MOD NOTE: Moving this from Lily/James shipping forum to Prof. Binn's Library. To help clean up the L/J forum, and to help call attention to the Library. ~gal-texter 19Feb2004

er... no one seems to be posting er... Why do you ship L/J? Or what made you ship it?

For me, it was kind of a safe haven, after er... Digimon, I wanted to stop supporting things with contraversy. That worked, for awhile. Then I found HP fiction. I stayed clear out of present-time kind of fics. Then I found something L/J... I don't even remember what it was but I wanted more. They just made me feel warm. And I first got into it because... it happened. There isn't much doubt... but it was interesting because you haven't an idea what happened. What brought them together. So... basically that's why I love L/J... and I owe lots, because if I didn't start to like L/J, HP wouldn't probably be very important to me...

-Kaori

Because they are very nice people
Because their love for each other produced Harry
Because their love for Harry made them give up their life.
Because... They are Lily/James.

Some people can't like the fact that Lily/James do appear to be nothing like the sleezy Malfoys. They make Lily in a slut and James into a playboy. In one of my fics James does "appear" to be like that, but I can't write him like that. I think they were more the mait for right person kind of people. <-- Any who says that their married life would be boring! You're likely to get blasted into orbit from the sparks from those if you put them in the same room

I don't think I made much sense - sigh... somewhere in there I think I meant to say that I love this couple

Perfection went by the name of Lily/James. Actually, I once read a fic when the author talked about Harry showing a picture of his parents to Ginny, and Lily and James looked exactly like the two of them. The idea of star-crossed lovers is just too romantic to resist, I guess. I'm an avid canon follower, and if JKR puts Lily and James together, what more can I say? Besides, their names sound beautiful together. Can you imagine Lily and Snape? That sounds terrible...And because there was and still is great love in that ill-fated family.

Well what got me into them was the fact that they were THE cannon couple. We don't know many others besides Molly and Arthur, and Lucius and Narcissa. What really brought me in to the L/J universe was the endless posibilities of the couple... how did they get together, why, what caused them to notice eachother, were friends or foes before they came together.

Really they are the best couple out there because you know that their love was true and they were very sweet people. For goodness sakes they risked their lives for eachother and their son... someone with a cold heart would never do that. You can tell just by the way that everyone talks about them that they were wonderful people, possibly the best friends they ever had.

How can someone not be drawn to that?

Why? It just seem so natural? Look by the description J.K has given and by the specteculations made about their character, they look so nice, friendly and most specially lovers of those things which we like. They are good-looking? James is a Quidditch fan, which has become almost like a reality to Harry Potter fans, something like Baseball and Cricket to me. Most of all they are the father of Harry Potter! they are the friends of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin and perhaps also because all the times they have been mentioned, they have been mentioned on the good side. No evil to date has been spoken about them. they are angels!
perhaps that's makes us love them.

The more accurate question would be: why DON'T we like L/J?

*sigh* They are THE HP couple, after all. What's there not to like? To a romantic's heart, they are perfect: loving, cute couple, the perfect parents... To someone who's looking for controversy, it's easy to find it there too, because most of their lives are still shadowy to us. Heaven for fanfiction plot lines! Besides, they hold the whole mystery of the HP-verse over their dead bodies. Why did Voldemort try to kill Harry? They have the answer.

Cheers,
Carla.

I just watched the PS/SS DVD last night - and without fail, the Mirror of Erised scene made me instantly start tearing up like a baby. Seeing L/J together, standing beside Harry, who never got to know them, never will, because they gave their lives to save him... The photo album didn't help much, either.

I like them in large part for the same basic reasons I like Anakin/Padmé (Star Wars): a beautiful couple with a mysterious past, tragic ending, whose love story took place in dark times, but were still the creators of hope for future generations (Luke/Leia, and Harry).

I love Harry, so I can't help but also like the people who are the reason we have him. And you do know at least at heart they were good people - they died protecting Harry; James apparently died trying to protect her as well as Harry. I'm very curious to seeing more of their backstory revealed in future books, though the mystery behind them is part of why I like them.

*nod nod* Yes, L/J is the canon couple. I guess one of the reasons I like reading L/J fan fic, is that you know they're always going to end up together on matter what, right? And then there's the different ways you can set them up. You can have love/hate (my personal favorite), them being friends, overlooked Lily and James coming to the rescue. I'm sure there are more but those are just the ones on the top of my head.

MalfoyMyFerret

We seem to surf the same wavelength for this question!

It's the seemingly endless possibilities of their relationship (also mentioned by Kaykos). Us fans are free to explore the depths of our romantic imaginations and create a great L/J story.

It's just the love that seems to radiate from the mere mention of them. Just listening (or rather reading) the characters talk about the two of them, you can tell that they were respected and admired.

It is the Canon ship. It's like a little oasis to escape all the "ifs" and "maybes" in the HP fandom.

happy

Well...Becuz...They Love Each Other...And They Loved Harry....
I Guess Them Sacraficing Each Other For Harry Showed How Much They Loved Each Other...Making L/J The Perfect Match...Even..Well Since They Are Married And Had Harry Should Be A Good Enuff Reason..And If This Doesnt Make Sense At Times...Please Dont Blame Me...Lack Of Sleep....I Will Get Sum After I Post This...So Now I Must Go

Hi

How not to ship LJ if you are HH-er?

1- They are Harry´s parents. Their mutual love brougth Harry to life, and both died for him.
2- Lily and James, reminds me really the HH couple= muggleburn and wizard , trusting each other. Love of loyalty
3-There´s a mistery behind them, and I´m so curious to know what happened in their past life.
4- ***I Harry***, therefore I LJ.


There are several more reasons, but it is really hard to explain them in english ( english is not my first language, as you surely noticed LOL)

Nailju

Yup Yup *Nods* I Agree

I ship J/L because I'm a romantic. I imagine the love they shared to have been so strong that not even death could stop it.

I think so many people enjoy both reading and writing L/J is that you dont have to work around anything. Just the fact that L/J get together eventually, have Harry and then sacrifice themselves for Harry. Its like a blank canvas.

QUOTE

I just watched the PS/SS DVD last night - and without fail, the Mirror of Erised scene made me instantly start tearing up like a baby.

Whenever I watch the PS/SS that bit always makes my eyes water. I think its somwthing to do with the music as well as the actual scene though. It just makes you want to scream 'bring them back!!!'

~*~Karen~*~

I guess the most obvious reason why I like L/J is becasue it actually happened, for one thing. And I like that they were both Head Boy and Head Girl.
BTW I never really teared up in the theater, but when JKR was explaining it on Harry and Me, I didn' t have dry eyes.

Like everyone else said, L/J is one of the only pairings that we actually know happened in canon. With everything else...R/H, H/H, present-day couples, it's unclear what can happen. And that way, other shippers can't rag on you. "James and Lily! That's so impossible!" That would never happen because it's already proved that they were together and they got married and had Harry.

Oh, and I agreed with Nailju -- the H/H shipper in me has a lot to do with the L/J fan.

My reason for liking L/J: I think they had a lot going on at Hogwarts during that time, and I find them intriguing because we don't know a lot about them yet.

They also had Harry! How much more can you ask for?


Heaven

I haven't read any L/J yet, and I'm wondering what a good fic to start on would be. Any suggestions?

Raini

I became a true L/J shipper after reading many wonderful fics on them. When I first stepped into the Fandom I was more interested in speculating on the future adventures of Harry. But now I'm totally taken with what we call the MWPP era and the gates it opens to our imagination. We all know that L/J doesn't end happily, and I think it's one of the reasons people are interested in it, they want to know what happened.

And to solemn pessimist, I saw a thread where some L/J fics were recommended, you should find good links there .


pommekitty

This is my first post in the L/J area... yay me!...

I think I like them for the same reasons everyone else does: you KNOW its real. You know it happned. Its a sure thing, a done deal, set in stone.
So how can one not like it? They appear to have been in love, good parents, and good people. Its a fairy tale... with one twisted ending.

ALSO... I think L/J just remind me of H/H... like father like son. We all know Harry looks like James, has his athletic abilities, and his mischievious nature. Hermione is the stable rock. The brains. Isnt this what Lily was to James? (Refresh my memory... Lily was head girl... or is this fannon... im getting it mixed up now) BUT... if Lily was Head Girl, which I think she was... this is even more like Hermione and Harry. It just fits.

Therefore, since I am a HUGE H/H shipper... this ship, the canon ship, has to logically appeal to me as well.

Thats about all I have to say for the time being!

-Sam

You know, it's strange, when I first came here, I had never though about a Lily/James ship. I think that was because I had never doubted that they were truly a match made in heaven. I mean, they died for each other! It just never made sense to me that there would have been anything but Lily/James set in stone. I never saw the need to ship it because all the Lily/Someone Else just seemed ridiculous.

Well, that's my view.

Darkstar

I agree with darkstar, I mean, I never really thougth about who else they would be with. They just sounded so perfect for eachother and they died together, for their family, for Harry. Maybe if we had more information about the past and the people in it my views would be different, but i doubt it because they just sound like a great couple that needs to be together.
~gaia13

People don't ship Lily/James because of the possibility of Lily/Other or James/Other ships. People usually ship Lily/James because it truly is a match made in Heaven. People are secure in the ship because they know it happened one way or another. Unlike R/H or H/H where only one can truly end up together if either, L/J is ship that has definately happened. That's why people ship it.

Or at least, that's my opinion.

Eric

I really never read Lily/James fics just because of the fact I'm so use to the time setting revolving around Harry and the others, but for example in Barb's Psychic Serpent series, I strongly dislike the idea of Lily sleeping with Remus, its probably been said before through here but i didnt read most of them, when I read the stories I almost look at it like I'm Harry, so in that case Lily would be like a mother figure in a way, and I wouldn't like the idea of hearing about my mother sleeping around. Probably sounds strange I dunno..

-MaKaVeLi

Yep, I'm agreeing with most of you guys -

1) I'm a hopeless romantic. I will melt at anything and anything, and L/J has me currently as a pile of mush on the floor.
2) It's canon! Well, I read it that way.
3) James was willing to die for Lily... that has to show something. And the fact that Lily in turn died for Harry shows, to me, that they were pretty devoted and loving people.
4) The fact that they died... I dunno, but I think a writer can get away with writing characters so devoted and perfect like that if they died... If that makes any sense.

I don't know my reasons, really... it's just something that feels right. Lily/James forever!

- Jules. xxx

I think I ship J/L becasue everythings already there for you, it gives me a back ground and an ending, so I already know what happnes, all I have to do is write the stuff in bewteen. I personaly love J/L becasue when you sad or upset J/L is the Perfect thing to read, Pure Fluff Baby WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!! !

*cough*
Anyways....
The only problem I ever have in reading a J/L is that no matter how awsome the story, no matter where it ends, we all know their going to die. Its actualy really sad.. I wanna cry just thinking about it!

Ok enough saddness!!! I LOVE J/L!!!! And so should you, cuz its good for you too!!!! Mwah!

~Bristar

Well, of course. Even if I didn't ship L/J, how will I face the truth? It's happened and I can't oppose it. Well, I DO ship L/J and it makes perfect sense.

Shall we compare and contrast?

Personally, not like in most fanfictions, I don't think L/J were ever enemies. They are the majority reason why I believe in H/Hr. They were best friends, now, I oppose the enemy thing but nevertheless, some fanfictions are really good with that BUT Snape was the boy who was crushing on Lily. So, it's like H/Hr is L/J, that's the main reason for me. It's like history repeats itself.

And if there weren't L/J, I'm sure I wouldn't ship H/Hr. Well, I believe that H/Hr shippers ships L/J because it makes no sense if H/Hr shippers don't.

I'm not really a L/J shipper but I really have to agree with what everyone has to say in here. It's real, it happened and they're just perfect! But what really got me into them is the fact that they were part of the lives of Sirius and Lupin, two of my favorite characters. Aren't you just fascinated with the concept of the era of the Marauders? I know I am!

fwaah!! I LOVE BOOK THREE!!
okay, anyways...

I think the reason I decided to Ship for Lily and James was a lot more pragmatic than most peoples. Not that I don’t adore the idea of their eternal love and all the other warm and fuzzies, but I just didn’t want to write a bad story.

See, the HP Universe during Harry’s time is really well-established but could change at the drop of a hat (or 5th book for that matter) and I didn’t feel like stepping on a whole lot of toes by writing something that might be seen as a betrayal or a perversion of the characters as we know them. The MWPP timeline isn’t quite so defined. We have enough canon to actually write stories, sure, but no one can say for sure what Sirius was like or how Lily and James or what exactly happened the night with the Whomping Willow.

There just seems to be enough room for argument so everyone can tell the story they want and no one can actually say “that’s wrong.” It’s a way for you to make JK Rowling’s characters a little bit your own because you can prescribe nearly any personality or circumstances to them and no one can prove you’re wrong.

Well, that’s why I do it anyway.

Oy! Angie

Right, just read all the reasons to ship L/J and I basically agree with all of them.
Personally, I think it has a lot to do w/ the very mystery of it all. All we really know for sure is that they got married, had Harry (for which we are all eternally grateful to them ) and then were murdered by Voldemort. We don't know exactly how they got together or what they were really like, although we know they must have been really good, caring, loyal people to die for each other and Harry the way they did.
And yes, I definitely see H/Hr echoes in L/J (or is that the other way around?)
Besides, it's nice not to have to worry about getting into shipper-wars about L/J because no one can deny that L/J existed. (And I especially like that because I get into arguments with friends over h/hr all the time, since most of them are R/Hr and adamantly so, which drives me crazy.)

Why do you ask?

Well, like everyone said before, its the 'Canon Ship'....its the one true couple that we can fall back on and know that they were smart, cool, honorable people. And also they are the sweet, kind, noble pairing that everyone looks up to. They are the original 'Royal Couple'. They are the mystrious, mystical, hero couple that we see them as (or at least I see them as.) They are the parents of the savior of the free peoples of the Wizarding World. (I put a lot of 'of the's' in there, didn't I? )

But anywayz, to end this mindless ramble, I just want to say that they are the true romantic couple of the HP Universe.

I agree with Bristar, it's really sad coz you know that Lily and James are gonna die in the end. And I think that's one of the reasons why I love Lily/James so much. Their death was tragic, and who doesn't like tragic love stories? I'm all for them. It makes you wonder 'what may have been', and it makes you sigh and wish you had that sort of love, that they would willingly lay their lives down for each other and their son. Even though Harry has led such a downtrodden life, I still think he's pretty blessed to have had such parents. Lily and James - it's true, their names sound good together, their relationship is pure, noble, loving, perfect.

this is the first time i'm posting a msg here! love the smilies. especially this!

I ship L/J because it works and they just belong together. I'm sure I'm just a echo to what everyone else is posting but L/J fics were the first fics I started reading, I actually thought they were just MWPP fics at the time, I was just so interested with Sirius in the beginning I didn't think about Lily or James, and then the fic started becoming romantic L/J wise and I had a WAFF inside. Yes, L/J is just good stuff. Another thing, it's canon. That's another reason why I love it, it just fits!

Namarie,
Finduilas

Well, for me, I always thought Lily would be the fiery redhead and James the exploding-when-angry prankster and if they didn't get together there would be no one to balance either of them out, and they'd end up ruining their own lives or each other's lives, or their friend's lives... does that make sense? Hope so. Anyway, I always thought that Lily and James was the perfect couple- not because of canon, because I have a disregard for canon, especially when it comes to Percy/Penelope (I think they are a bad couple and personally I stuck Percy with Cho because that made me laugh insanely), but I'm getting off-track here. The point is Lily/James is the perfect couple because they match. The Transfiguring Quidditch dude with muscles and the Charming (literally- I heard she was good at charms, I don't know where) Studying bookworm with great eyes just match so nicely, when you imagine them you can always think of black hair and red hair and two smiling faces, much like you can imagine Harry and Hermione. Plus, you can't like H/Hr without liking L/J, because they are so like each other, it's like Harry and Hermione are literally their reincarnations. And that's all I've got to say. Yep.

Oh...I guess because no one can argue it, and because you don't have to worry about staying in character.

Hey there. I'm new to this board, but I thought I would add my thoughts too.

First, I agree with everything that everyone else said, so there's no use in repeating it all. So I'll just say that they're beautiful people!

Also, Lily and James gives me hope for Harry and Hermione. I see all the similarities and I want to do a little dance. (But I'll spare you guys that torture )

Anyway, L/J rocks!

Why?

Their story is perfect.

These are two people who died for each other and for their son.

It's sweet, but it's not too sweet -- it's tragic as well.

I try to avoid fandom clichés. I dislike love/hate and in my mind there are just two people, a redhead with deep green eyes and a man with a laugh on his face, too-big glasses and too-rumpled black hair, blinking away the tears in their eyes and smiling at their son. The son whose childhood they weren't there to oversee, the son they died to save.

And all around, nearly imperceptible, is quiet love.

It's bitter and tragic and wonderful.

Okay, just my pathetic attempt to be profound. Ignore me...

~Nell

*wipes away a tear*

Beautiful, Nell, beautiful.

*doesn't have anything more to add*

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm, Manda?



~Nell

*gasp*

Of course not! How could you think such a thing of me?

No, seriously, Nell, like I said, I was only half being sarcastic.

Quiet, children. ...yes, I know. Madna, don't be mean to Nell, that's my job. *harumphs* Lily/James is beautiful, especially today, when it's so hard to fin two people who really love each other that much.

Why I ship L/J? That's a good question. I think the main reason is that I would like to think that L/J is sort of Harry's link to the past. Their lives are shadowed, so we can make things up about how we think they lived. I also think that they are a huge part to Harry's character, because both in inherited traits, and in the fact that they died, Harry has a small internal battle, with having such a burden as Voldemort's defeat, along with suffering immense loss at such a young age.

Anyway, I think the reason I ship L/J is that I think of them as the almost perfect, yet realistic, couple.

I think the question should be why wouldn't you ship J/L? Their love is the only for sure relationship in canon. And they're so perfect for each other! Anyone would be stupid not to ship them.

I still love how much love they had each other even though Lily hated James at first. I better stop babbling about this, I could go on for ever how they're the cutest couple there is (well maybe with the exception of H/Hr, hehe I coudn't resist).

Well I just started yesterday. Never really looked at the other ships on here(being an avid, maybe more obsessed H/H shipper). But yesterday i decided to click on it and see what it was about. After reading Arrival Unexpected, i'm hooked.

L/J is the canon ship for goodness sake. Everyone knows that they loved each other, and they loved Harry. One of the reasons I like L/J is because there are so many possibilities as to how they got together. And speaking with possibilities, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Draco, etc. are characters that JKR has developed in detail. Lily and James are a little more unknown and subject to interesting character traits.

LILY AND JAMES ALL THE WAY!

Well I think I always shiped L/J i mean you kindda have to. The only way you couldn't is if you think there is some weird twist to come. In regards to fanfiction, I have only quite recently started to write L/J stuff, and really take notice of the ship.

Gemma

Because it's canon. I mean, it's one of the little ships that were real in canon...

Because it's really good for fanfics.

Because they make a great couple!

they are just sooo romantic and perfect!even by the way other people talk about them,we can feel their love for each other.who doesn't want what these two had?!and i love james..he is so sexy and funny.that sense of humor....

J/L is the most unknown of the ships on Portkey, a lot more wiggle room and potential for creativity within canon. I'd rather have creativity within JKR canon than Draco/Ginny stuff that (in my opinion) is a waste of posting space (bring it, i'm ready for the flaming!!). I mean, come on, Draco is die hard Pro-Voldemort and Ginny is a part of a blood-traitor family and is totally in love with Harry, let's stop denying it people!

H/Hr is interesting, but the books have covered them so much that there's little left for me to fantasize about, and Ron/Luna is just... weird. lol

Okay, flame away.

I guess I always liked them, maybe because it was appealing and the imagination was let run wild with this ship? Or maybe because I totally fell in love with James when he saved Snape? And then I had all these scenarios of James being modest and Lily beind awed? I don't know. But I just like this ship and it's a bit like a security blanket But no I really do like this ship. It's not bickering and 'tension' there's something deep. The possibilities are endless and they really love one another. It just works.

xoxo
Hana