When or if I started shipping it:
My introduction to them both was some NSFW pix on DeviantArt that I found
while looking for non-SSB Marth art. The insistence of many fans that it's
TRUE CANON meant I always took it as kind of a given before I'd really even
thought about it on its own merits. I remember being piqued when
"Lenster's Fall" got translated and made it crystal-clear the dev team
wasn't on-board with the pairing back then, so I definitely had feelings
about it. Started shipping it hard, and I mean HARD, in... late 2011?
Anyway, FE OTP, no apologies
My thoughts: LoveitIloveitIloveit. I don't know! Something about this
terminally ambiguous cocktail of external and internal conflict just works
for me like nothing else. They get handed to us as basically kids and, if
Finn actually comes back from the desert with her[*], by that point they'd
be in their early forties. There's just so much to DO within the
(contradictory) framework of what we've been given, and it all has lasting
repercussions that don't just magically vanish. Honestly the essential F/R
scene for me, the one that kind of defines them to me, is that part at the
end of Lenster's Fall wherein Finn tries to play the "decoy sacrifice" card
and Raquesis looks right through the chivalrous bullshit and tells him he
doesn't get to die and stick her with Leif.
Which I very much doubt.
What makes me happy about them: Shipping them makes me happy, but there's
precious little in the pairing itself to be happy about. That's one reason
I like it. Every good moment is just another step down a road that's
exceptionally bleak. I am glad to be dealing with adults and not just kids
who barely know one another and that's IT.
What makes me sad about them:
It'd be a very long list! I mean, the combined weight of sads in the
backstory is horrible, but lots of FE characters have a sob-worthy
backstory. I think the refusal of canon to come out and say or resolve so
many things is part of the endless fascination for me. And, as you pointed
out... the breakdown just seems genuinely inevitable.
Things done in art/fic that annoys me: Making her Generic Princess and him
into Generic Noble Knight is bad. What's the point? A fair amount of the
very small pool of English 'fic about them doesn't even seem to be about
the actual characters... just random people with the same names.
Superfluffy sweet stuff also turns me off. Like, so sorry, but steaming
hot Silessian Farewell hijinks just lose a lot in context when you realize
Delmud's coming along nine months later and aaaaall the stuff that spirals
out of Delmud's existence is just not fluffy.
As for art... bad art of them makes me flinch, but otherwise I'm pretty
forgiving. I am irked by the number of pieces that feature her with little
to nothing on and him fully clothed. C'mon.
(And then one of those scantily-clad pieces actually turned out to feature
Nanna rather than Raquesis ARGH MY EYES.)
Things I look for in art/fic: Something resembling the actual characters.
Something not saccarhine. I mean, if it's about them I'll read it, but my
opinions are strong enough that I'm picky. I like a lot of the cutesy art
but I really dig the rare pieces that are genuinely gorgeous.
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not…
Welp, I'm pretty comfortable believing that she got with Beowulf (or MAYBE
Dew) before she ever thought about getting with Finn. As for Finn, while
I'm fine with crack-pairing experimentation in the context of FE4, I do
maintain a weakness for Finn/Briggid. In between the way they can fall in
love sight unseen in FE4, the way he calls her beautiful twice in FE5, and
the whole Eyvel business... heheh, it's an interesting trainwreck.
All that said, I don't think either of them have much of a romantic future,
together or with anyone else. There's too damn much that's happened,
whether Raquesis was gone for 15-odd years (games) or ten-odd (artbook),
and even if everything else is the best-case scenario, she still
effectively has to choose between Delmud, Ares, and Agustria and
Nanna-Leif-and-Finn in Thracia. This time, I think she's going to opt to
stay home.
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no subject
Date: 2013-06-12 11:08 pm (UTC)Bonus Finn/Raquesis because I can:
When or if I started shipping it: My introduction to them both was some NSFW pix on DeviantArt that I found while looking for non-SSB Marth art. The insistence of many fans that it's TRUE CANON meant I always took it as kind of a given before I'd really even thought about it on its own merits. I remember being piqued when "Lenster's Fall" got translated and made it crystal-clear the dev team wasn't on-board with the pairing back then, so I definitely had feelings about it. Started shipping it hard, and I mean HARD, in... late 2011? Anyway, FE OTP, no apologies
My thoughts: LoveitIloveitIloveit. I don't know! Something about this terminally ambiguous cocktail of external and internal conflict just works for me like nothing else. They get handed to us as basically kids and, if Finn actually comes back from the desert with her[*], by that point they'd be in their early forties. There's just so much to DO within the (contradictory) framework of what we've been given, and it all has lasting repercussions that don't just magically vanish. Honestly the essential F/R scene for me, the one that kind of defines them to me, is that part at the end of Lenster's Fall wherein Finn tries to play the "decoy sacrifice" card and Raquesis looks right through the chivalrous bullshit and tells him he doesn't get to die and stick her with Leif.
What makes me happy about them: Shipping them makes me happy, but there's precious little in the pairing itself to be happy about. That's one reason I like it. Every good moment is just another step down a road that's exceptionally bleak. I am glad to be dealing with adults and not just kids who barely know one another and that's IT.
What makes me sad about them: It'd be a very long list! I mean, the combined weight of sads in the backstory is horrible, but lots of FE characters have a sob-worthy backstory. I think the refusal of canon to come out and say or resolve so many things is part of the endless fascination for me. And, as you pointed out... the breakdown just seems genuinely inevitable.
Things done in art/fic that annoys me: Making her Generic Princess and him into Generic Noble Knight is bad. What's the point? A fair amount of the very small pool of English 'fic about them doesn't even seem to be about the actual characters... just random people with the same names. Superfluffy sweet stuff also turns me off. Like, so sorry, but steaming hot Silessian Farewell hijinks just lose a lot in context when you realize Delmud's coming along nine months later and aaaaall the stuff that spirals out of Delmud's existence is just not fluffy.
As for art... bad art of them makes me flinch, but otherwise I'm pretty forgiving. I am irked by the number of pieces that feature her with little to nothing on and him fully clothed. C'mon.
(And then one of those scantily-clad pieces actually turned out to feature Nanna rather than Raquesis ARGH MY EYES.)
Things I look for in art/fic: Something resembling the actual characters. Something not saccarhine. I mean, if it's about them I'll read it, but my opinions are strong enough that I'm picky. I like a lot of the cutesy art but I really dig the rare pieces that are genuinely gorgeous.
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not…
Welp, I'm pretty comfortable believing that she got with Beowulf (or MAYBE Dew) before she ever thought about getting with Finn. As for Finn, while I'm fine with crack-pairing experimentation in the context of FE4, I do maintain a weakness for Finn/Briggid. In between the way they can fall in love sight unseen in FE4, the way he calls her beautiful twice in FE5, and the whole Eyvel business... heheh, it's an interesting trainwreck.
All that said, I don't think either of them have much of a romantic future, together or with anyone else. There's too damn much that's happened, whether Raquesis was gone for 15-odd years (games) or ten-odd (artbook), and even if everything else is the best-case scenario, she still effectively has to choose between Delmud, Ares, and Agustria and Nanna-Leif-and-Finn in Thracia. This time, I think she's going to opt to stay home.