The Power of Hate: Difference between revisions

[[File:powerOfHate 5451.jpg|link=Penny Arcade|frame|Yes, hate is really that powerful.]]

 

 

{{quote|''"With hate, all things are possible. And my hate is strong!"''|'''Malus Darkblade'''}}

 

Contrast with [[The Power of Love]] and [[The Power of Friendship]]. See also [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]], which this trope more often than not leads to.

{{examples}}

 

* ''[[Black Butler]]''. Earl Phantomhive is driven by hatred and anger, not to mention the need for revenge. It is this quality that allows him to command his invincible [[Battle Butler]], Sebastian - and, most impressively, shrug off a [[Lotus Eater Machine]] later in the series. An angel attempted to 'revise' his past, showing him his now-dead parents welcoming him back with open arms, telling him to let go of his hatred and just join them in love and happiness. He refuses, turning his back on them to continue pursuing vengeance for both their fates and his own, thus allowing him to escape with his memories and sanity intact.

* In [[Slayers]], all [[Omnicidal Maniac|Mazoku]] [[Emotion Eater|feed on negative emotions]]. The more they hate you, and the more you hate them, the stronger they get.

* Lucia has a bone to pick with the whole planet in ''[[Rave Master]]''. Even though his main goal is to get to the original world, he's willing to take the chance he gets to destroy the world everyone lives in first. For bonus points, the final form of his sword is literally powered by his hatred.

 

* At his worst, Lex Luthor is driven purely by his [[Irrational Hatred]] of [[Superman]]. The idea of dying before Superman does sickens Lex to the point that he will force himself to cheat death.

* [[Batman]]. In some of his incarnations, the hate for the villain that killed his parents drives him to be the Batman. (Other incarnations are more about justice, or protecting people.)

* The Saint of Killers from ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' used his hatred to survive the torture of Hell and even freeze it over, eventually letting Satan release him so he could continue acting on his hatred in the name of God.

 

 

* [[Conan the Barbarian]] (the film version), of Thulsa Doom.

* The title curse of ''[[The Grudge]]'' is the result of someone dying in a state of extreme fear or anger. {{spoiler|The same fate befalls some of the protagonists of the movies because of the fear of being killed.}}

* ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'': Khan's rage and hatred give him the strength to launch one final [[Taking You with Me]] attack on Kirk and the Enterprise. As well as providing inspiration for some great last words (quoted from [[Moby Dick]]).

 

* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''--

** The power of hate is explicitly said to be why Dumbledore is considered weaker (technically) than Voldemort. Voldemort, being fueled by hate, is willing to use evil magic like horcruxes or curses. Dumbledore doesn't because he's still sane enough to realize [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|the cost of such power]].

** A speech to the effect of "live and get revenge" is what motivates {{spoiler|Jaime Lannister}} to not lie down and die after his sword hand is cut off. It is testament to how bad things have gotten that this rather depressing suggestion comes from a character who is normally the epitome of the [[Knight in Shining Armour]].

 

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', the Narn are hugely motivated by their hatred of the Centauri. Londo even claims that if you got together all the Narn and got them to hate simultaneously, they would destroy Centauri Prime. The hatred is quite mutual.

* Similarly, in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' Bajorans and Cardassians are motivated by a mutual hatred.

* The [[Monster of the Week]] of one episode of ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' was a sorcerer who could drain all the goodness out of a person to feed himself, turning the victim to stone in the process. One character is immune to this, and he explains to Xena that he concentrated on negative emotions like hate, so the sorcerer couldn't feed on him. Xena does the same thing in order to fight the sorcerer.

 

Especially if played in the order listed:

 

** In the 4th edition, Chaplains had a rule called Litanies of Hate that allowed an attached squad to reroll failed to hit rolls. In 5th edition, its name was changed to Litanies of Battle. Preferred enemy is also fueled by the power of hate.

** Khorne is hate made manifest.

** The High King of Dwarves invokes this by coming to battle equipped with the "Book of Grudges", a huge tome filled with all the transgressions other races have committed against the dwarves. He picks the entries relevant to the current enemy and reads them like a litany, making sure his retinue goes to battle with the proper attitude.

** The "hatred" special rule gives units bonuses when fighting their hated enemy. Some units take things a step further and can re-roll attacks against a specific enemy, but only in the first round of combat with any given unit - after that, the hate's expended until you pick a new target. Certain units (like all Dark Elves, towards High Elves) have "Eternal Hatred" - such raw, unbridled ''loathing'' that they can re-roll attacks against their enemies ''every'' combat round.

* Kimbery in ''[[Exalted]]'' has access to a variety of powers that take her ability to individually hate everyone in existence (unlike most characters, she can, too) and gain benefits from that hate, such as an arbitrarily large increase to Dodge DV (making her briefly almost invulnerable except against attacks that can't be dodged).

 

* This is stated to be the reason [[Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl]] Alma is still around (along with her [[Psychic Powers]]) and boiling people into bloody skeletons in ''[[F.E.A.R.]]''. {{spoiler|Being left to drown to death by your own father in a sealed lab after being impregnated at a young age and having the children taken away will upset people like that.}}

* The [[Pokémon]] attack Frustration deals more damage if the user dislikes its owner.

** {{spoiler|Pure hatred for [[Complete Monster|Master]] [[Badass Grandpa|Xehanort]] is what reanimated Terra's armor to fight him once MX committed [[Grand Theft Me]] on his body.}}

** After Scar was killed by his own nephew Simba, it turned that his hatred was so strong that it not only bought him back immediately from the dead but it turned him to a [[The Heartless|Heartless]] as well, and yet he kept his original form. So far only Xehanort had been able to do that when he turned into a heartless, and usually only those individuals with a enormous set of darkness in their hearts and an extremely strong will can do that. Lampshaded by Pete of all people.

* This is ultimately what drives Caim of ''[[Drakengard]]'' throughout the games. His [[Foil]] Nowe in the sequel however is driven by [[The Power of Love]].

* ''[[Live a Live|Live-A-Live]]'': "[[As Long as There Is Evil|As long as there is hatred]], anyone can become a demon." And how...

* [[The Dragon|Sion]] in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]] 2'' is a corpse held together by the power of his own hate. If you convince him to let go of his hate, his consciousness falls apart.

* If hatred was a metal and ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' regular Scorpion was a blacksmith, then he most certainly forged a BFS out of it. A BFS that he promptly drove through [[The Rival|Sub-Zero's]] heart.

* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', Zaeed Massani claims this is what allowed him to survive being ''shot point blank in the head'':

{{quote|'''Zaeed''': Rage is a hell of an anesthetic.}}

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series, {{spoiler|it is explained in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|Skyward Sword]]'' that Ganon is the manifestation of the hatred of [[Bigger Bad|Demise]]. Demise curses the descendants of the first Link and Zelda to forever fight his incarnation of hatred.}}

* In ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'' creatures deal 50% more damages to the creatures they intrinsically hate.

* In ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', Asura's endless, boundless, pure, absolute '''hatred''' of the people that betrayed him and who are destroying and exploiting the world around him are what gives him his seemingly impossible ability to keep on fighting and draw upon enough power to destroy entire fleets. In the climax of the DLC episodes, he fights {{spoiler|Chakravartin, who is essentially '''[[God]]''', and wins, while fighting on pure hatred.}}

 

 

* Every member of Kyran's race in ''[[Emergency Exit]]'' is fueled by some emotion or another. [[Captain Obvious|His is hate.]]

* ''[[Homestuck]]''--

* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'': "I hate you so much. [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/4/9/ I wish I could hate you to death]."

* Part of Zola's invincibility in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' comes from this, keeping her standing long after she should have gone down. {{spoiler|The other part of her invincibility comes from [[Bottled Heroic Resolve|drugs]]. Drugs which should have caused her system to go into overdrive and self-destruct, except that, you guessed it, the power of hatred let her use that energy instead}}.

 

* ''[[Cracked.com]]'' pointed out that [http://www.cracked.com/article_18956_5-scientific-reasons-dark-side-will-always-win.html thinking angry or evil thoughts makes you more physically stronger and more enduring than thinking happy or good thoughts].

 

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', after Zuko completes his [[Heel Face Turn]], he loses most of his firepower, since he no longer has his burning anger to fuel his flames. In fact, firebending in general seems to lean toward this, at least the bastardized version that's been promoted since the start of the hundred-year-war. True firebending doesn't need hate, {{spoiler|as Aang and Zuko learn from the Sun Warriors.}}

* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' it has been revealed that hate is what keeps Monty Burns alive.

** Hate is also one of the powers of Cap's [[Evil Counterpart]], Captain Pollution.

* The Monarch of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' is motivated more by his hate for Rusty Venture than he is love for his wife. He once says that hate is what drives him - he hates ''himself'' more than most villains hate their archenemies.

* In ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'', Shagon, leader of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Knights of Destruction]] and [[The Dragon]] to [[The Chessmaster|Nerissa]] is called "The Angel of Malice" and literally draws his strength from other peoples' hatred (the other knights, being [[The Heartless]], draw strength from different negative emotions). The Guardians ultimately learn to weaken him somewhat by letting go of their hate for him.

* [[Meaningful Name|Discord]] from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' is pretty much the antithesis of the Elements Of Harmony, which run on the [[Power of Friendship]]. As such, he's [[Emotion Eater|able to get stronger]] from strife and fighting between ponies. The Cutie Mark Crusaders getting into a fight in front of him is what grants him enough strength to break free from [[Sealed Evil in a Can|his weakening stone prison]]. Though some have theorized that the Crusaders' fight was not a cause but a consequence of Discord's impending breakout, and that they were in truth his first victims. Whatever the case, Discord thrives off hate magic, using it to undermine [[The Power of Friendship]].

** The Windigos feed off of hatred and use it to spread deadly blizzards everywhere they go.

 

* Bismarck, the Prussian Chancellor responsible for the unification of Germany, is a good historical example. The man relied on people hating him as a source of motivation during times of difficulty. Take the following quote from Robert K Massie's ''Dreadnought'':

{{quote|Lying in bed, he mulled over grievances. “I have spent the whole night hating”, he said once. When no immediate object of hatred was available, he ransacked his memory to dredge up wrongs done to him years before.}}

[[Category:Power]]

[[Category:Hatred Tropes]]