History Main / ProphecyTwist

* In the ''Blog/BetterBonesAU'', there is a prophecy that "The first of the lake will guide Wind Clan". Mudclaw interprets this as meaning that he will be leader, because he was one of first to see the lake and led the first patrol there. This, in addition to the suspicious circumstances of him being denied succession in favor of Onewhisker, helps motivate his rebellion. However, it turns out the prophecy referred to Mudclaw's children Harespring, Kestrelflight, and Owlclaw, with Harespring becoming the leader (Harestar) after Onestar and Kestrelflight becoming the next cleric.

* In the ''Blog/BetterBonesAU'', there is a prophecy that "The first of the lake will guide WindClan". Mudclaw interprets this as meaning that he will be leader, because he was one of first to see the lake and led the first patrol there. This, in addition to the suspicious circumstances of him being denied succession in favor of Onewhisker, helps motivate his rebellion. However, it turns out the prophecy referred to Mudclaw's children Harespring, Kestrelflight, and Owlclaw, with Harespring becoming the leader (Harestar) after Onestar and Kestrelflight becoming the next cleric.

** Yet another twist in the doomsday prophecy, combined with something outside of it. [[spoiler: Though the actual prophecy states that Gallon will be killed by "the shadow of the lost master" (the lost master being the late Queen Odette,) Gallon also reveals another caveat; he can only be slain by Titanian royalty, and since Cornelius, the only surviving member of the Titanian royalty, has no real connection to Odette, Gallon is effectively invincible. Cue Oswald, wielder of power granted to him by Odette, taking him on anyway and having a ReallyRoyaltyReveal as he successfully kills Gallon.]]

-->“''And with the turning of the Great Wheel, the mantle shall pass from the Honoured One. And burdened by the weight of light from fifty thousand stars, an Innocent from bitter seas will shoulder another burden of lives and guide the Caravan of the Thirteen Tribes of Kobol across the Bridge of Light and Time, flying colours into the Promised Land''.”//

-->“''And with the turning of the Great Wheel, the mantle shall pass from the Honoured One. And burdened by the weight of light from fifty thousand stars, an Innocent from bitter seas will shoulder another burden of lives and guide the Caravan of the Thirteen Tribes of Kobol across the Bridge of Light and Time, flying colours into the Promised Land''.”

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', protagonist Anna is accidentally cursed so that she's slowly turning into pure ice, but is told that only an "act of true love" can save her. The main characters quickly assume this means romantic love, in the form of TrueLovesKiss, and rush to get her to her romantic interest. [[spoiler:However, in the end, Anna selflessly sacrificing her life for her sister is what does it...]]

** If Ursa's backstory in ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' is of any indication, the fire sages prophesized for Fire Lord Azulon that the pairing of his son Ozai and an Avatar-descendent will yield a powerful bloodline that would ensure his family’s rule endures after he’s gone. Azulon took it as a means to continue his VillainousLegacy in the coming centuries. Initially, it seemed like that would be the case: [[spoiler:First, Ozai poisoned Azulon and took the throne]], making way for his bloodline. Zuko was considered a failure, but Azula showed a lot of promise due to her being a prodigy, so it seemed like she would be a continuation of his line. But, as we have seen in the series, [[spoiler:they were likely referring to Zuko being the Fire Nation's salvation from tyranny. He taught the Avatar firebending to defeat his father Ozai and defeated his own sister. Zuko surpassed both his father and sister and turned out to be one of the most powerful and successful rulers in Fire Nation history, creating a new legacy of peace that his children would continue to follow, fulfilling the sages’ prediction. In a nutshell, the continuation of his family’s rule meant the destruction of his legacy, and Zuko’s birth became his undoing]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': The "character not coming back but that's because he's staying where he is" variant appears in the ''Unlimited'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS3E10FarFromHome Far from Home]]" when Supergirl travels to the future of the 31st century ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes. Their records are very spotty, and never state which heroes they get visited from. All their records indicate she won't come back, and sure enough she [[DisneyDeath looks dead enough]] at one point, but returns in the very next scene... but then decides to stay in the future, as she had fallen for Legionnaire Brainiac 5.

** Lana's prediction was that she'd become "filthy rich" -- she ends up finding a dollar in the bathroom that was DroppedInTheToilet.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' uses this; Rico gets a fortune cookie which reads that he will meet 'a foul end'. The group tries for the majority of the episode to find ways to prevent such a curse (or convince Rico that it's silly superstition), until the very end, when a duck crash-lands on him. Fowl end, you see. Private is highly amused.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. The party is present to see [[spoiler: Crono dying right in front of them in a HeroicSacrifice to save them from [[BigBad Lavos]]]]. Since this is a game about time travel, they can [[RetCon retroactively change this event]] by using [[TitleDrop an artifact from the Guru of Time]] and [[spoiler: [[ChekhovsGun the doll offered as a prize in the Millennial Fair at the very beginning of the game]] to make it so that what they saw killed was ActuallyADoombot]], thus making this out of their own past experiences.

* ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}'' has a prophecy predicting that the end of the world is imminent. The Mayans take this literally and believe it to be the result of divine displeasure, leading them to mass sacrifices. What they don't realize is that the prophecy isn't foretelling the end of the world, but the end of ''their'' world as the Spanish are about to make landfall.

** Throughout ''Jakhowls Rising'', a great prophecy is mentioned, which was foretold long ago by Crystal Clair's ancestor, who was Aurarora's most powerful {{seer}}. It was foretold of the eventual arrival of a jakhowl like no other, one that would "awaken a form greater than any other jakhowl, and would use it to defeat the greatest threat the jakhowls had ever faced and lead us into a golden age." For awhile, many of the jakhowls in Aurarora thought the prophecy was referring to Razor Fang, due to him having access to a Mega Mode, until it was revealed Springer had acquired his own Mega Mode a year before Razor did, with some assuming the "greatest threat" had already passed. However, it is eventually revealed [[spoiler:Razor Fang himself ''is'' the greatest threat to the jakhowls, due to his obsession with leading them to a war against Equestria that would have killed them all, even trying to instigate a war by killing the tribe leader Sirius and framing Springer and his pony friends for it, and in order to stop him, Springer unlocked a new form beyond his Mega Mode thanks to his bond with Ace and Mira, and since he defeated Razor Fang in a kyosongsai he is officially declared the new chief of Aurarora.
** Additonally, while staying in Aurarora, Flash meets Crystal Clair, a seer that offers to show him a vision of his potential future. In Flash's vision, he sees Ponyville destroyed and a single individual that constantly shifts into multiple enemies from his past. This originally seems to be interpreted as [[LegionOfDoom his enemies joining forces against him]], however, Season 9 reveals [[spoiler:this figure was actually his old enemy Armalum, and he is going around [[ThePowerOfHate gaining power by draining others of their hate of Flash, including the enemies that Flash saw in his vision]], and the area that seemed to be a destroyed Ponyville was really a pocket dimension that resembled Ponyville created by Armalum himself]].
** During "Reinforcements from the Future", Flash meets an [[FutureBadass adult version of his apprentice Fire Heart]] who traveled back from the future. While working together, Heart eventually reveals to Flash that [[YourDaysAreNumbered Flash isn't around in the future]] due to performing a HeroicSacrifice to save every kingdom from some evil force, and left all his friends and [[TheLostLenore Twilight]] grieving over him, with Flash resolving to [[ScrewDestiny survive whatever this was and change the future for the better]]. [[spoiler:Throughout Season 9, it is hinted that the enemy Flash sacrifices himself against is Armalum, but Flash manages to defeat Armalum and avoid dying. It is then revealed that due Armalum seemingly killing [[TopGod Faust]], Flash must [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascend to godhood and replace her to keep the world from falling apart]] without a God to preserve and maintain it. However, it is ''then'' revealed in ''The Last Problem'' that this was only temporary, since immediately after this Faust managed to restore herself back to life with a [[BodyBackupDrive backup of herself she saved in Flash's powers]] that activated upon his ascension. She managed to restore his body and returned him to life after six months, after Twilight and the others all mourned for him like Fire Heart said they did. Additionally, when the Future Fire Heart returns to his own time after his mission, it is revealed that what he told the past version of Flash was actually a lie that [[StableTimeLoop Flash himself instructed him to tell him]]]].

** If Ursa's backstory in ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' is of any indication, the fire sages prophesized for Fire Lord Azulon that Ozai's and an Avatar-descendent' bloodline would yield a powerful bloodline, Azulon took it as a means to continue his VillainousLegacy in the coming centuries. Zuko was considered a failure, but Azula showed a lot of promise due to her being a prodigy, so it seemed like she would be a continuation of his line. But, as we have seen in the series, [[spoiler:they were likely referring to Zuko being the Fire Nation's salvation from tyranny, and he turned out to be one of the most powerful Fire Nation history to accomplish this]].

** In ''Comicbook/{{Superboy}}'' #136, the Space Canine Patrol Agency's newest member, Prophetic Pup tells Krypto that a hound will put Superboy in danger, but a hound will save him. When Krypto need rescuing from a criminal cat, and the cat manages to lure both of them to a vast kryptonite statue, he realises that ''he'' is the hound who put Superboy in danger. For the rest of the story, he sees the SCPA agents looking for him with the last of his telescopic vision, and wonders if one of them will be the hound who saves Superboy, but they all get distracted. Then a young boy happens across them while heading to a movie location to meet some stars, and rescues them in exchange for Superboy signing his book. The last panel is Krypto explaining that Superboy was indeed saved ... by an ''autograph'' hound.

** Iroh realises that this applies to his old prophetic dream of one day taking the Earth Kingdom capital Ba Sing Se. As a young man, he had believed that he was thus destined to take it as a conqueror for the [[TheEmpire Fire Nation]], but in the GrandFinale reveals that [[spoiler: he now realises he was instead supposed to liberate it ''from'' the Fire Nation]].

** If Ursa's backstory in ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' is of any indication, the fire sages prophesized for Fire Lord Azulon that Ozai's and an Avatar-descendent' bloodline would yield a powerful bloodline, Azulon took it as a means to continue his VillainousLegacy in the coming centuries. But, as we have seen in the series, [[spoiler:they were likely referring to Zuko being the Fire Nation's salvation from tyranny]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': The "character not coming back but that's because he's staying where he is" variant appears in the ''Unlimited'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS3E10FarFromHome Far from Home]]" when Supergirl travels to the future of the 31st century ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes. All their records indicate she won't come back, and sure enough she [[DisneyDeath looks dead enough]] at one point, but returns in the very next scene... but then decides to stay in the future, as she had fallen for Legionnaire Brainiac 5.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'': Two (actually more if you bother to keep count) prophecies were twisted in "Body Guard Duty". The first one stated Trixie and Spud would "tie the knot", much to Trixie's horror. The second was that Jake would be hit by a boulder and it didn't help that the prophecy specified how fast the boulder would be. At Ogre Bowl, an ogre threw a boulder that hit Jake at the specified speed, thus fulfilling the prophecy. However, Jake was flying at a slightly slower speed and it didn't hurt him. At the end of the episode, Spud's shoe was untied and Trixie tied it, meaning the prediction about them tying the knot wasn't about marriage.
** In a smaller scale, it is predicted that somebody would take the last pudding at the cafeteria before Rose could get to it. And it looks like someone else is about to get it, but then Jake takes it -- and gives it to Rose. Trixie protests, but the oracles point out that they never said Rose wouldn't end up with it; just that someone else would take it first. Also, it was predicted chocolate milk would be spilled onto Spud's shoes. Trying to defy the prophecy, he went outside the school, where it was unlikely to happen, and a truckload of chocolate milk crashed, spilling some of its contents into Spud's shoes.

--->"Destiny is a funny thing, Prince Zuko. It never happens the way you expect."
** If Ursa's backstory in ''The Search'' is of any indication, the fire sages prophesized for Fire Lord Azulon that Ozai's and an Avatar-descendent' bloodline would yield a powerful bloodline, Azulon took it as a means to continue his VillainousLegacy in the coming centuries. But, as we have seen in the series, [[spoiler:they were likely referring to Zuko being the Fire Nation's salvation from tyranny]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' episode "Seer No Evil" contains one of these. Near the beginning of the episode, a fortuneteller bug by the name of Cassandra predicts several events that (with some creative interpretation) all happen throughout the episode, but it's her last prediction - the one related to Chip - that gets the twist. At the end of her predictions, she points to Chip and tells him that "he will walk under an elephant, and the trunk will fall, and...then all is darkness." In the final third of the episode, a somewhat-paranoid Chip is left alone outside a carnival funhouse with a giant elephant statue that's swaying back and forth above the entrance, while the other Rangers enter the funhouse to track a thief (with everyone thinking that the statue will fall down and crush Chip). Chip, in arguably the biggest test of his sense of duty, eventually rushes underneath the statue to the funhouse entrance, and is relieved when he sees that the prediction didn't come true. But just a few moments later, he runs into the funhouse, and is seemingly crushed by a falling chest (or, if you prefer, trunk) containing the thief's loot. The thief's helper monkey sees this and makes a throat-cutting gesture (as well as letting out a raspberry, or ''thppppth'') as the thief leaves the funhouse, and the Rangers believe Chip is dead...except he's actually trapped underneath the trunk in a hole in the floor (which, obviously, would make things pretty dark for Chip).
* In "Mardi Gras", Mamma Lui from ''WesternAnimation/JemAndTheHolograms'' had this for the Holograms and the Misfits. Her prophecy was the following: A pirate coming for Shana and that the pirate will protect her. It turns out to be a hologram from Jerrica Benton's computer, Synergy.

* The "character not coming back but that's because he's staying where he is" came from an episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' where Supergirl travels to the future of the 31st century ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes. All their records indicate she won't come back, and sure enough she [[DisneyDeath looks dead enough]] at one point, but returns in the very next scene... but then decides to stay in the future, as she had fallen for Legionnaire Brainiac 5. (Of course, this episode had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Cartoon Network was introducing [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot a new]] ''[[PoorlyDisguisedPilot Legion]]'' [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot series]] the very next fall.)

** In "Royal Pain", King Wallace II of a small country contacts the heroes about threats on his son's life. It turns out that the men responsible have a prophecy that the kingdom's monarchy will end with Wallace III, and they're doing their part to make the prophecy come true. At the end of the episode, Kim captures the villains and the prince is still alive; however, having been exposed to democracy throughout the episode[[note]]Kim was running for her school's student council at the same time.[[/note]], he announces that, while he won't interfere with his father's kinghood, after his father's death, he'll convert the kingdom into a democracy and run for president. Ron is quick to point out how this meshes with the prophecy.
** In "Monkey Ninjas in Space", Monkey Fist receives a prophecy from a monk telling him to follow a suitable monkey into space, where "the ultimate monkey master will be unstoppable". At the end of the episode, the monk explains to the monkey ninjas that the prophecy actually said "the ultimate monkey master will be [[{{Sidekick}} Ron Stoppable]]".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': In "Raw Deal", Lucy tries some fortune-telling cards, which predict something for all her siblings except for Lily (who, at the time, was only a baby and thus was likely too young to understand any fortune, so Lucy didn't bother to predict something for her). A number of them come true, but in different ways than expected:

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': A rather strange one in the climax of "The Hero". Sir Brad Starlight's prophecy states the beloved Princess Demurra had been kidnapped by Draykor the Dragon King who is forcing her to marry him, and only her hero (aided by his goofy sidekick and noble steed) can save her. The twist? Brad is not the hero -- Wander is. Draykor didn't kidnap the princess -- he's a nice guy, and both he and the princess are in love with each other. And Brad is nothing but a lying jerk.

* In ''Manga/FlameOfRecca'', only one person per generation can wield the Hokage clan's flame. If a second child is born with the ability to wield flames, a prophecy say that child is cursed and will bring about the clan's end. Kurei was deemed the cursed child and soon after his birth the clan was destroyed by Nobunaga. Later events reveal [[spoiler:two twists. First, ''Recca'' is the actual cursed child as his flame lacks an animal aspect while Kurei inherited their father's flame. Second, Recca ends the Hokage clan not through it destruction but by finally fulfilling its purpose of defeating a great evil. With this accomplished, the Eight Dragons can finally rest at peace and the Hokage clan loses its ability to wield flame]].
* Near the end of ''Manga/IWouldDieToHaveYourFirstTime'', Taro, who's long had visions of his childhood friend Mika, sees one last vision of her sobbing and warns her boyfriend, Nishimori, to avoid hurting her. At the very end, this vision comes true, [[spoiler:as she breaks down with ''joy'' while trying to announce her pregnancy to Nishimori (now her husband) and their friends]].

* Played with in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. The party is present to see [[spoiler: Crono dying right in front of them in a HeroicSacrifice to save them from [[BigBad Lavos]]]]. Since this is a game about time travel, they can [[RetCon retroactively change this event]] by using [[TitleDrop an artifact from the Guru of Time]] and [[spoiler: [[ChekhovsGun the doll offered as a prize in the Millennial Fair at the very beginning of the game]] to make it so that what they saw killed was ActuallyADoombot]], thus making a ProphecyTwist out of their own past experiences.

** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' features Boingo, user of the Stand named after the Egyptian god Thoth, which is a manga that predicts the future. Of course, to keep the characters and audience on their toes, every prediction is subject to this or PropheticFallacy. For example:

** In ''Manga/GoldenWind'', Epitaph's ability lets Diavolo and Doppio see 10 seconds into the future; anything that happens in that vision [[YouCantFightFate is guaranteed to happen]]. During Doppio's fight with Risotto Nero, he gets a vision of himself with a huge chunk of his head missing. Obviously, he comes to the conclusion that he's going to [[BoomHeadshot get his head blown apart]], but before that can happen, [[spoiler:Narancia's Stand shoots Risotto, splattering his blood all over Doppio/Diavolo's face. One of Risotto's abilities lets him manipulate iron, including the ability to refract light to turn iron into an invisibility cloak of sorts, and this ability also affects the iron in his blood, so Diavolo's head turns invisible where the blood landed, matching the image in the prediction without killing him]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': When Hippolyta learns of a prophecy stating Franchise/WonderWoman will die she decides to save her daughter by holding [[ComicBook/TheContest a contest]] for the role while siphoning power from Diana to [[Characters/WonderWomanAllies Artemis]] to ensure Artemis wins. While Polly's machinations do get Temi killed, they also end up causing Diana's death, and the prophecy is really foretelling that ''everyone'' who legitimately holds the title for even a little while, including Hippolyta herself and [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Donna Troy]], is going to end up killed by it even if they all [[ComicBookDeath get better]].

** In Creator/JossWhedon's ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen,'' BlindSeer and WaifProphet Blindfold is troubled when the majority of the X-Men--Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Armor, Colossus, and Beast--are transported to space, and remarks that "Not all of them" will return. She's not referring to death--she's referring to [[spoiler: Kitty pulling a massive HeroicSacrifice and bonding herself with a planet-destroying bullet to save the Earth. She later [[ComicBookDeath comes back]], meaning that Blindfold's prophecy only meant that the X-Men wouldn't be returning at the same time, or that she can't see with certainty years into the future]].

* Biblical prophecies in ''Fanfic/LeftBeyond'' happen on schedule, as they must, but the human faction goes to great trouble to make sure that their results are everted, or that they are made meaningless by the situation on the ground. This includes the very last one about the White Throne Judgment.

* ''Film/BabylonAD''. Aurora predicts they're all going to die in New York. [[spoiler:Rebeka is indeed killed in the New York shootout. Toorop also dies, but he gets revived. Aurora dies during childbirth in a hospital in the state of New York.]]

* Played with in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. The party is present to see [[spoiler: Crono dying right in front of them in a HeroicSacrifice to save them from [[BigBad Lavos]]]]. Since this is a game about time travel, they can [[RetCon retroactively change this event]] by using [[TitleDrop an artifact from the Guru Of Time]] and [[spoiler: [[ChekhovsGun the doll offered as a prize in the Millennial Fair at the very beginning of the game]] to make it so that what they saw killed was ActuallyADoombot]], thus making a ProphecyTwist out of their own past experiences.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', a prophecy states that "The Angel... The One Who Has Seen The Surface... They will return. And the underground will go empty." Not only could "the Angel" conceivably refer to ''three'' characters ([[spoiler:Frisk, Asriel, or Chara]]), but both the game's most extreme endings fulfil it in different ways. In the [[GoldenEnding True Pacifist]] ending, the underground goes empty because the barrier is broken and the monsters can leave. In the Genocide Ending, you ''empty'' the underground personally.

* In ''Webcomic/TwoGuysAndGuy'' this certainly seems to be the case [[http://twogag.com/archives/3761 with Wayne's date with death.]]

* ''film/TowerOfLondon1962'': The ghosts of Clarence, King Edward and Mistress Shore haunt Richard, warning him that they will be revenged at "Bosworth". He is also told that he will be killed by a dead man. Eventually at the Battle of Bosworth Field, Richard is left alone on the battlefield after his army has been defeated. The ghosts of his victims appear, and he attempts to fight them. Jasper, Stanley and Richmond watch as Richard swipes at thin air. The king attempts to mount a horse, but is thrown and killed by a battleaxe held by a dead soldier.

* Lampshaded by Count Dooku in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/10129274/chapters/22844453#workskin Back From the Future]]'' in regards to the prophecy (which no one has ever seen or heard in full) about TheChosenOne who will "bring balance to the Force". The Jedi believe it means Anakin will destroy the Sith and Obi-wan refuses to believe the Sith could destroy the Jedi and corrupt Anakin until Dooku points out an alternate interpretation. [[spoiler:Though the Jedi's interpretation ends up true when Darth Vader, who's from the future, kills Palpatine and Luke Skywalker brings together all the various Force using organizations.]]
-->'''Dooku:''' There’s a certain symmetry to it all, don’t you think? The Jedi wipe out all but one Sith. The Sith wipe out all but one Jedi. Doesn’t that look like balance to you?

** The prequels are based on one of these, as Anakin Skywalker is prophesied to bring balance to the Force, which the Jedi believe means destroying the Sith and bringing peace to the galaxy. However, even that does not preclude him from falling to the Dark Side, slaughtering his fellow Jedi, and enslaving the galaxy ''first''. And if [[Film/TheForceAwakens Kylo Ren]] is anything to go by, the Prophecy doesn't mention that it ''stays'' balanced.[[note]]Not even in ''[[AlternateContinuity Legends,]]'' where Anakin is succeeded by his grandson Jacen Solo instead.[[/note]] There's also the Jossed but widely popular interpretation that Anakin's true purpose was to "bring balance to the force" by eliminating all but two Jedi so that the Light and Dark sides of the force would be properly balanced (or at least by eliminating the dogmatic Jedi Order so that it could start again).
*** Additionally, both the Jedi and [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] (aka Palpatine) seem to believe that Anakin's high midi-chlorian count is the key to the Sith's destruction, and hence assume that is what makes him TheChosenOne. After Anakin became Darth Vader, Obi-Wan and Yoda came to believe the prophecy actually refers to Luke Skywalker, Anakin's son, rather than Anakin himself. Even Sidious starts to believe it to be the case, and tries to subvert it by attempting to convert Luke to the Dark Side (or if that fails, simply kill him where he stands) What Sidious fails to realize is that the Chosen One is still Anakin, and that Anakin's love for his son is what allows him to turn on Sidious and throw him to his demise[[note]][[spoiler: Or at least his temporary defeat and removal from power, as both [[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker the sequels]] and ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' see Palpatine return]][[/note]]. It was [[ThePowerOfLove the creation of the Skywalker family]], not their strong Force-potential bloodline, that became the undoing of the Sith.
*** In a nutshell; TheChosenOne is a bloodline, not a single person. Anakin, Luke & Leia were all the Chosen One who would bring balance to The Force and peace to the Galaxy (prior to the HappyEndingOverride of the sequels unless we go by ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'').

* Fuu, Umi and Hikaru of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' must fulfill an ancient prophecy -- but what they think they have to do and what they actually must do are two very, very different things.
* The manga of ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' had Lucia raised as a civilian, in the human world no less, because it was foreseen that she would see great hardship as the sea kingdoms were destroyed. Of course, it happened anyway, and she turned out all right. The anime didn't even include the prophecy and gave her a normal princess life.
* The entire main plot of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' is based around this, with the military unit the characters serve in being formed to prevent a seemingly apocalyptic prophecy. As it turns out, [[spoiler:they interpreted the prophecy correct in some areas (the "Tower of Law being burned to the ground" referring to the TSAB Ground Forces HQ being attacked and wrecked), but got another part wrong: the "ship of Law that protects the stars" doesn't refer to the TSAB's fleet and space base, but rather to the Saint's Cradle, a massive warship from the ancient Kingdom of Belka. It's co-opted by the BigBad near the end, and the last few episodes are the protagonists going all out to stop it...which they succeed in disabling, allowing the Cradle to be vaporized in orbit by the combined TSAB fleet sent to stop it]].

* ''Manga/RGVeda'' has a particularly tragic example: the prophecy that everyone thinks predicts the overthrow of BigBad Taishakuten by the Six Stars actually [[spoiler: predicts Ashura awakening to his true identity as the god of destruction, killing all of his companions, and annihilating the world. Taishakuten's acts of tyranny had actually been attempts to prevent this from coming to pass. It almost came true, too, except that Ashura [[ThePowerOfLove couldn't bring himself to kill Yasha-oh]], and turned his blade on himself instead]].
* In ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'', Mary Magdalene is a seer that has had constant dreams of someone named [[spoiler:Chrono]] would be the one to "take her life". When she meets the person from her dreams and tells him of the prophecy, both assume that it means he'll kill her--but it turns out the prophecy's wording is deceptive. [[spoiler:In reality, Chrono literally takes away her lifespan to supply his powers through [[DealWithTheDevil a demonic contract]]. It appears he kills her completely (and in the manga he believes that was the case), but her spirit lives on inside the watch that seals his powers, guiding him and Rosette.]]
* In ''Manga/RaveMaster'', Musica sees a vision of Haru stabbing a helpless Ellie with his sword Ten Commandments. The event later plays itself out when Haru is seemingly [[ShootTheDog forced to kill]] a self-destructing Ellie, but is revealed in the aftermath to have used an alternate form of the sword to merely phase the sword through her body and seal her unstable powers.
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Madame Shyarly, the resident fortuneteller of Fishman Island, makes a prediction that [[spoiler:Luffy will destroy Fishman Island, very soon]]. The arc ended with Straw Hats saving the island, but it's highly likely this prophecy will come true. [[spoiler:Said soothsayer has NEVER been wrong, accurately predicting Great Era of Pirates, and Whitebeard's death.]]
* In the first chapter of ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'', the titular character proves he's from the future by predicting that main character Nobita will hang himself in 30 minutes and then be burned alive ten minutes later. Nobita scoffs, but then thirty minutes later, he slips while getting a shuttlecock off the roof and his shirt collar gets caught on a tree branch, making another character joke that he hung himself. Ten minutes later, he falls into a full bathtub and dries himself out in front of a space heater. The phrase "to burn alive" in Japanese is similar to "to warm in front of a fire."
* Near the end of ''Manga/IWouldDieToHaveYourFirstTime'', Taro, who's long had visions of his childhood friend Mika, sees one last vision of her sobbing and warns her boyfriend, Nishimori, to avoid hurting her. At the very end, this vision comes true, [[spoiler:as she breaks down with ''joy'' while trying to announce her pregnancy to Nishimori (now her husband) and their friends]].

* ''Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold'' has a prophecy that stated that the white man would try to take the cities of gold in the future. As it turns out, that white man that would threaten the cities of gold? It's not the Spaniards... but the ''Olmecs''.
* ''Manga/BrynhildrInTheDarkness'': Kana's forecasts show what will happen, but not why. For example, in episode 5 she sees [[spoiler:Kotori smiling while standing over Kuroha's body and thinks Kotori killed Kuroha]]. In episode 6 we learn that it's actually [[spoiler:Kotori being a StepfordSmiler to hide her sadness]].
* In ''Manga/ChainsawMan'', Aki makes a DealWithTheDevil with the Future Devil for CombatClairvoyance and it doesn't ask for much in return, explaining that [[YourDaysAreNumbered he's going to die in "the worst way possible"]] and that it just wants to be there to see it happen. [[spoiler:Aki actually ends up dying rather peacefully as [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness his mind was long gone by that point]]; he meant the worst way possible for ''[[TheHero Denji]]'', who was forced to MercyKill him after they had become like brothers.]]
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}} Shippuden TheMovie'', Shion sees a vision of Naruto dying. It turns out that what she saw was [[spoiler:[[ActuallyADoombot one of his Shadow Clones]]]]. In her defense, she didn't know about those when she had the vision.

* [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1983/02/05 This strip]]: ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} read this from a fortune cookie fortune: "Today you will be whisked away to a large white building where all you have to do is lie in bed all day as lots of people pay attention to you and bring you food". As Garfield said it sounded "too good to be true", he failed to notice he was about to fall from the table.

* In ''Fanfic/TheEndOfEnds'', the condition of being able to use the Dark Prognosticus is to have an empty heart and have never found true happiness. [[spoiler:A cybernetic heart's essentially the same as an empty heart... Though it's unsaid how Beljar managed to fulfill the latter part.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheVow'', the Soothsayer foretells that the marriage between Lord Shen and Lady Lianne will happen "beneath tears of snow". When it's attempted to be held in midwinter when real snow falls in Gongmen City, a snowfall never happens and the ceremony is interrupted with Shen's canon act of [[spoiler:mass murder]] being exposed. [[spoiler:When Shen and Lianne are finally married after so much pain thirty years later, he cries for the first time since his childhood and sheds tears that look snowy with their cloudiness and milky white coloring.]]
** Also, [[spoiler:Shen is defeated by a Warrior of Black and White for continuing his dark path just like in canon. [[SparedByTheAdaptation However]], the prophecy said that [[NotQuiteDead he'd be]] ''[[NotQuiteDead defeated]]'', [[NotQuiteDead not]] ''[[NotQuiteDead killed]]'']].
* In the backstory of ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos'', the Seedrians prophesied that they would be destroyed from within by the Black Wind. [[spoiler: The prophecy never said a Seedrian would be the "Black Wind" though.]]

* “[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/269317/ God is My Judge]]” features the Scooby Gang (''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'') and Stargate Command (''Series/StargateSG1'') facing a warlock who believes he will gain the power to open the Hellmouths by channelling Daniel Jackson’s latent power. However, the final prophecy states “The Judged One holds powers untold. From within the love and child the power will grow.” While the resurrected Sha’re has just learn that she’s pregnant, others observe that it’s possible the prophecy actually refers to Willow’s own pregnancy as she just got back together with Oz, given that his real first name is Daniel (the name meaning “God is My Judge”).
* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''/''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12096229/1/Paschendale Paschendale]]", one of the Seals keeping Lucifer trapped can only be broken if a Slayer dies "at her own hand". This particular Seal is broken when Faith dies for a second or so after being stabbed by Buffy, as the nature of the Seal wasn't designed to take into account the possibility of two Slayers being active at once and so "the Slayer" technically did kill herself.
* In ''Fanfic/LostInCamelot'', Kilgharrah attempts to dissuade Merlin from telling Bo about Morgana's magic or telling Morgana about his own magic because he warns that "Should Isabeau ever learn the truth, the witch will spill her blood". After [[spoiler:Morgana learns about Merlin's magic, she does "spill" Bo's blood, but only in the sense of causing a minor cut to Bo's neck when she breaks a mirror in a magical outburst, Kilgharrah only attempting to "justify" his omission by observing that it wouldn't have taken much for such a wound to be fatal]].
* In ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' fanfic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2086636/1/Rescue-Run Rescue Run]]", the Matrix is destroyed and the human race freed when Captain Dena Reese, a representative of humanity's inter-planetary forces who left Earth centuries ago to colonise other worlds, crash-lands on Earth and starts a chain of events that lead to the entire population of Zion being evacuated and given a new planet. However, when Dena asks Morpheus if he still believes in the prophecy of the One, Morpheus affirms that he does, as not only does he consider it unlikely that Dena's original crash was a complete accident given the odds against multiple engine failures, but he also finds it significant that she was first discovered by the ''Nebuchannezer'' and was initially spotted by Neo.
* A somewhat meta example is pulled on the reader in ''Fanfic/FistOfTheMoon'', as [[TimeTravel Chibi-Usa]] sees [[Franchise/SailorMoon Usagi fawning over Mamoru]].
--> Chibi-Usa: The Fool is with pops! I have to break them up so that mom and pop can get together!
** [[ForWantOfANail Chiba-Usa's actions]] imply that Mamoru and [[Manga/RanmaOneHalf a newly recruited Ranma]] are supposed to get together. [[spoiler: The reality is that [[GenderBender Ranma is the mother... but Usagi will be the father.]]]]
* Basically applies in "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13301032/1/The-Third-Life-of-Steve-Rogers The Third Life of Steve Rogers]]", looking at Steve's life with Peggy after he travelled to the past in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''; the only photograph he found of Peggy in the past showed her with a boy and a girl where the boy was taller, so when Peggy becomes pregnant he assumes it's just with the boy, but only realises after she gives birth to twins that the girl was sitting down in the photo.
* Early on in the ''Fanfic/{{Dangerverse}}'', Luna receives a vision showing that she will be weeping at a grave with Draco Black's name on it when someone who looks exactly like Lucius Malfoy comes to her. She will then say that she never loved "the one buried here", declare her allegiance to the one who looks like Lucius, and leave with him. It's confirmed by literal WordOfGod that nobody in that scene was lying, and everything that Luna Saw will happen. [[spoiler: What we don't find out until much later is that the corpse in the grave is that of Lucius Malfoy, unrecognizable due to being burnt to ashes, and the person who looks exactly like Lucius is Draco disguised with an Aging Potion.]]

* Lampshaded by Count Dooku in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/10129274/chapters/22844453#workskin Back From the Future]]'' in regards to the prophecy (which no one has ever seen or heard in full) about TheChosenOne who will "bring balance to the Force". The Jedi believe it means Anakin will destroy the Sith and Obi-wan refuses to believe the Sith could destroy the Jedi and corrupt Anakin until Dooku points out an alternate interpretation. [[spoiler:Though the Jedi's interpretation ends up true when Darth Vader, who's from the future, kills Palpatine and Luke Skywalker brings together all the various Force using organizations.]]
-->'''Dooku:''' There’s a certain symmetry to it all, don’t you think? The Jedi wipe out all but one Sith. The Sith wipe out all but one Jedi. Doesn’t that look like balance to you?
* ''Fanfic/LetTheGalaxyBurn'' has an in-universe case (that there is a prophecy is revealed to the reader ''after'' the events that twist it plays out, so narratively it fits closer to DramaticIrony): Rhaegar cites a prophecy as reason to believe the North will not yet rebel against him (their rebellion is part of the prophecy, but only ''after'' certain signs). Despite Rhaegar's advisers being understandably doubtful, the prophecy ''is'' entirely correct... [[spoiler: but the twist is that nothing in the prophecy said anything about Rhaegar being ''aware'' of the events -- situations fitting the criteria had already happened, Rhaegar just wasn't aware of them because his intelligence on events in the North is near non-existent.]]
** Euron Greyjoy tells Tywin Lannister that he will be killed by a member of his own family, seemingly a reference to how his son Tyrion kills him in canon. He's actually killed by [[spoiler: Tysha, his daughter-in-law]].
* {{Invoked}} by Princess Twilight in ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/506537/1/the-puddnhead-gambit/fiction-is-obliged-to-stick-to-possibilities The Puddn'head Gambit]]''. After receiving a prophetic vision of the events of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyANewGeneration'', Twilight commissions a movie, the plot of which exactly matches the events of her vision, in the hopes that the vision will turn out to have always been a preview of the movie that would come out next year rather than a prediction of events that would occur millennia in the future.

* In the ''Blog/BetterBonesAU'', there is a prophecy that "The first of the lake will guide WindClan". Mudclaw interprets this as meaning that he will be leader, because he was one of first to see the lake and led the first patrol there. This, in addition to the suspicious circumstances of him being denied succession in favor of Onewhisker, helps motivate his rebellion. However, it turns out the prophecy referred to Mudclaw's children Harespring, Kestrelflight, and Owlclaw, with Harespring becoming the leader (Harestar) after Onestar and Kestrelflight becoming the next cleric.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn''. Haggard's previous magician, Mabruk, tells Haggard "You have let your doom in by the front door, but it will not depart that way!" [[spoiler:We assume that he's referring to Amalthea (and maybe that's all that he realizes). But Haggard's doom is actually caused by Lir, who was left on Haggard's doorstep as a baby. If Lir hadn't sacrificed his life, the unicorn would have just gone into the sea and would not have fought back against the Red Bull.]]

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. To break Naveen's curse (he has to be kissed by a Princess), he and Tiana hope to exploit it by taking advantage of an honorary title bestowed upon her friend Charlotte. [[spoiler: That fails (due to time running out, whether or not it actually would have worked is unknown)]], but by then Naveen and Tiana have fallen in love with each other, and decide to get married. But since Naveen is still an actual Prince, marrying him makes Tiana a Princess. Kissing the bride breaks the spell.

* In ''Film/{{Willow}}'', Elora Danan is prophesied to bring about Bavmorda's end. [[spoiler:However her defeat actually comes by the hands of those protecting the infant princess; Elora Danan is the catalyst who brings about Bavmorda's end, not herself the agent of it.]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** The prequels are based on one of these, as Anakin Skywalker is prophesied to bring balance to the Force, which the Jedi believe means destroying the Sith and bringing peace to the galaxy. However, even that does not preclude him from falling to the Dark Side, slaughtering his fellow Jedi, and enslaving the galaxy ''first''. And if [[Film/TheForceAwakens Kylo Ren]] is anything to go by, the Prophecy doesn't mention that it ''stays'' balanced.[[note]]Not even in ''[[AlternateContinuity Legends,]]'' where Anakin is succeeded by his grandson Jacen Solo instead.[[/note]] There's also the Jossed but widely popular interpretation that Anakin's true purpose was to "bring balance to the force" by eliminating all but two Jedi so that the Light and Dark sides of the force would be properly balanced (or at least by eliminating the dogmatic Jedi Order so that it could start again).
*** Additionally, both the Jedi and [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] (aka Palpatine) seem to believe that Anakin's high midi-chlorian count is the key to the Sith's destruction, and hence assume that is what makes him TheChosenOne. After Anakin became Darth Vader, Obi-Wan and Yoda came to believe the prophecy actually refers to Luke Skywalker, Anakin's son, rather than Anakin himself. Even Sidious starts to believe it to be the case, and tries to subvert it by attempting to convert Luke to the Dark Side (or if that fails, simply kill him where he stands) What Sidious fails to realize is that the Chosen One is still Anakin, and that Anakin's love for his son is what allows him to turn on Sidious and throw him to his demise[[note]][[spoiler: Or at least his temporary defeat and removal from power, as both [[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker the sequels]] and ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' see Palpatine return]][[/note]]. It was [[ThePowerOfLove the creation of the Skywalker family]], not their strong Force-potential bloodline, that became the undoing of the Sith.
*** In a nutshell; TheChosenOne is a bloodline, not a single person. Anakin, Luke & Leia were all the Chosen One who would bring balance to The Force and peace to the Galaxy (prior to the HappyEndingOverride of the sequels unless we go by ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'').
** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Anakin has a vision in which Padmé dies in childbirth. He falls to the dark side in order to protect her because Darth Sidious promises him the power to save people from death. However, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy it is because of his fall]] that Padmé dies in childbirth, either directly (by strangling her out of his dark-side fueled rage), or indirectly (by causing her to [[DeathByDespair lose the will to live]]) depending on [[DependingOnTheWriter who you ask]]. The fact that Padmé is forced to give birth at a clinic on a remote mining colony due to Anakin's own actions (rather than in a properly facilitated hospital on Coruscant or Naboo) did her no favors, either.
** ''Film/TheLastJedi'':
*** When Supreme Leader Snoke is torturing Rey, he gives a play-by-play of Kylo Ren's thoughts. He expects him [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten to kill Rey]], as he detects Kylo preparing to strike down his [[ExactWords 'true enemy']]. However, he fails to sense [[spoiler:that [[TheStarscream Kylo is about to kill]] ''[[TheStarscream him]]'', slicing him in half using the confiscated Skywalker lightsaber sitting on Snoke's throne. With Snoke being a ManipulativeBastard who's being a BadBoss to Kylo on purpose to control him, as well as TheCorruptor, it makes sense that he would be his ''true'' enemy.]] This is a rare case in that the twist follows immediately after the "prophecy" is spoken.
*** Both Rey and Kylo Ren see a Force vision of the two of them fighting together. Kylo interprets this as Rey falling to the dark side and joining him, while Rey believes it means Kylo will return to the light. [[spoiler: Neither of them considered the possibility that they might [[EnemyMine team up without either of them switching sides]], let alone just plain fighting for their lives]].
* In ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1940'' the prophecy predicts that a tyrant shall be overthrown by the lowest of the low, who appears on a cloud. Pretty much exactly what it says in the prophecy ''happens'', so it's not as much of a twist as some of the other examples, but it's still an example of vague prophecy, since the fact that the prophecy never ''named'' the tyrant left the common people thinking it was Ahmad, not the usurping [[EvilChancellor evil vizier Jaffar]] who is actually tyrannical as opposed to Ahmad's mere incompetence.

* In ''Film/TheHobbit'', the "last light of Durin's Day" that shines upon the keyhole to Erebor [[spoiler: isn't the last ray of sunlight like in the book, but rather the light of the moon]].
* Depending on your interpretation of the last scene between Syrena and Philip, ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'' may contain this: People say that a sailor who's kissed by a mermaid won't drown. [[spoiler: They're right - the mermaids usually eat the sailors after kissing them. And dead men don't drown.]]

* In ''Film/TheWolverine'', Yukio predicts Logan will die on his back, with blood everywhere and with his heart in his hand. She's never wrong. [[spoiler: Logan does ''die'' (in medical terms: his heart stops functioning for an extended period of time) lying on his back on an operating table, with his blood everywhere and has his "heart" in his hand, ''but'' his healing factor kicks back in soon thereafter and he is able to return to the land of the living.]] In ''Film/{{Logan}}'', [[spoiler:Logan actually dies, but Yukio's prophecy still held true for that occasion, as he dies lying on his back, with his and his enemies' blood all over him, and holding his heart figuratively in his hand with him holding the hand of his "daughter", Laura, as he dies]].
* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', the photograph of Doc's tombstone accurately predicts that he will die on Monday, September 7, 1885 by Buford Tannen shooting him in the back over a matter of $80 if history continues on the same course. Doc and Marty fail to realize that just because he ''dies'' on Monday does ''not'' mean he gets ''shot'' on Monday, hence Doc's surprise when Buford shows up to shoot him on ''Saturday'' is quite genuine.
* The premise of ''Film/BedtimeStories2008'' is that, every time Skeeter's niece and nephew contribute something to the titular stories, it ends up happening for real the next day. Having taken on board Skeeter's earlier lesson that "life isn't fair", the kids decide to end the final story by having Skeeter's AuthorAvatar [[ManOnFire get hit with a fireball]]. Skeeter spends the following day ''extremely'' paranoid about catching fire, culminating in him spraying his boss's birthday cake with a fire extinguisher... for which he gets ''fired''. Also counts as a SelfFulfillingProphecy.
* ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' features the eponymous prophesy that Ragnarok will happen, destroying Asgard, and the film opens with Thor learning the specific circumstances that will make it happen and preventing them. [[spoiler: Then they pass the GodzillaThreshold and Thor realizes the prophesy is basically a set of instructions on how to take care of the ''actual'' threat, once the actual inhabitants that make Asgard matter have been evacuated.]]
* In ''Film/{{Jessabelle}}'', the title character, nicknamed Jessie, moves back in to her childhood house with her estranged father, Leon, and finds some old tapes that turn out to be home movies of her late mother, Kate, who died shortly after she was born. In the first tape, she addresses Jessie by her full name and does a tarot reading for her: Two of her predictions, that she'll never leave her hometown and will spend a lot of her time near water, already seem inaccurate. The third deals with an "unwanted presence" though, and that seems to relate to a StringyHairedGhostGirl Jesse's been seeing ever since she moved in. [[spoiler: It turns out the tapes weren't meant for her at all - Kate had an affair which resulted in a child (Who was also named Jessabelle), who was then killed by Leon, Jessie was then adopted to cover it up. So Jessie ''is'' the unwanted presence, and the other two predictions apply to Kate's birth child, who was buried in a swamp not far from the house]].
* ''Film/BabylonAD''. Aurora predicts they're all going to die in New York. [[spoiler:Rebeka is indeed killed in the New York shootout. Toorop also dies, but he gets revived. Aurora dies during childbirth in a hospital in the state of New York.]]

* In ''Film/TheBlackRoom'', a prophecy says that if twins are born into the de Berghmann baronial family, the younger will kill the older in the Black Room and the family line will end. [[spoiler:Who said that the younger brother had to be alive when he killed the older?]]

* Another Shakespeare example occurs in ''Theatre/RichardIII''. Richard created a false prophecy to set his brother Clarence and the king against each other. The prophecy stated that "G" would murder the king's heirs. The king decided this must be ''George'', Duke of Clarence. Richard, who ultimately did murder the king's heirs, was Duke of ''Gloucester''.

* Elements of the upbeat song "The Wizard and I" in ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' follow this - Elphaba (the future Wicked Witch of the West) envisions her future popularity, in which "when people see me they will scream" and there'll be "a celebration throughout Oz that's all to do with me". Thinking about it apparently makes her "so happy I could melt". So... Yeah.
** Fiyero has his moments of this as well, once in the song 'Dancing Through Life' when he says "Life's more painless/for the brainless" as well as in 'As Long As You're Mine' when he says "Maybe I'm brainless" He eventually becomes the[[spoiler: Scarecrow]].
** Even the Wizard joins in on the fun, when he says in the song 'Sentimental Man' that he is "a sentimental man/who always longed to be a father" at the end of the play, it turns out that [[spoiler:the Wizard is Elphaba's father]].

* In the for-now last installment of the ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' game series, "Defiance", we learn that both the Ancients and the Hylden have prophecies about each race's [[TheChosenOne individual messianic warrior]] destroying the other race's own champion. However, what they - and everybody since - didn't realize was that [[spoiler:both warriors are one and the same person]]. The champion of the Ancients is supposed to save Nosgoth and restore the Vampire race to glory, while the Hylden champion is supposed to ruin Nosgoth and free the Hylden from their prison. [[spoiler: By using the heart of darkness to revive Janos, Raziel provides the Hylden with the vessel they need for their General to possess Janos, allowing him to enact a plan that eventually leads to a time of great ruin for Nosgoth and frees the Hylden. But then, by allowing Kain to kill him and purifying his corruption, Raziel gives Kain the power to restore the pillars lead Nosgoth into a golden age.]]
** As for the "one champion destroys the other" part? Raziel [[spoiler:willingly commits suicide to heal and arm Kain]]. For bonus points, [[spoiler: he does so using the Reaver - his own time-displaced self]]!
** Also, it is prophesied that Raziel will kill Kain eventually. And he does. [[spoiler: They didn't know that as the Scion of Balance, Kain can't die and he just comes back to life later.]]
** Raziel is prophesied to wield the Soul Reaver, except that his destiny predicts he'll be drawn into the sword and become its soul-devouring spectral half. So he can't go near the sword because it'll kill him, but due to a time paradox integral to that destiny, he wields the spectral version of the sword independent of the material version. As the dialogue goes:
--->'''Janos''': Raziel, you are ordained by prophecy to wield the Reaver.\\
'''Raziel''': *manifests the sword, earning a shocked gasp from Janos* And so I do... Though not quite as you had envisioned.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'''s BigBad exploited the crap out of his local prophecy that the world would see a Chosen One by [[spoiler:cloning him]]. Since the prophecy is strong enough that the odd deviation here or there ''won't'' throw it off-track, [[spoiler:he intended to let the clone die when the original was supposed to, so that he could keep the true Chosen One around for his stronger [[RealityWarper hyperresonnance]]]]. However, what said BigBad ''didn't'' realise was that the prophecy was ''also'' [[spoiler:a secret message begging humanity to avoid destruction by ''[[ScrewDestiny rejecting and overturning it]]''; which the protagonists are implied to use to their advantage to win the day]].
** There's also a bizarre Prophecy Twist regarding said [[spoiler: clone]]. Initially, the Score reads something like "TheChosenOne will bring his people to the miner's city. There, the youth will turn power to calamity, destroying himself and the city." For most of the game, this is assumed to be [[spoiler: Akzeriuth,]] so it seems to be a subverted prophecy since the Chosen One [[spoiler: -both of them, actually-]] makes it out alive. Then, much later in the game, Luke leads ten thousand [[spoiler: replicas, quite literally his 'people,']] to the Tower of Rem, which is revealed to be built ''over a miner's city.'' At the tower, [[spoiler: Luke [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself]] to destroy the miasma. He dies slowly, admittedly, but]] in a way the prophecy comes true.
* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2: The Shadow and the Flame'': "He Who Would Steal the Flame Must Die!" [[spoiler:Simply jumping into the Flame is SelfImmolation. You actually obtain the Flame for yourself by means of a FissionMailed.]]
* In ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner'', one of the Drive-Thru Whale's lines is the rather ominous-sounding "When the End Times come, we will all dance the Conga of the Apocalypse". This might be interpreted as a very oblique clue for the endgame, [[spoiler: where getting everybody out of Strong Bad's house involves getting them to dance in a conga line]]. In fact, much (but definitely not all) of what the Whale says can be interpreted as a clue in the various episodes of [=SBCG4AP=]:
** In ''Strong Badia the Free'', the Whale instructs you to "Get your lighter from the anvil, please." If Strong Bad allies with The Cheat (who has been compared to an anvil in some of the cartoons), the Cheat will give Strong Bad a lighter he can use to solve some puzzles later in the game.
** In ''Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective'', one of the Whale's lines is "On a sunny day, don't forget to bling out your power tools." In the endgame, [[spoiler: Dangeresque fights a robotic duplicate of Dangeresque Too on a space station orbiting the Sun, and has to defeat him by putting a "diamond-tipped diamond" on an industrial drill and tilting the space station so the drill rolls into the robot]].
* ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'':
** This is Lampshaded and, in a way, Deconstructed by the prophetic dragon Hindel. He explains that he no longer speaks with humans because they constantly misinterpret his words to mean something completely different.
** Even the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt doomsday prophecy]] has a twist. [[spoiler: The prophecy states that only two people will survive Armageddon, but this does not include [[BeastMan Pookas]], allowing two more people to survive.]]
** Said prophecy also states that [[spoiler: King Onyx's rampage will be stopped by the WorldTree. When Armageddon comes, Onyx burns down Ringford forest and massacres the fairies, boasting that there is no World Tree to be found...until he finds out Queen Mercedes' true name: Yggdrasil, the World Tree from Myth/NorseMythology]].
** Yet another twist in the doomsday prophecy, combined with something outside of it. [[spoiler: Though the actual prophecy states that Gallon will be killed by "the shadow of the lost master" (the lost master being the late Queen Odette,) Gallon also reveals another caveat; he can only be slain by Titanian royalty, and since Cornelius, the only surviving member of the Titanian royalty, has no real connection to Odette, Gallon is effectively invincible. Cue Oswald, wielder of power granted to him by Odette, taking him on anyway and having a ReallyRoyaltyReveal as he successfully kills Gallon.]]
* From the end of ''VideoGame/MegaManX3'': "To save mankind, X must destroy [[spoiler:Zero]]." A straight example in ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'': [[spoiler:Zero and X indeed fight, but X wasn't able to destroy Zero (although he did die, by Sigma's hands), because they were the best of friends]]. The same prophecy was then averted much later, in the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series. [[WordOfGod According to Inafune]], [[spoiler:X is originally the BigBad of the first game, a KnightTemplar exterminating Reploids for the sake of humanity, and Zero TheHero trying to save the remaining Reploids because they were wrongly accused of being "Mavericks"]]. It was only because of ExecutiveMeddling on the ''X'' series, that the [[spoiler:true, "twisted" events]] of the prophecy never came to pass, replacing X with a clone. It should be pointed out that, in the Japanese version of ''X3'', the ending states that, deep down, X (somehow) knows he and Zero are fated to fight, which [[spoiler:does happen in ''X5'']] and thus it all works out, even with the ExecutiveMeddling that changed ''Zero 1''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Weaponlord}}'': The BigBad learns that a "Weaponlord" will rise up and kill him. Rather than run, he decides to meet destiny head-on and organizes a tournament, figuring the Weaponlord would be whoever wins, and he can then face him in single combat. [[spoiler: In his ending, he is elated that the prophecy was proven false... until he learns it wasn't meant for ''him'', but rather his predecessor, an even worse monster he had killed to take over. In other words, the prophecy came true before the game even began.]]

* In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'', BigBad Ad Avis has a prophecy that he believes will allow him to release [[SealedEvilInACan the demon Iblis]], which involves using TheHero as a patsy then trapping him in the cave as "He Who Waits Behind". Shortly afterwards the Hero finds a ring which contains a BenevolentGenie, who helps save the day and reveals that Ad Avis had in incomplete, inaccurate reading of the prophecy; it was actually about how Iblis would be defeated, and the Genie had been tasked with "waiting behind" to aid the hero in that task.

* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy'':
** May or may not have been intentional, but Samos states that the answer to the whole Precursor riddle rested on the shoulders of a young boy. This could obviously refer to Jak's important role in the events of the games, but as of ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'' it may also refer to [[spoiler:Daxter, now a Precursor, standing on Jak's shoulder for the majority of the adventures]].
** The precursor oracle statues state that the dark light (which is taken to mean Dark eco) has twisted the fate of one of them, and the pure light (Light Eco?) would put it right again. By the end of the first game, it seemed to refer to Daxter, who had been changed by dark eco, and could be changed back by light eco. Then at the start of ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'', [[spoiler:''Jak'' is corrupted by dark eco]]. In ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'', [[spoiler:this is restored by the precursors giving him light eco powers]]. The prophecy in the first game, which was more of a meaningful background detail than part of the plot, took on a completely different meaning in retrospect.
* In ''VideoGame/UltimaVI'', a gargoyle prophecy states that the only way to prevent of the destruction of their people is by "sacrifice of the False Prophet". Most gargoyles believe this means they must sacrifice the False Prophet (and boy, do they try!), but in the end the situation is resolved by the False Prophet sacrificing something else entirely. One of the more philosophical gargoyles even points out that the wording of the prophecy might mean one of three things: the False Prophet is sacrificed, the False Prophet performs a sacrifice on another person, or the False Prophet sacrifices a valuable possession.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', it is said that the "Man in green" (Luigi) will determine whether the Chaos Heart is used to destroy the universe or not. Much to the glee of [[spoiler:TheStarscream, Dimentio]], it doesn't say anything about whether the man in green has to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy consciously decide]], nor anything about whether [[FusionDance he has to be 100% himself]]. Subverted when [[spoiler:the Luigi-Dimentio hybrid is defeated regardless of what destiny says, and the other characters outright state that his [[ScrewDestiny prophecy means nothing]]]].
* Combined with YouCantFightFate in ''VideoGame/UmJammerLammy'': In the original version of Stage 6 ("Vital Idol"), [[spoiler:Lammy avoids [[LookBothWays getting hit and run by an out-of-control car]] so as not to end up in hell (as Chop Chop Master Onion has foretold in her dream). As she keeps running, she doesn't notice the BananaPeel that PJ Berri has left because she is in too much of a hurry, then slips on it, falls down, breaks her neck and dies, thus fulfilling Chop Chop Master Onion's [[DreamingOfThingsToCome dream prophecy]]]].
* The prophecy that opens ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' ominously states that "Justice shall fall upon the world of men". Turns out the prophecy is [[spoiler:a much more literal play on words: the Fallen Star that sets up Act I is actually Tyrael, the Archangel of Justice, after renouncing his angelic status in protest and subsequently falling to Sanctuary]].
** The forlorn priest in New Tristram lost his faith in the gods because of the zombie outbreak (which has to do with the above prophecy), only to slowly realize that the prophecies in his archives are slowly coming true. Among them are "Though the three will be made one, never again will the four be made whole" [[spoiler:signifying the reforging of Tyrael's sword but not his angelic connection to it]], and "weep, Sanctuary, Justice must die for Wisdom to be reborn" [[spoiler:where Tyrael resigns his post as the aspect of Justice to take up a sorely needed Archangel of Wisdom position, not to mention that ''he was the actual angel of wisdom'' due to a clerical error of epic proportions]]. By the end, he's gained faith in the player character, and most of his strangely-worded prophecies end up happening in some way or another.
* The bees in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' warn against falling prey to this; namely, they advise caution against dismissing ''every'' false prophecy about the end times, because an "end" is not necessarily instantaneous. Separately, Kirstin Geary tells Illuminati players that a prophecy foretold the exact time the Council of Venice would fall; the time has long since come and gone and the Council of Venice still exists, but the time noted in the prophecy coincides with when the Council began its decline into near-irrelevancy.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. The party is present to see [[spoiler: Crono dying right in front of them in a HeroicSacrifice to save them from [[BigBad Lavos]]]]. Since this is a game about time travel, they can [[RetCon retroactively change this event]] by using [[TitleDrop an artifact from the Guru Of Time]] and [[spoiler: [[ChekhovsGun the doll offered as a prize in the Millennial Fair at the very beginning of the game]] to make it so that what they saw killed was ActuallyADoombot]], thus making a ProphecyTwist out of their own past experiences.

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII''. In Attila The Hun's second-to-last mission, Attila receives a prophecies from his priests which state his army will lose but enemy leader will be slain. Attila considers it to be a fair trade. [[spoiler: Everyone not history geek will assumes slain commander is Flavius Aetius but in reality Flavius' ally, a leader of Visigoth.]]
* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' backstory, the [[OldMaster Greybeards]], masters of the [[LanguageOfMagic Thu'um]], summoned TheChosenOne who would [[TheConqueror restore the Empire]] and [[ScrewYouElves conquer the elves]] to High Hrothgar, their monastery on [[TheTower the Throat of the World]]. Wulfharth Ash-King, the legendary ancient King of the Nords, famous [[GodInHumanForm Shezarrine]] who [[EternalHero had died and come back to life]] at least three times, and noted [[FantasticRacism Elf-hater]], JumpedAtTheCall and went to the Greybeards. Instead, Wulfharth is "[[RefusedByTheCall blasted to ash]]" by the Greybeards who declare Hjalti of High Rock (a young Tiber Septim) to be the one instead. The Greybeards do leave him with a message though: "remember the color of betrayal." When Tiber Septim makes an Armistice with Morrowind, validating the rule of the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dunmeri]] [[PhysicalGod Tribunal]] that Wulfharth hates so much, Wulfharth believes this to be the "betrayal" and leaves Septim. It turns out that this is not the case. Septim later contacts Wulfharth and agrees that the Tribunal must be destroyed. However, when Wulfharth arrives, he is ambushed by [[CourtMage Zurin Arctus]] and Imperial soldiers. Arctus [[YourSoulIsMine soul-traps]] Wulfharth within the [[SoulJar Mantella]], but not before Wulfharth [[TakingYouWithMe kills Arctus with his dying breath]]. ''This'' was the betrayal the Greybeards spoke of.
* ''VideoGame/ForeverHome'' has the Future Stone, which can show a person's potential future if it's placed on their head. If the vision has a blue tint, it means the vision won't come true and most people assume this means the subject doesn't have long to live.
** [[spoiler:When Kina gets a blue-tinted vision of her and the party in Glarefrost, only for her to commit suicide before the party visits that city. However, she ends up rejoining with a different appearance and memories sometime after the party visits Glarefrost, showing that the blue tint doesn't always mean the subject will die in the near future.]]
** [[spoiler:When Xero uses the stone to view Enda's future, he sees another vision with a blue tint, which when combined with his knowledge of a previous timeline, causes him to believe that Enda will die in the second Aquadome. She ends up surviving the Aquadome in the current timeline, making Xero believe she escaped her fate, only for the two to perform a HeroicSacrifice in the ending.]]
* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarGhostOfSparta'', the Greek Gods kidnapped Kratos's younger brother Deimos, due to the prophecy that the one who will destroy Olympus is the Marked Warrior, which Deimos had. After the events of the game resulting in Deimos's death, Kratos took the mark out of respect for his brother. No point guessing who was the one who ended up destroying Olympus.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowMan'''s plot revolves around the Prophecy and its multiple twists. The Prophecy itself states that the Shadow Man will try to fight the Five during the day and fail, allowing Legion to collect the Dark Souls and bring about the Apocalypse; this prompts Michael (the titular Shadow Man) to twist the Prophecy, by getting the Dark Souls himself to get stronger, and by fighting the Five at night (via magical eclipse) so that he can actually defeat them. Unfortunately, there's a second twist: [[spoiler:Legion himself wrote the Prophecy specifically to push the Shadow Man towards that path. The plan was to make the Shadow Man collect a lot of Dark Souls, only for Legion to defeat him and take many Souls in one quick swoop]]. Then there's a ''third'' twist: [[spoiler:Mike, using part of the Dark Souls' power, manages to get strong enough to disable Legion; then dumps the Souls's ''full'' power into him, fulfilling the "And Legion took the Dark Souls unto him..." verse. This causes Legion to undergo a Phlebotinum Overload, which completely destroys both him and his Cathedral]].
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal'' is centered around the prophecy that the children of the dead murder god Bhaal [[spoiler:(one of which is the PlayerCharacter)]] will destroy the [[Franchise/ForgottenRealms Sword Coast.]] It's generally assumed that the prophecy refers to [[spoiler: the PlayerCharacter]], but as it turns out, [[spoiler:the prophecy speaks of what will happen if the PlayerCharacter fails to stop the destruction]].

* ''VideoGame/RyseSonOfRome'' has PlayerCharacter Marius Titus meet a captive Oracle [[spoiler:after killing [[RoyalBrat Nero's son Basilius]],]] who tells him that [[spoiler:Emperor Nero]] can only die by his own sword. Initially, Nero exploits this to get Marius to give him his dagger, claiming that Marius will offend the gods if he tries to kill Nero instead of letting the Emperor kill himself. [[spoiler:As soon as he's armed, Nero runs off and stabs Marius in the back while he's distracted, but Marius then tackles Nero off a balcony overseeing a gigantic marble statue of Nero himself, with an upraised sword in one hand. Marius falls to the floor, and Nero lands on the sword and impales himself.]]

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''
** Played with with the singularly confusing prophecy "When the goat turns red strikes true." At first Roy thinks it's usual prophetic nonsense, but when Nale turns on the group he figures it out, telling Haley to shoot Nale, making a [[MillionToOneChance Million To One Shot]]. As he explains later, the prophecy should be "When the goat turns, red strikes true", "goat" referring to Nale (who has a goatee), and "red" to the redheaded Haley.
** The Oracle gives Belkar a prophecy that Belkar will cause the death of at least one of the people on his hit list, which includes the Oracle. Belkar ends up giving a magical item to one such person, causing that person to use it to bite off more than they could chew and get killed, as well as annoying another enough to make a FaceHeelTurn resulting in death, and getting another sent back to [[FluffyCloudHeaven the Celestial planes]] as a result of a series of events where Belkar's involvement is a bit questionable. When Belkar and the Oracle meet again, he tries to pass this off as fulfillment; Belkar stabs him. "Worth a shot." [[spoiler:Of course the Oracle had [[CrazyPrepared already set up]] his revenge and resurrection.]]
** Yet another one is that the Oracle says Vaarsuvius will gain "complete and total ultimate arcane power" "by saying the right four words to the right being at the right time for all the wrong reasons." According to a loose [[ExactWords literal interpretation]] of the Oracle's words, it has been fulfilled: The twists were that the four words were, in fact, three and a stammer (or possibly a repeated word for emphasis, depending on how you read it), the right being was Vaarsuvius themself, and "complete and total arcane power" referred to the set of soul splices giving Vaarsuvius three aspects of magic currently barred to them: necromancy, conjuration, and spontaneous casting. Along with a ''ridiculously'' high effective caster level, probably in the low 90s (for comparison 21 is Epic level, something most characters will never reach), for as long as V's able to hold onto all 3 spliced souls.
** The Oracle also predicted that Durkon would only return to his homeland posthumously. Durkon is overjoyed, because that means he'll be buried in the family crypt instead of his corpse becoming some monsters' dinner. [[spoiler:However, Durkon eventually dies at the hands of the vampiric Minister Malack, who then raises the deceased dwarf as a vampire. This is particularly scary when it is combined with a previous prophecy that Durkon will bring "death and destruction" with him next time he returns home. Making things even worse: the vampire-spirit now controlling Durkon's body is a follower of the evil Dwarf goddess Hel, with his likely domains being "Death" and "Destruction".]]
*** [[spoiler:That previous prophecy was also subject to a twist: Durkon was exiled to the human lands by the previous High Priest of Thor and ordered to not return until given the say-so (which the High Priest had no intention of doing) in an attempt to ScrewDestiny. Unfortunately, the High Priest never considered the possibility of Durkon's physical body returning without the consent of Durkon, the man who would never disobey an order from his superiors.]]
*** [[spoiler:And ''yet even then'', the "death and destruction" bit contains its own twist: "death" part is fulfilled when Durkon as vampire kills and converts so many of his people to vampires themselves... but the "destruction" part, Durkon decrees, will be fulfilled [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1154.html by himself, with a lightning hammer artifact]]!]]
*** It's suggested that the whole thing may have been an elaborate GambitRoulette by Odin that went exactly as planned, but at least as strongly suggested that Odin, being rather confused in his current incarnation, had no clue what he was doing when granting this prophecy.
** Before the Oracle predicted "Belkar will draw his last breath-ever-before the end of the year", he insisted he was phrasing it as unambiguously as possible, as if in [[DefiedTrope defiance of this trope]]. The twist was subverted when it looked like Belkar would be vampirized, as that would technically kill him and certainly stop his breath, but he was not. It's not too late to [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zag]] though; it's obvious the Oracle was trolling Roy, but was he doing it with the [[BrutalHonesty honest truth]] or a [[MetaphoricallyTrue misleading truth]]?
** A version in which the twist is obvious from the start: Roy asks the Oracle which Gate Xykon will visit next, and remembering how the Oracle screwed with him the first time he visited him, specifically words the question to prevent the Oracle from giving [[MathematiciansAnswer a useless answer]], in a way that inadvertently excludes the actual answer (in short, he asked if Xykon would go to Girard's Gate or Kraagor's Gate next). To his credit, the Oracle ''tries'' to convince Roy to reword his question, but Roy insists, so the Oracle answers that of those two Gates, Girard's will be the first one Xykon goes to. The twist is that Roy neglects to include the heavily guarded Soon's Gate in the question... and guess which Gate Xykon and his forces were marching towards at that time?
* In ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'', many goblin children are named based on a fortune teller's vision of their future. One of these, Saves-A-Fox, [[ScrewDestiny deliberately killed the fox she was supposed to save.]] [[spoiler:However, as noted by forumgoers, the aforementioned fox was never in any apparent danger, and her name isn't Rescues-A-Fox -- but she HAS been [[SelfFulfillingProphecy saving that fox's tail as a memento all these years...]]]]
** [[spoiler:Dies later revealed the fox she killed was suffering from an incurable disease as good as a FateWorseThanDeath, and she actually saved it by [[MercyKill killing it]].]]
** [[MeaningfulName Dies Horribly]] [[spoiler: has indeed [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin died horribly]] by being slaughtered by demons for his soul. However, he somehow had two souls- one more than was agreed upon by the characters- and was released after his "mistress" was banished]].
** However, this is hilariously subverted in the form of "Piss off I hava headache", and his unseen clan-mate "Stop the ceremony I swallowed a bug" - both named because [[http://goblins.keenspot.com/d/20060903.html their teller sucks at naming]].
* Subverted with extreme literalism in ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow''.
-->"Dammit, the ''one time'' my horoscope was right. 'Beware of Old English sheepdogs carrying Kaiser Lawgiver Model V .38in revolvers.'"

* In ''[[http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com/2009/08/31/page-133/ Jayden and Crusader]]'' the character Crusader is reading ahead the script of the page, and everything comes to pass just as foretold
* Website/GaiaOnline's Halloween 2008 event-comic revolved around [[PunnyName Ms. Fortune's]] predicting a new threat to Gaia, and that "one group shall survive, or all shall perish!" The [[FantasticRacism fantastic races]] of Gaia began fighting amongst themselves to be the one group to survive-- with the exception of {{dhampyr}} Ian, who pointed out that the fantastic races already existed, so the prediction couldn't mean them. The next month, Gaia Online's MMORPG ''[=zOMG!=]'' entered Open Beta; the new threat Ms. Fortune predicted was [[EverythingTryingToKillYou the Animated]] (or possibly the Predator Prarie Pups or the [[InsectoidAliens Hive World denizens]]), against which Gaians of all races had to unite as a single group.

* In ''Webcomic/KidRadd'', rumor has it that anyone who visits the Seer is "destined" to [[spoiler:die not long after. Radd, Sheena, Crystal and Bogie all visit the Seer before the comic is halfway through. All of them "die" before the comic ends, but the twist part kicks in. Crystal was absorbed by the Seer and ends up trapped forever in a ghost form (she messed up and never picked which "death" program subroutine to follow if she was ever beaten - a bad move when there are five conflicting sets for her code to pick from.) Radd and Sheena technically died, but it was really just their doubles from a dolled-up sequel game. Bogie forced Radd to shoot him to claim a power-up, but he gets better with the help of an emulator]].

* In ''Webcomic/DragonMango'', High Priestess Raisin predicts that the dragonslayer princess will break the SealedEvilInACan, murder the dragonslayer King, destroy the dragonslayer kingdom, and doom the world. To prevent this future from happening, she tries to kill Princess Cherry. [[spoiler:It turns out there's a second dragonslayer princess, and while Princess Cherry does accidentally crack the seal, Phenylalanine is the evil princess who wants to force Cherry to break the seal entirely.]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'': A standard part of the world. Fate is a SentientCosmicForce and decrees how things will ''end'', but not how events will ''reach'' that end. Therefore, things can happen in entirely unexpected ways. If you try to fight your Fate, things will inevitably go very very wrong--but still end up in the same way you were Fated to.
** In book 0, Wanda is Fated to serve under Olive Branch. Wanda's brother tries to turn Olive to their Side so that they can fulfill the Prediction that way, but Olive poisons him, crushes their Side, and captures Wanda. Later, Jillian is Predicted to croak the Ruler of Haffaton, Judy Gale. Since Olive is the heir, she both wants this to come true and not; she's fine with Jillian croaking her Ruler, but is worried that someone else might croak Judy, and then Jillian will croak Olive. [[spoiler:When Judy escapes Erfworld]], Olive becomes Ruler, and Jillian does indeed croak her despite massive interference from her father.
** These experiences have made Wanda a Fatalist who will always allow Fate to happen--[[FatalFlaw except where Jillian is concerned]]. Jillian aside, she makes a mistake regarding Parson and Charlie. She believes that Parson is Fated to croak Charlie, so she stops Lilith from doing it despite having an excellent chance to do so. This action [[spoiler:puts Gobwin Knob at war with the Magic Kingdom, gets Wanda and all her decrypted captured, the Arkentools [[BlackMagic declared OP]], and set to be executed]]. Wanda's mentor, a Predictamancer, points out that since Charlie has been cheating Fate for so long, they have to be prepared to cheat Fate ''back''. She says that Lilith croaking Charlie, then having Wanda decrypt him and Parson execute him, might have been enough to fulfill the Prediction. Parson further theorizes that since he gave the order for Lilith to croak Charlie in the first place, that might have counted as well.
** When Sylvia was a lowly stabber, she was Fated to croak in a fire. When she was caught in a fire and incapacitated (to the point that she'd croak the next day), the court Carnymancer, Jojo, was in love with her, so he cast over her for days to change her Fate. He made it so that she would only croak by her own hand--mostly to cheat Fate, but also because he believes strongly in the right to suicide. This made her essentially invincible, and she quickly rose through the ranks. She got croaked by a volcano at one point, but was actually ''resurrected'' by the next turn. She finally croaks for good when a fire she set herself gets out of control. Jojo admits he didn't consider the possibility that she'd ''accidentally'' croak herself.
** In the Digdoug side story, Digdoug's Side receives a Prediction that they will suffer a massive air attack. They try to prepare, but know they can't do enough in time, so they hire a Carnymancer to find them a way out. She suggests they attack themselves. They hire Charlie to attack with minimal force, which he does. [[spoiler:But their parent Side hires Charlie to come back and attack them for real. They do not survive, and Digdoug himself is left a barbarian.]]
** According to the Predictomancer Marie, a lot less is Fated than people think. As far as Fate is concerned, the vast majority of people and events simply don't matter and so the details are flexible. When Fate does care, her Predictions suddenly go from vague or twisty to being precise down to the second.

* In one ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' strip, a rebellious king forces Merlin to prophecise how his rebellion will go. Merlin tells him that if he fights Arthur a great king will fall, then thinks "[[AuthorCatchphrase You can't beat the classics]]".
* ''Webcomic/RiceBoy'': The twist is not so much in the prophecy itself, which is fulfilled to the letter, but rather in the fact that [[spoiler:there is not actually any one, specific [[TheChosenOne Fulfiller]]; as long as they carry out the necessary steps (travelled long and far, reached the Iron Tower, changed form thrice), [[TheChosenMany anybody can die on the Iron Tower and be accepted as the Fulfiller]], thus completing the prophecy. This saves [[TheHero Rice Boy's]] life in the finale, as [[TheChooserOfTheOne T-O-E]] unwittingly met all the criteria in his centuries searching for the Fulfiller and when TheDragon fatally stabs him mid-battle, the gods sign off the prophecy as completed]].
* In ''Webcomic/TwoGuysAndGuy'' this certainly seems to be the case [[http://twogag.com/archives/3761 with Wayne's date with death.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' episode titled "The Hunk at the End of this Cartoon", the title turns out to refer to, not a hunk muscling in on Bravo's territory (not that he has any), but a hunk of cheese.
* The "character not coming back but that's because he's staying where he is" came from an episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' where Supergirl travels to the future of the 31st century ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes. All their records indicate she won't come back, and sure enough she [[DisneyDeath looks dead enough]] at one point, but returns in the very next scene... but then decides to stay in the future, as she had fallen for Legionnaire Brainiac 5. (Of course, this episode had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Cartoon Network was introducing [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot a new]] ''[[PoorlyDisguisedPilot Legion]]'' [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot series]] the very next fall.)
* In "Mardi Gras", Mamma Lui from ''WesternAnimation/JemAndTheHolograms'' had this for the Holograms and the Misfits. Her prophecy was the following: A pirate coming for Shana and that the pirate will protect her. It turns out to be a hologram from Jerrica Benton's computer, Synergy.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'': Two (actually more if you bother to keep count) prophecies were twisted in "Body Guard Duty". The first one stated Trixie and Spud would "tie the knot", much to Trixie's horror. The second was that Jake would be hit by a boulder and it didn't help that the prophecy specified how fast the boulder would be. At Ogre Bowl, an ogre threw a boulder that hit Jake at the specified speed, thus fulfilling the prophecy. However, Jake was flying at a slightly slower speed and it didn't hurt him. At the end of the episode, Spud's shoe was untied and Trixie tied it, meaning the prediction about them tying the knot wasn't about marriage.
** In a smaller scale, it is predicted that somebody would take the last pudding at the cafeteria before Rose could get to it. And it looks like someone else is about to get it, but then Jake takes it -- and gives it to Rose. Trixie protests, but the oracles point out that they never said Rose wouldn't end up with it; just that someone else would take it first. Also, it was predicted chocolate milk would be spilled onto Spud's shoes. Trying to defy the prophecy, he went outside the school, where it was unlikely to happen, and a truckload of chocolate milk crashed, spilling some of its contents into Spud's shoes.
* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien'', Masikura the chameleon predicts that the king of the lemurs will get eaten by a fossa... and Julien has just inherited the throne. He ''does'' get eaten, but only a small part of his rear end is bitten off.
* In one episode of ''Franchise/{{Tabaluga}}'' animated adaptation season 2, Shouhou's crystal ball shows that a great stone thrown by [[BigBad Humsin]] will destroy a net protecting Greenland. Greenlanders try to [[ScrewDestiny fight destiny]]. At the end, the stone destroys the net and than Humsin land, because Humsin's hanchman, Kayo, has stolen the net.

** Biblical prophecies in ''Fanfic/LeftBeyond'' happen on schedule, as they must, but the human faction goes to great trouble to make sure that their results are everted, or that they are made meaningless by the situation on the ground. This includes the very last one about the White Throne Judgment.

* After returning to [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] in 2014, Wrestling/LowKi had two title shots for the X Division Title involving Wrestling/SamoaJoe, the first being a triple threat match also involving Seiya Sanada, whom Joe choked out, and then a one on one match which Low Ki lost. Following these incidents, Low Ki asked Joe to be his partner in a {{tag team}} tournament to become number one contenders to the American Wolves, saying Joe's presence would "Guarantee Victory". Joe agreed but he and Low Ki lost to Wrestling/MattHardy and Wrestling/{{Jeff|Hardy}} in the final round, in which Joe was injured to the point he had to vacate the X Division Title. Low Ki would go on to win the belt in Joe's absence.[[/folder]]

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'' features Boingo, user of the Stand named after the Egyptian god Thoth, which is a manga that predicts the future. Of course, to keep the characters and audience on their toes, every prediction is subject to this or PropheticFallacy. For example:
** Thoth predicts Jotaro will have his face split in half via an explosion caused by a bomb disguised as an orange. Boingo's brother Oingo goes to set the trap. ([[spoiler:Oingo has to use his own Stand to disguise himself as Jotaro to avoid being caught, and gets stuck with the bomb. Note that since Thoth is a manga, the prediction is shown through an ''illustration'' of Jotaro getting blown up.]])
** Later, Thoth shows Hol Horse a prophecy that says "At 12:00, the bullets go through the head!", with a picture of Jotaro getting shot. ([[spoiler:Hol Horse follows the prophecy's prediction but misses the heroes, then discovers his wristwatch was fast and he fired too early. Panicking, he grabs Thoth and holds it up in front of him... at which point the bullets ricochet and pierce the ''[[TheTreacheryOfImages picture]]'' of Jotaro to hit Hol Horse.]])