History Main / UnConfession

* AbortedDeclarationOfLove: A subtrope for backpedaling on a LoveConfession.
* InterruptedDeclarationOfLove: A LoveConfession gets interrupted before it can be delivered.

* The original {{pilot}} of ''WebAnimation/BravestWarriors'' has Chris spitting out an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove to her friend Beth in order to defeat an emotions-eating monster. Once the monster is defeated, Beth says that she didn't hear anything.

* In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0184.html this strip]] of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Haley, seriously wounded and apparently not expecting to live, starts to [[spoiler:tell Elan that she loves him]]. She's interrupted by Durkon curing her wounds.

* ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'': Peter is about to go through with a LoveConfession to MJ, [[spoiler:who interrupts him, [[SecretSecretKeeper thinking he's confessing to being Spider-Man]] and [[WhamLine catching him off guard]]]].

* AbortedDeclarationOfLove: A subtrope for an unconfessed LoveConfession.
* InterruptedDeclarationOfLove: Some outside force gets in the way of a LoveConfession.

* InterruptedDeclarationOfLove: Some outside force gets in the way of a confession.

* Amino tries to confess his love to Karada, early in the ''Manga/AsatteNoHoukou'', but is interrupted by Hiro. Their relationship goes downhill from there.

->'''Haley''': Elan... I think I'm in love with y--\\
'''Durkon''': Cure Critical Wounds!\\
[BeatPanel]\\
'''Haley''': --ukuleles.
-->-- ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0184.html Hawaiian Love]]

A character who CannotSpitItOut has finally built up the nerve to reveal a secret. This could be a life-changing event for everyone involved, finally settle the LoveDodecahedron, or permanently alter the course of the story. There's just one problem.

It doesn't stick. The speaker started talking but couldn't spit out the ''really'' important part, the speaker suddenly recalls why it was and still is important to keep the secret, the listener [[IgnoredConfession didn't believe it]] for some reason (perhaps mistaking it for a SarcasticConfession or thinking that the speaker was just NotHimself), the listener remembered for a while but got EasyAmnesia, or they suffer from OneDialogueTwoConversations, or some other type of PoorCommunicationKills interferes.

May overlap slightly with CassandraTruth, though in this case the confessor is attempting to be serious but is not believed or heard.

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': The rest of Hollyleaf's Clan finally confronts her on how she suspiciously disappeared shortly after Ashfur was murdered. She looks like she's going to admit that she killed him, but Brambleclaw ends up covering for her instead, saying he saw what happened and lying that she killed him [[AccidentalMurder by accident]] and out of self-defense. Though this might not be intentional on the author's part, since based on the "Warriors Ultimate Guide" they seem to have retconned it (or just [[SeriesContinuityError forgot how it initially was]]) so that [[AdaptationalSelfDefense Hollyleaf did kill him accidentally in self-defense.]]

Examples

* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. When Lucius Vorenus drops his JerkassFacade, his wife Niobe almost blurts out the truth about her infidelity. Vorenus assures her that it doesn't matter what she's done [[MyGirlBackHome while he was away]]; they're going to start afresh. Unfortunately Niobe's crime is far more serious (according to Roman values) than mere infidelity; she's had a child with another man that she's pretending is Vorenus' grandson.

* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. When Lucius Vorenus drops his JerkassFaçade, his wife Niobe almost blurts out the truth about her infidelity. Vorenus assures her that it doesn't matter what she's done [[MyGirlBackHome while he was away]]; they're going to start afresh. Unfortunately Niobe's crime is far more serious (according to Roman values) than mere infidelity; she's had a child with another man that she's pretending is Vorenus' grandson.

* ''{{Film/Batman}}''
** In the [[Film/{{Batman}} 1989 film version]], Bruce Wayne tries to tell Vicki Vale that he's Batman, but he's interrupted by the arrival of the Joker. He even mouths it twice, "I'm Batman. I'm ''Batman''."
** Years later, in ''Film/BatmanForever'', he tries to announce it to the entire circus tent full of people, to stop Two-Face from releasing his massive bomb, but nobody hears him over the screams of the panicked crowd.

* Then Creator/{{CLAMP}} does this again with the ElseWorld versions of Syaoran and Sakura in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle''. This time Sakura is getting ready to tell him, but then she has all memory of him erased, and every time she tries to do it her memory of it is removed as part of "the price" paid of their relationship. Ouch. Over 200 chapters later; [[spoiler:in chapter 217, in a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming, Sakura finally tells Syaoran she loves him, and he returns it. 'Course, it was the clones, but still! {{Squee}}!!]]

* PlayedForLaughs several times in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. In keeping with the show's increasing reliance on [[VulgarHumor shock value]], it normally involves Peter being a total {{Jerkass}} when inappropriate, or Lois admitting to some past (wild) indescretion.

* In ''Theatre/CactusFlower'', Toni, sensing something's wrong with Julian, asks him what the trouble is. He breaks down and begins to tell her his embarrassing secret: "I have to get this off my chest. Toni, Stephanie is..." One interruption later, Toni presses the subject: "Come on, Julian, let's have it. You know me. I can forgive anything except a lie." Julian then realizes that he can't tell Toni that Stephanie isn't his wife, since he was lying to her about being married from the beginning of their affair, and he tries to save face by confirming one of Toni's wild guesses about Stephanie instead. When Stephanie later takes it upon herself to tell Toni that she's not the nonexistent Mrs. Winston, Toni almost succeeds at derailing it again.

* In ''Theatre/CactusFlower'', Toni, sensing something's wrong with Julian, asks him what the trouble is. He breaks down and begins to tell her his embarrassing secret: "I have to get this off my chest. Toni, Stephanie is..." One interruption later, Toni presses the subject: "Come on, Julian, let's have it. You know me. I can forgive anything except a lie." Julian then realizes that he can't tell Toni that Stephanie isn't his wife, since he was lying to her about being married from the beginning of their affair, and he tries to save face by confirming one of Toni's wild guesses about Stephanie instead. When Stephanie later takes it upon herself to tell Toni that she's not Mrs. Winston, Toni almost succeeds at derailing it again.

* In ''Theatre/CactusFlower'', Toni, sensing something's wrong with Julian, asks him what the trouble is. He breaks down and begins to tell her his embarrassing secret: "I have to get this off my chest. Toni, Stephanie is..." One interruption later, Toni presses the subject: "Come on, Julian, let's have it. You know me. I can forgive anything except a lie." Julian then realizes that he can't tell Toni that Stephanie isn't his wife, since he was lying to her about being married from the beginning of their affair, and he tries to save face by confirming one of Toni's wild guesses about Stephanie instead.

It doesn't stick. The speaker started talking but couldn't spit out the ''really'' important part, the listener [[IgnoredConfession didn't believe it]] for some reason (perhaps mistaking it for a SarcasticConfession or thinking that the speaker was just NotHimself), the listener remembered for a while but got EasyAmnesia, or they suffer from OneDialogueTwoConversations, or some other type of PoorCommunicationKills interferes.

When this happens, the audience has been treated to an Un Confession. Prevalent in series that use the ResetButton liberally, this can lead to the audience tearing their hair out in frustration. Sometimes this can be used to tell the audience something that the characters can't or don't know ahead of time, but more often than not it seems to be to maintain StatusQuoIsGod and FailureIsTheOnlyOption.

* In the 1978 ''{{Film/Superman}}'' movie, Clark Kent starts to tell Lois Lane that he's Superman, but loses his nerve at the last minute.