Love At First Sight

"You proposed to a complete stranger again, didn't you?"

—Baccano! 1932 Drug & The Dominos

Love at first sight. It's a staple of Fairy Tales, love songs, and Disney animated movies. Two characters meet, and fall deeply, madly, passionately in love with each other almost immediately. This is one of the most common story archetypes, probably going back to Greek Mythology.

In Real Life, this often leads to problems. Its actually more true in Real Life to say its love at first smell. Its more of a chemical thing then a visual thing. They've just met, so they don't actually know each other that well. Depending on where a story falls in the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism, Love At First Sight is either a recipe for Happily Ever After or eventual disillusionment and heartbreak. Of course, even if the characters really are perfect for each other, they can still end up being Star-Crossed Lovers who are destined to be apart.

Note that this trope is compatible with Oblivious to Love. In a Love Epiphany, it can suddenly dawn on the character that he is in love and has been for some time, from their first meeting.

Sometimes, only one character falls in love at first sight. That character usually spends the rest of the story trying to win the heart of the other one. If the character is a hero or heroine, you usually get a pleasant courtship. If the character is a villain, he or she becomes a dangerous Stalker with a Crush, because Love Makes You Evil.

Supertrope to Love At First Punch. Compare Fourth Date Marriage, The Dulcinea Effect, and the vocal equivalent Love At First Note. The Serial Romeo is a character who falls into this over and over again.

Not to be confused with the Manhwa with the same name or the Chinese Drama, Love At First Fight.

Examples of Love At First Sight are listed on these subpages: