History Main / DeathOfTheHypotenuse

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' can do this with love triangles involving love interests from the first two games, usually by killing off the ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' love interest. [[spoiler:Thane]] automatically dies no matter what, and [[spoiler:Miranda, Jack, and Tali]] can also die, but that's up to the player's actions.
** Can also be done with the ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' love interest if it's [[spoiler: Ashley or Kaidan]] that was Shepard's love interest in the original. [[spoiler: Just have Shepard be forced to shoot them dead.]]
** Can also apply to [[spoiler: the Virmire mission if the player wants to romance Liara without being confronted by Ashley or Kaidan.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': The LoveTriangle between Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa ends when [[ItWasHisSled Aerith dies]]. A cutscene right before the final battle implies that Tifa and Cloud end up [[DidTheyOrDidntThey consumating their relationship]]. Amazingly enough, there's ''still'' ShipToShipCombat between Cloud x Aerith fans and Cloud x Tifa fans, arguing who Cloud loves. Don't forget the Cloud x Seph and Cloud x Zack fans.

** ''Literature/TarzanOfTheApes'' ends with Jane, uncertain of her emotions, accepting a proposal from the [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense buffoonish]] RomanticFalseLead, William Clayton and Tarzan, accepting that she's honor-bound, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy choosing not to make an issue of it]] and going off alone. In the sequel, ''The Return of Tarzan'', Jane and her fiancé go on a cruise and are shipwrecked, coincidentally very near Tarzan's latest adventure. The fianc&eacute dips a bit into selfish jerk territory by finding out Tarzan's identity as his missing cousin, John Clayton, and thus true heir to the Clayton estate, but not telling anyone about it so as to stay with Jane. Later in the novel, William gets a fatal case of malaria after being left for dead by the novel's BigBad, when the now reunited Jane and Tarzan find him, the dying William [[RedemptionEqualsDeath redeems himself]] by revealing Tarzan's true identity, releasing Jane from the engagement and then giving the two his blessing to marry.

* In ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', there is a LoveTriangle between Oliver, Laurel (his ex-girlfriend), and Tommy (his best friend who dated Laurel for a while). At the end of Season 1, [[spoiler: Tommy is killed coming to Laurel's rescue while her office building collapses.]]

* [[spoiler:Dizzy]] in the ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' movie. Also, [[spoiler: the male fleet pilot who was trying to hook up with Carmen the whole time]]

* In ''Anime/SamuraiFlamenco'', Goto has two main love interests: his partner Masayoshi, and his off-screen girlfriend who texts him often.[[note]]Mari ''tries'' being Goto's love interest, but he isn't having any of it and she's already basically in a threesome with the Flamenco Girls.[[/note]] The story not only bumps [[spoiler:Goto's girlfriend]] off, but flat out says [[spoiler: she hasn't been alive for years -- the bus she got on when she and Goto were young had everyone on it disappear, and he's been delusionally texting as her using her phone to cope. She even "dies" a second time when Sawada deletes the last message Goto got from her. Coincidentally, this also happens to be the same place where Masayoshi proposes to Goto in the climax. The finale subverts it, as Goto ends up lapsing back into his old habit to allow her to "check up" on him and Masayoshi one last time.]]

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': The main love triangle between Shinji, Asuka and Rei ceases to exist when [[spoiler: Rei]] pulls a HeroicSacrifice to save Shinji, shortly after arriving at the realization that she "wants to be one with him". As a sort-of deconstruction, [[spoiler: Asuka]] ends up doubting the sincerity of Shinji's feelings, accusing him of coming to her because she's basically the only one left, since [[spoiler: everyone else (including [[CameBackWrong the clone replacing the Rei everyone used to know]]) either scares Shinji or has kicked the bucket]] at this point.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': In the first half of season 3, Emma struggles between her feelings for [[NewOldFlame her son's father Neal]] and those for [[BelligerentSexualTension Captain Hook.]] [[spoiler: Eventually Neal pulls a HeroicSacrifice and Emma and Hooks end up together by the finale.]]

* ''Series/{{Revenge}}'': All of Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke's love interests except for [[spoiler:Jack Porter]] were KilledOffForReal. [[spoiler:Aiden Mathis was killed by Victoria Grayson right after Emily finally got her revenge and cleared her father's name. Daniel Grayson died protecting Emily, and this was long after the Daniel/Emily ship had been sunk to the bottom of the ocean (though Daniel had redeemed himself before his death). Ben Hunter, a fourth option introduced in Season Four and one who was never really a serious contender, even compared to Daniel, was killed in one of the last episodes by an assassin. That left ChildhoodFriend Jack as Emily's final and true love interest]].

This trope is where ThePlotReaper meets CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds. If Charlie's death is not accidental, but intentionally done to remove him from the triangle, it's MurderTheHypotenuse or TheUriahGambit, depending on whether it's done directly or set up indirectly. See ComfortingTheWidow. Compare to ShipSinking.

* In ''LightNovel/No6'', this happens to [[spoiler: Safu]]. Though it's really more of a case of [[spoiler:merging her with a goddess-like entity, thus destroying a huge chunk of her personality, THEN blowing up the building she's in.]]

* ''Film/KuchKuchHotaHai'': The [[LoveTriangle love triangle]] between Anjali-Rahul-Tina ends after Tina's death. Rahul was initially reluctant to remarry due to his principal to marry only once in a lifetime. However, upon meeting Anjali again after losing contact for years and eventually realized to have fallen genuinely in love with her, he pursues her again. After heartbroken twice when Anjali almost marries her fiancé, Aman, Rahul and Anjali could eventually get together when Aman gives his blessing for their marriage.

* ''Series/{{MADtv}}'': Parodied in one skit, where two lovers are trapped in the middle of open water, along with their beautiful diving instructor. The ''second'' the husband goes with the female diving instructor, Kelly Clarkson, Kelly dies.

* ''Tayong Dalawa'' (lit. ''The Two of Us''): Filipino primetime drama, where this is rather overdone. The show's title is an ambiguous title. It could either mean the two half-brothers, or one of them and the girl. It gets hyped up in a TonightSomeoneDies preview, [[spoiler: and is nicely (in a narrative sense) subverted when the girl dies. This underscores the point of the series, which is about the two brothers putting aside their differences becoming family.]]

* [[spoiler: Lancelot]]'s death in [[Theatre/ArtusExcalibur Artus - Excalibur]].

* In the 1992 version of ''Film/LastOfTheMohicans'', [[DeathByAdaptation Major Heyward dies]] as Cora and Nathaniel (and Chingachgook) go free, though technically it is at the hands of his rival Nathaniel (actually a MercyKilling as the Delawares are burning him alive after Heyward's HeroicSacrifice).

* ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'': The love triangle between Dom, Letty, and Elena is resolved in the [[Film/TheFateOfTheFurious eighth film]] when Elena gets killed by the villains, leaving her son with Dom to be raised by Dom and Letty.