Dimentio
- “Master of Dimensions... Pleaser of crowds... I am...Dimentio!”
- —Dimentio, Super Paper Mario
Dimentio is a magical jester and a major antagonist in the game Super Paper Mario. Initially a minion of Count Bleck, Dimentio is a powerful magician capable of several feats, such as teleportation, duplication, and invisibility. Like Mario, he has the power to flip between dimensions, and is in control of a dimension of his own, Dimension D. By the end of the game, he reveals his intentions to steal the Chaos Heart from Bleck and use it to destroy all worlds and create new ones of which he is king.
Biography
Dimentio has shown to be very cunning and capable of initiating his own plans without the notice of Bleck or his other followers. Residing in the shadows of Count Bleck's army, Dimentio carefully plans and executes his scheme to take control of the Chaos Heart. In Count Bleck's service, Dimentio waits for Bleck to create the Chaos Heart and form the void. He plans to use its power and destructive purpose to wipe out all worlds and create brand new ones in which he controls. Dimentio plans to accomplish this by using the heroes of prophecy to collect the pure hearts and use them to destroy Bleck and claim the Chaos Heart for his own purposes.
Once Bleck forms the Chaos Heart, Dimentio patiently waits for the hero mentioned in the prophecy to appear. Dimentio is first shown at a meeting between Count Bleck and his other followers where he makes mild insults to some of the other minions. Eventually, Nastasia mentions the appearance of the possible hero, which sparks Dimentio's interest who decides to go with O'Chunks, who was sent by Bleck to take care of Mario, to see this hero. Dimentio watches and testes the abilities of Mario by sabotaging Fracktail, the robotic guardian of the second pure heart, and making it face Mario. Mario defeats the mechanical guardian, which ultimately leads to its' death, and acquires the second pure heart. This proved Mario's abilities to Dimentio who began to put his plans in order.
When Dimentio sees Mario as the hero, he moves his sights to Peach who was abducted and used in the birth of the Chaos Heart and is being held at Castle Bleck. Dimentio concludes that she will be the second hero and warps her from Castle Bleck to Flipside to join Mario. It seems that Dimentio did the same with Bowser, who woke up in the Bitlands with several of his minions, although it was never explicitly stated. Eventually, after Mario defeated O'Chucks and Mimi, Count Bleck calls upon Dimentio to dispose of Mario. This gave Dimentio an excuse to test Mario and his companion's potential. Dimentio does indeed face Mario and tests his abilities again at the Dot Wood Tree, but this time in Dimension D. Mario proves worthy, as Dimentio had expected, but believes that the heroes must be stronger when the battle with Bleck arrives.
Upon his return to Castle Bleck, Dimentio next gains knowledge that Luigi is the ideal host for the Chaos Heart's power and he will use it to spread darkness. After acquiring this knowledge, Dimentio makes use of his ability to turn invisible to spy on Bleck and Nastasia. He learns that Bleck has an emotional side and this could be used as a weakness to make it easier for the heroes to defeat him. While Luigi is in Nastasia's mind control and turned into "Mr. L," Dimentio keeps careful watch of his skills to see if he is worthy of being the one mentioned in the Dark Prognosticus as Bleck previously stated. Dimentio now is in need of a tool to control Luigi so that he can use him to posses the power of the Chaos Heart. He meets an associate in The Land of the Cragnons and acquires two Floro Sprouts, which are plants that are put on people's heads to be mind controlled.
Dimentio takes the opportunity to once again test Mario and his friends; this time using O'Chunks and, at the same time, test the Floro Sprouts to make sure they function properly for their future use. O'Chunks was once again sent by Count Bleck to defeat the heroes. He meets them in the Land of the Cragnons and is about to engage them in another fight when Dimentio interrupts him to test the heroes and the Floro Sprout. First Dimentio warps O'Chunks to Dimension D to test the heroes. Once they defeat him, a Floro Sprout that Dimentio planted on him puts him under mind control. Dimentio programmed the Floro Sprout to make O'Chunks faster and more unpredictable. O'Chunks is defeated again and this more than proves to Dimentio that Mario is indeed the chosen one and is almost ready to battle Bleck.
Dimentio now began to put all the final preparations in order. He knew Luigi would be the fourth hero, so he needed to release him from Bleck's control and reunite him with the other heroes. He needed a time and place however where he wouldn't be discovered. He came up with the perfect plan. He coaxed Bleck's henchmen, including Luigi, to attack Mario in a world on the brink of destruction. The world, Sammer's Kingdom, was indeed obliterated by the void, but it remained in a withered state. This would be the perfect area to "murder" Luigi and send him to the Underwhere, a place where those whose games have ended are judged. This would release his mind control and also have him meet up with Mario as Dimentio planned to send him and the other two heroes to the same place.
The pure heart Mario acquired in this land was powerless from the destruction, but it could be repaired in the Underwhere. If Mario would be sent here, he would repair the pure heart and meet up with Luigi; killing two birds with one stone for Dimentio. Dimentio "kills" Luigi, who is sent to the Underwhere in the world of nothing and then quickly does the same to Mario, Peach, and Bowser in Merlon's house in Flipside. While it appeared that Dimentio murdered them all, he actually used his magic to send them to the Underwhere rather than actually ending their games. Mario was eventually able to repair the pure heart and meet up with Luigi and the other heroes and return from the Underwhere. Dimentio reported to Bleck that his henchman, Mr. L/Luigi, had betrayed them and joined the heroes in order to avoid any suspicions of deception.
As the heroes gathered the last pure heart, Dimentio told Bleck that Tippi had uttered Blumiere, which was Bleck's true name. This proved to Bleck that Timpani, the woman he loved, was truly alive. Dimentio did this to weaken Bleck emotionally and make it all the easier for the heroes to defeat him. During the course of the hero's journey through Castle Bleck, Dimentio created hundreds of clones and also manipulated the reflection of the castle mirrors to confuse the heroes as he shot energy spheres at them. Dimentio was merely feigning his efforts to stop the heroes in order to make sure that his deception is not revealed until the right moment.
When Mario and Luigi, Peach and Bowser are presumed dead, meet Dimentio in Castle Bleck he reveals his plans and intentions. Dimentio offers Mario and Luigi the opportunity of joining him to destroy Bleck. In actuality, Dimentio was planning on using two Floro Sprouts to mind control Mario and Luigi if they agreed so that his plans would unfold exactly as planned. While Dimentio explains how he's been "helping" the heroes the whole time, Tippi can still see the insanity behind Dimentio's nature. Mario and Luigi refuse to work with him, which makes Dimentio decide to go to another alternative. He insults Luigi and this leads to Luigi forcing Mario and Tippi to leave so that he can handle Dimentio by himself to prove his strength to the villain.
Luigi fights and beats him, but this was all a ruse to get Luigi in Dimentio's grasp. Dimentio appeared to commit a suicide attack, but he was actually planting a Floro Sprout in Luigi's unconsciousness. With this, Dimentio's plans were almost complete and in full fruition, all that was left was Bleck's defeat. Dimentio waited in the shadows during the battle between the four heroes and Bleck, ready to destroy his former master once and for all. Once Bleck was defeated and the pure hearts used up in the battle, Dimentio shot a burst of energy to finish him off. Nastasia stepped in front of Bleck to save him, absorbed the shot instead, and seemingly died. Mocking Nastasia for her sacrifice, Dimentio took control of Luigi through the Floro Sprout and took control of the Chaos Heart.
He combined them to form Super Dimentio and sent Bleck, Nastasia, and Tippi to Dimension D to torture and kill them later. He becomes one with his creation and decides to end the lives of the heroes as they have no further use for him. Transforming the room into his image, Dimentio demonstrates incredible new powers that are amplified by the Chaos Heart. Super Dimentio laughs at the hero’s efforts in battle as he is shown to be invincible. He eventually starts to use his magic to wipe out the heroes and all worlds in one fell swoop. In Dimension D, Bleck loses all hope as nothing can stop Dimentio without the pure hearts. Tippi and O'Chuncks and Mimi, who came to find Bleck, urge him not give up hope. Through Bleck and Tippi's love, the pure hearts are regenerated after the battle with Bleck. Tippi is able to escape from Dimension D thanks to the pure hearts' power and uses them to heal Mario and his companions.
With the pure hearts power, Super Dimentio becomes vulnerable and engages in a final showdown with the other three heroes. Through the hero’s efforts and after an intense battle, Super Dimentio's body explodes and leaves only his head. On the verge of death, Dimentio expresses disbelief at how his plans could fail when he did everything the prophecy required. Nevertheless, Dimentio smiles and reveals one last trick to insure everyone in existence will die with him. With his last breath, Dimentio leaves a portion of his power behind to continue controlling the Chaos Heart to wipe out all existence. Uttering one final "Ciao", Dimentio explodes and sinks into the ground and obliteration. Luigi is released unharmed, but the power of the Chaos Heart continues to destroy all worlds.
Count Bleck, no longer evil, reveals that the only way to destroy the Chaos Heart is through true love. He and Tippi exchanged vows at the same altar where the union of Peach and Bowser took place and where the Chaos Heart was created. This new union between Count Bleck and Tippi activated the full potential of the pure hearts, which cancelled out the energies of the Chaos Heart and Dimentio’s remaining power. This caused the pure hearts and those linked to them to disappear however. Thus, Count Bleck and Tippi sacrificed themselves to save all existence and return all worlds to peace. With the Chaos Heart destroyed, the void closes, Nastasia is revived, and all worlds return to peace, including the ones that were destroyed by the void. It is assumed Dimentio was completely destroyed and sent to the Underwhere.
Powers and Abilities
Dimentio, being a magician, is capable of many special abilities and powers. Being a master of Dimensions, Dimentio is able to flip between them like Mario. Dimentio can also create his own in which he controls such as Dimension D and give him additional power and support.
Dimentio can teleport and shoot a seemingly unlimited amount of energy spheres at his foes. He can also duplicate himself and deliver twice the amount of pain with his clone. This power also does not seem limited as Dimentio made hundreds of clones of himself in Castle Bleck in the final chapter. A method, which proved to be the most effective, is his killing magic. He is able to create a compact magic field around his victims in which he simply snaps his fingers, which causes several explosions within the field. Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi were all nearly killed in this way.
Dimentio's lesser abilities, usually useful for acquiring information, are hovering and being able to turn invisible. It is unknown if Dimentio had these powers prior to his servitude to Bleck, or if Bleck had granted him the powers as he had done with the other minions.
Personality
Dimentio has a very dark personality and has been shown to be a very disturbing character. He at first seems to be a very silly and lighthearted character, but his true nature and intentions are much more sinister. His true purpose is to steal the Chaos Heart from Count Bleck to control The Void and destroy all worlds, so he can build perfect new ones of which he is the ruler.
Dimentio is repeatedly referred to as a psychopath by Tippi and has shown traits of this type of characterization. He always bears a smile and a mind filled with insults and similes to throw at his victims. Even when committing acts such as murder, manipulation, and abduction, Dimentio never flinches and continues to grin and tell sadistic jokes. The only moment where Dimentio is shown to be shocked is when he is defeated and on the verge of death. However, even in this state he regains his smile and reveals his last act to kill all living beings. The fact that he never ceases to grin when committing such acts further the concept of him being a psychopath and, therefore, is incapable of feeling any remorse.
Despite his apparent insanity, anger, and hatred, Dimentio usually keeps a very calm composure throughout the story. Dimentio believes that his intentions and plans are justified and not evil. His understanding of good and evil is what’s right for him is good and what’s bad for him is evil. This being a very slanted understanding of good and evil, Dimentio is able to justify his acts of murder and deception through this philosophy.
Dimentio has not shown any sympathy or concern for anybody or anything, seeing Bleck’s tragic back-story and broken relationship with Tippi as a weakness for Bleck and aspects that can be preyed upon to be suited into his plans. Dimentio is shown to be utterly disgusted and resentful of Bleck and his intentions, but still knows the value of working in his services. This contributes to Dimentio’s character as a figure that never overlooks any moments of value and does whatever he needs to even if it means serving someone he despises.
Dimentio uses everyone around him to the fullest of their abilities in order to further his own goals and desires. He sees others as simply pawns and that once they have no further value to him they have no reason to live as their usefulness has run its' course. Dimentio manipulated almost everyone around him, even his master, Count Bleck, by preying on his emotions and love for Tippi. Dimentio seems incapable of understanding emotions or, if he does, does not care in the slightest to take them into consideration. While Bleck has a tragic origin, Dimentio's origin is shrouded in mystery and he seems to have no motive for his plans other than a hunger for power and control.
Dimentio is constantly planning every step of his plans and it is never clear what his intentions are until the end of the game. Playing both sides of the battle, Bleck and his army, and Mario and his companions, Dimentio furthers his plot and is still able to fool Bleck into thinking he is still serving him. Bleck is too obsessed with his own destructive desires to see the true threat is right under his nose. When everybody learns of Dimentio’s true nature, it was too late.
Dimientio is one of the more evil characters in the game as a villain with a sadistic and warped sense of humor. He is willing to do anything at the expense of other lives and has no conscience or guilt for his actions, murdering people while making a joke and then uttering his line "Ciao". Dimentio is willing and intends to kill everyone in existence to ensure the creation of his new, perfect worlds as his plans require the destruction of all living creatures. Even Dimentio's last action was one to insure the death of trillions, showing his insanity even near death. The reason for Dimentio's evil and insanity is never revealed, hinting that Dimentio has no reason or motive for his evil and is simply driven by a lust for power.
It is unknown what Dimentio's idea of a perfect world is, but he has clearly shown that he will go to great lengths to insure its creation. It has never been made clear if Dimentio wants a world without war as he only jokingly states that no one likes that kind of stuff when discussing the prospect of a new world with Bleck's minions. It can be just as equally assumed that Dimentio would crave a world made of war as he has clearly shown a very twisted personality and violent demeanor. Dimentio's lack of a motive or mind state makes him one of the more ambiguous villains in the Mario series.
Allegiance
Dimentio's allegiance is a major plot point in the game and is not revealed fully until the final chapter. Apparently, Dimentio approached Count Bleck on his own at first, offering to serve him. Bleck turned him down, however, for reasons that were never revealed. It was only after reading about him in the Dark Prognosticus that he allowed Dimentio into his forces. It is unknown what was written about Dimentio in the Dark Prognosticus, but Dimentio is apparently "the dark one" mentioned in the sinister book as opposed to Bleck. If Bleck read this in the Prognosticus, he might have intentionally enlisted Dimentio's help in order to ensure his successful suicide and destruction of the universe.
Dimentio is seen with O'Chunks, Mimi, and, a later minion, Mr. L at each of the meetings of Bleck's henchmen. Even before betraying the Count, he holds disdain for all of Bleck's other followers making his loyalty questionable at best. At meetings, Dimentio seems to be harboring deep hatred for Bleck and his followers, but is able to contain it with mild insults. While the other minions continuously give Bleck compliments and have some sort of bond with him, Dimentio barley speaks to Bleck. Dimentio only has a conversation with him if it furthers his own plans or if he can obtain valuable information. Dimentio seems to have a great amount of raw hatred at Bleck, which may contribute to his standoffish attitude toward him.
Dimentio eventually turns on Bleck, and starts trying to thwart Bleck's plans and further his own. He casually begins to help Mario along, and even tries to convince the party to join him. Bleck wants to end all worlds in order to end his own life, whereas Dimentio wants to end all worlds in order to become king of a universe of his own creation. Their difference in motive is the reason Dimentio gives for betraying Count Bleck. However, it is also possible that Dimentio only joined Count Bleck and feigned allegiance to him in order to orchestrate his schemes, which he may have made even prior to his servitude to Bleck.
Ultimately, Dimentio despises Bleck and only serves him out of his own needs. Bleck and his minions are nothing but pawns to Dimentio and seeks to kill them all once their use has run out. By the end of the game, Dimentio traps Bleck in Dimension D to torture and kill him along with his lover, Tippi and the rest of the minions, showing the true hatred that Dimentio has to his former "master".
Trivia
- The name Dimentio appears to be a pun on "dementia", referring to his apparent insanity, and "dimension" the plains of existence which he can warp amongst.
- Mysteriously, Tippi seems to have known Dimentio before the events of Super Paper Mario. She recognizes him immediately on their first encounter in the game, during the dialog shortly before Mario battles Fracktail.
- In Flopside, if one listens to the bartender Carson's stories, there is one about Dimentio that seems to hint at him possibly being the one who wrote the Dark Prognosticus, for the fact that his role mentioned in the book sounds suspicious. This is further hinted by Dimentio knowing so much about the dark book and it's contents.
- Interestingly, the seemingly good Shaman-like character Merloo is known to have similar abilities and description as Dimentio as he was a powerful magician who could control dimensions.
