Paula

Official clay model of Paula
Paula
Species	Human
Hair color	Yellow
Eye color	Blue
Age	13
Relatives	Mom, Dad
Debut	Earthbound

Paula is one of the heroes of Earthbound. She is one of the Chosen Four, along with Ness, Jeff, and Poo.

Background

Earthbound

Paula lived in Twoson where she helped her mother out at the Polestar Preschool. She was a bit of a celebrity, being famous amongst the locals for her psychic abilities . Reporters would constantly pester her for interviews. More importantly, however, she had experienced a prophetic vision of her own involving Ness, and from that point forward made sure her parents knew he was the only one she wished to speak with.

Unfortunately, before she could talk to Ness, she was kidnapped by Pokey and Carpainter, the leader of the "Happy-Happyism" cult, who locked in a mountain cabin in hopes of making her the cult's high priestess (or goddess in the original Japanese version). Her telepathy allowed her to make contact with Ness, and she led him to rescue her. When he visited her in her cell, she gave him a Franklin Badge, which Ness was able to use to defeat Carpainter and then save Paula. Paula then joined Ness as his first destined ally in his journey to save the world from Giygas.

In the town of Threed, when she and Ness were incarcerated by zombies, she once again reached out with her telepathy and contacted a third friend, Jeff Andonuts, whom she also guided to their location so they could be set free. At Fourside, she was captured by Mr. Monotoli (who, like Carpainter, was actually under the influence of the Mani Mani Statue), but Ness and Jeff were able to save her after Monotoli became friendly following the destruction of the Mani Mani Statue. Her psychic visions helped guide the group throughout the rest of their quest, and when it came time to travel to the past to fight Giygas (their minds and spirits having been placed in robot bodies to travel back in time and fight him), her telepathic pleas for help reached those who cared about them most, from the people they met throughout the journey to even the playr, with their prayers leading directly to Giygas's destruction.

After Giygas's defeat, the souls of the heroes made their way back to their original bodies andreturned to normal. The heroes then parted ways, with Ness escorting Paula back to her home. She had received a letter from the kids at the preschool and was warmly welcomed back by her parents. It is uncertain whether or not Ness and Paula had formed a relationship, but Ness's mother, as well as his sister Tracy and Paula's father, all assumed they were boyfriend and girlfriend, and Paula's mother encouraged Ness to visit them more often.

Mother 3

Paula herself never appears, but there are references to her in New Pork City.

Abilities

Paula is probably the most psychically powerful character in the group. She learns more offensive PSI attacks than any other character. She can also attack physically, with a frying pan as her weapon of choice, although she can also use slingshots. Paula also has the unique Pray ability which causes a random event that can be good or bad to occur. The following are the PSI abilities she learns throughout the game:

• PSI Ice - A psychic ice blast that has a chance of freezing the enemy, and Paula learns all four forms of it. She learns PSI Freeze a at Level 1, PSI Freeze B at Level 11, PSI Freeze y at Level 31 and PSI Freeze Omega at Level 46.
• PSI Fire - A flame attack which attacks a full row of enemies, and Paula learns all four increasingly stronger forms of it. She learns PSI Fire a at Level 3, PSI Fire B at Level 19, PSI Fire y at Level 37 and PSI Fire Omega at Level 64.
• PSI Shield - A move that forms psychic shields around allies, which Paula learns all four forms of. PSI Shield a (learned at Level 6) and PSI Shield E (learned at Level 26) form protective psychic shields around one ally and and all allies respectively, while PSI Shield B (learned at Level 51) and PSI Shield Omega (learned at Level 60) form power shields (which reflect attacks) around one ally and all allies respectively.
• PSI Thunder - An electrical psychic ability learned by Paula, which hits multiple times depending on the form but has a strong chance of missing. She learns three of the move's four forms: PSI Thunder a at Level 8, PSI Thunder B at Level 25 and PSI Thunder Omega at Level 57.
• PSI Magnet - The only ability that does not require PP to use, as it drains PP from enemies to replenish Paula's own PP. PSI Magnet a (learned at Level 15) absorbs one enemy's PP, while PSI Magnet Omega (learned at Level 24) absorbs PP from all enemies.
• Offense Up - A supportive move that Paula learns both forms of; Offense Up a (learned at Level 21) raises one ally's offense, while Offense Up Omega (learned at Level 40) raises all allies' offense.
• Defense Up - A supportive move that Paula learns both forms of. Defense Up a (learned at Level 29) raises the defense of one ally, while Defense Up Omega (learned at Level 54) raises all allies' defense.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Within the Super Smash Bros. series, Ness's moveset as a fighter contains various abilities that only Paula and/or Poo could learn in Earthbound, making him into somewhat of an amalgamation of the three Earthbound characters. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Paula and Poo appear with Ness when he casts his Final Smash, PK Starstorm. Previously, Paula had appeared as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and as a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Trivia

• Along with the other main characters, Paula is actually named by the player, although Paula is the canon name as well as the first in the list of the default names should the player choose not to name her. The Japanese version of this list also contained special themed names such as Peach (after the Mario character) and Yoko (as part of a Beatles set, after John Lennon's girlfriend).
• She has a bit of a physical resemblance to Ana from the original Mother, just as Ninten and Lloyd resemble Ness and Jeff. However, Ana is distinguished in her clay model by being smaller and wearing a hat within the game. Paula and Ana also have similar movesets and storyline roles, including both foretelling the hero's coming in a dream and developing a crush on him. It is also possible that both characters' names are derived from "Pollyanna", the name of a recurring piece of music in the series as well as a term for a very optimistic girl.
• Her last name is sometimes assumed to be Polestar due to it being the name of her mother's preschool, although this is not confirmed in canon; in Japan, her last name is given as Jones.