History Main / TheObstructiveLoveInterest

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'''s Rosemary. Raiden is off trying to save the world (or, at least, save the President of the United States and his entourage from a superpowered black-ops cell gone rogue, and with access to nuclear weapons) and all Rose can talk about is how he refuses to discuss their relationship and how his room in his home contains nothing but a desk and a bed. Poor Raiden can only sigh and try to insist that they'll talk about it ''after the mission'', but she won't let up. And creator Hideo Kojima supposedly based her on ''his wife''. It turns out, [[spoiler: Rose is intentionally screwing with his feelings under orders from the Patriots, in order to make sure the S3 training project can sufficiently compensate for personal emotional stress. This goes so far that Raiden is taunted by an AI copy of Rose during the final sequence of the game just to twist the knife into his psyche further]].

Usually female, this character's sole purpose in the story is to [[PoorCommunicationKills misunderstand]], obstruct and otherwise torment the male hero, thus creating [[ThirdActMisunderstanding unnecessary complications]] of plot until the end, where she finally rewards the hero with her hand or...other body parts.

** Throughout the series [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel Aziraphale]] keeps rejecting [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon Crowley]'s pleas to elope together, he even [[BadLiar denies liking the demon]] or [[FriendshipDenial being friends]]. He has got his reasons (he's very repressed etc.), but it clearly [[RejectionAffection hurts Crowley]] a lot.
** At the end of season 2 Crowley gives him [[spoiler:[[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove]]]] and actually [[spoiler:[[TheBigDamnKiss kisses]]]] the angel. Even though Aziraphale [[spoiler:[[OneTrueLovefeels the same]]]], he [[spoiler:rejects Crowley yet again, and this time it is agonisingly painful]].

* ''Series/GoodOmens2019'': Throughout the series angel Aziraphale keeps rejecting demon Crowley's pleas to elope together, he even denies liking the demon or being friends. He has got his reasons (he's very repressed etc.) but it clearly hurts Crowley a lot.
** At the end of season 2 Crowley gives him [[spoiler:an anguished declaration of love and kisses the angel]]. Even though Aziraphale [[spoiler:feels the same]], he [[spoiler:rejects Crowley yet again, and this time it is agonisingly painful]].

* ''Series/GoodOmens2019'': Throughout the series angel Aziraphale keeps rejecting [[spoiler:demon Crowley]]'s plea to elope together, he even denies liking [[spoiler:the demon]] or being friends. He has got his reasons (he's very repressed etc.) but it clearly hurts [[spoiler:Crowley]] a lot.
** At the end of season 2 [[spoiler:Crowley gives him an anguished declaration of love and kisses the angel]]. Even though Aziraphale [[spoiler:feels the same]], he [[spoiler:rejects Crowley yet again, and this time it is agonisingly painful]].

** Elektra provides a bit of this too, since the second half of season 2 is about Matt being fixated on helping her and Stick stop the Hand, at the expense of helping Karen and Foggy with the Castle trial.

* Shiori in ''Manga/GlassMask'', who is Hayami's fiancée. When she realizes that Hayami loves Maya, she shows her [[BitchInSheepsClothing true colors]] and often causes events that make Maya come across as rude or mean out of jealousy.

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* The lady in Leigh Hunt's "The Glove and the Lions," which was based on a supposed actual event, tossed one of her gloves into a pit of vicious lions just so her significant other could "prove his love" for her by retrieving it. He reacted poorly to this, to say the least.

* The love interest in ''{{Unfit}}'' exists entirely to make unreasonable demands for the main character to deal with. She is never in the right, she never shows any positive emotions towards the main character, and it's impossible to tell why he hasn't dumped her yet. In contrast, he's always a perfect saint towards her. (One can't help but suspect that the author had a failed relationship and is using the comic to work through his own issues.)

** Zigzagged with [[spoiler:Sophia. She can prevent the Perfect Ending by getting involved with the protagonist, but she also unlocks the possibility of a three-way relationship between him, Melody, and herself.]]

* Gender-flipped with Lum in ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''; she loves male protagonist Ataru Moroboshi, but he constantly ignores her and goes [[HaremSeeker chasing after other girls]]. When she's not foiling those plans, she often accidentally makes trouble for him due to misunderstanding Earth rules or misusing her advanced alien technology.
* This is one of the two primary "romcom" foundations for ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', with the other being [[WhenAJerkLovesATsundere how their personality flaws clash]]. Whether intentionally or otherwise, Akane Tendo usually tends to make Ranma Saotome's life far more complicated than it needs to be. She constantly mistrusts his motivations, interferes with his schemes, or simply attacks him in a fit of rage and/or jealousy. She has thrown things at him when he's in the middle of a fight, once been about to apologize for hitting him for hugging Shampoo when under MindControl only to instead break off the apology and hit him for it again, constantly takes the side of his rival Ryoga Hibiki, accused Ranma of being in league with [[DirtyOldMan Happosai]], accused Ranma of being a PantyThief and even a potential rapist, left herself open in the middle of a fight to focus on accusing Ranma of impropriety, and in general been as much of a torment to Ranma as his rivals. That he is still attracted to her despite the constant misunderstandings, bickering and violence is morbidly impressive.
* Played for comedy in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', with [[{{Keet}} North]] [[TheMillstone Italy]] being this to his [[HoYay partner]] [[DrillSergeantNasty Germany]].
** There are also two one-sided examples with Belarus and Russia and Belarus and Lithuania. Belarus stalks and terrifying her brother, certain she can get him to marry her, but her being his love interest is all in her head. Meanwhile, Lithuania sees Belarus as a love interest, while she's not interested but still breaks his fingers while on a date. Subverted with Hungary, who beat up her future husband Austria ''before'' she became his love interest.

* Chev's girlfriend in ''Film/{{Crank}}'' isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and can't comprehend the gravity of the situation Chev is in.
* Brooke in ''Film/MagicMike'' responds to most of Mike's flirting with SnarkToSnarkCombat and disapproval about his chosen lifestyle. Until the end where he announces he's quitting stripping.

* The heroine of ''Literature/TheNightLand'' goes to absurd lengths to put herself and her rescuer in mortal danger to make sure he pays proper attention to her. But really, [[AuthorAppeal she just wants to be whipped]].

* Male version: [[TheScrappy Walter]] on ''Series/UglyBetty'' (actually, it seems that all of Betty's boyfriends will turn into this if they're around long enough).

* Used with Lucy Lane in ''[[Series/Supergirl2015 Supergirl]]'' - but this is to show her as a RomanticFalseLead for James. She's constantly questioning what he's up to and misunderstanding a lot of his situations - when he's really helping Kara keep her secret identity as Supergirl.

* Princess Zelda, in the animated ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989'', drove Link [[WellExcuseMePrincess absolutely crazy]] with this sort of behavior. And the poor guy never DID get the kiss he was always hoping to win.

* Akane Tendo ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' fits the role, although far more so in her anime incarnation than her manga version. Either way, Ranma doesn't get much more than to hold her hand... [[AllergicToLove not that he could handle much more]], given how a surprise ''hug'' blew his mind. And given [[LoveDodecahedron some of the other options]], he certainly could have done worse. Or [[{{Shipping}} better, depending on your view.]]

* Princess Zelda, in the animated ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda'', drove Link [[WellExcuseMePrincess absolutely crazy]] with this sort of behavior. And the poor guy never DID get the kiss he was always hoping to win.

Not to be confused with the RomanticFalseLead, the decoy LoveInterest doomed to be kicked aside for the sake of the {{OTP}}. The SuperTrope for WetBlanketWife, that torments the hero only over supposedly wrong (but interesting) parts of his life.

Not to be confused with the RomanticFalseLead, the decoy LoveInterest doomed to be kicked aside for the sake of the {{OTP}}.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'' and ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': Karen Page falls into this trope for her detractors, especially considering how annoyed she gets at Matt when he tells her he's taking up Daredeviling again, nevermind Karen has legitimate reasons to be concerned about what Matt does. This seemed especially jarring considering how much she had been supporting Frank Castle during ''Daredevil'' season 2. Foggy arguably falls into the male variant of this trope even though he's just Matt's best friend, as he's also got legitimate concerns about Matt's activities as much as Karen's does.

* Played for comedy in ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'', with [[{{Keet}} North]] [[TheMillstone Italy]] being this to his [[HoYay partner]] [[DrillSergeantNasty Germany]].

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Usually female, this character's sole purpose in the story is to [[PoorCommunicationKills misunderstand]], obstruct and otherwise torment the male hero, thus creating [[ThirdActMisunderstanding unnecessary complications]] of plot until the end, where she finally rewards the hero with her hand or... other body parts.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Literature/AHatFullOfSky.'' Jeannie the kelda initially shows jealousy to Tiffany, the young Witch of the Chalk, because Jeannie's brand-new husband, Rob Anybody Feegle, has known Tiffany longer than he's known Jeannie, was briefly engaged to her ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story]]), and is itching to leave behind his home and duties there because he knows Tiffany is in danger. Rob understands Jeannie's stress, and promises that if she asks him, he'll stay with his clan and be the Big Man. Jeannie thanks him, then lays [[ThePromise a geas]] on him to go and find Tiffany and protect her, because the Chalk needs its witch. Jeannie and Tiffany end up becoming fast friends.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky.'' Jeannie the kelda initially shows jealousy to Tiffany, the young Witch of the Chalk, because Jeannie's brand-new husband, Rob Anybody Feegle, has known Tiffany longer than he's known Jeannie, was briefly engaged to her ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story]]), and is itching to leave behind his home and duties there because he knows Tiffany is in danger. Rob understands Jeannie's stress, and promises that if she asks him, he'll stay with his clan and be the Big Man. Jeannie thanks him, then lays [[ThePromise a geas]] on him to go and find Tiffany and protect her, because the Chalk needs its witch. Jeannie and Tiffany end up becoming fast friends.

* Mary Jane is the whining variant in ''Film/SpiderMan2'', with all her screentime devoted to Peter pining over her or her pining over Peter without much to add for herself.