Rule Of Three - Television Tropes & Idioms

Good things come in threes. So do bad things. And even things that are neither good or bad.
Good things come in threes. So do bad things. And even things that are neither good or bad.
Good things come in threes. So do bad things. And even things that are neither good or bad.

Three is a magic number.

The Rule of Three is a pattern used in stories and jokes, where part of the story is repeated three times, with minor variations. The first two instances build tension, and the third releases it by incorporating a twist.

This is especially common in storytelling. The third of three brothers succeeds after his older siblings each failed. The protagonist is given three tests and receives the prize after the third. It's almost unusual to find a folktale that does not incorporate the rule of three in some form. This may be an artifact of the oral tradition, in which the stock formula of the first, second, and third attempt makes the story easier to remember.

The rule of three is also used widely in comedy. Many popular jokes are based on three Stock Characters (e.g. Priest, Imam, Rabbi), all in the same situation. The first two react normally, the third does something ridiculous (but stereotypically in character). In Britain, Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman jokes denigrate either the Irishman as stupid, the Scotsman as a tightwad, or the Englishman as... I don't hear those ones 'cos I'm English. (For the record, when an American tells it, Englishmen are stuffed shirts.) This is why most Americans have never heard of Wales. Another (geeky) variant is the engineer/physicist/mathematician series of jokes, however, these are virtually never considered offensive, largely because the stereotypes are often jokingly accepted by the members of those three groups. (e.g. The engineer is overly practical, the physicist makes large assumptions, and the mathematician comes up with a correct, but useless answer; these are played up for humourous effect, but have some valid basis)

A more popular variation on the rule is to repeat the same joke or concept three times, but put a twist on the third one that makes it funny again.

A special variation is sometimes called "The Triple", wherein a character lists three items, two logical and serious, the third applying a twist or joke. For example, a character might say to a bald person, "Can I get you anything? Cup of coffee? Doughnut? Toupee?" (From The Dick Van Dyke Show.)

The Overly Long Gag could be seen as a subversion of the Rule Of Three, because it fails to deliver the expected twist.

In art, there's a rule of thirds where putting items in the intersections between thirds-lines draws more attention and is more visually appealing than plonking them right in the center, which is considered boring. In design, particularly three-dimensional design such as shop displays, groups of three objects, or objects arranged to form a triangle, are considered most attractive to the eye.

The Rule Of Three may be a subtrope of a more general psychological phenomenon, as threes are well-noted in all forms of culture. Films, books and plays come in trilogies. They have a Three Act Structure, a Beginning, Middle and End. Counts of three elements are used widely in rhetoric, writing and myth: "Ready, aim, fire", "Veni, Vidi, Vici", "Lights, camera, action", "rhetoric, writing and myth". Just try and think about how many times you've heard the phrase, "On the count of three..."

A constructed phrase such as "Veni, Vidi, Vici." that has three grammatically and logically connected elements is known as a Tricolon. When the three elements increase in length, it's a Tricolon Crescens.

This is why there are Power Trios.

Variations on this trope include uses of 5, 7, 12, and convienent multiples of five afterward (i.e., 25, 50, but not 35 or 70).

Sub Tropes include Three Wishes, These Questions Three, Third Time's The Charm and Trilogy Creep.

Related to other rules of three