Maria

Maria is a sweet lower-class girl in Metropolis, and the love interest of the main character, Freder Frederson. She runs a church in the catacombs of Metropolis, where she restores hope to the workers, and prophecises the coming of the "Mediator".

This is "The Mediator Between the Hands and the Heart", or the person who will bring the working class and royalty class together.

She meets her mediator, Freder Frederson, when he is diguised as a worker in the lower city to get the perspective of the workers for 10 hours.

Throughout the film, she is impersonated by Rotwang's robot, also known as The Machine Man.

Her presence is also a religious and cultural allusion to that of the Madonna, or The Mother of God. This is a title originally bestowed upon the Virgin Mary, considered to be a maternal figure and protector of all. Maria occupies this role in 'Metropolis', being introduced to Freder in an early scene in which she brings a crowd of children (sons and daughter's of the working class) to the Eternal Gardens. Freder is stunned and captivated at the sight of her, and shots of her have a white vignette at the edges, indicating that she is a celestial/heavenly figure.