Basic Trope: A super-intelligent character who brings up various philosophical concepts, and discusses them at length.
- Straight: Friedrich is on top of the Brain Chain, calls everything what he sees and hears into question, is in deep thought most of the time, has a decent lifestyle, has deep knowledge about the works of Plato, Seneca, Kant, Schopenhauer, Hume, Sartre etc. and inspires everyone with discussing them. Whenever there's a metaphysical problem, a question about The Meaning of Life or a moral dilemma, he comes up with an insightful comment to shine a light.
- Exaggerated: Every character in the work is so mega-intelligent and discusses nothing but philosophical concepts with convoluted words that they all reach Enlightenment Superpowers.
- Downplayed: Friedrich shows the traits above but only shows them rarely or Once an Episode while they otherwise don't matter.
- Justified:
- Friedrich had a very hard life and only could overcome it with his passion for philosophy
- Friedrich is a member of a well-respected school of philosophy or majored from an important university.
- Friedrich decides to become an Übermensch.
- Friedrich is naturally very curious, and likes to ask offbeat questions. Philosophy helps him understand the answers.
- Inverted: Whenever there is a Gordian knot to be cut, Friedrich is the Idiot Hero with the sword to cut it.
- Subverted: After all of his comments, it turns out that he's just a pseudo-philosopher who makes up bullshit to impress people.
- Double Subverted:
- ... but people still find legitimate thoughts in his work and celebrate him for them.
- Friedrich just pretended to be a pseudo-philosopher to fool somebody else.
- Parodied: Friedrich wears a High-Class Glass, acts like an idiot, assumes a hilarious thinking pose and believes he makes profound comments while in reality they're just Ice Cream Koans, Word Salad Philosophy and Insane Troll Logic.
- Zig Zagged: Friedrich switches between a philosopher and a pseudo-philosopher all the time.
- Averted: Friedrich is just an ordinary guy and does not understand anything about philosophy.
- Enforced: A creator believes that philosophy is underappreciated in this world and thus adds Friedrich to the cast.
- Lampshaded: "This guy studied philosophy, surely he has to talk like this!"
- Invoked: Immanuel is a wise and experienced advisor who writes a book about metaphysics but hides it only for Friedrich to find it, the only person he trusts.
- Exploited: Friedrich's knowledge about the universe is exploited by an Evil Overlord to build a superweapon.
- Defied: Friedrich takes the books by Plato, considers reading them but throws them away.
- Discussed: "You know there are people who could solve this kind of problem. They are called philosophers."
- Conversed: "Are the people on this show always talking about the meaning of life?"
- Implied: Friedrich is a Silent Snarker and although his bookcase is never shown, it's quite huge. He is much smarter than the rest of his Dysfunctional Family and decides to stay by himself.
- Deconstructed:
- Friedrich's comments annoy anybody so nobody wants to talk to him anymore.
- Friedrich is permanently put through hell because of his behavior while a Dumb Is Good character gets all the praise.
- Reconstructed: However, in the end, other characters can't overcome their problems with Simpleminded Wisdom alone and have to turn to Friedrich again.
- Played for Laughs: Friedrich is the protagonist of a Black Comedy or a Sadist Show and smilingly tortures anybody with his knowledge For the Evulz while the music of Richard Wagner is playing very loudly in the background.
- Played for Drama:
- Friedrich starts out as a Philosopher King and becomes an Evil Overlord by the end of the story.
- An oppressive government is after him.
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