History Main / SkilledbutNaive

** Fir, from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTHeBindingBlade'', is skillful as she tries to chase her mother Karla's legacy as a swordmaster. But she recklessly challenges the first fighter she sees at an arena, not considering that these are [[DuelToTheDeath to-the-death]] affairs, and lucks out in picking NiceGuy Noah. Later she is easily hoodwinked into lending her blade to some pirates who are obviously out for her InfinityMinusOneSword when they tell her that Roy's group are the bad guys--she's shocked when she sees Noah among them and almost [[AttackHello attacks when he says hello]].

** Fir, from the first ''VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe'' game, is skillful as she tries to chase her mother Karla's legacy as a swordmaster. But she recklessly challenges the first fighter she sees at an arena, not considering that these are to-the-death affairs, and lucks out in picking NiceGuy Noah. Later she is easily hoodwinked into lending her blade to some pirates who are obviously out for her InfinityMinusOneSword when they tell her that Roy's group are the bad guys--she's shocked when she sees Noah among them and almost attacks when he says hello.

* Sanada Yukimura from ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' is this trope personified. He's hotblooded and impulsive, doesn't know the first thing about strategy but is skilled enough to take down most enemies, and those he can't he takes down through sheer determination. It's also implied that he has a great deal of potential that hasn't been unlocked yet, mainly due to his lack of experience, forethought and gullible personality.

* ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' has Colin, who is introduced in the second game as having just become a CO of Blue Moon. He's obviously very skilled as a CO, able to keep up with the ''far'' more accomplished Grit and Olaf, but lacks the confidence and experience to use his troops as effectively as they can. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration In terms of gameplay]], this manifests as his troops being weaker than average, but his ability to ZergRush his foes into submission makes him one of the most formidable commanding officers in the game.

If they do evolve, they are rather malleable. A bad shock may send them into themselves, creating a ZenSurvivor or KnightInSourArmour, a character who feels cynically about issues but still can't stop the bold idealistic tendencies from showing through when the chips are down. Or constant steady success may create a full-on ActionHero or AllLovingHero. They can easily become a FutureBadass in cases of SacrificialLion or an earlier DownerEnding where this character survives. Compare InnocentProdigy.

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There's just one problem: [[NaiveNewcomer Their complete lack of real-world experience]].

* Creator/WillieNelson actually has a song titled "Old Age and Treachery", with the chorus continuing "always overcomes youth and skill".

This trope is very closely related to IdiotHero, to the point where the two tropes look identical at first glance. There is a subtle difference however. While IdiotHero refers to a character who is genuinely intellectually challenged but whose other strengths (Heroism, personality and morality) make them a hero, characters of this trope may be very intelligent, possibly even geniuses, but they don't have enough experience, both in life and in their chosen fields, to make the best of that talent. It's a subtle difference, but an important one. However, an IdiotHero can also be SkilledButNaive if their usual line of work tends to rely more on instinct and moral certainty than on abstract intelligence, and naturally the lack of intelligence will tend to exacerbate their naïveté.

* Literature/TheWheelOfTime plays with this a bit. Most of the main characters start out as UnskilledButStrong. When they start to get some training they transition to SkilledButNaive, and then as the series progresses they [[CharacterDevelopment mostly lose their naivete]] (except for Elayne who remains somewhat spoiled and naive throughout the whole series).

-> ''Old age and treachery will beat youth and skill every time.''

You get a young character who is pretty awesome at what he does. This person out-performs the grizzled veterans at nearly everything, whether it's bringing down the MonsterOfTheWeek, commanding the RedshirtArmy into battle, or solving the murder. A few years older and he will be a total badass.

There's just one problem: [[NaiveNewcomer Their complete lack of real-world experience.]]

This character's talents may serve him well in a professional context, but he still finds himself running into trouble by doing things the superior experience of his less talented predecessors would tell him to avoid. This is often exacerbated by arrogance and {{Pride}} from the rookie who finds himself outperforming people who have made kicking ass their career. Sometimes he will have a sense of responsibility to use his new abilities to the fullest (not having the patience and foresight more experienced characters have in knowing you can't help anyone if you are dead, of course).

Many, many heroes start off this way. TheHero often starts off as the least experienced member of the FiveManBand, giving him room to grow as a character while tending to ultimately be the most powerful member of his team. Main characters in general have a nasty habit of going beyond their experience levels and relying on raw talent and bravado, which frequently gets the rest of the group into trouble as well. In particularly tragic circumstances, such impetuosity can get a character or his allies killed, with all the emotional torque and lessons about the fragility of youth and the dangers of overestimating talents. It's a frequent source of the MentorOccupationalHazard.

This trope is very closely related to IdiotHero, to the point where the two tropes look identical at first glance. There is a subtle difference however. While IdiotHero refers to a character who is genuinely intellectually challenged but whose other strengths (Heroism, personality and morality) make him a hero, characters of this trope may be very intelligent, possibly even geniuses, but they don't have enough experience, both in life and in their chosen fields, to make the best of that talent. It's a subtle difference, but an important one. However, an IdiotHero can also be SkilledButNaive if his usual line of work tends to rely more on instinct and moral certainty than on abstract intelligence, and naturally the lack of intelligence will tend to exacerbate his naïveté.

1) Just as powerful or more powerful than more experienced characters

2) Noticeably remarkable in their skills for their experience level

* ''LightNovel/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'': Emilia Justina/Emi Yusa is very powerful and charismatic, but is genuinely shocked to discover that the Church of Ente Isla, which she had been fighting for her entire life, is [[CorruptChurch corrupt]]; her friends, Albert and Emeralda, are not too surprised to discover this themselves. Furthermore, she is unaware that Suzuno is another Ente Isla native, something that Maou and his group [[EverybodyKnewAlready knew from the minute she saw them]], until Suzuno explicitly told her so to her face; Suzuno herself is absolutely ''shocked'' that Emi didn't figure it out herself.

-->'''Flynn:''' Profoundly naïve, yet unimaginably wise.
* ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'': Chancellor Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious seems to think that way of his late master, Darth Plagueis, who possessed great abilities but was uncharacteristically altruistic for a Sith, enough to teach his apprentice how to create life, and trust Palpatine not to kill him:
--->'''Palpatine''': He had ''[[AdmiringTheAbomination such a knowledge of the Dark Side]]'', he could even stop the ones he cared about from dying... [sic] Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, [[TheStarscream then his apprentice killed him in his sleep]]. Ironic... he could save others from death, [[WhatAnIdiot but not himself]].

If they do evolve, they are rather malleable. A bad shock may send them into themselves, creating a ZenSurvivor or KnightInSourArmour, a character who feels cynically about issues but still can't stop the bold idealistic tendencies from showing through when the chips are down. Or constant steady success may create a full-on ActionHero or AllLovingHero. They can easily become a FutureBadass in cases of SacrificialLion or an earlier DownerEnding where this character survives.

* The titular character from ''[[ComicBook/LuckyLuke The Tenderfoot]]'' is an English gentleman who inherited a ranch in the American West from his RemittanceMan uncle. The comedy in the album mostly comes from the tenderfoot's effortless ability to outdo the rough-and-tumble cowboys at their own games (He was, among other things, school boxing champion at Oxbridge, an excellent equestrian and marksman due to his interest in hunting, and effectively inured to hardship after growing up in a BoardingSchoolOfHorrors) and his UpperClassTwit mannerisms.

* ''Series/Supernatural'' resident angel Castiel is a case par excellence. Angels are amongst the most powerful beings in the series, but Castiel's inexperience dealing with humans and (initial) belief in his angelic superiors mean that he often trusts unwisely.

* Matteo Ta'anari of ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'' is clever and tenacious, but completely unprepared for military life. Which, as a newly conscripted ChildSoldier, may not be in his favor. On the other hand, it's what motivates him to organize a [[LaResistance grand escape]].

* In a huge departure from her original characterization where she was savvy and skilled and easily outsmarted a con artist in her first foray off Paradise Island in George Perez's reboot of ComicBook/WonderWoman (''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Wonder Woman Vol. 2]]'') he mixed this with GoodCannotComprehendEvil when Diana was fresh off Themiscyra. In her late teens, she had been endowed with great intelligence, but she struggled with the concept of Barbara Minerva being deceptive and wanting to steal her lasso, or Myndi Mayer unable to break her cocaine addiction, leading to her drug-induced suicide. Those things were utterly foreign to her, though they helped her become OlderAndWiser.

* Garion, the titular hero of ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', is said to have the potential to be one of the most powerful sorcerers that ever lived. He has performed several feats that other sorcerers regularly defied as being outright impossible, such as resurrecting a dead horse, [[AchievementsInIgnorance simply by not being aware that it shouldn't have worked]]. And yet, even after overcoming the trials on his initial ComingOfAgeStory and becoming a respected king as of ''Literature/TheMallorean'', he still has a tendency to play fast and loose with his powers in ways that could have grave consequences for hundreds of years. Fortunately his uncle and aunt have seven and five thousand years of experience with which to guide him.

* Palpatine seems to think that way of his late master, Darth Plagueis, who possessed great abilities but was uncharacteristically altruistic for a Sith, enough to teach his apprentice how to create life, and trust Palpatine not to kill him:
-->'''Palpatine''': He had ''[[AdmiringTheAbomination such a knowledge of the Dark Side]]'', he could even stop the ones he cared about from dying... [sic] Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, [[TheStarscream then his apprentice killed him in his sleep]]. Ironic... he could save others from death, [[WhatAnIdiot but not himself]].

* Shichika of ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'': He's spent his entire life on a remote island cut off from civilization with only his sister and his father. He can't even tell other humans apart from each other by sight alone. While he did receive 20 years of training in Kyotoryuu, a powerful fighting style that is essentially "swordsmanship without a sword", he lacks actual battle experience. This actually cost him a quick victory in Episode 2 when he was caught off guard by his opponent's sword pressure and inadvertently held back on what would have been a decisive blow. Fortunately he had a backup plan in that case (which also doubled as a CrowningMomentOfFunny).