Merlumina

Merlumina was a member of the Tribe of Ancients. Her name is a portmanteau of "Merlon" (or his namesake himself, Merlin) and "luminous". 1,500 years before the setting of The Flip Flop Show (the only show she appeared in), she was told to protect the Pure Heart in Yold Ruins and await the hero of legend. 1,500 years later, her ghost still waited (albeit slightly impatiently) for the hero to arrive. Unlike most of the "Shaman"-type characters, details about Merlumina's childhood are known. According to her, in her youth she was quite attractive. It was hard for her to get to sleep, though, so her mother would sing her a lullaby. When she stopped living with her mother, she needed four men (all of which were in love with her) to sing her lullabies. Merlumina was quite a mischievous girl, and would seduce men in their dreams. To make her sleep for 1,500 years (so she could successfully complete her mission of giving the destined hero, later proved to be Bleu, the Pure Heart she guarded), Merlumina needed the entire village to sing a lullaby for her. After Bleu defeated Notso, a door appeared. The door brought him to Merlumina's chamber. Following the Paper Mario series tradition of "Shaman"-type characters (most commonly Merlon) having extremely long and boring stories, Merlumina told Bleu the "short" version of her history (just as her relative and fellow spirit Madam Merlar did in Paper Mario). By the time she was done, Bleu was fast asleep. Also, like most similar instances in the earlier Paper Mario games, Merlumina did not notice that Bleu and Muffy had fallen asleep (and Bleu denied that he did anyway). After the story, Merlumina gave Bleu his second Pure Heart, ending Chapter 1.

Later on in The Flip Flop Show, a chain of optional requests wound up with Old Man Watchitt requesting that Bleu remove the spirit haunting his dreams (and get the spirit's autograph). The spirit was indeed Merlumina, and Bleu returned to find her. It turned out that Merlumina had attempted to take a short nap after handing over the Pure Heart, but she couldn't fall asleep. Worrying that she had become a forgotten phantom, she tried counting sheep. Even after counting the 100,000th sheep, she still could not fall asleep, so she decided to take her frustration out on somebody else by haunting somebody in Yold Town. This somebody happened to be Watchitt, who was distantly related to her (being another descendant of the Tribe of Ancients) and therefore be able to hear and respond to her haunting. It didn't help much, though. When Bleu came looking for her, Merlumina told him another long story about her childhood (and how she'd haunt people she loved), and again Bleu fell asleep but denied ever doing so. After conversing some more about Watchitt, Merlumina told another long story, and, for the first time in Paper Mario history, she indeed caught Bleu sleeping and threw a fit about it (calling Bleu selfish and insensible above all else). In the end, though, Merlumina wrote an autograph for Watchitt and finally fell fast asleep, allowing Bleu to retrieve the You-Know-What from Watchitt and eventually earn Luvbi.

According to Garson in the Flipside Bar, Merlumina had a younger sister. She was entrusted with the purple Pure Heart to deliver to King Sammer I, but they fell in love and got married, eventually having 100 children.

Merlumina is one of the two ancestors of Merlon who is a spirit, the other being Madam Merlar. In addition to protecting the Pure Heart of Yold Ruins, it is possible that Merlumina had other distinctive authorities among the Ancients. Muffy reveals in her information for Merlumina's stained glass window in Mirror Hall that Merlumina acted as a leader among her people, and it is stated in her Catch Card that she "made a Pure Heart," possibly insinuating that she is the creator of the Purity Heart. (However, such a title is additionally stated to possibly belong to Pearl.) According to her descendant Merlon, Merlumina is also the authoress of the Light Prognosticus, though Bleu could later have Muffy mention Pook being believed to be its writer. After the Bleu gets Merlumina’s autograph, he or she should use Muffy to tattle the place where Merlumina just disappeared. Muffy will then say: "........." It is unknown why she says so. If the Bleu flips, however, he or she can still see her shadow on the floor. If the Bleu leaves the room and returns, the shadow vanished as well, and Muffy can’t say her tattle anymore.