Max Caulfield/Kate Marsh
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Max Caulfield/Kate Marsh |
| Alternative name(s): | Marshfield |
| Gender category: | femslash |
| Fandom: | Life is Strange |
| Canonical?: | no |
| Prevalence: | common |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Max/Kate, also known as Marshfield, is a femslash pairing in the Life is Strange fandom between Max Caulfield and Kate Marsh.
Canon
Max and Kate are students studying together at Blackwell Academy. Max studies photography while Kate studies illustration. They are good friends and apparently enjoy taking tea outings together. Shortly before the game starts, Kate is drugged at a party and kidnapped by Mark Jefferson to be photographed against her will. While she barely remembers the experience thanks to the drugs, the experience takes a severe toll on her mental health, and Max tries to save her life when she attempts suicide. Whether she succeeds is player determinant.
Fandom
Many fans who enjoy the pair’s sweet dynamic as friends choose to ship them as well, enjoying how their dynamic transforms romantically.
Common tropes include:
- Friends to Lovers - especially in canon-compliant or minor AU fic, fans will commonly suggest their romance forms from their canon friendship.
- Mental health and recovery - due to the game’s themes, recovery fics are common across many Life is Strange pairings. Marshfield fics will often focus on Max and Kate supporting each other as they process their respective traumas.
- Sexuality, faith and family - Kate’s Christian faith is important to her in canon, and the game implies that her family tends to have a conservative outlook on many issues. Marshfield fics, and Kate fics more generally, will often explore how Kate embraces or struggles with her sexuality, her transforming relationship with faith and abstinence, and her relationship with her family in respect to these issues.
- Lycanthropy - Kate is commonly portrayed as a werewolf, which occasionally overlaps with A/B/O fic.
Notable Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfiction
- Sketches of Max Caulfield by Recourse