Trope Talk: Rule of 3

Characters, gods, worlds, even story pacing tends to come in patterns of three. Is there any rhyme or reason to it, or is it just funsies? Is it an unshakeable rule or something more malleable?

And seriously, why THREE?

A NOTE FROM RED: My next two weeks are going to be… almost criminally busy. I have finals, followed by a week-long trip for an excavation. I most likely won't be able to put out anything for the duration - as soon as summer starts for me it'll be a different story, but this might be all you hear of me for a couple weeks.

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[jirehjirehjirehjireh]

The 3 act structure can literally be as broad as “They were born. They lived a life. They died.”

[deadman]

“The Necro cow is too powerful for the step mother to adequately combat.”

Never have I thought that I would hear that.

[theartsy_gamer]

“Triple deity’s are also pretty common”

[tomilant]

3 looks like a common number in literature for another reason: it's the smallest number after 1 and 2. I might sound obvious but just consider this.
You never notice it when it's just 1, it's literally everywhere. With 2, you don't notice a sequence, just a duality.
3 is the first available number that gives the feeling of "multiple", and being the smallest of this category makes it the less likely to look like "many" or "too much".
That's why it's the ideal number when you want to have a collection of stuff without being not too big to visualize.

[ShiningStudios]

I love how instead of saying "So, yeah." You said :So uh, yeah" making it 3 words

[sanfransiscon]

"Oh this sounds like an interesting love trian-"
Then she dies of dehydration
"Oh..."

[GibusWearingMann]

"the inverse of the lose-lose-win model: have your hero succeed at every step but the last one."

_looks curiously at The Avengers, Age of Ultron, and Infinity War_

[arinholt]

“The necro-cow was too powerful for the stepmother to adequately combat.” Is now my favorite sentence ever.

[Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

The Sith were the exception. They have only had a Rule of 2.

[fuddie_duddie]

"Hero, best friend, girl."
IM GONNA CRY ITS TOO ACCURATE

[mycell]

Red: Trials are given in groups of 3! Sometimes you can subvert expectations by having 4 or even 5!

Heracles: wElL eXcUsE mE

[butthatsjustmyfilthyopinio]

"She goes home, returns her magic glam-kit to the necro-cow, and goes about her day."
- Red, 2017

[ivetta]

That moment when you die of dehydration because your husbands are fighting

[jose]

Modern cinderella would've been so much more awesome with a Necro-cow

[erinkarp]

9:44 "The necro-cow is too powerful for the step-mother to adequately combat." That is the best quote possible

[maradupras]

i don't know why but the folk tale about the girl rescuing the two princes and even immediately dying made me laugh extremely hard and i must find this now

[mygoodfriendcosmo]

Holy crap Harry Potter is basically just “Three: the series”

[bronwynarmitage]

So basically, my friends took this too far:
They made 3 heroes, made them separated 3 times, get into three trials each, get back together 3 times, fight the bad guy three times, end up getting 3 deities to help them, each deity fights the baddie 3 times with the 3rd one succeeding, has a setup, a conflict and resolution, has 3 main deaths, has 3 bad deities, has 3 minor villains, have 3 main demons and 3 main Angels then, finally, they have the 3 epilogues

[ECLE]

The most classic three: The body, the mind, and the spirit. AKA, the big-guy, the smart-guy, and the heart.

[mannydani]

"...and then she dies of dehydration"

Best ending ever, I'm totally stealing that!