History Main / IntelligenceEqualsIsolation

* [[ChildProdigy T.J. Henderson]] from the show ''Series/SmartGuy'' was too young to fit in with his fellow high-schoolers and could only relate to kids his own age around basketball and other non-intellectual activities (which usually resulted in disaster of some sort). Other smart kids were out of the question too because they were nowhere near as sociable or well-adjusted as T.J., tending to be dipped fully in Intelligence Equals Isolation by virtue of being too [[HollywoodNerd stereotypically]] [[InsufferableGenius arrogant]] to care about reciprocal friendships.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': [[MadScientist Singed]] claims that loneliness is often a byproduct of a gifted mind to fellow loner Viktor. Though in truth its more like "constantly performing unethical experiments" makes you isolated. Viktor and [[ScienceHero Jayce]] are only able to revolutionize Hextech by working closely together. Jayce becomes massively popular with the population, known as the Golden Boy with his face pasted everywhere and he eagerly offers to share the spotlight with Viktor who rejects it. Viktor's isolation is more a result of his [[GeniusCripple disability]] as a child and his singular focus on his research as an adult hoping it'd save [[IllBoy his life]].

** The seastrikers are near-sapient marine predators similar to orcas but on occasion there are individuals born with a genetic fluke that grants them full sapience. They are known as seers due to their ability to think beyond the immediate here-and-now. The seers are not shunned by the normal seastrikers as their intelligence is greatly beneficial to them (to the point where they frequently become leaders [[AChildShallLeadThem at a young age]] they live very isolated lives since they are unable to relate to their more simple-minded kin and their children don't inherent their intellects due to it being a recessive trait. This loneliness is so great that when two seers from different clans meet, they are compelled to interact and [[PairTheSmartOnes become a mated pair]] despite their clans hating one another.

-->-- '''Dr. Spencer Reid''', "Elephant's Memory", ''Series/CriminalMinds''

->'''Lisa's Brain:''' ''They're only using you for your pool, you know.''\\
'''Lisa:''' Shut up, brain! I got friends now; I don't need you any more!
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Bart of Darkness"

** It's not really overt, but in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' prequel, Sephiroth feels isolated because of a combination of his superior intelligence and power. The only ones he feels at all close to are Angeal, Genesis, and possibly Zack, who went through similar experiments, and are still nowhere near his level. This is also suggested during the original game, where ([[UnreliableNarrator Cloud recalls]]) Sephiroth telling him that all his life, he knew he was special, and better than others - [[EvilCounterpart mirroring Cloud's ego problems above]].

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* Oz in ''Manga/PandoraHearts''. He may act stupid, but he's incredibly intelligent...and he doesn't have many friends besides Gil, Alice, Sharon, and his [[VitriolicBestBuds Elliot and Leo.]]
** Leo plays this trope very straight. He's able to see things no one else can and as a result is isolated from others. Even at the orphanage no one understood him until Elliot showed up.
** Oswald and Lacie would count as well. Lacie is incredibly smart, but the fact that she's seen as some sort of Apocalypse Maiden doesn't help her status, any, either. Oswald is just shy and everyone assumes he's cold.
* Homura Akemi in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. Seen as shy and super clumsy in earlier installments, people called her useless. Later on, Homura appears to be TheAce and is admired by everyone from afar [[spoiler: thanks to the acquired experience from the time loops]]; Sayaka mistakenly thinks she's full of herself, when in reality she's trying to act rationally and be sane at the same time [[spoiler: since she's keeping an eye on Madoka so she won't die or become a witch like in said former installments.]]
* Ami Mizuno from ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' was the smartest girl in all of Japan, but until Usagi recruited her as Sailor Mercury, she didn't have any friends at school. All the kids thought she was [[InsufferableGenius an arrogant know-it-all]], but she was [[ShyBlueHairedGirl just shy and reserved]]. See what her fellow students say about her in the [[Anime/SailorMoon R movie]]:
-->"Ah, Mizuno-san got the first place again!"
-->"She always shows off about her good grades, but she doesn't get that she's getting such a bad rep!"

* Ren Hiyama of ''Manga/LostBrain''. His sidekick Haruhide Shitara too.
* Lelouch "Lamperouge" of ''Anime/CodeGeass''. Admittedly, it's also due to his issues with letting people get close to him stemming from [[FreudianExcuse his traumatic childhood experiences]].
** ...There's also the fact that [[FakingTheDead he's]] [[KingIncognito undercover]] 95% percent of the time, not to mention his criminal SecretIdentity once the plot starts. Actually, when it doesn't interfere too much with his [[ThePlan plans]] or comes without too many [[DealWithTheDevil strings attached]], he ''does'' have a good time with his friends.
*** His disaffection with everyone and everything (including his pal Rivalz) in episode one is this mixed with philosophical disdain for the society he belongs to. Which causes him to go try to help out a wrecked truck that everyone else is just taking cameraphone pictures of. Which gets him mixed up with terrorists and an ApocalypseMaiden who gives him superpowers. Which starts everything.
* ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'': People around the palace consider Ryuu creepy because of his high intelligence at a young age and his interest in poisonous plants and tend to avoid him. Later, in part thanks to his friendship with Shirayuki, he gets a few friends and becomes less isolated. As an introvert with NoSocialSkills Ryuu is not the most social of people to begin with.
* Ishida Uryuu of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', while also the indubitable InsufferableGenius, qualifies. Before getting involved with Ichigo & co., there is zero indication that he has any friends, nor that he ''ever'' has. Part of this is a result of his acting like a jerk because it's "cool" / to keep people away, but he wasn't always like that. Add seeing ghosts [[spoiler: and the loss of most of his family]] to the brain, and it's no wonder he's a loner.
* ''Manga/CaseClosed'':
** Hiroki Sawada from the NonSerialMovie ''Phantom of Baker Street''. Either his school system couldn't quite deal with the child who would be studying grad school in MIT at ''[[ImprobableAge ten]]'', or he was given a highly accelerated homeschooling. Either way, he is friendless against his will-- which accumulated to his WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds status in the movies, because [[IJustWantToHaveFriends he just wanted to have friends]].
** Shinichi Kudo, before being shrunk, was a milder case. While he wasn't ''openly'' shunned by his peers, and in fact he briefly was a member of the soccer club in his junior high, it's mentioned sometimes that teachers and classmates found him arrogant and hard to approach -- and sometimes were (and still are) ''amazed'' that [[PatientChildhoodLoveinterest Ran]] [[OnlyFriend ever]] managed to befriend him. I.e., his former teacher Akiko Yonezawa remembers Shinichi as being unnaturally snarky and full of himself while in elementary school, Ran refers to him as "that mystery {{otaku}}" when she's very upset with him, and Sonoko openly wonders "WhatDoesSheSeeInHim" in regards to Ran herself.
** One of the reasons Ai Haibara TookALevelInCheerfulness following being shrunk into a first grader is because she gains a much wider circle of friends and loved ones compared to her life as Shiho Miyano. As Shiho, she was raised by the Organization to become one of their top scientists by the age of thirteen, and her only close relationship was her elder sister, Akemi. Akemi's death is the catalyst that led to Shiho turning on the Organization and becoming Ai in the first place.

** But no worries here. Because of his awesome eyesight and brain power, he's able to [[AwesomenessbyAnalysis find the perfect option route]], a place no one is guarding.
* Averted by Miyabi "Professor" Oomichi of ''Manga/GAGeijutsukaArtDesignClass'' . As her nickname means, she is much more knowledgeable in art theory than an arts-stream high school student and is also highly talented, but she has her share of friends.
** She herself also [[DefiedTrope defies]] this trope in the chapter about typography accreditation. She is likely to get a higher level of typography qualification (Class C or even B, compared to her classmates' D), but decides to just get a Class D instead ''because'' she still wants to be with her friends.

* Kiyomaro "Kiyo" Takamine in ''Manga/ZatchBell'' - he'd basically stopped going to school or caring about anything else because his fellow students were so hostile to his smarts. Except Suzu, the one student who was a girl at the absolute other end of the smarts scale, and he had not befriended her yet. It got to the point where it was going both ways, his fellow students treated him with hostility but he'd grown so used to it he was acting as stuck up as everyone thought he was. After meeting Gash he lightens up and once he starts being genuinely nice again his classmates do as well easily bonding with him through his intelligence with things like helping them study and providing advice.

* It's not ''intelligence per se'', but it works out the same way for the {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s in ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou''. Mashiro, Misaki and Ryuunosuke are all extremely talented and eccentric in some way, but that mostly brings them troubles since they have few to no friends, their peers either label them as freaks or resent their talent, and their teachers consider them problem children.
* Mikogami from ''Manga/{{Sekirei}}'' turns out to have suffered from this in the past, being a 15-year old college graduate and a LonelyRichKid. His JerkAss tendencies probably didn't help matters, as he claimed his peers were "stupid" and there was no way he could ever relate to them. It's hinted his massive collection of Sekirei serves as a substitute for human friends.
* Kaguya from ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' is fully aware of this trope, which is why she never puts more than 60% effort in anything she does (''except'' when it comes to academics).

* Fuutarou Uesugi, the male lead from ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'' seems to be an intentional example. He's the top student in his school, so focused on his studies that he sees things as socializing with others or trying to seek romance as distractions. Then again, much of this is implied to be rooted on the fact that he wants to secure a good job for the future and help his family out of their poverty.

* ComicBook/KittyPryde from [[ComicBook/XMen the X-Men]] is a genius who started taking college level classes at freaking 13 years old. Because of this, she was unable to relate to anyone her own age except through dancing. After joining the X-Men and acquiring even more knowledge (including things not meant for someone her age), this became a lot worse. It is sometimes implied that this is the reason why she always seeks relationships with guys much older than her.
** This might affect her more than people think. After joining S.H.I.E.L.D. she found a fellow agent who was as young and as intelligent as her; she immediately proceeded to develop feelings for him and not much later decided to cheat on her current boyfriend Pete Wisdom with this agent. Nothing actually happened between them but the idea of her being fine with cheating because this guy was her age and at her intellectual level was enough for Wisdom to break up with her.

* Tom Thumb of the ''ComicBook/SquadronSupreme'' is clearly the smartest member of the team and the resident GadgeteerGenius, but he's socially isolated from everyone else, often overlooked or belittled, and spends most of his free time in his lab instead.
* It is often hinted that this was a factor in Loki's FreudianExcuse in ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', where he was a lot smarter than other Asgardian children but less physically able. He was more likely to be reading or practicing his magic than training in combat with his peers.
** Of course, some of those hints came from Loki himself, who is an UnreliableNarrator
* One of the many revelations in ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'' is that [[Comicbook/HowardTheDuck Howard the Duck]] has the potential to be the most intelligent being in any universe but squandered it when he got discouraged by the social isolation from a young age. He's still smart enough to calculate on the spot a way to survive a fall from a great height unharmed.
* Lunella Lafayette of ''ComicBook/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur'' is ''the'' smartest person in the Marvel Universe at 10 years old. However, this ends up estranging her from her classmates.

* The Loki of the Paradise domain in ''Fanfic/LokiAgentOfDoomgard'' because they're incredibly medium aware (can [[TheOmniscient read the matrix]] for example) and lonely thanks to it (just try to make someone understand that you ''know'' the secret workings of the universe).

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' has Hermione Granger in the first book until she, Ron and Harry become friends. Her intelligence [[InsufferableGenius and condescending attitude]] led to most people disliking her. Their teasing led to her crying in the bathroom. Subverted in every book after that, where she's still kind of a know-it-all but is generally well-liked by her fellow Gryffindors. WordOfGod also states that Albus Dumbledore was like this for most of his life, to such a degree, in fact, [[spoiler:that it drove him straight into the company of Gellert Grindelwald, the greatest Dark Wizard in history at the time.]]
* This was the life of [[ScienceHero Otto]] before the start of the ''Literature/HIVESeries''.
-->'''Otto:''' Before I came here, I didn't have ''anybody''.
* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' is a classic example of this. His genius often causes him considerable frustration when dealing with other people (including the official police force), and as a result he prefers to follow his own route to a solution. He chooses only those cases which truly interest him intellectually, and involves only those people who are useful for his current case. Aside from his brother Mycroft Holmes and his loyal friend Doctor John Watson, he spends most of his time alone, broadening his eclectic range of knowledge. When he feels he has nothing to work on his brilliant mind becomes a burden, sometimes driving him to seek a drug-induced stupor as an alternative to the mundane. Mycroft and Dr. Watson appear to be the only two people whose company Holmes actively seeks out, and who are able to tolerate his often acerbic or dark moods, while maintaining a genuine liking for him. Although Holmes does express admiration occasionally for individuals who present above average intelligence (in his opinion) he doesn't seem to have any close friends outside of Watson and Mycroft, and appears to prefer isolation. Mycroft on the other hand is even MORE of this, to the point of being a {{Flanderization}}. He prefers his own company to the extent that he ''started a club whose members are forbidden to speak to each other''.
* In the 1955 science fiction story "Judgment Day" by Creator/LSpragueDeCamp, a scientific genius has discovered an atomic principle that could potentially [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy the planet]]. Most of the story is a flashback to his unhappy life of being unpopular and bullied and lonely. He decides to publish his discovery, expecting it to lead to humanity destroying itself. His description, as narrator, of his detachment from people and deeply-buried violent rage is kind of unsettling. A modern reader might be tempted to wonder if he had [[AmbiguousDisorder undiagnosed mental health issues.]]
* Raistlin in ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'', whose exceptional intelligence sets him apart from other characters (although his loneliness is also because, well, AmbitionIsEvil and BeingEvilSucks). In fact he also sets himself apart deliberately, because he resents that his [[IncurableCoughOfDeath extreme]] [[SquishyWizard physical frailty]] makes him heavily reliant on others.
* Matt in ''Literature/PeterPaysTribute'', although it doesn't help that he refuses to speak.
* [[AnAesop The Aesop]] of ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon''.

* ''Literature/EndersGame'': Ender Wiggin was a straight example from the very beginning, but then [[TykeBomb Battle School happened.]] [[CharacterDevelopment He gets better.]]
* Several examples in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** This is something of a theme in the Tiffany Aching-arc. Witches are without exception isolated from the people they help, and must constantly work to keep from getting [[AGodAmI a God-complex]], or simply going mad from loneliness, a condition known among them as "cackling". The primary cure is to keep associating with other witches who know what you're going through.

* The two protagonists of Muriel Barbery's ''Literature/TheEleganceOfTheHedgehog''.
* In Christopher Stasheff's ''The Witch Doctor,'' from his "Literature/AWizardInRhyme" series, the main character complained to an angel that he never had any friends as a kid because nobody else in the neighborhood was interested in reading. The angel's reply was that he should have ''pretended'' to be interested in the same things as the other kids and then he might've had friends (although the series ''did'' take place in a medieval universe with decidedly different values...).
* In ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'', Alanna's twin brother Thom is one of the most powerful sorcerers in Tortall. The only person he's close to at all is Alanna because he believes that his teachers are jealous and he has no interest in getting close to anyone else. He didn't even like their first teacher, Maude, and only listened to her as long as he thought she could still help him.
* Lisbeth Salander in "Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy". She is brilliant-has a photographic memory, extremely skilled at computer hacking, reads math books and solves mathematical equations for fun, and yet has close to no friends. Her brilliance is recognized by a few of the characters who get to know her (Blomkvist, Mirium Wu, Armansky) but for the most part she is so asocial and unresponsive that she was declared incompetent by psychologists.
* Kirsty in the ''Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy'', who has a habit of explaining to people how stupid they are until they leave (she views this as a character flaw in everyone else). Johnny is her friend because he ''already'' thinks he's pretty stupid.
* Minor example in the novel ''Hush Money''. Literature/{{Spenser}} is interviewing his client, a college professor, about his romantic history in an effort to clear him of having had a relationship with a student that resulted in suicide. The professor, a black man, says that most of his relationships have been with white women; not because of their race, but because he is "badly over-educated", and only relates well to women who are also well-educated, and most of those women are white.
* Seemingly subverted, but actually played straight with John Rumford, the protagonist in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}''. Rumford, a brilliant strategist, military theorist, polymath and polyglot, is a charismatic leader who inspires his subordinates... but ''privately'', he is quite LonelyAtTheTop, with a bare handful of close friends, [[spoiler:even DyingAlone eventually]].

* ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'': Victor serves as a warning to Walton, who is in danger of becoming as obsessed with his exploration as Victor was with the science that led to the creation of his monster.
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* ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' gives us two separate descriptions of [[BigBad Cyrus]] as a child that tell us that he was both highly intelligent and that he shunned people and preferred machines.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** Subverted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Cloud tells Tifa that he didn't have friends as a child, because he thought the other children were all stupid compared to him, but immediately admits that feeling that way proved that he was in reality the stupid one. It's suggested his tendency to look down on others' intelligence, a complex which lasted well into his adulthood, started as [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex a way of justifying his own childhood loneliness]].
** It's not really overt, but in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' prequel, Sephiroth feels isolated because of a combination of his superior intelligence and power. The only ones he feels at all close to are Angeal, Genesis, and possibly Zack, who went through similar experiments, and are still nowhere near his level. This is also suggested during the original game, where ([[UnreliableNarrator Cloud recalls]]) Sephiroth telling him that all his life, he knew he was special, and better than others - [[EvilCounterpart mirroring Cloud's ego problems above]].
** Played with in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''. Squall is a disaffected loner and extremely intelligent, and one of the smartest people in his prestigious school, to the point where the staff will single him out for special responsibilities and consult him with decisions. However, his intelligence is the main reason he's liked at all, since he's also an antisocial, sulky EmoTeen who thinks {{Jerkass}} behaviour is a sign of maturity. The similarly brilliant Quistis is even able to make fun of his attitude as her EstablishingCharacterMoment because she can talk to him like an equal otherwise, but keeps pursuing him until he forcefully hurts her feelings.
* Inverted in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'': doing well on your exams improves your school Social Links accordingly.
* Knoll from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'', though his case is more complicated. He's a very kind and gentle person as well as a decent BlackMage, but not only he's very quiet but what troubles him the most is... how good part of his bookish knowledge is deeply tied to [[spoiler: Lyon's experiments that would lead him to become the BigBadFriend through DemonicPossession[=/=]MoreThanMindControl.]]

* Lisa on ''TheSimpsons,'' depending on the mood of the writer. In earlier seasons Lisa had a best friend called Janey and had quite a lot of friends, but [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse they got pushed aside and forgotten.]] The latest episodes show some of those friends, Janey included, but they tend to push Lisa away whenever she shows her smarts.
** One episode has Homer's I.Q raised to slightly above average levels, and suffers from this, although it allows him to bond with Lisa. He ends up choosing blissful ignorance over the social stigma he'd caused--but was smart enough to write a heartfelt letter to her beforehand, apologizing for taking the easy way out and admiring her strength and courage.
** This trope is played straight to the point that Lisa flat-out made a graph stating the negative correlation between happiness and intelligence.
*** And [[BrokenAesop broken]] by the fact that Homer never made an effort to put his high IQ to good use: he isolated everyone by virtue of spoiling movie endings, disillusioning people of hard-held beliefs and basically being a JerkAss with a high IQ.
** The odd thing about this example, is that he really isn't particularly intelligent. He is treated as being very intelligent by everyone, including his coworkers, despite having a stated IQ of 105. This puts him at the upper end of average overall, and below average for highly technical jobs such as, for example, working in a nuclear power facility. In addition, his isolation was a result of him doing his job competantly, resulting in the plant having to be shut down until it's brought up to code, resulting in costing alot of people their jobs.
** Played with in the first-season episode "Bart the Genius," where Bart switches his intelligence test with [[ChildProdigy Martin Prince's]] to fake being a genius. He feels isolated in his new gifted school because he can't keep up with the other students intellectually, but when he goes back to visit his former friends in public school, they ostracize him, believing that he now considers himself above them. On the other hand, Homer's new feelings of pride in his "genius" son lead the two of them to bond. Of course, Bart finally confesses and [[StatusQuoIsGod everything goes back to normal by the end]], although [[WhateverHappenedToTheMouse Martin apparently never gets into the gifted school that his test scores warrant.]]

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' had the intelligent Jazz telling her fellow classmates that she was struggling on whether she wanted to go to Harvard, Yale, or Stanford. They all walk away with disinterest. It's arguably averted for most of the series since Jazz doesn't care how others perceive her.

* In the "Mars University" episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Gunther, the [[UpliftedAnimal intelligent monkey]], felt pressure due to the high intellect his experimental hat gave him. In the end though, the hat was damaged to make him moderately intelligent.
* One of the main themes in ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''. Rick is so intelligent that he has invented a way to cross between universes, giving him the knowledge that there are infinitely many versions of him, and none of them truly matter. Knowing this has turned him into an emotionally isolated alcoholic that treats everyone like they're disposable, because to him they are.

* L, Mello, and Near of ''Manga/DeathNote''. Light is the "well-liked and admired but feels very alone" variant. Maybe even the author - he certainly likes this trope.
** Well, [[ReclusiveArtist the writer]] certainly states that he "did well at school" and that he doesn't "leave [his] house very much" in How To Read 13.
** Near is the ''definition'' of this trope. Thanks to his genius-level intelligence and his (implied) Asperger's Syndrome, the white-haired boy is completely unable to associate with people on a daily basis. The only ones who have direct contact with him are his subordinates of the SPK. Hell, his social skills and life skills rating in ''How To Read'' are both a meager 2/10.

* In ''Anime/DigimonSavers'', Nanami invokes this in an attempt to convince Touma to join the other side.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'':

* Reed Richards of the ComicBook/FantasticFour has sometimes been shown as so smart that he feels even his loved ones can't really understand him. Fortunately, he overcame it enough to romance his wife and love his son. [[ComicBook/CivilWar This still happens, though]]. This intelligence and isolation also makes him quite ignorant to the point of disobedience of his fellow superhero allies and even placing his son, Franklin Richards, into a coma state.

** Reed Richards and Doctor Doom are archenemies and worthy opponents to each other partly because their intelligence is on par with each other. They don't need to talk down to each other to be understood, though Doom does it anyway out of arrogance. In the UltimateUniverse this is played straight with [[ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour his younger self]].

** Allysa Moy, an old friend of Reed's, tries to seduce him with this trope as the friends Reed surrounds himself with just aren't on her and Reed's level. Reed doesn't give a damn.
** Reed Richards and Doctor Doom are archenemies and worthy opponents to each other partly because their intelligence is on par with each other. They don't need to talk down to each other to be understood, though Doom does it anyway out of arrogance.
%% ** In the UltimateUniverse this is played straight with [[ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour Reed]].

* "Not reading books is proof that the person is not lonely" -Osamu Dazai.

* It's not ''intelligence per se'', but it works out the same way for the {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s in ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou''. Mashiro, Misaki and Ryuunosuke are all extremely talented and eccentric in some way, but that mostly brings them troubles since they have little to no friends, their peers either label them as freaks or resent their talent and their teachers consider them problem children.

** ...And the fact that [[FakingTheDead he's]] [[KingIncognito undercover]] 95% percent of the time, not to mention his criminal SecretIdentity once the plot starts. Actually, when it doesn't interfere too much with his [[ThePlan plans]] or comes without too many [[DealWithTheDevil strings attached]], he ''does'' have a good time with his friends.

* Ishida Uryuu of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', while also the indubitable InsufferableGenius, qualifies. Before getting involved with Ichigo & co., there is zero indication that he has any friends, nor that he EVER has. Part of this is a result of his acting like a jerk because it's "cool" / to keep people away, but he wasn't always like that. Add seeing ghosts [[spoiler: and the loss of most of his family]] to the brain, and it's no wonder he's a loner.

* Yukimitsu from ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}''. [[EducationMama His parents]] forced him into CramSchool and he became extremely sheltered, envying the sports teams from his room. Due to his years of being in school, he lacked physical strength, and could never play for more than half a game.

** She herself also [[DefiedTrope defied]] this trope in in the chapter about typography accreditation. She is likely to get higher a higher level of typography qualification (Class C or even B, compared to her classmates' D), but decided to just get a Class D instead ''because'' she still wants to be with her friends.

** Kyon gets pissed at her creator, the Data Overmind in the Disappearance novel/film because of this trope. While another humanoid interface, Ryoko Asakura, was a perfectly normal, popular teenager who was good at class and sports [[spoiler:before attempting to kill Kyon to try and get a reaction from Haruhi]], he wondered why it created Nagato to be a reclusive bookworm who seemed to always be alone.

* High School issues and bullying aside, studies do show that people with significantly different IQ scores do have trouble relating. 15 IQ points difference is a small impediment but 30 IQ points typically makes it difficult (which is the minimum difference between someone perfectly average and someone classified gifted in the public school system.) Though of course, personality plays a major factor. Bookish and intelligent kids tend to be more reserved and quiet, while the average child is more outgoing, [[JustifiedTrope and thus becomes popular.]]

* Cults take advantage of this trope, employing 'love-bombing'-- the tactic of showering a potential recruit with affection and attention in the hopes they'll stick around. Many people assume cult members are idiots who are easily taken in, but in fact cult members frequently have higher [=IQ=]s. Then when they realize they're in a dangerous cult, they have difficulty leaving because of the love and attention they'd been showered with up to that point.

** Jimmy is a [[{{Zigzagged}} mixed bag]]. Sometimes intelligence isolates him, often he sets the (horrible) events of the plot in motion causing him to be isolated, sometimes the characters realize they need his intellect &/or like him more than they let on, and sometimes he's just an InsufferableGenius.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}.'' This was more prevalent in the first season, after that the show became much less about "Daria vs. the idiots around her". In fact, around season two, we see her getting called out on her antisocial behaviours as well as the isolation being partially her doing - and her CharacterDevelopment is her ''not'' pushing everybody away.
** Commented on in "Boxing Daria".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'': Brainy Smurf. (Brainy borders on a KnowNothingKnowItAll, mind you, which doesn't help.)
** Actually he is shunned not because of his intelligence but due to his overblown ego, contrasting with Papa Smurf, who is both intelligent and easy-going.

** Twilight's human counterpart was even worse than the previous two put together. While she is genuinely a socially awkward NiceGirl, she was bullied by her previous peers because they were jelaous of her intelligence.

** Twiligh's human counterpart was even worse than the previous two put together. While she is genuinely a socially awkward NiceGirl, she was bullied by her previous peers because they were jelaous of her intelligence.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan''

* Tamami in ''Manga/{{Mahoraba}}''.

* Towards the end of ''Manga/ZettaiKarenChildren'', it turns out that Minamoto was like that when he was a kid, due to being a Child Genius... he just wanted to go to a normal class and have normal friends, but his obvious superiority 'bothered' people, so he was put into a Special Education Program. This revelation puts a whole new significance to the lengths he went to to give The Children a chance to go to school like normal children.... basically, he gave them the childhood that was denied him.

* ''Manga/AkagamiNoShirayukihime'': People around the palace consider Ryuu creepy because of his high intelligence at a young age and his interest in poisonous plants and tend to avoid him. Later, in part thanks to his friendship with Shirayuki, he gets a few friends and becomes less isolated. As an introvert with NoSocialSkills Ryuu is not the most social of people to begin with.