#i love found family tropes so ofc these guys are pals

[astravires]

rockin' around the christmas tree

[just-like-playing-tag]

Based on your current ask, i do like your analysic about Norman, make me know more about his prespective. But do you think Norman in love with Emma ( or do you support the ship Noremma? ) and will do anything for her even he has his own way to resolve things ?

About this

First of all: I had never really thought about this, so thank you very much Anon for prompting!

Ok I've been thinking about this a lot. To answer briefly: I believe the authors ment to leave the matter of Norman's feelings for Emma to the reader's imagination, and there isn't really a right answer. After this I'm putting a few considerations on how I personally interpret the character, but I believe it's really up to the reader. Which, at least for me, isn't that bad actually? The series never focused on romantic love, so I personally think it would have felt kinda weird to explore that aspect of Norman more in depth. I personally like it for how it is.

While reading the manga, my personal take had been that Norman had a crush on Emma back at Grace Field - one of these things you say to have when you're eleven, but that don't really mean "love" because at that age you don't even know what love is. But then, after having been parted from her for so long, it was something he somehow grow out of. Once he started being Minerva*, he had completely left behind the most childish sides of his personality to fully focus on doing the best he could to protect his family and all the children born to be cattle. Nota bene!! With that, I'm not saying he stopped loving Emma (that would be a very dumb thing to say lmao). I think he started seeing the feelings he had towards her under a different, more mature light- that may not correspond to love, but isn't any less deep. Romantically or not, Norman loves Emma.

(*Kinda irrelevant to the point but I'd like to specify: I actually think Norman leaving his child-self behind has even older roots to him taking on the Minerva facade, and exactly dates back to when Isabella announced his shipment. It was in that moment that he realized that wasn't a game, and that the escape - according to him - couldn't have taken place without having to sacrifice someone.)

But you see, these are more of headcanons, there's very few about canon to support this- it's just the idea I have of the character, and thus how I personally see him... And also how I like to interpret his feelings towards Emma.

To put it this way, this is just my headcanon to fill what I think can't be deducted from the manga. Or at least, that's what I thought until chapter 179, but that chapter made me significantly reconsider the whole thing?? It kinda delivered some details that could hint to Norman having carried his romantic feelings towards Emma till this moment. I'm talking about these panels in particular:

Maybe I was just naïve to ignore it in the past, and maybe there's been many other little hints of Norman's love for Emma I have been blind to; still, seeing this surprised me a lot. And that's simply because - as I just said - I thought Norman got over that kind of feelings; I thought he had left them at Grace Field. Practically speaking, he wouldn't have thought about them anymore, because that's not what his true feelings were. And yet here they are! Displayed as something still undeniably relevant inside of Norman. But if those feelings are still there then, what are they? I 11 y/o crush would definitely fade in two years, so you're telling me it was more than that? You're telling me a 11 years old loved someone?? Because nnnnnngghh maybe it's just me but that doesn't sound right... I personally wouldn't like it if that's how it is, that Norman meant t r u e l o v e. I don't really like the trope of children falling in love you know? Just- let children be children.

Could it be possible that Norman's childish crush over the years grow up to be something more? I guess that's a possibility! But let me be honest with you pal - it's my opinion that if you're living an apocalyptic scenario where not only you, but your entire specie isn't given to survive, then you probably don't have much time to reflect on questions like “are the feelings I had towards this one friend I had a crush on when I was 11 actually mean love?”.

Back when his life was at risk in Lambda, when he was all alone and separated from all of his friends, I find it much more likely he found the strength to go on with the constant thought that he wanted to see his family again (all of them, but especially Emma and Ray), that he loves them, and that he wants to live with them: his thoughts weren't directly focused on Emma, and as for how I see it it's likely that they didn't change much once he met her again.

It's true Emma was the reason he wanted to survive (together with the rest of his family) but peoples I... Just don't think that's enough to say that he loves her????? She's the person he's the closest to, she's his family, but that doesn't necessarily mean he romantically loves her. Maybe it's just inner me believing that romantic relationships are overrated, but still,,,

There's another aspect of the matter I want to take into account. If Norman romantically loves Emma, then what are his feelings towards Ray? It's true that Norman is shown thinking a lot more of Emma than to Ray (really, he's thoughts are always like: “Emma... oh and that one other guy - Ray - too ofc”); but between the fact that she's a person he deeply cared about who opposed his plan, that that she's the main character and the story obviously focuses more on her, and that Ray has been pretty much brushed aside the last few arcs, I think we can't take it as an hint of Norman's romantic feelings towards her.

My personal take on Norman's relationship with Ray is that Norman has the same feelings towards Ray than what he has for Emma; they're a trio, and they're ment to be together on all counts.

Tl;Dr: In my opinion, Norman and Emma are linked to an extremely deep bond; but if that bond is also equivalent of love is up to the reader.

But this is again and again only how I like it, more than something based on canon. My thoughts haven't changed much since I first catch up with the manga, that are: they are a trio that works perfectly together, and all of them have amazing chemistry; to take out one member would feel weird, and it would make everything much more unbalanced.

Now, if I support NorEmma as a ship is a different matter. I have friends and people I like in the fandom who ships them, so like... If I support them supporting their ship, I guess I can say I somehow support the ship myself (?). But yeah even though I'd like to say I ship all of the trio members equally, I admittedly ship NorEmma a bit less then the other two pairs. You have to understand... When I first started the series, I was watching this anime that looked very very cool, and all the children seemed great!! But then at the end of the second episode they slapped to my face this 11 y/I who "was in love", when I honestly was so over straight cliché and especially *children* love. It felt like someone had pour a bucket of ice on me and it kinda influenced how I saw the ship for a long time - as in, I really don't want to see them together.

But now I pretty much got over it! I saw lot of fan content that made me consider new aspects of their relationship, and now I guess they're cool, but it's just? I find the other two couples dynamics kinda more intriguing and appealing,,, but it's really just a matter of personal taste. I do generally like the trope of opposites attract you find with NorEmma, but also,, there's a significant lack of communication and understanding between Emma and Norman in the series that makes it hard for me to see them work together. Emma and Ray are often seen confronting their ideas and sharing their troubles and burdens, and it's quite canon that Norman and Ray think very alike so it comes very easy for me to think they would work just fine. But Norman has lied to Emma again and again, and I think they still have to work on communication and trust a lot.

Again, thank you very much Anon for asking!! This got quite long and includes additions from the very day you sent this till today, but it was really fun to reflect on. And thank you for your patience!!!