This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: Didn\'t Get The Girl: From YKTTW
Meocross: Anyone thinking of starting a Pun Title called Did Not Let The Girl ? haha
Jordan: Was Rincewind meant for the Sourcery example of the hero not getting the girl? If so, I'd say he'd fall under the Chaste Hero category given the rules of Discworld wizardry.
Daibhid C: Rules that don't seem to apply to him, since in Sourcery it says "He'd had orgasms before, sometimes even in company". In Interesting Times he's sort of interested in Twoflower's daughter Lotus Blossom, although he gets this desire confused with one for potatoes.
I haven't played the Metal Gears, but I thought I'd absorbed from talk that Snake only gets the girl in the good ending of MGS, while the sequels follow the bad ending. Is that wrong? —Document N
- They tried to keep it ambiguous in the first two sequels, but she appears as a main character in MGS 4.
Rebochan: Pulled the entire Final Fantasy example:
- Final Fantasy usually stays miles away from this, but Ashe in Final Fantasy XII gets it pretty bad. Her husband gets a Death by Origin Story, and at the end of the game, Basch ends up moving to Archadea to fulfill a promise to his dead brother. Of course, by the time of Revenant Wings, Basch is back and serving as Ashe's bodyguard.
- She and Balthier seem to have a bit of romantic tension as well. And they don't hook up either.
- Final Fantasy VII counts too. Aerith dies, so Cloud can't be with her. Although he does end up living with Tifa, it is hard to say if he can accept her as a romantic partner or not.
- She and Balthier seem to have a bit of romantic tension as well. And they don't hook up either.
In the case of XII, Ashe's lover is already dead before the game starts and she's not given a love interest past that - thus, not this trope. She's not in love with Basch, though it's obvious she became close to him. While there is tension with Balthier, he's still not a real love interest - his story and Ashe's are on different trajectories. In the case of VII, Tifa is the Victorious Childhood Friend. Yes, Cloud gets her. Even in Advent Children, when he's having some issues over Aerith dying, they are still in a relationship. By the end of the film, this is all completely resolved with them still in a relationship. I'll say that's not this trope.
Trimeta: I'm pretty sure the Dr Horribles Sing Along Blog example doesn't count, since that's pretty distinctly into Downer Ending territory.
Many of the examples listed don't exactly fit the trope.
Trope Description: "A rare case where the hero — who is clearly not a Celibate Hero — doesn't end up with the romantic female lead. The cocky Lancer wins her heart or she has no choice but to marry someone to save her family or something, but for whatever reason the hero ends up alone.
Not to be confused with two leads not ending up together because one of them dies — that is a different trope."
The examples seems to fit more in he "different trope" area.
Kvschwartz: Maybe this trope should be split into subtropes / supertropes?
As others have mentioned — both on the main page and here on the discussion page — many if not most of the trope "examples" are not examples by its current definition. Yet it seems a shame simply to delete them; they certainly have something very specific in common, something that is not Bittersweet Ending. (Although many of them are that as well.)
Why not have a trope about romantic couples that get split up by circumstances?
