Sinful City (series)/Sammy Doyle & Yarum

"If I was even a little bit less lucky, my life would be a horror story. I could've been bonded with a monster ripped straight out of someone's nightmares. Instead I got Yarum. He's been a good friend to me and, even if he doesn't say it, I can tell he feels the same about me. Even if I know we'll have to separate eventually, I'm never gonna forget the time we had..."

- Sammy's thoughts on Yarum

Sammy Doyle and Yarum are characters from the Sinful City series. Sammy is an effeminate-looking crossdressing man from Ireland who was forcibly bonded with the Shadow Demon Lord Yarum when he was young by a cult led by the villain Enoch, the demon attaching itself to Sammy's shadow. After this, the two set out on a quest to separate from each other, with Yarum longing to return to his throne in The Abyss and Sammy being unable to live a normal life so long as Yarum is attached to him.

Personality
Sammy and Yarum's personalities are intentionally contrasting. Sammy is timid and emotional, while Yarum is filled with immense rage and is famous for his loud screeches. Sammy is a self-proclaimed "lover, not a fighter" and prefers to try and talk things out with people than fight them. He is so against the very idea of violence that even seeing someone bleed causes him to vomit. There are few people who he can say he truly hates, and he even standards when it comes to his enemies, refusing to take their lives no matter how horrendous their actions against him or others are. All Sammy wants in life is to be normal, but ever since he was a child he has been unable to live his dream due to Yarum's presence. However, he seems to have grown attached to Yarum due to their many years together, considering him his best friend.

Yarum, as mentioned before, is the opposite of Sammy in every way. He is loud, prone to violence, and is always at least a little grumpy. He doesn't trust humans who aren't Sammy and his human-hating nature often results in him being the cause of many fights Sammy gets in. The only human he seems to like is Sammy himself, who he is overprotective of, flaunting his power to help him and attacking anyone who has ill intentions towards him. However, all of this hides a softer side. Yarum claims that he has no human emotions, but his attachment towards Sammy, him often talking about missing his wife who he is separated from, and him worrying about his subjects in The Abyss prove otherwise. However, pointing out any of his "human" traits will cause Yarum to become defensive, refusing to be compared to what he considers a lesser being.

Sammy's Sexuality
A common debate among fans of Sinful City is the sexual orientation of Sammy. Sammy has a unique view of sex and gender, admitting that the reason he crossdresses is to challenge gender norms, hoping to prove it's possible to be both a man and feminine at the same time. This ideology of his and his general attitude has caused fans to speculate Sammy might be a homosexual, siting lines of dialogue from both Sammy and Yarum as proof. In the first game alone, Sammy claims to think kissing girls is gross, blushes during his first meeting with U.S.A., and Yarum outwardly states that he has never seen Sammy take any interest in a woman. Dialogue between Sammy and Satsuki is also sited as proof, with Sammy claiming the two couldn't date because she has the "wrong body type". The scene is played for comedy, with Satsuki thinking he is talking about her breast size, but fans believe that the "wrong body type" line was an attempt at confessing he preferred men to women. Frequent hints throughout the series have caused most fans to agree Sammy is either gay or aromantic, with more fans leaning towards gay.

Abilities
Sammy and Yarum are unique among Sinful City fighters, as Sammy himself doesn't fight. Sammy is physically very weak, which forces him to rely on Yarum for combat. Through a combination of a mild mental link and overly exaggerated gestures, Sammy commands Yarum and tells him what he should do in the fight. Yarum himself battles using his shape shifting abilities, making parts of his body larger or smaller based on Sammy's direction, such as increasing the size of his fist to be able to strike someone's entire body at once or shrinking down back into Sammy's shadow to avoid incoming attacks. Yarum is also somewhat of a grappler, grabbing and slamming the opponent across the battlefield and following up with repeated punches. While Yarum is incredibly powerful, due to his link to Sammy he is essentially a glass cannon, as when Sammy is knocked unconscious then Yarum will also be knocked out. However, Sammy knows this, and thus uses his natural acrobatic skills to his advantage, leaping over people's heads and very quickly moving around them to keep himself conscious and allow Yarum to fight.

Trivia

 * Yarum being a large supernatural creature that Sammy has some control over and fights for him is heavily inspired by the Stands from the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, though obviously the comparison is not one to one.