Fawful (also known as Lord Fawful to his minions) is an eccentric Beanish character and a major antagonist in the Mario and Luigi RPG series. He is the secondary antagonist of Mario and Luigi RPG 1: Superstar Saga and its remake and the main antagonist of Mario and Luigi RPG 3: Bowser's Inside Story and its remake. He also appears as the shopkeeper of Fawful's Bean 'n' Badge in Mario and Luigi RPG 2: Partners in Time.
Though his past is largely unknown, Fawful is implied to have been a long-time follower of Cackletta prior to the events of Mario and Luigi RPG 1: Superstar Saga and its remake. He is the secondary antagonist of the game.
During the introductory scene, Fawful accompanies Cackletta, who is disguised as The Goodwill Ambassador from the Beanbean Kingdom, to aid her in stealing Princess Peach's voice to awaken the Beanstar. While returning to the Beanbean Kingdom, they are pursued by Mario, Luigi, and Bowser, who had formed a temporary alliance to stop them. After taking care of Bowser, Fawful attacks the Mario Bros., but not before they destroy his Vacuum Helmet. After it breaks, Fawful summons another Vacuum Helmet to knock Bowser's Koopa Cruiser out of the sky before departing. He is later hinted by Beanbean guards to have kidnapped Prince Peasley, after they wrongly accused Mario and Luigi of doing so. When the brothers arrive at Hoohoo Mountain, he blocks their path with a large stone and flies off. He later appears in Beanbean Castle, where he steals the Beanstar alongside Cackletta and feeds Queen Bean a Belly Blech worm to distract the Bros.
The two then go to Woohoo Hooniversity, where they plan to awaken the Beanstar using several Peach-bots, which Fawful had designed. However, due to some planning on the princess's part, the voice used is that of Birdo, which causes the Beanstar to become irritated and break through the floor. Shortly afterward, the Mario Bros. arrive, and before Fawful can do anything, Luigi knocks him into the ground. After hitting him, they defeat Cackletta. Fawful soon recovers and sucks Cackletta's energy into his Vacuum Helmet. Before he can attack the brothers again, he is sent flying through the roof by Prince Peasley. Landing in Stardust Fields, Fawful finds an unconscious Bowser, who he gives to Cackletta to possess. Cackletta proceeds to call herself Bowletta, and Fawful accompanies her to Little Fungitown, where they abduct the princess.
The Mario Bros. later encounter Fawful at Joke's End under the pretense of exchanging the Beanstar (which they use a replica of) for Peach. Fawful recognizes this, however, and takes the real one as well as Princess Peach, escaping on the repaired Koopa Cruiser. However, the Princess Peach they abduct is actually Luigi in disguise, and Luigi utilizes the pair's shock to retrieve the Beanstar and escape. Fawful then goes with Cackletta to Bowser's Castle, where they plan to destroy both the Mushroom and Beanbean Kingdoms.
Fawful is encountered in Bowser's Castle as the penultimate boss, wearing a pink outfit with a wing-like cloth under his arms and a large V-neck, with a large antenna replace his hair. He can attack the Mario Bros. with a large ship that resembles his head. After his defeat, he tries makign a final attack to defeat the Bros., but gets into a fight with Prince Peasley and is knocked out of the castle before Mario and Luigi engage with Cackletta and her soul, the latter of which makes a copy of Fawful as one of her attacks. This copy of Fawful attacks similarly to how he does in his first battle.
During the second fight with Fawful in Bowser's Castle, Popple's battle theme plays instead of the normal boss theme. This is replaced with Cackletta's battle theme in the Japanese version and in the 3DS remake, as this theme is intended to be shared by Cackletta and Fawful, being a combination of their overworld themes and being titled "Fawful and Cackletta" in the remake.
Fawful appears as the main antagonist in the remake's new mode, Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser. He intends to enslave Bowser and work him to death, although Bowser manages to escape from him. Fawful then proceeds to brainwash the Koopalings into trying to conquer the Beanbean Kingdom to rescue Bowser.
As the captains make their way to Joke's End to find the Koopa Cruiser, Fawful tells them that he took over Bowser's Castle, and that Bowser himself is "no longer a thing of this world". The captains encounter Fawful at Bowser's Castle, and although he taunts them, they defeat him and make their way to Bowser's chamber, where Bowser immediately tells Captain Goomba to "destroy" Mario. After a while, it is revealed that "Bowser" was actually Bowletta in disguise, and when Captain Goomba confronts them about this, she and Fawful use a trapdoor to send the captains into a dungeon, which turns out to be a Mecha-Fawful factory. After a long final battle, the minions defeat Fawful one last time and escape the dungeon.
Fawful reappears in Mario and Luigi RPG 2: Partners in Time, now wearing a white skin-tight outfit. He acts as the shopkeeper of Fawful's Bean 'n' Badge located in the sewers of Peach's Castle, and only Baby Mario and Baby Luigi can access the shop. While Fawful does not completely recognize the two as younger versions of Mario and Luigi, he says they seem familiar to him. Fawful then says a long speech about how the brothers defeated him in the previous game, mentioning that he plans to return in the future and create a time in which "no baby's candy will have safety". This foreshadows his role as the main antagonist of Mario and Luigi RPG 3: Bowser's Inside Story.
After his speech, Fawful sells rare badges to the baby Mario Bros. in exchange for beans. Additionally, he hints that the babies should go to Princess Peach's Castle's viewing platform prior to them discovering the Gritzy Desert.
Fawful appears as the main antagonist in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. He began the outbreak of the blorbs by selling "Blorb Mushrooms" to the citizens of Toad Town. Fawful then brainwashes Bowser's minions to have them invade the Mushroom Kingdom. His true plan is to acquire the Dark Star, an ancient evil artifact, and use its power to kill the Mario Bros. and their friends.
Fawful is first seen in Dimble Wood disguised as a merchant. He sells Bowser, who had just been defeated by Mario, a Vacuum Mushroom, advertising it as a "Lucky (?) Shroom" that will help Bowser defeat his enemies. Instead, it causes Bowser to inhale everything around him, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Starlow, and the other Mushroom Kingdom citizens who attended the meeting.
Bowser later finds Fawful in Cavi Cape, where the villain reveals that he has captured Bowser's Castle. He then sends Midbus to battle Bowser, and during the fight, he attempts to teach Midbus on how to dodge Bowser's attacks, being descriptive enough that he inadvertently helps Bowser. He then has Bowser fight the Sea Pipe Statue, only to later tell Bowser that he has captured his minions.
Fawful then turns Bowser's Castle into Fawful Theater, where he performs on stage to Bowser's minions, who have been brainwashed. Fawful arranges a VIP seat for Bowser and, when he falls for Fawful's latest plot, Bowser is catapulted onto the stage, where Fawful has Midbus fight him in a cage match. Bowser defeats Midbus and eats a "Victory Feast" Fawful presents him with, which causes him to become bloated and get stuck in the floor. It is implied afterward that Fawful did this in order to draw Princess Peach out of Bowser's body and kidnap her.
Fawful appears later in the basement under Bowser, using his ray gun to remove Princess Peach from Bowser's body, claiming that his plans have changed, and he needs her. Princess Peach tells the Mario Bros. that she thinks Fawful is after the Dark Star, an ancient entity put to sleep under Toad Town, with the only person who can break its seal being her. After extracting Peach from Bowser's body, Fawful struggles to hold Princess Peach, showing his lack of physical strength. Midbus places a treadmill under Bowser, causing him to burn off the fat he gained which lights him ablaze and ignites the nearby Bob-ombs, launching him out of the castle.
Fawful appears again under the Mushroom Kingdom to steal the Dark Star, which can give him the power to take over the kingdom. He proceeds to taunt the Mario Bros. and flies off to Peach's Castle. Mario and co. chase him but are stopped by a barrier made by the Dark Star.
Fawful and Midbus are found again inside the conquered Peach's castle, using a machine to suck the princess's energy out to break the Dark Star's seal. Midbus exclaims that with the Dark Star the world is theirs and Fawful scolds him, saying that hearing that stresses him out because they have not won just yet as the Dark Star still needs to be awoken. As they wait for the Dark Star to awaken, an alarm goes off because of Mario and Luigi's appearance outside the castle. Fawful, however, laughs at their "stupidity" and sends out a Fawfulcopter to tell them his plans. He then leaves saying that he is going shopping at the Toad Town Mall.
After beating Junker and learning the Spike Ball move, Bowser travels inside the castle, where he meets three Fawfulcopters which Fawful can communicate through. Fawful tells Bowser that he is shocked at how he made it to the castle, but then tells Bowser that each of the Fawfulcopters holds a key and Bowser has to catch the copters to get to the next rooms. Unable to break down the doors, Bowser must chase the Fawfulcopters to get to the next area.
After getting the keys and going through other obstacles, Bowser is shot into the sky where he meets two giant Piranha Plants. However, Bowser falls back down shortly after and lands at the top of Peach's Castle, where the three Fawfulcopters from before talk to Bowser, laughing at him because he could not fly or beat the Piranha Plants. The Fawfulcopters then leave and make Bowser destroy the Piranha Plants.
Fawful is once again seen in the room with the machine that sucks Peach's power into the Dark Star. The Dark Star had not yet awoken when Bowser came into the room. Hating his timing, Fawful decides to help Midbus fight to stall for time but changes his mind because of Midbus's pride. Instead, he powers up Midbus with his laser gun to make him become Blizzard Midbus, whom Bowser fights. After beating him, Midbus turns into an ice cube, leaving Fawful alone to carry out his plans. At that time, the Dark Star becomes fully awakened, and Fawful rushes over and drains its power. Bowser punches Fawful away before he absorbs all the star's power, and the Dark Star flies into Bowser's body.
Fawful appears again outside of Peach's Castle as Dark Fawful, where he looks for the Dark Star. Bowser tries to confront him, but Dark Fawful, furious at Bowser for interrupting his draining of the dark power, powers up the castle to become Super Peach's Castle of Fury. The giant robot castle crushes Bowser, causing the Mario Bros. inside his body to have to revive him and fight the fourth and final giant battle.
After demolishing the castle, Bowser finds Dark Fawful in the castle's conference hall. Before the battle, Dark Fawful speaks like he did in Superstar Saga, showing that he is losing his composure and acting rashly out of anger. He also says how Bowser has gotten in his way just like Mario and Luigi (referring to Superstar Saga's events) and that he now hates him just as much as them, causing Bowser to become annoyed and tell Fawful not to compare him to Mario. After Bowser manages to beat Dark Fawful, he collapses into a bug-like form known as the Dark Fawful Bug and tries to escape, but gets inhaled by Dark Bowser, causing the completion of the Dark Power and fusing Fawful with the Dark Star Core.
During the final battle, Bowser makes Dark Bowser spit out the Dark Fawful Bug, and then inhales it so that Mario and Luigi can beat both the Dark Fawful Bug and the Dark Star Core, the latter of which Fawful had fused with. Fawful uses the power of the Dark Star Core to grow into a giant monster and finally engages the brothers in a rematch to decide the fate of the kingdom. They succeed in destroying both, thus weakening Dark Bowser enough for Bowser to deliver the final blows and destroy him.
Inside Bowser, a highly unstable Dark Fawful makes his last appearance, lamenting of how Mario and Luigi will always show up and get in the way of his grand plans, no matter how hard he tries. Fawful then claims to be remorseful for his actions and that he will make himself disappear forever, though this is a lie and he blows himself up in one last-ditch attempt to take the Bros. with him while their guards are down. However, the explosion instead frees them from Bowser and seemingly cancels the effect of the Vacuum Shroom, undoing everything it had caused. The Mushroom Kingdom is then gradually restored to its former glory over the course of the credits.
Fawful has the same role in the game's remake, Mario and Luigi RPG 7: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, during the main story, although he also has a minor role in the alternate game mode Bowser Jr.'s Journey, being the one in charge of the three primary villains of that mode, the Best Fitness Friends. It is also implied in that mode that he had a hand in Bowser not being invited to the emergency meeting for the Blorbs outbreak at Peach's Castle. He is first seen watching Bowser leave his castle to go to the meeting, when he orders the Best Fitness Friends to infiltrate Bowser's Castle while he and Midbus go to capture Bowser. Later, Fawful speaks with Midbus and Dieter outside his shop, where he just obtained the Vacuum Shroom, planning to use it on Bowser. Although Fawful is mentioned a few times after this, he does not physically appear for the rest of the game.
In the Legacy of Chris Thorndyke,
And he is voiced by Mark Hamill in the English dub and will be voiced by Mitsuo Iwata in the Japanese dub.