History Main / TemporaryLoveInterest

Stories involving [[TheDrifter Drifters]] or [[KnightErrant Knights Errant]] tend to involve this, if only because the lone wandering hero archetype tends to require that friends and love interests encountered during an adventure be [[ButNowIMustGo left behind at adventure's end]].

* Much like ''Film/JamesBond'', the 90s Creator/TimBurton and Creator/JoelSchumacher ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' films are meant to retain ([[BroadStrokes loose]]) continuity with one another, but each film contains a LoveInterest who shows up, becomes deeply involved in Bruce / Batman's life, learns his SecretIdentity, and then disappears in the next film with no explanation. They are:

* ''Manga/DGrayMan'': Anita was this to General Cross. Cross is a ChivalrousPervert. WordOfGod says he likes good women. He is also stated to have many lovers, but Anita was the only one we met. Anita mentions that her mother was a lover of Cross, and supported the Black Order for him, before she was killed by an Akuma. After meeting the Exorcist team that's searching for Cross, she offers them a ship and goes with them on the journey to find him. Sadly in a fierce attack on the ship, she and most of her crew are killed. Shortly before she dies, she thinks about Cross and wonders silently if she had become a good woman that would honor her mother. Lenalee is the one who lets Cross know of Anita's fate later. He is very somber, and comments to Lenalee that he'd told Anita not to follow him, no matter what happened -stating that good women tend to be too simple-minded. Cross carries around the corpse of a deceased woman with parasitic innocence, named Maria. We haven't learned the origin of Maria yet. But if she was a lover of Cross, then he may lean toward being a victim of CartwrightCurse -because that would be three lovers we know of that are deceased.

* ''{{ComicBook/Sabretooth}}'' has had four love interests in total, with two being this, Bonnie Hale & Holly Bright. Both introduced in a mini series -Mary Shelley Overdrive & First X-Men respectively. Bonnie & Creed wanted to go away together. Holly, he had plans to marry & settle down with. Both were killed by Creed. He fatally wounds Holly when his body was controlled by the enemy. Bonnie was infected by a plague that would go viral if she wasn't killed & Creed tries to get the cure only for it be destroyed in an explosion. With no hope, Creed has to kill her.

* About a year after Beatrice's death in the ''Literature/VitaNuova'', [[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante]] begins to write sonnet about another beautiful woman, only to have a vision of Beatrice that makes him realize his attraction to the new woman was a vain and shallow imitation of Love.

* In the original ''Series/CharliesAngels'', any man an Angel shows interest in usually turns out to be the villain, and is then never mentioned again, which makes the HandWave explanation of Sabrina leaving the team to get married rather inexplicable.

** Elektra Natchios is introduced a third of the way through season 2, and spends nine episodes working with Matt to take down the Hand before she's killed off by Nobu. But she's then revived in ''The Defenders'', and is last seen with Matt below a collapsing Midland Circle and her survival is ambiguous.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E6TheAztecs "The Aztecs"]], the First Doctor has a fling with, and gets an AccidentalEngagement to, an Aztec healer named Cameca. They are seen through much of the serial cuddling or holding hands and both Ian and Barbara tease him affectionately about his fiancée ("you old rogue!"). The Doctor is clearly conflicted about whether he needs to move on immediately at all, until Barbara's meddling puts them all in danger. Cameca admits she knew that the invention he was working on (the wheel) would take her from him, and she gives him a ring as a gift, which he attempts to discard but [[TearJerker can't bring himself to]].

*** In [[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageofTheDamned "Voyage of the Damned"]], this is done particularly badly — she practically commits suicide through stupidity (see, after you use the forklift to push the bad guy off the edge, you could at least ''try'' to jump out...). He then tries to save her through a mild DeusExMachina, but it was broken in the wreck, and she [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence turns into a glowy remnant of herself]] that goes off into space and gets to see the Universe like she wanted.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' had two for Clark. The first one died, and the second one was put in prison. However, {{Shipping}} was so great they decided to [[BackForTheDead bring her back for two episodes and kill her to stop it]]. The latest season introduced a third who also died in her second appearance. Of course [[ForegoneConclusion we know]] [[ComicBook/LoisLane who]] he'll end up with, which makes temps a requirement until the show ends. Lex has also had several, and married a few of them.

** ''Series/StargateSG1'': Samantha Carter is a total black widow, and Daniel Jackson hasn't done too well either; nearing the end of the series, Samantha just got a seemingly-long-term boyfriend who still had an extended stay in the hospital during his introductory episode, and the height of Daniel Jackson's success is a love interest that merely spent a couple of seasons possessed (and effectively dead). The SG-1 team, like so many other heroes, may be effectively bulletproof, but best not to get involved with them: it does ''not'' rub off. Dr Jackson eventually averted this by hooking up with a fellow member of SG-1 in the finale...only to have the relationship fall victim to a (literal) *ResetButton.

** Kira's love interest Bareil dies eventually, but doesn't really fit the trope. He was around for over a full season (even making a few appearances before he and Kira got together) and Kira spends quite a while mourning after he dies. ''Both'' of her next two love interests (or three if one counts [[FoeYay Dukat's one-sided flirtations]]) talk about how important Bareil was to Kira and the impact of his death on her. [[spoiler: Odo]] even sends her away while on his deathbed because he doesn't wanted her haunted by witnessing it the way she did when Bareil died.
*** His Mirror Universe counter-part is a better example. He popped up for one episode only, they quickly found themselves in an intense romance, and then he disappeared [[spoiler: with Kira's counter-part (who casually mentions she later killed him when she next appears)]]

*** Most notorious is Serena, played by Kevin Sorbo's real life wife, who Hercules marries at the end of her second appearance ([[FourthDateMarriage only having known her a few days]]). She is killed off in the very next episode.

* Any episode of ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' where the subplot focuses on the love lives of any of the girls (or all three), Clover has a new boyfriend almost every time--Blaine's the only love interest of hers to last more than one episode in a relationship with Clover.

* ''Anime/KirbyOfTheStars'': Whispy, of all people, who is a ''talking tree'' gets his temporary love interest in the form of a flower. Dedede has her transformed into a monster, and Kirby has to kill her. To make things even ''more'' bizarre, when Whispy fell for her, she wasn't even ''sentient''. She didn't come to life until after the transformation started.

* ''Literature/MythOMania'' invokes this trope almost every time Cupid fires an arrow with either an orange or a yellow tip; while red-tipped arrows make people permanently fall in love, orange tips' effects wear off after three days, while love induced with a yellow tip only lasts an hour.[[note]]Cupid hooked up Hades and Persephone by shooting the former with an orange-tipped arrow, but the couple formed a love genuine enough to last beyond the third day.[[/note]]

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Samantha Carter is a total black widow, and Daniel Jackson hasn't done too well either; nearing the end of the series, Samantha just got a seemingly-long-term boyfriend who still had an extended stay in the hospital during his introductory episode, and the height of Daniel Jackson's success is a love interest that merely spent a couple of seasons possessed (and effectively dead). The SG-1 team, like so many other heroes, may be effectively bulletproof, but best not to get involved with them: it does ''not'' rub off. Dr Jackson eventually averted this by hooking up with a fellow member of SG-1 in the finale...only to have the relationship fall victim to a (literal) ResetButton.
* These happen in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' too: Sheppard and very rarely [=McKay=] are on the receiving end. While, to some people, [[ChickMagnet Sheppard]] had tons of {{UST}} going on with Weir, her disappearance mid-series left him without a single potential relationship that would last beyond a single episode. [[HollywoodNerd McKay]] on the other hand took his time and ended up with [[spoiler:[[HospitalHottie Keller]]]] in the final season.
** Surprisingly averted with Teyla and Kanaan. Kanaan was kidnapped by Michael and clearly considered disposable by him. However, Kanaan survives to raise his child with Teyla.
* Early seasons of ''Series/TheXFiles'' did this with Scully dating random dudes for an episode, Mulder had porn.
* ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' thrives on this. Although some love interests last a couple episodes or so, there are still a few who only manage to last one.
* The early first season episodes of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' were notorious for providing both Xena and Gabrielle with a doomed Temporary Love Interest, including what is perhaps the most extreme example of the form as a whole, Marcus: he actually died ''twice''. No wonder they quickly shifted to HoYay.
** ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' was just as bad at introducing them. Even though Iolaus had more romantic interests, there was no shortage of girls that would flirt and throw themselves at Hercules.
*** Most notorious is Serena, played by Kevin Sorbo's real life wife, who Hercules marries at the end of her second appearance ([[FourthDateMarriage only having known her a few days]]). She is killed off in the very next episode.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' had two for Clark. The first one died, and the second one was put in prison. However, {{Shipping}} was so great they decided to [[BackForTheDead bring her back for two episodes and kill her to stop it]]. The latest season introduced a third who also died in her second appearance. Of course [[ForegoneConclusion we know]] [[ComicBook/LoisLane who]] he'll end up with, which makes temps a requirement until the show ends. Lex has also had several, and married a few of them.
* Happens in an episode of ''Series/KnightRider'', when Michael Knight's bride is killed before the wedding ceremony ends.
* Gilina Renaez (The PK Tech Girl) in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'''s first season. In fairness, she had more than one appearance. It's just that in the second, she found out that the true love she was risking her life for had the hots for someone else. ''Then'' she died tragically.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Any girl with Sam or Dean, especially Sam, who is known for his CartwrightCurse. In general, most women in the series either get killed off or don't show up again after being introduced.
** Jessica, Sam's college girlfriend in the pilot, burns on the ceiling at the end of the episode. Interestingly, it's clear that Sam takes a long time to get over her death, still missing her at least five years after she dies.
** Madison, the first girl Sam sleeps with after Jessica's death, turns out to be the MonsterOfTheWeek and Sam has to kill her to stop more people from dying.
** Ruby gets Sam hooked on demon blood and manipulates him into releasing Lucifer. Dean kills her with her own knife. She did last two whole seasons, though.
** Subverted with Cara, the doctor Sam sleeps with in "Sex and Violence". Dean, based on [[CartwrightCurse Sam's history]], thinks she's the monster and they'll have to kill her. Turns out, it wasn't her.
** Dean has Castiel wipe Lisa's memories after she nearly dies.
** Then there's Amelia in season 8, whom Sam ultimately just leaves to go back to hunting and is never really mentioned again.

*** Jabe from "The End of the World". She and the Ninth Doctor flirt outrageously, Rose tells them to 'go off and pollinate' and a line in the Twelfth Doctor story "Deep Breath" states that they did have a physical fling. She dies in a HeroicSacrifice to save everyone else on the space station.
*** In "Voyage of the Damned", this is done particularly badly--she practically commits suicide through stupidity (see, after you use the forklift to push the bad guy off the edge, you could at least ''try'' to jump out...). He then tries to save her through a mild DeusExMachina, but it was broken in the wreck, and she [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence turns into a glowy remnant of herself]] that goes off into space and gets to see the Universe like she wanted.
*** Rose Tyler. In "Journey's End", she chooses to remain in Pete's World with the Doctor's half-human clone, aka "Handy", after Handy whispers in Rose's ear what the Doctor would not--presumed by many fans to be "I love you". Handy also offers to spend his one human life with Rose, saying that he will age and die as she does ("I could spend it with you, if you'd like"). The Doctor and Rose then part ways, presumably forever.
*** Done for legitimate characterization by River Song. In "Forest of the Dead", she sacrifices herself to prevent the deaths of thousands of other people and stabilize the Library's mainframe computer. Despite this, we see her past self go on many adventures with the Doctor, his companions, and eventually marry the (Eleventh) Doctor. Much later, a "data ghost" of her from after her death gets to say goodbye to him properly. She still dies to preserve the status quo but, thanks to the MayflyDecemberRomance factor (despite her being part Time Lord, she gave up her ability to regenerate), that was fairly inevitable and their relationship is meaningful to both characters nevertheless.
*** Christina de Souza in "Planet of the Dead", a ClassyCatBurglar who (as both she and the Doctor constantly announce to the audience) would be a perfect partner for Ten. Notable in that she doesn't actually die- they part amicably and she gets a flying London bus out of the deal.
*** Madame de Pompadour, who is dead at the end of "The Girl in the Fireplace" after The Doctor [[TimeyWimeyBall comes back]] [[LifeWillKillYou for her]] [[YouAreTooLate too late]].
** In "Death in Heaven", the Twelfth Doctor is impressed by his FanGirl Osgood and tells her that she should put 'all of time and space' on her bucket list, while she {{Squee}}s about it. [[spoiler: The Master]] kills her in the very next scene.
** While the Doctor was mostly immune in the original series with a couple of exceptions, this happened to an awful lot of companions.
*** Barbara has a fling with [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Blond-Haired Space Boy]] Alydon in "The Daleks" but leaves him, as well as several more. Lampshaded in the Eleventh Doctor comic "Hunters of the Burning Stone" where the Doctor, upon hearing Barbara was going to marry Ian, reels off a long list of 'broken hearts' she was going to leave.
*** Steven has a brief, tragic fling with Anne Chaplet, a girl he meets in 17th-Century France. It's brief and tragic in part because he knows her for a couple of days leading up to a genocide against everyone belonging to her religion.
*** Jamie gets a love interest, Samantha, in "The Faceless Ones", but says goodbye to her at the end of the episode. This was not actually the original intention--the producer had offered the actress playing the part the opportunity to stay on as a companion, but the actress declined. Attentive viewers may notice that Samantha spends an unusually long time establishing her backstory and personality quirks for a ''Doctor Who'' side character for this reason.
*** Jo Grant seemed to leave a string of broken hearts in her wake, from Peladonian kings to Thal spacemen.
*** Ace has a full-on CartwrightCurse, with anyone she so much as smiles at dying in the last episode (even [[LesYay a female cheetah]] isn't immune). The [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures New Adventures]] ran with this ''a lot''.
** In "The Aztecs", the First Doctor has a fling with, and gets an AccidentalEngagement to, an Aztec healer named Cameca. They are seen through much of the serial cuddling or holding hands and both Ian and Barbara tease him affectionately about his fiancée ("you old rogue!"). The Doctor is clearly conflicted about whether he needs to move on immediately at all, until Barbara's meddling puts them all in danger. Cameca admits she knew that the invention he was working on (the wheel) would take her from him, and she gives him a ring as a gift, which he attempts to discard but [[TearJerker can't bring himself to]].
*** Fridge logic suggests that the Doctor felt so badly about this that it took him ''nine regenerations'' to be willing to flirt again--much less go any further.

*** Miss Lamb in ''Ghost Ship'', who has a ton of {{UST}} with the Fourth Doctor (between "The Deadly Assassin" when he's just left Sarah and "The Face of Evil" when he picks up Leela) and dies.
*** Ali in ''The Beast of Babylon'', who expresses a desire to travel with the Ninth Doctor and flirts with him about what kind of girls he likes (directly before the Doctor reappears in front of Rose at the end of "Rose"), but gracefully suggests that Rose would be a better partner for him before the Doctor has her PutOnABus.

*** The novelisation of "Shada" has Skagra's SapientShip PromotedToLoveInterest for the Fourth Doctor. They have a bit of awkward, semi-accidental GRatedSex in which he talks her through achieving time travel which she [[TheImmodestOrgasm massively enjoys]] and she falls in love with him soon after, but as she is an enormous invisible spaceship she is obviously unworkable as a companion, so she and the Doctor respectfully part so she can achieve independence (and punish Skagra).
* Averted on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' by Benjamin Sisko's long-term girlfriend Kassidy Yates (although she did get PutOnABus at one point, by the end of the series she was a fixture in Sisko's life).
** Kira's love interest Bareil dies eventually, but doesn't really fit the trope. He was around for over a full season (even making a few appearances before he and Kira got together) and Kira spends quite a while mourning after he dies. ''Both'' of her next two love interests (or three if one counts [[FoeYay Dukat's one-sided flirtations]]) talk about how important Bareil was to Kira and the impact of his death on her. [[spoiler: Odo]] even sends her away while on his deathbed because he doesn't wanted her haunted by witnessing it the way she did when Bareil died.
*** His Mirror Universe counter-part is a better example. He popped up for one episode only, they quickly found themselves in an intense romance, and then he disappeared [[spoiler: with Kira's counter-part (who casually mentions she later killed him when she next appears)]]
** Odo had one in "A Simple Investigation", she doesn't end up dead ''exactly'' but he never sees her again and she's never brought up thereafter.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' has what might quite possibly be the TropeCodifier: Edith Keeler of the truly exceptional episode "The City on the Edge of Forever."
* In the original ''Series/CharliesAngels'', any man an Angel shows interest in usually turns out to be the villain, and is then never mentioned again, which makes the HandWave explanation of Sabrina leaving the team to get married rather inexplicable.
** In one episode, Kelly is shown to be in a loving relationship with an obviously nice, decent man, but she has to end it because she has to go and work undercover. He doesn't know what she does for a living so she ends it by hinting that she no longer cares for him. However, it's clear her heart is breaking as she says it.
* The vast revolving cast of the main characters' love interests in ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''. Often {{Lampshaded}} as examples of how dysfunctional the core cast are.
** The only subversions would be Susan (for George) and Puddy (for Elaine). Then again, [[spoiler: Susan dies]] and Puddy tells Elaine he will ''not'' wait for her in the finale. Even Jerry's fiance only lasts one episode (appearing briefly in a flashback sequence in the next one to explain that they mutually dumped each other).

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': [[spoiler:Fred]] is one for Wesley, ''very'' temporarily. They were love interests for a while, but she was killed off shortly after they finally became an OfficialCouple.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Harm and Mac had through the years various love interests, none of them lasted more than a season. Also Admiral Chegwidden had several short-lived love interests. Averted with Bud and Harriet, who remain married from season 3 to the end of the series.

* On ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Oliver was dating and sleeping with Star City Police Detective Mckenna Hall, but when Olicity began to gain traction as the [[FanPreferredCouple fandom favorite]] [[OneTruePairing OTP]], Mckenna was injured in the line of duty and headed out of town for physiotherapy, never to return.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** Claire Temple enters into a very short-lived relationship with Matt during the first season, but they mutually break up in the 11th episode. This is done for the status quo, as Matt's canon love interest in the show is Karen. Meanwhile, Claire goes over to ''Series/LukeCage2016'' and hooks up with Luke, her canon love interest in the comics.
** Elektra Natchios is introduced a third of the way through season 2, and spends nine episodes working with Matt to take down the Hand before she's killed off by Nobu. But she's then revived in ''The Defenders'', and is last seen with Matt below a collapsing Midland Circle and her survival is ambiguous.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Parodied in a ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strip where the title character comments it's strange he has a girlfriend, and that it reminds him of ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' episodes where Kirk falls in love and you know she'll end up dying horribly -- meanwhile, a flaming meteorite hits the ground just behind them and the girlfriend looks freaked out. Ironically, she goes on to dump him because he isn't as fun to be around anymore. Maybe she only loved him for the meteors?
[[/folder]]

* The titular character from ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' had Freya, a MysteriousWaif who is introduced and dies in the same episode - though she [[ChekhovsGunman pops back occasionally as the Lady of the Lake]].

* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'': In the fourth episode "The Frogs and the Lobsters", during the mission in Mouzillac in France as supporters of the French Royalists, Horatio has an innocent brief romance with a local peasant girl turned into a teacher. Horatio persuades her to run away with him, though it's not clear what he wants to do with her once they get aboard his ship or to England. When they reach the bridge which the Navy is supposed to blow up, she's shot by French republican soldiers and dies instantly. Horatio cries BigNO and is shattered for the rest of the episode, but that's the last time we ever heard of Mariette. Note that this isn't too different from the fate of Marie, Hornblower's mistress in the [[Literature/HoratioHornblower original books,]] making Mariette a likely {{Expy}}.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Samantha Carter is a total black widow, and Daniel Jackson hasn't done too well either; nearing the end of the series, she just got a seemingly-long-term boyfriend that still made an extended stay in the hospital during his introductory episode, and the height of Daniel Jackson's success is a love interest that merely spent a couple of seasons possessed (and effectively dead). The SG-1 team, like so many other heroes, may be effectively bulletproof, but best not to get involved with them: it does ''not'' rub off. Dr Jackson eventually averted this by hooking up with a fellow member of SG-1 in the finale...only to have the relationship fall victim to a (literal) ResetButton.

* Gilina Renaez (The PK Tech Girl) in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'''s first season. In fairness, she had more than one appearance. It's just that in the second she found out her true love who she was risking her life for had the hots for someone else. ''Then'' she died tragically.

*** Madame de Pompadour, who is dead at the the end of "The Girl in the Fireplace" after The Doctor [[TimeyWimeyBall comes back]] [[LifeWillKillYou for her]] [[YouAreTooLate too late]].

** In one episode Kelly is shown to be in a loving relationship with an obviously nice, decent man, but she has to end it because she has to go and work undercover. He doesn't know what she does for a living so she ends it by hinting that she no longer cares for him. However, it's clear her heart is breaking as she says it.

** The best example is Sylvia, Albert's girlfriend in the two-parter named for her that aired in early 1981. Sylvia lives in a horrifying, cold world -- she is teased mercilessly at school because of her early puberty, she is stalked by and impregnated by a rapist, her father calls her a whore, and Mrs. Olesen spreads malicious gossip suggesting that Albert had gotten her pregnant -- and Albert her only hope of happiness. Alas, even this is taken away from her when the rapist finds her hiding in a barn (Albert unknowningly reveals her whereabouts) and returns to rape her a second time; She tries to flee by running up a rickety ladder, but a rotted step breaks under Sylvia's weight and she falls to her death; however, death does not come about until after she is brought home, and she and Albert are allowed to share tender words.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' [[spoiler:Fred]] is one for Wesley, ''very'' temporarily. They were love interests for a while, but she was killed off shortly after they finally became an OfficialCouple.

** ''Film/{{Batman}}'': Vicki Vale

'''[[spoiler: Zuko]]:''' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny That's rough]], [[MemeticMutation buddy.]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Claire Temple enters into a very short-lived relationship with Matt during the first season, but they mutually break up in the 11th episode. This is done for the status quo, as Matt's canon love interest in the show is Karen. Meanwhile, Claire goes over to ''Series/LukeCage2016'' and hooks up with Luke, her canon love interest in the comics.

* ''{{ComicBook/Sabretooth}}'' has had four love interests in total, with two being this, Bonnie Hale & Holly Bright. Both introduced in a mini series -Mary Shelley Overdrive & First X-Men respectively. The relationships developed quickly with Bonnie & Creed wanting to go away together. He'd planned to marry & settle down with Holly. Tragically both were killed by Creed. He was forced to fatally wound Holly when his body was being controlled by the enemy. Bonnie was infected by a plague that would activate if she wasn't killed in 72 hours & Creed tries to get the cure but it's destroyed in the lab explosion, leaving no hope for Bonnie whom Creed then has to kill.

* Happens pretty often in ''Series/SiliconValley''. The only character who had a girlfriend for any amount of time was Gilfoyle. Dinesh and Richard have had a handful of [[GirlOfTheWeek girls of the week]], and one episode implies that the seemingly shy and awkward Jared ReallyGetsAround when he wants to, but there haven't been any relationships lasting more than a few episodes.

*** Christine de Souza in "Planet of the Dead", a ClassyCatBurglar who (as both she and the Doctor constantly announce to the audience) would be a perfect partner for Ten. Notable in that she doesn't actually die--they part amicably and she gets a flying London bus out of the deal.

* On ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Oliver was dating and sleeping with Star City Police Detective McKenna Hall, but when Olicity began to gain traction as the [[FanPreferredCouple fandom favorite]] [[OneTruePairing OTP]], McKenna was injured in the line of duty and headed out of town for physiotherapy, never to return.

* ''DGrayMan'': Anita was this to General Cross. Cross is a ChivalrousPervert. WordOfGod says he likes good women. He is also stated to have many lovers, but Anita was the only one we met. Anita mentions that her mother was a lover of Cross, and supported the Black Order for him, before she was killed by an Akuma. After meeting the Exorcist team that's searching for Cross, she offers them a ship and goes with them on the journey to find him. Sadly in a fierce attack on the ship, she and most of her crew are killed. Shortly before she dies, she thinks about Cross and wonders silently if she had become a good woman that would honor her mother. Lenalee is the one who lets Cross know of Anita's fate later. He is very somber, and comments to Lenalee that he'd told Anita not to follow him, no matter what happened -stating that good women tend to be too simple-minded. Cross carries around the corpse of a deceased woman with parasitic innocence, named Maria. We haven't learned the origin of Maria yet. But if she was a lover of Cross, then he may lean toward being a victim of CartwrightCurse -because that would be three lovers we know of that are deceased.

* Have you seen ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''? its like the main point of the show.

*** Fridge logic suggests that the Doctor felt so badly about this that it took him ''eight regenerations'' to be willing to flirt again--much less go any further.

*** Fridge logic suggests that the Doctor felt so badly about this that it took him ''ten regenerations'' to be willing to flirt again--much less go any further.

* ''Literature/MythOMania'' provides a possible explanation for the existence of this trope through Cupid's description of the different arrows he fires. Love induced with yellow-tipped arrows only lasts an hour. Orange-tipped arrows create romantic effects that wear off after three days. Red-tipped arrows avert this trope by making people permanently fall in love. Book IX introduces the "Smoochie Woochie" arrow, which Cupid uses to make Helen of Sparta leave Menelaus for Paris. [[spoiler:Its effects wear off of Helen after Philoctetes slays Paris.]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

* ''{{Austin Powers}}'' (all of them).
** Which in itself parodies the same concept from ''Film/JamesBond''.