One of the biggest questions in the Mario fandom is how did Mario get caught in Luigi's Mansion, the same Mario who's had plenty of experience in ghost houses and battling Boos throughout the years, yet somehow manages to lose against the ghosts and get trapped into a painting, and based what we've seen here this doesn't appear to be the type of capture with Mario entering the mansion and 2 seconds later he was caught. What if I was to tell you there's probably more to the story than meets the eye and it actually took a while before Mario was caught? Which is why for today's discussion we're going to be looking at what I think happened on how Mario got caught so without further ado let's get started.

Now in order for my theory we need to gather evidence as to why this theory makes sense. According to the Luigi's Mansion booklet it states that Mario had arrived at the mansion first.

This is backed up by Professor E. Gadd who tells Luigi that he saw a guy with similar clothing but red entering the mansion without even stopping by to chat and never came out.

This lets us know that upon Luigi telling him that he won a mansion in a contest he never even entered, Mario arrived at the mansion and clearly didn't see E. Gadd while doing so. But the question is why did Mario arrive first, why didn't he and Luigi arrive in the mansion together? Well we actually have an answer to that. Upon entering the mansion to start Area 1 we see a Toad who tells Luigi, that Princess Peach asked the Toads to look for Mario after he left when he heard Luigi won a mansion.

What this means is that by the time Luigi told Mario about the mansion Peach and some other Toads were there when the news broke. If I had to guess what location when they heard the news it's likely at Peach's Castle so for Luigi must've had to call him via phone or send him a letter to Mario in order for Mario to get this news.

Now let's talk about Mario arriving in the mansion. As I said earlier Mario's capture doesn't seem as simple as Mario getting caught the second he opens the door as it likely took him a while. This is backed up by one of the Toads mentioned Mario having 5 items spread all over the mansion, a cap, a shoe, a glove, a latter, and a star.

This clearly should tell as that Mario was in the mansion before he was caught. But now you might be wondering: "How would Mario be in the mansion for quite awhile when all the doors locked by the time Luigi first entered?" Well the answer to that is that they were all unlocked and the lights were on. King Boo likely set it up to make it seem like the mansion isn't hunted when in reality it was. The first item we find is Mario's cap which is stated in game to have been laundered recently.

According to Luigi himself he washes his cap by hand while Mario uses a laundry.

The next item we find is Mario's letter which according to Madame Clairvoya says: "Look out for Boos Luigi!" And it was written in a hurry.

This lets us know that by the time he wrote this letter Mario had already been caught and was frantically trying to write this letter while either on the run or in hiding. Now when we find Mario's shoe and glove there in chests which are revealed after the ghost had been defeated which implies the ghosts took them for themselves. Now the last item which is Mario's star is sealed in a room of the Observatory that Luigi needs to use a meteor to destroy the moon. Now there are two scenarios as to how it was sealed in there. Scenario 1 Mario uses the power star to seal it in the room to prevent King Boo and the ghosts from getting it or scenario 2 King Boo is the one who sealed star in the room himself to prevent anyone else from using it.. In my opinion scenario 2 is the most likely since King Boo has total mastery of the mansion and given the fact we see tiny Meteor Ghosts that Luigi uses to destroy the moon. Now why Mario brought a star with him? Probably because he was suspicious of the mansion and brought a power star with him so he could use to take out the ghost which clearly didn't end to well. Now if Mario's cap, gloves, and shows are in the mansion why did Mario appear to have all of those when he was in the painting. Probably because he brought spares.

Now one last thing I want point out is when the paintings started talking to Luigi they all bear a strong resemblance to Nana, Neville, Lydia, the male Floating Whirlinda, and Vincent Van Gore before they died and one of them told Luigi best like the red cap before him clearly meaning Mario.

This implies that the Portrait Ghosts except for Clairvoya, all played a huge role in helping the Boos capture Mario this is further backed up that the Twins have Mario's shoe.

So to break this down for you guys this is how I believe Mario got caught. After Luigi told Mario about the mansion, Mario grew suspicious of the mansion Luigi supposedly won especially since 1. He didn't remember entering a contest and 2. Mario likely saw how hunted it is so he took a super star for extra strength but also took an extra set of clothes in case if the mansion was safe so he went there not even noticing Professor E. Gadd and once he entered the mansion which surprisingly had lights on and unlocked doors this was all because King Boo set this up so he could ambush Mario and Luigi at once but that plan was out the window when Mario arrived first so King Boo decided to wait thinking Luigi will come to the mansion. But King Boo lost his patience when he realized Luigi's wasn't coming any time soon he decided to capture Mario while he was still vulnerable so he locked all doors to prevent escape turned all rooms darkness and ambushed Mario when he was in the laundry room. Mario quickly ran and in a desperate attempt to warn Luigi he uses a paper and pencil to tell Luigi to look out for Boos. Mario tried his best but between King Boo, boos, and the Portrait Ghosts, Mario got overwhelmed and was turned into a painting but fortunately for Mario, Luigi will got on to arrive suck all the ghosts, defeat King Boo and free his brother. But that's just my theory.

But anyways guys that's going to be it for today thank you all so much for reading let me know in the comments what you're thoughts are in the comments below and I will see you all next time. Peace.