History Main / HighHopesZeroTalent

** Luckily, Discworld wizards tend to avoid doing magic whenever possible.
** There is also the fact that he does have most of the traits of a wizard, including ones that are, well, magical (like seeing the Eight Colour). The only ones he doesn't seem to have are the ability to ''do'' magic, and knowledge of when he is to die (and even ''Death'' doesn't know when Rincewind is to die, so that might not be a failure on his wizardiness per se).

* Cookie from NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide really wants to be on the cheer squad. It... doesn't work out, to say the least.

* Three words: [[Series/RedDwarf Arnold Judas Rimmer]]. Desperate to become an Officer, and yet failed his Astronavigation exam [[strike: nine]] [[strike: ten]] [[strike: eleven]] thirteen times. All in an attempt to [[WellDoneSonGuy win his mother's approval]]. The novel describes it best:

* In ''{{Scrubs}}'' Doug is an incredibly incompetent doctor, but ends up causing so many deaths he is able to start a new career as a pathologist in the morgue identifying the cause of death of corpses that have other pathologists stumped.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'': Rodney's father has a lifelong dream to play trumpet in a band. In the end he gets to live out his dream, and... he sucks.
** Well he DID say he was a little rusty. He’s been out of practice for at least twenty years.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'''s version of Basil Karlo could have been a world-famous actor...except for the fact that he didn't have the slightest bit of talent. The only work he could get was in cheesy low-rent horror movies, and he turned out to be far more effective at supervillainy as [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Clayface]] than he ever was as a legitimate actor.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' has Filch, a squib (cannot cast magic) who orders "Teach Yourself Magic" books anyway.

[[AC:{{Manga}} and {{Anime}}]]
* Kawachi's father in ''YakitateJapan'', who kept trying to become a baker at Pantasia until his death. This is revealed to be the driving force behind Kawachi's own determination.

[[AC:{{Theater}}]]

* Christian Weston Chandler's great dream in life is to be a famous comic book artist who writes and draws his own property for a major publisher like ArchieComics, DarkHorseComics, or what have you. Unfortunately, his magnum opus is ''{{Sonichu}}''.

[[AC:{{Anime and Manga}}]]

* [[SpiderMan Peter Parker]] had to deal with an unwanted fangirl in the form of Sally Avril, who was inspired by Spider-Man to try and become a costumed heroine herself. Unfortunately, she simply didn't have the talent for it, and eventually got herself killed when she insisted on continuing despite Spidey's repeated attempts to talk her out of doing it.
* The original Jester, an archenemy of {{Daredevil}} dreamed of being a major Shakespearean actor, and trained himself in everything from acrobatics to boxing to swordplay to try and improve his chances. Unfortunately, he forgot to get the one kind of training he actually needed-namely, ''acting lessons''. He was such a bad actor that the only work he could get was as the the pie in the face guy for a two-bit comedian, and eventually he became so embittered he decided to take the skills he was actually good at and became a costumed criminal.

* Cookie from {{Neds Declassified School Survival Guide}} really wants to be on the cheer squad. It... doesn't work out, to say the least.

* Christian Weston Chandler's great dream in life is to be a famous comic book artist who writes and draws his own property for a major publisher like ArchieComics, DarkHorseComics, or what have you. Unfortunately, his magnum opus is ''{{Sonichu}}''.

* ''{{Robots}}'': Rodney's father has a lifelong dream to play trumpet in a band. In the end he gets to live out his dream, and... he sucks.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'''s version of Basil Karlo could have been a world-famous actor...except for the fact that he didn't have the slightest bit of talent. The only work he could get was in cheesy low-rent horror movies, and he turned out to be far more effective at supervillainy as [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Clayface]] than he ever was as a legitimate actor.

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* In Scrubs Doug is an incredibly incompetent doctor, but ends up causing so many deaths he is able to start a new career as a pathologist in the morgue identifying the cause of death of corpses that have other pathologists stumped.

* Three words: [[RedDwarf Arnold Judas Rimmer]]. Desperate to become an Officer, and yet failed his Astronavigation exam [[strike: nine]] [[strike: ten]] [[strike: eleven]] thirteen times. All in an attempt to [[WellDoneSonGuy win his mother's approval]]. The novel describes it best:

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' has two actual examples in Filch and [[spoiler:Mrs. Figg]]. The latter seems content in her role as Dumbledore's secret guardian for Harry, while Filch orders "Teach Yourself Magic" books.
** And then there's Hagrid, who flunked out of Hogwart's (Mostly due to Tom Riddle setting him up as the cause of the Basilisk attacks, but it was highly unlikely he'd pass his [=OWLs=], allowing use of his magic, legally). He hung on to his broken wand (snapped in half at his dismissal from Hogwarts) and [[TheNotSecret disguised it]] as an umbrella.

* EdWood-- his big-screen and RealLife versions-- wanted to be a great movie director whose films would be remembered long after his death. [[SoBadItsGood two out of three ain't bad, we suppose.]]
** [[{{Birdemic}} James Nguyen]] is one angora sweater away from following in Wood's exact footsteps.
* Susan Alexander, second wife of [[Film/CitizenKane Charles Foster Kane]], gets put out on a huge opera debut by her husband. While her voice may be pleasant for something singing in the shower, she is not cut out for opera in any way. Her vocal teacher loudly proclaims she is unteachable and more or less [[FacePalm facepalms]] every time she sings. [[SmallNameBigEgo Kane]] won't listen to Susan, the instructor, or every newspaper critic in America and insists she keeps going on stage.
** Orson Welles later regretted this part of the film, as people assumed she was based on screen actress and William Randolph Hearst's paramour Marion Davies, who Welles (and many others) felt was actually a fairly talented actress and a nice person.

** And then there's Hagrid, who flunked out of Hogwart's (Mostly due to Tom Riddle setting him up as the cause of the Basilisk attacks, but it was highly unlikely he'd pass his [=OWLs=], allowing use of his magic, legally). He hung on to his broken wand (snapped in half at his dismissal from Hogwarts) and [[TheNotSecret disguised it]] as an umbrella. His teaching skills were also on par with his magical skills.

* Linguini of ''{{Ratatouille}}'' wants to be a great chef, even more so when he discovers [[spoiler:he's Auguste Gusteau's son]]. Unfortunately for him, he's a total LethalChef. While discovering he's a bad chef (especially without Remy), he's an excellent waiter and host.

* Susan Alexander, second wife of [[CitizenKane Charles Foster Kane]], gets put out on a huge opera debut by her husband. While her voice may be pleasant for something singing in the shower, she is not cut out for opera in any way. Her vocal teacher loudly proclaims she is unteachable and more or less [[FacePalm facepalms]] every time she sings. [[SmallNameBigEgo Kane]] won't listen to Susan, the instructor, or every newspaper critic in America and insists she keeps going on stage.

* Susan Alexander, second wife of [[CitizenKane Charles Foster Kane]] gets put out on a huge opera debut by her husband. While her voice may be pleasant for something singing in the shower, she is not cut out for opera in any way. Her vocal teacher loudly proclaims she is unteachable and more or less [[FacePalm facepalms]] every time she sings. [[SmallNameBigEgo Kane]] won't listen to Susan, the instructor, or every newspaper critic in America and insists she keeps going on stage.

* Cookie from {{Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide}} really wants to be on the cheer squad. It... doesn't work out, to say the least.

* ''TheBatman'''s version of Basil Karlo could have been a world-famous actor...except for the fact that he didn't have the slightest bit of talent. The only work he could get was in cheesy low-rent horror movies, and he turned out to be far more effective at supervillainy as [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Clayface]] than he ever was as a legitimate actor.

* The TropeCodifier is Rincewind of the ''{{Discworld}}'' series. Rincewind does have many actual skills (he's something of an {{Omniglot}}, for starters; he can scream for mercy in nineteen languages, and just scream in another forty-four) and he seems to be a semi-competent librarian, but he dreams of being a real wizard. Unfortunately for him, he is [[ThisLoserIsYou "a natural wizard in the same way fish are natural mountaineers."]]

* HarryPotter has two actual examples in Filch and [[spoiler:Mrs. Figg]]. The latter seems content in her role as Dumbledore's secret guardian for Harry, while Filch orders "Teach Yourself Magic" books.

** And then there's Hagrid, who flunked out of Hogwart's (Mostly due to Tom Riddle setting him up as the cause of the Basilisk attacks, but it was highly unlikely he'd pass his [=OWLs=], allowing use of his magic, legally. He hung on to his broken wand (snapped in half at his dismissal from Hogwarts) and [[TheNotSecret disguised it]] as an umbrella. His teaching skills were also on par with his magical skills.

* EdWood-- his big-screen and RealLife versions-- wanted to be a great movie director. [[SoBadItsGood At least he was a director.]]

* The TropeCodifier is Rincewind of the ''{{Discworld}}'' series. Rincewind does have many actual skills (he's something of an {{Omniglot}}, for starters; he can scream for mercy in nineteen languages, and just scream in another forty-four) and he seems to be a semi-competent librarian, but he dreams of being a real wizard. Unfortunately for him, he has [[ThisLoserIsYou "the magical aptitude of a fish"]].