History Main / RomanticRunnerUp

* Kain from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' could well be the MostTriumphantExample for the medium.

** Further Zigzagged between the Twelfth Doctor and Danny Pink with regards to Clara Oswald. The Doctor is still in love with Clara (a carryover from his previous incarnation who, per dialogue in the episode "Deep Breath", considered himself to be Clara's boyfriend), but initially steps back and intentionally distances himself from her emotionally, leaving her open to establishing a relationship with Danny. From the get-go, however, Danny and the Doctor are contrasted, with Clara maintaining feelings for both and trying to keep both men in her life. This does not end well, and when Danny is [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal but briefly revived as a Cyberman]], he finally finds out where he stands with Clara when she says to him (not realizing she's speaking to Danny): "I would never, ever, give up the Doctor, because he is my best friend, too. He is the closest person to me in this whole world. He is the man I will always forgive, always trust. The one man I would never, ever lie to." This after spending most of Series 8 lying to Danny.

** Spike. And on a century-plus streak going at it, despite numerous metamorphoses, whether he be human, rabid young vampire, sarcastic and surprisingly sane old vampire, chipped reluctantly-good vampire, soulful good vampire, soulful bad vampire, or all-out champion of good. The irony being that most of the time he's losing out to Angel or Angelus, probably because while Angel was [[TookALevelInBadass taking levels in badass]] he was getting hit by BadassDecay so hard the trope had his name for a while.

** Later during Season 5, Sawyer ends up [[PairTheSpares forming a relationship]] with Juliet (who had previously realized that she was essentially a RomanticFalseLead for Jack). However, the sexual tension between Sawyer and Kate remains, and Juliet [[GenreSavvy continues to worry]] that she will be this to Kate, this time for Sawyer. In the end, [[spoiler: Jack]] ends up with [[spoiler: Kate]], and [[spoiler: Sawyer]] ends up [[spoiler: Juliet]].

* ''Worldwar'' gives us Dr. Jens Larssen. He starts off the series HappilyMarried for several years to his wife Barbara. Everything's going swimmingly until the U.S. government sends Jens on a top-secret but vitally important mission that requires him to cross the United States on bicycle to avoid drawing the Lizards' attention. When he's been gone for the better part of a year, [[spoiler:Barbara is wrongly informed that he's dead, has GladToBeAliveSex with Sam Yeager after a Lizard attack, gets pregnant, and marries Yeager. Only after this does Jens turn up alive and well, having been driven to keep going by the thought of returning to his loving wife -- and she decides to stick with Yeager. However, the cross-country trip started showing Jens' less-than-pleasant sides, which come to the forefront after Barbara leaves him and leads to him plotting to betray all of humanity to the Lizards just to get his revenge against Sam, Barbara, and everyone else whom he believes wronged him.]]

* ''Worldwar'' gives us Dr. Jens Larssen. He starts off the series happily married for several years to Barbara Larssen. Everything's going swimmingly - they even manage to find time to make love while Lizard aircraft bomb the area around their house - until Jens is sent on a top-secret but vitally important mission that necessitates him very slowly crossing one of the largest countries on Earth. When he's been gone for the better part of a year, [[spoiler: Barbara assumes he must be dead and first starts sleeping with, then marries, then gets pregnant by another man. Only for Jens to then turn up, alive and well after all and having been looking forward to his and Barbara's reunion for months, and watch as Barbara chooses the other guy over him. But bear in mind that Jens is hardly a saint. He does threaten at one point that he might ''rape'' Barbara.]]

** ''Carefree'' (1938)

* Ralph Bellamy in just about any movie where he's not playing UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt. Were Wiki/TVTropes around in the '40s, he'd be the TropeNamer. Movies in which he DidNotGetTheGirl:

* Julian in ''Film/SomethingsGottaGive''. Diane Keaton dumps the much-younger, suave doctor KeanuReeves for Creator/JackNicholson. Sad Keanu, indeed.

* Actor James Marsden has quite the Baxter career going, playing blandly nice guys who fail to get the girl one way or another in ''Film/{{Superman}} Returns'', ''Film/XMen'', ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', ''Film/TheNotebook''...

* Subverted in ''Manga/ParadiseKiss''. [[spoiler: Hiroyuki Tokumori was in a love triangle with Miwako and Arashi, ending up as the loser. He also was Yukari's first crush, but then she fell for George. In the end, though, Yukari and George break up, George goes abroads... and Yukari ''marries'' Tokumori]].

** Sakura and Syaoran are both in love with Yukito at the start of the story, but [[spoiler:Yukito ends the story withSakura's brother, Touya. At this point, it can be considered a subversion, since Sakura realized she had no romantic interest in Yukito a bit prior to their relationship started and Syaoran fell for Sakura after they captured all Clow Cards]].

* Shouta from Momokuri is this to his best friend Rihito. Rihito has always been popular, and while Shouta's far from a bad catch, he's just not quite to the level of hot-guy Rihito. [[spoiler:Even Shouta's ChildhoodFriend Yuzuki, who everyone in the entire series has described as either being in love with him or not realizing she's in love with him, winds up dumping him for Rihito in the end.]]

* Julian in ''SomethingsGottaGive''. Diane Keaton dumps the much-younger, suave doctor KeanuReeves for Creator/JackNicholson. Sad Keanu, indeed.

* [[spoiler:Mako]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. While he ''did'' fumble up his relationships with Korra and Asami a lot over the first two seasons, one could argue that in Book Four, he was mature enough to finally hold a relationship. [[spoiler:In the end, however, he ends up as a good friend to both Korra AND Asami. He's also the runner-up to ''both'' as the two, in the GrandFinale, have a RelationshipUpgrade.]]

Sometimes called "The Baxter" (but not [[TheMaryTylerMooreShow Ted Baxter]]) from C.C. Baxter of ''Film/TheApartment'', a sad sack who actually gets the girl. The Michael Showalter movie ''Film/TheBaxter'' deconstructs the concept. Compare HopelessSuitor, RomanticFalseLead, UnrequitedTragicMaiden, and NoSparks. See also DidNotGetTheGirl and EverythingButTheGirl when it's ''TheProtagonist'' who is the romantic runner-up.

* Ralph Bellamy in just about any movie where he's not playing UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt. Were TVTropes around in the '40s, he'd be the TropeNamer. Movies in which he DidNotGetTheGirl:

* Joy Mercer on ''Series/HouseOfAnubis''so very much. It gets to the point where [[spoiler:even when Nina was gone, Fabian refused to date Joy, as he believes they should be [[JustFriends just good friends and nothing else.]]]]

* Cupid from ;;WesternAnimation/EverAfterHigh'' seems to be headed this way. Dexter is [[ObliviousToLove oblivious]] to her crush on him, probably because he's too head over heels for Raven to notice. Raven reciprocates the feelings, and while they aren't [[OfficialCouple official]] yet, all signs seem to be pointing in that direction.

* Kentarou Nara from the anime/manga ''SchoolRumble''. Oddly enough, he was originally going to be the main character of the show, but was nonetheless relegated as a side character with little screen time or role in the story.

* Similarly, in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Akane Tendo openly considers Ryoga Hibiki to be much nicer and sweeter then her CompassionateCritic and NoSocialSkills fiance Ranma Saotome, but she's more or less ObliviousToLove when it [[AllLoveIsUnrequited comes to him]]. That said, Ryoga does find somebody else...

** Martha Jones too. Gorgeous, funny, extremely intelligent, and brave. Which the Doctor knows- it's just that he still misses and loves Rose. No wonder [[spoiler: [[PairTheSpares Mickey and Martha end up married]]]].

* Yuuno Scrya from ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''. Nice guy, helpful, supportive; he was the one who gave Nanoha [[JumpedAtTheCall her calling]] but relationship-wise [[YuriFan it]] [[PanderingToTheBase just]] [[HetIsEw didn't]] [[ImprobablyFemaleCast go]] [[PutOnABus anywhere]].

* Julian in ''SomethingsGottaGive''. Diane Keaton dumps the much-younger, suave doctor KeanuReeves for JackNicholson. Sad Keanu, indeed.

* Misty from Manga/{{Vandread}} falls into this trope. She never really had a chance since she was introduced in Season 2, and her romantic rival, Dita, was a part of the ship's crew, and they didn't want to see her miserable (nor did she want to ostracize them any further). so she painfully gave up pursuing Hibiki, and while she tries to play off her pursuit of him as "being bored", she later goes to the park [[TheWoobie alone to cry.]]

* Cupid from "WesternAnimation/EverAfterHigh" seems to be headed this way. Dexter is [[ObliviousToLove oblivious]] to her crush on him, probably because he's too head over heels for Raven to notice. Raven reciprocates the feelings, and while they aren't [[OfficialCouple official]] yet, all signs seem to be pointing in that direction.