History Main / UnrequitedLoveLastsForever

* Creator/ThomasDolby's "Europa And The Pirate Twins" recounts how Thomas and Europa started out as childhood friends, until war took her away. "We swore a vow that day / We'll be the pirate twins again, Europa." Europa grew to be a celebrity, while Thomas was shunted aside as a tosser. "Eyes were gone forever / As they drove her away."

** King Robert vocally mourns Lyanna Stark [[TheLostLenore long after her death]], but he never [[LovingAShadow really knew her]]. We don't ''really'' know much about how Lyanna felt, but it overall looks pretty unrequited.
** Robert's wife Cersei was in love with [[spoiler:Rhaegar Targaryen]] since she was a child. It was something of a PrecociousCrush and there's no indication he was ever even really aware of her. Cersei always hated Robert for [[spoiler:killing him in battle]]. (The fact that her ArrangedMarriage to Robert is abusive and horribly unhappy for her doesn't help matters.)

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has a number of ''very'' {{egregious}} cases of this. As in, OmnicidalManiac levels of {{Egregious}}.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', [[spoiler:Snape was in love with Lily through their childhood and Hogwarts years. Lily refused to associate herself with him after he broke all the trust she had in him. Lily instead ended up with his archnemesis and rival, James Potter, whom had taken down his ego since their last encounter. They had a child named Harry, then they died and Harry grew up to become a student of Snape, who treats Harry like shit because his dad is James… and because he's still angry and in love with Lily, long after her death, as he demonstrated with his Patronus, causing [[TearJerker Dumbledore to tear up]].]]
-->'''Dumbledore''': After all this time?\\

** Also, [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Moaning Myrtle]] pops up in every other book to complain about how Harry never visits her. Then again, she's stuck as a thirteen(ish)-year-old girl forever, so it kind of fits.

* [[Literature/TheDivineComedy Dante Alighieri]] and Beatrice, not just in real life but even in his poetry.

* In ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', the book, Quasimodo falls in love with Esmeralda and [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy does selfless things for her for the rest of the book]] until they [[spoiler: [[DownerEnding both die]].]]
** Frollo, on the other hand, also falls in love with Esmeralda, obsessing over her, stalking at her, [[spoiler: attempting to kidnap her, and finally inducing her death.]] Understandably, his "love" was unrequited.

** King Robert vocally mourns Lyanna Stark [[TheLostLenore long after her death]], but he never [[LovingAShadow really knew her]]. We don't really know much about how Lyanna felt, but it overall looks pretty unrequited.

** And Catelyn's sister Lysa long loved the above mentioned Petyr.

** King Robert vocally mourns Lyanna Stark [[TheLostLenore long after her death]], but he never [[LovingAShadow really knew her]].
** Robert's wife Cersei was in love with [[spoiler:Rhaegar Targaryen, whom Robert killed]], since she was a child. She always hated Robert for that, and the fact that her ArrangedMarriage to Robert is abusive and horribly unhappy for her doesn't help matters.
** Then there's Petyr Baelish, who has always claimed to love Catelyn Stark, [[spoiler:and he starts a massive war that tears the seven kingdoms apart, as his way of lashing out to the world when he lost her to Brandon Stark]].
** And Catelyn's sister Lysa, who long loved the above mentioned Petyr.

* Creator/HarryChapin's "Taxi" has Harry encounter Sue; the two knew each other from "a long time ago." Sue went to pursue a career in the theater while Harry tried to become a pilot; neither succeeded. Instead, Sue is acting happy inside her handsome home, while Harry is "flying" in his taxi.

** It's been implied that Albus Dumbledore never fully fell out of love with Gellert Grindelwald, even after the man more-or-less destroyed his family, and later became the worst Dark Wizard in history (at least until Voldemort showed up). While Dumbledore did oppose him, he avoided a personal confrontation until the body count became too high to ignore -- even then, his reasons for doing so were purely emotional, involving things from their past together. Then there's the fact that Dumbledore swore off romance after their friendship fell apart. [[spoiler:However, the biggest piece of evidence is when Harry suggests that the reason why Grindelwald refused to tell Voldemort the location of the Eleder Wand was to prevent him from breaking into Dumbledore's tomb, and Dumbledore is oddly comforted by that]].

* In ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' when Tenmyouji's backstory is revealed we learn that [[spoiler: he's actuallly Junpei, the protagonist of the [[VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors previous game]], who never got together with Akane and continued to seach for her for decades. He joined the Nonary Game willingly when Zero told him that he'd see Akane again.]] For over fourty years he never stopped loving her.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Characters tend to hold on to one love for their whole lives, even if their object of affection can't or won't ever feel the same. One obvious case is Jiraiya, who kept his unrequited feelings for Tsunade from when they were teenagers until when they were old and died right before she implied that she was going to give him a chance. Another is Obito, whose crush Rin never liked him back and died when they were children, [[spoiler:prompting him to dedicate his entire life to getting back at the world that took her from him, his love never wavering]]. Even [[spoiler:Karin]] never stops loving [[spoiler:Sasuke]], but just decides [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy to let him be happy with another]]. The ''only'' two cases of someone moving on from a crush to be with someone else are Ino, whose feelings for Sasuke were never serious anyway, and Naruto, whose one-sided crush on Sakura [[ShipSinking ended after Chapter 469]] and was later explained in ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'' to be [[LovingAShadow more of a product of his rivalry with Sasuke and how he just wanted to beat out Sasuke at something for once than any actual romantic feelings]]--which was implied back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/naruto/3/17 Chapter 3]].

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Characters tend to hold on to one love for their whole lives, even if their object of affection can't or won't ever feel the same. One obvious case is Jiraiya, who kept his unrequited feelings for Tsunade from when they were teenagers until when they were old and died right before she implied that she was going to give him a chance. Another is Obito, whose crush Rin never liked him back and died when they were children, [[spoiler:prompting him to dedicate his entire life to getting back at the world that took her from him, his love never wavering]]. Even [[spoiler:Karin]] never stops loving [[spoiler:Sasuke]], but just decides [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy to let him be happy with another]]. The only two cases of someone moving on from a crush to be with someone else are Ino, whose feelings for Sasuke were never serious anyway, and Naruto, whose one-sided crush on Sakura [[ShipSinking ended after Chapter 469]] and was later explained in ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'' to be [[LovingAShadow more of a product of his rivalry with Sasuke than any actual romantic feelings]]--which was implied back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/naruto/3/17 Chapter 3]].

* Nagi of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' may end up being this. Hayate has promised to always protect her, but hasn't shown much inclination of romantic affection for her. The UnwantedHarem hasn't ended though.

* ''Anime/FiveCentimetersPerSecond'' got backlash because the unrequited love ultimately did not last forever, with Creator/MakotoShinkai's intent to depict Takaki's maturation and his ability to move on, ending his obsessing over Akari.
* Nagi of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' may end up being this. Hayate has promised to always protect her, but hasn't shown much inclination of romantic affection for her. The UnwantedHarem hasn't ended though.
** Most of the girls in the show seem to be mixed between this and IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy, but Nagi's the only one of those to have gotten a [[ThePromise promise]] in the bargain.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Ross and Rachel's feelings only ever surface when they ''can't'' have each other. In the entire show they are together for ''one'' season, during which they fight unhappily and drive each other away. They spend the other nine seasons pining, sabotaging one another's new relationships, and getting jealous, but never actually reaching out to the other with clear, respectful communication.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Characters tend to hold on to one love for their whole lives, even if their object of affection can't or won't ever feel the same. One obvious case is Jiraiya, who kept his unrequited feelings for Tsunade from when they were teenagers until when they were old [[spoiler:and died right before she finally looked like she was going to give him a chance]]. Another is Obito, whose crush Rin never liked him back and died when they were children, [[spoiler:prompting him to dedicate his entire life to getting back at the world that took her from him, his love never wavering]]. Even [[spoiler:Karin]] never stops loving [[spoiler:Sasuke]], but just decides [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy to let him be happy with another]]. The only two cases of someone moving on from a crush to be with someone else are Ino, whose feelings for Sasuke were never serious anyway, and Naruto, whose one-sided crush on Sakura [[ShipSinking ended after Chapter 469]] and was later explained in ''[[Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie The Last]]'' to be [[LovingAShadow more of a product of his rivalry with Sasuke than any genuine romantic feelings]]--which was implied back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/naruto/3/17 Chapter 3]].

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Characters tend to hold on to one love for their whole lives, even if their object of affection can't or won't ever feel the same. One obvious case is Jiraiya, who kept his unrequited feelings for Tsunade from when they were teenagers until when they were old [[spoiler:and died right before she was finally looked like she was going to give him a chance]]. Another is Obito, whose crush Rin never liked him back and died when they were children, [[spoiler:prompting him to dedicate his entire life to getting back at the world that took her from him, his love never wavering]]. Even [[spoiler:Karin]] never stops loving [[spoiler:Sasuke]], but just decides [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy to let him be happy with another]]. The only two cases of someone moving on from a crush to be with someone else are Ino, whose feelings for Sasuke were never serious anyway, and Naruto, whose one-sided crush on Sakura [[ShipSinking ended after Chapter 469]] and was later explained in ''[[Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie The Last]]'' to be [[LovingAShadow more of a product of his rivalry with Sasuke than any genuine romantic feelings]]--which was implied back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/naruto/3/17 Chapter 3]].

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Characters tend to hold on to one love for their whole lives, even if their object of affection can't or won't ever feel the same. One obvious case is Jiraiya, who kept his unrequited feelings for Tsunade from when they were teenagers until when they were old [[spoiler:and died right before she was finally looked like she was going to give him a chance]]. Another is Obito, whose crush Rin never liked him back and died when they were children, [[spoiler:prompting him to dedicate his entire life to getting back at the world that took her from him, his love never wavering]]. Even [[spoiler:Karin]] never stops loving [[spoiler:Sasuke]], but just decides [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy to let him be happy with another]]. The only two cases of someone moving on from a crush to be with someone else are Ino, whose feelings for Sasuke were never serious anyway, and Naruto, whose one-sided crush on Sakura [[ShipSinking ended after Chapter 469]] and was later explained in ''[[Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie The Last]]'' to be [[LovingAShadow more of a product of his rivalry with Sasuke than any genuine romantic feelings]]--which was implied way back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/naruto/3/17 Chapter 3]].

* In ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'' it is stated that persocoms have a specific weakness to this. As [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Ridiculously human robots]] they have a combination of emotional sensitivity and perfect recall that makes them highly susceptible to continual, ongoing traumatization long after the original event has passed; they literally ''can't'' let it go. One of the main characters becomes so depressed over her unrequited love situation that she loses her will to live and lapses into an irretrievable vegetative state.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has a number of ''very'' {{egregious}} cases of this. As in, OmnicidalManiac levels of {{Egregious}}.

* ''Manga/LoveHina'': Even while they're [[spoiler: attending Keitaro's wedding to Naru, both Shinobu and Motoko remain in love with him]].
* ''Manga/AiYoriAoshi'': Even upon his marriage to Aoi, Mayu still hasn't given up on Kaoru and visits him once a month.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Characters tend to hold on to one love for their whole lives, even if their object of affection can't or won't ever feel the same. One obvious case is Jiraiya, who kept his unrequited feelings for Tsunade from when they were teenagers until when they were old [[spoiler:and died right before she was finally going to give him a chance]]. Another is Obito, whose crush Rin never liked him back and died when they were children, [[spoiler:prompting him to dedicate his entire life to getting back at the world that took her from him, his love never wavering]]. Even [[spoiler:Karin]] never stops loving [[spoiler:Sasuke]], but just decides [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy to let him be happy with another]]. The only two cases of someone moving on from a crush to be with someone else are Ino, whose feelings for Sasuke were never serious anyway, and Naruto, whose one-sided crush on Sakura [[ShipSinking ended after Chapter 469]] and was explained to be [[LovingAShadow more of a product of his rivalry with Sasuke than any genuine romantic feelings]]--which was implied way back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/naruto/3/17 Chapter 3]].

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Characters tend to hold on to one love for their whole lives, even if their object of affection can't or won't ever feel the same. One obvious case is Jiraiya, who kept his unrequited feelings for Tsunade from when they were teenagers until when they were old [[spoiler:and died right before she was finally going to give him a chance]]. Another is Obito, whose crush Rin never liked him back and died when they were children, [[spoiler:prompting him to dedicate his entire life to getting back at the world that took her from him, his love never wavering]]. Even [[spoiler:Karin]] never stops loving [[spoiler:Sasuke]], but just decides [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy to let him be happy with another]]. The only two cases of someone moving on from a crush to be with someone else are Ino, whose feelings for Sasuke were never serious anyway, and Naruto, whose one-sided crush on Sakura [[ShipSinking ended for good after Chapter 469]] and was explained to be [[LovingAShadow more of a product of his rivalry with Sasuke than any genuine romantic feelings]]--which was implied way back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/naruto/3/17 Chapter 3]].

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Characters tend to hold on to one love for their whole lives, even if their object of affection can't or won't ever feel the same. One obvious case is Jiraiya, who kept his unrequited feelings for Tsunade from when they were teenagers until when they were old [[spoiler:and died right before she was finally going to give him a chance]]. Another is Obito, whose crush Rin never liked him back and died when they were children, [[spoiler:prompting him to dedicate his entire life to getting back at the world that took her from him, his love never wavering]]. Even [[spoiler:Karin]] never stops loving [[spoiler:Sasuke]], but just decides [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy to let him be happy with another]]. The only two cases of someone moving on from a crush to be with someone else are Ino, whose feelings for Sasuke were never serious anyway, and Naruto, whose one-sided crush on Sakura [[ShipSinking ended for good after Chapter 469]] and was explained to be [[LovingAShadow more of a product of his rivalry with Sasuke than any genuine romantic feelings]]--which was actually implied way back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/93-3-17/naruto/chapter-3.html Chapter 3]].

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Characters tend to hold on to one love for their whole lives, even if their object of affection can't or won't ever feel the same. One obvious case is Jiraiya, who kept his unrequited feelings for Tsunade from when they were teenagers until when they were old [[spoiler:and died right before she was finally going to give him a chance]]. Another is Obito, whose crush Rin never liked him back and died when they were children, [[spoiler:prompting him to dedicate his entire life to getting back at the world that took her from him, his love never wavering]]. Even [[spoiler:Karin]] never stops loving [[spoiler:Sasuke]], but just decides [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy to let him be happy with another]]. The only two cases of someone moving on from a crush to be with someone else are Ino, whose feelings for Sasuke were never serious anyway, and Naruto, whose one-sided crush on Sakura [[ShipSinking ended for good after Chapter 469]] and was explained to be [[spoiler:[[LovingAShadow more of a product of his rivalry with Sasuke than any genuine romantic feelings]]--which was actually implied way back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/93-3-17/naruto/chapter-3.html Chapter 3]]]].