Blood Brothers: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Although we were born on different days, we hope to die in the same hour of the same day of the same year. [[I Gave My Word|On our very souls, we pledge that this will be true]]."''|The '''Peach Tree Oath''', ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]''.}}

{{quote|''"For he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."''|'''Henry V'''}}

This is where two people have made a pact with each other. The reasons for this tend to vary, but most often, it's because one or both of them [[I Owe You My Life|owes the other his life]] -- frequently—frequently [[Fire-Forged Friends|in battle]]. From this moment on, they are brothers. Brothers in the sense that they will do anything to protect and, if necessary, avenge the other.

This trope is very common with [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Guys]]s, as well as a popular theme in kung fu movies. It's also quite popular in [[Heroic Bloodshed]] movies featuring [[The Triads and Thethe Tongs]], who have Blood Brotherhood as a central theme of their organization, best expressed through the 36 Oaths that formal triad members take, which basically boil down to "Do not screw over your sworn brothers, or you will get chopped up by lots of blades." Being criminals, however, Triads and Tongs can be just as prone to [[Divided We Fall|backstabbing and betrayal]] as any other criminal organization, which is especially shown in the grittier cinematic portrayals.

For the musical, see [[Blood Brothers (Theatretheatre)|Blood Brothers]]. Compare to [[Bash Brothers]]. A [[Sub -Trope]] to [[True Companions]]. Note that all examples '''must''' include an oath, pact, or other explicit bonding; if it doesn't, it's not this trope.

While you can certainly declare yourself a "blood brother" to another, actually performing a blood pact (cutting one's hand and all) with that person is not recommended nowadays due to the risk of HIV infection. In other words, [[Don't Try This At Home]].

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]'', it has been revealed that Luffy, Ace and Sabo were this trope. None of them were related of course, but they were very close and even made a ceremony of drinking sake and became brothers.

* Similarly, the [[Four -Girl Ensemble]] of ''[[To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (Manga)|To AruA KagakuCertain noScientific Railgun]]'' also count.

* [[Big Bad|Diva's]] Chevaliers in ''[[Blood Plus+]]'' refer to each other as blood brothers since they have all been turned into Chevaliers because of Diva's blood.

== Fanfic[[Film]] ==

* ''[[A Better Tomorrow (Film)|A Better Tomorrow]]'': Mark Gor (Chow Yun-Fat) and Sung Tse Ho (Ti Lung) from [[John Woo]]'s film are probably the best known examples of [[Blood Brothers]] in a [[Heroic Bloodshed]] movie. In fact, most of John Woo's [[Heroic Bloodshed]] movies tend to have two characters develop such a bond with each other during the course of the movie.

** ''Bullet In The Head'', Woo's grimmest and most emotionally devastating movie, is about the disastrous effect of [[Gold Fever]] and the horrors of [[The Vietnam War]] on the bond between [[Blood Brothers]], which in John Woo's other movies was all but unbreakable.

* In the 2009 ''[[Sherlock Holmes (Filmfilm)|Sherlock Holmes]]'' film, a fortune teller reads Watson's palm and refers to "two brothers, not of blood but of bond". While this trope is probably true of them anyway, her actual statement is suspect {{spoiler|because Holmes put her up to saying it.}}

* ''[[Star Wars]]'': Han Solo and Chewbacca are [[Blood Brothers]]. While Han Solo most likely didn't think so when he first rescued Chewie, Chewbacca [[I Owe You My Life|felt he had a "life debt" to Han]]. At first the "brotherhood" was mostly one way but as they traveled together and Han learned more about Chewie and the "life debt", they became true [[Blood Brothers]].

* According to the liner notes on the ''[[Blues Brothers]]'' album, Jake and Elwood Blues, unrelated orphans growing up in the same dismal orphanage, swore an oath of Blood Brotherhood by cutting their fingers with an E-string allegedly from Elmore James's guitar, essentially adopting each other. The [[Mission Fromfrom God]] came later. According to the book Blues Brothers: Private, they also had their names legally changed in 1962, taking the same last name and taking each other's first names as their middle names. The [[Mission Fromfrom God]] came later.

* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Stranger in Aa Strange Land]]'', the Martians have what is called a "water brother." If you "share water" with someone, from that moment on, you are their brother.

* ''[[The Indian in Thethe Cupboard]]'': Little Bear and Boone, became Blood Brothers by having their wrists cut and then bound together. Little Bear also does the same thing with Omri before leaving and is consistently referred to as Omri's blood brother through the later books.

* ''[[Moby Dick (Literature)|Moby Dick]]'': Ishmael and Queequeg.

* ''[[The Last of the Mohicans (Literature)|Last of the Mohicans]]'': Natty "Hawkeye" Bumppo and Chingachgook.

* In ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Literature)|Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'', Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei swear an oath of brotherhood under the tree of a peach garden as quoted above that lasts for their whole lives. They are not the only sworn brothers in the story (for example, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu) but by far the most famous, and for multiple chapters the extent to which Guan Yu will go to uphold this is a plot point, used both by and against him: in particular, Zhang Liao got Guan Yu to surrender to Cao Cao by saying that he shouldn't [[Suicide Byby Cop|go out fighting]] while the missing Liu Bei might still need him), but Guan Yu conditioned that surrender as lasting only until he found his brother's whereabouts... and then openly rubbed the impermanence of this service in Cao Cao's face. Cao Cao however then made Guan Yu the [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|General Who Doesn't Do Anything]], up until his opposing warlord's main warrior was too much for Cao Cao's officers to handle and he was forced to pull Guan Yu off from the bench into his lineup.

* An Aiel ritual in ''[[The Wheel of Time (Literature)|The Wheel of Time]]'' can make you brother and sister, the ritual is shown in detail when Elayne and Aviendha go through it to become First-sisters.

** As a more literal example, several Borderlander monarchs go well out of their way to meet in person for a ritual of this sort, treated as much more serious than a written treaty.

* In ''[[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]]'', David and Jonathan, make a covenant (pact) and their souls are bound together, making this trope [[Older Than Feudalism]]. Jonathan will do anything to protect David, namely betraying his own family.

* ''[[Judge Dee]]'''s three lieutenants, Ma Joong, Chiao Tai and Tao Gan, consider themselves and refer to each other as [[Blood Brothers]].

* In the ''[[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]]'' novel ''Centaur Aisle'', two allies are wounded during an [[Back-to-Back Badasses|unbalanced swordfight]], and one says, "Now our blood has mingled; we are blood brothers."

* The entire point of ''[[The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants]]''. The girls practically consider themselves family being born around the same time and basically spending their entire lives together. [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|It's in the title, man!]]

* In ''Gisle Surssøns saga'', one of the [[The Icelandic Sagas (Literature)|Icelandic lineage sagas]], the protagonist [[Warrior Poet|Gisle]] makes a pact with his brother Torkel and his brothers-in-law Vestein and Torgrim. The four of them [[The Power of Blood|mix blood]] by each letting theirs flow into a hole dug into the ground whereupon they cover it with a tussock. In this way, they become sworn brothers [[Blood Oath|who must avenge each other]] if either of them should be killed. [[Cycle of Revenge|It does not end well]] when Vestein is murdered and [[The Exile|Gisle]] mistakenly believes that it was by Torgrim.

* [[Winnetou (Literature)|Winnetou]] and Old Shatterhand in the books of Karl May.

** [[Magnificent Bastard|Odin]], Chieftain of the [[Jerkass Gods|Aesir]], and [[Chaotic Neutral|Loki]], [[The Trickster|trickster]] demigod, were celebrated blood-brothers, and Odin would never sit at a table where Loki wasn't welcome. This causes problems when, in the leaduplead-up to Ragnarok, Loki's villainy reaches new heights and Odin can no longer remain blind to it.

* In [[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]], David and Jonathan.

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

* In one of the 90s episodes of ''Titanes en el Ring'', La Momia cut a ribbon, symbolizing the end of his feud with the late Martin Karadagian, and effectively making them [[Blood Brothers]].

* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]''. In module CM1 "Test of the Warlords", the PC's can participate in the ritual of blood sharing with a barbarian chief.

** This is also how motleys usually form up in ''[[Changeling: The Lost (Tabletop Game)|Changeling: the Lost]]''. Groups of changelings [[Magically -Binding Contract|swear an oath on the Wyrd]] to come together for a common purpose, and usually gain mechanical benefits related to that area on the condition that they stand up for one another and don't flag in their pursuit. Likewise, there are other Oaths that provide similar benefits, such as the Ancient Pact (which is when a changeling swears one of these with a mortal) and the Vernal Oath (which is a marriage oath).

* In ''[[Seventh Sea|7th Sea]]'', the Eisen have the concept of the ''rucken'' -- which—which means "back-brother" and is considered the the strongest oath an Eisen can give outside of marriage. The ''rucken'' is someone you can absolutely trust to have your back and vice-versa. Woe to anyone who betrays their ''rucken's'' trust and willingly breaks that vow.

* The "From this moment, you and I are Sworn Brothers" bit between Darunia and Link in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]''.

** Darunia is also a [[Blood Brothers|Sworn Brother]] with the King of Hyrule himself.

* Also, Snake's codec call on the Ice Climbers in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'' implies that the Ice Climbers have formed this kind of bond with each other, though they're more like Blood Brother and Sister.

* Eventually, in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' Dak'kon does the Pronouncement of Two Deaths as One with you, effectively making you [[Blood Brothers]] until death.

*** The ''[[Halo 2]]'' manual makes it clear that each colony is a separate individual intelligence (this may have been [[Retcon|retconnedretcon]]ned later). The teams are mated pairs, however that works.

* Eliwood and Hector from ''[[Fire Emblem (Video Game)|Fire Emblem]]'', right down to the literal blood pact they made as children.

* Winfield, Thoma and Alberti in ''[[Agarest Senki (Video Game)|Agarest Senki]]'' definitely counts as this. They even have a [[Combination Attack]] with each other.

== [[Web ComicsOriginal]] ==

* In ''[[The Gungan Council]]'', Ryori and Ti'Cira went so far as to use blood in their pact to be faithful allies to each other. Darth Apparatus and Chaos Maxtor have a just as binding pact, minus the blood, where Chaos becomes the Darth's soldier while the latter gets functional immortality.

* On ''[[Young Justice (Animationanimation)|Young Justice]],'' [[Animorphism|Gar]] and [[Superpower Lottery|Megan]] refer to each other this way after [[Superhuman Transfusion|she gave him a blood transfusion]].

== [[Real Life]] ==

** To be more specific, they became enemies because Jamuqa had made his own bid to unite the Mongols. While the two had always supported one another, neither could accept the other's rule; Jamuqa compared it to there being only room in the sky for one sun, and only room in the world for one Mongol lord. Jamuqa also requested he be executed without spilling his blood; Mongol religious beliefs held that dying with your blood hitting the ground cursed you to wander the earth as a spirit. Genghis Khan reportedly strangled Jamuqa himself, crying as he did so. As for the generals who had betrayed Jamuqa to Temujin, they were [[Rewarded Asas a Traitor Deserves|boiled in oil.]]

* In the Chinese historical saga Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the [[Power Trio]] of the Kingdom of Shu faction were blood brothers. Specifically, [[The Hero|Liu Bei]], [[Hot -Blooded|Zhang Fei]], and Guan Yu aka [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|God Of War.]]