#Spm merloo

[radylis]

SPM Theory: Merloo and the Fourth Pure Heart

«The Ancients traveled to many worlds to entrust people with Pure Hearts. It was to keep them safe from destruction or misuse by those with evil hearts. The Pure Hearts were drawn by their own power toward those strong with love. The Ancients used this trait to find suitable guardians in each world. And a few romances also began as a result of these little journeys… Many of the Ancients who found guardians fell in love with those they met. And so they lived their days happily in the world they'd visited out of duty. This is how the legend of the hero was passed down to future generations…»

This is one of Garson's stories from Super Paper Mario. In it, it's explained that the Ancients decided to entrust the Pure Hearts to well-meaning people in different worlds for safekeeping until the hero arrived.

However, although there's a great emphasis in the guardians here, there is one Pure Heart whose guardian we know nothing about...

Let's start with a little recap. During SPM's events, Mario and company find the Pure Hearts in the following places:

❤️ The First Pure Heart is given to Mario by Merlon in Flipside.

🧡 The Second Pure Heart is given to Mario by Merlumina in Yold Ruins, with Fracktail also serving as a guardian to it.

💛 The Third Pure Heart is obtained from Merlee and it was hidden within her Mansion.

💚 The Fourth Pure Heart is found within Fort Francis, with Tippi's happiness releasing it from its hiding place.

🩵 The Fifth Pure Heart is handed over by Squirps, prince of the lost kingdom of Squirpia.

💙 The Sixth Pure Heart is obtained from the Floro Sapiens, who explain that King Croacus IV was its current owner.

💜 The Seventh Pure Heart is kept at Sammer’s Kingdom, with the current King Sammer being its guardian and, thus, the one who has to give it to the heroes (or rather, the one who should have given it to the heroes).

🤍 The Eighth Pure Heart, lastly, was entrusted to Jaydes and Grambi, rulers of The Underwhere and The Overthere respectively, who transformed it into their daughter, Luvbi. In the end, Luvbi herself decided to go with the heroes, reverting back to her original form and accepting her fate as the final Heart.

Notice something strange? There was exactly one Pure Heart that wasn’t given to the heroes by anyone. That's right; it's the fourth one, the green Pure Heart...

All the other Pure Hearts were being guarded by at least one person (although in Croacus' case, he wasn't exactly "guarding" it). Yet the green Pure Heart was just found inside a fortress/castle.

Here's what Merlon says about it when you return to Flipside after completing Chapter 3:

«I think that castle was once a dwelling of the Ancients I told you of earlier. It seems that my ancestors have roamed far and wide in their dimensional travels. “In the castle beyond the great sea, we hid a Pure Heart and sealed it safely…” Yes, I remember reading such a passage in the Light Prognosticus. The seal could only have been broken by a powerful pulse of love and trust…»

Isn't it strange that the Ancients just seemingly hid a Pure Heart within a random castle they found and assigned no sort of protection to it except for a seal?

In Garson's story, it's stated that the Pure Hearts were entrusted to "suitable guardians", and so it'd be more believable to think that there used to be a guardian for the green Pure Heart as well.

And I believe this Pure Heart's guardian (or, at least, its original guardian) was none other than Merloo.

Now, if you're part of SPM's fandom you'll probably already know that Merloo has been the subject of much theorizing; he's a quite mysterious figure described as "a great magician who could control dimensions" and, allegedlly, the writer of the Light Prognosticus too (although Merlumina is also stated to be its writer).

Nothing more is known about Merloo himself... And there aren't any Ancient-related characters who look like him in-game, unlike with the other three sages we hear about in SPM...

But why Merloo as the green Pure Heart's guardian? Well, that's because I think the other three sages were also entrusted with a Pure Heart each...

My evidence? The fact that another of Garson's stories sheds light on Merlumina's sister, who was tasked with finding one of these suitable guardians. She fell in love with said guardian, the King Sammer of that time, ultimately marrying him and having 100 kids together; this means that the King Sammer we meet in SPM (who is the purple Pure Heart's current guardian) is a descendant of them.

All of this aligns with the Garson story I cited at the beginning of this post. But, considering Garson spoke in plural ("Many of the Ancients who found guardians fell in love with those they met"), this means Merlumina's sister wasn't the only case of an "ancient x guardian" couple happening...

Let's take a look at the other Ancients we know of:

Merlight is stated to be a "distant ancestor" of Merlon, who at the time of SPM is in possession of the red Pure Heart.

Merlumina is an ancestor of Old Man Watchitt, and her spirit can be found in the same dimension/world as him, guarding the orange Pure Heart.

Merlimbis is a "direct ancestor" of both Merluvlee and Merlee; the current yellow Pure Heart's owner is Merlee.

Isn't it fair for us to assume that they were also tasked with finding guardians, fell in love with them, and decided to stay in the worlds they'd visited out of duty, as Garson's story says? Well, in Merlight's case, he designed Flipside/Flopside, so he had no other option than to remain there to ensure the city's correct functioning, I suppose... But I'm getting off-track.

Returning to the matter at hand: once again we can see that Merloo's name hasn't been brought up... He's the only sage whose descendants are completely unknown to the player.

If we follow my reasoning, we have Merlight, Merlumina and Merlimbis guarding the red, orange and yellow Pure Hearts alongside their spouses, respectively. Or rather, their descendants (except for Merlumina's case; I have an idea on why this could be, but that's for another day...).

The thing is that the red, orange and yellow Pure Hearts are the first three Pure Hearts encountered in-game. So, it wouldn't be irrational to assume that Merloo was also entrusted with the next Pure Heart after those. Which, no surprise, is the green Pure Heart.

So, to recap, Merloo went to The Bitlands, found a suitable guardian, and fell in love with them (just like the rest of the sages), staying in The Bitlands for the rest of his life and eventually passing on the responsibility of protectiing the green Pure Heart to his children, who in turn passed it on to their own children, and so on...

But what happened to their castle, then? Why is it now Fort Francis?

Honestly, I have no idea for why this the way it is.

Perhaps they were forced to flee due to unknown circumstances, with no other option than to leave the Pure Heart behind? Perhaps they all died due to some illness or attack, only managing to put an emergency seal on the Pure Heart before passing away?

I'm afraid, the answer shall remain a mystery forevermore...

However, I would like to say that there are some indications that hint at the possibility of a descendant of Merloo's being encountered in-game by the heroes...

Dimentio is quite the enigmatic character, isn't he?

He's a magician with great dimensional powers, just like Merloo, even being able to create his own pocket dimension!

Not only that, but he seemed to know quite a lot about the Pure Hearts and the Dark Prognosticus' final prophecy even before meeting Count Bleck...

On top of that, the only time Dimentio is fought against in SPM outside of Castle Bleck is, precisely, in The Bitlands...

Moreover, Dimentio seems to be aware of where the entrance to Merlumina's chamber (where the orange Pure Heart is hidden) is exactly located, and he has no trouble messing with Fracktail's mind!

Furthermore, how did Dimentio go to Flipside? How was he aware of its existence? And how was he able to send the heroes to The Underwhere and The Overthere? Also, all these places hid a Pure Heart as well...

Lastly, Dimentio knew that Jaydes' power could restore a damaged Pure Heart...

It's as if he had been taught all of these facts by someone, don't you think?

This is all suspicious...

...Quite suspicious, indeed...

[camprell-art]

Hii! Really love your art! Your designs for the mario characters are super lovely. I was wondering tho, what drives your dimentio? Why does he, like, destroy nearly every kingdom he comes across? Why does he want to become king of all worlds when he doesn't seem to mind the 'subservient' role?

Hope you're having a wonderful day!

Okay so, this probably will get extremely long ksajhd

Dimentio is unconsciously reenacting what the Pixl Queen, or his sister Shadoo, did. After getting driven to madness by being resurrected in a vessel with the Dark Prognosticus, she brainwashed every Pixl, formed an army and tried to destroy the Ancients for their selfishness and supposed egocentrism, so she is technically destroying a kingdom.

I never worked much in the time-line of events, but before all of that happened, Dimentio and his mother Illuminata died, because Merloo, the father and great magician, was researching the Dark Prognosticus and one day he tries a spell and everything goes wrong.

A recurring theme in the family story is how everyone of them had a tragedy, the father gets obsessed with the Dark Prognosticus and kills both his wife and son in an accident, the mother dies protecting the son, the son is cursed with immortality by being bound to the book, and the sister gets ill because of the dark energy the house had, dies, is brought back, dies again, now by her brother's own hands, gets cursed and also locked away in the Pits.

You can say that Shadoo and Dimentio are the ones who suffered the most, and depending on how you see it, yeah they are, but imagine living the rest of your life thinking that you ruined everything, like, EVERYTHING, because a book was "that" important. That's why Merloo ends up helping with the Light Prognosticus, but also completely alone, as if you see in the game, he's the only sage who, apparently, has no descendants.

Before I forget, Pixl Queen Shadoo had the DP, when Dimentio "kills" her, he takes it, tries to protect it from evil, but reads it in morbid curiosity of what is written there, people steal it from him and then he starts getting insane, just like Bleck. ^v^

In conclusion, Dimentio is traumatized, but instead of having a chance to really think about his past and not commit any crimes, he has the DP talking in his head and leaving every other memory to the side, which is why he has kind of an amnesia and why he knows roughly where the thing is. In other words, the book makes you go crazy, and after living so many years and so many deaths I think that the person is very likely to just go apeshit after some point.

Ah, and about the thing with being a servant and wanting to be king at the same time, I don't take what he said in that part too literally, because I do believe that his motivation was to make a perfect world without all the rotten evil people in it, that would explain why he doesn't like the Count, Dimentio may know he's bad too, but he's being bad for a greater or purer reason. The role of servant is mostly just a strategy to be seen as someone who is vulnerable and eager to please, a perfect lie to hide the strings he's holding.

I hope this is a good answer to your question! As always I think that I gave more useless information than a direct response. akjsdh

Have a nice day, or night, wherever you are! :)

Edit: Thank you so much for all the compliments!!! Dumb Camprell was so focused on trying to explain the shitshow that is his fanlore that he forgot completely about what you said first!! But know that it's always one of the best things to see in an ask! :3

[gracebethartacc]

dimentio got his priorities straight

[starferret]

Um so I've been really into the Ancients recently-

I think the Shaman characters are super cool looking so I wanted to give them cool designs/translate them into my style (I love you mirror tool) I’ve also been doing way too much research into their lore and society

The main Flipside/Flopside gang

The old guys from Lineland

The Four Sages

The Merlee depicted in the mural in the Pit

A character I made for a thing I'm writing (based on that unused character in the game)

And Bonus!! The TTYD guys (including Dazzle cuz I think he's a Shaman too)

[artgletic]

Dimentio in an ancient-style fit (Mermentio? Mertio?) + 12th pixl

in my lore post, i talk about how i think dimentio was merloo’s mentor. I like to imagine he was very lowkey and his presence was lost to time, deliberately overshadowed by his student. He mentored merloo so as to get him to write the light prognosticus as a means of countering the dark one and creating a vulnerability in the prophecy for him to exploit later in the events of SPM. I additionally talk about dimentio's mask originating with the dead pixl who died during the events of the pixl war. these are just designs going off ideas from that post

Design notes under cut

-ancients have this really obvious gendered way of dressing, and i wanted dimentio to blur those lines, hence giving him the robes and headpiece of a man but the face veil and headpiece adornments of a woman. hes slaying

-speaking of facial decorations, dimentio isnt wearing his mask yet here. I hc he only starts wearing it around when he starts interacting with bleck (along with the jester fit as a whole)

-i decided to turf the stripes on his fit since it made him look too much like the dimentio we know as opposed to an ancient, as well as there was no ancients with similar patterning.

-to be real dimentio’s canon design is already very reminiscent of an ancient, particularly in the context of the rest of SPM’s designs and how crazy they can get. The basic shape of his hat already looks like a plausible ancient headpiece (like a combination of merlimbis and merlight), and merlumina has similar decal placements on her headpiece. theres also centre brooch that male ancients wear; dimentio’s diamond is similar. They both even have yellow eyes.

-the only real differences are dimentio’s leg and hands, both of which are monochrome and lined with white instead of black, almost emphasizing that they do not ‘fit’ the rest of the look or were added on unnaturally.

-his mask is also monochrome but not lined with white. My reason for this is since I think his mask is what remains of his old pixl, it’s not alien with respect to the ancients (hence not being lined with white), but not an authentic part of him (hence being monochrome)

[swap-dimentio-saga]

Prologue Page 66-71

[mx-monotone]

Guys this is absolutely stunning, I watched this comic like a MOVIE

Chapter 1-4: Soft Light (Part 14)

Lord Merloo learns of the prophecy (SPM)

First ~ Previous

[mochilorddrakeinferno]

SPM Theory: Merloo is Merlee's Ancestor (and possibly Bestovius's as well):

Argument 1: Merloo's window in the Mirror Hall features a representation of the Sun, and Merlee's Japanese name and magic are both drawn from the Sun. This same symbol is also seen on the doors of Merlee and Merluvlee's locations in Flip/Flopside. Argument 2: In Merlee's Mansion, one of the pictures seen in the hallway depicts an eye symbol also seen in Merloo's window, providing another symbological connection between the two figures. Argument 3: Merluvlee possesses the ability to see into the future, something which Merloo was also capable of. Merlee also mentions that her ancestors have prophesied supplementary details to the Light Prognosticus regarding the four heroes. Argument 4: Also pictured in Merlee's Mansion are Merluvlee, who is known to be a relative of hers, and Bestovius. This may suggest that Merlee and Bestovius share an ancestor. Bestovius is noted as a master of dimensional magic, an area of expertise that Merloo shares, so if they do share an ancestor, that ancestor being Merloo would explain those parallels. Argument 5: In the Flipside Pit of 100 Trials, a presumed ancestor of Merlee who was trusted to guard the Yellow Pure Heart is depicted. As this Merlee ancestor who lived contemporary to Merlimbis is very similar in appearance to the Merlee of the current day, the likely candidate for the other ancestor would be the one who closest resembles her. Merloo, whose hair style and color are the closest to Merlee's among the Sages, fits best in this regard. Graphic created by the fantastic General Donitsky:

[rattlebear25]

Headcanon Timeline Past SPM (31/12/23 UPDATE)

• So my Headcanon version of Dimentio was the son of the Phanto King and Queen in Unknown Realm. Him and his Sister Dimania had a more arrogant and dictatorship behaviour unlike their parents. Dimentio was really affectionate to his mother while the Dimania was really connected to her father. Suddenly, Bonechill appeared trying to conquer the Overthere, hurting Dimentio and his mother. The mother was deeply injured and died while Dimentio was slighty damaged. Dimania went ill after her mommy's death and her father did everything to bring her back. He saved her and Dimentio thanks to his magician powers but his sons were mentally destroyed by the tragic event, developing a sort of PTS Disorder. All of these events happen simultaneously at Ancient's leadership on the whole universe. Phantos are normally the ones who control and own the keys of the doors that separate the Normal Life Realm from the Afterlife one (the Underwhere, Overthere.) When Dimentio and Dimania became adult and their father died, Dimi ruled as the King of Phantos while his sister like a Deputy Chief. They wanted more power so they discovered from an old dark book (the Dark Prognosticus) the existence of the Chaos Heart that can be brought alive by a forced union bewteen a monster and a princess. This Heart function is like a Big Crunch and the Chaos Heart's owner can redesign the Universe from zero. So Dimania and her brother team up to get the Chaos Heart but first they have to destroy the Pure Hearts, that can destroy the Chaos Heart forever. So Dimentio created a fake identity for himself called Dimen and tried to woo Merlumina, one of the Ancients who own the Pure Hearts. So he marriaged her and can have access to Secret Chambers to destroy the Pure Hearts. But Dimania betrayed her brother to get the power and the leadership of the universe just for herself. So he tried to manipulate her showing that the Ancients' creations (Pixls) can make her more stronger than the Chaos Heart. Dimania abused of the Pixls' powers becoming the Pixl Queen but the Ancients killed her in time and her ambitious goal failed. Her rests became Shadoo. Dimentio was exiled by the Ancient Church after the leader Merloo discovered his plans.

• The Tribe Ancients old generation died and the descendants splitted in two different bloodlines. The Pure one took the Light Prognosticus wrote by Merloo while the Dark Bloodline, commanded by a young Nolrem (Noirebert's father and Blumiere's grandpa) took the Dark Prognosticus (the dark book readed by Dimentio). Since this the story goes like Canon Super Paper Mario.

I was inspired by the Carson's stories in the game but i don't think they are completely canon. They are theories, nothing confirmed about them.

Maybe i will do short comics of this stuff of 3 shots for each page idk bye

[camprell-art]

Last words

[mochilorddrakeinferno]

(I had another version of this post and had it get eaten, this is probably going to be a slightly rougher version of that older post, sorry in advance for the draft-speak jaggedness!) Okay, so. I see your point and from a surface level it definitely looks pretty strange that despite on paper (heh) having basically the same stated goals, Bleck and Dimentio are treated so differently by the narrative. But, when you look more closely at the lore, not only do you start to see why it makes sense and what separates their actions, but how deeply important it is to their respective characters. Let's start with Bleck. He has by far the most to go into for the sake of this discussion. Before we start, I should clarify I'm FAR from a Bleck apologist. To say he did nothing wrong is to ignore most of what makes him fascinating, and betray the very core idea of his character. I will, however, say a lot less is his fault than common story analyses suggest. And we see this even in the moment that the man named Count Bleck first comes to be. When Blumiere unseals the Dark Prognosticus and opens it, there is a key difference in the Japanese version. The English script has him tell the book to command him, and then he becomes Count Bleck. But in the original Japanese, as more directly translated by the great AUselessMage, this scene reads quite differently.

He goes to the dark book of prophecies seeking specifically its history rather than its prophecies, and mentions a world without Timpani only in a context more akin to not being worth living in for himself. It is not until the Dark Prognosticus has already thoroughly corrupted his mind that he begins to enact the prophecy. But the reason he sought it out in the first place, from all indication, was simply to find where Timpani had been taken and if he could still save her. Now, knowing what he should have about the risks of opening the book, this was still an extraordinarily reckless and selfish thing to do. But the book very clearly takes control of his mind. I don't think it's debatable that when he erased his homeworld, he was... not himself. For one thing, it takes all of five seconds after opening the book for him to adopt the Bleck identity. Destroying all worlds and carrying out the DP's foul work is not something Blumiere ever would have done of his own accord. But the despair he felt at the loss of Timpani, the fury at his father, the desperation that would drive him to open the book, and the traumatic nature of the entire situation was such a smorgasbord of darkness and suffering in his heart that the Dark Prognosticus could seize control and make a destroyer of him nigh-effortlessly. And yet, as we see throughout the game, the Dark Prognosticus's extent of control over Count Bleck is variable. There are moments where he acts as "the chosen executor of the Dark Prognosticus" completely, but also flashes of something else. In the original Japanese script, he did not manipulate O' Chunks into joining him. Rather, he saved O' Chunks's life, and after he repeatedly begged Bleck to join him, he acquiesced. The love between Bleck and his minions is emphasized throughout the entire game, and we know it is not a ruse or deliberate betrayal from a willing actor, because the love between them is what revives the Pure Hearts the first time around! That tells us that love is not only powerful, but true. Even as Count Bleck, even under the influence of the Prognosticus, he saved lives and gave meaning and love to those who were lost. That was not a lie. The Count Bleck who did that for them, who found earnest amusement in their antics, and whose love for them was what allowed the defeat of Super Dimentio, is a fundamentally different version of himself than the heartless Champion of Destruction, and they knew that. His minions fought alongside him because they truly believed that he would create a better world without all the evils that had hurt them. (Note: What exactly "better worlds" consist of is still not their call to make, and even if they only intended to let evil people STAY dead, that still qualifies as super ultra mass murder at best, so the minions ain't off the hook either here.) When they look back, his minions speak of the better worlds he would have wanted them to strive for, and they do not seem betrayed that his plans would indeed have killed them all had they succeeded, and there is good reason for that. He was not the one who betrayed them. The Champion of Destruction is not the man they remember. One could argue that Bleck did not fight hard enough from within to combat the Dark Prognosticus in a meaningful way until the end, but at the same time it seems very likely that he was in fact still fighting, that pieces of his true self shone through in his interactions with his minions. [The rest of this is too long, it made the post break, so I'm going to reblog this AGAIN for the second half. Sorry about that!]

Blumiere and Dimentio are the same person and I’m tired of the plot trying to pretend theyre not.

Y’all I love this game and all but why were Mimi and Chunks not only still loyal to Blumiere but also said not one bad thing about him after finding out he was going to kill them despite the fact they were trying to help him this whole time and were the only mfs that cared about him- but Dimentio did the exact same thing and they hit him with a car

Like this is a genuine question I’ve been a fan for over a decade and I’m still like huh😭 about their logic. “We won’t let dimentio get away with this!” Or whatever she said- MIMI SWEETHEART BLECK DID THE EXACT SAME THING

Like if Bleck wanted to die whatever but it would’ve done so much for his character if he was like “hey the people who genuinely care for me and are trying to help me destroy everything and think they’re going to be spared? Huh! maybe I should actually spare them and create a new world for them but I still croak” unless he couldn’t create dimensions at all and was lying? But didn’t Dimentio do it with only the power of the chaos heart or am I stupid. So could Bleck have done it too? Idk maybe we could’ve had a scene where like “hey dimentio master of dimensions LOL I was kidding btw I cant do shit. Make a world for y’all whatever but I’m gonna die” and I’m pretty sure dimentio would’ve been like alright (lying, still wants a world just for him) but idk. Anyways Nintendo having Count Bleck still trying to kill his minions after everything they did for him really messed up his character and went against the writers intentions of trying to make Bleck a tragic villain but Dimentio purely evil and accidentally made them the EXACT SAME person and I just wish they could’ve handled it better because his arc could’ve been nearly perfect.

Not ONLYYY that, but he wanted to kill all worlds because he lost Timpani. Yet. There she is. Right there. And he KNOWS THAT. YET. HE KEEPS FIGHTING. KNOWING THAT IF HE WINS THE WOMAN HE WAS TRYING TO END LIFE FOR BECAUSE SHE DIED IS ALIVE AND HES JUST GOING TO ACTUALLY KILL HER. But then after they beat the shit out of him he says “kill me and stop the void- if you’re alive, it gives me peace” WHY DIDNT YOU SAY THAT THE SECOND SHE FLEW INTO THE ROOM. Maybe he was in a state of madness. But idk I’ve never seen anyone else talk about it

“But dappledpaintbrush, at least Bleck had the motivation of his one true love dying and Dimentio was just a bitch” *twitches finger back and forth while going AH, AH, AH, AH, AH* We have the very high possibility of Dimentio’s whole family fucking dying and his sister turning into like a demon according to Carson. So in game canon there is a POSSIBILITY (cause that story can be interpreted a lot of ways) that BOTH of them had tragic backstories that POSSIBLY was BOTH of their motivations to destroy all worlds. Yet Blumiere gets treated like a poor little meow meow by the characters and the clown doesn’t. Then again I don’t think the clown ever talked about it. Maybe it’s just my own experience, but I feel like the writing still tried to push the narrative that Bleck is less terrible than Dimentio.

And hey let’s say Dimentio is only a descendant of the Pixl Creator and he’s doing this for no reason other than for lols. Both of them STILL tried to destroy all worlds and only Bleck had a change of heart after Tippi returned… yet still tried to enable the Void after finding out she’s alive? Both of them lied to, betrayed, and tried to MURDER their ENTIRE TEAM. Earlier, I said “(the writers) trying to make Bleck a tragic villain but Dimentio purely evil and accidentally made them the EXACT SAME person” and this can go two ways- the first option, or making both of them tragic characters. If the writers genuinely thought this through and genuinely wanted us to pry into the lore to conclude Dimentio and Bleck are not that different, sending one to his dream world with his dream girl and the other to actual super mario hell doesn’t help their intention

And Blumiere is such an amazing concept for a character and he STILL IS, but wow the writers could’ve done so much more. Even a cutscene of him deciding the spare the minions could’ve meant SO MUCH and it really sucks nothing ever happened. With or without the “both had a tragic backstory” interpretation, there isn’t much that puts a clear line between Dimentio and Bleck’s characters. The game tries to make us think the line is there, but it really isn’t. At least not in my own interpretation of the writing. Idk lol. End of rant

[gracebethartacc]

that epic moment when ancients

Might color these later but for now WOA CONCEPT DESIGNS BE UPON YE

[oddity-art-blog]

This post is sponsored by: The Tribe of Ancients

((Version without text:))

[swap-dimentio-saga]

Chapter 1-1 Page 11-15

[mochilorddrakeinferno]

Definitely seems to check out. The similarity of name to Merloo is also interesting. I wonder what the break in Merloo's name that he has but Madame Clairvoya doesn't is supposed to mean, though...

Is it possible that Madame Clairvoya from Luigi’s Mansion is actually a Shaman from Super Mario RPG?

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Shamans from Super Mario RPG, which went on to play a major role in Paper Mario, Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door and Super Paper Mario. These odd folk are are depicted as magicians and fortune tellers. Many use Crystal Balls to predict the future and guide Mario on his adventures, usually by reading the Stars.

In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, we received some elaboration on who these Shamans are:

About Merlon on the east side of Rogueport and Merluvlee underground... Ol' Wonky hears they're from a strange tribe that names people by profession. So, for example, if someone did the same work as Merlon, they'd have the same name... So there could be Merlons all over. Don't you find that strange? Wonky does!

[Source: Wonky, Info guy, Non-player character in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, October 2004]

Meanwhile in Super Paper Mario, Shamans became the focus of the game, where they are revealed to be the descendants of the Tribe of Ancients, a people who had magic powerful enough to predict the distant future and transfer spirits of the dead into “Thinking Tools” called Pixls.

So yeah, ever heard of an advanced civilization called the Tribe of Ancients? They were, like, a thousand times smarter than you or me.

[Source: Garson, Owner of The Underwhere, Non-player character in Super Paper Mario, April 2007]

So yeah, you meet Merlon and Merlee yet? They're descendants of the Ancients and distantly related to each other, I hear.

[Source: Garson, Owner of The Underwhere, Non-player character in Super Paper Mario, April 2007]

So do you know how the Pixls came to be? A powerful magician among the Ancients created them about 3,000 years ago. He did it by transferring a spirit into a vessel he created for that purpose. He's said to have created 12 Pixls like this before he passed away. But his apprentices kept researching Pixls after his game ended... They learned to create many more Pixls based on his original 12. These Pixls became widely used as 'thinking tools' for the grateful Ancients. Through the work of many Pixls, the Ancients prospered as they never had before.

[Source: Carson, Owner of The Overthere, Non-player character in Super Paper Mario, April 2007]

In Luigi’s Mansion, Madame Clairvoya is a fortune teller who uses a Crystal Ball to read Mario’s items and guide Luigi. Her senses from reading the Crystal Ball are incredibly similar to those of the Shamans, with both seeing locations and people from the present or near future within their Crystal Balls and interpreting what they see into advice for the heroes. It’s also stated that Madame Clairvoya can see nearly 49 days into the future thanks to her close connection to the spirit world.

Madame Clairvoya actually wears similar clothing to many Shamans, particularly Shaman women, such as long robes, a headscarf and a veil covering her mouth. While the Shamans have largely been covered by shadows throughout their appearances thanks to their outfits, they are described as humans several times in Super Paper Mario, which aligns with Madame Clairvoya’s clearly human appearance.

Madame Merlar from Paper Mario and Merlumina from Super Paper Mario both return as ghosts long after their deaths and continue to serve as helpful guides, as is the case with Madame Clairvoya.

Madame Clairvoya also describes the Crystal Ball she uses as a "symbol of [her] clan”. This clan could very well be the Tribe of Ancients, whose descendants are shown to consistently use Crystal Balls to perform their work.

Finally - and this is what really got me to consider this possibility in the first place - the Japanese name of every member of the Tribe of Ancients and their descendants follows the same naming conventions, with all of their names being a play-on-words with the addition of the endings "ēru", "āru" or simply "ru", originating from the Japanese name of the Shaman species in Super Mario RPG, "Supēru". This also applies to Madame Clairvoya, whose Japanese name is “Madamu Miēru”.

What do you guys think? Could Madame Clairvoya actually be a descendant of the Ancients? If so, this is certainly a very interesting connection from Luigi’s Mansion back to Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, though it wouldn’t be the first!

[spmthemanga]

The Ancient sages (SPM manga) ✨

(Merloo and Merlumina)