Undying Loyalty / Western Animation

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• Adventure Time: Marceline is shown to be incredibly loyal to Simon (AKA The Ice King) in the 5th season premiere, where she, in an alternate reality where the Lich never existed, defended his body for 1000 years, making sure that nobody stole his crown.
• Pets of the Avatar have been proven to be loyal until the very end.
  • Momo displays this for Aang and Appa. When Aang is captured in Book 1's finale, he chose to stay in the oasis and wait for him. During his time in Ba Sing Se, he desperately searched the city in hopes of finding his big, furry friend.
    • On the opposite end of the spectrum is Appa during the time he was captured. He did everything in his power to get away from his captors to rejoin Aang and his friends. He even developed some loyalty to the Kyoshi Warriors after they cleaned him up and fed him.
  • Roku's dragon, Fang, shows his loyalty by staying with his master while a volcanic eruption is taking place on his island. Even in his last moments, he curled around him (possibly trying to shield him from the eruption) and died with him.
  • Naga is this for team Avatar, especially to Korra in The Legend of Korra. She even goes outside of Republic City to find Korra when Tarrlok captures her.
• Remy Remington from Big City Greens is completely loyal to the Green family, especially Cricket, to the point he's become a Drop-In Character and he's been given loads of Character Development alongside Gloria. This becomes poignant in "Chipocalypse Now" when Cricket accuses him of signing Chip Whistler's destruction petition, and Remy reveals he never once betrayed Cricket and he didn't sign any contract, which prompts Cricket to realize the petition is fake.
• All the members of Sector V from Codename: Kids Next Door will do anything for each other, not matter what the costs are.
• The titular Courage the Cowardly Dog is eternally grateful to Muriel Bagge for taking him in when he was abandoned as a pup. Since then, he has risked life and limb, faced countless threats, and used every bit of his wits to rescue her from all manner of danger. And occasionally, Eustace.
  Courage: The things I do for love.
• Chris in Dan Vs. is this to the titular character. No matter how many times Dan has gotten him in a pickle, Chris still sticks by his side, even when he knows that Dan will never learn his lesson of his revenge schemes.
• Darkwing Duck: Launchpad is always loyal to Darkwing, in spite of the duck knight's Hero with Bad Publicity status, Glory Seeker nature, and snarking at his expense. Even on the (extremely rare) occasions when he's angry at him, he'll usually step up to help him again if Darkwing is actually in trouble.
• The DC Animated Universe:
  • Darkseid is as villainous as you can get. Yet, when Superman defeats him with his own Omega Beams and throws him down to the slaves in "Legacy", what do they do? Carefully carry him away, genuinely worried about his safety. When Superman seems confused as to why people he believed he had freed would help him, Darkseid himself musters enough strength to answer:
    Darkseid: I am many things, Kal-El. But here, I am God.
  • In Justice League Darkseid ends up killed by the explosion of Brainiac's base, leaving Apokolyps in a civil war. When he's resurrected and comes back, everyone kneels and reaffirm their loyalty to him.
  • A lighter DCAU example is Jimmy Olsen. His loyalty to Superman never wavers, not even after Darkseid's brainwashing him has made him a pariah to most of the planet. When asked for his opinion by a news crew, he vehemently retorts, "Superman's saved the world a million times. We owe him another chance!"
• Duck Dodgers:
  • The show used a variant which featured a robot (a rare Warner Bros. acknowledgment of The Iron Giant) serving as this to Dodgers, to the point of taking a meteor for Dodgers. In two different episodes.
  • The Cadet is also no slouch in this department. He keeps Dodgers out of trouble in spite of virtually never getting rewarded for it.
• In DuckTales (1987):
  • By his own declaration, Duckworth "loves serving Mr. McDuck", and he'll continue under him even in cases like "Down and Out in Duckburg", "Super DuckTales", and DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp where Scrooge loses his money and hence is not Duckworth's boss anymore. The 2017 reboot takes this even further by having Duckworth literally continuing to serve Scrooge as a ghost even after his death.
  • Although Mrs. Beakley originally came to the mansion because she needed work and a home for herself and Webby, she quickly becomes devoted to Scrooge, to the point of continuing with him even when he's lost his money and can't pay her as well as supporting him and helping him in ways (like saving him from drowning in shark-infested waters) that were not in the original contract.
  • Launchpad's loyalty to Scrooge goes above and beyond the call of duty, to the point where he's helped him in some pretty big ways (like letting him and his family "crash" at his house) even when Scrooge has lost his fortune and thus he has no monetary reason for doing so.
  • Doofus believes in Launchpad till the end, even when the whole world is picking on him. Launchpad returns the favor by being a Papa Wolf towards his "little buddy", to the point where he's willing to fight hostile aliens and the Beagle Boys to protect him.
  • Huey, Dewey and Louie might be rambunctious troublemakers at times, but they are infinitely loyal to Scrooge in his adventures. When Scrooge was framed for stealing a priceless painting (with very convincing evidence) neither the boys or any of the above in his employment believed it for a second and took measures to prove his innocence. This has been proven vice versa for Scrooge, as much as he treasures his fortune, it has been revealed his true worst nightmare is losing his nephews.
• Double D in Ed, Edd n Eddy has a lot of patience and tolerance for his friends' antics. In spite of Ed's unhygienic and otherwise gross nature and Eddy's scheming ways, Double D still sticks by them, even when Eddy would screw him over. With that being said, it still doesn't stop him from getting back at Eddy whenever Eddy really goes far, as shown in "Brother, Can You Spare an Ed?".
• Fry's dog Seymour in the Futurama episode "Jurassic Bark". The night before Fry was frozen, he told Seymour to wait for him, and he does just that. The dog spent the rest of its life laying outside the pizza joint, year after year, waiting for his master to return until he ultimately dies of old age, and you have to watch it during the end credits. This was so heartbreaking that the creators ultimately retconned the entire thing with a complicated plot about time travel which involved a second Fry back in the past who stayed with the dog his entire life.
• Owen to David Xanatos in Gargoyles. So much so that in "The Gathering" Owen, aka Puck in a mortal guise, eventually overcomes his own perfectly justified fear of Oberon and fights his former liege to protect Xanatos and his family.
• PJ has this for Max on Goof Troop, to the point where he will go out of his way to help Max even after Max spends the entire episode blatantly ignoring him or decides that they aren't friends anymore by falsely accusing him of being disloyal. Overall, he's apprehensive to a fault but he has saved Max's life multiple times without hesitation. When taken in conjunction with the fact that he has an awful home life and a Friendless Background, and that Max provided a sanctuary for him to actually be happy sometimes, this is close to inevitable.
• Gravity Falls: Stan Pines. No matter how dangerous it is, he will do ANYTHING to protect his family. Up to and including restarting a dangerous portal to get his brother back, or erasing his memory to destroy an all-powerful demon.
• Jackie Chan Adventures: After reforming, Tohru becomes devoted to the Chan family. In one such episode, Valmont uses an amnesia potion to make Tohru his servant again. It works until Jackie saves him after Valmont abandons him, and Tohru feels that "something inside" tells him Jackie is his friend.
• Jade Armor: A villainous example: Will never leaves the side of his master, Big Bad the Crimson Lord, and is always there to catch him when his latest scheme fails and he reverts back to his helpless, fluid form.
• Kaeloo: Mr. Cat is extremely loyal to Kaeloo, especially in the later seasons. Even when all of the other characters, including Stumpy and Quack Quack, ditch her or outright turn against her, Mr. Cat continues to stay by her side and defend her no matter what.
• Molly of Denali: Suki, Molly's Canine Companion, always sticks by her side no matter what.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot: Sheldon is very loyal to his crush Jenny, as shown in the Christmas special when everyone turned their backs on her except for him.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Rainbow Dash represents this as her Element of Harmony.
    • This is best demonstrated by the trial Nightmare Moon put her through in the second episode.
    • Deconstructed by Discord in the second season premiere through a Sadistic Choice and Conflicting Loyalty (what's more important — your friends or your hometown?), with brainwashing thrown in for good measure.
    • Her element is also reflected in the pet she chose at the end of "May The Best Pet Win!", a tortoise that she named Tank, who when she had her wing trapped under a rock, eventually came to her rescue. So despite Tank coming last place in the pet race, she chose Tank because she realized what having a pet truly meant to her. (Although a later episode showing that she had a motivational poster of a tortoise in her foalhood room probably helped in her decision too.)
    • In the Season 3 episode where Rainbow Dash goes to the Wonderbolts Academy, after another recruit nearly kills her friends with a tornado and shows no remorse, she goes to Spitfire, the Wonderbolts' leader and says that if they're going to promote recklessness in the pursuit of improvement, then she quits! Rainbow Dash, who's been wanting to join the Wonderbolts since the pilot episode, is willing to give up her greatest and dearest wish if it promotes the behavior that put her friends in mortal peril.
  • Spike feels this way towards Twilight, as the 2nd episode of Season 3 shows that his greatest fear is her not needing him anymore. Twilight's greatest fear, as shown in the same episode, is the same but with Celestia.
  • The Tree of Harmony takes this up to eleven, combined with Loyal Phlebotinum. The largest example would be the infamous "The Mean 6" from Season 8; once the Tree and Elements immediately realize the mane characters' Evil Doppelgängers are NOT their true bearers, the Tree protects itself by unleashing tendrils of light from the Elements which hold the clones high and instantly destroy them.
• The Owl House: Luz Noceda is incredibly devoted to all of her friends and loved ones, regardless of what realm they are in. This is evidenced in the actions she takes in various episodes in order to get them out of trouble, from undertaking all of the Bat Queen's trials in order to prove herself to Owlbert after accidentally hurting him in "Escape of the Palisman", to willingly offering herself up as the guinea pig for Blight Industries to test their weapons on to help get Willow and Gus back into Hexside in "Escaping Expulsion". A major source of angst for Luz in the second half of Season 2, is her seeming inability to be able to fulfill her promises and commitments to both realms, as seen by her fear of Amity learning of the the promise Luz made to her mother in "Follies at the Coven Day Parade". In fact, this self same devotion to her loved ones is arguably responsible for her depression in "Thanks to Them". As she feels like she has betrayed them due to being tricked by Belos into helping him meet The Collector, and thus kick-starting the chain of events that would lead to the near genocide of all life in the Boiling Isles on the Day of Unity, and getting the Hexsquad stranded in the Human Realm.
• Dinko from Pet Alien is absurdly loyal to his human best friend Tommy Cadle. Many episode plots are based around Dinko coming up with schemes to help Tommy in any way he can (regardless of whether Tommy even wants the help), and he's even risked his life to save the boy on several occasions. When Tommy became allergic to Dinko in "Terror in My Nose", Dinko moved to the lighthouse roof in a bid to keep him safe and endured numerous lightning strikes during his stay there.
• While Pinky is usually a regular oblivious Bumbling Sidekick in Pinky and the Brain, his devotion to Brain is displayed in rather poignant levels at times. Despite the constant abuse and contempt Brain conveys over his stupidity, Pinky considers him his best friend and cheerfully goes through with every one of his orders. This is the guy who outright sold his soul to the devil in hope it could give Brain what he desired.
• Ms Bellum is this to the Mayor in The Powerpuff Girls. In the Bad Future episode she's even shown becoming vicious and obsessed with his hat, years after he died.
• TJ from Recess. He may seem like a thoughtless goof at times, but the heights he'll go to for people he cares about — mainly the Recess gang — are beyond belief.
  • Examples include ripping his own pants so Mikey won't endure humiliation alone, deliberately calling a teacher "Mama" so the bullies pick on him instead of Spinelli, pulling an all-nighter to get Gretchen the "A" she wanted and sending a telegraph message across the world to make sure Gus gets to the state fair. It even extends to authority figures and other random kids on the playground, as he refuses to befriend a cool new teacher out of loyalty to Miss Grotke, endures the Dodge Ball Wall while putting the rightful king back on the throne and pretends to be taken in by a public prank so playground order will be restored. He may be a pain in the arse for teachers, but as a friend, he will literally go to hell and back for you.
  • Let's not forget the episode "Some Friend". In that episode, it's revealed that TJ and Menlo were friends when they were four years old. As they got older, their interests changed, and they grew apart. At the time, TJ was such a huge part of Menlo's life that it was hard to let him go. So what does TJ do? Promise Menlo that, no matter what happened, TJ would come to Menlo's birthday party every year. He's still doing it.
• In Reboot is Herr Doktor, Megabyte's most loyal underling. Not only is one of the few Neo-Virals who actually preferred being Megabyte's infected army to being free citizens, and not only was he the only one who never once even attempted to live a normal life (the others, like Lieutenant Chauncy, at least attempted to live normal lives for a while), but he somehow re-infected himself as a pledge of loyalty before Megabyte even returned. Because of this, his sadistic tendencies that rival his boss's, and the fact that he is very good at his job, make him perhaps the only viral who Megabyte actually treats with praise and respect, to say nothing of being the only viral henchmen to ever get a ride in Megabyte's limousine.
• A turning point in Riders Of Berk is when the dragons move to protect their riders, without being commanded to do so.
• Though a bundle of nasty vices most of the time, one of the few virtues the character Imp displays in She-Ra: Princess of Power is a fanatical loyalty to his boss, Big Bad Hordak. This even applies to situations where it would be in the little guy's best interest not to be, something not always typical for bad guys.
• Waylon Smither's loyalty and devotion to Mr Burns comes off as downright romantic in episodes of The Simpsons. In one episode, situations left Burns bankrupt and thus Smithers no longer his employee. He took Burns to live in his home and continued doting over him and referring to him as "sir" as usual. He's not blindly loyal however, as episodes like "Sideshow Bob Roberts" and "Who Shot Mr. Burns" demonstrate.
• Kenny in South Park appears to be capable of this. In the movie, he goes to hell so his friends can go back to the world as it was before the war. Also, in a later episode, he acted as a guardian angel for his sister Karen and protected her from bullies at school and their abusive agnostic foster parents.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • SpongeBob is unfailingly loyal to his boss Mr. Krabs, no matter how much the crustaceous cheapskate takes advantage of his dedication.
  • SpongeBob's pet Gary, even saving his owner from Puffy Fluffy near the end of "A Pal For Gary" despite the sponge treating him like crap the entire episode.
• Steven Universe:
  • Pearl had this for Steven's late mother, Rose Quartz. She accepted exile from her home planet to be with Rose. She threw herself into extreme danger to protect Rose. Even after Rose's death, she's staying to defend Earth and Steven out of that loyalty. In "Sworn to the Sword", we find out just how loyal Pearl was to Rose; she was loyal to the point where she considered herself inferior to Rose, and constantly let herself get "poofed" to protect her. And if an argument with Steven is anything to go by, it got to the point where even Rose herself was concerned for her.
  • In "Full Disclosure", Connie becomes a loyal friend to Steven, offering to listen to Steven's most recent adventure, admitting that she wants to be a part of Steven's universe, being able to help him out whenever she can. In "Sworn to the Sword", Connie starts sword training under Pearl's guidance, wanting to protect Steven, who wants to face problems with Connie as his friend and equal, instead of risking her life and safety at the expense of her life. Later, in "Steven's Birthday", when Steven turns into a baby, Connie mentions that no matter what age Steven seems to be, she still wants to hang out with him, no matter what. Still later, when Steven proposes marriage in "Together Forever", she politely tells him "not now", and a little later on, in "Growing Pains", she notices something isn't quite right with Steven, so she arranges a hospital checkup for him, also contacting his dad to stop by and check in to make sure Steven will be all right.
  • Lapis also has this for Steven after he freed her and healed her gem. She warned Steven about two gems, namely Peridot and Jasper, that were coming to earth, and later fused with Jasper in order to keep her trapped in the ocean so she wouldn't hurt Steven, though it's later confirmed that her motives for doing this weren't entirely selfless, or at least she doesn't believe so.
  • Jasper, of all characters, is revealed at the end to have had this as a motivation in her hatred of Rose Quartz. Rose had allegedly shattered Pink Diamond, the original Diamond of both her and Jasper, in order to save the Earth. Thousands of years after her death, Jasper remains completely devoted to avenging her — because it's the entire reason she exists. The epic irony hits when it turns out that the Rebel Leader Jasper hated and the ruler she was obsessed with avenging were one and the same, meaning she was actually living out Likes Clark Kent, Hates Superman.
• In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), the Guardians were an organization of high-tech Ninja who were this towards the Utroms, acting as unflinchingly loyal agent bodyguards. Splinter's deceased master Hamato Yoshi was one of them, and was regarded as one of the most loyal. As such, he was trusted with their greatest secrets, which is why he was targeted by the Shredder. It turned out to be pointless for the villain, as Yoshi was willing to die before he told them anything. (And sadly, he did.)
• From various Transformers cartoons:
  • Soundwave throughout the entire Transformers Generation 1 Animated Series, most notably in The Transformers: The Movie.
  • Cyclonus of The Transformers: Season 3 towards Galvatron. In contrast to his predecessor as second-in-command. This is repeatedly challenged throughout the series, as Galvatron is Ax-Crazy and Cyclonus is well aware his master repeatedly faces death or even mutiny if he can't keep swaying him to use a more stable command. Word of God states Cyclonus could easily solve this fiasco by usurping Galvatron and taking over leadership. His response? "All hail Galvatron."
  • Glorious Lugnut from glorious Transformers: Animated Gloriously showed gloriously fanatical loyalty to glorious Megatron.
  • Inferno and Scorponok from Beast Wars. Both acted as The Dragon, and both were the only Predacons to never turn on Megatron. Inferno is simply incapable of treachery or disobedience. Megatron loved having a minion with that kind of attitude. This particular version of Megatron views his troops as expendable, but Inferno was the one pawn he wouldn't risk losing. As gleefully violent as Rampage and super loyal to boot? There's no wonder he's Megs' favorite.
  • Soundwave in Transformers: Prime is undyingly loyal to Megatron, to the point where his presence is probably the only thing that stops Starscream from pulling the plug on the Big Bad. This is pretty typical for Soundwave across multiple continuities, actually. Villain of the Week Skyquake displayed similar loyalty (and in fact took it to Lawful Stupid levels), refusing to work for Starscream because only Megatron could give him orders, and following the last set of orders Megatron gave him to the letter.
    • To really drive this home, Soundwave is more than willing to crash his own hard drive to prevent the Bots from hacking it.
    • Even when he returns in Transformers: Robots in Disguise, breaking free from the shadowzone, his only interest is to contact Megatron.
  • Skyquake's twin Dreadwing is also loyal to Megatron but he reaches his breaking point after his sense of honor clashes with Megatron's ruthless pragmatism.
  • Predaking pledges undying loyalty to Megatron after revealing his sentience, but Megatron remains suspicious. He tries to reduce the potential threat Predaking poses by wiping out the other Predacons, which backfires once Predaking finds out.
  • Flamesnort in Robots In Disguise is a Decepticon who been on Earth since the Great War and has been waiting for orders since. Right when he believes he's going to die, he utters "All hail Megatron".
  • Ravage in Beast Wars. A former Decepticon rebuilt as a Predacon, he still remains loyal to the original Megatron long after the Great War. He is unimpressed by the current Megatron. Seeing the message the original Megatron inscribed on the Golden Disk convinces Ravage to help the current Megatron. When Rattrap manages to blow up Ravage's ship, Ravage's last words are "Decepticons, forever!"
• Taken to disturbing degrees by Cyclops on Wolverine and the X-Men (2009) wherein he refuses to give up hope that his missing long time girlfriend Jean Grey may still be alive, despite his then current comic girlfriend Emma Frost being on hand.

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