I couldn't help but notice that recently, these two ships have taken the internet by storm.
Especially queer spaces online - spaces that usually favour queer ships.
Yet, these ships are straight, are they not? Why suddenly do straight ships take over fandoms like this - where usually straight ships, especially canon ones - fall short?
I have a couple takes on this, and I'd like to share them.
1. The female characters.
Both Jinx and Rumi are characters with a lot of depth. This is a somewhat new thing, especially in mainstream media. Often times even female protagonists are still somewhat of a blank slate, meant more to be generic, written so that any girl could see themselves in this character. Jinx and Rumi however, are believable characters on their own. This gives their respective ships a unique and distinct dynamic, a recognisability that otherwise often is amiss.
2. The surrounding relationships
Both Jinx and Rumi have relationships with other people that are more important to their arch than their romance. This, again, is a somewhat rare thing. Oftentimes when a female character has a romantic interest character, they're the only character that matters. However, Jinx has Vi, who is just as if not more important to her character arch than Ekko is, and Rumi has Zoey and Mira, who are way more important to Rumi than Jinu is.
This gives their relationship a real feel, while not making it the sole drive to their story. This is interesting from a fandom perspective, because it means we, as a fandom, can explore this relationship far more freely in headcanons, because we can change it up, make it different, and be free with it.
When the romantic relationship is the only driving point of the plot, it's hard to find something to play with, to chance, because if it had been different, then the whole story would have been different.
3. Both ships come with an inherent queerness
This might be a far stretch, but I need you to hear me out.
Rumi is part demon. Jinu is a demon with far more consciousness than most others. Jinu and Rumi both are "other" than the norm of the respective worlds they live in. Their relationship is "taboo", but not because it's wierd or dangerous or unhealthy, but simply because of who they are and how they're perceived. Sound familiar?
Jinx and Ekko are social outcasts, for entirely different reasons. They both lived vastly different lives than the norm in their society, Jinx with Silco, Ekko with the Firelights. We can also not ignore that Ekko is one of the few incredibly well written POC in mainstream media. This gives them once again this unique experience of a different life from the norm, their own unique experiences, and their own relationship dynamic, that is different from any other portrayed in the show.
While both of these ships may be straight, their experiences are incredibly relatable to queer people.
4. Canon but not happy end
This one might not be the driver, but it certainly helps.
Both of these ships are canon, in the sense that yes, these characters are in love. However, they don't end up together with their happy end.
This allows the fandom to imagine and speculate and create. Fanfiction works best when you have something to fantasise about. How did they end up together? What was their first kiss like? How do they meet again after all was said and done?
They're canonically in love, but they still give so much room to think about. This is appealing especially to the creative spaces in fandom.
5. Actual, tangible, fleshed put relationship
These character have a relationship beyond "they met and fell in love". They have a dynamic that is unique to them and distinct, they stay their own people in the relationship face their own troubles, and face their mutual troubles together. They feel like actual people who have an actual relationship. Believe ot or not, this is not the norm in mainstream media.
Anyways yeah I just wanted to ramble about them because I couldn't help but keep thinking about this after eating KDH earlier and yeah.
If you have anything to add feel free!
