| “ | Bowser was badly beaten and will likely never return. We're sure of it. Almost positive. | „ |
| ~ The Toad Town News article seemingly confirming Bowser's death at the end of Paper Mario. |
| “ | Wh-what is this!? Bowser?! How can this be?! I see the hideous form of Bowser! Is Bowser somewhere in this mansion? I cannot believe it... And yet I see it... I thought that Mario had soundly defeated Bowser! Has King Boo somehow revived Bowser? This could be horrible! Well, for you. | „ |
| ~ Madame Clairvoya on King Boo "reviving" Bowser - a quote commonly used as evidence to support the theory that Bowser truly did die. |
King Boo, also known by his current form as Bowser is the titular main antagonist of the Creepypasta/theory known as The Bowser and King Boo Theory.
In this theory, King Boo is depicted as a dark entity who has had a burning desire to take revenge on Mario after disturbing the Boos. After Bowser's demise, King Boo would revive Bowser and begin to use him as a vessel with the sole desire to take revenge on Mario, which would effectively the mastermind behind the later Mario games. Another theory however, suggests that after Bowser died, he'd return as a ghost with a desire to take revenge on Mario for killing him.
Biography[]
The First Theory[]
The first theory states that King Boo's hatred for Mario comes all the way back from Super Mario World, as he went through multiple Ghost Houses there and disturbed the Boos, always leaving destruction in his wake. Furious by what Mario did to his own kind, King Boo would promise to take revenge on Mario and align himself with Bowser. Eventually however, during the events of Paper Mario, Bowser would plummet to his death from thousands of feet above the ground, leaving the people in the Mushroom Kingdom to assume that the Koopa King had perished for real this time.
King Boo, still wanting to take revenge on Mario, would then come up with a plan. After capturing Mario, King Boo would manage to revive Bowser within a painting and take control over him, using his new form to fight Luigi. While Luigi may have been able to defeat the King Boo-controlled-Bowser, this wouldn't stop King Boo from bringing him back repeatedly as his new host.
Every time after Mario defeated Bowser in the later games, King Boo would manage to bring him back after seemingly surviving the impossible (like having his flesh melted off, being consumed by a star, getting blown up during the destruction of a planet, falling into a void, and so on), dedicated to taking revenge on the plumber. King Boo would even begin taking more control over Bowser over time, using him to nearly conqueror the universe, attempting to marry Peach by force to spite Mario, and also trying to kill him. He would temporarily leave Bowser's body during the events of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, but soon return to Bowser's body after his spiteful plan failed.
After learning that the Sprixie Princesses had the ability to destroy ghosts, King Boo would use Bowser's body again to capture them, wanting to make sure that they did not stand in his way and put him down for good. However, once again, Mario would manage to defeat Bowser once again, foiling King Boo's plans, though he did still manage to escape. It can be assumed that King Boo's influence over Bowser continues to this date and continues to revive him for his own nefarious needs.
The Second Theory[]
The second theory does mostly go off the same beats of the original theory. However, instead of King Boo taking on the form of Bowser after his demise, here it is said that King Boo is in fact, Bowser's spirit. After his death, Bowser would swear revenge on Mario and become the new King of the Boos, rebuilding his own body numerous times in order to defeat Mario and Luigi and finally achieve his goals.
Personality[]
Much like his original counterpart, King Boo's vengeful motivations entirely come from Mario "wronging" him in the past, though there is a bit more context as to why in this theory. King Boo's anger entirely comes from Mario destroying numerous Ghost Houses in the past which disturbed his kind, as they were peacefully living in the afterlife and didn't originally want to harm Mario. This does show that King Boo does (or at least did at one point) truly honor his own kind, wanting to prevent Mario from ever wronging the Boos again.
However, over time it becomes clear that the sole thing motivates King Boo is to simply torment Mario and Luigi. King Boo's arrogance with Mario would lead to him bringing back Bowser numerous times to help fulfill his vengeful agenda, often influencing him to go a step beyond just capturing Peach and defeating Mario. Bowser's willingness to marry Peach and conqueror the universe mainly came from King Boo, who was determined to spite Mario. Even Bowser's later attempts to kill Mario came from King Boo, who was just obsessed with getting revenge. King Boo also proves himself to be rather intelligent, doing what he can to keep up the facade of being the King of the Koopas, like having a false King Boo appear when he was under the guise of Bowser still so Mario and Luigi wouldn't assume anything.
His obsession with taking revenge on Mario though appears to have left him paranoid, fearing that the Sprixie Princesses would use their power to destroy him. This would lead to him using Bowser yet again to capture them in Super Mario 3D World, as he wanted to make sure that nobody could put an end to his reign. When he was defeated again in that game, King Boo would flee, likely to make sure he wasn't killed.
If one goes off the theory that he is Bowser's vengeful spirit, while his personality does mostly remain similar, it does lead to some obvious changes regarding motivations and changes in Bowser's personality. Bowser is obviously furious with having failed to Mario numerous times in the past, and now that Mario has actually killed him, his hatred for the Italian plumber has risen to an all time high. His darker deeds in later Mario games also would stem from him believing he could get away with more now that he was an undead being, knowing he didn't have to worry about dying any longer.
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Trivia[]
- Despite the theory being wildly popular, there is still plenty of evidence that the theory is incorrect. A major factor in the theory is that Bowser died for real at the end of Paper Mario, but not only does both he and Kammy end up being fine in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, but it also is worth noting that the Bowser in the Paper Mario games is a separate entity from the Bowser in the main games if Paper Jam proves anything.
- With that said, it is worth noting that the theory does predate the release of Paper Jam.
- Another thing worth noting is that even if the second theory is true, it wouldn't add up much given Bowser and King Boo mostly have strikingly different personalities. Where King Boo proves himself to be rather sadistic and collected, Bowser is typically depicted as rather hot headed and incredibly arrogant. While Bowser's personality may shift depending on the game, it is hard to really say it aligns up enough with King Boo's.
- The original theory was written by a FANDOM user simply known as MyWorld.
- Interestingly, the sound file used for Bowser's laugh in Super Mario 64 is the same used for the Boo's laugh, just slowed down and adjusted to a lower pitch.[1] This has been commonly used as evidence to prove that King Boo has since replaced Bowser.