Angus/Deirdre

Oh boy. Put on your Nuance hat.

Do I think this ship had any chance of happening in the show?

Would I have supported the two of them actually getting together?

Did I want them to get together?

If they were together, do I think they’d be happy?

And the million dollar question: what do I think of the ship overall?

LET THE NUANCE BEGIN.

We have to split this to get at what everyone's expecting. I've written a couple of these already, and I've been leaning a little harder on what the guys think more than Deirdre herself (just like Conchobar u_u), but Angus is where I get to flex my opinion on her behalf.

Deirdre is going to be the Queen. And she's gonna be relentless. She's gonna need someone who can handle his own shit, without running to her for help, and who can help calm her down when she needs it. Right? He doesn't even have to 'rule,' 'cause Deirdre's gonna be all over it on her own. In short, she can survive with a house husband who supports her and doesn't add to her stress.

Angus can do one of those at a time.

You want someone who can handle his own shit? Yeah, okay, you can leave him to his own devices. But then you can't get mad when he shows up an hour later swearing he doesn't know how something's on fire or someone got stabbed, after having run to everybody else for help first. He's also not gonna take much initiative on the 'royal chores,' so if you're expecting him to independently see to matters through his own perogative, you're gonna be unsurprisingly unsurprised. He's not going that unless he's being told to. Someone who can calm her down? Sure! Blow off some steam, why go to this stupid dinner if you hate it so much? But he doesn't understand that this stupid dinner is important, and not everything you hate can be blown off because you're the Queen. You might try to explain it to him for the twentieth time, but he hates that shit, so he's gonna blow it off by storming out. Support you? Sure! He's jumping in to defend your honour over some insult an idiot royal from another land said. And that's blown a year of careful negotiations, because Angus never learned to bite his tongue. And when he tries, he overcorrects into awkward silence, so now you have to feed him each line like he's a child.

What's important is this is gonna be bad for both of them. Neither one will be blameless for things falling apart (and they will), but their biggest crime is not seeing that coming. She's a shouter, for example. So's Angus. She'll either have to change her entire approach to conflict - 'cause he's not gonna do it - and account for that, or she's gonna break him in some ever-escalating retaliation until he never argues again. It's unfair for her to have pick one of those options, as if Angus isn't capable of change, and it's also unfair for her to only have those two options but still be tied up in a relationship with Angus as 'her future husband'. I wholeheartedly believe any conversation she'd have with him in a royal capacity would be like that time she tried coercing him out of his own wish: he uselessly freezes, or he eventually snaps, and those are the only options he's giving her.

It's not about love. It's about responsibility.

So no, I don't ship them as an end-game OTP.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) You know what they would work as?

FWBs.

Solves 100% of the problems they'll run into as a traditional couple. If it's not the love, but the responsibility, then get rid of the responsibility. Keep that man as a side piece, and then the world's your oyster.

You're stressed? Call him over. Fuck, relax, bitch about the shitty politicians that are pissing you off, have him say whatever he wants from a non-royal point of view, maybe even tempt you out of attending that meeting you seem to dread... then you can decide if you take him up on that offer by sending the spouse you actually married to attend on your behalf.

You're sick of him, and he did something stupid that got him in trouble? Leave him in jail! You'll get to him when you get to him. Think of it like free baby-sitting; he's not the King, so the guards don't have to let him out right away, and maybe it's better to have him in there while you negotiate a delicate trade.

You need to go to a very boring dinner and want some entertainment? Bring him along! No one's expecting him to speak, so the two of you can just exchange glances knowing you've got the same reaction to some bullshit. If he does talk and says something dumb, who cares? He's not a royal. He's a guard that drank too much. He doesn't represent Kells, so everyone can overlook his insolence. And if you don't want him there, then don't invite him. Again, he's not representing Kells in capacity, so he's got no obligation to go.

Would Angus ever press for more committment? Maybe. But he's gonna have to do that knowing it comes with a role he doesn't want - and wouldn't sit still long enough to learn about. Being the Queen's concubine would basically be the sweetest deal he could ever get. He'd have protection from a lot of folks around the castle, who can't be too rough with him without pissing off Deirdre, but no strings attached to the boring stuff he hates anyway. If he's having trouble getting more of Deirdre's attention, he'd still have that problem if he was married to her, but by being married, he'd have less room to be sneaky about stealing her away.

The only drawback to this would be who - if it's not Angus - Deirdre would marry. My preference is 'no one,' and if she wants a kid, she can have it with whoever and adopt the bastard-as-a-legal-term. Angus would be the 'fun' dad, and they have servants to help with education and child-rearing. He'd also be an amazingly fun uncle to have regardless. But if she does pick somebody, they'd have to be very cool with Angus popping into their room whenever he felt like it.

Ivar? Would be totally fine. He's not threatened by Angus, and I think he'd appreciate Angus having a formal role as "the boyfriend" to clearly separate his responsibilities from Ivar as "the husband." I get the sense Ivar and Deirdre could arrange an on-paper marriage very effectively. Enthusiastic and warm as friends and mutual confidants, working together to have their kingdom flourish, but not so tightly or emotionally involved that Ivar would get thrown by feelings of jealousy. It's not an open marriage, but a partnership. Their vows would've been, "I swear to keep this relationship professional," and they'd sleep in separate rooms. Ivar might even have his own side-piece, and in this context, Deirdre wouldn't have a problem with it. She'd get to be in love with Angus, who'd be the 'fun' spouse now, and Ivar could be in love with whoever else his heart doth sing to.

Rohan? Trickier. Jealousy would rear its head. The guy can't separate his emotions from anything, he's not gonna marry someone he's not in love with, and Angus is not gonna ever lie to his best friend about what he's up to with Deirdre. Down one path, I absolutely see Angus as the sole person Rohan 'trusts' Deirdre to be around; if there's an event Rohan can't attend, he'd send Angus as her escort instead. And I could technically see that escalating into, "Yeah, we made out a little. Aw, it's fine, it was just for fun. Yeah, we hooked up a little. That was just for fun too." Which is a bit too mean of Angus and Deirdre - especially Angus, when it comes to Rohan - and certainly playing with fire nobody should be playing with. But we can approach this from another direction, 'cause this is nothing some polyamory can't solve: Angus is both their boyfriend. Boom. One big bed for everybody. Rohan still gets to have his jealous fits, but now he has two people to trigger that, and Rohan's always the happiest when he's feeling miserable and angsty over something. Deirdre has her sweet, sappy husband who actually grows into his role, and her ultra-fun stress-relief that she can just relax around. And Angus gets to hang out with his two rich friends that he's known since childhood, free to roll around in luxury like a housecat.

Garrett? Ooooh. I don't think that's gonna work. The insult of not having an exclusive wife would weigh too heavily on his pride, I think. So in that case, Deirdre would just straight-up be cheating on him with Angus. I mean lmao they're still gonna hook up; Garrett's just lost his chance to 'know' about it rather than 'find out'. Which is inevitable, and is gonna be a BIG mess. Alliance-breaking, perhaps.

worth it rofl

In that way - and only in that way - do Deirdre and Angus become the strongest ship out of all the main possibilities. Including Ivar. They play around the most, they joke the most, they joke-flirt-but-haha-what-if-it-wasn't-a-joke the most, Deirdre gives him little taps the second-most, and they just - overall - have an overtly fun time together. But they live and die by their work-life balance; the second Angus has to do any work, Deirdre's gonna kill 'im. So for that, I'm gonna put Angus/Deirdre under Ivar/Deirdre. :P