History Main / DeathOfTheHypotenuse

* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/{{Komarr}}'', Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan finds himself falling in love with Ekaterin Vorsoisson, the wife of an administrator peripherally involved with an apparent terraforming accident (and the feeling is, unbeknownst to him, mutual). Tien Vorsoisson turned out to be involved in an embezzlement scam, Ekaterine decided to leave him over it, and ''then'' Tien ended up accidentally killed by the conspirators when he tried to sell them out to Vorkosigan. Too bad things got classified enough to create a whole new set of barriers in any courtship.

* S.L. Viehl's ''Literature/{{Stardoc}}''. Poor, doomed [[spoiler:[[BlueSpaceBabe Kao Torin]]]].

** A played with example is Ron's one-time girlfriend Lavender dying during the Battle of Hogwarts in ''Deathly Hallows'', but by the time she kicks the bucket, Ron and Hermione have officially become a couple.

[[folder:Films]]

* ''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.

* ''Film/KuchKuchHotaHai'': The [[LoveTriangle love triangle]] between Anjali-Rahul-Tina ends after Tina's death. Despite Rahul was initially reluctant to remarry due to his principal, but he eventually falls genuinely in love with Anjali and is heartbroken when Anjali (almost) marries her fiancé.

* ''KuchKuchHotaHai: The [[LoveTriangle love triangle]] between Anjali-Rahul-Tina ends after Tina's death. Despite Rahul was initially reluctant to remarry due to his principal, but he eventually falls genuinely in love with Anjali and is heartbroken when Anjali (almost) marries her fiancé.

* If you happen to be a female in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and [[CartwrightCurse Otacon]] loves you, expect to die in a cruel, yet beautiful way. The tendency for every girl that Otacon falls in love with to die is a big contributor to his HoYay-addled relationship with Snake.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': The LoveTriangle between Cloud, Aeris, and Tifa ends when [[ItWasHisSled Aeris dies]]. Amazingly enough, there's ''still'' ShipToShipCombat between Cloud x Aeris fans and Cloud x Tifa fans, arguing who Cloud loves. Don't forget the Cloud x Seph and Cloud x Zack fans.

* This is what breaks up the SiblingTriangle between twins Tatsuya and Kazuya and their neighbor Minami in the manga ''Manga/{{Touch}}''. Right before Kazuya was going to ask Minami's dad for his blessing, too... ouch.

* ''Series/JaneTheVirgin'' technically ended the Michael/Jane/Rafael triangle halfway through season 2 by having Jane choose and marry Michael, but with Rafael still in the picture, lurking in the background and dropping subtle hints here and there, viewers speculated that it was only a matter of time before the triangle resurfaced again. Eventually it was resolved for good with Michael's death, clearing the path for a possible Jane/Rafael reunion.

* If you happen to be a female in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and [[CartwrightCurse Otacon]] loves you, expect to [[StuffedIntoTheFridge die in a cruel, yet beautiful way]]. The tendency for every girl that Otacon falls in love with to die is a big contributor to his HoYay-addled relationship with Snake.

* Many ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' [=HitsugayaxMatsumoto=] fans see [[spoiler: Gin's death]] as this. [[spoiler: Even when Hitsugaya and Matsumoto ''don't'' end together either.]]

* In ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'' 2, there was ''some'' form of love triangle between GV, Joule & Quinn, with Joule occasionally intervene in the conversation between GV and Quinn out of jealousy. In the true ending epilogue, [[spoiler: Joule's "passing"]] leaves no obstacle for [[spoiler:Quinn]] to have GV to herself & GV (now wearing civilian clothing) moving on his life with [[spoiler:Quinn]], wishing happiness for [[spoiler:Joule]]. That said, it should be noted that [[spoiler:Gunvolt still seems to treat Quinn [[ObliviousToLove more like a close friend than a romantic interest]].]]

* ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead'': This actually makes things worse for the hero since Rei's now focused on Takashi, but way too often she ends up comparing him to her dead boyfriend Hisashi or berating him in a way that makes Takashi think she is. She eventually gets over it and admits that she'd dated Hisashi more because it hurt too much to be with him, but now she's all his.

* ''Manga/VampireKnight'': [[spoiler:Kaname, at the very end.]]
* 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.]]
* Inverted in ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'': the hypotenuse ([[spoiler:Munakata]]) is the last one standing. [[spoiler:Chisa killed herself thanks to her despair brainwashing, and Juzo bled out due to injuries Munakata inflicted out of paranoia.]]

* In the time between ''Film/HotShots'' and ''Film/HotShotsPartDeux'', Ramada left Harley because she realized that her never-before mentioned husband was still alive. Topper rescues his ex-lover's husband from an Iraqi prison camp in the second movie, but then Dexter accidentally backs off a cliff while taking photographs, freeing the two lovers to be together again.

* ''Literature/{{Middlemarch}}'': Mr Casaubon tries hard to avert this in Creator/GeorgeEliot's novel, by forbidding Dorothea from marrying Ladislaw in a codicil to his will, on pain of having her inheritance stripped. [[spoiler: Ultimately the plan fails and she marries Ladislaw anyway.]]

* Throughout the ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaSandsOfTime'' trilogy, the titular hero has two love interests: the Indian princess Farah from the first game and the Empress of Time Kaileena from the second one. He leaves the former after saving her life and hooks up with the latter in ''Warrior Within'''s canonical ending. However, in ''Two Thrones'', Kaileena is murdered by the BigBad early into the game and the Prince is reunited with Farah, making a case of FirstGirlWins.

* 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.]]
* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', the Inuyasha - Kikyou - Kagome triangle is finally broken when Naraku engineers Kikyou's death for good, and she ends up perishing peacefully in Inuyasha's arms.
* Discussed in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. Haruna references how common this happens in Japanese literature when it's revealed that Yue likes Negi in the same way that Nodoka does. The fact that both Yue and Nodoka are standing ''right behind her'' as she does this didn't help the situation at all.

* This is what breaks up the SiblingTriangle between twins Tatsuya and Kazuya and their neighbor Minami in the manga ''Manga/{{Touch}}''. Right before Kazuya was going to ask Minami's dad for his blessing, too... ouch.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Anzu has a TwoPersonLoveTriangle between Yugi and Yami. [[spoiler:At the end of the series, Yami goes to his final rest, having been a pharaoh who was dead for 3,000 years]].
* ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead'': This actually makes things worse for the hero since Rei's now focused on Takashi, but way too often she ends up comparing him to her dead boyfriend Hisashi or berating him in a way that makes Takashi think she is. She eventually gets over it and admits that she'd dated Hisashi more because it hurt too much to be with him, but now she's all his.
* ''Manga/PsychicAcademy'': The love triangle between Ai, Orina, and Mew ends with [[spoiler: Mew]]'s death. In a subversion of this trope, Ai [[spoiler: decides to spend the rest of his life being true to Mew's memory]].

* Many ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' [=HitsugayaxMatsumoto=] fans see [[spoiler: Gin's death]] as this. [[spoiler: Even when Hitsugaya and Matsumoto ''don't'' end together either.]]
* More than one ''Manga/CaseClosed'' case has a person killed for being one of the corners of a LoveTriangle or getting in between a potential couple. Much more common if there's an ArrangedMarriage (like [[spoiler: a DrJerk killing his ex-girlfriend so she won't stand in between him and the daughter of his boss whom he's marrying for the prestige]] or {{blackmail}} (like [[spoiler: a policeman shooting his ex-girlfriend dead when she attempts to go the HoneyTrap way right as he's actually about to move on with another woman]]) involved.
* ''Anime/AnohanaTheFlowerWeSawThatDay'' ''[[DeconstructedTrope smashes this to pieces]]''. Back when they were children, [[LoveDodecahedron Anaru liked Jintan and Tsuruko liked Yukiatsu, but both boys liked Menma]] and the girls, despite caring for Menma, [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter felt that they couldn't compete with her]]. Menma's untimely death only made things worse for all of them (and their uninvolved friend Poppo), since such a tragedy [[BreakTheCutie tore the group apart]] and showed that, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome in reality]], the demise of "the person who gets in-between" does NOT equal to the others getting together: the guys got so broken (and Jintan already had his own issues) that [[TheLostLenore no girl in their eyes could match the very high standard that Menma had left]], with Jintan becoming a {{hikkikomori}} and Yukiatsu both considering Anaru as a prospect "back-up girlfriend" (and neither she nor Tsuruko, understandably, are happy with that) [[spoiler: and wearing dresses similar to those Menma used to wear.]]

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': The backstory has a subversion in the Team Minato triangle. Obito is in love with Rin, who is in love with Kakashi. Obito apparently dies during a mission, thus leaving Rin and Kakashi free to hook up, right? Except Rin dies soon after and Obito is revealed to be alive, leaving the boys to mourn over the shared love interest (and [[LoveMakesYouEvil Obito to do things]]).

* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', Cyclops making it out with Emma Frost -- almost literally on his dead wife's grave. In this case, the dead wife made them do it with her psychic powers, or rather, the future resurrected her did it, but still perplexing, since [[FridgeLogic there were plenty of other ways she could have made Scott stay]] that were a lot less tacky.

* The background of ''ComicBook/{{Revival}}'' has Aaron having an affair with Em. Then Em is murdered. Then the Revival hits and she gets better. The relationship never recovers for coincidental reasons.

* Death By UnrequitedLove in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'' - Elizabeth invokes Norrington's still-lingering feelings for her to get him to help her escape from Davy Jones... and the moment he does, Jones kills him for it.
* [[spoiler:Dizzy]] in the ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' movie. Also, [[spoiler: the male fleet pilot who was trying to hook up with Carmen the whole time]]

* ''Film/PearlHarbor'' does this twice with the same triangle. At the start of the film, Rafe is together with Evelyn, but he is presumed dead after a battle, leaving Evelyn to seek solace in Rafe's friend, Danny. Then Rafe unexpectedly appears to them very much alive, so there's some angsting about his friend stealing his girlfriend. Then Danny dies, letting Rafe to hook up with Evelyn once more...and raise Danny's and Evelyn's child, [[DeadGuyJunior named after his father]].
* In ''Film/TheSearchers'', Martin Pawley finds himself in an AccidentalMarriage to a Comanche woman, nicknamed Look. Naturally, this gets in the way of his relationship with Laurie Jorgenson. When Martin tries to press Look for information about the killer he's tracking, she panics and runs away. Martin later finds her dead-- killed by the US Army in an attack on a Comanche camp.
* A tragic example in ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'', where Shu Lien's fiancee was killed in battle and also happened to be Mu Bai's best friend and sworn brother. For years, the two of them refused to pursue a relationship with each other, to honour the memory of their friend/fiancee.
* ''Film/FirstKnight'' has it with King Arthur's death, leaving Guinevere free to hook up with Lancelot.

* Cyclops' death in ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' can be seen as this crossed with [[DisposableFiancee Disposable Fiancé]].
* ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet''. Lieutenant Jerry Farman and Commander Adams are in a romantic competition over Altaira. Jerry is killed by the Creature from the Id when it attacks the United Planets ship and Adams and Altaira end up together.
* ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'': Scarlett has had a crush on Ashley for years, of which he once reciprocated to but then turned her away after he married Melanie. Her crush made her ungrateful for her own doting Rhett. Eventually, Melanie dies and her last words seem to be giving Scarlett permission to marry Ashley. By then Rhett has had enough and leaves so she can have Ashley, but she no longer wants him to go. No word after if she marries Ashley.
* In ''Film/Oblivion2013'' [[spoiler: Victoria is killed less than a day after Julia comes back into the picture. Bonus points come from it being her own fault, as she inadvertently sics the Drone on herself as well as Jack.]]
* In ''Film/Underworld1927'', Rolls Royce is InLoveWithTheGangstersGirl. In the end, the gangster dies which clears the way for the lovers to resolve their {{UST}} and be happy ever after.

* In ''Film/{{Unconscious}}'', León's climactic [[FallingChandelierOfDoom death by chandelier]] removes the final obstacle to Alma and Salvador getting together.

* In ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', the divorced Paul and Amanda Kirby's [[RelationshipSalvagingDisaster reconciliation over rescuing their son Eric]] would have been complicated by Amanda's new boyfriend Ben -- except that he was on the island with Eric, and they find his skeleton hanging from a ParachuteInATree soon after they arrive.

* In ''Film/CanyonPassage'', [[spoiler:George is KilledOffscreen by one of the townsmen. This frees Lucy to marry Logan]].
* In ''Film/BetterLuckTomorrow'', Stephanie decides she wants to be with Ben, who liked her for the whole movie, after her boyfriend Steve dies. Played with in several ways- Stephanie doesn't know Steve is dead when she makes this decision, but she's mad at him for mysteriously disappearing. Also, Ben is uncomfortable and isn't sure if he wants to be with her at this point, because he was involved in Steve's murder (which happened for reasons other than their romantic rivalry).

* An interesting variation in ''Film/JojoRabbit'' - [[spoiler:the offscreen hypotenuse, Elsa's resistance fighter boyfriend Nathan, has been dead the entire time, meeting an absolutely miserable end from cholera in a Nazi death camp. Elsa simply invented a fictional, nobler reason why he isn't around anymore to tell herself. Whether Elsa and Jojo end up together [[MaybeEverAfter is ambiguous]] (there's still the six-year age difference to consider, and, of course, the fact that, as orphans in immediately-post-WWII Germany, they likely have higher priorities to think about) but they do finally get to dance together]].
* In the time between ''Film/HotShots'' and ''Film/HotShotsPartDeux'', Ramada left Harley because she realized that her never-before mentioned husband was still alive. Topper rescues his ex-lover's husband from an Iraqi prison camp in the second movie, but then Dexter accidentally backs off a cliff while taking photographs, freeing the two lovers to be together again.
* ''Film/OutlawWomen'': Even though Bob has made his preference for Beth fairly obvious, the film resolves the SiblingTriangle by having Ellen shot and killed by Sam Bass during the robbery at the Paradise.
* ''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.
* ''Film/FearCity'': Matt used to have a thing with Loretta before they broke up. He wants to give it another try, but finds out that she's already involved with another stripper. Which makes it really convenient when said girlfriend becomes one of the killer's victims!

* ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'': It happens to [[spoiler:the wolf Gavin, who dies heroically]]. Implied that narrativium was working heavily in favour of the suitor that survived, or that [[spoiler: Carrot was deliberately taking advantage of narrativium, and made sure it was Gavin that made the HeroicSacrifice. Whether this was done [[ManipulativeBastard consciously]] or [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality unconsciously]] is impossible to tell through Carrot's constant ObfuscatingStupidity.]]

* Patricia Kennealy's ''The Silver Branch'', first book of the Keltiad: The protagonist, Aeron marries Roderick because her parents wish her to. Roderick and her parents die in the same well, murder. She then marries Gwydion, which was what she had wanted but her parents thought a pair of magic-wielding royals to be too scary.
* In the novel ''Mary of Marion Isle'' by Creator/HRiderHaggard, the wicked accidental wife accidentally drowns allowing the hero to marry the heroine who is his soul mate.
* Happens in ''Rose in Bloom'' to solve Rose's [[KissingCousins "which one of my cousins do I marry?"]] dilemma, when the TroubledButCute one takes himself out via horseriding accident.
* In ''Literature/TheNightAngelTrilogy'', the protagonist's first love has to make a HeroicSacrifice, and before doing so, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy wishes him happiness]] with the other contender.

* Semi-averted in ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac''. After Christian dies, Cyrano has the opportunity to reveal he wrote the letters and finally receive Roxane's love, but he withholds the information so that his beloved Roxane's memory of Christian won't be tarnished.
* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/{{Komarr}}'', Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan finds himself falling in love with Ekaterin Vorsoisson, the wife of an administrator peripherally involved with an apparent terraforming accident (and the feeling is, unbeknownst to him, mutual). Tien Vorsoisson turned out to be involved in an embezzlement scam, Ekaterine decided to leave him over it, and ''then'' Tien ended up accidentally killed by the conspirators when he tried to sell them out to Vorkosigan. Too bad things got classified enough to create a whole new set of barriers in any courtship.
* This is how the love triangle in ''Literature/TheCastleOfOtranto'' (the first GothicNovel) was resolved, although it's a bit of an unusual variation. While the two surviving sides of the triangle do marry, they're both deeply distraught over the death (as the two love rivals were quite close friends), and it's said that part of the reason they get together is that they know that no one else will fully understand their grief.

* In Samuel Shellabarger's novel [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Foxes Prince of Foxes]], the adventurer Andrea Orsini and the lady Camilla Varano discover an increasing attraction to each other which both resist out of respect for her CoolOldGuy husband Lord Varano. Varano dies heroically during the climactic siege of Città Del Monte, pushing Andrea and Camilla into each others' arms with his dying words.

* The ''Literature/HIVESeries'': ''Zero Hour'' resolves the [[spoiler: Otto/Laura/Lucy]] love triangle by having [[spoiler: Lucy heroically TakingTheBullet for Otto soon after their relationship begins to develop]]. Predictably, in the next book, [[spoiler: Otto and Laura's relationship starts to develop]], but, less predictably, it turns out [[spoiler: Laura has been threatened into turning traitor]], delaying their relationship further.

* In ''[[Literature/SweetValleyHigh Sweet Valley University]]'', Elizabeth breaks up with her long term boyfriend Todd and he begins dating another girl, Gin-Yung. Gin-Yung conveniently contracts a brain tumour and dies, using her last words to tell Todd to get back together with Elizabeth.
* S.L. Viehl's ''Literature/{{Stardoc}}''. Poor, doomed [[spoiler:[[BlueSpaceBabe Kao Torin]]]].
* Robin Hobb's ''Literature/{{Realm of the Elderlings}}'' series, [[spoiler:Burrich is badly injured in a fight against a stone dragon.]] Despite the fact that there were three separate ways to save his life, only one is attempted and deemed too difficult. [[spoiler: He eventually dies, his body thrown into the sea, and Fitz is now able to move in on Burrich's widow Molly, his childhood sweetheart.]]
* In the final book of the SequelSeries of ''Literature/The39Clues'', [[spoiler: Evan, Amy's boyfriend, is killed off for the sole purpose of letting Amy and Jake be together--although she was already cheating on Evan with Jake, anyway. (The entire book was out-of-character for Amy.)]] The fandom was enraged.

* Happens to Literature/HoratioHornblower three times over the course of the novels. Hornblower is initially married to Maria, and his LoveInterest, the Lady Barbara Wellesy, goes on to marry Admiral Percy Leighton after being spurned by Hornblower. Hornblower is naturally placed under Leighton's command and is taken prisoner after his ship is disabled in combat. He escapes captivity and meets Marie, a French widow who helps shelter him, and they start an affair. Hornblower returns to England to learn that Leighton died in battle, and Maria died in childbirth, putting both Hornblower and Barbara in a position to marry. A few books later, Marie turns up again and is killed [[LaResistance fighting Napoleon's troops]] after his return to France.
** Four ways, [[HeterosexualLifePartners if you count]] [[spoiler: Lieutenant Bush, [[AnyoneCanDie who dies in the same book as Marie]].]]
* Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs was fond of the plot where the heroine is engaged to another, and the hero nobly relinquishes her because he knows she's too honorable to break her word, and then they suffer for a bit before the inconvenient fiancé has a convenient death (sometimes being handed the JerkassBall first to make sure the reader doesn't feel sorry for him).
** ''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 ''Literature/TheMadKing'', Barney Custer and Princess Emma of Lutha fall in love while Barney is performing an EmergencyImpersonation of Lutha's king, to whom Emma is betrothed. They're both too noble to act on their feelings when she's bound by her betrothal, so they suffer separately for a few years before King Leopold has a DeathByIrony brought on directly by his jealousy over Emma's love for Barney.
* In the Creator/DanielleSteel novel ''A Perfect Stranger'', a young woman's much older husband finally passes away, leaving her free to be with the lawyer she's fallen in love with.
* ''Literature/FridthjofsSaga'': Ingibjörg and Fridthjof love each other, but Ingibjörg's brothers despise Fridthjof because he is not of royal rank, and instead force her to marry King Hring, who is old but actually a fine guy. As Fridthjof cannot bring himself to act against Hring, he offers to go away and never see Ingibjörg again, but Hring stops him and reveals that he has a deadly illness and knows he will die soon. He makes Fridthjof his jarl and successor, and at Hring's funeral Fridthjof marries Ingibjorg in accordance with Hring's own wish.

* In Music/{{Alice Cooper}}'s "Millie and Billie", Billie admits that he liked Millie's late husband Donald before he was murdered and "sliced up and sealed tight in Baggies" to cover up the affair they had together.

* In ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', [[spoiler:John Laurens's]] death near the end of Act I serves as this. Notable that [[spoiler:he]] is only one side of a quadrangle, all focused on Hamilton, with another Hypotenuse, Angelica, still in play.
* Averted in the French tragedy ''Theatre/{{Andromaque}}'', where the dead hypothenuse is the only one free from the AllLoveIsUnrequited shenanigans, which have been summed up as "Oreste loves Hermione, who loves Pyrrhus, who loves Andromaque, who loves Hector, who is dead."

* If you happen to be a female in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and [[CartwrightCurse Otacon]] loves you, expect to [[StuffedIntoTheFridge die in a cruel, yet beautiful way]]. The tendency for every girl that Otacon falls in love with to die is a big contributor to his HoYay-addled relationship with Snake.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' episode 4, when [[spoiler: Morgan [=LeFlay=] dies]].

* In ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'' 2, there was ''some'' form of love triangle between GV, Joule & Quinn, with Joule occasionally intervene in the conversation between GV and Quinn out of jealousy. In the true ending epilogue, [[spoiler: Joule's "passing"]] leaves no obstacle for [[spoiler:Quinn]] to have GV to herself & GV (now wearing civilian clothing) moving on his life with [[spoiler:Quinn]], wishing happiness for [[spoiler:Joule]]. That said, it should be noted that [[spoiler:Gunvolt still seems to treat Quinn [[ObliviousToLove more like a close friend than a romantic interest]].]]
* Throughout the ''[[Franchise/PrinceOfPersia Prince of Persia: Sands of Time]]'' trilogy, the titular hero has two love interests: the Indian princess Farah from the first game and the Empress of Time Kaileena from the second one. He leaves the former after saving her life and hooks up with the latter in ''Warrior Within'''s canonical ending. However, in ''Two Thrones'', Kaileena is murdered by the BigBad early into the game and the Prince is reunited with Farah, making a case of FirstGirlWins.

* More than one ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' case has a person killed for being one of the corners of a LoveTriangle or getting in between a potential couple. Much more common if there's an ArrangedMarriage (like [[spoiler: a DrJerk killing his ex-girlfriend so she won't stand in between him and the daughter of his boss whom he's marrying for the prestige]] or {{blackmail}} (like [[spoiler: a policeman shooting his ex-girlfriend dead when she attempts to go the HoneyTrap way right as he's actually about to move on with another woman]]) involved.

* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', the Inuyasha - Kikyou - Kagome triangle is finally broken when Naraku engineers Kikyou's death for good, and she ends up perishing peacefully in Inuyasha's arms. [[TearJerker Snifffff]]...

* ''Anime/AnohanaTheFlowerWeSawThatDay'' ''[[DeconstructedTrope smashes this to pieces]]''. Back when they were children, [[LoveDodecahedron Anaru liked Jintan and Tsuruko liked Yukiatsu, but both boys liked Menma]] and the girls, despite caring for Menma, [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter felt that they couldn't compete with her]]. Menma's untimely death only made things worse for all of them (and their uninvolved friend Poppo), since such a tragedy [[BreakTheCutie tore the group apart]] and showed that, [[RealityEnsues in reality]], the demise of "the person who gets in-between" does NOT equal to the others getting together: the guys got so broken (and Jintan already had his own issues) that [[TheLostLenore no girl in their eyes could match the very high standard that Menma had left]], with Jintan becoming a {{hikkikomori}} and Yukiatsu both considering Anaru as a prospect "back-up girlfriend" (and neither she nor Tsuruko, understandably, are happy with that) [[spoiler: and wearing dresses similar to those Menma used to wear.]]

* Mandorallen, The Baroness of Vo Ebor and The Baron of Vo Ebor in David Eddings' ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}''. In the fifth book, the Baron is seriously wounded. In one of the first books of the second pentology, the ''Malloreon'', the Baron dies as a result of his injuries, but Mandorallen and the Baroness don't get together until a new hypotenuse shows up - a crony of the Baron's heir. Finally sick of the moping, and the incipient civil war looming between Mandorallen's family and the Baron's, Belgarion storms in and orders Mandorallen and the Baroness to marry and get it over with, paying off the Baron's heir just to make sure everything ''stays'' settled.

->''"Even death has a soft place in his heart for such a paragon, and remedies all mistakes for her just at the right moment. The vicious baronet is sure to be killed in a duel, and the tedious husband dies in his bed requesting his wife, as a particular favour to him, to marry the man she loves best."''

* Discussed in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''. Haruna references how common this happens in Japanese literature when it's revealed that Yue likes Negi in the same way that Nodoka does. The fact that both Yue and Nodoka are standing ''right behind her'' as she does this didn't help the situation at all.

* Inverted in ''Anime/Danganronpa3'': the hypotenuse ([[spoiler:Munakata]]) is the last one standing. [[spoiler:Chisa killed herself thanks to her despair brainwashing, and Juzo bled out due to injuries Munakata inflicted out of paranoia.]]

* Averted in the French tragedy ''{{Theater/Andromaque}}'', where the dead hypothenuse is the only one free from the AllLoveIsUnrequited shenanigans, which have been summed up as "Oreste loves Hermione, who loves Pyrrhus, who loves Andromaque, who loves Hector, who is dead."

* Their relationship is never called love, though otherwise is handled with the subtlety of a gorilla wielding a sledgehammer, but in ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'', there's Reyn, Sharla, and Gadolt, wherein it initially appears that Reyn is a ReplacementGoldfish to Sharla, but then [[spoiler: it's revealed that humans harvested by the Mechon are made into Face Units. Gadolt was one, and so Sharla's fiance is back from the dead, complicating the nascent romance between Reyn and Sharla the story has been teasing to this point, but almost as quickly as he enters the plot, Gadolt pulls a HeroicSacrifice and is out of the picture again.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Literature/{{Lolita}}''. Charlotte wants Humbert; Humbert wants her young daugther, Dolores. Charlotte dies in a freak accident... or so [[UnrealiableNarrator Humbert]] claims. When discussing Charlotte's "[[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident accident]]", Humbert seems suspiciously eager to quickly skip over the details of the event, and even insists on not sharing the contents of their last conversation before her death with the reader under the excuse that they would just be "boring".