Snowbaz

Snowbaz is the slash ship between Simon Snow and Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch from the Carry On fandom.

About
Simon is the main character in the novel Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. He is the ‘Chosen One’ and the ‘Mage’s Heir’, but he struggles to control his powers. He believes himself to be an orphan, and from a Normal family (which is unheard of in the wizard world) and never finds out who his parents were; however, the reader discovers parents were indeed magical and that his father is the Mage. His best friend is Penelope Bunce, and he is in a long-term relationship with Agatha at the beginning of the novel.

Baz plays the central role of both nemesis and love interest in the novel.

The two characters also make appearances as favourite characters of the titular character in Fangirl, while being the main characters in her popular fanfiction, called Carry On Simon.

There are many questions as to whether Carry On is supposed to be Cath’s fanfic or if it is simply a standalone story, and therefore whether or not Smowbaz is technically canon. Rowell, however, has put this argument to rest by saying that she was not writing through Cath’s voice, and she feels Carry On is not a fanfiction as it is its own story and not meant to be Cath’s fan fiction. In an interview with Time magazine, she said:

“They didn’t really make it into the book. The Simon Snow I was writing in Fangirl was a different Simon Snow. When I was writing as [fictional Simon Snow author] Gemma T. Leslie, I envisioned this feeling of British children’s literature and had a very traditional middle-grade voice. When I was writing Cath, it was more of what a talented teenage girl writing romantic fantasy would do. Neither of those voices are me. When I started writing my own Simon Snow, it was more what I would do with this character.”

She has also written on her website that:

“The most common question I’ve been asked is whether I’m writing as Cath or as Gemma T. Leslie … The answer is,  I’m writing as me.

After I finished writing Fangirl, I kept thinking about Simon and Baz and the World of Mages … I wanted to write more about them, but I didn’t want to write the full series GTL-style. And I also didn’t want to write through Cath’s hands and brain.

I wanted to explore what I would do with this world and these characters.

So, even though I’m writing a book that was inspired by fictional fanfiction of a fictional series …

… I think what I’m writing now is  canon .”

So though Simon and Baz are not technically canon in Fangirl (as they are only canon in Cath’s fanfiction), in the Carry On universe we can safely say that they are indeed canon.

Canon
Throughout the book we learn through snippets of memories how Baz and Simon’s relationship has evolved over the 7 years they have known each other. The pair first met when they were chosen to be roommates, a fact Baz was unimpressed with due to Simon being the Mage’s Heir, and his family being strongly against the Mage. Simon reports that he requested to change roommate multiple times in the first few weeks, so we can presume that Simon and Baz’s hostility towards each other began instantaneously. The two of them fight all the time, with Simon claiming that Baz tried to kill him multiple times, and admitting that he followed Baz around for the entirety of fifth year to see what he was up to. Simon is also (correctly) convinced that Baz is a vampire, but is unsure what to do with this knowledge.

When the story opens, however, Simon has returned to school for 8th year on,y to find that Baz has not turned up. He becomes convinced that Baz is plotting something, possibly a rebellion against the Mage, and spends the first 6 weeks of school desperately trying to find out where Baz is, only for him to strut in without an explanation at the end of 6 weeks.

Though Simon does not find out until later in the novel, it is revealed to the reader that Baz had been kidnapped and held in a coffin for those weeks.

The two finally got together at eighteen.