History LivingEmotionalCrutch / Literature

* Herald-Trainee Tylendel, to Vanyel, in ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar The Last Herald-Mage]]'' trilogy. He becomes Van's first and greatest love and the only one he can trust. 'Lendel does nothing to discourage this dependence, which is why things start to go south when his own [[SanitySlippage sanity begins to slip]]. And then [[TraumaCongaLine it gets worse]]...
** On the other hand, there are milder examples in some [[MindlinkMates Lifebonded pairs]], where a Herald with a slightly broody personality and a strong Gift bonds with another who is less Gifted but more stable, and this is treated as a good thing.

* [[DarkChick Diana]] is this to [[BigBad Caine]] in ''[[Literature/{{Gone}} HUNGER]]'', to the extent that when [[spoiler:Caine thinks Diana is dead he actually asks his brother to kill him]].

* In ''Literature/EarthsChildren'', Andovan became this to Echozar's mother once he began living with her and her son. This is understandable given that following all the tragedy and trauma Echozar's mother went through, Andovan was the only other person who showed her kindness and helped her. What's more, because of the way the Clan's GeneticMemory works, Echozar's mother was [[GenderRestrictedAbility all but incapable]] of learning to hunt, making tools and weapons, or performing certain other tasks, so she relied on Andovan not just for companionship but to carry out tasks vital to their surival that she could not do. After Andovan died, Echozar says his mother quickly weakened and [[DeathByDespair died too]].

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', Jacob is this, very much, to Bella during most of ''New Moon.'' Ever since falling in love, Edward and Bella have generally been this for each other.

* Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz:

** Harry himself has his circle of friends that act as a stabilizing influence in his life, but especially the women he's romantically interested in and possibly Ebenezar [=McCoy=]. It's been proven multiple times that if they get hurt (or if [[EtTuBrute they hurt him]]) he becomes... slightly less than stable. Gets turned UpToEleven post-''Changes'', [[spoiler:because he ''has'' to keep them around to combat the Winter Mantle's pull]].

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', Jacob is this, very much, to Bella during most of ''New Moon.'' Ever since falling in love, Edward and Bella have generally been this for each other.
* Archie Goodwin functions as something like this for Literature/NeroWolfe; as Wolfe's personal assistant, Archie's pretty much the only reason Wolfe's carefully structured life functions as smoothly as it does, but he's also Wolfe's conscience when he feels Wolfe has crossed the line, and his snarky attitude works to motivate Wolfe into accepting work despite his laziness, preventing him from stagnating. Accordingly, despite the frequent tension between them Archie is one of the only people--if not the only person--Wolfe ever expresses any genuine regard for.

* In the {{Novelization}} of ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith,'' Obi-Wan and Padme are both this to Anakin, to a point. A point which diminishes steadily as the story progresses and he turns increasingly to Palpatine; even at the beginning, he saw and sometimes resented their influence. Without them--after he kills Padme and drives Obi-Wan irrevocably away--he turns into [[TheDragon Darth Vader]].

* Karan of ''Literature/TheThreeWorldsCycle'' has an excuse for this--half-breed characters in this setting are prone to serious psychological issues, and as a HeinzHybrid she shouldn't even be functional. Her friend/love interest Llian somehow manages to stabilize her, and when she's separated from him, things go badly, to say the least.

* Played very strangely in Creator/LurleneMcDaniel's ''Don't Die, My Love''. Luke Muldenhower's the one with terminal cancer, but his girlfriend Julie is the one who clings to him and their relationship as her reason for living. [[spoiler:When he dies, she pretty much shuts down emotionally and it takes a group effort to pull her out of it]].
* In ''Literature/LesMiserables'', Cosette is this to Jean Valjean. She's his only source of love and happiness, and when he's separated from her at the end of the novel, he wastes away and dies of grief.
* In ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'', while not technically ''living'', Jedao seems to have taken it upon himself to keep Cheris mentally stable in face of WarIsHell, and pulls her out from the edge of a mental breakdown several times.
* Breq to Seivarden in the ''Literature/ImperialRadch'' novels. It's mentioned more than once that when Breq is busy on Athoek Station or otherwise away from the ship, Seivarden's issues with being a FishOutOfTemporalWater and a recovering kef addict tend to resurface rather sharply.
* Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz:
** Toto is this for Dorothy at the Grey World of Kansas:
--> ''It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.''
** It's implied that the reason Dorothy wants to go back to Kansas is to invoke this trope with Uncle Henry and Aunt Emma.
* In the light novel ''Of Dragons And Fae'', Patricia is quite mentally stable...but the conditions of her ArrangedMarriage mean that she must move to a far distant nation, filled with people who she doesn't know and who aren't even her species, and that she can only bring '''one''' human companion with her. While explaining the situation to her chosen companion (a hairstylist named Mayna), Patricia rather roughly states that Mayna's feelings about it don't matter: she needs someone to remind her of home, someone she knows she can trust.
* Darren was this to Steve in ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'', as he was his best friend and the only person he cared about. Needless to say, when Darren makes a deal with Mr. Crepsley to become a vampire in order to save Steve, he doesn't take it well and believes Darren has "betrayed" him. They become enemies for the rest of the book.
* ''Star Surgeon'' by Alan E. Nourse. The protagonist is an alien trying to break into a human-dominated medical profession. At one point he freezes up under pressure, then has an epiphany about this trope and realizes he needs to start relying on himself.
-->Black Doctor Arnquist had been a crutch upon whom he could lean. Tiger, for all his clumsy good-heartedness and for all the help and protection he had offered, had been a crutch. [[BondCreatures Fuzzy]], who had been by his side since the day he was born, was still another kind of crutch to fall back on, a way out, a port of haven in the storm. They were crutches, every one, and he had leaned on them heavily.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' has a supernatural variation: [[OurVampiresAreDifferent White Court vampire]] [[EmotionEater Thomas Raith]] has a girlfriend who is schizophrenic and prone to dangerous mood swings. By feeding off her excess emotions, he allows her to be fully functional without the side effects of medication. When separated from him for too long, her emotional instability returns and she becomes dangerous to herself and others. After [[spoiler:Thomas becomes unable to feed off her or even touch her after a mutual ActOfTrueLove]], she eventually finds new medications that help her maintain a more healthy emotional state.

* The Beast from ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (''not'' the Disney version) tells Beauty that if she doesn't return to him within a set amount of time, he'll literally die of grief. When she stays just one day later, she receives a vision of him on the verge of death and rushes back to his side, at which point he promptly begins getting better even before she breaks his curse by agreeing to marry him.

-->''But do not be the one to fix her--no, she''
-->''must be the one to do it herself, and you''
-->''merely are there to quietly encourage her.''

* Toto is this for Doroty at the Grey World of Kansas:

* In the {{Novelization}} of ''RevengeOfTheSith,'' Obi-Wan and Padme are both this to Anakin, to a point. A point which diminishes steadily as the story progresses and he turns increasingly to Palpatine; even at the beginning, he saw and sometimes resented their influence. Without them--after he kills Padme and drives Obi-Wan irrevocably away--he turns into [[TheDragon Darth Vader]].

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' has a supernatural variation: [[OurVampiresAreDifferent White Court vampire]] [[EmotionEater Thomas Raith]] has a girlfriend who is schizophrenic and prone to dangerous mood swings. By feeding off her excess emotions, he allows her to be fully functional without the side-effects of medication. When separated from him for too long, her emotional instability returns and she becomes dangerous to herself and others. After [[spoiler:Thomas becomes unable to feed off her or even touch her after a mutual ActOfTrueLove]], she eventually finds new medications that help her maintain a more healthy emotional state.
** Harry himself has his circle of friends that act as a stabilizing influence in his life, but especially the women he's romantically interested in and possibly Ebenezar [=McCoy=]. It's been proven multiple times that if they get hurt (or if [[EtTuBrute they hurt him]]) he becomes...slightly less than stable. Gets turned UpToEleven post-''Changes'', [[spoiler:because he ''has'' to keep them around to combat the Winter Mantle's pull]].

* At the beginning of ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames The Hunger Games]]'', Katniss' sister Prim is her Crutch. By the end of the series, Peeta pretty much replaces her.

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', Jacob is this, very much, to Bella during most of ''New Moon.'' In fact, ever since falling in love, Edward and Bella have generally been this for each other.

* The protagonists mother in ''The Skin I'm In'' had her husband as her emotional crutch. When he died she was absolutely miserable.
* Lucie in ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' is the only thing between her father and solitary-confinement-induced insanity. He soon progresses from needing her ''presence'' to simply needing her ''happiness'', but when Charles falls under the shadow of the guillotine, that kind of backfires.

* Kate is this for her mother Sara in Creator/JodiPicoult's ''MySistersKeeper'', and Willow is this for Charlotte in ''Literature/HandleWithCare''.