Achievements in Ignorance/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character can do the impossible because they don't understand that it's impossible.

  • Straight: Therm can ignore gravity because nobody ever told him how it works.
  • Exaggerated: Therm can rewrite the laws of physics by not understanding them.
  • Justified:
    • Therm is a Reality Warper but doesn't quite know it yet, and is unconsciously affecting the world around him based on his beliefs.
    • Therm is in a dream, and as such can change the rules whenever he wants.
    • Therm could Limit Break without hurting himself because the limit was actually mentally imposed, Therm never knew that there was a supposed limit and could activate it whenever he wanted to.
  • Inverted:
    • A character can't do something because he didn't realize it's possible.
    • Brian knows not only that it's impossible, but why... And from there, figures out how to make it possible.
    • David is aware of, and frequently exploits in-universe glitches.
  • Subverted: He really knew it was impossible. He's just that awesome.
  • Double Subverted: After he says that, someone points out that its impossible to do something on virtue of awesomeness alone.
  • Parodied: Therm can't do anything that he can understand, but can do anything he can't understand.
  • Deconstructed: Therm is taunted for his ignorance and decides to become intelligent by studying hard. Because of this, Therm loses what really made him special since he now understands limits of reality, and can't accidentally cross them.
  • Reconstructed: Therm is the most powerful warrior, not because he can handle his weapon, but because he can unlock his true potential whenever he wants to, and gets forced to move away from those he cares about because of this ability. They later find out that his ignorance actually had a reason for overcoming the limit, and bring him back so they can find out how to.
  • Zig Zagged: Therm can create impossible things and do impossible deeds because he doesn't understand that they're impossible- but then it is revealed that he does understand and is feigning ignorance- until they find that he isn't just feigning ignorance, but is in fact powering his achievements with Clap Your Hands If You Believe and is consciously ignorant, carefully keeping himself from new knowledge- but this revelation damages his ability to create, as he knows how he is capable of these feats and thus can no longer be capable of them- then someone hits him with a hammer and it's all back to normal.
  • Averted: Therm knows exactly what he's doing, and how he's doing it.
  • Enforced: "You know what'd be funny? Someone not falling down a cliff, because they didn't know they were supposed to!"
  • Lampshaded: "Big Bad's plan may be foolproof, but it's not Therm-proof!"
  • Invoked: "Yes, what Therm's doing is impossible, but don't tell him that!"
  • Defied: While Therm is standing midair, someone hands him a physics book.
  • Discussed: "Someone should tell Therm you can't ride a T rex while flying a rocket at the same time."
  • Conversed: "It's amazing what can happen in fiction if the characters don't pay attention in physics class."
  • Plotted A Good Waste: ???
  • Played For Laughs: ???
  • Played For Drama: ???

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