Rewind! (Top Ten Favorite Fictional Couples)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the bloggers of The Broke and the Bookish. This week is a rewind week, so I got to pick any past topic.

I only just started my blog, so having a rewind week excited me because there are so many old prompts I wish I could have answered! I chose to pick my top ten favorite fictional couples in books. I think that at heart I am a romantic. My recent reads haven't helped me feel like that, but I think that's because I have a very difficult time finding YA books with a completely believable romance. Yes, I love reading about romance and stomach butterflies and first kisses and the way it's able to instill hope in the characters. Romance in a novel is so good when it's done well. But I'm also a skeptic - if characters have just met, there's no way I'm going to believe professions of love and a willingness to do anything for each other right away. Relationships and love require more than simply physical attraction, but actual work between the two people involved. Accordingly, no instalove relationship is going to be anywhere on my list below.

Disclaimer: These descriptions are not spoiler-free. But with the exception of Finnikin of the Rock, all of these books have been out for quite a while and/or are well-known in the literary world. I did not include spoilers for my favorite literary couple of all time, but that is only because knowing who those characters are ahead of time would literally ruin the books and any possible suspense while reading them. 

Here are some of my favorite literary couples ever: 

 

The main relationship in The Queen’s Thief series – Anyone who has read the books should know exactly which characters I'm referring to here. And if you have not, mentioning the names of the characters would be a huge spoiler. These two form my favorite literary relationship of all time. Yes, their relationship is that good. Their relationship has so many ups and downs and is definitely one of the most complex relationships I've ever read. Megan Whalen Turner adds in so many subtle moments to show how their true feelings evolve and they learn to trust themselves and one another. It's just beautiful.

Elizabeth Bennet & Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride and Prejudice – Honestly I don't know who could argue that these two aren't absolutely perfect for one another. She's prejudiced against him due to his initial actions and the pervading stereotypes of people like him while he's too prideful to admit that she could be his equal in any way. Yet somewhere along the way, they both are able to recognize their own flaws and see the other person for what he/she really is. His proposal to her is also just made of win.

   

Meliara Astiar & Vidanric Renselaeus from Crown Duel & Court Duel – Like Elizabeth and Darcy, Mel and Vidanric's relationship starts out full of misunderstanding. She seems to make a fool of herself every time they meet and he acts like the coldly distant courtier she expects him to be. But there's so much more to both of them, which in time they come to realize. And there's nothing better in the book than when they're united. I have just one final thought here - white is now my favorite rose color (or one of them...).

Ella & Char from Ella Enchanted – I was heavily invested in their relationship from the beginning. Finally a Cinderella worthy of her Prince and vice-versa. All of the letters they sent back and forth when Char is away in Ayortha are just so sweet and utterly romantic. And the ending where Ella describes her hopes for the rest of their lives together just clinches it for me: “My contrariness kept Char laughing, and his goodness kept me in love. And so, with laughter and love, we lived happily ever after.” 

Alanna & George & Jonathan from The Song of the Lioness quartet – Yes, I’m cheating here. But honestly, I have a hard time deciding whether Alanna is better off with Jonathan or George, despite knowing how the series ends. Jonathan is just the perfect golden prince who knows her secret early on and loves Alanna despite that (or perhaps because of it). And George is a commoner thief whose heart gets so easily stolen by a feisty redheaded female warrior. Both relationships bring out positive changes in Alanna and help her become a better, stronger person.

 

Lyra Belacqua & Will Parry from His Dark Materials trilogy - There's something so beautiful about first love. Lyra and Will were raised with such different backgrounds and views of life, yet they're willing to use their differences to learn from one another and save the world. And along the way they happen to fall in love. It's not love-at-first-sight, and the evolution of their relationship mirrors their personal maturation throughout the course of the trilogy, which is awesome. And the way the trilogy ends breaks my heart every. single. time.

Ron Weasley & Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series – I have been a proud Ron and Hermione shipper from the beginning. They bicker. They ignore each other. They hurt each other so many times throughout the series. But Ron helps Hermione see that there's a lot more to life than books and taking everything so seriously, while Hermione helps Ron how to see past stereotypes and the power that comes with knowledge. 

Beauty & Beast from Beauty – I think that Robin McKinley is the queen of fairy-tale retellings, and the way she captures Beauty and the Beast's relationship in her novel Beauty is just perfect. "Beauty and the Beast" is one of my favorite fairy tales, and certainly the one about which I am most knowledgeable. Something always gets me about the beautiful and intelligent girl who is able to see past appearances and find love in the most unusual place. I'm not particularly picky here - any novel that depicts this fairytale relationship in a convincing way counts as a great relationship to me.

Scarlett O'Hara & Rhett Butler of Gone with the Wind – Both Scarlett and Rhett have the tendency to be spoiled, cruel, manipulative, and selfish. They really are the perfect match for one another. I love how Rhett forces Scarlett to gain some perspective on her actions (and I assume that she does the same for him). I do think the story's ending makes sense given their characterizations, but the romantic in me wishes it ended differently. 

Finnikin & Evanjalin of Finnikin of the Rock – I have not read Froi of the Exiles yet, so my decision to include Finnikin and Evanjalin stems solely from my reading of Finnikin of the Rock. I love how determined and resourceful Evanjalin is and how she challenges Finnikin to become something more, to hope and to realize that the battle to regain Lumatere is not over. And how, when they're together, neither of them feels quite so alone and lost in a world that refuses to acknowledge their heritage.


Do you agree with any of my favorite relationships? Let me know what other fictional couples you believe are some of the best!