Favorite Love Triangles

[Summerlilly]

I've really been getting into True Blood as of late and it got me wondering.....love triangles centered around a human seem to be a constant theme in all of my favorite vamp shows. But who does it better? 😉

1. My original threesome of drama and passion: Angel-Buffy-Spike
2. My Mystic Falls teenage teasers: Stefan-Elena-Damon
3. My new bare it all lusty lovers: Bill-Sookie-Eric

Who's your favorite and why? Can they even be compared? I think they may have a few similarities...... 😛

The human girl loves a vampire passionately, the relationship is doomed from the start and drama ensues......always an opportunist, the bad boy vamp who secretly loves the human girl and seeks redemption from his evil ways slowly makes her fall in love with him. Oops, she now loves TWO vampires. What ever will she do???😀😀

 

[Robb Stark]

I think that the love triangle works really well in T.V. (not so much in movies, although it can. It's better in a format of long-form storytelling), which is probably why it's utilized so often.

My all time favorite, without question, is Buffy/Angel/Spike. It's almost difficult to call this a real love triangle in the traditional sense because it's exceedingly rare that we see the three of them on-screen together. There is some great interaction between Angel and Spike in the fifth season of Angel, but that's totally without a physical presence from Buffy (even though they talk about her all the time). I think because the romances between Buffy/Angel and later Buffy/Spike were so well-constructed and so powerful right from the beginning both times, that there was always this underlying question of who she was meant to be with. Watching the series as Buffy and Spike grow closer, even though it had been ages since we'd seen him, I still felt that Angel had a real presence, or at least, his memory did.

The Fred/Gunn/Wesley triangle was really well done too. It was obviously much more in your face than Buffy's, but I thought it really worked, especially to help Wes become darker throughout the third and fourth seasons, and it capped off beautifully in the end.

Looking beyond the Buffyverse, one of my favorites was Jack/Kate/Sawyer in LOST. I was always a Jack guy, so I was always rooting for him, but all the way around it developed really, really well. Actually, by the end I thought Jack and Kate and how it all resolved was the best part of the series.

It's not my favorite, but I liked Clark/Lana/Lex in Smallville. The best part of Smallville for years (until they screwed it all up) was the dynamic between Clark and Lex, so when Lana got involved it added another layer entirely to the relationship. It had a sloppy ending (the writing got pretty convoluted), but at it's peak I really liked it.

 

[brinkster130]

I think there are more than enough similarities to make them comparable. 🙂

Of those three I'd have to say my favorite is, by far, Angel/Buffy/Spike. Of the three they are the only triangle that has a couple I really truly love. Angel and Buffy are one of the few couples that I've always rooted for and been heartbroken for when things went wrong.

Bill/Sookie/Eric is alright, both couples were entertaining enough but I never rooted for either pairing, I'm on team Alcide! 😀 😉

Stefan/Elena/Damon drives me crazy. They are brothers! They've already been down the triangle path fighting over a girl and it nearly destroyed them; are they really going there again?! And honesty Elena, BROTHERS?!!! I don't care who ends up with who in this triangle as long and Stefan and Damon make it out alright.

 

[dexeded]

I don't really like love triangles (too dramatic 😛), but just popping in to ask if Angel/Buffy/Spike really is a love triangle. I mean, first there was Angel/Buffy, then there was Buffy/Spike. Doesn't really come to much clashing, except maaaybe in Chosen and TGIQ (and Buffy doesn't even appear in that).

 

[Vamp Jenny]

I hate love triangles in general. And these days, we see them EVERYWHERE...

I never really considered Angel/Buffy/Spike as a triangle because when Angel was there, Spike wasn't and vice-versa. And when both guys where together (Ats S5), Buffy wasn't there. But if it has to be seen as a triangle, it's pretty much the only one I like.

I'm coming around with Adam/Cassie/Jake from The Secret Circle (started watching it 2 days ago). But I don't like the characters a lot, so I'm not a fan of the triangle.

 

[prophecygrrl]

I love the love square in BSG with Sam, Kara, Lee, and Dee. It was actually super interesting to me and it's weird because usually love triangles/squares bother me, but I liked this a lot! I think I mostly like love conflicts if they actually reveal a lot about the characters implicated in them. They're an easy way to bring drama into something and a lot of the time it's a little lazy, IMO. Not the case with BSG though!

The Buffy/Angel/Spike stuff is interesting too, not so much in-show because none of those relationships (Buffy/Angel Buffy/Spike or Spike/Angel) ever threatened the other, but there's a lot of really great fic and meta out there on B/A/S that I love.

 

[Summerlilly]

I don't really like love triangles (too dramatic 😛), but just popping in to ask if Angel/Buffy/Spike really is a love triangle. I mean, first there was Angel/Buffy, then there was Buffy/Spike. Doesn't really come to much clashing, except maaaybe in Chosen and TGIQ (and Buffy doesn't even appear in that).

Hmmmm....yeah, I always thought of them as a love triangle. Even though they were for the most part in love with Buffy at different times, they were all still connected to each other in some way.This is what Wikipedia has to say on love triangles.

"A love triangle is usually a romantic relationship involving three people. While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two. The relationships can be friendships, romantic, or familial (often siblings), and often triggers jealousy and hatred between the rivals involved." Sounds like Angel-Buffy-Spike to me! 😀

I love me a good dramatic love triangle! haha 😀😀

 

[PassionBecoming]

What immediately popped into my head was Ross/Rachel/Joey on Friends. Though I'm not sure it's really considered a triangle because Ross and Joey weren't in love with her at the same time. Either way, it was freaking hilarious.

 

[ItMustBeBunnies]

Hmmm, I guess I would have to say Bill/Sookie/Eric 🙂 Although, I'm team Eric all the way and wish Bill would just get lost already, lol. Don't get me wrong, I like Bill, I just hate his relationship with Sookie.

And if Sookie had a fling with Alcide along the way I wouldn't mind one little bit 😛 😉

 

[Summerlilly]

[MENTION=10582]brinkster130[/MENTION] agrees: I don't think he officially has a team yet, but Im rooting for him! Have you been watching s5?

Oh my god!!!! It just registered in my brain what team Alcide is!!!!!! hahahaha I guess I just didn't pronounce his name out right when I read what you wrote before. Al-seeeeed!!! 😉 He's a total hunk!!!!! 😀 😀 I've been wondering what they are gonna do with that. I haven't watched season 5 yet. Just finishing season 4!

 

[Taake]

Stefan/Elena/Damon drives me crazy. They are brothers! They've already been down the triangle path fighting over a girl and it nearly destroyed them; are they really going there again?! And honesty Elena, BROTHERS?!!! I don't care who ends up with who in this triangle as long and Stefan and Damon make it out alright.

Same here, I have no ship preference in that triangle, the only thing I truly care about is Damon's and Stefan's relationship to each other. I really like them and I hate seeing them torn apart by a girl (again), they should know better by now!


As for another triangle in Mystic Falls I like Caroline-Tyler-Klaus.

 

[Vamp Jenny]

Summerlilly agrees: Why do you hate love triangles? 🙂

I don't know I just can't stand them anymore. Seems like they are everywhere and it just bothers me. Is it the only way to put some action within the character's dynamic? Plus, I always feel like you have to pick a side. Sometimes I do pick a side (TVD: Damon/Elena, Dawson's Creek: Pacey/Joey, Gilmore Girls: Rory/Dean, etc.) but I'm beginning to feel like the shows wants us to pick sides, if not only to cause more drama (anyone knows about the Delena/Stelena war raging on out there? It's scary!!!)

 

[Jodast]

I think True Blood does it best. As mentioned above, Spike/Buffy/Angel isn't really a triangle. I am not really a fan of TVD partly because they kill off my favourite characters too often in season one and partly because their triangle is so cheesy it may as well be Dairylea 🙂

It may just be because the Bill/Sookie/Eric trelationship is on an HBO show so it is shown in a more mature way, literally and figuratively. Also TB spoiler

Spoiler

Throwing Alcide into the mix makes it a love quadrilateral so it may not count any more for the purposes of this thread

And he is crazy stupid hot.

 

[Icarium]

Love triangles are the blight of television for me. They are everywhere, they can take over entire shows and they often feel incredibly contrived. For example I am watching a show that shall remain unnamed because what follows is spoilerish. In that show one single character has been a love interest for two sisters and also managed to sleep with the girlfriend of the brother of those two sisters. And that's actually a character who is not a villain or bad guy at all, he is portrayed very sympathetically. There is drama and there is "come on now, that's just silly!".

Another problem is that very often the outcome of the triangle is painfully - the main character is torn between another lead character and a recurring one who in all likelihood won't stay on the show for long. Gee, I wonder what the choice might be?

So the only love triangles I like are those who do not take years to resolve like Willow-Oz-Tara.

 

[Kean]

There is nothing I enjoy less in my entertainment than love triangles. A pox on their house I say, A POX ON THEIR HOUSE!

Ahem...

 

[AmelRIOT]

I agree with some people about hating love Triangles, they are annoying and everywhere like twlight, vampire diaries, true blood etc it gets boring fast, I like it when they stick them together like Monica and Chandler from Friends. They had their couple of riffs about Richard but Monica choosed Chandler first and Chandler never thought about cheating, that's what I like.

But if I had to choose it be Willow/Tara/Oz I only think Willow had more time to get over Oz before dating Tara.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Are we talking vampires only? Your examples are all from vampire shows.

I always loved Claudia/Louie/Lestat from Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. What a complicated mess; Claudia loved and favored Louie and Lestat was always jealous. When Claudia killed Lestat, Louie was torn between his love for her and his loyalty to Lestat. Good stuff.

Runner-up is definitely Darla/Angelus/Drusilla. So much history there. I can never decide if Drusilla and Darla honestly liked each other, or if they were just trying to please Angelus.

Ni ether of my examples involve a human, I guess. I do love Eric/Sookie, but can't stand Bill, so I wouldn't choose them as a favorite.

 

[EVIL UU]

Katchoo/Casey/David from Strangers in Paradise, maybe because the three of them simply ended up living and sleeping together. Is it still a triangle when people do that?

I'd love Terry Moore to do something in Buffy again. Sadly, at this point he's probably too busy and hardly interested 🙁

 

[Vamp Jenny]

I guess I could add to my short list of love triangles Olivia/Peter/(F)Olivia... I will always favor Olivia, but (F)Olivia was quite good for Peter while it lasted...

 

[AmelRIOT]

Are we talking vampires only? Your examples are all from vampire shows

No. There's loads others but I can't think of any I don't watch a lot of shows as I prefer older shows from the 90s and beginning of 2000 etc I don't like live traingles so there wasn't any other ones I can think of, maybe glee artie/britnay,santanna as I love all of them.