True Companions are just like a real family — they may not necessarily like each other, but they know they can depend upon each other in a crisis. It is a relationship considered to be deeper than mere friendship but more innocent than romance.
This sort of group dynamic appeals to younger audiences who are unfamiliar with romance, and appeals to older audiences who live in a world of complex relationships and convenience masqueraded as false friendship, who are feeling nostalgic about the times when friendship meant a lifelong bond.
A writer may use this to avoid writing romantic relationships, though this usually doesn't stop fans from making up their own.
This trope was originally known as Nakama, a Japanese word that means a deep friendship with a dedication akin to family.
Subtropes:
Band of Brothers The group is formed by a shared dangerous circumstance, normally military.
Blood Brothers The group is formed by some pact, oath or ritual, occasionally as a tradition in response to someone saving your life.
Fire-Forged Friends People who specifically didn't care for each other but form a bond after a conflict forces them to work together.
Most obviously, the senior staff of The West Wing, which goes so far as to mimic a nuclear family with the President and Leo representing the parents, Toby and CJ the older siblings, and Josh and Sam the younger ones.
Made explicit in "Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics":
Josh: He [the President] thinks of you like a daughter, C.J.
Also, in "Two Cathedrals", the President says the following (to God, no less):
"What was Josh Lyman, a warning shot? That was my son. What did I ever do to yours but praise his glory and praise his name?"
Charlie is Bartlet's adoptive son in all but legal terms:
In "Epitaph One", we see Adelle caring for Topher (who has gone insane) like a mother for a child.
The end of "The Attic" seems to signal the point where all the main characters realize that they're on the same side. Laurence Dominic is probably a member too, though he's still stuck in the Attic.
Boyd outright states that they're family in "The Hollow Men." Unfortunately, he's been revealed as the Big Bad by this point. Tony and Priya say the same thing, and because of Boyd's previous usage of the term, Echo/Caroline tells them to call them anything but that.
Firefly: Serenity's crew is a family, right down to sibling rivalry, petty squabbling over chores, complaining about being sent to find parts in a junkyard instead of going shopping... River even assures Simon that "Daddy will come get us." Who eventually does come? Mal.
Simon: Why did you come back for us?
Mal: You're on my crew.
Simon: Yeah, but you don't even like me. Why'd you come back?
Mal: You're on my crew. Why're we still talking about this?
Sylar: Peter, you stayed? Peter: I wasn't going to leave you...
Peter, Matt, Mohinder, Hiro, and Ando forming a Five-Man Band that keep rescuing each other.
The Carnival, of Season 4, can be seen as this. Even Samuel, their leader and the Big Bad, seems to genuinely care for their safety and well-being. Granted, he isn't above murdering them if they stand in his way, but when he does, he's clearly guilty about having to do so.
Lost: The plane crash survivors don't always get along, but thanks to their circumstances (and hostility from the Others,) they realize they're in it together. The background characters are wholly apathetic, but the regulars are always going off to rescue each other despite the many dangers. Jack and Sawyer, in particular, hate each other, but still look out for each other against common threats. This is exemplified by their Survival Mantra; "Live together. Die alone." The Grand Finale really makes it explicit how the group had came to relate to each other as true companions, to the extent that none of them would "move on" from the flash-sideways universe until all of them were ready.
Christian: [to Jack] The most important part of your life was the time that you spent with these people. [...] You needed all of them and they needed you.
This trope was done with the NewsRadio ensemble quite early in developing the dynamic, with Jimmie James eventually becoming the defacto father figure, to eccentric and near ridiculous extent.
Despite being barely able to tolerate each other, the main characters of Red Dwarf certainly fit this trope. The canonical example comes in "Terrorform", where Starbug is trapped in Rimmer's subconscious. Since Rimmer loathes himself, he is being tortured by a psychological demon, and the rest of the crew have to get him out. The episode's climax comes when the crew manage to convince Rimmer that they love him, which resurrects the warriors Self-Confidence and Self-Respect to defeat the demons and free the ship. Of course, once it's over...
Rimmer: You really didn't mean any of that, did you? All:(in unison) ... No.
Kryten the selfless android gets a Crowning Moment of Funny when the crew stands up for him when a replacement robot shows up and gives a Star Trek like speech on friendship to which Lister gives an equally funny retort.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Scoobies. Summed up in a season 5 episode with an appropriate name:
Mr. Maclay: We are Tara's blood kin. Who the hell are you?
Buffy: We're family.
The staff of Sacred Heart in Scrubs are constantly said to be "like a family."
Mulder and Scully in The X-Files, to the point where they're extremely suspicious of anybody else and trust only each other (although towards the end of the series, they do come to trust Agents Doggett and Reyes... as much as they ever trust anyone that isn't them, anyway).
Mulder: You were my friend, and you told me the truth. Even when the world was falling apart you were my constant — my touchstone.
Scully: And you are mine.
(...)
Mulder: Scully, you have to believe me. No one else on this whole damn planet does or ever will. You're my one in five billion.
The Lone Gunmen are true companions going on in much the same vein, though the circle expands a bit when they take on Jimmy Bond.
Any Doctor Who companion(s), ever, even if they don't always get along (viz., Captain Jack, etc.), there's a certain bond. In "Journey's End" they are even given a name: The Children of Time.
Sarah Jane: You know... you act like such a lonely man. But look at you! You've got the biggest family on Earth!
Brought up again in "The Wedding of River Song". After an entire series deconstructing the idea of the Doctor - that he hurts people, that he makes them scared, that he ruins lives, River shows him how all the universe has responded to her call to help him. Not just past companions, but anyone he's ever touched for the good.
Off-camera, the regular cast members of Jon Pertwee's run as the Doctor in the early 1970s ended up becoming known as "the UNIT family" (after the organisation many of the characters worked for) precisely because they became incredibly close to one another off-camera. The death of Roger Delgado, who played the Master, in 1974 was one of the key motivating factors behind Pertwee's decision to leave the role.
The Torchwood team formed a particularly dysfunctional, incestuous (every member of the team romanced at least one other member at least once) crew.
The original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation team has been entering this trope over time. The season nine premiere only made it explicit, with even The Spock, Gil Grissom, calling the team his family. In return, more than one teammember has stated they think of Grissom as a father figure. Catherine also acknowledges it when she walks into Grissom's office and sees Sara — as Nick and Greg walk in behind her, she hugs Sara tightly, looks around, and says, "At least we can all be together."
CSI NY as well. There's been no explicit 'family' scene, like the original, but it's still there.
Team Gibbs in NCIS, made abundantly clear any time any one of them ends up in some kind of trouble. The Season 4 premiere episode "Shalom", in which Ziva is suspected of being a Double Agent and goes on the run from the FBI, provides a particularly clear example, as do the first two episodes of Season 6. Which makes the ending of Season 6 all the more poignant.
Friends was described by one critic as a show about a bunch of young adults finding a replacement family for their own, dysfunctional ones. Lampshaded by a Guy of the Week of Phoebe's whose minor flaw was his incessant psychoanalysis of the group. The cast of Friends could be considered as a Real Life version, too.
Priority Homicide from The Closer has become this over time. In the first episode, the entire squad requested transfer out of Brenda's division. In that season's finale, the entire squad threatened resignation when the misogynistic Captain Taylor lodged an IA complaint against her. They still take issue with her sometimes, but God forbid anyone tries to get rid of her. From the Season 3 finale:
Sgt. Gabriel: For keeping the team together, despite some pretty hefty pressure, and, um, for trusting her instincts — about us too, by the way — and, um, for how she always works so hard to get her man. I say hail to the Chief. The Squad: The Chief!! Brenda: Well, that was, um, well, y'all are a little bit like my... a little like my own... Oh, for heaven's sakes. Thank you, and right back at you. All of you.
The main crew of Pushing Daisies: Olive and Chuck are like sisters, and when Chuck comments on Ned needing to reconnect with his family, he says that Chuck and Olive are his family. Emerson is a lot more reluctant to express affection for the others, but it's there.
The Merry Men in Robin of Sherwood or the outlaws in BBC's Robin Hood (or indeed, any retelling of the Robin Hood legend that includes all the Merry Men). In the case of the BBC version, this is more true in the first season. In the second season Allan turns traitor and begins working for the enemy, but in the same episode he has his Heel Face Turn and returns to his true companions, outlaws Will and Djaq opt to stay in the Holy Land together as the others return to England. The third season has less emphasis on the outlaws, and newcomers Tuck and Kate never achieve the closeness of true companions that the previous incarnation of the gang did.
Subverted on The Shield: At the start of the series, the Strike Team are true companions, with the team members considering each other brothers and Vic Mackey the ultra-loyal father of the group. Once Vic shoots Terry Crowley in the face and tells Shane Vendrell to pretend it never happened, to the point that Vic refuses to let his guilt-striken conspirator in the crime ever mention it in his presence, it all falls apart. By the end of the series, everyone is dead or has been betrayed by Vic.
The team on Criminal Minds is practically the definition of this trope.
Hotch is Mom, Gideon or Rossi is Dad, Morgan is Older Brother, Emily is Older Sister, JJ and Garcia are the Younger Sisters, and Reid is Little Brother (or the Baby, since he is the youngest and everybody always wants to protect him). Never, ever mess with a member of the BAU, because the rest will hunt you down and kill you dead.
The team interacting with Rossi in his first few episodes always seemed to me like a group of suspicious teenagers getting to know their stepdad when they're not quite over Dad leaving yet.
Done particularly well in "100", when the entire team refuses to go along with the witch hunt against Hotch for how the Foyet case ended up, and gather around Hotch and Jack at the end in a show of support.
Because they are a working family, it makes JJ's departure even more heartbreaking. It's like the BAU's hearts have been ripped out. If you didn't cry at the end of "JJ," you're no fan of the show.
Morgan actually refers to Hotch and Rossi as Mom and Dad a few times.
The New Directions kids spend a season getting to this. The group as constituted by episode 4 consists of 5 people from the social margins (Rachel, Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, Artie) and 7 popular kids from either the football team or the Cheerios (Finn, Puck, Mike, Matt, Quinn, Santana, and Brittany), with the latter three being there explicitly to sabotage the group. Finn, Mike, Matt, and Brittany mix in with the marginals pretty easily, and Quinn does after getting bounced from the Cheerios. For a lot of the time, the biggest divide in the group is actually that for several stretches Finn is the only one who really likes Rachel at all. The biggest holdout is the replacement Alpha Bitch Santana, who, despite liking performing, takes a long time before she'll admit to it in public, and still treats a lot of the team with contempt. But by the finale, when it looks like things might be over, she's crying like everybody else.
Kurt: Now get out of here. And take some time to think whether or not any of your friends on the football team would have done that for you.
Their bond is most clearly seen when Jesse humiliates Rachel, the most abrasive of the group. All of the boys prepare to take him and his team out. Including wheelchair-bound Artie.
Kurt: Mr. Schue, Rachel's one of us. We're the only ones who get to humiliate her.
And in "Furt". When they find out Kurt is being bullied, the rest of the guys in the club confront the bully, complete with several punches to said bully's face. Everyone in the club has been openly hostile to Karofsky (the bully) ever since.
And again in the season two episode "Rumours," where, after serious gossip threatens to tear the club apart, they ultimately buy Sam's guitar back from the pawn shop and support him via song.
Brittany beautifully lampshades it in the season two finale:
Brittany: I know that all the kids in Glee club... they fight, and they steal each other's boyfriends and girlfriends, and they threaten to quit, like, everyother week. But weird stuff like that happens in families.
Santana: Yeah, well, this is a club. This is not a family.
Brittany: Okay, well, family is a place where everyone loves you no matter what, and they accept you for who you are... I love them. I love everyone in Glee Club. And I get to spend another year with everyone I love, so, I’m good.
The cast themselves seem to be very close in Real Life.
In the Christmas special episode, one of the members of the study group isn't respecting the other members' diverse religions. One of the other characters calls the group a family while pointing out why this is wrong. At the end of the episode, the gang fight a bunch of homoerotic school bullies together. Afterwards, they return to their holiday party. All of the characters are battle damaged and sit around smiling at each other while singing nondenominational carols. Awwwww.
The second half of the first season plays with the concept. One episode has someone attempting to join the group, examining their resemblance to a clique. Another episode deals with whether or not it's incest if "family" members are dating each other.
The second season actively plays with it; Senor Chang wants in on the happy-fun-grouptimes so much that it seems to be actively turning him into a movie villain.
The second season's Christmas episode reenforces this when the group bands together to save Abed, and the last scene (before the tag) is of them watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer together, which Abed used to do with his mom.
When Dean meets a version of himself from five years in the future in 5x04, one of the clearest signs that Future!Dean has changed for the worse is that he sends a group of his comrades and friends, including the emotionally-broken Future!Castiel, into a situation to act as an unknowing distraction and ultimately get killed. Present!Dean is understandably horrified by this.
Bobby will do anything for Sam and Dean, Castiel rebelled against Heaven to help them and when Dean had to think of a name for a baby he and Sam were taking care of, he chose Bobby instead of John (his actualy father.) Factor in Sam calling Bobby 'sir' (what he called John) and Bobby's probably more of a father than their real father.
The Pretender skews this one six ways from Sunday. Jarod, Miss Parker, Sydney, and Broots are true companions despite the fact that Jarod broke free from the Centre, Parker is actively hunting Jarod (while still being kind of in love with him), Sydney is everyone's father figure (while still being morally suspect as to which side he's on - the Centre or Jarod's), and Broots is the resident Butt Monkey. But professional loyalties aside, they all agree that they're kind of family. Demonstrated explicitly in "Donoterase" when Jarod allows himself to be captured by Lyle and Bridgette rather than leave a wounded Parker behind.
Silent Witness: Leo, Nikki and Harry in the later series. Leo calmly tells Nikki and Harry that they are as important to him as his wife and child.
The Scoobies in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel Investigations in Angel. The crew of Serenity in Firefly. Joss Whedon loves this trope. In an interview on a Firefly DVD extra, Joss said that one of his favorite themes is "found family".
Angel neatly summarized the concept in the episode "Awakening":
Angel: We've been pushed to the edge so many times; done things we were sure could never be forgiven. But we're always there for each other when it counts. We've never let the darkness win. And it's not because of the Powers That Be or the super strength or the magical weapons. It's because we believe in each other, not just as friends or lovers, but as champions. All of us, together.
Also in the season 3 episode where after Connor is kidnapped, Wesley is outcast. Angel and the remaining Team Angel go on a mission to win back Gunn's soul because "We're not losing another member of this family."
The Scoobies have formed bonds that seem stronger than those of kinship, as pointed out in the episode "Family", when Tara's family comes to take her home against her will.
Tara's Dad: You people have no right to interfere with Tara's affairs. We are her blood kin! Who the hell are you?
Firefly: The crew of Serenity in particular will do just about anything for each other. In fact, they form a sort of surrogate family, with Mal as a definite father figure, Inara as mother (insert meaningful joke about her profession here), Zoe as the eldest daughter (taking responsibility for running things), and Jayne as the rebellious teenager. As part of the same "family", Simon and Jayne hate each other, but Jayne has saved Simon from feds at least once (despite being the one to rat him and River out to them in the first place), and Simon has promised that he will never let Jayne die. Not to mention this exchange after Mal and crew save River from being burned at the stake in the Big Damn Heroes moment that named the trope:
Mal: Cut her down! Patron: The girl is a witch. Mal: Yeah, but she's our witch. (KA-CHINK!) So cut her the hell down.
Jayne: What're you takin' it so personal for? It ain't like I ratted you out to the feds! Mal: Oh, but you did! You turn on any of my crew, you turn on me! But since that's a concept you can't seem to wrap your head around, then you've got no place here. You did it to me, Jayne. And that's a fact.
In turn, the rest of the crew showed their own unblinking loyalty to Mal in "War Stories", when even Simon and Kaylee took up arms to save him.
"Ariel" also has Simon going off to save a dying man, risking capture and leaving River in Jayne's care — which he probably wouldn't have done if he didn't actually trust Jayne to get River to safety should anything happen to him. One can't help but wonder how the extent of Simon's trust factored in Jayne's decision to save the Tams instead of simply making a run for it at the first opportunity.
Any Super Sentai or Power Rangers team. (And Power RangersReunion Shows make it seem that all teams are like an extended family... again, if you remember that it doesn't necessarily mean you like each other.) Not always the case with Kamen Riders, though. There are exceptions when the team is made of siblings, such as Fiveman, GoGoV, and Magiranger, because you know, they're a real family.
Though, with the Kamen Riders, there are many good examples. The entire Showa-era Riders, for example. Or, for something more recent, Kick Hopper and Punch Hopper from Kamen Rider Kabuto, the good Imagin from Kamen Rider Den-O, the Hikari Studio team from Kamen Rider Decade and the Futo detective agency from Kamen Rider Double
The latest series, Kamen Rider Fourze, is a perfect example with everyone forming a club together and defending one another.
Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, is an excellent example. In fact, Act 20 and 38, which highlight it even more than usual, number among its best loved episodes. This is often true of ensemble Jidai Geki, the genre Shinkenger brings into the modern day.
Teams whose members are explicitly shown to not having or not knowing their family other than their teammates highlight this very much. Example include, Choushinsei Flashman and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.
The Easy Company from Band of Brothers are very definitely true companions. Private Kurt Gabel, 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, quoted in the book Band of Brothers...
The three of us became an entity. There were many such entities in our close-knit organization. Groups of threes and fours, usually from the same squads or sections, core elements within the families that were the small units, were readily recognised as entities. Often three such entities would make up a squad, with incredible results in combat. They would literally insist on going hungry for one another, freezing for one another, dying for one another.
Battlestar Galactica: Galactica's pilots and deck crew, especially the more experienced ones, develop this relationship over the course of the series though it takes a beating after the mutiny. And Bill Adama tends to take any attack on members of his crew very personally.
Farscape: The Moya crew sure qualifies. Certainly it's a very screwed-up example, but they're still true companions. In the first season, they were mostly thrown together (three prisoners who happened to be on the same ship, the pilot of that ship, the ship itself, an enemy fighter pilot who was accidentally captured, and a scientist who randomly fell through a wormhole and ended up in the middle of the escape attempt), and John several times had to stop some of the others (particularly D'Argo and Rygel) from abandoning the rest when they got themselves into scrapes. As the series goes on, they get closer and closer until eventually their one rule is "look out for the family, at all costs." As new characters (Chiana, Stark, Jool, Noranti, and Sikozu) join the crew, this bonding process takes a while to set in, but eventually they are integrated into the family as well. However, the initial coldness might have contributed to Sikozu's eventual Heel Face Turn, as Scorpius welcomed her with open arms, while the others (particularly Chiana) took a while to warm to her
The relationship between Pilot and Aeryn is strange and distinct enough to warrant further elaboration. They, more than the others, change the most in the early episodes: Aeryn from a soldier in a galaxy-spanning military dictatorship, Pilot as essentially a slave to that dictatorship. This is demonstrated in an episode where the science-y members of the crew (John and Zhaan) are unavailable, so Aeryn has to do testing on Rygel on her own, complaining that she is unsuited for this kind of work—only for Pilot to admit he knows very little about science either. Later on they literally share DNA, causing their bond to be made physical. Aeryn is often times the only one who sees Pilot as a distinct being rather than an offshoot of Moya. This makes the episode "The Way We Weren't" all the more painful, as it reveals the dark past of both of them, and puts serious doubts that their relationship will survive the revelation that Aeryn was part of a firing squad that killed Moya's former Pilot. However, the two manage to re-bond and forgive each other and themselves for their past sins.
The Stargate Atlantis crew captures the true-companion spirit perfectly with their "We don't leave our people behind" refrain.
Stargate SG-1 epitomizes true companions. Major Carter even says to one of the other characters, "We were a team. No one can even begin to understand what that really means."
Stargate Universe starts out far from this, with expedition members distrusting, framing, marooning and betraying each other (okay, so that's mostly two of them), and gradually develops into this. Young finally states this explicitly in the last episode, referring to the crew as a family.
Every version of Star Trek has this, from the original to the latest incarnations. This is apparently also Truth in Television as the writers are inspired by real life crews and teams who became close through mutual experience. Even more, the cast and crews of the various TV series have been working together for roughly 10-20 years and have come to regard each other as an extended family in Real Life. The greatest example of this is how Avery Brooks has become like a second father to Cirroc Lofton, mirroring their roles as father and son on TV. Although it took a decade or two, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy eventually developed the same friendship Kirk and Spock share, if not to quite the same intensity.
This was never better exemplified than in the original series episode "The Empath", where each member of the Power Trio was bound and determined to sacrifice himself to save the other two. McCoy eventually wins that particular argument - with a hypospray. The more things change, the more they stay the same...
Star Trek: The Next Generation had a bit of this going on, particularly during the first season, before the characters had worked each other out. Riker was uneasy about their second officer, Picard had to tell people not to let him "make an ass of himself" around children (and shouted Wesley out in the very first episode, thus enraging Wesley's mother with whom Picard already had an uneasy relationship), Worf disliked everyone (but especially Data), and Troi and Riker had Uncomfortable Ex's syndrome. But within a matter of episodes (and fairly ridiculous episodes at that) it became obvious that they'd all pretty much die for each other.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager both feature crews of people who don't even want to be on the same ship/station with each other, but over the courses of each series have wound up going as far as disobeying orders to save one another.
The HBO adaptation of Generation Kill has an interesting subversion. The Marines are every bit the true companions you'd expect them to be, but they also quickly adopt their embedded reporter, Evan Wright, as one of their own instead of turning him into a Butt Monkey. In the novel (discussed below), Wright is self-conscious of this process in a way that might pass for Casual Danger Dialog, noting that he realized the Marines were starting to like him when they began poking him with their combat knives, among other forms of hazing.
Michael Westen is closer to Fiona and Sam than he is his actual family, having placed his life in their hands more than once in their long history as spies. Over the course of the show, he has to learn to to re-relate to and even trust his mother and brother Nate as well as he does his friends. And, as many episodes including season finales have shown, you do notmess with Michael's family or his friends.
Michael: Fiona is not my past!
Madeline certainly sees things that way. After firmly rebuffing Nate's attempts to move her from Miami to Las Vegas, she invokes Sam and Fiona as well as Michael to justify why.
Chuck: The Operation Bartowski team will save America; and each other; no matter what.
The non-spy employees of the Buy More could qualify as well. They may hate their jobs, but they stick by each other and the store, especially when it's threatened by the employees of the rival Large Mart or even other Buy Mores.
Boston Legal: Crane, Poole & Schmidt, especially the litigations department. They're a family, guys. A very dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless.
Season Two added Ames (who eventually ends up in a sort-of father/daughter relationship with Token Evil Teammate Gurerro) and Ilsa Pucchi (although she's a bit more distant from the others, being in essence their employer)
On Castle, he, Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito have formed one of these, to the point where Castle offers to let Beckett stay at his house after a psychotic serial killer blows up her apartment.
In The Vicar of Dibley, Geraldine motivates her friends to work towards stopping the destruction of the village for a new reservoir by saying that after being rejected by four parishes, the "mildly bizarre and dangerously odd" parishioners of Dibley became her family.
In My So-Called Life, Angela, Brian, Sharon, Rickie and Rayanne become one by the end of the season.
Ted, Marshall, Barney, Lily and Robin- despite being very different people- form one of these in "How I Met Your Mother".
Mythbusters: The Power Trio of Kari, Grant and Tory feels very much like this. They tease each other, and when they're blowing stuff up, there's the excited celebrations even when it doesn't quite work out but still explodes. They do seem to care about each other as well, though, and that extends to Adam and Jamie as well — both of whom behave like a pair of brothers, anyway — notable when Tory expresses his concerns about the Ark of the Covenant prank. Adam has acknowledged that, owing to how long they've worked together, the Mythbusters are like a family.
On Sex and the City, the Four Girl Ensemble of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte explicitly consider themselves as family. The various men that they date and marry in the series never really enter the group in a meaningful way, although Carrie's Flamboyant Gay friend Stanford Blatch seems to have part-time membership.
Big said it best when he was telling Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda how much they mean to Carrie: "A guy would be lucky to come in fourth."
The geeks (Leonard, Sheldon, Rajesh, and Howard) on The Big Bang Theory, and Sheldon and Leonard's neighbor Penny, are true companions.
Inspector Lynley and his partner DS Barbara Havers are this to each other - oh boy, are they this to each other! The Lynley family eventually adopts Barbara as well:
Judith Lynley: Oh, Barbara, you're one of the family now.
Eric, Hyde, Donna, Kelso, Jackie and Fez of That '70s Show.
Lost: The survivors of the crash are ultimately an example. Their bonds are so strong, They created an alternate reality to find each other in the afterlife. To paraphrase Christian Shepard, "The most important time of your life was the time you spent with them".
Both subverted and played straight on Prison Break. Subverted with the original group that broke out of prison in season one, as seen during season one and two a number of times, including but not limited to T-Bag's hand being cut off, Tweener and Haywire being left behind, and Michael trying to steal the money out from everyone except Sucre. Played straight in that Michael, Linc and Sucre are true companions in season one; LJ and Sara are added to in season two. Subverted again in season three, as Mahone and Michael (much less the rest of the group) have no problem backstabbing each other while trying to break out of Sona. Played straight in early season four (as they're on their way to becoming one) and then subverted when the group splinters in the later part of the season. The direct-to-DVD gives us the basic group, seen in the season four finale at Michael's funeral, of Linc, Michael, Sara, Sucre, and Mahone.
Richie, Ralph, Potsie, and Fonzie on Happy Days. Regardless of when Fonzie literallyjumped over a shark, the show really jumped the shark when Richie and Ralph left the cast, and Potsie was phased out and forgotten.
Julian, Ricky, and Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys. Their familial devotion to each other is one of the reasons it is possible to sympathize with these criminals. The next closest member to their group would be Ricky's father Ray, but it is also made explicit that all of the residents of the Sunnyvale Trailer Park have a close bond to each other and that is one of the reasons it is not such a hellhole as it appears. Even the antagonists Mr. Lahey and Randy can be counted on to work together with the boys sometimes. Unfortunately this trope doesn't apply to Cory and Trevor no matter how much they want to be accepted.
The relationship between the members of S Club 7 was portrayed this way on their show. They all thought of each other like family, were always there for one another, and became deeply depressed in the episode where Paul left the band. The relationship between the band members in real life, however, was a completely different story.
In Merlin, the foursome of Merlin, Arthur, Gwen, and Morgana used to be this before Morgana turned evil. In the Season Finale of Season 3, it appears to be setting up the Knights of the Round Table to become this in Season 4.
The Rembrandts's "I'll Be There For You". Fittingly, it's the opening song for Friends
The band members of Rammstein declared numerous times that the band would rather break up than replace one member of their band. Their music video for "Haifisch" subverts this trope: not only are they considering who to replace singer Till Linderman with at his funeral, it's shown that if they hadn't tried to flat out kill him, they've at least thought about it (save one), and they end up fighting over who caused their true-companion group to fall, resulting in keyboardist Flake Lorenz crashing into the singer's coffin which is when they found out he's still alive. The lyrics of the song, however, play this straight, as a form of principle declaration.
In the same vein, Led Zeppelindid split up after the death of drummer John Bonham, and up to that death they had been more or less a united front. Even though the remaining members have had problems afterwards (how's that parking spot, Jones?) they are still united in protecting their music.
The song We'll Be There from the Yu-Gi-Oh! soundtrack Music to Duel By.
The Beatles were often called "The Four-headed Monster". Before thing started falling apart, they were essentially codependent. They made decisions as a unit (if even one Beatle didn't agree to an idea, they would consider it vetoed), and didn't like being apart for long periods of time. Ringo Starr said something along the lines of "I was a single child, and I got three brothers". There was talk of buying an island for the four of them and their families to live on together. At least one of the Beatle wives had said that the Beatles were practically married to each other, and that the women in their lives were superfluous. Even after the breakup of the band, the general consensus among the former members, and particularly John Lennon, was that while the Beatles could openly and horribly insult each other, they didn't want anyone else doing it.
Their manager, Brian Epstein, was something of a dad to them as well. He looked out for their wellbeing, he always took care of their affairs to the best of his ability, and was probably the biggest factor in their early success. On their part, they appreciated his hard work and were devastated when he died of a drug overdose. In fact, Paul McCartney has said that if anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Epstein.
Slipknot have often referred to themselves as this. Now that one of their own has died, their future is extremely uncertain. This also applies to Avenged Sevenfold, although they have continued to honour The Rev's memory.
Good Charlotte's singer Joel & guitarist Benji are twins, and the entire band were solely credited by their first names on their first album in a show of unity as the brothers' father had walked out on their family & they didn't want to be credited with his name.
The Iron Maiden song "Blood Brothers", which despite the name isn't quite about the trope.
Disturbed has become known for being a band that still hangs out and talks after a show when other bands would've been sick of seeing each other. They've gotten to the point that each member knows exactly what kind of song they want to write or album they want to make without having to talk about it. Also of note, some of them have had each other's back during fights.
The basic foundation of friendship within the band was said to be one of the reasons Split Enz were able to stick around for as long as they did (about thirteen years), as opposed to Crowded House which was more a straight-up commercial venture that soon fell apart (in its initial run) once the band members realised that they didn't really have that much in common.
"Until the Day I Die" by Story of the Year was not written about a rocky romantic relationship, but how the band will always be there for one another, even though they sometimes feel like killing each other. Truly the anthem of bromance.
Green Day hands down. Especially between Mike and Billie Joe, who have known each other since middle school and lived together as teens. Tre quickly assimilated into the group after their first drummer left, and they've been like brothers ever since for over 20 years.
Newspaper Comics
Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, Hans Zarkov, Barin, Thun, and Vultan. Any of them would die for any of the others. Aura eventually joins, too.
Alley Oop is part of two groups. In prehistoric Moo, he's got Foozy, Ooola, Dinny, Guz, Umpa and th' Grand Wizer. In modern times, he's got Doc Wonmug, Oscar Boom, and Ava (although Oscar has been stuck on the Heel Face Revolving Door for a few years now). Both groups have met and are friends, but they don't interact very much.
Even though they get on each other's nerves a lot, the core cast of Peanuts counts.
Pro Wrestling
The Four Horsemen: Specifically, the original iteration with Ric Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard. Arn Anderson said in Flair's autobiography that the Horsemen became a "full-blown shoot".
The OMEGA Clique: Matt and Jeff Hardy, Gregory Helms, Shannon Moore, and prior to her break-up with Matt, Lita. This also applies to Matt & Jeff's onscreen relationship in the WWE run. Obviously, because they're really brothers, but even when the two have had feuds (at one point, Matt was slated to reveal he started the Real Life fire that destroyed Jeff's home & killed his beloved dog, Jack), their issues have been resolved the moment someone tried to injure the other.
The WWE locker room as a whole - When one of them falls, such as Owen Hart & Eddie Guerrero, they can all be seen to be hurting & will put the storylines on hold to pay tribute to their fallen comrade.
The entire wrestling business has been described numerous times as "one of the largest fraternities in the world". There's a reason why "brother" is such a common epithet (and no, not just because of Hulk Hogan) and why wrestlers band together so tightly against outsiders.
Puppet Shows
In The Movie of Sesame Street (you heard me), Big Bird is pulled away from the neighborhood to be adopted by "his own kind" (other birds). The Aesop at the end is that his family isn't those related to him but those close to him, on Sesame Street... in other words, his true companions.
Jim, Rizzo, and Gonzo have one of these in Muppet Treasure Island, despite not even being the same species.
Sports
There was a reason the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates called themselves "The Fam-a-lee, with first baseman Willie Stargell as Team Dad.
Tabletop Games
The werewolves of White Wolf's Tabletop RPGs follow the combined social instincts of humans and wolves to form small "packs" with each other, ideally a Five-Man Band. These packs follow the entire true companions trope: packmates are practically family, you might love or hate them, and intra-pack romantic relationships are considered incestuous. (But then, in The World Of Darkness, any werewolf/werewolf relationship effectively is incestuous, as werewolves must mate with normal humans — or, in the Old World Of Darkness, wolves — or breed twisted abominations.)
The same goes, to a lesser extent, for most of the other supernatural groupings (Mage cabals, Promethean throngs, Changeling motleys, Hunter cells). Which, given the often cathartic nature of the supernatural societies, makes a lot of sense. Vampire coteries, on the other hand, tend to be brief marriages-of-convenience, formed by the recently Embraced until they get to grips with Vampire existence. The line about coteries is jossed, sort of, in Clanbook Ventrue. As part of a section on how The M spreads, the author talks about how young coteries drink each other's blood to form bonds deeper than family. Young Ventrue, on the other hand, are discouraged from such things.
Kindred Cyclical Dynasties are another good example. Closer than family, often to the point where the lines between them begin to blur, cyclical dynasties are made up of two or more kindred, with the eldest acting as mentor to the next eldest, who acts as a mentor to the next eldest, etc. When the eldest falls into torpor the next eldest takes over, secure in the knowledge that his dynasty-mates will take him under their wing when he wakes up confused and isolated in decades or centuries.
Shadowrun tends towards extremes. Groups of runners who are largely indifferent towards each other tend to drift apart. Most established teams are held together by tight bonds. It's also not uncommon for every member of the team to have a plan to kill any or all of his teammates, just in case.
This is the idea of Solar, Lunar, Sidereal and even Abyssal circles, plus Terrestrial sworn brotherhoods, in Exalted. As for when it doesn't turn out like that... well, just ask the Deathlord Eye and Seven Despairs about that one.
Despite the setting, Warhammer 40000 even manages to demonstrate this trope with the Space Marines. Nothing is more important to them than loyalty to their Battle Brothers and fealty to the Chapter, and aside from the God-Emperor himself and the founding Primarch they recognise no authority other than their Chapter Master. This is why the Horus Heresy is considering so tragic, as conquering solar systems and crushing civilisations was perfectly fine, but turning against and fighting your brothers was inconceivable.
Adventuring parties in Dungeons & Dragons are usually this, for the practical reason that, for the game to work, the PC's have to stick together. "Splitting the party" is a phrase that makes most players and DM's cringe.
It's not really an exaggeration (it might even be an understatement) to say that Thri-Kreen society revolves around this concept, as well.
7th Sea has the concept of "Rucken," two fighters who trust each other completely. Players can purchase an Advantage of the same name to gain an unusually powerful (100 Hero Points instead of the usual 75) NPC companion, with the catch that if the player ever abandons or betrays his Rucken, the Rucken becomes his sworn enemy (denoted by gaining the Nemesis background at its most dangerous level).
Video Games
Mother 3 has DCMC, who are all true band bros. When their bassist, Lucky/Duster has to leave do to reasons of heroism and amnesia, they sing a heartfelt little song begging the "Big Guy in the Sky" to look out for their pal. Awwww.
Final Fantasy V. The four Light Warriors hold together through failure, poisonings, and the death of one of their own without fail. Galuf even calls a retreat when he's attacking Castle Exdeath to go and rescue the other three, alone. And in the ending, a lonely Krile is told by the other three that there's no way she's going to be alone when they're around.
Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core both stress the importance of having True Companions. Cloud needs his friends and comrades to be a complete and effectual person.
In the FFVII: Advent Children movie, Cloud actually calls the other characters his 'true companions' in the dialogue, which is translated in the English version to "family."
Zack for Cloud after their escape from Nibelheim, although Cloud was in no condition to reciprocate.
It is revealed in Crisis Core that even Sephiroth had True Companions through Angeal and Genesis. Though that was not enough to stop Genesis and Angeal from leaving Sephiroth behind when they discovered their true origins and went rogue.
Final Fantasy VIII's main SeeD team, which the memebers rely on each other as they do tag-team missions, and that most of them are related.
Final Fantasy IX has this (it's even said by Zidane that they're "more than friends - we're a team"), even though most of the characters (namely Zidane & Steiner) don't get along with each other at first. When Zidane discovers his disturbing origin, he tries to leave the gang. Garnet/Dagger, however, convinces him that they'll stay with him no matter what.
Final Fantasy X. Although Tidus functions as the narrator, the story as a whole is centered around the exploits of Yuna's guardians, as mismatched and misfit as they were, in their efforts to protect her and defeat Sin. It's carried on to a lesser extent in FFX-2, with Yuna as the main protagonist, though much of the original cast has disbanded and moved on. Tidus' sword is even named "Brotherhood," and powers up as he grows closer to the party.
The six main characters of Final Fantasy XIII form a powerful bond thanks to the fact that the entire world wants to kill them. Especially poignant with Fang and Vanille, who come from an egalitarian where everybody literally shared everything and took the same last name. At one point when Vanille's hit rock bottom, Fang encourages her by reminding her that they have a new family now.
Anyone who plays the Japanese version of Dissidia: Final Fantasy will have this word and this trope drilled into their head by the time they are done with the story portion of the game. The ten main heroes in this crossover are not only true companions but several smaller, fluctuating ones as well and the concept serves as a major overarching theme across their stories.
Fire Emblemsupport conversations often develop into this. A more blatant example is the Greil Mercenaries from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. A notable part is a speech Griel gives before chapter 6 "In times like these, it matters not what our blood ties are. We are family." Right before the final chapter, Ike states in a Rousing Speech that he finally understands what it means.
Sakura Taisen takes camaraderie very, very seriously, with the main force, the Teikokukagekidan, having reinforced it to its most extreme in multiple games, blurring the line between friendship and family.
The level of friendship you form with your team in Persona 4 is truly heartwarming; not surprising in a game where building social links increases your potential and efficiency in battle. Most of the storyline, apart from being a supernatural/murder mystery, is about the bonds you share with others. At the last battle of the game, your teammates sacrifice themselves one by one to protect you; don't worry, they all live.
That goes for its predecessor, Persona 3, as well, which was the game that first introduced the social link aspect. In regards to the actual storyline, the bond between the members of your team — SEES — grows stronger and stronger as you progress through the game. By the end, all the members of SEES have become True Companions.
Dingo from Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner says that BAHRAM killed his comrades so many times, it starts to sound completely ridiculous.
One character gives a passionate speech about what it means to be true companions to another character in Ever17.
The chosen ones of the Red Night in 11eyes refer to themselves as true companions several times, though sometimes it feels like it's being used to hold team spirit together as the challenges get tougher. Their group even has a motto. "For our friends and tomorrow!"
Star Fox has this for both teams: the main team Star Fox are like family to each other, but on recent plot themes, they have then become disbanded or at least one of them would leave to fly solo. Ironically, Star Wolf experiences this in reverse - Star Wolf originally has Wolf, Leon, Pigma, and Andrew. The last two were kicked out because of the lack of loyalty and code of honor, and were replaced by Panther. Panther is then a permanent member, and the trio have become so closer than ever.
Chapter 8 of Valkyria Chronicles has Welkin refer to the main players in Squad 7 as a family, with himself and Alicia as the father and mother, Rosie and his sister Isara as the daughters, and Largo as the grandfather. This scene is referenced again, as well as the reactions they all have to certain events in the game.
Sly, Bentley and Murray from the Sly Cooper series of games. The team does expand by the third game, though in the cases of Dimitri and the Panda King it's mostly a case of Enemy Mine.
Guild Wars uses this trope as a game mechanic: if you can't gather enough human players for your party, you can hire NPC henchmen to fill the empty spaces. The same group of henchmen can be found in every town in the game and it's implied that all of them, including the ones the player never literally uses, are progressing through the story with the player. The latest two releases, Nightfall and Eye of the North, take this even further with heroes, a type of customisable henchmen that permanently join the player's party.
Sora of Kingdom Hearts has a very large true companionship group, though the most obvious central examples are the Sora-Riku-Kairi and Sora-Donald-Goofy trios. Also Mickey-Donald-Goofy, and Axel-Roxas-Xion (at least it looks that way). The most close-knit trio, though, is Terra-Aqua-Ven, who are like siblings or two parents and a child, depending on the situation.
In Tales of Symphonia, towards the end of the game, the main party is split into multiple groups as a result of a trap. Lloyd and his Soul Mate go and rescue their friends, and Lloyd goes to each event, where the characters are being tormented by their own fears and demons. He accepts them for who they are and they manage to break the trap. This is most prevelant in Genis & Raine's torture, where they are singled out for being half elves. Lloyd disperses their fears and returns them to the group.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Edge has this strange way of insisting people he has literally met five minutes ago are his 'friends' and basically coercing them into joining him, then devoting as much of his time as possible to driving them away, then doing ludicrously stupid things that typically have horrific consequences in the name of comradeship.
Very significant is a moment when Sarhava Vhjull, a young, arrogant, drunken noblewoman, insults Annah, who is at first more flustered than angry. Not only the Nameless One (player's character) stands up for her, but even Morte (always rude towards the tiefling), if the player let's him, does the job of insulting back said NPC.
If Fall-From-Grace is with you, she will give Sarhava (who, it turns out, was raised at her brothel) such a talking-to for being a disgrace and an embarrassment she basically shrivels up. That's fun to see, but it's notable that Grace is defending Annah, who is cold at best towards her.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story revealed Bowser and his various minions to be this. Although one wouldn't think this because of Bowser's nature as an Evil Overlord, the game makes it very clear that a large part of the troops have more respect for him than fear. In fact, during Bowser's fight with Fawful, the Goombasoffer themselves to be punched so that Bowser can counter-attack Fawful. In the epilogue, Bowser even forgives three minions who trapped him in a safe after being presumably brainwashed by Fawful as long as they help fix up his castle while Kamek was telling them to scram.
Cave Story shows this forming, but it only comes to fruition if you get 100% Completion. Quote and Curly Brace go from fighting each other, to fighting side-by-side, and they even convince Recurring Boss Balrog to help them at one point. In the Standard Ending, this is as far as it goes. But if Quote saves Curly after the Core battle, and then restores her memories, she gives him the Iron Bond: "Your tie to Curly Brace, the only warrior you would trust your back to." The endgame then involves them fighting the True Final Boss together as Back-to-Back Badasses, with Balrog swooping in to rescue them at the end. And then the three of them decide to move someplace with a nice view and live together.
In the Jak and Daxter series, we start with Jak, Daxter, Keira and Samos. After the second game, Torn, Ashelin and Sig join and the seven of them form the "official" party, as seen in Jak X. Tess is usually included in the roster by fans because of her status as Daxter's Love Interest. Sometimes Pecker and Onin are thrown in the mix as well.
In the Japanese version of Castlevania 3, Akumajou Densetsu, the uber-genki pirate/freedom fighter Grant Danesti immediately declares himself and Trevor Belmont to be true companions. The sequel game, Curse of Darkness, proves him right. As soon as Hector stats flailing about Trevor having beaten Dracula, Trevor immediately says he couldn't have done it without his friends. (Judgment's continuity twists this, for better or worse, by suggesting that Grant grew distant from Trevor due to a Love Triangle with Sypha and continued on his own path even after reconciliation. On the brighter side, Alucard remembers his teammates well even after centuries have passed.)
Aria of Sorrow has a great scene. Soma, about to challenge Chaos, worries about that thing, only for everyone he's befriended throughout the game banding together to telepathically contact him and say, "Okay, you're Dracula... so what? You're our friend, and we think you can do this, and we're here for you." Once he wins, they all congratulate him, and they all return in Dawn of Sorrow to cheer him on and help him out again.
Shepard views turian squadmate Garrus Vakarian and quarian squadmate Tali'Zorah as such in terms of them watching his/her back when walking through hell. Dr. Chakwas, the Normandy's medical officer, considers Shepard, "the center of her galaxy," a true companion. Chakwas also considers Joker a true companion, in terms of helping Joker with his brittle bone disease when he needs her. Joker views Shepard as his true companion in terms of being on Shepard's side 100% despite the occasional sass-laden conversations. In-universe example: Krogans use the term "Krantt" for true companions that serve as battle-brothers. By the end (provided you've gained their loyalties), all of the crew members and squadmates feel like this.
Although it isn't as focused on in the first game, it's still there for many players, particularly those who are strongly paragon. This feeling of camaraderie—and absolute loyalty to one another—only serves to make Virmire that much more difficult to go through, even if you never liked Kaidan or Ashley in the first place.
Dragon Age: Origins also has this to a lesser extent, many of the recruitable party members loathe each other (Morrigan & Alistair being the most prominent example) but at the same time can all form friendships/romances with the player character and trust eachother enough to fight alongside one another. Even Sten, who remains The Stoic and a Proud Warrior Race Guy for the journey states that one of the reasons he's so harsh on you is because he trusts his life to you.
After spending the entirety of Origins griping about Dog Morrigan is actually happy to see him at the end of Witch Hunt.
Hawke's group in Dragon Age II, fit this trope well, with their conversations showing that each are willing to support each other. Varric looks out for Merrill, protecting her at night when she walks alone, drinks often with Carver, even as they rail on each other. Aveline and Isabela become Vitriolic Best Buds by Act III, and many of the characters display an uncommon tenderness towards Bethany. Like the first game however, several of the team simply do not get along, especially in the case of Anders.
Metal Gear series: Solid Snake has one of these with Otacon, primarily, and later Sunny. Even more so, his father Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 and especially the PSP spin-offs. It's the fracturing of this crew that has retroactively become the basis for the conflict of Solid Snake's story.
In The Wind Waker, Tetra and her pirate crew are true companions, with Link added during the course of the game.
In the Pokémongames, much emphasis is placed on the bond between Pokémon and their Trainers. Everyone feels this way for at least one specific Pokémon.
The Nuzlocke Challenge puts severe limitations on what Pokémon you can catch, and forces you to release or permanently box any Pokémon that gets KO'd for real. Several players, including the creator who initially challenged himself for the lulz, have admitted that the challenge actually makes them feel much more passionately about the few, fragile Pokémon they have, especially breeds that they would normally pass over without a second thought.
Knights Of The Old Republic is all about this. In the original game and the sequel you have a team of misfits (some of whom have very good reason to resent each other), and yet the team sticks together by the player character's leadership. Then the sequel turns right around and Deconstructs it by giving a slightly discomforting reason as to whyyour party forms around you.
Nier: Neir forms one with the maladjusted but sympathetic freaks he meets along his journey, extending his Papa Wolf nature onto them. Even the arrogant Grimoire Weisse sees the group as friends.
Exit Fate: To varying degrees, the Elysium Army — particularily Daniel, Ljusalf and Ayara, who join together early on. At one point, when you've amassed many followers and generals, Ayara runs off, believing that you don't need her anymore, and you have to track her down and convince her that she's important too. And then there are Daniel's friends since childhood, Angel and Jovian - much of Daniel's grief stems from his fear that Jovian betrayed him due to their conflicting ideals. He didn't. Jovian would never betray him. Ever.
Professor Layton: The Professor's true-companion group consists of a pair of children — his apprentice, Luke, and his ward, Flora.
Leonhardt and his true companions (Borgnine, Ellis, Vira-Lorr, Zerva, and Winfield) in Agarest Senki have a bond that is so strong, that they actually stick together with the descendants of Leo for four more generations. And this group is one of the few Combination Attacks that are EX Combos.
Numerous Touhou characters have formed what are probably the most bizarre crews of true companions in existence, a combination of a regular dysfunctional family, disgruntled employees, and a Badass Crew that will brutalise anyone that dares harm any of their fellows. Let's analyze them one by one.
The House Scarlet folks are united against all threats, especially because they are the obviously-Western supernaturals in a Japanese settings.
The Yakumo household blur the line between true companions and actual family. Chen is often depicted as having two mommies, Ran and Yukari, in fan works. Official source states that Chen is not just Ran's student, she's like a daughter to her.
The Eientei household will defend their members viciously from any external threats, especially due to their circumstance: they house at least three wanted Lunarian fugitives, two of which are eternal enemies of the state.
Say what you want about the atrocious beginning of Kanako-Suwako relationship, but in this modern time, they are Sanae's two mommies.
Subterranean Animism plays with this. The Komeiji household is an example of true companions, but the justification for this is because the Komeiji sisters can read into any sentient beings' mind, which is how they won the loyalty of their pets: they are the only ones who can understand their pets' feelings.
This is one half of the Player Punch of fighting Byakuren's followers, the other half being Fantastic Racism. They aren't some kind of crazy cultists seeking to release a nasty sorceress sealed in the demon realm, they are Fire-Forged Friends who aim to liberate their saintly leader.
Super Robot Wars usually play this one straight. Super Robot Wars Z however deconstructs the idea of true companions. It's perfectly justified too seeing as you really can't mix military fashioned men with loose cannons.
The Survivors in Left 4 Dead (even though certain characters won't admit it). It can be summed up in Bill's final message to the group "Take care of each other, you guys are the only family I've got left!"
In the first Baldur's Gate game, the canonical party of Charname, Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, and Dynaheir were true companions. Charname and Imoen were foster and blood siblings raised together their entire lives, Jaheir and Khalid are Happily Married and were friends and comrades of Charname's foster father Gorion, and Minsc and Dynaheir also have a close though nonromantic relationship as per the customs of their people. This is what makes the first part of the sequel Shadows of Amnespeciallypainful. Irenicus kills Khalid and Dynaheir and ruins their bodies beyond any hope of resurrection and nearly drives Imoen insane by ripping out her soul.
Golden Sun games have a very strong focus on family and on friends that are like family. It gets lampshaded in Dark Dawn when an NPC comments on the wide variety of friends you have with you from so many different backgrounds, and how close-knit you've become anyway, and draws a comparison to family.
While Suikoden often consists of many combinations of the Five-Man Band, each army of 108 stars ends up being a macro version of this trope. They fight, go on adventures, drink, party, and even judge cooking contests together as a sprawling enclave.
In The Reconstruction, though your guild doesn't start off like this, it eventually ends up this way by the end.
Team Fortress 2 has a rather... oddbandof brothers, but they nonetheless remain surprisingly civil towards each other and always work for the benefit of the team.
Resident Evil series: Despite the tease found in some of the games, Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are like this. Jill is willing to sacrifice herself to save Chris from Wesker. While Chris is on his next mission, the moment he gets wind she might still be alive he drops everything else to find her.
Web Comics
The main cast of Questionable Content, if not just the workers at Coffee of Doom. Despite the relationship that developed between Marten and Dora, the group has held together quite well.
The main cast in Sluggy Freelance will fight vampires and demonic kittens, travel through alternate dimensions, and take down evil corporations to rescue one another. At one point, several of them are seeing a psychiatrist, partly by coincidence though it really benefits them too, and it comes up that even Gwynn, who thinks she doesn't like the others and that they don't like her, considers the others as family, since "family is supposed to be there when you really need them, right?"
The eight main characters from El Goonish Shive are true companions. See the "Painted Black" and "Grace's Birthday Party" arcs for particularly telling examples. Like any number of examples, they don't always get along, but once Tedd and Susan, of all people, became friends, becoming true companions was probably inevitable given what goes on in Moperville. Like Code Lyoko further down, they didn't start as true companions. The transition was a bit smoother, though, with the friend of friends having your back when the deadly stuff starts even if you were bickering only hours before.
In Dominic Deegan, the Deegan family and their various hangers-on could be considered true companions, as could the faculty and students of the School of Arcane Arts, especially the students that fended off the Infernomancer's attack (although they were merely a random group of students in the wrong place) — Nimmel almost committed suicide because he felt he had failed the comrades who died. The clearest example of true companions, however, is Lord Milov's "pack" of himself, Jayden, and Siegfried. amusingly enough this most purest example of the trope is also the one to go the most sour.
This is pretty much the core of the werewolve's "pack" cocept.
The protagonists of Looking for Group are also forming one. This is even more blatant with Richard and Cale (to the point that the Omnicidal Maniac warlock is turning into The Atoner as he stays in prolonged contact with the once-naive elf) and with Ben'Joon and Krunch (with the latter being the former's adoptive father).
In Girl Genius, the traveling circus could be seen as this. Even the relationship between Zeetha and Agatha could count, even if it is bordering on Les Yay. A love triangle between Agatha, Tarvek, and Gil, Agatha has (in classic Mad Scientist fashion), chosen them both.
Most of the relationships in Something Positive have something of this, especially the original core of friends Davan, Aubrey, PeeJee and Jason. Davan was described by the author as being often difficult to get on with and you might wonder why you bother, but he will be there if needed.
The adolescent cast of Ruby's World functions like this, and the characters' relationships to each other are among the only things of value in a universe of Black and Grey Morality.
Dejoru of Juathuur tried to inspire a sense of family in his original team, but it didn't work out. He tries in his second team too and fails. By the time we meet him again, he has lost his faith on group cohesion.
In 8-Bit Theater, The Other Warriors are seemingly the closest thing the series has to this, though the Dark Warriors seem to become close later on. All other groups range from Teeth-Clenched Teamwork or flat-out Enemy Mine in the case of the Light Warriors.
Friendly Hostility is all about how some people just seem to tumble into your life unexpectedly and stick with you for life.
The Cityof Reality portrays a world where everyone everyone else's true companion, essentially creating a true utopia. Unfortunately, as a Deconstruction of utopias, it has since seen cracks in the structure; but, like genuine examples, the people seem determined to push forward together.
In Schlock Mercenary the Toughs are bonded, and each wants to do the right thing for the whole, often sacrificing their own boni. Captain Tagon is very similar to Captain Reynolds, going so far as to suggest that officers go without pay, so that the grunts don't lose their paychecks.
In Achewood, most of the main characters certainly count. If something happens to one of them, the rest will rally. Spongebath and Emeril, despite not being central characters, definitely count as part of this too.
Doodle Diaries is a journal comic by three close friends who seemed to hate eachother at first when they met, but soon became like family.
In Voodoo Walrus Grymm and Creepknight certainly count. Its even a surprise to other character when one of the duo is seen without the company of other like in this page
In Homestuck, the troll concept of "Moirallegiance", one of their four kinds of romance, is most similar to this
Web Original
If you have an account on GameFAQs, you have a chance to join the Yusketeers. Its members have become this.
The teenagers of the group Team Kimba, at the Superhero School Whateley Academy. Not only are they brought together by a common characteristic, but many of them have the classic family issues: Phase (disowned), Generator (mother dead, abusive father in prison), Bladedancer (orphaned), Lancer (his brother sicked an anti-mutant military force on him), Tennyo (forced to leave her family because of assassins and worse), Carmilla (mother dead, father a demon), Heyoka (orphaned)... Only a couple of them have a supportive family. This true-companion group ends up shifting quite a bit. Carmilla forms her own, loosely allied team. (Sara's Pack). Also, it is stated in Jade's stories that Poe is designed to specifically create this, and Whateley itself has some elements of it.
There is a second team of true companions, who band together almost specifically because they are all ridiculously outcast from rest of the school due to bad fashion sense (on purpose) and severe GSD (they look like monsters).
There is a villainous (sorta) version with the bad seeds, who all watch each others backs, as they are all the children of supervillains, more, they are KNOWN to be the children of supervillains, although some have not had their parents identities outed to the public.
The Saga of Tuck and the group of boys around its main character. At one point, one of them is attacked, and the rest — geeks all — immediately charge.
The four main protagonists of Broken Saints have a bond akin to this. Of course, they all immediately feel a connection because they "recognize" each other from their shared visions/dreams/nightmares. With Raimi and Oran, who spend half the series together (and who are the only heroes to survive the Grand Finale), this enters Heterosexual Life Partner territory. Kamimura does not have as much time to bond as the two of them, but after he joins the team, the three men become a Power Trio. Shandala only really interacts with the guys for about two chapters of time, but The Dulcinea Effect — plus her being The Empath — connects them all very quickly very fast.
Screw Attack.com are this, to the point that they have been referred to as the Screw Attack Family. Not just the people behind the website, but the community as well (to the point of a Broken Fanbase). Insult so much as one member of the SA crew, and the community will respond in kind, as will the other members of the SA crew; and this goes even further if you badmouth the team's only female member.
The team at That Guy With The Glasses/Channel Awesome - They've had three anniversary crossovers where they all met up to provide something for the fans, numerous members of the team frequently have appearances in other's videos, and behind the scenes footage would ascertain that they've become friends away from the cameras. They also tend to move with lightning speed to defend each other should anyone be so foolish as to submit nasty/trollish remarks in comments on the site, on Twitter, or anywhere else on the internet.
The eponymous Red and Blue teams from Red vs. Blue reach this point in their relationship with each other by the end of Revelation, when they realize that although their units suck, they fit in better with each other than anywhere else.
This isn't just among each team, either—they're true companions with each other, too, even though they're all technically enemies. They even have welcomed Wash into their ranks, even after all he did to them.
In Atop the Fourth Wall, with the exception of 90's Kid, the core cast (Linkara, Pollo, Harvey Finevoice and Iron Liz) definitely show signs of this, especially when they all work together to rescue Linkara when he's kidnapped by Lord Vyce.
And as of the revelations of the Silent Hill: Dead/Alive review, we can now add the Magic Gun to the team as well.
Generation X and, for some of them, the Crusaders of Marvels RPG.
It could easily be argued that the Titans South have become this as much as the other teams in their universe.
Us. I can tell you from experience, if you ever meet another troper in real life, you'll both know you two share something special. You could say we're Fire-Forged Friends from our livings having been ruined by this site, but there's definitely a bond.
Going from their forums, the guys of Turnabout Musical are pretty much this, sticking together since 2007 in their efforts to make the musical.
Xionic Madness; Omega and Askad had been true companions since before they became cyborgs, it was only ruined when Askad's cyborg-daughter based on his dead daughter starts going evil, so Askad can't decide whether to warn Omega and Xero, or protect his daughter. He decides to limit her abilities in case he dies before warning them. Omega and Xero then form an unbreakable bond escaping from Kari (Askad's daughter), the government, red and green spies, and their own clones.
Also in Xionic Madness, in episode four, part two, Omega and Xero are helped by Omicron Squad, Omega's old crew from the military. They go up against a horde of zombies that have to be frozen and smashed to be defeated, simply because they would rather die alongside their former comrade than anything else. These soldiers even blow up a building being held back by Omega, so he'll be covered and protected when Kari removes Askad's limiters to increase her power output and makes a big badaboom destroying just about everything organic within range, except Xero, cuz he's just that badass.
Simon and Lewis of the Yogscast Minecraft Series. Even more evident with Old/Knight_Peculiar.
Real Life
The White House staff during the Kennedy administration has been described as a band of brothers by multiple historians and former members. Turned into a kind of private support system after JFK's assassination.
In Australia there is this thing called mateship. It's not the same thing as friendship, you might not even be friends with your mates, but a friend might never become a mate, because friends come and go, but mates stick together. Doesn't matter if you fight, doesn't matter if you argue, you stick by your mates. That's the principle at least. It's been said that an Australian man sorts his surroundings as such: His mates, his dog, his car, his beer, his wife, his friends, strangers.
Just to give it a little historical context. The people you fought alongside in war, or who were in your volunteer firefighting brigade with you — the ones you watch the back of and have your back watched by, to pass on last messages to your wife, the ones you have bled and sweating and cried in mostly unmanly ways next to and had offered a tissue when they've cried next to you? The ones you trust with your life but not necessarily to not drink your beer if you leave it alone? They're your mates.
Depending on how difficult (by which we mean emotionally intense/draining/scarring) any given play is, this can happen to some degree with theatre casts. You see each other go through incredibly intense emotions, and everyone involved is very vulnerable during rehearsal... and that sort of thing does tend to create a bond. Whether or not you actually like each other is beside the point... you just have to trust each other.
"Friends and lovers come and go, fight partners are forever."
Add that to the fact that almost everyone you know has the potential to either make your career or stop it dead, and it's no surprise that actors intentionally try to make ithappen.
It's not as glamorous, but in film/tv/theater it's happening to the crew too. Because you are all sweating blood towards the same goal, you're small parts working together to become one smooth machine, one that produces a TV show, a short or movie, and it's pretty powerful. You see this over a lifetime as well, especially in the smaller East Coast part of the industry because you keep running into the same damed people over and over again. (After his first job, this troper has literally never worked on a set where he didn't know at least one person already.) Eventually you've been working with the same people for so long you can communicate "Get me a swivel cheseboro and three sandbags" with a glance. It helps a lot that the American film industry is brutal (you work 16 or 17 hour days on average - not a typo) and if you want to work in the industry it doesn't give you a lot of time to have things like wives and kids.
Liberté, Égalité,Fraternité: Revolutionary France's Motto is basically the idea that the French Republic is supposed to be a nation of True Companions. This being Real Life, and French people being very diverse in every senses of the term, it is subverted more often that not, but it is nonetheless a great motto. This is emphasized by the law which says that there is no French ethnicity, being French is being a French citizen and wanting to be a part of the Nation. I.e, you're French if you want to be true companions. Sadly so much subverted, including by those who are supposed to implement this. Everyone always forgets the second, most important bit of the famous quote:
The Irish leaders during the Irish War of Independence were very close (many of them having fought together during the Easter Rising, and all of them sharing the hardships of the war). This makes the Irish Civil War, in which they split into two opposing factions and many killed each other, especially tragic.
Many of America's founders counted as one and some of them kept in touch for years after all the conflicts, both internal and external, had ended. Most of them seemed to generally like each other, some of them were also related by blood (Sam and John Adams, George and Bushward Washington, etc.)
In the time of the Roman Republic, the tribes of the plebes (working class) would gather in the Forum once per year to swear a collective oath to lynch any Patrician or Senator who harmed their elected representatives in Roman government, the Tribunes.
The Howard family behind The Three Stooges considered Larry Fine one of the family.
One cast member of SCTV commented that she and her fellow castmates got along fine and have never let their egos get in the way.
Speaking of SCTV cast members, Rick Moranis got along very well with fellow castmate Dave Thomas back when they were Bob and Doug McKenzie, as well as another fellow castmate, John Candy, where they both appeared in a few movies. And Steve Martin, too, who, despite not being from SCTV, is still a good friend of his, especially since the party Steve held one day turned out to be a wedding held for Rick and his bride Anne. The friendship is justified by the fact that they did a few movies together such as Little Shop of Horrors and L.A. Story.
Studies in World War II found that soldiers interviewed tended to claim this as their main motive. Compilers of the study called it by exasperatingly prosaic terms like "primary group cohesion." It's also been theorized that one reason American veterans of the Vietnam War exhibit higher rates of psychological fallout like PTSD is that some of the army's new policies tended to prevent True Companionship-formation.
Much to the delight of fans, the actors who played the seven children in The Sound of Music are this and remain so to this day.
Nicholas "Friedrich" Hammond: I heard that what [Director Bob Wise] wanted to do was construct a family - and he did.
The idea of True Companionship gains a lot of currency in the field of queer theory as an example of an alternative to the traditional "nuclear" or "sanguinuptial" family - and yet one that, like the "traditional" family, is not of one's choosing. Some see it as the best argument against the fact that "family" needs to be defined by blood and/or marital relations. Johns Hopkins professor Sam Chambers uses examples of it from media in his book The Queer Politics of Television, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer as his main example.
The casts of a couple of different sitcoms eventually came to be this after a while. When former Full House star Jodie Sweetin became addicted to meth, her fellow former cast members all helped intervene to get her into rehab. Meanwhile, the cast of Married... with Children became very close to each other as well, with Ed O'Neill almost becoming a surrogate father to Christina Applegate, whose own parents were divorced.
The Inklings, an Oxford-based group of writers and scholars that included C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (among many others) in their membership, functioned very much as a true companionship group for its members. The other wiki has details.
The Z-Boys, a group of skateboarders in the 1970's from South Santa Monica and Venice California who are credited with inventing modern skateboarding and essentially creating the punk/skater subculture that now exists. Their name is derived from the name of the team they competed with together, the Zephyr Competition Team. AKA The Lords of Dog Town
When you go to the Canadian Improv Games, spot any high-energy team. Any. These teens are usually closer than blood, and it shows in how powerful they are.
The cast of Friends - They all insisted on equal pay, and if they were nominated for awards, you could not nominate one of the cast for Best Lead and another for Best Supporting Cast Member. The cast are so close, that frequent guest star Tom Selleck has said he felt left out when he filmed his appearances, and Paul Rudd has said that he didn't want his character to appear in the penultimate episode where the group is bidding farewell to Rachel or the show's final scenes, as it didn't feel right.
The same could be said of many tv shows and quite a few movies too. While not all casts get along as well as the Friends cast did, there are many (too many to list here!) who fall into this category.
Sir Terry Wogan used to josh around that "there's no 'I' in 'team'" and that the people working around him during his breakfast radio days were merely his "minions", but there's no doubt that that group of people were true companions, from his late producer Paul "Wally" Walters to Walters's replacement Alan "Barrel 'ands" Boyd, newsreaders Alan "Deadly" Dedicoat and John "Boggy" Marsh, and the "Traffic Totty" Lynn Bowles, all of whom formed a close union. (One might argue that Mick Sturbs, the person who wrote all the "Janet and John" stories, and the various religious figures who appeared on the "Pause for Thought" segment could be considered true companions as well.) On Wogan's last morning broadcast, not a dry eye was spotted amongst the group.
For many children/teenagers, leaving a school is like disbanding a family, due to the close bond that has been made between these people who have grown up together.
Software projects are, at least in the current theory of 'how to make a good team', encouraged to bond as true companions for the duration of the project. So much so that the final stage of a team project life-cycle is "mourning", ie once the project is over and the team is broken up.
alternative title(s): Fellowship; Like Family; Ohana; Coterie; Friends Like Family; Camaraderie; Nakama; Framily; True Companionship; Crew; Fellowship Of True Companions
