Zarlie

Zarlie is the non-binary ship between Zari Tomaz and Charlie from the Legends of Tomorrow fandom.

Dancing Queen
The Legends discover a magical fugitive in 1970's London and go out to search for them. Ray discovers that the fugitive is a shapeshifter name Charlie. The Legends come down and fight Charlie. Zari is able to use her totem to pin Charlie against the wall, and Constantine starts to open a portal to hell. Charlie begs them not to send her to hell, and shapeshifts into each of them to make them realize they are wrong. She then transforms hereself to look like Amaya, and asks if they could send her to hell. Constantine tells Zari not to listen, but she looks and Charlie and decides that she can't and lets her go.

The Legends take her back to the ship after Constantine takes away her powers, causing her to be stuck looking like Amaya.

Wet Hot American Bummer
Zari is in charge of watching Charlie when Ava and Sara walk in. Ava thinks it's Amaya when Zari clarifies that it just looks like her, Sara quickly explaining that she's a shapeshifter. Charlie starts kicking at the cage, and yelling, Zari commenting on how she's still adjusting. She kicks over a tray, and Zari sarcastically says that it might be the food. Ava questions why they kept Charlie, Sara and Zari becoming quiet trying to come up with a reason outside of being sentimental for Amaya. Ava thinks she's come up with the reason, and the two legends just roll with it, Zari saying that she's trying to get info from Charlie as they speak.

Zari is eating in the meeting room, when Gideon tells her that Charlie is becoming unruly. Zari tells Gideon to tell Charlie to knock herself out. She looks over to the screen to see that happen. She goes down, and removes the force field, and goes to wake her up. It turns out Charlie was tricking her and is able to get the upper hand on Zari, placing her inside the force field. Zari bangs on it as Charlie smiles excitedly. Zari, exhausted and not very happy, attempts to talk to Charlie, saying they got on the wrong foot. This was due to Charlie having the same face as Amaya, but her demeanor not matching up. She admits that she didn't love being on the waverider at first either, but she eventually found her place, and believes that Charlie can as well. Charlie ignores most of Zari's statement, saying that she should find herself more unsettling, given she put her in a cage. She then runs out of the room. Mick is able to get Charlie back in the force field, but they need info to take down another fugitive. Zari and Mick enter, Zari telling her that they need answers about a shtrega and if she knows anything. Charlie says that they're very deadly, but it they want more it will cost them. Charlie and Mick share a look, Zari becoming confused at it. Charlie says that they're looking for a good looking guy, not the stereotypical older woman, and Mick lets the force field down. She walks down the steps, Zari standing in the way and saying that she's not allowed out, but Mick says it's fine. She walks around Zari and grabs Mick's beer as she walks out of the room, leaving Zari frustrated.

Zari is the meeting room with Mick, when Sara comes in with Ava, asking where Charlie is. Zari points to Mick, who admits to letting her go, which Sara asks why. Zari is about to give a reason when Charlie walks in, and she points out her extreme change to punk rock attire. Charlie officially joins the Legends.

Tagumo Attacks!!!
Gideon sets up the footage that the Legends found and plays it on the screen, revealing a large monster. Sara and Zari turn to Charlie, and ask what it is. Charlie says that she's never seen it before. Zari suggests that Charlie hadn't met it before, but Charlie says they shouldn't blame fugitives for everything, and thinks that the monster is man made. She get's in Zari's face, and asks if she had thought of that. Zari moves towards her and says that if the creature was man made it wouldn't have read as magical, and would like to know why they're here. Charlie says that since Zari's the time traveler, she should figure it out, and walks away. The Legends head to the pier, as Zari looks at her tablet, and reads the scans of the area. Charlie sarcastically says do they need all those reading if they're just going to end up back where the film was shot. Zari says that they're being thorough, but Charlie says that they're using fancy tech instead of their heads. Zari quickly turns back and says that she preferred Charlie in a cage. Sara breaks them up, and tells them how they're going to catch the monster.

Hell No, Dolly!
The Legends arrive in New Orleans, Zari noting how it doesn't even look like America. Charlie says it might as well not be since it's New Orleans. Zari asks if she's been here before, Charlie confirming so, and how easy it was for her to blend in.

Zari and Charlie can't find John, and ask Gideon to track him, but John had been refusing to wear his comms. Gideon does inform them that John is wearing a tracker, and they wait for her to tell them where he is. They get the location and rush to save him, but John brushes off their concern. They find out what the fugitive is and go back to the ship, informing Sara. John and Charlie leave New Orleans 2018, but find that saving Dez didn't work. They're about to turn around and attempt to try again, but Zari makes them return to the Waverider and explain. Once there, John explains to Zari and Charlie how Dez had been banished to hell and it was his fault, so he wanted to go back and stop him and Dez from meeting. Charlie asks why it didn't work, and Zari explains that some points in history are fixed, and John and Dez are most likely supposed to meet. Zari tells John that she's going to find a loophole to save Dez and history.

Zari goes to talk to John, starting to explain that somethings you're not able to change before realizing something is wrong. She realizes that John is actually Charlie in disguise, just as Charlie falls out of her shift. Zari is about to ask about the shapeshifting but stops herself and asks where John went. Zari pulls Charlie to the jumpship, telling her that the last time they did something like this, time was nearly destroyed. Charlie pulls out of Zari's grasp and asks how she's even going to find John. Zari says she'll use the tracker, but realizes that Charlie already told John. She angrily asks why Charlie is so willing to risk all of reality, and Charlie confesses that she's dying. Charlie explains that John taking away her powers, also took away her immortality. If John never joined the Legends he would have never taken away her powers, and she would still be immortal. Zari is annoyed that Charlie would ruin all of reality for immortality and tells her that if John fails that Charlie was headed to the Time Bureau, angrily walking to the jumpship. Zari calls John from the jumpship but is unable to stop him. Zari tries to get in contact with Sara but it doesn't work. Charlie tells her that John hasn't done anything yet since she's still stuck as Amaya, but the jumpship is suddenly struck by a large wave of light that knocks them out. Charlie gets up, her powers back and goes to Zari happily. But Zari isn't in the pilot seat, and instead there is a cat. She asks where Zari is, before noticing that the collar around the cat's neck is Zari's bracelet, and realizing that the cat is Zari.

Legends Of To-Meow-Meow
Charlie is amazed that Constantine was able to save Dez, Zari meows at her, but Charlie doesn't have an answer as to why Zari's now a cat. Charlie tells her to stop complaining, even though it kind of sucks for Zari, and picks her up. She tells her that it's been an experience, and takes the jumpship to Las Vegas, before sending Zari back via auto-pilot. Charlie comes across a messed up version of the Legends, The Custodians of the Chronology, and sneaks onto the Waverider to find out what's wrong. She finds Cat Zari in the library, happy to see her again, but Zari just meows at her angrily. Charlie asks what's going on as Gideon appears, and tells her that Zari was turned into a cat when the Legends encountered the fairy godmother, and how the Legends turned shoot on sight after Woodstock. Charlie impersonates Sara to change things only to find out Sara's dead and runs away. Zari meows at her from the library. She pauses and decides to take Zari with her to the jumpship. Once they get away from the Waverider, Zari suggests finding Constantine, and is able to find him with the jumpship at the Time Bureau headquarters. Charlie finds Constantine in a cell and brings Zari over. Constantine turns her back to human, and starts to yell at Charlie and Constantine. Charlie and Zari then quickly catch Constantine up on what's going on. Charlie and Constantine decide that the only way to fix everything is to save Sara at Woodstock, but Zari says that they need to put history back the way it should be. Charlie says that they don't need to do that, since saving Sara will fix everything. Zari says that she has to stop them, but Constantine turns her back into a cat before she can get the chance. Charlie takes her in the carry on and they set out to save Sara.

They're able to save Sara, but Zari is still a cat, so there's defiantly still a problem. Zari tells them to go to New Orleans, but Charlie says no, and heads back to the time bureau to figure out what went wrong. She discovers that the fairy godmother killed Mick, Nate and Ray so they head back and stop the godmother, only for Zari to now be a puppet.

They go back to fix it only to have something else go wrong, and have to fix history several more times before having no one die. Charlie thinks they're in the clear, but Zari notices that there's something wrong with Constantine as he passes out. Zari and Charlie help him to his feet, and Zari says that Constantine's brain can't handle the fractured timeline. Charlie says to leave him alone, but Zari tells her that just because that no one's dead, it doesn't mean that history is fixed. Constantine finally agrees with Zari, but Charlie becomes angry and starts to go at Zari. Zari throws her back against the wall with her totem and leaves to go fix history with Constantine.

They fix the timeline, Charlie coming to the realization that she's needed as a Legends more than she needs her powers, and meet at the jumpship. Both Constantine and Charlie are upset at their circumstances, but Zari says that it had to be done and they head back to the Waverider. They find everything back to normal, and Zari and Charlie leave Constantine to talk to Sara about what happened. Charlie catches up to Zari and says that she wants to apologize. Zari asks what for specifically, and Charlie says that she's sorry for getting off on the wrong foot with Zari. Zari says that Charlie's a trickster, but Charlie stops her and says that she's being honest. She tells Zari that she could have been anyone after getting her powers back, but kept going back to Amaya. Zari sarcastically suggests that it's because Amaya is hot, but Charlie says that it's the form she had when she joined the Legends. She's hung around a lot of different groups, but the Legends, they're not that bad. Zari tells her that destroying history for a selfish reason has happened to most of the Legends, practically a right of passage, and continues to walk down the corridor. Charlie walks beside her, and asks about Zari thinking she's hot, Zari rolling her eyes at the statement.

Season 4
Wet Hot American Bummer
 * When Ava comments on how Charlie doesn't talk, Zari says that she does
 * Zari says that Charlie's not trying to kill people when Ava questions why they didn't send her to hell
 * Charlie blows Zari a kiss as she leaves the lab

Tagumo Attacks!!!
 * Zari says that she feels conspicuous on the movie set in Japan, and Charlie tells her to just act like she belongs.
 * Charlie steals some of Zari's popcorn.
 * When Charlie talks about Bridget, Zari just shakes her head in confusion.
 * Charlie and Zari watch and cheer on Garima as she takes out Tagumo.

Tender is the Nate
 * Zari tells Sara that Charlie is in the lab.
 * Zari tries to stop Nate from seeing Charlie.
 * Zari is annoyed at Charlie's impression of Amaya, and her insults towards her.

Hell No, Dolly!
 * Charlie tells Zari what a divic is.

Legends of To-Meow-Meow
 * Charlie tells Zari that her as a cat is "cute as hell".
 * Charlie says that Zari did nice work finding Constantine.
 * Charlie tells Constantine not to listen to Zari.
 * Charlie pats Zari's shoulder as they leave the bridge.

Séance & Sensibility
 * Zari sprays Charlie with the love/lust dust.

Season 5
Mortal Khanbat
 * Behrad introduces Zari to Charlie.
 * Zari compliments Charlie's fashion sense.
 * Charlie checks out Zari.
 * Charlie stands next to Zari during the briefing.
 * Charlie tells Zari that she had fun during the mission.
 * Zari is fascinated by Charlie being a shape-shifter.

Quotes
"So, you think I'm hot then?"

- Charlie to Zari; Legends of To-Meow-Meow

Behind the Scenes
"I love that! No, we were always fighting for them to be together. We kept trying to get the writers to write it in, especially for Charlie and Zari. And they didn’t do it. But in our hearts, they have a whole other love story going on."

- Maisie Richardson-Sellers

"No, I mean, we talked about it so often, and it was so fun to have that chemistry. We didn’t know it was going to happen, both as Amaya and Zari, and as Charlie and Zari. We’d get on set and we’d do a scene and it was just chemistry. And it was just crazy. And we both felt it, and we both were, you know, enjoying it, and we both wish that it had happened."

- Maisie Richardson-Sellers

"I always wanted- well changing Charlie and another character. I really wanted the Charlie and Zari thing to happen. 'Cause I think we had such good chemistry, and it almost happened so many times. The writers actually wrote it in and then it got cut out. But in another world Zarlie are happily married...We actually shot, we even shot a scene, like, a make out scene. The last day of the finale. And then they cut it."

- Maisie Richardson-Sellers

"Zari 1.0. It was a goodbye kiss, Charlie knowing she would never see Z again, and deciding to take that leap before Z had to go back into the totem."

- Keto Shimizu

Fanon
Fans started to ship the two after the reveal the Maisie Richardson-Sellers was announced to play a new character. This was due to Maisie previously playing Amaya, who many also shipped Zari with. Although fan fiction and art was not created, as many didn't have any concept of the character, fans were excited to see the two interact since Maisie and Tala Ashe had amazing chemistry during the third season. Fans who were not already shipping the two started to ship after their very brief interaction in Dancing Queen.

More fans started to ship the two after their interactions in Wet Hot American Bummer. As the two continued to interact, many noted the tension between them, specifically comparing their interactions to early Avalance ones. Ava and Sara's relationship followed a very similar path to Zari and Charlie's, with the two not getting along, snarky back-and-forth's, eventually getting along, with the first type of interaction having some admittance that one of them was hot. Tagumo Attacks!!! made the ship stick for many, and where many of its shippers latched on.

Some shippers decided to stick Zamaya as their main pairing, while others would multi-ship or moved onto Zarlie. Multi-shippers played around with the idea of Zari being in love with Amaya, and having to deal with Charlie from that perspective.

At the end of the season 4 mid-season finale, Legends of To-Meow-Meow, Zari indirectly called Charlie hot, which caused fans of both Zamaya and Zarlie became really excited for their ships. Charlie asking about Zari finding her hot made fans of the pairing even more excited. Many starting to believe that the ship might become canon during the second half of the season. Some of the fans were also skeptical however, as Legends already had two queer couples on the show, and many genre shows don't typically have that many. Their skepticism was proved when Nate and Zari got together during the second half of the season.

After Zari was erased from the timeline, fans were waiting at the beginning of the fifth season for the two to meet again, and what Charlie's reaction to new Zari would be. Although their first interactions were minimal, fans greatly enjoyed the two's interactions when they met again and believed that the two were flirting. There was expressed disappointment when it was revealed that Charlie and Behrad slept together. Many people pointing out that because Behrad took Zari's place in the timeline, it meant that Zari and Charlie's interactions could be read as romantic. Most of the rest of the season was Zarlie fans picking at crumbs and the two barely interacted.

At GalaxyCon 2021, Maisie revealed that there was a filmed kiss between Zari and Charlie. Zarlie fans quickly came back to the fandom, celebrating the win. The point that it was the network stopping the relationship from happening caused many fans to be upset.

On AO3, Zarlie is the most written relationship for Charlie and the second most written for Zari. It is also the ninth most written ship in the Legends of Tomorrow tag.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION
 * Zari/Charlie on FanFiction.Net
 * Zari/Charlie on FanFiction.Net


 * TUMBLR


 * TWITTER

Trivia

 * On twitter, Maisie and Tala said that they would be down for a relationship between the two.