8This topic just occurred to me as I was making lunch…
Noble Idiocy
We’ve all seen it in the movies or television or read about it in our favorite books or fanfictions. Mayhap, we’ve even written about it once or twice ourselves.
Examples of (canon or fanon) noble idiocy:
1. McCoy finds out he has xenopolycythemia and rather than “forcing” his Enterprise family to watch him deteriorate over the following months, he puts in his resignation without explanation and leaves.
2. Kirk is forced by Bad Guy #(infinity) to give up his life or the life of someone else, unbeknownst to that person. So he sends his crewman back to the ship, deciding of course that as Captain it’s his right to throw his life away.
3. Spock and Pon Farr and literally dying without a word to anyone. Need I say more?
…Wait, why do all of these examples involve death? :/
I pose the following questions to you:
In TOS, who wins the Noble Idiot award of the bunch?
Is this Idiot the same character in the Reboot ‘verse? Who do you write most often in this capacity?
Related Posts:
- Most Precious Face(s) in the Galaxy, Part 2 – from October 29, 2013
I kind of think Spock is the biggest one in TOS. I mean, in those examples, both kirk and McCoy didn’t know another solution was available to their situation. I mean, McCoy had to wait half an hour for the answer to his problem (:p) and Kirk I guess wouldn’t necessarily know he was going to get lucky and save the day again. Spock however – there was a solution to his problem, and he ignored it. Always smacked of playing the martyr that, and it always really irritated me. Yes it’s a horribly taboo topic but seriously? You’d rather die than drop a hint to your best friends that you need to get back to Vulcan for health purposes and no, Doctor, I can’t explain it any further but it’d be handy if you could recommend something for X in the meantime? That wasn’t quite a good a solution as playing the martyr and dying? So much for the logical being! So yes, Spock’s the noble idiot for me because at least the other two didn’t know a cure would be found or they’d be able to save the day eventually. Spock however knew he could at least do something towards his situation, but chose instead to suffer in silence rather than admit to an embarassing natural problem to his two best mates. Completely daft! Freakizimi
I realized I haven’t answered my own questions! :P I’ve written Example 1, lol. And Example 2? Yes, I think so. Probably more than once. You see, it’s easy to blur the line between noble idiocy and heroism for the sake of plot. For me, Jim, Leonard, and Spock are all likely to attempt something honorable but stupid. It’s one of my guilty pleasures to put them in a situation where they end up being noble idiots. So maybe it’s the fault of the writer – namely me? Anyhow, in TOS one of my favorite moments is in the episode with the Vians where McCoy makes certain *he* is the one to endure the torture. It’s a noble effort. I’d really like to call it idiotic too but I know in my heart Leonard would have never made a different choice. This is why I adore his character so much. So you see… I write a lot of Noble Idiot McCoy where his motivations are always a deeply ingrained part of himself – usually his caring heart. Does this mean I’d give him the award? … Spock, you’ve come close – very, very close – to winning the award. Jim – Jim, Jim, Jim – you more than Spock are always taking on the galaxy in frightening ways, some of them very near to idiocy. But, fellas, this award still goes to McCoy. I mean, the man injected himself with a vaccination that could have killed him. In all honesty, the CMO is the one you have to keep your eye on. Jim may be brave, Spock may be coolly logical about his illogical choices, but Leonard is and always will be a wild card. That makes him the perfect Noble Idiot in my opinion. I totally see this happening in AOS too. :)
Ach! How did I forget the Vians?! Still, I lump that in with the no answer situation – not so much noble idiot, rather (like you say) being very much a character-driven moment. The injection bit – yeah, that was kind of dumb :) Although I did read one story (for the life of me I can’t remember who now – please don’t say it’s you! God how embarrassing…) where it was explained as McCoy knew he’d be the first to go mad and possibly injure one of his friends in that madness. Being the doctor that he is, he decides that whether the antidote killed him, or it cured him – either way, it would stop him from hurting his friends. I kind of like that reasoning, it fits very nicely into character and makes it slightly less of stupid move :p I still get the reasoning behind McCoy’s noble idiot moments though far more than I do Spock’s (and I’m not at all biased, oh no…) so I’m afraid I’ll have to be stubborn and still think of Spock as the occasional noble dimwit :) Freakizimi
I think in the episode McCoy says he will be the first to go mad because of his age. I do know, however, that stillwaters01 pointedly said “McCoy knew he’d be the first to go mad and possibly injure one of his friends in that madness” in one of her fics. I’ve always accepted that idea as canon because it’s true to McCoy’s character. It’s possible I mentioned it in one of my fics too, but I simply don’t remember where or when if I did! That’s the thing about noble idiots, my dear. You can understand their reasoning. You can say, “Of course they’d do that!” But you still want to clobber them over the head too, because it’s dramatic and a blatant way to avoid the dreaded talking about the situation scenario (heehee) when we all know if Jim would just tell Spock and Leonard about his feelings instead of shoving them under the carpet, everybody could live happily ever after! Um. Sorry, that’s a tangent of my own there at the end. XD Maybe we can just agree that the Three Stubbornest Characters in Existence (i.e. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy) win the award as a unit? Because it seems to me they all have their moments… (Though, yeah, Spock’s radio silence about his impending death is very, very dim-witted!)
Ah, see I misunderstood noble idiot maybe a wee bit – I translated it as idiotic actions that are meant to be noble, but the idiocy outweighs the thinking somewhat :) Otherwise, agreed! How on Earth did the three most stubborn characters in the galaxy manage to find each other one one toothpicks-and-sausages spaceship? :p Just peeked over at stillwaters – yep, you’re right, that’s the baby! I love questions like these, they always remind me of great stories I’ve read :) Freakizimi
There are many different interpretations of “noble idiot”. I don’t mean it in a negative way, per se. It can simply be a case where your favorite character decides he isn’t going to tell anyone about his problems because he doesn’t want to burden others with them – which can be a silly notion, especially if that person has friends like Kirk, Spock, or McCoy who would say, “You darn idiot! Why would you think I’d ever consider you a burden????” LOL. Hence the “idiot” part of Noble Idiot. :) I’ve really enjoyed these comments of yours. Spock definitely should have spoken up sooner about his problem in Amok Time, there’s no question about that. It would have, at least, avoided a lot of course-changing. Poor Chekov didn’t know heads from tails by the end of the episode!
Spock has his moments; I always wonder if Jim wants to die for the sake of experiencing death, already; and McCoy wins, hands down. The vaccination he gives himself does it.
Ah ha! So I’m not the only one who thinks that was a moment of grand Noble Idiocy for McCoy!