As far as ships go, I’d definitely say Flintwood is nowhere near popular. This would definitely come from the fact Marcus is a forgettable character. He doesn’t do anything to advance the storyline and is pushed aside into the ‘mean Slytherin’ category. His role existed for nothing but to advance Quidditch storylines, and isn’t even heard from after Prisoner of Azkaban. Oliver obviously has a large role but obviously not too large. He, similar to Marcus, exists for the Quidditch storyline and the only time he shows up for something that doesn’t involve Quidditch was the Battle of Hogwarts.
So as a ship, admittedly I didn’t understand it at first. I found it completely on accident, as I didn’t even know the ship existed until January of this year. As I previously said, Marcus is a forgettable character and I didn’t even remember who he was until I searched his name. My initial thought was that it sort of made sense when you consider their love for Quidditch. I didn’t have much thought on it until I looked at the Tumblr tag and I fell absolutely in love with it. Initially the appeal is the rivals to lovers trope, and there’s actually a lot of layers to what makes there’s so appealing to me.
Let’s start with what we get on the page. Marcus and Oliver very much have a schoolyard rivalry. We don’t know either of their relationships with the Hufflepuff or the Ravenclaw captains but it’s safe to assume it’s not as intense when you consider the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry which I’ll touch on more later. Back to what we see in canon, while we don’t get much there is still a lot. We don’t see them interact until Chamber of Secrets chapter, Mudbloods and Murmurs. This is another example of pure schoolyard rivalry, as Marcus tries to take the Quidditch pitch so he can practice and Oliver getting worked up at the sight of him. While in the movie he has much more composure, it’s far from how he was in the books. In the book Oliver got worked up at the sight of seeing Marcus on the pitch and in return, Marcus stirred him up. So, there is clearly an established relationship between them. There’s also the obvious handshaking to consider, where they’re both as described as ‘trying to break the other’s fingers’. So again, simply on the page, there is proof they have a deeper relationship. Now, there is definitely the argument that this comes from their schoolyard rivalry and can be brushed off as them simply hating each other but hate itself is a strong word and not something I think fits their relationship. Another instance in the text is that in the Prisoner of Azkaban, Grim Defeat, Marcus is the one to tell Oliver they’re not playing. Now, at surface this can be brushed off and not really seen as anything important. However, this brings the question of why was Marcus the one to tell Oliver. You would think Madam Hooch would be the one to tell Oliver, not Marcus. Yet, Oliver said that Marcus had ‘been to see him’. So this shows that they have the sort of relationship where they can just walk up to each other to talk. Now comes to the question of, what exactly was the extent of their relationship?
So this brings in speculation from what we get in the canon. Marcus is a year older than Oliver but was held back, meaning they would’ve seen a lot more of each other in Oliver’s final year. This brings in multiple questions; what classes did they have together? Did they see each other more often? How did Oliver react to being with Marcus for an extra year? Next level of speculation is after Hogwarts. Did Marcus join his own Quidditch team like Oliver? There is no canon on Marcus after he left Hogwarts but as he cared about Quidditch enough to make team captain, it’s clear he has some sort of passion. So then there is the question on if they had encounters when they were in the pro leagues and what were these encounters like. Did they get along better as adults? Did they leave the childish schoolyard rivalry behind them? If so, did they form a friendship now that they could see past the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry?
Now onto the Slytherin/Gryffindor aspect. Harry himself says Gryffindors and Slytherins ‘loathed each other on principle’ in the chapter, the Slug Club, of Half Blood Prince when he sees Blaise. So this brings in the question, did they actually hate each other or did they feel like they were meant to? Especially when you consider their roles as Quidditch captains, which no doubt leads to an intense rivalry. But did they actually hate each other, did they have this intense relationship for any other reason than they felt they had to? We never see any signs of actual hatred, everything Marcus does to Oliver his him simply stirring him up. Again in Mudbloods and Murmurs, Marcus is doing nothing more than stirring him up, such as saying ‘pleanty of room for all of us, Wood’, especially since Oliver got particularly worked up. The closest to ‘hatred’ would be when the shook hands and we’re described as ‘each was trying to break the other’s fingers’ in the chapter, the Quidditch Final of Prisoner of Azkaban. In Chamber of Secrets, in the chapter The Rouge Bludger, when they shook hands, they were described as ‘giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than necessary’. This is really the extent of their rivalry we see and it’s clearly intense, and never described as such with the other team captains. And that’s what separates them from their relationships with those other captains, the rivalry that they’re told they should have. So here comes in the question, with a mutual love for Quidditch would’ve they been friends were they in the same house? I think so because the Slytherin/Gryffindor feud is drilled into their heads since first year. And I think that in ways, they can really bring out the best in each other.
Next, there is the Sacred Twenty-Eight, the list of pureblood families, a list Marcus’s family is on. We tend to look at people pretty shallowly and brush off someone being a cold, brash person as just how they are however, there is a possibility Marcus had cold, elusive pureblood parents. The pureblood part is almost certain as the Sacred Twenty-Eight and it’s further supported by the fact Marcus is in Slytherin. As Slytherin also houses many pristine, rich purebloods there is a possibility this is Marcus’s background. So this brings in the question how is Marcus’s family compared to the typical Slytherin, pureblood alumni? Possibly how it tends to me, where his parents are cold and elusive and not giving Marcus as much affection as children need, hence the hard person we see in the books. So Oliver could provide that love, give him the affection he may feel he doesn’t deserve. On what Marcus can do for Oliver is help him channel his drive for Quidditch onto other things, like relationships with others as fraternity is a huge aspect of Slytherin, so this is a quality Marcus clearly has even if it’s not apparent on the page. They, in many ways, can help bring out the best in each other and, when you really take it apart, make sense as a couple.
