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Loyal Animal Companion - TV Tropes

  • ️Tue Mar 10 2009

Loyal Animal Companion (trope)

Una and the lion, from Spenser's Faerie Queen

"You were never masters, but friends. I was your friend.
I loved you well, and was loved. Deep love endures
To the end and far past the end. If this is my end,
I am not lonely. I am not afraid. I am still yours."

— Robinson Jeffers, "The House Dog's Grave"

Ah, the loyal, lovable, non-human friend. For whatever reason these dutiful companions will follow their (usually) human friend just about anywhere. Sometimes it be magic, other times merely loyalty. In any event, everybody loves pets that know how to kick ass.

Sub-Trope of Interspecies Friendship. Despite the name, Morality Pet doesn't belong here.

Sub-tropes:

Examples not fitting the sub-tropes:

Anime & Manga

  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (JP): Benny Bunny, the nephew of the White Rabbit, follows Alice around everywhere trying to keep her out of trouble.
  • Duranki: Usum has a large dog named Fwawa that sometimes helps around.
  • Fena: Pirate Princess: Brule, Fena's trusty dog, accompanies her when she escapes with the Samurai Seven.
  • Little Prince Cedie: Dougal is a Great Dane who becomes close to Cedie once he gets to Dorincourt.
  • Marine Boy: Splasher, a white dolphin who accompanies the title character, occasionally serving as his mount.
  • Onipan!: Momo inherits her ancestors' penchant for being accompanied into battle by a bird, a wolf, and a monkey.

Films — Animation

  • Dot and the Kangaroo: The mother kangaroo finds Dot when she is lost. Dot also has at least one animal of some description for companionship (usually, but not always limited to, kangaroos or koalas) in every one of the movie's eight sequels.
  • Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might: Icarus a.k.a. the Haiya Dragon makes his debut in this film as one of these to Gohan. Despite the dubious canonicity of the film itself, Icarus would later appear in the anime proper. He also appears in the next two DBZ films.
  • The Queen's Corgi: Queen Elizabeth of England owns three corgis who follow her everywhere and live with her at Buckingham Palace. The film is about her favorite one, Rex, frantically attempting to return to her side.
  • Tangled: Pascal is Rapunzel's loyal pet chameleon who can always be found on her shoulder or hair and takes protecting her from harm very seriously. For one, he saves Rapunzel by making Gothel trip and therefore fall out of the tower.

Films — Live-Action

  • The Island On Bird Street: Alex's only constant companion as he travels through the ghetto is his pet mouse, who he likes to talk to when he's lonely or contemplative.

Tabletop Games

  • Damnation Decade: The Trucker advanced class gains an animal companion with the "Good Buddy" talent.
  • Dungeon World: The Ranger playbook has a starting move which gives the character a supernatural connection to a creature of the player's choice.
  • The One Ring: Several player cultures can acquire animals who'll accompany them for life.
    • The woodmen of Mirkwood can have a hound of Mirkwood, which is very handy in hunting or fighting.
    • Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain can summon ravens to use as messengers or scouts.
  • Ryuutama: Animals with the "Loyal" trait are this, never leaving their owner's side.

Toys

  • Ever After High: Each of the main girls is featured with an animal companion themed after their fairytales who are implied never to stray far away from the girls' side. Apple has a snow fox, Raven a dragon, Blondie a baby bear, Cupid a pegasus, and Briar a unicorn.

Video Games

  • Adventure Escape: Bert, a bird that Professor Burns rescues in Hidden Ruins. Afterwards, Bert follows him around and picks up items that are out of reach.
  • Animal Inspector: The player character's dog describes itself as a loyal animal companion.
  • Azure Striker Gunvolt 3: Gunvolt takes the form of a blue wolf while Kirin is the active character, following her around as she battles. When their EP is at least 100%, Gunvolt can transform back into human form and swap places with Kirin.
  • Bowser's Fury: Plessie, a giant dinosaur, has a much more expanded role here than in 3D World and will come to and offer Mario lifts wherever he is on the map. He is essential for confronting Giant Bowser for the final boss fight.
  • Circus Electrique: Leonidas, a heavily scarred and half-blinded old lion who once served alongside her mother, now accompanies Amelia wherever she goes. While not as small as your typical Empathy Pet, his reactions commonly reflect hers. Particularly with all the growling.

Visual Novels

  • Tavern Talk: Zephir has a black sheepfish called Rufus. According to the Lorebook, Rufus was an abandoned pet whom Zephir adopted a few months after he was abandoned himself. They've become best friends ever since, and Zephir sometimes knits little scarves for Rufus out of his own wool.

Western Animation

  • Steven Universe: Lion is a pink, well, lion whom Rose Quartz rescued and revived with her healing tears long ago. Since then, he's loyally kept to her side and remained at her ship's ruins when she died to give birth to Steven. When Rose's son stumbles upon him, Lion keeps an eye out for him and guides him through his journey to learn more about his mother.
  • Winx Club: Kiko is Bloom's pet gray/blue-coated bunny. He's the one to alert her of the fight going on between a fairy and some monsters, kickstarting the plot. He follows her to Alfea because, as it turns out, Kiko is a magical animal and can pass through the school's anti-Muggle barrier. Whenever Bloom feels down, she returns to Gardenia and brings Kiko with her, who comforts her. The only exceptions are when the Winx go to a dangerous mission, so Bloom leaves him in either Alfea or Gardenia.