I just played through the 10.1 story and I gotta say, I reallllly like the idea of shipping Emberthal with Ebyssian. I doubt they will make it a canon thing just because they steer clear of acknowledging romance in-game. But maybe we’ll see a short story of them together some time.
I like their relationship of mutually gained respect turned friendship. Romance in WoW is often terribly written and I think the power and importance of strong friendship is often overlooked in favor of romance in a lot of storytelling.
I don’t ship characters at all. The whole concept seems kinda weird to me.
I guess if I had to imagine what Blizzard would do, I think they’d be more likely to invent an all-new character for Emberthal (probably from whatever new weyrn of leftovers she’s making) instead of pairing her with Ebyssian, who’d also likely get a new character made for him. I never got the vibe that they had any romantic feelings for anybody before now.
I also don’t see any romance between the two, but I really have to note that sex isn’t the cornerstone of all romance. Asexual relationships are a thing that exist.
Men should not receive sexual favors for simply being emotional support during a difficult phase in a woman’s life. This is one of the most perverse and sexist logics that exist.
Furthermore, demystifying the sexual content of friendship between men and women is one of the best ways to deconstruct sexism in the long run.