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And this one could have even happened in Real Life... possibly.

Two lovers — usually teenagers — destined to be kept apart no matter how hard they struggle to be together. It may be Fate or just Feuding Families, or even something as mundane as a few hundred miles, but something will always be in their way. Often, the two can only be Together In Death. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is the most famous example of this archetype (and provides the title of the trope) but it dates back at least as far as the ancient Greeks, making it Older Than Dirt.

A version of this trope which is at least discredited if not actually dead and buried in modern fiction but was true in the past and works in historical settings is Love Above One's Station, i. e. being in love with someone from a different social class. Yes, it's hard even today to have a relationship with someone from a very different background, but in the old days, it was completely out of order; you'd be treated with utter contempt and risk violence and/or arrest if you were from the lower class and courted a "better," and a "better" who reciprocated would be disowned or sent to a nunnery or asylum. This leads to all those usually tragic "servant/slave/peasant loves the lord/lady/king/queen" stories.

Compare Dating Catwoman, where the relationship is forbidden but doesn't end as tragically. Notice the overlaps with Interspecies Romance and Mixed Marriage. Also compare Bury Your Gays. Often the case for any Vampire Werewolf Love Triangle.

Contrast Happily Married.

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