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->''"You unthinking fool! How bloody stupid are you?!"''
-->--'''Hanneman''' after Manuela goes LeeroyJenkins in a paralogue, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses''

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DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot in ''Franchise/FireEmblem''. Unmarked Spoilers ahead!

''[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/FireEmblem Fire Emblem]]'' is a Strategy RPG series centered on making smart, calculated decisions to ensure the best possible outcome in battle while saving as many of your units' lives as possible. But, like the player, a character will occaisionally make an utterly boneheaded move that ends up costing them dearly.

!!Titles with their own pages:
[[index]]
* ''WhatAnIdiot/FireEmblemThreeHouses''
* ''WhatAnIdiot/FireEmblemEngage''
[[/index]]
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: ''Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War'']]
* There's a loyal, honorable knight named Eldigan who is best friends with [[TheHero Sigurd]] and vassal of King Chagall. Chagall, meanwhile, is in league with the BigBad and murdered his father to ascend the throne. After dismissing his sister's concerns over this, Eldigan tries to talk Chagall into not attacking Sigurd and is thrown into the dungeon for his trouble until Sigurd rescues him.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Eldigan to renounce his knighthood and not fight for a king who ''attacked his sister and fiefdom'', maybe even join Sigurd's army.\\
'''Instead:''' He insists that [[HonorBeforeReason his honor as a knight comes first]], rescues Chagall from Sigurd, and then attacks Sigurd on Chagall's orders a while later. He can be persuaded to stop by Lachesis... in which case he rides back to try talking Chagall out of attacking Sigurd again. [[spoiler:Chagall immediately orders him executed in this case.]]\\
'''Even Worse:''' In the Oosawa manga adaptation, the Agustrian knight Zyne tells him in no uncertain terms that Chagall will execute him and that Chagall is being brutal to the people, who would definitely ''prefer'' Eldigan to be their king. Eldigan refuses and ''continues'' to refuse after Sigurd tells him to honor Zyne's dying wish. Admittedly, he is [[FreudianExcuse ashamed of his incestuous feelings for his sister]] in the manga and those would pose a ''huge'' problem if he became the King, but even running away to live as a hermit would be smarter than being loyal to Chagall.
* [[RoyalBrat King Chagall]] himself counts, part of Eldigan's problem being underestimating his liege's stupidity. Eldigan has sworn an eternal oath of loyalty to the royal family, which Chagall is the last remaining heir of. Eldigan's loyalty is further proven when he saves Chagall from certain death despite Chagall imprisoning him moments before. As Chagall's forces fall, Eldigan and his men are the King's last line of defense, with Grannvale rapidly advancing. Eldigan advises Chagall to do a TacticalWithdrawal of the remaining troops and do a treaty with Grannvale in the hopes of reclaiming Agustria in the future after rebuilding their forces.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Chagall to agree, as they're already on the verge of defeat, [[OneManArmy Eldigan]] is clearly his most important supporter, and as the last of Agustrian royalty, Chagall has the duty to produce an heir to prevent the line from dying out.\\
'''Instead:''' Chagall calls Eldigan's words traitor talk and immediately has his best soldier executed despite Eldigan saving his life. Chagall then [[SuicidalOverconfidence stupidly challenges Grannvale in battle]] and is unsurprisingly killed. Due to Chagall never taking the time to produce an heir, the Agustrian royal line dies with him, and the country falls into [[SuccessionCrisis crisis]] as a result.
* At the end of the game, Julius and Manfroy have captured Julia. Julia bears major Naga blood and is the only person capable of wielding the Naga tome, the one thing that can put Loptous in the ground where he belongs.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For them to slit her throat immediately. Thus dies the one person who can reliably stop their plans; the only other known people left with Naga blood are Seliph (who is marching on Belhalla as they speak and would have to be dealt with anyway) and Linoan (a minor character from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' who they might not know about), both of them having minor Naga.\\
'''Instead:''' The two catch a terminal case of stupiditis, brainwash her, and send her off to fight Seliph. While other ''Fire Emblem'' games have the "brainwashing the beloved one" scheme work in the villains' favor one way or another, here it almost seems like an afterthought plan without anything else to reinforce it. To further reinforce [[DidntThinkThisThrough how badly thought out this plan is]], Manfroy even sends her out ''on her own with no backup'', presumably under the (likely false) impression that Ishtar will have stalled Seliph long enough for Julia to join that battalion and that the crusaders don't have a Silence staff to stop her from attacking. Predictably, Seliph easily snaps her out of it, predictably, Julia gets her claws on the Naga tome, and predictably, Julius is turned into a smoking pile of ash, though not before cursing Manfroy's ruinous mistake[[note]]while Julius ''did'' go along with it ''despite recognising how terrible an idea it was'', Manfroy was the idiot who came up with it in the first place[[/note]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade'']]
* In Chapter 3, Roy turns up at Araphen with a small amount of plucky but low-level fighters (and [[CrutchCharacter a really old Paladin]]) while Narcian, King Zephiel, and Idunn (the FinalBoss) are still there. The King and his forces have just finished sacking the place to squash the Lycian League.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That Zephiel would at least want to know who was leading the pathetic remnants of the Lycians and, once he found out, to squash them personally. He's more than capable himself, even if he didn't have a bunch of manaketes with him at that moment.\\
'''Instead:''' He doesn't bother and dismisses Idunn's suggestion to fry them and leaves with her. To his credit, he does order Narcian to take care of it, and as a Wyvern General, Narcian ''would'' tear them apart easily.\\
'''But...''' Narcian hands the job to a knight (who Roy's company ''is'' capable of defeating) so he can go [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty leer at Clarine]].
* In Chapter 4, the Lycian Army marches to Laus, a former member of the Lycian League and one of Bern's new allies. This is where Narcian is coincidentally found.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For him to help Laus to defeat Lycia, especially to make up for his mistake neglecting his post in the previous chapter. He also intends to entertain himself with Clarine right there after the interruption is cleared.\\
'''Instead:''' He flies away even when he intends to come back to Clarine later, allowing Laus to be trashed by the heroes.
* Chapter 13 starts with Bern forming an alliance with Etruria thanks to the traitorous nobles within the kingdom. Together they push back the remaining loyalists, led by Cecilia, to a corner. Zephiel then personally delivers a CurbStompBattle to Cecilia while successfully retrieving Guinevere and the Fire Emblem from Cecilia's protection.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For Zephiel to personally escort her back to Bern, have one of his more loyal generals to do so in his place, or at least seize the Fire Emblem from her right away. The Fire Emblem is essential to unsealing the Binding Blade, the InfinityPlusOneSword that could pose a threat against him and Idunn's dragons.\\
'''Instead:''' He orders Melady, Guinevere's personal retainer, to do so and leaves the area empty-handed. Melady is then easily convinced by her princess to defect. Together they fly to Roy, resulting in the Fire Emblem falling into Lycia's hands.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones'']]
* King Fado gave his children Eirika and Ephraim bracelets that function as a twin key to the nation's Sacred Stone, a powerful artifact that is one part of a seal on the Demon King. He entrusts the knight Seth with the secret and orders him to escape with Eirika when Grado invades. While on the run, a thief nabs the bracelet and Seth insists that they go take it back.\\
'''You'd expect:''' That after reclaiming it, Seth would tell Eirika what it is so that she knows just how important it is to keep it safe.\\
'''Instead:''' He tells her that it is very important, but decides that this does not fall under the heading of "the right time" (what Fado had told him about when to reveal the secret) and refuses to say ''why'' it is very important. As such, she decides that even a very important royal bracelet isn't worth allowing hostages to be eaten by giant spiders and hands it over to the dark mage that demands it... and ''then'' Seth tells her, after it's in enemy hands. It's just a good thing that they had enough badasses to take it back.
* Emperor Vigarde of Grado has a long illness and then abruptly gets "better", except now he is callous, malicious, and orders an ambush on a longstanding ally for no apparent reason (imagine if the United States declared war on Canada tomorrow for a comparison). Naturally he expects this to be carried out by Grado's three top generals.\\
'''You'd expect:''' That they would be resistant to this. In fairness, Vigarde does give each of them an anti-MoralityChain in the form of a new "partner" general, all {{Blood Knight}}s, who are obviously there to shank them if they rebel... but even so, they could try BotheringByTheBook, or at least keep their troops from brutalizing Renais' pouplation as viciously as they do.\\
'''Instead:''' Glen, Duessel, and Selena's discussion about the war makes it sound like they don't want to break protocol more than anything else. It takes many chapters (and many war crimes) for Duessel and Glen to take action against their immoral orders. And Selena, despite being told beyond a shadow of a doubt that Vigarde is dead and the thing she's obeying is a MeatPuppet for an actual demon, chooses to go down fighting out of misplaced loyalty to what he was.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Fire Emblem'' Tellius games]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'':
** When the mercenaries meet Lethe and Mordecai for the first time, Soren [[FantasticRacism immediately insults them as]] ''[[FantasticRacism sub-humans]]''. Mordecai is, [[BerserkButton of course]], pissed.\\
'''You'd expect''': Seeing a man Mordecai's size getting angry, Soren would realize he'd gone too far and back off.\\
'''Instead''': He keeps taking potshots at him until Mordecai ''attacks him'', causing Ike to have to rush in and rescue him.\\
'''Furthermore''': When Ike gets hurt, Soren tries to ''attack Mordecai with wind magic'' until Ike pulls him back, only apologizing when Ike scolds him for going too far.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'':
** Early on, one of the first main antagonists, General Jarod, is desperately trying to shut down the Dawn Brigade, as they are what could potentially lead Daein into overthrowing Begnion. After the first chapter introducing the Dawn Brigade, his soldiers chase them through the streets and Micaiah showcases her healing powers to save a dying boy, which require her to sacrifice her own health.\\
'''You'd expect''': The soldiers take advantage of her weakened state to capture her.\\
'''Instead''': They escape unharmed, and [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy the soldiers stand around and do nothing about it]], despite that a moment ago they were [[WouldHurtAChild willing to kill an innocent child]] just to get at her.
** Also, early on in the story, Micaiah, the one Jarod is after, abandons her team to buy time for them, running into Jarod.\\
'''You'd Think''': Jarod would cut her down where she stands, as he'd been planning to do the entire time.\\
'''Instead''': [[BondVillainStupidity He sends her to jail]], where she meets up with the traders from the previous game, and ''Kurth''. NiceJobFixingItVillain...
** Another one for Micaiah, who feels tired during the party to celebrate the upcoming end of Begnion's occupation.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Micaiah to either suck it up or tell someone that she's off to get some rest, preferably Sothe or Muarim.\\
'''Instead''': She wanders off alone in the middle of the night without telling anyone where she's going. Naturally, she is ambushed by Jarod and a group of assassins, and the only reason she isn't killed right then and there is because the Black Knight shows up out of nowhere, kills all the enemies and swears his allegiance to Micaiah. He doesn't call her out on how stupid it was to wander off by herself when she's such an important figure to the Daein army - even Jarod admits that ''she'' is the real symbol of hope for the Liberation Army, not Pelleas.\\
'''What's Worse''': When the Black Knight goes to kill Jarod and cuts down his lieutenant instead when he jumps in the way, Micaiah insists that the Black Knight spare Jarod and allow him to bury his comrade and, even though the Black Knight points out this won't change anything and Jarod will still come after Micaiah, [[GoodIsDumb she still insists on letting him walk away.]] Sure enough, Jarod kills a Begnion emissary, takes control of Daein Keep and wages an assault on the city of Nevassa to spite Micaiah and the Dawn Brigade, forcing them to march to the Keep and take it back once and for all.
** After Micaiah is made general of the Daein army, she leads an all-out assault on the Empress's army, culminating in an assassination attempt on the Empress herself. However, this fails spectacularly, and Sothe gets captured and nearly dropped to his death because she refuses to stop the assassination attempt.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Micaiah to at least try to explain that Pelleas is [[spoiler:under a blood pact with Lekain]].\\
'''Instead''': She panics, Tibarn lets Sothe go, and the all-out bloodbath continues until the situation reaches critical mass and [[spoiler:Ashera goes berserk and turns all the [=NPC=]s into stone]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Fire Emblem Awakening'']]
* Prior to Chapter 2, the player character is introduced to Chrom's militia, the Shepherds. During that scene, Vaike gives out a loud burp and disgusts one of the other Shepherds, Maribelle, who leaves the room in a huff and misses the news that they are going on a diplomatic mission to Regna Ferox.\\
'''You'd Expect''': For someone to tell her about the mission to Regna Ferox and invite her to join them. It's always good to have a backup healer in case there's the off-chance the main healer (Lissa) falls in battle on the way there. If they had a back-up healer, they wouldn't be expending vulneraries.\\
'''Instead''': They ''completely'' forget about Maribelle. And she ''never'' even hears about the expedition to catch up with the rest of the Shepherds (unlike Stahl, one of the cavaliers, and Miriel, the mage, who were among the last to hear about this expedition).\\
'''The Result''': Maribelle is left behind in Ylisse, and when Plegian troops attack Themis, another area in Ylisse, she gets captured by the Plegians ''and'' falsely accused of being a spy, which gives Gangrel, the king of Plegia, who has been looking for [[PretextForWar excuses to start a war]], a ''very'' convenient excuse to start pointing his fingers at the Ylisseans, causing the Ylissean-Plegian War to start very quickly, which, in turn, [[spoiler:eventually leads to the kidnapping, and later, suicide [[labelnote:spoilers]]unless you play one of the Spot-Pass exclusive missions unlocked after clearing Chapter 25[[/labelnote]] of Emmeryn, the exalt of Ylisse]].
* This one's a twofer. At the start of Chapter 13, the party meets with Validar to discuss Plegia offering support against Valm. Assisting Validar is the Hierophant, [[spoiler:(i.e. future Grima's vessel) who is a dead-ringer for the Avatar.]]\\
'''You'd Expect:''' The Hierophant would want to lay low and take advantage of the fact that [[spoiler:they look exactly like the Avatar]] to [[FalseFlagOperation sew discord]] and [[spoiler: cast doubt on the real Avatar's loyalty.]]\\
'''Instead:''' Validar casually trots the Hierophant out for all to see, blowing any chance of subterfuge for the apparent sake of saying [[spoiler:[[EvilIsPetty "nya-nya, I have an Avatar too, now!"]]]]\\
'''But wait, there's more!:''' At the end of the same chapter when [[spoiler: Lucina fully introduces herself and the concept of TimeTravel]], no one, including our alleged tactical genius, puts two-and-two together to deduce that [[spoiler:the "other Avatar" they just met is the future self of our Avatar, and that they are ''[[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight actively]]'' trying to bring about the BadFuture instead of it just [[YouCantFightFate somehow reasserting itself.]] As a result, while the Avatar does have an elaborate plan for dealing with Validar, they [[ChekhovsGunman don't take the Hierophant into account]] until it's too late to stop them from stepping in to awaken Grima after the present Avatar refuses to.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Fire Emblem Fates'']]
* ''Conquest'' has a couple moments:
** In the first level on the ''Conquest'' path, the Nohr royal family returns with the Avatar, and Garon is furious at this, suspecting that the Avatar will betray him. To test the Avatar's true loyalty, he sends him/her on a suicidal mission to put down a rebellion by the Ice Tribe. And to make things harder for the Avatar, he/she has to do it all by him/herself, much to the shock of his/her siblings. So the Avatar heads out, but nobody knows that this is actually a UriahGambit just to get him/her killed off.\\
'''You'd Think''': Garon would keep the fact that this is a UriahGambit to kill the Avatar all to himself, since there would be no benefit to announcing it to anyone else. Or, if he absolutely has to gloat, make sure that no one's in earshot first.\\
'''Instead''': Garon gloats to himself about the Avatar's inevitable demise, and that he intentionally sent the Avatar on the mission just to be killed or to suffer... not knowing that his eldest son, Xander, is overhearing him. [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Xander then sends his youngest sibling, Elise, and her companions, Effie and Arthur]], to assist the Avatar in his/her mission.
** Again in ''Conquest'', the high-ranked Nohrians Iago and Hans have always despised the Avatar and plan to kill him/her.\\
'''You'd Expect''': For Iago and Hans to team up and attack the Avatar when he or she is on their own (or just with Azura, who is actually a weaker fighter when compared to the rest of the royalty characters), since two promoted enemies may have a chance to take on a single warrior prince or princess.\\
'''Instead''': In Chapter 26, they gang up on the Avatar ''when the other four Princes and Princesses of Nohr are nearby''. The four are skilled warriors/magic users, two of them have Sacred Weapons, and ''all'' of them adore the Avatar. Needless to say, this does ''not'' bode well for them ''at all'', as the Nohrian siblings and their retainers proceed to kill both Hans and Iago via UnfriendlyFire while Garon isn't around (due to him sitting in the throne room at the time).\\
'''Even Worse''': Iago had a perfect moment to kill the Avatar after Chapter 25 after Ryoma's HeroicSuicide, and he did find out about Hinoka being alive during the battle in that chapter (as explained in Chapter 26). If he had followed the depressed Avatar during their HeroicBSOD and attacked them then, Iago could've won easily, since the Avatar would be too broken and depressed to fight back. Plus, he could have easily made up an excuse about the Avatar betraying Nohr by not killing Hinoka when he or she should have done so.
* In ''Revelation'', Xander and Leo overhear Garon laughing about how he plans to burn the continent to the ground. Xander asks what's wrong.\\
'''You'd Think''': That Garon would make up some story about how he was talking about the Hoshidan army or something. Xander, who is in denial about Garon's FaceMonsterTurn due to his MyCountryRightOrWrong mentality, would probably buy it.\\
'''Instead''': The senile, literally slime-for-brains maniac tells him to shut up and then begins ranting about how he is going to "Destroy Hoshido! Destroy Nohr! Both nations are completely useless to me! This entire world should be reduced to nothing but dust!"\\
'''The Result''': Xander and Leo are finally able to accept that Garon has completely lost his mind and run off to join the Avatar. [[SarcasmMode Very well done.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Fire Emblem Gaiden''/''Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'']]
* At the end of Chapter 4, [[TheHero Alm]] and his army are right outside the gates of Rigel Castle, and [[TinTyrant Rudolf]] is marching out to meet him. In comes his nephew [[WellDoneSonGuy Berkut]], who demands to be put on the front lines. Note that Rudolf knows [[spoiler:that his ThanatosGambit is about to come to fruition]] and this is almost certainly the last conversation he will ever have with his nephew.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For Rudolf to say something along the lines of "I'm SoProudOfYou, but I don't want to risk putting you out there and endangering the line of succession." Or "You're going to [[AwfulTruth learn some horrible things about me]] soon, and I'm sorry, but know that I had important reasons for doing what I did and I've always loved you."\\
'''Instead:''' He coldly rebuffs him and calls him a weakling to his face.\\
'''The Result:''' After Rudolf kicks the bucket and [[spoiler:Alm is revealed to be the true heir]], Berkut completely snaps and comes to believe that Rudolf was stringing him along his entire life and laughing at him behind his back. His stupidity ultimately costs [[spoiler:Rinea, Fernand, and Berkut himself]] their lives.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Spin-offs (i.e. ''Warriors'', ''Heroes'', and ''Tokyo Mirage Sessions'')]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriors'':
** The heroes rescue a foreign princess from some of her enemies, only for her older sibling to come along, mistake them for kidnappers, and attack them.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For the princess to run out onto the battlefield and tell her sibling and all of their soldiers that there's been a misunderstanding and they need to stand down.\\
'''Instead:''' They sit back and let the heroes and their siblings beat each other up.\\
'''Even Worse:''' Notice the lack of names? This happens '''FOUR DAMN TIMES''': with Sakura and her older siblings Hinoka and Takumi, and with Elise and her older siblings Camilla and Leo.\\
'''[[BuffySpeak Even Worser]]:''' You'd think somebody would notice something wrong when the princesses they are trying to "rescue" are ''actively fighting for the other side''.
** A DemonicPossession-afflicted Darios has Yelena hostage and wants the heroes to surrender. He demands Rowan and Lianna throw down their weapons, and they comply.\\
'''You'd Think:''' That Darios would also demand everyone else to lay down their weapons as well.\\
'''Instead:''' He never thinks of doing this and is satisfied with just Rowan and Lianna doing so.\\
'''The Result:''' When the inevitable ILied happens, Takumi shoots him and allows the twins to recover their weapons and disable him. Quoth Takumi: "How dumb are you, Darios?"
** After finally beating Darios in the following chapter, he asks for the twins to kill him before Velezark can fully revive; the reasoning given is that by doing so, [[SealedEvilInACan Velezark would be sealed inside of his body]], unable to do anything or hurt anybody.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' The twins to put aside their friendship with Darios for just a few moments and honor his request to strike him down. With how dangerous dragons like [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Grima]] and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Anankos]] have been in the past, it's in their best interests to take the pragmatic route and deliver the killing blow to their friend so that millions of others will be saved. Failing that, one of their friends could step in and offer to do the deed before Velezark comes back to life; there's nothing saying that ''Rowan and Lianna'' have to be the ones to slay Darios, and it's not like anybody else trusts him at that moment.\\
'''Instead:''' They refuse to kill Darios and insist that [[TakeAThirdOption there]] ''[[TakeAThirdOption must]]'' [[TakeAThirdOption be a third option]] in spite of the fact that Darios has attempted to kill them several times already under Velezark's influence. There's also the fact that there isn't any clear options available to them other than killing Darios, nor do they ever consider asking their friends to do it for them (for that matter, nobody seems in a hurry to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just plunge a sword or an arrow through his jugular and avoid the deliberation entirely]]).\\
'''The Result:''' One revived Chaos Dragon primed to completely obliterate the world and many others, ready for service! [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice job not sacrificing your friend for the greater good, heroes!]]\\
'''Even Worse:''' [[ShootTheShaggyDog Darios is killed immediately following Velezark's revival anyway]] [[HeroicSacrifice while attempting to save the twins from getting killed themselves]], rendering Rowan and Lianna's efforts to try and save him completely null and void.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes''
** In the ''Golden Wildfire'' route, after Claude used a part of the Adrestian Imperial Army as cannon fodder so the army from Leicester could survive, the younger sister of the commander of that unit seeks revenge on Claude for what he did, and with her, she brings the Ashen Demon, who lives up to the name and kills every soldier in their way.\\
'''You’d Expect:''' Seeing the power of the Ashen Demon, everyone would take a step back and be wary of engaging with them, especially after so many of their comrades have already fallen by their hand.\\
'''Instead:''' Judith charges right at them herself, believing that she can take them on, [[SelfDestructiveCharge which is a mistake that results in her death if Shez isn't able to force a surrender]].
[[/folder]]