Helena

I went by many names in the

past... But I have always liked

the name "Helena". So call me that.*"*

–***Helena to Mario on the ARC sane route.***

**Helena** is a character and a minor antagonist of Mario The Music Box: ARC. She is known as the witch of illusion and was sent by an unknown cult to recover witches' artifacts which led her to her encounter with Mario and Riba. She is what is known as a "Dreamwalker", a being who can manipulate people's dreams.

## Appearance

Helena wears her brown hair in pigtails with black scrunchies. brown eyes, She wears long black gloves, boots, a puffy red dress with yellow decorative ribbons and a large red bow.

## Personality

She is a mischievous witch who enjoys toying with others as seen when she interacts with Mario in routes where Riba is not his ally, and she has been shown with a sadistic streak which is best exemplified when she kills her targets of interest. She does not appear to think much of others whether it be a fellow witch who was slain (Aurora/Misery), her targets (Mario and/or Riba), or the cult she works for. She does express a particular interest in her status within said cult, targeting Riba for the sake of being worshipped as a god within her cult should she kill him.

## Weapon

Chainsaw—probably stolen from Mario. It could also be her own weapon.

## History

In both routes, Helena was sent to retrieve Aurora's necklace from Mario by order of the cult she works for, invading Mario's dream after the plumber escaped the wrath of Luciano and rested in a nearby bed.
If the player is playing the Sane Route or if they are playing the Insane Route and Riba is dead by this point, after a dream sequence which features a glimpse of Marchionne's past life, Mario travels on but runs into Helena who initially greets Mario. After toying with Mario in the room, Helena eventually reveals her true colors and demands for Mario to hand over Aurora's Necklace (either freely given to him in the Sane Route or taken from her corpse in the Insane Route). When Mario refuses, Helena chases him down with the chainsaw she stole from him. If Riba is still alive in the Insane Route, Helena will also invade both his and Mario's dreams, holding Riba captive and suspended with chains. She bargains with Mario in this case, offering to let him and Riba go if he handed Misery's necklace over. Seeing Mario unwilling to part with the necklace, Helena strikes another deal/ultimatum with Mario: she'll give Mario her own ring if he allows her to take Riba with her whom she'll kill to become worshipped within her cult, but if not, then Mario would have to pry her ring from her cold dead hands. If Mario agrees to Helena's terms, Riba becomes indignant at being sold out only for Helena to mock him and claim that he was planning on betraying Mario anyways before she kills him with her chainsaw, and afterwards she gives Mario her ring as promised without a fight. However, if Mario refuses her deal, then she lets Riba go and gives Mario a head-start to run from her before she chases after him, initiating the boss fight. In either case, Helena is never seen again for the remainder of the game whether she has been killed by Mario and her own traps or if she has killed Riba and parts with her ring before leaving Mario in peace so he may escape Evangeline.

## Boss Fight

Helena's boss fight revolves around avoiding her and setting off the traps in the next two rooms before escaping after the fight is initiated; failure to avoid her or failure to escape the booby-trapped room before the traps set off will result in Mario's death. The traps have switches across the hallways in each of the next two rooms that must be pressed in the correct order as Helena pursues Mario, otherwise the traps will be reset. Helena herself does not move quickly save for the very last hallway, but she can deplete Mario's health in two hits. After Mario successfully sets off a trap in each room, he must escape it before the trap goes off and ends the fight with his death. In the last hallway, Mario must run from Helena and make it through the last door, and if he does not then he is killed alongside Helena as the last trap crushes both him and her to death.