Befriending the Bullied

"They're always rough like that with the new kids. But the truth is, those guys are wimps."

— Kaneda Shotaro, AKIRA

Childhood and adolescence can be rough. But it can be made a lot harder when one has to deal with an unrelenting bully (or bullies) at school or even at home. Because Adults Are Useless and Fighting Back Is Wrong, the bully's victim will likely get no help or be forced to go through the ordeal completely alone... or maybe not.

For whatever reason, the bullied character ends up making a friend, or a group of friends, who offer them support and either confront the bully, get them away from their bully, help them recover emotionally from the bullying or all of the above. If the victim gains enough courage and self-esteem from their new, healthy, possibly first friendship, then they might work up the confidence to give their old bully/bullies a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Or maybe they'll choose to take the high road, ignore the bully, and simply live their life.

Often, the one who befriends the victim is The Ace or an All-Loving Hero (or both). Maybe the befriender used to be bullied as well. Maybe the befriender is a villain who took the victim under their wing so they could have a sidekick. If a group of bullied kids decide to befriend each other, then it will result in a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits and/or a Family of Choice. A Reasonable Authority Figure might decide to befriend the bullying victim and become The Mentor to help them either stop the bully or get away from them and teach them how to move past it.

A subtrope of Adopting the Abused that focuses mainly on a victim of bullying getting a strong support system. This trope may prevent the victim from becoming He Who Fights Monsters. May cross over with Kids Are Cruel and Teens Are Monsters. If the bully is the one who is befriended, see Bully Turned Buddy. May cross over with Friendship Bribe if the victim attempts to gain friends and/or ward off bullies by buying their friendship with gifts or favors. If the school is trying to invoke this trope to counteract a bullying problem, see School Forced Us Together.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Ahko was ostracized by her old friends due to her Frozen Face-induced Perpetual Smiler appearance, and when she and Karane cross paths with them in Chapter 92, Karane immediately senses that Ahko is still letting them walk all over her, prompting Karane to invoke this trope by declaring herself Ahko’s BFF to their faces.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: Alisa used to bully Suzuka until Nanoha intervened and punched Alisa out for it. Being Nanoha, she managed to befriend not only Suzuka but Alisa as well, and they remain best friends throughout the franchise.

Fan Works

• CONSEQUENCES (Miraculous Ladybug): In SINS OF THE PAST, one of Lila's former targets, Frederick, moves to France for a fresh start after Lila's actions caused him to attempt suicide. When the truth comes out via akuma, everyone is very supportive of Frederick, with the kids at Dupont (including Jean, who becomes his boyfriend) all readily befriending him and letting him know they'll do everything they can to help him feel safe in his new school.
• Harry Tano: When Ahsoka decides that Harry needs a more formal education before he starts at Hogwarts, Emma Granger helps her enroll Harry at Hermione's primary school. When he starts there, he meets a girl who has been bullying Hermione for most of her school career. While Hermione is a little cowed at first, Harry tells the bully to her face to leave him and Hermione alone. Harry's friendship (and some Jedi training from Ahsoka) helps Hermione not only gain the respect/admiration of her peers (as she can perform physical feats through the Force that amaze her gym teacher), but she's able to defend herself when said bully attempts to assault Hermione on the playground.
• If Wishes Were Ponies: After the CMC save his life, Harry decides to spend the rest of his life being the best friend to them that he can possibly be. As such, he gives Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon a "The Reason You Suck" Speech so profound that they back off and leave the CMC alone. They don't stop being bullies, of course, but it's clear that nothing they say will tick off the Crusaders anymore.
• Moving On: After Lila turns the entire class against her, Marinette can't take the intense bullying anymore and asks her parents to let her change schools. She ends up at Rose River Academy, where she's quickly befriended by Allegra, Alan, and Claude. She also begins a friendship with Kagami and Chloé, who saw through Lila's lies and believed that the class' treatment of Marinette was too cruel. When her new friends learn about the bullying, they are completely supportive of Marinette while looking ready to murder Lila, Alya, Adrien, and pretty much everyone from Dupont.

Film — Animated

• NIMONA (2023): The film's introduction reveals that, due to being the only knight in his class who wasn't born a noble, Ballister was teased by nearly every other knight in training. The one exception was Ambrosius, who went out of his way to befriend him (which led to them becoming a couple). Unfortunately, Ballister was framed for regicide the day of their graduation and Ambrosius sliced his arm off, so their relationship hit a bit of a rough patch for a while...
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The first ten minutes of the film show that Peter Parker was regularly bullied at school, with Gwen being his closest friend and biggest defender. Unfortunately, her friendship/protection wasn't enough to keep him from going off the deep end and becoming the Lizard (which ultimately killed him and left Gwen/Spider-Woman devastated).

Film — Live-Action

• Chronicle: It's established early in the film that Andrew is bullied by numerous people at school (which, due to his terrible home life, is not good for his mental health). To help him, his cousin Matt takes him to a party and introduces him to his friend Steve, who is The Ace at school. After getting their powers, the three boys become close, with Andrew opening up and clearly being in a better place than at the start of the movie. Unfortunately, things go south after the talent show...
• Motherless Brooklyn: Lionel was loyal to Frank all throughout the latter's life because, when he and his foster brothers were in the orphanage together, Lionel was bullied by everyone (children and nuns alike) for having Tourette's Syndrome. Frank rescued the boys from the orphanage and never let Lionel feel like his condition was something to be ashamed of, and made sure that the other boys he adopted treating him as an equal. This led to him being loyal to all of them well into adulthood.
• Venom: Let There Be Carnage: In his letter to Eddie, Cletus Kassidy says that he befriended Shriek when she was the only one at their group home that defended him from the kids who picked on him.

Literature

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: Junior is considered one of the biggest targets for bullies on the rez due to his having a number of health conditions as a result of hydrocephalus. That said, he somehow ended up with Rowdy, the one kid in the tribe that both kids and adults fear, as his best friend. This friendship is tested throughout the book (as Rowdy hates Junior for attending a predominantly white public school and for befriending kids there), but as time goes on Rowdy's able to let go of his anger and the two rebuild their friendship.
• Captain Underpants: In Book 9, it's revealed that George and Harold first met in kindergarten, as Harold was being bullied by Kipper Krupp and his Gang of Bullies, before George came in with the necktie he was forced to wear by his parents and using it as a whip to ward them off.
• Carrie: After the incident with the locker room and Carrie's first period, Sue Snell (who was one of the girls who teased Carrie but regrets it after learning that Carrie really didn't know what a period was) decides to befriend her, inviting her to the prom and even encouraging her boyfriend to be Carrie's date.
• A Game of Thrones: After joining the Night's Watch, Jon Snow stops his fellow Night's Watch brothers from bullying Samwell Tarly. Afterward, the two became close friends.
• It: The protagonists, calling themselves The Losers Club, are a group of young, like-minded outcasts trying to escape their troubles in Derry, from sadistic bullies, to Abusive Parents, to eventually a child-killing alien abomination that primarily takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. They become True Companions in the process, and even after they go their separate paths and mature as adults, most of them retain their pact to fight off IT (as well as uncover all the other dark secrets hidden within the town) when it returns decades later.
• My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!: Catarina is such an All-Loving Hero that she frequently befriends downtrodden peers:
  • Maria is cruelly bullied by noblewomen for being a commoner with a rare magic affinity, since the universe is one where magical powers very seldom manifest outside of nobility. Catarina's befriending her and giving her Friendly Address Privileges actually helps her start to heal.
  • In Catarina's past life, her befriending of Atsuko Sasaki, who has been frequently subjected to Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics due to being socially inept, is important enough to Atsuko that she not only have more pride in her geekiness but also caused a Reincarnation Friendship to occur between them.
• Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs: After Leon sees a bunch of noble girls bully the commoner Olivia, Leon steps up and offer a helping hand and a friendly face, becoming her first actual friend at the academy that was previously only open to the aristocracy.

Live-Action TV

• Grange Hill: In the second series, Andrew Stanton takes it upon himself to intervene when Justin Bennett is bullied by Doyle; Andrew and Justin then become friends, although it is clear that Andrew has issues of his own at home.
  Doyle: (to Justin) Pick it up and clear off.
  Andrew: (coming over) You pick it up, Doyle!
  Doyle: This is none of your business, Andrew Stanton!
  Andrew: I'm making it my business. Pick it up. Now give it back. Now you clear off.
• iCarly: A weird example; one episode has a flashback that shows how Carly and Sam met in elementary school. Sam was bullying Carly for her sandwich, and ended up stealing it from her and shoving her off the bench she was sitting on. Rather than cry, Carly got up, took back her sandwich, and shoved Sam off the bench. This earned Sam's instant respect and she befriended her victim.
• Odd Squad: Olive, consistently harassed and bullied by her old partner Todd, eventually gains a new partner in the form of Otto. By the time the series begins, they are best friends, with Otto serving as a sort of Living Emotional Crutch for Olive following Todd's attack on Headquarters.
• Son of a Critch: In the pilot episode, Mark Critch starts the new year with no friends and a target on his back, courtesy of Fox, the only girl in an entire family of bullies. He decides to go about changing this situation, first by befriending Ritchie, his school's only non-white student, by protecting him from Fox's older brothers. When this puts an even bigger target on his back, he discovers that Fox herself is also being bullied, by both her brothers and the other girls at school, and thus decides to recruit her to his side as well.
• Victorious: In the episode "Crazy Ponnie", the titular character exploits this trope, acting like a sad, friendless girl so Tori will take pity on her and try to befriend her. This allows Ponnie to start orchestrating a series of events to make Tori look crazy (which is helped by the fact that Trina's been keeping Tori awake for the last few days with her cold). She does so because she believes that she was expelled from Hollywood Arts to make room for Tori. In the end, thanks to a trap set with local police, the truth is revealed. Sikowitz explains that Ponnie, real name Fawn Leibowitz, was not expelled to make room for Tori, but because she was a thief, kept strange things in her backpack, and called everyone "Debbie".

Multimedia Franchises

• Sonic the Hedgehog: This is how Sonic initially meets his best friend and sidekick Tails: Sonic comes across Tails being bullied for his twin tails and sends the bullies packing. Downplayed in that Sonic is just passing through and immediately runs off again; it's not until the awestruck fox chases after him and impresses him with his own speed and courage that they actually become friends.

Video Games

• EarthBound Beginnings: Lloyd is ostracized by his classmates due to both being a nerd, and accidentally destroying his school's science lab with his bottle rockets. Ninten finds Lloyd hiding in a trash can on the roof, and decides to befriend him.
• Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The player character befriends Penny and the Team Star bosses, who all formed Team Star because they were bullied.

Webcomics

• El Goonish Shive: How Elliot and Tedd became friends in elementary school. A flashback reveals that Bully Hunter Elliot was defending who he thought was a girl on the playground, but it turned out to be the androgynous-looking Tedd. It's implied that the biggest thing that stopped Tedd from becoming like his Evil Counterpart Lord Tedd was that main-universe Tedd had Elliot while Lord Tedd didn't.

Web Videos

• Multiverse Tales: In Benny Sharp Saves Christmas From Lots and Lots of Demons, the titular Gadgeteer Genius, on a journey through the Multiverse, meets and befriends Cosmara Noroi, a demon hunter from Dimension D-667 who suffers ostracization and abuse from her fellow hunters, but especially her former boyfriend, team leader Clayton Costuss. The reason he does this is that years ago, Mara received a Curse from her world's Overseer that makes her gradually turn into a Demon of Human Origin every time she kills a demon, and Clayton, paranoid that once she completes her transformation, she'll automatically become evil, forbids her from killing demons, on pain of cutting off her demonic right arm. Benny, being a Lovable Rogue, doesn't see Mara's curse-derived powers as a bad thing, and actively encourages her to rebel against Clayton. Eventually, he even stands up for her and beats up Clayton for trying to kill her and prevent her curse from spreading. Benny then solidly establishes his hatred of bullies by telling Clayton, "Sorry about da friends you lost, but don't call her your friend, kid. You don't deserve it, da way you treat her." After that, when the ungrateful demon hunters abandon Mara, despite the fact that her using her powers saved the Romanian village they were defending from demons, Benny convinces her to come to Dimension A-016 with him and live with his team of superhero friends, the Sharp Gang, who provide her with the healthy emotional support and approval that her former associates never did.

Western Animation

• Amphibia: The start of the episode "The Third Temple" reveals that Anne and Marcy met Sasha when they were toddlers. The former two had been playing on the swings when two older kids cruelly forced them off. Sasha, despite being half their size, tried to fight them off (and accidentally beat herself up in the process). The bullies were weirded out and left. Out of gratitude, Anne and Marcy invited Sasha to play with them, which kickstarted their friendship.
• The Casagrandes: In "Born to be Mild", a boy named Alexis is being bullied for playing the tuba, so Carl befriends him and teaches him that the way to avoid being bullied is to be a Bratty Half-Pint like himself. However, Alexis does not like being a brat. Luckily, however, the bullies turn around when Alexis hugs them.
• Kim Possible: Done twice over in "Kim Possible: A Sitch In Time". When Drakken, McDuff, and Monkey Fist de-age themselves and go back in time to try to demoralize 4-year-old Kim by bullying her, 4-year-old Ron steps in and defends her. When the bullies turn on Ron, Kim is encouraged to fight back and defend Ron. This becomes their new friendship origin story (originally it is implied they just met in preschool).
• Miraculous Ladybug: "Origins" reveals that Marinette, who had been bullied by Chloé for years, was defended by new student Alya on the first day of 9th grade. The two became fast friends, and Alya ends up being the reason Marinette took up the Ladybug mantle in the first place.
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Twilight defends and befriends the human Fluttershy after she is bullied by Sunset Shimmer.
• The Owl House: Luz first sees Willow and Amity when the latter is bullying the former for failing her homework assignment. Luz, who's dealt with bullying herself, immediately steps up and befriends Willow (who, aside from Gus, didn't have any friends).
• The Simpsons: Bart and Milhouse's friendship could be considered this, as Milhouse is regularly picked on by Nelson and other bullies. Bart, Depending on the Writer, is often either another of Nelson's victims or a bully himself. However, Bart remains Milhouse's friend no matter what.
• Static Shock: In "Jimmy" (arguably the show's best-known episode), Virgil and Richie decide to befriend the titular Jimmy, a kid who's regularly picked on by Nick. While Jimmy clearly appreciates their efforts, being bullied for an untold amount of time has done a number on Jimmy's mental health, and he ends up coming to school with a gun to shoot his tormentors. Despite Richie and Frieda trying to defuse the situation, Jimmy panics when two kids rush him and pulls the trigger, shooting Richie in the leg. Nick and his mooks end up suspended, while Jimmy ends up in juvie.
• Transformers: Animated: In the Flashback Episode "Auto Bootcamp", this is both invoked and played straight:
  • Longarm invokes this trope when he learns that Bumblebee knows there's a Decepticon spy among the recruits. He encourages Bumblebee to not give up even when the other 'Bots (namely Wasp) tease him and helps him after an especially cruel prank. Too bad it was all because he was actually Shockwave in disguise and befriended 'Bee so he would be above suspicion.
  • Bulkhead plays this straight, as honestly wants to befriend Bumblebee because they're the two 'Bots the other recruits (and Sentinel) tease the most. His kindness pays off, as Bumblebee took the blame for an accident Bulkhead caused, getting them both expelled but cementing their friendship in the process.
• Ultimate Spider-Man: While Peter's never truly felt threatened by bullies due to being Spider-Man, he knows how much it can hurt. As such, when he and Luke Cage see Flash picking on a kid named Alex, Peter decides to try and befriend him. Despite his offer of friendship being genuine, Alex sees it as a form of pity and rejects him. Peter sees the situation go From Bad to Worse when it turns out that Alex O'Hirn has been stealing OsCorp chemicals to become the Rhino, and intends to use his new alter-ego to get revenge on Flash.

Real Life

• Bikers Against Bullying (BAB) is a US and Canada-based 501c3 nonprofit organization formed by bikers and motorcycle clubs with the goal of befriending and providing support to bullied kids — the idea being that it'll be harder to bully someone who's friends with a Badass Biker or ten.

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