History Main / LawfulStupid

** In the third game, if Samara is alive [[spoiler:at the end of the Ardat-Yakshi temple quest she'll decide that her code compels her to kill her last daughter since there is no longer a temple for her to stay in and Ardat-Yakshi (asari [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]] that kill with sex) are not permitted to live anywhere else. However, she can't go through with this and will try to [[DrivenToSuicide kill herself]] because she refuses to kill her only surviving daughter, [[LoopholeAbuse and so killing herself first is the only way she can see which would allow Falere to live]] unless Shepard steps in. In that case, however, both Shepard and her daughter Falere will convince her that Falere will remain on the planet her own free will, which Samara accepts]].

*** If you think about it, the whole point of the Prime Directive is recognizing that interfering can do more harm than good. [[GodzillaThreshold But if a culture is already facing the worst-case scenario (extinction), it's hard to see how Starfleet can make it worse]]. The only defense to this that kind of makes sense is, "What if they actually weren't going to go extinct and you ''cause'' them to go extinct trying to prevent it?" In-universe, characters sometimes try to defend it by invoking the frankly antiquated idea that they could be interfering with a "cosmic plan" (which if it were truly fated, you wouldn't be able to interfere with anyway, so why worry?).
*** The worse it got was during one of [[Film/StarTrekInsurrection their movies]]. Let's just say protecting the allegory of Native Americans and their way of life doesn't work if the captain took part in ''two'' Forced Relocations ''and'' said allegory was hogging radiation that could save lives... Comparison? There are around 600 natives. The radiation could save ''billions''.

* ''Series/WaywardPines'' is a Stepford-meets-Camazotz nightmare in which any deviation from prescribed norms, any attempt to escape, and any attempt to talk about the past, is punishable by death. Every house and every street is lined with cameras and recorders, and a ShadowDictator is always watching you. Such behaviour is Lawful Stupid on its face, because no human society could function under such constant duress. [[spoiler:But there's more. Wayward Pines is in fact the last human settlement on Earth; the rest of humanity has devolved into cannibalistic crazies. The guy who made this town knew this would happen and so forcibly abducted large numbers of people back in our time and kept them in cryonic suspension for 2000 years in the hopes of preserving a human population. When he revived them and told them of their situation, they were naturally not all that prepared for it, and promptly died. So, what did he do? Did he decide to perhaps gradually introduce his ''victims'' to the reality he had forced them into? Maybe try to instill a sense of hope and purpose? No. He decided to keep everyone in the dark and kill anyone who came close to finding out what was going on. Keep in mind, these were the ''last people left alive on Earth'', so he couldn't have had many in reserve.]]

** ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' describes the "lawful over good" approach as a characteristic of the entire plane of Arcadia (between LG and LN). It's the primary plane of influence of the Harmonium faction. That is until the Hardheads managed to ''[[spoiler:slip a whole layer into Mechanus]]''. And got LaResistance, including proxies of Arcadian gods who weren't too happy [[spoiler:that they had to re-create their domains]], surprise. ''AD&D Player's Guide to the Planes'':

*** Not to beat a dead horse, but there's ''another'' type of Inevitable called a Quarut with ''very'' Lawful Stupid tendencies. They're in charge of protecting the integrity of space and time, usually against wizards with the power to alter reality with spells that grant wishes or time travel. Nothing wrong with that, right? Here's the problem: they do so by [[{{Hypocrite}} using the exact same time and space altering magic]], in effect causing them to break the very rules that they enforce.

** Another Lawful Stupid moment from Kelemvor is present in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2 -- Mask of The Betrayer''. [[spoiler:He claims he can't deal with the spirit eater curse because it would be overriding another god. This appears to be a moral issue rather than physically unable to help. The trouble is that not only is the god who made the curse dead, but Kelemvor is said god's ''successor''. In short, Kelemvor could easily help, but won't because of a law from his predecessor that Kelemvor could change any time he wanted.]]
** This is a negative stereotype commonly associated with Helm, God of Duty & Obedience, Patron Deity of Watchmen and Guardsmen. A tendency to fall into this has been a particularly common accusation against both Helm and his faithful ever since the Time of Troubles, when Helm's response to Mystra's attempt to force her way back into the Planes was to kill her (arguably self-defence since she attacked him even after being warned not to, but their difference in power meant [[CurbStompBattle it wasn't a 'battle' by any metric]]), further damaging the already strained power of magic and creating the hitherto unknown phenomena of Dead Magic Zones and Wild Magic Zones (also called Helmlands by people who want to put the blame where it belongs). It got even worse when some of his worshipers traveled to TabletopGame/{{Maztica}}, the Realms Mexico-analogue, where they proceeded to act like conquistadors.

*** Fifth Edition has changed Paladins so they do not have to be traditionally lawful and can be outright evil with certain oaths. Each Paladin takes an Oath and are bound to follow its tenets, but these tenets range wildly from Oath of Ancients's [[HopeBringer oath to kindle the light of hope]], to the Oath of Conquest's demand to [[HopeCrusher crush all the hope of your enemies]]. The more traditional Oath of Crown demands you follow the law, it usually means you must follow and protect the laws of the monarch you swore the oath to, rather than every law of every nation you happen to be in. The only Oaths that have tactical combat implications are the Oath of Redemption, which has a tenet requiring that you use violence as a last resort, and the Oath of Conquest and the Oath of Vengence, both of which require that you be even more brutal to crush your enemies and make sure they ''stay'' crushed.
** A lot of Celestial beings fall under this trope. They are considered the opposite of demons from the hells. Demons are flat-out evil and selfish, merely doing things for their own gain, even if it means leaving a mountain of corpses behind them. Celestials on the other hand, are usually so Lawful Stupid that they can be just as destructive. In fact, it can be difficult to differentiate their self-proclaimed "Lawful Good" from "Chaotic Evil" at times. Even worse is that players in the middle of these conflicts tend to fall towards evil just protecting themselves from said beings. And that's not counting the number of Celestials who let their hatred for Demons get so strong that they turn to evil, becoming {{Fallen Angel}}s and joining the Lawful Evil devils to fight them. It's like they don't get that Devils winning the Blood War wouldn't be any less disastrous.

** On a more serious note, there is Azor, a White-Blue planeswalker who plunged his home plane into a centuries-long CivilWar. He set up a comprehensive set of rules for a perfect society, and handed them to a faction he charged with upholding and enforcing said rules. When they failed, he went to the next one, and so on. He never realized that some people might not like his rules, that a bit of flexibility might have been better than trying to account for every contingency, and that some of the people he granted power would inevitably abuse it. Centuries later, he still hasn't figured it out.