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| “ | Oh, how touching. I always cry at weddings. Our young lovers together at last. Surely now they can live happily ever after. But you forget... she's still my wife! I'll not leave here empty-handed! | „ |
| ~ Lord Barkis Bittern disrupting the wedding. |
| “ | Oh, I'm leaving. But first, a toast to Emily, always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Tell me, my dear; can a heart still break once it stopped beating? Hmm? | „ |
| ~ Lord Barkis Bittern to Emily. |
| “ | I haven't a head for dates. Apparently I'm a day early for the ceremony. | „ |
| ~ Barkis's first words. |
| “ | Well said... | „ |
| ~ Lord Barkis' last words. |
Lord Barkis Bittern, simply known as Barkis Bittern, is the main antagonist of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. He is a greedy, arrogant and manipulative aristocrat who is bent on getting married to women in order to kill them, so he would be able to gain their fortune and wealth. He once killed a wealthy young woman he claimed to love and years after committing such deed, is bent on repeating it again with another victim. He is also the former fiancé-turned-arch-nemesis of Emily the Corpse Bride, who was revealed to be his earlier victim, as well as the arch-nemesis of both Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot.
He was voiced by Richard E. Grant, who also played Withnail in Withnail & I, The Great Intelligence in Doctor Who, Darwin Mayflower in Hudson Hawk, Vic Van Wrinkle in Horrid Henry: The Movie, The Man with Beard but No Hair in A Series of Unfortunate Events, Dr. Zander Rice in Logan and Allegiant General Pryde in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker.
History[]
Lord Barkis Bittern is a supposedly wealthy newcomer of an unnamed Victorian village. Under the guise of a distant relative of the Everglots, he attends and watches the wedding rehearsal between Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot, which fails when the former doesn't perform well. Barkis criticizes him, as if he didn't want Victor to marry her.
When Victor is abducted by Emily, Barkis tries to make it look like that he left with another woman at the night. He successfully manipulates Victoria's parents Finis and Maudeline to arrange Victoria to marry him instead due to his apparent wealth that the Everglots are in desperate need of. Barkis and Victoria are later married, to the latter's dismay. After the undead show up and crash the wedding celebration, Barkis plans to flee with Victoria along with her money. However, she informs him that her parents were broke, and that they were marrying Victoria to him for wealth that he didn't actually have. Victoria, now aware of Barkis' greedy intentions, scolds him and storms off, heading to the church, where Victor and Emily are having their wedding.
After Emily allows Victor and Victoria to reconcile, Barkis shows up in the church, protesting that Victoria is still his wife, and declaring he would not leave empty-handed. Emily recognizes Barkis as the man who courted her and then killed her, stealing her family jewels and a satchel of gold that was her dowry. The dead then turn on Barkis upon realizing he was the one who wronged Emily, so he threatens Victoria's life with a sword plucked from Bonesapart's ribcage, planning to take her hostage and later kill her. Victor stands up to him. Scraps then bites Barkis' leg, allowing Victoria to escape his grasp. A dead chef provides Victor a fork to defend himself, and he gets into a swordfight with Barkis.
Barkis eventually gets the better of Victor, disarming him and knocking him over. But when he tries to finish him off, Emily intercepts the sword and orders Barkis out of the church. He then mockingly toasts Emily, and the undead aren't allowed to interfere (as they could not interfere with the affairs of the living). Being aware that he will get away with his crimes scot-free, Barkis happily (yet unknowingly) drinks the Wine of Ages, a poison involved in Victor and Emily's wedding. Before Barkis can flee, he dies succumbing to the poison and turns into a zombie. Realizing this too late, Barkis panics as the vengeful undead are allowed to confront him, so they proceed drag him off to the underworld, with the chef declaring "new arrival" before closing the door. It's unknown what they did to Barkis afterward, but it's safe to say they are surely gonna make his afterlife unpleasant as punishment for his crimes.
Personality[]
Barkis Bittern is a wicked, sarcastic, greedy and treacherous man who always has his eye on an evil plan to get whatever he wants, even if he has to fight for it. He is incredibly selfish and egotistical, as he murders for a fortune only for himself while tricking rich young women into falling in love with him. He is known for being extremely deceiving and manipulative, as he manipulated Emily and killed her. After this, he appears to have figured out that charming wealthy girls isn't necessary for his plans; instead of trying to make Victoria fall for him, he manages to manipulate her parents into marrying Victoria off to him. However, when everything appears to be going his way, Barkis' greatest flaw emerges: his arrogance, which pushes him to take rather foolish actions. Barkis thought for sure he had a good target in Victoria simply because she was an aristocrat, only learning after their wedding of her family's poverty. He is also quite cowardly, as he immediately panics and hides beneath the table when the dead arrive, immediately demanding that he and Victoria flee the town. And later when he smugly attempts to get away, Barkis is frozen with fear once the Wine of Ages kills him, allowing the dead, whom he was untouchable to moments before, to take him away and rightfully punish him.
Appearance[]
Barkis Bittern is a slender man with pale skin, a large chin, white slick hair, and wears a black cutaway with white collar pushed upside and a bow tie, also gray pants and black shoes.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Barkis serves a dark parallel to Emily. Both wanted to find potential lovers to marry for their desires, and had personally conflicted with the romantic pair of Victor and Victoria during the movie. However, while Emily's personal conflict with them was out of envy, she also knew when to let her own wishes go, as evidenced when she decided to give up her chances of being married to Victor by making him reconcile with Victoria. Barkis, on the other hand, had much worse intentions, as he's only taking Victoria from Victor out of greed, where it involves treating her much more badly, going so far as to potentially murder her (like what happened to Emily herself). Thus, Barkis exemplifies what Emily could've been if she lets her personal desires be put above everything else.
- Lord Barkis was presumably inspired by Jack the Ripper, who killed women in London.
External Links[]
- Barkis Bittern on the Corpse Bride Wiki
- Barkis Bittern on the Tim Burton Wiki