You Fool!

Fools? But it's nowhere near April 1st.

"You fool! I have been trained in your Jedi Arts by Count Dooku!"

— General Grievous, Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith

The word "fool". Try it out. When someone disappoints you or does something stupid, throw the word out. C'mon, give it some gusto. You fool! You...(deep breath, now) FOOL! Got the hang of it yet? No? It just sounds silly in real life? Well, get used to it, because fiction? Fiction loves this word. It's the ultimate insult. Every villain, or at least nearly so, uses it, every hero with a hasty friend uses it... hell, if we were to list every example we could find, that would take up too much webspace. It's so common. Only really prominent examples should be listed. The term's use is much like the existence of crocodilians - either have existed for quite some time, are known to snap at many a living thing around them, and show little to no overall signs of ever disappearing.

The term "fool" could indeed refer to a jester, who was there to joke and otherwise act inane before a ruler or at public gatherings. Interestingly, we may have the Hays Office's old Production Code to thank for this. In the olden days, most mainstream works couldn't use profanity. How to show that your villain is one bad dude when his language is carefully scrubbed with bleach? Well, according to The Bible, whoever says "You fool!" is liable to fiery Gehenna. (Matthew 5:22)^note "Fool" is used for the Greek word moros, which can also be translated as "godless" or "heathen" - a possible interpretation of the verse is that if you tell others they will go to Hell, you deserve to end up there yourself. Thus, having your villain call his rival a fool allowed the audience to know that this guy was bad news without resorting to using any verboten words.

This also serves to elevate the villain above their underlings (and often the hero as well), since most "Fool!" users tend to be characters of a higher social class/state of being. In other words, the villain is simply above the use of such vulgar colloquial terms as "idiot," "moron,"^note  which, ironically, is derived from the above moros or "stupid dumbass."

Common contexts:

• "FOOL! Did you really think you could harm me!?", as said by the villain.
• "You fool! You've Doomed us all!", as said by the villain's advisors to him when he activates the superweapon.
• "You really think this is about money? Don't be a fool," in cases of motive misidentification.
• "Foolish mortal!" in case the one who said it is (or at least thinks it is) a greater being than human.
• "You... fool!" in case a Tsundere girl is confessing her feeling to her Love Interest.
• "Foolish Fool!" in cases where the subject is not merely foolish, but has proven it in a Schmuck Bait kind of way.
• "Foolish earthlings!" when you Can't Argue With Space Elves.
• "I pity the fool!" whenever someone is referencing Mr. T.

Compare:

• Baka, a Japanese expression meaning roughly the same thing.
• What an Idiot!, the viewer's reaction to a character's stupidity.
• "You!" Exclamation, half the phrase yet equally hammy.
• Doomy Dooms of Doom, which has a very similar effect.

Not really related to The Fool or Silence, You Fool!, despite the similar names.

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Examples of Foolishness:

Anime and Manga

• In Azumanga Daioh, Kagura and Tomo get into an argument over who is worse at English.
  Kagura: (In English) You are fool!
  Tomo: (Also in English) You are fool... mo.^note も is a Japanese particle indicating "also", "too", or "as well".
  Yomi: You mean "too".
• In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, courtesy of Dio.
  Dio: You old fool! Out of all the Stands I've seen, yours is the weakest!
  • Earlier in Battle Tendency, there's Rudol von Stroheim boasting about his new cyborg body to Kars.
  "You utter FOOL! German science is the finest in the world!"
  • And even earlier in Phantom Blood, Dire does this while "countering" Dio.
  Dire: You fell for it, fool! Thunder Cross Split Attack!
• GeGeGe no Kitaro (2018) has Medama Oyaji shouting this towards Kitaro after the latter ignored his warnings to stay calm following Mana accidentally killing Neko Musume and not doing anything to stop the outrage between Humans and Yokai, which allowed Nanashi to gain the energy needed to transform One-Winged Angel.
• This is pretty much the stand-out word of Excalibur from Soul Eater.
  • The Japanese and English dub variants commonly used are "BAKAME!" and "FOOL!".
  • Black Star once made a history report on Excalibur which consisted of this word and nothing else - Dr. Stein let him get away with it.
• The Yu-Gi-Oh! dub. An overly high amount.
• In the Japanese Sailor Moon anime, Jadeite's brief tenure gave him the catchphrase "Orokana ningen", which translates to "Foolish humans".
• Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Zechs Marquise: FOOLLLLLSSSS!!!
• Dragon Ball franchise
  • In Dragon Ball Z, Son Goku yells this at Frieza just before finishing him off with an energy wave when he refuses to give up the fight. This was Frieza's second Backstab Backfire, after Goku had both invoked Cruel Mercy and then saved Frieza's life after he cut himself in half.
  • Dragon Ball GT's Super Android 17 says this when Goku tries to kill him with a Kamehameha, thinking his absorption ability will cover it. Trouble is, Goku just put a gaping hole in his midsection, so he's in no state to absorb anything. In video game adaptations this becomes one of (both normal and Super) 17's go-to phrases when countering attacks.
• In Accel World, Kuroyukihime takes this to almost a Catchphrase level in the first volume whenever Haruyuki does something stupid, calmly calling him a "fool." When she, in response to him suggesting that she's hanging out with someone as lowly as he in an effort to debase herself, slaps him while bursting into tears and calling him an "idiot" instead, Haruyuki notices how different this is from her usual demeanor.
• In Naruto, Itachi practically has "Foolish little brother" as a catchphrase for Sasuke. The truth is that Itachi loves Sasuke dearly and hopes to die by his hand as part of his plan.
• Hiei's go to insult in YuYu Hakusho. He also calls others "buffoon" or "idiot" a few times. Most insults are to Kuwabara.

Asian Animation

• Happy Heroes: This is said by Big M. to Little M. in Season 8 episode 3 when the latter gives him suggestions for intimidating villain characters in the book "A History of Magic" for Huo Haha to transform into:
  Little M.: (looks at the scroll of characters) This one looks terrible. (shows a picture of one of the characters) The Killer King.
  Big M.: (looks over at Huo Haha, then back at the scroll) Is there anyone who looks more frightening than that? One that even the Killer King is afraid of?—>Little M.: Yes, this one. (shows another picture from the scroll) King of the Killer King!
  Big M.: Is there anyone more frightening? One that even the King of Killer King is afraid of?
  Little M.: Yes. (shows yet another picture from the scroll) King of the Killer King's Wife!
  (Big M. punches Little M., resulting in a Hit Flash.)
  Big M.: YOU FOOL! That's not what I was talking about!

Comic Books

• Earth X: Played for drama in Universe X by the Toad, who's gained Magneto's powers. "I never resented calling you master, and I never resented what you called me. Dolt! Idiot! Brainless! inconsequential! clod! Sniveling! spineless! fawning! fool! And you were going to save me from humanity?"
• Fantastic Four: Doctor Doom does this a lot, especially when talking about Reed Richards.
• Judge Dredd: The Dark Judges love to call their opponents fools while boasting about their immortality per their "You cannot kill what does not live!" Catchphrase.
• Mega Man (Archie Comics): Dr. Light shouts this to himself after Wily (unsurprisingly) betrays him and steals the robot they've worked on.
• Teen Titans: Raven had a rather interesting Catchphrase, she'd say "curse me for a fool" whenever she missed something blatantly obvious.
• The Transformers: Bludgeon the Decepticon in various incarnations (Marvel Comics G1, Dreamwave, IDW G1), an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy who used "Fool!" so often that it qualified as a Verbal Tic.
• Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Eviless says to the prisoners at Reformation Island who tell her they don't want their Venus Girdles removed You Fools! You've let the Amazons break your spirit—

Fan Works

• Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): In this Godzilla MonsterVerse fanfiction, San's brothers (Ghidorah's middle and right heads) snarl this a couple of times: San's memories show Ni/Elder Brother screaming "FOOLISH" in response to Vivienne approaching the glacier that Ghidorah was frozen inside despite her fear of it, and Ichi/Eldest Brother later called Alan Jonah as "THE OLD FOOL" because of his hubris.

• Examples from The Calvinverse:
  • In the original version of Calvin and Hobbes: The Movie, one alien says this to another, lesser alien.
  • From a Missing Trailer Scene about Halloween in Calvin & Hobbes: The Series:
    Hobbes: You gonna call?
    Calvin: GHOST BUSTERS!
    Hobbes: YOU FOOL! IT'S THEIR BUSIEST NIGHT!
• Fates Collide: Taiga Fujimura's combat class teaches how to fight without using Noble Phantasms. When Oda Nobunaga said the concept was stupid, Taiga calls her a fool because Nobunaga's fighting style is entirely dependent on her Noble Phantasms, and if she cannot access them, she'll be useless and get herself killed.
• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: Professor Quirrell calls Harry "fool boy" twice in Chapter 58 when the plan goes awry.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic "Plural Possessive" has King Sombra tell a resisting Dinky Doo, "Silence, You Fool!," after possessing her. However, since he is using her voice while used to his deep one, her voice ends up cracking on every single word.

Films — Animation

• Most Disney villains have called either their enemy or their minions fool at least once, likely for similar reasons to the founding uses: Disney, having earned their reputation by providing family-friendly animation in the first place, court G and at most PG ratings instead of avoiding them. So instead of profane insults you get a lot of "you fool!" and "you idiot!"
  • They even made a video mashup of them.
  • 101 Dalmatians (1996):
    Cruella de Vil: You're a fool, Anita! I have no use for fools.
  • "No, fool, we're going to kill him."
  • The first line of dialogue from Atlantis: The Lost Empire starts off like this, but is translated from Atlantean.
  • YOU PITIFUL INSIGNIFICANT FOOLS!!!!!
  • Get up, you *fools* ! KILL !
  • You poor, simple fools. Thinking you could defeat me. *Me!* The mistress of all evil!
    • Maleficent had actually gone on a threefold rant earlier after learning that her minions have been looking for an infant rather a now-adolescent Aurora: "FOOLS! Idiots!! IMBECILES!!!"
• In the first Cars movie, when Lightning McQueen blows his tires in the final Piston Cup race, a member of his pit crew yells "You fool!" in frustration, adding up to McQueen's previous refusal to replace his tires when he should have.
• Commonly screeched by the White Witch in the Animated Adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
• The Lord of the Rings: Gandalf called himself a fool for not figuring out the word to open the Doors of Durin... in the rather flawed Bakshi animated movie, that is.
  • "Fly, you fools!"
    • Or the Sev cartoon parody, "I can't fly, you fools!"
    • In the Irregular Webcomic! parody, a character remarks that he always knew the character who said that would go out with an insult.
  • "Fool of a Took!"

Films — Live-Action

• Vizzini calls the Man in Black this in The Princess Bride. Unfortunately for Vizzini, he himself was the fool:
  "I switched glasses when your back was turned. Haha, you fool!"
• Star Wars villains seem prone to this:
  • Return of the Jedi
    "Young fool..." - Emperor Palpatine, having a ball.
  • Revenge of the Sith
    "You fool! I have been trained in your Jedi arts by Count Dooku!" - General Grievous, shortly before getting his ass kicked by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
  • In The Last Jedi, Snoke mocks Rey as "young fool" for not realizing that he was the one who stoked the connection between her and his apprentice Kylo Ren and continues to mock her as pathetic as he's directing Ren to take up his lightsaber and kill her, not realizing that Ren is about to kill him instead.
• Carry On Constable: Constable Benson says this when he finds himself handcuffed to Special Constable Gorse, who grabbed his wrist instead of the villain's.
• Makkabeus in Damnatus, in a last ditch attempt to stop the heroes from dooming the planet:
  Makkabeus: You misguided... you fools...!
• A variation in Live and Let Die when James Bond first meets Solitaire, who can read the future in her tarot cards. Bond asks if he's in there, so Solitaire tells him to pick a card. It turns out to be THE FOOL. Bond has just gotten captured thanks to his own overconfidence, so it's not like the cards are wrong.
  Solitaire: You have found yourself.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:
  • Before he falls into the abyss, Gandalf yells to the remaining members of the Fellowship, "Fly, you fools!"
  • Earlier, he also made the following remark due to Pippin's curiosity in the Mines of Moria giving their position away, "Fool of a Took."
  • Later, Boromir uses it when Frodo refuses to give him the Ring: "You fool! It is not yours save by a happy chance! It could have been mine! It should be mine! Give it to me!"
• Mr. T's immortal line from Rocky III:
  "No, I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool."
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show had Frank order a Large Ham by saying "Quake with fear, you tiny fools!"
• SLC Punk!: "SINK! SINK, YOU FOOL!"
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
  Memnet: You fools! Talk of empty hearts before the Pharoah's daughter.
  • Nefertiti later does it in a more teasing way to Moses "...You stubborn, splendid, adorable fool..."
• The Wizard of Oz: The Wicked Witch yells it at her henchmen as they're chasing the main characters around the castle.
  Wicked Witch: STOP THEM, YOU FOOLS, STOP THEM!
• Inspector Clouseau says "You feul!" quite a lot.
• Mortal Kombat: The Movie: Shang Tsung says this a lot whenever someone fails him. Also said it when Liu Kang punched him in the face. Ironically it made Shang Tsung look like the fool not Liu, since the whole point of Mortal Kombat revolves around hitting your opponents. Goro also says this to Kano when Kano mentions not seeing any of Shang Tsung's "slaves" around earlier on in the movie.
  Goro: You fool. You know nothing. He enslaves... souls.
• Star Trek III The Searchfor Spock: "You fool, look around you! The planet is destroying itself!"
• Willow: "Rool, you fool, get out of the road!"
• Colossus: The Forbin Project. Done in a Machine Monotone after a failed attempt to stop the Master Computer with a Logic Bomb. The program is loaded into Colossus by scientists Johnson and Fisher, who wait with bated breath. Mere seconds later...
  Colossus: Johnson...Fisher...you are fools.
• Robin Hood: Men in Tights uses this for comedy (naturally) after the Sheriff is impaled on a sword at the climax of a dramatic Errol Flynn-style swordfight. His Abhorrent Admirer runs up next to him wailing, asking him how he feels...while he has a longsword embedded in his torso up to the hilt.
  Sheriff: (Beat) I'm dying, you fool!
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - as Voldemort is forced out of Harry Potter by the power of his love for others, he tells him, "You're a fool, Harry Potter. And you will lose... everything."
• In The Phantom of the Opera (1962), when Christine tells the Phantom she is too tired to continue her singing lesson, he responds by slapping her and saying this.
  "You little fool! You think you can become a great singer without suffering?"
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990): In the film's climax, the Shredder orders the other turtles to throw away their weapons or he'll kill a defeated Leo. They comply.
  Shredder: Fools! The three of you might have been able to overpower me with the loss of but one. Now your fate... [moves in for the killing blow] ...will be his!

Literature

• The Lord of the Rings employs the term a lot. Gandalf's fond of handing out "You Fool!!" and Pippin seems to receive them regularly.
  • In Moria: "Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!"
  • At the bridge of Khazad-dûm: "Fly, you fools!"
  • After Pippin's foolishness leads him into inadvertent mental contact with the Big Bad, Gandalf examines him for signs of Mind Control and then says, "A fool, but an honest fool, you remain."
  • The Witch-King, at the battle of the Pelennor Fields, calls the warrior who steps in to protect the fallen King Théoden "thou fool", because it was prophesied that no man will kill him. Unfortunately for him, said warrior is actually Théoden's niece Éowyn, disguised as a man.
• In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, this is Professor McGonagall's reaction to Fudge refusing to believe Voldemort has returned: "You fool! Cedric Diggory! Mr Crouch! These deaths were not the random work of a lunatic!"
• Isaac Asimov:
  • "Little Lost Robot": The normally extremely cold and reserved Dr Susan Calvin loses her temper with Dr Bogert, declaring him a fool for forgetting robot safety.
    "Robots have learning capacity, you... you fool—" And Bogert knew that she had really lost her temper.
  • "The Mayors": Prince Regent Wienis insults King Lepold (his fifteen year-old nephew) in private for neglecting the threat that Terminus poses to Anacreon's independence.
• At the climax of the second Warrior Cats series, Hawkfrost informs Brambleclaw that he is a fool... and stupid.
• "Fool" shows up a lot in Animorphs. It's treated as the ultimate slap in the face when Alloran tells off Seerow for giving the Yeerks technology. Visser Three likes to yell "Fool!" and its variants at his underlings a lot, also. Usually about three seconds before offing the sucker.
• In the Dragonlance novel Dragons of Spring Dawning, Laurana repeatedly calls herself a fool after realizing that she has allowed her Arch-Enemy Kitiara to trick her into getting herself and her friends captured.
• Fiver in Watership Down says this after the rabbits, enraged at Bigwig's apparent death, insist on taking over Cowslip's warren:
  Fiver: Oh, Embleer Frith, you fools!
• The insult of choice by the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
• In Making Money, Mr. Bent is having a crisis of conscience and the voice criticizing him culminates in "you fool. You fool." It's pretty much the last thing he wants to hear, because he is literally a clown (he only tried working as one once, but it's apparently In the Blood) and has made every effort to stifle that part of himself. It shocks him into making a mistake and running into the gold vault.
• At the end of H. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Statement of Randolph Carter", after his companion Warren has ventured into the depths of a sinister cavern beneath a graveyard, the eponymous individual hears an unearthly voice from the other end of their radio-line: "You fool! Warren is DEAD!"
• "Fool!" ("Narr!" in the German original) is how Atlan's "logic sector", basically a subordinate second persona acting mainly as his independent inner critic, addresses him as a matter of course in Perry Rhodan whenever it feels the need to pipe up and point out a flaw in his reasoning. This may not be unique — when Gaumarol da Bostich finally manages to activate his own logic sector properly (the original procedure seemingly failed and instead resulted in eventual dream encounters with past Emperors of Arkon), it picks the exact same term to call him by.
• In the novelization of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Mace Windu tells Sidious that he's lost, defeated by fear, the same as any Sith Lord. Sidious calls him a fool.
  Sidious: Fool! Do you think the fear you feel is mine?! (reveals his ability to use Force lightning)
• Moongobble and Me: In book 2, the sign warning people that they're entering the Forest of Night explicitly calls them fools for doing so.

Live-Action TV

• A favorite insult of Avon from Blake's 7.
• In the Buffy episode The Wish:
  Anayanka: You trusting fool! How do you know the other world is any better than this?
  Giles: Because it has to be. (smashes amulet)
  • In "Surprise"
    Jenny: Uncle, this is insanity! People are going to die.
    Enyos: Yes. It is not justice we serve. It is vengeance.
    Jenny: You are a fool. We're all fools. (rushes out)
• Lord Dread has done this at least once in Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, most notably when Hawk's diversion prevented the Bio-Dread Soaron from destroying Power's ship during the run on the Icarus Control center.
• In an episode of The Drew Carey Show, Kate caught Drew cheating on her with an old girlfriend. Later in the episode, Drew drops in on Oswald and Lewis and tells them that Kate's pissed and looking for him.
  Lewis: You fool! You've killed us all by coming here!!!
• This classic/infamous Hollywood Squares episode, where the Epic Fail of the contestants led to the panel calling them fools as a Running Gag. (To elaborate, Gilbert Gottfried was the last square available and a contestant would only have to answer his question correctly for a 5-square win. They couldn't, failing seven questions in a row. The first time, Gilbert shouted "You fool!" mimicking Penn Jillette's Chewing the Scenery; and soon the entire panel was joining in.)
• In the last episode of The Middleman, when the Middleman learns what the doll's eyes were made of, he shouts "Eyes Without a Face! You fool!"
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd would frequently call their minions fools when browbeating them.
• Played for Laughs in one sketch on Monty Python's Flying Circus (Legal Robbery from "The Buzz Aldrin Show" in Season 2), in which a gangster accidentally leaves his car on the meter too long.
  Gang Leader: Five minutes overdue? You fool! YOU FOOL!
• Around the start of the 8th season of Scrubs, one of JD's fantasies, didn't end well for Dr. Cox. When he snapped out of it and looked at his mentor, he commented, "You proud fool!"
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: The Original Series: In the episode "Day of the Dove", Kirk has just explained to the Klingon captain Kang that the Enterprise is under the control of a creature that feeds on hate and wants the Klingons and humans to fight for its entertainment for the rest of eternity. Kang decides to fight Kirk anyway, at which point his wife Mara exclaims "You fool!". Later, Kang himself admits "Only a fool fights in a burning house."
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Enterprise encounters a Klingon vessel whose crew had been placed in suspended animation almost a century earlier and doesn't know about the truce with the Federation. Worf and Klingon Emissary K'Ehleyr are placed in (temporary) command of the Enterprise to deceive the crew into thinking the Klingon Empire was victorious.
    Worf: You fool! Did it not occur to you that the war would be over by now?
  • Star Trek: Voyager: One of the favourite sayings of Mad Scientist Dr. Chaotica from the holoprogram The Adventures of Captain Proton.
    Chaotica: "Where's Proton?"
    Lonzak: "He...err...escaped..."
    Chaotica: "FfffffooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLL! You shall PAY for your incompetence!"
  • Star Trek: Picard: In "Broken Pieces", Raffi says this to Picard because he's far too trusting of strangers, which includes Jurati, who turned out to be a Zhat Vash mole.
    Raffi: I'm talking about how big a fool you really are.
• Supernatural: In "The Man Who Knew Too Much", Castiel hisses this ad verbatim at Crowley regarding the latter allying with Raphael to claim all the souls in Purgatory, pointing out that Raphael will annihilate Crowley the moment their alliance has served its purpose. Crowley retorts that he's just grabbing the best offer on the table.

Music

• "Foolish Fool", by Sublime. Half the words are either "foolish" or "fool".
• In The Protomen, Protoman is fond of calling humans fools. Cause they are.
  • In Act II, Dr. Wily calls Light a fool for thinking humanity will resist him.
• In the musical segment of Cheech & Chong's "Earache My Eye", the singer (Glam Rock parody Alice Bowie) shouts maniacally at the end of his song, "Watch me burn, ha ha ... YOU FOOLS!"
• During the Epic Rap Battle of History between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, Tesla prefaces one of his responses with, "You fool! You think that you can touch me with this?!"
• Frozen has a deleted song called "Life's Too Short" (It seems to have been replaced with the reprise of "For the First Time in Forever" in the movie proper). In the song, as she gets angrier, Elsa calls Anna this twice. Possibly, this is a holdover from her earlier villainous personality.
  Both: "Life's too short"
  Elsa: "To listen to a reckless FOOL who only ever sees the things she wants to see"

Newspaper Comics

• In an early Dilbert comic, the Pointy-Haired Boss tried to be "more of a hands-on manager":
  PHB: Move the mouse... up... up... over... more... Now click it! Click it!! ...NO!!! You fool!!!
  Dilbert: This has "long day" written all over it.

Podcasts

• Dice Funk: At one point Austin yells, "You fool! You should have given him a fake name!"
  • Also used by Dora after her heel turn. In that instance, it was immediately lampsaded

Professional Wrestling

• This is what happens when Roman Reigns feels the need to demolish an announce table with the enemy's broken body.
  GET UP, FOOLS! THIS IS MY TABLE NOW!

Stand Up Comedy

• In a stand up act done by Bill Cosby, he recounts how he and his friend "Old Weird Harold" went to see a horror movie marathon and had to walk home after dark. They were frightened by the sudden appearance of a wino and beat him up before running away. Bill imagines the wino making an accident report:
  Cosby: Now I'm sure, while filling out the accident report on this man, that the doctor said, "What happened?"
  "I don't know. It's just, four feet ran right up my chest, danced on my head for a half-hour and then ran straight down my back, doctor."
  "Well did they say anything?"
  "Yes, they said, 'WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!'"
  "Did you see them at all?"
  "Yes, there was a little kid riding on top of a tall skinny one and he was beating him with a stick saying, 'Faster, faster, you fool, you fool!'"

Theater

• Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar:
  Fools! You have no perception
  The stakes we are gambling are frighteningly high
• "The Olive Tree" from Kismet tells a parable about a fool, and ends on this note:
  If you have heard
  And do not heed,
  There is a word
  For what you are,
  And oh, my friend,
  The word is "fool!"
• Parsifal has several moments where Parsifal is contemptuously called a fool. As the Leitmotif which recurs at these moments suggests, he's not just any young fool but the Chosen Fool.
• In both the theatrical and film versions of Into the Woods, the Witch calls the Baker a fool when he treis to hand her the cape as red as blood, saying she can't touch it.

Toys

• This was the standard insult for the first few years of BIONICLE, but was then replaced by "idiot" and "imbecile".

Video Games

• Some of the mooks in God Hand will shout or growl this as you approach. Exceptionally fast mini-boss Tiger Joe will say it if he manages to uppercut you.
• Mortal Kombat:
  • Mortal Kombat II: Shao Kahn's signature catchphrase. YOU WEAK PATHETIC FOOL!
  • Mortal Kombat: Armageddon: Shinnok does this to Daegon. It is followed by a magic slap.
• Ace Attorney:
  • Franziska von Karma took this to new levels by not only turning it into a Catchphrase, but making it redundant to the point where every few sentences would be something along the lines of:
    Franziska: Foolishly foolish fool with foolishly foolish fool ideas of foolish tomfoolery...
    Franziska: ... You're so foolish, you've even made me sound like a foolhardy fool...
  • From Investigations:
    Franziska:: I can’t believe that foolish fool would dress in fools’ clothing to act foolishly!
    Edgeworth: (We got your point about three "foolish-es" back, Franziska...)
  • Edgeworth gets at least one instance of this as early as 1-2, in response to the bellboy revealing, on the stand, that Edgeworth instructed him not to reveal that there were two people at the hotel.
  • In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, Simon Blackquill's pet name for his detective partner Bobby Fulbright is "Fool Bright."
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night One of Richter Belmont's phrases during his boss fight (whilst mind-controlled by Shaft) is this exact trope's name, word for word.
• Dragon Age II: Orsino declares "You fool, you've doomed us all!" after Anders destroys the Chantry.
• Dragon Quest: The Dragonlord yells "Thou art a fool!" when you refuse his offer to rule together with him.
• Dragon Quest XI: Dora-in-Grey refers to the party more than once as "fools."
  Dora: It is you have painted yourselves into a corner. Poor, drab fools!
• Robotnik, in Sonic Adventure, says it a few times:
  You know nothing, fool! It's Chaos, the god of destruction! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
  That's right, fool! You make it all too easy! All I had to do was wait for you to bring it to me!
  You fool. Away, before I make mincemeat out of you.
  • Sonic and the Black Knight: Caliburn initially makes a point of addressing Sonic exclusively as "fool" or "knave" on account of the latter's utter disinterest in following "proper" knightly conduct. He (mostly) drops it once Sonic finally earns his respect.
    Sonic: Think you could sharpen this dull piece of rust?
    Caliburn: Fool! It is you who is dull!
• There was a Mother 3 example, Alec to Lucas.
• Super Mario RPG: Chef Torte doesn't like it when your party stands on his cake.
  Chef Torte: YOU FOOLS!!
• The Shadow Queen in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door likes to use this word a lot.
  • Don't forget the "curse" chests!
    • WEE-HEE! FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLS!
• Papers, Please: One of the possible replies you may receive for detaining an ambassador is, “You are a fool!”
• In a direct reference to the Paper Mario Curse Chests, the Snatcher from A Hat in Time shouts out "FOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" when you first encounter him. Later encounters imply he does it all the time to new victims, so he hates that he has to repeatedly waste this presentation on Hat Kid.
• Commander Kielbasa to Roger Wilco in Space Quest VI:
  Kielbasa: WILCO, YOU FOOL!
• Used in the original Myst and Myst IV by Magnificent Bastard Sirrus, the former as a number one in a Downer Ending (You've done the right thing. You stupid fool! HAHAHAHAHA...), the latter as something of a number two: (No, you fool! My performance was perfect!)
  • In the first game, if you travel to D'ni without the page necessary to repair the Myst book, Atrus erupts with "What kind of fool are you?!" It comes as quite a shock, compared to his normally quiet, avuncular tone.
• Gen in Street Fighter Alpha: "You are big fool!"
• Many of the tablets in La-Mulana call the player a fool. One repeats "Thou art a fool" four times.
• Ecstatica II had a female voice tell you "Cease this madness, you fool!" if you tried to hit switches before they were able to work.
• Xenosaga: Episode III: At the end, KOS-MOS breaks Shion's Mineral MacGuffin, the Cosmic Key of Reset. Wilhelm says, "You fool." It's notable not just for coming at the climax, but for how softly it is said. The delivery fits the deliverer perfectly.
• If you screw up entering the dimensional portal near the end of Half-Life: "Freeman, you fool!"
  • And in Blue Shift: "You fool, you took too long!"
• The Curse of Monkey Island:
  Lemonhead: You fool! You've given cheese to a lactose-intolerant volcano god! Do you know what that means? You've brought about the coming of the Divine Dysentery! Run for your lives!
• Ursula is fond of this in Kingdom Hearts. "Insolent fools!"
  • Xemnas is even more fond of it, considering during one of his fights, he shouts "Cursed FOOOLS" at the party.
  • Saix utters a simple "Fool" when Maleficent summoned Heartless to attack him, and then summoning Nobodies to dispatch them afterwards.
• Emil pulls this on Marta in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World during her depression induced stupor regarding Ratatosk's Core and its possible effects on her. The "You fool" bit tips her off that it's really Ratatosk-Emil talking, not regular Emil.
• In Eternal Darkness, Pious calls Ellia a fool twice, first for being so close to Mantorok and then for not following his advice to run away.
• Garland from Final Fantasy calls out the Light Warriors as impertinent fools right before the knockdown.
  LIGHT WARRIORS?? You impertinent fools. I, Garland, will knock you all down!
• In Diablo II, Tyrael uses this when Marius takes Baal's soulstone. 'You... FOOL! You have just ensured the doom of this world!'
• Kerrigan in Starcraft II will repeat this phrase or a slight variant of it many, many times during the campaign.
• In Kid Niki: Radical Ninja, the fifth boss, Mad Monk, uses this phrase as his primary weapon. He can say it softly and drawn out ("Fooooooooollll..."), extending across the top of the screen to drop Os on you; he can shout it out as a large kanji with which to crush you; or he can scream, "GET HIM, YOU FOOLS!" to summon some mooks to take you out, or at least keep you distracted enough to fall for one of the first two.
• Lord Victor Nefarius, aka the Black Dragon Nefarian from World of Warcraft gives us this line when he berates his incompetent minions:
  Nefarius: Foolsss... Kill the one in the dress!
  • Subverted, though, by the time you face Nefarian himself, he has forgotten his own advice for your convenience.
    • It makes sense, though - when you're watching a fight, figuring out who the biggest problem is easy. When you're the one getting smacked upside the head by a guy wearing plate armor, but the guy in the dress is doing nothing visibly harmful to you, which would you reasonably go after? He makes up for it somewhat, though; instead of trying to kill the medics first, he screws with them in various ways (Priest heals can suddenly start to cause damage over time to the targets, druids can be forced into cat form, etc.).
• Used by the Spy in Team Fortress 2 as one of his responses, upon dominating an enemy Spy. Given the air of sophistication and competence the Spy tries to maintain, he treats this this as a grievous insult.
  "You are an amateur and a fool!"
• Shows up in Half-Life 2 as Doctor Breen's final words.
• THE COWARDS! THE FOOLS!
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • In Morrowind, Dagoth Ur mocks you if you attempt to kill him. He says, "What a fool you are. I'm a God. How can you kill a God?" If you attack the Heart of Lorkhan he says, "What are you doing? What are you doing?! Fool! Stop!"
  • In a Mages' Guild quest in Oblivion, a count's steward informs you that the count wishes to meet you outside of town at 2 am. The steward shows up there with a couple of necromancers, tells you that he tricked you, and tries to kill you. The count himself arrives and helps save you. Afterward, he angrily says: "You impossible fool. What possessed you to think I would suggest a meeting here, of all places?" Of course, even if you suss out the trap, you have no choice but to walk into it to advance the plot.
  • In Skyrim, a Dunmer trapped in a Giant Spider's web offers you a MacGuffin for cutting him loose. When he's freed, he says, "You fool. Why should I share the treasure with anyone?" before running further into the dungeon (most likely to get to the door the MacGuffin is supposed to unlock). If the player doesn't get him, the draugr or the booby traps will.
• Tiger Joe from Widenyo uses it plenty in his over the top speech.
• Darn near a Verbal Tic for earlier versions of Sima Yi in Dynasty Warriors, where he would dismiss almost everyone for a fool in his cutscene appearances, and even as part of his Beam Spam Musou. Similarly, Date Masamune of Samurai Warriors will use any chance to call people imbeciles. Needless to say, during the crossover Warriors Orochi games, the two tend to get grouped together.
• The Witch's House: If you actually try on the red shoes, as per the bloody writing's advice, the message changes from "TRY THEM ON" to "YOU ACTUALLY PUT THEM ON! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" upon reloading.
• Wild Dog in Time Crisis II before blowing himself up: "V.S.S.E.! YOU FOOLS!"
• Dark Souls has an interesting example, Quelana of Izalith literally calls you a fool from the beginning. By the time when your relationship with her is strengthened, the meaning of "fool" is much different.
  "Fool. Hurry along. I can do nothing more for you."
• Flowey from Undertale is inordinately fond of calling the protagonist and their friends "you idiots". In fact, "You Idiot" is the name of the track that plays whenever Flowey shows his true colors.
• In Persona 4, Ameno-Sagiri calls the party "fools" when reduced to roughly a fourth of his health.
• In the Namco Museum Vol. 4, Benkei's "BAKA mé!" in Genpei Toumaden is officially translated this way in the North American version (which was renamed "The Genji and the Heike Clans").
• In the DX and Switch versions of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, the Giant Buzz Blob will call you a fool and tell you to try something else if you attack it with your sword before using Magic Powder on it.
• Super Smash Bros.: Meta Knight sometimes lets out a "fool" when he uses his dimensional cape to teleport and strike an opponent by surprise.
• In Puyo Puyo Tetris, one of Satan/The Dark Prince's voice lines when attacking has him saying the trope verbatim.
• This is a stock response from certain leaders in the later Civilization games (V, VI, and Beyond Earth) when you declare war on them.
  You fool. You have made a terrible mistake.
• Super Surprise Party: In a rant that follows the location-tracker being turned off, the narrator refers to you, among other things, as a "fool".
• In L.A. Noire, during the case "Buyer Beware", Cole calls Clovis Galletta a "little fool" for worrying about whether she'll lose the earrings she was attempting to buy from a man who murdered her boss not five minutes earlier.
  You could lose your freedom, you little fool, if you don't stop obstructing a murder investigation.
• Final Fantasy VII Remake: When the party starts escaping the Shinra building in a stolen motorcycle and pickup truck, Heidegger's mooks stare in shock until Heidegger gets them moving by screaming, "Stop them, you fools! Don't let them escape!"
• The perpetually loud, perpetually dramatic Councilor Vay Hek of Warframe is quite fond of calling people fools, as per one of his most infamous quotes:
  WHY ARE THESE FOOLS STILL BREATHING MY AIR?
• In the Princess Connect! Re:Dive event, "The Angelic Foundation and the Saintly School Lycéennes", the three members of the St. Theresa Academy (Friendship Club) Guild have been arguing which one of them counts as the biggest fool for their involvement in the Friendbot X's creation before the boss battle. Then the Friendbot X calls them the "fool trio" and all three reverse track to decide that the robot is the real fool all along, taking offense to the robot insulting them the same way they insult each other.

Webcomics

• Galasso in Shortpacked! and Dumbing of Age really likes to call people "FOOLS!" as seen in the page image. So does Sydney Yus, although while Galasso (usually) has the gravitas to pull it off, Sydney is very much a Big Bad Wannabe.
• Many Sparks, particularly the more megalomaniacal ones, say this in Girl Genius. Seffie von Blitzengaard practices saying "The fools!" with an Evil Laugh. The official Girl Genius Fun T-Shirt store used to offer shirts with the slogan "FOOLS! I will destroy you all! (Ask me how!)"

Web Original

• Red vs. Blue: This is practically O'Malley's Catchphrase. In his quest to over-do every single supervillain trait he could, he delivered this line:
  O'Malley: "You foolish fools will never defeat me! You are far too busy being foolish!"
• Because the idiocy of his AI teammates, (At least in their inability to throw a flash grenade more than a foot into the room) this has become Noah Antwiler's phrase of choice during his Let's Play of SWAT 4. There's even a shirt.
  • Lampshaded once when Spoony does it to himself and instead says "Erm, me fool!".
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series: "Foolish fools! There are no women in Yu-Gi-Oh! There are only extremely girly men! And I am the girliest of them all!"
  Pegasus: You just keep telling yourself that.
  • Speaking of Pegasus...
    Pegasus: That's the wrong eyeball, You Fool!!
• Jeff and Adam of Life's a Glitch TV are very fond of using this phrase.
• In a review for Sonic Free Riders by Angry Joe, Joe complains about the terrible menu controls, and preempts any viewers who think the Kinect's voice command system is any better.
  Joe: Oh really?! FOOL!
• Mirai Nikki The Abridged Series has this exchange between Minene and Yukiteru:
  Minene: Hello, fellow student. I am just a normal student. Like you.
  Yukiteru: (Thinking) That sure is a big cockroach over there...
  Minene: Ha-Ha! You fool! I'm not a normal student at all!
  • And again in episode 5:
    Minene: Yes... I have learned the error of my ways. Never again will I harm another living soul... Terrorism is bad and... stuff. [...] Ha-ha! You fool! As if I'd ever give up my life of terrorism!
• The first skit in ASDF Movie's deleted scenes.
  Woman: *runs up to a man* Have you seen the baby?
  Man: No, I think he got outside!
  *Woman runs off, while the man's head opens up, revealing that he was an android of some kind being controlled by the baby.*
  Baby: *in a deep voice* You FOOL.
• DSBT InsaniT: Said by Killer Monster when Koden returns in 'The Camping Webisode', but WG quickly shuts him up.
• The Call of Warr: Killsin calls one caller "A stupid fool" for suggesting he just give his trust and support to the soldiers.
• In the DEATH BATTLE! between Frieza and Megatron, Megatron yells out this trobe verbatim (Which also doubles as a Mythology Gag to the Frieza and Goku example above, complete with Frieza yelling out the exact same line as in the Dragon Ball Z mention above: "You will die by my hand!") in the climax of the battle. Unlike in Dragon Ball Z, it doesn't go nearly as well for Megatron as it did for Goku, as Frieza's Death Saucers cleave through his attack, then him, then Cybertron (causing the planet to explode), leaving only Frieza remaining.

Western Animation

• 80's Cartoon villains!
  • Megatron - "Foolish Autobots!" "Starscream, you fool!"
  • Cobra Commander - Foolish Joes! (insert minion's name here), you fool!
  • For that matter, most of Megatron and Cobra Commander's high ranking minions would call whoever was thwarting their plans a fool too.
  • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983): Skeletor to Beast Man: "You furry fool!" Also, memorably parodied by Bam Margera's band, Gnarkill.
  • Venger, the big bad from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, would often call the heroes fools, or foolish.
  • Also shows up in live-action shows for kids as well. After Hawk buys Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future time to get to Icarus Control by going after Soaron, Lord Dread, overseeing the whole thing, utters "Soaron, you fool!"
• In the Beast Wars episode "Gorilla Warfare", Optimus Primal yanks a viral mine off of his chest while inside the Predacon base, prompting Megatron to yell at him "You fool! You'll destroy us all!".
• Bugs Bunny lights up his underground cronies in "Tortoise Wins By A Hare" after they keep him (dressed as a turtle) from winning the race and helping Cecil Turtle (as a rabbit) win:
  Bugs: You fools!!! What're ya doin'?!! I'm the rabbit! THE RABBIT!!! (sobbing loudly, as he sheds his disguise) LOOK!!! I'M THE RABBIT!!!
  Underground rabbits: Eh...now he tells us! (they blow their brains out)
  • In Knighty Knight Bugs, Bugs is a court jester telling the king that "only a fool would go after the Singing Sword!" To which the king retorts, "A good idea...fool!"
• Batman: The Animated Series has the episode ''Mad Love", a darkly disturbing look at the abusive relationship between Joker and Harley Quinn. Notable in that it's one of the few times Batman has been shown laughing, except it's harsh, mocking laughter. This is followed by a vicious tear-down of Harley's rationale for loving Joker to try and get through to her.
  Batman: Ah ha hah ha haa...you little fool. The Joker doesn't love anything, except himself. Wake up Harleen. He had you pegged for hired help the minute you walked into Arkham!
• From Courage the Cowardly Dog, Di Lung's Catchphrase is, "Watch where you're going, you fool!"
• Baron Greenback referring to Danger Mouse and Penfold after his plans are scuttled from "Trouble With Ghosts":
  Greenback: Hurry, Stiletto, before that fool and his fool spot us!
  • Greenback delivers it to Stiletto when his exospeak about his device at the North Pole stopping the Earth's rotation flummoxes the minion:
    Greenback: It's putting the brakes on, stopping the world, fool!
• In The Dragon Prince, when Callum interrupts Claudia in casting a lightning spell against him, he thinks that she shouts "Fool!" at him. Much later on, however, it's revealed that she was actually cut off from shouting "Fulminus!", the Draconic word needed to cast the lightning spell.
• One of Futurama's TALES! OF! INTEREST! has former Vice President and protector of the space-time continuum Al Gore shouting "You fool! You foolish fool!" at Fry, after he's just caused a time paradox that will destroy the universe.
• A favorite derogatory remark from Demona in Gargoyles, particularly toward her estranged mate Goliath. His heroism is 'foolish' and his idealism is 'sentiment' - therefore, "Sentimental fool!"
• Sir Raven in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "My Fair Mandy", when Mandy smiles and all hell breaks loose as a result: "YOU FOOLS! YOU'VE MESSED WITH THE NATURAL ORDER!"
• In an episode of Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures, a mook almost breaks a canister filled with deadly gas. Another mook stops it in time and yells, "You fool! You could have killed us all!"
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has the Big Bad Nightmare Moon subtly switch out the word for "foals". Her particular line also happens to be a reference to Maleficent's Sleeping Beauty line above.
• Phineas and Ferb: At the end of "Invasion of the Ferb Snatchers", Candace once again fails to bust Phineas and Ferb, and she laments her apparent hubris in believing she could succeed in doing so.
  Candace: I was a fool! A foooooool!...
  • Also it echoes the last line of the movie she was watching earlier in the episode.
• The Real Ghostbusters episode "Halloween II 1/2" saw the guys faced with a newly freed Samhain.
  Samhain: You didn't actually think you could keep Samhain, the Spirit of Halloween, locked up forever, did you, Ghostbusters?
  Peter: Well, yeah, actually we did.
  Samhain: Then you are fools! And fools deserve a swift demise!
• Ren from Ren & Stimpy tended to call Stimpy "eediot", but the Space Madness episode gave us this line.
  Ren: That's the History Eraser Button, You Fool!
• Aku from Samurai Jack has made "FOOLISH samurai!" a meme.
• In an animated segment on Sesame Street, this is used to teach about words that begin with the letter "f," using a flea circus.
  Filbert the Flea: ... First I put the flame to the fuse—(lights a miniature cannon)
  BOOM (the blast destroys the entire circus table, leaving a singed mess)
  Flea Circus Ringmaster: Filbert, you fool!
  Filbert: Oh, phooey!
  Flea Circus Ringmaster: Anybody want to buy a used F?
• The Simpsons: Homer Simpson on April Fools day. "You couldn't fool me on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine."
• In Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), Antoine has called people fools before. However, because of his thick French accent, it sounds like he's saying "fuel", leading to much confusion.
  Antoine: (to a briefly captured Robotnik) I am not ze fuel, you are ze fuel!
• Super Friends: The Legion of Doom was fond of this. "Super Fools" for the Super Friends as a whole, "Superfool" for Superman, "Batfool" for Batman, "Green Fool" for Green Lantern, etc.
• Superman: The Animated Series: Darkseid gets Bruno Mannheim to work for him and promises to make him a king. Eventuallly, Darkseid abandons him to die in an exploding reactor. Bruno desperately reminds him of his promise, but Darkseid says he kept it. Bruno has become a "King of Fools".
• Shredder of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has said it a couple of times.
• Wakfu: Nox shouts this at Yugo during their last battle when Yugo tries to grab the Eliacube, claiming he's the only one who understands the cube well enough to safely touch it.

Other

• Similarly, the (for now) defunct Star Trek: The Experience attraction in Las Vegas had one of these on each of its two shows. The Klingon Encounter featured Korath angrily spitting at Riker, "Fools! You will regret defying me!" The Borg Invasion show featured the Borg Queen's admonishment when her threat of employing a self-destruct sequence is questioned, "You're a fool, Janeway! There will always be more drones."
• "Climb you fool! Climb!" was shouted in futility at the B-25 bomber that mistakingly crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945.

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I said to him, "You fool! You're browsing TV Tropes, knowing it *will* ruin your life!?

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