Hello, friend! 😀 Oh, gosh, you have no idea how happy I am that someone asked this question. ^_^ And I hope you don’t mind if I publish it, but I’d like to have a record of what I said in case someone asks again. (wishful thinking ^_~) And please forgive me if this is at all incoherent. -.-;;;
ANYWAY, this ship honestly whammied me out of nowhere in about the last 30 minutes of the film. And I think you might be right that I’m the only person on this ship, because there’s nothing on AO3 for them and I can’t find anything on tumblr, either. But I’m so glad that it doesn’t sound like utter crack to at least one other person and thank you SO much for telling me so! I HOPE WE START SOMETHING. ^_^
So, the whole thing started with those two moments I posted gifsets of the other night. [gifset one, gifset one slightly nsfw version, gifset two] Sometimes all it takes is a certain look between two characters to get me shipping them and these two were definitely communicating a whole host of things with their eyes alone and it KILLED ME. *_*
And the rest behind a cut, because length. -.-;;;
In that first gifset, there was this moment where you can just tell that Brahmwell has impressed the hell out of Elmont by insisting he stay and stand with the guard. And every time that he did something similar earlier in the fight (i.e., taking up a spot on the ropes), Elmont looked equally startled, but equally happy. Like he hadn’t expected it and it just filled him with pride in his king. And it culminates in that first gifset where the look on Elmont’s face is even a step beyond impressed. It’s ecstatic and ALSO MAYBE A LOT TURNED ON, BUT THAT COULD JUST BE MY INTERPRETATION. And then in the second gifset, they are both such proud parents it’s ADORABLE. Because the child they’ve looked after her whole life and the young man that Elmont has come to admire on his own terms have finally grown up and are so in love and they’re just so happy about it and AW. ^_______________^ But it’s that look between them, where you can just see that they understand each other so perfectly, even without words, that undoes me every time.
I guess what it basically boils down to is that the King and Lionheart trope is one of my favorite tropes. (I tried to find a better link for you, but that’s the only reference I could actually find to the trope? O_o;;;) Anyway, the basic deal with a King and Lionheart trope is that there is a ruler and their vassal/guard/champion/what-have-you, and there is MAD FEALTY AND RESPECT between the two and, while it may be only the vassal showing fealty in public, in reality, it goes both ways, with the vassal able to take liberties in private that they would never dream of taking in public. (…I definitely have a loyalty/fealty kink. ^_^) And honestly, Elmont just exemplifies that Lionheart character achetype. He has such utter, absolute, unshakable faith in his monarchs – both Brahmwell and Isabelle – but you can see in the beginning that neither of them ~quite~ lives up to his mental image of what they could be: Isabelle because she’s too young and too sheltered, and Brahmwell because he’s been so devastated by loss that he’s let fear coax him into making selfish and poor decisions. Then, through the course of the movie, both Isabelle and Brahmwell step up to the plate and grow up a little, until by the end he’s so proud of both of them and so full of love for them that he’s practically glowing with it.
And from there, it’s a very short step to shipping? ^_^
Anyway, thank you SO MUCH for asking and I hope that was coherent, and anytime you want to stop by and talk about these two some more, I AM TOTALLY UP FOR THAT.
(And if you’d rather I didn’t publish future responses, please let me know; I just really wanted to keep this one. ^_^)
eirenical17 