The Shadow Queen is an ancient demon who serves as the overarching antagonist of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
Prior to the start of the game, she destroyed an ancient civilization and began a conquest on the entire world with the aid of numerous monsters that she created and the Crystal Stars. In the end her plans were ruined and she was sealed away by four heroes within the Thousand Year Door. Even though she was sealed away, her followers vowed to bring her back into the world and did so around the time when the seal on the door was weakened enough. Her followers tricked others into opening The Thousand Year Door, allowing the queen to be free from her prison, which brought darkness to the whole world.
1000 Years Ago[]
Legend has it that the Shadow Queen simply appeared out of nowhere one day and waged war against the city where Rogueport now stands. She destroyed the city, murdered all who stood in her path, the war itself would be described as a "great cataclysm where the earth shook and skies roared". After the attack the city crumbled and sank into the earth. One third of the city was reconstructed to be the Palace of Shadow where the entrance would be the 1,000-Year Door itself, the death trap of evil.
The demonic Queen next set her sights on the rest of the world, hoping to plunge it into an endless time of darkness under her control. She created numerous demonic beasts and spirits to make the core of her army. Among them were the three Shadow Sirens who would be the most trusted followers of the queen. With her new army, the Shadow Queen set them on the surrounding areas of the world. The demons wiped out all resistance as they took the lands by force, killing millions of people in the process. Towns were destroyed and their treasures were stolen to be stored within the palace, soon to become rich with valuables. The Shadow Queen was far from finished though and created three dragons, Hooktail, Gloomtail, and Bonetail. These dragons became the loyal pets of the queen and quickly spread fear and suffering throughout the world, feasting on numerous people, destroying towns and leaving them to burn, and killing anyone.
The queen and her army quickly became feared above all else and the mere mention of their name sent people into a fearful state of panic. As more areas fell to the Shadow Queen, she next created the Crystal Stars. These stars were placed in separate areas around the world to exert the queen's influence. Realizing that her opposition were still recruiting others, the queen created a dungeon called the Pit of 100 Trials. The place was a torture chamber where people were devoured by demonic beasts and Bonetail. This very pit is found right next to The Thousand Year Door, where there are literally 100 floors.
The Four Warriors[]
Just when all hope seemed lost, four brave warriors stepped forward to end the reign of the demon once and for all or so they thought. The four were a Toad from Petalburg, a wise Goomba from Boggly Woods, a scarred and feared Koopa, and a Boo. The Toad from Petalburg came to be seen as a hero when he defended his town from the Queen's evil forces. The wise Goomba was a resident of the Boggly Woods and used his vast set of knowledge to aid the Punis in defending themselves against the monsters. The scarred Koopa went around the world battling evil. He became feared among the dark army, but eventually a trap was set for him and he soon fell into it. The Boo warrior of the army then left her demonic allegiance and helped the Koopa. The Boo then used her powers to predict that they would need the aid of the Toad, and the wise Goomba in order to have a fighting chance against the Shadow Queen. The Four banded togather and obtained the Crystal Stars and ventured into the Palace of Shadow. There they faced the demon in an epic battle. After an intense fight, the heroes defeated the queen after achieving to destroy her physical body. Even then though, the queen's demonic spirit lived on and attempted to kill the warriors. The heroes made one last effort and sealed the queen in her own palace, thus ridding the world of one of the most evilest of evils.
Last Stand[]
Before the seal was complete though, the queen sent a portion of her magic into the heroes. The effects would not be felt while they held the stars, but afterward the heroes would become trapped within black chests. The queen vowed to return one day and will conquer the world when that day dawns. The heroes then realized that the demon's threats may not just be a bluff. They sealed the Palace entrance with the stars and the seal would remain for 1,000 years, the entrance to the palace would then go on to be known as The Thousand-Year Door. Realizing that others may need the stars in case the queen returns, they made a map of the stars in case other heroes would need them. To insure that the map only fell into pure hands, they placed it in a chest that could only be opened by one pure of heart.
While the war finally seemed to be over, there were other plans in effect to insure that the demon would return to the world. The Shadow Sirens began to spread rumors of a great treasure hidden in the earth beneath the location of the old city. People then constructed a town over the city, which soon became filled with thugs and robbers, hoping to claim the treasure for themselves. None of them knew that the treasure was actually a demon and that the rumor of the treasure was nothing more than a ruse in part of an insidious plot to send the world into complete darkness again.
1,000 Years Later[]
1,000 years passed- the warriors, the Shadow Queen and their great battle faded into being nothing more than a legend. The seal on the palace door began to fade and the Shadow Queens servants, the Shadow Sirens knew the time to release their queen would soon come. The Shadow Sirens joined the cult of the X-Nauts. The X-Nauts were a criminal organization of unknown origin and existed to conquer the world. With this information Beldam, the head of the Shadow Sirens, managed to convince the X-Nauts master Sir Grodus to seek out the Crystal Stars and use them to release the Shadow Queen. Grodus who hoped to rule the world thought by releasing the Shadow Queen would be able to control her and use her to fulfill his dream. This was all lie a by Beldam though just to get Grodus to help so as to free her because evil like Beldam could not touch the seal that was on the queen.
With the X-Nauts playing into her hands, Beldam came into possession of the chest that contained the Magic Map. She gave it to Grodus and told him that it could be the ideal way of finding a pure maiden. Beldam knew that if the queen were to return to full power, a vessel would be needed. The vessel needed to be one of pure origin though and seeing how the chest could be opened by someone as such, it was the perfect way to find the maiden. Grodus liked the plan and had Beldam disguise herself as a merchant selling various items they looted while looking for people to open the chest. Eventually Beldam found the right person to open it who turned out to be Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. Beldam found the maiden, but was unable to abduct her then because of too many witnesses. Peach in the meantime mailed the map to Mario to aid in searching for the treasure. As a result, Grodus sent his army to abduct the princess and search for the map.
With the seal on the Thousand-Year Door weakening and Grodus' intellegence at Beldam's side, the queen's resurrection seemed assured. Attempting to collect the stars the X-Nauts were foiled at every turn by the hero Mario and his friends. Eventually Mario after defeating Grodus' second-in-command Lord Crump and completely obliterating the X-Naut base, managed to claim the last Crystal Star. In the meantime, Beldam abducted Proffesor Frankly, a goomba that had a lot of knowledge and helped Mario find the loctions of Crystal Stars, and had him locked in a secluded area and Grodus had Doopliss, a ghost that can tranform into many shapes, disguise himself as the aged professor. In this guise, he was able to convince Mario to open the 1000 door and allow entry for Grodus.
Mario did and went after Grodus who along with a kidnapped Princess Peach had entered the Palace of Shadow shortly after Mario cracked the seal on it with the Crystal Stars. Eventually after making his way through the palace traps Mario encountered and battled Grodus. When Grodus was defeated he chose not to accept it and used the Princess as a hostage, it was only with the intervention of Bowser was Peach saved from harm. Unfortunately Bowser engaged Mario and his friends in battle along with his assistant Kammy Koopa, this distracted Mario and company long enough for Grodus to escape with Peach to the Queen's chamber. After Mario defeated Bowser and Kammy he went after Grodus and cornered him in the chamber, there it was revealed why Grodus needed the Princess. It seemed the Shadow Queen needed a body to be revived fully and Grodus planned to use Peach as the Queen's host body.
Return of the Queen[]
Summoning the Queen, Grodus presented her with Peach whom she then possessed, who then became "Shadow Peach", her summoning engulfing the world in darkness. Grodus, thinking the Queen was under his control because he revived her, ordered her to destroy Mario. The Queen, insulted by Grodus thinking her to be a slave, blew apart his robotic body. The Shadow Sirens then appeared, and Beldam explained to the Shadow Queen they created the myth of an ancient treasure and tricked Grodus into reviving her, and the Shadow Queen thanked them for work. The Shadow Queen then sees Mario, and offers him a choice of being her servant, which he of course refuses (the player can choose yes, but it will result in an instant Game over). She then attacked Mario, and while the fight was not too hard at first, the Shadow Queen eventually became invincible. None of Mario's party attacks were able to do any damage and all Mario could do to survive was to wait until the crystal stars came out in response to the evil in the area.
Defeat[]
Once that happened, the friends who Mario had made along the way encouraged him with their pleasant thoughts, which were communicated through the Crystal Stars. This distracted the Shadow Queen long enough for Peach to gain momentary control and give Mario all her power. Receiving full power, Mario could now harm the Shadow Queen and the true battle began. After a lengthy and intense showdown, the demon was defeated and she expressed disbelief at how she could be beaten by such beings that were as weak as she believed. She then vanishes, in a shadowy explosion that ripples across the room. It is not known what happened to her but it is believed that she is now in a very weak form, or else entirely destroyed.
Alternate Ending[]
This alternate ending just happens during the scene where The Shadow Queen tries to convince Mario to be her servant after she saw how Mario could be useful for her. Afterwards, the player has two options of choose "Refuse this witch!" and "Become her servant", if the player then choose the latter the Shadow Queen will be pleased by Mario's loyalty towards her, calling him a pet and claiming that now he belongs to her forever. Then the screen turns black and a last message explains the Shadow Queen took over the whole world and engulfed it into an age of darkness for everyone including Peach, Mario and all his friends. After that the final scene consists in a Game Over.
Other appearances[]
The Shadow Queen makes a cameo in Super Paper Mario as one of Francis' dolls along with other characters as dolls and posters from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.
The Shadow Queen also appears in the Super Mario-Kun manga adaptation of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's plot. As with most characters in the manga, she displays more of a comic side.