Snowflake Challenge #11

[elwinfortuna]

Challenge #11: In your own space, talk about your favorite trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme.

This is difficult because I like so many! I'm really easy to please when it comes to tropes, kinks, etc.

One of my favourites is loyalty kink, which I define as "enjoying and/or kinking on aspects of mutual loyalty, faithfulness, and devotion between two characters (who often but not necessarily have a power or status imbalance) which usually includes some degree of sexual tension, which may or may not build to a romantic relationship over time."

My ultimate par excellence example of loyalty kink is the relationship between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian in Heaven Official's Blessing. They are perfect; they tick every box for me and then some.

Some other great examples are Beleg/Turin and Fingon/Maedhros in the Silmarillion, Frodo/Sam, Aragorn/Frodo, and Aragorn/Faramir in Lord of the Rings, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu in Word of Honor (about the time when Tian Ye Ke fans are complaining that the plot has gone off the rails, I'm rubbing my hands together with delight and asking for more delicious food), Marcus/Esca in Eagle of the Ninth, Jack/Ianto in Torchwood, Marco Loristan/The Rat in The Lost Prince, and Steve/Bucky in the MCU.

A very important part of the enjoyment is that the loyalty is mutual; the characters involved are devoted to each other, consider each other special, protect each other, sacrifice for each other. If one of them is pining and the other one is not really invested in the relationship, that's a different thing to me. I also enjoy it but it's not my absolute fave.

Looking back over this list, I've realised that all my examples are m/m couples, and I know I love this no matter the configuration. I'd include Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lan Hua(/Changheng) from Love Between Fairy and Devil as an m/f (and rare threesome) example, Aerin/Morwen from the Silmarillion (I <3 them so much!), Corky/Violet from Bound (SUCH a good movie!), and Yasmin Khan/The 13th Doctor from Doctor Who as good f/f examples of this trope.

I'm always looking out for more canons that feature loyalty kink, especially between women, so please, if you have any recs, let me know!

Comments

[makamu]

Aerin/Morwen! I hadn't thought of them as an example of that, but yes, I can see it. All the other examples in canons I know had me fervently nodding along.

Having read your post, I now wonder whether I'd classify Aragorn/Boromir as a sub-variant of a loyalty kink in the films, namely as a "developing loyalty" kink. Would that classification make sense to you?

[greatandgrey]

The loyalty in Tolkien's legendarium is delectable and many. Those are great examples.

I'm always looking out for more canons that feature loyalty kink, especially between women, so please, if you have any recs, let me know!

The RGG series is all this. Loyalty, mutual loyalty, and some betrayals with the twist being that the traitor was still loyal all along. They play up the relationships among the yakuza to the nth degree and then some. Even in Yakuza 7 (aka Yakuza Like a Dragon or LAD) there's intense loyalty among the party members. Just to name a few on top of my head: Kiryu/Nishiki, Kiryu/Majima (unconventional relationship but also very strangely loyal, even mutual), Kiryu/Rikiya, Saejima/Majima, Mine/Daigo (twisted kind of loyalty), Kaito/Yagami, Kaito/Higashi. And this isn't even mentioning the loyalties everyone has to their yakuza patriarchs. The loyalty acted as a pivotal point in character decisions in many of these stories.

There are a couple of loyalties between women, mostly in the Judgment / Lost Judgment spin off (I'm thinking of Mafuyu/Saori and Itokura's classmates...and come to think of it, maybe also Mikiko and her sister Maho but we see very little of them together unfortunately.) In the main series there is Mirei Park/Haruka in Yakuza 5. There was a missed opportunity in LAD. The game introduced Eri, but she only joins your party if you go through a side minigame; too bad because in her introduction, her interaction with Saeko was really nice and I wish we got to see them interact more. While the series has some great female characters it does suffer from the gender imbalance issue.

[galadhir]

I think I love this particularly when one is a higher rank/social status than the other, so Frodo/Sam and Jeeves/Wooster, where their regard for each other transcends the bounds of society :)

[cornerofmadness]

Oh loyalty is such a great one. I'm sifting through my fandoms to think of some examples.

The Owl House- Luz Noceda/Amity Bright definitely there in a sweet teenaged way and for that matter Luz is so very loyal to her found family in Eda and King and her friends Willow and Gus

Prodigal Son - most of it is in the friends/found family setting. Gil Arroyo is the most loyal character I've seen (wore his wedding ring for years after his wife's death, took it off when Jessica can back into his life so Gil/Jessica is the non-platonic example) Gil and Jessica's traumatized son, Malcolm is the best example I've seen in years. In the twenty years they've known each other they developed a rich father-son relationship. Malcolm also develops a loyalty bond with both Dani (potential to be a relationship) and Edrisa (probably always going to be friendzone but that's what fanfic is for)

THanks for sharing

[vriddy]

Mutual loyalty is such an excellent choice of tropes!! I hadn't thought about the importance of "mutual", I think because often I like it when it's obvious one side is more devoted to the other, but then surprise!! Perhaps surprise to the other character themself, but they are just as loyal to the other person too and will go to any length to show it. It's a really nice flavour when it's mutual like this, as enjoyable as it is in general :)

[svgurl]

Loyalty kink is such a good one and like you, I do prefer when it is mutual. It can really turn into an 'us vs the world' dynamic, which is also intriguing and captivating. :D

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>One of my favourites is loyalty kink, which I define as "enjoying and/or kinking on aspects of mutual loyalty, faithfulness, and devotion between two characters <<

I agree, that's fun. Especially if it's a healthy relationship, which is hard to find nowadays. Like the description of where Spock belongs: "at his side, as though you've always been there and always will be."

>>Looking back over this list, I've realised that all my examples are m/m couples, and I know I love this no matter the configuration.<<

From what I've seen, there are more examples of male bonding. Female characters are more often pitted against each other.

>>I'm always looking out for more canons that feature loyalty kink, especially between women, so please, if you have any recs, let me know!<<

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy and Willow, or later Willow and Tara.

In Shadowhunters, Clary and Isabelle, although it kind of fell apart with the ending of the series.

If you're open to original work, Shahana and Ari in Path of the Paladins.