Love Hurts: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

Forget life-threatening superheroism, acting [[Too Dumb to Live]], and [[Tempting Fate]]. The most dangerous thing any hero can do in any media is... falling in love. Dare to love someone else and you set up yourself and your beloved for a plethora of emotional griefs. Love in [[Real Life]] is responsible for vast quantities of anguished poetry and tragic literature; factor in all the crazy stuff that happens on TV, and drama and disaster are practically guaranteed.

 

 

If you've got more than one love interest, you've got a [[Green-Eyed Monster|headache-inducing]] [[Love Triangle]] or even [[Love Dodecahedron]] on your hands. Tread these waters ''very'' carefully, lest you be on the receiving end of a [[Yandere]]'s poisonous affections or a [[Tsundere]]'s [[Megaton Punch]]. Pick one lover and you can look forward to either a [[Thundering Herd]] of [[Clingy Jealous Girl|jilted rivals]] or the [[Oblivious to Love|silent shattering]] of [[All Love Is Unrequited|many other hearts]]. All in the name of comedy, you say? Comedy never became as twisted as it does when dealing with lovers [[Love Makes You Crazy|crazy]] enough to beat down your door, [[The Glomp|glomp]] you, and refuse to let go. And [[Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere|remembering the love interest anywhere you go]] makes it worse.

 

Counteracted with [[Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends]]. Compare [[Love Makes You Dumb]]. Contrast [[Happily Married]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* [[Anti-Villain|Anemone and Dominic]] of ''[[Eureka Seven]]''. The dangerous drugs she uses to pilot her mech take her [[Domestic Abuse]] Tsundere type behavior way beyond the usual fare. Sure, it can be funny at first to watch her beat the stuffing out of him, but as you gradually realize the depths of his devotion, her cruel indifference or abject violence becomes incredibly painful to watch. On Anemone's side, {{spoiler|when she finally realizes how much he means to her, but believes it's all too late,}} she delivers a gut-wrenching soliloquy, convinced that she doesn't deserve to live. {{spoiler|Amazingly, it all manages to end well.}}

* Dokuro-chan from ''[[Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan|Bludgeoning Angel Dokurochan]]'' is an ''extremely'' brutal and literal version of this. The Opening probably puts this best:

''But that's just how I express my love."'' }}

** Dokuro may not even be in love with Sakura. Read the WMGs for that series.

* Yasu ( {{spoiler|A.K.A. Shannon}}) from ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', as quoted above. {{spoiler|Beatrice}} also struggles with this, most notably in EP6.

** Apparently, the main reason for [[Smug Snake|Erika]]'s obsession with the truth and her [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]] tendencies is because of a failed relationship with her boyfriend.

** [[It Gets Worse|It got worse]] when {{spoiler|Riza has her throat cut to force Roy to open the gate. Riza signals with a glare that not only would she beat him to death if he committed human transmutation, but help was on the way so it was pointless.}} It was nice of Arakawa to not force Roy to choose between the two options, though when you think about the fact that he was seriously considering {{spoiler|damning Amestris (and, possibly-eventually the whole world) for saving Riza, and couldn't even come to the decision to not do human transmutation till it seemed she would be saved}} you get a little worried at the lengths Roy would go to to keep his Lieutenant by his side.

* Pick practically ANY hero in ANY ''[[Gundam]]'' series. If you don't believe me...

** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'': Amuro Ray {{spoiler|accidentally killed Lalah, his first love, when she [[Taking the Bullet|took an attack meant for the man she loved]], Char Aznable}}.

** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ|Gundam ZZ]]'': Judau Ashta {{spoiler|loses Chara Soon, a [[Broken Bird|broken]] young woman he didn't romantically love but still quite cared about, mere seconds after making her promise that she wouldn't die. He then proceeds to have to kill [[Lady of War|Haman]] [[Big Bad|Karn]], one of his principle love interests, in the final battle.}}

** ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam|Victory Gundam]]'' : Even though nearly every couple in this series [[Kill Them All|doesn't end well]], the main character's crush on {{spoiler|Katejina ends up very badly, since}} she becomes an enemy AND in love with the resident [[Char Clone]] too!

** ''[[Gundam Seed]]'': Kira Yamato {{spoiler|was manipulated by his first girlfriend Flay and later saw her die in front of him}}. Also Murrue Ramius, whose [[Her Heart Will Go On|heart goes on]]. ''Twice''. {{spoiler|At least one of them returned in the following series.}}

** ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'': Shinn Asuka {{spoiler|fell in love with [[Tyke Bomb|Stellar]], who ''also'' died in front of him, despite his promise to protect her}}.

** Flit Asuno from ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' fell for {{spoiler|Yurin L'Ciel, only to see her get manipulated and later brutally killed by [[Enfante Terrible|Desil.]] He becomes so [[Unstoppable Rage|enraged]] and psychologically broken that he not only refuses to acknowledge the UE as fellow human beings, but also starts to see himself as a savior... for the corrupt and genocidal Earth Federal Forces.}}

** Among those who got off (relatively) easy are:

*** In ''[[After War Gundam X|Gundam X]]'' losing [[Mysterious Waif|Tiffa Adil]] causes Garrod a [[Heroic BSOD]], [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|it]] [[Hostage for McGuffin|didn't]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|last]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|long.]]

*** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' (again) {{spoiler|Saji and Louise got back together; Alle and Soma survived their [[Battle Couple]] stint and went [[Walking the Earth]]; Sumeragi talked Billy outta his funk and they kinda reconciled; Patrick survived too and he and Kati got ''married''}}.

** ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': This is Gendo's [[Freudian Excuse]].

*** One of the main messages of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' (with the addendum "...but you need it.")

* Ayumi from ''[[Honey and Clover]]'' has a bad case of unrequited love for Takumi, who sees her more like his sister. A lot of the first season of the anime is devoted to Ayumi's suffering because of this. Takumi in turn has a hard time with his feelings for (older) Rika.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', "Pirate Empress" Boa Hancock of the Seven Warlords of the Sea has the power to turn anyone who's so much as ''attracted'' to her to [[Taken for Granite|stone]]. And then when she herself falls in love, she might die by it.

*** In all fairness, she has as much chance as any other woman with Luffy. The ultimate [[Idiot Hero]] with a degree in [[Oblivious to Love]].

** It's also painfully obvious Camie the mermaid has a pretty serious thing for Hatchan, but...well...same reasons as above.

** Also, [[Hot-Blooded|Prussia]] might have feelings for either [[The Ditz|North Italy]] or [[Action Girl|Hungary]]. Either way, he's screwed because of their respective romantic ties to [[Perpetual Frowner|Germany]] (Prussia's younger brother and Italy's boyfriend) and [[Meganekko|Austria]] (Hungary's ex-husband and current boyfriend).

*** And if there's the [[Take a Third Option|other option]] of him possibly having feelings for [[Brother-Sister Incest|Germany]] or [[Foe Yay|Austria]]... yup, still a loss either way.

* Good God, Franz from ''[[Gankutsuou]]''. [[Ho Yay|His unrequited love for Albert]] caused him a whole world of pain (and {{spoiler|his death}}). Seriously, he had a lot going for him - being rich, having good looks, and having no shortage of beautiful and kind women after him (including his fiance, who loved him initially). But instead, he ends up constantly angsting and [[Love Martyr|sacrificing everything]] for Albert (who [[Oblivious Guilt Slinging|doesn't appreciate any of it]] until the very last moment).

** Albert doesn't have it any easier, though. He develops a crush at first sight on the Count, who at first leads him on and then proceeds to {{spoiler|[[Break the Cutie|break his heart and ruin his life]]}}. And while we're at it, there's the Count himself: Mercedes' "betrayal" aside, {{spoiler|his [[Becoming the Mask|unplanned for and unwanted feelings for Albert]] cause him a lot of angst and heartbreak, although [[Love Redeems|they save him in the end]].}}

* Ako Izumi of [[Mahou Sensei Negima]]. She has a ton of self-esteem issues, and is described as something of a doormat. Then she meets Nagi, he reassures her of her importance, and she falls in love with him. Even after getting [[Trapped in Another World]] and sold into slavery, she's able to hang on because she knows that he's there for her. {{spoiler|Too bad that "Nagi" is her ten-year-old teacher Negi magically aged-up. Naturally, she's utterly crushed when she finds out. And then, she gets better.}}

** {{spoiler|Sort of she still has a thing for 'Nagi'. Which may be transferring to Negi now.}}

** And speaking of {{spoiler|Gauron}}, ''he'' seems to have lost some of ''his'' edge and become even more messed up since falling for Sousuke... after all, if he didn't ''care'' about Sousuke, he wouldn't have been so very angry in the first place...

*** In regards to Gauron, this is actually brought up and symbolically implied in the novels (though apparently parts of it were lost in the fan translation). Members of Amalgam actually covertly bring up to Sousuke how Gauron was overtaken by "cancer," all while mentioning that he [[Stalker with a Crush|"really really liked Sousuke"]]... and according to the original wording, a parallel is implied of Kaname being Sousuke's "Gan" (cancer), and Sousuke being ''Gauron's'' "Gan". Of course, any possible double meaning was [[Oblivious to Love|lost to Sousuke]]. In addition, reading about the overall attitude of Gauron's colleagues when they talk to Sousuke, it seems like it's a well known fact to them that Gauron was ''way'' too obsessed with Sousuke.

** Must have also hurt Kittan badly {{spoiler|when he only had the confidence (and partly because of it) to confess to Yoko before performing an [[Dying Moment of Awesome|EPIC]] [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to spare her from doing the same... }}

** And there's Viral, who is immortal and can't reproduce... {{spoiler|and whose greatest dream is to have a wife and child}}. [[Tear Jerker|*sniff*]]

* Poor [[Basilisk|Oboro and Gennosuke]]. They were [[Arranged Marriage|engaged to bring peace]] between their two rival ninja clans but [[Perfectly Arranged Marriage|genuinely fell in love]], only for the truce to be broken and forcing them to choose between [[Star-Crossed Lovers|their love or the honor of their clans]]. {{spoiler|In the end they are the only two left alive, and Oboro commits suicide rather than kill Gennosuke. Gennosuke declares Oboro's clan as victorious and commits suicide with her body in his arms.}}

* (Almost) everybody in Itoshiki-sensei's class loves their [[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei|Zetsubou-sensei]]. Too bad every single one of them is in some way severely unhinged.

** And Sakura herself hasn't had it easy either because of Sasuke ( {{spoiler|whom she has decided to kill ''with her own hands'' to spare him from more grief and betrayal.}})

** [[Naruto]] is RIFE with this, whether romantic or not. There's Hinata, who {{spoiler|takes a suicidal attack to protect Naruto, whom she loves because he gave her the will [[Plucky Girl|*to not give up ever again*]] }}; Gaara, who {{spoiler|only wanted to be loved, but was hated by everyone until he befriended Naruto, and later cries when facing Sasuke}}; Konan, whose love interest is {{spoiler|none other than Pain}}; {{spoiler|Jiraiya, who was Tsunade's [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]}}; Kakashi, who learned what friendship and love were when {{spoiler|he lost his best friend Obito and then rejected Rin's love for him.}}; etc.

* Many all the clients or people they know in ''[[Nightmare Inspector]]'' are in love with someone, and if they aren't [[Love Makes You Evil|evil]], [[Love Makes You Crazy|mad]], or [[Yandere|downright psychopathic]] from it, they're suffering a good deal.

* Love, be it platonic, familiar, or romantic, in the ''[[When They Cry]]'' franchise tends to end in tragedy.

* One of Hinagiku's fears in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' is based on this, and it's implied that her fear of heights extends from this. She's afraid of loving someone because her parents left and her older sister has turned to drinking after making sure that Hina doesn't have to deal with the debt and has foster parents, thus she's afraid of loving anyone again, in an effort to keep from getting hurt by them. She may have even turned to her [[Tsundere]] personality because of it. Her admitting ([[Cannot Spit It Out|to Ayumu]]) that she does love Hayate has been shown as an effort because of these fears.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. {{spoiler|Sayaka Miki, who becomes a magical girl so that her crush's permanent injuries heal (despite being warned that it won't work the way she wants to), loses said crush to her friend because she [[Cannot Spit It Out|is essentially a zombie as result of being a magical girl leading her to feel that she's unlovable]] (and thus when said friend ''does'' give her the chance to confess first to the boy, she cannot take it.) She becomes increasingly self-destructive ending with her turning into a witch, the creatures that magical girls are tasked to fight. In the end when the [[End of the World Special|universe is reset]] to give all magical girls a happier life Sayaka ''still'' ends up dying. [[Word of God]] says that, in any continuity where she becomes a [[Magical Girl]], she'll be damned to this and can't be saved.}}

** Akane also goes through this for years by having a crush on [[First Love|Dr. Tofu]], a man who's in love with her sister, Kasumi. It isn't until she's 16 that she finally moves on and develops a crush on [[Second Love|Ranma]].

* The entire plot, point, story and character motivation of Minami Ozaki's [[Zetsuai 1989]]. Period. Heck, even the bystanders get traumatized by the events.

* Akise Aru of ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'' has an unreturned [[Ho Yay|crush on Yukiteru]] and all his actions of love towards Yukiteru get him is a beheading by [[Yandere|Yuno]].

* Rune from ''[[Karakuridouji Ultimo]]'' has an unreturned [[Ho Yay|crush on Yamato]] and he [[Attempted Rape|doesn't take rejection well]]. His love for Yamato causes him a lot of heartache.

* Harry MacDoogal from ''[[Outlaw Star]]''. You've got to feel for him because he has feelings for Melfina and she doesn't share the same feelings for him and he does everything he can to make her love him only to fail and get curb stomped by a massive douchebag with the ability to break his body parts like a bendy straw.

* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' is rife with this.

 

 

** Notably averted with Ralph (Elongated Man) & Sue Dibny, who were happily married in his second appearance back in the 1960s and even in death were still together.

* Explored (somewhat) in ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'', where the main character is very much under the impression that this trope is in full effect (and that is only the tip of the iceberg where his intimacy issues are concerned). He attempts to murder the only person he cares for in an attempt at 'immortalizing the moment' and prevent the relationship going bad (because...somehow murder doesn't count as going bad) and later attempts to apologize for the faux pas with a rather bizarre pre-recorded phone message in which he states his intention to forget about her, lest he attempt to hurt her again.

* How we could we forget Rose Walker's great "love hurts" speech to ''Desire'' in ''[[The Sandman]]''? And of course, this exchange, which sums up Desire's approach to most things but ''especially'' love:

'''Desire''': No more than usually; no; and perhaps a little. But only with love. }}

* ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]''. No one is safe from that in that comic. Gets to its extremes with Ramona and Knives though. A chapter is even named 'Love Hurts'.

 

== Fairy Tales ==

 

 

* The ''[[Tamers Forever Series]]'' uses love as a surgical scalpel to subject the characters to unimaginable suffering.

** Also because Kurt [[Foregone Conclusion|leaves Dalton]], but this time we get to see it break Blaine's heart into tiny little pieces because "No-one ever comes back to [him]."

** It's not just limited to romantic love, since he's vehemently loyal to his estranged, neglectful father.

* Minako and Shinjiro in ''[[Death and Ker]]'' get to face just how much love can hurt. Bad enough that Minako died without warning two years prior as a result of a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] - worse that she's come ''back'', but only temporarily, and must return to death when her mission is complete, the knowledge of which keeps both of them from feeling able to act on their feelings the way they'd like to. Aigis in the same work has it just as bad; she also loves Minako and blames herself for not being able to protect her two years previously, and since she's a [[Ridiculously Human Robot]] she's struggling with the concept of being able to feel human emotions at all.

 

 

* The only woman [[James Bond|James]] [[Casanova|Bond]] ever married ([[Action Girl]] Teresa "Tracy" Di Vincezo) was killed moments afterwards in a botched attempt to assassinate him. In later movies, it shows that even with all his flirting and skirt-chasing that he ''still'' mourns her.

* ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'':

'''K''': (looking horribly cold and restrained) Try it. }}

* ''[[Love Actually]]''. Daniel knows something has been bothering his stepson for a long time now, and he finally gets it out of him: he's in love with a classmate.

'''Daniel:''' ...No, you're right. Yeah, total agony. }}

* Any of [[Wong Kar-wai]] 's films, especially ''[[In the Mood for Love]]'' and ''2046.''

* See: ''[[500 Days of Summer|Five Hundred Days of Summer]]'' .

* ''[[The Sword in the Stone]]''. Three words: heartbroken girl squirrel.

* [[Edgar Allan Poe]] was a ''very'' firm believer in this. He thought the best theme to write about was the death of a beautiful young woman, often leading to the protagonist's descent into madness.

** Given the things that happened to women in his life, this isn't really surprising.

* Yuan, Lord of City Europe in David Wingrove's ''[[Chung Kuo]]'' series, falls for the wrong woman. Although the stage is set for serious tragedy, he manages to pull out of it.

* [[The House of Night]] has this in spades: vampyre protagonist Zoey ends up falling for three guys simultaneously (ish). It ends badly when {{spoiler|she thinks her own-age vampyre boyfriend Erik is dead, flees to the hot-but-older Loren for comfort, and ends up losing her virginity to him. Proving that Joss Whedon is not the only one who can be incredibly cruel to his characters, the following things happen in quick succession: It breaks her bond with her human boyfriend Heath, Erik walks in on her and Loren Kissing, and it turns out Loren was in cahoots with the villainess and only using Zoey. And then Loren is brutally murdered.}} Ouch. Poor Zoey.

* Though ''[[The Engineer]] Trilogy'' as a whole plays this trope catastrophically straight, there is a scene lampshading it in the second. Miel Ducas, a powerful noble wounded in battle, hallucinates that he is having a conversation with Death. When Death points out that Ducas is not very grateful for having everything a man could ever want, Ducas replies that he is the poorest man in the world because no woman he ever loved returned his affection. Death explains that love is nothing more than a trick meant to override humans' free will in order to reproduce, and that Ducas might as well be upset that he never contracted diphtheria.

* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|A Princess of Mars]]'', John Carter [[Oblivious to Love|realizes]] he fell in [[Love At First Sight]] with Dejah Thoris, but then [[Culture Clash|manages to offend her]].

* "[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] has this to say on the subject of love: 'avoid, if at all possible.'"

* Love doesn't hurt ''every'' character unlucky enough to experience it in the ''[[Indigo]]'' series...just ''most'' of them.

* Richard and Alec in ''[[Swordspoint]] and ''The Privilege of the Sword'', to the point where their relationship is such a mess that neither they nor the reader can figure it out.

* A recurring theme in sonnets, especially those from the Renaissance.

* ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'' could be argued to have love ''kills'', and causes killing. It's arguable because actually being "in love" strongly tends to make the lovers happier - it's the fallout on everyone and everything else around them that actually brings the pain.

* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero Lost]]'', Ferdinard speaks eloquently of having suffered torments for the pure love of a chaste maiden.

* [[The Dresden Files|Harry Dresden's]] romance life is an exercise in pain. Of the women he's bee involved with or who he has strong feelings for/who have strong feelings for him, one {{spoiler|gets turned into a vampire, has his child, and gets sacrificed}}, another is {{spoiler|the copy of a [[Fallen Angel]] living in his head that kills herself to save him}}, and another is {{spoiler|only in love with him because [[The Mole]] was mind-controlling her.}} Murphy still cares for him, but {{spoiler|her reward for her affections is learning Harry is now dead.}} And then there's {{spoiler|Molly, who goes from teenage crush on Harry to honestly being in love with him, but carrying all the baggage of his death as well and going almost completely nuts thanks to [[Black Magic]] and mental trauma.}}

* ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'' features Basil who has to watch Dorian Gray, the [[Ho Yay|love of his life]] and his greatest inspiration, descend deeper and deeper into corruption against his wishes and ultimately {{spoiler|gets murdered by him}}. And then there's {{spoiler|Sybill Vane}} who {{spoiler|takes a fatal does of poison right after Dorian cruelly dumps her.}}

* The new ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' series ''loves'' this:

** Lee/Kara - AND HOW. {{spoiler|They meet and fall in [[Love At First Sight]] - and nearly hook up}} - when she's already dating his baby brother, whose death she accidentally has a hand in. They become good friends and later survive the end of their homeworlds together, but the memory of the dead baby brother, and their guilt, keeps them apart and in [[Just Friends]] mode until {{spoiler|they get together with other people, rather than face their feelings for each other}}. When Lee ''finally'' admits his love to Kara and gets her to do the same, {{spoiler|she freaks out and marries someone else the next day, breaking his heart and leading to his own marriage to a woman he doesn't really love. After Kara survives a Cylon prison and some serious mindgames, they later reconcile and have an affair, but Kara won't get a divorce because of her religious beliefs, and when she finally unbends and considers the possibility, Lee is reluctant to leave his wife}}. {{spoiler|And then Kara goes unhinged and dies, then returns and leads the Fleet to Earth. And just when it looks like it's all ok since they've found Earth, Lee doesn't care that Kara was really [[Dead All Along]], and it looks like they'll finally get to be together, she tells him the fact that she was [[Dead All Along]] means she now has to disappear. As in, ''into thin air''}}. Suffice it to say, Ron Moore is one of the few people who knows how to inflict more pain on a couple than [[Joss Whedon]].

** Chief/Boomer.

* John/Aeryn in ''[[Farscape]]''. They make out. They fight alongside each other. They're tortured. They try to kill each other. They have sex. {{spoiler|They die. (They get better.)}} They murder people to get back to each other. They fight. They make out. They blow up a bunch of bad guys. {{spoiler|They have a kid}}. [[It Was His Sled|I just saved you four seasons of awesome TV]].

* ''[[Kamen Rider]]'', at least in the new generation, is as fond of this trope as it's fond of [[Anyone Can Die]]. On the rare occasions where a love interest to a major character is still alive by season's end, the relationship between them will likely have ended instead.

* ''[[Highlander the Series]]'': According to [[Word of God]], Duncan MacLeod has had "four great loves" in his life. All four are dead, and not of natural causes. In one flashback, a gypsy curses him, saying that he will "bury many women but marry none" - but his bad luck seemed to have started even before that..

* ''[[Torchwood]]'': {{spoiler|The only conceivable reason Ianto would've been in that room with the 4-5-6 is his absolute faith in and love for Jack, and then everyone Jack loves causes him terrible terrible pain in the end.}}

* ''[[Doctor Who]]''. All of the Doctor's companions "break his hearts".

* Naomi from ''[[Skins]]'' lives in blind terror of this trope, constantly running away from her love of Emily until she can't handle it any more; and even when they eventually get together, she's ''still'' so scared of getting her heart broken that {{spoiler|[[Your Cheating Heart|she tries to break Emily's first.]] It all ends with a [[Happily Ever After]], though, after an [[Anguished Declaration of Love]] in the finale in which Naomi admits - and seemingly gets over - all her fears}}.

* [[Joss Whedon]] must HATE happiness. Pick anything written by [[Joss Whedon]]. The only exception is [[Firefly|Simon and Kaylee]], and that's just because they didn't get together [[Last-Minute Hookup|until the end of the movie]]

** Willow and Oz are actually happy together? Oh no! We better {{spoiler|make Oz go away to try and get rid of his wolf problem.}}

** Giles has a nice grown-up relationship that's started to go somewhere? {{spoiler|Guess who Angelus's next victim is?}}

** [[Merlin (TV series)|His BBC counterpart]] wasn't much luckier. The only girl he ever loved, Freya, ended up {{spoiler|being a [[Baleful Polymorph|monster]] who was killed by Arthur and [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|died in Merlin's arms]]. Thanks to Merlin's love for her, she was able to come back as a spirit of the lake but they rarely get to see each other.}}

* [[My Little Town|Art Kanji-Daemon]] is probably the [[Trope Codifier]] at how much love hurts him through all his life.

 

== Music ==

* [[Incubus (band)|Incubus]]' aptly titled song "Love Hurts", although it could be considered a subversion; the chorus is, "Love hurts, but sometimes it's a good hurt and it feels like I'm alive".

* Sing with me...[[Joy Division|Love, love will tear us apart again]]...

* "... that's the pain that cuts a straight line down through the heart, we call it love ..." - [[Hedwig and The Angry Inch]]

* [[Aerosmith]], "Falling in Love (Is Hard On The Knees)".

* "Love Stinks" by J. Geils Band.

* Baby, don't hurt me... no more... (Haddaway.)

* "Running Water" by DJ Shog featuring Irma Derby: "Love's like hot running water, once it runs through your fingers, painful in every way..."

* "Love Bites" by Def Leppard. Describes love as an addiction.

== Theater ==

* ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' and every imitator. Entire dissertations could be written on how both would have lived longer, happier lives if Romeo had decided to stay in and mope, Juliet had told him she wanted at least [[Fourth Date Marriage|three dates before considering marriage]], or the friar's advice to Juliet had been to take up her father's offer of being kicked out of the house so she could run away with Romeo easily, rather than telling her to fake her death.

* ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]'' centers around a [[Love Triangle]] between three perfectly honorable, admirable people who all like and respect each other, two rivals who try as hard as they can to make the girl happy instead of fighting over her, and the original [[Playing Cyrano]] plot that isn't revealed until death has taken too many members out of the picture for anyone to be happy.

* A fact of life for Fiyero, Elphaba AND Glinda in Wicked (and Boq and Nessarose for that matter). Elphaba even comments on it during Defying Gravity 'Well if that's love/it comes at much to high a cost'

* [[Next to Normal]]:

[[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|We love anyway]]. }}

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Max Payne 2]]''

** Hell, Max's first line in the game says it all: "They were all dead: Love Kills"

* ''[[Odin Sphere]]'': The entire plot is full of this. Only a few characters actually get happy endings, assuming you didn't muck it up and get the bad ending, in which case it turns into a [[Kill'Em All]].

* In ''[[Breath of Fire]] IV'', this was essentially what fuels the Hex Cannon/Carronade. The closer the sacrifice was to the intended target, the stronger the hex will be. This was what {{spoiler|pretty much broke Fou-lu and cause him to go [[Kill'Em All]]}} near the end.

** Cray spent much of the game searching for Princess Elina, Nina's sister and his love interest. {{spoiler|When they found her, Elina was turned into an artificial Endless, in order to exploits her love as an limitless fuel for the Carronade. Cray [[Mercy Kill|ends her suffering]] with the Dragon Slayer.}}

 

 

== Web Comics ==

** He gets off easy compared to Oasis, who has literally ''died'' multiple times because of her [[All Love Is Unrequited|unrequited love]] for Torg.

* ''[[Digger]]''. Ed's backstory. [[Domestic Abuse|Dear God, Ed's backstory.]] And through it all he never, ever stopped loving. Oh, Ed.

* ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]''

** The Beast is crazily obsessed with Beauty and rages, insane with jealousy, when she's late returning.

** Claire and King Gareth appear to have been [[Happily Married]], but he went to war. Now they are separated; Claire won't explain what happened to her child, and refuses to meet him because she feels too guilty; and Gareth signed a peace treaty because he was too heartbroken over the news of his wife.

 

 

== Web Original ==

* Comes up a lot in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' because [[Anyone Can Die]] ([[Kill'Em All|and usually will]]), the most prominent examples include:

** Bryan Calvert goes through the death of {{spoiler|Tori Johnson}}, whom he'd been protecting for almost the entire game.

** Ricky Callahan similarly safeguards his girlfriend Whitney Acosta for most of v2. {{spoiler|When Calvert accidentally kills her, Ricky commits suicide.}}

** Sean O'Cann, after recently coming out of the closet and engaging in a thoroughly romantic relationship, gets this treatment, with his boyfriend Andy Walker biting the dust not long after the game began. Cruelly, they'd ''met'' each other prior to this and become separated, leading to Andy's death.

 

 

** And then there's Sokka who had {{spoiler|his first love perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and become the new moon spirit.}}

* At ''[[Chowder]]'' episode ''At Your Service'', Panini threw some tacks to the running Tall Legged Chowder, and when he is trapped in the middle of the tacks, he stated that ''Love Hurts''.

'''Henry:''' I'm not. She was ''killing'' me! }}

* Three words: [[Total Drama Island|Total. Drama. Island.]]

** Trent develops a relationship with Gwen, only for Heather to screw it over through a [[Xanatos Roulette]] and {{spoiler|send him packing}} after he and Gwen manage to patch things up. Come [[Total Drama Action]], he gets jealous over her getting closer to [[All Girls Want Bad Boys|Duncan,]] which leads to his obsession with the number nine and {{spoiler|throwing challenges so that Gwen's team would win, which leads to her dumping him so the competition would be fairer.}} Ouch.

** In English, apparently, "to wed" (Or some form of marriage word) comes from the same roots as "gamble".

** In Spanish, "Cazar" is "to hunt" and "Casar" is "to wed." In Latin America and some parts of Spain, the pronunciation is identical.

** In Danish the words for heart (hjerte) and for pain (smerte) rhymes, which is sometimes used as a proverb.

** In German the word "Leidenschaft" which means "passion" belongs to the root word "leid" which means "suffering".

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Love Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Romance Novel Plots]]