Why its impossible for 2-D/Noodle to have an emotional incest/grooming dynamic
I keep seeing people try to apply the parentification/fraternal complex label to 2-D and Noodle’s (or even Murdoc and Noodles) dynamic because it interferes with their ships, so I've decided to break down a bit more of their relationship using official lore, psychology and common sense to debunk people projecting their own weird tropes and prove their relationship is the literal antithesis of the perceived closed-circuit ("guardian x child") incestuous system as opposed to being defined by cultural/intellectual barriers and accidental boundaries
Emotional Incest (Parentification): A psychological dysfunction where a child is forced to fulfill the emotional or romantic needs of an adult caregiver, collapsing the generational boundary (“Essentially, in an emotionally incestuous relationship, the caregiver’s needs must always come first. If the child attempts to do anything that detracts from that, it places them in a very uncomfortable position, and the parent often makes the child feel guilty.”)
The Westermarck Effect: also known as reverse sexual imprinting is a psychological hypothesis that states that people tend not to be attracted to peers with whom they lived like siblings before the age of six
"It is in the name of the father that we must recognise the support of the symbolic function which, from the dawn of history, has identified his person with the figure of the law" – as distinct from "the narcissistic relations, or even from the real relations, which the subject sustains with the image and action of the person who embodies it". This paternal function imposes the law and regulates desire in the Oedipus complex, intervening in the imaginary dual relationship between mother and child to introduce a necessary symbolic distance between them. 'The true function of the Father is fundamentally to unite (and not to set in opposition) a desire and the Law', and the Symbolic Father is thus not an actual subject but a position in the Symbolic Order. - Lacan, Ecrits p. 67
In Lacanian theory, the Name-of-the-Father (Nom-du-Père) is the function/concept that breaks the dual relationship between two people (usually mother and child, or siblings) and introduces the "Law" of the outside world aka. an externus to cease the potential devouring relationship loop between the two
Using rise of the ogre as a reference, by experiencing a high speed environment filled with kidnappings, abuse, constant threats, mental torture, identity crises, exploitation and relentless, abusive, soul-sucking tyrants, 2-D and Noodle were CONSISTENTLY forced into a state of externalized survival. They didn't have the psychic energy to deeply enmesh with each other because 100% of their bandwidth is spent not getting killed or exploited (especially by murdoc) aka a perpetual external stress during those 2 - 3 years they spent together, which makes it impossible to form the "quiet, domestic family bubble" as fans (and dare i say rival shippers) like to imagine them as.
Rise of the ogre made it a point to show whatever emotional support she needed was foreign and fleeting. there is no mention of any band member being an effective anchor (but Cass bothered to write her stability and made it a point to show it was derived from emotional support that were NOT 2d and/Murdoc)
even the phase 1 interviews highlight this. Despite knowing the band for 2 years at that point, they still blanked each other, she still felt painfully homesick and she never thought of them as her true home. The "guardian" role was never fulfilled nor applied
the loneliness continues in phase 2
and noodles loneliness has only grown. she literally keeps relics of her adventures as a way to ground some sense of identity for herself even as a full fledged woman WHILE staying with the band. she misses her parents despite knowing its futile
also, to groom someone you need to be with them first? try as he might have, 2-D couldn't exactly "wait" for her to grow up like some weird Victorian protagonist. He spent the years she was 11-13 believing she was never going to return (phase 1) and years 15-20 believing she literally dead (phase 2)
You cannot emotionally claim or "groom" a ghost, because 2-D spent her entire transition into adulthood in genuine mourning/terror. There was no planned reunion. it was a literal resurrection. The emotional bond required for incestuous dynamics can't survive a five-year gap of believing the other person is gone/ a corpse. so its PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for him to have groomed her
Also, In the foundational years, Noodle spoke and understood Japanese; 2-D spoke English. You can’t engage in parentification if you can’t even communicate basic emotional nuances.
Additionally, 2-D is canonically mentally childish and a drug addict. He didn't "raise" Noodle because he lacked the executive function to raise a virtual tamagotchi. Even Russel considers him mentally immature than noodle.
Noodle never looked to him for emotional sustenance; she couldnt even believe him capable of being useful, and never called his name when she needed genuine help
nor did she bother to take it upon herself to stay after Murdoc stormed out at the end of phase 1 after nearly killing 2d, to save 2d from murdoc when his kidnapping/torture was broadcasted live in phase 3, or search for him when they were escaping the island under the pirate attack. She stays her own person, and often leaves the band behind for years to go on her own solo journeys. Her inherent autonomy (from being an ex soldier) and 2-D’s inherent detachment (facilitated by his lifestyle) acted as their own symbolic law.
And the hiatuses are the ultimate antidote. Every time they reunite after years apart, the Westermarck Effect (the natural aversion to those you grow up with) is reinforced by the fact that they have to re-learn each other, only to split up after a couple years again.
in conclusion, they are their own people, with their own ideals. two separate survivors sharing a bench in a storm. Their true bond only forged when they finally got to breath free from the traumas of the past and Jamie made sure to show that.
