Trios in YA fantasy fiction
The power of three
I’m reading Chapter 5 of Children of Blood and Bone (Tomi Adeyemi) and my story senses are tingling. Action is coalescing around two pair of silbings: boy, girl, boy girl. Amid the thrilling action, do I detect the shadow of attraction between Brother A and Sister B? Between Brother B and Sister A? Is this going to be a story of two female POV characters and their love interests?
I have my doubts. To me, the narrative structure doesn’t yet feel complete. I’m unsettled as I read—in part because there’s one near escape after the next—also I sense the narrative structure hasn’t quite clicked into place
Then, I careen into Chapter 6. Like magic, the stars align, the bolts of the story rattle and lock into place. From the first sentence of Chapter 6, I can now sense the outlines of a complete and satisfying story. Here’s why.
Three is a magic number
Interesting fact…did you know that the triangle is the strongest shape found in nature?
~Tim Templteon, The Boss Baby
Back when my three-year-old was watching The Boss Baby many, many times a day, I repeatedly heard protagonist, Tim Templeton, expoud on the value of the trio: mom, dad, kid. According to young Tim, a trio can withstand car crashes, shipwrecks, tornadoes, and more, sheerly through the triangular the power of their interconnected love.
No disrespect to the arch, the triangle really is a strong and stable shape. Likewise, the number three is special. Consider the fairy tale rule of three—three wishes, three bears, three billy goats. Recall the “magic of three” writing technique. And of course I can’t forget some of my favorite music performed by tight jazz trios.
A threesome represents a structure of found balance. If one is a lonely number and two is evenly balanced, then three has the potential to disrupt the even balance in new and exciting ways, allowing the relationships intertwined by the trio to settle into an evolved stability. Once established, that stability can withstand disaster and solve problems.
I think this is why, while I was reading from the POV of the two female leads in Children of Blood and Bone, I felt someone was missing. But who?
The romantic trio
My first guess was that the missing third of the trio must be a boy, since mixed gendered trios are a linchpin of YA fantasy.
In a romantic fantasy, I’d expect one girl and two boys. The girl must be beautiful and both boys must be in love with her. She must have feelings for both; but, alas, there is only one of her to go around.
Classic examples:
Twilight. Bella, quite literally named for her beauty, captures the heart of vampire, Edward and werewolf, Jacob. Who will readers ship?
The Hunger Games. Katniss and her bow kick ass, but she has a lovelife, too. Who will she ultimately choose, her hometown crush, Gale, or Peeta?
The leads in Children of Blood and Bone were giving off some romantic vibes, but there were also brothers and sisters invovled, which meant I needed to check out sibling trios.
Sibling trios
Young literary trios abound in which two members are siblings. Sibling triangles are ideal for exploring redefined balance because two members already have a relationship ripe for disruption.
Luke, Hans, and Leia from Star Wars is a classic example. Mixing siblings and a romantic couple into a trio sizzle on screen and can kick some major galactic butt.
When romance isn’t in the equation, things can still heat up. In Lemony Snicket, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny find their unique stability via a threesome that involves love—just not the romantic sort. Each child has their own special skills to bring to their team. Yet, since Sunny is a baby, there’s a special dynamic present. Violet and Klaus rely on eachother’s competence and are protective of Sunny. Sunny occasionally delights everyone by saving the day, giving her a special role of alternating between liability and asset.
I love the dynamic when the third point of the character trio triangle fluctuates in this way. It reminds me of my favorite video threesome, ever.
The problem-solving trio team
Buffy, Willow, Xander. One of my top-two favorite young fictional trios of all time. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trio evolves with the series. In the beginning, Buffy is the only powerful character. Best friend, Willow, is bad guy bait, while Xander has a lot of heart, but is mostly an average high school boy. As the series progresses, bad guy bait, Willow, learns that she’s got more to offer the team than her big brain.
The BtVS trio is also intresting because it combines elements of the romantic trio and the sibling trio. Willow has a thing for Xander, Xander has a thing for Buffy. Who has the hots for whom evolves with the characters. What’s more, sibling-like feelings surface between members of the threesome. Sibling-like love is a glue cementing them together no matter what the Hell Mouth throws their way.
Finally, my favorite ficitonal trio: Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Rowling’s famous threesome have it all. A mixed gender trio: boy, boy, girl. Romantic vibes stir between each pair—not in a who-will-Hermione-choose sort of way, but more as a reflection of their growth under the influcence of their loyalty to each other and their spirit of collaboration.
Each of Rowling’s young characters brings their own special skills to the fight against Voldemort: Harry as the chosen one, Hermione with her books and brains, Ron with his steadfast friendship. There are no biological relations, but a sense of siblinghood thrives in the trio, both between Ron and Harry and between Harry and Hermione. In The Deathly Hallows, Harry actually says
“She's like my sister. I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me.”
The POV trio
So, back to Chapter Six of Children of Blood and Bone. What kind of trio am I getting myself into?
By the end of Chapter Five, I know Zélie’s our main lead, but she won’t work alone. Amari clearly has a vital role to play
But will there be a third member of the team? If so, who?
Zélie’s non-magical brother is potential as a love interest for Amari, a sibling to the protagonist, and he accompanies the girls on their adventure. He lacks the warmth of a Xander or Ron, and the sparks between him and Amari don’t seem capable of carrying a subplot with the apblomb of a Luke and Leia.
No, to understand the Children of Blood and Bone, I need to add another category to my concept of literary trios. With the start of Chapter Six, we were introduced to Inan’s POV. Inan, Amari’s brother, has all the fire, the anguish, the angst—and the special skills—to make him the ideal third leg to Adeyemi’s three-legged narrative stool. How or if he’ll become part of the team during the narrative, I don’t know, but he’s an essential facet of the story structure. I think.
Unable to help myself, I flip to the Table of Contents to confirm my theory. Yep, only three POVs in the book: Zélie, Amari, and Inan.
Trios come in many varities: romantic, sibling, teams—and perspective. I can’t wait to continue Children of Blood and Bone to see how this POV trio slips and slides and finds their balance as narrators and characters.