Selective Obliviousness in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In Blue Moon, Carlisle and Eleazar each realise that they basically fell victim to this in their time with the Volturi, not realising until a talk with Xander and Dawn that, when dealing with rebellious vampires, Aro would use Chelsea to ensure that he could ‘recruit’ particularly unique vampires by turning them against their allies and making them more willing to join the Volturi.
- In Bruised (DizzlyPuzzled), Jack has to have it almost literally spelled out to him that his son is none other than Danny Phantom.
- The Chronicles of Tanya the Holy
:- Fandral Staghelm dismisses the Horde as savages for not being Night Elves, even though they were the ones who sought to open negotiations and peace talks after their initial violent meeting. Later, the Night Elves refuse to see they need help fighting the Horde even when they're blatantly losing the war.
- Tanya never quite realizes just how powerful she is politically nor how much she means to Arthas. Even during the campaign in Northrend, Tanya believes she's working towards securing a comfortable job in Arthas' court once they return to Lordaeron. In reality, not only is Tanya revered as the in-universe equivalent to the Pope (one of her titles is "Her Holiness") and referred to as a living saint, Arthas is actually head over heels in love with her. It's not until he gives her an implied proposal in the final chapter that she finally realizes.
- In The Confectionary Chronicles, due to Hermione's faith in Loki as her god, she basically ignores the implications of him giving her a Bible with notes written in Enochian and assumes it’s just another test of her intellect, rather than ever thinking that her god started writing in Enochian as that’s his ‘native’ language.
- Hermione Granger focuses heavily on anything she thinks Xander Harris does wrong in Dealing with the Aftermath while completely ignoring the circumstances. Xander drew a gun on McGonnagall? Hermione ignores that she drew a wand on him first, which is also a deadly weapon. She also condemns Xander for killing Fenrir Greyback, despite the man being an unrepentant mass murderer. Probably the biggest though is that Xander shot (and ultimately killed) Dumbledore because the man just attacked Xander's partner with an unknown spell.
- Akane Tendo in The Demon's Contract manages to be even worse than canon in regards to Ryouga. The very day Ryouga appears, Ranma explains that Ryouga uses his cursed form to sleep in women's beds and snuggle up to their breasts, something that appalls both Nabiki and Akane. Mere hours later, Akane is fawning over her "adorable P-chan". Neither Ranma nor Nabiki can believe how oblivious she is.
- Doth Thou Even Steal Hearts?: Despite being informed outright about what is going on by Ren and the Personas, Aizawa, Tsukauchi, and Nezu continue to believe that his powers are actually related to Nomu.
- The inhabitants of Little Whinging in Eternal Fantasy have spent roughly a decade since the world was turned into an Expy of Final Fantasy doing their damnedest to pretend nothing has changed. Besides discouraging Adventurers and non-humans from visiting, they take great pains to make every house identical and change absolutely nothing about the village. When visiting for the first time in two years, Harry and Dudley are disturbed to realize that everything looks exactly the same, including the decorations in store windows.
- Later chapters show the Wizarding World is exactly the same, doing their best to ignore how things have irrevocably changed. Perhaps the most ludicrous example is that they continue teaching classes the same way as before "The Transition" even though they know for a fact that wands have a limited amount of magic before they become worthless sticks. Hermione lampshades that they're wasting a non-renewable resource on parlor tricks like turning beetles into buttons.
- Bakugo in Friendly Foreign Exchange Student Spider Man has this issue when All Might explains his losses to him. Thanks to his perception of All Might, his then previous loss to Peter destroying his confidence, and his aspirations to be an Invincible Hero, he completely refuses to accept that All Might is telling the truth and accuses him of lying. It's heavily implied that on some level he does believe him, but he rejects it because to accept it would mean that his dream of being a hero who could never be defeated was never possible to begin with, and if he acknowledges that, then he may as well give up on heroism entirely.
- In Harry Potter and the Escape to New York, this is the main reason Dumbledore ultimately loses his court case when he is charged with attempting to kidnap Harry and luring Voldemort to New York for the final confrontation; he had grown so used to being celebrated back in Britain that the idea that anyone wouldn’t praise him for his victory over Voldemort or that he could be condemned for his attempts to manipulate Harry simply never occurred to him. This delusion also ties into Hermione’s choice of final sentence for Dumbledore, letting him be trapped in an illusion where he succeeded in his plans because he would never properly accept why anyone was punishing him if he was subjected to any conventional prison sentence.
- In Harry Potter and the Ice Princess, the Diary basically forces this on to Ginny; she is so focused on talking with Tom about her time at school that she doesn't realise her dorm-mates are having the same kind of conversation as she is.
- Hell Is a Martial Artist: Akane intentionally invokes this when she gives Ranma a Breaking Speech: No matter what he does, how strong his defense is or how weak the accusations are, she will always think the worst of him and will never, ever take his side.
- In Incarnation of Legends, Bell admits that he put off the possibility that Rakia's riches and splendor are born from the pillaging and enslavement of other countries because he didn't want to confront that reality.
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail:
- At first, Goh simply doesn't get that the argument he had with Chloe before she ran away didn't come out of nowhere, but was the culmination of years spent drifting apart, as he completely ignored his Childhood Friend in favor of chasing after Mew. Over time, this transitions to deliberate denial: once Chloe herself makes clear that she wants nothing more to do with him, he promptly pins all the blame on her, insisting that she should have worked harder to maintain their friendship. While he, of course, never needed to do anything. If she wanted to stay friends, she should have done everything she could and let him kept doing as he pleased.
- Sara and Yeardley envied Chloe for seemingly having a better life than theirs. Any evidence that things weren't as picture-perfect as they projected was duly ignored, even when they exploited it... such as when they figured out that she disliked Pokémon despite (and because) being the daughter of a Professor. In other words, they exploited any cracks in the facade while ignoring any implications that her life wasn't as wonderful as they'd assumed.
- Professor Cerise was largely oblivious to how his daughter was suffering at school. When the problem was brought to his attention by the talent show incident, however, his solution was to make Chloe start working at the lab, forcing her to come straight there after classes. He ignored one of her teachers suggesting that he take her to therapy, convincing himself that the matter was settled... until Chloe reached her Rage Breaking Point.
- Parker convinces himself that Chloe's classmates weren't actually being punished and that nobody was making any effort to change anything for the better, much like how nothing had really changed after his parents first learned about how she was being bullied. His inability to accept otherwise triggers the Unown incident, and leads to him being harshly called out afterwards.
- Just an Unorthodox Thief: When it comes to Kirei, Risei's POV shifts from a savvy Badass Preacher to an Unwitting Pawn, refusing to question his son's behavior.
- Kyon's mother in Kyon: Big Damn Hero refuses to acknowledge that Kyon had to get into a fight because of Tsuruya when she is told that Kyon had to replace Tsuruya's bodyguard, and instead decides to be full Shipper on Deck between them. And that was after scolding him for getting into fights at school (which happened because of Tsuruya too).
- Invoked in Lost in Camelot when Arthur wonders at how he missed the evidence that Merlin had magic. He later has to be assured by Gwen that the idea of Morgana being romantically interested in other women was a surprise to her and it wasn't just him who missed such clues.
- Oni Ga Shiku Series:
- Izuku has seen his uncle Majima's tattoo several times, especially since the man never wears a shirt, and he even has a jacket that copies the Hannya mask on his uncle's back. However, he never thinks about what the tattoo actually means until the news announces that Goro Majima, Patriatch of the Majima Family has been killed. Izuku spends a whole week in denial because he cannot correlate the man who trains him to become a hero, encourages him and spends time with him with the yakuza, and insists that the whole thing is a mean prank.
- Neito Monoma boasts about his refusal to keep up with the news and instead only focusing on hero-related gossip.
- In Operation: B.U.T.T.E.R.F.L.Y., Monty Uno is allowed to shop at the Supervillain Mart, treating it like any other store, oblivious to the behavior of its usual clientele.
- Hermione in Raptor spends years in denial over the fact that Harry's pet Talon is a dinosaur. Even when Jurassic Park is being built and advertising about recreating dinosaurs, she fails to make the connection and whenever someone brings dinosaurs up, Hermione insists that "dinosaurs are extinct and thus irrelevant".
- In Siblings of Doom!, Zim has convinced himself that the events of the movie never happened, that his mission has always been real, and that the Tallest will eventually arrive with the Armada to reward all his efforts on Earth.
- In A Supe of a Man, even after Homelander starts to bond with Clark, he ignores Clark's attempts to explain how he feels about issues such as the idea of Supes serving in the military if Clark’s views don’t agree with what Homelander wants.
- When Professor (Ale)Xander Harris refers to Professor McGonaggall by her first name in Time and Again, Hermione wants to reprimand him but "decides to let it pass this once". She has apparently forgotten that not only do colleagues often refer to each other by their first names but Xander and Minerva are married; of course he's going to call his wife by her first name.
- In The Vigilante Boss and His Failed Retirement Plan, while Izuku is concerned about the Trinisette System, he tries not to think about the Vongola family or whether it even exists in his new universe. When he receives an inheritence document from Cervello, he immediately locks it away, refusing to look into it any further.
- In Blackbird: Quentin and Dinah blame Oliver for inviting Sara on the Gambit and Laurel for dating Oliver in the first place. Neither one seem to realize that Sara chose to get on the boat. Dinah does blame herself for letting Sara go (though she never acknowledges letting Sara sleep with Laurel's boyfriend was wrong), but Quentin doesn't seem to realize yet the role his parenting played in the situation. On top of that, Sara fully acknowledges and accepts her fault in the situation, and has the appropriate guilt to show for it, which makes her parents' obliviousness all the more damning in comparison.
- In What It Takes, even when Sara explicitly tells her father about Damien Darhk's true plans to destroy the world rather than help Star City rebuild once the vigilantes have been removed, Lance continues to deny that any of this can be true, insisting that the only "problem" is that the vigilantes have stirred everything up and his girls need psychiatric help.
- Willow in Dragon Knight has a lot of trouble realizing that her "Xander-shaped friend" isn't the slacker she knew back in school, but is now Alexander, a married man who led an army in war and was functionally a king. Notably, she continues to call him Xander after the others call him Alexander and gets upset when he does something contrary to her thoughts on what "Xander" should be (such as not wanting him to grow back his beard).
- In Influenced Out of Normality, when Buffy and Willow discover Xander's attending USC and moving to Los Angeles, they accuse him of "abandoning the cause" despite actively trying to cut him out of Slaying for the past year. Furthermore, a central plot conflict revolves around Xander changing (rejoining the swim team, applying to college, gaining new friends, etc) and Buffy and Willow refusing to accept that it's not a bad thing. When they try to "support" Xander to "overcome his unhealthy relationship with Cordelia", Xander actually looks up signs of an unhealthy relationship and his relationship with Cordelia only match two criteria: Xander acting different and Cordelia trying to separate him from them. Meanwhile, his friendship with Buffy and Willow meet over half of the criteria that aren't about sexual or parent/child relationships. Faith laughs her ass off at the idea, noting that Xander and Cordelia have the healthiest relationship she's ever seen.
- In Love you to the Moon and Back, Safira is understandably confused that all of the Scoobies except Faith seem to think Xander is some fragile child pretending to be a superhero. Xander admits to making things worse by never admitting that he's the one pulling off various heroic deeds in his reports but only does so because they'll simply refuse to believe it. In his words, if they see him do something amazing, in a week they'll believe it to be a fluke and in a month they'll think someone else did it.
- Later chapters reveal their obliviousness is due to magic from when Willow tried to destroy the world forcing Xander's friends to think of him as the Zeppo. While Willow and Buffy are by far the worst, the longer anyone spends with them, the more they'll be affected.
- In Those Who Stand for Nothing Fall for Anything, Light is the king of this trope:Light: Stephen's oddly pleasant considering the last time we met, and I swiftly come to the conclusion that L hasn't told him that he loves me and that we're just going through a rough patch which involves impacting my face with his fist.
- In Digimon Adventure 02: The Story We Never Told, Ken's parents exemplify this to a fault. Although they clearly care about their son, they're highly oblivious to everything that goes on in his life, instead choosing to let him sort things out on his own and trusting in his ability to care for himself. Big mistake. They also constantly make assumptions that couldn't be more wrong, such as Ken loving his status as a media darling, Yolei being his longtime sweetheart and the Digidestined being his closest friends, despite the fact he only considers Davis, TK, and Kari as his genuine friends (Cody is constantly hostile to him and while Yolei is obsessed with Ken Ken doesn’t even know her name).
- In the Frozen fic The Alphabet Story, Elsa is clearly in love with Kyra, however she denies her feelings both to herself and her sister. Same-gender romances are illegal in Arendelle and, even if they weren't, such feelings would be abnormal for a queen.
- In Secret Passages, it's heavily implied that Agdar and Idun completely fail to notice how Elsa struggles to contain and control her powers as she grows up, as well as the sheer scope of her abilities. This is mainly because they want to deny how much of an issue her powers are, and that their methods of 'helping' her simply aren't working.
- When Did I Become a Parent?: While raising Simba, Timon deliberately pretends that the lion cub continues subsisting entirely off of bugs, rather than feeding on the small birds and lizards around the oasis. He mainly does this for his own peace of mind; though he trusts Simba not to eat him, he still has to suppress his instincts as a prey animal this way.
- In Authors of Our Own Fate, Robert intentionally ignores all evidence that Mary, Edith and Sybil are flourishing in London, preferring to believe that they're all miserable and would rather be back in Downton.
- In A Saiyan Warrior Videl outright refuses to comprehend that not only is her father not the strongest in the world but that there are people out there millions of times stronger than she'll ever be. Even once she does realize it, she fails to understand the sheer magnitude of how much stronger Bardock (Kakarot named his son after his father instead of Gohan) is until Master Roshi points out that she'll likely never catch up to him as Bardock's been training since he could walk and is unlikely to ever stop training to become stronger.
- The True Love Loophole: Apple's obliviousness to the idea of there being anything special between her and Raven is so severe that when Raven outright confesses to her, she misinterprets it as a Platonic Declaration of Love.
- Cycle: Robin takes her obliviousness about Chrom's feelings to this level. No matter how many moments she has with him, she continues to believe that he could never possibly return her sentiments.
- The Chosen Six:
- Even after Dudley gets suspended from school for assaulting another student, his parents insist that he did absolutely nothing wrong, blaming the target for 'provoking' him.
- Umbridge convinces herself that the only reason why Dumbledore appointed Lupin to teach Defense Against Dark Arts is because he was running out of options, ignoring how Lupin was a genuinely good teacher.
- Different manor features Harry, Ron and Hermione being 'captured' by Daphne Greengrass rather than the Malfoys, which leads to Harry falling in love with Daphne as she explains some of the finer details of pure-blood society, such as confirming that there are legitimate differences between pure-bloods and muggle-borns in terms of their ability to use magic. Unfortunately, Hermione continually refuses to listen to any of Daphne's attempts to show her evidence that there are certain things muggle-borns genuinely can't do that pure-bloods can, believing that Daphne is just sharing pure-blood propaganda rather than consider the idea that there are certain limitations Hermione can't overcome in terms of her ability to use magic.
- Every member of the Order of the Phoenix refuses to believe anything negative about Dumbledore in Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor. Nearly all of them have been helped out of a tight spot by Dumbledore and have been "Dumbledore's man/woman" ever since. This includes Tonks who's grateful to Dumbledore for giving her a job after she was fired from the Ministry of Magic, despite the fact it was obeying his illegal orders that got her fired in the first place.
- Though after their various covered up crimes are aired in court, and it's revealed that Dumbledore was functionally blackmailing all of them, most come to their senses.
- In The Price of Victory, Fred and George basically default to this when they give Draco Malfoy- here their brother-in-law as he married Ginny after the war to 'redeem' his family image- equipment designed to deflect a basilisk's stare and tell themselves that it's all right because they don't know Malfoy has a basilisk even though there's literally no other reason for him to be making such requests.
- A distinct problem with several Order of the Phoenix members, and Light families in general, in the Princess of the Blacks series is this which feeds somewhat into their Black-and-White Insanity. Not helped that many of them are supporters of Dumbledore who pretty much embodies this trope.
- James simply refuses to acknowledge that Jen wants nothing to do with the Potters and gets extremely defensive when anyone brings it up. This gets extremely aggravating when he's told point blank by his own wife that part of the reason for her resentment is she was abandoned in the first place and left with an insanely abusive household before being abandoned again. Yet he only focuses on the fact she performed a blood ritual to change her heritage and kept him as her biological father, never considering there were more practical reasons then some deep buried sentiment.
- This is Dumbledore in a nutshell combined with Theory Tunnelvision: anyone who doesn't blindly follow his way of thinking is Neutral at best and Dark at worst. His relationship with Jen Black can be summed up as him taking everything she does and says, seeing it only from the perspective of a destined Dark Lady rising to power. A group of students attack her? She's in the wrong for fighting back when said students were planning to kill her. Refusing to reconnect with her family, the Potters? She prefers the power and influence being a Black entails. Her demeanor in general? She was born evil and not the by-product of a hideously abusive childhood.
- The Order of the Phoenix distrusts Sirius because he spent over a decade in Azkaban and "proved to be just like his family", completely ignoring that not only was he later declared innocent, but that he fought alongside them in the previous war. While they focus on Dumbledore's disapproval of Stan Shunpike's arrest and trial, none of the members ever consider the idea that Stan might actually be connected to the Death Eaters. He is, and sets off a bomb in Diagon Alley which earns him full membership into the Death Eaters.
- Several members of the Order worry about having to fight a three-way war with Voldemort and the Ministry if their relations with the Ministry continue to deteriorate but ignore that they're the ones antagonizing the Department of Magical Law Enforcement by interfering with their operations.
- Hermione easily ignores the revelation that Jen was abused by the Dursleys as a child and instead focuses on the idea Jen might have murdered them (Which, to be fair, she did, though Hermione has no proof of this).
- The various Light families refuse to believe that the perpetual chaos that Hogwarts is in is valid grounds to have Dumbledore sacked despite the overwhelming amount of damning evidence against them.
- In A Question of When, Romilda uses the power to mentally time travel to attempt Save Scumming her way into a relationship with Harry, getting increasingly frustrated over her inability to make any progress no matter how many times she repeats events. She refuses to recognize that it's her attitude and failure to pick up on the social cues Harry and his friends drop that doom all her efforts to failure.
- Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: Turns out Italy has this instead of being simply Oblivious to Love. His anxiety is so horrible, he didn't know why Germany and Japan loved him and thought they would "wake up and leave him". Thank goodness they never did though. Not that there was any reason to. In fact, they would be horrible if they did.
- In Cultstuck, most of the titular cultists are unable to see Karkat as anything other than the perfect, infallible reincarnation of the Sufferer, and they interpret the slightest mundane thing he does as divine revelation. Karkat, on the other hand, is severely annoyed by this, as it means that none of them are really acknowledging him as a person or listening to his opinion. (He's tried to stop them being selectively oblivious, but... well, they are a cult.) This is Played for Laughs, but also drama: they expect/force Karkat to fit their image of the Sufferer, and have spent centuries producing propaganda and warping history to fit their beliefs.
- Lereal Belsai of Hivefled refuses to believe that Karkat isn't simply testing his faith and genuinely isn't magically able to protect the Child Soldiers of the cult. He also dismisses Gamzee out of hand as a spy, despite obvious marks of torture on him.
- In Becoming Lífþrasir, Stoick is incredibly clever and politically savvy but is in deep denial of the fact that Hiccup's letter indicated he had no intention of returning and was very clearly surrendering both his birth right and his name. Stoick, horrified by the fact that he hadn't provided his son the support he needed, decides to keep the fact that Hiccup had surrendered his status as heir secret and tells everyone that Hiccup has gone off on a voyage to prove himself, defending Hiccup's birthright as long as possible in the hopes that Hiccup will come back despite evidence to the contrary and Stoick can then make up for what he's done. Stoick becomes so protective over this right- which Hiccup himself surrendered- that he becomes extremely paranoid over possible threats to it, increasingly so as Cattongue becomes more involved with Berk and demonstrates how competent he would be as Chief. And, because he's so intent on seeing Cattongue as an enemy, he can't see that Cattongue is Hiccup. Stoick registers that Cattongue is familiar but this familiarity only makes him more hostile and suspicious.
- In Science Knows No Bounds, Professor Membrane took in Almighty Tallest Miyuki when she crash-landed in his back yard years ago, and eventually fell in love with her as they worked together - unfortunately, he happened to realise this on the same day she died of old age. In his grief, Membrane chose to forget that aliens existed and refused to think of her as anything other than a human.
The Irregular at Magic High School
- In My Son, Maya claims that she's Tatsuya's mother. She played no part in raising him and did not give birth to him, but she is his mother nonetheless. The fact that Maya's canonically insane may have something to do with this.
- Til the Sun Grows Cold: Midna outright advises Link to exercise this, declaring that he shouldn't believe that Zelda is dead, despite not having any evidence to the contrary and ample reason to believe it might be true.
- In For His Own Sake, Mutsumi is intent on getting Keitaro and Naru back together... while completely ignoring that Keitaro broke off the relationship and doesn't want it fixed. She only acknowledges this little detail insofar as telling herself that he's been 'brainwashed' by his new friends, and insists that he'll eventually thank her once she saves him. This includes working with two bullies out to use her to get to Keitaro, something she also ignores all evidence of. It isn't until the very last chapter that Mutsumi finally gets the hint, and comes to regret her actions.
- In Balance, Pepper Potts takes her Rescue armor and heads to space with Kraglin and Quill to find Tony and Fridaynote . Steve can't understand how Pepper could "abandon her post" when she has an Iron-man suit, even after Rhodey and Pepper both explain that not only does her suit lack the firepower of War Machine, Iron-Man, or Lady Iron (Friday's armor), but she has no combat training and isn't an Avenger anyway. Meanwhile, Steve disparages Jim Paxton who's present as Yellow Jacket, claiming the man has no training and has no business fighting Thanos's forces, ignoring that Jim is a police officer and has more training than Scott, whom Steve has no problem with being in the coming battle.
- In A Colder War fic Arctic Thaw, after Steve kills the Winter Soldier, he confronts Peggy about whether she knew the Soldier's true identity. Peggy's answer all but explictly states that she strongly suspected Bucky was still alive, but never brought up the possibility because she wanted to ensure Steve wouldn't be distracted.
- Clint and Steve in Desire Written in Olive constantly do their best to "protect" Wanda after she marries Tony, ignoring everything she tells them about how first she and Tony are avoiding each other and then later actually get along. What offends her the most is when either of them implies Tony's molesting her and she doesn't know enough to realize it's wrong, since at that point not only have they never been intimate, but she and Tony are actually starting to fall in love.
- Lampshaded in Enough Rope when Clint wonders how he never realized what was going on with the Avengers until an outside source spelled it out. In particular, when Steve threw his shield at Tony's head because Wanda claimed he was making another Ultron, Steve committed attempted murder on the word of a terrorist.
- In The War Is Far from Over Now, many of the Avengers that would eventually make up "Team Captain America" (Natasha and Steve in particular) remain completely oblivious to both how much Tony Stark contributes to the group and how incredibly busy he is. Unlike Clint, Natasha, Steve, and Wanda, Tony has a day job: running a Fiction 500 which any CEO could tell you is not a simple 9 to 5. Though he's since made Pepper CEO, Tony still invents most of their products when he's not improving the Iron-Man suit, organizing relief efforts for areas caught in Avenger business, dealing with the other Avengers' various screw-ups, and building a planetary defense system for the inevitable alien invasions.
- Natasha's first impression of Tony Stark was formed when he was dying of palladium poisoning, causing her to view everything he does through the lens of a showboating, irresponsible playboy. For example, she gets upset at Tony's "narcissism" making Sam and Wanda's recruitment into the Avengers a mere footnote in the paper, never considering that as a former member of HYDRA, Wanda should be kept out of the spotlight.
- Tony's self-esteem issues keep him from realizing that for all intents and purposes, he's the leader of the Avengers. Even though he houses them, handles public relations, and supplies all their gear, Tony only views himself as a "consultant". As a result, he's baffled that everyone from news reporters to the World Security Council contact him for anything regarding the Avengers.
- In Burning Bridges, Building Confidence, Adrien continues to insist to Marinette that Lila isn't hurting anyone with her lies... while also telling her that it's her own fault that Lila has turned most of their class against her. By lying. He also doesn't think anything of asserting this right in front of her Girl Posse, unintentionally revealing to them that he's known all along what Lila was doing and chose to stand by and let it happen. Because ruining Marinette's reputation 'wasn't hurting anyone', you see.
- This is Adrien's Fatal Flaw in The Cosmos. When he continues to insist to Marinette that Lila 'isn't hurting anyone' with her manipulations, Marinette hits him with a series of Armor-Piercing Questions that force him to admit that yes, he actually did see the damage she was doing. He just didn't want to admit it because that would mean acknowledging that the world didn't work the way he wanted it to.
- Feralnette AU: While trying to defend Lila from Ladybug and Chat Noir in Enough Rope, Alya accidentally reveals that she knows about her 'lying disease', but has ignored the idea that she's a compulsive liar in order to continue treating her as a trusted source for the Ladyblog, since she provides so much juicy gossip. Ladybug immediately calls her out on this.
- I See What You Do Behind Closed Doors:
- Adrien refuses to acknowledge that Ladybug might legitimately be uninterested in him. No matter how many times she rejects and rebuffs Chat Noir's unwanted advances, he insists that she's merely a little too invested in "Playing Hard to Get".
- Marinette suggests that her classmates willfully engaged in this: even though Lila's claims were Too Good to Be True, they wanted to believe in them so badly that they ignored any evidence that she wasn't being truthful. Which included dismissing her warnings, finding it easier to tell themselves that Marinette was just jealous.
- When tensions are rising in her classroom, Ms. Bustier grabs a bathroom pass and walks out, seemingly unaware of what's going on. Her POV in the following chapter confirms that she noticed the souring mood and deliberately excused herself in hopes that Marinette or somebody else would have things resolved by the time she got back.
- Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe:
- Juleka comes to suspect that Adrien's ignorance of Marinette's crush is a deliberate act on his part so that he doesn't have to reject her directly. This further convinces her that the two aren't a good match-up, as she suspects that he'd only change his tune if he knew that Marinette was Ladybug.
- Alya ignores Marinette's clear discomfort with her Zany Schemes to force her and Adrien together. When she sees her out and about with Luka, she barges in and acts as though she doesn't notice that they were together, since that's not her preferred ship.
- The Karma of Lies:
- Adrien outright refuses to acknowledge anything that doesn't align with what he wants. When Marinette tells him outright that Lila's scams are hurting her and their friends, he simply smiles and declares Marinette's strong enough to handle it. He also insists that the others are smart enough not to give up anything that can't be replaced, and that Lila isn't really that dangerous.
- Alya and the bulk of their class act completely oblivious to how their abandonment stung Marinette... even while complaining viciously at being given A Taste of Their Own Medicine when she refuses to welcome them back with open arms. Alya explicitly declares that she's never going to let Marinette live this down once they force their way back into her life.
- LadyBugOut:
- While Alya clearly understands that it would be bad for her if people learned that she'd deliberately misrepresented what happened with Oblivio in order to push her LadyNoir agenda, when the truth comes out, she stubbornly insists that she didn't do anything wrong. She then treats Ladybug's decision to start her own blog and set the record straight as an unconsolable betrayal, staunchly insisting that she did nothing to deserve this and that she's the only one owed any apologies.
- As Chat Noir, Adrien repeatedly ignores Ladybug rejecting his amorous overtures, insisting that they're meant to be together because their Miraculi are a 'matched set'. He also ignores those who directly compare Chat Noir's harassment of Ladybug to Chloé's pursuit of him.
- The Lament Series (ChaoticNeutral):
- In Chloé's Lament, her inability to accept the notion that others dislike her due to her acting like a Spoiled Brat is part of what dooms her to a Self-Inflicted Hell. She convinces herself that they were jealous of her position as the Mayor's daughter, and thus Wishes to trade places with Marinette, expecting that she'll become a beloved superheroine while Marinette gets Hated by All. Instead, she finds herself in a world where Marinette is popular among their classmates for being Spoiled Sweet and supportive, while Chloé is despised for being a bullying brat who's no longer shielded from the consequences of her actions.
- Also in Chloé's Lament, Adrien acknowledges that he acted oblivious to her bullying since she used to be his Only Friend, and he wanted to believe better of her.
- Leave for Mendeleiev:
- Despite having both as her students for years, Mme Bustier claims not to know what Ms. Mendeleiev is talking about when the tougher teacher bluntly points out that Chloé constantly caused trouble for Marinette. She outright refuses to acknowledge the effect Chloé's bullying has had not just on Mari, but on the rest of her class, blatantly favoring the troublemaker by expecting her other students to 'lead by example' and Turn the Other Cheek... letting Chloé get away with everything without so much as a slap on the wrist.
- Along similar lines, Adrien is Childhood Friends with Chloé and thusly knows just how awful she can be. Yet he acts confused at how others reject the notion that somebody so self-absorbed could ever be a hero like Ladybug, and gets very upset with Marinette and Nino for being happy when one of her schemes blew up in her own face.
- Adrien acts Oblivious to Love when it comes to Chloé, Aurore, and his other fangirls. But when he briefly believes that Chloé is actually Ladybug thanks to Lady Wifi revealing her secret cosplay, he's suddenly far more receptive to the notion of her crushing on him. He also gets deeply upset upon learning that Marinette doesn't harbor a secret crush on him, partly because he expects everybody to like him.
- Kim knew that the way Chloé treated Marinette was wrong, but did his best to ignore it because he was crushing on the blonde. After his Love Confession gets rejected and he's akumatized, Kim realizes just how cruel it was to ignore what was happening because it didn't line up with what he wanted, and he vows to become a better person/make up for lost time.
- One step backwards and Three forwards:
- Both Alya and Nino view themselves as Well-Intentioned Extremists who made a deal with Hawkmoth in order to create a new world free of his tyranny (since he'd already gotten what he wanted. They refuse to acknowledge how they betrayed Ladybug and Chat Noir in the process, or other unpleasant details like how they got Viperion killed, or that Hawkmoth rewarded them by letting them make Wishes as well.
- Alya also attempts to recreate her former friendship with Marinette in the new reality, following the same familiar dynamics. When this doesn't work, she comes up with wild theories about how the reality shift might have altered things while refusing to acknowledge the role her own actions played in any of this.
- Alya and Adrien both exhibit this in The One to Make It Stay:
- Firstly, Alya refuses to acknowledge that Marinette has any valid reasons to distrust Lila. Even after being presented with proof that she lied about knowing Prince Ali, she declares that doesn't actually mean anything without proof that she's lying about everything. So far as she's concerned, the only reason Marinette has to dislike Lila is because they're both interested in Adrien... even though Marinette's given up on him and has moved on.
- Speaking of that, Alya also does her best to strongarm Marinette into Zany Schemes she's concocted to help her hook up with Adrien, over Marinette's protests. When she outright refuses to cooperate, Alya chalks it up to her being nervous and fretting about things not working out, blaming her for those issues — she's just not driven enough! Even when she spells out for her that she's already dating Luka, Alya tries to blow that off as an Operation: Jealousy rather than a real relationship.
- Alya also fails to grasp that there was anything suspect about her decision to secretly film Chat Noir confessing to Ladybug, then cutting up and splicing the footage to make it look like she reciprocated. Even when confronted directly by Ladybug, she dismisses her anger and hurt as no big deal, failing to acknowledge that she crossed any lines.
- Adrien overhears Alya arguing with Marinette, making him aware of the latter's former crush on him. Rather than doing anything with this information, he elects to ignore it, sitting on the knowledge because he doesn't want to acknowledge such an awkward situation. When it finally comes out that he knows, he reveals that he blames Alya and Marinette, refusing to take any responsibility for eavesdropping on them in the first place.
- Chat Noir, meanwhile, elects to ignore Ladybug's insistence that she just doesn't feel the same way about him. Save for when he's sulking about how unfair she's being, and that she's not treating him like her equal partner... while ignoring that there's nothing 'equal' about him refusing to listen to anything she says that he doesn't like.
- Of note: Alya eventually acknowledges, during her her spotlight story I Owe You Every Joy of Love and afterwards, that her stubbornness stems from a reluctance to face the idea that she was wrong and that her actions have had dire consequences. Adrien's POV sequences, meanwhile, show no signs of self-doubt, as he continues to blame everyone else. This ultimately leads to Alya realizing her mistakes and working to redeem herself, while Adrien's bull-headedness costs him the ring and his Secret Identity.
- Of Patience and Pettiness:
- Alya refuses to acknowledge that she and Marinette have had a falling-out. Never mind that she publicly disowned her, claiming on the Ladyblog that Lila was her bestie and spending a full week ignoring and dismissing Marinette's feelings and warnings. Never mind how many times she gets called out, or how often Marinette stresses that they aren't friends anymore. At most, she only acknowledges her former friend's anger in order to claim that she's blowing things out of proportion, or that she's faking the extent of her outrage in order to punish her.
- When Chloé and several other classmates explain to Adrien just why Chat Noir's persistent pursuit of Ladybug is wrong, he dismisses it as them not really understanding the situation like he does.
- Adrien also ignores the fact that Marinette has moved on from her crush after realizing that she was Loving a Shadow, convincing himself that he can make her see that he's fallen for her and that they're meant to be together. This also entails ignoring the existence of her other Love Interests, as he eventually admits when he gives up on her post Jerkass Realization.
- Scarlet Lady:
- In "Reflekta", Chloé acts as though she has absolutely no idea what the concept of shame even is... when it comes to being ashamed by her own actions. Adrien's criticism of her behavior draws a completely blank look from her, as if she truly can't fathom what on earth he's talking about. Despite this, she clearly understands the concept of shame when applied to others — as in, how to humiliate the targets of her bullying, and that their emotions could be exploited by Hawkmoth... something she also sees as a good thing, as that 'gives her a chance to show off' as the titular Scarlet Lady.
- More generally speaking, Chloé's also oblivious to the fact that 'her' Adrikins has been getting increasingly annoyed with her selfish, spoiled and clingy behavior. "Reflekta" also features him reaching the point that he shoves her off of him when she won't let go of his arm, disrupting the class picture even further. Yet despite said photo capturing the moment of him shoving her away, Chloé dreamily refers to it as 'my picture with Adrien' and is desperate to ensure there's no retake, treating it as evidence of their bond rather than proof of it splintering.
- In "Despair Bear", after Adrien calls her out for her horrible behavior and breaks off his friendship with her, she acts as if he was overreacting to her "little prank" of calling the fire department. Then, at the end of the chapter, even after Adrien makes it clear he won't forgive her at all, she convinces herself that Adrien is just being dramatic and only pretending that they're not friends anymore.
- Mme. Caline Bustier also falls into this. "Zombizou" shows that she's perfectly aware how Chloé's bullying has hurt Marinette and the rest of the class, and that Chloé isn't the least bit sorry about anything she's done. Yet she willfully ignores how much all of her victims are hurting, expecting them to "set a good example" by forgiving every slight and treating her like their dear friend. "Catalyst" shows that she maintains her Skewed Priorities until the end; even on her very last day with her students before they graduate from middle school, she continues to act as though Chloé is the only one who's been hurt by her constant cruelty to everyone around her, and that the rest of the class should coddle and comfort her.
- A very short-lived case in A Small but Stubborn Fire when Sabine begins to connect all of the dots to Marinette's recent behavior after Rolland comments that her daughter and Ladybug are a lot alike, she goes into denial and thinks all she has to do to prove that Marinette isn't Ladybug is go to her daughter's room and find her there, right after an akuma attack. Only she doesn't find Marinette in her room. Sabine is still in denial until she reluctantly reads Marinette's dairy and sees the hard truth. Then Ladybug arrives and de-transforms only seals the deal.
- What Goes Around Comes Around: Alya blithely ignores how happy and comfortable Marinette is with Luka, insisting that she has to dump him because Adrien is just better. She even calls Luka her 'runner-up prize' in front of his sister Juleka.
- In this series, Adrien's insistence that Lila "isn't hurting anyone" with her various deceptions is revealed to be this: he's fully aware that he's betraying his classmates by letting her lies go unchallenged, and panics at the prospect of having to publicly take a side in the conflict, as no matter what he says, the others would realize he'd lied about something.
- He also fully recognizes that Marinette has been hurt by Lila. While Felix initially attributes this to his cousin assuming that Marinette can handle the social backlash better than Lila could, Adrien proves otherwise when he attempts to punish her for standing up to him by painting her as a bully, claiming she slapped him "for no reason". After this blows up in his face, he blames Felix for it, only for Felix to call him out on his act:Adrien: Felix, how could you do that? Now everyone hates me!
Felix: You'll be fine. They may be angry right now, but they'll chalk it up to your sad upbringing and daddy issues and forgive you by the end of the week. Which is more than they would have done for Marinette had your little ploy worked as you wished. Which is rather cruel of you. I half wonder if you weren't trying to punish her.
Adrien: (winces, looks away) I... I didn't want to get her in trouble.
Felix: Do you really expect me to believe that? If you hadn't wanted to harm her, you wouldn't have given your heavily edited version of events that conveniently left out your own actions. All so you could look like the innocent party. Please, tell me, Agreste. How was that not wanting to get her in trouble?
- He also fully recognizes that Marinette has been hurt by Lila. While Felix initially attributes this to his cousin assuming that Marinette can handle the social backlash better than Lila could, Adrien proves otherwise when he attempts to punish her for standing up to him by painting her as a bully, claiming she slapped him "for no reason". After this blows up in his face, he blames Felix for it, only for Felix to call him out on his act:
- Deku? I think he's some pro...:
- All Might insists that Izuku's Quirklessness makes him effectively helpless and that he shouldn't be in the Hero Course, citing how he was nearly killed during the first combat exercise. The other teachers point out that was only because Bakugo used extremely excessive force, and that Izuku beat him anyway.
- Later, despite Izuku providing critical information about the Nomu and saving him from Shigaraki, All Might continues to insist that he should drop out for the sake of his own safety.
- Bakugou is similarly convinced that Izuku's Quirklessness = uselessness, even after being bested by him and seeing him come up with a plan capable of defeating a Pro-Hero in less than a minute.
- Mastermind: Rise of Anarchy:
- As far as Katsuki is concerned, Izuku is still a Quirkless weakling who 'got a big head' once Katsuki wasn't around to keep beating him down. The fact that Izuku became the Evil Genius Mastermind and struck several serious blows to society, including engineering the demise of All Might himself, means nothing to him — he just got lucky!
- Katsuki also refuses to recognize why anyone holds him responsible for Midoriya's descent into villainy. To his mind, the only mistake he made was giving Deku a chance to 'forget his place'; his bullying never contributed to the problem, but kept his victim in check.
- Think Before You Speak:
- One of Aizawa's Fatal Flaws is that he's "very good at refusing to acknowledge things he doesn't want to." Case in point: his irrational bias against Izuku is rooted in how much the boy reminds him of Loud Cloud. He also convinces himself that everybody else will share his point of view, and that his peers at U.A. will help him Maintain the Lie and get Izuku expelled through Malicious Slander rather than exposing the truth.
- In the lead up to Tensei's fateful interview, the narration notes how Tensei is intentionally ignoring all the niggling little details that don't quite line up with Aizawa's story, implying that he's subconsciously aware something's screwy and refusing to acknowledge that just so he has somebody to blame for Tenya's injury.
- What it Means to Be a Hero: After it's publicly revealed that Aldera Middle School was indoctrinating its students with anti-Quirkless propaganda fueled by the Meta Liberation Army, Katsuki's takeaway from the situation is rather limited. He only grasps that they wanted him to follow Re-Destro, not that everything he was taught about Quirks and Quirklessness was wrong.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In Equestria: A History Revealed, when referencing books to support her crazed conspiracy theories, the Lemony Narrator often glosses over the parts that directly contradict them, cherrypicking the parts that don't. It gets worse when she does acknowledge them, either rejecting them outright by crossing them out in-text or finding a workaround through Insane Troll Logic.
- In Parting Words, Princess Celestia realizes that the Cutie Mark Crusaders have never received adequate help for their bullying problem because the adults are so wrapped up in their own duties and obligations that they convince themselves that the foals' problems are unimportant and not worth their time and effort.
- RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: Applejack constantly worries that the Apple Trust is on the verge of potential collapse, ignoring how they have a practical monopoly on the entire apple industry.
- Reading Rainbowverse: Fluttershy didn't seem able to get that Macintosh wanted to break up with her without hurting her feelings. Even when Macintosh considered the manner settled, she failed to get the memo. Only after coming back from vacation and seeing him with Carapace did she realize what was going on... leading to a drunken rant atop a drunken dragon.
- In Cutting Loose, Naruto refuses to believe anything he hears about the 'Bloody Mist', insisting that all the rumors and reports about the atrocities Kirigakure is committing are due to how people are prejudiced about jinchuuriki. It takes running into a Kiri team on an official mission to wipe out an entire village to break through his denial.
- NBH: Naruto invokes this, striving not to pay any attention to the various innuendoes and suggestive comments made around him.Naruto: Do I even want to know? (notes Jiraiya drooling over his notepad) On second thought, I KNOW I don't want to know.
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
- Parodied in the caption beneath this fanart.Hey, remember the ending when these two met again and hugged and lived happily ever after? note I do!
- Ace Lives:
- Garp never pays attention to the bandit wanted posters, which is why he never realized he dumped Ace with a bandit whose strength and infamy rivaled Roger's.
- Luffy is the only one at the Marineford not to realize that the guy with the cool mustache who's declared himself his new rival is actually "Pirate King" Gold Roger. He doesn't even find out until his crew informs him two years later.
- In Watashitachi Wa Roger Kaizoku Desu We Still Stand Proud, the other former Roger Pirates are shown to be incredibly oblivious when it comes to Shanks, Buggy, and Ace. First, they don't understand why Shanks and Buggy don't seem invested in the fact Ace is Roger's son, ignoring that none of them ever told the two Roger even had a child. Second, the Roger Pirates don't grasp why Buggy (and Shanks) has a grudge against them rather than being happy to see them for the first time in 22 years, apparently forgetting that they abandoned Buggy and Shanks in the New World when they were barely teenagers and now targets for Roger's various enemies. Third, when Ace shows more interest in being Luffy's brother than Roger's son, Crocus can't fathom why that matters, even though Ace never met Roger while Luffy is his Family of Choice. Not to mention that the people treating Ace as Luffy's brother are actually treating him like a person rather than just "The son of Gol D. Roger".
- Later chapters show Crocus thinks of Buggy as a crybaby who's too cowardly to fight anyone even slightly stronger than a civilian, blatantly ignoring that Buggy was a ten year old in the New World, a place where even hardened Grand Line pirates are Mooks at best.
- Common Sense: Misty has major issues with this.
- She repeatedly attributes all of Ash's victories to either "dumb luck" or "cheating", but is more than happy to try stealing his tactics and using them against him — when she does it, it's simply strategic!
- When she comes across Ash and Brock training together, she immediately decides this means Brock has been secretly helping Ash the whole time. Brock tries to point out to her that not only has Ash always trained right in front of them, he's actually assisting Brock, something Misty refuses to acknowledge.
- Misty also loves to blame her losses on the notion that she wasn't in "a real water battle", even when she's up against James and his Gyarados.
- In the end, after pushing Ash too far and insisting on continuing their battle when he tries to quit – Ash knowing his win won't change her attitude – he defeats all three of her Pokémon at once with his recently caught and barely trained Tentacool. While that makes Misty realize that he's surpassed her, she declares herself his rival after healing her Pokémon overnight and catching up the next day.
- In Pokemon: Shadow of Time, it is noted that the Maidens of Arceus will ignore all of Kyoji's protests that he didn't steal a Natu from them but it came with him on its own accord, and its accompanying Gible only attacked the other Natu because it was playing.
- In Ranma 3/2, Ranma's parents insist that their only child is a boy when she's actually a hermaphrodite who has both sets of genitals but is predominantly (and identifies as) female. Notably, Genma's diary remarks on Ranma being out of shape due to her "flabby chest" rather than acknowledging she's grown a sizeable bust since hitting puberty.
- In Ranma: Happenstance Gone Right, Akane insists she's both as skilled and as serious a martial artist as the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew (Ranma, Shampoo, and Ukyou in particular); she just doesn't spend all her time practicing because she "has a life", blatantly ignoring that she almost never practices and the others consider martial arts a way of life while Akane treats it as a hobby.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness: Arial Kuyumaya takes it Up to Eleven. Throughout all of Act V and the first third or so of Act VI, Arial is infatuated with Dark and, no matter how many times it's explicitly pointed out to her that he doesn't love her that way, blindly refuses to accept it until Act VI chapter 27, in which her actions cause Dark to have a mental breakdown that nearly leads to his death; in Ruby's words, not even she and the other members of Tsukune's Unwanted Harem were nearly as stupid and blind over Tsukune as Arial was over Dark.
- In My Mother, Padme (saved from carbonite freezing by the now-adult Leia) basically has this for a few moments when she learns that Naboo is still loyal to the Empire's memory even five years after Palpatine’s death, even as Leia points out that it's perfectly logical for the Emperor's home planet to still be loyal to the Empire.
- In Faded Blue, as a tactician, Rose really should've been able to pick up on the clues that Greg was less-than-trustworthy, but was having too much fun with him to notice.
- Invoked in New Beginnings (Smallville). Even after Lois gathers a mass of evidence proving Lex's criminal activities, Tess continues to insist that everything Lois found could have been planted by Lex's enemies rather than just accept that Lex is guilty.
- The Land of What Might-Have-Been:
- When Fiyero is captured by Loamlark and accused of being a spy, he spends his first few hours forced to basically pull his own stuffing out as he tries to convince them that he's not just wearing a bizarre disguise but is a genuine scarecrow. Even after they accept that he isn't just a man in a strange suit, he experiences further trouble when they refuse to accept his protests that he and Toto can't be spies as scarecrows and dogs are far from ideal choices for such a role.
- Invoked when the Mentor discusses the revelation that the Champion was Fiyero's counterpart; she argues to Elphaba and Glinda that she never knew the Champion’s identity for a fact because there was sufficient time between Fiyero’s disappearance and the Champion’s debut to make it at least uncertain if the two were the same man, although it’s clear to Elphaba in particular that she just never explored that idea in depth.
- Price of Blood:
- Carol Dallon refuses to realize that all of her problems with Amy stem entirely from her hatred of Amy's father, Marqis. She insists that Amy has shown she shares her father's "genetic predisposition towards crime" because Amy knocked her out when she was about to unleash her powers inside a moving vehicle. Vicky calls her out on both the fact that Amy harmlessly deescalated the situation before it could turn violent but that Carol is spouting eugenics nonsense that was debunked eighty years prior. Even after the fact, merely hypothetically thinking that maybe she shouldn't have disowned Amy is repulsive to Carol because obviously she can't trust someone who'd keep her from causing a traffic accident. And New Wave is based entirely around trust... even though she's never once trusted Amy because she's the daughter of a villain.
- Shadow Stalker is hesitant to rob a jewelry store because she'd "be committing a crime for real"... a few minutes after she mugged a woman for the hell of it and admits she's been shoplifting for years. That's not even going into her crimes against Taylor Hebert. Shortly after robbing the jewelry store, she tries to murder Glory Girl by phasing a knife into her chest, yet she still maintains that she's a hero and is simply working undercover.
- A Destroyer's Remorse: Lanz wonders aloud why Aegeon is helping him learn courtly manners, dancing, and all sorts of other little things that he would need to know if he were to, for example, marry a princess of Mor Ardain. Sena, who does realize why her father is doing this, is extremely embarrassed.
