Can this trope have other meanings? Like a Lawful Evil character perceives a Chaotic Evil character as Stupid Evil when it's perfectly clear that they aren't.
- Code Geass is just chock full of them, from Suzaku to the Black Knights, when Schneizel fools them into betraying Lelouch.
- And Nunnally, who believes Schneizel when he says that he evacuated Pendragon before nuking it.
- Lelouch could count too, as his decisions to use and manipulate Rolo and Viletta in R2 end up become a good part of his further descent into insanity that eventually resulted in his decision to do the Zero Requiem plan.
I've removed a LOT of bad examples, and I certainly didn't get them all. All of them were more Devil in Plain Sight as in all cases it was not one or two people misjudging someone's character, but a majority.
Ok, I'm curious. Shouldn't this page be applied solely towards characters who by narrative standards are insightful and intelligent, yet being H Jo C? I mean Beavis and Butthead are idiots. Of course they're going to be a poor judge of character.
Now Van Driessen on the otherhand works, because he's for the most part more competent than either of them and still makes poor judgement.
Per TRS, the requirements involving Idiot Ball and the person being trusted being evil are no longer requirements, and the trope has been expanded to cover any characters who are too quick to trust other people:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16684877960.89468900&page=1#comment-20
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.