History Main / LoveBeforeFirstSight

** Kanaya initially hero-worships Rose Lalonde based on a Website/GameFAQs walkthrough written by the latter. Whether this is romantic is not canonically addressed, but [[ShippingGoggles shippers find it excellent fuel]].

* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIIRomancingTheThrone'', Graham sees Valanice in the MagicMirror, and sets off to find and marry her without having met her. (The FanRemake adds an element of MindlinkMates to this). Being as ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' is as bad as ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' when it comes to [[ZigZaggingTrope screwing with Fairy Tale Tropes]], this is pretty easy to shrug off.

* Alice and Jasper in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''. Alice can see the future, which is how she knew where to meet him in the first place.

* Zhuge Liang had fallen in love with Yue Ying when she had started spreading rumors about herself that she was highly unattractive but very smart ([[ValuesDissonance this'd be in late 2nd Century, early 3rd Century China]]). Upon finally besting the few other suitors, Zhuge Liang fell even more deeply in love with her and [[EngagingConversation proposed to her on the spot when he finally met her]].

Can be the result of a ReincarnationRomance. GirlOfMyDreams is the subtrope that covers specifically ''dreaming of the beloved'' before actually seeing them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'', after she saves him from drowning, Eric doesn't see Ariel but hears her beautiful singing voice and becomes determined to find this mysterious girl. Ursula uses the fact that Eric doesn't know Ariel's identity to her advantage in her deal to make Ariel human by requiring Ariel to become a mute as the price, minimizing her chances of making Eric fall in love with her. When Eric starts to fall in love with Ariel regardless, Ursula decides to diguise herself as a beautiful maiden and use Ariel's voice to bewitch Eric into believing she was the mysterious woman. Upon the spell being broken and Ariel regaining her voice, Eric finally realizes she was the one he was looking for, solidfying his love for her.

* In ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'', Nyarko fell head-over-heels for Mahiro the moment she read the mission report about him and immediately begged to be assigned to his case. When she actually tells Mahiro this, he's more than a little surprised...mainly since she's already progressed to [[LovableSexManiac "Desire to Bear Enough of His Kids to Start a Soccer Team Before First Sight"]]...

* In his memoir ''Spare'', Britain's [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince Harry]] describes scrolling through a friend's Instagram page and being utterly awestruck at the beauty of the woman next to her and almost immediately thinking that she might be "the one"--"This woman with Violet. . .my ''God''", "I'd never seen anyone so beautiful", etc. The woman in question was of course, his future wife Creator/MeghanMarkle.

* In his memoir ''Spare'', Britain's [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily]] Prince Harry describes scrolling through a friend's Instagram page and being utterly awestruck at the beauty of the woman next to her and almost immediately thinking that she might be "the one"--"This woman with Violet. . .my ''God''", "I'd never seen anyone so beautiful", etc. The woman in question was of course, his future wife Creator/MeghanMarkle.

* ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'': While her exact age is unknown, the Demon Queen is implied to be at least a couple centuries old (though she's young for her race's standards). She'd been waiting for the day to meet the Hero in person since he was born.

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', where a woodsman brings a locket containing a portrait of a princess to the princess, meeting several strangers along the way. When he finally meets the princess, he gives her the locket... and leaves.

* ''Literature/TristanAndIseult'' plays with this concept. King Mark insists on marrying the girl who left a single blonde hair on the edge of his window... except that the only reason he's thinking about marriage at all is that the barons want him to be, so he decides to choose someone impossible. But his nephew Tristan guesses that girl must be the blonde Iseult, and he brings her to the king. Then, well, you ''did'' read the title.

* Subverted in French movie (two versions) "Fanfan la Tulipe", Fanfan believes a (fake) prediction done by fortuneteller Adeline. So, he believes he'll marry king Louis XV's younger daughter. [[FalseSoulmate But, he ends up disappointed after he meets her]], [[spoiler: and prefers Adeline]].

* In ''LightNovel/EightySixEightySix's'' anime adaptation, a lot of [[AdaptationExpansion anime-original]] scenes make it clear Vladilena is rapidly falling ''hard'' for Shin just from their daily talks over the Para-RAID commlink, long before they've met in person or even know each other's faces. It takes a bit longer in the light novels, where their feelings develop slowly and gradually change from being antagonistic strangers, to comrades, to friends, and finally to full-blown romantic partners.

*

* A somewhat [[FatalAttraction twisted example]] from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Oz and Veruca, who are both werewolves.

* It's turned UpToEleven in ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'' with [[spoiler:Shu's older sister Mana. After Mana was infected with the Apocalypse Virus, she turned into [[AdamAndEvePlot "Eve"]] in order to give birth to a new race of humans, and decided that she wanted [[VillainousIncest her little brother to be her "Adam"]] ''before he was even born''. It's left unclear to what extent her feelings for Shu are caused by the Apocalypse Virus [[BrainwashedAndCrazy driving her insane]]]].

** In the Padma Purana, the damsel Ashok Sundari falls in love with Nahusha even ''before'' [[UpToEleven he was even conceived]]. Nahusha married her and had a [[BabiesEverAfter hundred daughters and six sons with her]]. Unfortunately, Nahusha obtained absolute power over the universe and became arrogant. He was transformed into a huge python by Sage Agastya and was forced to live for 10,000 years until Yudhishthira redeemed him.

* ''Film/FlirtingScholar'': Lady Chow Heung falls in love with an artist before meeting him, because of his paintings and poetry.

* In ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'', the evil [[DepravedBisexual Dr. Muraki]] fell in love with Tsuzuki [[LoveAtFirstSight at first sight]]... from his photo. He further became [[StalkerWithACrush obsessed]] with him when he read his grandfather's (who was Tsuzuki's doctor) records of Tsuzuki's symptoms and mental health.
* In ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' RichBitch Eclair actually had fallen in love with Tamaki through the stories of her housekeeper... Tamaki's mother.

* In ''Manga/BlackJack'', the titular doctor performs a retinal transplant on a blind girl, allowing her to see. She starts getting visions of a young man, who she becomes curious about and gradually falls in love with. [[spoiler:It nearly goes ''very'' badly when it's discovered that the man she's seeing is an imprint of what the previous owner of the retinas saw, and that said previous owner saw him because ''he'd murdered her'' and was quite willing to murder again to hide what he did.]]
* During the Culture Festival arc of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', it's revealed that Fujiwara's little sister Moeha has fallen in love with Shirogane due to being best friends with his little sister Kei and having often heard stories about him.
* In ''Manga/YuGiOh'', Anzu first fell for Yami Yugi when he saved her from a hostage situation in which she was blindfolded. She finds out later that he's a spirit inhabiting the body of her friend Yugi.

* ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'': While her exact age is unknown, the Demon Queen is implied to be at least a couple centuries old (though she's young for her race's standards). She'd been waiting for the day to meet the Hero in person since he was born.
* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Lu only knows her friend Matsuri as a girl, [[GenderBenderFriendship but he was male until shortly before they met]]. When Matsuri sends a SoulFragment into Lu to exorcist an evil spirit, [[BoyOfMyDreams he appears before her]] [[ResidualSelfImage in his original male form]]. Later on, Lu encounters [[ShapeshiftingTrickster Shirogane shapeshifted into male Matsuri]]. She ends up falling in love with "Shiromatsu" ([[AlienFairFolk who she thinks is an alien]]), having still never physically met [[LovesMyAlterEgo Matsuri's original identity]].
* In ''LightNovel/EightySixEightySix's'' anime adaptation, a lot of [[AdaptationExpansion anime-original]] scenes make it clear Vladilena is rapidly falling ''hard'' for Shin just from their daily talks over the Para-RAID commlink, long before they've met in person or even know each other's faces. It takes a bit longer in the light novels, where their feelings develop slowly and gradually change from being antagonistic strangers, to comrades, to friends, and finally to full-blown romantic partners.
* In ''Anime/MarsRed'', [[WholeEpisodeFlashback Episode 7]] shows that Nakajima Misaki was already pretty smitten with [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage her fiancé Lt. Col. Maeda]] just from exchanging letters with him. [[spoiler: Their first meeting in person was after she has been turned into a vampire and lost her sanity, and she dies shortly afterward.]]

* In ''Comicbook/ScottPilgrim'', Scott dreams of Ramona and becomes infatuated with her before they meet, because Ramona's using his head as a WarpZone.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', where a woodsman brings a locket containing a portrait of a princess to the princess, meeting several strangers along the way. When he finally meets the princess, he gives her the locket... and leaves.

* ''Fanfic/BequeathedFromPaleEstates'': Invoked by the Starks (particularly Ned and Lyarra) in the case of Sansa and Domeric Bolton. Sansa was originally set to be betrothed to Joffrey, but after a public display of his madness that got him essentially disqualified from the line of succession, Ned refuses the offer. Instead, he and Lyarra make a coordinated effort to turn her affections to Domeric, writing of his gallant deeds and sending her sketches of his good looks. [[spoiler:It works. By the time Ned returns to Winterfell, Sansa was ready to ask for the match herself, and when she and Domeric finally meet, they immediately hit it off and are smitten within months of their courtship.]]

* In the French movie ''Film/WitchWayLove'', HotWitch Morgane tells her infant son Arthur the story of a little witch. This witch fell in love with the portrait of a young man and found a magic spell that would get her pregnant by him without actually requiring his presence. Then the little witch was punished with a mindwipe, and the portrait was also erased, save the eyes of the man. Later, Morgan meets and falls in love with inventor Michael. Suddenly, we guess: Arthur was never seen with a father around him, and there is a portrait with only the eyes visible in Morgane's room. Said eyes are identical to those of Michael.

* Another sci-fi twist in ''Film/Oblivion2013'', combined with GirlOfMyDreams. [[spoiler:Turns out the protagonist is part of a CloneArmy created for an AlienInvasion, a fact that he's unaware of. The woman he's dreaming of is actually the wife of the original subject he was cloned from. After discovering the truth, he realises it's a case of this trope and makes a LoveConfession to her.]]
* ''Film/TheDevilsMessenger'': In "The Girl in the Glacier", Dr. Seastrom falls in love with a [[HumanPopsicle girl inside a block of ice]].

* Alice and Jasper in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''. Alice can see the future, which is how she knew where to meet him in the first place.
* In ''Belgarath the Sorcerer'' (the prequel to ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}''), King Riva has ''interesting'' dreams about a particular girl -- who turns out to be the titular sorcerer's daughter - the younger, mortal one Beldaran. They get married and start the line that leads [[spoiler:to the protagonist of the main series]].
* Drustan falls in love with Ana due to seeing her in visions in Juliet Marillier's ''BladeOfFortriu''.

* In ''Literature/TheVampireDiaries'', Elena's best friend Bonnie, who is a psychic, reads Elena's palm and tells her that in the future, she is going to meet a "tall, dark, and handsome" stranger. A few minutes later, Elena sees Stefan for the first time. Elena instantly and immediately falls in love with Stefan the moment she sees him.

%% see Folklore for Jaufre

* Eragon plays with this a bit with the title character having visions of a girl in prison. He crushes on her and rescues her, but she's not interested in him in that way.
* Virginia for Lorenzo in ''Literature/TheMonk''.
* ''Literature/{{Emma}}'': Emma Woodhouse feels Attraction Before First Sight towards Mr Frank Churchill. He's the son of her close family friend, though they have never met each other. They are socially equal and close in age, and both are intelligent, charming, and handsome.
* In ''Lavinia'' by Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin, there's a sort of case of Destiny Before First Sight: Lavinia knows by her belief in prophetic visions that she will marry Aeneas even before he arrives in Italy, and knows that this is the right thing to do for the sake of her people; she rather loves Aeneas before meeting him, too, but that's a bonus.
* In love stories within the ''Literature/ArabianNights'' corpus, love before first sight is ubiquitous--for the practical reason that there was no way a man ''could'' have set eyes on an unmarried upper-class female.
** So, in this version of the Cinderella story, the young man can only identify his beloved by the slim ankles that led to her dropping an ankle bracelet; he has not yet seen her face.
** A somewhat more believable variant is a man falling in love with his mother's description of a woman - at least, the ''mother'' actually knows the woman in question - in some versions, it is her ReallySevenHundredYearsOld best childhood friend.
* ''Literature/FromRussiaWithLove''. An InvokedTrope in the EvilPlan by SMERSH, where a Russian cypher clerk has supposedly fallen in love with Bond's picture in his file. Bond and M are skeptical, but can't resist the bait when she promises to deliver a cypher machine in exchange for meeting Bond.
* In HarpyHigh, the wizard falls in love with the protagonists' mother, who is in a coma. He explains that he can read most of her personality through her face (laughter lines, etc) and so strongly believes that he knows her very well, despite never talking to her.
* ''Literature/TheTaleOfGenji'': Heian gallants were quite capable of falling in love with a girl's handwriting or even a description.
* One chapter of ''Literature/DandelionWine'' has a man fall in love with a beautiful girl by her photo alone, only to find out that the photo was taken a long time ago and that the girl is now an old woman.
* In ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', Wade has a crush on [=Art3mis=] from reading her blog, which grows into a full-blown infatuation when their avatars meet in the Oasis. They don't meet face-to-face until the last pages of the book.

* ''Series/DoctorWho:'' A ForgottenFirstMeeting and [[HaveWeMetYet various time travel weirdness notwithstanding]], the first time the Doctor properly becomes aware of Clara's existence, he could neither see nor touch her because she, or rather the [[AlternateSelf particular version of her]] was currently in denial over having been [[BodyHorror forcibly converted into a Dalek.]] Her voice over the intercom was enough for her to impress him with her intelligence and willpower, and do lots of flirting. This is also why he doesn't immediately recognize the next version of her that he comes across; by the time he realized that they are basically the same person, they had already kissed.

* In ''Theatre/BellsAreRinging'', Ella, as Jeff's telephone answering service girl, falls in love with his voice before meeting him in person.
* In ''Theatre/TheMostHappyFella'', Tony falls in LoveAtFirstSight with a waitress who can't recall his face, not even after he leaves her a tie-pin and a love letter as a tip. A few months of correspondence later, she travels to the Napa Valley to marry him, with a picture of the handsome young man she assumes is Tony but unfortunately isn't.
* Edmond Rostand (better known for ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'') wrote a play ''La princesse lointaine'' based on the story of Jaufré Rudel (see "Folklore", above).
* Explained by Don Quixote de la Mancha himself in {{Theatre/Man of la Mancha}} during the song "Dulcinea":
--> Don Quixote (To Aldonza): I have dreamed thee too long// Never seen thee or touched thee// But known thee with all of my heart// Half a prayer, half a song// Thou hast always been with me// Though we have been always apart//

* Kaija Saariaho's opera ''L'Amour de Loin'' is another loose adaptation of the Jaufre Rudel legend, with Hodierna renamed Clémence.

* At the start of ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'', [[AmnesiacHero Ringabel]] is strongly attracted towards Edea before meeting her, due to what is written about her in his [[TomesOfProphecyAndFate mysterious journal that predicts the future]]. Needless to say, her [[RebelliousPrincess actual]] [[TheBigGuy personality]] is a bit different than what the writings implied.
* ''VideoGame/{{Chulip}}'': The beginning sequence wherein the player character and his love interest are named turn out to be a dream sequence that occurs when said character and his father are moving into Long Life Town for the very first time.
* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''. Paya was raised on tales of Link's heroism and [[KingInTheMountain his coming reawakening]], and upon meeting him for the first time deems him "the very picture of the hero I always imagined," but it wasn't until actually seeing him in-person that she becomes truly enamored with him.

* A very dark example in ''VisualNovel/DontTakeThisRisk'': you're called by a complete stranger who was trying to phone the suicide hotline and if you don't tell him you love him and agree to see him, he'll [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself]] because he believes that [[IJustWantToBeLoved no one will ever love him]]. Depending on your choices, it becomes clear that either the character you play as doesn't truly love him, only said so to prevent him from committing suicide, and has to decide whether to try letting him down gently or [[LoveMartyr stay with him]] to give him a reason to keep living, ''or'' the character you play as is genuinely crazy and/or lonely enough to believe herself to be in love with him just from hearing his voice over the phone.

* The main couple in ''Webcomic/{{Dreamless}}'' live on different continents, but [[GirlOfMyDreams see through each other's eyes instead of dreaming]] when they sleep. Living each other's lives, they fall in love. He's Japanese, she's American... [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and it's the 1940s]]. When Elanor asks her father why he never wondered about her speaking Japanese, his reply is [[spoiler: that he speaks German for the same reason. [[ForegoneConclusion It didn't work out for him]]]].
* In ''Webcomic/JackTheAmericanGhost'' it's revealed that Jack and [[spoiler: Go-Eun were at the same mental hospital for a while, and he fell in love with her by hearing her sing,]] despite not knowing who she was or what she looked like.

* Professor Madblood of ''{{Webcomic/Narbonic}}'' fell in love with Helen when he read about her development as a clone as a project. [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=10217 He went mad as a teenager.]]