Platonic Life Partners

This is when a male and a female have been friends for a long time, and share a closeness like that of a long-term married couple. Occasionally, there are individuals who assume the duo are married or dating, or wonder, "Why aren't you guys dating?" or try to set them up as a couple. However, the duo is perfectly happy just being friends and the lack of sexual attraction is mutual. The reasons behind this vary. Sometimes they're truly in love with someone else. Sometimes it's just how they feel. Sometimes they even tried dating once a long time ago and realised that they just don't think about each other like that. Whatever the case, the final result is entirely platonic on both sides.

Simply being friends doesn't make a pair an example, nor does just being True Companions. Can lead to shipping of preferred characters by those who disregard the difference between Eros and Philia.

In most cases, this is a sub-trope of Like Brother and Sister. The difference is that for Platonic Life Partners, their relationship with each other is the most important relationship, with even romantic relationships coming in second. There are also variations on this, including where one character is gay or bisexual, or when the sexual orientations of the characters involved are not clear such that Unresolved Sexual Tension could be theoretically probable. The same-sex equivalent is Heterosexual Life Partners. In real life, being Like Brother and Sister often entails a more physical relationship, whereas this trope involves more emotional relationships.

Before you add an example to this page, make sure it really fits the trope. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are a good example of two characters who don't belong here. Although they are close friends, they are both closer to Ron than they are to each other. They're Like Brother and Sister.

Subtrope of The Not Love Interest. Compare Better as Friends. Contrast Just Friends for when this does actually blossom into romance. Not to be confused with Unlucky Childhood Friend in which one side does have feelings for the other.

Anime & Manga

 * Setsuna and Marina from Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is arguably the best example of this trope, based on the movie.
 * Toyed with in the manga adaptation of the movie. While, the mangaka explicitly stated that
 * Also from Gundam, Murrue Ramius and Andrew Waltfeld of Gundam Seed Destiny.
 * Rukia and Ichigo in Bleach.
 * Soul and Maka from Soul Eater are sharing this exact relationship. They're definitely each other's primary relationship - the series is based on one character that is a weapon (or a person who turns into a weapon or... it's weird and ambiguous) bonded with one character that is a wielder, and thus are constant companions and the most important people to each other.
 * Except that there is a good deal of Ship Tease around the two.
 * A majority of the relationships between the Meisters and their respective weapons are this in truth. And according to Word of God it's going to remain this way since he doesn't plan on developing the relationships into anything romantic.
 * Asuna and Negi in Mahou Sensei Negima, although Negi's natural charm makes this hard at times..
 * This can easily be said of Tara,, and Genshou, , in Basara's side stories.
 * Aside from Nitori briefly believing he was in love with Takatsuki, Nitori and Takatsuki from Wandering Son fit.
 * Shizuo and Celty from Durarara. Even Celty's boyfriend is surprised that they've never considered each other romantically.
 * Homura and Koharu, the two members of the Konoha Council, always make their appearances together. They were teammates and seem to have stayed together through the decades. This could be taken just as the fact that they work together and there has never been a need for a scenario where they appear separately, so YMMV.
 * Or, they may actually be married. Their relationship, other than teammates and coworkers, has never been explicitly defined.
 * Okabe and Mayuri have this going a bit in Steins;Gate with Okabe spending most of the series  It is only VERY subtly implied, and could be interpreted as her being used to the kind of remarks Okabe and Daru make when they're being perverted, but there are hints that part of the reason they aren't involved is that she's lesbian.
 * Code Geass' Lelouch and CC have this kind of relationship according to Word of God, which confirmed them as Platonic Life Partners and Vitriolic Best Buds as opposed to anything else. Fans have duly ignored this.
 * Code Geass' Lelouch and CC have this kind of relationship according to Word of God, which confirmed them as Platonic Life Partners and Vitriolic Best Buds as opposed to anything else. Fans have duly ignored this.

Comic Books

 * Wolverine has this kind of relationship with most of the X-Women, Psylocke and Storm standing out among them. He'll go to amazing lengths to help them, and even harbors a bit of Big Brother Instinct towards any would-be suitors, but when it comes to getting in a relationship with them himself, it just doesn't seem to happen. Fans speculate this is due to his awareness of his own Cartwright Curse.
 * However Wolverine has pursued relationships with his teammates in alternate time-lines, including marrying Storm in a "What If?" and being involved with her in the war-torn alternate future in Days of Future Past. Not to mention his frequent (sometimes reciprocated) fixation with Jean Grey.
 * Nightcrawler and Shadowcat have a similarly close relationship. They did once consider actually dating but decided it would just be too weird (partly due to the fact that she was also involved with Kurt's Heterosexual Life Partner Colossus.)
 * The Thing and The Invisible Woman have this kind of relationship (early on Ben was actually in love with Sue, but that was just how Stan Lee rolled).
 * Dwight from Sin City is normally Estrogen Brigade Bait for women in-universe, but Miho does not seem to be in love with him. It doesn't stop Shipping Fan Fics, however.
 * Dick Grayson (Robin/Nightwing) and Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) from Teen Titans.
 * Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen from Superman especially before the former married Clark Kent, although Jimmy is more like a baby brother than an equal to Lois.
 * Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja were this in the original Marvel Comics run... although it wasn't that platonic on Conan's side...
 * Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin in the long-running Modesty Blaise adventure comic strip. As explained many times in the strip, this is due to them sharing a bond that's stronger than love. See the literature section for additional information.
 * Angel and Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel have become this now they are sharing joint billing in a comic

Film -- Live Action

 * Black Widow and Hawkeye in The Avengers, and by extension the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general. They refer to each other as 'Nat' and 'Clint', engage in Casual Danger Dialogue and Back To Back Badassery. Not to mention When asked it's love, she replys no, love is for children. However, considering who she was talking to, it's a safe bet that she's lying.

Film -- Animated

 * Marlin and Dory from Finding Nemo are supposed to be this, Ship Tease aside.

Literature

 * Harry Dresden and Karrin Murphy from The Dresden Files. (A somewhat odd version of this trope, given that there is mutual attraction present, but neither is willing to budge from what they want out of a relationship - he doesn't want something casual, and she doesn't want anything serious.) Very close friends, willing to go to the wall and through the wall for each other time and again.
 * Encyclopedia Brown and Sally.
 * Eustace and Jill from Chronicles of Narnia
 * Polly and Digory "were always great friends"
 * Bree and Hwin from The Horse and His Boy "both got married but not to one another."
 * Jonah and Bea in How To Say Goodbye in Robot. They are so close that
 * Heralds Talia and Skif in Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series (after circumstances ruined their attempts at a Relationship Upgrade) and Talia and Kris, clearing the way for Talia's relationship with Kris' Heterosexual Life Partner Dirk.
 * Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas and Georgie Pillson, in E. F. Benson's Lucia series. Everyone thinks they've been having an obvious affair for years, but they have never been anything but close friends. In Mapp and Lucia, after Lucia becomes a widow, Georgie is terrified that Lucia will expect him to propose to her, and Lucia is terrified that Georgie will propose to her. They're both quite relieved to find that they agree in not wanting anything more.
 * Lizzie Bennet and Colonel Fitzwilliam from Pride and Prejudice have great friendly chemistry during their time in Kent (which most likely continues after Elizabeth's marriage to Darcy).
 * Elinor and Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility. Some of the cast start shipping them, but they happily remain nothing more than good friends.
 * Aunt Betsey and Mr. Dick from David Copperfield
 * Matteo and Tzigone grow into this dynamic across the Counselors and Kings trilogy. The two are frequently mistaken for lovers, but while Tzigone does sometimes flirt with Matteo, it's made plain she does it only because he's a dedicated member of a quasi-religious order that's supposed to be celibate and she likes to tease him; their friendship, while both deep and meaningful, is devoid of serious sexual attraction. At one point it's teased that they're actually (half) siblings, but this turns out not to be the case.
 * Conn and Rowan in The Magic Thief series. Rowan is Conn's best friend who also happens to be his own age, and while Rowan does have a Clingy Jealous Guy who is jealous of all the attention she pays to Conn, the two of them have a wholly platonic relationship without even a hint of Ship Tease. (OK, so they do Sleep Cute once, but that's about it.)
 * Several instances in Chronicles of Magravandias due to a lot of arranged marriages. Khaster and Pharinet (though Khaster starts developing other ideas), the emperor and empress, and Valraven and Varencienne. The last pairing is actually perfectly happy in their loveless marriage, believing they function better as friends and allies. And they're both in love with other people anyway.
 * Camille and Thérèse's marriage in Therese Raquin. Thérèse is a lonely, bored woman. Camille doesn't seem to even notice he's married.
 * The Missus and John-the-dig in The Thirteenth Tale. Vida believes that they'd have been lovers if they'd lived in a different time, but she was older and social conventions got in the way.
 * Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin were just as platonic towards each other in the novel series as they were in the comic strip, perhaps even moreso. As explained, this is due to Willie owing Modesty so much that the two of them share a bond that transcends romance. The only time Modesty even kisses Willie on the lips is in the final short story, "Cobra Trap",.

Live Action TV
"Somethin' about that is just downright unsettlin'."
 * Will and Grace is the former Trope Namer, as in some circles this sort of relationship was known as "The Straight Will & Grace." (However, because Will is gay, that relationship is not an example.)
 * Mr Steed and Mrs Peel from Brit classic The Avengers. A marvelous review of this show.
 * Mulder and Scully exemplify this trope during the first half of The X-Files. The fact that they eventually get together retroactively turns this into a case of Will They Or Won't They, but for the first four or five seasons, the relationship is portrayed as an intensely close but basically platonic romantic friendship. (Keeping them platonic forever seems to have been the original intention, although Word of God is somewhat contradictory on the subject, but eventually the characters just seemed to have other ideas.)
 * Xander & Willow are like this at least for the first three seasons. They've known each other their whole lives (or at least since kindergarten), and are so close that Xander is even able to save the world at the end of Season 6 by . They "dated" as children, and have a brief fling as teenagers, but are basically friends throughout.
 * Zoe and Mal in Firefly; old army buddies who happen to be close enough to give Zoe's husband Wash a fit of jealousy in War Stories. It gets played for laughs at the end of the episode, when Mal and Zoe tease Wash by acting like they're going to kiss, but are actually so reluctant and awkward (and the chemistry so off) that the whole thing falls flat on its face. Summed up in the words of their amoral mercenary teammate Jayne, who walks in on the scene halfway in:

"Weinerslav: Have you spent time with each other's families? Have you attended special events together, such as class reunions, birthday or holiday celebrations, weddings or extended car trips? Are you each other's emergency contacts? Do you even drink together at work, perhaps while summarizing what you've learned over the day or week? Have you shared intimate details of your fears, hopes, and dreams, both personal and professional? Is this the longest and perhaps most meaningful relationship in your life? Do you often find yourselves thinking the same thing and then saying it at the exact same time?"
 * Enjoy!
 * Gary and Holly from What I Like About You
 * Ben and Alice from The Secret Life of the American Teenager
 * George and Nora, starting in season three.
 * Olivia Benson & Elliot Stabler from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit are partners and very good friends. The closeness of their relationship sometimes causes friction with their colleagues, but never threatens Stabler's relationship with his wife and four children.
 * Their relationship does occasionally cause some marital friction. Kathy sometimes finds it difficult to deal with the fact that Elliot confides in Liv instead of her. There are also the unfortunate times when Liv has to be the go-between (when Elliot is undercover and unreachable, for example)and Kathy clearly objects to being kept out of the loop of her own husband's life. Still, it doesn't come up nearly as often as you'd expect and Elliott and Liv really are just friends.
 * Andy and Maggie on Extras. Word of God confirmed that there was no subtext, no post series Relationship Upgrade, and that they are simply exceptionally close friends.
 * Susan and Simon from the earlier seasons of Teachers. She's married for part of the series, but even after her divorce, the pair remain best friends and nothing more.
 * It seems that Lindsay and Matt are this too in the third season.
 * Zack and Jessie from Saved by the Bell have been good friends since preschool.
 * Lucas Scott and Haley Scott from One Tree Hill. Their genuinely platonic friendship was the cornerstone of the show, with Haley eventually becoming Lucas' sister-in-law at the end of season one.
 * Merlin and Guinevere in Merlin, especially as of season three. They are also part of a Power Trio with Prince Arthur (Gwen has Official Couple status with him, and he and Merlin are Heterosexual Life Partners), but the two of them basically consider themselves Arthur's guardians, insofar that when Gwen is awaiting execution, she actually tells Merlin: "You'll have to look after him when I'm gone."
 * Likewise, Arthur is acutely aware of how close they are, and on more than one occasion, has put Guinevere's wellbeing into Merlin's care should anything ever happen to him.
 * Alice and Jodie from Soap had one of these - both of them were gay but after two of their dates (which nameless people) clashed and they fought they decided to non-romantically date each other..
 * CJ and Toby in The West Wing are shown in flashbacks to have been this before the Bartlet campaign. During the main timeline of the show, their Nakama with the other members of the senior staff dilutes their exclusiveness somewhat, but they remain best friends and special confidants, with CJ being the only person who can call bullcrap on Toby's antisocial facade and Toby being the only person who isn't intimidated by CJ's habitual aggressiveness.
 * Lisa and Ray from Sister Sister. They're thrown together when they discover that Lisa's adopted daughter and Ray's adopted daughter are twins, and the girls naturally want to be together. Lisa and Ray have very clashing personalities, but they're (usually) good at working together to raise their daughters and eventually form a friendship.
 * Subverted by Lennier and Delenn in Babylon 5. But not until almost the last episode.
 * Fran Fine and Niles on The Nanny. Niles was the first to accept Fran into Maxwell Sheffield's household, and as the series went on, became Shipper on Deck between Fran and Maxwell, seeing her as a better love interest than C.C. Babcock, Maxwell's business partner, whom they love to snark.
 * Bernard and Fran in Black Books, who stay together because nobody else can stand either of them. Apparently, there is some way-back romantic history, but Bernard says he's not allowed to remember that.
 * Liz and Jack on Thirty Rock. In the episode where they accidentally get married, Mr. Weinerslav describes this trope nearly word for word.


 * Of course, all of these things apply.
 * Miley and Oliver from Hannah Montana. Lily and Oliver were this too, until their Relationship Upgrade in season 3.
 * Clarissa and Sam from Clarissa Explains It All.
 * Alex and Ray in The Secret World of Alex Mack.
 * Big Pete and Ellen in The Adventures of Pete and Pete, and Little Pete and Nona from same. '90s Nickelodeon seemed to really like this trope.
 * Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Their friendship is a bit more complicated than this trope, however, since they were also friends back when the Dax symbiote was in a man's body. So while they were this trope during the show, they started out as Heterosexual Life Partners.
 * In Warehouse 13, Pete and Myka are like this, even thought they both think that the other is attractive, Pete even tells Myka at one point that he thinks she is beautiful, and they care about each other they aren't interested in being with each other.
 * Actively invoked in Doctor Who when after having travelled with Rose and Martha, the Doctor specifically says that he's only looking for a friend when Donna joins him.
 * Shipping aside, the Doctor has this sort of relationship with most of his female companions in the classic series.
 * Notable examples include the Fourth Doctor and Romana, the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble (as mentioned above) and the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond (once she got over her childish crush).
 * Tom and Julia, musical writing partners from Smash
 * Veronica Mars and Wallace Fennell. They're best friends, confide in each other about (almost) everything, and spend an inordinate amount of time together. However, neither of them ever shows any romantic interest in the other and they both date other people.
 * Danny and Jackie in Blue Bloods are like this. Danny is Happily Married and Jackie dates elsewhere; on one episode Danny actually questioned her suspiciously about her dates as if he was a big brother. Linda, Danny's wife seems to trust Danny and Jackie together.

Theatre
"Eliza: What I done - what I did was not for the dresses and the taxis: I did it because we were pleasant together and I come - came - to care for you; not to want you to make love to me, and not forgetting the difference between us, but more friendly like."
 * George Bernard Shaw was very adamant that Eliza Doolittle and Professor Higgins, in his play Pygmalion, would never have a romantic relationship with each other. Audiences disagreed.


 * In many of the adaptations (including the musical My Fair Lady), it's suggested that they do get together at the end - although even then, it's rather ambiguous.

Video Games

 * Banjo and Kazooie, the two main characters from the videogame aptly titled "Banjo-Kazooie", are an example of this trope, as one is a male and the other is a female, but they do not persue a romantic relationship, choosing instead to be close friends.
 * It probably helps that Banjo is a bear and Kazooie is a bird.
 * In Persona 3 Portable, a female MC shares this sort of relationship with Junpei. Despite knowing her the longest, he's the only male member of SEES who can't become a love interest. Mostly because he already had a in-game love interest. Dummied Out dialogue implies that at one point he was to be a love interest though.
 * Brigitte "Rosie" Stark and Largo Potter from Valkyria Chronicles.
 * Akira and Mika from Lux-Pain. They are extremely close friends to the point that everyone thinks that they'll end up together. However, Akira sees Mika Like as a little sister and Mika considers him someone to beat up and torture. This relationship is questioned however  Near the end of the game though, you can't help but notice that Mika seems more interested in Shinji than Akira himself which is why their relationship romantically is never brought up again. As for Akira, the characters thinks he has it in for the main character Atsuki.
 * Male!Shepard and Tali, or Female!Shepard and Garrus, in Mass Effect; assuming you don't take the Relationship Upgrade in Mass Effect 2.
 * In Dragon Age II both Aveline and Varric serve as this to Hawke depending on the gender since they're the only party members that cannot be romanced, though Hawke can engage in a bit of playful flirting with them. In Aveline's case, she later develops a relationship with a fellow Guardsman. Varric it seems is comfortable with just being Hawke's friend.
 * Chris and Jill of the Resident Evil series are depicted as this, especially in Resident Evil 5 with Chris This turns out to be a major plot point in the story, as  is what drives him to push forward despite orders to retreat. After the number of games they've been in together, (only one each where they were separate) they are more or less inseparable in fandom eyes. Whether or not there are romantic feelings involved has not been addressed either way, and Revelations only lampshade hangs as to whether or not they are Platonic Life Partners or Battle Couple. They're one of the cases where it's very hard to tell whether things like Sleep Cute are meant as moments of Like Brother and Sister or as Ship Tease.
 * Sheva tries to coax a straight answer out of Chris during a conversation in part 5 by noting how fondly he seems to remember Jill, but Chris simply replies "We were partners." Gee, that helps.
 * Jessica in Revelations also brings up similar dialogue, with Chris explaining that "it's all about trust.". Right.
 * Possibly Fran and Balthier of Final Fantasy XII.
 * No one's quite sure what to make of the relationship between Mario and Peach, but Luigi has theorized that it's this. It serves as an interesting contrast with Bowser's obsession with making Peach love him.
 * Link and Zelda are this in some games, notably in The Minish Cap, but more often than not they don't meet until the events of the game.
 * In Skyward Sword, they appear to be longtime friends, but it may actually be more than that for once.
 * The original Link, from the first two games, has two Zeldas on his hands. Considering one gave him a big kiss after saving her from an ancient curse and the other only said "Thanks" after he'd saved her from Ganon, I think we can say he's the only Link to be at once platonic friends and more than friends with Princess Zelda.
 * Guy and Rose from Street Fighter were most likely intended to be seen as this, considering that in Final Fight continuity he's engaged to Maki's sister Rena (if not Happily Married to her) and that she is a Celibate Heroine fully dedicated to keeping Bison out of world domination... yet one of Guy's biggest motivations in the SF story, aside of findign Cody and setting him back to the path of good, is to save Rose from dying . Considering how their encounters are seen by fans, however... Whoops, Capcom?

Webcomics

 * Roy and Haley from Order of the Stick. After Roy Doesn't help that aside from him, Haley's the only sane person left.
 * Marten and Faye in Questionable Content. They moved in as roommates early in the series and the romantic tension created a case of Will They Or Won't They. Later on though, the two talk it out and decide not to date each other and instead turn their relationship into a very close friendship.
 * Bactine from Lint thinks she and Xylic have this (but he's just really good at hiding that he is in love with her)
 * Living With Insanity has David and Alice. Apparently she was based off an old girlfriend he's still friends with.
 * Davan and Aubrey, and Davan and PeeJee, in Something Positive. At one point, PeeJee describes herself to Davan as his "platonic life mate".
 * In Homestuck, troll culture has a relationship quadrant especially for this (moirallegiance). Equius and Nepeta are used as an example of a perfect moirallegiance in action because they are two ends of a spectrum and balance each other out very well, and Equius clearly thinks of Nepeta in the same way he would a little sister.

Web Original

 * Jack and Lori from The Insane Quest has been friends since teenagers and, apart from once comment made by Jack early on, there has been no implications of romance between the two.
 * Paw Dugan and Pushing Up Roses
 * Karen and Ralph from The War Comms, so much that the idea of them as a couple grosses both out.

Western Animation

 * Kurt and Kitty on X-Men: Evolution.
 * They actually have this sort of friendship in a few different universes, including the main Marvel 616 universe, where they've been best friends and thicker than thieves since the 80's.
 * A number of characters have relationships like this in the show. Iceman and Jubilee also count, as they spent almost all of their screen time during season 2 together, always went along together on wacky hijinks, and seemed practically inseperable. Scott and Jean, prior to their actual getting together, had shades of this as well, but we knew from the begining they wouldn't stay that way.
 * Rita and Runt on Animaniacs.
 * Drakken and Shego on Kim Possible, especially from the third season on. The platonic part doesn't quite last though. Although it's more of a Sure Why Not in the series finale than anything planned, so pretty much they go from being Platonic Evil Life Partners to in a relationship in 20 minutes.
 * Kim and Ron were PLP's, too, until the Relationship Upgrade in So The Drama.
 * Jenny and Brad on My Life as a Teenage Robot, occasionally with some Relationship Writing Fumble. Supposedly the writers planned for Sheldon to win over Jenny before it was cancelled.
 * Terry and Max in Batman Beyond, who are close friends, with Max even knowing Terry's secret identity. However, Terry has a girlfriend  but it doesn't stop shippers.
 * Raven and Beast Boy from Teen Titans are supposed to come off as this.. Actually, a majority of the team is this.
 * Alternatively, Raven and Robin.
 * Henry and June from Ka Blam!, according to Word of God. Doesn't stop the shippers, though.
 * George and Martha from the show George and Martha. They act so close they seem like a married couple, but it's never implied they're anything but best friends.
 * Twilight and Spike in My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic count as such, along with Like Brother and Sister (understandable since Twilight hatched him, making her his surrogate mother along with his surrogate sister).