"So, Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."
— Dark Helmet, Spaceballs
A common recurring thread in fiction is the idea that the hero, for various reasons, will engage in stupid or illogical actions largely because it is the "heroic", sometimes idealistic thing to do. Also an exaggerated form of For Great Justice. This index catalogues the tropes that manifest this phenomenon.
Compare Good is Not Nice and Evil Is Petty. Contrast with Good Is Not Dumb, and its Evil Counterpart, Stupid Evil. This trope is not to be confused with Dumb Is Good... you dummy.
Tropes:
- Adults Are Useless (When there are adult heroes)
- All-Loving Hero (In that cynical writers will portray him as naive)
- Brains Evil, Brawn Good
- Did You Actually Believe...?
- Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help
- Dumb, but Diligent
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil
- Failure Hero
- False Innocence Trick
- Hero Ball
- Honor Before Reason
- Idiot Hero
- I Lied
- Love Freak (In that cynical writers will portray him as naive)
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero (What this results in)
- Political Correctness Is Evil
- Political Overcorrectness
- Redemption Demotion: As some villains inexplicably become weaker and/or stupider when they make a Heel–Face Turn. Used to go by this name before the name change.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids! (When one character calls another out on this)
- Stock Shōnen Hero (Often not exactly the brightest bulb in the box)
- Stock Shoujo Heroine: Not usually as dumb as their shonen counterpart, but are still often a bit naive or ditzy
- Stupid Good (This as a character trait)
- Unhand Them, Villain!
- Unintentionally Karmic: When the hero is too dumb or naive to see that their attempts to be nice to the villain only cause trouble for them.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The results after others call The Hero out for his foolishness
- You Said You Would Let Them Go
