Intelligence plays a significant role not only in how a character outwits their enemies, but how they cultivate relationships and interact with the world around them as well. For some, it has been their greatest asset and saving grace, while for others, it merely compounds the reasons to fear them.
However, just as physical characters might lose battles of strength, intelligent characters aren't always the ones doing the outsmarting. Sometimes, they even dupe themselves! It's time to explore 10 situations where an otherwise intelligent character made a dumb decision.
10 Merlin Petrifying Herself - Seven Deadly Sins
Merlin's intimate knowledge of the arcane has proved one of the Seven Deadly Sins' strongest assets. Of the group, she was the only one with the prowess and physiology capable of defeating Greyroad without killing herself in the process.
However, one would expect better of her than to attempt lying to Galand of Truth. Consequently, the group lost the perfect cube which had been protecting them up until that point, and if Gowther had not intervened, it would have spelled the premature end of the season and an early conclusion to the show.
9 Light Yagami Giving His Location To L - Death Note
Light Yagami's bloodstained career had a promising start. He had the means to kill anyone, from anywhere in the world, almost completely anonymously. It wouldn't be surprising that as a young man, it would allow Yagami to grow comfortable, overconfident, and sloppy.
What he didn't account for was that the person who had officially announced he was hunting him put up a fake, localized broadcast. When the decoy died, his newfound pursuer, L, knew with certainty that he and his zealous target shared the same country.
8 Orochimaru's Poor Foresight - Naruto
It takes a brilliant mind to evade the Leaf Village's most stalwart protectors, and the rogue scientist certainly qualifies. Desperately pursuing a new vessel after his partially successful first attack on Konoha, he convinced Sasuke Uchiha to join him, promising him the power to destroy his brother if he complied.
Orochimaru was obligated to teach Sasuke new Jutsu while his body was preparing for their inevitable fusion, but what he didn't (and should have) counted on was the young Uchiha's betrayal once he had what he needed. It cost him his life, but luckily for Orochimaru, he had several to spare.
7 Yami Yugi's Duel With Pegasus - Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yami Yugi's perilous video duel with Pegasus remains one of the most memorable conflicts in the series. The latter's deception (both in playing the tape and using his Millennium Eye to see through his cards) pushed the Pharaoh to his limit.
Despite his handicaps, Yami could have defeated Pegasus and prevented the Duelist Island arc if he had simply allowed the timer to run out when he started winning ~ a fact he acknowledged himself. His commitment to honor nearly cost him his grandfather.
6 Bradley's Delay - Fullmetal Alchemist
As the sovereign leader of his nation and celebrated conqueror of Ishval, Fuhrer King Bradley's military mind is primarily responsible for putting his creator's plans into motion. He not only managed to deceive an entire nation but even the generals closest to him.
However, that would not stop Edward Elric and his rebellion from sabotaging the ride the Fuhrer intended to take home. He didn't have a plan of preventing it, nor a secondary means of transportation. By the time he returned to the capital, it was already mostly occupied.
5 Nezu's Incompetence - My Hero Academia
For one whose quirk specializes in intelligence, Nezu's egregious mistakes outnumber his victories. His decision to make All Might a school teacher in spite of what that could entail for the safety of the students is a questionable one, especially since he's willfully perpetrating Toshinori's lie.
The principle's most serious mistakes are of how ill-prepared the school actually is to combat the threats of villainy and protect his students. So far, the children have been thrust into harm's way twice, and instead of improving security significantly, he had them live on campus for the duration of the year. If the School Festival arc is any indication, they're still not much safer.
4 Szayel Aporro Granz's Overconfidence - Bleach
The leading scientist of the Espada and greatest intellect in all of Las Noches, Szayel had no trouble outwitting the likes of Renji and Uryu. His inventions were enough to confound and astound them, even in the palpable absence of striking power ~ that is, until Mayuri Kurotsuchi arrived.
Szayel attempted to torment Mayuri by consuming Nemu, a decision which the Captain was unnervingly undaunted by. He would realize a moment too late that his actions had been of Kurotsuchi's design the entire time and that he had unwittingly poisoned himself.
3 Dracula And The Nursery - Castlevania
After the death of his wife, Dracula's quest to exterminate humanity had been so ferocious and absolute, he was willing to put everything aside to achieve it. The opposition against his brutal, clandestine schemes was no match for his might, though ironically, it was his own exploited humanity which leads to his downfall.
In the final battle with Sypha, Trevor, and Alucard, the latter lured him into his former daycare, where he was flooded by old memories of his wife. They slew him in his hesitation, a death he himself welcomed.
2 L's Defeat - Death Note
Despite Light's demise at the hands of his predecessors, L was outsmarted by the same weaknesses absent in Light. His desperate yearning for a friend left him vulnerable to Yagami's machinations, even if he suspected the police chief's son to have been guilty the entire time.
L had already gathered sufficient data to incriminate Light, but he sought to condemn him without a shadow of a doubt. Unfortunately, his obsession with perfection gave Yagami the time he needed to engineer his demise and claim victory over their intellectual rivalry.
1 Meruem's "Victory" - Hunter x Hunter
As lethal as his tail and claws may have been, Meruem prized his intellect more than any other asset. There was a reason behind his confidence; he could identify patterns in the brightest humans and overcome them in a matter of hours, becoming more perfect with every adaption.
Chairman Isaac Netero realized this weakness and used it to his advantage, planting nuclear weaponry in himself and challenging him to a duel he knew he couldn't win. The plan was so outrageous that Meruem never thought to anticipate it ~ a mistake that would cost him and his servants their lives.