A Magic Contract Comes with a Kiss

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Class in session. Negi-sensei will now demonstrate how it's done. (Instant Runes optional)

In fantasy-based fictions, it is a recurring feature that weaker heroes would enter into a contract with a stronger being for protection or any other deal. But wait! What if they are required to enter into a contract using a kiss? Then, this is A Magic Contract Comes with a Kiss. This is a sister trope to Magic Contract Romance.

Note: Whilst Magic Contract Romance is only when a romance is ensued between the contractee and the contractor, this trope is the kiss that initiates the contract. Know the difference.

This is a subtrope of Magic Kiss.

Examples of A Magic Contract Comes with a Kiss include:

Anime and Manga

  • The Familiar of Zero has Saito contracted as a familiar through a kiss to defend Louise, a void wizard, guess what happens between them?
    • Basically, after forcing the contract onto Saito, it messed with his mind and forced him to always stay with Louise to the point of compulsion. Later on in the story, certain parts are changed, which frees his mind, but the fact that he was forced into all of this...
  • In Mahou Sensei Negima, because mages are generally vulnerable to attacks as they conjure their spells, they form 'Pactios' with a guardian they trust to protect them. The master is called the Magister Magi (Magistra Magi if female) and the servant a Minister Magi (Ministra Magi if female). The easiest way to form a 'Pactio' is through a kiss. Negi ends up making Provisional Pactios with about half of his class, although standard mage procedure is to select a single permanent Pactio partner later on - and it's stated that that is so because there's never been a mage with enough magical power to maintain more than one permanent Pactio bond (well, not yet anyway). It's pointed out that permanent Pactio partners very often end up getting married, so the contract generally carries a fair share of romantic subtext. It's also implied that there are other ways of forming a Pactio, but kissing is the most convenient way. The only alternative known is "open veins, swap blood", although the source of this being the only alternative is questionable.
  • Alice and Oz of Pandora Hearts.
  • In Sekirei, this is the method used by Ashikabis to 'wing' Sekireis.
  • In Kamisama Kiss the contract between a god and a familiar is sealed with a kiss. Small surprise since it is a shojo manga.


Literature

  • In Doctrine of Labyrinths, when Felix puts the binding-by-forms on Mildmay, it's sealed with a kiss—which he doesn't warn Mildmay about first. When Mildmay reacts with shock, Felix just tells him he would probably prefer it to the alternative. It really doesn't help that Felix has a crush on Mildmay, which is frustrated by both Incompatible Orientation and the fact that they're brothers.
  • In Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, it is the kiss that seals the marriage bond—which has magical implications.
    • Harry taking the position of Winter Knight is sealed by Mab having sex with him.


Live Action TV

  • In Supernatural, this is how you make a deal with a demon. And no, it's not always with an attractive woman.
    • Parodied mercilessly when it's discovered that Bobby made a deal with Crowley, a demon who's been helping them. When Sam asks if they kissed, Bobby denies it, at which point Crowley clears his throat and shows the latest picture on his camera.

Bobby: Why'd you have to take a picture!?
Crowley: Why'd you have to use tongue?

  • The Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode Soultaker: The titular angel of death (Played by Joe Estevez) tries to make the heroine join him in the afterlife, claiming she can do so with a kiss.

Mike: "Oh, no, Joe's improving this!"


Web Comics

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/A_Magic_Contract_Comes_with_a_Kiss?oldid=1905398"