'Ship Can Stand for Friendship - Fandom BFFs
Fandom, and the conversations around it, tend to cluster in two main areas: theories and shipping (see Fanfiction 101 for some basics on shipping). I am an unabashed shipper. But romantic relationships are not the be all end all of pairings. There are other kinds of relationships, and one I think that isn’t given enough attention is friendship.
Therefore, this week, rather than talk about fandom’s romantic pairings, I’m going to look at fandom friendships. Amazing friendships in works that I am a huge fan of. All of these are established, canon friendships. Naturally, there are plenty of people who ship most of these pairings romantically. And if that’s the case, great. You do you. Personally though, I love these pairs as friendships and all of the wonderfulness that entails.
Harry/Hermione – Harry Potter
Of course I have to start with these two. Harry and Hermione are friendship goals. Starting in Book 1, Harry is the one who wanted to save Hermione from the troll and sets the three of them on the path to friendship. The two save Sirius together in Book 3. Then there is Book 4, where Hermione sticks with Harry after he’s entered into the Triwizard Tournament, and Harry supports her when she’s vilified by Rita Skeeter and (begrudgingly) in SPEW. And, lets never forget, that in Book 7 Hermione gives up literally everything – her family, her education, her emerging relationship with Ron – to support and help Harry in the search for the Deathly Hallows.
The only time the friendship is ever on edge is in Book 3, but all friends have fights. Harry and Hermione have the strongest relationship of any two people in that entire series – runners up are the Weasley twins and James/Sirius. And I am 100% here for it.
Julian Bashir/Miles O’Brian – Star Trek Deep Space Nine
One of my all-time favorite male friendships, these two were the ultimate bromance long before our culture came up with the phrase. These two have a classic enemies-to-BFF arc in the first two seasons. Miles has nothing but contempt (somewhat deserved) for Julian in the first season or so. But as the seasons progress, they play darts, drink, and reenact historic battles together along with the Star Trek activities of fighting battles and going on desperate rescue missions together. Your typical bonding experiences.
Now, this was the mid-90s and men telling their male friends “I love you bro” was not really a thing, at least as far as I can remember. But the two have an amazing drunken scene where they carefully avoid saying it, while still saying it. It is delightful.
Their friendship in a nutshell
Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov – Marvel Cinematic Universe
The first Avengers movie back in 2012 showed that these two were extremely close. Clint is revealed to have been one of the few people Natasha truly cared about, and Clint had enough faith in Natasha to help her believe she could become a better person. Avengers II only strengthens how close these two are. It might quash the idea that they were a couple, as Clint has a hidden family, but it’s a that only Natasha knew about. Not only that, Clint and his wife were planning on naming their next child after Natasha. Add in the epic fight scene in Captain America: Civil War, where the two are literally fighting each other and Natasha says “but we’re still friends, right?” and you have a truly epic friendship.
Merry/Pippin – Lord of the Rings
Sam and Frodo are the obvious pairing from Lord of the Rings, and deservedly so. But I’ve always loved the friendship between Merry and Pippin. Their friendship is unabashedly joyous. Sam and Frodo, and let’s admit it, basically every other relationship in the trilogy has an element of angst. But these two are mischief makers, who will steal fireworks from Gandalf, fight over who is the taller hobbit, and are busy smoking and teasing the other members of the Fellowship who find them after winning the fight for Isengard.
Alexia Tarabotti/Biffy – The Parasol Protectorate
This is hands down the most obscure work I’m listing here, and as such I’m going to elide many details of this friendship, so I’m not giving too much away if people want to read the books. The Parasol Protectorate is a steampunk series, the first book of which is one of my favorite books of all times. The two, an intellectual pragmatic spinster, and a very polished, gay dandy turned supernatural creature, meet in the first book, and by the end of the fifth they are close friends who not only stick up for each other to others and rely on each other, but are founding members of a secret society to protect the British Empire together. And what are friends for if not to create codenames after accessories to help each other and, less importantly, the Empire?
Honorable Mentions
Tom Wilker/IsabellaTrent – The Memoirs of Lady Trent. These two start at the series’ beginnings as antagonistic members of the same research team (researching dragons) and by the series end, they are not only friends, but Tom is one of the most important people in her life, just under her husbands.
Harry Potter and Minerva McGonagall. Ok this one isn’t a friendship but they are close mentor/mentees. And for those who scoff at how close these two are, may I remind you that the only time Harry wanted to hurt someone enough to use Crucio correctly, and you have to mean it to make it work, is not when Sirius was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange (who also tortured his friend’s parents into insanity), but when a random Death Eater spat in McGonagall’s face.
