Poor Communication Kills: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built."''|'''Kreia''', ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game)|Knights of the Old Republic]] II''}}

Anthropologists posit that one of the turning points in human development was a growing ability to communicate. In fiction, one of the turning points in dramatic development was the ability to ''not'' to communicate.

So what's the author to do? They have ''the coolest'' [[Mandatory Twist Ending|plot twist]] or [[Climax Boss]] fight, but it absolutely hinges on these guys being, however briefly, unable to articulate their point. To solve this problem the author reduces the characters' verbal skills to those of three-year-olds. ''Shy'' three-year-olds, with a stutter. And then we see that [['''Poor Communication Kills]]'''.

All the characters involved go [[Out -of -Character Moment|out of character for a moment]] so that they [[Cannot Spit It Out|can't (or won't) tell]] their [[One Side of the Story|side of the story]], or creates a false urgency because there's "[[No Time to Explain]]", or just plain making them act like a disgruntled loner and telling their friends to [[Figure It Out Yourself]] when cooperation (or at least [[Right Hand Versus Left Hand|non-interference]]) is infinitely preferable. No matter which reason, it seems that at least half of the people involved have simultaneously gotten hold of the [[Idiot Ball]], if not [[Idiot Plot|everyone]].

Or to summarize: [[Poor Communication Kills]] is when a misunderstanding is [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|entirely implausible]] and [[Character Derailment|against]] the characters' previously exhibited communication skills, personality and relationship, and any [[Viewers Areare Morons|normal person]] could clear up the misunderstanding in less than 30 seconds and solve the plot. (However, those rarer instances when ''in-character'' poor communication kills can count, too.)

Compare [[Dramatically Missing the Point]]. [[Open Mouth, Insert Foot]].

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'' takes a very... er... literal angle on this due to the fact that most arcs are [[One Side of the Story]], and that the series in general contains proliferation of [[Cryptic Conversation|Cryptic Conversations]]s and characters who [[Cannot Spit It Out]]. In fact, the latter point becomes a major [[Aesop]] of the series. In some cases the use of this trope is mildly justified by the fact that the 'main' character hasn't really known the rest of the cast for that long -- andlong—and the things they're not talking about are often rather more serious secrets than is usual for this trope. Like, say, {{spoiler|the fact that you just murdered someone}}.

* One ''[[Detective Conan]]'' case had an injured American tourist recuperating in a Japanese household and falling in love with a young woman. Because of a mouth injury, at first he could only communicate by writing out Japanese phrases phonetically. As he was leaving, the young woman asked if he loved her, and he wrote down the word {{spoiler|"shine", referring to his earlier words that he wanted a "shining bride", but which she quite naturally interpreted as "shi-ne," which happens to be Japanese for "die". The woman committed suicide after he left, and when he came back he ended up murdering her father and a family friend in revenge.}} [[What an Idiot!]].

* ''[[Monster (Animemanga)|Monster]]'' sometimes relies on this trope. The show is full of characters who know bits and pieces of the overall puzzle; two of them will often unknowingly meet up, but fail to say the right things. Examples include Tenma's first meeting with Grimmer and Nina's first meeting with Lotte (who even mentions her friend {{spoiler|Johan}}, just never by ''name'').

* This was {{spoiler|[[Colonel Badass]] Sergei Smirnov}}'s [[Fatal Flaw]] in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Anime)|Gundam 00]]''. {{spoiler|His inability to reach for his son Andrei after the death of his mom Holly, leads to Andrei growing so embittered and hateful that he ends up ''killing'' his father in battle, believing him to be a traitor on top of [[You Killed My Father|responsible for Holly's death]].}}

** In [[The Movie]] finale to the series, the ELS {{spoiler|attempt to understand humanity by absorbing and assimilating them, apparently not realizing that doing so is killing the humans they're trying it on.}} They also attempt to contact Innovators and proto-Innovators telepathically, but the sheer amount of information they transmit sounds like screaming to these telepaths, and basically [[Mind Rape|Mind Rapes]]s them.

* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (Anime)|Gundam SEED]]'':

** A significant amount of the angst had Kira (or anyone else on the Archangel) felt the need say to ZAFT something along the lines of "Hey, there's about 30 civilians on board this ship". Then again,[[Hot -Blooded|Yzak]] would most likely just shoot them anyway, believing them to be fleeing soldiers.

* ''[[Mai Hi ME|MaiMy-HiME]]''....ohhhh yes. ''[[Mai Hi ME|MaiMy-HiME]]''. Let's count the ways, shall we?

** Mai gets involved with the HiME Festival by being told she'll have to risk the most important thing to her. She assumes it's her life. [[Powered Byby a Forsaken Child|Not quite.]]

* The entire series of ''[[Ranma One Half½]]'' is made of this trope. This is lampshaded at least once, after Akane beat up Ranma who was trying to get a scroll with a secret technique, which was incidentally in the Hotspring Akane was in. After Akane's father explains she says [[Why Didn't You Just SayIgnored SoExpositor|Ranma could have just told her]]. His rather accurate response is "And just how often do you listen before clobbering me?"

* Parodied in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]''. There is an episode that has Hayate spending the night at Hinagiku's house; then Hinagiku end up bumping with Ayumu, Hayate's other love interest and Hina's new friend as well. That's when she says this is bad, and the narrator detailedly explains this trope, commenting that Hinagiku fears that Ayumu will find out somehow that Hayate is inside the house, then will run away and get frustrated because of a misunderstanding. And then it happens.

* ''[[Code Geass]]''' Lelouch, in his arrogance, is guilty of this multiple times. The best (or worst) example is when he's informed by his enemies that their [[The Ace|Ace]] Suzaku is carrying a weapon of mass destruction on board his mecha, but ''fails to tell any of his subordinates''. When Lelouch's top pilot Kallen confronts him, {{spoiler|Suzaku, despite not wanting to use the weapon, [[I Cannot Self -Terminate|is forced by the command to "live" that Lelouch placed upon him]] to fire it, which killed ''35 million people''.}}

* In the ''[[Pokémon]]'' movie ''[[Pokémon Lucario and The Mystery of Mew (Anime)|Pokémon: Lucario and The Mystery of Mew]]'', poor communication between a few non-villainous scientists and a kleptomaniac Legendary who supposedly could have ''[[Psychic Powers|read their minds]] at any time'' resulted in a giant tree nearly killing half the cast and {{spoiler|Lucario [[Killed Off for Real]]}}.

*** No it's not, because Naruto should have noticed the demonic chakra emanating from Utakata during the battle, never mind that giant slug transformation. As Naruto himself showed during the Wave Island arc, a jinchiruuki actually drawing on the chakra of their sealed demon is a chakra signature that any person who can sense chakra at all can pick up all the way from across a battlefield, and that pretty much any veteran ninja—or any random genin who has ever worked with a jinchiruuki before—cannot mistake for anything else. Hell, Gaara could sense that Naruto was a demon container just by ''looking at him''. The sealed demons are ''very'' aware of each other's presence whenever in close proximity.

** Possibly one of the best examples: at a point in the series, Eureka {{spoiler|tries to "return to the earth" due to her Realian nature}}; after that, her body goes through mild modifications and she gets comatose. Nobody wants to tell Renton that {{spoiler|Eureka is not human}}, so nobody tells him ''anything''. This reaches the stupid level when Holland decides to go on a [[A Mech Byby Any Other Name|LFO]] to find a priest who could help her. Renton practically begs for him to tell him what's happening to Eureka. Any normal person would simply say: "Eureka's sick. Rare disease. Gonna get a doctor". Holland, on the other hand, goes "SHUT UP, BRAT!" and punches Renton in the face. Smooth.

*** It's even [[Lampshaded|LampshadeHanging]] in [[Super Robot Wars Z]], with several of the other characters (including [[After War Gundam X (Anime)|Garrod]], amusingly enough) calling Holland out for his douchebaggery after Renton leaves.

* Kanade Tachibana in ''[[Angel Beats (Anime)|Angel Beats!]]''. Bad enough that it's caused a war with a nearly 100% death toll for all its participants, ''regularly''. It's a good thing nobody stays dead there.

* In ''[[Not Simple (Manga)|Not Simple]]'', the protagonist Ian commits suicide after hearing that the woman he loved (and whom he planned to run away together with once they reunited) died since he last saw her three years ago. This was told to him by a girl named Irene, whose mother had recounted the story of Ian and her Aunt to her since the Aunt died. However, it all turned out to be a mistake, as Irene was unaware that it was actually ''her mother'' who had met and planned to run away with Ian... she was just lying to protect her daughter's feelings.

* In [[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]], the newest conflict with the {{spoiler|Shimon Family}} could've been completely avoided if not for [[ClicheCliché Storm|an important note that was blown into a bin by a convenient breeze]].

* The two major conflicts in [[Mahou Sensei Negima]] could theoretically have been mostly avoided, had the [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s just sat down with everybody else and explained [[Well -Intentioned Extremist|the situation and proposed solution]], rather than causing massive amounts of trouble and not telling anyone why they're doing what they're doing. Case in point, {{spoiler|If Chao and/or Fate would have taken the time to explain that Mundus Magicus was in danger of collapsing rather than going freelance and causing tons of collateral damage, they probably would have solved the problem by now.}}

* The Stand user Tizziano from [[Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo JosJoJo's Bizarre Adventure]] can actually invoke this with his Stand Talking Heads. It attaches to it's victim's tongue and makes them say the opposite of what they intended. This also extends to writing and gesturing.

* ''[[Tsukigasa (Manga)|Tsukigasa]]'' would have no story if it weren't for this trope. Nobody remotely discussed what exactly happened when Azuma cut Kuroe's arm off or their feelings for each other, leading to everyone having a completely different idea of what went on and who regretted what. When Kuroe comes back it still takes them a long time to finally come out with the truth. Kuroe is also nearly arrested by Tatsumi because he was too stubborn to reveal he wasn't actively a criminal in front of Azuma.

* ''[[The Idolmaster (Animeanime)|THE iDOLM@STER]]'' - The Producer doesn't clear Miki's misconception about her entering the Idol unit that Ritsuko created, wich almost ends up with Miki quiting being an Idol for good a few episodes later.

* The main character in [[Steins ;Gate]] apparently doesn't think it's worth mentioning to anyone that {{spoiler|one of the people they know is a spy and is going to murder one of them and kidnap the rest.}} He goes through ''countless'' iterations without it ever occurring to him at any point that he might want to discuss the situation with his friends, who are directly endangered by their own ignorance. Worse, this means that if he ever screws up, {{spoiler|he won't be able to change the past to reverse it and have another attempt; if he made sure to tell a friend on each iteration, they could reverse things even if he were killed.}}

* In ''[[Nine9 Chickweed Lane]]'', [[Official Couple]] [[TV Genius|Amos]] and [[Tsundere|Edda]] broke up mostly because [[Cannot Spit It Out|she wouldn't tell him what was upsetting her]] (his dreamy ramblings about the concert violinist they'd watched) and it never occurred to him A) [[You Didn't Ask|to ask what was wrong]] or B) the answer might be him. They do reunite... without ever actually resolving the issue that split them up. This has become a running theme in Edda and Amos' relationship: Edda reacting to an emotional moment by freaking out and bolting, then cluing Amos in long after the fact (and then only when a third party points out the inappropriateness of her actions).

* In-character poor communication: In ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]'', because the four detest the Hunter and get into a pissing match with him as they travel, they don't tell him crucial things about their worldview, notably that they're [[Actual Pacifist|Actual Pacifists]]s and don't kill, and that they can easily protect themselves. Thus, when they're set upon by a pack of Poison Wolves, the Hunter immediately springs into action and kills about half of them, causing Paul to nearly attack him and to have a [[Heroic BSOD]] later, partly because he knew very well that their lack of communication both doomed the animals and almost made him a murderer.

* In ''[[Connecting the Dots (Fanfic)|Connecting the Dots]]'', the [[Naruto|Konoha Twelve]], who speak authentic Japanese, are dumped into the [[Justice League (animation)|DCAU]], where most of our heroes don't know English. Due to worries of an invasion, aggressive headbutting on either side, and the aforementioned Language Barrier, [[Let's You and Him Fight|many battles]] take place before J'onn comes in and telepathically implants English into the ninjas' heads to let them talk things out.

* The movie ''[[Twenty Eight Days Later|28 Days Later]]'', opens with a group of environmentalists attempting to break open cages of seemingly abused monkeys. A scientist tries to stop them and is given a chance to explain why they shouldn't torture him like he (seemingly) has done to the monkeys. His answer? " [They have] Rage." He doesn't try to explain that the Rage he is talking about is not just an emotion, even though there's a large enough of a pause to do so. Instead, he, for some reason, expects these people who have not worked in his lab, nor understand that the monkeys are sick, to comprehend a word that apparently now has two meanings.

*** In both cases the problem is a matter of trust. The Jedi Council, with the exception of Obi-Wan who dislikes the [[Dirty Business]], doesn't fully trust Anakin because he is close to Palpatine. Padme doesn't tell Anakin about the Senators' plan because she doesn't trust him with it -- againit—again, because he is close to Palpatine.

* In [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[The Thing (Filmfilm)|The Thing]]'', the movie begins with a man chasing after a dog with explosives and a rifle, trying to warn the others that the dog is a monster in disguise and must be destroyed. The man's warning is unheeded and he is shot and killed because he was speaking Norwegian while the main characters were American and couldn't understand.

** As mentioned in the [[Twenty Eight Days Later|28 Days Later]] entry, it's hard to imagine the main characters reacting any different no matter what language the guy had been speaking.

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''DaredevilElectra'''}}: "NoYou Ikilled didn't.my That guy did. Over there. The Bad Guyfather!".<br />

{{spoiler|'''ElectraDaredevil'''}}: "Oh.No I didn't. seeThat him.guy OKdid. MyOver badthere. Let'sThe goBad get himGuy".<br />

* ThisIn ''[[Terminator Salvation]]'' this is what caused General Ashdown to kick John Connor out of [[La Résistance]] in ''[[Terminator Salvation]]''. Of course, what Ashdown didn't know was that John Connor wanted to save someone vital to Tech-Com (his father, Kyle Reese, then a teenager), and even though Connor didn't give the full details to his own unit, the whole unit rebels against Ashdown by siding with Connor so he could save Reese. (Of course, Ashdown doesn't know about the rebellion until after he learns that the attack on Skynet wouldn't go forward until Connor gave the order, thereby deposing Ashdown mere minutes before he gets blown to smithereens.)

* ''[[Dracula]]'', where the excessively gentlemanly heroes deliberately choose not to tell Mina Harker about their vampire hunt so as not to distress her, thus making her the [[Distressed Damsel in Distress|perfect target]]. Ironically, once the damage is done and they must let her in on it, she copes rather better than her husband did.

* [[PGP. G. Wodehouse (Creator)|PG Wodehouse]]'s [[Jeeves and Wooster (Literaturenovel)|Jeeves and Wooster]] novels: Almost everything bad that ever happened to Bertie Wooster. The rest of it seems to be blackmail.

{{quote| "But I was never told of this!"<br />

* [[David Weber]] has this on a grander scale then most with his ''[[HellsHell's Gate]]'' series when poor communication causes two civilizations, which hadn't even known the other existed until recently, to start what is promising to be a long and brutal war.

** And in the ''[[HonorverseHonor (Literature)Harrington|Honorverse]]'', deliberately tampered with communication restarts the Manticore-Haven war. The guy who did it wanted to make the Havenite president just angry enough that she was ''almost'' ready to go to war and he could step in and save the day. He underestimates by about one degree of anger, and millions die.

* [[Being There]] is a variation; the whole plot is based on characters misinterpreting most everything [[Seemingly -Profound Fool|Chance the Gardener]] says (with the twist that he cannot correct them because he isn't able to understand what's going on).

* In ''[[The Shahnameh (Literature)|The Shahnameh]]'', a series of accidents and deception both well and ill-intentioned result in Rostem killing Sohrab, the outcome neither of them wanted.

* ''[[The Idiot (Literature)|The Idiot]]''. No one seems capable of actually saying what they mean--evenmean—even Prince Myshkin, the most innocently outspoken character, falls prey to this tendency--andtendency—and the misunderstandings and suspicions that arise from this are major driving forces on the plot.

* In ''[[DirgeA for Prester John (Literature)|Dirge for Prester John]]'', John and his people have completely different ideas of what war is. He knows it means a lot of bloodshed (even if he naively also thinks of glory). His people think of the mating season of the cranes and pygmies.

* The ''[[Horatio Hornblower]]'' TV-series starring Ion Gruffudd (maybe also the original books) had a group of deserting British sailors (their ship's crew was besieging the Spanish) [[Melee a Trois|captured by Dominican rebel slaves]] ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]), and so the rebel commander rows out to the sailors' original ship, to bargain with the captain to leave the island in peace (with one of their sailors at gunpoint). The ships' Royal Marines train their weapons on the rebels, and the Captain is asked whether they should open fire. He replies with "Fire?", the others understand it as "Fire!" and [[Shoot the Dog|shoot the rebels and their hostage]], [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|declaring an outright war]] between the ship's crew and the rest of the rebels. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVo7OpOv__Y&feature=relmfu Seen here].

* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' episodes 2.09 and 2.10; Mohinder utterly failed to tell [[Overprotective Dad]] Noah that he didn't need Claire, just a pint of blood to save a life and stop a plague rather than kidnap her. Instead he made it seem like he had done a [[Face Heel Turn]] and was going after this [[Overprotective Dad]]'s daughter and bringing about the season's [[Tear Jerker]] episode.

** Numerous situations like this seem to crop up in ''[[Firefly]]'', particularly around Mal's tactics. Friends new and old are asked to implicitly trust him right at the point where he has given every indication that he's changeable as the wind and about to screw them (Simon and River frequently being the subjects here -- perhapshere—perhaps most notably in "Safe"). This generally complicates things further, as above, by making the ostensible rescuees filled with anger and suspicion.

* In "Trial by Fire", an episode from the [[Revival]] version of ''[[The Outer Limits (TV)|The Outer Limits]]'', alien forces are hovering above the Earth, and have sent out a message to the world's leaders. The message, unfortunately, is unable to be deciphered, and the President of the US is presented with two options - Preemptive strike, or wait things out and hope they can translate the message. {{spoiler|He eventually takes the Hawk approach and launches a nuclear warhead at the [[UFO|UFOs]]s, which fails. As a retaliatory strike comes in, he's informed that they just cracked the code... by submerging the audio beneath water; it was a message of Peace.}} But what were you expecting? There's a reason that the trope [[Cruel Twist Ending]] was originally called Outer Limits Twist.

* On ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'', Gwen tries to keep her actual job in Torchwood secret from her boyfriend in the least helpful way. Despite Torchwood's ability to set up dummy companies, create false identities and twist the truth when the need be Gwen never uses any of this to give her boyfriend any reason to calm down about her job. Instead she is openly ambiguous about why she works such long hours and gets called away so often. Even ''her boss'' says she shouldn't let her personal life drift, but never makes any good suggestions to Gwen as to ''how'' to do so. This can get frustrating for the viewer because obviously some people on the police force know Gwen does ''something'' working for Torchwood, and people out in the world know Torchwood does ''something'' (The woman in the first episode of series 2 mutters "Bloody Torchwood" as they pass by.)

* In ''[[Have Gun — Will Travel]]'', Paladin's business card can cause some confusion over his profession that can occassionally lead to rather [[We Could Have Avoided All This|unfortunate mix-ups]]. More often than not the confusion is resolved without anyone dying, but on every now and then ...

* Used quite [[Anvilicious|Anviliciously]]ly in the song "One Tin Soldier". In it a town has a "treasure" hidden under a mountain, which a valley kingdom covets. They invade, kill everyone, and find the "treasure" is just a plaque which says "Peace on Earth". Worse, when they first demand it the mountain people make a vague offer to share their treasure with their "brothers" instead of just telling them the truth.

* In ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'', the Slaans - the mage-priests of the Lizardmen - sleep most of the time, and when they wake up, they speak in very short sentences without any context. As a result, unpleasant things have happened. When the High Elves arrived in Lustria, they were brought before a Slaan who said, "They should not be here". His Saurus guards read this as "Destroy all High Elves" and killed them. Whether he actually meant "Send them home" will never be known.

* One of the Fluff asides in ''[[Reign]]'' involves an instance of [[Nonverbal Miscommunication]] that rises to this level -- thelevel—the mercenary commander had a troop of mixed nationality that each knew one of three different sets of military hand signals; he'd only bothered to check that they all knew hand signals, not that they all knew the ''same ones''. His signal to "hold up" was variously interpreted correctly, as an order to attack, or as an order to retreat, and they were routed in the chaos resulting.

* ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'': Damn it, Emperor. Do you have ''any idea'' how much trouble you would have saved if you were only able to occasionally ''explain'' stuff to your kids? The [[Horus Heresy]], for one.

{{quote| "See what I could have done? Maybe I'm right! Maybe I'm wrong! But if I'd got that message through on time, I'm telling you--THOSE TWO KIDS WOULD BE ALIVE TODAY!"}}

* About half of everything bad that happens in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' or ''[[Tales of the Abyss (Video Game)|Tales of the Abyss]]'' could be averted if not for the characters' refusal to explain certain things in order to keep certain information from the player, even when it is extremly obvious and logical that they should do so. The general hierarchy of screwedness is as follows:

** "I'll tell you later." - They'll tell you after a sizeable portion of the world's population has died as a result of them not sharing this information. This is always somehow [[What the Hell, Hero?|your]] [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|fault.]]

* Also shows up in the game that ''Symphonia'' is a prequel to, ''[[Tales of Phantasia (Video Game)|Tales of Phantasia]]'', in which the ''entirety of the plot, with all its casualties'', was the result of Dhaos not having bothered to explain that he needed a mana seed and the humans were currently using too much mana for the tree to produce one, and instead going directly to "attack humans until their mana usage drops", which proves counterproductive.

** While we're on the subject of [[Bio WareBioWare]] RPGs, ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' contains a joke the player character can tell based on this trope. A group of Sith ask the player to make them laugh, and they'll let him live in return. The player can fight, or go right into a wonderful joke (requires decent ranks in Persuade): Two [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Mandalorians]] are walking through the forests of Dxun, when they're attacked by an animal. One is critically wounded, but the other manages to kill the beast. The standing one radios back to base, saying, "My partner's wounded! What do I do?" His commanding officer responds, "Relax, trooper. First, make sure if your partner's dead." Blasterfire echoes through the communicator, followed by "Okay, now what?"

* ''[[Warcraft 3]]''. Oi, you lot! Night elves! You know that big forest you've got, with the moonglades and everything? Yeah, you might want to consider putting up a sign that says "KEEP OUT or please knock in case of ancient enemy when all must unite." I know it doesn't have the style of killing everyone who "defiles these lands," but you could still do that. The sign might cut down on the actual defilement. That way if the ancient thing did show up, it wouldn't find the living at each other's throats and you'd all have an easier time. If you couldn't keep the sign in repair since you're above noticing such vulgarities as the flow of time, you could invent an alarm clock. Surely someone who basks in their own greatness as much as you do can do that. Of course, if you prefer killing people, it's not my place to judge. I was just figuring.<br />* Ahem* Illidan Stormrage from is a bad example by night elf standards. Just about everything he's ever done, especially after he was freed from his prison, has been a terrible idea done for the right reasons, but since he never bothers to tell anyone, they assume he's evil. Specifically:

{{quote| '''Superhero''': I'm here to deliver a tall frosty glass of ''justice''!<br />

'''Mastermind''': No, no, I ordered a glass of just ice!<br />

'''Superhero''': Just ice?<br />

'''Mastermind''': Yeah, a glass with only ice in it! Seriously, not a single **** ing thing gets done around here... **** .<br />

'''Superhero''': I'll get a glass for you, then.<br />

'''Mastermind''': Be a dear, won't you? [presses button]<br />

'''Superhero''': [Drops into the [[Shark Pool]]]<br />

'''Mastermind''': [[[Evil Laugh]]] You stupid *** hole! }}

* While a lack of communication will cause casualties, in [[AmericasAmerica's Army]] this trope is also subverted. When a player throws a grenade, the soldier will shout "Frag out" (albeit in a foreign language), giving away his position and alerting the enemy to the incoming grenade.

* Near the end of ''[[Professor Layton and Thethe Diabolical Box]]'', we learn that {{spoiler|the "vampire", Anton, is upset because he thought Sophia had left him for another man. Understandable, as ''she said something that could easily be interpreted that way!''}} Is that really better than saying, {{spoiler|"You're going to be a father, but I can't raise a child here. Since you can't leave, I've got to leave you."}}

* {{spoiler|The Proxians}} from ''[[Golden Sun (Video Game)|Golden Sun]]''. {{spoiler|Though you'd have a hard time believing the civilization was acting for the greater good when their first team of warriors accidentally [[Doomed Hometown|destroy the hero's hometown]] and show no remorse for it. It also doesn't help that Agatio was hoping for Prox to take over Weyard.}}

* In ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'', if only the BLU Soldier and RED Demoman had just talked to each other instead of rushing at each other with rocket launcher and pipe bombs a-blazing, the whole WAR could have been averted, their friendship could have been saved, and they could be having ribs together right now.

{{quote| "''Talking?!'' Friendship is even worse than I thought. No, this won't do at all. If they talk, Miss Pauling, they might talk about work. And if they talk about work... they might talk about ''us''."}}

** Don't forget, the Administrator used their [[Berserk Button|Berserk Buttons]]s against one another. And Soldier and Demo aren't the sharpest knives in the... [[Toy Story 3|place where you]] [[Hypocritical Humor|keep the knives]].

** The plot of ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'' practically runs on this. If Terra and Aqua had compared notes more often they probably could have prevented most of the disaster and would have been able to stop {{spoiler|Vanitas and Ventus making Xehanort's weapon}} and if Master Eraqus had just told the three of them "Xehanort can't be trusted" they would probably {{spoiler|be around to stop the events of ''[[Video Game]]/Kingdom Hearts'' and ''[[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]]'', many of which wouldn't have even happened in the first place, instead of each being trapped somewhere}}. That's not even considering how much could have been prevented if had told them [[Well -Intentioned Extremist|everything]] [[Complete Monster|else]] [[Fallen Hero|he knows]] [[Manipulative Bastard|about the guy]]. [[It Gets Worse]] when you factor in {{spoiler|Mickey Mouse. If you remember from KHII, he had actually met Xehanort as Ansem The Wise's apprentice in the past. However, [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|since he never met or heard about Terra OR Xehanort]] in Birth By Sleep, he can't get suspicious, despite [[Old Master|his master, Yen Sid]] knowing about it all.}}

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days Over 2 (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2]]'' is absolutely full of this. You have {{spoiler|Axel}} witholding information from {{spoiler|Roxas and Xion, Xion}} keeping secrets from {{spoiler|1=Axel and Roxas, DiZ and Riku}} keeping {{spoiler|Mickey}} in the dark as far as their plans go, and any actual cooperation between the trios at a minimum. The result of all this is [[Downer Ending|bleak,]] to say the least.

* This almost happens in ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed Brotherhood]]'', where [[Niccolo Machiavelli]] likes being so secretive and mysterious that he alienates his closest allies, which along with some circumstancial evidence leads them becoming convinced that he's a traitor to their cause. Only a happy coincidence and quick acting on Ezio's part prevent him from getting a dagger in his back. Afterwards they even acknowledge that they should actually talk with each other more often.

* Half the frustration of playing ''[[OperatorsOperator's Side]]''/''[[Lifeline]]'', where the player has to verbally convey instructions to the character (i.e., "run", "shoot", "dodge left"). If the game cannot interpret what the player is attempting to say correctly, the character will not do what the player wants her to do. It can require a very high level of patience to put up with a mediocre game if the player tends to speak with an accent (by "accent", something that deviates from "standard English", i.e., that found in Chicago.)

* Damn near the ''entire plot'' of ''[[Arc Rise Fantasia]]'' took place because Prince Weiss never bothered to explain the setting's Dark Secrets to his brothers until it was too late and they had already both unknowingly made a [[Deal Withwith the Devil]], one of them having gone too far in doing so to turn back in good conscience.

* ''[[Odin Sphere]]'', from the first of Gwendolyn's chapters to the last of Velvet's, is built on this trope. The characters ''never'' talk about what's important before it's too late and it ends up not only killing (especially {{spoiler|Oswald, who kills himself because he thinks Gwendolyn doesn't love him}}), but going the whole nine yards causing [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]]. Not only does [[Poor Communication Kills]] set the plot in motion, [[It Got Worse|it keeps it going, and going, and going]].

** Elan's aforementioned attempt to explain just digs him into deeper trouble, but that isn't an example of this trope -- fortrope—for him, it's perfectly in character to go off on ill-considered tangents.

** It gets worse: when V {{spoiler|tells hir mate that s/he made a [[Deal Withwith the Devil]] to save hir and their children}}, and s/he gets angry. S/he insists that s/he doesn't know the whole story. S/he admits this, but calls hir on {{spoiler|keeping the power she needed to save their family}}, and asks hir to make a choice between hir power and their family. V could have tried to explain more, if only to justify hirself and why s/he needs (or wants) to keep hir power a little longer, but instead s/he just says that s/he needs to make everything right again. An ultimatum had been issued and time was slipping away, but for someone who wants to keep both, V certainly isn't acting in a manner that will let hir do so. Though hir mental state may be justified.

*** A lot of grief might have been saved had DuPree ''actually'' sent a device team down to analyze Agatha's transmitter in Sturmhalten, instead of just joking about doing it and then bombing the damn thing... after the damage was done anyway.

** Klaus immediately ordered to lock Agatha up and keep sedated when he discovered who she is, before Sturmhalten, back on the airship. Much the same for Punch and Judy. ItNot only does this set a bad tone in his interaction with Agatha, but together with Dr. Beetle's more[[Secret Keeper|involvement]] and suspicions about Klaus in his notes<ref>so far it's known only second hand, without details</ref>, this adds up to a "big picture" of anthe setup. That is, the start of ''Girl Genius'' story is set during a late stage in escalation of distrust between Klaus and Barry, which soon blew up openly.

* Played for laughs in ''[[Dr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog]]''. When Dr. Horrible tries to warn Captain Hammer about the broken Death Ray, he interrupts, saying "I have no time for your warnings, Dr. Horrible". Then proceeds to toss off a one-liner before firing. [[It Doesnt End Well|It doesn't end well]]

{{quote| '''Aang''': {{spoiler|Why didn't you tell me about your dad's [[Omnicidal Maniac|crazy plan]] before?}}<br />

** Another example was in ''The Terror Beyond''; Solomon Grundy has been "recruited" by Aquaman and Doctor Fate to help prevent a Cthluhu-[[Expy]] from [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|coming unsealed]]. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl come to stop them, believing they were up to no good. Rather than explaining the situation, Fate teleports Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Supes, and Grundy across the globe to have them fight it out, while he gets his ass handed to him by Hawkgirl. Great job, Doc.

*** In fact, all the characters can be excused for this. Doctor Fate's team is [[Shout -Out|standing in]] for Marvel's [[The Defenders]]. The situation would make more sense in that universe, as opposed to the more optimistic world of [[The DCAU]]. For example, [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]], even in this show, isn't as much of a [[Jerkass]] as [[Namor]] tends to be.

{{quote| '''Legs:''' Johnny Tightlips, where'd they hit ya?<br />

'''Johnny:''' I ain't sayin' nothin'.<br />

'''Legs:''' But what'll I tell the doctor?<br />

** Megatron realized this too -- thetoo—the first thing he did when Sumdac noticed he had been reactivated was to make up a sob story about how he was ashamed of his ruined state and made Sumdac promise not to reveal his condition to his "fellow" Autobots.

* ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]'': Princess Bubblegum needs the Ice King to howl with pain. She tells Finn and Jake ''that'' part, but not ''why''. And then leaves them to guard him. She was called away at the last moment, but it wouldn't've been particularly hard to say, {{spoiler|"A plague is affecting my land and I need his howls to cure it."}}

* Invoked in the ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'' episode "Chocolate With Nuts" with a character that is so ''insanely enthusiastic'' about the prospect of buying some chocolate from door-to-door salesmen Spongebob and Patrick that he scares them away for the entire episode, both afraid that they've pressed his [[Berserk Button]] instead. "'''''CHOCOLAAATE!'''''"

* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' "Party of One", Pinkie Pie interrogates Spike to find out why the other ponies are avoiding her after-party-party for Gummy. Her aggression freaks him out and he takes her demand ("''tell'' me that my friends are avoiding me because they don't like my parties and THEY DON'T WANT TO BE MY ''FRIENDS ANYMORE!''") literally. She takes it as confirmation of her fears and becomes bitter and miserable.

** It happens again in "Bridle Gossip", where Zecora attempts to {{spoiler|warn the cast that they've wandered into a patch of magical plants. Unfortunately, due to the fact that she insists on [[Rhymes Onon a Dime|rhyming everything]], it ends up sounding like a threat, and when the effects of the plants kick in the cast blames Zecora for cursing them. It doesn't help that that they're already somewhat scared of her.}}

* The ''[[The Avengers: EarthsEarth's Mightiest Heroes (Animation)|Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]'' episode "Everything Is Wonderful" fits this trope to a T. All [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]] had to do was inform business rival Simon Williams that the latter's company was going under and Stark himself was only purchasing it to save it. Instead of doing this flat-out, he remained aloof, inattentive, unfeeling, and cold as Simon was practically weeping at his feet. [[Ant-Man|Hank Pym]] called him out on it, and even though Stark knew what he was doing, it still didn't drive him to run after Simon as he stormed out in a huff. And then Simon gets transformed into [[Wonder Man|a being of pure energy]], driven only to destroy Stark for his perceived callousness.

* The relationship between Rex and his brother Cesar in season 3 of ''[[Generator Rex (Animation)|Generator Rex]]'' goes downhill because Cesar is too tight-lipped to explain why he is cooperating with Black Knight and helping her to collect the Meta-Nanites. {{spoiler|He's planning to give that power to Rex.}}

* There is a ([http://www.snopes.com/language/misxlate/toux.asp false]) urban legend about Napoleon standing over a mass of prisoners. His men asked what to do, and Napoleon coughed, said something about it, and all the prisoners were killed. Apparently, the words "Ma sacrée toux!" (My damned cough!) sound a lot like "Massacrez tout!" ([[Kill 'Em All|Kill them all]]!) Oops.

* The aviation industry uses a standardized vocabulary, English is used even when the pilots and controllers aren't native speakers, and air traffic instructions must be repeated by pilots to ensure mutual understanding. Many crashes and incidents have been caused because someone ignores, misunderstands, or assumes wrongly what someone else said, the most notable being the 1977 [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster:Tenerife airport disaster#Communication_misunderstandingsCommunication misunderstandings|Tenerife airport collision]]. Investigations focused around several misunderstandings in communication, especially the Dutch co-pilot saying "We are at takeoff" - a phrase the controller interpreted as 'we are ready' not 'we are taking off'. Even worse, the controller answered just with "okay".

** The book "Airport Intl." closed a chapter with an incident where the pilot called for "takeoff power"--putting—putting the engines at takeoff power--andpower—and his co-pilot interpreted it as an order to "take off power", and crashed the plane. "Fortunately, these strangers met on a simulator."

** The [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Charkhi_Dadri_mid:1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air_collisionair collision|1996 Charkhi Dadri Mid Air Collision]] is attributed to the Kazhak Pilots' poor English skills which led them to descend well below assigned altitude to that of the Saudi 747. Worse, ATC had no radar capable of measuring altitudes to warn them.

** Much of the butchery on the first day of the Somme was due to this: word of initial lodgements in the enemy front line with requests for urgent reinforcement prompted dispatch of said reinforcements, which is good military sense ("reinforce success"). Alas, byBy the time the message got through (no walkie-talkies in those days), the picture had changed and the reinforcements were massacred; the advancing barrage couldn't be called back to deal with unsuppressed machine guns; etc. etc. The tragedy of an industrial war in which communications technology lagged behind everything else. The British eventually fixed the problem by de-emphasising initiative and dash in favour of carefully rehearsed and scripted advances onto limited objectives and [[More Dakka|improvements in artillery technique]], to the point where the last 100 days of the First Word War was a series of unbroken victories over the Germans.

** There'sTom supposedlyBrodie, awhen storyreporting aboutthe Britishsituation forcesto duringan American superior in [[The Korean War]] requestingdescribed helphis fromregiment's asituation American(Battle unitof withthe "IImjin thinkRiver) we're inas "a bit of a sticky situation here"." The AmericansAmerican didn't understand that was typical British understatement, told them to stay put (and did not promise reinforcements), and it didn't end well.

** Nicely spoofed in the first series of ''[[Black AdderBlackadder]]'', when two knights overhear the King merely ''quoting'' Henry II in midst of a discussion about how glad he is not to have the same trouble (the King is actually very pleased with the job Edmund is doing as the new Archbishop). Of course, it doesn't help that the King is played by [[Brian Blessed]] and so everything that comes out of his mouth sounds like an angry command.

* The Japanese High Command responded to the American demand for a surrender prior to the atomic bombings using the word ''mokusatsu'' as the operative phrase. ''Mokusatsu"'' has a spectrum of meanings, from the intended "we are ignoring this as we are totally deadlocked on a response" to the literal translation which would be akin to "to kill with silent contempt". The Americans assumed the meaning was the literal version and bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This has been used by the NSA as a textbook example of never assuming what the intended meaning of an ambiguous phrase is while translating.

* Ever heard of the Shiloh Baptist Church Panic? It's widely considered to be one of the most bizarre disasters in U.S. history. On September 19, 1902, the predominantly African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama was hosting a convention with Booker T. Washington as the keynote speaker, and had recently moved to a new building, which featured [[Myopic Architecture|a steep, narrow stairwell with brick walls on either side]] that led from the front doors to the sanctuary. During Washington's speech, the choir director and a man in the audience got in an argument over a vacant seat. Someone egged them on, yelling "Fight! Fight!" Unfortunately, the crowd -- 2crowd—2,000 strong -- misheardstrong—misheard it as "Fire!" They rose en masse and made a mad dash for the stairs, pushing, shoving, tripping at the top of the stairs and falling, while others fainted out of sheer fright and were trampled. Eventually, the only way out of the church was blocked by ''a screaming wall of people 10 feet high''. 110 people died from suffocation and internal injuries, and many more were injured.

* The [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_train_disaster:San Bernardino train disaster|San Bernardino train disaster]], involving a cargo train taking a heavy load down a steep incline and going out of control, was caused by two of these.

* [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster:Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster]] was full of poor communication, some of it intentional. The company responsible for one of the most critical components of the shuttle (the O-rings that sealed the joints of the [[SR Bs]]SRBs) had not tested them properly in very-low-temperature conditions. What information they had suggested that anything below about 40F would cause them to not function properly. The weather on the day of the launch was 31F, with an estimated temperature of about 8F around the O-rings. The company responsible for these critical components (Morton Thiokol) stalled for hours before lying to NASA and telling them to go ahead with launch and that the parts would hold. The reasoning after the fact by the engineers responsible for why they didn't do more to prevent the disaster is that they kept silent in protest of their employer's actions, knowing that the launch would inevitably fail and being unable to stop this because their employer would not risk the loss of business by telling NASA to hold back the launch. It didn't help matters that NASA put a great deal of pressure on Morton Thiokol to see the shuttle launched on time, giving them the impression that they would lose NASA's business if they didn't launch.

* [[Russell Peters]] talks about a variant of this in one of his routines. He says that when a Filipino girl asked if he wanted to see her "susu" (breasts), he was confused because to Indians, "susu" means "pee-pee". So he tells the girl "Eww, no, flush it!", but the girl just thinks he's really [[Rule Thirty Six34|kinky]].

* [[William Thethe Conqueror]]'s coronation was greeted so loudly outside Westminster Abbey that his soldiers thought a riot had erupted and proceeded to massacre everyone. A similar thing happened at [[Richard the Lion Heart]]'s coronation but only Jews were killed.

[[Category:IndexA IndexFailure to Communicate]]