Vivian

From the Super Mario Wiki, the Mario encyclopedia

This article is about the partner inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. For the character playlist on theNintendo Music app, seeList of playlists with Super Mario tracks on Nintendo Music § Vivian.

Vivian
Artwork fromPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)
First appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Latest appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)

“I'm withMario all the way! Today,Sis...I'm going to punish YOU, you hear me?”

—Vivian,Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Vivian is a majorcharacter inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and itsNintendo Switch remake. She originally worked as a member of the villainousThree Shadows alongside her sisters,Beldam andMarilyn. Later, Vivian defects from the Three Shadows and joins Mario as his fifth party member. She is frequently put down by her oldest sister, Beldam, and has had a poor relationship with both her sisters for quite some time when Mario meets her. Although she suffers from an inferiority complex throughout the events of the game, she learns to respect herself as she travels with Mario.

In the Japanese version of the original game, as well as some of its foreign localizations, Vivian is depicted as atransgender woman; however, due to the age rating the localizers were aiming at when translatingPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door,^[1] the original English version removed this aspect from her character.^[2] In the remake, Vivian is consistently portrayed as a transgender woman in both the Japanese script and the revised English localization.^[3]

History

Paper Mario series

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Vivian after being defeated

Vivian's first appearance in the game is during the interlude following Chapter 1, during which she and her two sisters are sent byGrodus to ambushMario in theBoggly Woods. When Mario arrives there, however, he learns that the picture they were to use to identify him was misplaced by Beldam, who is quick to blame Vivian for the loss. Mario is forced to battle the sisters when he comes to claimFlurrie'sNecklace, which Vivian had found in the woods. Upon her defeat, she departs with Marilyn and Beldam, leaving the necklace behind. During the battle with Vivian, she can useFiery Jinx when her HP is low, but when Vivian joins Mario's party, she has to be Super Ranked to learn that ability. Additionally, her Fiery Jinx cannot be Superguarded.

Doopliss (disguised as Mario) and Mario (in shadow) confronting, Vivian aside in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Vivian with the real Mario (as a shadow) facing against Doopliss

After Mario's name and appearance are stolen byDoopliss, Vivian appears inTwilight Town alongside her sisters, who plan to defeat Mario using aSuperbombomb. When the weapon turns up missing, however, Vivian is once again blamed and sent to find it. When Mario finds the bomb and returns it to her, it turns out to be broken, but she gives him a kiss to thank him for his help and, after learning of the theft of his identity, resolves to return the favor by helping him, unaware that he is truly Mario. Using her powers, Mario eventually learns Doopliss's real name, and the duo corners him at the top ofCreepy Steeple.

As she has to be fought before joining Mario's party members in Chapter 4, Vivian is the only party member with an entry in Mario'sTattle Log. If the player looks throughProfessor Frankly's trash can after fighting the Three Shadows without tattling them, Vivian's Tattle is found, whileMarilyn's andBeldam's are absent. This may foreshadow that Vivian joins the party while Marilyn and Beldam are fought later since only Tattles of one-time enemies are found in the trash.Goombella's fieldtattle on Vivian is viewable only when Mario first comes across the Three Shadows in Boggly Woods.

Upon learning Mario's identity, Vivian is reluctant to assist in the ensuing battle, though she returns to his side after two turns, having decided that he treats her better than her sisters and is more deserving of her help. Following Doopliss's defeat, Mario stands up for Vivian when she is questioned by his other partners; she ultimately thanks him by handing him theRuby Star and thus joins Mario's team.

When Mario prepares to leaveRogueport withPrincess Peach after having defeated theShadow Queen, Vivian is about to tell Mario that she has a crush on him, but decides otherwise, saying that she thinks he and Peach will make a good couple. Later, Goombella's email to Mario reveals that Vivian has returned toBeldam andMarilyn, who both have ended their villainous activities and promise to never mistreat Vivian again.

Super Paper Mario

Vivian's plush fromSuper Paper Mario

An unused sprite of Vivian in Super Paper Mario.

Vivian'sunused sprite inSuper Paper Mario

InSuper Paper Mario, Vivian appears as aCatch Card won by winning theDuel of 100 in theSammer's Kingdom.Francis also has a Vivian plush doll, and there is a painting of her along withGoombella,Koops,Flurrie,Yoshi,Admiral Bobbery, andMs. Mowz in Mario's house. Like Mario's other past partners, there is unused sprite data for Vivian, suggesting that she was originally going to appear inSuper Paper Mario, but was removed during development.

Super Mario-kun

Vivian kissing Mario inSuper Mario-kun

InSuper Mario-kun, while many partners accompany Mario during their respective introduction chapters, Vivian appears only after theTwilight Town act is over, in the first chapter ofvolume 34. She is the sidekick of anX-Naut with the aim of destroying Mario with their arsenal of traps. However, as Vivian is a fan of Mario (she owns gadgets and merchandise of him, collects his trash, and has even read all volumes of the manga itself), she deliberately ruins all of their traps. They first use a simplebanana hanging over a hole in the ground, but Vivian jumps in it, and Mario, not noticing her and stepping on her (much to her delight), grabs the banana and walks away.

The two then try to leave a poisonous drink in front of him, but Vivian swaps it with an energy drink. The X-Naut then forces her to enact the next trap, which is tossing abomb, but the bomb is actually a sphere-shapedbento box. The X-Naut try then to resort to using a tank, but Vivian asks for one last chance, using her Veil ability to follow Mario in his own shadow, but she then returns with an album full of pictures of him. Angered, the X-Naut jumps at Mario armed with ahammer, but Vivian stops him with Shade Fist. This time, Mario takes notice of his stalkers, and thanks Vivian for saving his life (making her flustered) and invites her to accompany his party toRogueport. Even after she reveals she was plotting to take Mario down, Mario does not get angry and forgives her, fueling her admiration for him.

The X-Naut then returns and activates a bomb inside her hat. Not wanting her friends to get hurt, Vivian runs away and apparently perishes in the ensuing explosion, but she then returns unharmed: while running, she tripped and her hat tore, making the bomb inside of it roll at the feet of the X-Naut. Mario rejoices in seeing her alive, and Vivian kisses him. Afterwards, Mario points out that her cheeks are scratchy. She admits that she forgot to shave, which shocks Mario, who thinks she is a man.

Alongside the other friends of the adventures, Vivian is then seen in chapter 5 ofvolume 35 rooting for Mario and the team via the Crystal Stars during the final battle.

Super Smash Bros. series

In theSuper Smash Bros. series, Vivian is featured in a few collectible items. InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, there is asticker of Vivian, and it can be equipped to any fighter inThe Subspace Emissary to increase their attack power of energy-related attacks by 5 points. InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, Vivian is an Advanced-class Shield-type primaryspirit. Fighters equipped with the spirit have reduced weight during battles. In the spirit battle, the player faces an invisibleMr. Game & Watch on theBattlefield form of theLuigi's Mansion stage.

Nintendo Music

Main section:List of playlists with Super Mario tracks on Nintendo Music § Vivian

Since October 6th, 2025, theNintendo Music app has featured a Vivian playlist. It contains 8 tracks fromPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and itsremake and is 23 minutes long.

General information

Personality

Vivian is best characterized by her shyness. Throughout the game, she is unable to stand up to Beldam and her cruel nature, constantly taking the blame for things that are really Beldam's own fault. She develops herself in Chapter 4 when she decides to join Mario and leave her family after he shows her an act of kindness. In thePalace of Shadow, Vivian gains the confidence to battle Beldam as payback for all the abuse she suffered. She is still loyal to Beldam, though it is mostly out of fear or dislike of getting "punished" by her.

Unlike her sisters, Vivian is caring and kind. She wonders if it is bad to do away with Mario and his partners in Chapter 2, and she is a forgiving person, going back with her sisters in the epilogue (despite all the trouble Beldam caused). She seems to have a fondness for jewelry, because when she findsFlurrie'sNecklace, she quickly took it, and was upset when Beldam took it from her. In the original game, due to how much Beldam calls her sisters "lovelies", Vivian refers to the group as the "Shadow Beauties" when introduced, much to Beldam's anger. In the remake, she instead introduces the group as "Shadow Sisters", because it makes her happy when Beldam calls her "sister".

Powers and abilities

Outside of battle, Vivian possesses a similar ability toLady Bow's ability inPaper Mario. While it functions essentially the same, Vivian pulls Mario into her shadow, allowing the two to hide, unlike Lady Bow, who rendered herself and Mario invisible. This allows Mario and Vivian to get past objects that move over them and avoid sight from enemies and their attacks. In battle, Vivian can also attack with fire-based magic, most notably with her Fiery Jinx, which can burn andpierce the defense of every enemy in the battle. In the Japanese version, while in the ground with Vivian, the player is able to open the pause menu at any time, even when in a cutscene. If the player does this during Vivian's tutorial, the game will soft-lock afterwards.

Gender

In the original Japanese script ofPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Beldam insults Vivian by calling her ｢オトコ」, "a man". In the English localization of the game, Beldam uses gender-neutral insults instead.

In the Japanese Nintendo GameCube version ofPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Vivian is implied to be atransgender woman but is often treated as male. While various other characters and narrative text describe Vivian using masculine terms such asotoko ("man"), andotōto ("little brother"),^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] Vivian initially describes The Three Shadows assan shimai "three sisters",^[4] and routinely uses the feminine^[8] first-person pronounatai. Furthermore, she becomes upset when Beldam insults her by referring to her with masculine terms.

In both her party profile inThe Thousand-Year Door and her Catch Card inSuper Paper Mario, Vivian is referred to using the term 「オトコのコ」,otokonoko; being written in katakana, this should be read as 男の子 ("boy") but could be read as 男の娘 (otokonoko, literally "male daughter", a Japanese-language term that refers to a feminine-presenting or cross-dressing man).^[9] However, the latter term was not in any documented use until 2006,^[10] two years after the original GameCube release, and the former term is also used inKoops's party description, making it extremely unlikely that the latter interpretation was intended.

In the original English and German localizations of the game, explicit reference to Vivian being transgender is removed, as are instances where peers and flavor text refer to her with masculine terms. Consequently, Beldam's insults are changed to be gender-neutral. However, all other localized versions of the game contain a version closer to the original.^[1]^[11]^[12]^[13] The original Italian version more explicitly identifies Vivian as a trans woman; her description as a party member states that "she used to be a man, but now she's a woman and proud of it," a sentiment that she reiterates during her initial appearance.^[13]^[1]

In the Nintendo Switch remake, Vivian is explicitly transgender.

In theNintendo Switch remake, Vivian is treated more overtly as a transgender woman. The Japanese script adds in a line where Vivian says, "I have a boy's body, but my heart is a cute girl's!"^[14] Additionally, Vivian's party description is changed from "She looks like a girl, but she's really a boy," to "She has a boy's body, but the heart of a girl."^[15] The Japanese script also removes lines that refer to Vivian as a man; for example, Beldam's line 「どこが　三姉妹だよ！あんた　オトコじゃないかい！」 ("Where do you see three sisters?! Aren't you a man?!") is replaced with 「三姉妹じゃなく　三人組だって　いつも　いってるじゃないかい！」 ("I always tell you we're a trio, not three sisters!")^[16] Goombella's tattle also no longer refers to her as a man, or mentions her gender at all.^[17] The English localization likewise makes it clear that Vivian is transgender, a change from the English release of the GameCube version. Her dialogue now includes a line where she says, "Truth is, it took me a while to realize I was their sister...not their brother."^[3]^[18]^[19]^[20] Much like in the Japanese script, Vivian refers to the Three Shadows as the "Three Shadow Sisters", and Beldam corrects her without insulting her appearance,^[21] instead making a point of refusing to call her "sister".^[22]