Rule of Three: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

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Good things come in threes. So do bad things. And even things that are neither good nor bad.'' }}

 

 

The Rule of Three is a pattern used in stories and jokes, where part of the story is repeated three times, with minor variations. The first two instances build tension, and the third releases it by incorporating a twist.

* It's a general law of advertising that the product will be mentioned at least three times, to ensure it lodges firmly in the brain.

* ''Nick At Nite'' has run commercials for itself, emphasizing this type of comedy bit and going so far as to call it 'the triple'.

** And its lesser-known sister ad: "Freedom from hemmorhoids, FREEdHEM hemmorhoid cream. Freedom from hemmorhoids, FREEdHEM hemmorhoid cream. Freedom from hemmorhoids, FREEdHEM hemmorhoid cream."

* A Toyota commercial has a hybrid car speeding along with three black horses, three white horses, three hang-gliders, and three fighter jets to show that [[Lighter and Softer|soft]] and [[Darker and Edgier|edgy]] can get along.

* ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'': The ''third'' {{spoiler|Endless Eight episode}} has Itsuki state that {{spoiler|"We have entered an endless recursion of time."}} three times in a row.

* In ''[[Transformers Armada]]'', the ultimate weapon, the Hydra Cannon, is made of three smaller uber-weapons, the Star Saber, Skyboom Shield, and Requiem Blaster. Each of these is itself made of three Mini-Cons.

** As well as three great powers: the Marines, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and the Four Emperors

** The Monster Trio in the Strawhat crew consists of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji

* In ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' there are three true Dragon Slayers: Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy.

** Also there was three active S-Class mages in the guild: Laxus, Erza, Mystogan. Then: Erza, Mirajane and Mystogan. Currently Erza, Mirajane, Gildartz.

* The 3 kids Maurice, Maeter, and Linck in [[Eureka Seven]], as well as the number of times Nirvash and [[The End]] fight each other.

* [[Eyeshield 21]] ends with 333 chapters. Many of the close friendships in the series are in groups of three.

* Common. A selection:

** "[[Goldilocks]] and the Three Bears" is built around this trope. The chairs are too hard, too soft, and just right, the porridges are too hot, too cold, just right, and so on.

** The "[[Three Little Pigs]]": the first 2 pigs' houses fail to ward off the Big Bad Wolf, while the 3rd's brick house remains sturdy.

*** After he spun for her for three nights.

** "The Honey Princess": Three princes are set to accomplish three tasks in order to win three princesses' hands in marriage.

** "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rumpelstiltskin/stories/3spinners.html The Three Spinners]" help a girl against an impossible spinning task.

** In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/maidmaleen/index.html Maid Maleen]", when she is pretending to be the bride, she speaks to three objects; the bride must find out from her three times what she said, and the bridegroom figures out the substitution.

** In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/186truesweetheart.html The True Sweetheart]", the heroine goes to the ball three times.

== Film ==

* In the film ''[[Teeth]]'', Dawn's nether region severs exactly three penises on screen.

* ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]'': "Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see....". For bonus points, the trope is subverted four times; the first time, the three questions are all easy, so the knight easily crosses. The second knight unexpectedly receives a third, difficult question which results in his death, while the third knight unexpectedly gets an easy question again but fails to answer it correctly and dies. On the final set of questions, King Arthur subverts it again by asking a question back to the bridgekeeper, resulting in the ''bridgekeeper's'' death.

** Possibly five times, as instead of the usual three knights/questioners/Billy Goats Gruff, there's three plus Arthur.

* ''[[Airplane!]]!''. During the landing sequence, Dr. Rumack ([[Leslie Nielsen]]) steps into the cockpit three times and says "I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you" in exactly the same way: once as they begin the descent, once in the middle of the landing, and once after the plane is on the ground.

* [[Robert Rodriguez]] wove multiple instances of the [[Rule of Three]] into his scenario for ''[[El Mariachi]]''. Example: The [[Big Bad]], a heavy smoker, is twice seen striking a match off his resentful [[The Dragon|Dragon]]'s cheek; the third time it happens, the Dragon is doing it to the (dead) Big Bad. In his book, ''Rebel Without a Crew'', Rodriguez calls this "the kindergarten school of filmmaking", what he used to write a script that was interesting but also (and more importantly) ''quickly finished''.

* In [[Austin Powers]], Dr. Evil's Mook Mustafa will answer a question if asked three consecutive times. The scene with him in ''The Spy Who Shagged Me'' uses the Rule twice. Austin discovers his weakness when he asks one question three times, then he asks another question three times, and finally on the third question he asks it once, then says, "Do I really have to ask you three times?" and asks it two more times, but Mustafa refuses to answer because he interrupted the questioning with a different question. Then Mustafa gets shot.

* In [[National Lampoon]]'s ''Christmas Vacation'' Clark asks his cousin-in-law, Eddie, "Can I refill your eggnogg for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out into the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?"

* [[The Three Stooges]]. (Well, there were actually 6 of them, but never more than 3 in any one production.)

** On the other hand, the [[Marx Brothers]] arguably did their best stuff when there were four of them.

*** Even when all four appeared, it was really the three of them [[And Zoidberg|and Zeppo]].

** Beetlejuice!

* The swedish classic ''Äppelkriget'' (War of the Apples) takes this for a very odd twist. At one point the story segues into the backstory of three brothers who go to the city to find fame and fortune. On the way, they stumble over an old book, a carpet with a hole in it, and a dead bird, all of which the two eldest brothers reject, but the third brother takes with him, thinking that they "could be useful". When they apply for jobs, two brothers fail the psych test, but the third uses the book (a psychology textbook) and succeeds. The two eldest fail to impress the ladies, but the youngest wears his carpet as a trendy outfit and is an immediate hit. Later they're all broke, but the odor of decomposing bird leads the youngest to a stash of cash in an old recliner. Finally they've used up the money, and go back to the farm to hang themselves... and as it turns out, only the youngest managed to do that right, too.

* ''[[Fight Club]]''. "That's three times you promised."

* ''Gremlins'': Oh, man, does the Rule Of Three apply here big time with the rules of caring for a mogwai. 1) Keep it out of bright light, 2) Do not let it get wet and 3) No matter how much it cries or how much it begs....never let it eat after midnight.

* ''[[Unfaithfully Yours]]'' had three fantasies over how the main character would deal with what he thought was his wife's adultery.

* In ''[[Tapeheads]]'', the owner of Fuzzball Records tries to get the main characters to make him another video "on spec" (i.e. for free) by mentioning that "All good things come in threes." Josh retorts that it's not good things, but celebrity deaths, that come in threes.

* Sherman Klump is asked a Triple in ''[[The Nutty Professor]]'' remake:

{{quote| '''Dean Richmond:''' Can I get you anything? Juice? Coffee? Rack of lamb?}}

* ''[[The Dark Knight]]''. The Joker twice does the "Do you know how I got these scars on my face?" line in a prelude to doing something nasty. The third time he's got Batman pinned.

{{quote| '''Joker:''' Do you know how I got these scars on my face?<br />

* "Every magic trick has three parts or acts: the Pledge, the Turn and ''[[The Prestige]]''."

* In the [[DVD Commentary]] for ''[[Mean Girls]]'', [[Tina Fey]] sarcastically notes that the scene where Cady & co. are trying to arrange for Aaron to catch Regina cheating on him follows "the comedy rule of twos" and that there should really be a third method they try.

 

 

** It's also the command for ''Gay Deceiver'' to store an instruction in permanent memory in ''[[The Number of the Beast]]'' (1980), by [[Robert A. Heinlein]].

*** Based on the design philosophy that any machine or computer your life depends on should have triple redundant failsafes. The 'tell you three times' protocol was admittedly a lazy shorthand in violation of his own principle. Zeb demonstrated himself what a bad practice it was by using it to execute commands faster than they can be given consideration, whereas three honestly separate steps may have prevented him from jumping the gun.

** A story by Raymond F. Jones in the February 1951 issue of Astounding Science Fiction was titled "I Tell You Three Times", and related to computer controls. Could this be the source of the two uses above?

* The absurdist holy book ''[http://www.principiadiscordia.com/ Principia Discordia]'' is based on a Rule of ''Five'', which bleeds over into such works of Discordian fiction as ''[[Illuminatus]]!''

* “Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects ''vast'' and ''cool'' and ''unsympathetic'', regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.” (H G Wells 1898 War of the Worlds, opening paragraph). “How beautifully underplayed is that adjective ‘unsympathetic’.” (Brian Aldiss, Trillion Year Spree p. 152).

** Also subverted in the film in that the King has four remaining sons. One is [[Too Dumb to Live]], and is quickly pushed out of the tower by his brother, who has an eye for opportunity.

* ''[[The Hobbit]]'': "Third time pays all."

* Dennis Dutton might have some good points about the flaws in Christopher Booker's ''[[The Seven Basic Plots]]''[http://denisdutton.com/booker_review.htm\], but he really shows his ignorance of tropes when he tries to attack Booker's use of the [[Rule of Three]]:

{{quote| Dutton: ...while there are three bears, three chairs and three bowls of porridge in Goldilocks and the Three Bears,* there are actually four characters. The story would better support Booker* s theory were it ''Goldilocks and the Two Bears''.}}

** Not entirely true. By the end of the Ghost of Christmas Present's visit, Scrooge is shown a pair of [[Street Urchin|street urchins]] freezing to death and shows compassion for them, only to have his earlier harsh words thrown back in his face. The [[Rule of Three]] still applies to the story structure, though.

** Only in certain movie adaptations. In the original story Scrooge is slowly repenting of his ways from the very first ghost, and has fully repented by the end of the second. He even begins his time with the third by stating that he is a different man than he was, and is eager for the spirit to guide him further. Unfortunately, the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come isn't the friendly sort.

** There are Three Knights of the cross, with their three holy swords.

** the events of dead beat involve three {{spoiler|necromancer disciples of Kemmler}} trying to find {{spoiler|the word of Kemmler}}.

* Several examples in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' canon: Harry, Ron and Hermione form a [[Power Trio]], whilst Malfoy is always flanked by Crabbe and Goyle; three champions, one from each of the three wizarding schools, are supposed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, which itself is comprised of three challenges; there are three Unforgivable Curses as well.

** The Triwizard champions example is a subversion, since Harry is an unexpected and unprecedented [[Four Is Death|fourth]] competitor.

** The symbol of the Deathly Hallows is triangular.

*** Also, there are three Deathly Hallows themselves; the Resurrection Stone, the Invisibility Cloak, and the Elder Wand. They were created by the three Peverall brothers: the eldest was killed for the wand, the middle killed himself to be with his dead wife, and the youngest lived to old age by "hiding from Death" with the cloak. In the movie the first two brothers are mostly silhouettes while the third brother is (more or less) fully lit.

* In the classic [[MS Ting]] of [[The Eye of Argon]], [http://www.bmsc.washington.edu/people/merritt/books/Eye_of_Argon.html Mike and the bots] riff:

{{quote| Mike: When I think of wisdom, I think of three names: Solomon; [[Confucius]]; Grignr.}}

* The entirety of Wil McCarthy’s novel ''[[The Collapsium]]'' is structured this way. It’s broken into three “books,” ''Once Upon a Matter Crushed'', ''Twice Upon a Star Imperiled'' and ''Thrice Upon a Schemer’s Plotting'', and each begins with a nearly identical setup and set of challenges for the main character. But with each iteration, the complexity of the story takes a step up, until the final section, where everything goes to hell and plot threads from all three sections pay off. By the [[Word of God|author’s own admission]], the novel was written as a modern hard-SF fairy tale, so [[Rule of Three]] is used ''very'' deliberately.

* Lampshaded and made an explicit magical rule in the ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' books, where the number three is sacred (three Furies, three Fates, three sons of Kronos atop three thrones), and so Half-Blood heroes going on quests are allowed only two companions. Breaking this is seen to invite trouble.

* In [[Beyond The Wall]] by Ambrose Bierce, Dampier heard a knocking on the wall three times. The firs time he was skeptical, the second time he answered the knocking, the morning after the third time he was discovered dead.

* Three by Ted Dekker?

* [[Moby Dick]] has three threes: The chapter ''The Chase - Third Day'' marks the end of the book. Furthermore, there are three mates aboard the Pequod, Starbuck, Stubb and Flask; and three harpooners, Queequeg, Daggoo and Tashtego.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''The Stars Are Cold Toys'' by an alien living computer who wonders about the human fascination with the number three. The humans are stumped, and the best explanation they can come up with is "two is not enough, and four is too much." Surprisingly, the alien is satisfied with the answer.

* In the [[Star Trek Deep Space Nine Relaunch]], the number three appears to have considerable significance for the cultures involved with the Wormhole Aliens; the Eav'oq, the Bajorans, and the Ascendants (who themselves make three, obviously). Connected to this, we have the trio of the Voice, the Hand and the Fire. Further, there are nine orbs (three times three), and nine Emissaries. The Wormhole Aliens certainly like the number three, though for what reason (other than this trope) is as yet unclear. Finally, the Hebitians, a race of Precursors on Cardassia, also demonstrate a great love of the number. This may not be coincidental; frequent hints that Hebitian culture is connected to that of the Bajorans suggest we have a whole interconnected spiritual community valuing the rule of three.

** Runs deep in the Danaerys chapters. She's the last of three children, she has three dragon eggs, three handmaids, and three bloodriders, etc etc. When she is scouting out from Vaes Tolloro, she sends each of her three bloodriders in a different direction. The first two come back empty-handed, the last one takes a long time but ultimately returns with three emissaries from Qarth, a city ruled by three major guilds...

* Speaking the name of Hastur in the Cthulhu Mythos.

* In ''Master of Five Magics'' and its sequals, sorcerers must recite a spell three times to make it work, and each recitation is more difficult to enunciate than the last.

* [[Twilight]] gives us this memorable gem:

{{quote| '''Bella:''' About three things I was absolutely positive: First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him, and I didn't know how dominant that part might be, that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.}}

 

 

== Live Action TV ==

{{quote| '''Jon Stewert''': I know comedy typically comes in threes. We threw that fourth one in there because we like to fuck with the ''structure''.}}

* Humorously subverted by Johnny Carson on one episode of the Johnny Carson Show.

{{quote| '''Johnny''' (reading a list of things he forgot to do in order of most recent to oldest): Call Marilyn Monroe to ask her to a dance...Call Marilyn Monroe to ask her to a movie...call Marilyn Monroe to ask to take her to dinner...remember to get Marilyn Monroe's phone number.}}

* "Hi, I'm Larry. This is my brother Daryl, and this is my other brother Daryl."

{{quote| '''Tina:''' Was that one for fun too?<br />

'''Steve:''' No, that was the Comedy Rule of Three. }}

** This tendency wasn't lost on the writers of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', who'd spoof it on a regular basis.

{{quote| '''Crow (in Kirk's voice):''' We have had many wars like this in our own history. Our Civil War of Earth. Our World War one and two. Our Krinkleganglium Wars of Kromulon Thirteen...}}

** The main [[Power Trio]] of [[The Kirk|Kirk]], [[The Spock|Spock]], and [[The McCoy|McCoy]] in the Original Series.

** In the episode "Major Star", Captain Blackadder gives Lieutenant George three rules to follow during his drag-date with General Melchett: 1) Never remove your wig. 2) Never say anything. 3) Don't get drunk and let him shag you on the veranda.

* Subverted (as is almost everything) on ''[[She Spies]]'', Cassie and Shane each offer one possible, lightly humorous, explanation for an occurrence and then DD offers a third one, no funnier than the first three. The other two girls stare at her and she declares, "The third one doesn't always have to be funnier, you know!"

** In seasons 1-3, House's diagnostic team consisted of three members: Foreman, Cameron, and Chase.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' has this all over the place, especially in the case of the Minbari: Three castes, the ruling body consists of three individuals from every caste so 3 times 3, three languages, the most holy artifact is a triangle - and they have three of them)

** Also, the Vorlon epigrams "Understanding is a three-edged sword" and "There are three sides to every question: your side, their side, and the truth"

** While we're at it, the main climax of the show is the reveal that {{spoiler|the Vorlons and Shadows have, as their purpose in the galaxy, to force the younger races to choose between them.}} Sheridan decides to [[Take a Third Option]].

** (knock knock knock) Leonard and Penny! (knock knock knock) Leonard and Penny! (knock knock knock) Leonard and Penny!

{{quote| '''Leonard:''' I was just glad that Sheldon didn't rat me out to the Landlord. ... Or to the police. ... Or to Homeland Security.}}

* [[Professional Wrestling]] is fond of this in some forms, ranging from the 'Triple Threat' match (3 fighters) to audience chants; one of the most popular is to match 3 syllables (e.g. 'R V D! R V D!' for Rob Van Dam). The other popular chant format? Four syllables and five claps ('You're a loser!' * * *** ), which adds up to nine.

* Nearly every joke on ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' follows this trope. All of Mary Alice's narratives will contain 3 examples followed by the main point.

* The three presenters on ''[[Top Gear]]''. This works well, as two of them can set up a pattern and the third can break it [[Rule of Funny|for humor]].

{{quote| '''Director Vance:'''...And the third?<br />

'''McGee''' How did you know there was a third?<br />

'''Director Vance:''' There is always a third. }}

{{quote| '''Deeks:''' [[Rule of Three]]. The third time will be hilarious.}}

** {{spoiler|Sure enough, it came up a third time, and Callen seemed to think it ''was'' good.}}

* ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'': I wish my mom would let me have a car... or a bike... or my roller skates back.

* ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]]'' has threes in everything. Three sets of three Core Medals per Greeed, three part forms for the hero, three part [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming|episode titles]]. The main characters themselves - Eiji, Ankh, and Hina - make up a trio. Each [["Previously On..."]] segment gives us "These three things happened on the last ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]].'' The [[Transformation Trinket]] is even threefold (medals, scanner, driver.)

{{quote| '''Vaughn:''' Hey. What's up, man? Hi, Bro.}}

** This is then [[Lampshaded]] by the study group, who start to count his greetings on their fingers whenever they see him.

{{quote| '''Freddie''': "My mom thinks I'll choke on pills so she pounds them with a mallet and puts them in my fruit sauce."<br />

'''Spencer''': "Fruit sauce?"<br />

Ged; Hey! Don't I get to ask '''three''' questions?<br />

Dragon: Yes, you do. Now you have two questions left. }}

* The Trinity Killer in ''[[Dexter]]'' Season 4. 3 sets of kills spanning 30 years.

* This was actually very prominent in [[The Sopranos]]. Junior superstitiously believes that it applies to real life, going so far as to hope that his old friend dies of cancer because . . . two of his friends have died of cancer already, and if a third meets the same fate, he'll be off the hook. Obviously cancer only targets three people of a given generation, right? It also plays into fan theories regarding the finale. Virtually every detail of the final scene evokes the number 3: there are 3 Sopranos at the table, there are 3 pictures on the wall, Meadow is able to successfully parallel park on her 3rd attempt. This brings Junior's "these things happen in 3s" theory to mind, suggesting that Tony really does die at the end to complete the trio that started with Bobby and Sil.

 

 

* The band The Early November (other bands have probably done this as well, but this is the only one I'm aware of) came out with a triple CD release, the collective name being The Mother, the Mechanic, and the Path.

* Once upon a time, 3/4 time in music was considered the "perfect" time signature, and 4/4 was "imperfect." They were thus indicated with a circle (a ''perfect circle'') and an incomplete circle, respectively. The former has passed into obscurity, but the latter has morphed into the lower-case C we know today. Averted nowadays; very few popular songs are ever in 3/4 time, and the "C" is commonly believed to stand for "common time."

* Canadian musician Joel Plaskett has recently released a triple album called, fittingly "Three". It even has a lyric stating "good things come in threes."

** Each disk has 9 tracks, for a total of 27. He also released an EP called "Three More", which contained...3 tracks.

* Erronius in ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' is told to walk seven times around the seven hills of Rome. The first two times he re-enters and walks sloooooowly across the stage as the rest of the cast watch silently. The third time he gets run over during a chase scene.

* From ''[[Rent]]'': "Say something. Anything." "Test, one, two, three - " "Anything but that."

* In ''The Mikado'', Pooh-Bah gives a "toast with three times three" repeating the phrase "long life to you" three times. Most people who play the role ham the third time up even more than is called for in the script (which is quite a bit.)

* In ''[[Into the Woods]]'', the Witch tells the Baker and his wife that they must bring her the items "before the chime of midnight in three days time" in order to break the spell.

* In the [[Cirque Du Soleil]] show ''[[The Beatles LOVE]]'' a white VW bug appears several times. The third (or possibly [[Four Is Death|fourth]]) and final time {{spoiler|it smashes into a woman who represents John Lennon's mother who died in a car crash and bursts apart (the car, not the woman)}}.

 

 

* Subverted in Lakota mythology: Three is the number of imperfection, while four, far from its [[Four Is Death|other implications]], is the number of perfection.

* Hinduism : Three gunas (modes) of nature : goodness, passion and ignorance.

 

 

== Radio ==

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** There are enough [[Flat Earth Atheist|Flat Earth Atheists]] like Morte to disbelieve it, yet the rule persists for the reason that Morte gives, that minds have a tendency to create patterns. This tendency is perhaps stronger than belief, which is why the rule can be widely debunked yet the evidence of it still appears.

** One NPC adopts this principle and runs with it clear off the field. Calling himself "Rule of Three," he's an information broker who requires things in sets of three as his payment, and gives three true answers to any question. As a second character is known to associate with another of the three cosmic principles, it's suspected a third is out there somewhere as well, because... well, [[Rule of Three]].

** Almost subverted in the fact that the original editor was only going to let the item speak twice, because the Big Bad had already received the first prophesy. But, then a change in editors mandated that [[Viewers are Morons|the audience is stupid]].

* White Wolf's Storyteller/Storytelling systems use the [[Rule of Three]] extensively: three sets of three attributes, usually physical (strength, dexterity, stamina), social (charisma, manipulation, appearance), and mental (intelligence, wits, perception), and three kinds of abilities (talents, skills and knowledges). The rest can vary depending of the individual games, but the [[Rule of Three]] is also prominent in several:

** The "One for Three" cycle of cards from the first core sets that cost one mana of it's color's mana type. Grating the caster 3 of something related to the color (Damage, Life, or most famously, card draw).

** The "charm" cycle. One card does one of three things.

** The physical stats: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution. The mental stats: Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma.

** The alignments: Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic, and Good, Neutral, Evil. Put together into the alignment spectrum and there are nine options.

* In Dungeon, a boardgame published by TSR and developed by, among others, Gary Gygax, to open a door, you have to roll for it three times. After the third time, you can just go through.

 

** And let's not forget the three-star rating.

* ''Zelda'' has the supreme Triforce: Power, Wisdom, Courage. Also the three Goddesses that go with it: Din, Nayru, and Farore.

* The Three Trials in ''[[Monkey Island]]''.

* [[Dragon Age]] has three dragons. The [[Big Bad|Archdemon]] is the final boss; [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|Flemeth]] and the High Dragon are optional.

* In the ''[[Ultima]]'' series, the Virtues were organized in overlapping threes; three Virtues are based directly on one of three Principles, three were based on a combination of two Principles to form another trinity, and one Virtue is based on all three Principles. One Virtue stood as a Unity of the three groups of three.

** The games themselves are organized into three trilogies. The first three are the Age of Darkness, when most of the land is filled with monsters and dominated by the evil Triad. The second three are the Age of Enlightenment, as Lord British cultivates civilization and an ethical foundation based on the Virtues; in this arc the Codex of Infinite Wisdom is first brought from the Void, and then returned to share with another civilization. The final trilogy, involving the Avatar's nemesis the Guardian is actually spread over five chapters, including VII Part 2 and Ultima Underworld II.

*** Most of the planets have three paths, or two paths and a special area (gravity boots, hoverboard race, etc.)

*** The final boss fight has three phases.

*** The final boss fight at the end of the game has three phases, but can be shorter if the player applies [[More Dakka]].

** Dr. Nefarious at the end of ''[[Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal]]''.

* Max of ''[[Sam and Max]]'' correctly guesses the number of prophecies the Sea Chimps have thanks to the series' use of this trope, with heavy [[Lampshade Hanging]].

** An earlier example in Episode 103 where the duo is initially given 2 tasks to complete for the Toy Mafia. Immediately after Chuckles says "two things you must do for us." another mafia member alerts him of a new problem that has arisen, causing Chuckles to correct himself and gives the heroes three tasks.

** By the end of each generation, there are three non-remake games: Red, Blue, and Yellow in Generation I (in Japan, Yellow is the [[Trilogy Creep]], because there's already Red, Green and Blue), Gold, Silver, and Crystal in Generation II, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald in Generation III, and Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum in Generation IV. And the third is always quite different.

** There's also three starters in all games except for Yellow.

* Some of the earlier games for the [[Sega Master System]] (such as "Safari Hunt", "Ghost House" or "My Hero") only had three levels each. The "fourth" level was usually the repeat of the first, but with stronger or faster enemies, the "fifth" level was the repeat of the second level, and so on, with the difficulty upped every time the three levels were completed.

* ''[[Metroid]]'' is fond of this as well. Particularly the ''Prime'' sub-series, with three Temples in ''Echoes'' (and each of them requiring 3 Keys for full access), 3 Phazon-infested planets in ''Corruption'', and the 3 alternate beams and 3 alternate visors in each game.

* ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' has three classes of FTL-capable starships, with each being thrice the length of the previous.

* ''[[Starcraft]]'' has three playable races.

* ''[[Heavy Weapon]]'' gives you three lives per level, allows you to have a maximum of three [[Smart Bomb|Nukes]] and three levels of [[Deflector Shields]], and you can upgrade your equipment to a maximum of three levels.

{{quote| [[G La DOS]]: Well, this is the part where he kills us.<br />

Wheatley: 'Ello! This is the part where I kill you!<br />

Chapter title shown: The Part Where He Kills You. }}

** There's also the achievement, but it doesn't appear on subsequent playthroughs, making it three.

* ''[[Jet Force Gemini]]'': Three playable characters, each of them visits three planets and, in the third of them, they face a boss. They then go to Mizar's Palace for a first-time confrontation against the [[Big Bad]]. Afterwards, the trope is averted for the most part.

* In ''[[Black and White]]'', the Sailors' Quest involves the aforementioned sailors asking for three things by song: Wood, grain, and meat.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' generally gives you a three-person party of Sora, Donald and Goofy(Donald and Goofy can be replaced by other playable characters).

** In the [[One Hundred and One Dalmatians|101 Dalmatians]] side-quest in the first [[Kingdom Hearts]] game, 99 Dalmation puppies are found throughout the game hidden in chests. There are always three puppies in each chest, for a total of 33 chests.

** Three talent trees/specializations

*** Mists of Pandaria will buck the trend and give Druids four specializations

* From ''[[A Miracle of Science]]'': Benjamin mentions that he spends much of his rare days off listening to classical music; he gives Bach, Prokofiev, and ''[[The Beatles]]'' as examples. (The webcomic's artist expounds on the Rule in his [http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos084.html commentary].

* In ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' {{spoiler|Onrac is destroyed because of Sarda and Black Mage three times.}}

** Also Jagers only get 3 tries to steal Old Man Death's hat.

** Also, three strips in a row of thought bubbles when carrying out a plan hatched by [[Dumbass Has a Point|Bass]], all of which ended in them questioning the wisdom of taking tactical advice from the resident [[The Ditz|ditz]]. Summarised version:

{{quote| '''Protoman''': I suppose they're right, I can't take Mynd on my own...when did we start listening to Bass?<br />

'''Roll''': Shame I never got to that relationship storyline...wait, when did we start listening to Bass? We're all going to die.<br />

'''Bass''': [pause] I like ice cream. [Pause] When did they start listening to ''me''? }}

* Referred to by name in [[Zebra Girl]], by Sam (being Dangerously Genre Savvy is his thing) as an explanation for why he smacked their new ally three times: once for trying to attack him, once for not immediately joining his side, and once for talking with his mouth full.

 

 

== Web Original ==

* Used straight, then lampshaded in ''[[Life in A Game]]''. When Lollerskates assumes his [[Clipped-Wing Angel|final form]] during his [http://www.lifeinagame.com/pages/episode62.html Final Showdown] with the heroes, all it takes is three shots to his [[Attack Its Weak Point|incredibly obvious weakpoint]] to finish him, which [[Halo|the Master Chief]] calls him out on after his defeat. Then he teabags him.

* [[Red vs. Blue]]'s "Son of a bitch!" running gag is usually done in threes, occasionally twisted with Spanish-speaking robot Lopez's "Madre de dios," subtitled as "Son of a bitch!"

{{quote| Tic-Tacs! Bag of Dice! Some...third thing!}}

* Played straight in [[Harry Partridge|Harry Partridge's]] ''Stephen the Lesbian''.

"All hail Stephen, king of the Lesbians!"<br />

"All hail [[Stephen King]]! *[[Beat]]* Of the Lesbians!"<br />

 

== Western Animation ==

** The plot of the episode is about Buster's quest to revive a joke he's driven into the ground (represented by a clown in a grave...morbid). The joke has this trope too: "A duck, a rabbit, and a pig go to a restaurant..."<ref>"...which hand do they use to eat their soup? Neither! They used a soup spoon!"</ref>

* In ''[[Transformers Armada]]'', there are three legendarily strong weapons formed by the combination of three Mini-Cons apiece... Caused partly by the [[Merchandise-Driven]] nature of the series, as Mini-Cons were sold in teams of three.

* ''Triple Threat - Rail Racer!'' And the original Triple-Changers came in sets of 3, and the Unicron Trilogy (and Headmasters) tended to have 3-kid sidekick teams. Transformers is _mostly_ based around the number 2, though.

* Lampshaded and Subverted in ''[[Duckman]]''. While looking for suspects at a nightclub, Duckman says "Something bugs me. He's the third suspicious character we've talked to, and the third one is always guilty". The lights go out, shots are heard and when it's over the suspect is dead on the floor. Cornfed observes "So much for the [[Rule of Three]]."

** Another example: Slappy is eulogizing her archfoe Walter Wolf, who was faking the funeral to 'get' her. According to Slappy, Walter was a firm believer in this rule, including three bombs that were found lying around to blow her up. 'I'm sure he'd want to be buried with it.'

{{quote| '''The Lobe:''' Freakazoid, why is it taking us so long to fall?<br />

'''Freakazoid:''' [[Rule of Funny|Cuz it's funny!]]<br />

'''The Lobe:''' No it's not, it's just stupid! It's as dumb as that Handman episode! }}

** South Park also did it in the Imaginationland episode:

{{quote| "Sir, we have a security breach!"<br />

** Cartman then jumps in through a window. The second time the above dialogue occurs, Cartman again jumps in through the shoddily repaired window. The third time it happens, Kyle jumps in through the remnants of the window, causing the general to exclaim, "Why is it so easy for children to break into the Pentagon?!"

** Also in the episode "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow" after Stan, Kyle, and Cartman leave, Randy volunteers to go after them, whereupon he is told "You can't go, you'll freeze to death!" whereupon Gerald volunteers to go, and is told "You can't go, you'll freeze to death!". Cue a third random person volunteering and a third random person reluctantly saying "You can't go, you'll freeze to death."

* This is all over the place in the [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney cartoons]]:

** ''[[Oliver and Company]]'': "Three sunrises. Three sunsets. Three days, Fagan."

*** Also in ''Aladdin'', there are three things the genie can't do: kill, force love, or raise the dead.

* On ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'', an episodes [[Running Gag]] is used three times. Also, in the "Wishology" trilogy, three wands were eventually needed to defeat [[Big Bad|The Darkness]].

* In the fourth season of ''[[Winx Club]]'' there are three eternal fairies that give the girls the three gifts of destiny.

* Lampshaded in an episode of ''[[Drawn Together]]'', when Wooldor describes what his television show will do. In his words, it will "Entertain kids, annoy adults, and funny third thing!"

{{quote| '''Spongebob''': And no amount of mermaid magic...or managerial promotion...or some other third thing...}}

* ''[[The Critic]]'' uses the same joke in this case: To prove to Jay that he's being repetitive, his boss Duke shows him a video of him hosting his show ''Coming Attractions'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPBTE0wlZF4 but with the screen split into thirds.]

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' uses this trope liberally for their gags. [[DVD Commentary]] also states the trope name for when a comedy uses a gag that involves three things.

 

** In the UK, it's "once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action". At least one James Bond story was built on this: Goldfinger, where Auric refers to this (the UK variant stated above) as being a phrase from Chicago.

* In the UK, the school year is traditionally divided into three terms: Winter, Spring and Summer (or Michaelmas, Hilary, and Trinity (or even Michaelmas, Lent, and Easter) if you go to an old established school or university).

* Apparently the United States Marine Corps [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/25/AR2005102501550.html uses it too] (albeit with the fire team level as an exception). This is referred to as "triangularization" and was adopted by everyone from the German Wehrmacht in the 1930s. Previously, it was the rule of fours.

* The Rock, Paper, Scissors game (or Stone, Scissors, Paper, depending on where you are).

[[Category:Rule of Three]]

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