Zelda Theory: Ocarina Of Time's Talon Is Actually Mario's Dad
Gamers love to draw connections between their favorite franchises, and one newer fan theory has been floating around suggests that Talon from "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" is actually Mario and Luigi's father. Reddit user TheOnlyUsernameLeft3 is the earliest source credited with the theory, having created a thread featuring a picture of Talon and questioning if he was Mario's dad.
Theories like this are pretty common in the gaming world, but this one actually has a surprising amount of support. It isn't just due to the Lon Lon rancher's red t-shirt and big, blue overalls being suspiciously similar to Mario's iconic outfit. It isn't even because of his admirably bushy mustache. It's mainly because the recent "Super Mario Bros. Movie" has actually shown fans what Mario's parents look like for the first time — and the resemblance between Talon and the father of everyone's favorite Italian plumber is uncanny.
"If you haven't seen it, Mario's dad in the new movie looks like this," TheOnlyUsernameLeft3 writes below his post. "Did Nintendo make a 'Mario' reference in 'Zelda,' then go and make a 'Zelda' reference in 'Mario' with the same character?" It's unclear whether or not the similarities in their designs is intentional, but there may actually be a pretty solid explanation for why Talon looks so much like Mr. Mario Sr.
Both Talon and Mario's dad may have been based on early Nintendo designs
While Universal Pictures and Nintendo probably aren't going to announce that Talon is canonically Mario's father any time soon, there might actually be a very good reason for why the two characters look so similar. Both of them seem to have been heavily based on early concept art developed for the "Super Mario Bros." franchise.
No direct evidence has surfaced from Nintendo, but fans have long held the belief that Talon and his brother Ingo were heavily based on Mario and Luigi due to their designs. In particular, fans point to the version of Talon who appears in "Oracle of Seasons." In this game, Talon is seen wearing a familiar-looking red cap and will even give Link a mushroom after being woken up with a megaphone.
As for Papa Mario himself, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" director Aaron Horvath stated in an interview with Polygon: "[Nintendo] did send us character sketches that they had done years ago that they had never used; Mario's dad is almost like a one-to-one design adaptation of [Nintendo's] original Mario's dad design that they provided us. That was really great to be able to get that in the movie."
It may be that these characters' similarities were intentional — or it could be a complete coincidence. It's also entirely possible that the artists who developed both characters were simply working off the same blueprints, ultimately leading to Talon's Mario family resemblance.