Editing Stupid Evil (section)

===Other /tg/-relevant examples===
* The Sith in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' universe suffer from this greatly, and it's a major reason they keep losing to the Jedi and failed to keep any of their empires intact long-term. In fact, one could argue that they're a perfect case study on why Stupid Evil is a bad idea:
** Firstly, whereas the Jedi code encourages understanding yet controlling your emotions (that way you take them into account, but they don't prevent you from doing what is necessary), the Sith code encourages embracing your emotions and indeed, many of the most powerful Sith like Darth Vader are incredibly emotionally damaged. Thus Sith tend to do things in the heat of the moment and often lack the patience needed to be truly effective. Darth Malak can't find Revan and the Ebon Hawk crew on a planet he has control of? Oh well better just ''level his own planet'' with Star Destroyers, costing himself thousands of workers and soldiers in his psychotic and desperate rush to off his old master.
** Secondly, the Sith code is built on a hyper-Darwinist, "survival-of-the-fittest" structure. While this sounds decent enough on paper, in practice it meant that the Sith ''constantly'' backstabbed each other in idiotic power plays, often leading to Sith killing each other more often than they killed Jedi. Crossing with the "overly emotional" thing above, their lack of patience often led to them betraying each other way before it was beneficial to do so. Darth Bane was the first major Sith Lord to realize how stupid and unsustainable this lifestyle was (Darth Malgus did too, but he got put down by the Hero of Tython, flat out one of the best Jedi of all time, and cyborged before he could really act on it and it was the middle of the Great Galactic Wars period so there was only so much he could do), and did something about it for the benefit of the Order rather than themselves. His "rule of two" may have led to the Sith population being lower than ever before or after, but at least it kept the Sith order alive and prevented most of them from slaughtering each other in pathetic attempts to gobble up more power.
*** It should be noted that even the Sith themselves violate or weasel their way around the Rule of Two every now and then. Darth Maul was alive at the same time as Dooku & Palpatine (technically before Dooku defected after Qui-Gon's death but it still counts as Palps was already planning to replace him in Legends), and in the EU during Vader's time there were the Force-using "Hands of the Emperor" agents such as Mara Jade. They also have characters like Ventress who aren’t officially Sith Lords, yet are trained just like one. So while it decreases their numbers by a lot, they find ways around even when they actually obey said rule. This again is an aversion of idiocy, as a spare is a good idea when only two people are allowed.
*** Also don't get the idea that Darth Bane's plan was sensible or not-backstabby. He wiped out almost all of the Sith in exchange for merely a small group of Jedi in an admittedly epic and arguably goddamn hilarious backstab, and part of the reason he did so wasn't because he was sure they'd fall into infighting - in fact, Lord Kaan had most of them under his thumb thanks to psychic influence and strength - but because the Sith were acting in very un-Sithy ways, relying purely on strength of arms and unified armies rather than mastery of the Dark Side. Even when there was a very real chance the Sith could've won via these methods, he couldn't have that or slink off and make his rule of two on his own - he had to backstab everyone else first. Then, go figure, his successors ended up using those same pragmatic tactics until the Jedi declined enough to almost destroy them in one blow. To be fair, the survivors (read: the assholes who didn't help with the 300-year long galactic dark age after two and a half millennia of almost nonstop war) and their policies lead to the decline of the Jedi Order until they got Order 66'd. 
** Thirdly and finally, Sith who engage in too much evil and envelope themselves too deeply in the Dark Side often suffer from an inability to properly sense the Light Side. This alienation of the Light is what lead to the otherwise brilliant Palpatine's death. He alienated altruism and good so utterly that he was not only unable to sense Luke Skywalker's presence during a critical moment, but he was also unable to sense that his apprentice Darth Vader still had some morality in him. Thus he attempts to tortuously kill Luke, and is killed himself when he fails to sense Vader's own paternal feelings and the betrayal they influence.
* Also from Star Wars, the Galactic Empire, not surprisingly given a Sith Lord set it up. It's policy for maintaining its rule is based around the Tarkin Doctrine, which is based on the rule by fear of force. This involves not just using Star Destroyers to burn planets to molten rock, but using the Death Star to blow them to pieces.
** The Empire's cutthroat leadership means anybody of notable status is almost constantly looking to advance their station by stepping over the bodies of dead rivals. Orson Krennic sought to usurp his superior Grand Moff Tarkin which meant the two were constantly focused on undermining each other instead of the Rebel Alliance, and Tarkin ultimately used the Death Star to wipe out Imperial Garrison along with Krennic to ensure he could never pose a threat.
** Tarkin himself would later use the Death Star to destroy Alderaan out of spite towards Leia. Using the Death Star to destroy a planet did nothing but create more support for the Rebellion, especially when they successfully destroy the Death Star.
** The Empire was kind of set up to fail as it really only was a means of control for Palpatine, who didn't give a shit about anything but his own power. The moment he publicly appeared to die, Legends had the Empire fall to massive warlordism (yes, including Thrawn.  He was just the most intelligent and pragmatic of them and had the honorable Gilad Pellaeon as his right-hand man), interrupted only by Palpatine revealing his clone bodies before dying a final death, causing a second bout of warlordism that mostly got defeated by the New Republic with the only remnant lead by the aforementioned [[TVTropes|Token Good Teammate]] Pelleaon agreeing to a ceasefire. The Disney version was the same with Palpatine faking his death to the Empire falling apart in only a year with the extremist survivors founding the First Order which Palpatine secretly took over to try one last time to take over, but the story is just a worse rehash of the OG so whatever.
* The [[Skaven]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]], whose rival clans always plan on backstabbing each other even if they're all fighting a mutual (and often far worse) enemy. A perfect plan for them involves getting their own enemies and allies to kill each other, until they are the only one left to face the next enemy - keep in mind that "they" doesn't just mean rival clans either; in an apocalyptic scenario, even their personal secretary is only barely less of an enemy than the hordes of the undead. As above, it takes the [[Horned Rat]], their god, as well as the invention of instant communication via the [[Farsqueaker]], to get their fuzzy little asses united...though in the Skaven's case, them being a species of Stupid Evil is entirely the ([[Lulz|hilarious]]) point and their society is explained as surviving in spite of themselves due to a ridiculous breeding rate.
* Humans in science and fantasy fiction often end up being Stupid Evil when the (usually incompetent) writer wants to make a statement about discrimination. According to these tales, humans are apparently overly-panicky and violent psychopaths itching for an excuse to murder the shit out of other species. For instance, in [[Avatar]] the human army is portrayed as a bunch of jingoist lunatics who want to slaughter the peaceful Na'vi for the resources they need, rather than trying to reap long-term benefits by making peaceful contact, in a clear exaggeration of tendencies that might have existed in the colonization era. The advent of [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] is in part a reaction to this phenomenon.
** Heck, even if you're genocidal, when you have total orbital supremacy you should just [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|drop rocks]], rather than charging into battle in your mecha.
* Some followers of [[Chaos]], such as [[Firaeveus Carron]], can prove to be this most of the time (mostly leaning towards stupid).
** Mortarion for that matter, he loses to both Jaghatai Khan, Kaldor Draigo and Guilliman because he decides to throw a tantrum/bully/attempt to complete the ritual instead of just killing off any of them quickly which in turn allows each one of them to get their respective Deus Ex Machina who ends up with Mortarion losing.
** His fight against Guilliman was particularly stupid, as he just had to decapitate him after beating him into the dust half to death, instead he injects the Godblight into Rowboat and awaits for him to die from the poison because that would ensure Ultramar getting sucked into the warp and will make a point he did the right thing on selling-off to Nurgle. Cue the Emperor himself manifesting through Guilliman and powering Guilliman up to permanently damage the Garden of Nurgle, in punishment for such a failure Morty is immediately summoned into Nurgle's presence to feel his wrath while most of his forces in Ultramar get nuked.
* [[Lolth]] actually enforces Stupid Evil in her worshipers: because of her, the Drow spend 3 quarters of their energy fighting each other instead of defending themselves, which is a really bad idea since they live in an underground city under constant threat of being [[rape]]d by [[illithid]]s and [[beholder]]s. In fact, when things get really bad, she literally has to tell them to get their shit together for a short period of time.
* [[/co/|The Joker.]] Once "merely" [[Tzeentch|a criminal mastermind with a chaotic, unpredictable bent]] and joke-themed weapons (like a joy buzzer that gives a lethal electric shock and a squirting flower that sprays acid), he devolved in the 90's into a murder-happy rabid dog who kills for the jollies and because [[/d/|he gets off on being punched in the face by Batman]]. With the ''Dark Knight'' and ''Joker'' movies, it's been shown that he can be convincingly chaotic evil for reasons that make Batman look like a whiny rich kid, though this depends heavily on the writer. That being said, Joker is one of the cases that is actually fun to be written as one hundred percent Stupid Evil. There is just something hilarious about the ridiculously cruel things he keeps coming up with when written well and as Joaquin Phoenix masterfully demonstrated, he can be made into a nuanced character with understandable motivations as well.
* General Zod and his minions as depicted in Man Of Steel. Zack Snyder tried to make them complex but botched up the execution. Seriously, they brag about how [[Dark Eldar|lacking any semblance of a moral compass makes them superior]]. Michael Shannon’s laughably misguided performance certainly didn’t do any favors for our suspension of disbelief (for the record, we blame Zack Snyder for Zod’s performance, as Synder was the director).
* Starscream from [[Transformers]]. He's too ambitious and egotistical to realize how good his position as Megatron's second-in-command is, and so spends much of his time trying to usurp his leader with predictable failure. He also tends to do things on the spur of the moment to satisfy his own ego, as demonstrated in ''Prime'' where he angrily takes credit for killing Arcee's best friend Cliffjumper ''while in handcuffs in front of Arcee'', simply because he doesn't want Airachnid stealing the credit for things he did.
* Doctor Doom from [[Marvel Comics]] is a genius but it doesn't stop him from indulging in idiotic moments of villainy for his own pettiness. The motivation for his feud with his arch enemies the Fantastic Four stems from his inferiority complex with their leader Reed Richards and his need to prove his own superiority over Reed causes him to lose a number of times he would have otherwise. The same applies when fighting many other heroes as well.
* [[Nod]] in [[Command and Conquer| Command And Conquer 3]] can have a big robot called an Avatar Warmech destroy a friendly vehicle to take a part from it, which kills the loyal crew and wastes money attaching equipment that an Avatar could just be built from scratch with.
* [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device]] does this to the Inquisition, making them less paranoid cowboy cops and hanging judges, and more sadistic egotistical weirdos who will say the words "Genestealer Cult" to each other and then find random imperial citizens to kill. Prime example, the TTS version of Lord Inquisitor Fyodor Karamazov is introduced ordering an [[Exterminatus]] on a mining world for not giving him a shiny metal he wanted for his soldiers.
* Long Feng from [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]] is the unofficial ruler of the Earth Kingdom thanks to his control over its center of government in Ba Sing Se. He has a strictly enforced rule against talking about the war with the Fire Nation to avoid disrupting things in the city. When the series heroes show up, he could have simply arranged for them to discuss their plan to end the war outside the city, since his country is losing the war. Instead he's so confident that Ba Sing Se is impenetrable that opposes the heroes' efforts to '''help his country win a war''', going as far as siding with the Fire Nation to ensure he keeps his position. Naturally this leads to him getting double crossed.
* Aku from [[Samurai Jack]] as a foil to the [[Stupid Good]] of the show's hero. Aku lives to cause as much pain, suffering and destruction as he can for everyone around him, even if he doesn't benefit from it. If he cuts a deal with a third party to help kill Samurai Jack then he will double cross them just for the fun it, which inevitably leads to whoever he cut a deal with saving Jack. Anytime he has Jack dead to rights he can't resist coming up with a sadistic end for him as opposed to finishing him off right away. This proves Aku's undoing by the show's finale since not killing Jack when he has the chance allows the samurai to finally return to the past and finish off Aku when he was at his most vulnerable. Given that Aku is the personification of evil, (originally born from a ENORMOUS being of primal chaos that was shattered by an alliance of [[Ra]], [[Odin]], and [[Rama]]) this is his natural  way of doing things.
*Dr. Drakken from Kim Possible. If you listen to some of his evil plots, they are laughably evil that also make zero fucking sense for his stated goal of world domination. Granted sometimes he isn't, but how useful is an Ozone destruction machine that can't be stopped when it will destroy the world you are gonna rule? Tends to ramble on and on about how he will kill the heroes in a roundabout way that even his hot assistant Shego points out is retarded to take the piss out of him.
* Horde Prime from [[Masters of the Universe |  She-Ra & The Princesses of Power]] is a petty control freak who was out to conquer the universe. By the series proper he pretty much succeeded, and that isn't enough for him because his oppressive iron fist means literally nobody will tolerate him beyond his army of clones who make up his personal cult and whatever people he implanted with mind control chips to force them into his cult as well (usually as punishment for angering him). Having no patience for any perceived weakness he sent his top clone general Hordak out to die on the front lines for being born with physical defects (which are really Prime's fault since he created Hordak), even though all hints say Hordak was doing his job fine. When he shows up for the final season of the series, Horde Prime takes offense to Hordak forging his own identity and despite his former general's loyalty punishes him for stepping out of his place. initially Prime plans to exterminate the planet of Etheria just to cover up Hordak's failed attempt to conquer it so nobody learns Prime isn't the invincible conqueror he presents himself as. He is convinced by Catra to spare the planet due to a superweapon called the Heart of Etheria. While he effectively conquers Etheria, Prime is so evil that even the show's villains unite with the heroes against him for one reason or another. While Horde Prime is warned the Heart of Etheria is too dangerous to use, he can't stand people rising up against him and aims to use the weapon to wipe out all other life in the universe to ensure he can rule over whatever is left. When he has enough of everyone getting in his way (even Hordak turns on him), in the finale Horde Prime decides to use the Heart to destroy '''EVERYTHING''' including himself out of spite. Trying to destroy everything leaves him with nothing left to defend him as he's finally killed by She-Ra.
* Minor villain Wyald from [[Berserk]] is complete idiot who kills his own men at the slightest provocation while also murdering anybody he feels he can get away with (which is just about everything). During his mission to prevent Griffith's rescue, Wyald fails to prevent it because he kills a bunch of random peasants who interacted with the Band of Hawk, then continuously orders his own men into the traps set by the Band of Hawk with no regard for their safety (even laughing at their deaths) which eventually leads to them ditching him, after which he kills them all himself. Wyald actually manages to get the better of Guts, and doesn't kill him because he was more interested in raping Casca, giving Guts the chance to get back in the fight. Wyald's crowning moment of idiocy is that he tries to kill Griffith, who is marked to become one of the Godhand is therefor one of the only things Apostles like Wyald aren't allowed to kill. Breaking this rule leads to Wyald getting ripped in half by the more powerful Apostle Zodd. Wyald's idiocy made such him a pathetic antagonist that both animated adaptations of Berserk's Golden Age Arc cut him out since in the end his role amounts to being a temporary obstacle who isn't needed for the rest of the story.
* Davros from [[Doctor Who]] is a pure example of this; in probably the most famous villain speech in the history of the entire show, he straight up admits that he'd unhesitatingly destroy <i>all of existence</i> just for the giddy thrill of wielding such power.  (Whether he's somehow forgotten that existence is kind of <i>where he lives</i>, or just plain doesn't care, or is simply such an egomaniac that the mere notion of not existing himself is literally unthinkable to him, or even insane enough to consider it a perfectly suitable end for himself, remains unclear.)  By the time he makes this speech, he's already casually committed genocide against two entire civilizations, <i>one of which was his own,</i> just because they got in the way of his pet project.
* [[Wizards of the Coast]].
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]