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Ambiguous Name: Blood Brothers

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To-do list:

  • Clean up examples for Blood Brothers. Move any examples that fit to Sworn Brothers, and remove any that don't.
    • Clean up on-page examples.
    • Clean up wicks.

Original post:

Blood Brothers is a trope about two characters making an oath or explicit bonding activity/scene to be brothers/sisters/siblings/family in spirit. However, a considerable amount of misuse and zero/partial context examples use the trope for a variety of close non-familial relationships that don't involve an oath or pact.

Me and other tropers did a wick check on Blood Brothers Wick Check and here's the findings:

    open/close all folders 

    Correct/"Two or more characters make a pact/or a vow to be siblings in spirit" 14 wicks 
  1. Characters.Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation Mo Dao Zu Shi Jin Guangyao:
    • The current leader of the Jin Clan of Lanling and Jin Ling's paternal uncle. The illegitimate son of the late clan leader Jin Guangshan, his meteoric rise to the position of Cultivation Chief was not without its difficulties. He swore an oath of brotherhood with Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen, and is the third and youngest brother. Together, they were called the Venerated Triad.
    • He became sworn brothers in Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue after the Sunshot Campaign, forming the Venerated Triad. Unfortunately, while he's close to the former, his relationship with Nie Mingjue was far more strained.
  2. Characters.Koihime Musou Anime: Female example. At the start of the story, Kan'u and Chouhi swear a vow of sisterhood. In the second season, Ryuubi wants to become Kan'u's sworn little sister too, but Chouhi decides to make her Kan'u's sworn older sister without Kan'u's permission. Eventually, Kan'u gives in and calls Ryuubi her "Aneue".
  3. DarthWiki.Project Alter: Jekyll himself becomes something between this and Papa Wolf during this canon’s events of Fragments of Silver regarding Tatsumi (though Tatsumi at first calls him "pops" or even "gramps", they become more sibling-ish eventually and it's revealed that they outright declared themselves Blood Brothers), eventually developing into his Team Mom-ish character in the events of FGO. He notes that he’s taking after Utterson, surprised at how much of a natural he is. Unfortunately, it makes Tatsumi’s death even more painful. (Relevant part is under the spoiler)
  4. EnsembleDarkHorse.Video Games: Yakuza: Akira Nishikiyama; Kiryu's sworn brother, due to his appearance in 0 where he fought against and alongside Kiryu. Fans wanted to see more of their brotherhood, but to their dismay his downfall plays a huge role in Yakuza 1/Kiwami, where he even goes to an extent to redeem himself by blowing up the 10 Billion yen alongside himself after killing Jingu
  5. Fanfic.Harry Potter And The Artificer Legacy: For returning the Sword of Gryffindor to them, Harry is officially declared a sworn brother of the Erdunn dwarves, complete with the Erdunn sigil appearing on his arm.
  6. Film.Butterfly And Sword: Under A Minor Kidrocuction: A flashback scene midway shows how Meng, Sister Ko, and Yip meet as kids and how they become sworn blood siblings. Seems correct
  7. Heartwarming.This Bites: The three mates of the Straw Hats, at Cross's insistence, perform a brotherhood ceremony.
  8. Malevolent Mutilation: The Blood Pact opposing Gaunt's Ghosts during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade are so named because they ritually cut their hands against the jagged edges of their patron's Power Armor to seal their loyalty to him and their solidarity as fraternal warriors. They also tend to engage in further scarification, cutting chaotic glyphs into their faces and scalps in order to demonstrate their dedication to the Ruinous Powers. Even those tend to be covered up by the iron masks they wear which are shaped into grotesque and monsterous faces.
  9. One Degree of Separation: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi: Pretty much every plot-relevant character is directly connected to each other by blood, marriage, sworn brotherhood or adoption. Somewhat justified, as the story revolves around the five most notable clans, akin to nobility in the cultivation world, and it is common for nobles to be all related to each other.
  10. Script.John Boorman Lord Of The Rings: Aragorn and Boromir swear an oath to become blood brothers partway through the script... which apparently involves licking each other's blood off Arwen's thighs.
  11. Series.Action: Hilariously inverted. A very drunk Peter declares he and Adam to be this, then stabs both himself and Adam through the hand with a toothpick. Adam's horrified reaction shows the feeling is not mutual.
  12. Series.Novoland Eagle Flag: Asule and his bodyguards Tie Yan and Tie Ye cut their hands and press the wounds together when they swear to be brothers.
  13. Theatre.Blood Brothers: Right there in the title. When Mickey and Eddie meet as children, they decide to become Blood Brothers to solidify their best friend-ship.
  14. Theatre.The Burnt Part Boys: Pete and Dusty. According to Pete, they swore to be "everlasting eternal soul twins under the crab-apple tree by [Dusty's] house in 1955." For context, they both would have been seven years old during this.

    Misuse 17 wicks 
  1. Anime.Revolutionary Girl Utena: "Utena vows to protect and support Anthy no matter what the cost, but being a Mind Screw show, just getting there is half the battle..." Sounds more like a Declaration of Protection than this trope. Utena and Anthy didn't make a pact to be "sisters.
  2. Characters.Danganronpa The After: Chapter 3 reveals that Miyuki was actually his adoptive brother who took in kid!Ryohei who was kicked out of his own house. Characters are adoptive siblings.
  3. Characters.Five Funny Nights At Freddys: Freddy and Bonnie are thick as thieves and have been since 1970. Only tells us that these characters are close. No mention of pact/vow.
  4. Characters.Innocent: He once referred to his servant, Andre Legris, as his foster brother. No pact mentioned.
  5. Characters.Metro: Heterosexual Life-Partners: He is clearly a very close comrade of Artyom and they virtually consider each other Blood Brothers after the above mentioned blood transfusion in D6. Characters are close. No mention of pact/vow.
  6. Characters.Off The Grid: It's revealed in Season 4, Episode 11 that he and Clint are brothers. Characters are literally brothers by blood.
  7. Characters.The Sevenwaters Trilogy: With Aidan of Whiteshore. As children they'd made a blood promise to be friends until death. Blood oath to be friends, not siblings.
  8. Characters.Strikeforce Morituri: The warriors of the Horde are closely bound to their tentmates, fellow warriors from the same faction. At one point this is compared with humans' affection for their parents (a connection which isn't shared by the Horde - or, at least, not so strongly). Characters are close. No mention of pact/vow.
  9. DarthWiki.Beyblade C Square: They're all unrelated to each other (barring Sacha and Sandro), but share a near-brotherly bond of friendship. Characters are close friends. No pact/vow.
  10. DarthWiki.Rise Roleplay: Rodrig, on ambassador duty, going to meet Autumn at her home on a remote planet and sharing a beer together under a tree. The fact that a massive and bloodthirsty cyborg dinosaur cared enough for a small human woman who grew up in a brothel fought together a few times and that 6 years later he still cared about her is truly heartwarming. Characters who are close and fought together. No mention of pact/vow.
  11. Film.Bullet In The Head: The film is about the disastrous effect of Gold Fever and the horrors of The Vietnam War on the bond between friends, which in Woo's other movies was all but unbreakable. Talks about the bond between friends. No pact/vow.
  12. Film.The Killer 1989: The boss of the triad, Wong Hoi, who is the nephew of the guy he sent Jong out to kill, would rather kill Jong than hand over the money that Jong's handler Fung Sei promised to him. Meanwhile, a cop by the name of Inspector Li Ying (played by Danny Lee, who is good at playing Cowboy Cops in general) has picked up Ah Jong's case, and as he gets to know both the assassin and the woman that he's going through hell for, the two heroes on opposite sides of the law develop a respect for each other that soon turns into a bond of friendship akin to blood brotherhood. Characters are close. No pact/vow.
  13. Film.Transformers Film Series: Characters are close. No pact/vow.
    • The human warriors of the NEST team love their Autobot comrades as such:
      Epps: We have shed blood, sweat and precious metal together.
    • Enough so that even when disbanded and living peaceful lives by Dark of the Moon, they immediately reunited to take revenge for the murder of their Autobot brothers at the hands of Dylan Gould.
      Sam: Why are you helping me?
      Epps: 'Cause that asshole killed my friends too!!
  14. Film.Wonder Seven: Blood Brothers and a Sister. The titular seven are a band of orphans who were raised together, grew up together, and consider each other as a family. Characters consider each other family, but no pact/vow.
  15. Recap.Supernatural S 08 E 01 We Need To Talk About Kevin: Benny calls Dean his brother, foreshadowing episode 5 of this season. Not sure what the foreshadowing is referring to, but no pact/vow mentioned.
  16. TearJerker.Top Gun The death of Goose, Maverick's copilot, best friend and practically blood brother in an Ejection Seat accident, of course. Characters are close. No mention of pact/vow.
  17. Theatre.Thrill Me: Nathan and Richard sign a contract in blood per Richard's instruction, and then Nathan clasps Richard's hand while they're still bleeding to seal the deal. Missing the 'brothers' aspect as it doesn't specify what the contract is about.

    ZCE/Murky 19 wicks 
  1. Characters.Angie Tribeca: Atkins has one with Commissioner Bigfish, who took a bullet meant for Atkins back in The '70s.
  2. Characters.Green Lantern Hal Jordan: With his fellow Green Lantern earthmen: Guy, John and Kyle and fellow GL Kilowog, each owing each other his life many times over.
  3. Characters.Outlander Jamie And Claires Family: He and Jamie became this after Jamie's mother and youngest brother died in childbirth.
  4. Characters.Spies In Disguise: Jeff and Crazy Eyes are from the same flock.
  5. Characters.Star Wars Rebel Heroes: With Han.
  6. Characters.Yakuza 2: Was this with Terada back in the latter's days as one of the Four Kings of Omi, and even teamed up together so as to bring down the Tojo Clan. Unfortunately, Takashima only saw Terada as a means to an end.
  7. Characters.Young Justice 2010 The Team Season One: With Beast Boy as she gave him a life-saving blood transfusion in "Image" with the implication in "Alienated" that she has given him other ones.
  8. DarthWiki.The Exterior: Arthur and (quite surprisingly) the Sun Wizard become this in the final film.
  9. Fanfic.Marshall Gone Missing: Marshall and Chase with a slightly morbid context of Marshall promising not to die before Chase.
  10. Fanfic.Streets Of Rage Saga: Musashi, Kato, and Yamato formed such a bond taking down the Zeed organization.
  11. Fanfic.Watashitachi Wa Roger Kaizoku Desu We Still Stand Proud: Shanks and Buggy. To the point where Shanks swore a mystical vendetta against Shiki on Buggy's behalf.
  12. Literature.Nightfall Series: Vampires can become this after drinking each other’s blood.
  13. Manga.Gorgeous Carat: Ray and Azura. (Commented out)
  14. Recap.Dan Vs S 3 E 13 Dan Vs Summer Camp: Chris does this with Dan, albeit with spit instead of blood. Dan's a little weirded out by that. I think they probably mean they swore an oath of brotherhood with spit, but it's not very clear.
  15. Recap.Supernatural S 08 E 05 Blood Brother:
    • Benny and Dean.
    • Dean and Sam.
    • Dean and Castiel.
    • And even Benny and Castiel.
  16. Series.Camelot: Arthur and Kay. (Commented out)
  17. Series.Kamen Rider Kabuto: Yaguruma and Kageyama.
  18. Series.Kamen Rider Kiva: Otoya and the Arms Monsters.
  19. Series.Toshiie To Matsu: Nobunaga and Toshiie. (Commented out)

Conclusion

I think a rename might help. Maybe Sworn Brothers or Sworn Family? Also, disambiguating Blood Brothers between "sworn family via oath/pact/bonding scene", Blood Oath and other related tropes sounds like a good idea.

EDIT: Looks like Sworn Brothers is already a redirect.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 25th 2023 at 9:32:44 AM

GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#26: Dec 22nd 2023 at 1:13:18 AM

Calling in favor of renaming Blood Brothers.

Do we have any suggestions other than Sworn Brothers?

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#27: Dec 22nd 2023 at 1:41:54 AM

Were suggested: Sworn Family, Sworn Brothers Vow, Sworn Brothers Pact, Blood Brother Rite, Blood Brother Oath

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#28: Dec 22nd 2023 at 1:56:56 AM

Hooked.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Reymma RJ Savoy from Edinburgh Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Wanna dance with somebody
RJ Savoy
#29: Dec 22nd 2023 at 9:42:08 AM

I'm voting for Sworn Brothers, Sworn Brothers Vow feels redundant because "sworn" implies a vow of some kind.

Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#30: Dec 22nd 2023 at 11:35:40 AM

I already figured Sworn Brothers would be the most popular, so the fact that it has a high amount of yeas and no nays isn't surprising. The other options are mainly there as a formality, since I don't recall us having rename crowners with only one option in the past.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#31: Dec 25th 2023 at 6:36:58 AM

Calling in favor of Sworn Brothers. Does the description need to have any changes made to it before the page is moved?

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#32: Dec 25th 2023 at 6:42:36 AM

It looks fine to me.

Macron's notes
GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#33: Dec 25th 2023 at 7:32:13 AM

Moved it, then. That just leaves the examples.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 25th 2023 at 9:48:31 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Memer999 Michael the Tally Hall-colored Pinwheel from The S*n Since: Nov, 2020
Michael the Tally Hall-colored Pinwheel
#34: Dec 25th 2023 at 11:18:42 PM

I noticed a comment about the former trope name on the page, so I removed it. Is that good?

Edited by Memer999 on Dec 25th 2023 at 11:20:37 AM

Ocean | He/They
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#35: Dec 26th 2023 at 5:16:06 AM

[up]Yes, you did the right thing. I didn't make any changes to the page myself when I moved it (I was more concerned with getting the history and discussion page moved over), but when a trope is renamed, removing explanation of former trope names is what we usually do if it's no longer relevant to the new name.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 26th 2023 at 7:16:58 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
NitroIndigo ♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves from West Midlands region, England Since: Jun, 2021 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves
#36: Jan 30th 2024 at 12:30:37 AM

I noticed that Blood Brothers is a redirect to Sworn Brothers now, but I think it could be a disambig between that and Theatre.Blood Brothers.

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#37: Jan 30th 2024 at 3:05:25 PM

[up]Done.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Zaperex Since: Oct, 2021
#38: Feb 8th 2024 at 10:32:10 AM

Should've asked this sooner, but what do we do with ZCEs?

Edited by Zaperex on Feb 8th 2024 at 1:33:14 PM

Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#39: Feb 8th 2024 at 10:35:15 AM

Fix if you know the work and cut if you don't.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Amateur Veteran
#40: Mar 7th 2024 at 8:10:15 PM

150 wicks left.

Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Amateur Veteran
#41: Mar 8th 2024 at 8:22:35 PM

70 wicks.

Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Amateur Veteran
#42: Mar 9th 2024 at 3:52:31 PM

And that should be all except for a few technical pages, a wick check, and some locked pages that I put in an edit request for.

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#43: Mar 9th 2024 at 5:43:01 PM

I didn't see the edit request, but I took care of the locked pages. Locking this thread as resolved.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Add Post

Trope Repair Shop: Blood Brothers
22nd Dec '23 1:55:39 AM

Crown Description:

It was decided to rename Blood Brothers since it is a trope about two characters making an oath or explicit bonding activity/scene to be brothers/sisters/siblings/family in spirit, but a considerable amount of misuse and zero/partial context examples use the trope for a variety of close non-familial relationships that don't involve an oath or pact. What should the trope's new name be?

Total posts: 43
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