Lina Inverse/Gourry Gabriev (Slayers)

[beccastareyes]

Title: Dragon-Spooker and Jellyfish-Brains
Author: beccastareyes
Email stareyes@whimsical-dragon.net
Website: The Jewel Box
Spoilers: Entire TV series plus Premium: Minimal spoilers for all seasons except NEXT.


It is very weird. There are 'ships I like better than Lina and Gourry from Slayers. There are ships I will search out art or fic for, ships I get ideas for every day for my own art or fic, and ships that I generally seem to spend more time with. Yet, when all is said and done, I don't mind seeing members of those 'ships with other characters or otherwise not together, as long as it's well executed.
Lina/Gourry isn't like that for me. The two are perhaps they closest I have to an OTP -- a One True Pairing that, come hell or high water, I do not want to see split up. I will attempt to explain why this is so, though I don't quite understand it myself.
It is worth noting that Slayers is derived from a series of novels (currently being translated by Tokyopop) and also has a manga series (currently being translated by CPM). As only the first novel has been published stateside, and the manga is only a little more than halfway published, I will be focusing on the anime.

The Sorceress and the Swordsman: Slayers
Lina is the title character of Slayers. She starts the TV series as a fifteen-year-old traveling sorceress. Lina's faults are perhaps one of the things that make her such a memorable character -- she has a violent temper, is a bottomless pit for food, especially when she doesn't have to pay, is sensitive about her appearance, and has a rather large ego. However, she has a number of positive points -- she a rather optimistic person, and is loyal to friends. And, damn it, overall she is a hero -- she does the right thing because it's the right thing to do.
Gourry is another character defined by his flaws. While he is a stellar swordsman, a very honorable man, and can come up with details that other characters miss -- such as figuring out what Xellos was before it occurred to the rest of the cast. -- most of the time he seems to be downright forgetful. He has problems remembering names of enemies they've fought after they've been defeated, and often asks Lina to clear up details of what they will be doing.
Both Lina and Gourry are traveling adventurers, which is how the two of them meet -- Lina gets into some trouble with some bandits, and Gourry sees this, not realizing that Lina could most likely hold her own, decides to come barging in, sword drawn. Lina, rather taken with the novelty of her own Knight in Shining Armor, decides to let him defeat the bandits without her help -- something Gourry does with ease. Then, because Slayers is a comedy above all else, Gourry mistakes Lina for a little kid and insists on accompanying Lina to her next destination, both of which cheese Lina off.
Even after Gourry figures out Lina can take care of herself -- the fact her magic can destroy large dragons and small towns clues Gourry in -- he continues to accompany her. Perhaps a good thing, as the anime wastes no time in throwing the pair into an Epic Fantasy Plot (tm) involving the resurrection of the Dark Lord Shabranigdo.
Even after the mess with Shabranigdo is resolved, Lina and Gourry stick together as traveling companions. She claims it is only because Gourry owns the Sword of Light, a powerful magic sword that she wants. Remember that. However, someone has put a bounty on their heads, giving them another pressing reason to stick together.
Lina and Gourry have wacky adventures -- including a desperate nobleman who wants to marry Lina and a clueless guy who wants to marry Gourry-in-drag -- but eventually they make to Sairaag to get the mess straightened out. It is here we meet Sylphiel, a priestess that is quite fond of Gourry. While the two of them are exploring and looking for Gourry, Lina mentions to Sylphiel that she worries about Gourry. When questioned further, she again claims it's because of his sword, by Sylphiel seems to take it as hints of romantic feelings on Lina's part. Now, Sylphiel does seem to be the type to be easily taken by romance, but Lina does show some awkwardness when Sylphiel gets this impression of the two as on the path to becoming a couple.
We also see the first time Lina throws caution to the wind with regards to Gourry's safety -- when he is injured protecting Sylphiel from Copy Rezo, Lina gears herself up to cast her coup de grace , the Giga Slave, despite Sylphiel's warnings that nothing good will ever come of using that spell. Remember that. Thankfully, Sylphiel intervenes again to stop the spell before Lina does something she might regret later. Of course, this manages to make Lina a target, and she is seriously injured herself -- forcing Gourry to order Sylphiel to get Lina out of the line-of-fire to be healed. Gourry's emotional reaction is quite noticeable here -- Lina looks critically injured, possibly mortally so -- and Gourry is obviously distraught by this, calling out her name. This is more apparent in the original -- Eric Stuart does a poor job of imitating Yasunori Matsumoto's dialogue.

At the End of the World: Slayers NEXT
The second season of Slayers, Slayers NEXT, is perhaps the L/G shipper's dream, as the shippiest L/G scenes ever come from this season. To make a long story short, Hellmaster Phibrizzo, one of Shabranigdo's lieutenants, has been dropping hints he was using Lina for something, and Demon Dragon Lord Gaav, one of Shabranigdo's former lieutenants and current rebel would like to stop it, whatever it is. Lina, not liking the idea that someone that powerful has his eyes on her, is in search of the legendary Clare Bible, which contains information on nearly anything imaginable. Gourry is by her side -- from the moment the season opens, in the town of Xoana.
We can see from the series that Lina's bond to Gourry, and his to hers, has deepened. The two pull a nice bit of misdirection when they are faced with Kanzel and Mazenda, two of Gaav's followers. Lina casts a spell while Gourry charges Mazenda -- Mazenda fails to notice that Gourry is only holding Lina's ordinary shortsword, until Lina comes from behind him with the Sword of Light, finishing off Mazenda. The two are able to accomplish this with barely a word beforehand to tip their hand -- an impressive display of teamwork from the two. Compare this to the scene of the two fighting Rezo's men in the beginning of the first season -- the two are easily separated, allowing Lina to be knocked out and captured while Gourry is distracted. One gets the sense that this ploy would be far less easy at this time in the series.
We also see a bit of foreshadowing -- Lina is left dangling over a cliff as a result of the battle with Kanzel, her magic having been sealed by Mazenda a couple of episodes before. She refuses to swear allegiance to Gaav, so Kanzel attacks her handholds, sending her plummeting to the ground. Gourry is shocked and horrified, as Lina didn't even have a chance to defend herself or dodge. Thankfully, Lina's magic had been unsealed by Mazenda's destruction, and she was not only able to levitate back onto solid ground, but managed to get the drop on Kanzel with a spell. Gourry chides her for not considering his feelings when coming up with her plan to fake Kanzel out by not casting any spells until necessary. Not only does this takes the wind out of Lina's victory celebration, but it causes Amelia, Lina's friend, to shoo Zelgadis, the final member of the group, away, saying that Lina and Gourry needed some alone time. Now, Amelia, a Princess and Champion of Justice, is another romantic, but she adds another body to the 'group of people who think Lina and Gourry are a couple'.
We also see an uncharacteristically touching moment for the couple when they are in a pocket dimension containing a complete copy of the Clare Bible. Lina is grilled by the guardian of the ruins, Auntie Aqua, not only about the situation at hand, but also about her relationship with Gourry -- at which she gets rather embarrassed and denies that he is anything more than a bodyguard for her. Auntie Aqua seems to think otherwise -- vote three for people who think Lina and Gourry are involved.
That evening, Lina and Gourry are seated by the fire talking, and Lina asks Gourry how long he intends to keep protecting her. Gourry almost offhandedly remarks that he would be willing to do it for the rest of his life. This of course makes Lina even more self-conscious and she attempts to grill him more -- only to find that the writers remembered they were working on a comedy anime, and Gourry had fallen asleep.
But, by far the best L/G scenes occur at the end of NEXT. Hellmaster Phibrizzo finally shows his hand -- he intends to use Lina's Giga Slave spell to destroy the world, and will stop at nothing to do it. This includes kidnapping Gourry, and brainwashing him into attacking the group. Note that, given the amount of surprise Phibrizzo had on the group, he could have grabbed any one of Lina's companions. He had been observing the group for several days in the guise of a local boy, so he had some sense of group dynamics. Both Zelgadis and Gourry had, at some point in the series, shown that they could be mind controlled, and it was likely that Phibrizzo could have managed to control Amelia as well. Yet, he grabbed Gourry. While a case could be made that it was because Gourry had the Sword of Light, both Zelgadis and Amelia are more than capable of holding their own magically -- while Lina could most likely defeat either one of them, it would not be an easy fight for her. It seems that Phibrizzo deliberately picked the person he thought Lina would be most reluctant to see hurt. Vote four in favor.
Lina is distraught over her loss -- one of the few non-comedic times we see her weep. Even under mind control, though, Gourry is unable to strike the killing blow when he is forced to fight against Lina and her companions -- Phibrizzo is forced to interfere and comment that he will stop toying with Lina and that she is to meet him in Sairaag if she wishes to see Gourry again.
The next time we see Gourry is in the bowels of Sairaag -- sealed in a crystal that, as Hellmaster Phibrizzo gleefully explains, is slowly draining his life force. When Lina still seems reluctant to cast the Giga Slave, Phibrizzo starts killing her friends and sealing them into similar crystals. Martina -- the princess of Xoana who Lina pissed off in the outset of the series -- is the last to go, telling Lina to do what she has to to save Gourry. Phibrizzo then tells her that her friends still have some shred of life left in them -- but, should he crack the crystal, they are dead-dead. He toys with deciding which one to kill first, but then decides on Gourry. As the crystal cracks, Lina starts chanting the Giga Slave.
The spell does what Lina was hoping it would -- she calls the Lord of Nightmares, the creator of the world, into her body. Phibrizzo is destroyed, the rest of the group is saved, and the world doesn't end. However, the Lord of Nightmares tells Gourry that Lina had sacrificed all that she was to save him -- while Lina's body may still exist as a channel for the Lord of Nightmares, her mind and spirit were consumed by the chaos she called. The Lord of Nightmares also implies that this was completely willing on her part -- Lina was not only willing to give up her life, but any hope of an afterlife, to ensure that Gourry would continue living.
Gourry doesn't take this at all well. In fact, he refuses to believe Lina is truly gone, and chases after the Lord of Nightmares as she returns to the Sea of Chaos -- the chaotic swirl of energy that is her home dimension. Zelgadis, Amelia and the rest of the group see Gourry and the Lord of Nightmares disappear and assume they are dead. But, that's not the end of the story. In the Sea of Chaos, Gourry refuses to give up his pursuit of Lina, even dropping his Sword of Light in the desire to catch up with her. Surprisingly some one up there likes him -- Lina materializes in his arms and they embrace and kiss. The fangirls watching die from waffy overdose.
Lina and Gourry materialize in front of the group still in an embrace -- which Lina freaks out at, as neither she nor Gourry really remember what happened -- the writers really like rubbing it in our faces that this is a comedy. And the fangirls groan in disappointment. However, both seem sure that something important happened when discussing it afterward.

Bits and Pieces: Slayers TRY and Slayers Premium
We only get bits and pieces of Lina and Gourry obviousness during the special between Slayers NEXT and TRY, Slayers Premium, and the third season, Slayers TRY. Both open with Lina and Gourry traveling together. Slayers Premium features a rather amusing scene. Gourry is cursed to only speak Octopus-ese after eating some bad seafood. And, it turns out that Octopus-ese for "We don't have any money" sounds a lot like an (Engrish) 'I love you'. Gourry seemed to pick the worst times to say this, causing Lina to get very blushy and embarrassed -- and very angry when she found out what he was trying to say in the end.
Slayers TRY mainly focuses on exploring the new world unlocked by Phibrizzo's ruin, and less work is done with Lina and Gourry. There are some cute scenes -- in the first episode, Gourry lifts up the dress of Filia, a Dragon disguised as a human, as her tail was showing. Zelgadis quips that it was really because Gourry no longer found Lina sexy, causing a rather nasty reaction. Given that Zelgadis is not a very romantic individual, one gets the sense that if he is picking up on the vibe, there is definitely something to be picked up on.
We also see a background scene of the two eating while Filia, Amelia and Zelgadis discuss something. Normally the two would fight to the death over food -- Gourry's appetite is as big as Lina's -- but we see Lina give up after taking only a small portion.
And, in the end, as the cast go their separate ways, we see Lina and a now Sword-of-Light-less Gourry walk off arm in arm. Told you that damn sword was important -- even after the object she claimed to be trying to get Gourry to give her was gone forever, Lina still stuck to Gourry's side.

Inseparable Duo: Why I Like the Ship
I admit, it's nice to see an anime couple that is not shoved down my throat with the flimsiest evidence for why it works but is still vaguely canon, without hunting through subtext -- I'm in for a round for speculation and interpretation as much as the next fangirl, but sometimes it's nice to relax and have a ship where the canon does much of the work for me. On the other hand, there are times when, it is too often a trend in romance anime that the author tries to beat the audience over the head with 'This is Character A. This is Character B. They will fall madly in love, whether they like it or not.'
That is one of the reasons Lina/Gourry just works for me. We get a very believable sense of why these two work. Gourry is quite willing to put up with Lina's displays of temper and her desire to be the one in front, shouting out orders. Lina likes having Gourry as a dependable constant in her life. The two also seem to have similar goals -- to see the world as much as possible, then settle down. There is a nice duality between the two. Gourry's even temper balances Lina's explosive one. His skill with the sword balances her mastery of magic. She's the brain, and he's the muscle. While the two are similar in many ways, they also are complimentary in their differences.
We also see the two develop as a couple without the cheap cop-outs of destined love or reincarnation. We see them get angry at one another, and even have fights. The two have a realistic relationship. That is one reason I am a fan of Slayers in general and focus more on character relationships in this series than in other, more romantic series. Too often in romance series, either a couple is in waffy-happy-sparkle-shoujo-bubble-land, or in a crisis that will doom the main relationship. With Lina and Gourry, you know that the two of them can argue over stupid things -- like who gets the last sausage over dinner -- and still be ready to travel on the next day. The two ahve both comedy in their relationship and some of the most powerful images in the series -- the end of NEXT was my on my top five moments that I was most moved while watching Slayers, and the only one involving a romantic couple. The series, by NEXT and TRY, captures this incredible comfort level between the two -- to the point that Sylphiel in NEXT notices something amiss when Lina is without Gourry. One might be able to argue that these two are not romantically involved -- maybe -- but one cannot argue that the two are not close.

Further Reading
I'm not much of a fic reader, but I would encourage fans interested in the couple to check out linagourrylove, the Lina/Gourry community on Livejournal and slayerstrad, the Slayers Traditional Ships Community -- Lina/Gourry being one of the so-called Traditional (trad) ships. There are also several communities on DeviantART -- http://slayers-trad.an.com and http://linaandgourry.deviantart.com -- for fanart.

Comments

[lethal-insanity.livejournal.com]

I had watched Slayers at an anime convention a while ago but I hadn't had the time to get into the series. I enjoyed reading your essay because it gave me an insight into what I was missing. Great job! ^-^

[the-flowergirl.livejournal.com]

This is more apparent in the original -- Eric Stuart does a poor job of imitating Yasunori Matsumoto's dialogue.
Oh, I like Eric Stuart. I liked his version *peeks out from behind a bush* better if I may say so myself...at least that particular scene. I heard it out of context, and Eric's scream did WAY more for me....but I digress. Good essay, I enjoyed reading it again. ;P

[beccastareyes]

I just think that scene sounded a bit forced -- actually, I do think Eric Stuart is a decent voice actor. I just wish he hadn't made his Gourry voice and his Brock voice so close, since Pokemon is so pervasive a show.

[the-flowergirl.livejournal.com]

I believe his Gourry voice and his Brock voice is the same because that's his actual voice, at least that's what I've gathered from the interviews I've heard, and in Pokemon it is apparent, since all the ones he voices sound like him. Maybe I have no taste in dubs, cos that scene didnt' sound that forced to me.....ah well.

(Oh yeah, and this just in, Prince Phil has been spotted in Pokemon. I'm not making this up.)

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

Wonderful essay! I like G/L (though G/L/S is my OT3). Hurrah for couples who aren't true soulmate love. I consider that a childish grasp on human relationships, IMO. The easy road.

We also see the two develop as a couple without the cheap cop-outs of destined love or reincarnation.

Oh I love you. Maybe we're 'destined':D