The Ubiquitous Love Triangle

[rachelmanija]

Love triangles, always popular in many genres, seem to have become a near-requirement for YA fantasy and science fiction.

I usually do not like love triangles. They bring up the possibility of infidelity, which I hate in literature.

They bring up a lot of angst which I find hard to identify with - this is probably a very personal reaction, but I always think, "Having not one, but TWO attractive guys you like? What a great "problem" to have! That's like getting two fabulous job offers, or being accepted by your top two colleges!"

Plus I find it annoying that, if the heroine genuinely loves them both, no one ever even considers the possibility of polyamory, or even not choosing immediately and seeing how things shake out. (Honorable exceptions: a few books whose titles are spoilery given that this is surprising and happens at the end, but they're by Janni Simner, Guy Gavriel Kay, and Caroline Stevermer. Um. And Laurell K. Hamilton. Maybe that one should be dishonorable.)

It's also usually excruciatingly obvious who the heroine will pick, making her angst annoying and pointless - one guy is clearly evil, unworthy, or doesn't reach the heights of exquisite wonderfulness as the other.

It is very annoying when the triangle is resolved without the heroine making a meaningful choice, because one of the guys dies or turns out to be evil or falls for someone else. Total bait and switch!

Finally, the ubiquity in certain genres may be why many seem to be pasted on as an afterthought. Elements pasted on due to marketability rarely add to the artistry of a work.

One of the few that I've ever liked was in Patricia McKillip's Changeling Sea, in which there were three guys and a girl, and they all had about equal screen time and were all attractive and likable in some sense. Plus, she picked my favorite.

Talk to me about love triangles. Why do you like them? Why do you like the ones you like? Why do you dislike them? And which are your most and least favorites?

Please mark triangle-related spoilers in the header of your comment, ie, "Spoilers for Hunger Games."

Comments

Re: Spoilers for Anita Blake, I suppose?

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I think I like it least when the stranger is an asshole--that often comes off as cliched to me and removes all emotional tension because the protagonist doesn't really have any reason to feel bad (besides, maybe, Letting Down the Family).

But my preference for arranged marriage tropes tends towards the Learning to Love Each Other or At Least Get Along, rather than Running Off With the Gardener. YMMV.

Re: Spoilers for Anita Blake, I suppose?

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on the setup; I like seeing the asshole get shot down.

I like Learning to Love Each Other too, though sometimes it feels a bit too much like fake nostalgia to me.

Re: Spoilers for Anita Blake, I suppose?

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure. But I think it almost always depends on setup.

Re: Spoilers for Anita Blake, I suppose?

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

True that. But you have to be a master to get me to like a love triangle of any sort.

Re: Spoilers for Anita Blake, I suppose?

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I tend to be very very resistant to Learning To Love Each Other -- I think it's a sub-symptom of generally tending to not like Making The Best Of Your Lot stories, romantic or otherwise. I'm most likely to be able to deal with them if it's a setup where both parties have gone into a marriage of convenience for their own reasons, but when it's an arranged relationship imposed out of duty by parental figures I start to get really really twitchy. (But I have a lot of ISSUES regarding making horribly self-sabotaging choices to try to please an unpleasably abusive parent, so...that's a sore spot that makes this particular trope a little too uncomfortable for me.)

Re: Spoilers for Anita Blake, I suppose?

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Learning to Love Each Other is actually one of the Best of Your Lot stories I can sometimes like, because when it's done right, it's adults making adult choices, rather than coercion. But that genre doesn't do much for me overall.