Love triangle
A love triangle refers to a romantic relationship involving three people. While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two. The relationships can be friendships, romantic, familial (often siblings), or even pre-existing hatred between rivals. Addition of bisexual or homosexual characters adds many possible combinations of sexes, and of romantic and sexual interactions.
The term "love triangle" almost always implies that the arrangement is unsuitable to one or more of the people involved. A similar arrangement that is agreed upon by all parties is sometimes called polyamory, although polyamory usually implies sexual relations. Within the context of monogamy, love triangles are inherently unstable. Unrequited love and jealousy are common themes in love triangles.
A love triangle should not be confused with a m?age ?trois, which refers to a sexual act involving three people.
Love triangles are an extremely popular theme in entertainment, especially romantic fiction, including opera, romance novels, soap operas, romantic comedies, Japanese comics and popular music.
Examples
- The most famous example of a love triangle in English-language literature is likely that of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and the Knight of the Round Table Sir Lancelot du Lac. Lancelot came from France to join Arthur's court, and due to his great prowess soon became a close ally and friend of Arthur. However, Lancelot's attraction to Guinevere grew, and Guinevere, while truly fond of Arthur, could not seem to help but respond in kind. Because infidelity in a queen is considered treason, this liaison ripped Camelot and the country of England apart.
Additional examples from various media
Music
Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order
Television shows
Marge Simpson - Homer Simpson - Artie Ziff from The Simpsons
Marge Simpson - Homer Simpson - Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons
Glen Quagmire - Cleveland Brown - Loretta Brown from Family Guy
Reducto - Norlisa - Black Vulcan from Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Dawson Leery - Joey Potter - Jen Lindley from Dawson's Creek
Seth Cohen - Summer Roberts - Anna Stern from The OC
Marissa Cooper - Ryan Atwood - Luke Ward from The OC
Spike - Buffy Summers - *Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ *Angel.
Jack Shephard - Kate Austen - James "Sawyer" Ford from Lost
Books
Erik from The Phantom of the Opera - Christine Daae - Raoul de Chagny
?wyn - Faramir - Gr?a Wormtongue from The Lord of the Rings
Ethan Frome - Zenobia (Zeena) Frome - Mattie Silver from Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Esmerelda - Quasimodo - Phebus from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
Phuong - Fowler - Pyle from The Quiet American
Helen - Paris - Menelaus "The Iliad" by Homer
Sean Bateman - Lauren Hynde - Paul Denton "The Rules of Attraction" by Bret Easton Ellis
Charles Darnay - Lucie Manette - Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities
Comics
Archie Andrews - Betty Cooper - Veronica Lodge from Archie Comics
Spider-Man/Peter Parker - Black Cat/Felicia Hardy - Mary Jane Watson from "Spider-Man"
Jean Grey - Cyclops - Wolverine from X-Men
Anime / Manga
Robotech: Rick Hunter - Lynn Minmay - Lisa Hayes
Tenchi Muyo!: Tenchi Masaki - Ayeka Jurai - Ryoko
Howdy/Maido - Dexter/Megane - Pashmina/Mafura from Hamtaro
Joey Wheeler (Katsuya Jonouchi in the manga and Japanese versions) - Mai Valentine (Mai Kujaku) - Valon from Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters)
Ichigo Momomiya (Zoey Hanson) - Kish (Dren) - Masaya Aoyama (Mark) from Tokyo Mew Mew (Mew Mew Power)
InuYasha - Kagome Higurashi - Kikyo from InuYasha
InuYasha - Kagome Higurashi - Koga from InuYasha
Keitaro Urashima - Naru Narusegawa - Mutsumi Otohime from Love Hina
Tristan Taylor (Hiroto Honda) - Duke Devlin (Ryuji Otogi) - Serenity Wheeler (Shizuka Kawai) from Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters)
Yugi Mutou - Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi in the English anime) - Anzu Mazaki (T? Gardner) from the Yu-Gi-Oh! series
Takeru "T.K. Takaishi (Takeru Takaishi) - Hikari "Kari" Kamiya (Hikari Yagami) - Davis Motomiya (Daisuke Motomiya) from Digimon
Van - Hitomi - Allen from Vision of Escaflowne
Mai Tokiha - Yuuichi Tate - Natsuki Kuga from Mai-HiME
Kimagure Orange Road - Kyosuke Kasuga - Madoka Ayukawa - Hikaru Hiyama.
Video games
Cloud Strife - Aerith Gainsborough - Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII
Sora - Riku - Kairi from Kingdom Hearts
Cecil Harvey - Rosa Farrell - Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV