Manning the Royal Navy: WK's Guide to Shipping in ASoIaF

[Winter's Knight]

Greetings! As most of you may know, part of any given fanbase is actively involved in "shipping" or pairing up characters in ways that seem obvious or are narratively appealing.

Sometimes the ships appeal to one's own twisted sense of humour but we shan't be discussing that here.

Now, the number one problem with heading the ASoIaF Navy is the irritating regularity with which God (Martin) tends to sink said ship-as all hands aboard the vessels Throbb, Bambi, Obellari and Donerik will tell you.

Not that this has stopped us romantics of course. ASoIaF does boast the SanSan flagship after all. However, the tendency of one or both partners to take a (literal) arrow to the head does put a dampener on the mood.

Lots of posters ask me "WK, how do you come up with such ridiculous interesting ships?" and my answer is that it requires a delicate balance between alcohol and a desire to see more happiness in the books. Call it the Emma Syndrome but I hate to see characters end up lonely or stuck with incompatible partners. (I'm looking at you TySan)

Another question I get asked a lot is, "Damnit WK! Why can't you understand that sometimes gentlemen need to express their undying love for each other in highly poetic innuendo can be really good friends without there being any romantic angle involved?" to which I say that of course gents can be friends with gents without "despoiling" their relationship through lust-just as ladies can be friends with ladies and gents can be friends with ladies (Stop trying to make Gendrya happen!).

And there's a very easy way to test this: just imagine that one of the characters in question is of the opposite gender. So, for example let's suppose that Robert is Roberta. Now stop re-imagining the wedding night and pay attention. If Ned had paid half as much devotion, dedication, poetry and space in his thoughts to Roberta as he does to Robert, surely a few eyebrows would be raised? Yes? Good, moving on.

Lets say you're interesting in exploring shipping in ASoIaF.Maybe you've a ship of your own you'd like to launch or maybe you're interested in joining the crew of a pre-existing ship. There are some arbitrary guidelines I've discovered that you may find useful:

1. Ask yourself "Does my ship make sense?" Is she sea-worthy? Will she float? Are you as a captain able to defend your vessel?
   It is imperative that the two people meet or have a good chance of meeting in the future. Ships involving Tommen and Mycella are a bad idea, for example as they don't seem likely to outlive book 6.
   
2. Is it healthy? And by healthy, I don't mean the slightly upsetting Brienne/Jaime or the more than toxic Jaime/Cersei dynamic, I mean the dear-R'hilor-what-are-you-thinking squick that comes with pairings involving Ramsay or Gregor.
   
3. One fan's squee may be another man's squick-unless you're using Ramsay or Gregor, in which case, see point #3.
   
4. Sometimes, one's ship reaches port. That is to say, the relationship plays out and the characters involved part ways-such as Willas/Oberyn. Jaime/Cersei seems to be tending towards this.
   

And now my fellow ship-wrights-go forth and...shipify!

[Lady Lea]

Thank you WK! God I was getting so bored.

Also:

(Stop trying to make Gendrya happen!).

NEVER!!!! ;P I will go down with this ship, etc

[Lady Lea]

(oh, in b4 haters? this place is slow tonight)

[Winter's Knight]

(oh, in b4 haters? this place is slow tonight)

Gods yes, where is everyone?

Thank you WK! God I was getting so bored.

:blush:

Also:

NEVER!!!! ;P I will go down with this ship, etc

*salutes and throws life raft*

[Lady Lea]

Aw damn I wish I had some alcohol go to with this post but whatevs. So who do you ship Arianne with, WK? I think she deserves someone nice.

(also I just saw a hilarious gif of Jaqen/Sandor and I just can't get over it)

[Ragnorak]

I think your navy is in trouble. Varys say there have been krakens sighted... of course maybe he's just jealous since he's no longer seaworthy after losing his mast.

Why no love for Ramsay? With the right northern girl I'm sure he'd find a love to last a lifetime.

[StannisBamfatheon]

Your flagship WK is the "U.S.S. everyone in Westeros is secretly gay"

[Lady Lea]

Also, just a tip for those shipping beginners: never ever underestimate people's capacity to ship weird pairings. Oh you think Theon/Ramsay is weird and gross? That's adorable. Hitler/Jesus fanfiction is a thing that is real.

[y ddraig]

I never really ship pairings per se. I always turn my favourite characters into fandom bicycles.

Definitely Nedbert, though. And Ned/Cat too. Winter's coming both ways, I tell ya.

Jeyne/Theon. :crying:

[Winter's Knight]

Aw damn I wish I had some alcohol go to with this post but whatevs. So who do you ship Arianne with, WK? I think she deserves someone nice.

(also I just saw a hilarious gif of Jaqen/Sandor and I just can't get over it)

Jaqen's OTL is Jaime, it is known.

I really like Arianne and Willas-they're both intelligent and not completely heartless for starters. The only thing holding me back from launching it is Arianne's own views on Willas' disability.

Your flagship WK is the "U.S.S. everyone in Westeros is secretly gay"

Sexuality is generally fluid and this was the case in medieval times especially when one did not have cast iron labels,

[Every]

Also, just a tip for those shipping beginners: never ever underestimate people's capacity to ship weird pairings. Oh you think Theon/Ramsay is weird and gross? That's adorable. Hitler/Jesus fanfiction is a thing that is real.

Where?! You can't just drop a bombshell like that and walk away.

[StannisBamfatheon]

Jaqen's OTL is Jaime, it is known.

I really like Arianne and Willas-they're both intelligent and not completely heartless for starters. The only thing holding me back from launching it is Arianne's own views on Willas' disability.

Sexuality is generally fluid and this was the case in medieval times especially when one did not have cast iron labels,

I mean have Arianne and Willas ever even met? And Theon/Ramsy developing a romantic relationship is patently ridiculous. I think the line between shipping/fan fiction can blur friend.

[Every]

Also, Jaqen loved neither Jaime nor Sandor. It has been well established that no FM could ever be held by chains of iron, so why was Jaqen allowing himself to be carried off to the Wall? Because Yoren had bound him. With Chains of Love.

[Winter's Knight]

Where?! You can't just drop a bombshell like that and walk away.

Second result on google. Four chapters, enjoy.

[Winter's Knight]

I mean have Arianne and Willas ever even met? And Theon/Ramsy developing a romantic relationship is patently ridiculous. I think the line between shipping/fan fiction can blur friend.

*pokes point #3 n OP* I am not responsible for what you find on tumblr.

Also, Jaqen loved neither Jaime nor Sandor. It has been well established that no FM could ever be held by chains of iron, so why was Jaqen allowing himself to be carried off to the Wall? Because Yoren had bound him. With Chains of Love.

Jaqen-Jaime is an inside joke-basically some of us girls are demanding that HBO give us some boy-on-boy action next season, preferably with the two in a bath. We constitute the Ja-Ja sisterhood.

[Snowborn]

Loved it! Westeros needs some pretty romance to light things up.

I'm not usually a shipper, but I'm so in with SanSan. In fact, all my friends who have read the stories or watched the series ship SanSan. Why should age be a problem? I had a boyfriend who was 12 years older than me once, it was good while it lasted xD

Also, just a tip for those shipping beginners: never ever underestimate people's capacity to ship weird pairings. Oh you think Theon/Ramsay is weird and gross? That's adorable. Hitler/Jesus fanfiction is a thing that is real.

:shocked: Oh My R'hllor... xDDDD

[Naathi Prince]

yea, most of these ships consist of "these guys are good friends who care about each, they must be in love!" I can tell you that whether its the middle ages, the renaissance, the reformation era, or today, 95% of men (at least) aren't gay and their best friends are dudes. A lot of us may even care more about our friends than our wives or girlfriends. That doesn't mean that we're buggering each other. While everyone can ship whoever they want to ship in their head, the fact is that "Throbb" "Nedbert" and others are patently ridiculous. After all, Martin made Renly and Loras pretty obvious.

[Lady Tippy Wolfsbane]

I really want to see Jaime/Brienne...it's creepy, but true.

[StannisBamfatheon]

ASOIAF on tumblr can be dark and full of terrors. I just feel like this whole "shipping" phenomena is pretty fan-ficy, something Martin despises. I mean your essentially imagining things. Until there's textual evidence that like, they love/like eachother, other than out of context remarks or misconstruing things I don't really buy into any of this. Sorry bub.

[Naathi Prince]

ASOIAF on tumblr can be dark and full of terrors. I just feel like this whole "shipping" phenomena is pretty fan-ficy, something Martin despises. I mean your essentially imagining things. Until there's textual evidence that like, they love/like eachother, other than out of context remarks or misconstruing things I don't really buy into any of this. Sorry bub.

amen.