#roden

a lil redraw of a feb 2022 piece!

Even in wiki page I saw people just telling the one who ship Jaroden not to ship them as Jarogen is canon? You know author changed her own canon things little in books 4-5. Canon ships can be thrown out of the window if people didn't like it. I don't find shipping characters who aren't in a relationship in canon to be annoying at all. Why do the canon shippers get annoyed so much by it? As horrible as Jarogen was as a ship author made it canon so be happy with it if you ship it. I don't ship Jarogen so I complain sometimes and share my opinions. I never saw Jaron and Imogen as anything more than friends because Jaron never treated her differently than he treated his friends. ( Not before after book 3 which suddenly made him romantic with her.)

But if I did ship two characters who had a canon relationship(I do all the time except in TAS I don't.) and if I saw someone else shipping something else I wouldn't tell this ship is canon so don't ship the other two who were only friends in the series. I think some may ship two friends if they like their dynamic a lot and sees potential in them to be romantic.

Jarogen is anything but perfect. I don't get why people get annoyed if others ship characters who are near each other's ages and friends in a media but have a good chemistry. I am sure many people ship it because the canon is something they didn't like or because they found the dynamic between the friends better than canon romance.

And Jarogen has a very bad canon romance. I don't ship Jaron with anyone but I wouldn't mind any ship with Jaron except the canon one. The canon main romance since book 3 felt so cringe to me and sudden.

And to be honest Jaron and Imogen clearly looked like friends to me for the first two books and Jaron was fine staying away from Imogen. Though I like Tobias x Amarinda but I hoped Jaron had fallen for Amarinda in TST as TRK ending scene misguided me.

Also just because author wanted Jaron to end up with Imogen doesn't mean everyone would accept Jaron staying with Imogen in their ideas and fics. Perhaps the dynamic wasn't likable for them as Jaron and Imogen has no good chemistry except saying a few cliche lines and kissing out of nowhere suddenly (the dungeon scene irked me).

And I see people often saying don't ship them they are only friends whenever people ship two characters with a very good developed dynamic. In this case Jaroden. Should I remind you that Imogen and Jaron were very clearly only friends in the first two books until suddenly author just rushed the romance bringing it out of nowhere? (Jaron never seemed like he felt romantic connection to Imogen before book 3 when he suddenly started feeling . I was confused as Jaron was away from her for months and was okay. That "I wanted to kiss her" was cringe in the middle of the war. At least Jaron don't have such cringe and cliche lines with anyone else in the series.)

I never understood how Imogen and Jaron who were clearly friends ended up becoming lovers at all in this series. 🤦‍♀️ Even Jaron said it's just friendship. How come everyone around them started thinking they like each other? Then the plot made Imogen a damsel in distress and she died and Jaron missed her so yes there is the romance that's it.

Before Imogen left the pirate camp she also said if there is any friendship between them ... so i got confused how in Libeth she started thinking they are more than friends. Jaron wasn't even choosing her. The romance is so forced.

At least since Jaron is only friends with Roden their dynamic isn't forced but natural and flows well.

Also as Chemistry term works for any non romantic bonding too, so to be honest Mott and Jaron probably had the best chemistry but Mott is more like a parent to Jaron. That's not the case for Roden and Jaron and they do have a funny banter that happens in many romances so maybe that's why people ship them. I don't mind it. I myself ship friends in other Fandoms (yes in one they don't have any canon romance true but I noticed many friendship ships between characters of same gender are popular there.)

Yes author was biased about Imogen which might be why Jaron became suddenly biased about her without ever seeing her flaws and ended up with her. But that doesn't mean everyone finds it perfect and would want to ship them. Some just prefer shipping the two people who are near their ages and who had a better dynamic than the canon couple. Because the dynamic is not forced but natural. Unlike some canon romantic dynamics. I don't find shipping people who were friends in original story to be annoying as it is a fun idea to explore in fics. Especially when the canon romance is boring. If canon romance is too good then I don't think people would ship something else. (At least not most people usually.)

People love to imagine non canon relationships. As the moment it is canon often it gets boring. I think one problem with Jarogen is author tried too hard to force it and make it canon by using a wedding scene and even writing a whole book of it. When in many romantic stories you don't find wedding scenes in the end. TAS was non romantic series so I never understood why author had to just force this ship. If Jarogen wasn't canon perhaps I would have liked Imogen and liked to explore the ship as well.

TLDR: Jaroden isn't at all bad as a ship. Any ship for Jaron sounds better to me but Jarogen. I would say Imogen was a poor choice for Jaron and I won't say Jaron was in a perfect relationship with her either. Plus shipping platonic relationship characters is a way to escape and ignore the canon romance if it was done poorly as well. Some might ship characters who are friends because they didn't like main romance. In TAS I didn't like main romance either so I would take any ship for Jaron in fics but Jarogen if the other ship is well written. Jaron do have a good bonding with other characters which are stronger and well developed compared to Imogen who wasn't wasn't present much on page. So I think the fact Jaron has good dynamic with characters like Roden makes people want to ship Jaron with him. People don't like forced romance. They like to ship characters of near ages with natural and developed dynamic in any media. Friendships are often well written than romance. Which is why people want to imagine what if it develops further and becomes something else. Many who ship friendship characters won't ever let them be married and want them canon. They just like the dynamic.