Bond Creatures: Difference between revisions
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''I save you as I save my life."''|''[[The Underland Chronicles]]''}}
'''Bond Creatures''' choose a human partner to share their power. Often they can reject an unsuitable human partner or reveal a new ability or level of power if its [[Psychic Link|Link]] and/or [[Synchronization]] with its human user is particularly high. In such cases they may form a [[Mental Fusion]] or allow the human to [[Animal Eye Spy|see through their eyes]]. They sometimes double as a [[Morality Pet]].
A magic user's [[Familiar]] may ([[Our Monsters Are Different|depending on specific interpretation]]) be one of these, as may a [[Sapient Steed]], especially in case of [[Dragon Rider
See also [[Psychic Link]] for similar bonds between humanoids.
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* In ''[[Idolmaster: Xenoglossia]]'', mechas are powered by alien entities which seem to be telekinetic and of animal intelligence, but probably not human intelligence since they make no attempts at communication. Some mechas bond with a particular partner and will only work for them, while others aren't as picky.
* In ''[[Dragon Drive]]'', analyzing a teenager's genetic code reveals the dragon they are destined to partner with. These dragons cannot speak and usually go back into storage form when not being used for combat or transport. These dragons thus seem to be a manifestation of their owner's anima or subconscious, not independent creatures. One notable difference between dragons and owners is that dragons usually want to fight when their humans are afraid of overwhelming odds.
* ''[[Digimon]],'' depending on the season, choose their partners or have partners assigned to them by higher, godlike Digimon. The bonded [[Mon
** ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' upped the ante by, at least twice, having the human partners [[I'm Having Soul Pains|physically affected when their Digimon partners are injured in battle]].
* Duel Monsters in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', particulary Judai and Winged Kuriboh, as well as Johan and the Gem Beasts.
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* The Rune Gods of ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' will test their charges to assess the strength of their will. If proven worthy, the Knight will get to summon and wear the Rune God's gigantic armored form into battle, and the Rune God's strength and abilities grow directly in proportion with the Knight's fortitude. The downside is, any injuries the Rune God sustains, the Knight will get too. This is much more notable in the [[Alternate Continuity]] of the [[OAV]].
* Caro and Lutecia of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' possess some sort of link with their [[Summon Magic|summoned creatures]]. This was best seen during their final battle, where {{spoiler|[[Smug Snake|Quattro's]] [[Villain Override]]}} on Lutecia caused her monsters to cry [[Tears of Blood]] and the less intelligent ones to go berserk.
* The [[Mons|Mamono/Mamodo]] from ''[[Zatch Bell]]'' need to find a human partner to supply [[Mana|Heart Power]] and activate spells while taking part in the king-election tournament on Earth. While a few of these pairs ({{spoiler|Won/Lee, Clear/Vino, Gash/Kiyo}}) develop [[Psychic Link
* The Mulian mecha in ''[[RahXephon]]'' function like this, bonding with individuals called "Instrumentalists". It responds to its pilot's moods, and will act autonomously to protect its pilot if the pilot is in distress. {{spoiler|1=the connection for the mulian mecha has added "bonus" of full [[Synchronization]]--so killing the dolem kills the pilot. The connection runs deeper still for the Xephon''s'': when Ayato and Quon fully awaken as Instrumentalists, they cease to be human and fuse entirely with the RahXephon system, effectively ''becoming'' the "machines". It is mentioned, late in the series, that when Ayato is looking at the Xephon or at Ixtli, he is looking at another aspect of himself.}}
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Samehada ''is'' a "[[BFS|frickin]] [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks|shark]]" bond sword. The sword chooses its wielder based on their amount of energy and the taste of it, though it can be forced to be loyal to a previous wielder if that wielder has enough power or a strong relationship with it. If an unfit wielder tries to use it, spikes protrude from its handle and it runs back to its true master.
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== Literature ==
* [[Timothy Zahn]]'s ''[[Dragonback]]'' books feature the K'da, a [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragonlike]] sentient race with the capability to become a two-dimensional [[Fusion Dance|'tattoo' on the skin of a]] [[The Symbiote|host/symbiote]], with the corollary that if they go for more that six hours without doing so, they turn 2D anyway [[Blessed with Suck|and die]]. Normally their hosts are a race called the Shontine, but when the K'da warrior Draycos bonds with the [[Humans Are Special|human]] Jack Morgan, he becomes healthier, stronger and smarter, and even gains new powers-- {{spoiler|and it turns out that a K'da fused to a human can [[Beyond the Impossible|withstand]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Death superweapon]]}}.
* The night horses in [[C. J. Cherryh]]'s ''Rider'' series are a horse-shaped carnivorous telepathic alien species. The horses bond with humans since they enjoy the complexity of the human mind, and ham, and humans bond with the horses so they'll help protect the humans from the world's other telepathic carnivores, which like to pull [[Jedi Mind Trick
* David B. Coe's ''The [[Lon Tobyn]] Chronicle'' has an entire order of people who form bonds with otherwise ordinary animals, mostly birds. The birds don't stay with the humans forever though, they die just as ordinary animals would.
* [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''[[Humanx Commonwealth]]'' books portray an empathic bond between Flinx and the minidrag Pip. She amplifies his [[Psychic Powers]] whenever she's in his proximity.
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* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'' series, the ability to form a psychic bond with an animal is one of the more common of the Shanir abilities, common enough that about a dozen students in Jame's year in the [[Military Academy]] of Tentir have it in various forms. Jame becomes bound early on to an ounce, a medium-sized hunting cat; blind from birth, the cat learns to see through her eyes across the link, and occasionally shares its senses with Jame.
* [[Mercedes Lackey]] has multiple types of Bond Creatures in her ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' and related books.
** Companions resemble pure white [[Cool Horse
*** Later in the series, we meet the
** Bondbirds are large birds of prey that are basically animals, although they may be a bit more intelligent than earthly ones. Bondbirds demonstrate [[Animal Think]], commenting on their humans' lives in terms of nests, mates, hatchlings, prey, and other bird-isms. They were specifically bred for their roles by the Tayledras mages who live in the magic-damaged lands surrounding the Dhorisha plains.
** This is also how dragon mages work in hers and James Mallory's ''[[The Obsidian Trilogy]]'': one dragon and one human or elf are, on some deep level, compatible as platonic soul mates, and they can bond with each other, the mage learning to channel the dragon's vast power through their body. Unlike most forms of magic in the ''Obsidian Trilogy'', requiring require payments and debts, dragon magic has no such
*** The bonds between elves and unicorns are similar.
** In Lackey's "Skitty"
* [[Anne McCaffrey]] is probably the archetypal example of bond creatures. Her ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' series features dragons with near-human intelligence which choose a human partner at birth (this is called Impression) and two rarely outlive each other (and certainly don't ''want'' to). Fire lizards has a mild variant of the Impression (normally it merely helps to organize their swarms, but was turned [[Up to Eleven]] for dragons). Less well known but also interesting, this author's ''[[The Ship Who]]...'' series features spaceships powered by the human minds of people whose bodies were defective or injured, and these [[Sapient Ship
** Early in the series, it's indicated that romantic feelings between a Brain and his/her Brawn is grounds for the partnership being broken up, as a Brawn who becomes ''too'' attracted to his/her Brain partner may become obsessed and attempt to access what is left of their body, which will kill the Brain. They find a way around this later, using androids.
** McCaffrey's dragonriders are parodied in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld/The Colour of Magic|The Colour of Magic]]'', where the dragons only exist because their riders believe in them. Similarly, the dragon in ''[[Discworld/Guards Guards|Guards! Guards!]]'' is bonded to {{spoiler|Lupine Wonse}}, much to his discomfort.
** More recent Pern books, particularly those which Todd McCaffrey worked on, establish that
* Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear did a brilliant and weirdly hilarious [[Darker and Edgier]] spin on some of the less charming implications of the Pern series in ''A Companion to Wolves'', which is pretty much Pern WITH VIKINGS and giant sentient wolves replacing dragons.
* [[Andre Norton]] created several of the oldest examples of Bond Creatures in western fiction: ''The Beast Master'', Falconers in the ''[[Witch World]]'' series and more. Probably she was the inspiration for Mercedes Lackey's and Anne McCaffrey's later evolutions of the concept.
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* This is a (if not THE) major ability of multiple classes in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Warlocks get demon familiars by defeating them at the end of various quest chains; Hunters can tame wild animals; in both cases the pet levels with or slightly behind the character, gaining occasional new abilities. Both have a talent specialisation that focuses on this aspect, empowering both the master and the pet. Hunters have a somewhat more involved relation with their pets, having to care for their happiness (most commonly through feeding, with different animals liking different food), health and even a talent tree for the pet itself (though there are only 3 possible trees and the specific type of animal only determines one ability), while Warlocks can't even name their minions (the name is derived from the warlocks own name) and force them into doing their work, as evident by several of the demons responses, most notably the familiar and the felguard.
** Deathknights and Mages can also have permanent minions under certain conditions (ghoul and water elemental), but they don't have the same connection nor a consistent entity to serve them (ghouls get named randomly but change every time you summon a new one. Elementals get no name at all).
* In ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', cats have a tendency to behave like this... the downside is, they don't fight; apart from killing vermin, they're just [[Small Annoying Creature
* ''[[Lost Souls MUD]]'' has a number of guilds built around an empathic bonding faculty vaguely inspired by [[His Dark Materials]].
* FM beings {{spoiler|and AM beings}} in ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]''. The fusion is two way in that both parties can ''attempt'' to assume control. The main character's partner usually gives him control except for certain cooperative moves, hosts of villanous aliens either get consumed or try to fight for control (which apparently forms a composite mind), and one villain (in the anime) actually only controlled her host while the latter was asleep to sidestep the issue.
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* Pastamancers in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' can form a bond with certain creatures, provided they have the correct item. Only one bond can be held at a time, though, and forming a new one severs the link to the old one forever.
* In ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]'', a [[Mon]] bonds with your character, lending you strength and help during a battle.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'', the Skyloftians have their personal Loftwings, [[Giant Flyer
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