Vivian's Profile

Vivian is a character whose only major appearance is in the 2004 game, "Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door," as well as its 2024 remake. Vivian begins as a part of the Three Shadows, a group aligned with the villainous X-Nauts comprised of her and her two older sisters, but later on defects from them and joins Mario on his journey to collect the Crystal Stars after he shows her kindness that her sisters had never done. Vivian is often berated and put down by her eldest sister, Beldam, and has developed a timid personality because of it. Her relationship with the middle sister, Marilyn, is also implied to be poor, however Marilyn's lack of real dialogue prevents this from being anything more than a mere theory. Upon a name-stolen Mario shows Vivian kindness, she decides to join him on his journey and, over the course of the following adventure, learns to better respect herself, ultimately culminating in her standing up to her sisters in a boss fight near the end of the game, assuming the player has her out at the time.

In battle, Vivian primarily makes use of fire-based magic to attack with. Her primary attack, Shade Fist, has her punching opposing enemies and, if the action command is performed correctly by the player, burning them for a few turns to deal extra damage. She can also make use of Fiery Jinx, an attack that hits all enemies on the screen and burns them, making it a very useful attack in situations with lots of targets. While not a damage dealing attack, Vivian can also use the move Infatuate, in which she blows a kiss at enemies, confusing them with her charm. Lastly, Vivian can use Veil, pulling herself and Mario into a shadow on the ground to avoid damage for a turn, an ability she can also use on the overworld to avoid detection or to dodge damage from things like timed spike traps.

At the end of the game, Goombella states Vivian has decided to give her sisters another chance, and that they're reformed, with Beldam specifically having promised not to be mean to Vivian anymore. The three of them are implied to be living a more happy, not-evil life as sisters.

Official key and concept art