WMG / Kirby's Return to Dream Land

Warning: Contains massive spoilers.

Egg Engines is the remains of Mobius after Eggman finally won.

The entire planet is a mechanized (or roboticized) wasteland populated only by machines in the shape of living creatures. The name sounds just like one of Eggman's creations. And the boss of the area happens to look just like something the fat man would build to kill Sonic.

• Jossed. Egg Engines is in Halcandra and not Mobius.
  • True though Egg Engines might possibly be a Shout-Out to that series.
• Even if it isn’t Mobius, that might actually make it worse. If Eggman’s robots have expanded to other planets, that would mean they have probably completely mechanized Mobius and are now moving on to other planets. And that would mean Eggman has become a Galactic Conquerer.
  • Actually, the Kirby universe is not the Sonic universe in a The Bad Guy Wins scenario. If you pay attention, the levels in this game have a Theme Naming aside from their initials spelling "CROWNED": that Theme Naming is food (Cookie Country, Nutty Noon, Dangerous Dinner etc.), which fits Kirby (and Dedede's) nature as Big Eaters. Although Egg Engines being a Shout-Out to Sonic is a completely different story.

Raisin Ruins will be the ruins of Grape Gardens

This of course would never be explicitly stated in the game, but it would make sense due to the naming and might be implied through the world's visual design. Similarly to how Shiver Star in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards was implied to be Earth after nuclear winter.

• While not stated upright, there is a remix of Grape Gardens present, although not in Raisin Ruins.

Spear will get a Super Ability version

Sword and Hammer already have Super Ability counterparts, and King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Waddle Dee are all essentially permanent versions of abilities, so...

• Jossed.

Dark Matter and Zero will return as the true antagonist

Consider that many enemies from Kirby 64 the Crystal Shards and Kirby's Dream Land 3, that haven't been seen since the former, are returning in this game. Now consider that the game seems to be slower-paced like those aforementioned games, focusing on exploration and hunting down Plot Coupons. Also, Magolor will either turn out to be possessed by Dark Matter, get possessed later on, or will turn out to have been evil all along, with or without Dark Matter's involvement.

• Jossed.
• The very last part is confirmed, though. "Magolor will turn out to have been evil all along".
• Magolor was actually possessed by Dark Matter - during the second phase of the final boss, you can see Dark Matter's eye.
  • That is never confirmed, in fact it is more heavily implied that the Crown has a consciousness of its own (much like other Ancients' constructs, like NOVA and the Lor), and is simply manipulating Magolor.
    • That's likely to be the case when looking the New Challenge Stages in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition. Magolor mentions that when he first arrived, things got hectic until Kirby saved the world (and apparently, Magolor as well). However, he has shown to still hold some of the crown's energy, such as having a tendency to win in races against Kirby and eventually regaining some of his magic from the crown, so make of that what you will.
  • Or, Magolor is a piece of Dark Matter. Or the crown is.
    • Judging by the 20th anniversary collection game, it's likely the crown is a piece of Dark Matter.
• Possibly confirmed; Void Termina is heavily implied to have created the Master Crown, and it is also heavily implied that VT is related to, if not the progenitor of Dark Matter.

After the Lor Starcutter is repaired, you can travel to extra worlds.

• Confirmed, getting all ship pieces lets you go to Worlds 6 and 7(Egg Engines and Dangerous Dinner respectively), located in Magolor's home planet, Halcandra.

The alien is the final boss.

Let's sum the story: An alien ship called the Lor Starcutter crash lands in Dream Land and pieces of his ship scattered throughout the land and Kirby and his friends have to bring pieces of his ship to him so he can return home.Seems simple enough. Now let's add the tropes:An alien ship called the Lor Starcutter crash lands in Dreamland and pieces of his ship scattered throughout the land and Kirby and his friends have to bring the pieces of his ship to him So he can return home.What did you expect from a Kirby game? For all we know, the gears which are sometimes hidden in alternate dimensions might be powering up the Doomsday Device.

• Confirmed and Jossed at the same time: Everything but the gears powering something are true. He does get a Doomsday Device, though. He isn't the true final boss, but close enough.
  • He's right about that...the crown possessed the alien, after all.

Magolor was posessed by Dark Matter the entire game.

In his basic form, Magolor's body is hidden under his clothes, but he's clearly spherical-shaped, and sports a black body. His chothes actually hide Dark Matter's eye, while Magolor's visible yellow eyes are illusions. Now, flash forward to the final battle's second phase- Magolor's lower body is destroyed, leaving only his spherical black body, as well as his hands. The crazy grin he has is actually Dark Matter's eye- you can see the pupil when he opens it- and the eyes are again just illusions. (Similar to how Zero Two's eyes were just illusions in his angelic form.)

Dark Matter posessed Magolor to try and get close to Kirby to destroy him. But, to beat someone as tough as Kirby, he needed the power of the master crown. He had Kirby and co. do all the dirty work, then he steals the crown in a gambit to try and destroy Kirby once and for all. Were it not for Landia, he would have indeed succeeded. Wheather or not Magolor is killed at the end doesn't matter, really, because it was Dark Matter the whole time.

• Might go either way according to the New Challenge Stages in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition.

In response to the above, Zero was behind everything.

We know that Zero controls Dark Matter, so it was likely Zero's operation the whole time.

• Makes you wonder what Zero has been doing the entire time since Crystal Shards...
  • Kirby's Dream Collection confirms that Dark Nebula is a "Being of Dark Matter" so you could say that Zero was behind it.

Magolor's friend who told him about Kirby is Marx.

It's all pretty consistent. Both characters are Magnificent Bastards to some degree, with brilliant Batman Gambits that have Kirby as the Unwitting Pawn in their plans to take over Pop Star. It'd be no surprise if Marx, after his defeat, told Magolor about how gullible Kirby was and how he could potentially seize control of the Master Crown.

• Their boss forms are also similar, in the way that they both come Back from the Dead and have 'Soul' as part of their title.
• Perhaps he is Marx. They both have similarly pointed heads, they both turn out to be evil, both are/ were affable enough, and they're never seen together in the same place. Perhaps Marx went through a bit of a costume change to try his plans again.
  • The only problem with Magolor = Marx is that Marx doesn't have hands, and Magolor doesn't have feet.
    • Look at Magolor's hands. They're not even attached to his body. Is it possible that they are some sort of magic gloves that Marx obtained them after Milky Way Wishes? As for the feet, well, if he's desperate enough for a disguise...
    • Detached hands are hardly uncommon in the Kirby-verse. Examples that come to mind are Daroach of Squeak Squad, or Iron Mam and Jukid of Super Star (Ultra). And even if Marx did chop off his own feet (eeeep), there's still the body shapes of Marx and Magolor. Marx is all round, while Magolor appears to have a cone-ish body.
    • Judging from the opening cutscene on the New Challenge Stages in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition, it's unlikely that Magolor & Marx are the same person. Plus, I think a bonus credits scene involves Marx and Magolor being a part of the crowd, but I'm not 100% sure on that myself.
    • Jossed. They're both Dream Friends in Star Allies, and seperate characters on top of that.

The Master Crown is sentient.

Take a look at the cutscene where Landia is defeated—after Magolor picks it up, he never puts it on by himself—instead, the crown floats to his head. The Master Crown also never retains the same form, as its appearance changes constantly, once when Magolor transforms to his normal boss form, another time in his second phase, again as Magolor EX, and finally as Magolor Soul.

• The Crown isn't only sentient, it's evil. Magolor Soul's description basically states that Magolor is already dead and the Crown is just controlling his body.
• The crown also moves and jiggles in an disturbingly organic manner while Magolor's in his first One-Winged Angel form. In his second transformation the crown has even grown tendrils that wrap all around Magolor's body. In the Ex version these tendrils even have spikes and make up Magolor Soul's blazing wings. Clearly it's alive and using Magolor as its puppet.
• Judging by the eyeball that appears in Magolor's mouth when he wears it, it seems likely the crown is infected by Dark Matter. Perhaps the crown used to be a good-affiliated artifact, but was possessed by Dark Matter in the same way it can possess people.
  • Furthermore, the "eyeball mouth plus small beady eyes above it" are reminiscent to Zero Two's intro in Crystal Shards. Could it be that the evil inside the crown is none other than the lord of all dark matter himself?
    • While it's not 100% certain, the New Challenge Stages in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition does suggest that the sentience involved with the crown is still found in Magolor even after beating (and supposedly, saving) him at the end of Return to Dream Land.
• With Deluxe having Magolor fight against the Master Crown itself (using a giant tree as its body), it seems like it's confirmed.

The Master Crown was created by the same technology that was behind Nova.

This would provide a good explanation for the similarity between the abilities of Marx and Magolor - giant lasers, thorn vines, teleportation, Soul form to name a few. Those spells were signature of the ancients that crafted both crown and comet, and when those artifacts grant power it's those abilities they confer upon their user.

• This is confirmed in-game, Magolor mentions that the Master Crown was made by the Ancients, and we also know that the Ancients made NOVA as well.
  • Not quite comfirmed outside of the game yet. In Kirby: Planet Robobot (a later Kirby game), the Haltmann Works Company found remains of NOVA(not sure if it's the original one) and built the Access Ark and Star Dream out of them. I could be wrong, though.

Marx wasn't just Magolor's friend: he was also his mentor of sorts.

It's implied that Magolor's friend is Marx, right? I also think that maybe Magolor taught Marx the same type of spells he uses. In other words, Magolor taught Marx magic. It's why they both have similar magic attacks and soul forms as a Superboss. Maybe as they studied magic, they became friends, and started developing plans to take over Pop Star. Don't know why Magolor would wait for so long to do his part of the plan, though. (considering that the original Kirby Super Star came out in the mid-90s, and this game in 2011...)

• Jossed since he admitted that even after his first trip, he wanted to come back again and create a "theme park" for Kirby in Kirby's Dream Collection.

Magolor is a former Dark Matter.

Like Gooey from Kirby's Dream Land 3, Magolor was a Dark Matter who rebelled against Zero and ran off somewhere, he eventually arrived at Halcandra and lived there for a few years. After Zero 2's defeat in Kirby 64, his soul slipped itself into the Master Crown, possessing Landia and causing it to go on a rampage; at this point Magolor had a few friends and his own ship. After Landia's rampage, Magolor confronted him and lost, causing him and his ship to crash into Popstar.

Now bitter and pissed off, Magolor asked Kirby and his friend to bring back the fallen ship parts; keeping a calm and friendly facade throughout. Once they flew to Halcandra, Landia attacked them, causing the ship to go down. Kirby and friends fought Landia and won, freeing Landia from Zero's influence. Magolor takes the crown for himself and transformed, his Dark Matter side comes back to him allowing him to brainwash the Starcutter Lor into attacking his former allies. When that fails he tries to kill them under Zero's influence. After Magolor is killed, the Master Crown shatters taking Zero's soul with it, freeing Magolor in the process.

Magolor EX is a manifestation of Magolor enhanced with Zero's power, and Magolor Soul is Zero, Lor EX is the Starcutter Lor at full power.

• Well, you are at least right that it defeating Magolor did free him. However, it does suggest that Magolor is just a normal alien that lives in another dimension, and is nothing more than just that.

Magolor's consciousness belongs to the Master Crown.

Just... look at Magolor Soul's flavor text! He's described as "a sad shell that is an embodiment of the Master Crown itself".

• Seems to be mixed since in the opening cutscene for the New Challenge Stages in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition, he mentioned that he knows how hectic his first trip was and that he wanted to make it up to Kirby, but he still holds some of the powers that he had with the crown despite not wearing it anymore. On second thought, it might very well be confirmed.
• Jossed...in the main timeline, at least. While Magolor may have freed himself from the Crown's endless nightmares (as shown in the Magolor Epilogue), there could very well be a version of him that met a far worse fate in a grisly colosseum...

Landia was possessed by the Master Crown.

That's why its eyes seem to keep changing color, from green to red to blue. At some point before the game proper starts, when Magolor unearthed the Lor Starcutter and was searching for the Crown, it wound up on the dragon's head, transforming Landia into its protector by twisting its desires to suit its own needs. It also forcibly merged the four of them together in order to keep them all under control; their breaking apart upon turning red is a desperation tactic. Blue is their true eye color, signifying that Kirby and the others freed them from the Crown's evil influence.

• If Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition is canon, it's very possible for that to be the case.

The Master Crown is an artifact of Dark Matter.

It would make sense. As we all know, In his Soul EX form, there is an eye in Magolor's supposed mouth. The eye looks incredibly like Zero's. Perhaps, as he-it-whatever was dying, it detached a bit of itself and possessed the crown as a body. perhaps Zero was knew that greedy, shallow people were more likely to come across it, and Magolor would be the perfect shell.

• It appears to be the case with the New Challenge Stages in Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition.
  • Confirmed? Void Termina definitely has something to do with both the Master Crown and Dark Matter; it's implied he created both.

Bandana Dee is the Waddle Dee from Kirby 64.

He was given his close position as the king's servant due to his help in the Dark Matter conflict.

• Sounds like you haven't even played Kirby Super Star Ultra. Until then, HAL Lab might answer this in the future.

The Master Crown could be considered to be one of the Lost Logia relics.

Think about it. A mage from another dimension, travels in space with a ship, tries to go after that relic that's been made from ancient civilization that's fill with massive power but comes with a price of consequence.

When battling Magolor being empowered by the crown, one of his attacks involves magic spheres, summoning attacks and enemies, and bombardment beams. He can try to summon a black hole with the help of his Summoning Circle he use like most of his attacks with the help of the same Magic Circle Runes(though the runes will change once he became Magolor Soul) that's around both his wrists though it looks different from Mid-Childan Magic Circle but kinda functions the same way like how fast it can spin depending how much magic that's been casted.

Lastly, when Kirby was about to hit Magolor with his Ultra Sword attack for the final blow, Magolor cast his Round Shield to try to block off before Kirby penetrate his shield and finish him off.

The New Challenge Stages' levels from Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition were originally meant to be in Kirby's Return to Dream Land as downloadable content.

The events do take place after Kirby's Return to Dream Land, which explains why Magolor's still alive even after defeating him; and it does show the same graphical appearance as Return to Dream Land. It could have very well been likely that the New Challenge Stages was originally supposed to have been downloadable content for Return to Dream Land, but due to Kirby's 20th anniversary coming up around that time, Nintendo decided to cancel those plans and implement those levels into the 20th anniversary game.

Magolor never wanted to fight Kirby(intentionally, that is.)

(I based this WMG off a comment on YouTube, by the way.)

The reason why Magolor wanted the Master Crown so bad, is that he was tired of Landia ruling Halcandra for Nova knows how long, and he challenged Landia in hopes to dethrone the dragon. He failed horribly, and Landia cast him into exile. Magolor had dug up the Lor Starcutter prior to the battle, in case he was actually exiled, and ran off to Popstar. However, Landia had shot at the Lor as warning shots as not to come back, and the Lor started to fall apart, as evidenced by the Energy Spheres still on Halcandra.

It was just when Magolor got to Popstar when the Lor completely broke and crashed. When Kirby and company came to help Magolor, he thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to get back at Landia if Kirby could fix the Lor. When all was said and done, Magolor took them to Halcandra to try and usurp Landia once more. The dragon, infuriated by Magolor's return, shot at the ship to try and get it to crash again, but it ultimately failed. Magolor, now knowing he was too weak to go up against Landia, sent Kirby and friends who have proved themselves to be competent enough to fight the dragon.

When Kirby took down Landia, Magolor took the crown, thinking the power would help him become the new ruler, but once he put it on, the power overtook him, and trapped his subconscious in the crown. His body, controlled by a force within the Master Crown, attacked Kirby. Did you notice the crown wiggling during the battle with "Magolor?" That's the real Magolor, trying to escape. When Magolor Soul was taken down, it freed the true him, at the expense of his body, sending him into a coma. He was sent adrift into sace, and in a series of events, he somehow ended up back at Popstar when he finally awoke a year later.

• Magolor Soul's description does state that the crown possessed him; and Magolor was a 'sad shell', I think it's about 50% true.

Halcandra is Gallifrey

The Ancients all died out in a "time war" against the Dark Matter. Magolor IS Marx—he's a Time Lord and he regenerated. The Lor Starcutter is sentient because it's a TARDIS.

• This is almost definitely jossed. The time war was against the Daleks, not Dark Matter and it was never stated how the ancients died out.

Magolor is a Spiral Knight

An alien from a distant world with a science fantasy theme. Both the Spiral Knights and Magolor are The Faceless and have Glowing Eyes and mittens. Magolor is just one of the few that wasn't on the ship that crashed into cradle.

Magolor Soul was supposed to be exclusive to Extra Mode.

Note the manner in which Kirby initially defeats Magolor, and how Magolor's flavor text in the regular mode doesn't change when fighting Magolor Soul in the True Arena.

Magolor Soul will gain a new form in Return to Dream Land Deluxe's True Arena

After Magolor Soul is destroyed, his body incinerates but the eye still remains and transforms into a Zero-esque form, complete with new boss theme. It'll likely have a moveset based off the other Soul bosses to compensate for how Magolor Soul doesn't use the same moves as them.

• This seems to be confirmed considering that Magolor Soul now has 3 Pause Descriptions and evidence that he might be getting a True Arena exclusive fight.
  • All the Magolor Epilogue bosses are now a part of the True Arena, bringing the total boss count to 21. Additionally, Magolor Soul's fight has been upgraded immensely with a new battle theme, visual overhauls and a harder moveset with 2 healthbars. However, Magolor Soul doesn't get a new form.

There will be a True Arena EX and a second Extra Mode

The second Extra Mode will either have Bandanna Dee as the main character or allow you to play as any other character but Kirby. All bosses (except the Starcutter Lor and both forms of Magolor) will have Parallel counterparts (and that does include Galacta Knight), with Morpho Knight being the final boss due to him trying to take Magolor's soul to the netherworld. The True Arena EX has you fight all the Parallel Bosses, Morpho Knight and Chaos Magolor.

• The 2/8/23 Direct has confirmed the latter, that being the Magolor Epilogue, which takes place after the main story. More likely than not, since a new version of Fatty Puffer has been seen in the footage of the Direct, so it's likely the former is confirmed as well.
  • The True Arena EX is mostly jossed, though all the Magolor Epilogue bosses are now a part of the True Arena, bringing the total boss count to 21. "Mostly", because for this occasion, Magolor Soul took several steroids as well, essentially becoming a "Chaos Magolor" in all but name.

Magolor Epilogue potential synopsis

In the Magolor Epilogue, he has a slightly altered version of his regular outfit, this time looking tattered and monochrome. The latter is significant since, in the Kirby light novels, Hades was described as monochrome. Additionally, in a Miiverse post for Kirby: Triple Deluxe regarding Magolor's appearance in Dedede's Drum Dash, Kumazaki stated that, after Magolor was defeated in this game, he was sent to a dimension beyond space and time before returning to Popstar. This could mean that, in the Magolor Epilogue, we'll play as Magolor fighting his way out of the Kirby version of Hell. And if it is indeed the Kirby underworld, it wouldn't be too shocking if Morpho Knight showed up somewhere, too.

• It seems to be confirmed that the Magolor Epilogue is indeed a playable version of what Kumazaki was talking about in the Miiverse post, but whether Magolor is actually in Kirby hell is still unclear.

Morpho Knight will appear as the superboss of the Magolor Epilogue.

The infamous butterfly appears in the opening cutscene, as it does in most modern Kirby games. That might not be proof on its own, but a recent tweet shows that one of the new tracks for the Magolor Epilogue is called "Malus Pumila of Judgement". Perhaps Morpho Knight will want to judge Magolor for trying to conquer the universe under the Master Crown's influence, on top of potentially cheating death?

• Jossed. Turns out that the Master Crown itself is the final boss.

The residents from the Forgotten Land landed in Halcandra and not Popstar

...and were killed by the true form of the Master Crown when they tried to exploit it like they did with Fecto Forgo.

• Evidence 1: At the beginning of the final fight with the Crown, we can see what appears to be a futuristic city being destroyed in the background. There are only two civilizations that can make cities like that: Haltmann works and the Forgotten Land residents, and there doesn't seem to be any signs that Haltmann is behind it.
• Evidence 2: The state of Halcandra. The place is an island in space, and not in a metaphorical "This island, Earth" sort of way, no, it is quite literally a giant chunk of rock with only two notable things on it: A volcano and a factory. The volcano might be understandable, but...why a factory? Well, Forgotten Land also had a factory near a volcanic wasteland, so maybe the residents were trying to do the same thing here.
• Evidence 3: Ok, stick with me here, Magolors aspirations outside of getting the crown were to either open up a theme park or to sell items to heroes in a fantasy setting. Why would Magolor want to do either of those things? Well, consider that the forgotten land is riddled with things like malls, shops, and there's even a giant theme park in it, and that Magolor said that he grew up on Halcandra, maybe he was just following in the footsteps of the residents.
  • This point is partially Jossed. If you 100% EX Mode in Deluxe, Magolor will reveal that he isn't actually from Halcandra. He did spend a lot of time travelling around Halcandra, however. He also says that building his own amusement park is his "lifelong dream".

The Magoland game mode isn't non-canon, it's just in the Forgotten Land.

Most, if not all of Magoland's visitors are different types of Waddle Dees, and the character masks go all the way up to characters from Forgotten Land. When the mode starts off by saying that Magoland is in another time and another world, it's not saying it's another what-if or alternate universe, it's literally saying it's sometime in the future and that it's literally in another world, probably somewhere nearby Waddle Dee Town. Considering transportation between Popstar and the Forgotten Land is super easy now, it's not like it'd be difficult for Magolor to set up shop there.

• Jossed, it is cannon, but not in the Forgotten Land, as we can see it in the background of the first level in Nutty Noon.

There are two Magolors roaming free in the multiverse, for better and for worse.

The Magolor Epilogue basically reaffirmed that the Magolor from the main canon and the Magolor from the Kirby Clash games are the exact same character, further emphasizing the existence of a multiverse. While Magolor seems to have finally found a happy ending, the new True Arena raises a rather disturbing implication: Magolor Soul is fought right after the very thing that controlled him, and said thing has just given him a tremendous boost in power compared to the previous battles. What gives? Hasn't Magolor already freed himself from this nightmare? There is no real answer to this yet, but a keen eye may notice that this Magolor Soul, among many, many other differences, has a different death animation where he is pulled into a bright portal rather than dissolving into his original self and the Master Crown shattering like in Extra Mode^note which is also shown in the opening cutscene of the Magolor Epilogue. Galacta Knight has been shown exiting similar portals in recent fights, so what's stopping Magolor Soul from challenging his former self out of hateful envy?

Merry Magoland will get its own game

Similar to the sub-games from the two Kirby titles for the Nintendo 3DS, Merry Magoland will be expanded into its own game. There's so much they can do with it; add more subgames from past titles, introduce more original ones, a plethora of missions, new prizes... but most importantly, this could be their chance to get the Dream Friends from Kirby Star Allies in on the fun. They can go from having statues built in their honor to playing the games alongside Kirby, Meta Knight, Dedede, and Bandana Waddle Dee. And we know Elfilin counts as a Dream Friend despite Kirby and the Forgotten Land coming out after Star Allies reached its final update, as he got a statue along with the others, so it will be interesting to think about how he can be worked in there.