Ship Manifesto - Stargate Atlantis: Elizabeth Weir/Ronon Dex
Dayamn. I think this ship manifesto may be longer than some canon ship manifestii! Anyway, my ship manifesto for Liz/Ronon.
A Brief History of my introduction to the Liz/Ronon pairing
The first time I saw this pairing suggested was when a friend requested a Ronon/Weir drabble.
I looked at the request, figured that she'd intended to ask for Shep/Weir - it's a much more common pairing, after all. Then I saw who had requested it. Definitely not a Shep/Weir fan.
And I had to write a drabble for it.
So I put it off. And off. And off. Until I couldn't put it off any longer and went looking for anything that might provide me with even the vaguest hope of WTF? for Liz/Ronon.
I found it in this essay by lierdumoa about the interaction between Liz and Ronon and a possible interpretation of it. The essay made the pairing work for me...and the foot was in the door.
It sorta went downhill from there.
--
But What About Canon?
[may contain traces of spoilers]
Canonically, there's not much interaction between the two of them.
When Ronon is first being considered for Shep's team in Duet, Liz comes to see him and tries to talk to him about staying in Atlantis. As conversations go, this is probably one of the most stilted and uncomfortable ones you've ever heard. She's all bright and perky, he's all terse and uncommunicative. It's 'WTF do I do with him/her?' at its level best.
lierdumoa addressed this in her essay. I'm not going to repeat her so I suggest you go read it.
The next interaction of significance is at the start of the episode 'Aurora' where Liz and Ronon have a conversation about chess, the mindset of the people in Atlantis, and where Liz gets entirely the wrong end of the stick and acts like an adolescent while trying to save face. Flustered!Liz is too damn cute, and Ronon has this 'oooookay' look on his face. Glee, peoples. Total glee.
Then there's the way she says his name in Critical Mass. [insert WTF exclamation here: she's getting hyped up about a name?!] But my hand to God, I went *SQUEE!* when she said his name. When talking to Shep she was all business, but when addressing Ronon, she was leaning.
And in The Long Goodbye Ronon tells Teyla he'll go after Shep, "Because I know how he [Shep] thinks. I haven't the faintest idea how she [Elizabeth] thinks." It's so battle of the sexes with the confounded male trying to make sense of his girlfriend - and I loved it. It put a big silly grin on my face.
In Coup d'Etat, having discovered that several members of the outgoing team of Atlanteans have 'wanted' posters up about them, Ronon wants to know why he and Teyla don't have the 'wanted' posters. Liz teases him about feeling left out, Ronon replies that he wants to give them a chance to change their mind about just how dangerous he is. There's a lovely arch humour between them at that moment.
--
Yin and Yang
She's the civilian leader of Atlantis, a negotiator, and apparently a pacifist. He's military, prefers actions over words, and has no problems handling guns, shooting people, or stringing them up like sides of beef. While it's a case of opposites, I see them as different enough to intrigue each other to the point of interest. Ronon's comment from TLG only confirms this - the idea that she confounds him. Judging by Liz's overreaction to him in the opening scene of Aurora, he confounds her.
I see Liz as being very moderately contained. She's polite and nice and sugar and spice, and all the things that good women should be. Lovely velvet gloves...with polished steel beneath. The pleasantry conceals a woman who is far tougher than she presently knows. I think we might be seeing the steel come out in late S2, early S3. Or maybe the gloves are just wearing thin.
The interesting thing about Ronon is that he seems simple enough; press the buttons, get the reactions. And while he was on the run, simple was probably the easiest way to go. In some things, that's not going to change. He's always going to go for the throat when it comes to action. But in personal matters, love, loyalty, friendship, and family, he's like an onion - he's got layers.
And he outdoes Shep in the Alpha male category, which I personally find hilarious.
I don't know that I can exactly express how they'd interact. Liz would probably be the idealist, while Ronon would be the pragmatist. He'd tug her back down to ground, and she'd force him to look at the possibilities beyond what he's used to. Eh. I wrote them. See Chapters 2-5 of 'Wrong Kind Of Guy' for how I see their interaction playing out.
And the sex would be hot.
I'm just sayin'...
--
Fanon, Fanfic, and All That Jazz
I gather that, for most people, any interest in Liz/Ronon is highly secondary, coming way after whatever primary pairing they love. Which I can understand. It's not exactly a pairing with a high interaction quotient like Shep/Weir or Shep/McKay, or one with the support of the writers and actors, like Shep/Teyla.
However, if you haven't already guessed, I love them.
If Liz/Ronon isn't my primary pairing, it's in very close second place. And there just ain't enough fic for it.
Other than my own stories, I've seen a handful of Liz/Ronon stories. A few that I liked and one that I thought was an excuse to turn Elizabeth into something resembling a Mary Sue (can do no wrong, is adored by all, cures AIDS with a single touch, and brings light, health, healing, and hope to the galaxy). I like Liz, but the idea of turning her into a saint is abhorrent - I stopped writing Daniel Jackson in SG-1 because of the group that turned him into a saint. I hope to God that the same thing won't happen in SGA.
Two stories that I particularly liked (and remember) are 'Mane' by ladyjax [G] and 'Yield' by sugargroupie [NC-17]. I'm happy to read others if you know of them, but I don't promise to like them!
Incidentally, I know that Torri has said she'd like for Liz and Ronon to have a torrid affair. Not sure about Jason's thoughts on ship (except that he doesn't see Teyla/Ronon at all) but then, not many people have seen the light Liz/Ronon yet, so they wouldn't have asked him about it.
At any rate, I'm all for it!
*sigh* I really do wish that one of you guys would get the bug, though.
ETA: Would anyone join a liz_ronon community if I set one up?
--
A Brief History of my introduction to the Liz/Ronon pairing
The first time I saw this pairing suggested was when a friend requested a Ronon/Weir drabble.
I looked at the request, figured that she'd intended to ask for Shep/Weir - it's a much more common pairing, after all. Then I saw who had requested it. Definitely not a Shep/Weir fan.
And I had to write a drabble for it.
So I put it off. And off. And off. Until I couldn't put it off any longer and went looking for anything that might provide me with even the vaguest hope of WTF? for Liz/Ronon.
I found it in this essay by lierdumoa about the interaction between Liz and Ronon and a possible interpretation of it. The essay made the pairing work for me...and the foot was in the door.
It sorta went downhill from there.
--
But What About Canon?
[may contain traces of spoilers]
Canonically, there's not much interaction between the two of them.
When Ronon is first being considered for Shep's team in Duet, Liz comes to see him and tries to talk to him about staying in Atlantis. As conversations go, this is probably one of the most stilted and uncomfortable ones you've ever heard. She's all bright and perky, he's all terse and uncommunicative. It's 'WTF do I do with him/her?' at its level best.
lierdumoa addressed this in her essay. I'm not going to repeat her so I suggest you go read it.
The next interaction of significance is at the start of the episode 'Aurora' where Liz and Ronon have a conversation about chess, the mindset of the people in Atlantis, and where Liz gets entirely the wrong end of the stick and acts like an adolescent while trying to save face. Flustered!Liz is too damn cute, and Ronon has this 'oooookay' look on his face. Glee, peoples. Total glee.
Then there's the way she says his name in Critical Mass. [insert WTF exclamation here: she's getting hyped up about a name?!] But my hand to God, I went *SQUEE!* when she said his name. When talking to Shep she was all business, but when addressing Ronon, she was leaning.
And in The Long Goodbye Ronon tells Teyla he'll go after Shep, "Because I know how he [Shep] thinks. I haven't the faintest idea how she [Elizabeth] thinks." It's so battle of the sexes with the confounded male trying to make sense of his girlfriend - and I loved it. It put a big silly grin on my face.
In Coup d'Etat, having discovered that several members of the outgoing team of Atlanteans have 'wanted' posters up about them, Ronon wants to know why he and Teyla don't have the 'wanted' posters. Liz teases him about feeling left out, Ronon replies that he wants to give them a chance to change their mind about just how dangerous he is. There's a lovely arch humour between them at that moment.
--
Yin and Yang
She's the civilian leader of Atlantis, a negotiator, and apparently a pacifist. He's military, prefers actions over words, and has no problems handling guns, shooting people, or stringing them up like sides of beef. While it's a case of opposites, I see them as different enough to intrigue each other to the point of interest. Ronon's comment from TLG only confirms this - the idea that she confounds him. Judging by Liz's overreaction to him in the opening scene of Aurora, he confounds her.
I see Liz as being very moderately contained. She's polite and nice and sugar and spice, and all the things that good women should be. Lovely velvet gloves...with polished steel beneath. The pleasantry conceals a woman who is far tougher than she presently knows. I think we might be seeing the steel come out in late S2, early S3. Or maybe the gloves are just wearing thin.
The interesting thing about Ronon is that he seems simple enough; press the buttons, get the reactions. And while he was on the run, simple was probably the easiest way to go. In some things, that's not going to change. He's always going to go for the throat when it comes to action. But in personal matters, love, loyalty, friendship, and family, he's like an onion - he's got layers.
And he outdoes Shep in the Alpha male category, which I personally find hilarious.
I don't know that I can exactly express how they'd interact. Liz would probably be the idealist, while Ronon would be the pragmatist. He'd tug her back down to ground, and she'd force him to look at the possibilities beyond what he's used to. Eh. I wrote them. See Chapters 2-5 of 'Wrong Kind Of Guy' for how I see their interaction playing out.
And the sex would be hot.
I'm just sayin'...
--
Fanon, Fanfic, and All That Jazz
I gather that, for most people, any interest in Liz/Ronon is highly secondary, coming way after whatever primary pairing they love. Which I can understand. It's not exactly a pairing with a high interaction quotient like Shep/Weir or Shep/McKay, or one with the support of the writers and actors, like Shep/Teyla.
However, if you haven't already guessed, I love them.
If Liz/Ronon isn't my primary pairing, it's in very close second place. And there just ain't enough fic for it.
Other than my own stories, I've seen a handful of Liz/Ronon stories. A few that I liked and one that I thought was an excuse to turn Elizabeth into something resembling a Mary Sue (can do no wrong, is adored by all, cures AIDS with a single touch, and brings light, health, healing, and hope to the galaxy). I like Liz, but the idea of turning her into a saint is abhorrent - I stopped writing Daniel Jackson in SG-1 because of the group that turned him into a saint. I hope to God that the same thing won't happen in SGA.
Two stories that I particularly liked (and remember) are 'Mane' by ladyjax [G] and 'Yield' by sugargroupie [NC-17]. I'm happy to read others if you know of them, but I don't promise to like them!
Incidentally, I know that Torri has said she'd like for Liz and Ronon to have a torrid affair. Not sure about Jason's thoughts on ship (except that he doesn't see Teyla/Ronon at all) but then, not many people have seen the light Liz/Ronon yet, so they wouldn't have asked him about it.
At any rate, I'm all for it!
*sigh* I really do wish that one of you guys would get the bug, though.
ETA: Would anyone join a liz_ronon community if I set one up?
--