- "I'm calling out to you who I've never met... I'm calling our friend who we've never met...Jeff! Jeff! We need your help! I am Paula and I am with another friend, Ness... We are trying to contact you..."
- — Paula
Paula (ポーラ, alternatively Pola) is the secondary protagonist in EarthBound. She is the first character to join Ness, and also the only permanent member of his team who is female. She usually uses frying pans as her primary weapon, along with many powerful PSI spells.
Biography
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Paula is a resident of Twoson in the country of Eagleland, and the daughter of the owners of the local Polestar Preschool, when she joins the adventure. Ness is made aware of her existence when he goes to sleep at any location after visiting the "Your Sanctuary" location at Giant Step, when she contacts him through her telepathy in a dream. She was kidnapped by a masked boy and Pokey Minch, and brought to Peaceful Rest Valley to become the high priestess for Happy Happyism (although Everdred claims she was kidnapped to be a human sacrifice). She gifts the Franklin Badge to Ness so he may challenge and defeat Carpainter, get the key to where she is imprisoned, and free her. After she is freed, she joins Ness's party. She is later kidnapped by Geldegarde Monotoli, but as before, Ness rescues her, this time with the help of Jeff. Paula's Pray command is ultimately a key part of the game, as she must use it nine times to defeat Giygas in the final battle.
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.
Personality
Paula is portrayed as a kind, fairly weak and cutesy girl in the original release, to the point where she states she almost cried when she was locked up. However, Marcus Lindblom had stated that he revised Paula's character during localization to be a more forceful, capable and "willing to destroy" character.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Paula appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a sticker. Attaching this sticker to the bottom of Ness or Lucas's trophies in The Subspace Emissary increases their PK attack by 10.
Trivia
An early clay Paula figure.
Another alternate Paula figure.
- During localization, Paula's character was rewritten to move away from the idea that she is weak and passive. Marcus confirms in an interview that this was done because he disliked Japan's view of females while he was spending time there, and wanted to instead portray them as capable, "American girls" who do not rely on men all the time.
- Marcus Lindblom wanted to change Paula's weapon during localization to a "blowgun or something cool like that," but the job was too complex due to having to change graphics.
- After escorting Paula home at the end of the game, if Ness talks to Paula she will hint at having a crush on Ness, her father will say that he is welcome to the idea of a relationship between Ness and Paula, and Paula's mother will say that Ness and Paula would make a good couple. Jeff also states at the end of the game that he believes Paula and Ness will eventually get married. Regardless of the in-game hint, the pairing of Ness and Paula remains popular in the fan community, gaining more attention than Ninten and Ana, and Lucas and Kumatora.
- Using the Don't Care naming option, the possible names for Paula are "Paula", "Marie", "Jane", "Holly", "Paige", "Skye", and "Nancy".
- Paula is the only PSI user in the Mother series that never learns Healing and Lifeup.
- During the end sequence of the game, Ness does not have to escort Paula home. It is possible to bring her to his house to meet his mother, although Paula will question it at first, before going inside with Ness.
- Paula appears to be fond of Teddy Bears, considering that while she is imprisoned by Carpainter, she has a Teddy Bear in the cell with her, and in her room at her house there is a present containing a Teddy Bear.
- Paula is the only member of the Chosen Four who is never controlled as the only party member. (Ness is prior to rescuing Paula and during the Magicant sequence, Jeff after being telepathically called, and Poo during the Magic Cake sequence.)
- If you say no to Paula when she asks to escort her she'll say "Then I'll escort you" but Ness will still be the leader.
- Paula's clay model is shown that she has a form of briefcase but she never actually holds one in the game.
- A common joke in the fan community is that Paula has all of the useful PSI powers, despite Ness being the main character. This leads to a common strategy of Paula being the main offensive PSI user, hardly ever using the Frying Pan except when she is out of PP.
- If the player goes to talk to Paula's dad when everyone but Paula is unconscious or diamondized, he'll call her a tomboy.
- In Mother 3, one of the NPC's, Nana looks similiar to her.
- While fans often believe Polestar is Paula's last name due to the Polestar Preschool, it is actually meant to be a pun on her name. Paula's name in Japanese is spelled ポーラ (Pola), while Polestar is spelled ポーラスター, the names share the same first three katakana.