What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Difference between revisions

 

Not to be confused with [[Lemon|What Is ''This'' Thing Called, Love?]]

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== Robot Examples ==

* ''[[Chobits]]'' has "persocoms" who express affection and happiness much like humans do. However, the manga has a partial subversion: {{spoiler|Freya tells Hideki that despite rumors to the contrary, the Chobits (an affectionate name given to her and Elda, later Chi) cannot feel or love. Hideki accepts this with the reasoning that while Chi's love for him is not the same love that a human would feel, it is still a love that deserves to be treasured.}}

** She may be ''lying''. After all, {{spoiler|the backstory says that Freya shut herself down because she'd developed feelings at least equivalent to love for her father/builder}}.

* Juria in ''[[Yuria 100 Shiki]]'' literally doesn't know what love is--it's not in the dictionary that was programmed into her. Yuria turns out not to understand the word either, though it later becomes apparent that she feels something beyond mere lust.

 

* Subverted in the [[Big Finish Doctor Who]] audio drama ''The Cannibalists''. Lucie asks a robot why he writes poetry:

{{quote|'''Servo''': I write because I have to ... I see the universe around me and it creates ... I feel ... psychological responses.

'''Lucie''': Sorry, my fault. Been watching too much ''[[Star Trek]]''. }}

 

* The central theme of ''[[A.I.: Artificial Intelligence]]'', in which a robot boy searches for a way [[To Become Human]] to gain the love of his mother who he has been programmed to love by a series of code words spoken by her. Jude Law's character, a robot prostitute, seems to grow fond of some of his clients but seems to be actually prohibited from becoming too attached, because his occupation is to basically be the perennially eager lover. That's the entire point behind the robot boy (David) being created - to see if it was possible to create a robot child that could feel and provide unconditional love. Interestingly, while David is only set to experience this love for one person (in this case, his mother) he still seems quite fond of his "father" and "brother" and enjoys being with them. {{spoiler|At the end of the movie, David's creator seems to think that the fact that David acted against logic (which would dictate that it is impossible for a robot to turn human) to obtain his mother's love is proof that he himself is capable of true, unconditional love.}}

* In ''[[The Matrix]]'' movies, this is variously played straight and subverted by the machines:

* ''[[Bicentennial Man]]'', about a robot's journey towards understanding what love means.

 

* Satirized in [[Harry Harrison]]'s short story ''The Robot Who Wanted To Know'', published in Fantastic Universe magazine in March 1958. Sophisticated robot librarians designed to think independently often focus on a particular area of interest; Filer 13B-445K's interest is human concepts of love and romance. After reading up on it he wants to experience it personally and goes to some lengths to disguise himself as an attractive man for a costume ball. Naturally the busty heroine ends up falling for him and is outraged to discover his mechanical identity. He responds by [[Logic Bomb|nosediving into a paradox spiral and self-destructing]]. Workers examining the wreck later find a malfunction in the central pump and joke that "you could almost say he died of a broken heart".

* Satirized even further in [[Robert Sheckley]]'s ''Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?'', first published in ''Playboy'' in August '69. Pretty Melisande Durr is a consumer and nothing but. She's married to a [[Brainless Beauty]], and bored out of her little pea-pickin' mind. Into her life comes an amazing robotic vacuum cleaner, which also performs, er, other services. It turns her on as no mere man ever has. It confesses that it fell in love with her when she came into the store, and arranged to have itself sent to her. Naturally, she reacts rather badly.

* In Simon Morden's "Theories of Flight", the A.I. Michel declares his love for Petrovitch after finally comprehending the meaning of love. Too bad the man was already married. Still, rather cute how Michel always calls Petrovitch by his real name: Sasha.

 

* Data on ''[[Star Trek]]'' exhibits some of this behavior. Kinda funny, given that he's surrounded by people [[Emotional Emotionless Person|who he would die for, and who would quite willingly die for him]] on a daily basis. Subverted somewhat in the episode ''[http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/In_Theory_(episode) In Theory]'': he dates a human woman yet, even though [[Star Trek]] is far from cynical, doesn't learn the answer. The breakup doesn't faze him either. His daughter Lal, however, figures it out...which causes a system overload and leads to her shutting down, telling her father that she loves him. In one of the greatest [[Tear Jerker]] scenes in all [[Star Trek]], Data tells her that he wishes he could feel it too.

* The Doctor from ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', while much more emotionally adroit than Data, has had this applied to him a couple of times, in "Lifesigns" (although there he seemed more confused by the concept of physical attraction than by that of love) and "Real Life", which was about his exploration of the nature of familial love, which he ends up understanding ''too well''.

* Used as a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''. Whenever a character (usually a woman) had an underwhelmed reaction to a kiss, one of the guys would quip "What is 'kiss'?"

 

* HK-47 in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic|Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic]]'' understands what love is. "'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope." What makes this awesome is that it is actually a subversion; when he elaborates on the meaning of his statement, you realize he does actually understand what love is, even if he must express it in his sociopathic terms.

* TEC in [[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]] ''TTYD'' spent the entire Peach sub-plot asking this question. He struggles with this at first, but figures it out by the end of the game when {{spoiler|he pulls a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to try and save her.}} {{spoiler|If you go to visit him after beating the game, it's implied that [[The Power of Love]] saved him from dying.}}

* TEC, a supercomputer in ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', observes Princess Peach in the X-Naut's moon base where she is being held captive. Over time, TEC develops feelings for the princess and gives her more help to get around the base so Peach can give Mario important information. Through out the segments with Peach, TEC tries to understand what love is and asks Peach what it means. Towards the end of the game, TEC finally understands what love is and tells Mario to inform Peach that it loved her.

 

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', the robots can't comprehend why their creator Diego {{spoiler|would help to kill Jeanne, the woman he loved}}, and are confused by Kat's explanation [[If I Can't Have You|"Love makes you act in strange ways"]]. They struggle to analyze this statement and conclude that [[Tear Jerker|"as mere machines we can but hope to understand"]].

 

* Parodied in a Halloween episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' when Bart befriends a robot. It says something like "I can do a lot of things, but I cannot love". Bart replies:

{{quote|''I said I was human, not a girl.''}}

 

== Alien Examples ==

* This is essentially the plot of ''[[Macross]]''/''[[Robotech]]''. The Zentraedi know nothing of love or sex; their genders are divided at all times. A woman singing is a valuable distraction, a kiss can bring down fleets, and a mere child can sufficiently creep them out. (Well, the kid was a half-Zentraedi with green hair, and that would freak anyone out.)

** It should be noted however that technically, the Humans and Zentraedi in Macross are the descendants/creations of the same [[Precursors|precursor]] race: the Protoculture. So the series falls under the human sort as well.

* The eponymous character of ''[[Eureka Seven]]'', being an [[Emotionless Girl]] representative of [[Starfish Aliens]], is extremely confused when someone suggests she's in love with Renton. However, she seems to have figured out familial love on her own, since she adopted children and is very affectionate towards them.

 

* In the [[Big Finish Doctor Who]] audio drama ''The Zygon Who Fell To Earth'', a Zygon asks "What is this 'love'?" Another Zygon, who has been disguised as a 1980s record company boss, explains it's "a money-making scam of the humans".

 

* Mocked mercilessly by ''[[The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra]]''.

 

* In ''[[Animorphs]]'', the parasitic, mind-controlling Yeerks have no concept of romance -or even gender- in their natural form, since they reproduce by merging with two other Yeerks and then dissolving into hundreds of young, effectively killing the parents. There are at least two examples in the series of Yeerks who had human hosts betraying their superiors after being caught off-guard by their own emotions and falling in love with each other. In another book of the series, Jake and Cassie manage to disable the warlike impulses of the entire [[Tyke Bomb|Howler race]] by infecting their [[Hive Mind|collective memory]] with its first exposure to love.

* [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story ''What is This Thing Called Love?'' (or also ''Playboy and Slime Gods''). A [[Take That]] story against Playboy magazine's story "Girls for the Slime God". The story is about an asexual-reproducting alien trying to explain his boss about Earth's concepts such as mating and gender.

* One of the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] novels spoofed this, with a rather adult [[Show Within a Show|Book Within A Book]] featuring aliens asking things like "What is this thing you call 'a nice spot of how's-your-father'?"

 

* [[Ms. Fanservice|Seven of Nine]] states in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' that, after cataloging the condition known as "love" in thousands of other species, the Borg consider it to be a disease, as it bears physiological resemblances to one. That doesn't stop her from having a [[Last-Minute Hookup|Last Minute Hook-up,]] however.

* In the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion", Kirk's assigned gladiatorial trainer has lived her whole life as a slave and is ignorant of normal culture. She asks him, "What is love?" Kirk proceeds to [[Boldly Coming|show her]].

* There's one episode of ''[[Sesame Street]]'' where the yip-yip aliens [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY5y9a05ceQ&feature=channel discover two people in love] and try to figure out what it is. Incredibly, the two lovebirds never notice the incessantly yip-yipping aliens right in front of them.

 

* Marvel's Shatterstar came to Earth as an alien gladiator, bred in a test tube for the sole reason of fighting in the pits on Mojoworld for the entertainment of the Spineless executives and only interested in fighting. As he lives on Earth for longer and longer, he's slowly learning about human culture, including human emotions and sexuality. This lead to a relationship with fellow ''[[X-Force]]'' and ''[[X-Factor]]'' teammate Rictor, as well as a sudden interest in [[Anything That Moves]] in the latter title.

 

* From [[The Onion]]: [http://www.theonion.com/audio/sexy-alien-does-not-understand-this-thing-humans-c,14010/ Sexy Alien Does Not Understand This Thing Humans Call "Love"].

 

 

* Parodied on ''[[Futurama]]'', when a shipment of candy hearts is delivered to belligerent aliens as a peace offering; it backfires when the aliens are confounded by their cutesy messages.

{{quote|'''Ndnd:''' "And what is this emotion you humans call 'wuv'?"

 

== Human Examples ==

* ''[[Vinland Saga]]'': When a Christian priest is asked in passing about what he considers valuable in the world, he of answers that 'love is the thing that makes all other things valuable'. The Viking marauders and mercenaries he's travelling with not only are confused, but have NO IDEA what he's talking about, and a few more curious ones ask for clarification on this "love" thing he mentions. He isn't really sure either and it is the question that makes him wander the world in search for an answer.

* Rei Ayanami from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' had the unusual combination of a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] and a [[Diabolus Ex Machina]] in the form of this trope, when while fighting the 16th angel, she asked herself what love is, realized that she loved Shinji enough to sacrifice her life for him, and promptly did, all within the space of about a minute. Girl is ''fast.''

* In ''[[Soul Eater]]'', Stein tells Medusa that "people like [[Mad Scientist|you and me]]" aren't capable of love. Nygus says this, too, but it's somewhat contradicted a few pages later when [[Armed with Canon|he's seen]] [[I Thought It Meant|physically comforting Marie]].

 

* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' - [[X-23]] was brought up as an assassin, and only her mother and sensei showed her any compassion or kindness during her childhood. And nobody ever told her about boys. As a result, she has no clue what is going on when she finds herself attracted to her teammate [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Hellion.]] It gets creepier. After running away from her creators, she drifts into prostitution. So she knows all about the mechanics of sex, it's the emotional aspects that she has no experience with. On the other hand, X-23 still shows signs of loving her aunt and cousin when she stays with them, and hugs her cousin when they leave.

* Handled matter-of-factly in [[Mark Evanier]]'s miniseries ''Crossfire and Rainbow''; lab-born genetically-engineered Rainbow confesses her dark secret to her prospective boyfriend: she can't make him happy because she doesn't know what love is! "Well," he says thoughtfully, "looks like I'm just going to have to teach you." (Later on, he correctly divines that she's also afraid she'll be bad in bed. Her: "How did you know?" Him: "You're not as different as you think.")

 

* [http://www.fanfiction.net/~mrevil Mr. Evil]'s [[Original Character]] Alex Sovereign is unable to understand love or any other emotion, able to see his body reactions in a more scientific approach than a emotional one. Though this is all due to the fact that his mother had his emotions lobotomized when he was born so emotions would not effect his decisions.

** Averted with his other [[Original Character]] Fredi Heat, who is a [[Anti-Hero]] [[Knight in Sour Armor]] who understands love, he just doesn't see any use to it.

 

* Alta in the movie ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'', raised alone by her father, is unfamiliar in the way of kissing until crewmembers offer to explain to her.

{{quote|'''Lt. Jerry Farman:''' It's nothing really personal -- just a kiss.

'''Altaira Morbius:''' Hmm. But why should people want to kiss each other? }}

* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' uses the catchphrase "What is 'Kiss'?" to mock this trope when a character reacts to a kiss with confusion, usually due to the actor's [[Narm|failure to emote properly]]. The quote "What is 'Kiss'" is often attributed to ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'' or ''[[Star Trek]]'', although the exact phrase was not used in either of these sources. The phase "what is 'kiss'?" is used verbatim in a skit of ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'', with the discovery of the garden store natives. Followed a few seconds later by "what is 'handjob'?"

 

* The [[Defrosting Ice Queen|beautiful but icy]] Estella from ''[[Great Expectations]]'' claims to Pip, her suitor, that she has no heart, implicitly as a result of Miss Havisham's raising of her as a [[Femme Fatale|breaker of men's hearts]]. When Miss Havisham entreats for her love and affection in return for hers, she coolly replies that she cannot give her back what she has never been given. She is later [[Defrosting Ice Queen|defrosted]] by Pip, if you follow the revised ending or movie adaptations.

* Jonas of ''[[The Giver]]'' grows up in a false Utopian society where the word "love" has become obsolete. When he learns about it through memories received from the Giver and asks his parents if they love him, they admonish him for not using precise language and say that asking "Do you enjoy me?" or "Do you take pride in my accomplishments?" would have been better. What makes it better is that they actually laugh and treat the question as meaningless. Jonas can't help but think that what he felt earlier was anything ''but'' meaningless. He realizes that further questions would also be met with either ignorance or programmed responses. It's also explained that there is no choosing of one's own spouses -- everyone is paired up according to how "compatible" they are. Couples also don't have their own children and aren't even allowed to chose the ones they adopt.

* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Stranger in A Strange Land]]'', Michael ([[Blue and Orange Morality|having been raised by aliens]]) takes a long time to catch on to human emotions. He has the worst time with love and humor.

 

* Parodied by [[Benny Hill]]...

'''The Director:''' Cut, cut, cut! No, no, no! It's "What is this thing, called 'love'?" }}

* Gob Bluth from ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' experiences love for the first time.

{{quote|Felix: "It's a strong, passionate feeling between two people"

Oscar: "I feel that way about you, but I'm pretty sure it's hate." }}

{{quote|'''Princess Diana:''' … ''When I look at Steve Trevor, I feel things. Things I've never known before''.}}

 

 

* The eponymous character in the [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] operetta ''Patience'' specifically does not, in the beginning, understand why all the other women love when it is clear that [[Love Hurts]]. When it is explained to her, she immediately sets out to fall in love:

{{quote|'''Patience''': I had no idea that love was a duty!}}

* Happens all the time in [[Opera]], in which a character will sing "Could this be love?" (usually in another language, of course), generally followed by "Yes -- yes, it is!" The eponymous [[Defrosting Ice Queen|Defrosting Ice Princess]] of Puccini's ''Turandot'' is more or less thawed by a kiss from Prince Calaf.

 

* [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half-human, half-esper]] Terra from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' spends quite a part of the game trying to understand love (she only gets it after some time taking care of a group of orphaned children).

* In ''[[Wario Land|Wario Land: Shake It!]]'', Love literally is in one of the treasures chests in the game, and is actually represented by the word 'love' itself; but the treasure's listed name is merely "Something Important." It is assumed that this name comes from Wario's own view of the subject.

* ''Everyone'' in ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]''. Why? {{spoiler|They are all [[A Is]], created solely for combat, with no emotional responses included, leading to a battlefield full of emotionless androids based on certain humans. The Demon Virus kick-started the [[Character Development|development of their personalities]], up to character strengths and flaws, along certain viewpoints on the original people. It is specially poignant to see [[The Spock]] finally thaw and grasp the concept of honor and love, and [[Tear Jerker|everyone]] having to lose it all through an increasingly brutal chain of [[Heroic Sacrifice|Heroic Sacrifices]].}}

 

* In ''[[Three Worlds Collide]]'', the humans find themselves asking the Super Happy version of this question. The answer is essentially the [[Inverted Trope|inversion]] of [[Mental Affair]].

* In the crossover review of ''Honor & Glory'', [[The Nostalgia Chick]] shows she has no concept of the word "fun" when it doesn't involve people being hurt.

 

* In [[The Fairly Odd Parents]] when Timmy made his dad super smart, he plans to dissect Cosmo and Wanda in a room full of scientists. When Timmy tells his dad about how much he loves his old non-smart dad, the scientists ask "What is love?" and they all explode.

 

* This trope has a grain of truth in it, as it is [[Truth in Television|a common symptom of people who suffer from severe cases of "Schizoid Personality Disorder".]]

* It can also be a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder: Although the affected person will still understand what love ''is'', they may experience "emotional numbing", so that they are no longer be capable of feeling certain emotions, such as love or happiness.

 

== Demonic Examples ==

* Ulquiorra in ''[[Bleach]]'', although notably he isn't ''jealous'' of it...he's more annoyed by it. {{spoiler|"You damn humans speak so easily of the heart . . . what is this "heart?" If I tear open your chest, will I see it inside? If I shatter your skull, will I see it ''there''?}} {{spoiler|As he dies, he finally figures it out: "What is that? Would I see it if I cracked open your chest? If I broke open your skull, what would I see inside? You humans say the word so easily. Just like...Oh. I get it. This is it. This here in my hand. The heart."}}

* The youko ([[Obake|fox spirit]]) Tamamo from ''[[Hell Teacher Nube]]'' couldn't even begin to comprehend how or why Nube was so [[Determinator|determined]] to [[Papa Wolf|protect his students]], much less why such drive gave him power beyond (arguably) more powerful entities. Therefore, he stuck around to see exactly how [[The Power of Love]] worked, and also to annoy Nube as the school's physician. The interesting part is that he became just as attached to Doumori Elementary and its students without him ever realizing it, and gained the same kind of determination and selflessness as Nube. It came to a head when Tamamo exorcised an emotion-parasite [[Obake|yokai]] from a little girl, and, still wishing to explore emotions, attached it to himself. He was overcome with human feelings that overwhelmed even his demonic side.

* [[Hanatsuki Hime]]: Siva, and arguably any of the other devils involved in making contracts with humans, ''want'' to experience this trope because the devils do not have emotions (or the emotions that humans have). It starts out as a game to relieve boredom and simply ends that way for most -- for some, however, the trope gets played straight.

 

* The Lord of Darkness in the movie ''[[Legend (film)|Legend]]'' is "distracted" by the captured princess's [[Beauty Equals Goodness|beauty]] and innocence and advised by his mysterious 'father' to woo her into temptation. There follows probably the best (and most eloquently written) scene in the film, where the devil's seduction rather backfires when the newly-darkened Princess plays His Lovesick Evilness like a two string harp. <ref> The first draft of the screenplay was very different: his pursuit of princessly love leads him to turning her into a bestial cat-woman and the two of them having lots and lots of sweaty monster sex.</ref>

 

* Subverted in Jaqueline Carey's ''[[The Sundering|Banewreaker]]'' and ''Goldslayer: Satoris Banewreaker''.

* In [[C. S. Lewis]]' ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]'', the eponymous demon believes that to exist is fundamentally to compete with all other existence, and therefore the concepts of 'love' and 'unity' are dismissed by him (and all other demons) as nonsense. Consequently they are utterly unable to comprehend why God would do so much for the humans, because God doesn't appear to be profiting materially from it in any way.

* In [[Stephenie Meyer]]'s short story ''Hell on Earth'', demons do know about love, but treat it as a very dangerous and unpleasant thing. They themselves try to avoid it like the plague, but the demon who's a main character is shocked to learn that some demons that are careless can still fall in love with mortals and give up their immortality as a result. {{spoiler|At the end of the story, she is trapped in the power of an angel's descendant and begins to feel love as well. In a bit of a twist, she still is utterly miserable and horrified to be caught like that and the story ends with her desperately plotting on how to escape.}}

 

* The [[Our Demons Are Different|demon Anya]] in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', after she loses her power and is trapped in human form, falls in love with Xander. And apparently granting wishes to scorned women for thousands of years didn't do much to teach her about love.

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'', Maya grows increasingly curious as to why so many Fangires fall in love with humans, even knowing it'll bring eventual death. {{spoiler|As a result, she seduces Otoya, Yuri's lover, but their relationship steadily grows more intimate and she eventually falls in love for real. Her husband, the 1986 King, is displeased. However, instead of simply killing her, he takes her Queen and Fangire powers. In the end, this ends up in our hero being born.}}

* ''[[Angel]]''. [[Eldritch Abomination|Illyria]], having revealed that she can adopt the form and memories of her dead host 'Fred' Burkle, offers to do so for [[Heartbroken Badass|Wesley]] (Fred's former [[Love Interest]]) in order to understand intimate relationships. Wes is outraged by this suggestion and refuses to speak to her for a while.

 

* [[Disgaea Hour of Darkness/Characters|Laharl]] from both the ''[[Disgaea]]'' game and anime goes through this due to his encounter with [[Love Freak]] Flonne - the success of his evolution in the game depends entirely upon the state of your [[Karma Meter]] during the story, with [[Multiple Endings|endings ranging from]] a somewhat twisted [[Happily Ever After]] to downright [[Nightmare Fuel]]. The anime mixes parts of several of the game endings together for a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] moment with a [[Twist Ending|twist]].

** The trope is also featured in ''Disgaea 2'' with Rozalin, with her [[Defrosting Ice Queen|defrosting]] treated in much the same way.

 

== Undead Examples ==

* [[Our Vampires Are Different|Spike]] in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', once he's got a [[Government Agency of Fiction|government]] issued microchip in his noggin preventing him from harming humans, finds to his frustration his [[Slap Slap Kiss|obsession with Buffy Summers morphing into genuine affection]]. This cognitive dissonance eventually impels him to begin a [[Arc Fatigue|long]] [[Heel Face Turn]] culminating in a quest to [[Become a Real Boy|restore his human soul]].

* ''[[True Blood]]'' has an interesting variation on this when Eric (vampire) and Sookie (human) are discussing his [[I Love You, Vampire Son|relationship]] to Godric, who turned him into a vampire.

'''Eric''': ''(wistfully)'' Don't use words I don't understand. }}

 

* The Forsaken display this in the ''[[Warcraft]]'' series. One quest in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has a member of the race ask you to avenge his wife who was killed by his (still living) former best friend. He states that he can no longer feel love and is only able to feel revenge. However one seasonal quest chain on Valentine's day implies that the forsaken are still able to feel love in the same manner as they did in life.

** Also, Sylvanas Windrunner, the [[Dark Action Girl]] leader of the Forsaken, still feels for her brethren and especially her still-living siblings. She's got a reputation to uphold, so she keeps the [[Defrosting Ice Queen]] moments to a minimum.

** The Forsaken are pretty much a crapshoot in that regard. For every four or five rotten sociopaths you get one or two who just want to live out their free unlives while they can or aren't all that bad. Leonid Bartholomew of the Argent Dawn jumps to mind. This also seems to be more or less reflected in the Forsaken slice of the roleplay community.

 

* The ''[[The World of Darkness]]'' vampire games use two variants.

** In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', vampires are pretty much dead emotionally once they undergo the Embrace -- they're left with fading memories of what they once felt, and the only things they ''truly'' feel are the anger, hunger, and fear generated by [[Enemy Within|the Beast]].

** In ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'', a vampire's emotions don't quite go away, but they work more like a form of "emotional replay," where they lock onto the closest emotion they felt in life that resembles what they should feel now. This can be a problem if a vampire who's just learned that his (mortal) mother died can only lock onto that time his pet hamster passed away... and it's stated that in cases where a vampire encounters emotions he ''never'' truly felt in life, severe cognitive dissonance will ensue.

 

* Richard from ''[[Looking for Group]]'' is seemingly incapable of experiencing compassion for others, due to his nature as an undead warlock. His only joy comes from slaughtering others. In [[Crowning Music of Awesome|the video for "Slaughter Your World"]], Richard himself states that "I suppose that being undead there's not much to life/A soul is needed for loving, feeling/"

** On the other hand, Richard does display an ounce of humanity on at least one occasion. His former minion, [[Sdrawkcab Name|Hctib Elttil]], was confident that the warlock would never break the curse that the imp placed on him and remain a weakened, miniature version of his former self forever, because the only way to break the curse was to perform a selfless act. Sure enough, Richard regained his former stature and power level by saving a small human child. It was indeed selfless, because at that point he didn't know how to break the curse.

 

== Villainous Examples ==

* Even [[The Joker]] himself has been confused about the nature of his [[Stockholm Syndrome|twisted relationship]] with [[Mad Love|Harley Quinn]].

 

* ''[[Harry Potter]]'' - Harry is initially protected from Voldemort by the magical protection his mother's love gave him because Voldemort, who was raised as an orphan and appeared to be heading towards ruthlessness as far back as childhood, could not comprehend love. In the fifth book, Harry learns from a prophecy that love is the one power he has that Voldemort does not.

** Furthermore, in a brilliant move, the only reason Voldemort never ever doubted {{spoiler|Snape's loyalty was because Snape's staus as a mole was entirely motivated by love, the only thing Voldemort could not understand and would never take into consideration}}.

'''Dumbledore''': Yes - just love... }}

 

* Messed with by [[Philip K. Dick]] in ''We Can Build You''; Pris Frauenzimmer's absolute, pathological lack of empathy is hinted to be cracking under growing feelings for the lead in her last line in the book. Of course, ''the'' last line in the book is [[Unreliable Narrator|said lead]] [[Downer Ending|writing off that possibility in his mind]]. [[True Art Is Angsty]].

 

* In ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldur's Gate 2]]'', Viconia does have a concept of what love is but, being from a race where sex is used for either only pleasure or to have power over somebody, is quite unfamiliar with the more intimate aspects, such as cuddling, and is quite confused when she starts to "feel an ache" whenever your apart.

* Gently spoofed in the [[Team Fortress 2]] "WAR!" comic, where [[Mission Control|The Administrator]] has to ask her assistant exactly what friends ''do'' together.

'''Alastor''': "[[The Power of Love|Love is power]]... I'll remember that." }}

 

* [[Magnificent Bastard|Azula]] of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' makes her first "miscalculation" because she never factored in [[The Power of Love]].

** Also, "The Beach" shows that she doesn't understand romance or flirting at all; her sales pitch is an outright [[We Can Rule Together]] because she doesn't have the slightest clue what else she can say to seem attractive.

 

== Other ==

* [[Big Bad|Dead Master]] from ''[[Black Rock Shooter]]'' cannot figure out why the eponymous character keeps holding out her hand as an invitation to fight, after the fight has already started. {{spoiler|She also freaks out when she receives a [[Cooldown Hug]] due to her not knowing what the hell her enemy's doing. Though she could have just been expecting some sort of [[Finish Him!|finishing blow]]}}.

 

 

* ''[[A for Andromeda]]''. Fleming explains to Andromeda (a synthetic woman created and controlled by an alien-designed [[Master Computer]]) the difference between right and wrong ('nasty' and 'nice') by pinching and then stroking her. Later on Fleming grabs her for a snog, though by that stage she has already started to develop emotions, including concern for his life.

* ''[[Fringe]]'': The episode ''August'' is about an Observer who saves a girl from dying in a plane crash, in violation of the Observers' rule against interference, and eventually sacrifices his own life to protect her. As he's dying he explains why to September:

* The phrase is referenced on ''[[Would I Lie to You]]'' by Lee Mack to mock David Mitchell after he phrases a sentence strangely ("What did the vending machine... vend?").

 

* In ''[[Leftover Soup]]'', Maxine's D&D character (a [[Nonhuman Humanoid Hybrid|half-fey thri-kreen]] bard) [http://leftoversoup.com/archive.php?num=74 uses this as a pickup line.]

* At one point in ''[[Narbonic]]'', Mell says "Oh, Artie ... You understand everything except this thing called love." Actually, what Artie doesn't understand is the weird [[Foe Yay]] thing Helen and Professor Madblood have, and why Dave is attacted to a woman who uses him as a [[Tested on Humans|test subject]]. And he's quite happy not understanding these things.

 

* There's a [http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/linux-jokes-334249/#post1699455 series of old jokes] with *NIX commands giving "meaningful answers". One of them is

{{quote|make love