Basic Trope: A character grows cynical in terms of romance.
- Straight: Harold, who is now cynical, considers The Power of Love as utter nonsense.
- Exaggerated: Harold becomes a Straw Nihilist who dismisses all of The Four Loves.
- Downplayed: Harold's fall from love's good graces results in a simple passive aggressive attitude.
- Justified:
- Harold thought that falling in love with Kim was the greatest thing he felt, but it all goes south when she cheats on him for another guy.
- Kim turns out to be abusive and bitchy.
- Harold was a Love Martyr who tried to redeem the abusive Kim, which failed and only led to him being traumatized after she tried to kill him.
- Harold's parents had an Awful Wedded Life, leading him to believe this is where all relationships end up.
- Inverted: Harold turns idealistic with The Power of Love.
- Subverted: After a heavy break-up, Harold shrugs off the loss and seems pretty happy.
- Double Subverted: ...Until he comes back into the plot with serious emotional trauma.
- Parodied:
- After breaking up with Kim, Harold denounces romance in front of his entire town. Cue Gilligan Cut to him falling head over heels for Lisa the next day.
- Harold initiates a Toilet Seat Divorce, and spends the next year Wangsting about how all love is a waste of time because his ex wasn't 100% perfect.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: The break-up saddens Harold, but doesn't lead to him becoming cynical about love.
- Enforced:
- The author, who had horrible experience with love, writes Harold as his mouthpiece for how he feels about it in the story.
- The execs notice that snarking at romance stories is trendy, and tell the writer to make fun of The Power of Love.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: Kim wants to destroy Harold emotionally, so she goes out of her way to make the break-up as painful as possible.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: "So what if Kim cheated on me. There's always plenty of fish in the sea."
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Played For Drama: Kim used to be Harold's Living Emotional Crutch. Her betrayal hurt him deeply.
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