The Underwhere

File:Fountain Health.jpg

Mario soothing his bruises in the Fountain of Health.

The Underwhere is a location in Super Paper Mario. It makes up one-half of the "afterlife" dimension.

Ruled by Queen Jaydes, The Underwhere (also called World -1 by the residents) is where people who have been neither good nor bad from "all worlds" go when they die. Once there, the people become what are known as Shaydes (a corruption of the word "Shades"). They typically chat about how they got a Game Over (such as being hit in mid-jump by a Micro-Goomba and falling into a bottomless pit). As the Underwhere is not a place of suffering and pain, just boredom and dullness, it should be compared to the greek Asphodel Meadows instead of the multi-regional Hell. Bonechill's prison, the place where people go when they have been very bad in life, is equivalent to Tartarus, also from Greek mythology. The Underwhere's counterpart is The Overthere, where the sinless can spend eternity.

In Super Paper Mario, Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser are teleported "to the next world" by Dimentio between Chapters 6-2 and 6-3. The game acknowledges this as Chapter 7, and the beginning of The Underwhere is Chapter 7-1. It is here that Luigi loses his identity as Mr. L and joins Mario's party.

Throughout the beginning of the chapter, only Mario and Luigi may be used. Tippi, the Pixls that Mario gathered, Peach, and Bowser are all unavailable at the start (as is Luigi, until Mario finds him). Tippi and the Pixls become available at the end of Chapter 7-1 (when Mario and Luigi receive the then-revitalized Pure Heart from Sammer's Kingdom and return to Flipside). Neither Bowser nor Peach are found until Mario's trek through the Underwhere Road and the Overthere Stair, respectively.

Areas in Chapter 7

• Underwhere side
  • Chapter 7-1: The Underwhere
  • Chapter 7-2: Underwhere Road
• Overthere side
  • Chapter 7-3: Overthere Stair
  • Chapter 7-4: The Overthere

Enemies

• Cherbil
• Dry Bones
• Frost Piranha
• Ice Cherbil
• Lava Bubble
• Poison Cherbil
• Underhand

References made in the Underwhere

In the Underwhere and its counterpart, the Overthere, many characters or places that are encountered are references to other things, in most cases the names are specifically based off of Greek Mythology.

• Shayde, a corruption of Shade.
• Jaydes, a corruption of Hades.
• The Underwhere itself, a corruption of Underworld and a pun on underwear.
• The River Twygz (twigs), a corruption of the River Styx (sticks).
• D-Man, a corruption of Demon.
• Charold, the man who runs the ferry across the River Twygz, is a corruption of Charon.
• Underchomp, a reference to Cerberus (as all guard dogs in the Mario series are replaced with Chomps).
• According to Greek mythology, the Elysium Fields is where the sinless spend eternity making The Overthere its representation. However The Overthere does not physically resemble the island paradise; it is more akin to Heaven, or possibly Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods.
• The alternative name World -1 is a reference to the famous glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Trivia

• The Underwhere and The Overthere are comparable to Flipside and Flopside. While Flopside is the inverted Flipside (behind Flipside horizontally), the Overthere is the inverted Underwhere (the Underwhere is below, and the Overthere is above)
• A bar that serves milk beneath Flipside is named "The Underwhere"; another bar in Flopside is named "The Overthere".
• According to The InterNed, the music of the Underwhere goes by the same name: "The Underwhere".

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