Basic Trope: One character loves another and, upon being rejected, tries to kill them.
- Straight: Bob loves Alice a great deal... so when she picks Charlie instead, he kills her for her "betrayal".
- Exaggerated: Alice smiles at one of Charlie's jokes. Bob burns her alive.
- Downplayed:
- Bob loves Alice a great deal... so when she picks Charlie instead, Bob spreads mean rumors about both Alice and Charlie, causing them to break up.
- Bob blackmails Alice into taking a vow of celibacy.
- Justified:
- Bob has been betrayed by the people he cares about his entire life, and after he learns that Alice isn't interested in him, he finally snaps.
- Bob was in love with the idea of Alice, and because the real Alice does not line up with this idea, he kills her so the idea can live on.
- Bob is a Yandere.
- Inverted:
- Alice breaks up with Charlie to be with Bob, and Bob kills her for hurting Charlie.
- Bob is so heartbroken that Alice doesn't return his affections for him, he takes his own life.
- After not being able to get over Alice, Bob kills her to "free himself".
- Bob instead kills Charlie for trying to "steal" her away from him.
- Alice tells Bob that she likes Bob as a friend, but doesn't love him. Bob decides to kill everyone except Alice with the intent of kicking off an Adam and Eve Plot.
- Subverted:
- When Alice picks Charlie, Bob declares that her happiness is more important to him than his own...
- Bob is a Stalker with a Crush, but Alice finds that to be romantic, and Everybody Lives.
- When Alice tells Bob she'd rather be with Charlie, Bob raises a gun to Alice before the camera cuts to a scene of a flock of birds flying coupled with a gun shot and a scream. However, it turns out he turned the gun on himself.
- Double Subverted:
- ...Except he was lying and slits Alice's throat in her sleep, but at least wanted her to die happy.
- ...Alternately, Bob is a Magnificent Bastard and the entire thing was a ploy to impress Alice with his apparent maturity, and he patiently waits until a few weeks after the wedding, before quietly arranging for Charlie to have an "accident" and die, before immediately going to comfort Alice in her loss, knowing that the last guy wins.
- Except that Alice realizes just how far Bob is willing to go, and is so terrified of being killed that she plays along with it.
- Bob winds up shooting himself instead, and Alice rushes over and holds him as he dies. While she's caught off guard, however, he shoots her so that they can be Together in Death.
- Parodied: "If I can’t have you, no one shall!" …and Bob proceeds to grind a chocolate bar to pieces and throw them into a dustbin, because he’s allergic to chocolate but loves it.
- Zig Zagged: Bob is a Stalker with a Crush who borders on Yandere. At first, Alice appears to be Squicked out by this behavior, but then turns out to be a Nightmare Fetishist who finds it endearing. Except that she doesn't take his threats seriously. After a drunken one-night stand with Charlie, she wakes up to find Bob standing over them with a butcher's knife and a Slasher Smile. Turns out he's understanding enough to let Alice live because she was drunk and wouldn't have cheated on him were she sober... but then he goes berserk on Charlie for "tempting/corrupting her". This firsthand evidence of Bob's psychosis disturbs Alice so deeply that she rejects him out of sheer terror, this time sending him completely over the edge...
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob have a healthy relationship.
- Bob is not in a relationship at all.
- Enforced: "We can't just have Alice and Bob break up; it wouldn't be dramatic enough. Let's have Bob murder Alice."
- Lampshaded:
- "Don't kill me, Bob! You'll probably find another girl in due time, and who knows? Maybe Charlie and I won't work out."
- "If you don't fucking love me Alice, I swear I'll kill you! No one deserves you in here but me!"
- Invoked:
- Bob asks his friend Dave what do to, and Dave suggests getting revenge.
- Bob decides to get revenge.
- Exploited: Emily wants to die, but cannot bring herself to commit suicide, so she disguises herself as Alice in the hope that Bob will kill her.
- Defied:
- Alice cheats on Bob, and he does nothing more drastic than break off the relationship.
- Bob is commiserating with Dave about Alice and Charlie's new relationship when Dave suggests revenge. Bob is horrified at the Disproportionate Retribution.
- Alice files a restraining order against Bob or has him arrested for his violent behavior.
- Discussed: "Alice, I wouldn't date Bob if I were you. He's a little too possessive for his own good. And for yours."
- Conversed: "Ever notice how Bob starts fingering that knife whenever Alice is chatting with some other guy?"
- Implied:
- Bob is mad when Alice starts dating Charlie. Alice and Charlie then vanish with no straightforward explanation.
- Bob tries to kill Alice after he leaves his organization, like he does to anyone who try to leave. The rage that Bob shows while hunting her down implies implies he took her leaving quite personally, and that their relationship was more than professional.
- Played For Laughs: Bob attempts to off Alice and Charlie during their date, in increasingly ridiculous ways that keep backfiring.
- Played For Drama: Bob unintentionally kills most of the other characters during his attempt to murder Alice and Charlie.
Bob: Alice, love, you're going back to If I Can't Have You…? Well, that's fine then - wait, you're going to another trope, aren't you? How DARE you betray me?! If you won't edit me, then... I WON'T LET YOU EDIT ANOTHER TROPE IN MY PLACE!!!
