Blackmore

Blackmore (ブラックモア) is a minor antagonist featured in Steel Ball Run.

Blackmore is one of Funny Valentine's assassins; confronting Lucy Steel and Mountain Tim in The Green Tomb, and Lucy, Johnny and Gyro in Catch the Rainbow (On a Stormy Night...).

Appearance
Blackmore is a man of average to above-average height and medium build.

He wears a black, hooded poncho, punctuated in two columns on its chest and lining its sleeves by small metallic rings. Through the top of its hood is threaded a long ponytail of his light hair. Underneath, he wears light clothes covering his arms to his metacarpals; and his pants and boots in a piece, patterned by a symbol resembling a halved taijitu.

Personality
Blackmore is an efficient assassin, deeply loyal to Valentine; equally believing in his authority and cause.

Whenever Blackmore apologizes, he splits "sorry" into "so-rry", a translation of his original Japanese vocal tic. In Japanese, Blackmore always says "sumimasen" ("I'm sorry" or "excuse me") as "suImasEn," changing "sumi" into the diphthong "sui", putting extra emphasis on the I and E sounds, and drawling out the E to varying lengths; with the intended effect of a vaguely petulant and childish sound.

Abilities
With his Stand, Catch the Rainbow, Blackmore may manipulate rain, including by halting falling drops, making them into threatening obstacles or a path he may cross in air; and relocating functioning parts of/or his entire body with their moving touch and force.

Synopsis
Blackmore is introduced as one of Funny Valentine's loyal men, and an especially skilled assassin. His mission is to recover the Saint Corpse Parts that Johnny and Gyro had so far collected.

Valentine enlists Blackmore's help in searching for a local saboteur, who is Lucy Steel. When Mountain Tim helps her escape, Blackmore confronts him. After incurring one gunshot wound, he incapacitates Tim in the manner of a Stand duel before executing him.

Meeting the protagonists, they are quickly surprised and overwhelmed by Blackmore and his Stand, which demonstrates novel defensive and offensive capabilities.

Blackmore takes the Corpse Parts back with him along with Lucy Steel. Using a phone to talk to Funny Valentine, he is distracted by the image of the Saint, before Lucy shoots him with a gun she had been hiding.

Though fatally injured, Blackmore resists, plugging his wounds with raindrops harnessed with his Stand. Chasing the protagonists, another battle ensues before his weakness is discovered and he is defeated. As per his Stand's limitation, he finally dies when it stops raining and he exsanguinates.

Trivia

 * Blackmore is one of the only two people to whom the Saint personally appears.
 * Blackmore is most likely named after Richie Blackmore, a profilic guitarist-songwriter who has been a member of several bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, The Outlaws and Blackmore's Night. His Stand is named after Catch the Rainbow, one of Rainbow's greatest hits.

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