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 an evil count and serves as 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 ensure that it will not be used for evil. It is unknown what world or dimension Bleck comes from, but it is mentioned that the tribe lives in a castle located in the middle of a dark forest. It is slowly revealed in vague flashbacks that Count Bleck, when he is known as Blumiere, originally has a human girlfriend, Lady Timpani, whom he cherishes and loves. Apparently, Blumiere accidentally falls off a mountain, is knocked into unconsciousness, and is found on the brink of death at the cliff's base by Timpani, who nurses him back to health at her home. When Blumiere awakes, he is shocked to find that a human saved him as he is from the Tribe of Darkness. Timpani dismisses the thought and says that anyone with a heart will save an injured one.

The pair soon falls in love, and Blumiere attempts to escape from his castle home to see her again. His abusive father, who scolds him for making such an attempt, catches him. He is able to sneak away nonetheless and becomes more and more interested in Timpani, who returns his feelings. Eventually, Blumiere's father finds out what is happening and threatens Timpani, telling her to stay away from the tribe. Timpani is scared for her life and tells Blumiere that they can no longer see each other. Blumiere cannot accept this and tells Timpani that they must go somewhere where their love will be accepted and where they can get married. Timpani agrees, and the pair makes plans to leave. However, before these plans can be put into effect, Blumiere's father abducts Timpani and uses his dark magic to curse her to wander dimensions until her game ends. Blumiere is filled with shock and horror when she suddenly goes missing and demands to know where she was. His father reveals what he had done to her and tells Blumiere that it is for the best.

Overcome by rage and grief, Blumiere goes insane and decides to exact revenge. He steals the Dark Prognosticus, which the tribe has kept since its ancestors stole it, and uses to it to gain ancient knowledge of powerful magic. Blumiere's spirit and personality soon fade away as he is corrupted and changes into Count Bleck, a villain motivated by grief and regret. Using his new powers, Count Bleck murders his father and destroys his entire tribe out of thirst for revenge. After killing his own people, Bleck either constructs or finds a fortress and calls it Castle Bleck to serve as a base of operations and as a home, which is located in a realm composed entirely of darkness.

However, Bleck still has a small lingering hope that Timpani might still be alive. He goes from world to world, searching for the woman he loved. He never finds her though, no matter how much he searches. One of Carson's stories tells of a man who comes across a bat held captive in a trap (assumed to be Bleck). The man lets the creature go and then camps out for the night. When he wakes up he sees that the bat has transformed into a woman who pledges her life to the man out of love. This woman is inferred to be Nastasia.

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

Bleck gathered more followers, who carry out his plan. He has O'Chunks, Mimi and Dimentio on his side. When Nastasia finds Luigi in Castle Bleck, Nastasia brainwashes him and turns him into Mr. L. The 4 of them attacks Mario, Bowser, Peach and Luigi several times, though they all fail. Dimentio is shown to be more sinister and evil than Count Bleck and even plans to betray him (this betrayal is hinted at throughout the game).

Super Paper Mario
Eventually, Count Bleck puts his plans into action and targets the Mushroom Kingdom. He attacks the kingdom, raids the castle, and abducts Princess Peach who is essential to his plans. He next attacks Bowser's Castle, where Bowser is having a confrontation with Mario and Luigi, who think that Bowser is the one who kidnapped Peach. Count Bleck appears and opens up a humongous portal that sucks Bowser, his entire army, and Luigi into it, leaving Mario out cold. Bleck forces Peach and Bowser to be 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 cultivates itself into a vessel called the Chaos Heart. Bleck uses this newly formed heart to open an inter-dimensional rift known as the Void, which eventually grows wide enough to consume the entire universe.

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

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

Luigi fits this description perfectly and Count Bleck wants to use him for his plans and purposes as a result. The caped villain then orders Nastasia to use her mind control abilities on Luigi who assumes a new persona under this control known as "Mr. L". Bleck hopes to use Luigi to ensure his success and sends him to destroy Mario and his companions. Mr. L fails as well though, but Bleck is not worried as long as the void continues to grow and the prophecy remained on schedule. Mario eventually arrives at Sammer's Kingdom, which is only seconds away from destruction at the time. Here Bleck meets the heroes face to face and reveals that this is 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 comes to a violent end.

When Bleck returns to his castle, he feels remorse for the first time for what he is doing. Seeing Tippi makes him question his actions and makes him realize just how evil he has become. However, Count Bleck cannot close The Void for he is still in control of the Chaos Heart, which he believes will be destroyed only if its owner perishes. Since there is no way to stop the prophecy, Bleck ultimately concludes that his remorse is pointless and continues his plans. Much of those plans are faltering though as Mr. L joins the ranks of the heroes, after being attacked by Dimentio and released from his mind control as a result, and the heroes continue to destroy his forces.

As the heroes gather the seventh Pure Heart, Count Bleck desperately makes another attempt to stop them. He releases Bonechill from the Underwhere along with his entire army so that they can do his bidding. Bleck consolidates a portion of the army with his own, who are instructed to stand guard at Castle Bleck, while the rest attacks the Overthere to obtain the last Pure Heart before the heroes did. This last attempt is in vain as the heroes defeat Bonechill and his army, restore the Overthere and Underwhere to peace and order, and obtain the last Pure Heart.

Amazed that the heroes has come so far, Bleck makes preparations for their arrival. Before he can however, Dimentio tells Bleck that Tippi has uttered the name, "Blumiere". This fully proves to Bleck that Timpani, the woman he loved, is truly alive after all. Bleck feels extreme sadness and begins to regret his actions, but ultimately decides to go through with his plans, believing that he has gone too far to stop. He orders his entire army to take their posts around the castle, preparing himself for the final showdown. Little does Count Bleck know that Dimentio has 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 make their way throughout the castle, with Bowser, Peach, and Luigi all gone missing after each one fights and wins a battle against one of Bleck's minions. When Mario and Tippi confront Count Bleck, the count attempts to destroy them using his magic. At this point, Bleck is actually hoping to lose so that Tippi can live on in a world that also lives. He cannot 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 protects him with a barrier, discouraging Mario. However, the power of the Chaos Heart is negated using the power of the Pure Hearts, allowing him to be defeated by the four reunited heroes and is left weak, frail, and hopeless. Wanting to die because of all his evil deeds and to stop the void, he asks Mario, Peach, Bowser, Luigi, and Tippi to finish him off.

Before anything else can happen though, Dimentio appears and attempts to finish Count Bleck off by blasting him with a magic beam, but Nastasia jumps in front of him and takes the blast instead, seemingly dying in the process. Even though Count Bleck is still alive, Dimentio still takes control of the Chaos Heart and reveals his plans to use the Void and the Chaos Heart to create an entirely new universe in his image. Dimentio then imprisons Tippi, Count Bleck, and Nastasia in Dimension D, brainwashes Luigi into becoming Mr. L once again and then fuses himself, the Chaos Heart, and Luigi into Super Dimentio. Tippi and Count Bleck reestablishes their love, and with the help of O'Chunks and Mimi, the Pure Hearts are restored and Dimentio is defeated. In order to banish the Chaos Heart and close The Void, Count Bleck and Tippi demonstrates the true love they possess and marry.

What exactly happens to Lord Blumiere and Lady Timpani afterward 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 becomes human when she reverts to Lady Timpani, the Lord Blumiere form of Count Bleck seen in this picture also appears to be slightly different. Blumiere looks almost identical to Count Bleck except that he is taller and his hat is 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 is known to be extremely kind and cherishes all life and the universe itself. When he met Timpani, he falls in love and shows to be an extremely caring and devoted man to the woman he loves. This comes to a tragic end however, when his father sends Timpani away to other dimensions to die. The loss of Timpani makes Bleck vengeful towards the world. Bleck wants to destroy the universe because he thinks that life is meaningless without Timpani.

This turns Bleck into an evil and sadistic villain who sought the destruction of all worlds. Bleck shows how evil he has 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 has an overwhelming amount of hatred at all worlds as he sees them as the things that took his love from him. Even though Count Bleck is evil, he still is capable of doing kind acts such as freeing a bat from a trap who goes 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 has a more sinister agenda of his own. Bleck treats O'Chunks, Mimi, and Nastasia as if they are 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, which Bleck does not even issue. Nastasia instead issues these forms of punishment. 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 does his evil deeds out of his love for Tippi by avenging her apparent death. In the end, it is Timpani who made him realize the error of his ways and they both save the universe together. His love for Tippi is what makes him evil, but it is also what redeems him. In the end, Bleck is not only a tragic villain, but a tragic hero who sacrifices 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 aids 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 he is 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 Nastasia'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").
 * The texture used for the shadowy inside of his cape is the exact same texture used for the background in Outer Space.
 * 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.

Lord Blumiere
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