Shipper with an Agenda

Nuriko's romantic priorities are, well, quite straight! (In a way...)

Again, everyone knows the Shipper on Deck. They're the kind of person who spots two people who like one another, thinks they look cute or may be happy, and devotes their efforts to bringing them together... right?

This person is also a shipper, but in other ways. They ship not just with the heart, but with the brains. They have realized that there are other perks regarding this cute potential couple, and they're gonna grab the chance. Maybe it's because the lovebirds are truly good together, or this will let the shipper reap some material benefits, or it'll clear the way for another ship that they like (maybe one including THEM), or (if a parent) it'll bring offspring. There can be as many reasons for shipping as people in the world, yes.

Compare with Shipper on Deck AND Shipping Torpedo (and can overlap with both, of course). If they're particularly active, they may try setting an Arranged Marriage.

Examples of Shipper with an Agenda include:

Anime and Manga

• Pictured above: In Fushigi Yuugi, Nuriko at first ships Tamahome/Miaka because he crushes on Hotohori, who crushes on Miaka - therefore if Miaka is with Tamahome, Nuriko will have a chance to put the moves on Hotohori. As already seen, it's even the focus of a rather hilarious early anime scene between him and Tamahome.
• In Ashita no Nadja, Marianne sees a Nadja/Keith match-up positively, and even admits it in front of Nadja herself. This is because she's in love with Keith's twin brother and Nadja's main love interest, Francis; she believes that if Nadja goes with Keith, whom she's quite attracted to despite loving Francis, then she will have a chance with him.
• In Code Geass, before Lelouch learned that Suzaku was working for the Britannians, he shipped him with his younger sister Nunnally so he'd be able to protect her AND for Best Friends-in-Law reasons.
• In the Rurouni Kenshin backstory, Kenshin's Big Brother Mentor Katsura realizes that Tomoe has a calming influence on him. He then begins to support a relationship between the two, thinking that she can be "the sheath to his sword" and keep him sane.
• In the Shimoneta anime, Saotome ships Tanukichi with Anna because she sees Anna's VERY physical Stalker with a Crush attitude towards him as live-action fodder for her art.
• Chamo from Mahou Sensei Negima ships every pairing that he's aware of. This is mostly because he gets oodles of cash every time he brokers a pactio (this series' equivalents to Magical contracts between a mage and a partner), and said pactios are sealed by the Master kissing their partner on the lips...
• David from Blue Comet SPT Layzner ships his friends Eiji and Anna for two reasons. One, they ARE good for one another and he wants them to be happy in the Crapsack World they all live in. Two (and probably the biggest one), he's in love with his partner Simone, who also has a crush on Eiji.
• In Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics' rendition of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, after the first attempt on Snow's life by the Wicked Stepmother, the Dwarves wonder if they should have her marry into their family so they can protect her better. Since the youngest Dwarf has a clear crush on Snow, they organize a whole party to kill two birds with a stone.
• Akiko Hashou from Kasei Yakyoku is a Rebellious Princess who falls for the up-and-coming Yakuza Takao "Taka" Itou, but is already engaged to the Princely Young Man Saionji. Aware that her beautiful maid and Only Friend Sara Uchida has a bit of a crush on Saionji, Akiko begins to wonder if she should play matchmaker so they can fall in love and she can find an excuse to break off the engagement and go with Taka...
• Yukari from Rosario to Vampire ships Moka and Tsukune, primarily because she simultaneous crushes on both of them and she thinks getting a threesome would be easier if the other two are already together.
  • Fong-Fong also ships the two of them, mostly because he wants them to join the mafia as a powerful Battle Couple like his parents.
• Minerva X from the Shin Mazinger Zero manga ships Kouji and Sayaka for QUITE the reason: in at least one alternate reality (if not more), they become Star-Crossed Lovers and as a consequence, Mazinger goes berserk and turns into an world-destroying Eldritch Abomination. So Minerva, who has witnessed thousands of these worlds' deaths and is horribly traumatized as a consequence, will NOT let that happen again, and the first step is to ensure that Sayaka and Kouji will survive together.
• Sousei no Onmyouji (Twin Star Exorcists) has Arima Tsuchimikado, the leader of Japan's Exorcists, who gets the protagonists Rokuro Enmado and Benio Adashino (the title's Twin Stars) into an Arranged Marriage because it's said that their future child will be the most powerful Exorcist ever.
• In Taishou Yakyuu Musume, Yae and Youjirou Suzukawa want Koume to marry Saburou because he works at their restaurant and that would be good for the Family Business. It helps that she and Saburou hit it off well.
• RG Veda has Taishaku-ten overthrowing Tentei aka The Emperor and then arranging the marriage betweeen Tentei's surviving daughter, Kisshouten, and his Dragon Bishamonten. This is because he wants to use her as a political hostage against anyone still loyal to her late father. He also has another reason: Bishamonten went along with the plan because he was already deeply in love with Kisshouten and she liked him back, but the only way for him to marry her was helping overthrow Tentei - even when he knew it'd make him an Unwanted Spouse in her eyes. So Taishakuten also uses Kisshouten as leverage regarding Bishamonten, knowing that he'll do anything he (Taishakuten) tells him to so Kisshouten will be with him.
• It's implied in Ashita no Joe that Youko Shiraki's grandfather Mikinosuke wants to arrange her marriage to the Shiraki Gym's boxing star, Tooru Rikishi, to secure the Shiraki Zaibatsu. The fact that Yoko and Rikishi are already good friends certainly helps. His death in the boxing ring wrecks everything, however.
• In My Happy Marriage Mrs. Keiko, the owner of a cloths shop that Kiyoka is a sponsor of, adores Miyo and tells him to not let her go... because she's an excellent client and she hopes it'll keep her in Kiyoka's good graces. Though she does think Miyo is a great person, too.
  • Rather darkly used when the Saimoris and their old friend Minoru Tatsuishi conspire to have Miyo brought back into her family by force so she will marry Minoru's youngest son Kouji (who's always been in love with Miyo) and Miyo's cruel half-sister Kaya will be with Kiyoka. In fact, Minoru has been this all along under the belief that Miyo may be a Muggle Born of Mages but her own bloodline is still valuable enough; Kaya joins in when she sees Kiyoka from afar and, being obsessed with not letting Miyo upstage her, decides on a whim to break her and Kiyoka up so she can have him...
• The Final Approach anime has Shizuka's grandpa, holy crap. The man all but hijacked a whole government program to make sure his granddaughter would be paired up with the grandson of his one true love, and thus know the happiness that was denied to him decades ago.

Fan Works

• The Voltron: Legendary Defender fic Across the Multiverse has Akira Kogane playing matchmaker for his friends Isamu Kurogane and Princess Fala partially to support Isamu's bid for Fala's heart. . . but mostly because Fala has a crush on him and he's repulsed by it and thus pushes her and Isamu together to get her off his back (while pretending to care for their well-being rather than his own). A few of his Keith reincarnations try to do the same with Lance and Allura, again so he can selfishly chase after the different reincarnations of his Star-Crossed Lover Takashi Shirogane/Sven.
• One Fushigi Yuugi fic takes the canon scene mentioned above and takes it a step further, with Nuriko giving Tamahome "pillow books" to help him and Miaka satisfy their sexual hunger without taking Miaka's virginity. (In this fic, the pining Hotohori had been the one to tell Miaka and Tamahome she had to remain a virgin, and Nuriko figured if Miaka and Tamahome didn't have to worry about being totally chaste, they'd stay together and Nuriko could work his charms on Hotohori.)
• The Fire Emblem Awakening fic The Pretender has Sumia shipping the male Robin with Frederick, hoping that will stop Robin pining away for Chrom and curb Chrom's obsession with Robin. Shockingly, her jealousy is portrayed as sympathetic in this fic, a rare change from how she's usually written in fics with even a hint of Chrom/Robin.

Film

• In the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Marc Ange Draco tells James Bond to marry his beautiful but emotionally broken daughter Teresa aka Tracy, because he thinks Tracy needs a new husband to straighten up her chaotic life AND he wants said husband to be the very badass Bond, who recently stopped Tracy from killing herself. Bond accepts at first just because Draco has VERY valuable info on SPECTRE, but falls in love with Tracy for real.

Live-Action TV

• In Glee, Kurt tries to hook up his widow father Burt with Finn's also widowed mother Carole so he'd be able to spend more time with Finn. The fact that Burt and Carole pretty much fell in Love at First Sight helps quite a bit.

Religion and Mythology

• According to some Jewish lore, the whole deal with Jacob, Leah and Rachel came from this. Leah was originally destined to marry Jacob's big brother Esau, who was far less meritorious than his bro; she was understandably overwrought and prayed to God for help, so He arranged things so she could marry Jacob as well.

Video Games

• In the Castlevania series' Sorrow games, everyone ships Soma Cruz and Mina Hakuba despite their protests. One of their friends, Julius, comes off more as this... with good reasons. As a member of the Belmont clan, Julius knows that Dracula went down the Evil path after losing his two loves, Elisabetha and Lissa; since Soma is the newest incarnation of Dracula but hasn't fully awakened as such (and doesn't want to), Julius bets on him also going down that road if Mina dies too. (Which does happen in the Bad Endings)
• In Dragon Age: Origins, the Warden can turn themself into this depending on their actions in the Landsmeet, - all so the Succession Crisis in Ferelden will be solved.. i.e, a Warden of either gender can hook up Queen Anora and her brother-in-law and legitimate heir to the throne, Alistair, a human noble Female Warden can marry Alistair and become Queen Consort (or be his mistress), and a human noble Male Warden can marry Anora and become King Consort (provided he doesn't execute her father Loghain).
• The main character of Yandere Simulator, Ayano "Yandere-chan" Aishi, can try hooking up her prospect love rivals with other boys so none of them will be an obstacle to her and her Sempai. It's certainly a quite more benign alternative to killing, bullying, crippling, etc. any of them. . .

Visual Novels

• Nobuyoshi Tokugawa aka the Shogun from Shall We Date?: Ninja Shadow tends to be a normal Shipper on Deck, but becomes this at the end of Haku's route. He saves Haku from being executed for treason... and immediately assigns Saori to be his warden, knowing that they're very much in love (and almost lost one another), and therefore he will NOT dare misbehave when she's with him....

Western Animation

• In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Princess Azula ships her older brother Zuko with her close friend Mai because she believes that it'll be a huge incentive for him to stay by Azula's side and keep him under her thumb. It backfires: Zuko still has his Heel-Face Turn, and later Mai's love for Zuko is strong enough for her to turn against Azula.
• In Young Justice, M'gann/Miss Martian and Artemis are both into Conner/Superboy. Since Wally/Kid Flash is M'gann's Dogged Nice Guy but he and Artemis have Belligerent Sexual Tension, M'gann pointed the obvious to Artemis at some point.