History Main / TwoPersonLoveTriangle

* Subverted in ''TheIncredibles'', when Mr Incredible flirts with Elastigirl when briefly distracted by some unfortunate events on the way to his wedding. The subversion being that when he gets to the wedding, he turns out to be marrying her "mild-mannered alter ego", and the two of them already clearly know the other's superhero identity. Apparently they just flirt like they don't know each other in costume because they like it.
* Happens in ''{{Megamind}}'' - Roxanne loves "Bernard" but hates Megamind, probably because he's so evil.

** Which leads to the FridgeLogic that while we're supposed to see this as romantic and proof that they were meant for each other, it doesn't erase the fact that they were both ''actively trying to cheat on each other.''

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

* ''SailorMoon'' uses this a lot. [[spoiler:Usagi is love with Tuxedo Kamen and, depending on the version, Chiba Mamoru. Mamoru, on the other hand, is in love with Princess Serenity, SailorMoon, and (once again depending on the version) Usagi.]]

* ''{{MAR}}'' has an odd example of this. Ginta is clearly in love with his childhood friend, Koyuki. He even protects her when he gets a chance to go to his dream world. He's not entirely clueless about her liking him as well. While in MAR Heaven, he meets Snow, who looks exactly like Koyuki and has much the same personality. There is much {{UST}} between them as the story progresses. The twist comes during the occasional times we see what's going on in the real world, and find that Koyuki is seeing the 'show' through Snow's eyes. Eventually we find that Snow is also able to learn about Ginta's world through Koyuki's eyes. [[spoiler: In the end of the anime, Snow and Koyuki merge, thus saving Ginta from having to choose between them.]] It's implied that both girls are in fact the same person, just alternate world versions. And none of the characters are aware of this.

[[AC:Comic Books]]

* In the [[SpiderMan Spider-Man]] comics, [[DatingCatwoman Black Cat]] barely tolerated Peter Parker's presence, but was hot to trot for Spider-Man any time. The catch is that Black Cat knows they're one in the same.

[[AC:Fanfiction]]

[[AC:Film -- Animated]]
* In {{Disney}}'s version of Disney/SleepingBeauty: Prince Phillip was not enthralled with his future bride Princess Aurora when he saw her as a baby (and he was a little boy no older than five, taking peeks on her cradle), and still isn't looking forward to it, when suddenly he meets a beautiful "peasant girl". Simultaneously, she falls madly in love with the mystery man as soon as she meets him and is devastated to learn that she can never see him again because of her arranged engagement to Prince Phillip. She has no idea that the two are one and the same. Which, technically, makes this a Two-Person ''Love Square''

* Subverted in TheIncredibles, when Mr Incredible flirts with Elastigirl when briefly distracted by some unfortunate events on the way to his wedding. The subversion being that when he gets to the wedding, he turns out to be marrying her "mild-mannered alter ego", and the two of them already clearly know the other's superhero identity. Apparently they just flirt like they don't know each other in costume because they like it.
* This happens in ''Megamind'' - Roxanne loves "Bernard" but hates Megamind, probably because he's so evil.

[[AC:Film -- Live Action]]

* ''Brand Upon the Brain'' has two of these--Guy is primarily in love with Wendy, but also has feelings for Wendy's male alter ego Chase, and at the same time Wendy is in love with Sis, who's in love with Chase. [[spoiler:Wendy reveals her identity to Sis, who [[IfItsYouItsOkay doesn't care]]. Guy walks in on them having sex, and he faints from shock. Even decades later he hasn't gotten over it.]]

[[AC:Literature]]
* In the book ''Graffiti Moon'' by Cath Crowley, the main character Lucy is infatuated with 'Shadow', an extremely talented graffiti artist whom she's never met but feels she understands though his art. Shadow graffitis the down they live in, while he paints his accomplice Poet does the writing because Shadow has imparingly unlegiable hadwriting.
One night Lucy and her two friends hook up with these three guys, two of whom are Poet and Shadow, but Lucy and her friends don't know it. Additionally, Lucy gets stuck with Ed, who is both a guy she one broke the nose of when he touched her arse unexpectedly on a date, and Shadow. Again, Lucy doens't know this so she spend the whole night running around town 'looking for shadow' while blabbering about herself and her appreciation of the art, even metioning at one point that she would have sex with Shadow to Ed. [[spoiler: You guessed it, she finds out in the end who he is only after deciding she was in love with Ed too]]

** When Disney--''again''--used this basic element in their version [[{{Disneyfication}} in a much less tragic way]], Ariel can't get Eric to believe she's the girl he's looking for, as the only attribute he knows is her voice, which she'd just given up in her DealWithTheDevil. This turns into a regular LoveTriangle when villain Ursula takes on the third role using Ariel's voice and some really superfluous old-fashioned MindControl.

* In the short story ''The Dandelion Girl'' by Robert F. Young, the middle-aged and married protagonist falls in love with a girl half his age who claims to be a time-traveler from the future. [[spoiler:As it turns out, after their encounter the girl travels further back in time, and had become his wife all along.]]

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* Done literally in ''{{Farscape}}'' when John gets split into two identical copies. One goes on a ship with Aeryn, and one without. The John with Moya loves Aeryn who loves the John with Talyn who also loves Aeryn. [[spoiler: Guess which one dies.]]

[[AC:Music]]

[[AC:Theater]]
* TheMusical ''Camelot'': Arthur and Guenevere are [[ArrangedMarriage betrothed,]] and she's not happy about it because she has never met him and wanted to be married, or at least fought over, for love. She meets him while he is trying to hide from his people; she doesn't recognize him because she's never met him, he gives her a childhood nickname, and they fall in love in a SlapSlapKiss manner. Only after they're in love does Guenevere learn who "Wart" is.

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:Webcomics]]

* Doubled in KevinAndKell, twice: first with the titular married couple falling in love with each other again in a chatroom without knowing, and later with Fiona helping her mom hook up with Frank, who is also getting help from his nephew and Fiona's boyfriend.
* ElGoonishShive, to a degree: Gay Justin is in love with straight Elliot. Elliot gains [[spoiler: a magiaclly-induced female alter ego that somewhat alters his/her personality...and said alter ego finds Justin rather attractive.]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]

* ''{{Cybersix}}'' contains an interesting example: the titular heroine has a ''male'' normal identity, with the character Lucas having feelings for the female and {{Hoyay}} with the male. This gets more complicated by a female student with a crush on the male, and ridiculously cyclical when she comes to the wrong conclusion that the male and female identities are seeing ''each other'' (they aren't, of course).
** The animated series tones this down a little, by having it pretty much that Lucas and Cybersix love each other and Lucas pretty much being friends with Cybersix's male identity. On the other hand, he also asks "Adrian" to see a romantic comedy movie so...yeah.

<<|LoveTropes|>>

* ''Literature/TheHost'' by Stephenie Meyer was quite literally marketed as "A love triangle with two bodies." It involves a [[ParasitePuppeteers body-controlling alien]], her human host and the host's significant other.

* Played for laughs in an animated short for ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', "School Time Shipping", in which Chibi Zuko loses out to Chibi Blue Spirit. In-universe, the Blue Spirit is Zuko's masked alter-ego.

* One episode of ''AmericanDad'' had Francine annoyed by how undependable Stan could be, specifically that he planned to be turned into a cyborg by the CIA after death rather than be buried with her. Then cyborg!Stan comes back from the future, miserable after spending a thousand years without her. HilarityEnsues.

* ''Literature/TheHost'' by Stephenie Meyer was quite literally marketed as "A love triangle with two bodies".

* In {{Disney}}'s version of Disney/SleepingBeauty: Prince Phillip was not enthralled with his future bride Princess Aurora when he saw her as a baby (and he was a little boy no older than five, taking peeks on her cradle), and still isn't looking forward to it, when suddenly he meets a beautiful "commoner" girl named Briar Rose. Simultaneously, she falls madly in love with the mystery man as soon as she meets him and is devastated to learn that she can never see him again because of her arranged engagement to Prince Phillip. She has no idea that the two are one and the same. Which, technically, makes this a Two-Person ''Love Square''

* On one episode of ''PhineasAndFerb'' Isabella gets annoyed that her usual crush, Phineas, keeps disappearing whenever she needs him, though she seems quite enamored with the town's new triangle-headed superhero who shows up right after Phineas leaves. (Yeah, we don't get how she missed it either.) Fits this trope even better because it's arguably the first episode where [[ObliviousToLove Phineas]] is shown ''returning'' Isabella's affections.

* DannyPhantom did the good ol' fashioned LovesMyAlterEgo. The catch here being that unlike in most stories, where the girl loves the superpowered one and hates the mild-mannered secret identity, Valerie wants to 'kill' Phantom but likes Fenton. Played straight with Danny's and Paulina's relationship, though.

* Subverted in TheIncredibles, when Mr Incredible flirts with Elastigirl when briefly distracted by some unfortunate events on the way to his wedding. The subversion being that his mundane alias was of course marrying her "mild-mannered alter ego".

* The obscure Hungarian play ''The Parfumerie'' is about a pen-pal relationship where this occurs. As a result, also as its many [[AdaptationDisplacement far less obscure]] adaptations, including the musical ''She Loves Me'' as well as several movies (see the "Film" section above).

* In the fourth season of ''{{Eureka}}'', Henry accidentally hops timelines, discovers that, in the alternate timeline, he's married, and falls in love with "his" wife. At first she naturally resents him for displacing her real husband, but she seems to be falling in love with him as well.

* In ''MegaManStarForce'', Luna has a huge crush on Mega Man, her MysteriousProtector. She sometimes asks for Geo's help in her efforts to win MegaMan's affection, unaware that Geo ''is'' Mega Man.

* {{Superman}} has the classic version of this. While it's varied over the years, the traditional triangle is Clark loves Lois, while Lois loves Superman and won't see Clark as more than a Co-Worker/Rival.
** As of the last decade or so, they've ''finally'' gotten over this in the comics. The DCAU played it straight.

* This is a common plot device in romance novels. ''From This Moment On'' by Lynn Kurland, ''The Imposter'' by Celeste Bradley, ''The Forest Lord'' by Susan Krinard...
* In {{Disney}}'s version of SleepingBeauty: Prince Phillip was not enthralled with his future bride Princess Aurora when he saw her as a baby (and he was a little boy no older than five, taking peeks on her cradle), and still isn't looking forward to it, when suddenly he meets a beautiful "commoner" girl named Briar Rose. Simultaneously, she falls madly in love with the mystery man as soon as she meets him and is devastated to learn that she can never see him again because of her arranged engagement to Prince Phillip. She has no idea that the two are one and the same. Which, technically, makes this a Two-Person ''Love Square''

* Done literally in {{Farscape}} when John gets split into two identical copies. One goes on a ship with Aeryn, and one without. The John with Moya loves Aeryn who loves the John with Talyn who also loves Aeryn. [[spoiler: Guess which one dies.]]
* TheMusical ''Camelot'': Arthur and Guenevere are [[ArrangedMarriage betrothed,]] and she's not happy about it because she has never met him and wanted to be married, or at least fought over, for love. She meets him while he is trying to hide from his people; she doesn't recognize him because she's never met him, he gives her a childhood nickname, and they fall in love in a SlapSlapKiss manner. Only after they're in love does Guenevere learn who "Wart" is.
* ''Literature/TheHost'' by Stephenie Meyer was quite literally marketed as "A love triangle with two bodies". {{Better than it sounds}}. [[{{Guiltypleasures}} Much, much better]].
* The book version of ''EllaEnchanted'', when Ella attends [[MasqueradeBall the ball in disguise]].
** This is lampshaded when Ella uses her magic book to read one of the prince's diary entries. He writes about how he enjoyed dancing with the mysterious girl at the ball, and accidentally writes the girl's name as "Ella", having no idea why he did so.
* One ''SailorMoon'' FanFic, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/26926/1/Destinys_Child Destiny's Child]]'', had two people occupying ''four'' roles. Made more complex by the fact that one of them had ''two more'' identities, one of whom was believed to be the destined true love of identity #2, and one of whom was believed to be a ''sibling'' of identity #1. In total, therefore, there were six identities: [[spoiler:Ranma Tendo, Saturn Knight]], Hotaru Tomoe, Sailor Saturn, Rei Hino, and Sailor Mars.
* In one of the stories in Senno Knife's ''Sepia'', there were also four roles and two people. One was a young man, the other was a prostitute who is nearly out of debt. As it happens, she's been writing him anonymous love letters, and he has been seeing her while wearing a mask to be with her. So, to recap, young man, prostitute, letter writer, man in mask. At the end of the story, he says next time he'll go without the mask.

* In the [[SpiderMan Spider-Man]] comics, [[DatingCatwoman Black Cat]] barely tolerated Peter Parker's presence, but was hot to trot for Spider-Man any time. The catch is that Black Cat knows they're one in the same.
* ''[[Film/{{Batman}} Batman Forever]]'': Chase falls in love with both Bruce Wayne and Batman, and doesn't realize they're both the same guy until she's kidnapped.
* Webcomic example: BoyMeetsBoy, as exemplified by [[http://boymeetsboy.keenspot.com/d/20031124.html this comic]]. "I'm jealous of myself. Leave me alone."
* [=~A. A. Milne~=]'s play ''The Ugly Duckling''
* The webcomic ''Red String''.
* The obscure Hungarian play ''The Parfumerie'' is about a pen-pal relationship where this occurs. As a result, also as its many [[AdaptationDisplacement far less obscure]] adaptations, including:
** The movie ''YouveGotMail'' where Meg Ryan falls for Tom Hanks in person and his AOL alter-ego simultaneously.
** The older movie ''TheShopAroundTheCorner''.
** The musical ''She Loves Me''.
** And the Doris Day[=/=]Rock Hudson comedy ''PillowTalk''. The two share a two-party telephone line. This one adds the complication that the she despises him in person, and he deliberately creates the second persona in order to win her over after recognizing her voice in a nightclub.
* The play ''The Rivals'', first performed in 1775. Lydia likes the idea of being in love with a man her guardian disapproves of, so Captain Absolute courts her under the name "Ensign Beverly" and pretends to be a poor sailor. Later on, his father arranges for him to marry Lydia, who refuses because she's in love with "Beverly". To make things even more complicated, at one point Captain Absolute actually impersonates himself.

* Jem/Jerrica and Rio in ''JemAndTheHolograms''. This one is particularly weird as Rio openly has a relationship with both Jerrica and her alter ego, and she never seems to mind that he's essentially cheating on her with herself or feels the need to enlighten him.
* ''{{Cybersix}}'' contains an interesting example: the titular heroine has a ''male'' normal identity, with the character Lucas having feelings for the female and {{Hoyay}} with the male. This gets more complicated by a female student with a crush on the male, and ridiculously cyclical when she comes to the wrong conclusion that the male and female identities are seeing ''each other'' (they aren't, of course).
** The animated series tones this down a little, by having it pretty much that Lucas and Cybersix love each other and Lucas pretty much being friends with Cybersix's male identity. On the other hand, he also asks "Adrian" to see a romantic comedy movie so...yeah.
* The ArrangedMarriage plot shows up in the short 1926 silent film ''Crazy Like a Fox'' and its "talkie" 1937 remake ''The Wrong Miss Wright''.
* Played for laughs in an animated short for AvatarTheLastAirbender, "School Time Shipping", in which Chibi Zuko loses out to Chibi Blue Spirit. In-universe, the Blue Spirit is Zuko's masked alter-ego.
--> '''Chibi Zuko''': I did ''not'' see that one coming.
* ''SailorMoon'' uses this a lot. [[spoiler:Usagi is love with Tuxedo Kamen and, depending on the version, Chiba Mamoru. Mamoru, on the other hand, is in love with Princess Serenity, SailorMoon, and (once again depending on the version) Usagi.]]
** Also there is Naru and Nephrite, although she is kind of dense to not see Masato Sanjoin is just Nephrite.
* Colonel Fairfax (disguised as Leonard Meryll) and Elsie Maynard in {{Gilbert And Sullivan}}'s ''{{The Yeomen of the Guard}}''. They were married while Elsie was blindfolded and Fairfax was on death row, but Fairfax escaped. Once he discovers Elsie's identity, he sets about wooing her so that she falls in love with "Leonard". Once his name is cleared he reveals that they're already married.
* The KateBush song "Babooshka" is this gone very, very wrong.

* In ''ArataKangatari'', two men [[OneSteveLimit named Arata]] from different worlds [[InAnotherMansShoes change places]]. Kotoha loves the Arata she knew, and doesn't notice he's a different person now. The Arata she knew only thinks of him as a [[LikeBrotherAndSister sister]], while the new Arata returns her affections but {{Angst}}s over the fact she doesn't like ''him''.
* ''WinxClub'' did this between Layla and Nabu.

* In ''MegaManStarForce'', Luna has a huge crush on Mega Man, her MysteriousProtector. She sometimes asks for Geo's help in her efforts to win MegaMan's affection, unaware that Geo ''is'' Mega Man.
* In {{Abbott and Costello}}'s version of ''Jack and the Beanstalk'', this was part of the basis for the romantic subplot. Princess Eloise is supposed to marry Prince Arthur, but they've never met. They both get kidnapped by the giant, call themselves Darlene and Arthur, and fall in love.

* The plot of ''Don Juan Triumphant'', the show-within-a-show om the musical The Phantom Of The Opera. A man intends to dress up as a stranger and seduce his girlfriend, in order to create a situation where he can punish her for her infidelity.
* {{MAR}} has an odd example of this. Ginta is clearly in love with his childhood friend, Koyuki. He even protects her when he gets a chance to go to his dream world. He's not entirely clueless about her liking him as well. While in MAR Heaven, he meets Snow, who looks exactly like Koyuki and has much the same personality. There is much {{UST}} between them as the story progresses. The twist comes during the occasional times we see what's going on in the real world, and find that Koyuki is seeing the 'show' through Snow's eyes. Eventually we find that Snow is also able to learn about Ginta's world through Koyuki's eyes. [[spoiler: In the end of the anime, Snow and Koyuki merge, thus saving Ginta from having to choose between them.]] It's implied that both girls are in fact the same person, just alternate world versions. And none of the characters are aware of this.
* Rupert Holmes song Escape (The Pina Colada Song) is about a man "tired of [his] lady" who arranges to meet a woman he finds in the personal columns - only to find that the advert was placed by his lover.
* ''Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi'' has a variation on the ArrangedMarriage theme: Taani falls in love with Raj, who is actually her husband Surinder with a lot more hair gel and a little less moustache. Surinder is hiding his identity to get to know Taani better; when he realisez that Taani could cheat on him with Raj, he becomes jealous of himself.
* On one episode of ''PhineasAndFerb'' Isabella gets annoyed that her usual crush, Phineas, keeps disappearing whenever she needs him, though she seems quite enamored with the town's new triangle-headed superhero who shows up right after Phineas leaves. (Yeah, we don't get how she missed it either.) Fits this trope even better because it's arguably the first episode where [[ObliviousToLove Phineas]] is shown ''returning'' Isabella's affections.

* In {{Disney}}'s version of SleepingBeauty: Prince Phillip was not enthralled with his future bride Princess Aurora when he saw her as a baby (and he was a little boy no older than five, taking peeks on her cradle), and still isn't looking forward to it, when suddenly he meets a beautiful "commoner" girl named Briar Rose...
** Simultaneously, she falls madly in love with the mystery man as soon as she meets him and is devastated to learn that she can never see him again because of her arranged engagement to Prince Phillip. She has no idea that the two are one and the same.
*** Wouldn't that make this a Two Person Love Square?

* In one of the stories in Senno Knife's ''Sepia'', there were ''also'' four roles and two people. One was a young man, the other was a prostitute who is nearly out of debt. As it happens, she's been writing him anonymous love letters, and he has been seeing her while wearing a mask to be with her. So, to recap, young man, prostitute, letter writer, man in mask. At the end of the story, he says next time he'll go without the mask.
** Oh yeah? Does this mean he's going to stop paying her?

* Jem/Jerrica and Rio in ''JemAndTheHolograms''. Of course later it gets more complicated.
** This one is particularly weird as Rio openly has a relationship with both Jerrica and her alter ego, and she never seems to mind that he's essentially cheating on her with herself or feels the need to enlighten him.

* In EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''[[JohnCarterOfMars The Chessman of Mars]]'', Gahan the Jed of Gathol did not impress Tara when they met at her father's palace. When they had adventured together for a time, [[KingIncognito with him disguised as a panthan]], a mercenary, named Turan, she muses,
-->''"I met Gahan the Jed of Gathol at my father's palace," she said, "the very day before the storm snatched me from Helium--he was a presumptuous fellow, [[BlingOfWar magnificently trapped in platinum and diamonds]]. Never in my life saw I so gorgeous a harness as his, and you must well know, Turan, that the splendor of all Barsoom passes through the court at Helium; but in my mind I could not see so resplendent a creature drawing [[BlingBlingBang that jeweled sword]] in mortal combat. I fear me that the Jed of Gathol, though a pretty picture of a man, is little else."\\

** Relatedly, the plot of ''Don Juan Triumphant'', the show-within-a-show om the musical The Phantom Of The Opera. A man intends to dress up as a stranger and seduce his girlfriend, in order to create a situation where he can punish her for her infidelity.

* Rupert Holmes song Escape (The Pina Colada Song) is about a man bored of his marriage who arranges to meet a woman he finds in the personal columns - only to find that the advert was placed by his wife.

[[caption-width:303:It's the classic: Clark loves Lois who loves Superman who is actually Clark only Lois doesn't know.]]

<<|Repair Shop Notification:yn9hzqva8j7sag9oy9pxeos7|>>

* A. A. Milne's play ''The Ugly Duckling''