DamselJillPole wrote:In chapter 12 Jill didn't even react to the situation where Eustace was being dragged and thrown into the stable door. Only Tirian and the Jewel reacted to it.
I'm not sure why you would say this... She definitely did react.
In Chapter 12, it mentions that Jill was crying a good deal when Eustace was pulled into the stable.
"Even if I can't stop blubbing, I won't get my string wet," she said.
Not that this confirms that Jill was in love with him, since she would have reacted the same way if any of her friends had gone through the stable. But she certainly wasn't apathetic about it.
Unless you're referring to the fact she didn't go and try to rescue him. Although, why she didn't try to rescue him is a question we have to ask ourselves, whether she had romantic feelings for him or not. After all, when one of our friends is in danger, we wouldn't just sit back and not help them simply because our feelings toward them are platonic.
Most of us would try to save all of our loved ones - romantic
and non-romantic. If one of my guy friends was in trouble, the fact that he's just a friend would not at
all hold me back from trying to save him. So the fact that Jill didn't actively try to save him says nothing about whether her feelings toward him are romantic or not. But it does pose an interesting question. Why
didn't she try to save him? I think it's probably because either 1.) She was too surprised by the situation to react quickly enough. 2.) She didn't think she would be able to help, because the one putting Eustace into the stable was bigger than her. Or 3.) She saw Tirian and Jewel already trying to help him, and thought that would be sufficient.
I remembered you saying something that made you think Jill was nervous around Eustace during the battle however I didn't see anything like that.
The part I was referring to was in Chapter Seven:
Chapter Seven wrote:Jill, besides being disgusted with the Dwarfs, was very impressed with Eustace's victory over the Calormene and felt almost shy.
It's a vague passage. Basically, all it means is that, when Jill saw Eustace's victory over the Calormene, it changed the way she viewed/thought/felt about him in some way. Whether that way is romantic at all, or whether it's strictly an increase of admiration and respect, is up to the reader.
Anyone can say they think the meaning of that passage is romantic in nature. Anyone can say it isn't romantic in nature. Anyone can say that,
had the two of them lived, they would have become a couple. Anyone can say that,
had the two of them lived, they wouldn't have become a couple. In the end, it's all speculation. All we know from the books is that Jill's opinion of Eustace changed in some way, and that both of them (along with the other Friends of Narnia)
did not live. And that's all we need to know, really. The Narnia books aren't about relationships and shipping. As fun as it is shipping Friends of Narnia with each other and other characters, that's all it is: fun. Supposals and things for fans to speculate about. The only way a ship is actually
canon is if the author comes out in the story and states it as canon somehow. Since Lewis didn't do that with any of the Friends of Narnia, none of the ships are canon in the full sense of the word.
I wasn't trying to say that a romantic relationship between Eustace and Jill was
canon in the books. Especially not canon in the overt way, such as with Caspian and Ramandu's Daughter, where we are told by the author that the two characters are in love/in a relationship. Lewis never came out and said they were a couple, therefore they weren't. If we were able to ask Lewis if Jill was in love with Eustace, and he said no, it wouldn't surprise me at all. That wasn't the point I was trying to make. The point I was trying to make was that, in the films, if we absolutely
have to have an added romance in the movie, I would rather it be something like Eustace/Jill, because then it would at least have something in the books to tie it to.
Let me take Susan and Caspian for example. Obviously, their relationship was not canon. But even more than that, I don't remember there being anything between the two of them in the books that could even be
perceived as romantic, even when looking at it from different angles, or twisting certain passages. It was completely the invention of the filmmakers. Whereas, with that passage about Jill feeling shy around Eustace - it doesn't make a romantic relationship between them
canon - but it is at least something that the reader could
perceive as romantic if looking at it from a certain angle. Therefore, if we
had to have a non-canon romance in the movies, something like Eustace/Jill would make more sense to me than something like Susan/Caspian. Because - even though both relationships are non-canon and were brought into the story by the filmmakers - at least there's a passage
in the canon that we could say might have sparked the idea for Eustace/Jill in the movie. Whereas, we can't say that at all for Susan/Caspian: the filmmakers took that out of thin air. In other words, if we have to have non-canon things, I would rather have those non-canon things be at least somewhat based on or inspired by canon.
Does that make more sense?
~Riella