Good examples of "The Chosen One" - Possible Spoilers

[Ken_J]

The chosen one trope has become tired but it can still be used well. Mostly if a work plays with the concept in some way. Here are some good examples I like.

Kung Fu Panda: Is all about how the concept of the Chosen one. Literally no one can believe Po is the chose 'Dragon Warrior' but he was chosen anyway. While the Villain of Tai Lung was raised to be the 'Dragon Warrior' to the point were his names means Great Dragon but he wasn't chosen driving him to villainy.

Harry Potter: It may seem like a straight example but if you look at the subtext the fact that everyone TREATS Harry like he's some Chosen One sets half his problems into motion and generally makes his life a living hell.

The Lego movie: It's all about that

TES3 Morrowind: You are the chosen one of the Dark Elves! or not. Depending on the way you play the game the Chosen one thing can be played with in numerous and mind bending ways.

Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones): more so in the books but there is a running plot thread of 'The Prince that was Promised' but it is so slow building and manipulated politically and narrativly that you may not even realize it until it's pointed out to you.

Star Wars 1-3: everyone get so up their own ass about some big prophecy that they ultimately drives Anakin to villainy

Fallow this link for more reading on the subject.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheChosenOne

 

[Ken_J]

Harry Potter.

I can't tell why without spoiling.

Feel free to explain. I stated in the thread that this would likely include spoilers, so go ahead.

Harry is the chosen one but not by fate or some other mystical power he is chosen by Voldemort out of paranoia that there would/should BE a chosen one. Self fulfilling prophecy and all that.

 

[dragonswarrior]

Chalk up a couple more votes to The Lego Movie, Harry Potter, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think all of those handled the trope very well, with the Lego Movies deconstruction of it being awesome, and (as another poster stated) HP looks on the surface like standard Chosen One blah but the devil is in the details... I don't really have anything to add to the Buffy discussion. *laughs*

To go a little more obscure, I think The Deed of Paksenarrion did a REALLY good job with the trope, with some insane shit happening by the end of the second book. I also think the first book of Karen Miller's Godspeaker trilogy did the trope really well, shame the other two books kinda had to ruin that potential (though they were still good, just the standard kind of good.)

 

[Battleaxx90]

In Dragon Quest VIII, the main characters spend most of the plot chasing after the Big Bad for personal reasons more than anything: half of the PCs need him dead to lift a curse he made, while the other half just want revenge. In an optional side-area that you can only get to during the last leg of the game, however, you can find the final resting place of one of the major characters from the setting's backstory. This guy was able to see the future, and near his grave you can find a prophecy he wrote which predicted most of the major events of the game, as well as an vague description of the person who will save the world - i.e., the main character.

IMO, that's a really great way to handle this trope: The "Chosen One" is completely unaware he was ever destined for anything in the first place for most of the plot, if he ever finds out at all. Keep in mind that the place I mentioned above is a completely optional side-area that you never really need to visit, and by this point the stakes are already at world-threatening levels, so this revalation doesn't really affect anything.

Which brings me onto another way DQVIII handles this trope: The hero isn't really "chosen" to save the word, but rather "commissioned" by a figure of authority to save it during the third act of the plot. While the main character does have a unique ability that made him the ideal person to save the world, the hows and whys of how he got that ability in the first place had nothing to do with the Big Bad; it just gave him a powerful defence against him. For 95% of the story, he's just an ordinary soldier who just so happens to have lots of experience in dealing with the Big Bad, and THAT is why he and his team are sent in as "Plan A".

 

[Jesterscup]

So I'm a huge fan of Babylon 5...

( and not just for the fact it makes me feel smart that even Sheldon Cooper doesn't get it ^.^ )

Sorry, but often you can't choose these things without spoilers, so **spoiler alert**
but you know what, this show is what 25 years old? I'm not putting this whole post into a spoiler.

It has 3 'chosen ones' , the one who was, the one who is, the one who will be. Now the one who is, is kinda interesting... but also kinda gets explained by the one who was....

Now, yes Babylon 5 wraps a pile of stuff up in mystical/spiritual stuff, but actually most of this gets worked out to be mundane....

so my chosen one? " The one who was " - Valen

A thousand years ago, Valen appeared, united the races and defeated the shadows, as well as sorting out Mimbari civilisation for the next thousand years. But hey he's actually a human who goes back in time. so of course he's the chosen one, he's already done it!
Instant awesome.

The same applies to the "one who is" because Valen knew who she is.

Basically the mystical 'chosen one' ends up being rather mundane, it's just the person leading the fight. without the full knowledge of the facts, its destiny, with them, it's jsut the way it happens. It's Both, neither....

 

[Loonyyy]

IMHO, you've glossed over the most important bit, that it is passed on upon her death.

She's not "The" Chosen One, she is the current holder of a title held by lots of others before her, which will immediately go on to someone else once she dies. She's ultimately expendable.

True, and that's really cool, how "Chosen One" in this case is actually pretty dark. It amounts to eternal servitude, with an unpleasant, untimely death at the end(And that's should you not end up as a vampire or some other monster, or end up in hell or worse. The shadow men and how Buffy reacts to them are pretty cool). It fuels a lot of Buffy's angst. And the show has lots of fun with it, but there's too many ways to accidentally spoil cool stuff. I only recently finished the entire series off, and I managed to go in mostly free of spoilers, so I don't want to spoil things too much for anyone on that one.

I came here to post this same thing. Buffy is the Chosen One, but that isn't a guarantee that she will succeed by fate. It is a guarantee that she is destined to fight. In the show, it is stated that slayers rarely make it to 18. Buffy subverts the usual "chosen one destined to stand alone against the monsters" by leaning on her friends for support, which makes her stronger and ultimately the longest lived slayer, if I recall correctly. The show was all about subverting tropes. It's my favorite show ever.

Yeah, it's neat how in this case, "Chosen One" actually means something: She has Slayer powers, which amounts to strength and resilience, and an aptitude for fighting, as opposed to being somehow destined to defeat the Big Bad, because reasons. Which really only gives her a fighting chance, because there are way too many monsters for any one girl to fight, the Slayer is basically a constant trade, of one person for a little more safety for everyone else. She's not even meant to make it through her first season.

 

[JennAnge]

One reason I dislike the trope is that it's a way for a very lazy writer to take a very lazy shortcut. "Why is my character the Savior? What does he do to deserve it, to make him special, to justify that everybody is going to place their hopes in him? Oh, I don't know, building character is hard work, I'll just stamp his ass with a crown tattoo and that'll sort it out. Plus any actually insurmountable problem that appears in his way can be shot down with a Deus Ex Machina because hey, he's the Chosen One, things like that are supposed to happen around him." See Secret of Nimh 2 for an example.

The other reason to dislike this trope? As someone else said in this thread, it's childish. That is to say, exactly the fantasy of a child. Kids dream that they're not just one of the homogenous masses sitting in the classroom, in reality, they're THE CHOSEN ONE! Not because they're achieved anything great yet or have any special talent for world-saving (being kids, that's perfectly normal); it's just because they're born special or the Lost Princess or some other invention. They'll do great things and save the world; mom and dad will be proud and their classmates jealous! I think the reason we get tired of this cliché when growing up, though, is that we come to realize that anything worth doing should take hard work, dedication, talent, sweat and blood, and the courage to face the fact that those efforts could still result in failure. To an adult who has to take risks and work hard to achieve anything worthwhile, the idea that somebody is going to become The Last Best Hope For Mankind just because they opened the right cereal box or were born that way is...annoying and unrealistic.

Po from Kung Fu Panda. The guy had an intimate knowledge (read: obsessive fanboy tier knowledge) of what he was chosen for but lacked the requisite physical ability. Everyone was flabbergasted at the idea, because he seemed like such an unlikely hero. And he was good enough once he got trained, but for a good portion of the final battle the villain wasn't taking him seriously, and the very thing that led the others to be similarly dismissive of him ended up negating the villain's trump card...at which point the guy fully lost his cool and got his tail handed to him as a result. It's like the Dan (Street Fighter) psyche out in movie form. His greatest strengths are that nobody takes him seriously and mostly underestimate him as a result, and then they start panicking and lose their groove when it looks like he might win.

Oooh, I like your choice And Po's role as Chosen One actually does make sense. Shifu is upset with Oogway's choice because he thinks Po's just some random panda who barged in at the right (wrong?) time and got picked as Dragon Warrior for no reason, when he's obviously not built for it. In short, Shifu sees him as what I described in the first paragraphs. Oogway, with greater clarity, sees a guy who loves Kung Fu with such passion that he strapped fireworks to his ass and rocketed fifty feet in the air just to see someone else get chosen as Dragon Warrior -a purity of passion and purpose that Tai Lung (obsessed with power rather than the art of Kung Fu) did NOT have. And the fact that Po survives this treatment is a good sign he has the physical potential to be a Dragon Warrior whatever his shape


Buffy is also a great example, because the Chosen One title also makes sense in that context. It's not just a little tiara with 'You're Special! You'll Win The Day!' on it; it comes pre-packaged with a toolset - the strength to take down vamps - and a mission - to take down vamps. Simple and elegant, and it does not insure success or even that you'll be any good at all, or a hero, as Faith illustrated. In fact the one thing it does insure is that you'll meet an untimely and pointy-toothed death. Or worse. The only way Buffy 'wins' this game in the end is by breaking the trope (but I won't spoil the ending of the last season).

 

[JennAnge]

I thought MovieBob did a good analysis of why this trope irritates, as well as examples and counterexamples. Be warned, though, he harps on his usual cinematic bugbears at the start (I don't mind but other people sure do and are very vocal about it)
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/8978-Destined-for-Disappointment-Part-1
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/9004-Destined-for-Disappointment-Part-2

It's interesting if only because he cites the Star Wars prequels, of all things, as either a deconstruction or a properly executed example of how this trope should be handled.

 

[the December King]

...

*all seems quiet*

Ahem.

The NeverEnding Story!

*runs away*

...

Seriously though? When I was like, nine, the NeverEnding Story was amazing, gripping, and emotional. Bastian was an everyday kid who follows the adventures of a hero... only to find out he was the hero being led. Maybe The Chosen One trope is most effective the first time you really experience it, probably when you're young, and full of imagination, possibilities and dreams?

Like Butters?

 

[happyninja42]

I thought MovieBob did a good analysis of why this trope irritates, as well as examples and counterexamples. Be warned, though, he harps on his usual cinematic bugbears at the start (I don't mind but other people sure do and are very vocal about it)
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/8978-Destined-for-Disappointment-Part-1
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/9004-Destined-for-Disappointment-Part-2

It's interesting if only because he cites the Star Wars prequels, of all things, as either a deconstruction or a properly executed example of how this trope should be handled.

He discussed it yes, but he didn't really go into a long list of good examples of this trope used well. Thus, I decided to do that instead and made the thread.

So I'm a huge fan of Babylon 5...

( and not just for the fact it makes me feel smart that even Sheldon Cooper doesn't get it ^.^ )

Sorry, but often you can't choose these things without spoilers, so **spoiler alert**
but you know what, this show is what 25 years old? I'm not putting this whole post into a spoiler.

It has 3 'chosen ones' , the one who was, the one who is, the one who will be. Now the one who is, is kinda interesting... but also kinda gets explained by the one who was....

Now, yes Babylon 5 wraps a pile of stuff up in mystical/spiritual stuff, but actually most of this gets worked out to be mundane....

so my chosen one? " The one who was " - Valen

A thousand years ago, Valen appeared, united the races and defeated the shadows, as well as sorting out Mimbari civilisation for the next thousand years. But hey he's actually a human who goes back in time. so of course he's the chosen one, he's already done it!
Instant awesome.

The same applies to the "one who is" because Valen knew who she is.

Basically the mystical 'chosen one' ends up being rather mundane, it's just the person leading the fight. without the full knowledge of the facts, its destiny, with them, it's jsut the way it happens. It's Both, neither....

Excellent choice! I always approve of B5 references. Not The One! xD

Yeah, I really enjoyed the tale of Valen as well, though to be fair, they balanced that good example with the poor example of Sheridan later in the series. Though from some sources I've heard, the original plan was for all 3 of The One to be Sinclair, at 3 different phases of his life, but due to real life issues of actor scheduling and other things, he had to split it up a bit. I think the original plot was going to have Sinclair be brought back from Zahadum, and before he dies, he goes back in time to spend his last years as the religious leader of the Membari. But JMS had to rewrite some stuff. Which in itself was a testament to his forethought, he put in a lot of escape hatches for characters to be written out/in if the actors were unavailable.

Speaking of JMS, now that I think of it, Midnight Nation's got a really fun take on the Chosen One story. I won't spoil it because I enjoy it so much, but if you haven't read it, you should.

 

[WolfThomas]

Brandon Sandeson's Mistborn. It's basically a complete deconstruction/reconstruction of the concept. Impossible to explain without spoilers.

Spoiler

The premise is basically the chosen hero went evil and made himself a god king. But actually he wasn't the chosen hero. Rather someone who killed him and usurped his place. The actual chosen hero is the main character. Except she isn't. Because the true bigger villain can manipulate any written word and simply made prophecies match her so he could be freed. There is no chosen hero. But wait a secondary character with growing importance in the trilogy actually matches all of the genuine prophecies. Saving the day because of their unique knowledge.

 

[Shadie777]

snip

I have to say, this is absolutely why I love the Wheel of Time, Rand's characterisation as the chosen one, and how it would actually effect his mind and body is spot on. I think I remember that one of Jordan's main point with the book is to ask the question of what would really happen if you gave a bunch of power, with all its consequences, to a random stranger and told them that they had to save the world. And despite its faults, the books answer that brilliantly.

Rand is thrust into a role in which he absolutely knows he is going to destroy society as he knows it, that so many people will be killed. And he did what a normal person would do, he wanted to avoid it. He wanted nothing to do with it. Being associated with the power, and his previous incarnation who destroyed the world drives him to stress. Then the book actually deals with how people would react. His friend's would deal with him differently, some stronger cases than others. People would try to manipulate him to fit their own desires, try to guide him and tell him what he needs to do, he and his closest friends would be the prime target! All this happens and its barely the beginning.

I completely understand why he makes the decisions he made, with his emotions and so on. In fact I'm surprised he made it so far with all the madness from his power, constant suspicion towards everyone and PTSD.

 

[bdeamon]

The main guy from Kung Fu Hustle. He is kind of like what happens when the chosen one can't man up and accept his destiny is defeating evil. I like how he goes through the movie thinking he is just another guy and ignores all the cool things he can do like they are nothing.

 

[rosac]

The immortal iron fist-

Danny Rand.

Excellent series of comic books, recently re-released. Similar to Buffy in that it turns out the "immortal" part refers to the title, not the person who's bearing it. They can, and do, die.

They're chosen by being the best warrior in a city of warriors, then doing even more trials, then fighting a dragon with no heart one on one. Each iron fist is different, but they all have similar goals: protect the people.

Also: DC New 52's Shazam. He's not the chosen one, but he told Shazam (the wizard) to get his head out of his ass and realise that the prefect person doesn't exist, but people who at least try and be honourable, or do bad things for the right reason, do.

 

[Legomaniac91_v1legacy]

Dunno, does Avatar: the Last Airbender count? Aang isn't the "Chosen One" elected by some higher power to bring peace to the World, he's just the random guy who got picked to be the next Avatar, and when he dies the job'll pass on to someone else. Restoring peace to the world just happens to be part of the Avatar's job description.

I don't think so. Being "chosen" would IMO have to be more specific than "literally anyone who's in the nation next in the cycle". Since there's no set rules or prerequisites to be the Avatar (not yet at least, and let's hope it stays that way), it's just a crapshoot.

There kind of is a "rule" for the next Avatar, but it doesn't narrow it to a specific person. The reincarnation cycle follows a pattern with the elements: Fire, then Air, then Water, then Earth, and then the cycle resets at Fire again.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I like Skyrim's idea of it. Mostly because there's a lot of lore behind what Dragonborn is and it doesn't put you above everyone else in over the top ways. Others can still learn shouts, you just learn them much more quickly.

 

[Astoria]

A little obvious probably but Harry Potter did it well. For the first few books Harry was the chosen one basically because he was the only one who did anything about the crazy crap going on. Then after finding out about the prophecy and everything it pointed out that the only reason he is the chosen one is because everyone, and no one more so than Voldemort, thinks he's the chosen one so he's actually not special at all it's just being trust upon him.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Yeah, I really enjoyed the tale of Valen as well, though to be fair, they balanced that good example with the poor example of Sheridan later in the series.

Personally, I thought Sheridan's Chosen One thing was also pretty damn well done. All the cult like following he gathered, the dangers of it mentioned be Garabaldi and then the skepticism of the future historians. He also had to grow into it rather than everything being clear and simple.

 

[ForumSafari]

Buffy subverts the usual "chosen one destined to stand alone against the monsters" by leaning on her friends for support, which makes her stronger and ultimately the longest lived slayer, if I recall correctly. The show was all about subverting tropes. It's my favorite show ever.

The best bit is the stinger at the end, when she points out that, when you have millions of potential slayers, having a chosen ONE is doing things the stupid way and the entire reason for the chosen one is that a bunch of men didn't have much vision but no one thought to challenge it before because it was tradition and everyone assumed there was a good reason.