History Main / FallingForSomeoneNeverMet

Have you ever fallen a bit in love without ever having met a person face to face? Perhaps with a singing voice, with a beautiful portrait or photograph, with the tone of a letter or simply with what others say about someone who left an impression? In real life this is generally just a tiny pang and we get over it quickly; that, or we become part of a celebrity's {{Fandom}}.

Fictional characters are rather more passionate and lucky when it comes to falling for Mr. or Ms. X. They stumble over the enticing traces of a charming, unusual individual and they're hooked. They strive to find out more about their mysterious crush, try to locate them and fall ever harder and they often actually manage to meet them.

Often though, this trope is played romantically and the love story ends happily.

* An understated version from one of Charles Foster Kane's friends in ''CitizenKane'':

* The ''{{Homestuck}}'' fandom loves to speculate about Kanaya's feelings for Rose based entirely around a GameFAQs Walkthrough.

* This seems to be the case for [[StalkerWithACrush Camus O. Laphroaig]], the leader of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Hell Hounds]], in the first ''GalaxyAngel'' game. He proclaims his love for [[RoseHairedGirl Milfeulle Sakuraba]], despite the two never having met before, and demonstrates it by revealing several facts from her past at [[OldShame Elementary School]] and [[EmbarrassingOldPhoto Pilot Academy]]. Befitting his nature as a IneffectualSympatheticVillain, this scene is as [[CrowningMomentOfFunny silly]] as you can imagine. In the [[DarkerAndEdgier manga]], however, [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Camus]] personality is [[PsychoForHire completely different]], which results in his advances being downright [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel terrifying]].

* Mozart's ''TheMagicFlute'' has the hero Tamino fall in love with Pamina from her picture, and she apparently fell in love just from hearing from Papageno that he's a great hero who's in love with her(though the version this troper saw was apparently very poorly translated and cut down). It doesn't get better in the full version.

* In [[QuestForGloryIV]] it's possible for the hero to fall in love with a woman that he's only met in dream sequences. [[spoiler: Also, for the first four games in the series, she's dead - but it's possible to bring her back to life and eventually marry her in the fifth.]]

* Britomart for Artegall in ''TheFaerieQueene'' after seeing him in a crystal ball, making this one OlderThanDirt.

*** Which is a remake of ''TheShopAroundTheCorner'' (1940), which, since it was 1940, had to rely on the U.S. Mail.

* This is one of the triggers for the plot of ''SomewhereInTime''. The main character falls in love with an actress after seeing an old picture of her, making him use MentalTimeTravel to meet her after he learned that she'd already died of old age.

* In the ''{{Wings}}'' episode "Ms. Write", Brian falls in love with "R", the author of some very passionate, poetic love letters delivered to his house by mistake. He eventually meets "R", who turns out to be [[spoiler:a 12-year-old girl]].

* In ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Geordi [=LaForge=] falls in love with starship designer Leah Brahms after working with a holographic version of her. It makes things really awkward when he meets the real (and already-married) Dr. Brahms (especially after she finds out about the hologram), but the final episode suggests they end up getting married in at least one timeline.

* Prince Eric falls for mermaid Airel after hearing her voice in TheLittleMermaid movie.

* In ''DonJuanDeMarco'', the title character falls, hard, for a centerfold model he's only seen in a magazine. After many attempts he manages to phone her- when she tells him to bug off, his response is [[SpurnedIntoSuicide rather disproportionate.]]

Related to TheDulcineaEffect and LoveAtFirstSight if it relies on simply a photograph. See also LongDistanceRelationship. See also PerverseSexualLust.

Compare LoveBeforeFirstSight.

** And they do it again in ''[[{{ptitley4se851y}} You've Got Mail]]'', where they fall in love through e-mail.

* In ''[[DonJuanDemarco Don Juan DeMarco]]'', the title character falls, hard, for a centerfold model he's only seen in a magazine. After many attempts he manages to phone her- when she tells him to bug off, his response is [[SpurnedIntoSuicide rather disproportionate.]]

* In ''{{Elantris}}'' the foreign princess falls for her (ArrangedMarriage) fiancee this way

* In ''KingsQuest'', Graham sees Valanice in the magic mirror in the second game, and set off to find and marry her without having met her. (The FanRemake adds an element of MindlinkMates to this). Being as King's Quest is as bad as {{Shrek}} when it comes to [[ZigZaggingTrope screwing with Fairy Tale Tropes]], this is pretty easy to shrug off.

* In ''[[DonJuanDemarco Don Juan DeMarco]]'', the title character falls, hard, for a centerfold model he's only seen in a magazine. After many attempts he manages to phone her- when she tells him to bug off, his response is [[InterruptedSuicide rather disproportionate.]]

* In ''[[DonJuanDemarco Don Juan DeMarco]]'', the title character falls, hard, for a centerfold model he's only seen in a magazine. After many attempts he manages to phone her- when she tells him to bug off, his response is [[AttemptedSuicide rather disproportionate.]]

* In ''[[DonJuanDemarco Don Juan DeMarco]]'', the title character falls, hard, for a centerfold model he's only seen in a magazine. After many attempts he manages to phone her- when she tells him to bug off, his response is [[InterruptedSuicide rather disproportionate.]]

* In ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Geordi LaForge falls in love with starship designer Leah Brahms after working with a holographic version of her. It makes things really awkward when he meets the real (and already-married) Dr. Brahms (especially after she finds out about the hologram), but the final episode suggests they end up getting married in at least one timeline.