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rogueslayer452Challenge #02: Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!
After thinking on this one, I decided to tweak this prompt a bit and focus on animal companions from fictional stories that I love.
01. Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal, from Game of Thrones / A Song Of Ice And Fire.
This being a high fantasy series, the characters in ASOIAF who have animal companions often have a special connection to them, from the Starks and their direwovles to the Targaryens and their dragons. Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal are the three dragons of Daenerys Targaryen, hatched from fire where she, too, was "reborn" from the ashes. Dany views them as her own children, and is very protective of them as they are of her, although they can hold their own just fine. Although the show features more of her bond with Drogon, in the books she is shown to have lots of love for all three in small but cute little moments of interaction. Obviously, for many who enjoy the genre of fantasy the very idea of having dragon companions is such a cool notion (they are massive! they breathe fire! you can ride them as they fly around!) and the Targaryen connection between their dragons is also quite cool, even in such a hostile world that ASOIAF is.
02. Trinket, from Critical Role.
Trinket is a big brown bear companion to Vex'ahlia, who rescued him when he was a mere cub and raised him. He is loyal and protective of her as she is with him, and she basically views him as her own child in a way. While he has participated in fights and battles the party, Vox Machina, get into here and there, as the campaign goes on he is more often secured safely inside of a magical locket wore by Vex'ahlia until he absolutely needed. Trinket became a beloved pet companion throughout the campaign and among the fandom itself, simply for how adorable he was and how Vex often talked and spoke about him constantly, especially affectionately calling him "buddy". There are various examples of this, including the moment when Vex'ahlia learned how to cast the "Speak With Animals" spell where she was able to talk to Trinket for the first time and when she is talking with him underwater, and also during a sweet moment during campaign three. Special shoutout goes to Matthew Mercer who manages to make bear noises so adorable.
There is also a full compilation of Trinket moments during the first campaign of Critical Role, the description gives timestamps of what is happening and from what episode.
Laura Bailey created Trinket modeled after her real life dog at the time. Liam O'Brien also did the same thing with his character's cat, Frumpkin, in the second campaign, modeled after one of his childhood cats. It's a common theme among DND players to create animal companions that are inspired by or directly modeled after a pet they have in real life.
03. Charley, from Ocean Girl.
Charley is a humpback whale who our main character, Neri, has a close friendship ever since he rescued her when she accidentally fell off of a cliff into the ocean as a child. They communicate telepathically to each other and have a special bond, and Neri often goes on long swims with Charley from time to time. Watching this show as a kid, I always wanted to be Neri for multiple reasons, but especially to communicate with marine wildlife such as whales. I'm reminded of the real life story of a woman who was saved from a potential shark attack by a humpback whale, and whatever connection their shared together from that encounter it was strong enough that the whale recognized her a year later. It's stories like that which make me think of Charley and Neri's friendship and bond, and it makes me hope and want something like that.
Bonus: a fanvid of Neri and Charley swimming together from the show.
All three examples are of animals that go far beyond just mere pets to their humans, they are companions. In genres such as fantasy and science fiction there is room to explore these special kinds of connections between animals and humans, whether it's through communicating telepathically or simply just having a unique shared bond. It's something I think most of us wish was a version we had in real life, because our pets are our everything, and seeing these connections in fiction between character and their animal companion (magical or otherwise) it really speaks to us about our relationships with our own animals. We might not have dragons or communicate with whales or wild animals the way fantasy does, but we do share such a bond that feels like it. Our pets are our family, and when that bond is there it is strong. Dany and Vex'ahlia viewed their animal companions as their own children, Neri saw Charley as her dearest friend. As we all do in various ways with our beloved pets.
After thinking on this one, I decided to tweak this prompt a bit and focus on animal companions from fictional stories that I love.
01. Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal, from Game of Thrones / A Song Of Ice And Fire.
This being a high fantasy series, the characters in ASOIAF who have animal companions often have a special connection to them, from the Starks and their direwovles to the Targaryens and their dragons. Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal are the three dragons of Daenerys Targaryen, hatched from fire where she, too, was "reborn" from the ashes. Dany views them as her own children, and is very protective of them as they are of her, although they can hold their own just fine. Although the show features more of her bond with Drogon, in the books she is shown to have lots of love for all three in small but cute little moments of interaction. Obviously, for many who enjoy the genre of fantasy the very idea of having dragon companions is such a cool notion (they are massive! they breathe fire! you can ride them as they fly around!) and the Targaryen connection between their dragons is also quite cool, even in such a hostile world that ASOIAF is.
02. Trinket, from Critical Role.
Trinket is a big brown bear companion to Vex'ahlia, who rescued him when he was a mere cub and raised him. He is loyal and protective of her as she is with him, and she basically views him as her own child in a way. While he has participated in fights and battles the party, Vox Machina, get into here and there, as the campaign goes on he is more often secured safely inside of a magical locket wore by Vex'ahlia until he absolutely needed. Trinket became a beloved pet companion throughout the campaign and among the fandom itself, simply for how adorable he was and how Vex often talked and spoke about him constantly, especially affectionately calling him "buddy". There are various examples of this, including the moment when Vex'ahlia learned how to cast the "Speak With Animals" spell where she was able to talk to Trinket for the first time and when she is talking with him underwater, and also during a sweet moment during campaign three. Special shoutout goes to Matthew Mercer who manages to make bear noises so adorable.
There is also a full compilation of Trinket moments during the first campaign of Critical Role, the description gives timestamps of what is happening and from what episode.
Laura Bailey created Trinket modeled after her real life dog at the time. Liam O'Brien also did the same thing with his character's cat, Frumpkin, in the second campaign, modeled after one of his childhood cats. It's a common theme among DND players to create animal companions that are inspired by or directly modeled after a pet they have in real life.
03. Charley, from Ocean Girl.
Charley is a humpback whale who our main character, Neri, has a close friendship ever since he rescued her when she accidentally fell off of a cliff into the ocean as a child. They communicate telepathically to each other and have a special bond, and Neri often goes on long swims with Charley from time to time. Watching this show as a kid, I always wanted to be Neri for multiple reasons, but especially to communicate with marine wildlife such as whales. I'm reminded of the real life story of a woman who was saved from a potential shark attack by a humpback whale, and whatever connection their shared together from that encounter it was strong enough that the whale recognized her a year later. It's stories like that which make me think of Charley and Neri's friendship and bond, and it makes me hope and want something like that.
Bonus: a fanvid of Neri and Charley swimming together from the show.
All three examples are of animals that go far beyond just mere pets to their humans, they are companions. In genres such as fantasy and science fiction there is room to explore these special kinds of connections between animals and humans, whether it's through communicating telepathically or simply just having a unique shared bond. It's something I think most of us wish was a version we had in real life, because our pets are our everything, and seeing these connections in fiction between character and their animal companion (magical or otherwise) it really speaks to us about our relationships with our own animals. We might not have dragons or communicate with whales or wild animals the way fantasy does, but we do share such a bond that feels like it. Our pets are our family, and when that bond is there it is strong. Dany and Vex'ahlia viewed their animal companions as their own children, Neri saw Charley as her dearest friend. As we all do in various ways with our beloved pets.
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Date: 2026-01-18 04:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-18 11:11 am (UTC)That's such a sweet thing, getting to go on fantasy adventures with your pet, especially one you've lost.