Strange Love

who, what, where, when

I'll be frank -- I'm not a huge pairing shipper, nor am I a fan of romance stories. Strange as it may sound to a fandom community caught up in the Wars of Who's with Who, I prefer platonic relationships to most romantic. I don't see any need to force romance when friendship is both good enough and, on many levels, often better than many of the 'pairings'.

Seeing as romance in video games is usually either ambiguous or poorly-executed, my pairing opinions have been more or less equally nonexistent. I tend to be rather picky in what I choose to ship -- I don't fall in love with a pairing from every series I happen to like. A nice friendship between characters is usually more than enough. Furthermore, the majority of pairings I have supported or currently support are mainly between adult characters -- that is, out of their teenage years. Most of the games/anime I enjoy feature teenaged kids. You can see how this is going.

At any rate, I like tragic romances. The kinds that don't usually pop up between two high school kids, the kinds that are more sorrow than fluff, the kinds that say more about love's downfalls than joys. Most of these pairings tend to be confined to the angsty backstory of some tragedy-ridden hero or villain. RPG stereotype? Why yes. Cliche? Even more so. But, to hell with it -- I like the cliche. It's far more interesting than the high-school love dramas of teenagers, at any rate.

With that out of the way, hopefully it's a bit easier to see why I adore the pairing of Vincent/Lucrecia. To be perfectly honest, I didn't pay Lucrecia or her relation to Vincent one fig of attention the first time through. But as Vincent grew on me and I got to know him better, I grew to like the idea of the romance-that-didn't-happen more and more. I seem to be one of the few anime/JRPG fans who don't necessarily think that staying loyal to a deceased loved one is some kind of fandom blasphemy.

V/L is a bit unconventional in the pairing fandom department, and I'm guessing that's why it's so unpopular. Lucrecia, as far as we know, is technically dead. She isn't coming back. On top of that, to put it bluntly, she screwed up Vincent's life. He's unhappy in life all because of her. Their relationship in the past was mostly lots of angst and emotional conflict. They weren't a happy couple. Even though Dirge of Cerberus provided some closure and shed a more hopeful light on their bond, they're still apart.

But as far as I'm concerned, these things don't deter me from the relationship -- they only make me appreciate it more. Sure, I'm all for cute flirting and the "happily-ever-ever", but I can't help but adore the love that Vincent and Lucrecia have shown for each other even when separated. That, to me, means just as much as, if not more than, the conventional video game romance.

On top of that, I happen to find Vincent's unconditional devotion nothing short of moving and quite deserving of my unadulterated "AWWWWW". It's a big part of why I adore his character: he sincerely loves Lucrecia, and he's willing to go great lengths for her even when he can't be with her. I happen to have an inexplicable weakness for relationships where the man would do anything for the woman he loves. A 'knight and his lady' kind of ideal, if you will. And Vincent/Lucrecia fit it to a tee.

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