History Main / AffairLetters

* '''Revenge''': Alice and Bob are exes, and ''Alice'' threatens to use their letters as blackmail against Bob. In this situation, Alice usually has less to lose from their exposure than Bob--perhaps Bob was cheating on someone while she was single. Alternative, it may be a TakingYouWithMe scenario, where Alice is willing to take the backlash from the letters if it means hurting Bob. Alice may be a WomanScorned.

** A Revenge version is the entire premise of the story "A Scandal in Bohemia"--Irene Adler is threatening to send a letter and photo from their affair to her ex-lover's new in-laws.

This trope requires a SecretRelationship of some sort. It may be YourCheatingHeart, QueerRomance, MalignedMixedMarriage, UptownGirl, or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs more than one of the above]].

* In ''Literature/LikeWaterForChocolate'' it looks like Gertrudis has a ChocolateBaby from cheating on her ColonelBadass lover Juan, until her sister Tita finds letters that showed their mother Elena had an affair with a mulatto man (a slur for half black and half white people), and that Getrudis was the result of such an affair. She shows Juan the letters and clears up Gertrudis' name.
* A paternity example in ''Literature/TheNikolaiDuology''. The queen of Ravka wrote a bunch of love letters to Magnus Opjer with whom she was having an affair despite being married to king Alexander. This later causes some problems for her already rumored to be illegitimate son Nikolai (now the king of Ravka), when the rulers of Fjerda get their hands on the letters and use it to try to get Nikolai removed in favour of a cousin of former king Alexander who is more friendly towards Fjerda.

* In season 1 of ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' there's a Revenge version: Thomas and the Duke of Crowborough were lovers once, and Thomas--who's a big fan of blackmail--and threatens the Duke, saying he'll show their letters. The Duke burns them before Thomas gets a chance, though.

* A paternity example in ''Literature/TheNikolaiDuology'' the queen of Ravka wrote a bunch of love letters to Magnus Opjer with whom she was having an affair despite being married to king Alexander. This later causes some problems for her already rumored to be illegitimate son Nikolai (now the king of Ravka), when the rulers of Fjerda get their hands on the letters and use it to try to get Nikolai removed in favour of a cousin of former king Alexander who is more friendly towards Fjerda.

* In ''Literature/TheNikolaiDuology'' the queen of Ravka wrote a bunch of love letters to Magnus Opjer with whom she was having an affair despite being marries to king Alexander. This later causes some problems for her already rumored to be illegitimate son Nikolai (now the king of Ravka), when the rulers of Fjerda get their hands on the letters and use it to try to get Nikolai removed in favour of a cousin of former king Alexander who is more friendly towards Fjerda.

* In ''Literature/TheNikolaiDuology'' the queen of Ravka wrote a bunch of love letters to Magnus Opjer with whom she was having an affair despite being marries to king Alexander.
This later causes some problems for her already rumored to be illegitimate son Nikolai (now the king of Ravka), when the rulers of Fjerda get their hands on the letters and use it to try to get Nikolai removed in favour of a cousin of former king Alexander who is more friendly towards Fjerda.

Alice and Bob are having a SecretRelationship of some sort, and as part of it, they exchange letters. The nature of these letters is romantic, erotic, or both, and they definitely contain both Alice and Bob's names (the "Dear Whoever" at the top and "Love Whoever" at the bottom). In old times, the letters were handwritten, though nowadays, emails and texts are more likely.

* '''Blackmail''': Charlie knows, or at least suspects, that the letters exist, and actively seeks them out to use as {{blackmail}} against Alice and Bob.
* '''Revenge''': Alice and Bob are exes, and ''Alice'' threatens to use their letters as blackmail against Bob. In this situation, Alice usually has less to lose from their exposure than Bob--perhaps Bob was cheating on someone while she was single--though not always: It can be a TakingYouWithMe scenario, where Alice is willing to take the backlash from the letters if it means hurting Bob. Alice may be a WomanScorned.
* '''Accidental''': Charlie stumbles across the letters by accident. Usually Charlie is ''not'' the person Alice and Bob ''really'' don't want to know--Charlie tends to be a third, unrelated party of some sort. Now Charlie is the SecretKeeper--or if even Alice and Bob don't know he found them, the SecretSecretKeeper. Charlie has to decide whether or not to tell someone. If Alice and Bob ''do'' know, they will beg, bribe, and threaten Charlie not to tell. Charlie will likely find that KeepingSecretsSucks.

This trope requires a secret, illicit affair of some sort, so it usually overlaps with YourCheatingHeart--though occasionally the relationship may be secret for other reasons, such as if they are [[QueerRomance of the same gender]], or [[MalignedMixedMarriage of different races, religions,]] [[UptownGirl or classes]]. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or more than one of the above.]]

** A Blackmail version: In a backstory scene, we see how when she was young, [[FemmeFatale Rawneth]] got let into Kinzi's room, where she dug through Kinzi's stuff until she found an old love-letter from Kinzi's lover Adiraina. Rawneth tries to blackmail Kinzi with it, though Kinzi shut her down.

* Poets are dramatic. Elizabeth Ellet liked Creator/EdgarAllanPoe (who did '''not''' like her back--she was an AbhorrentAdmirer) while he liked Frances Osgood. So jealous Ellet threatened to blackmail Osgood with her flirtatious letters with Poe. She was also sending him letters... which he just sent back. Ellet turned that into a fair bit of drama.

* A Paternity example: In the ''Comicbook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch'' comic, Zuko finds letters from his mother Ursa to her former lover Ikem to that seem to indicate his father wasn't actually Fire Lord Ozai. [[spoiler:His father actually ''is'' Ozai, but Ursa wrote this specifically to see if her letters were being intercepted--which they were--and even though Ozai knew it was a lie, he decided to treat Zuko like he wasn't his son anyway just to spite Ursa. Zuko destroyed the letter after wards]]

* A Paternity example: In the ''Comicbook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch'' comic, Zuko finds letters from his mother Ursa to her former lover Ikem to that seem to indicate his father wasn't actually Fire Lord Ozai. [[spoiler:His father actually ''is'' Ozai, but Ursa wrote this specifically to see if her letters were being intercepted--which they were--and even though Ozai knew it was a lie, he decided to treat Zuko like he wasn't his son anyway just to spite Ursa.]]

* In ''Anime/FamiliarOfZero'' Wales and Henrietta were in love, and she at one point sent him a letter declaring her eternal love. With Wales's family on the verge of annihilation, the letter could have been used to derail Henrietta's impending marriage to the Germanian emperor. Louise and Saito were sent to retrieve the letter before Reconquista.

* ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'': A Paternity example, where Princess Millerna finds letters between her late older sister Marlene and Allen Schezar confirming that her son Prince Chid is actually Allen's and was conceived before she married the Duke of Freid. For worse, Millerna herself has feelings for Allen, making all of this even more awkward.

* In the '''infamous''' ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' comic ''Webcomic/HowIBecameYours'', Zuko's UnwantedSpouse Mai finds out that he has been cheating on her with Katara ''and'' that she's pregnant with his kid by finding Katara's letters to him. She then [[INeverGotAnyLetters hides the letters]] to keep Zuko from finding out [[spoiler: and sends Katara [[TemperingWithFoodAndDrink a poisoned fruits basket]]; Katara consumes some fruits and ends up having a ConvenientMiscarriage.]] Oh, and in the end [[spoiler: Zuko finds the letters anyway.]]

* In the '''infamous'' ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' comic ''Webcomic/HowIBecameYours'', Zuko's UnwantedSpouse Mai finds out that Zuko has been cheating on her with Katara ''and'' that she's pregnant with Zuko's kid by finding Katara's letters to him. She then [[INeverGotAnyLetters hides the letters]] to keep Zuko from finding out about the kid [[spoiler: and sends Katara [[TemperingWithFoodAndDrink a poisoned fruits basket]]; Katara consumes some of the fruits and ends up having a ConvenientMiscarriage.]] Oh, and in the end [[spoiler: Zuko finds out anyway.]]

* ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'': A Paternity example, where Princess Millerna finds letters between her sister Marlene and Allen Schezar confirming that her son is actually Allen's and was conceived before she married the Duke of Freid.

* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'': General [=MacArthur=] figured out his wife was having an affair with his subordinate when he received the letter she'd sent her lover. He pulled a successful UriahGambit on the man during WWI, but the guilt caused him to retire early (and his wife never recovered from her lover's death).

* In ''Literature/LikeWaterForChocolate'' it looks like Gertrudis has a ChocolateBaby, until her sister finds letters that showed their mother had an affair with a mulatto man (a slur for half black and half white people), and that Getrudis was the result of an affair, not that she cheated on her husband.

* Poets are dramatic. Elizabeth Ellet liked Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, who did '''not''' like her back--she was an AbhorrentAdmirer.) He liked Frances Osgood. So jealous Ellet threatened to blackmail Osgood with her flirtatious letters with Poe. She was also sending him letters... which he just sent back. Ellet turned that into a fair bit of drama.

-->-- '''Jame''' to '''Ozymardien's "virgin" bride''', ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath''

--->''''Rawneth''': If I were to tell the Highlord what those knots say…

Alice and Bob are having a SecretRelationship of some sort, and as part of it, they exchange letters. The nature of these letters is romantic, erotic, or both, and they definitely contain both Alice and Bob's names (the "Dear Whoever" at the top and "Love Whoever" at the bottom).

And thanks to the RuleOfDrama, having ''written evidence'' of their affair is going to get messy. This can go down a few different ways.

** A Blackmail version: FemmeFatale Rawneth gets Ganth to let her into his grandma Kinzi's room, where she digs through Kinzi's stuff until she finds an old love-letter from Kinzi's girlfriend Adiraina. Rawneth tries to blackmail Kinzi with it, though Kinzi shuts her down.

-->--'''Jame''' to '''Ozymardien's "virgin" bride''', ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath''

-->--'''Jame''', ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath''

* In ''Something New'' by Creator/PGWodehouse, the Honorable Freddie Threepwood, son of the Earl of Emsworth, has just gotten engaged to a rich, beautiful, American heiress, when a friend of his, also engaged, gets sued by another woman for breach of promise because of some old letters. Freddie remembers that ''he'' once sent love-letters to a chorus girl, Joan Valentine, and there's a danger she might suddenly pop up and sue ''him''. He sends someone to see if he can buy the letters back, and gets word that the letters have long since been destroyed. So, he relaxes, until his fiance shows up a few days later with a new maid in tow...Joan Valentine! Quite by coincidence, but Freddie doesn't know that, and assumes he's about to be blackmailed.

** An Accidental version: The famous courtesan Melissand is having an affair with the "virgin" wife of the richest man in the city. They exchanged letters, and they panic when Jame inadvertently steels those letters.