History Main / AppleOfDiscord

Compare ForbiddenFruit, RageJudo and YokoOhNo. For an object that everyone wants which drives them into conflict, see ArtifactOfAttraction and LootDrama. For a supernatural cause, see HatePlague. For the religion, see ''Literature/PrincipiaDiscordia'' and UsefulNotes/{{Discordianism}}.

-->'''Garfield:''' In the history of mankind, no two people have ever been able to agree on pizza toppings.

** The Ring itself has this effect on people ([[spoiler:Boromir and Sméagol]] in particular). This is be due to its magical influence and the natural temptation to use its power despite the danger. It's implied that the Hobbits' carefree and (relatively) friendly nature is what makes them so resistant to this property of the Ring.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short "The Truce Hurts": Tom, Jerry, and Spike make a pact to stop fighting. Then they find a steak and fight over how to divide it. When the steak ends up going down a sewer drain, Spike tears up their truce and the three go back to pummeling one another.

* In the [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Disney short]] "WesternAnimation/ToyTinkers" Donald Duck does this to Chip and Dale. Pretending to be Santa Claus he gives one a large walnut and the other a small walnut. Instantly they are fighting over who deserves the large one.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':
** Beast Boy and Aqualad pull this off on the clones that a villain made of himself. The villain had an enormous ego and believe he was perfect, as did his clones. The effect of the question "If you're all perfect, which one of you is the best?" should not be hard to imagine.
** An earlier episode had a more humorous example where the normally cohesive Titans were unable to agree on pizza toppings. (Notably, Starfire thought mint frosting was a topping and suggested that they have it on their pizza.)
* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'': Garfield once got the Buddy Bears, [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong those bastions of conformity and cooperation]], off his back by asking them what they want on their pizza. Garfield even {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this by stating it to be a fundamental human behavior, since even the parents each have their own disagreeable and contentious opinions on which pizza topping combo is the best.
-->'''Garfield:''' In the history of mankind, no two people have ever been able to agree on pizza toppings.

** The mane characters (plus Vinyl Scratch) are immune to the HatePlague, so the Dazzlings resort to physical and psychological means of causing discord between the Rainbooms so they can [[EmotionEater feed on their emotional energy]] as well, [[NearVillainVictory and in fact succeed]], until Sunset and Twilight manage to defuse the Rainbooms' arguments.
* As mentioned above, Eris from ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', while the apple is more of an ArtifactOfDoom, in one episode where she appears, Eris "[[BlatantLies gives up]] on chaos" and gives the apple to the trio, Grim tries to seal it away, Mandy wants to become the new goddess of chaos, and Billy is... well, [[TheDitz Billy.]] The three eventually end up fighting over it until Eris returns, glad with the chaos her plan created, and leaves with the apple.
--> ''"Well, well... this turned out to be my best idea '''ever'''!"''
* One spin-off short from ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' has all the minions fighting over a banana. It eventually falls down a hole...cut to one minion standing apart from the crowd, taking a bite out of an apple. [[HereWeGoAgain Oh, no.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Hank and the gang need a diversion in a bar frequented by military veterans. Bill loudly asserts that Vietnam soldiers endured more hardships than anyone else, and the room immediately devolves into a shouting match between veterans of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, etc. The bar apparently goes through this a lot since once the fighting breaks out the bartender points to a sign reading "No war debates!" but is merely ignored.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'' episode "Reckoning", Batman is simultaneously faced with five enemies, each trying to collect ComicBook/RasAlGhul's reward for bringing him in dead or alive. He surrenders to one of them, who is promptly attacked by another to claim the prize, who is then attacked in turn.... The situation quickly degenerates into a free-for-all from which Batman simply walks away.
* Happens a couple of times in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mixels}}'':
** The episode "Cookironi" contains the last of a box of cookironis (a cookie and macaroni noodle hybrid) that nine of the Mixels squabble over, leading to an all-out battle of the Maxes. It breaks before any of them can claim it...[[HereWeGoAgain and then a Nixel is found with a box of them...]]
** The special "A Quest for the Lost Mixamajig" contains a special key that grants the wielder as TheChosenOne, which leads to a gigantic brawl for who will be the key-bearer. Even when the main group manages to split the role among themselves, they come to a shocking realization that [[spoiler:the entire thing was a hoax pulled by King Nixel, and he had lured the others into this trick as well]]. Thankfully, they were able to overcome their selfishness to work together in the end.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'', Owen is hired back to the show in the second season as a secret mole for Chris to stir up drama. He is tasked in one episode with breaking up the quickly budding friendship between Duncan and Harold, who began getting along after seasons of fighting when they spent the entire day together training.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBunch'': In "The Cube" the animals of the jungle are fighting over a mysterious sparkling blue cube that they each think is something legendary or significant, though they each think it's something different. [[spoiler:At the end of the episode, it's revealed that it was one of Al's art projects.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'', one of [[BigBad the Dark Lord Chuckles the Silly Piggy's]] schemes against Udragoth was to give the royal family a gift of ''literal'' rose-tinted glasses enchanted to convince the wearer [[LotusEaterMachine they're living in their ideal fantasies]]. Everyone starts fighting each other for the glasses, softening the kingdom up for Chuckles to invade more easily.

** The mane characters (plus DJ Pon-3) are immune to the HatePlague, so the Dazzlings resort to physical and psychological means of causing discord between the Rainbooms so they can [[EmotionEater feed on their emotional energy]] as well, [[NearVillainVictory and in fact succeed]], until Sunset and Twilight manage to defuse the Rainbooms' arguments.

** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E3TheTicketMaster The Ticket Master]]", Twilight Sparkle receives two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. When her sidekick Spike declines his, the spare ticket becomes a source of friction between Twilight's friends. [[spoiler: She ultimately sends them back to Celestia with a note explaining why she's not going. In response Celestia says "[[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot Why didn't you say so in the first place?]]" and sends her enough tickets for everyone.]]
** Season 2 opener "The Return of Harmony", has a shout-out to the original Greek myth with a RealityWarper villain named Discord. He turns the main characters against each other, mainly using BreakTheCutie and mind control, before ''literally'' turning into a pile of apples, thus making this a literal case of Apples of Discord.

The allusion of the name is to the Greek legend of how UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar really started: Eris, the goddess of discord, approached Hera (of fertility and happy marriage), Athena (of intelligence, you might say from a modern viewpoint) and Aphrodite (of love) while they were at an Olympic gathering, a wedding to which Eris had not been invited, and threw a golden apple among the three, on which was written "To the most beautiful one." Divine bitchfighting ensued, and in the end, when the three goddesses couldn't end their argument, they decided to ask [[JudgementOfParis Paris, a mortal prince of Troy]]. Each of them tried to bribe him so that he would choose her, and he decided it should belong to Aphrodite - versions differ on whether it was because it was true, and/or because she had promised him the hand of the most beautiful woman on Earth, a Spartan woman who would soon be better known as Helen of Troy. A woman who happened to be already married to another man.

* Referenced in the New York arc of ''Manga/DetectiveConan''; Shinichi and Ran visit his mother Yukiko in New York, where she treats them to a showing of a musical that is loosely adapted from the original myth, except set in what appears to be Gilded Age America; backstage, the relationship of the actresses playing the three "goddesses" are similarly rocky, as all of them are rivals for the affections of the male lead Michael, so when he turns up murdered in the middle of the performance EveryoneIsASuspect.

--> '''Jha'dur''': You will fall upon one another like wolves. It will make what we did pale by comparison. The billions that live forever will be a testimony to my work, and the billions who are murdered to buy that ''immortality'' will be the continuation of my work. [[NotSoDifferent Like us? You will become us!]] That's my monument, Commander.

** The mane characters (plus DJ PON-3) are immune to the HatePlague, so the Dazzlings resort to physical and psychological means of causing discord between the Rainbooms so they can [[EmotionEater feed on their emotional energy]] as well, [[NearVillainVictory and in fact succeed]], until Sunset and Twilight manage to defuse the Rainbooms' arguments.

** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E3TheTicketMaster The Ticket Master]]", Twilight Sparkle receives two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. When her sidekick Spike declines his, the spare ticket becomes a source of friction between Twilight's friends. [[spoiler: She ultimately sends them back to Celestia with a note explaining why she's not going. In response Celestia says 'why didn't you say so earlier?' and sends her enough tickets for everyone.]]

** The mane characters are immune to the HatePlague, so the Dazzlings resort to physical and psychological means of causing discord between the Rainbooms so they can [[EmotionEater feed on their emotional energy]] as well, [[NearVillainVictory and in fact succeed]], until Sunset and Twilight manage to defuse the Rainbooms' arguments.

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', [[spoiler:Chao]] uses a future version of Negi's family tree to disrupt his entire party as they all want to know who he will marry.

* The Manga/LitchiHikariClub appears to be tearing itself apart after the capture of Bishojo schoolgirl Kanon.

* On the Internet, some subjects are [[FlameWar just so controversial]] (religion & politics are the two biggies, but just about any subject will be SeriousBusiness in at least one spot on the Web) that they're known as FlameBait. It's best not to mention them at all unless you're among very good friends, you can somehow be totally objective about it, or [[{{Troll}} you're spoiling for a fight]]. [[DefiedTrope Curbing conflict of this nature]] is what our Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment is all about. [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle And now you know.]]

A group of people are [[TrueCompanions thick as thieves]], [[AFriendInNeed supporting each other in all things]]. Then a third party enters and asks them to decide something. It may be something as mundane as deciding what toppings they want on their pizza, or something as serious as which one of them is TheLeader. Suddenly, they are at each other's throats and can't agree on anything except that each of them wants to be ''right''.

The background of this is the Greek legend of how UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar really started: Eris, the goddess of discord, approached Hera (of fertility and happy marriage), Athena (of intelligence, you might say from a modern viewpoint) and Aphrodite (of love) while they were at an Olympic gathering, a wedding to which Eris had not been invited, and threw a golden apple among the three, on which was written "To the most beautiful one." Divine bitchfighting ensued, and in the end, when the three goddesses couldn't end their argument, they decided to ask [[JudgementOfParis Paris, a mortal prince of Troy]]. Each of them tried to bribe him so that he would choose her, and he decided it should belong to Aphrodite - versions differ on whether it was because it was true, and/or because she had promised him the hand of the most beautiful woman on Earth, a Spartan woman who would soon be better known as Helen of Troy. A woman who happened to be already married to another man.

* This trope, along with LootDrama, was used in ancient China to kill off three mighty military leaders who had gotten so politically powerful that their lord got nervous he would be overthrown. One of the other advisers told the lord to throw a party and made a big to do about bestowing two incredibly rare peaches (a symbol of immortality) to the greatest men of the kingdom. One of the men were immediately DrivenToSuicide at being the odd man out, after which the other two also killed themselves over their comrade killing themselves over such a petty matter.

->'''Ron Swanson:''' Who broke it? (''accusations fly'')\\
'''Ron, to camera:''' I broke it. [...] I predict that ten minutes from now, they'll be at each other's throats, with [[Literature/LordOfTheFlies warpaint on their faces and a pig head on a stick]]. ''Good.'' It was getting a little chummy around here.

** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E3TheTicketMaster The Ticket Master]]", Twilight Sparkle receives two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. When her sidekick Spike declines his, the spare ticket becomes a source of friction between Twilight's friends.

'''Ron, to camera:''' I broke it. [...] I predict that ten minutes from now, they'll be at each other's throats, with warpaint on their faces and a pig head on a stick. ''Good.'' It was getting a little chummy around here.

** Dewey: This sort of behaviour is his modus operandi throughout the series with the younger brother being generally quiet but interjecting the right line at the right time so that everybody else will [[BatmanGambit react according to his plan]]. Dewey is one hell of a MagnificentBastard.

* [[{{Pun}} Apple]] itself ([[DontExplainTheJoke that is, the computer company]]) is an apple of discord on some technology forums. Especially gaming forums. Flamewars erupt over whether Apple's computer and smartphone products are better than competing products (especially Windows and Linux over the former and Android over the latter) and [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment we'll leave it at that]].

The background of this is the Greek legend of how UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar really started: Eris, the goddess of discord, approached Hera (of fertility and happy marriage), Athena (of intelligence, you might say from a modern viewpoint) and Aphrodite (of love) while they were at an Olympic gathering, a wedding to which Eris had not been invited, and threw a golden apple among the three, on which was written "To the most beautiful one."[[note]]Also translated as "For the Fairest."[[/note]] Divine bitchfighting ensued, and in the end, when the three goddesses couldn't end their argument, they decided to ask [[JudgementOfParis Paris, a mortal prince of Troy]].[[note]]A common shepherd at the time, having been abandoned at birth due to a prophecy stating he would cause the downfall of the city. Yep, YouCantFightFate[[/note]] Each of them tried to bribe him so that he would choose her, and he decided it should belong to Aphrodite - versions differ on whether it was because it was true, and/or because she had promised him the hand of the most beautiful woman on Earth, a Spartan woman who would soon be better known as Helen of Troy. A woman who happened to be already married to another man.

* Mentioned repeatedly in Robert Shea and Creator/RobertAntonWilson's ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'' Trilogy. Since almost all the characters in the book are members of UsefulNotes/{{Discordian|ism}} and/or Erisian conspiracies, this should come as little surprise.