Continuing on the spicy path that this blog has taken lately, today I am going to elaborate a bit on the dark romantic aspect of relationships between characters, something that, surprisingly, is not a new thing in video games. As early as in 1995, Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within was maybe the first game to include such an element in its plot, which back then was particularly radical and innovative, given that the technical means were very few, and the ways to accompany a game with cutscenes were also rather limited. Regardless this didn't prevent the game's developing team to come up with a captivating story involving characters that since became iconic. The element of desire is quite prominent in the story, as I will analyze in a bit, and in a rather complex form, for that matter. I have also picked a few more select cases of characters who, like Gabriel, are not simply involved in the theme of desire, but are also deeply and dramatically affected by it in their attitude and mentality.

Desire disguised as confusion (Gabriel Knight in Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within)

Like I mentioned above, Gabriel's case can be considered an archetypical story involving the theme of desire, as it belongs to a video game that was most probably the first one to address such a subject and in such a radical way. Gabriel is a consciously straight ladies' man, and his self-confidence on that matter is particularly high. All this is doomed to change when, while investigating of a series of murders, he meets the charming and mysterious Friedrich Von Glower, typically a Baron but in reality a werewolf of more than one hundred years old. Friedrich is instantly attracted by Gabriel who initially seems to be unaware of the situation, but as the story progresses, he gets smitten with Friedrich although this is something that he cannot even acknowledge at first.

At a crucial turning point, however, he comes across Baron Von Zell, Friedrich's ex-lover whom Friedrich had turned into a werewolf during a moment of passion. Von Zell is the one responsible for the aforementioned murders, and while being hunted by Gabriel and Friedrich, he is shot dead, but not before managing to attack and bite Gabriel. Soon after, Gabriel starts to feel the effects, as he is slowly turning into a werewolf himself, something that he realizes and tries very hard to control and suppress. In a rather revealing scene, we can see him struggling with himself in physical and emotional pain as his inner werewolf struggles to prevail as well. In reality, what Gabriel is truly trying to suppress is the desire that he is actually developing towards Friedrich which, allegorically, found a way to the surface after Friedrich's ex bit him. Gabriel is in deep confusion because he is unable to admit and accept this unprecedented feeling, which also happens to be very strong and difficult to handle. Gabriel's inner struggle is in fact a battle with his own feelings and that part of himself that has awakened all of a sudden without him being able to control it at all. At the same time, however, he is struggling to persuade himself that all this turmoil has to do with him slowly becoming a werewolf, but in his attempt to focus on that, he is merely highlighting more what is truly going on inside him.

Desire suppressed by denial (Jill Valentine in Resident Evil 3 Remake)

The romantic aspect may not be particularly present in Resident Evil 3, but there still is a degree of electricity between Jill and Carlos, mostly filtered through admiration from his part, while Jill is rather prejudiced at first because Carlos belongs to a company that she knows is evil. As the story progresses, however, it becomes quite clear that Jill and Carlos are attracted to each other, something that Carlos shows almost directly, what with his attitude towards Jill and his choice of words when it comes to flirting her, albeit a bit awkwardly, and also given the tense circumstances they find themselves in. But for Jill, things are not that simple; although Jill is a very "raw" character, in that she is honest, sincere and crystal-clear, she is quite secretive when it comes to expressing her feelings. As the events in the story develop and she starts to see that Carlos is honest and she actually begins to like him, it is not very easy for her to admit it, let alone express it with words to him. Moreover, Jill is a person who puts duty above all and who values her partners very highly; this is something that becomes very clear during her brief dialogue with Carlos after she leaves the power plant, when Carlos calls her "partner" and she replies with a rather bitter and cold "Not your partner", because, for her, comradeship is something sacred. Carlos, on the other hand, is always laid back, and doesn't seem to take anything else into account except for the fact that he likes her, and he is very specific and clear about this. After Jill witnesses Nikolai betraying his team and leaving Mikhail and her to die, her prejudice against Carlos disappears completely and it slowly becomes clear that she does care for him. Chances are, if she didn't know that he was a soldier of Umbrella, she would have allowed herself to realize that she actually did like him from the beginning, both as a person and as a man. 

Even after all this happens, however, she is still in denial; being faithful to her mission and because her priority is the elimination of evil, she refuses to give room to her feelings while, subconsciously, trying to control them. After she is treated with the antidote and just as she is about to wake up, she has a nightmare during which Carlos gets in her room to inform her that everything is fine, but just then he begins to turn and he asks her to kill him. Jill cannot do it, of course, and a zombified Carlos attacks her, which is when she abruptly wakes up in anguish and confusion. The fact that, among all the people that she met in the course of the story, her subconscious decided to make Carlos attack her in a zombified state in her dream, can have a dual interpretation: on the one hand, being forced to work with Carlos had brought her closer to him, putting him inevitably in the position of a temporary partner, and subsequently someone whom she could trust, at least to a degree. The fear of losing a partner, and more so in such a violent way, had been with Jill from the start of the story, after the unfortunate incident with Brad; so now her nightmare reminds her that fear by presenting Carlos as a victim with Brad's fate. On the other hand, however, this subconscious choice indicates that Jill is attracted to Carlos but she refuses to allow herself the luxury of enjoying this feeling because if she does so, she will betray her mission. Her subconscious puts the man that she likes in the position of a dangerous enemy because she feels both enchanted and threatened by his presence.

Desire masked as guilt (Joseph Oda in The Evil Within)

Joseph's case is quite similar to that of Gabriel Knight in that, for both of them, desire takes the form of something considered forbidden and subsequently both of them experience a devastating inner struggle with their wild, primitive self through which they channel that feeling. But whereas for Gabriel all this was mainly due to confusion (Gabriel found himself in a situation that was unexpected and unfamiliar, and which he was unable to handle), for Joseph everything is pretty clear and conscious, which is why he is primarily led by guilt for what he experiences. Joseph is emotionally vulnerable, which is why being trapped in Ruvik's memories affects him so much. After unwillingly entering the STEM system, Joseph comes face to face with his most secret and suppressed fears and emotions, something that weakens his will and his resistances and results in him not being able to control himself and thus turning into a Haunted.

Soon after Sebastian finds him in STEM, Joseph experiences his first transformation during which he violently attacks Sebastian while struggling to take control of his monstrous self. The fact that this first transformation happens while he is with Sebastian is not random; since Sebastian is, unbeknownst to him, the receiver of Joseph's forbidden feelings. The next time he turns is when, due to Ruvik's control of his mind, he instinctively catches that Juli's presence is threatening, since in reality she is there as a spy on behalf of Mobius, and he attacks her in an attempt to push her out of the way and, eventually, to prevent her from affecting Sebastian. Later on, while still with Sebastian, he attempts to kill himself because he realizes that not only he is unable to control this transformation, but moreover a part of himself yearns to become a Haunted. Part of himself, that is, is ready to accept and embrace the feeling of that forbidden desire, but his conscious self, most probably having grown up in a strict, heavily traditional environment that forced him to follow all the expected norms and stereotypes, brings forward the feeling of guilt in order to make him suppress whatever it is that makes him revolt both emotionally and physically. Joseph becoming a Haunted then reverting back to his human form with even more guilt each time stands as an allegory for his struggle to come to terms with himself and break the restrains that keep him imprisoned.

Desire leading to self-destruction (Derek Simmons in Resident Evil 6)

Derek Simmons expresses probably one of the most straightforward forms of desire, given that he is not particularly complex himself, at least at the beginning. Originally the typical power-hungry villain with a Messiah complex, he developed an obsessive paranoia after falling in love with Ada. Of course for a man like him, "love" is not exactly the word we should use; he clearly cannot feel anything positive for anyone but himself, and what truly pushes him to extremes is not so much his feelings for Ada, but the fact that she rejected him. By rejecting him, Ada in fact challenged his power, something that, for him, is impossible to accept. After Derek crossed the line by coming up with the idea to create Ada's clone, his mania grew bigger, and his malicious acts shifted from general to very specific. At this point, it was desire that drove his actions, but also blinded him so much that he didn't realize that, by succumbing to this feeling and letting it take control, he got tangled in a peculiar and marginally twisted triangle, with two depictions of the same woman at its two points: Ada, the real one, and Carla, her clone. Subsequently, Derek's actions caused Carla's actions because she, in turn, realized that he had turned her into a lab rat when it was already too late for her to reverse the effects, while at the same time she felt deeply betrayed, not only as a scientist but also as a woman. It is hinted that the real Carla, for her part, had feelings for Derek but he would only see a potential Ada in her, so the realization of this added more fuel to Carla's already unstable psyche.

When Carla took her revenge on Derek by turning him into a monster, Derek's inner monstrosity also came to the surface and literally found a face. Not only he lost any sense of humanity but he also lost himself, and this was a path that he had in fact taken much earlier, when he first came up with the idea to create Ada's clone because he could not have the real one. His paranoia grew stronger after the clone was actually created, when he began to refer to and address the clone as if she was the real Ada. Such a sick situation, of course, could not drag on for too long, and would inevitably lead to his own destruction, aided also by Carla's thirst for revenge. From the moment when Derek was transformed into a monster, and seeing, in his paranoia, how powerful he could actually be in that state, he literally killed his human self, giving room to his inner monster.

Desire as obsession (Stefano Valentini in The Evil Within 2)

Although Stefano's murderous instincts can easily be mistaken for those of a typical serial killer, in fact they have much more depth, like he does as well, both as a character overall and specifically as an artist. Stefano's psyche is in turmoil, but there are two main conflicting emotions inside him: the extreme love that he feels for his own creations, and the venomous hate that he directs towards every other living soul around him. In fact Stefano is obsessed with his art, in a most twisted and unhealthy manner, and views everyone and everything through the distorted prism of his camera's eye. Stefano has given life to his camera by creating the hideous monster Obscura, which is also the depiction of his inner, normally unperceivable self. Moreover, Obscura represents his own feminine side, which he has embraced to a degree but still resents and feels contempt for. Stefano could be easily labelled a killer of women, but this would only be a shallow and superficial characterization for such a complex mentality. In reality he hates all human beings, independently of sex or age. In the real world, he started killing female models because, as a fashion photographer, he could very easily approach them as potential victims. Progressively, killing women became some kind of ritual, as through them he would every time attempt to eliminate his female side. In the reality of STEM, however, where he could act completely out of control, his "gallery" of victims grew bigger and richer. Male citizens and soldiers were also "honored" to become part of his installations, with some of them even getting to have their own personal exhibition room, like Turner, Hayes and Baker, and of course Sebastian for whom Stefano had prearranged a dedicated gallery hall in order to place the installation that he had conceived and which would feature him as a "protagonist".

For Stefano, desire is a very complex, dark feeling and notion; he hates Sebastian on the surface, but in the essence he yearns for that aspect of his that Stefano feels will make him an ideal model / victim. Sebastian combines two things that Stefano seems to deem as essential for the creation of his morbid art: innocence and sexual appeal. In his artwork, Stefano always depicts these two elements together, either directly or through symbols. Although he sees Lily as the ideal "blank canvas" for his future inspirations due to her innocence, he would still need victims to actually create art. Sebastian has Lily's pure heart, but he also has the sexuality that Stefano seeks so ardently for his disturbing creations. The sequence where Sebastian confronts and finally kills Stefano looks and feels like a twisted sex hunt, which becomes more than evident in case Stefano manages to catch Sebastian and stab him with lustful rage. At this stage, Stefano's obsession with his own art identifies both with the attraction that he feels for Sebastian on a physical level, and his desire to create "his masterpiece" which will incorporate all the perfection that he believes he has achieved: the perfect canvas, which is Lily, the perfect human material that would be Sebastian, and the perfect concept, which however he eventually lost the chance to create.

 

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Special thanks to afterdarkmysweet for providing info for Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within.

Bromantic Heroes

Bromances in video games are like the bread and butter; no matter what the main story is, many games feature a bromance which sometimes is there for fan service purposes while other times it is an important element of the plot. Although there is no specific reason why there are so many bromances in the video games universe, I would guess that it is mainly due to the fact that the male characters, no matter whether they have a lead or a secondary role, are men of action focused on their mission, of good nature and with good intentions (although there are surely exceptions to this), therefore they can easily like people and become likeable themselves and be trustworthy friends and comrades.

A bromance is defined as "a close, emotionally intense, platonic bond between two men, [...] an exceptionally tight affectional, homosocial male bonding relationship exceeding that of usual friendship, [...] distinguished by a particularly high level of emotional intimacy."  This definition seems to describe perfectly all the bromances that are featured in this article, however quite a few of them are not as simple. Several times our heroes go even further than that, and quite often what is implied is much more prominent than what is actually shown.

Dating back in the '90ties, Jane Jensen's Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within was possibly the first game to feature a bromance; or at least the first to feature one in such an obvious and canon way. The protagonist is Gabriel Knight, a young writer and amateur detective with a good deal of metaphysical heritage on his back. While investigating a series of murders, his research leads him to the charming and mysterious baron Friedrich Von Glower. Although it is made clear in several ways that Gabriel is straight as an arrow and quite the womanizer, it becomes equally clear in the process that he is strangely attracted to Friedrich who, even from their first meeting, seems totally smitten with Gabriel.

Gabriel's life is about to take a dramatic turn

Gabriel, who is normally quite laid back and cool, feels that there is something different about the Baron. Friedrich on the other hand shows his infatuation with Gabriel, although the latter does not always seem to take notice of the hints in the baron's words. However, considering he is actually a writer and therefore an intelligent man, it is more likely that he understands everything in fact, but decides to not let Friedrich know that he does.

The mystery that surrounds the baron, as well as the fact that for a good part of the game he may be considered the main villain, are the basic elements that make Gabriel keep his distances at the start. Still, Friedrich never ceases to subtly flirt with him and make his point.

Friedrich's words take a different meaning once you realise his attraction to Gabriel

Although Friedrich is not the killer everyone is searching for, his secret is connected to Gabriel and his past, and this is bound to make things tough for both of them soon. At some point, Friedrich notices the medallion that Gabriel is wearing around his neck, and which is a valuable and powerful family heritage: Gabriel comes from a long line of 'Shadow Hunters', people able to find and defeat evil powers. As one of them, Gabriel has the ability to discover that Friedrich is actually a werewolf, something that does not pass unnoticed from the baron.

While examining sleeping Gabriel's medallion, Friedrich has the chance to get a bit more intimate

Forced by the tumultuous events that come the one after the other, Gabriel finds himself unable to control his fate. The only solution is to kill Friedrich so as to not become a werewolf himself. On another level of analysis, we could say that Gabriel killing the baron symbolizes the suppression of a side of his sexuality that was unbeknown to him until he met Friedrich. By killing Friedrich, he forced that side to remain hidden in an attempt to get back to his old life.

This is one of the most ill-fated and starcrossed bromances so far, with its undertones giving it a far more dramatic character.

Gabriel struggling to not turn into a werewolf symbolizes his inner fight to suppress his new emotions

Born from the inspiration of Jane Jensen again, Malachi Rector, the protagonist of the adventure puzzle game Moebius: Empire Rising (2014), is a man characterized by a striking contradiction: he has an extremely cold and snobbish attitude while his physical features are dangerously attractive and fiery. Malachi is a well-known antiquities expert who suffers from seizures (this is something that very few people know about) and prefers to be alone for most of the time.

Malachi is a handsome man and he seems to be aware of it

While working on a case of a mysterious murder where he his knowledge as an antiquer is needed, he comes across David Walker, a young man who used to be in the army. Their meeting takes place under mysterious circumstances, and although Malachi doesn't seem too keen on becoming buddies with David, he is soon forced to hire him as a bodyuard when he realizes that his life is in danger. David becomes attached to Malachi, although the latter is not always sure about trusting him, and things become even more complicated and intense when David is kidnapped together with Helene, a distinguished aristoctat and potential murder victim.

While it becomes somehow clear that David's feelings for Malachi go beyond a standard frienship, for Malachi things are more mazey. His biggest issue is that he is a misanthrope, so when he gets closer to David, above all he finds it hard to deal with the fact that he actually got to like someone for a change. When David disappears, Malachi realises how much he cares for him, and when an operation is set to find Helene and free her, he risks his own life to make sure that David remains safe and also gets freed in the process.

David helps Malachi during a seizure crisis, not missing to feel him up a bit

What makes the Moebius bromance stand out most is fact that it is not afraid to demonstrate itself directly. Moreover, from a point and on it becomes the focus of the story, as Malachi puts his research aside and his main concern becomes David's liberation. The fact that David was deliberately thrown in Malachi's path when they first met is an important revelation that makes Malachi change his perspective. The people who are responsible for the murders are in fact putting to practice a theory which claims that certain patterns of history are repeated from time to time, and they want to take advantage of this for their own benefit. Both David and Malachi are revealed to be part of such a pattern, and they were destined to come together, which makes their relationship more or less karmic.

Another detail that accentuates the deeper essence of this bromance is when at some point David's sexual preferences are not only hinted to but also pointed at, during a conversation between Malachi and Mr Carter, one of the villains. Mr Carter remarks that it should be easy for Malachi to keep David under his control, thanks to his stunning looks. This implies that David may have been a bait for Malachi for practical reasons - since their acquaintance served the bad guys - but also Malachi was, unbeknown to him, a bait for David who, we can safely assume, had soft spot for tall dark men. The conspirators knew about David's weakness and this gave them the certainty that David would not betray them since it would be impossible for him to quit his mission once he met Malachi.

The ending of the game leaves little to imagination as to what the development of this bromance will probably be.

The connotations of the bleeding nose are rather obvious in this scene

Adam Jensen in Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011) and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016), has several different bromances in his adventurous life. In Human Revolution, Adam was a regular police officer working as a Security chief, but saw his life turn upside down after he got nearly killed during a violent attack. His boss, David Sarif, head of an Industry that developed and produced evolved prosthetic limbs, literally saved his life by using those necessary to replace the ones that Adam lost or became disfunctional. When he returned back from the dead thanks to David, he was a wholly new man, only the half of him was mechanically augmented.

Adam's bromances could fill a small notebook

The fact that David was the one responsible for Adam's 'rebirth' established a peculiar 'father-son' relationship between them. Adam is, to David, a constant reminder of the perfection that can be achieved with the right use of augmentations, as well as a confirmation of his own successful work. For Adam, David is a saviour who brought him back to life, but on the other hand he is also the one responsible for Adam's isolation, since his too obvious impressive enhancements push him to the margins of the 'normal' human society.

It is subtly implied - although it can pass unnoticed because the main plot is so massive and overwhelming - that Adam has some sort of emotional dependence on David, due to the fact that his new self was literally created by his boss's hands. Adam's name is not random; and David's name begins with a 'd', like 'Deus' (God). Adam is David's 'son' but in reality he is not his son, of course; Adam owes David his life, but at the same time he cannot forgive him because David made the choice to give Adam all the mechanical enhancements on his behalf without asking him if he wanted it. David on the other hand loves Adam dearly as a son, but inevitably he feels - maybe subconsciously to a degree - that because it was him who created the new Adam, he totally owns him, therefore has total control over him and he doesn't hesitate to manipulate him if necessary

David cares for Adam but sometimes he becomes too bossy

On a totally different level is Adam's relationship with Frank Pritchard, David's tech guru. Frank is a down-to-earth, sarcastic and extremely intelligent man who thinks on his feet and initially feels contempt for the gloomy, mysterious and compelling Adam.

Adam and Frank want to pretend that they dislike each other deeply, but they never miss to bump onto each other with or without excuse. Initially Frank likes to pick on Adam with ironic comments, however as they have to work more and more together, they both get to know each other better. Frank starts changing his attitude gradually and even helps Adam dig out shocking details about his past, going as far as to risk David's trust in him by passing top security info over to Adam.

Frank later writes a screenplay where the main hero is a guy who seems like a combination of himself and Adam, proving that bromances can be a great source of creative inspiration.

In spite of his misleading sassy attitude, Frank trusts and respects Adam a lot

Things are a bit different for Adam in Mankind Divided; although the world around him is in turmoil and augmented people like him are totally marginalized and treated like lepers, he seems much more settled and conscious of his situation. He is less sentimental and more cautious towards others, which is why he never opens up to anyone.

His closest friend is Vaclav Koller, his personal doctor, a very young and very eccentric mad scientist, who seems to have developed some sort of crush towards Adam. Although his interest is clearly scientific mostly, because Adam's top-notch augmentations give him goosebumps and he wants to get his hands of them and study them, his whole attitude betrays something much more than admiration and caring for his patient. Adam, for his own part, seems rather distant when interacting with Koller, but this is his regular style anyway, and on the other hand, it surely feels very awkward for him to have someone gaze at him from head to toe like Koller does, moreso if it is for science's sake.

You don't actually realize how much Adam counts Koller's friendship unless you trigger an unfortunate development where Otar Botkoveli, a ruthless mafioso, decides to take his revenge on Adam for not keeping his word. Knowing how much Adam needs Koller for his medical assistance and cares for him as a friend, Botkoveli sends his men to kill the doctor, who was on his black list anyway, so the poor guy didn't stand a chance.

Koller likes to greet Adam with over-enthusiastic comments

Being the responsible and reliable agent that he is, Adam has managed to gain the respect of his new boss, Jim Miller; but not his entire trust. Miller appears to be a hard man, void of emotions, who is focused on his job and his duty and does not care for anything else. The reality of his life is much different, though. While making a research, Adam breaks into Miller's apartment and finds out the many secrets of his personal life, details that make Adam view him differently and realize that Miller actually uses all that tough facade as a cover for his deeply sentimental side and the troubles he's dealing with.

Miller wants to trust Adam, but he is sceptical towards him at the beginning; something that is bound to change as the story unfolds. At a crucial point, Adam offers Miller the ultimate proof of his integrity, by giving him an antidote to reverse the effects of a lethal poison that he had been forced to drink. Miller then confesses to Adam that he knows he is a good man and that he always wanted to trust him, like he does now.

Adam's relationship with Miller is much more balanced than the one he had with David, as there is no dependence between them. Another interesting element is the fact that Miller is in fact a homosexual, but prefers to keep this for himself; Adam however seems totally unaffected by this revelation (in fact it seems that somehow he likes Miller more after finding it out), teaching the seemingly progressed but in reality still very conservative society of 2029 a life lesson about social acceptance.

Adam and Jim have a budding bromance

Although the theme in Murdered: Soul Suspect (2014) is a crime story with a supernatural twist, thew game does have its fair share of bromancing, although the parties involved never interact in real time. The plot is centered around Ronan O' Connor, an ex-rogue who became a detective and got viciously murdered while chasing a serial killer. Finding out that he is trapped between this world and the other, he comes back as a ghost to take care of his unresolved business. While at it, he has a chance to look back at his life, recall events and contemplate his relationships with his loved ones; and it is through these memories that we get to know him better as well.

Ronan causes a stir of emotions even as a ghost

Ronan was a boy who was living a wild life in the streets, and the prison was his second home. When he met Julia, his good side prevailed and the two fell in love. Julia had a brother, Rex, who was a police chief. Rex liked Ronan so much that even Julia was taken by surprise, because she knew that her brother was always very sceptical and did not easily trust people. Rex was able to see the good in Ronan; he accepted him in the family as a brother, took him under his wing and helped him become a cop and then a detective, leaving his rogue days behind. Unfortunately the happy times ended when Julia was killed in a street clash, and some time later Ronan was murdered, leaving Rex totally devastated.

It becomes very clear, from the several notes and memories that we collect along the way, that Ronan and Rex were having a very intense bromance, to the extent that Julia mentioned at some point that they all were 'a family of three'. When Rex learns about Ronan's death, he rushes to the scene of the crime although it is not his case, and his reactions show openly how much despair he feels.

Rex (right) silently mourns over Ronan's dead body (center) while Ronan's ghost (left) watches

From several aspects, the bromance between Ronan and Rex resembles the one of Gabriel and Friedrich from Gabriel Knight. Ronan and Rex fall victims of supernatural forces and metaphysical twists, which make them do things that they don't want to. The difference is that while Gabriel and Friedrich were conscious of both the events and their consequences, Ronan and Rex could not realize what was going on, because of an evil spirit that possessed both of them and led them to repulsive criminal acts, of which they had no conscience while committing. The tragic aspect however is pretty much similar, as it is revealed that it was actually Rex who murdered Ronan, albeit under the influence of the evil spirit.

Ronan's ghost tries to comfort Rex at Julia's grave

A game series like Life Is Strange, that explores the many layers and expressions of friendship, could not be without a bromance. Its most recent installement, Before The Storm (2017) features yet one more ill-fated bromance which, although it is not associated with the main characters, it partly affects the progression of events and is loaded with a decent amount of drama.

In this flashback story, among other characters from the first game, we also have the chance to see Frank Bauer, the drug dealer of Arcadia Bay, who, in spite of his ill reputation, does have a sincerely good side. Frank won't hesitate to pull a knife or be a tough negotiator with his clients, but he adores his puppy and will gladly get in the way to protect Chloe and Rachel.

Frank may look tough but deep down he is very sentimental

Frank has a strong, life-long bromance with Damon Merrick, who belongs to the underworld like Frank, but is way tougher than him and literally ruthless. Despite their different approach in life, Frank and Damon are connected with brotherly love and mutual respect, and they trust each other unconditionally. When at some point Chloe attempts to accuse Frank of being a stitch, Damon becomes enraged and replies that this is something he would never believe, adding that he would kill for Frank, whom he knows almost since they were born.

Frank (left) and Damon (right) are like brothers

Things won't end up well for them, though. During an eventful meet up in the junkyard, Damon gets furious after Rachel hits him and Frank with a plank of wood; he attacks her and hits her severely with a knife, and when Frank tries to keep him from going after her and Chloe, Damon slashes him too. Later on, Frank is forced to kill Damon when the latter attempts to inject Chloe with a drug overdose.

Frank has to face Damon as an enemy against his will

The fact that Frank did the right thing did not ease his guilt, however. By the end of the story, we see him sitting by a campfire and he is deeply emotional as he goes through a box with photographs of himself and Damon, as well as the knife that took his friend's life away. In the end he puts everything related to Damon in a shoe box which is like a shrine of sorts and even spills wine on the ground as a libation in his dead friend's honor.

Frank is overwhelmed by memories when going through the contents of his box

Chris Redfield from the Resident Evil series has always been in great terms with his friends and partners and with some of them he has been particularly close. His good heart and the bravery that he showed in the battlefield made him stand out from a very young age, and he easily came up through the ranks relying on his value, making more friends but also enemies on the way.

Chris is the friend that everyone would love to have

As a soldier, he used to be the best man of his captain, Albert Wesker, whom he respected and appreciated a lot. In the first Resident Evil, he teams up with Wesker after they get trapped, with two more members of the team (Barry and Jill), in the Spencer Mansion. Wesker has some evil plans which he will soon expose, until then however he needs to make sure that he has Chris's trust. For this reason, he regularly helps Chris out by leaving ammo and supplies for him, by fixing malfunctioning stuff in the estate, or even by backing him up when a monster attacks. However when the time comes, he reveals his ulterior motives and from that point and on, he officially becomes Chris's number one enemy.

Wesker manages to hide his true intentions from Chris for as long as he needs to

The case of Chris and Wesker is not that of a standard bromance, but Wesker still is, even after his death, a huge chapter in Chris's life. Wesker had a dark background and he was always on the evil side, seeing himself as an almighty god who would one day conquer a whole new world inhabited only by a select few (an allegory that couldn't be more timely, by the way). If you notice some details in the games where he and Chris appear together, you may catch certain undertones in his words which imply that he would have wanted Chris to join him in this new world that he imagined. Although he always despised Chris for his integrity and honesty, he couldn't help but appreciate his abilities, and he knew that if he had such a gifted and courageous soldier by his side, it would have been so much easier for him to realize his plan. Knowing that Chris would never agree to such a prospect, made Wesker even more furious and resulted in him hating Chris even more.

Chris, on the other hand, used to think highly of Wesker in the good days, but when he learned the truth about his captain, he became his Nemesis, until he finally killed him in Resident Evil 5. Still, the last word that Wesker said (rather, shouted) was Chris's name.

Chris is forced to fight and kill his power-hungry ex-captain

In Resident Evil 6, Chris is a highly respected chief of his team and he looks after all of his men. His right hand is Piers Nivans, a young but extremely efficient soldier, who seems to complement Chris in many ways. Chris is hot-blooded and impulsive, while Piers is rational, collected and calm. Many times Piers is like the conscience of Chris, offering him advice and guiding him towards the right direction, although Chris many not always be willing to listen to him.

It is shown from the start that the two of them have a strong bond between them, as it is shown that Piers never hesitates to protect his captain. Several times, Chris seems to lose focus and take everything to a personal level, and this is when Piers intervenes and tries to put him back on track. It is almost never easy though, as Chris finds it hard to accept that he is wrong.

Piers is always by Chris's side, in good and bad times

The bromance between Chris and Piers passes from many stages, and becomes more powerful as the plot unfolds, although the truth is that Chris is far too absorbed in tracking down Ada Wong (rather, her evil clone, Carla) to realize it. Piers is like a silent force, handling Chris's anger with patience and wisdom despite his young age. For Chris, Piers is his most trusted soldier, someone he can rely on at any given time. But for Piers, Chris is someone that he not only trusts but also admires tremendously and even adores.

His devotion is absolute, and he proves it by making the ultimate sacrifice, when Chris is just about to be killed by a most dangerous monster in an underwater facility. Having been viciously hit himself by the same monster moments before, something that cost him the loss of his right arm, Piers injects himself with a virus sample which grants him superhuman powers but also mutates him.

Piers loses himself in the mutation

After the mutation occurs, Piers is able to assist Chris in defeating the monster, but the effects of the virus in his body are irreversible. Knowing that he won't be able to get cured (a bit of tragic irony here, as Leon learns at the end of his version of the story that a cure has been found thanks to Jake's antibody), he tricks Chris into thinking that he is willing to escape with him, and at just the last minute he stays behind, locking himself in the facility, ignoring his captain's desperate cries. While Chris is seemingly safe in the escape pod, the monster appears again from a distance, ready to attack; but seconds later it is eliminated, obviously by Piers who remains Chris's guardian angel until the end.

Piers spells something that reads like 'I love you' as Chris floats away in the escape pod

Amidst madmen who float around in ghost form, sadistic mind games and mental journeys mixed with messed up memories, detectives Sebastian Castellanos and Joseph Oda in The Evil Within (2014) maintain their totally legit and canon true-detective-esque bromance against all odds and in the face of all the human and superhuman forces that want to plant seeds of faction between them.

Joseph (left) and Sebastian (right) are the best friends and partners

Sebastian and Joseph are as different as day and night; starting from something as simple as their ancestry (Sebastian has Latino heritage and Joseph has Japanese origins). Sebastian is passionate, moody and impulsive, with a vigorous and attractive physical appearance, while Joseph is cool, considerate and cautious, and looks more like a delicate college student and less like a police officer. Justifying the famous law of physics about the opposites that attract, the two guys are extremely close friends and get along perfectly, despite their many differences.

The zombies can wait, now we want to sit and chat in the grass

Unlike Sebastian and his crystal clear personality, Joseph is surrounded by an aura of mystery. He seems to be very easily corrupted, turning into a Haunted several times, attacking both Sebastian and Juli on different occasions and wandering around STEM like a ghost. All this comes to contrast with his low-profile nature; it is as if a well-hidden dark side of his finally found a way to prevail thanks to STEM and, as he confesses to Sebastian, he doesn't want to stop it.

This can have many interpretations; and considering how close he and Sebastian are, we could take it to an even deeper level: Joseph here is a bit like Gabriel Knight, who struggled to suppress the werewolf within him and, by extension, the strange new emotions that Friedrich stirred in him. Joseph seems to have developed certain feelings for Sebastian that are still new to him, and while he feels confused and frustrated by them, he doesn't want to suppress them. This is not very obvious in the main game (although it becomes so if you pay more attention to several details), but in the Assignment (Juli Kidman's mission) there is a scene where he turns into a Haunted right after he and Juli get separated from Sebastian in the sewers. He attacks Juli and although he is possessed, he seems rather conscious of his words and their meaning.

It is clear that Joseph is speaking for himself and is referring to Sebastian

The bromance between Sebastian and Joseph carries on to the Evil Within 2, although Joseph does not make an appearance there. Sebastian believes that Juli killed Joseph, and this is what we knew as well, but after Sebastian finds a secret slide, Juli confesses to him that all that he saw back then was an illusion and in fact Joseph is still alive. Sebastian is happy to hear this, but at the same time sounds somewhat angry because Juli kept him in the dark all this time. However the most interesting and intriguing detail is what Tatiana, the nurse in the Upgrades section, says to Sebastian prior to this, when he has just found the slide and wonders what it is about. Tatiana tells him that although he had come to terms with all his demons and traumatic experiences of the past, there is still one memory that he had refused to confront; and that memory is Joseph's death.

Sebastian is very moved when watching Joseph's slide

A famous zombie hunter with a heroic past and a bright future, Leon Kennedy from the Resident Evil series is one of the most popular heroes of the saga, and rightly so, since he is the epitomy of perfection: he is very handsome, highly intelligent, extremely efficient in the field of action and has a heart of gold. Someone as gifted, was doomed to star in a most tempestuous and adventurous bromance.

Leon is a feast for the eyes

Leon met Jack Krauser in the jungles of South America, just a couple of years after he became a government agent, in the Operation Javier story of The Darkside Chronicles. His orders were to locate a notorious drug dealer with suspicious connections, and because the mission was very demanding and dangerous, Jack Krauser, an intelligent and experienced mercenary, was sent along.

Although coming from different backgrounds, Leon and Jack had many things in common and they went along extremely well right from the start. Their first meeting in the jungle is legendary and not only marks the start of their bromance, but also leaves several interpretations open to imagination. Jack approaches Leon from behind without making a sound, and it is as if he had already been staring at him for a while from a distance before he made an impressive appearance, stabbing a snake that was just about to bite Leon. Further down in the same scene, Leon can be clearly seen checking Jack out as he walks in front of him.

Leon and Jack's first meeting in the jungle is nearly as epic as their bromance

During the course of their mission, they seem to cooperate perfectly and they are never seen arguing or disagreeing. They respect each other, they even exchange teasings, they back each other up, and in general are the ideal partners. What could bloom into a great lifelong friendship, however, goes to pieces abruptly from Jack's part, when he finds out that Leon is a highly ranked government agent, a revelation that makes the green-eyed monster wake inside Jack, whose still unfullfilled dream had always been such a career. From that point and on, Jack chooses to shift to the dark side and consider Leon an enemy for all the wrong reasons. All this time, Leon is happily killing monsters of all sizes and shapes, naively believing that his bromance with Jack is still going and hopefully will go on forever.

Jack then disappears for two whole years, only to appear again as Leon's hopeful murderer in Resident Evil 4 where Leon and Jack have an epic knife fight that is orchestrated and carried out in such a way as to remind of other things, and which leaves Leon with a mark on his right cheek as a souvenir.

All that Jack really wanted to do was to give Leon a kiss

Interestingly enough, Jack never bothers explaining to Leon what made him change his attitude towards his ex-partner. Instead, he entangles them both in a lethal game of a marginally S/M nature, where he enjoys attacking Leon with tricks that are particularly suggestive, while he gets himself equally excited every time that Leon succeeds in hitting him back.

Jack could attack Leon in many ways, but he prefers the hug approach

When eventually Leon dramatically reduces Jack's options of prevailing, Jack runs up to the top of a tower, straps the whole place with timed explosives and blocks the exit after Leon gets to him. Leon has only a few minutes to kill Jack before a fatal blast happens. Jack's soul is an abyss, and noone can tell for sure what exactly he had in mind, but it looks like he was planning a dramatic finale à la Romeo and Juliet for Leon and himself. Leon however does not seem to be angry with Jack, and contemplates what a good guy his ex-partner used to be, over Jack's dead body. 

Krauser left an unfading mark in Leon's life, something that even has a tangible proof. In Resident Evil 6, Leon still has the scar from Jack's knife on his cheek, both as a badge of bravery, because he is is a fearless hero, and as a reminder of his epic bromance with Krauser, because even fearless heroes have a heart.

The scar is still very noticeable on Leon's right cheek

Leon has one more bromance in Resident Evil 4, which develops very quickly but ends too fast in a tragic way. Soon after he arrives in Spain, he meets Luis Sera, ex-cop and specialized scientist, who was helping Osmund Saddler develop the Plaga virus but ended up being chased by him. Leon finds Luis locked in a closet in an abandoned farm house and frees him, but minutes later one of Saddler's allies shows up and knocks them both unconscious.

When they are back to their senses, they realize that they are in an empty storage room, tied back to back. Nonetheless, they both keep their coolness and take the chance to introduce themselves and chat a bit before they get separated after another violent attack.

Every time Leon and Luis meet, they get in big trouble

When they meet again, it is in an isolated cabin in the woods, where Leon seeks shelter with Ashley as they are being chased by angry villagers. While Ashley is safely hidden in a cupboard on the upper floor, Leon and Luis get involved in a crazy battle with the mutated residents, who are able to break all barriers and get inside the cabin.

Leon and Luis are an excellent fighting duo

Although the two guys know each other very little by that time, the intense experience in the cabin apparently has a powerful effect on them and they form a strong bond. When later Luis is sadistically killed by Lord Saddler before being able to hand Leon over the antidote for the infection that he and Ashley are carrying, Leon looks and sounds so desperate, that it is as if he just lost a life-long friend, and swears to make Sadder pay for what he did to Luis.

Leon is devastated when Luis dies

In the CGI movie Damnation, while on a mission in a war-torn eastern european country, Leon meets Alexander "Buddy" Kozachenko, a teacher who belongs to a rebel group. Although Buddy doesn't trust Leon at frist because he is American, the two guys soon become friends and develop a very strong emotional bond and, eventually, a bromance in the process.

Buddy likes to play rough, but he soon becomes Leon's buddy

Buddy is infected from the Plaga virus but he can still manage the effects of his infection thanks to which he is able to control an army of Lickers, something that he regularly takes advantage of to save his own life. He also does it to save Leon's life, even before they become friends: early on, he orders the Lickers to halt their attack against Leon, and later he sends them off to deal with a group of lethal enemies.

Leon and Buddy unite to face the common enemy

While being chased by two Tyrants, Leon saves Buddy's life by offering him a hand as he is about to fall. This event makes Buddy realize that Leon is a man he can rely on and trust fully. When at some point Buddy considers committing suicide because his infection is spreading and he will eventually get mutated, Leon stops him and shoots him in the spine. This paralyzes his legs, but also stops the infection from expanding to the rest of his body, thus saving his life.

Buddy and Leon contemplate their lives

After Leon returns to America, Buddy goes back to teaching; while he is out in the sun on his wheelchair, we see that he still has the small bottle of whiskey that Leon had given him, and he is obviously cherishing it as a treasured reminder of his great friendship with Leon.



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• Wikipedia source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromance
• Thanks to afterdarkmysweet for providing essential info and material about Gabriel Knight