“"hen, you wretched fools... you will learn the error of your ways!" - Shadow Queen
The Shadow Queen is the overarching antagonist and final boss of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and its 2024 remake on the Nintendo Switch, fought at the end of the Palace of Shadow. She is the main boss of Chapter 8, is the fifth boss of the Palace of Shadow and is overall the seventeenth/final boss of the game(s).
History[]
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 is able to quickly dispatch her. However, since the Shadow Queen is not used to being in someone else's body, she ends up revealing her true form. In this form, Mario and co. are unable to do any damage to the queen. Out of nowhere, the Crystal Stars use their power and go to their original resting places where Mario's friends get the feeling that Mario is in danger, and start cheering him on. As the voices of Mario's friends fill the room, Peach manages to contact Mario by pushing past the trance of the Shadow Queen and gives Mario the last of her strength. Mario's attacks now do damage to the Shadow Queen, and he ultimately defeats her, preventing her invasion. Peach and the rest of the world is saved, and the Shadow Queen is no more.
Before Thousand-Year Door[]
A thousand years before the events of the game, The Shadow Queen was a strong demon queen that originally enslaved the land previously residing where Rogueport now is. She corrupted the land and created the Palace of Shadow to rule over her dark city. With this as her capital, the Shadow Queen would go on to create her own servants, (some of which were Shadow Sirens and dragons) so she could prepare an army to conquer the rest of the world. At the same time, she created the seven Crystal Stars, each of which harnesses extreme power. She intended to use these for her own gain and hid them each in secret locations all across her domain. Even with their secure locations being kept under wraps, however, they were soon stolen by four brave heroes. Using that power, she was defeated by said heroes, injured to the point where her body was completely destroyed. Her soul was then sealed deep within her palace tomb found behind the Thousand-Year Door. The door's seal would fade after one thousand years, and seal did indeed break after Mario collected all seven Crystal Stars and presented them to the door.
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.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
The Shadow Queen appears as a spirit. She is never fought, and can only be summoned.
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.
Hands/Mini Hands[]
With her hands, she can either do a downwards slap which can inflict 7 damage. If it is not blocked, she will attempt to steal Mario and/or his Partner's HP, which do 7 points of damage and give the Shadow Queen 7 HP. Another attack involves her using mini-hands that do 3 points of damage. Like the first attack, all of them can pierce through defense. She can either use her hands to drag the player down a 4 hit combo (can do up twelve points of damage if it is not blocked), or perform a rush attack and inflict 9 points of damage. the Shadow Queen will frequently re-summon her hands, and blocking them requires precise timing.
Main Body[]
When attacking with her main body, she will summon a purple colored lightning strike that is difficult to dodge and does 7 damage. She can also spew out a stream of darkness that can inflict three types of Status Effects (confusion, poison or allergic), or raise both her attack and defense. Her most dangerous attack is her Dark Wave attack. She charges up and will launch three energy waves. Though she will give the player a breather for one turn by charging, this means that she will release a devastating attack in the next turn that not only can pierce defense, but also deals 14 damage. If she performs the move after raising her attack and defense, then it becomes a Shadow Wave, which deals 17 points of damage. Fortunately, both of these attacks require a turn to charge up. Given the predictability of this attack, Vivian's Shadow Veil can effectively dodge it.
Tips/Tricks[]
The Shadow Queen is one of the hardest bosses in the entire game, alongside Bonetail and Whacka, who are both found on the last floor in the Pit of 100 Trials and Prince Mush. However, the Shadow Queen is indeed harder then Bonetail and Whacka with full HP, FP and SP, 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.
It is also not recommended to use any healing items until the part after the three Shine Sprite Bingo Slot in phase two.
Fighting Styles[]
First Phase[]
During the first part of the battle, fighting her is not too difficult. The Shadow Queen will only attack for one turn (much like the previous bosses). She only has 60 HP during the first phase, and will swap forms after it is depleted.
Second Phase[]
When fighting the Shadow Queen, the player generally wants to first disable both of her hands. By doing this, her moveset is limited, and she is more likely to fail her healing move. Some of the most useful moves 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 a high FP cost, having either the Flower Saver P equipped or some Jammin Jellys is recommended when choosing Bobbery's method. The goal is to use moves that can cause as much damage as possible in as few turns as possible. Power Plus, Power Lift, and Goombella's Rally Wink can be effective forms of attack boosting as well. Another method is to buy a bunch of Power Rush badges for Mario, which should make the Shadow Queen easier to defeat. Keep in mind that Power Rush only triggers when in critical condition, so maintaining a health gauge in that range will be exceedingly difficult.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Shadow Queen is one of the strongest and most powerful villains in the Paper Mario series, and probably one of the most powerful villains in the entire Super Mario Bros. series.
- 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.
- In seance, the Shadow Queen must be depleted 60 of her HP, if counting that as part of her HP, then the Shadow Queen would have 210 HP, which is ten more than Bonetail, who has 200 HP.
- In the Japanese version, it is not possible to Super Guard any of the Shadow Queen's attacks.
- Even if the Player is able to deplete the Shadow Queen of all of her HP during the first phase of the battle, the event after the battle is still shown, and the Shadow Queen will have 90 HP, making it not possible to skip the second phase of the fight.
- The Shadow Queen is the first and (so far) only final boss in the Paper Mario series to not take place in a castle, but rather take place underground.
- All of the Shadow Queen's attacks can pierce though defenses except for her Hand Slap.
- In the Japanese version, the Shadow Queen only has 39 HP in the first phase.
- 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.
- The Shadow Queen is the original creator of the Pit of 100 Trials, making it serve the purpose of a torture chamber for all who opposed her.