#queerplatonic ship showdown

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

The Finals!

Camilla Hect and Palamades Sextus (Campal) from The Locked Tomb vs. Jessie and James from Pokémon!

Propaganda for Campal:

They're two people who have spent their whole lives together and are hopelessly devoted and loyal to each other. While some people do read their relationship as strictly romantic or platonic, it has way more going for it through a QP lense! They've been lifelong friends, and in their culture are essentially non-romantic life partners as a necromantic wizard and his bodyguard/champion. It's actually strictly taboo for them to engage in a romantic relationship because of this. But nonetheless they remain close to and devoted to each other, going so far as to use necromancy to keep each other close after one of them dies, and then going on to share a body until it becomes physically impossible to do so any longer. So they burn both of their souls to merge together into one new entity, creating a walking metaphor for queerplatonic partnership. They endlessly support and encourage each other, they're a perfect team when it comes to both peaceful study and combat. They know each other inside and out, long before they had to share a body, they were inseperable. They're two halves of one whole, literally, and nothing about that intense closeness and partnership is written to be romantic! Especially because other, similar characters in the series ARE written to read as romantic, and there's a distinct tonal difference to those relationships! Basically, they're two peas in a pod, two halves of a whole, clearly not quite platonic with it, but certainly not romantic either.

The author of The Locked Tomb has a long term queerplatonic partner! She even dedicates the books to him and signs those dedications with a <> (which is a Homestuck reference, denoting a non-romantic partnership that a number of fans associate with QPPs!). You can feel the influence of her own experience with queerplatonic attraction in a lot of the series, but it really comes through especially in Cam and Pal!!

Propaganda for Jessie and James:

Have you seen them

As a side note, I highly encourage making propaganda for your fav! I reblog propaganda as long as it's not in the tags or comments. You can even make your own post as propaganda, and as long as you tag me, I will reblog it!

I can't wait to see the winner! Thank you to everyone for supporting and voting in this tournament!

Come check out @transgenderswagcompetitions, where I'm hosting the Transgender Swag in Books tournament! That tournament is expected to begin 3 weeks after this one ends.

[lesmisshippingshowdown]

Hello and welcome to the Les Mis Shipping Showdown!

That's right, we're bringing ship brackets to the Les Mis fandom! The Shipping Showdown is an all new, 5 round contest intended to answer some of the internet's greatest questions, such as "is E/R's dominance really as overwhelming as AO3 statistics would have you believe?", "what is the fandom's all time favourite Les Amis pair the spares combo?", and "what would happen if we tried to Jurassic Park the ship wars of 2013 back into existence 12 years later?". Ignore that last one, maybe.

ROUND ONE IS NOW LIVE! Polls will expire in the evening (GMT/UTC) of March 6th 2025, with the next round of week-long polls following shortly thereafter.

Special rounds between particularly iconic matchups may occur at a later date if they do not get a chance to face off in the bracket proper.

Finally, if you're a fanartist or editor and spot your OTP/OT3 in the bracket, ESPECIALLY if it's a rarer pair, please feel free to submit pieces of your art to this blog to be used -with credit - in the relevant polls!! (no AI generated art though, please)

CURRENT BRACKET BELOW:

Please see below the cut for FAQ, rules, and mod details:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Who is responsible for all this? Great question! The Les Mis Shipping Showdown is the brainchild of @lonelyroommp3, with invaluable assistance including graphic design, bracket seeding, and wildcard suggestions from @glindalesbian. We are both veterans of the Les Mis fandom, and although it's not been either of our main fandoms for a while we're both still filled with love and nostalgia for both the work itself and the memories the fandom and its myriad shipping messes evoke<3

Q: Woah, wait! How did you decide upon these specific ships? 29 of the ships are - as far as it's possible to accurately sort these things on AO3 - the 29 most popular romantic relationship tags in the Les Misérables (All Media Types) fandom category. This sorting method isn't foolproof, and if we've missed something major we can only apologise! If you bring to light a really notable ship that we've missed, it may get included as part of a special round at a later date if demand is sufficient.

In addition, between the two mods we have chosen three wildcard entries based on such scientifically rigorous selection criteria as "one of us personally shipped this back in the day", "we remember this being really popular but the AO3 stats don't seem to reflect that", and, in one case, "we thought it would be really funny." It is up to you, dear reader, to try and figure out which ship fits in each category.

For the sake of transparency, a couple of ships have been excluded because they have significant overlap with another, more popular ship. For example, both Joly/Bossuet and Joly/Bossuet/Musichetta have AO3 works in the hundreds, but including them both felt a little redundant, so we made the executive decision to just include the more popular combination of the above characters.

Q: Are platonic/familial/queerplatonic relationship tags included? What if I like a combination of characters in a given match up, but only platonically? All my love to the non romantic relationship dynamics in Les Mis - after all, "to love another person is to see the face of God" is a lyric that intentionally does not specify a type of love! However, to keep things streamlined, this poll is specifically about romantic/sexual ships. Whenever you see a match up, assume you are being asked which combination of characters you personally would prefer to see depicted in a romantic relationship and/or sucking and fucking.

Q: Can I submit propaganda? Where should I do this? Yes! You are welcome to add propaganda in the reblogs of any given poll, or send asks or submissions to this blog. We will try to reshare propaganda as long as it follows other rules, but this is not a promise because we're busy people! We also ask that you do NOT send propaganda directly to the mods' personal blogs.

Q: Can I share this blog/contest/specific polls outside of Tumblr? If you're sharing on a small scale with a discord server, individual friends without Tumblr accounts, etc, please go ahead! We would, however, politely request that if you are lucky enough to have contacts who are, or have been, involved with professional productions of Les Misérables in any capacity that you do NOT share this competition with them directly or go shouting about it in places they are likely to see it, no matter how funny you think it may be to try and get some organic propaganda off the US Tour's 2nd cover Grantaire or whoever. Some of us are fujos in the sheets and actual theatre professionals in the streets, and we'd prefer to keep those two streams of our lives as separate as possible. Please respect this!

Q: You've used my fanart in a post and I don't want it in there/it's been credited incorrectly. If this happens to you, please let us know via asks ASAP with a link or clear reference to the offending post & artwork, so we can either remove your art or amend the credit accordingly!

FURTHER RULES

We were both around in this fandom in 2013 when people were in the actual trenches about certain ships, and we know this can be a testy subject. We also think a bit of healthy competition and ship warring is fun from time to time, and the Les Mis Shipping Showdown is not intended to be a totally sanitised arena where we take everything super duper seriously and everybody has to be really really niceys 100% of the time. However, we do ask that good taste and interpersonal respect is considered:

You're free to fight about ships until the cows come home, but please refrain from personal attacks on other users in any arena related to this tournament.

Any hate speech in propaganda, notes of official tournament posts, asks/submissions, or any posts about the tournament brought to the mods' attention will NOT be tolerated and will result in an instant block (+ the offending account being reported if deemed necessary).

We've both seen shipping tournaments play out in other fandoms and know that it's absolutely impossible to avoid botting & vote rigging. However, any cases of the above that are deemed excessive, malicious, or generally against the spirit of the tournament may result in a match up being aborted, repeated, or, in extreme cases, a ship being permanently excluded from the tournament. Just be normal pleaseeeeeee

[transgenderswagcompetitions]

The semifinals approach. As they do, I keep wondering... what tournament should I do next?

[powerpolyculeshowdown]

Canon Polycule Showdown

(vote for your favorite! check the description if you don't know them)

[ID: 1. Picture of Quanxi and her four girlfriends, Tsugihagi, Long, Pingtsi and Cosmo, from the Chainsaw Man Manga. 2. Picture of Daniel, Sam, Jack and Teal’c from Stargate SG-1. /end ID]

Meet the contestants!

Quanxi/Pingsti/Cosmo/Long/Tsugihagi

Status: Canon

Description: Quanxi is a devil hunter who previously worked for the bureau (institution that fights devils), before going off on her own and getting her girlfriends, all of whom are fiends (devils who have taken over a human's body). Her girlfriends are all very adoring of her, and she cares deeply for them, wanting them to be treated like humans and be able to get an education. In their own unique ways, the other girls also care deeply for Quanxi, and seem very affectionate, and are always happy to use their powers to help her. Quanxi is confirmed to be a lesbian in canon!

Daniel/Sam/Jack/Teal’c

Status: Implied

Description: They are one of those teams that always presents as a unit and go through Absolute Hell to stay together. It's 90s/2000s American Military Sci-fi, so gay ppl don't even exist, let alone polyamory, but they have way too many plotlines where they risk the world to bring one of them back, or they collectively decide to die together rather than leave one of them behind. And I'm pretty sure Dr Sam Carter has to pretend to be married to/belong to each of the boys at least once, in fantastically sexist plotlines because again. The era. Jack O'Neill/Sam Carter is the only explicitly canon ship, and it can be argued the Teal’c is somewhat ace-coded, but the bonds between individual team members as well as the four together go way beyond platonic. (Teal’c could fit in queerplatonically.)

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Round 2, Match 6

Moiraine Damodred and Lan Mandragoran from Wheel of Time vs. Camilla Hect and Palamades Sextus (Campal) from The Locked Tomb!

Propaganda for Moiraine and Lan: Not submitted

Propaganda for Campal:

They're two people who have spent their whole lives together and are hopelessly devoted and loyal to each other. While some people do read their relationship as strictly romantic or platonic, it has way more going for it through a QP lense! They've been lifelong friends, and in their culture are essentially non-romantic life partners as a necromantic wizard and his bodyguard/champion. It's actually strictly taboo for them to engage in a romantic relationship because of this. But nonetheless they remain close to and devoted to each other, going so far as to use necromancy to keep each other close after one of them dies, and then going on to share a body until it becomes physically impossible to do so any longer. So they burn both of their souls to merge together into one new entity, creating a walking metaphor for queerplatonic partnership. They endlessly support and encourage each other, they're a perfect team when it comes to both peaceful study and combat. They know each other inside and out, long before they had to share a body, they were inseperable.

They're two halves of one whole, literally, and nothing about that intense closeness and partnership is written to be romantic! Especially because other, similar characters in the series ARE written to read as romantic, and there's a distinct tonal difference to those relationships! Basically, they're two peas in a pod, two halves of a whole, clearly not quite platonic with it, but certainly not romantic either.

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Quarterfinals, Match 3

Stanford Pines and Fiddleford McGucket (Fiddauthor) from Gravity Falls vs. Moomintroll and Snufkin (Snufmin) from Moominvalley!

Propaganda for Fiddauthor:

very very close guys who do mad science together and also lived together for a little while

1. College roomies. 2. Ford called Fiddleford later on, asked him to cone to Gravity Falls, and they temporarily moved in together (on account of Fidds having a wife and child back in Palo Alto or something).

They Were Roommates. And DnD nerds, unhinged scientists (one of them made a deal with a demon and put a metal plate in their skull to prevent possession from said demon, the other builds homicidal robots and made a memory-erasing cult.), Best Friends, etc. Ford also wrote things like how they talked about their futures while star gazing, "my poor. beleaguered assistant".... stuff like that. TL;DR: roommates, played DnD one-on-one, and Ford talked about Fiddleford a LOT in his journal.

Propaganda for Snufmin:

BASICALLY. The author of the original books was a queer woman and Moomintroll kinda was her self insert. At some point she had a relationship with a man who was always traveling so they had to break up. So she made Snufkin's character, who was inspired by this man, and Snufkin and Moomintroll's relationship was inspired by both of them. But at this point of time you couldn't make queer rep in a book, so it was never canon, only ambiguous. However, the creators of the most recent cartoon, Moominvalley, are clearly aware of this backstory and made them even more ambiguous. Kind of "ambiguous best friends"... And ambiguous best friends is like, the perfect trope for queerplatonic headcanons.

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Round 1, Match 17

Stanford Pines and Fiddleford McGucket (Fiddauthor) from Gravity Falls vs. Jem Carstairs and Will Herondale (Heronstairs) from The Shadowhunter Chronicles!

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Semifinals Match 2

Moomintroll and Snufkin (Snufmin) from Moominvalley vs. Jessie and James from Pokémon!

Propaganda for Snufmin:

BASICALLY. The author of the original books was a queer woman and Moomintroll kinda was her self insert. At some point she had a relationship with a man who was always traveling so they had to break up. So she made Snufkin's character, who was inspired by this man, and Snufkin and Moomintroll's relationship was inspired by both of them. But at this point of time you couldn't make queer rep in a book, so it was never canon, only ambiguous. However, the creators of the most recent cartoon, Moominvalley, are clearly aware of this backstory and made them even more ambiguous. Kind of "ambiguous best friends"... And ambiguous best friends is like, the perfect trope for queerplatonic headcanons.

Propaganda for Jessie and James:

Have you seen them

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Semifinals Match 1

Balloon and Suitcase (Suitloon) from Inanimate Insanity vs. Camilla Hect and Palamades Sextus (Campal) from The Locked Tomb!

Propaganda for Suitloon:

I think of them as queerplatonic, because theyre incredibly close and are pretty much each other's support systems. Balloon is Aromantic (technically canon? one of the creators said he was so im rlly hoping it is canon) so this is NOT a romantic ship. They dont have any romantic interactions, but you can spin every scene how you want. I just think they're in a QPR and are heavily supportive and understanding to each other. (Since like. half the people in the show fucking hate Balloon, and not many people seem to like to let Suitcase speak for herself)

Propaganda for Campal:

They're two people who have spent their whole lives together and are hopelessly devoted and loyal to each other. While some people do read their relationship as strictly romantic or platonic, it has way more going for it through a QP lense! They've been lifelong friends, and in their culture are essentially non-romantic life partners as a necromantic wizard and his bodyguard/champion. It's actually strictly taboo for them to engage in a romantic relationship because of this. But nonetheless they remain close to and devoted to each other, going so far as to use necromancy to keep each other close after one of them dies, and then going on to share a body until it becomes physically impossible to do so any longer. So they burn both of their souls to merge together into one new entity, creating a walking metaphor for queerplatonic partnership. They endlessly support and encourage each other, they're a perfect team when it comes to both peaceful study and combat. They know each other inside and out, long before they had to share a body, they were inseperable. They're two halves of one whole, literally, and nothing about that intense closeness and partnership is written to be romantic! Especially because other, similar characters in the series ARE written to read as romantic, and there's a distinct tonal difference to those relationships! Basically, they're two peas in a pod, two halves of a whole, clearly not quite platonic with it, but certainly not romantic either.

The author of The Locked Tomb has a long term queerplatonic partner! She even dedicates the books to him and signs those dedications with a <> (which is a Homestuck reference, denoting a non-romantic partnership that a number of fans associate with QPPs!). You can feel the influence of her own experience with queerplatonic attraction in a lot of the series, but it really comes through especially in Cam and Pal!!

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Round 3, Match 3

Crowley and Aziraphale (Ineffable Husbands) from Good Omens vs. Camilla Hect and Palamades Sextus (Campal) from The Locked Tomb!

Propaganda for Ineffable Husbands:

They are each others everything; they discarded their former affiliations to form their own sides; they are the best of friends and so close that they can't imagine life without each other. But they also *canonically* (at least in the books) do not experience sexual attraction, or romantic attraction, at least not in the same way humans do; their relationship *cannot* be defined by something as simple as romance, and this is a view the author (Neil Gaiman) has endorsed. Hence, queer platonic.

EEEEEEEE they're so CUTE and they LOVE each other and the fact that this love doesn't have to be specifically romantic doesn't make it less REAL and that warms my aspec heart.

those bitches are qpps for sure

In the book they’ve been friends for thousands of years and are v involved in each other’s lives (routinely have dinner ‘dates’, Crowley frequently hangs out at Aziraphale’s bookshop, generally hanging out and stuff.) Since their not human, they don’t really understand human relationships, love, and gender which makes their relationship v queer. They’re mistaken as a couple by other characters despite not being in a romantic relationship. In the show the same things happen and new scenes are added showing how their friendship grew, them becoming much more devoted to each other, and various struggles they’ve had in their relationship. (ei. Sorta breaking up, them each wanting different things out of life)

they've known each other for over 6,000 years. they saved the world together. they have saved each other over and over again. they love each other so deeply and you can see their love for each other in everything they do. as an aromantic queerplatonic person they embody what queerplatonic love means to me so perfectly

Propaganda for Campal:

They're two people who have spent their whole lives together and are hopelessly devoted and loyal to each other. While some people do read their relationship as strictly romantic or platonic, it has way more going for it through a QP lense! They've been lifelong friends, and in their culture are essentially non-romantic life partners as a necromantic wizard and his bodyguard/champion. It's actually strictly taboo for them to engage in a romantic relationship because of this. But nonetheless they remain close to and devoted to each other, going so far as to use necromancy to keep each other close after one of them dies, and then going on to share a body until it becomes physically impossible to do so any longer. So they burn both of their souls to merge together into one new entity, creating a walking metaphor for queerplatonic partnership. They endlessly support and encourage each other, they're a perfect team when it comes to both peaceful study and combat. They know each other inside and out, long before they had to share a body, they were inseperable.

They're two halves of one whole, literally, and nothing about that intense closeness and partnership is written to be romantic! Especially because other, similar characters in the series ARE written to read as romantic, and there's a distinct tonal difference to those relationships! Basically, they're two peas in a pod, two halves of a whole, clearly not quite platonic with it, but certainly not romantic either.

The author of The Locked Tomb has a long term queerplatonic partner! She even dedicates the books to him and signs those dedications with a <> (which is a Homestuck reference, denoting a non-romantic partnership that a number of fans associate with QPPs!). You can feel the influence of her own experience with queerplatonic attraction in a lot of the series, but it really comes through especially in Cam and Pal!!

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Round 3, Match 1

Zolf Smith and Oscar Wilde (Zoscar) from Rusty Quill Gaming Podcast vs. Balloon and Suitcase (Suitloon) from Inanimate Insanity!

Propaganda for Zoscar:

They're a canon qpr and have an explicitly stated "non-romantic but deeply platonic commitment" to each other

They've got such a fun arc and in the end open up an inn together and are just. The most (affectionately) bickering married couple. Also the first time they met each other Zolf headbutted Wilde and threatened to drown him in a bucket (and would have done it, too. How things can change)

Propaganda for Suitloon:

I think of them as queerplatonic, because theyre incredibly close and are pretty much each other's support systems. Balloon is Aromantic (technically canon? one of the creators said he was so im rlly hoping it is canon) so this is NOT a romantic ship. They dont have any romantic interactions, but you can spin every scene how you want. I just think they're in a QPR and are heavily supportive and understanding to each other. (Since like. half the people in the show fucking hate Balloon, and not many people seem to like to let Suitcase speak for herself)

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Round 1, Match 4

Ainsley Ainsley, Antone Postminger, and The Gap (horseycule) from Legendlark vs. Kurusu Kazuki and Suwa Rei (Kazurei) from Buddy Daddies!

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Round 2, Match 2

Balloon and Suitcase (Suitloon) from Inanimate Insanity vs. Kurusu Kazuki and Suwa Rei (Kazurei) from Buddy Daddies!

Propaganda for Suitloon:

I think of them as queerplatonic, because theyre incredibly close and are pretty much each other's support systems. Balloon is Aromantic (technically canon? one of the creators said he was so im rlly hoping it is canon) so this is NOT a romantic ship. They dont have any romantic interactions, but you can spin every scene how you want. I just think they're in a QPR and are heavily supportive and understanding to each other. (Since like. half the people in the show fucking hate Balloon, and not many people seem to like to let Suitcase speak for herself)

Propaganda for Kazurei:

Their entire anime is about them raising a daughter together. They treasure each other dearly. They live together. Theyre partners (in crime). They know each other better than they know themselves. They raise a daughter together and in the timeskip own a Cafe together.

They share a bank account. Look, I can get living with your buddy to save costs, but sharing a bank account is a long term investment that puts a lot of trust in the other person. Is it probably because Rei doesn’t know how to do his own finances and Kazuki offered to help? Yes, but it is still interesting. I don’t think I can properly put into words why they’re queer platonic they just are, you know? They have a certain feel to them, they care and trust each other so much that they genuinely wouldn’t be able to function otherwise. They also adopted a kid together after killing her dad, but that’s not the main point.

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Round 2, Match 4

Rosé, York, and Grendan from Drawtectives vs. Hardwon Surefoot and Moonshine Cybin (Hardshine) from Not Another D&D Podcast!

Propaganda for Rosé, York, and Grendan:

they live together, work together, no romance, adopt a son together

Propaganda for Hardshine:

What if we loved each other so intensely in an unspecified way? And we adopted a kid together? And I you reincarnated me into half of you? And you said that even if you lived for a thousand years (which you will) you would never find anyone like me. Anyway they. Platonic soulmates of all time. They kiss once but it's dnd and also it was so Hardwon could help Moonshine break out of a nightmare spell thing. One time they both had a crush on the same werewolf girl and they were simultaneously competing with each other and being the other's wingman. And YES Moonshine cast reincarnate on Hardwon, turning him into a half-elf and he said I've always been half elf ever since I met you. Hardwon never had a home until he found Moonshine and the Crick. They are sooo in queerplatonic love

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Quarterfinals, Match 1

Balloon and Suitcase (Suitloon) from Inanimate Insanity vs. John Doe and Arthur Lester (Jarthur) from Malevolent!

Propaganda for Suitloon:

I think of them as queerplatonic, because theyre incredibly close and are pretty much each other's support systems. Balloon is Aromantic (technically canon? one of the creators said he was so im rlly hoping it is canon) so this is NOT a romantic ship. They dont have any romantic interactions, but you can spin every scene how you want. I just think they're in a QPR and are heavily supportive and understanding to each other. (Since like. half the people in the show fucking hate Balloon, and not many people seem to like to let Suitcase speak for herself)

Propaganda for Jarthur:

The inherent intimacy of having a guy (John) inside your (Arthur) head who you don't know the history or goals of but still bond over the atrocities you go through in your shared body. And sometimes he's an arsehole but you know that he wants the best for you and it's so much more than any other relationship they could have and in the end they always have eachother and I'm jealous of a sad British man and the voice in his head. They're friends and each others world and everything and I want what they have. OH DID I MENTION THAT ARTHUR IS FUCKINF BLIND AND JOHN IS HIS ONLY ACCESS TO SIGHT? IT'S BEAUTIFUL. Like John always takes such care to describe their surroundings (no seriously he starts waxing poetic). I mean yh he withholds it sometimes but every door has its issues. Anyways yh I love them and they deserve the world.

They are extremely close, both literally and figuratively. John is inside of Arthur's head, and they often fight in ways that have been referred to by the fans as 'divorce moments' but they still very clearly care about and love each other, in a way that is explicitely non-romantic. Their love is desperate and aching and they're not just friends, but they are definitely not dating, and a LOT of the fandom interprets them as queerplatonic.

Oh, the special kind of affection and friendship that can only bloom between a 1930s private detective and the eldritch entity that ends up possessing his eyes and left arm. 95% of this show is Arthur (the detective) bickering with John (the eldritch entity) like an old married couple, and falling in and out of trust with each other. Despite that they are both fiercely loyal to the other and by the point the podcast is at now they seem to trust each other implicitly - Arthur has to rely on John to guide him since John can see out of the eyes of their body and Arthur can't, but when they fall into an abandoned mine and are reunited (long story) they immediately fall back into that old, trusting rhythm. They share a body and their initial goal in the podcast is to be separated, but by the point we're at now they're not too fussed about it. They're making plans to go out to dinner and the movies. Also, Arthur is aro-coded - there's a big emotional arc that involves him accepting the fact that he never had romantic feelings for his wife, even during the birth of their child or her death, and how that doesn't make him a bad person or diminish the love he felt for that child.

They have fought gods together. Also they're positive plural representation. What is there not to love????

[queerplatonicshipshowdown]

Quarterfinals, Match 2

Camilla Hect and Palamades Sextus (Campal) from The Locked Tomb vs. Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley (Stobin) from Stranger Things!

Propaganda for Campal:

They're two people who have spent their whole lives together and are hopelessly devoted and loyal to each other. While some people do read their relationship as strictly romantic or platonic, it has way more going for it through a QP lense! They've been lifelong friends, and in their culture are essentially non-romantic life partners as a necromantic wizard and his bodyguard/champion. It's actually strictly taboo for them to engage in a romantic relationship because of this. But nonetheless they remain close to and devoted to each other, going so far as to use necromancy to keep each other close after one of them dies, and then going on to share a body until it becomes physically impossible to do so any longer. So they burn both of their souls to merge together into one new entity, creating a walking metaphor for queerplatonic partnership. They endlessly support and encourage each other, they're a perfect team when it comes to both peaceful study and combat. They know each other inside and out, long before they had to share a body, they were inseperable. They're two halves of one whole, literally, and nothing about that intense closeness and partnership is written to be romantic! Especially because other, similar characters in the series ARE written to read as romantic, and there's a distinct tonal difference to those relationships! Basically, they're two peas in a pod, two halves of a whole, clearly not quite platonic with it, but certainly not romantic either.

The author of The Locked Tomb has a long term queerplatonic partner! She even dedicates the books to him and signs those dedications with a <> (which is a Homestuck reference, denoting a non-romantic partnership that a number of fans associate with QPPs!). You can feel the influence of her own experience with queerplatonic attraction in a lot of the series, but it really comes through especially in Cam and Pal!!

Propaganda for Stobin:

They're so close they love each other so much they're best friends they're soulmates they /get/ each other everyone always assumes they're dating but they keep correcting them (they're 'platonic witch a capital p') they share the same braincell they keep applying to jobs together because they're a package deal

everyone's going on about them being "platonic soulmates." I hate the concept of soulmates but I do feel strongly that they are queerplatonic.