Flintwood

Flintwood is the slash ship between Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint from the Harry Potter fandom.

Canon
Flint and Wood are rival Quidditch captains of Slytherin and Gryffindor teams respectively. In the original edition of Philosophers Stone, Marcus Flint is in his sixth year of Hogwarts and so one year ahead of Wood, who was a fifth year. However, Flint again appears again in Prisoner of Azkaban and thus creating a continuity error since Flint should have graduated by this time. J.K. Rowling acknowledged the mistake and rectified by saying that Flint failed his exams and repeated his year. However, in later editions of the Philosopher's Stone, Flint is stated to be a fifth year, presumably to clear confusion.

As a result of this, there are two canon continuities with Flintwood. The first is where Flint is a sixth year and Marcus is one below, as a fifth year. Or the second where both Flint and Wood are both fifth years.

Regardless, both Flint and Wood likely shared lessons with each other, and a rivalry between the two brewed after they became captains of their opposing teams. Flint is a chaser, whereas Wood is a keeper. These positions are usually in direct opposition with each other while on the field, since the keeper guards the goals and the chaser attempts to score.

They have a hostile relationship with each other and each are shown to be competitive in regards to Quidditch. Flint is known to be violent Quidditch player, even earning himself a foul from Madam Hooch after he attempted to block Harry Potter in a match during Harry’s first year. In appearance, Flint is larger than Wood.

In Flint and Wood’s sixth year at Hogwarts, the pair have a disagreement over who booked the Quidditch field. Wood was dismayed to find that Flint was on the field and with clear anger told him to clear off. Flint only joked that they could both use the field and further explained that Professor Snape had booked the court for them, bringing an end to the argument. Wood learns from Flint that the Slytherin team had employed Draco as a new seeker. Flint casually boasts about Malfoy’s Nimbus Two Thousand and One broom, likely in attempt to make Flint jealous.

Later, Flint and Wood both play in the Slytherin vs Gryffindor match. Madam Hooch asked both of them to shake hands, which they both do while giving each other threatening stares and gripping harder than necessary.

After Wood leaves Hogwarts, he joins the the Puddlemere United team as a Reverse Keeper. It is unknown what happened to Flint and whenever he went pro in Quidditch.

Fanon
Flintwood is a rarepair ship, but does have a decent amount of popularity and is a somewhat notable HP slash pairing.

It is an akin to the popular pairing Drarry, with Flint and Wood also coming from the rival houses Slytherin and Gryffindor. This rivalry goes a little further since both are captains of their respective Quidditch team, and so their rivalry in centred more around Quidditch. Many fans ship them due to this Quidditch rivalry (that beckons similarity to real-world sport rivalries) and the popularity of the enemies to lovers trope.

Back during LiveJournal era of fandom when ship mainfestos were still popular, user Sam (apillarofsalt) wrote an Oliver/Marcus manifesto where she spoke about how they ‘complimented’ each other well. She said the following:

"They're authority figures, but how they run their teams are vastly different. Oliver is the model of order, having rigidly scheduled practices and tactics, while Marcus is the model of chaos, taking great joy in disrupting Oliver's schedule ever chance he can. [...] They're compliments, moreso than, I think, anyone else in the books. Order and chaos, war and peace. One can't exist without the other, etc."

- Sam (apillarofsalt)

In fanfiction, Flintwood fics are most commonly related to Quidditch, and particularly the boys almost-unhealthy obsession with the game. Fics are usually set either during either canon of the first three books (where the pair are in their final years at Hogwarts) or after the pair leave Hogwarts. In canon, only Oliver is known to have gone Quidditch pro and join the Puddlemere United team. It is unknown what happened to Marcus, but fanfics often explore the idea that Marcus also went pro, often with Falmouth Falcons, due to their reputation for being violent.

The ship occasionally rivals the somewhat more common Perciver (Percy/Oliver) ship. Percy is even sometimes depicted as a rival for Oliver's affection in some Flintwood fics. Inevitability, some fans also ship the characters in the poly pairing Percivercus. As of March 2019, Flintwood has over 400 fics on Archive of Our Own. It is the second most popular ship for Oliver Wood (with the first being Perciver) and the most popular for Marcus.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

WIKIS

Quotes
"Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary."

- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Variations

 * Percivercus refers to the ship between Oliver, Marcus and Percy Weasley.

Trivia

 * Oliver’s first name means ‘peace’, and Marcus means ‘war’. These are polar opposites of each other. Similarly, a ‘flint’ is something used to start a fire with ‘wood’.
 * This naming could be seen as puns related to Flintwood’s rivalry.