http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneTrueThreesome

This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.

First Guy: Tomoko... I love you.

Tomoko: I... I...

Second Guy: But Tomoko, I also love you.

First Guy: But now two of us love you. Who will you choose?

Tomoko: ...Why don't we all just... fuck each other? You know, just... one big fuck pile.

Second Guy: ...Yeah okay.

First Guy: Sounds good to me. ProZD, anime love triangles Sounds good to me.

In any given fandom, if there is any Shipping going on at all, there will usually be a particular couple substantially supported by both the Canon events of the series or story, and the general consensus of the fandom regarding Fanon. Even if some parts of the fandom aren't thrilled about the nature of the relationship, it's generally agreed that the relationship does exist and cannot be easily ignored. These unbreakable couples usually (but not always) consist of The Protagonist and their Love Interests, though they're often seen among villain groups as well. What makes this relationship unique can really only be decided by the individual viewer, and they are called OTP: One True Pairing.

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In some cases, love rivals may compete for a single love interest, and the fandom is wholly divided over which one most deserves to get the girl or guy, with large fandoms developing into factions devoted to one relationship over another. Or it may just be a matter of a standard Love Triangle or a particular corner of a Love Dodecahedron where, because romantic relationships usually consist of exactly two people, one of the competing parties is eventually going to be disappointed. And sometimes, because of Fan Dumb, this can go overboard and cause Ship-to-Ship Combat.

In a display of Take a Third Option, some fans adopt the concept of the OT3: the One True Threesome. It's just like One True Pairing, except that there are three characters involved; most often this means the Hero, the Love Interest, and one of their best friends with whom they've both had homoerotic subtext at some point. That way everybody's happy, the sex is kinkier, and no matter who's involved, there's always a little homoeroticism happening. It's like Give Peace a Chance, only instead of Peace, it's Three-Way Sex. While these groupings are most often the result of combining two other disputed couples, there are some examples of characters who simply group together in this way without the fandom splitting them into pairs; Power Trios are especially ripe for OT3ing.

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See also Type 8 in Triang Relations; while other relationships modeled by that trope may include three characters, the distinction of the OT3 is that all three characters are involved and in some degree of love with each other. On rare occasions, it's been proposed as a solution to Type 7, Type 9, or even Type 2 Triang Relations.

OT3s are a part of shipping. The in-universe subtext that fuels said shipping goes under Threesome Subtext. If they're in a canon relationship, you're looking at Polyamory. As a philosophy, polyamory may be present in shipping as well.

Note that, while not necessarily covered by this exact trope, sometimes fans will go even further and have an OT4, OT5, etc.

Not under any circumstances to be confused with the most notorious part of the Church of Happyology.

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Examples

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Anime & Manga

Card Games

Harpie Lady Sisters, Queen's/King's/Jack's Knight, Dark Magician/Dark Magician Girl/Dark Magician of Chaos (feel free to substitute with other magicians), pretty much anything remotely human in Yu-Gi-Oh! that comes in threes. Magician of Black Chaos is an interesting example, because MBC is meant to be an evolved for of Dark Magician.



Comic Books

Comic Strips

Some fans of Peanuts have suggested this as a way to resolve the Marcie/Charlie Brown/Peppermint Patty triangle.

Fan Works

Films — Animated

Films — Live Action

Literature

Live Action TV

Music

Professional Wrestling

Religion and Mythology

Theater

The Phantom of the Opera: While Christine is almost unanimously shipped with the Phantom, some ask why she couldn't have chosen both her Victorious Childhood Friend and her Stalker with a Crush. (Hell, the Phantom probably would've taken anything he could get...) Additionally, Phantom/Christine/Meg in the fanfic/fandom zone. Two girls? Joys of the flesh indeed. I don't hear the Phantom protesting too hard...

In Wicked, a great deal of the tragedy that unfolded could have been avoided if Elphaba/Fiyero/G(a)linda had become a threesome. Considering Fiyero was with both Elphaba and Glinda at different points in the story, and Elphaba and Glinda's strong bond with each other is by far the most important relationship in the play, it's not too hard to scrounge up enough evidence to make a case for it.

The basic idea behind the "Two Ladies" number in Cabaret.

The ending of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder seems to at least imply this, as the Love Triangle between Monty, Phoebe, and Sibella never really gets resolved.

Sometimes in opera, the usual "tenor and baritone fight over the girl" plot can be spiced up with a bit of Ho Yay, making this this ideal outcome (if only everyone survived). The Metropolitan's 2016 productions of Les Pecheurs de Perles and Roberto Devereaux stand out as examples—and, coincidentally, they featured the same tenor and baritone.

Video Games

Visual Novels

Web Comics

Web Original

Western Animation

"And so anime was solved forever!"