#characterdynamics

Has Bromance Disappeared — Or Did We Just Rename It?

It’s Thursday. It’s technically Theory Time.

But today isn’t a wild plot twist theory. It’s something else.

It’s a pattern I’ve been noticing for years — something that feels cyclical, almost inevitable — and yet somehow new every time it happens.

I want to talk about the disappearance of “bromance.”

Because I genuinely think it doesn’t exist anymore.

Or rather — it gets renamed.

And once it gets renamed, it never goes back.

When Bromance Used to Be a Thing

There was a time when intense male friendships were allowed to just… be intense friendships.

We had:

Merlin — Arthur and Merlin.

X-Men: First Class — Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr (McAvoy and Fassbender era).

Supernatural — Dean and Sam (yes, even there).

The O.C. — Seth and Ryan.

Even older duos like Starsky & Hutch.

Back then, intense bonds were often labeled bromance.

People made edits. People wrote meta. People joked about “they love each other more than anyone else.”

But it largely stayed in the realm of friendship — powerful, consuming, emotional friendship.

Now?

That same dynamic almost automatically becomes romantic or sexual in fandom spaces.

The word bromance feels… extinct.

The Modern Pattern

Let’s look at more recent examples:

Supergirl — Kara and Lena.

9-1-1 — Buck and Eddie.

Once Upon a Time — Regina and Emma.

These are relationships built on loyalty, emotional intimacy, sacrifice, protectiveness.

And they are almost immediately categorized as romantic by large portions of fandom.

Now let me be very clear:

This is not about sexuality being the issue.

I loved Kurt and Blaine in Glee. I love Yuri and Charlie in School Spirits.

Queer ships are not my problem.

My question is different.

Why does intense emotional connection now almost require romantic framing?

Why can’t we let certain relationships exist as something beyond labels?

The Agape Problem

I think part of this is that we’ve lost a category.

There’s friendship. There’s romantic love. There’s sexual attraction.

But what about something else?

There’s a concept — agape. A kind of love that transcends romance, transcends friendship, transcends physical desire. It’s total. It’s consuming. It’s soul-level connection without needing to become sexual or romantic.

Some relationships on screen feel like that.

Buck and Eddie sometimes feel like that. Kara and Lena sometimes feel like that. Regina and Emma, in a different way, felt like that.

And instead of allowing that category to exist, we flatten it.

We rename it romance.

Or we dismiss it entirely.

And in doing so, we kind of erase the possibility that friendship — or something adjacent to it — can be just as epic as romance.

“But Shipping Isn’t Harmful”

Here’s where it gets complicated.

Shipping is creative. It’s fandom expression. It’s imagination. It’s community.

But I’ve noticed something shift.

Years ago, you could say: “I love their bromance.”

And no one attacked you.

Now, if you say: “I see them as friends.”

You can get treated like you’re denying something sacred.

Like you’re blind. Or worse — like you’re bigoted.

And that’s the part that genuinely confuses me.

Because in earlier eras, fandom could hold both:

“I ship them romantically.”

“I love their friendship.”

Now it often feels like it has to be one or the other.

Is This Cultural?

So here’s my actual theory:

Maybe we’ve become so starved for meaningful emotional intimacy in media — especially between men — that the only framework we recognize for deep vulnerability is romance.

If two men share emotional openness, protectiveness, devotion — we assume it must be romantic.

But why?

Why can’t male intimacy be allowed to exist without being sexualized?

Why can’t two women share obsessive loyalty without it being read as suppressed romance?

Why did bromance fade away as a label around 2018–2019?

Because it did.

And the shift feels noticeable.

The Personal Layer

I’ll admit something personal.

I once experienced that kind of connection in real life.

A bond that didn’t fit friendship. Didn’t fit romance. Didn’t fit anything neat.

It was just… my person.

That person died.

And I’ve never experienced that kind of connection again.

So when I see those dynamics on screen, they comfort me.

They remind me of something pure.

And maybe that’s why I resist when every intense bond gets automatically reframed as sexual or romantic.

Because sometimes the beauty is in the ambiguity.

Sometimes the beauty is in not labeling it at all.

So Here’s My Question

Why do you think bromance disappeared?

Why does intense emotional intimacy now almost automatically get romanticized?

Is it cultural evolution? Fandom amplification? Queer coding awareness? Loneliness? Media literacy shifts?

Or am I just nostalgic for a category that doesn’t exist anymore?

This isn’t a fight.

It’s a genuine Theory Time.

A Deep Dive into Their Twisted Connection of Love, Power, and Control.

The Beginning of the Obsession

When Hannibal first meets Will, he is intrigued—not by Will’s skill as a profiler, but by his vulnerability. Will's ability to empathize with serial killers allows him to understand their minds, but it also leaves him emotionally exposed. Hannibal, ever the manipulator, sees an opportunity to control and mold Will, drawing him into a world where love and violence are inseparable. For Hannibal, this is not just a bond with another person; it's an opportunity to create something perfect in his own image.

Will's Complicated Draw

Will’s side of the dynamic is equally complex. Initially, he sees Hannibal as a mentor—someone who can understand him, someone who is both detached from the world and yet oddly compassionate. However, as their relationship deepens, Will begins to feel the pull of Hannibal’s influence. There’s an attraction to the strength and power Hannibal exudes, but also a creeping fear that this man might be pushing him to the edge of madness. Will starts to see the darkness in himself that Hannibal has long seen, and it’s hard to resist the temptation of embracing it.

Love or Control?

The crux of their relationship is that Hannibal’s version of love is not about affection or mutual respect. It’s about control. For him, love is the act of possessing the other person completely—bringing them into his world, reshaping them until they are a reflection of him. This is evident in how he guides Will toward darker actions, encouraging him to embrace his darker impulses rather than running from them. He doesn’t want Will to just love him; he wants Will to become him.

Will, for his part, is both repelled and fascinated by Hannibal. There’s a part of him that resists—he knows that Hannibal’s love comes with dangerous strings attached—but there’s another part of him that longs to belong to someone so deeply. As the series progresses, Will becomes more and more intertwined in Hannibal’s web, until it becomes impossible to tell where Will ends and Hannibal begins.

Hannibal’s Love for Will

Despite his manipulative nature, Hannibal does have a form of love for Will—though it's not conventional. It's not the romantic love we're used to seeing, but something darker and more possessive.

Hannibal is attracted to Will’s vulnerability and complexity, seeing him as someone who is both fragile and capable of great darkness—a reflection of himself. His love for Will is deeply obsessive. He wants to mold Will, not just corrupt him, but also bring him into his world and make him his equal.This is why Hannibal continues to try and manipulate Will's emotions and decisions, often nurturing Will’s darker side (through their shared killings and manipulation) while also acting like a protective figure. He wants Will to see him as the only one who truly understands him and be with him in this twisted partnership.

Corrupting and Power

However, Hannibal's love for Will isn't without its ulterior motives. Part of his attraction is the idea of dominating Will's psyche and transforming him into his perfect partner—someone who shares his worldview and moral ambiguity. Hannibal wants control over Will, to shape him and bring him into his darkness, even if it means Will losing himself.In that sense, Will is both a subject of love and a canvas for Hannibal to work his influence on. It’s not just about corrupting for the sake of corruption; it’s about creating a bond that transcends normal love—one that makes Will Hannibal’s equal in every way, even if that means pushing him to the brink of madness.

Does He Truly Love Will?

Yes, in his own way, Hannibal does love Will. It’s just not the traditional kind of love. His affection is twisted, manipulative, and intense. He’s willing to destroy Will in order to have him by his side. But at the same time, it’s not all about power and control; there’s genuine care (even if it’s warped) and desire to be with Will, no matter what the cost.

The Ultimate Act of Possession

Hannibal views Will as his—a creation—and he sees killing him as a way to keep Will forever. The idea is that death would bond them in an eternal way, preventing Will from ever truly escaping him. It's a twisted version of love, where Will can never escape Hannibal, even in death.

Does He Love Will Enough to Let Him Live?

The key tension in their relationship is that Hannibal does love Will, but he loves him in a way that’s far from healthy. His love is about ownership and creating a perfect match, but it’s also about testing Will’s loyalty and pushing him to places of extreme psychological and emotional vulnerability. The question of whether Hannibal truly wants to kill Will is complicated because, on some level, he doesn’t want to lose him; but on another level, the act of killing him could solidify their bond in a way that Will could never escape.At the end of Season 2, it’s almost like Hannibal’s idea of love and possession becomes so intense that he’s willing to destroy what he loves in order to keep it. Will's survival, in his eyes, could be just as much of a test of his control as Will’s death.

The Tragic Beauty of Their Bond

Ultimately, their relationship is tragic because it represents a love that is not built on a foundation of mutual care or understanding, but on manipulation and obsession. There’s beauty in the way they connect—it’s raw, intense, and full of emotional depth—but it’s also deeply destructive. Neither character is ever able to fully break free from the other, and in the end, they are both consumed by their own need for each other.Their bond speaks to the darker side of human nature: the way we can become entangled with another person, even when we know that it will ultimately lead to our undoing. There is something hauntingly compelling about their connection—a love that exists in the gray area between passion and destruction, a dynamic where neither side can exist without the other.

The crazy part isn’t that she grabbed his tie.

It’s that he let her.

The crazy part isn’t that she dragged him into Heaven.

It’s that he didn’t walk away.

He could have.

Summary: Returning to Potions, Sebastian is confronted by the unsettling reality of new classroom dynamics: sheis now partnered with Garreth, sparking an unwelcome surge of jealousy within him.

Word Count: 680 words

The bell for Potions clanged, a jarring sound in the still-too-quiet halls of Hogwarts. Sebastian, having just navigated a particularly awkward breakfast, walked towards his usual workstation, Ominis a familiar, comforting presence beside him. This was it. Their first Potions class back together. A chance for some semblance of normalcy.

STEP 1: Say you’ll never forgive him and storm out

STEP 2: Invite him to a bar

STEP 3: Flirt with lesbians (preferably princesses) in front of Alastor and Vaggie

STEP 4: have WAY to much fun while he definitely definitely does NOT notice how good you look

STEP 5: Uh oh… When did you run the bartenders wife with a motorcycle?

STEP 6: After Alastor goes ballistic punch out the bartender yourself (while calling him Cupcake fondly)

STEP 7: when the Bartender stabs Alastor with glass storm out dramatically

STEP 8: Demand he takes off his shirt and the conversation will go like this: “Take off your shirt.” “My dear….” Alastor chuckled cheeks warming despite himself, “that is hardly appropriate alley way behavior—“ “TO TREAT YOUR WOUNDS IDIOT.” STEP 9: Threaten everyone who would dare to hurt him while threatening Alastor as well, and he smiles at you like your being romantic

STEP 10: He asks about your past while definitely not wincing in pain and you say: “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

That was it. A challenge.

For the elf, this is almost incomprehensible.