Northan

Northan is the slash ship between Norman Jayden and Ethan Mars from the Heavy Rain fandom.

Canon
'Heavy Rain'' is a game based on choices. The following canon is one line of choices being made.'''

Norman and Ethan first cross paths in the ninth chapter of the game, "Welcome, Norman," when Ethan reports his young son, Shaun Mars, missing. While he is being asked questions, Norman asks him questions of his own to find out more about Shaun and discern if his disappearance could have been caused by problems at home or something more sinister.

Their next interaction comes several chapters later in "Fugitive," when Norman's assigned case partner, Lieutenant Carter Blake, attempts to arrest Ethan on a hunch that he may be the Origami Killer. Afterwards, Norman reviews evidence on the case; he steadfastly believes Ethan is not the killer, and states that he'd "stake [his] life on it." Having found a potential lead in the form of Mad Jack, a criminal that may have provided the killer with the car he used to abduct his victims, he sets off to pursue his own investigation.

If Ethan is arrested once (either during "Fugitive" or a later chapter, "On the Loose") while Norman is alive, Norman interrogates him for a short time. Unsatisfied with Ethan's answers, Blake cuts the interrogation short and begins to beat Ethan to force a confession out of him. Norman intervenes and storms out of the room, furious with Blake's behavior. He has an outburst when Leighton Perry (the police captain) refers to Ethan as a "lowlife" and dismisses his protests, telling him the case has "worn [him] out" and that he needs time away from it. Later, choosing to trust his instincts that Ethan was telling the truth, Norman returns to the interrogation room and allows Ethan to escape by unlocking his handcuffs and providing him with a police raincoat to disguise himself with. If Ethan is subsequently arrested again with Norman alive, Ethan tells Norman that he is Shaun's only chance and asks him to save him. Norman walks away with a regretful look on his face, leaving Ethan in his cell.

In the final chapter of the game, provided both characters are alive and have reached the warehouse where Shaun is held captive, Norman saves Ethan's life by tackling the Origami Killer just as Ethan is about to be shot while attempting to free Shaun. This is the pair's final interaction.

If Ethan is shot and killed by the police in the final chapter (if he is alone or if all main characters are at the warehouse and Madison fails to warn Ethan) while Norman survives, it is assumed that Ethan's unnecessary and preventable death at Blake's hands pushed Norman to the brink of his frustrations with the department, as the news report in the ending reveals that both Blake and Perry have been suspended with a full investigation in the works.

Fanon
According to AO3, Northan is the most popular ship, the most popular slash ship, and the first written non-crossover ship in the Heavy Rain fandom. It is the most written ship for both Norman and Ethan. Northan is the second most popular ship in the fandom on Fanfiction.net, behind Blayden.

Initially, fans believed Norman and Ethan would have a relationship more along the lines of a close friendship and even brotherhood, given neither of them had any known family aside from Ethan's sons. However, over time the idea of a romantic relationship between the two began to surface (due in large part to the criticisms of the semi-canon romance between Ethan and Madison Paige) and ultimately the idea of a friendship was cast aside in favor of a romantic relationship. In the past, the ship name has varied between Jars or Jaydars (and occasionally, Mayden) but Northan is its most recent name.

Since David Cage confirmed in a Reddit AMA after the release of Detroit: Become Human that Simon was originally going to be a possible love interest for Markus but the option was removed for making the branching narrative "too complex," some fans believe this was also the case with Norman and Ethan, and use it as an explanation for why they had so few scenes together in the game.

Fandom

 * Norman Jayden/Ethan Mars tag on AO3
 * Ethan M./Norman J. tag on Fanfiction.net
 * Works tagged with Norman and Ethan on Fanfiction.net

Trivia

 * In an interview with PlayStation Radio UK, Ethan's voice/motion capture actor Pascal Langdale was told about the existence of fanfiction for Heavy Rain, including ships. When he was told that Ethan at the time was only paired with Madison, he remarked that he was "faintly disappointed." He was subsequently asked who he would like Ethan to be paired with, and he responded with Norman. He then suggested ship names for the two; this lead to the popularity of the ship name Jaydars, as Jars was the name mostly in use at the time of the interview.
 * There have been several occurrences where a user edited Norman's page on the Heavy Rain Wiki to make references to the ship despite it not being canon.
 * A majority of the works on Fanfiction.net involving the ship are not tagged with it. Of the 15 works containing the ship, only 3 use the actual relationship tag.