Motives for Eternal Loyalty?

I have just about everything mapped out in detail for the story I am currently writing, but I'm missing a motive for why two guys would be eternally loyal to a woman. I've already used love and in-love-with for another character and don't want to be too repetitive with that, and I don't know what else could really work here. Also, I want it to be brief because these are minor characters. They're essentially two nameless supporters of this hero that aren't quite nameless. Also, the woman tells them that they don't need to run errands for her so that she doesn't come across as bossy, but these two guys still insist on supporting her - so, I need a strong motive for their eternal loyalty.

Background on the characters: The woman is famous for being the only current female Knight, earning the nickname of "The Battle Maiden." She has been a Knight for quite some time and fought in a foreign war that ended with her kingdom withdrawing. Also, she is middle-aged and widowed... This makes me think admiration can play a part in it, like she was a hero to these two guys when these two guys were kids and she was fighting in the foreign war, but I want something more interesting (yet still brief).

Also, it's not worth it to introduce new supernatural elements just for these two guys. My earliest brainstorming notes of them refer to them as just "groupies," so they're not important enough to risk causing disbelief over.

Thank you to anyone who suggests something. I figured this was a good topic because it is very open-ended.

Respect/admiration is more interesting than love, IMO. If she is badass, noble, wise, kind, etc. to legendary levels then it wouldn't be odd to have these fellows eternally loyal to her. I like the war hero idea, maybe she saved their village or something.

Maybe they have a sort of hierarchy where it's the norm to have Undying Loyalty towards your superiors. It's not implausible.

edited 4th Feb '11 10:35:46 PM by melloncollie

Gratitude might do it. Perhaps she helped them out sometime, even if she didn't do it intentionally.

How idealistic is the society? Perhaps it's the sort of society in which dedicating yourself to someone you admire in that way is common. How many fantasy stories are there where people swear undying loyalty for princes, kings, etc because they're just so damn honourable?

Not idealistic at all, really. There's a lot of poetic injustice in the work.

(I don't mean this to shut down your idea; I just posted this to answer your question.)

edited 4th Feb '11 11:15:35 PM by colbertimposter

I think respect/admiration/gratitude work.

Care to share an example of where this loyalty is tested? I don't think it takes much to die for someone (especially in an army of some such) but more to break ranks or follow very questionable orders. So how much of an Informed Attribute is this eternal loyalty going to be.

And loyalty could just be Those Two Guys' hat.

At first she and the audience just think that these two are following orders from their superior (her). After she refuses to follow through on an order she thinks is despicable and quits being a knight, these two show up (surprisingly) and tell her that they are loyal to her (not the kingdom) and why. That will be the end of their part of the story.

Oh, and at this time, she'll tell them not to come with her because she's a wanted woman, that they shouldn't feel obligated to support her, etc. but they'll refuse.

I'm basically going for just a tiny bit more than the Those Two Guys page. They fade into the background but also have something to remember them by.

Maybe she helped these two characters when they were young? Like they were starving on the streets and she took them in and saw them educated/fed?

Would I Gave My Word come into play, or some familial bonds (like, between their fathers)?

Thank you, everyone.

Okay, how does this sound?

When she first became a knight (in her twenties, before the foreign war), she saved them (they were kids) by defending their village when it was attacked by bandits. They lost their parents during this event (thus going into foster care), but they gained a hero (her). Since then, they've aspired to become knights in order to protect the innocent from the dastardly. It's also for this reason that they support her decision to defy the despicable orders of the tyrannous king, orders which have to do with hurting and killing innocent civilians (what these two despise). She is unaware of this until they tell her this because for her it was all in a day's work. When they describe seeing her in action defending their village, they use words like "heroic," "amazing," etc. which serve to vicariously praise the audience (I'm intending for her to tread upon being a Mary Sue). If I choose to include the mention of intimacy/romance with her, they'll insist that they're "not good enough for her because she's the most amazing, heroic, beautiful, etc., etc. woman on the planet."

Yeah actually I think it actually makes a lot of sense, given that they're immortal, to be eternally loyal simply because if you got to live forever, it's much better to do it with someone you admire/respect.

Isn't the normal eteranl loyalty thing because their lives were saved by her?

Read Three Kingdoms, as there is much about this very subject.

Is there a faster way to do that, Moe Dantes? Isn't that one of the longest books ever written? I'm slightly familiar with it already from video games, but wikipedia doesn't go into extreme detail about it. Would Zhuge Liang's Chu Shi Biao be a good start?

Also, oops. I probably should have said something like absolute loyalty instead of eternal loyalty.

I've never read the Zhuge Liang book, but now that you've informed me of its existence I think I'd like to (Zhuge Liang is awesome).

But: The book is not much longer than Lord of the Rings. I've got an unabridged edition with footnotes, and it's four volumes in paperback (LOTR, of course, is three volumes). And if all you're looking for is to understand Loyalty a little more, you can get that from just the first volume or even just the first twelve or so chapters.

Indirect loyalty? The last words of the prince they were serving before asked them to take care of her.