ok you know what i need more bodysharing/brain roommates. malevolent got me feeling some kind of way and I need MORE. tvtropes has like 15 different categories that are all sort-of-but-not-really under the umbrella of what I'm looking for, and sorting through all of that is a little too unwieldy, so I'm turning to you guys.
key factors of the specific flavor of "multiple consciousnesses stuck in the same meat suit" that I'm looking for are:
any variation of, a human (or this universe's equivalent [so like, an elf where elves are commonplace would count]) has another, nonhuman consciousness attached to them and only them in such a way that the two can communicate, and subsequently
they Banter Constantly
^that^ is probably the most important qualifier here tbh
second most important qualifier is that they are not separated at the end (this obv. doesn't apply if the thing is still ongoing). it's okay if the passenger gets a new body (cf. subnautica) or is freed from their binding (cf. baldur's gate), as long as the partnership isn't broken.
Related: they don't actually have to SHARE a body (so enchanted objects, an AI implant, a Mysterious Disembodied Voice, an imaginary friend, etc., also count). they just have to be tethered to each other such that the passenger cannot move around or function on their own without a host. (I think this is part of why it's hard to narrow down on tvtropes: it's more about the dynamic than about the specific mechanism of "possession".)
Third most important qualifier is that only the current host can hear/communicate with the passenger, even if other people around them are aware of the passenger's existence.
two humans stuck in the same body is okay as long as the other criteria are met, but I would prefer it if the host is human(/equivalent) and the passenger is not (or vice versa if the passenger/possessor is the one with control of the body, as with things like the yeerks, most demonic possession, etc).
it doesn't have to be romantic. they don't even have to like each other. conversely, it absolutely can be romantic too.
They DO have to be the POV character/s for a significant majority (like, at least 60-75%) of the work, because the internal back-and-forth is the entire point.
Bonus points if: they do actually share a body; they are either never physically separated either, or are rejoined at the end (voluntarily or otherwise); passenger has lots of setting-relevant knowledge/an alien or fantastical perspective, while host shows passenger what it's like to be Alive™; despite constantly butting heads, host and passenger work patently better as a team; super extra bonus points for all of the above
My favorite examples of what I am looking for:
Malevolent podcast (super extra bonus points x10000000000000000)
Venom movies (this is probably the codifier for most people here tbh) (super extra bonus points)
Subnautica: Below Zero (AL-AN gets their own body but stays with Robin, and it hits all of the others)
Forspoken (super extra bonus points)
the "a bagel. two bagels." vine
(I know there's a couple others that I'm just blanking on. If I remember them, I'll add them.)
other things that have moments or flavors of this, but aren't focused on it/don't quite hit all of them:
the Bartimaeus trilogy had it at the end a little, but, well. it didn't last very long. (i STILL haven't recovered from that ending and i was, what? 15 or something? g o d)
the emperor in bg3 kiiiinda counts since they're magically bound to the player/party and can't exist outside their prison, but they do have their own body and are not nearly as chatty as I'm looking for. also, while only the holders of the prism can hear them, All of the holders of the prism can hear them and I'd really prefer one-on-one.
I think Death Note would also count? I read it in like 6th grade and never finished it so my memory is patchy At Best, but since nobody else can interact with Ryuk, he's bound to whoever holds the notebook, and he's the supplier of the holder's powers, it's close enough that I would accept something similar.
Slay the Princess has the bickering in spades and fulfills the "do not separate" criterion depending on your ending, although the jury's out on whether the voices are Actually their own entities or just symptoms of you losing it. Also, nobody in it is human. The bickering is definitely good enough to make up for it though. (The fact that it's Jonny Sims clearly having a grand old time might have something to do with it...)
with the caveat that I have not watched any of it, i think jadzia (and?) dax from ds9 miiight count, but they're part of an ensemble cast and thus fail the "pov characters for a majority of the work" and "we get to hear their constant internal banter" criteria.
things I tried that fit at least some criteria, but didn't like for various reasons:
the good demon by jimmy cajoleas. promising concept, but 1) the protagonist smokes, which is an instant and unnegotiable dealbreaker (seriously, who makes their protagonist do that in The Year Of Our Lord Anything Later Than 1950?? and to a child? DEATH. ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON.), and 2) I looked it up and they separate at the end anyways, so there's even LESS of a point.
the venom comics. honestly I just... really dislike superhero comics, there's always way too many of them to keep track of + I'm very shallow and they're usually unbearably ugly to me (and also having started with the movies I just found comics!eddie really unpleasant tbh)
parasyte manga. perfect concept, great dynamic, but its particular brand of body horror was... not great for me and I had to put it down. (horror in and of itself isn't a dealbreaker, though, so if you've got something similar that doesn't involve lots of hands bent at nauseating angles, I'll gladly take it.)
Cyberpunk 77 has the two-humans flavor of this and hits almost all of the other criteria, but i viscerally hated literally everything about j*hnny s*lverhand with every fiber of my being and the rest of the game was so mediocre already that i just gave up
....I know it's a highly specific/potentially niche dynamic, but if anyone has any recs, PUHLEEASE hmu!!! I'm looking for original work rather than fanfiction, but apart from that, format doesn't matter at all (although if it's some like super difficult indie game or something, I probably won't get very far lol). the MAIN points are 1) bickering and 2) host-and-passenger, so if you have something that hits those but not the others, feel free to share it anyway!
I don’t know if my Unspoken counts: heroine thinks she has an imaginary friend who she then meets in person. There IS a lot of bickering. The bond is broken and then joyfully re-established, which as in Venom I think is an important journey. The bond isn’t romantic… unless maybe… until it is.
However the imaginary friend is human, which is I agree a sad failing on my part, and has a body of his own though sometimes said body is (spoilers a decade old) conveniently buried alive out of the way. I don’t know if the Lynburn Legacy counts, what do you guys think?
I also seize on this opportunity to say I have likewise been marked by the Bartimaeus trilogy and it will haunt me forever…
Paging @marrogerson and her Venom-and-a-nun VESPERTINE.
I'm usually shy about promoting my own work, but in this case, I feel confident that Vespertine would be a slam dunk for you, OP. It hits literally all of your points, including the bonus ones.
We seem to have super similar tastes—I'm always desperate for more examples of this trope too. I'm not much of a podcast listener, but I'm already looking up Malevolent.
I would also recommend Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold and Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. They don't hit all of your criteria, but a lot of them.
Thank you, @ekjohnston!
