A Ten/Rose versus Stefan/Elena Shipping Post
Ten/Rose vs Stefan/Elena Picspam and Meta
Omfg, this post has turned into a monstrosity so I really need to just post the damn thing before I add even more to it.
It started after 2x14 when Hannah aka firstofoct mentioned she could see this scene playing out between Cloen/Rose and I was like “whaaaaat no, I totally have diverse interests and don’t just ship the same thing over and over again hdu.” But after thinking about it, I realized that Cloen and Rose would TOTALLY have an argument over who could martyr themselves first (in fact, I am sure _thirty2flavors and I have written that argument several times over). And so it started making me wonder-do I actually just ship the same thing over and over again in different forms?? So I started writing and it just went on and on. And on.
First, their differences, because they're really not the same pairing.The Doctor and Rose had a slow-burn “best friends who are in love” relationship whereas Stefan and Elena are very much the romantic core of TVD. They’ve also faced significantly different relationship roadblocks-the Doctor and Rose suffered through regenerations and being separated by parallel worlds. Stefan and Elena have faced crazy doppelganger ex-girlfriends and a love triangle that only exists in Damon’s head.
But both relationships deal with human/non-human relationships (alien/human, vampire/human) where one partner is much older and the other partner is going to get old and die one day. Both relationships started at a time when each person was looking for something more. The Doctor showed Rose that there was more to life than chips and working in a shop, and Rose gave the Doctor a reason to live again after the Time War. For Elena, Stefan gave her a sense of happiness again after losing her parents, and for Stefan, Elena was someone who saw him as a man and not a vampire (lol writing that last bit made me cringe a little BUT IT IS CANON MAN WHAT CAN I DO). Both pairings got most of their internal dramatic relationship issues out of the way pretty early on (for the Doctor and Rose, it was the Mickey/regeneration stuff, and for Stefan and Elena it was the vampire/Katherine stuff) and settled into being able to just be together.
Once I started seeing similarities, I couldn’t stop.
Rose versus Elena
When I first started watching TVD, I fell in love with Elena almost right away-she reminded me of so many things I loved about Doctor Who companions. She doesn’t have any super powers, she isn’t “supernatural” in any way, but she is brave and competent and always insists on making her own choices. Sounds a bit like Rose, doesn’t it? They’re both the “ordinary human” swept up in these crazy events and it’s how they react to the events that drives their characterization.
They have a long list of similarities:
-They are extremely protective of the people they care about. DO NOT MESS with their friends and family.
-They both get steadily more BAMF as the series progresses:
-Neither of them idly stand by and let the people in their lives make decisions for them and especially when it is for their own good or protection.
-They both have the magic power of Hugging People With Empathy even when the person in question has done some shady things:
So you see that they are basically the same character. They do have some differences-Elena is driven by a need to protect the people she cares about at all costs. She’s a bit more of a willing martyr than Rose. And, I think, despite how much she loves Stefan, a part of her wishes she could get rid of all the crazy supernatural doppelganger/vampire/werewolf stuff and go back to being a normal high school girl (though at this point in the show, it is a fading pipe dream). Rose, in contrast, enjoys the adventure and danger and world-saving almost as much as the Doctor does. She thrives on the crazy time travel stuff and would love to do it for the rest of her life. And while she cares a lot about her family, Rose would choose the Doctor and the Doctor’s world over staying home and protecting her family, which I don’t think is a choice that Elena would make.
Stefan versus Ten
Okay, these two are.... really different characters. There are a few superficial similarities:
-They both have ambiguously dark pasts that come out in bits and pieces as the show moves forward.
-They’re both classically good men who don’t really like killing but do so when it’s necessary.
-They are both non-human and will live for a long time while the people they care about die.
-They can both get a little righteous when it comes to getting others on the path of Right and Good.
-Sometimes both characters unexpectedly GO CRAZY and do things like DROWN SPIDER BABIES or CHASE GIRLS THROUGH THE FOREST AND TRY AND EAT THEM and for some reason it is always the most delightful thing.
-Many jars of gel were sacrificed in the making of their hair every morning.
But that’s pretty much it.
The Doctor is a time travelling 900+ year-old alien who wiped out his own species. He is very good at saving universes, licking things, drowning spider babies, and seducing hot young London girls into travelling with him in his time machine.
Stefan is a 162-year-old vampire who gave up drinking human blood because it turns him into a psychopath. His talents include stalking high school girls, being a good boyfriend, chaining up other vampires in the basement and torturing them, and platonically befriending hot blonde girls (SERIOUSLY, COULD THEY BE MORE DIFFERENT?)
Both characters have serious damage-though in pretty different ways. The Doctor genocided his own species so he suffers from crippling loneliness and self-hatred. Ten deals mostly by deflecting with humour and throwing himself into adventures and world saving. Stefan was compelled into a sexual relationship and becoming a vampire against his will and then he... ate his own daddy and forced his brother to turn. So there are some family issues. Stefan deals mostly by repressing and eating bunny rabbits.
Both characters adore their cute human girlfriend though Stefan definitely outshines Ten in the Being A Good Boyfriend department (which, to be fair, is not a particularly difficult feat). Stefan is open about his feelings, he gets on with her friends and family, he’s always there when she needs support, he’s generally unthreatened by his romantic rivals, he’s strictly monogamous and not tempted by his ex-girlfriend, and he’s open to discussing their future even though she will grow old and die and leave him alone one day. (Sometimes I have to stop and ask myself how this relationship is even real on the CW because it truly amazes me).
The Doctor, in contrast, sort of fell into the thing with Rose rather than deliberately go seeking it out. He has years of abandonment issues, stemming from the pain he’s felt from losing people over and over again. There’s no doubt about his feelings for his Rose, but he has a hard time saying them aloud, and whether or not he could actually handle being with Rose for the rest of her life and ultimately lose her is a question that’s not, ultimately, resolved in the series.
But the Doctor has a time travelling machine and also grew his hand into a human clone that could grow old with Rose so I GUESS THAT EVENS THAT UP.
Really, when it comes down to it, I am a little in love with both these characters but for different reasons. I definitely find Ten the more attractive/hotter “my type” of the two. But I want Stefan Salvatore to be real so that I can date him.
Things my ships have in common:
-Unbearable cuteness overload:
-But despite all the cuteness, there’s an underlying sense of mutual co-dependence.
-Neither couple is particularly combative and when they do fight, it’s usually AWFUL AND PAINFUL AND THEY SHOULD NEVER DO IT AGAIN D: (while also being awesome at the same time idk). Though I would say Stefan and Elena are a touch better at working out their issues and coming to a compromise whereas Ten and Rose tends to go LALA TIME TAVEL IS REALLY COOL LET’S HUG MORE EDIBLE BALL BEARINGS, but whatever works.
-Both pairings have developed a partnership of teamwork and equals. Elena and Stefan are so the mummy and daddy of their group whereas Ten and Rose have developed into a perfect world saving tag-team by the end of S2.
-Elena and Rose are both prone to getting kidnapped and needing to be rescued, but each of them have done their fair share of rescuing too. Elena once jumped down a snake-invested well to save her vampire boyfriend and Rose once swallowed the time vortex and destroyed an entire Dalek fleet. BAMF.
-Both Ten and Stefan can get overprotective which leads to dialogue like “NO POWER ON THIS EARTH CAN STOP ME!!!!” and/or shitty plans to stab a vampire with an ash tree stake. Or something.
-THESE SCENES:
You don’t get to make that decision for me. If you walk away, it’s for you because I know what I want. Stefan, I love you.
I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never gonna leave you.
-They were both physically separated for a while (Ten and Rose by parallel universes, Stefan and Elena by a vampire tomb) and then were reunited:
Okay so Stefan and Elena were separated for like a day and Ten and Rose for years BUT THE POINT STANDS. The squeaky fangirl noise I made was the same in both instances.
-Neither Ten nor Stefan felt for THAT old body swapping trick:
-They both have shippy fanvids on Youtube set to that song by Pink:
Get it, the lyrics are ~ironic~.
-And they would both totally have a couples fight over who could martyr themselves first.
Lastly I have this thing now where I AM COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY OBSSESSED with Nina and Paul's body language in the same way that I was once obsessed with David Tennant and Billie Piper's body language EXCEPT I THINK EVEN MORE? WHICH I DIDN'T THINK WAS POSSIBLE BUT THERE YOU GO. Neither pairing has fiery "must have sex with you right now" chemistry, but I have such a kink for the intimate touches and gestures and people unconsciously being in each other's personal space.
So here are a whole bunch more caps:
Conclusions:
Okay, really, there are pretty fundamental differences in the way the relationships are done. Stefan/Elena are the firmly established OTP of TVD replete with their ups and downs. So we get to see them make-out all the time AND IT IS THE MOST AWESOME THING. The Doctor and Rose, in contrast, even with their resolved UST vibe in S2, were more understated “best friends who are in love.” They got to hold hands all the time and be completely adorable.
The way I approach both pairings from a fannish perspective is also pretty different-with Ten and Rose, I was big into reading/writing ALL THE FIC because I was so desperate to get them to the relationship stage and see how it would pan out. With Stefan/Elena, I have less of a burning need to write about the offscreen moments since there is so much ship fodder on the show itself. Instead I want to write endless meta about Paul and Nina’s body language and how it has evolved over time.
THAT SAID, I TOTALLY HAVE A PATTERN. I THINK. It is basically like:
-Is it cute? CHECK.
-Is it slightly co-dependent? CHECK.
-Do they have a partners-in-crime/equals vibe? CHECK.
-Is there a possibility for world-ending angst? CHECK.
-Is the potential for hurt/comfort OFF THE CHARTS? CHECK.
So I will just go ahead and end with this bit of symmetry:
Omfg, this post has turned into a monstrosity so I really need to just post the damn thing before I add even more to it.
It started after 2x14 when Hannah aka firstofoct mentioned she could see this scene playing out between Cloen/Rose and I was like “whaaaaat no, I totally have diverse interests and don’t just ship the same thing over and over again hdu.” But after thinking about it, I realized that Cloen and Rose would TOTALLY have an argument over who could martyr themselves first (in fact, I am sure _thirty2flavors and I have written that argument several times over). And so it started making me wonder-do I actually just ship the same thing over and over again in different forms?? So I started writing and it just went on and on. And on.
First, their differences, because they're really not the same pairing.The Doctor and Rose had a slow-burn “best friends who are in love” relationship whereas Stefan and Elena are very much the romantic core of TVD. They’ve also faced significantly different relationship roadblocks-the Doctor and Rose suffered through regenerations and being separated by parallel worlds. Stefan and Elena have faced crazy doppelganger ex-girlfriends and a love triangle that only exists in Damon’s head.
But both relationships deal with human/non-human relationships (alien/human, vampire/human) where one partner is much older and the other partner is going to get old and die one day. Both relationships started at a time when each person was looking for something more. The Doctor showed Rose that there was more to life than chips and working in a shop, and Rose gave the Doctor a reason to live again after the Time War. For Elena, Stefan gave her a sense of happiness again after losing her parents, and for Stefan, Elena was someone who saw him as a man and not a vampire (lol writing that last bit made me cringe a little BUT IT IS CANON MAN WHAT CAN I DO). Both pairings got most of their internal dramatic relationship issues out of the way pretty early on (for the Doctor and Rose, it was the Mickey/regeneration stuff, and for Stefan and Elena it was the vampire/Katherine stuff) and settled into being able to just be together.
Once I started seeing similarities, I couldn’t stop.
Rose versus Elena
When I first started watching TVD, I fell in love with Elena almost right away-she reminded me of so many things I loved about Doctor Who companions. She doesn’t have any super powers, she isn’t “supernatural” in any way, but she is brave and competent and always insists on making her own choices. Sounds a bit like Rose, doesn’t it? They’re both the “ordinary human” swept up in these crazy events and it’s how they react to the events that drives their characterization.
They have a long list of similarities:
-They are extremely protective of the people they care about. DO NOT MESS with their friends and family.
-They both get steadily more BAMF as the series progresses:
-Neither of them idly stand by and let the people in their lives make decisions for them and especially when it is for their own good or protection.
-They both have the magic power of Hugging People With Empathy even when the person in question has done some shady things:
So you see that they are basically the same character. They do have some differences-Elena is driven by a need to protect the people she cares about at all costs. She’s a bit more of a willing martyr than Rose. And, I think, despite how much she loves Stefan, a part of her wishes she could get rid of all the crazy supernatural doppelganger/vampire/werewolf stuff and go back to being a normal high school girl (though at this point in the show, it is a fading pipe dream). Rose, in contrast, enjoys the adventure and danger and world-saving almost as much as the Doctor does. She thrives on the crazy time travel stuff and would love to do it for the rest of her life. And while she cares a lot about her family, Rose would choose the Doctor and the Doctor’s world over staying home and protecting her family, which I don’t think is a choice that Elena would make.
Stefan versus Ten
Okay, these two are.... really different characters. There are a few superficial similarities:
-They both have ambiguously dark pasts that come out in bits and pieces as the show moves forward.
-They’re both classically good men who don’t really like killing but do so when it’s necessary.
-They are both non-human and will live for a long time while the people they care about die.
-They can both get a little righteous when it comes to getting others on the path of Right and Good.
-Sometimes both characters unexpectedly GO CRAZY and do things like DROWN SPIDER BABIES or CHASE GIRLS THROUGH THE FOREST AND TRY AND EAT THEM and for some reason it is always the most delightful thing.
-Many jars of gel were sacrificed in the making of their hair every morning.
But that’s pretty much it.
The Doctor is a time travelling 900+ year-old alien who wiped out his own species. He is very good at saving universes, licking things, drowning spider babies, and seducing hot young London girls into travelling with him in his time machine.
Stefan is a 162-year-old vampire who gave up drinking human blood because it turns him into a psychopath. His talents include stalking high school girls, being a good boyfriend, chaining up other vampires in the basement and torturing them, and platonically befriending hot blonde girls (SERIOUSLY, COULD THEY BE MORE DIFFERENT?)
Both characters have serious damage-though in pretty different ways. The Doctor genocided his own species so he suffers from crippling loneliness and self-hatred. Ten deals mostly by deflecting with humour and throwing himself into adventures and world saving. Stefan was compelled into a sexual relationship and becoming a vampire against his will and then he... ate his own daddy and forced his brother to turn. So there are some family issues. Stefan deals mostly by repressing and eating bunny rabbits.
Both characters adore their cute human girlfriend though Stefan definitely outshines Ten in the Being A Good Boyfriend department (which, to be fair, is not a particularly difficult feat). Stefan is open about his feelings, he gets on with her friends and family, he’s always there when she needs support, he’s generally unthreatened by his romantic rivals, he’s strictly monogamous and not tempted by his ex-girlfriend, and he’s open to discussing their future even though she will grow old and die and leave him alone one day. (Sometimes I have to stop and ask myself how this relationship is even real on the CW because it truly amazes me).
The Doctor, in contrast, sort of fell into the thing with Rose rather than deliberately go seeking it out. He has years of abandonment issues, stemming from the pain he’s felt from losing people over and over again. There’s no doubt about his feelings for his Rose, but he has a hard time saying them aloud, and whether or not he could actually handle being with Rose for the rest of her life and ultimately lose her is a question that’s not, ultimately, resolved in the series.
But the Doctor has a time travelling machine and also grew his hand into a human clone that could grow old with Rose so I GUESS THAT EVENS THAT UP.
Really, when it comes down to it, I am a little in love with both these characters but for different reasons. I definitely find Ten the more attractive/hotter “my type” of the two. But I want Stefan Salvatore to be real so that I can date him.
Things my ships have in common:
-Unbearable cuteness overload:
-But despite all the cuteness, there’s an underlying sense of mutual co-dependence.
-Neither couple is particularly combative and when they do fight, it’s usually AWFUL AND PAINFUL AND THEY SHOULD NEVER DO IT AGAIN D: (while also being awesome at the same time idk). Though I would say Stefan and Elena are a touch better at working out their issues and coming to a compromise whereas Ten and Rose tends to go LALA TIME TAVEL IS REALLY COOL LET’S HUG MORE EDIBLE BALL BEARINGS, but whatever works.
-Both pairings have developed a partnership of teamwork and equals. Elena and Stefan are so the mummy and daddy of their group whereas Ten and Rose have developed into a perfect world saving tag-team by the end of S2.
-Elena and Rose are both prone to getting kidnapped and needing to be rescued, but each of them have done their fair share of rescuing too. Elena once jumped down a snake-invested well to save her vampire boyfriend and Rose once swallowed the time vortex and destroyed an entire Dalek fleet. BAMF.
-Both Ten and Stefan can get overprotective which leads to dialogue like “NO POWER ON THIS EARTH CAN STOP ME!!!!” and/or shitty plans to stab a vampire with an ash tree stake. Or something.
-THESE SCENES:
You don’t get to make that decision for me. If you walk away, it’s for you because I know what I want. Stefan, I love you.
I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never gonna leave you.
-They were both physically separated for a while (Ten and Rose by parallel universes, Stefan and Elena by a vampire tomb) and then were reunited:
Okay so Stefan and Elena were separated for like a day and Ten and Rose for years BUT THE POINT STANDS. The squeaky fangirl noise I made was the same in both instances.
-Neither Ten nor Stefan felt for THAT old body swapping trick:
-They both have shippy fanvids on Youtube set to that song by Pink:
Click to viewGet it, the lyrics are ~ironic~.
-And they would both totally have a couples fight over who could martyr themselves first.
Lastly I have this thing now where I AM COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY OBSSESSED with Nina and Paul's body language in the same way that I was once obsessed with David Tennant and Billie Piper's body language EXCEPT I THINK EVEN MORE? WHICH I DIDN'T THINK WAS POSSIBLE BUT THERE YOU GO. Neither pairing has fiery "must have sex with you right now" chemistry, but I have such a kink for the intimate touches and gestures and people unconsciously being in each other's personal space.
So here are a whole bunch more caps:
Conclusions:
Okay, really, there are pretty fundamental differences in the way the relationships are done. Stefan/Elena are the firmly established OTP of TVD replete with their ups and downs. So we get to see them make-out all the time AND IT IS THE MOST AWESOME THING. The Doctor and Rose, in contrast, even with their resolved UST vibe in S2, were more understated “best friends who are in love.” They got to hold hands all the time and be completely adorable.
The way I approach both pairings from a fannish perspective is also pretty different-with Ten and Rose, I was big into reading/writing ALL THE FIC because I was so desperate to get them to the relationship stage and see how it would pan out. With Stefan/Elena, I have less of a burning need to write about the offscreen moments since there is so much ship fodder on the show itself. Instead I want to write endless meta about Paul and Nina’s body language and how it has evolved over time.
THAT SAID, I TOTALLY HAVE A PATTERN. I THINK. It is basically like:
-Is it cute? CHECK.
-Is it slightly co-dependent? CHECK.
-Do they have a partners-in-crime/equals vibe? CHECK.
-Is there a possibility for world-ending angst? CHECK.
-Is the potential for hurt/comfort OFF THE CHARTS? CHECK.
So I will just go ahead and end with this bit of symmetry: