thereās one ladrien trope/opinion that i see coming back and coming back that justā¦ makes less and less sense the more i think about it
and itās the ābroken pedestalā angst trope
because for one, this requires that both chat and marinette have their respective loves on āāpedestalsāā (that is to say, blind and/or unwilling to see their faults and weaknesses), and, while i can see it for marinette, i donāt see it for chat.
because chat āshe can be so stubborn!ā āwerenāt you a little harsh?ā ādonāt you have an apology to make?ā noir absolutely sees ladybugās faults. he calls her out on them on multiple occasions. he knows sheās hot-headed and stubborn and thoughtless, and his response? is to remind her to be kind, and to take responsibility for her actions, and to apologize.
you canāt do that if you donāt think someone doesnāt have faults and doesnāt make mistakes.
and he didnāt fall for āperfect, invincible, flawless ladybugā, you know. he fell for the terrified little girl who thought she wasnāt enough, who took her scraps of courage and her wit and her sense of responsibility, and made something amazing out of them.
he fell for the girl who went from āiām maā ma-ma-ā¦ *clunk* ā¦majorly clumsyā to coming up with a plan on the spot to defeat this thing that neither of them really knew how to deal with. he fell for the girl who had her face in her hands, convinced that she couldnāt until hawkmoth showed up and she needed to ā who then blew everyone out of the water, this tiny little person taking on that thing that had just threatened them all. and winning.
i firmly, firmly believe that chat fell for her bravery first. iām sure there were a whole cascade of reasons that came afterwards (because seriously, ladybug), but the world gave marinette a chance (and a reason) to shine, and she shone like a supernova.
tell me you wouldnāt be a little bit dazzled after something like that.
and chat is absolutely, visibly dazzled, but he doesnāt stay so dazzled that he canāt or wonāt take her for what she is, and that? is not a pedestal.
and on marinetteās end, there is something of a pedestal.
itās always āperfect, perfect adrienā that she claims that she loves, and that heās kind seems to be the most she actually knows about his personality for the majority of the show, with the gamer and kung food being the two obvious exceptions.
the gamer is actually pretty pertinent to this rant about why the ābroken pedestalā doesnāt make sense, because here, adrien does expose himself. he lets marinette in a little. he mentions his insecurities to her, and marinette isnāt disillusioned.
granted, that would be a pretty strange thing to get disillusioned over (unless she believed he was invincible somehow, which she doesnāt seem to), but she reacts with awkward warmth and support, not rejection.
and, you know, there are ways i could totally see adrienās pedestal getting broken in a nasty way (because theyāre both jealous people, and adrien, at the very least, has been known to spout white lies when they serve him, and those could both lead to very worrying fights), but in all the theories iāve seenā¦
the most common is that ladybug/marinette will be disillusioned that adrien is basically chat.
itās not like she felt a powerful connection with her partner even early on, and it would be ridiculous to think that she might enjoy his puns, or that she would ever value his input or listen to him (despite swallowing her pride and apologizing to people she hates at least twice (volpina and antibug) at his urging), or, you know, trust him implicitly (certainly not to the point of looking at the most damning of evidence and leaping to the conclusion that heās innocent (copycat and the christmas special)), or ever consider him as a romantic interest in a million years ā in fact, she really doesnāt even want him getting close!
(i just spent the last 2 hours looking for any gifset of ladybug checking chat out (which has happened at least twice, one in stormy weather and one in an episode that i can no longer remember the name of that takes place at the tv station) and came up blank, but rest assured that it has happened.)
like, that marinette/ladybug would be disappointed to find that adrien is chat (or particularly chat-like) just doesnāt have canon backing imo, because ladybug, no matter to what degree sheāll admit it. really likes chat.
at finding her crush is a giant dork who really resembles one of her closest friends, would she be disbelieving? probably! more at ease/less fluster-y around adrien? iād hope so. less likely to take him seriously in everything? quite possibly!
betrayed, uninterested, disillusioned, and/or apathetic?
ā¦letās try that one again.
tl;dr: angst is great, but there are loads of opportunities for it that donāt change the fundamental aspects of these relationships. chat. for better or worse. adores ladybug (really and truly with very few delusions), and while marinette might not know adrien all that well right now, thereās nothing in the show to suggest she would be dissatisfied with whatever she found in him.
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