->'''Crow:''' ''[as the Queen]'' I'm going to be your love interest whether you like it or not.
-->-- ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'', "Colossus and the Headhunters"

What happens when the RedStringOfFate and TokenRomance are done especially poorly? Essentially, you get StrangledByTheRedString. Where the main character, who was once single, is implausibly thrown into a relationship that's forced down the audience's throat. LoveAtFirstSight taken to a fictional extreme. These two people are always somehow making out or getting it on, even if they only knew each other for a few minutes before they started getting busy. Even worse is when they have been in the same group for a long time and [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight have mostly ignored each other.]] A clear violation of the [[{{Ptitleixk37p06}} "Show, Don't Tell"]] rule.

And they just simply ''have'' to announce their love to the whole world. Oh, and suddenly [[ShillingTheWesley all of the other characters]] are telling us how [[InformedAbility these two belong to each other.]]

But don't expect them to be able to share any interests, or even be able to have a conversation about anything but their [[SickeninglySweethearts schmoopy love]]. The audience is supposed to be happy for them, but usually they'll be more disgusted than anything.

Sometimes this is just the result of a story written without skill, but this is becoming more and more standard in many series nowadays, where you have {{Fanon}}-savvy authors that feel that if they don't [[WordOfGod officially]] "pair up" characters, someone else will. ([[{{Shipping}} They're right]], but it still happens [[DieForOurShip even if they do]].)

Often done to prove to the audience said character is [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday not gay]]. Also a leading cause of DieForOurShip. Sometimes this is an awkward attempt to lure a female audience by adding {{soap opera}}-ish tactics.

Often, the writers have to resort to CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds because the relationship can't compete with other possibilities.

See also OfficialCouple, LastMinuteHookup, and RomanticPlotTumor. May be caused by TheDulcineaEffect. Compare DerailingLoveInterests. For when the build-up takes place before the series, see NewOldFlame.

YourMileageMayVary on the following.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime]]
* RumikoTakahashi, author of ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'', ''{{Inuyasha}}'', and ''UruseiYatsura'', is especially guilty of introducing characters [[ThePaolo just to pair up with other characters]], then forgetting about them. Usually, they make a token appearance and then are never heard from again, or perhaps two or three times at best. Her justifications have driven away many former fans; she has stated on multiple occasions that she only creates some characters to attempt to [[ShipSinking deter fans from inventing pairings she didn't intend]].
** ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]''... first of all, there's Akari Unryu; apparently, the demand for Ryoga to get a happy ending led to the creation of this girl, who is so perfect for Ryoga, and shows up so few times in her subsequent appearances that she has been derided as a [[CanonSue canon]] [[RelationshipSue relationship sue]]. Mousse got some major attempts at redeeming his character, which can actually come off as rather jarring due to the fact he spent the early series trying to kill Ranma; and once boasted along the lines that he would gladly break any rules and forsake any honor to get Shampoo, though Shampoo never changed her opinion of him- while she did occasionally show him some "soft" moments, she spent most of the series outright abusing him and, on one occasion, was perfectly willing to go and play videogames while abandoning him to what she believed would be certain death at the hands of a life-sapping demon. Ukyo got an (attempted) and very literal LastMinuteHookup in the form of an effeminate transvestite ninja master, who appeared less than Akari did.
** UruseiYatsura is a case where this might actually be the ''happy ending''; initially, Shinobu, the {{Tsundere}} with SuperStrength, seems to be the UnluckyChildhoodFriend, though she legitimately falls out of love with Ataru Moroboshi due to recognizing that he is an apparently irredeemable LoveableSexManiac... her next choice of crushes? HandsomeLech and RoyalBrat Shuutaro Mendo, who's not only just as bad as Ataru in terms of lustfulness, but is also chasing after CuteMonsterGirl Lum. Meanwhile, she's being pursued by the {{Gonk}}iest character in the series, a hulking, repulsive moron who repeatedly tries to ambush her. Finally, she earns the attention of Inaba, a shy and clumsy, but sweet, innocent and genuinely romantic character, whom she grows quite fond of. And then he only shows up in about one story...
** To some, Sango and Miroku suddenly hooking up in InuYasha can come off like this. The most cynical interpretations make claims along the lines of the author realising that here is another woman (and a legitimately strong, capable one who lacks the negative baggage of Kagome) in the party, so she had better couple her with someone else before fans start protesting that they'd prefer Sango and Inuyasha to be the OfficialCouple.
* Subaru, a character that appeared in two {{filler}} episodes of ''MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', was introduced as a one-off love interest for Caren -- possibly in retaliation to the piles of {{Twincest}} {{doujinshi}} featuring her and Noel, but you never know, because ''Pichi Pichi Pitch'' filler made no sense. Not only did Caren lose her BrokenBird personality for this episode, she became a chipper comic relief character ''for the rest of the season'', even after he was gone. Note to writers: ''never'' apply this trope to someone that's OutOfFocus.
* Usagi and Mamoru from ''SailorMoon'', [[AdaptationDecay specifically the animated adaptation]]. During one of {{The Movie}}s, Usagi is slightly depressed that she has no idea what Mamoru is like, can't have a conversation with him, and doesn't even understand his interests. This was originally lampshaded quite well in early appearances, where it was pointed out he was a [[DefrostingIceQueen cold fish]] with a mysterious past suffering from memory loss on top of being much older than Usagi. Their later failures to really interact with each other may have to do with the television writers not finding him very interesting, aside from a character for her to emote at -- which is really his [[ShallowLoveInterest fundamental purpose]], after all. Additional LampshadeHanging occurs when in the same movie, Usagi decides not to trouble herself about it, as it's [[WallBanger being unnecessarily pushy]].
** The manga, on the other hand, made their relationship the center of the story and kept Mamoru as a major character throughout the series. They were also both teenagers when the manga started (one in middle school, one starting high school), thus rendering the age difference issue moot. This probably has to do with the manga following a more shojo formula and the anime following an action show formula.
** It also has something to do with the influence of Kunihiko Ikuhara (''RevolutionaryGirlUtena'') who directed a large portion of the anime until ''[=SuperS=]''. He's pretty much stated that [[YuriFanboy two women are the ideal relationship]], and some argue it was his influence that led to the creation of Haruka and Michiru. Of course, it seems that by the time the anime ended nobody was really listening to Naoko Takeuchi anymore - she was positively against the Starlights being men in their civilian forms and Seiya's infatuation with Usagi was seemingly based on ''one line'' in the manga.
* In ''GundamSEEDDestiny'', Shinn and Lunamaria get together [[spoiler:''right after'' he has apparently ''killed'' her sister and her first love interest]]! Up until that point, they had a nice TheStraightWillAndGrace dynamic. It can be argued that Lunamaria was suffering of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and neither she nor Shinn were thinking straight (and both believed at the time that [[spoiler:Lunamaria's sister and previous love interest were traitors; Luna probably would've killed them herself if the opportunity had present itself]]), but...even their ''fans'' dislike how they hooked up.
* Around the time ''[[DigimonAdventure02 Digimon Adventure 02]]'' came out, this editor was quite partial to the Sora/Yamato (Matt) pairing, since he thought the personalities of the two of them meshed quite well together... but he wasn't expecting anything romantic to really happen. Imagine his surprise when they actually got together. What's the catch here? The catch is that, up until the (in)famous Christmas episode, Sora and Yamato didn't really have much of a connection... or even spoke much to each other, for that matter. (Not to mention the fact that this editor always felt like Sora's personality was randomly changed.) The hook-up just... happened, without a reasonable explanation.
**Worsening the matter was the fact that ''most'' logical evidence from the first season (and ''especially'' TheMovie, which had an ''entire fricking SlapSlapKiss subplot dedicated to the idea'') was pushing Taichi and Sora together (Taiora). Taichi's affection for Sora was then confirmed in the episode in which she got together with Yamato... by having her shoot Taichi down when he finally asked her out! The show's English dub seemed to be a Taiora supporter, too, since it magnified quite a few Taiora elements (again, particularly with the movie), and even inserted a couple of lines after Sora and Yamato got together that involved Sora worrying more about Taichi's feelings that Matt's. Even the Japanese production staff of the fourth movie seemed to take issue with the pairing, including a scene in which Sora is standing directly between Taichi and ''her boyfriend,'' Yamato, and when she is startled by something, she ''clings to Taichi''!
** Ken and Miyako don't fare much better. Yes, she expressed interest in him before the team knew [[spoiler:he was the Digimon Kaiser]], but for the rest of the season until the DistantFinale (where the two are married with kids), there wasn't much development between the two. At least, not as much as between Daisuke (Davis) and Ken, or Miyako and Hikari...
* The manga version of ''SorcererHunters'' does this with [[spoiler: the Carrot/Tira pairing. While it's made clear how Tira feels about Carrot, Carrot's own feelings are rarely brought into question, and even the few moments where he ''does'' seem to notice her as more than a sister figure aren't enough to convince some readers that the two were [[BecauseDestinySaysSo destined all along]]. Plus, in the short sequel ten years later their relationship isn't what most would consider True Love...]]
* ''FushigiYuugi'', arguably. While Miaka and Tamahome's love eventually proves to be quite sincere and strong, her announcement that she's falling in love with him ''in the first manga volume'' is moving more than a little too fast, even for a shoujo series.
** [[{{MemeticMutation}} "TAMAHOOMEEEE!" "MIIAAKAAAAA!" "TAMAHOOMEEEE!" "MIIAAKAAAAA!" "TAMAHOOMEEEE---"]]
* Adette and Gouly from ''OvermanKingGainer'' are both leaders of their respective squads but never talk much, and never have a romantic moment until the final two episodes where Adette kisses Gouly to awaken him from being BrainwashedAndCrazy and the next episode sees her holding him, and doing some flirting with him. The only setup is the fact that Adette loves strong men, and Gouly is a badass ninja.
** It gets even stranger when you consider that: one, the other two romances in the series ([[spoiler:Gainer and Sara, and Mamahd and Liubov]]) are handled quite a bit better; and two, that for the first few episodes Adette was in a relationship with Yassaba.
** Apparently, the Banpresto developers did not like the handling of the Adette/Gouly pairing as well. In ''SuperRobotWarsK'', this ship is [[ShipSinking uncerimoniously sunk]] when Adette gets back with Yassaba after the Overdevil's defeat.
* In the later ''FullMetalPanic'' novels, Sousuke and Kaname's relationship becomes this. Due to CharacterDerailment (via BrainWashing) and slight GenreShift, Kaname is transformed into an extreme {{Brainwashed}} DamselInDistress that follows ThePaolo Leonard around while Sousuke tries desperately to save her. And when she ''isn't'' acting {{Brainwashed}}, she just curls up and cries her eyes out, wondering why Sousuke would come save her (Hmm... ''why'' indeed). Unfortunately, the earlier part of the series established her as an ActionGirl that was learning how to handle things on her own. One of the given reasons why they matched each other well was because she could stand with him as an equal who could protect herself. So after the later developments, their romantic relationship seemed pretty forced. ''Especially'' after Sousuke ends up meeting (and starts having feelings for) Nami, who is almost the same in personality (and looks) as Kaname, is desperately in love with him, and has a lot more in common with him.
* Any pairings in ''DragonBall'' and its continuities (except by Goku/Chichi, but for just a little bit, and especially Bulma/Vegeta).
* While Cain of ''CountCain'' flirts with (and presumably sleeps with) as many women as possible throughout the series, when he finally gets paired up with [[spoiler: Meridiana]] it feels ridiculous, since she's just as vapid as any other woman he's met and slept with. She has nothing to distinguish her; she is the least unique character in the entire series. Even the author admitted that the fans didn't like her; she seemed [[WallBanger surprised]].
** Of course in this case "paired up" means "he fell in love with her [[spoiler:then she died a gruesome death and was forgotten for the rest of the series]]." Also, given Cain's somewhat capricious nature and that by WordOfGod he has a thing for delicate, frail [[DistressedDamsel Distressed Damsels]], his sudden infatuation with [[spoiler:Merediana]] isn't so surprising. For that matter, ''CountCain'' mostly avoids this trope: [[spoiler:Cain dies without being paired up with anyone, unless one counts the ''very'' explicit HoYay between him and Riff.]]
*Jil x Kaaya from TowerOfDruaga. This pairing was poorly written enough (especially in comparison to the more natural chemistry that Jil and Fatina had) that even many Kaaya fans were Jil X Fatina shippers.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Some ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' fans think this way about Scott dating a [[CharacterDerailment derailed]] Emma Frost. Some [[RunningTheAsylum people at Marvel]] decided they didn't like Jean, so they forced Grant Morrison to drop a bridge on her. What's really bad is the excuse given for why they're dating so soon after that is "not" a rebound relationship (they did not even have a relationship or even an affair before, just Emma taking advantage of him when he was vulnerable).
** As proof it was contrived, there is this BadFuture that Jean needed to avert. Going back in time, like ''every other'' such future, somehow wasn't an option. Instead the only options were: 1. Scott and Emma didn't get together, the X-Men would fall apart and things go all to holy hell. 2. Jean brainwashes her husband into forgetting his feelings for Jean and giving in to his attraction to Emma. WallBanger big time.
** ''Most'' ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' fans regard the recent Black Panther/Storm nuptials as something akin to this. Many of those who were interested in the idea were annoyed at Reginald Hudlin's [[ProtectionFromEditors hamfisted railroading]] of the relationship from casual acquaintance to Wedding Of Perfect Couple as soon as possible.
* Many fans felt this way about the second Green Arrow, who spent his adolescence in a monastery and showed little interest in sex... until the writer had him sleep with some girl he just met, to [[AManIsNotAVirgin prove his manliness and heterosexuality]].
** What really makes fans throw up in their mouths a little when they think about it, is the fact that this woman had once [[RapeIsOkWhenItIsFemaleOnMale raped his father!]]
* ''[[YTheLastMan Y: The Last Man]]'' had Dr. Mann nurture a subtle infatuation with straight companion Agent 355 for about half the series. After they have sex and then argue about it, Allison is so disappointed she vents to virtual stranger Rose, who admits to being attracted to her. Next thing you know, they're having the best sex of Allison's life. Next thing after ''that'' they're practically married. Talk about CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds.
** Although there is the fact that Rose [[spoiler:is TheMole, and was sent by the Australian navy to seduce Allison in order to worm her way into the last man's {{Nakama}}, which is why she seduced her so hard and so easily]], which makes things a little more interesting, since [[spoiler:she ended up falling in love with her anyway]]. On the other hand, [[spoiler:the last arc of the series is a rather cruel subversion. Yorick's spent the entire series looking for his girlfriend Beth, whom he was proposing to when the {{Gendercide}} occurred and cut them off. He finally finds her, only for her to tell him that she was going to break up with him. As she tries to explain she doesn't want to break up with him ''now'', he runs to 355, who tells him he loves her, and he reciprocates...and then 355 gets shot through the head. And then Beth ends up with his sister.]]
* In ''{{Preacher}}'', Jesse and Tulip fell in LoveAtFirstSight and spend virtually all their time together in bed. Except when they're arguing about his refusal to let her fight at his side.
** Jesse inherited that trait. His father met his mother when, on John Custer's return from Vietnam, she spat on him as part of a Vietnam protest. Afterwards she went up to apologize to him (the people she'd hitchhiked with forced her to do it). Jesse was born a year later.
* Recent storylines of ''{{Batman}}'' involve his chance meeting and [[TokenRomance unexplained infatuation]] with supermodel/leader-of-a sovereign-nation and general waste of ink Jezebel Jet. The problem with this however, is that [[spoiler: you need to get your head examined if you can't guess she's going to be a villain. For Christ's sake, Batman is the world's greatest detective.]]
** Somewhat subverted in that during the climax of the Batman R.I.P story, Batman [[spoiler:tells Jet that he'd seen through her from the start and had been faking his relationship with her- he even credits his acting ability to Alfred's lessons.]]
** So add GenreSavvy to Batman's list of near-superpowers. You have to admit, it fits.
*** Still, telling her his secret identity shortly after meeting her is a bit of a stretch.
*** He didn't tell her; Jet "found out" when Bruce beat the crap out of the Nine-Eyed Man and Nightwing and Robin rushed in to "confirm it". She actually knew the whole damn time since she was part of Black Glove; hell the fact that she figured it out and accepted it so damn easily could be seen as a clue that something was up with her (not even Catwoman figured out Bruce was Bats, he had to reveal his identity to her).
* After ''[[CrisisCrossover Infinite Crisis]]'', the "One Year Later" storyline in ''WonderWoman'' found the title character suddenly involved in a relationship with Nemesis (Tom Tresser), a new co-worker and long-time minor DC character. Many fans felt this new hookup was rushed at best, especially since Tom was [[NotAsYouKnowThem considerably more boorish than in previous appearances]]. Though this seems to have been due to ExecutiveMeddling to make Diana seem "more human" (a major theme of the One Year Later storyline), new writer Gail Simone decided not to summarily dump the relationship, but is actually accelerating it (when Hippolyta, Diana's mother demands from Tom IWantGrandkids Now, for example) in a subplot that clearly is meant to be going somewhere, with a look at the consequences of such a relationship.
** And as of ''Wonder Woman'' #32, [[spoiler:It's revealed that Diana never had romantic feelings towards Tom at all; she was just exploiting his feelings towards her to get him to father her daughters and replenish the Amazon population. Harsh. [[WordOfGod Word of Simone]] is that WW carefully never directly lied to Nemesis by claiming she was in love with him, and yes that does make Wondy a {{Jerkass}}.]]
***Actually, you'll find the above information was false and misleading on purpose, as it was said by an evil monster and all. [[spoiler:Genocide took the truth and twisted it. She felt an attraction to Nemesis, decided to persue it at a time where she was basically all alone, and while not in love with him she did feel something. The re population thing came from a a fantasy/daydream/thought where she and Tom might get together, have kid and raise her as an Amazon if only to keep a small part of her culture alive should she and her mother die (as they where the last two Amazons around at the time, also mentioning it would be impossible to repopulate the island with just 2 people). Genocide took those facts and twisted it into "she doesn't even care about him and just wants his babies".]]
***Actually, even ''that'' is somewhat dubious, as [[spoiler:even in the end she doesn't ever actually say she loves him, and her conception of their life together is still completely self-centered and focused on the trappings and the potential kid rather than actually being with Tresser. So it's still pretty easy to argue she didn't care about him, so much as her fantasy of what he might be and what he could do for her.]]
* Scouter and Tyleet from ElfQuest are a borderline example. Since Tyleet got a bigger role during the Shards saga, she needed some character development, which resulted in her pairing up with Scouter and having his child. The main problem? Scouter was pretty much the only available character, making it a glaringly obvious case of PairTheSpares. What makes it worse is (a) Scouter TookALevelInJerkass around this arc, making the pairing almost insufferable, (b) Their child just had to be born a special snowflake, and (c) Tyleet is ''Scouter's cousin''. After the war storyline ended, Tyleet is never again seen without her new family (which includes Scouter's lifemate Dewshine - who also pretty much instantly lost all individuality once Tyleet became her second lifemate).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''{{Enchanted}}'' was left with a bit of a problem when it paired up the OfficialCouple. That was done awkwardly enough, but the inevitable PairTheSpares that followed was so out of the blue (while somehow still being utterly predictable) that it probably caused an epidemic of eye-rolling. It caused a BrokenAesop too, since it contradicted the idea that [[spoiler:true love doesn't come as fast as fairy tales suggest it does]].
**The Aesop was already broken - [[spoiler: instead of marrying a man she knew for a few hours, she married a man she knew for a few weeks.]]
*** This Troper always saw the Aesop as being that love needs a balance of romance and sensibility and that everyone has a bit of both inside of them.
* In the ''WingCommander'' series of games, the relationship between Blair and Angel is built up slowly and believably. In the ''Wing Commander'' [[TheMovie movie]], the relationship between Blair and Angel happens just because it's supposed to, and Freddie Prinze Jr. (Blair) and Saffron Burrows (Angel) had ''less than zero'' on-screen chemistry together. This is probably [[VideoGameMoviesSuck to be expected, all things considered]].
* The romance in the 2003 film ''{{Underworld}}'' was more than a little artificial. There's never any indication that Selene feels any real emotion toward her intended hookup, unless it's meant to be a dom/sub vibe (in which case [[spoiler:setting him up to become the most powerful character in the franchise]] seems to shoot that in the head). Even more awkward in the sequel.
**Lens Wiesman (cowriter & director) is married to Kate Beckinsale (who played Selene). So yeah.
**WordOfGod says this was the way it was ''supposed'' to be...sort of. Special Features on the ''Underworld'' DVD reveal that the two characters were not supposed to actually be "in love," but rather attracted to each other based on lust, confused feelings, being forced together, etc. There is "potential," and it might "grow" into love, but since they have yet to actually have any sort of conversation with each other about anything apart from vampires and werewolves, and since they have known each other for a total of about two days, they really do not feel "that way." Yet. Supposedly. Whether this makes the romance better or worse depends on how you look at it.
* The 2003 Australian film ''Japanese Story'' was a rather egregious example of this. Sandy goes from hating Hiromitsu to sleeping with him in the next scene with absolutely ''no explanation whatsoever''. [[spoiler:Soon after, he dies due to a diving accident and the rest of the movie is about Sandy being in deep mourning over ''a one-night stand''.]]
* Parodied viciously in the ending of ''The Pirate Movie'', when Mabel arbitrarily grabs Pirates and Daughters and throws them together, with even the last two male pirates getting [[PairTheSpares stuck together]] with suitably shocked expressions.
* Almost any love interest in a JetLi film. This is probably the most obvious in ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165929/ Romeo Must Die]]'', wherein Li's character has better chemistry with Russell Wong's character Kai than he does with the stunning Aaliyah. Sometimes this has even been {{lampshaded}}, as it is in ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0267804/ The One]]'', with Li's character insisting stridently that he's not gay.
* The ''StarWars'' prequels. However, maybe Padme is just a [[JediMindTrick sucker]] for guys who seem adorably dorky and socially inept at first, but turn out to be dark emo types with a troubled past who ''become mass murderers''.
** It's worth noting that as an implied political prodigy, arguably savant (elected to queenship at 13, appointed interstellar senator before 20) and thus no more socially normal than a Jedi, Padme and Anakin latch together because no one else they know is equally messed up.
** This is apparently InTheBlood, since Mara comments in ''Star Wars: Union'' on how her marriage to Luke seems [[IncrediblyLamePun forced]].
*** Fans of Timothy Zahn's plotting believe that other authors spent ten in-universe years [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot wasting the relationship potential]] and thus much preferred the marriage over prolonged UST that was even more [[RunningGag forced]].
* Sometimes, ''JamesBond'' and his [[GirlOfTheWeek Girl of the Movie]] actually seem to be somewhat plausible together, but other times, it's very apparent that they're hooking up simply because it wouldn't be a James Bond film unless he gets a girl and she's the only real candidate.
* In ''{{Terminator}}'' Reese claims to have been in love with Sarah ever since seeing her picture - however it comes across more like obsession (and the fact that he "loved" her without even meeting her doesn't help). Sarah is suspicious of him at first, but comes to trust him. Then, thanks to the fast pacing of the movie, they suddenly have sex. Then they spend the rest of the movie too busy fighting the Terminator to develop their relationship. At the end, Sarah says in a recording she's making for her son that she and Reese loved each-other enough for a life-time.
* In ''{{Titanic}}'', the two main characters are young and clearly in lust, but it's hard to say if anything would have come of it even if [[spoiler: Jack hadn't died]]. We learn that Rose went on to marry someone else (not the would-be-fiance she didn't like who was seen in the movie) and raise a family with him.... And yet in the final scene (presumed to be a vision of heaven), she's with Jack again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''{{Wheel of Time}}'' took this trope and beat it to death. Probably the most notable example of this trope is Rand's relationship with Elayne, Min and Aviendha. The characters themselves feel pretty manipulated, but hey, prophecy can do that to you!
* A few ''HarryPotter'' fans complain that Harry and Ginny's romance in ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' was given inadequate setup, especially in contrast to the very strongly foreshadowed romance between Ron and Hermione. Ginny did have a well-known crush on Harry since the first book, but Hermione claimed she outgrew it in book 5 (after Harry and Ron found out Ginny had a boyfriend) and the two had spent relatively little visible time together since, other than a notable incident in the second book. Harry did spend several months at the Weasleys', but [[OffstageWaitingRoom very little of this was actually shown]].
** Lupin and Tonks is often accused of this too, not all of which can be explained by the [[DieForOurShip angry Sirius/Remus shippers]]. The relationship developed largely offscreen and out of Harry's line of sight, which could explain some of the perception that it came out of nowhere.
** At the end of ''Half Blood Prince'', Ginny tells Harry that she never gave up her crush on him and only dated other guys to relax and get him to notice her. She also mentioned that this was Hermione's advice.
* Edward and Bella from ''{{Twilight}}''. Bella's so in love with Edward that she skates right over the issue that he's a vampire who's attracted to the smell of her blood and [[ShallowLoveInterest is willing to give up her human life without any second thoughts to be with him]], because... well, because he's so ''pretty'' with these EyesOfGold and copper hair. Plus, he protects her because he believes she can't take care of herself! Has she mentioned how dazzling his gold eyes are? Or how he ''[[BishieSparkle sparkles]]''? Or how his beauty makes him look like a glorious archangel...?
** This is especially blatant when you look at the ''[[FanPreferredCouple better]]'' pairing in the books - the Jacob/Bella pairing. They've always known each other, they liked each other as friends first, when Edward disappeared, he brought her out of her shell, he was there to help her out of it (as a friend). They have actual shared interests that they developed together, like riding motorcycles, and common ground to discuss (having to grow up fast in order to help take care of their parents). Their arguments are more believable, and even when Edward returns, Bella realizes that she has more than friendship with Jacob - but still, the WordOfGod forces everything into the Edward/Bella pairing. Even Edward, several times in the books, realizes that he's being selfish and Bella would be better off with Jake, but noooooo... What's worse - the author actually takes Jacob and makes him into a {{Squick}}-poctalyptic BetaCouple with ''Bella's unborn child'' (taken even further, it becomes a possible LoveTriangle from Hell when the only male vampire/human hybrid realizes that Bella's child 'Nessie' is the only female vampire/human hybrid that's not a blood relative of his... and that he's over 150 years old, but looks like he's in his late teens). That was part of a very undignified CharacterDerailment that Meyer used to, once again, make sure everyone understands how much Ed and Bella were "meant to be".
** Not to mention Jacob goes through character derailment in the third book when he sexually assaults Bella, threatens to kill himself if she doesn't chose him, and basically acts like a complete jerk. He was once her best friend and a sweet guy and then he turns into Manipulative Boyfriend Number Two.
** Not to mention that as soon as she learned Edward's a vampire she suddenly stops thinking of him as creepy. He removed the motor of her car so she couldn't meet a male friend? He watched her in her sleep for several nights without her knowledge? [[SarcasmMode Aww how romantic!]]
** Any coupling made from the imprinting concept could count, since it's automatically handwaved away that the werewolf automatically goes nuts for whoever is imprinted on and the imprintee apparently has ''no problem whatsoever'' with some guy she possibly might not even know suddenly declaring eternal love for her, whether or not she's involved with someone else or loves him back. The prime example of this could be Sam and Emily who are shown to have virtually no common interests or meaningful basis for their relationship - besides True Love dictated by the Universe.
* The vast majority of characters in ''{{Xanth}}'', particularly in the latter books, are paired up within days if not hours of meeting each other. Somewhat justified as it seems the land itself is the biggest shipper of them all.
** How big? There's natural love springs (as natural as landscape in a magical land gets) that makes CrackPairing a completely viable means of bearing hybrid offspring. Like the centaurs. [[RuleThirtyFour And anything else you can imagine]].
* Occurs in the WhateleyUniverse, Blade Dancing series. Chou, the star, is in a relationship with Molly...mainly because, apparently, they are destined to be together. Literally, being in the same room makes them all 'warm and fuzzy'. Unfortunately, main interactions consist of "I feel complete when I'm with you." "Me too."
**Averted in "Summoning Sweeties", where they actually get a chance to really have down time, get along, and have some honestly sweet scenes together. (And some hilarious stuff, too!)
* S.L. Viehl seems to ''[[IncrediblyLamePun love]]'' this. [[spoiler:The ''[=StarDoc=]'' series has Cherijo and Duncan, Dhreen and Ilona, and Squilyp and Garphawayn; ''Blade Dancer'' has Jory and Kol.]]
* ''HowlsMovingCastle'', by DianaWynneJones. The plot is well-written and in-depth, the story fascinating... but there's almost no actual romantic interaction between Howl and Sophie until the ''last two pages'', where they suddenly decide they're madly in love. It seemed like Jones was just throwing them officially together at the end because they were supposed to fall in love, even if she never quite got around to developing it fully in the book. The [[HayaoMiyazaki Miyazaki]] movie was a lot less subtle about it.
** This is a place where reading carefully pays off: [[spoiler: Howl ''knew'' Sophie was under a spell.]] He wasn't the only one, either... (And yes, it ''is'' there. For example, read the description of Howl when he arrives at the Witch's castle. He ''knew'' [[spoiler:Miss Angorian was a fire demon]], so who was it that he cared about enough to rush off and save without taking any care of his appearance? Yes.) Howl and Sophie's relationship seems a lot more realistically romantic than most "romances." It's not hearts and bubbles and flowers--it's meat and potatoes love. Simple.
** DianaWynneJones books in general are dense and it's easy not to notice a lot of things without a repeat read. As the above indicates, there is actually quite a lot of hinting at [[spoiler: Sophie and Howl falling in love with each other]] over the course of the story, the most blatant being [[spoiler: when he stops taking care of his appearance]].
* ''MaximumRide'' started out with just the gentlest of implied romance between the two main characters, focusing mainly on an intricate plot revolving around the [[MadScientist mad scientists]] who created them. Then book four hit, the plot disappeared, and suddenly they were all over each other, all the time. The [[FanDumb fandom]] was thrilled for the most part... except for those who [[FridgeLogic realized]] that these two characters were, for all intents and purposes, brother and sister...
* Dagny and John from {{Atlas Shrugged}}. Ms. Rand spends literally hundreds of pages carefully and painstakingly building up the relationship between Dagny and Hank, only to have her casually toss him aside when she meets John, who is [[{{relationshipsue}} her One True Love]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Buffy and Riley in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', whose entire relationship seemed to be built on how Buffy ''needed'' a boyfriend after Angel [[SpinOff spunoff]] into [[{{Angel}} his own series]]. It didn't last long, and when he leaves and returns later, he's revealed to now be married to a different, older ActionGirl he met on a mission. ''Happily'' married, no less. Joss claimed that he had intended for Riley and Buffy to stay together, but that fans didn't like the idea of Buffy being in a happy relationship. He evidently missed the fact that it was more due to the [[TheWesley fans not liking Riley]].
** None of the writers seems to like leaving Buffy happily unattached, although, this being a JossWhedon show, the relationships don't tend to work out well. Season five saw flirtation with someone who turns out to be a vessel for the BigBad ([[spoiler:somewhat predictably, he ends up KilledOffForReal]]); in season six, the producers stuffed her into a depression-induced sadomasochistic relationship with Spike, and the new ''BuffySeasonEight'' comics that continue the series seem to be heading towards pairing her with [[spoiler:Xander Harris]].
*** In the Season Eight comic, though there is tension between Xander and Buffy, Buffy eventually ends up in bed with [[spoiler:[[SuddenlySexuality Satsu, a female Slayer]]. Granted, they've since broken up...]]
*** Willow and Kennedy in Season Seven. Because everyone hates [[TheScrappy Kennedy]].
* Starbuck's relationship with Anders in the 2000s ''BattlestarGalactica'', which also served to completely derail the romantic tension that had built up between her and Apollo for the first two seasons. (In this case, it was Katee Sackhoff, the ''actor'', who took a fancy to Anders' character, originally intended as a one-off, and insisted he be written back into the show.)
** Apollo was also in a forced and loveless marriage with Dualla. [[TelevisionWithoutPity TWoP]] even coined a term for it: "The Love That All of a Sudden". In fact, there were scenes in several previous episodes that showed them growing closer to each other, all of which ended up being cut. Eventually the writers just said "screw it" and threw them together without any buildup.
*** It's worth noting that both of those relationships but especially the Apollo/Dualla relationships fail spectacularly, and they're portrayed as something that Apollo And Starbuck leapt into while avoiding their feelings for each other. Doesn't really fall under the trope so much as it mimics the dumb choices people make when it comes to relationships quite well.
**** The above is a bit outdated. It's since been shown that Anders is Starbuck's true love. Apollo still carries the torch for her, however.
*** Alternative Character Interpretation is that Apollo went into a kind of 'knee jerk revenge mode' and proposed to Dualla because he knew it would upset Starbuck (which it did) which fits with both Apollo and Starbuck behaving like angry 12 year olds with each other throughout the shows entire run, and the astonishing lack of care he showed to Dualla knowing he still wanted Starbuck.
**Starbuck falling for someone quickly shouldn't be a surprise for anyone. She started out with Zac, before Apollo. By way of flashback, we see that she almost made out with Apollow while Zac was passed out on the couch in the same room.
* ''UglyBetty'' fell into a SophomoreSlump by [[RomanticPlotTumor wringing too much drama]] out of Betty's love life with Henry. The sad thing is, on the rare occasions the writers don't obsess with soap-opera shenanigans, Betty and Henry are an awesome and entertaining couple, making this one of the few TV couples who are actually ''more'' compelling when they're happy than not.
* ''{{Smallville}}'' spent season after season trying to force Clark and Lana into being a convincing couple, when a) Tom Welling and Kristin Kreuk had almost ''no'' chemistry, b) Lana isn't a particularly nice person, when it comes down to it, c) [[ForegoneConclusion we all know]] they don't end up together in the "real" story anyway, and d) [[TheWesley most fans intensely dislike Lana]]. They were writing the ''whole series'' around this "[[RomanticPlotTumor great]]" romance, and it ''still'' felt artificial and tacked on.
** Speaking of artificial and tacked on, one problem some fans have with the Clark/Lois "romance" is that they had been [[WordOfGod written like brother and sister]] up until Season 8, and seemingly because of her [[LastGirlWins future]] [[ForegoneConclusion status]], the writers [[TheyJustDidntCare don't seem to care]] about actually writing their relationship changing. Thus it was somewhat startling to see Lois give a declaration of love five episodes into Season 8, which either meant she fell hard, fast, or [[UnfortunateImplications all her "encouragement" for Chloe to move on throughout the years has been]] [[XanatosGambit something more sinister]].
** Having a whole line of side characters point out the "love connection" between them doesn't help either. From 8-2 to maybe around 8-10, there was at least one guest character per episode who would say something about Clark and Lois being in love.
* In the final season of ''StarTrekVoyager'', the writers inflicted a LastMinuteHookup on Seven-of-Nine and threw her into a relationship with Chakotay. Cue the wedding bells.
** This was due to behind-the-scenes politicking; Robert Beltran was complaining, correctly, that his character had become irrelevant, so they shut his mouth by slipping Jeri Ryan's tongue into it. As consolation prizes go, that's pretty darn consoling.
* Almost every relationship in ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', especially in the second season. Notably Peter/Simone, Maya/Sylar, Peter/Caitlin, Hiro/Yaeko, and Claire/West. Luckily, they seem to have given up.
** Played ''extremely'' straight with [[spoiler:Matt/Daphne]], in which a psychic vision convinces one character he's "supposed" to be with another. Unsurprisingly his "love" is skeptical and although she plays along she frequently [[LampshadeHanging points out]] how this is not any sort of basis for a real relationship.
*** And even more recently, [[spoiler:Elle/Sylar]]. While slightly better than many of the above, seriously, where did ''that'' come from?
* Shannon and Sayid in ''{{Lost}}''. The former is a whiny, sheltered IllGirl. The latter is a serious former soldier and one of the most capable survivors. The actor playing Sayid ''demanded'' a love interest, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor so]], they set him up with ''the least compatible'' character. After a tiny bit of horribly out of place and forced set-up, they suddenly get together...and she's [[spoiler:killed]] in the same episode. Ironically, after she had finally gotten some bits of CharacterDevelopment. [[SoYeah Huuuuuuh.]]
*''DoctorWho'': "Invasion of Time": companion Leela decides to stay on Gallifrey and marry the guard Andred. There's been nothing romantic between them. (The actors tried to suggest attraction in the story with their acting, but the script didn't give them much to work with.) It was basically, Doctor: "Come on, Leela, let's go." Leela: "No, I'm going to stay here and marry Andred." Doctor: "Okay, bye." (This happened because the actress told the producer she was leaving at the end of the season, and he kept trying to change her mind.)
** This is made (slightly) less jarring when you consider that there is fairly strong reason for her to stay behind even without a "love interest"-- it's a much more familiar lifestyle, and it could have been a welcome return to normalcy. The marriage could have been an excuse to stay around and a way to make herself one of the tribe, with whatever mild attraction that had developed so far between them just being a bonus, rather than the motivation. These were the only normal (from her point of view) people she'd met since first encountering The Doctor, and she never seemed incredibly enthusiastic about the whole exploring space-and-time thing.
*** It has been said that this works, as Leela is a savage and would likely pick a mate based on physical attractiveness and prowess rather than personality; the ''alpha male'', in effect. This argument would be more compelling, however, if the character she was married off to wasn't such a ''drip''!
*** Another theory that has currency in [[YuriFanboy certain parts of fandom]] is that Andred is TheBeard and Leela's real love interest is [[DefrostingIceQueen Rodan]].
** The Big Finish audio drama series ''Gallifrey'' subverts this relationship in a fairly satisfying way. In a nutshell, [[spoiler: Andred goes off on an undercover mission without telling Leela, regenerating into a man that she comes to loathe and despise - and, much to Andred's surprise, she continues to loathe and despise him when he tells her who he really is. It all ends up with Leela saying something to the effect of "I obviously didn't know you as well as I thought" - which is to say, ''not at all''.]]
** ''DoctorWho'' actually has another infamous example of this: the posthumous(!) pairing of Peri with King Yrcanos at the end of 'Trial of a Time Lord'. Apparently, Colin Baker was distressed by Peri's death (not really a spoiler, just keep reading) at the end of the 'Mindwarp' portion of the Trial story arc and mentioned this to producer John Nathan-Turner. JNT, in his usual subtle way, fixed the problem by giving the Inquisitor a quick line stating that Peri is living happily with Yrcanos as a warrior queen - despite the fact that nothing in the story, apart from the brief clip of his putting his hand on her shoulder that is shown ''after'' that line, supports that romance, and doing a RetCon of it makes a hash of the entire end of the story. (Come to think of it, "a hash" is not a bad description for "Trial", anyway...)
*** On the other hand, Yrcanos was played by [[BrianBlessed BRIAN BLESSED]]! This male, asexual Troper would happily live on a hostile alien planet if it meant being married to BRIAN BLESSED! Provided the planet had a good supply of Otologists.
* The writing staff of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' developed a bizarre obsession with hooking up Troi and Worf in the show's final season, despite the two never having any kind of romantic chemistry before and Troi having a long standing WillTheyOrWontThey with Riker. (They had been toying with the idea for a while, which is why the two characters had been interacting more, but it hadn't been romantic at all.) Thankfully they soon regained their senses and none of the TNG films have any mention of the relationship. Of course, that lack itself is jarring.
** Though it's disturbing that the 'honourable' Worf comments in ''Star Trek: Insurrection'' that he believes Riker had feelings for Troi all along, including the period when he himself was... [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean you know what]].
** In an early draft of the script for ''Nemesis,'' when Worf is complaining about having to be naked at Riker and Troi's wedding, Troi had a line where she quipped, "Don't be shy, I've already seen it." For better or for worse, it's missing from the final cut.
* [[StargateAtlantis Rodney McKay]], ''repeatedly'', in the last two seasons of ''Stargate Atlantis''. The first major girlfriend, Katie Brown, was a drippy botanist that he had nothing in common with whatsoever, and the second was Jennifer Keller, who had previously [[FanPreferredCouple seemed to have a nice thing going on with Ronon]]. This [[ExecutiveMeddling may]] have had something to do with the fact that the most popular ship in the entire fandom was [[HoYay McKay/Sheppard]].
** Keller was shown to have a thing for both McKay and Ronon, and in the end decided she wanted to be with McKay more.
** Specially considering that in the first season in 'Letters From Pegasus' it is shown that there's actually a female scientist in the expedition who's got a crush on Rodney. For his smarts! Too bad they let that one slip away.
* Foreman and Thirteen on ''{{House}}'', who went from "awkward conversations in the locker room" to "awkward kiss in a conference room" to "willing to commit career suicide for this person" in the span of about two weeks. Which, in fairness, is lampshaded by Thirteen herself at one point.
* [[HannahMontana Lilly and Oliver]] have been friends for years. They've seen the best and worst of each other, the best and worst of times, and have been there for each other through all of it. Let's not forget that they have [[BirdsOfAFeather numerous common interests.]] Do the writers use any of these perfectly legitimate story elements as a basis for their {{Relationship Upgrade}}? Please, [[TakeThat this is the Disney Channel!]] Instead, we get some contrived story about how her head fit into his neck and how she smelled like apples. And they go from being good friends to [[SickeninglySweethearts all PDA all the time.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* Really, most musical theater is like this. There isn't much justification that would fly in the real world for the relationships in everything from ''{{Phantom of the Opera}}'' and ''MissSaigon'' to ''Carousel'' and ''AnnieGetYourGun''. I think musical theater fans just accept this as part of the genre, due to constraints of time and the medium, and the fact the focus is more on the music than on stellar and believable plots.
** What makes the ''AnnieGetYourGun'' example even worse is that in real life, Frank Butler ''lost'' and married Annie anyway, later becoming her manager. There was seriously no reason to have the musical end the way it did except to appeal to then-audiences.
* Measure for Measure is a particular bad example of this; Isabella and Duke Vincentio are paired off at the end of the plot despite a) knowing each other for about two days and b) the entire plot revolving around Isabella not wanting to give up her chastity and monastic life.
** Actually not the case; the ending is ambiguous. Yes, the Duke ''proposes'', but Isabella doesn't accept, and it's up to the director to decide whether she will or not.
* ''GilbertAndSullivan'' operas sometimes try to hook up everyone they possibly can during the last song, even if they haven't spoken a word to each other through the performance.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* A lot of RolePlayingGame characters are pretty much forced to end up with the "main girl", [[ButThouMust whether the player wants it to happen or not.]] Avoiding this trope can prove to be exceedingly difficult even in games that offer multiple pairings since 1.) The "main girl" [[RelationshipValues starts so far ahead of anyone else on the meter]] that being nice to her in any way [[GuideDangIt locks you into her ending route]] or 2.) The game strongly suggests that the "main girl" is the 'correct' choice and deviating from it [[GuiltBasedGaming makes you feel like a jerk.]] In other words, going for anyone other than the "main girl" will most likely make you feel you did something the game didn't want you to do.
** Squall and Rinoa from ''FinalFantasyVIII'' are often accused of this, due to Squall's [[TheStoic anti-social nature]]. The problem is that the relationship is masked in character development and {{subtext}} so much that, if you're busy focusing on the Epic Sci-Fi Fantasy Action or expected the game to explicitly label the couples and their "important" scenes as the seven games before it do, you probably miss it.
*** And you really ''don't'' have a choice in FFVIII. Unlike some other games where character interaction makes a difference, there is no possible way to make Squall fall in love with anyone but Rinoa because their romance is intricately entwined with the plot.
** ''FinalFantasyX'' even goes so far to ShipTease you with a meaningless dialogue between Tidus and whichever character he has the highest affection score with where you're given the choice of Rikku, Lulu, and Yuna - but no matter what, he's Meant To Be with Yuna. The game even goes another step by actually implenting an unseen relationship point system that only affects a few cutscenes and not the plot as a whole. His final LimitBreak even depicts the girl he has the highest affect rating with - meaning there's a one in three chance it's ''not'' Yuna.
** The ending of ''ShiningForce II'' saw the main character getting engaged to the princess, after waking her from a magically induced coma with a [[TrueLovesKiss kiss]] - and she was a minor character put to sleep early in the game, but [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses the hero must get a princess]], right? It had a (possibly involuntary) LampshadeHanging in the ending itself, with Sarah being quite unhappy and disappointed about it.
*** To emphasize, Sarah is the now-UnluckyChildhoodFriend who has stuck with the hero throughout his hell-fighting world-saving campaign and, potentially, transformed from [[StaffChick bookish healer]] into a bookish healer [[ActionGirl in a pink battle-bikini with a boneshattering uppercut]]. The princess never plays a relevant part in the story except as prop.
** The ''FireEmblem'' games usually avert this, allowing for multiple pairing possibilities for both main characters and lesser characters (although they'll often at least ''try'' to guide you towards a specific pairing, you don't have to follow it.) ''Then...'' there's Seisen no Keifu ([=FE4=]), which ''does'' force its hero into a predetermined relationship. In the second level. It's not quite ''strangled'' -- Sigurd and Dierdre get along very well indeed -- but the Red String ''is'' uncomfortably tight.
*** The second half of the game, however, stars their son Celice as the new hero, and he has ''numerous'' romantic options for the player to choose from.
** In Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, you are shoved into a romance with Jaheira five minutes after she found the mangled corpse of her husband in a dungeon. Luckily you can break the romance early on.
* In ''{{Bully}}'', Jimmy Hopkins can date and be involved with 14 different characters, including other boys. But the ending shows him ending up with Zoe no matter what you do. To be fair, Zoe is the only girl he shows more than a passing interest in.
* Lampshaded in ''{{Pokemon}}'' with the Destiny Knot item. It's a RedStringOfFate that's only purpose IS to strangle.
* ''HarvestMoon'' is... complicated to approach. You have most games in which marriage is optional, and if you decide to do it, you get to pick from a handful of the available characters. Some argue that it's pointless to have a choice, some are very militant in their choices. Gamers really got the red string in the ''Wonderful Life'' games, in which marriage is essential to get past the 1/10th point of the game. If you don't want to get married or don't like the roster of candidates? [[NonstandardGameOver Too bad]].
* The hero of ''Mad Paradox'' ends up married and raising a family with a completely nondescript girl he's rescued from the BigBad, and she only appears once in the beginning (in the background of a vision) and once at the end (after you've defeated the BigBad). And they treat this as some sort of grand romantic ending. Meanwhile, the hot green-haired {{Nakama}} girl who's accompanied you for most of the game through good and bad, battling evil and putting it on the line for you... just sorta wanders off with a pithy "It was fun, bye-bye". Most unsatisfying ending ever.
* Horribly done in ''MetalGearSolid 4'', which came from a lineage which has previously handled relationships very well. The relationship between Otacon and [[spoiler: Naomi]] basically came out of nowhere and completely throttled the potentially more interesting interactions between him and Snake. She even shows up [[spoiler: after her own death]] in order to draw Otacon's attention away from a CrowningMomentOfAwesome which could have been milked for significantly better drama. It's so bad that some suspect it was an attempt at ShipSinking Snake/Otacon.
** You have to remember though, someone Otacon loves has to die each game. The developers just didn't have the heart to kill Snake. Kojima wanted to though. And more.
** It's also obviously intentional, though not ''entirely'' intentional on the writers' parts. Snake and Otacon's voice actors for the English dub admit to playing up their HoYay, Snake is either giving [[spoiler: Naomi]] dirty looks or just looking dejected the entire time she's coming onto Otacon, Otacon is so traumatized by every single event that centers around women in his life that he has ''no idea'' how to behave responsibly in these situations, and [[spoiler: Naomi]] is ''using it against him to manipulate him.'' All in all, while the red string is firmly tightened around Otacon's neck, Naomi's the one holding it.
* ''{{Wild ARMs 2}}'' has a ridiculous example of this. If you pick up optional character Marivel, she suddenly effectively shacks up with Tony when everyone else is having romantic scenes that make sense. Tony is a minor NPC, and they didn't even share a single line of dialogue before suddenly being set up as a couple.
* Serge and Kid of ''ChronoCross''. The player can leave have Serge treat Kid like crap, ignore her at every turn, leave her die a slow death by poison, stab her in the chest, apparently use and manipulate her and then kill her *again*, and finally leaving her in a coma reliving the single most traumatic day in her life, and she'll still be in love with a man she barely knows who already has a girlfriend. Her only mandatory interactions with Serge come from the manipulations of another character. Yet even after [[spoiler: the game smacks a big fat ResetButton after killing the TimeDevourer]], she's apparently so in love with Serge that she will promise to find him and the game completely ignores the fact that, again, ''he already has a girlfriend.'' The game treats this a cherished romance and there's even concept art depicting a married Serge and Kid. Bet there's going to be some really awkward stories to tell the children...
** [[spoiler: And let's not forget that Kid, who is really Schala and merges with Schala after the game ends (maybe?), cares more about this guy she barely knows than her own brother who went insane from her rejection of his offer to help her for no reason whatsoever. She will never mention that she even has a brother - she just wants her Sergey-poo.]]
* Polka and Allegretto of ''EternalSonata'' have very little chemistry together. Over the course of the game, Polka spends more time (and has more chemistry) with Chopin. But since he's a) old enough to be her father, and b) dying, they shove her together with Allegretto at the end...right after a cutscene that implies she [[spoiler: ''threw herself off a cliff'' for Chopin after being forced to kill him.]]
* Emil and Marta from ''TalesOfSymphonia: Dawn of the New World'' are a particularly strong case -- Marta's fallen in love with Emil when he [[RescueRomance saves her from attacking soldiers]] [[spoiler:(except he didn't really, that was Lloyd, though she never finds out)]], and her ClingyJealousGirl status is played up for laughs as Emil shrugs and sighs off her advances, not necessarily indicating that he's not interested. [[spoiler:Until the plot point that [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] the idea, when Emil explodes at her for thinking of him as some kind of Prince Charming-esque KnightInShiningArmor when he doesn't feel he can live up to that image. She's notably shocked, and most of her interactions with him after they make up are ''much'' more reasonable, moving the OfficialCouple away from TokenRomance and more towards ''real'' love.]]
** Of course, YourMileageMayVary.
* In ''DragonQuestV'', you have two (or three) choices for the titular 'Heavenly Bride': childhood friend Bianca, shy and wealthy Flora/Nera, and Nera's bossy and bratty older sister Debora. The game ''very heavily'' leans toward Bianca as '[[VictoriousChildhoodFriend the right choice]]', especially in the original version: choose Flora over her, and Bianca gets bodyslammed ''hard'' by DiabolusExMachina. While this drama-dump is thankfully averted in the DS remake, the romance can ''still'' [[YourMilageMayVary feel like this]], considering you barely know ''any'' of these girls by the time you have to pick out your bride.
** Ironically, most players would have picked Bianca ''anyway'', so the GuiltBasedGaming really wasn't necessary at all.
* In the hypothetical novels which don't actually exist, Jaheira is the canonical love interest for the male protagonist Bhaalspawn in ''BaldursGate'' (even though she's happily married in the first game). This is somewhat reflected in-game by a slightly deeper romance storyline with her--one that becomes dependent on an important non-romance subquest and gives more experience and better items for success, as well as a happy ending that isn't ridiculous in ''Throne of Bhaal''. However, the other romances have their own setpieces and rewards, though somewhat less well-developed.
* This IS the Vicki Kawaguchi-Ichiro Suzuki relationship in ''[[BackyardSports Backyard Baseball]]''. (Which only occurred over two games.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Almost immediately after Gabby from ''NamirDeiter'' realizes she's over her longtime crush on the main character (a straight girl), she's seduced by her never-before-seen academic partner, and they're joined at the hip from then on.
** ...a never-before-seen academic partner who thinks nothing of having AnythingThatMoves on the side. Whatever her other storytelling strengths, Isabel Marks tends to break out the Fists of Ham when it comes to romance.
* Beth and Fisk from ''BetterDays'' fall into this. Never do we see the characters discussing their hopes, dreams, or fears together. They become sex friends about a day after they meet with little provocation. Then while Fisk is serving his time in the military, Beth somehow falls deeper in love with him during his absence. Even though she is actively dating two other men who are more financially secure, physically and emotionally available to her than Fisk is. If they aren't having sex then they are talking to each other in bed right after sex but it's never about anything important. Sans one time when Beth desperately wants Fisk to live with her, these two characters never express how much they supposedly mean to each other and the reader is supposed to assume that their relationship is deeper than just their sex drive. Of course Fisk enters the secret organization seemingly ignoring Beth's heartfelt and desperate confession of love to make him stay put and is now training to become an anti-terrorist super spy [[GenerationXerox just like his dad.]]
** She does eventually give up on him and settled down with her boyfriend Aron instead, so this could arguably be a {{deconstruction}} of the whole concept.
*** More that it just shifted the one who's being strangled over to Fisk by the red string to his childhood girlfriend Elizabeth. So basically it's just a different "Beth" that got red-string garroted.
* The first half of ''AoiHouse'' seems to build up to a will-they-or-won't-they tension between Alex and Elle, only to throw it out in favor of pairing him with fan favorite [[GenkiGirl Morgan]] in the second half, despite Morgan's crush being infantile at best and Alex ignoring her for most of the series.
* ''KevinAndKell'' featured longtime character Rhonda getting PutOnABus by marrying her online boyfriend. The problem? Her online boyfriend was first mentioned and introduced in the strip merely days before this event took place. Up until that point, Rhonda had been dating Edgar since high school and the previous year had even featured a story arc where they broke up over Edgar's sexism, but got back together once Edgar humiliated himself trying to learn how to hunt to show that he cared more about Rhonda's acceptance than his own species'. This storyline literally ignored the previous plotline's existence, causing some serious CharacterDerailment when Rhonda complained that Edgar ignored her and Edgar was still acting like a sexist jerk out of the blue, entirely so Rhonda could dump him and marry this new character without any guilt. The real kicker was that the previous plotline had taken several weeks to resolve, while Rhonda's marriage and subsequent disappearance from the strip happened over only one week.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the 1990s ''Series/FantasticFour'' animated series, Johnny Storm meets the Inhuman Medusa, drools over her for two and a half episodes, finds out she's married, and winds up drooling over her cousin, Crystal, for half of ''one.'' In the end, the Inhumans' city is sealed off from the rest of the world. Suddenly, Crystal, whom he's known all of a few hours, was the love of his life, and he spends every episode after this - ''literally'' every episode - pining for her. (He does get her back in the end, though.) Maybe [[HeroesWantRedHeads heroes really do just love redheads]] that much.
** [[Comicbook/FantasticFour The 1960s comics]] show the exact same Torch/Crystal relationship, and in that case, they barely even speak THREE SENTENCES to each other before declaring themselves lovers-for-life, and the Torch spends the next SEVERAL arcs pining over the girl. Eventually though, Crystal winds up married to Quicksilver.
*** Subverted in UltimateMarvel Universe, where he quotes the 'Lovers-for-life' verbatim, then shrugs and admits "I just thought we might get a good thing going." Ultimate Torch is a player.
* Gwen and Kevin in ''{{Ben 10 Alien Force}}'' -- The ship is dropped on the viewer with absolutely no set-up, no basis, no rationality ''in the very first episode''. Kevin almost wrecking his precious car to tell Ben not to be rude to Gwen could be attributed to his BadassDecay, but "I'll follow you anywhere"? Were the writers afraid that if they took the time for some actual development, the show might be canceled before their new favorite couple actually got together? Ben's relationship with the new character Julie is hardly any better.
** Many believe that having Kevin thrown in was to keep the Shippers from pairing [[KissingCousins Gwen and Ben.]]
* ''Beast Machines'': Has two! Silverbolt and Blackarachnia's went from DatingCatwoman to StarCrossedLovers that consumed BA's character arc. Botanica was a floral beauty with a brain and backbone, brought into the show to re-inforce its central metaphor, then stuffed into a relationship with bar-topping Rattrap.
* In ''{{Robots}}'', Rodney and Cappy only seem to end up together by decree - no chemistry, and Piper gets more and better screentime. Then again, perhaps she was meant to look much younger?...
* Averted in ''TotalDramaIsland.'' A few couples hook up rather suddenly---notable Harold with Leshawna and Owen with Izzy. In the former case, she ends it shortly afterwards, leading to a one-sided romance that lasts throughout the second season; meanwhile Owen and Izzy's relationship became basically off-and-on, which actually seems to fit Izzy's manic nature.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Opera}}]]
* During Puccini's writing of the opera ''{{Turandot}}'', he apparently abandoned it before the end because he was unable to justify Calaf being in love with the psychotic, man-hating ice queen Turandot when the pure-hearted slave girl, Liu, had remained loyal to him for so long. He had apparently wanted Calaf to fall in love with and marry Liu, wheras the libretto (as well as the story the libretto was based on) had Liu tortured to suicide, after which Calaf then marries Turandot. After his death, the opera was eventually completed by one of his students.
** Not to mention that most people who watch the opera end up feeling the same way as Puccini.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pornography]]
* From movies to {{hentai}} to "erotic stories", this is so common that is it to be expected. Granted, most of them don't have any sort of story, but even in the ones that have a story or are based on a story (usually hentai versions of a popular {{anime}}); two characters suddenly jump at each other. Even if they clearly had a different personality or sexuality that would not allow this pairing. (Or often, more-than-pair...ing.) And if it actually has enough of a story to have side characters, they will act like nothing surprising happened and this is completely normal, and will act like before after the sex is over.(If there is an "after the sex is over" part of the story.) Aversions are so rare that if character development actually happens, one could follow the story for the surprise value and ignore the fact that it's porn.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fanfic]]
* Pretty much any CrackPairing you can think of.
[[/folder]]

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