History LovePotion / Literature

* In the ''Literature/VitaNuova'', [[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante]] admits that if his speech could fully communicate the worth of his lady, it would turn any of his listeners into lovers.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' mentions love potions, but their effects and the way they're seen evolve over the course of the books. In earlier books, they're seen as something of a novelty, but in later books, this view is [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstrusted]] and are now seen as the magical equivalent of [[SlippingAMickey date rape drugs]]. Later books also clarify that no potion can create genuine love but rather just intense infatuation. In fact, love potions are the reason why [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] exists in the first place as his mother drugging his father to elope with her led to him abandoning her before his birth, her dying in childbirth and Voldemort being raised in loveless conditions that contributed to making him the monster that he became. Enforcement tends to vary; while they're not allowed at Hogwarts, you can buy them in shops and smuggle them into the school pretty easily.

* In ''[[Literature/DragonridersOfPern Dragonsdawn]]'', Pernese colonist Sallah Telgar wants to settle down, and becomes infatuated with the much-older scientist Tarvi Andiyar. While they are on an expedition together, she doses his food with an aphrodisiac, which leads to her getting pregnant, and [[ShotgunWedding they marry]]; the marriage isn't the most successful, due to Tarvi's preoccupation with his work, although they do have three more children. [[spoiler:By the time of Sallah's tragic death, however, Tarvi truly loves her, and he's devastated by her loss.]]
* In a short story from one of the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' collections, a kender (not Tas) has "borrowed" a pouch from a mage he was travelling with. At the Inn of the Last Home, he finds that while the pouch is perfect for his collection, it is full of a strange powder. He dumps it in the just-inspected ale-brewing equipment. The night the barrel of that particular brewing is served is very interesting at the inn, since the powder is of the love/lust-inducing-at-first-sight variety. [[spoiler:Subverted at the end, when Otik Sandeth chooses not to use the doctored ale to gain the wife he longs for.]]

** The Parliament of Dragons want Melisande to have a son, because that son will inherit powerful magic which the dragons can point at the BigBad Maristara (more easily than they can point Melisande herself). They therefore give Melisande and Edward a potion which makes them want each other (and also guarantees successful conception).
** Evelina later gets Marcus to drink absinthe, which makes him aroused enough to declare he loves her, nearly having sex with her as a result. His allergic reaction precludes it though.

* ''Literature/TheHalfbloodChronicles'': In ''Elvenbane'', a complex multi-stage glamorie is used to by an elven Lady to get one of the half-elven to become completely devoted to her; he doesn't realize she's slowly casting him under a spell, and thinks he's falling in love. Luckily, [[spoiler:unfinished glamories are fragile things; physical impacts, such as those from a former slave-lover, tend to disrupt them]].
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' mentions love potions, but their effect and the way they're seen evolves over the course of the books. In earlier books, they're seen as something of a novelty, but in later books, this view is [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstrusted]] and are now seen as the magical equivalent [[SlippingAMickey date rape drugs]]. Later books also clarify that no potion can create genuine love, but rather just intense infatuation. In fact, love potions are the reason why [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] exists in the first place as his mother drugging his father to elope with her lead to him abandoning her before his birth, her dying in childbirth and Voldemort being raised in loveless conditions that contributed to making him the monster that he became. Enforcement tends to vary; while they're not allowed at Hogwarts, you can buy them in shops and smuggle them into the school pretty easily.
** One of the earliest mentions of love potions is Harry overhearing Mrs. Weasley admit to Ginny and Hermione that she used one in school once, which just elicits giggles from them, as if it's typical schoolgirl antics. It contrasts sharply with the attitudes toward them in later books, particularly with Hermione's angry reaction to discovering that Fred and George are selling them in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]''. Maybe they just grew up a little bit. It's also the source of a common AlternativeCharacterInterpretation for Molly.

* ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'': In ''Dragon Bones'', there is an offhand mention of an herbal aphrodisiac that the protagonist's mother had in her garden. It is used as a comparison when [[spoiler:one of the characters is tortured, and notices that the torturer is a sadist who gets turned on by it. He compares the effect of his suffering on the torturer]] to that of said aphrodisiac on more normal people... which raises the question how [[spoiler:he, being underage when he left home, even ''knows'' about this]].

* A whole industry of non-functional love spells can be found in ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell''. There was a spell to store emotions in amber, then when the amber melted the emotions spread to those nearby. Presumably, this could be used with love, although the actual examples were courage and fear for your and the other side's army respectively. It also featured a rather clever use of love spells [[spoiler:Childermass buys a knowingly non-functional spell from Vinculus to use on a princess, bringing the [[BoyfriendBlockingDad wrath of the King]] down on Vinculus. Turns out he needn't have bothered.]]

* ''Literature/{{Kronk}}'' has Insex (Instant Sex), a tablet which acts as an instant aphrodisiac. Possession of it alone qualifies a person for an Attempted Rape charge.

** In ''Kushiel's Mercy'', [[spoiler:the visiting general of a neighbouring empire gets his magician to make Sidonie fall in love with him using a spell that involves a very small tattoo between her shoulder blades. It also causes her to forget all about her passion for Imriel -- though, as it turns out, it's not wholly effective. The spell is broken when Imriel cuts the tattoo from her skin. Needless to say, when she comes around, Sidonie is ''pissed'']]. In this, the UnfortunateImplications of using a love potion -- namely, that it's effectively rape -- are fully spelled out.

* The ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'' series by Max Frei is about a world with strong magic, including love potions. It's not clean and reliable, though, and sometimes the victim is poisoned. The surest way to heal this is for the guilty to immediately, ahem, [[IntimateHealing proceed with the seduction]] to the end. Fortunately, the limitation of the magic means that only very weak and safe variants are used, unless someone is lovesick enough to risk imprisonment just for making it. But the only guy who tasted it in the book managed to die at the first sip anyway -- for nothing, [[IdiotBall because he was already quite charmed in the natural way]]. The victim, of course, was rather surprised by the new disposition upon revival... but willing to repeat the whole sequence if necessary [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments and claiming he needs regular prophylactics to stay alive]]. It ended up just very embarrassing, for everyone involved.
-->-- ''Wait, when I managed to seduce you? Of course sometimes I talk in my sleep and all that, but it never occurred to me that even death has no power to shut me up!''

* In the ''Literature/MaledictionTrilogy'', Catherine the witch (in her BackStory) is forced to prepare a love potion for her mysterious and highly dangerous employer. She has no choice but to fulfill the wish, and while the potion works perfectly well, it all backfires horribly, leading to her being banned from the court and forced to live in the poorest slums of the city.

* In the ''Literature/NightWorld'' book ''Spellbinder'', Thea accidentally challenges Blaise's skills by saying she couldn't attract her soulmate. Blaise's response is to use a love charm. [[spoiler:Not only does ''this'' not work, it still doesn't work when he is enchanted to hate Thea.]]

* In ''Literature/ThePerilousGard'', this trope is subverted. [[spoiler:Kate thinks Christopher has fallen in love with her sister Alicia. The queen of the fairies offers her a token that will supposedly make Christopher love her, which Kate declines, because she would always know that he only loved her due to a potion. She finds out later that Christopher loves her, and the queen knew that, and the token was most likely nothing at all but a quiet form of revenge on the part of the queen.]]

* Tom Holt's JWW series, beginning with ''Literature/ThePortableDoor'', centers around J.W. Wells' famous "love philtre", which always works -- it knocks the drinker out for twenty minutes, and they fall in love with the first person of the opposite sex they see. There have to be something like five or six instances of this throughout the series, nearly always with horrific potential. As in all his books, Holt plays fast and loose with consistency, and a love philtre which "always" works somehow generally finds a way to wear off. [[spoiler:At least until the very end of the third book, where the "hero" and "heroine" (if they can be described as such) are finally given such a heavy dose of the thing that they spend the rest of eternity making dovey-eyes at each other]].

* ''Literature/SchooledInMagic'': They're available outside Whitehall, but banned inside. A love potion's effect can be permanent, and lessened only if redirected onto something else. It's stated any student caught with them will wish they were merely expelled. The ones outside Whitehall apparently don't really work, just give people confidence, and true love potions are much rarer. Later some are shown to be sold which only work if people drink them willingly, to insure a married couple stays in love to conceive a child.

* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' makes mention of the morality issue; using a glamour spell, the series' equivalent of this, is seen by characters as tantamount to rape. Sorceresses who use it are either executed or expelled from the Palace of the Prophets (the Palace has a spell which [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld slows down aging to about 10%]], so there is little difference between the two for the exiles).
* In the world of ''Literature/TalesFromNetheredge'' two "pleasure drugs" are commonly used -- Tiger's Eye and Black Root -- that put the recipient into a sexually submissive or dominant mood, respectively. No mention is made of their distribution and use being regulated (but then this is a [[CrapsackWorld setting where human trafficking seems to be perfectly legal]], too). Clever pharmacists make use of the drugs' side effects as well: for example, a minuscule dose of Tiger's Eye is a part of a healing tonic.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov, inspired by the Creator/GilbertAndSullivan operetta ''Theatre/TheSorcerer'', wrote a short story titled "The Up-to-date Sorcerer", in which the Professor's potion works because of TechnoBabble instead of magic. It's a slightly more ethical potion than the usual sort, as it only works on people who aren't married. Predictably, it ends up making the pretty young girl fall for the wrong person, and all parties involved try to figure a way out of this mess. [[spoiler:When they remember that the potion has no effect on married people, they realize that if the girl marries the guy the potion made her fall for, the potion will no longer work. They do, the potion wears off, they get the marriage annulled, and the girl goes back to dating the guy she was originally interested in.]]
* ''Literature/VillainsDontDateHeroes'': [[spoiler:Smarmy reporter/supervillain Rex]] was apparently using his mind control to build himself a harem. It's strongly implied that he had been [[spoiler:raping Fialux this way for months, if not years. It might be for the best that she doesn't remember anything that happened while she was under hypnosis]].

** The characters plan to employ a more traditional one (''i.e.'' causing love instead of lust) to solve the magic-induced LoveTriangle between Prince Dolph, Nada, and Electra. Electra is cursed to love Dolph and will die if he doesn't marry her. Dolph loves the sexy Nada instead, and Nada just considers him a friend but must marry him for political reasons. To fix this, Electra will marry Dolph, take a potion to nullify the magic love she has for him the next day then divorce him, and then Nada will take a love potion so she can marry Dolph. Instead, Electra's potion doesn't work because she truly ''does'' love Dolph, Dolph decides he loves her back during their one night of marriage, and Nada doesn't need to take the potion after all.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' mentions love potions, but their effect and the way they're seen evolves over the course of the books. In earlier books, they're seen as something of a novelty, but in later books, this view is [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstrusted]] and are now seen as the magical equivalent [[SlippingAMickey date rape drugs]]. Later books also clarify that no potion can create genuine love, but rather just intense infatuation. In fact, love potions are the reason why [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] exists in the first place as a child concieved by a love potion could never comprehend true love. Enforcement tends to vary; while they're not allowed at Hogwarts, you can buy them in shops and smuggle them into the school pretty easily.

** ''Literature/StormFront'' Has Harry saying in his ad that he categorically will not make them for people, but Bob, his perverted magical assistant, refuses to help Harry make the escape potion he actually wants to make unless he makes (but not necessarily uses) a love potion too. It contains conventional (perfume, chocolate) and not-so-conventional (excerpts from a cheesy romance novel, a torn-up $50 bill in lieu of diamonds) ingredients. Despite (or perhaps because of) being called a "love" potion, it's more of a ''really effective'' aphrodisiac than anything else. Susan accidentally drinks it instead of the aforementioned escape potion when she and Harry are cornered by a demon, and HilarityEnsues.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' mentions love potions, but their effect and the way they're seen evolves over the course of the books. In earlier books, they're seen as something of a novelty, but in later books, this view is [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstrusted]] and are now seen as the magical equivalent [[SlippingAMickey date rape drugs]]. Later books also clarify that no potion can create genuine love, but rather just intense infatuation. In fact, love potions are the reason why [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] exists in the first place as a child concieved by a love potion could never comprehend tgrue love. Enforcement tends to vary; while they're not allowed at Hogwarts, you can buy them in shops and smuggle them into the school pretty easily.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' mentions love potions, but their effect and the way they're seen evolves over the course of the books. In earlier books, they're seen as something of a novelty, but in later books, this view is [[DeconstrustedTrope Deconstrusted]] and are now seen as the magical equivalent [[SlippingAMickey date rape drugs]]. Later books also clarify that no potion can create genuine love, but rather just intense infatuation. In fact, love potions are the reason why [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] exists in the first place as a child concieved by a love potion could never comprehend tgrue love. Enforcement tends to vary; while they're not allowed at Hogwarts, you can buy them in shops and smuggle them into the school pretty easily.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' mentions love potions, but their effect and the way they're seen evolves over the course of the books. In earlier books, they're seen as something of a novelty, but in later books, they're seen more or less as [[SlippingAMickey date rape drugs]]. Later books also clarify that no potion can create genuine love, but rather just intense infatuation. Enforcement tends to vary; while they're not allowed at Hogwarts, you can buy them in shops and smuggle them into the school pretty easily.

* In ''Literature/TheHuskyAndHisWhiteCatShizunErhaHeTaDeBaiMaoShizun'', the first item up for bid at the auction at Xuanyuan Pavilion is Hanlin the Sage's Love Pills, guaranteed to make the drinker fall in love for ten years with no antidote. The pills sell very quickly, to Mo Ran's amusement and Chu Wanning's outrage.

* ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'': In ''Literature/DragonBones'', there is an offhand mention of an herbal aphrodisiac that the protagonist's mother had in her garden. It is used as a comparison when [[spoiler:one of the characters is tortured, and notices that the torturer is a sadist who gets turned on by it. He compares the effect of his suffering on the torturer]] to that of said aphrodisiac on more normal people... which raises the question how [[spoiler:he, being underage when he left home, even ''knows'' about this]].

* In Creator/LordDunsany's ''Literature/TheCharwomansShadow'', the hero's sister gets a love potion and uses it on the duke. The duke falls ''deathly'' ill. Terrified, she nurses him back to health, [[FlorenceNightingaleEffect during which he falls in love with her]].
* John Collier's short story "The Chaser", which inspired an episode of ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'', involves a DoggedNiceGuy who buys a love potion for just one dollar to win over his unrequited love interest. The seller keeps talking about a $1000 "glove cleaner", hinting that although he does not know if it cleans gloves, it does work as a PerfectPoison. He also indicates that using the love potion will turn his love interest into a ClingyJealousGirl. Significantly more creepy than the episode based on it, the entire story is told as the conversation between the buyer and the seller, strongly implying that the young man will at some point be back for the [[PerfectPoison glove cleaner]] as the eponymous "chaser" to the love potion.

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', there is an offhand mention of a herbal aphrodisiac that the protagonist's mother had in her garden. It is used as a comparison when [[spoiler:one of the characters is tortured, and notices that the torturer is a sadist who gets turned on by it. He compares the effect of his suffering on the torturer]] to that of said aphrodisiac on more normal people. Which raises the question how [[spoiler:he, being underage when he left home, even ''knows'' about this]].

* In a short story from one of the ''Dragonlance'' collections, a kender (not Tas) has "borrowed" a pouch from a mage he was travelling with. At the Inn of the Last Home, he finds that while the pouch is perfect for his collection, it is full of a strange powder. He dumps it in the just-inspected ale-brewing equipment. The night the barrel of that particular brewing is served is very interesting at the inn, since the powder is of the love/lust-inducing-at-first-sight variety. [[spoiler:Subverted at the end, when Otik Sandeth chooses not to use the doctored ale to gain the wife he longs for.]]

** Two of the ''Dresden'' short stories involve variations on the concept:

* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'': The book ''BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor'' has a non-romantic variation where a dorky girl helps an old woman, who turns out to be a witch and gives her three wishes for her kindness. She wishes that the AlphaBitch in her class who always bullies her will think that she's the greatest person who ever lived. They quickly become [=BFFs=], to everyone else's confusion, but the AlphaBitch in question becomes so obsessed with her new best friend that she can't stop thinking about her and shows up to her house in the middle of the night.
* ''Literature/TheHalfbloodChronicles'': ''Elvenbane'': A complex multi-stage glamorie is used to by an elven Lady to get one of the half-elven to become completely devoted to her; he doesn't realize she's slowly casting him under a spell, and thinks he's falling in love. Luckily, [[spoiler:unfinished glamories are fragile things; physical impacts, such as those from a former slave-lover, tend to disrupt them]].

''[[{{Facepalm}} Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands.]] [[TranquilFury Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison.]]''

* In ''Literature/{{Dragonvarld}}'', certain people want Melisande to have a son, because that son will inherit powerful magic which they can point at the BigBad. They therefore give Melisande and a man in her company a potion which makes them want each other (and also guarantees successful conception). It works, with neither of them knowing that a potion was involved (and therefore believing that they each betrayed their respective long-term partners).

* The Copper-Colored Cupids from [[Website/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids the eponymous series]] dip their arrows in Love Potion to make people fall in love whether they like it or not. The original formula of Love Potion was created by the Cupids' own MadScientist creator, but they then lost the formula and get their supplies directly from the goddess Aphrodite instead as "the next best thing".
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series:

* The aphrodisiac version occurs in TheEighties pulp series ''Literature/DoomsdayWarrior'' when the DirtyCommunists decide to psychologically torment our hero by injecting him with a drug that makes him randy, then chain him to a wall facing a beautiful female captive. As she'd rather lose her virginity by choice to the manly hero than through being gang-raped by the KGB guards, she works out how to slip free of her bonds and CoitusEnsues.

* A whole industry of non-functional love spells can be found in ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell''. There was a spell to store emotions in amber, then when the amber melted the emotions spread to those nearby. Presumably, this could be used with love, although the actual examples were courage and fear for your and the other side's army respectively. It also featured a rather clever use of love spells [[spoiler:Childermass buys a knowingly non-functional spell from Vinculus to use on a princess, bringing the [[OverprotectiveDad wrath of the King]] down on Vinculus. Turns out he needn't have bothered.]]

** In ''Half-Blood Prince'', we see some of the true effects of love potions. First, we see Harry pick up a StalkerWithACrush who tries to slip him a love potion (but it hits Ron instead, and Harry has to save him). Later, we find out that [[BigBad Voldemort's]] own mother, Merope Gaunt, used a love potion on her crush, Tom Riddle, and thus conceived Voldemort. Dumbledore speculates that since love potions cannot replicate love, this is why Voldemort [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove cannot understand love himself]]. He further speculates that Merope must have made a particularly powerful one for it to work as effectively as it did, but that she felt guilty and stopped giving him the potion in the hope that he would grow to really love her. He didn't, she dropped Voldemort off at an OrphanageOfFear, and thus is the villain's StartOfDarkness. Given the nature of Merope's [[AbusiveParents highly dysfunctional family]], she's painted as almost sympathetic, but Harry reaches the conclusion that love potions are comparable to dark magic. Neither he nor Dumbledore blame Riddle Sr. for running away from her the first chance he got and never finding out what happened to either her or Jr.

** ''Literature/StormFront'' has Harry making a love potion at Bob's request (mostly because Bob won't shut up about it), containing conventional (perfume, chocolate) and not-so-conventional (excerpts from a cheesy romance novel, a torn-up $50 bill in lieu of diamonds) ingredients. Despite (or perhaps because of) being called a "love" potion, it's more of a ''really effective'' aphrodisiac than anything else. Susan accidentally drinks it instead of a teleport potion when she and Harry are cornered by a demon, and HilarityEnsues.

* OlderThanPrint: One version of ''Literature/TristanAndIsolde'' has the eponymous lovers drinking a mixture from a vial, thinking it was a lethal poison, only to discover instead that it was a love potion. Another version has Isolde's maid giving her a love potion and telling her to use it with her betrothed husband, King Mark. Isolde instead chooses to use it on her beloved Tristan, even though she knows the two of them can't be together. Still another version has them drink it accidentally, mistaking it for wine, or one where Isolde is already in love with Tristan and he alone drinks the potion meant for Ysolde (so she'd fall in love with Mark).

* OlderThanPrint: One version of ''Literature/TristanAndIsolde'' has the eponymous lovers drinking a mixture from a vial, thinking it was a lethal poison, only to discover instead that it was a love potion. Another version has Isolde's maid giving her a love potion and telling her to use it with her betrothed husband, King Mark. Isolde instead chooses to use it on her beloved Tristan, even though she knows the two of them can't be together. Still another version has them drink it accidentally, mistaking it for wine, or one where Isolde is already in love with Tristan and he alone drinks the potion meant for Ysolde (so she'd fall in love with Mark).
%%* Historic examples of what Ancient Romans believed to be love potions are features in ''Literature/TheRomanMysteries'' novel ''The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina''.
%%* [[Literature/{{Reckless}} The Mirrorworld Series]]: Don't drink the Lark's Water.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov, inspired by the Creator/GilbertAndSullivan operetta ''Theatre/TheSorcerer'', wrote a short story titled "The Up-to-date Sorcerer", in which the Professor's potion works because of TechnoBabble instead of magic. It's a slightly more ethical potion than the usual sort, as it only works on people who aren't married. Predictably, it ends up making the pretty young girl fall for the wrong person, and all parties involved try to figure a way out of this mess. [[spoiler:When they remember that the potion has no effect on married people, they realize that if the girl marries the guy the potion made her fall for, the potion will no longer work. They do, the potion wears off, they get the marriage annulled, and the girl goes back to dating the guy she was originally interested in.]]

* ''Literature/VillainsDontDateHeroes'': [[spoiler:Smarmy reporter/supervillain Rex]] was apparently using his mind control to build himself a harem. It's strongly implied that he had been [[spoiler:raping Fialux this way for months, if not years. It might be for the best that she doesn't remember anything that happened while she was under hypnosis]].
* In ''Literature/TheShadowhunterChronicles'', love spells are considered black magic because they impose certain feelings on another person. Witches who trade potions of love must fear severe punishments from the [[{{Nephilim}} Shadowhunters]]. However, an exception is made if it is a potion that only [[KissingUnderTheInfluence increases sexual desire]] and both are inadvertently ingested. The latter potions are particularly popular by [[TheFairFolk fairies]].
* In the world of ''Literature/TalesFromNetheredge'' two "pleasure drugs" are commonly used -- Tiger's Eye and Black Root -- that put the recipient into a sexually submissive or dominant mood, respectively. No mention is made of their distribution and use being regulated (but then this is a [[CrapsackWorld setting where human trafficking seems to be perfectly legal]], too). Clever pharmacists make use of the drugs' side effects as well: for example, a minuscule dose of Tiger's Eye is a part of a healing tonic.
* The aphrodisiac version occurs in TheEighties pulp series ''Doomsday Warrior'' when the DirtyCommunists decide to psychologically torment our hero by injecting him with a drug that makes him randy, then chain him to a wall facing a beautiful female captive. As she'd rather lose her virginity by choice to the manly hero than through being gang-raped by the KGB guards, she works out how to slip free of her bonds and CoitusEnsues.

** The characters plan to employ a more traditional one (''i.e.'' causing love instead of lust) to solve the magic-induced LoveTriangle between Prince Dolph, Nada, and Electra. Electra is cursed to love Dolph and will die if he doesn't marry her. Dolph loves the sexy Nada instead, and Nada just considers him a friend but must marry him for political reasons. To fix this, Electra will take a potion to nullify the magic love she has for Dolph, marry him, divorce him the next day, and then Nada will take a love potion so she can marry Dolph. Instead, Electra's potion doesn't work because she truly ''does'' love Dolph, Dolph decides he loves her back during their one night of marriage, and Nada doesn't need to take the potion after all.

* ''Literature/TheHalfbloodChronicles'': ''Elvenbane'': A complex multi-stage glamorie is used to by an elven Lady to get one of the half-elven to become completely devoted to her; he doesn't realize she's slowly casting him under a spell, and thinks he's falling in love. Luckily, [[spoiler:unfinished glamories are fragile things; physical impacts, such as those from a former slave-lover, tend to disrupt them]].

* ''Literature/Literature/TheHalfbloodChronicles'': ''Elvenbane'': A complex multi-stage glamorie is used to by an elven Lady to get one of the half-elven to become completely devoted to her; he doesn't realize she's slowly casting him under a spell, and thinks he's falling in love. Luckily, [[spoiler:unfinished glamories are fragile things; physical impacts, such as those from a former slave-lover, tend to disrupt them]].

* ''Literature/{{Elvenbane}}'': A complex multi-stage glamorie is used to by an elven Lady to get one of the half-elven to become completely devoted to her; he doesn't realize she's slowly casting him under a spell, and thinks he's falling in love. Luckily, [[spoiler:unfinished glamories are fragile things; physical impacts, such as those from a former slave-lover, tend to disrupt them]].

** In ''Half-Blood Prince'', we see some of the true effects of love potions. First, we see Harry pick up a StalkerWithACrush who tries to slip him a love potion (but it hits Ron instead, and Harry has to save him). Later, we find out that [[BigBad Voldemort's]] own mother, Merope Gaunt, used a love potion on her crush, Tom Riddle, and thus conceived Voldemort. Dumbledore speculates that since love potions cannot replicate love, this is why Voldemort [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove cannot understand love himself]]. He further speculates that Merope must have made a particularly powerful one for it to work as effectively as it did, but that she felt guilty and stopped giving him the potion in the hope that he would grow to really love her. He didn't, she dropped Voldemort off at an OrphanageOfFear, and thus is the villain's StartOfDarkness. Given the nature of Merope's [[AbusiveParents highly dysfunctional family]], she's painted as almost sympathetic, but Harry reaches the conclusion that love potions are comparable to dark magic.