Giraffe's EAH Ship Tier List: Madven
Requested by @reverie-king-of-eah
Time to make some people mad! The question I have to ask when it comes to these two is this: Does making them romantic meaningfully change their relationship? At all?
Because here's the thing. Maddie is the most cinnamon roll sunshine friend ever, who loves all her friends with the equal amounts of impossible joy. She really really really loves Raven, but that's because Raven is her best friend who always wants to spend time with her and is patient with her and never gets annoyed by her. All her other friends can get maxed out on Maddie and need a break, which doesn't happen with Raven.
Because Raven is more in need of what Maddie brings to life than all of Maddie's other friends. Maddie's bubbliness and constant optimism, her off-beat thinking, her fun Wonderland magic, and her unconditional support are all things Raven is sorely lacking in. Maddie provides a constant stream of all the things Raven needs from other people, so Maddie is her best friend.
But would making them romantic change anything about that? I really don't think so. For comparison, Briar and Apple gain the tragedy of internalized homophobia and forbidden romance when you shift their relationship from best friends to love interests. Cerise and Raven aren't as close as Raven and Maddie, so making them love interests changes the trajectory of the story and further cements the themes of their friendship. Apple and Darling would only be acquaintances without the romance angle, and Dexter's crush on Raven gives him a reason to seek her out instead of just watching from the sidelines.
But with Madven? They're already about as close as it's possible for two people to be, they both already don't care about social norms, and they both already do the things for each other stereotypically associated with love interests. Maddie literally spends three days scouring the entire library for one very important piece of information just to help out Raven. Raven already faces off against her mother and learns how to cast a level thirty eight sorceress spell even though she's a level five to save Maddie from banishment. Changing their relationship to a romance wouldn't change anything about that. Not even the underlying meaning behind those actions. It's still just because they love each other and support each other's dreams to make the world better.
Not that it'd make it worse either! Or even that it wouldn't happen. But this is my aro goblin brain coming in and saying "Romantic relationships are not inherently more valuable than friendships. Two people can and do go to the ends of the earth for each other without any attraction being involved."
Another comparison I have to make is Sparrow and Duchess, who I gave A-tier because of their close bond even though I think viewing it as romantic actively devalues their relationship (rather than just not changing it). But the other big thing giving them points is that they are each other's best ship options. If you are going to give either of them a romance, then the best person for that to play off of is each other. Not so for Maddie and Raven. They both have other people who's stories become BETTER by viewing it through romance.
Also, while I have evidence to support that previous pairs in S-tier do actually find each other attractive, the same isn't true for Maddie and Raven. Platonic soulmates is the term I'd apply to them.
So basically, I think Maddie and Raven are each other's most important person, but I also don't think spinning that as romantic meaningfully changes the story, so I can't give it s-tier, but I can certainly see where you're coming from.
Verdict: They're Cute (A-Tier)
