Polyships.

[rogueslayer452]

This is inspired by verdande_mi who was talking about polyamorous relationships in fiction.

I'm happy that there's been more visibility to poly relationships in media, as it's not always an option many writers in mainstream media take, whether they themselves don't want to or from the higher ups who push back against the idea, so it's a pleasant surprise whenever I see it happen.

The most recent one that I deeply enjoyed, and had a lot of focus on, was in the latest season of The Expanse where a group marriage was formed with a recurring character and their pirate crew, they have multiple husbands and wives (affectionately nicknamed the Polyam Belter Fam by the fans). It's not really surprising considering that one of our main characters has eight parents which is viewed as pretty common. Of course with these examples, it makes me think about the different types of polyamorous relationships and how different they are, and why it's important to note that not all of them operate the same way. There's obviously a lot of misconceptions about polyamory in general, since it's not really of the "norm" that the majority of people see on a daily basis, so it makes me appreciate it whenever things in media do portray polyamorous relationships respectfully without making them a cheap gimmick.

And of course being in fandom I see polyships on the regular (often as a way of solving the dreadfully overused love triangle trope), so it's not really that surprising to me to see three or more characters being paired together. I have several myself, canon and non-canon. Here are some examples of them:

Canon Polyships

* Polyam Belter Fam (The Expanse)
* Lito/Hernando/Dani (Sense8)
* Kala/Rajan/Wolfgang (Sense8)
* Caprica Six/Gaius/D'Anna (Battlestar Galactica)

Non-Canon Polyships

* Xue Yang/Xiao Xingchen/Song Lan (The Untamed)
* Richard/Kahlan/Cara (Legend of the Seeker)
* Nathan/Audrey/Duke (Haven)
* Holden/Naomi/Amos/Alex (The Expanse) (kinda technically is sorta canon since in the books Holden suggested they all get married, which again makes sense considering his upbringing)
* Eliot/Hardison/Parker (Leverage)
* Bo/Tamsin/Dyson (Lost Girl)
* Harry/Cho/Cedric (Harry Potter)

These are just ones that I can think of from the top of my head as I'm sure there are more. Some of these I ship more heavily than others, but mostly I like entertaining the idea especially with the non-canon polyships because I think the dynamics would be really interesting, thinking about how they would interact with each other, the kind of relationship they would have, the conflicts or issues that would arise, how they would manage to work things out, etc.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I'm a big fan of polyamory too. <3 I'm reposting the books I recced on verdande_mi's journal, in case your flist is interested:
- The Inheritance Trilogy by NK Jemisin (m/m/f)
- Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton (m/m/f)
- The Gardener's Hand by Felicia Davin (f/f/m)
- The Gale Women by Tanya Huff (f/f/m)
- Hearts Are Jerks by Gabrielle Harbowy (tons of polyamory among the parents + among the teens)

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

Thanks a ton for the book recs!
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[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

You're welcome! :-) I'll add This is Not the End by Sidney Bell (m/m/f), which I've posted about since then.

We can be friends if you want. I post a lot of book recs and we have a bunch of fandoms in common.

[wretched.livejournal.com]

I've always been a fan of polyships and have often thought that instead of ship wars with my favorite characters, I could just ot3 them. As a fic writer, I'm such a fan of being able to play with that dynamic between the characters and relationships and hope to work that into original fiction at some point. As far as canon ships go, I was surprised and pleasantly so when they brought them to Sense8! Non-canon, Duke/Audrey/Nathan will always have my heart, as well as Eliot/Parker/Hardison ♥

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

As far as canon ships go, I was surprised and pleasantly so when they brought them to Sense8!

Yeah, same! I mean, given the nature of the show it shouldn't really be surprising but we hardly really see canon poly relationships, but I liked how the show managed to feature a few, and the surprise of Kala/Rajan/Wolfgang in the series finale! It's funny because I actually didn't think about that possibility before, but once it was introduced I was like, "oh yeah, I dig this, I really love it!" Had the show gone on longer as intended I'm sure we would've gotten a more gradual development of it, but I enjoyed what we got regardless and how natural it just seems. :D

[violateraindrop]

I'm probably a little bit slow when it comes to these things, but I didn't even realize that the all the Belters were in a poly relationship at first. The book spells it out a lot more clearly though which I read later lol

The only show I thought would possible go there was Preacher. Unfortunately, they didn't. It would have been a nice solution. I always feel that way to be honest. A lot of unnecessary love triangles could be solved that way.

Legends of Tomorrow would have some nice possibilities for poly relationships, but having two bisexual characters is probably already daring enough for them.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I kinda knew going into the fifth season because it was vaguely implied through the creator's twitter when someone was talking about the storyline from the book. I think it was the first time, though, that I saw a huge poly relationship like that. And it made me very happy to see, and how well it was done. :)

A lot of unnecessary love triangles could be solved that way.

Yeah. I mean, granted not always as a solution since there are some that I just cannot see working out that way, but in general there is a reason why fandom likes making triangles into throuples. Why choose between one or the other when you can have both?

[sudols.livejournal.com]

Harry/Cho/Cedric

Never considered this one before, but now? Yeah. I ship this.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

It wasn't something I considered either until I came across this piece of fanart (https://upthehillart.tumblr.com/post/167120260830/cho-cedric-harry) and immediately I was onboard with the concept. :)

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

Uff, "The Cursed Child" got Cedric so wrong.
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[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that media really seems to be getting better at showing more kinds of relationships and love and just normalizing more ways of living :)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

There's still a long way to go, but it's definitely getting better and I deeply appreciate the efforts that are made.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

What are your thoughts on the Shang-Chi trailer?

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued! I know that I've been kind of burnt out over most MCU things, but I'm quite interested after seeing the teaser.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

The parts in China look great, but I was underwhelmed by the scenes in the US (I don't know the comics, but it's Marvel, so I assume it's the US). Hopefully, they just focused on these scenes to attract American viewers, but a good chunk of the movie will take place in China.

[verdande-mi.livejournal.com]

"There's obviously a lot of misconceptions about polyamory in general, since it's not really of the "norm" that the majority of people see on a daily basis, so it makes me appreciate it whenever things in media do portray polyamorous relationships respectfully without making them a cheap gimmick."

What you say here is so very well put! I am happy to see norms being broken and media showcasing relationships in a wider way than before, not that there is not a long way to go yet.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

Just realized I have the perfect icon for this post in my library.

I'm so glad that Sense8 actually made these ships canon.

I have a pretty big list of love triangles and squares I wish would be resolved with a polyship:

Starbuck/Anders/Apollo/Dee, or Anders/Starbuck/Leoben (Battlestar Galactica, especially as we learned in Caprica that polygamous marriage was legal)
One/Two/Three (Dark Matter)
Saya/Marcus/Maria (Deadly Class)
Roz/Harvey/Sabrina/Nick/Prudence/Ambrose (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina)
Elliot/Quentin/Alice (The Magicians)
Jonathan/Nancy/Steve (Stranger Things)
Rory/Amy/The Doctor (Doctor Who)
Amberle/Wil/Eretria (The Shannara Chronicles; although this one is almost canon given the interactions between all three sides)
David/Star/Michael (The Lost Boys; ditto)
Toshiko/Owen/Andy/Rhys/Gwen/Jack/Ianto (Torchwood)

Somewhat off-topic, I was wondering whether you were aware that Richard Armitage had a minor role in the Star Wars universe?
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[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Sense8 was such a gift.

Caprica was really casual about polyamory, which I really appreciate.

Didn't really consider One/Two/Three from Dark Matter, mostly because I didn't really care for One, however the interactions between him and Three were always interesting in a Foe!Yay kind of way, so in a way I can see it.

I totally forgot about Nancy/Jonathan/Steve! I shipped that OT3 instantly from the first season.

Somewhat off-topic, I was wondering whether you were aware that Richard Armitage had a minor role in the Star Wars universe?

Of course, it was the one of the first big trivias I learned about him years ago. He had a very (very very very) minor role as a background character in The Phantom Menace.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

however the interactions between him and Three were always interesting in a Foe!Yay kind of way, so in a way I can see it.

Yeah, that's why I like the idea.

I totally forgot about Nancy/Jonathan/Steve! I shipped that OT3 instantly from the first season.

:)

He had a very (very very very) minor role as a background character in The Phantom Menace.

Did you know he's been expanded on a bit since then and appeared in the novels Queen's Shadow and Queen's Peril and the Darth Vader comic?
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/StarWarsQueensShadow (see "Ascended Extra", "Distant Finale" and "Sequel Hook")

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/StarWarsNaboo (see "Tonra" under "Royal Naboo Security Forces")
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