History Main / RomanticFalseLead

->"I know how to write men that women fall in love with. Believe me, I cannot sell a Paolo. People will not turn three hundred twenty-five pages for a Paolo. C'mon, the guy's a secondary character, a, y'know, complication you eventually kill off."
-->-- '''Nora Bing''', ''{{Friends}}''

[[quoteright:250:[[CodeLyoko http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kisses_8919.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Not pictured: [[UnresolvedSexualTension this]] (or [[FanPreferredCouple Ulrich]]'s impending FreakOut).]]

*** It is. WordOfGod Word Of God confirms it.

*** It is. [[WordOfGod Word Of God] confirms it.

** I always had the feeling that it is supposed to be foreshadowing towards what will happen if it were placed at the right point in the story and that it is taking place between Yukari's introduction (since she is in the chapter) and the Public Safety Commission arc

* BattlestarGalatica has a subversion, Sam Anders was supposed to be this for the Kara/Lee paring but the actor was well liked and kept getting brought back. He eventually married the girl and slightly more miraculously stayed that way until the end of the series. He even developed his own storylines and fanbase and was made a series regular for season 4.

* In season one of ''{{Friends}}'', Rachel dated muscle-bound Italian [[TropeNamer Paolo]] while Ross looked on jealously. The writers [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] Paolo's role by having Chandler's mother, a romance novelist, refer to Paolo as [[ThePlotReaper "a complication you eventually kill off."]] In the second season, Ross dated Chinese-American academic Julie while Rachel looked on jealously. Since Paolo was a slow-witted pig who could barely communicate with Rachel while Julie was a sweet and lovely person, the writers hit one trap then the other. According to the nature of the Ross-Rachel relationship, pretty much every person either one of them dated for more than an episode after that point had elements of the false lead.

* In season one of ''{{Friends}}'', Rachel dated muscle-bound Italian Paolo while Ross looked on jealously; [[TropeNamer this trope was formerly named after him]]. The writers [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] Paolo's role by having Chandler's mother, a romance novelist, refer to Paolo as [[ThePlotReaper "a complication you eventually kill off."]] In the second season, Ross dated Chinese-American academic Julie while Rachel looked on jealously. Since Paolo was a slow-witted pig who could barely communicate with Rachel while Julie was a sweet and lovely person, the writers hit one trap then the other. According to the nature of the Ross-Rachel relationship, pretty much every person either one of them dated for more than an episode after that point had elements of the false lead.
** Also in ''{{Friends}}'', Ross's English girlfriend Emily at least seemed to be a generally likable false lead, and Rachel's last minute "I HAVE TO TELL HIM HOW I FEEL" seemed exceptionally selfish and petty (a LampshadeHanging occurs on the plane there when a passenger played by Hugh Laurie tells her what he thinks of the situation). While she does indeed decide against telling Ross she still loves him and simply wishes him a happy marriage, her presence still disrupts the wedding. Later when Ross tries to reconcile with Emily, she too is turned into a selfish, petty shrew by forcing Ross to never see Rachel again and, when she can't have her way, turning her back on him.
*** Also lampshaded by Phoebe before Rachel leaves when she says, "If you show up you're just going to mess with his head and ruin his wedding."
*** Also, the writers didn't plan it this way, but the actress who played Emily got pregnant, so they had to write out her character faster then it was originally intended.

This is a hard character to pull off, probably because they often start out more as a plot device than a character; in many cases they exist solely to create tension and keep the lovers apart. If the false lead is too likable, then the [[GreenEyedMonster jealous character]] will seem like a selfish jerk who cares more about winning their beloved for themselves than [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy seeing them happy]]. If the he is too unlikeable, we'll wonder what the love interest could possibly see in them and lose respect for them. Usually the character is either an alpha-dog JerkAss or a bland, boring milquetoast.

** Harry also has this happen to him a lot. First Cedric asks Cho to the Yule Ball before him; afterwards, [[spoiler:Cedric's death makes Harry's dates with Cho increasingly awkward.]] In later books, Harry becomes increasingly jealous of Ginny's boyfriends.

->"I know how to write men that women fall in love with. Believe me, I cannot sell [[TropeNamer a Paolo]]. People will not turn three hundred twenty-five pages for a Paolo. C'mon, the guy's a secondary character, a, y'know, complication you eventually kill off."

* In ''SailorMoon'', Rei/Sailor Mars is this for Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask in the first season of the anime, before he finds out that he's destined to be with Princess Serenity... aka [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready Usagi]][[ItWasHisSled /Sailor Moon]]. There's also Motoki's ("Andrew" in the dub) girlfriend in the same season. [[spoiler: He eventually ends up with Makoto/Sailor Jupiter, and their wedding is shown in the live-action version.]] In the Silver Millennium era, Queen Beryl was supposedly this for Prince Endymion. This being a {{shojo}} series with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, these are ''hardly'' the only examples.

* Also in ''{{Friends}}'', Ross's English girlfriend Emily at least seemed to be a generally likable false lead, and Rachel's last minute "I HAVE TO TELL HIM HOW I FEEL" seemed exceptionally selfish and petty (a LampshadeHanging occurs on the plane there when a passenger played by Hugh Laurie tells her what he thinks of the situation). While she does indeed decide against telling Ross she still loves him and simply wishes him a happy marriage, her presence still disrupts the wedding. Later when Ross tries to reconcile with Emily, she too is turned into a selfish, petty shrew by forcing Ross to never see Rachel again and, when she can't have her way, turning her back on him.
** Also lampshaded by Phoebe before Rachel leaves when she says, "If you show up you're just going to mess with his head and ruin his wedding."
** Also, the writers didn't plan it this way, but the actress who played Emily got pregnant, so they had to write out her character faster then it was originally intended.

* Stacee Jaxx in ''RockOfAges'' shows up just in time to come between the male and female leads. [[spoiler: Having sex with him sends Sherry Christian into a downward spiral, leaving her with lonely and working as a stripper. But it all works out in the end.]]

** Of course, Torg and Zoe still didn't get together, so years later we had Leo. Also a bit of a jerk in the end, as he was all right with Zoe's crazy stories about what happened in her life only until it turned out they ''weren't'' lies. Of course, Zoe and Torg still didn't get together after this breakup, because Torg was afraid of getting too close to her (since terrible things happen to all of his love interests) and Zoe somehow failed to realize he had romantic feelings for her
*[[supersecretspoiler:(or that ''she'' had romantic feelings for ''him'').]]

* [[YourMileageMayVary Arguably,]] Tarvek Stormhausen from ''GirlGenius''. He's a plausible enough rival to really put the wind up Gil, but the authors are [[AuthorOnBoard pretty clear on which way the ship sails]]. The only way Agatha would end up with Tarvek would be if something irreparably split up Agatha and Gil.

* [[YourMileageMayVary Arguably,]] Tarvek Stormhausen from ''GirlGenius''. He's a plausible enough rival to really put the wind up Gil, but the authors are pretty clear on which way the ship sails. The only way Agatha would end up with Tarvek at this point in time would be if something irreparably split up Agatha and Gil.

** Of course, Torg and Zoe still didn't get together, so years later we had Leo. Also a bit of a jerk in the end, as he was all right with Zoe's crazy stories about what happened in her life only until it turned out they ''weren't'' lies. Of course, Zoe and Torg still didn't get together after this breakup, because Torg was afraid of getting too close to her (since terrible things happen to all of his love interests) and Zoe somehow failed to realize he had romantic feelings for her [[supersecretspoiler:(or that ''she'' had romantic feelings for ''him'').]]

** Although she didn't wind up with Shawn, the writers did a good job of presenting Abagail as a likable, good person who actually went very well with her boyfriend. Eventually, though, they broke up on fairly friendly terms.