Line #91 Main/LoveConfessor


1	->'''Daniel:''' So what's the problem, Sammy-o?\
2	'''Sam:''' You really want to know?\
3	'''Daniel:''' I really want to know.\
4	'''Sam:''' Okay. Well, the truth is... actually... I'm in love.
5	-->-- ''Film/LoveActually''
6
7	A LoveConfession is when a lover declares his love to his beloved. But sometimes the lover can't or won't tell the beloved. There are a few reasons this could be:
8
9	* The beloved is unavailable for hearing the LoveConfession.
10	* The lover doesn't want his beloved to know how he feels.
11	* The lover and/or the beloved are uncomfortable discussing their emotions--especially with each other!
12
13	There is, however, [[TakeAThirdOption another option]]: The lover confesses his love to a [[TheConfidant third party]]. Instead of "I love ''you''," the confession becomes "I love ''them''."
14
15	Dramatically, this serves a few different purposes. It lets the audience know what the lover's feelings are, and/or confirms that the lover is aware of their own feelings. It creates new dramatic potential since the lover and the third party now share a secret that the beloved is not in on. Most importantly, it buys time for writers who want to delay the LoveConfession till later, though it is possible for the object of affection to overhear the declaration.
16
17	Note that the lover must make their confession to ''another character''; an inner monologue or soliloquy to the audience would be a LoveEpiphany. Note also that the confession is made to a third party, ''instead of'' to the beloved. That means, at the time of the confession, the lover should ''not'' have revealed their feelings to the beloved. They may, of course, do so later. Or the third party may decide to take matters into their own hands, becoming a LoveInformant.
18
19	Compare PlayingCyrano.
20
21	----
22	!!Examples:
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24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
27	* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'': Mutsuki reveals his romantic obsession with Kaneki/Sasaki to Urie (who ironically might have an unrequited crush on Mutsuki) and declares how he would do anything for it.
28	* The frequency of this type of confession becomes a running joke in ''Literature/{{Oresuki}}''. It’s so frequent that when this doesn't happen during a character’s confession to Joro, it is seen as an aversion of this trope.
29	* In ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'', [[spoiler: Kumi]] has planned to confess to her crush [[spoiler: Tsubasa]] before he had to go abroad. At some point she tells her friend and other prospect love interest for the guy, [[spoiler: Sanae]], that she will tell him about her feelings, even apologizing to the other girl and saying that she understands if she isn't happy with all of this. [[spoiler: When Tsubasa gently but firmly turns Kumi's LoveConfession, she immediately [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy tells him to go to Sanae]].]]
30	* [[spoiler: Hitomi Shizuki]] from ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' wants to defuse the LoveTriangle between herself, [[spoiler: Sayaka Miki and Kyousuke Kamijou]] though invoking the trope, and goes as far as offering her love rival the chance to confess first, though only for a limited time. Bad thing is, she doesn't know her rival hasn't and won't confess because [[spoiler:she think [[SoulJar her soul no longer being in her body]] [[IAmAMonster means she's a monster]]]].
31	* Chapter 110 of ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'', "Confession", has Elizabeth confessing to Diane she's in love with Meliodas and in return Diane confesses she has realized she's in love with King.
32	* In ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}! Yume Kira Dream'' episode 34, Yumemitchi and Kiraritchi are wondering why Himespetchi is so sad and use their Yume Kira bags to transform into samurai who are able to keep secrets. Himespetchi is able to admit to them that she has a crush on Mametchi and was very shocked when she was told she has to leave for home planet for this reason.
33	* Chapter 120 of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has Kaguya admit to Hayasaka that she's in love with Shirogane. This comes as a complete shock to Hayasaka. [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Not the fact that she's in love]], but rather the fact that she's actually saying it out loud after spending a whole year constantly denying it.
34	* In ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'', upon realizing she's in love with Sousuke, Tessa opts to tell Kaname rather than Sousuke himself, both as a show of fairness to her romantic rival and because [[InappropriatelyCloseComrades her position as Sousuke's CO]] (as well as his [[ObliviousToLove own emotional density]]) makes actually confessing to him infeasible. [[spoiler:Tessa herself on the receiving end by none other than Sousuke himself after she reluctantly asks him in Dancing Very Merry Christmas to confirm once and for all that she's the RomanticRunnerUp to Kaname and gets the ArmorPiercingAnswer she was afraid to hear]].
35	* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Soga very quickly falls for Suzu, and before trying to give her a DeclarationOfProtection (though not a love confession), he tells Suzu's ChildhoodFriend Matsuri to see if he has a problem. As Matsuri refuses to believe his own feelings for Suzu are romantic, he says it's not his business to object. [[spoiler:After Matsuri [[LoveEpiphany realizes he actually does love Suzu]], he tells Soga first. [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy Soga accepts that Suzu would rather be with Matsuri]] and encourages him to go after her, even if Matsuri himself is [[InsecureLoveInterest doubtful]].]]
36	* Inverted in ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets''. Ichika didn't have the courage to tell Fuutarou upfront that she was in love with him, so she resorted to [[TwinSwitch disguise herself as Miku]] and tell him that "Ichika likes you" and "[[ShipperOnDeck You have my support]]". [[spoiler:It backfires horribly as at this point Fuutarou was aware that Miku had feelings for him, [[OutOfCharacterAlert which made him suspect something was afoul]], and indeed, [[WhatTheHellHero he later calls Ichika out on her deception]]]].
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Fan Works]]
40	* In the sequel to ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Carol admits to her grandmother (who is completely unsurprised because EveryoneCanSeeIt) that she's in love with [[spoiler: Harry]] and that it's not just platonic, which is all she'd previously been prepared to admit. She's also both miserable and angry because he's probably going through hell (and he's in that position because he did something both very noble and very stupid). For his part, he had more than platonic feelings for her, and he was keeping them to himself because [[IDontWantToRuinOurFriendship he didn't want to ruin their friendship]] and knew she wanted to be JustFriends, at least for the time being, making an indirect LoveConfession to her 25 chapters later.
41	* [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Dorian]] more or less forces his way into this role in ''Fanfic/BeyondHeroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium,'' and is both amused and surprised by how little resistance he receives. He has to acknowledge the justice, however, when the confessor retorts that denial would have been pointless, since "you wouldn't believe me anyway." [[spoiler:Later, it's revealed that he actually played the role for both halves of the main pairing.]]
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
45	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'': In a [[DownplayedTrope subtle way]]. When Grand Empress Marie gathers the 10 million rubles for Dimitri as reward for reuniting Anastasia with her, Dimitri denies the reward, saying that he doesn't want money and what he does want (Anastasia's affection) is not something that Marie can give him. She asks him why he changed his mind on the reward, to which he replies that it wasn't his mind that changed, but his feelings for Anastasia that did. After he leaves, Marie nods with a knowing smile.
46	-->'''Marie:''' You saved [Anastasia's] life and mine, then you restored her to me, yet you want no reward.\
47	'''Dimitri:''' Not anymore.\
48	'''Marie:''' Why the change of mind?\
49	'''Dimitri:''' It was more of a change of ''heart''.
50	* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid\|1989}}'': When Triton catches Ariel with her collection of human memorabilia, she gets defensive about her crush on Eric and says to him in anguish, "DADDY, I LOVE HIM!"
51	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Robin Hood\|1973}}'', Robin tells Little John that he's in love with Maid Marian after he gets distracted thinking about her and leaves their food to overcook.
52	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{ThePrincessAndTheFrog}}'', Ray overhears Naveen proclaiming his love for who he thinks is Evangeline and attacks him, only for Naveen to calm him down by revealing that he actually loves Tiana.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
56	* In ''Film/{{Holiday}}'', Linda quizzes her brother Ned about getting drunk. When he asks her what [[DrowningMySorrows sorrow she is looking to drown]], she confesses that she has fallen in love with their sister Julia's fiancé. Ned advises her to act on her feelings, but Linda refuses to betray Julia.
57	* Sort of happens between Liz and Dexter in both ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory'' and ''Film/HighSociety''. See the "Theatre" entry.
58	* In ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}'', Lancelot first confesses his love for Guinevere to his squire, Dap.
59	* In ''Film/AKidInKingArthursCourt,'' Princess Sarah is this for her little sister Princess Katy, who is in love with the FishOutOfTemporalWater Calvin.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Literature]]
63	* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', [[spoiler: Ren]] confesses her love for Jerin, and intention to marry him, not to him, but to her closest female friend. Due to male GenderRarityValue, he would be the husband of her ''and'' all her sisters, and it would be unseemly to get his hopes up before she got her sisters to agree with it.
64	* In ''Literature/DevilVenerableAlsoWantsToKnow'', Wenren E confesses his love for Yin Hanjiang to Baili Qingmiao. He does this because 1) Yin Hanjiang still believes he's dead and thought his earlier attempt to confess his love to him was just a hallucination and 2) he knows that Yin Hanjiang will be reading the book that tells ongoing events from Baili Qingmiao's perspective ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story there]]) and hence will be able to read his confession in text for himself.
65	* This is a major theme in Natsume Soseki's Meiji period novel ''Kokoro''. K confesses his love for Ojosan to Sensei. Sensei discourages him and later [[spoiler: proposes to Ojosan, leading to K's suicide.]]
66	* This happens in the book ''[[Literature/TheHeroesofOlympus The House of Hades]]''. Nico and Jason need to retrieve a scepter from [[JerkassGods Cupid]], but he won't let them have it unless Nico faces his crush [[spoiler:on Percy]]. Nico is forced to confess his feelings in front of Jason.
67	* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'':
68	** {{Downplayed}} in volume 2 ([[Recap/ReignOfTheSevenSpellbladesS1E08Rivals episode 8 of the anime]]). Oliver admits to his cousins Shannon and Gwyn that he's attracted to Nanao, often finding himself looking at her when they're together, but he doesn't say the "L" word. Gwyn counsels him that the feeling of attraction means something to mages, and to just hold the feelings he can't name in his heart and allow events to happen.
69	** Nanao fell in LoveAtFirstPunch with Oliver, and in volume 4 she's asked about it by her roommate Katie ([[LoveTriangle who also has an unrequited crush on Oliver]]). Nanao admits she strongly desires to stay near him, but also says her desire for a DuelToTheDeath with him (a product of her {{samurai}} upbringing previously addressed in volume 1) hasn't gone away as everyone hoped.
70	--->“I feel an urge to hear his voice. To be by his side. To touch and hold him. I have no doubts about any of that. Which is why I’ve stuck to him like a burr since we met.” ({{beat}}) “At the same time, I have a doubt—and a fundamental one. If you truly love someone, can that emotion coexist with an urge to see them dead?”
71	** Chela to Pete in volume 10: she wonders aloud why he doesn't seem to mind the idea of [[RelationshipUpgrade Oliver and Nanao getting together]], taking it for granted that he's in love with Oliver. He replies that, just like her, he wants to keep the TrueCompanions together, and [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy if seeing the man he loves with someone else is what it takes, then so be it]]. He hasn't given up, though: in fact he tells Chela that he'd like it if the Sword Roses [[{{Polyamory}} became a polycule]].
72	* ''Literature/WutheringHeights'': Catherine Earnshaw gets one of the best examples of AnguishedDeclarationOfLove in literature. Unfortunately, she doesn't make it ''to'' Heathcliff. And even more unfortunately, an eavesdropping Heathcliff [[OutOfContextEavesdropping overhears only the part]] where it would degrade her to marry him and not the part about her passionate love for him; cue a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and decades of misery for everyone in the book.
73	-->'''Catherine:''' It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
77	* In the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode, "Ceremonies of Light and Dark", the crew hold a rebirth ceremony that partly involves confessing something they have never told anyone before:
78	** Lennier makes his confession to Marcus Cole, telling him that he loves Delenn. The confession remains a secret between the two men.
79	** Ivanova also chooses the same episode to confess her love for Talia to Delenn. Talia, being permanently [[PutOnABus out of the picture]] at this point, is unavailable to hear the confession.
80	* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Passion", Jenny Calendar [[LoveConfession tells Giles for the first time that she loves him]]. Because he's angry with her, Giles doesn't reciprocate, and because Miss Calendar dies at the end of the episode, he never has a chance to. Instead, we see him standing over her grave with Buffy, and telling her that of all the friends he's lost, "Jenny was the first I've loved."
81	* On ''Series/DoctorWho'', Martha Jones confesses her love for the Doctor twice.
82	** The first time is in "The Family of Blood" to an amnesiac version of himself:
83	--->'''Martha:''' He is just everything to me and he doesn't even look at me, but I don't care. 'Cause I love him to bits. And I hope to God he won't remember me saying this.
84	** She tries to play it off later as a bit of hyperbole, but they both know she's lying. The second time is in "Last of the Time Lords" when Martha is telling people about the Doctor and how wonderful he is. She never tells him her feelings directly, but by the end of their time together it's implicitly understood that he knows.
85	* ''Series/FellowTravelers'': Hawkins Fuller never says "I love you" to his SecondLove Timothy Laughlin in person, but he admits to Marcus in episode 4 that when the interrogator asked him if he has ever loved a man, he pictured Tim. In 1987, Hawk's daughter Kimberly refers to Tim as her father's friend, but Hawk corrects her: [[spoiler:"He wasn't my friend. He was the man I loved."]]
86	* Despite hinting ''very'' heavily at it, Serena Campbell of ''Series/HolbyCity'' never actually told colleague and AAU co-lead Bernie Wolfe how she felt about her after the two kissed. Romantically. ''Twice''. The object of her affection having [[spoiler:buggered off to Kiev]] in the meanwhile, Serena [[DrowningMySorrows takes solace in her favorite Shiraz]] and confesses to her close friend Raf Di Lucca "I love her" when Raf remarks that she still seems to be missing Bernie keenly.
87	* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': In season 4, Barney tells Lily that he's in love with Robin, something he realized at the end of season 3. He doesn't want Robin to know, as he's coming to [[TeamMom Lily]] for advice on how to put an end to it since [[LadykillerInLove he isn't interested in a relationship]] and [[BreakTheCutie hasn't been for years]].
88	* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': In Season 1, Louis de Pointe du Lac never once said "I love you" to his boyfriend Lestat de Lioncourt, so it's only when he's being interviewed by Daniel Molloy in 2022 that he admits, "I loved Lestat with a wounded [heart]."
89	* In Episode 10 of ''Series/OurFlagMeansDeath'', Stede has an epiphany while listening to his estranged wife Mary describe her love for her painting instructor, and realizes it describes his own feelings toward his new friend UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}}, all set to a FallingInLoveMontage of Stede and Blackbeard's interactions.
90	-->'''Mary:''' It feels...easy? It's just like breathing. He understands my idiosyncrasies, finds them charming, even. We expose each other to new things, new ideas, and we laugh a lot. We just pass the time so well. I'd call those things love. I hope you find that.\
91	'''Stede:''' I think I have.\
92	'''Mary:''' Really? What's her name?\
93	'''Stede.''' Ed. His name is Ed.
94	* On ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Tom falls in love with Kes, who's already in a relationship with Neelix. Rather than tell either of them (which could lead to problems), he confides in his best buddy Harry while seeking advice on how to not make things worse.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Theatre]]
98	* A kind of weird, prevaricating version happens between Sandy and Liz in the stage version of ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory''. Sandy asks Liz if she's in love with Mike. Liz doesn't answer directly, but when he goes on to ask why she doesn't marry him, she admits that she's waiting for him to grow up and that she'd be ''very'' upset if another girl tried to claim him first. It's the clearest insight we get into Liz's feelings for Mike. The scene plays slightly differently in the 1940 film, but is preserved in the 1956 musical ''Film/HighSociety'' (this time between [[CompositeCharacter Dexter]] and Liz).
99	* In ''Theatre/CyranodeBergerac'', Le Bret is the first and only person to whom Cyrano confesses his love for Roxane. Christian and later Roxane have to figure it out themselves and have Cyrano reluctantly confirm.
100	* This happens in ''Theatre/BeMoreChill'' during the song "A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into." It's set up to seem like [[LoveInterest Christine]] is going to confess to Jeremy that she likes him, but then it turns out she's actually talking about Jake.
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Video Games]]
104	* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': On Day 10, Amelia calls Yuka over to admit to her that her old feelings for Joe resurfaced. Yuka tells her that it's okay since [[EveryoneCanSeeIt she was bad at hiding it, anyway]], and also reveals that [[spoiler:she herself can't hide her feelings for Eve either]]. Yuka then advises Amelia against having a WorkplaceRomance with Joe since "it'll end in doom and gloom."
105	* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': During Alphys's "date" with you-the-Player (which only happens in the first place because she mistakes a love letter that you deliver to her from Undyne as being written by you), she tries to give you gifts that are very obviously far better suited for Undyne and then gets flustered when the two of you bump into her, and realizing how obvious her crush is, admits it to you. You then help her build up her confidence to [[LoveConfession confess to Undyne]] by role-playing with her.
106	[[/folder]]
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108	[[folder:Visual Novel]]
109	* [[spoiler: Misha]] from ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' confesses to Hisao about her love for [[spoiler: Shizune]] after [[spoiler: she asks you to sleep with her. Whether Hisao agrees to or not determines whether you get Shizune's good or bad ending.]]
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Western Animation]]
113	* Up to season two of ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', Ladybug mistook Cat Noir's flirting with her as an innocent crush. It wasn't until "Glaciator" that Cat Noir told Marinette that he was in love with Ladybug, not knowing that Marinette was Ladybug's SecretIdentity.
114	[[/folder]]

Context Main / LoveConfessor