Doopliss

Doopliss
Artwork from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Species	Duplighost
First appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Latest appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)
Portrayed by	Charles Martinet (while in Mario disguise)

“So, you figured it out by now, right, Slick? Your body and name belong to me now!”

—Doopliss, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Doopliss is a Duplighost that lives in the Creepy Steeple of Twilight Town in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and its Nintendo Switch remake. He appears as an enemy of Mario several times throughout the game, and is the boss of Chapter 4. He causes the members of Twilight Town to become pigs whenever the bell tolls, and attempts to steal Mario's identity. He has the special ability of stealing another character's body when copying them, something that other Duplighosts are unable to do. He later joins Beldam and Marilyn of the Three Shadows, taking Vivian's place.

Doopliss' English name comes from the word "duplicity", being double or twofold, which references his powers. It also may come from the word "dupe", meaning to fool others, which he does while disguised. In other localizations, his name is Rumpel, which comes from the fairy tale character Rumpelstiltskin, as both offer the same challenge: to have another guess his name.

History

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

At some point after the Boo of the four legendary heroes hides the Ruby Star in Creepy Steeple, Doopliss moves into the castle and keeps it for himself. Doopliss enchants the bell of the Creepy Steeple so that each time it rings, a resident of the nearby Twilight Town is transformed into a pig. Mario, whose Magical Map tells him that the Ruby Star is inside the Creepy Steeple, seeks to help the inhabitants of the village and goes to the steeple via the Twilight Trail. When Mario and his team encounter Doopliss in the highest tower of the steeple, he is watching TV and coming up with new ideas for pranks, suggesting that he is a very dedicated prankster.

In the following fight against Doopliss, Goombella is unable to tell Doopliss' name using Tattle, as it does not appear in her log. Instead, Doopliss' name is represented by five question marks (i.e. ?????). Once Doopliss' HP drops below 20, he fights by transforming himself into a shadowy outline of Mario and attacking with his moves. After seemingly defeating Doopliss, he switches bodies with Mario and leaves Mario as a shadow. Doopliss, as Mario, claims to have defeated himself and won the Crystal Star. Having successfully tricked Mario's partners, he marches off to Twilight Town, leaving the actual Mario defeated on the floor.

The real Mario, now merely a shadow, follows Doopliss back to Twilight Town, where he meets the ghost at the village's entrance. Doopliss then tells Mario that if he can correctly guess his name, Mario's original form will be restored. At the moment, he is unable to guess correctly because Doopliss has somehow removed the lower-case letter P from the keyboard screen to prevent Mario from guessing his real name. Because of this, he challenges Mario and orders him not to run. However, because neither Mario nor Doopliss can damage each other (in the Nintendo Switch remake, Doopliss can damage Mario), Mario is forced to flee.

While in Mario's body, Doopliss decides to claim Mario's efforts for his own. He presents himself to Twilight Town as their savior who defeated the steeple's demon and lifted the pig curse. He visits Mayor Dour, who invites him for a meal. None of the villagers notice Mario's true identity, although his fellow party members note that the fake Mario is behaving in an unusual manner.

Mario then finds Vivian, who is at the time in Twilight Town looking for the Superbombomb and does not realize who she meets is actually Mario. They hear from a crow in the village that a being in the basement of the Creepy Steeple knows Doopliss' name. Back in the steeple, they hear the name "Doopliss" from the parrot living there. The lowercase "p", which was not available in the name selection screen provided by Doopliss, is held in a treasure chest in the Creepy Steeple's dungeon. Having secured the missing letter, Mario and Vivian are able to name the ghost correctly.

Mario and Vivian then corner Doopliss at the entrance of Twilight Town and tells him his real name, which weakens the power of his spell by making him vulnerable to Mario's attacks. Doopliss' magic is, however, not fully broken by this and he flees back to the tower of the Creepy Steeple. In the tower room, Doopliss and Mario's fooled partners fight the actual Mario. Vivian only then realizes he is Mario, but chooses to abandon her sisters, Marilyn and Beldam, and joins Mario in the fight. Doopliss is defeated and both he and Mario return to their original forms. Doopliss flees and gives up the Ruby Star. While on the run, he meets Beldam and Marilyn in Twilight Town who were currently looking for Vivian.

Doopliss fills in for Vivian when he joins Beldam and Marilyn. In this position he, too, is mistreated by Beldam, who insists on calling him a "freak-in-a-sheet", despite the fact that he is no longer secretive about his name.

Doopliss later helps Beldam and Marilyn in an attempt to prevent Mario and his team from reaching Poshley Heights by the Excess Express. Disguised as the star Zip Toad, he steals Nitro Honey Syrup from the Businessman, Shell Earrings from the the Excess Express waitress, and Toodles's Gold Ring. Beldam and Doopliss plan to create a "sticky, yummy, gooey mess" by combining the syrup, calcium from the earrings, and gold to create a bomb which would blow up the train. Doopliss Zip Toad is stopped at the last minute by Mario. When Pennington arrests Zip and takes him off the train at Riverside Station, he shocks Pennington by turning back and dashing away. Doopliss, Beldam, and Marilyn reappear in Poshley Heights, where they break into the Poshley Sanctum by smashing a window and steal the Garnet Star, which turns out to be a red herring created by Pennington, while Mario and his team find the real one hidden inside the painting.

Doopliss reappears once again after Chapter 7 in Rogueport Underground, where he has taken on the disguise of Professor Frankly and tricks Mario and his partners into opening the Thousand-Year Door and entering the Palace of Shadow. Here, Doopliss, Beldam, and Marilyn fight Mario and his team in front of the Palace of Shadow Tower. In this battle, Doopliss is a bit tougher, and has the ability to transform into Mario or one of his partners, and attacking as them. Goombella's field tattle for Doopliss is viewable only after he, Beldam, and Marilyn are defeated. Following their defeat, Doopliss, Beldam, and Marilyn watch Mario's battle against the Shadow Queen. After the Shadow Queen is defeated, Doopliss wants everyone to call him by his real name, tired of Beldam calling him a "Freak-in-a-sheet".

At the end of the game, Doopliss changes his mind about being a prankster and becomes an actor, being on stage together with Flurrie and playing the role of Mario.

• 

  Doopliss to the right, versus the real Mario as a shadow and Vivian

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  Beldam, Marilyn, and Doopliss stealing the Garnet Star (actually a red herring)

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  Beldam, Marilyn, and Doopliss about to fight Mario and his partners

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  Beldam, Marilyn, and Doopliss watch the rise of the Shadow Queen.

Super Mario-kun

Doopliss in the manga

Doopliss also makes an appearance in the manga Super Mario-kun. Doopliss plays the same role in Super Mario-kun as he does in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. He holds one of the Crystal Stars and steals Mario's identity by using a beam based attack. In the end, Doopliss is humorously defeated by the real Mario. After the fight, the real Mario gets his identity back.

General information

Physical description

Doopliss sitting in his room in the Creepy Steeple

Doopliss is, in his regular appearance, a Duplighost who wears a blue bow tie and a blue cone-shaped hat with red stars on it. His eyes and mouth appear bigger than those of the Duplighosts in Paper Mario, his sheet is whiter, and his shoes are orange instead of gray. Doopliss is, as a Duplighost, most likely undead. He is referred to as a demon or a monster by the inhabitants of Twilight Town.

Doopliss after taking Mario's form

When he takes on Mario's form, he often has stern and evil looks which are rarely seen on the actual Mario's face. When Doopliss impersonates Mario, it is also notable that this is the only time where Mario is actually seen talking, as the real Mario is portrayed as a silent protagonist throughout the game. Even Mario's partners take notice, when both Mario and Doopliss visit Mayor Dour's house. They are surprised and wonder whether Mario suddenly learned to talk. It is also worth noting that at all times that when Doopliss is Mario that he looks rather tired and hunched over (like Mario when he is in Danger or Peril), his eyes are more rounded, appear reddish, and do not blink, as opposed to the true Mario's oval-shaped, brownish, and constantly blinking eyes, and that he is slightly shorter than the real Mario. In the Japanese version of the original game as well as all versions of the remake, this sprite is also used for the real Mario if he agrees to serve the Shadow Queen. When Doopliss impersonates Mario, Doopliss' voice becomes metallic. In the remake, this appearance changes somewhat, as now his cap is pulled over his eyes.

In the GameCube version of the game, if Mario is recolored from equipping either the W Emblem or L Emblem badges, Doopliss as Mario will still have Mario's normal clothes. This was corrected in the Switch version. Additionally, Doopliss' clothes will not change if the badge is subsequently unequipped by the player, retaining whatever appearance Mario had when he is copied.

Powers and abilities

Doopliss' major ability is to transform into different people. By doing this, he can actually steal the real person's look and name, leaving them as shadows. When Doopliss assumes Mario's form, Mario is unable to tell Vivian his real name, and is only able to confirm it when she confronts him with being Mario. Doopliss states that he can only truly become Mario by defeating the original one. However, this is not always the case, as Doopliss is later able to transform into Mario's partners without them losing their own form. This ability is commonly attributed to all Duplighosts. He can also attack by floating into the air, then swooping down onto Mario and his party.

Doopliss' magic is broken by telling him his name. A crow in Twilight Town states that there always has to be at least one being knowing Doopliss' name; otherwise, he cannot exist. After Mario's victory over him after Chapter 4, Doopliss stops being secretive with his name, however, and apparently, it no longer hurts him when his name is said (at one point, he is even yelling to Beldam "I said, my name's DOOPLISS!"). Conversely, it seems he is afterwards unable to steal one's identity as fully as he did with Mario.

Twilight Town's inhabitants turned into pigs by Doopliss

Doopliss enchanted the Creepy Steeple's bell to turn an inhabitant of Twilight Town into a pig each time it rings. As explained by Vivian, since nobody knows his name, he gains the ability to cast incredible magic (a common theme in real mythology), which is likely amplified by the Crystal Star he possesses. This power is what allowed him to tie his Duplighost abilities to the Steeple's bell. During his boss theme, the bell rings fully four times in every loop. Doopliss' defeat is linked to the curse's dissipation, though it might be mostly because of the power of the Ruby Star. When Mario first appears to claim the star, the villagers turn back to normal (the same thing happens with Grubba). However, it is also possible that Doopliss himself turns the villagers back to normal, as he, in Mario's form, claims that it had been him who freed them from the ghost. Also, the bell might still be enchanted, as it is stated that it no longer rings, though it is most likely that it is not.

When Doopliss corners Mario at the entrance of Twilight Town, he appears by jumping out of the background, leaving a torn-paper hole in it. This effect also appears when Cortez's ship confronts Lord Crump's ship at the end of Chapter 5 and when Mario uses the Special Move Showstopper.

Later in the game, when Doopliss is part of the Three Shadows, he actually has a problem as he is not able to vanish at one spot and appear at another, an ability used by Beldam, Marilyn, and Vivian. Doopliss has to smash a window in the Poshley Sanctum for himself only, and he always runs away alone when the Three Shadows have long since disappeared into the shadows, calling them to wait for him.

Personality

Doopliss' motives are shrouded in mystery. He seemingly has little motivation to do anything beyond watch television and prank people. According to himself, he turns the Twilighters into pigs because they are "depressing and boring and dimwitted all the time", and he thought that instead of wallowing in gloom, "they might as well wallow in mud". While this characteristic of Doopliss might be described as cruel, he is later portrayed as childish, exclaiming "NO! NO! NO! NO!", "WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?", "HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW?" after Mario has guessed his name correctly. He frequently calls Mario and other people he does not consider friends "Slick," though this trait is not present in the Japanese version of the game. As a member of the Three Shadows, he suffers the same taunts as Vivian, but does not have enough power to resist them. Due to the fact that Doopliss changes sides after the game, teaming up with Flurrie, he may not be described as entirely "evil", but simply immature and reckless.

While impersonating Mario, Doopliss talks in a self-righteous manner. To Mario's partners, he says "All right, kids, put on your fighting gloves! Uh... Woo hoo! It's-a me!" He mockingly calls Vivian Mario's girlfriend, and after Vivian realizes Mario's true identity, Doopliss teases Mario with "See? Your friends ditch you because you don't have the charisma of me, Super Mario!". He also plays at Mario's popularity at the meeting with Mayor Dour, where the real Mario drops in and is not recognized by anyone else.

Battle

Even if Doopliss' health is reduced down to zero in the first fight before he copies Mario, the event in the battle still shows and Doopliss will have 10 HP, meaning it is impossible to skip the second half of the chapter. The remake accounts for this event by having Doopliss utilize a Life Mushroom to revive himself in case he is defeated in such a manner. A similar situation occurs in the second fight, where he is revived with a Life Mushroom so that the fight cannot be completed until Vivian rejoins the fight. In addition, any badges that affect Mario's partners (i.e. HP Plus P or Power Plus P) are disabled during this fight if they were equipped.

Profiles and statistics

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door enemy
????? (1)
	Max HP	40	Attack	4	Defense	0
	Location(s)	Creepy Steeple	Role	Boss	Level	52
	Sleep?	60%	Dizzy?	70%	Confuse?	60%
	Tiny?	80%	Stop?	60%	Soft?	90%
	Burn?	100%	Freeze?	50%	Fright?	0%
	Gale Force?	0%	KO?	0%	Moves	(As Himself) Head Missile (4), Transform (turns into Shadow Mario) (As Shadow Mario) Jump (2x2), Hammer (4)
	Exp. points	0	Coins	N/A	Items	None
Tattle Log #: 104	Log	This is the beast that's plunged Twilight Town into the depths of fear and despair. It enjoys turning innocent people into pigs.
	Tattle	...??? Wow, how totally bizarre... This thing isn't listed in here. There's a monster in here that looks like this thing... But it doesn't list a name. Max HP is 40, Attack is 4, and Defense is 0. It's apparently really good at transforming itself and other things. Maybe it used that power to turn the villagers into pigs! This thing is a real jerk!

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door enemy
Doopliss (2)
	Max HP	40	Attack	4	Defense	0
	Location(s)	Twilight Trail, Creepy Steeple	Role	Boss	Level	54
	Sleep?	50%	Dizzy?	70%	Confuse?	50%
	Tiny?	70%	Stop?	50%	Soft?	90%
	Burn?	100%	Freeze?	40%	Fright?	0%
	Gale Force?	0%	KO?	3%	Moves	(As Mario) Jump (2x2), Hammer (4)
	Exp. points	0	Coins	N/A	Items	None
Tattle Log #: 104	Log	N/A
	Tattle	Japanese: That's the real Mario... right? Now that I look at it, that's not Mario at all... Maybe it was just my imagination. - English: That's Doopliss. REPORT THIS AS A BUG Global #796.2

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door enemy
Doopliss (3)
	Max HP	40	Attack	6	Defense	0
	Location(s)	Palace of Shadow	Role	Boss	Level	57
	Sleep?	40%	Dizzy?	40%	Confuse?	40%
	Tiny?	60%	Stop?	50%	Soft?	80%
	Burn?	100%	Freeze?	30%	Fright?	0%
	Gale Force?	0%	KO?	5%	Moves	(As Himself) Head Missile (6), Transform (turns into Mario or Partner) (As Mario) Jump (3x2), (As Partner) Ability (Uses Partner's standard ability)
	Exp. points	0	Coins	N/A	Items	None
Tattle Log #: 104	Log	A fiend who takes the shapes of Mario and friends, then attacks. Currently a member of the Shadow Sirens.
	Tattle	That's Doopliss. He's a shapeshifter, and even turned into you once, Mario! Max HP is 40, Attack is 6, and Defense is 0. He may turn into one of us and attack. When he does, he'll have our abilities! Hey, how do you think he became one of the Shadow Sirens? Isn't that...weird? How do you think he stands Beldam's abuse? You think he's all right in the head?

Field Tattle

• "That's Doopliss, who I guess is a Shadow Siren now… Not a bad Frankly impersonator. Gosh, I hope nothing bad's happened to the REAL Professor Frankly… And why is Doopliss working with the Shadow Sirens, anyway? Too many questions!"

Gallery

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  Doopliss in the Nintendo Switch remake

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  Concept artwork

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ランペル Ranperu	Transliteration from the English pronunciation of "Rumpel," short for "Rumpelstiltskin."
Chinese (simplified)	蓝培尔 Lánpéiěr	Transliteration of Japanese name
Chinese (traditional)	藍培爾 Lánpéiěr	Transliteration of Japanese name
Dutch	Repel	From Repelsteeltje ("Rumpelstiltskin")
French	Rumpel	-
German	Rumpel	From Rumpelstilzchen ("Rumpelstiltskin")
Italian	Rampel	English pronunciation of Rumpel
Korean	람펠 Rampel	Transliteration of Japanese name
Spanish	Rumpel	-

Trivia

• Despite normally not being able to obtain the Showstopper until the end of Chapter 6, the second form of Doopliss (the one fought on Twilight Trail and the Creepy Steeple rematch) has a 3% chance to get KOed by Showstopper. All other bosses fought before obtaining Showstopper are immune to the attack.
• Doopliss has an unused animation found in the game's data, suggesting he could be Poisoned at one point. If the player uses cheats to poison other bosses, they simply use their "dizzy" animation, whereas Doopliss has a unique animation.