Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 32 (click to see context) from:
** Also [[SubvertedTrope subverted later on]]; Snow [[spoiler:blowing up the refugees surrounding his base out of spite]] even though the war is all but over is — aside from being [[MoralEventHorizon monstrously evil]] — incredibly stupid and self-sabotaging, accomplishing nothing but causing what few supporters he has left to side with the rebels. [[spoiler:Which is why Snow ''[[NotMeThisTime didn't do it]]''. He is absolutely ''not'' dumb enough to think that would end in anything other than his death… but by [[FrameUp making people think]] he ''is'' that pointlessly cruel, [[BitchInSheepsClothing President Coin]] was able to end the war decisively and secure herself as [[MeetTheNewBoss the new tyrant of Panem]]. Katniss only realizes she and everyone else are being played when Snow himself points all this out, followed shortly by Coin "remorsefully" announcing [[FullCircleRevolution her intent to start new Hunger Games with the Capital's children]]…]]
to:
** Also [[SubvertedTrope subverted later on]]; Snow [[spoiler:blowing up the refugees surrounding his base out of spite]] even though the war is all but over is — aside from being [[MoralEventHorizon monstrously evil]] — incredibly stupid and self-sabotaging, accomplishing nothing but causing what few supporters he has left to side with the rebels. [[spoiler:Which is why Snow ''[[NotMeThisTime didn't do it]]''. He is absolutely ''not'' dumb enough to think that would end in anything other than his death… but by [[FrameUp making people think]] he ''is'' that pointlessly cruel, [[BitchInSheepsClothing President Coin]] was able to end the war decisively and secure herself as [[MeetTheNewBoss the new tyrant of Panem]]. Katniss only realizes she and everyone else are being played when Snow himself points all this out, followed shortly by Coin "remorsefully" announcing [[FullCircleRevolution her intent to start new Hunger Games with the Capital's Capitol's children]]…]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 2 (click to see context) from:
** ''Literature/ConstanceVeritySavesTheWorld'': When Larry gets depressed over being a "lousy mastermind", Connie points out that a lot of the megalomaniacal supervillains are {{Genius Ditz}}s of the worst kind and him not being evil makes him a step-up. She had to thwart a mastermind that wanted to crash the moon into the Earth because it was the first thing he thought of when his scientists managed to invent a gravity ray, and another mastermind who'd built a non-waterproof base on the coast and was planning on flooding the Earth by melting the polar icecaps.
to:
** ''Literature/ConstanceVeritySavesTheWorld'': When Larry gets depressed over being a "lousy mastermind", Connie points out that a lot of the megalomaniacal supervillains are {{Genius Ditz}}s Ditz}}es of the worst kind and him not being evil makes him a step-up.step up. She had to thwart a mastermind that wanted to crash the moon into the Earth because it was the first thing he thought of when his scientists managed to invent a gravity ray, and another mastermind who'd built a non-waterproof base on the coast and was planning on flooding the Earth by melting the polar icecaps.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Gregor Clegane is an unthinking monster who Tywin uses as a tool of terror because of his immense strength and brutality, but he can't be trusted with any task that requires the people involved to survive, a major drawback given the importance of taking and ransoming highborn hostages. In one of his first scenes, he responds to losing a tourney by killing his horse and openly trying to murder his opponent in front of the king and his entire court and has to flee the city.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
** Joffrey Baratheon. [[PrinceCharmless Crown Prince]] [[spoiler:and later king]] of Westeros, and a RoyalBrat with ''way'' too much power. Throws his royal weight around whenever he possibly can, openly mocks ''everyone'' regardless of their standing or authority, [[spoiler:has a friend of Arya's killed as vengeance for Arya making him look like an idiot, sends an assassin after Bran Stark ''armed with a Valyrian steel blade that no common assassin would have'', which leads the Starks to start suspecting the Lannisters of treachery, and orders the execution of Ned Stark, sparking off a gigantic CivilWar]]. When confronted with an angry mob of hundreds of unruly peasants with only a handful of guards to protect him, he responds by ''ordering the guards to behead the peasants'' and only survives because his guards are too smart to listen. All of this leads to a ruler that [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating both the rich and the poor openly despise]]. [[spoiler:This all ends up getting Joffrey killed at his own wedding through the use of poison, and turns the identity of his killer into a big mystery simply because there are [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole so many people who want him dead]].]]
to:
** Joffrey Baratheon. [[PrinceCharmless Crown Prince]] [[spoiler:and later king]] of Westeros, and a RoyalBrat with ''way'' too much power. Throws his royal weight around whenever he possibly can, openly mocks ''everyone'' regardless of their standing or authority, [[spoiler:has a friend of Arya's killed as vengeance for Arya making him look like an idiot, sends an assassin after Bran Stark ''armed with a Valyrian steel blade that no common assassin would have'', which leads the Starks to start suspecting the Lannisters of treachery, and unilaterally orders the execution of Ned Stark, Stark against his own mother's plans, sparking off a gigantic CivilWar]]. When confronted with an angry mob of hundreds of unruly peasants with only a handful of guards to protect him, he responds by ''ordering the guards to behead the peasants'' and only survives because his guards are too smart to listen. All of this leads to a ruler that [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating both the rich and the poor openly despise]]. [[spoiler:This all ends up getting Joffrey killed at his own wedding through the use of poison, and turns the identity of his killer into a big mystery simply because there are [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole so many people who want him dead]].]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1 (click to see context) from:
* ''Literature/ConstanceVeritySavesTheWorld'': When Larry gets depressed over being a "lousy mastermind", Connie points out that a lot of the megalomaniacal supervillains are {{Genius Ditz}}s of the worst kind and him not being evil makes him a step-up. She had to thwart a mastermind that wanted to crash the moon into the Earth because it was the first thing he thought of when his scientists managed to invent a gravity ray, and another mastermind who'd built a non-waterproof base on the coast and was planning on flooding the Earth by melting the polar icecaps.
to:
* ''Literature/ConstanceVerity''
** ''Literature/ConstanceVeritySavesTheWorld'': When Larry gets depressed over being a "lousy mastermind", Connie points out that a lot of the megalomaniacal supervillains are {{Genius Ditz}}s of the worst kind and him not being evil makes him a step-up. She had to thwart a mastermind that wanted to crash the moon into the Earth because it was the first thing he thought of when his scientists managed to invent a gravity ray, and another mastermind who'd built a non-waterproof base on the coast and was planning on flooding the Earth by melting the polaricecaps.icecaps.
** Like so many other self-proclaimed evil masterminds, Ajaw Cassowary in ''Literature/ConstanceVerityDestroysTheUniverse'' fits this too a tee. We're officially introduced to him having his lackeys try to destroy The Key's container with the intent on absorbing its entropic power into himself, killing one of them with his bare hands when he insists that they should runs some tests for the danger first. [[spoiler:The resulting explosion destroys his castle and The Key's power (which bonds itself to Hiro) destroys him]].
** ''Literature/ConstanceVeritySavesTheWorld'': When Larry gets depressed over being a "lousy mastermind", Connie points out that a lot of the megalomaniacal supervillains are {{Genius Ditz}}s of the worst kind and him not being evil makes him a step-up. She had to thwart a mastermind that wanted to crash the moon into the Earth because it was the first thing he thought of when his scientists managed to invent a gravity ray, and another mastermind who'd built a non-waterproof base on the coast and was planning on flooding the Earth by melting the polar
** Like so many other self-proclaimed evil masterminds, Ajaw Cassowary in ''Literature/ConstanceVerityDestroysTheUniverse'' fits this too a tee. We're officially introduced to him having his lackeys try to destroy The Key's container with the intent on absorbing its entropic power into himself, killing one of them with his bare hands when he insists that they should runs some tests for the danger first. [[spoiler:The resulting explosion destroys his castle and The Key's power (which bonds itself to Hiro) destroys him]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* The Kolnari in ''Literature/TheShipWho'' are {{The Social Darwinist}}s to such an absurd degree that they kill each other and their own children for any perceived weakness, whether that's insufficient enthusiasm for rape and murder or [[BuryYourDisabled any degree of physical infirmity]]. They [[KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect regard medicine and medical treatment with contempt]].
** On the SSS-900-C Belazir writes off and refuses to investigate any of his people covertly killed by station personnel, deciding that [[InsaneTrollLogic if they were killed they must have been weak, so their deaths make his people stronger]]. Kolnari catching a "disabling illness" such as the SyntheticPlague either kill themselves, are left to recover or not on their own, or are killed for being weak enough to fall ill. Belazir even says he'll take the disease back to introduce to all his people - and in ''The Ship Who Avenged'' we see that that killed almost all the Kolnari children and has disastrously reduced the population.
** In ''The Ship Who Returned'' the Kolnari all land on Ravel at once and subsequently are all overwhelmed [[spoiler: by the {{Man Eating Plant}}s.]]
** On the SSS-900-C Belazir writes off and refuses to investigate any of his people covertly killed by station personnel, deciding that [[InsaneTrollLogic if they were killed they must have been weak, so their deaths make his people stronger]]. Kolnari catching a "disabling illness" such as the SyntheticPlague either kill themselves, are left to recover or not on their own, or are killed for being weak enough to fall ill. Belazir even says he'll take the disease back to introduce to all his people - and in ''The Ship Who Avenged'' we see that that killed almost all the Kolnari children and has disastrously reduced the population.
** In ''The Ship Who Returned'' the Kolnari all land on Ravel at once and subsequently are all overwhelmed [[spoiler: by the {{Man Eating Plant}}s.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Check discussion
to see explanation
to see explanationDeleted line(s) 15 (click to see context) :
** Cersei Lannister as well. She does such things as dismissing the idea of paying the money that the realm owes to the Iron Bank of Braavos (an institution that has a reputation of replacing rulers that don't pay debts), as well as spending a ''very large'' amount of money building an entire fleet of warships, then handing it over to a man of questionable integrity and reliability, just because he vaguely resembles her childhood crush. As soon as [[spoiler:she's imprisoned]] in ''A Feast For Crows'', the guy makes off with every ship — naturally. Or, how about empowering a group of religious zealots who have had a long history of rebelling against the Crown, and who clearly still hate the noble elite? The only thing she succeeds at during her stint as a ruler after [[spoiler:Joffrey dies]] in ''A Storm of Swords'' is running the Seven Kingdoms into the ground at an impressive speed, in the process amusing [[MagnificentBastard Littlefinger]] greatly ''and'' [[spoiler:making the realm that much easier for Varys to help Prince Aegon Targaryen VI — the lost son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen (there are question marks) — take for his own. In fact, when Cersei's competent uncle, Kevan Lannister, takes over the Regency, Varys kills him, as he was actually beginning to stabilise the realm]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Literature/ConstanceVeritySavesTheWorld'': When Larry gets depressed over being a "lousy mastermind", Connie points out that a lot of the megalomaniacal supervillains are {{Genius Ditz}}s of the worst kind and him not being evil makes him a step-up. She had to thwart a mastermind that wanted to crash the moon into the Earth because it was the first thing he thought of when his scientists managed to invent a gravity ray, and another mastermind who'd built a non-waterproof base on the coast and was planning on flooding the Earth by melting the polar icecaps.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Literature/TheLastAdventureOfConstanceVerity'': A SupervillainLair hidden in a dormant volcano outside of Albuquerque was destroyed because they kept their stockpile of explosives down the hall from their flamethrower robots. Even if Connie hadn't deliberately tried to destroy the place, it was still a disaster waiting to happen.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
* In Saint Augustine's ''Literature/{{Confessions}}'', he argues from his personal experience [[RealityIsUnrealistic that real evil people can be this trope]]. As a boy, he stole pears from a neighbour's tree: what he liked was not the taste of the pears themselves, or the feeling of sating hunger, or any other [[FreudianExcuse façade of logic]] that humans have invented to justify their sins, but the psychologically masochistic knowledge that he was corrupting himself more and more every time he did it. Augustine concludes that sin itself was desirable, solely because it was sin. Yet even sin's pleasurable nature did not justify the importance he assigned it, because the love and awe of God is ''more'' pleasurable, and Augustine is happy to have been converted to it... Basically, Stupid Evil is realistic because people being stupid is realistic. A [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} truly smart person]] wouldn't commit sin in the first place.
to:
* In Saint Augustine's ''Literature/{{Confessions}}'', ''Literature/ConfessionsSaintAugustine'', he argues from his personal experience [[RealityIsUnrealistic that real evil people can be this trope]]. As a boy, he stole pears from a neighbour's tree: what he liked was not the taste of the pears themselves, or the feeling of sating hunger, or any other [[FreudianExcuse façade of logic]] that humans have invented to justify their sins, but the psychologically masochistic knowledge that he was corrupting himself more and more every time he did it. Augustine concludes that sin itself was desirable, solely because it was sin. Yet even sin's pleasurable nature did not justify the importance he assigned it, because the love and awe of God is ''more'' pleasurable, and Augustine is happy to have been converted to it... Basically, Stupid Evil is realistic because people being stupid is realistic. A [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} truly smart person]] wouldn't commit sin in the first place.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Theon's aware of this. Which is why he sent word for reinforcements. His plans were also to invade the Westerlands. Balon decided he wanted to conquer the North. Both Theon and Asha get captured doing the same thing, but Theon remains in Winterfell, because he wants to die fighting.
Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
** The Ironborn show shades of this as well. A culture that prides itself on pillaging and raiding, they have little plans other than AttackAttackAttack, thus leaving them underprepared for anything else. Theon Greyjoy, for example, manages to take Winterfell in a sneak attack but forgets to realize that in order to hold it from being retaken, he needs men, hundreds at least, and he only has a few dozen. He has the added problem of not understanding that the whole point of Ironborn tactics is ''raiding''; if he'd taken prisoners, looted the place, and skedaddled like his crew advised, it would have been a flawless victory. However, now that the psychopathic but highly intelligent and cunning Euron Greyjoy has taken over… well things will get less “stupid” and a lot more “scary”.
to:
** The Ironborn show shades of this as well. A culture that prides itself on pillaging and raiding, they have little plans other than AttackAttackAttack, thus leaving them underprepared for anything else. Theon Greyjoy, for example, manages to take Winterfell in a sneak attack but forgets to realize that in order to hold it from being retaken, he needs men, hundreds at least, and he only has a few dozen. He has the added problem of not understanding that the whole point of Ironborn tactics is ''raiding''; if he'd taken prisoners, looted the place, and skedaddled like his crew advised, it would have been a flawless victory. However, now that the psychopathic but highly intelligent and cunning Euron Greyjoy has taken over… well things will get less “stupid” and a lot more “scary”.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
** Also [[BastardBastard Ramsay Bolton]]. Now unlike the two above, Ramsay is actually quite intelligent and cunning. The problem is that he’s also extremely sadistic and given the choice between the smart thing or the sadistic thing, Ramsay really prefers doing the sadistic thing. His father, Roose, discusses this trope in ''A Dance with Dragons''; though Roose is a sadistic psychopath himself, he at least has self-control, and [[PragmaticVillainy points out the foolishness of his son's openly cruel ways]].
to:
** Also [[BastardBastard Ramsay Bolton]]. Now unlike the two above, Ramsay is actually quite intelligent and cunning. cunning and is a genuine threat on his own. The problem is that he’s also extremely sadistic and given the choice between the smart thing or the sadistic thing, Ramsay really prefers doing the sadistic thing. thing, even if it’s not going to benefit him. His father, Roose, discusses this trope in ''A Dance with Dragons''; though Roose is a sadistic psychopath himself, he at least has self-control, and [[PragmaticVillainy points out the foolishness of his son's openly cruel ways]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
** The Ironborn show shades of this as well. A culture that prides itself on pillaging and raiding, they have little plans other than AttackAttackAttack, thus leaving them underprepared for anything else. Theon Greyjoy, for example, manages to take Winterfell in a sneak attack but forgets to realize that in order to hold it from being retaken, he needs men, hundreds at least, and he only has a few dozen. He has the added problem of not understanding that the whole point of Ironborn tactics is ''raiding''; if he'd taken prisoners, looted the place, and skedaddled like his crew advised, it would have been a flawless victory.
to:
** The Ironborn show shades of this as well. A culture that prides itself on pillaging and raiding, they have little plans other than AttackAttackAttack, thus leaving them underprepared for anything else. Theon Greyjoy, for example, manages to take Winterfell in a sneak attack but forgets to realize that in order to hold it from being retaken, he needs men, hundreds at least, and he only has a few dozen. He has the added problem of not understanding that the whole point of Ironborn tactics is ''raiding''; if he'd taken prisoners, looted the place, and skedaddled like his crew advised, it would have been a flawless victory. However, now that the psychopathic but highly intelligent and cunning Euron Greyjoy has taken over… well things will get less “stupid” and a lot more “scary”.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 19 (click to see context) from:
** From ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' set in the same universe, there's Aemond Targaryen, second son of King Viserys I. When the SuccessionCrisis between his old brother Aegon and his half-sister Rhaenyra intensifies, Aemond singlehandedly destroys any chance of a peaceful resolution by [[EvilUncle murdering his nephew Lucerys]] as payback for [[EyeScream slicing out one of Aemond's eyes]] in a childhood fight, ignoring that Lucerys is fifteen and an envoy the conflict snowballs into open CivilWar and members of Aemond's own faction [[EvenEvilHasStandards berate him for committing such a flagrant war crime]]. As the Dance of Dragons progresses, Aemond takes over the war effort when Aegon is left crippled by battlefield injuries, strips King's Landing of defenders and marches to attack [[ArchEnemy his uncle Daemon's]] position at Harrenhal, [[EpicFail only for Daemon to circle behind Aemond and attack a defenceless King's Landing]]. [[YouHaveFailedMe A furious Aemond slaughters House Strong, the lords of Harrenhal]] [[NeverMyFault in anger]] [[GeneralFailure at his screwup]], overlooking that they're on ''his'' side, and [[GeneralFailure instead of doing something constructive like marching back to retake King's Landing, leaves his army in the Riverlands]] (where shortly after, they're massacred by Rhaenyra's supporters in the region) and divides his time between his mistress and burning rebellious villages to the ground on dragonback, before Rhaenyra puts a price on his head and sends two of her own dragonriders to kill him.
to:
** From ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' set in the same universe, there's Aemond Targaryen, second son of King Viserys I. When the SuccessionCrisis between his old brother Aegon and his half-sister Rhaenyra intensifies, Aemond singlehandedly destroys any chance of a peaceful resolution by [[EvilUncle murdering his nephew Lucerys]] as payback for [[EyeScream slicing out one of Aemond's eyes]] in a childhood fight, ignoring that Lucerys is fifteen and an envoy envoy; the conflict snowballs into open CivilWar and members of Aemond's own faction [[EvenEvilHasStandards berate him for committing such a flagrant war crime]]. As the Dance of Dragons progresses, Aemond takes over the war effort when Aegon is left crippled by battlefield injuries, strips King's Landing of defenders and marches to attack [[ArchEnemy his uncle Daemon's]] position at Harrenhal, [[EpicFail only for Daemon to circle behind Aemond and attack a defenceless King's Landing]]. [[YouHaveFailedMe A furious Aemond slaughters House Strong, the lords of Harrenhal]] [[NeverMyFault in anger]] [[GeneralFailure at his screwup]], overlooking that they're on ''his'' side, and [[GeneralFailure instead of doing something constructive like marching back to retake King's Landing, leaves his army in the Riverlands]] (where shortly after, they're massacred by Rhaenyra's supporters in the region) and divides his time between his mistress and burning rebellious villages to the ground on dragonback, before Rhaenyra puts a price on his head and sends two of her own dragonriders to kill him.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 19 (click to see context) from:
** From ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' set in the same universe, there's Aemond Targaryen, second son of King Viserys I. When the SuccessionCrisis between his old brother Aegon and his half-sister Rhaenyra intensifies, Aemond singlehandedly destroys any chance of a peaceful resolution by [[EvilUncle murdering his nephew Lucerys]] as payback for [[EyeScream slicing out one of Aemond's eyes]] in a childhood fight, ignoring that Lucerys is fifteen and an en; the conflict snowballs into open CivilWar and members of Aemond's own faction [[EvenEvilHasStandards berate him for committing such a flagrant war crime]]. As the Dance of Dragons progresses, Aemond takes over the war effort when Aegon is left crippled by battlefield injuries, strips King's Landing of defenders and marches to attack [[ArchEnemy his uncle Daemon's]] position at Harrenhal, [[EpicFail only for Daemon to circle behind Aemond and attack a defenceless King's Landing]]. [[YouHaveFailedMe A furious Aemond slaughters House Strong, the lords of Harrenhal]] [[NeverMyFault in anger]] [[GeneralFailure at his screwup]], overlooking that they're on ''his'' side, and [[GeneralFailure instead of doing something constructive like marching back to retake King's Landing, leaves his army in the Riverlands]] (where shortly after, they're massacred by Rhaenyra's supporters in the region) and divides his time between his mistress and burning rebellious villages to the ground on dragonback, before Rhaenyra puts a price on his head and sends two of her own dragonriders to kill him.
to:
** From ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' set in the same universe, there's Aemond Targaryen, second son of King Viserys I. When the SuccessionCrisis between his old brother Aegon and his half-sister Rhaenyra intensifies, Aemond singlehandedly destroys any chance of a peaceful resolution by [[EvilUncle murdering his nephew Lucerys]] as payback for [[EyeScream slicing out one of Aemond's eyes]] in a childhood fight, ignoring that Lucerys is fifteen and an en; envoy the conflict snowballs into open CivilWar and members of Aemond's own faction [[EvenEvilHasStandards berate him for committing such a flagrant war crime]]. As the Dance of Dragons progresses, Aemond takes over the war effort when Aegon is left crippled by battlefield injuries, strips King's Landing of defenders and marches to attack [[ArchEnemy his uncle Daemon's]] position at Harrenhal, [[EpicFail only for Daemon to circle behind Aemond and attack a defenceless King's Landing]]. [[YouHaveFailedMe A furious Aemond slaughters House Strong, the lords of Harrenhal]] [[NeverMyFault in anger]] [[GeneralFailure at his screwup]], overlooking that they're on ''his'' side, and [[GeneralFailure instead of doing something constructive like marching back to retake King's Landing, leaves his army in the Riverlands]] (where shortly after, they're massacred by Rhaenyra's supporters in the region) and divides his time between his mistress and burning rebellious villages to the ground on dragonback, before Rhaenyra puts a price on his head and sends two of her own dragonriders to kill him.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Luke was riding a dragon.
Changed line(s) 19 (click to see context) from:
** From ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' set in the same universe, there's Aemond Targaryen, second son of King Viserys I. When the SuccessionCrisis between his old brother Aegon and his half-sister Rhaenyra intensifies, Aemond singlehandedly destroys any chance of a peaceful resolution by [[EvilUncle murdering his nephew Lucerys]] as payback for [[EyeScream slicing out one of Aemond's eyes]] in a childhood fight, ignoring that Lucerys is fifteen and unarmed; the conflict snowballs into open CivilWar and members of Aemond's own faction [[EvenEvilHasStandards berate him for committing such a flagrant war crime]]. As the Dance of Dragons progresses, Aemond takes over the war effort when Aegon is left crippled by battlefield injuries, strips King's Landing of defenders and marches to attack [[ArchEnemy his uncle Daemon's]] position at Harrenhal, [[EpicFail only for Daemon to circle behind Aemond and attack a defenceless King's Landing]]. [[YouHaveFailedMe A furious Aemond slaughters House Strong, the lords of Harrenhal]] [[NeverMyFault in anger]] [[GeneralFailure at his screwup]], overlooking that they're on ''his'' side, and [[GeneralFailure instead of doing something constructive like marching back to retake King's Landing, leaves his army in the Riverlands]] (where shortly after, they're massacred by Rhaenyra's supporters in the region) and divides his time between his mistress and burning rebellious villages to the ground on dragonback, before Rhaenyra puts a price on his head and sends two of her own dragonriders to kill him.
to:
** From ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' set in the same universe, there's Aemond Targaryen, second son of King Viserys I. When the SuccessionCrisis between his old brother Aegon and his half-sister Rhaenyra intensifies, Aemond singlehandedly destroys any chance of a peaceful resolution by [[EvilUncle murdering his nephew Lucerys]] as payback for [[EyeScream slicing out one of Aemond's eyes]] in a childhood fight, ignoring that Lucerys is fifteen and unarmed; an en; the conflict snowballs into open CivilWar and members of Aemond's own faction [[EvenEvilHasStandards berate him for committing such a flagrant war crime]]. As the Dance of Dragons progresses, Aemond takes over the war effort when Aegon is left crippled by battlefield injuries, strips King's Landing of defenders and marches to attack [[ArchEnemy his uncle Daemon's]] position at Harrenhal, [[EpicFail only for Daemon to circle behind Aemond and attack a defenceless King's Landing]]. [[YouHaveFailedMe A furious Aemond slaughters House Strong, the lords of Harrenhal]] [[NeverMyFault in anger]] [[GeneralFailure at his screwup]], overlooking that they're on ''his'' side, and [[GeneralFailure instead of doing something constructive like marching back to retake King's Landing, leaves his army in the Riverlands]] (where shortly after, they're massacred by Rhaenyra's supporters in the region) and divides his time between his mistress and burning rebellious villages to the ground on dragonback, before Rhaenyra puts a price on his head and sends two of her own dragonriders to kill him.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Literature/TravelerTheSpiralPath'': The Bloodsail Buccaneers are infamous for leaving no survivors after their attacks and for going after anyone, [[NoHonorAmongThieves even other pirates]]. It makes them the most feared (and despised) pirate fleet on the seas, but also the least wealthy: they can't rob again someone they murdered, merchant ships will rather fight to the death than surrender to them, and other ships will gang up on them when given the opportunity.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': General Lukash does nothing to rein in the beasts his army consists of, even when atrocities they commit are actually to his detriment. He thus fails to act when imps slaughter surrendering Argonathi soldiers after one victory — including officers, who should rather be captured alive and interrogated. He also sees nothing wrong with trolls devouring the flesh of humans slain in battle, even though it has a devastating effect on morale of human soldiers under his own command.
to:
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': General Lukash does nothing to rein in the beasts his army consists of, even when atrocities they commit are actually to his detriment. He thus fails to act when imps slaughter surrendering Argonathi soldiers after one victory — including officers, who should rather be captured alive and interrogated. He also sees nothing wrong with trolls devouring the flesh of humans slain in battle, even though it has a devastating effect on morale of human soldiers under his own command.command.
----
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 31 (click to see context) from:
-->'''O'Brien:''' The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power."
to:
-->'''O'Brien:''' The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power."
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Now Flame Bait.
Changed line(s) 32 (click to see context) from:
* Nikolai Carpathia of the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series shows some hysterically poor planning, considering he's supposed to be both a mastermind and the Antichrist. His entire plan to win out over God basically boils down to following a prophecy that is guaranteed to lead to his defeat to the letter, then deviating from it and trying to shoot Jesus at the very last possible second. The only reason Carpathia even succeeds as much as he does is that everyone else on earth [[IdiotPlot is an even bigger idiot than he is]].
to:
* Nikolai Carpathia of the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series shows some hysterically poor planning, considering he's supposed to be both a mastermind and the Antichrist. His entire plan to win out over God basically boils down to following a prophecy that is guaranteed to lead to his defeat to the letter, then deviating from it and trying to shoot Jesus at the very last possible second. The only reason Carpathia even succeeds as much as he does is that everyone else on earth [[IdiotPlot is an even bigger idiot than he is]].is.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
No longer a trope. Can't tell if replacement or others apply.
Changed line(s) 3 (click to see context) from:
** All the less important Darkfriends (anyone who pledges himself to serve the UltimateEvil) are even stupider. They spend slightly less time committing evil than their Forsaken masters, but only because they're too busy dying like flies. If they're not being ordered off into suicide missions or [[YouHaveFailedMe being executed for failing other impossible tasks]], they're being stabbed in the back by their rivals or casually tortured and killed just for being in the wrong place when somebody important has a temper tantrum. And to add to the Stupid Evil of it, they all earnestly believe that they'll get the immortality and infinite power they were promised even though the UltimateEvil hasn't given that to anyone in over three thousand years.
to:
** All the less important Darkfriends (anyone who pledges himself to serve the UltimateEvil) are even stupider. They spend slightly less time committing evil than their Forsaken masters, but only because they're too busy dying like flies. If they're not being ordered off into suicide missions or [[YouHaveFailedMe being executed for failing other impossible tasks]], they're being stabbed in the back by their rivals or casually tortured and killed just for being in the wrong place when somebody important has a temper tantrum. And to add to the Stupid Evil of it, they all earnestly believe that they'll get the immortality and infinite power they were promised even though the UltimateEvil it hasn't given that to anyone in over three thousand years.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 3 (click to see context) from:
** And all the less important Darkfriends (anyone who pledges himself to serve the UltimateEvil) are even stupider. They spend slightly less time committing evil than their Forsaken masters, but only because they're too busy dying like flies. If they're not being ordered off into suicide missions or [[YouHaveFailedMe being executed for failing other impossible tasks]], they're being stabbed in the back by their rivals or casually tortured and killed just for being in the wrong place when somebody important has a temper tantrum. And to add to the Stupid Evil of it, they all earnestly believe that they'll get the immortality and infinite power they were promised even though the UltimateEvil hasn't given that to anyone in over three thousand years.
to:
** And all All the less important Darkfriends (anyone who pledges himself to serve the UltimateEvil) are even stupider. They spend slightly less time committing evil than their Forsaken masters, but only because they're too busy dying like flies. If they're not being ordered off into suicide missions or [[YouHaveFailedMe being executed for failing other impossible tasks]], they're being stabbed in the back by their rivals or casually tortured and killed just for being in the wrong place when somebody important has a temper tantrum. And to add to the Stupid Evil of it, they all earnestly believe that they'll get the immortality and infinite power they were promised even though the UltimateEvil hasn't given that to anyone in over three thousand years.
Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
* In ''Night of Fear'', Brody is a pyromaniac who goes around setting fires and burning things down as "revenge" against random people, because he's deeply bitter over an incident where his father's store burned down during a riot and no one came to help. When he and TJ, a boy he's kidnapped, come across a shed full of valuable, beautiful old carousel animals, the boy tries to save them from being burned by suggesting that they steal and sell them instead. Brody thinks about it for a minute before deciding to burn them anyway, declaring, "This is my chance for the perfect revenge."
to:
* In ''Night of Fear'', Brody is a pyromaniac who goes around setting fires and burning things down as "revenge" against random people, because he's deeply bitter over an incident where his father's store burned down during a riot and no one came to help. When he and TJ, a boy he's kidnapped, come across a shed full of valuable, beautiful old carousel animals, the boy tries to save them from being burned by suggesting that they steal and sell them instead. Brody thinks about it for a minute before deciding to burn them anyway, declaring, "This is my chance for the perfect revenge.""
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': General Lukash does nothing to rein in the beasts his army consists of, even when atrocities they commit are actually to his detriment. He thus fails to act when imps slaughter surrendering Argonathi soldiers after one victory — including officers, who should rather be captured alive and interrogated. He also sees nothing wrong with trolls devouring the flesh of humans slain in battle, even though it has a devastating effect on morale of human soldiers under his own command.
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': General Lukash does nothing to rein in the beasts his army consists of, even when atrocities they commit are actually to his detriment. He thus fails to act when imps slaughter surrendering Argonathi soldiers after one victory — including officers, who should rather be captured alive and interrogated. He also sees nothing wrong with trolls devouring the flesh of humans slain in battle, even though it has a devastating effect on morale of human soldiers under his own command.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** From ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' set in the same universe, there's Aemond Targaryen, second son of King Viserys I. When the SuccessionCrisis between his old brother Aegon and his half-sister Rhaenyra intensifies, Aemond singlehandedly destroys any chance of a peaceful resolution by [[EvilUncle murdering his nephew Lucerys]] as payback for [[EyeScream slicing out one of Aemond's eyes]] in a childhood fight, ignoring that Lucerys is fifteen and unarmed; the conflict snowballs into open CivilWar and members of Aemond's own faction [[EvenEvilHasStandards berate him for committing such a flagrant war crime]]. As the Dance of Dragons progresses, Aemond takes over the war effort when Aegon is left crippled by battlefield injuries, strips King's Landing of defenders and marches to attack [[ArchEnemy his uncle Daemon's]] position at Harrenhal, [[EpicFail only for Daemon to circle behind Aemond and attack a defenceless King's Landing]]. [[YouHaveFailedMe A furious Aemond slaughters House Strong, the lords of Harrenhal]] [[NeverMyFault in anger]] [[GeneralFailure at his screwup]], overlooking that they're on ''his'' side, and [[GeneralFailure instead of doing something constructive like marching back to retake King's Landing, leaves his army in the Riverlands]] (where shortly after, they're massacred by Rhaenyra's supporters in the region) and divides his time between his mistress and burning rebellious villages to the ground on dragonback, before Rhaenyra puts a price on his head and sends two of her own dragonriders to kill him.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 54 (click to see context) from:
* In ''Night of Fear'', Brody is a pyromaniac who goes around setting fires and burning things down as "revenge" against random people, because he's deeply bitter over an incident where his father's store burned down during a riot and no one came to help. When he and TJ, a boy he's kidnapped, come across a shed full of valuable, beautiful old carousel animals, the boy suggests stealing and selling them instead of burning them. Brody thinks about it for a minute before deciding to burn them anyway, declaring, "This is my chance for the perfect revenge."
to:
* In ''Night of Fear'', Brody is a pyromaniac who goes around setting fires and burning things down as "revenge" against random people, because he's deeply bitter over an incident where his father's store burned down during a riot and no one came to help. When he and TJ, a boy he's kidnapped, come across a shed full of valuable, beautiful old carousel animals, the boy suggests stealing and selling tries to save them instead of burning them.from being burned by suggesting that they steal and sell them instead. Brody thinks about it for a minute before deciding to burn them anyway, declaring, "This is my chance for the perfect revenge."
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 54 (click to see context) from:
* In ''Night of Fear'', Brody is a pyromaniac who goes around setting fires and burning things down as "revenge" against random people, because he's deeply bitter over an incident where his father's store burned down during a riot and no one came to help. When he and TJ, a boy he's kidnapped, come across a shed full of valuable, beautiful old carousel animals, the boy suggests selling them instead of burning them. Brody thinks about it for a minute before deciding to burn them anyway, declaring, "This is my chance for the perfect revenge."
to:
* In ''Night of Fear'', Brody is a pyromaniac who goes around setting fires and burning things down as "revenge" against random people, because he's deeply bitter over an incident where his father's store burned down during a riot and no one came to help. When he and TJ, a boy he's kidnapped, come across a shed full of valuable, beautiful old carousel animals, the boy suggests stealing and selling them instead of burning them. Brody thinks about it for a minute before deciding to burn them anyway, declaring, "This is my chance for the perfect revenge."
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 53 (click to see context) from:
* Manhattan, the antagonist of Creator/SeananMcGuire's short story ''Too Late Now'', [[spoiler:pushes Boston into a hole to get eaten by the PlantAliens]], even though he already found out where her scavenging find was so he could loot it. [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard This results in him and everyone with them also getting eaten.]]]]
to:
* Manhattan, the antagonist of Creator/SeananMcGuire's short story ''Too Late Now'', [[spoiler:pushes Boston into a hole to get eaten by the PlantAliens]], even though he already found out where her scavenging find was so he could loot it. [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard This results in him and everyone with them also getting eaten.]]]]]]]]
* In ''Night of Fear'', Brody is a pyromaniac who goes around setting fires and burning things down as "revenge" against random people, because he's deeply bitter over an incident where his father's store burned down during a riot and no one came to help. When he and TJ, a boy he's kidnapped, come across a shed full of valuable, beautiful old carousel animals, the boy suggests selling them instead of burning them. Brody thinks about it for a minute before deciding to burn them anyway, declaring, "This is my chance for the perfect revenge."
* In ''Night of Fear'', Brody is a pyromaniac who goes around setting fires and burning things down as "revenge" against random people, because he's deeply bitter over an incident where his father's store burned down during a riot and no one came to help. When he and TJ, a boy he's kidnapped, come across a shed full of valuable, beautiful old carousel animals, the boy suggests selling them instead of burning them. Brody thinks about it for a minute before deciding to burn them anyway, declaring, "This is my chance for the perfect revenge."
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
** Also [[BastardBastard Ramsay Bolton]]. His father, Roose, discusses this trope in ''A Dance with Dragons''; though Roose is a sadistic psychopath himself, he at least has self-control, and [[PragmaticVillainy points out the foolishness of his son's openly cruel ways]].
to:
** Also [[BastardBastard Ramsay Bolton]]. Now unlike the two above, Ramsay is actually quite intelligent and cunning. The problem is that he’s also extremely sadistic and given the choice between the smart thing or the sadistic thing, Ramsay really prefers doing the sadistic thing. His father, Roose, discusses this trope in ''A Dance with Dragons''; though Roose is a sadistic psychopath himself, he at least has self-control, and [[PragmaticVillainy points out the foolishness of his son's openly cruel ways]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
** The Forsaken pretty much ran the areas they were in charge of during the Age of Legend into the ground because the only thing they were capable of doing was fighting. Asmodean, a relatively weak Aes Sedai, was made one of them because he only did things like kill all of his musical rivals, instead of feeding everyone to trollocs. When they were released from their prison, they didn't do much better. Most of the times they are seen holding the IdiotBall because they don't seem to understand that they can hold off on being evil for one day. Rahvin allows [[spoiler:Morgase to escape because he's too busy brainwashing people so he can have sex with them]], and Sammael does such a poor job running Illian that the [[spoiler:nobles hand the country to Rand as soon as he kills Sammael]]. There are implications that they were picked by the Dark One ''precisely'' for being people with huge issues.
** And all the less important Darkfriends (anyone who pledges himself to serve the UltimateEvil) are even stupider. They spend slightly less time committing evil than their Forsaken masters, but only because they're too busy dying like flies. If they're not being ordered off into suicide missions or [[YouHaveFailedMe being executed for failing other impossible tasks]], they're being stabbed in the back by their rivals or casually tortured and killed just for being in the wrong place when somebody important has a temper tantrum. And to add to the Stupid Evil of it, they all earnestly believe that they'll get the immortality and infinite power they were promised even though the UltimateEvil hasn't given that to anyone in over three thousand years.
** Jordan himself noted that much of the Forsaken's behavior and group dynamics are based on Nazi internal politics, a group notorious for being really good at out-backstabbing one another and not so good at running things. Of the Forsaken, only Ishamael cum Moridin has a deeper, more philosophical understanding of the nature of oblivion and the Dark One's seeming true goals; arguably, he is the most dangerous because he isn't selfishly evil and is much more deeply nihilistic. Also worth noting is that most of the Forsaken mentioned above got killed off fairly early in the series, the handful who remain by the last book include some of the most dangerous villains in the series, most obviously Demandred[[note]]who carries the VillainBall solely because of his obsessive hatred of Lews Therin, not because he's in any way stupid, and still manages to wreck the good guys while juggling the thing[[/note]] and Graendal.
** Played interestingly with the Dark One itself. It isn't really a person so much as the ''idea'' of evil, and as such has next to no capacity to learn from its mistakes or change its behavior. WordOfGod from Brandon Sanderson (who took over the series after Jordan's death) indicates that the Dark One barely even has a personality, being more an aspect of the universe than anything. Because of this, for all its cunning, it's essentially [[EvilCannotComprehendGood blind to all that is not itself]], and tends to seek out those humans who most resemble it to serve it — hence the {{rogues gallery}} of spectacularly unstable people mentioned above.
** Elaida, the Amyrlin Seat [[spoiler:after she betrays and stills Siuan]], is an incompetent KnightTemplar who sees herself as the ultimate good in the world but is too much of a spoiled brat to actually act like it. She has a hilariously bad track record of [[ProphecyTwist misinterpreting]] [[ExactWords her own prophecies,]] is absolutely ineffective as a ruler, and [[spoiler:through her stupidity, allows the ''entire White Tower'' to become infested with Darkfriends]]. Egwene sums it up:
--->'''Egwene:''' I dare the truth, Elaida. You are a coward and a tyrant. I'd name you Darkfriend as well, [[InsultToRocks but I suspect that the Dark One would perhaps be embarrassed to associate with you.]]
* Draag, the Dark Paladin in ''Game Night'' by Jonny Nexus, plays Stupid Evil to the hilt, as his answer to nearly every problem is either A) Pull out his evil sword [=DeathSinger=] and stab it or B) Pull out his evil sword [=DeathSinger=] and torch it. The opening chapter has the GM/God of the world having to rewind time several times as Draag first stabs a gatekeeper before he can tell them the riddle they need to solve to get past, and then stabs the gatekeeper after he delivers the riddle, but before they can answer. Then, once they do solve the riddle, he kills the gatekeeper anyway.
* The scorpion in "The Scorpion and the Frog" is the UrExample, stinging the frog ferrying him across the river even though it leads to them both drowning. Subverted in the ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'' take on it.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The series is basically an epic devoted to [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome showing the realistic consequences of what happens when you act this way]]. Being vile can actually get you ahead in Westeros, but being stupid will get you killed.
** Joffrey Baratheon. [[PrinceCharmless Crown Prince]] [[spoiler:and later king]] of Westeros, and a RoyalBrat with ''way'' too much power. Throws his royal weight around whenever he possibly can, openly mocks ''everyone'' regardless of their standing or authority, [[spoiler:has a friend of Arya's killed as vengeance for Arya making him look like an idiot, sends an assassin after Bran Stark ''armed with a Valyrian steel blade that no common assassin would have'', which leads the Starks to start suspecting the Lannisters of treachery, and orders the execution of Ned Stark, sparking off a gigantic CivilWar]]. When confronted with an angry mob of hundreds of unruly peasants with only a handful of guards to protect him, he responds by ''ordering the guards to behead the peasants'' and only survives because his guards are too smart to listen. All of this leads to a ruler that [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating both the rich and the poor openly despise]]. [[spoiler:This all ends up getting Joffrey killed at his own wedding through the use of poison, and turns the identity of his killer into a big mystery simply because there are [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole so many people who want him dead]].]]
** Prince Viserys, who at least has the excuse of being half-mad through years of exile, begging merchants and city rulers for support in retaking Westeros from TheUsurper. When his sister comes of age, she is married off to a Dothraki horselord with a huge army in exchange for his aid, but Viserys endangers the agreement by failing to understand Dothraki culture and continuing to abuse his sister, who is now, in fact, a powerful queen. He goes too far when he [[spoiler:threatens her unborn child]] while in a TruceZone, thinking the Dothraki can't harm him as they're not allowed to spill blood there. They get around this with some handy LoopholeAbuse, [[spoiler:pouring a pot of molten gold over Viserys' head while his sister calmly looks on]].
** Also [[BastardBastard Ramsay Bolton]]. His father, Roose, discusses this trope in ''A Dance with Dragons''; though Roose is a sadistic psychopath himself, he at least has self-control, and [[PragmaticVillainy points out the foolishness of his son's openly cruel ways]].
** Cersei Lannister as well. She does such things as dismissing the idea of paying the money that the realm owes to the Iron Bank of Braavos (an institution that has a reputation of replacing rulers that don't pay debts), as well as spending a ''very large'' amount of money building an entire fleet of warships, then handing it over to a man of questionable integrity and reliability, just because he vaguely resembles her childhood crush. As soon as [[spoiler:she's imprisoned]] in ''A Feast For Crows'', the guy makes off with every ship — naturally. Or, how about empowering a group of religious zealots who have had a long history of rebelling against the Crown, and who clearly still hate the noble elite? The only thing she succeeds at during her stint as a ruler after [[spoiler:Joffrey dies]] in ''A Storm of Swords'' is running the Seven Kingdoms into the ground at an impressive speed, in the process amusing [[MagnificentBastard Littlefinger]] greatly ''and'' [[spoiler:making the realm that much easier for Varys to help Prince Aegon Targaryen VI — the lost son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen (there are question marks) — take for his own. In fact, when Cersei's competent uncle, Kevan Lannister, takes over the Regency, Varys kills him, as he was actually beginning to stabilise the realm]].
** Rorge threatened to rape Arya while trying to get her to free him. For some strange reason, she declined — leaving him to get out by a more difficult, undisclosed way. He keeps up the good work by getting most of the Seven Kingdoms to agree to just end him for the gratuitously over-the-top RapePillageAndBurn he later commits at Saltpans, pseudonym or not. To manage to offend the very jaded sensibilities of Westeros takes acute dedication to Evil and/or just plain idiocy.
** Historically, a fair few kings, lords, and Hands proved to be this and do get called out for it in the books by other characters. Here are a few highlights: Maegor "the Cruel" focused so much on being… well… cruel, that he wound up getting eviscerated by the Iron Throne [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole under mysterious circumstances]]. Then there's Aegon "the Unworthy": the Blackfyre Rebellions that rolled through Westeros and Essos for over 80 years of slaughter were, basically, entirely his fault. Just because he hated his siblings (one of whom was his wife), hated his son, hated hard work, and jumped into any bed or plate of food he could fit into his itinerary or mouth. Aerys "the Mad" grew so AxCrazy, [[MadnessMakeover slovenly]], and [[TheParanoiac jumpily paranoid]] that one of his own Kingsguard took it upon himself to [[MercyKill put the poor, deranged, mess of a man out of everybody's misery]] during the civil war he helped cause.
** The Ironborn show shades of this as well. A culture that prides itself on pillaging and raiding, they have little plans other than AttackAttackAttack, thus leaving them underprepared for anything else. Theon Greyjoy, for example, manages to take Winterfell in a sneak attack but forgets to realize that in order to hold it from being retaken, he needs men, hundreds at least, and he only has a few dozen. He has the added problem of not understanding that the whole point of Ironborn tactics is ''raiding''; if he'd taken prisoners, looted the place, and skedaddled like his crew advised, it would have been a flawless victory.
** [[EvilIsPetty House Frey]] manages to out-Stupid most examples on this whole page. All the while most in the House (not all, though) erroneously believe they're being both [[TheStrategist highly cunning]] ''and'' playing the PragmaticVillainy card with their [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder (over)reliance]] on naked [[OpportunisticBastard opportunism]] and [[ImplausibleDeniability nose-rubbing]] [[{{Troll}} trolling]]. They're very much ''neither'' of these things collectively; and, ''[[DidntThinkThisThrough it]] [[TooDumbToLive shows]]''. [[HateSink Painfully]]. Why all this going big with the multi-directional backstabbing in the most dishonest way imaginable? [[InsaneTrollLogic Because they're sick of everybody belittling them for being petty, opportunistic, dishonest weasels!]]
* {{Lampshade}}d in Creator/DouglasAdams's novel ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', when Trillian points out to the OmnicidalManiac Krikkiters that they don't appear to have noticed that their plan to destroy the universe would also destroy them as well.
* [=LaMOEs=] (pronounced "Lame-os") in ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' fit this description. Short for "Last Man On Earth", [=LaMOES=] are people isolated for years by the ZombieApocalypse, so used to living by themselves that they attack any and all people who threaten their "happy" lives, even soldiers attempting to bring back civilization, running water, and central heating.
--> '''Todd Wainio:''' Those were the ones who were a little too used to being king. King of what I dunno; [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Gs]], [[PretendWereDead Quislings]], and crazy [[KillerRabbit F-critters]], but I guess in their mind they were living the good life.
* Discussed in Creator/StephenKing's novel ''Literature/{{Desperation}}''. The demonic being [[EldritchAbomination Tak]] murders an entire small town [[ForTheEvulz for kicks]], despite needing [[PossessionBurnout a fresh supply of human hosts]] in order to survive. (To make this even more absurd, the town in question is ''in the middle of the desert''.) When questioning Tak's actions, the characters come to the conclusion that, as a being MadeOfEvil, being evil is what it does, even if it means it's sabotaging itself.
-->"Evil is both fragile and stupid, dying soon after the ecosystem it's poisoned."
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
** The faction of State Security is ruthless and murderous to the point of convincing nearly every citizen of the post-Legislaturalist People's Republic of Haven that they're the bad guys, rather than an essential part of the new government. Excepting the People's Commissioners, who merely "disappear" people who don't take up the party line, StateSec at large tortures, humiliates, and rapes almost all their prisoners [[ForTheEvulz just for fun]], rather than merely being highly effective executioners. They are so complacent and incapable of rationalizing other human beings as being more skilled than they are at certain things that they are relatively easy to outsmart, outmanoeuvre, or kill.
** The planet of Mesa spends untold amounts of money on genetically engineering clone slaves, and treats them so horribly, that abolitionists notice that there is no way that it could be profitable and start to dig deeper[[spoiler:, unraveling that it's merely the cover for a generational strategy of galactic conquest]].
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', Panem orchestrates a killing game in order to terrorize and cow down its poverty-stricken districts, while at the same time keeping the Capitol residents entertained. This ritual is basically a brutal instance of MakeAnExampleOfThem, as the games were set up in response to a failed rebellion against the Capitol. However, by the end of the first book, the Capitol have clearly mismanaged things, and President Snow rightly fears that another rebellion may be simmering. In response, he visits Katniss and implores her to keep the peace, and that's the smart decision. The stupid part is when he simultaneously initiates a violent crackdown against the Districts, and people are brutally and publicly punished and executed for showing any sort of dissidence against the Capitol. Given that Katniss is out touring the Districts while this happens, the people get a convenient figurehead to rally behind. The Capitol's decision to orchestrate a Quarter Quell specifically to screw over the victors of the Hunger Games[[note]]Maybe, it's ambiguous whether it was his idea, or something laid down by the founders of the Hunger Games[[/note]] doesn't help matters, but President Snow is so convinced that it will succeed that he fails to notice the conspiracy to oust him that's brewing right under his nose.
** Also [[SubvertedTrope subverted later on]]; Snow [[spoiler:blowing up the refugees surrounding his base out of spite]] even though the war is all but over is — aside from being [[MoralEventHorizon monstrously evil]] — incredibly stupid and self-sabotaging, accomplishing nothing but causing what few supporters he has left to side with the rebels. [[spoiler:Which is why Snow ''[[NotMeThisTime didn't do it]]''. He is absolutely ''not'' dumb enough to think that would end in anything other than his death… but by [[FrameUp making people think]] he ''is'' that pointlessly cruel, [[BitchInSheepsClothing President Coin]] was able to end the war decisively and secure herself as [[MeetTheNewBoss the new tyrant of Panem]]. Katniss only realizes she and everyone else are being played when Snow himself points all this out, followed shortly by Coin "remorsefully" announcing [[FullCircleRevolution her intent to start new Hunger Games with the Capital's children]]…]]
* The Party in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' seem to have raised Stupid Evil to the level of philosophy, if not a deity. [[LawfulEvil They seek out power, total and complete, over all other humans]], for no reason other than, well, power. One of their slogans is "God is Power". Power over a blasted, war-ravaged, CrapsackWorld in permanent 1940s technological stasis, but whatever floats your boat. O'Brien proudly lampshades this at the end of the novel:
-->'''O'Brien:''' The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power."
* Nikolai Carpathia of the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series shows some hysterically poor planning, considering he's supposed to be both a mastermind and the Antichrist. His entire plan to win out over God basically boils down to following a prophecy that is guaranteed to lead to his defeat to the letter, then deviating from it and trying to shoot Jesus at the very last possible second. The only reason Carpathia even succeeds as much as he does is that everyone else on earth [[IdiotPlot is an even bigger idiot than he is]].
* Evil Harry Dread from ''Literature/TheLastHero'' is one of these, and indeed all true "Dark Lords" are, as part of an ancient covenant with the heroes. Actually, he is a deconstruction of the trope, as he KNOWS what the stupid decisions will lead to, but makes the mistakes anyways out of a sense of honor. He also does it so that the heroes will make similarly stupid mistakes (out of a similar sense of honor) that let him get away, among other things. We're also told that this is the ''reason'' he's the last Dark Lord; modern heroes that don't follow the old Code are much more pragmatic, take precautions like blocking villain escape routes, and just kill them off when they have the chance.
* The ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series offers several examples:
** In [[Literature/{{Dune}} the first book]], Rabban brutally mistreats the Fremen at every opportunity with very little provocation. Of course, unbeknownst to him, his uncle, the Baron Harkonnen, is deliberately letting Rabban abuse his power so that he can eventually be deposed by his brother [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Feyd]], with the expectation that Feyd will be hailed as a savior. Unfortunately for Harkonnen, Feyd is also prone to stupid evil — he tries to have the Baron killed before the plot has played out.
** In ''Literature/ChildrenOfDune'', Wensicia tries to have Leto and Ghanima — a pair of nine-year-old twins with genius-level intellects and the collected military experience of all their ancestors combined — killed with ''tigers'' (sure, they're specially trained and have little devices in their brains that allow them to be remotely controlled, but they'll still dumb animals against genius kids). And she sets this plan into motion for no other reason than petty revenge for the overthrow of her father — since the kids have not yet ascended the throne, their deaths won't actually bring down House Atreides or the Cult of Muad'Dib. [[spoiler:The plan fails, of course, and her own son is so disgusted by her stupidity that he forces her to give up her power and then has her exiled.]]
* [=BKR=], the BigBad of ''Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures''. It's outright stated that as long as he can make life miserable for other people, he doesn't give a damn what happens to himself.
* ''Literature/TheTamuli'': Invoked, discussed at length, and ultimately subverted in the case of Cyrgon. Cyrgon's a god of stagnation, and despises change and innovation, causing his people to idolise stupidity and execute anybody intelligent. Cyrgon himself refuses to admit the world has changed, confusing Trolls for Dawn-Men and arming himself and his people with bronze instead of iron or steel. That said, when push comes to shove, he's not actually deficient in IQ, and when he finds himself in a life-or-death situation against Sparhawk, he proves himself capable of innovating.
* In ''Literature/TheGapCycle'', Angus Thermopyle is so stupid and evil that it's a wonder that he's had any success as a pirate. Nowhere is this more aptly demonstrated than when he kidnaps Morn Hyland and fixes her with a zone implant, intending to force her to do labor on his ship, but then keeps rendering her useless by repeatedly beating and raping her so that she's too injured to work.
* ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'': In an alternate timeline in which he [[DeityOfHumanOrigin becomes a god]], Raistlin quickly JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope into this trope. He wages [[RageAgainstTheHeavens war against the other gods]] and turns the world into a lifeless wasteland, all because he's pissed off about... stuff. The things and people he liked best as a human live the longest, but that just means that their misery is prolonged. He claims that he's merely destroying a flawed creation so that he can build a better one in its place, but it's pretty clear that "creation" isn't really in his divine wheelhouse and he will ultimately wind up alone in the universe with only his self-loathing for company. Fortunately, after being shown this BadFuture, main-timeline-Raistlin opts for a last-minute HeelFaceTurn and HeroicSacrifice to avert this.
* Vicar Zhaspahr Clyntahn is the Grand Inquisitor of the {{corrupt|Church}} Church of God Awaiting in ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'', and he pulls moments of Stupid Evil with alarming regularity.
** One of his earliest such moments is in ''By Schism Rent Asunder'', ordering his Inquisitors to turn what was ''intended'' to be a seizure of Charisian shipping on one of their ports into a bloodbath later known as the Ferayd Massacre. He goes on to lie to his three fellow members of the Group of Four about how the massacre began, so they're blindsided and forced to acknowledge they were in the wrong when Charis sends the Temple proof of what really happened.
** ''How Firm a Foundation:'' His long-standing automatic suspicion of the Republic of Siddarmark prompts him to instigate the Sword of Schueler, a plan that starts unrest within the country quickly turning into outright civil war and nearly destroying the Republic from the inside out. He does this despite being told repeatedly by the others in the Group of Four to leave Siddarmark alone, since they still give tithes and are, at worst, neutral in the conflict. After the Sword of Schueler, Siddarmark's leaders ally with Charis just to survive and provides the naval-based Charis with a mainland ally it desperately needed.
** In ''Hell's Foundations Quiver'', during the overland war in Siddarmark, he refuses to allow troops of the Army of God to be pulled back, despite the advice of the army's supreme commander. One reason is that he refuses to give up ground won from the heretics. However, that captured land also contains numerous concentration camps that are used to sort through captured heretics that he does not want to see liberated.
* {{Satan}} in ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' freely admits that he would be happier serving God than ruling Hell, but refuses to repent anyway. He wants ''everyone'' to be miserable, and he includes himself in that.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats,'' Brokenstar forces young kits to start training as apprentices when they are three months old (around age ''[[ChildSoldiers five]]'' in cat years) instead of the standard six (age 10 in cat years), which leads to them dying in battle because they're not old enough to fight properly. When all of [=ShadowClan=]'s kits are dead, instead of doing the smart thing and changing his tactics, Brokenstar reasons that the kits must have died because they were "too weak" and decides to refill the nursery by kidnapping kits from other Clans, which predictably pisses them off. By then, he has become so hated by his own Clan that they not only help [=ThunderClan=] recover their missing kits but team up with them to drive Brokenstar out of [=ShadowClan=] for good.
* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': The Empire during the events of the books as it becomes increasingly repressive. As Han reflects, tax people to death paying for your war machine, then you massacre them just for peacefully protesting this, and naturally many will find armed revolt is the only option (plus Imperial officers that retain a conscience will defect-or in the case of an old friend Han knew in the Academy, his own family had been massacred in one such atrocity).
* ''Literature/ShadesOfMagic'': [[spoiler:The Veskan twins]] in the third book try to break a century-old peace treaty, assassinate the royal family of Red London, and stage an invasion, all while Red London is desperately trying to hold off the EldritchAbomination that destroyed the world of Black London and is trying to do the same to their world. For bonus Stupid Evil points, the invading army's presence would actually feed the entity and make it stronger.
* In Saint Augustine's ''Literature/{{Confessions}}'', he argues from his personal experience [[RealityIsUnrealistic that real evil people can be this trope]]. As a boy, he stole pears from a neighbour's tree: what he liked was not the taste of the pears themselves, or the feeling of sating hunger, or any other [[FreudianExcuse façade of logic]] that humans have invented to justify their sins, but the psychologically masochistic knowledge that he was corrupting himself more and more every time he did it. Augustine concludes that sin itself was desirable, solely because it was sin. Yet even sin's pleasurable nature did not justify the importance he assigned it, because the love and awe of God is ''more'' pleasurable, and Augustine is happy to have been converted to it... Basically, Stupid Evil is realistic because people being stupid is realistic. A [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} truly smart person]] wouldn't commit sin in the first place.
* Justified in ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}''. Creator/CSLewis wanted to make the point that, having renounced the source of all good, Satan has to renounce all good things, intelligence being one of them. Ransom comes to the realization that for demons, intelligence is a trait that they can put on or remove at will — it's like clothes they wear rather than an innate characteristic. And based on the Un-Man's petty behavior whenever he isn't "working", it's clear he would rather be intelligent as little as possible.
* In ''The May Night, or the Drowned Maiden'' by Creator/NikolaiGogol, the WickedStepmother disguises herself by turning into one of the rusalki and stealthily continues to plague her stepdaughter's posthumous existence. Seems very cunning, but ''then'' she gives herself away in the most idiotic manner possible – by ''volunteering'' to play the villain in a game and obviously reveling in doing so. However, since it takes a living man to realize it, while the stepdaughter remains clueless, probably rusalki aren’t too clever in general.
* ''Literature/MarvelsSpiderManHostileTakeover'': While he is capable of planning and pragmatism, Bingham is also rather impulsive and lets his emotions get the better of him. Also he's on a power trip as the Blood Spider and thinks Spider-Man should use his power to lord over others.
* Chris Hargenson of ''{{Literature/Carrie}}''. When she and her classmates are serving detention for throwing tampons at Carrie during her first period, she protests the punishment and genuinely thinks that all her classmates will walk out in solidarity with her, even after they've been threatened with suspension and getting banned from the prom. And she gets her father to try and sue the school for this, not considering that she was put in detention for leading a bullying incident of another girl and the principal has practically a whole drawer centered on the other times Chris has harassed her fellow students. This is ratcheted up in the [[{{Film/Carrie 2013}} 2013 film adaptation]] - where she uploaded a video of the incident to Website/YouTube, didn't tell her father this before he threatened to sue, and when confronted with the fact that she may have the video on her phone, tries to claim it's an invasion of privacy to ask her to show it to them.
* Manhattan, the antagonist of Creator/SeananMcGuire's short story ''Too Late Now'', [[spoiler:pushes Boston into a hole to get eaten by the PlantAliens]], even though he already found out where her scavenging find was so he could loot it. [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard This results in him and everyone with them also getting eaten.]]]]
** The Forsaken pretty much ran the areas they were in charge of during the Age of Legend into the ground because the only thing they were capable of doing was fighting. Asmodean, a relatively weak Aes Sedai, was made one of them because he only did things like kill all of his musical rivals, instead of feeding everyone to trollocs. When they were released from their prison, they didn't do much better. Most of the times they are seen holding the IdiotBall because they don't seem to understand that they can hold off on being evil for one day. Rahvin allows [[spoiler:Morgase to escape because he's too busy brainwashing people so he can have sex with them]], and Sammael does such a poor job running Illian that the [[spoiler:nobles hand the country to Rand as soon as he kills Sammael]]. There are implications that they were picked by the Dark One ''precisely'' for being people with huge issues.
** And all the less important Darkfriends (anyone who pledges himself to serve the UltimateEvil) are even stupider. They spend slightly less time committing evil than their Forsaken masters, but only because they're too busy dying like flies. If they're not being ordered off into suicide missions or [[YouHaveFailedMe being executed for failing other impossible tasks]], they're being stabbed in the back by their rivals or casually tortured and killed just for being in the wrong place when somebody important has a temper tantrum. And to add to the Stupid Evil of it, they all earnestly believe that they'll get the immortality and infinite power they were promised even though the UltimateEvil hasn't given that to anyone in over three thousand years.
** Jordan himself noted that much of the Forsaken's behavior and group dynamics are based on Nazi internal politics, a group notorious for being really good at out-backstabbing one another and not so good at running things. Of the Forsaken, only Ishamael cum Moridin has a deeper, more philosophical understanding of the nature of oblivion and the Dark One's seeming true goals; arguably, he is the most dangerous because he isn't selfishly evil and is much more deeply nihilistic. Also worth noting is that most of the Forsaken mentioned above got killed off fairly early in the series, the handful who remain by the last book include some of the most dangerous villains in the series, most obviously Demandred[[note]]who carries the VillainBall solely because of his obsessive hatred of Lews Therin, not because he's in any way stupid, and still manages to wreck the good guys while juggling the thing[[/note]] and Graendal.
** Played interestingly with the Dark One itself. It isn't really a person so much as the ''idea'' of evil, and as such has next to no capacity to learn from its mistakes or change its behavior. WordOfGod from Brandon Sanderson (who took over the series after Jordan's death) indicates that the Dark One barely even has a personality, being more an aspect of the universe than anything. Because of this, for all its cunning, it's essentially [[EvilCannotComprehendGood blind to all that is not itself]], and tends to seek out those humans who most resemble it to serve it — hence the {{rogues gallery}} of spectacularly unstable people mentioned above.
** Elaida, the Amyrlin Seat [[spoiler:after she betrays and stills Siuan]], is an incompetent KnightTemplar who sees herself as the ultimate good in the world but is too much of a spoiled brat to actually act like it. She has a hilariously bad track record of [[ProphecyTwist misinterpreting]] [[ExactWords her own prophecies,]] is absolutely ineffective as a ruler, and [[spoiler:through her stupidity, allows the ''entire White Tower'' to become infested with Darkfriends]]. Egwene sums it up:
--->'''Egwene:''' I dare the truth, Elaida. You are a coward and a tyrant. I'd name you Darkfriend as well, [[InsultToRocks but I suspect that the Dark One would perhaps be embarrassed to associate with you.]]
* Draag, the Dark Paladin in ''Game Night'' by Jonny Nexus, plays Stupid Evil to the hilt, as his answer to nearly every problem is either A) Pull out his evil sword [=DeathSinger=] and stab it or B) Pull out his evil sword [=DeathSinger=] and torch it. The opening chapter has the GM/God of the world having to rewind time several times as Draag first stabs a gatekeeper before he can tell them the riddle they need to solve to get past, and then stabs the gatekeeper after he delivers the riddle, but before they can answer. Then, once they do solve the riddle, he kills the gatekeeper anyway.
* The scorpion in "The Scorpion and the Frog" is the UrExample, stinging the frog ferrying him across the river even though it leads to them both drowning. Subverted in the ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'' take on it.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The series is basically an epic devoted to [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome showing the realistic consequences of what happens when you act this way]]. Being vile can actually get you ahead in Westeros, but being stupid will get you killed.
** Joffrey Baratheon. [[PrinceCharmless Crown Prince]] [[spoiler:and later king]] of Westeros, and a RoyalBrat with ''way'' too much power. Throws his royal weight around whenever he possibly can, openly mocks ''everyone'' regardless of their standing or authority, [[spoiler:has a friend of Arya's killed as vengeance for Arya making him look like an idiot, sends an assassin after Bran Stark ''armed with a Valyrian steel blade that no common assassin would have'', which leads the Starks to start suspecting the Lannisters of treachery, and orders the execution of Ned Stark, sparking off a gigantic CivilWar]]. When confronted with an angry mob of hundreds of unruly peasants with only a handful of guards to protect him, he responds by ''ordering the guards to behead the peasants'' and only survives because his guards are too smart to listen. All of this leads to a ruler that [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating both the rich and the poor openly despise]]. [[spoiler:This all ends up getting Joffrey killed at his own wedding through the use of poison, and turns the identity of his killer into a big mystery simply because there are [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole so many people who want him dead]].]]
** Prince Viserys, who at least has the excuse of being half-mad through years of exile, begging merchants and city rulers for support in retaking Westeros from TheUsurper. When his sister comes of age, she is married off to a Dothraki horselord with a huge army in exchange for his aid, but Viserys endangers the agreement by failing to understand Dothraki culture and continuing to abuse his sister, who is now, in fact, a powerful queen. He goes too far when he [[spoiler:threatens her unborn child]] while in a TruceZone, thinking the Dothraki can't harm him as they're not allowed to spill blood there. They get around this with some handy LoopholeAbuse, [[spoiler:pouring a pot of molten gold over Viserys' head while his sister calmly looks on]].
** Also [[BastardBastard Ramsay Bolton]]. His father, Roose, discusses this trope in ''A Dance with Dragons''; though Roose is a sadistic psychopath himself, he at least has self-control, and [[PragmaticVillainy points out the foolishness of his son's openly cruel ways]].
** Cersei Lannister as well. She does such things as dismissing the idea of paying the money that the realm owes to the Iron Bank of Braavos (an institution that has a reputation of replacing rulers that don't pay debts), as well as spending a ''very large'' amount of money building an entire fleet of warships, then handing it over to a man of questionable integrity and reliability, just because he vaguely resembles her childhood crush. As soon as [[spoiler:she's imprisoned]] in ''A Feast For Crows'', the guy makes off with every ship — naturally. Or, how about empowering a group of religious zealots who have had a long history of rebelling against the Crown, and who clearly still hate the noble elite? The only thing she succeeds at during her stint as a ruler after [[spoiler:Joffrey dies]] in ''A Storm of Swords'' is running the Seven Kingdoms into the ground at an impressive speed, in the process amusing [[MagnificentBastard Littlefinger]] greatly ''and'' [[spoiler:making the realm that much easier for Varys to help Prince Aegon Targaryen VI — the lost son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen (there are question marks) — take for his own. In fact, when Cersei's competent uncle, Kevan Lannister, takes over the Regency, Varys kills him, as he was actually beginning to stabilise the realm]].
** Rorge threatened to rape Arya while trying to get her to free him. For some strange reason, she declined — leaving him to get out by a more difficult, undisclosed way. He keeps up the good work by getting most of the Seven Kingdoms to agree to just end him for the gratuitously over-the-top RapePillageAndBurn he later commits at Saltpans, pseudonym or not. To manage to offend the very jaded sensibilities of Westeros takes acute dedication to Evil and/or just plain idiocy.
** Historically, a fair few kings, lords, and Hands proved to be this and do get called out for it in the books by other characters. Here are a few highlights: Maegor "the Cruel" focused so much on being… well… cruel, that he wound up getting eviscerated by the Iron Throne [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole under mysterious circumstances]]. Then there's Aegon "the Unworthy": the Blackfyre Rebellions that rolled through Westeros and Essos for over 80 years of slaughter were, basically, entirely his fault. Just because he hated his siblings (one of whom was his wife), hated his son, hated hard work, and jumped into any bed or plate of food he could fit into his itinerary or mouth. Aerys "the Mad" grew so AxCrazy, [[MadnessMakeover slovenly]], and [[TheParanoiac jumpily paranoid]] that one of his own Kingsguard took it upon himself to [[MercyKill put the poor, deranged, mess of a man out of everybody's misery]] during the civil war he helped cause.
** The Ironborn show shades of this as well. A culture that prides itself on pillaging and raiding, they have little plans other than AttackAttackAttack, thus leaving them underprepared for anything else. Theon Greyjoy, for example, manages to take Winterfell in a sneak attack but forgets to realize that in order to hold it from being retaken, he needs men, hundreds at least, and he only has a few dozen. He has the added problem of not understanding that the whole point of Ironborn tactics is ''raiding''; if he'd taken prisoners, looted the place, and skedaddled like his crew advised, it would have been a flawless victory.
** [[EvilIsPetty House Frey]] manages to out-Stupid most examples on this whole page. All the while most in the House (not all, though) erroneously believe they're being both [[TheStrategist highly cunning]] ''and'' playing the PragmaticVillainy card with their [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder (over)reliance]] on naked [[OpportunisticBastard opportunism]] and [[ImplausibleDeniability nose-rubbing]] [[{{Troll}} trolling]]. They're very much ''neither'' of these things collectively; and, ''[[DidntThinkThisThrough it]] [[TooDumbToLive shows]]''. [[HateSink Painfully]]. Why all this going big with the multi-directional backstabbing in the most dishonest way imaginable? [[InsaneTrollLogic Because they're sick of everybody belittling them for being petty, opportunistic, dishonest weasels!]]
* {{Lampshade}}d in Creator/DouglasAdams's novel ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', when Trillian points out to the OmnicidalManiac Krikkiters that they don't appear to have noticed that their plan to destroy the universe would also destroy them as well.
* [=LaMOEs=] (pronounced "Lame-os") in ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' fit this description. Short for "Last Man On Earth", [=LaMOES=] are people isolated for years by the ZombieApocalypse, so used to living by themselves that they attack any and all people who threaten their "happy" lives, even soldiers attempting to bring back civilization, running water, and central heating.
--> '''Todd Wainio:''' Those were the ones who were a little too used to being king. King of what I dunno; [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Gs]], [[PretendWereDead Quislings]], and crazy [[KillerRabbit F-critters]], but I guess in their mind they were living the good life.
* Discussed in Creator/StephenKing's novel ''Literature/{{Desperation}}''. The demonic being [[EldritchAbomination Tak]] murders an entire small town [[ForTheEvulz for kicks]], despite needing [[PossessionBurnout a fresh supply of human hosts]] in order to survive. (To make this even more absurd, the town in question is ''in the middle of the desert''.) When questioning Tak's actions, the characters come to the conclusion that, as a being MadeOfEvil, being evil is what it does, even if it means it's sabotaging itself.
-->"Evil is both fragile and stupid, dying soon after the ecosystem it's poisoned."
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
** The faction of State Security is ruthless and murderous to the point of convincing nearly every citizen of the post-Legislaturalist People's Republic of Haven that they're the bad guys, rather than an essential part of the new government. Excepting the People's Commissioners, who merely "disappear" people who don't take up the party line, StateSec at large tortures, humiliates, and rapes almost all their prisoners [[ForTheEvulz just for fun]], rather than merely being highly effective executioners. They are so complacent and incapable of rationalizing other human beings as being more skilled than they are at certain things that they are relatively easy to outsmart, outmanoeuvre, or kill.
** The planet of Mesa spends untold amounts of money on genetically engineering clone slaves, and treats them so horribly, that abolitionists notice that there is no way that it could be profitable and start to dig deeper[[spoiler:, unraveling that it's merely the cover for a generational strategy of galactic conquest]].
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', Panem orchestrates a killing game in order to terrorize and cow down its poverty-stricken districts, while at the same time keeping the Capitol residents entertained. This ritual is basically a brutal instance of MakeAnExampleOfThem, as the games were set up in response to a failed rebellion against the Capitol. However, by the end of the first book, the Capitol have clearly mismanaged things, and President Snow rightly fears that another rebellion may be simmering. In response, he visits Katniss and implores her to keep the peace, and that's the smart decision. The stupid part is when he simultaneously initiates a violent crackdown against the Districts, and people are brutally and publicly punished and executed for showing any sort of dissidence against the Capitol. Given that Katniss is out touring the Districts while this happens, the people get a convenient figurehead to rally behind. The Capitol's decision to orchestrate a Quarter Quell specifically to screw over the victors of the Hunger Games[[note]]Maybe, it's ambiguous whether it was his idea, or something laid down by the founders of the Hunger Games[[/note]] doesn't help matters, but President Snow is so convinced that it will succeed that he fails to notice the conspiracy to oust him that's brewing right under his nose.
** Also [[SubvertedTrope subverted later on]]; Snow [[spoiler:blowing up the refugees surrounding his base out of spite]] even though the war is all but over is — aside from being [[MoralEventHorizon monstrously evil]] — incredibly stupid and self-sabotaging, accomplishing nothing but causing what few supporters he has left to side with the rebels. [[spoiler:Which is why Snow ''[[NotMeThisTime didn't do it]]''. He is absolutely ''not'' dumb enough to think that would end in anything other than his death… but by [[FrameUp making people think]] he ''is'' that pointlessly cruel, [[BitchInSheepsClothing President Coin]] was able to end the war decisively and secure herself as [[MeetTheNewBoss the new tyrant of Panem]]. Katniss only realizes she and everyone else are being played when Snow himself points all this out, followed shortly by Coin "remorsefully" announcing [[FullCircleRevolution her intent to start new Hunger Games with the Capital's children]]…]]
* The Party in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' seem to have raised Stupid Evil to the level of philosophy, if not a deity. [[LawfulEvil They seek out power, total and complete, over all other humans]], for no reason other than, well, power. One of their slogans is "God is Power". Power over a blasted, war-ravaged, CrapsackWorld in permanent 1940s technological stasis, but whatever floats your boat. O'Brien proudly lampshades this at the end of the novel:
-->'''O'Brien:''' The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power."
* Nikolai Carpathia of the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series shows some hysterically poor planning, considering he's supposed to be both a mastermind and the Antichrist. His entire plan to win out over God basically boils down to following a prophecy that is guaranteed to lead to his defeat to the letter, then deviating from it and trying to shoot Jesus at the very last possible second. The only reason Carpathia even succeeds as much as he does is that everyone else on earth [[IdiotPlot is an even bigger idiot than he is]].
* Evil Harry Dread from ''Literature/TheLastHero'' is one of these, and indeed all true "Dark Lords" are, as part of an ancient covenant with the heroes. Actually, he is a deconstruction of the trope, as he KNOWS what the stupid decisions will lead to, but makes the mistakes anyways out of a sense of honor. He also does it so that the heroes will make similarly stupid mistakes (out of a similar sense of honor) that let him get away, among other things. We're also told that this is the ''reason'' he's the last Dark Lord; modern heroes that don't follow the old Code are much more pragmatic, take precautions like blocking villain escape routes, and just kill them off when they have the chance.
* The ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series offers several examples:
** In [[Literature/{{Dune}} the first book]], Rabban brutally mistreats the Fremen at every opportunity with very little provocation. Of course, unbeknownst to him, his uncle, the Baron Harkonnen, is deliberately letting Rabban abuse his power so that he can eventually be deposed by his brother [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Feyd]], with the expectation that Feyd will be hailed as a savior. Unfortunately for Harkonnen, Feyd is also prone to stupid evil — he tries to have the Baron killed before the plot has played out.
** In ''Literature/ChildrenOfDune'', Wensicia tries to have Leto and Ghanima — a pair of nine-year-old twins with genius-level intellects and the collected military experience of all their ancestors combined — killed with ''tigers'' (sure, they're specially trained and have little devices in their brains that allow them to be remotely controlled, but they'll still dumb animals against genius kids). And she sets this plan into motion for no other reason than petty revenge for the overthrow of her father — since the kids have not yet ascended the throne, their deaths won't actually bring down House Atreides or the Cult of Muad'Dib. [[spoiler:The plan fails, of course, and her own son is so disgusted by her stupidity that he forces her to give up her power and then has her exiled.]]
* [=BKR=], the BigBad of ''Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures''. It's outright stated that as long as he can make life miserable for other people, he doesn't give a damn what happens to himself.
* ''Literature/TheTamuli'': Invoked, discussed at length, and ultimately subverted in the case of Cyrgon. Cyrgon's a god of stagnation, and despises change and innovation, causing his people to idolise stupidity and execute anybody intelligent. Cyrgon himself refuses to admit the world has changed, confusing Trolls for Dawn-Men and arming himself and his people with bronze instead of iron or steel. That said, when push comes to shove, he's not actually deficient in IQ, and when he finds himself in a life-or-death situation against Sparhawk, he proves himself capable of innovating.
* In ''Literature/TheGapCycle'', Angus Thermopyle is so stupid and evil that it's a wonder that he's had any success as a pirate. Nowhere is this more aptly demonstrated than when he kidnaps Morn Hyland and fixes her with a zone implant, intending to force her to do labor on his ship, but then keeps rendering her useless by repeatedly beating and raping her so that she's too injured to work.
* ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'': In an alternate timeline in which he [[DeityOfHumanOrigin becomes a god]], Raistlin quickly JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope into this trope. He wages [[RageAgainstTheHeavens war against the other gods]] and turns the world into a lifeless wasteland, all because he's pissed off about... stuff. The things and people he liked best as a human live the longest, but that just means that their misery is prolonged. He claims that he's merely destroying a flawed creation so that he can build a better one in its place, but it's pretty clear that "creation" isn't really in his divine wheelhouse and he will ultimately wind up alone in the universe with only his self-loathing for company. Fortunately, after being shown this BadFuture, main-timeline-Raistlin opts for a last-minute HeelFaceTurn and HeroicSacrifice to avert this.
* Vicar Zhaspahr Clyntahn is the Grand Inquisitor of the {{corrupt|Church}} Church of God Awaiting in ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'', and he pulls moments of Stupid Evil with alarming regularity.
** One of his earliest such moments is in ''By Schism Rent Asunder'', ordering his Inquisitors to turn what was ''intended'' to be a seizure of Charisian shipping on one of their ports into a bloodbath later known as the Ferayd Massacre. He goes on to lie to his three fellow members of the Group of Four about how the massacre began, so they're blindsided and forced to acknowledge they were in the wrong when Charis sends the Temple proof of what really happened.
** ''How Firm a Foundation:'' His long-standing automatic suspicion of the Republic of Siddarmark prompts him to instigate the Sword of Schueler, a plan that starts unrest within the country quickly turning into outright civil war and nearly destroying the Republic from the inside out. He does this despite being told repeatedly by the others in the Group of Four to leave Siddarmark alone, since they still give tithes and are, at worst, neutral in the conflict. After the Sword of Schueler, Siddarmark's leaders ally with Charis just to survive and provides the naval-based Charis with a mainland ally it desperately needed.
** In ''Hell's Foundations Quiver'', during the overland war in Siddarmark, he refuses to allow troops of the Army of God to be pulled back, despite the advice of the army's supreme commander. One reason is that he refuses to give up ground won from the heretics. However, that captured land also contains numerous concentration camps that are used to sort through captured heretics that he does not want to see liberated.
* {{Satan}} in ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' freely admits that he would be happier serving God than ruling Hell, but refuses to repent anyway. He wants ''everyone'' to be miserable, and he includes himself in that.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats,'' Brokenstar forces young kits to start training as apprentices when they are three months old (around age ''[[ChildSoldiers five]]'' in cat years) instead of the standard six (age 10 in cat years), which leads to them dying in battle because they're not old enough to fight properly. When all of [=ShadowClan=]'s kits are dead, instead of doing the smart thing and changing his tactics, Brokenstar reasons that the kits must have died because they were "too weak" and decides to refill the nursery by kidnapping kits from other Clans, which predictably pisses them off. By then, he has become so hated by his own Clan that they not only help [=ThunderClan=] recover their missing kits but team up with them to drive Brokenstar out of [=ShadowClan=] for good.
* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': The Empire during the events of the books as it becomes increasingly repressive. As Han reflects, tax people to death paying for your war machine, then you massacre them just for peacefully protesting this, and naturally many will find armed revolt is the only option (plus Imperial officers that retain a conscience will defect-or in the case of an old friend Han knew in the Academy, his own family had been massacred in one such atrocity).
* ''Literature/ShadesOfMagic'': [[spoiler:The Veskan twins]] in the third book try to break a century-old peace treaty, assassinate the royal family of Red London, and stage an invasion, all while Red London is desperately trying to hold off the EldritchAbomination that destroyed the world of Black London and is trying to do the same to their world. For bonus Stupid Evil points, the invading army's presence would actually feed the entity and make it stronger.
* In Saint Augustine's ''Literature/{{Confessions}}'', he argues from his personal experience [[RealityIsUnrealistic that real evil people can be this trope]]. As a boy, he stole pears from a neighbour's tree: what he liked was not the taste of the pears themselves, or the feeling of sating hunger, or any other [[FreudianExcuse façade of logic]] that humans have invented to justify their sins, but the psychologically masochistic knowledge that he was corrupting himself more and more every time he did it. Augustine concludes that sin itself was desirable, solely because it was sin. Yet even sin's pleasurable nature did not justify the importance he assigned it, because the love and awe of God is ''more'' pleasurable, and Augustine is happy to have been converted to it... Basically, Stupid Evil is realistic because people being stupid is realistic. A [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} truly smart person]] wouldn't commit sin in the first place.
* Justified in ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}''. Creator/CSLewis wanted to make the point that, having renounced the source of all good, Satan has to renounce all good things, intelligence being one of them. Ransom comes to the realization that for demons, intelligence is a trait that they can put on or remove at will — it's like clothes they wear rather than an innate characteristic. And based on the Un-Man's petty behavior whenever he isn't "working", it's clear he would rather be intelligent as little as possible.
* In ''The May Night, or the Drowned Maiden'' by Creator/NikolaiGogol, the WickedStepmother disguises herself by turning into one of the rusalki and stealthily continues to plague her stepdaughter's posthumous existence. Seems very cunning, but ''then'' she gives herself away in the most idiotic manner possible – by ''volunteering'' to play the villain in a game and obviously reveling in doing so. However, since it takes a living man to realize it, while the stepdaughter remains clueless, probably rusalki aren’t too clever in general.
* ''Literature/MarvelsSpiderManHostileTakeover'': While he is capable of planning and pragmatism, Bingham is also rather impulsive and lets his emotions get the better of him. Also he's on a power trip as the Blood Spider and thinks Spider-Man should use his power to lord over others.
* Chris Hargenson of ''{{Literature/Carrie}}''. When she and her classmates are serving detention for throwing tampons at Carrie during her first period, she protests the punishment and genuinely thinks that all her classmates will walk out in solidarity with her, even after they've been threatened with suspension and getting banned from the prom. And she gets her father to try and sue the school for this, not considering that she was put in detention for leading a bullying incident of another girl and the principal has practically a whole drawer centered on the other times Chris has harassed her fellow students. This is ratcheted up in the [[{{Film/Carrie 2013}} 2013 film adaptation]] - where she uploaded a video of the incident to Website/YouTube, didn't tell her father this before he threatened to sue, and when confronted with the fact that she may have the video on her phone, tries to claim it's an invasion of privacy to ask her to show it to them.
* Manhattan, the antagonist of Creator/SeananMcGuire's short story ''Too Late Now'', [[spoiler:pushes Boston into a hole to get eaten by the PlantAliens]], even though he already found out where her scavenging find was so he could loot it. [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard This results in him and everyone with them also getting eaten.]]]]
