7 Cartoon Mysteries That Were Finally Solved and 7 Others That Still Leave Us Puzzled

There are many mysteries in the world, and the cartoons that we all remember from our childhood are no exception to this rule. You have probably questioned some of them more than once. For instance, what is there at ground level in The Jetsons, or why does Garfield hate Mondays? Some of the most frequently asked questions have been answered by the creators of the series or by people who took part in its production. On the other hand, others have remained pure speculation that makes sense but that no one has been able to confirm so far. And of course, some others are just unresolved, pure and simple.

Bright Side wants to share this list of solved and unsolved cartoon mysteries that have generated lots of buzz online. From theories to rumors and heated discussions, cartoon fans are very serious about these and we thought that maybe someone in our audience could help solve them.

Unsolved Mysteries

1. Why do the Flintstones celebrate Christmas?

The Flintstones is one of the cartoons that many generations have seen and that, interestingly enough, seems to not have aged at all. The story of the Flintstones and the Rubbles takes place in the Stone Age, which began approximately 2,800,000 years ago and lasted until about 3,000 BCE. In the West, Christmas was not popularly celebrated, at least in artwork, until the middle of the 4th century. This has also caused a popular fan theory that the show doesn’t take place in the past, but in a far-off future where humans have transitioned back into a caveman-inspired lifestyle, albeit one with a 1960s aesthetic.

2. Where do Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac’s clothes disappear to when they put on their armor?

When the Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac characters transform themselves, before putting on their armor, they always wear normal clothes and then suddenly they appear with their stretchy armor/suit. So where do their clothes go? Why do their casual clothes sometimes reappear when they take off their armor, but at other times they don’t?

3. What is the secret recipe for the Krabby Patty?

Bikini Bottom’s most popular restaurant also happens to serve its most famous dish: the Krabby Patty. Many competitors have tried to imitate its success, but the Krabby Patty’s formula is a complete mystery to everyone. Or well, almost everyone. In fact, Mr. Krab, founder and owner of the Krabby Patty, zealously protects the secret recipe, which his fierce rival Plankton has repeatedly tried to steal. Fans have long speculated about what the secret ingredient is, and some have come to the conclusion that it’s crab meat, which kind of makes many people very uncomfortable. Series’ creator, Stephen Hillenburg, declared a while ago that there is absolutely no meat in the dish. So even if the mystery is not entirely solved, at least we can be sure that this is a meal where no animal has suffered (specifically there’s no crabmeat from Mr. Krab).

4. Why can Goofy talk and Pluto can’t?

One of the questions that people ask themselves often while watching Mickey and his friends is how come Goofy wears clothes and can talk and Pluto can’t. I mean, they’re both supposed to be dogs, right? Some people even believed, at first, that the reason was that Goofy was not really a dog, but was a cow instead. The rumor spread so much and so fast online that it reached the ears of Disney producers. In an attempt to put an end to the rumor, they denied this theory and confirmed that Goofy is also a dog via the official Twitter account of the amusement park. But no matter how sure we are now that Goofy is a dog, there has not been a clear explanation as to why Pluto can’t talk.

5. How can a fire be lit under the sea in SpongeBob Squarepants?

We know, cartoons are nothing more than just... well, cartoons, but still, how does it make sense to have a whole world at the bottom of the sea where you can light a fire? On many occasions, SpongeBob has not only built fires, but he has also cooked, and there have even been wildfires in Bikini Bottom. This leads to another question: how can there be electricity there too?

6. Gravity Falls’ hidden message from Bill Cipher

The ultimate villain of the series, and the most dangerous of all in Gravity Falls, is a demon that can enter a person’s mind and control it. And even though he is supposed to be defeated in the twentieth episode of the second season, before his death he says: “A-X-O-L-O-T-L! My time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!” Fans have long speculated about this strange message, which in fact, has to be played backward to be understood. Some of them believe that Bill Cipher might not have been defeated and could come back at some point if the series had a third season.

7. How can CatDog coexist?

This Nickelodeon series featured a Siamese cat and dog, which okay, that was strange enough in itself. But then, somehow, despite sharing the same body, the 2 of them were totally different. This is not only because they were 2 completely different species, but also because they just had different personalities. What was never clear was how they could satisfy all (or any) of their needs...

Mysteries that have been solved

1. Is Tarzan really Anna and Elsa’s younger brother?

In Frozen, the king and queen of Arendelle, Anna and Elsa’s parents, get into an accident while crossing the ocean. Their ship sinks and they both lose their lives. However, the theory by which all Disney films are connected encouraged fans to believe that Anna and Elsa’s parents could have survived the accident. According to them, they used a lifeboat and got lost. Then, the queen gave birth to another baby, who we would later meet as Tarzan. It all seemed very logical given the facts, but on Tarzan’s twentieth anniversary, Chris Buck, the film’s co-director, denied the rumor. He apologized for having spread the word on public television and said that this theory was only based on his own personal opinion.

2. Why are all Disney princesses motherless?

Besides stories featuring Prince Charming prototypes and talking animals wandering here and there in the forest, Disney princesses have something else in common: many of them are motherless. This is a recurring topic when it comes to Disney’s characters, that Snow White, Cinderella, Bella, Jasmine, and Ariel share. In an interview, Disney producer Don Hahn said that this was most likely due to a tragic accident that Walt Disney actually experienced. Back in the day, he bought a house for both of his parents to live in. He had it renovated from top to bottom, including of course the kitchen oven. However, there was a gas leak that claimed his mother’s life (and caused his father to be hospitalized). This could be a sad but true explanation. Still, we should remember that most of Disney’s films are inspired by traditional fairytales — which already existed in their current form long before they were turned into animated films. And it’s often a plot point for them not to have mothers; after all, Cinderella and Snow White have to lose their mothers since they both have to contend with a wicked stepmother.

3. Why does Garfield hate Mondays?

Garfield, a cat as idle as he is greedy, does nothing but watch TV and sleep on the couch (when he’s not eating, of course). However, his love for lasagna is equally proportional to his hatred for Mondays. But why did he hate them so much, when every day was more or less the same for him? Creator Jim Davis explained: “Garfield does not have a job, Garfield does not go to school and every day is the same. Nevertheless, every Monday is just a reminder that his life is the same old, same old cycling again and for some reason, even though his life is pretty much the same every day, on Mondays specifically, awful things tend to happen to him physically.”

4. What dog breed is Scooby-Doo?

One of television’s most famous and beloved dogs turned out to be a Great Dane. However, there was always a question about whether this was true, as there were some physical traits in the dog’s appearance that did not entirely match a typical specimen of this breed. Iwao Takamoto, the creator of the cartoon, explained that when he sketched the character, he talked to a Great Dane dog breeder, who gave him the characteristics of a pedigree dog. But Takamoto wanted Scooby to be the complete opposite of a typical Great Dane, so he decided to draw a character with a curved back, bowed legs, a small chin, and a really distinctive color.

5. Why was Mr. Krabs’ daughter a whale?

The fact that Pearl and her father, Mr. Krabs, are 2 different species has not directly been discussed in any episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. But actually, the members of the production team made it clear that Mr. Krabs was married to a whale that gave birth to Pearl. Although Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of the series, received many letters asking him to tell the story of how a whale turned out to be a crab’s daughter, he was always reluctant to give away the Krabs’ secret.

6. Where are Arnold’s parents?

Before the movie Hey, Arnold! The Jungle Movie was released, what we knew about Arnold’s parents wasn’t much. In the series, it’s basically said that their names were Miles and Stella, and that they disappeared while on a humanitarian mission in Central America, where they had gone to cure the natives of a strange “sleeping sickness.” It was only after the movie was released that we learned that Arnold’s parents were, in fact, not entirely lost. It turns out they were also under the influence of the mysterious sleeping sickness, and in the end, he was finally able to reunite with them and he even managed to bring them back home.

7. What is there at ground level in the world of The Jetsons?

In The Jetsons, the people of the year 2062 already live in high buildings, use flying cars, and spend almost their entire lives many meters above sea level. But what is happening at ground level during that whole time? In some episodes you can see what happens “down there.” Take, for instance, the one where a homeless man is seen walking. There’s also that time when a bird chooses to walk on the asphalt, because there’s too much traffic in the air.

Do you have any theories about the unsolved mysteries of these cartoons? What other mysteries do you think can be found in cartoons, that could have an explanation? Let us know in the comment section!