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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tristan_and_isolde_5663.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:300:''Tristan and Isolde'' by John Duncan (1912)]]
3
4->''"Why wouldn't a noble spirit suffer one evil for a thousand goods, one hardship for many joys? Those who have never experienced pain for love's sake have also never experienced love's joys. Joy and pain have always been inseparable in love. It takes both to win honor and praise, without them all is lost."''
5-->-- '''Gottfried von Strassburg''', Prologue from ''Tristan and Isolde''
6
7''Tristan and Iseult'' (their names have variations, like Tristram and Isolde) is a medieval ChivalricRomance of two StarCrossedLovers: Tristan, a Cornish knight and minstrel; and Isolde, an Irish princess. Tristan was tasked to escort Isolde to marry his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall. Along the journey, however, they both drink a LovePotion, which starts an illicit romance, with very tragic results.
8
9The story has been retold by many different authors, but versions based on the 13th century Prose ''Tristan'' merge it with Myth/ArthurianLegend. The version as told by Gottfried von Strassburg became the basis of an [[Theatre/TristanUndIsoldeWagner opera]] by Music/RichardWagner.
10
11%%Most of these tropes are going to be drawn from the version as told by Gottfried von Strassburg and completed by Ulrich von Türheim.
12----
13!!''Tristan and Iseult'' provides examples of:
14* AdaptationalVillainy: King Mark is hit hard with this in later adaptations of the story to the point he kills Tristan himself. This characterization was meant to contrast him with [[TheGoodKing King Arthur]].
15* AfterActionHealingDrama: Tristan is bedridden from Morholt's [[PoisonedWeapons poisoned spear]], and nobody in the court can figure out an antidote.
16* ArrangedMarriage: A political marriage is arranged for a young Irish princess Iseult and an old Cornish king Mark.
17* BadassBoast: When Tristan goes to face Morholt on an island, he lets his boat float off and says "one of us only will go hence alive, one boat will serve".
18* BedTrick: Brangaine switches places with Isolde in King Mark's bed to hide the fact that her mistress is no longer a virgin.
19* ChasteSeparatingSword: Iseult is married to King Mark, but she's run away with her StarCrossedLover Tristan into the Forest of Morrois. They are suspected -- rightfully -- of an affair, and they ''have'' been having sex. But when they're about to go to sleep and there's a chance they may be found during the night, Tristan {{Invoke|dTrope}}s this: He lays his sword between them so they ''appear'' chaste.
20-->'''King Mark:''' For all the time they have lived together in this wood, these two lovers, yet is the sword here between them, and throughout Christendom men know that sign. Therefore I will not slay, for that would be treason and wrong.
21* CourtlyLove: The story has the characteristics of the genre, such as Tristan doing valorous deeds to win the affections of Iseult, an adulterous affair with Iseult when she is married to Mark, love being a central theme...
22* DeathByDespair: Iseult doesn't live long past Tristan's death.
23* DidntThinkThisThrough: One version has Mark and Tristan agree to let King Arthur judge their case ([[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Mark]] knowing that Tristan only ran off with Iseult because he accidentally drank a LovePotion meant for her) and abide by his decision. Arthur's solution is to let each man have her part of the year, one when the trees have green leaves (i.e. spring and summer) and the other in fall and winter. Mark goes first and chooses the latter... only for Iseult to scream with joy because pines have green leaves all year, meaning she'll stay with Tristan all year. Bound by the terms of the judgement, Mark lets them go.
24* ForegoneConclusion: Gottfried von Strassburg's retelling of the story states outright that Tristan and Iseult the Fair will die in the end.
25* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: In the early versions, the title characters were treated sympathetically (somewhat justified since they accidentally drank a LovePotion), but so was the cuckolded King Mark. Later writers, apparently displeased with this moral ambiguity, [[AdaptationalVillainy turned Mark]] into a DirtyCoward who rapes and murders his own niece, so now it's okay that Iseult is sleeping with his nephew.[[note]]To be fair, since the story was thoroughly integrated into Myth/ArthurianLegend by this point, it can be argued that this change was also to make him a {{Foil}} for Arthur, who took his role as the sympathetic cuckold to Lancelot/Guinevere.[[/note]] [[CharacterRerailment Modern retellings sometimes go back to the nicer King Mark]].
26* GuileHero: Tristan, though he's very good with a sword. Isolde as well, for engineering one massive deception involving swearing under oath and ''holy relics''.
27* HeroWorshipper: Fairly standard version given to Tristan by his squire Curvenal.
28* KickTheDog: Tristan manages to convince a neighboring king to part with a prized "fey dog" whose fur changed color and wore a magic bell. The net effect is to act as a CareBearStare that can cheer up anyone, which was for the king his sole comfort. So Tristan gives it to Iseult to help console her during his absences. The little dog comforts her... and she kills it, because she prefers to be in anguish over his absence than have a moment's comfort.
29** Note that in some versions it's just the chime of the bell that will bring one happiness--Iseult throws the bell into the sea for the above-mentioned reason but keeps the dog as a reminder of her beloved.
30** Mark also gets a rather literal one: after Tristan and Iseult have run off together, he tries to hang Tristan's dog.
31* TheLancer: Dinadan often acts as this for Tristan.
32* LoopholeAbuse: One version has Myth/KingArthur decide Iseult will be with Tristan when the trees bear leaves and with Mark when they don't (i.e. winter). Iseult then joyfully remembers the existence of evergreens.
33* LoveBeforeFirstSight: Played with. King Mark insists on marrying the girl who left a single blonde hair on the edge of his window except that the only reason he's thinking about marriage at all is that the barons want him to be, so he decides to choose someone impossible. But his nephew Tristan guesses that the girl must be the blonde Iseult, and he brings her to the king.
34* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Tristan goes mad when he thinks Iseult is cheating on him with his [[BestFriendsInLaw friend]] Kahedrin.
35* LoveHurts: Love and the pains that come with it is a central theme this story.
36* LovePotion: One is prepared for Iseult to make her ArrangedMarriage to Mark work out. Tristan and Iseult end up drinking that potion, leading to total disaster.
37* LoveTriangle: Fairly standard--Tristan, Iseult, his uncle.
38** Although, include secondary characters in amorous pursuit of one or the other eponymous characters such as [[spoiler:Iseult White Hands, Palomides, Bellise, a Steward, Karhedins]], and you have yourself a LoveDodecahedron.
39* MalMariee: Young and beautiful Irish princess Iseult is engaged to an old Cornish king Mark. LovePotion is prepared for Iseult and Mark to make their ArrangedMarriage work. Tristan, King Mark's young nephew, drinks it with Iseult by mistake. They fall madly in love and sleep together, and they continue to commit adultery after Iseult and Mark's wedding.
40* MatchmakerCrush: Hearing of Iseult's revulsion for King Mark of Cornwall, Tristan acquires a love potion with the best intentions he intends to use on her to make her fall in love with Mark. But she deftly ensures Tristan drinks it so he falls in love with her.
41* MeaningfulName: Tristan's name is explained in-story as derived from the French "triste", meaning "sad" or "sorrowful". In reality, it's derived from the Pictish name "Drystan" (Latinized "Drustanus"), meaning "tumult", but Tristan's name is meaningful either way.
42* MosesInTheBulrushes: Tristan, poisoned during his [[PoisonedWeapons duel against Morholt]], is sent on a craft without oars or sail in hopes of happening onto someone who can cure him; said person happens to be Iseult, who turns out to be Morholt's niece.
43* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:In some versions of the story, like Ulrich von Türheim's completion of Gottfried von Strassburg's version, King Mark learns that Tristan and Iseult's love for one another came from drinking the love potion. He realises that he went after Tristan through no fault of his own and comes to regret his actions]].
44* OhCrap: Brangane, Iseult's lady-in-waiting, has this reaction when she sees Tristan and Iseult drinking the love potion, and both of them think they are drinking wine.
45* OneSteveLimit: There are three women named Iseult: Iseult, queen of Ireland; Iseult the Fair, the daughter of the queen; and Iseult of the White Hands, sister of Kahedrin.
46* PoisonedWeapons: In some versions, Tristan is poisoned by the Irish knight Morholt's spear (but wins the duel), and [[MosesInTheBulrushes sent on a craft without oars or sail]] as a last-ditch effort. He lands in Ireland, where Morholt's niece Isolde cures him, not knowing ''he'' was Morholt's killer.
47* {{Portmanteau}}: Iseult's brother Alcardo renames himself Lantris after the two greatest knights in the world, Tristan and Lancelot.
48* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Tristan and Isolde are guilty of horrible crimes by Medieval standards--sleeping with the king's wife is a blatant case of treason. Yet it is the barons of king Mark, who correctly suspects the adultery, whom the narrator refers to as "traitors"--all because they are loyal to their king and try to catch the protagonists for a crime they did and continue to do. Also, then the "traitors" demand that Isolde go through an ordeal to prove her innocence she avoids lying by a clever technicality (ExactWords) and God himself covers for her by miraculously letting her hold red-hot iron without hurting her hands.
49* SexlessMarriage: Tristan's marriage to Iseult of the White Hands amounts to this essentially, not helped by him being preoccupied with Iseult the Fair the entire time. Iseult of the White Hands is not happy about his unwillingness to consummate their marriage. Later, she was riding her horse when it accidentally stepped into a puddle, splashing water into her robes and up to her groin. She then remarks how even that water is bolder than Tristan is because it touched her there while Tristan did not.
50* StandardHeroReward: The King of Ireland offers his daughter, Iseult, in marriage to whoever saves his kingdom from a dragon. Tristan slays the dragon, but unusually, he does so not to win the princess for himself but for his uncle King Mark. Only after winning her hand and bringing her back to his uncle does Tristan fall for Iseult, and she for him, and [[StarCrossedLovers tragedy ensues]].
51%%* StarCrossedLovers: The eponymous couple.
52* SueDonym: When Tristan first introduces himself to Queen Iseult and Iseult the Fair, he uses the name "Tantris". They do not take it well when they find out who he really is.
53* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:In many versions, a hazel tree springs from Tristan's grave and a honeysuckle twines around it from Iseult's grave. Aww. (In some versions, it's a briar and a rose--a trope of its own which echoes down through folksongs to the present day.)]]
54* TragicMistake: Tristan and Iseult drink the love potion, thinking it is wine. It gets worse from there.
55* TreacherousAdvisor: The three nobles who are jealous of Tristan.
56* WithFriendsLikeThese: While Tristan has a lot of friends, he is also prone to spectacular fallings out with them, usually when they develop crushes on Iseult (Even Lancelot does this at one point). The only friend he seems to be able to stay friends with is Gorvenal.
57* YouKilledMyFather: When Iseult the Fair figures out that "Tantris" is actually Tristan, the same man who killed her uncle Morholt, she tries to get her revenge on him by killing him in his bath.

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