History FanPreferredCouple / Literature

** 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."