Doopliss

"You got it now, Slick? Your body and name belong to me now!"

- Doopliss

Doopliss is a Duplighost living in the Creepy Steeple in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. He appears as an enemy of Mario several times throughout the game, and is the boss of Chapter 4. He is the cause of the members of Twilight Town becoming pigs whenever the bell tolls, and attempts to steal Mario's identity. He appears to be an advanced form of an average Duplighost, since no other Duplighost that copies a character steals their body.

History
After the Boo of the four legendary heroes hid the Ruby Star in Creepy Steeple, Doopliss at some point obviously obtained it. Doopliss enchanted the bell of the Creepy Steeple, so that each time it rang, it would transform an inhabitant of the nearby Twilight Town into a pig. Mario, whose Magical Map told him that the Ruby Star was inside the Creepy Steeple, sought to help the inhabitants of the village and went to the steeple via the Twilight Trail. When Mario and his partners encountered Doopliss on the highest tower of the steeple, he was apparently watching TV, trying to find new prank ideas, suggesting he is a very extreme prankster.

In the fight, Goombella was unable to tell Doopliss's name, as it didn't appear in her log. Doopliss fought by transforming himself into a shady outline of Mario and attacking with his moves. Some time during this battle, Doopliss took on Mario's actual form and left Mario as the shadow of himself. Doopliss, as Mario, claimed to have defeated himself and won the Crystal Star. Having successfully tricked Mario's partners, he marched off to Twilight Town, leaving the actual Mario defeated on the floor.

The actual Mario followed Doopliss back to Twilight Town, where he met the ghost at the village's entrance. He claimed that if he can correctly guess his name, his original form will be restored. At the moment, he was unable to correctly guess because of a missing lower case "p". Because of this, he challenged Mario and ordered him not to run. However, because neither Mario nor Doopliss could damage each other, he was forced to do the opposite.

While in Mario's body, Doopliss decided to claim Mario's efforts for his own. He presented himself to Twilight Town as their savior who defeated the steeple's demon and lifted the pig curse. He visited Mayor Dour, who invited him for a meal. None of the villagers noticed Mario's true identity.

With the help of Shadow Siren Vivian, who was currently in Twilight Town looking for the Superbombomb and did not recognize him, the actual Mario heard from a crow in the village that a being in the basement of the Creepy Steeple would know Doopliss's name. Back in the steeple, they heard about the name "Doopliss" from the parrot living there. However, the the lower-case letter p was not available in the name selection screen provided by Doopliss, so they had to collect it from a treasure chest and were finally able to name the ghost correctly. The two cornered Doopliss at the entrance of Twilight Town and told him his real name. Doopliss's magic was, however, not fully broken by this and he fled back to the tower of the Creepy Steeple. In the tower room, Doopliss and Mario's fooled partners fought the actual Mario. Vivian only then realized he was Mario, but chose to abandon her sisters and joined Mario in the fight. Doopliss was defeated and both him and Mario returned to their original forms. Doopliss fled and left back the Ruby Star. While on the run, he met Beldam and Marilyn in Twilight Town, who were currently looking for Vivian at that place.

Doopliss joined the Shadow Sirens and filled in Vivian's place. This meant that he, too, was mistreated by Beldam, who insisted on calling him a "freak-in-a-sheet", despite the fact that he is no longer secretive about his name. He helped the Shadow Sirens at their disruption on the Excess Express. Aptly disguised as the star Zip Toad, he stole the Nitro Honey Syrup from the Ratooey Businessman. This special syrup would cause an enormous explosion when mixed with calcium and gold. He prepared its use as a bomb, stealing the Shell Earrings of the Toad Waitress for the calcium part and Toodles's Gold Ring for the gold part, but was stopped in last minute by Mario. When Pennington arrested Zip, and took him off the train at Riverside Station, he shocked Pennington by turning back and dashing away. Doopliss, Beldam and Marilyn reappeared in Poshley Heights, where they broke into the Poshley Sanctum by smashing a window and stole the Garnet Star, which turned out to be a red herring created by Pennington.

Doopliss reappeared after Chapter 7 in the Rogueport Sewers, where he had taken on the disguise of Professor Frankly and tricked Mario and his partners to open the Thousand-Year Door and go into the Palace of Shadow. The Shadow Sirens and Doopliss fought Mario and company in front of Riddle Tower in the Palace of Shadow. In this battle, Doopliss was a little tougher, and had the ability to transform into one of Mario's partners and attacking as them. After their defeat, Beldam, Marilyn and Doopliss watch Mario's battle against the Shadow Queen.

At the end of the game, Doopliss changes his mind and becomes an actor, being on stage together with Flurrie. He plays the role of Mario (and possibly others) in the play.

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

When he takes on Mario's form, he often has stern and evil looks which are rarely or never 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 talking. It is also worth noting that at all times when Doopliss is Mario that he looks rather tired (like Mario when he is in danger or peril) and that he is slightly shorter than the real Mario.

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

Doopliss's 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's 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. Doopliss somehow enchanted the Creepy Steeple's bell to turn an inhabitant of Twilight Town into a pig (similar to a lil' oink) each time it rang. It is unknown how exactly he had done it, and it was also never revealed how the curse was lifted. It might have been because of Doopliss's defeat. It might have also been the power of the Ruby Star, and when Mario claimed the star the villagers turned back to normal (the same thing happened with Grubba). However, it is also likely that Doopliss himself turned the villagers back to normal, as he, in Mario's form, claimed 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.

When Doopliss corners Mario at the entrance of Twilight Town, he appears by jumping out of the background, leaving a paperish hole in it. This is also seen when Cortez's ship confronts Lord Crump's ship at the end of Chapter 5 - Cortez's ship bursts through the background, also leaving a paperish hole. Later in the game, when Doopliss is part of the Shadow Sirens, he actually has a problem as he is not able to vanish at one spot and appear at another, an ability used by Beldam and Marilyn. Doopliss has to smash a window in the Poshley Sanctum for himself only, and he always runs away alone when the Shadow Sirens have long since disappeared into the shadows, calling them to wait for him.

Personality
Doopliss's motives for his actions remain mainly unknown. According to himself, he turned the Twilight Towners into pigs because they were "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 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", for unknown reasons. As a member of the Shadow Sirens, 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".

When 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 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.

Other Appearance
Doopliss also made an apperance in the comic Super Mario-Kun. Doopliss played the same role in Super Mario-Kun as he did in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. He held one of the Crystal Stars and stole Mario's identidy by using a beam based attack. In the end Doopliss was humorously defeated by Mario.

Trivia

 * Doopliss's name comes from Duplighost, the name of his species, and a corruption of the word duplicitous, an adjective describing one who deliberately deceives others.
 * Doopliss's Japanese name is Ranperu, which translates to Rumpel, which is Doopliss's name in the German, French and Spanish versions of the game, and comes from the fairy tale character Rumpelstiltskin, as both offer the same challenge: to have another guess his name.