History Main / GivingTheSwordToANoob

* ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Star Wars: The Force Awakens]]'': After [[spoiler:Rey [[RefusalOfTheCall rejects]] it]], Finn, a former stormtrooper with no melee training [[spoiler:(and unclear levels of Force ability)]] is given the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker. He has mixed results, successfully stabbing one stormtrooper but then being defeated by another wielding an electrostaff. [[spoiler:He does manage to put up a fight against a heavily injured Kylo Ren, but ultimately loses, at which point Rey takes the weapon as her own.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', the all-powerful Omnitrix, which allows its user to turn into any creature in the known universe... wasn't meant for Ben. It was actually meant for his grandfather Max, who is a skilled alien hunter. And in a WhatIf episode, it's discovered that Gwen would have been far more adept at using the device, having unlocked its full abilities in a single night, while it would take Ben years to consciously figure out the master control. The sequel series also drive the point home that while Ben isn't the worst choice as the wielder and is perfectly capable of saving the universe several times over, he is far from the best being for the job.

* Happens at the very beginning of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. Rukia is injured enough that she can't fight after having been chewed up and spit out by a Hollow. So she looks over at Ichigo, a [[ChildSoldiers fifteen-year-old boy]] who, luckily for him, has latent Spiritual Pressure and some kung-fu training. She decides to give him half of her powers in order to save his family, but he takes all of it. Having never handled a sword before in his life, he quickly dispatches the monster and saves the day. Later revelations shed some light on this and made Ichigo more of a [[TheChosenOne chosen one]][[note]]a combination of semi-coincidental SuperBreeding and ''constant'' military drills from a former Shinigami captain[[/note]], but for a long time he was apparently just ''that good'', and nobody really sat down and tried to figure out why.

* PlayedWith as part of Poppy's lore in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', as her master had crafted a [[DropTheHammer battle hammer]] to give to someone worthy of wielding it, passing it to her on his deathbed. Naturally, she continues his search, [[IgnorantOfTheCall remaining oblivious]] to how effective ''she'' is with it.

Compare to FallingIntoTheCockpit, in which a noob gets inside the weapon, and TheChosenZero and ThePoorlyChosenOne, for other chosen ones who aren't quite as competent as hoped for. Contrast WithThisHerring, where TheChosenOne is generally worthy or potentially so, but starts with a weapon woefully inadequate to the task.

* Happens at the very beginning of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. Rukia is injured enough that she can't fight after having been chewed up and spit out by a Hollow. So she looks over at Ichigo, a [[ChildSoldiers fifteen-year-old boy]] who, luckily for him, has latent Spiritual Pressure and some kung-fu training. She decides to give him half of her powers in order to save his family, but he takes all of it. Having never handled a sword before in his life, he quickly dispatches the monster and saves the day. Later revelations shed some light on this and made Ichigo more of a Chosen One[[note]]a combination of semi-coincidental Super Breeding and ''constant'' military drills from a Shinigami captain[[/note]], but for a long time he was apparently just ''that good'', and nobody really sat down and tried to figure out why.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' rings are entrusted only to the most worthy beings, those who can overcome great fear. But once, in a desperate emergency when only one ring was left, Ganthet had no time to be picky -- he had to give it to the first competent-looking bearer he could find. This was Kyle Rayner, and he had to start from zero like no Green Lantern had before. Retcons (an occupational hazard for Green Lanterns) would later make Kyle's origin less random, but at the time, writer Ron Marz was very consciously invoking this trope.
* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast1992'': Nobody in Kakariko takes Link very seriously. Even Sahashrala's wife finds it surprising that the Pendant of Courage was entrusted to him.

--> '''Summer's Sky''': ''Ah. Eighth Wielder's abilities are low. Challenging. Interesting. Approval.''
* In ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'', Valkyrie Cain manages to be semi-competent at Necromancy in the third book when given Solomon Wreath's cane. She still doesn't kill the BigBad, but that's fine because [[TheJuggernaut even an army of super-skilled heroes]] [[EldritchAbomination couldn't.]]
** Later, Darquesse picks up [[spoiler:Alternate Mevolent's]] god-killer sword in her fight against him. She quickly finds out she is completely incompetent at swordplay, and discards it.
* In the second of Jack Williamson's stories of the Legion of Space, the heroes fight their way to the heart of the world-ship of The Cometeers, finally capturing the one device that can harm their otherwise indestructible bodies. They then promptly hand it to the one person who has frozen up every previous time he has confronted the main villain, and has good reason to believe he is psychologically incapable of lifting a finger against him.

** In ''Literature/SkinGame'' , Harry is badly injured by one of his worst enemies, Nicodemus, and throws the broken hilt of one of the three Swords of the Cross to an ally to try to hold him off. It misses and lands with sidekick Waldo Butters [[spoiler:whose belief in Star Wars makes the Sword manifest as a lightsaber, destroying Nicodemus' sword and making Waldo the newest Knight of the Cross.]]
* ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen''.
** Newbie Captain Ganoes Paran becomes the [[spoiler:Master of the Deck of Dragons, essentially gaining the power to decide who gets to be a power player among the gods and some other nifty tricks]], but the closest he's ever gotten involved with sorcery before was sleeping with a mage. That mage, Tattersail, was supposed to become the [[spoiler:Mistress of the Deck, but dies unexpectedly]], so the power jumps ship to Paran as the one who'd been closest to her. He resists it so much it eats a hole in his guts, but eventually accepts the power and [[spoiler:turns out to be both a competent ''and'' imaginative Master of the Deck.]]
** And later in the fifth volume, ''Literature/MidnightTides'', [[spoiler:Rhulad Sengar]] gets his hands on [[ArtifactOfDoom the sword of the Crippled God]]. He is utterly incompetent in using its powers for the good, no matter how much he tries. Of course, it's subverted because [[spoiler:the Crippled God intended for that to happen and deliberately staged it so that Rhulad would get it. Hannan Mosag, the one whom the sword was supposedly actually meant for, would have been quite competent and thus not as easily manipulated as Rhulad Sengar.]]

* Averted in Literature/TheMerchantPrincesSeries. Mike Fleming is going undercover in the Gruinmarkt. He needs to pass as a noble so he is given a sword, but is warned not to use it "because we haven't got the five years it would take to get you to a basic level of competence".
* This was actually [[DiscussedTrope a joke]] in [[Literature/TheBelgariad The Malloreon]]: Garion's son had been kidnapped as an infant, and Garion and co. had spent about two years searching for him and his abductors. When they were approaching the final showdown, one of the heroes' scouts came back to tell them what was going on, and the scout told them that the toddler was unharmed, but clearly didn't like the abductors he was with or their minions, and speculated that they could simply give Garion's enchanted sword to his son, then sit back and watch the toddler wreck the villains. They weren't seriously considering this as an option; it was a fairly typical joke, [[WorldOfSnark given the setting]].

* Series/{{Zoey 101}} does a "sports" subversion of this trope in the episode "Disc Golf." Zoey feeling guilty for benching Nicole as they can only have 5 players on their roster (and Nicole is terrible at the sport) fakes injuring her hand to allow Nicole sub in for her at the chance to win the game. Nicole still misses the first shot out of three and the other team offer to return the disc since she "practically won the game for them" but they instead flee the game (being teenage criminals by some coincidence) causing Zoey and her friends to win the game.

* In ''Rise and Shine'', super-gun Shine's dying former owner gives it to Rise, a small boy, because the latter happens to be the only person close enough at the time.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] as part of Poppy's lore in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', as her master had crafted a [[DropTheHammer battle hammer]] to give to someone worthy of wielding it, passing it to her on his deathbed. Naturally, she continues his search, [[IgnorantOfTheCall remaining oblivious]] to how effective ''she'' is with it.
* When Sin attacks Zanarkand at the start of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Tidus can only harmlessly swat away the Sinspawn drawing close to him before falling on his ass. Auron gives him a sword, but Tidus winds up losing his balance due to not being used to using a sword. He's still a professional athlete, so he uses his honed movement skills in battle to compensate for lack of professional sword training, dodging blows and throwing the sword around.
* ''[[VideoGame/DotHackR1Games .hack//INFECTION]]'' has a variety in which the noob becomes TheUnchosenOne. Basically, Aura intended for Orca to get the Data Drain bracelet but Skeith [[TheWorfEffect defeated Orca and rendered him comatose]], so she was forced to give Kite the bracelet instead.

* In ''WebComic/DarthsAndDroids'', Luke Amidala is given the laser sword by Obi Wan Kenobi, however, he is always trying to avoid using his laser sword because he's afraid he is going to hurt himself. The same could be said with his ability to use the force, which he does not like to do. He is much more comfortable using blasters and other weapons, even against the insistence of the other players and even the DM. However, he eventually gets more comfortable with it and learns to use it effectively.

* ''WebVideo/DragonballZAbridged'': Lampshaded when Goku hands over the Spirit Bomb to Krillin out of desperation:
-->'''Goku:''' It's our last hope.
-->'''Krillin:''' And you're giving it to ''me''?
-->'''Goku:''' I'm kinda out of options.
-->'''Krillin:''' [Gets the power] Holy crap, so this is what being important feels like!
* ''WebAnimation/EpithetErased'': "Epithets" - this universe's version of [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia quirks]] or Literature/{{Xanth}}'s "talents" - have a SemanticSuperpower factor. A sufficiently intelligent or creative type could make a StoryBreakerPower out of a [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower mundane Epithet]]. And then you have someone like Sheriff Gorou, whose low [[RPGMechanicsVerse intelligence and creativity scores]] rendered his "Bluster" Epithet as giving him the power to blow harder than normal people. ''Slightly harder.''

* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', the all-powerful Omnitrix, which allows its user to turn into any creature in the known universe... wasn't meant for Ben. It was actually meant for his grandfather Max, who is a skilled alien hunter. And in a WhatIf episode, it's discovered that Gwen would have been far more adept at using the device, having unlocked its full abilities in a single night, while it would take Ben years to consciously figure out the master control. The sequel series also drive the point home that while Ben isn't the worst choice as the wielder and is perfectly capable of saving the universe several times over, he is far from the best being for the job.
* The premise of ''WesternAnimation/GetAce'' is that a pair of high-tech braces laden with gadgets and weapons accidentally ends up in the mouth of a nerdy kid. Naturally, the supervillain who was ''supposed'' to acquire the braces tries to ''forcefully'' reclaim them every episode. It becomes a plot point in one episode that such powerful technology should belong to a super-spy and not an ordinary civilian, which is resolved when Ace proves that he's worthy (with his grandpa vouching for him).

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' gives us a rare hero-to-villain example: [[spoiler:Kirito, after stripping Sugou/Oberon from his GameMaster privileges, generates a [[InfinityPlusOneSword Holy Sword Excalibur]], the strongest weapon in the game and gives it to Sugou so they can fight one on one. Sugou is not even able to properly wield it, and Kirito effortlessly parries all of his strikes.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': Nobody in Kakariko takes Link very seriously. Even Sahashrala's wife finds it surprising that the Pendant of Courage was entrusted to him.

* ''WebAnimation/EpithetErased'': "Epithets" - this universe's version of [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia quirks]] or Literature/{{Xanth}}'s "talents" - have a SemanticSuperpower factor. A sufficiently intelligent or creative type could make a StoryBreakerPower out of a [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower mundane Epithet]]. And then you have someone like Sheriff Gorou, who's low [[RPGMechanicsVerse intelligence and creativity scores]] rendered his "Bluster" Epithet as giving him the power to blow harder than normal people. ''Slightly harder.''

[[folder:Film]]

* Happens at the very beginning of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. Rukia is injured enough that she can't fight after having been chewed up and spit out by a Hollow. So she looks over at Ichigo, a [[ChildSoldiers fifteen-year-old boy]] who, luckily for him, has latent Spiritual Pressure and some kung-fu training. She decides to give him half of her powers in order to save his family, [[UpToEleven but he takes all of it.]] Having never handled a sword before in his life, he quickly dispatches the monster and saves the day. Later revelations shed some light on this and made Ichigo more of a Chosen One[[note]]a combination of semi-coincidental Super Breeding and ''constant'' military drills from a Shinigami captain[[/note]], but for a long time he was apparently just ''that good'', and nobody really sat down and tried to figure out why.

* The ComicBook/StarBrand, one of the most powerful forces in all creation, has a habit of being given to noobs. In the original ''[[ComicBook/TheNewUniverse New Universe]]'', it was given to Kenneth Connell, who repeatedly screwed up with it and tried to get rid of the damn thing (which didn't work). In the remake ''ComicBook/{{Newuniversal}}'', it was given to a different Ken Connell, who was ''very'' drunk at the time, and unlike the others given powers during the White Event, he doesn't manage to acclimatise anywhere near as quickly. And in ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansAvengers'', a third Ken Connell is given a Star Brand... instead of the person who was ''supposed'' to get it, and as a result he causes a lot of damage and destruction before getting a handle on the brand's power.

* ''ComicBook/TheNewUniverse:'' The ComicBook/StarBrand, one of the most powerful forces in all creation, has a habit of being given to noobs. In the original ''New Universe'', it was given to Kenneth Connell, who repeatedly screwed up with it and tried to get rid of the damn thing (which didn't work). In the remake ''ComicBook/{{Newuniversal}}'', it was given to a different Ken Connell, who was ''very'' drunk at the time, and unlike the others given powers during the White Event, he doesn't manage to acclimatise anywhere near as quickly. And in ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansAvengers'', a third Ken Connell is given a Star Brand... instead of the person who was ''supposed'' to get it, and as a result he causes a lot of damage and destruction before getting a handle on the brand's power.

* ''ComicBook/TheNewUniverse:'' The Star Brand, one of the most powerful forces in all creation, has a habit of being given to noobs. In the original ''New Universe'', it was given to Kenneth Connell, who repeatedly screwed up with it and tried to get rid of the damn thing (which didn't work). In the remake ''Newuniversal'', it was given to a different Ken Connell, who was ''very'' drunk at the time, and unlike the others given powers during the White Event, he doesn't manage to acclimatise anywhere near as quickly. And in ''Jonathan Hickman's Avengers'', a third Ken Connell is given a Star Brand... instead of the person who was ''supposed'' to get it, and as a result he causes a lot of damage and destruction before getting a handle on the brand's power.

* ''WebAnimation/EpithetErased'': "Epithets" - this universe's version of [[Anime/MyHeroAcademia quirks]] or Literature/{{Xanth}}'s "talents" - have a SemanticSuperpower factor. A sufficiently intelligent or creative type could make a StoryBreakerPower out of a [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower mundane Epithet]]. And then you have someone like Sheriff Gorou, who's low [[RPGMechanicsVerse intelligence and creativity scores]] rendered his "Bluster" Epithet as giving him the power to blow harder than normal people. ''Slightly harder.''

* ''WebAnimation/EpithetErased'': "Epithets" (This universe's version of [[Anime/MyHeroAcademia quirks]] or Literature/{{Xanth}} "talents" have a SemanticSuperpower factor. A sufficiently intelligent or creative type could make a StoryBreakerPower out of a [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower mundane Epithet]]. And then you have someone like Sheriff Gorou, who's low [[RPGMechanicsVerse intelligence and creativity scores]] rendered his "Bluster" Epithet as giving him the power to blow harder than normal people. ''Slightly harder.''

* In ''ComicBook/TheHelm'', the eponymous magic helmet accidentally ends up in the hands of a morbidly obese, emotionally fragile manchild; the ''real'' chosen one, a stunningly handsome man of herculean proportions with a BadassMustache, shows up about five minutes too late to claim it.