Complementary/Matching Tattoos

I am going to say one simple thing we should all remember while reading this: this whole theory is just a theory. It is not a fact. It is not something that needs to be debunked because it has never been proven. I am only making this post to offer an opinion that I would like to share since most people think this is concrete proof.
Before I start talking about each individual pairing that Larries think are complementary, I want to make an extremely important point. When people ask me about their complementary/matching tattoos, I always like to bring up this story. It perfectly portrays how you really cannot assume anything about someone’s body art:
A few months ago, someone on Tumblr got a beautiful tattoo. I believe the tattoo consisted of a lighthouse, sparrows, and an anchor. They also had the lyric, “Wherever you are is the place I belong,” inked with the nautical drawings. Many Larries immediately noticed this. They automatically started tagging her post with Larry related tags. They assigned a meaning to a tattoo on a body that was not theirs based on their own beliefs and experiences. The person who got the tattoo had to tell people to stop saying it was a Larry tattoo because it was NOT a Larry related tattoo. Instead of enjoying their awesome tattoo, they spent their time fighting off people who gave their tattoo their own meaning.
If this person felt this harassed over one tattoo, imagine how Harry and Louis feel when hundreds of thousands of people assume meanings about their ten different tattoos. I don’t care how many websites told you their tattoos matched. I don’t care how many Larry ‘proof’ blogs told you their tattoos meant something representing your ship. Their tattoos are not ‘proof’ of anything. If you want to call it a theory, sure! Call it a theory!
However, it is still wrong for you to talk about your baseless opinion as ‘proof’. It is still wrong of you to assign a meaning to a tattoo that isn’t yours. I didn’t know that if I had a tattoo, a bunch of strangers get to determine what it means to me. All of the boys’ tattoos could literally mean anything in this world. Unless they have told us what exactly those tattoos mean, you shouldn’t have a say in telling others what it means based on your beliefs and hopes about a ship. For example, some speculated that Harry’s rose tattoo is for a fan who died of cancer. Why isn’t that theory relevant? Is it has nothing to do with Louis? (I am not saying that is the meaning behind his tattoo. I am only showing you how you can come up with absolutely anything.) The complementary/matching tattoo ‘proof’ is all assumptions and conjectures based on what you choose to read on the internet about tattoos. Keep in mind, just because you have a meaning for an object doesn’t mean I have the same meaning for that same object. It could something completely different that we both find extremely important for our own reasons.
Now, I will move on to each individual pairing.
Disclaimer: When I talk about the meanings a tattoo could have, I am not saying that those meanings are the reasons Harry and Louis choose to get those tattoos inked. I am not labeling a meaning to their tattoos. I am simply showing you all the possibilities.
The “Oops!” and “Hi!” Tattoos
Before I begin talking about theory with this, I need to explain the theory. To give Larries a little benefit of the doubt, I think for the most part, Larries know this is a headcanon. However, I feel like the more naive ones do not know the truth behind it.
Basically, the “Oops!” and “Hi” tattoos are said to be the first words that Harry and Louis said to each other. Being so in love, they must have gotten these words tattooed to their bodies because those words were their first words spoken to each other. Now how in the world did one come up with this idea?
In an interview, Harry and Louis confirm that they first met in the X-Factor bathroom. This was really no big deal until they fabricated a connection between the fact they met in the bathroom and this tweet:
Therefore, Larries made this headcanon: Since Louis and Harry met in the bathroom and Harry tweeted about peeing on someone, what if Harry accidentally splashed some pee on Louis? Harry could have then said ‘Oops!’ while Louis said ‘Hi”. We know Harry and Louis met in the bathroom, so a tweet from Harry involving a bathroom from over a year later must be about Louis.
It’s a pretty interesting story, but that is all it is. It is only confirmed that they met in a bathroom. That is it. There is absolutely no proof that those two words were the first things they said to each other, and there is no proof that Harry peed on Louis. The pairing of these tattoos is literally just fan fiction.
Also, most Larries believe these tattoos are in each other’s handwriting. To my knowledge, Louis’ ‘Oops!’ tattoo was inked by Freddy Negrete in LA, while the artist of Harry’s ’Hi’ is unknown (and suspected to by Louis). To be completely honest, I could buy Harry’s tattoo being in Louis’ handwriting. It is really only two letters though, so it really isn’t going to give us a good idea of who it could be.
If Harry’s tattoo is in fact in Louis’ handwriting, does that mean something? Absolutely not because Harry has had several friends ink tattoos onto him. Ed Sheeran also designed and inked Harry’s padlock tattoo. Zayn designed and inked Harry’s ‘A’ tattoo for his mother. Tom Atkin designed and inked Harry’s ‘NEVER GONNA DANCE AGAIN’ tattoo.
Last point, Louis has already revealed the meaning of his ‘Oops!’ tattoo. Here is what he said: (x).
“Not all of the boys think so deeply about their body art, however, with Louis admitting that several of his came about simply because he ‘likes the look of them’. ‘To be honest, not many of them actually have any meaning,’ he explained. 'I just like to look at them. I started with a silly stick man. And then I like skateboarding, so that’s why I got that one. This is for the world tour. This ‘Oops’ is because I didn’t like this line here, so I was like, ‘Oops!’”
Before anyone tells me that people do in fact lie (as if I didn’t know that before), Louis was not obligated to tell us the meaning behind that specific tattoo. He choose to tell us his reasoning behind the ink. He could have skipped over it and moved on to a different tattoo, but he deiced to tell us. I wonder why.
The whole theory behind the ‘Oops!’ and ‘Hi’ tattoo is fan fiction. The only fact is that Harry and Louis met in the bathroom. It is not a fact that Harry’s tweet is related to his encounter with Louis (and the tweet was over a year later). It is also not a fact that those were the first words they said to each other. It is also not a known fact the tattoos were in each other’s handwriting. Although it could be, it still is not something that points to a secret relationship considering Harry has a few tattoos done by friends.
The Compass and Boat Tattoos
Harry and Louis both got these tattoos within 24 hours. Harry and Louis both got nautical themed tattoos within this same 24 hours. Yes, that is all true! Let’s not simply ignore that part of the story that is excluded to only support Larry though… Zayn got a tattoo within this same 24 hours. Zayn got a nautical themed tattoo within this same 24 hours as well (the skull). Yay for confirmation bias!
So since Harry, Louis, and Zayn all got complementary tattoos within 24 hours, does that mean they are all dating? Did they have threesome? Or how about we go with something logical like realizing nautical themed tattoos are very popular?
When asked about why Harry got his ship tattoo, the tattoo artist revealed, “He wanted a realistic looking English ship because he missed home and needs to remind himself that he’s homeward bound. What he said was: 'We’re always on the road but my heart is at home and I want my ship.’” (x)
Supposedly, Louis’ compass tattoo represents home because the arrow on the compass always points towards home. I don’t know where people got this information. Please drop me a message if you know.
The Flock of Flying Birds and Birdcage Tattoos
Harry and Louis have never talked about either of these tattoos as far as I know. Both tattoos were inked by different artists. Louis’ tattoo was inked by Freddy Negrete in Los Angeles in November of 2012, and Harry’s tattoo was inked by Liam Sparkes in London in July of 2012. Completely different artists and cities and four months apart.
I know Larries brush off comparing Larry’s 'complementary/matching tattoos’ to the other boys, but it is really necessary to understanding how much they create the connection between Harry and Louis’ tattoos. Anyone can create any kind or correlation between any of the boys’ tattoos if you are looking for one. Zayn also has a bird tattoo located on the back of his hand. Why would it be logical to say Zayn’s bird tattoo does not complement/match Harry’s birdcage tattoo, yet say it matches Louis’ flock of birds?
Harry’s birdcage tattoo and Louis’ flock of birds could be considered complementary/matching. However, it does seem very special when another member of the band also has a bird tattoo that could easily match as well. This is a perfect example of the confirmation bias most Larries seem to possess. They seem to only notice the ink on Harry and Louis. They choose to only see what they want to, which is why non-Larries do not see the complementary/matching tattoos like they do.
The One Swift Bird and Two Swallows/Sparrows Tattoos
There are a few different theories with these two tattoos. I have seen a few Larries say it is not a coincidence that they have the same type of bird tattooed onto their bodies. However, Harry’s are sparrows while Louis is a swift bird. They are not the same, so I would thought I would quickly clear that up. I also want to point out that Zayn has another bird tattoo that could join the club of complementary/matching tattoos. Zayn has a New Zealand Fantail on the back of his neck.
How can Larries say Harry and Louis have complementary/matching bird tattoos and use that as ‘proof’? They are not the same bird, and another member of their band has a tattoo of a bird as well. Let’s not ignore the fact that Zayn’s bird tattoo on his hand is actually a swallow. Does that make Zarry real?
The second theory is honestly one of the most strange things I have ever heard. While the first theory really isn’t common amongst Larries, this one is really popular. They believe Harry’s swallow tattoos represent Harry and Louis because one is larger and one is smaller with eyebrows. Somehow, in Larrie Land, the eyebrows imitate their eyebrows. If you have ever seen a Larrie tweet, “but birds don’t have eyebrows,” this is what they are talking about.
(A quick note: Harry’s tattoos are sparrows based on their appearance (the tails), but Harry has said they are swallows. According to this, Harry told US Weekly that the birds were swallows which symbolized traveling. I wouldn’t necessarily trust US Weekly, so I’m not sure what to make of that. Therefore, I will talk about his tattoo as swallows and sparrows.)
Swallows:
As you can tell, the two swallows are different sizes. However, they don’t actually have eyebrows. If you simply Google images of swallow tattoos, you will find images like these:
All of these images of swallows have ‘eyebrows’ as Larries like to call it. However, if you ask me, they obviously aren’t eyebrows. It is the definition of feather patterns made to create the images.
Sparrows:
Further research shows that Harry’s two sparrows could actually just be a male and female sparrow. When you Google images of male and female sparrow, this is what you will find:
As you can clearly tell, there are different kinds of sparrows Harry could have on his chest. The male and the female sparrow both have different ‘eyebrows’ as Larries like to call something that is actually just the pattern of their feathers. They are right about birds not having eyebrows though. They are just wrong in believing Harry’s swallow/sparrow tattoos do have eyebrows. (Also, remember Harry’s love banner tattoo? His left swallow/sparrow is now covering it. The tattoo underneath could affect how the tattoo above it looks. Just a thought.)
I did not find anything Louis has said about his swift bird tattoo. Harry’s two swallow/sparrow tattoo was inked by Freddy Negrete in November of 2012, while Louis’ one swift bird was inked by Liam Sparkes in January of 2013. Again, completely different artists and cities and two months apart.
(Quick thanks to aisuzayn for discovering the difference between the male and female sparrows.)
The “ ” and I CAN’T CHANGE Tattoos
A lot of Larries are under the perception that these tattoos are located in the same place on their bodies. However, these tattoos are not on the same wrist. Harry’s tattoo is on his left wrist, while Louis’ is on his right. Also, Harry’s tattoo is located on the outside of his wrist, while Louis’ tattoo is on the inside of his wrist. They are not even in the same placement as I have seen many Larries claim. Also, remember Harry covered up this tattoo with his anchor tattoo. It seems like Harry has changed his mind about wanting this tattoos on his body. (If you are thinking Harry and Louis replaced these complementary/matching tattoos with the rope/anchor, you are wrong. Louis still has his quotes tattoo while Harry covered up the I Can’t Change tattoo.)
Two different tattoo artists designed the two different tattoos. Liam Sparkes in London inked Harry’s tattoo in July of 2012, and Skunz in London inked Louis’ tattoo in October of 2012. Completely different artists and three months apart. Harry has never spoken about this tattoo as far as I can tell. Apparently, Louis didn’t say anything about his quotation mark tattoo other than he just thought it looked cool. I don’t know where this claim came from. Anyway, I honestly do not know why some Larries still use this one as proof when Harry does not even have the tattoo anymore.
The Rope and Anchor Tattoos
I think I’m going to let Julian talk about this instead. For those of you who don’t know who Julian is, he is one of the boy’s songwriters and producers. (Also, yes, this is his confirmed twitter. No, he is not verified, but the boy’s have mentioned him in tweets before.)
I don’t know when this tweet was tweeted within the conversation, (he could’ve have tweeted her the picture first or the Larrie deleted some tweets) but here is another one:
He makes complete sense. Whether you want to deny it or not, it’s pretty clear his argument is correct. (Before anyone wonders, Julian does not work for Modest. Being a songwriter and producer for the boys, he would work under the label.)
Also, if Larry is real and they do have complementary/matching tattoos, why would Julian reply and give us a different idea? Fans tweet him all the time with all kinds of questions. It’s up to him whether or not to reply. If there was something to hide, you would not have gotten a response out of him. He was not obligated to reply to the fan. He did for a reason (we all know Julian loves to occasionally mess with Larries).
He also continued to tweet about it:
I just want to add a friendly reminder these tattoos are not in the same place on the body. Louis’ is wrapped around his right wrist, while Harry’s is on the outside of his left wrist. Personally, I always see Larries mention these two tattoos being inked in the exact same place, but they aren’t.
Also, the tattoos were again designed by different artists. Louis’ was designed by an artist in the Maryland shop Zayn and Louis like in June of 2013. Harry’s is unknown, but he did get his tattoo in LA in January of 2014. Again, different artists and different cities and seven months apart.
The Arrow and Heart Tattoos
Julian also mentioned these two in that explanation above.
Harry’s anatomical heart tattoo was inked by Liam Sparkes in February of 2014, while Louis arrow tattoo was inked by Freddy Negrete in March of 2014. Different cities and artists while being one month apart. Once again, they are designed and inked by different artists and in different cities. Again, these are also not in the same place on the body.
The “IT IS WHAT IT IS” and Butterfly Tattoos
At first, I didn’t realize why Larries thought these tattoos were considered complementary/matching. When I was digging for information, I found that the reason Larries think these two tattoos complement or match is because the tattoo artist who inked both of these tattoos had a sketch of the two tattoos together:
The picture above is a picture of the original sketches and the two tattoos on the boys. Larries are under the perception that those two designs go together because they were designed on the same piece of paper. However, they ignore this next picture.
This picture shows several designs for tattoos. Larries choose to crop the other designs out to reflect their fantasy. I find this another example of how Larries only see what they want to. They just ignore the other tattoos. They cropped them out to make it seem like those two tattoos were supposed to go together. They aren’t. They are two separate designs that have no link to each other, just like all of the other ones around it.
Lastly, Harry has actually spoken about his butterfly tattoo. He tweeted that he released his butterfly for EB Awareness Day. As far as I know, Louis has not said anything about the meaning behind the quote on his chest.
The Dagger and Rose Tattoos
There is an incredible hype about this pairing. In my personal opinion, it is likely because this is the pairing that Larries like to believe they predicted. While it is true they did predict Louis could get a dagger, they also predicted several different popular designs that could correlate to several different tattoos that Harry has. I would like to point out something Larries ignore: Louis’ dagger tattoo has a second part to it. Let’s not forget the ‘Given a chance’ quote in cursive that was designed and inked along the dagger. They ignore it for a reason I will talk about later, but here is the sketch the tattoo artist posted of Louis’ dagger/quote tattoo:
These two actually do go together, and it invalidates Larries’ predictions about the rose/dagger pair.
Larries claim they have been predicting for over a year that the next tattoo pair Harry and Louis will get is the rose/dagger combination. However, we all have to keep in mind how many predictions Larries have made about the tattoos Harry and Louis could get. Rose/dagger was not their only guess, and both designs are extremely popular designs for tattoos.
Harry’s rose tattoo was inked by an unknown artist in LA in September of 2013, while Louis’ dagger tattoo was inked by Bondi Ink in Sydney in November of 2014. Once again, two different cities and artists and FOURTEEN MONTHS apart.
Louis’ Triangle Tattoo
Many people seem to believe that Louis’ triangle tattoo is a symbol that represents homosexuality. This theory isn’t necessarily true. People believe this because in the 1930s and 1940s, Hitler marked homosexuals with a pink, downward facing triangle. (x)
Here is a picture of Louis’ triangle tattoo:
Yes, the tattoo is obviously a triangle. However, it definitely isn’t pink nor is it facing downwards. Pink, downward facing triangles is a symbol that the gay community has embraced in spite of its past. The triangle inked on Louis could mean absolutely anything, but it isn’t a symbol of homosexuality.
Now, I am going to do what Larries do. I am going to link different tattoos from Harry, Zayn, Liam, and Louis to twist a pairing into having a connection. While I probably didn’t find all of the possible connections that I could, I think I found a fair amount that illustrates my point. Anyone with nearly fifty different tattoos is definitely going to coincidently complement/match another person’s fifty different tattoos. It’s is just going to happen, especially if they have popular designs that can be paired with several other designs. Of course, there are the obvious pairings like Zayn and Harry’s prism tattoos or the skulls Harry, Zayn, and Louis have. However, I wanted to go deeper than that.
Zarry Edition: Complementary Tattoos
Zayn’s boombox and Harry’s ‘NEVER GONNA DANCE AGAIN’ tattoo
Harry’s rose and Zayn’s gun tattoo
Harry’s birdcage and Zayn’s solo bird tattoo
Zayn’s New Zealand fantail and Harry’s New Zealand fern tattoo
Harry’s boat and Zayn’s ‘a pirate’s life for me’ tattoo
Harry’s butterfly and Zayn’s wings tattoo
Zayn’s microphone and Harry’s rose tattoo
Harry’s ‘Might as well…’ and Zayn’s ‘DON’T THINK I WON’T’ tattoo
Zayn’s microphone and Harry’s ‘NEVER GONNA DANCE AGAIN’
Zarry Edition: Matching Tattoos
Now put some of those complementary pairings together and use a back and white filter:
Looks like the black and white collage of Harry and Louis’ tattoos that you saw at the beginning of this post, doesn’t it?
There could be more connections between Harry and Zayn’s tattoos, but I think I’ve made my point clear. The point of this being to show you how easy it is to link two different tattoos together and create some type of connection. Anyone cannot deny that some of Harry and Zayn’s tattoos do in fact complement/match each other just like Harry and Louis’ do. However, others simply don’t care to notice or even bother because Zayn is not Louis. You could do this same thing with Zayn and Louis, and you will find other complementary/matching tattoos between the two. If you are a Larrie and you thought this part of the post was stupid, that is how us non-Larries see Harry and Louis’ complementary/matching tattoos.
Lastly, I want Larries to rationally think about the idea of couples getting complementary/matching tattoos. Let’s look at celebrities who have inked matching tattoos with their loved one. Most of them are just tattoos of each other’s names while others have the same image in different colors or slightly altered.
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon have matching tattoos. They have each other’s names. Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen also had each other’s names tattooed to their bodies. Just their names. Katy Perry and Russel Brand had matching tattoos that both said the exact same thing, “Go With The Flow”. Britany Spears and Kevin Federline had matching dice tattoos, one in pink and the other in blue. Lindsey Lohan and Samantha Ronson had matching heart tattoos. Beyonce and Jay-Z have the exact same “IV” tattooed on their ring fingers. Chris Brown and Rihanna have nearly the same tattoo of stars on their necks. And so on.
There are tons who have each other’s names on their bodies. If they don’t have each other’s names, they have the exact same tattoo or very similar ones on each other. They don’t have ten. They have one. The tattoos they have done don’t require others to comprehend deeper meanings. You don’t have to Google their tattoos to understand or find a connection.
If I missed a couple with complementary/matching tattoos like Harry and Louis, it’s my mistake. I honestly didn’t find any because it truly isn’t common by any means. I don’t mean to generalize all famous couples and complementary/matching tattoos. I am only trying to show you how incredibly reaching it is to link ten tattoos to each other that are not even blatantly obvious (or that could be linked to almost any type of design).
Also, if you just google matching tattoos for couples, you will not find anything near to what you believe Larry has. It isn’t just celebrities, those were just easy to show you a comparison. The couple tattoos you will find are only mirror images to each other, or they are a common pairing of objects.
I don’t know how the concept of Larry’s complementary/matching tattoo theory started, but it really sounds like something straight out of a fan fiction as this point.
To conclude, there are a few tattoo pairings between Harry and Louis that I can still absolutely see Larries believe are complementary/matching. However, there are many where it is clear that they aren’t. For example, Oops/Hi don’t have a connection at all. It is also important to notice how all of the boys have complementary/matching tattoos if you are go looking for them. Remember how easy it is to manipulate a connection between tattoos. That is exactly what Larries do. They just don’t realize or ignore the fact that you can do that with many of the boys’ tattoos. Also, think about couple tattoos in general. You just do not see any that you think you do with Larry.
I think this post makes it pretty clear why non-Larries still do not believe Larry is real, even though if you’re a Larrie, this is your biggest proof out there. It isn’t proof. It is all rampant speculation piled with assumptions and conjectures based on what you read on the internet about the meaning of tattoos. As I said before, just because you have a meaning for an object doesn’t mean I have the same meaning for that same object. It could be something completely different that we both find extremely important for our own reasons. Also keep in mind, you cannot apply meanings to other people’s tattoos. Larries, please do not talk about your tattoo theory as a fact. The complementary/matching tattoo theory is not proof, and it does not make Larry real.