I started gathering info for my Greek Myth essay I lost $10 to make this possible, so I *have* to work on it and make it great and something that's been in the back of my head for a while finally broke through.

I decided to go for the different ways a character is portrayed in various texts. I chose Odysseus over Achilles, well, because he's Odysseus, I admire his cunning and the fact that I find him infinitely more interesting than Achilles who is all brawn and rage and rarely stops to think about anything As I glanced through the Iliad, Odyssey and "The Contest for Achilles' Arms" I found how differently his smarts are taken by different characters/groups. Most admire his brain and his ability to use trickery to get his desired result as well as his persuasiveness and diplomatic skills; others scoff at this, since he is "not being straight-forward and honorable (work smart > work hard). Despite being praised for being smart, the hardships he suffers throughout his journey home are caused by stupid decisions he makes.

Which leads me to my question: why are geniuses always failing in fiction (books, myths, manga, anime, you name it) despite clearly having the ability to overcome the obstacles? Why are not-as-bright-characters always triumphing?

Sure, maybe the geniuses were a little too sure of themselves and miscalculated the end results or were blinded by their ambitions, but still...why?

Usually when the main character's a genius of sorts, the story revolves around their failures or their ultimate demise...

Just my random thoughts...