King Croacus IV

"Trash is garbage, no matter how you dress it. This world is made for BEAUUUUUTY!"

- King Croacus IV

King Croacus IV, usually called just King Croacus, is a boss in Super Paper Mario. The flamboyant king of the Floro Sapiens, Croacus adores beauty and spends most of his time brainwashing Cragnons to rebuild his castle full of jewels. He is also the possessor of the sixth Pure Heart. He was the regent for King Croacus III until he came of age, and when the young ruler wilted, Croacus IV, popular due to his stabilizing influence, was appointed King. He doesn't care for fighting, but when Mario, Peach, and Bowser enter his chambers, he decides to dispose of them.

He is defeated by jumping onto his smaller heads and then jumping on his normal head when it becomes exposed, or just throwing the smaller heads at the exposed head. His central head is invincible unless exposed, no matter what the heroes do and can even hurt them if they jump on the corners of it. After some time, he loses the rest of his body and floats around on his head, throwing sharp petals at the heroes who must dodge or destroy them and attack Croacus' flying head straight on. He could also have been defeated by using Thoreau to grab one of his smaller petals and throw them at his normal head when it was exposed.

After he is eventually defeated, it is revealed that the Cragnons were polluting the waters that the Floro Sapiens drank from, and that King Croacus was trying to save his people by mind-controlling the Cragnons with Floro Sprouts. Upon witnessing the scene, Flint Cragley declares that he will show his tape to the Cragnons, ending the war between the two races.

If the player visits Croacus after Chapter 5, he will still lie on the same spot on the floor, supposedly dead ("wilted"). The Floro Sapien who is watching over him says that he thinks that Croacus will revitalize, which he eventually does.

Later, King Croacus is seen in healthy spirits and less insane than before. He jokingly threatens the heroes with another battle, but states that the waters have become less polluted while he was sleeping. He says that he hopes he can help the Cragnons in the future. This suggests that, as the Floro Sapiens say, he is actually benevolent and was driven insane only due to the dirty water.

Quotes

 * Ooooooo-weeee-ooooooo! Where, oh, where are my pretties?!
 * Pretties... Beautiful things... Ooo-wee! Bring them to me... More! More! More!
 * So you must be the intruders I've heard SO much about... Well, I will NOT forgive the great trashening of my beautiful kingdom. NOO-WEE-OO! ...Thus you are warned!
 * Trash is garbage, no matter how you dress it. This world is made for BEAUUUUUTY!
 * Ooo? What is THIS hideous, clashing thing?

Trivia
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 * Dimentio brainwashed O'Chunks and Luigi (and Mario if he chose to assist Dimentio) the same way that King Croacus brainwashed the Cragnons. It is also possible that King Croacus is the "acquaintance" of Dimentio, as he managed to get three of Croacus' Floro Sprouts.
 * Croacus's appearance and obsession with beauty is similar to Rosie from the first Paper Mario, except on a more insane scale.
 * King Croacus IV's name comes from the flower of the same name, Crocus.
 * His official artwork depicts his smaller heads with thorns, but in the game, his smaller heads in fact, do not have thorns.