Ship Archetypes: Beyond blond/brunette and smol/tol

[merelydovely]

Writing up my shipping preferences for my recent sticky post inspired me to write up a ship manifesto of sorts, not for a particular ship, but for a ship archetype.

I noticed after a while that the vast majority of the slash ships I like fall into an obvious pattern: the knight and the wizard.

The Wizard

The wizard character doesn't need to have actual magic powers. Rather, they excel somehow in the domain of the mind. They may demonstrate physical prowess, but it's overshadowed by their other, more characteristic mind-based talents. Invariably, they also have some kind of personality flaw, psychological quirk, or other social impediment – sometimes a closely guarded secret – that singles them out and causes friction between them and their community.

The Knight

The knight character is typically more in the public eye. They somehow excel are somehow grounded in the physical realm. They are noticeably charismatic, or charming, or at the very least skilled at diplomacy. They have an uncanny ability to inspire people around them to follow their lead and also, as a rule, seem to have a bit of a death wish. Not sure why this is a recurring trait, but it is.

The Ships

I obviously got the idea for the name from BBC Merlin, wherein Merlin is literally a wizard and Arthur is literally a knight, but it didn't really click in my mind until I applied it to Sherlock Holmes (wizard!) and John Watson (knight!)

Here's the list I have so far of ships I've followed at one point or another that outright fit the wizard/knight format:

• BBC Merlin: Merlin/Arthur


• BBC Sherlock: Sherlock/John


• Star Trek TOS AOS: Spock/Kirk


• Star Trek DS9: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak


• X-Men: Charles Xavier/Erik Lehnsherr


• Marvel Cinematic Universe: Tony Stark/Steve Rogers


• Stargate Atlantis: McKay/Sheppard


• James Bond: Q/James Bond


• Teen Wolf: Stiles/Derek


• DC Comics: Batman/Superman

Batman/Superman is an interesting example because on his own, Bruce is "the Dark Knight" with a death wish, but when he's paired with Superman, it's immediately obvious Bruce is the wizard and Clark is the knight who's constantly dying.

Bashir/Garak is probably the most questionable inclusion, as Garak doesn't seem to meet the "physical realm" qualification of the knight, and I almost left them off the list until I remembered just how often Garak deals with problems by blowing them up.

Here's a further list where fitting the "wizard" criteria relies more than a little on fanon, but you can still clearly see the archetype at work in my love of the ship:

• Harry Potter: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter


• Les Misérables: Grantaire/Enjolras


• Netflix MCU: Foggy Nelson/Matt Murdock

I think the fact that I seem to have imprinted on this archetype like a baby duckling goes a long way to explain why I've never really gotten into Steve/Bucky, despite the mountains of fabulous content available. They're both knights.

It also seems to predict I should really like Lana Luthor/Kara Zor-El, doesn't it? Because I may not know much about Supergirl past the first few episodes, but she definitely strikes me as a knight, and there's no way a Luthor character isn't somehow a wizard.

Any questions about why I classified these ships the way I did? Can you think of any "wizard/knight" ships I didn't list? Do you notice any recognizable ship archetypes in your own fandom tastes?

Comments

[isabellerecs]

I was nodding and agreeing right up until I saw Bashir/Garak, but wait that can't be right I thought, only to be brought back around by your defense. I'm not sure Foggy/Matt would need to rely on fanon though, Matt is clearing a knight (death wish and all) and Foggy's go to offense and defense is his words which counts for a power of the mind. Although I suppose his secret is really Matt's secret, so maybe I'm stretching things. ;)

Anyway, marvelous breakdown!

[merelydovely]

I hesitated to put Foggy as the wizard because he's really more of just a normal person. He's good at being a lawyer, but not in a way that makes him stand out from Matt, except of course that he's better at showing up for court. He also doesn't have much of a social handicap beyond being a bit schlubbier than Matt, and maybe a slight tendency to put his foot inhis mouth. So it kind of depends on what dynamic the author chooses to emphasize. But, as you note, Matt is such a quintessential knight that it almost doesn't matter.

Bashir/Garak is definitely an edge case. I think really I was won over by the way in which Garak is actually a soldier working on behalf of a country, someone who's gotten his hands dirty in war, someone who attracts allies to his cause to achieve his victories, with genetic supergenius Julian representing the lofty idealism of the Federation, the domain of the mind, not the grounded pragmatism of Cardassia. It doesn't fit quite like the others because Garak's so intellectual and underhanded, but I think some of the themes are there if you let it get a bit meta.

Glad you enjoyed the post!