Ship of This Week: Jen and Lo

      Ok, so apparently I’m running out of real couples to ship (as opposed to the ones that only exist in my head), so this one took a long time to manifest in my brain. However, in between the battling for the Green Destiny and floating through trees, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon found time for a sweet mini love story between a desert bandit and a noble man’s secret ninja daughter.

These two go down as my second favorite desert-bandit pairing ever (after Bulma and Yamcha, of course). Lo, known as the fearsome Dark Cloud, leads a raiding party in the desert and lives in a cave with presumably dirty finger nails (be still your hearts). Jen, on the other hand, is the beautiful young daughter of a Chinese aristocrat who trains in the martial arts under the dastardly Jade Fox. Like all great romances, Lo meets his ladylove while raiding her caravan and stealing her comb. Being a big comb-enthusiast, Jen follows Lo back to his sexy cave and engage in some pretty cool fight scenes along the way. Since kicking someone in the ribs is clearly the beginnings of foreplay, the two eventually bone and fall in sweet sweet love.

                LO:I used to look for
		stars alone.  I thought if I rode
		to the other end of the desert, I'd
		find them.  I've been riding in the
		desert ever since.
		JEN:And so, the little boy became a
		fearsome bandit.  He couldn't find
		the stars, so he stole my comb.

Their time in the desert is the stuff of shipping dreams, but alas, it could not last. Lo understood that the life that they made for themselves outside of society was one of hiding and escape and not a full one (I disagree, but whatever). He sends Jen back to her family and promises to make his fortune to win her family’s respect. Since Jen spent her nights as a protégé of the wicked Jade Fox, I’m guessing she became less than thrilled with the idea of becoming a respected man’s wife. Turns out that I’m right, but Lo failed to make his mark on the world anyway with the shadow of Dark Cloud following him wherever he went. Still, he returns for Jen before the eve of her arranged marriage and begs her to run away with him.

Turns out, you can’t turn back time and Jen refuses to go with him. While their short love affair in the desert was the result of chance and crossed stars and shit, Jen was not the same person as she was when left Lo. Although I believe she still loved him, being with him would ultimately come to the same as an arranged aristocratic marriage, a life without independence or freedom. Ultimately, a sad truth of relationships is realized: Just because a person is right for you, doesn’t mean that they’re right for you right now.

Still, homage can be paid to this pair for the short beautiful and period they were together, so check out below for ways to support this lovely ship. Dirty desert love may be the truest of all.

Etsy Swag:

Steam Punk inspired Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Pocket Watch can be found here for $26.00

Dragon Comb can be found here for$38.09

On Deviant

Bandit by Anid-Maro

By Your Side by Seluene

In Fanfiction

Mourning Moment by Dreamiflame. Interesting, Lo tells Shu Lien that Jen jumped to her death.

To My Bandit Prince by Carrie-ko. Jen’s goodbye to Lo, sweet short poem.

On Youtube

http://youtu.be/WgHz4qWawNI