Dungeon Crawler Carl · Character

Shi Maria

Also known as Maria Something, The Screamer, The Reviled

Major
First seen · Book 6 · Ch. 9

Shi Maria is a major character in Dungeon Crawler Carl (Book 6).

Gender: female
First appears: Book 6 · Ch. 9
Books: 2

Shi Maria, the demi-god spider woman known as The Screamer, The Reviled, Kwaku's Love, and The Corrupted Paramour, enters the crawl as a swamp-dwelling horror who swallows Samantha and is later wielded as Donut's strongest card totem. When Donut's Golden Combo card finds no valid summoned target, Carl is fused with her instead, and she seizes his body before binding herself permanently to him through the Eye of the Bedlam Bride tattoo. In This Inevitable Ruin she becomes a lingering, menacing presence inside Carl. Her influence makes him harm Mongo, and visions reveal her tragic devouring of her husband Hapanzi, who helps trap her within Carl, while her image takes on a stranger role as a spider-reaper merchant whose patch opens the Midnight Market.

Description

Shi Maria’s spider body is bulbous and immense, carried on long, segmented legs beneath a long, putty-like neck. Her nearly human-sized head bears four black orb eyes and a closed fifth eye in her forehead; her skin flakes, and coarse hairs edge her fangs, whose surface has a strangely lovely shimmer. A web spreads across her swamp territory, framing her as a dreadful, almost sacred presence. Her silhouette is unmistakably arachnid, both imposing and uncanny. Shi Maria’s known forms are uncanny rather than conventionally human: a shining, tattooed eye when contained, and a horrifying giant spider when manifested. The spider form has a bulbous body, a notably short neck, and short hair; she carries wicker baskets that give her an incongruously practical silhouette. Her presence is watchful and strange, with the bright eye serving as her most distinctive feature.

Connections

Family & partnersFriends & mentorsRivals

H
Hapanziwife
Hapanzi is her husband, whom she devoured while insisting she loved him. He later helps contain her within Carl.
Princess Donutconflicting source relationships
Donut fearfully commands Shi Maria as her strongest totem, and Maria sometimes advises her on cards and buffs. Donut destroys the card after Maria harms Mongo, but this does not sever Maria's bond to Carl.
Psamatheconflicting source relationships
Samantha is swallowed and held captive in Shi Maria's stomach, yet she comes to call the spider her best friend. She champions Maria's wish for a body and her husband, though Carl suspects Maria is lying.
R
Raultormentor
She used him as a cudgel in battle, terrifying him, and later recounted the incident to Geraldo, who mocked him for it.
Carlhost
Begins as an accidental fusion through Donut's card, which leaves Carl feeling violated after she hijacks his body and tattoos herself onto him. By Book 7 she is a contained but dangerous passenger who once forced him to hurt Mongo, and Carl keeps her imprisoned while retaining the power to free her.
LA
Lazarus A-Bang-Bangcompetitor
A fellow totem; the two race to kill opponents first and envy each other's dramatic summon displays.
LJ
Li Junattacker
She plucked out Li Jun's eye, which leaves Carl with a painful lingering connection to Li Jun.

Story so far

BOOK 6The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
- Rules a web-veiled swamp where her supernatural eye blinds and maddens intruders
- Swallows Samantha, who comes to regard her as a lonely best friend searching for her husband
- Fights as Donut's strongest card totem, competing with Lazarus A-Bang-Bang and using Raul as a cudgel
- Fuses with Carl through Donut's Golden Combo card, takes over his body and accesses his inventory
- Binds herself permanently to Carl via the Eye of the Bedlam Bride tattoo, and the bond survives Donut destroying her card
BOOK 7This Inevitable Ruin
- Remains bound to Carl through the tattooed eye and exerts a disturbing influence over him
- Her control causes Carl to injure Mongo
- Carl witnesses a memory of her devouring her husband Hapanzi while professing love
- Carl's treatment, aided by Hapanzi, traps her within him, though he can still release her
- Appears as a giant spider reaper and Midnight Market merchant, and her image becomes the patch granting market access