Talk:Soulbond (trope)

Lifebond is not necessarily a synonym. There are many kinds of "mysterious bonds". TPM fanfic had force bonds (they were linked through the force and could strengthen the others energy when needed), mind bonds (telepathic link), training bonds (combination of force bond and mind bond but less intrusive and only temporary), life bonds (if one dies, the other dies too), heart bonds (which had something to do with falling in love? could only happen when you fell in love? forced you to fall in love? something like that?). Some could be broken, some couldn't; some were destined by the force, some happened against their will. HP has bonds that happen through magic. Could be lifebonds, could be just something that forces physical proximity, could be everything in-between. The soulbond in Xena fandom is more or less canon and in fanfic it means that their souls are linked together and Xena and Gabrielle will always find each other; reincarnation, etc.--Doro 16:24, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

I wouldn't say they're synonyms, but I do think they're very closely related and a type of variation on theme, which is "A mysterious bond between two people which links them closely and privileges the relationship between them over all other relationships." From an id-kink perspective, I think all the examples you mention fill a very similar space. --Betty 16:54, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Okay, but I thought this page was for soulbonds in general, not for one definition in a specific fandom. I get that you're saying they're different things in TPM, but I'm still not sure each term needs a separate entry, because I don't think that difference is consistent across fandoms. I think Xena's soulbonds and Trek's Vulcan mating bond (whether fanon or not) and Valdemar's lifebonds and Elfquest's Recognition and so forth make sense to cover on a single page, since they're basically the same trope with variations -- if we need to split them out, it should probably be into subsections by fandom.--Penknife 16:59, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't think each term needs a separate entry, but you define soulbond in a very general way and all the different types of bonds can mean very specific things, which means they are related but not necessarily synonyms. I would say the most general term is "mysterious bond" because even soulbond can have a very specific meaning, depending on which fandom you are in. I would suggest to remove lifebond as a synonym because it seems too specific when you insist on making soulbond the more general term.--Doro 17:42, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

I've removed it. However, I'm not sure now what to do with information about this trope in fandoms that don't use the term "soulbond" or that use it interchangeably with "lifebond" or "psychic bond." Can we come up with some kind of umbrella term like "bonding" and make that the main article? It's such an interesting trope, and I think it really is basically the same trope across many fandoms, however the details play out.--Penknife 18:14, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

For me, that umbrella term is soulbond. You know, you're reading along and suddenly you discover that the OTP have a biochemical addiction to each other's sweat and you find someone on AIM and go "OMG, the story I'm reading suddenly turned into soul-bonding!" even though no souls are involved. Is my usage that weird? --Betty 18:21, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

I'd call the umbrella term "soulbond," too, but it seems to me that Doro's saying that for her, "soulbond" doesn't include "lifebond," and I don't really make a distinction between them except in terms of which term is canon in which fandom (all of my fandoms either use one term for bonds or use multiple terms interchangeably, in my experience, they don't use them to mean different things.) So. Hmm. How do we reflect PPOV, here?--Penknife 18:48, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Examples

I was trying to think of some notable bonding stories from anime/manga fandoms to make the examples list a bit more varied, but I'm stuck. Anyone got any? There's a Mirage of Blaze one if I can find it (ETA: found it), but I recall it being more telepathic bond than soulbond, so I'm not sure it fits, or if this trope needs renaming. --MegR 10:42, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

I would check with Naruto fandom. I haven't been in the fandom for a long time but I'd be really surprised if they didn't have a couple stories. I unfortunately don't read in this subgenre (er, trope?) so I can't think of any examples. - inkstone 13:26, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Naruto does indeed have bonding stories, I just this evening read one! ;). But I'm not well read enough in the fandom to know if it's a well known story or typical or what. I mean, I know we don't have a notability requirement, but I don't feel quite right just sticking down the first bonding story I come across. Eh, I will hunt down a few recs lists or something. --MegR 23:30, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

(shhh! seekrit sharing time) In several of the fandoms I read in (and sometimes edit in a bit on fl) I have no idea about general in-fandom notability of a fanwork I add; I just pick and choose on the basis of Really Scientific Criteria like "this seemed better written to me than some others of this type" and/or "it got recced several times (on ffa)" and/or "it already has a fl page of its own" and/or (formerly) sometimes when doing additional research "hmmm, this seems to have a lot of delicious bookmarks." ;) --Sk 00:06, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Ha, yes, I often just add my favourites. I poked around and a few other people have recced the stories I've read so that will do. More would be nice, but it turns out it's quite hard to google for this sort of thing. If only delicious was still functional (mourns).--MegR 17:19, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Disambiguation

This page describes two different things/concepts on the same article page. Shouldn't there be two pages instead? --Doro 13:32, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Sounds worth considering. Maybe after disamb end up with one (trope) page for Bonding (a.k.a. soulbond, psychic bond, lifebond, imprint in fiction), and another (glossary) page on Fictive Presence (a.k.a. a fan's soulbond with fictional character, muse, or inspiration)? --Sk 08:45, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Except thinking about it more, a Bonding page might be too broad; I think what most of us understand as a "soulbond, psychic bond, lifebond, or imprint" is a bond of a type that is pretty much permanent (if it can be removed at all, doing so is very difficult and a trope-subverting main plot point of the story) and life-changing, whereas many broader "Bonding" stories exist where a bond (telepathic, empathic, psychic, or life-force donating) is formed through magic or AMTDI that is not intended to be permanent or quite as life-changing. Maybe we'd need three pages: the "Fictive Presence" one, a "Soulbond (a.k.a. permanent psychic bond, lifebond, or imprint in fiction) one, and a(nother new) "Bonding" trope page, for stories that use a more temporary magical or device-enabled form of bonding as a plot device. ? --Sk 08:56, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Would the page for "temporary bonds" also cover mundane bonds? If so, something like "Handcuffed Together" might be a good name for that page, and then it could cover all the "we're handcuffed/chained together" type stories as well as covering fantasy/sci-fi implementations of the basic "we're forced to stick together" trope. And then the idea of permanent soulbonds could stay on this page. -- Liviapenn 11:15, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Hey, I was wondering about this. I've read at least two fics where two characters are magically handcuffed together, except without literal handcuffs: Thicker Than Blood by CorvetteClaire (Harry/Draco) and Every Step You Take by Nokomis (Derek/Stiles). I swear I've read more examples for both these pairings. TVTropes has Chained Heat and Psychic Link. And then there's the weird sexual bonding AU by astolat -- real forever if, which has an imaginary sex custom for an imaginary biological development phase where every teenager has to be temporarily bonded to an older individual... and they have a lot of sex.... So, do we want Temporary Bond, Handcuffed Together, or both or ...?--æþel 23:20, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

How about Bound Together as the page for Temporary Bond/Handcuffed Together/Chained Heat/(Temporary) Psychic Link? There are (of course) some SGA examples I can dig up for that new page... ;) --Sk 23:59, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

Okay, I started Bound Together. I don't actually know any stories with actual handcuffs, but I guess we'll see what people add to the examples section.--æþel 04:09, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

These two concepts need to be split--they already have separate resource and reference sections, so the main issue is naming. Unless anyone objects, I will split these into Soulbonds in Fanworks and Soulbond (Fictive Presence). --æþel (talk) 14:39, 4 July 2013 (UTC)