History Main / TimeTravelRomance

* ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'': Played with La'an gets trapped in the past with an [[spoiler: alternate timeline James T. Kirk]] and they both have to cope with being in their mutual past and figuring out where their timelines diverged and how to stop it. They fall for each other as they do so.

* ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'': Played with La'an gets trapped in the past with a [[spoiler: alternate timeline James T. Kirk]] and they both have to cope with being in their mutual past and figuring out where their timelines diverged and how to stop it. They fall for each other as they do so.

Closely related to AgeDownRomance, which also involves two characters, who would otherwise be too chronologically distant, getting brought together through supernatural means.

* ''LightNovel/DateALive'': This is essentially why Origami has feelings for Shidou when they meet at the start of the series, even though he doesn't remember meeting her before. To give a brief summary, Shidou eventually travels back into the past and comforts Origami after her parents were killed, causing her to become emotionally dependent on him. It's complicated by the fact that multiple instances of time travel were involved, resulting in a major case of TimeyWimeyBall.

* Happens every so often in ''VideoGame/GardensOfTime''. , even when in-story these types of romances are ''not allowed''. There are two huge examples of the trope:

* James T. Kirk has another tragic example in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The City On The Edge Of Forever." Kirk is sent back to [[TheGreatDepression Great Depression]] [[BigApplesauce New York City]] through a NegativeSpaceWedgie TimePortal. There, he meets and falls in love with Edith Keeler, a kind-hearted, visionary shelter worker. The tragedy is that unless Keeler dies, [[GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel the Nazis will win World War II]] and Starfleet will never exist. The punch is all the worse in the end, as Kirk has to personally intercede to prevent Dr. [=McCoy=] from saving Keeler's life. The FridgeLogic in this one is quite hard, because there were many obvious options to save Keeler without harming history- including ''simply taking her with them back to the future'' (Since she was supposed to die, this would not have changed history, except to go from "killed by a car" to just "missing forever" . . . but then Kirk couldn't be TheCasanova and kiss an alien every week!) Also, the Guardian of Forever basically says that time would only correct itself when the same conditions (in this case, Edith Keeler's death) were achieved. The fact that Kirk fell in love with her makes it a bigger sacrifice. Had she not died, they wouldn't have gone anywhere.

* Between Sigma and Diana in ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'' and the backstory of ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward''. When he first meets her, she's already known him for days. When she first meets him, [[TheLostLenore he hasn't seen her alive for decades]] and built a gynoid[[note]]aka Luna[[/note]] in her image. [[spoiler:Complicating this even further are their [[SuperNaturallyYoungParent 20 year-old daughter]] and ''[[UpToEleven 124 year-old son]]'' who both don't even get born in the timelines that either ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' or the GoldenEnding take place in]].

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with in]] ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', where [[spoiler: the Second Generation Characters are all time travelers [[TimeTravelEscape who fled from a]] BadFuture where [[OmnicidalManiac Grima destroyed the world]]. Now for the most part, they cannot fall in love with the First Generation characters, averting this trope... until you realize they can fall for [[PlayerCharacter the Avatar]], who is a friend of the First Generation characters and a potential parent of the kids in his/her own right. And to top it all off, such a pairing will give these future children their own KidFromTheFuture: Morgan (who can also be the future kids' [[PromotionToParent little sibling]]). In this case though, none of them actually want to go back to their original BadFuture -- and even if they ''did'' want to return, that's a feat which may be impossible to do anyways since Grima trashed everything. [[note]](Though one DLC in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' has [[PhysicalGod Good Anankos]] managing [[WorldHealingWave to fix the lands themselves]], so who knows now.)[[/note]].]] The fandom is split on whether this is a good move story/gameplay wise or a ''really'' {{squick}}y deal, since [[spoiler:while the future kids are close to the Avatar's age (in fact, some are implied to be actually ''older'' than some of the potential First-Gen spouses), they are marrying someone who was at least two decades their senior in their original timeline, while their "current day" selves haven't even been born yet (with the exception of Lucina, and she's still only an infant)]].

** [[spoiler: [[HandsomeLech Richard Wakefield]] found himself in AncientEgypt, right when UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII was about to commit suicide. He felt sympathy for the lonely and desperate Queen, disuaded her from killing herself and entered a romance with her. Bad thing, Cleopatra had a FaceHeelTurn and became a Time Traveler herself, causing LOTS of messes.]]

* Played with in "Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings" in the relationship between The Commander and Jonesy, who simply thinks he is a particularly creative liar or delusional, but is subsequently proved wrong about this.

* The movie version of ''Literature/TheTimeTravelersWife'' is all about this trope.

* Defied in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. When Chao Lingshen says she's going back to the future, Negi implores her to stay with him and the others. However Chao notes that it sounds an awful lot like a romantic proposal and given that she's ''his descendant'', [[IncestIsRelative well]]...

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace "The Girl in the Fireplace"]], the Doctor fell in lust with Madame de Pompadour (you know, the French King's mistress) while they're separated by extreme NarniaTime. It verged on TheDulcineaEffect on his part, while she spent [[TheLostLenore the best part of her life in love with him]]. The Doctor returns to enlist her as a companion in his adventures, only to find she's died of old age waiting for him.
** Then there's River Song, supposedly the Doctor's wife. She is also a time traveller, but moves on her own. Though it was indicated at first that they are meeting in roughly reverse order, later episodes show that it's a little more complicated than that. For example, the Doctor is present at her birth, but though it's the first time she meets him, it's not the last time he meets her. The only point we know for sure is that the ''last'' time River meets the Doctor is in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary "Silence in the Library"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]] [[spoiler:in which she dies.]]

Time travel provides all kinds of possibilities for a romance arc: some of them comic, some of them tragic, and some of them bittersweet. As a comedy trope, time travel can result in a culture clash between two otherwise suited people, since different times have different manners and mores. More dramatically, a time travel plot may force a protagonist to make a decision between [[YourUniverseOrMine returning home or staying in a different era]]. Time travel can also serve as a force which reluctantly separates the couple, if one must return to his or her original time. Time travel can sometimes result in the ultimate LongDistanceRelationship, if the couple tries to make it work despite the time barrier.

* In ''Fanfic/BackToTheFrollo'', Danisha discovers [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture a time-traveling Chevy]], travels to 1480's Paris, meets [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Judge Claude Frollo]], and falls madly in love with him.

* Series/{{Primeval}}: gives us Lady Emily Merchant, [[spoiler: from Victorian England]], and Matt Anderson, [[spoiler: a man from the future]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Supergirl falls in love with Brainiac 5 of the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} when they go into the future, and she stays there to be with him when the rest of the heroes go back.

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'' episode "Darksmoke and Fire" had Adora sent over a hundred years into Eternia's past by a plot of Hordac's. While there, she meets Tarvan, who grows to adore her. She has to leave him behind when Granamyr returns her to the future.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/DoctorWho https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_girl_in_the_fireplace.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Time-Travel Romance: Now with added {{Clockpunk}} robots!]]

* Defied in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''. When Chao Lingshen says she's going back to the future, Negi implores her to stay with him and the others. However Chao notes that it sounds an awful lot like a romantic proposal and given that she's ''his descendant'', [[IncestIsRelative well]]...

* ''ComicBook/BattleOfTheAtom'': During the second fight with the Future Brotherhood in ''Comicbook/AllNewXMen'', the time-displaced teenaged Angel begins to take an interest in Comicbook/{{X 23}}. They go out on a wild date in issue 31, in which somehow Laura (despite her HealingFactor) gets wasted enough that she blacks out and Warren has to relate the events, and which is also heavily implied to have ended in sex. For most of the subsequent ten issues the nature of their relationship is left up in the air, primarily due to Laura's standoffishness on the matter. They finally have a RelationshipUpgrade to OfficialCouple in issue 40.

* In ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'', a girl named Yuri Suzuki is thrown into the old Hitite Empire and becomes the concubine of one of the Hitite princes, Kail Mursili. Both are aware of the trope, and in fact Kail points out the HUGE inconveniences. [[spoiler: But in the end, Yuri decides to stay in Hattusa and officially marry Kail.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'', [[spoiler:Dirk Strider and Roxy Lalonde exist years into the future relative to Jake English and Jane Crocker, but are still capable of communicating with them with such ease that the latter two aren't even aware of the time difference. Despite this, Dirk has fallen for Jake, who in turn has shown himself not at all entirely opposed to pursing this. It seems likely that the two would be able to meet up within Sburb, however.]]