Count Bleck

Count Bleck, who was once known as Lord Blumiere, is one of the two main antagonists of Super Paper Mario. He uses the Dark Prognosticus and the Chaos Heart to try and destroy all of the universe.
==Summary==
Count Bleck has a past with Tippi; who at the time was known as Timpani, the love of Count Blumeire. However, their love could not be as there were family issues so he decided to destroy everything. He has a large army that he mostly stole from Bowser, so it mostly consists of Koopa Troopas, Goombas, etc. who were brainwashed by Nastasia, his right-hand minion. He also had several bosses on his side, such as Dimentio, O'Chunks, Mimi, and for a while Mr. L. He is thought to be the final boss and main antagonist in Super Paper Mario and also thought of as the ultimate villain but proves to have a weak spot towards Tippi. One of his minions, Dimentio, surprises him when he finds out he has been betraying him the whole time. Count Bleck is then sent to Dimension D to be killed after his defeat.
== Profile ==
Count Bleck's motives 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 thinks life is 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.
=== Powers and abilities ===
*Mini-Hole Attack: When Count Bleck is stationed on a platform he might use his scepter to create a small black projectile that can suck Mario and co. and cause them to lose 3 HP.
*Giant Black Hole: When Bleck's Shield is destroyed, the count will add a new attack to his arsenal. Count Bleck's Cape will start to glow and a huge black hole will appear trying to suck Mario and make him lose 10 HP.
*Slow Time: Bleck will be on a platform, then he will use his scepter to slow time to help him in the battle. This is his only unavoidable attack. Mario and Co. have to wait until the spell wears off and they return to normal speed.
*Shapeshift Teleport: Not an attack but is useful for Bleck. He will use his teleport ability to move to another area of the battlefield.
*Barrage Dash: The Count will open his cape and dash at the player with a great speed while a glowing red aura is shown during the attack.
== Biography ==
It is slowly revealed in vague flashbacks that Count Bleck (when he was only known as Blumiere) was originally a member of the Tribe of Darkness, a group that broke from the Tribe of Ancients after stealing the Dark Prognosticus to keep its powers from being abused. One day, Blumiere was found injured at the base of a cliff by a human girl named Timpani, who nursed him back to health. Blumiere ignored his father's warnings of humanity and continued to visit Timpani; eventually, the pair fell in love, breaking his tribe's taboo against marriage outside of them (which was made to keep their magical powers from weakening) in the process. Before the plans for marriage were able to work, Timpani vanished, leaving Blumiere gravely heartbroken. Soon afterward, his father revealed that he had teleported Timpani out of their dimension, explaining that their kind could never mix with humans.
During the search for his lost love, Blumiere saved a bat that would be Nastasia from a trap, as revealed by Carson in Flopside. However, his effort to find Timpani was in vain. Inconsolable, Blumiere turned to the pages of the Dark Prognosticus, against his father's pleading for him not to do it. He sought to destroy everything that took Timpani away from him and follow her to the grave. Renaming himself Count Bleck, he gathered a troop to help to put his villainous plans into motion after destroying his home dimension, involving abducting Princess Peach, Luigi, Bowser and everyone in Bowser's Castle (excluding Mario). Bleck then arranged the marriage between Peach and Bowser which the latter accepts without hesitation and the former being brainwashed by Nastasia to give her vows when she resisted, forming the Chaos Heart, with Luigi unsuccessfully tried to stop it as the Void began to appear.
When Count Bleck learned about Tippi and her similar descriptions to Lady Timpani, he suddenly felt regretful for opening the Void, for he realized that he had found her. But still, Count Bleck could not close the Void for he was still in control of the Chaos Heart, which he believed would be destroyed only if its owner perished.
When Mario and Tippi confronted Count Bleck at his namesake Castle, the count attempted to destroy them using his magic. 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, he asked Mario and Tippi to kill him. But Tippi forgave him for she still loved him, and would not do it.
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 mortally wounded. 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.
== Battle ==
With the help of the Chaos heart, Count Bleck has many powerful magical attacks. Not only can Count Bleck create shields, he can also use a powerful attack that causes Mario and his party to become slower. Bleck is also known for his ability to create miniature black holes. These holes start out in the middle of the room and suck up Mario and his friends. Count Bleck flies across the room, protected by his Chaos Heart. He will stand on one of the many platforms and execute a deadly attack.
== Catch Card ==
"This top-hatted villain is bent on ending the world! Fun fact: He was once known as Count Blumiere."
==Trivia==
*Count Bleck is currently the only major antagonist to be considered a tragic villain in the Mario series.
*Count Bleck and Sir Grodus share some similarities in that both act as the main antagonist of a Paper Mario game, but neither are the final boss. Both of them show their injured sprites after being defeated, and both characters wield staffs to use as weapons.
==Gallery==
fi:Count Bleck
fr:Comte Niark
es:Conde Cenizo / Blumière
de:Graf Knickwitz
it:Conte Cenere
ru:Граф Блэк
ja:ノワール伯爵
Category:Royalty
Category:Bosses in Super Paper Mario
Category:Characters in Super Paper Mario
Category:Male characters
Category:Allies
Category:Bosses
Category:Former villains
Category:Paper characters