SPM Theory: Merloo and the Fourth Pure Heart
«The Ancients traveled to many worlds to entrust people with Pure Hearts. It was to keep them safe from destruction or misuse by those with evil hearts. The Pure Hearts were drawn by their own power toward those strong with love. The Ancients used this trait to find suitable guardians in each world. And a few romances also began as a result of these little journeys… Many of the Ancients who found guardians fell in love with those they met. And so they lived their days happily in the world they'd visited out of duty. This is how the legend of the hero was passed down to future generations…»
This is one of Garson's stories from Super Paper Mario. In it, it's explained that the Ancients decided to entrust the Pure Hearts to well-meaning people in different worlds for safekeeping until the hero arrived.
However, although there's a great emphasis in the guardians here, there is one Pure Heart whose guardian we know nothing about...
Let's start with a little recap. During SPM's events, Mario and company find the Pure Hearts in the following places:
❤️ The First Pure Heart is given to Mario by Merlon in Flipside.
🧡 The Second Pure Heart is given to Mario by Merlumina in Yold Ruins, with Fracktail also serving as a guardian to it.
💛 The Third Pure Heart is obtained from Merlee and it was hidden within her Mansion.
💚 The Fourth Pure Heart is found within Fort Francis, with Tippi's happiness releasing it from its hiding place.
🩵 The Fifth Pure Heart is handed over by Squirps, prince of the lost kingdom of Squirpia.
💙 The Sixth Pure Heart is obtained from the Floro Sapiens, who explain that King Croacus IV was its current owner.
💜 The Seventh Pure Heart is kept at Sammer’s Kingdom, with the current King Sammer being its guardian and, thus, the one who has to give it to the heroes (or rather, the one who should have given it to the heroes).
🤍 The Eighth Pure Heart, lastly, was entrusted to Jaydes and Grambi, rulers of The Underwhere and The Overthere respectively, who transformed it into their daughter, Luvbi. In the end, Luvbi herself decided to go with the heroes, reverting back to her original form and accepting her fate as the final Heart.
Notice something strange? There was exactly one Pure Heart that wasn’t given to the heroes by anyone. That's right; it's the fourth one, the green Pure Heart...
All the other Pure Hearts were being guarded by at least one person (although in Croacus' case, he wasn't exactly "guarding" it). Yet the green Pure Heart was just found inside a fortress/castle.
Here's what Merlon says about it when you return to Flipside after completing Chapter 3:
«I think that castle was once a dwelling of the Ancients I told you of earlier. It seems that my ancestors have roamed far and wide in their dimensional travels. “In the castle beyond the great sea, we hid a Pure Heart and sealed it safely…” Yes, I remember reading such a passage in the Light Prognosticus. The seal could only have been broken by a powerful pulse of love and trust…»
Isn't it strange that the Ancients just seemingly hid a Pure Heart within a random castle they found and assigned no sort of protection to it except for a seal?
In Garson's story, it's stated that the Pure Hearts were entrusted to "suitable guardians", and so it'd be more believable to think that there used to be a guardian for the green Pure Heart as well.
And I believe this Pure Heart's guardian (or, at least, its original guardian) was none other than Merloo.
Now, if you're part of SPM's fandom you'll probably already know that Merloo has been the subject of much theorizing; he's a quite mysterious figure described as "a great magician who could control dimensions" and, allegedlly, the writer of the Light Prognosticus too (although Merlumina is also stated to be its writer).
Nothing more is known about Merloo himself... And there aren't any Ancient-related characters who look like him in-game, unlike with the other three sages we hear about in SPM...
But why Merloo as the green Pure Heart's guardian? Well, that's because I think the other three sages were also entrusted with a Pure Heart each...
My evidence? The fact that another of Garson's stories sheds light on Merlumina's sister, who was tasked with finding one of these suitable guardians. She fell in love with said guardian, the King Sammer of that time, ultimately marrying him and having 100 kids together; this means that the King Sammer we meet in SPM (who is the purple Pure Heart's current guardian) is a descendant of them.
All of this aligns with the Garson story I cited at the beginning of this post. But, considering Garson spoke in plural ("Many of the Ancients who found guardians fell in love with those they met"), this means Merlumina's sister wasn't the only case of an "ancient x guardian" couple happening...
Let's take a look at the other Ancients we know of:
Merlight is stated to be a "distant ancestor" of Merlon, who at the time of SPM is in possession of the red Pure Heart.
Merlumina is an ancestor of Old Man Watchitt, and her spirit can be found in the same dimension/world as him, guarding the orange Pure Heart.
Merlimbis is a "direct ancestor" of both Merluvlee and Merlee; the current yellow Pure Heart's owner is Merlee.
Isn't it fair for us to assume that they were also tasked with finding guardians, fell in love with them, and decided to stay in the worlds they'd visited out of duty, as Garson's story says? Well, in Merlight's case, he designed Flipside/Flopside, so he had no other option than to remain there to ensure the city's correct functioning, I suppose... But I'm getting off-track.
Returning to the matter at hand: once again we can see that Merloo's name hasn't been brought up... He's the only sage whose descendants are completely unknown to the player.
If we follow my reasoning, we have Merlight, Merlumina and Merlimbis guarding the red, orange and yellow Pure Hearts alongside their spouses, respectively. Or rather, their descendants (except for Merlumina's case; I have an idea on why this could be, but that's for another day...).
The thing is that the red, orange and yellow Pure Hearts are the first three Pure Hearts encountered in-game. So, it wouldn't be irrational to assume that Merloo was also entrusted with the next Pure Heart after those. Which, no surprise, is the green Pure Heart.
So, to recap, Merloo went to The Bitlands, found a suitable guardian, and fell in love with them (just like the rest of the sages), staying in The Bitlands for the rest of his life and eventually passing on the responsibility of protectiing the green Pure Heart to his children, who in turn passed it on to their own children, and so on...
But what happened to their castle, then? Why is it now Fort Francis?
Honestly, I have no idea for why this the way it is.
Perhaps they were forced to flee due to unknown circumstances, with no other option than to leave the Pure Heart behind? Perhaps they all died due to some illness or attack, only managing to put an emergency seal on the Pure Heart before passing away?
I'm afraid, the answer shall remain a mystery forevermore...
However, I would like to say that there are some indications that hint at the possibility of a descendant of Merloo's being encountered in-game by the heroes...
Dimentio is quite the enigmatic character, isn't he?
He's a magician with great dimensional powers, just like Merloo, even being able to create his own pocket dimension!
Not only that, but he seemed to know quite a lot about the Pure Hearts and the Dark Prognosticus' final prophecy even before meeting Count Bleck...
On top of that, the only time Dimentio is fought against in SPM outside of Castle Bleck is, precisely, in The Bitlands...
Moreover, Dimentio seems to be aware of where the entrance to Merlumina's chamber (where the orange Pure Heart is hidden) is exactly located, and he has no trouble messing with Fracktail's mind!
Furthermore, how did Dimentio go to Flipside? How was he aware of its existence? And how was he able to send the heroes to The Underwhere and The Overthere? Also, all these places hid a Pure Heart as well...
Lastly, Dimentio knew that Jaydes' power could restore a damaged Pure Heart...
It's as if he had been taught all of these facts by someone, don't you think?
This is all suspicious...
...Quite suspicious, indeed...
