(Text by @SteemedChitty, illustration by me)

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Ahh, Bowsette.

What is it, about Bowsette, that has made the whole internet raise their pens and pencils up in the air and start swinging them around in a glorious fashion, depicting what has become a veritable sex symbol of this generation of memes? What lead to the rise of such an unexpected character to the heights of the collective imaginary?

What are the banners of this revolution?

It may be easy to attribute her popularity to the mere nature of the internet, a place where our primal instincts take control under the protection of anonymity and we’re willing to erect monuments to whatever rouses our dormant spirits, alienated by the system, suppressed by our need to stay in line and follow the path laid out before us by societal norms.

It’s easy to attribute it, I mean, to mere lust.

But we are not mere argonian maids and neither is Bowsette merely an object of our deviant devotion. I come today with a message of hope and about how we can all benefit from following the example of this beacon of independence, strength and character that the Super Crown has brought forth. I’m about to shine a light on the significance of Bowsette’s success.

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A success only made possible by Bowser’s long standing history of failure.

The King of the Koopa people has, for decades, been solely dedicated to materializing his love for the Princess. His whole administration seems to revolve around it. He raises armies to siege the Mushroom Kingdom, surrounds himself with practitioners of the arcane arts to weave spells that’ll help him in his quest and makes sure he doesn’t miss a single sporting or leisure event where Peach might make an appearance, despite their kingdoms being in virtually constant war.

What’s more, he generally succeeds in taking her away! It’s only after, that his plans fall apart. No matter what he tries, no matter what angle he takes, he’s always rejected. Time and time again does the Princess call for her plumbing hero to save her in her time of need, and every time he answers just as readily as the last time. Never tiring, much like Bowser.

And it’s only after seeing himself reflected on his rival during those well-known moments in Super Mario Odyssey that he begins to understand what he’s doing wrong. I’ll let the evidence, the manuscript depicting Bowsette’s inception, speak for itself:

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What illustrator Haniwa (@ayyk92 in Twitter.com) shows us in this short work of genius is a man freeing himself from the shackles of an uncaring, narcissistic, manipulative Peach who’s been leading both him and Mario on for years and years to fulfill her aspirations of being the center of the universe. After realizing neither he nor his rival have ever had a real chance (be it because she’s more fond of someone else, or because she needs no partner to rule with), he decides to take matters into his own hands and set the record straight.

Tired of pursuing the soulmate that would make him whole, the partner that would shine where he was lacking and help him close the wound existence has inflicted upon him at birth, he sets himself free of the conditioning propagated ever since the time of Plato’s symposiums. He leaps forward, conquering the features he has so long ached for, and becoming, himself, a whole being. He has produced his own missing half, realizing it was always there to begin with.

And through this evolution, he’s released from his resentful nature, strengthens the bond of mutual struggle that has tied him and Mario together for so long and forges a true friendship, and maybe, someday, something more. Something better that anything he has ever known.

Something free.

Now, from this newfound perspective, gaze upon our true Queen, Bowsette. The one who reminded us that everything we need to feel whole resides in our own spirits… even if sometimes we need some help bringing it out.

LONG MAY SHE REIGN!

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Afterwords

Hello Steemians.

Thanks again for reading one of my posts. I originally wanted to post this as just the drawing, and maybe a bit of how this meme came to be. Of course @steemedchitty was having none of this; he stepped in and wrote a wonderful article that to me added a WHOLE LOT MORE VALUE than I ever envisioned for this piece. Please go follow him, none of this would have been possible without him.

I will be back very soon.

Kind regards, EdenCI.

Adieu.