History Main / IdiotSavant

* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', there's a man who just owns a junkyard and doesn't seem very bright, but don't try to argue the 4th amendment with him.

* Charmcaster calls Gwen Tennyson this exact name in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', referring to Gwen's incredible but self-taught magical powers. "I've trained in magic my whole life, and you just pick up my spell book and you're instantly out-magicking me. You're not a ''real'' sorceress, you're an idiot savant." Gwen is a more realistic version of a TeenGenius and likely knows what an idiot savant is. And also realizes that Charmcaster was insulting her out of jealousy.

* Fry in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' it turns out is a naturally-talented composer, at least for the Holophoner. In ''The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings'', he switches his hands with the Robot Devil's and becomes an overnight musical sensation.

* Manga/{{Naruto}}. In the academy, he was a dead last, in terms of romance and social graces, he is a disaster, and when it comes to understanding explanations, he just plain sucks. However, if you show him how to do something, not only will he learn it terrifyingly quickly, he will also improvise and improve said something into heights never thought of before. In battle, very few people have better intuition than him save for those who are not only more experienced but prodigies on their own right. In short, when it comes to survival, strife and war, he is a terrifying prodigy, but for anything else, he is a bird-brained moron.

The term "Idiot Savant" is actually outdated, since the term "idiot" itself is no longer a medical term. The term "savant syndrome" is more correct. It refers to someone--usually someone with a developmental disorder, often autism--who has one or sometimes more extremely high abilities. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savant_syndrome The other wiki]] has more information.

** Goku is not so much as dumb, but is really naive and take people at their word. He can functional quite well outside of fighting and can even give his friends sagely advise. Goku just rarely use his talents outside of anything but fighting.

* Komugi of HunterXHunter can really not do anything at all, due in part to her blindless, general SelfDeprecation and the belief hammered into her by her parents that if she ever lost a game of Gungi ever, she is nothing more than trash... but she is quite literally undefeatable at Gungi to make up for this, being able to lead and control a game of it hundreds of moves ahead of her opponents and always increasing her skill with every match, making anyone she fights completely unable to catch up to her no matter how hard they try.

* Patrick, Series/{{House}}'s patient of the week in season 3's ''Half-Wit'' was this due to a car accident he was in as a kid. He couldn't even button his own shirt, yet he was a brilliant pianist despite never having practiced it.

See also TheRainman, a subtrope of IdiotSavant in which the mental disorder is autism or something similar. See also GeniusDitz when the person has stupidity outside his field of expertise rather than a mental disorder. All three tropes can be confused with SeeminglyProfoundFool. Compare/contrast BunnyEarsLawyer, who is functioning properly despite a few quirks.

* ''Film/{{Cube}}'' has Kazan, a severely mentally handicapped man who, to the rest of the people trapped in the Cube, is a nuisance at first, constantly banging his head against the walls, making weird honking noises and babbling about gumdrops. But later on it's discovered that he could find the prime factors of huge numbers in his head, and he ends up as their savior.

[[folder: Film]]
* ''Film/{{Rainman}}'': Raymond suffers from extreme autism and is usually restricted to a home. However, he has savant abilities with numbers, allowing him to count with lightning speed, do complex calculations in his head, and count cards.

* ForrestGump, particularly with things that require speed (running, loading weapons, ping-pong, etc.) This was actually toned down from the book.
* ''{{Cube}}'' has Kazan, a severely mentally handicapped man who, to the rest of the people trapped in the Cube, is a nuisance at first, constantly banging his head against the walls, making weird honking noises and babbling about gumdrops. But later on it's discovered that he could find the prime factors of huge numbers in his head, and he ends up as their savior.
* White from ''TekkonKinkreet'' plays this trope straight. He saves Black's life, perhaps more then once, and is eerily perceptive about some of the people around him: at the same time, he can't tie his own shoes or dress himself without help.
* Zen, star of the Thai film ''{{Chocolate}}'' is an autistic girl and [[ActionGirl martial]] [[WaifFu arts]] [[LittleMissBadass savant]].
* ''Mercury Rising'' centers on an autistic child who can intuitively decipher top military ciphers, and a police officer who can convey character with a silent telegenic stare.
* ''TreasurePlanet's'' B.E.N.
* The film ''Film/TheWizard'' features a young autistic boy who is fantastic at videogames.

*** Luffy and Zoro aren't dumb so much as really, really dense. Even outside of fighting they have their moments of being really smart (such as Zoro coming up with a plan to avoid being fooled by Mr. 2's ability).

* Son Goku of ''Manga/DragonBall'' may very well a TropeCodifier. He probably wouldn't known how to even tie his shoelaces, but put him in a fight and he's an absolute genius. It's not just that he's stronger than everyone else, although he is - he's an absolutely brilliant tactician, expertly outmaneuvering any of them, even those who otherwise can run intellectual circles around him.

* Son Goku of ''Manga/DragonBall'' likely can't even tie his shoelaces, but put him in a fight and he's an absolute genius. It's not just that he's stronger than everyone else, although he is - he's an absolutely brilliant tactician, expertly outmaneuvering any of them, even those who otherwise can run intellectual circles around him.

* KanyeWest. In the words of ToddInTheShadows: "The man's a genius! But seriously, he's a ''moron.''"

* The WWE once featured a wrestler called Eugene who was billed as an idiot savant. He was mentally and socially way below the norm but his wrestling abilities were pretty good with him pulling off numerous classical moves from the old days of pro-wrestling.

* Komugi of HunterXHunter can really not do anything at all, due in part to her blindless, general Self-Deprecation and the belief hammered into her by her parents that if she ever lost a game of Gungi ever, she is nothing more than trash... but she is quite literally undefeatable at Gungi to make up for this, being able to lead and control a game of it hundred of moves ahead of her opponents and always increasing her skill with every match, making anyone she fights completely unable to catch up to her no matter how hard they try.

* "Coach" Ernie Pantusso in ''{{Cheers}}'' is a geography savant, even making up mnemonic songs about countries.
* One episode of ''{{Numb3rs}}'' featured a very Rain-Man-like autistic savant character, right down to being able to count spilled toothpicks quickly and accurately. He was employed by a courier company to help track packages with missing or damaged bar-codes, and when he was off work, they had to bring in at least ten people to do his job.

* In ''That70sShow'' Kelso is able to perfectly calculate how much money they'd make from a Kegger in relation to how many people showed up and paid for beer.
* One explanation for the odd behavior of ''TopGear'''s "tame racing driver," The Stig. Though some say he's not actually human..
* On ''BoyMeetsWorld'' there's a throwaway gag in one episode in which Shawn refers to himself as one after revealing he can speak French. This was during the period in the show where he got really dumb, which didn't stick as a character trait so this is never brought up again.

* Brittany on ''{{Glee}}'' is a naive, child-like idiot, but she knows ''everything'' about cat diseases.

* Paisley from ''ANTFarm'' can't read or remember her name, but she can build a functioning helicopter complete with rope ladder out of balloons, which she can also make into a pony complete with ''functioning internal organs''.
* Charlie in ''ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' is the resident moron of the group, but he's taught himself to play piano, saying, "Keyboards just make sense to me."

* In Breaking Bad, there's a man who just owns a junkyard and doesn't seem very bright, but don't try to argue the 4th amendment with him.
* Pretty much Sheldon in ''TheBigBangTheory''. Has absolutely no social skills, but is a brilliant scientist.

* The {{Gorillaz}} singer 2D may well be one of these, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation depending on how you look at it.]] A long history of head injuries and painkillers have made him pretty dense, sometimes verging on TooDumbToLive, and yet he occasionally makes some strikingly philosophical or socially perceptive comments. At the very least he's a musical prodigy, writing and performing beautiful melodies unaided. (He's supposedly responsible for the entire album, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H58x-4xFnTY "The Fall."]])

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The Primordials are often referred to by fans and writers alike as idiot savants. This is directly enshrined in their powers; when acting within their defining themes, even the basic abilities of a Primordial are transcendently incredible. In any area outside of their themes, they are utterly hopeless. The relevance of these matters is a bit bigger considering that they are [[EldritchAbomination the immense and barely comprehensible Titans who forged the world and created all mortal and godly races]]; since those tended to be group efforts, the Primordials were never really fully capable of grasping the consequences or possibilities of their creations. It did not work out well for them.
* The Jokaero of ''{{TabletopGame/Warhammer 40 K}} are basically space Orangutans, in both appearance and intellect. Yet somehow, they are also mechanical craftsman par-excellance.

* {{Lampshaded}} in an episode of {{Family Guy}} when the gang play laser tag and talk about how Peter is amazing at it, all while he's rolling on the ceiling and other crazy stunts.

* Fry in ''{{Futurama}}'' it turns out is a naturally-talented composer, at least for the Holophoner. In ''The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings'', he switches his hands with the Robot Devil's and becomes an overnight musical sensation.

* Charmcaster calls Gwen Tennyson this exact name in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', referring to Gwen's incredible but self-taught magical powers. "I've trained in magic my whole life, and you just pick up my spell book and you're instantly out-magicking me. You're not a ''real'' sorceress, you're an idiot savant." Gwen is a more realistic version of a TeenGenius and by no means mentally deficient, and likely knows what an idiot savant is. And also realizes that Charmcaster was insulting her out of jealousy.

* Charmcaster calls Gwen Tennyson this exact name in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', referring to Gwen's incredible but self-taught magical powers. "I've trained in magic my whole life, and you just pick up my spell book and you're instantly out-magicking me. You're not a ''real'' sorceress, you're an idiot savant." Gwen, not understanding the term, just assumes Charmcaster is insulting her. (Which may be true also.)
** It should be noted that Gwen is a more realistic version of a TeenGenius and is by no means mentally deficient, she likely knows what an idiot savant is and also realizes that Charmcaster was insulting her out of jealousy.