I have been led to believe that cala maria is not who we think she is.

I believe that cala maria is not the mermaid but is in fact the ocopus on her head. furthermore I think the mermaid is merely a dead host for the octopus to control.

first is the theory that cala is the octopus and not the mermaid. notice the name "cala maria" it is a play on of the dish calamari which happens to be pieces of fried squid or octopus. now people might say that "oh the octopus is dead how can it be in charge" first off it is proven that the undead exist in the cuphead universe (just look at goopy le grande or phantom express) but also when cala maria uses certain attacks you can see the octopus spring to life, as if it is only pretending to be dead

next is the theory that the mermaid is dead and cala (the ooctopus) is controlling its body. first off look at cala's skin tone, it is purple in the base form and turns green later, both are colors of dead bodies. also in cala's second phase when she turns you too stone notice how two of the snakes go through the back of the mermaid's head and out of her eye sockets, showing that her head is completely hollow. next I want to mention that out of all the cuphead bosses she goes through the most amount of pain without actually dying, she gets electrocuted, decapitated, and beaten throughout her entire fight. the reason? she is already dead, her body is merely a host for an octopus to use for protection and cover. finally I want to mention the fact that she is beheaded for her final stage, this is based on the greek myth of medusa who was famously beheaded, of course in the myth medusa was killed by this but of course the mermaid is already dead and because the octopus is controlling what is left of its host it can continue to fight and attack