My Personal NNT Head Canons and Love of Helbram
Warning: This post is REALLY long. I wrote this thing out because a couple of individuals were curious about why I like Helbram. If you don't care about how I interpret NNT relationships, especially those involving Helbram, keep scrolling. If you do, please read the whole thing. If you are confused or want clarification because I didn't explain myself clearly, please send me a PM and ask. I enjoy nerding out on this topic, clearly, and I enjoy talking to other people in the fandom.
1. Why do you like Helbram so much?
I love Helbram because he is a very well written side character that makes Fairy King Harlequin's story much more interesting and compelling.
I love Helbram's transformation from innocence to worldliness.
I love how he swung from being super kind, playful, and naive to full of rage, terror, and angst to finally becoming a balanced person in the end.
I love the various roles Helbram played from King's childish best friend, to King's nemesis/shame, to being King's spiritual GPS, to being someone King can remember fondly for his sacrifice.
I love that it is becoming very clear that Helbram is a tragedy and thus his story hits you, the reader, to the core because he is relatable, and you just want him to be happy and well, but at the same time he has to pay for literally murdering thousands upon thousands of people over the course of centuries. The first time I watched King and Helbram's storyline I got a visceral reaction from it. I was like, "oh my god I need to see more of the zombie fairy again to process what I just saw" kind of feeling. I like it when I get that kind of reaction to a character when they are first introduced. I got a similar visceral reaction when Ban and Elaine's backstory was presented as well.
I love the cheeky smart ass villain that he was while being guilt ridden and masochistic.
I love his true personality because he is so intelligent and sweet.
I love that Nakaba did not downplay that Helbram has a mental illness (severe PTSD and Major Depression) after a hugely tragic event. The poor boy got duped and because of it everything he loved and cared about was destroyed in front of him. It was partially his fault because he was warned and he didn't listen. As the saying goes, "Bad decisions don't get band aides" and Helbram learned it in a way that transformed his mind for centuries. He carried around that guilt and perpetuated that cylcle of guilt by taking on the form of the person who murdered his friends, carrying around the helmet he got from the peddler who tricked him, and doing something he knew was ultimately wrong (murdering all the peoples) to keep the cycle of guilt going. The boy literally had to die 3 times to get his mind right and get back to being a version of himself that we can call good again. He overcame his selfish nature ultimately and sacrificed himself to make amends for a wrong he did that negatively affects his best friend (possessed Diane). Helbram is just a well written character.
I love his look from his shaggy green hair, pointed ears, charming eyes, his evil smile, and those stained glass buggy wings of his. I even like that stupid helmet he carries around and the wierd jacket he wears.
I love that he wields a bad ass scimitar like a spinning razor blade and that he will smash you with the fine root hairs of the Sacred Tree.
I love that despite everything that Harlequin and Helbram have been through they are still best friends in the end.
2. Why don't you ship King x Helbram?
First and foremost I will warn you I love it when things are canon. Something that is definitely canon is King x Diane; I love Kiane. Something else that is canon is Helbram's transformation from being innocent and naive to worldly and sinful. If I acknowledge the Helbram that Nakaba wrote as a horny teenager that is pining for his best buddies attention but his affections are unrequited it takes away from the value of Helbram's storyline. The reason why Helbram's story is so good is because of the dramatic swings in personality from good to evil to good again in addition to the struggle with insanity and truama. I am sorry but you can't be a horny teenager boy and be childlike innocent at the same time. Besides, Nakaba did a much better with the unrequited love as a story device between Meliodis & Diane, Ban & Jericho, Howzer & Diane and Vivian & Gilthunder. If Nakaba intended there to be unrequited love between King and Helbram he did shitty job quite frankly considering Helbrams special skill is communication, sexual attraction is never brought up ever in any of King and Helbram's interactions, and the only time I have ever seen anything that could be mistaken for flirting was when Helbram was pressuring King to tell him what his number 1 most important thing in his life was. I just dont see it based off of Nakaba's writing style. I am not a gate keeper on the inner workings of Nakaba's mind and you are welcome to disagree with me.
That being said I like the version of Helbram that the fans have created who is a horny teenager boy who wants to bang his childhood best friend. I love the art that stems from this fandom as well. I just acknowledge and accept that "fandom" Helbram is not the "manga/anime" Helbram that is written out and portrayed in NNT.
3. How do you feel about people who ship King x Helbram?
I think that your interpretation is valid and please continue making that fun King x Helbram art. I eat that stuff up like candy because "fandom" Helbram is a fun character. Just because I don't think it's canon doesn't mean it is not fun or wrong. I am not a gate keeper on what is, or is not, officially NNT canon nor am I trying to convince you to agree with my HC. I just want to nerd out with other NNT people and make it very clear that just because I have an opinion doesn't mean that I think you are wrong or less of a person for thinking differently than me. I, in fact, very much so like hearing the reasons why you may not agree with me as long as we are mutually being nice and respectful with each other.
4. But what about Helbram's official dream/wish? Don't you think you are ignoring some obvious "gay coding" at this point?
The way I interpret Helbram's official dream/wish is that he is angling for Gerheade's offical position as Fairy King Advisor. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't recall ever reading that Helbram actually held an official position in the Fairy Kingdom. I believe that he is just Harlequin's best friend and would sometimes accompany King on his rounds. At the time before Helbram got tricked by humans he really wanted to protect King because King was LAZY. Not to mention Helbram also acknowledged that Harlequin was short, sensitive, and lazed about a lot and so he seemed to need a lot of assistance to just be a good ruler. I imagined that Helbram probably saw this, and he saw his best friend's potential to be a good ruler, and desired to be an official advisor so he could protect his friend from ridicule and at the same time give him a harsh reality check if he needed it. It is very clear that Helbram is a proud fairy that valued and upheld fairy traditions, but at the same time was not afraid to learn about other people (particularly humans) and try to improve the way fairies currently live. He had a very good "adapt or die" way of looking at things but still having a love for the fairies did things traditionally.
To answer the second question, I don't think I am ignoring obvious "gay coding" per se. I can definitely see how people can get that interpretation, and I am cool with that. I will state this again, I don't care about Helbram's sexual attractions all that much because the things I love about Helbram are not contingent upon who he is sexually attracted to after he becomes more worldly. If it comes out later that he is canon gay, then cool beans. Personally, I think Helbram is bisexual after he becomes more worldly and before then he was just an asexual nerd who wanted to learn about the humans and play with his friends.
5. Do you ship Helbram with anyone?
I really don't ship Helbram with anyone because I get the feeling Helbram was too preoccupied with learning about humans or too busy killing them to develop any sexual interests. If I had to ship him with someone, though it will never happen, I think that Gerheade x Helbram would be an excellent combination, after the Holy War arc of course. Gerheade would definitely be a cradle robber in this case, but their histories mesh really well and Gerheades' wisdom and levelheadedness would balance Helbram's cheekiness and freespiritedness. Plus, Gerheade and Helbram are super dedicated to King and just want to serve King. It is literally Gerheade's offical hobby to serve King and it is Helbram's official dream/wish so it could definitely be a couple's goal that could fulfill together.
I could see Ende x Helbram working together as well. They have a history together and her shy sweet nature could compliment his outgoing worldly nature. Overall shipping Helbram feels a bit forced to me though and thus I don't think about it too much. Obviously I think he would end up with another fairy and not someone else from one of the other races.
6. What are some other NNT relationships that you ship?
Ban x Elaine (first nnt relationship love)
Relationships that I like but I am not sure if they will ever exist:
Hendrickson x Dreyfus (this is most likely true if Hendrickson can admit that he's gay)
7. Are there any NNT relationship combinations you loathe?
Yes, there are two of them that I loathe and they are Vivian X Gilthunder and Helbram X Hendrickson. Both of these relationships are abusive and wrong. I will judge you at home, in my head, and never tell you to your face or indirectly how absolutley wrong you are for shipping those relationships.
Overall I don't focus on relationships in NNT that are not super obvious. I really like the NNT story arcs, I love the fellowship and camaraderie that goes on, the character developments are pretty excellent minus a couple of characters, and overall Nakaba has done a really good job shaping the world that the characters interact in. I love Helbram, he is my favorite character, followed by King, Ban, and Elaine. I know that I interpret Helbram in a way that is in the minority of the fandom. I am okay with that and I hope that you are okay with that too. I also love horny, cheeky, flamboyant, flirtatious gay version of Helbram that the fandom has created who has a forever love for his best friend. It's all good and I enjoy this fandom. If you took the time to read this, thank you for taking the time to do so. It took a long time to write and hopefully I was clear enough to communicate the crazy that goes on in this fangirls head.
