Ms. Mowz: the secret partner of The Thousand-Year Door

CharacterCarminaPaper Mario

Shopkeeper by day, thief by night — and easy to miss entirely. Known as Ms. Mowz in English, Carmina is the only optional partner in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and the owner of the Lovely Howz of Badges. This profile covers how to recruit her, her moves in battle, and the jealousy her flirty nature stirs up within the team.

Carmina (Ms. Mowz as she is known in English) is the partner it is easiest to miss in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: a little mouse who minds her shop by day and scours the world as a thief by night.

Alluring and teasing, she is the only truly optional partner in the entire series, the one who flirts with Mario and makes the rest of the team grind their teeth.

Contents

• Carmina, the partner you can miss entirely
• Shopkeeper by day, thief by night
• The flirt who makes the team jealous
• How to recruit Carmina
• Her moves in battle
• Appearances beyond The Thousand-Year Door
• Quick facts
• FAQ

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Carmina, the partner you can miss entirely

Introduced in 2004 on GameCube (July 2004 in Japan, November 2004 in Europe), Carmina turns up in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door with a status all her own. Unlike Goombella, Koops or Bobbery, she never joins the team because the story pushes her there: she is the first optional, secret partner in the whole saga.

In practice, you can finish the entire adventure without ever adding her to your team. She simply keeps her shop, and plenty of players never realize they have just walked past a playable partner. That rarity built her reputation: a "ghost" companion, a cult favorite among fans precisely because you have to earn her.

Visually, she is a little mouse with a feline air and a charmer's gaze, worlds away from the timid rodent. Her species, listed as "Little Mouser ", makes her a cousin of the prankster mice Mario runs into in Rogueport.

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Shopkeeper by day, thief by night

By day, Carmina leads the life of a model shopkeeper: she runs the Lovely Howz (the full sign reads "Lovely Howz of Badges "), the badge shop of Rogueport, the crossroads town where the whole game takes root. Since badges sit at the heart of customizing Mario, her shop is a precious stop for anyone looking to polish their build, and you can sometimes dig up pieces found nowhere else.

But that respectability hides a secret: Carmina is in truth a globe-trotting thief. She travels the entire world to steal the rarest badges, which she then resells in her shop. That double life — shopkeeper by day, burglar by night — explains her uncanny nose for treasure, a talent she puts at Mario's service once recruited.

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The flirt who makes the team jealous

As for personality, Carmina is mischievous and flirtatious right down to her whiskers. She drops hints, watches Mario fondly and thinks nothing of planting a kiss on him mid-battle. That unabashed flirting is her trademark and stands out sharply in such a family-friendly universe.

Naturally, that little game grates. The other partners take a very dim view of this intruder circling the hero, and the dialogue lets a amused jealousy show through the moment she steps on stage. That comic rivalry, between the tight-knit team and the free-spirited flirt, makes Carmina one of the tastiest characters in The Thousand-Year Door's cast.

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How to recruit Carmina

Signing Carmina up takes a deliberate effort. You have to head to the Rogueport Trouble Center and accept the request titled "Elusive Badge!" (that is exactly how it is listed on the board). One important detail: this quest only shows up after Chapter 4, so quite far into the story.

The job is to get your hands on a highly coveted badge, the Attack FX B, hidden at the very top of Hooktail Castle, the lair of the dragon defeated in Chapter 1. Once the badge is brought back to Carmina, she keeps her word and finally joins the team, leaving you the badge as a reward. Without taking on that quest yourself, she remains nothing more than a merchant you pass in town.

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Her moves in battle

On the battlefield, Carmina proves to be a formidable thief whose moves blend charm and larceny:

• Love Slap: a slap that hits a grounded enemy while ignoring its defense, ideal against the most armored opponents.
• Kiss Thief: her signature move, a thieving kiss that snatches an item or a badge from the targeted enemy.
• Tease: a flirtatious little routine that dizzies every enemy on screen.
• Smooch: a healing kiss that restores 10 HP to Mario and puts him back on his feet.

Out in the field, her unbeatable asset is her sense of smell: she sniffs out items, coins, Star Pieces and invisible blocks around Mario. A genuine secret detector that rewards the most methodical players.

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Appearances beyond The Thousand-Year Door

Despite her low profile, Carmina has left traces elsewhere. In Super Paper Mario on Wii, she reappears as a Catch Card, a nod reserved for those who know The Thousand-Year Door.

The manga Super Mario-kun also grants her a cameo during the arc adapting the game. But it is above all the Switch remake of The Thousand-Year Door, released in 2024, that put her back in the spotlight and let a whole new generation rediscover her.

Discreet but unforgettable, Carmina embodies an idea that is rare at Nintendo: a partner who is entirely optional, tailor-made for curious players who comb every corner. Missing her means missing one of the cheekiest and most endearing faces in all of Paper Mario.

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Carmina (Ms. Mowz) at a glance

French name	Carmina
English name	Ms. Mowz
Species	Mouse (Little Mouser)
Debut game	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Role	Optional, secret partner
Job	Owner of the Lovely Howz of Badges, in Rogueport
Recruitment	"Elusive Badge!" quest, after Chapter 4
Signature move	Kiss Thief (steals items and badges)

🍄 Want to keep the adventure going? Discover our Mario plushies in the shop.

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FAQ

• Who is Carmina in Paper Mario?
  Carmina (Ms. Mowz in English) is a mouse from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. She runs a badge shop in Rogueport while leading a double life as a thief, and she is the only optional, secret partner in the series.
• How do you recruit Carmina?
  You have to go through the Rogueport Trouble Center and accept the "Elusive Badge!" request, available after Chapter 4. You then need to retrieve the Attack FX B badge at the top of Hooktail Castle and bring it back to Carmina so that she joins the team.
• What is Carmina's English name?
  In the English release, Carmina is called Ms. Mowz. Her Japanese name is Chuchurina. The official European French name remains Carmina.
• What does Carmina's Kiss Thief do?
  Kiss Thief is her signature move: a thieving kiss that steals an item or a badge from the targeted enemy. Her other moves are Love Slap, Tease and Smooch.
• Does Carmina appear in other games?
  Yes, as a Catch Card in Super Paper Mario on Wii, as well as in a cameo in the Super Mario-kun manga. She also came back in the Switch remake of The Thousand-Year Door, released in 2024.

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