I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
{{quote|''"You are a hateful woman. You oppose me to the very end. But I shall forgive you. Some things are beautiful because they cannot be obtained."''
|'''Gilgamesh''', ''[[Fate/stay night]]''}}
Sometimes a person who is either insanely charismatic or has some sort of awesome magical powers can pretty much seduce [[Even the Guys Want Him|anyone]] [[Even the Girls Want Her|they]] [[Stupid Sexy Flanders|want to]], but finds a true challenge when they meet another character who, for [[Too Dumb to Fool|whatever]] [[Anti-Magic|reason]], is [[The Immune|immune]] to [[Charm Person|mystical]] [[Love Is in
If [[The Casanova]] gets a [[Love Interest]], he will often fall for her because of this trope. This is often an explanation behind [[Ladykiller in Love]]. Contrast [[All Take and No Give]]. [[Sub
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* A very large amount of [[Shoujo]] is based on this trope, where the extremely handsome and cynical male lead falls for the honest, down-to-earth female lead because he can't wrap her around his finger as easily as he can everyone else.
** Sometimes even used when it makes no sense because the heroine ''does'' fall for everything, because she's supposed to be the self-insert '''and''' the audience is supposed to find the lead so irresistible.
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** Lelouch/C.C. shippers will argue along these lines as well. Not because of Lelouch's [[Mind Control|Geass power]] so much as that she's too intelligent to be manipulated by his Machiavellian machinations.
** The same can be said for Lelouch/Kallen shippers. Due to an early frivolous use of his geass (in fact, it was because of her that he learned he can only use it once on each person), Kallen was one of the few main characters immune to Lelouch's power.
** [[Foe Yay|Suzaku/Lelouch]] could be seen to fall under this, too. Like Kallen, Suzaku has been geassed so Lelouch can't compell him that way, and his role as Lelouch's personal [[Spanner in
* Shinn from ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', who loves Yuria because she is an emotionally strong-willed woman whom he sees as a challenge to make ''willingly'' fall in love with him. It keeps failing, since [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man|will only love]] [[Emotional Bruiser|Kenshirou]].
* A mostly mundane version of this seems to be what attracts most of the suitors of Shuurei in ''[[Saiunkoku Monogatari]]'' - being a confident, outspoken, and blindingly intelligent woman in an otherwise male-dominated society, she doesn't let ANY level of authority or nobility intimidate her, up to and including the Emperor himself. As a result, several of the most powerful men in the Empire become enamoured with her straightforward and willful personality, whether it be a fatherly concern or outright [[True Love]].
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* [[The Casanova|Touga]] falls in love with ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' because she seems to be the one girl who doesn't immediately fall under his charm.
* The protagonist of [[B Gata H Kei]] brushes off the flirtations of [[The Rival|her rival's]] stupidly attractive older brother. Apparently she is the first one to ''ever'' do that. He immediately decides he must have her.
* [[Lady in Red|Akako]] [[Femme Fatal|Koizumi]] of ''[[Magic Kaito]]''. A mix of [[Hot Witch]] and [[Dark Magical Girl]] with the power to make men fall in love with her just by looking at her, she's put off by the discovery that [[Phantom Thief|Kaito Kuroba/Kaitou Kid]] is somehow [[
* One of the reasons Iason is so attracted to Riki in ''[[
* Ali of the "Doom Tree arc" in the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' anime specifically states to himself after Usagi runs away after he failed in his attempt at wooing her that "Every time she runs away it only heightens my determination to win her over..."
** Prince Dirmando likes Usagi's [[Older and Wiser]] self, Queen Serenity, for this reason as well. When Usagi reacts in the same manner, he also pursues her.
* ''[[Ranma
{{quote|
* Count Germont from ''[[Honoo no Alpen Rose]]'' is repeteadly rejected by the heroine Jeudi, but he keeps trying to make her his mistress no matter what. Lampshaded by the Count's wife Francoise, who tells Jeudi that the Count's impressed by Jeudi's ability to tell him no repeatedly, and confesses that she also envies Jeudi for it.
* ''[[Reimei no Arcana]]'': One of the first few things that attracts Caesar to (and annoys him about) Nakaba is her refusal to be controlled by him.
* In ''[[Ah!
** Also occurs with Sayoko towards Keiichi, particularly in Season 2.
* ''[[Kiniro no Corda]]'': Yunoki to Hino.
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* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'': Shin loves Yuria because she is an emotionally strong-willed woman whom he sees as a challenge to make willingly fall in love with him.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
== Comics ==▼
* In the ''[[Sillage]]'' comic, ''The Collector'', a corrupt alien diplomat develops an obsession of Navis in this way. He keeps a whole harem of his past conquests but obsesses over this one girl he cannot get. (He is a powerful telepath but [[Humans Are Special]] by not being psykers - her mind is blank for him.) This develops into a genuine love that gives him what might qualify as a [[Heel Face Turn]].
** Love is a strong word. He just toned down his obsession. It didn't stop him from [[Stalker
* Jean Grey in the ''[[X-Men]]'' comics didn't really seem to earn Wolverine's interest until she shouted him down. Every time she'd telekinetically clobber him and shout "I am no one's property!", it seemed to make him hotter for her. Pity every adaptation ever forgets that, having Logan fall for her [[Love At First Sight|the instant he first sees her]].
** In the [[Ultimate Marvel]] adaptation had this as well, since Wolverine underestimated Jean, she blasted him with [[Telekinesis|TK]] and afterwards he started becoming more attracted to her and even {{spoiler|abandoned his mission to kill Professor Xavier}}.
* The latest{{when}} Clock King is obsessed with Rose Wilson aka Ravager mostly because she has similar precognitive abilities that can counter his own powers.
* ''[[Elf Quest]]'': Leetah and Rayek's relationship in the early issues could easily be interpreted this way.
{{quote|
'''Leetah:''' Then why pursue me, my arrogant one?
'''Rayek:''' [http://www.elfquest.com/comic_viewer.php?fd{{=}}/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ02/_Original%20ElfQuest%20-%202_page{{=}}14#_14# Because you are the only one worth having!] }}
==
* Many [[Jerk Sue]] fanfics have the "heroine" as this kind of girl, and guys fall head over heels for her because she treats them "with spunk and feminist will"... alias like total crap, which [[You Got Spunk|makes her more "interesting"]] than the other silly, stupid, weaker, ''girly'' girls around.
* In the ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' fic
* Played with in the ''[[The Silmarillion|Silmarillion]]'' fic
* Part of the spark for the Fleur/Harry relationship in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfic ''[[The Lie
* Very common in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fan fiction pairing Draco and an [[Original Character]]. Draco is portrayed as a [[Casanova]] (often referred to as "the Slytherin Sex-God"), but will quickly fall head-over-heels once it's revealed that the new girl isn't impressed by his pick-up lines.
* It's canon that ''[[Naruto]]'' is pretty rebellious and defiant. In [[Slash Fic]] this is sometimes one of the reasons that Sasuke ends up pursuing him.
* In the ''[[
* In the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' movie, Victor Von Doom's assistant wonders, "Why Sue? You could have any other woman in the world." Victor quickly rejoins, "''That's'' why. Because I could have any other woman."
* Inverted in ''Next'', where the main character falls for the love interest because his powers work better on her than anyone else.
* In ''[[Beauty and
== [[Literature]] ==
* This is eventually the motivation by which Courtney Thane is shown to be in love with Alix Crown in ''[[
* Possibly the only reason for Scarlet O'Hara's obsession with Ashley Wilkes in ''[[Gone
* Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the [[Ho Yay]] reading of ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]''.
* [[Ayn Rand]]'s ''[[The Fountainhead]]'' has a lot of [[Ho Yay]] subtext between Howard Roark and Gail Wynand, with Wynand's feeling for Roark being an example of this trope.
* ''[[Wuthering Heights (
* ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'': Elizabeth Bennet is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to realize this is why Mr. Darcy fell in love with
{{quote|
'''Darcy:''' For the liveliness of your mind, I did.
'''Elizabeth:''' You may as well call it impertinence at once. It was very little less. The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention. You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking, and looking, and thinking for your approbation alone. I roused, and interested you, because I was so unlike them. Had you not been really amiable, you would have hated me for it; but in spite of the pains you took to disguise yourself, your feelings were always noble and just; and in your heart, you thoroughly despised the persons who so assiduously courted you. }}
** Interestingly, [[Jane Austen]] takes the opposite approach to the trope in her next novel ''[[Mansfield Park]]'', where Henry Crawford and his sister are both fully aware that the only reason he wants to make Fanny Price fall in love with him is because she's the first girl who doesn't fawn over him and crave his attention. The difference from ''P&P'' is that [[It's All About Me]] in Crawford's case.
** [[Gender Flip|Gender flipped]] in Austen's ''[[Emma]]'', where Emma falls in love with Mr. Knightley, the only person on Earth who doesn't worship her or treat her like she's perfect.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** In ''[[
** In ''[[
* ''[[Twilight (
** Also, it's implied that it's supposed to be because Bella is way too good to fall for looks alone... except that's all she talks about when she describes Edward, so the meaning is lost.
* Watson explicitly dismisses the idea of [[Sherlock Holmes]] having felt this way about Irene Adler, instead stating that their connection was a completely platonic version of this trope; writers of ''every'' Holmes adaptation ''ever'' [[Promoted to Love Interest|disagree]].
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* "Face" Loran invokes this trope in the [[X Wing Series]] with Dia Passik, who because of her tough childhood never saw any of his films, and thus is just about the only woman of her age who doesn't gush over him. Although he meant it ironically, in the end the two of them ''do'' get together.
* Esteban for Clara in ''[[The House of the Spirits]]''.
* Caine for Diana in ''[[Gone (novel)]]''. He fell for her because she was the only girl who hadn't fallen for his charms.
* In ''[[The Heir Chronicles
* In ''[[The Novels Of The Jaran]]'', Ilya fall in love with Tess because she constantly defies him when nearly everyone else in the Jaran obeys him. The fact that she doesn't fall for his charisma and good looks like most other women probably factored in, too.
* Sophie from ''[[Howl's Moving Castle (
* In [[The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries]] (and it's TV version, ''[[True Blood]]''), this is the reason Sookie was first attracted to Bill: She realized she couldn't hear his thoughts.
** It's implied that {{spoiler|Eric}} and Sookie's relationship has elements of this. She can't read his mind, he can't glamour her or make her quit her job and live safely as an odd type of housewife.
* In [[Trudi Canavan]]'s ''[[The Black Magician Trilogy|The Ambassador's Mission]]'' Achati laments the fact that being in control of his slaves they have to do as he says saying any relationship therefore lacks risk "only when the person could easily leave you do you appriciate it when he stays" {{spoiler|and seems to have taken an interest in Dannyl at least partly due to a more equal status}}
* There's an episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' where a mindreader is fascinated by someone she cannot read. He turns out to be a hologram.
▲== Live Action TV ==
*
* In ''[[Babylon
▲* In ''[[Babylon Five]]'', Londo announces to his wives that he's going to divorce all but one of them. All of them dislike him, but Timov is frank about it and refuses to fawn over him to secure some of his wealth and influence the way Mariel and Daggair do. He keeps Timov because he knows where he stands with her. It's somewhat implied he figured out she saved him and knows she wasn't involved in his assassination attempt.
* In ''[[Dark Angel]]'', there is an episode focused on one of the X series fugitives who has [[Mind Control]] powers. She's dating this mob guy called Dougie, despite him being below average in pretty much every respect, because her powers don't work on him. She helped him rip off his organisation, manipulating him in more traditional ways.
* In both ''[[The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries]]'' and the TV adaptation ''[[True Blood]]'', Sookie was initially attracted to Bill the vampire mainly because she couldn't read his mind, though this was mostly since she wasn't [[Squick
** The fact that he saved her from the Rattrays and {{spoiler|fed her his blood, causing her to have sexy dreams about him}} didn't hurt any. Of course it turned out {{spoiler|he'd orchestrated the whole thing specifically to get this response,}} which may make this a subversion.
** There's also Eric, who, in ''True Blood'', is mostly into Sookie because he's a bit intimidated by her powers, as shown in a fantasy of his where she tops the hell out of him.
* There's a bit of this in ''[[Castle]]''; Richard Castle can [[The Charmer|charm any lady he likes around his little finger]] except for Detective Kate Beckett, who isn't suckered in by any of his usual methods... which makes Castle, who was getting bored with the fawning ladies themselves trying to snare or drape themselves over him, a lot more interested in her as a result. It's also suggested (including by the actors) that it's not so much about Castle trying to find some way to control Beckett as he is kind of thrilled to find someone who can control ''him'', as Castle has no real authority figure in his life except for her.
* ''[[Scrubs]]'': Dr. Cox loves Jordan because she's one of the only people who can stand up to him. Jordan loves Dr. Cox because he's one of the only people who can stand up to her.
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* [[Subverted]] in the ''[[Smallville]]'' episode, "Heat". When Desiree finds that her seduction power has no effect on Clark Kent, she gets pissed and immediately starts trying to ruin his life. For example, she frames him for arson.
* ''[[Noah's Arc]]'': This is one of the things that draws Ricky towards Junito early on (as Ricky's sexual advances don't seem to take).
* Fans would have us believe that [[Firefly|Jayne]] feels this way about [[Axe Crazy]] River Tam.
* ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'' has this in the pilot, proving that at least one of the writers actually knows how to write. The main love interest, after talking to the main character, talks to his councilor.
{{quote|
* Is the "seduction expert" character in ''[[Psych]]'', season 5, in love with his friend merely because she's immune to his tactics, or did he fall in love with her because he discovered other things about her due to the failure of these tactics?
* Prince Arthur from ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' begins to fall in love with Guinevere because she's the only one who refuses to suck up to him, and calls him out on his rude behavior.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Buffy treats Spike's sexual advances with contempt until he reveals that his [[Restraining Bolt|chip]] doesn't read her as human, and so he can hurt or even kill her without consequence. This results in an immediate mutual [[No
* In ''[[Haven]]'', Chris Brody is attracted to Audrey only because she doesn't fall for him {{spoiler|like all the town's people do due to his Trouble.}}
== [[Music]] ==▼
▲== Music ==
* [[Don McLean]]'s ''Everybody Loves Me Baby'' is a great example of this. "Everybody loves me, baby - what's the matter with you?"
== [[Theater]] ==▼
* It's possible to interpret ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'' like this, with Kate being impressed that she is unable to frighten away Petruchio (YMMV of course). This is the approach taken in ''[[
▲== Theater ==
▲* It's possible to interpret ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'' like this, with Kate being impressed that she is unable to frighten away Petruchio (YMMV of course). This is the approach taken in ''[[Ten Things I Hate About You]]''.
▲{{quote| '''Kat''': Why would you care if I never woke up again?<br />
▲'''Patrick''': Because then I'd have to start taking out girls who actually liked me.<br />
▲'''Kat''': Like you could find any.<br />
'''Patrick''': Now see, right there, who needs affection when you have blind hatred? }}
** Arguably, the inverse is also true for the movie - Patrick grows to love Kat because she's not afraid of or especially impressed by him, unlike most of the student body.
* In ''[[My Fair Lady]]'', Prof. Higgins realizes his attraction to Eliza only when she leaves him and declares that she doesn't need him.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
* ''[[
▲== Video Games ==
* In the second ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' game, that might explain some of Sion's [[Stalker
▲* ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'': Zelos Wilder is used to girls throwing themselves at him, so naturally he takes a keen interest in Sheena, who refuses to fall for any of his charms. {{spoiler|If you get Zelos's backstory, he reveals that his happy-go-lucky exterior is just [[Stepford Smiler|a facade]], and he's actually quite cynical--and that ''especially'' goes for his instant harem, whom he believes is more interested in being with Zelos the Chosen than they are in Zelos the person. Sheena doesn't care if he's the Chosen or no, meaning that whatever she is feeling for Zelos -- even though it's currently "he's a disgusting pervert" -- is genuine.}}
▲* In the second [[Knights of the Old Republic]], that might explain some of Sion's [[Stalker With a Crush]] dialogue towards a female Exile.
* ''[[Togainu no Chi]]'': Shiki has interest in Akira because he refuses to surrender to him and doesn't beg for his life.
=== [[Visual Novels]] ===
* Gilgamesh towards Saber in ''[[Fate/stay
==
* ''[[
▲* Gilgamesh towards Saber in ''[[Fate Stay Night]]''. In one route he even states to her face {{spoiler|as he's dying}} that "Some things are more beautiful because you can't have them."
▲* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'': Not love ''per se'', since he seems incapable of loving anyone besides himself, but Coyote is clearly fascinated with Antimony and Reynardine precisely because they're not afraid to disagree with him or brush him off. In contrast, Ysengrin is a fawning yes-man to Coyote, so Coyote barely gives him the time of day.
* ''[[Skin Horse]]'': Tigerlily Jones is the only (human) female to appear for more than a panel and not find Tip extremely attractive. She barely even noticed him unless forced to. This is probably the main reason she's the only woman Tip's actually thought twice about (without sleeping with her or her trying to kill him).
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* Nobody probably finds his mental equal as literally "highly erotic" as David Xanatos of ''[[Gargoyles]]'' does. He tells his new wife so in the episode "Upgrade."
** [[Trickster Archetype|Puck]] feels this way (probably platonicly) towards David Xanatos.
* In ''[[Batman Beyond]],'' Xander falls for Max because she is tough and sassy, unlike his sickeningly submissive servants.
* ''[[The Fairly
* In ''[[The Owl House]]'', this is [[Starter Villain|Warden Wrath's]] stated reason for [[Villainous Crush|his crush on Eda]]. Being [[The Jailer]] of the Emperor's Coven, Eda is the one criminal they simply cannot catch, something he finds oddly alluring.
* From ''[[Harley Quinn (TV series)|Harley Quinn]]'', [[Darkseid]] claims he was first attracted to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberly_Guilfoyle#See_also Kimberly Guilfoyle] while [[Take That|he was making a keynote adress at the RNC]] and saw "her cold, dead eyes from across the room" [[Widget Series|(it's that kind of series)]]. After proving unable to intimidate her in the least, even after threatening to kill her, the two started dating.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* In Neil Strauss' ''[[The Game (
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Love Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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