Valfen

"I am my Lord's personal steward. I will do anything for you, my Lord! ...Even if it involves sardines."

- Fenrich

Valfen is the slash ship between Valvatorez and Fenrich from the Disgaea 4 fandom.

Canon
Valvatorez and Fenrich have been traveling and living together for 400 years. They first met after Fenrich was hired to assassinate him, didn't go through with it, and Valvatorez (literally) took a bullet for him. After that, he made a vow to serve Val for as long as the moon shines. Fenrich usually calls Valvatorez "my Lord," but has a nickname only he uses of "Lord Val." Valvatorez calls him by name, but in one chapter refers to him as "my Fenrich."

Fenrich is loyal, protective, and often shown to be possessive of Valvatorez. This is especially the case when it comes to his semi-canon love interest Artina. Other characters joke about this (for example, Fuka asking if Fenrich "swings that way"), but are wary of coming between them. The three girl heroines of the series, Fuka, Desco, and Artina, ship and fangirl over the two. And sometimes even NPCs and their male ally, Emizel.

Valvatorez thinks highly of Fenrich as well, and in his Disgaea 5 cameo calls Fenrich "the perfect demon for him." He's pretty much the only character who can get through to him. Valvatorez, as mentioned earlier, protected him from getting shot and carried him all the way back to their camp. And much later when he does think Fenrich has died, he's incredibly upset. During their epilogue, he acts amused by how flustered Fenrich is and basically teases him the whole time.

In the game mechanics, skills exclusive between the two are unlockable. Fenrich's stats go up when he's standing next to Valvatorez, if Valvatorez gets hurt, and can go as far to even take half his damage. After completing the relationship meant for them on the Legendary Tree, their combo attack rate goes up to 99%.

Songs
One song in the Disgaea 4 OST, Naked Requiem, is from Fenrich's point of view. It's known for having some revealing lyrics.

Fanon
Even if a player doesn't ship it, it's hard to deny the subtext, which is acknowledged pretty universally throughout the fandom. The ship's rival is Valtina, the het ship between Valvatorez/Artina, but some people ship Fenvaltina or even Fentina instead. (Fenrich/Valvatorez/Artina and Fenrich/Artina.)

While the game came out in 2014 with a small fandom, the ship is just as popular in Japan, if not more so.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR
 * @fenrichsthirstisreal
 * @fenrichsthirstisreal