The following are minor fictional characters on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions whose connections to the four major families are either weak or non-existent.
For the character from the Psycho franchise, see Norma Bates (Psycho). Marianne Muellerleile (January 22, 2001 - August 5, 2008)
Norma Bates was introduced as the owner of a motel in 2001 that Tabitha Lenox and her companion, Timmy, fled to in order to escape the backlash from the release of Hidden Passions, a collection of Tabitha's memories that Timmy had compiled into a novel. Norma told Tabitha and Timmy that no one ever stopped at their hotel anymore, the reason for which the witch and doll later discovered — Norma was insane. She attempted to kill Tabitha with an axe while she showered, and the two later discovered that her father, with whom she had been conversing earlier, was dead — Norma had left his skeleton, dressed in his clothes, in a rocking chair. Timmy accidentally destroyed the skeleton, with only the skull surviving, and Norma swore to kill Timmy for hurting "Daddy". Tabitha and Timmy fled the motel.
Norma resurfaced five months later during the Harmony High School Class of 2001's senior trip to Warlock Island. Bates befriended the teens and stayed in their camp, all the while plotting to murder Tabitha and Timmy. After Hank Bennett and TC Russell rescued the stranded people, Norma was locked away in a psychiatric ward.
After that, Norma made a tradition of breaking out of the hospital each Christmas and attempting to murder Tabitha. Around Thanksgiving in 2005, Norma received a roommate — Edna Wallace, who had been locked up after claiming that Tabitha was a witch and had caused the tsunami the previous summer. Norma and Edna became partners-in-crime and again attempted to murder Tabitha, though they were ultimately unsuccessful. They were next seen in Rome during the summer of 2006 operating a pizza parlor as "Luigi" and "Sophia" and announced to Edna's disturbed daughter that they had become lovers. Norma and Edna became involved in Alistair's omega plot when Edna tried to bilk her daughter's father for money. When Alistair attempted to murder all of the citizens of Harmony in Rome, the two helped to battle his thugs. After the battle was won, Norma and Edna went on to become famous performers in lesbian bars.