#antianakin’s pool noodle ship

[starlightandsunshine]

Ooh hard agree on Finnrey. I don’t know what I would have said if you asked me for a ship with the most potential before I saw this but now I just couldn’t pick anything else. Honourable mentions to the pool noodle (I’m right there with you) and jedistormpilot bc even accounting for the shitshow that was reylo there was a bunch of stuff with Poe for both of them that made me go “oooh”

My favourite ship is hanleia hands down but also that’s bias bc I’m pretty sure that it was my first actual ship before I figured out what shipping was. So runner up goes to *checks ao3 history* also codywan as the last ship I read in a star wars fic

Best ship for me is tends to be more of a practical thing and I normally define it by both who I think would stay together long term and be good for each other but also what I think would be quite a healthy relationship (there are a lot of ships that are good for each other but aren’t actually that healthy - to veer into a different fandom, stucky from the mcu is a good example of “would stay together and be good for each other but is actually a deeply unhealthy relationship”. Merthur from the last season or so of bbc Merlin also springs to mind, as does wangxian from mdzs/the untamed with the latter version being healthier than the former but not really by all that much. Also sometimes I feel like Nate/sophie from leverage leans into this a little bit depending on season. Also I’m now done hitting wasps nests with a bat. Moving on).

Best ship for Star Wars is easily kanera from rebels but bail/breha and Owen/beru also place in top three. Honourable mentions go to most iterations of jedistormpilot, the version of the pool noodle that lives in my head, and what canon heavily implies about: baze/chirrut from rogue one (I definitely spelled that wrong); shmi/cliegg (as opposed to at least three different takes I’ve run into about how she’s a slave wife); and jyn/cassian also from rogue one (I’ve seen too many fics with them being all codependent and “can’t live without you” for a canon ship that literally sacrificed their lives and any future they could have had for the chance to save the rebellion)

Most compelling ship is probably the majority of variations on the theme of clone/jedi because I normally view those relationships as very queerplatonic with a sliding scale of how romantic it is depending on the ship and also there’s something about the concept of “both these people would definitely sacrifice their lives for the other if they thought it was necessary but if it comes to a choice between duty and the other then they’ll always pick duty first even if it means losing each other because that’s who they are and what they love about each other” with special mention given to codywan, blyla (my beloved! which actually I’m going to add to my list of favourite Star Wars ships), and rebels era rexsoka (in the world that exists in my head where everything written about her after Ahsoka confronts Vader on malachor doesn’t exist which is basically tcw s7 and anything set after 2(?) bby bc literally everything about her would be so much better if she’d died there as that episode strongly implied until felony used time travel to retcon it!)

I also think cal/merrin in Jedi survivor is very compelling, along with bail/breha/obi-wan and Owen/beru/obi-wan. Both of the latter of which are pretty small but very fascinating in how you can spin the concept and the different kinds of trust and compromise that they would have to make if they wanted to work.

Honourable mentions go to quinlan/ventress and Ahsoka/ventress both of which I think are fun and interesting but don’t actually like that much in non-character study fics bc it too often leads to Jedi-bashing/anti-jedi sentiment. Also obitine (I know you don’t like this one) but specifically Padawan!obi-wan/not-yet-duchess!Satine bc I really find it interesting how these two people with similar values and ideals but fundamentally different cultures and ways of life managed to fall in love with each other to the point that they still think of each other fondly and have somewhat complicated emotions about each other and their positions even twenty years later.

You’ve talked a little about ships before but mainly in the context of how that is connected with the/a specific Jedi. And also a bit about ships you don’t like

But in Star Wars as a whole what’s your favourite ship, which one do you think is the best, and which one do you think is the most compelling?

(I know that the answer to all three could be the same but for me personally there’s often little overlap in these things so ymmv)

Also which ship do you think has the most potential?

I'll assume that canon and fanon are both options here.

"My Favorite" is the easiest to answer, so I'll start there. I've made an entire fic rec list for it and made no secret of the fact that I really like Codywan. Star Wars wasn't a fandom I really did any shipping in when I first was introduced to it as a kid. It wasn't until I decided to get back into Star Wars a little as an adult that I was even introduced to the IDEA of Codywan as a ship, but once I discovered it, it had me absolutely hooked. I will admit that I have a hard time with reading Codywan fics these days and interacting with other Codywan shippers because I often end up feeling like my interpretation of the characters is very different than the norm and what I want from the relationship - the thing that makes it compelling to me - isn't the same as most other people who enjoy the ship. But it was my first Star Wars ship and I still really enjoy the version of Codywan that exists in my head, so it will continue to claim the title of favorite.

For "Most Compelling" and "The Best" I'm actually going to exclusively define those as being IN CANON because anything in fanon can be compelling depending on how well someone writes it. I could obviously put Codywan down for both of these categories, but it would specifically be MY version of Codywan, the version that only really exists in my own head, and not necessarily the more popular version of them in the fandom.

I'm going to give "The Best" and "Most Compelling" to Jyn and Cassian from Rogue One. I will readily admit that, as someone who identifies as aroace, the fact that Jyn and Cassian never do or say anything explicitly romantic to each other is a major part of the reason I like them. I also personally believe it's the reason they're so compelling. Without being able to use any of the usual narrative shortcuts that romance tends to provide, Jyn and Cassian's dynamic relies on actually showing the two of them connecting with each other on a deeper level. I love how so much of their relationship with each other exists only in their eyes, in the way that they look at each other (whether the other person is looking back or not). I love the way their relationship comes through in-between the lines rather than stated out loud. I love the subtlety that exists for Jyn and Cassian in a way it doesn't for pretty much any other more "canon" ship.

I have also said before (though I'm not entirely certain I did it on this blog or not) that I really like angst, usually in the form of hurt/comfort but a good tragedy sometimes just hits the spot. Jyn and Cassian living in a "maybe," existing in a perpetual "what could have been," is so fucking sweet to me. That shit hurts JUST RIGHT. I love the idea that these two people meant everything to each other but only in the last few days before they died and they never even got to explore what exactly that could be. Their love is shown in how they impacted each other, the ways their relationship changed each other, because that's all they ever had time for. I fucking love that shit. The ambiguity of Jyn and Cassian's relationship is what makes it the most compelling to me and I think that the fact that they never get together forced the writers to show us they loved each other in far more interesting and nuanced ways than usually exist for couples that more explicitly get together on screen.

And finally, my choice for "Most Potential" is FinnRey. I really liked Finn and Rey's dynamic in TFA, I liked the way they both learned to rely on each other when they'd never had anyone to rely on before, the way they were able to escape their respective prisons and take their first steps into a larger world together. I liked the theme of coming back for each other no matter what, of reaching out for each other so they couldn't be separated, and the idea of shared fate where they would become the hero of the story TOGETHER. Obviously we all know how that dynamic got sidelined and ignored after TFA, but both characters are still alive and definitely have more story to tell, so the potential remains. Whether that potential ever actually goes anywhere, even if it's just in things like novels and comics, is still super up in the air. But I think these two could have an incredible dynamic if anyone was willing to give them the time of day.