Unequal Pairing: Difference between revisions

** Haruhi is a lot stronger than Kyon which has a lot of [[Unfortunate Implications]].

** Kyon and Yuki is also rather unequal, given that Kyon is a normal human ([[Wild Mass Guessing|as far as we know]]), whereas Yuki is an alien who won the [[Superpower Lottery]] several times over.

** There's also Melissa Mao and Kurz Weber; the less dramatic inequality in their ranks is made more significant by the fact that Mao is Sousuke and Kurz's team leader - a fact which Kurz mostly ignores and which isn't really addressed {{spoiler|since Kurz is killed in action not long after the two of them begin their relationship.}}

*** Mao tries to enforce this, but {{spoiler|once Kurtz is discovered to be alive, Mithril is all but dissolved and there is no need for rank anyway.}}

* In [[C. J. Cherryh]]'s ''[[The Paladin (novel)|The Paladin]]'', [[Master Swordsman]] Shoka and his peasant-girl student Taizu end up in a relationship, despite the teacher/student power imbalance, their social class imbalance, and the fact that Shoka is just under 40 and Taizu is about sixteen when they meet (although more like 18 when the relationship begins). Things are, in the end, more equal than they sound, because she's far from the passively obedient type.

** Also from Cherryh, in the ''Morgaine'' series Vanye feared it was literally a sin for him to fall in love with Morgaine, partly because he thought she was ''[[The Fair Folk|qhal]]'' and therefore soulless, but also because he was pledged to her service and found that confusing (since normally a warrior could only be pledged to the service of a ''male'' noble).

* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', Daenerys Targaryne was married off to Khal Drogo for political reasons when she was a destitute, powerless, friendless 13-year-old princess and he was an extremely powerful, feared, 30-something warlord with 50,000 men at his back. Once Dany gained power in her own right, her [[Les Yay|relationship]] with her handmaidens became this, as they are her slaves. The shippers love these ships, especially the former.

** The shippers also like Sansa/almost every male character, which is basically a guaranteed [[Unequal Pairing]]; Sansa has almost no power behind her, aside from being the first daughter of a pretigious family, and {{spoiler|she loses that in the first book when her father is executed for being a traitor.}} Awareness of the inequality in their relationship lead {{spoiler|Tyrion}} to leave it unconsummated, and though {{spoiler|Littlefinger}} is similarly aware, this may not stop him, as he appears to view Sansa as {{spoiler|a surrogate for her mother. Which only raises the [[Squick]] factor, as he's effectively adopted her as a daughter.}}