In which Kamek fully knows the single parent struggle! o3o
Funfacts for the headcanon:
-Bowser’s parents are perfectly fine and are, in fact, alive, they’re just bad parents. And bad rulers for that matter. Kamek is largely the reason why the Koopa Kingdom didn’t fall to ruin under their reign since he basically ran the kingdom himself; the king and queen were too busy out partying or taking several vacations as the expense of their subjects. And when Bowser came into the picture? Same deal; Kamek was already running the kingdom, why not have him raise their child too?
-Bowser was a very mischievous and adventurous child, always getting into things he wasn’t supposed to! Kamek had a hard time keeping up with him most days and would often refer to several books on how to rear children for advice. His favorite is “Child Raising for Imbeciles”, a book series written by old friend Toadsworth.
-Bowser straight-up sees Kamek as his dad, and he calls him “Ba”. His blood parents can barely get him to call them “Mother” or “Father”, as he often uses their actual names instead; he doesn’t really like either of them to be frank.
-Kamek initially attempted to snatch Mario and Luigi when they were babies because he wanted to give bab Bowser some playmates so he wouldn’t be so lonely. Of course this failed, but the irony in it is that years later, the Brothers and Bowser end up friends anyway.
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And ye! Some fun little headcanons I wanted to share with ya’ll! Apologies for the slowness in content as of late, been trying to find a new groove to get into between these and commissions so it’s a bit of a process ;w; At any rate, hope ya enjoy the art and headcanons and if you have any questions feel free to ask! uwu
herbieus asked: How does the kingdom see Kamek? Do they see him as their official ruler?
Not at all; despite Kamek being the reason why the kingdom didn’t fall into shambles, he was not and is not seen as a ruler by any stretch of the word. This is specifically because no matter how much he does to keep the kingdom running, there’s only so much he can do before he enters territory he simply has no power over. He’s the monarch’s head advisor and steward, but unlike Toadsworth who was given the authority to completely run the Mushroom Kingdom in the King’s absence, Kamek was not. So real big decisions such as alliances (forming and severing them), the creation of laws, and so on he had no official say in.
To directly answer your question: when Bowser’s parents were still in power, most of the kingdom was discontent with the rule but couldn’t really do much about it since at the time the Koopa Kingdom was an absolute Monarchy. They highly preferred Kamek’s way of doing things in comparison to the king and queen, but understood Kamek wasn’t their monarch and as such, legit couldn’t do much about how the king and queen went about their business. Ironically, they probably survived so long specifically because the ruling couple was that irresponsible and mainly left them to their own devices, and that served them well until Bowser was finally old enough to become King. It’s thanks to Kamek’s teachings that allowed Bowser to be a far better monarch than either of his parents too and in result he’s extremely popular with his subjects.