Here is where I state my opinions on why the pairing works and how it fits the game’s story. I will also bring up counter-arguments that others have made and show why they don’t dissuade me from liking the pairing. Keep in mind that these are just my opinions, not facts. I do not need to be flamed over this section because your opinions on pairings or even reasons differ. I don’t spend my time flaming others over their pairings, and would appreciate if they give me the same respect.
All information is taken from the original and remake versions of the game. I won’t be using original scenes from the Manga or Drama CDs because they aren’t directly written by Namco (that and I have no translation for said Drama CDs). However, in the event that I see something in the Manga’s version of a scene already in the game, or covering an emotional state seen in the games but the game scenes aren’t there for whatever reason, I might bring it up. Basically, only if the Manga is backed up by facts in-game will it be mentioned. Keep in mind that there will be scenes covered in the various sections mentioned here, however that time was more the facts of those scenes while here we have opinions on why it matters and how it ties in to their affection.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s begin…

Stahn and Rutee, to put it lightly, embody the plot device of two people that seem to not get along but are either canonically paired together or, in cases where there are no canonical love interests for the two characters, have a strong fanon following. Generally, the two characters in question have opposite personalities that clash, and are both very headstrong; they don’t want to give in during an argument because they want to be right. However, either through some tragic event that causes at least one of them to be put through pain or simply the course of their adventure, they begin to gain an understanding of one another. Their fights grow less and less and their supporting the other grows more and more.

Lack of a Lead:One of the major arguments against this pairing that I’ve seen is that it was all of a sudden, that it happened in the second half and thus really had nothing building up to it. Some of the yaoi fans claim that he only moved on to liking her after Leon died (a few going as far to say that he only fell for her because she was Leon’s sister, despite the two being nothing alike personality-wise). Maybe they weren’t head-over-heels in love from the get go, but that doesn’t mean that there was no buildup at all.
You first see direct signs of Rutee liking Stahn after Ilene asks him out on a date. She literally drags Mary out of the mansion, around Neustadt and even to the arena (though they don’t buy tickets so they don’t go in). Right before making that decision, she’d planned on taking a nap in her room. However, the second she found out he was going out with Ilene, she was instantly angry, saying she couldn’t stand the fact that he was going out with an older woman.
The next morning, her rage hadn’t ceased and she lashed out at Philia after finding out Batista had escaped. However, when Stahn takes the priestess’s side, she immediately jumps to the conclusion that he liked Philia better than her, even though she was being unreasonable. Perhaps, her blaming Philia was less something she believed and more an unconscious attempt to make herself seem more desirable to Stahn.
Though the previous two scenes were struck out from the Remake, due to the lack of a date with Ilene and the Batista escape thing being done a lot quicker, they were made up for with some other scenes in the Aquaveil area. First, after Stahn and Leon had their “guy talk” moment on the ship, Rutee seems to get pensive and tries to stare at the water. Though Rutee didn’t hear any of their conversation, I often wonder if she might have known that Stahn was talking about Ilene (she had seemed to question when Stahn mentioned their talk on ideals). Perhaps it was a more subdued form of her showing jealousy than following them all over town to spy on them.
In the caves to Moreau, Stahn and Rutee both fell in a hole. While Leon and the others returned to Sheeden for rope (as confirmed in the Director’s Cut during Leon Mode), Stahn told Rutee to be more careful, seeing as it was her decision to count Gald and freak out over one missing piece that caused the mess. Rutee began yelling that he didn’t understand, inadvertently blurting out that she couldn’t protect anyone if she was poor. However, instead of pushing Stahn away, she showed him her more vulnerable side. He began to see that she was nobler than she appeared, and told her that her family probably worried about her. Of course, when the team was about to split up, she tried to tell him the full story of her money issues and the people she was protecting, but said she was kidding afterwards.
Her telling him about her issues with money was less accidental and more deliberate in the original version of the game, but she eventually let him know the truth all the same. On the Draconis, as they returned from defeating Lydon, Stahn found her on the deck after she’d left her room. There, Rutee told him all about how she needed money to save the people who raised her, the people she owed her life to. In this instance, her motive for telling him was to get it off her chest, thinking the two would never see one another again. Though she tried to joke around afterwards, she never backpedaled about her intentions as she did in the Remake. And let’s not forget him deciding to give her the entire reward, as well as his stash of Gald and Lens, before leaving for Lienea.
Another telling thing was when Stahn came to pick her up when the second half started. In the original, you would have at least Philia and possibly Garr in your party at the time and the human members of the party wanted to leave Rutee behind, seeing her happy with the children at the orphanage. They were met with complaints from Dymlos and Clemente, both who saw the need for Rutee’s abilities as a Swordian Master. Said argument was overheard by Rutee, and she immediately jumped to conclusions, thinking that Stahn just wanted to be with Philia. She demands to go along since “being left out in the cold is no fun.” That line may or may not be a reference to her having been abandoned as a kid, but is definitely alluding to how she wants to be with Stahn. As they question the fact that she’s happy with the orphans, Rutee says she wants to protect the children.
Though Stahn still doesn’t want to take her in the Remake, and for the same reasons, he’s all alone so her jealousy doesn’t come out as much. However, since he’s come back to her home, Stahn realizes that she wasn’t lying before; she really is protecting orphans. Once she’s caught onto him being there, he has no more complaints about her coming. Note this is also the home of the “Cute Wife” skit, where Rutee tells Stahn about her dream, only to have him hope she fulfills it.
We move on to after Rutee has been informed about her past. In the original, Leon did it as they were fighting, practically mocking her in the process. Stahn noticed she was upset and told him to stop tormenting her. However, the Remake didn’t have such a scene. Instead, Leon told her after he put them on the lift and prepared to sacrifice himself. Seeing as the guys were better friends this time around and were not about to skewer each other, he was more worried about his friend’s death than a cryptic statement about the girl’s past. Instead, the developers made up for this change with something even better…
Rutee managed to keep her problems from being known to all but Mary until after the team found the R Key (mainly because nobody sans the two girls and Stahn knew Hugo was Leon’s father, he told Rutee the truth in such a cryptic way and Stahn was absorbed in his own anger over Leon’s death). Finally backed into a corner and forced to admit the truth, Rutee immediately begins acting like she doesn’t care about Hugo or Leon.
After arguing with Chelsea, she runs off, leaving Stahn to go after her. The girl keeps insisting that she doesn’t care, even telling Stahn that he just wants to see her cry after he notices she’s lying to herself. Finally, after he tells her that she can’t get helped like this, the girl finally admits that she is upset. Even though she didn’t like him, Leon’s death is causing her pain. Stahn offers to let her cry with him (in his arms, no less) and she does…feeling much better afterwards. Not only did his cheering Rutee up allow her to get over her pain, it helps Stahn to finally come to grips with his emotions following Leon’s death…as if to say that the loss of someone close to them both allowed them to come together.
But what is really interesting about this scene is that Mary insisted Stahn be the one to take care of Rutee as the younger girl wouldn’t listen to her. She didn’t want to open up to her best friend, but she would open up to him. Perhaps Mary knew what Rutee was feeling (from comments made earlier) and wanted her to find happiness with Stahn.
We skip ahead two dungeons, until Ilene jumps to her doom after the fight in Helraios. As she was Stahn’s first crush, he was greatly upset by what happened. You’d think they’d sent someone sensitive like Philia to go talk with him and leave Clemente with the other Masters as they did the repair work on Igtenos. However, instead Rutee goes on her own with full intent of cheering Stahn up. In the original, she does so by telling him that she values the world, even though there are bad people in it, and that she also fights for her family as he does. In the Remake, she tells him that fighting for his ideals are important, and that he can protect the people he cares for at that time in addition to the family he hopes to raise someday. But both versions have Rutee’s words be the thing that cheers him up in the end.
Their next major scene is after Hugo’s defeat. In the original, he has time to tell Rutee the truth before passing on. Seeing her upset over her father’s death, now knowing that she really was loved, Stahn tells her that getting the chance to speak with her in that manner allowed him to find his happiness, seemingly cheering her up (of course, Kronos’ revival cut short what could have been a very fluffy scene).
In the Remake, however, Kronos is revived before Hugo gets that moment (he possesses Hugo until he is revived, and even consumes the other man’s body to recreate his own). But when Kronos begins taunting Rutee about what happened with her father, Stahn immediately jumps to her defense, yelling that he doesn’t have a human’s heart if he laughs at her family issues. Of course, he can’t quite back up his bold words with actions, but he still aimed to protect her nonetheless. And when he wakes up in Fayte’s ship, the first thing on his mind after getting his bearings is whether or not Rutee is safe.
But perhaps the biggest scene, the culmination of all the ones so far, is the night before the final battle. Though both versions differ in intensity, both are ignited by Philia practically sending Stahn out to find Rutee instead of admitting her own feelings for him. In the original, she is in the bar, thinking about all that happened in her past to her and her family. Stahn offers to listen, but Rutee tells him that his words are enough and they need to rest up for the final battle.
It’s the remake where this scene really shines, however. Instead of finding her in the bar, he finds her sitting on the bench outside Hugo’s mansion. Since Rutee doesn’t mention that she’s thinking about her past in this version, the venue was possibly chosen to reflect those thoughts instead. They begin by thinking of how it all started, and Stahn’s being saved by an unknown person when he was cornered by the Captain of the Draconis. Rutee admits that it was her (though her intentions were most likely far from honorable, it serves as dramatic irony considering all he helped her through during the game). As the talk goes on, Stahn asks Rutee to come on a journey with him. Though she’s wary of his reason, he admits that he wants to be with her from then on. Rutee still won’t tell him her decision, instead making him promise to survive the last battle so she can tell him then.
Finally, we get to the end of the game itself. Stahn is upset to find that Rutee hasn’t come to their reunion party, only to have her jump off the roof of the house and knock him down (he doesn’t fall down in the remake, and is just shocked by her actions). Originally, she simply teased him about becoming soft from living in the country, showing the playful nature he knows all too well. However, in the Remake she finally gives him the answer to his question…announcing that the two of them will be going on a journey together. Of course, everyone else seems to realize that it’s more than just a friendly journey, but Stahn is embarrassed by their responses. Most likely, he didn’t quite understand what he was saying, only telling her what he truly felt.
Personally, I found this type of build up to be refreshing. While the tough girl heroine is more common in anime, RPG heroines are generally the shy, demure types that always get captured…even when they display the argumentative factor with their love interest. And even the tough girls end up needing to be saved in most RPGs (I’ll name Grandia as an offender here). Stahn has only had to rescue Rutee one time, and that was from a trap in some ruins rather than her being captured by the enemy. Not only that, despite their opposite personalities, when push comes to shove they work well together.
The reason that the romance isn’t there from the beginning comes right back to those personalities. Rutee isn’t the type to outwardly admit romantic feelings for someone else. While not as cold and distant as Leon, she still feels that she should rely on herself in life and not lean on other people (instead, just get what mileage she can and run away). That’s probably a reason that her jealousy over Ilene and Philia was the first thing shown…it’s an easier emotion for her to grasp than outright affection. Stahn’s influence begins to change her, as she herself says by the Draconis in the original, and she feels more honest and open. Certainly, she was attracted to him long before that, but it was only before they were about to go their separate ways that she felt comfortable enough to confide in him.
Besides…ToD was not marketed as a romance game. If you wanted that, you’d play ToD2 where Kyle’s relationship with Reala was a focal point in-game. Here, we have a story more focused on struggle to protect the world, not the conflict between protecting the world and the one you hold most dear (though that was in ToD, it was for Leon and Marian).

Now I will get into the various alternate pairings, why people say they’re better and my explanation for the relationship. First off, I want to say that I can see where the fans of these pairings are coming from, and have nothing against their opinions; they’re free to like whatever they want. I’m not flaming any particular person, nor the pairings themselves, just giving why I think that the reasons don’t make said pairing better than Stahn/Rutee.

Leon: I’m starting here because these fans are the most vocal about bashing those of us that do like Stahn/Rutee (not naming names, and I’m not saying all Stahn/Leon fans are immature pairing bashers either…some like both pairings, some are very general and like all pairings but find Stahn/Leon one their favorite and some are just more partial to yaoi than het). I can only really see this pairing happening in the Remake where they actually interact for more than a few “hey man, don’t treat us like we’re nothing” lines (whereas in the original I saw it as the typical “pair the hero with his rival” trend in yaoi). But even there, I can explain how Stahn’s friendship with Leon is not equal to love.
One thing often cited is the fact that Stahn tries his hardest to befriend Leon, despite the boy pushing him away at every turn. To me, I saw this as just another example of Stahn’s overly friendly personality. He believes in trust and friendship a great deal, and wants to be friends with everyone (heck, he spends a lot of time in-game approaching the Black Wings in sub events…even though they really aren’t his good buddies, he speaks to them like they are). Leon, on the other hand, does not trust anyone, admitting in the Director’s Cut that people only want to get close to him because he’s Hugo’s son. Between this and his messed up childhood, he can’t see such an approach as anything besides another attempt to use him for personal gain. What he doesn’t realize is that this is nothing more than Stahn being Stahn.
Out of the party, Leon is the only one who doesn’t show any real interest in being friends with him. Philia is like Stahn in her feelings about trust and friendship, Mary is a kindly big sister figure and Rutee doesn’t mind joking around and teasing him (she still hides herself and doesn’t open up, but unlike Leon she doesn’t try to push him away completely). And when other characters stay in the party for a short period of time, he quickly befriends them as well. So he wants to make a friend out of the last member of their group, because that’s just how Stahn is.
Then there is the factor of the two being the only young men in the group, and the only two human men period that are in the party for most of the first half. As Stahn says on the boat to Sheeden, “But it’s good for just guys to talk, isn’t it?” He’s hanging around with three girls all the time and thus doesn’t have many opportunities to talk about guy things (such as the person they like, as was the conversation he brought up in that scene when he talked about Ilene). Back in Lienea, he hung around with Baccus and possibly had “guy conversations” from time to time. Here, he either has to talk to Dymlos, who might not understand due to an age and time period gap, or Leon.
As to the scene where Stahn rescues Leon from being petrified, it seems to serve more as a plot device. Leon chooses to go back for the rest of the party instead of searching for Lydon (revealed in the Director’s Cut to be because of what Baruk says to him when they meet in town). Being rescued by Stahn allows him to realize that he isn’t just looked at as his father’s son…these people actually care about his wellbeing. Considering Leon eventually decides to sacrifice himself for them, he has to eventually realize that he too cares for the others…though not necessarily in a romantic way. And what better way for him to find that mindset (or the beginning of it) than to have someone show him that he’s more than just a disposable pawn to their group. Stahn’s overly friendly personality and desire to protect his friends makes him the most likely candidate to use (Rutee would seem too OOC, Mary might seem OOC and while Philia would be IC saving someone, she’s not as forward as Stahn).
Finally, we have the whole fit Stahn pitches over Leon’s death. Think of it…someone he called his best friend just died. Not only that, he was used and thrown away by his own father, going down a path that he didn’t want to walk on for the sake of someone he cared for. Even Ilene, whom Stahn had a crush on and who had good intentions, chose the path of her own free will. A kindhearted man like Stahn would definitely find a mindset of avenging that friend immediately. He’s kept on that track by his own single-mindedness to a cause…only broken free when he has a talk with, you guessed it, Rutee. Perhaps this too was used as a plot device so that he could realize something while talking with her, and his kind emotions make it easy to not sound contrived when he makes his vows to avenge Leon.

Philia: Okay, I won’t rant half as long for this one because the fans aren’t nearly as annoying about this pairing. It makes sense at first glance: they get along well, they both seem to care for each other and they share similar thoughts on friendship and trust. Stahn can protect her physically while she casts spells and Philia can explain what he doesn’t understand without teasing him (as Rutee, Leon or Dymlos would do). However, as we see from the game, Philia was fated to play the “other girl.”
Their initial closeness is what most people cite as evidence for this pairing. Now how many times in real life do people think that they like someone, only to fall in love with a completely different person? Just because they were good friends from the get-go, doesn’t mean they’re gonna be lovers. And in those early stages of the game, Stahn finds a crush on Ilene to distract him from any affection for either Philia or Rutee...
Philia is also a very self-sacrificing person. Through any and all incarnations of Destiny (games, Manga, spin-offs ala Radiant Mythology), she sees the closeness between Stahn and Rutee (in the Remake, Manga and Radiant Mythology, she even deals with feelings of jealousy). However, in the end of both the original and Remake, she sends Stahn off to find Rutee instead of telling him how she feels. When Clemente questions her about that act, she tells him either “This is the way it should be” (original) or “This is what my will leads me to do” (Remake). And in the Manga, when Kronos’ Philia clone tries to convince her that she hates Rutee due to the bond she shares with Stahn, she admits that while she does like Stahn and want to be with him, she also cares deeply for Rutee and wants to fight to protect the world they live in. Obviously, she has made the decision to keep her own emotions inside because she believes Stahn is in love with Rutee, and is willing to sacrifice her own happiness for that of her two friends.

Ilene: Though Stahn has a crush on her after their meeting in Neustadt, it is obvious that they won’t get together by the end of the story. For one, 9 times out of 10 the hero is going to either get with a member of the party (regardless of whether or not they stay the whole game) or the NPC he likes becomes a late joining member of the party. And for two, she doesn’t seem like a major character when she first comes on the scene (of course, she has more of a role later on but we’re talking about when they meet her). After you leave Neustadt, she’s rarely mentioned again (unless there was a skit in the original, since they were cut out of the NA version, the only times she’s mentioned are added in for the Remake…the boat scene where Stahn talks about his crush, a skit or two between Lienea and Neustadt in the second half and him asking to go visit once they actually arrive in Neustadt). You don’t meet her again until Helraios, halfway through the Aeropolis dungeons.
If she had survived, I’m sure the story might have shaped her into a possible source of competition for Stahn’s affections (since he did have a crush on her). However, she died after being defeated in battle and deciding to commit suicide by jumping off the Aethersphere. All it ended up causing was a chance for Rutee to comfort Stahn.
Ilene’s purpose in-game, and the crush Stahn had on her, seems to have been intended to act as a plot device. First, it ignited Rutee’s jealousy, seeing as it was an easier emotion for her to exhibit at the time than actually admitting to her crush on Stahn. Second, it gave a chance for her to comfort him, to make up for the emotional support he showed her throughout the game. While I won’t discount the feelings each had for the other, I believe this is why such a bond was created for Stahn in the first place.