History Main / ThirdActStupidity

* Pretty well describes the Colonel in ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Up until then he's very level headed and conscientious of the dangers posed by the alien planet, but suddenly he loses his shit and decides to attack the stupid space elves on ground. All his forces are therefore at a disadvantage; instead of just sitting put on the strategic assets it's his job to hold (and that he already possesses) and just wiping them out with his force multipliers when they have to come to him anyway. You could argue that it's suposed to be RevengeBeforeReason but nothing in his methodical professionalism or grim determination before that point really suggests that the betrayal of a single subordinate would have that effect on him.

* Pretty well describes the Colonel in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' up until then he's very level headed and conscientious of the dangers posed by the alien planet, but suddenly he loses his shit and decides to attack the stupid space elves on ground in which all his forces are at a disadvantage instead of just sitting put on the strategic assets it's his job to hold and that he already possesses and just wiping them out with his force multipliers when they have to come to him anyway. You could argue that it's suposed to be RevengeBeforeReason but nothing in his methodical professionalism or grim determination before that point really suggests that the betrayal of a single subordinate would have that effect on him.

* ''[[Literature/GentlemanBastard The Lies Of Locke Lamora]]'' has a case of this when Locke and Jean take on [[spoiler: the Falconer. The Falconer uses [[IKnowYourTrueName Jean's true name]] to control him, and then decides that the more sadistic thing to do would be to make Locke kill Jean instead of Jean killing Locke. However, while by this time he's realised that 'Lamora' is almost certainly a fake name, he doesn't even wonder if 'Locke' isn't his true given name… which of course it isn't. Locke very easily overpowers him once the spell fails.]]

** Likewise, this trope was actually {{foreshadow|ing}}ed during ''Continuum Shift EXTEND''. ''Slight Hope'' serves as a control environment where Hazama is void of foresight regarding a single threat ([[spoiler:an extracontinuual]] Makoto) and has to adapt to it on the fly. Not only does he fail to properly evaluate the threat (going so far as to ''[[LooseLips leak a vital detail'' to it), but he fails to keep in touch with his partner in crime Relius Clover for the event where said threat [[TakeAThirdOption defuses the trap set for it via proxy]]. End result:

* ''[[Literature/GentlemenBastard The Lies Of Locke Lamora]]'' has a case of this when Locke and Jean take on [[spoiler: the Falconer. The Falconer uses [[IKnowYourTrueName Jean's true name]] to control him, and then decides that the more sadistic thing to do would be to make Locke kill Jean instead of Jean killing Locke. However, while by this time he's realised that 'Lamora' is almost certainly a fake name, he doesn't even wonder if 'Locke' isn't his true given name… which of course it isn't. Locke very easily overpowers him once the spell fails.]]

* Quite a few thrillers end this way.
** The original ending of ''APerfectMurder'' (the remake of ''DialMForMurder'') was an aversion of this. [[spoiler:The wife shoots her husband for trying to have her killed, and fakes a struggle. Since she had evidence he planned to have her killed, the police shrug it off, and she actually commits the perfect murder.]] But it was decided that the audience couldn't morally identify with her, and then we had the wife doing this trope.

** Though to be fair up until that point Aizen was just an extremely irritating God-Mode Sue and Villain Sue

** Though to be fair up until that point Aizen was just an extremely irritating [[God-Mode Sue God-mode sue]] and [[Villain Sue Villain sue]].

** Though to be fair up until that point Aizen was just an extremely irritating [[God-mode sue God-mode sue]] and [[Villain sue Villain sue]].

** Though to be fair up until that point Aizen was just an extremely irritating [[God-mode sue]] and [[Villian sue]].

** It wasn't the taunt in of itself that was Zuko's mistake. He taunted Azula for the specific purpose of drawing out her lightning attack. You can even see Zuko preparing to redirect the lightning. Zuko's mistake (aside from just swallowing his damn pride and not attempting to get Azula to use lightning just so that he can show that he can redirect it now) was that he underestimated how lucid Azula still was. Even in her VillainousBreakdown, she still thought clearly enough to realize that targeting Katara, not Zuko, was the best move.

** It's also Katara's fault for entering the arena the moment Azula began charging her attack. But assuming there are standard sportsmanship rules in an Agni Kai, Zuko won the moment she attacked a spectator, given that he survives.

** It wasn't the taunt that was Zuko's mistake. He taunted Azula for the specific purpose of drawing out her lightning attack. You can even see Zuko preparing to redirect the lightning. Zuko's mistake was that he underestimated how lucid Azula still was. Even in her VillainousBreakdown, she still thought clearly enough to realize that targeting Katara, not Zuko was the best move.
** It's arguable that it's not Zuko's, but Katara's fault for entering the arena the moment Azula began charging her attack. But assuming there are standard sportsmanship rules in an Agni Kai, Zuko won the moment she attacked a spectator, given that he survives.

* Thrawn in his StarWars duology. The author has openly admitted that he couldn't think of any way, realistically, for the good guys to win against the relatively intelligent and cautious master strategist, and that he had to take up the IdiotBall for the last few chapters to give the story its happy ending.

* Sosuke Aizen, the BigBad of ''Anime/{{Bleach}}'', is a big offender of this; one could even make the case that this was [[InvokedTrope invoked]] to justify this behemoth's downfall. He more or less singlehandedly takes out the entire cast with a mixture of [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bastardy]] and being the WorldsStrongestMan, but as the final battle approaches, he devolves in a fairly straightforward monster (literally) who tosses aside his lucidity in favour of brute strength. [[CurbStompBattle It doesn't end well for him.]]

* In ''[[{{Disney/Hercules}} Hercules]]'', Hades has managed to get Hercules to agree to give up his super-strength in exchange for Megara's survival and safety. So, what does Hades then do? While he's taking over Mount Olympus, he sends a giant Cyclops to attack Hercules, who will no doubt be with [[LoveInterest Megara]], thus making it highly likely that she will be harmed in the crossfire. And since the deal is immediately nullified if she's harmed, he has effectively insured that his plan will fail.
** Even better, the reason Hades did all this was because of a prophecy that was stated verbatum, "Should Hercules fight, you will fail." His super-strength was ''not'' [[ExactWords stated as a requirement]]. So after sidelining Hercules, he then sends a giant Cyclops to basically ensure that Hercules does in fact fight. And naturally, Hades's plan fails.

* In FateStayNight, this is the only weakness of [[{{Tsundere}} Rin]]. She is good at the 3rd most important thing, the 2nd most important thing, but she always screws up in the last second.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'' is an odd example: both the protagonist and antagonist are geniuses playing XanatosSpeedChess three layers deep. The climax depends on neither of them having a plan ''D.'' It might seem unfair, but really, with the amount of prep time and AppliedPhlebotinum they had access to, they really should have.
** Justified in Light's case -- {{Hubris}} is the whole reason he eventually falls. Well, that and getting his WriterOnBoard privileges pulled.
** Light had also been reduced to great insanity by this point, and ultimately it was Mikami's failure that caused his failure. Had Mikami followed Light's instructions as he had done previously, Light's speech in the end would have been a gigantic CrowningMomentOfAwesome
*** Or, y'know, if Mikami had just had the rather obvious foresight (as Light did several times) to test the book or keep torn pages / pieces of the Death Note around for emergencies. In a continuum where even the slightest mistake will be punished to the fullest extent, this is the very LEAST of contingencies that would be accounted for.

*** Or, y'know, if Mikami had just had the rather obvious foresight (as Light did several times) to keep torn pages / pieces of the Death Note around for emergencies. In a continuum where even the slightest mistake will be punished to the fullest extent, this is the very LEAST of contingencies that would be accounted for.

* This happens in WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost. The gang go to help a man named Ben Ravencroft clear his ancestor's name because she was accused of being a witch. Once they find her book, he reveals that she was one. As he tells them that he's going to release her from the book, get magic powers, and [[CrushKillDestroy basically destroy all]], they only give him the "You won't get away with this" speech and [[WhatAnIdiot WAIT FOR HIM TO SUMMON HIS POWERS!!]] Of course, they're not going to tackle him before he reads the book aloud, otherwise the movie would be over.

* Pretty well describes the Colonel in ''Avatar'' up until then he's very level headed and conscientious of the dangers posed by the alien planet, but suddenly he loses his shit and decides to attack the stupid space elves on ground in which all his forces are at a disadvantage instead of just sitting put on the strategic assets it's his job to hold and that he already possesses and just wiping them out with his force multipliers when they have to come to him anyway. You could argue that it's suposed to be RevengeBeforeReason but nothing in his methodical professionalism or grim determination before that point really suggests that the betrayal of a single subordinate would have that effect on him.