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This Villain was Headlined on January 2009. | ||
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This Villain was proposed and approved by Villains Wiki's Pure Evil Proposals Thread. Any act of removing this villain from the category without a Removal Proposal shall be considered vandalism (or a futile "heroic" attempt of redemption) and the user will have high chances of being | ||
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| “ | That's the Shadow Queen! Wow, she's scary... but we gotta hold our ground! Max HP is 150, Attack is 7, and Defense is 1. She'll use lightning magic and boost her own Attack and Defense power. And, if she uses her breath on us, we could be poisoned, confused, or lose power-ups! But...the worst is when she saves energy for a big attack! That... is... GNARLY! We'd do best to just avoid it by hiding in the shadows with Vivian, I think. Boy, and not only is her body scary, but her hands are pretty mean, as well. She has several attack patterns, so watch closely to see what's coming! Now, Mario! Let's do it! This is it, our final battle! Let's give it all we've got! | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen's Tattle. |
| “ | You would do well to learn your proper place, slave. No one commands me! My powers are not yet fully restored... But... They will come in time... | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen after almost murdering Sir Grodus. |
The Shadow Queen is the overarching antagonist of the 2004 role-playing video game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and its 2024 remake of the same name.
She is a mysterious, powerful and cruel ancient demon queen who destroyed an ancient civilization in the past, having been nigh-inexorable in her conquest of the entire world with the aid of countless monsters that she created and the Crystal Stars. In the end, her plans were foiled, and she was sealed away by four heroes within the Thousand-Year Door.
Even though she was sealed away, her followers vowed to bring her back into the world, scheming against both Mario and the X-Nauts. Their collection of the Crystal Stars and opening The Thousand-Year Door inadvertently allowed the Queen to break free from her prison, which brought darkness to the whole world.
Biography[]
1,000 Years Ago[]
The destruction of the city as the book says in.
Legend has it that the Shadow Queen simply appeared out of nowhere one day and waged war against the city where Rogueport now stands. She destroyed the city, murdered all who stood in her path, and the war itself would be described as a "great cataclysm where the earth shook, and skies roared". After the attack, the city crumbled and sank into the earth. One third of the city was reconstructed to be the Palace of Shadow where the entrance would be the 1,000-Year Door itself, the death trap of evil.
The demonic Queen next set her sights on the rest of the world, hoping to plunge it into an endless time of darkness under her control. She created numerous demonic beasts and spirits to make up the core of her army. Among them were the three Shadow Sirens, who would be the most trusted followers of the queen. With her new army, the Shadow Queen set them on the surrounding areas of the world. The demons wiped out all resistance as they took the lands by force, killing millions of people in the process. Towns were destroyed and their treasures were stolen to be stored within the palace, soon to become rich with valuables. The Shadow Queen was far from finished though, and created three dragons, Hooktail, Gloomtail and Bonetail. These dragons became the loyal pets of the queen and quickly spread fear and suffering throughout the world, feasting on numerous people, destroying towns and leaving them to burn, and killing anyone.
The queen and her army quickly became feared above all else, and the mere mention of their name sent people into a fearful state of panic. As more areas fell to the Shadow Queen, she next created the Crystal Stars. These stars were placed in separate areas around the world to exert the queen's influence. Realizing that her opposition were still recruiting others, the queen created a dungeon called the Pit of 100 Trials. The place was a torture chamber where people were devoured by demonic beasts and Bonetail. This very pit is found right next to The Thousand-Year Door, where there are literally 100 floors.
The Four Warriors[]
Just when all hope seemed lost, four brave warriors stepped forward to end the reign of the demon once and for all, or so they thought. The four were a Toad from Petalburg, a wise Goomba from Boggly Woods, a scarred and feared Koopa, and a Boo. The Toad from Petalburg came to be seen as a hero when he defended his town from the Queen's evil forces. The wise Goomba was a resident of the Boggly Woods and used his vast set of knowledge to aid the Punis in defending themselves against the monsters. The scarred Koopa went around the world battling evil. He became feared among the dark army, but eventually, a trap was set for him, and he soon fell into it. The Boo warrior of the army then left her demonic allegiance and helped the Koopa.
The Boo then used her powers to predict that they would need the aid of the Toad, and the wise Goomba in order to have a fighting chance against the Shadow Queen. The Four banded together and obtained the Crystal Stars and ventured into the Palace of Shadow. There they faced the demon in an epic battle. After an intense fight, the heroes defeated the queen after succeeding at destroying her physical body. Even then though, the queen's demonic spirit lived on and attempted to kill the warriors. The heroes made one last effort and sealed the queen in her own palace, thus ridding the world of one of the evilest of evils.
Last Stand[]
The Powerful Crystal Stars.
Before the seal was complete though, the queen sent a portion of her magic into the heroes. The effects would not be felt while they held the stars, but afterward, the heroes would become trapped within black chests. The queen vowed to return one day and conquer the world when that day dawns. The heroes then realized that the demon's threats may not just be a bluff. They sealed the Palace entrance with the stars and the seal would remain for 1,000 years. The entrance to the palace would then go on to be known as The Thousand-Year Door. Realizing that others may need the stars in case the queen returns, they made a map of the stars in case the future heroes would need them. To ensure that the map only fell into pure hands, they placed it in a chest that could only be opened by one pure of heart.
The Thousand Year Door.
While the war finally seemed to be over, there were other plans in effect to ensure that the demon would return to the world. The Shadow Sirens began to spread rumors of a great treasure hidden in the earth beneath the location of the old city. People then constructed a town over the city, which soon became filled with thugs and robbers, hoping to claim the treasure for themselves. None of them knew that the treasure was actually a demon and that the rumor of the treasure was nothing more than a ruse in part of an insidious plot to send the world into complete darkness again.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door[]
1,000 years later, the warriors, the Shadow Queen and their great battle have faded into being nothing more than a legend. The seal on the palace door begins to fade and the Shadow Queen's servants, the Shadow Sirens, know the time to release their queen draws near. The Shadow Sirens join the cult of the X-Nauts; a criminal organization of unknown origin and exist to conquer the world. With this information, Beldam, the head of the Shadow Sirens, manages to convince the X-Nauts master Sir Grodus to seek out the Crystal Stars and use them to release the Shadow Queen. Grodus, who hopes to rule the world, thinks by releasing the Shadow Queen, he will be able to control her and use her to fulfill his dream. This is all a lie made up by Beldam though just to get Grodus to help in order to free her, because evil like Beldam cannot touch the seal that is on the queen.
With the X-Nauts playing into her hands, Beldam comes into possession of the chest that contains the Magic Map; giving it to Grodus and told him that it could be the ideal way of finding a pure maiden. Beldam knows that if the queen is to return to full power, a vessel is needed. The vessel needs to be one of pure origin though, and seeing how the chest can only be opened by someone as such, it is the perfect way to find the maiden. Grodus likes the plan and has Beldam disguise herself as a merchant selling various items they looted while looking for people to open the chest. Eventually, Beldam finds the right person to open it, who turns out to be Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. Beldam finds the maiden but is unable to abduct her then because of too many witnesses. In the meantime, Peach mails the map to Mario to aid in searching for the treasure. As a result, Grodus sends his army to abduct the princess and search for the map.
The Thousand-Year Door opening.
With the seal on the Thousand-Year Door weakening and Grodus' intelligence at Beldam's side, the Queen's resurrection seems assured but the X-Nauts' attempts to collect the stars are foiled at every turn by the hero Mario and his friends. Eventually, Mario defeats Grodus' second-in-command Lord Crump, completely obliterates the X-Naut base and manages to claim the last Crystal Star. In the meantime, Beldam abducts Professor Frankly, a Goomba that had a lot of knowledge and helped Mario find the locations of Crystal Stars, has him locked in a secluded area, and Grodus has Doopliss, a ghost that can transform into many shapes, disguise himself as the aged professor. In this guise, he is able to convince Mario to open the Thousand-Year Door and allow Grodus to enter.
Mario goes after Grodus who, along with a kidnapped Princess Peach, enters the Palace of Shadow shortly after Mario cracked the seal on it with the Crystal Stars. Eventually, after making his way through the palace traps, Mario encounters and battles Grodus. When Grodus is defeated, he chooses not to accept it and uses the Princess as a hostage. It is only with the intervention of Bowser that Peach is saved from harm but Bowser engages Mario and his friends in battle along with his assistant Kammy Koopa. This distracts Mario and company long enough for Grodus to escape with Peach to the Queen's chamber. After Mario defeats Bowser and Kammy, he goes after Grodus and corners him in the chamber where it is revealed why Grodus needed the Princess: he plans to use Peach as the Queen's host body.
Return of the Queen[]
The Shadow Queen after taking over Princess Peach's body.
Summoning the Queen, Grodus presents her with Peach, whom she then possesses. Becoming "Shadow Peach", her summoning engulfs the world in darkness. Grodus, thinking the Queen is under his control because he revived her, orders her to destroy Mario but the Queen, insulted by Grodus thinking her to be a slave, blows apart his robotic body. The Shadow Sirens then appear, and Beldam explains to the Shadow Queen they created the myth of an ancient treasure and tricked Grodus into reviving her, and the Shadow Queen thanks them for their work.
Battling The Shadow Queen.
The Shadow Queen then sees Mario and offers him a choice of being her servant, which he of course refuses (the player can choose yes, but it will result in an instant game over). She then attacks Mario, and while the fight is not too hard at first, the Shadow Queen eventually becomes invincible. None of Mario's party attacks were able to do any damage and all Mario can do to survive was to wait until the Crystal Stars came out in response to the evil in the area. Once that happens, the friends who Mario had made along the way encourage him with their pleasant thoughts, which are communicated through the Crystal Stars. This distracts the Shadow Queen long enough for Peach to gain momentary control and give Mario all her power. Receiving full power, Mario is able harm the Shadow Queen, and the true battle begins.
After a lengthy and intense showdown, the demon is defeated and she expresses disbelief at how she could be beaten by such beings that are as weak as she believed, before she screams as she vanishes in a shadowy explosion that ripples across the room, leaving behind an unharmed Princess Peach, who returns to her normal self.
Alternate Ending[]
An image of the JP version (top) where Mario is visibly brainwashed, and one of the EN version (bottom) where Mario remains defensive with no effects of brainwashing.
This alternate ending just happens during the scene where The Shadow Queen tries to convince Mario to be her servant after she saw how Mario could be useful for her. Afterwards, the player has two options of choose "Refuse this witch!" and "Become her servant". If the player then chooses the latter, the Shadow Queen will be pleased by Mario's loyalty towards her, calling him a pet and claiming that now he belongs to her forever. Then the screen turns black, and a last message explains the Shadow Queen took over the whole world and engulfed it in an age of darkness for everyone including Peach, Mario and all his friends. After that, the final scene consists of a Game Over.
It should be noted that in the Japanese version, when the player accepts the Shadow Queen's offer, the screen suddenly flashes, and Mario assumes the same posture he had when Doopliss impersonated him. However, in the other versions, Mario remains the same with no visible effects of brainwashing.
In the remake, this was changed to be like the Japanese version, with Mario's partner reacting in shock, similar to their reaction when Mario loses all of his HP in battle.
Other Appearances[]
Super Paper Mario[]
The Shadow Queen makes a cameo as one of Francis' dolls along with other characters as dolls and posters from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
Super Mario-Kun[]
The Shadow Queen also appears in the Super Mario-Kun manga adaptation of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's plot. As with most characters in the manga, she displays more of a comic side.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
The Shadow Queen appears as a primary attack-type spirit. Her appearance is based on her first form when possessing Peach. Her spirit can only be obtained through summoning using cores from Vivian and Gengar.
Personality[]
The Shadow Queen is shown to be a ruthless, vain, hardened, dark, and cruel tyrantess who cares for nothing but herself or her desire for power and control. She is a highly power-hungry and ruthless demon whose actions have led to the destruction of entire lands and the murders of millions. She is shown to be one of the (if not the) most disturbing and immoral villains within the series and doesn't demonstrate any kindness or care for anything or anyone, even those who did favors for her, as she killed Sir Grodus knowing that he resurrected her. Many of the monsters Mario fought were part of her army, and her most loyal followers were the ones manipulating the course of events to revive her, in which they succeeded.
In addition to being a demon from the dark depths, the Shadow Queen is highly sadistic as all her strongholds and fortresses are overflowing with thousands of mutilated corpses. This all contributed to her sadistic personality and thirst for violence. Her power seemed to possess no limits as she created demonic armies, three immortal dragons and even the Crystal Stars themselves. The Crystal Stars seem to have unlimited power and taking into account that they represent only portions of the queen's power, her power seems to be nearly godlike. After years of her reign of terror, her reputation became so horrible and well-known that people shuddered at the mere mention of her or any of her followers and monsters.
Unsurprisingly, the Queen is able to install massive fear in not just the world itself but her followers as well. She seems to be so evil that her very presence brings a horrible aura as well as darkness in the skies. Her palace and even the Thousand-Year Door itself all have a horrible feeling, and even the thugs of Rogueport stay away from the door due to the feeling it evokes. Even after her first defeat, her minions, the Shadow Sirens, attempted to revive her by using other villains. Other than the stories told within the game, not much more is known about the witch, and it seems that she has done nothing else within her existence other than creating destruction, chaos and mass murder.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Power: Being a demon, the Shadow Queen is amongst the most powerful enemies Mario has ever faced although the true extent of her power is unknown. However, it's well known that she was a lot more powerful than she demonstrated during her battle as she completely levelled Rogueport's predecessor and made it sink into the ocean.
- Possession: The Shadow Queen can possess people by leaning over them and emitting dark energy spirals.
- Transformation: Upon possessing Princess Peach, the Shadow Queen made her slightly taler and made her outfit more evil looking.
- Darkness Encasement: The Shadow Queen's most powerful ability where she can plunge the entire world into eternal darkness. How she can do this is unknown as it happened instantly when she possessed Princess Peach
- Brainwashing: The Shadow Queen can instantly brainwash anyone as seen with Mario if he accepts her offer of joining her.
- Cursing: The Shadow Queen was able to use her last magic in the moment to curse the four warriors and trap them in black chests for many years.
- Immortality: Having been trapped inside the Shadow of Palace for a thousand years, she cannot die by any natural means of death.
- Life Drain: The Shadow Queen can pull the life out of her victims merely by raising her hand over them.
- Lightning: The Shadow Queen can summon a bolt of red or yellow lightning by raising her arms and/or spinning which is strong enough to almost kill Sir Grodus instantly.
- True Form Transformation: By making her host distort and having black spirals surround them, the Shadow Queen can project her true form out of them.
- Dead-Hands: The Shadow Queen can summon a group of hands out of the ground that can assist her in battle.
- Strength Raise: The Shadow Queen can increase her attack and defensive capabilities by sucking in power.
- Breath: The Shadow Queen can breathe a cloud around her victims that causes damage and can confuse or poison victims.
- Shadow Purge: The Shadow Queen's most powerful attack launches a powerful blast of shadow that causes heavy damage.
Weaknesses[]
- The Crystal Stars: The Crystal Stars originally sealed the Shadow Queen away and were necessary to open the Thousand Year Door and release her. They were also instrumental in her defeat due to stripping away her invulnerability.
- Host Necessity: The Shadow Queen needs a female vessel of some sort to have a physical form.
- Veil/Boo's Sheet: By using Vivian or a Boo's Sheet to become intangible, the Shadow Purge completely misses Mario.
Arsenal[]
- Fists: The Shadow Queen can use her hands to direct her attack.
- Dead Hands: The Shadow Queen can summon a group of dark purple hands to slam into the enemy.
- Slam: A Dead Hand can rise over Mario and crush him flat.
- Life Drain: A Dead Hand can rise over Mario's head and glow golden to draw his life to heal the Shadow Queen.
- Audience Absorption: The Shadow Queen can summon a small army of Dead Hands to absorb the audience into her and fully restore her HP at will.
Quotes[]
| “ | Who...has called me back? | „ |
| ~ Shadow Queen upon being resurrected. |
| “ | Yessss... A fine vessel... | „ |
| ~ Shadow Queen about to possess Princess Peach. |
| “ | Muh huh huh huh huh... Witness my rebirth... My soul has not yet fully accustomed to this vessel. But I will learn to control this body soon enough. | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen after possessing Peach. |
| “ | Who are you that would command me? What sort of being are you? | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen when Sir Grodus tried to order her around. |
| “ | Yesss... They do not appear to possess power...But they may be of use. If you will become my faithful servants, I will not harm you. | „ |
| ~ Shadow Queen's offer. |
| “ | Yesss... You are obedient... Good, my pet... Now you are mine... You will serve me for eternity! | „ |
| ~ Shadow Queen in the alternate ending. |
| “ | I see... So you defy me... Then, you wretched fools...you will learn the error of your ways! | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen beginning the final battle. |
| “ | You are foolish to oppose me. Yes.... and that foolishness... will have to be punished... | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen as the final battle commenced. |
| “ | Hmm... So, you are not weak. Maybe you are less useless than you appear. This body is unfamiliar to me... Yesss, too unfamiliar... Let me assume my true form and show you true power... | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen before transforming. |
| “ | In this form, your attacks are like those of a child to me... You are lucky... You will perish with the honor of having seen true terror and power! Muh huh huh huh huh huh! | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen mocking Mario and the Party Members after assuming her true form. |
| “ | Muh huh huh huh huh huh! Is that your idea of an attack? Foolish... Struggle as you might, it won't be enough... | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen after Mario realized her invulnerability. |
| “ | Muh huh huh huh huh... Now, taste my power... | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen after her second round of invulnerability. |
| “ | Yesss... I have recovered from any slight damage you many have caused earlier... And now... I will punish you for your resistance... | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen after recovering from Mario's attacks using the audience. |
| “ | What is this... light? Ohh... Ohh... Oohhhhhhhhhh... | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen as her invulnerability was removed. |
| “ | You wretched little girl! You disobey me?!? You brat! Obey me, girl! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Very cunning, Princess! But you will not undo me!!! Know me as your queen! | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen when Princess Peach resisted her. |
| “ | Impossible...Unthinkable...How could I... I cannot be beaten by lesser beings such as these... And I had just been reborn into this world... I cannot... I must not... | „ |
| ~ The Shadow Queen's last words. |
Trivia[]
- The Shadow Queen was affably evil in the original Japanese version, where she was more down-to-earth and was willing to forgive Mario and co.'s attempts to oppose her if they agreed to serve her eternally. She was the opposite in the English translation where she acts condescendingly and treats everyone as possible pawns for her to use.
- Like the Three Shadows, her eyes are never seen in the game. However, she reveals her eyes in Super Mario-Kun manga. Also, she blinks when she uses lightning attacks
- She is one of few Mario final bosses to not have an official artwork.
- Like Cackletta, Dimentio, the MegaBug and Cursa, the Shadow Queen possesses a major character during the final battle. In her case, she possessed Princess Peach (Cackletta and the MegaBug possess Bowser (with the former possessing Bowser to become Bowletta and the latter possessing him to become MegaDragonBowser), Dimentio possesses Luigi to become Super Dimentio and Cursa possesses Rosalina).
- In the original game, if one looks closely at the crypt after it opens, the Shadow Queen's fingers can be seen grabbing the edges of it before she fully climbs out, though it is difficult to notice due to a whirlwind of dark power concealing them.
- This is made much more noticeable in the remake as her hands grip on the edges, shortly before the dark whirlwind appears as she comes out of the crypt.
- In the Nintendo Switch remake, when the torches turn dark before she emerges, the red carpet turns blue.
- The Shadow Queen's defeat is handled differently; in the original game she explodes but, in the remake, she disintegrates into a mist of dark power. Also in the remake, she can be heard screaming in her final moments.
- Her strongest attack can inflict 17 points of damage on Mario and is similar to a Tabuu-style off-wave.
- Summoning Dead Hands is one of her attacks. This is possibly inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, as one of the mini bosses is named Dead Hand.
External Links[]
- The Shadow Queen's American and European Version on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Shadow Queen on the Mario Wiki
- Shadow Queen on the Super Mario Wiki
- Shadow Queen on the Paper Mario Wiki
- Shadow Queen on the Nintendo Wiki
