Riba

* Normal
* Past
* C3 Arc End
* Demon
* Classic

> *"Miss me?"*
>
>

> - Riba on Mario the Music Box -ARC- Sane Route.
>
>

**Riba** is the third playable character and one of the main antagonists in (*Mario) The Music Box.* He is also the main antagonist of the Sane route, and a minor protagonist of the Insane route in *(Mario) The Music Box -ARC-.* His last name is hinted to be Aduraice from a diary page written about Alice, meaning his full name is **Riba Aduraice**. He is first encountered as an NPC and then a playable character for a short time.

## Profile

Riba is a man who looks to be in his mid 20's. He has dirty blonde hair, light skin, gray eyes, wears a pair of glasses, and a brown business-like suit with a red tie.

### Plot

Riba is first encountered during Luigi's route when he is in search of Mario. Upon meeting Luigi, he introduces himself and his purpose with the mansion. After Luigi questions him if he's come across Mario by any chance, Riba responds that the last time he's heard of him was seeing him repeatedly bang his head on the wall, and running off into the darkness. He then warns Luigi not to linger in the mansion for too long before taking his leave.

Riba happened to bump into Mario once again and appears to be taking care of him while he is unconscious. When the two meet each other and explain their purpose of being at the mansion, Riba will join Mario's party temporarily and become playable for a short time in his absence.

## Personality

Riba can be described as a calm and serious individual compared to Mario and Luigi. He doesn't show too much fear despite the situation. For example, he is capable of navigating through the halls without a need for a light source, even though it leaves him vulnerable. In some cases, he also seems to be somewhat afraid of Alice, which hints about the nature of his relationship with her. When being pursued by her, he will try his best to avoid any contact with Alice, such as locking doors or hiding, even though he can overpower the body she's possessing. Riba seems to greatly dislike human beings, which hints that he is not human himself. The reasons are currently unknown, but it could be because he either simply can't relate to one or he had a negative experience in his past involving them.

Riba's personality varies depending on the route chosen. In the True/Normal ending route, he is shown to be sadistic. His sadist side has mostly been shone towards Alice during the time she was going through an incurable disease. He offered her a chance at immortality in exchange for her entire family being sacrificed. This, however, was a lie, as he watched Alice murder her family members one-by-one in amusement.

In -ARC-, a little more of his personality is explained. Riba hides his true personality under his calm persona. He's an expert of false truth and will silence anyone that comes close to finding out the truth to be revealed should they be close to a conclusion, and remove the evidence. Much of this is shown in the Sane route where he is psychotic towards Mario and Luigi when he finally sees them.

He attempts to kill them then and there. In the Sane Route, his hatred towards Alice is shown, which is why he will do anything in his power to kill her and Mario in order to end this investigation. This point is proven in the Insane route where it is revealed that Riba was the one who locked the door once Mario had entered the gas room.

At his absolute worst, Riba will become so crazy and psychotic to the point of not even caring about his own well-being, as shown when he set the entire church on fire and having no regard for possibly setting himself on fire.

But in the Insane Route, Riba actually helps Mario, because he is somewhat worried for him. Mario strikes him down after getting out of the gas room but meets him later. Some time into the gameplay, Riba saves Mario from his attempted suicide, then instantly kills Aurora to rescue Mario and wake him from an unreal dream later in the gameplay. Most of the time, Riba's personality remains unchanged when he kills Mario after the game (Ie. continuance 1 and 2). If Mario gives him an apple, he will appear more docile.

As implied in the Insane route, Riba represents the sin of greed, only caring about himself and just using other people. He pretended to be friends with Marchionne and act nice to him and his family, only to ultimately betray them and kill them off. Riba will even do the same for anyone else that is no longer useful to him, as shown with Alice and Mario in some cases.

Riba has also shown to be utterly cruel, taking great pleasure in others pain and misery. An example of this is shown when he smiles and mocks Marchionne the night before his execution and reveals that he unintentionally killed his parents, or how he taunts Mario after killing Luigi right in front of him.

Despite all that he's done, Riba did legitimately care about and love his previous wife, Elizabeth. He was completely heartbroken when he found out she died. Upon Mario giving him Elizabeth's ribbon, Riba will explode in grief and anger, and immediately choke out Mario, thinking he's Alice. Riba also loved both of his daughters. Although it's implied in the main game that he favored Serina over Anna, he was angered when Alice killed her.

## Weapon

Machete–He may have brought his own weapon.

## The Truth Is Revealed

    **Beyond this point contains Spoilers. Read at your own cost!**

It is confirmed that Riba's caring side was the result of memory loss due to his many deaths at the mansion. It is also revealed that Riba had been in a relationship with Alice in the past, which explains why she had some sort of connection with him throughout the course of the game.

When his true personality is revealed, he is a cruel and cold-hearted person who loved to see people suffer. In fact, Riba never even loved Alice to begin with, which explains why he was her sole target throughout the game. When Mario and Luigi discover an old family photo, Riba was in the picture. The house had been abandoned for decades, which meant that Riba wasn't human, due to looking the same throughout the timeline. When Riba met Alice in the past, the two had fallen in love and Riba had become a part of her family. Alice loved Riba dearly, but he didn't in return. He had a child named Serina, with Alice. Later at some point, she had an unknown disease that drastically shortened her lifespan (said disease is unknown). Alice was driven to insanity because she did not want to die at such a young age. When Riba discovered this, he used this as an advantage to make a deal with her. Alice was to sacrifice her whole family and anyone else that lived in her mansion so she could obtain immortality and live forever with Riba.

Much to his amusement, Riba had enjoyed watching as Alice slaughtered her entire family one-by-one. When the ritual was believed to be close to completion, with Serina supposedly being the final sacrifice, she was murdered by his daughter, Anna during that same time due to Anna's jealousy towards her taking its toll on her sanity, and buried her body near the abandoned mine shaft. When Alice found out, she became furious and killed Anna in cold blood. With Serina's corpse missing and Anna not being a suitable sacrifice due to her being an outsider to the family, Alice's ritual was incomplete.

Her skull was then bashed in with a crowbar at the hands of her lifelong lover as soon as she discovered Riba's true intentions. This led to her spirit haunting the halls of the mansion, waiting to get her revenge on him someday. However, she had already cursed the mansion before her death, trapping Riba within the mansion. He had seemingly forgotten Alice's true intentions by the time Mario and Luigi had came by to investigate.

When Mario was possessed by Alice's spirit, Riba used this as an advantage to make him into a sacrificial host for her. When Mario read Anna's note, he was close to uncovering the mystery behind the mansion, before Riba snatches the note and tears it to shreds. To gain Alice's trust again, he continued on with her wishes by trying to complete the ritual so she could be with him forever before possibly turning against her once again. However, Alice ends up betraying Riba during the ritual and slits his throat. Though, she literally stabs him in the back in the remastered version.

## Powers and Abilities

Being a demon in disguise of a human, Riba is an extremely powerful being. Much more powerful and dangerous than almost any of the cast. This is expressed in the true ending of the main game as well as the Sane route of Arc where Riba shows to be a highly dangerous threat to the brothers, if not more than any of the other threats in the game. In the Continuance 4 ending, Marchionne himself even states that Riba should have more power than him.

**Demonic Physiology:** As a demon, Riba is capable of incredible feats of physical strength and power that surpass any regular human being, including both Mario and Luigi. On multiple occasions, he demonstrated his ability to overpower Mario in terms of sheer strength, such as when he was able to choke him instead of actually beating him (when Alice possessed him and chased him through the hallway), and during the insane route where a flashback of Elizabeth and Anna causes him to attack Mario out of rage. Mario, despite his own superhuman strength and durability, is no match for Riba. Additionally, Riba, later on, overpowers Luigi after he interrupts the ritual, and the only thing that stopped him from finishing the younger man off was Alice waking up and gutting Riba like a fish.

Aside from being capable of superhuman strength, Riba has feats of impressive endurance. He is able to take and endure harsh punishment. In the insane route, Mario ambushes and stabs him repeatedly with a knife. He survives the attack, claiming that it was merely a scratch, which meant he is capable of enhanced regeneration, as Mario notes that he has no visible wounds on him.

**Immortality:** After becoming a demon, Riba was granted a limited form of immortality. Riba doesn't appear to age at all, and he's been alive for over a century. He has maintained a long lifespan living in Evangeline, and later on, being trapped in the mansion for many years after. Additionally, Riba is unable to die at the hands of the humans, or at the very least, so easily, having survived Mario's attempts to strike him down (in the second Sane Route ending, it's shown that Riba has actually survived having his head crushed by a chandelier).

In the Insane Route, Mario doesn't kill Riba as it's stated that Riba had survived and simply played dead. If Mario tries to attack Riba in the church during the sin trials, he kills him almost instantly. The only thing that can kill him is either decapitation or getting crushed, or even a supernatural being of his caliber taking him out. Cold weather, at least, seems to affect him, as It's unknown if even poison would work on him.

**Resurrection:** Whenever Riba is killed, he comes back to life in a new body, as it is stated throughout his time being trapped in the mansion. Presumably, whenever he has died by any of the angered spirits in the mansion (or when he committed suicide in hopes of escaping), he only reawakens in the mansion. The process of resurrecting appears to take a long time, which is proven that if Riba dies at all in the Insane Route, he doesn't reappear for the rest of the run.

Each time he comes back, he loses a bit of his memory of his former life. When he resurrected after being killed by Marchionne in the forest, he struggled to remember everything that happened beforehand, and that he had failed to remember Mario (only gaining his memories of the plumber back after seeing his picture).

**Pyrokinesis (limited):** Riba has demonstrated to be capable of the creation and manipulation of fire, as shown in his boss battle in the Sane Route. Despite the fire in-game not being able to harm the player, in the cutscene following Riba's defeat, the flames burn down the church, probably in a final attempt at killing Mario and Luigi (if he lives).

**Mind Control:** Riba has the ability to gain control of someone's mind and influence them. In the Sane Route, he takes control of Luigi and orders him to kill Mario at the Church. Given that Alice shows sincere regret for her horrible actions and Riba mentioning how much he likes hurting people as well as his amusement at watching her kill her entire family, it is possible that Riba had used this ability on her when she did this, especially since Alice admits to caring greatly about her father.

And if this were true, it's also possible Riba's influence is dependent on the mental state of the victim. Alice was desperate to live, not wanting to die at a young age, and went insane, whereas Luigi was mentally taxed out from Marchionne making amends with Luciano finally making peace after hearing Mario apologize for everything.

**Demonic Transformation:** Riba has the ability to shed his human shell into his true form, as seen in the Sane Route Missing Ending B. Riba grows wings from his back, sharp teeth, horns, and a snake-like tongue. His skin also grows abnormally pale with black spots. In this form, he feasts upon the flesh and souls of humans. This demonic form is so terrifying that Mario, who previously was willing to accept his fate, had tried to run away and escape him. According to the design sheet for this form, Riba rarely ever transforms because it happens at random, meaning he has little to no control over it due to lack of experience.

**Combat Prowess:** In his past life before the events of Mario the Music Box, Riba initially served as Marchionne's overseer, protecting him from all types of dangerous threats, which included assassins and witches. It's revealed in a secret cutscene that Riba was the one that gave Marchionne his signature blade and taught him how to wield it in self-defense, indicating that Riba himself is quite skilled and formidable in combat.

**Intellect and Quick Planning:** Having lived for so long, Riba is intelligent and knowledgeable on a lot of things. He possesses certain knowledge on different types of spirits, as seen in the Insane Route where he quickly identifies the Lanterns by the sound of their bells, despite not being able to see them properly in the fog.

Riba knows exactly how to fend off and deal with spirits when confronted. Upon encountering the mysterious spirit while searching for a plank, Riba waits for it to make it's move and dodges before retreating. Upon hiding from Alice, Riba decides he will need to lash out and forcefully remove Alice's control over Mario. Riba has even shown to be capable of predicting and outsmarting his opponents on some occasions. When hiding from Riba in the sane route, (if the player is under the bed) he will drop his key on the ground to lure Mario out. When Mario attacks him upon escaping the gas room, he plays dead just to make him think he had died and reunites with him later on.

**Expert Manipulator:** Riba has shown to be an expert in manipulation, like his power of Mind Control. He is able to easily sway anyone and use them for his own purposes. In the game, and further emphasized from the sin of Greed trial at the church, he's manipulated Marchionne, Alice, and Mario for his whims. He used Marchionne to obtain all of his money and his power, Alice's love, along with her desperation to live, and him influencing her to massacre her family. Additionally, Riba manipulates Mario, using him as a means to an end so he can finally be rid of Alice and free himself from the curse that kept him bound within the mansion.

**Night Vision:** Riba can see in the dark, probably thanks to the fact he is a demon. He doesn't need a light source to see. This is also the reason why in Mario The Music Box Remastered, he chooses not to take Mario's lantern, even after Mario heavily suggests it to him.

## Weaknesses

Despite being a very powerful demon/human, Riba is not without weakness For instance, it is implied that Riba's deadly power can wane should he start to develop feelings. Throughout the Insane Route of Arc, Riba is shown to be significantly more vulnerable due to the fact that he (to an extent) cares about the well-being of Mario. Despite killing Mario in cold blood in Continuance 1 (as well as trying and failing to kill him in the Continuance 2 ending), Riba admits to Mario in a death scene during the Insane Route that he genuinely felt sorry for the plumber and was trying to keep him alive for as long as possible. In the Continuance 4 ending of Arc, Riba's feelings for Mario emotionally weakens him so that he's powerless before Marchionne. However in the Sane Route, Riba is shown to be much more powerful and threatening due to being purely evil and insane.

Additionally, because of him being a demon within, Riba is highly susceptible to holy water. If the player chooses to give it to him, Riba will be burnt from the inside out. The immense pain drives him to snatch Mario's knife and stab himself to death.

## Relationships

### Alice Aduraice

Riba is the husband of Alice Aduraice, and also her murderer. They had met when Alice was just a child, and Alice seemingly immediately developed feelings for him. Though, at the time, he saw her as just an annoyance without showing it outright. When Alice grew up, she "saved" Riba's daughter, Anna, from a house fire she started, tricking him into marrying her, and killing his previous wife. Riba has grown to clearly hate Alice, despite manipulating her into thinking he's still interested in her. The only present instance of Riba caring about Alice is when she disappears in ARC.

### Mario

Depending on what route (or game) you play, Riba has a very different relationship with Mario. In most playthroughs, Riba deeply hates Mario and wants nothing more than to get rid of him in the form of murder. Riba loves to manipulate and use others, and Mario is no different. Although, in other routes, Riba grows to care for Mario and it is hinted at times that he develops feelings for him. It is unknown if it is friendly or romantic.

## Trivia

* Riba is the only playable character to die in most routes. His fate in the ending of "Missing" is unknown due to the player not progressing towards any route where he is shown being killed.
	+ It is revealed in the extension of *(Mario) The Music Box*, *(Mario) The Music Box -ARC-*'s public demo that Riba was still alive inside the mansion's basement as he appears and asks Mario if he missed him.
* Riba is the only playable character out of the 3 to not have an actual CG death scene. All his deaths will always switch to the game over screen the moment he's killed.
* Despite being someone who understands the dangerous situation he gets himself into, Riba can also be quite clumsy. This can be shown when Alice chases him down the hall and he has to find a place to hide in a room. Riba can choose to pose as a Lamp to hide rather than hiding in a much more obvious place when Alice enters the room, causing her to be ashamed of the man she once loved before killing him.
* In *(Mario) The Music Box -ARC-*, Mario says that Riba's jacket smells like fish. This refers to how his name actually means fish in Slovenian.
* Riba loves apples. In *(Mario) The Music Box -ARC-*, Riba's personality is completely changed to good, when Mario gives him an apple.
* If you give Riba the unknown liquid, he will feel a burning pain and it's revealed that the unknown liquid was holy water (because he's a demon) and will take the knife from Mario and stab himself to death. Mario then apologizes to Riba about what he did.
* Despite being enemies with Marchionne, Riba shares a lot of similarities with him. Both of them have tried to kill Mario in Arc while the other man acted as an ally and helped him (in the sane route, Riba was trying to kill Mario and Luigi while Marchionne was helping out Mario. In the insane route, Marchionne was trying to kill Mario while Riba was acting as an ally), they both hate Alice since she was responsible for the death of their loved ones (Luciano and Marchionne's parents and Elizabeth and Anna respectively), and they both were former humans that were turned into supernatural entities (Riba becoming a demon while Marchionne had turned into a witch). They both typically keep the appearance of a normal human but on rare occasions reveal their true forms (the only difference here is Marchionne shows his witch form in the final phase of his boss fight, while Riba reveals his demonic form only in the Missing End B ending). Additionally they are both skilled manipulators that have tried to take advantage of Mario as well (Riba throughout the entire series just uses Mario as a means to finally escape, while Marchionne in the insane route tries to take advantage of Mario's guilt and misery).
* Interestingly, Riba is one of the two bosses that can't be beaten by being fought and depleting his health (the other being Len). It's unknown if this was unintentional, or if this was done purposefully to show how much of a threat Riba is.
* Ironically, even though Riba absolutely hated Alice and never truly loved her, he seemed to care a lot about Serina to the point of favoring her over Anna (his child with Elizabeth, who he actually loved).

## Gallery

Riba & Co in Updated the family photo.The Newer reference sheet of Riba.