#reddeathnote

Noah Calhoun

Here's a take I had before it was cool: I hate The Notebook. I've never been big on romance movies because they fall into a lot of tropes I'm not a fan of, and Nicholas Sparks stories are the worst. I successfully managed to evade watching The Notebook for literally decade until Project Hail Mary activated my Ryan Gosling hyperfixation and even then it was at the bottom of my list and I was even arguing with myself about if it was even necessary. And that opinion was not changed when people in discord started discussing the movie and how bad Noah and Allie are for each other. However, my interest was piqued when they started sharing their theories about how Noah could be a closeted gay man. I mean, it doesn't take much to get to that conclusion.

The girl he "falls in love at first sight" with is a girl from out of town who doesn't know anything about him. The only people he's shown to hang out with on his own (i.e. not at a gathering where other people will definitely be) are Finn and his girlfriend Sarah, and even the first time he's shown with them it's at a carnival, a popular date activity and probably not somewhere you would want to have your single friend third wheeling. Allie is the picture of the perfect girl, someone that Noah, the picture of the perfect boy, should pursue. I did end up watching The Notebook which means this is the funniest reason I've ever hate watched anything and I came away with so many notes. Everything about the relationship between Noah and Allie feels so performative. Like, they don't have anything in common and they fight all the time but it's supposed to be okay cause they're "crazy about each other". And even without the crackship goggles, Noah just gives some vibes. I could write a whole extra post on my thoughts on Noah, Finn & Sarah who knows, maybe I will, but that's not what this post is for.

Murdock/Murderplier & Yandereplier

Both of these Mark characters only have very brief appearances, so we're gonna talk about them together because they're kind of similar in a way.

First up, Murderplier, unofficially named Murdock by a chunk of the fanbase, is from very brief segments of In Space With Markiplier. He doesn't have much canon personality because, again, his segments are short, but you can infer a lot from the environment he's in. He's a serial killer who takes the time to completely cover the scene to prevent messes. He obviously enjoys his "craft", because he waxes poetic about how each experience is different from the last. He's also big on "sharing is caring", since he doesn't wanna be greedy when it's your first kill (makes sense in context?). He's definitely a professional, knows what he's doing in regards to murders and clean up. He's also covered head to toe by clothes, long coat, what looks like a turtleneck, long pants, sunglasses, gloves. He's a very cool looking guy, as any respectable serial killer should be. (These will be relevant later).

Now, if you know enough about anime, then Yandereplier should be pretty self-explanatory. A "yandere" is a character that's "sick with love" to the point of obsession. Yandereplier comes from Markiplier's playthrough of Yandere Simulator (technically they're only in the intro video of episode 12, but Mark frequently slips into a yandere character during the playthrough which can be considered pseudo-canon). Yanderes as a character archetype are known for being so in love with the object of their obsession that it makes them crazy, often leading to stalking them and threatening or outright attacking anyone that dares to get close. This can lead into "if I can't have you no one will" behavior if they're rejected. This is often disguised by them being seemingly unthreatening at a glance. Yandereplier specifically definitely leans into this, as the video they're in shows them having cute anime high school girl shenanigans until the murdering part kicks in. This isn't explicit, but many people do headcanon Yandereplier as genderfluid or bigender, which I will also be incorporating, so I figured it was worth a mention.

The beauty of these two egos is that since they're more concepts than actual fleshed out characters there's some wiggle room to build on their base states and expand them with more depth. You can explore why they are the way they are.\ while still keeping the core of them intact.

But Why RedDeathNote?

Ok, we've established each part of this ship. Now the big question: why?

To start with, Noah is an incredibly lonely person. He really only had his father and Finn before his brief romance with Allie, and at some point he loses everyone, leaving him all alone in the skeleton of a house. When they first meet, Sarah makes a point of saying she's surprised Noah approached her like that, and the other guys that are hanging out with them give off the attitude that they don't like Noah. He's not at the carnival with a big group of friends, he's there with just Finn and Sarah (really only Finn). But he's also a person who desperately wants to be loved. He fixates on getting Allie to go out with him, pulling stunts like hanging off the Ferris Wheel and cornering her outside a store telling her he can be whatever she wants him to be. It feels like he's not in love with Allie, he's in love with being loved, and Allie as the new girl in town for the summer is a safe place for that. It's 1940, Noah grew up in South Carolina, even if he did recognize that he liked men it wouldn't be something safe for him to explore with anyone. And he may be poor but he's clearly a hard-working guy and very attractive, so there had to have been some interest from the local girls that he just never entertained. The dogged pursuit of Allie can easily be read as a guy trying to prove that he's just like everyone else, that he can have a normal relationship and do all the things you're supposed to do. Noah doesn't fit in Seabrook, his dream is to literally own the big plantation house out in the middle of nowhere. The rebuilding montage implies that he literally only ever goes into town for supplies and to hook up with Martha one town over for some incredibly unsatisfying looking sex. Talking with Allie after the movie date, you get the sense that he feels some sort of connection to how limited she is by her structured life. It's his way of thinking "Oh you're trapped too, you're just like me, you're safe for me". And the way they fight, god Noah is such a brat. He starts dumb fights over dumb shit and pulls dumb stunts to make her mad at him and then immediately tries to fix it with romance. But Allie isn't a brat tamer, she always gives in eventually, leaving him with nothing to really push against until he starts another fight. Even towards the end of their romance, he has this attitude that he knew it wouldn't last. "I'm not gonna have nice things," he says to her during the big breakup. He knows they're not gonna be happy in the long run, but it feels like he tries to cling to her because otherwise he'll be so goddamn lonely.

Now, a character like Yandereplier does nothing but love someone to the point of obsession. Imagine being a character so desperate to be loved, to be wanted, and having that level on intensity focused on you. Yandereplier (who. for the purposes of this ship and the fic I've been planning, I've named Valentine, Val for short I'm in so deep y'all) would take one look at Noah and be instantly sure that they were meant to be and would do anything to prove it. It's a repeat of how he pursued Allie, and that was originally part of the joke. We started from a point of "Haha see how you like being pursued Noah", but the more we talked about it the more it made sense because that's what he wanted. He wanted someone to give as good as he gave. The real hang-up here would be the internalized homophobia of it all. Like, they can just be friends, just like he was just friends with Finn, but they can't ever be more than that. Remember, 1940's American South, Noah is most likely a good Christian boy will all the hangups that implies. He wants something he has been explicitly taught is a sin, but no matter how much he reminds himself of that or goes running off to Martha, he can't stop himself from wanting. And to Yandereplier, that's just an inconsequential detail. They were meant to be together, and that's the end of that. They don't particularly care about those details, and they'll find a way to make sure Noah doesn't care either. And once Noah is on board, man, they would be absolutely wild about each other.

But Noah and Yandereplier alone are really intense and would need someone slightly more grounded to balance them out. I say slightly because Murdock is still, at his core, a serial killer. He is also, however, somehow more put-together than the other two. He has that air of professionalism about him, he's done this before and he'll do it again and he brings so much experience to the relationship. He also, however, doesn't strike me as a character that falls in love easily. Remember how I said he's completely covered in layers of clothes? Yes it has a practical point for avoiding leaving evidence, but it can also be seen as a way for a character to guard themselves. Murdock tries to keep himself at a distance, covering up and guarding himself from those around him. You see these in similar characters like Hannibal (I'm thinking specifically of the NBC show here), where he dresses impeccably and yet most of his more casual moments begin to happen more frequently around Will (specifically thinking of the final episode of the show, where Will is in a nice button up and Hannibal is in something more akin to a comfy sweatshirt, them finally meeting in the middle). or even (I can't believe I'm about to cite this positively) the first (ONLY THE FIRST) Fifty Shades of Grey movie (SPECIFICALLY THE MOVIE), where the costume department put a lot of thought into how many layers Christian would wear over the course of the movie and even when the colors would shift into things more open and vulnerable (cited here, thanks Folding Ideas). So I imagine any relationship with Murdock would start similarly to Hannigram, where he would develop a fascination with a person (or people, in this case) and be curious enough about it to pursue them further and then slowly realize "Oh no, they've become important to me, I love them" and just, god imagine him slowly peeling back those physical layers. Shedding his long coat, rolling up his sleeves, removing his gloves, taking his glasses off so you can see into his soul eyes. His experience would intrigue someone like Yandereplier, who would originally see him as competition to be removed, but be drawn in because here's someone who thinks similarly to them, someone who doesn't have a problem with getting blood on his hands (metaphorically of course, remember the gloves). And for Noah, the confidence is also a draw. Murdock knows what he's doing, and he's not afraid of it, and that would help draw Noah into the temptation he's trying to fight. In addition to that, Murdock would take charge and push back harder against Noah's bratty tendencies, giving him the challenge he seems to be looking for in Allie.

Collage by me that's how in deep I am

Is this a healthy dynamic? Absolutely not. These three start out so bad for each other. I've compared them to Hannigram multiple times because it's the same flavor of toxic dark romance. Two twisted people have set their sights on Noah, who's in an incredibly vulnerable state and easy to manipulate and isolate. They each would be so jealous and possessive while simultaneously using that against each other as a way of playing with their partners. Let's not forget that Murdock and Yandere are perfectly willing to murder people either for enjoyment or because they "wronged" one of their partners somehow. But to me, the appeal of a toxic ship dynamic isn't to be edgy for the sake of it. It's to explore the kind of love at the center of it. Because the love is there, and I think that's much more interesting than darkness for darkness' sake. Don't we all love a good monster romance? Part of the draw is taming the untamable, being able to place your head in the jaws of the beast and trusting that they won't snap shut on you.

Or maybe that's just me, I dunno.

But like I said, the love is there, and being in love does fundamentally change people. I want to explore Yandere's feelings tempering as they realize that yes, their partners chose them and aren't going anywhere, unlike everyone else. I want to slowly remove Murdock's layers as he works through his attachment issues and learns to let go a little. I want to see Noah want something for himself for once, putting love and effort into partners that will spoil him just as much as he does them. Not only that, but I want them to explore their identities and sexuality against the backdrop of 1940s America. Yandere feeling safe enough in their little bubble to experiment with their gender presentation. Noah feeling secure enough to let go of being The Man of The House and letting himself be taken care of. Murdock channeling his murderous tendencies on bigots who give his lovers a hard time.

In Conclusion