The speaker explains how narcissists cycle through idealization, devaluation, and discard to turn partners into maternal figures, exposing a fragile, vulnerable core beneath grandiosity. After discard, narcissists often engage in ‘narcissistic probing’—love-bombing, grooming, stalking, and using third parties—to test whether they can re-idealize and hoover the partner or, failing that, convert them into an enemy. Practical advice: enforce firm boundaries, communicate limits calmly, and then go no-contact while protecting privacy and staying vigilant for manipulative or criminal tactics. Negative Hoovering, Narcissistic Probing: YOU, the Enemy (Persecutory Object)