History LoveDodecahedron / Literature

** For Nanao's part, Tullio Rossi makes more than one pass at her. More disturbingly, Chela's father Theodore, who brought her to Yelgland, is somewhat prone to referring to her in overly affectionate terms despite a roughly twenty-year difference in age, and viewed finding her as a fulfillment of an oath he made to the late Chloe Halford, [[YouRemindMeOfX whom Nanao reminds many characters of]]. [[spoiler:And then we incorporate the fact that Oliver is secretly Chloe's son.]]

* ''Literature/TheHost2008'' also fits this trope. Melanie loves Jared so much that the [[PuppeteerParasite alien parasite controlling her body]] also falls in love with him. However, it's implied the love is mostly physical. [[spoiler:Ian]] has a crush on Wanderer, and Wanderer [[spoiler: finds herself falling in love with him for his personality. Even when Wanderer is given a separate body from Melanie's at the end, Melanie has a slight crush on Ian but loves Jared and Wanderer still has a slight crush on Jared but loves Ian.]] And this isn't even including the romances between the side characters.

** In ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'', Clary falls for Jace. [[MuggleBestFriend Long-time best friend Simon]] has always loved Clary, but Clary [[ObliviousToLove doesn't find out until later]]. Jace returns Clary's feelings and they kiss, but then they found out they are siblings and broke up. Clary then briefly dates Simon until deciding they are BetterAsFriends. She then goes on a date with Sebastian, but it somehow feels wrong to Clary. It turns out this was because it is actually Sebastian who is her brother, not Jace, and Sebastian knew this. Clary is disgusted and gets back together with Jace. Sebastian remains obsessed with Clary but also starts a fling with the Seeelie Queen. Alec had a crush on Jace but moves on after falling in love with Magnus. Simon has a crush on Isabelle, Alec's sister. She loathes him when they first meet but he grows on her. Later, Maia is introduced. She likes Simon, and he likes her back, but Simon also still has feelings for Isabelle. He ends up dating them both at the same time. They find out and both dump him, but Isabelle later decides to give him a second chance. Maia gets back together with her ex Jordan until he dies. After that, she starts dating Bat who she had a thing with before the start of the series, which she ended because she was still not over Jordan. Then there's Jocelyn's love history, who was married to Valentine, but ran away from him once she realized how evil he was. She then developed feelings for his former best friend Luke and eventually married him. There are also some side love interests like Isabelle's fling with Meliorn or Jace's fling with Kaelie. At the end of the series [[spoiler:Jace is together with Clary, Alec is with Magnus, Maia is dating Bat, and Simon and Isabelle were together until Simon gave up his immortality and all his memories of the Shadow World, and his friends connected to it, to Magnus' father to get them all out of Edom after the death of Sebastian.]] They get back together in ''Literature/TalesFromTheShadowhunterAcademy''.

* In ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' by Michael Grant, there is a huge one. [[TheHero Sam]] and [[TheSmartGuy Astrid]] like each other, but [[AsianAirhead Taylor]] likes Sam, who makes out with her when drunk. [[TheDarkChick Diana]] jokes about wanting Sam, but she really wants [[BigBad Caine]] (or does she?), and [[UnholyMatrimony he wants her]], but so does [[BadassBookworm Computer Jack]], who likes [[GenkiGirl Brianna]], who likes him back, but [[ButchLesbian Dekka]] also loves her. Meanwhile, Drake is obsessed with Diana and possibly Astrid in a way that [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty may or may not be sexual]], and it seemed for a second there that [[ThirdOptionLoveInterest Sanjit]] wanted Diana, but turns out it's really [[TheMedic Lana]] that he's into, who's also liked by [[LoveTriangle Edilio and Quinn]]. And then [[TheDragon Penny's]] obsessed with Caine, only maybe not so much after he [[spoiler: dropped her off a cliff.]] [[FromBadToWorse And it goes on]] . . .

* The ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' CHB storyline (includes ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus''): Okay, here goes: Percy and Annabeth are dating; Rachel, Calypso, Reyna, and Nico all at one point liked Percy; Percy's mom Sally used to be married to Gabe, used to be in a relationship with Poseidon, and is currently happily married to Paul; Annabeth had a misguided crush on Luke as a child(ew); Thalia and Luke used to be into each other; Silena was into Luke but also dating Beckendorf; it's heavily implied that Clarisse and Silena had a thing going; Clarisse is dating Chris, Piper used to date Jason, but now Piper is dating a girl named Shel; Reyna had feelings for both Jason and Percy; Leo is dating Calypso; in Hazel's first life years ago, she had a crush on Leo's great-grandfather; Hazel and Frank are dating; and Nico and Will are dating. And that's just the Greek/Roman series!

** When the previous generation was of courting age, they were a mess of this. Ganth and Trishien liked each other, but Ganth's father {{Parental Marriage Veto}}ed it. Ganth's brother Greshan liked Rawneth--who didn't really ''like'' him so much as she wanted to marry him for political power, but they suited each other well anyways--but Greshan's grandma [[ParentalMarriageVeto Grandparental Marriage Vetoed]] it. Their father later tried to marry Ganth to Rawneth, but that didn't really go anywhere. Greshan was killed, and Rawneth [[spoiler:tried to raise him from the dead, and even got his father to approve their marriage under those conditions. But she ended up getting {{Bed Trick}}ed by a different undead.]] Meanwhile, Ganth fell in LoveAtFirstSight with Jamethiel, and next to her, Trishien couldn't hold up. Jamethiel eventually became his consort but was her brother Gerridon's consort for 3,000 years before that. Also, their half-brother Tirandys loved Jamethiel too but was only ever an UnrequitedTragicMaiden in that regard. Jamethiel's own feelings for any of them are highly ambiguous.

* Edward Cullen from ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' loves Bella. Bella loves Edward and Jacob, but she loves Edward more. Jacob loved Bella but then falls for her unborn daughter. Mike, Eric, and Tyler all have deep crushes on Bella, but she ignored them. Mike dates Jessica but breaks up with her. Tyler dates Lauren. Rosalie was supposed to be Edward's mate, but she ended with Emmet. Alice is with Jasper, but she kind of gives off lesbian vibes for Bella. In the end, everyone of note loves Bella in some way.

Examples of LoveDodecehedron in Literature

* It kinda looked like that the romance in ''Literature/OksaPollock'' was just a simple love triangle between Oksa, Tugdual and Gus until it was revealed that [[spoiler: Merlin]] was also in love with Oksa in the second book
* The ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' CHB storyline (includes ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus''): Okay, here goes:
** Percy and Annabeth are dating; Rachel, Calypso, Reyna, and Nico all at one point liked Percy; Percy's mom Sally used to be married to Gabe, used to be in a relationship with Poseidon, and is currently happily married to Paul; Annabeth had a misguided crush on Luke as a child(ew); Thalia and Luke used to be into each other; Silena was into Luke but also dating Beckendorf; it's heavily implied that Clarisse and Silena had a thing going; Clarisse is dating Chris, Piper used to date Jason, but now Piper is dating a girl named Shel; Reyna had feelings for both Jason and Percy; Leo is dating Calypso; in Hazel's first life years ago, she had a crush on Leo's great-grandfather; Hazel and Frank are dating; and Nico and Will are dating. And that's just the Greek/Roman series!
* Edward Cullen from ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' loves Bella. Bella loves Edward and Jacob, but she loves Edward more. Jacob loved Bella but then falls for her unborn daughter. Mike, Eric, and Tyler all have deep crushes on Bella, but she ignored them. Mike dates Jessica but breaks up with her. Tyler dates Lauren. Rosalie was supposed to be Edward's mate, but she ended with Emmet. Alice is with Jasper, but she kind of gives off lesbian vibes for Bella. In the end, everyone of note loves Bella in some way.
* Given how twisted the main characters in ''Literature/{{Twig}}'' are, love tends to get… complicated. Sylvester (or "Sy") is attracted to both Mary and Lillian, both of whom reciprocate his attraction while still being best friends with one another. However, Mary is also attracted to Gordon, who reciprocates [[spoiler:after he breaks up with Gladys]], and Sy feels that Mary would be better off with Gordon than with him since their relationship started off with manipulation in the first place. At the same time, Jamie has long held an [[IncompatibleOrientation unrequited love]] for [[spoiler:Sy, which Sy is blissfully unaware of... until shortly before Jamie's it's-kind-of-complicated death]]. [[ManipulativeBastard Sy]] begins dating Lillian in order to make her reports appear biased, but they do start dating in earnest [[spoiler:until they break up]]. [[spoiler:Jamie 2.0 is revealed to have [[IncompatibleOrientation fallen for Sy as well]]. It works out when Jamie 2.0 turns into Jessie for Sy, and the two begin dating. Meanwhile, after Gordon's death, it's hinted that Mary begins to show interest in Lillian, who still can't get over Sy.]] For her part, Helen just wants to hug everybody to death -- or, cadge sugary treats from them. Either is good.
* ''Literature/TheHost2008'' also fits this trope. Melanie loves Jared so much that the [[PuppeteerParasite alien parasite controlling her body]] also falls in love with him. However, it's implied the love is mostly physical. [[spoiler:Ian]] has a crush on Wanderer, and Wanderer [[spoiler: finds herself falling in love with him for his personality. Even when Wanderer is given a separate body from Melanie's at the end, Melanie has a slight crush on Ian but loves Jared and Wanderer still has a slight crush on Jared but loves Ian.]] And this isn't even including the romances between the side characters.
* ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. Quasimodo is in love with Esmeralda, but Esmeralda is married to Pierre, but Pierre just wants her goat Djali, and Esmeralda is in love with Phoebus, but Phoebus is engaged to Fleur-de-Lys and only wanted Esmeralda for sex anyway, and naturally, Frollo's desire for Esmeralda is what drives the conflict of the novel!
* At the heart of Creator/FyodorDostoevsky's ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov'' is an intricate LoveDodecahedron which isn't really fleshed out until the later chapters. It starts with Fyodor Karamazov and his son Dmitri (the eldest brother) who are both smitten with Grushenka, the local HeadTurningBeauty. But in love with Dmitri is Katerina, an aristocrat who is smitten with him for some services he did for her in the past. In love with Katerina is Ivan, the middle Karamazov brother, but he maintains that he doesn't really love her. Grushenka herself plays with Fyodor's and Dmitri's affections, but really [[spoiler:she's been pining after Mussyalovich, a Polish gentleman who spurned her five years ago]]. Grushenka also shows some attraction for Alyosha, the youngest Karamazov brother, but his attentions are turned towards Liza, a young girl crippled by a fever at the outset of the novel. But towards the end, Liza shows more attraction to [[spoiler:Ivan]] than anyone else.
* Also by Dostoevsky, ''Literature/TheIdiot''. Myshkin loves Aglaya and is briefly in love with Nastasya but mainly just pities her (which nevertheless makes Aglaya see her as a romantic rival). Gavrila loves Aglaya, but for various reasons won't commit himself to her; he doesn't love Nastasya at all, but he's seeking her hand anyway because of her impressive dowry. Rogozhin only has eyes for Nastasya. Nastasya used to be Tostky's mistress but now she hates the man; she seems to despise Gavrila; she's in a full-on MasochismTango with Rogozhin, so it's unclear whether she loves or hates him; and she seems to be afraid of Myshkin--his love threatens [[InternalizedCategorism her self-image as a bad person]], and in her more selfless moments she fears that she'll hurt him.
* Every ''Literature/BlandingsCastle'' novel, and, in fact, most of the works of Creator/PGWodehouse. He was a master at these, and could successfully create and solve one of these plots in a single book. If one were to create a chart detailing the relationships of all the characters who appear in his connected universe, one would probably [[CosmicHorrorStory go insane just from reading it.]]
* ''Literature/TheSevenRealmsSeries'' has a lot of this, with Han Alistar and Princess Raisa at the center. Raisa and Amon are very much in love with each other, but their love is forbidden. At the same time, Raisa enjoys flirting with Micah Bayar for fun, but their love is also forbidden [[spoiler: and it turned out Micah was using magic to get Raisa to like him more]], but Micah doesn't seem to care. Han is a supreme ChickMagnet that gets quite a few suitors for himself including Micah's sister, Fiona. Han is a commoner that's managed to piss off the Bayar family by keeping an incredibly powerful MacGuffin out of their hands. ('Cause, y'know, they're evil and would kill Han even if he gave it back.) When Raisa and Han travel to [[AcademyOfAdventure Oden's Ford]], Han gets a few suitors from the female student body [[ClingyJealousGirl (much to Fiona's chagrin.)]] Amon also finds a girl who is, by political standards, a much better match for him. Raisa is ''not'' pleased and is only convinced that they won't be together by [[spoiler: the magic spell keeping them apart knocking Amon out after they kiss.]] Then Raisa and Han finally start spending large amounts of time together in tutoring sessions and they quickly start to feel attracted to one another. Then, when Princess Raisa openly admits that as the heir to the throne, she is looking for a Royal Consort, gifts from suitors come in by the boatload. By book three, Raisa and Han, the couple that fans had been shipping for ages ''finally'' admitted that they want to be together. BlueBlood politics won't make that so easy, though...

* In Chekhov's ''Theatre/TheSeagull'' Medviedenko loves Masha, who loves Treplyov, who loves Nina, who loves Trigorin, who is loved by Irina. Everybody's unhappy.
* In ''Literature/FromTheNewWorld'', Saki and Shun are in love with each other, but enter into relationships with [[EveryoneIsBi Maria and Satoru, respectively]]. Meanwhile, Mamoru has a crush on Maria. [[spoiler:Things are tragically simplified after [[DeathofTheHypotenuse Shun, Maria, and Mamoru die]], and the story ends with Saki and Satoru HappilyMarried [[TimeSkip 10 years in the future]]]].
* A poem by Brazilian author Carlos Drummond de Andrade: "João loved Teresa who loved Raimundo who loved Maria who loved Joaquim who loved Lili who loved no one".
* The main characters of Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'' consist of three boys and two girls. Some interesting permutations work out.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Ned Stark married Catelyn Tully [[ArrangedMarriage to cement the Stark/Tully alliance against the Targaryens]], but he also apparently had a thing for Ashara Dayne ([[EpilepticTrees who is rumored to be his babymama]], and who was also lusted after by Ser Baristan Selmy, and some theorize by Ned's brother, Brandon). Ned also had a healthy amount of HoYay with his best friend, Robert Baratheon, who was in love with Ned's sister, Lyanna, but ended up marrying Cersei Lannister. Cersei and maybe Lyanna had the hots for [[spoiler:Rhaegar Targaryen, who seemed to reciprocate Lyanna but was already married to Elia Martell]], though Cersei is also getting it on with her [[{{Twincest}} twin brother Jaime]], [[spoiler:her cousin Lancel, Lady Taena Merryweather and two of the three Kettleback brothers]]. Catelyn's sister Lysa is married to Ned and Robert's adoptive father, Jon Arryn, but is also engaged in a clandestine affair with Littlefinger, whom [[spoiler:she eventually marries]] after her husband's death. Littlefinger, however, was madly in love with Catelyn, who [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend loves him like a brother, but no more.]] Now, though, he's found a [[ReplacementGoldfish suitable replacement]] in [[{{Squick}} Catelyn's teenage daughter, Sansa]]. Robert's brother, Renly, is married to Margaery Tyrell, but is [[strike: implied]] stated (by WordOfGod) to be [[CampGay sleeping with her brother Loras]]. Additionally, Renly's bodyguard Brianne has [[BodyguardCrush a major crush on him]] but later develops a rather tender relationship with none other than Jaime Lannister, Cersei's brother. Yeah, love in Westeros is complicated, and this doesn't even get into Jon and Dany's generation.

* ''Literature/TheSecretHistory'' revolves around six college students, five men and one woman, who are all too smart for their own good. A LoveDodecahedron and many [[TragicDream Tragic Dreams]] ensue.
* Ah, ''Literature/WarriorCats''.
** Let's start with the main character, shall we? Cinderpelt (who seems to have some chemistry with Littlecloud) was in love with Firestar, [[ObliviousToLove who never knew]]. Firestar and Spottedleaf liked each other for the brief period of time that she was alive, and they continue to meet in dreams even after her death, much to the chagrin of Sandstorm, his mate, who previously was friends with Dustpelt, who thought it was something more. Dustpelt eventually became the mate of Ferncloud. Now skip ahead about six books, and you'll find that Cinderpelt has been [[spoiler:reincarnated as Cinderheart after her death]]. Cinderheart falls in love with Lionblaze, Firestar's grandson. Lionblaze used to be 'friends' with Heathertail, who hates him because he broke up with her, and she eventually became mates with Breezepelt.
** Tigerstar. First off, WordOfGod confirmed in an author chat that Leopardstar loved Tigerstar, though he probably didn't feel the same way. He's had children with both Sasha (his [[OneTrueLove true love]], according to Creator/ErinHunter) and Goldenflower, and it's questionable if Goldenflower loved him or not.
** The New Prophecy is great with this. Stormfur, Ashfur, and Brambleclaw all liked Squirrelflight. Stormfur knew that he didn't have a future with her, and eventually ended up with a Tribe cat named Brook. For a while, it seemed as if Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight would become an OfficialCouple but fell out because of Brambleclaw wanting to be friends with his half-brother ([[ItMakesSenseInContext it makes a bit more sense in context]]), whom some fans say he had HoYay with, and Squirrelflight went to Ashfur. However, she never truly loved him, and later left him for Brambleclaw once more. This [[spoiler:drove Ashfur insane, to the point of betraying his Clan, abetting in almost murdering Firestar, and trying to kill Squirrelflight along with her 'kits'. This forced her to admit that they weren't hers, and were in fact the children of Leafpool and Crowfeather.]] Crowfeather had previously been in love with Feathertail [[spoiler:(who died)]], had a brief affair with Leafpool ([[spoiler:which produced Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf)]], and then took Nightcloud as a mate in [=WindClan=] solely to prove his loyalty and have a kit with her (Breezepelt).
** Spiderleg became Daisy's mate, but they broke up after having two kits. Prior to this, Daisy had an unrequited crush on Cloudtail, who was already with Brightheart. Daisy's previous mate was Smoky (who also had kits with Daisy's sister, Floss, who he liked better, according to Daisy) and he fathered Mousewhisker, Hazeltail, and Berrynose. Berrynose hooked up with Honeyfern, but [[spoiler: she died]]. He later mated with [[spoiler: Poppyfrost.]]
** Graystripe was Silverstream's mate, and later had kits with Millie. Graystripe's mother, Willowpelt, went through quite a few mates: Tawnyspots, Whitestorm, and Patchpelt (who is [[BrotherSisterIncest her own brother]], though that was an accident with the author forgetting they were siblings since, though they have the same parents, they were born in different litters).
** Bluestar had a brief relationship with Oakheart and had his kits. Thrushpelt had a crush on her, though she didn't return his feelings, and he pretended to be the father of her kits in order to help her out (since they were the result of a forbidden inter-Clan relationship).
** In OOTS, Dovewing fell in love with Tigerheart, [[spoiler: but broke up with him when he used her to get herbs and she realized he was training in the Dark Forest.]] She later became closer to Bumblestripe, and according to WordOfGod chose him in the end (they just didn't show it in the book because it didn't fit in with the emotional final scenes).
** In the prequels, Clear Sky and Bright Stream were mates, Gray Wing had a crush on the latter, while Turtle Tail had a crush on him. After Bright Stream's death, Gray Wing started to have stronger feelings for Storm, who liked Clear Sky, who liked her back, and Storm and Clear Sky became mates. Turtle Tail, feeling hurt that Gray Wing liked Storm, meanwhile, left the group and became mates with Tom briefly before she realized how abusive he was, and had his kits. Storm dies shortly after producing Thunder. Eventually, Gray Wing started to return Turtle Tail's feelings, and they become mates. Meanwhile, Clear Sky is implied to have feelings for Petal, while Acorn Fur (according to WordOfGod) had a crush on Thunder, who had some HoYay with Lightning Tail. Thunder develops feelings for Star Flower. After Turtle Tail's death, Gray Wing moves on to Slate. Star Flower breaks up with Thunder, (who still likes her), and gets together with Clear Sky, (his father) instead. Thunder eventually moves on to Violet Dawn. Damn.
* A slight invocation of this trope appears in ''Literature/TheThreeWorldsCycle'', specifically in the second quartet to make up the cycle. Nish loves Tiaan, who doesn't love him back. Then Nish has a short affair with Irisis, who hates Tiaan, simply to get back at her for rejecting him. Then Irisis has a brief affair with Xervish Flydd, who seems to have possibly had a thing with scrutator Halie. Meanwhile, Tiaan falls in love with Minis, who loves her back but betrays her and spends three books beating himself up over it. Tiaan then meets Gilhaelith who seems to lust after her. Back to Nish and Irisis, they end up in a will they/won't they situation right up until the end of the fourth book, where Tiaan swears off men for life, Flydd has been castrated anyway, and Irisis and Nish finally get it on. Well, almost manage to...

* ''Literature/TheShadowhunterChronicles''
** In ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'', Clary falls for Jace. [[MuggleBestFriend Long-time best friend Simon]] has always loved Clary, but Clary [[ObliviousToLove doesn't find out until later]]. Jace returns Clary's feelings and they kiss, but then they found out they are siblings and broke up. Clary then briefly dates Simon until deciding they are BetterAsFriends. She then goes on a date with Sebastian, but it somehow feels wrong to Clary. It turns out this was because it is actually Sebastian who is her brother, not Jace, and Sebastian knew this. Clary is disgusted and gets back together with Jace. Sebastian remains obsessed with Clary but also starts a fling with the Seeelie Queen. Alec had a crush on Jace but moves on after falling in love with Magnus. Simon has a crush on Isabelle, Alec's sister. She loathes him when they first meet but he grows on her. Later, Maia is introduced. She likes Simon, and he likes her back, but Simon also still has feelings for Isabelle. He ends up dating them both at the same time. They find out and both dump him, but Isabelle later decides to give him a second chance. Maia gets back together with her ex Jordan until he dies. After that, she starts dating Bat who she had a thing with before the start of the series, which she ended because she was still not over Jordan. Then there's Jocelyn's love history, who was married to Valentine, but ran away from him once she realized how evil he was. She then developed feelings for his former best friend Luke and eventually married him. There are also some side love interests like Isabelle's fling with Meliorn or Jace's fling with Kaelie. At the end of the series [[spoiler:Jace is together with Clary, Alec is with Magnus, Maia is dating Bat, and Simon and Isabelle were together until Simon gave up his immortality and all his memories of the Shadow World, and his friends connected to it, to Magnus' father to get them all out of Edom after the death of Sebastian.]] They get back together in ''Literature/TalesFromTheShadowhunterAcademy''.
** ''Literature/TheDarkArtifices'': At the start of the series, Emma has just broken up with her boyfriend Cameron and made it clear that this time they are not getting back together again. Her childhood friend Julian is in love with her and she loves him, but they are parabatai and it's very illegal for parabatai to have a romantic relationship. Emma convinced Julian's brother Mark (whom she had a crush on as a child) to start fake dating in the hope that it will break Julian's heart and he moves on from her. It doesn't work and Mark and Emma "break up". Meanwhile, Emma's friend Cristina has developed feelings for Mark. She also briefly gets back together with her ex Diego, until she finds out he is engaged to Zara. Mark likes Cristina, but also still has feelings for his ex Kieran and Kieran is definitely still in love with Mark. Then Cristina and Kieran also develop feelings for each other. In the end [[spoiler:Julian and Emma get together after breaking their parabatai bond, Mark, Kieran, and Cristina start a poly relationship with each other, and Diego ends up single.]]
** Clare's next series, ''Literature/TheLastHours'', somehow makes it even worse as it draws faux marriages and illicit affairs into the mix. Cordelia Carstairs is in love with James Herondale, and as of ''Chain of Iron'', are in a sham marriage, but James is fixated with Grace Blackthorn [[spoiler: because Grace is controlling James]]. James' ''parabatai'', Matthew Fairchild, is in unrequited love with Cordelia. Meanwhile, Lucie Herondale, Cordelia's future parabatai, is in love with Grace's brother Jesse, who happens to be dead. Matthew's older brother Charles is in a loveless engagement with Grace and has recently ended his affairs with Cordelia's older brother, Alastair, whom Matthew despises despite his love for Cordelia. Alastair is instead spending time with Thomas Lightwood. Thomas's cousin (and James & Lucie's cousin on their father's side) Christopher is taking an interest in Grace. And Thomas's other cousin, Anna, is in love with Charles' former fiance, Ariadne Bridgestock. Whew!
* In ''Literature/RangersApprentice'' Halt spends time with Alyss and thinks ''If I were twenty years younger...'' He ends up marrying Lady Pauline. Alyss kisses Will. Will spends time with Evanlyn but can't handle [[spoiler: that she's really Princess Cassandra]] and falls for Alyss instead. He and Evanlyn still have feelings for each other and this causes tension between Alyss and Evalyn and between Will and Horace. [[spoiler: Horace and Evanlyn end up falling in love and become engaged, as do Will and Alyss.]]
* Laurell K. Hamilton's ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' is an infamous example of a Love Dodecahedron, it'd be easier to name a character ''not'' in love with or part of Anita's ReverseHarem.
* Laurell K. Hamilton's ''Literature/MerryGentry'' series features Merry in the middle of a LoveDodecahedron with a ReverseHarem.
* In ''Prized'' by Caragh O'Brien, Leon loves Gaia, who is also loved by Chardo Will and Chardo Peter, who once dated Adele, who is now married to someone else.
* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'': Edmond Dantes is in love with Mercedes who [[spoiler: however marries Fernand, who betrayed Edmond and had him thrown into the Chateau d'If. Their son is supposed to marry Eugenie, daughter of Danglars, who was one of the people Fernand put together to betray him. That's not possible, because Edmond's slave Haydée tells him about how Fernand betrayed her father. So, Danglars' wife, who had a scandalous relationship with Villefort, another of Edmond's betrayers, had a son, Benedetto, with him who is also supposed to marry Eugenie, but she leaves in a supposedly lesbian relationship. Villefort's daughter Valentine loves Maximilien Morrel but she is forced to marry Count d'Epinay, which is finally not possible because Valentine's grandfather killed d'Epinays grandfather. Oh, and Edmond suggests that Morrel marry Haydée, but in the end, marries her himself.]] See spoilers [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CountOfMonteCristoRelations.svg]] for the full details.
* In the Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse, Captain [[Literature/StarTrekKlingonEmpire Klag]] reads a novel involving Damiani (a three-gendered species) and Andorians (four genders) in a dangerous romantic septangle.
* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', there's 1000+ characters. With such a large cast, you could probably draw an appropriately epic-sized chart detailing the relationships.
* ''Literature/LegacyOfTheDragokin'': A weird example in that it's not the focus of the plot and yet it is at the same time. What is definite is that it is NOT played for comedy.
** Daniar and Kalak are married but having problems so they both go to comfort from other people (Jago and Zarracka respectively) while Mordak has a LadyAndKnight thing with Zarracka and a {{yandere}} thing for Kalak while both of them can't stand it/him and yet are dependent on Mordak, who, by the way, is weakened by love. Then add in the fact that Kalak is jealous of the attention his wife gives their son who is head-over-heels for his mother's protegee who is MarriedToTheJob and it gets more complicated.
* In Sherwood Smith's ''Inda'' series, the people involved keep shifting as they get killed or find true love, but at around the midpoint of the story: Hadand is in love with Evred, who is in love with Inda. Hadand is betrothed to Evred in a political ArrangedMarriage (which he inherited from his brother who Hadand was originally betrothed to). Inda is still in love with his original arranged bride, Tdor, but with the death of his older brother, he will inherit his brother's betrothed, Joret, who is in love with Cama, who loves her back but is betrothed to somebody else entirely. Tdor still loves Inda but is now betrothed to Whipstick Noth, who doesn't have any kind of strong romantic feelings for anybody but likes Tdor well enough.

* In ''Literature/BeautifulDarkness''. Ethan is in love with Lena, who he believes [[spoiler:left him for John Breed]], and is beginning to be attracted to [[spoiler:Olivia]]. Link is also attracted to [[spoiler:Olivia]], but at the same time, he's still pining for Ridley. Ridley and [[spoiler:John]] are often seen together, so subtext could lead to interpretation of them as a couple. [[spoiler:Lila Jane Evers]]' first love was [[spoiler:Macon Ravenwood]], but he had to leave her because he was afraid of hurting her, so she met Ethan's father. She's still enough in love with [[spoiler:Macon]] to [[spoiler:save him from dying]]. He never stopped loving her.

* ''When A Man's A Man'', by Harold Wright: [[note]]spoilers shown because it's in the [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14367 public domain]][[/note]] Phil loves Kitty, who loves [[MysteriousDrifter Patches]] (who is temporarily engaged to her) and briefly [[LovingAShadow deludes]] herself into loving Professor Parkhill (who proposes to her, but is rejected). Patches himself loves Helen, who is HappilyMarried to Stanford. At the last minute, Kitty [[DeusExMachina conveniently]] realizes that she ''really'' loves Phil, and the two get together. The Professor leaves the ranch, and Patches goes on a journey with Yavapai Joe, who he has homoerotic subtext with.
* ''Literature/AllMenOfGenius'': The Duke loves Violet/"Ashton" (not knowing that they're the same person, and emphasising the former while downplaying the latter since it would be unprofessional and he doesn't consider himself gay anyway). Violet reciprocates. Cecily thinks she loves "Ashton", though eventually decides that [[LovingAShadow she doesn't]]. Violet's friend Jack and nasty blackmailer Volio both love Cecily, though Cecily initially dismisses the former and doesn't even know about the latter (who [[LoveLetterLunacy thinks he's had a long and passionate correspondence]] with her, but has actually been conned as revenge for trying to blackmail Cecily's governess).
* '' Literature/GoneWithTheWind'': Scarlett loves Ashley, who is sexually attracted to her but loves his wife Melanie. Melanie loves Ashley as a husband, she loves Scarlett as a sister/best friend and loves/likes Rhett as a friend and as a hero who helped her during the War. Rhett loves Scarlett, contemns Ashley, and loves/admires Melanie platonically as a great lady.
* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'':
** When the previous generation was of courting age, they were a mess of this. Ganth and Trishien liked each other, but Ganth's father {{Parental Marriage Veto}}ed it. Ganth's brother Greshan liked Rawneth--who didn't really ''like'' him so much as she wanted to marry him for political power, but they suited each other well anyways--but Greshan's grandma [[ParentalMarriageVeto Grandparental Marriage Vetoed]] it. Their father later tried to marry Ganth to Rawneth, but that didn't really go anywhere. Greshan was killed, and Rawneth [[spoiler:tried to raise him from the dead, and even got his father to approve their marriage under those conditions. But she ended up getting {{Bed Trick}}ed by a different undead.]] Meanwhile, Ganth fell in LoveAtFirstSight with Jamethiel, and next to her, Trishien couldn't hold up. Jamethiel eventually became his consort but was her brother Gerridon's consort for 3,000 years before that. Also, their half-brother Tirandys loved Jamethiel too but was only ever an UnrequitedTragicMaiden in that regard. Jamethiel's own feelings for any of them are highly ambiguous.
** The current generation is really pretty dodecahedronal too -- just that it appears in small enough pieces it doesn't seem so tangled. But here it goes: Hatch is completely in love with his cousin Prid, who we think kind of likes him back, but is also enamored with (and {{Shotgun|Wedding}} married to) Jame -- but Prid and Hatch are from a polygamous society so it's ok. Jame sees Prid as an UnwantedSpouse. Timmon also likes Jame and Jame kind of likes him back. Narsa is enamored with Timmon, and Timmon's sleeping with her but only sees her as fun for now--also, he's [[OperationJealousy trying to make Jame jealous]]. Narsa thinks there's a BettyAndVeronica love triangle going on, with Jame as the exotic, mysterious, unattainable Veronica, who distracts Timmon from her, the unexceptional Betty who really loves him. That's really ''not'' what's going on--Narsa was only ever a substitute, never a love interest. But Narsa thinks it is and she tries to MurderTheHypotenuse in her desperation--though Jame told Narsa she could ''have'' Timmon, because while Jame kind of likes Timmon, she definitely loves her {{twin|cest}} brother Torisen more. Torisen loves her too, but they're locked in [[UnresolvedSexualTension UST]] for the time being, because of a ''lot'' of emotional baggage. And then there's Bane, Jame's ''other'' brother, who she ''also'' had [=UST=] with, and who was an ImpliedLoveInterest for a time. And then with Torisen there's Kallystine--his ex, who seduced him even though he hated her, maybe using rape-y LovePotion stuff. So after that, Torisen's first reaction to liking someone is to hate and fear his own attraction.

* In M.L. Rio's ''If We Were Villains'', all the main characters except Filippa are embroiled in one. Meredith and Richard are SickeninglySweethearts (everyone calls them "Meredick"), but Oliver is in love with Meredith [[spoiler: and James]]. After a horrific fight with Richard, Meredith reciprocates. Meanwhile, James is in love with Wren [[spoiler: and Oliver]].
* A ''massive'' one in ''Literature/TheFallingKingdomsSeries''. Brion has a crush on Lysandra, who has a crush on Jonas, who likes her but also has a crush on Cleo, who likes him too, [[spoiler:but also develops feelings for Magnus]]. Meanwhile, Nic has a crush on Cleo but also has some very confused feelings for Ashur. Magnus has feelings for Lucia, who has requited feelings for Alexius, then later [[spoiler:both get tossed into the Cleo-Jonas love mess, as Magnus develops feelings for Cleo and Lucia is implied to develop feelings for Jonas]]. Felix likes Lysandra but also Amara, who likes him back but likes Nerissa too, who likes ''her'' back but also has a thing with the guard Enzo. [[DeathOfTheHypotenuse Much death and conflict later]], and the series ends with [[spoiler:Magnus/Cleo and Ashur/Nic, with implications for Jonas/Lucia and Amara/Nerissa]].
* ''Literature/LuckyJim'': Jim is sort of seeing Margaret, who was seeing Catchpole at the same time as Jim until he broke it off. Jim prefers Christine, who is dating Bertrand, who is also sleeping with Carol Goldsmith, who is married to Cecil Goldsmith.
* ''Literature/TheEssexSerpent'': To quote from one review, "there are enough love triangles in ''The Essex Serpent'' to confound Euclid himself." Cora Seaborne, an intriguing young widow, is the central point of this dodecahedron. Luke Garrett and Martha are Cora's close friends who both love her. Cora likes them a lot, especially Martha, but she doesn't love back either, and moreover, she's beyond happy to be single and free. She becomes strongly attracted to William Ransome who shares her feelings, but at the same time, he still loves his wife Stella. Stella loves her husband a lot, but she's also glad that Will and Cora become so close and she feels no jealousy. George Spencer, a doctor who is Luke's particular friend, falls in love with Martha. Martha enjoys using Spencer's devotion to her for her cause, though it's implied she still loves Cora. Martha then gets together with Edward Burton. The book ends with Luke angry at Cora for refusing him, while Spencer is sad, heartbroken but understanding about Martha's decision. Will is with Stella [[spoiler:who is dying of tuberculosis]] and he still thinks of Cora. Cora sends Will a letter, trying to explain her conflicting feelings towards him.

* ''Literature/RuslanAndLudmila'': Ludmila has five people vying for her hand – Ruslan (the lucky one), Ratmir, Rogday, Farlaf, and Chernomor. Additionally, Ratmir is seduced by twelve sirens whom he ultimately spurns when he falls in love with a shepherdess.
* ''Literature/TheInheritanceGames'': Zara cheated on her first husband with Jake Nash and cheated on her second husband with Oren. Her sister Skye also slept with Jake, which resulted in the birth of Nash Hawthorne. Skye also had relationships with Sheffield Grayson (which resulted in the birth of Grayson Hawthorne) Jameson and Xander's unknown fathers and Ricky Grambs. Ricky previously had relationships with Libby's mother and Avery's mother, Hannah. Before that [[spoiler:Hannah was in a relationship with Toby Hawthorne. Toby slept with a lot of different girls and had a daughter with one of them.]] Nash Hawthorne was in a relationship with Alisa and later seems to develop feelings for Libby, who was dating Drake. Grayson and Jameson both loved Emily and later they both fall in love with Avery. Xander had a fake relationship with Thea, who was actually dating Rebecca.

* Downplayed in ''Literature/RedRising'', since the characters' love lives are barely focused on at all, but it's still there. Darrow and Mustang love each other, but Darrow is a CrusadingWidower and is still hung up over [[TheLostLenore Eo]]. Victra has a crush on Darrow but flirts with Mustang. Sevro is in love with Quinn ([[AmbiguouslyBi and maybe Darrow]]), but she's in a relationship with Roque. By the end of the trilogy, [[spoiler: Roque and Quinn are dead, [[WarTimeWedding Sevro and Victra got married,]] and Darrow and Mustang have BabiesEverAfter.]]

** Percy and Annabeth are dating; Rachel, Calypso, Reyna, and Nico all at one point liked Percy; Percy's mom Sally used to be married to Gabe, used to be in a relationship with Poseidon, and is currently happily married to Paul; Annabeth had a misguided crush on Luke as a child(ew); Thalia and Luke used to be into each other; Silena was into Luke but also dating Beckendorf; it's heavily implied that Clarisse and Silena had a thing going; Clarisse is dating Chris, Piper used to date Jason, but now Piper is dating a girl named Shel; Reyna had feeling for both Jason and Percy; Leo is dating Calypso; in Hazel's first life years ago, she had a crush on Leo's great-grandfather; Hazel and Frank are dating; and Nico and Will are dating. And that's just the Greek/Roman series!

* Given how twisted the main characters in ''Literature/{{Twig}}'' are, love tends to get… complicated. Sylvester (or "Sy") is attracted to both Mary and Lillian, both of whom reciprocate his attraction while still being best friends with one another. However, Mary is also attracted to Gordon, who reciprocates [[spoiler:after he breaks up with Gladys]], and Sy feels that Mary would be better off with Gordon than with him, since their relationship started off with manipulation in the first place. At the same time, Jamie has long held an [[IncompatibleOrientation unrequited love]] for [[spoiler:Sy, which Sy is blissfully unaware of... until shortly before Jamie's it's-kind-of-complicated death]]. [[ManipulativeBastard Sy]] begins dating Lillian in order to make her reports appear biased, but they do start dating in earnest [[spoiler:until they break up]]. [[spoiler:Jamie 2.0 is revealed to have [[IncompatibleOrientation fallen for Sy as well]]. It works out when Jamie 2.0 turns into Jessie for Sy, and the two begin dating. Meanwhile, after Gordon's death, it's hinted that Mary begins to show interest in Lillian, who still can't get over Sy.]] For her part, Helen just wants to hug everybody to death -- or, cadge sugary treats from them. Either is good.
* ''Literature/TheHost2008'' also fits this trope. Melanie loves Jared so much that the [[PuppeteerParasite alien parasite controlling her body]] also falls in love with him. However, it's implied the love is mostly physical. [[spoiler:Ian]] has a crush on Wanderer, and Wanderer [[spoiler: finds herself falling in love with him for his personality. Even when Wanderer is given a seperate body from Melanie's at the end, Melanie has a slight crush on Ian but loves Jared and Wanderer still has a slight crush on Jared but loves Ian.]] And this isn't even including the romances between the side characters.

* At the heart of Creator/FyodorDostoevsky's ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov'' is an intricate LoveDodecahedron which isn't really fleshed out until the later chapters. It starts with Fyodor Karamazov and his son Dmitri (the eldest brother) who are both smitten with Grushenka, the local HeadTurningBeauty. But in love with Dmitri is Katerina, an aristocrat who is smitten with him for some services he did for her in the past. In love with Katerina is Ivan, the middle Karamazov brother, but he maintains that he doesn't really love her. Grushenka herself plays with Fyodor's and Dmitri's affections, but really [[spoiler:she's been pining after Mussyalovich, a Polish gentleman who spurned her five years ago]]. Grushenka also shows some attraction for Alyosha, the youngest Karamazov brother, but his attentions are turned towards Liza, a young girl crippled by a fever at the outset of the novel. But towards the end Liza shows more attraction to [[spoiler:Ivan]] than anyone else.
* Also by Dostoevsky, ''Literature/TheIdiot''. Myshkin loves Aglaya, and is briefly in love with Nastasya but mainly just pities her (which nevertheless makes Aglaya see her as a romantic rival). Gavrila loves Aglaya, but for various reasons won't commit himself to her; he doesn't love Nastasya at all, but he's seeking her hand anyway because of her impressive dowry. Rogozhin only has eyes for Nastasya. Nastasya used to be Tostky's mistress but now she hates the man; she seems to despise Gavrila; she's in a full-on MasochismTango with Rogozhin, so it's unclear whether she loves or hates him; and she seems to be afraid of Myshkin--his love threatens [[InternalizedCategorism her self-image as a bad person]], and in her more selfless moments she fears that she'll hurt him.

* In Maria [=McCann=]'s ''As Meat Loves Salt'', Jacob loves and marries Caro, but rapes and abandons her over jealousy of her friendship with his brother, Isaiah. Then he meets and falls in love with Ferris, only for Caro to reappear [[spoiler: and start an affair with Ferris.]] Then its revealed that Jacob may have [[spoiler:had a sexual relationship with Isaiah in the past.]]

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Ned Stark married Catelyn Tully [[ArrangedMarriage to cement the Stark/Tully alliance against the Targaryens]], but he also apparently had a thing for Ashara Dayne ([[EpilepticTrees who is rumored to be his babymama]], and who was also lusted after by Ser Baristan Selmy, and some theorize by Ned's brother, Brandon). Ned also had a healthy amount of HoYay with his best friend, Robert Baratheon, who was in love with Ned's sister, Lyanna, but ended up marrying Cersei Lannister. Cersei and maybe Lyanna had the hots for [[spoiler:Rhaegar Targaryen, who seemed to reciprocate Lyanna but was already married to Elia Martell]], though Cersei is also getting it on with her [[{{Twincest}} twin brother Jaime]], [[spoiler:her cousin Lancel, Lady Taena Merryweather and two of the three Kettleback brothers]]. Catelyn's sister Lysa is married to Ned and Robert's adoptive father, Jon Arryn, but is also engaged in a clandestine affair with Littlefinger, whom [[spoiler:she eventually marries]] after her husband's death. Littlefinger, however, was madly in love with Catelyn, who [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend loves him like a brother, but no more.]] Now, though, he's found a [[ReplacementGoldfish suitable replacement]] in [[{{Squick}} Catelyn's teenage daughter, Sansa]]. Robert's brother, Renly, is married to Margaery Tyrell, but is [[strike: implied]] stated (by WordOfGod) to be [[CampGay sleeping with her brother Loras]]. Additionally, Renly's bodyguard, Brianne has [[BodyguardCrush a major crush on him]], but latter develops a rather tender relationship with none other than Jaime Lannister, Cersei's brother. Yeah, love in Westeros is complicated, and this doesn't even get into Jon and Dany's generation.

** The point of ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' is resolving ''one'' of these. The story presents a family with five sisters who need to get married, otherwise they are be destined to be degraded in society from comfortably-living ladies to spinsters with no money and no good home. Jane hits it off with Mr Bingley whom his family ships with Miss Darcy. Mr Collins briefly pursues Jane until he learns she's going to marry Mr Bingley. Elizabeth is pursued by Mr Wickham, then by Mr Collins, she flirts with Colonel Fitzwilliam and gets proposed by Mr Darcy. Charlotte marries Mr Collins, who first proposed to Elizabeth but was rejected. The Bennets thought Mr Collins might want to marry Mary Bennet instead. Wickham flirts with Elizabeth but also goes after Mary King and then Lydia. Caroline Bingly is after Darcy, whom Lady Catherine ships with her daughter Anne de Bourgh. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Pride_and_Prejudice_Character_Map.png See the chart.]]

** ''Literature/{{Emma}}'': Emma ships Harriet and Mr Elton, even though Mr Elton wants her and there is mutual attraction between Harriet and Robert Martin. Mr Elton ends up marrying Augusta Hawkins. Emma finds herself attracted to Frank Churchill, even though he is secretly engaged to Jane Fairfax, and she is totally oblivious of the fact that Mr. Knightley is in love with her but painfully aware that Harriet is in love with Mr Knightley, despite earlier thinking Harriet was in love with Frank Churchill. Mrs Weston, Mr Cole and others also suspect something between Mr Knightley and Jane Fairfax, while Emma suspects something between Jane Fairfax and her foster sister's current husband, Mr Dixon. Nothing gets a Love Dodecahedron going like the out-of-control imaginations of matchmakers.

* In Creator/AnthonyTrollope's ''Ayala's Angel'', the title character is beloved by Tom Tringle, Johnathan Stubbs, and Captain Batsby, but Batsby also takes a fancy to Tom's sister Gertrude, who wants to marry Frank Houston, who is in love with [[KissingCousins his cousin]] Imogen Docimer. Meanwhile Lady Albury has an interesting relationship with Stubbs, but is determined not to cheat on her husband Sir Harry. Also Tom's other sister Augusta accuses Ayala of trying to steal her fiancee, the honourable Septimus Traffik.

** The New Prophecy is great with this. Stormfur, Ashfur, and Brambleclaw all liked Squirrelflight. Stormfur knew that he didn't have a future with her, and eventually ended up with a Tribe cat named Brook. For a while it seemed as if Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight would become an OfficialCouple, but fell out because of Brambleclaw wanting to be friends with his half-brother ([[ItMakesSenseInContext it makes a bit more sense in context]]), whom some fans say he had HoYay with, and Squirrelflight went to Ashfur. However, she never truly loved him, and later left him for Brambleclaw once more. This [[spoiler:drove Ashfur insane, to the point of betraying his Clan, abetting in almost murdering Firestar, and trying to kill Squirrelflight along with her 'kits'. This forced her to admit that they weren't hers, and were in fact the children of Leafpool and Crowfeather.]] Crowfeather had previously been in love with Feathertail [[spoiler:(who died)]], had a brief affair with Leafpool ([[spoiler:which produced Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf)]], and then took Nightcloud as a mate in [=WindClan=] solely to prove his loyalty and have a kit with her (Breezepelt).

** In ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'', Clary falls for Jace. [[MuggleBestFriend Long time best friend Simon]] has always loved Clary, but Clary [[ObliviousToLove doesn't find out until later]]. Jace returns Clary's feelings and they kiss, but then they found out they are siblings and broke up. Clary then briefly dates Simon until deciding they are BetterAsFriends. She then goes on a date with Sebastian, but it somehow feels wrong to Clary. It turns out this was because it is actually Sebastian who is her brother, not Jace, and Sebastian knew this. Clary is disgusted and gets back together with Jace. Sebastian remains obsessed with Clary, but also starts a fling with the Seeelie Queen. Alec had a crush on Jace, but moves on after falling in love with Magnus. Simon has a crush on Isabelle, Alec's sister. She loathes him when they first meet but he grows on her. Later, Maia is introduced. She likes Simon, and he likes her back, but Simon also still has feelings for Isabelle. He ends up dating them both at the same time. They find out and both dump him, but Isabelle later decides to give him a second chance. Maia gets back together with her ex Jordan until he dies. After that she starts dating Bat who she had a thing with before the start of the series, which she ended, because she was still not over Jordan. Then there's Jocelyn's love history, who was married to Valentine, but ran away from him once she realized how evil he was. She then developed feelings for his former best friend Luke and eventually married him. There are also some side love interests like Isabelle's fling with Meliorn or Jace's fling with Kaelie. At the end of the series [[spoiler:Jace is together with Clary, Alec is with Magnus, Maia is dating Bat and Simon and Isabelle were together, until Simon gave up his immortality and all his memories of the Shadow World, and his friends connected to it, to Magnus' father to get them all out of Edom after the death of Sebastian.]] They get back together in ''Literature/TalesFromTheShadowhunterAcademy''.
** ''Literature/TheDarkArtifices'': At the start of series, Emma has just broken up with her boyfriend Cameron and made it clear that this time they are not getting back together again. Her childhood friend Julian is in love with her and she loves him, but they are parabatai and it's very illegal for parabatai to have a romantic relationship. Emma convinced Julian's brother Mark (whom she had a crush on as a child) to start fake dating in the hope that it will break Julian's heart and he moves on from her. It doesn't work and Mark and Emma "break up". Meanwhile Emma's friend Cristina has developed feelings for Mark. She also briefly gets back together with her ex Diego, until she finds out he is engaged to Zara. Mark likes Cristina, but also still has feelings for his ex Kieran and Kieran is definitely still in love with Mark. Then Cristina and Kieran also develop feelings for each other. In the end [[spoiler:Julian and Emma get together after breaking their parabatai bond, Mark, Kieran and Cristina start a poly relationship with each other and Diego ends up single.]]
** Clare's next series, ''Literature/TheLastHours'', somehow makes it even worse as it draws faux marriages and illicit affairs into the mix. Cordelia Carstairs is in love with James Herondale, and as of ''Chain of Iron'', are in a sham marriage, but James is fixated with Grace Blackthorn [[spoiler: because Grace is controlling James]]. James' ''parabatai'', Matthew Fairchild, is in unrequited love with Cordelia. Meanwhile, Lucie Herondale, Cordelia's future parabatai, is in love with Grace's brother Jesse, who happens to be dead. Matthew's older brother, Charles, is in a loveless engagement with Grace, and has recently ended his affairs with Cordelia's older brother, Alastair, whom Matthew despises despite his love for Cordelia. Alastair is instead spending time with Thomas Lightwood. Thomas's cousin (and James & Lucie's cousin on their father's side) Christopher is taking an interest in Grace. And Thomas's other cousin, Anna, is in love with Charles' former fiance, Ariadne Bridgestock. Whew!

* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'': Edmond Dantes is in love with Mercedes who [[spoiler: however marries Fernand, who betrayed Edmond and had him thrown into the Chateau d'If. Their son is supposed to marry Eugenie, daughter of Danglars, who was one of the people Fernand put together to betray him. That's not possible, because Edmond's slave Haydée tells him about how Fernand betrayed her father. So, Danglars' wife, who had a scandalous relationship with Villefort, another of Edmond's betrayers, had a son, Benedetto, with him who is also supposed to marry Eugenie, but she leaves in a supposedly lesbian relationship. Villefort's daugther Valentine loves Maximilien Morrel but she is forced to marry Count d'Epinay, which is finally not possible because Valentine's grandfather killed d'Epinays grandfather. Oh, and Edmond suggests that Morrel marry Haydée, but in the end marries her himself.]] See spoilers [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CountOfMonteCristoRelations.svg]] for the full details.

* In Sherwood Smith's ''Inda'' series, the people involved keep shifting as they get killed or find true love, but at around the midpoint of the story: Hadand is in love with Evred, who is in love with Inda. Hadand is betrothed to Evred in a political ArrangedMarriage (which he inherited from his brother who Hadand was originally betrothed to). Inda is still in love with his original arranged bride, Tdor, but with the death of his older brother he will inherit his brother's betrothed, Joret, who is in love with Cama, who loves her back but is betrothed to somebody else entirely. Tdor still loves Inda, but is now betrothed to Whipstick Noth, who doesn't have any kind of strong romantic feelings for anybody but likes Tdor well enough.

* In ''Literature/BeautifulDarkness''. Ethan is in love with Lena, who he believes [[spoiler:left him for John Breed]], and is beginning to be attracted to [[spoiler:Olivia]]. Link is also attracted to [[spoiler:Olivia]], but at the same time he's still pining for Ridley. Ridley and [[spoiler:John]] are often seen together, so subtext could lead to interpretation of them as a couple. [[spoiler:Lila Jane Evers]]' first love was [[spoiler:Macon Ravenwood]], but he had to leave her because he was afraid of hurting her, so she met Ethan's father. She's still enough in love with [[spoiler:Macon]] to [[spoiler:save him from dying]]. He never stopped loving her.

* '' Literature/GoneWithTheWind'': Scarlett loves Ashley, who is sexually attracted to her, but loves his wife, Melanie. Melanie loves Ashley as a husband, she loves Scarlett as a sister/best friend, and loves/likes Rhett as a friend and as a hero who helped her during the War. Rhett loves Scarlett, contemns Ashley, and loves/admires Melanie platonically as a great lady.

** When the previous generation was of courting age, they were a mess of this. Ganth and Trishien liked each other, but Ganth's father {{Parental Marriage Veto}}ed it. Ganth's brother Greshan liked Rawneth--who didn't really ''like'' him so much as she wanted to marry him for political power, but they suited each other well anyways--but Greshan's grandma [[ParentalMarriageVeto Grandparental Marriage Vetoed]] it. Their father later tried to marry Ganth to Rawneth, but that didn't really go anywhere. Greshan was killed, and Rawneth [[spoiler:tried to raise him from the dead, and even got his father to approve their marriage under those conditions. But she ended up getting {{Bed Trick}}ed by a different undead.]] Meanwhile, Ganth fell in LoveAtFirstSight with Jamethiel, and next to her, Trishien couldn't hold up. Jamethiel eventually became his consort, but was her brother Gerridon's consort for 3,000 years before that. Also, their half-brother Tirandys loved Jamethiel too, but was only ever an UnrequitedTragicMaiden in that regard. Jamethiel's own feelings for any of them are highly ambiguous.
** The current generation is really pretty dodecahedronal too--just that it appears in small enough pieces it doesn't seem so tangled. But here it goes: Hatch is completely in love with his cousin Prid, who we think kind of likes him back, but is also enamored with (and {{Shotgun|Wedding}} married to) Jame--but Prid and Hatch are from a polygamous society so it's ok. Jame sees Prid as an UnwantedSpouse. Timmon also likes Jame, and Jame kind of likes him back. Narsa is enamored with Timmon, and Timmon's sleeping with her but only sees her as fun for now--also, he's [[OperationJealousy trying to make Jame jealous]]. Narsa thinks there's a BettyAndVeronica love triangle going on, with Jame as the exotic, mysterious, unattainable Veronica, who distracts Timmon from her, the unexceptional Betty who really loves him. That's really ''not'' what's going on--Narsa was only ever a substitute, never a love interest. But Narsa thinks it is and she tries to MurderTheHypotenuse in her desperation--though Jame told Narsa she could ''have'' Timmon, because while Jame kind of likes Timmon, she definitely loves her {{twin|cest}} brother Torisen more. Torisen loves her too, but they're locked in [[UnresolvedSexualTension UST]] for the time being, because of a ''lot'' of emotional baggage. And then there's Bane, Jame's ''other'' brother, who she ''also'' had [=UST=] with, and who was an ImpliedLoveInterest for a time. And then with Torisen there's Kallystine--his ex, who seduced him even though he hated her, maybe using rape-y LovePotion stuff. So after that, Torisen's first reaction to liking someone is to hate and fear his own attraction.

* ''Literature/SecretSanta2007'': Simon is dating Amber (who is planning to dump him for Charlie, a [[TheCasanova Casanova]] currently dating Liz) and begins to fall in love with Connor's Secret Santa Lily based on her taste in gifts, only to start believing that Noelle is Connor's Secret Santa. Noelle is crazy about Charlie, [[spoiler: not realizing that his brother Ryan loves her, with Noelle reciprocating once she does find out.]] Freddy likes Celia, who likes Jake. David would be happy to date anyone, but finds himself becoming closer with Shawna after her mother invites him to dinner when he helps her carry some bags home. Shawna eventually warms to David but still cares about her boyfriend Connor even as she wonders if they're drifting apart. [[spoiler: Shawna's sister Chloe likes David.]] Lily isn't completely over her ex-boyfriend Jason, whose new girlfriend Sonia is getting romantic gifts from her Secret Santa: [[spoiler: a football player named Dennis.]]

* A ''massive'' one in ''Literature/TheFallingKingdomsSeries''. Brion has a crush on Lysandra, who has a crush on Jonas, who likes her but also has a crush on Cleo, who likes him too, [[spoiler:but also develops feelings for Magnus]]. Meanwhile, Nic has a crush on Cleo, but also has some very confused feelings for Ashur. Magnus has feelings for Lucia, who has requited feelings for Alexius, then later [[spoiler:both get tossed into the Cleo-Jonas love mess, as Magnus develops feelings for Cleo and Lucia is implied to develop feelings for Jonas]]. Felix likes Lysandra but also Amara, who likes him back but likes Nerissa too, who likes ''her'' back but also has a thing with the guard Enzo. [[DeathOfTheHypotenuse Much death and conflict later]], and the series ends with [[spoiler:Magnus/Cleo and Ashur/Nic, with implications for Jonas/Lucia and Amara/Nerissa]].

* ''Literature/TheEssexSerpent'': To quote from one review, "there are enough love triangles in ''The Essex Serpent'' to confound Euclid himself." Cora Seaborne, an intriguing young widow, is the central point on this dodecahedron. Luke Garrett and Martha are Cora's close friends who both love her. Cora likes them a lot, especially Martha, but she doesn't love back either, and moreover, she's beyond happy to be single and free. She becomes strongly attracted to William Ransome who shares her feelings, but at the same time he still loves his wife Stella. Stella loves her husband a lot, but she's also glad that Will and Cora become so close and she feels no jealousy. George Spencer, a doctor who is Luke's particular friend, falls in love with Martha. Martha enjoys using Spencer's devotion to her for her cause, though it's implied she still loves Cora. Martha then gets together with Edward Burton. The book ends with Luke angry at Cora for refusing him, while Spencer is sad, heartbroken but understanding about Martha's decision. Will is with Stella [[spoiler:who is dying of tuberculosis]] and he still thinks of Cora. Cora sends Will a letter, trying to explain her conflicting feelings towards him.
* In ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'' by Creator/CTPhipps, Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless: The Supervillain without [=MercyTM=] is married to Mandy but used to be engaged to Ultragoddess while being a childhood friends as well as infrequent partners with henchwoman Cindy. Mandy used to be lovers with the Black Witch who is teammates with Ultragoddess. That's just how the story ''starts'' and it gets more complicated from there.
* ''Literature/RuslanAndLudmila'': Ludmila has five people vying for her hand – Ruslan (the lucky one), Ratmir, Rogday, Farlaf and Chernomor. Additionally, Ratmir is seduced by twelve sirens whom he ultimately spurns when he falls in love with a shepherdess.
* ''Literature/TheInheritanceGames'': Zara cheated on her first husband with Jake Nash and cheated on her second husband with Oren. Her sister Skye also slept with Jake, which resulted in the birth of Nash Hawthorne. Skye also had relationships with Sheffield Grayson (which resulted in the birth of Grayson Hawthorne) Jameson and Xander's unknown fathers and Ricky Grambs. Ricky previously had relationships with Libby's mother and Avery's mother, Hannah. Before that [[spoiler:Hannah was in a relationship with Toby Hawthorne. Toby slept with a lot of different girls and had a daughter with one of them.]] Nash Hawthorne was in relationship with Alisa and later seems to develop feelings for Libby, who was dating Drake. Grayson and Jameson both loved Emily and later they both fall in love with Avery. Xander had a fake relationship with Thea, who was actually dating Rebecca.

* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', there's [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters 1000+ characters.]] With such a large cast, you could probably draw an appropriately epic-sized chart detailing the relationships.

* ''Literature/TheInheritanceGames'': Zara cheated on her first husband with Jake Nash and cheated on her second husband with Oren. Her sister Skye also slept with Jake, which resulted in the birth of Nash Hawthorne. Skye also had relationships with Sheffield Grayson (which resulted in the birth of Grayson Hawthorne) Jameson and Xander's unknown fathers and Ricky Grambs. Ricky previously had relationships with Libby's mother and Avery's mother, Hannah/Sarah. Before that Hannah was in a relationship with Toby Hawthorne. Toby slept with a lot of different girls and had a daughter with one of them. Nash Hawthorne was in relationship with Alisa and later seems to develop feelings for Libby, who was dating Drake. Grayson and Jameson both loved Emily and later they both fall in love with Avery. Xander had a fake relationship with Thea, who was actually dating Rebecca.

** Percy and Annabeth are dating; Rachel, Calypso, Reyna, and Nico all at one point liked Percy; Percy's mom Sally used to be married to Gabe, used to be in a relationship with Poseidon, and is currently happily married to Paul; Annabeth had a misguided crush on Luke as a child(ew); Thalia and Luke used to be into each other; Silena was into Luke but also dating Beckendorf; it's heavily implied that Clarisse and Silena had a thing going; Clarisse is dating Chris, Piper and Reyna both used to date Jason, but now Piper is dating a girl named Shel; Leo is dating Calypso; in Hazel's first life years ago, she had a crush on Leo's great-grandfather; Hazel and Frank are dating; and Nico and Will are dating. And that's just the Greek/Roman series!