Mudshipping/Flameshipping Vs. Steamshipping/Valeshipping: In the Eyes of Kyarorain




Well, it's time for yet another round of updates on this conflict. We've had a few submissions on the topic. So, let's begin with well-known Golden Sun author, Kyarorain.



MUDSHIPPING AND FLAMESHIPPING VS VALESHIPPING AND STEAMSHIPPING
I could probably be termed as an 'Anyshipper'. I can't stick to favourite couples, I'll just ship what I like. I think that we need to use factual information in our debates, and it's quite tiring to see people going on about their favourite couple and criticising other people. I'm not naming names, but the more I hear a certain person go on, the sicker I get of Valeshipping and Steamshipping. I can see why Mudshipping and Flameshipping work and I am going to explain in detail.

Naturally, spoilers are contained. Read with caution.

Mudshipping:

Isaac is the one who is helping Mia through the Mercury lighthouse, rushing to her aid should she encounter statue or monster. Once you've helped her with the second statue, she says she feels that she can trust Isaac, and of course I can tell that she truly does. She is willing to leave the place where she grew up to join Isaac on his quest.

In Colosso, Mia actually worries about Isaac a lot. As has already been pointed out, she even scolds Garet for yelling at Isaac, even if Isaac and Garet are best friends who grew up together.

Upon Jupiter Lighthouse, Mia is quick to turn to Isaac for help. She knows she can't help Garet, so of course she turns to Isaac, the one she can trust, this has also been pointed out, but I have to say what needs to be said to support my argument after all.

And also, the first word ever spoken by Isaac is "Mia!" -_^ Quite an improvement from "!!!" isn't it? :D

They do both have similar personalities, which can help them to get along. Isaac is serious and thoughtful, Mia is kind and caring, and the trust between them is noticeable. The two are unlikely to get on each other's nerves and what results is a firm couple in the making. Their elements can co-exist perfectly as well, since water nourishes earth and plantation and things like that. Okay, that sounded corny, but it's the best I could come up with.

Flameshipping:

Of course, I cannot ignore the famous flirting scene near the beginning of Golden Sun. Garet seems to be quite nervous of how Jenna's acting, worried he might have made her mad, and it seems as if they could be venturing into a relationship or at least he's got feelings towards her, to make him worry about things like that. Jenna teases him a little, which is just cute!

In Sol Sanctum, if you (Isaac) refuse to give Garet the Elemental Stars to hand over to save Jenna and Kraden, he'll appear to knock Isaac over and grab the Elemental Stars. He really cares... about Jenna, that is.

Jenna gets taken away, and Garet is not pleased. The first thing he notices while the volcano is erupting is that Jenna and Kraden are gone, then he notices that he and Isaac are stuck in an erupting volcano. Throughout the game, Garet is constantly mentioning Jenna. I don't really believe he was speaking for Isaac, because Isaac does have a voice, you just don't see it, so why would he need to speak for Isaac?

Before you get on my case and say he didn't, I'll show you this example.

Garet: Isaac, do you know what that is? Isaac: (Yes/No) Yes Garet: Yeah, I know it's a rock, stupid!

So, Isaac must have said that the Wise One was a rock. It's that easy.

Now, we'll fast forwards to Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

In the prologue to The Lost Age/the infamous 'cliffhanger' of Golden Sun, when Jenna and Kraden are lying down on the floating island of Idejima (That sounds so wrong... ahem...) Jenna is saying something like...

"I miss them... Isaac... Felix..."

Now, don't jump to conclusions and assume she does not like Garet. As Triad pointed out to me once, she may have been avoiding mentioning Garet because Kraden would have teased her. (I'll get to Kraden and teasing again a bit later)

In Madra, Sheba infamously teases Jenna about Isaac and Jenna blushes. A lot of people have immediately assumed that this means she loves Isaac, but let me try and persuade you this may not be the case.

Sheba may have got the wrong end of the stick and be mistakenly assuming Jenna loves Isaac when she really loves Garet, so Jenna is embarassed. To try and avoid being teased again, she smartly mentions Garet instead, but Sheba teases her again. Jenna does say "Stupid Sheba." so you be the judge of what she means by that.

Someone has suggested that Sheba's Mind Read slams the theory of it being a reference to Flameshipping, but of course I'm going to argue. What did you expect? Jenna's probably not likely to trust Sheba so much yet. If you remember, there was a slight issue of trust on Idejima, which was not so long ago, so I doubt Jenna's just decided Sheba's her best friend and let her read her mind. It's still early days yet.

And then, the happy group sets off to Champa.

If you did save Hsu in the original Golden Sun, then Feizhi will appear. She comes bearing a good luck gift for Isaac and Kraden actually teases her about liking Isaac, and well, it appears that she really does... but that aside...

I imagine Kraden knows Felix, Jenna, Isaac and Garet pretty well, so he's probably rather well clued up on relationships, and he's probably guessed that Jenna and Garet have a thing going on. If it was Isaac and Jenna, then would Kraden really be teasing Feizhi in front of Jenna? He may be doing it because Jenna prefers Garet, he knows, and he can tease her without worry of hurting Jenna's feelings.

I haven't said anything about Mudshipping here, because Kraden doesn't know Mia. It's as simple as that. And Mia wasn't there. Okay? Good.

Now, we'll fast forwards to Jupiter Lighthouse.

While Isaac and Ivan are duking it out with Agatio and Karst, Jenna seems to be more worried about Garet. She says:

"What if Garet loses his grip while they're still hanging?"

This has been pointed out yes, but it's interesting that she's more concerned for Garet than Isaac who is fighting two very dangerous and angry warriors, never mind that he's weak to their element.

She says she won't let Agatio and Karst kill Isaac, but like someone has said already, you really don't have to LOVE someone to not want them to die! Isaac, Garet, Ivan and Mia were willing to help save Babi's life for a bit longer, and they don't love him... oh, sorry *cough*

Felix and Picard go up to the Jupiter Lighthouse aerie and fight Agatio and Karst, and then Jenna comes along and joins them. Even later, Sheba comes and THEN we know that Isaac and friends are safe. Well, I'm not sure what this means, we could blame it on translation if we want.

If you lose to Agatio and Karst, Garet says something of interest:

"Those monsters! How could they do that to Jenna?"

Isaac seems to be more concerned that everyone lost and are injured, and the antagonists got away. He does tell Mia to heal them of course.

If you refuse to go to Contigo, Jenna says she hopes Isaac can still trust her. He says he never stopped trusting her, but come on, it's trust you need for love, not love you need for trust!

And so, everybody meets up back in Contigo and it's just so cute to see Jenna and Garet standing in front of each other. Yeah, okay, it was like:

Now, we fast forward to the ending which nobody really seems to have covered in detail yet.

Jenna and Garet leave Prox walking off hand in hand together, which is just so sweet. First the group walks off, with them staying behind to watch Isaac, Felix and Kraden talking, then have a conversation with them, then leave hand in hand so that Felix, Isaac and Kraden can continue their little conversation.

In the ending, Garet cries when he believes that his family has succumbed to the destruction of Vale. What follows is something like this.

Sheba: Aww, poor baby.

Jenna: Sheba, what's gotten into you? How could you say that to Garet?

Mia: Tee hee, I wonder...

Notice how Mia and Sheba are teasing Garet while he's grieving, yet Jenna immediately jumps to his defence? I think this is one of the key points in Flameshipping vs Steamshipping.

Now, some people may say the cartoon strip in the end proves Steamshipping, because Garet and Mia are looking at each other, but please! That's all they are doing! Everybody is just celebrating and being happy, and if exchanging looks is a sign of romance, then I'm very worried about Ivan and Kraden... get my point? Thank you.

I believe that Jenna and Garet go well together, having similar fiery personalities. Jenna is the one who keeps Garet in check with her, er, bossy attitude and they can easily banter together, getting on each other's nerves in a friendly way and easily teasing each other, yet quick to defend and look out for each other. Garet cares about Jenna very much, and Jenna about him. All you have to do is read between the lines to see it. Their elements can co-exist together, being the same.

Why Isaac and Jenna can't be together?

Jenna is too fiery for him, she is bossy and might seem a bit too wild for the sensible Isaac. He might bore her a bit. Sure, she's not bored with him but she's used to him, being childhood friends. She doesn't always seem to agree with Isaac, like on the Mars Lighthouse aerie when Isaac suggests that '"it was what our parents would have wanted, right, Felix?" and if you say no, Jenna immediately agrees with Felix.

Their elements also hurt each other. Isaac's weak to fire and Jenna's weak to earth. Fire scorches earth and earth smothers fire.

Why Garet and Mia can't be together?

Mia is a quiet person with kindness and manners, and Garet is loud, brash and rude. Mia is attractive, which might impress him somewhat, but his personality would just turn her straight off unless she gets used to him.

Why am I being less aggressive towards G/M? Maybe because SOMEONE isn't pushing it so far it falls off a cliff.

Their elements are opposites. I won't say any more, due to the opposites attract thing.

Now, before you get mad at me, I'm just trying to show you why Mudshipping and Flameshipping might be more likely to work than Valeshipping and Steamshipping. This is factual information from the games with help from others. I'm not saying that any coupling is right or wrong, but please, stop arguing and making me sick of this couple or that couple, because I'm getting very fed up. Maybe I should just go back to being the Weirdshipper/Zitshipper/Lighthouseshipper/Steamshipper I used to be, things were so much easier back then, nobody's getting on my back for my couples.

I'm not naming names here, but someone can be a real bee in a bonnet... I'm sure some of you diehard Mudshippers/Flameshippers have a good idea who.

Anyway, thank you for listening, I hope that this gives you a clearer view if you haven't already got one!

Comments are welcome, send them to kyarorain@goldensunthelostage.zzn.com if you want.

~*~ Kyarorain ~*~



Well, there it is. Miss Kyarorain provided a realitvely unbiased submission, and it was obviously well planned and thought out. For any of you who don't know what "Weirdshipping", "ZitShipping" or stuff like that is, go look at Isaac Says Booga's famous GS Shiplist right here at Triad Sanctuary. You can't miss it. Anyway, if you want to further the argument or respond to this particular arguement, please, by all means do. Now, go check out the next article.

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