Jopper

Jopper is the het ship between Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper from the Stranger Things fandom.

History
Joyce and Hopper attended Hawkins High School during the late 1950s. They were friends, skipping class during fifth and sixth period to smoke. One one occasion, the two were caught by the teacher, Mr. Cooper, who yelled, "Hey, assholes!", causing the two to run away. After high school, both went their separate ways.

Hopper was drafted into the US Army Chemical Corps through a letter of induction to fight in the Vietnam War. He was exposed to dangerous chemicals like Agent Orange. Alongside his friends who served, they all tried to return to their normal lives after the war, but their exposure to Agent Orange led to numerous health complications for their spouses and as a result, they could not safely have healthy children. Hopper's wife, Diane, was able to luckily give birth to their daughter, Sara. However, this would be short-lived as Sara developed cancer at a young age. His marriage broke down after this and ended in divorce.

Joyce met and married Lonnie Byers, though it's been stated by Jonathan that while they loved each other at some point, he wasn't around for it, implying that the marriage was a problem from the start. They had two sons, Jonathan Byers (born 1967) and Will Byers (born 1971). Joyce got a job as a retail clerk at Melvald's General Store, working excessive hours, even on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Although Joyce loved her sons more than anything and encouraged their hobbies, Lonnie was extremely harsh toward both of them. By 1982, Joyce and Lonnie divorced and he left for Indianapolis.

Quotes
"Things get worse, you call me first. You call me."

- Jim to Joyce.

"Brings me back to old times. Sharing my cigarettes between... fifth and sixth period."

- Joyce to Jim.

Behind the Scenes
"I just feel like I’m so incredibly lucky to have him. I don't know what I’d do without him. I really mean it."

- Winona on David Harbour.

"I just like the idea of two people who can’t be together because of their pride, because they were burned. But if there’s the potential for vulnerability and growing up, it’s the person that they need most. They’re the only family they could ever have, both of them."

- David Harbour on Jopper.

Fanon
Jopper is fairly popular ship within the Stranger Things fandom, and is more popular with fans who's favorite group are the adults. Jopper fans started in season 1 with Hopper and Joyce being paired together and being the main people they interact with for most of the series. Fans post season 4 joked that they were the only one's that were happy by the end of season 4.

On AO3, Jopper is the most written ship for both Hopper and Joyce. It is also the seventh most written ship within the Stranger Things (TV 2016) tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * In 2018, an LA Times interview with Winona Ryder and David Harbour was released. During the interview, both Winona and David discuss the obvious chemistry between "Jopper".