On Being a Nerd Who Loves Romance

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The Tenth Doctor and RoseI am fangirl. This is undeniable fact about me. I am a hopeless romantic.  Also an undeniable fact.  I like big explosions, superheros, dragons, timelords, space bounty hunters, space pirates, and happy endings. I am also a giant sucker for a happily ever after, or a happy for now, or an unrequited love.

This is apparently true of others as well. Thankfully, there seems to be no law that says only girls can appreciate a good relationship arc on a TV show, in a movie, or in a book. This seems to be even more true of characters that we all know and love as part of our fandoms. When I started to think up ideas for this piece my mind immediately went to Ten and Rose from Doctor Who, but then there is also The Doctor and River, two relationships that couldn’t be more different, but bring forth the same emotive response from fans of the show. Same goes for Amy and Rory, who are, as we all know, relationship goals. As the kids say.

Arabella?Like I said in my piece on Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell the other day, while it’s not the main plot of the book/show, the relationship between Jonathan Strange and Arabella is a hugely important part of the story. A good portion of the book wouldn’t happen at all if it weren’t for his all-encompassing love for his wife–a love so geat that he actively pursued going mad just to save her. This is just one example of how the relationship is not just there for the woman who are consuming the product. No, it’s there to show how important love is. How it’s not weak. And it is done so well.

Another example, and this is important for a whole different reason, is Kili and Tauriel in the Hobbit movies.  I’ve long been a fan of the books, I was a fan of the three Lord of the Rings movies, and then when it came to The Hobbit movie, I was unsure about the addition of Tauriel. I didn’t see why the filmmakers needed to add a female if all she was there for was to be a love interest, if they were adding her to be a strong kick butt woman, that is one thing, but it didn’t seem to be the case. However the relationship arc with Kili and Tauriel is heartbreaking when you watch the movie, even more so if you’ve read the book and now how it ends. So I ended up with mixed feelings. I lament the lost piece of her heart, yet I still feel a bit queasy over her inclusion as a means to attract more women to the franchise rather than as an important character on her own.

Other important relationships as chosen by my friends when I posted the question to Facebook:

Wesley and ButtercupBuffy and Spike, I chose this over Buffy and Angel, because Angel always skeeved me out. Hard truth there.  But this is also important because Spike was a bad guy who was redeemed. He deserved love, and he got it.

Mal and Inara, a sad tale, a tale cut too short, and if the scuttlebutt is true then it would have been an even sadder tale as Inara supposedly was dying. I don’t even want to imagine how Mal would have handled that.

Westley and Buttercup, another man who fought the world to get back to the love of his life, how is that not a majorly important message?

Tristan and Yvaine, can you imagine how hard it would be to fall in love with an actual star? Can you imagine how beautiful it would be?

Jayne and VeraJayne and Vera, so Vera is a gun. So what? Jayne is obviously highly attached and loves her. That’s what’s important right?

Lastly, there is Aragorn and Arwen. The woman gave up her immortality for love. This gives me an idea, the next time someone comes at me with some sorry argument against reading romance novels, ” I’m going to toss The Lord of the Rings at them, because it was that book that made me a hopeless romantic. The love between a human and an elf has been my blueprint my whole life.

I’m a nerd that loves a good love story.

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