Captain Swan vs. Swan Queen
| Ship War | |
|---|---|
| ShipWar: | Captain Swan vs Swan Queen |
| Date(s): | 2012(?) - present |
| Location: | Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, basically anywhere and everywhere fans of OUAT congregate or have congregated... |
| Fandom: | Once Upon A Time |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
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Captain Swan vs. Swan Queen is a long running ship war between the two most popular juggernaut ships of Once Upon A Time: Captain Swan (Killian Jones/Emma Swan) and Swan Queen (Emma Swan/Regina Mills). Opinions are often strong, and though the show ended in 2018, the ship war is still somewhat ongoing.
About
Shipping preferences in the OUAT fandom seem to be largely quite sectarian in regards to several of its biggest ships (Captain Swan, Swan Queen, Outlaw Queen, Rumbelle, and Swanfire in particular) at least within online spaces, though whether that enhanced the ship war, or was a result of it, or a mixture of both, is unclear.
The ship war has often been intense. Though many fans of both ships are considerate with their shipping preferences, there have also been some not so kind behaviours expressed throughout the existence of the ship war. Ship bashing, as well as character bashing, is frequent (i.e. "Captain Swan is an abusive relationship and promotes rape culture," "Swan Queen is an abusive relationship and is incest").
There were many arguments about which ship could become endgame (since Captain Swan was canon—and eventually married—while Swan Queen was not). Swan Queen shippers were sometimes called delusional for thinking their ship could ever exist/become canon.
Despite this, there are many fans who are able to avoid much of the drama and fandom wank through the likes of blocking etc., and some manage to happily ship both in online spaces. Many of the smaller ships and rarepairs in the fandom have much less of an issue with involvement in ship wars.
Particular Moments
Showrunner Involvement
Bigotry
Accusations of bigotry, particularly homophobia (SQers against CSers) though also racism and xenophobia (regarding Lana Parrilla, who is Latina), and ableism (Killian has a missing hand) have arisen. Accusations of the weaponisation of bigotry - using accusations of bigotry as a means of skirting accountability - have also arisen. Some outside observers, as well as many involved with the ships too, suspect a mixture of both.
Further reading
- To All Fandoms (Right Now Looking at You, Once Upon A Time): Shipping Wars are Asinine, Archived version
- sqreceipts, Archived version on Tumblr. A receipt blog.
- does anyone wanna be reminded of how the michael coleman incident actually went down, Archived version by BnazF on Twitter.