Poor Communication Kills: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

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 ''not'' to communicate.

== Anime ==

* In ''[[Gakuen Tengoku]],'' Oshino's inability to articulate the fact that he's a new teacher got him his ass beat.

* 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!]].

** Another one: {{spoiler|A handsome singer is killed by his manager after he started treating her badly after she got plastic surgery. What she didn't know was that he liked her the way she was and only learned the truth after she killed him and took another listen to his last song.}}

** Only barely averted in a more recent story about a wife who tends to go overboard and her fed-up husband who thought she was ruining his relationships with his workmates by emailing them with her suspicions {{spoiler|she was actually thanking them for taking him out on camping trips but to be careful because of his rare blood type; because they didn't want to accidentally hurt him they stopped asking him out. Unfortunately he didn't realize this until after ''he tricked her into attacking him to cure his hiccups so he could kill her''. Fortunately she survived and even forgave him -- after all they're going to be parents!}}

* ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' is also a noteworthy offender. The good guys have almost enough information to explain the whole plot and background story, but never get the idea that any of their friends might be interested in their personal side adventures.

* Most trouble in ''[[Binbou Shimai Monogatari]]'' stems from the two sisters simply not ''talking'' with each other about what's bothering them.

** 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]] them.

** 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.

** Athrun telling Nicol that the pilot Strike was a friend of his whom tragic circumstances forced him into reluctantly fighting, and not evil and hell bent on slaughtering them would have likely saved Nicol's life later on. Instead Nicol suicides into Strike in a vain attempt to save Athrun's life, which was never in danger because Kira would likely have just left Athrun alone.

* In ''[[Appleseed Ex Machina]]'' the government advices the general public to hand over very handy Connexus-devices telling that they've been "deemed harmful". Instead of simply saying: {{spoiler|"These devices turn you into insane cyber-zombie and may force the police to shoot you."}} Needless to say, few listen.

** Nagi informs the HiME that {{spoiler|1=the HiME Star is descending and will continue to do so until someone gains its power. The earthquakes and weather shifts caused by its movemement make the HiME consider that it will destroy the world otherwise.}} Not really, but the {{spoiler|1=perceived time crunch forces several of the more impulsive HiME into actions they might've waited before taking otherwise.}}

** Yukariko blames {{spoiler|Nao for attacking her after the above revelation, in reality [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit|an illusion projected by her CHILD]].}} Nao, already a bitter, cynical girl by nature, {{spoiler|1=assumes the HiME coming to confront her about attacking Yukariko are attacking her first, and [[Eye Scream|loses an eye in the resulting fight]], firmly shoving her from Anti-Hero into an antagonist slot.}}

* In the manga ''[[Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo]]'', the main character is a bad speaker with self-confidence issues whose only two friends suddenly stop talking to her after a transfer student joins the school and steals her boyfriend. She doesn't take it well, feeling crushed and friendless, and soon decides that [[Yandere|revenge followed by suicide]] is the only option she has left.

* The entire series of ''[[Ranma One Half]]'' 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 Say So?|Ranma could have just told her]]. His rather accurate response is "And just how often do you listen before clobbering me?"

** Although it hasn't killed anyone yet, Hayate seems to be a master at this. The entire story was started because he couldn't articulate himself correctly.

** The time it nearly resulted in someone getting killed was in {{spoiler|Izumi's}} arc. Her father asks him if his child, {{spoiler|Izumi}} loves him, and he answers 'yes' {{spoiler|Kotetsu}}. Hayate ends up having to fight in a lava pit, what is supposed to be a fight to the death. {{spoiler|Izumi gets closer to dying because she's wearing silk.}}

* The entire "White Devil incident" from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS'' and a good deal of angst on Teana's part could've been avoided with either more feedback from Nanoha or a single mention from Teana about Nanoha's own training (presumably leading to her {{spoiler|learning about the latter's [[Heroic RROD]] earlier}}).

** Poor communication leads to at least three-fourths of the fights in this series. The antagonists usually have very good reasons for their actions, it just takes a few [[Wave Motion Gun|Starlight Breakers]] before they're willing to talk about it.

* In a filler arc of ''[[Naruto]]'' ended with the 6 Tails being captured, likely entirely because ''no one decided to warn him about the Akatsuki.''

** Well to be fair, they didn't know he was a Jinchuriki since he never bothered to tell them.

*** No it's not, because Naruto should have noticed the demonic chakra emanating from Utakata during the battle, never mind that giant slug transformation.

* ''[[Eureka Seven]]'''s Holland. If you take a shot for every time he conceals important information from other people (especially Renton), don't expect to be awaken by the end of any given episode. No, nobody necessarely dies because of it, but he was the source of much pain and frustration for everyone just because he ''wouldn't talk''.

* [[Maison Ikkoku]] features a lot of this, while playing with or subverting it at other times. Godai attempts to explain himself several times, but the situations he finds himself in are often ''so'' outlandish that Kyoko doesn't believe him. It's played straight for Coach Mitaka and his potential fiancee Asuna by the end, though- it ends up removing him from the picture entirely.

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

* Used heavily but then averted in ''[[Heroic Age]]'', in that the aliens attack and war against humans without warning, but when several actions make it clear they have a hard time understanding each others' motives, {{spoiler|both sides enter negotiations and call a truce}}.

** Another filler villain {{spoiler|got his master sealed away for a hundred or so years because their relationship deteriorated, causing him not to be able to hear his call, and come to his side.}} So {{spoiler|Muramasa spent a century and a half trying to recruit a force to free his master Kouga.. Only to be stabbed to death by said master because the fact that Kouga was a [[Jerkass]] to him before he got sealed away meant that Muramasa couldn't hear him calling him.}} Again, [[Epic Fail|yep.]]

* This is a [[Running Gag]] with Princess Vivi in [[One Piece]]. She constantly forgets to inform the Straw Hats about very important things from Baroque Works agents to the Alabastian Desert Wildlife until they have already happened.

* In ''[[Mayo Chiki]]'' this happens a lot, mainly something to due with Kinjiro trying to hide the fact that [[Dropped a Bridget On Him|Subaru is a girl]].

* In [[Kanon]] Aizawa Yuuichi used to visit his aunt Minase Akiko and cousin Nayuki in their quiet little town every holiday, but one year something happened and he left for seven years. The entire plot would be brought to a halt if not for this and [[There Are No Therapists]].

 

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[G.I. Joe]]'', late in the series. Cobra has captured a bunch of G.I.Joes. Cobra Commander, off-site, says to let them go. Unfortunately he conveys this as 'Get rid of them'. The officers on site dither and whine. Instead of calling back to ask 'You mean shoot them?' they agree to let a mook do it. Several Joes get their heads ventilated. GRAPHICALLY. Yikes.

* In an issue of ''[[X-Factor (Comic Book)|X-Factor]]'', where Siryn is trying to tell Jamie she's pregnant and Jamie thinks she leaving the team. Following a brief argument after which Jamie storms off, Monet points out to Siryn that rather than Jamie being an insensitive ass, he obviously ''didn't'' know what she was trying to say.

 

== Fan Works ==

 

 

== Film ==

** The environmentalists are also equally guilty. After seeing the scientist go into a panic at the idea of releasing the chimps, they never think to clarify what he's talking about, ask why he's panicking or even do enough research to know if the chimps are infected with any dangerous diseases.

*** They'd possibly done this sort of thing before, and may have heard a few half-hearted justifications like that one first appeared to be. Remember though, a crazy, animal torturing scientist going on about how you need to kill your best friend within the next 10 seconds or they'll become a zombie isn't going to be that convincing no matter how well you phrase it.

*** 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 -- again, because he is close to Palpatine.

* The Finnish film ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378848/ Tali-Ihantala 1944]'' has a scene that shows the tragic results of a language barrier between the Finnish troops and Swedish volunteers. One of the Finnish veterans is instructing the volunteer troops on using a ''panzerfaust'', stressing the fact that the weapon releases a lethal tail flame upon firing. However, he tells this in ''Finnish'', which the Swedish troops do not understand. Later, during an ambush against Soviet tanks, one of the volunteers gets killed by the tail flame. One of the Finnish soldiers tries to warn him not to hold the weapon against his shoulder while firing, but since the warning is again in Finnish, he does not understand it and fires anyway.

* Subverted in ''[[Mars Attacks (Film)]]!''. At first it appears that poor communication is the cause of the Martians' attacks on the humans. Later it's made clear that the Martians intended to invade and destroy humanity anyway.

* As [http://www.brunching.com/daredevil.html The Self-Made Critic] points out, this could have cleared up a lot of confusion in the movie ''[[Daredevil]]'':

{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Electra'''}}: "You killed my father!"<br />

** Actually, a major recurring problem in Harry Potter is that [http://loleia.deviantart.com/art/Harry-Potter-Comic-07-124934427 nobody tells Harry anything.] Dumbledore actually apologizes for this in the fifth book, saying that he didn't tell Harry about one particular major plot point because he [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|wanted him to have a happy life as long as possible]]. He doesn't seem to be the only one.

* ''[[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|perfect target]]. Ironically, once the damage is done and they must let her in on it, she copes rather better than her husband did.

* Every....single...protagonist in Robert Jordan's [[Wheel of Time|The Wheel Of Time]] series appears to suffer from this. Seriously.

** Luckily, the antagonists have the exact same problem, and while the protagonists have a long-term scheme and may be able to at least put aside their differences, the antagonists are busy squabbling over who gets to be [[The Dragon]].

* Herman Melville took this trope literally in his little-known novella ''Billy Budd'', in which Billy, a Christlike figure whose only flaw is a tendency to stutter when he gets upset, {{spoiler|killed the master-at-arms, Claggart, after Claggart falsely accused him of conspiracy to mutiny. He got so upset when he couldn't stop stuttering long enough to defend himself that he punched Claggart in the temple and he died. All three main characters--Billy, Claggart, and Captain Vere--die.}} But, then again, without it all of Melville's lovely [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|symbolism]] falls apart, and we can't have that.

** Little known? It's a favourite to all those Freud Was Right type pervy essayist, and were it not taught by high school teachers who try everything to make the students hate it, it would have a massive Yaoi Fangirl fanbase...

** An unintentional example from that series was the attempted McQueen coup: McQueen knew that she'd eventually be considered too much of a threat by the Committee for Public Safety and would be eliminated, and so starts planning her contingency plan for when the time came. Pierre and St-Just also recognized she'd be a threat and would probably have to be eliminated so start planning ''their'' contingency plan for when the time came. A partially overheard conversation results in McQueen believing they were moving against her immediately (instead of merely planning to at some point in the future), causing her to launch her own plan prematurely.

* In ''[[The Forever War]]'', a war that lasts centuries between humans and an alien race {{spoiler|turns out to be based on a misunderstanding}}. Considering that the author is a Vietnam vet, one need merely read The Pentagon Papers to see where he gets his idea.

* ''[[Metro 2033]]'' with the Dark Ones, they just want to find a way to help the humans out, but the telepathy caused people to go mad and thought they were out to kill them like other mutants. Needless to say Artyom realize this a bit too late as he plants the transmitter.

* In ''Arrow's Fall'', part of the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series, the novel's primary romantic tension is caused by Dirk assuming himself to be part of a [[Love Triangle]] consisting of himself, Kris, and Talia, and trying to pull an [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]], when in fact both Kris and Talia are trying to get her hooked up with Dirk. Dirk's stubborn refusal to discuss the matter with either of them sends him into a [[Drowning My Sorrows|breakdown]], and causes the resolution to be put off until after {{spoiler|Talia nearly dies and Kris ''does'' die}}.

* ''The Key to Rondo'' could plausibly have instead been titled: ''[[Poor Communication Kills]]: The Novel''.

* In ''[[The Elenium]]'' series, an Eshandist leader had a speech problem and at one battle he yelled "Fall on your foes!" but mangled it and his followers heard "Fall on your swords!" He spent the next several years wondering why he lost.

** Actually, there have been some ''terrible'' cases of this trope occurring across the [[Star Wars]] Expanded Universe. Arguably the biggest one was the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. It turns out that a number of people like Palpatine/Sidious, Vergere, Thrawn, and Darth Krayt ''knew'' about their existence and simply did not tell the galaxy at large - and giving vague hints to only a few people at the most. Sure, most of these people were villains and some of them were neutral, but [[We Could Have Avoided All This|a lot of grief (among other things) could have spared if people were simply told about it]]. The same things can be applied to Jacen and Abeloth, as well as Darth Bane's Sith Order and the Jedi Order.

* In ''Corelli's Mandolin,'' {{spoiler|Pelagia spends decades waiting for Corelli, during which time she adopts an abandoned baby (named after him, no less). Turns out that Corelli did come back relatively early on, but saw her with the baby, assumed she must've had it with another man, and stormed off without talking to her. When Pelagia asks if he didn't consider the possibility that she was raped in his absence, he [[Values Dissonance|admits that]] [[Defiled Forever|it probably wouldn't have made a difference to him]].}}

 

 

* ''[[Friends]]'' is built on this trope. You can actually watch the writers become more dependent on this trope as the series progresses and they start running out of ideas. The best (worst?) example is when Chandler attempts to masturbate and Monica (his wife) interrupts him. He quickly changes the channel to a show about sharks, and Monica presumes this means he finds sharks sexually stimulating. This is, not coincidentally, the low point of the entire series.

** That's not what [[Jumping the Shark]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|means]].

** Peter and Hiro ended up in a fight because neither was all too keen on examining why each was doing what they're doing by defending and attacking Adam respectively. And these are people who can ''[[Talking Is a Free Action|stop time!]]'' Hiro and Peter could have had talked it out while sipping tea in Tokyo and come back with the whole thing handily resolved, were it not for "With great power [[Deus Exit Machina|goes]] all intelligence".

*** The Writer's Strike is probably the reason they had to speed through that. If the season was allowed to take its natural course they might have done all that (well, maybe not the sipping tea in Tokyo part).

** There's a ''whole'' lot of other unnecessary lack of communication. Just watch the end of Season 1 / the beginning of Season 2.

* ''[[Kamen Rider]]'', under the writing of Toshiki Inoue, tends to suffer from this. Both ''[[Kamen Rider Agito|Agito]]'' and ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva|Kiva]]'' had near-identical situations: a member of the secondary cast (Ryo Ashihara/Gills and Keisuke Nago/IXA, respectively) is friends with the main character while despising and seeking to destroy his Rider identity (Ashihara because he thinks Agito killed the woman he loved, Nago because he thinks Kiva is an [[Omnicidal Maniac]]). Shoichi and Wataru never think to reveal their identities in order to defuse the situation, which lets the tension build. In the end, {{spoiler|Ryo and Nago find out by accident, and they're both relieved; Ryo because he knows a good guy like Shoichi could never be a murderer, and Nago because he thinks the power of Kiva is in good hands with Wataru.}}

* Dear Lord, ''[[Roswell]]''. Max and Liz have a giant misunderstanding in season two that fans will never get over.

* Happens ''so many times'' on [[Smallville]], usually because the spirit of Jor-El in the Fortress of Solitude is a total prick and insists on talking cryptically. In the episode ''Lazarus'', Jor-El warns Clark Kent that "a great darkness" is coming. Sure enough, Lex Luthor {{spoiler|(actually his clone)}} returns. Clark defeats him and reports his success. {{spoiler|Jor-El reveals that he doesn't really give a crap about Lex Luthor. The "great darkness" he was refering to was ''[[Darkseid]] '', who arrives on Earth safely and unnoticed. To make this situation even worse, Jor-El just tells off Clark for the mistakes he made during the episode and shuts himself and the fortress down, ''without telling Clark anything about the actual threat.''}}

** Rex gets aggravated by the tendency of Gwen and Jack to run off and try to handle things on their own instead of just asking for help. He lampshades this trope when Gwen receives a message through the special contact lenses that {{spoiler|her family is being held hostage until she brings them Jack.}} Given the fact that the bad guys could only see whatever Gwen could see or receive a transcript of what was said while Gwen was looking at someone. She could easily have told Rex and Esther (and, you know, Jack, before {{spoiler|kidnapping him}} what was going on without tipping her hand.

* Much of the latter half of ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'', if not the entire series, could have been avoided if the humans and cylons had ever just sat down and compared notes, but even after the humans have cylon allies, they still don't even seem to consider sharing information with each other, despite all the half-information and lingering questions they all have about prophecies, the backstory, etc.

 

== Video Games ==

** "Don't worry about it" - You should be very worried.

** "It's not important" - It's ''extremely important.''

** "But could that mean?... No, impossible." - Yes it does and no it's not.

** "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.]]

* In the fighting game, ''Last Blade'', three siblings end up fighting each other with bladed weapons because A) the one suspected of killing their master is too much of a loner to bother saying he's innocent, B) his brother won't stop and listen to their sister (who knows who really killed their master), and C) they both find it appropriate to thwart their sister's attempts to communicate with them by attacking her with swords.

* A lot of problems in ''[[Touhou]]'' could be solved by talking it over. Instead they're solved with danmaku bullets. Of course [[Defeat Means Friendship|everyone sits down and has a nice cup of tea together afterwards]] so it's allright.

*** Furthermore, while trying to get Neverwinter's support is a questionable idea, simply stopping to talk to the hero one of the many times they crossed paths would've prevented a LOT of unnecessary bloodshed. To make it worse, when they do finally team up, Ammon keeps blaming the hero for everything that's happened. It takes influence and the right words in an optional scene to finally get him to admit to some guilt over his deeds.

** Not to mention how {{spoiler|the conflict and bloodshed of chapter 1 could've easily been avoided if Zeearie had actually explained ''why'' she needed the silver shards.}}

*** Though if you go to Korriban after [[The Reveal]], while playing as a dark-side character, there is a much better example. If the inhabitants of the Sith Academy had just decided to ''believe'' you when you tell them {{spoiler|you are Darth Revan}}, you would be able to take over the Academy with a whole lot less bloodshed.

* In ''[[Starcraft]]: Brood War'' Judicator Aldaris learns that the Dark Templar Matriarch {{spoiler|is being mind-controlled by Kerrigan.}} Instead of calmly informing Zertaul and Artanis upon their return to Shakuras, he incites a rebellion and babbles on like a deranged zealot. He nearly does get to tell them what's going on, but by then he wasted so much time spouting off apparent nonsense that Kerrigan manages to surround and kill him.

** Pretty much all of ''[[Starcraft]]: Brood War'' is an example of poor communication killing, or Kerrigan taking advantage of people's poor communication. The battles between the UED and the Dominion probably could have been avoided if the UED had attempted diplomacy, and Kerrigan probably couldn't have screwed over the Protoss so badly if Zeratul and Artanis still had contact with Raynor and Fenix. As things were, by the time those guys realized that teaming up was better than continuing to fight each other, it was too late to stop Kerrigan.

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

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

* In ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'', Dante finds {{spoiler|Arkham's}} dead body, and is immediately confronted about it by {{spoiler|his daughter}}. She asks if Dante killed him, and in spite of having no involvement whatsoever in his death, Dante responds "So what if I did?" Cue a fierce battle between the two...

* In ''[[Brutal Legend]]'', {{spoiler|Eddie}} uses some ''very'' flimsy evidence and some epic conclusion jumping to accuse {{spoiler|Ophelia}} of being a demon - cue a [[Break the Cutie|broken cutie]], [[Face Heel Turn]], and pain for everybody. Then [[It Got Worse|it gets worse]]. All of which could have been avoided if {{spoiler|Eddie}} hadn't [[Idiot Ball|been such a prat]], and they'd spent a couple of minutes talking things out.

** To be fair, everyone was very upset due to recent events, and many players will be thinking the same as Eddie at that point. There's a fairly good set-up of making {{spoiler|Ophelia}} look guilty as hell.

** {{spoiler|It is implied that Saturos and Menardi tried to explain the truth to the Vale elders, but when they didn't believe them, they were forced to take drastic action.}}

** A second example in ''The Lost Age'': when Sheba tells Karst about the fate of Saturos & Menardi, she simply says that Isaac killed them both. This makes Isaac seem to be a murderer, so Karst's [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] seems reasonable, as does her later confusion when Felix tries to defend Isaac from her. The truth is that {{spoiler|Saturos & Menardi attacked Isaac & friends with intent to kill, and their deaths were a ''double-suicide'' after Isaac & friends successfully fought them off, nonlethally, ''twice''}}. Did anybody ever explain this to Karst? No.

*** The worst offender would be Marethari, who tells Merrill that trying to repair an ancient magic mirror was dangerous and would only and badly. While Merrill was very convinced and even accepted exile instead of giving up, there was absolutely no reason not to tell her {{spoiler|that the demon who told her how it can be repaired was tricking her into releasing it from its prision. While willing to risk her own life, she would never let anyone else come to harm and even if she had not believed it, there was no reason not to try explaining it. Her death can then lead the ENTIRE CLAN to attack Merril, forcing you to ''wipe them all out'', unless you pick the right dialogue option.}}

* ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' has this problem a lot. Vague letters or notes with no clear addressee on them are the most common culprits, although the entire backstory of "Bridge to the Turnabout" could have been solved by good communication {{spoiler|without anyone dying.}} The last one is tragically lampshaded by {{spoiler|Godot,}} who points out that the whole situation would never have happened if {{spoiler|he had simply told Phoenix what was going on instead of trying to redeem himself.}}

** Alternately, if they had talked to each other first, they could have come to the conclusion both teams were being played, convinced their teammates of this, convinced their superiors of this, and rallied both companies together, which would lead to the Administrator, Saxton, and every higher-up at Mann Co. and TF Industries collectively having more dots on their domes than any [[Testosterone Poisoning|Hale]] could hope to survive. Machiavellian and disgusting though she may be, the Administrator had pragmatic reasons for breaking them up.

{{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]] 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]].

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'':

** In ''Revelations'', Ezio is asked by Prince Suleiman to assassinate {{spoiler|the Janissary captain Tarik Barleti}}, both for the assassination attempt on Suleiman and for colluding with an enemy of the empire. Although Ezio successfully kills his target, the dying {{spoiler|Tarik}} reveals that he'd actually been acting on his own initiative as a double agent (intending to undermine said enemy of the empire), and Suleiman later mourns that {{spoiler|Tarik}} had not informed him of this.

** In ''The Lost Archive'' DLC, {{spoiler|Lucy Stillman betrayed the Assassins and joined the Templars}} because her former mentor {{spoiler|William Miles}} cut off all communications with her during her deep cover assignment, effectively abandoning her for years. {{spoiler|Warren Vidic, knowing she was an Assassin all along}} filled the void in her life {{spoiler|and convinced her to join the Templars}}. The Assassins and their allies seem to have a real problem with this trope.

* Half the frustration of playing ''[[Operators 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.)

* In ''[[Free Space]]'', the original conflict between the Terrans and Vasudans is largely sparked by the Terrans screwing up a Vasudan linguistic ritual called "The Conversation."

* ''[[In the 1st Degree]]'' had this trope occur. Ruby knew that her boyfriend Tobin had a gun in his possession, but she said nothing about it because she was afraid (which she puts a [[Lampshade Hanging]] on). She may have a point, because Tobin was a bad boyfriend for her. Simon showed Tobin the gun Zack had locked in his desk drawer, because Simon was worried that Zack was going to kill his boss Tobin. Too bad he didn't realize that Tobin was going to kill Zack and not the other way around until it was too late. Yvonne Barnes {{spoiler|actually has a tape recording of Tobin threatening her husband Zack, because Tobin was trying to get money as part of insurance fraud, and Zack didn't want to be part of it}}. She did not reveal anything about this before, because she was trying to protect her husband's reputation from being ruined by him being implicated in an art theft and insurance fraud.

* As the various conspiracies going on in the story are too numerous to list for brevity's sake, let us just say that had the antagonists of the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' games simply sat down and talked with Snake (or Raiden) then the various tragedies and unfortunate consequences of the ENTIRE series could have been avoided. I avoid using the word villain because the major antagonists like Revolver Ocelot and Big Boss actually had very good reasons to do the things that they did, and because they never share this knowledge with Snake he is left none the wiser and treats them as terrorists, this inevitably forces their plans to reach their logical conclusions much later than what was intended.

** In a particularly tragic example of this, Varsuuvius in the Battle of Azure City is inadvertently discovered by fleeing soldiers who stumble upon him while invisible. They ask hir to save them with hir magic, but since s/he fled the battle because s/he was out of spells, the soldiers stand around allowing the hobgoblins to catch up and slaughter them. V might have convinced them to continue running if s/he said "I am out of spells you fools! Flee for your lives!", though doing so might have made the hobgoblins aware of him as well. V spends the next few months in a sleep-deprived equivalent state so as not to relive that nightmare.

*** V's verbosity is such a strong characteristic that this could indicate the dream was a guilt-induced distortion rather than a true flashback of the events.

*** Or, quite possibly, Varsuuvius couldn't even think of a way to weasel hir way out of this one. V knew s/he did it for all the wrong reasons and didn't want to confess that.

** Lord Shojo's death was a literal example of this trope. While in some ways, his [[Obfuscating Insanity]] and scheming served him sell during his life, it came to bite him in the ass when the [[Knight Templar|insanely overzealous]] Miko misinterprets his behavior as that of a traitor and with her typical yell of "smite evil", kills him. Since he wasn't evil, she loses her Paladin status/powers.

* [http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF246-Bee.gif This strip] from ''[[The Perry Bible Fellowship]]''.

* In ''[[Panthera]]'', Onca, who is inexperienced with her transformation, and consequently has trouble speaking in it, barely manages to convey the message that {{spoiler|they've been tricked and are fighting the good guys instead of the bad guys}} to Tigris. However, in an almost comedic case of [[You Have to Believe Me]], she fails to provide any of the evidence that led her to this conclusion, resulting in Tigris being disgusted that {{spoiler|the villains managed to trick Onca into switching sides in a few hours}}. It doesn't help that [[Not Now, Kiddo|Tigris views Onca as dangerously incompetent and naive]].

 

 

== Web Original ==

* A literal example in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' Simon Wood mistakes Darnell Butler for a player of the game (not altogether unreasonable, as he is holding a bloodied sword) and attacks, obstentatiously to [[Heroic Sacrifice|buy his girlfriend time to escape]]. Before Darnell can get the chance to explain, he has {{spoiler|accidentally killed Simon.}}

* [[Doug Walker]] really doesn't like this cliche.

* In ''[[Touhou]]'' roleplay ''[[Touhou a Glimmer of An Outside World (Roleplay)|Touhou a Glimmer of An Outside World]] Reimu'' was suspecting Yukari in making the rift in the sky, and Yukari was thinking Reimu's new costume is [[Evil Costume Switch]]. Once they start to "communicate," they [[It Got Worse|dug themselves deeper in each other's eyes.]]

* Near the end of the second season of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', the Watchtower's energy cannon is hacked into and used to blow up the headquarters of the [[Government Conspiracy]], also destroying a good portion of a small town, for the sake of making the League look bad. The League goes out to help the survivors, and a man asks The Flash why they're helping when they shot at them in the first place. Instead of saying "Our satellite was hijacked by an enemy," Flash stutters out, "We didn't... I..."

** To be fair, "An unknown third-party jacked our [[Kill Sat]]" doesn't sound much better.

*** Dr Fate can be excused for this due to the fact that a lot of his odder actions are actually the work of Nabu, the entity contained within the helmet. It will often make a decision that's best for the big picture but may end up hurting, or killing, the current wearer of the helmet.

*** 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.

* Many of the worse parts of ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' could have been avoided if Sumdac had told them about how he found their "friend" Megatron...

** Megatron realized this too -- 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.

* In ''[[The Little Mermaid]] II'', Melody is never told why she's not to go beyond the seawall. This becomes extremely problematic once Melody finds her grandfather's gift to her.

* In one episode of ''[[Chowder]]'' a rat that ordered a roast from the main cast ''burst'' out of his rat hole snarling and lunging at them. It's not until the very end after a harrowing car chase that he tells them that he is their customer.

** Similarly, in "Swarm of the Century", {{spoiler|Pinkie actually knows exactly how to rid the town of the Parasprites, but utterly fails to explain this to anyone else (because she's too busy trying to save the town single-handedly)}}, causing a whole slew of other problems.

* In one episode of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' Candace jumps to the conclusion that her best friend is dumping her when she gets the text message "CYL BFF". Cryptic, but one might expect a teenager glued to her phone to know that it meant "See you later, best friend forever" and not "Candace, you loser. Bad friendships fail".

 

== Real Life ==

* Henry II and the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket had disagreements over the rights and privileges of the Church. Four knights recently returned from the crusades overhead Henry saying "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" and interpreted this as a royal command. On December 29, 1170, they arrived at Canterbury and killed Becket when he refused to leave the cathedral. Henry soon after undertook public penance for his part in the murder, both because Becket was a friend (even if their friendship had been strained to the breaking point), and because his knights ''did'' murder the Archbishop of Canterbury, on what they assumed to be his orders.

** Actually, what Henry really said was even more likely to accidentally spur his knights into rash action. It was something along the lines of "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?"

*** Or that the person he was quoting to wasn't paying attention, so he got frustrated and had to yell it more than once.

* 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.

** One flight across African desert was only saved by the onboard engineer who ignored the navigator's fuel calculations (where the navigator thought miles to be kilometers, which would naturally give you about half the required load) and just filled full - hilarity reinforced by "complicated" nature of the TU-134's fuel gauges. Far into the flight, after several minutes of total angst in the cabin when the navigator relaized his mistake, the engineer presented them with real fuel loads and commented: "Your fuel's gone, now we're flying on mine".

* [[wikipedia: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]]) 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.

* [[William The 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.