Jedtavius

Jedtavius is the slash ship between Jedediah and Octavius from the Night at the Museum fandom.

Night at the Museum
Jedediah and Octavius are the respective leaders of the Wild West and Ancient Rome dioramas in the Hall of Minatures in the Museum of Natural History. When the film begins, they are rivals with each other, and they fight every night to "pass the time". This is first shown when Jedediah captures Larry, the new guard at the museum, and attempts to run over his head with a toy train. When this fails, Octavius tries to shoot mini catapults and fire arrows at Larry. Before the sun goes down, Jedediah managed to put Octavius in a pillory, and they are stuck in that position until the next night.

On the second night Larry works there, he takes them aside and has a word with them. He threatens them to get along, or he will lock them up all night. Although they agree on this at first, they abandon their promise when the minature Mayans get released, and the three minature civilizations go into war. Jedediah and Octavius fight with each other on top of a bench, taking turns punching and tackling each other.

However, when the Tablet of Ahkmenrah goes missing, Larry tells them that they need to work together. They argue with Larry and each other until Larry tells them that they are not that different as they are both good leaders who want to the best for their people, and reminds everyone of the magic the tablet holds.

Jedediah and Octavius go into the snow, attempting to sabotage the van so Cecil, Gus and Reginald can't get away. They try to flatten the tire, and therefore risk getting blown away due to the air being released. While their men get blown away, Octavius yells "Save yourself!", with Octavius yelling back "I ain't quittin' you!", referencing the famous gay cowboy movie, Brokeback Mountain.

They manage to find a mini truck and they drive on as they bond together, yelling that they are living the dream. They try to make a turn, but it is too difficult and their truck explodes behind a mini snow hill. Larry and the others believe they are dead, only for them to come out from the stairs, helping each other up. In the end, they are in another car, vibing to the music together.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
As the Museum of Natural History is getting renovated to become more high-tech, Jedediah, Octavius and all the other exhibits risk getting brought to the archive section of the Smithsonian. When Larry visits, finding this out, both Jedediah and Octavius are mad that Larry abandoned them for his successful business as no one else would have been willing to fight for the exhibits to stay in the museum. Both of them are emotional as things will never be the same as they are moved to the archive section and, unbeknownst to them, they will not able to come alive again as the tablet is supposed to stay in the museum. Octavius offers Jedediah to go on a walk together, but Jed rejects this to "squander in self-pity". However, Dexter steals the tablet and they remain alive as Jedediah dials Larry on the phone to inform him of Kahmunrah.

General Custer is kept hostage with Jedediah, Octavius and the other Museum of Natural History exhibits as he attempts to talk to all of them. Both Jedediah and Octavius are not impressed, and they plan to escape to help Larry. Before they leave, they do a chest bump.

Jedediah and Octavius escape through a small hole in the box, but they are caught by Al Capone and his colleagues. Jedediah tells Octavius to make a run for it. Octavius refuses, saying "I will not leave you!", but Jedediah says there's no time for his "Roman melodrama", and kicks him. Octavius gets away, but Jedediah gets captured, and is held hostage by Kahmunrah. Octavius manages to watch Jedediah through a window, quietly encouraging him, as Kahmunrah makes fun of Jedediah and calls him cute. Octavius makes a promise that he will find him. Jedediah gets put in a sand hourglass, slowly drowning until Larry opens the Gate of the Underworld. While running away, Octavius goes toe-to-toe with a squirrel, and gets dragged away. Meanwhile, Jedediah continues to be aggravated by Kahmunrah as the time slowly runs out. Later, Octavius returns on the squirrel who he has managed to train, and brings the huge Abraham Lincoln statue with him. The Horus warriors are scared back into the Underworld, but the exhibits continue to fight. Jedediah continues to get kicked around in his hourglass during this fight, and he begins to lose hope. However, Octavius runs after him, and they are finally reunited. Jedediah tells Octavius to remember him as "wild and free", but Octavius tells him that there is "no need for final words". Jedediah tells him that he wants to go through the story of their relationship and their evolution of enemies to friends, telling Octavius that he is going to cry, but Octavius breaks the glass through the helmet, and Jedediah is released. Octavius gives him a sword, and they cut and hurt the shoes of the soldiers above them. After Larry saves the day, Jedediah and Octavius cheer and share a hug, but Jedediah suddenly breaks away, suddenly self-concious of himself. They travel back to the Museum of Natural History in the pockets of Larry, and they are finally home, where they are allowed to be openly alive at night.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
Jedediah and Octavius are shown to be surfing the internet and watching YouTube videos, and are particularly amused by cat videos. They comment under Octavius' YouTube account, octodaddy, and use a giant apparatus to type the messages. Larry tells them to stop as they will soon be performing for the opening of the Hayden Planetarium, and they bicker as they walk off and get ready. However, just like the other museum exhibits, their 'primal instinct' takes over them at the opening as the tablet is corroding. When Larry gets mad at them, they tell him to not be mad as they were not in control, and Octavius describes it as an "evil spell" taking a hold of them. When Larry and Ahkmenrah travel to the British Museum to stop the tablet from corroding, Jedediah and Octavius sneak along in Atilla's hat. They are both scared by the Triceratops skeleton, and hide in his hat. However, when Atilla and the rest of the group begins to run, Jedediah and Octavius fall out of the hat and into a vent. Jedediah and Octavius believe they are going to die as Larry tries to turn the vent off. Octavius yells at Jedediah to hold his hand, and Jedediah asks "Why?", with Octavius then responding with "Never mind". Jedediah asks if Octavius asked him to hold his hand, with Octavius denying it. Although Jedediah doesn't believe him, they continue to walk along the vents. They come to another vent, and question jumping down. However, when they mistake Dexter for a monster, they choose to jump down and they enter a Roman city.

The city is familiar to Octavius, but he doesn't exactly know what it is. They try to read the sign, but as it is backwards, they read it as Iiepwop (Yep-wop). An Augustus bust tries to yell at them to tell them the name, but as he is behind a glass, Jedediah and Octavius doesn't understand him. They see Romans running away, but don't know why. They joke around for a bit while they remain confused, pretending to have scared them off. Jedediah asks again if he read that right, and sure enough, they turn behind them and see an erupting volcano as Octavius realises: Pompeii.

They run away from the lava, and they think that they are going to die again, but Dexter comes along and saves them, peeing on the lava, and then peeing on Jedediah and Octavius to annoy them. They take a selfie together on Nick's phone tied around Dexter, although Larry never gets it. Jedediah and Octavius run back with Dexter to try and find them and bump into Lancelot for the first time carrying the tablet. They try to stop them, but Lancelot just runs past them, with Jedediah yelling at him that it isn't over yet. Octavius also yells at him, saying that he'll "rue the day [he] mocked [them] with [his] huge sword and hypnotic blue eyes". They reunite with Larry again, and the red cape Octavius left above the vent is returned to him.

As Lancelot runs through the night with the tablet, the things in the city begin to come alive. The lion statues begin to chase the group, but on Jedediah and Octavius' advice, they manage to be distracted with Larry's flashlight, mimicking a cat chasing a laser. They go on a bus to go to the Camelot musical where they hope to find Lancelot, and Jedediah tells two kids staring at them to take a picture, and they oblige. The group confronts Lancelot on the roof as Larry tries to convince him to give back the tablet. Lancelot's nose begins to melt as he slowly accepts that he is mad out of wax, and he yells at the group to not look at it. Jedediah whispers to Octavius that it is hard not to look at, and Octavius whispers back "Yes, he is.". Jedediah mentions it again later, saying that it's disgusting, but Octavius affirms that he is still handsome. As the tablet continues to corrode, Jedediah and Octavius, along with the other exhibits, begin to 'die'. They fall out of Atilla's hat, and they lie on the ground. As they both lie next to each other, Jedediah tells him that he'll "take that hand now". They hold hands as their wax begins to fully harden and die. However, the tablet is saved just in time and they both become alive again.

All the Natural History exhibits, including Jedediah and Octavius, make the mutual decision to have the tablet stay with Ahkmenrah and his family. Larry tries to convince them otherwise, reminding them they will no longer be alive, but Jedediah says that people coming to look at them and learning things is being alive. They return to the Museum of Natural History, alive for the last time, and Larry says his goodbyes to everyone. He tells Jedediah and Octavius that he will remember how big they are, and Jedediah is touched, allowing Larry to hug him.

Although the tablet is no longer permanently there, it returns to the Museum of Natural History as the British Museum exhibits go on a tour, and the museum becomes alive again. All the exhibits party, and Jedediah and Octavius are shown to be dancing on a vinyl.

Behind the Scenes
In the 2020 Night at the Museum reunion, Steve Coogan, actor of Octavius, said: "[What] I love about their friendship is... there's a slight, very subtle, homoerotic [tension]."

When the interviewer jokingly questions the "subtleness" of the homoerotic tension, Coogan states that he was doing it subtly.

In a now-deleted interview due to the shutting down of View, Coogan is also reported to have said:

"There was a certain kind of subtext, what those of a discerning view might read as a subtle homoerotic subtext. If those people read that into it I certainly wouldn't argue with it... Yes, Octavius has a certain fascination with Jedediah because, of course, he wouldn't meet people as irreverent as that in the world of the Roman Empire. I think people were a bit more formal in their behaviour, so that slightly gauche, throwaway attitude that goes with being a cowboy fascinates Octavius, and he finds it quite alluring."

Owen Wilson has also stated, in a separate interview with Tribute:

"My role as Jedediah and my friendship with Octavius has changed a lot, because in the beginning, we weren't friends, we were actually... mortal enemies... There's been a big sort of transition from that antagonism and bickering... flowed into... almost a love, although they'd never admit it."

Before Robin Williams' passing, Theordore Roosevelt was planned to have a spinoff with Jedediah and Octavius, which has since been cancelled. However, Jedediah and Octavius are expected to appear in the Disney+ animated sequel. It is unknown whether they would be played by Coogan and Wilson or recast. The characters are also expected to appear in the upcoming Night at the Museum musical.

Fanon
Even outside the Night at the Museum fandom, many people on social media joke about Jedediah and Octavius. People often reference them as the "gay cowboy and gay roman" or the "tiny cowboy and tiny roman", or a combination/remix of that.

Jedtavius is regularly compared to Lokius, another ship that features Owen Wilson. Coincidentally, Loki and Mobius also go to Pompeii. Due to the popularity of the Loki TV show and Mobius' character, Night at the Museum and Jedtavius received a surge of popularity during this time.

On AO3, Jedtavius is the top written ship for Jedediah and Octavius. It is the most written ship in Night at the Museum (Movies).

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * Jedediah and Octavius mirror many popular Hollywood pairings.
 * In Night at the Museum, Jedediah shouts "I ain't quittin' you!" to Octavius, referencing Ennis and Jack in Brokeback Mountain.
 * In Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Octavius breaking Jedediah out of the hourglass references Aladdin and Jasmine respectively, in Disney's Aladdin.
 * Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is the second out of three times that an Owen Wilson character mentions being in Pompeii or is in Pompeii. The first time is Zoolander, and the third time is Loki.
 * Jedediah and Octavius originally only had minor roles in Night at the Museum, but were so popular in test screenings that they were given more screen time.
 * Although Octavius' feelings for Jedediah were made rather obvious in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, it has not been confirmed on-screen whether this is reciprocated.
 * In the same film, Octavius is also shown to be attracted to Lancelot as he continues to compliment him even as he knows his sinister intetions.
 * When Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb was released, the homoerotic implications between Jedediah and Octavius was not well-received by some viewers, accused of "forcing agenda".