Imagine living under the fear of possibly getting turned into a pig every time you hear the town bell toll. No one knows why the town is cursed but only that the bell will toll for one of them. This is the reality of a small village of Twilight Town, a place where the sun has not yet raised or set. The town is located in the Mushroom kingdom and the only way to get to it is via a pipe that only allows the passage of those who have their name written on one of their belongings. This village is a town full of secrets and raises more questions than answers.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a role playing gaIn Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, a role playing game developed by Intelligent Systems for the Nintendo GameCube, demonstrates the trickster archetype through Doopliss, a Duplighost – which is a creature that can take on the likeness of other characters, including their abilities. This ability perfectly demonstrates the trickster archetype as one of his traits is the ability to be able to shape shift and morph into different animals or characters. Doopliss is a chaotic force in the Twilight town, as he torments the villagers by keeping them wondering whom the bell will toll for next.
As Mario is on his quest of saving princess peach and collecting the legendary crystal stars, which are the key to finding out the secrets behind the The Thousand Year old door located in depths of the town called Rogueport, he finds himself in Twilight Town and faces the possibility of being a target of the curse. When Mario arrives at the town he is told by the Mayor that they have been cursed by the creature that resides in the Creepy Steeple, a place that is haunted by ghosts and while mario is in town he witnesses various villagers getting turned into pigs.
When Mario finally makes it to the steeple he encounters a goofy looking creature in a bright room, which is a contrast to the tones of brown consistent with the town, is nothing like anything encountered in Twilight Town. It has vibrant colors and consists of a room with a bathroom, TV, Fridge, and Green chair. The creature is sitting in the green chair watching TV. Mario’s party cannot take the creature seriously and question if they have the right monster. Doopliss get offended at being called a monster and proceeds to confess to cursing the villagers because of how boring they are, this shows that Doopliss doesn’t have a real plan.
Doopliss acts offended, Doopliss then moves in for the match, however it almost feels unfair and short. And the only ability ever used by Doopliss is one where he scans Mario and turns into a shadow clone of mario. Mario is able to defeat Doopliss after a short fight. Or so the player and Mario’s friends are led to believe. After the fight a long pause lingers on shadow Mario. The shift then leads the player to be able to control shadow mario, meaning the fight the player was led into thinking it was easy is actually about to get even more difficult as Mario now needs to find a way to get his identity back. This is a classic trickster trait. Taking on a different identity and fooling a party into thinking you are something you really are not.
As you Mario makes his way back to the town he gets ambushed by Doopliss in his new disguise. He thanks Mario for his new sweet body and name and tells him that he plans on keeping it since Mario is already a very popular hero. However Doopliss decides to give Mario a chance, if he’s able to guess his name he will return his body and name. This is similar to another trickster story of Rumpelstiltskin, helps a girl from being killed by using his ability to spin straw into gold. However as payment he decides to take the girls first born child unless she is able to guess his name.
As Mario looks for clues he finds himself overhearing a pair of groups who know the truth about Doopliss taking Mario’s identity. They allude to the only soul that knows Doopliss name, and they happen to be trapped underneath the Creepy Steeple. Through this conversation we discover that it is because no one knows his name that makes Doopliss so powerful. Mario then makes his way down the Creepy Steeple and looks for this soul, which happens to be a parrot.
The parrot reveals the name after thinking Mario has left the room and proceeds to talk to himself saying,
Mario turns back to the village to find Doopliss, who then runs away after Mario tells him his name. Mario then faces Doopliss in his room for the real fight this time. Mario gets back his body after defeating Doopliss. However Doopliss ends up getting away scot free in the end. He faces no consequences and Mario isn’t even mad that he deceived his friends and stole his identity.
Doopliss is an embodiment of the trickster. He lives to have fun and does not care about who get hurt in the process, his pranks and curses is what makes him selfish. His intentions are not to hurt anyone but just mess with the village. He is neither bad or god as he just want to have a laugh making him a character who doesn’t fit into one category.
Mythology 