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3%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Take care to put your example in its proper place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings!
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6
7->''But there's a danger in loving somebody too much\
8And it's sad when you know it's your heart you can't trust\
9There's a reason why people don't stay where they are\
10Baby sometimes love just ain't enough.''
11-->-- '''Patty Smyth [[note]]No, not Music/PattiSmith[[/note]] and Don Henley''', "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough"
12
13Usually, the hero will go to great lengths to protect his LoveInterest from the dangers involved in what he does, from [[TheMasquerade keeping secrets from her]] to [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies breaking up with her for her own good]]. Sometimes, however, the hero will choose to be honest and tell her everything, trusting her to make her own decisions about what's best for her. Usually when that happens, the love interest will bravely and loyally stay by the hero's side.
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15But sometimes, the love interest will decide the hero was right: she really can't handle it.
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17Maybe all that stuff about [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]], [[WickedWitch witches]], and [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]] is just a little too scary. Maybe she's sick of being kidnapped by the villains. Maybe the stress of the long nights waiting for the hero to come home from his missions is just too much. Whatever the reason, loving the hero just isn't enough to overcome everything that comes with being part of his life. She's out of there.
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19This is not necessarily a very "romantic" trope, but in some situations, it can add a tremendous note of [[HardTruthAesop refreshing, if uncomfortable honesty]]. Can overlap with IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy if the hero graciously sends her off to another life (and another love) rather than beg her to stay in a situation she's not suited for.
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21The counterpart to ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies. A subversion of ThePowerOfLove. See also TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife, AllLoveIsUnrequited and DifferingPrioritiesBreakUp. A related trope is GriefInducedSplit. Contrast LoveTranscendsSpacetime and YouAreWorthHell.
22----
23!!Examples:
24[[index]]
25* LoveCannotOvercome/ComicBooks
26* LoveCannotOvercome/FanWorks
27* [[LoveCannotOvercome/LiveActionFilms Films - Live-Action]]
28* LoveCannotOvercome/{{Literature}}
29* LoveCannotOvercome/LiveActionTV
30* LoveCannotOvercome/VideoGames
31[[/index]]
32
33[[foldercontrol]]
34
35[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
36* Sailor V and Kaitou Ace in ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'' are mutually attracted to and love each other, but can never be together [[spoiler:because they turn out to be on opposite sides of the conflict. Ace, or rather Danburite, is unable to reconcile his orders to defeat her with his desire to win her heart, and Sailor V knows she will ultimately choose her duty to Princess Serenity and defeating the Dark Kingdom over any personal feeling she has. She ends up killing Danburite]].
37* ''Manga/MeAndMyGangsterNeighbour'': Ayako and Aoi are obviously attracted to one another, but [[spoiler:when it is revealed that Aoi is a gangster, Ayako tells him that she'll be keeping her distance as long as he remain in that profession.]]
38[[/folder]]
39
40[[folder:Music]]
41* The song "Life Waster" by Creator/CorpseHusband has two young lovers from very different backgrounds meeting and bonding over their various physical and psychological traumas, only to have their differences and personal issues drive them apart. Worse yet, early in the song it seemed like maybe [[AmicableExes they managed to part ways on good terms]], but as later verses show, any remaining positive feelings have apparently given way to anger and bitterness.
42* Music/TearsForFears: The song "Swords and Knives" features the verse "And it's sad love's not enough to make things better".
43* The Music/ImagineDragons song "Polaroid" is seemingly about a man who considers himself a complete failure and compares himself to a seemingly perfect lover, but that they can't fix him - nothing can, he has always been this way - and their love can't fill the fundamental void in him either.
44[[/folder]]
45
46[[folder:Theatre]]
47* ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'': Before their wedding Franz Joseph warns Elisabeth that she won't find it easy to be empress. She thinks she can cope with it, then immediately after the wedding she discovers she has to deal with Death [[StalkerWithACrush stalking her]], a mother-in-law from hell, and the pressures of life in the Austrian court. Things go from bad to worse for her from then on, including Franz Joseph cheating and two of their children dying. Finally Elisabeth breaks up with Franz Joseph for good in "Boote in der Nacht". Her first line in the song translates as (roughly) "Love can do much, but sometimes love's not enough".
48* The first act of ''Theatre/SundayInTheParkWithGeorge''. Although Creator/GeorgeSeurat loves his adoring mistress Dot very much, he is [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation too occupied]] with his [[Art/ASundayAfternoonOnTheIslandOfLaGrandeJatte masterpiece]] painting to pay attention to her. She eventually leaves him [[spoiler: with his baby daughter]] for a more caring partner. [[spoiler: Before she leaves, she visits him at the park and fails to tempt him to see his infant daughter. George simply explains to her that the baby will have an attentive father now.]]
49[[/folder]]
50
51[[folder:Webcomics]]
52* ''Webcomic/Sorcery101'': Melanie enjoys [[MuggleMageRomance dating Danny]], but after she's targeted by his superpowered enemies for associating with him, she bluntly tells him he's not worth it and breaks up.
53[[/folder]]
54
55[[folder:Western Animation]]
56* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Similar to the comics example above, Two-Face's fiancée, [[MeaningfulName Grace]], never really gives up on him, either.
57** Clayface also had a lover who tried to restore him to human form... but after he crosses the line and ''murders his own daughter'', she's never seen again and it's implied she gave up on him just as thoroughly as Batman.
58* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', during a conversation about Terry's girlfriend, an elderly Bruce Wayne admits that he had relationships with a lot of women over the years, including known superheroes like Wonder Woman all the way down to Barbara Gordon during her days as Batgirl, before she moved on to follow in her father's footsteps as a police officer. He explains that all the relationships ended because the women gave up on him after realizing he would never give up being Batman and settle down with them. He tells Terry this now that he is Batman as a warning about his own relationship.
59* Maria Rivera from ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRivera'' was unable to see her husband Rodolfo/White Pantera constantly in mortal danger... this might seem a little strange considering that [[spoiler:she herself used to be a superheroine herself, Plata Peligrosa and not exactly of the defensive style on top of that. However, Maria gave up being Plata Peligrosa because the glove she used would often put her through an uncontrollable PowerHigh. Fearing for the safety of those around her, Maria quit because the damages outweighed the benefits]]. However, according to WordOfGod they remarried once Rodolfo finally retired from heroing.
60* In ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Lois Lane breaks up with Bruce Wayne for essentially the same reason Silver St. Cloud did in the comics. Though -- as is seen in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' -- she doesn't have the same issues in dating Clark/Superman (or has gotten over them).
61[[/folder]]

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