The Power Of Friendship / Literature

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• Animorphs plays with this a lot but ultimately plays it straight. While some books seem to imply that the group's close interpersonal relationships cause conflict and makes them less effective as guerrillas, the overall message is that the group's loyalty gives them the advantage over the uncaring Yeerks.
• The backbone of Avalon: Web of Magic, and stated outright by the author many times. No main character ever accomplishes anything without her friends backing her up.
• Battle Royale where Shuya and Noriko feel that the power of friendship will get them through the program. Shogo disagrees and is proved right when the rest of their classmates betray each other and play to win (and the ones that don't end up getting killed anyway). In fact in the end Shogo pretends to betray them (I'm sure more than one person thought he really did) in order to get the three of them out.
• In Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40,000 novel Brothers of the Snake, the Space Marines in Damocles squad confess to Priad, their leader, that they have all pulled off a forbidden stunt: diving into a sea trench. Although they knew he would feel disgraced by it, they hoped he would not risk his life at it. (It doesn't work.)
• Seen throughout Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain. "The companions," as Taran's friends are known, help him and each other repeatedly. It's particularly a theme in the third book of the series, The Castle of Llyr, in which they discover that Princess Eilonwy's magic trinket becomes more powerful when the holder thinks more of others than of themselves.
• While this trope is present in almost all of Tamora Pierce's works, it's particularly notable in the Circle of Magic series. Four children, from the most different backgrounds possible (a kind and caring noble-girl, a frumpy and snarky merchant daughter, an outcast trader girl and an egotistical street rat) become best friends and foster siblings, whose minds become mentally linked. On their own, they're formidable mages. Together? Run.
• In the Codex Alera series, the Big Bad the Vord Queen calmly remarks to the hero that "Your bonds strengthen you. My daughter... will never understand that."
• In N. R. Eccles-Smith's High Fantasy series, Dragon Calling. This is a very strong theme throughout the series. Especially prevalent between the main cast; in essence, it’s the permeating element that brings success (or hope, during moments of failure) to all the endeavours undertaken by Laeka’Draeon and his companions.
• In The Dresden Files novels, a big running theme is, as powerful a wizard as Harry Dresden is, he is only able to defeat the bad guys (who are FAR more powerful than him) with the help of his friends.
  • More literally, Harry's friendship with Michael allows him to indirectly call on the power behind the Knights of the Cross on several occasions.
  • And direct association with people you feel strong positive emotions toward can render white court vampires incapable of touching or using their powers on you.
• During Dr. Franklin's Island Miranda becomes a bird and gradually seems to lose her human mind. Her friend being in danger seems to pull her back, a little. Certainly for most of the book the friendship between Miranda and Semi is a great comfort to them both, and helps them in some very dark times.
• A recurring theme in the The Elenium trilogy by David Eddings is that Sparhawk wouldn't manage to survive the epic quest he must undertake without the help of his best friend from childhood, his squire, his tutor, and the other knights who join them on the adventure. Sparhawk is The Chosen One, but his friends are what enable him to achieve his destiny.
• In the Fate/stay night prequel novels, Fate/Zero, the servant Rider, who actually happens to be Alexander the Great, has actually weaponized the power of friendship with his Noble Phantasm, Ionian Hetairoi. Because of the tremendous bond of loyalty and friendship between him and his soldiers, they are actually able to answer his call, breaking the laws of time and space to recreate the land they once marched over and fight alongside him once again.
• In the Gaunt's Ghosts novel Sabbat Martyr, this is what saves Rawne from being converted by Chaos.
• In Victoria Forester's The Girl Who Could Fly, actually making friends makes Piper delighted with the institute.
• A very deep quote from Don Vito
  Vito Corleone: Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than government. It is almost the equal of family. Never forget that.
• In E Aster Bunnymund And The Warrior Eggs At The Earths Core, Book 2 of The Guardians of Childhood, it is said in the ending that the power of freindship is magical indeed and that they had done what good friends should do: save one another.
• Harry Potter:
  • A significant theme throughout the entire series; Word of God has even stated that Harry, Ron, and Hermione's bond is the chief reason for Harry's success and continued survival, and that they are a case of the whole being more than the sum of its parts.
  • This is exemplified in every book: 1st book, Hermione's intellect and Ron's prowess with chess allow Harry to reach the last chamber of the gauntlet; 2nd book, Ron goes into the Forbidden Forest which he knows has spiders, which he has a phobia about — out of his loyalty to Harry and Hermione; 3rd book, Ron and Hermione put themselves between Harry and Sirius, telling him that he'll have to pass through them if he wants to reach Harry; 5th book, when Harry believes Sirius is at the Ministry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna go with their friend despite Harry repeteadly telling them to stay at Hogwarts; 6th book, Ron and Hermione state that they are going to go with Harry on his Horcrux-searching quest, no matter what; and 7th book, Ron and Hermione stay with Harry for a lot of time — even Ron's leaving is useful as it allows him to gain information about what's going on everywhere else — and each of them manages to destroy one Horcrux.
    • Also from the third book onwards whenever Harry needs to create a Patronus he uses thoughts of his friends or loved ones.
• In Ben Counter's Warhammer 40,000 Horus Heresy novel Galaxy In Flames, when Tarvitz is trying to warn the betrayed Marines on Isstavan III, he invokes the Power of Friendship to get Garro to believe his word, because of their Fire Forged Friendship.
  Tarvitz: As my honor brother I ask you to trust me like you have never trusted me before. On my life I swear that I do not lie to you, Nathaniel.
• At the end of Iron Dawn, Barra points out to the captive Big Bad that he lost out because he only had slaves on his side, whereas she had friends to back her up.
• In Edgar Rice Burroughs's A Princess of Mars, what Tars Tarkas learns from John Carter.
  Tars: I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there is no other mortal upon Barsoom who would have done what you have for me. I think I have learned that there is such a thing as friendship, my friend.
• The Law of the Jungle:
  Now is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky;
  And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
  As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back —
  For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.''
• In the first The Kingdom Keepers book, the DHIs invoke this on the "its a small world" ride. They smile at the Audio-Animatronics, which stop attacking them and return to their posts.
• The Lord of the Rings:
  • The series emphasizes this trope, particularly with the friendship between Sam and Frodo. Frodo would not have been able to make it through Mordor without Sam's help.
  • The Fellowship itself is really all about this trope. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli running for days with very little food and rest to try and save Pippin and Merry from death and torture is one of the strongest examples.
    • And later, after a hard-fought victory over what was meant to be Sauron's killing stroke against the realms of Men at Minas Tirith, they opt to embark on what would amount to a Suicide March on the Black Gate, hoping that doing so would coax Sauron into sending his remaining orcs out to face them, thereby clearing the path to Mount Doom for Frodo to complete his mission. Pippin, once again reunited with the Fellowship, joins them in the march on the Black Gate, while Merry is crestfallen about not being able to go because of his injuries from...
  • A non-fellowship example is Merry attacking the effin Witch-king to help Éowyn.
  • Also, Gandalf's friendship and concern is what ultimately helps Bilbo give up the Ring of his own free will at the beginning of the story.
• A darker and more cynical version occurs in The Mental State. Zack, the central character, attempts to protect himself in prison by playing the perfect friend to the other inmates and winning their trust. His good deeds and attempts to improve their quality of life win him a great deal of support and earn him a large number of allies to protect him against his enemies.
• Mildly justified in the climactic fight of Of Two Minds. The two main characters are fighting an older, more experienced, eviller version of one of them, and their only advantage is that it's two against one.
• In Rick Riordan's The Last Olympian, why the Ares's cabin campers followed Sirena; they didn't guess it wasn't Clarisse because they wanted to go fight next to their friends.
• Invoked, played for drama, and deconstructed in Pharmakembru.
• A large part of Princess Holy Aura is about five very different girls from different backgrounds becoming friends and becoming better people due to that.
• She Who Became The Sun: What distinguishes the protagonist Zhu from the others who claim the Mandate of Heaven is that she has trusted friends like Xu Da and Ma Xiuying who support her and believe in her mission. Not only are they vital to her success, their influence leads her to understand that she doesn't only want power for its own sake but to build a better world for others.
• From Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer:
  • According to Ghastly Bespoke, this is the main reason the good guys won the war against Mevolent.
  "No, the reason we won was friendships like that. [...] Mevolent's lot? They wanted to bring the Faceless Ones back, but the main thing was that they wanted to be there when it happened. [...] So there were no sacrifices to save their friends, none of that. And that's one of the reasons they lost. It got to the point where they couldn't trust each other, because it was all about personal survival. Whereas with us... we were fighting, and dying, for each other."
• The Extragalactic Enthusiasts of Space Glass use this often, with each member getting stronger and ragier after each death. Amy also does her best fighting when her friends are in danger.
• In the Star Trek: Voyager relaunch novel Acts Of Contrition, Tom Paris is forced into a custody battle for his and B'elanna's daughter, Miral, as well as their unborn child, with his mother, Julia. When it comes time for the presentation of character witnesses for him, the first is the husband of Samantha Wildman (a relatively minor character on the series, who was not there because she was sent away by Paris on an important mission.) The second is the Vulcan Lieutenant Vorik, whom Paris never expected to speak on his behalf, especially since they had had words earlier in the book. After this, the judge asks if there are any more witnesses and Tom's counsel, Shaw, replies that there are and requests a recess. The recess is granted and Tom, curious, asks who else is there to speak for him, as he didn't think he had that many friends. Shaw presents him with a long list, explaining that "...every person I asked gave me the names of two or three more who would be happy to speak for you, and all of them are here today. ... They all said the same thing: 'If Tom Paris needs me, I'm there.'"
• Star Wars Expanded Universe:
  • The series gives us a slightly lame scene wherein Jaina tries to save Zekk from The Dark Side with the Power of Friendship. It manages not to be completely lame, but only just.
  • When a Sith Lord's spirit (Exar Kun) tried to push the young Jedi students attacking him over the Despair Event Horizon by taunting them about their weaknesses, their friendship strengthened them and thwarted his mental attack. At this point, Exar's former-Jedi master appeared as a Force Ghost and said "Together, Jedi can overcome their weaknesses."
  • Fate of the Jedi book series: Dark Side people (Nightsisters and Sith) with a technique called a 'control web'. It allows them to combine their powers, and 'weave' their control over a dozen Rancors, or weaken an Eldritch Abomination.
• In Alexandre Dumas's classic The Three Musketeers: "One for All, All for One!"
• Name-dropped and Parodied by Leon Fou Bartfort in Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs. He offers his fellow nobles state-of-the-art Cool Airships for free so they'll all be friends for life! With the catch that he's the only one with the facility to maintain those ships. He uses this as Blackmail so they can't betray him and will have to fight under his banner otherwise he'll stop maintaining their ships.
• In Graham McNeill's Warhammer 40,000 Ultramarines novel "The Killing Ground", Leodegarius tells Uriel that Pasnius has been fiercely loyal to him. Uriel tells him that Pasanius is his friend, and that's what friends do.
• In Lee Lightner's Warhammer 40,000 novels:
  • Sons of Fenris: Ragnar arrives at the mess hall feeling demoralized and isolated; his old company is eating, and his fellow Wolfblade, Haegr, is sitting alone. When they realize that he is there, one raises a toast, and they all pounce to talk and commiserate so eager that Haegr comes to reclaim him. Ragnar proclaims that his old company are still his battle brothers.
  • Wolf's Honour: Ragnar goes to a cold and isolated spot on the Fang to think. Torin and Haegr track him down; Haegr deduces his location because whenever Ragnar is in a black mood, you can find him in the most unpleasant place where he could put himself. Ragnar admits to not telling where he was because they would have dragged him out of it as soon as they learned.
• In William King's Warhammer 40,000 Space Wolf novel Wolfblade, Sven stays with Ragnar while his case is being considered by the Wolf Lords, and fumes about the injustice of its even being considered something to be tried, until Ranek shows up to send him away. Ranek admits the support does him credit, but the Wolf Lords will be angry with him if they discover it.
• In Warrior Cats, this is Firestar's main tactic when meeting new cats. It brings Yellowfang and Longtail around, to the point that they'll risk their lives for him, and although it fails, he even tries it on Tigerstar, Brokenstar, and Scourge.

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