An old school gamer, Jennifer Branton enjoys her Nintendo titles on The Switch when taking a break from survival horror and RPG titles.
Could Rosalina possibly be related to some classic "Mario" characters? The Reshuffle Theory says yes!
Super Mario Fandom
The Princess Is in Another Castle
For the longest time, the Mario franchise had only one leading lady. She is easily recognized for her blonde hair, blue earrings, and parasol in her stand-alone adventure.
With a tendency to be kidnapped, Princess Toadstool, later changed to Princess Peach, is the Princess of the Toadstool people of the Mushroom Kingdom. That alone poses a question regarding the linage of the royal family. She is also the love interest of Mario throughout the series, although it could be stated that perhaps she isn't as smitten—only offering Mario a thank you and a kiss on the nose for rescuing her.
It wasn't until Mario's adventures in Sarasa Land that he met Princess Daisy, later brought into crossover titles such as Mario Kart and Mario Tennis, as a suggested love interest for his brother Luigi.
Daisy, a tomboy at heart with dark hair and a bright yellow dress, contrasts with the girlyness of Peach, clad in pink.
It wasn't until Super Mario Galaxy that Mario stumbles upon another powerful young woman, one that has been roaming the universe as a protector of the Lumas, visiting Earth every hundred years or so to see her mother's castle where she had grown up, as well as the hill where she used to use her father's telescope and look at the stars. It was near this stargazing hill where there was a huge tree under which Princess Rosalina has her best childhood memories, which are explained in her storybook. Chapters slowly revealing her backstory are unlocked in sections.
Rosalina's Backstory
Appearing first in "Super Mario Galaxy," Rosalina seemed vaguely familiar already to fans when introduced as a space-traveling Princess who had come back to earth every hundred years to check in on her parents' homeland and her mother's castle where she and her brother used to stargaze. Nothing more is mentioned about the brother, especially after the black hole ending of the game which causes the reshuffle of the "Mario" Universe.
Notice the similarities between Peach and Rosalina?
Super Mario Wiki
Rosalina's Appearance
A stoic beauty, Rosalina is much taller than any other character in the game. Her long blonde hair falling over one blue eye seems predominant in the Mario world, as most of the humanoids have blue eyes. She proves to be left-handed as she waves her wand. Her long blue dress is a similar style to what is seen on Princess Peach.
It is a wonder why her character model is similar to that of Peach when Daisy was created in stark contrast. Rosalina could easily be of a different race, with a different eye and hair color.
Some claim that Nintendo had planned for Rosalina to have some sort of relation to the family that Peach came from, but that idea was scrapped.
Fans began to speculate and wonder after the release of Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and other crossover titles where Rosalina appeared, that if she was from somewhere else in the Galaxy, then why is she so prevalent in later titles? What is it about this princess that seemed so familiar to Mario players?
Clues in the storybook revealing her backstory had online fans speculating that Rosalina could be Peach's sister, then the Game Theorist Channel on YouTube took it a step further by working in genetics that Rosalina might, in fact, be the daughter of Peach and Mario. They cited everything from her left-handedness being similar to Peach being ambidextrous in sporting games, the similar hair and blue eyes that would match her mother, and even her attached earlobes.
But it is the storybook itself that offers the most supporting clues, and the ending of the first Galaxy game is perhaps the key to current games like Super Mario Odyssey and its moon rocks all over the world.
A page of Rosalina's storybook.
Super Mario Wiki
Rosalina's Storybook
As Mario plays through Super Mario Galaxy, the young and beautiful princess, Rosalina, reveals more of her backstory as she reads through a book about her childhood.
She details how she and her mother would stand on the hill by her mother's castle on Mario's home planet, and look through her father's telescope to gaze upon the stars. It was this early exposure to the cosmos that made Rosalina protective of her Galaxy and of the creatures that dwell among them.
As her story goes on, she remembers that more than anything, she wanted to go back to that hill near the large tree, look down at the castle, and see her mother again. She remembered her brother and his green cap standing under the night sky. She remembers her father stroking his mustache, which was his pride and joy.
These were just memories though, as her mother, depicted only from behind in the pages of the storybook and from the lower half of her face—blonde hair and huge blue ball-shaped earrings, and a cheery smile upon her lips—now sleeps under that tree.
The girl in the story cries when she remembers that her mother was dead and that she will never have that chance to be beneath the stars with her again.
Rather dark for a Mario game.
It makes sense that the mother of Rosalina would be deceased, as well as the rest of her family. Time moves so slowly on her Galaxy crusade that she, appearing maybe in her teens or twenties, could have the opportunity to revisit home every few hundred years and look no older than the Mario gang.
What Super Mario Galaxy and 2 explain the most, is that after the events of Galaxy, the universe is reshuffled and inhabitants of other areas of the Universe that Mario has previously met in other games are now all on the same timeline and dropped in the Mushroom Kingdom.
It is implied this isn't the first time this has happened either.
The Big Bang
Why can characters play against many other versions of themselves in the same Kart race? Why can both child versions of the Mario characters be on the same timeline in many of the games? The Big Bang that happens at the ends of "Super Mario Galaxy" resets the timeline again. Because Rosalina can move between time, she always will be about the same age as her parents when visiting as well.
How Does the Reshuffling Galaxy Explain Other Mario Titles?
Was Super Mario 3 just a stage play about the events of Super Mario Bros.? Why doesn't Mario remember that he already knows Yoshi from the events of Yoshi's Island? How can there be multiple versions of the same characters in the same Kart race?
What Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel really explain is that the events of the games in the Mario franchise take place on different timelines and that after each reshuffle of the Universe again, people, creatures, and places can be moved around. Perhaps even the relationships of people change. Someone with a green cap could be your brother in one cycle and a friend in the next.
It explains a lot about the reboot of material in ports and remasters of games for new consoles, and when a game is rebooted why is there an introductory scene bringing all the characters who should have known each other for ages up to speed.
Why is the princess always in another castle? Maybe Mario keeps experiencing the reset every time he dies and that is why the castle keeps on moving? There can't be that many castles in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Why is Peach always taken by Bowser and saved by Mario in the end? Maybe the event only happens once, but in the reshuffle, the main events that have to take place do—each time under different circumstances bringing them about.
If it's every hundred years when Rosalina comes to visit the planet of her family, and she appears in more than one title of the main games and spin-offs, then several resets have happened already.
We don't really know when exactly we are in the Mario timeline by the time we get to Super Mario Galaxy, where dinosaurs like the T-Rex are still on the planet, but evolved creatures or reptiles like Yoshi are still about. Why are there what appears to be humans from Earth in New Donk City where Pauline resides, but Mario and other humanoids like him are much smaller and more cartoon-like in contrast? Wherever you travel in Odyssey, each dominant species in its land knows about the others, and they all differ vastly.
Odyssey offers throwback elements of other games, making you wonder how many times the reshuffle has already taken place.
If Rosalina is the daughter of Mario and Peach from a previous cycle, she is escaping the reset each time by being in space, so the change doesn't affect her. She can remember in her storybook a time when her mother was buried under the tree, and also visit a timeline when Peach is still alive and well.
If this was really the truth, why was it only implied at and not stated in official Mario cannon?
The Cycle
"Galaxy" takes place in a cycle where Rosalina's mother was dead, but she has proven that she can always come back to a cycle where she is still alive—and Rosalina, herself, can escape the resets by being on her spaceship. What then would have happened in the entire cast that was in the "Galaxy" games interacted with the current timeline that Rosalina was experiencing? Simple. Her interaction with set up for the current reset of the Universe in "Super Mario Odyssey."
Her Father Sat Twirling His Mustache That Was His Pride
One night, the girl dreamed about her own mother. "Where are you going?" she asked her mother's retreating back. Without turning, her mother replied, "Don't fret, dearest. I'm not going anywhere. I'm always watching over you, like the sun in the day and the moon in the night."
A wave of sadness washed over the girl. "What about when it rains, and I can't see the sun or the moon?" Her mother thought for a moment before responding.
"I will turn into a star in the clouds and wait for your tears to dry."
– Rosalina's storybook, Chapter 4, The Dream
In Super Mario Galaxy, the passing of Rosalina's mother and the wish to see her again and visit her home planet is what sets up for the backstory of the Galaxy traveling princess. All we know of her parents is that they are from the same world as Mario and the rest. Her father is described in the French release in a little more detail—stroking his mustache that was his pride.
Given the illustration appears to be a lower half of Peach's face, the castle that some fans argue didn't really look like the Mushroom Kingdom in one game, but a little more in others—the argument in the Game Theory videos explains how Rosalina is most likely the daughter of Peach and Mario. It can be a pretty valid argument.
Everything was there . . .
Except things change is different cycles of the universe. Could it be just a coincidence that the illustration of the brother has a green hat? Maybe Rosalina is of the Mario line in a different cycle—not as a daughter but as a sister? Could she be another incarnation of Peach?
Then there is the strange photo that appears and the change in text that appears when Luigi replays Galaxy. This, in a cycle where there is another version of himself that he must rescue.
The father owned a telescope just like Luigi, who had one back at his mansion in Luigi's Mansion and Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. A brother with a green hat . . . A father with a mustache, and also those piercing blue eyes.
But Luigi is to be the implied boyfriend of Daisy . . .
In the current cycle . . .
When beating Galaxy as Luigi, you are gifted with a photograph of Luigi posing with Rosalina. Both are much taller than anyone else in the game. Could Rosalina be the daughter from another cycle when Luigi was the main character explaining the Year of Luigi series of games and remixed versions where he was the big cheese rather than Mario?
Luigi is known to be left-handed—a trait that would be dominant to two parents that both have this preference.
Perhaps during the time reset when the Year of Luigi had taken place, that is when Peach and Luigi had been together and had given birth to Rosalina. This would explain why on the next reset which went back to Peach and Mario and Daisy with Luigi, it didn't make much sense that Mario could be her father.
Could Luigi be Rosalina's father or brother?
Super Mario Wiki
Do the Mario Galaxy Games Explain Super Mario Odyssey?
In a playthrough of Super Mario Odyssey, several things are apparent, as the planet has become unstable from Bowser's meddling and it is suffering from its most recent remix of the Universe.
Why is Mario finding moon fragments, and traversing landscapes with moon rocks, all before Bowser and Peach actually get to the moon for their wedding? Is this just tying together the Dark and Darker Sides of the Moon levels? Or is this more of the remix of the Universe at hand?
We know that Mario, Peach, Tiara, and Bowser escape when Cappie is used to take over Bowser's body and he claws his way through the moon to reach the final escape back to the Odyssey—but if this is just happening in present-day, why are there moon fragments and rocks all over the lands from the beginning of the game? When Mario goes back to these areas after completing the game the first time, some new things appear.
The reshuffle this time, the one starting back in Galaxy where everyone ended up back in the Mushroom Kingdom, brought characters and elements from various lands and changed the set up.
This directly explains how no matter what land Mario is in Odyssey, be it the humans of New Donk City to robots and dinosaurs—everyone is well aware of each other and doesn't find it strange interacting with creatures from other places and seemingly timelines.
Why is New Donk City so advanced but other places so primitive? Why are there hidden elements from 2D side-scrolling Mario games implanted in Odyssey?
This is just where they shook out in this reshuffle of the timeline.
So then how many years have passed between Mario games? We last saw Rosalina on the same planet with everyone for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe so we know it has been a hundred years since the last reshuffling—and this explains a lot about the environment of the worlds in Odyssey.
The Mushroom Kingdom looks a little different again when we see it at the end of Odyssey, the lone tree from the fade-out of Galaxy where Rosalina's mother—Peach from a different timeline is buried is no longer a lone tree if you search for it in a sweeping shot.
We know the amount of time that has passed to have Rosalina in both adult and baby form, playable on the Mario Kart for the Switch, but another game release ushers in the newest remix of the Universe in another title for the hybrid console—Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.
Where some fans argue that this title is just another of those offshoots from the Super Mario franchise—the game does take place in a remix of the Mushroom Kingdom where there is a second version of all the main cast as Rabbids, again proving that the reshuffle has taken place again.
Is there enough evidence to prove that Rosalina is a descendant of Peach and one of the Mario Bros? I wasn't so sure until I gave a watch to the Game Theory videos and then used the evidence to support why each Mario game in the franchise is the same story but slightly different alterations to the tale.
Whoever Rosalina is, her parents were possibly people that we know during one of the many remixes of the Mario Universe.
Amanda Bowles from Arizona on October 08, 2018:
This was really quite well written, I lile the idea of a theory being that perhaps Rosalina is a daughter to Mario and Peach. I had never thought of this until reading your article