History EvilCannotComprehendGood / WesternAnimation

** Queen Chrysalis, the BigBad of the second SeasonFinale, is a sadistic, {{shapeshifting}}, [[HornyDevils succubus-like]] HiveQueen who stole Princess Cadance's identity to feed off the [[ThePowerOfLove love]] her husband to be had for her. In the end, she doesn't once think that this same power could be turned against her. To her, it was just food and she never fully understood its true power.

** This is the reason why Dick Hardly gets defeated at the end of "Knock It Off." While Utonium loves and treasures his three creations, Dick saw the Powerpuff Girls Xtreme as money-making objects. As lampshaded by Utonium himself: "Old Dick may have gotten the formula right, but the only ingredient he forgot was ''love''."

*** In a charity livestream, he expects his Palisman Flapjack to fly into a violent rage and start attacking him if he feeds it a berry Palismen find disgusting, and even though Flapjack is a just a little bird, he decks himself out in full armor just in case.
---->'''Hunter:''' He seems aggravated... He's pecking furiously at the goreberry- ''(gasp)'' He's not even eating it! He's just tearing it apart! WILD MAGID ''DOES'' MAKE YOU VICIOUS! IT DOES- Uh... Oh. Um... Thanks... Flapjack. ''(clears throat)'' He is eating it... And... he split it in half for me. ''(sniffles)'' I think it's time I conclude these tests...

*** In a charity livestream, he expects his Palisman Flapjack to fly into a violent rage if he feeds them a berry Palismen find disgusting, decking himself out in full armor and keeping his distance as he describes Flapjack's viciousness. He's completely blindsided when Flapjack splits the berry in half and tries to share it with him.

'''Superman:''' Better a quick death in battle than a slow one under your heel.

* Aku from ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' is MadeOfEvil, and has a dim understanding of the concept of "good" (about the closest he can get is "Free beef jerky for everyone"). He thought that sending Jack to the future would crush his spirit, but Jack ended up being a rallying point for the abused masses of Aku's reign. Additionally, other things that are lost on him are "respect" and "teamwork", as he has ChronicBackstabbingDisorder to the highest degree and has actually screwed himself over time and again because he cannot help but betray his allies in some form or another, even when he's trying really hard not to. [[spoiler:His inability to comprehend hope and [[ThePowerOfLove love]] is ultimately his undoing, as the former results in his PublicExecution of Jack being derailed, eventually allowing his [[TheAntiChrist daughter Ashi]] to [[AntiAntiChrist break free of his control]] and turn his own power against him, sending Jack back in time to kill Past-Aku once and for all.]]

** After she's defeated at the end of "Stuck Up, Up, and Away," [[TinyTyrannicalGirl Princess Morbucks]] asks why the Powerpuff Girls won't let her be one, to which Blossom tells that it's her SpoiledBrat behavior that's preventing her from becoming such. Blossom continues by saying that it's not about flaunting her wealth or being powerful, but about how Morbucks could use her wealth to genuinely help people.

* Beth from the 2003-6 ''Western/Animation/PollyPocket'' specials is so [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] of Polly for her popularity that she can't stand the girl being nice to her, taking it as an annoyance. Evie points out that Beth could accomplish anything if she used her skills for good and not evil, but Beth doesn't find that possible.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Amity's [[AbusiveParents mother]], Odalia, only allows her to associate with people who will make her stronger and make the family look better. Once she realizes that, while none of them have any status, hanging out with Luz, Willow and Gus still make Amity stronger, she allows them to hang out, but it's made clear that she doesn't understand ''why'' Amity has grown stronger thanks to them. The idea that Amity's strength comes from a desire to protect people who care about her as a person and not as a status symbol goes over her head.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':

* Nightmare from ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' has this as his FatalFlaw. His defeats at Spider-Man's hands are always the result of his crippling inability to understand Spidey's motivations. Being the master of nightmares means nothing if you're unable or unwilling to properly understand how your opponent operates.

** Averted by the villain of Season 9, Grogar, [[spoiler:who at least does seem to understand that the heroes have consistently managed to win over them thanks to their bonds of friendship. Unlike Cozy Glow, he knows that friendship isn't just a magic weapon to be used at will. Which is why he decides to form a LegionOfDoom with several of the previous villains so they can use it to their own advantage, [[TeethClenchedTeamwork even if he has to force them along]].]]

--->'''Lisa:''' You're evil... and when you try to be good, you're even ''more'' evil!

* Black Hat from ''WesternAnimation/{{Villainous}}'' is a {{Downplayed|Trope}} example -- while he acknowledges ThePowerOfLove and ThePowerOfFriendship as legitimately being effective against villains, his methods to get around them show that he fails to understand just how they work. Namely, he assumes just attaching a flower to a person that causes them to perceive whatever they love as something they hate would be enough to get around these powers, failing to realize that people who are truly friends/in love would look past physical appearances(not to mention, the flower is pretty easy to spot and rip off). This doesn't really come up much in the series, though, because Black Hat is such an InvincibleVillain that it's doubtful even these powers would do more than tickle him.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'':

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':

** ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'': Lampshaded and subverted in "[[Recap/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroesDoomsWordIsLaw Doom's Word Is Law]]". Doctor Doom at first believes that kidnapping Reed and Susan will make defeating them easier as he believes Ben and Johnny to be too stupid to stop him without their help and is baffled that they are able to power through his defenses through luck and with Bruiser's help. But then he reveals he had a failsafe for Bruiser pulling a HeelFaceTurn.

** He further demonstrated this trope when he attempted to control Tony Stark and Bruce Banner by altering their backstories and preventing them from being superheroes, in addition to serving him with their scientific know how. However, their natural good natures resurfaced with a little outside assistance, proving deep down they were still heroes, something that completely blind-sided Doom (as well as ruined his plans).

** In "Nightmare on Christmas", a twisted parody of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' and ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', Nightmare tries to trick Spider-Man into giving up being a hero by showing him how people never appreciate his heroic acts and showing him a future where he could be as happy and as famous as Tony Stark, firmly believing the unappreciated Spidey would gladly hang up his mask. However, in that future, Spidey's absence allowed the Green Goblin to take over New York, causing Spider-Man to reject his offer, saying he became a hero to do the right thing, not for fame. And at the end of the episode, Nightmare remains baffled that Spider-Man would so freely pass up a chance for a new life.

* In one episode of the ''[[Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse Battletech]]'' animated series, Mechwarrior Ciro forces a jumpship captain at gunpoint to record a message to Adam Steiner, saying that he knows where Adam's missing-in-action brother is, in an effort to lure Adam into a trap. [[BigBad Nicolai Malthus]] asks why Adam would respond to such a message, and Ciro replies that Adam would do anything to help his brother. It's a reaction Malthus finds impossible to understand. This is fully understandable, however, in that Clan Mechwarriors don't ''have'' families, they have sibkin--other Clan Mechwarriors who were created by scientists and incubated in artificial wombs. Though the bond between sibkin is stronger than the average bond between two different members of the same clan, they still view one another as only allies at best, and frequently as rivals competing for status and a limited number of choice assignments. To earn their status as Mechwarriors, they have to begin by emerging victorious in duels--and the losers get crap assignments or even demoted to a lesser caste! While many of them would ''understand'' the idea of complete and blind loyalty to another, few of them would ''feel'' it; and Nicolai is not exactly the most well-adjusted Clanner to begin with.

** In season 1, XANA's flawed understanding of human behavior, including things like courage and friendship, is his major flaw. In one episode, he traps the team in a virtual ''Matrix''-style copy of the school, forcing Jérémie to virtualize himself to warn them. This leads to a SpotTheImposter scene where XANA (disguised as Jérémie) tries to convince the others how Jérémie's story can't be true:

*** In Discord's second appearance, he seems to recognize the idea of friendship by the end of it, [[spoiler: in that doing whatever he wants doesn't actually make him any happier because he actually cared about Fluttershy thought about him.]] However, season 4 makes it pretty clear that Discord ''still'' didn't understand friendship, seeing it as something that made him happy. He did enjoy the company of others, but he still didn't understand camaraderie, and as far as he was concerned, it was [[ItsAllAboutMe all about him]]. This makes him easy prey for Lord Tirek in the season 4 finale, who plays on the same idea that friendship is all about what you get out of it. Discord shows some signs of loyalty to Fluttershy (and Fluttershy alone) but still doesn't understand friendship [[spoiler:until, after Discord betrays his friends, allowing Lord Tirek to steal their magic, Lord Tirek proves himself to be EvilerThanThou and drains Discord's magic as well. Only when Twilight Sparkle frees him despite all the things he did does he really understand friendship, giving Twilight the final key to unlock the chest and the full, unmitigated power of ThePowerOfFriendship.]]

** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E25TwilightsKingdomPart1 "Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1"]], during his BreakingSpeech to Discord, Lord Tirek dismisses his brother's befriending ponies so many years ago as a sign of a weak mind. More generally, he considers friendship just a form of imprisonment.
*** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E26TwilightsKingdomPart2 "Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2"]], Tirek disregards friendship, and is shocked when Twilight demands Discord's release after he betrayed them. It is this mistake that leads to his defeat and re-imprisonment for eternity.
** Starlight Glimmer, from the season five premiere, has an interesting variation on this. It's not that she doesn't understand friendship at all, but she has a seeming inability to even ''consider'' any other idea of how friendship might work besides her own, which states that friendship is impossible if friends have different talents or different opinions, leading to her trying to make everypony "equal". When Twilight tries to explain that differences make friendships better, she dismisses it as "sentimental nonsense". This belief is the main reason why [[spoiler:Fluttershy's FakeDefector move works, as she believed that the Mane Six's friendship would be easily broken due to their differences.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' episode "The Devil to Pay", the heroes were conned by a demon named Dib Devlin into competing in [[DeadlyGame a game show with their souls on the line.]] Dib clearly had no faith in human nature, and set up the final round as a DeathTrap that could be escaped if one of them admitted to doing something bad. He was dead ''wrong'', as they ''all'' thought of something bad they had done and confessed to it. (Although it took Ray--the intended one--the longest to admit it, that he [[spoiler:had eaten a cookie that Slimer had gotten slime all over, but he eventually did, [[EvenEvilHasStandards grossing out even the demonic studio audience]].]])

** The Daughters of Aku in the 5th season have the same problem, owing to the [[TykeBomb abusive training and indoctrination]] they received from their mother from the get-go. They were indoctrinated in SocialDarwinism, rendering them incapable of understanding compassion or love. When they see a male deer approach his mate, they assume he's a minion of Aku that will devour the female deer, only to be utterly confused when the two start nuzzling with affection. This is also what ultimately gets [[spoiler: almost]] all of them killed; because they were taught "survival of the fittest," they do nothing to assist or defend each other during their assault on Jack[[note]]Entire armies and bounty hunters who coordinate down to a T can't even bring him down; the Daughters of Aku really didn't stand a chance.[[/note]], leaving him free to pick them off one by one. They only got as close as they did to killing him through sheer brute force and dumb luck. [[FridgeHorror Imagine]] if they ''had'' believed in teamwork. However, as big of a threat they are to Jack, the first episode makes it clear that they're {{Tragic Villain}}s, as they were born to an Aku-worshiping cult leader who raised them from birth to be how they are, complete with brutal punishments and beatings. They never had any choice from the moment they were born.

* Black Hat from ''WesternAnimation/{{Villainous}}'' is a {{Downplayed|Trope}} example - while he acknowledges ThePowerOfLove and ThePowerOfFriendship as legitimately being effective against villains, his methods to get around them show that he fails to understand just how they work. Namely, he assumes just attaching a flower to a person that causes them to perceive whatever they love as something they hate would be enough to get around these powers, failing to realize that people who are truly friends/in love would look past physical appearances(not to mention, the flower is pretty easy to spot and rip off). This doesn't really come up much in the series, though, because Black Hat is such an InvincibleVillain that it's doubtable even these powers would do more than tickle him.

--->'''Azula:''' [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove The thing I don't understand is]] ''[[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove why.]]'' Why would you do it? [[YouHaveFailedMe You know the consequences.]]\\

** Happens with Jessica Lovejoy in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E7BartsGirlfriend Bart's Girlfriend]]" after she was caught framing Bart Simpson and stealing the church collection plate money. When she saw Bart approach her while doing her punishment of washing the church steps, she assumed Bart was going to laugh at her. He instead confessed how their small relationship taught him not to be naive around girls. Jessica, however, confessed that she learned she could make boys do whatever she wanted and proves it by asking Bart to finish the job while she runs off with another boy. Bart claims he sees through her deception but then says "wait until she sees the second rate job I do on these stairs".

-->'''Superman:''' You hear that, Darkseid? The people of Earth aren't like your slaves on Apokolips. They don't take kindly to dictators.
-->'''Darkseid:''' If they resist, I will not hesitate to destroy them. (...) Don't they know this is suicide?
-->'''Superman:''' Better a quick death in battle than a slow one under your heel.

** Also happens to the Light in the same episode. [[spoiler:They never thought that Artemis, Miss Martian, and Superboy would ''willingly'' reveal their {{Dark Secret}}s to the rest of the team, and that the team would ''fully accept them.'' Because of this, the Light gets OutGambitted.]]

** The Daughters of Aku in the 5th season have the same problem, owing to the [[TykeBomb abusive training and indoctrination]] they received from their mother from the get-go. They were indoctrinated in SocialDarwinism, rendering them incapable of understanding compassion or love. When they see a male deer approach his mate, they assume he's a minion of Aku that will devour the female deer, only to be utterly confused when the two start nuzzling with affection. This is also what ultimately gets [[spoiler: almost]] all of them killed; because they were taught "survival of the fittest," they do nothing to assist or defend each other during their assault on Jack[[note]]Entire armies and bounty hunters who coordinate down to a T can't even bring him down; the Daughters of Aku really didn't stand a chance.[[/note]], leaving him free to pick them off one by one. They only got as close as they did to killing him through sheer brute force and dumb luck. [[FridgeHorror Imagine if they ''had'' believed in teamwork.]] However, as big of a threat they are to Jack, the first episode makes it clear that they're {{Tragic Villain}}s, as they were born to an Aku-worshiping cult leader who raised them from birth to be how they are, complete with brutal punishments and beatings. They never had any choice from the moment they were born.

*** The comics have this continue for her. In ''The Search'', Azula can't fathom why her mother would want her because of her long-standing cruel streak. Smoke and Shadow plays with this differently in that [[spoiler: she thinks like she did in the old ways, that of fear and terror being the only way to rule; yet hasn't pursued revenge against the friends that betrayed her or her brother who claimed the throne (going as far to say she supports him...in her own twisted way of support)]].

* Black Hat from ''WesternAnimation/Villainous'' is a {{Downplayed|Trope}} example - while he acknowledges ThePowerOfLove and ThePowerOfFriendship as legitimately being effective against villains, his methods to get around them show that he fails to understand just how they work. Namely, he assumes just attaching a flower to a person that causes them to perceive whatever they love as something they hate would be enough to get around these powers, failing to realize that people who are truly friends/in love would look past physical appearances. This doesn't really come up much in the series, though, because Black Hat is such an InvincibleVillain that it's doubtable even these powers would do more than tickle him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E7SquirrelInterrupted Squirrel, Interrupted]]", When Bitsy reveals her plans to buy Central Park to her brother's family, none of them take her seriously, except for Brendan. When Brendan tries to confront Bitsy over her plans for Central Park, asking if that isn't a bad thing to do that'll make a lot of people unhappy and mad with her, she's glad someone gets the impression she was going for in gloating about her plan.