Guru Kid: Blame not the advisor if one chooses to take her advice. Do we all not have the free will to do as we choose? Why not hold her responsible for her actions or you for yours?
Swinger Girl: You know, turban boy makes sense. I mean, nobody told us we had to listen to Spinelli.
— Recess, "Don't Ask Me"
When it comes to advice, whether said advice is good or bad, at the end of the day, the one listening to said advice is responsible if they choose to listen to or ignore said advice. Despite this, that doesn't stop some people from insisting that they either wouldn't have done something if someone else didn't tell them to do it, or that they would have listened to someone's advice if the advisor tried harder to convince them. Expect either the advisor or the third party to call the blamer out on how no one forced them to follow the advice or that they tried to warn the blamer but they refused to listen or made excuses.
Variants in which a blamer took the advice typically involve the advice either being clearly stupid, dangerous, immoral, or otherwise bad in some way or something that seems like a good idea on the surface, but has long-term consequences. Variants in which a person ignores good advice typically involve someone doing something stupid, dangerous, or immoral of their own volition, with the adviser either being someone who chose to warn them or someone who the advised sought out; in either case, the advised party will usually ignore the advice because it isn't what they want to hear, only to push the blame on the advisor either for not trying hard enough or by claiming that the advisor never warned them.
Sub-Trope of Never My Fault. Compare Shoot the Messenger. If someone is blamed despite being ignored, they'd be an Ignored Expert. Examples where someone takes bad advice often overlap with Advice Backfire. Compare/Contrast Just Following Orders, in which a subordinate blames their superiors for giving immoral orders, while this trope is more about a person blaming their equals or subordinates. Contrast Treacherous Advisor, where the advice is intended to bring catastrophe.
Examples:
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Fan Works
- Codex Equus: In one drabble👁 Image
, Böser Anführer, the personification of sapientkind's evil, calls out the entirety of sapientkind for their habit of blaming him for their evil actions, with Böser pointing out that while he often tempts and makes suggestions to mortals, he doesn't make them do anything, meaning that all of their evil choices were done of their own volition.- Böser also mentions that sapientkind used to blame Morning Star for their evil actions by saying "Morning Star made me do it!"
- Inter Nos: After being driven back to his own lands by Shizuru, with a derisive "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Emperor Obsidian takes to regularly blaming any and all failures on his advisors, with the penalty for displeasing him typically being Off with His Head!, and those are the fortunate ones. If Obsidian is feeling particularly angry, his punishments get more... creative, but no less lethal.
- The Mountain and the Wolf: After putting a great deal of time, money and effort into getting a Badass Crew and magic weapons to take on the Night King, the Wolf finds it was All for Nothing when the Night King explodes due to being killed by Arya instead of leaving a skull as a trophy. He threatens to butcher his advisor Sven Swordeater for his bad advice, but as Sven later shows up alive it can be assumed he managed to calm the Wolf down.
The Wolf: He read the runes, and told me hiring the Crow Brothers would be well rewarded, and I spent two years' worth of plunder to hire them, not to mention the rest they demanded as payment. All that, only for most of them to die, and me without the skull I'd come to find.
- Nemesis (BeaconHill): It takes a while for Emma to really understand that Taylor is far more skilled than Emma gave her credit for, and that Emma won't be able to defeat and arrest her unless something drastically changes. Emma then screams at her Cauldron contact, expecting them to fix it, and is flabbergasted to be told that she was supposed to take their many warnings and disclaimers seriously. (Although she does eventually come to grips with the need to step up her game.)
Films — Live-Action
- From Russia with Love: When Kronsteen's plan fails, Blofeld blames him for the failure. Kronsteen argues that the plan's failure was due to Red Grant, and indirectly Rosa Klebb who chose Grant to execute the plan. He is actually correct, but Blofeld has him executed anyway.
- Idiocracy: Joe Bauers, an average man from the present, wakes up in a dystopian future where society has drastically declined in intelligence. Tasked with solving a crop failure crisis, Joe discovers that the crops are dying because they're being irrigated with Brawndo, a sports drink. He advises using water instead, explaining that "plants crave water, not electrolytes." Initially hailed as a genius when the crops begin to recover, Joe's advice leads to unintended consequences as Brawndo's corporation collapses due to plummeting sales, causing economic chaos. As a result, the enraged populace sentences Joe to a brutal rehabilitation in a public execution-style monster truck rally, showcasing how his well-intentioned advice spectacularly backfires.
- The Last King of Scotland: After realising how poorly thought-out his decision to expel the massive Indian population of Uganda was, Idi Amin tries ranting to his advisor, Doctor Nicholas Garrigan, blaming him for not telling Amin not to banish the Asians in the first place. When Nicholas points out that he did tell Amin, the tyrant then states that Nicholas did not persuade him, and that's why it's his fault somehow.
- The Man in the Iron Mask, King Louis' chief minister informs him that the people of Paris are starving, so Louis instructs him to distribute food stocks that have been sitting on the docks. The minister reminds him that the food is sitting there because its already rotting. Louis orders him to do it anyway, and later when D'Artagnan brings up the rotten food Louis's first move is to execute the minister.
- In Quo Vadis, after his failed attempt at executing Marcus Vinicius and his beloved Lygia sees Marcus rallying the entire population of Rome — Christians and pagans alike — against Nero, the Emperor retreats to his palace, and, undergoing a Villainous Breakdown, turns to his wife Poppaea Sabina and blames her for advising him to scapegoat the Christians by blaming them for the great fire which he himself caused, because now they have become martyrs and encouraged the disgruntled people to rebel against him. Poppaea then spends her final moments of life screaming helplessly as her husband strangles her, though seeing as she was just as complicit in the suffering of her people as Nero was, her death is not meant to elicit sympathy from the viewers.
- Revenge of the Pink Panther: Philippe Douvier, on the advice of his right-hand man, Guy Algo, instigates the events of the film's plot by arranging the (attempted) murder of Inspector Clouseau just to prove to his Mafia associates in New York that he's still a powerful gang leader in his own right, and therefore, still worthy of doing business with them. By the end of the film, though, Clouseau (who survives the assassination attempt by sheer dumb luck) manages to ruin his operation through sheer clumsiness, and Douvier, his clothes heavily singed thanks to a recent car crash, furiously limps after Algo, blaming him for the failure of his plans:
Douvier: (pointing at Algo accusingly) You and your bright ideas. Let me get my hands on you... Look what you did to my shoes! Oh, I'll Kill You!
- At the end of Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Prince John tries to get out of what's coming to him by saying that he got some "really bad advice from Rottingham". No one else is having it, as everyone immediately says "BULLSHIT!"
- Rocketman (2019): In their conversation before a concert, Bernie tries desperately to reach out to Elton, trying to convince him to play as the real him and that he shouldn't take John's abuse. Elton, emotional from the awful day he'd had until that point and too stubborn to seek help, just snaps at him, telling him to "just write the fucking lyrics", and that he'll handle the rest. Years later, the two talk at a restaurant, and an intoxicated, furious Elton complains that Bernie always left him and that it's unfair how he's the one doing all the work, implicitly blaming Bernie for not doing more. Bernie quietly, but bitterly, reminds him of his words that day, reminding Elton that he was told not to help. Elton snaps that "it was a test" and Bernie failed, which is Bernie's last straw before walking out.
- There's a longstanding trend in dramatizations of the sinking of RMS Titanic to blame J. Bruce Ismay for the disaster due to him allegedly advising Captain Smith to sail too fast and therefore indirectly causing the ship to strike the iceberg:
- Titanic (1943), a Nazi propaganda film aiming to condemn British capitalism, is probably the Trope Codifier in that regard. Ismay pushes Captain Smith to sail faster so that the Titanic could get the Blue Ribbon for the fastest Atlantic crossing, and Ismay's exoneration at court is portrayed as a gross Miscarriage of Justice.
- In Titanic (1997), Ismay likewise urges Captain Smith to cross the Atlantic faster than intended and make headlines. When the collision with the iceberg occurs and it becomes clear the ship and many of the passengers are doomed, the captain gives him a scathing "Well, I believe you may get your headlines, Mr. Ismay".
Literature
- Inverted in The Accursed Kings: When King John II's Awesome, but Impractical siege tower is easily dispatched by cannons, his advisor Ceverole immediately reminds him that it was a stupid decision in the first place.
Ceverole: See your stupidity, sire. I advised you to dig mines, rather than build these big scaffolds that haven’t been in use for almost fifty years now. It is no longer the age of the Knights Templar, and Breteuil is not Jerusalem.
- The Divine Comedy: The blaming is done by the narrative. In Hell, Gaius Scribonius Curio is in the ninth bolgia of the eighth circle among the Sowers of Discord, where the sinners are endlessly mutilated and healed only to be mutilated again. Curio is put there for advising Caesar to start the Roman Civil War. Meanwhile, Caesar himself is in Limbo, the first circle for virtuous non-Christians, which is a forested land where demons can't get them, there is no suffering except sadness, and some especially good residents even have the light from Heaven fall on them.
- Going Postal (Discworld): Defied by Mr. Pony, the Consummate Professional chief engineer of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company after it's bought out by a Con Man. Seeing his new boss's lack of care for the company, Mr. Pony takes care to get everything on paper in triplicate, so he has a thick stack of "I Told You So"s to cover himself when they're inevitably taken to court.
Currently his greatest friend in the world was his collection of pink carbon copies. He'd done his best, but he wasn't going to carry the can when this lot fell over, and his pink carbon copies were going to see to it that he didn't.
Live-Action TV
- "The Psychotic Episode" of Boy Meets World sees Cory suffering from horrible nightmares about murdering Shawn, and in one of these dreams, he encounters Mr. Feeny and asks him for advice. Dream Feeny gives him advice, but it does nothing to assuage his fears. Afterwards, Cory accosts the real Mr. Feeny, accusing him of giving bad advice.
Mr. Feeny: I'm not responsible for Dream Feeny!
- The Expanse: When Sadavir Errinwright's association with the Protogen conspiracy is uncovered, his boss, the UN Secretary-General Esteban Sorrento-Gillis, pushes all of the failures of his administration onto Errinwright. To be fair, Errinwright is a Treacherous Advisor, but Sorrento-Gillis has done just as much harm due to his incompetency as to Erinnwright's manipulation, and instead of accepting responsibility for his mistakes, he chooses to preserve his image and legacy by blaming everything on his advisor.
Theatre
- Twisted: Exaggerated; as a Wicked take on Aladdin (1992, Disney), everyone in the kingdom blames Ja'far, the Royal Vizier, for anything going wrong in Agrabah, even things he couldn't possibly have control over, in spite of his good intentions. Ja'far eventually comes to accept that it is better to do good and be villainized for it, while Jasmine ensures others recognize what Ja'far did (though Aladdin tries to spin it a different way).
Citizens: [alternating] ''Whydon't we have enough to eat?Why are we dying in the street?Why does my baby always cry?Why did my mommy have to die?Mine tooMine tooMine too, Mine too, Mine too!The answer here is crystal clearJafar, that ugly old VizierHe's the reason for our many woes''
Video Games
- Suzerain: President Anton Rayne has the option of ignoring all of Symon Holl's advice, naturally tanking the economy. Symon will then proceed to resign once the Sordish Great Depression begins. Anton, then, has the opportunity to blame Symon for the entire depression.
Web Animation
- Bowser's Kingdom: Episode 3 has a variant in which an advisor blames themselves. After Steve kills himself due to Hal and Jeff telling him to put a plastic bag over his head, Jeff feels guilty for being indirectly being responsible for Steve's death. Hal insists otherwise as Steve's death was a suicide and not a murder, and it isn't their fault that Steve was "fucking retarded."
- Etra chan saw it!: Akane👁 Image
is having an affair with a married man and brags about it to Yuri and Karin. They try to warn Akane to end the affair before the wife finds out, but Akane just dismisses their warnings. After she gets caught and sued, Akane blames her friends for not trying hard enough to warn her, causing Yuri to give her a tongue lashing, pointing out how they tried to warn her and that everything that happened to Akane is her own fault. - Help! I Keep Finding Disaster Guys [Rom Com Manga]: Husband's Prank with Divorce Papers Backfires as Wife Takes a Stand👁 Image
: While out having a drink with his friends, Akira complains about how his wife Chie won't give him extra allowance and spends too much time with their baby. Yuuhei suggests that Akira should imply that he's cheating with another woman and threaten to divorce Chie to manipulate her, which Akira does. Unfortunately for Akira, Chie eventually decides to divorce him for real after some advice from her friend. While begging Chie to stay married, Akira insists that Yuuhei is at fault and calls him to help him apologize. Yuuhei counters by pointing out that Akira was the one who decided to take the advice. - Terrible Writing Advice: Both the "Fantasy Characters" and "Leaders" episodes deconstruct the Evil Chancellor trope by pointing out that stories that have good kings and evil advisors place all of the blame on the king's bad policies on the advisor despite the fact that the king was the one who both hired the advisor and chose to take their advice as well as the fact that the king is the one with the actual authority to enact the advisor's policies.
Western Animation
- Bugtime Adventures: In the episode "Riding For A Fall'' Antoni insists on ignoring Mayor Green's directions to the Great River in favor of taking a shortcut; Webster and the twins listen to Antoni, while Gina and Megan insist on following Mayor Green's instructions. After Antoni's "shortcut" ends up getting his group lost and almost killed, Webster insists it was all Antoni's fault, with Gina rebuking Webster by saying he should have known better.
- Recess: In the episode "Don't Ask Me", Spinelli replaces Guru Kid and starts advising the other kids to use violence to solve their problems. When Spinelli's advice inevitably backfires on them, the kids who took her advice blame her, resulting in Guru Kid pointing out to them that they chose to follow her advice of their own free will. The kids conclude with Guru Kid's point, admitting that no one told them they had to listen to Spinelli. They let Spinelli go, and Guru Kid returns to giving them advice.