Bleck's Mother- concept

is holding a contest for people to show their ideas on various aspects of Count Bleck's past and the world in which he grew up, and it provided the perfect incentive for me to get some of my own thoughts, which have been stirring around ever since I played SPM, out of my head.

So here's my idea of what Count Bleck's mother would have looked like, done in the SPM style. Of course, his mom is never mentioned in the game, but I can't picture him being raised by only his father.

I’ve even got my backstory ideas to share with you! Yay! Don't read if you haven't beaten the game, though…

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Blumiere's mother was descended from a long line of nobility within the Tribe of Darkness. She was wed through an arranged marriage into the ruling family of the Tribe, and she and her husband then became the Count and Countess. Their marriage was only intended to increase the power of their respective families and cement the authority within the tribe's nobility; they never felt anything like love for one another. Indeed, it was rare, albeit possible, for members of the Tribe to feel love at all, even for their own families- and if they did, it was usually looked upon as a sign of weakness, as it was felt that one should not get too attached to any living thing. The Count and Countess did, however, share a mutual interest in upholding the Tribe's strict traditions and beliefs, and exercising and increasing their own power.

The two of them had one son, whom they named Blumiere. While the Count never seemed to see the child as much more than the heir to his position and future ruler of the Tribe, who should be raised accordingly, the Countess originally felt a great fondness for her son that was not exactly love, but the closest thing to it she had perhaps ever felt. Coming from a race of people who believed that raising a child was more of a duty than a joy, and to treat a child with too much gentleness would turn them into a weak individual, she tried to keep her tenderness for her son mostly hidden, even from her husband.

However, as the boy grew, he began to exhibit deviancy from the time-honored customs and values of the Tribe. Something about him was different; something set him apart from the other children. He glowed with his own warmth and joy. Even at a young age, he began to question ideas which the Tribe had come to accept as truths, such as their natural supremacy over the other races and species of their world. Moreover, he took and abnormal interest in the nearby village of humans; although it was forbidden for the children of the Tribe to enter it, he could sometimes be seen perching on nearby cliffs to watch the humans going about their lives with an avid interest.

The Count and Countess were horrified as these shameful habits began to develop within their son, the next in line to command the tribe. They resolved to stamp out his insolence, and the Count turned to punishments and restrictions. The Countess felt it was not her place to punish the child, though occasionally she quietly expressed her disappointment to him verbally, something that- unbeknownst to her- hurt him more than any amount of shouting from his father. As disappointment grew within her, the Countess became less and less fond of her son through the years, and grew cold and distant towards him. By the time he was ten, Blumiere would sometimes run to the mother who had once held him close and told him ancient stories of the Tribe, and find that she would turn away from him, ignoring the child as if he simply wasn't there. Blumiere could not understand what was wrong with him, and why his parents were so angry with him for just being himself.

The Count and Countess never succeeded in having another son; it looked as though Blumiere was destined to rule the tribe after all. As years passed, his father became harsher and harsher with him, and his mother’s cold disappointment enveloped her. What was more, the thought had occured to her that perhaps his abnormality was due to the way she had raised him when he was very young, and this filled her with a sick guilt which she kept to herself, turning her even more bitter against the whole situation. She could not bear to even try and accept her son anymore, for she was sickened by him and her own mistakes. Having given up on her son, the only other person she had ever truly cared about, she turned back to caring mainly about herself, as she had in her youth. Her feelings for her son which had once bordered so closely on love, a glorious feeling which she had never before experienced, had all burned away, leaving a hole within her which she never attempted to fill.

When Blumiere was a teenager, he was still not any more submissive than he was as a child, but the innocent curiosity and resistance of that age had turned into an outspoken defiance. He found ways to escape his father’s restrictions and get around his rules. Often he would sneak away to perch on the edges of distant cliffs, to watch the humans just as he had in his youth. He made the mistake once of telling his parents that he felt he was much more like them than the other members of the Tribe; he was harshly punished for this and forbidden to ever show any interest whatsoever in the humans again. But that did not stop him, and even after this he could still be found on the cliffsides. Finding him thus one day, his father was consumed by rage, and raised his staff; in a blind fury, he sent a powerful blast of magic at his son, knocking him unconscious over the edge of the cliff. Knowing that he would survive the fall, but not caring if he would sustain any injuries, the Count flew in a rage back to his castle with the plans of retrieving his son later.

He did not, however, count on his son being found by a human girl…

Hours later, the Countess asked her husband where their son was, and he admitted to her what he had done. She was shocked, and could not help the worry that crept into her heart. She was about to send out a search party when he showed back up at the house, looking a bit tired but as if he had been treated for his injuries. He refused to tell them what had happened; but his parents became suspicious. In the months that followed, there would come times when he disappeared completely, and no one could find him. However, the Count and Countess began to expect the worst…

One day the Count came home bearing the news that their son had been seen with a human girl. When the Countess learned this, she was more shocked and horrified than ever before. Having always viewed humans as most of her Tribe did- as lowly filth, due to their lack of any magical powers- she was blown away that her son could see anything in a human girl. She had planned on finding him a wife amongst another noble family, but had not sought one out yet.

She and her husband interrogated Blumiere, who at last – under magic from his father- was forced to admit that he felt a strong and passionate love for the girl named Timpani. There ensued a brief period of crisis, but in the end, the Count and a few of his trusted advisors raided Timpani’s house, and in their fury cursed her to a fate worse than death- she was destined to wander through dimensions forever until she faded slowly away. Blumiere came upon them shortly after and realized what they had done; he became filled with an unspeakable rage. Suddenly it seemed to him that there was only one thing which could help him in these desperate times; something that would enable him to both exact his revenge on everyone who had ruined his life, who had hated him for the love he showed and the person he was, and perhaps give him the immense power required to find his true love: the dark book of his ancestors.

Blumiere, his heart crushed and bleeding, rushed back to his home castle, where he knew the book rested within its own chamber. His mother was there waiting for him; she tried to stop him, but he pushed her aside. She followed him, and her husband and his advisors appeared and were close behind. She reached the room just in time to see him control of the Dark Prognosticus, and something burst within her. She saw the hideous power of the book envelop her child, and his screams as the dark magic grew within him, feeding off his rage and multiplying it, transforming him into something terrifying, his bright blue eyes turning to a burning red. It struck her all at once that her child had been someone special, someone she could have learned from… the only person she had ever cared about, but had closed her heart to. Her only boy. But her dear child was now perhaps gone forever, transformed into something terrible. Suddenly the feelings which she had suppressed for years, which she had thought dead, burst back from the depths of her soul, as she gazed upon her child and realized that it was her fault as much as anyone else’s that things had come to this.

Her husband and her son were shouting to each other, but she was in a daze, and could not make out much more than a cold laugh issuing from her son’s mouth, and the fact that he had somehow knocked down her husband and taken his powerful staff. Her last thought was that Blumiere was dead- there was only Count Bleck. Her son held up the book-

And then there was darkness… and silence… and peace… and love.

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*ahem* Got a little carried away, but I hope you enjoyed that. That was mainly supposed to focus on his mother’s side of the story, though I did incorporate some other things just to fill in the holes; if I do my version of his father and child Blumiere, I’ll show things more from their points of view.

The Tribe of Darkness (c) Nintendo/Intelligent Systems
This design for Count Bleck's mother (c) me