Brooding Boy Gentle Girl / Video Games

• 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has Iori Fuyusaka as the gentle, mundane girl to the mysterious, broody Ei Sekigahara.
• From Azure Striker Gunvolt, Gunvolt and Joule qualify... when Lumen isn't out to play, at least. Unsurprisingly, the game is a Spiritual Successor to Mega Man Zero.
• In Baldur's Gate II, many joinable NPCs have some trauma or issue that Charname can help them work past. So perhaps it is not surprising that all four original romances have this as a possible dynamic, though only one plays it straight and three are gender-flipped.
  • Aerie is deeply depressed from the loss of her wings and somewhat Wangsty about it, but a nice male player character can help her move past it as the Gentle Boy.
  • In Jaheira's romance, she is coping with the loss of her husband and dealing with treachery from fellow members of the Harpers. She's a little more snarky than usual for a Brooding Girl, but it still applies. Successfully romancing her involves helping her get over Survivor's Guilt and deal with her feelings for Charname, which means being a Gentle Boy to some extent.
  • Anomen's romance plays this trope straight; to successfully complete it, a female Charname has to help him deal with his anger problems and daddy issues. The incident with the Master Wraith notwithstanding, this dynamic is mostly gone by Throne of Bhaal, with some hints of a role reversal.
  • Viconia is a Brooding Girl because of her exile from Drow society, which encouraged cruelty and ambition. She'll gladly bed Charname, but admitting she loves him is much more difficult for her. Though Charname has to be somewhat self-confident and cocky to get her attention at first, he can be the Gentle Boy to win her over and possibly redeem her in Throne of Bhaal.
• In BioShock Infinite it's the team of gentle Elizabeth and Booker as the brooder (who keeps it mostly to himself).
• BlazBlue gives us Ragna and Celica. While not an official couple, the shiptease is immense. Ragna is the brooding, cursing, hot-headed criminal while Celica is energetic, sweet, and an all-around nice person.
• Alicia Claus and Maxwell Cougar from Bullet Witch is an inversion. Alicia is a brooding witch who speaks with little-to-no emotion after having been through fighting demons for many years, meanwhile Maxwell is very friendly and kind man who leads some of the last remaining civilians and military forces in a last stand for humanity, and welcomes Alicia to his cause with open arms who initially rejects his offer until his team discovered something that gained her interest and support.
• Gabriel Belmont and his wife Marie were heavily hinted to be this in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Her death is what starts Gabriel's downward spiral.
• Geron and Nuri of Chains of Satinav fit this trope. For extra Foil points, Geron's basic magical power is the ability to break things, whereas Nuri has the power to mend them.
• Though it's never been confirmed, if Laharl and Flonne got together after the canon ending of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, this trope would largely sum up what their relationship would be like.
• Dragon Age II:
  • Any relationship with Fenris will have tones of this. Even at his most charming, he's still rather dry and bleak. A relationship with Anders has tones of this as well. In both cases, the dynamic is reversed temporarily after "All That Remains", when it's Hawke going through some serious trauma and consequent soul-searching. Still, even Fenris does his best to gently ease Hawke's brooding, despite how far out of his comfort zone he must stray.
  • Hawke's younger twin siblings, Bethany and Carver, have a brother-sister version of this dynamic until one of them dies.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy VII:
    • To an extent, Girl Next Door Tifa Lockheart is this towards brooding main protagonist Cloud Strife. The biggest example is Tifa's Journey to the Center of the Mind in Cloud's psyche, whereafter he goes through a massive Trauma Conga Line, she's the one who gently helps him pick up the pieces of his shattered psyche and helps him recover.
    • Played With when it comes to Cloud and Aerith Gainsborough, because Aerith is sassier, more cheerful, and more outspoken than the average Gentle Girl, but she's still immensely kind and compassionate, which helps her get through Cloud's frosty exterior. However, it's much more traditionally depicted in Advent Children, due to Aerith's personality becoming more spiritual and nurturing after her death.
  • Final Fantasy VIII plays this trope much more straight with Squall and Rinoa, particularly later on in the game as Rinoa sheds some of her more Manic Pixie Dream Girl tendencies. It's ultimately Rinoa's love for Squall that quite literally redeems him from being lost forever in the timestream.
  • Final Fantasy XVI also plays this trope very straight with Clive and Jill practically from beginning to end. Jill serves as Clive's emotional anchor and personal confidante, always promising to stand by his side, and Clive early on even tells Jill he can't complete his journey without her.
• Fire Emblem, as a long runner, has many of these.
  • If you pair them, both Erk\Priscilla and Jaffar\Nino in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. Ellen and Chad are kind of like this in the sequel game Sword of Seals, too.
  • It's a rather popular "reading" of Kent/Lyndis as well; but in the hands of many fans, it ends up with Lyndis being subjected to Chickification rather than her and Kent handling themselves like this.
    • If you prefer your Ho Yay, Raven and Lucius are the very incarnation of this.
  • If you pair them, Cormag/Tana in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.
  • In Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Princess Lachesis and her unofficial "knight" Finn are a gender-flipped pair, particularly in Mitsuki Oosawa's manga adaptation, which takes it to the point that Finn deliberately stabs himself with Lachesis' Earth Sword to stop her from harming herself after the death of her older brother/first love Eldigan.
  • Micaiah and King Pelleas in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, though you can't actually pair them. (Sadly, for some.)
  • This is a popular interpretation of Henry and Olivia in the Fire Emblem: Awakening fandom. Nevermind that Henry is much less brooding (at least on the outside) than the standard and that Olivia, despite her good heart, can be slightly insensitive and self-righteous while trying to help him—if anything, they fit more in a gender-flipped version of Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl.
    • It's also applied to Lon'qu/either Cherche or Olivia, Tharja/either Stahl or Kellam (gender-flipped), Gerome/either Noire or Lucina, and Cordelia/either Libra, Stahl or Frederick (gender flipped). Also gender flipped in Lucina/male!Robin fanworks.
    • Subverted by Gaius and Sumia, who at first sight seem to play this straight… but in reality are a Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl match.
    • Also subverted by Tharja and Libra. Brooding Girl Tharja ends up shocked and almost terrified when she realises that Libra, apparently the perfect Gentle Guy, is actually a Stepford Smiler with an inner darkness even worse than hers.
    • Ho Yay/Les Yay shippers also apply this trope to Gerome/Laurent and Severa/Noire, with Gerome or Severa as the brooders and Laurent or Noire as the gentle ones.
  • Fire Emblem Fates doesn't lack ships like these, either.
    • Among those that play it straight are Xander/Nyx; Xander/Female Corrin; Takumi/Female Corrin; Leo/Female Corrin; Leo/Sakura; Saizo/Sakura; Saizo/Mozu; Subaki/Sakura; Takumi/Azura (though this one has detractors for being too close to Brother–Sister Incest); Niles/Azura; and Male Corrin/Azura, though the last only plays it straight on Conquest (where he broods more) — they Gender Flip it on the other two routes (where she does).
    • Gender flipped examples include: Silas/Beruka and Benny/Beruka; Male Corrin/Oboro; Forrest/Rhajat; Shigure/Rhajat; Subaki/Nyx, and Leo/Nyx.
    • There's also the bisexual options, with Corrin/Rhajat (with Rhajat being the brooder) and Corrin/Niles (where Niles is the brooder), which could end up playing this straight or not depending on which gender the player picks.
    • Those who prefer same-gender pairings can get the same dynamic by flipping the gender of Corrin in the above pairings. It's also commonly seen with Takumi/Leo works and Niles/Leo fanwork (again with Niles as the brooder, though once in a while Leo plays the role).
  • The remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has the canon foreigners Berkut and Rinea as this. The Brooding Boy Berkut is immensely proud and arrogant, but he turns out to be also horribly insecure underneath it all and has quite the Dark and Troubled Past; he only allows the kind and gentle Rinea to see this sadder side of him, plus he trusts her more than anyone else. On the other hand, the Gentle Girl Rinea is a very sweet young woman and loves Berkut with all of her heart because he told her "You Are Better Than You Think You Are" as soon as they met, trying to soothe him and calm him down when he's angry or depressed.
    • After a start as a Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl match-up, Zeke and Tatiana switch to a gender-flipped version of this when Tatiana starts having doubts about the future of their relationship and her own worth. As this takes place, Zeke goes from Savvy Guy to Gentle Guy and does his best to tenderly reassure the Brooding Girl Tatiana that he won't stop loving her.
    • Gray and Clair don't normally fall into this, save for one exception: if the two live to the end, but Gray's best friend Tobin dies. If that happens, their shared ending says that the normally cheerful Gray fell in a deep drunken depression and the normally snarky Clair was the one who helps him back to his feet.
  • And in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, if you play as female Byleth and follow the Blue Lions route, her dynamic with Dimitri is absolutely this after the timeskip. The once-chivalrous Dimitri has become a self-loathing, unstable Sociopathic Hero, and the once-emotionless Byleth is trying to help him climb out of the dark pit he's in.
• In Forest of Drizzling Rain, Shiori the protagonist is the Gentle Girl to Suga the mysterious museum manager's Brooding Boy. Suga has a quiet personality and is initially rude upon Shiori first meeting him, trying to make her leave, but Shiori is gentle and friendly to him. Then it turns out Shiori and Suga used to be childhood friends, but Shiori almost got abducted by the Kotori Obake because she gave the Kotori Obake a magical "promise" that the Kotori Obake could have her on the condition that Suga was spared. So Suga had to erase Shiori's memories of the "promise" so Shiori wouldn't be abducted, so the Brooding Boy part of this trope is more justified than usual, as Suga really can't tell Shiori why he's trying to make her leave because doing so would cause her to remember the promise that would get her abducted.
• Guilty Gear:
  • Genderflipped example. Baiken is a Broken Bird, one-armed and one-eyed Action Girl who's always serious and goes Walking the Earth, Anji Mito is a Walking Shirtless Scene man who fights with two big fans and tries to help and cheer her up when they meet. And while Anji's well-intentioned but often misguided attempts to aid her don't always work, Baiken doesn't kick him out of her surroundings either.
  • Testament and Dizzy play this trope to the very letter, too, since it's only after meeting her that Testament begins to actually recover from the terrible life he led until then.
  • As Revelator Xrd 2 takes place, Ky and Dizzy become this. He angsts quite a bit after the events of Revelator Xrd and her Episode Mode is about her getting him to talk about it and then reassure him.
• Halo:
  • The Didact and his wife, the Librarian. The Didact is a stern, dedicated warrior who won't hesitate to call down the full strength of 3 million worlds upon your kind if you're asking for it. The Librarian is a Friend to All Living Things whose favorite charges are the species the Didact nearly wiped out: humans (the two even met while he was fighting them). The contradiction is lampshaded by most everyone, but if there's one thing that can soften the Didact, it's the Librarian. Unfortunately, the differences between them only widen after the Didact is driven to insanity, with the Librarian forced to turn against him in order to save her beloved humans from extinction.
  • The franchise's main duo, the stoic professional Master Chief and the cheery and friendly Cortana (though the latter is somewhat more snarky and ruthless than most examples). Chief actually finally breaks down and shows emotion in his voice and expression when Cortana "dies" at the end of Halo 4.
• Gray in Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is a grumpy and awkward young man while his love interest Mary is a sweet, shy girl.
• The King of Fighters:
  • In CD drama The Sun and The Moon, Iori Yagami and a girl named Kikuri Tanima (the little sister of his bandmate Konoe) fit this to a T. It doesn't end well: Iori leaves the Tanima sisters as he goes to the USA to not have them caught in his deals with Orochi, and since Kikuri is Delicate and Sickly, she dies a few days later.
  • It's not hard to see Kyo and Yuki's relationship as a milder version of this in the "King of Fighters: KYO" semi-canon continuity. At the same time Yuki receives some development and spotlight, Kyo is revealed to have more insecurities than one would believe...
• While in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow Prince Alexander just comes off as at most maybe slightly too serious and reserved, the Fan Sequel The Silver Lining seems to portray his and Cassima's relationship as being more heavily this trope.
• In Mass Effect 3, a Shepard of either gender will become very brooding after experiencing the Heroic BSoD with the dream sequence. A Male!Shepard relationship with either Tali or Liara takes on this trope, while Female!Shepard inverts this with Garrus.
• The Mega Man Zero series has a textbook example. Zero is a stoic Amnesiac Antihero who solves most of his problems by stabbing them with a plasma sword, and Ciel is a Wrench Wench mixed with Friend to All Living Things in a world where half the population are Ridiculously Human Robots called Reploids.
• Shadow Hearts has a great example of this when you look at Yuri and Alice's relationship.
• While it was more of a brother and sister relationship, Shadow from Sonic the Hedgehog had this kind of dynamic with Maria Robotnik—he's a brooding Anti-Hero, while she was the Littlest Cancer Patient and The Pollyanna. It got worse for them, however, as she died and Shadow almost became a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
  • As Shadow watches the space station Ark fall to Earth, Amy Rose begs him to help the others to stop it. She mirrors his long-deceased friend so well to Shadow that she is able to make him regain his true memories, which leads to him making a Heel–Face Turn.
    Shadow the Hedgehog: I've got to go now! I have to keep my promise to Maria… and you.
• In Stardew Valley, it's very popular among the player base to evoke this trope by playing a female Farmer who is a kind and helpful person, especially to Jasmine and Vincent and eventually marrying either Sebastian or Shane (the two most popular bachelor choices in the fandom).
• Kyosuke Nanbu and Excellen Browning from Super Robot Wars Compact 2. Note, however, that Excellen is not gentle per se (she's a certified Manic Pixie Dream Girl, more genki and teasing), which should be a subversion of this trope, but she's genuinely sweet, patiently loves him and provides the emotional support and companionship he needs.
• In Wadanohara, the titular young sea witch Wadanohara is the Gentle Girl to Samekichi the shark's Brooding Boy. Samekichi is rude to Wadanohara and keeps asking her to leave the ocean, and Wadanohara's friends think Samekichi betrayed Wadanohara before the story takes place. However, Wadanohara compassionately refuses to give up on Samekichi, who used to be her friend. Unusually for this trope, there turns out to be a very justified reason why Samekichi won't stop the brooding act: he didn't betray Wadanohara, but the person who did put Wadanohara under a memory curse; if Samekichi ever just told Wadanohara the truth, it would restore her memories but also destroy her mind in the process.
• Despite not being married initial signs pointed to Menat being this to Ed in Street Fighter V, as he is a boy with a harsh and troubled past and she is a girl who was taken in by Rose who treats her kindly. This was shot down rather quickly when the next DLC character, Falke, came out and would be the female associated with Ed.
• The World Ends with You features Neku Sakuraba as the sarcastic, cynical, anti-social Brooding Boy with a massive chip on his shoulder against society to Shiki Misaki’s energetic, kind-hearted Gentle Girl. Thanks to her influence, he is eventually able to grow past this.

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