Karolsen

Karolsen is the het ship between Kara and James from the Supergirl fandom.

Canon
James and Kara meet when she starts her job as Cat Grant's assistant at CatCo Worldwide Media, and Kara is instantly attracted to James, the Art Director. Kara develops a crush on James, which only intensifies as the two become good friends. Before Kara can tell him how she feels, James' ex Lucy Lane rolls into town from Metropolis and they rekindle their romance, as Kara doesn't wish to stand in the way of James being happy. While James is hesitant about dating Lucy again, they do get back together and have a good thing for a while, until Lucy starts feeling that James is not invested in the relationship. After talking with Kara, Lucy realises that James doesn't let her in and she breaks up with him for good, also well aware that James returns Kara's feelings for him.

Fanon
Kara and James is a common pairing in the universe. They were set up to be the romantic stronghold throughout the first season and were well-received. Fans were outraged when their relationship, which began in the final episode of Season 1 was completely negated in the first episode of Season 2: Kara says they're better off as friends and she needs to work on her identity as Kara Danvers and herself. What really happened was the introduction of a misogynist white character — an unrepentant former slave owner! — from another planet who became Kara's new love interest, while James was largely shoved into the background. In spite of this their friendship has stayed strong throughout seasons 2 and 3, with reasonable conflicts, but fans are still angry that the pairing was dismissed and never got a chance to even unfold.

Fandom
AO3

FORUMS
 * kara&james
 * believers

TUMBLR

Songs

 * pull away | LEON BRIDGES
 * james and kara dance at cat's party


 * bloodstream | TRANSVIOLET
 * first kiss

Trivia

 * In the above producers Jessica Queller & Robert Rovner's reply when asked why Karolsen didn't happen was that both Kara and James are "noble" and they couldn't write dramatically satisfying material if the two of them got together. Clearly, they have never watched Jane the Virgin
 * Some media has criticised the unfounded move to never have Kara and James get together, just for her to get together with a new character, who is white.
 * I’ve watched as Kara — a girl who needed her friends, who needed her job at Catco to remain grounded — became unrecognizable. It’s not just that Mon-El has done horrible things or that Kara broke up with James for, I can’t even remember the stupid reason


 * The downgrading of James Olsen — originally the romantic male lead, now seemingly replaced by the white actor who plays Mon-El — doesn’t help


 * In the comics, James and Supergirl marry at one point!

Photos

 * Karolsen/Gallery