History Main / BondBreaker

* An impressively realistic example comes from the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "How Long Is Forever". After Starfire goes through time while fighting the token villain of the week, she disappears from the rest of the Titans' lives. What was a few seconds for her, were ''twenty years'' for the rest of the team, and ''none'' of them handled her absence well, since she balanced them out.

** This also forms part of the plot of the [[Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIslandsixth movie]]. The bad guys manipulate the crew members into distrusting each other and eventually absorbs all of them except Luffy.

* This was threatening to happen to the Straw Hat Pirates in ''Manga/OnePiece'' when they reached the city of Water Seven. Robin disappeared for reasons unknown to any of her crewmates, and Usopp had a falling out with Luffy and left on his own accord. The rest of the time he was there, Luffy was trying his hardest not to let the rest of the crew disband. Averted in that he succeeded in keeping the crew together [[spoiler: and eventually got Robin and Usopp back too, which were the main driving forces of that part of the series]].
** This also forms part of the plot of the sixth movie. The bad guys manipulate the crew members into distrusting each other and eventually absorbs all of them except Luffy.

* It's very common for animated films to have this happen shortly before the climax, particularly the works of Creator/{{Pixar}} and Creator/{{Dreamworks}}. Either the personality conflicts that drove the tension earlier in the film will be reignited, or a lie one of the characters had told the other will be revealed, making them go their separate ways. Of course, the protagonists will always remember the value of their friendship in time to reunite and stop the BigBad.

Maybe [[TheHeart the one that keeps them together]] starts hating his/her designated role as the DistressedDamsel or TheLoad, and their resentment leads to AHouseDivided, or they decide to leave the FiveManBand, which [[BreakingTheFellowship falls apart]] because the one balancing them isn't there. In another scenario, TheHeroDies, and the rest of the characters fight over whether or not to revive him, despite the great risks involving such an act. In another scenario, the ImpliedLoveInterest goes through so much UnresolvedSexualTension, or BelligerentSexualTension, that they turn into the {{Yandere}} and take every step needed to keep the rest of their friends from influencing their love interest.

Maybe [[TheChick the one that keeps them together]] starts hating his/her designated role as the DistressedDamsel or TheLoad, and their resentment leads to AHouseDivided, or they decide to leave the FiveManBand, which [[BreakingTheFellowship falls apart]] because the one balancing them isn't there. In another scenario, TheHeroDies, and the rest of the characters fight over whether or not to revive him, despite the great risks involving such an act. In another scenario, the ImpliedLoveInterest goes through so much UnresolvedSexualTension, or BelligerentSexualTension, that they turn into the {{Yandere}} and take every step needed to keep the rest of their friends from influencing their love interest.

As great a group of friends as you are, if a situation is particularly dire for the group, and/or if something has a strongly negative effect for a particular character, that same group of TrueCompanions might not be able to stick together anymore. If you want the story to become DarkerAndEdgier, have a main character drive the others apart. Have that character drive a wedge between the protagonists, dividing the FiveManBand to a near-irreparable state.

** This also forms part of the plot of the sixth movie. The bad guys manipulate the crew members into distrusting each other, and eventually absorbs all of them except Luffy.

* In ''[[{{Film/Bratz}} Bratz: The Movie]]'', head girl Meredith is set upon driving the Bratz girls apart; after two years, she has succeeded in making them part of her pre-defined cliques, and they can barely speak to each other any more.

* It's very common for animated films to have this happen shortly before the climax, particularly the works of Creator/{{Pixar}} and Creator/{{Dreamworks}}. Either the personality conflicts that drove the tension earlier in the film will be reignited, or a lie one of the characters had told the other will be revealed, making them go their separate ways. Of course, the protagonists will always remember the value of their friendship in time to to reunite and stop the BigBad.
* In ''WesternAnimation/EquestriaGirls'', the reason the human counterparts of Twilight's friends hate each other when they used to be friends is because [[spoiler:Sunset Shimmer drove them apart.]]

* Spike in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' calls [[DividedWeFall his role]] in the Scooby Gang's decomposition the "Yoko factor". He didn't create the problems they were facing, but made them likelier to anger and alienate each other.

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', [[spoiler:Bastila Shan]] gets tortured into serving the BigBad, and she confronts you in the Ancient Temple on Lehon. If you choose to side with [[spoiler:Bastila]], Jolee, Juhani, Mission and Zaalbar get killed, while Carth runs away into the Lehon Temple. The droids and Canderous are the only ones that remain with you, while [[spoiler:Bastila]] becomes your apprentice. Contrast with the alternate path, in which [[EverybodyLives all the above characters survive]], [[spoiler: and even Bastila can be redeemed if the player character is in a relationship with her or has high enough Persuasion]]. Note that [[spoiler:Bastila]] ''isn't'' the BondBreaker; it's ''[[YouBastard you]]''.

* Shows up in the backstory of ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. The Order of the Scribble, united mostly by their goal of closing down all of the rips that allowed the Scribble to enter the world, are able to stick together long enough to accomplish it. Unfortunately, pre-existing issues, the death of one of their own and disagreements on how to best guard the gates lead to a VERY ugly argument, causing them to split up and watch over one of the gates individually. We see that for some of them, even years later, the feelings haven't died down and some of them would never be able to trust the others ever again.

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', in the beginning, your party of 4 become true companions, by the end, they all have opposing views and at [[spoiler:least 2 of them will be killed in the fighting.]]

* VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory, Iroha and her FiveManBand becomes a victim of this midway in the main story. [[spoiler:Yachiyo's former friend drives a wedge between the group and was involved in brainwashing three of them to join the Magius]] While they didn't manage to do the same to [[spoiler:Yachiyo]], she caused her to revert back to her distant self from the beginning of the story.

** Note that in the optimum ending, only two characters are mutually exclusive. [[spoiler: Sebastian and Anders himself can NEVER be on the same side. Either Anders dies, or Sebastian threatens to raise Kirkwall.]]

See also BreakingTheFellowship. Absolutely not related to an evil interrogator trying to break Film/JamesBond.

* VideoGame/MagiaRecord, Iroha and her FiveManBand becomes a victim of this midway in the main story. [[spoiler:Yachiyo's former friend drives a wedge between the group and was involved in brainwashing three of them to join the Magius]] While they didn't manage to do the same to [[spoiler:Yachiyo]], she caused her to revert back to her distant self from the beginning of the story.

* An impressively realistic example comes from the animated ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' show - fans know the episode as "How Long Is Forever". After Starfire goes through time while fighting the token villain of the week, she disappears from the rest of the Titans' lives. What was a few seconds for her, were ''twenty years'' for the rest of the team, and ''none'' of them handled her absence well, since she balanced them out.
* Similar to the WesternAnimation/TeenTitans example, in the 2003 ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' show, Donatello was warped into an alternate future where he had disappeared for 20 years. The Turtles were disbanded, which led to the Shredder succeeding in world domination, and Michelangelo flat-out tells Don it's because he wasn't there to balance them out. Both this and the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode are also variations on ItsAWonderfulPlot.