Welcome everyone!
This is the very special 20th episode of my
Dark Aspects series, and the second part in
my analysis of mature themes in The Origami
King.
Last time, I mostly discussed the bosses of
the game and their surprising focus on body
horror tropes—this time though, I’ll be
fully unwrapping the plot to talk about a
few risks no other Mario game has been willing
to take... until now.
Please note that this is my one and only spoiler
warning—this is especially important because
while I spoke about and showed some of the
end game in the last video, this episode will
be going over plot details that really should
be experienced for yourself first.
With that disclaimer out of the way, those
risks I just mentioned this game taking all
revolve around character death.
While all Mario RPGs absolutely explore darker
topics, permanent death, as in death without
playing a reverse card is reserved for villains
or friendly characters who’ve long since
passed, like the poignant story of Admiral
Bobbery’s wife, Scarlett dying of an illness
while he was out at sea.
If a good character dies on screen during
the adventure though, you can bet that the
writers won’t be committing to that sacrifice.
In the original Paper Mario, the already mourned-for
Boos Tubba Blubba devoured are all spit back
up upon his defeat, completely unharmed.
In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, anyone
“shroobified” by the invading alien antagonists
recover in the end by the power of baby tears.
Even Super Paper Mario, the oft-cited “darkest
Mario game of all time” doesn’t really
kill off its *good* characters—Timpani and
Blumiere “cease to exist”, but whether
they end up in another dimension or the afterlife
is up for interpretation.
While this is still effective, as they can’t
come back, other sacrificial characters in
the same game like Luvbi do not retain that
weight, and the overall story suffers for
it.
When Luvbi is learned to actually be a transformed
Pure Heart the heroes need to progress, she
surrenders her very being to fulfill that
destiny.
It’s sad seeing her parents lament, and
this subplot brings up interesting morals--were
they right to bestow her life in the first
place, knowing it’d be temporary?
Should they have kept this a secret from her?
All this development is undone after the credits
roll, when she illogically and miraculously
reappears without even an attempt at explanation.
This doesn’t discount the grief her mother
and father felt when they thought she was
gone forever, but the writers covering up
the more emotionally complicated plotlines
for a happy ending undermines their takeaways.
This takes us to The Origami King, and I am
stunned, as this game takes that extra step
and crosses the well established line--twice.
In a series, no--franchise first, we actually
have fallen heroes with zero ambiguity.
This fuse-less, amnesiac Bob-omb is a character
without a unique name of his own (he prefers
to be referred to by his species name), joining
up with Mario fairly early on in the adventure.
Olivia’s constantly creating crazy nicknames
for him (I’ll be calling him Bobby throughout
the rest of this video), but ultimately he’s
a mass produced Bob-omb, like the rest of
his nameless Bob-omrades.
So after enjoying the scenery, getting lost
in a field of tall grass, and helping Mario
save Shogun Studios from an Origami takeover
(sometimes), a celebratory fireworks show
reignites Bobby’s lost memory.
Reinvigorated, he decides to stick around
with his newfound friends--but their quest
is halted when the major antagonist, King
Olly, arrives and blocks the path ahead, while
simultaneously attempting to murder his sister.
A giant boulder falls on top of Olivia, who
now has limited time to live before it crushes
her completely.
Now it’s easy to see where this is going
narratively, but the game fakes the player
out--which works in a couple of ways.
First of all, everything suggests Bobby is
going to have to explode here.
The slow zoom in on our buddy’s face, his
wording, the music; but it all builds up to...
setting sail?
Okay, they’re going the comedic route then?
He remembers owning something that can fix
the situation, on board a cruise ship he used
to work on before meeting up with Mario.
Maybe he has a bomb but he is a bomb--that’d
be ironic and funny, right?
Or perhaps he has his missing fuse stored
away to use on the boulder, with the drama
played for laughs since Nintendo wouldn’t
kill him off for good--the explosion can’t
be fatal, right?
As Paper Mario fans, we’re kind of conditioned
to believe that Bobby will be okay.
Bombette and the previously mentioned Admiral
Bobbery are party members that blow themselves
up all the time, assisting Mario in and out
of battle with that ability.
Bob-omb NPCs even do it out of celebration--claiming
it’s fun and doesn’t hurt.
Some are even clearly able to grow old and
have families too!
But when Bobby starts discussing the ephemeral
nature of his kind, expectations cease.
Would Nintendo really go this route?
It isn’t until the object is retrieved and
brought back to the roadblock that suspicions
are confirmed--the mood takes a dire shift
as he explains that the important item they’ve
retrieved is indeed a fuse.
Not his own, but that of his deceased friend.
Wanting to make an impact, and to change things
for the better, Bobby attaches it and says
his goodbyes.
In a frenzied panic, Mario realizes what’s
happening and dashes forward as the screen
fades to white--he’s too late.
Bobby, this character we’ve all come to
know and have grown attached to, explodes
on screen with his body torn apart for everyone
to see.
Why did Bobby have to die with his blast though?
Why can’t he come back?
Keeping in mind that this is now speculation,
there are two real reasons behind this.
The first is that the Bob-ombs of old are
retconned, and Intelligent Systems simply
changed the rules on how their explosions
work.
But the second possibility, and the one I
hope is the case, is the idea that the Bob-ombs
unable to recover from their explosions are
inorganic.
The man (or Koopa) made, conveyor belt Bob-ombs
of Bowser’s army with the apparent unfortunate
side effect of being sentient, differing from
the natural, “real” Bob-ombs born into
the world.
This distinction is actually supported by
the older games as well—standard enemy Bob-ombs
didn’t come back after their explosive attacks
either.
Whatever the case may be, fleeting life is
a theme with all the generic Bob-ombs of this
game, and (even with their permission) you
end up killing about a hundred of them as
live ammunition when controlling Bowser’s
airship cannon.
They have all accepted and respect the prospect
of living to serve their purpose.
It’s a sad existence, and an incredibly
heavy subplot that may just be the sole positive
aspect likely birthed from the dev team’s
unfortunate limitations on modifying Mario
characters.
It gave standard Bob-ombs this grim depth
I can safely say I was never anticipating.
Kudos to, well Kudo.
He was the Event Director and writer for The
Origami King.
Bobby’s death isn’t just portrayed as
a noble sacrifice the characters have to quickly
move on from either--Olivia asks where he
is soon after the blast, and Mario has to
turn away, his hat covering his face.
The slow realization of what had to happen
in order to save her causes Olivia to flee
into the previously blocked cave alone, where
Mario has to try and console her.
Any attempts made after sharing a moment of
silence together will fail, as she blames
herself for the ordeal and can’t stop crying.
It’s only when Bobby’s spirit offers Mario
advice that she’ll be able to pull through--he
suggests Mario try and make her laugh, and
when she does, it’s understood that Bobby
would want her to push on.
I think overall, there was a lot of careful
consideration put into her grieving period.
The music is somber and resonates throughout
the mines, changing when first sitting down
with Olivia and again after meeting with Bobby’s
apparition.
Every word carries this rawness so it’s
all executed respectably--Olivia (and Mario)
suffering from the mutual loss of a friend
is again not something I would have ever expected
this game to explore.
It should be mentioned too that it is in these
very tunnels that a collectible modeled after
the box containing the fuse can be found.
Too soon…
What hurts even more though, is going back
afterwards to have pictures taken at the now
fully functioning Shogun Studios, as Bobby’s
ghost will join in on the last photo.
I actually didn’t think to backtrack and
get pictures of the gang while he’s still
alive, so I missed the opportunity to share
these moments together.
Looks like a second playthrough is in order!
But that’s the Bob-ulk of it--I wanted to
focus mainly on Bobby’s story and the tragic
fate of factory Bob-ombs, but there’s still
one more round of kudos to give in committing
to sacrifice with…
Olivia herself.
At the end of the game, it’s revealed that
King Olly hasn’t been sitting idly in the
time Mario and Olivia took to get here.
He’s been busy crafting 999 paper cranes
(with plans to fold Mario into the thousandth)
so that his wish to eradicate all Toads will
be granted.
Incorporating classic Japanese folklore about
Origami into a game centered around Origami
is admittedly ingenious, but I thought Olly’s
reason for wanting to eliminate all Toads
to be kind of lame.
From trying to murder his own sister to indirectly
killing Bobby, from transforming most of Bowser’s
army (resulting in countless deaths for those
who couldn’t be saved) to integrating a
creased Princess Peach as a permanent part
of his Origami Castle--all of his evil deeds
are the result of his Toad creator “scribbling
on him”.
In a fit of pride, Olly took this as the greatest
form of disrespect, and waged war on an entire
race because of it.
Just what did his Toad creator write though?
An innocent message wishing him to be a good
king.
Even before learning this, however, he uncharacteristically
feels complete remorse following his defeat!
So this cold, ruthless ruler hellbent on Toad
genocide suddenly feels bad after being beat
to near-death by a hammer, and did what he
did only because he couldn’t look into a
mirror?
It’s a shame this calculated, capable villain
in an otherwise very well written game had
his resolve reduced to an easily avoidable
misunderstanding, but the repercussions of
his deeds is another aspect that does deserve
praise (as it crosses that line Color Splash
came so close to).
Using her brother’s now lifeless paper body
to fold the thousandth crane, Olivia wishes
for all the Origami folded by Olly to be undone.
This means that Olivia too will cease to exist--as
it was revealed earlier she was actually given
life by Olly.
And while these replicas modeled after the
siblings appear if you’ve completed the
game 100%, they’re exactly that.
Lifeless replicas.
Olivia isn’t implied to have survived somehow
like Mario’s partner Huey, in the aforementioned
Color Splash.
I feel that maybe Olivia could’ve reworded
her wish so she didn’t have to die--I wish
the ending plot twists were better established
but regardless, her sacrifice is felt deeply.
It isn’t left open ended; Olivia has passed
on, and that's sad.
How were these once standard sheets of paper
given consciousness in the first place, though?
That would be the “Fold of Life” technique
used by the Origami Craftsman that gave Olly
sentience, which was then used by Olly to
create Olivia, a fact that supposedly defies
the “natural order”.
This taboo ability to breathe life into something
inanimate, and then for that once inanimate
object to create more life is a terrifying
thought—it’s yet another level of existential
terror this game is so fond of.
Like Ol’ Grandsappy being logged by Toads
at the beginning of the game, and all of the
chopped wood from the living trees of the
Whispering Woods becoming reborn as whatever
they’re made into.
A lot of them just want to burn...
That’s it for the important plot stuff,
but one last thing I want to mention before
I conclude this Dark Aspects, is a handful
of very special game over sequences that have
our hero die unconventionally (as is tradition
with this series).
While Mario sadly can’t join Olly’s side
early on and become a Folded Soldier, he can
fail at the sudden death match of a game show
and get blasted out of a cannon!
There’s also this very shady guessing game
run by a straight faced- Snifit, where losing
means eternal entrapment in a magic lamp.
Luigi lost this game too, so with both brothers
imprisoned inside, they’d be in here until
some other hero saves them--potentially forever.
A self-inflicted game-over sees Mario profusely
hammering the boat that’s keeping everybody
from falling into the ravenous rapids, which
is funny to think about, but an actual scary
death comes from a rabid Paper Macho Chain
Chomp loose in the forest area.
Taking the wrong path or not getting away
fast enough can call for an instant game over,
and it isn’t generic.
A horrified Mario is presumably torn apart--vicious
sound effects and all!
That’s all I had for today--this video was
a little longer than the last one but I wanted
to do both Bobby and Olivia’s stories justice.
Thank you all for watching, I try to be as
thorough as possible when playing and researching
these dark aspects but with the very recently
released games there is a bigger chance I
may have missed something.
I haven’t even done everything this game
has to offer yet, so if I find any more hidden
jokes or dialogue I’ll post them in the
comments.
Feel free to offer your own suggestions as
well!
Thank you all for watching, the next Dark
Aspects episode I put out will be covering
the Super Nintendo classic, EarthBound.
See you then!
