# Which fictional character displays the most intelligence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 24, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450 "2011-09-24T12:42:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/21 "2011-09-24T17:17:07Z")
The Doctor. I’d like to see Holmes reboot the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/22 "2011-09-24T17:37:27Z")
To be clear on the question, is “look at this wondrous thing I’ve invented” evidence of intelligence, or need we be privy to the character’s thought processes that led to that wondrous invention? Because if the latter, the intelligence of any character will be limited to that of the character’s author. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/23 "2011-09-24T17:41:24Z")
Mentor of Arisia in the Lensmen stories. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/24 "2011-09-24T18:01:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > To be clear on the question, is “look at this wondrous thing I’ve invented” evidence of intelligence, or need we be privy to the character’s thought processes that led to that wondrous invention? Because if the latter, the intelligence of any character will be limited to that of the character’s author. I disagree. I agree with you (and the OP) that we should be looking for characters that are actually _shown_ being intelligent, instead of us just being told they’re intelligent. And I agree that it’s difficult for a writer to make a character demonstrably more intelligent than the writer him/herself. But it’s not at all impossible, if the author indulges in some “cheating” or game-rigging. For example, I wouldn’t have to have Einstein-level intelligence to invent a character in an alien society, or on a parallel Earth, who, say, discovers the theory of relativity, or invents the internal combustion engine. I could do some research and take advantage of what is known in our world about such things and how they were invented or discovered, and put similar thought processes in the mind of my character. I only have to understand how they were invented, which takes less intelligence than inventing them in the first place. Another example: I wouldn’t have to be as smart as my character to have him engage in clever dialogue and witty repartee, because I have the advantge of writing the set-up lines on the other side of the conversation, and/or of having unlimited time to think up the things the character says on the spur of the moment. And in the cases of mystery-solving, sure, the author is rigging the game, but this can be done so as to show the detective character being genuinely intelligent in figuring out the author-concocted situation. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/25 "2011-09-24T19:01:55Z")
For mere mortals, without any sort of mutation or superpower, I nominate Doc Savage. ---
**Author:** ![Lazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc29f/32.png) [@Lazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/26 "2011-09-24T19:06:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > To be clear on the question, is “look at this wondrous thing I’ve invented” evidence of intelligence, or need we be privy to the character’s thought processes that led to that wondrous invention? Because if the latter, the intelligence of any character will be limited to that of the character’s author. Something closer to the latter. Maybe not necessarily the actual thought processes in full detail, but enough for me to be able to admire the intelligence in action. I was wondering myself to what degree the depiction of the intelligence of a character in fiction is limited by the intelligence of the author. Sort of like I have heard it said that it is difficult for actors to play characters more intelligent than themselves with convincing realism. I assume, like Thudlow Boink, that research, quiet thinking time, and collaboration might help, although I am not sure how much. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/27 "2011-09-24T19:19:17Z")
What about David Levinson, Jeff Goldblum’s character in Independence Day? In the span of a few days, he figures out that the aliens are sending a coded countdown to attack; then figures out the alien programming language well enough to write a computer virus that crashes the whole system. That’s pretty impressive, if cheesy. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/28 "2011-09-24T19:32:31Z")
Sherlock Holmes is the wrong answer, even within his own universe. He basically states himself that his brother, Mycroft, is smarter than he is. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/29 "2011-09-24T20:13:30Z")
If we want to stick to humans and accept that them doing something really smart like build and understand things in a much bigger way is good enough than most can Star Trek TNG has our guy. Our lovable Lieutenant Reginald Endicott “Broccoli” Barclay III. There is an episode where some aliens do something to make him absurdly smart. Certainly smarter than any human (and probably most other races in the trek universe). ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/30 "2011-09-24T23:07:33Z")
Yahweh ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/31 "2011-09-24T23:08:37Z")
Oops, shoulda read the entire OP. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/32 "2011-09-24T23:12:11Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > The Doctor. I’d like to see Holmes reboot the universe. Seriously. The Doctor is a genius - just ask him! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/33 "2011-09-24T23:28:11Z")
> [@Lazy](#): > > Sorry if this fairly obvious topic has been covered before, but I couldn’t find it through the search. > > Which fictional character, including characters in cinema, do you think _displays_ the most intelligence? I mean, as opposed to characters who are simply asserted to be intelligent, like God in the Bible. The opponent of the lead character in “Understand” by Ted Chiang (available legally here [Understand - a novelette by Ted Chiang](http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/under.htm)) ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/34 "2011-09-24T23:28:32Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Hannibal Lecter? Second Hannibal the Cannibal. Also Jubal Harshaw/Lazarus Long. And Spock. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/35 "2011-09-24T23:31:06Z")
> [@ShelliBean](#): > > Seriously. The Doctor is a genius - just ask him! I dunno, “Dr Donna” might have him edged out depending on how you interpret things. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/36 "2011-09-24T23:33:32Z")
I would nominate Lord Peter Wimsey, who is intelligent, well-educated, and intuitive. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/37 "2011-09-25T00:26:17Z")
Jernau Gurgeh from Iain M. Banks’ _The Player Of Games_. Many of the machines in the Culture novels are described as being hyper-intelligent, but this is rarely actually shown. Gurgeh is human, albeit far more advanced than current humans, yet displays vast actual intelligence, originally in fairly meaningless games, but later in far more important ways. He also thinks deeply about morality and philosophy, which is somewhat unusual in highly intelligent fictional characters. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/38 "2011-09-25T01:26:22Z")
> [@Stauderhorse](#): > > Sam Beckett, _Quantum Leap_. > > Has a photographic memory, an IQ of 267, seven doctoral degrees and knows seven languages. And he basically invented time travel. That’s _informed_ intelligence, not _displayed_. As acted, very little of that comes through-he comes off as a kind of a goof more than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/39 "2011-09-25T01:40:06Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Holmes is an annoying smart-ass who has the author in his lap, making sure none of his really important unsupportable feats of illogic go off the rails. > > He demonstrates some intellect, but for the most part the rigged-ness of the game makes his intelligence less of a feature than it ought to be. I’m going to need you to take that back. It was often my impression that Holmes had a lot more data points for his deductions than the reader got to, ah, read. Partly because he couldn’t be arsed to share a lot of them, but mostly because Watson/Doyle edits out a lot of stuff so the stories aren’t ten times as long. That said, there’s necesssarily some selection going on that distorts Holmes’ success rate. We only get to read about the adventures in which he comes out the winner, because the stories in which he fails don’t have an ending. And Holmes didn’t approve of the way Watson wrote the stories; he’d have included the failures too. I see someone else has commented that Mycroft is admitted by Holmes himself to be smarter than Sherlock. Having typed the above, I think the unquestioned winner for pure, displayed brainpower has to be Burroughs’ Tarzan. _He taught himself to read English while living in a pre-literate society, using a child’s primer as a Rosetta Stone_, for Athena’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450/40 "2011-09-25T01:52:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Having typed the above, I think the unquestioned winner for pure, displayed brainpower has to be Burroughs’ Tarzan. _He taught himself to read English while living in a pre-literate society, using a child’s primer as a Rosetta Stone_, for Athena’s sake. I think this is the winner right here. Anyone who thinks the common “Me Tarzan, you Jane” stereotype bears even the slightest relationship to Burroughs’ Tarzan should read the source material. Besides, the first language Tarzan learned to \*speak \*was French. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-character-displays-the-most-intelligence/597450.md?page=3)