I think this trope needs expanding. It's currently very anime-focused, and focused on the promise being made in childhood, which doesn't fit Western examples like My Best Friend's Wedding and Drawn Together.

1. Expand slightly to "An Old Flame shows up to remind a character of a marriage pact they once made together"
2. Expand considerably to "Two characters have a pact to get married if they reach a certain age."

I've YKTTW'd Singleton Marriage Pact which could cover the latter trope (specifically, characters making such a pact in the present, rather than in backstory) if the second option is rejected.

I don't think a trope needs expanding if the reasoning is "Some examples don't fit."

edited 27th Sep '12 7:13:11 AM by AnotherDuck

I agree with duck. We don't change trope definitions to chase after bad examples. There's a substantial difference between two children making a pact to get , married when they grow up and two adults or teens agreeing to marry if neither one has found someone else by the time they both turn 35 (to pick a random number).

That and your first example also seems to fall under Singleton Marriage Pact. Just go ahead with that.

Well, it was more "expand because it's an unnecessarily restrictive definition of a broader trope", the bad examples being a symptom of that. But fair enough.

I think this is a worthwhile line of thought to pursue, though I'll admit there's some lumper bias in there.

Fallback Marriage Pact has been launched. Isn't it time to close this now?

We do pursue that line of thought sometimes. However, that requires significant and demonstrated misuse of the trope.

However, since no misuse has been demonstrated, I think closing the thread is a good idea.

edited 12th Oct '12 5:10:23 AM by AnotherDuck

Locking this.