Baby Luma

Luma is a major character in the game Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Like many Mario characters, he is named after his species.

Background
Luma's story begins when he was separated from his mother. He finds young Rosalina and asked her to help him find his mama. Rosalina repaired a rusty, old ship and together, she and Luma began a long search for his mom. One day they found a comet which Luma said his mother traveled on. However there was no sign of Luma's mother. Rosalina and Luma finally gave up hope of finding Luma's mother. However, Rosalina soon discovered that buried in the comet are tools and building material. Together, the duo built a small settlement. After it was completed, the building seemed rather big for just two people. Not long after, another Luma appeared traveling on a comet. Luma and the newcomer fought over Rosalina's love. More and more Lumas flew out of the comet shouting "My mama" at Rosalina. Rosalina adopted all the Lumas and became their mother. One night Luma found Rosalina crying and comforted her, asking her why she was crying. Rosalina told Luma that her mother is dead and even though she knew, she refused to believe it until then. Rosalina thanked Luma and the two hugged each other.

Later on, Luma transformed into the Comet Observatory to provide a new home for the Lumas and Rosalina. However, he was re-born and nurtured and cared for by Rosalina until he became a full grown Luma again.

Super Mario Galaxy
Sometime later, Princess Peach found Luma and planned to give him as a present to Mario. However, just as Mario was arriving, Bowser kidnapped Peach by hoisting her castle into space. Luma escapes to a nearby planet in the Gateway Galaxy. Meanwhile, Mario is attacked by a minion of Bowser and sent to the Luma's hiding spot. Luma and his friends convince Mario to play a game of hide-and-go-seek with them. When Mario finds them Rosalina appears and tells Mario that in order to save Princess Peach, the now broken Comet Observatory needs to be fixed using Grand Stars so it can fly to where Bowser is keeping Peach. She also tells him that he will need the power to travel through space, and that Luma can give him this power. Luma decides to help Mario and, making himself at home under Mario's cap, bestowed upon Mario the power of Spinning. The two subsequently begin the hunt for the Grand Stars. Traveling from galaxy to galaxy the two track down the Grand stars and slowly, the Comet Observatory becomes more powerful. When the last Star is recovered, the Comet Observatory flies to the center of the universe where Bowser has created a huge sun. After a final duel, Mario and Luma defeat Bowser, destroy the sun and rescue Princess Peach. However, Bowser's dying sun creates a huge black hole and all the Lumas including Luma fly into it to stop it. Before being destroyed, Luma waves sadly goodbye to Mario and then dives. However, it is revealed Luma has been reborn, as all Lumas do, on another planet and is waiting for Mario's return. In the very final cutscene of the game, Luma can be seen in his and Rosalina's ship, waving at the camera and then flying upwards.

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Luma makes his second appearance in Super Mario Galaxy 2. He is found in the Prologue of the game lying on the ground and immediately takes a shine to Mario. Luma flies into Mario's hat and Mario's body begins to tingle, giving him the power to spin. Mario later meets two other yellow Lumas which call Luma "young master Luma" and send Mario off to the Sky Station Galaxy.

Luma is later reunited with Lubba who thanks Mario for saving him and together, Mario and Luma travel through many new galaxies to defeat Bowser once again. Throughout the game, the Mailtoad on Starship Mario receives several anonymous letters addressed to Luma. The letters always include fifty Star Bits. The Mailtoad remarks that although the letters are anonymous, he hopes that he gets to meet the person soon. The letters are ultimately shown to be sent by Rosalina.



After Bowser is defeated, Mario returns to Starship Mario with Peach and the Grand Star, after which Rosalina appears in her Comet Observatory. She explains to Mario that she knew all along that she would someday be reunited with the Baby Luma, because there is a power even beyond that of the stars that governs the destiny of them all. After promising that he'll never ever forget about Mario, and taking Mario's cap as a souvenir, the Baby Luma rejoins Rosalina and leaves with her.

Super Mario Galaxy Trading Card Description
''There are no other Lumas in the Galaxy that are like the very special Apricot Luma. This is the Luma that Rosalina gives to Mario in the beginning of the game, who grants Mario the power to do star spins- a move that will be invaluable against many unforeseen enimies.''

Trivia

 * In the beta version of Super Mario Galaxy, Luma was called Tyke instead.
 * Even though Luma is sometimes called Baby Luma, he seems to have perfect speech, as seen in the openings of both games. Baby Peach, in Mario Super Sluggers, seems to have babble talk. This difference could be attributed to the fact that Luma is a star, and stars age significantly differently from humans. That is to say, in terms of stars, "baby" could imply that a star is much older than we would normally understand it to be.
 * Luma plays a much more important role in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 than most people probably realize. As stated by Rosalina, without Luma's help, Mario would most likely not be able to travel through space.
 * In the level "Grand Star Rescue" in the Gateway Galaxy, it is shown that Luma has the power to freely transform into a Star Bunny just like many of the other Lumas between the two games, though this is the only level between the two games in which he is actually seen to do this. When he does transform into a Star Bunny, his entire body remains cream colored like his normal form, whereas other Star Bunnies or Lumas that transform into Star Bunnies will normally have blue or yellow colored ears.
 * If the player replays the "Grand Star Rescue" level after they have played through it for the first time, Mario will retain his ability to spin and Luma will briefly hover over his head and then go back into his cap again like he always does, despite the fact that by replaying the level, he has technically not befriended Luma yet, and so should not be able to spin yet. The rest of the level remains the same though, so when Mario chases Luma as a Star Bunny and Luma turns back into himself after Mario catches him, the player can actually see Luma in two places at once if they spin when Mario is next to Luma, causing Luma to hover over his head while simultaneously appearing on the Starting Planet as well.