Shi Maria
Names: Shi MariaThe Bedlam BrideThe ScreamerThe ReviledKwaku's LoveThe Corrupted ParamourMariaMaeMaeThe Widow Endless
First appears in Book 6: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride, chapter 10 (8)
Appearances
What you know
Book 6: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
- Ch 10Shi Maria is a unique spider demi-goddess living in a southern swamp, seeking her husband, with attacks causing permanent insanity or blindness.
- Ch 27Shi Maria, also called The Screamer, is a banished demigod spider said to have eaten her husband, a forgotten god.
- Ch 27Shi Maria inflicts insanity and blindness curable only by divine intervention, and is vulnerable to psionic attacks.
- Ch 28Shi Maria, the Bedlam Bride, is a level 140 Reaper Spider Minion city boss and demigod, banished from the celestial realm.
- Ch 28Shi Maria has a level 15 Cockroach skill, letting her survive fatal blows.
- Ch 28Shi Maria cannot cast the body spell without supplies sold by another spider, likely on the ninth floor or deeper.
- Ch 28When Samantha threatens to kill her mother, Shi Maria's dot turns white and she collapses in a panic attack.
- Ch 28Shi Maria has a small, closed fifth eye in the centre of her head; opening it blinds or maddens all who look at it.
- Ch 28Shi Maria can speak, and calls Carl a worshipper of Emberus.
- Ch 28Shi Maria wants to reach Larracos to find her husband and prove she didn't kill him.
- Ch 28Shi Maria claims a master pulpmancer in Larracos could give Samantha a body and free her from the card.
- Ch 28Shi Maria knows from Samantha about Carl's troubles with deities and 'what is growing inside' him.
- Ch 30In battle Shi Maria casts illusions and opens her fifth eye, driving enemies blind and insane so they attack each other.
- Ch 31Shi Maria is by far the strongest totem, sadistic and fast; if she dies as a card she returns to the deck.
- Ch 39Odette says Shi Maria is the Bedlam Bride of her mythology; 'staring into her eye' means becoming blinded by obsession.
- Ch 41Shi Maria and Lazarus are competitive rivals in fights, and Donut thinks MaeMae is jealous of his reveal.
- Ch 48Shi Maria, Donut's spider totem, bites off most of the hydra heads, including Asher's, before dying to triple death rays.
- Ch 48Shi Maria opens her magic eye on Carl, connects with his mind, and says she has done something for him that he must soon repay.
- Ch 72Shi Maria, a huge spider totem, kills Alpha Male Carl by driving a leg through his head as soon as she's summoned.
- Ch 73Shi Maria accuses Carl of planning to betray their deal to take her to the next floor.
- Ch 73Shi Maria rummages through Carl's inventory, noticing a well-worn book, a powerful bomb, a Kimaris summoning totem and a war mage head.
- Ch 73Using Carl's body, Shi Maria brews ink from toraline root and tattoos herself onto Carl's chest so he can't discard her.
- Ch 73Shi Maria says Carl must either keep her and gain her power, or set her free; either way she wins.
Book 7: This Inevitable Ruin
- Ch 19Shi Maria, the tattoo on Carl's chest, has been trying hundreds of times to cast spells through him without permission.
- Ch 23In the dream, Shi Maria killed and devoured her husband in a rage, sobbing as she did it.
- Ch 25Shi Maria briefly took Carl's form in the Lemig ballroom, rampaging and driving goblins insane, before being pulled back into Carl.
- Ch 72Shi Maria still whispers to Carl, calling him a puppet on rails and urging him to untie her.
- Ch 79Shi Maria bursts into the shared dream insisting she didn't kill 'him'.
Connections
- related toPsamatheswallowed Samantha
- friend ofPsamathe
- ally ofCarluneasy bargain to reach Larracos
- enemy ofHeyZoos
- related toLazarus-A-Bang-Bangrivals
- ally ofPrincess Donut the Queen Anne Chonktotem
- enemy ofAlpha Male Carlkilled him
- enemy ofCarlpossessed him and tattooed herself onto him
- partner ofHapanzihusband
Key moments
- Book 6 · Ch 10Samantha swallowed by Shi Maria
Samantha reports she was eaten by Shi Maria, a spider demi-goddess at the island's southern coast, and Carl plans to rescue her and possibly capture the monster.
- Book 6 · Ch 27Preparing for Shi Maria
While the crab migration passes, Carl studies Shi Maria in the Bahamas book and chats with Samantha, who calls the spider her best friend.
- Book 6 · Ch 28Meeting the Bedlam Bride
Samantha leads Shi Maria to Carl and Donut; the spider admits she can't animate Princess Lunette's body yet and breaks down when Samantha threatens her mother.
- Book 6 · Ch 28Samantha won't leave her friend
Carl tells Samantha she's part of the team, but she refuses to abandon Shi Maria, who is prepared to become a card.
- Book 6 · Ch 28Bargain with Shi Maria
Carl approaches the spider and offers to escort her deeper if she helps; Shi Maria speaks for the first time and agrees, wanting to reach Larracos.
- Book 6 · Ch 28The Bedlam Bride quest
Carl receives an escort quest to bring Shi Maria to Larracos; she exposes her belly and Carl punches her to begin turning her into a card.
- Book 6 · Ch 29Shi Maria becomes a card
Carl turns Shi Maria into a card and, travelling north with Donut, Mongo and Samantha, gains new cards from La Ciguapa and tests his Scavenger Daughter.
- Book 6 · Ch 30Deck practice in the mall
In a 1980s mall simulation, Shi Maria kills Uzi Jesus after he shoots her, then destroys Rude-Dolph's puppet reindeer with her fifth eye and rips Rude-Dolph in two.
- Book 6 · Ch 31Hours of deck practice
Practising in the mock arena, Carl and Donut learn their totems' quirks: Shi Maria dominates, while Uzi Jesus and Asojano resist orders.
- Book 6 · Ch 44Double deck fight in the turkey barn
Carl and Donut fight Tom and Sharp-Elbows at once as the turkeys turn hostile and dead ones rise as zombies; Shi Maria is snared back into the deck.
- Book 6 · Ch 48The Reminiscence Hydra is defeated
Carl removes and cauterizes the fire head, letting the moonshine fire hurt the hydra; Shi Maria bites off heads, and the burning hydra dies, giving Carl and Donut the win.
- Book 6 · Ch 48Shi Maria touches Carl's mind
While Carl burns, Shi Maria's magic eye connects with his mind; she kills the Asher head mercifully and says Carl will soon do something for her.
- Book 6 · Ch 72Carl combined with Shi Maria
Shi Maria kills Alpha Carl before the Golden Combo resolves, so the card fuses Carl with Shi Maria instead.
- Book 6 · Ch 73Shi Maria possesses Carl
Combined with Shi Maria, Carl loses control; she casts Self-Immolation, burns through the floor and wounds Katia and Mongo.
- Book 6 · Ch 73Li Jun loses an eye
When Li Jun approaches, Shi Maria uses Carl's hand to stab out and eat his eye.
- Book 6 · Ch 73The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Shi Maria tattoos an eye into Carl's chest with homemade ink, binding herself to him before the combination times out.
- Book 7 · Ch 19Carl discovers Shi Maria's attempts
In the flag room, Carl finds hundreds of suppressed notices showing Shi Maria trying to cast through him, including a Gloom Wraith Phase that could have detonated Herman's bombs.
- Book 7 · Ch 23Shi Maria trapped
In Shi Maria's memory, she devours her husband Hapanzi, who later tells Carl she is now trapped inside him; Carl fails the Bedlam Bride quest.
- Book 7 · Ch 79Shi Maria breaks into the dream
Katia's and Carl's dreams collide as a screaming Shi Maria bursts in, denying she killed someone.