Why are villians such idiots?

[cerulean_sky]

I don't understand why bad guys in anime/movies/books are idiots. I mean, haven't they ever seen a movie? Read a book? Clearly not.

I think I need to write a book where the bad guys win. Because they weren't idiots.

Comments

[elfypiratequeen.livejournal.com]

I have often wondered that myself. Why do they train their minion-guard-types to be completely incapable of hitting a target? Why do they all make the same mistakes and fall for the same tricks again and again and again? Why do they explain their evil plans to people? Why do they leave one little thing the hero oh couldn't possibly use against them?

I did read a book called How to be Evil which explained how to overcome the chronic villain stupidity. It was quite funny.