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[[The Power of Love|Love]] is arguably the most important value of all. Everyone needs to love and be loved in return. This trope applies when a character's main motivation is to love, be loved or both.
 
Because "love" can apply in many situations and circumstances, for a better study of this trope, the concept of love will be divided into four different types as proposed by [[CSC. LewisS. (Creator)Lewis|CS Lewis]]:
 
* [[Like Brother and Sister|Storge]] (Affection/Family) - This is fondness through familiarity, especially among family members or people who have [[True Companions|otherwise found themselves together]] by chance.
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* [[Undying Loyalty|Aga]][[The Messiah|pe]] (Unconditional Love) - This is the love that brings forth caring regardless of circumstance. The essence of ''agape'' love is self-sacrifice. It is also a decision, not fueled by pure emotions (theoretically).
 
Also referenced as a minor note are loves for non-human things. Love for an animal is redirected to Storge according to [[CSC. LewisS. (Creator)Lewis|CS Lewis]], but love for nature and love for country are most noted as love for non-human things. Likings and preferences (for food, activities, etc) are also discussed especially as you can admire an object (like a painting for instance) just as you can admire a person.
 
It is notable that the descriptions are rough categories of types of love and not exclusive to each other. That is, more than one can appear between the same people. For instance, if Alice meets Bob at a [[Sci Fi]] convention and they continue to get together to talk about sci-fi, then they have Phileo. If Alice and Bob in the process become each others' [[Love Interest|Love Interests]], they will also have Eros, but if they still get together to talk about sci-fi they still have Phileo. If they get married, [[Happily Married|live happily ever after]], [[Grow Old Withwith Me|grow old together]] and like each others company simply because they are there, that is Storge. And if they make [[Heroic Sacrifice|Heroic Sacrifices]] for each other, that is Agape.
 
Related to [[Like Brother and Sister]] and [[I Just Want to Have Friends]]. Agape is also a [[Super-Trope]] of [[Heroic Sacrifice]].
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== Anime & Manga ==
* Fate Testarossa from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. She just want to be loved by her dearest mother {{spoiler|who tortures her on regular basis because she hates how Fate (who is a clone) resembles her deceased daughter}}. She gets everything she wished, though: she gets a new family (the Harlaowns) and later [[Has Two Mommies|becomes one Vivio's two mommies with Nanoha]]. People even call the three of them "the Takamachi family".
* Miyako Miyamura's goal in ''[[Ef: aA Fairy Tale of Thethe Two.]]'' is this, ever since {{spoiler|her parents' messy divorce that had them ignoring her completely}}.
* All [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Shinji Ikari]] ever wanted was someone to love him. He wants to be loved by his father, and is constantly seeking for paternal approval.
* Alois Trancy from ''[[Black Butler]]''. An evil variation. It gets so bad that eventually he doesn't care whether it's Claude, and sells his soul to Hannah instead because she was pretty much the first person since Luca to earnestly say "I love you".
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* This is the major motivation factor for the Jinnouichi family in ''[[Summer Wars]]'', whom despite being rather extensive are very close to each other and feel a strong mutual connection to their matriarch Sakae. Also later applies to Kenji, whom the Jinnouichi come to treat as "part of the family."
* [[Code Geass|CC]] once wanted nothing more then this trope. {{spoiler|So she got a geass power that forced everyone she met to fall in love with her and shower her with affection, wich was great...for a day or two.}} It's the reason why CC is now a cold hearted [[Broken Bird]].
* Some of the Hime in [[Mai Hi ME-HiME]] have their most important person chosen from this. Mai's first MIP is Takumi, whom she [[Promotion to Parent|raised after the deaths of their parents]], Nao's is her comatose mother, Mikoto's is her brother {{spoiler|Reito}}, and Alyssa's is her father.
* While Ennis from ''[[Baccano (Light Novel)|Baccano]]'' understands love, she is unable to distinguish the difference between [[The Four Loves]] and thus straddles the line between [[Oblivious to Love]] and [[Asexuality]].
 
 
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== [[Fanfic]] ==
* The ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' fanfic [http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/story-candle-to-sun.html A Candle to the Sun] has Twilight deciding to admit her love to Celestia. {{spoiler|The story, and the [[Les Yay]] tendencies in the fandom, sets the reader to expect a lover's Eros, making it a surprise ending when it turns out to be a daughterly Storge.}}
 
 
== Film ==
* In the animated film version of ''[[Coraline (Filmanimation)|Coraline]]'', the heroine is dissatisfied with her family, feeling that they don't care enough for her. This apparently invites the attention of a monster who wishes to have a child to possess and obsess over to the point that she drives them to death... as it has already done to three other children.
* <s> [[Hey, It's That Guy!|Qui Gon]]</s> [[Liam Neeson|Bryan Mills]]' daughter is abducted and sold into sexual slavery while on vacation in France in ''[[Taken (Filmfilm)|Taken]]''. Bryan heads to France, finds the slavers, kick France's butt halfway across Europe, and gets his daughter back.
 
 
== Literature ==
* Rana Sanga and his family in [[Belisarius Series]]. Lady Sanga is the epitome of this.
* [[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Honor Harrington]] and Nimitz. David Weber probably liked cats.
* [[Harry Potter]] feels this way towards the Weasley family (excepting {{spoiler|Ginny}}) as well as Hermione.
 
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** Interviews suggest Inara is supposedly the "mother"-type to the rest of the crew ([[Your Mileage May Vary]]), but there's definitely some storge between Mal and Kaylee (though to a lesser extent than Simon/River mentioned above). Both Mal and Inara frequently address Kaylee as 妹妹 (meìmeì, the mandarin name for "little sister").
* Connor on ''[[Angel]]'' was driven by this, but having been raised from infancy to hate his biological father, had trouble accepting his love. [[Not Himself|"Cordelia"]] was eventually able to control him almost completely by taking advantage of his desire for a family.
* Lennier and Delenn in [[Babylon Five5]]; storge for both plus unrequited eros by Lennier.
* The explanation for Kurt's schemes in ''[[Glee]]'', basically comes out and says it in "Duets". See also [[Love Makes You Crazy]].
** Kurt and his dad's relationship is widely regarded as one of the best on TV.
* Dylan Hunt and Rommie in [[Andromeda]]
* ''[[I CarlyICarly]]'': Carly and Spencer Shay, sister and brother.
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': Sammy and Dean are this.
* Quark with almost everyone on [[Deep Space Nine]] .
* Teri Bauer took a rape for her daughter in Season 1 of ''[[Twenty Four24]]''. The daughter that had been the cause of all the problems all episode. Yeah, her. She took a rape for her!
* Merlin and Prince Arthur are thrown together against their will in the first episode of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', but since then their close proximity and reliance on each other means that they're now practically joined at the hip.
** The same could be said for the intertwining relationships between Arthur, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table. Merlin also shares this kind of relationship with Gaius, and Uther believes this is what his relationship with Morgana is like.
 
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* Take your pick at this with practically ''any'' good character in ''[[One Piece]]''.
* Any of the Shibusen partners in [[Soul Eater]] - not only toward their partners, but toward one another.
* Yukino's most important person in [[Mai Hi ME-HiME]] is her best friend Haruka, and in the manga, in which Haruka is also a Hime, Haruka has Yukino as her Key. Depending on how one chooses to view it, Natsuki's feelings for Shizuru could be this or Eros.
 
 
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* Jon Lovitz of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' did an impression of Harvey Fierstein, the playwright of ''[[Torch Song Trilogy]]''. The parody version of Fierstein had a variant of this as his [[Catch Phrase]]. "I just want to be loved. Is that so wrong?"
* Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in [[Star Trek]].
* Carly and Sam in ''[[I CarlyICarly]]''. Carly towards Freddie, although that could end up in Eros in the future.
* From ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', Prince Arthur and Knights of the Round Table, all of whom are dedicated to the safety and well-being of Camelot. Merlin and Guinevere are [[Platonic Life Partners]] due to being [[Birds of a Feather]] and their mutual devotion to Arthur.
* ''[[Skins]]'' loves this, and some particularly strong forms of it can be seen with Tony and Sid, and with Freddie and Cook - the latter of whom probably said "I love you" to each other more than they did to their actual mutual love interest, Effy.
 
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''
 
 
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* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', this is a big desire for Krillin, who ends up dating a very dumb girl called Maron. Fortunately, he finds love in the series' redeemed villain Android 18.
* Sayaka from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' can be said to have this for Kyousuke.
* Some of the most important people for the Hime of [[Mai Hi ME-HiME]] are based on romantic love. These include Mai's second MIP Yuuichi (who is also Shiho's); Akane's MIP Kazuya, Shizuru's object of affection, Natsuki, which may be reciprocated on Natsuki's part.
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', Casca reached the realization that her place was in Guts' heart, so that not only she could love him, but for Guts to love her as well. [[They Do|And the feeling is mutual.]]
 
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== Literature ==
* In ''[[Twilight (Literaturenovel)|Twilight]]'', Bella Swan's main wish is to be loved by Edward Cullen.
** The same goes for Jacob, but about Bella.
* Tess from ''Tess of the D'Urbervilles''. Too sad her husband cares more for her "chasity" than her actual personality and feelings.
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== Live Action TV ==
* Phoebe of ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'' made it her personal mission to find love during the last few seasons. In the end, she got a Cupid. Yay?
* Sheridan and Delenn in [[Babylon Five5]].
* [[Merlin]] sets this up for the inevitable and infamous [[Love Triangle]], Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot.
** Also present with Merlin/Freya, Gaius/Alice and Isolde/Tristan.
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== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[I CarlyICarly]]'': Freddie towards Carly, who seems to love Carly unconditionally no matter where their relationship lies with regards to Phileo and Eros. He has proven his ability to self-sacrifice for her, being almost killed in order to save Carly from being killed herself by pushing her out of the way of a truck in one episode.
* Lancelot embodies this love on ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' in regards to his love for Guinevere and Merlin (and to a lesser extent, Arthur). When a tear in the veil between the worlds results in evil spirits roaming the land, Arthur makes the decision to offer himself up as a blood sacrifice to close the rift. Knowing that Merlin intends to take Arthur's place, and having made a vow to Guinevere to protect Arthur with his life, Lancelot steps up and sacrifices himself for both of them, simultaneously saving Merlin's life and preserving Arthur's relationship with Guinevere.
* In the BBC's modern reinterpretation of [[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]] Holmes, Sherlock and John (i.e. Dr. Watson) go from being complete strangers to living together, and {{spoiler|John is willing to kill to save Sherlock's life}}, in the space of the first episode. Although many of their mutual acquaintances interpret this as romantic interest ( {{spoiler|Mycroft's teasing, "Should we be expecting a happy announcement...? }} ), John's and Sherlock's relationship is closer to agape, even if most of the 'sacrifice' is performed by John, while Sherlock seems more detached. Most notably, in the final episode of the 2010 season, The Great Game, {{spoiler|John, covered in explosives, wraps himself around the man threatening Sherlock, intending to bring down their enemy at the expense of his own life.}} In the climax of the second series though Sherlock more than returns the favour as he {{spoiler|fakes his own death by no less than jumping from a building to save John's life, which could as far as we know also accidentially ended up being a real sacrifice. The whole issue again is orchastrated by the [[Big Bad]] who gives Sherlock the choice to either jump or have John and his two other most important people killed.}}
 
 
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* In ''[[Blaze Union]]'', an important part of Gulcasa's characterization is that he is practically incapable of differentiating between types of love due to having been abused. He tends to perceive all types of affection directed towards him as phileo-love, and feels agape-love for his comrades and eventual subjects (which [[Yggdra Union|winds up]] [[Hundred-Percent Adoration Rating|being requited]]). As he's a [[The Messiah|Christ]] [[Messianic Archetype|analogue]], this is probably intentional.
** Though tragically enough, it's his inability to function without having someone fill the position in each of the loves (his desperate desire to be loved and needed by people) that eventually creates the instability needed for him to be the [[Big Bad]] of [[Yggdra Union]] (well, for a certain [[Gray and Gray Morality|definition of bad]] anyways)
* In ''[[Radiant Historia (Video Game)|Radiant Historia]]'', [[The Hero]] believes this separates himself from the [[Big Bad]].
* In ''Mother3'', Lucas' signature ability (PK Love) is a weaponized form of this. It's also required to {{spoiler|pull the Seven Needles}}.
* [[Gaia Online]]'s "Sainte Ciel" Evolving Item told the story of a nun trying to rescue the princess she loved from an evil demon. You could choose between Eros and Agape routes; if you chose Agape, Ciel would pull a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to rescue Princess Rosamund. A sequel item, "[[Badass Princess|Rosamund's]] [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|Revenge]]", suggests that [[Road Cone|this is the canon route]].
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