History Main / OmniscientHero

* Franchise/{{Batman}} in many modern interpretations is so CrazyPrepared that he occasionally falls into this category. (The man has backup plans for the contingency plans of his backup plans!)
* ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}'s son Genis-Vell acquired "Cosmic Awareness" like his father, but to a much greater degree -- he literally knew ''everything'' that happened or could happen. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation It drove him mad.]]
* In ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'', during the ComicBook/ChaosWar storyline Hercules was granted omniscience. Turned out to be practically worthless because Hercules either didn't bother to use it or purposely ignored it constantly making things worse. Only changed when all of his allies called him out on his crap and even then he had to be guided by others to victory.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'''s Nagato Yuki is one of these.

[[folder:Light Novels]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* The Kwisatz Haderachs, Paul Atreides and his son Leto II in ''Franchise/{{Dune}}''. Both of them come to hate this because it makes life so utterly '''boring''' when you know everything that's going to happen long before it happens. Everyone else comes to hate this because when someone is omniscient, they're effectively invincible: they know everything you're going to do before you even think of it, so no matter what you do, you're playing into their hands.
* In ''Literature/{{Horns}}'', by Creator/JoeHill, the main character has horns growing out of his head that not only cause the characters around him to reveal their darkest thoughts to him, but also give him the power to see their entire pasts simply by touching them.
* In ''Literature/StateOfFear'', Professor Kenner already knows or suspects the entire plot of the bad guys at the start of the book.
* Ia in the ''Literature/TheirsNotToReasonWhy'' series is a somewhat unusual example. She can't "just" see her ''own'' timeline, she can see ''all'' of them. This also makes her an interesting case because while she could theoretically prepare for every single way events can play out, she doesn't actually have time to A) look through all potential outcomes of a situation and B) set up contingency plans for all of them. This leaves her immensely powerful, but NotSoOmniscientAfterAll because she can never be sure which of the many possible futures will actually happen in her part of the multiverse.
* In ''The Wars of Light and Shadow'', Arithon s'Ffallen, Master of Shadows, has inherited the foresight powers of his s'Ahelas mother and the empathy of his s'Ffallen father, which means that he sees the implications of all his actions, and feels the suffering they cause. The only reason why the Literature/WarsOfLightAndShadow haven't ended with his suicide is because he has sworn an oath to survive at all costs, as his survival is critical to returning the Paravians to Athera.
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The Omniscient Hero is not merely TheOmniscient, he is ALSO a main character! This has a huge impact on the plot, because it means that the readers/viewers will either know exactly what's going on or they will not know what the hell [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee the main character is really doing]].

When an Omniscient Hero is faced with a MoralDilemma, the problem is made much less complicated by the fact that he or she somehow...
# Has a flawless overview of everything relevant to the situation,
# Knows exactly what options are available, AND
# Knows exactly what the consequences of each option will be.

Such a villain is likely to take their delusion one step further and also believe himself or herself to have a OmniscientMoralityLicense, thus making it easier to convince themselves that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. Either that, or one turns out to having been a StrawHypocrite all along.

* ComicBook/CaptainMarVell's son Genis-Vell acquired "Cosmic Awareness" like his father, but to a much greater degree -- he literally knew ''everything'' that happened or could happen. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation It drove him mad.]]

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Doctor Strange, thanks to his vast powers as a {{Seer}} and a TimeMaster, and his PurposeDrivenImmortality (the first two exponentially magnified, and the latter granted by [[spoiler: the Time Stone]]). These mean that he can see pretty much every possible future, then tweak events so that the one he wants comes about, and has the luxury of not having to worry about how long it takes. He uses this to play the entire cast like a Stradivarius.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' decayed/developped into one of these by the time of the "Snowsong" arc.

* W''ebcomic/DominicDeegan'' decayed/developped into one of these by the time of the "Snowsong" arc.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Nemo, the titular ''Film/MrNobody'', is a rare sympathetic example. He can remember and envision all his possible futures, and it is explored quite well what this means for him.

[[AC:Light Novels]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* In ''Literature/{{Horns}}'', by Creator/JoeHill, the main character has horns growing out of his head that not only cause the characters around him to reveal their darkest thoughts to him, but also give him the power to see their entire pasts simply by touching them.
* Ia in the ''Literature/TheirsNotToReasonWhy'' series is a somewhat unusual example. She can't "just" see her ''own'' timeline, she can see ''all'' of them. This also makes her an interesting case because while she could theoretically prepare for every single way events can play out, she doesn't actually have time to A) look through all potential outcomes of a situation and B) set up contingency plans for all of them. This leaves her immensely powerful, but NotSoOmniscientAfterAll because she can never be sure which of the many possible futures will actually happen in her part of the multiverse.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'':
** [[spoiler:Adrian Veidt]] fits this trope. He has everything so well figured out that the morality issue is reduced to whether or not the goals he achieved were worth all the lives he sacrificed. However, two of the last few scenes make the whole thing ambiguous, leaving it to the reader/viewer to decide if the trope is played straight or subverted.
** In the same story, Dr. Manhattan himself WOULD fit the trope perfectly if it wasn't for a certain loophole [[spoiler:that effectively make him lose his omniscience halfway through the story]]. Before that point, he is so omniscient that it bores himself, but the readers/audience is spared sharing that boredom since he's a side character rather than the protagonist.

[[AC:FanWorks]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* Series/JohnDoe of the eponymous show has encyclopedic knowledge of everything humanity has learned up to the beginning of the show. He's also capable of easily using that knowledge, such as becoming rich in the pilot by playing the stock market, and countering moves in an obscure martial art. He's also an {{Omniglot}}, as demonstrated when he speaks Khmer to a group of Cambodian fishermen who rescue him.

[[AC:{{Videogames}}]]

[[AC:WebComics]]
* Webcomic/DominicDeegan decayed/developped into one of these by the time of the Snowsong arc.

* ComicBook/CaptainMarVell's son acquired "Cosmic Awareness" like his father, but to a much greater degree -- he literally knew ''everything'' that happened or could happen. It drove him mad.

* Every Host in {{Roleplay/Communication}} automatically become through Consensus: the players of said quest themselves who knows every single event and character that had or will occur in the world they are put into.

[[AC:Fan Works]]