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Torn between two lovers
Feeling like a fool
Loving both of you is breaking all the rules
—Mary McGregor, "Torn Between Two Lovers"
A is in love with B, but B is in love with C, resulting in wacky hijinks. Alternatively, A and B are both in love with C, who is torn between the two and must make a choice. In the latter case, A and B tend to be Betty And Veronica; in the former, A will usually be The Paolo or a Hopeless Suitor.
Can sometimes lead to A stepping back because They Just Want Their Beloved To Be Happy. Alternately, A is a total jerk or Clingy Jealous Girl, making it completely okay for B to get C. Of course, A could just Murder The Hypotenuse, but that would be overly cynical.
Very common in Soap Opera.
Note: More people than three, in more geometries, is still sometimes called a "triangle." The notion of more elaborate combinations is explored further in Love Dodecahedron.
There is an exploration of all the possible triangles in Triang Relations. See also Two Guys And A Girl, Wrong Guy First, and Unrequited Love Switcheroo.
Sibling Triangle is a special variant.
Examples:
Anime/Manga
- The anime TV series Kimagure Orange Road is built partly around the long-term problems and implications of the triangle between Hikaru (A), Kyousuke (B), and Madoka (C).
- In Shakugan No Shana, there is Shana to Yuji Sakai to Kazumi Yoshida.
- A particularly ridiculous one occurs in Martian Successor Nadesico where our main hero, Akito, is practically pummeled by affection by nearly every female character in the show, the main contenders being Yurika, Megumi, and Ryoko. Yurika has the distinct advantage of having known him at some point during their childhood, but her hysterical attempts to impress him or so much as grab his attention go in vain for the most part. He actually appears to be going steady with Megumi in the 4th episode, which concludes with them kissing and walking along holding hands in mutual affection. However, he and Megumi kissing/appearing to go steady was because she was deliberately supporting of him and not pulling the Clingy Jealous Girl routine (at the time), and Akito was shown obviously liking that about her, but she had to take that too far, and as a result disqualified herself later (and Akito directly references their early first romantic overture while pointing this out rather unequivocally) when she tried to move their relationship into adult territory. Ryoko is a more subtle contender in that she has strong feelings for him, but doesn't actively seek him out due to her pride in the way she doesn't fanatically chase him the way Megumi and Yurika do, but she seems to have garnered more attention from him than either of the other females (albeit not enough for him to see her as much more than a friend). Also, he does have feelings for Yurika (but her Clingy Jealous Girl antics are what kept the romantic flame stunted) throughout the series, and he winds up with her at the end as a result of finally caving in to his feelings for her (and by this time Yurika was finally figuring out that the Clingy Jealous Girl routine was backfiring rather badly).
- Also, given the parodic nature of the show, it was perhaps a subtle jab at harem anime, rather blatantly implying that the guy just might fall for one of the girls in the harem if they all weren't so aggressive about garnering his affections.
- One may question the legitimacy of Akito's feelings for Yurika, as he pays her very little attention throughout the series and offers a ridiculous explanation during the last few minutes of the series finale. Through speculation, this could be perceived as last-minute romance with no prior development or fundamental basis as a result of lazy writers.
- Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl is so centrally about a Love Triangle (with additional hangers-on to the point of Unwanted Harem-ness) that the opening credits show A, B, and C standing on a triangle. Also, chapter 7 of the manga is titled "Girl Triangle".
- Kagome and Kikyo and Inuyasha.
- On Keroro Gunsou, Tamama (A) vies constantly with Angol Moa (B) for the attention of Keroro (C), who seems somewhat oblivious of Tamama's semi-platonic jealousy and Moa's crush. Keroro Gunsou even has a scenario with both types of Love Triangle rolled into one: Giroro (A) and Koyuki (B) both have a crush on Natsumi (C), who has a crush on Saburo (D). Unlike most of the above examples, the triangles aren't central to the plot of the series.
- Kaitou Saint Tail was in love with Asuka Jr, but so was Rina.
- Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch had Lucia, who was Kaito's girlfriend, but then Michel took Kaito's memory, leaving him open to Michal, who was Michel's symbiote. Meanwhile, Lucia's trying to find Kaito, and when she does, get him back.
- Ichigo and Aoyama-kun both had their share of admirers in Tokyo Mew Mew — the latter, a squad of fangirls; the former, Mission Control and a Stalker With A Crush.
- Berserk has used this trope repeatedly throughout its run. The major one was the triangle of Guts, Casca, and Griffith. Guts's and Casca's romance with each other is undercut by their (separate) loyalty and attraction to their leader, Griffith. Said attraction is emotional, with implied physical undertones in both cases. Griffith himself seems incapable of entirely returning either's feelings, but does care deeply for both and shows a certain amount of emotional and arguably physical attraction to Guts. No, it does not end well. Later, the initial triangle is echoed in the relationship between Serpico, Farnese, and Casca: Serpico seems to be in love with Farnese, who needs him very much but seems to be paying more attention to Casca. There are hints of a triangle between Isidoro, Schierke, and Guts as well. However, if you add Judeau to the first triangle and Roderick to the second one, it begins to seem more like a Love Dodecahedron...
- You probably need to add Guts to the Serpico, Farnese and Casca plus Roderick.
- Serpico, Farnese, and Casca? She pays more attention to Casca because that sort of her job; to babysit her. In fact, instead of being romantically interested in Casca, there have been numerous times where she's shown to be jealous of her.
- Subverted in xxxHoLic, where Watanuki only thinks he's in a Love Triangle with Himawari (C) and Doumeki (A or B). In reality, Domeki and Himawari aren't particularly interested in each other romantically at all. In fact, the person Domeki and Himawari are both interested in is quite likely Watanuki himself... this actually makes this instance a rather interesting example of becoming a Double Subversion.
- And then all hell breaks loose when Watanuki is shown to realize that the one who's most important to him is Yuuko, for whom he stops his aging and unhesitatingly sacrifices the right to leave the shop forever, until the day she returns to him. Doumeki is pissed at this arrangement, and Himawari's reaction has yet to be shown.
- A Love Triangle is practically a requirement for a Macross show. Each and every installment has featured one.
- Macross7 is notable for one of the more irritating love triangles in that Mylene has a dedicated, loyal suitor in Gamlin, yet is unable to decide between his obvious affection and the brash emotional personality of Basara, who by all indications isn't even aware of her potential feelings for him and generally irritates the hell out of her more often than not. And besides that, Basara's not only attracted the obvious romantic attention of a biker girl secondary character, but is locked in a pseudo-love triangle over the Enigmatic Minion Sivil, with his competition being The Dragon of the series' first half, Gigil.
- In stark contrast, the love triangle in the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross, involving Hikaru, Misa, and Minmay is among the most well done examples of one.
- In a change of pace, Macross Plus had Two Guys And A Girl.
- One of the more audacious moves is in Macross Frontier, where Alto gets the attention of two IdolSingers Sheryl and Ranka (above). What's audacious about it is that, despite dispensing GALLONS upon GALLONS of Ship Tease so that it could've gone either way, the Love Triangle is never resolved in the show.
- The principal love triangle of Full Metal Panic encapsulates the primary female leads of the series, Kaname and Tessa, and their individual versions of affection for male lead Sosuke (who is unaware or just beginning to understand that he's in love with Kaname, and mainly sees Tessa as his superior officer and friend, much to her frustration).
- Plus the fact that Sousuke and karate club president Tsubaki can hardly stand each other is undoubtedly fueled by the fact that they're both smitten with Kaname.
- Depending on how you look at it, there is a weird, warped sort of love triangle between Sousuke, Gauron, and the twins Yu Fang and Yu Lan. With Gauron being completely and obsessively in love with Sousuke, the twins loving Gauron, and Sousuke... hating Gauron.
- The most important triangle could be the one between Sousuke, Kaname and Gauron. Except in this case Sousuke wouldn't have to chose between two people, but rather between two different life styles and/or two versions of himself: the weaker, gun-totting, socially clueless version that he is with Kaname, or the cold-blooded, unstoppable killer that Gauron became fascinated with once upon a time. All this became rather obvious at the end of the first season, and The Second Raid has only managed to take this further by having Gauron trying to Murder The Hypotenuse.
- Nobuta Wo Produce: a classic high school Love Triangle, notable because the three started out (and eventually ended up) as close friends. Akira was head-over-heels in love with Nobuta, but Nobuta had a shy crush on Shuji. Shuji and Akira also had a ridiculous amount of Ho Yay played up between them.
- Kaze No Stigma: Ren with his two best friends (a guy and a girl), and Kazuma with Ayano and Katherine (both type 3).
- Much of ef A Tale of Memories revolves around the love triangle between Kei, Hiro and Miyako.
- Super Robot Wars Original Generation series, has Mai Kobayashi, and Latooni Subota both going after Ryusei Date. Who does Ryu love? Latooni's giant robot. That, or Lune's giant robot. Or Lamia's. Or maybe Aya's once it got equipped with a skirt...
- Kusuha might have been in there at some point, but she was destined for Bullet by game of origin.
- Most of True Tears revolves around a love triangle between Shinchiro, Noe and Hiromi. With Ai thrown in as well.
- Pretear had a Love Triangle in the backstory (Sasame-Takako-Hayate), although it isn't revealed until much later. Then there is Mawata's crush on Sasame — and Sasame, depending on the adaptation, either likes Himeno (who likes Hayate), or still loves Takako, enough to betray his friends and join her.
- Fruits Basket has a not-exactly-love-triangle... Kyo and Yuki never precisely compete for Tohru, but they both care about her and their rivalry sometimes extends into this. (Creating multiple Crowning Moments.)
- Then there was the twisted Love Triangle in the manga, which involved Shigure, Akito and Kureno. It was solved in the end.
- In Elfen Lied, Clingy Jealous Girl Yuuka has been in love with Kouta since they were kids. Homicidal maniac Lucy has also been in love with Kouta since they were kids. Kouta doesn't really remember any of it, though, due to Trauma Induced Amnesia caused by Lucy murdering his parents, but now he's going to the same college as Yuuka and Lucy has dropped back into his life as a completely innocent girl with no memory at all, or indeed the ability to talk, except for occasional moments of clarity/Ax Craziness. Also, Yuuka and Kouta are cousins. Hilarity Ensues.
- Averted brilliantly in Bakuman as Takagi shuts down the love triangle between him, Miyoshi and Iwase as soon as he's aware of it, remarking how stupid the whole situation actually is.
- What makes it even better is that the possibility of it becoming a distracting Plot Tumor is killed from the get-go, unlike in a lot of other Shonen manga where the Love Triangles are allowed to linger for years without contributing to the plot or showing any signs of being resolved. The author must really dislike Ship To Ship Combat...
- Well, it would appear that Plot Tumor's don't get killed off that easily as Iwase is back with a vengeange and Tagaki seems to not be as willing to shut it down so conclusively this time.
- And the Plot Tumor is awesomely gone again. Thanks guys!
- In Mahou Sensei Negima, Nodoka and Yue are in love with Negi, who is definitely in love with Nodoka and possibly in love with Yue. It's largely oblivious on Negi's part, along with his knowledge of the feelings of many other students of his class...
- Nodoka and Yue eventually decide to be friendly rivals and support each other against other girls in the race. Later yet, Nodoka starts thinking of an alternative solution to this delicate problem...
- There is also Konoka/Setsuna/Tsukuyomi, although the latter seems oblivious to it.
- And possibly Natsumi/Kotarou/Mei, though Kotarou seems completely oblivious ... though he does certainly make things hard on Natsumi... I mean tough on her! You know, difficult? Not...
- Ruka, Shiori and Juri engage in a messy one in Revolutionary Girl Utena. It turns Ruka into a Manipulative Bastard for a short while trying to resolve it. It works... sort of.
- In Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, though Mion is the only who showed clear romantic interest in Keiichi, there is a sort of minor love triangle between her, Keiichi, and Rena; especially in the eyes of many fans.
- In the last episode of Rei, Rena confesses to Keiichi, though it may have been exaggerated by the magatama's power, it's still heavily implied that she loves him without the magatama.
- In the second Kujibiki Unbalance there is a love triangle between Chihiro, Tokino, and Ritsuko. This does not apply to the first version since in that version, Ritsuko is the only one that has any romantic involvement with Chihiro. However, due to it being only 3 episode out the supposed 26, it may be possible that there was some kind of love triangle and Ritsuko simply won in the end.
- Like Macross, it is very common in all seasons of Gundam.
- Mobile Suit Gundam has Amuro, Lalah and Char, Amuro, Fraww and Sayla, Amuro, Hayato and Fraww, Amuro, Sayla and Lalah.. Damn it Amuro! There's also Bright, Mirai and Cameron.
- Zeta Gundam has Kamille, Fa and Four.
- Gundam ZZ has Judau, Rou and Elle, Judau, Beecher and Elle, Judau, Roux and Glemmy.. Damn you too Judau!
- Chars Counterattack had Quess, Hathaway and Gyunei. Things turned ugly for these three.
- After War Gundam X has Garrod, Tiffa and Ennil and Sala, Roybea and Jamile. Garrod and Tiffa got together and so is Jamille and Sala. Graceful Losers Roybea and Enni apparently made a Last Minute Hookup
- Except for promotional images, Gundam Seed's main triangle are Kira, Flay and Sai. Kira and Sai patch things up and moved on with their lives, plus Kira ends up with Lacus. Flay on the other hand dies in the end.
- Gundam Seed Destiny has many courtesy of Athrun's harem. Damn you three Athrun!
- Gundam 00 has Saji, Louise and Andrei.
- Naruto loves Sakura, who loved (and might still love) Sasuke. That's one. But, what's this? Ino loves (or loved) Sasuke too? That's two. Now, Ino might have feelings for Sai. That would make three. Of course there are some who believe Ino actually has feelings for Shikamaru who might like Temari. That's four. Kakashi's old friend Obito loved Rin, who loved Kakashi. That's five. And finally, Hinata loves Naruto. That's six! And now things are getting real interesting since Hinata confessed her love to Naruto, so it looks like he'll have to choose between Sakura and Hinata sometime soon.
Shonen Jump Question:
Naruto and Sasuke kiss (accidentally) in the first chapter where they appear together. Does this add a special dimension to their rivalry?
Masashi Kishimoto Answer:
I didn't have any particular reason for it, other than to surprise readers. I mainly did it because I don't think there has ever been a manga where two rivals kissed. Also, by having this encounter, it was easier to set up the love triangle: Sakura, who had intended to be the first one to kiss Sasuke, has it stolen by her rival Naruto, Sasuke and Naruto are rivals, so there's and added tension there. And so on and so forth.
- Horrifyingly deconstructed in School Days, which appears at the beginning to be a light-hearted High School romantic comedy. Then Boy (possibly) gets Girl A (who he is dating) pregnant, which causes him to become an absolute Jerk Ass and start sleeping around. Girl A murders Boy, then Girl B (who Boy was dating but never got around to breaking up with) finds the body and confronts and murders Girl A. Girl B then takes Boy's rotting, decapitated head and relaxes on a nice boat with it.
- Ichinensei ni Nacchattara: Three ~7 year olds: Miho —> Touta —> Iori. Iori, secretly a genderbent highschooler, wants no part of it.
- Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple has a minor one between Kenichi, Miu, and Renka, although it's fairly obvious that Renka doesn't have much of a shot. Later on, there's also a possibility of a Kenichi, Miu, and Shigure triangle.
- Gantz Has one between Kei Kurono, Masaru Kato and Kei Kishimoto then one between Kei Kurono, Tae Kojima and Reika Shimohira but later the second Kei Kurono makes it into a love rectangle.
Comic Books
- Marvel Comics has some truly legendary love triangles. The archetypal X-Men love triangle had Jean Grey torn between stoic Cyclops and bad boy Wolverine. The Fantastic Four's Invisible Woman is devoted to her husband Mr. Fantastic but drawn to the passionate Namor. Of course, there's also the Avengers' Crystal/Black Knight/Sersi love triangle, which threatened to turn into a Love Dodecahedron because of Crystal's husband Quicksilver.
- And then there's Jean/Scott/Emma...even though Jean's "dead" again, that doesn't stop the writers.
- The younger generation isn't free from this either. Young Avengers has Kate Bishop in a Betty And Veronica situation with Patriot (Betty) and Speed (Veronica), and Stature is in a tweak of the Superman variation with Iron Lad and the Vision, whose brain is patterned off Iron Lad's memory engrams.
- Archie Comics has a Love Triangle subtrope all to itself.
- An interesting (and classic) variation happens with Superman. Clark Kent is smitten with Lois Lane, who is completely infatuated with Superman. So...Clark's only competition is with himself?
- Echoed in the relationship between Batman and Chase Meridian in Batman Forever. Also happens with Spider Man, whose love life is all over the map.
- Happens in the same fashion to Hal Jordan. At about the same time that Hal received his ring, Carol Ferris broke up with him in order to focus on running her father's business. Of course, that didn't stop her from chasing after Green Lantern whenever she got the opportunity.
- Different adaptations of the Superman mythos (i.e. the 90s' "Lois and Clark" TV series) will throw in Lex Luthor as a competitor for Lois' affections. Results may vary.
- Superman's ex-girlfriend Lana Lang is also in competition with Lois for his affections. In some versions of the story, Lana is just as unaware as Lois that Clark is Superman. In other versions, Lana has known since high school, and it was the initial reason they broke up—resulting in her rocky marriage to Clark's friend Pete Ross, making this a Love Dodecahedron. Superman himself long carried a torch for his college girlfriend Lori Lemaris, and was bitterly disappointed when she rejected him for Ronal, whom she married (Lori and Ronal are both merpeople, incidentally). Superman and Lori are now "Just Friends."
- Does Clarabelle Cow go out with Goofy or Horace Horsecollar? Some of the comics involving them play with this trope.
- Subverted in the erotic furry comic, Omaha The Cat Dancer. In this series, Omaha runs away from her lover, Charles Tabey Jr., in utter desolation after he blew up on her for a dark secret she had to confess (She was already married, had broken up with her husband long ago, but never actually divorced yet) and goes to a small town where she starts a passionate relationship with another man. However, Omaha learns that Charles was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown because her leaving him and she decides to return to him. Before she does that, she explains the full situation with her new boyfriend and he is understanding enough to encourage her to go back. After all differences are patched up, Charles makes a point of inviting that man to their New Year Eve's party to show his appreciation for helping Omaha at that tough time he himself put her through. As it happens, the pair get along so well they agree to take Omaha to bed a threesome and a fun time is had by all.
Film
Live Action TV
- Every Korean drama. Seriously.
- For instance, The First Shop Of Coffee Prince: Yoo Joo once left Han Seong for DK. She returns to Han Seong, but has a borderline flirtatious friendship with Han Kyul, who likes both her and Eun Chan. Han Seong also has romantic feelings for Eun Chan, but her feelings for him seem to be platonic.
- Greys Anatomy: Dr. McDreamy, Meredith, and Dr. McDreamy's wife. An interesting example, in that the audience is primarily rooting for the "interloper."
- Every show on The WB and UPN have at least gone through a long Story Arc centered on a triangle, including, oddly enough, the Professional Wrestling franchise.
- Third Watch: Bobby Caffey is in love with his colleague Kim Zambrano... who is still in love with her ex-husband Jimmy Doherty.
- The third season of Degrassi The Next Generation has a truly grim Love Triangle that ends (after many, many twists) with all three people hating each other and vowing to never see each other again. Later seasons overused the Love Triangle to the point of insanity; an absolute majority of the cast has been in at least one Love Triangle, and some of them have been in two or more.
- The aforementioned lovetriangle essentially recreates a love triangle from Degrassi High that was just as catastrophic. It will forever be remembered not only for breaking up what was perhaps Degrassi's most popular couple ever, but also for being the first time the word "Fuck" was uttered on Canadian TV.
- Lost: Much of the drama of the series involves Kate trying to figure out whether she loves Jack or Sawyer.
- Further muddled by the inclusion of Juliet, an extra love interest for Jack who gets stuck on the Island with Sawyer after Jack and Kate leave and the Island moves.
- Jeff and Marty over Jeannie in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (both versions), Marty has one advantage of being Jeannie's husband (or fiancé in the newer series) but one huge disadvantage in being dead and invisible to Jeannie.
- Sophie, Paul, and Megan in the third season of Slings And Arrows are a textbook love triangle. In the show's backstory, Oliver, Ellen, and Geoffrey have a more complicated (type 12) relationship.
- Stingray: Atlanta Shore is in love with Troy Tempest, but in the piot episode Troy meets and goes all dewey-eyed (well, as dewey-eyed as a puppet character can get) over Cute Mute Marina. This is such a key part of the show that it's even lampshaded in the closing titles.
- In Babylon Five, Sheridan-Delenn-Lennier. With ultimately violent consequences when the latter suddenly switches from They Just Want Their Beloved To Be Happy to Love Makes You Evil.
- The Closer: Agent Howard is in love with Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson, who's in love with Agent Howard... now. But back in DC Brenda had an affair with her superior, Chief Pope. Ironically, she's now working for Chief Pope again, this time in L.A., and he still has feelings for her, but she's over him and married to Agent Howard, resulting in a very grudging I Want My Beloved To Be Happy.
- On Angel, Fred is pursued by both Gunn and Wesley during Season Three. Gunn wins at first, but Wesley eventually gets with her, a year after Fred and Gunn break up and just before Fred's death. In both cases, the loser retired gracefully.
- There's also the Angel-Cordelia-Connor love triangle in Season Four, complicated by the fact that Angel and Connor are father and son and that Cordelia is possessed by the Big Bad.
- Glee has love triangles for the kids AND the adults. The kids are Finn, Rachel, and Quinn while the adults are Will, Terri (Will's wife), and Emma.
- In the season 1 of Heroes, the triangle of Peter, Simone and Isaac was epic and led to catastrophic consequences.
- Stargate Universe has Eli, Chloe, and Lt. Scott.
- The Steve Harvey Show had Steve, Regina, and Warrington Steele (Regina's college boyfriend who is a big Jerk Jock)
- The Office (American version), in one of the most hilarious love triangles ever conceived, with Andy Bernard and Dwight Schrute competing for the affections of Angela Martin. It did lead to accusations of Soaperizing, however.
- Chuck:Chuck loves Sarah Sarah loves Chuck back but her ex boyfriend Bryce wants Sarah back and Sarah still cares for Bryce there are more to
Sarah:Cole Chuck:Lou and later Jill
Literature
- Ur Example: the Trojan War was a consequence of the Love Triangle between Helen, Paris, and Menelaus.
- One Arthur C Clarke story has a love triangle between some minor characters (due to the relationship-stretching difficulties of space travel) which all the participants are completely aware of. It's also "completely equilateral", if you get Sir Arthur's meaning. This editor would provide more information but he can't even remember whether it was a short story or a novel.
- Rendezvous With Rama has several triangles, including one equilateral, although only the two men of that triangle appear in the story.
- Nikolai/Sonya/Marya form one in War And Peace. Natasha/Anatoly/Andrei form another.
- The English Patient: the title character's affair with Katharine Clifton.
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, anyone? Helena loves Demetrius who loves Hermia who loves Lysander, who loves her back. And that's before the fairies start mucking around with their relationships.
- It's resolved early on when Hermia decides to leave Athens with lysander secretly.
- Then Helena, Who's a Yandere by the way, decides to tell Demetrius of this, who by the way loves H Ermia and hates Helena. Hilarity Enusres
- Warrior Cats loves these. Spottedleaf and Firestar liked each other in the beginning, but she died and promptly began stalking him from above. He then fell in love with Sandstorm, although for a while she wasn't so sure he wasn't still in love with Spottedleaf. And he somehow managed not to realize that he and Cinderpelt weren't Just Friends.
- Then, the sequel series gives us two more. Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight love each other, but they fall out for a while and Squirrelflight hooks up with Ashfur. They make up in the end and become mates, but Ashfur never forgives her, causing him to go insane, betray the Clan, and try to kill her children—forcing her to admit that they aren't hers. Brambleclaw, who had no idea, left her because of this. As of now, their relationship stands on uncertain ground. Stormfur was also sweet on Squirrelflight for awhile, but later fell for Brook.
- And then there's the infamous Crowfeather/Leafpool/Feathertail/Nightcloud triangle. Crowfeather fell for Feathertail, who then promptly died, and later ran off with Leafpool because they could never be together because of the boundaries betweent their Clans, but eventually returned. To prove his loyalty, he hooked up with a cat from his own Clan, Nightcloud, and a kit with her. It was later revealed that Leafpool actually had Crowfeather's kits and was forced to give them up to her sister at first or risk punishment. When this was revealed, he rejected her completely and declared that his mate was Nightcloud and his kit was Breezepelt.
- Not to mention the fact that Lionblaze used to love Heathertail, but gave her up (much to her dismay) because they were from separate Clans and he couldn't be a great warrior if he was seeing a cat from another Clan. They grew to hate each other, and now Heathertail and Breezepelt may or may not be Just Friends.
- In Les Miserables, Eponine loves Marius, who loves Cosette, who (eventually) loves him back after a bit of trepidation. A loony, an emo kid, and a Mary Sue! Hooray!
- The Lost Fleet at least for the first four books. While its clear that Desjani is head over heels for John Geary, Geary is already in a relationship with Rione, which gets conplicated when they find out Rione's husband may not be dead. And they're all on the same ship.
Other
- The King Arthur stories largely revolve around the triangle of Arthur, Guenivere, and Lancelot. Interestingly, each of them originally came from an entirely different story line, and merged together sometime in the 15th and 16th centuries.
- 12th century actually. Though the most complete version of the myth, the Morte d'Arthur, was written in the 15th c.
- Shortly after the introduction of a Love Triangle involving three of the younger characters in The Archers, the show's editor stated in an interview she gave for its 50th anniversary that it would become the basis of a major Story Arc with many years' worth of plotlines. This proved to be anything but an exaggeration.
Video Games
- Kain from Final Fantasy IV spends the majority of the game fighting with his best friend Cecil over Cecil's lover, Rosa. He even maintains his affection for Rosa through his two Face Heel Turns.
- Final Fantasy VII has the love triangle between Cloud, Aeris, and Tifa.
- Played with in Skies Of Arcadia. While Aika and Fina both show occasional feelings for Vyse, none of the three ever show any real desire to resolve the triangle. In fact, the two girls only seem to have an issue when Vyse shows interest in a third girl.
- Drakengard has an interesting Love Triangle between Furiae, Inuart and Caim that's only alluded to as being serious one or two times in the whole game.
- Although in all fairness, it's partially due to the brutal editing job done on the outside-of-Japan versions.
- And the sequel repeats the trend by setting up another triangle between Nowe, Manah and Eris. In the end, it is Manah who gets the guy.
- There are several examples in War Craft 3: The Stormrage brothers, Malfurion and Illidan, with Tyrande Whisperwind. Winner? Malfurion. Then Frozen Throne gives us a new triangle: Arthas-Jaina-Kael. Who wins? Probably nobody, since Arthas has completely thrown away his soul and love to become Lich King, and as of World Of Warcraft, Kael is just thinking to have a hot sex with Kil'Jaeden.
- Dragon Quest V tries to have one of these, but it's pretty shallow, as you will feel absolutely horrible if you go for the woman other than the one that's obviously supposed to wind up with him. Let's review the choices the Hero has, shall we?
Flora: You've known her for a day. Seems nice enough, though shy almost to the point of a hikikomori. Useless in combat. Has a fiercely determined suitor already.
- But if you marry Bianca, you still feel like a jerk since the lavish wedding Flora's father had planned for his daughter becomes the lavish wedding for a stranger instead. Oh, and the remake adds a third bride, Deborah, and choosing her means dumping both Flora AND Bianca for a woman who literally just showed up.
- The DS version does also tone down the Bianca-bias a bit, and removes the Diabolus Ex Machina if you don't select her.
- Fire Emblem has one of the weirdest love triangles in existence. Priscilla loves Raven, who is partial to Lucius, who returns his affections. Lucius is his male companion and Priscilla is his sister. Needless to say, Priscilla and Lucius's supports are brimming with unspoken hostility.
- Arcueid —> Shiki <— Ciel. Technically, there are 8-9 girls in love with him, but this is the set that has the triangle relation to it. In the more or less canon ending, Arcueid wins by default. Ciel's route makes Arcueid scary because she's losing/lost. Actually, Ciel and Akiha can also more or less make one of these as well, as, unlike the above, they genuinely hate each other. A lot.
- Hey, did we tell you about the Mario/Peach/Bowser triangle yet?
- Geo/Luna/Sonia, Mega Man Star Force. Funny that American fans tend to see more hints of Geo/Luna, while Japanese fans do the reverse.
- Star Force 3 flirts with it. Depending on whose item you reclaim in the Stolen Items quest (Sonia's bag or Luna's handkerchief), one girl gets to hold hands with Geo while the other pigs out in an angry fit. If you pick Bud's shirt, both of them pig out.
- Sakura and Nemu in Da Capo form the game's real triangle with their adamant refusal to accept Junichi pairing up with the other. Both say more or less that they'd be perfectly okay if he would pick any other girl, like Mako or Kotori or even some catgirl maid. Who... really does show up later.
Web Comic
- In The Inexplicable Adventures Of Bob, Jean believes she is in competition with Princess Voluptua for Bob's affections, despite Bob and Voluptua's repeated denials that they have feelings for one another.
- The webcomic Platinum Grit has the protagonists in a massively dysfunctional love triangle. Jeremy likes Nils but beats himself up over thinking naughty thoughts about her. Nils enjoys teasing Jeremy but is terrified at the thought of developing a real emotional attachment to anyone and is retreating into no-strings casual sex with strangers. And Kate (who may or may not have had a badly thought out same-sex relationship with Nils at some point) initially just felt pity for Jeremy, but is finding herself more and more attracted to him, but she's too embarassed to come right out and say it. And even if she did, he'd almost definitely beat himself up for suddenly thinking naughty thoughts about her too.
- In My Roommate Is An Elf, both Jacinda and Sebastian more or less start flirting with Griswold as soon as they meet him. Griswold seems more attracted to Jacinda though, but Sebastian sees it all as a competition.
Web Original
- Charlie in KateModern is the object of both Gavin and Steve's affections. Initially she dates Gavin and considers Steve a creep, but this changes over time.
- Doctor Horrible is in love with Penny, who is in love with Captain Hammer. Who in turn dates Penny just to piss off Doctor Horrible. Neither "wins", she inadvertently dies.
Western Animation
- As Told By Ginger, "April Fool's": A is Dodie, B is a boy named Dustin, and C is Macie.
- As Told By Ginger again, "Love With A Proper Exchange Student" (the next ep in production order, actually): A is Dodie again, B is an exchange student named Joaquin, and C is Ginger.
- Hey Arnold!, "Gerald vs. Jamie O": A is Gerald, B is an older girl named Chloe, and C is Gerald's older brother, Jamie O. Not to mention Helga/Arnold/Lila, Helga/Arnold/Ruth and Brainy/Helga/Arnold. This show lives off of this trope.
- Gargoyles had this for one episode after Goliath's daughter, Angela, joined the Clan. After months of thinking that they would never see a female Gargoyle again, the young trio Gargoyles instantly lept at the chance to woo this comely newcomer, creating an annoyingly aggressive romantic rivalry for her. Eventually, Angela angrily put her foot down on this and told them to be patient for her respond, while consoling them with the delightful fact that she has 15 sisters back on the magic island of Avalon.
- More triangular examples include the one between Princess Katharine, the Magus and Tom, and the one between King Kenneth II, Finella, and Constantine.
- You won't believe how many Love Triangles fit into Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers. There is of course Gadget who is admired by Chip and Dale. Then there's Tammy's mad crush on Chip, combined with Gadget making her jealous. Gadget herself shows too much interest in Sparky for both chipmunks to just sit and watch. Monty is heartbroken since Désirée hooked up with Errol. And so forth...
- Danny Phantom starts off with Danny, Sam, and Paulina before it moves to Danny, Sam, and Valerie.
- Jimmy Neutron features Jimmy/Cindy/Nick and Cindy/Jimmy/Betty. It only fits that Jimmy/Cindy and Nick/Betty happen.
- The Fairly Oddparents: Tootie loves Timmy, who's in love with Trixie. Early episodes set up the possibility of a well explored love triangle. Then flanderization set in...
WWF
Real Life
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