#canon commentary

I've been shipping RoLo through every era — the highs, the lows, the Ultimate universe kiss, those Hugh Jackman/Halle Berry outtakes. But here's what non-RoLo shippers need to understand: Your canon arguments don't matter.

RoLo shipping isn't about defending what's already written. It's about joining together to form a voice powerful enough to write the canon. To bring this ship to life. To pick up sketching to share the vision of their life together. To learn to write because you want their story to exist. To learn web development just to give home to the amazing works of the like-minded.

While other ships claim they're "from the streets" (cough T'Choro cough) after being conceived by the mainstream writers, RoLo shippers? We've BEEN the streets since that One Man's Worth episode in 1995. Since the Ultimate universe kiss in the early 2000s. Since the Fox Movieverse fans started flooding the fanfic websites thanks to Halle's and Hugh's portrayal of the characters.

RoLo shippers, we started underground and fought our way up, chipping away at the narrative decade by decade. That's real power. That's a real battle won. And the fight keeps on going.

As a RoLo shipper, I do not fully stand by what happened in the comics, I know RoLo deserve better than a school bathroom kiss, than the pocket universe deja vu, than abandoning one another after a one night stand.

The current RoLo content should be written better — I'm still waiting for a writers team that understands the storytelling potential these characters have together, the legacy Chris Claremont built when he first put them on the page.

RoLo isn't about who said "I love you" first or who confessed on-panel, or how on-page confessions between Ororo and T'Challa supposedly prove "realer love."

To me RoLo is about what should be canon, what should happen and how we make it happen from the ground up. Year by year. Decade by decade. Page by page. Sketch by sketch.

above, an excerpt from this page:

TA: iit ha2 two happen liike that.  TA: iim not 2ure why, but ii thiink iit2 liike... TA: fulfiilliing 2ome requiirement for a true prophet of doom. TA: iin order for the vii2iion2 two be riight, that ha2 two happen, and the uniiver2e wiill make 2ure iit wiill. TA: iit2 kiind of liike how a prophet earn2 hii2 2triipe2, by beiing bliind, liike how an angel earn2 iit2 wiing2. GC: WH4TS 4N 4NG3L TA: 2ome terriible mythiical demon. TA: wiith the2e awful feathery wiing2. GC: Y1K3S TA: paradox 2pace u2e2 them two u2her iin the end.

How old was Aral during the invasion of Komarr?

How old were Aral and Cordelia when they met? I believe it’s 40s and 30s, respectively, but do we know exactly?

Similarly, do we know Aral and Cordelia’s relative ages? Are they 10 years apart? Ish? Less?

Was Piotr definitely born before Recontact? Do we know how old he was at that time?

I am remembering that the First Cetagandan War (aka the Occupation) started 10 years after Recontact, and lasted for 20 years after that. Is that correct?

Is there any canon indication of when Piotr and Olivia married, other than “after Vorkosigan Vashnoi”? I’m assuming it was after the Occupation, full stop, but I don’t know that that’s spelled out anywhere.

And, last and frankly most importantly, is “Ezar married Yuri’s sister during the civil war” supported by anything other than fanon/my own brain gremlins? This wrinkle is giving me the most headaches out of all of them.