Born on the plains, a farmer’s sons
and brothers the same, raised on promises…
we’d stay that way.
As boys we believed, summers at the sea
we were free to become men of good will…
side by side. “By Your Side” House of Heroes Sunset falls over the battlefield, blood red streaking the sky in mimicry of the bloodstained, flame-ridden plain below. And as the shades of night descend, two armored figures meet amidst the dead and the dying, cast battered swords from weary hands, and grip one another’s shoulders. It is done. The battle is won. And they are both still alive. The halls of unforgettable story telling are filled with epic battles, hard won fights, and brother tales. Whether the main players are actually brothers, or simply brothers-at-heart, there’s just something about a good brother story that grips us by the heart and won’t let us go. Just off the top of my head, I can list a good half dozen tremendous brother pairs from novels, films, history:
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Merlin and Arthur, BBC’s Merlin TV series
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David and Jonathan, the Bible
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Dean and Sam Winchester, Supernatural TV series
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Sherlock and Watson, many awesome interpretations over the years
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Thor and Loki, Marvel-verse
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Legolas and Gimli, The Lord of the Rings
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Steve Rogers and Bucky, Captain America
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Fred and George Weasley, the Harry Potter series
I could keep going for at least another ten minutes. Daresay I could pull another half dozen out of The Lord of the Rings alone. One of my favorite books, Enemy Brothers, is a tremendous brother tale set in Great Britain during WWII. (Actually, what makes it even more spectacular is the author penned the novel before the end of WWII was anywhere in sight! Knowing that just makes every awesome heart-wrenching scene in the book that much more incredible. If you haven’t read it … you should.) I rediscovered my love for brother tales recently while writing a short story, Shattered Ice. Despite its shortness—clocks in right around 1,000 words (an earth-shattering feat for me)—I fell in love with Ren and Tal and would be thrilled to explore their story more at some point in the future. I suppose I just love sibling tales in general. The bond between siblings, the complexities of their relationships, and the protectiveness they feel for one another are near and dear to my heart. So I find brother tales, brother-sister tales, and even sister tales especially enjoyable. Somehow though, sister tales rarely possess the same power that brother tales do. I won’t say a sister tale can’t be done well—I’ll admit to enjoying Disney’s Frozen as much as the next person—but somehow there never seems to be the same raw depth, heart, and strength to the story. So what is it about a good brother story that strikes so deep? I pondered this question over the past few days, racking my brain for the answer. To be honest, I don’t know. But I can speculate. I wonder if it in part has to do with the fact that if there’s one person you know—or think you know—better than yourself growing up, it’s your sibling. The little quirks and idiosyncrasies you’d let slide in others, somehow seem so much bigger in the person you’ve known since you—or they—were born. You know their faults … and they know yours too. And sometimes, they tell you the painful truth. You can pretend to all the world … but a sibling? Well, they’ll see right through your thickest mask. But despite the conflict that occasionally sparks when y’all rub crossways, you still manage to love one another. Even if you show it in strange ways at times. Somehow, I think good brother tales seem to capture this bond in a deep, heartfelt, “I’d die for you” kind of way, without coming across as cheesy or contrived. Even when the brothers are not brothers by blood. Sure, it’s a bit of a tall order. But I can think of dozens of tales and brother pairs that fit the bill. And I can’t wait to discover some more. What do you think? What are your favorite brother tales and sibling pairs? Do you have a favorite brothers’ moment?
In my first three books, my main character was an only child. In my current WiP the main character has a younger sister, and I've really enjoyed writing their scenes together!
As for why two brothers are normally the best combination, I think it had to do a little bit with the competitiveness and tough love of brothers. (Also, I tend to like guy characters better, so that might be part of the reason too.)
Another famous brother pair I grew up with were Frank and Joe from the Hardy Boys books. I really loved their relationship.
This is a great post!
~Sarah Faulkner
inklinedwriters.blogspot.com
Tough love … that's a great way to put it, Sarah. I tend to like guy characters too. Or girl characters that are written by a male author. Otherwise the girls tend to end up seeming whiny or complaining or so over-the-top emotional, it drives me crazy. :)
Brothers can get away with being meaner to each other than sisters or a brother to a sister. In my Dragon and the Scholar series, book one has a major focus on the relationship between two brothers and what happens when the older is lost to a dragon. In the next I introduced a brother and much younger sister dynamic, and that was fun but more cute than touching mainly because of the "I love you, my sister, but you are too young and naive to make your own decisions" "I'm not!" "Here have a doll" "But I'M SEVENTEEN!!!" dynamic. My current WIP is about two girls with a sisterly dynamic, and I like it, but I find A. they aren't often mean to each other and there isn't as much humor, B. when my brothers notice the other brother interested in a girl, they're like "Go get her!" and when my girl sees her best friend might be crushing on someone she automatically starts in with "he's not good enough for you." Growing up my friends always thought my crush was a bad idea, so I guess I'm drawing from that.
Heidi
@
hlburkeauthor.com
A brother and sister tale can be pretty deep too.
As for my favorite brother stories, definitely the Brothers Ashiun from The Tales of Goldstone Wood. :)
Although the two brothers in the movie, Gettysburg, always get me too. And Legolas and Gimli, Steve and Bucky also make great brother pairs for not being actual brothers. :)
And Aragorn and Legolas are also like brothers…Gimili came in as the little wise brother to cool them down when they got frustrated at each other. "Let 'em go, lad. Leave 'em be." It just cracks me up that he calls Legolas "lad."
I also like Aragorn and Eomer as a brother pair in the books. And I love the way the movies depict Boromir and Faramir. "Little brother."
Legolas and Gimly wind up being an unexpected brother story. Of course the hobbits have brotherly affection for one another as well in LOTR.
Narnia, naturally, shows a pair of brothers and sisters right from the start.
Shea and Flick Ohmsford of The Sword of Shannara are half-brothers I've mentioned on this blog before. Their story is one I believe you'd enjoy reading, (similarity to LOTR or no).
Just as I think from your description I'd be intrigued by Enemy Brothers. I'll check it out. :)
Eomer and Eowyn remain one of my favourite sibling relationships to date, for odd reasons, but reasons nonetheless.
I love familial/friendship based bonds – like you said, there's a strength and longevity to them that makes them much more attractive to me than romantic entanglements. They feel much more unconditional and enduring.
I do love Eomer and Eowyn. They're both so cool on their own … but when you put them together as a sibling pair they're just plain awesome.
A lot of times I feel like so called "romantic entanglements" are depicted in entertainment as so selfish and self-centered. It's all about how the other person makes you feel, or how good looking they are, or how much you need them. Whereas siblings tales often strike to the heart of the matter and depict a love that isn't based on appearance or what it gets you.
This was a beautiful post. Like Hannah, I love the story of the Brothers Ashiun from Tales of Goldstone Wood. Another wonderful example from Scripture is the bond between Paul and Silas in the Book of Acts. Though not related by blood, they encourage each other even while imprisoned. The story I'm currently working on features two twin brothers who are both transformed into beasts. They must discover who they truly are before they can be free. It's my first attempt at writing something like this, and it's challenging but lots of fun.
Oh wow! Sounds like an intriguing and fun story to write. :)
Thanks for the post, Gillian! I, too, find the sibling relationships some of the deepest in stories (probably because I have plenty of siblings myself!). For actual siblings, I'd choose Simon and River from Firefly (I like the show, with some caveats). Simon's genuine care and patience for River is quite touching. Sam and Frodo constitute my favorite almost-brother pair: "I can't carry the Ring for you, Mr. Frodo, but I can carry you!"
At this point, I am taking up the challenge. By golly, I am going to write a killer heart-warming/wrenching story about sisters!
Yes, Simon and River are great! He's so sweet to her and gave up so much for her.
Do it! You totally should. Write a tremendous sister tale that completely knocks everything I said about them out of the water! :)
Hmm, this is a really good post/question! There are so many good examples out there! I agree with basically everyone in the comments…
A couple no one has mentioned yet: David Balfour and Alan Breck in "Kidnapped", and Marcus and Esca from "The Eagle of the Ninth"–which brings up another interesting dynamic, which is master/servant relationships. (Frodo/Sam, Taran/Gurgi, Bertie/Jeeves, to give some very different examples. ;))
While it's not exactly "epic" which seems to be what we're going for here, I really enjoy "The Penderwicks" for a sister story. :) And Frozen was fun! But I think I agree about brothers (I too tend to like guy characters more, mostly because it's hard to find a good balance between whiny-girls and tough-girls, neither of which I like).
I'm writing about a few different brother relationships myself, and I hadn't thought much about it until I read this post! I'll have to think about it more. Thanks! :)
Everyone has such wonderful examples that I would never have thought of! The master-servant relationship is an interesting one. I'd like to give some indepth thought to that at some point.
I think brother stories are better than sister stories because men are so much more interesting and emotionally stable than girls. Sisters–I know this isn't always true–tend to fight off rivalry more than brothers. And when two or more girls are around eachother 24/7 on an adventure the emotional tension and bitter words become almost unbearable. Men make the best characters.
Yes, for the most part I enjoy male characters the best. However, if you want a good adventure with girls on a adventure together as an actually supportive, strong, and amusing foursome, Forest Born by Shannon Hale was pretty well done.
Great post, Gillian! But really, did you have to mention Bucky? *wails* I saw The Winter Soldier recently, so it's been on my brain. You're totally right about the relationship between Cap and Bucky, though. I absolutely loved it!
And I think the neat thing about sibling relationships is just that they're naturally deeper than most. There's a deep emotional connection that's hard to find in most relationships. And the reasons everyone else mentioned are great, too!
I know! Cap and Bucky … man … talk about tear-jerking! Both of their characters were so great in this last movie. Can't wait to see more of them.
My favorite brother-brother story was a rewrite of the Biblical David and Jonathan story, the Dahveed series by Terri L Fivash. In book 2, Jonathan has an older brother/mentor relationship with David. He calls David out on his insecurity and low self-esteem and gives him a twisted, brass earring (there is history to it) on a chain so that every time David looks down in deference, he sees the earring as a reminder. For a while there his head is bobbing up and down because of it. Then David notices a flaw of Jonathan's and gives it back. The earring gets passed back and forth so often in the book that their friends place bets on when it will be transferred next…
I just really love how their relationship is portrayed in that series!
Oh, that's so cool! Have you ever read the Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers? It's a really fun "frontier fantasy" series based on the story of David. It has a lot of the brotherhood dynamics between the David character and his brothers and Jonathan's character.