive by Merlon, and was turned into a Pixl known as Tippi in order to save her. It is implied by one of Carson's stories that he met Nastasia at some point during his search.

Blumiere eventually returned home after thinking that Timpani was gone forever. He believed that life and existence are meaningless without her, so he stole the Dark Prognosticus and used its power to destroy his dimension, and he decided to do the same to every world. Blumiere took the alias of Count Bleck, and along with his new assistant Nastasia, he moved to a new castle in a world of darkness and is eventually being joined by Mimi, O'Chunks, and Dimentio.

Super Paper Mario
Count Bleck eventually decides to target the Mushroom Kingdom. He learned from the prophecy that the wedding of a princess and a monster will call forth the Chaos Heart. Due to this, he abducts Princess Peach, Bowser, Luigi and the entire Koopa Troop, and forcibly weds the former two, forming the Chaos Heart. Count Bleck then uses the Chaos Heart to rip open the Void. Due to a disturbance during the wedding ceremony, Luigi, Bowser, the Koopa Troop, and Peach are scattered across the castle. To confront this problem, Bleck sends Nastasia to brainwash members of the Koopa Troop into joining him. He also sends his other minions to various dimensions in an attempt to prevent Mario's from collecting the Pure Hearts.

After his minions are defeated and Mario reunites with Peach and Bowser, Count Bleck stops treating Mario as a "mere annoyance". Bleck turns to the Dark Prognosticus and learns that a "man in green" is the main factor of determining whether the prophecy of destruction will pass. He orders Nastasia to brainwash Luigi into Mr. L and attempts to stop Mario with him. However, Mr. L is defeated like his other minions. Bleck becomes angered after his attempts to stop Mario failed, and he confronts them in person in Sammer's Kingdom. He argues with Tippi over his motives and the value of all worlds, and begins to suspect that Tippi may be Timpani.

After Mario and his team obtained the final Pure Heart from the Overthere, Bleck orders his minions to try and defeat them when they arrive at his castle. Dimentio later reveals to Bleck that Tippi mentioned the name "Blumiere", which confirms she is Timpani. Nastasia begins to urge him to call off the void, but due to him being too far along in his plans to stop the Chaos Heart's destruction, he ignores her urges, and secretly hopes that Mario and his team will be capable of defeating him and saving all worlds.

When Mario and Tippi reached the inner sanctum of Castle Bleck, Bleck and Tippi once again argue before he sends Nastasia away and engages Mario in a battle. Bleck is initially immune to all attacks due to the Chaos Heart, but Bowser, Peach, and Luigi grant the Pure Hearts the power to negate the barrier. After Bleck is defeated, he insists the Mario to end his game before the Void destroys all worlds, against Tippi's wishes.

Though before Mario and his allies ended his game, Dimentio appears and attacks the count, but the blow is taken by Nastasia, who is seemingly. Dimentio then takes control of the Chaos Heart, and plans to use it to create a new world in his image once the old worlds are gone. He banishes Bleck, Tippi, and Nastasia to Dimension D and merges with a brainwashed Luigi and the Chaos Heart. At Dimension D, Count Bleck is reunited with O'Chunks and Mimi, whose love for Bleck manages to restore the Pure Hearts to weaken Super Dimentio and allows Mario and his allies to defeat him. Before his death, Dimentio manages to leave behind a "shadow" of his power, which will ensure all worlds will end as revenge for his death. As he is aware of the urgency of the situation, Count Bleck returns everyone to the chapel where the Chaos Heart was born, and he and Tippi exchange vows and wed each other. The true love between them supercharges the Pure Hearts, uniting them into the Purity Heart and reverses the prophecy of destruction.

Bleck claims that using his and Tippi's love to stop the Void would cause both of them to "cease to exist", but both Merlon and Nastasia believe that he is living happily together with Timpani. In a post-credits scene, the count's silhouette is standing near that of a woman in a meadow, which is implied to be Timpani.

Super Mario-kun
Count Bleck appears in volume 37 and volume 38 of Super Mario-kun, during the story arc based on Super Paper Mario. His role in Super Mario-kun mirrors his role in the game.

Dr. Mario-kun
Count Bleck appears in Episode 57, Episode 58, and Episode 59 of the Dr. Mario-kun manga. In the final story arc of the manga, Count Bleck creates the Dimensional Virus, which messes with alternate realities.

Personality and traits
"BLECK! Your princess has been taken...by Count Bleck! By me...Count Bleck! The chosen executor of the Dark Prognosticus...is Count Bleck! The fine fellow prophesied to to come to this dimension...is also Count Bleck!"

- Count Bleck

Count Bleck's motives in the game are mostly caused by the sadness of losing Timpani. At the start of the game, he seems to be a villain with no feelings who wishes to end all worlds due to the power given by Dark Prognosticus. As the story progresses, his sympathetic traits are revealed and reasons are given to his actions.

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 was extremely caring and devoted to her, but when his father sent Timpani away to travel through dimensions till she dies, Bleck began to feel vengeful towards the world and thought life was worthless without her. This caused him to seek the destruction of all worlds, and he shows his vengefulness by wiping out his own dimension. Bleck has a hatred against all worlds and sees them as the things that took his love away from him, which he continues to think until being defeated.

In spite of his insistence that Blumiere was dead, Bleck still shows some redeeming traits. When he teleports to Bowser's Castle to reveal that he had captured Princess Peach, he bows and "politely" introduces himself. During the Prologue, Mimi states being with the count is her idea of a perfect world and Bleck says he will make his minions' dreams come true. He gives Mimi a gift of power during the events of Chapter 2 and his minions happily take their missions to stop Mario and his allies. He is frightened when Nastasia takes a hit from Dimentio for him and he is flattered when his minions also assist him with restoring the Pure Hearts. Count Bleck constantly refers to himself in third person and deviates from this trait when he is alone and after he is beaten.

Appearance
Count Bleck wears a white top hat and coat, and is usually shrouded in a cape with a gradient of white at its top fading to blue at the bottom. The inside of the cape is dark blue and starry, and when he opens his cape during the cutscene in Bowser's Castle, a unique design is shown. This design is from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and depicts the pattern used atop the pedestal in the room with The Thousand-Year Door when Mario presents a Crystal Star. He also wears a large red brooch, white gloves, and wields a brown scepter topped with a blue jewel. On his left eye is a monocle, and his eyes and mouth are both red and glowing. However, both his eyes and mouth become light blue when he is defeated, and remains like that until the Pure Hearts are restored.

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 can aid him. He can freely float without any hindrance to gravity, which is particularly important due to his lack of visible legs. He has the ability to teleport at will by "flipping", along with the Dark Prognosticus which always teleports at his side. He can also use the Chaos Heart's power to shield him from any harm.

In combat, Count Bleck uses his scepter to conjure globs of dark magic and hurls them at his foes. These globs cannot be blocked by anything, including Peach's parasol and Barry. The only way to avoid them is to use Slim, who causes the player to become invisible and intangible. He can also summon a huge vortex of dark energy that sucks up his enemies. Count Bleck can temporarily slow the flow of time as well, similar to the Slow status effect. Finally, he can speed himself up similar to the effect gained when using a Speed Flower and ram into his opponent, which damages them. His shadow blast attack does 3 damage, his Void attack does 8 damage and the player takes 2 damage when walking into the Count. Although he is incapable of flipping in 3D, his globs are in 3D and can still damage Mario even if he is in the third dimension.

Beyond his magical talents, Count Bleck demonstrates a high intelligence, a compelling physical and conversational presence and a quality of character that can earn loyalty from his followers and friends. Bleck is charismatic and can sway individuals into his service, as seen with Bowser at the beginning of the game, while his assistant Nastasia's mind control powers can help him cover all other cases.

Quotes

 * "Bleh HEH HEH HEH BLECK!"
 * "Your princess has been taken... by Count Bleck!"
 * "By me... Count Bleck! The chosen executer of the Dark Prognosticus... is Count Bleck! The fine fellow prophesied to come to this dimension... is also Count Bleck!"
 * "Of all things, you defend the heart?! Nothing could be more worthless..."
 * "Aside from Timpani, no treasure mattered in the least to me..."
 * "But you are far too late to stop the Dark Prognosticus, and me... Count Bleck! All worlds will soon end. Come into grips for that now, for you cannot stop it. I suggest you make yourselves comfortable and enjoy this one, final spectacle!"
 * "Count Bleck is the deleter of worlds! My fate is written in the Dark Prognosticus!"
 * "ALL NOW ENDS!"

Lord Blumiere
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