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. In the end he had to stop the void and the Chaos Heart with love.

Background
Count Bleck was once a member of the Tribe of Darkness, whose ancestors stole the Dark Prognosticus from the Ancients, to increase the capabilities of their dark magic. 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 unconsciousness, and was found 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 and threatened Timpani and told her to stay away from the tribe. Timpani was scared for her life and told Blumiere that they can no longer see each other again. Blumiere would not accept this and told Timpani that they must go somewhere where their love will be accepted and where they can get married. Timpani agreed and the pair made plans to leave, so they could get married. 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 ends. Blumiere was filled with shock when she suddenly went missing and demanded to know where she is. His father revealed what he had done to her and told Blumiere that it was for the best.

Overtaken by extreme anger and sadness, Blumiere went positively insane and decided to exact revenge. He stole the Dark Prognosticus, which the tribe kept since its ancestors stole it, and used to it to gain ancient knowledge of powerful magic. Blumiere soon faded away and was essentially reborn as Count Bleck, a villain motivated by grief and regret. Using his new powers, Count Bleck murdered his father and destroyed his entire dimension 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.

Bleck still had a small lingering hope that Timpani may still be alive however. He went from world to world, searching for the woman he loved. He never found her though, but came across a bat held captive in a trap. Bleck 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 of the same species as him. She would go on to be called Nastasia and pledged her life to Count Bleck for saving her life.

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 except a portion of her name, Tippi, which would become her new name. 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, one being even more sinister and evil than him (Dimentio), and made his plans to destroy all living things, including himself.

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 up a void that would slowly, but eventually swallow all worlds and dimensions.

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 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. They all failed though, but Bleck took precautions.

Among the many who were mind controlled by Nastasia was Luigi who assumed a new persona under this control known as, "Mr. L". Luigi fit the description of the man in green mentioned in both prognosticus' and was destined to posses the Chaos Heart and determine if the prophecy is true or not. Bleck hoped to use Luigi to insure his success, but this too ended in failure. 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 believed that feeling remorse was pointless, and continued his plans.

As the heroes gather 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 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.

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 and left weak, frail, and hopeless. Wanting to die because of his evil deeds for opening The Void and putting his love in serious danger, and also because only his death could stop the void, he asked Mario, Peach, Bowser, Luigi, and Tippi to finish him off. However, Tippi forgave him for she still loved him, and couldn't do it.

Then, 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, supposedly dying in the process. Even though Count Bleck was still living, Dimentio still took control of the Chaos Heart, imprisoned Tippi, Count Bleck, and Nastasia in Dimension D and tried to destroy the universe in hopes of creating a new universe for him to rule himself as 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 became one of the happiest people around. 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. The exception of these bonds is Dimentio, who is the only truly evil minion and is far more evil than the Count himself.

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 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. 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.
 * 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 the shield is also used before the creation of the Chaos Heart at the beginning of the game.