Line #20 PlayingWith/EvilCannotComprehendGood


1	'''Basic Trope''': An evil character cannot understand the motivation of good characters and thus fails to predict their actions.
2	* '''Straight''': [[BigBad Emperor Evulz]] does not believe in true altruism, so he is unprepared when [[MessianicArchetype Jesse]] sacrifices himself for a small village of people Jesse doesn't even know, and this leads to the Emperor's downfall.
3	* '''Exaggerated''':
4	** Emperor Evulz does not understand the concept of [[NiceToTheWaiter common courtesy to your inferiors]], so he is unprepared when Jesse's use of "please" and "thank you" leads to mass HeelFaceTurn actions on the part of his minions.
5	** Emperor Evulz fails to comprehend why people would rebel against him if he keeps them working for him out of abject fear.
6	** Emperor Evulz fails to understand why someone wouldn't cross the MoralEventHorizon.
7	** Emperor Evulz imprisons Jesse. When Emperor Evulz sees [[MessianicArchetype Jesse]] say "thank you" to a guard after he gets a bowl of gruel, Emperor Evulz' head explodes from confusion.
8	** Emperor Evulz is a CompleteMonster with little to no understanding of anything good despite having its knowledge. This means that whenever Jesse uses his powers to revive the villagers killed by Evulz, Evulz goes on a rant and devises a plan to KillAllHumans, which ultimately leads to his well-deserved defeat when the entire human race starts rallying against him.
9	* '''Downplayed''':
10	** Emperor Evulz knows [[TheChessmaster there's a "pattern" to goodness he can use to predict heroic movements accordingly]]. However, as he only analyzes the heroes' actions and doesn't understand the [[ThePowerOfLove core]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship values]], he sometimes [[DidntSeeThatComing miscalculates]] about, say, whether a hero will pull a HeroicSacrifice when he dangles a SadisticChoice or try to TakeAThirdOption. GoodIsNotDumb and [[{{Determinator}} doesn't give up easy]], after all.
11	** Evulz does not understand the hero's good actions or the reasoning behind them, which TheHero may even [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech point out]]... but this happens to never get in Evulz's way and his evil schemes carry on as planned until the hero manages to actively foil them.
12	** A {{Jerkass}} can't comprehend why Jesse's so nice all the time, even to people who are rude to him.
13	** Emperor Evulz believes that people can be nice, [[MoralityPet but only to someone close to them.]] As such, he believes Jesse won't risk his friends' lives to stop him because of TheNeedsOfTheMany, or even bother to care about strangers without some personal gain.
14	* '''Justified''':
15	** Emperor Evulz is a {{Sociopath}} [[LackOfEmpathy who can't empathize with other points of view]]. He genuinely believes that underneath their goody-goody exteriors, the heroes are just as self-centered and greedy as he is.
16	** Evulz is [[AIIsACrapshoot actually the avatar of a malevolent AI]] that literally was not programmed to understand altruism, only selfish motives.
17	** It's PsychologicalProjection. Evulz sees other people as corrupt because he is corrupt, and it's easier to justify doing bad things to people if you can convince yourself that you're actually [[PayEvilUntoEvil paying evil unto greater evil]] when you KickTheDog.
18	** Emperor Evulz has grown up only seeing the worst and evil of the world, so when the hero or someone else does something virtuous, he can't understand why when others in the world did nothing but bad and evil things around him when he was growing up. This is doubly so if the hero grew up with the same bad things happening around them, and triply so if despite doing heroic things people still treat them terribly and never show any gratitude other than just worthless thank you’s and the Hero is still treated just as badly if not worse than before and is even walked over as if they were just a mat. Emperor Evulz might even be confused why the Hero continue saving the sorry people’s butts if they do nothing but take advantage of the Hero’s moral compass, virtues, kindness, and compassion.
19	** Emperor Evulz cannot understand good because he fundamentally ''needs'' to view his evil actions and the malice behind them as inherently correct and justified. If he were to face the reality of his actions, all of his past evils would be put under question, and that kind of self-reflection is absolutely terrifying to someone as frightened of consequences (and his own guilt deep, ''deep'' down) as him.
20	* '''Inverted''':
21	** GoodCannotComprehendEvil.
22	** Evulz sets up a {{Batman Gambit}} counting on Jesse to sacrifice himself to save the village, but is caught off-guard when [[SociopathicHero Jesse]] selfishly decides to save himself instead.
23	* '''Subverted''':
24	** Emperor Evulz appears to have believed that Jesse wouldn't sacrifice himself, but it was actually a BatmanGambit specifically designed to make Jesse take the HeroicSacrifice route, so that the Emperor's next plan can continue without interference.
25	** Evulz ridicules Jesse's notion of morality, but understands it enough to see that holding an innocent village hostage against Jesse walking into his trap will work out. He just views goodness dimly because it means you aren't willing to make practical choices.
26	** Emperor Evulz is a WellIntentionedExtremist who views '[[HeroWithBadPublicity Jesse]]' as a villain and doesn't believe that Jesse is capable of good.
27	** Emperor Evulz is surprised by Jesse's sacrifice, but not because he can't comprehend good, but rather he can't understand why Jesse didn't TakeAThirdOption.
28	* '''Double Subverted''':
29	** But the Emperor didn't count on Jesse's sacrifice inspiring [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits several ill-assorted villagers]] to take up the cause of freedom themselves and eventually defeat him. They were supposed to be permanently cowed by Jesse's horrible fate.
30	** Yes, Jesse would take the bait and be lured into a trap, but that doesn't mean he can't make his own plans and derail Evulz's scenario. He understands that morality exists, but his contempt towards it means he never realized that GoodIsNotDumb.
31	** Evulz lives by [[BlueAndOrangeMorality an unusual moral code]] and is unable to comprehend more socially acceptable notions of good. The only reason Evulz thought it was moral was because it meant that Jesse was willing to take a risk "for once in his life".
32	* '''Parodied''':
33	** Emperor Evulz is baffled by concepts like opening the door for people whose arms are full, not just throwing food wrappers on the sidewalk, [[PetTheDog petting small animals]], and so forth.
34	** Evulz has such difficulty comprehending good that he doesn't even understand the dictionary definition of "good".
35	** Evuls hires a tutor to teach him how to be good, in an attempt to understand it. However, even after being explicitly instructed to PetTheDog, Evulz [[KickTheDog kicks it with the force of a thousand suns]], and looks baffled when the tutor tries to explain what he did wrong.
36	** Evulz can read Jesse's acts of good just fine, but his ''own'' goodness utterly baffles him. He'll say he PetTheDog because it was PragmaticVillainy, even when everyone else could tell that he was simply being altruistic.
37	** Evulz [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark can't tell the difference between putting on a nice sweater and actually ''being'' nice]].
38	* '''Zig Zagged''':
39	** Evulz understands some good actions and doesn't understand others.
40	** [[AntiHero Harile]] isn't technically good or evil, and as such cannot understand what motivates Jesse to constantly risk his life to help others when it doesn't even benefit Jesse.
41	** Evulz believes that HumansAreBastards in a world where RousseauWasRight. Because of this, he rationalizes all of his PetTheDog moments as PragmaticVillainy no matter how many [[InsaneTrollLogic leaps of logic]] he has to do.
42	** Evulz is a TautologicalTemplar who views himself as being good despite either not being able to comprehend it or even viewing [[VirtueIsWeakness good traits as being a weakness.]]
43	* '''Averted''': Emperor Evulz has a normal understanding of how good people think and has a good idea of how they'd act in any given situation.
44	* '''Enforced''': The executives demanded to add a scene about Emperor Evulz not understanding / looking down on "goodness" (i.e. the values of MoralGuardians) to show how "evil" Emperor Evulz really is.
45	* '''Lampshaded''': "You just don't get it, do you, Emperor? Normal people don't think only of themselves, or of what personal gain they get from something."
46	* '''Invoked''': Jesse goes out of his way to help random people while he is a fugitive so that he wouldn't be where Evulz would expect him.
47	* '''Exploited''': Jesse sets up a BatmanGambit that relies on Emperor Evulz not thinking as a "good" person would.
48	* '''Defied''':
49	** "[[VirtueIsWeakness I am aware of the concept of altruism. I find it useful in my enemies, fools that they are.]]"
50	** "[[HeroBall I'm aware of altruism in general, it's just that it often results in the heroes]] [[IdiotHero losing several hundred IQ points.]]"
51	* '''Discussed''': "I fear the master is setting himself up for a… disappointment, if he thinks that the rebels will not stick by their principles in a crisis."
52	* '''Conversed''': "Yep, Emperor Evulz fell into the old 'assume the hero is just as evil as I am' trap in this episode."
53	* '''Deconstructed''':
54	** Emperor Evulz's inability to understand the viewpoint of "good" also extends to other viewpoints as well, making him an incompetent ruler who only sustains his throne through violence and fear. He has to constantly expand his empire as his mismanagement has ruined the economy and impoverished the land.
55	** Emperor Evulz's inability to understand good and morality has made him [[VillainousBreakdown completely lose his sanity and become even more threatening than he has ever been before]].
56	** Emperor Evulz's inability to comprehend goodness has made it impossible for him find any chance of [[HeelFaceTurn redemption]]; because he crossed the MoralEventHorizon, it doesn't even matter anyways, since he's unable to turn back and have a happy and normal life.
57	** Emperor Evulz's inability to comprehend goodness made it impossible for him to appreciate any love or kindness towards him; as such, any victory will ultimately be hollow.
58	* '''Reconstructed''':
59	** While his narcissism and failure to understand selflessness is shown to make him a BadBoss and a poor economist, he is still able to instigate a reign of terror productive enough to fund his evil schemes, and by appealing to people's selfish instincts, he builds up a powerful (if not particularly loyal) network of lackeys.
60	** The insane Evulz is a terrifying opponent, but his actions are vicious even by the standards of the Mooks, who leave in favour of preserving their own hides. Evulz is powerful, but alone, and that ultimately secures his downfall.
61	** Evulz has an unnatural view of morality because he himself is artificial in some way and innately driven toward evil by his creator. The protagonists kill him as an act of mercy and go on to prevent someone like him from emerging again.
62	** Due to his warped mind, Evulz is perfectly fine with substituting love with either material comforts or the opportunity to make people suffer. He believes that his victories are as substantial as everyone else's.
63	* '''Played For Laughs''': Emperor Evulz goes on a game show to win the MacGuffin prize that'll help him rule the world. But due to the categories revolving around [[PetTheDog petting dogs]] and [[SickeninglySweet diabetes-flavored]] subjects, he ends up losing and makes himself a laughingstock to the whole viewing world.
64	* '''Played For Drama''': Evulz and the hero discuss redemption prior to their final battle, but it's quite clear throughout the tense conversation that Evulz is not going to accept the offer — he seems bewildered by the advantages of being good, seeing them as useless.
65	* '''Played For Horror''': Evulz is the kind of man who once heard the line [[Film/{{Whiplash}} "there are no two more harmful words in the English language than 'good job'"]] and has taken it to its most logical extreme -- killing people once they are done with their job and torturing those that he wants to improve, just because he doesn't understand that there is such a thing as "constructive criticism".
66	----
67	You can go Back to EvilCannotComprehendGood, though I can't imagine why you would want to. There's nothing in it for you, after all.
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69	%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
70	%%
71	%%* '''Implied''': ???

Context PlayingWith / EvilCannotComprehendGood