Love blossoms on the battlefield just as much as violence does in Apex Legends, with the charismatic personalities of the Games inevitably attracting one another season over season. Diversity has long been at the core of Apex‘s character development, and it’s through both its canon—and teased—relationships between them that we see this most prominently.
As of the start of season 18, Apex Legends has four confirmed relationships in the lore. Of these, however, only two couples are still together while the other two find themselves estranged in some manner. As we look at hints hidden within the story though, there are even more pairings saddled with the potential for future romance amidst the chaos and gunfire.
Here are all of the canon relationships in Apex and how they came to be, as well as the couples that have been teased for future stories.
List of all relationships in Apex Legends
Confirmed relationships in Apex Legends
Fuse and Bloodhound
One of Apex‘s most talked about couples, Fuse and Bloodhound transcended their immediate popularity in fandom during season eight to become the real deal in a radio play released before season 15. Fuse was confirmed to be pansexual by Respawn ahead of his release, and the chemistry he displayed with Apex‘s resident non-binary hunter in the “Armageddon” comic quickly gave wings to the ship.
The two legends gradually grew closer over time, with Bloodhound seeing some of their ex-lover Boone in Fuse, and Fuse seeing a capable and charming confidant in Bloodhound. In season 14, Fuse began to flirt with Bloodhound more directly and Vantage—the new kid on the block—was quick to pick up on how flustered the Salvonian was making the otherwise stoic hunter during the “Friends Like These” quest.
Bloodhound’s realization of how close they had become scared them initially, retreating from Fuse’s advances until Fuse was able to get them alone on a woodland hunt to talk it out. Here, Fuse came clean about his attraction to them, telling a stunned Bloodhound “what we got mate… I ain’t felt with anyone.” Bloodhound admitted that they felt the same but they were afraid of love, only calmed enough to embrace Fuse once he promised them “I’m not going anywhere.”
With Season 18, the FuseHound (canonical ship name for Fuse and Bloodhound) fans rejoiced over the new interaction voice lines between the two. Notably, Bloodhound reminded Fuse that he isn’t responsible for Ajay’s personality shift and even saying “Thank you, my Walter.” Long time fans of the series may pick up on how this affirmation isn’t new for the characters, with Fuse telling Bloodhound in season 10 that Talos’s problems weren’t on them.
Their communication and support help Bloodhound and Fuse remain wildly compatible and one of the most popular and healthiest Apex Legends relationships.
Loba and Valkyrie
Loba and Valkyrie’s relationship was born out of a chaotic set of circumstances. When Valkyrie arrived at the Apex Games in season nine, Olympus was under siege from deadly Medusa Vines that destroyed power grids, water mains and even infected humans with a fatal virus. One of those infected humans was Bangalore, Loba’s current love interest.
With Bangalore having only days to live, Loba and the other legends set out to find a cure. Valkyrie tagged along to help, all the while trying to flirt and get into the good graces of the resident translocating thief.
Those efforts seemed to bounce off of her unsuccessfully, but that all started to change when they returned from their mission. Loba overhead Bangalore tell Rampart and Gibraltar “Loba and I? We’re just friends” in the hospital, something that stunned and enraged her as she already saw the two of them as an item. Despite Bangalore admitting to feeling otherwise later on, the damage was already done and when Valkyrie offered a night out to Loba in the aftermath, she was glad to take it.
Even though the relationship initially started as a rebound, Loba and Valkyrie have remained together in the seasons following, flirting back and forth in their in-game interactions as Loba gradually tries to move on from Bangalore. A few panels from the season 11 comic “An Offer She Just Can’t Refuse” also showed them on a date outside of the Games at a fairground.
The season 14 comic continued their complicated relationship, when Valkyrie was revealed to have made a deal with Revenant and told him that his source code was not on Gridiron as Loba had previously convinced him of. In fact, it was speculated that Loba was distracted in season 14 due to Bangalore not leaving.
Unfortunately, season 18 doesn’t provide much relief for the LoValk fans. Valkyrie still loves Loba and is desperate to save the relationship. Meanwhile Loba is obsessed with making Revenant suffer, regardless of who she drags down in the process. At this point, Revenant still hasn’t told Loba about the deal he cut with Valkyrie, which makes this relationship a ticking time bomb.
Loba and Bangalore
Similar to Fuse and Bloodhound, Loba and Bangalore was a popular fandom ship that briefly saw explicit confirmation in canon as well, but ended in tragedy. The pair started off as enemies in season five’s “The Broken Ghost” quest, but after Loba’s true intentions and past were revealed, Bangalore quickly became her closest and most reliable ally in the Apex Games.
The closeness of their bond was made clear through a variety of interactions that they shared between season six and season nine. This included one where Revenant mentioned that they go out on girls’ nights, as well as Bangalore being the first person Loba warned when Revenant said that he would destroy everything Loba loved following their confrontation in season seven.
Season nine would be when Loba made her romantic attraction to Bangalore explicit, seeing the two of them as an item already even as Bangalore seemed hesitant to accept any offers for a date. It’s what made Bangalore’s assertion to Rampart and Gibraltar that the two were “just friends” so hurtful to Loba, who accidentally overheard them while bringing Bangalore flowers in the hospital.
It was only in the epilogue that Bangalore slipped up that she also had romantic feelings for Loba to Wraith, something later expanded upon in the “Williams Sendoff” Chronicle event when she recounted how Loba had her “shook like a greenhorn on my first deploy” from day one.
The two’s friendship following the miscommunication and ‘breakup’ at the end of season nine has been turbulent, to say the least, with both still harboring feelings of love and resentment toward one another. The season 13 launch trailer originally suggested that, at the very least, Bangalore had accepted their current status, offering special attention to her and Valkyrie that clearly signaled she would be there for Loba regardless.
Season 18 regretfully continues Loba’s cold shoulder to Bangalore, with their voice lines showing Bang attempting to show support for Loba and asking “You’re taking care of yourself, right?” and Loba stonewalling any attempts at conversation.
A good amount of fans think that Bangalore and Loba’s relationship makes a lot more sense narratively than Valkyrie and Loba, and that a reconciliation could be on the horizon. However, Loba has proved to be pretty unpopular this season on her own due to her choices surrounding Revenant.
Gibraltar and Nik
Holding the title for both the first canon relationship and the first kiss in Apex Legends, Gibraltar and Nik have been a romance in the lore since day one. Gibraltar is a gay man, and Nik was a teenage love that turned tragic when the two of them stole his father’s motorcycle and got trapped in a mudslide that claimed his father’s arm when he came to rescue them. Nik lied to protect Gibraltar from consequences, taking the fall so Gibraltar could become the hero that Nik always saw him as.
Their relationship over the years became fractured, with the two breaking up in part due to Gibraltar’s guilt and Nik even eventually had a child while trying to get over him. In the season seven comic “Family Portrait”, Gibraltar confessed that he wanted to try and rebuild their relationship, but Nik feared the disorder it could bring to his life when he and his son were finally reaching stability.
The pair would once again come into focus during season nine in “The Boy Who Hated Gibraltar,” when Nik’s son Michael was infected by the Medusa Vines and Gibraltar swore to protect them at all costs. Nik broke down at the fear of losing Michael, and the two embraced once more in the hospital as a sign that their past scars were starting to heal.
Unfortunately, season 18 hasn’t provided an update for the two. Many fans are clamoring for Gibraltar to be pushed back into the fray and get some interactions with other Legends.
Unconfirmed relationships in Apex Legends
Crypto and Wattson
This pair have had a close friendship since season five, but Crypto’s closed-off nature and a moment of miscommunication where it was believed that Crypto had betrayed the legends during “The Broken Ghost” have meant there have been few opportunities for them to bond more intimately. It was only after Crypto told her the truth about his real name and his past during a season seven radio play that she began to truly trust him.
Since then, the two have shared a number of interactions and plotlines that hint at them growing closer. Wattson has been shown to be learning a bit of Korean—no doubt picked up from her time spent with Crypto—and she has also been helping him to find out more about his sister and the Syndicate.
One of the main pieces of evidence that they could become a couple in the future came during the season 14 “Friends Like These” quest, where Crypto’s sister Mila admits to her that Crypto “likes you a lot” and Wattson blushes in response at the thought that Crypto might like her as more than just a friend. Mila also tells her to keep the fact that they talked at all a secret from him, however, constituting a major break in the trust that the two of them built up over previous seasons that they would be honest with one another. Keeping secrets was how they ended up divided in the first place, so there was no telling how this may affect them going forward.
With time, the Crypto and Wattson relationship has proved unsatisfying for fans. The relationship is still promising: Crypto hates the syndicate and the games, while Wattson loves the syndicate that has given her everything, and invented the ring. (Which is the reason why the games can exist in the first place.) As of Season 18, there are sadly no new developments on the horizon!
Wraith and Wattson
Despite being a popular fandom ship, the teases and hints toward Wraith and Wattson harboring romantic feelings for one another have dried up as the seasons have gone on and other relationships have been brought to the forefront.
Season six contained one of the most notable hints toward how close the two legends were, with a revealing image of Wattson’s desk. It showed that Wraith had gifted her a knife that matched her Heirloom. A reel of the two embracing in a photo booth was displayed prominently beside a photo with her father. The final image in the reel was also torn off, with the progressively more intimate nature of the previous three implying the removed photo could have been romantic.
The two used to share a lot of interactions in the early seasons, owed in part to their intertwined backstories on Kings Canyon. The Pathfinder’s Quest book revealed that Wraith had saved Wattson from a major electrical fire in their early years before the Apex Games, even if Wattson had been in too much of a shocked state to have properly processed the identity of the “ghost” that had saved her back then.
Since season eight, these hints have all but disappeared from Apex. The two haven’t shared any significant interactions since then and their previously intertwined stories have gone their separate ways, with Wattson helping Crypto and Wraith helping Bangalore. In season 14’s quest, Wattson described Wraith as being “like family” to Vantage, potentially leaving the ship dead in the water when her relationship with Crypto was described differently in the same chapter.
Season 18 doesn’t offer any new updates on this ship, but some passionate fans are holding out on Wattson and Wraith having more interactions in the coming seasons.
Published: Sep 8, 2023 01:44 pm