Too Dumb To Live

"Sometimes I wish Doctor Robotnik hadn't made us so persistent."

"He made me persistent; he made you too dumb to quit."

- Grounder and Scratch, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Sometimes there's a character who just does everything wrong, and then some. When they're being chased by a cold-blooded murderer, they're more likely to run into his arms and whimper for mercy than, let's say, run away. When a flood/avalanche/rock slide/truck comes towards them, they're more likely to stand there gawking than run. When a villain has kidnapped them and has them dangling over a pit of acid, they're more likely to taunt the villain and piss him off to the point where he decides to kill them anyway (and probably reveal the hero is coming as well), rather than staying quiet, content with the knowledge the hero is coming.

Defying the laws of logic, they always seem to survive. The hero always busts in at the last minute to save the (usually female) idiot, saving the day and earning the dumb one's eternal gratitude.

And then the dumb one goes out and does it again.

And again.

And again.

Common in continua such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Invader Zim and Star Wars (basically the whole Jedi order in that instance - don't be fooled; anyone group whose members can sense darkness but can't sense Senator Palpatine's until too late, not to mention Anakin Skywalker's dark side shift, doesn't deserve to be revered; and let's not forget they have a series of utterly ludicrous laws that directly go against human nature and stop you from building up a group that can defend itself numbers-wise).