Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Difference between revisions

[[File:pawncrop 7570.gif|link=Sinfest|frame|[[The Devil]] tries his hand at theology.]]

 

 

This is when [[The Chessmaster]] villain has developed a [[Evil Plan|devious plot that is prepared for anything]] the hero might do—except for [[Spanner in the Works|one glaring flaw]]. For some reason, the villain has not considered the possibility of a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. After all, you'd never catch him throwing his life away to save [[Dying Like Animals|a bunch of lazy ungrateful civilians who don't care about anybody except themselves]]. Heck, even saving your [[True Companions]] comes after [[It's All About Me|saving your own life]]. Only an idiot would throw his life away like that—and only because he didn't realize how much more profitable saving it would be. Well, sometimes that PR would be bad, but [[What You Are in the Dark|you only have to get him to where he can act secretly]] to get it out of him.

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Trigun]]'': Vash, in regards to the plans of Knives.

* If Shin in ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' really knew and loved [[The Messiah|Yuria]], he '''really''' shouldn't be surprised that {{spoiler|she was [[Driven to Suicide]] by the cruelty and genocide committed in the name of earning her love.}}

** It's revealed in a later episode (though in chronological order in ''Yuria Den'') that {{spoiler|he realized she was lost to him, after she survived her fall only to unconsciously call for Ken}}.

* In ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', Kanryu Takeda does not understand why the heroes are trying to rescue Megumi even though there is no reward waiting for them. He is even more bewildered that they refuse to take his bribes.

* ''[[Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat]]'': Creed is the living embodiment of this, although it at times verges on "Insanity Cannot Comprehend Sanity." Literally every problem in series was triggered by Creed's inability to process, or even understand ordinary human feeling. Creed honestly can't understand why his murder of Saya would prevent Train from wanting to join him. Similarly, it leaves him unable to understand why his Bad Boss tendencies will lead to poor morale among his subordinates. Creed seems to see people as existing apart from one another, and as such social cause and effect has almost no meaning for him, which only fuels his issues.

* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Gaara]] from [[Naruto]], back when he was an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Serial Killer]] who honestly though his purpose in life was to kill people, didn't understand how Naruto could keep pushing himself so hard in their final fight, hard enough that even when both of them were utterly exhausted, Gaara was flat on his back but Naruto was ''crawling on his chest'' to fight him, because that was the only way to save Sakura and his friends. He only quit when Sasuke showed up and told him Sakura was safe. Naruto got Gaara just fine, though; he knew exactly what Gaara had been through, and explained to him that it was finding friends like them that saved him from the dark, angry place Gaara was in himself.

* In ''[[Slayers]]'' this is the reason that [[Big Bad|Dark Star]] merges with his mortal enemy [[Big Good|Vorfeed]] to become an entity to destroy all universes and then rebuild them into a world where the two of them would not need to fight each other anymore.

** In the manga, Knight of the Aqua Lord, the [[Big Bad]] of that season took the power of a god and went insane.

* Tao En / Yuan in ''[[Shaman King]]'', who refuses to believe that you can trust anyone due to the way his ancestors were persecuted for their shaman powers. This is crucial to his defeat - he's more powerful than any of the main characters at that point, but watching [[The Power of Friendship]] trump self-preservation destroys his focus.

* In the Diamond and Pearl arc of ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'', this is the reason why [[Jerkass|Paul]] could not raise Chimchar to his full potential; as he thought making friends with his Pokémon was a waste of time. This came back to bite him in the ass when Ash raised said Chimchar into an Infernape and beat him in the Pokémon league.

** An earlier example was with Damien in the early Kanto saga. Even though he treated his Charmander like crap and [[Moral Event Horizon|left it to die in the rain]], he still expected it to wait for him to come get it and welcome him back with open arms. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Cue Charmander defecting to Ash]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|and roasting Damien.]]

* Serves as a pivotal point in ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. {{spoiler|Kyubey can't understand why there's such an emotional impact of losing one person when there are seven billion people. Although Kyubey isn't evil per se, he just has a goal that disagrees with humans when the main cast learn the truth}}

 

** It comes around full circle in ''Action Comics'' v1 #900. After achieving godhood, Luthor starts torturing Superman, thinking that he only simulates emotions. When Superman provokes Luthor to delve deeper and watches {{spoiler|Jonathan Kent's death}}, Luthor puts two and two together and promptly has a [[Villainous Breakdown]] because he can't understand how someone like Superman could have a loving family like the Kents and Luthor ''didn't''.

** In ''[[All-Star Superman]]'', when Luthor gains Superman's powers, when looking through Superman's eyes and how the Universe is interconnected, he realizes ''why'' Superman was so benevolent. So much so he completely atones and accepts his death penalty.

** The villains that fight Superman are often baffled that someone as powerful as him would use that power to ''help'' people instead of ruling them.

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', Dr. Finitevus turned Knuckles into an insane and ultrapowerful villain, and as a security feature made sure that the change couldn't be reversed without someone [[Heroic Sacrifice|dying for it]]. That should do it, right? When he explained this, there was silence... for about a second, at which point everyone present started volunteering. Ooops.

** And the next time Finitevus ran into Knuckles, he honestly seemed surprised when Knuckles refused his [[We Can Rule Together|offer of alliance]]; it didn't seem to occur to the "good" doctor that Knuckles would hold a grudge over the brainwashing and the death of his father (who performed the above mentioned [[Heroic Sacrifice]]).

 

 

* In [[Disney Animated Canon]]'s ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'', the Good Fairies disguise themselves as human peasants, give up their magic, move into a cottage in the forest, and raise Aurora/Briar Rose as though she were a foundling, because they know it will never cross Maleficent's mind that anyone could perform such a selfless act. As Fauna notes: "Maleficent doesn't know anything about love, or kindness, or the joy of helping others. You know, sometimes I don't think [[Sympathy for the Devil|she's really very happy.]]"

* Gaston, in Disney's ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]''. He's unable to imagine why Belle would choose the Beast over him. To him, love is just a convenient bargaining chip—or a distraction, or a function of physical beauty.

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2]]''. Instead of questioning how Po was able to grab the cannonballs and throw them back at his ships, Shen is baffled how Po was able to attain inner peace despite facing the one who murdered his birth parents and wiped out his people. For years, Shen has allowed the day his parents banished him to be the thing that drives him to getting what he wants and ignores the Soothsayer's requests that he not let his past control him. The fact that Po attained what Shen had wanted for years, inner peace, by listening to the same advice Shen ignored, completely baffles him.

* While they're more 'weird' than 'evil', this is the basic premise of ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]''. Jack understands the basic feeling behind Christmas but not how traditional Christmas icons translate into Christmas feeling. The other townsfolk don't have a clue, and merrily set to twisting Christmas toys to their own scary design because they feel this improves them.

* In ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Return of the Jedi]]'', Emperor Palpatine's arrogance and relentless self-centeredness blind him to the idea that Luke would show mercy and redeem his father instead of co-ruling the Galaxy—with someone he is destined to overthrow in due time, no less—causing his carefully-laid plans to fail. The idea that Darth Vader would turn on him, rather than watch his son be murdered, presumably never entered his mind either.

** This is foreshadowed earlier, when Vader senses Luke aboard a captured Imperial shuttle headed for Endor. Palpatine comments that he cannot sense anything - presumably because he's turned so completely to the Dark Side that he simply doesn't recognize the rest of the Force. It also explains why he wasn't more careful about provoking Vader's [[Heel Face Turn]]: he could only sense the evil side of him.

* Played 100% straight in ''[[The Matrix|The Matrix Revolutions]]'' - Neo's refusal to give up, no matter how badly he's beaten, allows him to push Smith into a [[Villainous Breakdown]] without saying a word. ''Then'' Neo {{spoiler|allows Smith to assimilate him. Smith is completely surprised that Neo would do such a thing, and is even more surprised when, his purpose fulfilled, he is wiped out of existence.}}

* Mr. Potter from [[It's a Wonderful Life]] goes through the enitre movie without picking up so much as a clue as to what makes Peter, George, or indeed any of the Bedford Falls townspeople tick. Potter's expectations that George will hand the Building and Loan over to him in exchange for a job, or that the townspeople will quickly turn against George at the first oportunity are disappointed throughout the movie. It never dawns on thim there's something about his fellowmen that he just doesn't get.

* In ''[[Superman II]]'', General Zod and Ursa assume Supes is protecting the humans because they are his pets.

* In ''[[Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time|Prince of Persia the Sands of Time]]'', while beating him up, [[Evil Uncle|Nizam]] remarks to Dastan his dislike of the King adopting the homeless boy and making him Prince.

{{quote|'''Nizam''': I never understood why my brother brought ''trash'' into our house! Enjoy the gutter, Dastan! It's where you will stay under ''my'' rule!}}

* In David Edding's ''[[The Elenium|Tamuli]]'' trilogy, it is revealed that the [[Evil Plan]] of the guy who was behind the scenes in the ''The Elenium'' trilogy went belly up when one person did something he couldn't imagine happening: she gave the [[MacGuffin]] with ultimate power to someone else instead of keeping it herself.

* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'': It is repeatedly and explicitly stated that his inability to feel anything for anyone other than himself is Voldemort's [[Fatal Flaw]].

*** Voldemort also subverts this by challenging Harry to {{spoiler|turn himself in, claiming that he will spare the other students of Hogwarts ([[What Measure Is a Non Super|or the pure-bloods, at least]]) if he does so}}. As Harry eavesdrops on Voldemort, Voldemort comments that he was honestly expecting it to work. However at the same time, Harry points out that with this move, Voldemort made ''the exact same mistake again'' as he did the night he killed his parents: {{spoiler|forgetting the power inherent in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}.

** Also in the final book, two of Voldemort's followers betray him out of love for another -- {{spoiler|Snape secretly switched sides because Voldemort killed Lily, and Narcissa Malfoy withheld key information from Voldie to protect her son}}.

** Bellatrix Lestrange did not understand that love can steer someone's determination until her fight with [[Mama Bear|Molly Weasley]].

*** She also is unable to understand why Narcissa is so upset that her son is being sent on what is essentially a suicide mission in Voldemort's name. Instead, she declares that if she had children, she'd be perfectly fine with letting them die in the service of Voldy.

** This is also essentially the theme of Lewis's ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]'', where, as the [[Villain Protagonist]] himself notes, an inherent problem demons have in their battle against God is that they fundamentally don't understand His motivation; the denizens of Hell believe that the whole concept of "love" is a cover story for something more selfish and nefarious. Hell even has a division of their research department dedicated to comprehending good. It's one of the [[Failure Is the Only Option|worse jobs to get in Hell]].

*** Further on in the book, Lewis seems to suggest that this problem is rooted in the nature of what evil is, in that evil is fundamentally incapable of creatively ''existing'' without good.

* Inverted in ''[[Good Omens]]'', with good not being able to comprehend evil. Crowley tells Aziraphale that the forces of Hell aren't going to be very kind to him when they find out that he lost the Antichrist. Aziraphale sympathizes with "I can imagine." Crowley says no, he can't, because he's an angel. Aziraphale is largely naive about things like this, hoping that the forces of Heaven won't smite the forces of hell "too badly" because Crowley, a demon, is his friend.

** It's subverted thoroughly, in that the good is not that good. Have you been to Gomorrah? I mean, after?

** Terry Brooks' ''[[Magic Kingdom of Landover|Wizard at Large]]'' has one of the protagonists inflicting exactly the same punishment on the villain—except that in the Brooks story, it works as intended, leaving the villain a guilt-stricken wreck.

* In [[S.M. Stirling]]'s ''[[Island in The Sea of Time]]'' series, the otherwise smart and highly competent villain, William Walker, is caught out whenever somebody sacrifices their life to oppose him. He can't comprehend the act, or that being utterly callous and self-serving really offends people who can see through his charm.

** The scary subversion comes later when after surviving his defeat he never fails to try to understand the motivations and capacities of others.

* [[Madeleine L'Engle]] uses the quote above in ''[[A Wrinkle in Time]]'', and it helps Meg Murry save Charles Wallace. {{spoiler|She realizes that the only thing she has which IT does not have is love. She [[Power of Love|focuses on loving her little brother so much]] that IT is driven out in a [[Care Bear Stare]] of --}} hold on, [[Sand in My Eyes|got something in my eye...]]

* In ''[[Xanth|A Spell for Chameleon]]'', Trent hands over his sword to Bink so he will be armed while he keeps watch and [[Kill Me Now or Forever Stay Your Hand|goes to sleep]]. Bink and Chameleon reason that Trent, despite the title "Evil Magician Trent", must be trustworthy because he is willing to trust them; an untrustworthy man would not have believed someone else to be trustworthy.

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' novel ''Duty Calls'', a renegade Inquisitor is quite [[Knight Templar|certain]] that Cain will appreciate why he acted as he did. Given that this included staging a massacre, abandoning innocents (including children) to an alien attack, summoning an alien attack to hide his tracks, and no less than three attempts to assassinate Cain, this does not work as expected; even a self-professed [[Dirty Coward]] like Cain is horrified.

* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts|Gaunts Ghosts]]'' novel ''Only in Death'', {{spoiler|Soric}}'s [[Evil Cripple|keepers]] from [[Fate Worse Than Death|the Black Ships]] think that he might kill Hark. (Hark, although he would not blame him if he did, knows that he is safe.)

* This is actually how the [[Big Bad]] in the first ''[[Grey Knights]]'' book is defeated. His end appearance features him giving a long [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]], stating that humanity has given up all the morals it previously held dear. He is ironically defeated by one which no daemon has ever understood: {{spoiler|willing self sacrifice. With a brilliant Interrogator giving up her life, sanity and soul in order to learn the daemon's true name so it can be banished.}}

** To rub further salt into the Doctrine's wounds, Tarkin's main attempt to employ it -- [[Kick the Dog|the tactically unnecessary]] [[Moral Event Horizon|destruction of Alderaan]]—ended up neatly shooting itself (and by extension, [[The Empire]]) in the foot by causing Palpatine's approval rating [[0% Approval Rating|to slip ever closer to zero]] and providing massive sympathy for the Rebellion.

** Almost all of the weapons created following the Tarkin Doctrine meet the same fate, to the point where its [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by Han Solo during the Yuuzan Vong war.

{{quote|''Was my tiny mind snuffed? I must have missed that part.''}}

** And then Luke was a white hole.

* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''[[Freckles]]'', the villains first try to bribe Freckles to be slack in his watch.

* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', Hawkfrost's plan to take over the Clans fails because he literally cannot understand why his brother would earn the position of Clan Leader rather than killing the current leader and taking it.

 

{{quote|'''Spock:''' It was far easier for you, as civilized men, to behave like barbarians than it was for them to behave like civilized men.}}

* [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Borg]] genuinely cannot understand why other species would rather die than join their "perfect" [[Hive Mind]]. Depending on your point of view, this may be less an example of flat-out ''evil'' and more of a [[Blue and Orange Morality]] problem: individuality is such an alien concept to the Borg that they consider it less a valid lifestyle choice and more a mess that needs cleaning up.

* The end of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' special "The Five Doctors", while the Second, Third and Fifth Doctors are trying to stop {{spoiler|Borusa}} from becoming immortal, the First Doctor helps him achieve his goal, resulting in the villain {{spoiler|turning into stone}}.

** Also, in The Daemons, when Jo Grant [[Heroic Sacrifice|throws herself in front of the Doctor]], the idea of this actually destroys Azal.

** {{spoiler|And just to prove how much [[Darker and Edgier]] ''Torchwood'' is, the 456 are largely ''right''. Most humans really ''are'' pragmatic enough that they're willing to sacrifice millions of children for their own safety (at least as long as it's not ''their'' children on the line). Even Jack ends up explicitly breaking his own "an injury to one is an injury to all" ideal when he manages to defeat the 456 - [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|by the sacrifice of a single child]].}}

** {{spoiler|In a parallel plotline, the PM seems to think that Frobisher will be able to sacrifice his own daughters. Frobisher isn't and does indeed commit his own private genocide.}}

* In one episode of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', Barney details the aftermath of his hooking up with Wendy, the waitress at [[Local Hangout|McLaren's]] (the main cast's favorite bar). It ends badly when notorious-womanizer Barney can't pick up women in McLaren's without Wendy's disapproval. Wendy eventually recognizes that their hookup and quasi-attachment was a bad idea and lets Barney have his bimbos back, but Barney continues to throw out every drink she serves him because he can't comprehend that she isn't plotting some kind of revenge.

* ''[[Lost]]'', "Everybody Loves Hugo":

** This becomes inverted when Spike says that he won't let Buffy turn herself in because he loves her. Buffy responds by savagely beating Spike, [[Rage Against the Reflection|implying that she's the evil thing]] who can't comprehend Spike's selfless actions.

** Much earlier, The Master waffles from [[Genre Savvy]] to [[Genre Blind]] with this trope. In the Pilot, The Master understands a heroic slayer well enough to know she'll risk life and limb to save Jessie, and baits his first trap for her accordingly. Twelve episodes later, the Master never pauses to consider that the Slayer herself has her own friends who will risk life and limb for her... and is blindsided accordingly.

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Saffron'''}}: Everybody plays each other. That's all anybody ever does. We play parts.

'''Mal''': You got all kinds a learnin’ and you made me look the fool without even trying, and yet here I am with a gun to your head. That’s 'cause I've got people with me, people who trust each other, who do for each other, and ain't always looking for the advantage. }}

* On ''[[Leverage]]'', the [[Big Bad]] of season 3 is this. He genuinely cannot understand why the protagonists are targeting him. He fails to realize that it might just be because he deserves it.

 

== Pro Wrestling ==

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Likewise, one ''D&D'' book provided DMs with the advice that a mind flayer sorcerer might be able to predict any action the heroes would take, but couldn't see that they'd be willing to perform almost certain suicide to prevent him because he doesn't care enough about anything to risk his life. Mind flayers, like the Vashar, are said to be unable experience any emotion more positive than a sort of satisfaction during feeding. This trait is even self-perpetuating; mind flayers don't learn emotion from each other, but from resonance stones, psionic deelies that emanate a specific emotion. Because the mind flayers building these can't feel love or joy, they can't build stones that project love or joy, and as such the next generation of hideous tentacle-faced monsters won't understand love and joy either.

* In ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'', [[The Fair Folk|the True Fae]] are utterly unable to understand human motives and rationale. This isn't just a weakness, it's a ''defining trait''—if one ''does'' start to understand a human's viewpoint, they lose most of their powers in the process, and in some cases lose their memories of their true nature outright.

** And then there's the Ebon Dragon. The Ebon Dragon is ''bastardry incarnate''. ''Everything'' it does is centered around the idea of dicking someone else over. How bad is he? He had to create [[Big Good|the Unconquered Sun]] just so he'd have a concept of what he was ''supposed'' to oppose. What's more, he's explicitly incapable of comprehending the motivations behind any kind of heroism save by dismissing it as abject insanity on the part of the hero. This doesn't prevent him from preying on the 'crazy heroes', because he doesn't need to understand their motivations in order to identify and manipulate their desires.

*** The Yozis are pretty nasty individuals and have trouble understanding that anything can operate by different rules. Their leader Malfeas has to suffer a genuine psychic fracture to understand that another being's viewpoint matters ''at all'', and all the others are similarly limited. The Ebon Dragon knows that beings can feel positive emotions, but he doesn't understand them. He ''can't'' understand them. He will assume in any given situation that people are trying to dick everyone else over, because, well, that's what he'd do. This is simply how they work.

 

 

* In ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', when Galuf's [[Berserk Button]] gets pressed and he charges Exdeath in one-on-one battle, the villain comments that "not even all the hatred in the world can destroy me!" Sure enough, Exdeath gets his ass beaten because it wasn't hate, but [[The Power of Love|something else entirely]] that made Galuf fight on ''while at zero hit points''.

** Similarly, in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', Kefka, upon gaining godhood, believed that [[Nietzsche Wannabe|living life and creating things is pointless due to the fact that they die anyways and that creation is inevitably destroyed anyways and meaning nothing in the end, as well as being baffled as to why they continue doing these]]. Terra, as well as the rest of the Returners, cite how, despite living in the crapsack state that their world is in, still celebrated the event of living, as well as love, even citing their experiences. Predictably, Kefka does not take it well, declares their references to be "sounding like pages from a self help book" in disgust and then preparing to destroy all reality.

* ''[[Mega Man Zero]]:'' Dr. Weil's many [[Hannibal Lecture]]s failed because Zero is a [[Punch Clock Hero]].

* ''[[Warcraft]]'': Completely averted with Sargeras, the creator and leader of the Burning Legion. Originally belonging to a race of god-like beings called the Titans, he and his kind traveled throughout the cosmos to bring order to worlds; they were so powerful they defeated the Old Gods, the [[Eldritch Abomination]]s of Azeroth, and created the dragons to become the world's stewards. While defeating and imprisoning the demons of the Twisting Nether, their evil caused Sargeras to question the Titans' quest for order. He was driven into depression after witnessing the chaos wrought by the demons, especially after defeating the vampiric Nathrezim, whose manipulative bastardry on various worlds affected him deeply. Eventually, he went completely off the rails with the belief that the Titans' quest for order was essentially ''wrong'', given that he saw the Universe as intrinsically chaotic and evil. The last the Titans saw him, Sargeras had freed the demons he had personally previously imprisoned, made them a part of his army, and sent his Burning Legion to bring war upon the Universe, putting into action the corruption of the Draenei and Orcs, the birth of the Lich King, and the multiple near-destruction of Azeroth itself. An example of good unable to comprehend evil taken to epic proportions.

* Similar to the Joker's "social experiment" in ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]'', ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker|Hot Coldman]]'' {{spoiler|had programmed Peace Walker's Mammal Pod to transmit the same false ballistic trajectory data that was going to trick Peace Walker into going into nuclear retaliatory launch mode to NORAD, at a time when the President and most of the Executive branch was out at Vladivostok at the time, to essentially force the military to decide whether to retaliate or not based on the data. His intention for this Sadistic Choice was to prove that humans were too weak-willed to actually retaliate, even when the enemy is going to launch, and thus make a machine to make all those decisions. However, Coldman did not anticipate that they would actually go through with doing a retaliatory strike, though going by Coldman's last words, its very likely that he probably didn't care either way, and he certainly did not count on Peace Walker actually choosing to sacrifice itself by drowning/shorting out its electronics than keep it going.}}

* Mao in ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'' has this problem. Despite his obsessive research on super hero tropes, cliches, and plot devices, he just doesn't get stuff like love and courage. He knows they exist, but can't make heads or tails of them.

* This was ultimately {{spoiler|Ghetsis'}} downfall in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]''. {{spoiler|His own dialog shows he personally believed everyone saw Pokemon as tools, just as he did. Because of this, he allows his son N to encounter Pokemon that had a truly caring relationship with their trainers, planting seeds of doubt in his mind about Team Plasma's ideals. He also underestimates that the Player's friendship with N would have any effect, underestimating the [[Power of Friendship]] and the effect it'd have on N. Because of this, N decides to have a final battle with the Player to decide whose beliefs are correct, which he loses, causing Ghetsis' "perfect plan" to crumble. His own evil also blinds him to the fact that the player is pure of heart enough to summon the other legendary dragon to challenge N's legendary dragon, something the pure of heart N saw early on. After N is defeated, Ghetsis is left completely unable to understand how it happened, ranting about how his "perfect plan" [[This Cannot Be!|can't have failed]] and [[Villainous Breakdown|going completely insane]] trying to comprehend how it happened.}}

** Previously, in ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum]]'', Cyrus's utter conviction that [[Omnicidal Maniac|the nature of human spirit is what is wrong with the universe]] leaves him utterly ''dumbfounded'' that you would stop him from [[End of the World Special|destroying reality to start over]].

* ''[[Fear Effect]]'': Yim Lau Wong (The King of Hell) turns out to have no concept of human decency. If you make the choice to not have Hana and Glas shoot each other, The King of Hell will fly into a rage and say "Mei Yun, you have come too far to ''disappoint'' me!"

* In a recorded interview you can find in ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'', Riddler insists that Batman has to be a supercriminal who robs other criminals and bribes the police to not stop him, categorically refusing to believe that anyone could put their life on the line against Gotham's criminal underworld every night for no reward.

 

== Web Comics ==

* A rather bizzarer subversion occurs in ''[[Goblins]]''. When Kore, a [[Knight Templar]] [[Complete Monster|Extraordinare]] chases a group of goblins and takes one of them prisoner, he proceeds to torture him, (correctly) expecting the others to hear the screams and try and save their comrade. However, judging from his uncompromising approach to "evil" races, you'd think he'd consider such "irredeemably corrupt and wicked beasts" as goblins to be incapable of selflessness and comradeship.

* In ''[[Sinfest]]''. See image.

 

== Web Original ==

* In [http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2009/09/10/vampires-crosses/ this] blog post, Fred Clark theorizes that this is the reason vampires fear crosses.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': The resident [[Magnificent Bastard]], [[Manipulative Bastard|"people person"]], and [[The Chessmaster|chessmaster]] Azula finds herself [[Villainous Breakdown|completely bewildered]] when {{spoiler|her [[Sidekick]] Mai risks her life to help the [[Turncoat]] Zuko escape [[The Alcatraz]]}}.

** This moment of her inability to comprehend that love can trump self-preservation and loyalty born of intimidation has limits, flying in the face of her philosophy that "fear is the only reliable way" to control people, is actually the first step down the road towards her epic [[Villainous Breakdown]]. However, because she's [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]], she's at least able to learn from this mistake and apply it to her strategy in the [[Grand Finale]] (while she was in the middle of said breakdown no less).

** [[Big Bad|Firelord]] [[Complete Monster|Ozai]] cannot fathom why {{spoiler|Aang spares him at the end of their fight.}}

'''Yumi:''' Absolutely none.

'''XANA:''' But it's not logical! Don't you see? He's much too scared to even try... I--''I'm'' much too scared! If not, then why haven't I already done it?

'''XANA:''' No, it's not logical! NOOO! ''[[Logic Bomb|NOT! LOGICAL!]] [[Nightmare Fuel|NOT! LOGICAL!]]'' }}

* In the ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode "[[For the Man Who Has Everything]]" (based on a story from the comics), Mongul imagines that Superman's greatest desire being shown to him by the [[Lotus Eater Machine|Black Mercy]] is of him ruling the galaxy. Instead, he's living peacefully on a farm on Krypton, married to a woman who resembles both Lana and Lois, and has a son.

** This is actually a departure from the original comic version, in which Mongul ''does'' imagine Superman is living a happy "normal" life in his dream world, and is spot on. Then again, the comic version's world [[It Got Worse|got worse]] ''very'' quickly.

** Batman does get the joke. The Joker just can never understand that [[Iron Woobie|a young Bruce Wayne]] was not amused and [[Determinator|wrote his own material]] as a [[Rage Against the Heavens|comeback]].

{{quote|'''Joker:''' It's all a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for... it's all a monstrous, demented gag! So why can't you see the funny side? ''Why aren't you laughing?''

'''Batman:''' Because [[Death by Origin Story|I've heard it before]]... and it wasn't funny the ''first'' time. }}

** Ra's al Ghul doesn't understand why Batman is horrified by [[Utopia Justifies the Means|Ra's plan to bring about Utopia by murdering lots of people]].

{{quote|'''Batman:''' [[Not So Different|There]] ''[[Subverted Trope|is]]'' [[Not So Different|a difference between you and me.]] [[Despair Event Horizon|We both looked into the abyss; but when it looked back to us...]] ''[[Fallen Hero|you blinked]]''.}}

* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' both subverts and plays this straight with the relationship between [[Trope Namer|David Xanatos]] and [[Dark Action Girl|Fox]]. Though there are signs of their affection as early as Season 2's "Leader of the Pack", Xanatos doesn't initially believe their attraction and compatibility could actually be called love because "two people such as ourselves are [not fully] capable of that emotion."... until "Eye of the Beholder" has him going through [[Xanatos Speed Chess|plan after plan]] to get the woman he loves back after she has [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|a bad experience with the Eye of Odin.]]

** On the other hand, it shows to the viewer that yes, coming clean sooner is good for you; it's just that this time the wrong person came clean for the wrong reasons.

** The ''Coon and Friends'' trilogy showed that Cartman is so incapable of comprehending goodness, that he actually thinks being a selfish egomaniac is good (and the debate with the [[Ayn Rand]] Foundation begins...).

'''The Coon:''' Yeah, so? What's the difference? }}

** ''Possibly'' subverted in "How to Eat With Your Butt". Cartman loses his ability to laugh after seeing the Thompsons, people with a condition that makes their faces resemble buttocks. The other boys claim this is because he feels genuinely sorry for them because they lost their son, but Cartman insists the sight was so funny he merely "blew a funny fuse". When their son ([[Ben Affleck]]) is reunited with them, the sight of them "kissing" him causes him to laugh again. He says it is so hilarious that it fixed him, but again the others tell him it's because he is happy they are back together. The subversion depends on whether or not he really felt sympathy for them (and was merely unable to comprehend ''why''), or he didn't (and couldn't understand why he ''should'').

** A better example would be when, in a parody of ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (animation)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'' he cuts the power to the town during a strike, and is shocked that the union doesn't break. The re-cy-ling example is about how behind the times he is, because it even shows him going through his mental dictionary trying to find the word.

** The aforementioned "recycling" episode has an example too; after learning about recycling from Lisa, Mr. Burns takes it to its extreme by recycling living sea creatures into a multipurpose slurry. He doesn't understand why Lisa is horrified by this, since, as he sees it, he is giving people what they need without wasting a single sea creature.

** An even better example are the Yugopotamians, a race of aliens who find any form of love or compassion absolutely terrifying and to whom hugs, chocolate, and fuzzy toys are a health hazard.

* In an episode of ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]'' where He-Man and Skeletor are forced into an [[Enemy Mine]] situation in order to save Eternia, Skeletor tries in vain to comprehend doing something good for a change. He asks He-Man "Don't you ever feel like doing something evil?" He-Man answers "Don't you ever feel like doing something good?"

* This shows up occasionally in ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]''. For example:

'''Boris''': [[It Makes Sense in Context|Bush was disguised as old man.]] Did I know they would help old man into lifeboat? I wouldn't! }}

* [[Kevin Spencer]], being an emotionless, violent sociopath, is completely caught off-guard when anyone shows him a form of kindness (such as a man giving him money when he finds out Kevin was a runaway.) Kevin's eventual response to these situations is to violently attack the person, or just steal their money. [[Even Evil Has Standards|Allan himself is surprised by this,]] [[Curiosity Causes Conversion|and mused that the kindness of others could put his faith back in humanity.]]

* General Zhal from ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' is left completely stunned after {{spoiler|he kills the [[Doom Patrol]] and the entire world chants "We are the Doom Patrol", showing that instead of making everyone see them as frauds, they see them as bigger heroes than before. Zhal is unable to even react to being arrested out of shock because he can't understand how a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] increases people's faith in the sacrificer.}}

** {{spoiler|Queen Chrysalis}}, the [[Big Bad]] of the second [[Season Finale]], also has this problem. {{spoiler|She's a sadistic, [[Shapeshifting]], [[Horny Devils|succubus-like]] [[Hive Queen]] who stole Princess Cadence's identity to feed off the [[The Power of Love|love]] her husband to be had for her. In the end, she doesn't once think that this same power could be turned against her. To her, it was just food and she didn't truly understand it's true power.}}

* In the Christian-based cartoon ''[[God Rocks]]'' a robot kept on trying to ruin the God Rocks concert to raise money for a good cause, and he didn't understand that even after he stole their instruments they still desired to play.

* From [[The Boondocks]], "What's good nigga? What's really good?!

* In one episode of the ''Battletech'' animated series, Mechwarrior Ciro forces a jumpship captain at gunpoint to record a message to Adam Steiner, saying that he knows where Adam's missing-in-action brother is, in an effort to lure Adam into a trap. [[Big Bad|Nicolai Malthus]] asks why Adam would respond to such a message, and Ciro replies that Adam would do anything to help his brother. It's a reaction Malthus finds impossible to understand.

 

== Real Life ==

 

* When President Nixon resigned because of the Watergate Scandal, the Soviet Union literally could not believe it. A Soviet ambassador at the time, Anatoly Dobrynin, said, "How could the most powerful person in the United States, the most important person in the world, be legally forced to step down for stealing some silly documents! It was so contrary to the mentality of the Soviet leaders that a person in such a senior position could be removed by ''legal'' means. They simply couldn't understand it." They figured Nixon must have been ''deposed'' in some way, because of his Reapproachment policies.

** The Soviets tended to be nonplussed by [[Jimmy Carter]]'s emphasis on human rights, to the point of some of their leaders not being able to comprehend what they actually were—which sounds like a ridiculous fantasy-world exaggeration, but is apparently true.

* Often, people with the real-life [[Lack of Empathy]] have immense trouble understanding the people around them. They can be very good at [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulating them regardless]], but they can never truly comprehend it which sometimes comes back to bite them. It's sometimes described as knowledge without understanding.

* Civic Duty. Some citizens will assist the police in capturing criminals by telling what they saw, identifying suspects, and making themselves available as witnesses. This behavior baffles the "don't snitch" types.

* When Diane Sawyer called him out on his human rights abuses, Saddam Hussein replied, "Well what happens to people in your country when they criticize the President?" To which Diane Sawyer replied incredulously, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"They get TV shows!"]]

{{quote|''But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another, for themselves are animated by [[Enemy Mine|mutual hatred]]; how they are ready even to [[Take Me Instead!|die for one another]], for they themselves will [[Sacrificial Lamb|sooner put to death.]] (Apologia 39)''}}

* [[The Sociopath|Sociopaths.]] While not necessarily evil (they can even be [[Sociopathic Hero|"good"]]), they aren't capable of truly understanding empathy.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Villain Ball]]

[[Category:Goodness Tropes]]

[[Category:Obviously Evil]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]