Ties That Bind

Ties That Bind is a Teen Titans Fanfic written by Mary Graysons Little Robin, that unexpectedly became popular on Fanfiction.net.

Ties That Bind is a medieval Period Fic. The main premise of the story is that Garfield (Beast Boy) lost his wife Terra after she was murdered by King Malchior. Gar leads a revolt and takes over the leadership of Steel Kingdom. He successfully overthrows Malchior, taking Malchior's widow Raven back to Jump Estate with him as a servant.

Since this is a Romance and Revenge fic, the inevitable happens.

It's a unique fanfic due to the fact that the author and did a lot of research and decided to have the fic fall under Shown Their Work instead of Did Not Do the Research.

It can be read here.

Tropes used in Ties That Bind include:

• Blade Lock: Happens a few times, complete with The Princess Bride homage.
• Celibate Hero: Garfield starts out as one of these, and is this way toward Raven until they're married, unfortunately the Fan Dumb didn't get the reasons why.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Gar is this, when he's joking.
• Comforting the Widow: Malchior's modus operendi, and everyone knew it
• Complete Monster: Malchior combined with the fact that he's a Magnificent Bastard too.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Raven's first sword fight with Garfield, her second swordfight with him and when he rescues her without any help by himself. There are a lot more coming, they're just unwritten as of this entry.
• Death by Origin Story: Terra receives this, but appears in plenty of flashbacks.
• Deadly Doctor: Kori is, by reputation, she even Led the invasion of Malchior's home village while Gar gave Maldouche a Hannibal Lecture.
• Determined Widow: Raven, but many of the characteristics are inverted or subverted because the she sees Gar as the villain instead of The Hero.
• Eternal Sexual Freedom: Subverted for historical accuracy and character traits, the Fan Dumb went berserk.
• Happily Married: Richard and Kori, Terra and Garfield.
• Good Is Not Nice: Garfield tortures and murders the man who killed Terra on Malchior's orders.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Gar is this, when he's joking.
• Homage: The author has several of these, including The Princess Bride, Romeo X Juliet, Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note, Teen Titans, and Black Cat.
• Lampshade Hanging: The author lampshade hangs her own fic with the following:

Garfield: Life's not really fair is it? I feel like I'm in a twisted romance and revenge story. Richard: If you were, you'd probably end up falling for the wife of the guy you killed. Garfield: Who would write something like that? Richard: A hopeless romantic with a knack for liking this sort of thing.

• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The main theme of the Fanfic
• Romancing the Widow: Is not Gar's intention but he ends up doing this to Raven eventually.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Garfield, Kori and Terra.
• Shown Their Work: The author does this with authors notes at the end of every chapter after the prologue.
• The Uriah Gambit: Inverted. Malchior attempts this and fails and kills Terra instead.
• The Stoic: Richard
• Xanatos Gambit: Gar pulls off one of these.