Lorne/Parrish
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Evan Lorne/David Parrish |
| Alternative name(s): | Lorne/Parrish, Porne |
| Gender category: | Slash |
| Fandom: | Stargate Atlantis |
| Canonical?: | No |
| Prevalence: | Rrare, but not the rarest slash pairing |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | Parrish's first name is a fanon creation |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Lorne/Parrish is one of the more unusual pairings in the Stargate Atlantis fandom.
Fandom
The character of Dr. Parrish appeared very briefly in the second season episode Runner, the episode that introduced Ronon Dex. His first name is never given, but fanon is near unanimous in the choice of David. He is identified as a Botanist, and is conducting some kind of science mission with Evan Lorne. (While Lorne appears in many episodes, he is never shown as having a set team like John Sheppard does.) Parrish appeared again very briefly in the fifth season episode Remnants, but by that time the pairing and the fanon around Parrish's character was well established.[1]
It is a rare pairing with only a few hundred fanworks in a fandom that often produces thousands for the popular pairings.
Appeal to Fans
Many reasons have been given for fans latching onto such a minor character and creating a fanon and pairing that gained a small, but dedicated following.
Some fans have said that Parrish's performance, as brief as it was, was coded as gay. Since SGA has never had a canon gay character, Parrish is the closest fans could get to an out gay man on Atlantis. This interpretation is controversial because it can call into play stereotypes about gay men when fans interpret the actor's mannerisms and voice as a sign of the character being gay.
Many fans simply wanted to have a second gate team to play with in their fanfic, and since Parrish was the only scientist seen in canon with Lorne, he became the scientist on Lorne's team. The slash pairing then seemed inevitable as a mirror of the ubiquitous Sheppard/McKay. Lorne/Zelenka is a pairing that also fits that pattern, but Zelenka rarely leaves Atlantis, making the pairing not suitable for people who wanted to write fic set off-world.
There has also been criticism of the pairing for creating a new slash pairing in a fandom that has lots already and has a reputation of ignoring the many female characters in favour of the male stars.
Similarly, fans are sometimes not pleased by the popularity of a pairing arising out of the episode that introduced Ronon, when they see the fandom as not as quick to appreciate Ronon, one of the major secondary characters. However, as of April 2011 there are only 46 Lorne/Parrish stories listed at Crossroads while there are ten times as many John/Ronon stories (477), so it can't really be said that Ronon is less popular.
A fan in 2011 wrote:
You know how sometimes you want to read some Stargate Atlantis fan-fic, and you want it to be of the squidgy, heart-warming man-love type, but then you realise that the drama and the baggage that comes along with Sheppard and McKay isn't quite what you're in the mood for? Well, my friends, the answer is simple, the answer is Dr. David Parrish and Major Evan Lorne. The best part? You don't even need to be much of an SGA fan to read fics about them because Parrish appeared for roughly 3.2 seconds and so almost all of his personal details are fanon. Hurrah!
A quick crash course: Dr. David Parrish holds a PhD in Botany. He is canonically very enthusiastic about plantlife. He is often assumed to have arrived on Atlantis after it reconnected with Earth, but there are a few fics where he's been there from the beginning. David is a fanon name so he will occasionally be called something else. On what is widely seen as his first mission, he found a dead Wraith and was dragged away by Lorne. And based on those few seconds, the internet extrapolated hot sexing. Good for the internet! [2]
Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- Perimeter by casspeach is the oldest Lorne/Parrish entry in the SGA Newsletter memories. The story was posted less than one month after Runner first aired.[3] Parrish has the first name David in that story.
- Lesser Homes and Gardens by wickedwords
Archives and Communities
- Lorne/Parrish tag on the SGA Newsletter delicious
- Lorne/Parrish tag on the AO3
- Stories categorized as Lorne/Parrish at Area 52
- Everything tagged Lorne/Parrish on delicious
References
- ^ See end of April Pairing - Picspam by clwilson2006 at Slashing_Lorne, 5 April 2011. (Accessed 7 April 2011)
- ^ from untitled post by ungratefulwench] (January 26, 2011)
- ^ Perimeter by casspeach, accessed April 6, 2011