On the surface it might be easy to mock this sort of thing, unless you take the word “beautiful” and replace it with “smart.” Have I ever wished every man in the room was in love with me? No. Everyone fighting for you…uh, I mean her…because she’s just SO amazing. The bald-faced wish-fulfillment of having every remotely intriguing character fall for the main protagonist. I end up disliking the lady-love (as, let’s be honest, it is usually a lady) and wondering why anyone would be drawn to someone so flighty, indecisive, and who shows a tendency for infidelity) Wish-fulfillment Sometimes this is all it is. (Side-note: Personally I am not a fan of the triangle-for-tension bit, and I’ve never really understood the appeal, but perhaps that is because the idea of being interested in two people at one time, or torn between them, seems simultaneously impossible and truly awful. The presence of doubt or impediment that the extra suitor provides prolongs the central romance, drawing it out as we (for some reason) so often love it to do. And sometimes the ‘other’ guy, ends up being the actual guy, and that creates all kinds of tensions, confusions, and wonderings. This can be true whether the extra love-interest is merely a distraction (no one actually believes he is THE guy for the protagonist) or if he is indeed a viable contender. Almost anything can be a barrier–class, culture, war, distance, group dynamics, religion–but when such things are not germane to the story or setting, a second suitor can do the trick. We like the ‘almost’ or the fraught uncertainty leading to the plot climax rather than the pragmatic housekeeping that is the denouement. Creating Tension/Barriers In any Romantic scenario, barriers are thrown up to keep the romance from coming to fruition because readers generally prefer tension to satisfaction. As always, why is this? And as always, the answer is…there are several answers, a few of which I will attempt to tackle fairly. Shakespeare did all kinds of triangles and rectangles and basically all of the love geometry. But this trope has a zillion versions, and it never dies. I don’t hate it with the fire of a thousand suns, but I would never voluntarily seek it out, and I am very skeptical of it when I see it arise. I do not particularly care for the Love Triangle. Yet I think it is necessary to admit, up front, my own biases. For these Everlasting Trope posts, I try not to pick only tropes I like, or only ones I dislike, but a whole range of them.