Propp’s narrative theory

2. Hero
 In the Mario universe Mario is classed as the hero because
he goes to rescue the princess and succeeds at it after
defeating king Bowser by dropping him into lava and saves
the princess.
 In several releases of games Luigi has become the hero and has to save
princess Daisy or Mario for instance in luigi’s mansion (the game title)
luigi has to save Mario from a painting that a magic turtle has trapped
him in.

3. Villain
 King bowser is classed as the villain in the Mario
universe because he kidnaps princess peach and takes
her back to his castle and locks her away.
 King bowser has not been the only villain in the Mario franchise
however this is because in several games the villains are actually copies
of Mario and Luigi called Waluigi and Wario.

4. Donor
 The donor is a mysterious block that gives power ups such
as fire flowers, leafs, mushrooms and stars etc. however the
blocks are given to the player or Mario when he needs power ups.
 The donor block is quite mysterious as you never know what power up
is inside it however if you look at the level past it then you can probably
guess what it will be.

5. Dispatcher
 In the games toads (mushroom people) ask Mario to get there
princess back from the clutches of the evil king Bowser,
however in the comics and tv show it is princess peaches father
that dispatches us to get his daughter back since in the games there is
no father for princess peach the toads are the ones to dispatch
us.

6. False hero
 Mario is also a false hero because if following the story line
given to us in super Mario bros 2 all the people in the
mushroom kingdom were turned into blocks, since Mario is
trying to get to the princess he has to destroy brick blocks
which if following super Mario bros 3 manual.
 “The quiet, peace-loving mushroom people were turned into mere
stones, bricks and even field horse-hair plants, and the mushroom
kingdom fell into ruin.” – super Mario bros

7. Helper
 Luigi and Yoshi are the main helpers in the Mario franchise.
 These are the two main helpers of the franchise because they
help Mario in specific ways, for example Yoshi helps Mario to
stand on spikes and jump up distances that Mario cant jump to
normally, see images.

8. Princess
 The princess in this theory is usually a damsel in distress which
needs to be rescued by the hero however in some cases the
princess can be seen as the hero because she saves other
characters, for example princess Leia in star wars.
 In the Mario universe the only princesses we know about are
princess peach and princess daisy however later in the series of games
we are introduced to Rosalina who is believed to be the
daughter of peach.

9. Princess’s father
 King toadstool is princess peaches father however in the games
we don’t see him, yet we see him in comics and in the tv series at some
point to send Mario (player 1 or us) after bowser to get his daughter
back.