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“ | Guests! Welcome to The Last Resort! My name is Hellen Gravely, and I am the owner of this hotel. I am absolutely delighted that you decided to accept my invitation. You all must be very tired. Come! Allow me to show you to your rooms. Oh, no need to worry about your luggage! Our exceptional staff will take care of it for you... Ha ha ha... You're our VIPs, after all! We've prepared a first-rate experience for you. All the trappings of luxury! Shall we get going? Mario, Luigi, and Peach's rooms are over here. We've prepared rooms for you Toads as well! I hope you enjoy your stay! I daresay you'll remember it for the rest of your lives! Ha ha ha... | „ |
~ Hellen Gravely |
“ | The owner of The Last Resort hotel, Hellen Gravely invited Luigi and his friends to her hotel for her idol, King Boo. Her true form is shrouded in mystery. | „ |
~ Hellen's profile, foreshadowing her true appearance. |
Hellen Gravely is the secondary antagonist of Luigi's Mansion 3. She is the undead luxurious and treacherous owner of the Last Resort Hotel and admires King Boo as his right-hand woman. She is the boss of Steward and Chambrea and also the owner of Polterkitty. Hellen resides in her office, the Main Observation Room located on the fifteenth floor, the Master Suite where she monitors Luigi throughout the game. She serves as the seventeenth and also penultimate boss in the game and Luigi has to fight her for Mario's portrait.
Hellen uses makeup to keep herself beautiful and glamorous, which is referred as GheistPaint brand according to the game's guide. But without it, Hellen's true appearance is that of an old, wrinkly and hideous woman.
History[]
Background[]
Hellen Gravely's past is largely unknown. A luxurious and likely very wealthy hotel owner, she is presumed to have been running the Last Resort as a spa for very specific clientele, ghosts like herself. Sometime in the past, she became an admirer and fan of King Boo, to the point of having filled her entire floor with various sculptures, paintings and decorations in his honor. She then foolishly frees the evil king.
Luigi's Mansion 3[]
Tricking Luigi and His Friends[]
Sometime after King Boo's second capture (during Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon), Hellen invites Luigi, Mario, Peach and three Toads to stay at the Last Resort, where she and the other members of her staff wore a pair of big shades and masks to hide their ghost traits and avoid raising suspicion. She personally greets them after they check in and shows her guests to their rooms on the fifth floor. Later, as the beautiful illusion cast upon the hotel fades to unveil the building's true appearance, Luigi wakes up from hearing Peach's scream and investigates the now creepily designed area. Hellen returns to the fifth floor to meet with Luigi. She reveals herself as a ghost, asking him for his opinion on the hotel's appearance, much to his confusion. She also reveals that she was working alongside King Boo to trap him and his friends inside paintings. Luigi manages to escape capture and eventually discovers that Professor E. Gadd was already imprisoned within the hotel after Hellen fooled him into coming to the Last Resort to acquire his ghost collection.
Failing Plans[]
Hellen continues to monitor Luigi's progress from her office on the fifteenth floor and becomes increasingly infuriated as she watches Luigi rescue his trapped friends one by one until only two remained in captivity. She also scolds her staff for their failure and demands them to leave her office and go after Luigi. After Luigi rescues Yellow Toad, Hellen is seen growing more and more angered as she watches through the monitors until she notices King Boo has appeared in her office. She reapplies makeup on herself and tries to assure King Boo that they will prevail and just need a little more time. But King Boo is so unimpressed by the performance of the hotels other ghosts that he simply takes Peach's portrait and heads for the rooftop, leaving Hellen dejected. After Luigi makes it to the fifteenth floor, Hellen appears in a widescreen, surprised to see him already in her floor. Hellen admits that she underestimated Luigi and E. Gadd and congratulates him for getting so far. However, she believes there is still time to earn King Boo's admiration by defeating Luigi herself and putting him in a portrait next to Mario, who is located in Hellen's wall. She dares him to confront her if he really wants to rescue his brother.
As Luigi progresses through the floor, he is able to see a lot of statues, paintings and decorations idolizing King Boo, with most of the paintings including Hellen with the king. This only turns Hellen's normal level of devotion for him into a massive obsession, going as far as having pillows and slippers in her bedroom and even a small figure of him in her office room. With the above said, this also includes the gemstones that are located in the floor which are also little sculptures based on King Boo. Most of the rooms have laser security that can damage Luigi if he comes in contact with them, while also instantly destroying Gooigi if touched, and the hallways also have lasers skimming across the floors during a ghost fight. In a humorous way, the most guarded room of the entire building is Hellen's bathroom which has multiple moving lasers down its paths.
Afterwards, Luigi finds Hellen in her office where she expresses her anger towards him for capturing her staff, ruining her hotel business and imprisoning her beloved Polterkitty. Hellen becomes so angered that she accidentally ends up revealing her true hideous appearance to Luigi, who jumps back in fear. She points him responsible for King Boo's disappointment towards her when he escaped from King Boo in the beginning. She then looks at her pointing arm and realizes she removed her makeup in her rage. Hellen quickly puts makeup back and returns to her beautiful form, not without telling Luigi that she will have him trapped in a painting and have King Boo's trust on her back again. She then snaps her fingers, closing the vault of the room, as the wall where Mario's painting is held is hidden. Hellen proceeds to activate the rooms security system before engaging Luigi in battle.
Confrontation with Luigi and Defeat[]
Hellen's battle requires the player to put in test their experience playing as both Luigi and Gooigi, as the boss fight is a two-level boss. Upon starting, Hellen will hide and a column will appear in the center of the room, which will be the main threat throughout the fight. The tower has two methods of attack, and the single red laser will be the most basic that Luigi can easily jump. However, as the battle progresses, Hellen attacks with a rotating wall of three lasers, and later a double wall of six lasers. Hellen usually appears in the monitors laughing mad as she watches Luigi make his way out the lasers.
After Luigi manages to avoid the lasers, Hellen appears in the arena and uses four barriers that move slowly to damage Luigi and take advantage of his limited space. Luigi has to work together with Gooigi to get around the hazards. The players uses Gooigi to flip/pull switches and navigate through barriers underground, as Hellen moves through the room while admiring herself with her hand mirror which she uses as weapon to attack Luigi and also as a shield to prevent getting flashed.
Gooigi taking out three barriers usually give enough space for Luigi to attack Gravely. Luigi has to wait the moment when Hellen slams her hand mirror to the ground, leaving her stuck and vulnerable. When flashed, Hellen reverts to her hideous form, and if Luigi fails to catch her, she returns to the monitors to reapply makeup and the battle becomes harder the more health Hellen loses. As the battle continues, Luigi manages to defeat Hellen Gravely by vacuuming her into the Poltergust G-00. She actually goes with dignity, signaling for Luigi to wait a few seconds so she can reapply her makeup, and once she does, gives him a "thumbs up" signaling him to finish it.
After defeating Hellen, Luigi manages to rescue Mario and both proceed to go to rescue Princess Peach and face King Boo together. Hellen can be seen in the vault along Polterkitty and the other ghosts that Luigi captured. Hellen is last seen with Polterkitty during the games end credits inside her containment chamber next to King Boo, as she continues to admire him.
Appearance[]
Hellen appears as a slim, purple-skinned woman when she was disguised as a human being in the beginning. She wore sunglasses in the introduction to hide her glowing yellow eyes. She wears a white/blue dress with a blue stripe going from her left hip to her left thigh. In addition, her dress touches the floor, which prevents anyone from seeing her ghost tail. Her hair is shaped as a beehive, with a white stripe on the side. She also wears a fur scarf and a lot of makeup to hide her true appearance. During her meeting with Luigi on the fifth floor, she wore an open magenta cape that covered her back, with a large collar which ties together just above the gem on her necklace.
Without her makeup, Hellen looks much older with glowing red eyes and long crooked facial features. Her appearance is skinnier and more hideous in comparison, having a sharper chin, large nose and a furrowed brow. Her beehive hairdo also falls apart and droops down from her head. Her white/blue dress also becomes messy, with more visible wrinkles, and the bottom of the dress being torn, revealing her ghostly tail completely.
Personality[]
Hellen Gravely is a huge admirer of King Boo and her reasons for trapping Luigi and his allies was to convince him she could be a big help to his plans, becoming sad and dejected after he became frustrated with her for her staff's many failed attempts to capture Luigi. She speaks in a calm and smooth tone most of the time, with the only exceptions being when she is in her true appearance. She has shown to be manipulative, by disguising herself and her employees as innocent hotel workers and passing off the Last Resort as a luxurious golden paradise. She's also shown to be very obsessed and intolerant to failure, as seen when Luigi succeeded in rescuing one of the Toads, where she immediately scolded her staff to stop him, getting more infuriated with Luigi's luck in succeeding since her main desire is to trap him to gain King Boo's approval, stopping at nothing to achieve her goal of impressing him.
Aside from King Boo, she also adores her ghost pet cat, Polterkitty, as seen in one of the cutscenes where she rests on Hellen's lap and the latter caresses her, going as far as expressing her fury when Luigi captured her. Hellen also likes maintaining her beautiful appearance using makeup and becomes angered and afraid whenever her true appearance is revealed, as seen when she reapplied makeup after her breakdown at Luigi in her office, who was terrified at her true form. Despite treating her staff poorly for their failure, Hellen cares about running her hotel business and becomes infuriated at Luigi when he captured the remaining members of her staff, practically leaving her without anyone to run the hotel, though this can be seen as pragmatic though. All in all, she is a semi-idiot, is delusional in her plans and ultimately, King Boo's affection.
Quotes[]
“ | Well well well! If it isn't my MOST esteemed VIP! I was just on my way to see you... Is your room living up to your expectations? Doesn't it SCREAM good taste? | „ |
~ Hellen asks for Luigi's opinion of his hotel room upon seeing Luigi after he wanders in the halls during her revelation as a ghost. |
“ | Oh, I can barely contain myself. You have no idea how much I wanted you to accept my invitation! "Why is that?" I'm sure you're wondering. Ha ha ha... You see... There is someone I truly adore! He's the inspiration for some of my greatest ideas... Like inviting you here! I'm such a huge fan of his! That's why it's so wonderful that I get to introduce him to... YOU! That's right, Luigi! I hope you're ready! | „ |
~ Hellen reveals why she invited Luigi and his friends, just before King Boo makes his first appearance in the game. |
“ | K-K-K-K-King Boo! There was just a tiny slipup... But it's no problem! Not at all! We'll have Luigi locked away soon! If I could just have a little bit more time... | „ |
~ Hellen explains to King Boo what happened. |
“ | Tch! How could my staff be so incompetent?! There's no way Luigi should have gotten this far! I suppose I underestimated you and that professor... Just a tad. | „ |
~ Hellen is infuriated after finding Luigi very close to her location |
“ | Congratulations on making it all the way up here, but that doesn't mean you've won! Actually, this could be very, very good! You, Luigi... You're about to become the ultimate gift! | „ |
~ Hellen congratulating Luigi |
“ | Once I capture you and offer you to King Boo, he'll be absolutely delighted with me! In a way, this worked out splendidly. You might as well have wrapped yourself! Maybe King Boo will decide to display you next to this painting... I'll have to ask him! | „ |
~ Hellen reveals Mario's painting to Luigi and also her plan of capturing him to get King Boo's approval |
“ | Luiiiiiiigi! If you want to save Mario, you'll have to come and find me! Try not to faint from sheer terror before then. I'll be waiting in anticipation! | „ |
~ Hellen taunting Luigi to reach her and save Mario |
“ | Well well well... I honestly didn't think you'd have it in you. A scaredy-cat like you, making it this far... You're just FULL of surprises! | „ |
~ Hellen encountering Luigi in her office |
“ | You ransacked my hotel, captured my staff with that strange vacuum of yours... And to top it all off, you catnapped my sweetie, my little darling... My precious Polterkitty! This isn't how it was supposed to happen! | „ |
~ Hellen mentions what happened prior to her breakdown |
“ | You weren't supposed to run away from King Boo like a filthy coward! If you'd just let yourself get caught in that painting, King Boo would have showered me with praise for my brilliant trap! But instead... Instead... I'VE LOST EVERYTHING! BECAUSE OF YOU! | „ |
~ Hellen verbally lashes at Luigi during her breakdown. |
“ | Ahem... Shall we begin? I suppose I'll just have to deal with you myself. Then King Boo will trust me once more and recognize how useful I can be to him! Are you ready, Luigi? Do try to make this enjoyable for me! | „ |
~ Hellen's last words as she prepares to battle Luigi |
Trivia[]
- Hellen's first and last name are deprived from "hell" and "grave".
- Hellen Gravely is not the first ghost in the Luigi's Mansion series to play a major role in King Boo's operations. Vincent Van Gore created many of the ghosts which served as the backbone of King Boo's forces in the first game (and its 3DS remake).
- Coincidentally, they both star as the penultimate boss of their respective games.
- However, Hellen's obsession to have King Boo's approval and being able to fight by herself made her more dangerous than Van Gore himself, who mostly depended on the ghosts he created to destroy Luigi.
- During the opening of Luigi's Mansion 3, only Hellen's hair and clothes appear in the elevator mirror, not her face. This is in stark contrast to other ghosts in the hotel, who appear visible in mirrors.
- Hellen serves a similar role to King Boo as Bowser Jr. does to Bowser, as both are right-hands of the main villains they praise and trick the heroes at first to achieve their goals (Hellen luring Luigi and company into a trap and Bowser Jr. disguising himself as Shadow Mario to taint Mario's good name)
- It should also be noted that Professor Elvin Gadd was present in the games that they made their first appearances (although he only makes a cameo in Bowser Jr.'s debut).
- The only difference between the two is that while Bowser Jr. struggles to be as great as his father one day, Hellen struggles for her love and admiration towards King Boo.
- While Luigi is in the Master Suite, he finds makeup cases and even a broken vanity mirror in her bedroom. This serves as foreshadowing of Hellen's true appearance which also explains that she possibly broke the mirror in a fit of rage.
- Hellen's large beehive hairstyle with a white stripe may be a reference to The Bride of Frankenstein, while the tapering of her dress may be a reference to Morticia Addams of The Addams Family.
- Without her mascara, Hellen resembles very closely Cruella De Vil from The Hundred and One Dalmatians.
- Her name in other translations also have different puns and references such as:
- Spanish (NoE): Vilma du Tel, which is a pun between the words "Vil" that means "vile" or "despicable" in Spanish, and "Du Tel" which sounds similar to "Hotel". It might also be a reference to the aforementioned Cruella de Vil, to whom she bears a physical resemblance.
- Italian: Malberta Crisantemi, with "Malberta" is a portmanteau of Italian "male" (evil) and "Alberta"; "Crisantemi" refers to the chrysantemum, a flower used in Europe to commemorate the deads in All Souls' Day
- Chinese: 假素颜/假素顏 (Pinyin: Jiǎsùyán), which means "Fake face without makeup", which foreshadows Hellen's true nature in the game and also her true form.
- Hellen is, without a doubt, the most bad-tempered and easily-angered non-Boo ghost in the entire game, and is the most aggressive and violent ghost out of all of the Luigi's Mansion ghosts, yet, she does have her standards.