Worst KH pairing?

[Elysium]

I used to ship Leon/Sora. (Granted, I was Sora's age when the series began...) I think its existence is mostly to do with Squall being beefed up in KH. Now that I'm older it's a bit...er, odd in retrospect, lol.

 

[Pokie]

I've always hated Roxas/ Axel. Roxas has the soul of a 15-16 year old boy, while Axel looks to be 20 +. Just nope.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Lea and Isa. Not because they're a bad pairing, but because I want to know why they became friends in the first place. However, this franchise won't dwell on that notion.

 

[BlackOsprey]

I've always hated Roxas/ Axel. Roxas has the soul of a 15-16 year old boy, while Axel looks to be 20 +. Just nope.

More like the body of a 15-year-old and the mind of a preschooler, at least in Days. Even more nope right there.

 

[Chuman]

seen this gif used a lot referencing a pairing but i dont get it, its just roxas by himself.

 

[MATGSY]

Ariel x Eric. Like geez Ariel, you barely even know the guy & you're already throwing out your voice (literally) for him. You basically made yourself a bum in a world where singing is Law for someone who was probably drowning in suitors anyway. Plus he's not even the 1st landlubber you even met. You've known Sora for a whole year prior & you never made any moves on him. Guy was on the rebound after having just broken up with his boyfriend in the whale level, THE OPPORTUNITY WAS THERE!

& don't get me started on Jack x Sally.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

More like the body of a 15-year-old and the mind of a preschooler, at least in Days. Even more nope right there.

That's certainly the main "problematic" issue about it.

There are quite some countries around the world where age of consent is 15 or even 14 so while a more close relationship between people of such age and someone who's between two and four years older may look inappropriate for some depending on where you live it may not be illegal at all.

Yet, specifically in Roxas' case it is obvious there would be a huge power imbalance if the other side is Axel/Lea.

 

[BlackOsprey]

That's certainly the main "problematic" issue about it.

There are quite some countries around the world where age of consent is 15 or even 14 so while a more close relationship between people of such age and someone who's between two and four years older may look inappropriate for some depending on where you live it may not be illegal at all.

Yet, specifically in Roxas' case it is obvious there would be a huge power imbalance if the other side is Axel/Lea.

Physical and mental age aside though, Flamesilocks over there also is manipulative, a liar, and has a homicidal streak a mile wide. Okay, maybe that last part got toned down post-CoM but the other things stuck around and damaged his friendship with Roxas. If that's enough to get a platonic pair to go sour, I don't wanna think about what it'd do for a romantic one.

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Ariel x Eric. Like geez Ariel, you barely even know the guy & you're already throwing out your voice (literally) for him. You basically made yourself a bum in a world where singing is Law for someone who was probably drowning in suitors anyway. Plus he's not even the 1st landlubber you even met. You've known Sora for a whole year prior & you never made any moves on him. Guy was on the rebound after having just broken up with his boyfriend in the whale level, THE OPPORTUNITY WAS THERE!

& don't get me started on Jack x Sally.

Joking for the SoRiku pairing aside, technically they didn't know Sora was a human in Atlantica, just that he was from another world. Sora never outright said he was human when Triton found out he was the Key bearer. For all we know, Triton could've thought Sora was a merman from a different world as opposed to a human. And whenever they visited, SDG never changed forms to go up on land with Ariel(probably something to do with "world order" but we'll never know).

On topic, I have no idea if people ship this, but a bad pairing would be Naminé and Larxene. I figure the reasons are obvious.

EDIT: Also, would this topic not be more suited for the KH General thread?

 

[Elysium]

Axel/Roxas doesn't seem bizarre to me? Roxas always came across closer to 17, but that may be because of how serious he was in the prologue, while Axel seemed around 21-23. I think even my mom was that age when she first met and was dating my sister's father (who was 20+ at the time).

Axel's not my favorite character by any means, but Axel was also a victim of the Organization just like Roxas. I wouldn't say there was much of a power imbalance between them. Terra/Ventus probably sends up these flags to me more than Axel/Roxas even though Terra is younger than Axel, just because Ventus acts like a 5 year-old and he was severely abused by Xehanort.

 

[palizinhas]

Axel's at least 25, considering he was at least 14 in BBS and there are 11 years between BBS and KH2.

While Roxas was an amnesiac kid that didn't even know you're supposed to open chests when he met Axel. Axel taught Roxas most of Roxas' concepts of how life works. That may not be true anymore because DiZ changed Roxas' personality for the KH2 tutorial and that also made Roxas a "normal teenager", but he's definitely still Ven/Sora's age, so about 15.

That's a ten year difference and Axel was literally Roxas' mentor. Of course there are freaky power dynamics between them.

 

[Elysium]

Oh, yeah, that's true about BbS making him around 25, I never thought of that. Hmm. I don't see being co-workers or workplace rankings as that much of a power imbalance though. Axel isn't exactly making the decisions in the Org. I guess I'll leave it at agree to disagree.

 

[BlackOsprey]

Oh, yeah, that's true about BbS making him around 25, I never thought of that. Hmm. I don't see being co-workers or workplace rankings as that much of a power imbalance though. Axel isn't exactly making the decisions in the Org. I guess I'll leave it at agree to disagree.

Axel could be 15 or 25, an elite Org member or a total grunt, but stuff like this

manipulative, a liar, and has a homicidal streak a mile wide.

makes that ship pretty off-putting to me. Just doesn't seem like it would end very well for either party, you know? But that's just me. And there are worse ships out there.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Yeah, Axel/Roxas is one of those things that are fine due to Japan's age of consent, but uh... I'd never want to see a grown-ass man with a barely adolescent boy.
I'm not kink shaming anyone, but be aware that it is kinky.

Axel being basically an assassin tasked of killing other members should be a huge deal, even if the context is fantasy and combat-oriented.
Nothing I saw in Days (weird, such an informative game) made me think Roxas ever knew Axel for more than that one guy who listened to his problems and bought him ice cream. He would definitely have an opinion about Axel murdering Vexen and Zexion, especially with that carefree attitude.
That however is part of a bigger discussion about the character of Axel and how it was rewritten: the fact that Sora did see him doing all of that and yet now he's just one of the chummy chums is just as grating.


Pairing I can't understand even with how-to tutorials: AquaxVen.

 

[BlackOsprey]

Pairing I can't understand even with how-to tutorials: AquaxVen.

This is the basic gist of it: the characters seem to care about eachother. Examples: Ven thaws himself out with sheer force of fury when Aqua is almost killed, and Aqua muses that Ven is what "keeps the dark away" while in the RoD. If you ignore the age difference, Ven's mental immaturity (and possibly ancient physical age?), and the possibility that Aqua was meant to be more of a big sister or even motherly figure than a romantic interest, then it makes just a bit of sense.

Plus it's not nearly as bad as, say, Young Xehanort and Sora, which is figuratively and literally the stuff of nightmares.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

This is the basic gist of it: the characters seem to care about eachother. Examples: Ven thaws himself out with sheer force of fury when Aqua is almost killed, and Aqua muses that Ven is what "keeps the dark away" while in the RoD. If you ignore the age difference, Ven's mental immaturity (and possibly ancient physical age?), and the possibility that Aqua was meant to be more of a big sister or even motherly figure than a romantic interest, then it makes just a bit of sense.

Plus it's not nearly as bad as, say, Young Xehanort and Sora, which is figuratively and literally the stuff of nightmares.

Oh, it definitely beats underage and/or abuse, that's for sure. But amongst the "normal"... I don't know. Even with headcanon powers, in which scene do people think Aqua or Ventus might be thinking romantically about each other?

"Oh yes Ventus, mhh... run away from me like that. Yes, you go look for Terra, you do that... shake that munny maker."

Crazyness aside, I guess Ven's rage scene is a reasonable ignition point, I did forget about that.

 

[BlackOsprey]

Oh, it definitely beats underage and/or abuse, that's for sure. But amongst the "normal"... I don't know. Even with headcanon powers, in which scene do people think Aqua or Ventus might be thinking romantically about each other?

"Oh yes Ventus, mhh... run away from me like that. Yes, you go look for Terra, you do that... shake that munny maker."

Crazyness aside, I guess Ven's rage scene is a reasonable ignition point, I did forget about that.

Because a character showing strong protectiveness for another character gets people's shipping juices flowing. And in KH, that seems to be the centerpiece of a great many popular ships. SoRiku's a great example of that.
You're also dealing with a fanbase that will interpret thinly veiled death threats as flirting so make of that what you will.

 

[Chuman]

You're also dealing with a fanbase that will interpret thinly veiled death threats as flirting so make of that what you will.

psh, as if thinly veiled death threats arent the hottest thing a person can make.

 

[Pokie]

Ariel x Eric. Like geez Ariel, you barely even know the guy & you're already throwing out your voice (literally) for him.

Ariel gave up her voice because she was emotional at the time because her father just threw a chilling and menacing fit and destroyed all her items and collection and what made her feel happy. Ariel was always uncomfortable and didn't feel good within her body. She always wanted to be a human and explore lands and perform human things like running and dancing. Eric was just a extra bonus towards her dreams and goals.

I'm guessing it would be like a trans person would feel within their body. Ariel had a "fish body " who wanted a " human body ". And felt more comfortable with the " human body ". Almost like gender dysphoria.

While Ariel wasn't wise, she wasn't thinking straight at the time, as her Father ripped apart what made her happy and her escapism and dreams. In a very traumatizing way. It's up there with the Cinderella moment where the Stepsisters tear apart poor Cind's pink dress.

Disney was originally going to make a bigger scene where Ariel apologizes and realizes she done goofed, Kraztenberg rejected it for the Giant ! Ursula showdown because "people love action ".

As for Sora, guess he wasn't her type !

Sorry just got to defend Ariel here.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Physical and mental age aside though, Flamesilocks over there also is manipulative, a liar, and has a homicidal streak a mile wide. Okay, maybe that last part got toned down post-CoM but the other things stuck around and damaged his friendship with Roxas. If that's enough to get a platonic pair to go sour, I don't wanna think about what it'd do for a romantic one.

Him being the person Roxas practically learned everything from may also play quite a role in why this wouldn't work.
People are complaining and rightfully pointing out how Isa/Saix is using the friendship he once had with Lea/Axel only to manipulate him and trying to push him into doing things, but strictly spoken the relationship between Axel and Roxas can easily slip into such a dynamic as well.

On topic, I have no idea if people ship this, but a bad pairing would be Naminé and Larxene. I figure the reasons are obvious.

You'd be surprised at how many crack-pairings the shipping side of this fandom can come up with but yeah, Naminé/Larxene would probably one of the worst abuse possible "pairings" that is around, just in the same league as Marluxia/Naminé, Xehanort/anyone or Vanitas/anyone.

Axel/Roxas doesn't seem bizarre to me? Roxas always came across closer to 17, but that may be because of how serious he was in the prologue, while Axel seemed around 21-23. I think even my mom was that age when she first met and was dating my sister's father (who was 20+ at the time).

Axel's not my favorite character by any means, but Axel was also a victim of the Organization just like Roxas. I wouldn't say there was much of a power imbalance between them. Terra/Ventus probably sends up these flags to me more than Axel/Roxas even though Terra is younger than Axel, just because Ventus acts like a 5 year-old and he was severely abused by Xehanort.

You have to keep in mind though that the "prologue"-Roxas was a made-up personality resulting from brainwashing and memory-meddling done by DiZ and Naminé.
That aside though, it is not even the age gap in itself that may set up the red flags as a 16/17year old and a 23/24year old can work (and arguably does in real life as well as your example shows), but in Roxas' case Axel is also his mentor/"father"-figure so there would definitely a power imbalance between them.

Ventus is yet another different pair of shoes due to him already being an abuse victim and being mentally immature somewhat, so I agree with this assessment. The difference between Terra and Axel is however that unlike the latter which Osprey pointed out, Terra isn't manipulative and a chronical liar.
There definitely would be also a power imbalance but Terra might be less "dangerous" to Ventus than Axel is to Roxas, also because Terra knows and cares about Ventus' predicaments and problems while Axel has no qualms about lying directly into Roxas' face and being manipulative to get him to do what we wants.

This is the basic gist of it: the characters seem to care about eachother. Examples: Ven thaws himself out with sheer force of fury when Aqua is almost killed, and Aqua muses that Ven is what "keeps the dark away" while in the RoD. If you ignore the age difference, Ven's mental immaturity (and possibly ancient physical age?), and the possibility that Aqua was meant to be more of a big sister or even motherly figure than a romantic interest, then it makes just a bit of sense.

Plus it's not nearly as bad as, say, Young Xehanort and Sora, which is figuratively and literally the stuff of nightmares.

Exactly, the fond way their spare interactions go (which makes the whole Radiant Garden "fiasco" in BBS even more stupid and cringeworthy because both Aqua and Ven act nothing like normal humans would in that scenario) can be interpreted in a romantic view and if there is anything the shipping side of the KH fandom is "good/expert" at it is interpreting the smallest tokens and actions of affection as an indicator of romantic and/or sexual interest on all involved sides.
Imagination is very powerful after all.

Some people already shipped Sora and Roxas even when their only canon interactions included a fierce battle during KH 2, but one can bet that after the (admittedly well done and touching) scene between them in DDD shippers of this particular ship went goggly-eyed in delight and it may have induced more people into shipping this one.
Heck, just taking a peek into the more "ship-happy" parts of the net I could already see that besides the obvious Ephemer/Skuld pairing some people already started shipping Ventus with both Skuld and Ephemer or even all three as a "bisexual polyamorus" threesome when so far they only had one single interaction with each other.

Never underestimate the creativity and crazyness of shippers!

I personally do not really have anything against the shipping per se, even when looking at ships that might be slightly "problematic" like Axel/Roxas when looked at it with a real-world lens, as in the end they remain fictional characters after all.
Live and let live o to say.

The only thing where I draw a line is if you have outright objectively totally abusive/nightmare ships like i.e. anyone paired with Xehanort, Vanitas/Ventus etc. and portray these actually as positive, possible endgame, hot/sexy or whatever flies through the shippers mind in the respective fanwork featuring it.
That's not to say that these pairings should not exist at all but when depicted they certainly should be depicted as the reprehensible twisted shit they are.

I don't know the people who actually ship such pairings and their reasoning behind it and therefore, while I certainly can't stand most of these and don't want to see/read anything in regards to them, I won't personally attack any of those shippers.