Love Triangle
Also known as romantic triangle · eternal triangle
A romantic plot in which three people are tangled together, most often two rivals who both love the same person. Its tension comes from the choice the person in the middle has to make, and what each answer would cost.
- Romance
- Ana marries Luis, the man she loves.
- Love triangle
- Ana marries Luis while his brother reads the vows.
In practice
A love triangle is a romantic situation involving three people, most often two rivals who love the same person, who must choose between them. The tension comes from the choice: each option offers something the other cannot, and whatever the person in the middle decides, someone will be hurt. Casablanca, The Great Gatsby, Twilight and The Hunger Games all turn on love triangles.
The shape is old. Arthurian legend sets Lancelot and King Arthur around Guinevere, and the story of Tristan and Iseult follows a knight in love with his uncle's bride. In those versions the triangle is also a conflict of loyalties, love against duty or friendship, which is why it has carried tragedy as often as romance.
Writers often distinguish two shapes. In the common V shape, two rivals love the same person and have no bond with each other. In a true triangle, all three are connected, as in Jules and Jim (1962), where two close friends love the same woman and the friendship is at stake as much as the romance.
A love triangle works when both rivals are real choices. If one is plainly wrong, the outcome is settled and the triangle only delays the ending. When each represents a different life, safety or adventure, the past or the future, the choice tells the audience who the person in the middle has become.
A love triangle in a screenplay
EXT. VINEYARD - EVENING
Lanterns over long tables. ANA (30) dances with her husband, LUIS (32). At the edge of the light, his brother MATEO (30) holds two glasses and does not move.
LUIS
My brother hasn't danced all night.
ANA
Mateo never dances. He used to say it was like lying with your feet.
LUIS
Funny. He never told me that.
Opens as a new Plot project once you sign in or create a free account. Inkwell keeps this copy for 24 hours.
Love triangle examples
In Casablanca (1942), Ilsa must choose between Rick, the man she loved in Paris, and Victor Laszlo, her husband and a resistance leader. The triangle carries the film's theme: Rick's decision at the airport puts the war ahead of his own heart.
In The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan stands between her husband, Tom, and Jay Gatsby, who has built his whole life to win her back. The triangle is also about class and the past, because Gatsby is trying to choose a version of Daisy that no longer exists.
Young adult fiction made the triangle a selling point. Bella, Edward and Jacob in Twilight and Katniss, Peeta and Gale in The Hunger Games split readers into teams, and each rival stands for a different life the heroine could lead.
Jules and Jim (1962) and Wuthering Heights show darker versions. In the first, two friends and the woman they both love try to live as a trio; in the second, Catherine's choice of Edgar over Heathcliff sets off a revenge that lasts a generation.
Types of love triangles
The rival triangle is the most common: two people compete for the same person, who must eventually choose. The suspense is which one, and the meaning is in why.
The connected triangle adds a bond between the rivals: brothers, best friends, partners. Now any choice breaks two relationships at once, and the story is as much about loyalty as about love.
The unrequited chain runs in one direction: A loves B, B loves C, and C loves someone else or no one. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night build comedy from these chains before sorting the lovers into pairs.
The hidden triangle is a secret affair: one person is involved with two others who do not know about each other. It tends to produce thrillers and tragedies rather than romances, because discovery is the turning point.
How to write a love triangle
Make both rivals worth choosing. Give each one real strengths and a clear idea of the life they offer, and let the person in the middle feel the pull of both on the page. A rival who exists only to lose is not a triangle.
Give the person in the middle a goal beyond the choice. A triangle stalls when the protagonist's only question is who to love. Tie the choice to what they want for their life, so the decision resolves the story rather than pausing it.
Let the rivals change each other. Scenes between the two rivals, with or without the third person, are often the strongest in the story, because each sees in the other what they lack.
End with a cost. However the triangle resolves, someone should lose something real: a friendship, a future, a version of themselves. The cost is what makes the choice matter after the credits.
Common questions
What is a love triangle?
A love triangle is a romantic situation involving three people, usually two rivals who love the same person, who must choose between them, as in Casablanca, The Great Gatsby and The Hunger Games.
What are examples of love triangles?
Famous love triangles include Lancelot, Arthur and Guinevere; Rick, Ilsa and Victor in Casablanca; Gatsby, Daisy and Tom in The Great Gatsby; Bella, Edward and Jacob in Twilight; and Katniss, Peeta and Gale in The Hunger Games.
What are the types of love triangles?
Common types are the rival triangle, where two people compete for one; the connected triangle, where the rivals are friends or family; the unrequited chain, where love runs in one direction; and the hidden triangle, a secret affair.
Why are love triangles so popular?
Because they turn romance into a choice with stakes. Each rival stands for a different life, readers take sides, and the decision reveals who the person in the middle really is.
How do you write a good love triangle?
Make both rivals worth choosing, give the person in the middle a goal beyond the choice, write scenes between the rivals themselves and make the resolution cost someone something real.
Is a love triangle a trope?
Yes. It is one of the oldest romantic tropes, found in Arthurian legend, Shakespeare and modern young adult fiction. Like any trope it works best when the writer uses it on purpose and gives each character a real stake.