"Boston Partnership: A Defense of Primary Friendship""The only thing lacking in Izzy's life was a romantic relationship, but even that wasn't enough to spoil the sense of peace that had settled over her. So many of her friends were single that it didn't seem odd for her to be that way as well. They filled up the holes in each other's lives and
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In addition, Legolas and Gimli in LOTR and John and D'Argo in Farscape also stand as very significant friendships, as well as McCoy with Kirk and Spock.
IIRC, Legolas and Gimli traveled together for the rest of their lives after the Quest, despite their rocky beginning as races ill-disposed toward one another. I thought the movies did an excellent job of portraying their friendship even while it downplayed Sam and Frodo's devotion (I hated, hated, hated the added scene in TT where Gollum splits them up briefly).
John and D'Argo had both a similar and different problems in the beginning of their relationship, being of different species and cultures as L&G were, but completely without reference to any common history. Yet that friendship also became very strong, each vowing to never abandon the other, and sacrificing themselves for each other.
McCoy and Spock's bickering friendship was a mainstay of the original franchise, and the triumvirate served in rough strokes as id, ego, superego for all those steeped in Freud. I've written Kirk/Spock, but in my heart, these three men were best friends in the truest sense of the word.
LOTR didn't much concern itself with sexuality, but emphasized comradeship and loyalty to a group bonded through purpose and hardship. Farscape acknowledged sexual curiosity in the relationships between John and, well, almost everyone he met more than twice. Star Trek gave each man a chance (Kirk, many) to romance women of intelligence and spirit, but in the end, they always came back to each other for deep emotional bonding.
Like I said, I agree completely with you.
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I'm on the fence about John and D'Argo: dear friends, definitely, and deeply enmeshed in each other's lives, sometimes at great personal risk, for years. Personally, I would probably not say BPs because, for all their closeness, they don't seem to include each other in primary planning. Ex. when D'Argo's pondering going off and living on a farm with Chiana, he's not pondering how John will fit in. Still, in interpreting the lives of fictional characters, we're all pretty free to make up our own readings:)
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