That's the thing. I have got absolutely nothing against shipping. It's just the fact that I see no evidence in the game even hinting toward it. Unless them both being very attractive is a hint...
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I think this hits the nail on the head. Balthier is the most popular FFXII male and Ashe is the most popular FFXII female; I don't think it involves anything more complicated than that. People like making up relationships for fictional characters, even when there's nothing in the story to support it, just because they like the idea in their imagination. This phenomenon is far from limited to Balthier and Ashe.
Pretty much everything has been said and I agree with.
I think the pairing that got even close to a romantic pairing is Vaan and Penelo. And even then, in XII, it was clearly more like a childhood friendship going off exploring rather than a romantic thing. It's only in XII:RW that there's real hints of romance, and even then it's down to interpretation.
I quite like how XII handled relationships actually. It was very mature.
Princess/ Rouge cliche couple. That's why.
Women do love the colour rouge, I agree.
Further supported in Tactics A2, where they're basically the new Balthier and Fran :)
I think it's just a ship. People ship the most random people sometimes. Sometimes those ships make huge waves. I never get it though. I never saw those two romantically involved at all!
You will never make me stop shipping VincentxYuffie
If you want to, there are many little things that you can read into. Ashe and Balthier are among the only characters who interact privately about personal discussions (Balthier revealing that his father is Doctor Cid at Phon shore, for instance). In the background of some scenes when either Reddas or Al-Cid flirt with Ashe, you can see Balthier reacting with grimaces and annoyed looks, which some people might interpret as jealousy. Additionally, Ashe is the one shown to have the most emotional reaction when Balthier stays behind to save Fran. Balthier returning Ashe's wedding ring and Ashe crying at the reveal that Balthier is still alive also gets pointed out.
Aside from the canonical pairing of Vaan and Penelo, the Ashe/Balthier has more "evidence" than most other pairings, but at best it's a subplot, and never a fully-realized one. They bicker in a way vaguely reminiscent of how children tease each other when they like one another, and there's some pretty good evidence for at least a mutual attraction, but pushing much further than that is strictly in the realm of fan fiction, I think.