It is common knowledge of fans of Super Mario RPG that Geno, a star incarnate, served “a higher authority” during his time on the planet. But just who was this undisclosed power? Is there a God of some sort in the Mario universe (besides Shigeru Miyamoto)? The answer is yes. Kind of.
With the release of Super Mario Galaxy in late 2007, a whole new world of previously unknown material was revealed regarding the mustachioed plumber’s fictional universe, similar to how it was with ours after NASA set the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. However, in Mario’s case, the question as to who was in charge (at least partially) of the cosmic scene was finally dealt with once and for all. And her name was Rosalina.
I’ll be the first to admit that I initially saw Rosalina as a creative failure. Her resemblance to Princess Peach felt more like a palette swap than a unique identity. But I have since softened to the glittery goddess, seeing her less as a lame, carbon copy and more as a heavenly hostess who provides some much-needed depth– the lone solvent to a handful of the Mushroom Kingdom’s most onerous arguments. Though according to her storybook back-story she is not the creator, she originated from “The Blue Planet”, Rosalina’s appointed role as watcher of the cosmos and apparent immortality, by default, grant her a godlike state of existence. As a young girl, heavily presumed a princess, she had met a fallen star (or Luma) who was looking for its missing mother. This forlorn Luma soon asked her to help it search the heavens to find her. And for some strange reason I can’t explain, she responded to its heartfelt plea, leaving her parents and brother behind to embark upon a quest of cosmic proportions.
Well, to cut a long story short, they both got lost during their journey and wound up living on a nearby star. The only source of food for Rosalina were the tiny little rainbow shards that the Lumas called Star Bits. I believe that it was the consumption of these celestial fragments that eventually gave her supernatural abilities– otherwise their lack of a proper explanation would be a major plot-hole (if taken from a rational perspective). This leads me to my hypotheses.
Phenomenal cosmic powers! …itty-bitty living space.
Knowing for a fact that Rosalina has been in charge of the stars for over a millennium, she must have been the higher authority that commanded Geno to inhabit a wooden doll in Super Mario RPG. This is the only plausible conclusion we can make out of the source material we have been provided. And while I’m at it, I might as well pitch that I believe that Rosalina is related to Princess Peach in some way or another. Since I’m trying to be reasonable, I will ignore the reincarnated star cycle theory (thank goodness); but still, that’s not to say that my highest guess on their family ties isn’t also convoluted, because I currently think she is Peach’s great, great, great, great aunt. Rosalina was much too young when she left the Mushroom World to have a child of her own, and her unseen (yet mentioned) brother serves no purpose unless you take it that Princess Peach would eventually rise from his direct and royal lineage.
I hope I’ve at least given you some nuggets to chew on in regards to a few of Mario’s existential quandaries. And even moreso I hope that I haven’t made myself look like an absolute nutjob. But hey, in my defense, at least I didn’t get into any crazy astrological forecasts. (You were born on July 28th, 1991 at 6:03 pm, were you? Then expect to be kicked on Uranus.) Whoops. Anyway, feel free to add to or take away from my ideas. These matters have hardly reached closed verdicts.
But that’s just it: Rosalina’s powers are not her own. “Appointed” by…whom? As more of an angel, or demigoddess, Roselina, with Luna, travels the cosmos as a guardian. But there’s definitely a higher power there who assigned her this task. Question is…where is this power coming from? And who is in charge?
I’m not saying that Rosalina is the highest authority in the Mario universe; but she is most definitely a higher authority with power over the stars. Since Square created Geno in the mid-90s and seem to have some sort of beef with lending him back over to Nintendo, I seriously doubt we’ll ever hear of this possible connection officially. So don’t waste too much time thinking about it… unless you’re wanting to become a writer for Nintendojo.
Though if it’s owned by Square, he just might show up in a Mario Mix ;)
Unless the developers are just plain ignorant, I think that Geno would have already been included by now in a Square/Nintendo cross-over if he were ever going to be. I’m afraid Square have even kept him from being mentioned on the Smash Bros. series, and no one quite knows the reason why. But I’m still hoping it can come to some sort of agreement with Nintendo before the fourth installment begins development.