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Friend To All Living Things
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"I'm so handsome, there's a six-month waiting list for birds to suddenly appear every time I am near!"
"No. I will not let you devastate this innocent creature's home. I would rather die than let you ruin this land."
"I'll be good. How good?
Evil folk will choke on their own bile and die- making me the winner by default.
I will be my own light source.
Unicorns will file an official protest. As will rainbows and puppies."
—forum quote
A character, almost Always Female and the heroine of the piece — sometimes a male due to St. Francis of Assisi being the patron saint of animals — is shown to be almost supernaturally innocent, sweet, altruistic, or any combination thereof, by the way that all manner of wild forest creatures flock to her. Deer will shyly eat out of her hand, chipmunks will frolic at her feet, and birds will alight on her finger, shoulder or head (and not void their bowels while doing so).
Of course, any other person approaching will break the spell and send the timid woodland animals fleeing, but not before they witness the supernatural wonder of her loving heart in action.
Sometimes the heroine has such influence over the wild creatures that they will perform small tasks for her. In the case of gods or saints, flowers will spring up at their feet.
This is a frequent attribute of The Messiah, and Princess Classic. Sometimes a trait of the Fluffy Tamer, who prefers living things with fangs, scales, and/or the capacity to breathe fire. Contrast with Evil Detecting Dog and Enemy To All Living Things. Also see Not Good With People for a semi-subversion of this character type.
When this is done with a male character, it's probably a reference to the legend of St. Francis of Assisi, either directly or via Popcultural Osmosis.
With females, this may be related to the myth that only a virgin girl may approach a unicorn.
In Fan Fiction, this is an early warning sign of a particularly blatant Purity Sue. Opposite of Animals Hate Him. See also Licked By The Dog.
This is often parodied. If the parody is clearly referencing the Disney Animated Canon examples below, it falls under Disney Creatures Of The Farce, and the examples should go there.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- The titular Nausicaä in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is one of the classic examples of this trope, perhaps even prototypical. She takes it much further than most others; she not only befriends cute wild animals but also horrifying battleship-sized insects, slavering-jawed giant dragonflies and so forth. Her compassion extends to people of all nations as well, so she really is a friend to All Living Things.
- The Garden Master in the manga is a nasty subversion of the trope, as he tends to a beautiful, perfect garden and can speak with his animals (indeed, they act as his servants.) He knows of, but cannot comprehend violence and the human need to survive, and a prolonged stay within the Garden's limits will destroy the visitor's will and cause them to forget the outside world..
- Arika in Mai-Otome.
- Chachamaru (the robot) in Mahou Sensei Negima. Later, Konoka exhibits this trope as well as Fluffy Tamer.
- Belldandy in Ah My Goddess
- Sakura in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. She's not exactly The Messiah but she is the lynchpin in a Xanatos Roulette. Her power is described as 'speaking to things that do not have voices', and therefore can communicate with ghosts and even inanimate objects. The unfailingly gentle persona does start to develop cracks in the second half of the series, however.
- Alice (and Mokuren) in Please Save My Earth can talk to plants and animals, and makes plants grow when she sings.
- Quill in Yami To Boushi To Hon No Tabibito
- Parodied in School Rumble. Harima Kenji, in a fit of despair over a broken heart, rejects civilization to live as a hermit. In time, he gains the ability to talk to wild animals and a veritable zoo follows him wherever he goes for a time.
- Played straighter with Yakumo
- Dragonball Z had Dr. Gero's android 16 portrayed this way. Interestingly, he had still intended to follow his programming and kill Goku, but otherwise had no particular ill feelings towards anyone else.
- Gender-reversed with one of Naruto's newer characters, Juugo.
- Also parodied/lampshaded recently when Naruto goes through training that requires him to be still enough to balance on a stone slab on a spike. When he finally manages to do it a bird perches on his shoulder... which throws him off balance and sends him plummeting to the ground.
- Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh has a scene where she dreams herself as St. Sakaki of Assisi. But there is this cat Kamineko that always keeps biting and scratching her... Poor Sakaki. She loves animals, but most animals hate her.
- Beautifully used to send up all expectations in the Wham Episode of Gun X Sword. Wendy meets an old man in a park who's feeding the birds. The animals are gathered peacefully around him, and birds even land on his outstretched finger. He has a pet St. Bernard, and gives a speech about dreams, adding that his own is world peace. This charming old man, loved by all the animals, is the Claw.
- Yukina, from Yu Yu Hakusho, was portrayed this way in her first appearances. The manga has an off-hand mention of the birds being Reikai messengers, however, and later, one of Hiei's Whole Episode Flashbacks has her make an interesting statement...
- Caro of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha worked for the Wildlife Preservation Division before the events of the third season. In the manga that showed her time there, we see her surrounded by birds she had befriended (Not in that way), with her superiors talking about how her nature as a summoner lets her connect with animals easily.
- Monster has a rather tragic example of a man who used to be a Friend To All Living Things in the forest he grew up around. That was before he killed an innocent man in the place because he was ordered to.
- Played straight with the main character Dr.Tenma, who is also The Messiah himself, though suprisingly enough manages not to make it into Purity Stu.
- The manipulative vindictive Freesia from Jubei-Chan hangs out in the village of the cute talking animals for a bit before she sets off to collect the hero's head.
- Subverted in Sketchbook. The cats don't view Sora as such, since she always gives them expired food. Double-subverted after Sora finally gives them good food.
- Also subverted in Basilisk, where Hotarubi of the Iga Tsubagakure has to power to summon insects and reptiles... and use them to kill.
- Kaoru Kaidoh from The Prince Of Tennis is a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold/borderline male Tsundere whose soft side emerges when around puppies and kittens. In the Gakuensai no Oujisama Dating Sim, the final date with Kaidoh takes place either in an aquarium or a zoo.
- Shido Fuyuki from Get Backers, who is also The Doctor Dolittle. His girlfriend, Madoka Otowa, also picks it up; in fact, when Shido goes live with her in Madoka's Big Fancy House, Shido's beloved animals join them too.
- Jinpei in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, big time. A prime example is in episode 18 when he blows the team's mission just to save a baby whale, getting them all in hot water with Dr. Nambu. Then there's his puma in the second series...
- Yellow from Pokemon Special. she is not only a particularly kind and gentle trainer, but she has the power to both heal and listen to the thoughts of pokemon, which leads to her befriending just about any pokemon that isn't being trained by an enemy.
- America from Axis Powers Hetalia loved to play with bunnies as a young child and befriends whales as an adult. It's so over the top that he even comes to befriend extra-terrestrials, one of which lives in his house (hi there, Tony). Nevertheless, he doesn't particularly care about global warming and whatnot.
- Gon from Hunter X Hunter is a male example, especially in the first few chapters/episodes.
- Princess Fala/Allura of Voltron can talk to mice (at least space mice).
- The main character from Binchou-tan.
- Appachai in Historys Strongest Disciple Kenichi. Occasionally the omakes will exaggerate this, such as him thinking he only needs to stand still for the next 20 days and the birds nesting on top of his head will be gone.
- The image above is Hayate from Shakugan No Shana in a sort of scout/spy form where she's acting/temporarily really is just a normal girl at the school. It would be spoilered that it's her but it's kind of really obvious. She has something of an affinity for birds, getting easily distracted by them, and they tend to love her back.
- The titular Sara in Shokojo Sera is a straight, if somewhat realistic example. Her animal friends include a pony, a parrot, the Seminary's comic cat, the sparrows outside her attic, and even a group of mice that live in her attic.
- Parodied, (surprise, surprise) in Violinistof Hameln when Lute's entourage of birds eventually grows into a mob of adoring animals, including crocodiles, gorillas, and a boa constrictor, which prove to be difficult to shoo off. His original bird companions stick around, played fairly straight, though lampshaded by people around him.
- Used oddly in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: the last Parallel Works video shows Lordgenome was a Friend To All Living Things when he was a kid. Possibly deconstructed, in that he later decided to genetically modify the animals into his army Beastmen.
Comic Books
- Catwoman, in several interpretations, has a feline-specific version. From the tiniest kitten to the largest tiger, there's something about her that they all instinctively trust.
- Probably pheromone-based magic.
- The Penguin has a similar ability regarding birds. A Secret Origins special written by Neil Gaiman even has one of his ex-henchmen describing this with awe to a TV crew.
- Poison Ivy.
- Subverted by Doomsday, the DC Comics character who killed Superman. In one of his first appearances, while he was still wandering aimlessly through a forest, a deer came up and nuzzled his hand. Doomsday, of course, broke the poor deer's neck. He did the same thing to a bird that landed on his palm.
- Cooch from Footrot Flats is described this way from day one, and is notable for caring for even introduced feral animals, which even Australian and New Zealander environmentalists would shoot on sight. He says that somebody's got to care for them. However, he's not a vegetarian, and makes some great cave weta sandwiches.
- In the James O'Barr's graphic novel The Crow, Eric Draven is shown with all of the cats living in a tenement happily following him.
Film
- Altaira in Forbidden Planet has this ability, even charming a tiger, until she falls in love with Captain Adams.
- In M. Night Shyamalan's Lady In The Water, the identifying mark of The Healer is that he/she attracts butterflies.
- The eponymous Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is a male example of this used straight in a comedy. Animals instinctively know to obey him. When he suffered a Freak Out and retreated to a Buddhist monastery, butterflies would flutter around his head. He's able to get animals to protect him by using baby talk. The only exception is bats, which he absolutely hates.
- Layla from Sky High can control plants.
- Kira from The Dark Crystal.
- There's a running theme in Children Of Men that animals like Theo, even the farm dogs who supposedly hate everyone. He's also the one who manages to get Kee's baby to calm down near the end.
Literature
- Subverted in the Discworld book Moving Pictures. When sending for a new archchancellor, the wizards select Ridicully the Brown on the note that he loves nature and assume that he will be very naive and easy to murder because of this trope. Turns out, he's an avid hunter and damn near impossible to kill to boot, and single-handedly stops the University's tradition of You Kill It You Bought It.
- Also in Wyrd Sisters, where the population of the local forest, carnivore and herbivore alike, shows up on Granny Weatherwax's front lawn, in an attempt to silently guilt her into getting a new king of Lancre. Subverted in that her response is to say, "I don't know what's going on, but when it wears off, some of you buggers better be quick on your feet or you'll be lunch."
- Subverted in The Restaurant at The End Of The Universe where one character, Ford Prefect, stands alone in a field, smiling serenely. A deer comes up and rubs against him, whereupon Ford immediately reaches out and breaks its neck. He attributes the effect to "pheromone control" and notes, "You just need to emit the right smell".
- Jacen Solo, Han and Leia's son from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, starts out like this. Later on, though...
- Admittedly, one could say that he started the Legacy of the Force series as a Well Intentioned Extremist, and only switched over completely by Inferno.
- In Rudyard Kipling's story "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat
 " from The Second Jungle Book, the title character renounces his wordly goods and becomes a holy man, befriending all of the animals that live in the hills near his shrine.
- In One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Jerk With A Heart Of Gold Mauricio Babilonia is always followed around by swarms of yellow butterflies.
- In Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy, Jaenelle, being made up of both human and animal dreams, is the catalyst for the reconciliation of the kindred and Blood when she convinces the kindred to open their realms again.
- This is a mixed blessing for Una in The Faerie Queene: On the one hand, an army of forest critters save her from being raped by Sansloy, but then they practically kidnap her and force her to stay with them so they can worship her until she's rescued by Satyrane.
- Subverted in HP Lovecraft's mythos. Nyarlatothep is described as having wild beasts licking his hands, and in some RPGs based on the mythos, it is specifically mentioned that no animal can attack him. This is probably related to his unnatural charisma and has some effect on people too (he tends to gather a large following wherever he goes). Ofcourse he's pretty much the exact opposite of sweet and innocent.
- Also played somewhat straight in The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, where Randolph Carter befriends the cats living in the dream world. He aids them on several occasions, and is aided by them in return.
- In Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's novel A Little Princess, heroine Sara Crewe befriends and tames the rat who lives in her attic.
- Her other classic children's novel, The Secret Garden, has two gender-flipped examples: Ben Weatherstaff, who is good friends with the robin who leads Mary to the garden, and Purity Stu Dickon, who has tamed darn-near every creature on the moor.
- Whateley Universe example: Aquerna, who is kind and innocent, and has a special bond with squirrels and chipmunks. They'll do whatever she tells them to, and they'll follow her around.
- In Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Gods of Mars, Thuvia can tame with her words the banths that seriously threatened the combined forces of John Carter and Tars Tarkas.
Live Action TV
- This was subverted in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in which Willow lures a fawn to her in the forest... and she then slaughters it to collect its blood for the rite which will raise Buffy from the dead.
- Despite being very aware that she wasn't actually killing the fawn, actress Allison Hannigan was traumatized over even having to act it out.
- An episode of Jim Henson's The Storyteller called "Sapsorrow" showed the titular princess having this power. The episode was based on the German folk tale "Allerleirauh" and featured Princess Sapsorrow having her coat made by all her animal friends.
- The Goodies. After Tim Brooke-Taylor becomes Bigfoot (his right foot has swollen from walking around the sides of mountains, looking for legendary creatures) he retreats to the wild (so people will stop laughing themselves to death over the sight of his enormous foot) and becomes friends to all the animals, who join him in a rendition of the "Bigfoot" theme song.
Music
- Within Temptation's "In Perfect Harmony" is a textbook example, apart from the subject being male.
- Close to You by The Carpenters.
"Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near?
Just like me, they long to be close to you."
- Played with in Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs. "Do I really want to be near somebody who causes birds to appear suddenly? Didn't Alfred Hitchcock do a horror movie about this?"
- Also parodied in this XKCD comic: "Wait, are those turkey vultures?"
Tabletop Games
- The Druid and Ranger classes in Dungeons And Dragons have a version of this ability, animal empathy, but they definitely don't have to be innocent or naive.
- The Binder class from Tome of Magic in the 3.5 rules has a vestige that grants an even better ability more in keeping with this trope. Animals start with a default attitude of friendly toward the Binder when this vestige is bound. Animal Empathy, by contrast, requires a check.
- A subversion can be found in the 2E AD&D monster-books, which describe how ordinary rats or mice will emerge from hiding because they're drawn to a wererat's presence, timidly following the lycanthrope around. D&D wererats, as it happens, are Always Lawful Evil and are Friends To Nobody.
Video Games
- Dizzy in the Guilty Gear series.
- A character in the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney series, Acro, is constantly loved and flapped around by birds. These birds even attack Phoenix when he starts accusing Acro of having done it...
- The birds actually desert Acro when he's at his most intense, but come back afterwards.
- In the third game, Dahlia Hawthorne is similarly accompanied by a trio of butterflies most of the time. Said butterflies basically explode when Dahlia's true nature is revealed
- Marin, from The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and the ocarina boy from A Link to the Past. Link himself shows some tendencies in this direction at times, too.
- Amaterasu, the main character in Okami, takes this to the logical extreme. Not only do animals adore her, but she also makes flowers bloom wherever she steps. She's God though, so it only makes sense.
- And when you make flowers bloom near animals, they get hearts over their head and run over to Amaterasu to nuzzle up to her.
- Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII.
- Guy, from Final Fantasy II, is a lumbering giant of a man... who speaks squirrel, is pure of heart, and has stats that make him an ideal White Mage.
- Lenna from Final Fantasy V, to the point that she steps on poisonous plants to rescue the wind drake. She became this after Learning that her mother was sick, and could only be cured by the tongue of a wind drake, which would kill it. In the end, she chose to keep the wind drake alive..
- In Fable if you get your good rating high enough, butterflies start flying around you. If you get your evil rating high enough, flies do the same.
- Sakura Wars V's Diana has a specific bond to birds... they flock to her and she can't stand to see them harmed. She actually faints when served Fried Chicken at a Harlem Church. Coqulicot from the Third Game lives in a circus and is a variation on this Trope as well.
- Celia from Harvest Moon. That includes plants.
- Erana from the Quest For Glory series is a powerful mage whose goodly influence you will come into contact with throughout all of the games. Several gardens have sprung up wherever her magic is at work, causing animals to gather and exerting an influence of calm and purity over everything.
Web Comics
Western Animation
- So many Disney Princesses and other heroines from the Disney Animated Canon.
- Snow White is probably the Ur-example. Watch the scene on YouTube, starting around 3:20.
- Briar Rose (Princess Aurora) in Sleeping Beauty had a host of animal friends that ended up stealing the prince's clothes so they could assemble together as a kind of homemade dream prince.
- Mary Poppins and the robin that perched on her finger while she was singing "A Spoonful of Sugar".
- Cinderella begins with the heroine's animal friends waking her up in the morning and helping her shower and get dressed. They also make her a dress while she's too busy with her chores, and eventually end up saving the day in the end.
- More recent Disney films have tried to avoid this to varying levels of success. Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, for example, is friendly with birds and a tiger, but they grew up around her, so it's at least justified. Mulan's horse and cricket simply act like wacky sidekicks along with Mushu. Belle tries to talk to farm animals, but they don't seem to understand what she's saying, so it's just another reason for the townspeople to think she's insane. Even her trusty horse tries to run away when she's being attacked by wolves. She is at least somewhat friendly with birds, but they abandon her for the Beast when they see he's got more food.
- Megara from Hercules is about the only Disney heroine without any animal friends. In one scene, she even tells some cute and cuddly animals to get lost. (They turn out to be Pain and Panic in disguise.)
- Penelope Pitstop often uses animals to escape her perils.
- Another male version: Aang from Avatar The Last Airbender.
- Admittedly, Aang is basically a spiritual being in a mortal body, so why not animals?
- Word Of God is that the Avatar spirit is why he attracts animals.
- Prowl of Transformers Animated isn't only a male-version, he's a robot. The savage Dinobots listen when Prowl speaks (...well, sometimes). He even has a room with a hole in it that has a tree growing through.
- Jana Of The Jungle often communicates with the animals of the rain forest, and they obey her commands, especially when innocent people need to be rescued.
- The Histeria! episode "When America Was Young" had a scene where Charity Bazaar showed herself to be an example of this.
- Ma-Ti from Captain Planet. Not necessarily an extension of his Heart Power; in his introduction sequence, he calmly faces a jaguar about to eat his future pet monkey Suchi and manages to save the latter without throwing an attack against the first.
- In Moral Orel, who better than God to have this power? In the opening sequence, a bluebird lands on God's finger and it has to be flicked away.
- Rorschach from Saturday Morning Watchmen is "friend to the animals/When he's not clowning around!"
Real Life
- Steve Irwin tended to be on less than friendly terms with crocodiles, but loved all animals and he and his family are ardent environmentalists. There wasn't an animal on Earth he was afraid to hang around (except maybe hippos). It caused his undoing when he went out of his element, but he wouldn't have been surprised...
- Steve Irwin was "on less than friendly terms with crocodiles" because pissing them off was the best way for him to keep their attention focused on him while the rest of his team got into position to jump on them, pop a restaint on their muzzle, and put them in a crate so they can be relocated rather than shot.
- Saint Francis of Assisi, according to legend.
- And Saint Martin of Porres. He's often represented with a dog, a cat, a bird and a mouse... that eat peacefully from the same dish placed at the saint's statue's feet.
- Thoreau.
- According to Ripley's Believe it or Not, Elie Gourbeyre of Nouara, France could lure any bird to her shoulder by merely crooking her finger. This lasted only from the time she was six until she was twelve years old.
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