Talk:Goblin Slayer/Relationships/@comment-44936820-20200126235003/@comment-44936820-20200127023232

I definitely see your point, and I think Cow Girl is the strongest contender for sure, but I still think Priestess is where the story's headed. I have a couple of reasons for this.

First, the role of the childhood friend actually puts Cow Girl at a disadvantage. The childhood friend trope is based on pre-modern Japanese social conventions wherein it was expected for boys and girls who grew up together to one day marry. Towns and villages were small and so was the number of children, so it made sense for kids to grow up to wed their fellow kid neighbors. Other options were few. In this system, the girls were taught to cook and clean and were groomed to become the wife of the boy everyone expected them to marry. This is the reason you often see a childhood friend character who acts like the protagonist's wife in Japanese media. Unfortunately for these characters, this role is generally seen as bland and these girls rarely get to be endgame in today's media. The childhood friend will take care of the protagonist and pine after him, but in the end she's usually forced to watch as he falls in love with some fresh outsider. Does this mean that Cow Girl is doomed to never have her love requited? Not necessarily. But modern audiences tend to desire a more exciting ending for the hero than becoming the husband of the girl next door.

Second, the age gap between Priestess and GS is a non-issue. They're five years apart, which to a western reader/viewer seems like a big gap, but in Japan this wouldn't ever register as anything strange. This is true even when one character is a teenager and the other's an adult. Pedophilia is treated much differently in Japan. Or rather, their idea of what constitutes a pedophilic relationship is different, especially in fiction. A lot of people like to bring up the fact that the national age of consent in Japan is, to this day, 13. This is a bit misleading because each prefecture has its own legal age of consent and all of them have set it to be higher than 13, but the fact remains that the strict idea that a person can't be a consenting adult until they're 18 doesn't exist in Japan and that's reflected in their media. Large age gaps are common in books/anime/video games and are frequently a reason why a particular coupling is liked.

Last, while it's certainly true that writers sometimes change their minds about who they want their protagonist to end up with, there hasn't been any dip in the number or quality of the semi-romantic interactions between Priestess and GS. Priestess is still very much in the lead in volume 8. Her and GS's relationship has continued to evolve, with her going as far as to hold his hand (and him letting her) when they think they're going to die at the end of the volume. Many girls have held GS's hand for one reason or another, but for GS to sacrifice a hand to her in the midst of battle when goblins are bearing down on them is no small instance. It's these weighty moments and interactions that make me think that Priestess is the intended endgame romance for GS (if indeed there is one).

Ultimately it'll come down to whatever Kumo Kagyu decides to do. Based on the flags he's raised and the tropes he's chosen to include, my money's on Priestess, but he's not obligated to stick to any formulas, so anything could happen.