The personal community of @NinethLions. Ramblings on life, multiplicity, art, fandom, and so forth. Mostly life.
(Stardew Valley) I'm tired, but instead of catching up on sleep like a smart person, I'm gonna ramble about ships and broships instead.
So, in Stardew Valley, each of the bachelors/bachelorettes is sort of "paired off" with another one. Not in an explicit way, but in ways like hanging out together, visiting each other, dancing together at the Flower Dance (assuming you're not dancing in their place), standing together at festivals, etc.
For some reason, I have trouble grokking most of them as romantic ships. I do, however, grok a lot of them as total broships. At least, from the impressions I've gotten from everyone so far - which is to say, I know, or hope I know, Sebastian pretty damn well (comes from romancing him in two saves); am getting to know Elliott (romancing him in the newest save); sort of know Leah, Sam, Abigail, Maru, and Shane; and kinda vaguely know the others? As always with fandom stuff, this is just random crap that I pick up from vague, hard-to-quantify vibes, and how I personally choose to interpret things - by no means is anyone obligated to agree with me.
So, to go down the list one by one (or two by two)...
Elliott and Leah: These two are my broTP. I mean, they both moved to Stardew Valley in order to find themselves/pursue their dreams, are artists who live outside town and in tiny cottages by nature, care a lot about preserving nature, and get shit from people back in their old homes about doing all this instead of following a "normal" life. I think they both stick out in the town as eccentrics, even with how weird Pelican Town can be once you know people - they're the two resident weirdo artists. There's a lot they can connect over, and it seems that they do - Elliott's got a painting from Leah on his wall and both he and Leah stroll over to each other's places on a regular basis.
I grok them mostly as total bros. For some reason, I have trouble grokking them as a ship, though I do think it could go that direction given time and closeness. But in the interim, I just don't get those vibes from them. I'm not sure why.
Sebastian and Abigail: For some reason, I feel like these two don't know each other that well? Maybe even have only recently met each other, though it's implied that both of them have lived in Pelican Town since they were little and I really dunno how you'd manage to not meet each other for years in such a tiny town.
Anyway, it seems like if they did know each other well, Abigail would know not to come over when Sebastian's working. Sebastian also seems to have a much closer friendship with Sam than with her, since he hangs out with Sam a lot at festivals and every Friday night and Saturday. He and Abigail don't hang out so much together, not even at festivals (they both tend to be off alone), and when they do, it's always as a trio with Sam.
Granted, Seb does invite Abigail to be the drummer for their band iirc, and there is a line from Seb that could be interpreted several ways, one of them being that he might have a small crush on her? But it's a very ambiguous line ("I think Sam is my only friend in this town. Well, Abby's nice too, but... Never mind.") that I would have interpreted as hesitation about Abigail if it weren't for the fact that he was smiling when he mentioned her.
They do have a lot in common. They're both town weirdos, like video games and exploring things (though Abigail moreso than Seb), have parents they don't get along well with, etc. I do feel like they've got a lot they could bond over, and that they already are at the beginning of a broship - just not one currently as tight as Seb and Sam or Elliott and Leah. Like with Elliott and Leah, I could see it becoming a ship with time and opportunity to know each other, but for the time being, I don't really get those vibes off them.
Maru and Harvey: These two are sorta more complicated. I feel like there's a lot of different dynamics going on at the same time between these two. There's a bit of a mentorly thing going on with Harvey employing Maru and giving her some guidance, a definite professional relationship, but there's a more casual friendship that's there as well. I'm not sure how close the casual friendship is, but I think that they would mesh very well, probably over planes.
I also get a strong vibe that Harvey might have a crush on Maru, from his dialogue during the Flower Dance and Luau. He mentions trying to work up the courage to ask someone to dance with him at the Flower Dance, and ends up dancing with Maru - though this can easily be interpreted as him asking the person he's most comfortable with. At the Luau, he talks about bringing sunscreen, and then wondering if Maru "could use some sunscreen on her shoulders", which could be interpreted as simple friendly concern but doesn't quite feel that way for that reason.
I don't know whether it would be one-sided or not. I wouldn't be surprised if it was and Maru didn't have that interest in him, especially since she's got a lot of things going on that might take her away and out of Stardew Valley. Harvey also seems to be the sort who would be aware of that, as well as the age gap between them - he's gone through med school and is stated by the dev to be "a little old for a bachelor" and things imply that Maru is on the younger end, which I interpret as him being in his early thirties and Maru being about 20. That plus the professional/mentorly relationship they have would probably mean he wouldn't feel it appropriate to ask her out, not even taking into account his skittishness in general.
I do think it's possible for them to become a unit, but next to Shane and Emily, it seems the least likely out of all the "maybe"s. Not because of feeling, but because of circumstance.
Haley and Alex: I really don't know enough about these two to say much. I do think there would be initial barriers to closeness, given how both of them are at first, but if they can get past those barriers, they would get along well post-character development.
Sam and Penny: These two... ehh? I don't really see it. I don't hang around either of them much, but I don't think I've ever seen them hang together outside of the Luau, and they seem to want very different things from life and have very different attitudes about things. I feel like they do get along, but there doesn't seem to be much common ground beyond that...
Shane and Emily: Don't see it. At all. For one thing, Shane is a Flat Earth Atheist (doesn't believe in magic or spirits despite there being a cave full of monsters to the north, a fucking wizard to the south, and to quote a certain @Piscaria, earth spirits performing miracles in exchange for produce practically next door) and Emily is... Emily. I really don't think either of them would be able to grok the other.
Also, while the other candidates seem to have been designed into the game with the idea of them being in "pairs," the same can't be said for Shane and Emily, who were normal NPCs before being made into candidates in 1.1. But yeah, I just don't get that vibe off them at all.
I'll admit that a lot of my analyses are biased by my own experiences and approaches with relationships, and that how I write the NPCs will follow. I do think there's other ways that everyone can be read and that another writer would be able to write these pairings in a compelling way, but me... nah. I'll stick to my OC farmer and Seb being gay.
~ J.



