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Basic Trope: A character fails to understand what makes another character evil.

  • Straight: Eric doesn't believe in evil, which is why he fails to stop Emperor Evulz's hatred and contempt for others.
  • Exaggerated: Eric is incapable of understanding why Emperor Evulz could bring himself to steal money to pay for his diabetic wife's insulin.
  • Downplayed:
    • Eric doesn't understand why Leonard is an insufferable Jerkass without reason.
    • Optimism Cannot Comprehend Pessimism: Eric doesn't understand why Leonard would be so cynical and pragmatic.
    • Eric understands that evil exists, but he believes all evil to be grounded in some kind of Pragmatic Villainy, or some kind of a Freudian Excuse and therefore doesn't think that a monstrous sociopath like Emperor Evulz who kills, tortures, and destroys just for kicks could exist. There is usually a practical reason behind both good and evil deeds; no one does random and wanton acts of cruelty just for the sake of it... right?
    • Eric may not understand why Emperor Evulz is evil, but he still acknowledges that Evulz is a threat and stomps him in the end.
  • Justified:
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted: Eric at first doesn't understand on why Evulz commit crimes, but then understands that some people like Evulz are simply born bad.
  • Double Subverted: Eric still tries to reason with him.
  • Parodied: Eric is unable to understand why Leonard would do the most heinous crime possible: spilling milk.
  • Zig-Zagged: Eric comes to terms that people like Evulz exist, but doesn't understand why Leonard's a Jerkass.
  • Averted: Eric is capable in understanding both good and evil.
  • Enforced: The series follows that every prior villain Eric has faced wasn't born villainous, but had some reason on why they're like that, and the motive for doing so, before being redeemed in the end. Evulz, on the other hand, was created to show that some people can't be reasoned with.
  • Lampshaded: "Hate to break it to you Eric, but some people like Evulz don't behave the way you do."
  • Invoked: Eric's optimism and his belief that there is good in everyone is tested out against a new villain who shares none of Eric's sentiments.
  • Exploited: A villain like Evulz wants to take advantage of Eric's good nature, and challenges him to see if even Eric would fall.
  • Defied:
    • Not wanting to be seen as naive, Eric reluctantly accepts that people like Evulz exist.
    • Eric is aware of people like Evulz existing. However, he also notes that when they let their arrogance get the better of them, they can be knocked down a peg or two with the right plans in mind.
  • Discussed: "I just don't get it, Evulz has a perfect life, so how could he commit all those crimes out of sheer boredom?"
  • Conversed: "Will Eric fucking understand that there's nothing good in this piece-of-shit dictator?"
  • Deconstructed:
    • Evulz makes up some sappy reason for his evilness and Eric instantly believes him. Cue Evulz admitting that he lied and that he was evil because he chose to.
    • Eric is a Manchild who lives in a fantasy that everyone is inherently good.
    • Eric's desperate need to believe that everyone has some amount of inherent good in them causes him to repeatedly give Evulz more chances to "redeem" himself or show his better nature despite all the evidence proving otherwise, and instead only ends up resulting in Evulz causing even more mayhem and misery to everyone else. Outside parties come to see Eric as being, at best, little more than an enabler who is selfishly putting his own ideals ahead of stopping Evulz.
    • Eric's inability to understand why anyone would be so utterly depraved and vile, even when goodness is vastly preferable and better overall slowly drives him over the edge, leading to him reaching his breaking point and deciding to force people to be good, no matter what methods or cruelty it takes to ensure it.
  • Reconstructed:

Back to Good Cannot Comprehend Evil... Wait, what do you mean with evil? I'm sure there's good in them!

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