Brotherhood in Fantasy: 6 Essential Tales of Loyalty

The Faithful and the Fallen has two bands of brothers: Corban and his crew (his sister, Gar the warrior, Storm the wolven, his childhood friends, and more), and Prince Nathair and his crew (including the loyal Veradis, Alcyon the giant, Kastell, and Maquin). Both protagonists inspire love and loyalty, and both are worthy of being the hope of the world. Which makes it such a beautifully dark twist that one of them is chosen of the dark forces of evil, the other the hope for light and goodness.

I love that we didn’t know which was which until well into the series, but all the while I was guessing, I kept being drawn tighter into the wonderful brotherhoods forming around these two men.  

The Stormlight Archives is a truly epic saga, but my favorite part will always be Bridge Four. Kaladin and his bridge crew are meant to be arrow fodder, easy pickings for the enemy, and every charge into battle is inevitably a suicide charge. But that knowledge binds them together and gives them something to fight against. Though they begin as the worst of the bridge crews—rebels, outcasts, traitors, and criminals all—they become so much more than just a tight-knit brotherhood. They become mighty. 

The thing I (and most readers) loved best about the Malazan Book of the Fallen is the Bridgeburners, the Malazan Empire’s elite military unit. Veterans all, they are battle-hardened and war-weary, but with an unbreakable loyalty for each other above even their commanders and their Empire.

They are flawed, eminently relatable in their humanity, and their power grows with every life sacrificed. Few series I’ve read have delivered such powerful gut-punches and emotional devastation. 

The Black Company takes the “band of brothers” trope and twists it to be a “band of bastards”. From the first page, we see the endless bickering and strife among the company, yet we also see how they band together when facing a common enemy.  

The more blood is spilled, the greater the threat, the tighter their bonds grow until these self-serving, violent, greedy bastards finally end up caring for each other more than their own desires (though not by much). It’s one of my all-time favorite dark fantasy military series! 

Kings of the Wyld plays on the band of brothers theme to perfection. I loved how the “bands” of monster hunters feel like rock bands—from their tours to their composition to their celebrity. The deeper we dive into the adventure of Golden Gabe, Clay Cooper, and the rest of Saga, the more we see just how this tight-knit brotherhood reflects the camaraderie and kinship formed over years of touring, songwriting, and composition. And you can trust that when the battle turns dark and the odds are grim, these age-burdened brothers will have each others’ back, come hell or high water. 

Technically, The Bone Raiders is a band of sisters, but it’s absolutely worth including here. From the beginning, we see that even though the Mongol horde-inspired Rakada clan ride together, each is on their own separate journey to finding who they are and how they fit into a world that wants them dead. Indeed, they even end up separating in the book (side quest!). But it’s all intended to bring them back together for that epic climax when they stand shoulder to shoulder and truly become the found family I knew all along they had the potential to be. Plus, FIRE LIZARDS.