1=2

O-o-okay, so just why am I so obsessed and rabid about Heero and Duo as lovers? Good question; I suppose I should explain it to you. Get a snack and maybe a pair of ear-muffs because you're about to be thrown head-first into my infamous "Symbolism in GW" speech. Yeah, so Yui-chan and I sit around and anylize Gundam for fun... so what!? At the end of the day, it proves that the two of us losers have probably spent way too much time thinking about this. But hear me out! This little commentary was enough to sway Yui and a bunch of my other buddies into seeing why 1x2x1 makes sense.I kind of broke it down into parts, so I hope it makes relative sense. I'm gonna try and be as objective as I can, despite the fact that most of this is just my opinion and personal interpretation of the series. I might add that even though Relena isn't my favourite character in the universe, I'm gonna be as fair to her as I can. Just... just read it, dammit! Trust me, it's far more amusing to hear me actually say this. I'm told I'm an animated speaker....

 For starters, let's take a look at our boys individually. I'm sure you all have seen this stuff at least eight-billion times before, but for the sake of consisantsy, yadda, yadda, yadda, here it is.

Alright, so we have Heero, Perfect Soldier, 01, Wing's pilot and professional bad-ass. What's not to love? A lot of people ask me why the hell I like Heero, saying that it's weird that someone would like such a heartless prick. That's where I whip out the big guns and flip 'em off, because Heero is anything but the cold bastard he's ofted accussed of being. He's dark and mysterious, a typical Byronic hero, sure, but underneath that cool, handsome exterior, you've got one messed-up dude. One with plenty of emotions, I might add; more than he knows what do with, which is just the problem. In fact, Heero's got so many damn emotions swelling around inside, he has no idea what do with them all! A brainwashed childhood of training and conditioning to be a terrorist has turned a little boy into a machine. But I think one of the big points with Heero is that he's human in the end, not a robot, not perfect. He may have all the skills of a killer, but I personally find Heero to be one of the more innocent characters of the series. Ah, here we are getting to it, the big idea of Gundam Wing: innocence. Of course it's a different kind of innocence than, say, Relena, but I'm pretty sure it's there. Maybe a kind of weird, reverse innocence or something.

But you know what? That whole last paragraph is standard Heero-info that everyone has recycled through just about every fanfic ever. If you skimmed, stop now and start reading, because here's where I go crazy. I think that if I could pick one, single scene in all of GW that sums Heero up, it'd obviously be his memory of the little girl he killed by accident. Why the big deal? Well, obviously Heero is upsest over murdering an innocent child. The whole sequence with the bear, the flower and the dog prove that. "Yeah? So? Why should I care, LW? I know that," you say. "Right," I tell you. "Just see where I'm going with this."

Okay, now we take a look at everyone's favourite character: Relena. Yeah, some people love her, some people hate her, and if I knew her, I'd probably kill her, but no matter which team you're on, you can't deny that she's important. But why is she important? The creators and writers themselves said that Relena was not meant to be in a romantic relationship with Heero, that she was meant to symbolize all that was good about the Earth, its innocence. Pop quiz: who did Heero kill? That's right, innocence in the form of a little girl who looks a hell of a lot like Relena. So for Heero, Mr. No-Regrets-But-I-Regret-Shit-Anyway, Relena eventually becomes this second chance for him, a way to make up for his past mistakes, to atone for killing that child. Everything from the pink, a little girl's colour, to the juvenile crush on Heero was added to Relena's character to help illustrate this. I do respect her and I do think that she has her qualities, and to be honest, it's more her delusional fans that bother me as opposed to Relena herself. Of course, she ended up rather annoying, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, ne?

Now this is where the Relena nuts start whining about how perfect these two are for each other. Quite frankly, I think they would strangle each other before long if they got into a romantic relationship. First off, they're way too similar, which even Dr. J points out near the beginning of the series. For some reason, people who are too similar go insane with each other. And come on; if you think about it (like I have, hehe), could you really see Heero all dressed up and sipping on tea and munching crumpets at fancy to-dos for the rest of his life? Yeah, I think so too. Sometimes, when I'm watching Relena pining after Heero during the show, I feel like I'm watching someone run a marathon at the end of which she'll win a gold medal: Heero. So trophy won, she'd bring him home, set him on a shelf, maybe show him off for a while, and then get bored, move onto something else. To refer to the last line of the wonderful movie Millenium Actress, it's the chasing that she loves, not Heero himself. Heero was the first dude to ever be like "Screw you, girl. I have more important things to deal with." And someone as determined as Relena, who's used to having her way, isn't about to sit back and take that kind of answer, hence why she gets so obsessed. (That's my personal theory, anyways.) Another thing is the way she is constantly trying to shove her extremist ideals and opinions down Heero's throat, trying to change him into what she wants him to be, instead of just loving and accepting Heero for who he is (like Duo does ^^). I think that even if she did manage to bag him, she'd get sick of Heero's inablity to be what she wants; Relena's fallen in love with the idea of Heero, not Heero himself. She's waiting for a knight to come charging in on a white horse and whisk her away, something that Heero is clearly not. (He would be insulted if he was likened to that kind of hero, I bet; he's not an idealist.) Relena has placed Heero on this high pedistal, like he's some kind of god, not really seeing his down-to-earth humanity. Really, Heero's just another lost and confused soldier who's been placed in a strange position as he tries to figure out what his purpose in life is. She knows Heero "the soldier", not Heero "the boy", but seems to get those confused. She'd be in for quite a reality-shock when she finds out that Heero's not the perfect thing she admires him as.

"The bear!" the Relena drones will argue you. "What about the bear that Heero leaves her!?" Oooh, if only you could see the look on my face as I maniacally rub my hands together. I was so proud of myself when I thought this theory up, and it makes quite a bit of sense to me. Okay, if you'll remember Heero's memory about the girl and the flashes of the flower in his hand, the dead dog and *gasp* the burnt-to-a-crisp teddy bear! I have come to decide that the teddy bear is the biggest symbol of innocence in GW. So when Heero leaves Relena the teddy bear at end of the war, it's kind of like returning the innocence to the girl he killed. There is a scene in Endless Waltz showing a little girl holding a teddy bear, and you all remember how they show Relena touching a teddy bear in the opening animation with "Just Communication", ne? See? Besides, if Heero loved her, you'd think he would have bought her roses and at least stayed with her. Let's not forget how he walks away twice!  

 Duo Maxwell. Oh boy. Who doesn't love Duo? Well, maybe Relena, but that's a story for another day. He's got everything a person wants in a character: good humour, a crappy childhood, various personalities and killer looks. And come on, who else could run around in a priest's collar and make it seem cool? For the sake of consistancy, we'll just run through the basic stuff every Gundam fan should know, just as review. There will be a quiz.

Whenever I describe Heero and Duo to someone, I always say, "They're the similar, except at the exact same time, completely different." Does this make any sense to you? If it does, it'll make the rest of this so much easier! Like Heero, Duo's a street brat with a rough past and more emotions than he knows what to do with; they're both soldiers stuck in a needless war; both of them are really just hiding from themselves... the list goes on, but I think you've got the gist of it.
However, while Heero seems to have trouble with sorting out his emotions, Duo seems to have no problems wearing his heart on his sleeve. Though on a much grander scale, just like Heero, Duo also appears to be something he is not. A key element to Duo's character is... well... his dualtity. At a glance, Duo seems like a very transparent and childish young man, and to a point, he most certainly is. He's so see-through, it seems like he's made of glass, and yet at the same time, he hides better than any character in the entire series. It's interesting to think that someone who runs around bragging about his integrity is all the while lying to himself. Kid's an athiest, but he wears a cross and a precher's collar and calls himself the God of Death. But that's just it: Duo is a paradox. Write that down for your next test on literary terms. Just think Duo on that one, and you've got it made.

Oh, and here's an interesting random fact about Duo: did you know he was based on a priest that was killed during the Spanish Inquisition who wore his hair in a braid and called himself the God of Death?

  What about Hilde? Well what about her!? I'm not gonna lie: I think Hilde is cool. She's probably my second or third favourite girl in GW. Personally, I see the way Duo and Hilde interact very much like siblings. And sure, I suppose you could think up a romance for them, if only for fanfiction's sake, and I would say it has more validity than Heero and... Relena... yeeesh. But at the end of the day, I think they have a very good, healthy relationship, the way Heero and Relena could be if she'd get over her stupid crush on the man! Uhh, sorry about that; I'll be serious again. Even if Hilde does have a crush on Duo (though there is that one episode where Hilde is oogling Tro ///__^), it is A) not annoying because she is content to be Duo's friend and doesn't go screaming his name off cliffs or anything. B) Duo is clearly obsessed with Heero. You think I'm kidding? You go and watch the series, then tell me how many times Duo is rushing to Heero's side, thinking about him, et cetera, et cetera. At least he's not annoying like certain individuals, not to name names or anything as I promised I'd keep this as unbiased as possible. And, uh, his image song, "Good Luck and Goodbye"? Look up the lyrics; who else could it be about!?

Wow... that was a rant.

So why 1=2 (and not 1x2x1), you ask? Time for me to get to the point, ne? Now, having gone over "the basics", think of what one would look for in a partner. Yes, they're hot together; yes, they're both dudes; yes, they're a lot of things. But here's the most important thing: their friendship, their love. I mean, whether Duo's a girl, a boy or turned into a newt (he got better), I'd still say that they're perfect for each other. Before I go any further, and while I'm on the topic, I think I'll just get out one my biggest pet-peeves, which is what I call "yaoi-for-the-sake-of-yaoi". It bothers me more than anything on earth to see people say things like "Oh, Heero is my favourite; Quatre is my favourite; they're both hot, so let's make them a couple," and then hide it behind the protection of the open-mindedness that goes with yaoi/yuri. Guys, we're forgetting the most important thing in this whole business, and that's love! If you can give me some legit reason as to why some characters should be together, perhaps making up a page like this one, I'll at least hear you out, even if I don't agree with you. Um, but that's not really the point. Back to my theme, hehe. (This is sort of coming as goes through my head, have you noticed?)

Right, so as I was saying, you have these two fellas, both orphans who end up fighting together in the war. Past all the sheilds and layers, I'd say you have pretty much the same sort of person, which is good as they can easily relate to each other, you know? Yet at the same time, there are all these other personal factors that make Heero and Duo both wildly different from each other. There's the white devil and the black angel, though which is which can be your call. I call them my Yin and Yang couple, and as a loser, I shall proceed to explain why. The Yin Yang symbol represents the balance of opposites in the universe. The two swirling shapes inside the circle are meant to illustrate change, the only constant in the universe. And since nothing is ever purely black or white, there is a dot of the opposite colour in each half. [1] The shit load of symbolism that can be applied to them is just far too great to be a mere accident, I think: angel and devil, Yin and Yang, light and dark, sun and moon, Apollo and Dionysus (personal fave as well)... the list goes on. It is this balance, this equality, which leads me to the = between 1 and 2. Everyone seems to get carried away with whether or not Heero would be better as seme or uke or whatever--quite frankly it really doesn't make a difference. The point their love, and the last time I checked, a good, healthy relationship between two people, no matter who they are, involved give as well as take, sharing, not controlling the other. Often, fanfics try and assign roles of power to each character, and really for no other reason than to define who will be dominant during sex--which really isn't the point either. So instead of getting caught up with all that 1x2x1 stuff, yadda, yadda, yadda, me, and a few other authors, are trying to push the = notation... because no matter how you write it, it's all the same :)

(Some people have caught onto my game and have figured out I'm kind of a romantic; shh, don't tell!) Duo loves Heero for who he is and wouldn't change him for the world. I think that is more important to Heero than anything, that someone could actually love him, no strings attatched. Relena, on the other hand, is constantly trying to tell Heero that his ways are wrong, that he should stop fighting, that he should change, as I mentioned before. People who argue that Relena could help Heero "become human" are missing some very important thigns about Heero, the first and foremost being that Heero already istoo much so. What Heero needs is someone real like himself, but different enough to balance him out. And let's face it people, Duo is about as real as you can friggin' get.

I suppose that will do for now. As more things come to me and I feel in the mood to record it, I'll add to this section. For now, just root through my fanfics for more eloquent ways of saying the same things. After all, the point of fanfiction (I think) is to express your ideas and interpretations of the series. If you have anything to contribute to this, feel free to tell me and I'll put it in here. Have fun kiddies!

BTW, another random fact is that the line that all Relena junkies use to argue against us 1x2x1 shippers is that one that Duo has in EW where he says: "Anything at all for the one you love." I read on atsui.org that that line was totally butchered in translation and that what Duo actually says is something along the lines of "He's so dense." Ooooh.... ^___^

[1] I went to go refresh my memory on Taoism on www.religioustolerance.com/taoism.htm, and the page just had this good, concise explaination that I ended up essentially borrowing. It makes so much sense though!