Who is Princess Rosalina? The Wild Theory About Super Mario Galaxy's New Character
Things get cosmic in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie when, among other things, we are introduced to the character Princess Rosalina, mother of the Lumas and “the lady of shooting stars.”
Rosalina has been part of the Super Mario canon since 2007, when she was introduced as a major character in the game Super Mario Galaxy. While the first game explored her backstory, a lot of questions went unanswered. Naturally, fans started to fill in the gaps.
These theories range from somewhat feasible to a little more tenuous, and while a major fan theory was confirmed in the movie, there’s still a lot about Princess Rosalina that the average watcher might not know. So, read on if you want to know more about this particular nugget of Super Mario lore.
What Is Princess Rosalina’s Backstory?
In the Super Mario Galaxy game, Rosalina is a little girl when she first comes across a rusted space ship holding a small star child called Luma. Rosalina waits with Luma for the star child’s lost mother to come to him on a comet, but this never happens. So, Rosalina and the star child decide to search for the mother themselves by rebuilding the ship and going to space.
After encountering an icy comet, they slowly make it into a home. Over time, other Lumas join the pair, and Rosalina becomes their adoptive mother. Some time later, after seeing their hundredth comet, Rosalina decides to look at her home planet through her father’s telescope. It is strongly implied that her mother is dead, and Rosalina gets homesick. She also dreamt of her mother when she was younger, which can be seen as an omen of her death.
Luma comforts Rosalina before being reborn as a comet. This allows her to visit her home planet, which she then does every hundred years. In terms of Rosalina’s family, there is a reference to a mother, father, and a brother with whom she lived on “the blue planet.”
What Fan Theories Are There About Princess Rosalina?
Most of the fan theories concerning Princess Rosalina somehow link her to Peach. This seems to be for two main reasons. Firstly, the mother depicted in Rosalina’s story book from the first game looks extremely similar to Peach, with the same hairstyle, hair colour, earrings, and lower half of her face. The only real difference is that she is wearing a turquoise gown, similar to Rosalina. There’s also the fact that, as previously established, Rosalina herself looks extremely similar to Peach.
Theories range from Rosalina being Peach’s ancestor to being her sister, but the most unusual theory suggests that she is actually Peach and Luigi’s child. Supposed evidence for this includes Luigi and Rosalina having the same earlobes and Rosalina’s brother wearing a green cap. Of course, this completely ignores the fact that Peach and Luigi simply aren’t a thing, as well as the fact that, in the game, Rosalina is meant to be hundreds of years old by the time she encounters Mario for the first time.
What Is Princess Rosalina’s Backstory In The Movie?
In the film, it is revealed – spoiler incoming! – that Rosalina and Peach were long-lost sisters who are actually made of stardust. They reside on a planet together before an unnamed attacker comes for them, which leads to a young Rosalina sending infant Peach to the Mushroom Kingdom in order to protect her.
This plot twist works well for the movie, as it gives Peach cosmic powers of her own and generally elevates her character, but, compared to the game, it is a stark departure. This has led to fierce discourse online, with some fans calling it a “retcon.”
Given the success of The Super Mario Bros Movie, we can probably expect a third instalment. So, somewhere down the line, we will hopefully get more clarity on Rosalina’s past.
