History FanPreferredCouple / Literature

* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'':
** [[spoiler:Beka and Rosto]] in ''Literature/BekaCooper'', as she ends up marrying [[spoiler:Farmer, who didn't appear in the first two books]].
*** And then ''Literature/TheNumairChronicles'' threw fuel on the fire by revealing that [[spoiler:at least two of Beka's descendants were named "Rosto".]]

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Jon/Daenerys is a popular ship and has been speculated for nearly 25 years during which ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' has been published. While Jon/Daenerys becomes canon in latter seasons of its show counterpart Series/GameofThrones, by that point the show had diverged radically from the books. As of the latest book, ''A Dance With Dragons'', Jon and Daenerys have yet to meet.

* A pre-television example due to it being autobiographical: Jo and Laurie become best friends and understand each other better than anyone else, but when the RelationshipUpgrade moment comes, Jo uses the old "LikeBrotherAndSister" excuse, and at some point, she wants Laurie to marry her little sister Beth. The two end up marrying different people (Jo marries her BigBrotherMentor Fritz, Laurie marries Jo's ''other'' sister Amy [[spoiler:since Beth dies]])... and continue to remain best friends and confidants.

** Many readers have expressed a preference for Wilfred/Rebecca over Wilfred/Rowena. This was intentional. Rebecca is clearly the heroine of the book (more so than Ivanhoe as the hero); the reason they didn't end up together was that the canon couple had been in love for a long time and Rebecca would never marry a Christian. This one is a rare case of the '''author himself''' being one of those who prefers the couple--he flat-out says so in the introduction!! He didn't have it happen though, as he explained, because it would have been an over-cheap and unrealistic morality lesson to have characters rewarded in this life for their good deeds with a successful spur-of-the-moment romance.

* Many - possibly even a majority - of fans of the ''Literature/EarthsChildren'' series wished Ayla had stayed with charismatic Ranec from ''The Mammoth Hunters''. Indeed it seemed like Ayla only chose to go back to Jondolar (who was being a petulant ass throughout the book) because Ranec is black. That... or Ayla's a [[BiggerIsBetterInBed size queen]].

* ''Literature/TheIliad'' has Helen/Hector. Helen is/was the queen of [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Sparta]] and subtly derides Paris for letting Hector do all the fighting. Hector is a noble warrior who [[KnightInShiningArmor treats her courteously]], [[HonorBeforeReason even though he has every right not to]]. Since Helen openly wishes that Paris was more like Hector and Andromache is rather flat as a character, you can see where people are coming from.

* Many readers of ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}'' have expressed a preference for Wilfred/Rebecca over Wilfred/Rowena. This was intentional. Rebecca is clearly the heroine of the book (more so than Ivanhoe as the hero); the reason they didn't end up together was that the canon couple had been in love for a long time and Rebecca would never marry a Christian. This one is a rare case of the '''author himself''' being one of those who prefers the couple--he flat-out says so in the introduction!! He didn't have it happen though, as he explained, because it would have been an over-cheap and unrealistic morality lesson to have characters rewarded in this life for their good deeds with a successful spur-of-the-moment romance.

* Pre-television example in ''Literature/LittleWomen'' due to it being autobiographical: Jo and Laurie become best friends and understand each other better than anyone else, but when the RelationshipUpgrade moment comes, Jo uses the old "LikeBrotherAndSister" excuse, and at some point, she wants Laurie to marry her little sister Beth. The two end up marrying different people (Jo marries her BigBrotherMentor Fritz, Laurie marries Jo's ''other'' sister Amy [[spoiler:since Beth dies]])... and continue to remain best friends and confidants.
** Meanwhile in the continuing sagas of ''Literature/LittleMen'' and especially the latter ''Literature/JosBoys'' where the cast is all grown up - some fans still prefer Nan/Tommy over Tommy/Dora even though the former ship was sunk over and over by the [[WordOfGod author]]. Dan [[spoiler:dying in the epilogue of Jo's Boys]] outraged everyone, especially when some wanted to see [[UptownGirl Dan/Bess]] happen. Other fans also liked the thought of [[HoYay Dan/Nat]] or [[TakeAThirdOption Dan/Nan]].

** At the height of the fandom's ship wars during [[https://fanlore.org/wiki/Three-Year_Summer the three-year summer]] and for some time after, this title would go to Harry/Hermione, which rapidly ascended into legend for being perhaps the largest and most aggressive faction in ShipToShipCombat history. This mostly owed to their status as the male and female lead, their [[MoeCouplet generally more amiable interactions]] as opposed to Ron/Hermione's BelligerentSexualTension, and the film adaptations [[ShipTease teasing it]] (especially since their actors did have a sweet chemistry going on). On this wiki it was a major factor in RonTheDeathEater being named. Even mainstream publications were known to remark on it. That said, after it [[ShipSinking canonically sunk]], it tumbled quite a bit in the rankings, currently placing tenth on [=AO3=] and being a very common target of mockery due to its aggressive following and rather "vanilla" setup, but nevertheless retains a dedicated fanbase who still widely prefer it over the canon pairings. Suffice it to say, the fans felt pretty vindicated by the 2014 ''Wonderland'' magazine [[https://www.hypable.com/jk-rowling-ron-hermione-interview/ interview]] between Creator/EmmaWatson and Creator/JKRowling where Rowling admitted that there was an element of WishFulfillment behind her pairing Hermione and Ron together[[note]]She's never said it in so many words, but as it's known that Hermione was based on Rowling herself at a younger age, and Ron on a very close friend of hers from her adolescent years, it's pretty easy to connect the dots[[/note]] and that Harry and Hermione were (in her own words) "in some ways, a better fit."

* Many - possibly even a majority - of fans of the ''Literature/EarthsChildren'' series wished Ayla had stayed with charismatic Ranec from ''The Mammoth Hunters''. Indeed it seemed like Ayla only chose to go back to Jondolar (who was being a petulant ass throughout the book) because [[UnfortunateImplications Ranec is black]]. That... or Ayla's a [[BiggerIsBetterInBed size queen]].

** Subsequently, people prefer shipping Nessie with [[EnsembleDarkhorse Seth]], because he's closer to her age, is [[NiceGuy a very likable guy]], and a relationship with him would lack the ''enormous'' UnfortunateImplications and {{Squick}} Jacob/Nessie has.

* By the end of the light novel continuity of ''Literature/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'', Maou ends up with [[spoiler:Chiho]], but at least a good chunk of fans prefer Maou to end up with Emi due to the [[BelligerentSexualTension enemies-to-lovers dynamic]], the massive amounts of ShipTease, a perception that they have better chemistry, and [[spoiler:basically adopting a child together]], while [[spoiler:Chiho]] is, to her detractors, a naive schoolgirl who does not share that same connection, who's 'love' comes off as [[LovingAShadow shallow infatuation]], and a CreatorsPet who gets undue amounts of CharacterShilling, and so the pairing comes off as forced and boring (and creepy considering she's a teen and he's an adult) to them. Needless to say, the light novel ending [[AudienceAlienatingEnding drew a lot of backlash from said fans]].

* ''Literature/TheCasteelSeries'': a lot of readers preferred Heaven to be with Troy instead of Logan, even after Troy was revealed to be Heaven's ''uncle''. This is because, aside from incest not exactly being rare in Andrews' works, Troy was the TroubledButCute guy [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys female readers swooned over]] who actually turned out to be more thoughtful and caring towards Heaven than Logan was, making readers wish that he didn't have to be related to Heaven.

** Neville/Luna is very popular, in large part due to PairTheSpares. Neville and Luna don't have any canon pairings listed in the main story, Neville's partner listed in interviews has almost no interaction with him, and Luna's partner is only revealed in interviews with the author as Rolf Scamander, meaning that pretty much any pairing for them is a FanPreferredCouple by default, and it has the benefit of leaving all the main students wrapped up. This has led to the fandom term "Rolfing", a derisory phrase applied to pairings that only occured through WordOfGod stating a canon character got together with a character that never appeared in the text proper. It does ''not'' help that in [[TheFilmOfTheBook the movies]], they actually ''do'' have romantic feelings for each other (although according to WordOfGod, their relationship would only have been a "summer fling" or something along those lines before they [[BetterAsFriends go back to being friends]]). Ginny/Luna outclasses it in some circles, including on AO3, but hasn't quite caught on in the broader fandom.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''
** Many readers were taken by surprise by Sam's sudden interest in otherwise barely mentioned Rosie, after a lengthy novel of obsessive devotion to "Master" Frodo. Compare the amount of Rose/Sam fanworks to Frodo/Sam.
** When Tolkien revealed in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' that Sauron (back when he was still young and hot) was, er, seduced to evil by a GodOfEvil who used to be even hotter and [[HoYay had Sauron become his constant companion]], he really should have seen the final result coming. Googling variants of "Sauron Melkor" produces basically nothing but shipping fanart.

** When Tolkien revealed in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' that Sauron ([[EvilIsSexy back when he was still young and hot]]) was, er, seduced to evil by a GodOfEvil who used to be even hotter and [[HoYay had Sauron become his constant companion]], he really should have seen the final result coming. Googling variants of "Sauron Melkor" produces basically nothing but shipping fanart.

** At the height of the fandom's ship wars during [[https://fanlore.org/wiki/Three-Year_Summer the three-year summer]] and for some time after, this title would go to Harry/Hermione, which rapidly ascended into legend for being perhaps the largest and most aggressive faction in ShipToShipCombat history. This mostly owed to their status as the male and female lead, their [[MoeCouplet generally more amiable interactions]] as opposed to Ron/Hermione's BelligerentSexualTension, and the film adaptations [[ShipTease teasing it]] (especially since their actors did have a sweet chemistry going on). On this wiki it was a major factor in RonTheDeathEater being named. Even mainstream publications were known to remark on it. That said, after it [[ShipSinking canonically sunk]], it tumbled quite a bit in the rankings, currently placing tenth on [=AO3=] and being a very common target of mockery due to its aggressive following and rather "vanilla" setup, but nevertheless retains a dedicated fanbase who still widely prefer it over the canon pairings. Suffice it to say, the fans felt pretty vindicated by the 2014 ''Wonderland'' magazine [[https://www.hypable.com/jk-rowling-ron-hermione-interview/ interview]] between Creator/EmmaWatson and Creator/JKRowling where Rowling admitted that there was an element of WishFulfillment behind her pairing Hermione and Ron together and that Harry and Hermione were (in her own words) "in some ways, a better fit."