Ever since he made his debut in Super Mario Bros., the majority--if not all--of Bowser's schemes have remained the same: to abduct Princess Peach. However, as time went by, many people--including some YouTubers--have came to the conclusion that Bowser fell in love with the princess, albeit it hasn't been proven specifically. Unfortunately, this theory that people made have been overshadowed by many of Bowser's fiendish acts. And in this article, I will be explaining why this theory doesn't make sense with his behavior towards Princess Peach.
1. The Lack Of Prove
Let's take a look at the evidence, shall we? Bowser has appeared in many games, and not once has he tried impressing her; heck, he doesn't even show any form of care towards her in most games, and seems more interested in ruling the world. Sure, he might have alluded to the fact that he has feelings for her in some games, like in the game Paper Mario, for example, where, in his diary, he briefly wonders if Peach liked him. However, there's a saying that goes, "Actions speak louder than words." So despite the fact that he has implied that he has feelings for her in some games, his behavior towards her proves otherwise, as he usually abducts her against her will, and done numerous other fiendish things to her as well. (I'll go more in detail on how he abuses Peach in my next point.) Sure, you can argue that in the game Super Paper Mario, when Count Bleck forced them to get married, he was overjoyed by the idea, hinting that he deos care for her. However, he was most likely happy that he'll finally rule her kingdom and not because he actually has feelings for her. This was ultimately made evident in the game Super Mario Odyssey as he attempts to marry her by force, but this time it doesn't seem like he was doing it out of love; he seemed to have wanted to take over her kingdom or make Mario jealous. Even if he did have have a crush on her, he likely eliminated all feelings for her in future games. All in all, there isn't enough evidence to prove that Bowser has a crush on her, and thanks to this, we can assume that he doesn't have a crush on her.
2. He Abuses Peach!
There are numerous examples that can prove that Bowser isn't the nicest person to the princess, and one of them is shown in Super Mario 3D Land, where he, alongside an army of his minions, chases her, to presumably harm her (evident by how mad they look). This is shown after the player completes World 6 in a letter that Princess Peach sent to Mario. There are many more instances where Bowser mistreated the princess, like in the game Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam, where he attacks Peach's Castle using an army of aircraft (equipped with canons); an act that could have had the potential of killing her. This event takes place when the player defeats both paper and normal Bowser Jrs.
Also, proir to this event in the game, she also tries to escape Bowser's Castle while Mario and his companions are attempting to rescue her. This shows how much the princess dislikes being frequently abducted by Bowser because obviously, she wouldn't attempt to flee otherwise. In addition to that, every time Bowser kidnaps her, she would call for Mario's assistance. These reasons could allude to the fact that Bowser mistreats her off-screen as well; why else would she be so desperate to be saved? To back this up, you can see that each Koopaling member drags her to each of their own castles/towers in New Super Mario Bros. 2.
Additional examples that prove Bowser doesn't care for her includes the fact that he is willing to battle her in games such as Super Mario 3D World, Super Princess Peach, and the Super Smash Bros. series. He even nearly burned her alive in the beginning of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. To make matters worse, he has no remorse in doing any of these actions either.
People may argue that he was raised by Kamek, and that results in his evil behavior as Kamek was a villain himself, but there are also times where he teams up with Mario to defeat a greater threat and doesn't even make any attempt to betray him in the process. (This proves that how Kamek raised him has no influence on Bowser's personality traits or actions in general.) Also, despite the fact he was indeed a villain during Bowser's youth, deos this really excuse Bowser's behavior? Kamek isn't the evilest character in the series (in fact, there are villains who have done far worse crimes than him!) so I don't believe that this can be used as an argument. Heck, Bowser was more abusive to him than Kamek was to him during his youth, as proven in the Yoshi series. So in short, it ultimately doesn't make sense that a person who tries to harm (or possibly kill) her would have any feelings for her.
3. He Just Wants To Get To Mario's Head
I know this sounds improbable, but hear me out in this. Almost everytime Mario fights him, Bowser usually has some sort of item around the area that Mario can use to his advantage. For example, in Super Mario 64, he has explosive spiked balls around the platform they are on, which Mario can use to his advantage by grabbing him by the tail and throwing him towards them. He even gives Mario an idea on how he could defeat him by saying, “Go ahead--just try to grab me by the tail!” He is fought a total of three times in the game, but never changes his tactics and even decides to keep the same item Mario used to defeat him with in his first fight (the explosive spiked balls), implying that he truly doesn't want to defeat Mario, and only deos what he does to troll Mario.
Other than the battles he has with Mario, there are a lot more examples that can be used to prove that this is true. A few of them includes the fact that he allows Peach to send Mario letters (as shown in Super Mario 3D Land and in Super Mario Bros. 3) and even lets a group of Toads to help him in his quest by giving him useful items (when Mario enters their dwellings). If he was truly serious with his plans to kill Mario, wouldn't he prevent the Toads from aiding Mario and the princess in sending letters? You can't say he was unaware of this because I trust that she's in plain view to Bowser (or at least has minions watching her), and all of the Toads' dwellings are located in the path of each world, and minions sometimes patrol each world in some games. (This is mainly proven in the Super Mario Bros. series.) Also, he sends people that are clearly incapable (such as the Koopalings, Kamek, etc.) to defeat Mario. Wouldn't he send stronger people to defeat his archenemy instead of sending the same people who fail him time and time again?
Still not convinced? More evidence that can prove this is in the game Mario & Luigi: Bowser Inside Story. In the game, Bowser says the following after a group of Goombas, who were trapped in a cage, explain what happened to them: "'Marching straight ahead into the enemy's feet!' Didn't you memorize that in Goomba boot camp?" This in fact means that his own minions are taught to lose--more precissely, to get defeated by Mario via jumping on them.
This can be further proven at the end of Super Mario Odyssey, as he tried to get Peach's attention when she was with Mario, which implies that he was attempting to mess with Mario. After Peach rejects them both, Mario pats him on the back, implying that they never were true enemies to begin with. All in all, they were never true eniemes and Bowser was just messing with Mario this hole time. If they were, why would he join Mario and his friends in go-karting--or even join them in parties?
All these reasons prove that Bowser has no feelings for Princess Peach. However, whether Bowser has an actual crush on Princess Peach or is simply using her to take control of the Mushroom Kingdom is unknown, as Nintendo never confirmed this explicitly. But until they do, I say it's safe to assume that he doesn't have a crush on her.
