My ships, or the majority of them at least, have rather vast similarities. The girls are usually intelligent (and somehow always end up being pretty brunettes) and the guys have dark pasts and are on a road to redemption, and then meet this girl who is like “bam, I’m not taking your dark bullshit, and I just kicked your butt and will do it again if you challenge me to.” And instead of resenting her for that attitude, they worship her, befriend her, love her, and she helps him in return overcome his demons.
(For me, personally, it’s important they go from some sort of enemies (if only because of their alignment), to friends, then to lovers, and very important not to skip the ‘friends’ step or I’m like “nah, I don’t want this ship.”)
Bonus points if the male is a magic wielder and immortal or some sort of ageless god!
Some of my ships are canon, some aren’t even implied and some are completely made up just because I can. And some were crack in the eyes of the writers but still made me fan myself cause the idea did things to me haha.
Rumbelle - slowly becoming one of my oldest ships, and maybe the one I’ve written most prose for (thanks to challenges like @rumbellesecretsanta and @rumbellechristmasinjuly) - though their canon story now seems to be at an end, the dynamic is so awesome that I could enjoy myself with AU’s for decades to come.
It’s very much inspired by Beauty and the Beast (quite literal in some ways), but adds a lot of darkness to Rumplestiltskin, and makes him an immortal dark magic user, which is, let’s be honest, awesome.
Reylo - what I really love about this ship is the fact that you know Ben Solo is going to hit this brick wall where he’s like “fuck - I fucked up”, and as of now we have no idea how Rey will respond to it, and how quick she will forgive him. There is such a wide variety of Reylo fanfiction out there. Some of it where Kylo is just plain evil (not judging), others where he’s a misunderstood sweetheart. But the same goes for Rey - sometimes she remains good, sometimes she goes dark, and it’s this entire light/dark dynamic and all those childhood traumas they have in this universe of war that make them a very passionate and intense ship, no matter the context of the story. Can’t wait for episode VIII!
Hooked Wayfinder - also called Moaui by some - it’s not canon. And in fact, it’s a tiny ship. I don’t blame people for not shipping it, not at all. That’s probably a healthy response to watching this movie. But to me Maui falls perfectly in the “dark ageless guy on a path of redemption” trope while Moana falls in the “awesome heroin who doesn’t take shit” trope. The movie doesn’t really give off any vibes that either of the two are looking for a romantic partner, but if they were to decide otherwise, I’d hope they’d pick each other. They would also be an awesome asexual couple in my own mind, but some folks wouldn’t call that a ship, so, whatever. I still ship it.
Zutara - Good old Zutara. Fellow Zutarians were royally screwed over by canon (and the showrunners weren’t ashamed of some Zutara-baiting either). Katara starts off as a rather plain girl (who soon becomes the most awesome waterbender in the world) while Zuko is an angsty prince with a very dark past. His path of revenge turns into one of redemption throughout the three seasons, and it would have been beautiful if it had turned canon, y’all. Zuko’s redemption arc was satisfying to watch though, and he did get help from Katara eventually.
Janeway/Q - this one probably doesn’t have a name, and is more crack than anything. But I remember watching this as a teen and going “omg yesssss” - it’s just, immortal allpowerful jerk looking for love and turning to a woman who doesn’t take bullshit for it. Unfortunately the ship didn’t work out in canon, haha. Q instead mated with another Q and Janeway became the aunty of the kids.
Jasfar - I can probably call myself captain of the ship since it’s not canon and I kind of made it up. (and I’m the only provider of content for it so far, haha. Even made the manip you see above cause we don’t have gifs for people that have never shared a scene together - lol!)
It’s not based on the Disney animation (at all), but more on a bazillion headcanons I had to make about Once Upon a Time in Wonderland’s Jafar so he could end up in the same Agrabah as OUAT’s Jasmine. Erase Aladdin from the picture, make these two live in the same palace, where their titles of Princess and Grand Vizier provide them a certain isolation from the rest of society, and these two can melt together like no other. (also, Naveen Andrews and Karen David look like they would be able to play a beautiful couple together.) Currently writing about them for Nanowrimo, and I’m telling you, it’s awesome. :-)
Beauty and the Beast - the ship that started it for me when I was eight, I assume. It gave me a hunger for more complex love stories that weren’t all about “love at first sight”, but rather “love at seventy-eight sight” or something.
Howl and Sophie - One of the most beautiful transformation-fairytale-like stories I know. Original that it’s the girl that turns “ugly”, even though it’s Howl who is “the monster” at the same time. I love Howl’s Moving Castle to bits.
