Three Shadows
| Three Shadows | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| First appearance | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004) | ||
| Latest appearance | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (spirit cameo) (Vivian only) (2018) | ||
| Leader | Beldam | ||
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- “Let's go, my lovelies! Marilyn! Vivian! Come! We've got a job to do!”
- —Beldam, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
The Shadow Sirens, also known as the Three Shadows[1], are three ghostly witches in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. They consist of Beldam, Marilyn, and Vivian (later replaced by Doopliss). They aid Sir Grodus and the X-Nauts in their quest for the Crystal Stars and attempt to retrieve the Magical Map from Mario and his friends. After Vivian joins Mario's team, Doopliss takes her place.
Beldam, the leader of the Shadow Sirens, is often forgetful and on more than one occasion, blames Vivian due to this. She is more of a magic user than the other two are. Marilyn is the biggest and strongest Shadow Siren in the bunch. She can become stronger and hits hard. Vivian is the youngest of the group who later defects from the other two and gets replaced with Doopliss. The Shadow Sirens are fought twice in the game.
History
Paper Mario series
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
The Shadow Sirens are first sent by Grodus to ambush Mario and take the Magical Map from him. Mario and company first encounter them in Chapter 2 in the Boggly Woods, where they are trying to find a sketch of Mario given to them by the X-Nauts so that they could identify and attack him. However, because they lost the sketch, they are unable to recognize Mario as their enemy, and Beldam simply dismisses him and his partners as they approach. After finding the sketch and realizing their mistake, Beldam blames Vivian for losing the picture. Mario and his partners return to the Shadow Sirens to retrieve Flurrie's necklace which Vivian picked up after Flurrie dropped it in the woods. When they meet again, the Shadow Sirens introduce themselves, but Vivian calls the trio the "Shadow Beauties", making Beldam yell at her again. A mini-boss battle then occurs, but Mario and his partner defeat the witches, and they flee, with Vivian also dropping the necklace. They later return to Sir Grodus to inform him they lost to Mario, but they have another weapon to use on him, so he trusts them.
In Chapter 4, the Shadow Sirens plan to attack Mario and company in Twilight Town using an explosive item called the Superbombomb. Unfortunately for them, the group loses the explosive and Beldam blames Vivian for losing it and forces her to look for it. After Mario has his identity stolen by Doopliss, he encounters a distraught Vivian, who fruitlessly searches for the Superbombomb. Mario finds it for Vivian and after she learns of his current situation, she decides to help him in return, not knowing who he really is. When Mario and Vivian confront Doopliss back at the steeple after guessing his name correctly, Vivian initially feels betrayed after learning that she has teamed up with her enemy, and leaves the battle. However, after realizing that Mario had been much nicer to her than either of her sisters, she rejoins the battle and decides to be part of Mario's team from then on. The two defeat Doopliss, gaining the Ruby Star and winning back Mario's identity. At this point, Mario explains to his teammates that Vivian has switched to their side. Afterward, Doopliss takes Vivian's place as part of the Shadow Sirens after Beldam and Marilyn spot him back in Twilight Town while waiting for Vivian.
When Mario and his partners board the Excess Express in Chapter 6, Mario's partner notices a note on the floor in their room. After reading it, they wonder if Beldam is the one behind the threat of a "sticky, yummy doom". On the morning of the second day, the Ratooey Businessman's briefcase containing the prototype of Nitro Honey Syrup is stolen along with Toodles' Gold Ring and the waitress' Shell Earrings. The culprit is revealed to be Zip Toad who is actually Doopliss in disguise. When the train arrives at Riverside Station, Doopliss returns to his regular form and flees. When Mario and his partners reach the sanctum in Poshley Heights, they discover that they are too late, as Beldam, Marilyn and Doopliss have beaten them to the Garnet Star. However, Pennington tells Mario that the Crystal Star is a fake after they leave.
While Mario and his friends venture through the Palace of Shadow in Chapter 8, upon opening the secret path to the Shadow Queen's lair, the Shadow Sirens ambush them again and fight them one last time. After Mario and company defeats them, they lay on the ground dazed. After Grodus awakens the Shadow Queen from her eternal rest and gets destroyed by her, Beldam takes full credit for awakening the queen. She reveals that she has been orchestrating the Shadow Queen's revival from the very start, and the Shadow Sirens had tricked Grodus into thinking he could control the queen. In Goombella's letter to Mario after defeating the Shadow Queen, she mentions that Vivian has reunited with her sisters and Beldam has stopped being evil and promises to be nicer to Vivian.
First time seeing the Shadow Sirens in-game
The Shadow Sirens in the Boggly Woods
Marilyn speaks normally for the only time in the game
Beldam being condescending to Vivian
In the original Japanese script of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Beldam insults Vivian by calling her ｢オトコ」, "a man".
In the English localization of the game, Beldam uses gender-neutral insults instead.
Mario and Koops about to battle The Shadow Sirens.
Beldam and Marilyn leaving Vivian
Beldam, Marilyn, and Doopliss stealing the Garnet Star. This is the first time Doopliss is seen being part of the Shadow Sirens since Chapter 4.
Beldam, Marilyn, and Doopliss about to fight Mario and his partners
Shadow Sirens watching the rise of the Shadow Queen. Vivian is allies with Mario.
Super Paper Mario
Unused graphics for Vivian, along with the other partners from previous games, exists with in Super Paper Mario, suggesting she was intended to have a role in the game. In the final, however, she only appears in a group picture with the other partners and as a Catch Card, which mentions Beldam and Marilyn.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Though neither Beldam nor Marilyn appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Vivian serves as a sticker. The sticker increases the attack power of energy-related attacks by 5 points and can be used by any character.
Physical appearances
The Shadow Sirens are purple ghosts with a wisp-like tail that appears to have infinite length in place of legs. Although their tails are connected to the ground, it is shown that they can be disconnected from the ground in their defeated animations. Being sisters, the Shadow Sirens have similar designs, with the main difference being their body types: Beldam is short and thin, Marylin is large and portly, while Vivian is medium-height and has a pudgy belly. Beldam also has a long, pointy nose, which the other two do not have, and has a toothy grin in place of her sisters' small mouths. They each wear white-striped witch hats of a different color, covering their eyes: blue for Beldam, yellow for Marilyn, and red for Vivian.
The Shadow Sirens also wear white gloves, and have differently designed hair; Beldam has light-purple hair tucked behind her, Marilyn has an orange full bang, and Vivian has pink, swirly hair. Marilyn and Vivian both have pink and orange blushes on their cheeks, while Beldam does not.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | カゲ三人組[?] Kage Sannin-gumi |
(The) Shadow Trio | |
| Dutch | Schaduwsirenes[?] | Shadow Sirens | |
| French | Obscur Trio[?] | Dark Trio | |
| German | Schattentrio[?] | Shadow Trio | |
| Italian | Trisdombra[?] | Shadow (ladies) Trio/Trio of Shadows | |
| Spanish | Trío de las Sombras[?] | Shadow Trio |
Trivia
- The Shadow Sirens' theme sounds somewhat similar to the song that plays when the player talks to ghosts in Luigi's Mansion.
- The Three Sisters from Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon are very similar to the Shadow Sirens.
- The color of each Shadow Siren's hat is a reference to their attacks. Beldam's hat is blue, while she can use blizzard to freeze Mario and his partner in the second battle. Marilyn's hat is yellow, while she can use thunder to attack in the second battle. Vivian's hat is red, while she can use many fire attacks as Mario's Partner.
- After defeating the Shadow Sirens in the Palace of Shadow, if interacted with by Mario, his partner will comment with, "Let's leave these..." followed by some sort of insult ("doofuses", "louts", "idiots"), but if interacted with Vivian as the active partner, she will say, "I'm sorry, Sis..."
