History FanPreferredCouple / Literature

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' had many phases throughout the 90s of writers doing their best to bury Mara Jade, Luke's closest female companion in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', in favor of introducing new paramours for Luke: Callista Ming, Jem Ysanna, Akanna Pell, and so on. None of them managed to land with the fandom, which stuck with Luke/Mara fervently enough that it became the OfficialCouple.

** Bella and Alice also have a large following due to their RelationshipWritingFumble. It also avoids pairing Bella with someone who shows possessive and sometimes disturbing behavior towards her, which both Edward and Jacob have displayed.

%% ** Bella and Alice also have a large following due to their RelationshipWritingFumble. It also avoids pairing Bella with someone who shows possessive and sometimes disturbing behavior towards her, which both Edward and Jacob have displayed.

%% ** Bella and Alice also have a large following due to their RelationshipWritingFumble.

** 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). To this day, any page on this very site describing shipping or fanfic-related phenomena or reactions (ShipMates, DieForOurShip, RelationshipWritingFumble) will prominently mention it, and it (along with the considerably less supported Draco/Hermione) 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."

* ''Literature/LesMiserables'':
** A large number of fans think that Marius chose wrong in picking sheltered [[TheIngenue ingenue]] Cosette over street-smart StalkerWithACrush Éponine. Never mind that he didn't know the latter loved him until [[spoiler:right before she dies]] in the book, and ''never'' in the [[Theatre/LesMiserables stage show]].

** Bella and Alice also have a large following due to their RelationshipWritingFumble.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'':

%%* Apparently, the most preferred partners for both Edmund and Lucy in the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfNarnia'' category are probably [[BrotherSisterIncest each other]]. The same for Peter and Susan. Caspian and any of the Pevensies is also extremely popular. Eustace/Jill and Polly/Digory are pretty popular as well, even though they're PlatonicLifePartners.

* ''Literature/TheBadGuys'': In the books, Mr. Wolf has a crush on Agent Fox and the two develop mutual attraction as the series progresses, but a lot of fans prefer the chemistry between Mr. Wolf and Mr. Snake, especially because of a part in Book 5 depicting a jealous Snake thinking Mr. Wolf likes Agent Fox more than him. This continued into the [[WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys film]] due to Mr. Snake's PlatonicDeclarationOfLove and their climactic hug. While a lot of fans feel that the film versions of Mr. Wolf and Diane (an {{expy}} of Agent Fox) have better chemistry than their book counterparts, Wolf/Snake remains the most popular ship in the fandom.

* With Samuel Richardson's epistolary novel, ''Literature/{{Clarissa}}'', readers wrote to the author before the last volume was released, asking him to give the story a happy ending involving a wedding between the heroine, [[TheIngenue Clarissa]], and the villain, [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Lovelace]]. Readers liked Lovelace despite his actions, which included raping the main character, and thought Clarissa was prudish and a tease. Richardson not only refused to change his plans for a tragic ending, he also [[WriterRevolt rewrote parts of the novel for later editions]] adding 200 pages and making Lovelace even more of a villain. Some readers were so against the tragic ending of the story that they [[FixFic wrote their own versions]]. Two examples of these [[{{Shipping}} shippers]] are Lady Bradshaigh and Lady Elizabeth Echlin. While Bradshaigh just rewrote the ending, giving Clarissa and [[DracoInLeatherPants Lovelace]] a wedding on his deathbed, Echlin rewrote her own version of the entire novel.

* While the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series is comprised of 41 novels, with countless official couples populating them, one fan-preferred pairing of note would be Sam Vimes/Havelock Vetinari. Although Sam Vimes is married to Sibyl in the novels and Vimes/Sibyl has fans and is respected in its own right, Vimes/Vetinari has had the biggest presence since much earlier days of fandom, likely in part due to Sam Vimes being more-or-less the main character of the City Watch novels, and Vetinari being a very major player in those same novels, not only interacting with Vimes frequently but seeming to gain most of his current ManipulativeBastard-playing-the-most-effective-XanatosSpeedChess personality with every appearance - and often interaction with Vimes - in them.

* With Samuel Richardson's epistolary novel, ''Clarissa'', readers wrote to the author before the last volume was released, asking him to give the story a happy ending involving a wedding between the heroine, [[TheIngenue Clarissa]], and the villain, [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Lovelace]]. Readers liked Lovelace despite his actions, which included raping the main character, and thought Clarissa was prudish and a tease. Richardson not only refused to change his plans for a tragic ending, he also [[WriterRevolt rewrote parts of the novel for later editions]] adding 200 pages and making Lovelace even more of a villain. Some readers were so against the tragic ending of the story that they [[FixFic wrote their own versions]]. Two examples of these [[{{Shipping}} shippers]] are Lady Bradshaigh and Lady Elizabeth Echlin. While Bradshaigh just rewrote the ending, giving Clarissa and [[DracoInLeatherPants Lovelace]] a wedding on his deathbed, Echlin rewrote her own version of the entire novel.

* One of the [[OlderThanSteam oldest]] examples of this is shown in the Portuguese/Spanish (its authorship is disputed) medieval romance ''Amadis Of Gaul''. Except that in this case it's not so much FanPreferredCouple as ''King'' Preferred Couple. To further elaborate: the hero Amadis is inextricably faithful to the princess Oriana. During one of his quests, however, one lady Briolanja falls desperately in love with him, and puts him in jail because he refuses to go to bed with her. Apparently the king of Portugal at the time, D. Afonso, really liked Briolanja and wanted her to have a happy ending, so he himself ordered the book to be changed, and have Amadis get hitched with Briolanja (with Oriana's permission, otherwise he'd die... it's a long story). This is [[RetCon retconned]] in later editions of the book, where the "author"/compiler himself narrates this version of the story, but immediately says afterwards something along the lines of "but this is just the king's whim and not what really happened". And then goes on with the "original" version. It's bizarre.

** Averted in ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'' with Alanna's childhood friend George Cooper, who Pierce decided was better for Alanna after she [[ShipSinking sunk the ship]] of Alanna/Jonathan in ''The Woman Who Rides Like a Man''.
** Played straight with [[spoiler:Beka and Rosto]] in ''Literature/BekaCooper'', as she ends up marrying [[spoiler:Farmer, who didn't appear in the first two books]].

** 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, the books have not caught up to this point. As of the latest book, ''A Dance With Dragons'', Jon and Daenerys have yet to meet.

* A sizable number of ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' fans are of the quite decided opinion that Mr Collins should have ended up with Mary Bennet instead of Charlotte Lucas due to their mutual interest in religion and the fact that Mary would have been quite happy as a clergyman's wife.

** Alcott had her own reasons for this. Her father had high ideas and forced the family to live in a commune and try and be self-sufficient while he played philosopher all day. In order to prevent her family from starving, she wrote ''Little Women'' which actually was only the first half of ''Little Women'' as we know it today. It was a great success and so her [[ExecutiveMeddling publishers pushed her for another]]. Fans particularly pressured her to find husbands for the little women, and to get Jo and Laurie together. However the book was very much based on Alcott's own family, with [[AuthorStandIn Jo based on herself]]. Alcott wanted Jo, like herself, to remain an independent unmarried woman who earned her living through writing. However, with her family still starving, she had no other choice but to write the sequel ''Good Wives'', but [[WriterRevolt refused to let Laurie and Jo get together]].

%%* Claudia's sister Janine and Kristy's older brother Charlie are this for many ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' fans.

** 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, but hasn't quite caught on in the broader fandom.

** 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). To this day, any page on this very site describing shipping or fanfic-related phenomena or reactions (ShipMates, DieForOurShip, RelationshipWritingFumble) will prominently mention it, and it (along with the considerably less supported Draco/Hermione) 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 having 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."

* Despite (because of?) the lengths gone to establish Ashe as Rhapsody's soul mate, many ''Literature/SymphonyOfAges'' fans prefer to pair her with Achmed. Possibly subverted in that [[spoiler:Achmed has decided to wait to get with Rhapsody until after Ashe dies making the couple borderline canon after all.]]

* 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 [[BiggusDickus size queen]].

%% Needs context: * ''Literature/AgentPendergast'' has Pendergast/Corrie, Pendergast/Diogenes, Pendergast/D'Agosta, Pendergast/Constance...

* From Creator/AgathaChristie:
** In the ''Literature/MissMarple'' book ''4.50 from Paddington'', Lucy Eylesbarrow had two suitors, Cedric Crackenthorpe and Bryan Eastley. In her [[AllThereInTheManual "Secret Notebooks"]], Christie reveals that Lucy would end up with [[spoiler:the former]], even though many fans find him the more unlikable of the two options. The one that most readers ''really'' want Lucy to marry is actually Inspector Dermot Craddock, whom she interacted with [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight once or twice]]. At least one adaptation run with this, making Inspector Craddock (or, at least, his stand in) PromotedToLoveInterest.
** In ''Literature/TheSittafordMystery'', the intelligent heroine Emily Trefusis turns down a proposal from journalist Charles Enderby in order to be with James, the "project" fiance, because she says he "needs" her more than Charles does. Many viewers see Charles as a far better match for her, intellectually and otherwise.

* In Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/MissMarple'' book ''4.50 from Paddington'', Lucy Eylesbarrow had two suitors, Cedric Crackenthorpe and Bryan Eastley. In her [[AllThereInTheManual "Secret Notebooks"]], Christie reveals that Lucy would end up with [[spoiler:the former]], even though many fans find him the more unlikable of the two options. The one that most readers ''really'' want Lucy to marry is actually Inspector Dermot Craddock, whom she interacted with [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight once or twice]]. At least one adaptation run with this, making Inspector Craddock (or, at least, his stand in) PromotedToLoveInterest.