Marie

Marie Korbel, also known as Bloody Marie (JP: ブラッディー・マリー), is the current Skullgirl.

General Information
Marie is the main antagonist of Skullgirls, appearing in every character's Story Mode (often as the final boss) and in the ninth round of Arcade mode. She was the second possible DLC character to be revealed in the Indiegogo campaign, at $40,000. It has been stated that she is one of the characters who would need to be made playable for the canon Skullgirls storyline to be revealed. Her homestage is Final Atrium, transformed from the catacombs of the Grand Cathedral.

She became the Skullgirl in late summer, meaning she has been the Skullgirl for the past few months, as the game takes place in autumn. She is currently in the "middle stages" of the transformation process of becoming a Skullgirl.

She wears a maid uniform that she found in the manor that served as the makeshift orphanage she and Patricia lived in. By wearing it, she appeared more grown up and the other orphans listened to her more.

Marie plays the piano, as seen on the Skullgirls Original Soundtrack cover art.

Personality
As the Skullgirl, she is very destructive. However, unlike past Skullgirls, she demonstrates a much greater will and cares for the innocent. This is seen during Squigly's story, where she uses all of her strength to save New Meridian and its civilians from the falling debris of the Medici Tower while on her rampage against the infamous Medici mafia. Her selflessness has been acknowledged by Leviathan, who claims Marie's actions are "Rather curious for a Skullgirl."

Marie is usually seen to be calm and collected, often speaking with a gentle monotone voice. However, she has an intense hatred for Lorenzo and his empire, often losing her cool when they are around. When she sees Lorenzo fleeing from her assault on their base, she furiously demands that he face her and not ignore the countless lives the Medici have taken over the years before declaring that she will destroy him, thus making it her personal mission to eradicate the Medici for their evil deeds. Marie also mentioned that she only became the Skullgirl to challenge the corruption in their world and realizes there is an even greater monster that binds her to its will.

Marie is also a very determined boss.

Backstory
Marie hails from an area outside of the Canopy Kingdom known as No Man's Land, a wasteland that used to be a country but fell during the war with the Canopy Kingdom. Along with her friend Patricia (who would later become the Anti-Skullgirl weapon Peacock), Marie was orphaned during the war and forced into slavery by a group funded by the Medici Mafia.

Name
Her nickname "Bloody Marie" comes from "Bloody Mary" and may be derived from either the alcoholic drink or the infamous nickname for.

Bloody Mary is also a folklore legend, consisting of an apparition summoned to reveal the future. Originally, this ritual encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a hand mirror and candle in a dark house. It was said that the ritual would reveal the face of their future husband in the mirror. However, if they saw a skull or the face of the Grim Reaper, they would be destined to die before marriage. Modern interpretations of the legend involve chanting her name three times in a dark room with a mirror, lit by a candle in order to summon her. She would appear, either friendly or evil, and could scream at, curse, strangle, steal the soul, drink the blood, or scratch the eyes out of participants of the ritual.

Her last name Korbel is a reference to a famous champagne drink made in California.

Design
She used to have brown hair and blue eyes prior to becoming the Skullgirl.

Marie may be a nod to Castlevania's Persephone being that she is dressed in maid-attire and is in possession of a demonic-looking vacuum.

Story
Seven years after the war, Marie obtained the Skull Heart through unknown means. She used it to punish the slavers who had tormented her and Patricia, but transformed into the Skullgirl in the process. However, her strong will allowed her to resist the influence of the Skull Heart and continue her quest of vengeance - having disposed of the ones who enslaved her and Patricia, she turned her attention towards their sponsors: the Medici Mafia.

After arriving in New Meridian, Marie set up base in the catacombs of the local cathedral. She joined forces with the mysterious Double, although the exact nature of their meeting is still unknown. Marie also came into conflict with The Last Hope and wiped them out. The sole survivor, Valentine, was coerced into joining the Skullgirl as her second elite minion.

Some time later, Marie discovered that a number of people around the Canopy Kingdom were seeking her out, each for their own reasons. She waited in the catacombs beneath the cathedral for anyone bold enough to challenge her, but the true version of events remains unknown.

Abilities & Fighting Style
With the power of the Skull Heart in her, Marie can summon undead minions, use her maid skills to cleanse the world of her enemies, and even vacuum up the corpses of the fallen to increase her own power.

Boss Battle
Bloody Marie is the final boss of Skullgirls Arcade and Story modes (with the exception of Squigly's, where she is the penultimate opponent, and Fukua's and Eliza's Story Modes). Fought in an arcane arena formed by the Skull Heart itself, she will move through three forms as her health is depleted.

Marie is largely static, only floating around slightly (especially in her third form). She cannot be grappled into Blockbusters. Her attacks consist of summoned minions and flying demon-skulls, but her later forms introduce a massive black figure that she uses to attack the challenger and push them back. All of her attacks can be blocked for chip damage.

She is quite difficult to fight even on Easy difficulty, due to her wide variety of "cheap shots" that can do a hefty amount of damage. Her Tension Bar does not work in the same way regular characters' does, in that it only marks which form she is at, and has no other use. Her spam does not count for infinite combos, and as such, the combo escape cannot be used on her.

Marie cannot be grappled, though the scratch damage from the initial grappling is still dealt. Blockbusters that involve grappling (i.e. Cerebella's Ultimate Showstopper and Squigly's Daisy Pusher) are obviously ineffective during this battle.

1st Form (Full Health):

Things will begin pretty calmly, with Marie floating in the air while surrounded by skulls. This form will be the easiest as she only uses and switches between 2-4 attacks:


 * Her first attack involves spewing out an endless array of skulls that constantly fly in towards the player to intercept an attack/force blocking. They do relatively minimal damage but can pose quite an annoyance to new players due to their erratic flight pattern and sheer number, although they are destructible from afar through the use of projectile attacks.


 * Her second attack being the most dangerous during this section. Marie will send a cluster of skulls towards the player at either a diagonal or horizontal angle depending on their current position. While dealing less than noticeable damage if blocked, they have a rather large hitbox that can cause trouble for new players due to the timing issue. If the train of skulls connects it will tear off a huge chunk of health if not blocked.


 * The third attack involves her summoning a pile of skeletons from underneath the player's position to grapple their feet, causing slight scratch damage, then toss them across the stage for a moderate amount of damage. The player will become vulnerable to all subsequent attacks should this grapple connect. This is a move that she will spam very much during all of her forms so keep that in mind, though staying near her seems to lessen the frequency of her spamming this attack.


 * Marie's fourth attack creates a skeleton between her and the player. The skeleton will disappear after a while, but will explode violently should anyone touch it. Marie will use this trick to keep her distance from the player, where-from she can bombard them with even more skulls.
 * Rarely will she ever use a fifth move where she whacks the player character with her bone vacuum cleaner-scythe.

2nd Form transition (>2/3 Health):

Be careful as when she starts to transform she will emit a blue explosion which will seriously hurt the player should they be caught in it.

The attack, however, has a clear warning to when it will happen: Marie will cease all of her attacks for a split second and blue smoke will start billowing from underneath her. The explosion will take about half a second to actually deal damage so a wary player can dodge it if timed correctly, and a lot less damage will be dealt if blocked.

Here's where things will begin to get a bit... tedious. Marie's form will have changed to one where she's floating in the air with a blue-veined figure created by the Skull Heart floating right behind her. Marie stops launching skulls during this phase. Yet, she has a new set of attacks for this form on top of her already existing attacks:

2nd Form (2/3 Health):


 * Her sixth move is one of her most annoying ones, where the figure behind her sends a shadow out to attack the player from multiple directions:
 * If the Shadow flies UPWARD, it will come down from ABOVE and counts as a High Attack, so block this one while standing up for chip damage.
 * If the Shadow sinks DOWN into the ground it will be coming up from UNDERNEATH, block this by crouching.
 * If the Shadow appears and then just randomly disappears then it will rush out from either the FRONT or from BEHIND, simply block to avoid this. It does not matter if it is blocked while standing or crouching, though standing blocks will result in less health loss.
 * There will be moments when Marie will get close to the player, allowing her shadow to jab at them and send them flying across the stage for a moderate amount of damage.


 * ​ Marie's seventh move simply replaces her Mass of Skulls (2nd attack) for a random skeletal minion that will come charging at the player diagonally or horizontally. Blocking is slightly difficult here as they can be sent out at random intervals, but if they come straight towards the player they can be blocked with a stand guard; if they come down diagonally they can be blocked with either a standing or crouching guard. Crouch-guarding a diagonal minion results in less damage.


 * The eighth move is a variant of the skeletal minion where she brings in an undead Prohibition-era gangster to shoot at the player, pushing them back and damaging them if not blocked. They can shoot either straight in front of them or diagonally in the air, depending on where the player is when they are summoned.

NOTE:

It is recommended to end this phase using normal moves with an occasional Blockbuster. Do NOT waste Tension Bars here as the next part is much easier/harder with/without the use of Advanced Blockbusters.

Final Form transition (>1/3 Health):

Marie will explode in a blue explosion that can suck the player in and deals high damage. Like the 2nd form transition, she will cease all attacks before making this phase change, so stop hitting once she pauses and back away. If her health is drained before she can complete her transformation, she will die as soon as it finishes.

Final Form (1/3 Health):

This will be the most difficult (easiest if well managed) and grueling form of Marie. Marie is now merely bones; becoming nothing more than an organism surrounding the Skull Heart. The energy of the Skull Heart is now the only thing keeping her together, which is what must be attacked to hurt her.

She will use all of her attacks during this phase, but she will also become much more susceptible to damage. This is where an Advanced Blockbuster comes in. Filia's Gregor Samson or Valentine's Savage Bypass can rip off her last chunk of HP in less than one minute.

Blocking does not make a difference at this point due to her attacks dealing the same amount of damage, whether blocked or not.

Gameplay Inspiration

 * Rachel Alucard (BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger)
 * Hisui and Kohaku / Mecha Hisui (Melty Blood)
 * Sonson (Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes)
 * Mega Maid (Mel Brook's "Spaceballs")
 * Touhou series
 * Castlevania series
 * Blackheart (Marvel Super Heroes)
 * Mara (Dark Awake: The King Has No Name)
 * Mara (Dark Awake: The King Has No Name)

Relationships
Peacock: Despite having a corrupted mind, she still cares for her friend Patricia. They knew each other before the war, becoming closer by being survivors (For example, Patricia getting broken by their slavers). In Double's story, she insists that Double leave Peacock alone, as she "made a promise" to her. When Peacock faces Marie, she is somewhat upset about having to fight Marie, but was still willing to take her down. Peacock later decides to carry on Marie's wish of taking down the Medici. In Valentine's story, Marie orders Valentine to destroy Project Peacock; it is possible that, in that story, she didn't yet know that Project Peacock was Patricia. In Big Band's story, Marie is reluctant to fight Peacock, but is forced to do so in order to be able to continue her goal of slaughtering the Medici. Even after defeating Peacock, she refuses to kill her due to their strong friendship in the past. It is also revealed that Patricia had saved Marie's life while at the orphanage at some point, but the context of this occurrence is still unknown.

Double: Double serves Marie as one of her primary enforcers. However, Double's true agenda is to ensure that Marie carries out the will of the Divine Trinity, a task that Marie resists due to her strong will and grudge against the Medici Mafia. This leads Double to occasionally act outside of Marie's orders, although she generally submits to the Skullgirl's will if directly commanded. In Double's story, Marie's resistance to the Skull Heart's influence ultimately leads to her demise at Double's hands, as the Trinity decides that their plans are being inhibited by their lack of control over the Skullgirl.

Valentine: After defeating her in battle, Marie forces Valentine to become her second enforcer, sending her out on several missions during the various characters' stories. When Valentine reveals herself to be a traitor to Marie's cause in her own story, Marie admits that she expected Valentine's treachery from the beginning, and that she only cared that she could be used to destroy Anti-Skullgirl Lab 8.

Medici Mafia: Marie has a very strong hatred for the Medici Mafia because of all their previous misdoings and misdeeds to Peacock, who was originally named Patricia.

Filia: Marie claims that Filia has Medici blood in her, and as such, she must kill Filia and Samson as well. In Filia's origin story, Marie was going to kill Filia and her family, but Samson had fought her off. Marie had recognized Samson and Filia, but couldn't remember from where and when. With that, she spared Filia and her family on the condition that they leave New Meridian.

Marie 300%
Marie 300% is an optional boss fight that can be fought by selecting the option in the 'Extras' menu. It originally appeared as a joke fight in place of Squigly's actual Story Mode in the Skullgirls ∞Endless Beta∞ before her final release. In this mode you face off against Marie with heavily inflated health and attack power on the Class Notes stage. To initiate the fight initially, players would have had to have attempted to play Squigly's story mode before release. Because of this, only Squigly was playable to fight Marie 300%.

After Squigly was officially released, Marie 300% was temporarily removed due to Story Mode being completely removed for all characters in the beta. She made her return though in an update that added her to the then newly-installed Extras option on the Menu. Both the fight and dialog remain exactly the same here, and Squigly is still the only selectable character.

Beating Marie 300% has the perk of unlocking all artwork in the Art Gallery. It is also one of the few instances where Marie appears in her alternate color palette (the other being in Arcade mode on Nightmare difficulty).

Trivia

 * It should be noted that Marie can break the fourth wall to a certain degree. She does this during Robo Fortune's story mode before Robo Fortune battles with her, mentioning that nobody would think Robo Fortune's story mode was canon and calling the battle between her and Robo Fortune a "final boss battle".
 * One of Marie's skeletal minions wears the attire of a 1920's gangster. He also wields a stockless.
 * She appears on a photo that falls from Skull-Boy's pocket in the webcomic The New Adventures of Skull-Boy.
 * Marie is the only character in the game whose IPS/Undizzy burst inflicts damage.
 * Currently, Marie is only playable in Challenge Mode.
 * Marie bears a striking resemblance to Persephone, a recurrent enemy from the Castlevania series of platformer games, also by Konami. They are both females in maid's attire who use a demonic vacuum as their main weapon.