Fighter Is Not Stupid

[Burkion]

Trust me. He's not. He's just a brilliant warrior who does stupid things.

[FenrisWolf]

Exactly, as Brian has said a multitude of times...

Fighter is the smartest Light Warrior. He's just naïve.

[Martamania]

Fighter is the smartest Light Warrior, though that's not much of a compliment. Just because he's the smartest of them doesn't mean he's not stupid. ;)

[MFok]

One day, Fighter will lose this naivety, and rule the world with this two twin blades of ultimate kick ass.

[Ryong]

I think all of the LWs are smart but...
BM uses his smartness towards evil.And not very well.
RM can fake knowledge in anything so well he actually ends up not faking it.
Fighter is extremely smart, but he's also childish and very, very dense ( how come he still didn't notice BM isn't his bestest friend? )
Thief would appear more smarter if he wasn't centered so much at getting money, confusing others and trying to feel superior ( since he's an elf ).

[Lord Kibble]

Obviously, Fighter's intelligence is of such great magnitude that it long ago reached critical mass and collapsed under its own weight into a singularity of absolute genius. We've all witnessed the effects of prolonged exposure to Fighter's intellect, and its similarity to a black hole siphoning off matter from its accretion disk is unmistakable. Give it a couple billion years, and Fighter's brain will surely encompass the whole of creation. Mark my words!

[Fifthfiend]

Nah, he's just stupid.

[Althane]

So, either he's so smart he's stupid, or so stupid he's smart.

On another matter, Fifth, your avatar frightens me. Ginger!

[Fifthfiend]

So, either he's so smart he's stupid, or so stupid he's smart.

Nah, he's just stupid.

On another matter, Fifth, your avatar frightens me. Ginger!

Frightens you with sexy!

[Althane]

Sexy like a iron bar to the face, repeatedly. I don't see what you see in her, anyways.

Anyways, I think Fighter is Smupid. Smart, and stupid at the same time. There, we've stopped the argument. ^_^

[Seran]

Well, at the very beginning, Fighter seemed to show an unnatural, ahem...intelligence, but I cannot say in a creative sense. I can say that his intelligence is...childish. Remember "Thank You, Mr. Carrol"?
"See, whiffling I could almost understand, but you lost me with tulgey."
It's hard to say what kind of intelligence Fighter has. He acts childish, and yet he doesn't even acknowledges the made-up words in Jabberwocky as mainly serving just to make the poem sound fun to the child who listens to it.
"I'm going to be so disillusioned when I grow up thanks to this."
How's that for vocabulary?
"'Cause man, you just killed my inner child and I'm only six!"
Unusual age to display such behavior.

[Fifthfiend]

Sexy like a iron bar to the face, repeatedly.

An iron bar of sexy!

Anyways, I think Fighter is Smupid. Smart, and stupid at the same time. There, we've stopped the argument. ^_^

Nah, he's just stupid.

I don't see what you see in her, anyways.

Mr. Lion (http://www.chugworth.com/comic.php?id=200) explains it all.

[Meister]

He acts childish, and yet he doesn't even acknowledges the made-up words in Jabberwocky as mainly serving just to make the poem sound fun to the child who listens to it.
Well, that's one way to look at it. On the other hand it's a great way to demonstrate the arbitrariness of language, i.e. that there's no compelling reason that, say, a chair, should be described with that exact sequence of letters or sounds (which is why there are different languages in the first place). In Jabberwocky, most of the words that carry meaning are completely made up and arbitrary, save for the fact that they're made to sound like English words, yet you manage to understand what is meant, don't you?

Not sure if Fighter would agree though. HA I AM ON TOPIC

[The Wandering God]

I think we all need to actually talk about the definitions of the words being used for a second.

Intelligence:3rd definition: Showing sound judgment and rationality (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=intelligent)
Smart:1.a.: Characterized by sharp quick thought; bright (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=smart)
Stupid:Slow to learn or understand; obtuse.
Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=stupid)

So, we can see that the first one is right out. Fighter can't be intelligent, as he has made several irrational moves. (Highlight, the "MageKnight" as a dual headbutting force.)
However, he can be fairly sharp or bright on occasion.

The last one obviously applies, as he is too stupid to know that BM hates him.

So, he is not intelligent, but he is smart sometimes but is generally stupid.

There, the power of the English language strikes again.

The Wandering God

[Great Cartoonist]

And we all know that the Wikipedia article says that Fighter has shown brief spurts of intelligence, right?

I think it's because Fighter has a hidden side to his brain that wants to come out, but is surpressed by a greater force and only manages to express itself at certain moments. Sort of like Zaphod from The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I dunno, that's just my speculation.

[Chrismith]

Let me point out two comics:

http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=040805
http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=040807

Now then, you'll notice that Fighter never solved the ancient riddle. He's obviously an idiot.

[shiney]

I can't help but think that fighter will lose his naivete as a result of an interaction (possibly violent) between black mage and white mage.

[Skyshot]

I only know of one other kind of interaction between Black Mage and White Mage that would cause Fighter to lose his naïveté, and I think Brian has said, on various occasions, it is not happening.

Now that I've put bad images in all your heads, let me address a few points.Fighter can't be intelligent, as he has made several irrational moves.By that logic, nobody is intelligent. We make irrational moves on a daily basis.

Furthermore, you defend the claim he's not "intelligent." I've never seen Brian call him the most intelligent Light Warrior, just the smartest.

[Burkion]

If you think BM and WM humpin' like pigs is going to give US bad images, think again. I'm the guy who came up with BM screwing his own bloody arm socket, after all. (Just to further the 'selflove=sin thing)

Course he would have to of hollowed it out a bit...but hey!

On topic, Fighter has shown many smart moves, and here recently has been incressing in smartness.

[GooeyChewie]

When I first read through the comics, I got the impression Fighter was like a D&D character who is played by a extrodinarily intelligent player who is good at roleplaying, but with a really low intelligence score.

[bass_virus]

Technecally Fighter has the most wisdom, flashes of insight. By intelligence wise he is the lowest.

[The Champion]

Fighter's undeniably brilliant. Oftentimes people that are very smart lack common sence. The reason for this is that common sence is, well, common and simplistic, and if you're a genius your mind tends to skip simplistic things. Since Fighter has shown wisdom in the past I think that he's so brilliant that he just no common sence whatsoever.

[Seran]

I no longer have common sense due to an expanded thinking of the subtle and unusual. It's like Equivalent Exchange in Full Metal Alchemist. You become smart in exchange for the simpler thinking.

Maybe it's like that with Fighter.

[Mac]

Fighter's intelligence. I have a theory and which we will use FF as an example.

The strongest one person can hit (no multi hit attacks) is 9999

But perhaps he broke that limit. Intstead of going to 10000 it reverts to 1 and starts over. Maybe that what happeend. He broke the intelligence limit and it reverses back to a lesser number.

[bass_virus]

Fighter's intelligence. I have a theory and which we will use FF as an example.

The strongest one person can hit (no multi hit attacks) is 9999

But perhaps he broke that limit. Intstead of going to 10000 it reverts to 1 and starts over. Maybe that what happeend. He broke the intelligence limit and it reverses back to a lesser number.

We've seen Fighter in flash backs at Fighter camp AND before them, he was undeniably and idiot in them "Paint Chips and Powelines? My childhood ROCKS!".

[willyolio]

his incredible stupidity is quite obvious, he just gets lucky sometimes.

[Roy_D_Mylote]

Let's see here. Fighter...sword-chucks, dragging his best friend for five miles across non-roads, actually considering BM his friend, univarse....yeah, yeah, no, you're wrong, he's stupid.

[Seran]

Or is playing stupid.
...
...
...Naah. If he was playing stupid, then he'd have known for endless ages that Black Mage was evil and did all this just to torture him to the end of his days, and probably tortured Master Vargus in a vaguely similar way either for his amusement or he was carving his own destiny!

But that's crazy. Fighter can't be that smart. He's definitely an oblivious idiot with flashes of intelligence and smarts.

[Truce]

Honestly, I believe that Fighter is smarter than anybody who posted in this thread.

...wait.

Seriously though, it may seem a little bit off topic but Fighter's best friend is Black Mage. BM, when others are not around, has been shown to be nice to Fighter, and he's definitely a better friend to have than, say, Red Mage or Thief.

[Burkion]

Sadly this be true. Though, BM is only 'kinda' nice to Fighter because he knows stabbin' never works.

[MuMu]

He ain't being nice, just ain't being bad.

[kam_islash]

Its not his int stat thats low, its his Wis stat

[Quickman X]

When I first read through the comics, I got the impression Fighter was like a D&D character who is played by a extrodinarily intelligent player who is good at roleplaying, but with a really low intelligence score.
Astoundingly well-put. Pretty much the same idea I got, really.
...maybe you could say he's bipolar or something...? Or his subconscious is smart? I dunno.

[Saria]

He may be stupid (meant in a positive way, honest!^^"), with some good ideas.

[Buddha Fett]

I think he's just stupid, to be honest.

[blackwaltzomega]

They're all brilliant in their own ways at different times.

Fighter will randomly say smart things, but he is a dumb bass most of the time.

RM has a ready supply of highly useless information, but his knowledge can be inexplicably useful in several situations.

BM is the only one that can notice obvious traps like Sara's signs or the Dark Warriors in disguise.

Theif is a conman. He is only smart while conning.

They're all clever, but they're all total nut jobs too. At least they have their very exclusive intelligence over the Dark Warriors...

[death_trooper]

continus amounts of BM stabbings has caused fighters brain to simply say "is it worth it?"
it flew away, leaving fighter his curiosty, which makes him come up with ideas, that, rarely but sometimes, are smart
that is MY theroy

[beatobur]

I think that Fighter is the best running gag since the creation of anvils falling on heads. He's an idiot when it's FUNNY, and he's smart when it's FUNNY.

Now for a less cynical point of view. Most of you would agree that he is naive. I'd venture to say that he is also pure and virtous. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that those traits are more valuable than all the intelligence in the world.

And I'd dare say BM is his best friend. BM has never done anything that could put Fighter down for more than a minute or two. BM needs him as more than a meatshield, but as a friend and someone to look intelligent in comparison to.

My two cents.

[YF-23]

"Welcome to Corneria."
"I like swords."
"Welcome to Corneria."
"I like swords."
"Welcome to Corneria."
"I like swords."
"Welcome to Corneria."
"I like swords."
"Welcome to Corneria."
"I like swords."

Fighter-is-stupid.

[Seran]

That just sounds like he's either toying with the guard or is putting on a show. Who knows what it could be. Everything he does, in one person's perspective, can easily convince the audience that he's a pure idiot. In another person's perspective, he just has really dormant intelligence. In another, he conspires to bring absolute insanity into the world by just acting as idiotic as possible. They all seem possible if you take a look at each of his actions...

[death_trooper]

It's hard to understand WHAT fighter is
Fighteroligists have dedicated thier lives with the study of fighter and what goes in his mind

[YF-23]

That just sounds like he's either toying with the guard or is putting on a show. Who knows what it could be. Everything he does, in one person's perspective, can easily convince the audience that he's a pure idiot. In another person's perspective, he just has really dormant intelligence. In another, he conspires to bring absolute insanity into the world by just acting as idiotic as possible. They all seem possible if you take a look at each of his actions...
But when BM asked him if it seemed weird the fact that the guards said the same useless thing over and over, Fighter replied "I thought he was just being friendly". My conclusion, Fighter is an idiot with "inteligence moments", but even then, he doesn't know what he's talking about...

[Dark Seraphim]

Clearly, Fighter has a form of pervasive developmental disorder. He has an obbseive intreast (swords), he exhibits echolalia (Dozen times, I like swords, etc), and while he has advanced knowledge of ancient civizations and what not, he doesn't understand interpersonal communication.

[ARPANET.CORRUPT]

I was thinking about this the other day, and I came up with the following conclusion; Fighter is smart but only in comparison to his companions and at times when his attention is not focused elsewhere, and his naivity takes over.

It is my belief that near the end of 8-bit theatre, that Black Mage will actually be a part of Chaos, and that White Mage and Fighter will fight him. (Maybe BM and WM would be using the dialogue in Comic 434, where they're talking about how she made him stay on the side of the airship and that it was funny. I thought about this because if you look at comic 434 closely the same pattern of a whitemage robe is in the second-to-last panel with blood spilled on it.)

^ Contrived theory that is almost a little related, highlight to see ^

Anyways, during this time fighter will have 'awakened' to his Enlightenment as a result and turn the tide of battle.

I just came up with all of THAT today, but I always thought that Fighter was knowledgable without common sense.

[Roy_D_Mylote]

Why would you spoiler that? It's speculation based on past episodes, no reason to hide it. Ashamed of your theory, are you? Hmmm? Well you just stand right on up and take pride in your theory, boy! TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR OFFSPRING!

[Burkion]

Also, it's been argued to death that it is FIGHTER and BM who are speaking in 434, while White Mage, Thief, and RM are too busy being, ya know, dead.

[Heliomance]

I offer this single gem of evidence for fighter's brilliance/lack thereof, depending on how you choose to take it. Either way, it's a strong argument:
ME-DOKEN!