Beldam

“Mmmmmmwee hee hee hee! I have no quarrel with you...but I simply can't allow you to hunt for the Crystal Stars.”

—Beldam, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Beldam is the leader of the three Shadow Sirens which consist of herself and her sisters Marilyn and Vivian (who was later replaced with Doopliss). Beldam is a demon who is more than 1000 years old. Beldam and the Shadow Sirens worked with Grodus to find the Crystal Stars and open the Thousand-Year Door, pretending to be nothing more than hired help. However, Beldam secretly planned to betray Grodus and defect to the Shadow Queen, the ancient demon sealed behind the Thousand-Year Door.

Beldam was the one who kidnapped Princess Peach and the one who spread the rumors that there was a great treasure behind the Thousand-Year Door, thus making her the true mastermind behind the events that took place in the game. Beldam and the Shadow Sirens appeared throughout Mario's adventure trying to slow him down. Beldam eventually revealed her plans to aid the Shadow Queen in conquering the world when Grodus unleashed the demon. Beldam took all the credit for releasing her. When Mario defeated the Shadow Queen, Beldam suddenly became nice, promising that she'd never mistreat Vivian again, and now lives in Twilight Town with her sisters.

She is rumored to be the one that sold Peach the chest containing the map.

Personality

As Goombella has stated in her Tattle information, Beldam's personality "stinks". She's extremely bossy and domineering, and often plays favoritism, treating all group members except for Marilyn with as little respect as possible. For example, Beldam happens to be very forgetful, and would often blame her own mistakes on Vivian. She would constantly disrespect her, talking about how "ugly" and "useless" she is. Beldam shows almost the same amount of disrespect towards Doopliss, always calling him "Freak-Sheet", rather than referring to him by his name (despite the fact that he corrected her). An example of the favoritism she showed, was when she told Vivian to search for the Superbombomb (which she, herself lost), while she and Marilyn go to take a "well-earned siesta", threatening to punish Vivian if she doesn't find it. Also, during the second battle with the Shadow Sirens, Beldam would often show concern for Marilyn, asking if she was okay, and wouldn't show any towards Doopliss at all.

As leader of the Shadow Sirens, Beldam happens to be the "brains" of the group (while Marilyn, on the other hand, is the "brawn"), and she's the one who usually comes up with their plans. Despite her constant forgetfulness, Beldam has still proven herself to be highly intelligent, even to the point where she's capable of using and manipulating other people. This is shown when she spread the rumor of a false "treasure" behind the Thousand-Year Door, as well as when she pawned Grodus (and the entire X-Naut Legion). She was able to take advantage of Grodus' desire and hunger for power and control, by tricking him into releasing the Shadow Queen, telling him that she would obey his every command if he were to do so. This, of course, resulted in Grodus trying to command the Shadow Queen, getting blasted to pieces, and nearly getting himself killed in the process.

Powers and Abilities

Although Beldam is physically weaker than the other members of her team, she makes up for it by using powerful magic abilities. She possesses power over the ice element, which she uses to freeze Mario and his partners, causing them to be immobilized for at least two turns. Beldam has various other abilities as well, such as increasing the size and attack power of her teammates, as well as giving them more attack turns. She also has the ability to do the exact opposite to Mario and his teammates. As with her sisters, Beldam also has the ability to use the Veil technique, where she could sink through the shadows, and eavesdrop on other peoples' conversations (like in Chapter 6, where she heard from Mario and his partners that the next Crystal Star was at Poshley Heights).

On-Field Tattle Data

• "This shady woman is certainly selfish and mean! You see how cruel she is to her own sister? What a total meanie! I wonder what went on between them..."

• "That's Beldam of the Shadow Sirens. Remember? Vivian's sister? I'm totally surprised she followed us all the way out here, though. And what was that plan she was yapping about, huh? This sounds bad..."

Quotes

Please see here for a full list of quotes.

Trivia

• Beldam's name comes from the word "beldame", which is used to describe a witch or an ugly woman.
• The color of her hat represents the power she has over the ice element.
• Beldam is the first character in the Paper Mario series (with Dimentio being the second) to use another villain as a pawn, making plans to secretly betray him in the end.
• Beldam's line, "my lovelies" is a possible reference to The Wizard of Oz, where The Wicked Witch of the West would always refer to Dorothy as "my pretty".
• Out of all the antagonist groups in the Mario series (such as the Axem Rangers, Koopa Brothers, etc.), Beldam is the only group leader who wears blue, rather than red.
• Beldam's laugh is similar to Cloaker's.

Foreign Names

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