History Main / MurderTheHypotenuse

** He paid for it. Oh, did he pay for it. [[spoiler: When God actually bitches you out and then the first child you have with your now-wife dies... Then your daughter gets raped by her brother (though according to Jewish law they weren't actually related...whatever). Then another son kills that son and rebels against you...and so on]].

* attempted by Marco Barbarigo in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', when he pays thugs to kill Dante Moro, Captain of the Guard, so that he can marry Dante's wife Carlotta. In a variation, Dante survives, but is left [[PsychopathicManchild severely brain-damaged]] and [[ExtremeDoormat extremely impressionable]], which allows Marco to talk him into annulling the marriage.

* One of ''TheSimpsons''' "Treehouse of Horror" episodes centers around an house with AI that's in love with Marge. Homer [[TooDumbToLive explicitly points out]] that Marge would be available to "man or machine" if he were to die.

* Subverted in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': Shayera Hol (Hawkgirl) and Mari (Vixen) are caught in a LoveTriangle with GreenLantern John Stewart. He is currently with Mari, but he ''was'' with Shayera and everybody is aware that there are still [[{{UST}} unresolved feelings]] between the two of them. When Hawkgirl and Vixen are on a mission together ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg with Vigilante]]) they are caught in a trap and hunted down by Thanagarians who want to execute Hawkgirl for war crimes. When Vixen is captured she immediately strikes a deal with the Thanagarians -- spare her and she will deliver Hawkgirl to them. She even goes so far as to cite the LoveTriangle as the reason she will betray her superior so quickly. However, she does not go through with it, nor did she ever plan to; once the Thanagarians let their guard down and bring her to their aircraft she hijacks the ship so she can get herself ''and'' Hawkgirl out of there safely. Later episodes play the trope for laughs as Shayera and Mari [[CharacterDevelopment begin to become close friends]], as Shayera comments that she is trying to learn proper Earth protocol for these situations and thusly can not just poison Mari's water like she would on Thanagar.

*** Though, after the events of Benders Big Game, this was averted.

* On ''{{Jimmy Two-Shoes}}'', Heloise builds a [[RobotMe robot double]] to be her assistant. She's very effective, but Jimmy falls in love with it. As you might expect, the robot didn't last the episode.

* Parodied in WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb in the episode "Suddenly Suzy" where we find out Candace is very aware of this trope and hides anything she thinks could be used to kill her before resident {{Yandere}} Suzy arrives.

* ''GeneratorRex'' features that CreepyChild minion of Breach's. She's never named, but she's absolutely obsessed with making Breach happy and tries to kill Rex when she realizes Breach likes Rex more.
* One episode of ''KidVsKat'' featured Coop going on a hike with a group of his friends, including his ImpliedLoveInterest Fiona and his StalkerWithACrush Phoebe. Being a rather terrifying {{Yandere}}, Phoebe spends the entire hike trying to get rid of Fiona, even locking her in an abandoned cabin and then leading the others further along the trail so that they wouldn't hear her calling for help.
* ''HeyArnold'': In the episode "Arnold Visits Arnie" at the end of Arnold's NightmareSequence Arnie goes AxCrazy when he thinks Arnold is stealing his girl and tries to attack him.
* FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends: One episode featured a newcomer called Berry. Berry is initially sweet and polite, but once she develops a crush on Bloo she turns into psychotic {{Yandere}} who continually tries to get rid of Bloo's best friend Mac so that she can have Bloo to herself.

* PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''--[[{{Yandere}} Gideon]] is obsessed with [[CloudCuckooLander Mabel]], who gets her brother [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Dipper]] to break up with him on her behalf. [[FriendVersusLover Perceiving Dipper as the problem]], Gideon lures him into a trap and tries to kill him with [[spoiler:his psychic powers]].

[[caption-width-right:307:Don't try befriending Yukki]]

* In ''OnceUponATime'':

* In ''{{Haruhi Suzumiya}}'', Haruhi is willing to [[spoiler: Destroy THE ENTIRE WORLD and rebuild it again with only her and Kyon]] if anyone gets too close to him and she becomes jealous. [[spoiler: Mikuru's]] closeness to him along with her boredom caused the first incident.

-->'''Princeton:''' [[spoiler:Can you believe it? some idiot dropped a penny off the Empire State Building.]]

* RanmaOneHalf makes good use of this trope, given it's base is a mixture of ArrogantKungFuGuy and LoveDodecahedron. {{Fanon}}, however, tends to greatly exaggerate it for various characters who have used it or hold similar attitudes.

* In the BenBova novel ''Mercury'', the story starts with Mance Bracknell, lead engineer on a space elevator, married to Lara Tierney. Victor Molina, astro-biologist best friend of Mance, wants Lara. When the space elevator collapses, killing hundreds of millions of people and devastating many nations, [[spoiler:Victor falsely testifies in court that Mance was negligently responsible for the collapse, getting him put into forced labour for life. After an accident wipes out everyone on a spaceship but him, Mance takes on the identity of one of the crewmembers and (eventually) gets a job as manager of a colony on Mercury. He lures Victor (who is now happily married to Lara) to Mercury with some life-bearing rocks he's planted, with the goal of getting Victor publicly humiliated when his astro-biologist peers inevitably discover that the rocks aren't from Mercury (thus showing him as either a fraud or an idiot, either way ending his career). Mance seems to think this will get Lara back, but when he reveals his identity, plan, and Victor's false testimony, Lara rejects them both]]. Smart woman.

[[StepThreeProfit Not always the best thought-out plan, no.]] Sometimes, Bob may not even consider what would happen if Alice ever found out. If this isn't TheReveal for a {{Yandere}}, it's still her most shocking moment.

* One time, SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker messes with a rehabilitative Two-Face, suggesting that his girlfriend and best friend [[{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] are playing behind his back and want to keep him locked up in Arkham. To give a further push, Joker has one of his minions make a fake newspaper article that Bruce and Two-Face's girlfriend are going to marry and slips it to an already suspicious Two-Face, who now loses it, escapes from Arkham, kidnaps his girlfriend and tries to murder Bruce, fulfilling this trope himself.
** Also ComicBook/TwoFace's brilliant idea of trying to kill Renée Montoya's girlfriend - [[SarcasmMode because that totally cures lesbianism]].

* In ''MiraiNikki'', it's shown very clearly that Yuno Gasai (pictured above) would be all too willing to kill ANYONE who got in the way of her "love" with Yukiteru (including his mother and father).

* Sort of possible in MassEffect, if the player [[spoiler:is the jealous type and in a relationship with one of the humans. Virmire is the perfect time to ensure you're the only human squad member left other than your love interest!]]
** Mass Effect has loads of fun with this in the sequels thanks to liberal applications of AnyoneCanDie. Players who romanced the Virmire Survivor or Liara can invoke this trope by killing off their ''MassEffect2'' love interests in the Suicide Mission. In ''MassEffect3'', [[spoiler: Miranda and Jack's fates are also left up to the player. You can even flip it in the other direction by killing off the Virmire Survivor during the Citadel coup and re-affirming your relationship with your Mass Effect 2 love interest]].

->''"As I told Lady Freeze when I pulled her plug, this is a one-woman show."''\\
-- '''Poison Ivy''', ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''

* ''PlayMistyForMe'': Dave (Eastwood) is a womanizing DJ who constantly gets calls from a woman asking him to play the song "Misty". He eventually meets the woman, named Evelyn, and has a one-night-stand with her. Evelyn insists on making herself part of Dave's life and, at first, Dave likes the attention. However, his ex-girlfriend, Tobie, moves back to town and Dave decides to patch things up. After he attempts to tell Evelyn that he's not interested, she responds by attempting suicide. Dave and Tobie get closer, but Evelyn isn't going to take it and tries any way she can to keep Dave to herself, even if it means getting rid of Tobie for good...

* The FlyingBrick title character of ''MySuperExGirlfriend'' (Uma Thurman) vows to destroy the protagonist's life after he breaks up with her. One memorable scene had her throw a shark into the bedroom of his new girlfriend after spending the night with her.

* In the far-flung history of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuys the Clans]] in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', Khan Ellie Kinnison of Clan Steel Viper was obsessively in love with the Clans' supreme leader, Ilkhan Nicholas Kerensky. However, Kerensky was married to Jennifer Winson of Clan Wolf. Kinnison had the brilliant idea of trying to murder Winson so that [[ComfortingTheWidow a grieving Kerensky would turn to her for solace.]] Only timely intervention of Kinnison's saKhan Steven Breen spoiled the plot. Trying to assassinate Winson while she was traveling with Kerensky probably didn't help her case either. Kinnison was killed in the attempt on Winson's life by Breen who shot her essentially received a KlingonPromotion.

* In the far-flung history of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuys the Clans]] in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', Khan Ellie Kinnison of Clan Steel Viper was obsessively in love with the Clans' supreme leader, Ilkhan Nicholas Kerensky. However, Kerensky was married to Jennifer Winson of Clan Wolf. Kinnison had the brilliant idea of trying to murder Winson so that [[ComfortingTheWidow a grieving Kerensky would turn to her for solace.]] Only timely intervention by one of Kinnison's subordinates spoiled the plot. Trying to assassinate Winson while she was traveling with Kerensky probably didn't help her case either. Kinnison was killed in the attempt on Winson's life, and the individual who stopped her essentially received a KlingonPromotion.

!!Examples

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/{{Orphan}}'': All of [[spoiler: Esther]]'s actions in this film have in mind the ultimate death of [[spoiler: Kate, Danny AND Maxine]] so that she can have [[spoiler: John]] all to herself.
* In ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'', Poison Ivy deactivates Mr. Freeze's IllGirl wife Nora from her life support system and blames it on the heroes - and in the process, she's able to convince him to take revenge on all of humanity by freezing the world and leaving her and him as the ''only'' people alive. [[spoiler: Freeze learns, once his plan is undone, that the good guys actually saved his wife and that Ivy was the one who tried to kill her, prompting a HeelFaceTurn]]. Clearly she is seriously into him.

* Caledon Hockely in ''{{Titanic}}'' comes to this conclusion when he finds out that his fiancée Rose loves Jack more than she loves him.

* In the 1986 version of ''TheHitcher'', John Ryder does this to Jim Halsey's [[OfficialCouple female love interest]]. Apparently, not only is he [[StalkerWithACrush obsessed with stalking Halsey]] and having FoeYay with him, he also wants to make sure that Halsey doesn't have a girl by his side.

* In ''TheCrush'', Adrian loves Nick so much she's willing to kill his girlfriend and her own friend to get him. Luckily, she doesn't succeed.

* ''TheHouseOfYes'' inverts this. [[spoiler: Jackie, the AxCrazy lover of the main character kills him instead and lets the hypotenuse run away.]]

* In Disney/{{Tangled}}, just because her love for Rapunzel is non-existent or at best a warped and possessive thing doesn't mean that Mother Gothel can't resent and stab Flynn mortally because he and Rapunzel love each other, and his actions resulted in Rapunzel realizing she doesn't love Mother Gothel.

* [[DishingOutDirt Sadira]], from the Disney/{{Aladdin}} TV show, subverts this; she wanted Jasmine out of the way,[[spoiler: before she eventually got over Aladdin,]] but did not want her dead or seriously hurt, even explaining it in detail to a grunt.

Compare OppositesAttractRevenge. Contrast IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy, which may be subverted into this trope, and vice versa. Also compare the ScarpiaUltimatum, where the threat to murder the hypotenuse may or may not be carried out. Contrast IfICantHaveYou, for when it's the Cathetus (Alice, for those a little rusty on their geometry) that will be murdered. If this is done indirectly by setting the hypotenuse up to be killed, it's either TheUriahGambit (if Bob does it intentionally) or DeathOfTheHypotenuse (if the intent is limited to the author).

** Also Two-Face's brilliant idea of trying to kill Renée Montoya's girlfriend - [[SarcasmMode because that totally cures lesbianism]].

* In ''TheBrothersKaramazov'', [[spoiler:Smerdyakov]] thinks this will be the natural result of baiting Dmitri with a BriefcaseFullOfMoney in the lair of his romantic rival.

* In ''TheBrothersKaramazov'', [[spoiler:Smerdyakov]] thinks this will be the natural result of baiting Dmitri with a BriefcaseFullOfMoney in the lair of his romantic rival.

* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'', [[spoiler:Kyrie]] makes it very clear that, if [[spoiler:Asumu]] hadn't died from other causes, [[spoiler:Kyrie]] would have most certainly killed [[spoiler:her]] within the year.
-->'''[[spoiler:Kyrie]]:''' [[spoiler:She]] was fated to die no matter what. The miracle was that I didn't have to get my hands dirty.

* In Tolkien's ''TheSilmarillion'', after betraying the city of Gondolin in return for its princess Idril, Maeglin tries to clean up the loose ends by killing her husband Tuor and son Earendil.