Recently I was challenged to answer the following question: "Who is your favourite fictional couple?"
The truth is that this isn't as easy a question to answer. For starters, which fiction format are we talking about here? In the big wide world of fiction, that's a lot of couples to put into a hierarchy. I find it easier to break it down into categories.
The truth is that this isn't as easy a question to answer. For starters, which fiction format are we talking about here? In the big wide world of fiction, that's a lot of couples to put into a hierarchy. I find it easier to break it down into categories.
On screen, my all-time favourite couple is Rick O'Connell and Evelyn from The Mummy. This is one of the rare cases where I love both characters individually as well as find them completely well-balanced (and super adorable) as a couple. It might have something to do with the fact that I believe I'm part Evie. My husband always laughs in The Mummy Returns where Evelyn bars the doors from killer mummies, to which Rick lovingly replies, "Uh, Honey, these guys don't use doors!" My husband laughs as he looks at me, knowing that while we've yet to be chased down by the undead, her determination to do things by the book when the book doesn't apply might just be something I could be accused of. Also, despite the fact that I don't drink, I also very much have "I know what you're thinking. What's a place like me doing in a girl like this!" moments. What can I say? She loves books, she loves fighting her way up among the scholarly ladders, and she has a reserved sense of adventure that gradually widens as her curiosity grows. "I may not be an adventurer, or a gun-fighter, Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am. I am a librarian!" Okay, so I'm not a librarian, but I did spend 7 years in university just to continue to stay in a school setting, so we have something in common.
And Rick? He has a permanent seat in my Fictional Five. Why? Because I'm a sucker for a guy who can meet someone on their level. As rough and gruff as he is in his character intro, he's perfectly comfortable indulging his true love in even her silliest of impulses. Even in the Film-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named when everything I love about Evie is totally destroyed. Still love Rick, but I cannot acknowledge that monstrosity of a movie when they mangle a character so dear to my heart.
And Rick? He has a permanent seat in my Fictional Five. Why? Because I'm a sucker for a guy who can meet someone on their level. As rough and gruff as he is in his character intro, he's perfectly comfortable indulging his true love in even her silliest of impulses. Even in the Film-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named when everything I love about Evie is totally destroyed. Still love Rick, but I cannot acknowledge that monstrosity of a movie when they mangle a character so dear to my heart.
For stage, Voldemort and Quirrell from A Very Potter Musical. You can hate me all you want for not picking a beloved Broadway classic, but true love always trumps what's popular! Sure they're both evil in their own way, and yes, their bond is pretty much literally parasitic, but they grow together, undeniably bound together by more than an evil plot. And even the dark heart of Voldemort softens for a love that he didn't even know was blossoming.
V:"We should make plans."
Q:"Evil plans?"
V:"Uh, no. Casual plans."
And of course, the tearful scene at the end... oh, heck, I might as well just add the video!
You will have to move it up to 3:29, but it's worth it!
V:"We should make plans."
Q:"Evil plans?"
V:"Uh, no. Casual plans."
And of course, the tearful scene at the end... oh, heck, I might as well just add the video!
You will have to move it up to 3:29, but it's worth it!
V: "Maybe with Quirrell things will be alright."
Q: "Is alright...good?"
V: "Quirrell! Alright is wonderful!"
Q: "Is alright...good?"
V: "Quirrell! Alright is wonderful!"
But my favourite fictional couple out of all of fictional literature? Well, that one's tricky. My first gut reaction was to declare triumphantly "RON & HERMIONE!", but I don't think that's true. I love them both as characters, but I'm not sure that they build something together that Rick and Evelyn do, or fill the voids like Quirrell and Voldemort. And as I reflect back through characters that I love, I often have a tough time with one side or the other. The reasons I love Rick O'Connell is pretty much the same reason I love Mr. Tilney from Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, which is why I will never be a Darcy girl, but I also can't stand Catherine!
The best that I can come up with is a couple from classic literature. Hector and Andromache. And if you don't know who they are or what work they're from, well, it might be difficult to understand why I would choose them. I think that they are both dignified, both loyal to fulfilling their duties, and yet, they share an intimacy that isn't often seen between man and wife in a Greek classic. Even Odysseus and Penelope don't hold for me the same bond, and maybe that has something to do with a certain lustful nymph, and hey, who am I really to know what Hector would have done shipwrecked for 10 years with a horny goddess.
Are they my favourite characters, no, not really, though I love and respect them. But they suit each other, they feel right for each other. And I suppose that's Homer's point. Portraying the enemy as someone who has no fault other than belonging to the wrong family, the wrong people, in the wrong side of a needless war. There's something poetic in that, regardless of it manifesting inside of a poem, and maybe that's why my answer is swaying that way, because there is no reason to dislike either of them, no reason but to feel heartbreak for their brutal end.
Still, I do not feel satisfied that I don't have a contemporary answer. Perhaps that will be one of my missions while I read, to find that couple that I love as much as the ones I mentioned above.
And out of curiosity, how would you answer the question? Do you have a favourite fictional couple?
The best that I can come up with is a couple from classic literature. Hector and Andromache. And if you don't know who they are or what work they're from, well, it might be difficult to understand why I would choose them. I think that they are both dignified, both loyal to fulfilling their duties, and yet, they share an intimacy that isn't often seen between man and wife in a Greek classic. Even Odysseus and Penelope don't hold for me the same bond, and maybe that has something to do with a certain lustful nymph, and hey, who am I really to know what Hector would have done shipwrecked for 10 years with a horny goddess.
Are they my favourite characters, no, not really, though I love and respect them. But they suit each other, they feel right for each other. And I suppose that's Homer's point. Portraying the enemy as someone who has no fault other than belonging to the wrong family, the wrong people, in the wrong side of a needless war. There's something poetic in that, regardless of it manifesting inside of a poem, and maybe that's why my answer is swaying that way, because there is no reason to dislike either of them, no reason but to feel heartbreak for their brutal end.
Still, I do not feel satisfied that I don't have a contemporary answer. Perhaps that will be one of my missions while I read, to find that couple that I love as much as the ones I mentioned above.
And out of curiosity, how would you answer the question? Do you have a favourite fictional couple?
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