History Main / StrangledByTheRedString

* Robb and Talisa in ''{{Game Of Thrones}}''. The show's {{Four Lines All Waiting}} structure meant there wasn't nearly enough time to develop a proper romance between them, yet we're still supposed to accept that after just a few conversations, Robb is so in love that he's willing to risk his entire war campaign falling apart to marry her. It doesn't help that in the source material, the equivalent of this relationship was indeed very shallow and portrayed as not nearly worth the problems it caused.

* Barry and Katya in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' get together in season 3 because they're both cyborgs, which comes out of nowhere since Katya was about to marry Archer and had actually been murdered by Barry in Season 2.

* Barry and Katya in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}''. Barry kills Katya at the end of Season 2, so it's hard to take seriously when they hook up in Season 3 because they're both cyborgs.

* Though [[Left4Dead Francis]] has seen Rochelle for a grand total of three seconds, they want each other (although in a snarky way). Ellis and Zoey could be an example, but Zoey won't always return the sentiment.

*** If looked upon as a franchise (including the books) it isnt that true, but if looked at each as its own story (whats pointless since starctaft started story based campaign) it does fit under the trope.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' Mako and Korra's promotion to OfficialCouple in the Book 1 finale. Rabid shipping aside, the {{Love Triangle}}s between Mako, Korra, Bolin, and Asami felt rushed and underdeveloped, with complications resulting from and reasons for their attraction glossed over, [[ShowDontTell told instead of shown]], or quickly buried. The ambiguity of whether Mako and Asami broke up during the season and whether or not Bolin was over Korra didn't help matters. With three more seasons to set things aright, however, whether this applies in the long run or not is still up in the air.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Invoked in ''ChangelingTheLost''; one of the more powerful breeds of Hobgoblins is a race known as the Crimson Weavers, faeries of the Moirae breed who appear as [[MiniatureSeniorCitizens diminutive ancient Asian women and men]] with strands of red string dangling from their fingers. As their name implies, they are born from the aspect of Fate that gives rise to the RedStringOfFate, and they have both the power to connect others with that self-same Red String and the drive to do so. The thing is, this being the [[CrapsackWorld World of Darkness]], they are ''not'' infallible and, indeed, often tend to completely screw things up by forcing people to be together, just because they "looked so right" through their permanent ShippingGoggles. Thus leading to the trope in question... sometimes literally; couples arranged by Crimson Weavers have been known to end in suicide and/or murder, or complete insanity. Crimson Weavers never take responsibility, see themselves as responsible or consider it their fault; they merely gave each person a guaranteed soul mate, it's the people involved who refused to accept that.
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* [[TheLegendOfKorra Mako and Korra's]] promotion to OfficialCouple in the Book 1 finale. Rabid shipping aside, the {{Love Triangle}}s between Mako, Korra, Bolin, and Asami felt rushed and underdeveloped, with complications resulting from and reasons for their attraction glossed over, [[ShowDontTell told instead of shown]], or quickly buried. The ambiguity of whether Mako and Asami broke up during the season and whether or not Bolin was over Korra didn't help matters. With three more seasons to set things aright, however, whether this applies in the long run or not is still up in the air.

** The writers seem to like this trope. ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', new character Rose Wilson has a crush on MartianManhunter and the Martian inadvertently discovers they're "attuned" when he accidentally reads her thoughts (something he'd never do by accident with a non attuned person.) He then Mind Melds with her so that they can get to know each other instantly and fall completely in love. Martians apparently have no need to date.

** The writers seem to like this trope. ''Western Animation/{{Justice League Crisis on Two Earths}}'', new character Rose Wilson has a crush on MartianManhunter and the Martian inadvertently discovers they're "attuned" when he accidentally reads her thoughts (something he'd never do by accident with a non attuned person.) He then Mind Melds with her so that they can get to know each other instantly and fall completely in love. Martians apparently have no need to date.

** The writers seem to like this trope. ''Western Animation/{{Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths}}'', new character Rose Wilson has a crush on MartianManhunter and the Martian inadvertently discovers they're "attuned" when he accidentally reads her thoughts (something he'd never do by accident with a non attuned person.) He then Mind Melds with her so that they can get to know each other instantly and fall completely in love. Martians apparently have no need to date.

** The writers seem to like this trope. In Crisis on Two Worlds, new character Rose Wilson has a crush on MartianManhunter and the Martian inadvertently discovers they're "attuned" when he accidentally reads her thoughts (something he'd never do by accident with a non attuned person.) He then Mind Melds with her so that they can get to know each other instantly and fall completely in love. Martians apparently have no need to date.

* ''{{X-Men Evolution}}'': The Lance-Kitty Relationship. Your mileage will HEAVILY vary there. This is because the writers didn't seem to realize that while the two definitely had the potential to be a good pairing, mostly due to Lance's CharacterDevelopment during the course of the series, it was made [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief a little tough to believe]] due to Lance trying to kill Kitty and her parents in his first appearance and her [[EasilyForgiven forgiving him so quickly]], and did so ''before'' his CharacterDevelopment, which appeared to be motivated so he could get together with her, or that it started from him saving her from a mess he caused. Judging from the large number of supporters though, its probably an example of his working.

* ''Theatre/MeasureForMeasure'' is (or could be, depending on how you read it) a particularly bad example of this: Duke Vincentio proposes to Isabella at the end even though they've known each other for about two days and the entire plot revolved around Isabella not wanting to give up her chastity and monastic life. Of course, she never explicitly says yes, so a director can play this any way he wants.
** This is one of the many clues that make people think this play is problematic on purpose -- that Shakespeare was trying to make his viewers uncomfortable. I mean, it's technically a comedy (it has a wedding at the end), but it's the squickiest and creepiest damn comedy you ever did see.

* ''TrueBlood'''s Eric and Sookie. When [[spoiler:she and Bill split]], it's been set up for the viewer to expect this, but doing it by [[spoiler:completely changing Eric's personality due to memory loss?]] Come on.

** Sookie and Bill. The two of them never talk about anything except about how much they are in love with one another or what's currently going on in the plot. Interestingly, in the books Sookie flat-out ADMITS that their love is shallow and that she got into a relationship with him because A.) she couldn't read his thoughts and B.) has never actually been in a relationship with him before. She even breaks up with him far earlier than TV Sookie and barely angsts about it at all. In other words the love is SUPPOSED to be shallow but the people making the TV show didn't know that.

* StargateAtlantis does throw in a few moments that make it clear Keller and [=McKay=] are interested in each other, but they go from eating lunch together once (while he was in the infirmary) to him professing his love when he thinks he's going to die. A couple of episodes later, with no intermediate interaction, she says she loves him, too.

** The third is Donna and [[CanonSue Randy]]. Eric and Kelso are PutOnABus for the final season, and both are given a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute in the form of [[ReplacementScrappy Randy]]. While Eric is in Africa for the final season, there's never any major indication that Eric and Donna's relationship is having issues. (The best the writers could come up with his is Eric not talking to her on the phone.) Then, out of the blue again, Donna reveals that off-screen Eric broke up with her. After a WillTheyOrWontThey tease, she ends up dating Randy. Making this worse is that Donna was clearly attracted to Randy ''before'' Eric's break-up. This one gets an AuthorsSavingThrow twice over, however - most likely once it was known the show wouldn't be coming back for a ninth season. The two ultimately break-up rather quickly. Later, Eric [[BackForTheFinale returns in the finale]], where [[LampshadeHanging he admits he's not sure why they broke up in the first place]]. It's left up to viewers to decide if Eric and Donna get back together officially, which unsurprisingly, many prefer.

* Foreman and Thirteen on ''Series/{{House}}'', who went from "awkward conversations in the locker room" to "awkward kiss in a conference room" to "willing to commit career suicide for this person" in the span of about two weeks. Which, is lampshaded by Thirteen herself at one point.

* Foreman and Thirteen on ''Series/{{House}}'', who went from "awkward conversations in the locker room" to "awkward kiss in a conference room" to "willing to commit career suicide for this person" in the span of about two weeks. Which, in fairness, is lampshaded by Thirteen herself at one point.
* Kevin and Molly's affair from ''CoronationStreet'' really seemed like just an excuse to have an affair storyline because they hadn't had one in a while. The attraction suddenly developed when the two of them started going running and after about three weeks they were ready to hop in the sack. Bear in mind Kevin was HappilyMarried with two kids and Molly was also HappilyMarried and a key part of her character was how much she valued trust in a relationship. Also there was about a 15 year age gap between them and it apparently developed into true love so much that when Kevin called off the affair because his wife had Cancer Molly couldn't understand why...
* {{Smallville}}'s one example that's almost-universally agreed upon is the Clana (Clark and Lana) ship, which was arguably kept on way past the point of it's usefulness to the plot, interfered with other plotlines that fans wanted to see, and seemed to slow down Clark's growth.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' In S7 Ep 11, "Paralells" Worf is sent multiverse-hopping, and he briefly winds up in a world where he and Troi are very HappilyMarried. While he had never considered this before he decided to give it a try when he got back. This was the starting point of the writers developing a bizarre obsession with hooking them up despite the two never having any kind of romantic chemistry before despite Troi serving as a mother figure to Worf's son, Alexander, as well as Troi having a long standing WillTheyOrWontThey with Riker. In what's probably a an AuthorsSavingThrow, none of the TNG films have any mention of the relationship, despite the Series' finale including a possible future where Worf and Riker are at odds over Troi even after her death.

* The romantic storyline between Karigan and Zachary in GreenRider can come off a bit like this. Most of the first book is made up of Karigan just trying to reach the capital city. They interact a fair bit in the rest of the book and sporadically over the course of the series, but with the exception of maybe one conversation, all their talk is business rather than conversational or personal. Though an attraction between them is understandable (they're both rather impressive), it's easy not to see a 'chemistry' (let alone a relationship) when they only ever talk to each other like business colleagues, and spend far more time thinking about how much they love each other than they do in each others' actual company.
** In the second ''Literature/HellsGate'' book, two secondary characters are thrown together by their psionic powers the first time they meet. Literally the first words either says to the other are "Oh dear. This is an unexpected complication."

* TedDekker does this in all of his recent books, and some of his older ones. ''Immanuel's Veins'' was a vampire romance novel, which was depressing when you compare it to some of his original works like the Circle series and ''Literature/{{Thr3e}}''. ''Obsessed'' was from the very start a man ferociously in love with some girl he had never met or seen. Even in some of his books that give relationships more time to build up, it's less talking about why his main character loves a woman, and more about how Intense his love is.

** Also happens InUniverse in ''Literature/{{The Half-Blood Prince}}'' when Ron consumes a love potion from Romilda Vane, who he has never met, that was intended for Harry.

** Also happens InUniverse in The Half-Blood Prince when Ron consumes a love potion from Romilda Vane, who he has never met that was intended for Harry.

* Likewise, in the ''The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner'', with Bree and Diego and, later, Freddie. Bree and Diego interact for one night, she spends most of it afraid that he's going to kill her, and by morning they seemingly are madly in love with each other. The same goes for Freddie. Since it's from Bree's point of view and the "relationships" between her and the guys are so muted, it's possible that we're supposed to see it as her mistaking simple friendship for love (which would fit with her background of being abused and neglected), except that nothing ever indicates this and she acts almost exactly the same way Bella does, including [[spoiler:being perfectly alright to die when she finds out he's gone, because life without him isn't worth living.]]

** Likewise, in the ''The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner'', with Bree and Diego and, later, Freddie. Bree and Diego interact for one night, she spends most of it afraid that he's going to kill her, and by morning they seemingly are madly in love with each other. The same goes for Freddie. Since it's from Bree's point of view and the "relationships" between her and the guys are so muted, it's possible that we're supposed to see it as her mistaking simple friendship for love (which would fit with her background of being abused and neglected), except that nothing ever indicates this and she acts almost exactly the same way Bella does, including [[spoiler:being perfectly alright to die when she finds out he's gone, because life without him isn't worth living.]]
** The breakout fanfic ''FiftyShadesOfGrey'' follows the same path as Twilight. Anastasia and Christian barely like each other and can hardly have a civil conversation, yet we're supposed to buy that they can't live without each other.
** And, of course, these are supposed to be {{Romance Novel}}s, the one place you'd hope to ''not'' find this trope. O, how standards have fallen...

* Zayn second relationship in Katharine Kerr's Literature/{{Snare}}. The other, presumably main, relationship Zayn had got pages and pages of mutual attraction and affection before they hooked up, spread over several weeks. This one had a bare paragraph explaining (not showing, explaining) that they were now friends. Next thing you know someone suggests that they're in love. Zayn is initially horrified, and is rather surprised at the whole concept of homosexuality. A few days later, yep, confirmed, they're in love.

* Zayn and what's-his-name's relationship in Katharine Kerr's Snare. The other, presumably main, relationship Zayn had got pages and pages of mutual attraction and affection before they hooked up, spread over several weeks. This one had a bare paragraph explaining (not showing, explaining) that they were now friends. Next thing you know someone suggests that they're in love. Zayn is initially horrified, and is rather surprised at the whole concept of homosexuality. A few days later, yep, confirmed, they're in love.

** The [[spoiler:Cherijo and Duncan]] pair-up is even worse, considering that [[spoiler:Duncan rapes Cherijo in the first novel]]. Why? To [[spoiler:FridgeLogic save her]]. This is the most obvious example. Later on, [[spoiler:Duncan]] has sex with [[spoiler:Cherijo]] while [[spoiler:wearing a disguise]]. Many people would also consider this to be [[spoiler:rape]]. A later novel has ''another'' example, although it's a little vague. When [[spoiler:Cherijo]] desperately tells [[spoiler:Duncan]] to find someone else to have kids with, [[spoiler:he]] roughly throws [[spoiler:her]] on the floor of a cave and tells [[spoiler:her]] to prove [[spoiler:her]] love for [[spoiler:him]]. It may or may not be [[spoiler:rape]], but it's definitely [[spoiler:spousal abuse]].

** Xanth has a population of centaurs and harpies. They were conceived exactly the way you're assuming. The good news is that child delivery is carried out by stork. The bad news is that you still have to "signal for the stork" by doing the deed.