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UNLIKELY LOVERS NO. ONE !
REQUESTED BY
Scriddler or Riddlecrow is, for those who aren't aware, the ship between Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow and Edward Nygma/Riddler. I don't know how this ship came into existence but I love it. What makes this ship so good, in my opinion, is their dynamic. You've got this narcissistic campy man child and this creepy lanky farm boy, and you put them together then, SHAZAM! you've got Scriddler/Riddlecrow! Here I'll be discussing some tips on how to write these two fellas in a romantic relationship.
CHARACTER BACKGROUND
Before I start discussing their dynamic, I will talk about who is Edward Nygma and Jonathan Crane are in terms of character.
Edward Nygma or Edward Nashton (depending on the writer) and Jonathan Crane both grew up in abusive households. Jon had an abusive great grandmother and his parents neglected him, and Eddie had an abusive father. Both characters are very intelligent. Jon was a psychology professor and has worked at Arkham where he treated Bruce's good ol' pal, Thomas Elliot who later becomes the villain Hush. Ed's pre Riddler adulthood is much more inconsistent. In some continuities, he's been involved in engineering and technology with the Arkham games version clearly being a tech guy, the B:TAS version being a former game developer and the Batman Forever Ed being a former Wayne tech employee. In others he's a former member of the GCPD as seen in Arkham Origins and Gotham. Either way, he's extremely intelligent and he knows it.
Mental Health wise, both characters have clear mental issues. The only true canon diagnosis is that Edward has OCD, any other diagnosis is fan speculation. In my personal opinion, I believe Edward could have Narcissistic Personality Disorder but he could also be on the Autism Spectrum. Jon is much more difficult to fit into an exact diagnosis, a diagnosis for those wondering requires at least 5 symptoms to be present. He could be suffering from PTSD due to abuse, as kinda seen in Scarecrow Year One and possibly an anxiety disorder, but it's hard to figure out a definite disorder.
Now that we have a bit of background on these two, lets see how this can help in terms of writing them as a couple.
THE DYNAMIC DIPSHITS
Eddie and Jon's relationship isn't healthy, much like every ship involving villains. Their relationship is one built on a want for love, I know that sounds weird but hear me out. Both Jon and Ed have never truly been loved in their lives, the paternal/maternal figures present in their lives abused them and their peers didn't accept them, which led to bullying. This lack of love could be a good basis behind why these two characters would be into each other, they seek the love and validation that was non-existent when they were children. Edward would be clearer about this due to his over the top nature and that he wears his emotions on his sleeve, compared to Jon who's often emotionless and stoic. Their relationship would be like, "Hey I'm totally just using you and it's not that I actually care about you or anything, yeah I totally don't care about you," but deep down they're both like, "I deeply care about you and love you so much, I just can't express my emotions well due to deep seated trauma,"
The best Scriddler fanfictions, in my opinion, are ones that explore their relationship on an emotional and psychological level. Smut is fine, I don't care write as much as ya want, love. Although having a story entirely centred around sex might be hard to convey a story, plot doesn't always have plot if you know what I'm saying. In canon, Edward is the kinky one. I'm not lying. The guy hired a dominatrix for a henchwomen and the sex club bouncer knows him as Ed, bastard's kinky. As I've mentioned in the 'Mad Love' chapter on Jon, he's a relatively asexual character with very few, if any, indication of an interest in sex. Exploring both Edward's need for attention and Jonathan's stoic-ness, and their relation to each other can reap a ton of interesting plots to explore, as well as exploring their dynamic as lovers as opposed to canon where they're 'friends.'
WHAT NOT TO DO
This section is devoted to what not to do when writing Jon and Ed as a couple. While this is my opinion, I think I have some decent points about keeping them in character.
DON'T DO HEAVY HANDED FLUFF !
I'm not shading fluff, I love fluff but tooth rotting levels of fluff for Scriddler is quite out of character. Unless in an AU, I recommend stirring clear for extreme fluff but fluff is fine.
DON'T WRITE IT AS A EXTREMELY HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP !
These characters don't work in healthy relationships. Most villains don't. To write Jon and Ed in a loving and healthy relationship is not only out of character, but inaccurate to canon. Their relationship won't be love-y dove-y, so try and write it as a complex, yet slightly unhealthy relationship.
CONCLUSION
Scriddler/Riddlecrow is one of my favourite ships in the Batman Universe. What makes their relationship so interesting is the dynamic that can be created from Jon and Ed. Their dynamic is complex and the best fanfiction about the two reflects this complexity. Their relationship would definitely be founded on a want for love that wasn't given to them in the past. Try and keep the characters in character as best you can.
