History Main / TheFool

That and [[BornLucky the blessing of Lady Luck herself]]. The Fool's strength comes from supernatural fortune bordering on Karma. Since The Fool is [[DumbIsGood such a good person]], [[KarmicProtection nothing bad happens to them.]] The BigBad may send hundreds of assassins, but each time The Fool will [[CoincidentalDodge bend over at just the right time]], or [[SpannerInTheWorks accidentally activate]] some [[RubeGoldbergDevice Rube Goldberg-esque]] [[DisasterDominoes chain of events]] that [[DidntSeeThatComing leads to the villain's downfall]]. Occasionally their good luck will be siphoned from someone else around them so that they suffer bad luck. The Fool might even turn out to be TheChosenOne, but he'd be the last one to suspect it.

* Bane Johns, the fifth Interrogator ''Fanfic/AllGuardsmanParty'': despite what seems like a surfeit of confidence and a lack of strategic planning or common sense, every event in his mission seems to go his way without fail. [[spoilder:Turns out he's a psyker with RealityWarper tendencies who can arrange probability to go in his favor - by siphoning his teammates' luck away.]]

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': Italy sure seems like one. After all, he seems to be oblivious to ''a lot'' of things including Germany's and Japan's ''obvious'' feelings for him. Key word: [[ObfuscatingStupidity ''seemed'']].

* "The Company of Fools" by Great Big Sea (co-written by RussellCrowe) is about how The Fool can often be the most honest and honorable person around.

See also TheDitz, TheKlutz, TooDumbToFool, UnluckilyLucky, ObfuscatingStupidity, {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, IdiotHero, InvincibleIncompetent, and {{Dojikko}}. For the court fool, see TheJester. See IdiotHoudini for the more aggressive variant of this. When mistaken for someone important, he's the SeeminglyProfoundFool.

* The eponymous character from ''FreemansMind'' is anything but kind or inherently good-natured, but the vast majority of his progress through the series is through sheer dumb luck. Often times, he clears the way forward by doing seemingly random, unrelated things or just wandering around aimlessly until he finds somewhere he hasn't been already.

See also TheDitz, TheKlutz, Silly Fool, TooDumbToFool, UnluckilyLucky, ObfuscatingStupidity, {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, IdiotHero, InvincibleIncompetent, and {{Dojikko}}. For the court fool, see TheJester. See IdiotHoudini for the more aggressive variant of this. When mistaken for someone important, he's the SeeminglyProfoundFool.

See also TheDitz, TheKlutz, TooDumbToFool, UnluckilyLucky, ObfuscatingStupidity, {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, IdiotHero, InvincibleIncompetent, and {{Dojikko}}. For the court fool, see TheJester. See IdiotHoudini for the more aggressive variant of this. When mistaken for someone important, he's the SeeminglyProfoundFool.

->"Sometimes it depresses me how well dumb luck works for you."

->"Nabal (fool) is his name, and he acts the fool."
-->-- Abigail to King David, '''[[TheBible The Bible]]''' (1 Samuel 25:6) (Note that ''Nabal'' [[TruthInTelevision really DOES mean fool]].)

* The anthropomorphic [[MoeMoe cute-girl]] version of Windows [=ME=], Me-tan.

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* Sparadrap from ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'' has a general StupidGood[=/=]KindHeartedSimpleton attitude that sometimes verge on TooDumbToLive, but often survives situations that should have taken him to the RespawnPoint by sheer luck and obliviousness to what is happening around him. The best show for this is his long-standing MistakenForBadass situation with Dark Avenger in the webseries and comic.
[[/folder]]

The Fool was often the AudienceSurrogate of medieval plays, representing the {{Everyman}} or KarmicTrickster, but typically [[BookDumb more clever than smart]]. In the annual Feast of Fools, he was King For A Day.

For the ChristopherMoore novel about the character from ''Theatre/KingLear'', see ''Literature/{{Fool}}''.

* TheFool/{{Live-Action TV}}

See also TheDitz, TheKlutz, TooDumbToFool, ObfuscatingStupidity, {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, IdiotHero, InvincibleIncompetent, and {{Dojikko}}. For the court fool, see TheJester. See IdiotHoudini for the more aggressive variant of this. When mistaken for someone important, he's the SeeminglyProfoundFool.

[[caption-width-right:250:"Going on a journey. I've got my cell if you need me."]]

[[quoteright:250:[[UsefulNote/TarotCards http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RWS_Tarot_00_Fool.jpg]]]]

That and [[BornLucky the blessing of Lady Luck herself]]. The Fool's strength comes from supernatural fortune bordering on Karma. Since The Fool is [[DumbIsGood such a good person]], [[KarmicProtection nothing bad happens to them.]] The BigBad may send hundreds of assassins, but each time The Fool will [[CoincidentalDodge bend over at just the right time]], or [[SpannerInTheWorks accidentally activate]] some [[RubeGoldbergDevice Rube Goldberg-esque]] chain of events that [[DidntSeeThatComing leads to the villain's downfall]]. Occasionally their good luck will be siphoned from someone else around them so that they suffer bad luck. The Fool might even turn out to be TheChosenOne, but he'd be the last one to suspect it.

[[quoteright:250:[[TarotMotifs http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RWS_Tarot_00_Fool.jpg]]]]

** Launcelot Gobbo in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' goes from being an [[CloudCuckoolander eccentric,]] [[LazyBum useless]], [[BigEater gluttonous]], uneducated peasant forced to work for the local revenge-crazed villain to a [[TheJester professional jester]] who never has to do anything but [[HurricaneOfPuns make puns]] and whose new master, known for lavishing money on his servants, just won a mansion and buckets of cash. All this happens with ''no effort on Launcelot's part.'' He himself comments that, if Fortune is a woman, she must really like him.

TheFool has [[TheDitz no idea what he's doing]], he has a dim idea at best who his enemies are or [[FearlessFool whether he's in danger]], and only has his cheerful disposition to protect him.

That and [[BornLucky the blessing of Lady Luck herself]]. TheFool's strength comes from supernatural fortune bordering on Karma. Since TheFool is [[DumbIsGood such a good person]], [[KarmicProtection nothing bad happens to them.]] The BigBad may send hundreds of assassins, but each time TheFool will [[CoincidentalDodge bend over at just the right time]], or [[SpannerInTheWorks accidentally activate]] some [[RubeGoldbergDevice Rube Goldberg-esque]] chain of events that [[DidntSeeThatComing leads to the villain's downfall]]. Occasionally their good luck will be siphoned from someone else around them so that they suffer bad luck. The Fool might even turn out to be TheChosenOne, but he'd be the last one to suspect it.

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime]]
* Shinichirou Tamaki from ''Anime/CodeGeass'', whose most noticeable traits consist of being a clueless Zero fanboy and avoiding certain death often. [[EnsembleDarkHorse And fandom didn't fail to appreciate it]].
* Mister Satan from ''DragonBallZ'' has fought against Cell and Buu, but he never died. Actually, he is one of two characters (the other is Uranai Baba) who never died in this series (excluding the people who were born after Kid Buu's death).
* Mihoshi from ''TenchiMuyo''.
** In fact, that's [[PlanetOfHats the hat]] of the whole Kuramitsu clan, who are legendary for [[BornLucky their luck]] and, often, for being [[TooDumbToLive dumb as a brick]]. However, two most prominent examples, Mihoshi and, in [[TenchiMuyoGXP GXP]], her mother Mitoto, aren't really stupid but are both more of a GeniusDitz. Just don't bring Mitoto's [[WhatAnIdiot father Minami or her son Misao]] to the picture...
* The eponymous protagonist of ''IrresponsibleCaptainTylor'', unless he was just using ObfuscatingStupidity.
* Openly acknowledged as being the main (and besides cooking, perhaps ''only'') ability of Milfeulle in ''Anime/GalaxyAngel'', perhaps related to her usually selfless behaviour. (See also: TheMessiah) This ability is so powerful that, on the day her normally [[BornLucky good luck]] reverses, a black hole almost swallows the entire galaxy. She is also TheDitz.
* Matsuri gets promoted from {{Dojikko}} to TheFool in the second ''IchigoMashimaro'' {{OVA}}, in which she is pressured into shooting Miu with a rubber band which knocks Miu across the room, and then accidentally blocks Miu's kick in such a way as to send Miu writhing in pain on the ground.
* In ''YoureUnderArrest'', the sweet tattletale Yoriko Nikaido was actually the higher-ranking graduate from the police academy... through several strokes of luck (in the shooting range she aced by shooting in with her eyes closed, in the martial arts stage she slipped and this let her pin her rival to the tatami mat, etc.), much to the fury of her friendly rival, RichBitch Chie Sagamioono.
* Sonsaku Hakufu and Ryuubi Gentoku from ''IkkiTousen''.
* Megumi Minami, Kintarou Tooyama, and especially Kyuu [[spoiler: Renjou]] from ''TanteiGakuenQ''.
* Judai (Jaden) Yuki in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''. Saiou (Sartorius) even designates him to the tarot card. However, in the third season, this is {{Deconstructed}} as his back story is revealed.
** It is possible that season four's events insinuate that Saiou himself is The Fool (in an inverse connotation, Tarot-wise), allowing himself to have been manipulated by fate and demonstrating no control over the outcome of events he put into motion.
** Regardless, the insinuation is that no matter whether [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil The Light or The Darkness]], Judai (The Fool) [[SpannerInTheWorks will always somehow prevail]]. (Keep in mind also that the [[LightIsNotGood Light]][=/=][[DarkIsNotEvil Darkness]] in Yu-Gi-Oh! has never been seen as Good[=/=]Evil, but instead extremes of ideology.)
* [[LightNovel/{{Baccano}} Isaac and Miria]] are so much TheFool that the benefits of it seem to be ''contagious''. For example: ''accidentally'' stealing the [[ImmortalityInducer Elixir of Life]] and then, mistaking it for booze, cheerfully sharing it with twenty-odd [[LovableRogue affable]] [[{{Mafia}} mafiosos]] that they've just met.
* In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', Sakamoto Tatsuma pretty much epitomizes this trope. He appears clueless most of the time and reacts to everything with a cheerful disposition and his trademark laughter. Though this may be a case of ObfuscatingStupidity, [[spoiler: as he is also a successful businessman who owns a fleet of armed merchant spaceships, and in a flashback is shown to have been a serious, intelligent resistance fighter who gave up fighting for a lost cause and turned to commerce when he saw that the latter would be a more successful and less bloody way of bringing about better relations between the inhabitants of Japan and the Amanto aliens.]]
* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' has the eponymous Moon/Usagi, who found out she was Sailor Moon after rescuing a cat (Luna) from a bunch of bullies, and survived her first battles out of sheer luck and the support of her MysteriousProtector.
** CharacterDevelopment improves her as the series continues and she matures as a person and fighter, however, she never would have survived the first season if it wasn't for her fool's luck.
* [[OneSceneWonder Femio]] from ''PrincessTutu'' is almost an over-the-top parody of the trope. When the DarkMagicalGirl, Princess Kraehe, casts a spell on him so he'll literally and figuratively give his heart to her (so she can [[HeartTrauma feed it to her father]]), he ''almost'' falls for it...until he declares he can't, because his narcissism makes him believe he should be available for ''all'' women to love him. Both Kraehe and the eponymous MagicalGirl are left speechless by it.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''GrooTheWanderer'' is probably the biggest example of them all. He's the greatest swordsman in the whole world... and the dumbest as well. Barely capable of feeding himself, Groo brings bad luck wherever he goes and has a bad habit of decimating whole towns and cities, often as a result of trying to help the local residents. Nearly every comic ends with him being chased by an angry mob while he tries to figure out why. He's so notorious for causing destruction that, in one instance, simply passing near a town causes economic collapse and a massive riot when the news of his arrival circulates.
* {{Deadpool}} may count as a rare example of a non-goodhearted version of this trope.
** Well, he does ''try'' to be good, especially after becoming [[OddFriendship BFFs]] with [[TangledFamilyTree Cable]] and acting as the useful [[TheLancer jester]] to Cable's [[WellIntentionedExtremist arrogant]] wannabe [[CrystalDragonJesus cyborg mutant future messiah]]. He's just kind of [[TheDitz easily distracted]].
* Before Deadpool was a twinkle in Fabian Nicieza's eye, we got [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Longshot,]] whose powers were more-or-less explicitly stated to be this.
* A rather old and underused gentleman, AmbushBug, started off like this, with stories in which he [[FreakyFridayFlip switched bodies with Superman]] and foiling Kobra's plan, [[spoiler: which he found utterly loathsome [[FelonyMisdemeanor because he was going to make people destroy their TV sets]] ]], and eventually evolving into a fourth-wall challenging MetaGuy of epic proportions.
* Both SamAndMax to some degree. Especially in the comics, where most of their cases are solved by luck. Sam is a little less of a Fool in the adventure games, where the game play relies on him having at least some idea of what he's doing, but Max rarely does.
* Zayne Carrick from ''Star Wars: KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' is The Fool personified. Not only is his unique force power directly stated as causing "unexpected changes in fortune" (and note that he is considered incompetent by everyone who does not recognize this), but he is referred to as "The Fool" by several powerful people, nearly all of whom are trying (unsuccessfully) to kill him.
* In his earliest incarnation, Johnny Thunder was an ''insanely'' lucky guy due to having been born at 7 AM on 7/7/17. A Saturday, the seventh day of the week, no less. (Yes, born in 1917; he goes [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks way back]].) By pure luck alone, he'd accidentally demolish enemies while his actual attempts to hit them missed completely; sometimes he didn't even ''figure out'' that he was being attacked because they'd take themselves out ''just'' outside his field of vision. Also, he was [[BondCreature connected to a genie]] called the Thunderbolt who was like his guardian angel, summoned by the magic word ''cei-u.'' Of course, Johnny had no idea of this, but would often yell "say, you!" at whoever he was chasing and accidentally summon him. (How good as he at accidentally tripping up his foes? ''The Thunderbolt wasn't in every appearance!'' He could solve crimes on his own via dumb luck without any outside help.) Unfortunately, his phenomenal luck wasn't enough to prevent his AloofAlly, a lovely blonde by the name of BlackCanary, from [[BreakoutCharacter taking over]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad his spot]] as the backup story in TheFlash's comic.
** He still exists, but as it is with TheDCU, there's been {{retool}}ing and re-re-re-tooling.

[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/4youthfear.html The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was]]'', the success is not exactly surprising: the boy is [[FearlessFool too stupid to be afraid of anything]].
* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/firebird/stories/goldbird.html The Golden Bird]]'', the king is convinced that his [[YoungestChildWins youngest son]] is not up to TheQuest, and indeed, "if a mishap were to befall him he knows not how to help himself; he is a little wanting at the best." -- which leads naturally enough to his success.
* In ''Literature/TheBrownBearOfTheGreenGlen'', the youngest prince is said not to be wise enough. (Before he is the one to succeed on TheQuest.)
* Many Russian Fairy and Folk Tales have the main protagonist, named Ivan the Fool (Ivanushka-Durachok is the endearment for him) who fits this trope perfectly. He starts as the village idiot and lands in some incredible adventures. Sometimes he transforms into a handsome and non-foolish prince at the end of the story, and sometimes he refuses the fortune, the Czar's daughter in marriage, and the transformation, to go back to his original village idiot occupation.
** There's a ShoutOut to this in Lois [=McMaster=] Bujold's Literature/VorkosiganSaga: Lord Ivan "You Idiot" Vorpatril.
* Puerto Rican folk tale character Juan Bobo (literally "John Fool") was one of these, OR BookDumb, depending on the tale. Sometimes he was stupid enough to kill his own baby brother while babysitting him; other times he got the better of people trying to take advantage of his naivete.
* In some variants of ''Literature/TheLoveOfThreeOranges'', the prince is a fool, which is how he gets himself cursed, and is foolish enough to waste the first two oranges.
* In Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's ''Literature/TheGoldenGoose'', the youngest son, who finds the goose.

[[folder:Film]]
* Harpo Marx of the ''MarxBrothers''.
* Inspector Jacques Clouseau from the original ''PinkPanther'' movies is only able to solve a case through sheer luck. He'd often be moving ''away'' from whatever the clues are pointing to, it's just that in the end, the puzzle all falls together in his favor. Steve Martin's Clouseau is more of a GeniusDitz than TheFool, though.
** In ''A Shot In The Dark'', he irrationally refused to consider that Maria Gambrelli was behind all the murders because he was madly in love with her, despite the fact that ''all'' the evidence points to her doing it. At the end of the movie, [[spoiler:the mansion's other occupants get in a heated argument and ''all of them'' accidentally confess to a murder each. Realizing that they're about to be arrested, they tried to escape in Clouseau's car, which incidentally was rigged with a bomb installed by his insane boss Inspector Dreyfus. The case is solved, Clouseau is alive, and the murderers all suffered KarmicDeath.]]
* Chance the Gardener in the film ''BeingThere'' is '''the''' archetype of sub-trope of this.
* Jar Jar Binks from the ''StarWars'' prequel trilogy.
** There was even an early [[http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/movies/jar_jar_holy_fool_000414.html wild guess]] that he's secretly a Force-user, because he's ''suspiciously'' lucky:
--> Jar Jar Binks takes out droids as fast as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan do, and he's not even trying.
** In an episode of ''StarWarsTheCloneWars'', a Clone Trooper captain has apparently been Jar Jar's bodyguard long enough to accurately predict when the Gungan's antics will defeat the enemy. However, the captain wrongly believes that Jar Jar [[ObfuscatingStupidity isn't as stupid as he seems]].
-->There was a rumor that Jar Jar's character development was supposed to be highlighted into a transformation had the fan base not hated him. He was actually supposed to become a tragic character - becoming a Dark Jedi out of his grief from [[spoiler:Padme's death and Anikin's movement to the dark side.]]
* Scrat from ''IceAge'', although he's half fool and half desperate for nuts.
* The main character of ''ThePeopleUnderTheStairs'', and also happens to be his name.
* ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooLittle''. Wallace Ritchie believes himself to be in some form of improvisational theater, but is actually involved in a cold-war era plot to prevent peace between the UK and Russia. While in one or two incidents he does show some genuine skill, most of his success is due to sheer dumb luck. The movie is even funnier if you try to watch it from the point of view of the real people, who must be assuming that Wallace is [[ObfuscatingStupidity merely playing The Fool]], while actually being a top-notch spy. So The Fool is playing the Spy playing The Fool.
* Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. He apparently "got lost in his own museum" once. He's more [[AbsentMindedProfessor absent-minded]] than outright dumb, but he still fits the character type.
* Brick (no, that's his name) from ''{{Anchorman}}'' qualifies.
* This is essentially the entire plot of ''ForrestGump''.
* [[Film/TheNakedGun Lieutenant]] [[PoliceSquad Frank Drebin]].
* WALL-E of the [[WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}} eponymous movie]] changes humanity's future, returns the human race to earth and gets them out of their lethargy. He meant none of it, for the entire movie, his sole goal was to hold hands with a girl he met.
* ''Film/TheParty'' has another, less known PeterSellers example, in which he plays the sweet but incredibly accident-prone Indian actor Hrundi V. Bakshi.
* ''TheBobo'' is an even less-known Sellers vehicle, where he plays an itinerant singer who tries to get his big break at a Barcelona theater (note: 'bobo' is Spanish for 'fool'). The theater owner agrees on the condition that, within three days, he can seduce a manipulative gold-digger. Trope averted as Sellers is shown to be adept at concocting and sustaining an elaborate ruse to string her along.
* ''TheTallBlondManWithOneBlackShoe'' is an innocuous concert violinist who, unknown to him, is identified as a spy as part of an intelligence agency rivalry. He walks through the film oblivious to the machinations of the agents keeping tabs on him, and remains unscathed as they do each other in.
* Creator/DannyKaye played this role in ''The Inspector General'', as a hapless, illiterate, but good-hearted gypsy who is mistaken for an Inspector General (on assignment to root out corruption from NapoleonBonaparte himself) by a small town's [[CorruptPolitician corrupt city council]].
** Ironically, he doesn't play this role in ''Film/TheCourtJester'', as he has some idea of the danger he's putting himself through, but accepted because he [[JumpedAtTheCall wanted to be a hero]]. And impress [[ActionGirl Maid Jean]].

[[folder:Literature]]
* A classical example would be Perceval, in the Grail poems of the middle ages, especially in Chretien de Troyes' ''Perceval ou le Conte du Graal''.
* Twoflower of the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels ''The Colour of Magic'', ''The Light Fantastic'' and ''Interesting Times''.
** And Rincewind from the same series. Except he pays more attention to the disasters than the luck in surviving them, and so thinks he is cursed by The Lady... which is why she loves him so much.
** Colon and Nobby from the City Watch books have important clues and crimes fall into their laps by pure luck so often that it's the unofficial reason they're still on the force when it has otherwise moved on into a respectable organization.
* Dondi Snayheever (really!) from Creator/TimPowers' ''Last Call''.
* A subversion in the ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'' saga, in which the Fool knows ''precisely'' what he is doing.
* The eponymous character in Creator/{{Voltaire}}'s ''{{Candide}}''. Unfortunately for him, the trope is invoked only to be totally deconstructed, since he doesn't live in the [[BreakTheCutie best of all]] [[CrapsackWorld possible worlds]].
* Creator/TimPowers wrote a pair of novels - ''ExpirationDate'' and ''EarthquakeWeather'' which explicitly riff on this trope, and on the idea of characters being archetypically related to the Tarot generally.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''ProsperosDaughter'' trilogy, Mephisto after his insanity.
* Simkin of ''Literature/TheDarkswordTrilogy''.
* Malachi Constant from Creator/KurtVonnegut's ''Literature/TheSirensOfTitan''.
* HerculePoirot's friend Hastings has some elements of this. As a detective trying to solve the mystery with Poirot, he's an abject failure. However, he's very good at pointing out the "obvious" things that sometimes slip by Poirot's notice.
** Hasting's best performance in this role comes in ''TheABCMurders'': [[spoiler: The other detectives are distressed at the "bad luck" that sent one of the anonymous letters astray, causing it to reach them too late to prevent the murder. Hastings points out that the letter could easily have been deliberately misaddressed in order to give the killer enough time.]]
* Plenty of Creator/PGWodehouse characters. [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Bertie Wooster]] [[LampshadeHanging hung a lampshade]] on it in ''Carry On, Jeeves'': "Providence looks after all the chumps in this world, and personally, [[SelfDeprecation I'm all for it.]]"
* ''Literature/FirebirdLackey'' inverts this, Ilya's only pretending to be a fool, and is in fact cursed with ''bad'' luck.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* [[Series/GetSmart Maxwell Smart]] is the most [[SarcasmMode brilliant field agent available to CONTROL]], and the most successful.
* Callisto is not herself a character example, but she dresses up like The Fool in the first ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' MusicalEpisode, and behaves that way too.
* Charlie from ''ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia''.
* Eric in the later seasons of ''BoyMeetsWorld''.
* Gilligan from ''GilligansIsland'' is a classic example.
* Peter Tork (his character, [[ObfuscatingStupidity not his actual self]].) on ''TheMonkees.''
* As is Lance from ''FreeRadio''.
* Sgt. Schultz from ''HogansHeroes''.
* Jason Stackhouse from ''Series/TrueBlood''. Partially averted, though: although he's frequently TooDumbToLive and always ends up all right in the end, he's more of a [[KarmaHoudini Karmic Houdini]] than most Fools: he's frequently selfish, amoral and religiously intolerant. Although he does sometimes get his comeuppance (the priapism and being accused of some murders), he does always seems to come out fine in the end by no other reason than dumb luck.
* [[TheMightyBoosh Vince Noir]]
* Mexican sitcom ''ElChavoDelOcho''.
* Played with in ''{{Firefly}}''. While most fools are depicted as happy and childlike, Jayne Cobb, easily the dumbest member of the cast (despite his talents for interrogation) is also grouchy and generally unhappy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Machinima]]
* The eponymous character from ''FreemansMind'' is anything but kind or inherently good-natured, but the vast majority of his progress through the series is through sheer dumb luck. Often times, he clears the way forward by doing seemingly random, unrelated things or just wandering around aimlessly until he finds somewhere he hasn't been already.
-->'''Freeman:''' Awwright! I'm making a lot of progress for not knowing what the hell I'm doing!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* [[Music/TheBeatles The Fool on the Hill]], of course.
* A song by Brazilian group Titãs has the line: "O acaso vai me proteger enquanto eu andar distraído." - Meaning "Luck will protect me as long as I walk on absent-mindedly".
* One of jazz composer Stan Kenton's most well known pieces is entitled "La Suerte de los Tontos" - which translates as "the luck of the fool."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]
* ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'' has The Fool as an avatar, where you can be happy go lucky, find the right item at the right time, avoid damage by accident, be in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time.
** This troper once played an Unknown Armies game as a Fool and ended up saving three characters' souls by tripping and falling in the right place at the right time. It is an ''extremely'' powerful archetype.
*** Also dangerous to be around, though - as that damage you avoid by "dumb luck" has to go ''somewhere''...
* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' associates the Acanthus Path with the [[TarotMotifs Tarot card]] of The Fool. Members of the Path have a natural affinity for Fate magic, meaning they can get ''really'' lucky.
* DungeonsAndDragons introduced Luck feats and the Fortune's Fool prestige class late in 3.5. Although the flavor of it has them surviving in day-to-day life based purely on being incredibly lucky, the [[GameplayAndStorySegregation mechanics]] just let you re-roll dice a lot.
* Everway, which uses a modified Tarot deck as a game play mechanic, has an AlternateCharacterInterpretation of The Fool: a cross between a court jester and a wanderer. The Fool is free to do or say anything and get away with it, because no one takes him too seriously, and he's not tied down with responsibilities. This doesn't imply stupidity or luck. More like "Jack of all trades; master of none." Some forms of "real" Tarot reading portray the whole deck (or at least the picture cards) as representing The Fool's journey to enlightenment.
* In ''ToonTheCartoonRolePlayingGame'', characters can make a Smarts check to decide whether or not they can undertake a clearly impossible action. If they fail, [[AchievementsInIgnorance they are presumed to be able to do it]]. This is one of the few examples from a tabletop role playing game where it's worthwhile ''failing'' a simple stat check.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* Every other [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] play has the Fool, usually as a {{Foil}} of some sort. In more serious dramas, he replaces the Fool with ThoseTwoGuys.
** In ''The Winter's Tale'', the Shepherd's Son (for whom no name is given, but in some printings is called Clown) and to a lesser extent, the Shepherd.
** Launcelot Gobbo in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' goes from being an [[CloudCuckoolander eccentric,]] [[LazyBum useless]], [[BigEater gluttonous]], uneducated peasant forced to work for the local revenge-crazed villain to a [[TheJester professional jester]] who never has to do anything but [[HurricaneOfPuns make puns]] and whose new master, known for lavishing money on his servants, just won a mansion and buckets of cash. All this happens with ''no effort on Launcelot's part.'' He himself comments that, if Fortune is a woman, she must really like him.
* A stock character of the CommediaDellArte genre.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Appropriately enough, [[TarotMotifs The Fool]] from the Cliff Johnson classic ''VideoGame/TheFoolsErrand'' qualifies neatly.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Squeak Squad'', Kirby's motivation for starting his adventure was that his cake was missing. In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'', he was revived because, in his hunger, he ate one of Dedede's magic pins.
** Kirby often gets into situations due to his carelessness (and being a BigEater), but once he's aware of a problem, he's too active in fighting whatever miscreant is involved to be a Fool.
* An inversion of this trope, in ''{{Persona 4}}'', the protagonist's friends social link as the Investigation Team under the tarot of The Fool. Despite this, they grow and learn from the end of the game, and eventually [[spoiler:re-social link under The Judgement.]]
** Same in ''{{Persona 3}}'' and you even start out with a Persona of The Fool Arcana. There's a bit of a visual shout out even, with the female character in the PSP remake, where her hairpins are arranged as XXII.
** Both games invoke the true extent of the Arcana so hard that it becomes a serious case of ShownTheirWork. The protagonists of both games "main" (starting) arcana is The Fool which grows to [[spoiler: the Judgment and, for the protagonists themselves, The World/Universe]]. Additionally, they're both {{Heroic Mime}}s. This might seem like standard RPG procedure until you realize that they're mimes because they ''have no pre-defined personalities'' to speak of, allowing them to fit their personality into any mold they see fit (which is why they can have such profound effects on so many people).
* Jen Tate in ''{{Primal}}''.
** Her behavior, and inappropriate comments and dialog always manage to work out.
** [[spoiler: When under foreign control, she manages to press Scree's BerserkButton to make him fight her. Which was the only way to free her.]]
** She even appears as TheFool on an in-game collectible [[TarotMotifs Tarot Card]].
* The main characters of ''ThePrinceOfTennis'' {{Dating Sim}}s often fall into this trope and NaiveEverygirl. In ''Gakuensai no Oujisama'', the main kid was a normal second-year girl who happened to be chosen as the one organizing the SchoolFestival with the tennis boys...
* Colette from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''.
** In fact Colette is somewhere between the {{Dojikko}}, TheMessiah and the FriendToAllLivingThings. Since she's not exactly "the Hero", she's somewhat bright on occasion, and she's not particularly lucky (in fact, she's quite the [[BrokenBird unlucky girl]]) she doesn't quite qualify for TheFool.
*** She's really only unlucky with things concerning her sucky destiny. There are sometimes she has avoided attacks sent at her by tripping. Due to similar things happening, Zelos suggests they should let Colette trip on the way to buy a lottery ticket.
* In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Super]] VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'', Ryu is this according to fortune teller Rose, which means he is the only one who can defeat M. Bison for good.
* A lot of comic AdventureGame protagonists could fit the bill but Bwana from ''VideoGame/TheJourneyDown'' is exceptional even among them. For proof, he'll fly a seaplane with his eyes closed, install ship (as in, from a yacht) engines on said plane by flinging them with a crane, and attempt to cook with engine oil. And he'll survive and be impressively successful every time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* The eponymous character from ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', especially in the earlier cartoons, when Homestar would always beat Strong Bad, no matter how much Strong Bad cheated; Homestar was eventually [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into a character [[TheDitz too stupid to know when he'd lost]], which also frustrated Strong Bad's efforts.
-->'''Strong Bad:''' It's like, even when we win, he wins.
* Pretty much every character in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' is TheFool. Caboose starts out as one as well, but he quickly descends to pure idiocy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Elan from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' is this trope played both straight, subverted, and averted depending on the strip.
* Though many would argue loudly against describing him as 'good', Sam Starfall from ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' invokes this trope a ''lot'', especially early in the series. No matter what kind of disaster he leaps headfirst into, it always works out for him. ''Somehow''.
** Later on we find out that Sam often - and often irrationally - counts on outside forces to bail him out if things go south. If nothing else, Sam figures, someone's going to pull him out of the fire so they can be the one to officially throw him back in.
*** To be fair, he has quite a long track record of getting into trouble and has racked up a lot of evidence that outside forces will invariably come to his rescue.
** Sam's far more smart, canny and aware than the average Fool, though. He's closer to the original archetype as a lucky trickster and troublemaker.
* Fighter of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' - who's been known to pull off impossible maneuvers and slay nigh-invincible foes simply because he was too stupid to realize he shouldn't be able to. Arguable whether or not his undeniable sword skills (and encyclopedic knowledge of techniques) push him into IdiotHero territory.
** Fighter ''is'' the only actual Hero of the Light Warriors (Of the other three, one is a [[SociopathicHero sociopath]], one has stolen and 'acquired' more things than actually exist, and the last is not actually evil, but highly narcissistic). The only real debate is whether his collaboration with his 'friends' subtracts from his heroism.
* Gordon Frohman from ''{{Concerned}}''.
* In ''Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked'', the Boy is fully as foolish as his FairyTale prototype, the Boy Who Set Out To Learn What Fear Was.
* Lance from [[http://www.goldcoincomics.com Gold Coin Comics]], who is particularly unobservant and "leaps before he looks."
* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Fumbles of ''[[{{Goblins}} Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes]]''. Or at least the Blessed-by-Lady-Luck bit.
* John Egbert of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' fame makes unwise decisions on a regular basis (that even lead to his death in [[BadFuture one alternate time line]]) - but without them, he'd have never been able to set up the StableTimeLoop that ensured that he and all his friends got born, among other things.
** Maybe Justified, John IS [[KidHero only 13]], and the [[MindScrew entire game is pretty confusing.]]
* Jeremy from ''PlatinumGrit'' has no idea what's going on, assumes everyone else is basically nice, and has rationalised away every mean thing that anyone has ever done to him. And somehow or other, he and his best friends always manage to lurch through every crisis more or less intact.
* Julie, from ''OurLittleAdventure'' very much so.
* In OverlordofRavenfell, Razin only has a vague idea of what being an Overlord entails, and is quite the bubblehead despite the grim occupation. Somehow he manages.
* Tiffany Winters in ''Webcomic/EerieCuties'' runs on this and ChronicHeroSyndrome. She often as not hasn't the slightest idea what she's doing, but will manage to help someone. In her first appearance, she manages to get herself ''killed'' within the first few pages. This simply allows her to solve the main problem of the chapter and then come back to life unscathed at the end.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The anthropomorphic [[MoeMoe cute-girl]] version of Windows [=ME=], Me-tan.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Ron Stoppable from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' has elements of this, notably the "blundering towards success" part. As he puts it, upon being called on his blundering: "Not dumb luck, Kim! Dumb ''skill''!"
** Just call it The Ron Factor!
* Meatwad from ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' occasionally fits the description. Even when "bad" things happen to him, karma pays him back almost immediately. (i.e. Shake sells him to the circus and he becomes the star attraction, Shake sticks him in the dryer and he gains super powers. etc.)
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', "OP TRIP." Two EvilMinions stalk ditzy Numbuh Three on her trip to Tokyo. Numbuh Three is too clueless to notice she's been followed, but she manages, purely by accident, to get the stalkers attacked by a mean dog, thrown in a dumpster, catapulted out of a moving train, etc. The minions give up in agony. Then they discover that the dog, the dumpster driver, the train driver, etc. were all Numbuh Three's not-so-ditzy allies in disguise.
* Mikey Simon from ''KappaMikey'' is this trope in a highly concentrated form.
* The eponymous character of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' sometimes classifies, especially in later seasons.
** Patrick Star as well.
* Dog from ''CatDog'' frequently [[TheMillstone causes multiple catastrophes]] and AmusingInjuries with his stupidity though more often than not fate is on his side and leaves him unscathed (and then punishes Cat twice as hard for the both of them).
* A bizarre example of the trope, the band Dethklok in ''{{Metalocalypse}}'' are evil, in an apathetic kind of way. They aren't that intelligent (except in contracts) and accidentally cause death and destruction everywhere they go. Yet they're oddly ''immune''. Oh, they'll accidentally set off explosions and laser beams and falling debris that kills off everyone around them, especially people trying to kill them; but it will miss them ''every time.'' And they won't even notice; not that they would care.
* [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]]. In the episode "Homer Defined," Homer's accidental prevention of a meltdown at the nuclear plant inspires the phrase "to pull a Homer," meaning "to succeed despite idiocy."
** The Infamous "Homer's Enemy" episode deconstructs the living hell out of this trope.
* [[TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack Flapjack]] is this with a light dose of TheMessiah, as he once tried to make enemies to be a good adventurer, but failed spectacularly at every attempt. He only succeeds at the end, and even that is by accident. Plus, he considers his "enemy" to also be his [[VitriolicBestBuds best friend.]]
* ''InspectorGadget'' is definitely a poster boy for this trope, in particular whenever assassins are targeting his life directly. While some of his success (and survival) comes from [[BeleagueredAssistant Brain]] and [[SnoopingLittleKid Penny's]] heroic efforts, just as many of Gadget's oblivious victories spring from his endless fountain of slapsticky luck (ex. he calls for a certain gadget, but the wrong one comes out which then nails the bad guy—even funnier, the clueless inspector then ''apologizes'' for the mishap).
* Most of the "Golden Age" WarnerBrothers cartoons (Characters/BugsBunny et al.) embody this trope at some point. Generally speaking, the more "innocent" the character, the better it works.
* Cal of ''{{Undergrads}}'', who has more friends and more sex without trying than any of his friends combined when they ''do''.
* Bradley is ''StickinAround's'' signature fool, mainly due to his interests and general personality. How he is Stacy's BlackBestFriend is beyond anyone's interpretation.
** Russell is merely the secondary one, since he's just flat out clueless.
* [[RockyAndBullwinkle Bullwinkle J. Moose]] is portrayed as a fool despite him starring in segments that intend to teach. In fact, when Boris used a gas to turn the whole world (including Bullwinkle's friend Rocky) into morons, Bullwinkle is the only one unaffected because he already is a moron.
* [[GenkiGirl Pinkie Pie]] from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is pretty much the comic relief: quirky, airheaded, and totally laid back about life. Put her in front of all but the most obvious danger and she'll dance around without a care, and it's been hinted that, despite her natural baking skills, her mental instability makes her laughably bad at her job. On numerous occasions, however, Pinkie has calmly and efficiently danced right to the heart of whatever problem has occurred, sped personal development in others, or demonstrated [[GeniusDitz obscure knowledge]] that even the resident [[SmartGuy Smart Pony]] didn't know. After her brilliant solution to the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E10SwarmOfTheCentury parasprite problem]], she stated that [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} even she doesn’t really understand herself sometimes]].
* Charlotte in ''MakingFiends''. Cheerfully oblivious to the fact that her "friend" Vendetta is trying to kill her with an army of toothy, vicious monsters who have the entire town they live in terrified into submission, she usually ends up [[FluffyTamer befriending the fiends as well]], and even keeps one as a pet.
* Aang from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. In the beginning, he's young, naive, and playful, and seems to win fights partly out of a feeling that he can't imagine losing. And like The Fool from the tarot card, he's definitely willing to jump off a cliff, but figuratively and literally (he ''can'' fly, after all). He's lost this somewhat by the end of the series, having had to deal with the losses and suffering he's caused, and having to contemplate the choices he must make for the world.
* Rufus and Amberley of ''TheDreamstone'' often acted as inept kids in stopping the Urpneys. Nearly everytime however they were handed the victory with barely a hair out of place, either due to the Urpneys own bumbling or some ContrivedCoincidence.
* Norb of ''TheAngryBeavers'' plays with this, while he does have ButtMonkey moments, he is far less often at the brunt of things than Daggett, and sometimes in a very close or contrived manner. This was even Lampshaded in an episode where he and Dag switch roles and Dag notes he (seemingly) avoided a painful injury just like he usually does.
* ''JimmyTwoShoes'' sometimes acts as the fool when he's not playing the OnlySaneMan. In ''Lucius Lost'', Lucius divides an island into his side and Jimmy's side, saying everything on his side is his and everything on Jimmy's side is Jimmy's, when Jimmy immediately finds a buried treasure chest on his side. Lucius then steals the chest, only for a bunch of pirates to show up and demand their treasure back. Lucius then tells them Jimmy found it, and they thank Jimmy because they'd forgotten where they'd left it.
* Peri and Entree of ''{{Spliced}}'' have this in spades.
* Trevor of ''WesternAnimation/{{Sidekick}}'' acts like this in almost every episode. Eric sometimes acts like it too, but not as consistently.
* ''JohnnyTest'' becomes this in 'Johnny & Dark Vegan's Battle Brawl Mania', too concerned with cheering up pet mutant lizard Repto-Slicer to notice Dark Vegan's attempts to kill him. Vegan is outraged to learn that Johnny was completely unaware when he proposes a truce.
* WesternAnimation/HongKongPhooey is similar to Inspector Gadget in that he bumbles around defeating villains through either dumb luck or [[HypercompetentSidekick Spot's]] efforts. He never notices and thinks he beat the bad guys with his martial arts skills alone.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dexter Timothy Dexter]]. A man who was completely uneducated, he managed to make a fortune by making a series of horrible business decisions that, due to luck, turned out to be extremely profitable. The man made the stupidest decisions possible (including a number suggested by hated enemies) and every one of them came out as a profit. Some examples:
** Stocking up on Continental dollars during the Revolutionary War. None of the people who made the suggestion ever gave thought to the possibility that the colonies would ''[[TemptingFate win]]''...which they did.
** On marrying a wealthy widow, he decided to play the stock market. By picking stocks at random. They all went up.
** Selling the strangest things to the Caribbean
*** Bed warming pans, which you don't need in the tropics. But the warming pans turned out to be great for straining molasses.
*** Stray cats. But it turned out the Caribbean was having a rat problem.
*** ''Mittens''. But traders there bound for ''Siberia'' took them off his hands.
** Sending coal to Newcastle. As in a place built on the coal-mining industry (thus the phrase "Coals to Newcastle" meaning "giving them something they have too much of already"). What happened just before it got there? ''The coal miners went on strike.''
** Stocking up warehouses full of whale bones. Then someone discovered that whalebone made an ideal reinforcing material for corsets. He sold clean out.
** He wrote a book about himself, with capitals sprinkled about at random, and no [[NoPunctuationPeriod punctuation anywhere in the main text]] (starting with the second edition, it DID have a page of punctuation marks at the end, suggesting the readers "solt and peper it as they plese", as literal as PunctuationShaker can get). In a case of SoBadItsGood meets BileFascination, it sold well.
*** Though from the sound of it, a number of people were probably hoping that they could figure out [[ObfuscatingStupidity how the hell he pulled those stunts off]].
[[/folder]]

* Appropriately enough, [[TarotMotifs The Fool]] from the Cliff Johnson classic ''The Fool's Errand'' qualifies neatly.