If you’ve known me for a while, you might be aware that I adore the found family trope. So today, I thought I’d go over a couple of things I love when found family is a large part of any story.

Domestic/casual moments

Casual moments, where the characters are simply enjoying spending time with each other, are what make the found family feel like a found family.

Some quick examples:

– Chris Wooding’s The Ember Blade, when Garric, Aren, and the crew try to relax at a meal after being on the run for days

– The one scene in Avengers: Endgame when Tony, Nat, and Bruce lie around in a messy room brainstorming infinity stone locations (alternatively: the shawarma scene in The Avengers)

– Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series when the crew of the Argo II have gelato on the ship (while Frank, being lactose intolerant, eats an apple)

Knowing that the characters enjoy spending time with each other outside of their job/goal means that they are more than just co-workers. They might be people who have come together for a singular purpose, certainly, but these moments show that they have come to see each other as friends (and maybe even family).

Development of platonic relationships

One thing that’s always fun to see is different setups of friendships or relationship arcs. You could have enemies to friends, friends who don’t click instantly but learn to respect each other, childhood friends, friends who stopped being friends but are forced to work together, or go easy and have friends who get along almost immediately. I love seeing how friendships can progress and change over a story.

Some quick examples:

– Katniss and Johanna from Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games trilogy don’t hit it off at first, but they learn to trust and respect each other

– Ove from Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove first finds Parvaneh and her family an annoyance, but eventually comes to value them as his own family

Relationship arcs can also add another layer to the friends’ individual character arcs. Maybe one of them is having trouble trusting people, but another is too trusting. They could potentially balance each other out, with iron sharpening iron and all that. And hey, character arcs are cool.

Varying dynamics between characters

Not all friends get along the same way. This is somewhat an extension of the previous heading, but I love seeing characters treat each other differently. Maybe two characters have a strong sibling-like bond, but one of them competes with another character constantly. I find that it’s fun to divide a found family into different groups whenever they need to accomplish something, because not only is it a chance for characters who barely interact to work together, it’s also an opportunity to see what the group’s blend of strengths (or weaknesses) can do.

Some quick examples:

– Marissa Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles often divides the Rampion Crew so you get groupings like Cress and Jacin, Winter and Scarlett, and Cinder, Thorne, and Wolf.

– Locke from Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora probably considers Jean his closest friend, but he often banters with the Sanza brothers and feels protective of Bug.

That’s all for now!

Tell me one of your favorite things about found family in the comments below?

All the best,