History Main / ThirdTimesTheCharm

* Dante has this with his twin brother Vergil in ''Franchise/DevilMayCry 3''. Dante [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose loses the first fight]]. The BigBad reveal interrupts the second fight. After they take care of the BigBad, they have one more fight to the finish, with Dante defeating Vergil.

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* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', this is an actual rule of magic, which holds power because of the numerous times that it has repeated-[[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve the belief of practitioners that it will work allows it to work.]] A third victory out of a set of three battles will reverse any losses taken in the previous two, and if you can defeat someone three times in a particular field the victory is guaranteed to be both meaningful and lasting. This leads to practitioner duels usually taking the form of attempts to either conserve strength for the third fight or prevent the third fight from happening, with the first two battles being irrelevant except as preparation for the third.


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* Creator/TaitenKusunoki had to attend three separate auditions to join ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'' voice cast, and each time he tried pretty different characters. First he apped to play [[TeamDad Kippei]] [[TragicHero Tachibana]] but lost to Creator/YoshihisaKawahara, later lost the role of [[SternTeacher Taro]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer Sakaki]] to Creator/JurotaKosugi, and finally got in as [[KendoTeamCaptain Genichirou]] [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Sanada]].

* Between ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', ''[[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs As]]'', and ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'', it took Fate three tries to pass her Enforcer exam. It is implied that some of her difficulty came from taking the test during the period in which Nanoha was recovering from her wounds (thus causing Fate emotional distress), and it is pointed out that as the pass rate is 15%, and Chrono also failed the test once, this is still fairly good, especially considering Fate passed "with flying colors" the third time.

* Bowser is fought/encountered exactly three times in many SuperMarioBros games, with him being fought as a level boss in the Dark World, Fire Sea and Sky in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', and in three different reactors in both ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', with the last fight being the final boss battle. This also applies to the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series (he's fought in the intro, part way through the game and in a posessed form as part of the final boss battle) and likely quite a few others too.

* Bowser is fought/encountered exactly three times in many SuperMarioBros games, with him being fought as a level boss in the Dark World, Fire Sea and Sky in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', and in three different reactors in both ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''SuperMarioGalaxy 2'', with the last fight being the final boss battle. This also applies to the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series (he's fought in the intro, part way through the game and in a posessed form as part of the final boss battle) and likely quite a few others too.

* Bowser is fought/encountered exactly three times in many SuperMarioBros games, with him being fought as a level boss in the Dark World, Fire Sea and Sky in ''SuperMario64'', and in three different reactors in both ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''SuperMarioGalaxy 2'', with the last fight being the final boss battle. This also applies to the ''MarioAndLuigi'' series (he's fought in the intro, part way through the game and in a posessed form as part of the final boss battle) and likely quite a few others too.

* One of the G.U.I.L.T. strains is fought like this in ''TraumaCenter''.

** Also in DP, Dawn's Contest losing streak [[BrokenStreak ended]] with her victory in the Wallace Cup, her third endeavor.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} Diamond and Pearl'', Dawn wants to catch a Buneary from the very beginning. Two Buneary foil her battles. The third one just happened to fall madly in love with Ash's Pikachu.

* ''FanFic/SoulChess: Lelouch had to defeat Aizen three times before it was safe to say that he was not going to be leaving the ninth circle of hell any time soon. Even then, the first two times he had to rely on other methods to get rid of him: the first time by [[spoiler:Geassing him to commit suicide]], and the second by [[spoiler:using Rita's power over the reincarnation cycle to briefly bring back Yamamoto and have him finish Aizen off for him]]. It was only the third time, [[spoiler:after absorbing the Hogyoku]], that Lelouch was able to defeat Aizen in one-on-one combat.

Sometimes this particular trope can provide good motive for CharacterDevelopment but at the same time may fall into the trap of [[BondVillainStupidity the antagonist leaving him alive for little adequately explained reason]] if the method of the hero's survival from the defeat isn't portrayed the right way. Often, these first two losses will be quick and [[CurbStompBattle supremely one sided]], though this may not always be the case, particularly with [[BoringInvincibleHero those certain characters]] where such losses are always due to cheating or some other unfair circumstances.

* [[MuhyoAndRoji Muhyo]] has three separate encounters with Enchu. In the first at the MLS, Enchu leaves after Muhyo sentences the ghosts he sent. In the second [[spoiler:at the Arcanum]], he escapes with [[spoiler:Rio, before her traitor's mark can be removed]]. In the third, Muhyo [[spoiler:is able to bring Enchu to his senses and convince him to drive out Teeki from his body]].

* In MaiOtome, Arika and Nina have three battles after Nina's FaceHeelTurn. The first two end with no clear winner, but Arika is victorious in the third.

* The Connors encounter the T-1000 three times over the course of ''[[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Terminator 2]]'' (shopping mall, hospital, foundry) but only defeat him the third time.

* Combining ''[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back]]'' and ''[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi]]'', Luke Skywalker directly encounters Darth Vader three times: the first time in Cloud City, the second time on Endor (where Luke fails to redeem Vader and is instead taken to the Emperor), and the third in the Emperor's throne room. The two never get close enough in ''A New Hope'' for it to count.

A {{Subtrope}} of the RuleOfThree, this trope extends to confrontations in a particular work. When invoking this trope, a protagonist will, over the course of the story, confront a particular villain or antagonist roughly three times in succession. The first two times the protagonist makes an attempt at defeating him however, [[YouCantThwartStageOne he will lose]], or at the very least have severe implications that had the battle gone on longer, he would have lost.

* Shinn Asuka's initial confrontations against Kira in ''GundamSeedDestiny'' play out like this. The first time Kira effortlessly disables him in one slash, the second Shinn freaks him out by dodging a few of his attacks (Kira had up until that point flawlessly one shotted everyone who crossed his path thus far) before Athrun takes over, although it was clear Shinn would have still lost, and finally in their third battle Shinn has prepared extensively and exploiting a flaw in Kira's fighting style, takes him down although Kira survives. They actually fight a few more times after this but always to a draw as Shinn's new machine is unable to exploit the earlier flaw but he's still grown in skill to the point where Kira can't get a hit on him.

* Between ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', ''[[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs As]]'', and ''StrikerS'', it took Fate three tries to pass her Enforcer exam. It is implied that some of her difficulty came from taking the test during the period in which Nanoha was recovering from her wounds (thus causing Fate emotional distress), and it is pointed out that as the pass rate is 15%, and Chrono also failed the test once, this is still fairly good, especially considering Fate passed "with flying colors" the third time.

* Between [[LyricalNanoha Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs As]] and StrikerS, it took Fate three tries to pass her Enforcer exam. It is implied that some of her difficulty came from taking the test during the period in which Nanoha was recovering from her wounds (thus causing Fate emotional distress), and it is pointed out that as the pass rate is 15%, and Chrono also failed the test once, this is still fairly good, especially considering Fate passed "with flying colors" the third time.

* Creator/TaitenKusunoki had to attend three separate auditions to join the PrinceOfTennis voice cast, and each time he tried pretty different characters. First he apped to play [[TeamDad Kippei]] [[TragicHero Tachibana]] but lost to Creator/YoshihisaKawahara, later lost the role of [[SternTeacher Taro]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer Sakaki]] to Creator/JurotaKosugi, and finally got in as [[KendoTeamCaptain Genichirou]] [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Sanada]].

* It is common for bosses in video games to take three hits to kill. (e.g. Big Boo from ''SuperMarioWorld'', many ''TheLegendOfZelda'' bosses etc.)

* Pointed out in ''BobAndGeorge'' in the comments when it was invoked in one of the early confrontations over its entire run.

* Dante has this with his twin brother Vergil in ''DevilMayCry 3''. Dante [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose loses the first fight]]. The BigBad reveal interrupts the second fight. After they take care of the BigBad, they have one more fight to the finish, with Dante defeating Vergil.

* TaitenKusunoki had to attend three separate auditions to join the PrinceOfTennis voice cast, and each time he tried pretty different characters. First he apped to play [[TeamDad Kippei]] [[TragicHero Tachibana]] but lost to Creator/YoshihisaKawahara, later lost the role of [[SternTeacher Taro]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer Sakaki]] to Creator/JurotaKosugi, and finally got in as [[KendoTeamCaptain Genichirou]] [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Sanada]].
* King HenryVIII of England did not sire his coveted son, for whose birth he completely changed the social and religious landscape of England, until he met his third wife, Jane Seymour.

* [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Weaponized]] by [[PhineasAndFerb Candace Flynn]] in "Mission Marvel" where she determines that messing around with technology she's unfamiliar with has to work on the third try because her first 2 tries failed; ''she's right...''

* TaitenKusunoki had to attend three separate auditions to join the PrinceOfTennis voice cast, and each time he tried pretty different characters. First he apped to play [[TeamDad Kippei]] [[TragicHero Tachibana]] but lost to YoshihisaKawahara, later lost the role of [[SternTeacher Taro]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer Sakaki]] to Creator/JurotaKosugi, and finally got in as [[KendoTeamCaptain Genichirou]] [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Sanada]].

* It is common for bosses in video games to take three hits to kill. (e.g. Big Boo from SMW, many Legend of Zelda bosses etc.)
* One of the G.U.I.L.T. strains is fought like this in TraumaCenter.

* Dante has this with his twin brother Vergil in Devil May Cry 3. Dante [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose loses the first fight]]. The BigBad reveal interrupts the second fight. After they take care of the BigBad, they have one more fight to the finish, with Dante defeating Vergil.

* Bowser is fought/encountered exactly three times in many SuperMarioBros games, with him being fought as a level boss in the Dark World, Fire Sea and Sky in SuperMario64, and in three different reactors in both SuperMarioGalaxy and SuperMarioGalaxy 2, with the last fight being the final boss battle. This also applies to the MarioAndLuigi series (he's fought in the intro, part way through the game and in a posessed form as part of the final boss battle) and likely quite a few others too.

* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', this is an actual rule of magic, which holds power because of the numerous times that it has repeated-[[ClapYouHandsIfYouBelieve the belief of practitioners that it will work allows it to work.]] A third victory out of a set of three battles will reverse any losses taken in the previous two, and if you can defeat someone three times in a particular field the victory is guaranteed to be both meaningful and lasting. This leads to practitioner duels usually taking the form of attempts to either conserve strength for the third fight or prevent the third fight from happening, with the first two battles being irrelevant except as preparation for the third.