Merlumina

"And... You're sleeping again!?"

- Merlumina

Merlumina was a member of the Tribe of Ancients. 1,500 years before the setting of Super Paper Mario (the only game she appeared in), she was told to protect the Pure Heart in Yold Ruins and await the hero of legend. 1,500 years later, her ghost still waited (albeit slightly impatiently) for the hero to arrive.

After Mario defeated Fracktail, a door appeared. The door brought him to Merlumina's chamber. Following the Paper Mario series tradition of "Shaman"-type characters (most commonly Merlon) having extremely long and boring stories, Merlumina told Mario the "short" version of her history. By the time she was done, Mario was fast asleep. Also, like most similar instances in the earlier Paper Mario games, Merlumina did not notice that Mario and Tippi had fallen asleep (and Mario denied that he did anyway). After the story, Merlumina gave Mario his second Pure Heart, ending Chapter 1.

Later on in Super Paper Mario, a chain of optional requests wound up with Watchitt requesting that Mario remove the spirit haunting his dreams (and get the spirit's autograph). The spirit was indeed Merlumina, and Mario returned to find her. It turned out that Merlumina had attempted to take a short nap after handing over the Pure Heart, but she couldn't fall asleep. Worrying that she had become a forgotten phantom, she tried counting sheep. Even after counting the 100,000th sheep, she still could not fall asleep, so she decided to take her frustration out on somebody else by haunting somebody in Yold Town. This somebody happened to be Watchitt, who was distantly related to her (being another descendant of the Tribe of Ancients) and therefore be able to hear and respond to her haunting. It didn't help much, though. When Mario came looking for her, Merlumina told him another long story about her childhood (and how she'd haunt people she loved), and again Mario fell asleep but denied ever doing so. After conversing some more about Watchitt, Merlumina told another long story, and, for the first time in Paper Mario history, she indeed caught Mario sleeping and threw a fit about it (calling Mario selfish and insensible above all else). In the end, though, Merlumina wrote an autograph for Watchitt and finally fell fast asleep, allowing Mario to retrieve the You-Know-What from Watchitt and eventually earn Piccolo.

In addition to protecting the Pure Heart of Yold Ruins, it is possible that Merlumina had other distinctive authorities among the Ancients. Tippi reveals in her information for Merlumina's stained glass window in Mirror Hall that Merlumina acted as a leader among her people, and it is stated in her Catch Card that she "made a Pure Heart," possibly insinuating that she is the creator of the Purity Heart. (However, such a title is additionally stated to possibly belong to Merlimbis.) According to her ancestor Merlon, Merlumina is also the authoress of the Light Prognosticus, though players could later have Tippi mention Merloo being believed to be its writer.

Childhood
Unlike most of the "Shaman"-type characters, details about Merlumina's childhood are known. According to her, in her youth she was quite attractive. It was hard for her to get to sleep, though, so her mother would sing her a lullaby. When she stopped living with her mother, she needed three men (all of which were in love with her) to sing her lullabies. Merlumina was quite a mischievous girl, and would seduce men in their dreams. To make her sleep for 1,500 years (so she could successfully complete her mission of giving the destined hero, later proved to be Mario, the Pure Heart she guarded), Merlumina needed the entire village to sing a lullaby for her.

Catch Card

 * Card Type: Uncommon
 * Card Description: She made a Pure Heart to stop the end of all worlds. She is an ancestor of Merlon and Bestovius.

Trivia

 * Merlumina's name is a portmanteau of "Merlon" (therefore making her indirectly named after Merlin) and "lumina", the latter being a measurement of luminous flux. (However, her name may rather be a pun on "luminous," as "lumina" is a rather obscure word that does not seem to fit Merlumina's personality.)
 * According to Garson in the Flipside Bar, Merlumina had a younger sister. She was entrusted with the purple Pure Heart to deliver to King Sammer I, but they fell in love and got married, eventually having 100 children.
 * Merlumina is one of the two ancestors of Merlon who is a spirit, the other being Madam Merlar.