Hello

This time, the keyword is “Introductory Explainer”, and the goal is to introduce characters with a distinctive kind of appeal

MapleStory has plenty of characters with very large fanbases, like Lucid and Kaling, but for this post I picked out characters that I personally found appealing among the ones that are harder to call truly mainstream

MS. Account

MS. Account is currently the NPC in charge of Maple Union, and she is not really a character who plays an active role in the story or gets involved in the main plot. Even so, what made this NPC memorable to me is that she reappeared with an updated design even after the part-time job content was removed, and you can still see traces of that in the line above

The part-time job content was apparently a system where you could send a character off to work and receive random rewards, in a format that would probably be closest today to something like Monster Collection’s Exploration. This NPC was the one in charge of that content at the time

Later, when that content was removed, the Character Card system—which could be seen as the predecessor to Maple Union—was removed at the same time, and Maple Union was then added in its place. At that point, she returned in the current form most of us are familiar with as the NPC overseeing Maple Union. The two pieces of content were removed at the same time, but they were still separate systems. Looking at other examples, this kind of handoff between contents is actually fairly rare

For example, Irene from Maple Chat, Clara from Monster Life, Mashur from Ursus the Mighty, and even Deia, who most recently provided Guild Blessing and G Potions, were all removed immediately once their related content was deleted. Seeing that, I can’t help thinking the developers at the time saw this NPC as someone worth continuing to use

That impression gets even stronger when you look at how she kept appearing later on in Maple Infinity Pool and the Union Arena event, each time with different spritework

Will

Will was one of the Black Mage’s commanders, and unlike the others, he never betrayed him, never pursued personal gain, and never went against his will. Even now, after the Black Mage’s death and the setting shifting over to Grandis, he remains the only commander who still follows the Black Mage

He was drawn to the Black Mage’s ideology, sought him out of his own will, then became a commander and helped him. Considering that the Black Mage’s ideology was that everything, including himself, should return to nothingness, that says a lot about the sheer scale of his resolve and willingness to act on it

What made it even more striking to me was that, while most of the other commanders are either non-human races or beings with special powers and are therefore hundreds of years old or older, Will was a human in his 30s who fully understood a Transcendent’s ideology—regardless of whether it was right or wrong—and gave it his complete loyalty

Even now in Grandis, unlike the other commanders, Will still shows up in the main story. It may be hard for him to carry the same weight as before, but I do hope he gets the chance to make some meaningful appearances again

Also, in Will’s case, his Phase 3 BGM is not exactly easy to sit back and appreciate in-game. In places like Challengers World, it is difficult when it is difficult, and once you get strong enough to clear it quickly, it becomes easy in a different way. But taken purely as a piece of music, it is extremely good, so I recommend giving it a listen at least once

Spiegelmann

Spiegelmann is a truly classic NPC who first appeared all the way back in 2007 with Monster Carnival and is still active in all sorts of roles even now in 2026. To start with, there were theories that he might actually be a fairly important presence within the game, based on things like how he keeps powerful monsters from many different areas—from Monster Carnival to Monster Park—confined in places that he himself operates

In one event, photos like the ones above were even revealed, showing memories of him with major boss monsters. Of course, from today’s perspective he is more of a mascot figure, closer to an operator-style NPC who is unlikely to ever be folded into the official story, but I remember finding that pretty interesting at the time

Looking at some of his more notable appearances, he even gifts the Adversary a house in the new Maple Home content, saying it is a home left behind for them, and

he has also operated Ghost Park, operated the Mekaberry Farm, handled Quick Pass guidance, and in the One Punch Man collaboration event, even brought in heroes from another world through dimensional fusion

Spiegelmann is also the one in charge of the Tera Blink event, and

after showing up in so many different events, he now feels like an NPC players are already extremely familiar with

There are other characters in MapleStory who are portrayed as enormously wealthy, but Spiegelmann feels a little different in that regard, which is part of why I think he is a well-made character. He is also very easy to keep using in all kinds of places, so I expect him to keep appearing for a long time to come, and I am looking forward to what he does next

Thank you for reading