Fearless Fool: Difference between revisions

[[File:fearlessfool_8257fearlessfool 8257.jpg|link=Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|frame|Of course he can win! [[Catch Phrase|Who the hell do you think he is?!]]]]

This, however, is invoked far more often than it is presented straight. More often, fear is presented as the wise and prudent reaction to danger (courage is the ability to act despite your fear), making the fearless person -- ifperson—if he exists -- [[Idiot Hero|a fool]]. Sometimes, [[Fear Is the Appropriate Response]]. It is the mark of a [[Naive Newcomer]] to think that his fear means he's a [[Dirty Coward]]; a character who cannot seem to learn it, no matter how bravely he acts or the greatness of the dangers he has faced, is the [[Cowardly Lion]]. In these situations, the [['''Fearless Fool]]''' is either [[The Fool|protected by dumb luck]] or [[Too Dumb to Live]].

It can also be used by the character treating the injuries in the [[After-Action Patchup]] -- to—to berate the hero for his stupidity in getting into trouble in the first place.

* ''[[One Piece]]'': The hero Monkey D. Luffy is pretty much the embodiment of this trope. He charges headlong into dangers great or small without once thinking of his own wellbeing. This includes leading a small army in a siege against the World Government stronghold Enies Lobby, {{spoiler|punching out a World Noble, who are treated as walking Gods, engaged in a battle in the [[Alcatraz]] known as Impel Down, headed to the Marine Headquarters with a large group of dangerous convicts to fight the entire Navy!}}<br /><br />One of the only things Luffy is shown to be scared of is ''his own grandfather'' {{spoiler|Marine Vice-Admiral Garp}}, due to the fact that he was raised by him in near-constant [[Training From Hell]] and [[Megaton Punch|Punches of Love.]]

** An early ''Tales of the Green Lantern Corps'' story features a search for a Green Lantern candidate on a [[Planet of Hats|planet full of cowards]]. One was eventually found--infound—in an insane asylum.

* Young Simba in ''[[The Lion King]]'' gets a speech to this effect when he goes into the elephant graveyard to prove how fearless he is only to be accosted and nearly eaten by hyenas. [[Star Wars|Darth V...]] -- I—I mean, Mufasa explains that being brave doesn't mean he doesn't have fears, only that he overcomes them, and this becomes a running theme for the film.

* Done unintentionally in most [[James Byron Huggins]] novels. Even though most of his protagonists are [[Badass Normal|Badass Normals]]s, when your opponents are ancient Egyptian undead sorcerors, giant shape-shifting Nephilim, prehistoric Hulks, a genetically-engineered dragon, and Satan himself, for them fear is never the appropriate response, and every time, they win against these threats, but the first two acts they don't react with fear.

* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld/Wintersmith|Wintersmith]]'', Granny tells the Nac Mac Feegle that they need [[The Hero]] to go to the underworld, because they themselves would not be afraid of doing it, and [[The Hero]] needs to be -- sobe—so she sends them after the Baron's son Roland, who would be afraid.

* In [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]'', when Lucy agrees to go into a magician's tower for invisible beings who are threatening to massacre them, and the boys [[More Hero Than Thou|can't dissuade her]], the boys appeal to Reepicheep, confident that he will tell her not to do it in order to save them. Reepicheep, however, does not play the [[Fearless Fool]]: he observes they have no hope of saving her, and that she is not being asked to do anything dishonorable, so he will not speak against it. The boys are rather embarrassed.

* The ogres of ''[[Xanth]]'' are famous for being too stupid to fear anything. But this is played with--itwith—it combines with their great strength to ensure that every living creature smarter than them (and that's everyone, including a number of plants) fears ''them''. Even dragons know they can't match the sheer power-to-weight ratio of an ogre and that an ogre wouldn't be afraid of coming after them, and avoid picking fights.

* In [[James Swallow]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' [[Blood Angels]] novel ''Deus Encarmine'', after an attack that drove many Blood Angels into the black rage -- [[Unstoppable Rage]] -- that—that resulted into their horrible deaths, Arkio accuses veteran Blood Angels of being afraid. They counter that they had all seen those deaths and are horrified and, yes, afraid. Sachiel claims that dying for the Emperor ought to negate that, but Arkio concedes that they would not be human if they did not feel as they did -- anddid—and weeps [[Manly Tears]] over the deaths -- beforedeaths—before urging them to fight anew.

* An early episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' explicitly references the trope, even though it doesn't show an example of the character in that episode. [[Creator's Pet|Wesley]] is worrying about the final test for his Starfleet Academy entrance exam: a psychological test designed specifically to stoke their fears and test how they face them. Worf helps him, much to Wesley's surprise--hesurprise—he saw Worf as the bravest man on ''Enterprise'', and thought that meant he had no fear. Worf's response seems to echo the trope name quote: "Only fools have no fear." He then explains that even Klingons, known as a "fearless" warrior race, know fear, but only those who overcome it ever go on to greatness.

* Alan Davies on ''[[QI]]'', whose job is to leap in with the obvious answers where a wiser panelist might hesitate. Has been working in his favor lately, as the panelists have started to assume the obvious answer will be incorrect and go to great lengths to avoid giving it -- whenit—when it was correct all along, giving Alan easy points.

** "And they shall know no fear" -- except—except that that would indeed make [[Space Marines]] fools. So often enough in the fluff, a character will admit that they do know fear, they just don't let it rule them.

* ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]'': The Boy. (Since he's The Boy Who Set Out To Learn What Fear Was, and [[The Fool]] -- what—what a surprise.)

* Used in an episode of ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|The New Batman Adventures]]'': [[Nightmare Fuel|The Scarecrow]] creates a toxin that ''removes'' Batman's fears and inhibitions, making him much more reckless than usual--andusual—and it doesn't stop there. The writers are savvy enough to even make him more heartless, as he doesn't fear what his own reaction will be if, say, Robin gets killed or if he breaks his one rule and murders a criminal. Scarecrow is making a point that fear is ''necessary'', not just useful, and then in his usual mad fashion extends that to mean that ''he'' is necessary to have around.

* ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'': Paco lampshades this as applied to the [[Green Lantern|Green Lanterns]]s, saying that "a man without fear has a ''serious mental condition''."