Line #43 Main/AGirlInEveryPort


1	->'''Elan:''' Wow! Thanks, Captain Scoundrél! I guess since you have no children, you're passing [your rapier] on to me instead?\
2	'''Julio:''' What, are you kidding? I have a son and/or daughter in every port on the continent, I'm just too lazy to figure out which one should get it.
3	-->-- ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''
4
5	A story device wherein an adventuring character, usually constantly on the move exploring new places, outrunning authorities, or being deployed in far-off lands, carries out several romantic affairs in each of the various places they stop to visit. The character could be a [[TheCasanova Casanova]], or simply trying and constantly failing to find a place to belong. Either way, every place on the map is marked with a romantic conquest, and the character is using the distance or vast separation between locations to give separate romantic attention to each lover, or to start a new life.
6
7	Often PlayedForLaughs where the character finds themself forced to return somewhere that one of their [[WomanScorned spurned]] or [[ClingyJealousGirl clingy]] lovers lives. Sometimes, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday they can't remember WHICH lover they had]] at this particular port, but go OhCrap once they remember who it was.
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9	SubTrope of ReallyGetsAround. Common in plots with MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow, AsianBabyMama, TheChiefsDaughter or a FarmersDaughter.
10
11	Can overlap with GirlOfTheWeek. Could be a form of {{Polyamory}} if the various loves are on board.
12
13	See also LivingADoubleLife and SecretOtherFamily. And see HaremGenre for when competing love interests live very close or under one roof.
14
15	----
16	!!Examples:
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18	[[foldercontrol]]
19
20	[[folder:Advertising]]
21	* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vm56_Fr0zI Le Male]]'': Implied in the ad for this fragrance by Jean Paul Gautier; a [[HelloSailor sailor]] is shown getting up from a woman’s bed, redressing, and leaving without a word, while she groggily sniffs his pillow to try and remember his scent.
22	[[/folder]]
23
24	[[folder:Comic Books]]
25	* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'': After Herc's "death" at the end of the eponymous comic, one of his lovers, Namora, and her friend, Venus, travel to various homes and businesses that Hercules owned. At each place, they found a woman living there who was one of Herc's ''many'' girlfriends that he would visit from time to time. All of them are utterly heartbroken when they learn that he's died.
26	* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': Hulk has had many different lovers and wives, and he's fathered children with some of them. The main reason why he's had so many is Bruce Banner's constant need to stay on the run and find a place where he and the Hulk won't cause trouble or hurt anyone, but he still cannot avoid falling in love with a local. Also, a lot of Hulk's separate personalities consider themselves entirely different people, often disagreeing on which woman they consider their OneTrueLove (if any). Gray Hulk, for instance, moved to Las Vegas and worked as a pimp and a bouncer, acquiring a harem of women in the process. On another occasion, Savage Hulk entered the sub-atomic kingdom K'ai and, after magically having the Bruce Banner personality become dominant in Hulk's mind, fell in love with princess Jarella, The Green Scar was forced off-world by ComicBook/TheIlluminati and found a happy life on the planet Sakaar, along with his new wife, Caiera. On yet ''another'' occasion, an otherworldly deity named Umar took an enraged Hulk back to her dimension to make him her consort. Feeling there was nothing left for him back on Earth, Hulk allowed her to, although his ex-wife, Betty Ross, resented it and eventually followed Hulk to that world.
27	* ''ComicBook/JimmysBastards'': Exaggerated with Jimmy Regent, a Film/JamesBond parody who seems to have ''literally'' had a GirlOfTheWeek, leading to his having hundreds of, well, bastard children (starting at 15), many of whom are out for revenge for his being a DisappearedDad.
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Fan Works]]
31	* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Invoked by Blaze when he says he has sweethearts scattered throughout Los Angeles in "The Cameo."
32	* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': The Jackal (a tiefling sky pirate) mentions having multiple wives in different ports across the continent, and insists they’re all aware and consenting to the situation when Haara initially interprets this as her simply being a serial womanizer.
33	* The infamous pirate Revy Memito in ''Roleplay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'' had numerous lovers in numerous ports throughout the world. Ever, PEFE!Every, All, Brie, Amanita, and Revy the Second are all descended from his paramours, Amanita in particular from a Spectran servant Revy met sometime during the Conquest Arc.
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
37	* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'': [[InsistentTerminology Captain]] Jack Sparrow goes for a more condensed version with lots of girls...in the same port. He returns to Tortuga only to immediately receive an BitchSlap from one of his spurned exes (the reason is explained in ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTalesOfTheCodeWedlocked Tales of the Code: Wedlocked]]''). He begrudgingly admits, "I deserved that". A few are to follow.
38	* ''Pride of the Yankees'': Ellie thinks Lou must have a girl in every town because he’s a traveling baseball player, but he quickly puts the idea to rest.
39	* ''Film/RomasantaTheWerewolfHunt'': Romasanta is a travelling vendor who has a lover in many of the towns along his route.
40	* ''Film/{{Troy}}'': Mentioned in context only. After learning that his brother Paris has smuggled Helen of Sparta onto their ship and hearing his claim that he loves her, Hector tears Paris a new one about the political consequences of his actions, and writes off his feelings as just the latest step in a cycle.
41	-->--'''Hector''': “It’s all a game to you, isn’t it?! You roam from town to town, bedding merchant’s wives and temple mates, and you think you know something about love?!”
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Literature]]
45	* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/ImInMarsportWithoutHilda": [[CharacterNarrator Max is telling a story]] about when he was in Marsport without his wife, but struggled with an urgent case preventing him from spending time with an old girlfriend.
46	* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' mentions playing around a lot in his early career. He eventually stopped, however. Partly because it kept putting him in danger (e.g. by dating a girl who turned out to be chaos cultist, or a stroppy spoilt heiress) and partly because he met the love of his life, Amberly (and since she's [[StateSec an inquisitor]], cheating would ''definitely'' put him in danger).
47	* ''Farewell'', a famous poem by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, is about sailors that keep relationships like this, kissing girls and then leaving, and doing it again until their ships sunk and they die.
48	* ''Literature/TheScumVillainsSelfSavingSystemRenZhaFanpaiZijiuXitong'': Much of the stallion novel ''Proud Immortal Demon Way'' revolves around Luo Binghe seducing women wherever he goes, usually adding them to his harem afterwards.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
52	* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}''.
53	** Oliver Queen used to be like this before he became the Series/{{Arrow}}, and when he visits Gotham in ''Series/Elseworlds2018'' he finds himself in the embarrassing position of contacting Vesper Fairchild for information when he can't remember if he had sex with her or not. Turns out she had, and hangs up on him.
54	** In ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''. Sara Lance does this except with TimeTravel, so she has a girl in every era of history. That's often literally, as she's bisexual.
55	* Yara Greyjoy from ''Series/GameOfThrones'' has boys and ''girls'' in every port, apparently.
56	* ''Series/MoneyHeist'': Bogota shows Denver pictures of his many children. Each is from a different mother, and each lives in a different country.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Music]]
60	* The song "Area Codes" by Music/{{Ludacris}} has the rapper bragging about this on a smaller scale. The chorus goes "I got hos/In different area codes", signifying that he's got a lot of girlfriends spread all across a city.
61	* In the song "I Got a Girl" by Music/LouBega, the singer describes himself as an extremely promiscuous man who has a girlfriend wherever he travels around the world. Taken further with the following lines:
62	-->''I gotta girl on the Moon, I gotta girl on Mars\
63	I even gotta girl that likes to dance in the stars''
64	* "Travelin' Man", a hit for Music/RickyNelson in 1961, is about this. He's left behind lovers in Mexico, Alaska, Germany, Hong Kong, and Hawaii, at least.
65	* Jairo's song ''La Balada de ComicBook/CortoMaltese'' states that the eponymous AntiHero is into this, and focuses on a FemmeFatale he meets in Argentina. They carry on a passionate affair, but Corto leaves her to pursue adventures in the rest of South America. [[spoiler: Corto never learns that the woman is pregnant with his son, however, [[DownerEnding and at the end of the song their little son is said to go every day to the local harbour, hoping his father will show up]].]]
66	* Referenced and inverted in the Sailor's Dream song "Twiddles":
67	--> ''"Oh you hear a lot of stories 'bout the sailors and their sport\
68	About how every sailor has a girl in every port\
69	But if you added two and two, you'd figure out right quick\
70	It's just because the girls all have a lad on every ship!"''
71	* Dion and the Belmonts' "The Wanderer" is about a noncommittal man who roams around different towns and meets many women.
72	* The Leslie Fish / Vic Tyler [[FilkSong]] "Spaceman's Dilemma" is a humorous take on this — a spacer in a bar is drowning his sorrows over having to choose which of seven women (including a gypsy trader, a barbarian queen, and a priestess whose cult chose him as consort) to settle down with, and which ones to anger. Or maybe it's just boasting in a bar.
73	[[/folder]]
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75	[[folder:Video Games]]
76	* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'': One quest has Geralt running around Novigrad trying to find his friend Dandelion by talking to his various ladyfriends. The DLC "Blood and Wine" has him reunited with Duchess Anna Henrietta in the far-South country of Toussaint, who denies [[{{Tsundere}} caring if Dandelion has spoken of her]]. The novels contain even more examples of Dandelion's sexual exploits, in each corner of the map.
77	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
78	** ''Videogame/MassEffect2'': On Illium, Shepard can flirt with the asari Shiala and a male Shepard can get a kiss from Gianna Parasini, with both showing interest in pursuing it further someday. On the ''Normandy-2'', he/she can romance one of several crewmates while cheating on any romantic partner chosen in the first game.
79	** ''Videogame/MassEffectAndromeda'': Ryder (both male and female) can engage in this trope by having a full romantic LoveInterest on the ''[[CoolStarship Tempest]]'', as well as at least two other regular lovers on a few hub worlds. If s/he does, the non-crew lover acknowledges that they are TheMistress in this relationship but don't mind, because they love even the little bit of attention Ryder gives them, and will offer him/her a home with them for as long as they want it.
80	* ''VideoGame/LufiaAndTheFortressOfDoom'': The party can progressively talk to up to three women throughout the world with sailor boyfriends. Lufia gets vocally suspicious that it's the same sailor after the second one, and the third one is crying after finding out she's not the only one.
81	* ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'':
82	** In ''VideoGame/FableI'', the Hero of Oakvale can have a wife [[GayOption or husband]] in each of Albion's five towns. An in-universe book describes a polygamist's wives discovering his charade and subjecting their husband to a visit from [[NoodleIncident the Mythical Castrating Mountain Monkey]], but the Hero is able to manage his separate households without such misfortune.
83	** This can occur in ''VideoGame/FableII'', if the player is a polygamist and marries more than one spouse, they'd better do it in a different town, or very separate parts in the same town. If either spouse discovers the other, they will be heartbroken and lead to a divorce.
84	* This is quite possible to do mechanically in ''VideoGame/UnchartedWatersNewHorizons'': Any PlayerCharacter except Catalina (the only female captain among the six) can woo any of the waitresses he meets in major ports around the world with stories of his exploits, jewelry, or treasures until she falls in love with him, and there is no limit on how many girls can fall for him.
85	* In ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates'', every port city in the Caribbean has a Governor's daughter whom the player character can court. Although he can only marry one, he can romance any number of them simultaneously [[MoreFriendsMoreBenefits for their quest rewards]], even as a married man.
86	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto:'' Some protagonists have the ability to acquire multiple girlfriends throughout that game's city or state, but in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', this was a real challenge, because each girl required separate attention to keep up their RelationshipValues, which meant putting missions or other activities constantly on hold while Niko raced from girlfriend to girlfriend, trying to keep each one happy.
87	* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'': Possible to achieve, if the player romances all romanceable characters, then sends them back to their normal base of operations or permanently settles them at different towns across the Commonwealth.
88	* Inverted in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' with Mirabelle Monet, the infamous proprietress of the Fo'c's'le Boarding House in Anvil, where the beds are reserved for seamen. Her NPCScheduling generally has her sleep with at least two sailors every night.
89	* In seemingly every Huana village in ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire'', there's ''someone'' (man or woman) who has slept with Tekēhu. He's even had a fling with a member of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy violently]] [[HiddenElfVillage isolationist]] Wahaki. Few are happy to see the irresponsible carouser again.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Web Comics]]
93	* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', the swashbuckling CoolAirship captain Julio Scoundrél has a long-running fan club of "Julioteers" and "a son and/or daughter in every port on the continent", so he [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0392.html settles]] for gifting prized possessions to his protégé Elan rather than sort out which one is entitled to them.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Western Animation]]
97	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In ''Peter’s Got Woods'', Quagmire speculates that since he’s slept with women all over the world, he could have children who are in their 20’s (this is confirmed immediately by a cutaway to an adult son of his in Madrid).
98	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E14NewKidsOnTheBlecch "New Kids on the Blecch"]], Bart is recruited - along with Milhouse, Nelson, and Ralph - to be part of a new boy band. Lisa discovers that the whole project is actually a covert operation to spread subliminal messages for Navy recruitment, as hinted in the opening lyric for one of the band’s songs.
99	-->--"I’ve had a girl in every port, from here to Barcelona."
100	-->--"But now I’m back in Springfield, and girl, I’m gonna phone ya!"
101	[[/folder]]

Context Main / AGirlInEveryPort