Love For Dummies - The Top 50 Fictional Relationships Thread

[Kirin]

Dance Til Tomorrow is definitely the best X-rated comic I've ever read.

 

[Positronic Brain]

Time for today's entries!

---

#33 (tie)

Primrose/H'Aanit
34 points • 1 mentions • Highest rank: #2 (Solitayre)



Fandom: Octopath Traveler
Relationship type: octopath-implied
AO3 Factor: 69*
​

Ah, Octopath Traveler. I played the demo, liked it, purchased the game within the year... and it is still in the backlog. Don’t worry, it’s not that far in the queue, must be around the early twenties, so I probably will get to it within this decade.

I do know about these characters thanks to Octopath’s demo and the whole marketing campaign around it. They are two of the eight playable characters in this RPG - Primrose is a former noble who now moonlights as a dancer and is trying to find his father’s murder, while H’aanit is a hunter who, together with her leopard companion, is looking for her missing master.

Hey, look at that, they come pre-packaged with dramatic quests and a pet! This has potential.

In any case, playable characters in Octopath have supporting conversations between them, and that is the seed for this ship. Since I didn’t manage to get to this game before I had to write this entry, I asked Solitayre to tell me what’s good about this ship, and he wrote this back:

It's based pretty much entirely on this conversation.

…OK, yes, I can see it. Man, I’m so ready to ship this somewhere around 2029.

Impulsively purchasing games can cause stress if you don’t play them and just watch your queue grow, so it’s better to purchase them and then forget about them!




… What, a relationship lesson? OK

Don’t tell the Ms. how much you spend in games.

---

* nice!

 

[Positronic Brain]

---

#33 (tie)

Johnny/Moira
34 points • 1 mentions • Highest rank: #2 (Beta Metroid)

Fandom: Schitt's Creek
Relationship type: from-better-to-worse, canon
AO3 Factor: 199
​

Oh, man, another show I’m not familiar with at all. I asked Beta Metroid to give me a hand:

Schitt's Creek is the story of the Rose family, with former video store magnate Johnny married to actress Moira (as well as their two adult children, David and Alexis). Though both of their professional peaks are long behind them, they've been living extravagantly for decades until the show's opening moments when their business manager defrauds them. Some TV logic later, and they're living in a motel in the eponymous no-horse town.

The show starts off with a very Arrested Development "laugh at the once-wealthy family struggle to deal with completely unfamiliar hardships (as well as many scenarios that most of us wouldn't even consider hardships)" bend. But while there's humor in that for the entire show's run, the show's aim gradually shifts. The influence of their new social circle and circumstances rubs off on them, they all become much better people, and they re-examine and strengthen their relationships with each other. Audiences start out laughing at them and end up rooting for them.

The elder Roses' marriage is one of those key relationships. It's interesting, because while they're shown to have shallow, materialistic streaks, it's made quite clear from the outset that even at their worst, Johnny and Moira loved each other and their marriage was never in question. They make life harder for each other at times, they struggle to accommodate each other's quirks, and they do have limits to what they'll put up with, but they just have an unshakeable bond that's really refreshing to see. It goes from being one of their few redeeming qualities to the central element of two characters who have each come a long way.

The veteran performances of Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara certainly do a lot of work to bring these characters and their relationship to life. It's also noteworthy that Eugene's son Dan is the show's primary writer, and Eugene himself also contributes to the writing.

I get that. I’m also a sucker for married couples who stick and grow together in adversity. There’s a lesson here.

Nothing rekindles love like losing all your money and moving to a small town! So purchase all those ape PNGs, reply to all Nigerian princes, buy all the gacha pulls you can and get every game until your backlog bursts - you’re investing on your love life!

---

 

[Issun]

Yet another reminder that I really need to watch Schitt's Creek.

 

[Patrick]

It good.

 

[Kirin]

Yeah I finally gave in and watched the whole thing a year or two ago. It is indeed good.

 

[Violentvixen]

​

Aww I really like this art. Very cute and peaceful. Anyway Octopath is the best and it should be played.

 

[Positronic Brain]

#29 (tie)

Wilbur/Eliza
35 points • 1 mentions • Highest rank: #1 (Kishi)

Fandom: Slapstick
Relationship type: Better halves
AO3 Factor: 0​

I’m surprised to see this one, honestly, because this is a wild one. Slapstick is a novel by Kurt Vonnegut which, on its release, was buried under negative reviews, but it has become somewhat of a cult novel. He called it Slapstick because he considered it “grotesque, situational poetry” but it’s… well, it’s something.

Long story short - Wilbur and Eliza are twin siblings that were born grotesquely deformed. They are also special - they are literally two halves of a supersmart brain when they are together, but their mental capacities diminish when they are separated. While Wilbur is functional without his twin. Eliza can’t read or write when Wilbur's gone. Their relationship is not romantic, per se, but it's all about love - not physical or sexual love, but love in its purer state. They are literally only whole when they are together, in a way that us normal people would not be able to understand.

The book is about loneliness. Eliza and WIlbur form a person of two, and while society shuns and isolates them they find in each other solace and company and design great plans to save mankind from themselves. Their magnus opus - a plan to make it so nobody will ever be lonely again.

Kishi highlighted that he was voting for the book version of Eliza and Wilbur because this was adapted into a movie that I’ve never watched but, from all accounts, is beyond terrible. Sorry for using a frame from it, Kishi, but there’s not much Wilbur/Eliza art out there.

That said, you really don’t want to be the protagonist of a Vonnegut novel, even less a movie adaptation of a Vonnegut novel. Try to jump books ASAP.

---

 

[Positronic Brain]

---

#29 (tie)

Rena/Yuki
35 points • 1 mentions • Highest rank: #1 (q3)

Fandom: Blue Reflection: Second Light
Relationship type: spoilerific, canon
AO3 Factor: 1
​

So this is an entry from a game I didn’t know existed, but has entered my wishlist.

The premise, from what I’ve gathered, is that several girls suddenly awake together at an isolated high school and no other living beings in sight. The game is an RPG where you explore alternate realities based on memories called “heartscapes” where you unravel who these girls are and what they are doing in this mysterious place. It becomes a story about what makes people tick and about second chances.

And from what I’ve read, it goes down the usual RPG story complexities pretty fast. Looks like a ride.

As for our couple, q3 describes them as such:

A star-crossed couple who, thanks to the magic of video games, we get to see from many perspectives; past, present, and future. Fate keeps conspiring to keep them apart, and I've never played a JRPG with a better motivation to kill god.

You can spoil yourselves if you want (I wish I hadn’t) but let’s say that this couple has had to best the worst situations in order to finally get a chance to be together. Into the wishlist it goes.

Waking up alone with no memories in a closed environment and no memories has the advantage that you don’t have any embarrassing memories of past dating disasters. Make the best out of it!

---

 

[Peklo]

There's definitely a thread gamingside that I made for Second Light if people want to solicit opinions or talk further about it.

I didn't have the energy to participate in this vote, but these two likely would've made the cut.

 

[q 3]

I think I've said it before, but Second Light taught me that I personally want fewer dating simulators and more wingman simulators. The game has a Persona-ish social aspect where the protagonist can go on dates - lots of them - with the other girls, some platonic and some... not... but it's really refreshing to be able to hang out with an established couple as their mutual bestie.

 

[Positronic Brain]

---

#29 (tie)

Kaguya Shinomiya/Miyuki Shiroganei
35 points • 1 mentions • Highest rank: #1 (Johnny Unusual)

Fandom: Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
Relationship type: rivals-to-rivals, canonish
AO3 Factor: 60
​

Since I’m not familiar with this series, I asked Johnny Unusual about this ship and he wrote the entry for me!

Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya are the president and vice president of the prestigious Shuchiin Academy, a private learning academy for the wealthiest and the brightest. She comes from, even within the world of Shuchiin, a ridiculously wealthy family and has a noble air about her. He, conversely, comes from a relatively modest background, having made his way into the school through pure academic prowess and remains the top student in a school of privilege. Both are cool, collected and popular. Some have wondered if there is some sort of romance between them.

In fact, they feel the same way. But they are both confident. No need to go out of their way, they both want to wait for the other to come to them... but after six months of nothing and with no desire to be the first one to come out and start something, they have decided to try to force the hand of the other (after all, they MUST love them too... right?) through various plots and plans.

When this series started, the promotional material made it look like some weird edgelord romance or something but it wasn't clear until it started it was a classic Japanese-style romantic comedy with a gimmick. Like many of the classic anime romantic comedies, it's the classic trope of people who are just too pig-headed to admit their feelings and are so cynical about love, they are both convinced that if THEY were to tell the other they loved the other, they would somehow "lose" any leverage in their relationship.

In fact, it becomes clear that these two kids, who try to make each other confess through elaborate Death Note-style schemes and plots, truly and genuinely love each other and when the other is in trouble, they will truly go above and beyond to help them out. They simply are just far too insecure to put themselves out there and be vulnerable for fear of being hurt or "seen", because while both of them are extremely capable and intelligent, they also have a lot of things they lack. Kaguya is skilled in numerous fields but she's led an extremely sheltered life due to her extreme wealth. Miyuki is a study genius and one of the few students who has gotten to Schuchiin without money but he pretty much sucks at anything physical or artistic to a horrifying degree. They put on veneers of cool but both clearly are stupid goofs and while they are afraid to give their vulnerabilities, that's exactly what makes these dumb kids endearing and the fact that they try so hard.

They both have lots of flaws and almost definitely would be able to win over the other if they could muster up the courage to let themselves be seen but they are very convinced their naivety is some sort of cool correct cynicism and are too scared to drop the act, though they often come close when if comes to doing the right thing to help a friend. This pick definitely has some recency bias but I was really surprised to see it come into my #1. That dummy logic that keeps them apart for narrative convenience is also what keeps them so charmingly cute.

Why confess your attraction to somebody when you can just pull off a crazy 100 step plan to find out if the other person is attracted to you first? Sure, it might not work, but if does think of all the stories you’ll be able to tell your grandchildren!

---

 

[Positronic Brain]

---

#29 (tie)

Paul/Hugh
35 points • 1 mentions • Highest rank: #1 (Kirin)

Fandom: Star Trek: Discovery
Relationship type: slash-trek, canon
AO3 Factor: 1293
​

One of the best parts of Discovery was the Paul and Hugh romance.

Paul Stammets is the titular ship’s Chief Engineer and Chief Mycologist (long story), and Hugh Culber is the Chief Doctor of the ship. Also they’re married, and the series invests some time in domestic scenes between the two of them, and it’s charming as heck. It’s also a major milestone, as the first openly gay couple in Star Trek series - boldly going where Lucasfilm won’t.

And then Hugh dies at the hand of a Klingon with hair inserts (long story).

Then he gets better (longer story).

To this day I don’t know how much of Discovery’s taking back killing half of their first gay couple (and a person of color, besides) was a pre-calculated plot point and how much was damage control (I suspect it was entirely the later) but, man, they made life so much difficult for these characters after that. Their relationship is broken after Hugh’s resurrection and even if it heals, it is a long road to get there.

But during those first episodes they are together with almost no baggage, they are happy, and they brush their teeth together while traveling in a ship in Warp 5. This air of domesticity, this air of normalcy in the middle of weekly chaos is what made me love this ship so much.

It’s the small moments that make a relationship. Don’t worry much about the grand gestures and enjoy the little ones, because you never know when life altering things will happen, like somebody breaking your neck or getting your DNA spliced with code from a space-traveling tardigrade.

---

 

[Positronic Brain]

And with this the tie-palooza is over - after this all entries have two votes or more and there are only two ties. Please look forward to it.

 

[Positronic Brain]

So, I have an important trip coming up and my Internet access might be limited so, in order to not let hanging when we hit #5 or so, I'm going to keep posting during weekends. So, let's see what we have for today.

 

[Positronic Brain]

---

#28

Tidus/Yuna
38 points • 2 mentions • Highest rank: #17 (Issun, Positronic Brain)

Fandom: Final Fantasy X
Relationship type: the-bodyguard-spira-edition, canon
AO3 Factor: 285
​

Yuna and Tidus’ relationship makes the ending of FFX work.

To be fair, FFX is "Daddy Issues, The RPG" and those are what makes Yuna and Tidus start their journeys through Spira. Tidus is a man thrown into the future, where he finds out that somehow that’s where his abusive father had disappeared to when he abandoned him when he was a child - and worse, his father is considered a hero in this future. While Tidus wants to distance himself from his father, Yuna idolizes him and is following him in his footsteps; Yuna’s father was the Summoner that brought a decade of Calm to the world by defeating Sin, and she wants to repeat that feat.

So the shadows of their fathers set these stories into motion. But when things are at their lowest point, when Tidus and Yuna both learn that Sin’s cycle of rebirth is powered by lies and death, it’s their love for each other that grants them the strength to finish their journey. Even when it means that one of them won’t come back home from the final battle.

Tidus and Yuna’s romance grows naturally during the game. There’s attraction from the very beginning - Yuna’s guardian Lulu straights up warns Tidus not to fall in love with her - but it grows into something much deeper as Tidus learns about the depths of Yuna’s generosity and sacrifice, which nicely fits with Tidus’ reckless impulse to always do what’s right. The way they start a relationship mid-game, it feels right. One of FFX’s greatest achievements is that it nails the pacing of this relationship so well.

Two moments stand up on my mind - Tidus backing up Yuna when she wants to risk herself to rescue Kihmari (“Wherever you go I go”) and the infamous laughter scene, where Yuna, in her own dumb way, forces Tidus to laugh to try to make him feel better and endep up escalating into a race to see who could fake laught the most - and then they sincerely laughed about how ridiculous they were being. Dorks.

And then there’s the ending. If you’ve played this game, you’ll know why *that* moment is so powerful. If you haven’t, go give the game a spin. It’s worth your while.

And that, as they say, is that. Yes, we don’t talk about the sequels, particularly because, oh boy, they keep going weirder and weirder. Let us savor the bitterswetness that is vanilla X, dammit.

Never tell a teenager what to do. You should have known better, Lulu!

---

 

[Positronic Brain]

---

#27

Celes/Locke
39 points • 2 mentions • Highest rank: #14 (Kirin)

Fandom: Final Fantasy VI
Relationship type: chapters-of-a-self-help-booklet, canonish
AO3 Factor: 106​

Ah, one of the classics!

Locke is a Treasure Hunter (call him “thief” and he’ll rip your lungs out) with a huge guilt chip on his shoulder - Rachel, a girlfriend who lost her memory, in part because of his fault, and who died later at the hands of the Empire while he was away. This sense of guilt is what makes Locke join the resistance against the Empire and makes him perform stunts to save people, and this is partly what drives him to rescue former Imperial General Celes.

Celes is a Magitek Knight, a soldier artificially infused with magic. Under her command, Imperial forces took the city of Maranda by torching it and forcing its surrender. The guilt for this act eventually makes her defect from the Empire, but she gets arrested and thrown into a jail, were Locke helps her escape and join the rebellion.

You can see how this goes, uh?

Celes is somewhat of an ice queen. But magical skills aside, she’s also a bit cold and cynical, but warms to her new comrades as Locke gets to her. In spite of the attachment issues caused by his tragic past, Locke is a sensitive and selfless soul, and he starts to fall for Celes as he gets to know her and manages to put his past to rest (although, this being a RPG, that is literal, taking place behind a side-quest and a resurrecting McGuffin)

FFVI is an assemble story, so Celes and Locke’s stories are only a few thread of the whole tapestry, but it is a significant one, particularly since Celes is the protagonist of the game’s second half (spoilers!). Even if you never do the sidequests to settle Locke’s past, her longing for Locke is an important part of her characterization. And while this may sound a bit belittling - look at the chick longing for her man - Celes and Locke’s relationship is more symbiotic than most, They keep saving each other during the game, and they stand on equal footing. And at the end, when they save each other one last time after saving the world, you can’t help but root for these kids.

All this in an 1994 game for SNES. FFVI really blew my mind back then. A fleshed out romantic relationship being developed in front of my eyes in my videogames? More of this, please.

We all have some baggage -but whether it is an amnesiac girlfriend we abandoned out of guilt or the torching of a small idyllic town, we all have the right to true love in spite of that.

---

 

[Positronic Brain]

About Tidus and Yuna, I didn't want to put this into the article because ending spoilers for FFX but, godammit, this gets me every time.

Spoiler

remember to bring out your tissues around the 2:30 mark

One more thing - one thing I loved about FFX is that, since Tidus and Yuna's relationship takes the next step mid-quest, the writers even manage to write ups and downs before the game ends. I wonder how much time it took developers to model Yuna's look when she realizes Tidus is hiding something when they learn the Aeons and their dreaming will fade when Yu Yevon is banished. - it was a minor thing, but it makes their relationship feel so real.

 

[Issun]

Tidus and Yuna are both huge fucking dorks which is why they work so well together, and the ending of FFX gets me every time. The laughing scene is good, actually.

Celes and Locke are great but their relationship didn't get as much development as it deserved and I stuck with canon romances only.

 

[Kirin]

I don't want to spoil too much about Paul and Hugh for people who haven't seen the later seasons but suffice it to say despite some hard times they find their way back to being a family and continue to be delightful.

That one's also got recency bias in it of course, but I do think they'll stay up near the top for me, they're just so good. Locke and Celes, of course, are an old fave who hit right as I was leaving home for college and will always hit me right in the nostalgia.

 

[Positronic Brain]

---

#26

Fran/Balthier
40 points • 2 mentions • Highest rank: #15 (Kirin)

Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Relationship type: plausible-deniability, schrodingers-canon
AO3 Factor: 171​

What’s with all the Final Fantasy ships landing next to each other in the list? Anyhow, this is different to the others because it is not undisputably canon, but there’s nothing in the game to definitively disprove it either. In the end, it all goes down to how you interpret the material - is Han Solo getting down with Chewbacca?

Balthier is a Sky Pirate - a dashing rogue who steals from the rich to give to…. Well, himself, but sure, the poor, why not? He’s smooth, suave, self-assured and, if you ask him, totally the leading man of Final Fantasy XII. But his greatest strength ls his right-hand woman, Fran. She’s a Vera with wanderlust, and left her bunny-eared brethren to see the world beyond her borders, and somehow allied herself with our sky pirate.

How long have they known each other? How did they meet? Was it before or after Balthier’s Secret and Tragic Past played out? Hell, does Fran know about Secret and Tragic Past? And when it comes down to it, what exactly are they? Sure, they are partners in crime, but are they just buddies or *partners* in "crime"? Because sometimes they act just like pirate-captain and first-mate and sometimes they act as an old married couple.

Part of the charm of this couple, for me, it’s the mystery itself. The way FFXII is written, us not having the complete picture of Fran and Balthier’s relationship is really on brand. We get stuck with the point of view of the party, and what we see are two characters who are fiercely faithful to each other, who have fun being together and who compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses - and who stick o each other even against insurmountable odds. If Balthier is facing a suicide mission, Fran is going to be there without thinking about it - but don’t worry, leading couples don’t die.

Whether they sneak kisses while the camera is not focused on them is just the hypothetical icing on the theoretical cake.

Having a Tragic Backstory seems to be key to a good relationship. And if leading men can reinvent them to run away from Tragic Backstories, then the reverse must be true - you can reinvent yourself to have a Tragic Backstory to reinvent yourself to not have a Tragic Backstory. Genius!

---

 

[Positronic Brain]

---

#24 (tie)

Leslie/Ben
44 points • 2 mentions • Highest rank: #12 (Rascally Badger)

Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Relationship type:
AO3 Factor: 1329​

So, I missed the boat on “Parks and Recreation”, so I am entirely in the dark regarding this pairing, but it does appear to be wildly popular. Heck, just googling for the image above I got hit with a thousand articles and fanworks.

So, what makes this ship so good?

Leslie is the star of the show, and is an ever-energetic optimist, and Ben is is a late addition who is a (mostly) down to earth realist. They both share a passion for government. Ben helps Leslie focus her enthusiasm into productive channels, and Leslie helps Ben push back harder into actually accomplishing things. While this applies most strongly to their work lives, it also applies to their personal lives. And Park & Rec is an upbeat show which allows them to have their own idiosyncratic passions, and how the two of them support each other, even when they don't share that particular passion, is what makes them great.

Google’s top hits also tell me they somehow make it all the way into the White House in the future. So unless The Algorithm is now writing fanfiction, that’s what I call a power couple.

Despite the potential payoff, dating within the office pool can be risky - if it doesn’t work out you have to lead with the fallout, and if it does work out you might end up leading western civilization.

---

 

[Kirin]

How the heck did I forget to put Leslie/Ben on my list? My bad, they should totally rank higher.

And yeah, I have my two fave FF ships up here from my two fave FF games now. Fran and Balthier are the rare characters, much less couple, who manage to be effortlessly cool while still being fiercely caring and occasionally even vulnerable. As Pos said, the fact that it's all just below the surface text only makes it more delicious.

I also, uh, may sometimes throw other characters into that ship as well, but that's firmly into fanfic-only territory.

 

[Positronic Brain]

#24 (tie)

Han/Leia
44 points • 2 mentions • Highest rank: #8 (Issun)

Fandom: Star Wars
Relationship type: princess-and-scoundrel, canon
AO3 Factor: 5638
​

I’m honestly surprised this scored this low. What can I say about this? By this point everybody, in spite of what you think about the relationship, has heard about Han and Leia, have *watched* Han and Leia. They’re *the* Star Wars couple, and for many people they are the definitive version of the bickering couple.

So, Han Solo is a scoundrel (but a nice one!). He’s a smuggler who is all confidence (even when he’s half over his head, which is half of the time) who takes this job to take this kid and his old mentor to Alderaan and gets himself involved in the rescue of one of the leaders of the Rebellion, hot-headed and kick-ass Princess Leia, an idealistic young woman he immediately butts heads with.

We all know how that ends.

What’s so good about it? Leia and Han are attracted to each other in spite of their common sense - they come from different backgrounds and have very different outlooks of life, they are literal opposites and as such they are attracted to each other immediately. Their bickering is really good, and Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford do sell us that chemistry that makes us think that, yes, there’s a hell of a spark in there and is going to make such a pretty fire.

And I did like what they did with them in the final trilogy - they are separated, bitter from the guilt over what happened to their son, but still very much in love with each other. You get the sense that they would gladly spend the rest of their lives together if they didn’t want to strangle each other so much, but they don't let petty things like a painful past get in the way of doing hat's right for each other.

This relationship could have been healthy - it was on its way there when we saw it on Return of the Jedi. It didn’t end up like that, but while it flared it was as bright as an Death Star exploding.

A guy like that and a girl like her… don’t believe the naysayers, trust your guts. It helps if you’re Harrison Ford, though.

---

 

[Positronic Brain]

---

#23

Sheridan/Delenn
45 points • 2 mentions • Highest rank: #2 (Positronic Brain)

Fandom: Babylon 5
Relationship type: interstellar-power-couple, canon
AO3 Factor: 351
​

Babylon 5 was our best, last hope for quality TV - a series with a finite story (beginning, middle, end) where the whole arc was planned in advance and, while most chapters would be stand alone, each one would move the plot along a bit more than the previous until every episode would be entirely dedicated to The Arc. Sounds like most modern TV, but in 1992 this was groundbreaking, a novel for TV where every character, every plot beat counted.

And then the main actor quit at the end of Season 1.

But it’s OK, because just in case they missed an actor, the showrunner sneaked in “trapdoors”, plan Bs that could be activated so the story wouldn’t derail too much. In this case, in the departure of Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, he put Captain John “Starkiller” Sheridan in place of the Babylon 5 station, and the whole series shifted for the best.

While his predecessor was stoic and aloof, Sheridan was all smiles and politeness hiding a stern interior. Sheridan was a survivor of the Earth-Minbari war, which Earth “won” because the Minbari mysteriously surrendered when their armada reached Earth's orbit after steamrolling all of Earth's military - Sheridan scored the only human victory in that war by, literally, cheating. In the station, he has to butt heads with aambassador from the major powers, including Delenn, the Minbari ambassador, a gentle calm soul but who is secretly one of the most tough badasses and most powerful persons in this side of the galaxy, a secret member of the ruling Minbari Council that doesn’t like the Starkiller being on charge of this supposedly neutral space station.

And they fall in love almost at first sight.

It’s a romance of equals, one that wouldn’t have happened if Sinclair had stayed, and becomes the heart of the show. Their relationship develops slowly in front of our eyes, born from mutual respect and admiration and, in spite of their differences, out of slowly gained trust. And any and all conflicts they find in their way don’t come from external sources but from their internal flaws and, well, their tendency to keep things secret since they are, you know, politicians in position of power. Secrets like that she was the tie-breaking vote that started the Earth-Minbari war and killed a quarter million people, and she’s been trying to atone for that ever since. But hey, minor speed bumps.

Yes, they were in opposite sides of the war, and watching them grow closer during the series, in spite of the hundred curveballs their positions and the universe throws at them is one of the highlights of Babylon 5. And while the series begins as a space conspiracy thriller, by the final episode you know that it has always been a personal drama, centered around these two people who truly, really love each other.

Not bad for a plan B.

Hiding secrets is not good for any relationship, and if they do get out hope you’re really good at groveling or commanding an army to rescue your loved one in the nick of time. Either/or.

---

 

[Positronic Brain]

Re: B5, it helps a lot that Delenn was, as I said, very spiritual and usually very calm and very zen like. But that's partly her control mechanism, because she's learned that when she gets mad she gets impulsive and bad things happen (like an interestellar war). Which can be a good thing when she's on your side.

Sheridan, good luck. You are not going to win a single household dispute in your life.

I'd also post my favorite shipping moment but most of them are heck of spoilers since usually they are tied to major story beats and shifts. When I say this relationship is the core of the series, I'm not kidding.

 

[Torzelbaum]

A guy like that and a girl like her… don’t believe the naysayers, trust your guts. It helps if you’re Harrison Ford, though.

So never let them tell you the odds?

 

[q 3]

Sheridan/Delenn just barely made my list even though I haven't watched Babylon 5 in many years, largely on the power of some of Delenn's scenes that remain etched into my brain - particularly the one @Positronic Brain posted and another from much later in the series that I'm sure is a major spoiler.

 

[Issun]

I am pretty shocked only one other person voted for Han and Leia.

 

[Positronic Brain]

So never let them tell you the odds?

Godammit, the joke was right there. Well done.