How tragic is the UnrequitedTragicMaiden?

Spurred by trying to find something for the concurrent Image Pickin discussion: [1]

The description of Unrequited Tragic Maiden emphasizes that she usually has a sad fate, and indeed several examples have her dying or ending the story in objectively pitiable conditions. But there are several on-page examples that don't mention this, or just focus on her being kind of sad for a while:

I think the trope here is the pretty young thing meeting her doom because of matters of the heart, ties into Womanliness as Pathos, Women Are Delicate etcetera. I am of the opinion that a pretty girl ending the story kind of sad that her crush ended up with someone else is misuse and goes better in tropes like Romantic Runner-Up.

Edited by Synchronicity on Jan 26th 2023 at 2:18:52 PM

The description says this (emphasis mine):

From the description, she dying is not a strict requirement of this trope, and I have little idea what it's supposed to really be about. When you simply lose your love interest at the end, that's Romantic Runner-Up. When you accept your loss gracefully and even support your not-love-interest to be with their new love interest is I Want My Beloved to Be Happy. When you commit suicide because you lost your love interest, that's Spurned into Suicide. When you sacrifice yourself so your love interest can live, that's Heroic Sacrifice.

To me, it looks like Unrequited Tragic Maiden is supposed to be a character archetype that's somehow the mix of the above tropes, but it's not clearly defined. I think that the trope itself is superfluous and should simply be cut.

Edit: after checking a random selection of wicks, I found some ZC Es and some examples that were either simply Spurned into Suicide or Romantic Runner-Up.

Edited by petersohn on Jan 26th 2023 at 9:46:53 PM

Apart from the main page suggesting the character also has to have traits of a would-be ideal love interest or The Ingenue, I'm not too sure it can stand on its own from other Tropes without the dying (EDIT: or whatever the bad fate is) part. Maybe the definition should be tightened to make more of a requirement that the character has to have a sad fate. I'm suggesting this because the current suggests the character oftentimes does, but not always. I also think this might need to go to TRS, though I could be wrong on that or what I suggested for the description.

Edited by RandomTroper123 on Jan 30th 2023 at 6:23:21 AM

Re: "often dies": I think that allows for leeway for other pitiable fates, like being locked in a nunnery or trapped in a horrible marriage or forced into prostitution or whatever. I am thinking the death should be optional, not the tragedy.

Re: "ingenue": yes, the trope is going for the juxtaposition of beauty and tragedy. For supposedly similar reasons (in theory, not commenting on practice) The Ophelia is not redundant to all the other tropes about crazy people.

Edited by Synchronicity on Jan 26th 2023 at 4:46:48 AM

I think tragic in this site is used for two meanings:

• The obvious one: the extremely sad but sympathetic connotation often involves a traumatic experience and "tragic" conditions, as in Tragic Monster, Tragic Villain, and Tragic Bigot.
• The "doomed" or "downfall " connotation. Something that involves the downfall and ultimate failure of a character, as in Tragic Mistake and Tragic Hero.

So which meaning does this trope refer to? It's probably both; the ultimate failure of a woman in getting the affections of her Love Interest and her being a sad, sympathetic character type.

For me, I think this trope is for women who end up dying after not having the fulfilling experience/life of being in love and being loved back as well.

However, this should be expanded to cover other bad endings, such as terminal illness, being driven to madness/depression, etc. (excluding being driven to suicide because that's obviously Spurned into Suicide).

I suppose what could also make this stand apart is to focus on the fact that no matter what, the maiden never got over her unrequited love. Even if she lives and grows old, she never fell in love with anyone ever again and still pines for her one true love who doesn't want her.

Edited by BlackMage43 on Jan 26th 2023 at 6:45:20 AM

That’s Unrequited Love Lasts Forever, I don’t know if being a maiden changes anything about that.

Edited by Synchronicity on Jan 26th 2023 at 11:38:22 AM

Original YKTTW; note that the sponsor seemed somewhat inexperienced and has a very short list of edits, all on this page or related indices (albeit some older edits may have been lost in history purges, as the first recorded edit is seven months after the YKTTW) and none after less than two years after the YKTTW. However, Hopeless Suitor was the only trope that was brought up as possibly being redundant.

Edited by MorganWick on Jan 27th 2023 at 1:35:55 AM

I suppose it could play up the "tragic" angle if the maiden ends up being a sad Old Maid living a decrepit life due to the unrequited love, since a woman remaining unmarried forever is seen as more negative than a guy remaining so. I recall in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, any girl that the protagonist doesn't marry would end up single and bitter/miserable because the game doesn't give them any other romance option.

Posting Sandbox.Unrequited Tragic Wick Check link here so I don't lose it.

EDIT: Well, it overall falls to "girl's crush doesn't like her back". I have written something up on TRS Queue.

Edited by Synchronicity on Feb 8th 2023 at 11:12:00 AM