History Main / Synchronization

** In a similar manner to the above, [[MiniMecha Tau Battlesuit]] pilots suffer from this, including "battlesuit psychosis", in which they are so linked to the suit, so used to it that they cannot function without the suit's sensors as filters for their own senses, and if the suit is damaged, (say by the loss of an arm), the pilot will find themselves unable to use that arm until the suit is repaired. The Tau also have a [[BloodBrothers 'bonding ceremony']] which, [[TrueCompanions while largely symbolic]], has been known to have the occasional extreme side effect, to the extent that the death of a member of the bonded team can drive the survivors insane (by Tau standards).

* This is the very premise of ''[[LetsPlay/LifeSMP Double Life SMP]]''. Each player's health-bar is linked to another (officially refered to as a "soulmate"), if one takes damage so will the other, and [[CantLiveWithoutYou if one dies, the other does as well]]. Since the game doesn't directly tell people who their soulmate is, most of the first day was spent with everyone running around punching each other to find their partner. [[spoiler:(And in [=SolidarityGaming=] and [=TangoTek=]'s case, they didn't find out until the latter lost his first life.)]]

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash's Greninja [[spoiler:has access to a unique SuperMode known as Ash-Greninja when Ash and Greninja synchronize their strong feelings a a trainer and Pokémon. This forme allows Ash to see battles from Greninja's point of view and causes Ash and Greninja to share each other's pain. Ash even goes so far as to frequently copy what Greninja is doing in the middle of a fight.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'':

* In ''Videogame/KidIcarusUprising'', Dark Pit is connected to Pit, since he's really the physical manifestation of Pit's "dark side" (not that Dark Pit is actually dark - more neutral than anything). Their level of synchronization is actually very vague -- battle damage to one Pit does absolutely nothing to the other, but when Pit [[spoiler:gets trapped in a ring]] for three years, Dark Pit is unconscious the whole time. Thus the latter realizes that he's connected to Pit, [[CloningBlues much as he dislikes it]].

* This is the very premise of ''LetsPlay/LifeSMP'' Season 3, also known as ''Double Life SMP''. Each player's health-bar is linked to another (officially refered to as a "soulmate"), if one takes damage so will the other, and [[CantLiveWithoutYou if one dies, the other does as well]]. Since the game doesn't directly tell people who their soulmate is, most of the first day was spent with everyone running around punching each other to find their partner. (And in [[spoiler:Jimmy and Tango]]'s case, they didn't find out until the latter lost his first life.)

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': The Life Link concept. What makes it unique is that so long as one lives, the other will continue to survive and the only way to kill them is to take out both individuals at the same time. Ragna/Nu-13 and Terumi/Mu-12 are known examples of this.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash's Greninja [[spoiler:has access to a unique SuperMode known as Ash-Greninja when Ash and Greninja synchronize their strong feelings a a trainer and Pokémon. This forme allows Ash to see battles from Greninja's point of view and causes Ash and Greninja to share each other's pain. ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': Captain Planet is synchronized with Gaia (whenever she's hurt, his powers fail). Gaia is linked to the Planeteers (if they turn on her or abandon her, she loses her powers). And of course the whole team is connected through Ma-Ti, and Gaia is synchronized with the whole Earth... Example: When Gaia temporarily lost her powers, Captain Planet was depowered and couldn't dissipate, meaning that the Planeteers rings didn't work.

* It used to be in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' that [[PowerupMount Yoshi]] eating a powerup would affect Mario. This is not longer the case in ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', but in that game, using a held powerup affects all players, unlike powerups found in levels.

* In the ''Literature/JuniperSawfeather'' novel ''Whisper of the Woods'', June becomes synchronized to an ancient {{treant}} that's in danger of being logged. When someone kicks its roots, she feels like she's been kicked in the shins, and when Nathan hits it with an axe and later a chainsaw, she feels like she's been stabbed in the stomach.

Frequently goes hand-in-hand with a PsychicLink, because YourMindMakesItReal, and sometimes with MindlinkMates or TwinTelepathy. Compare MySignificanceSenseIsTingling. Can be [[PowerPerversionPotential exploited]] for [[DirtyMindReading very interesting]] [[RuleThirtyFour effect]]. See also SharedLifeMeter, a related video game trope. RealityChangingMiniature is a variant of this, where an object or person is linked this way with its representation.

If the link can ensure the death of a participant but doesn't otherwise transmit pain or other feelings, then it isn't a Synchronization but a case of CantLiveWithoutYou. Compare PsychicGlimpseOfDeath, where one party experiences the death of another while connected to their mind but is able to survive, and SharedLifeEnergy, in which life energy is shared to save a life. Compare RemoteYetVulnerable.

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'' when Lochley and Zack go to arrest Lyta in Season 5 she demonstrates her TouchedByVorlons powers by drumming her fingers on a table, followed by everyone else in the zocalo doing the exact same thing.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''
** "Death Watch" has the in-universe audience synchronised to one of two dueling champions so they can experience his emotions during the DeadlyGame. This is not just for vicarious thrills but because the CombatByChampion is their substitute for warfare, so it's regarded as entirely proper that the general population experience these feelings as well.
** In "Voice From the Past", the crew try to cure Blake from his brainwashing by linking their minds to his. When Blake goes berserk Avon tries to knock him unconscious, only for Jenna (who's mindlinked to him at the time) to feel the blows as well.
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'':

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle "Full Circle"]], after Romana gets bitten by a Marsh Spider, she starts feeling the pain and agony the Marshchild experiences as it gets vivisected, resulting in her mirroring its dying rampage before storming out to lead a Marshman invasion of the starliner. This ends up {{foreshadowing}} TheReveal that [[spoiler:the Marsh Spiders, Marshmen, and Alzarians are all different phases of the same species' life cycle]].

* In ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' a boy becomes synchronized with a fungus. If it dies, he dies, and he senses what it senses (light, heat).

* ''Series/MechX4''. Ryan Walker is bonded to the eponymous robot, so whatever damage is done to the robot also hurts him.

* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode [[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVJustice "Justice"]], the Justice Field reflects any criminal acts back upon the actor. If you try to light the sheets on fire, you end up lighting yourself on fire (and the sheets stay unburnt). "It's the ultimate deterrent," as Rimmer says. This situation leads to a marvelous fight in which hitting your opponent hurts ''you'' instead. The bad guy, a Simulant (think the Terminator with ''really'' bad BO) [[TooDumbToLive is too dumb to realize what's going on]]. So he tries shooting Lister and throwing a knife at him. Twice. Lister even draws a target on his groin and presents it for kicking. Then he hands the Simulant a few giant vases, to be smashed over Lister's head. The Simulant then tries to strangle Lister, thus strangling himself. With the bad guy defeated, [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} The Cat]] turns up, armed with a spade...

* On ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', Michael Burnham was killed in a terrorist bombing when she was a child, and she only came back to life because Sarek used a mind-meld to transfer a piece of his ''katra'' to her. As a result, they share a telepathic link; when Sarek is later injured by a suicide bomber, Burnham collapses in pain.
* In one episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Capt. Picard and Dr. Crusher are (slowly) synchronized by alien technology implanted into their brains as a prisoner control device (they experience debilitating pain and nausea if separated too far). Slowly because the implants gradually get more effective as they "learn" their hosts' brains. Mostly, though, the whole episode is an excuse to get them to talk to each other about their feelings.

* In ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' [[spoiler:Katherine has a witch create synchronization between herself and Elena to prevent the Salvatores from killing her. They end up stabbing Katherine non-fatally a couple times before being informed about what's happening to Elena.]]
* Multiple artifacts in ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' have this kind of effect. Most notably, [[spoiler: Johannes Maelzel's metronome]], which can bring someone back to life, but causes the person who brought them back to feel any pain they feel.
* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': Aes Sedai and Warders share a bond which results in one's condition affecting the other. For example, when an Aes Sedai falls unconscious it weakens her Warder. When Lan drinks alcohol, Moiraine becomes [[NotSoStoic noticeably emotional]]. At [[spoiler:Stepin's funeral]] as Lan grieves his dead friend Moiraine starts to cry as well.
* On ''Series/TheXFiles'', a woman who'd escaped a child-abductor as a girl experiences spontaneous injuries, because she's Synchronized with the kidnapper's latest victim. [[spoiler: She winds up drowning on dry land when the abductor attempts to kill his captive by submerging her in a river. The young girl survives, with no sign of the injuries which had been transferred to the woman.]]

* The Life Link concept in ''VideoGame/BlazBlue''. What makes it unique is that so long as one lives, the other will continue to survive and the only way to kill them is to take out both individuals at the same time. Ragna/Nu-13 and Terumi/Mu-12 are known examples of this.

* ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'': The maternity spell Nicci uses to hold Kahlan hostage.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': In "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty", Rick befriends a dragon named Balthromaw, and the two end up "soul-bonding" (which is disturbingly played out like intercourse), resulting in Rick feeling whatever he feels, including getting whipped, hung (as pictured above), and [[EyeScream getting an arrow to the eye]].

* In ''VideoGame/Warcraft3'', Tauren spirit guides could use spirit link to bind several people together. However it was used defensively, because instead of the damage being duplicated it was split between them, causing an enemy's attacks to be dispersed though a larger group of people and thus easier to keep people alive through.

** Restoration Shamans have the Spirit Link totem spell which functions similarly to the above-mention spell from Warcraft 3, tethering anyone in the totem's range and equalizing their health values, trading off one or two nearly dead party members for several lightly wounded ones - who can easily be healed to full by multi-target healing spells, which effectively rebounds off the continued syncing and doubles/triples/quadruples/quintuples the healing.

** Suzu can [[SelfDuplication create a duplicate]] of herself called an omokage, which she shares senses with, including pain. It was initially speculated the injuries would also transfer over, but it was later shown the omokage being torn to pieces only make Suzu feel the pain.

* Yuka and Mika, twin girls in ''Hot Tails'', share not only each other's pain, but also pleasure. Since ''Hot Tails'' is a {{Hentai}} manga, you can guess how this is applied. To be a tad more specific, Yuka goes out on a date, and Mika, bored and a bit irritated, [[ADateWithRosiePalms entertains herself]]. This makes Yuka's trip to the park with her boyfriend a bit more interesting.

** A greedy doctor purposely synchronizes pairs of Moya's crew so that he can charge them a huge fee for the cure. Which of course [[CarryingTheAntidote only he knows how to make]]. This is played for both drama and comedy -- D'Argo finds himself experiencing TheImmodestOrgasm when the women he's synced to has ADateWithRosiePalms. Later another character is captured by terrorists, who try to identify the others by cutting off her fingers and looking to see who screams.

->'''Xamot:''' ''[grunts in pain]''\\

'''Alpine:''' Terrific! Pass ''this'' on! ''[punch]''

* This is the very premise of ''LetsPlay/LifeSMP'' Season 3, also known as ''Double Life SMP''. Each player's health-bar is linked to another (officially refered to as a "soulmate"), if one takes damage so will the other, and [[CantLiveWithoutYou if one dies, the other does as well]]. Since the game doesn't directly tell people who their soulmate is, most of the first day was spent with everyone running around punching each other to find their partner. (And in Jimmy and Tango's case, they didn't find out until the latter lost his first life.)