Lawful Stupid: Difference between revisions

[[File:v066-ezahnnE_628.jpg|link=The Unspeakable Vault of Doom (Webcomic)|frame|At least music piracy is down.]]

{{quote| '''''"[[Who Dares|How dare you]] [[All Crimes Are Equal|break the traffic laws!]] [[Disproportionate Retribution|Taste steel, fiend!]]"''''''}}

Woe be to the fellow party member who fails to live up to their almost obsessive-compulsive standards. If the thief so much as jaywalks, Mr. Lawful Stupid will insist on turning him in to the "proper authorities" (regardless of what alignment said authorities actually are), or perhaps [[Disproportionate Retribution|even execute him on the spot]]. Then he'll berate the other members of his party for "condoning" the thief's behavior, and may turn on them as well. This makes this guy highly irritating as well as stupid for turning in his only allies, to the point where despite usually calling themselves [[Lawful Good]], they look a lot like [[Lawful Evil]], or at ''best'' [[Lawful Neutral]]. [[Irony|Or maybe]] [[Chaotic Neutral]]. For newbie DMs, the best solution is usually [[Tap On the Head|a blunt force object applied to the head of the offending character -- if not the player]].

In fact, it's ''so'' common that the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' [[Sourcebook]] ''Book of Exalted Deeds'' spends a good number of pages explaining how to be [[Lawful Good]] ''without'' being a total dimwit. [[Writer Revolt|The creators themselves got sick of it]].

* Post-[[Time Skip]] Rossiu from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Anime)|Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' becomes a little bit too zealous in his task of upholding the newly created law, much to the ''very great'' annoyance of [[Chaotic Good]] Simon. For example, he believes the Grappal are far more advanced than the Gurren Lagann and keeps telling Simon that he must rely on his [[Redshirt Army]] instead of fighting himself, even though, this being a [[Super Robot]] show, it's bleeding obvious that Simon's Gurren Lagann is the most powerful mecha in the world.

* Emily Sevensheep from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima (Manga)|Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is not open to discussion with unarmed [[Wrongly Accused|wanted criminals]]. It takes both Negi stripping her <s>of her weapons</s> ''and'' her boss telepathically contacting her for her to agree to discuss... for a time.

* ''[[Bleach (Manga)|Bleach]]'': Subverted with Byakuya. At first he appears to be an example of this trope, willing to kill even his own sister just because the law says so. Then it's revealed that he was once so rebellious and caused his family so much chaos and embarrassment because of it, that he felt forced to make a vow to uphold the law no matter what. Unfortunately for him, his sister being sentenced to execution fell into the "no matter what" category. As soon as Ichigo helps him resolve that vow, he starts reverting (slightly, not completely) to his older personality and combines upholding the law with [[Loophole Abuse|bending it]] if good needs to prevail over law. In other words, he now upholds the spirit rather than the letter which makes him much more flexible on which law/order he does and does not follow.

* In ''[[Claymore (Manga)|Claymore]]'', Priscilla was pretty much this in spades prior to {{spoiler|her Awakening}}.

* Parodied in ''[[Excel Saga (Anime)|Excel Saga]]'', when the Daitenzin decide to perform as many acts of justice as possible, however insignificant, so they can take off their suits. They end up fighting litterers, extortioners, and other petty criminals with the full force of [[Sentai]] heroes.

* The [[One Piece (Manga)|World Government]] is ruled by a bunch of arrogant nobles who are not only perfectly willing to ignore a prison breakout that freed more than one hundred highly dangerous criminals back into the world, they are willing to cover it up as though it never happened. While focusing nearly the entirty of their forces into one single place to ensure the end of the bloodline of a decades dead pirate.

* This pretty much defines Suzaku Kururugi of ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]'', who believes upholding the law is a better path towards change than revolution, even though said laws apply to a Darwinist government that would sooner keel over than give its so-called Numbers equal rights. Until, of course, {{spoiler|his [[The Atoner|dark past]] and [[Death Seeker|secret motive]] are revealed}}, and he more appropriately falls under [[Selfish Good, Selfish Evil|Lawful Selfish]].

* The X-LAWS from ''[[Shaman King (Manga)|Shaman King]]'' are all this. A group that vows to wipe out Hao and his allies. Okay, the only problem is that [[Holier Than Thou|if you are not on their side your automatically considered an enemy]]. They refuse to work with others outside their group and tend to look down on anyone not in their team (mostly Marco carries this attitude). [[Hypocrite The|X-LAWS says they do this to rid evil from the world and stop the killing.]] It is not as bad in the manga, but in the anime they take it to the extreme. Way to go ruining your chances helping other people stop the [[Big Bad]].

* Emiri Kimidori from ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya (Light Novel)|Haruhi Suzumiya]]''.

* The 3rd-year Pandoras in ''[[Freezing (Manga)|Freezing]]'' after Satellizer unleashes a brutal [[Curb Stomp Battle]] on one of their peers. They try to justify their persecution of her in that the Pandoras are humanity's best line of defense against the monstrous, alien Novas, and that in battle, unit cohesion and the chain of command have to be maintained. What makes this truly stupid, though, is that none of them seem to care that the 3rd-year that Satellizer beat up had forcefully disrobed her and taken pictures of it, and was ready to have her male assistants ''rape'' Satellizer.

* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Ratman (Manga)|Ratman]]''. The main character is tricked into signing a contract to act as an evil organization's super-villain, and never thinks that since the signature was made under false pretenses, its invalid. Not to mention just ignoring it even if it were legal. Thankfully, Jackal isn't really all that evil, so its not so bad.

* The Guardians of the Universe in ''[[Green Lantern (Franchise)|Green Lantern]]''. Especially evident in the build-up to ''[[Blackest Night (Comic Book)|Blackest Night]]''.

* Despite himself being a criminal, [[The Punisher (Comic Book)|The Punisher]] is sometimes depicted as willing to kill anyone who breaks any law for any reason, even if the "criminal" is non-violent, begging for mercy, and just helped the Punisher. In one instance, he discovered that someone who had been his ally throughout the issue was a retired thief, and, as a sign of gratitude for his help, [[Mercy Lead|gave him a head start]]. This is [[Depending On the Writer]], as older writers often showed him willing to let a criminal go if they gave him a reason.

* [[The Spectre (Comic Book)|The Spectre]] falls under this trope from time to time, mostly because he is vengeance personified and thus prone to being tricked. Given his power, this is a ''very'' bad thing.

* Sam from ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police (Comic Book)|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' is this, [[Rule of Funny|for]] [[Comedic Sociopathy|laughs]]. He genuinely loves justice, but his ways of achieving justice are batshit insane and mostly an excuse to charge around, shooting at things.

* From the ''[[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 40000]]'' comic Titan:

* Colonel "Bat" Guano of ''[[Dr. Strangelove (Film)|Dr. Strangelove]]'' tries to stop Group Captain Mandrake from robbing a vending machine to get money for a pay phone. Given that Mandrake is trying to call Washington with the recall codes to stop the impending ''nuclear holocaust'', Guano's attitude isn't really the most sensible. He does give in, but with the stern warning that Mandrake "will have to answer to the Coca-Cola Company."

* [[RoboCop (Film)|Robocop]] is subjected to this in the second movie, in a deliberate bid by the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|evil corporation]] to make him so useless that they can justify scrapping him. They decide to make him a [[Political Correctness Gone Mad|more positive social role model]] by giving him over three hundred new Directives that he's forced to obey, including "Pool opinions before expressing yourself," "Discourage feelings of negativity and hostility," and "Don't run through puddles and splash other pedestrians." Robocop realizes that this is impairing his ability to uphold the core three Directives and enforce the law to his best capacity and purposely electrocutes himself to short out the Lawful Stupid programming, something the bad guys didn't expect.

* In ''[[Erik the Viking (Film)|Erik the Viking]],'' the title-character lands on the mystical island of Hybrasil, where even a single ''drop'' of spilled blood will cause the entire island to sink. This results in their being completely nice and non-critical to each other in any way, in order to avoid any chance of an argument which could escalate into any accident. This is taken even to the point that their music is nothing but loud, chaotic noise and clanging-sounds, since no one will dare find any fault with it. Then, even when a drop of blood ''is'' finally spilled and the island begins to sink, no one will believe a word of it, but simply denies that it's happening, and they all go down with the island.

* The Jedi in the (prequel) ''[[Star Wars (Franchise)|Star Wars]]'' films.

* CLU in ''[[Tron Legacy (Film)|Tron Legacy]]''. He's given the unfortunately-worded directive to "create the perfect system", which, being a computer program, he takes literally, destroying everything in The Grid that isn't perfect, and then planning to go into the outer world (the "real" world) to continue doing.

* The titular Inspector in ''[[Inspector Gadget (Film)|Inspector Gadget]]'' ''2''. At the beginning of the movie crime is so far down in the city he's busting old ladies for going marginally over the speed limit.

* Zeus from the 2011 ''[[Immortals (Film)|Immortals]]''. Even though [[Complete Monster|Hype]][[Evil Overlord|rion]] is going around slaughtering innocent villages and destroying temples, Zeus still forbids the Greek Gods from interfering on pain of death and even kills [[War God|Ares]] for pulling a [[Big Damn Heroes]] to save Theseus. He {{spoiler|finally does get personally involved, but only because Hyperion had already unleashed the Titans and the Greek Gods get slaughtered/critically wounded in the ensuing melee.}}

* Detective Jim Lipton, from ''[[Dead Silence (Film)|Dead Silence]]''. He is legitimately convinced that Jamie Ashen killed his wife based solely on the fact that Ashen gave her flowers prior to her death (it was their anniversary). He ignores the one real piece of evidence, ignores common sense, and actively breaks the law for the sole purpose of harassing an acquitted man, going so far as to attempt to arrest Ashen without cause and threaten him with a shotgun- again, without cause or provocation.

* Society as a whole (or at least the prettified version above ground) has been deliberately transformed into a utopia of Lawful Stupidity in ''[[Demolition Man (Film)|Demolition Man]]''.

* ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'': With the exception of Sgt. Al Powell, every LAPD officer, as well as FBI special agents Johnson and Johnson (no relation), is unhelpful to John McClane in his efforts to stop Hans Gruber, who takes complete advantage of their stupidity.

* Eddard Stark from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire (Literature)|A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' is bound by an inflexible code of honor. His flaw wasn't his code of honor, but his belief that other people are better or more honest than they actually are and that they can be shamed into doing the right thing; he's willing to do the right thing, no matter how hard that may actually be.

* In Robert Jordan's ''[[The Wheel of Time (Literature)|The Wheel of Time]]'', [[The Messiah|Rand al'Thor]] -- and pretty much every other male good guy -- has a completely pointless code of honour about [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl|not harming a woman]], no matter how evil. Which is nonsensical, since every single chapter of the series shows that the women of that world neither [[Action Girl|need]] nor [[Jerkass|deserve]] protection. This even extends to when a woman is trying to kill him....

* Eve Forward's ''[[Villains By Necessity]]'' has the [[Balance Between Good and Evil]] central to its plot -- if it's not maintained, the world will be sublimated into either a big light blur or a big dark blur with a possible domino effect for other worlds -- but supports this mostly by populating the side of Good with Lawful Stupid [[Knight Templar|Knights Templar]], with some Stupid Good lackeys for variety. This has the unfortunate effect of undermining the premise, since the "good" antagonists really aren't particularly good people, and the "evil" protagonists mostly aren't particularly evil either. Notably, one such Stupid Good lackey, the centaur bard Robin, eventually clues in and performs a [[Heel Face Turn]] to side with the "evil" protagonists, and the [[Black Knight]] called Blackmail turns out to be a legendary [[Knight in Shining Armor|paladin]] who has sided with the protagonists for the sake of saving the world and in disgust at his former [[True Companions]]' Lawful Stupid behavior.

* In some of the spinoff-[[Halo (Franchise)|Halo]] books, there is a small faction of [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|The Covenant]] called The Governors of Contrition. While the normal Covenant place a large emphasis on the works of the [[Precursors|Forerunners]] being holy, the Governors of Contrition take it to a huge extreme. They even consider [[The Virus|The Flood]] (a plague that turns people into space-zombies) to be worth embracing because it was created by the forerunners (which it wasn't). Even the normally ridiculously dogmatic Covenant realize this is madness.

* Arguably, Percy Weasley in ''[[Harry Potter (Literature)|Harry Potter]]'', especially in the fifth and sixth books. Hermione also does this at times, particularly in the early books; for the most part she grew out of it by book 5 at the latest. Also, save for a few key members, the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot (the magical court system) are pretty much entire governing bodies of Lawful Stupid, especially under the Cornelius Fudge administration.

* [[Victor Hugo (Creator)|Victor Hugo]]'s ''[[Les Misérables (Literature)|Les Misérables]]'' has [[Inspector Javert]], who is [[Lawful Stupid]] in that he holds the law so far above any common sense and morality that he chose to commit suicide instead of acknowledging that the hero, despite being a fugitive, was a good guy.

* Cao Cao in the ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Literature)|Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' and ''Three Kingdoms'' period? Arguably; either he is [[Lawful Stupid]], a [[Villain With Good Publicity|real master of PR]], or simply [[Magnificent Bastard|awesome]]. In one instance, his troops are marching through wheat fields when Cao orders the men not trample the wheat, or they will be beheaded. Doing so, he wins the peasants' affections, since the peasants would like to eventually eat. Unfortunately, Cao's horse bolts and tramples some of the wheat in a panic. The law [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|technically doesn't apply to Cao Cao]]. Accounts vary, but in one version Cao either goes to take his own life or orders himself executed. His men intervene and stop him, and Cao Cao instead cuts his hair in disgrace and shows it to the army. Either Cao Cao proved uncharacteristically [[Lawful Stupid]] at that moment, or he [[The Chessmaster|knew his men would spare him.]] Regardless, knowing their boss was quite willing to suffer such harsh discipline himself raised his men's moral and discipline greatly. [[Lawful Stupid]] or brilliant: could go either way.

* In the ''[[Codex Alera (Literature)|Codex Alera]]'' novels, the [[Wolf Man|Canim]] are bound by a strict set of laws, known as the "codes" that they ''must'' follow. The Canim, being savvy as to just how much those with less integrity would be willing to abuse the law, established a specialist caste known as "hunters" - spies and assassins whose purpose is to allow their lords to follow the ''spirit'' of the codes when someone else abuses the ''letter'' of the codes - allowing them to avoid falling victim to being [[Lawful Stupid]].

* An ''[[Eberron (Tabletop Game)|Eberron]]'' novel<ref>Possibly the book "[http://otter.covblogs.com/archives/025581.html Bound by Iron]" but not 100% sure</ref> averts this: The main character is a paladin, who is traveling with a prostitute. While she never stops belittling his beliefs, he keeps giving her calm and rational arguments as to why selling her body may be a bad idea in the long run. At the end of the book, the paladin and his warforged companion confront the employer who double-crossed them. The employer is unarmed, with no guards around, and happily turns his back on them, since he knows no paladin would ever kill a defenseless man in cold blood. The pair leave. As they exit the compound...

* Hollyleaf of ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'' was turning into this before her {{spoiler|death, or disappearence, according to some.}}

* Eragon for the ''[[Inheritance Cycle (Literature)|Inheritance Cycle]]'' could fall under this for his treatment of Sloan. The butcher betrays his village to some minions in hopes of freedom for himself and his daughter, only to be betrayed and subsequently held hostage and tortured for several months. After Eragon "rescues" him, he decides to punish the man further by preventing him from ever seeing his daughter again. Ignoring that she is all he lives for and gave up everything. It is a [[Fate Worse Than Death]].

* Aversion: The [[Discworld (Literature)|Ankh-Morpork City Watch]]. There's even an image macro lying around on the internet somewhere of one of Paul Kidby's illustrations of Sam Vimes, with the caption "This is how you play Lawful Good you bastards".

** However Carrot is like this in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Guards Guards|Guards Guards]]''. He arrests people for disobeying laws which haven't been enforced in centuries and tries to ''arrest the Patrician''. He gets better though.

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels (Creator)|Fern Michaels]]: Prosecutor Jack Emery certainly came off as this early on, but he dropped it by the book ''The Jury''. Reporter Ted Robinson managed to hit a higher level of this than Jack did, and he didn't drop it until either the book ''Collateral Damage'' or ''Final Justice''. FBI Agent Erin Powell AKA Honey Sweet was certainly this in ''Collateral Damage''.

* The Ancients, infamous [[Neglectful Precursors]] from ''[[Stargate SG-1 (TV)|Stargate SG-1]]'', would rather let the galaxy be conquered by [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] (who would then promptly turn on ''them'') or have all life eradicated by replicating killer robots, than violate their [[Obstructive Code of Conduct]] of non-intervention. They are also very fond of their [[Disproportionate Retribution]], such as wiping out ''an entire planet full of people'' because their leaders were using a weapon a renegade Ancient gave them for conquest or letting [[Big Bad|Anubis]] keep his Ascended knowledge and use it to terrorize the galaxy as some kind of twisted punishment for Oma Desala.

* Kathryn Janeway of ''[[Star Trek Voyager (TV)|Star Trek Voyager]]'' has occasionally been Lawful Stupid. Several times she has refused to take an opportunity to get the ship home because it would require going against the "values" of the Federation. This isn't always a bad thing, mind -- the Federation was envisioned as a near-idealistic society, so it would have some values worth keeping to -- but it grated on some viewers after a while. And, of course, if she ''had'', [[Status Quo Is God|the show would have been over]]. Was [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in an episode, where a holographic simulation shows the Maquis taking over ''Voyager'', because of their frustration over Janeway's Lawful Stupid tendencies. In "Madame Captain's" defense, though, the [[Alien Non-Interference Clause|Prime Directive]] seemed to ''require'' [[Lawful Stupid|Lawful Stupidity]] of Starfleet officers.

** ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation (TV)|The Next Generation]]'' was not immune to [[Lawful Stupid|Lawful Stupidity]]. For example, Picard and Worf regard violating the Prime Directive (or using subterfuge to intervene without violating it) worse than letting a species go extinct when their planet is about to blow up. See the episode involving Worf's human adoptive brother.

** ''[[Star Trek Enterprise (TV)|Enterprise]]'' manages to one-up the above examples, as they doom a whole sapient species to death by genetic defect, despite having already developed the cure (they just decide not to distribute it). They do this because Archer envisions that there will be some directive against it in the future.

* Peter Petrelli ("[[Big Bad|Adam]] [[Genre Blindness|is my friend.]] [[What an Idiot!|I can't let you hurt him."]]) of ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]''.

* Earl from ''[[My Name Is Earl (TV)|My Name Is Earl]]'' can fall into this with regards to his list. One memorable example was when he learned that his winning lottery ticket from the first episode that funds his list would have been bought by someone else. He promptly gives the other man all of his and Randy's savings, leaving them destitute. Then he promises to give the man even more until they're even, even though the man and Randy both think he's given enough. When he sells his car for cash to survive on, he even wants to give the man that money! {{spoiler|The man has to reveal that he doesn't deserve the money and insist that karma wants Earl to have it before the status quo is restored.}}

** The Judoon (rhino space police basically) are described by the Doctor as logical but stupid. They follow the law closely, but tend to overreact, and wouldn't think of checking the same floor twice. Physical assault is punished with death with no chance of trial. They have also threatened to kill someone for playing music too loudly in ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures (TV)|The Sarah Jane Adventures]]''. This is, of course, [[Played for Laughs]].

* Dwight Schrute of ''[[The Office (TV)|The Office]]''. He tends to be as extreme about this as you can get away with in an office environment taking even the slightest vestments of authority way too seriously and reporting minor infractions. This in turn is what makes it so satisfying to see Jim go all [[Bugs Bunny]] on him.

* In one episode of ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'' there was a [[Mirror Universe|"good" and a "bad" universe.]] However, due to some events even the most minor of infringements of law or courtesy would lead to a horrible punishment in the one [[Lawful Stupid|supposed to be good.]]

* While the antagonists in ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' run the gamut, Agent Dobson from the pilot takes the cake. Throughout the episode he claims the moral high ground; that the crew's crimes won't go unpunished...even after shooting an unarmed woman, trying to make a backdoor deal with a criminal, bludgeoning a priest who was trying to help him, and holding a mentally unstable girl at gunpoint as a hostage. Not to mention [[Too Dumb to Live|trying to overtake an entire spaceship crew]] ''alone''. And, of course, all of this was done without understanding ''why'' Simon was a criminal, other than he'd stolen Alliance property.

* ''[[Planescape (Tabletop Game)|Planescape]]'' describes "lawful over good" approach as a characteristic of entire plane of Arcadia (between LG and LN). It's primary plane of influence of the Harmonium faction. ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|AD&D]] Player's guide to the Planes'':

* ''Elder Evils'', a book from the 3.5 edition of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons & Dragons]]'', features a ''canonical'' example of a Lawful Stupid alignment in the form of Obilgatum VII, an extraplanar robot who wants to free the sentient ''[[Weapon of Mass Destruction]]''/''[[Eldritch Abomination]]'' Pandorym. Is it because Obligatum is a ''[[Omnicidal Maniac]]''? No, it's actually because the <s>dumbasses</s> wizards who called the thing to the material plane in the first place ''were somewhat deceptive''. Obligatum is a kolyarut, one subbranch of a clockwork race called the Inevitables, whose sole function of existence is to keep the multiverse running according to law. His specific division enforces major contracts. The wizards in question made quite a major contract with Pandorym, then broke it by imprisoning it for umpteen aeons and preventing it from completing its own end of killing all gods, or even returning from whence it came.

* Kelemvor Lyonsbane, the god of the dead in ''[[Forgotten Realms (Tabletop Game)|Forgotten Realms]]''. He's supposed to be a good guy, and an improvement over his predecessor. And indeed, he does not go out murdering mortals for the pleasure of it; he instead sees to it that all pass in their time. But then there's this wall in his domain, called the Wall of the Faithless. Whomsoever dies without having worshiped a god (even just paying lip service, though they get their own punishment, as being False) has his soul merge with the wall, slowly and painfully destroying him until there's no mind or personality left. People who live in areas where there is no religion featuring gods to worship are bound to end up there -- even if they have no other option. You can give money to the poor, make clothes for the orphans, be the nicest person around, and if you do not worship a god, you're just another brick in the wall in the end.

** Another Lawful Stupid moment from Kelemvor is present in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2 (Video Game)|Neverwinter Nights 2]] -- Mask of The Betrayer''. {{spoiler|He claims he can't deal with the spirit eater curse because it would be overriding another god (this appears to be a moral rather than physical issue), never mind that said god is more or less dead, but Kelemvor is said god's ''successor''}}. Basically, he is refusing to do his own damn job. How does this guy get away with "neutral"?

* This trope is often specifically addressed in various [[Lawful Good]] religions, where it's spelled out that protecting the innocent and doing good is more important than upholding the letter of the law. Paladins of Tyr and Torm, the gods of justice, duty and honor in the ''[[Forgotten Realms (Tabletop Game)|Forgotten Realms]]'', are reminded to oppose laws that can be shown to be unfair or oppressive, and not to enforce them.

* ''[[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 40000]]'' has a few examples of this.

** The Monodominant faction of [[State Sec|the Inquisition]] are, as a group, [[Knight Templar|fanatically devoted to the letter of Imperial law and dogma]], to the point that they are considered xenophobic and reactionary even by the xenophobic and reactionary standards of the Imperium. Monodominants fervently believe that only genetically pure and religiously faithful humans deserve to exist, and that everything else - aliens, daemons, heretics, malcontents, traitors, and mutants, up to and sometimes including the psykers that ''the Imperium needs in order to continue functioning'' - needs to be [[Kill It With Fire|killed with fire]]. Other Inquisitors tend to consider the Monodominants bombastic, closed-minded, and self-defeating, and note that their pogroms and witch hunts tend to bury more answers than they uncover (and, less importantly, tend to kill a lot of innocent people in the process). The Monodominants usually respond by loudly accusing their detractors of heresy and [[Right Hand Versus Left Hand|attempting to kill them]] [[Kill It With Fire|(with fire)]].

** Another great example of Lawful Stupid space marines comes from the later ''[[Dawn of War (Video Game)|Dawn of War]]'' [[Expansion Pack|Expansion Packs]]. In ''Dark Crusade'' the [[Space Marine]] Blood Ravens and the [[Redshirt Army]] Imperial Guard both have orders from their superiors to claim the planet resulting in two armies fighting "[[Battle Cry|for the Emperor]]" against each other. The Guard fighting for their homeworld, the marines willing to obliterate them to be on the safe side regarding heresy and mutants. ''Soulstorm'' tops it by also adding the [[Church Militant]] [[Amazon Brigade|Adepta Sororitas]].

** ''[[Dawn of War (Video Game)|Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising]]'' gives us a unique example of a Lawful Stupid Space Marine inside the Blood Ravens Chapter: {{spoiler|Honour Guard Captain Apollo Diomedes. Although he is pure, he is singularly bent on obeying Chapter Master Kyras (who is corrupted by Chaos). He transmits and defends Kyras' order to stop defending Blood Raven recruiting worlds against the Black Legion incursion. He then goes on to label Gabriel Angelos and the player as 'renegades' of the chapter when they don't stop. (Un)fortunately, his Lawful stupidity does not come without consequences in two of the three possible outcomes for him: the two bad endings have him either (a) die to Heavy Bolter fire from Avitus or (b) become corrupted by Apothecary Gaelan. If the player completes the relevant mission's sidequest and frees Apothecary Gaelan from demonic possession, Apothecary Gaelan [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this by saying "[Captain Apollo's] pride blinds him."}}

* ''[[Warhammer (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' gives us Lord Mazdamundi of the Lizardmen, who has ruled that all species have to go back to within the boundaries set for them 20,000 years ago by a race who disappeared when Chaos first came to the Warhammer world. Part of this involves putting all of the elves back on Ulthuan -- high elves, dark elves, and wood elves. The main downside to this? High elves hate dark elves, dark elves hate high elves, and wood elves hate everybody. The culture of the elves would be reduced to burning ruins within a year. Throw in the fact that Elves are manning many of the ex-Lizardmen anti-Chaos wards outside of Ulthuan... yeah, this makes standard Lawful Stupid look clever.

* In ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning (Tabletop Game)|Hunter: The Reckoning]]'', several groups of hunters seemed to fall exclusively into the realm of Lawful Stupid (Zeal) or Stupid Good (Mercy).

* Friend Computer in ''[[Paranoia (Tabletop Game)|Paranoia]]''. It at least has the excuse that it's also bugnuts insane.

* ''[[Blood Bowl (Tabletop Game)|Blood Bowl]]'' is not immune to this either, it has this in the form of the teams Bright Crusaders and the appropriately-named Heroes of Law, both aiming to set a good example by not breaking any rules of the game in trying to achieve victory. Because of how prominent cheating is in the game and the natures of most teams, they tend to not win very often at all. Blood Bowl is, after all, [[Screw the Rules, I Make Them|a game in which even the ones who make the rules cheat]], and death is extremely common among it's players, so sticking to the rules is basically ''suicidal''.

* The titular [[Pirate|pirates]] of ''[[The Pirates of Penzance (Theatre)|The Pirates of Penzance]]'' are so extraordinarily Lawful Stupid that they're barely even pirates by the time of the play. While they have no problem kidnapping young ladies they feel the need to marry them before any ravishing takes place. They refuse to attack forces weaker than them because it's dishonorable. Not to mention the startling number of "orphans" they run into. In fact, at the end of the play, they stand down from battling with the Major General's men after being ordered to yield in the name of Queen Victoria, and "for all our faults, we love our Queen."

* Inspector Javert, from the musical (and yes, the book as well) ''[[Les Misérables (Theatre)|Les Misérables]]'', is rapidly approaching the embodiment of Lawful Stupid by story's end. Once a criminal, always a criminal is his mantra. He not only attempts to arrest the highly successful and well-loved mayor of a town (all-around hero Jean Valjean) for the heinous crime of a parole violation years previous, but his attempted method of arrest scares a gravelly sick woman TO DEATH. This is, by the way, the same woman he arrested for hitting a man, despite having just watched the man beat the everloving crap out of her.

* The Vahki law enforcer robots from ''[[Bionicle (Franchise)|Bionicle]]'', until they glitched up into [[Kill All Humans|Kill All Matoran]].

* One rather cruel example can crop up if you have the paladin Keldorn in your party in the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|D&D]]''-based game ''[[Baldur's Gate (Video Game)|Baldur's Gate II]]''. If you accept his offer to visit his home, you'll find that his wife has been cheating on him out of loneliness and concern for their children, as Keldorn is always off crusading. The most obvious thing to do is to let him follow the "lawful" path and report his wife's infidelity to the authorities, which results in her permanent incarceration, the execution of her lover, and his two daughters hating him forever. Keldorn himself is more than happy enough to take a "good" alternative that involves talking with the lover ([[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|who willingly steps down if Keldorn faces him]]) and reconciling with his family -- although this causes him to leave the party.

* Cecil of ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]]'' starts the game off this way, slaughtering mages in Mysidia under his king's orders. He spends the rest of the game becoming [[The Atoner]] for it, even rebelling against his kingdom.

* Beatrix and Steiner from ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]'' are supposed to be Lawful Good, but instead come off as lawful stupid. Beatrix helps [[The Empire]] destroy two cities, and massively damage a third simply because the Queen is an evil nutcase. Steiner wants to return the [[Rebellious Princess]] who wants to escape her evil mother, and doesn't seem to notice the whole evil nutcase part. It's only after the Queen attempts to kill her own daughter does Beatrix even think of rebelling, and only after the Queen nearly does so does she actually rebel.

* Adell from ''[[Disgaea 2 Cursed Memories (Video Game)|Disgaea 2 Cursed Memories]]'' constantly insists on fair fights and keeping promises. This would be all well and good if it wasn't for one teensy weensy little fact: ''everyone within a 100 mile radius is a [[Genre Savvy]] hellspawn willing to milk this for all its worth.'' Rozalin spends quite a deal of time wondering how this kind of behavior hasn't [[Too Dumb to Live|killed him already]]. Of course, his attitude actually leads him to achieve heroic victory, so WHO is the [[Genre Savvy]] one in the end?

* Lord Theodore, head of the Knights of Mirsaburg in ''[[Romancing Sa Ga (Video Game)|Romancing Sa Ga]]: Minstrel Song'', is [[Lawful Stupid]] to the core. Sure, the corrupt nobility deserves his scorn, but Theodore is ''utterly convinced'' that he's the only one who's right, ''ever''. He clings so rigidly to his idea of chivalry that at one point, he jails and plans to execute one of his most loyal knights... because they were slashed in the back. After all, the knights ''never run away'', and even though he was ''clearly'' ambushed by monsters, without a witness to vouch for him, Theodore ''automatically assumes that he broke his vow and should die for cowardice''. {{spoiler|In fact, when the enemy pulls a [[Fake King]] plot, it works well mainly ''because'' it seems perfectly in-character for him to declare war on one of his allies just because she disagrees with him.}}

* Vhailor, the [[Animated Armor]] who can join your party in ''[[Planescape Torment]]''. If he discovers that any members of your party have a chaotic alignment, he will try to kill them. If he discovers that you have ever done anything bad to another person in your (very long) life, he will try to kill you. Toward the end of the game, if you attempt to redeem {{spoiler|the fallen angel Trias}} and Vhailor is with you, Vhailor will kill him, thus releasing {{spoiler|a fiend bound to charitable acts until Trias' demise}}. In his defense, though, Vhailor is a member of the Mercykiller faction, a group of [[Knight Templar|Knights Templar]] who are basically designed to carry the [[Lawful Stupid]] mindset to its logical extreme.

* ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]'' initially sets the asari [[Warrior Monk|Justicar]] Samara up as [[Lawful Stupid]]: on the way to recruiting her, the player hears a lot about the Justicar's Code and how it requires Justicars to act in [[Lawful Stupid]] fashion, and the police officers in the area are anxious to get her off their planet before her Code compels her to kill someone. When [[Player Character|Commander Shepard]] actually meets Samara, however, she proves to be a subversion, as she's been a Justicar for centuries and is perfectly capable of maneuvering herself and her Code to avoid being forced into stupid behavior. On the other hand, she is very blunt about the body-count she'll accept, acknowledging to Shepard that the Code is a black-and-white set of rules in a grey world. Furthermore the '''code''' itself averts this, as there is a clause in it that allows a Justicar to swear allegiance to someone for the duration of that person's quest, and ''follow their morals''. It is deliberately intended for when a Justicar decides it is best to aid a [[Greater Good]] cause, without oathbreaking.

* Basically, the entire reason the [[Castlevania (Video Game)|Belmont clan]] ever had the Vampire Killer to begin with is because way back in ''[[Castlevania Lament of Innocence (Video Game)|Lament of Innocence]]'', their idiot ancestor went tearing off to go storm a vampire's castle ''with no weapon'', because he'd quit the army and didn't feel right taking his sword with him.

* Ser Cauthrien, a brave, honourable female knight who is [[The Dragon]] to the main (human) antagonist [[Knight Templar|Loghain]] in ''[[Dragon Age (Video Game)|Dragon Age]]''. Although she is aware of most of the awful things done by her master, including betraying the King and the Grey Wardens at Ostagar, she keeps trying to justify him because of her misguided sense of loyalty and duty, and will eventually attack the protagonist, who seeks to stop Loghain's plans. She can be talked out of her unwavering loyalty, but more likely you'll have to kill her.

* The Arishok in ''[[Dragon Age II (Video Game)|Dragon Age II]]'' will even cop to it if you call him out.

* Grand Maestro Mohs from ''[[Tales of the Abyss (Video Game)|Tales of the Abyss]]'' is both [[Lawful Evil]] and Lawful Stupid. He wants to start a war and get hundreds of people killed just because the Score says so, conveniently overlooking the fact that the Score is, at best, a [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]].

* [[Gender Blender Name|Hotaru]] from [[Mortal Kombat (Franchise)|Mortal Kombat]] is [[The Fundamentalist|fanatical]] about order. He even joins the [[Big Bad|Dragon King]] just because that would bring about more order.

* The guards in ''[[The Elder Scrolls (Video Game)|The Elder Scrolls]]'' series will track you down and attempt to fine or imprison you for any crime, and will attempt to kill if you refuse to comply. In ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion (Video Game)|Oblivion]]'' they say the same phrase and have the same reaction whether you murder somebody in cold blood or [[Disproportionate Retribution|steal a sweetroll]].

** Thankfully averted in ''[[The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (Video Game)|Skyrim]]''. If your bounty is low enough, you can easily get away with simply a slap on the wrist for picking up something that happened to be owned by somebody else if you just pay off the relatively small bounty. In some cases they won't even take you with them the keep, and will simply let you go immediately after paying off your bounty and giving them your stolen goods, and they have a lot more forgiving attitude than the guards in ''Oblivion''. Compare the reactions of the guards to paying off your bounty in ''Oblivion'' to the corresponding responses in Skyrim, and it is clear the guards in ''Oblivion'' ''want'' you to rot in a prison cell for a minor theft, while the ones in Skyrim at least commend you for being smart enough to cooperate with them. Also, if your crime is miniscule enough, you can talk them into just letting you go your way with a simple "don't do it again".

* Miko Miyazaki in the webcomic ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'' is part [[Lawful Stupid Chaotic Stupid|Lawful Stupid]], part [[Knight Templar]], and occasionally [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0215.html parodies both]. This strip is a good example of the former. It does have elements of subverting [[Honor Before Reason]], since the whole thing was largely to get the ogres into a compressed area, but it would have been a much better plan if she would have told the others what she was doing.

* Mentioned in ''[[The Wotch (Webcomic)|The Wotch]]'': [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2007-12-18 Anne, you have permission to strike before the heroic banter next time.]

* From ''[[Goblins (Webcomic)|Goblins]]'', but in quite a different flavor, you have Fumbles, who becomes so desperate to "make things right" (after he does something very, very wrong) that he lets his sense of justice ''completely'' overthrow his sense of survival. And get it in a headlock. And while Fumbles starts off with the idea that he can do it without involving the rest of his team, the comic is very good about showing that his actions have long-lasting consequences, and affect everyone he cares about, in large part because they also care about ''him''.

** And also from ''[[Goblins (Webcomic)|Goblins]]'', Big Ears the paladin manages to avert this nicely, which is rare for a paladin, as they are usually [[Flanderization|flanderized]] into one of these if they don't start out as one. He instead follows closely what a lawful good paladin should be.

* ''[[DM of the Rings (Webcomic)|DM of the Rings]]'' [http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1129 lampshades] this when the players refuse to act in this manner.

* Agent Ben and Agent Jerry, [[The Men in Black]] from ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob (Webcomic)|The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]].''

* In ''[[Freefall (Webcomic)|Freefall]]'', Florence Ambrose and Mr. Kornada are sympathetic and hostile/comedic portrayals of this, respectively:

* Stormwolf of the [[Whateley Universe (Literature)|Whateley Universe]]. He's so busy being 'Lawful Good' that he isn't protecting a group of freshman girls who just managed to avoid being beaten, mutilated, and/or murdered in four separate attempts (one by a mutant ninja assassin) in one night. And he won't let the girls go get payback, either. Even though the girls know who attacked them, and who hired the attackers.

* Silverbolt in ''[[Transformers (Franchise)|Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' is another example of how it's possible to get by with being Lawful Stupid by being stupid ''lucky'' (not as an alignment, just "lucky to the point of absurdity"). For instance, he actually ''helped'' [[Dating Catwoman|Blackarachnia]] open up a tunnel {{spoiler|leading to the in-stasis Autobots from the original cartoon}}.

* The [[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]] are usually quite reasonable, but one time, Goliath, faced with a mighty opponent, decided to use the Eye of Odin. The Eye magnified his power to truly awesome levels -- but also magnified his ''nature'', that of a protector and guardian, to the point where he was willing to deceive his charges by pretending there was danger when there wasn't, to ensure they stayed somewhere safe rather than moving on, even if they had nothing that could be called a life.

* In a different sense, Alien X from ''[[Ben 10 Alien Force (Animation)|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'' -- a being capable of warping time and space, but whose thought pattern has been (and in some ways still is) strangled with debate between two diametrically opposed entities to the point at which the being cannot even move until a decision can be reached. Until Ben came along, they had no tiebreaker. And they're not very good at listening to him.

* Omi from ''[[Xiaolin Showdown (Animation)|Xiaolin Showdown]]'' is [[Lawful Stupid]] in regards to [[I Gave My Word|promises]]. At one point, Omi has to team up with one of the [[Big Bad|Big Bads]] to stop a race of unstoppable spiders. They do this by combining two Mac Guffins that work together to give infinite knowledge to find a way to stop them. Before doing so, the Big Bad makes him promise to only look for the way to stop them and specifically not to look for "the way to destroy evil forever". In the end, he mentions he "peeked". In later episodes the main group finds themselves in a desperate situation and begin telling him they want him to use the secret. He holds firm that he cannot because it would go against his honor as a monk even when all 3 of them think it would be better to do it anyway but he still refuses. The end result is as part of the Big Bad's plan, this divides him from his friends and causes him to go against their safer wishes of not listening to the villain. He ends up temporarily locked in an aggressive mood from this and pledges his allegiance to the villain. Once he returns to normal, he stays with the villain because he made that promise (ignoring his friends' cries of "[[Not Himself|he wasn't himself]]").

* Hego from ''[[Kim Possible (Animation)|Kim Possible]]''. He [[Clark Kenting|hides his identity with glasses and a tie]], [[Mr. Exposition|talks on and on, giving the enemy the chance to attack]], and [[Contractual Genre Blindness|follows the rules of hero/villain interaction to the T]], even lecturing the other heroes on the 'proper' way to do things ''while they were all in danger from the villain''. By about halfway through his introductory episode, the heroes completely understand why his little sister turned evil.

* Alder & Dash from ''[[Casper Scare School (Animation)|Casper Scare School]]''.

* Hugh Test from ''[[Johnny Test (Animation)|Johnny Test]]''.

* Officer Yates from ''[[South Park (Animation)|South Park]]''.

* ''[[The Venture Brothers (Animation)|The Venture Brothers]]'''s Office of Secret Intelligence (or at least [[Crazy Awesome|Colonel Gathers]]) has a code of never killing women or children no matter what, even though they're secret agents with a license to kill. (although it's really a good thing)

* There was an episode of ''[[Dexters Laboratory (Animation)|Dexters Laboratory]]'' in which The [[Dynomutt Dog Wonder (Animation)|Blue Falcon]] ([[Name's the Same|Not]] [[F-Zero (Video Game)|that one]]) brought in Dynomutt for repairs. Dexter instead builds a competent crime fighting robot instead of a comic relief sidekick, that's willing to open fire on innocent people jaywalking or littering.

* There's an episode of ''[[The Batman (Animation)|The Batman]]'' where Joker decides to do this. He only attacks people breaking laws, and then use Joker gas on them.

* Zapp Brannigan from ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'' is hypocritically [[Lawful Stupid]], with extra emphasis on his stupid part. On the other hand, you're not supposed to like him much anyway.

* Bubbles in the "Bubblevicious" episode of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls (Animation)|The Powerpuff Girls]]''. She managed to make a litterbug hit the ground before the gum wrapper he tossed. She basically rampaged her do-good behavior throughout Townsville and {{spoiler|her crusade got her captured by Mojo Jojo.}} In another episode, the mayor uses a hot-air balloon and a spring-loaded boxing glove to take the law into his own hands. He goes mad with power in less than a minute.

* Casey Jones, in the 1987 ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 (Animation)|TMNT]]'' animated series.

* Mr. Herriman from ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (Animation)|Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends]]''.

* [[Future Me Scares Me|Darkwarrior Duck]] from the ''[[Darkwing Duck (Animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'' episode, "Time and Punishment" is a [[Knight Templar]] who imprisons people for life without trial (on the grounds that no jury will question him) for [[Disproportionate Retribution|staying out past curfew]].

* In the ''[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]]'' episode "Back To The Woods", when James Woods steals Peter's identity, he gets Joe to arrest him for it. Woods presents Joe with his fake identification and he buys it, even ''calling him Peter.'' Lois [[Lampshade Hanging|hung a huge lampshade]] on this.

* On the ''[[Phineas and Ferb (Animation)|Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode ''Quantum Boogaloo,'' O.W.C.A. can't do anything to fight Doofensmirtz because they all swore an oath to obey him.

* In the [[Men in Black (Animation)|Men In Black]] series, episode ''The Worm-Guy Guy Syndrome'', Kalifadik enforcers come to Earth to teleport alien fugitives to life imprisonment [[All Crimes Are Equal|for any violation]], no matter [[Mattress Tag Gag|how minor]].