Anakin: Apparently not.
Why do heroes always act like idiots, even when not Idiot Heroes? They always make the worst decisions when the time comes. Sure The Good Guys Always Win and end up Saving the World from the Big Bad, but they seem to have an aversion to making smart choices while doing it.
Oh, that's right, they're holding the Hero Ball.
This is the hero-specific form of the Idiot Ball, which causes its holder to make downright moronic decisions solely because the plot demands it. Unlike the Villain Ball, the Hero Ball almost never leads to its holder's permanent defeat; it merely delays the hero's inevitable victory, ratcheting up the dramatic tension in the meantime (at least, until the Fridge Logic kicks in). Of course, once victory is assured, the Hero Ball will prevent its holder from killing or permanently incapacitating the villain — after all, the villain needs to be back on his feet in time for the next episode.
If he carries the Hero Ball long enough, one almost gets the impression that the hero is more interested in padding the plot than in actually defeating the Big Bad. This can be particularly frustrating when we've been shown (or at least told) that the hero should be smarter than this.
- All-Loving Hero: A hero who has unconditional love for everyone, even people they should be angry at like nefarious villains and criminals.
- The Cape
- Designated Hero: A character is intended by the work to be heroic, but in the audience's eyes is no hero at all. Can be the result of the hero taking an extremely misguided approach of not stooping to the villains' level.
- Ideal Hero
- Idiot Hero: The hero isn't very smart and is therefore likely to cause problems by lacking common sense.
- Lawful Stupid
- Small Steps Hero
- Stupid Good
- Technical Pacifist
- Unintentionally Karmic: The hero is actually trying to help out the villains, but does so in a way that they're unintentionally screwing up their plans and getting them punished.
- Alone with the Psycho
- Balance Between Good and Evil
- Cardboard Prison: Throwing the villain in jail doesn't work because they'll just break out and continue committing crimes later.
- Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: The hero stops to help someone in need even if doing so would hinder them.
- Dumb Is Good
- Fighting Back Is Wrong: A person being bullied tries to fight back and is punished under the rationale that it is wrong to act in self-defense, often disregarding that there are times where fighting back against the one who is harming you is the only viable option.
- Honor Before Reason: The hero prefers to do the honorable thing even when in a situation where it would be more practical to get their hands dirty.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: It's argued that killing your tormentor is the wrong approach because doing so will make you no different from them.
- It's the Only Way
- I Work Alone
- Joker Immunity: The villain always comes back to continue causing problems for the hero, often because the hero insists on taking the villain out non-lethally regardless of how serious and dangerous the villain's crimes are.
- Just Eat Gilligan
- Karma Houdini: A character does something bad and never gets punished for it, which may be because of the authority figures being too gullible or ineffectual to realize that the person needs to be held accountable for their actions.
- Kill Him Already!
- MacGuffin Delivery Service
- Out of Sight, Out of Mind
- Plot-Sensitive Snooping Skills: An observant character's insight is less sharp on their allies than their enemies.
- Redemption Demotion
- Save the Villain: When the villain is in danger, the hero always goes out of their way to save the villain's life, no matter how better off they'd be if the villain was dead.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Obviously, getting rid of a threat by sealing them inside an enchanted prison rather than destroying them outright has the shortcoming that someone might eventually stumble upon the prison and set the malevolent entity free.
- Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: An evil being is kept in check by imprisoning them inside a person, which can often backfire if the imprisoned villain simply takes control of the body of the person they're sealed inside.
- Slave to PR
- Stupidity Is the Only Option: A video game won't let you advance until you do something very stupid.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself
- What Measure Is a Mook?
- Villains Blend in Better
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The story ends with the villain getting away after their plan is thwarted, the most egregious circumstances having the heroes just stand there and not even try to go after the escaping villain.
- Yearning for a Nemesis
- You Can't Thwart Stage One
Note that some of these tropes are mutually contradictory; for example, a Lawful Stupid character carries the Hero Ball all the time, but would sooner die than Save the Villain. Apparently, there's only so many ways to be smart, but idiocy is Legion.
Modern, Western action movies usually combine the Hero Ball with some form of Karmic Death. The hero can't actually be shown executing the villain, but that doesn't mean the villain can't fall to his death, be eaten by his own monster, crushed by his own machine, fall into nearby acid or lava, or impale himself on some nearby sharp object, or be otherwise Hoist by His Own Petard.
Compare with the Villain Ball and Holding Back the Phlebotinum. Contrast Flaw Exploitation for when an antagonist exploits a heroes' flaws. Contrast No-Nonsense Nemesis, who isn't prone to carrying the Villain Ball, and Good Is Not Dumb.
Not to be confused with Chronic Hero Syndrome, where someone insists on acting the hero at all given opportunities.
