The Underwhere

The Underwhere is the setting of the first half of Chapter 7 in the game Super Paper Mario. It is also called World -1 by one of the residents, a reference to the famous "Minus World" glitch from the original Super Mario Bros.. Ruled by Queen Jaydes, The Underwhere makes up one half of the "afterlife" dimensions, and 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 often 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). According to The InterNed, the music of the Underwhere goes by the same name.

As the Underwhere is not a place of suffering and pain, just boredom and dullness, it should be compared to the Asphodel Meadows of the ancient Greek underworld, rather than the multi-regional Hell. Queen Jaydes herself was named for the Greek god of the underworld, Hades, and there are numerous other aspects of The Underwhere taken from Greek mythology (listed below). However, the Underwhere's counterpart, The Overthere, where the sinless can spend eternity as angelic Nimbis, is more heavily based on Heaven than the Greek Elysian Fields. Bonechill's prison, the place where people go when they have been very bad in life, is equivalent to Tartarus, also from Greek mythology, although the fact that he was a fallen Nimbi and his association with ice does bear resemblance to the story of Lucifer, who, according to Dante's Inferno, is trapped in ice in the deepest circle of Hell.

The Underwhere also contains a special fountain that restores Mario and Co.'s HP.

Chapters

 * Underwhere side
 * Chapter 7-1: The Underwhere (Subterranean Vacation)
 * Chapter 7-2: Underwhere Road (The Sealed Doors Three)
 * Overthere side
 * Chapter 7-3: Overthere Stair (The Forbidden Apple)
 * Chapter 7-4: The Overthere (A Bone-Chilling Tale)

Chapter 7-1: Subterranean Vacation
After Mario, Princess Peach and Bowser "had their games ended" by Dimentio from Flipside, Mario awakes near the Fountain of Healing in the Underwhere without any of his Pixls, while Princess Peach and Bowser are nowhere to be found. (The game acknowledges this as Chapter 7-1 in the "Chapters" menu.) A Shayde approaches him and tells Mario about the Underwhere, where people with ended games go. When Mario rejects the claim that his game has ended, the Shaydes tells him to go to Queen Jaydes to "weigh his sins".

Mario heads onwards until he was stopped by Luvbi, a Nimbi, who hopes to meet her "special someone". She disregards Mario as being a "mustachioed fatty" and ignores him. After crossing the River Twygz, Mario eventually reaching Queen Jaydes' palace. Once there, Queen Jaydes starts weighing his sins, but then feels "strange energy" emitting from Mario. Mario shows Queen Jaydes the stone Pure Heart and begins questioning Mario about how he obtained it. A phone call from King Grambi of the Overthere, and her husband, interrupted her, imforming her of their missing daughter, Luvbi. She then entrusts the task of locating Luvbi to Mario. Jaydes then took hold of the Pure Heart for the time being and gave him the key to the tunnels under the River Twygz, stating that she was notified of a "man in green" who has fallen into the river. She asks Mario to check there first.

Mario swims to the bottom of the river and finds a secret tunnel in 3-D. After navigating the tunnels he eventually reaches an outside area. He finds Luigi, who was sent there by Dimentio after Chapter 6. He doesn't remember anything that happened since he was hypnotized by Nastasia into Mr. L. Mario explains that he has arrived in the Underwhere and asks Luigi to help him find Luvbi. He then joins Mario's party. Using Luigi's high jump, the two brothers were able to locate Luvbi. She runs back to her mother after they were able to identify her. At Queen Jaydes' palace, she returns the Pure Heart, revitalized, after being able to find Luvbi. She then returns Mario and Luigi back to Flipside after knowing that "their games were not truly over".

Merlon and Tippi met up with Mario and Luigi at Flipside Tower. At Merlon's house Mario explained what happened and introduces Luigi. With the Pixls back, they placed the revitalized Pure Heart into the seventh Heart Pillar in Flopside B1 Outskirts, revealing the purple door. Once they were ready, they entered the door on Flipside Tower but finds out that they were back in the Underwhere.

They ventured towards Queen Jaydes' palace once more. Surprised, Queen Jaydes asked why Mario and Luigi had returned. Tippi explained that they were trying to find the Pure Heart as the door led them there. After realizing that they were the heroes mentioned in the Light Prognosticus, she tells them to look for King Grambi in the Overthere. At that moment, Luvbi was ready to leave for the Overthere. Queen Jaydes asked the gang to accompany Luvbi to the Overthere due to the monsters that escaped along the way. Mario and company accepted the task and Queen Jaydes opened the way to Underwhere Road. Through the door is the Star Block, which ends the chapter.

Enemies

 * Cherbil
 * Dry Bones
 * Frost Piranha
 * Ice Cherbil
 * Lava Bubble
 * Gigabite
 * 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 (both act as three-headed dogs who guard the gates to the underworld).
 * Hagnes, Hagitha, and Hagra represent the Fates.

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".
 * It is based loosely on the underworld in greek and roman mythology.

🇵🇲