Super Mario is probably the greatest game franchise of all time, but its premise is actually pretty basic, and the plot is basically exactly the same in pretty much every game: Bowser steals Peach (and maybe also attempts to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom or whatever other generically nefarious thing you want), Mario goes on adventure to rescue her, Mario rescues her and there’s some G-rated “awww” kind of romantic moment. There have been a few exceptions, but they are notable for being so, and life reverts to the above status quo, it seems, at the end of each game.

Or so it would seem. Would you believe that the world of Mario is a whole lot more dark and complicated just underneath the surface? A lot of fans have been convinced of just that, and have been picking at the serene, easy to digest surface outlined above to look for evidence of all the strange stuff that is right there if you just look for it. Did they find anything? Yes, oh, what they have found… or at least could have found, if you’re willing to believe gossip. There’s all kind of juicy details seething just hidden under the veneer of happy G-ratedness Mario and friends are known for.

Mario is actually about as saucy as a soap opera, once you know what’s going on. And right here, we have the dirt; we’ve got the scoop, and we want to give it straight to you. The 25 juiciest secrets of the Mushroom Kingdom are here, compiled for your reading pleasure.

24 Wario The Fanboy

We were just talking about the universal popularity of the Mario franchise, so what better place to start than to talk about the man who could very well be the biggest Mario fan of all time: Wario! This theory goes that Wario, frequently assumed to be antagonistic to Mario is actually, literally, crazy about Mario. The man actually has a giant statue of Mario first time we see him! The theory has been driven either further too: some arguing that the person we think is Mario in Super Mario Bros 3 is actually Wario playing Mario in a stage play.

23 All The Mario World's A Stage

Let’s drive that last bit a bit further, actually—what if all the people in all the Mario games were just actors playing parts in a play? There is definitely an element of theatrics in all of the games’ plots, and multiple titles—like Mario Bros 3 mentioned above, and also the Paper Marios, for example—have shown the action of the game taking place on a stage at least some of the time. Mario Party is especially, obviously staged: check out these costumed scenes that happen at the end of a game of Mario Party 2!

22 One-Trick Plumber

Then, of course, that makes you think about who is actually commissioning all of these Mario-related plays and probably movies too. The internet rumor mill’s got that covered too: it’s Mario himself, of course, who’s only ever actually done anything once. In the original Super Mario Bros., and everything else is just him rehashing it over and over again, milking for all its worth the one exciting thing he’s ever done. This seems kind of plausible given how the plot of most of the games are all pretty much identical.

21 The Legend Of... Peach?

We’ve mentioned that the Mario stories are all basically the same, but have you noticed that the Zelda games also follow the same basic template we outlined above? What if Mario and Zelda were both telling the same story, with variations, over and over again? Zelda came first, the theory goes, and the story was warped into what we know as Mario as the centuries passed and the medieval setting of Zelda became a dimmer and dimmer memory. Mario became Link, Zelda became Peach, Ganon the pig-demon became Bowser the (turtle) Koopa King, etc.

20 Yoshi, I Choose You!

And then there is another connection fans have made between different Nintendo series: Yoshi, it turns out, is actually a lost variety of Pokémon! Yes, I know, this sounds loony as heck at first, but think about it: Yoshi comes out an egg which looks literally identical to a Pokémon egg, obeys even unto the end the individual who hatched them, only speaks its own name, and even has special moves and powers like a Pokémon does! Nintendo likes to have easter egg-y crossovers a lot, so there is some plausibility to this theory.

19 The Other Side Of Peach

So we were just looking over some fun ideas about where the Mario story comes from, but what if it's actually something much darker? We all know Peach: pink, fluffy, sweet, harmless. But what if she’s really a dictator, and the Mario games are just warped, pro-Peach propaganda in a civil war against the revolutionary Koopa army? That is what some fans believe. I mean, think about it: we never get Bowser’s side of things, and we just assume Peach good because her side is the only side we ever get.

18 Peach's Real Plan

And, going a bit further, what if Mario has had the wool pulled over his eyes just as much as we have? After all, we can all agree right now that Peach is a Machiavellian genius, so why shouldn’t she be capable of manipulating some innocent into doing all her work for her? Think about it: why does Bowser really want to steal Peach? He already has a kingdom, why is he caring about Peach’s? The answer, of course, is that they are really working together: tricking Mario into ending their mutual enemies while on his way to save her.

17 Another Side Of Mario

Or maybe, could it be Mario who’s the monster who is hiding behind a fake front? I mean, think about it for a minute: he’s famous for going through levels littered with enemies and we all celebrate him for it, but… the enemies aren’t really doing a heck of a lot to him. They’re just walking back and forth most of the time, sometimes throwing things but rarely specifically at him… and then he ends them, stomps them flat, or whatever other thing you like. Even Bowser is just sort of standing there.

16 Mario, The Soul Harvester

It gets even worse. We talk about how he slaughters his enemies, but what about even his supposed allies? According to the manual for the original Super Mario Bros, the blocks that Mario breaks so gleefully are actually the transformed inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom, so he is just ending the cursed innocents, for what, coins? And if you want to get even grimmer, some have speculated that the coins are actually the souls of these innocents, which Mario is harvesting. Seems to fit the known documentation, but then what does he want these souls for?

15 Plumbers Of The World, Unite!

Maybe it’s farfetched that Mario is truly villainous, but what about a comrade? Mario wears red, the mushrooms that power him up are red, and when it captures a castle, well, what does he do? He raises a flag with a red star on it, which clearly represents this! And after all, we already know he’s going around battling monarchs… and what’s to say what he does to Peach after he “rescues” her? Does she keep her head? Maybe Bowser is simply granting her asylum and sanctuary somewhere she thinks she's safe from the revolutionary plumbers?

14 Luigi Is A Gone Man, Miss Him, Miss Him

Luigi has always played second fiddle to his brother, but he got his own gig in 2001’s Luigi’s Mansion. Except there’s had to be a catch: cowardly Luigi has to spend the whole game without the help of his fearless brother—who he actually has to rescue—fighting ghosts. Some fans argue that the game represents the chronologically last game in the Mario series, and every main character gone by its end. Mario is already missing, Luigi isn’t really in a great place, and Bowser is apparently a ghost in disguise and may even have been the whole time.

13 Luigi The Destroyer

But… let’s not underestimate Luigi. Luigi is actually—and this is not well known—extremely powerful, possibly with enough power to destroy the world. This seems extremely silly, yes, but there is actually some evidence of this within the games themselves. The theory goes that Mario always keeps an eye on him in order to keep his super-powered brother in check, so the world is not destroyed. Luigi, good-natured as he is, is probably okay with this and just fine with a reputation for being weak.

12 The Doctor Is In!

So we’ve talked about the two Mario brothers, but did you know there’s not only a third brother, but y’all actually already know who he is? The distinguished Doctor Mario, famed for his games of the same name! Well, maybe, fans have speculated at least, and there’s actually some credence to this idea. We already know, for example, that the more famous Mario brother is a plumber, so it doesn’t really make sense for him to also be a doctor... and this Dr. Mario has a slightly different build and hair color.

11 The Weirdest Third Wheel

But there’s an alternate theory for the identity of the elusive third Mario brother (or the fourth, if you believe both this and the above theory): Waluigi. Wait, what? Yeah, that guy, the one they never let into the main series so he has to hang out in the spin-offs, that reject. The rumor goes is that Waluigi is such a weird oddball that he has become rejected by his more camera-friendly siblings and is left to wallow in the sidelines, slowly becoming more insane.

10 "Mama Peach"

Then there’s the dark secret that almost got let slip in Super Mario Sunshine, but was covered up: that Peach had a kid with Bowser one of the times she was “stolen.” Who else, really, is a possible candidate to be Bowser Jr’s mommy? It totally happened. Bowser has even told Junior this, apparently—sure, he went back on it, but what else are you going to tell your kid after such horrible rejection by your mom, who wouldn’t even publicly acknowledge him? Might as well give him a chance to move on with his life.

9 Papa Bowser?

Or, similar idea, but switch the familial relationships up a bit, what if Bowser is actually Peach’s dad? Peach is a Princess, you see, meaning that she has to be the daughter of a King, and we don’t see any other kings around to fill that role. Bowser is just keeping Peach away from Mario because, well, what king would want his heiress-apparent to marry a fat plumber twice her age? Mario isn’t running to rescue a stolen monarch, he’s on his way to try to snatch his girl out from under daddy’s nose and probably go elope.

8 More Than Just A Shy Guy

Shy Guys are weird. There isn’t really anything quite like them anywhere else in the Mario universe—which is probably because they aren’t from it, having originated in the Japan-only Doki Doki Panic, a non-Mario game that was remade as Super Mario Bros 2 in the West. They are super unnerving, what with their big robes and creepy white masks that nobody has ever seen them take off. One popular theory goes that they are actually disfigured, possibly the victims of a genetic experiment. Another theory suggests, disturbingly, that they have no faces at all, just masks.

7 It's Sort Of Like Lost, Except Not

Super Mario Galaxy stands as one of the greatest hits the Mario series has ever produced, especially since the classic side-scrolling era. But the ending was kinda weird, wasn’t it? Mario and Bowser are fighting, but then they are both sucked through a wormhole and just end up back in the Mushroom Kingdom as though nothing had ever happened. Rosalina makes some weird comments about rebirth and endless cycles while this is going on, leading some to speculate that this is actually Nintendo making a meta-comment about the repetitive nature of the series.

6 Mario... I Am Your Father

The first game starring Mario was Donkey Kong. Except is that Mario? Some of his details do not match the more famous Super Mario: he dressed slightly differently, has different colored hair, and his girl is Pauline, not Peach. Plus, the Donkey Kong from that game is actually Cranky Kong, and DK Jr, who is the DK we know and love, was actually a baby at the same time as Mario… so this can’t be the famous Mario. Some have speculated that this is actually Mario's father, sort of like how that DK is the later DK’s dad.

5 Brothers Of Another Name

Are we seriously supposed to believe the plumber’s full name is Mario Mario? The terrible 1993 movie affirms this, but let’s not for a second dare consider that canon: the fan community has a better explanation handy. This theory is based on the already known naming culture of the Mushroom Kingdom: as you know, there is the race of Toads, and then every individual Toad named Toad; there is the race of Yoshis, and every individual Yoshi named Yoshi; etcetera. So, when Mario arrived to the Mushroom Kingdom, the locals just assumed it worked the same way. Hence, “Mario Brothers.”