Love Informant

"You think you lost your love
Well, I saw her yesterday
It's you she's thinking of
And she told me what to say
She says she loves you
And you know that can't be bad..."

— "She Loves You", The Beatles

A lover doesn't make a Love Confession to their beloved, but rather, to a third party. That third party then declares the lover's love to the beloved—either deliberately or accidentally.

This may happen for a variety of reasons. For instance, the broker may be either:

• Willing to tell the beloved about the lover's love at the request of the lover.
• Telling it to the beloved in exchange for something (especially in a "forbidden love" setting or if the lover is just so shy).
• Telling it to the beloved behind the lover's back.
• Unaware that the lover hasn't already confessed.
• Simply unable to keep a secret.
• Are a Shipper on Deck for the couple in question.

See also Love Letter Lunacy.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• In My Love Story!!, Takeo and Yamato like each other, but Takeo is convinced that she likes his best friend Suna instead. After a date gone wrong because of this, Suna gets fed up with Takeo's denseness and just straight up tells him that he's the one Yamato really likes. Even after hearing this Takeo can't believe it's true, so Suna tricks Yamato herself into declaring her love for Takeo in no uncertain terms, thinking that she's telling it to Suna in confidence when Takeo is actually hidden in the room, eavesdropping. A stunned Takeo then reveals himself, and after the initial shock he and Yamato confess to each other properly.
• Naruto:
  • Sai tries to be this in the Five Kage Summit arc, with disastrous results.
  • In the Canon movie The Last: Naruto the Movie, Sakura takes this role, where she gives Naruto an important pep-talk regarding Hinata's love for him. This time, it worked.
• In Chapter 32 of Whispered Words, Tomoe accidentally implies to Ushio that her best friend Sumika has romantic feelings for her.
• In Whisper of the Heart, Harada uses Shizuku to confess her love to Sugimura. Unfortunately, Sugimura likes Shizuku, who is starting to like Seiji.

Fan Works

• Near omnipresent in fanfiction, especially slashfic, where there often is a Shipper on Deck. One of the preferred ways to break the news to characters who wouldn't otherwise consider initiating a relationship.
• In the Hurog fanfic Human Magic, there is an example of this:
  Tisala: "Haven't you seen the way he looks at you?" said my wife. "Oreg loves you, Ward."

Film

• Elling: It falls to Elling to tell Reidun, who is wondering what Elling's roommate Kjell Bjarne things about her, that Kjell Bjarne is in fact in love with her. Elling mostly tells because he has social anxiety disorder and Reidun asking him personal questions is making him uncomfortable.

Literature

• Dave Barry mentions that he had a friend named Phil in high school with the invaluable ability to talk to girls, and thus was able to get Phil to ask (by asking a female friend of) a girl out on a date for him. Her acceptance was passed on to her friend, who passed it to Phil, who passed it back to Dave.
• In Anne Of The Island, the third installment of the Anne of Green Gables series, Anne is having a sleepover with her friend, Jane Andrews, who proceeds to propose to Anne on behalf of Jane's brother Billy, who is too shy to court Anne much less ask her to marry him. Anne, having never thought much about Billy at all, refuses. Jane is unsurprised (having told her brother it was a long shot) and assures Anne that Billy will be fine since he likes Nettie Blewett (another local girl) almost as well, so he'll probably just marry her instead. Anne is wryly amused, and when she later hears of Billy's engagement, wonders if he managed to propose in person this time or if he asked his sister to do it again.
• A Civil Campaign has an example of the accidental variant: Ekaterin learns that Miles is in love with her when Simon Illyan, who has memory problems, introduces the subject in conversation because he's forgotten she doesn't already know.
• In the Narrative Poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish" (1858) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mayflower pilgrim Miles Standish sends his friend John Alden to deliver a marriage proposal to Priscilla Mullens. Priscilla is not impressed and instead asks, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?"
• In Dragon Blood, there are lots of shippers on board and ship the main couple. Before they become a couple. Which makes things a bit awkward. This goes so far that people even consider a possible marriage in political debates, in the hearing range of the not-yet-couple.
• In the Jeeves and Wooster series by P. G. Wodehouse, Bertie Wooster repeatedly fills this role.
  • In Right Ho, Jeeves he attempts to tell Madeleine Bassett that Gussie Fink-Nottle is in love with her. Unfortunately, he phrases it so vaguely that Madeleine ends up convinced that Bertie is in love with her instead.
  • Bertie also serves in this capacity for his Serial Romeo friend Bingo Little, with varying results.
• In Warrior Cats, Cinderpelt tells Fireheart that Sandstorm loves him (and that it's obvious to everyone else).

Live-Action TV

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dawn is the first person to tell Buffy about Spike's crush on her.
• CSI: NY: Mid-season 2, relative newcomer Lindsay asks Sid if he thinks Danny calls her "Montana" because she's a 49er's fan. He replies, "He calls you that because he has a crush on you."
• In the seventh season of Frasier, a drugged-up Frasier lets slip to Daphne that Niles is crazy about her.
• On a first-season episode of Friends ("The One Where Rachel Finds Out"), Chandler accidentally blurts out to Oblivious to Love Rachel that Ross is head over heels for her.
• In Gotham Barbara informs Ed that Penguin is in love with him. Her intentions however are more sinister than it is usual for this trope since she uses it to prove that Penguin had a motive to kill Ed's girlfriend and to turn Ed against him.
• In the penultimate episode of Hannibal, Will asks Bedelia whether Hannibal is in love with him and she confirms it.
• In the first episode of the Jeeves and Wooster TV adaptation, Bertie Wooster attempts to play this role for his friend Bingo Little, who is infatuated with Honoria Glossop, but Honoria instead gets the impression that he's speaking on his own behalf, and spends the rest of the series convinced that Bertie is pining for her.
• In the 2008 adaptation of Little Dorrit, John Chivery (who's in love with Amy) tells Arthur Clennam that Amy loves him.
• In the last episode of Mimpi Metropolitan, Alan chooses to not to talk about his feelings or his failed love confession attempts to Pipin in his last meeting with her. After Alan leaves, Mami Bibir is the one who tells Pipin about those.
• In the second season finale of Never Have I Ever, Eleanor tells Ben that Devi had initially wanted to choose him over Paxton.
• The Odd Couple (1970): Felix falls madly in love with Gloria and wants to marry her, but he becomes such a nervous wreck that he loses his voice before he can propose to her, and he practically begs Oscar to propose to her on his behalf, even going so far as writing down very specific instructions on what to do and say. Oscar, wanting to get out of there, basically cuts to the chase and asks Gloria to marry Felix, to which she agrees.

Music

• The Beatles: In the song "She Loves You," "She" tells the singer that she loves "you," who is being sung to.
  She says she loves you
  And you know that can't be bad.
  She loves you
  And you know you should be glad.

Theatre

• Don Pedro to Hero on behalf of Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing.
  Don Pedro: Here, Claudio, I have wooed in thy name, and fair Hero is won.
• In Wonderful Town, the song "It's Love" rises out of Eileen's attempt to get Baker to confess his love for her sister Ruth:
  Eileen: It's love! It's love!
  Baker: Come on now, let's drop it.
  Eileen: It's love! It's love! And nothing can stop it.
  Baker: You're a silly girl, it's a sign of youth.
  Eileen: You're a silly boy. You're in love with Ruth.

Video Games

• Hilariously misfires in Final Fantasy IX. Eiko wants someone to be the love informant from her to Zidane. The letter Dr. Tot writes for her is misplaced several times, is misunderstood, and ends up sparking love between Steiner and Beatrix.
• In Tales of Symphonia, Presea mentions to Lloyd in one skit that Raine told her that Genis likes her.
  • In the sequel, if you pick Colette in the Iselia/Flanoir sidequest near the end of the game, Emil tells Lloyd she’s in love with him (Colette never told Emil this, but he seems to pick this information up from a skit that occurs early on in the game). This ultimately leads to the two getting together by the end of the sidequest.

Western Animation

• In Disney's The Princess and the Frog, Naveen intends to confess his feelings for Tiana and propose, but gets cold feet due to a combination of I Want My Beloved to Be Happy and Poor Communication Kills. Ray has to fill her in instead.

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