Oblivious to Love/Literature: Difference between revisions

 

* [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] generally had oblivious heroes. Special mention must be made of Tan Hadron, the hero of ''[[John Carter of Mars|A Fighting Man of Mars]]'', who actually managed to not realize he was in love with Tavia instead of Sonoma ''after'' 1) he had seen beautiful women and the first comparison that had popped to mind was to Tavia, 2) he had been betrayed, and when he realized it was Sonoma and not Tavia, his first words were that he was glad it was not Tavia, and 3) he had taunted Sonoma for her cowardice by saying he had fallen in love with someone else, a slave girl, ''and'' someone else had pointed out he had obviously been talking about Tavia. Indeed, he denies it then — although admitting a few days later.

* In [[Josepha Sherman]]'s ''[[The Shining Falcon]]'', Ljuba intends to use Finist for her ambitions. She insists on this to herself whenever unpleasant thoughts such as it hurts not to be trusted by him.

* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter]]'' trilogy, Miranda. Although the one in love with her did explicitly tell her that love between her, a human, and him, an elf, is as impossible as love between a falcon and a dove.

** Anne actually takes it one step further. Not only is she oblivious to ''Gilbert's'' feelings for ''her'', she's also oblivious to ''her'' feelings for ''him''. Not denial. She simply has no idea that she's fallen in love with him, thanks to the highly unrealistic ideas she has about what being in love is supposed to be like.

* {{spoiler|Alec Lightwood}} from ''[[Mortal Instruments|The Mortal Instruments]]'' is a rather... odd example. Despite the fact that he and {{spoiler|Magnus}} were dating, he is caught completely by surprise by {{spoiler|Magnus's [[Anguished Declaration of Love]] in ''City of Glass''}}. In his defense, {{spoiler|he was still hung up on [[Incompatible Orientation|Jace]], and his relationship with Magnus was just supposed to be a casual thing. He gets over both Jace and his obliviousness by the end of the third book, though.}}

* In Elizabeth Peters' ''[[Amelia Peabody]]'' mysteries, Amelia spends a whole book completely oblivious to the fact that the 'master criminal' she is tracking down is in love with her. Her husband Emerson, however, is ''not'' so clueless and gets increasingly annoyed at both the criminal and his oblivious wife. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

** It runs in the family, too. Their son, Ramses, spends a not inconsiderable amount of time pining after their adopted daughter, Nefret, who thinks they are [[Like Brother and Sister]] — even when '''she's''' starting to feel jealous about all the women [[Chick Magnet|throwing themselves at him]].

* In the light novel ''My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!'' , this trope is the main shtick of the protagonist Catarina Claes. Is not that she doesn't know what love is (or at least the media representations of it), it's just that she knows that her character was the villain of the Dating Sim world she now lives in, so in a subconscious way she doesn't think anyone may love her, because who loves the terrible villainess anyway? Thing is, she doesn't realize that she isn't like the original Catarina she replaced, and she is actually a very caring and free-spirited person anyone can easily fall for. As such, she doesn't notice that practically everybody in her close social circle is in love with her, and she doesn't get the romantic overtures everybody trows at her (that half of those who try to hit on her are female doesn't help them either) due to a mix of idiocy and selective obliviousness.