I fell for my first ever OTP because in his story fate had treated my favourite character very poorly (especially in the film version of his story) and I wanted a happy end for him - which came in the shape of the unconditional love of a strong, supportive partner who saw and appreciated all that my fav character did and had done and that was overlooked or not understood by everyone else around them.

This. It's simply the reason I ship. And the reason I'm so protective of the ship, and want to keep its integrity strong by encouraging writers and artist to contribute to it. I can get horribly gung-ho about it at times, but when you love something, you want to take care of it and see that it thrives.