A.N. "Dis is my fiwst fic uwu", I don't own Nintendo, criticism of any kind is welcome, I write this chapter in literally 2 hours, yatta yatta yatta. You've all heard it a thousand times before, so I'll just let you get to the good stuff now.
So you want me to take a look at the head honcho himself first, eh, Colonel?
Well, I guess it can't to start with Mister Player 1 himself.
Mario is...a unique person. He's not necessarily the jolly man he looks to be on the surface, but he's not the psycho that some try to make him out to be, either. It's not any one thing that tells me this, but more of a collection of little things. I can't really name them all off the top of my head, so I guess I'll just piece this one together as I go along.
...I guess the first thing that sticks out would be how mentally strong he can be. The man's lived through more wars than there have been in my lifetime, but he still finds a way to be happy. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with him, though. The guy's no sociopath, and he's not as childish as his demeanor might indicate-I've seen him act remorseful, and he clearly understands cause and effect.
So what possibilities does that leave me with?
Personally, if I had to guess...I think it's because of the Princess. He's rescued her about a thousand times at this point, and he'd go to the ends of the earth if she asked him to. Peach, I think, is what lets him keep moving forward and stay positive every day, and everything he does is worth it so long as she's alright in the end. I have to wonder what their history is; very few people could be quite so devoted to another. And I'll admit that the Princess does have some sort of...elating effect on those around her, though that's a discussion I'll save for her profile.
Maybe that's just the power of love, as cheesy as it sounds.
The other thing I find interesting is his willingness to forgive. The man might as well be canonized as a saint for his patience. One day he's in a full-scale war with the Koopa Kingdom, the next he's go-karting with their king. It's really bizarre-I have to wonder if his world has a different sense of morality. Obviously there's still an understanding of right and wrong, but it seems like a lot of things we'd consider pretty serious transgressions are kind of glossed over there. Murder means a slap on the wrist, and kidnapping is seemingly forgotten as soon as it's over. Any serious, long-term punishment seems to be reserved for the most horrific offenders (you know, the eldritch demon-summoning types.) It's all kind of alien, really, though I guess when you can come back to life with a magic mushroom, maybe the permanence of death isn't that big of a problem.
His attitude can shift dramatically when things really get serious, though. For as jolly as he is in day-to-day life, and even in his scraps with Bowser, when he recognizes a real threat, he drops that entirely. The other Mario, the one that would punch Cthulhu in the face if need be, comes out to enact destruction on whatever it is that needs an ass-kicking. But what's interesting is that there isn't really "another" Mario. The innocent, forgiving Mario still exists under the surface. I don't think there's any sort of DID-type thing going on here. Fundamentally, I think they're the same person-it's just that there's a "switch" of sorts that flips in him when he sees somebody finally cross the line, and that switch is what tells him to get serious.
...Does that make any sense? I hope so.
That's about all I've got on Mario. Next time, give me a little more notice, Colonel.