History Main / EntertaininglyWrong

* In ''Film/ThePrestige'', when Olivia begins working for Borden as a spy for Angier, she comes to believe that Borden's trick is that he is employing a double like them, as she sees makeup and wigs lying around. Angier thinks these are plants from Borden as misdirection for her. [[spoiler:Olivia is actually on the right idea: the makeup and wigs aren't for Borden's double, but for the brother posing as Fallon.]]

* Plato believed that the Sun was a living being: according to him, the fact that it moves, and moves on such a consistent schedule, meant that it had to be intelligent. He also argued that it was probably some kind of deity: after all, it's a perfect and unmarred sphere, and it clearly has great power. (Obviously, the technology to reveal the existence of sunspots was a long ways away.) In general, it was very common for early astronomers to assume that celestial bodies were perfect in form and shape, which was part of why the invention of telescopes (which revealed that many of them had craters, rings, spots, or objects orbiting them) proved very controversial.

* On the topic of astronomy, this trope is why many 19th century astronomers believed there were one or more planets orbiting very close to the Sun. There were irregularities in the orbit of Uranus compared to how it should have behaved according to Isaac Newton's theories on motion and gravity, which most other bodies in the solar system mostly followed. When it was discovered that the gravitational pull of the previously unknown planet Neptune was the cause of these seeming abnormalities, it was assumed that similar irregularities in Mercury's orbit were caused by one or more objects between it and the Sun. At the time, they didn't know that the model they had constructed was based on incomplete ideas about gravity, and wouldn't until Albert Einstein developed his theory of relativity.

** Later, Tarquin [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0816.html recounts]] how his ninth wife Penelope had, when she was younger, had a child with a man who turned out to be a member of [[PrecursorHero Girard Draketooth's]] family, and that the latter had spirited the child away with him to rear her amongst his own. Penelope died soon before she had the chance to hire adventurers to help her follow up on a lead that could have reunited her with them. Upon learning this, Haley, Durkon and Elan come to the conclusion that, since Nale seemed to have knowledge about the Gate that the Draketooths are guarding, that he had Sabine discreetly kill her to prevent anyone else from learning anything more about it. A perfectly logical assumption on its own, though the truth turns out to be something they couldn't have known. [[spoiler:Vaarsuvius's then-recent DealWithTheDevil culminated in their casting of ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill familicide]]'', which they had intended to scourge the world of any Black Dragons related to the one that had attempted to take revenge on V, as well as any related to those affected. V had, at the time, failed to take into account that this would also apply to any HalfHumanHybrids (or, indeed, any other crossbreeds) that were related to any affected Black Dragons, and, as the [[MeaningfulName Draketooth]] family were [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0842.html Black Dragon-descended,]] Penelope had been [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0843.html caught in the crossfire of the spell]] by dint of mothering a child of their blood.]]
*** Nale himself assumed that Tarquin killed Penelope over some EvilIsPetty reason, just as he's done to most of his previous wives. Both are rather stumped to realize that it's a mutual NotMeThisTime.

*** In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'', Terry asked Bruce how he is certain that the Joker is dead years ago and Bruce reported because he was there when the Joker died. Terry comes to the incorrect theory that Bruce broke his ThouShallNotKill rule and killed the Joker who was going to do something terrible. [[spoiler: The truth is much worse - the Joker had kidnapped and tortured Tim Drake for three weeks, culminating in Tim snapping and then killing the Joker.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': The first season of ''Unlimited'' involves rising tensions between the League and the government agency Cadmus, which partially stems from knowledge of the Justice Lords AlternateUniverse, where the League went KnightTemplar after killing PresidentEvil Lex Luthor. [[ConspiracyTheorist The Question]] notices that there's a suspicious amount of HistoryRepeats going on, and comes to the conclusion that the Justice Lords timeline is really a {{Bad Future}}/{{Stable Time Loop}} rooted in the present conflict. He decides the best way to avoid this is to kill Luthor, currently a popular presidential candidate. Unfortunately, Question turns out to be completely wrong: [[spoiler:[[ManipulativeBastard Luthor himself was deliberately engineering all the similarities]] to keep the League and Cadmus at each others' throats, and thus distracted from his own evil schemes. He even gloats that pouring 75 million dollars into a fake presidential campaign was solely "[[EvilIsPetty to tick Superman off]]"]].

--->'''Dennis:''' James Earl Jones ''has'' a black face! He is a ''black man!''\\
'''Frank:''' No, he isn't! When he played [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] and they took the mask off him, he was white!

Contrast RightForTheWrongReasons, which is getting the facts wrong but the conclusion correct, and BatDeduction, where the facts and conclusion are correct but the logic connecting them is bad or unclear. Many examples of SureLetsGoWithThat and FutureImperfect are the result of the assuming party being entertainingly wrong. See also DontBeRidiculous and ATaleToldByAnIdiot.

*** [[spoiler:In the second game, it is revealed that before the first game Sholmes intercepted a telegram reading " K. Asogi, A. Shinn, T. Gregson, J. Wilson." After Wilson's death in case 1-1 and Asa Shin's disapperance from Britain, he concludes the telegram was an assassination checklist. He tooks measures to fake Kazuma's death in 1-2 and warn Gregson to go into hiding. It's only during 2-4 that he learns that Wilson's killer, Jezaille Brett, was really Asa Shinn. The telegram wasn't a list of targets but a message for an assassination exchange program, with Asa Shinn sent to kill Wilson in Japan and Kazuma orignally sent to kill Gregson in Britain.]]

*** Iris Wilson was told by Herlock Sholmes that her father was an old partner of his. After finding Sholmes's memoirs and comparing their handwriting with an autopsy report signed by Dr. John Wilson, she confludes that Wilson was both Sholmes partner and her father. [[spoiler:While Wilson did perform the autopsy and signed the result, it was actually his student Yujin Mikotaba that wrote down the notes, and Yujin that was Sholmes's partner and biographer. Sholmes then admits that he lied about Iris's father to protect her from the truth: that her father is neither Wilson nor Yujin but rather Klint van Ziek, secretly the serial killer the Professor]].

* People once believed tomatoes were poisonous, being related to deadly nightshade and ''actually'' making people who ate it seriously sick. Both of these were true. However, the true culprit was the ''lead plates'' most people ate the tomatoes off of; while lead plates aren't a generally good idea, the real problem was that tomatoes are acidic enough to ''dissolve'' the lead off the plates, assimilate it and transport it into human biology.
* Potatoes were also once considered to be heinously poisonous. This is because they actually are... if you eat the fruit or leaves. The ''tubers'', on the other hand, are perfectly fine as long as they're not too green. On that note, tomatoes and potatoes are actually closely related and both within the ''Solanum'' genus.

* Rinne from ''Anime/VividStrike'' thinks that Vivio is a SpoiledBrat who has never undergone any hardship, unaware that the horrors that she went through in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' vastly outstrip the bullying that Rinne experienced in her past. Of course, Rinne would have no way of knowing this since most of Vivio's past was classified by the TSAB and [[AngstWhatAngst she doesn't let the memory of it affect her.]] She's also unaware that they have common ground in being adopted (you'd think the whole HasTwoMommies thing would have clued her in).

* In ''LightNovel/IsekaiIzakayaNobu'', a spy from another country attempts to gather information about Aitheria by sampling foods from a local restaurant. He accurately (and nervously) notices how Nobu has access to many luxurious, foreign resources, thus the country they belong to must be wealthy. However, the spy naturally assumed the country is Aitheria, not realizing that Nobu is actually from modern-day Japan.

* PlayedForDrama twice in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** First, following the Vandenreich's declaration of war on Soul Society and [[spoiler:[[AlmightyJanitor Chojiro Sasakibe]]]]'s death, the Shinigami are led to believe that the Vandenreich has the means to [[PowerNullifier seal a Shinigami's ability]] to use [[SuperMode Bankai]], thanks to [[spoiler:Sasakibe]]'s dying words seemingly indicating as much. They are quickly proven wrong during the Vandenreich's first invasion when [[spoiler:Byakuya, Komamura, Soi Fon and Hitsugaya have their Bankai ''[[PowerParasite stolen]]'']].
** Following from the above, Yamamoto is quick to notice during his fight with Yhwach that he never once tried to [[spoiler:steal his Bankai]]. This, coupled with intel received earlier that confirms the enemy can't do the same thing to Ichigo, leads to his deduction that the Vandenreich is unable to do so unless they understand how a Shinigami's Bankai works at its full potential. A reasonable assumption, since Yamamoto did not use his full strength during the [[GreatOffscreenWar first Quincy War]] one thousand years ago and Ichigo's power still has plenty of room to mature and grow given his young age. [[spoiler:[[ActuallyADoombot Then the real Yhwach shows up]], steals Yamamoto's Bankai and corrects him by stating that no, it's not that Yamamoto's Bankai can't be stolen for the reasons he thought, but rather that Yhwach is the only one strong enough to handle its power.]] Ichigo's case is unrelated and specifically because [[spoiler:of his unique nature as a Shinigami-Hollow-Quincy hybrid: Hollow energy in particular is naturally toxic to Quincies, and indeed later temporarily Hollowifying the affected Shinigami is enough to restore the stolen Bankai.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': The [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]] have been subtly manipulating events since the Great War against the [[TheEmpire Empire]]. Case in point, they let [[RebelLeader Ulfric Stormcloak]] think that [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique information tortured out of him]] had turned out to be crucial to [[TheSiege the capture of the Imperial City]] (when in fact it had fallen before he broke), then let him escape none the wiser. Years later, independent events led to the Stormcloak Rebellion and the [[CivilWar Skyrim Civil War]], which benefitted the Thalmor in the long term by pitting Skyrim and the Empire against each other while weakening both. When Ulfric is captured shortly before the start of the game, however, the Thalmor decide he is more useful alive and attempt to prevent [[PublicExecution his execution at Helgen]]. Not that they get the chance: [[BigBad Alduin]] returns to Skyrim right around that time and burns Helgen to the ground. As a result, Ulfric and some of his men manage to escape Helgen alive, prolonging the civil war for a little longer. The Thalmor conclude that this obviously means [[TheManBehindTheMan whoever is behind the dragons]] [[PsychologicalProjection is also interested in]] [[TheoryTunnelVision the continuation of the civil war]], though at least they agree that it's dangerous to assume that their goals are aligned with those of the Thalmor. Not only do the dragons most likely not know about the civil war or the Thalmor, both of them being probably too insignificant for Alduin to even care; in truth he attacked Helgen in an attempt to kill [[PlayerCharacter the Last Dragonborn]], who was also set to be executed along with Ulfric for trying to illegally cross the border.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': The first season of ''Unlimited'' involves rising tensions between the League and the government agency Cadmus, which partially stems from knowledge of the Justice Lords AlternateUniverse, where the League went KnightTemplar after killing PresidentEvil Lex Luthor. [[ConspiracyTheorist The Question]] notices that there's a suspicious amount of HistoryRepeats going on, and comes to the conclusion that the Justice Lords timeline is really a BadFuture / StableTimeLoop rooted in the present conflict. He decides the best way to avoid this is to kill Luthor, currently a popular presidential candidate. Unfortunately, Question turns out to be completely wrong; Luthor himself was delibrately engineering all the similarities to keep the League and Cadmus at each others' throats, and thus distracted from his own evil schemes. He even gloats that pouring 75 million dollars into a fake presidential campaign was solely "to tick Superman off".

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': The first season of ''Unlimited'' involves rising tensions between the League and the government agency Cadmus, which partially stems from knowledge of the Justice Lords AlternateReality, where the League went KnightTemplar after killing PresidentEvil Lex Luthor. [[ConspiracyTheorist The Question]] notices that there's a suspicious amount of HistoryRepeats going on, and comes to the conclusion that the Justice Lords timeline is really a BadFuture / StableTimeLoop rooted in the present conflict. He decides the best way to avoid this is to kill Luthor, currently a popular presidential candidate. Unfortunately, Question turns out to be completely wrong; Luthor himself was delibrately engineering all the similarities to keep the League and Cadmus at each others' throats, and thus distracted from his own evil schemes. He even gloats that pouring 75 million dollars into a fake presidential campaign was solely "to tick Superman off".

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Helen eventually comes to the conclusion that Bob is having an affair and a HollywoodMidlifeCrisis after Edna shows her the tracking device on Bob's suit, and learns that he was fired. The hair on his suit, their new cars, and the lying about being employed may have had something to do with that. She's only right about the midlife crisis and accordingly assumes that he went to a tropical island for a "business trip". Helen quickly realizes that she miscalculated when missiles come out to shoot down her plane, despite her shouting that "There are children aboard!". She admits to the kids that Bob must have gotten in over his head with something much worse than an affair.

* ''[[LightNovel/ImABehemothAnSRankedMonster I'm a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl's Pet]]'': The entire population believes Tama is an Elemental Cat, not a young Behemoth. Even if Tama could [[TheVoiceless tell them the truth]], he won't because his life depends on the misunderstanding.

** Following from the above, Yamamoto is quick to notice during his fight with Yhwach that he never once tried to [[spoiler:steal his Bankai]]. This, coupled with intel received earlier that confirms the enemy can't do the same thing to Ichigo, leads to his deduction that the Vandenreich is unable to do so unless they understand how a Shinigami's Bankai works at its full potential. A reasonable assumption, since Yamamoto did not use his full strength during the [[GreatOffscreenWar first Quincy War]] one thousand years ago and Ichigo's power still has plenty of room to mature and grow given his young age. [[spoiler:[[ActuallyADoombot Then the real Yhwach shows up]], steals Yamamoto's Bankai and corrects him by stating that no, it's not that Yamamoto's Bankai can't be stolen for the reasons he thought, but rather that Yhwach is the only one strong enough to handle its power.]]

* In episode 4 of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingTheWitchFromMercury'', Miorine sees that Elan Ceres is being unusually friendly with Suletta, and figures that he's actually trying to use Suletta to get to her. Since Elan is the head of Peil House and every other house head is out to marry Miorine for her inheritance, while Suletta is just a countrygirl from a nowhere planet, this would ''usually'' be the case. However, Miorine doesn't know that Elan is actually interested in Suletta's status as a Witch (a Gundam pilot), and her mobile suit Aerial, the only known Gundam in existence [[spoiler:not developed by Peil Technologies]].

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', shortly after [[spoiler:Mami's death]], Sayaka Miki assumes that the mysterious new magical girl Homura Akemi is a selfish bitch who only cares about collecting grief seeds. It's hard to blame her for reaching this conclusion, since most magical girls in the setting really ''are'' like that, which she has seen first hand in Kyouko Sakura, and Homura did conveniently show up to take the spoils once [[spoiler:Mami was already dead]]. However, what Sayaka doesn't know that Homura actually wanted to team up with Mami, having warned her about the danger, but Mami arrogantly ignored her warnings and tied her up to keep her out of the way. [[spoiler:The bindings only loosened when Mami died, which is why Homura showed up when she did]]. This tragically contributes to Sayaka's overly idealistic view on Mami and hopeless attempts at living up to her unrealistic example, [[spoiler:which leads to her own FateWorseThanDeath]].

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'', Boba had thought for years that his armor stayed in the Sarlacc, and thus comes back to the beast to reclaim it (the armor is made of beskar, one of the rare few things it couldn't digest). The armor was in fact stolen by Jawas shortly after he emerged from the pit, but since at the time he was likely delirious from the ordeal (not to mention getting a concussion thanks to said Jawas), it is no surprise that his memories would be jumbled.

* ''Film/TuckerAndDaleVsEvil'':
** The conflict ensues largely because a bunch of college kids assumed their friend is being held captive by a bunch of depraved hillbillies. In reality, the hillbillies rescued their friend.
** When the college students start attacking them — and getting themselves killed in the process — Dale and Tucker assume these kids are in some kind of suicide pact.