Quackcast 734 - When love turns to hate

When love turns to hate… It's a common trope in fiction: partners split up and their once loving relationship turns to one of bitter acrimony! We see hate turning to love frequently too, that's another common trope, I saw both when I watched Willow again last night. Mad Martigan and Sorsha went from hate to love to hate to love again, and Sorsha and her mum Queen Bavmorda went from love to hate. It's a staple in fiction because it's a staple in reality.

It's such a solid staple in reality that many violent crimes and even deaths are caused by it at the extreme end. It's nasty in reality, but in fiction it's used for drama, comedy, plots, and inciting factors. It's fascinating to me that two very opposite feelings can be so closely related, I'd suppose that it's because of a few factors: passion can apply to anything, once you reach a level of extreme emotion, you're turned up to 11, it's very easy to switch from love to hate and the same passion level applies regardless. When you open yourself up to love you become very vulnerable and it's easy to be betrayed and hurt because of that. There are also biological and neurological factors: if the brain becomes used to the release of things like dopamine and oxytocin due to certain interactions but those hormones are no longer associated with those activities then you could feel rage and disappointment as a reaction instead as a sort of withdrawal- obviously I am NOT a neurologist.

This doesn't just apply to people but ideas and politics too. Saruman from the Lord of the Rings is a great example, his hate of the evil powers is twisted into it's own kind of love. In reality I notice that whenever a person shows a lot of passion over an idea they are apt to switch to its opposite: religious people who become atheists and vice versa. People on one side of politics (left or right) can be apt to switch if they're crazy passionate enough. Mussolini is the posterboy for that. For me I feel this with creative pursuits, when a creative partnership dissolves I can feel very badly about that person. I also feel this more with friendships than loving relationships.

So what are some good stories about love turning to hate or Vice Versa? War of the Roses is a classic of this genre. The relationship between Stirling Archer and Lana Kane is this back and forward, over and over. The Anime Masumune-Kun's Revenge follows the long plot of the lead character attempting to get revenge on the person he once loved and in the process falls in love with them again. One of the prettiest folk songs in the world is a song about hate: Scarborough Fair. It sounds like a beautiful love song but if you understand the lyrics you know that it's the opposite. The singer asks a person to relay messages to a person they once loved: if they can perform a bunch of utterly impossible things then they'll be a true love again. But of course those things can never be done because the true meaning is that the relationship over and all the lovely verses actually mean “GO F*** YOURSELF!”.

This week Gunwallace gave us a theme inspired by Clint - This is a Best-off Gunwallace from way back in the day, Quackcast 215! No idea what Clint was like because it’s been deleted totally from our site, but who cares, this music is what’s important! This is heavy, atmospheric, striking, panoramic and evocative. Gunwallace is a master at work.

Topics and shownotes

Links

Featured comic:
A Wing To The Stars - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/apr/01/featured-comic-a-wing-to-the-stars/

Featured music:
Clint - by 1rd2th3st.

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/

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