Shirley

**CAUTION!**
**This place has many spoilers!**

* Manga (Shadow)
* Manga (Morph)
* Anime (Shadow)
* Anime (Morph)

## Name

**Shirley** (シャーリー, *Shārii*?) is one of the side protagonists in the Shadows House series and the Shadow living under the care of the "Living Doll", Rum.

## Appearance

Like the rest of the Shadows in the house, Shirley is all black and appears to be a silhouette of her "Face", Rum. Shirley is a young girl with curly, short hair cut in a tomboy style. Her outfit consists of a white undershirt and shorts that are overlayed by a lavender-colored dress, a white hair piece with two lavender ribbons, white socks, dark violet sandals, and a lavender ribbon tied around her left index finger.

In her appearance of a Morph, Shirley is very small. Her height is that of the size of Rum's index finger, about 7 cm. She has a tiny bit of curled hair sticking out on the top of her head.

## Personality

Before the Debut, Shirley was not able to develop a personality due to Rum being too timid to interact with her. She was able to gain a shred of personality during the interactions she had with Rum during the Debut, but even then, that was not able to save her human form.

Shirley gained a personality after the Debut - even awakening her soot power - in her morph form. Her personality is said to be lively and mischievous.

## Plot

* Manga
* Anime

### The Debut Arc

Shirley is trapped under poisonous flowers and tied to a chair by Edward. Rum eventually finds and frees her by cutting away the flowers and ropes.

While she and Rum are walking to the exit, Shirley begins to slow down before eventually stopping. She says Rum's name and takes her hand, after which she begins to disintegrate into soot and appears to be blown away by the wind. She leaves behind her clothing and the purple ribbon around her finger, which Rum holds in the palm of her hand.

The third-floor Shadows later state that Shirley had a weak life-force. Because she and Rum, her Living Doll, had never come into physical contact, she didn't develop a personality. While she and Rum came into contact and began to bond while in the garden labyrinth, it wasn't enough to save her or strengthen her life-force. In the Debut room, the figurine representing Shirley is thrown to the ground, shattering as she is revealed to have failed.

### Introduction Arc

Shirley was first shown as a morph along with other Shadows. They went to the "Living Dolls" that will soon be their "faces" when they become Shadows.

### Phantom Incident Arc

Rum cleans Shirley's room but doesn't talk to her master. She leaves Shirley alone while her master is reading.

### The Debut Arc

When Shirley went to sleep, Rum couldn't give her a good night kiss. The next day, the Shadows and the Living Dolls gathered for their Debut. While the other Shadows and Living Dolls were socializing, Shirley and Rum didn't talk to each other - lowering their level in the Debut parlour. Rum talks to her through Rummy and invites Shirley to tea.

When Edward played the piano, Patrick and Ricky started dancing, so the other Shadows and Living Dolls joined in. When it was over, Edward called the Shadows to come out and leave their Living Dolls.

Shirley is trapped under poisonous flowers and tied to a chair by Edward. Ricky sees Shirley and Ricky tells her to wait for Rum for her to be released. Rum eventually finds and frees her by cutting away the flowers and ropes.

While she and Rum are walking to the exit, Shirley begins to slow down before eventually stopping. She says Rum's name and takes her hand, after which she begins to disintegrate into soot and blows away in the wind. She leaves behind her clothing and the purple ribbon around her finger, which Rum holds in the palm of her hand.

The third-floor shadows later state that Shirley had a weak life-force. Because she and Rum, her Living Doll, had never come into physical contact, she didn't develop a personality. While she and Rum came into contact and began to bond in the garden labyrinth, it wasn't enough to save her or strengthen her life-force.

### Kidnapping Arc

Shirley made a little appearance showing that she had become a morph. Shirley secretly followed Kate as Kate searched for Emilico. Shirley saw John as he was dressing as a veiled doll. Shirley told John to follow her to lead him to Emilico and Kate. Shirley rescues Emilico and Kate from Edward. John and Shirley successfully saved Emilico and Kate. John lost his strength because he used his full power, that's why Shirley helped him after this. She came back to her maid Rum and Rum was shown as a veiled doll.
## Relationship

### Rum

Before the Debut, Shirley and Rum's relationship was only that of a master and their attendant. Even then, they couldn't interact much due to Rum being too timid to communicate with her.

After the Debut, Shirley and Rum's relationship is that of very close friends. When Shirley transforms into a ribbon tied around Rum's index finger, they can communicate through their thoughts. Rum always brings Shirley around while doing Faceless Doll duties. They both trust each other very much, seeing how Rum tells Shirley to investigate many things for her. Shirley was the one who suggested that she would hide in Rum's mouth beforehand to drink the coffee so that Rum would not get brainwashed.

### Kate

Shirley and Kate have a nice partnership. She scouts the mansion on Kate's behalf because of her small size. They also have regular meetings during the night where Kate summarizes her plans to Shirley. Because of Rum's letters, she and Kate can now communicate much smoothly as opposed to Shirley's mix of interpretative dances and concise writing.

## Power and Abilities

### Soot Quantity

Shirley never was seen emitting any soot.

### Soot Power

Shirley, in her morph form, can transform by wearing the soot she emits herself. As what we have seen so far in the story, she can transform into a scorch and a ribbon.

## Etymology

* **Shirley** is a given name and a surname originating from the English place-name "Shirley", which is derived from the Old English elements *scire* ("shire") or *scīr* ("bright, clear") and *lēah* ("wood, clearing, meadow, enclosure").

## Trivia

* It's unknown how Shirley's soot is emitted since she was inexpressive as a Shadow and always positive as a morph.
* In her morph form, Shirley can move vertically on walls and move very fast.
* She cannot directly talk in her morph form, but can communicate with Rum by transforming into a ribbon tied around Rum's finger and communicating through thoughts.
* She uses interpretative dancing to communicate without words. If she does try to communicate with words, she writes with her own soot - although it takes awhile.
* Shirley is shown to know more than she lets on about the mansion, as she knows about the brainwashing of veiled dolls with soot coffee.
* According with some fans calculations, Shirley's height was around 134 cm, but around 80 cm in her original morph form and 7 cm in her current form.

## Gallery

**Image Gallery of Shirley**

* Manga
* Anime
Manga ProfileShirley as a morph after the debutShirley at her debut locationShadows House Theatre - Introducing Shirley & Ram -English Sub-Anime DesignShirley reading a bookRicky meets Shirley.Shirley starts to disappear
## References

1. ↑ Shadows House Height Comparation Sheet by Cloverworks
2. ↑ *Shadows House* manga: Chapter 44
3. ↑ *Shadows House* manga: Chapter 45
4. ↑ *Shadows House* manga: Chapter 129
5. ↑ *Shadows House* manga: Chapter 129