I made a graphic and everything!!!
Ok so all of these pairings feature a highly competent and intelligent party who lives outside the law, and then their wet cat sidekick they keep around because they are, for some reason, desperately in love with this person.
On one end of the Spectrum we have this dynamic's most evil incarnation, Hannigram. Brilliant European sociopath serial killer Cannibal psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter, and his pitiful autistic sweaty dog-hoarder boyfriend, Will Graham, who he repeatedly and sexually manipulates into committing murders of his own and eating human flesh and other acts of defiance against God.
On the other end of the Spectrum we have the goofiest incarnation of his dynamic, former bloodthirsty warlord turned altruistic action hero of the people, Xena, Warrior Princess, and her dorky, ditzy, pillow princess bard girlfriend Gabrielle, who's innocence she's SO interested in preserving there's an entire plot point about the Powers That Be trying to make Gabrielle lose her Blood Virginity (kill someone) and Xena doing everything in her power to prevent this.
Now smack dab in the middle is Raffles and Bunny. I don't know how much you (or anyone) knows about the Raffles Stories, but they're a thinly veiled Sherlock Holmes pastiche (written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's literal brother in law) depicting Watson and Holmes as Gay Victorian Gentleman Thieves.
Raffles is a sexy charming cricketer with a selective distaste for the wealthy elite, who he steals from strictly to maintain his expensive lifestyle (scotch whiskey and sullivan cigarettes!!), and Bunny is his former school fag turned adoring partner in crime.
Like Hannibal, Raffles picks his victims with a sense of just desserts and poetic justice, and abhors (his definition) or rudeness . He is an artist of theft the way Hannibal is an artist of murder, everything he does is performative, absurd, and largely for the aesthetic. He also is obsessed with his reputation and reads about his own exploits in the paper and really likes to maintain his title and reputation as the best Gentleman Thief in London and requires an enormous amount of praise for this: One of Bunny's primary functions. He's a little evil and sociopathic but uses his powers for petty jewel theft instead of like--cannibalism.
But, like Xena--he's goofy! He has a great sense of humor and genuinely adores Bunny (even when he's ruining his life). His motivations where Bunny's Immortal Soul and morality are concerned also sit neatly between the two extremes: he does want to corrupt Bunny on some level, and is interested in dragging him further and further into the world of crime. However, like Xena's regard for Gabrielle, whom she views as the incarnate of Humanity's Goodness, he is extremely attracted to, reliant on, and compelled by Bunny's innocence. He never tells Bunny what his plans are because he needs Bunny to act genuinely shocked and appalled, thus fooling Scotland Yard and throwing them off his trail. He is cultivating both a love of crime and loot in Bunny, WHILE actively striving to maintain his utterly gormless attitude, as it benefits him ( and he thinks it's cute). The number of times he grabs Bunny's face to be like THANK HEAVENS YOU ARE SO ADORABLE AND STUPID!!! They'll never suspect us!! is at least once an episode.
Bunny also sits between the two character extremes: like Will he's empathetic to a fault (gets into his roles way too much and loses sight of his goals sometimes because he's so caught up in proving he's innocent he forgets he's supposed to be stealing stuff), and while he adores and hero-worships Raffles, he also is scandalized by his disregard for ethics all the time. However, also like Will, he doesn't have enough sense of self to actually resist Raffle's pull--he allows Raffles to fuck him over and push his boundaries and put him at risk over and over again because he's so swept up in loving him.
But he's not dangerous, or dark, or volatile like Will. He has Gabrielle's sweet blonde baby-faced energy where he just follows his best friend Raffles around like a loyal dog, bright eyed and thinking the best of him despite all better judgement. Like Gabrielle, Bunny never knows what the hell is going on, he's just happy to be there. Gabrielle and Bunny both are totally aware there's a significant power dynamic in their partnerships, express embarrassment about this (to their exasperated condescending partners who are like babe u are here to look pretty) and are both determined to prove their worth and usefulness to no avail and repeated chagrin. HOWEVER, Gabrielle does this in a funny, capering way and often proves herself worthy. She is not Xena's equal in strength and cleverness but Xena treats her as such anyway. Bunny isn't as deeply pathetic and victimized by Raffles as Will is by Hannibal, but he's definitely not as securely cared for by Raffles as Ganrielle is by Xena.
THUS!! They are the perfect midpoint between the Evil and Goofy extremes of this dynamic!! Ta dah!!
