Vivian (Paper Mario)

Vivian

Vivian is an ex-member of the Shadow Sirens who abandoned them for Mario's team. As unlikely as the friendship may be, Mario and Vivian were able to join forces without any trouble because of the conditions they had met under. Doopliss had stolen Mario's name and body, rendering the original Mario a shadowy being. Thus, Mario witnessed the true Vivian, who was his friend rather than an enemy. She helped him fight until she realized who he truely was, but returned to his side in time to save him from Doopliss and all of Mario's ex-party members, who had been tricked into helping Doopliss. After the Shadow Sirens changed their ways, Vivian returned to a much better life than she had previously had. By the end of the game, Vivian had a crush on Mario, and nearly told him of it before he boarded the boat and the party members were saying their good-byes.

There is a controversy about Vivian’s true gender in the original Japanese version; some claim that she is a pretty boy or bishounen, much like Zoisite of Sailor Moon fame. However, in the Japanese version the “Three Shadows Group” uses the word 魔女たち (majotachi), which refers to a group of sorceresses, i.e. females, words like her, she, and sisters are also used. Unlike most characters that undergo major changes during translation, Vivian maintains her (female) name in both the English and Japanese versions. Beldam often calls Vivian "Man", but this could be Beldam's way of insulting Vivian. More telling is that the menu information describes Vivian as a male, though this also could be a joke showing that Mario (who is supposedly journaling the adventure) misheard that Vivian was male. Though all the actions of Vivian and her appearance points out she is a female. The word "siren" points to this as well, siren being a female Greek creature of beauty who tricked men to their death.

Vivian's life before she met Mario is never fully explained. She is known to be at least one thousand years old because she is able to recognize an area in the Palace of Shadow that has been locked up for one thousand years. She may be a demon, like the Shadow Queen, but it is never explained fully.

Outside of battle, Vivian is similar to Bow from the first game. She can grab Mario and pull him down into their shadows, which protects them from enemies and allows them to eavesdrop on conversations. There are also several other stranger ways the move can be used. In battle, Vivian is arguably the strongest partner in the game in terms of attacking enemies.

Attacks

Shade Fist is Vivian's primary attack, which sees her hitting enemies with a firey punch. This punch causes enemies to become burned in addition to the damage given from the punch. The burn will take away one Heart Point per turn regardless of enemy defense. Vivian will be hurt by enemies utilizing spikes and other methods of defense if she uses this attack against them.
Veil takes one Flower Point. Vivian drags Mario and herself into their shadows in order to evade enemy attacks. However, the turn that they return from the shadows, they cannot attack. This limits the usefulness of the attack, so it is best when used against an enemy that charges up for a very powerful attack, such as a Hyper Goomba or the Shadow Queen.
Fiery Jinx takes six Flower Points to use and attacks all enemies with a fire spell. In addition to damaging enemies, it also burns them, meaning that their Heart Points will slowly decrease until the burn goes away. Vivian obtains this attack after the first power-up.
Infatuate confuses all affected enemies. Vivian uses four Flower Points and some flirty moves for this attack. It is more likely to work against minor enemies.