Battle Couple / Literature

It did not seem strange to the cataphracts, to see two generals kissing each other fiercely in the middle of a battle. Not at the time. Later, of course, the episode would be the subject of many ribald jokes and rhymes.

— In the Heart of Darkness

---

• In the Ahriman Trilogy this is part of the purpose of the mage/warden relationship. While they aren't explicitly intended to be romantic arrangements, it's universally acknowledged that they often end that way. Simon Bell's parents were mage/warden before they married and had kids.
• As shown on the covers of The Alien Series, Kitty and Martini believe that the couple who kicks ass together stay together.
• Amelia Peabody by Elizabeth Peters
  • Amelia and her husband Radcliffe Emerson: Egyptologists and incidental detectives. Despite the amount of time they waste going behind each other's backs in misguided attempts to protect each other, the climax of many of the stories has them side by side or back to back. Him with his 'Herculean Physique' (Amelia's phrase) and her with... well...
    Emerson (after witnessing her first Rage Blackout): There is blood on your parasol, Peabody.
  • Their son Walter "Ramses" Emerson and his wife Nefret are a somewhat milder example, as they prefer sneakier indirect methods. If they do need to resort to direct force, however: watch out. They coordinate well, and the pretty little surgeon has no compunction about cutting you. Her husband, on the other hand, would prefer to take you alive.
• Ellie and Will from Courtney Allison Moulton's Angelfire series take on demonic armies together.
• Animorphs are La Résistance against an alien invasion.
  • Rachel is a Blood Knight and Tobias is a bird of prey; they become a couple.
  • Jake is The Leader and Cassie is more dangerous than she appears; they are frequently teased before becoming a couple.
  • Aldrea the Andalite meets Dak Hamee, the Hork Bajir seer during the battle to keep the Hork Bajir homeworld free from the Yeerks. Almost a whole book and several lifestyle-related struggles later, they become a mated pair, give birth to a son, and decades later their descendants form the first members of the free Hork Bajir on Earth.

• Belisarius Series
  • Bellisarius and Antoninia. (They did this in [1], too) although they are usually in different theaters.
  • Rao and Shakuntala. India's greatest warrior and the assassin that he trained They get married and Re-conquer their respective homelands
  • The Theodoran Cohort is made up entirely of Battle Couples - Married pairs are deliberately recruited because none of the women will trust anyone else to get the fuse length right on the very touchy black-powder grenades that their husbands are sending downrange.
• In Black Dagger Brotherhood novels, this trope is inverted with Xhex and John, as fighting together causes major problems in their relationship. Though he knows that she's a capable warrior, bonded males are genetically hardwired to protect their mates at any cost, so his instincts keep firing up on the battlefield and putting them both in danger. This pisses her off as she thinks he doesn't respect her skills; they separate for a good long while because of it.
• Book of the Ancestor: Sisters Kettle and Apple from the convent of Sweet Mercy. Both of them are convent-trained sneaks, fighters and poisoners. While Sister Apple prefers teaching the novices of the covent, she can still kill and disable five pirates in a rush to get to an injured Kettle, and Kettle herself once infiltrates an entire pagode of trained assassines, dispatching dozens among the way, to free an imprisoned novice.
• Book of the Dead (2021): "Century Slayer" Magnin and "Battle Witch" Beory Steelarm are famous throughout the land, possibly the two strongest people in the kingdom, certainly the two who have done the most to keep everyone safe from rift-kin. Everyone is shocked to discover that their son Tyron has acquired the forbidden Necromancer class, and doubly shocked when the magistrates demand that Magnin and Beory personally hunt him down. The Steelarms don't take kindly to the directive, either; they first completely destroy and level the home, farm, and family tomb of the mayor who delivered the orders, and then go on a destructive rampage that makes their feelings clear to everyone.
  Nobody had ever crossed Tyron before. Maybe now I know why.
• The Brightest Shadow Logically a common feature in the world of Myros. In the first book, particularly Veron and Graenin. Their coordination in battle improves after they become a couple.
• The Amazon Legion invokes this intentionally with the Tercio Gorgidas, a tercio (roughly equivalent of a regiment) comprised of homosexual male pairs who are married in a special ceremony, with an explicit nod given to the Sacred Band of Thebes (see the Real Life section).
• The Camp Half-Blood Series:
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians has Percy and Annabeth. Percy described them fighting together coming more naturally than talking to or romantic interactions with Annabeth. They continue being this in the sequel series discussed below.
  • Six of the seven demigods in The Heroes of Olympus qualify for this - Percy and Annabeth (as already mentioned), Frank and Hazel, and Jason and Piper^note although it doesn't last between Jason and Piper are the couples. One exception is Leo, who later meets Calypso (not part of the Seven).
• Captive Prince: Damen is a Warrior Prince; Laurent is a Badass Bookworm. Not only are they a formidable couple on the field in person, but they're also excellent tacticians when commanding armies.
• In Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, novels, the mixed-gender Valhallan 597th features several couples. Cain deliberately invokes this trope; relationships in the guard normally aren't allowed but Cain allows it because it improves morale and makes them fight harder. Couples include:
  • Cain's own liaison with Lady Inquisitor Amberley Vail
  • A male trooper named Vorhees and a female trooper named Drere in Caves of Ice
  • A strongly implied lesbian relationship between Sergeant Grifen and trooper Mari Magot, also in Caves of Ice.
  • Colonel Kasteen and Major Broklaw, the commander and Number Two of the 597th respectively are also implied. Nothing romantic is ever confirmed in-story, but Broklaw refers to Kasteen by her given name, implying they're on First-Name Basis — which is highly unusual for a relationship that's merely commander-subordinate.
• The Chronicles of Dorsa: Tasia and Joslyn (who were already lovers) become this after they reunite, fighting alongside each other against their enemies. Joslyn trained Tasia as well.

• Deltora Quest:
  • Lief and Jasmine, especially in the third series where they genuinely couple before becoming King and Queen.
  • Orwen and Joanna in the Tournament Arc during the Shifting Sands.
• Discworld Two examples in the City Watch:
  • Carrot and Angua, both police officers. The Fifth Elephant is the biggest example for these two.
  • Sybil and Vimes; The Captain of the City Watch and his Lady of War wife.

• In Dracula Mina Harker joins her husband Jonathan in the battle against the titular count in the climax of the novel. Jonathan even gives Mina a revolver to defend herself.
• Will and Georgia from The Dresden Files are a married couple of werewolves who fight as a well-oiled tag team machine.

• Endo and Kobayashi Live!:
  • In the novel's timeline, Siegwald/Lieselotte and Baldur/Fiene are both adventurers with similar combat profiles^note Siegwald and Lieselotte are Jack of All Stats, while Baldur and Fiene tend to be more physical in combat, albeit Fiene is more precisely a Combat Medic and are strongly in love with each other.
  • In some of the Baldur-route endings in Magikoi, this is played straight as well, as Baldur will elope and marry Fiene as commoner adventurers.
• From The Fallen Moon, there is Arenadd and Skade. Neither lives to the end of the trilogy; however, Arenadd is unlucky enough to be The Undead and have a God who isn't finished with him yet.
• Gaunt's Ghosts:
  • Tona Criid and Caffran, who met during the battle for Vervunhive in Necropolis.
  • Jessi Banda and Major Elim Rawne got wounded in Straight Silver, though they are less tight.
  • It is implied that Brin Milo and the esholi priestess Sanian developed a connection in Honour Guard, which carries on to Sabbat Martyr when Sanian becomes the reincarnated Saint Sabbat.

• Harry Potter is full of these:
  • Ron and Hermione fight alongside each other when they aren't fighting ''with'' each other.
  • Harry and Ginny fit on the occasions they fight together against their enemies. At the end of book six, Harry tried to defy this trope by saying It's Not You, It's My Enemies, but Ginny wasn't having any of that.
  • Since everyone joins in on the last battle in Deathly Hallows, Lupin and Tonks, Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley, and Fleur and Bill also count.
  • Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange are a villainous version, as they fight side-by-side in books 5 and 7.

• Six of the seven demigods in The Heroes of Olympus qualify for this. One exception is Leo, who later meets Calypso.
• Sybella and Beast in the His Fair Assassin books. They meet when she breaks him out of the cell where he's a prisoner, and on the way to safety they engage in several skirmishes and make friends that prove helpful later, first when they re-take a sea town the enemy had captured, and again when they stage a rescue. Sybella ends up in trouble after sending Beast off to guard the people they were rescuing. Beast comes after her, and they fight free together.
• The Honor Harrington series naturally has a few:
  • Victor Cachat and Thandi Palane. He's a superspy, master of the Indy Ploy and ice-cold killer, she's a Super-Soldier Space Marine who is more lethal bare-handed than most people would be with machineguns. It was more or less love at first sight.
  • On the Havenite side, Admiral Javier Giscard and his Political Officer-slash-lover, Eloise Pritchart — though they keep that relationship very hidden until the last possible moment. Per Admiral Lester Tourville:
    Live, or die, [Eloise] and Giscard would fight to the last ditch together.
• The Hunger Games
  • In the first book Katniss and Peeta. Played With: Their 'tragic lovers fighting for their lives' story was a big hit among sponsors and attracted vital support during the games. For her, it's invoked: a cynical manipulation ploy - at first. For him, the "Couple" part is very much what he wants.
  • Subverted in Mockingjay: Katniss and Gale act like this for most of the book, but never manage the Relationship Upgrade.
• Nearly every protagonist couple in InCryptid, since they're all cryptozoologists trained in combat, stealth, and survival. The only aversion is Artie and Sarah, since they're a non-action guy and girl. And even those two know how to handle a gun.

• Island in the Sea of Time has Marian Alston and Swindapa, a kick-ass, katana-wielding lesbian battle couple.
• Journey to Chaos
  • Sathel and Retina are a married couple and mercenary partners.
  • A newspaper writer inquired into the "working relationship" of mercenaries Tiza and Nolien but Tiza insisted that this wasn't the case. It's a hard line to swallow considering how closely they work together and how protective they are.
• Kate Daniels and Curran from the Kate Daniels series, often fight together and never lose.

• The Lord of the Rings
  • Faramir and Éowyn are a downplayed example. They officially become a couple after the battle.
  • J. R. R. Tolkien also wrote that Rohirrim women often took up weapons to defend their homes when their lands were invaded.
  • Celeborn and Galadriel fight together.
• Captain and later Admiral John "Black Jack" Geary and his flag captain, Captain Tanya Desjani in The Lost Fleet. Subverted in that, while they are conducting actual military operations, rules about fraternization and their own personal senses of honor prevent them from acting like a typical couple. They only really get to experience marital bliss when on leave.
• Malazan Book of the Fallen:
  • Invoked with Koryk and Smiles. Smiles is in love with Koryk's way of fighting and likes to pretend they're a battle couple during combat situations by guarding his flank and knifing anyone who comes close. Koryk, for his part, thinks Smiles is Ax-Crazy and needs to curb her ambitions, though he doesn't mind the help.
  • Picker and Blend are a lesbian battle couple. They've been going steady ever since joining the Malazan army. Picker is proficient with the sword and crossbow, while Blend prefers long-knives and stealth, and Blend acts like something of an aide for (first Corporal then Lieutenant) Picker as they need few words to communicate.
• A Master of Djinn: Fatma and Siti, her lover, both know how to fight skillfully, doing so as a team at times.

• Nathan and Elena, in The Memory Wars, have been lovers through most of their past lives, and can draw on centuries of shared combat experience to fight together with perfect precision.
• In the third book of the Mistborn series, Elend and Vin go beyond the Bodyguard Crush relationship of the second book and straight into this following Elend turning into a full-on Mistborn.
• The Mortal Instruments
  • Alec and Magnus are respectively a Shadowhunter (i.e., demon hunter) and a warlock who become a couple over the course of the trilogy while fighting evil. They fight together as partners in the final battle of City of Glass, when a new rune allows pairs Shadowhunters and Downworlders (such as warlocks) to share their powers with one another.
  • Maryse and Robert Lightwood are a married couple of active Shadowhunters, although their partnership receives little "screen time," since they are not main characters.

• Night Huntress: Cat and Bones, a badass married couple.

• Nightside: Suzie Shooter and John Taylor have been known to kick some serious ass, although their couple status is still a work in progress.

• The central triad of No Need for a Core? is this, though one of them doesn't start there. This also applies to other characters in the series, including some parents and a lot of the royalty of the nearby kingdom.
• Old Kingdom: Sabriel and Touchstone are a Necromancer and a member of the Royal Guard later revealed to be a bastard Prince who subsequently becomes King and fit this trope to a T, fighting as Back-to-Back Badasses from the jump, though it takes some time for Touchstone to view himself as a true partner to Sabriel, and for Sabriel to accept her own role as the kingdom's necromantic defender. After the events in "Sabriel", they also become a Ruling Couple, fulfilling different but equal roles in partnership to rebuild and rule the Old Kingdom. They also build their own Badass Family, which Lirael later joins. They partially fulfill the Sword and Sorcerer trope; however, their roles are not truly dichotomous as Sabriel is also a warrior and both are Charter Mages.
• Ruggiero and Bradamante from Orlando Furioso. When they're reunited halfway through the work, the first thing Bradamante does is go off to save a dude, and Ruggiero is thrilled to have a woman understand what he does.
• Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series: Clay and Elena He's the Pack's Enforcer, she learned to fight through necessity and long years of hardship, and together, they royally kick ass.

• In The Parasol Protectorate:
  • Lord and Lady Maccon are formidable when separate (one being a burly Alpha werewolf and the other a Preternatural with a tricked-out parasol.) Even more so when together.
  • Lyall and Biffy also make a good enough team to keep Sidhaeg busy until sunrise, though the couple part doesn't become official until later.

• Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. They're the Official Couple and they fight zombies.
• Quantum Gravity: Lila is a cyborg who was specifically made to be able to kill things. Zal does well in anything vaguely resembling a fair fight and is good with a bow. They get together; some wild magic sees to that. She also hits it off with Teazle, who lives among people who will have every fighting form ever and still can't find an even match.
• The Quest of the Unaligned: Crown Prince Alaric of Caederan and his Love Interest (and future bride) Laeshana have a wonderful teamwork moment while fighting through roughly 500 fire-spiders.
• Dawn and Julius in The Radiant Dawn. Played oddly because Julius is fully willing to not contest Dawn charging into battle against clearly defined enemies and assumes she can handle herself, but worries greatly about her being stabbed in the back by someone she doesn't think is an enemy.
• Ranger's Apprentice:
  • Master Swordsman Horace and Rebellious Princess Cassandra prove to be one in Book 7
  • Chef of Iron Jenny and The Ace Gilan in Book 11.
• The Railway Series Jarl Sigrid and her husband Orm in The Island of Sodor source book. Since this is still a series about, *ahem* talking trains... the only real plot point that affects the story at all is that one of the locomotives (who is actually unseen in the series) in the present day bears her name Sigrid of Arlesdale, and Jarl Sigrid's history is part of the local tourist appeal along a couple railway stations. Just goes to show the insane amount of All There in the Manual lore that exists for the series.
• Razorland Trilogy: Deuce and Fade start out as reluctant partners in the first book (Enclave), but by the third (Horde) they are battling Freaks side-by-side.

• Darrow and Mustang from the Red Rising trilogy. While most of the combat in the series involves large-scale military campaigns and space combat, whenever they're not carrying out their own parts of a multi-pronged gambit they're right there in the thick of things with each other, combat or politics.
• Reign of the Seven Spellblades:
  • Oliver and Nanao are basically attached at the hip by the end of the first volume and admit that they're attracted to one another in volume 4, and finally have a Relationship Upgrade to Official Couple in volume 10. Between her brawn and his brains, they make a terrifyingly effective combo.
  • Stacy Cornwallis and Fay Willock are introduced as "master and knight" (which lends its name to episode 10 of the anime), but by volume 9 they've made a mutual Love Confession and are presently in a sort of Courtly Love limbo.^note She's a Blue Blood, he's an orphan and only half-human, so they won't be allowed to be together long-term by her family unless their magical research together bears fruit—which by the combat league semifinals, it does. She has a habit of riding on his shoulders when he's in werewolf form and firing spells at their opponents while he attacks with his sword and claws.
  • In the Backstory, Chloe Halford and Edgar Groves met while attending Kimberly and served together on a Gnostic Hunter squad battling Alien Invasions before she became pregnant with Oliver.

• The Silmarillion: Lúthien Tinúviel and Beren. He was a mighty physical warrior. She was an elf sorcerer capable of bringing down a fortress and putting the God of Evil of her world to sleep. Together they amplified each other's skills, humiliated Dark Lords, and their deeds were themes of songs seventy centuries after their deaths.
• Simon R. Green loves this trope:
  • Forest Kingdom: In the spinoff series Hawk & Fisher, Captain Hawk and his wife, Captain Isobel Fisher, work in the City Guard of Haven and fight side by side on a regular basis.
  • The Nightside is home to Guile Hero John Taylor and his More Dakka-addicted ally Shotgun Suzie. Where her overwhelming firepower doesn't suffice, his dirty tricks and unique Gift can tip the odds.
  • Secret Histories features Eddie Drood and Molly Metcalf, a Magitek Powered Armor secret agent and the Witch of the Wild Woods.
• In A Song of Ice and Fire, we have a mild example in Aegon "the Conqueror" Targaryen and Visenya Targaryen. Aegon, being a typical Targaryen, married his two sisters and declared conquest on the continent of Westeros. They say that Aegon married Visenya out of duty (she was the eldest of the sisters) and Rhaenys out of love. Visenya was known as a great warrior and dragon rider, wielding a Valyrian steel sword named Dark Sister. While Aegon may not have had any strong feelings for Visenya, she was still his wife and they conquered a continent together. Rhaenys was also a dragon rider but had no martial prowess beyond that.
• Spellster: Tracker, being a skiller fighter and hunter, along with the mage Dylan, become one over time while fighting against enemies together. Authril and Dylan could also count before Tracker appears, as she's a soldier as well, and they had been sleeping together (but are more Friends with Benefits).

• Slippery Jim diGriz (The Stainless Steel Rat) and Angelina, his wife and fellow criminal genius. He's a criminal mastermind who dislikes killing. She's a formerly-psychotic criminal mastermind who bemoans the fact that she can't casually kill people now she's had a conscience implanted. They fight crime with crime.

• In general the Star Wars EU is full of these with the majority of the main couples being battle couples.
  • Wedge and Iella, Corran and Mirax, Kell and Tyria, Face and Dia, Gavin and Asyr, Myn and Lara... it should go without saying that the X-Wing series of the Star Wars EU, being about fighter pilots, has a lot of these.
  • Luke and Mara transitioned into this from Fire-Forged Friends. They fight side by side quite a few times through the books. Survivor’s Quest is one example and then during the war with the Yuzhaan Vong.
  • Han and Leia are mentioned under film already, but their battle couple status continues in the expanded universe.
  • Ben and Vestara; He's a Jedi and she's a Sith apprentice. It doesn't work out.
  • Invoked Trope with the Mandalorians. Being a culture that takes marriage and family as seriously as combat, part of their warrior code is to find a spouse that is every bit your equal to fight alongside and to raise children with. If they are of the same sex, a different species, or infertile, there's plenty of kids out there to adopt.
  • One interesting example due to their main allegiance being to the Jedi Order is Obi-Wan and Siri in that they both realize that they would rather be Jedi than in love, making them a Battle Not-Exactly-Couple.
• The Stormlight Archive: The Parshendi fight in war pairs, which the Alethi initially assumed was some sort of master/apprentice situation. The truth is that the pairings are male/female; Parshendi will typically take a partner with whom they transform. In war form, they fight together; in mate form, they produce children together.

• Tales of Kolmar has a bunch:
  • Jamie was Maran's bodyguard, though she became a good fighter herself.
  • Jamie and Maran's friend Rella become this while trying to protect Lanen and Varien. Lanen lacks the necessary speed and will to be a career fighter but has to try her best anyway; Varien is new to being human and doesn't know what he's doing with a sword, but he's unnaturally strong and very protective.
• Averted and played straight in the Tairen Soul series. The magically enhanced empathy of Fey women means that they can't fight in close combat, as they feel the pain of everyone they kill. However, Ellysetta is immune to this effect because of the predatory tairen soul bonded to hers and fights alongside Rain in later books.

• Auria and David from Those Who Cry Green Tears become this after Auria saves David from the Ombras (human-eating monsters).

• Twelve Houses has Senneth and Tayse, who are so badass they take down an entire rebellion all by themselves. Senneth is a fire-throwing Deadpan Snarker; Tayse is a sword-wielding Deadpan Snarker - together, they fight crime and snark at things!
• Addie and Rhys are this at the end of The Two Princesses of Bamarre. They declare their love for one another just before the final battle takes place.

• The Unwomanly Face of War: Aleksandra Boiko appears as one of the narrators. She and her husband Ivan asked and obtained from Stalin to employ their savings into the construction of a tank. Then they went to the frontline, Aleksandra as the tank commander and Ivan as the engineer. They survived until the fall of Berlin and were both awarded.
• Rose and Dimitri in Vampire Academy often fight alongside each other, facing the enemy jointly.
• Vorkosigan Saga:
  • Aral Vorkosigan and Cordelia Naismith meet in this fashion. They take out the mutineers on Vorkosigan's crew (twice).
  • Admiral Naismith/Miles Vorkosigan and Elli Quinn are a straighter example. She dual hats as his intelligence chief and the executive officer when he leads the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. The relationship ends when Miles is forced to retire to civilian life.
• Romeo and Dagger in Wander are a somewhat downplayed example. They're both more than competent fighters and by the end of the novel are the only adult survivors of Camp Greenbow. But they only actually fight when they have no other choice, and their most badass moment together ( fighting off a group of smilers while holed up in an abandoned farmhouse) occurs off-screen.
• In Warrior Cats most couples tend to be this since most characters are active fighters. Firestar and Sandstorm are one particularly notable example since an entire book is devoted to them journeying together outside Clan territory.
• The Wheel of Time: The main plot of the series involves everyone preparing for The Last Battle, so every named couple falling in this trope. A few examples are Rand and Min/Aviendha/Elayne, Lan and Nynaeve, Egwene and Gawyn, Perrin and Faile, Siuan and Gareth, a few Aes Sedai and their Warders, a few Asha'man and their Warder-like Aes Sedai, and countless Aiel couples.

---