I've talked about love triangles before. There's no secret that I don't like it.
And I was dwelling on it again the other day and I was trying to figure out why.
It's because love triangles create an external turmoil in the relationship, where the decisions aren't about working problems out between two people within the relationship, but with letting outside factors carry the relationship.
It's a hard thing to describe. I like relationships and relationship troubles where the conflicts are internal: figuring out how to work with different opinions and different lifestyles. One person adamantly believes that this is right when the other person believes in something else; can you live with that? Compromise? Will it all work out?
But with external relationship troubles, there's nothing wrong with the actual relationship except for the things people shove between them to create drama. If the two were left on their own, they'd be fine, but she might love this other person, so there's suddenly drama!
Notice how there's never any problems in love triangles with the relationships besides that she might love somebody else? They're just perfect, besides, you know, that third person.
(There are, of course, exceptions to this rule and it's why I like the Theatre Illuminata series by Lisa Mantchev so much. Bertie loves both Nate and Ariel, but even on their own, there are problems: Nate doesn't like Bertie's strongheadness, Ariel just wants to be free despite his ties to Bertie... oh, it's a beautiful series.)
But I think that's why love triangles always let me down: the relationships themselves let me down. I like relationships that have to fix themselves and work past problems (besides another person) and becoming stronger for it, not just oh my oz, she loves this other dude despite our perfect relationship!
What do you think?