yasuo and ahri are not ship bait they are not fanservice they are LITERALLY!!!!! FUCKING MEANT FOR EACH OTHER. they are the only people who can understand each other’s pain. who can help the other get better. the only sides of this argument ive seen are “they’re only in ruined king and together because they’re popular, conventionally attractive characters” and “they like each other because they’re nice to each other” and, while both of these statements are fact, they do not in any way fully encompass their relationship.
first, we have to understand that yasuo and ahri’s relationship is about recovery. even putting the fact that ahri’s character serves as an allegory for addiction aside, we know that they are both deeply, deeply traumatized and mentally ill people. first of all, at several different points across league canons we can see that they suffer from severe post-traumatic nightmares.
second, they share very negative, unhealthy mentalities: they’re plagued by guilt, loneliness, utter hopelessness about their future, and self-deprecation because they believe their pasts to be entirely their fault, despite them being, largely, simply accidents or bad luck.
so they are both suffering people. this on its own is not really significant: virtually every league champion is traumatized in some way or another. but the thing that really drives the importance of their relationship home is the fact that their stories are just…fundamentally so similar.
yasuo and ahri are both people who have been ostracized from society their entire lives. yasuo was always seen as fundamentally “different” from other children, never fit in right, and was too wild for the people of his temple (which has a lot of implications. but that’s an entire other can of worms)—and when he was older, he was shunned as a criminal, and then, even after his name was cleared, as untrustworthy. and though she belonged at the beginning of her life, leaving her tribe meant leaving the safety and stability of vastayan civilization for the oppression and ridicule of the human one.
but even despite all this, the two of them always had someone who would be there for them: yone and ahri’s lover, of course. these were the only two people who understood them. who reassured when it came to their faults, who were always there for them. their family. and, of course, the two of them died by yasuo and ahri’s own respective hands. and so ahri and yasuo are all alone in a world that wants them dead, where they belong nowhere and have no one, where they blame themselves so deeply for everything that has happened to them that they cannot live with themselves. yasuo turns to alcoholism for comfort. ahri isolates herself so she will never harm anybody again. at least yasuo has taliyah for a short while, but it is inevitable when she leaves, too, reminding him that she will always have a family to protect, to come home to, and he never will again. they are so lonely and, in their minds, so deeply irredeemable, that they cannot form real connections with anyone.
and so their chance meeting is so fucking incredible for the two of them because they KNOW the feelings that the other is going through. they understand. and the thing is that their initial opinions of each other are not built off of the reductionist boxes that society has built both of them into: ahri does not know that yasuo is the unforgiven murderer because she does not spend time with humans. yasuo does not know that ahri is a vastaya because she is deliberately concealing her appearance. these are the two things that have MADE them so alone all of these years, and yet they get to know each other and learn to care for each other without these barriers in the way. and when they DO find out it means nothing, because they know what it’s like to be so isolated, and they will not martyr the other—even if they do it to themselves.
ahri goes to bilgewater to find out more about her family. yasuo leaves ionia because he is no longer shackled by his brother’s ghost now that he knows yone has returned to the living realm, NOT because he no longer feels guilt. ahri hires a bodyguard to keep her in check so she will not hurt humans upon her reintroduction to society. their meeting is purely coincidental.
and. of course. at the heart of the matter. they do “like each other because they are nice to each other.” because they have not felt kindness like that in so, so fucking long. they are the only people who show each other that gentleness. yasuo had taliyah but she was just a kid, a girl who was lost and lonely who he had to take care of. yasuo and ahri can take care of each OTHER. when ahri gets overwhelmed he is not afraid to touch her, ground her, ask her what’s wrong. when she brings up her loneliness he is the first to say you are not alone because we are here with you—i am here with you. when he fights his brothers ghost she knows what is happening right away. she knows he will be fine. she trusts him to make it out.
and i think that ahri saying that he reminds her of her dead lover is not superficial or clichéd—it shows how deeply they understand each other. yasuo is bitter and sad and lonely, sarcastic and oftentimes sardonic, but we know he wasn’t always like this. as a child he was overexcited, confident, young and free and loved his brother. he still is that person, in a way: deep down he is gentle. he treats his elders with respect and care. he finds a lost taliyah and his first instinct is to take care of her, to make up for failing his brother by saving her. he does not hate riven even after he finds out the truth, because he, too, knows the power misfortune can have. and ahri REALIZES all of this. BECAUSE THEY LOVE EACH OTHER. HE REMINDS HER OF HER DEAD LOVER, WHO WAS OUTWARDLY KIND AND GENTLE, BECAUSE SHE KNOWS WHO HE IS ON THE INSIDE. THE PERSON HE HAD TO BOTTLE UP TO COUNTERACT A DECADE’S WORTH OF LONELINESS. AND HE FINDS OUT WHAT SHE’S DONE AND HE ISNT AFRAID. BECAUSE HE KNOWS WHO SHE REALLY IS, TOO. HE KNOWS WHAT HER HEART IS MADE OF. HOW LOVING IT REALLY IS.
and, yes, it IS a little bit stupid that they’re in ruined king. i don’t necessarily think that their character growths relied on traveling to bilgewater; they easily could’ve been handled differently. and, yes, maybe they were initially paired up because they’re popular, attractive characters. but this is so small. so insignificant. when you consider what makes their relationship special. they are just what the other needed. they are what they need to heal. to look to the future with hope. and that means so much
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