Betty And Veronica - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Ginger Or Mary Ann

Who will he choose?

"Trying to hold two women is tearing me apart.
Trying to hold two women is tearing me apart.
One's got my money, the other's got my heart.
It's a long old grind, and it tires your mind."

— The Oakridge Boys, Trying to Love Two Women

One of the most common types of Love Triangle.

Our Hero is caught between his affections for two girls. One, the "Betty", is sweet, pretty, and normal (read: kinda dull), and the other, "Veronica", is perceived by those around her as more beautiful and exotic, but has a more troublesome personality (read: depending on how she is portrayed, she can be pretty slutty.) or otherwise against what could be considered the societal norms for female behavior. Named for the two female leads of Archie Comics, which made this plot famous (although it's far older than that). While a videogame, comic, or TV series can play it out for all its worth, movies generally favor the Betty. The Veronica is often Ms Fanservice, and often has the upper hand in the guy's affections, whether she particularly cares about him or not.

In many cases, particularly in a Romantic Comedy or Teen Drama, the Betty is herself in love with the Hero, whilst the Veronica (at least initially) barely even knows he exists. A common dynamic in this trope is to establish the Betty as the Hero's best friend (which partly explains why he's often so slow to wake up to the fact that she's obviously in love with him, as he often claims to view her as being closer to a sister than a potential romantic partner), whilst the Veronica is Ms. Unattainable in every way possible, thus being a demonstration of "wanting what you can't have and ignoring what you've got". In these cases, despite being in love with the Hero themselves the Betty will be forced by feelings of I Want My Beloved To Be Happy to assist in his quest to attain the Veronica and quash her own feelings for him. This version of the triangle generally (but not always) ends with the Hero deciding that the woman he thought he wanted wasn't right for him after all (ironically, usually after the Veronica becomes available and interested in him) and that the Betty was the woman for him after all.

While the "Betty" rarely changes in any substantial matter, the "Veronica" can be one of a dozen character types: Femme Fatale, Troubled But Cute, Rich Bitch, Action Girl, you name it, as long as it's outside the norm. For teenagers, the Veronica is often either a cheerleader and / or the most popular (and therefore the nastiest) girl in school. This isn't to say that the Betty has to be completely boring. Some genres and media types give a lot of leeway for Betty's character. For example, both may be Action Girls in an action movie, in which case Veronica would be the Dark Action Girl, while the Betty of a Sci-Fi or anime may be a Wrench Wench or Hot Librarian/Scientist (especially once she takes those glasses off... or not) compared to Veronica's Green Skinned Space Babe. Which type is presented as "better" changes with time, and country — the Japanese usually prefer the Betty in an anime, while Americans prefer the Veronica.

In a Role Playing Game, Betty is usually the Staff Chick or Lawful Naive paladin, while Veronica is the Black Magician Girl, Summoner, or Fighter (though more commonly the Thief than the Fighter in Role Playing Webcomics).

If a series involves the Call To Adventure, the Veronica may be among those giving the Call to the Hero, encouraging him along the way. The Betty, on the other hand, is more likely to appear to be a Muggle, at least at first, and may metaphorically try to offer the "blue pill" to the Hero.

Modern shows tend to exaggerate the differences, to the point of caricaturizing the character types. The Betty may be emotionally fragile, a Control Freak, or cardboard come to life. The Veronica may be an escaped criminal or just plain insane.

Subtler pairs are Colour Coded For Your Convenience, giving you a blonde Betty and a dark or red-haired Veronica.

If two characters are established as Betty And Veronica and a third love interest comes along, she's Cheryl Blossom.

Examples

Anime

Macross in all its incarnations is a king of this trope, because it is actually built around it:
- Super Dimension Fortress Macross had Lynn Minmay as the Veronica and Misa Hayase as the Betty. Minmay herself had a similar case, with Hikaru as the Betty and Lynn Kaifunn as the Veronica.
- Macross 7 had a gender-reversed version of the trope, with Gamlin as the Betty and Basara as the Veronica.
- As does Macross Plus, where brash and rebellious Isamu is the Veronica, and serious and caring Guld seems to be a Betty. And then it puts everything on its head in The Reveal, because Guld, a psychotic would-be rapist, is The Atoner who got Redemption Equals Death moment in the end; while Isamu wanted Myung to be happy, and thus removed himself from the picture, becoming something of a Death Seeker.
- Macross Frontier has Ranka as the Betty and Sheryl as the Veronica. It's hinted through Word Of God that they settled for a Tenchi Solution in the end
Inverted on Neon Genesis Evangelion, where the hero Shinji never quite gets into a Love Triangle with an obvious Betty and Veronica, respectively Rei and Asuka.
In School Days, shy and reclusive Kotonoha is the Betty and sociable Sekai the Veronica. Kotonoha has some surprising sides to her character though.
In Shakugan No Shana, Kazumi Yoshida is the Betty and Shana the Veronica.
Full Metal Panic! inverts this: Chidori is the Veronica despite being the Ordinary High School Student, while Tessa, who is a captain in a covert paramilitary organization and has command of a submarine and several hundred troops, Sousuke included, is the Betty personality-wise.
Zero No Tsukaima does this, with noblewoman Louise facing off against peasant girl Siesta
In Nana, rock star Takumi would probably count as a male version of Veronica for Hachiko while Nobu serves as a male Betty.
In Naruto, the main character seems like he will end up choosing between Sakura the Veronica, or Hinata the Betty.
- Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto seems to like this trope now. Besides the aforementioned Naruto/Sakura/Hinata situation, we also potentially have Sasuke deciding between Karin the Veronica and Sakura, who would move over to being the Betty in this scenario. Also Shikamaru choosing between Temari the Veronica and Shiho the Betty.
- Now things have gotten real interesting, since now Naruto knows about Hinata's feelings!
Love Hina has a pretty basic version of this: Cloudcuckoolander Mutsumi versus Tsundere Naru.
In Hana Yori Dango, the heroine Makino is the object of both Rui's (the calm, supportive Betty) and Domyoji's (the violent, passionate Veronica) affections. Subverted in that Makino initially has unrequited feelings for Rui, while it is Domyoji who has (initially) one-sided feelings for her, and in that the Veronica triumphs.
Kimagure Orange Road. Kyosuke is torn between Hikaru (the ever-doting Betty) and Madoka (the wild child Veronica).
In Psychic Academy, this is played quite obviously through the Betty-esque Orina (AKA Sara), Ai's childhood friend, and the Veronica-esque Mew.
In Yu-Gi-Oh (particularly the manga), Anzu Mazaki is shown being torn over her feelings between shy and innocent Yugi Mutoh (Betty) and his darker alter ego Yami (Veronica).
Melfina from Outlaw Star gets an inverted version of this with Gene and Harry. Of course, when the "safe" choice is a foul-mouthed Badass Longcoat, you just know the "bad boy" is going to have some serious issues
Possibly lampshaded in Cowboy Bebop. To Spike there isn't much choice between Julia, (his long lost Love Interest), and Faye, (Ms Fanservice) as he's madly in love with Julia and things with Faye never go beyond a proto-UST stage. However it's somewhat telling that when Jet asks Broken Bird Faye what Julia was like, Faye responds with "Ordinary. A beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you can't leave alone", which perhaps defines the roles of the two.
The Kuno/Akane/Pig-Tailed Girl triangle of Ranma One Half is an interesting case. You could say Akane is the Veronica trying to be the Betty and Ranma is the other way around, but we're talking about the warped mind of Tatewaki Kuno here.
In D Gray Man, Allen has two main love interests in the story thusfar: Lenalee Lee (Betty) and Road Kamelot (Veronica). Given that Lenalee is one of his closest friends and Road is a sadistic killer, not really much choice there. Allen also doesn't seem all that romantically interested in them, either.
In the 3rd OVA of Boku No Pico, Pico finds himself in a B&V situation when he catches (the Veronica) CoCo fapping (then has sex with him). Later, he catches his boyfriend(?) Chico HAVING SEXWITH the Veronica. Think, Pico. Think REALLY hard.
In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Tsuna's main two canon love interests are Kyoko (Betty) and Haru (Veronica). But since he hardly interacts with them compared to all the manly (ahem) bonding he does with all his male guardians, most people don't support him with either of them.

Comic Books

Archie Comics' Betty and Veronica, obviously.
- Although they've finally decided to end that with a storyline set after college with Archie proposing to Veronica.
  - They'd better be prepared for a lot of annoyed fans (who are, as I hear it, already swarming out of the woodwork).
John Romita, one of the artists on the Spider-Man comic book, deliberately made Gwen and Mary Jane into an Homage to the Archie Comics Betty and Veronica respectively. Gwen seemed to have won... until she died. (The Ultimate Universe swaps them, making Mary Jane the Betty and Gwen the Veronica.) Later, the comic briefly had Mary Jane as the Betty and the Black Cat as the Veronica. Then ~~Spidey hitched up with MJ and spent the next twenty years of real time in marital bliss with an understanding supermodel~~ nothing happened.
- Spider-Man writers seem to be fond of this trope. Originally it was a choice betwen Liz Allen (Veronica) and Betty Brant (appropriately, the Betty). Then it was M.J and Gwen. Then M.J swapped roles and became the Betty, while Black Cat was the Veronica and now we have Lily (Betty) and Carlie (Veronica).
- The Gwen = Betty and MJ = Veronica thing becomes especially obvious in the newest cartoon.
- Ben Reily had the blonde spoiled and sometimes selfish fashion student and the twisted down to earth gothic girl. She was also the daughter of uncle Ben's murder. Which of the two is Betty and which is Veronica depends on your point of view.
X-Men had a long-running Love Triangle with Jean Grey, Cyclops (Betty) and Wolverine (Veronica)...which was turned on its head during Grant Morrison's early 2000s run, which introduced a Betty And Veronica love triangle with Cyclops as the center figure, Jean as the Betty, and Emma Frost as the Veronica.
- In the earlier days, the Jean Grey love triangle had Angel in place of Wolverine.
Flash Gordon does this several times: Flash must choose between Dale (the Betty) and Princess Aura (the Veronica); Princess Aura must choose between Flash (the Betty) and Prince Barrin (the Veronica). The 2007 series confuses things by throwing Baylin (the Veronica) into the mix.
In Silver Age Superman, Lois Lane was somewhat Veronica-ish, compared to Clark's childhood sweetheart Lana Lang. In early modern continuity, Lois was the Betty and the Planet gossip columnist Cat Grant was the Veronica.
Superman's clone Superboy had to choose between journalist Tana Moon (the Betty) and his agent's daughter Roxy Leech (the Veronica). Then his cellular matrix started to decay, and he was recreated with Roxy's genes, making them Like Brother And Sister. Then he fell in with Knockout (another Veronica) before realising she was evil. Then Tana went on sabbatical, and came back just to get killed.
Comic strip Luann deals with this frequently, with main character Luann (the reasonably nice Betty) competing with vain cheerleader Tiffany (Veronica) for Aaron Hill (Archie).
The comic adaptation of Captain N The Game Master had Princess Lana as the Betty, while the Veronica was none other than Samus Aran.

Film

A "color-coded" triangle exists in film noirs The Postman Always Rings Twice, Tension, and Out Of The Past (where the evil Veronica, Jane Greer, dresses all in white, as Lana Turner had in "Postman"). In the black and white film Dark Passage, both the Veronica and Betty characters (Agnes Moorhead and Lauren Bacall respectively) are brunettes, but Moorhead's character loves and is coded by the color orange.
John Hughes has used this binary triangle with some success. In Pretty In Pink, the traditional "Betty/Veronica" triangle exists between two boys and a girl ("Blaine", "Ducky", red-headed "Andi")... Yet the unpleasant "Reggie" archetype is played by the blonde, wealthy James Spader, who seeks to sabotage his friend "Blaine", an "Archie" type nice boy. The character of "Duckie" is comic relief, like "Jughead," but unique in that he's also a love interest. Hughes turned the cliche over with Some Kind of Wonderful - a red-haired "Archie" (Eric Stoltz) loves a popular girl (Lea Thompson) with brown hair, but can't see that his blonde, tomboyish best friend (Mary Stuart Masterson) loves him.
- Of course Pretty in Pink was originally shot to have her end up with the Betty (Ducky) as well, but thanks to Executive Meddling...
  - More like thanks to the actor playing Ducky being more flaming than Fire Island on pride week.
Partially subverted in The Mask, where the Betty, a news reporter, sells Stanley out to the Big Bad, while the Veronica, the Big Bad's Moll, is the one who stays true and ends up with him. There may be messages in the career woman (who sold him down the river for the betterment of said career) vs. the arm candy (who stayed loyal to him even in the face of death), but it's a pre-Truman Show Jim Carrey movie, so who cares.
The two fiancées in Corpse Bride fit this trope—shy, proper, living Victoria is the Betty and the lively-but-dead Emily is the Veronica.
- Except that Victor specifically wants to marry Victoria; Emily was in the picture thanks to a rather weird Accidental Engagement.
A lot of eighties teen movies use the Betty-as-Hero's-crushing-best-friend and the Veronica as Unattainable-Queen-Of-School dynamic.
Featured but skewed in Strange Days, where the Betty is an ass-kicking tough-as-nails limo driver who is devoted to the (slightly skeevy) main character, and the Veronica is a flaky, self-centred punk rock singer who broke the main character's heart and who he's been obsessed with ever since. The Betty wins out, partly because the Veronica slept with the main characters best friend and conspired with him to frame the main character for two murders.
While it's not a love-triangle set-up, it's worth noting that in Heathers, Winona Ryder's exotic and popular character is named Veronica, while her quieter, slightly dowdy childhood best friend she has dumped to join the popular crowd is named Betty, in obvious reference to Archie comics.
Terrence Malick's The New World applies this trope to the story of Pocahontas, who has to choose between John Smith (Veronica) and John Rolfe (Betty).
Gender Flipped in Emma (therefore Clueless) the lead character is chasing Frank Churchill (the gay one in Clueless) before figuring out that George Knightley (Her ex-stepbrother in Clueless) is her Betty.
Also gender-flipped in Pirates Of The Caribbean with Jack as the Veronica and Will as the Betty.
In Death Becomes Her, Helen, a shy, timid Betty in the beginning of the movie, is desperately afraid her fiance Ernest will fall for Madeline, her childhood friend, who is a flashy actress and definite Veronica. Depending on how you define the roles, though, they become less distinct after the first fifteen minutes of the movie.
Mulholland Drive: Betty is, well, "Betty", and Rita is "Veronica". Initially subverted in that, instead of being two sides of a love triangle, they initially develop a lesbian relationship. It gets more complicated later on.
In Shark Tale, with Angie as the Betty and Lola as the Veronica.

Literature

Harry Potter ships with this approach:
- Harry gets to choose between the beautiful and popular but fragile and weepy, Cho Chang and the gutsy, tough, persistent, capable, red-headed Ginny Weasley. The First Girl Wins. Heroes Want Red Heads, after all.
  - Wait, are you implying that Ginny is the Veronica? Or is she the Betty because she's the seemingly unremarkable girl next door he doesn't even notice at first?
  - Or, Harry chooses between Ginny (Veronica) and Luna Lovegood (a Cloudcuckoolander-flavored Betty), since by the time the infamous "Chest Monster" made the scene, Cho and Harry couldn't look at each other without intense mutual embarassment.
  - That is to say, if Harry had any such feelings for Luna.
- On the other hand, Ron ditches giggling, fangirly Lavender Brown (Veronica) and chooses sensible bookworm Hermione (Betty).
- Hermione choosing between the famous, popular, mysterious and intense Viktor Krum(Veronica) and her good friend Ron (Betty)?
- This trope is played with canonically with the Lily/Snape/James triangle. Snape's Pensieved memories show that Snape (who was in love with Lily all along) was originally Lily's best friend, while she wanted nothing to do with arrogant bully James. Of course, this changes and Lily eventually marries James, but interestingly it seems that this only happens once Snape switches to the Veronica (by insulting Lily and calling her "mudblood") and James to the Betty (by acting less arrogant and more mature once he left school). It's like a Betty and Veronica love triangle where Archie has no interest in the Veronica... whoever it may be at a given time.
  - J.K. Rowling has expressed her dismay with the fact that All Girls Want Bad Boys in interviews, so this may simply be Lily defying that trope in combination with an Hourglass Plot.
In Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, the titular character initially marries the charmingly ditzy Dora Spenlow (Veronica), and only later discovers and returns the love of the gentle, supportive Agnes Wickfield (Betty).
Piers Anthony's Isle of View (say it out loud) in the Xanth series resolves the Betty and Veronica love triangle between Prince Dolph and his two fiancees: Electra (sweet, willing, but unexciting) and Nada Naga (exotic, beautiful, but uninterested).
Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov has oldest brother Dmitri caught in a Love Triangle between the aristocratic Betty, Katerina Ivanovna, and the less-than-reputable Veronica, Grushenka.
In R. Scott Bakker's Second Apocalypse the blonde, brainless, surprisingly-innocent Serwe is Betty and the dark-haired, intelligent prostitute Esmenet is Veronica.
Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and all of its kajillion adaptations do this. The rebellious student Marius (Archie), the cultured and mysterious orphan Cosette (Betty), and the spunky, determined, and quite possibly not-right-in-the-head street urchin Eponine (Veronica), the winner being Cosette by Values Dissonance. Eponine was intended as a living critique of 19th century France's rigid class system: she never could get in a relationship with the (broke, but still) aristocratic Marius, because they just weren't considered equals.
The Man Who Laughs, where Gwynplaine is torn between the extremely sweet Dea and the rather perverted Duchess Josiane.
Stardust: Tristran has to make a Red Pill Blue Pill choice between the magical shooting star Yvaine (Betty) and his former crush Victoria (Veronica). Yvaine wins.
In Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga, gender roles are switched—the protagonist, Bella Swan, has to choose between Edward the Veronica and Jacob the Betty... Edward wins.
Honorverse gives an interesting example in which not the hero, but a supporting character, Hamish Alexander, gets torn between his beautiful, loving and brilliant, but invalid wife, Emily (the Betty), and lively, athletic and no less beautiful protege and subordinate, titular Honor Harrington. Being an Officer And A Gentleman, Hamish decided to simply suffer nobly in silence, which brought a truly monumental amount of problems for at least three books until he was whacked on the head by no other than his very wife. He then went on implementing the Tenchi Solution, marrying both.
Bridget Jones's Diary plays this fairly straight between Mark Darcy (Betty) and Daniel (Veronica). By the end of the books, Mark has won, although when Helen Fielding continued the column, apparently Bridget was still torn between them and even ends up having Daniel's baby. Sigh.
Kushiel's Legacy has Imriel torn between his dutiful love for gentle brunette wife Dorelei, and his socially inappropriate and fairly kinky attachment to glamorous, feisty blonde heiress Sidonie, a Defrosting Ice Queen. Arguably Phedre, Hyacinthe and Joscelin fall into this as well, if only because of the complicated nature of Phedre's relationship with Joscelin.
In the Russian version of The Tale "The Shadow", written by E. Shwartz, the scientist Christian Theodore, after defeating his shadow, chooses to marry the faithful Annunciata, rather than the shallow (as it turns out) princess, his previous love interest.
Very early example: the eponymous hero of Daniel Deronda has to choose between sweet, emotionally fragile Jewish musician Mirah and shallow, socialite fallen on hard times Gwendolen. In a very unpopular move for the times, he chooses Mirah.
Tipping The Velvet: In a rare lesbian example, Nan has to decide between her beautiful, faithless, music hall artiste ex Kitty and her feisty socialist girlfriend Florence. She chooses Flo. Partly ruined by the TV adaptation, which insists on turning the savvy Flo into an innocent wet week. It might be this change in focus which leads many fans to complain she should have picked Kitty.
In Lian Hearn's Tales Of The Otori series, protagonist Takeo must choose between Ninja Maid Dark Action Girl Yuki and the relatively normal Kaede.
In Gottfried Keller's Green Henry (1854/55) the protagonist is torn between the sweet Anna and the passionate Judith.

Live Action TV

Every third episode of Ally Mc Beal had this plot, either for Ally or one of her clients.
Degrassi The Next Generation has a gay (male) Betty And Veronica played straight — one boyfriend is a timid neat freak, and the other one is clueless and selfish.
South Of Nowhere is unique in that it features a "Betty" and "Veronica" lesbian romance - a blonde "girl next door" who falls for her troubled, petulant, dark-haired friend - with no "Archie" in the middle, after the first few episodes.
Of course, Gilligans Island has the perennial question of "Ginger or Mary Ann?", where Ginger is the Veronica and Mary Ann is the Betty.
- When it gets a church sermon, you know it's well known.
The Original 90210 had Dylan (blend of Johnny Depp and James Dean) choose between Brenda(Betty) and Kelly(Veronica).He dated both for some time,until he finally choosed Kelly. Some seasons later Kelly had to choose between Dylan and Brandon(Mr.Nice Guy).
Willow from Buffy The Vampire Slayer was the Betty to Xander's Archie. She was a genuine love interest for Xander, but he was far more drawn, in different ways, towards two different Veronicas: Buffy and Cordelia. (This being Joss Whedon, when Xander finally started to return Willow's interest, it trashed his relationship with Cordelia, nearly trashed Willow's relationship with Oz, and did not lead to Xander and Willow living together happily ever after.)
- Early seasons also has the gender-flipped version with Buffy as Archie, Xander as Betty and Angel as Veronica.
  - Buffy and Faith had a strong Betty And Veronica vibe going, although the guy playing Archie changed regularly. Xander, Angel, Riley, and Spike all took turns - usually fairly brief - in the Archie seat.
  - For those keeping score, Buffy was simultaneously Veronica to Willow's Betty and Betty to Faith's Veronica. There's probably a lesson here.
In Veronica Mars, there's several instances of this throughout the entire series. Duncan (Betty)-Veronica-Logan (Veronica). Veronica (Veronica)-Duncan-Meg (Betty). Piz (Betty)-Veronica-Logan (Veronica). Even Wallace gets his brief moment of Love Triangulus. Not to mention, Weevil and a certain dead girl and their involvement in a past-tense love triangle, an example which is especially adequate for this trope.
- Try not to be confused by the fact that the female lead's name is actually Veronica. The writers lampshaded the fact by having Veronica assume a different identity, using the name "Betty" as an alias when she needed to infiltrate a rival school (and claims to have come from a Riverdale High).
In Dark Shadows, the original supernatural soap opera, Friendly Neighborhood Vampire Barnabas Collins is torn between the memory of his fiancee, Josette du Pre, a Betty type, and the Veronica type (to the max) Angelique, the witch who gave him the vampire curse. At the end he gets over his torch for Josette, and avows to Angelique that he loves her. She is then killed, and Barnabas ends up with neither.
- Not that she stayed dead very long, mind...
Unusually The OC had Seth, the Cool Loser end up with popular, beautiful, initially uninterested Summer (Veronica) while the seemingly kindred spirit Anna (Betty) was quickly dropped.
Chuck: For one or two episodes, Chuck has to choose between CIA Action Girl Sarah (Veronica) and sweet deli owner Lou (Betty). Later, there's a Gender Flip example when Sarah has to choose between Chuck (Betty) and her spy ex-boyfriend Bryce (Veronica).
In My So Called Life, Brian Krakow is the love-struck, blonde boy next door (Betty). The protagonist Angela Chase (Archie) just can't see him because she's too busy lusting after bad boy Jordan Catalano (Veronica). Luckily, Brian and Jordan are Color Coded For Your Convenience.
Gilmore Girls. Especially in the early seasons, when Rory has to choose between sweet, strait-laced Dean (Betty) and badboy intellectual Jess (Veronica).
Lost: Jack (Betty), Sawyer (Veronica), and Kate (Archie).
- But in season five it's: Juliet (Betty), Kate (Veronica) and Sawyer (Archie).
Gossip Girl has used this several times, most effectively with Blair having to choose between Nate (Betty) and Chuck (Veronica).
A totally gay example, in an episode of Ugly Betty "A League of Their Own", Marc St James meets Cliff who he clicks with but Marc asks a nameless (very hunky) model out instead, before being confronted by Cliff who was trying to ask him out.
Dexter has sensible, kind (and blonde) Rita as Betty to dark-haired, dangerous, manipulative former addict Lila as Veronica.
Dobie Gillis had a revolving cast of pretty, money-hungry Veronicas, most notably Thalea Menninger. His constant and loving Betty was the somewhat tomboyish Zelda Gilroy.
Private Practice has also used this often, most obviously with Violet as the Betty, Charlotte as the Veronica, and Cooper as the Archie.

Music

This dynamic is perfectly captured with the lyric "your debutante just knows what you need, but I know what you want"
- In an odd contrast to this lyric, Veronica was actually a big-city debutante in her initial introduction in the 1940s, in order to contrast with small-town Betty.
Dolly Parton's famous song Jolene paints the picture of this variety of love triangle. Jolene (with her "beauty beyond compare") is the Veronica, and the singer (who "cannot compete with you, Jolene") is the Betty. The song consists of "Betty" begging Jolene not to steal her man.

Theatre

In Wicked, Fiyero and Glinda initially bond over their self absorption and love of living it large. They start going steady. Elphaba realises she loves Fiyero the day they rescue the lion cub, he starts to realise he has feelings for her ... It sorts itself out for the best eventually.
In Georges Bizet's opera, Carmen, Micaela and Carmen are, respectively, a Betty and Veronica for Don Jose.
In Lady In The Dark, Liza Elliott, editor of Allure magazine, is unable to Make Up Her Mind between Kendall Nesbitt, publisher of the magazine, and Hollywood hunk Randy Curtis. She finally decides to Take A Third Option.

Video Games

Dragon Quest V did this when the player has to choose between three women to marry. The Betty and Veronica in this situation is Nera and her sister Debora respectively.
Played with and in doing so arguably averted in Skies Of Arcadia, where Vyse is between the Mysterious Waif Fina and his best friend Aika, who happens to be a pirate (to be fair, Vyse himself is also a pirate). The aversion comes from the fact that aside from a few Ship Tease moments (which seem to lean towards a Tenchi Solution if anything) the plot is wholly unconcerned with the main characters' love life, unlike the vast majority of RPGs to come out around the same time.
An interesting example occurs in Grandia II, since Betty and Veronica are the same person. Not to mention that the Betty, Elena, is pretty much a priestess, while the Veronica, Millenia, is a part of the evil god Valmar (his Wings to be exact), that's possessing Elena. The main character seems to be leaning towards Elena, though they don't really hook up. Also, Millenia separates from Elena near the end. Somehow. And keeps waiting for Ryudo, convinced that he will choose her over Elena.
Occurs in Final Fantasy VII: Cloud is given a choice between the Betty, Aeris, and the Veronica, Tifa, though it can be argued that Aeris, as the spunky up and at 'em last of a dying race, is the 'special' Veronica type, and the shy girl next door Tifa is a Betty type. In reality, both girls are a blend of the two archetypes.
According to the author, the potential love interests for the player character in Planescape Torment, Annah-of-the-Shadows and Fall-From-Grace, were inspired by Betty and Veronica. Weirdly, they both have a blend of features—Grace, the wealthy, worldly, educated, glamorous one is by far the more personable of the two; the guttersnipe, relatable Annah is more brash and sharp-tongued, but also younger and more inexperienced.
If one has two or more of the female love interests in the party in Baldurs Gate II, multiple Betty and Veronica scenarios can exist. Sweet, innocent Aerie is definitely the most Betty-ish, with no-nonsense old friend but world-wise warrior Jaheira being somewhere between the two, and darkly exotic rogue drow Viconia being firmly a Veronica. (Alternatively, with all three—and it is possible to start a romance with all three, though obviously not finish it that way—one might be said to have a Betty, Veronica, and Cheryl situation, except there are no three-way fights over you, just two-way.)
Interesting variation happens in Lufia II, where the situation is set up as normal: Tia, the old friend with a crush on the hero being Betty and Selan, the exotic and (somewhat) mysterious fighter being Veronica. The variation being that not only Maxim ends up with Selan/Veronica, it also does it midway through the game
- Or before it, if you count the fact that the first game kinda gave it away in the prologue chapter (which is the second's final one).
In Tales Of Symphonia, Lloyd's two most obvious love interests are Colette, his blond, quiet, gentle Victorious Childhood Friend (Betty) and Sheena, the raven-haired, tough, exotic Action Girl (Veronica). The game lets you decide who he ends up with (including neither), thanks to the multiple endings.
- In Tales Of Vesperia, the two main het pairings for main character Yuri are with Estelle (Betty) and Judith (Veronica).
Otacon's love interests in the first two Metal Gear Solid games fit this trope: in MSG I, he has an unrequited crush on Dark Action Girl Sniper Wolf (Veronica), and in MSG II, it's revealed that his step-sister Emma (Betty) has been in love with him since childhood.
- Also, in MSG III, Naked Snake/Big Boss has Paramedic (Betty) and EVA (Veronica).
In Jade Empire, the player gets to choose between childhood friend Dawn Star (Betty) and pampered princess Sun Lian/Silk Fox (Veronica). In an interesting twist, there is also a third option where you can have them both. Having said that, I'll be in my bunk.
Also from Bioware, Mass Effect allows the player to choose from the empathetic and scholarly Liara T'Soni (Betty) and spunky action girl Ashley Williams (Veronica). These roles can justifiably be reversed when you consider that Ashley is a regular human and Liara belongs to an exotic race of psychic aliens who reproduce by banging very nearly everything that moves. The two will eventually confront one another, and you, if you don't turn one of them down.
There's a bit of this in Disgaea, with Flonne being the Betty and Etna as the Veronica. That being said, you can argue that they're something of an interesting inversion: the game takes place in the Netherworld, which means Etna's sneaky, deliberately amoral demeanor makes her the "normal" choice, while Flonne is the new and different anomaly.
In Breath Of Fire 2, there's Ryu's two love interests, Nina (Betty) and Katt (Veronica). Interestingly enough, Ryu actually has more opportunities to have romantic moments with Katt than Nina (even though both like him).
It looks like this is going to come up in the sequel to Uncharted Drakes Fortune: brand new Action Girl sidekick Chloe Frazier is Veronica, and Intrepid Reporter Elena Fisher returns to become the Betty.

Webcomics

In Fans!, Rikk is the subject of a love triangle between Rumy, the quiet, shy but centered and focused Betty, and Alisin, the hedonistic, outgoing but self-loathing and unpredictable Veronica, both of whom are equally devoted to and passionately in love with him. Over most of the series, Alisin had the upper hand, which led Rumy to channel her feelings into ensuring that Rikk was happy with Alisin instead. Somewhat uniquely, everyone in the love triangle become so close that they eventually decide to form a three-way romantic relationship.
Pibgorn: Pibgorn (Betty) and Drusilla (Veronica) both love Geoffrey, but when he chooses Pib, Drusilla goes along with it. Unusual in that Dru is a succubus.
Rip And Teri: The 'Betty' is Teri, a meek and somewhat nerdy English teacher. The 'Veronica' is Tatyana, a glamourous and gorgeous ex-super spy and TV station CEO. However, whilst Tatyana thinks that the hero still has a thing for her, he's actually madly in love with Teri. It kind of helps that, in their brief romance, Tatyana manipulated and betrayed him, however.
Cindy (Betty) and Dusk (Veronica) in Faux Pas. They're both vixens, but Dusk's fur is darker.
College Roomies From Hell: While Dave seems to have chosen Veronica (Rich girl with issues, Blue) over Betty (Survivalist Psycho Chick, Margaret), Dave remains close to (and admittedly emotionally attached to) Margaret.
- Oddly enough, Margaret, the so called Betty, was the one that barely knew Dave existed at the start of the comic, whereas Blue, the Veronica, was in love with him off the bat.
Arthur King Of Time And Space: In the "space arc", Arthur has to choose between the outspoken but basically nice Action Girl Guenevere (Betty) and the ambitious and amoral enchantress Morgan La Fay (Veronica). The First Girl Wins, although only after Second Girl is disqualified.
Megatokyo: Piro (Archie)'s current girlfriend, Kimiko, is an emotionally insecure struggling actress (Betty), whereas Miho, his ex, is a very dark and enigmatic Veronica.
- Inversely, Erika's former fiance was a close friend from high school (Betty), while her current beau, an insane American hacker genius / zombie slayer, is most certainly the male equivalent of the Veronica.
In Scary Go Round, sensible Erin Winters (Betty) and Perky Goth Dark Esther (Veronica) competed for The Boy's affection. Esther won.
- A more recent love triangle involves Esther's friend Sarah, with Ryan Beckwith as the independent, older Veronica. Carrot would be a safer Betty here if his chances of success weren't those of the Isle of Wight trying to invade China.
Jean Poule and Princess Voluptua in The Inexplicable Adventures Of Bob.
Girl Genius has Klaus as Veronica, Bill as Betty and Lucrezia Mongfish as Archie. Interestingly, the friendship between Klaus and Bill is stronger than either, and Klaus is determined to protect the naive Bill from the untrustworthy Lucrezia. He fails, bigtime.
- Then there's the current generation of Sparks, with Klaus's son as Betty, the son of Lucrezia's most fervent supporter (besides the spider-riding people who worship her as a goddess...) as Veronica, and Bill and Lucrezia's little girl as Archie.
Played with/deconstructed/ripped apart/critically examined (it's the way of their tribe) in this strip of XKCD.

Western Animation

Clone High pushes this one to its logical extremes: Abraham Lincoln is madly in love with demanding, selfish, spoiled, slutty, gorgeous, popular Cleopatra, while remaining completely clueless to the devotion of his best friend, spunky, intelligent, independent, creative, semi-goth Joan of Arc. Of course, in the end he realises that he really loves Joan, etc, etc.
- To a much lesser extent, Joan could be considered to be the Archie to Abe's Betty and JFK's Veronica.
Applies to Danny Phantom, where Danny is infatuated with Paulina, the shallow, beautiful "Veronica" of the school, ignoring the pretty, intellegient "Betty" at his side, Samantha Manson. The love triangle isn't clear at the beginning of the show, when Samantha and Danny are Just Friends, but eventually their feelings do grow for each other. Later on, Danny's crush on Paulina fades, and one of his arch-enemies becomes the "Veronica" instead. A bit of a subversion, in that the biggest strike against Valerie is that she's trying to kill Danny. Definitely a case of Dating Catwoman.
Parodied not subtly at all in South Park. In the two parter "Do the Handicapped Go To Hell?"/"Probably", Satan has to choose between his two gay lovers, and the Veronica happens to be Saddam Hussein. And the two rivals keep killing each other, but they're in Hell already, so they just keep coming back... Eventually, Satan just says "forget it" and dumps them both, deciding to forgo having relationships at all for a while.
Disney's Pocahontas also genderswaps this with Kocoum as the Betty and John Smith as the Veronica, although the contest clearly ends when Kocoum dies.
In The Fairly Oddparents, Tootie is the Betty and Trixie is the Veronica to Timmy Turner's Archie.
Ace Lightning has Heather and Sam - who both date Mark at one point or another and have seemingly conflicting persnalities - yet are best friends.
The Spectacular Spider Man has Gwen as the Betty, similar to some of her comic book presentations, but it is Liz Allen who is given the status of the Veronica. Mary Jane, oddly, is not really a serious romantic interest for Peter for the first and second season and spends most of her time on the sidelines.

Truth In Television

Real life Betty/Veronica tensions = brunette, cute Judy Garland vs. fast, "sweater girl" Lana Turner, both in love with bandleader Artie Shaw. More famously, Debbie Reynolds (Betty) vs. Elizabeth Taylor (Veronica). After Taylor was widowed suddenly, Reynold's husband Eddie Fisher (father to Carrie) left his family to be with Liz. The nation sided against Eddie and Liz, until Liz came down with a near fatal case of pneumonia.
Blonde Jennifer Aniston as the Betty, brunette Angelina Jolie as the Veronica, Brad Pitt as... Archie? The tabloids had many, many field days with this.
Didn't want to say it, but... pretty much any woman/man in David Bowie's life during his first marriage can be cast as the Veronica, which makes the hardly tame Angie (y'know, his wife) the Betty. Yeah. He got around.
WARNING! Do not put examples from your personal life here! I feel your pain, it's happened to me. But no-one cares! Besides, there's Troper Tales for that.

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