A surprise announcement for the next Paper Mario game was just made, but perhaps even more surprising is the game’s apparent descent into the terror and madness of Lovecraftian horror.
Something from another world has descended upon the Mushroom Kingdom in Paper Mario: The Origami King. The titular Origami King is transforming Mario’s friends; twisting and folding their bodies into origami versions of themselves. The trailer begins with the reveal of Origami Peach, slowly emerging from the shadows to address Mario. Origami Peach says something so absurd and disturbing, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head all day.
Will you crease yourself and be reborn, like me?
What a horrifically macabre question that evokes an entire genre I never would have expected to see in a Mario game. The concept of reshaping one’s body to answer a higher calling is reminiscent of Junji Ito’s Uzumaki series, a story about a Japanese town plagued by spirals. The first chapter of the manga is about a man that becomes so obsessed with spirals, he crushes and reshapes his body into one. Crease yourself, and be reborn.
The language is almost poetic. It suggests that by perverting her body (and mind), Peach is able to access a higher truth. Did Hidetaka Miyazaki write this? Because that’s a Bloodborne quote if I’ve ever heard one.
Every uttered line and written word in Bloodborne is layered with complex meaning dripping with Lovecraftian horror. These phrases are almost Shakesperian and bury themselves deep in the part of your brain where logic and reason don’t exist. “The blood makes us human, makes us more than human, makes us human no more.” “O Flora, of the moon, of the dream…oh fleeting will of the Ancients. Let the hunter be safe, let him find comfort, and let this dream his captor foretell a pleasant awakening.” “Behold! A Paleblood Sky!” Replace “crease” with something-something “blood”, and that’s definitely a Bloodborne quote.
The Origami King is a particularly mature-sounding villain for a series that historically has Mario fight enemies like Dooplis, O’Chunks, and Count Bleck. I can’t help but be reminded of The Origami Killer from Heavy Rain, a serial murderer of young boys.
Paper Mario: The Origami King will be a colorful, family-friendly adventure full of light-hearted humor and silly animations. It can’t be ignored though, this game has some dark undertones. Is the Origami King a refugee from Bloodborne’s waking dream, now descending upon the Mushroom Kingdom to cloak the world in an endless night under the Paleblood Moon? Is his siren song folding Mario’s allies into twisted versions of themselves that worship the god-king? Is the Origami King one of the Great Old Ones?
I don’t know, but I’m ready to crease myself and be reborn.
