Psychic Link

"Anyone watching wouldn't even realize Gamma and Zimmy were talking."

"You might know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you since I know everything you're going to do! Strange, isn't it?!"

— Sonic to Metal Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie

A Psychic Power that establishes a connection between minds. The effects on the linked individuals may vary: they may simply be able to read each others' thoughts or emotions, or the linkage may be thorough enough to cause a complete loss of individuality.

What distinguishes this from normal Empathy or Telepathy is that these individuals can't use their mind-reading powers on the general population, just on the individuals they're bonded to.

If the people bonded happen to have other magical powers, the individuals may be able to borrow or influence them, making them stronger. Conversely, the mixing of different styles might have a negative effect.

A Psychic Link can be the result of either magic, science, or technology.

Technically, the link is mental, but sometimes physical Synchronization also occurs because Your Mind Makes It Real. If one dies while their minds are connected, Psychic Glimpse of Death occurs.

Subtropes include:

• Bond Creatures: A creature that links with a human in order to share its power.
• Hive Mind: A link so strong that the individuals function like a single mind.
• Mental Fusion: A link between magicians, telepaths, or technopaths that enhances their individual and/or collective power, or merges them into singular consciousness (often temporarily).
• Mindlink Mates: A link between lovers, often used to emphasize just how inseparable they are.
• Seeing Through Another's Eyes: The ability to see what another character is seeing through their point-of-view.
• Touch Telepathy: A mental link between two characters established through skin-on-skin contact.
• Twin Telepathy: A link between twins, sometimes for no reason other than the fact that they're twins.

Also, the powers of some Technopaths essentially function like a Psychic Link to a machine. If the power detects the presence of nearby people, it's a Psychic Radar.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The MISAKA network of A Certain Magical Index, which is a telepathic link between the 10,000 Misaka clones, allowing them to share information and experiences. In the A Certain Scientific Railgun spinoff, a similar network is created through the Level Upper program, which let one person link to and use the capabilities of thousands of espers at once (while said espers were all in a coma).
• In Dangaioh, the psychic enhancements that the four kids (Miya, Pai, Roll and Lamda) received allow them not only to handle their Psychic Powers, but lets them read each other's thoughts and feelings with relative ease. This is revealed when Miya starts having flashbacks of her life in Earth, which her companions can see too. This gives them the motivation they needed to rebel against their masters and run away.
• Digimon Tamers:
  • The Digimon have one with their Tamers that allows them to know where they are and when they're in danger. Interestingly enough, Impmon and Renamon have one as well that's been shown to let them feel each other's presence, helps Renamon identify him as Beelzemon, and at one point allows her to hear him screaming when he gets electrocuted by a herd of Chrysalismon.
  • The connection between a Digimon and Tamer is more akin to Bond Creatures than Psychic Link. However, the aforementioned bond between Impmon and Renamon, as well as Takato and Jeri, count. Thankfully, neither of those bonds seems to transmit pain.
• Masters and Servants in Fate/stay night seem to have a low-level mental connection — enough at least to tell them if their contract gets severed. The anime, which follows Saber's route from the visual novel, sneakily uses this to reveal something we only find out in Sakura's route. When the Servant Rider dies, watch for which character feels it.
• For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams: The protagonist Senri shared visions with with his twin brother Kazuto. The visions usually occured whenever one of them was expriencing physical truma.
• In Half & Half, the main characters Shinichi and Yuuki share a Psychic Link of feeling each other's emotions and physical experiences, be it pain or just sadness, happiness and guilt after the accident that kills them both.
• In Harukanaru Toki no Naka de, the main character and her eight guardians possess the Dragon Gems that, among other things, allow them to feel if the other one is in trouble (though this kind of link does not exist between the guardians themselves). In the manga, Yasuaki goes beyond this with the ability to "read" Akane's emotions... which turns out to be a consequence of him lacking his own ones — once he starts to develop feelings for Akane, the ability is gone for good. Of course, when the characters start to get amazed at how strong their bonds are, the Big Bad finds a way to cut the link off.
• Played with in High School D×D. Issei and Ddraig nominally share a psychich link, since the latter takes the form of an Empathic Weapon occupying (and later replacing) the former's right hand. However, Issei's complete lack of magical talent means this requires his full concentration. It's much more practical for them to both speak out loud. This is an effort on Ddraig's part, but as a Divine Dragon, not a significant one.
• Inuyasha: It's hinted at in a few places throughout the manga but only directly commented on once. There's some kind of link between Sesshomaru and Jaken that's acknowledged, but never explained. It doesn't matter where Sesshomaru goes, Jaken can always find him again with unerring accuracy. When Sesshomaru experiences something he doesn't want to convey, Jaken immediately conveys it on his behalf (sneezing, which was exploited for comedy, and crying, which was not so comedic). In the end, it's Miroku who puts a voice to the hints that have cropped up throughout the manga after a moment of pure comedy in the middle of a fight reveals the fact to everyone:
  [Sesshomaru has been entangled in dog-form by the bad guy's tentacles and his response is to... shake like a wet dog]
  Jaken: [thinking to himself] He's not escaping?! Even though he wields his true power in his dog-youkai form, isn't it also true that he has no use of his arms or legs? Well, he's a dog. Doesn't seem like he's that bright. It looks like if he broke the transformation and became smaller, he could just slip through, but... does he not realise this?! He is a dog, after all!
  [Sesshomaru escapes in the exact manner Jaken was just thinking about]
  Jaken: Sesshomaru-sama! [Cringes at Sesshomaru's glare] I wasn't thinking anything!
  Rin: Jaken-sama, yes you were
  Miroku: Oh? I get the feeling their minds are connected.
• In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, some bloodlines have a psychic bond between its members. Of course, the titular Joestar family shares such a bond, but others, such as the Geils, or Trish Una and Diavolo, have a similar connection. Families with psychic links will occasionally suffer Synchronization of wounds suffered by one family member, are able to instinctively sense the location of other family members (a major plot point in the climaxes of Golden Wind and Stone Ocean, where the heroes and villains track each other through this), and as an added side-effect, if one family member awakens a Stand, their relatives will also receive one.
• In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (2005), Link and Zelda are first brought together by her psychic distress call, and continue to maintain the bond throughout the rest of the story. It's hinted, though not outright declared, that they retain the connection throughout their lives.
• Hayate and the Wolkenritter in Lyrical Nanoha. The link allows Hayate to know whenever something very wrong happens to one of her knights.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 00:
  • The supersoldiers of (Allelujah and Marie in particular) are able to utilize quantum brainwaves in a way that allows a form of telepathy; moreover, they can sense each others' presence from miles away. The Innovators take this many steps further; not only can they all communicate psychically, but (according to Regene Regetta) they also use their quantum brainwaves in conjunction with GN particles to create direct links to Veda, and see through each others' eyes. They also have the ability to locate each other and warp the minds of the unsuspecting, as can be seen when Regene scouts out his genetic twin, Tieria Erde, and proceeds to Mind Rape him so hard that he begins to hallucinate.
  • It's a little unclear whether the ELS have this or a Hive Mind in The Movie. It is stated that they maintain contact with each other via quantum brainwaves, in much the same way advanced humans can. Handily, this allows Innovators to contact them... not so handily, the ELS are capable of processing several orders of magnitude more information than a human brain can, and bringing a human into that link places the brain cells under so much strain that they actually begin dying from overexertion.
• Though one of the characters can already speak telepathically in Negima! Magister Negi Magi (plus a minor ability by the lead), the pactio cards allow the two partners to communicate to each other and only each other; this is done with the mage's power (these pairs make up most of the cast). The partners of the mage don't seem to able to communicate with eachother, emphasizing the autonomous nature of the pact. This effectively subverts the nature of the series.
• Omamori Himari: This is how Tama communicates, since she never actually SPEAKS. It's also made explicit after she lets Himari live instead of eating her: Himari hears Tama's voice inside her head.
• One Piece: The Egghead arc reveals that the Five Elders share a link that allows them to communicate non-verbally across incredibly vast distances, with Saturn coordinating to summon the rest of the Elders while they are in Mary Geoise and he is alone in Egghead. After they arrive, all five of them coordinate wordlessly to neutralize their enemies and secure their remaining objectives.
• Skewered hilariously in Princess Resurrection. Hiro's sister Sawawa can feel it right away whenever he's horribly injured or killed — but she always dismisses it as her imagination and goes back to eating her parfait.
• Rebuild World:
  • The protagonist Akira is a Differently Powered Individual known as an Old World Domain Connector, with a genetically engineered wireless Brain/Computer Interface he uses for telepathy (as well as transmitting videos and once an Imagine Spot) with his Virtual Sidekick Alpha. It seems in Akira's dreams he links with her too as he sees Alpha's interactions with others in a White Void Room. Akira can also form a link with other connectors such as the Playful Hacker Shirou, who Akira allows to see through his eyes, as well as transmit computer files (which he needs Alpha to process for him as code is just gibberish to his mind).
  • There is The Reveal that Katsuya is an old world connector, which comes with multiple side effects. One of them is that he forms what Alpha calls a "Local Network" out of his Battle Harem which results in them sharing his emotions to a degree, being Not Herself, and coordinating super well. The reason Akira forms no such network is due to his closed heartedness compared to Katsuya, as well as Alpha intentionally isolating him.
• Sacrificial Princess & the King of Beasts: Tradition demands that the members of Ozmargo royalty summon an entity to from a bond with them so the being will become their familiar. Leonheart has bonded to a giant dragon called Gwiber. Sariphi insists on trying to summon a creature of her own to be a worthy queen (partly because of Anubis' manipulations), despite Leo's objections. She almost dies of exhaustion, but ends up summoning a phoenix called Lord Bennu. Save for other familiars, ornly the familiar's master can understand what they says, thanks to their telephatic link. Taking into account that Bennu is a Deadpan Snarker and quite foul-mouthed, it is a luck that only Sariphi and Gwiber can understand him.
• The bonded partners of Sekirei have an empathic link, with the more powerful able to share dreams. An Ashikabi with multiple Sekirei is also able to act as a psychic intermediary, allowing them to combine their powers together to form new attacks.
• As implied by the page quote, in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Sonic and Metal Sonic are mentally linked, so each of them knows and thinks what the other knows and thinks.
• Soul Eater has this in the form of characters' souls. Soul Resonance allows thoughts to be conveyed between two people, and within groups. Soul and Maka seemed to have gained the ability to decide on their next move without actually saying anything. At least one character can communicate with others through their soul wavelengths (Azusa stays in contact with Ox this way during the Baba Yaga arc).
• The Mu in Toward the Terra have a semi-conscious telepathic link with each other. This means they can understand the other person much better than an ordinary human, but also leads to complications during the battle. The Mu are strongly distracted by the death of their companions and hearing telepathic screams during the destruction of Nazca turns Jomy into The Unfettered.
• Variable Geo: In the OVA, Yuka shares an unexplained rapport with her childhood friend (and sparring partner), Satomi. It allows Yuka to sense Satomi's feelings, which becomes integral to the plot, once the latter goes missing during the VG Tournament.

Comic Books

• Captain America: The Falcon has this with birds.
• The title character from Omega the Unknown and young James-Michael share this, because they are the last of a race of genetically-engineered superbeings.
• Supergirl villain Psi had a telepathic link with her mentor Pendergast which allowed him to guide her or command her when she fought the Girl of Steel.
• One What If? issue had Bruce too late to save Rick from from the explosion so instead he shielded him with his body. Although Rick still had radiation poisoning the exposure gave them a telepathic link. Unfortunately Ross figures this out and exploits it to lure the Hulk back. In the process he neglects to get Rick's poisoning treated and he dies. The trauma drives Hulk into a homicidal rage.
• The X-Men 'verse had a few:
  • Scott Summers' psychic rapport with Jean Grey eventually led to them becoming Mindlink Mates.
  • Wolfsbane and Mirage from the New Mutants, but only when Rahne was in her wolf form.
  • The villain Reignfire from X-Force was revealed to have a one-way telepathic connection with his genetic clone Sunspot, which he used to possess Sunspot's mind and have him attack his friends.
  • In Ultimate X Men, Xavier and Magneto. They used to talk constantly via telepathy when they were still friends. To the ruin of both their marriages. Talk about Foe Romance Subtext.
• Wonder Woman (1987): Angelica Wallis' deep dive into Hippolyta's mind to see if the queen was still alive after she'd been turned to stone creates a mental link between them and thereafter she's always aware when the queen is under a lot of stress or is at an emotional extreme.
• In the Disney Ducks Comic Universe, Donald has one with Reginella, his alien love interest with immense psychic powers. Established during the days they passed with each other in "Reginella's Return", it causes Donald to dream her plight in "Reginella's Wedding" and generally to realize when she needs his help, allowing him to prepare to thrash the threat. The link is eventually broken at the end of "The Queen Outside Time", as it remaining while they were forcibly separated by their responsibilities was causing her powers to go out of control.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): In the Scrapnik Island miniseries, Mecha Sonic's plan is to use a device created by Eggman to telepathically control his robots and the Miles Electric in order to swap bodies with Sonic so he can escape the island. Fortunately, the Scrapniks arrive for the rescue before the plan can go off, but the two form a psychic link as a side effect. This enables Sonic to talk with Mecha, who is otherwise The Voiceless, and then use his body to express the emotions that Mecha can't, such as him crying the tears of Mecha instead of his own which is most likely a workaround from a mandate from Sega themselves.

Fan Works

• Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): In this Godzilla MonsterVerse fanfiction, Monster X has a telepathic link to Ghidorah, being a half-Ghidorah Two Beings, One Body Artificial Hybrid, which enables Ghidorah to communicate with Monster X from afar. Ghidorah uses the link to torment Monster X's two heads (the Vivienne Graham head particularly) with Break Them by Talking.
• Child of the Storm:
  • At the start of Ghosts of the Past, Harry gives Carol some psychic counselling to deal with the mental trauma from the events of the previous Book. However, it's later discovered that due to his inexperience with such use of his powers, it caused their minds to imprint on each other, allowing them to pick up each other's thoughts without actively trying. While this is initially awkward - especially considering their significant pre-existing UST - they learn to deal with it, with no further negative consequences than an occasional habit of slipping into psychic conversations around others and some fears on Harry's part that (being a monstrously powerful telepath) he might accidentally be influencing her, and it comes in very useful in the Bloody Hell arc. In chapter 46, they graduate to being Mindlink Mates.
  • Harry also has two with Jean and Maddie, the latter two having Twin Telepathy, not that they're initially aware of it. They're not quite as strong as the one with Carol, though possibly because he uses them far less, and their origins are far more mysterious - they're conjectured to go back to the womb.
• My Hero Academia fanwork Dirty Little Secrets has Ryuunosuke, whose Mind Sync Quirk lets him temporarily establish a connection with someone and delve into their memories. Disturbingly, he likes using this power to figure out how to 'market' the heroes in training, and will not take no for an answer. Given a chance, he'll happily force his way into someone's head, ignoring their protests.
• The Pacific Rim fanfic Echoes in the Dark has this between the Sentinels via drifting. It is also indicated that that there is a version between Yancy and Steel.
• The Golds: The moment Rose goes into labor, his magical connection to her causes Mr. Gold to feel extreme pain, nearly passing out from it in the process.
• Throughout the first arc of Supergirl fanfic Hellsister Trilogy, Kara and her evil doppelganger develop some kind of mind-link.
  Satan Girl looked at her for a second, then threw back her head, opened her mouth wide, and sent forth the blips through her telepathic plug that signified laughter.
• In the Star Trek: The Original Series fanfic Insontis, Spock mind melds with McCoy, who then pretends to be willing to help the Klingons. This enables Spock to change authorizations without getting out of the brig.
• In the Star Trek and Pokémon crossover Intelligence Factor, Ezri asks Miranda to psychically link her to Rayquaza so she can tell it that they come in peace.
• Needy and Jennifer's apparent link is discussed in Trust Doesn't Rust; while unsure how it happened, Sam soon affirms that Needy is linked to Jennifer rather than the demon possessing her, as Needy feels it when Jennifer is stabbed but had no reaction to the demon being hit by holy water.
• In Kara of Rokyn, Superman and Parasite develop one while the latter is bonded with the former.
• In Keepers of the Elements, the Keepers all share a telepathic link within their own generation and with their individual predecessor.
• In Revelations, Túrante (the female vampire) feels a "connection" to Legolas (the male elf from The Lord of the Rings). Túrante enjoys the feeling of peace when Legolas is nearby. The connection is why Túrante chooses to reveal herself and save the life of Legolas at the beginning of the story. By chapter 25/26, Túrante can use the connection to see what Legolas is doing. Legolas also feels the connection, which causes both of them to continue falling in love even as they avoid each other through most of the story.
• "A Slayer Transformed" opens with Faith Lehane (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) receiving urgent medical treatment from the Autobots after she saves Optimus Prime from a demon attack. Part of this treatment required Arcee to volunteer to link her spark to Faith to give her the strength to endure the treatment (Optimus volunteered at first but Arcee argued that she was more expendable if something went wrong). As a result, once Faith regains consciousness she and Arcee have a subtle mental link, giving Arcee an awareness of supernatural energies based on Faith's own abilities as a Slayer.
• In The Sanctuary Telepath Janine unconsciously established mental links with everyone in the room when she got her powers. Later the link between her and John developed into a platonic version of Mindlink Mates, and she made an effort to make stronger the one linking her to James as well.
• The Stronger Evil: Valerie Payne and Shendu appear to have such a link following their binding ceremony as Others, enabling them to communicate with each other to an extent across distances. Hsi Wu similarly uses his and Jade's spiritual connection as non-bound Others to torment her from the Netherworld.
• The Confectionary Chronicles sees Loki/Gabriel form a spiritual link to Hermione with echoes of a psychic bond; to ensure that he will always be able to find her if she's captured by one of his enemies trying to attack his new High Priestess, Gabriel removes a feather from his wing (even though for him this is the equivalent of pulling off a finger) and bonds it to Hermione's soul.
• In Empath: The Luckiest Smurf, Empath can pretty much mindlink with anyone, although it seems to work better with telepaths than with non-telepaths, as non-telepaths can mainly receive messages, but sending them requires more effort on their part than with telepaths. Empath can also invoke a group mindlink in which all his fellow Smurfs are connected to each other and to Empath as one collective mind communicating with each other, though this is mostly used to give Empath increased mental energy to perform certain tasks.
• With this Ring... (Green Lantern): Green Lantern Rings can open telepathic links between their wielders, allowing Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Katma Tui to talk into space during the long trip from Earth to Zamaron.
• The Pieces Lie Where They Fell: Changelings are said to have a hive mind; in reality, it's this trope, which lets them all communicate mentally. Page temporarily brings her fellow Bearers and Tizoc into it when they're returning to Canterlot for what turns out to be the final battle with the Nightmare.
• Son of the Sannin:
  • Ino develops the Mind Fragmentation Jutsu, which enables her to insert a part of her mind into her teammates' to relay instructions to them and see and hear whatever they do. She also uses it on Sai to spy on Danzo with both being none the wiser about it.
  • Hanabi discovers she can communicate telepathically with Hinata through the Tenseigan, in much the same way Hamura Otsutsuki's spirit spoke to them the first time they awakened it. Unfortunately, this also means that Toneri (who has the Tenseigan himself) is able to eavesdrop on their conversation, cluing him in of Hinata's coming to the Moon.
• The Devil's in the details: When Matt senses another Infinity Stone in "Can I get a witness?" while meditating, Dr. Strange links their minds to help find it. It turns out that it was the Vision at Stark Tower.
• Two's a Crowd: Its established early on that ‘Luz’/Lus has recurring dreams of the Boiling Ilse’s, and later that the original Luz has recurring dreams of Reality Check Summer Camp. Once the two meet and physically touch each other their mental connection grows a lot stronger to the point where they can see each other’s memories and dream share. Chapter 11 reveals they can talk telepathy to each other.

Films — Live-Action

• The yeti of The Abominable Snowman seem to have this with each other, and also with humans who let themselves be drawn in.
• In Army of Frankensteins, Alan is linked to the Frankenstein Monster that has his eye, and periodically sees what he sees. All of the Frankensteins are linked to the same one, which causes them to feel the effects of any injuries he receives.
• In The Bride, Frankenstein's two creations Viktor and Eva share a psychic connection, so when Eva is spinning around, Viktor also gets dizzy. This psychic link eventually draws Viktoe back to the site of their mutual creation.
• In Chronicle, there is a mild version of this. After Andrew, Matt and Steve get Psychic Powers from a mysterious flashing thing in the ground, they are somehow linked. They cannot read each others minds, however when one of them is upset or hurt, they both get nosebleeds.
• The Dark Crystal:
  • The Gelflings exchange their backstories through a touch-enabled mindlink that Kira calls Dreamfasting.
  • There is also one between the Skeksis and Mystics as they are the same being, as if one dies or is injured, the other dies or is similarly injured. This is also likely the reason the Mystics are able to keep the Garthims quiet in the climax, and also why the Skeksis never even tried to get rid of them.
• In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, one develops between ET and Elliott. The first becomes apparent when ET unknowingly drinks beer at Elliott's house and Elliott, who is at school, gets drunk as a result.
• The 1980s version of Flash Gordon had a telepathic telephone that would establish a Psychic Link between caller and receiver.
• "Drifting" in Pacific Rim is a medical and scientific showing of this.
• Us: All Tethered shares a mental link with their aboveground counterparts, and are forced to spend their lives mindlessly acting out a shadow pantomime of whatever their originals are doing. It's never explain how this works, but Red believes that the Tethered somehow lack the "soul" the originals have, and are thus the ones trapped by the bond.

Literature

• In the Animorphs book The Other, Mertil and Gafinilan share a link that allows them to hear each other's thought-speech even over long distances. It's not clear, or as easy to decipher as if they were near each other, but they can still pick it up.
• In the Apprentice Adept books, Mach and Bane could communicate across dimensions, but only if their physical locations on their parallel worlds matched. Their kids, Flach and Nepe, could do it regardless of location.
• In Birthright (2017), sharing magic works as a mild version of this. Although the people involved can't hear each other's thoughts, the compulsion to mimic each other's movements allow them to know what the other is doing, even over great distances.
• Inadvertently formed between Paige and the Warden in The Bone Season. It turns out that when two psychics save each other's lives too often, the spirit world decides to make things easier for them by forming a permanent psychic tether. Oops.
• In the Bounders series, the Youli are a Hive Mind. In The Tundra Trials, Waters implants Youli skin cells in Jasper and Mira's brain stems, allowing them to communicate mind-to-mind so Jasper can act as the translator to Mira's thoughts.
• The Kendar and the Highborn in PC Hodgell's Chronicles of the Kencyrath. The Kendar have a basic need to be bound to a Highborn. The link allows a Highborn to find and feel the health of the Kendar, but also makes the Kendar susceptible to the emotions of the Highborn. It is easily abused, and is by many Highborn.
• Circleverse:
  • The four main characters, Daja, Tris, Sandry and Briar all have a psychic link formed when one of them weaves their magic together. They can communicate telepathically, they can borrow each other's strength, and their magic becomes much stronger when used together.
    • However, the link is weakened by distance. The Will of the Empress deals with the four of them reunited after several years apart, and readjusting to the lack of privacy (as well as their own personal demons).
    • Also, in the same book it is revealed that the four can block the link, preventing mind-to-mind communication. While Sandry can brute-force open the link using the thread that bound them together in the first place, she doesn't because it would be very rude Until she gets trapped in a box and needs her siblings to bust her out
  • A more minor example, but people with similar magics can also sometimes communicate telepathically, especially if they're close (e.g. Briar with Rosethorn and Sandry with Lark, as student-teacher pairs).
• Codex Alera:
  • A relatively downplayed case of this seems to be how the connection between a Marat and their chala works. Marat are able to sense the presence and emotions of their chala without any form of verbal communication or body language, and the chala can in return follow the instructions of their Marat through no visible or verbal means. Additionally, a Marat gains "aspects" of their chala given enough time as the bond matures, and the chala also seems to gain a certain degree of self-awareness. For example, Doroga, who is bonded with the huge gargant Walker, has Super-Strength even for a Marat while Walker is able to non-verbally argue with Doroga whenever he's being needlessly obtuse. Similarly, Kitai, who is bonded with Tavi, eventually gains access to his furycraft once it finally awakens, while he in turn gains limited Super-Senses and a Made of Iron constitution from her.
  • In a similar manner to the Marat, virtually all Alerans can form psychic connections to "furies" (the Nature Spirits that infest their world of Carna), giving themselves access to Elemental Powers. Given that furies are basically miniature Hive Minds for certain elements of nature, they're typically unable to influence their bonded humans back in a similar manner that the Marat's chala can, but there are still exceptions (i.e., both Bernard and Amara getting induced with lust at one point because Bernard's earth fury Brutus recognizes the Ship Tease between the two and feels they should get together sooner rather than later).
• Gerald Tarrant and Damien Vryce get a Psychic Link in the Coldfire Trilogy. Tarrant first makes it so he can feed off Damien's fear during his nightmares. The link becomes more powerful at the very end of the novels.
• The Dark Tower series by Stephen King has a form of this that goes by "khef". Roland and his fellow ka-tet members can often share ideas or points without ever expressing them.
• In Dracula, Count Dracula forms one of these with Mina Harker as a step towards Mind Control. Unfortunately, he's forced to block the link himself when he realizes that, if he can spy on the heroes through Mina, Mina can spy on him and share information with the rest of the heroes, which is how she eventually leads them to him.
• An amulet in Fancy Apartments allows the wearer to form a link with the title building. However, it is apparently very difficult to manage.
• In Harry Potter, the protagonist has a psychic link with the Big Bad of the series, allowing him to experience Voldemort's thoughts and emotions.
• Daemons in the His Dark Materials series have a psychic link with their person. Justified as they're really just physical manifestations of the soul.
• I Am Mordred: When Nyneve dies so does Gull and her hawk, since they're her familiars.
• In InCryptid, Sarah (a cuckoo, a naturally telepathic species) has one with certain members of the family, Verity and Artie in particular (though she does have a limited range).
  • All humans who spend enough time around cuckoos, particularly in childhood, become attuned to that particular cuckoo's "hum". It's how Cici knew another male cuckoo wasn't Mark, even though all cuckoos of the same sex look a lot alike.
• Lie Huo Jiao Chou: Sheng Lingyuan shares one with Xuan Ji, allowing the two to communicate to each other directly in their minds if they don't want to be overheard.
• In the Legends of Lone Wolf novels, Vonotar the Traitor establishes a psychic link between himself and Darklord Zagarna. Vonotar discovers in the process that Zagarna has very little consciousness of his own; he is basically a puppet of God of Evil Naar himself (like, assumedly, all Darklords).
• In The Maze Runner, Thomas and Teresa can communicate with each other in their heads, even when Teresa is in a coma or unconscious. The Scorch Trials introduces Aris, Teresa's Group B Counterpart who could do the same with a girl called Rachel, and even with Thomas, which makes the latter feel uncomfortable. Brenda momentarily does the same thing to Thomas, warning him that things are gonna get worse. It's revealed in The Death Cure that this is the effect of technology implanted within their heads that can also be hacked into, cut off, or removed entirely.
• Mermaid's Song: When the Seadragon goes on a rampage and kills scores of merfolk, Elan completely opens her mind to his in order to calm him down. From then on, the two can feel each other's emotions. The Seadragon's sorrow and despair is so strong that Elan almost loses the will to live, while Tia tells her that the link with her mind is the only way the Seadragon can feel any peace.
• Aaron and Lulu in Pocket in the Sea have a permanent telepathic link. These are not entirely uncommon and are described in the universe as a mental door that can be opened and closed. When one partner of a link dies it's considered a medical emergency for the surviving partner due to the shock.
• In the Realm of the Elderlings series, both the Skill and the Wit/Old Blood are used in this way, the latter mostly for Bond Creatures. The Skill, a magic usually found within the Farseer bloodline, enables Skilled ones to form Skill coteries which serve the monarch and are able to share power among themselves and with the reigning king/queen and to some extent influence other people as well.
• Played with in Relativity: When Augustine Fennis gets psychic powers, he can read anyone's mind if he's close enough to them. But he's psychically linked with Ravenswood, meaning that he can read his mind from any distance. He also "transmits" to Ravenswood as well: Ravenswood can read Fennis's mind, but no-one else's. The upshot, unfortunately, is that Ravenswood can see when Fennis commits murder, but can't block it out. He also can't alert anyone without Fennis knowing.
• In the Sherwood Smith installments of Andre Norton's Solar Queen series, four of the crew develop an empathic link, as a result of events in previous novels. They're not especially happy about it, particularly the emotionally private Ali Kamil.
• The Parshendi Rhythms of The Stormlight Archive act as a low-key version of this. Each rhythm represents an emotion or mood (Resolve, Amusement, Joy, etc). Parshendi automatically attune themselves to the rhythm that matches their mood at the moment. They can deliberately attune a rhythm that does not match their mood, but this takes concentration and is detectable. They seem to exist in some kind of gestalt awareness, and are sometimes used as a marker of time (i.e. a meeting might be at the third movement of Joy or the second movement of Regret).
• In Three Days to Never, the protagonist and his daughter have a psychic link that strengthens over time until they hit the climactic event of the novel, which is implied to be, in some kind of metaphysical, timey-wimey way, the cause of the psychic link.
• Vampire Academy:
  • Best friends Rose and Lissa have a one-sided mental bond through which Rose can see through Lissa's eyes at will. This comes from the fact that Lissa used her rare ability to control the element Spirit to unknowingly bring Rose back to life after a car accident. Lissa's power is also Power at a Price and can make her very depressed or downright insane with overuse, and Rose can take the effects away from Lissa and suffer them herself.
  • As revealed this is not unique. Spirit users who bring people Back from the Dead always have such Psychic Links. Known "bondmates" are Saint Vladimir and Shadow-kissed Anna, Oksana and her husband Mark, Avery Lazar with both her brother Reed Lazar and guardian Simon, and Robert Doru and Alden. Averted when the spirit users bring back a Strigoi from the dead. No such Link is formed.
• In Watersong, Gemma and Harper have a psychic bond that lets them sense when the other is danger.
• The Aes Sedai and their Warders in The Wheel of Time. Their bond allows them to read one another's emotions. In later books, the same bond is used between husband and wife (and wife and wife).
• Ilox and Phlarx in The Wild Boy have one. It was hoped Ilox would be the culmination of the Lindauzi project for just such abilities.
• Madeleine L'Engle introduced the idea of "kything" in her book A Wind in the Door. Apparently it's much stronger and more immersive than telepathy, as it allows Meg to see through her brother's eyes and provide him with an anchor point later in the series when he's traveling through time.
• In The Witchlands, witches who are close to each other can become Threadsiblings. Usually, all this does is give the pair increased awareness of each other's feelings and presence, but it can also be harnessed to craft linked magical artifacts, keep one side of the pair alive even when deadly wounded, or facilitate long-range telepathy between Threadsiblings.
• Warlock Series: In Ordeal in Otherwhere, Charis and Shann develop one and use it to argue with the Wyverns. In Forerunner Foray, their son recounts how the Wyverns trained him because of it.
• Wizarding partners in Young Wizards tend to develop psychic links with each other.

Live-Action TV

• The 4400: In "Terrible Swift Sword", Lewis Mesirow, who disappeared in 1955, has the ability to create a psychic link with another person through remote viewing. He uses it to locate Kevin Burkhoff and Tess Doerner for Jordan Collier.
• Used absolutely ridiculously on All My Children when Ryan managed to find Greenlee, who had fallen into an abandoned mine shaft.
• On Charmed the Halliwell sisters share a connection that certainly borders a Psychic Link, but is never full blown. Phoebe, being actually psychic, can access and manipulate this connection the easiest. When Piper is caught on a separate plane, Phoebe is able to sense her. In the comic continuation of the show, Phoebe, Piper, and Paige all enter a literal and stronger telepathic connection thanks to a spell which lets them communicate across three different planes.
• Danger 5: Shown in squick-inducing detail with the Shaman woman's link with Tucker — a tentacle shoots into his forehead, his eyes roll up and white fluid spurts from his mouth.
• Doctor Who:
  • Time Lords, being telepathic, can do this with both other Time Lords and species such as humans, as demonstrated in episodes like "The Girl in the Fireplace" and "Last of the Time Lords". "The Lodger" spoofs it by having the Doctor deliver an Exposition Beam via psychic headbutt.
  • The Doctor has a permanent psychic link set up with the TARDIS, though it's not the transfer of words, but rather emotions and feelings. Companions can tap into the link, too. In "The Doctor's Wife" it's used by Amy to open locked doors in the TARDIS, and it's how they can understand aliens, no matter where or when they are.
  • Prisoner Zero's shapeshifting requires it to form a psychic link to an individual, causing Prisoner Zero to turn into whatever the person is dreaming about (usually the person's likeness in their dream along with anyone else they're dreaming of such as their dog or children).
• The Taelon Commonality seen in Earth: Final Conflict is a mix between this and a Hive Mind. All Taelons are joined in it, and they can sense when another Taelons dies, although they are still separate individuals who can keep secrets from each other, and even kill other Taleons. The primary purpose of the Commonality is to keep the Taelons civilized. Without it, they would quickly revert to their atavian ancestors.
• Fringe:
  • The pilot features a temporary, technologically based link between Agent Dunham and John Scott in order to find a missing, unidentified suspect. The drug cocktail used to "open her consciousness" involves ketamine and lysergic acid, also known as LSD. Yeah.
  • In "Bad Dreams", Olivia finds herself psychically linked to a man who is causing people to kill themselves with his thoughts. It is later revealed that the psychic link exists because Olivia and the murderer were both treated with the experimental drug Cortexiphan when they were children.
    • In a later episode, the man has a much better control over his abilities and is in a steady relationship with a woman who can incinerate things with her mind.
• Game of Thrones:
  • While sleeping, Bran can feel what Summer feels. He also once had the same dream as his brother Rickon.
  • The first time Bran sees Jojen is in a dream. Jojen later confirms that he introduced himself in the dream on purpose. The way he made Summer trust him and go away might also have been this.
• In The Haunting of Hill House (2018), the Crain siblings seem to have at least a mild version of this; when Nell dies they all bolt straight out of bed. Nell and Luke in particular have Twin Telepathy and can sense what the other is feeling.
• Played for laughs several times in How I Met Your Mother. Two of the characters will be in a situation where they can't talk openly, so they have entire silent "psychic" conversations using just facial expressions. Sometimes this works, and other times one of the characters will completely misinterpret what the other person is saying.
• Motherland: Fort Salem: Tally gets one to Adler after briefly serving as her biddy. It lets her seen glimpses of Adler's past, including a woman Adler fought beside then who is being covered up for a mysterious reason.
• Night and Day: Rachel Culgrin and her nephew Sam Armstrong appear to have this for a time during his disappearance. On occasions when he is in pain or danger, Rachel seems to experience similar symptoms simultaneously, despite having no knowledge of where he is or what is happening to him.
• When One Life to Live's Luna Moody was kidnapped by an escaped convict, her best friend (and soon to be lover) Max Holden was able to track them down and rescue her via their psychic connection.
• The Outer Limits (1995): In "The Other Side", Dr. Neal Eberhardt has invented the Neural Intercortex Stimulation Array (NISA) which he uses to study brain damaged and comatose patients. When he connects two of these patients, Adam and Lisa Dobkins, to NISA, their brainwaves match up perfectly and they form a psychic link. They are able to interact with each other in another reality. It takes on the appearance of familiar and comforting locations from their real lives: Lisa's dance studio and Adam's garden. Neal learns of the psychic link when Adam says Lisa's name, which he had no way of knowing. He later connects two other comatose patients: a restaurateur named Warner Oland, who is able to walk in the other reality when he had been wheelchair bound for 20 years in the real world, and Roger Bowden, who doesn't want to be there and whose negativity destroys Adam's plants and Warner's soufflé. Neal is able to enter the other reality by slowing his brain functions with an injection of fentanyl. His attempt to help Roger emerge from his coma and re-enter the real world results in Roger's death because of his congenital heart defect. Although Neal manages to save Adam, Lisa and Warner, he remains trapped in the other reality. However, he is convinced that there is another way out.
• Stargate SG-1 shows this in the episode "Citizen Joe", in which a man inadvertently links into Colonel/General O'Neill's mind when O'Neill is writing his mission reports. O'Neill reveals that he has had the reverse visions but had ignored them for seven years since he found them relaxing.
• Star Trek:
  • Starting in Star Trek: The Original Series with the Vulcan mind meld. This shows up in later series as well, especially TNG and Voyager.
  • This occurs between Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Attached".
  • In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Founders (including Odo during his "solid" phase) have the capability to form psychic links with others despite not being telepaths.
  • In Star Trek: Voyager, a group of Borg drones accidentally get themselves linked to each other. Apparently, only having three voices in your head is more distressing than billions.
    "It's like having three voices whispering in one ear..."
    "...and a crowd screaming in the other."
  • In Star Trek: Enterprise, Trip Tucker and Vulcan science officer T'Pol find they're appearing in each other's daydreams as a result of them having had an Interspecies Romance. As they've broken up at the time, neither is too pleased about it.
• Taken: In "God's Equation", it becomes apparent that Lisa and her daughter Allie possess a strong psychic link which allows Lisa to know where Allie is and how she is feeling at any time. In "Dropping the Dishes", Lisa is able to see through Allie's eyes after she allows herself to be taken by the UFO project. When Dr. Wakeman puts the helmet designed to prevent the aliens from detecting her neural signature on Allie, Lisa sees pitch black and believes that she has gone blind. When Dr. Penzler regresses her using hypnosis, Lisa learns that Allie is being held in an old farmhouse in North Dakota, which she and Charlie are eventually able to locate.
• Tracker (2001) had a race called Orsians, who were born in pairs, with each pair sharing a psychic link. They often used jewelry or metal collars to better conduct the brainwaves.
• The Wheel of Time (2021): The Bond between Warders and Aes Sedai, letting them sense each other telepathically to a limited degree. It includes feeling what the other does along with knowing their location. Maksim, one of Alanna's Warder lovers, also strongly implies it enhances things sexually.
• The X-Files: A more straightforward example occurs in the episode "Mind's Eye", in which a blind woman covers up for her Serial Killer absentee father because she can only see through his eyes.

Roleplay

• In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, it's implied that there's some form of mental link between Simon and Finn, as Simon is able to see one of the flashforwards that Finn experiences as part of his superpower.

Tabletop Games

• The Twin Souls merit in Mage: The Ascension.
• Due to the highly psychic nature of the Aeldari from Warhammer 40,000, even the most psychically unskilled individual is able to at least receive and comprehend short telepathic messages. Many Aeldari military forces use this ability for short ranged communication during battle as it is often more secure than technological communication devices.
• Dungeons & Dragons has the spell "Telepathic Bond", which allows for a party to have a telepathic conversation with each other.

Toys

• BIONICLE:
  • Gali establishes one with the Chronicler Takua so that he can record the Toa's underground battles through her eyes while he stays on the surface. It becomes a plot point much later when Takua's Toa form, Takanuva is partially corrupted and mistaken for an enemy by Pohatu; the link with Gali is the only way to prove his identity.
  • The two Bahrag hive queens share a link with all the krana inside each member of the Bohrok swarms, as well as the krana they place on their victims. When Lewa gets mind-controlled by a krana, he becomes privy to some of the swarm's secrets. The elite Bohrok-Kal are a different case, they function independently but they have one type of krana, the Krana Ca-Kal that still mentally links them to their queens.
  • When Makuta was encased in crystal prison, his body got frozen in place but his mind reached out to his underlings Sidorak and Roodaka, and beckoned them to Metru Nui in an effort to conquer the island and free him.
  • The Kanohi Suletu, Mask of Telepathy, allows users to read others' minds and project their own thoughts into them.
  • Vakama's uncontrollable visions were eventually revealed by the writer to be the effects of an accidental mental link between him and the Great Spirit, Mata Nui.

Video Games

• In Beyond: Two Souls, main character Jodie Holmes has been psychically linked with a Poltergeist-like entity named Aiden since birth. It's eventually revealed that Aiden is her stillborn twin brother.
• Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins gives the player character a ring that forms a minor mental bond between the two.
• First Encounter Assault Recon has the link between the Replica forces and their psychic commander which enables the commander to monitor the Replicas' activities from a safe distance, receive instantaneous feedback from the field troops, and telepathically issue orders in response to that information. While the Replica soldiers are perfectly capable of acting on their own once activated and given orders by duly authorized people, they work best with the psychic commander coordinating their overall activities.
  • There is also a link between Alma and her Children The first time she linked with Paxton Fettel, things went terribly wrong. The second? It turned an entire city into a Warzone, and eventually to it becoming a paranormal hellhole.
  • Also, between Becket and Alma.
• Golden Sun: Ivan's Mind Read can be used within a short distance of the target, but he can also share what he's reading with another person by holding hands with them.
• Both Knights of the Old Republic games feature Psychic Links between the player character and one of their companions, Bastila in the first, Kreia and every party member, even the 3 droids, has another form of link in the second. While Bastila's is almost an Informed Ability that does nothing more than share a few dreams, Kreia's is of more importance to the story, as if either one of you dies, the other dies with you (and mechanically, you share buffs).
• It's implied in some of the The Legend of Zelda games that Link and Zelda may have a kind of Psychic Link between them. In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Zelda telepathically calls Link to help her, and in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time she sends him a message explaining how to use the titular Ocarina to access the Sacred Realm. In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, she guides him when he first awakens on the Great Plateau and sporadically notifies him when he's completed major story quests.
• Dragons in the Panzer Dragoon universe form mental bonds with their riders, showing them their mission of destroying the Towers as well as to coordinate their attacks.
• Rave Heart: Ellemine gives Chad a bracelet that allows him to see visions of her situation through telepathy.
• Scarlet Nexus: It's a central game mechanic for the player to be able to borrow the Psychic Powers any of several members of The Squad via SAS to help deal with the enemy, which after upgrades, allows the player to use up to four borrowed Combo Platter Powers at once, their strength and duration being influenced by the Relationship Values with said party member. It's also used frequently for calling and texting. Prone to Phlebotinum Breakdown (usually just the communications part, but the powers borrowing sometimes goes down as well).
• Appears in the visual novel Songs of Araiah. Magicians form "blood links" with other people allowing them to cast "internal" spells (e.g. mind-reading, manipulating senses, immortality).
• In StarCraft, the Protoss have a racial psychic link called the Khala that was granted to them when they were uplifted by the Xel'Naga specifically, Amon. The Narezim (Dark Templar) are a faction of Protoss who rejected the Khala by severing their nerve cords to maintain their individuality. The Tal'Darim are another faction who reject it. Starcraft II Legacy Of The Void sheds more light on the Khala's origins: It was a backdoor into Protoss minds that Amon engineered so he could enslave them.
• Aurin of WildStar have a deep emphatic connection to trees and plant-life, to the point where the forests are considered friends and family.
• Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders: The four playable characters develop one shortly after they begin the adventure due to their united purpose, allowing them to share information in their dreams. This is used both to explain the use of metaknowledge when playing and why it's Game Over if one of them dies.

Visual Novels

• In “Fate/stay night”, Masters often dream of critical moments in their Servant’s pasts. In the sequel, one of those pairs has a detailed nonverbal conversation, and it’s implied that Sakura becomes aware of and enters an Erotic Dream her Servant is secretly creating to seduce someone else. Servants can betray Masters despite this link, but doing so is difficult- especially because they share similar personalities as well as the trope.

Webcomics

• A Beginner's Guide to the End of the Universe: The protagonist can communicate telepathically with both of his pets; the stronger their RAPPORT, the more advanced the link is, starting at simple detection of when the pet is in danger and ending with a full-fledged two-way telepathic conversation.
• The titular couple of Bailin and Li Yun form a telepathic link after their first kiss, and the former later points out that merfolk related by blood are born with such a link.
• The Majestan, the Keeper of Dreams of the Eastern Continent, who resides in the titular City of Somnus, gets five soul-bound guards to keep him both physically safe and sane. They seem to be chosen in childhood, and there's a strong emotional bond, as well. The current Majestan, Nemo, recalls one of his guards being killed on duty as feeling like a part of his soul was torn out and burned to ash. The guards are all accomplished Dream Walkers in their own right and often have special gifts to help their task - for instance, Paollo's guard Tatami has the ability to find Paollo anywhere.
• In El Goonish Shive, Ellen and Nanase are able to communicate telepathically when Ellen uses her copy spell on Nanase while the latter is in her guardian form.
• In Girl Genius, Carson von Mekkahn didn't even notice he had this until he felt Castle Heterodyne die.
• Gunnerkrigg Court: Zimmy and Gamma can only speak with each other telepathically, since neither knows the other's language. Additionally, Gamma's presence has some unspecified therapeutic effect on Zimmy's mind. It's implied that their psychic link was simply there the very first time they met. It has been explained since that Gamma's powers work as a sort of white noise generator that covers up Zimmy's uncontrollable psychic bursts with calming stream of consciousness.
• Leif & Thorn: Thorn and his cat Tiernan. She can stop him from having dragon flashbacks.
• In Nightmare Factory, Emai and Phirre somehow develop a strange version of this: Emai gets affected by Phirre's physical surroundings (once such incident is when he got knocked over by a wrecking ball and she did too) and Phirre gets affected by Emai's emotions, such as when she was crying, he began to cry too.
• Susan and Anna Enfield from Sire share a body and can communicate via their thoughts. Especially useful after meeting people who can perceive both girls, even when they are not inside the body.
• Tuesday Titans: When a human and Titan are connected, they share a strong mental connection. They share sensory input, being able to see, smell, hear, feel, and taste through each other. The link is also empathic, allowing them to share what they're feeling.
• The Magus Brothers from Twokinds. Their mind-link wasn't inborn, but rather the result of the elder merging his soul with his younger sister to save her from dying when her soul was torn by dark magics.
• For a while, there existed a psychic link between Monica and Jin of Wapsi Square. It had something to do with an accidental sharing of demons, and it resulted in them being able to communicate telepathically.

Web Original

• The Saga of Tuck: While it is only hinted at, Tuck and Mike seem to believe that they are psychically connected... and there's a few indications that they are right.
• SCP Foundation : SCP-2091 ("A Bear and His Granddaughter"): Abigael and her grandfather talk to each other through telepathy, but no-one else can communicate verbally to him except her.
• In Six Chances, six individuals from six different countries end up linked together psychically. There's a bratty prince, a mischievous swindler, a cold-hearted soldier, a Cloud Cuckoolander pirate, a chieftain's daughter, and a peacekeeper with an eye for vengeance. Psychological shenanigans ensue.

Web Videos

• It is thought that the Slender Man is somehow able to do this with both his victims and his proxies.

Western Animation

• In Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, Niko seemed to have a low-level version of this with the other three members of the team. It seemed to be strongest with Shane, however.
• In Beast Wars Blackarachnia has a malicious version of this trope with Tarantulus.
• In the Big City Greens episode "Sleepover Sisters", Tilly Green and her friend Andromeda attempt to develop this by staying up all night after believing a news article on such.
• Word of God states that in the original draft of Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman planned for Danny and his best friend/eventual girlfriend Sam to have one of these. The idea was discarded so not to take away Character Development from the rest of the cast.
• The Owl House: The Palismen can communicate telepathicaly with their masters, once they are bonded. However, it seems that happens only when master and palisman are together. In "Eclipse Lake", a Coven scout takes Ghost from Amity, but just tosses it down, before throwing Amity in the abyss. It is obvious she can't summon Ghost telepathically to save her, like it happens in other works.
• The Hart siblings (Steelwill and Steelheart) in SilverHawks has a not-so-malicious version.
• Steven Universe: The four Diamonds have some sort of psychic connection. It turns out that this is the reason why Steven has dreams of what Blue Diamond is seeing and crying her tears when she visits Earth in "Steven's Dream", and he later uses it to get Yellow and Blue to realize he's telling the truth about (technically) being Pink Diamond in "Reunited". This psychic link is also one possible explanation for how White Diamond knew about Pink Diamond faking her death, as well as extensive knowledge of Steven's life on Earth, despite not having left Homeworld in eons.
• In Young Justice, the Team is often psychically linked by Miss Martian. Though initially done as a covert method of communications on missions, they started doing it for private conversations without even noticing.

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