i'm not really into hoperai, despite the fact i acknowledge it as canon on Hope's end, but something i do want to ask is what it would mean if it WERE requited from lightning? if it were requited before reminiscence, of course, lightning never knew Hope as an adult (he was an adult mentally in LR but specifically had a child body for Lightning's sake, which if it was requited is, concerning), so if she ever contemplated it before the epilogue it would have far reaching implications for her arc
Okay, so I’m a huge shipper of Hoperai and all.
But I really don’t think it was requited before Reminiscence.
For one, we don’t see any actions or thoughts directly from Lightning that would suggest her returned feelings, and for another, she… treats him very crudely throughout all of Lightning Returns. She goes to great depths to help people like Noel, Snow and Sazh, and the one time she seriously thinks just about Hope, it’s at Lumina’s prompting and it’s about how she may or may not be ready to kill him. That’s not how you talk about someone you love; that’s not even how you talk about someone you care about as a partner, friend and surrogate sibling, since if she knew something was up with Hope she should have shown some ounce of caring towards the real Hope, wherever that Hope may be. Like, she does not really show any concern for Hope’s fate until he literally disappears on her, and that’s while we’re hearing again and again about how Hope’s serving God in sketchy ways and Lightning totally does not trust her God at all.
Hoperai is a problematic ship for a lot of reasons and if it ever happens it’ll happen in the new world, after a lot of pain and time, at the very end of both of Hope and Lightning’s personal arcs for happiness. LR may have a lot to do with Lightning and Hope but it’s not a happy Hoperai game at all.
