Did Not Get the Girl/Playing With

Basic Trope: The Hero doesn't end up with the female lead, as she chooses somebody else.
 * Straight: Chance The Chosen One rescues Princess Pearl, but she chooses his partner Lance over him.
 * Exaggerated: Chance keeps falling in love with different women, only to see each of them choose somebody else over him.
 * Justified:
 * Chance is a presumptuous Jerkass who just assumes the princess will fall for him because "that's what damsels in distress do" whereas Lance is a down-to-Earth Nice Guy.
 * Chance doesn't swing that way or otherwise doesn't look at Princess Pearl as a love interest.
 * Chance is a Shipper On Deck for Lance/Pearl for one of several reasons (I Want My Beloved to Be Happy knowing that Pearl loves Lance, may prefer to Walk the Earth alone, etc.)
 * Pearl turns out to be Chance's sister.
 * Inverted: Princess Pearl falls in love with Chance, but Chance refuses her love, instead going for her older sister Jade.
 * Subverted: After being rescued by Chance, Princess Pearl looks to Lance, but kisses Chance instead.
 * Double Subverted: However, she then turns around and French kisses Lance in a much longer embrace, making her interests clear.
 * Parodied: Princess Pearl chooses Lance over Chance; unfortunately for Lance, she's not a Princess Classic... she's an overbearing Clingy Jealous Girl who won't take no for an answer. While Chance had fallen for her, upon seeing how she treats Lance he quickly bounces back and cheerfully continues his adventuring.
 * Deconstructed: Chance expected the Standard Hero Reward and does not cope well with the loss, to the point that it ruins his friendship with Lance and he refuses to assist them when trouble threatens Pearl's kingdom once more.
 * Reconstructed: Princess Pearl didn't pick Chance because she could tell he just thought of her as part of the Standard Hero Reward package. She tells him this; while upset at first, Chance eventually recognizes her reasoning as valid and accepts the loss. When her kingdom is threatened again, he helps defend it, this time without expecting someone's hand just because of his heroics.
 * Zig Zagged: However, Chance rescuing Pearl's kingdom again, this time for purely selfless reasons, makes her realize how much she cares about him, and she leaves Lance for Chance.
 * Averted: After being rescued, Princess Pearl says "My hero!" and embraces Chance, rewarding him with a kiss.
 * Enforced: The creators want to leave Chance open for future love interests and partners, so they decide to have Lance marry Princess Pearl and stay with her while Chance continues his adventures.
 * Lampshaded: "Hello? Your hero? Over here? Yoo-hoo!"
 * Invoked: "Chance, I'll always think of you as my big brother!" (kisses Lance)
 * Defied: "Arranged marriages are for the birds! This is the twelfth century! (kisses Chance)
 * Discussed: "I'm sure one of the hundreds of other royal ladies in the court will be able to console Chance in the aftermath of his rejection. It might even take two or three of them. In shifts, perhaps."
 * Conversed:
 * Played For Laughs: Chance is an Idiot Hero completely oblivious to how Princess Pearl and Lance are falling in love with each other. When he does hear the princess fawning over his friend, he mistakes it for her fawning over him. Ulimately, they wind up spelling it out for him; upon finally getting it, Chance is upset... for about five seconds. Then he shrugs and asks if Pearl's got a sister.
 * Played For Drama: Chance is oblivious to how Lance and Princess Pearl are falling in love behind his back. Both feel guilty about it, but can't stop their feelings from developing, even as it's repeatedly implied to the audience that if Chance found out they were "betraying" him, he wouldn't take it well...

Sigh...it's a table for one AGAIN back at Did Not Get the Girl.