Age Difference

Age Difference is a trend in fanworks where one character in a ship is younger than the other by a year or more. Often, the characters are different ages in canon, but sometimes a fan introduces or widens an existing age gap. There are many instances where a fanon age difference between two characters is widely considered canonical.
Some fans prefer characters having a difference in age. For others, its a complete squick.
Whether an age gap is acceptable or not can depend on the age of the particular fan. Younger fans who are below or around the age of majority might have different perspectives from older fans and vice-versa. The country of origin of the respective fan might also play a significant role in forming their opinion, particularly for works with a sexual element. Although 18 is the age of majority in most countries, others place it older or younger, and cultural clashes are common when it comes to shipping age difference relationships.
When one character in a pairing is immortal or very long-lived, age difference is sometimes not perceived as a problem, particularly when the characters look to be of similar age. On the other hand, time travel fics tend to take mental age into account more than the age of a character's body. Although discussion of age difference in fanworks often revolves around shipping, gen and platonic relationships are also common, especially in mentor fic.
Age Difference content became more visible in fandom spaces with the rise of social media over friendslocked journals and fannish communities. Flaming and harassment of fans of age difference pairings is common in some circles, even if the fans in question are underage themselves. Age difference content is also often not properly warned for with common tags or filters, especially on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, leaving many who dislike them unable to filter them out of their social media feeds. Anti-shippers are more likely to be against age difference pairings than anti-anti fans, and many fans have shippers of age gap pairings in their DNI lists. 
In early Harry Potter fandom, the term cross-generational was common.
==Example Relationships==
===Age Difference Involving an 18-Year-Old Character===
If a character is ambiguously 18, fandom often ships them with characters younger and characters older if applicable. Some fans are adamant either way whether or not this would be best for the 18 year old character involved or their partner.
====Examples====
*Keith Kogane from Voltron: Legendary Defender is a fan favorite, and many are torn when it comes to the idea of shipping him with the 17-year-old Lance McClain, forming Klance, or the 25-year-old Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane, forming Sheith. The ship war between these two pairings was once very heated during the 2010s. Some fans speculate that Keith's time on the Space Whale in season 6, which aged him by two years separately from the rest of the cast, was done by Dreamworks in an attempt to quell the ship war. This made him 21.
*Beth Greene/Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead. Daryl is a man in his late 30s to early 40s and Beth is 17–18 years old.
===Age Difference Involving a Minor and an Adult===
====Difference of 1~5 Years====
*In Teen Wolf (a show that canonically refused to give some of the characters' ages) the age difference between teenage Stiles and twenty-something Derek, as well as the age difference between then-teenage Derek and Kate Argent (who seduced him in canon), resulted in much hand-wringing among parts of slash fandom, along with commentary from other parts of fandom that the same differences didn't matter in their previous fandoms.[citation needed]
*Derek Hale/Kate Argent in Teen Wolf. Kate is older than Derek by a few years, and they dated while he was a teenager. This caused much hand-wringing among parts of slash fandom, along with commentary from other parts of fandom that the same differences didn't matter in their previous fandoms.
*Kyo Kusanagi/Shingo Yabuki in The King of Fighters. Kyo Kusanagi is around 19–20 in the Orochi saga and Shingo Yabuki is 17.
*IsshuShipping and FerrisWheelShipping in Pokémon Black and White. Hilbert and Hilda are 14-16 while N is 18–20.
==== Difference of 5~10 Years ====
*Akio/Anthy and Akio/Utena in Revolutionary Girl Utena are canon examples played darkly. Anthy Himemiya and Utena Tenjou are both 14 while Akio Ohtori is 18–20s.
*Phoenix Wright/Maya Fey in Ace Attorney. Phoenix is 24 in the beginning and Maya 17, and while the pairing is not canon their deep friendship can easily be read as romantic.
*Usagi Tsukino/Mamoru Chiba in the original Sailor Moon anime. Usagi is 14, Mamoru is a college student (in the manga, he was closer to her age, being in high school.)
====Difference of 10+ Years====
Many fandoms which take place in Fantasy settings have ships with this type of age difference, such as Fire Emblem and Game of Thrones. If the ship is Het, it's often a "girl" and a "man." The reverse is comparatively rare.
*Bruno Madrigal/Mirabel Madrigal in Encanto. Word of God says Mirabel is 15 and Bruno is 50, giving them an age gap of 35 years. Many fans think they seem much more in the vein of 20 and 45, putting their age gap at 25 years.
*Chris McLean/any contestant in Total Drama. Contestants of Total Drama are around 16–17 while Chris, its host, is designed to look notably older. His stated age varies whenever it is brought up, whether in-universe or by Word of God.
*Several canon pairings in the Tortall universe feature large age differences, the biggest and most controversial being between Daine (a teenager) and Numair (her teacher). They start dating when he is 27 and she is 16.
*Judge Turpin/Johanna Barker in Sweeney Todd. Johanna is 16 and Turpin is a generation or more older than she is.
*Daniel Fenton/Vlad Masters from Danny Phantom. Vlad is old enough to be Danny's father and they have an age difference of around 30 years.
*In the Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire fandom, relationships with significant age differences are common, both amongst canon and fanon relationships. In the series' universe, an individual comes of age at 16, though relationships involving characters younger than this are not uncommon. Some prominent examples include:
**Sandor Clegane/Sansa Stark. Sandor is in his late 20s and Sansa is 11–12 in the books, or 13 years old at the beginning of the show.
**Petyr Baelish/Sansa Stark. Petyr is close in age to Sansa's mother, Catelyn.
**Daenerys Targaryen/Drogo. Drogo is an adult man no older than 30 and Daenerys is 13 in the books, or 16 years old in season one of the show.
**Daenerys Targaryen/Jorah Mormont. In the books, Jorah Mormont is three times the age of the 15-year-old Daenerys.
**Lyanna Stark/Rhaegar Targaryen. In the books, Lyanna and Rhaegar are 16 and 24 respectively as of their deaths, having first met a couple of years before.
*Serra/Oswin in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. Oswin is a man in his thirties while Serra is a 16-year-old girl, (16 being considered marriageable age in the games' era). It can be made canon through supports.
**Many other Fire Emblem ships have similar age gaps, including Saber/Genny in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia and Madeline/Mauvier in Fire Emblem Engage's DLC.
*In Fire Emblem Engage, the player character Alear is 17–18 and can give the Pact Ring to characters many years older than them. The Pact Ring isn't explicitly a romantic item, but some of the S supports read as such and fans will still ship the pairings anyway.
*Gregor and any woman he can marry in Fire Emblem Awakening. Man in his 40s, the majority of his potential brides are teens or in their early 20s.
**Most pairings involving the young teenage Ricken, Donnel, and Lissa are this as well.
*Haar/Jill in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Man is thought to be at least 16 years older than the woman, and the game hints at an attraction between the two that can be pursued through supports.
*Dew and Silvia with most of their prospect spouses in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Dew is 13 and Silvia 14 when they're first introduced, and the majority of the cast is in their late teens and 20s.
*Balthus/Lysithea in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Lysithea is 15 at the start of the game and 20 by the end due to the timeskip, and Balthus is 12 years older than her.
* Almost all pairings involving Hayato, Sakura, and Elise in Fire Emblem Fates (all three are in their young to mid teens while everyone else is notably older).
**The Avatar can also marry a variety of characters much older or younger than them, most notably the female Avatar and Gunter (who appears to be in his 50s).
*Snarry and Snape/Hermione in Harry Potter. Snape's a generation older than both characters.
*Dag/Fawn in Sharing Knife. Dag Redwing is in his fifties while Fawn Bluefield is a teenager.
===Age Difference Involving Two Adults ===
====Difference of 1~5 Years====
*Korrasami in The Legend of Korra. Asami Sato is one year older than Korra.
====Difference of 5~10 Years====
*Simon Blackquill/Athena Cykes in Ace Attorney. While not canon, Simon is ten years older than Athena and there is enough subtext to glean a future romantic relationship from.
*Harry Styles/Nick Grimshaw in One Direction/Radio 1 RPF. 9 year age difference, with Nick Grimshaw being older than Harry Styles.
====Difference of 10+ Years====
*Erik/Christine in Phantom of the Opera. Erik is a generation older than Christine.
*Soldier 76/D.Va in Overwatch. Soldier 76 is in his fifties while D.Va is nineteen.
*Shipping the Scout with other mercenaries from Team Fortress 2. Scout is around 23 while the other mercs are anywhere from mid thirties to fifties. Before Scout's age was hinted at, some fans believed he was a teenager.
*Tenzin/Pema in The Legend of Korra. Pema is 35–39, Tenzin is 51–55.
*Pray Tell/Ricky on Pose. References in season two date the character ages to approximately 45 (Pray Tell) and 23 (Ricky) for a 20 year age difference, but some of the controversy also came from Pray Tell spending most of season one as an honorary Father of the House of Abundance where Ricky spent time as a 'child' of the House.This is the familial element mentioned in the section: Fan Criticism: Ricky/Pray Tell.
*Lewis/Hathaway in Lewis. Robert Lewis is older and James Hathaway is younger.
*Jeff/Annie in Community. Jeff Winger was originally in his early 30s at the start of the series and Annie Edison at 18/19. The series eventually retconned Jeff's age to be 40.
*Britta/Jeff in Community. Britta Perry is in her mid to late 20s.
*Hardcastle/McCormick in Hardcastle and McCormick. Judge Milton C. Hardcastle at least 30 years older than race car driver Mark "Skid" McCormick.
===Age Difference Involving Two Minors===
This is common in media which take place in high school. Time passing in-universe is pretty common, making some ships in this category minor/adult and adult/adult over time.
*Enoshima x Tsumiki, Komaeda x Naegi and Fukawa x Komaru Naegi are all popular ships in Danganronpa with some degree of age differences. Mikan Tsumiki is one year older than Junko Enoshima, Nagito Komaeda is one year older than Makoto Naegi, and Toko Fukawa is around three to two years older than Komaru Naegi.
*Zukaang and Zuko/Toph in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Zuko is 16 while both Aang and Toph Beifong are 12.
*WenDip in Gravity Falls. Dipper Pines is 12 while Wendy Corduroy is 15. The age gap was deemed concerning by some fans, with words like "pedophile" even being used to describe Wendy. (22 April 2016)
===Time Skips, Magic and Vampires===
Many characters don't age like living people do, thus are their own thing in terms of age difference relationships.
==== Featuring Adults ====
*Byleth/Rhea in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Rhea is a thousand-year-old dragon and Byleth is in their 20s.
*Loki/Tony Stark in the MCU. Loki is an approximately 1000 years old alien while Tony Stark is a middle-aged human. The age difference is vast, but seems to be not that interesting to many frostiron shippers.
*Freehoun and Freemance in Half-Life. Gordon Freeman got frozen in time for 20 years by the G-Man, making him physically the same age as Alyx Vance in HL2, but he was born around the same time as Barney Calhoun and they would've physically been around the same age without the time skip. During HL's fannish revival in 2021 with Half Life: Alyx and HLVRAI, there was some ship war between the two pairings, and age difference was often a factor for either shipper for or against either ship.
*Draculisa in Castlevania. Dracula is centuries old while Lisa was about 25 when she met Dracula.
====Featuring Minors====
*Edward/Bella in Twilight. Bella is 16 while Edward is more than one-hundred years old, born in 1901.
*Buffy/Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Vampire (Angel) with teenager (Buffy.)
*Captain Hook/Wendy Darling in any medium of Peter Pan. Wendy is often a preteen and Captain Hook is usually hundreds of years old. Romance between them when Wendy is that age is nonexistent, fanworks often focuses on a much older Wendy (at least early to mid 20s).
*Jareth/Sarah in Labyrinth. Immortal character (Jareth) with teenager (Sarah).
==Example Fanworks==
*Red Candy by Shortcake Cunningham portrayed a 14 year old Taylor Hanson in a relationship with a 26 year old fan. (1997)
*Tale of Three Brothers by Jenn portrayed a 15 year old Taylor Hanson in a relationship with a 19 year old—a smaller age difference, but one that still caused trouble with his family within the fic. (1998)
*That's Me In The Spotlight by burncitybelle was controversial in the Larry Stylinson fandom for a 16-year age difference. (2014)
*, a fluffy and humorous frostiron fic dealing with the vast age difference between Loki and Tony Stark by hopelessheathen (ElspethMcGillicuddy) (2021 – 2022) The age difference between Jane Foster and Thor Odinson is also briefly discussed in the fic.
* MFA (Most Fuckable Ass)
== References ==
Category:Romance Tropes