Hi everyone!
Today instead of a regular or recommendations post, I am doing something a little different. I've done character lists before, as you can see before in my previous posts- 5 Books for People Who Love Kaz Brekker and My Favorite Villains in Fiction.
And today I'll be highlighting some of My Favorite Platonic Relationships in Books- a very underrated but amazing trope in stories.
There are so many tropes for romance stories, but familial or platonic friendships are just as important and one of the things that my heart will easily melt for is a great duo/trio/ group of friends that will do anything for each other.
"And I’m platonically in love with you.”That was literally the boy-girl version of ‘no homo', but I appreciate the sentiment.- Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
Predictably, most of these will be fantasy and sci-fi, but there are a couple from YA contemporary as well. I hope you enjoy it!
1. Jace and Alec from The Mortal Instruments
I know starting off this list with Cassandra Clare characters might not be the favorite for some people, but just purely for nostalgic value, I couldn't help but add this duo to the list.
In all the Shadowhunter books, one of my top 3 favorite things about this world is the parabatai bond. If you have read even one Shadowhunter book or maybe watched the show, you'll know what parabatai means.
But if you don't, it's essentially a bond between two people as partners in battle and they are highly attuned to each other. It's a holy bond for life. Like marriage, but in a platonic way.
Whither thou goest, I will go; Where thou diest, will I die. And there will I be buried: The Angel do so to me, and more also. If aught but death part thee and me.
And it is one of my favorite things just because I love the idea of platonic soulmates, and Jace and Alec, who are so different from each other and yet are perfect together.
Jace, who had asked Alec to be his parabatai and then always pretended as if he did not need one. Alec was not fooled.
Every time you see them together, there is always a sense of protectiveness and love between them. The way they know the littlest nuances about each other. I love that.
2. Will and Jem from The Infernal Devices
Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs, another duo from the Shadowhunter books, and also parabatai- but they do it x100 better.
If I wanted to pick two people who wouldn't cross every limit and sacrifice everything for the other and just love ea g other will all their flaws- and not be romantically inclined- Will and Jem would definitely be at the top of this list. They give 'heartbreaking' a new meaning.
They depend on each other, they stand for each other and they always, always bring out the good in the other way. They are opposites in the way that Jem tempers Will's recklessness with his caution, and Will tempers Jem's caution with his wild ideas.
"You swore to stay with me," Will said.,"When we made our oath as Parabatai. Our souls are knit, we are one person, James."
"We are two people, two people with a covenant between us."
"The convent says you must not go where I cannot come with you."
"'Until death,'' Jem replied gently. "Those are the words. 'Until aught but death part thee and me.
If you have read the books, you'll know what I'm talking about. For me, Will and Jem are unbeatably No.1 on the list for any kind of relationship in fiction.
3. Wren and Ettian- Bonds of Brass
The Bonds of Brass is not a mass popular series like the Shadowhunters, so not a lot of you would know about it. But I would highly, highly recommend checking this series out if you love sci-fi or are a beginner to sci-fi.
Wren and Ettian meet while both of them are on the run from their enemies. Ettian is a deserter from his military academy, along with his best friend and crush, Gal- who happens to be the secret heir of a cruel intergalactic empire.
Wren is running from some things on the streets and in some inevitable chaos, Gal and Ettian get mixed up in the chase and end up letting her tag along in their escape.
Although Wren and Ettian get off on the wrong foot at the start, they quickly recognize something in the other that they that the other person has been through the same thing they have.
They have both had to scrounge off things from the street, live through hardships and even steal and cheat to survive.
That suffering, the sense of always being out of place, and also their shared love for flying and being pilots, bond them very quickly and renders them loyal to each other. They develop a sweet friendship that I am so excited to see more of in the conclusion, Vows of Empire by Emily Skrutskie.
4. Nina and Inej from Six of Crows
Don't worry. I'm not gonna say 500 words for every duo on this list. And just as well, because Nina and Inej are fairly popular are self-explanatory.
Waffle-lovers, bad singers, and all my goals for writing characters (so happy to see two female characters not promote toxic friendships for once, ugh🙄 )
5. Kell and Rhy from Shades of Magic
Kell and Rhy are technically adopted brothers, but they also have so much love between them. They have grown up together, and they take care of each other in different ways. Kell is the grumpy, sort of broody person, while Rhy is all sunshine and wild ideas.
Their relationship gets a lot more complicated when Rhy is in danger and in saving him, Kell has to take an unprecedented step that has a high cost. Just the way their relationship is explored is so Interesting but even if it is unconditional love between two brothers, there are strings attached.
6. Simon and Penny from the Simon Snow series
The Simon Snow is one of my favorite series. If you haven't read it, it's supposed to be sort of a store on the Harry Potter books. It flips a lot of tropes on their
heads and upturns expectations in a ridiculously fun manner.
Simon and Penny are almost like siblings in the way they love each other and bicker. They've been friends for almost more than seven years, so they know each other very well and what the other needs. Penny is almost the only family that Simon has, and he is where she does for comfort. They also balance each other so well if you know what I mean?
7. Chiamaka and Devon from Ace of Spades
Reading Ace of Spades revived my love for all the YA thrillers and dark academia that I had been missing out on.
Chiamaka and Devon, our two main protagonists and perspectives in the book, are both black students in a prestigious and cutthroat Nivius Academy and are being targeted by an anonymous hater.
They run in different social circles and only come together (and that too very distrustfully) to take down their shared enemy- but through a tumultuous and emotionally heavy journey, they make their way towards a true lifelong friendship. The whole book was a breakthrough, but the epilogue was what satisfied me.
8. Frances and Aled from Radio Silence
I couldn’t quite believe how much I seriously loved Aled Last, even if it wasn’t in the ideal way that would make it socially acceptable for us to live together until we die.
Now we come to the best friend duo that inspired me to make this list in the first place. I think Radio Silence was the first time that genuinely fell in love with the concept of platonic soulmates because Frances and Aled were it for me. I related to Frances immensely.
I think Frances and Aled told me that there could be male/female friendships that don't need to turn romantic and yet be just as wholesome. They were also just a representation of the community in fan culture. Like how amazing it can be to find people that love the same things as you do and then you build a lifelong friendship from that. It shows how you can intensely care for someone without including romantic feelings in the mix.
9. Ronan and Gansey from The Raven Cycle
The Raven Cycle is one of my all-time favorite series, and current obsession, so it was a given that I had to mention it somehow.
But tbh, Ronan and Gansey would've killed it as parabatai is that had been a thing in their world.
Ronan and Gansey are stark opposites of each other. Ronan's appearance screams 'bad boy', while Gansey embodies the rich golden boy trope. Ronan has an acid tongue while Gansey is a gentleman. And yet they were childhood friends and are more like brothers. When I was reading the books, I was in awe of their relationship and the way they had each other's backs. THEY'RE SO PRECIOUS, I swear on my life.
When Ronan thought of Gansey, he thought of moving into Monmouth Manufacturing, of nights spent in companionable insomnia, of a summer searching for a king, of Gansey asking the Gray Man for his life. Brothers.
10. Alex, Nora, and June from Red, White, Royal Blue
I know, I know, I shouldn't have excluded the fest of the gang, but you have to admit that Alex, Nora, and June as the original trio are something special.
Alex and June are siblings, and their relationship is precious obviously, but what's something to note is Alex and Nora, who used to be a couple and still are best buddies now, and June and Nora, who could've easily resorted to being strangers and she ended up as lifelong... friends (*cough*cough*).
In short, they're family and love each other for more than just familial relations or past flings. They're a support system for each other. The rest of the explanation lies in the fanart itself. 😉
11. Percy and Grover from the Percy Jackson series
Again, this duo is pretty popular in itself and very explanatory, so I won't go too much in-depth. There are many, many friendships that we come to love in the course of the whole Percy Jackson series, and the later ones as well, but Percy and Grover come to mind first.
They have been through endless adventures and disasters together, stuck through the impossible (Exhibit A- giant cyclops that out your best friend in wedding dresses to eat them)
Or getting turned into pigs together by a sorceress.
And through it all, their friendship has just gotten stronger, and how we love them for it. I'm so excited to see them in the Disney+ series!
12. Andrew and Renee from All For the Game
The Foxhole Court series may not be as mainstream, but the small niche fandom it has is very dedicated. And I can say as a part of it that Andrew and Renee's friendship is one of our favorite things. One of them may not acknowledge it as one, but they hang out together and spar together and Renee is one of the very few people that Andrew can hold a conversation with without threatening their life (there are very few, trust me. Like I'll only need one hand to count them).
They recognize a kind of kinship and understanding in each other that they can't find in anyone else because of their pasts. #knifewife
So yes, we count it as a friendship that lives a long life in all our HCs and fanfiction.
13. Lou and Coco from Serpent and Dove
Lou and Coco are both witches, and also do crimes together after running away from abusive parents. First of all, can we appreciate how badass that is?
Second, I won't repeat what I've said about every other duo before- it's understandable that it all applies here.
I just want to take this moment what amazing strong female characters they are and I love that we get to see all the sides of their characters. They're both powerful and beautiful women that are bit competing for anything and it's the emotional strength that sets them apart as well.
14. Cinder and Thorn from the Lunar Chronicles
Cinder and Thorn are two people who were brought together by the disaster in their lives. I won't go into detail about his they met because that might mean a spoiler, but they are very unusual circumstances and have to cooperate out of necessity. They go from two people who can't stand each other and always arguing to being ready to give up their life to save the other and... still arguing tbh.
If you've read the books, you'll how incredible their banter and witty clashes are. The way the dialogue is written and the way their personalities come through with grudging fondness- it's hilarious and heartwarming.
15. Raphael Santiago and Ragnor Fell from the Bane Chronicles
ANOTHER Shadowhunter reference, Aamna?
Yes, but I'm completely unapologetic about this, especially because this is SO UNDERRATED, and if you look closely enough, it's so painful and heartbreaking as well.
Raphael is a vampire, THE vampire head of the clan, and Ragnor Fell is a warlock. They meet through Magnus and become the unlikeliest pair of friends ever. We get a very little amount of direct interaction between them, but what little we get is so impactful.
Raphael is so far from a people person, being a vampire not taken into account, and it's very hard to impress him or amuse him. So it comes as a surprise to everyone when he and Ragnor strike up a friendship (THEY EVEN TEXT-C-C-CAN YOU BELIEVE IT)
And the way both their journey ends is so painful and so unexpected and will always be an unfinished story that I (maybe a lot) resent Cassie Clare for a bit. 😭
Time to Chat!
Whew! That was posted long as always, thank you so much for reading and I really hope you enjoyed it! This post-it took a lot of work but it was also be simping over my favorite characters, so it was worth it. 😉
I'd love to any of your thoughts, your favourite pairings, or anything that you would like to share!
Until next time,
Bye!
