Undying Loyalty / Video Games

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• Balthazar's Dream has the titular Balthazar, a dog who stays by his best friend's side in the waking world, and is on a quest to save him in the dream world.
• Three characters in BlazBlue exhibit this trope, all of which have good reasons for doing so.
  • Iron Tager is a field officer and research assistant working under Professor Kokonoe, and would follow any order she gives him with minimal hesitation — he may question it at first, but that doesn't stop him from obeying. He was an Ikarugan officer who was horribly injured during an operation to recover Deus Machina: Nirvana from the NOL, and Kokonoe literally had to reconstruct him into a demon-esque cyborg. She wiped some of his memories of a particularly traumatic incident soon thereafter, and had programmed him into total loyalty, but that is not to say programming and personality cannot overlap — even when he finds out about that incident, he is still loyal to her.
  • Valkenhayn R. Hellsing is one of the Six Heroes who fought off the Black Beast over ninety years ago and is a massively hardened badass, but well before it erupted from the cauldron in Japan he was a mere vigilante. One of his missions set him upon Claudius Alucard, who while trouncing him offered him a position as a butler to his house — Valkenhayn accepted and has been loyal to Claudius ever since. When Claudius set out to help Jubei and Hakumen banish Terumi to the Boundary, Valkenhayn swore to look after his daughter Rachel — ninety years in multiple timelines has passed and not once has he swayed from that vow, and he is one of the very few people Rachel genuinely respects.
  • Makoto Nanaya had faced some of the worst Fantastic Racism in the world and had acted like a bitch just to get away from it all, but found herself opening up to Noel and Tsubaki when they stood up to the "noble" twats that took it upon themselves to bully her. The three became very close friends over the Academy years, and she came to accept Jin and Carl as well. To say that her friends are the framework of her new identity is not hyperbole — her "unyielding will" is all her own, but for their sake she is not afraid to make the rest of the world her enemy, going so far as to defect from the NOL and send a thinly-veiled threat to Sector Seven through Tager just to protect Noel, and these bonds are literally half the reason (said "unyielding will" is the other half) she manages to survive a round trip between timelines through the friggin' Boundary.
• Boktai 3 reveals some of the undead who actively oppose Ratatosk due to their loyalty to Queen Hel. It turns out The Count is one of them and Stealth Mentors Django during their fight.
• N Gin is generally presented as such to Dr Neo Cortex in the Crash Bandicoot series, being both the Sycophantic Servant and The Igor. He ditched Cortex only once, and even then indirectly to collect treasure. When given a true opportunity to betray Cortex to serve Nina, he fights with his conscience, but ultimately cares about Cortex too much and willingly gives Crash info to stop Nina and get him back in control. Too bad Cortex never gave damn about him and abandoned the poor cyborg in Mind Over Mutant
  • Tiny Tiger is a Characterization Marches On case. In the second game, he is Nitrus Brio's ally in stopping Cortex. Ironically, in all the games after, he is Cortex's most loyal and consistent mutant. Especially evident in Crash Nitro Kart when Nash and Real Velo try to threaten Cortex.
  • Pasadena Opossum in Crash Tag Team Racing is presented as such to Ebeneezer Von Clutch. She introduces herself in the racing contest as having competed solely to make sure Von Clutch keeps his park. Compare this to the rest of the park's workers, who openly despise Von Clutch and want to ditch the job the moment they can while his other Number Two, Willie Wumpa Cheeks, is actually trying to off the guy and ruin the park by stealing its gems.
• Dark Souls: Sif, the Great Grey Wolf. Sif stands watch over his master's grave and will fight to the death in a field of the rusted blades of would-be grave robbers to protect it, even if he is too weak to swing his sword without falling over, and even if he recognizes you as the one who saved his life in the DLC- though in gratitude, he will allow you a fair fight despite getting the drop on you.
  • Further, in Dark Souls II Sir Velstadt. He's called the Royal Aegis for a reason. The reason being he's been guarding his king, Vendrick, ever since Vendrick entered the Undead Crypt.
• In Demon's Souls, there's the knight Garl Vinland and Maiden Astraea. When Astraea accepted the Demon's Soul, all of her knights turned on and tried to kill her, save for Garl, who remained by her side. Garl refers to her as "Dearest Astraea", and will defend her to the death. Astraea herself is equally devoted to her knight, and will commit suicide out of grief after the player kills him.
• Dupin and the player character are devoted friends in the Dark Tales series, as evidenced by a number of incidents over the years. The friendship is strongly present in most games in the series, with Dupin often boasting to other NPCs about the player's skills.
• In Devil May Cry 5 Griffon differs greatly from the previous Devil May Cry Griffon in terms of personality, as he is a more loose and extroverted demon in contrast to the original’s very formal and composed self. However, in the end both share a common sense of loyalty towards their masters. Griffon in 1 is loyal to Mundus to the very end even when his master has enough and kills him for failing to kill Dante several times while Griffon in 5 chooses to die as a means to erase Vergil’s traumatic memories as Nelo Angelo.
• In Devil Survivor, Atsuro Kihara is the only character who will never abandon you no matter what path you take.
• Fenrich to Valvatorez in Disgaea 4. Hell, Fenrich's catchphrase is "All is for my Lord". Doubles as a subversion to Fur Against Fang, with Fenrich and Valvatorez, respectively.
• In Dishonored, there's a villainous example in the form of the Whalers to their leader, Daud. They are willing to risk their lives against a man more powerful and skilled than they are to defend Daud, and will only let Daud fight alone if he commands it; after being badly wounded so that he can no longer fight, Daud has to tell them to leave a second time to get them to back off. A heroic example is Corvo, who has Undying Loyalty to the Empress and her daughter, Emily.
• In Dragon Age: Origins, every party member's opinion of you will fluctuate depending on your actions. Be too evil and some will hate you, too noble, others likewise. It is possible to get them all to 100% approval, but their approval can drop without warning if you do the wrong thing in their eyes. The sole exception is your Mabari war hound, whose approval of you is eternally maxed out. Additionally, if the player character is of Human Noble origin, the Dog will have Undying Loyalty from even before the game starts. Little Daddy's Boy/Girl got a purebred Mabari pup sometime in the past and by the time of the game, that pup has become Dog.
  • Also, Alistair. All of the other humanoid party members can be asked/directed to leave the party, but that's not an option with him, and even if his opinion of you drops down to nothing he will stay with you. For Alistair, the Grey Warden order was the only family he ever truly had, and you are the only other surviving member of the group in Ferelden. He will only leave after the Landsmeet, and only if you decide to spare and recruit Loghain. It's actually a gameplay mechanic to ensure that there is at least one male Grey Warden at all times.
• Dragon Age II promotes this trope to a gameplay mechanic: once you've maxed out a companion's Friendship or Rivalry, it will remain permanently locked there, signifying his or her unyielding loyalty to Hawke. In the endgame, this means that with a single exception (Sebastian, whose loyalty to the Chantry is greater than to Hawke), party members will stick with Hawke no matter what agenda s/he pursues.
  • Varric, in particular, never abandons Hawke and is even willing to kill old friends of his to protect him/her. At the end of the Legacy DLC, if done late in Act 2 or Act 3, he tells of a conversation that Hawke has with his/her dead mother and admits that it didn't actually happen. He took the liberty because he wanted his friend to get the closure he felt s/he deserved but never got. In Dragon Age: Inquisition, it's revealed that, despite telling everyone he had no idea where Hawke was, even when being threatened, he knew all along where s/he was and could get in touch with him/her at anytime. He never said this because he wanted desperately to protect his closest friend.
• As in Origins, it's possible in Dragon Age: Inquisition to max out the Inquisitor's friendship with any/all of the nine companions. The Trespasser DLC, which takes place two years after the end of the main game, can show just how deeply the loyalty runs. Possible outcomes include Dorian giving the Inquisitor a communication crystal that will let them talk to each other at any time whether in high friendship or romance, Iron Bull refusing to turn on the Inquisitor when ordered to do so by a high-ranking Qunari providing the player convince him to save his mercenary group over the Qun back from the main game, and Varric presenting the Inquisitor with a noble title and estate in Kirkwall so they will always have a home.
• Dragon Quest:
  • Dragon Quest IV:
    • Borya is a completely loyal servant to Princess Alena no matter how much he complains about her behavior.
    • Kyril is more than happy to remind Alena he is downright loyal towards her.
  • Dragon Quest V: Sancho towards Pankraz, the hero, and later the hero's wife and kids. Hence why he beats himself up so badly after Pankraz dies and the hero goes missing. When you find him again in chapter 2 he is a nervous wreck. He recovers somewhat before the hero and his wife go missing again. However, he finds an outlet raising their kids, and in chapter 3 he is every bit as loyal to the hero as he ever was to Pankraz.
• The Companions guild of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim exhibit this in spades for one another. They refer to each other as "Shield-Brother" and "Shield-Sister," and most if not all of them consider the guild to be their true family. This is driven home when the player character goes through their initiation rite, and a senior guild member essentially swears to die defending him/her if necessary.
  • Housecarls and stewards exhibit this uniformly toward the Jarl or Thane to whom they have pledged their service.
• Fallout: New Vegas has the Ferocious Loyalty perk, which gives companions a serious boost to their damage resistance when the Courier is wounded badly.
  • Of all the Courier's companions, only four of them will stay by their leader throughout it all: Raul Tejada, Lily Bowen, ED-E, and Rex. The rest can potentially quit helping permanently depending on actions taken, reputation with certain factions, and Karma level.
  • Members of Caesar's Legion are all fiercely loyal to Caesar, at least to a point. In certain cases, there's at least one Legionnaire who is not above considering Caesar a megalomaniac who is clearly losing it (due to a severe brain tumor) and Ulysses was a former Legionnaire who has lost faith in the Legion, but still feels a certain kinship with its men.
• Billy Kane of The King of Fighters and Fatal Fury is the right-hand man of Geese Howard. Before everything else, he is the right-hand man of Geese Howard. In the Maximum Impact sideseries, he abandons Southtown for England when Geese dies... but as soon as a new gang moves into Southtown, Billy goes back, because only Geese can rule Southtown. When fighting Rock Howard, Geese's son, Billy's prefight dialogue is anger that Rock isn't taking up Geese's legacy.
• Steiner from Final Fantasy IX is portrayed as loyal to the royal family of Alexandria, there in which lies his personal conflict when he's forced to choose between loyalty to Queen Brahne and his sworn duty to protect Princess Garnet.
• Generally, the noble antagonists in Fire Emblem have like this as a key character trait which leads to their death. Also Undying Loyalty to the main character is a common trait of most Jagen characters including Jagen himself.
  • Wolf to Hardin in Mystery of the Emblem.
  • Ishtar to Julius in Genealogy of the Holy War.
  • Brunnya and Murdock to Zephiel in Binding Blade.
  • Selena to Vigarde in Sacred Stones.
  • Bryce to Ashnard in Path of Radiance.
  • Fire Emblem has a musical theme in several of the games called "A Knight's Oath." It plays when a character with a backstory in military service to the Hero's nation joins.
  • In Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn there is also Soren, the very blunt, cynical tactician who is distant and distrusts everyone...except his commander and best friend, Ike. His loyalty is so undying that if he actually dies in the final chapter of the second game (he is ordinarily spared for plot reasons) his final words tell Ike that he must outlive Armageddon, he tells multiple people including Ike himself that he will never leave Ike's side, and if Ike chooses to leave him behind? He still thinks about Ike for the rest of his life. Well, it's hard not to be loyal to the guy who was the first to treat you with any dignity at all and saved your life.
  • In New Mystery of the Emblem, My Unit is intensely loyal to Marth. In return, Marth considers him/her a trusted ally and friend.
  • Ditto in Awakening between the Avatar and Chrom. Notably, Chrom returns the favor in a late-game confrontation, telling another hero who is threatening the Avatar that even if the latter is an unwilling Manchurian Agent for the Big Bad, he trusts him/her with his life.
  • In Fire Emblem Fates, most playable characters will not join you if you turn against their country. Your retainers Felicia and Jakob, on the other hand, will follow you to the ends of the earth. In addition, Silas will join you on the Birthright and Revelation routes after you pummel him due to his intense personal loyalty to you.
  • Mae and Boey are Celica's mage bodyguards in Fire Emblem Gaiden and are among the few people who know she's actually the last surviving heir to the Kingdom of Zofia. While they only had a couple lines of dialogue in the original game, the 3DS remake Shadows of Valentia expanded their characterization and made it pretty clear they are willing to die for her sake.
  • In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, every major faction leader other than Claude has someone willing to go to any lengths for them.
    • Edelgard has Hubert, who is trusted with the knowledge of her identity as the Flame Emperor and her crusade against the Church.
    • Dimitri has Dedue, who is willing to turn himself and several volunteers into Demonic Beasts in order to protect him on the Crimson Flower route and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after his death on the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes.
    • Rhea has Catherine and Cyril, who remain with her as she goes completely insane and eventually decides to burn Fhirdiad to the ground just to kill the heroes on the Crimson Flower route and help Byleth put her out of her misery on the Silver Snow route.
• The Phone Guy from Five Nights at Freddy's 2 loves the pizzeria (especially the animatronics) and just wants it to be a place where families can enjoy themselves. When he finds out that someone killed a lot of children and realizes that the pizzeria is going to be closed down, he sounds very upset in his sixth message. This motivates him to take the night shift at some point just to figure out what's going on.
• Missile, from Ghost Trick, is literally this. After he dies for the second time, this time with ghost tricks of his own, he opts to stay dead just to help save Lynne and Kamila. If that's not enough, the ending reveals that Ray is actually Missile from a previous Bad Future where he couldn't save anyone with his swap trick, so he goes back in time and waits ten long years to make the black cat Sissel think he was the man in red, knowing that said main was tied to Lynne and Kamila's murders and Sissel is only concerned about discovering his identity. If that isn't the Crowning Moment of Undying Loyalty, what is?
• In God of War III, the spirits of the fallen Spartans will come to Kratos' aid when he invokes the "Army of Sparta" magic. Even in death his soldiers remain loyal to him.
• God of War Ragnarök: Gna, the game's Valkyrie Queen (following Sigrun from the previous game), though in this case it's played more negatively. Gna got her job because Odin knew she would refuse to betray him no matter what; even when he traps and corrupts all the moral Valkyries so he could use the remaining Valkyries as his lackeys and use them to exploit the Einherjar, even when he unjustly exiles and curses her queen Freya, even knowing that Odin was a tyrant who would abuse her loyalty, and even after Odin is dead for good and Asgard destroyed, Gna remains loyal and tries to lead the remnants of the Einherjar in his name. Even after Kratos and Freya beat the tar out of her and offer mercy, she refuses it because it'd mean failing in her duty to Odin.
• Henry Stickmin Series: Ellie Rose is the biggest example of this as she becomes Henry's faithful partner on the routes following Convict Allies where he helps her escape the Wall. With her on his side, Henry can influences Ellie's morality through his actions in Inflitrate the Airship and she always support him no matter what, even borderline submissive with accepting many of his decisions... including the stupid ones.
• Jak and Daxter: Though a coward who has a penchant for telling tall tales that primarily revolve around himself, Daxter is defined by his undying loyalty to his Heterosexual Life-Partner Jak. Even if he has no qualms voicing his dislike of all the situations Jak drags him into.
• Journey On: Even if the player chooses to have Shirley corrupt her own soul, she'll never turn on Selena. If she shows up to the Final Boss fight while fully corrupted, the Avatar of Darkness absorbs her, but she'll still make an effort to resist the Avatar for Selena's sake depending on the player's actions in battle.
• Kid Icarus: Palutena, goddess of wisdom, gets this from her angel (who is pretty much her entire army) Pit. He is very quick to get into a shouting match with all sorts of divinities that insult her, and even when she was possessed and sent his lifeless body to slaughter untold amounts of innocent people, he gave everything to bring her back to herself again.
• Over the course of the Kingdom Hearts series, Donald and Goofy become very loyal to Sora; a noteworthy example is when they initially switch sides with Riku after his Face–Heel Turn because the Keyblade was intended for him all along and they have to serve whoever wields it. They immediately rejoin Sora and protect him when Riku tries to kill him, and as soon as this happens the Keyblade chooses Sora over Riku.
  • They also hold undying loyalty towards King Mickey, but betray him at one point to help Sora fight alongside their allies in the Battle of the 1000 Heartless. At least Mickey understands why they defied his order and forgives them.
  • And then, there's the Dream Eaters, particularly Meow Wow and Komory Bat, the respective starters of Sora and Riku.
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning: Agarth is this to The Fateless One. As he admits he used to be a hero before he foresaw his own death and this flung him into a deep depression until he met you. He goes on to say that thanks to you he has a new lease on life and helps you more as a friend than because it's the right thing to do.
• Billy Kane of The King of Fighters and Fatal Fury is the right-hand man of Geese Howard. Before everything else, he is the right-hand man of Geese Howard. In the Maximum Impact sideseries, he abandons Southtown for England when Geese dies... but as soon as a new gang moves into Southtown, Billy goes back, because only Geese can rule Southtown. When fighting Rock Howard, Geese's son, Billy's prefight dialogue is anger that Rock isn't taking up Geese's legacy.
  • Another example, is Goenitz, who is extremely loyal to the Ancient Evil Orochi.
• Kirby: Triple Deluxe has a rather tragic example in Taranza and his loyalty to Queen Sectonia. The main plot even started because of it. He wanted to give her a gift to show his love for her, so he gave her a magic mirror. The problem is that she appreciated it a little too much, constantly staring into it and corrupting her in to the evil tyrant that she is shown to be in-game. Even when all of the Floralians turned against her and sent a seed to Dream Land in hopes of summoning the great hero who would end her reign, Taranza still stood by The Queen and even tried to sabotage the people’s plan by kidnapping said hero (whom he thought was King Dedede). He finally puts his foot down (metaphorically speaking) when Sectonia casts him aside and leaves him for dead. Taranza then helps Kirby and King Dedede end her reign of terror once and for all. Even when she’s dead, it is said that Taranza is still grieving for The Queen, and that he spends his days hopelessly looking for a way to revive her and return her into the queen that he once loved. Poor guy.
• T3-M4 in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (contrast the first game, where his only sense of personality is as a foil to HK-47) is noted by other characters as being loyal to The Exile and becomes quite the sociopath (but played for laughs as his victims are droids) when she is captured by Goto and it needs to help rescue her.
  • Also from the second KotOR every single member of your party except Kreia due to the Jedi Exile's unique force bonds with them, and even Kreia likes the exile for being The Force's Übermensch.
  • HK-47 is himself an example, as he is loyal to Revan almost to the degree of hero-worship.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • This is showcased rather tragically in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, both with soldiers:
    • The Ikana warriors encountered in the game guard the long abandoned and ruined Ikana Kingdom even in death. The ghoulish spirits roam the area out of a devotion to their commander, because as far as their concern their captain's last order was law. Link encounters the Captain of the Guards, and after a brief duel, manages to bring peace to the Captain. Before passing on to the afterlife, the Captain gives Link a mask endowed with his spirit energy, and gives his final order to his soldiers: let them know that the war is over. The soldiers let go of their obligation to Ikakna when told this and pass on to the afterlife, giving Link one final salute. The King of Ikana also haunts his kingdom, and aggressively defends his throne from Link in a boss battle. When Link defeats the king, he laments at his failure to protect his kingdom, but acknowledges that as sorrowful as he over it, now is the time to let go and rest in peace. As a parting gift, he gives Link the tools he needs to defeat the final dungeon of the game.
    • Similarly are the Clock Town Soldiers who all know the moon is falling but, even on the night of the third day, as they tremble with fear with their hands on their hearts pleading to survive, to be allowed to leave, for any kind of salvation, they hold their positions until the bitter end knowing they're going to die.
  • About the only redeeming quality of the Big Bad of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Demon Lord Ghirahim, is his unwavering loyalty to his master the Demon King Demise. All of his efforts in game are to free his master from his imprisonment. This continues in Hyrule Warriors, where he follows Ganondorf due to sensing he is a reincarnated version of his master.
  • Since their introduction in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Sheikah tribe's loyalty to the Royal Family of Hyrule has been their cultural hat to the point of it making them a willing Servant Race. Impa's personal loyalty to Zelda in either's various incarnations is the most prominently portrayed, but there's also the devotion of the Sheikah Monks in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with them spending 10,000 years in meditative stasis waiting for Link to complete their trials and give him Spirit Orbs and other items to help him defeat Calamity Ganon.
  • Breath of the Wild also subverts it by introducing the Yiga Clan, an offshoot of the Sheikah tribe. Unlike the rest of the Sheikah, the Yiga could not forgive Hyrule for turning on them. They still have Undying Loyalty as their hat... but that loyalty is given to Ganon.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Tetra's crew of pirates are fully committed to saving her when she is temporarily captured by the Helmoroc King, demonstrating that they care deeply about their leader and aren't just selfish pirates.
  • By the time of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Link has sworn to be fiercely loyal to Tetra.
• Stern and Levi towards their Lord Dearche in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Gears of Destiny. While they may infuriate her her several times and will flatly refuse Dearche's orders if they don't agree with it, everything they do, they do it for Lord Dearche's benefit. If they need to sacrifice their lives to ensure that their king survives and achieves her goal, they will do so without hesitation.
  Stern: I am the flame that opens the path of my king... Even if I am extinguished, I will have no regrets.
• The defining characteristic of Commander Shepard from Mass Effect series (apart from being the Ultimate Badass Of The Known Space) is the ability to inspire undying loyalty in their squad and crew members. Most of Mass Effect 2 is, in fact, spent gaining the complete loyalty of Shepard's squadmates (or at least making sure they won't be distracted by any personal business).
  • The two returning squadmates from ME1, Tali and Garrus, are already devoted to Shepard even before their loyalty missions in the second game. In particular, if you bring Garrus to the entrance of a quarantine zone for an epidemic that kills his species but not humans, he'll offer to follow you in even though you have human teammates available: "It's your call, Shepard. If you need me, I'm not going to let a damn cough keep me back."
    • Tali makes her hatred for Cerberus, the terrorist organization that Shepard is forced to work with in Mass Effect 2, clear from the very beginning and tells Shepard that she's only joining the mission for their sake.
  • Although she only joins the squad in DLC, you can learn that Liara's devotion to you drove her to absurd lengths between games. First, she went out of her way to find Shepard's body and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Then, she handed the body over to Cerberus despite her fears and mistrust of them because they were the only ones offering a small chance of Shepard coming back. Then, she embarked on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against said "wrong hands", namely the Shadow Broker, the mightiest crime lord in the galaxy for daring to try to harm Shepard. And the reason she was so cold to you in the second game? She was scared senseless that Shepard Came Back Wrong due to Cerberus' manipulation. But even with that fear, her loyalty to Shepard's cause never wavered, maybe even being the most loyal to Shepard's cause, which is saying a lot. Together with Garrus and Tali, the three are the ones who are with Shepard as playable squadmates throughout the trilogy.
    • Can also fit into Violently Protective Girlfriend to Shepard if Shepard romanced Liara in Mass Effect.
  • If Urdnot Wrex survives to 3 and Shepard supports the krogan throughout the entire trilogy, it's quite clear by the end that his faith in and loyalty to Shepard is absolutely unbreakable. This is also implied to be the case with the rest of the krogan to humanity, with Wrex even promising that the krogan people would gladly lend areas of Tuchanka for displaced human refugees from Earth. This is a pretty significant gesture, since the krogan are about to undergo a massive population boom and desperately need all the land they can get.
  • In Grunt's case, even before his loyalty's solidified he pretty much already has nothing but total respect for Shepard and is quick to defend them from those who dare spit on Shepard's name. All thanks to their very first exchange, when Shepard stood up to him (when Grunt had them pinned against a wall) and had a gun on him without him noticing it. Being a total badass will have that effect on krogan.
    Grunt: Shepard is my battlemaster. S/he has no match.
  • Joker has the honor of being the only character guaranteed to be by Shepard's side through all three games. While nothing will ever stop him from snarking his way through it, it's very clear that he sees the Commander as a trusted friend and will follow him/her anywhere no matter what or how dangerous. Late in 3, it's revealed that Anderson, due to Joker's unbreakable loyalty, asked him specifically to take care of Shepard during the war.
  • This loyalty also applies to Javik, the last of the Protheans. This is probably because Shepard helps Javik's personal mission to defeat the Reapers.
  • And of course Shepard themself to their crew. Threatening the people under Shepard's command is not advised. EVER!
  • Shepard can even inspire loyalty from people they've only worked with once or twice: in Mass Effect 3, speaking to Kirrahe on the salarian homeworld will result in him promising to support you in retaking Earth, regardless of the salarian government's decision on the matter. If the salarian government does decide not to support you, most likely because you cured the krogan genophage against their wishes, Kirrahe goes AWOL in order to join you... and takes the entire salarian Special Tasks Group with him!
  • Both subverted and played straight with Miranda Lawson. Subverted with the Illusive Man, as while she consistently proclaimed her undying loyalty to him and Cerberus, she eventually lost her idealistic vision of the organization and made a Heel–Face Turn. Despite some initial tension, it is eventually played straight towards Shepard.
  • This point is finally rather unsubtly driven home in the "Citadel" DLC for ME3, where it is demonstrated that the main difference between Shepard and their secret Shadow Archetype clone is that the former has friends who'd walk into a fire for them, while the latter only has minions. Shepard's ability to inspire this kind of loyalty is so great that their clone derisively refers to the Normandy crew as "The Cult of Shepard".
  • The geth to the quarians, on a race-wide scale. Even though their quarian creators once warred with them and are still to this day utterly hostile to them, the geth value little more than the lives of their creators, and are horrified by the implications of having to destroy them, which makes that very possible scenario in Mass Effect 3 all the more tragic.
• The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. "Loyalty To The End" is her Badass Creed and her primary motivation to the exclusion of all else. The sheer scale of the sacrifices she makes in the name of that creed border on ridiculousness. In short (no easy task), she killed her own lover and father of her child under orders, was irradiated during nuclear testing, shot in the head, horrifically injured while being a top secret participant in the Mercury Project, betrayed all of her friends to their deaths and ultimately murdered by her most beloved pupil after a lifetime of painful sacrifices without solace or reward, and condemned to be remembered as a traitorous war criminal. All in the name of the United States government, which she had known since childhood to be corrupt from within by a dying conspiracy, and purely so that conspiracy could steal a huge amount of money from Russia. And yet, "Loyalty To The End." The revelation in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker that she was suffering from brain damage may undermine all this an iota however.
  • Her and the Sorrow's counterparts, Solid Snake and Otacon. Even when the entire world is against them, they will absolutely NEVER abandon each other. Even at the very end of the series — the very end of Snake's life — Otacon outright refuses to leave Snake's side. Snake's last word in the series is Otacon's name.
  • Gray Fox is another great example in this series. Raised as a child soldier in Africa during the Mozambique Civil War during the 1960s where he was nicknamed Frank Jaegar by his enemies for his "frank" appearance as a boy which he tricked them with until he killed them as a fierce "hunter" (Jaegar is German for hunter). Big Boss defeated the young Frank when he attacked him on patrol one day and rescued him from the war and brought him back to a U.S friendly safe zone but unfortunately the Philosophers experiment on him and turn him into a mind-controlled super soldier and years later Big Boss rescues him from this fate as well. Frank joins Big Boss' FOXHOUND Unit and from the 1970s until the 1990s serves under Big Boss' command in conflicts all around the world and earns their highest title of Fox, but despite his prowess as a warrior Fox tells Snake of how once again Big Boss came to his rescue when he had been captured by the enemy and they tortured him. In Gray Fox's eyes Big Boss is a father figure and the man to whom he owes his life; this undying loyalty to the man is so extreme that he betrays America and joins Big Boss' Outer Heaven cause even going so far as to fight his friend Solid Snake in a battle to the death. Fox's loyalty wasn't to a country or an ideal but to a man, Big Boss.
  • While he may be the Trope Namer for Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and a Magnificent Bastard of the highest order, Revolver Ocelot will never betray Big Boss.
  • Whether it's MSF or the Diamond Dogs, there will always be soldiers under Big Boss' command that will never betray him, the ones who won't leave you even if you're in the red. Never is this more evident to the player than in the quarantine mission in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Once you get past the soldiers that are either too afraid or too far gone from the infection, you'll find yourself in the lowest level you can get on the platform, where there are soldiers who aren't sure of what to do and will leave it to Big Boss to decide (even if they all must die as there's no way to cure them). They then salute and wait for you to kill them, humming the theme song of Peace Walker the whole time.
    "We live and die by your order, Boss."
    • Also, the wandering Mother Base soldiers who are wandering the wilderness and have gone feral, only to come to their senses and salute when Big Boss comes around to rescue them.
      "I've been waiting for this day for so long!"
• The final installment of Monster Girl Quest introduces Eden, The Dragon to Ilias. She is so unswervingly loyal to her master that it almost makes you Cry For The Angel when you learn Ilias doesn't care in the slightest about her and sees her as only a means to an end.
• Deekin in Neverwinter Nights is able to resist the Big Bad, one of the rulers of the Nine Hells, and who is simultaneously offering him great power to crush the Dragons he served under and is using his True Name to force him into helping. Merely telling Deekin you will miss him grants him will enough to fight off the most powerful magic in the planes.
  M: Come, join me. What has done but hold you back from your potential? I could make you a force that all dragons would bow down to in fear! All the world would know your name, Deekin, and fear it!
  D: No! You may be bigger than the boss, but... but... DEEKIN NOT LIKES YOU!!
  M: You dare defy me, reptile?!
  D: That's right! Deekin defies you! Deekin stands by the boss... to the end!
• A few villainous examples in The New Order: Last Days of Europe:
  • Yuri Evtukovich remains loyal to the Holy Russian Empire and continues to execute his Final Orders even when the Regent had already Died and the country had collapsed back into Warlordism.
  • This also counts for essentialy all German troops still stuck in the former Eastern Colonies.
  • The Free French forces which are stuck in West Africa also count as this.
• In No Umbrellas Allowed, Bok Bae was unfailingly loyal to his boss, Dr. Gonam Choi, when he was working at CARI. He felt obligated to report every last detail to him, no matter how trivial. His strict compliance with AVAC's laws is what proves to Dr. Choi that the protagonist is actually him all along.
• Captured Pokémon will follow a trainer's every command, provided they like the Trainer enough.
  • In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, there is the Shadow Triad, three mysterious, shadowy figures who are utterly loyal to Ghestis for some unknown reason. Even when Ghestis is defeated and is driven mad, making him no longer a threat, they will show up at a spot every month, challenging you out of desire for revenge. (They won't force you, however.)
  • Before them, in HeartGold and SoulSilver, Archer, top Team Rocket executive, displayed this to Giovanni. Despite being the current boss of a powerful crime syndicate, his entire plan revolved around getting Giovanni to come out of hiding and reclaim his place as leader of the organization.
  • You have the option of releasing a Pokemon into the wild from the PC. If you try to do this to your very first Pokemon, it will come back and the game tells you "It was worried about you." Even if you've kept it in the PC ever since that was allowed.
  • With the introduction of Pokemon Amie in Pokemon Xand Y, you can form close bonds with your Pokemon that can result in them overcoming status afflictions, dodging hits, hitting critically more often, and even REFUSING to faint all out of loyalty and love for their trainer.
  • Gardevoir, in particular, deserves special mention. Throughout the games, one fact continually gets mentioned in the Pokedex: It will protect its trainer, even at the cost of its own life. Damn...
  • Unfezant's Pokedex entry states that it will never allow itself to be close to anyone but its trainer.
• In Potion Permit, Xiao is the loyal town treasurer who's willing to die for you if you're dating him.
• In Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, it's revealed at the end of the game that everything that Henry had done for the last 18 years was part of his effort to find Randall and prepare for his possible return. He even entered into a false marriage with Randall's girlfriend, Angela, just to save her from being essentially married-off to another man.
• Red Dead Redemption 2:
  • Deconstructed regarding the Van der Linde gang to Dutch. Everyone can see Dutch's Sanity Slippage and how he is making more and more questionable decisions that are recklessly endangering the gang but many continue to blindly follow him. Especially Bill and Javier who become hostile to other members who are doubting Dutch such as Arthur, John and Abigail, feeling they are the ones sowing discord, undermining Dutch's leadership and being traitors to the gang.
  • Dutch constantly preaches about loyalty to the gang but in reality, he demands the gang to be completely and unwaveringly loyal to him only. He also willingly abandons John and Arthur at their times of need. When John even shows hints of having more loyalty to his wife and son, Dutch becomes antagonistic towards him. When Arthur rescues John from prison against Dutch's orders, Dutch saw this as an act of disloyalty. He starts seeing Micah as the most loyal member since Micah is a Professional Butt-Kisser who always stokes Dutch's ego and supports his decisions never realizing that Micah was the real traitor.
  • Arthur said it the best to John: "Be loyal to what matters". Arthur and John had been loyal to Dutch since the beginning but Dutch and what remains of the gang are no longer worthy of their loyalty. Eventually, Arthur's loyalty to John and his family drives him to protect them and help them to leave the gang for a better life.
• Resident Evil – Code: Veronica: Alfred Ashford displays these tendencies with regards to his sister Alexia, to whom he is obsessively loyal, even going so far as to create a split personality version of her during her absence.
• Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles: Sergei Vladimir to the Umbrella Corporation as a whole and Ozwell E. Spencer in particular for a stark contrast with his rival, Albert Wesker. Unlike most of his coworkers, he is absolutely determined to go down with the ship that is Umbrella; this largely stems from Umbrella having given him a home and a purpose following the collapse of the USSR. By the end of the game he's the only person still trying to hold Umbrella together, and he goes so far as to deliberately transform into a monster to try and stop Wesker from taking over the remnants of the company. When he dies, the company falls apart, as Sergei was the only one who was really keeping it intact.
• In Saints Row, this is by far the most important quality of the Boss. They will never let the 3rd Street Saints as a whole or an individual Saint down. If you're one of the crew, they will stand beside you no matter the circumstance. Get hurt? They'll pull you back to your feet. Get in trouble? No one will stop them from helping you. Someone kills you? God forgive whoever did it, because they won't.
• Sekiro/The Wolf from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a literal example, being an immortal shinobi who is completely devoted to his lord Kuro. Not only will he slaughter anyone who stands in the way of Kuro's wishes, but he will gladly die countless times for his lord's sake. While the Iron Code technically dictates that Wolf should treat his father's words as even more absolute than those of Kuro's, three of the four endings have Wolf deciding that his loyalty to Kuro comes first, even if it means turning against his father^note Even in the ending where he sides with his father, that's only because Wolf's become a Blood Knight who soon proceeds to literally backstab his father too. His rival throughout the game, Lord Genichiro is also an example. Genichiro was a destitute orphan before being adopted into the Ashina Clan. As such, he's willing to do anything to save Ashina from the threat of the Interior Ministry, even if it means crossing serious moral lines. This is what sets him against Wolf — Genichiro believes the immortality Kuro can grant others is the only hope Ashina has.
• Shin Megami Tensei:
  • The Heroine to the Hero in Shin Megami Tensei I. She ditches her role as the Messiah to follow whatever he believes in. She's a bro.
  • From the same game, Pascal the Cerberus. Originally the hero's ordinary pet dog, he fused with a demon to protect his master, becoming a mighty Cerberus. Normally, a demon summoner can only summon a demon at or below their level; Pascal-Cerberus is one of the few demons that will let the hero summon him regardless of level.
  • Normally, in Shin Megami Tensei games involving demon summoning, your death means a Game Over, handwaved by your demons abandoning their now-dead master. However, in Shin Megami Tensei IV, should you fall in battle, any of your demons that are still alive will continue to fight until victory is achieved or they perish alongside you.
    The rest of the team is trying their best...
  • In Persona 3, Koromaru is a Fictional Counterpart of Hachikō. Even a year after his owner was killed, Koromaru still goes on the same walk that his owner used to take him on every day. Koromaru is eventually revealed have human-like intelligence and joins the party as a Team Pet to avenge his master, who turns out to be killed by Shadows.
  • In Persona 5, raising someone's Confident to max rank will ensure their loyalty to Joker. At the end of the game after he's unjustly arrested and imprisoned, everyone from a ten-year-old video game ace, to an airsoft shop owner with yakuza ties, to a newspaper reporter, to even a member of the national government will be publicly speaking out in Joker's defense!
• Throughout the Sonic the Hedgehog games, Tails being Sonic's devoted right-hand man is usually one consistent.
• A defining trait of Voldo from the Soul Series is his great devotion to his long deceased master, Vercci.
• In older versions of Stellaris, you could sign an AI Rights Accord and permanently etch the rights of synth pops as thinking, sentient beings into your empire's legal framework so they could never be enslaved or destroyed. This meant that if the AI Uprising Crisis occurred in another empire, then your pops would refuse to join it and instead help their creators fight it.
• Lyon from Suikoden V is very devoted to the Prince, on whom she also develops Bodyguard Crush.
• Super Paper Mario:
  • Blumiere and Timpani have this. Even though Blumiere tried to destroy the multiverse, Timpani still loved him.
  • A one-sided example of this is Nastasia's love for Count Bleck. In fact, all of Count Bleck's minions are like this, except for the ones who are brainwashed or named Dimentio.
• Tales of Symphonia demonstrates both the good and bad sides of this trope:
  • Kratos' feelings of loyalty toward Mithos have him lingering on the wrong side of morality for thousands of years, including nearly all of the game.
  • Botta's loyalty to his leader is his primary character trait, and even leads to his Heroic Sacrifice in order to save the party and thus make sure someone gets a message back to said leader.
  • An odd example considering how he spends a lot of the first game, but Zelos can become like this towards Lloyd if you play a path that earns his trust. While the first game shows this a little, the second game drives it home as Zelos is the only character to have complete faith Lloyd's innocent (even Colette is shown to have a few doubts). He even ditches the party twice: one time because he feels finding Lloyd is more important than their quest to save the world, and the other time simply because Emil badmouthed his friend.
• Guy to Luke in Tales of the Abyss. Sure, he has a brief moment of weakness after Luke destroys Akzeriuth, but he's the only one who returns to Luke's side voluntarily. After that, nothing will keep Guy from backing Luke up. When Jade — in-universe, easily the most terrifying party member — suggests that Luke pull a Heroic Sacrifice, Guy lifts Jade the Necromancer off the ground by his collar. It gets to the point where he'll willingly hold Tear back, despite his pathological fear of touching women, at Luke's request, so Luke can perform said Heroic Sacrifice uninterrupted. Of course, as it happens, he's on the verge of tears.
  • Mieu. He didn't give up Luke at any moment and recognized him as Master even when everybody got sick of him over the Tartarus when they first got into the Qliphoth.
  • Luke himself had this towards Van, the only person to scold him and praise him and was his Parental Substitute. Then it turned out he had outlived his usefulness after Van used him to destroyed Akzeriuth and was just an Unwitting Pawn that he didn't even see as human.
• In Tales of Xillia, Jude falls into a slump after Milla dies as without the one he's loyal to he has no purpose. Muzet completely flips at being abandoned and is desperate enough to latch on to the Final Boss to give her a purpose and someone to be loyal to. Wingul, meanwhile, loses himself in his loyalty to the point he most likely does things that his King would actually not approve of considering certain actions and lines.
• The Heavy from Team Fortress 2 is intensely loyal to his teammates, especially towards the Medic. In the supplemental comics, the Soldier is this too, albeit more out of his Comedic Sociopathy turning him into an Eagle Land-flavored idiot whose brain seems to only classify others as 'good people to trust' or 'people to violently kill.' Ironically, the comics reveal that the RED Medic doesn't reciprocate.
• Staya from TinkerQuarry deconstructs it. As the holder of the Essence of Loyalty, it is literally etched in his soul to be loyal to the Girl. Even though she broke him and tore his body up, he's still so devoted to her that he becomes a total Control Freak and keeps all the other toys trapped in a Crapsaccharine World to make it perfect for her when she arrives.
• Touhou Project:
  • Youmu Konpaku is intensely loyal to her mistress, Yuyuko Saigyouji. In the fighting game, Touhou Suimusou ~ Immaterial and Missing Power, Youmu briefly questions Yuyuko's actions but just as promptly castigates herself harshly for it.
  • The same can also be said of Sakuya and her mistress Remilia. Koumajou Densetsu II, one of the franchise's fangames, has her going on a Roaring Rampage of Rescue for her mistress' sake.
• Twisted Wonderland: Sebek is one of Malleus's royal guards. He takes this duty very seriously, as such he's notoriously devoted to Malleus and quick to anger at any perceived slight against him.
• Unicorn Overlord has Mandrin, who is extremely faithful to his boss Gammel. Notably, if you spare Mandrin and let the town watch arrest Gammel in your respective first encounters with them, Mandrin will stay with Gammel in the Black Talons as opposed to them both doing a Heel–Face Turn and joining the Elheim militia if you let Gammel go free.
• In Warframe, this is how the Warframes themselves relate to their Operators. The Operators are human children and survivors off the colony ship Zahriman Ten-Zero, which was lost in the Void, and who gained Void-based powers. The Warframes were human soldiers infected with the Infestation and who were turned into berserk, uncontrollable killing machines driven by hatred and rage and pain, until chance caused them to come into contact with the survivors of the Zahriman Ten-Zero, who could use their powers to empathize with and soothe the pain of the Warframes. For this, the Warframes are intensely loyal to the Operators, and vice-versa, to the point that the normally-inert Warframes will act of their own accord to protect their Operator if they are in danger.
• Ichiban Kasuga of Yakuza: Like a Dragon has absolute loyalty to his boss Matsumi Arakawa, due to Arakawa rescuing Ichiban from certain death at the hands of some yakuza he'd pissed off as a teen. Even Arakawa betraying the Tojo Clan for the Omi Alliance and nearly killing Ichiban in the process isn't enough to shake the younger man's loyalty, and Arakawa is shown to be quite fond of "Ichi" as a result.

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