Kate Austen/Jack Shephard

Pairing
Pairing:	Kate Austen/Jack Shephard
Alternative name(s):	Jate
Gender category:	Het
Fandom:	Lost
Canonical?:	Yes
Prevalence:	Popular
Archives:
Other:
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Kate Austen/Jack Shephard, also known as Jate, is the het pairing of Kate Austen and Jack Shephard in Lost fandom. They had a canonical relationship and were the endgame pairing for these two characters.

Fandom

"Jate is fate."

"Jate is fate" was a popular catchphrase used by Jack/Kate fans to exemplify their belief that Jack and Kate were meant to be together.

Common Tropes in Fanworks

• Threesome or Poly: usually involving Sawyer, and may have been a way to resolve the canonical love triangle.
• Kidfic: raising Aaron Littleton together, which canonically they did for a time.
• Hurt/Comfort: common due to Jack's profession as a doctor. Often it is a callback to their first meeting, where Kate stitched up Jack's wound, although some fics reverse these roles.

Ship War

Jack/Kate was one half of a canonical love triangle, the other half being Kate/Sawyer or "Skate." This caused tension in the fandom and led to a ship war (see Jate vs Skate). Later on, the triangle became a quadrangle with the introduction of the character Juliet Burke, the new permutations being Jack/Kate vs Jack/Juliet, and, arguably, in season five, Sawyer/Kate vs Juliet/Sawyer. The love triangle was eventually resolved with Jate and Suliet being the final pairings.

Fanworks

Meta

• Shipper Manifesto: Jack/Kate, Lost, ^{Archived version} by angela_weber at Het Reccers
• Jate mega post of DOOM! - Same Story, Different Versions, ^{Archived version} by sweetbelle07

Archives and Links

• Kate Austen/Jack Shephard tag at Archive of Our Own
• Kate + Jack at FanFiction.net
• JackandKate.org (defunct)
• jack/kate at LOST fanfic
• jack/kate at Ficinabottle
• jackkatefans (Livejournal community)
• Tumblr Tags: Jate
• Jater Paradise forum (defunct)

Resources

• Jate at Lostpedia