#xandawn

Being a shipper in the Buffy-verse is hard. If you like any pairing in this show, be prepared to hear it bashed, your favorite characters ruthlessly torn apart, and to get infuriated by every badly spelled troll comment imaginable. But I’m going to take the plunge and give my opinion on the B-verse ships. And I’ll try to do it concisely.

CANGEL: (Angel/Cordelia) Since I published a whole series analyzing this relationship, you’ve probably already guessed that I love it. Reasons? I think it’s the perfect example of a love story evolving from friendship. They had ship teases and indications of attraction early on in the show, but mainly they focused on subtly and carefully developing them as best friends. Their evolution into lovers was well-timed, and if it weren’t for some unfortunate events, they’d have ended up together. I think they’re perfect for each other in every way.

XANDAWN (Xander/Dawn): I originally did ship Xander/Anya, who I still adore, but I honestly could never see them forming a stable, functional relationship. I know, not all OTP’s are like that, but in the end, I realized I love Xander and Dawn as a pairing - they’re together in the comics now. I like them together mainly because they’re both very easygoing; neither one is very high-maintenance, neither one makes extreme demands on the other. Dawn wisely likes Xander for who he is; she noticed him from the very beginning. But unlike with other boys she seemed to like, Dawn never seemed compelled to act like anything other than herself around Xander. So for my money, Xander/Dawn getting together is something I approve of.

WILLARA (Willow/Tara) I’m a little dubious about this one, because Willow has a lot of great ships, and it seems that in fandom its perfectly acceptable to ship Willow with more than one character. For now, I’m sticking with Wilara. Willow and Tara struck me as Willow’s most stable relationship. They were both older and more mature by the time they got together, and worked just like a Willow romance should work: mostly stable and calm, with the occasional drama resulting from  very important, adult things. They worked great together, and they have the added appeal to me of being a pairing the writers actually didn’t plan; they just saw the great chemistry between the actors and realized they needed to get them together. 

SPUFFY (Spike/Buffy): This is the big one. Naturally the most controversial, fandom bifercating, attacked from all sides ship in my lot of Buffy-verse ships...is the one I love the most. That’s how life works. I loved Buffy/Spike pretty much from the first minute they spoke to each other in School Hard, maybe even before. They’re kind of a pairing that goes through every imaginable phase of a relationship - enemies, to grudging allies, to friends, to lovers, to in love. I love everything about their relationship, so much so that I can’t watch the Buffy/Angel scenes without being annoyed, even though I acknowledge some of them are well-written and clever. That’s the power of the OTP, I guess. Spike/Buffy have pretty much all the things I love in fictional pairings: evolution of the relationship, not planned by the writers, great  chemistry, the Second Love factor, and being a controversial pairing that one has to defend over and over again. “When I say I love you, it’s not because I want you or because I can’t have you. It’s got nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I’ve seen your kindness, and your strength. I’ve seen the best and the worst of you.”