#i also die-hard ship obi-wan with bail organa but aint nobody got time for that apparently 😭

[chinposan]

Well, I got this on my feed thanks to the algorithm, so now I kinda feel obliged to reply as an Obikin enjoyer.

I think three important notions of having a ship and let ship mentality is 1. awareness of the fact that we all interpret a body of work differently. Even what is explicitly said in text may be interpreted through storytelling devices like unreliable narrators or by assuming omission. 2. Remembering that the whole point of fandom is finding new angles/creating narratives based on the stories we love. Shipping especially so. And finally, that 3. it's all fictional good fun. Disregard the author, do your what-if's, write a bunch of noncon pwp, crack-ship characters who've never met or whatever.

In my humble opinion, you don't 'ship and let ship' nor are you fandom-friendly on this topic 🤷. I say this because you first claim that your interpretation is more valid than anybody elses by stating that Obikin and Quiobi don't work in-universe without saying why. Then you instead list a bunch your own preferred real-world norms, moral standards and associations as if they apply to others' fictional narratives.

To answer your question "Why can't Obikin be in a familiar relationship, not romantic?" it's because I don't interpret Star Wars the same way you do, I want to explore other kinds of narratives than you do, and I like to have good fun in the fandom we all love, just like you.

The world is a complex place and some of us prefer to explore other scenarios and narratives than those that are normative and entirely expected. For me personally it's because I find those narratives uninspiring.

To go into specifics, which you may not care about, I personally ship obikin as something in between platonic, romantic and familiar that is both intense, complex and blurry - feelings that they themselves don't fully understand or ever get to explore due to Obi-Wans repressed nature and reluctance towards discussing emotions. I see these feelings as existing parallel to Anakin's infatuation with Padmè - you can love more than one person - and for Anakin that's a big narrative theme. This interpretation is based on my reading of the 20 years or so of legends, canon and reference material out there. I enjoy this narrative becasue it enhances the tragedy of Mustafar, as there are extra layers of unresolved emotional tension there when the plot drives our trio into a corner.

I also enjoy jokingly referring to Obikin as endgame in reference to their reunion in the Force that is orchestrated by Obi-Wan while Padmé remains gone. But of course that's up to interpretation like everything else 🤭.

I really can’t understand Obikin and Quiobi. For me it tastes as both partially pedophilia and partially incest. Just think of it – both Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon have known their padawans since kids were 9 and 12 respectively. They were parent figures, literally brought their padawans up. And then – romance? How can any adult feel romantic towards a person who they remember as a child? It’s not the same situation when people with big age difference meet as grown-ups. Also marriage between step-parents and step-children or adoptive parents and adopted children, although not blood-related, is considered incest.

Ship and let ship, I know, but in-universe these ships just don’t work at all – and there’re a lot of shippers who insist Obikin is endgame and it has always been so. Specifically thanks to Matthew Stover, the author of ROTS novelization, who inserted a lot of ‘Obikin’ moments which are often translated as a prove of in-universe romance.

And I’m not even mentioning power imbalance of ‘teacher-student’ relationship. Why can’t Quiobi and Obikin be in ‘familiar’ relationship, not romantic? After all, Anakin canonically has Padme, and Obi-Wan is shippable with lots of characters without weird pedo stink (including clones, because clones are adult men who grew up faster, not kids in adult bodies).