Platonic Pairings

[NekoKnight]

Re: Ike discussion, I always thought he was asexual so it's hard to imagine him being romantically involved with anyone.

They've been mentioned before but I really enjoyed Chrom/M!Robin and Eliwood/Hector. Fire Emblem seems to be pretty good at writing platonic relationships and not so good at doing romantic ones.

[Slumber]

14 minutes ago, eclipse said:

I raise you Vaida/Canas.

I see your Canas/Vaida and raise you a Canas/Pent.

That support has a great punchline.

I never realized how much I liked Canas prior to this thread.

Edited February 25, 2017 by Slumber

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Non romantic supports in Awakening and Fates tend to be pretty good. Must be easy to write when these two don't need to bang at the end of the day. How did Leo put it..."See how your options increase?"

My favorite is Ninian/Florina getting over their fear of other people together.

[eclipse]

14 minutes ago, Slumber said:

I see your Canas/Vaida and raise you a Canas/Pent.

That support has a great punchline.

I never realized how much I liked Canas prior to this thread.

That's because Canas was written as an all-around great guy who has an off-screen wife.  See: Canas/Nino, which is both adorable and a little sad.

[Slumber]

Just now, eclipse said:

That's because Canas was written as an all-around great guy who has an off-screen wife.  See: Canas/Nino, which is both adorable and a little sad.

It's like IS was like "You know Hugh's dad, who died trying to stop a blizzard? Let's make him one of the best characters in the next game with a lot of thoughtful and fun supports, and an incredibly powerful unit who can one-shot the final boss. He'll be the Nino's uncle/Raigh/Lugh's great uncle, the one who calmed down Bartre and got him to read, AND he'll be one of the only people to inquire into the nature of morphs! When they finish the game and realize he dies in vain with his wife, they'll be so heartbroken!"

But yeah, can't really go wrong with any of his supports as far as content goes. He's a bro to everyone.

[Extrasolar]

1 hour ago, saisymbolic said:

I actually liked Hana/Setsuna as well, considering Setsuna's lack of a personality i still sorta like Setsuna tho Tharja/Nowi was pretty endearing, and I liked the glimpse of kindness Tharja was given.

Hey, hey, hey, Setsuna has a personality. It's Haar's personality. Sleepy and unmotivated. The only thing she's lacking is game-breaking stats, an awesome wyvern, and an eyepatch.

9 minutes ago, Gustavos said:

Non romantic supports in Awakening and Fates tend to be pretty good. Must be easy to write when these two don't need to bang at the end of the day. How did Leo put it..."See how your options increase?"

Basically this. Platonic supports between opposite sex people, IS. Please make more of them happen. They can be amazing.

[Augestein]

24 minutes ago, Gustavos said:

Non romantic supports in Awakening and Fates tend to be pretty good. Must be easy to write when these two don't need to bang at the end of the day. How did Leo put it..."See how your options increase?"

My favorite is Ninian/Florina getting over their fear of other people together.

Olivia / Maribelle. That ending, I legitimately laughed. And I love Cynthia versus Severa. It's like a anti-support chain Haha. 

[saisymbolic]

31 minutes ago, Extrasolar said:

Hey, hey, hey, Setsuna has a personality. It's Haar's personality. Sleepy and unmotivated. The only thing she's lacking is game-breaking stats, an awesome wyvern, and an eyepatch.

Oh, that's why! I knew she was missing something! They say that a good eyepatch and a flying lizard makes the character! 

[mikethepokemaster]

19 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I always preferred to see Robin and Lucina as platonic because she's his best friend's daughter and potentially related to him.

Hector and Lyn are also characters I'd rather keep platonic. 

I rather like them as a couple Lucina and Robin that is. I agree with you on Hector and Lyn since I ship them with different people Hector with Florina and Lyn with Mark/Tactian. 

Platonic pairing Eliwood and Hector bromance is lovely it just sad what happens to Hector in FE Binding Blade. 

Chrome and Robin bromance is great too.

Sully and Sumia

Cordelia and Sumia is great too even though they are pinning for the same guy.

Wish Severa and Lucina had a support though why IS!! why!!

[The Geek]

4 hours ago, Augestein said:

Olivia / Maribelle. That ending, I legitimately laughed. And I love Cynthia versus Severa. It's like a anti-support chain Haha. 

I still can't get over the fact that Inigo's flirting is Maribelle's fault.

Amelia/Duessel is very good.  I also like Lilina/Gonzales (though you could interpret that as Gonzales having a one-sided crush on Lilina)

Also seconding Sumia/Sully, and I also like Sumia/Cordelia.  Still sad that Sumia/Olivia wasn't a thing, that would have been a really cute support chain I imagine.

And Eirika/L'Arachel and Eirika/Tana, though I'm not sure whether those are really non-romantic, considering just about everyone in Sacred Stones desperately wants to get into Eirika's miniskirt.

Louise/Rebecca is pretty cute too.  And Clarine/Dorothy.

[Shin]

Henry and Ricken is probably my favourite support set in Awakening, it conveys a deeper sense of kinship than any of the romantic supports did, and you get to see sides of the two beyond "lol, let's get funky with X". Ike/Elincia is also a really nice platonic pair, since they clearly have a respect for each other despite the differences in their experiences.

[Punished Dayni]

17 hours ago, eclipse said:

That's because Canas was written as an all-around great guy who has an off-screen wife.  See: Canas/Nino, which is both adorable and a little sad.

Canas/Nino is my favourite of his convos.

I really wanted something of a conversation between Leaf and Aless, as Seliph is already chill with them and sorting that would allow the three kids to be like their dads.

[Jotari]

7 hours ago, Dayni said:

Canas/Nino is my favourite of his convos.

I really wanted something of a conversation between Leaf and Aless, as Seliph is already chill with them and sorting that would allow the three kids to be like their dads.

I'd like to see Quan and Eldigan talk or at least refer to each other since their friendship is completely alleged.

Edited February 26, 2017 by Jotari

[Content Respecter]

Kind of a weird one, but Nowi and Vaike's relationship in Awakening is really well done, and their S-Support reads as strictly platonic. Vaike gives her a ring that's explicitly a symbol of his own legacy, to help resolve their mutual anxiety about death. I think it's neat and really sweet.

Also Ike/Elincia, knight/liege dynamics are the richest when they're not rooted in formal constructs or in romance.

[Gyges]

On 2/24/2017 at 1:42 PM, Radiant head said:

I knew before clicking that this thread would be "romantic pairs I don't like" 

lol right?

Ike and Titania is one of my favorite supports, so is Hector and Eliwood's B support specifically (I got it right before playing fe6 afterward too...)

Tbh one of the things I liked about fe8 was the paired endings that weren't marriage either.

I also prefer a lot of family or ones with an older and younger characters to stay that way :V

I know I'm forgetting a lot of others

[Irysa]

Beowulf and Lachesis 

Okay for real....

Marth and Catria

...

Ogma and Caeda?

Okay okay, fine, real ones; Treck and Noah, Gonzalez and Garret. Hugh + any kid is pretty great too, as is Bartre and Cath. I like Fae's supports with like, everyone too? Jeez, it's so weird to realise I actually really like the supports with kid characters so much in a context where there's an actual nice dynamic for the age and experience differences.

 

On 24/02/2017 at 7:42 PM, Radiant head said:

I knew before clicking that this thread would be "romantic pairs I don't like" 

Pretty on point tbh.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Irysa

[Dragrath]

On 2/24/2017 at 9:37 PM, NekoKnight said:

Re: Ike discussion, I always thought he was asexual so it's hard to imagine him being romantically involved with anyone.

They've been mentioned before but I really enjoyed Chrom/M!Robin and Eliwood/Hector. Fire Emblem seems to be pretty good at writing platonic relationships and not so good at doing romantic ones.

I have to agree with this most of the Romantic pairings seem to simply come out of the blue (Especially if you look at the anyone can pair with anyone games of FE13-14... Those tend to be quite a mess considering they have only a one support jump from Platonic to marriage...) And you can add FE 10 to that list due to the lacking nature of those supports... Really makes some pairing's seem to come out of the blue... 

[Anacybele]

8 minutes ago, Dragrath said:

I have to agree with this most of the Romantic pairings seem to simply come out of the blue (Especially if you look at the anyone can pair with anyone games of FE13-14... Those tend to be quite a mess considering they have only a one support jump from Platonic to marriage...) And you can add FE 10 to that list due to the lacking nature of those supports... Really makes some pairing's seem to come out of the blue... 

I agree on RD pairings seemingly coming out of nowhere. Just about all of them do, imo. Which is why I could never like many of them. PoR had real supports and character development, so all my pairing preferences, both romantic and platonic, largely came from that game. I probably would've been totally cool with, say, Geoffrey/Elincia if the foster sibling thing was absent and it was actually built upon more in RD. Sothe x Micaiah? Again, stop calling them siblings! Boyd and Mist? It would help if Mist wasn't seemingly only really close with Rolf... Though I don't mind either pairing. Haar x Jill...age gap. Otherwise, it's pretty sweet, actually. Naesala x Leanne is the only RD paired ending I really like.

10 hours ago, The Strongest Country Girl said:

Also Ike/Elincia, knight/liege dynamics are the richest when they're not rooted in formal constructs or in romance.

Then doesn't Geoffrey/Elincia count here too? They're even more knight/liege than Ike and Elincia are. :P

Edited March 6, 2017 by Anacybele

[Extrasolar]

6 minutes ago, Dragrath said:

And you can add FE 10 to that list due to the lacking nature of those supports... Really makes some pairing's seem to come out of the blue... 

I disagree on this front (not on the lacking nature of supports, as that's definitely not arguable); pretty much all of the paired endings in the game are built up through Path of Radiance (Elincia x Geoffrey is an obvious one; Sothe x Micaiah also obvious, Haar x Jill due to how much they bonded and their relationship with Shiharam, etc.) I personally  dislike the latter two and would much have preferred them to stay platonic as I see their relationship as more akin to a sibling one than a romantic one.

[Anacybele]

13 minutes ago, Extrasolar said:

I disagree on this front (not on the lacking nature of supports, as that's definitely not arguable); pretty much all of the paired endings in the game are built up through Path of Radiance (Elincia x Geoffrey is an obvious one; Sothe x Micaiah also obvious, Haar x Jill due to how much they bonded and their relationship with Shiharam, etc.) I personally  dislike the latter two and would much have preferred them to stay platonic as I see their relationship as more akin to a sibling one than a romantic one.

How is Geoffrey/Elincia obvious? All they get are two easily missable supports. Geoffrey only supports with Elincia and Callil, the latter of which is only recruitable in a base conversation. Geoffrey and Elincia's support can easily be interpreted as a sibling relationship. That's how I always saw it anyway. I never saw any hints of them being a couple, though also partly due to never seeing the Geoffrey/Callil support until long after I completed both games. There is no obvious build up here. Not like there was for Ike and Elincia, anyway. They interacted a lot, got a support, and no matter what, you see that they grow close and show a lot of chemistry. At the very least, Elincia should've had Ike as a second ending option.

Also, you didn't mention Boyd x Mist or Makalov x Astrid. Boyd and Mist never seemed close at all. If anything, Boyd liked Titania and Mist liked Rolf from what I saw. Makalov and Astrid? Again, easily missable and optional supports. Not obvious. Gatrie and Astrid are recruited together, they had more "obviousness" to them.

I feel like PoR was aiming for Ike x Elincia, Rolf x Mist, and maybe Boyd x Titania, but IS changed their minds in RD for whatever reason.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Anacybele

[Extrasolar]

9 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

How is Geoffrey/Elincia obvious? All they get are two easily missable supports. Geoffrey only supports with Elincia and Callil, the latter of which is only recruitable in a base conversation. Geoffrey and Elincia's support can easily be interpreted as a sibling relationship. That's how I always saw it anyway. I never saw any hints of them being a couple, though also partly due to never seeing the Geoffrey/Callil support until long after I completed both games. There is no obvious build up here. Not like there was for Ike and Elincia, anyway. They interacted a lot, got a support, and no matter what, you see that they grow close. At the very least, Elincia should've had Ike as a second ending option.

Also, you didn't mention Boyd x Mist or Makalov x Astrid. Boyd and Mist never seemed close at all. If anything, Boyd liked Titania and Mist liked Rolf from what I saw. Makalov and Astrid? Again, easily missable and optional supports. Not obvious. Gatrie and Astrid are recruited together, they had more "obviousness" to them.

I feel like PoR was aiming for Ike x Elincia, Rolf x Mist, and maybe Boyd x Titania, but IS changed their minds in RD for whatever reason.

Geoffrey's clearly got a crush on Elincia (Calill sees it clear as day in their supports), and he's slavishly loyal to her and crazy devoted, even for a knight to his liege. Elincia is pretty much who his life revolves around, and Elincia is fond of Geoffrey in turn. Makes sense that they would get married.

Gatrie's doomed to be forever alone forever, just as his joke. Astrid wasn't in to him; she just appreciated his kindness.

Astrid was obsessed with Makalov in Radiant Dawn. She fawned over him and let him take advantage of her, even when other characters were telling her to wise up. She was the only person defending him from everyone else calling him on his BS, calling him a "good person" and all that. Actually one of Astrid's more frustrating moments, in hindsight. But them getting married makes sense because of it.

I feel like it's prudent to note that any Ike x Elincia hints in POR are the result of localization. Reading the original scrips, none of that was there. I assumed the localization team thought they would be a thing in the sequel, which they weren't, and then immediately had to sweep any of their writing concerning that under the rug.

Boyd and Titania? Nah, the most they get is Boyd awkwardly confessing some sort of attraction to Titania, and Titania being weirded out and awkward over it. Titania just tends to lecture Boyd for being dense or lazy.

I mean, when he calls her "a really nice mom" and asks her if she's older than his mother in their support...

Edited March 6, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Anacybele]

13 minutes ago, Extrasolar said:

Geoffrey's clearly got a crush on Elincia (Calill sees it clear as day in their supports), and he's slavishly loyal to her and crazy devoted, even for a knight to his liege. Elincia is pretty much who his life revolves around, and Elincia is fond of Geoffrey in turn. Makes sense that they would get married.

Gatrie's doomed to be forever alone forever, just as his joke. Astrid wasn't in to him; she just appreciated his kindness.

Astrid was obsessed with Makalov in Radiant Dawn. She fawned over him and let him take advantage of her, even when other characters were telling her to wise up. She was the only person defending him from everyone else calling him on his BS, calling him a "good person" and all that. Actually one of Astrid's more frustrating moments, in hindsight. But them getting married makes sense because of it.
 

Geoffrey denies having a crush though, and says Elincia is beyond his station, hinting that he is not pursuing her, even if he's lying about not having a crush. And like I said, that support is easily missable and not obvious. Elincia is fond of a lot of people. She doesn't marry Ike, Lucia, Bastian, or any of them. She even tells Ike he is irreplaceable to her. Also, Elincia treats Geoffrey very formally, especially in RD. "You are surely my finest and most faithful knight." Does that sound like someone in love with him to you? At most, I think Geoffrey has a one-sided crush on her. It may make sense for them to get married, but not to be totally in love. I still theorize Elincia settled on him because Ike left and for political stuff, mainly to be able to produce a legit heir. Poor Geoffrey, I know... He honestly does deserve better than that. I really don't like this much more than the idea of them being in love, honestly.

Another thing, Elincia mentions Ike in her death quotes more than anyone, including in RD. Was this localization too? I never checked, but it's something to note. She asks Ike to look after Crimea if she falls in that chapter where she disarms herself (with Geoffrey present, no less), and she says "my noble Ike, all your plans..." if she falls in part 4 Endgame. If she doesn't love Ike more than Geoffrey, I'd be surprised.

Astrid wasn't obsessed with Makalov UNTIL RD. There was nothing between them in PoR, just Makalov being forced to return her heirloom at most. And all of a sudden, they're engaged and she's cleaning up after him? Where'd this come from?

Quote

I feel like it's prudent to note that any Ike x Elincia hints in POR are the result of localization. Reading the original scrips, none of that was there. I assumed the localization team thought they would be a thing in the sequel, which they weren't, and then immediately had to sweep any of their writing concerning that under the rug.

I'm aware of what the localization did. However, you still can't ignore the chemistry they built up regardless, and PoR's ending, which had Elincia hold Ike's hand to her chest and then the two walk out the door holding hands, both of which are more often romantic gestures than not between the opposite genders. And there are the deathquotes from Elincia that I mentioned above.

If Geoffrey and Elincia had build up, Ike and Elincia had just as much, if not more, regardless of the version of the game.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Anacybele

[Extrasolar]

14 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Geoffrey denies having a crush though, and says Elincia is beyond his station.

He's lying through his teeth. 

He knows that a relationship with her would be inappropriate, but it's there, no matter how much he tries to hide it. The man yearns powerfully for her, as they say.

14 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Elincia is fond of a lot of people. She doesn't marry Ike, Lucia, Bastian, or any of them. She even tells Ike he is irreplaceable to her. Also, Elincia treats Geoffrey very formally, especially in RD. "You are surely my finest and most faithful knight." Does that sound like someone in love with him to you? At most, I think Geoffrey has a one-sided crush on her. It may make sense for them to get married, but not to be totally in love. I still theorize Elincia settled on him because Ike left and for political stuff, mainly to be able to produce a legit heir. Poor Geoffrey, I know... He honestly does deserve better than that. I really don't like this much more than the idea of them being in love, honestly.

I'm not denying that Ike and Elincia have a strong bond, but I see it as strictly platonic due to strongly asexual/aromantic Ike (not canon in any way, just how I see him based on how the game itself writes him).

Elincia treats Geoffrey formally, but I think that's more of a result of her station as queen and his as her loyal knight. At least those two are professional enough to keep it business before pleasure.

Even if they are very formal with one another (and Geoffrey is just a formal guy in general), it's clear that they're very close, to the point that she threatens to strip Geoffrey of his knightly rank (which is basically the same as emotionally assassinating him, considering how much he's married to that job) simply because he's too adamant about charging forward to protect her, and she's scared that he's going to get seriously injured or killed. She knows how much such a thing would hurt him, and Geoffrey is destroyed by the thought that it seems like Elincia doesn't want him around. Elincia has to backpedal quickly and tell him that it's not the case after she explains herself.

14 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Astrid wasn't obsessed with Makalov UNTIL RD. There was nothing between them in PoR, just Makalov being forced to return her heirloom at most. And all of a sudden, they're engaged and she's cleaning up after him? Where'd this come from?

I'll give you this point. I agree on Astrid's sudden infatuation with him being...well, sudden. Her extreme fixation on Makalov and sudden blindness to how much of a douche the guy really is was random and a little off-putting, especially considering that Astrid's never been stupid, just naive and sweet-tempered, and her conversation with Sothe in POR was a good step in establishing that while she may be kind, she's not a complete doormat...and then RD happened to her character. Argh. That's a rant for another day, though. ...And kind of a scary thought. What exactly did he do to her to get her to worship the ground he walks on?!

But I was just pointing out that a paired ending in RD's context for them does make sense...even if it's kind of inexplicable how they got there.
 

14 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

However, you still can't ignore the chemistry they built up regardless, and PoR's ending, which had Elincia hold Ike's hand to her chest and then the two walk out the door holding hands, both of which are more often romantic gestures than not between the opposite genders.

If Geoffrey and Elincia had build up, Ike and Elincia had just as much, regardless of the version of the game.

Holding hands can be an intimate gesture, but it can also be platonic between good friends, regardless of sex. Just speaking personally, I see people reading romance into every action between a male and female character, even if they would otherwise see it as a sign of good friends. But then again, one could argue that everyone is guilty of this to some extent, and one could easily use this as an argument against Elincia being attracted to Geoffrey.

Definitely not denying that Ike and Elincia had great scenes and character moments together; I just think any romantic undertones are the fault of localization writing trying to go with the classic "hero gets the girl" story in the end, even if the original just wasn't conducive to that. Ike just shows zero interest in romance otherwise, and especially in Radiant Dawn, so a lot of those scenes with Elincia in POR are inexplicable. Dammit, inconsistent writing. Lol.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Anacybele]

22 minutes ago, Extrasolar said:

Holding hands can be an intimate gesture, but it can also be platonic between good friends, regardless of sex. Just speaking personally, I see people reading romance into every action between a male and female character, even if they would otherwise see it as a sign of good friends. But then again, one could argue that everyone is guilty of this to some extent, and one could easily use this as an argument against Elincia being attracted to Geoffrey.

Definitely not denying that Ike and Elincia had great scenes and character moments together; I just think any romantic undertones are the fault of localization writing trying to go with the classic "hero gets the girl" story in the end, even if the original just wasn't conducive to that. Ike just shows zero interest in romance otherwise, and especially in Radiant Dawn, so a lot of those scenes with Elincia in POR are inexplicable. Dammit, inconsistent writing. Lol.

I know, but given that we see Elincia do this with Ike and not with Geoffrey at any point (nor are they hinted to have done this), it was the biggest thing that made me a shipper of the two. The localization's shenanigans were icing on the cake, really. I actually grew to love the pairing more mainly because of the ending (although that Ike and Shinon conversation late in the game is the most amusing moment lol). And there are still those deathquotes in RD I mentioned, which as far as I know, weren't localization only. So I disagree, while localization is responsible for SOME of the romanticish stuff, they didn't do all of it.

I'm not denying that Geoffrey and Elincia are close either. They grew up together. But I still feel like Elincia telling Geoffrey to stop protecting her or that she'll take his title away is akin to a little sister telling her big brother to stop being overprotective. And given that they were foster siblings, it makes enough sense (and that's another reason I didn't like the pairing, I don't like romances between people who are family/related or anything that implies or might imply any kind of incest). Hell, now that I think about it, I'm going to write Ike's and Elincia's children similarly (this was unintentional though, it only just occurred to me). The son tries too much to protect the daughter, and she has to tell him to stop it or else she'll do something crazy. :P Elincia rubbed off on her little girl there lol. Anyway.

Really, we can only agree to disagree. To me, Ike x Elincia should've been romantic and Geoffrey x Elincia platonic, but you and some others like the reverse. Differing opinions are fine, I just would like people to understand the arguments on both sides and not just one. Otherwise, I feel like they're just bashing or should keep to themselves. Not saying you're being offensive, because you haven't been offensive at all, just saying. I feel I have to point this out because I've been mistaken to not accept other opinions, even though I do. It's more that I don't want people thinking my reasons for my opinions are silly and that I don't want others to have silly reasons for their opinions. Your argument is mostly fine, I just don't agree that Geoffrey and Elincia were an obvious romance, that's all.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Anacybele

[Extrasolar]

19 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

(although that Ike and Shinon conversation late in the game is the most amusing moment lol).

Drunk!Shinon is the best Shinon, hands down. Too bad we never get to see much of him, lol.

19 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Really, we can only agree to disagree. To me, Ike x Elincia should've been romantic and Geoffrey x Elincia platonic, but you and some others like the reverse. Differing opinions are fine, I just would like people to understand the arguments on both sides and not just one. Otherwise, I feel like they're just bashing or should keep to themselves.

Definitely. I don't mind debating with people (and I even enjoy it). I can see evidence for both sides of the argument, which I like. A lot of the fun is seeing other points of view, imo.

19 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

And there are still those deathquotes in RD I mentioned, which as far as I know, weren't localization only

Just pointing it out that if Elincia falls in battle with Geoffrey also in the same battle, he'll cry out that "life would be pointless" without her. Sorry, I just had to..

Edited March 6, 2017 by Extrasolar