The Terror of Knowing

Welcome one and all to this week’s Top 5 Wednesday post! For those of you who don’t know Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme/challenge which was created by the wonderful Lainey from gingereadslainey and is now overseen by the equally lovely Sam from Thoughts of Tomes. Every Wednesday, participants devise their Top 5 based on a given topic.

This Wednesday’s topic is Side Ships – tell us your favourite relationships that don’t involve the protagonist! Although I try to hide it, I am just a huge romantic masquerading as a cynic and shipping is when that tendency is given truly free reign. So obviously I have side ships, I have all kinds of ships, but side ships are the best, let’s be real here.

And, in case you’re concerned about this kind of thing, in this post there are (kind of) spoilers for A Darker Shade of Magic, Harry Potter, Six of Crows, and Pride and Prejudice (does a 200-year old book still need a spoiler warning?). 

5. Molly/Arthur Weasley from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (x)

I thought I’d start strong with an actual genuinely established relationship that has proved itself and stood the test of time despite the many heartbreaks that have been thrown its way. Molly and Arthur Weasley are the epitome of good marriage in the Harry Potter series – they care for their kids above all and always try to provide for them even though they don’t have much money to spare. The Weasleys are such a close knit family group and I think a lot of that comes from just how much Molly and Arthur genuinely care for each other, through the good times and the bad.

4. Rhy/Alucard from A Darker Shade of Magic trilogy by V.E. Schwab (x)

Rhy and Alucard are hardly minor characters in the trilogy but they aren’t Kell and Lila so I figure they count for those. Plus they are precious, precious children whose relationship is excellent. They did some real growth over the course of the books and I’m SO pleased to see the conflict in the final book as it really helped their relationship mature from snarking and making Kell mildly uncomfortable to something more… real. (Although, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE when they team up to make Kell very uncomfortable very quickly.) Mainly I constantly want to squish them both together so hard, please and thank you.

3. Jane/Bingley from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (x)

Don’t get me wrong, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy are obviously the most popular ship from Jane Austen’s novel but Bingley and Jane are all kinds of cute as fuck. Admittedly, the majority of my love for this ship is entirely down to the 2005 film adaptation where Rosamund Pike and Simon Woods are the cutest of babies to ever lock eyes… and the rest of my love is entirely due to their characters in the web series adaptation The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Regardless of the reasoning, these two are adorable and make each other happy and sometimes that’s all you need from a ship.

2. Tonks/Lupin from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (x)

Remus Lupin has always been one of my favourite characters in the Harry Potter series and Prisoner of Azkaban is probably my favourite book, all things considered. Ditto the film. So, I’m quite invested in Lupin as a teacher… and, as Witch, Please often point out, he’s perhaps one of the few competent teachers at Hogwarts! All this is to say that I love Lupin with all my heart. I could never have predicted that the wacky, fun-loving Tonks would ever end up paired with him though but as soon as she was… I LOVED it. Don’t get me wrong, they have more than their fair share of obstacles to their relationship and most of it happens off-the-page because we follow Harry’s trials and tribulations, but it makes my heart happy to think that even despite everything they still had hope and (once Lupin stopped thinking he was selfish for falling in love, seriously dude?) well the less we say about how that ended, the better. But, hey, if you feel like having your heart stomped on, read this analysis of their relationship.

1. Matthias/Nina from Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo (x)

I have a very strong inclination towards relationships where one is a slightly uppity, stick-in-the-mud and the other is more rebellious and wild and free and LOVES to make the other blush with their inappropriateness – that stuff is MY JAM. So it’s unsurprising that Matthias and Nina are right up my street and were one of my favourite things about Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Much like these other ships, they are not without their own personal baggage and problems – I mean, I’d say the fact that Matthias has trained as a witch-hunter somewhat complicates his feelings towards a witch… But I love that Nina doesn’t take any of his shit either and tries to crack that rather icy exterior and his oh so dramatic feelings about how ~conflicted~ he is to find her attractive. Like I said, this stuff is MY JAM.

And there we have it folks – those were my top 5 side ships from books. Do you agree/disagree with my choices? Which side ships do you love? And if you have a Top 5 Wednesday list, be sure to link it below – I’d love to take a look!

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