Bodyguard Crush

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Modern beliefs in equal gender rights make the good old Rescue Romance trope somewhat difficult to play straight. However, there's a question in the air... what if "that male" is either hired or honor-bound to protect "that female"? That wouldn't be chauvinist at all - not only is the guy getting rewarded or paid (whether in money, benefits, rank raises, etc.) by his bosses or upperclassmen for taking care of the girl's safety, with his reputation as a whole depends heavily on how well he guards and shields her, but it fulfills residual Knight in Shining Armor imagery without causing eyebrow raising among the fandom.

If said bodyguard is a female who takes care of a male, she can keep her romantic feelings for her ward and get to show off her Action Girl skills constantly, which greatly decreases the chances of her being a victim of Chickification. Finally, this provides a good way to get a Chaste or Celibate Hero, who normally wouldn't be interested in the opposite (or the same) sex into a position where their romantic feelings can be more easily played upon.

Sweet deal... or is it? Because this often conflicts with the protector's sense of professionalism, especially if they're a Battle Butler or a Ninja Maid. And let's not even talk of what happens if bodyguard and the liege's relationship goes bad, if the conflicts get the protector distracted, or if plans and orders coming from the bosses change...

A Bodyguard Crush is extremely common in Lady and Knight dynamics.

Variants include the protected having his/her crush for the bodyguard first, and the bodyguard being picked for the job because one of them has a crush.

See also Subordinate Excuse, Poisonous Friend. Contrast A Match Made in Stockholm.

Examples of Bodyguard Crush include:

Anime and Manga

  • Pretty much a foregone conclusion with Athrun and Cagalli in the first part of Gundam Seed Destiny as they were both interested in each other well before he became her bodyguard. Many cute moments ensue.
    • Though, arguably, he became her bodyguard because of the fact that they were interested in one another.
  • Sagara Sousuke is the militarily placed protector of modern schoolgirl Chidori Kaname in Full Metal Panic!. Raised by the KGB, he has No Social Skills. Nonetheless, he means well. Nothing on Earth had better threaten Chidori, be it a gang of Delinquents, a Psycho for Hire, or a majorly armed nation, for he will take it down.
  • The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Itsuki and Mikuru in the home-made movie. Interestingly subverted in that it's Mikuru who's supposed to be guarding Koizumi. Subverted in that Mikuru doesn't look like a believable body guard, being ten inches shorter than Itsuki. Subverted in that Mikuru also ISN'T an effective body guard, being a klutz who's scared of her own shadow.
  • In Samurai 7, Kirara is given to this, though the person turns out to be the least expected. Her sister falls for this trope as well...
    • It ends badly for both sisters--Kirara's crush is forever unrequited, and while Komachi's is possibly requited, the guy dies in the final episode.
  • Inverted in Samurai Champloo, Fuu seemed to feel this way towards both her bodyguards Mugen and Jin.
  • The entire plot of parody series Hayate the Combat Butler is based on this trope, and it's inverted (the real crush is the one the girl has for the guard) and subverted (she thinks he has a crush on her, which is how she developed her crush in the first place) as many ways and as long as humanly possible.
  • Also the entire plot of comedy manga Sweet Ninja Girl Azuki. Gender flipped however, and with Azuki developing the crush on him even before she becomes his bodyguard. Also notable that the feeling is definitely not reciprocated.
  • Genders are inverted on Fullmetal Alchemist, where the female Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye acts as aide/right-hand woman/bodyguard to male Colonel Roy Mustang. It becomes progressively clearer throughout the manga and Brotherhood anime that their feelings for each other run much deeper than allowable by the military's anti-fraternization law (a fact that the bad guys gleefully exploit twice); it's eventually revealed that their relationship goes back to a long time before either of them joined the military. It's not an exaggeration to say that the most dangerous place in Amestris is between the two of them.
    • Lan Fan, the female bodyguard of Prince Ling Yao of Xing, has a very similar relationship with her lord.
  • Subverted brutally in Dragon's Reign, where the Big Bad is revealed to be the princess, who has gone through a succession of Bodyguard Romances, each time convincing her new protector that the previous one was a villain who kept her imprisoned and took advantage of her. The hero even figures this out, but is still all but powerless against her Magnificent Bastard charms.
  • Nadie's feelings for Ellis in El Cazador de la Bruja fit this trope, although it is Ellis who takes the initiative.
  • The titular heroine of Madlax appears to have romantic feelings for her client, although she later has no problems to hit the road with the woman who kills her.
  • Genderflipped in Gundam Wing: Rebellious Princess Relena, the one being protected, is obviously in love with her bodyguard of sorts Heero Yuy. He shows only a couple of outward signs that he reciprocates, but it's very subtle.
    • There's even an odd twist on it in the second episode, where Relena protects Heero in spite of the fact that he was about to shoot her; this might even mark the point where he starts feeling something for her. Making it odder still, the attacker is fellow Gundam Pilot Duo Maxwell, who shot Heero to save Relena and is greatly confused when she chews him out and bandages the guy who was about to shoot her: "Man, when did I become the bad guy in all this?"
  • Shizuru Viola's feelings towards Natsuki Kruger in Mai-Otome definitely fall under this (she works as both her bodyguard and assistant, and they share living quarters on campus), though she tries not to let it interfere too much with her sense of professionalism. (And she's also kinda fond of flirting with other girls, sometimes.)
    • Gender-flipped in the original My-HiME, where tomboyish ninja girl Akira Okuzaki is commissioned by her family to pull a Sweet Polly Oliver so she can watch over Takumi Tokiha and they end up falling in love.
      • Akira's family never said anything about protecting Takumi. Her gender was hidden so that no one would find out that she's a HiME. She actually almost killed Takumi when he found out, but actually saved his life in the end when he started having an attack. She protects Takumi because he's important to her, not because her family asked her to.
      • Takumi and Akira are in the same sort of situation in Mai-Otome, where Takumi is the prince of Zipang and Akira is his bodyguard.
  • Gender-flipped in Code Geass, where Ace Pilot and Action Girl Kallen Kouzuki develops a crush on rebel leader Zero (who eventually does make her his bodyguard). The second season plays with this as, now knowing Zero's real identity as her classmate Lelouch Lamperouge, Kallen has a hard time reconciling her feelings for him with the Rich Idiot With No Day Job image he's projected at school. It certainly doesn't help that she knows about his Evil Eye, which lets him twist people's minds, emotions, and memories to suit his interests.
    • Ironically, during that same season, Lelouch's own feelings for Kallen evolve to the point where he begins seeing Kallen as the one HE should be protecting rather than the other way around, after seeing her as little more than a pawn in season 1. This leads him to... abandon a mission that he himself says is the key to challenging The Empire, and to place his entire army in peril by attempting to rescue her; to push her away from the line of fire when she says she is willing to die with him after he is betrayed by the Black Knights, and excluding her from his final plan altogether in order to spare her the price she would have paid for taking part in it.
      • Oh, if Lelouch told her what the plan was, she would never have accepted to help Lelouch being killed.
    • Played straight with Lelouch's half-sister Euphemia Ii Britannia and her "Knight" Suzaku Kururugi. Her horrendous death makes Suzaku rather ill disposed towards her murderer, to put it nicely.
      • But in his case, Euphemia picked him as a bodyguard because she had a crush for him at first. And at first meeting, she pretended to be in danger so they could have a Rescue Romance. She's more Genre Savvy than she looks.
    • Li Xingke acted as a servant for Empress Tianzi. His crush is strong enough that Shirley persuaded Lelouch it would be criminal to separate them.
    • Seriously, is there an aversion in Code Geass when the bodyguard and the protector have compatible orientation? The only bodyguards who have no crush are Bismark for the Emperor and Suzaku for Lelouch. And the later has a strong fandom anyway.
      • Oh, and as former Knight of Two, Lelouch's mother was a bodyguard with a crush for emperor Charles.
    • Sir Gilbert Guilford and Princess Cornelia have a lot of subtext that points toward this. In fact, Guilford is such a Cornelia fanboy that he actually has a Cornelia collector's plate.
      • He might be the "reason" why she can't be married. It's better him then the guy she was going to marry who was like 40.
    • Kanon for Schneizel is suggested. Especially when you ask yourself why Schneizel has a lesbian on his side for ceremonies.
  • In Saint Seiya, Seiya is honor-bound to protect Saori, who's the reincarnation of Athena. He quickly develops feelings for her, but their relationship barely evolves at all... until the quite recent Tenkai-Hen movie.
    • Let's also add Unicorn Jabu in the TV series, as well as Siegfried (towards Hilda) and Hagen (towards Freya) from the Ansgard saga. May also be subverted with Artemis and Touma from the Tenkai Hen movie, even when Tenkai-Hen is now Canon Discontinuity thanks to the Next Dimeonsion manga
  • Inverted in Slayers : during the NEXT season, when Gourry is taken away from her, Lina suddenly realizes she's fallen in love with her bodyguard and companion Gourry, much to her initial surprise and dismay. Gourry has feelings for her too, but he's a lot more comfortable with them than the volatile sorceress. In fact, Gourry is the one who makes the first move, when he lectures Lina after she fakes her death without telling him. He first calls her "unsensitive", then asks if she knows what he's come to feel for her, which makes Lina very flustered.
  • The entire first season of Shakugan no Shana is driven by a gender-inverted version of this trope. Of course, since Shana is possibly the biggest Tsundere of all time, she doesn't admit it until the final episode. And Yuji doesn't even hear it, so the writers get to keep running with this trope well into season 2!
  • Haji from Blood+ is a walking, talking example of this trope. Not only does he feel nothing but love and loyalty for his master Saya, he's at it for upwards of 100 years before she really seems to notice.
  • All of the girls from Gunslinger Girl qualify to the extreme (they're brainwashed to have no other thought than their handler's safety, and this always manifests in some sort of love, often obsessive)
  • In Speed Grapher, Tatsumi Saiga comes to feel this way towards Kagura, the girl he decided to protect after she saves him from a bloody and messy death through a Kiss of Life.
  • Played with in Ikki Tousen Great Guardians, where Kan'u has become a sort-of Covert Pervert for Ryuubi. (To be fair, Kan'u already felt that way from quite a while). Also, Koukin feels similarly towards Hakufu, his cousin (Funniest thing, Hakufu's mom Goei sorta encourages said crush). And yep, they sorta did bond in regards to their crushes in Dragon Destiny.
  • Magic Knight Rayearth gives us one truly heartwretching example. The high-ranked sorcerer Zagato is chosen as the bodyguard of Princess Emeraude, the Pillar of Cephiro, and he falls for her. It turns out she loves him back... but a Pillar isn't allowed to care for anything except for Cephiro's well-being, or the whole world will collapse. So Emeraude tries to get the Magic Knights to kill her so she can be free and pass the torch to a new Pillar; Zagato will have nothing of it, though, and in despair he kidnaps Emeraude so the Knights can't kill her, becoming the Big Bad that Hikaru, Umi and Fuu must beat...
  • Mobile Fighter G Gundam gives us Moe Rebellious Princess Maria Louise and her crush on the local White Prince, George DeSand.
  • Maybe, Shinma Battle Butler Larva towards his vampire mistress Miyu in Vampire Princess Miyu.
  • Played with in Kure-nai, where 7-year-old Murasaki seems to develop a puppy-love crush on her hired bodyguard/protector, Shinkurou. The relationship develops into the affectionate sort one might expect between a little sister and a caring older brother, quite unlike her REAL older brother....
  • In Corrector Yui, it's hinted that the Corrector Synchro developed some feelings for the titular Magical Girl after he was turned into an antagonist Big Badass Wolf and she helped him BIG time to recover his memories and have his Heel Face Turn.
  • In Turn a Gundam, Harry Ord feels like this towards Kihel Heim, Queen Diana's Body Double.
  • Basilisk has two characters behaving like this: Chikuma Koushirou for the Iga Tsubagakure, Kagerou for the Kouga Manjidani. Both of them have feelings for their leaders, Princess Iga-no-Oboro and Koga Gennosuke respectively.
  • Hungary towards Austria in Axis Powers Hetalia. She worked as his maid and later as his advisor before they got married, yet she also was quite happy to try get "his vital regions" back, spear in hand and supported by her legions...

Austria: Miss Hungary? Why are you here?
Hungary: I have 100.000 soldiers! I'll fight alongside you! :D

  • This seems to happen between the female guard/firewall Dita and the male charge/database Zima at the end of the Chobits anime. Seemingly caused by Chii granting all persocoms the ability to feel emotions.
  • In Mirage of Blaze, Naoe is madly in love with his lord and master, Kagetora. Kagetora shows no sign of reciprocating, and in fact has been known to use that to keep Naoe chained to his side. Of course, this situation is exasperated by the fact that they have been reincarnated into this situation for the past 400 years. It's no wonder Naoe is losing it.
  • In Hajime no Ippo, coach Kamogawa had a female friend named Yuki, whom he and their common friend Nekota protected from the advances of stationed American soldiers. Yuki was hinted to be in love with him, but as a survivor of the nuclear bombings, she died of radiation poisoning some time later.
  • Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z had an episode where an actor from a superhero TV show ended up as the mayor of the city for the day. The Powerpuff Girls were assigned to be his bodyguards, with one of them quite infatuated with him.
  • Himari and Yuuto in Omamori Himari. What else would be expected of an female bodyguard in an Unwanted Harem story?
  • Kakihito the Hiiragi from the manga Basara cares a lot about Ginko.
  • Ayano's father in Kaze no Stigma tries to use this trope on Kazuma to quietly set him up with his daughter, but Kazuma is actually smart enough to realize, a great rarity in this media for a main character.
  • The Familiar of Zero combines this trope with Happiness in Slavery in regards to Saito's relationship with Louise.
  • The dog Rino of Inumimi was taken in by Yuichiro's father before the events of the story. As an antisocial doberman, she served as the family security system for quite some time. It's implied throughout the series that after she became a Petting Zoo Person she started having feelings for him.
  • This is the basis of Shinobi Life. Kagetora is a ninja assigned to protect the princess of feudal Japan, and falls in love with her. Then he gets warped to the future by accident and ends up falling in love with the princess' descendant. Honor Before Reason abounds.
  • In Emura's manga Grand Sun, Asahi becomes Kisaragi Sakuya's bodyguard. Guess what happens.
  • Sengoku Basara gives us the Highly-Visible Ninja Kasuga, who was sent to assassinate Uesugi Kenshin but ended up defecting and becoming Kenshin's devoted scout and bodyguard instead. And boy, does she love him...
  • In Chrono Crusade, Chrono harbors an obvious Bodyguard Crush on his contractor Rosette, to the point that he's mostly unwilling to let her unseal his Shapeshifter Mode Lock because of what it does to her. And God forbid that you ever injure her...
    • There's also hints that Fiore has strong feelings for her ward, Joshua, particularly in the manga.
  • In Monster, Martin initially dislikes Eva, who he is supposed to protect, but later develops feelings for her just before she is about to be finished off. Martin then tells her to meet him at a train station, but he doesn't make it.
  • Gender-flipped version in Sumomomo Momomo. Sanae is the heir of the Nakajima family, which has traditionally functioned as the bodyguards of the Inuzuka family. She has a huge crush on Koushi, the heir of the Inuzuka family, who she will one day have to protect from the shadows, as tradition dictates.
  • In Brigadoon Marin and Melan, Melan initially protects Marin simply because it is his duty. As time goes on, the pair begin to have feelings for one another, though their personalities (Marin is warm and loving towards many people, and Melan is gentle and soft-spoken) make it a little hard to pinpoint exactly when they start seeing each other in this light. In any case, the result is that Melan grows to love Marin so much that he continues to protect her even when it turns out she's not the person he was supposed to protect in the first place.
  • At least one Seishi will fall in love with the Miko in the Fushigi Yuugi verse. Rarely is it not reciprocated...
  • Rin Asano from Blade of the Immortal shows signs of interest in her immortal bodyguard almost right away; showing jealousy of his interest in a prostitute, later directly asking if he finds her appealing, turning red when she's suggested to be his lover, and pretty much willfully sacrificing the lives of strangers to save him. Later in the manga, she even kisses him while he sleeps, and apparently does so again offscreen, after they've been reunited after a looooooong separation. Even later, Rin flat out offers her body to Manji, so the "crush" at this point has become a full-blown declaration of love. In the same scene, Manji, who originally said that he thought Rin looked too much like his sister says that he's mostly forgotten what the latter looked like, and that his feelings for Rin have become something different, finally playing this trope straight.
    • Notably, aforementioned prostitute is actually Makie Otono-Tachibana, who later becomes Kagehisa Anotsu's dragon and bodyguard after having come to terms with the fact that he will never love her as a person, but only as a weapon. Eventually he actually does warm up to her and starts to genuinely care for her... Shortly after that it's revealed that Makie has tubercolosis. It would seem the universe, for some unfathomable reason, simply doesn't want this woman to lead a happy life.
  • Hellsing's Alucard is intensely devoted to his Master and Countess Integra Hellsing to the point of any insult done towards her in his presence triggers a Berserk Button. He's referred as her lapdog and bodyguard a couple of times, so fits this role.
  • Possibly Akise Aru from Mirai Nikki. He's clearly stated himself that he's in love with Yukiteru and in chapter 50 tells him that he is no longer interested in changing the future and just wants to protect Yukiteru, especially since he suspects that Yuno, who's very much a Yandere for Yukiteru, is actually trying to kill Yukiteru. When she shows up Akise tries to kill Yuno and destroys her diary. However, she reveals that she had another diary and she stabs Akise. Also, Yuno for Yukiteru.
  • Black Butler: Agni towards Prince Soma might count. Their relationship really does come across as a Bodyguard Crush sometimes.
    • A more recent example from Black Butler II would be Claude towards Alois. His catchphrase can even be interpreted roughly as "I want nothing but to deeply desire my master." Cue fangirl squee.
      • Horrifyingly subverted when Claude cruelly kills Alois himself, giving the psychotic kiddo an Alas, Poor Villain demise.
  • Diamond harbors feelings for Lady Berlitz/Platinum in Pokémon Special.
  • It has been hinted that various filler characters Naruto was assigned to protect have developed feelings for him.
    • In the main storyline, Chojuro's feelings for the 5th Mizukage seem to go beyond simple protectiveness.
  • In Hime-sama Goyojin, Adron, a hired assassin sent to steal Himeko's crown, masquerades as her bodyguard in order to get closer to her and kill her. Things get complicated when Adron develops a crush on her, and everytime he tries to murder her, he freezes up completely.
  • Klaus from Hyakujitsu no Bara has a relationship with Taki can be seen as this. Klaus often bows down to Taki, and has expressed his desire to serve him and protect the country with him.
  • Juudai and Yubel from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX have a variation on this, since she was transformed into a dragon in order to protect him, and he pledged his eternal love to her after that.
  • The whole premise of Katanagatari is that Togame wants her bodyguard and human sword Shichika to fall in love with her so that he will develop Undying Loyalty for their quest. Shichika agrees, and the feeling eventually becomes mutual.
  • Negima's Setsuna's duty is to protect Konoka, who is only too glad for the excuse to be with her not-girlfriend all the time. To her embarrasement Everyone Can See It.
  • Ash's Charizard in Pokémon, as seen in the episode Great Bowls of Fire, is this with Liza's Charizard Charla, the same Charizard who has easily thrashed him in their first meeting. But now he has wooed her and is now her bodyguard. It's even explicitly stated their relationship is this.
  • Arguably, Gokudera to Tsuna in Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
    • Also, Gamma to Uni.
  • Soi Fong from Bleach developed this towards her former commander Shihoin Yoruichi after entering the omnitsukido.
  • Done very obviously in Omamori Himari, seeing as Himari climbs into her Master/Charge's bed within 24 hours of starting to protect him, and hasn't stopped trying to get into his pants since.
  • In the oneshot Kuroneko Guardian the protagonist falls for his bodyguard. In the ending he outright tells her he plans on making her fall in love with him, which backfires.
  • Hak from Akatsuki no Yona is a classic example for Yona. Some of the dragons are shaping up to be this to her too.

Comic Books

  • In Y: The Last Man Agent 355 is attracted to both Allison Mann and Yorick, the two people she's charged with bodyguarding. For much of the series 355 assumes her feelings for Yorick are simply a desire to protect him, until Allison points out that's actually why 355 slept with her, and that she's always realised that 355 was in love with Yorick.
  • For a while in the Batman comics, Bruce Wayne had a bodyguard named Sasha Bordeaux who fell in love with him and fell even deeper when she found out that he was Batman.
  • Zauriel, from Justice League of America, was a guardian angel who had a Bodyguard Crush on the woman he was watching over, causing him to to be exiled from the Heavenly Host.
  • Given the size of Tony Stark's ego, we could count him and his "body guard".
    • And then there's Bethany Cabe, Tony Stark's corporate bodyguard and love interest for a while.
  • Nakia from Black Panther was this Gone Horribly Wrong. There's a reason she started calling herself Malice. It's arguably a deconstruction that shows what happens when the Bodyguard Crush is one-sided on the bodyguard's part.


Film

  • The Terminator features Kyle Reese, sent to protect the unborn John Connor, future leader of the Human Resistance, by protecting his mother Sarah Connor, who, in a case of predestination paradox, ultimately creates him.
  • The Bodyguard, starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.
  • My Bodyguard starring Adam Baldwin, Matt Dillon and Chris Makepeace.
  • Someone to Watch Over Me features Tom Berenger as a policeman assigned to guard witness Mimi Rogers.
  • In King of New York, the title character's relationship with his Bodyguard Babes goes well beyond the "crush" stage in the first five minutes.
  • Princess Diaries, surprisingly, has this trope. The Queen falls in love with the guy who is introduced as the chauffer, but nearer to the end of the movie, and especially in the sequel, it's obvious that he's also a bodyguard.
  • Fanon likes to think that, in the movie 9, there's an attraction between 8 and 1. Given the way they interact a few times, the fanon might not be so far off... Too bad they both die, though.
  • Mathilda has one of these on Léon in Léon: The Professional—in the uncut version, she even asks him to be her first lover, but he refuses.
  • Anakin and Padme in Star Wars Attack of the Clones.
  • Bodyguard From Beijing starring Jet Li has this happen between the protagonist, the titular soldier from China, and his charge, a Hong Kong lady. The latter was the one who made the first moves, but the former tried to be professional distanced himself from her. He Did Not Get the Girl, as he was shown going back to China (posing right in front of the Chinese flag) while the lady stays behind. It's pretty obvious her feelings were reciprocated, however.
  • Bodyguard, the shared name of a Malayalam film and its Bollywood remake starring Salman Khan, has a combination of this trope, Playing Cyrano and Matchmaker Crush as its plot. The titular bodyguard is assigned to the daughter of a politician, and he follows her so closely that the woman, tired of the over protection, schemes with a friend to create a fake admirer to make him fall for her and distract him of his work. The plan works, but then the woman falls in love with the bodyguard for real...

Literature

  • Very explicit between Sparhawk and Ehlana in David Eddings' Elenium series.
  • In Laurel K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series, the royal bodyguards pretty much also serve as sex slaves to Queen Andais, Princess Meredith, and Prince Cel.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire
    • Sandor Clegane is Prince Joffrey's sworn shield, but is more often seen protecting Joffrey's betrothed, Sansa Stark, leading to a Beast and Beauty pairing. Sansa's thoughts seem to be conflicted. She's frightened of Sandor, but he seems to spring to her mind every time sex or kissing is mentioned, and she canonically fabricates a memory of kissing him.
    • Two members of Renly's Rainbow Guard have the hots for him: Brienne, a large and ugly Action Girl, and Loras, his gay lover.
    • Jorah Mormont is hopelessly in love with Daenerys Targaryen, whom he serves as part of her Queensguard. She's aware of the situation and repeatedly rebuffs him.
    • Arys Oakheart, a member of the Kingsguard sent to Dorne with Princess Myrcella, falls in love with Arianne Martell despite his vows. He needlessly dies defending her and their companions at the Greenblood after being forced to yield by the Dornish captain of the guards, Areo Hotah.
  • Prince Roger. The 'March/Prince Roger' saga has the spoilt misunderstood brat Prince, Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang McClintock (whew, what a mouthful!) and his Action Girl bodyguard, Nimashet Despreaux, agonize endlessly before finally hooking up in the second book, March to the Sea.
    • Complicated further by the part where after they finally decided to hook up, Roger went from third to first in the line of succession—meaning that country-girl commoner Nimashet had just gone from 'going to be married to the most redundant junior prince' to 'prospective Empress'. The latter possibility terrified her enough that she immediately broke the relationship off cold—which created some serious tension, given that she was still his bodyguard.
    • And then Nimashet was given a direct order (twice) by her superiors to reinstate the relationship and become the eventual Empress Nimashet. Even though they know it's a bad idea to fraternize inside the chain of command, they need Nimashet to steady Roger because he'd either deliberately let himself be deposed so he could be with Nimashet again or else try to rule the Empire alone and end up as Emperor Roger the Mad. (Nimashet is pretty much the only person around who can hold Roger back from massacre once his Berserk Button is pushed, and Roger on some level knows this.)
      • Bad idea? I'd say they wanted Roger to have at least some form of prosthetic conscience. Fraternization regs went out of the window looong ago, ain't it right, Sergeant Kosutic, oh, and you, Julian?
  • In Honor Harrington, Honor and Abigail Hearns are officially required by Grayson law to have bodyguards even when under military duty in accordance with their status as high nobles. Like many such things the legislators had not thought about future circumstances they could not have predicted. That is the law was made in a patriarchal society which had not previously imagined the inconvenience of female nobles taking a bodyguard on a military campaign. Nor the diplomatic stir caused by walking around amid allies who would think having a Battle Butler following one was pretentious. In both cases their guards have a platonic crush.
  • Kushiel's Legacy subverts this at first. Joscelin denies himself any attraction, romantic or otherwise, to Phedre, saying that he can't both be her bodyguard (servant of Cassiel) and her lover, because it goes against his vows. Granted, in Kushiel's Dart he and Phedre, ah...paid homage to Namaah. Later in the series, they develop a proper relationship as the Comtesse Phedre no Delaunay de Montreve and her consort (read: practically husband) Joscelin.
  • The Faerie Queene: The Red Cross Knight and Princess Una in the first book; Red Cross is Easily Forgiven for abysmally failing the "bodyguard" part at first, abandoning his charge thanks to a Not What It Looks Like scenario courtesy of the Master of Illusion.
  • In the second book of the Coruscant Nights trilogy, we find that Padme's eyepatched bodyguard Typho was in love with her, and at her funeral, having seen the autopsy, comes to the conclusion that she was killed by use of the Force. Anakin Skywalker was supposed to be bodyguarding her in Typho's absence. Thus he decided to track down Skywalker; later he assumes that Vader killed them both, so he has to kill Vader. You can imagine how that went.
    • In the Jedi Academy Trilogy General Wedge Antilles is set to bodyguarding Qwi Xux, an ex-Imperial scientist who had worked on the Death Star, the World Devastators, and the Sun Crusher, cheerfully oblivious to what these projects would be used for. Yes, a general serving as bodyguard to a scientist. They fall for each other, and in I, Jedi this development dismays Corran, since he ships his boss with one of his friends (Who Wedge did end up with in a later novel after breaking up with Qwi).
  • In Moira Moore's Heroes series there are two kinds of magic users, Sources and Shields, who get permanently paired up. The Source deflects natural disasters while the Shield protects the Source from some kind of backlash that occurs. First person narrator and Shield Dunleavy really likes her Source Shintaro and protects him not only while working magic but tends to protectiveness also in more mundane situations. He in turn makes no attempt to hide that he lusts after her.
  • Juliet and Artemis, though Juliet's not technically his bodyguard, and canon says it's flipped.
  • In the Gemma Doyle trilogy apparently it was once pretty common for the Rakshana and the members of the Order they guarded to be lovers. Named examples include Gemma and Kartik (eventually), and Miss McCleethy and Hugo Fowlson. It may or may not be worth noting that neither pairing ends well, but then, what pairing in this series does?
  • In the Quantum Gravity series, Lila Black has been hired to bodyguard/spy on Zal, and the first thing that happens when they meet is a love match Game, which pushes them together, along with Zal's general open flirting. They marry.
  • In the The Compass Rose, magic-users in the military are assigned bodyguards. Kallista's bodyguard Torchay is madly in love with her. Kallista resists, but after being ordered into marriage, eventually requites Torchay's feelings.
  • Possibly Wil Ohmsford on Amberle in The Elfstones of Shannara. Inverted by Rone Leah in Wishsong: he goes along to protect Brin specifically because he has a crush on her.
  • Subtly done in The Godless World Trilogy. It isn't obvious, but Anyara's bodyguard Coinach seems to be developing a bit of a crush on her, which she may well reciprocate (she looks straight at him when someone tells her she should marry in order to make herself happy).
  • Hugh Arai for Queen Berry in Torch of Freedom. He's luckier, because she reciprocates the feelings, fires him as her head of security, and drags him off to her bedroom.
  • Lucky the Fox and his boss, The Right Man, from Anne Rice's Angel Time have something going on, although it's implied that it doesn't involve sex.
  • Ari II and her "azi" (essentially slave, though YMMV) bodyguard Florian in Cyteen.
  • In Andy McDermott's Nina Wilde series, the titular Adventurer Archaeologist and her ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase slowly fell in love and married over the course of their adventures. The romance is subtle and only made in passing mentions since their main focus is trying not to die preserving rare artifacts.
  • There are some very strong hints that Kris' bodyguard Jack is in love with her.
  • The Rakshana and the Order in the Gemma Doyle trilogy often are lovers. Named examples in the books include Gemma and Kartik and McCleethy and Fowlson.
  • In Cerberon, Margaret becomes attracted to George after he volunteers to be her escort for her journey to America. He is oblivious to her attraction until she mentions she wouldn't mind his intimate attention.
  • Ivan and Tej in Captain Vorpatril's Alliance is an odd one because Ivan is not a professional bodyguard and Tej is on the run and her official bodyguard is dead (and replaced by her sister). Ivan is a normal military officer asked by a local spy to take her on a date while an abduction is supposed to be going down to reinforce the spy's cover (it's complicated), while Tej was a rich Mafia Princess whose family enemies were looking for her in the aftermath of a clan war. In the course of this the two fell in love.
    • Simon gets a crush on Alys. This is an indirect version. His primary job is to guard the Emperor. But a subsidiary job to that is to guard anyone attending him and Alys is his master of ceremonies, which places her in the line of fire of anyone who gets regicidal ideas.

Live-Action TV

  • In Heroes, this appeared to be the case for Peter and Claire. This was squashed immediately upon the reveal that they're actually each others long lost uncle and niece. Of course this didn't actually stop the shipping or the sexual tension between them.
    • The fact that the actors portraying the two got involved surely contributed to the shipping and tension. Hayden's young age (relatively) added some risque' spice, as well.
  • In Charmed, the Powers That Be mandate a strict law against Whitelighters falling in love with their wiccan charges. But naturally, this was dealt with offscreen and waived in the case of Piper (main character), who married Leo and later on in the series even got to have a child.
    • And even with Piper's mom and Sam, another whitelighter, having an affair and ended up with Paige.
  • In The West Wing, CJ Cregg and her bodyguard Simon Donovan (better known as Gibbs) when she's under Secret Service protection while being stalked. When they catch the guy CJ needed protection from in the first place, Simon is promptly shot and killed. Thanks, Aaron Sorkin. Thanks a lot.
  • In The Sarah Connor Chronicles, while there isn't anything romantic going on yet between John and Cameron, a lot of John's growing attachment and protectiveness of her is stemming from her own protectiveness of him.
    • And then there's the second season finale, in which John, against the advice of both his mother and Agent Ellison, travels into the future to retrieve Cameron's chip. Cue Fangirl Squee.
  • Chuck and his bodyguard, Sarah. Chuck has a massive crush on Sarah. Sarah seems to entertain the idea of a relationship with Chuck, but there's the whole CIA thing getting in the way, and it's causing a few problems. Especially considering that they have to play the roles of boyfriend and girlfriend and occasionally a married couple on certain missions. Less overtly (this is a family show after all), the other bodyguard in Chuck's life...John Casey, played by Adam Baldwin. Scroll up this page a tad...
  • In Tin Man fandom, DG/Cain plays out like this most of the time. DG is Princess of Oz, named for her ancestor, Dorothy Gale. Cain is a Badass Normal by Ozian standards, a commoner, and a law enforcement man/soldier by trade. Sweetening the deal is that, in the first part of the series, Cain's former boss forced him into a promise to "not leave her side at any cost."
  • In an episode of The Equalizer Robert McCall chews out Mickey Kostmeyer for sleeping with a Swedish foreign student he was supposed to be guarding, pointing out that if the killers had chosen to strike at that moment they both would have been killed.
  • Babylon 5. G'Kar may have been trying to invoke this trope when he insisted that the rogue telepaths leaving B5 have Narn bodyguards. Given G'Kar's attempt in the premiere episode to get telepathic genetic material for the Narm race via the old-fashioned mating method, one wonders if he wasn't trying to set up a few Interspecies Romances.
    • Lennier isn't a bodyguard per se, but he does have a crush on Delenn and he does consider himself honor-bound to protect her.
  • As Echo's fourth official handler in Dollhouse, love interest Paul Ballard has one of these. To be fair the crush began long before he actually started work as a bodyguard.
    • Done much squickier with Sierra and her original handler.
  • Although not a technical bodyguard, Agent Booth often says that keeping his partner, Dr. Brennan, safe is his responsibility, seeing as she is not trained as an agent and (for at least part of the series) is not supposed to be carrying a gun. This stance towards Bones' safety leads to much UST and Everyone Can See It.
  • One episode of Angel depicts Wesley getting involved with a girl he's been hired to protect ("Guise Will Be Guise"). The guy who hired him was apparently Genre Savvy to this trope, because Wesley was impersonating Angel, who was wanted specifically because he can't have sex. He needed her for a Virgin Sacrifice - as it turned out, he should have started paying attention to this possibility a lot earlier
  • In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel was originally supposed to act as a secret protector for Buffy - but, while watching over her, fell in love.
  • Inverted in season 5 of 24, with First Lady Martha Logan, fully disgusted with her husband's actions, falling for Secret Service agent Aaron Pierce. Season 6 finds the Logans separated (divorced?) and Pierce retired from the Secret Service and romantically involved with Martha.
  • Because Stalking Is Love, the Smallville episode "Trespass".
  • The NCIS episode "Defiance" had a character of the day fall in love with McGee.
    • She then used this to catch him off guard in order to stage her own abduction, and the episode leaves open whether or not she was acting the entire time, making this a potential subversion.
  • Hutch gets into one of these with a visiting Russian ballerina who's received death threats.

Mythology and Folklore

  • King Arthur's wife Guinevere and her bodyguard Lancelot share an ill-fated romance.

Radio

  • It definitely doesn't take much stretching of the imagination to see a bit of this between Leela and Romana in the Doctor Who spin-off audio series Gallifrey—interestingly enough, though, the balance of power in the relationship itself is just a touch inverted, with the higher-status Romana seeming to display more emotional investment in the relationship.

Video Games

  • Kunoichi's crush towards her lord Yukimura, hinted merely in Samurai Warriors, became the main focus of her Musou mode in the 3rd installation of the game.
  • Gender inverted: Suikoden V has a non-professional relationship of some kind between Prince Freyjadour and his bodyguard Lyon, especially if he gathers all 108 stars.
    • Given that Lyon was raised by Frey's parents, there's also a Not Blood Siblings element.
    • Let's not forget Lelei and Lucretia. It's a rather strange relationship, since the woman Lelei is guarding is definitely the Onee-Sama, and it's very ambiguous whether she returns Lelei's feelings.
      • Lucretia's own preferences, at least, seem to match up, as Cathari mentions that she and Lucretia were once "more than friends." Lucretia's relationship with Lelei is made rather less ambiguous (or, alternately, given a Relationship Reveal) when, on the night before a big battle, Lucretia suggests that she and Lelei get some rest, and Lelei asks if Lucretia wouldn't mind staying up just a little longer - after which the screen fades to black. After the war, the two of them vanish, presumably together. On a side note, if you have Oboro dig into Lelei's past, he comes up with the following:

Oboro: "Lelei used to be a guard at Agate Prison, but she fell for Lucretia's pretty -- I MEAN, she was concerned about Lucretia, as she came with her. Now she's kind of Lucretia's...assistant."

  • Sothe and Micaiah in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. The creepy part is that they refer to each other as family (and Brother/Sister) regularly.
    • Furthermore, Geoffrey's rather unrequited crush on Elincia, as seen in his support conversations and other dialogue. Seemingly doomed given Elincia's not-exactly-subtle crush on Ike, it surprisingly is requited, leading to their marriage in certain endings.
    • Also, Lyre's huge crush on her captain, Ranulf. Conversations between Lyre and her twin sister Lethe reveal that Lyre never really liked fighting all that much, and pretty much only joined the army to be with Ranulf and her sister.
    • Ranulf's second subordinate Kyza is also implied to have a crush on him, although in the Japanese version it's not so much implied as it is outright spelled out.
    • In fact, this is one of Fire Emblem's favorite tropes. Pick any Fire Emblem game and there will be at least one character (if not more) infatuated with their liege.
      • First and third games: Both Camus and Hardin to Nyna (however both fall victim to Ship Sinking) and Samson/Sheema (role inverted, liege infatuated with bodyguard)
      • Fourth and fifth game: Mideel/Aideen, Levin/Fury ([{{[[[Gender-Inverted Trope]] gender flipped}} and also subverted - Levin had a crush on Fury's older sister Mahnya), Leaf/Nanna (again, gender flipped, though the 5th game reveals that this is more like childhood friends' romance), and Fred/Olwen (doubling as May–December Romance since he's quite older than her);
      • Sixth game: Saul/Dorothy (gender flipped), Klein/Thite (gender flipped, possibly also role inverted because Thite's too much of a Sugar and Ice Personality to act on any feelings she might have) and possibly either Rutger or Lance/Clarine and Shin/Sue;
      • Seventh game: Kent/Lyndis, Rath/Lyndis, Erk/Priscilla, Erk/Serra and Florina/Lyndis. Tactician/Lyndis (also inverted, or Les Yay) can be implied from the early chapters, though this doesn't really hold out past Chapter 3 or so;
      • Eighth game: Seth/Eirika, Vanessa/Innes (gender flipped), Forde/Eirika and Ephraim/Myrrh. One of the bosses in Eirika's path is even a general under Queen Ismaire, who proves Love Makes You Evil. It's hinted that Selena's feelings towards Emperor Vigarde might fall in this trope too.
  • Part of the premise of first person shooter Red Steel, between the protagonist and the (quickly kidnapped) girl in distress. The relationship had progressed to the point where the two had gotten engaged, and the kidnapped happens when introducing the future husband to her father to ask permission to marry.
  • In Tales of the Abyss, it's implied that this is the case between Anise and Ion, as well as Arietta and Ion.
  • Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories has this type of relationship between Adell and Rozalin. After mistakenly summoning her and binding her to follow him around, Adell swears he'll protect Rozalin with his life. Rozalin swears she'll kill him for the indignity he's caused her. They become attracted to each other. Hilarity Ensues.
    • Taro also feels this way about Rozalin, to the point that he practically became Rozalin's servant just so he could fit this trope.
  • Fanon has a tendency to attribute one of these to Double H from Beyond Good and Evil, over the heroine, Jade. The fact that she rescued him from an alien torture chamber doesn't help... Nor does the fact that he wears shining armor... And he selflessly dives to catch her when she falls, spouting a line in a sappy voice... And let's not forget his sudden attempt to kiss her. His official description even states that he's "selflessly devoted to her."
    • The kiss isn't really indicative of anything, though; he was just tremendously giddy because they'd just won the hovercraft racing championships, a sport over which he gets far too excited. The fact that Jade only laughs and says, "Hey, knock it off!" might say something about how she feels though.
  • Final Fantasy X: Tidus loves Yuna.
  • Final Fantasy VIII Squall loves Rinoa, though that's less of a bodyguard (although he does that too) and more of a hired gunblade deal.
  • Final Fantasy VII: Aeris hires Cloud. She repays him with a date. Final Fantasy loves this trope.
    • Especially considering the prequel Crisis Core recreates their relationship, with added depth, except with Zack instead of Cloud.
  • Inverted in Final Fantasy VI, where Locke apparently pledges to bodyguard any girl he gets a crush on.
  • And subverted at the same time hilariously by the fact that during the course of the game, one of the girl he pledges to protect is the mightiest soldier of The Empire's army, and the other is a walking nuke and very sadly by the fact that Locke's pledges are the product of the guilt he feels from failing to protect his first love, twice.
  • Happens in Final Fantasy IX. Zidane both has feelings for Garnet.
  • It is quite possible to argue that Basch displays subtle hints towards Ashe in Final Fantasy XII, although he interacts much more directly with Vaan and Penelo, and often appears indifferent toward Princess Ashe. Basch may be more emotionally attached to the fate of Ashe's kingdom than to Ashe herself, but hints of 'something' undefined are there in the subtext. Given the purposeful lack of romance in FFXII, interpretation of what that 'something' happens to be is open to debate.
  • Dissidia Final Fantasy has a few teasing here and there. There's Firion teasing the Onion Knight over his protectiveness of Terra, a slight ship tease between Vaan protecting Terra, and the closeness between the Warrior of Light and the goddess Cosmos, especially as the former is revealed to be a Manikin of Cid of the Lufaine and the former is revealed to be a Manikin of Cid's wife.
  • Nathyrra and Valen are totally there as combat support. Totally. *insincere smile*
    • In the same vein, in KotOR I: Did the Jedi Council really have to assign Carth, Bastila, and/or Juhani (as appropriate to PC gender/preference) to help you? Granted, each has legit reasons to help even without orders or romantic entanglements - but it's much more fun when you consider the possibilities.
      • Inverted somewhat in Knights of the Old Republic if you're playing a female. Even though you are a VERY powerful Force-user and the mind-wiped ex-Dark Lord of the Sith, Carth is still very protective, and insists "Let me protect you; from yourself, from the Sith. You HAVE to let me try." Never mind you could probably have wiped the floor with him six levels ago... Ditto with Juhani, albeit in a much subtler manner.
  • In Knights of the Old Republic II, the ex-Sith Assassin Visas Marr, particularly (but not only) if you are the male Exile. This is very quiet (apart from the breathlessly devoted, "My life for yours"...), and will only make itself apparent if you are NOT a dog kicking Sith bastard, and are nice to her when you've defeated her. Yes, Defeat Means Bodyguard Crush.
    • And on the other end of things, Atton Rand remains protective of the Exile and consistently anxious for the Exile's approval, to the point that Kreia is able to blackmail him with it, whether the Exile is Light Side or a crazed dog-kicking Sith bastard. It's most apparent with a female Exile, but it's there with a male Exile too.
  • In Neverwinter Nights 2 and Mask of the Betrayer, both of the romance options for male characters that made the final cut began watching over the hero to keep him safe.
  • Apparent inversion (liege seemingly in love with bodyguard, although that may be a matter of interpretation) in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, with Celebi (technically a gender-neutral Pokémon, but it acts feminine (and kinda Tsundere) and has the "Shiny" pink coloration instead of its normal green) for Grovyle.
  • Some fans see this between Zero and Ciel, some don't.
    • It's certanly an inversion, as Ciel quite clearly has a crush on Zero, and he doesn't show any feelings for her or at least recognition of her feelings. It's even directly addressed in the 4th game where Neige and Craft were once in a relationship, and she seems to show that she can relate to Ciel in the ending, as both Zero and Craft were reploids and thus the situation is similar.
  • Touka in Utawarerumono. Apparently, when her clan becomes someone's bodyguard, they're supposed to bear their child (assuming they're female) which makes her... eagerness... to be his bodyguard make a little more sense, no?
  • Near the end of the closest to canon ending in Tsukihime, Shiki realizes the real reason he kept agreeing to guard Arcueid and help her hunt Roa was that he loved her. He doesn't really feel responsible for the town or anything. Goes the other way too, in that Arcueid only decided not to publicly dismember him because, as she puts it, she also loved him from... well, the first moment he cut her to pieces. Bit of a rocky start, but eh...
  • Played straight and flipped a few times in Half Life 2 and Episodes. Alyx Vance is sometimes escorted by Gordon, and when Gordon loses his weapons, she becomes the bodyguard. And she has an obvious hero worship and geekette attraction to Gordon. Which her father openly encourages.
  • Legend of Mana: Jumi always come in pairs as a Guardian and a Knight, and they are expected to be devoted to one another in ways that blur the boundaries between duty and love. And gender doesn't matter, either.
  • At the end of Resident Evil 4 Ashley asks if Leon wants to go to "her place" for some overtime. He declines.
    • Manuela seems to really like Leon too.
  • Grandia II, Ryudo towards Elena. "Don't like women", huh? Right....
  • The Bodyguard Crush is the whole point of Yo-Jin-Bo, a Visual Novel Romance Game about a princess and her six bodyguards.
  • Furiae of Drakengard has one of these crushes. Too bad it's her brother, Caim.

Web Comics

Web Original

Western Animation

Brock: Not really, it's more like I work for him--wait a minute, no!

    • Played with again in the intro to the season 3 episode "What Goes Down, Must Come Up."

Doc: Thaaat's it,just like that, easy, pull back a bit, God, you're right on top of me!
Brock: I can't help it, it's stiff, Doc, maybe I should lube this thing up before we take it down there.
Doc: It'll be fine, it's not built for speed, it's built for deep penetration!

Real Life

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