Character Relationships and Companions

I wanted to create a strong bond, possibly a partnership between the protagonist and a secondary character. I feel that this is of extreme importance as creating some kind of relatable relationship enables me to establish an intimate connection between my character and the audience.

I considered many different kinds of relationships such as family, friends and pet companions. I also wanted some kind of tragedy to occur that forces the protagonist to deal with a conflict that they must overcome and from this, a change in them will occur during their journey. I like the idea of someone going through a transformation and learning some important lessons which again, reflects our everyday lives. This element of the story would help show the audience that my character is very grounded and human further making them relatable as a person.

These are a few companionships that I have been quite intrigued about.

NOTE: This picture doesn't actually show the real Artorias, just someone dressed up as him but, it's the closest image I could find that has the two of them together without having to drop in fanart.

First of all is Artorias and Sif from Dark Souls. Although the majority of the Dark Souls story, especially the relationship between characters has very much been left up to the players interpretation, I really like the kind of bond these two have.

Great Grey Wolf Sif, otherwise known as Sif, is the companion of Sir Artorias, the Abysswalker. It's said that after Artorias passed away after being corrupted by the Abyss, that Sif took it on himself to become the guardian of Artorias' grave in Darkroot Garden. He wields Artorias' Greatsword in battle and is one of the bosses necessary to defeat in order to transcend the Abyss and confront the Four Kings for the Lord Vessel.

There isn't much mention of how they met and their travels together as partners but there is a hint as to the depth of their relationship in the DLC (downloadable content) in the game. They both travelled to the Abyss together but found out that their beings were being corrupted by the darkness and Artorias handed over his Cleansing shield int order to create a barrier around Sif and protect him from the corruption. But in doing so, Artorias became corrupt and was killed (by the player) to be free of his pain and suffering. This action of love for his companion is what really struck me about these characters and I'm inspired to create a tragic yet heartfelt sacrifice or event similar to this because it really moves the audience.

Next up is Lloyd Irving and Kratos Aurion from Tales of Symphonia. These two have a very touching yet complicated relationship. There are actually father and son but it's the way in which that happened and how they didn't know each other were alive that makes their relationship throughout the game very interesting.

Kratos was one of the four original companions of the hero Mithos and a survivor of the war. Mithos' sister Martel was tragically killed and Mithos was driven insane with grief misinterpreting Martel's vision of a perfect world in which all beings were equal and there was no discrimination. Mithos then set up a plan to create a new world of 'ageless beings', the angels or Cruxis. When learning about this plan, Kratos left Cruxis to find meet a woman named Anna who he fell in love with. She was an subject of the Angelus project where they create Exspheres by suing the human body as a catalyst. These subjects do however have an unfortunate consequence is they are not compatible to the procedure. They turn into monsters.

Kratos and Anna were on the run for a long time from Cruxis and soon to join them was their son Lloyd. Anna eventually lost control and Kratos was left with no choice but to strike her down as she became a threat and turned on her own son. As they were being pursued, Kratos was surrounded by the Desians and by the time he killed them all and searched for his son he was no more. At least that was what he was left to believe as he found nothing but corpses. Lloyd was actually taken in by a dwarf named Dirk who became Lloyd's father. This obviously serves as complex turn of events when Lloyd learns the truth of his real father and the death of his mother.

Again, another complicated but moving story and relationship. I feel that because this is family based, I could argue that this was much more affective in moving the audience as it is more personal and intimate. That isn't to say that friendships and companionships aren't but a parental bond is something that doesn't really have an equal. From this, I think that I want to make my character a parent as it is something that everyone, no matter what age or sex, can relate to.