Chatterbox: Blab About Books

Dropping in to have a chat with you guys about duos in literature - romances, friendships, enemy...ships, anything in between! 

I finished The Great Gatsby last Tuesday or so, and one of the character relationships within it touched me to a point that I had to go and watch two movies based on the book, mostly to see them interact. And I really hate movies. (I mean, the book in general touched me, of course, but. Yeah.) 

So, what are some characters you know/love that are great individually, but even better as a pair? I called them 'literary' in the title, but if you want to bring in pairs from other works of fiction, that's great too! Like I said, they can be couples, or friends, or foils, or anything in between, or friends that you ship, or a couple you think would be better as friends... you get the point.

Anyway, time for me to ramble about friendship! And romance! (vague spoilers ahead.) 

- Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby: The Great Gatsby. Kind of why I made this thread. I'm not even sure why I attached myself to them so thoroughly, but I think (the book is on its way to becoming a hundred years old, but just in case we want to avoid spoilers) Nick's reaction to the end of the book, and his generalized narration throughout, is kind of what made me feel most acutely the unfairness and tragedy that Fitzgerald communicated, because I get really really attached to character relationships. 

- Glinda and Elphaba: Wicked. Augghhhh is all I can say. Just like with the above two, the ending was made all the more tragic to me by the fact that there was someone left grieving; the estrangement between them, but also the very fact of their closeness means A Whole Dang Lot to me. 

- Polly and Maladict: Monstrous Regiment. This one's so obscure that I don't believe anyone will know it, but let me just say that Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett made all Sweet Polly Oliver (girl dresses up as a boy to fight in the army) stories thereafter only come in second place after this one, and these two were a big part of the reason why. They're so snarky, but also it's very clear that they care about each other a lot. Also, that ending. 

- Kaede and Taisin: Huntress. MALINDA LO, WHY MUST YOU CRUSH MY DREAMS?

- Crowley and Aziraphale, Good Omens: Yes. Y e s . And these guys actually get a happy ending, what do you know? But anyway, the idea of a partnership between the two is hilarious and touching and wonderfully human, which can actually describe Good Omens as a whole. 

- Courfeyrac and Marius, Les Miserables: I'm getting an uncomfortable feeling that I'm way too into pairs like this where one person dies. 

- Joly and Bossuet, Les Miserables: Or both of them.

- Enjolras and Feuilly, Les Miserables; Enjolras and Grantaire, Les Miserables; Bahorel and Jean Prouvaire, Les Miserables. Or both of them. 

- Eponine and Cosette, Les Miserables - Not a friendship or a romance, not really an enemy-ship, but certainly a very interesting dynamic that I wish Hugo had explored more. Oh well, that's what fanfiction's for!

- Moving on from Les Mis: You can't really talk about literary duos without bringing up Holmes and Watson, because they're definitive. Therefore: Holmes and Watson. From the book and the period-piece adaptions, not the new BBC one. 

- Shakespseare created two pairs I have a huge amount of feelings about; Beatrice and Benedick are one, because banter! Deception! The best romantic comedy ever created! The others, and you guys are going to laugh at me, are Romeo and Juliet. I know, I know, it's cool these days to be like "Romeo and Juliet were stupid teenagers" but like... it was their families' fault? Kids should be allowed to fall in love without everything that happened to them happening. So I'm not so much really into the pairing as I am very sad about what befell them. A lot. 

- Just kidding, there's a third Shakespearaean one: Hamlet and Horatio. Man. 

- Howl and Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle is still one of my favorite romances ever. The book, mind you - the movie's beautiful, but the book is this incredle, unique work of literature that I just. Wow. Wow.  

Anyway, I'm sure there are a lot more, but honestly I'm making this thread so as to put off studying for the AP World exam (which is on Thursday. Yikes.) A whole lot was omitted, but this is because I was focusing on duos - there are a whole lot of trios and collectives that I adore as well, but that is probably a thread for another day. 

What do you guys think of my choices, and what are yours?