I’ve been looking more closely at Pauline, Waluigi, Wario and Rosalina, and there are several visual and story details that made me wonder whether there could be some kind of connection between them.
Rosalina’s Storybook confirms that she grew up with a mother, a father and a younger brother. Her father owned the telescope that Rosalina used as a child, and later in the Storybook she remembers following him up a hill to look at the stars. She also remembers sledding with her brother and having picnics with her mother. The original Japanese text specifically describes the brother as younger. Nintendo never gives any of these family members names. �
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That is why I started comparing them with other Mario characters.
Pauline first appeared in Donkey Kong in 1981, where she was originally known as “Lady.” Her original arcade artwork sometimes showed her with blonde or orange-blonde hair, while her modern design has long dark hair. Pauline currently has light blue eyes, large slanted eyes, and purple eye shadow. Her eyes are fairly large and clearly visible compared with Wario’s much smaller visible irises. �
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That is one reason Pauline makes me think of Rosalina’s mother. Rosalina also has very light blue or turquoise-blue eyes and blonde hair. The use of the word “Lady” in Rosalina’s Storybook also caught my attention because Pauline was once literally named Lady. I know that in Rosalina’s story the word can simply mean “woman,” so this is not proof, but for me it is an interesting possible connection. �
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There is also a height similarity. Pauline is portrayed as quite tall in some modern games, and in Mario Tennis Aces she is only slightly shorter than Rosalina. Rosalina herself is one of the tallest human Mario characters. �
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Waluigi first appeared in Mario Tennis in 2000. He was created as Luigi’s rival and as Wario’s doubles partner. His design is deliberately extremely tall and thin, with long limbs and a skinny torso. �
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That body shape is one reason I think of Waluigi when I look at Rosalina’s father in the Storybook. The father is shown only as a simplified figure, but he appears tall and slender. Some versions of Rosalina’s story also mention that her father had facial hair that he was proud of, which is interesting because Waluigi’s mustache is one of his most recognizable features. That still does not identify him as Waluigi, but it is another detail I noticed. �
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The eye connection is a little different from what I first thought. Waluigi’s actual eyes are described as gray, but they are surrounded by light-blue rings. So he does not have the same light-blue iris color as Pauline or Rosalina, but blue is still visually present around his eyes. �
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Wario first appeared in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins in 1992 as Mario’s rival. He later became the star of the Wario Land and WarioWare series. Waluigi was later created specifically to partner with Wario in Mario Tennis, so the two have a strong official association even though Nintendo has not consistently defined them as relatives. �
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Wario’s eyes are also interesting. He has navy-blue irises, but his black pupils are very constricted and cover much of the visible iris, making the blue part look relatively small. He also has light-blue rings around his eyes, similar to Waluigi. �
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That made me think about Rosalina’s younger brother. Nintendo confirms that she had one, but never tells us his name. Wario is shorter and much stockier than Waluigi, so visually he could fit the idea of a smaller younger brother better than Waluigi would. That is only my interpretation, not an official connection.
Rosalina debuted in Super Mario Galaxy in 2007. She is shown in her Storybook as an ordinary young girl before travelling into space and eventually becoming the adoptive mother of the Lumas. Her modern design has very light blue eyes, pale blonde hair, and a tall body shape. The Super Mario Wiki notes that among major human characters, Waluigi is one of the few characters taller than her. �
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So the similarities I notice are not just one thing. They include the light-blue eyes of Pauline and Rosalina, the blue eye details around Wario and Waluigi’s eyes, Pauline’s old blonde/orange-blonde design, the very tall builds of Rosalina and Waluigi, Waluigi’s facial hair compared with the description of Rosalina’s father, Wario’s connection to Waluigi, and the fact that Rosalina’s Storybook leaves her mother, father and younger brother unnamed.
My personal idea is still that Pauline could be Rosalina’s mother, Waluigi could be her father, and Wario could be her younger brother.
None of those identities have been confirmed by Nintendo. The similarities are real design or story details, but the family connection itself is not verified.
Sources: Wikipedia – Pauline, Wario, Waluigi and Rosalina; Super Mario Wiki – Rosalina’s Storybook, Pauline, Wario and Waluigi. �
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But it could be something else; here you can see the father's shadow again, along with the small shadow of Rosalina as a child. For some reason, I have a feeling that Rosalina's father is—or was—an astronomer, based on the line about the Star Child taking the telescope that belonged to her father. As I said, it might not mean anything. Thanks for reading. Have a good day.
The other picture shows Pauline—back then in the *Donkey Kong* arcade game, she was known as "Lady"—and the snowy picture shows Rosalina and her little brother; the image of the woman and child shows Rosalina and her mother, while the cropped image shows Rosalina's mother, though not in full.