"This tomb holds the soul of that ancient demon, wielder of destruction..." -Sir Grodus
“Then, you wretched fools... you will learn the error of your ways!” -Shadow Queen
The Shadow Queen is the final boss and true main antagonist in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, fought at the end of the Palace of Shadow.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Grodus wished very desperately to use her power to rule the world. However Grodus was mistaken with his thought that the Shadow Queen would unquestionably obey the one who awakened her. After Grodus ordered the Shadow Queen to destroy Mario, she almost destroyed him, telling him no one commands her. With her spirit inside the princess, she covered the entire world in darkness. Mario then gets into a battle with her. While battling the queen in Peach's body, Mario seems to be going smoothly, however, since the Shadow Queen is not used to being in another's body, she reveals her true form. Mario is apparently losing the fight due to the fact that every blow he puts on the queen does absolutely no damage, no matter what his attack power is, but the Crystal Stars use their power and go to their original resting place, where Mario's friends (and enemies) get the feeling that Mario is in fatal danger, and start cheering him on. As the voices of Mario's friends fill the room, Peach somehow manages to contact Mario through the body of the possessed Peach, and gives Mario all of her last strength. Mario's attacks now work on the Shadow Queen, and he ultimately defeats her and the darkness passes. Peach is saved, while Grodus is still a head, as told by Goombella's e-mail.
The Shadow Queen is, actually, the demon that was imprisoned a thousand years ago by the four heroes and sealed deep within the Thousand Year Door. When she was sealed away, she created three immortal dragons to terrorize people and transform them into undead minions of the Shadow Queen. The immortal dragons were Hooktail, Gloomtail, and Bonetail. The door's seal would eventually fade out (it fades out every a thousand years), and since that year was the 1000th one, the end would have come if Mario hadn't ventured deep in the Palace of Shadows and banished the demon forever. She was also the one who destroyed the town of the ancients. The Shadow Sirens are her loyal servants and started the rumors of treasure behind the Thousand Year Door in hopes of releasing her again.
Super Paper Mario
The Shadow Queen is seen as one of the dolls of Francis in his room at Fort Francis, along with other characters as dolls and posters.
List of Attacks
As being the second hardest boss in the game, the Shadow Queen has a large arsenal of attacks that can quickly whittle down the player's health in a single turn. Her hands (7 damage) will always re-summon themselves, and blocking them requires impeccable timing. Sometimes she will use lightning attack that's VERY difficult to dodge, and deals 7 damage. The one attack that the player should NEVER EVER get hit by is her charge attack. Though she will give the player a breather for one turn by charging, this means that in the next turn she will release a devastating attack that deals 14 damage. Fortunately, given the predictability of this attack, Vivian's Veil is an excellent way to dodge it.
Tips/Tricks
The Shadow Queen is arguably the second hardest boss in the entire game, the first being Bonetail, who is found in the last floor in the Pit of a 100 Trials. However, this is not so. If the player had full HP, FP, items, etc. Fighting Bonetail like with the Shadow Queen, she is indeed harder, as her body and her hands can do 21 damage, not to mention the status ailments she can cause. Unless Mario has been extensively leveled up (at least level 30), the player should take extreme caution when fighting the Shadow Queen. When she charges up for her most powerful attack, use Vivian's Shadow Veil to avoid the attack. However, Vivian's Veil is often not reliable for avoiding moves since Mario would just get attacked a turn after, Boo Sheets and Flurrie's Dodgy Fog can also work here.
It is HIGHLY recommended to be at least level 20 when fighting the Shadow Queen. Mario should have at least 20 HP (or use badges to do this), 20 FP, and his partner should be well leveled up as well. It's possible to defeat the Shadow Queen with only 10 HP and 15 FP without Power/Mega Rush and Last Stand, but not recommend to do that.
Recommended Items/Partners
Badges
-Power Plus (both Mario and partner)
-Quick Change
-P Up, D-Down (both Mario and partner)
-Power Bounce
-Fire Drive
-Flower Saver (both Mario and partner)
-Piercing Blow
-Multibounce
Items
-Jelly Ultras
-Whacka Bumps
-Shroom Crepe
-Zess Deluxe
-Boo Sheet
-Life Shrooms
Partners
-Yoshi Kid (Under the influence of Power Plus P badges, Power Lift, and P Up, D-Down)
Fighting Styles
By typically fighting the Shadow Queen from a normal perspective, the player generally wants to cease moves on both of her hands. With this, her moves are limited attacks once instead of three times and you're less likely to receive massive damage and more likely mess up her healing method. Moves effective in the usage are Vivian's Fiery Jinx attack, Yoshi Kid's Stampede attack when under a power buff influence, Koops' Power Shell or Shell Slam (handy for when she boost her defense), Mario's Mulitbounce (only when Power Plus or Power Lift is in play) and Admiral Bobbery's Bob-Bombast. Though with such high FP cost, having Flower Saver P would help Bobbery's move be more spammable in its offense. Using massive damaging hits will also carry away a great victory players general want to focus on as much damage as possible. Power Plus Damages, Power Lift, and Goombella's Rally Wink can be effective for attack boosting too. For other ways if players wish to ensue Danger Mario buy many Power Rush badges for Mario, one can easily make quick work of the Shadow Queen. Though a risky fighting style, given how little health must be left in order for the strategy to work, with enough Power Rush badges, Mario can quickly defeat the Shadow Queen in 2-3 hits.
Trivia
- It is possible to accept the Shadow Queen's offer to join her side. Doing so will result in a message stating that she has engulfed the world in "her foul magic", and cause a Game Over.
- She is the first Mario villain who possessed one of the main characters (in this case Princess Peach), the second being Dimentio who brainwashed Luigi.
- She also makes an appearance in Super Mario-Kun, volume 35.
