Dimentio
- “Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...Ciao!”
- —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.
Personality
Dimentio's name comes from the words "dementia", referring to his twisted personality, and "dimension", because he has the power to control various dimensions. He created his own miniature world called Dimension D, and works behind the scenes over the course of the game to ensure Count Bleck's defeat, so he can obtain the Chaos Heart.
Dimentio's face resembles a classical theatrical comedy mask, reminiscent of the kind used in tragic and comedic theatrical plays, and his trademark is his exit line of "Ciao!". He also creates clever analogies and similes ("I'll start with you, as you wallow in helplessly like upside-down turtles!" or "And now I strike, like an unseen dodgeball in an echoing gymnasium!").
In spite of his lighthearted, relaxed personality, Dimentio is cold and calculating. He is outwardly calm, but actually has a quite psychotic mind. His plan throughout the game is extremely twisted, as he intended to turn on his master just to steal the Chaos Heart for himself. The fact that Dimentio is a jester and has a clownish demeanor only serves to contrast the fact that he is completely serious and dangerous. He is cruel, and would kill someone without any regret, uttering the word "Ciao", and always with a kindly smile on his face, hinting that he may in fact be a psychopath.
Relationship to Bleck
Apparently, Dimentio approached Count Bleck on his own at first, offering to serve him. Bleck turned him down, however. It was only after reading about him in the Dark Prognosticus that he allowed Dimentio into his forces. Dimentio is seen with O'Chunks, Mimi, and Mr. L at each of the meetings of Bleck's henchman. Even before betraying the Count, he holds disdain for all of Bleck's other followers. He takes every opportunity to mock his fellow minions over their failures, and even persuades them to disobey the Count's orders on one occasion.
Dimentio is apparently "the dark one" mentioned in the Dark Prognosticus as opposed to Bleck. If Bleck read this in the Prognosticus, he might have intentionally enlisted Dimentio's help in order to ensure his succesful suicide/destruction of the universe.
However, Dimentio eventually turns on Bleck, and starts trying to thwart Bleck's plans. 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 feigned allegiance to Count Bleck in order to obtain the Chaos Heart.
Encounters with Mario and Co.
Mario's first encounter with Dimentio comes before fighting the Chapter 1 boss: Fracktail. Initially, Fracktail is only a security device meant to deliver the Pure Heart to the legendary Prognosticus Hero, but Dimentio appears and threatens Mario before using his magic to turn Fracktail on the plumber.
Dimentio fights Mario himself near the top of the Dotwood tree, transporting himself and the party to "Dimension D": a creation of Dimentio's meant to multiply his power by 256. The plan backfires when Mario's power is amplified as well, and Mario defeats Dimentio.
Dimentio later encounters the party in the Floro Sapien's lair, where he uses a Floro Sprout to brainwash O'Chunks into a more powerful "O'Cabbage" who randomly shouts the names of vegetables.
After Bleck succesfully destroys Sammer's Kingdom, Dimentio appears before a distraught Mr.L (Luigi) and supposedly kills him in a magical explosion. He then appears before Mario's party in Merlon's house and appears to kill them in the same manner. Mario and his party are sent to "The Underwhere", but are reunited with Luigi and able to return to the real world.
Dimentio serves as Luigi's final boss in Castle Bleck, with hundreds of Dimentio clones appearing throughout chapter 8-3. He forces the Mario Bros. to play "tag" by chasing him through all seven areas of the game. After the Brothers catch him, Dimentio reveals his intentions to betray Bleck and asks Mario and Luigi to join him. Agreeing however, results in a game over after Dimentio brainwashes Mario with a Floro sprout. When the brothers refuse his offers, he insults Luigi's mustache, leading to a one on one clash between the two. When Luigi defeats Dimentio, the twisted jester acknowledges his power and attempts to kill them both in a magical explosion to keep "the man in green" out of Bleck's "Velvet lined hands".
Luigi survives however, and returns to Mario just in time to face Count Bleck. After Mario and his party defeat Count Bleck, Dimentio appears and fires a lethal shot of energy at the Count in a final attempt to kill him. Nastasia jumps in the way to absorb the blast and is seemingly killed instead. Dimentio takes this opportunity to mock Mario's party before stealing the Chaos Heart and transforming into Super Dimentio.
"The Dark One"
In Merlon's recitings of the Light Prognosticus, he recites something along the lines of "and the Dark One will use the Chaos Heart to end all worlds". While Count Bleck does attempt to accomplish this goal, and is a member of the "Dark" Tribe, Dimentio is the villain worthy of the title.
Dimentio is perhaps one of the most cunning of Mario's enemies. Residing in the shadows of Count Bleck's army, Dimentio carefully plans and executes his scheme to take control of the Chaos Heart. He plans to use its' detsructive power and purpose to destroy all worlds and create brand new ones to control and rule over. In Count Bleck's minionship, Dimentio waits for Bleck to create the Chaos Heart and form the void.
Dimentio is arguably the most powerful villain Mario has ever faced as well. His magical powers, Dimension-hopping abilities, and near success in destroying the universe are feats not even Bowser could accomplish. Even Bowser puts aside his hatred for Mario (with a little persuasion from Peach), in order to help fight Dimentio and Bleck. While he appeared to be destroyed with the rest of Super Dimentio, the Chaos Heart and Luigi survived, so it is possible that the jester survived as well. Flopside was created as the dark version of Flipside in order to create balance, because darkness without light and light without darkness can never hope to survive. Mario was (obviously) left alive after the events of Super Paper Mario, which could mean Dimentio is still alive as well, maintaining the Dark/Light balance. Dimentio's fate has yet to be revealed, but he is presumed dead.
Trivia
- Dimentio has features of a jester, a clown and a magician. He wears a court jester costume with clownish colors, and he has great prowess in magic tricks.
- Dimentio's face is a Comedy Mask. The Comedy Mask is a classical theatrical mask used in plays. The Comedy Mask and its counterpart, the Tragedy Mask, are used as symbols of theater, and are often worn by jesters and magicians at the circus and other celebrations.
- Dimentio's character design resembles a stylized version of the jesters from Super Mario RPG. He also closely resembles Harley Quin, another jester character from a Wario game, and Super Dimentio's spinning cape immitates that of Harley.
- It is possible that his "aquaintence" he mentions twice in Chapter 5 could have been King Croacus, for Croacus used Floro Sprouts to control the Cragnons, and Dimentio happened to get two of them.
- 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.
- It is implied that Dimentio has his own brand of perfume, called "Demented, by Dimentio". He offers Mario a signed bottle of it in Chapter 8-4, listing it among other bribes to persuade him to help fight Count Bleck.
