Sentinels and Guides are Known

Tropes and genres
Related tropes/genres	Sentinel and Guide, Dark Sentinel, Dark Guide, Sentinel Prime, The GDP Series
See also	Sentinel AU
Related articles on Fanlore.

Sentinels and Guides are Known is a popular trope in The Sentinel fandom. It is a subtrope of Sentinel and Guide.

In canon, much of the tension of the show comes from Jim and Blair's attempts to keep Jim's abilities a secret. Many fanworks take this tension and play with it in other ways. One of those ways is to create worlds where the sentinels and guides are known to others.

This trope can take form in several ways:

• sentinels and guides are known but rare
• sentinels and guides are known and commonplace
• sentinels and guides are known and have specific/common positions in society
• others?

As a Way to Explore Power Imbalance

Some fanworks use this trope to explore the ways this AU could play out. Are sentinels in control? Guides? An equal, respectful relationship?

The GDP Series

See The GDP Series for more.

Susan Foster's series is a formative work.

Example Fanworks in Sentinel Fandom

• A Companion by Any Other Name by LilyK. Companions (Guides) are trained and then enter into a contract with a Sentinel.
• The Awakening by Keira Marcos, where Jim is a powerful Alpha Sentinel and local Sentinels form a pride.
• Planet of the Sentinels by Saul, an explicit futuristic slash story
• Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This, a non-explicit story in the style of 24
• Surviving the Chaos, which involves a personality conflict between Jim's normal self and "the Sentinel" personality

In Other Fandoms

To see how other fandoms use this trope, see Sentinel AU.

Similar Tropes

• Alpha/Beta/Omega
• Sime~Gen

Resources

• a list of Sentinels and Guides are Known fiction, ^{Archived version}
• works tagged sentinelsociety by wordwitch
• works tagged Alternate Universe - Sentinels And Guides Are Known at the AO3