In the world of Star Wars fan fiction, there are many possible ways to pair characters up romantically. You may have noticed, however, that some characters are very frequently paired together, while others are almost never paired together. Why is this? Here, a look at some common and uncommon pairings, and the reasoning behind slash pairings.

Canon and Canon-Possible Pairings

These are the most obvious pairings. canon pairings are the pairings that are actually seen in the official Star Wars universe such as Anakin/Padmé, Luke/Mara, and Han/Leia. These pairings are very commonly seen in fanfiction, as they have already been shown to be "workable" in canon and are thus widely accepted.

There are also many possible pairings that could feasibly have existed in official Star Wars universe. By this, I mean pairings that the creators of Star Wars could realistically conceive of and that would be acceptable to a wide audience. An example of this would be Leia/Lando, or Anakin/Sabé. Since Star Wars is a product of a culture that just barely tolerates homosexuality, these pairings are by definition heterosexual as well.

Pairings with Minor/EU Characters

In the Star Wars universe, there are many minor characters, or characters only mentioned in the EU (Extended Universe: books, etc). While some pairings with these characters may be quite feasible, they aren't the most common in fan fiction. For example, the pairing Obi-Wan/Siri may be a likely one, but since Siri Tachi is a lesser-known character from the JA (Jedi Apprentice) book series many people don't even know who she is. Thus, it makes sense that pairings with minor and EU characters aren't as common in fan fiction. These pairings can be either heterosexual or same-sex.

Pairings with Unlikely Characters

There are a wide variety of pairings that are uncommon in an fiction because they are very far-fetched or just plain "weird". These are pairings that most people would never even think to write, such as Maul/Qui-Gon or Jar-Jar/Padmé. If pairings such as these seem ridiculous to you, or make you shudder, you are not alone. Some of these parings are uncommon because it is too difficult to conceive of a way to get the characters together, and others are uncommon because of the "squick factor". In general, such pairings have a very small following, if any. This category includes both male/female and same-sex pairings.

SLASH Pairings

Where, then, do slash pairings fit into the world of fan fiction? Obviously, no slash pairing is canon, nor could any slash pairing ever be canon, given our society's views on same-sex pairings. However, if we step back from the norms of modern western society, it is quite possible to imagine same-sex relationships being acceptable in the Star Wars universe.

The Star Wars universe is a big one, with all kinds of different species and numerous cultures. Surely, it is small-minded to believe that the entire galaxy would share western society's general distaste towards same-sex relationships. Additionally, the Jedi are supposed to be peaceful, fair mediators that serve the Republic throughout the galaxy -- so it is difficult to believe that they would look down on certain sexual preferences. And given the Jedi's general tendency to avoid forming "attachments", it even makes sense that they would prefer same-sex relationships among their own ranks rather than heterosexual relationships, because children would not be produced.

And certainly, there are far more characters to choose from if gender is not considered an issue. In both the Original and Prequel Trilogy, there are very few notable female characters! There's Padmé, Leia . . . and . . . that's about it. But if male characters are considered for pairing with other male characters, there are suddenly many romantic relationships that would work very well.

A Look at Selected Slash Pairings:

Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan is by far the most common slash pairing in Star Wars. Why is this? For starters, Obi-Wan is played in the movies by an actor that is very appealing to female fans, and he is thus common in slash pairings. By pairing him with Qui-Gon, you have the combination of attractive young man and handsome older man. Also important is the fact that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan already have a close relationship as Master and Apprentice, and it is not difficult to imagine it going a step further to include a romance. Though their relationship is not exactly perfect, it is apparent that they care for each other very much. Additionally, it is easy to see these two in a typical romantic relationship with one being more dominant, possibly because of their Master/Apprentice relationship. There is the issue of Qui-Gon's death, but this is easily avoided in fan fiction by either writing in the pre-TPM era or writing an AU in which Qui-Gon isn't killed by Darth Maul.

Obi-Wan/Anakin, on the other hand, is a fairly uncommon pairing. The most likely reason for this appears to be the Anakin/Padmé pairing in canon. However, Han is paired with Leia in canon and there is much more Han/Luke slash than any slash pairings with Anakin. The fact is that most canon pairings aren't that hard to "write around"; they are just another obstacle that a fan fiction writer must overcome. Most pairings have obstacles that must be overcome for the relationship to work, and the Anakin/Obi-Wan pairing has several in addition to Padmé. Anakin's fall to the dark side is one of the main obstacles. I personally don't see falling to the dark side as more of an obstacle to a relationship than dying is (like Qui-Gon does), though this is generally considered a big issue. If Anakin is to become Darth Vader, any romance he has is doomed to be a tragic one. Another problem that is related to Anakin's fall to the dark side is the tension we see in his and Obi-Wan's relationship. Anakin is a very powerful Jedi, and we know that he is probably stronger than Obi-Wan in terms of raw power. He feels that Obi-Wan is holding him back, and Obi-Wan has trouble controlling him. As far as Master/Apprentice relationships goes, theirs is quite dysfunctional, in part because they are too evenly matched in overall ability. However, these same characteristics that make for a bad Master/Appentice relationship could be potentially good for a romantic relationship, in which they could be equals.

Xanatos/Obi-Wan is an even less common pairing, probably because Xanatos is a scantly-described character from the JA books. Though he is an important character in that he influences Qui-Gon greatly, he is not one that is described with much depth. However, he is supposedly quite good-looking and has the appeal of being a semi-dark side, dangerous kind of guy. And since Obi-Wan is usually thought of as being "light", pairing the two of them together can be interesting both in aesthetics and dynamics. The pairing of Maul/Obi-Wan is similar in many of these respects.