History Main / LordErrorProne

* Snow from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII''. Him and NORA do save lives during the Purge, but his reckless bravado and belief that heroes don't need plans ends up costing several resistance fighters their lives, including [[spoiler:Hope's mother]]. Even after his CharacterDevelopment, with Snow himself [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] making a plan, [[spoiler:he still causes massive chaos when the party returns to Cocoon...because he forgot to cover his l'Cie brand.]]

* Here ''Videogame/DarkSouls'''s Siegmeyer of Catarina sits, [[CatchPhrase in quite a collection of pickles]]. A somewhat foolhardy knight who journeyed to the incredibly dangerous land of Lordran on a whim, you usually encounter him after he's managed to get himself into yet another jam. Though he is usually content to just stand around and not get in your way and happily rewards you for your help, it is possible for [[spoiler: him to make one mistake too many and end up Hollow.]]

* Syndrome in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' when he's trying to be a superhero. The people in the city are curious, but they ultimately confuse him with other heroes and do not seemed all that impressed with his shoddy displays of heroism.

** He was eventually permanently disbarred for his increasingly in[[spoiler:(s)]]ane actions. Among other things, it turns out you probably shouldn't include gay porn in a deposition.

* Amelia Wil Tesla Seillune from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' is an example of the sympathetic type (although she does have moments of competence). To a lesser extent, so is her father, Prince Phil. He talks and looks funny, but ''acts'' more as ReluctantWarrior or KnightInShiningArmor. Amelia performed pratfalls until it became a RunningGag. He preaches to the ghosts and they ''heed'' him, she has a "HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster" speech even [[IdiotHero Gourry]] saw as absurd. In charges without checking what force they face they're about equal, but given how much even top spells fall short, it's not ''that'' bad. We just see his better moments rarely because he has much less time on screen. Of course, whenever these two in a line of sight of each other, silliness increases on both sides.

* Leo from ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess''.

* Captain Wrongway Peachfuzz from ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle''. He's so consistently wrong that a tribe of island natives use him as a weather predictor--by [[AntiAdvice expecting the opposite of his weather predictions]].

''Literature/DonQuixote'' is perhaps the TropeMaker, and most characters of this type will end up fighting [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants windmills]] as a ShoutOut.

* Blend this trope with HypocriticalHumor, and you'll get Brother Verber from Joan Hess's Maggody mysteries: a correspondence-course preacher who periodically becomes convinced he's the one thing standing between his town and Satan, so gets drunk on sacramental wine and heads out [[HilarityEnsues to do battle]] ... assuming he doesn't get distracted by the porn he "researches" so he'll know what he's up against.

* In ''Manga/RamenFighterMiki'', ShopKeeper Akihiko JumpedAtTheCall to find Toshiyuki [[CannotTellFictionFromReality believing himself the Red Ranger and his friends part of a]] Sentai Show, but he fails to ask for the description of Toshiyuki, lost time asking other children for him, and when he believes he's found him, he attacks an AngryGuardDog that seems to menace a child (that dog never wanted to attack the child and {{Curb Stomp battle}}s Akihiko). Also, the dog [[spoiler: really is Toshiyuki]].

* Possibly subverted in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' novels with the High Lord Weiramon, one of the most powerful nobles in his country. In battle he's forever almost getting the entire army wiped out with suicidal cavalry charges. In conversation he's forever offending all the people he's supposed to work with. And in politics he never notices that he's only getting important jobs to keep him too busy to hatch plans of his own. But his ability to consistently fail in the way that does as much damage to the cause as possible, and his near-miraculous ability to keep surviving suicidal cavalry charges unscathed (right down to his immaculately waxed beard) seem a little too neat, leading many fans to suspect that this Lord Error-Prone may [[ObfuscatingStupidity actually be one of the most fiendishly cunning villains in the series]].
** [[spoiler:They [[TheMole were right]]. Sort of right. Fans believed him to be one of the Forsaken (magic users high on the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil), but it turned out that he was just a {{mook|s}} that was doing his damnedest to screw up Rand's plans.]]
** Another example is Abdel Omerna, the "official" spymaster of the [[KnightTemplar Children of the Light]]: he's very good at collecting gossip and rumors and believes everything he hears (the opposite of what a good spy should do, according to the Lord Captain Commander), and he's not even aware of the fact that he's only there to divert attention from the actual spymaster.
*** In that case, the cruel twist is that Omerna [[spoiler: murders his boss precisely because the Lord Captain Commander doesn't rashly act on the dumb rumors that Omerna collects]].

* Syndrome in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' when he's trying to be a superhero.
* The second Buzz Lightyear figure in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2''--especially since he doesn't realize that he's a toy.
** The first Buzz was also like this for a good part of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' -- it's even {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in 2 when an exasperated Buzz, faced with his other self's antics, mutters to himself "Tell me I wasn't this deluded..."

Possessing extremely poor judgment, Lord Error-Prone can often be seen [[LeeroyJenkins rushing to attack]] opponents [[AttackAttackAttack he has no chance of defeating]] (pretty much all of them), oppressing minorities/static objects (surely servants of evil!) and punishing hardened criminal scum such as jaywalkers and litterers. Often bizarrely GenreSavvy, but this generally [[RealityEnsues backfires]] (because ThisIsReality) -- [[RefugeeFromTVLand extreme cases]] may simply be GenreSavvy for the ''{{wrong genre|Savvy}}''.

* [[Videogame/StreetFighter Dan Hibiki.]] He got kicked out of the dojo he was training at for his vengeful motives and thus created his own style, Saikyo (Strongest), which is anything but, yet Dan foolhardily believes himself to be Number 1 no matter how often or hard he gets his ass handed to him by the other, more competent fighters.

* In ''Manga/RamenFighterMiki'', ShopKeeper Akihiko JumpedAtTheCall to find Toshiyuki [[CannotTellFictionFromReality believing himself the Red Ranger and his friends part of a]] Sentai Show, but he fails for asking the description of Toshiyuki, lost many time asking to other children for him, and when he believes to find him, he attacks an AngryGuardDog that seems to menace the child (that dog never wanted to attack the child and {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s Akihiko). Also, the dog [[spoiler: really is Toshiyuki]].

* Shuutaro Mendo from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', possibly Kuno's literary ancestor, is much the same. He's incredibly wealthy, carries a sword everywhere he goes, and generally acts the cool sophisticate, an act for which the local girls fawn over him in adoration. Scratch the gloss, however, and he's really no better than LovableSexManiac Ataru Moroboshi himself. In fact, he's debateably worse, given that he's utterly afraid of the dark, claustrophobic, and a DirtyCoward, while Ataru is capable of [[{{Determinator}} insane acts of bravery and determination]].

* In ''Manga/MutekiKanbanMusume'', ShopKeeper Akihiko JumpedAtTheCall to find Toshiyuki [[CannotTellFictionFromReality believing himself the Red Ranger and his friends part of a]] Sentai Show, but he fails for asking the description of Toshiyuki, lost many time asking to other children for him, and when he believes to find him, he attacks an AngryGuardDog that seems to menace the child (that dog never wanted to attack the child and {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s Akihiko). Also, the dog [[spoiler: really is Toshiyuki]].

* America in ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' is always loudly declaring that he's "The Hero" but in reality he's rather clueless and he only annoys the other countries. In fanfiction, this translates to him being anything from a hopeless idiot obsessed with superheroes to a genuinely well-intentioned but incompetent idealist.

* This is a regular trope for ComicBook/{{Groo|TheWanderer}}, usually when he finds a new cause to "champion".
* Elrod of Melvinbone from ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark is very much this, being a parody of both [[Literature/TheElricSaga Elric]] and [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Foghorn Leghorn]]. Despite seeing himself as a heroic crusader, he's a monumentally stupid {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who comes across as somewhat less competent than his avian counterpart.

* Every "heroic" character played by WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck: Robin Hood Daffy; Dripalong Daffy; WesternAnimation/StuporDuck; Doorlock Holmes; [[WesternAnimation/TheGreatPiggyBankRobbery Duck Twacy]]; WesternAnimation/TheScarletPumpernickel; Sgt. Joe Monday; Boston Quackie; and, most famously, WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers. Many of these feature Porky Pig as a HypercompetentSidekick.

** This is nothing new either -- in ''Discworld/NightWatch'', the only difference between Rust 30 years ago and Rust now is a mustache. And Sybil tells Sam (from experience, presumably) that describing him as an "inbred streak of piss" is perfectly accurate, and that to comply with Fred Colon's suggestion about what to do with the badge, Rust would need a hammer.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has the incredibly annoying psychic Don Kanonji, whose ego knows no bounds. A television personality rather than any actual nobility, he turns out in his first appearance to be just enough not a fake that he's been turning ghosts into hollows industriously, thinking he's exorcising them.

* [[WellExcuseMePrincess Princess]] [[GenkiGirl L'Arachel]] [[WhiteMagicianGirl of Rausten]], from ''Videogame/FireEmblem 8'', combines this with GenkiGirl and WellExcuseMePrincess. Unlike others, she ''does'' [[TookALevelInBadass learn how to fight properly]] and gets better.

* An episode of the ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' [[Anime/KirbyOfTheStars anime]] features a guest character who is pretty much an {{Expy}} of (and ShoutOut to) Literature/DonQuixote, replacing chivalric novels with comic books and cartoons. He ends up being treated sympathetically, especially because he's a senile old man whose delusions are pretty much his will to live. And then he helps Kirby fight a windmill monster.

*** To be fair, he isn't completely incompetent. Just not as competent as he thinks he is.

* WesternAnimation/DudleyDoRight, of course.

* Every "heroic" character played by WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck: Robin Hood Daffy; Dripalong Daffy; Stupor Duck; Doorlock Holmes; Duck Twacy; WesternAnimation/TheScarletPumpernickel; Sgt. Joe Monday; Boston Quackie; and, most famously, WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers. Many of these feature Porky Pig as a HypercompetentSidekick.

* Conrad Verner, Shepard's [[LoonyFan number one fan]], from ''Franchise/MassEffect''. In the first game, he attempts to convince Shepard to make him a member of the Spectres, an elite space peacekeeping group. ([[CaptainObvious It doesn't work.]]) If Shepard manages to convince him that it would be a bad idea, he gets it and backs off...[[IgnoredEpiphany until the second game]], where you find him at a bar on Illium, wearing a replica of Shepard's default armor in an attempt to be [[IJustWantToBeBadass "truly extreme."]] (It still doesn't work.) If Shepard doesn't manage to get him to stop in either game, he ends up getting himself killed. The way in which he fits this trope is perhaps best exemplified in this exchange:

* Shuutaro Mendo from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', possibly Kuno's literary ancestor, is much the same. He's incredibly wealthy, carries a sword everywhere he goes, and generally acts the cool sophisticate, an act for which the local girls fawn over him in adoration. Scratch the gloss, however, and he's really no better than LoveableSexManiac Ataru Moroboshi himself. In fact, he's debateably worse, given that he's utterly afraid of the dark, claustrophobic, and a DirtyCoward, while Ataru is capable of [[{{Determinator}} insane acts of bravery and determination]].

** It's actually more complicated than that. It is exactly by saving him all the time that [[spoiler: he loses faith in his knighthood and his self esteem plummets, which is everything that keeps someone with the Darksign to become full Hollow.]]