History Main / PropheticFallacy

* Being killed by a creature who was already dead seemed rather unlikely to Herakles until the end of ''Theatre/TheTrachiniae'', where it is revealed that his wife (who has since also killed herself) accidentally poisoned him with a purported love potion given to her by a centaur he killed on his deathbed.
* In ''Theatre/OedipusRex'', Oedipus was prophesied to "Kill his father and marry his mother." Consequently, Oedipus left his family and his city to wander the world. In the process, he did kill his father and marry his mother in unrelated events. The prophecy omitted critical information about the events of the prophecy. (Any vision of the events would have seen beyond the bare statement of the prophecy, which naturally implies immediate connection between the two events.)

* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'', depending on how you interpret the prophecy that Raziel will kill Kain, either it foretells both Raziel killing Kain (which happens) AND Kain killing Raziel (which happens), or Raziel destroying himself (which happens). The series has always been a bit of a MindScrew with temporal mechanics.
** All of this is actually an in-universe misinterpretation of the prophecy; the two {{precursor}} races each foretold of a champion. The prophecy showed two possible outcomes, one with each champion winning. Everyone assumes that Kain is the vampire champion and that Raziel is the other one. [[spoiler: In truth, Raziel is both champions, and the multiple choice prophecy is due to his own free will, something that only he has in the setting.]]
* Overlapping with the self-fulfilling variation, the wizard whose prophesies form the narrative of the Myth 2 mod ''The Seventh God'' can see everything about the war but the identity of the BigBad, a foreigner who had united the scattered goblin tribes. He tries to prevent the game's events by traveling to their lands and trying to unite them and "lead them to greater glory." This trope is actually a rule of prophesies in the setting, as seers can't see their own future. He actually knows this rule, but is thrown off because he actually can see himself in the prophesies; it turns out it's his apprentice, who had adopted his name.
* In ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'', the Fire King Onyx believes himself to be invincible since the prophecy of the Worlds End clearly states that he can only be defeated by the World Tree. Because there is no World Tree in Erion, he basically assumes that he can stomp his way through the fairy kingdom. [[spoiler: This gives Mercedes the reason to attack and kill him. She is mortally wounded herself and with her last breath reveals her true name: [[Myth/NorseMythology Yggdrasil]] ]]
* In ''VideoGame/InFAMOUS'' and ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS 2}}'', the prophecy is that a supremely powerful [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Conduit]] called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Beast]] will rise in the near future and utterly destroy civilization. The character who brings the warning knows it because [[spoiler: he's from the future and witnessed the destruction first hand.]] What neither he nor anyone else ever realizes is that this information is missing one important detail: [[spoiler: the Beast's motivation.]] It turns out that [[spoiler: the Beast isn't committing genocide ForTheEvulz, he's sacrificing the non-Conduit population to bring as many Conduits into their powers as possible, and he's doing this because only Conduits can survive a plague unleashed by the event that began giving them their powers.]] If the player chooses the good ending in the sequel, Cole decides that this new information changes nothing and he still has an obligation to stop the Beast, even though [[spoiler: the only alternative is to reverse the direction of the genocide, killing himself and all Conduits as part of the process needed to cure the plague.]]
* ''[[VideoGame/LittleBigAdventure Little Big Adventure II/Twinsen's Odyssey]]'' has an old prophecy hijacked by a character who removed the final part of it, since it predicted the downfall of a deity he was impersonating. Naturally, his actions eventually made the full version of the prophecy self-fulfilling (and it ''did'' turn out to be true in the end).
* ''[[VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject The Journeyman Project III: Legacy of Time.]]'' The El Dorado fragment of the titular Legacy gives the city's shaman precognitive abilities, which are usually scarily accurate to the point that some of the city's Nazca-esque line art (in the first millennium AD) depicts the exact logo of your 24th-century top secret TimePolice organization. However, one particular prophecy he receives apparently shows a nearby farm boy using the legacy fragment to stop the Two Brothers (actually the alien species Cyrollan and Qo'Thalas) from destroying the city; actually he's seeing the player character, disguised as the boy, retrieving the fragment and bringing it back to the future to stop them from destroying the Earth. El Dorado, on the other hand, is utterly destroyed in the crossfire the very night after the player leaves.
* As befitting a game that the developers call a "playable Greek Tragedy," this occurs in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'', during the "Family Values" quest. Supideo has locked himself in a cage much to his parents consternation, after an oracle told him his mother's blood would be spilled on the ground and his father would scream to the heavens. He contracts the protagonist with finding his sword and his shield with which his parents will protect themselves from his supposed wrath, but by the end of it, his parents reveal that [[spoiler:he was adopted, the protagonist murdered his birth mother to get his shield, and they may or may not have also had sex with his birth father, which was why he was screaming to the heaven--just not in ''agony.'' Supideo proceeds to free himself from the cage, running screaming from the revelations, and goes blind, upon which he curses the protagonist.]]
* In ''Labyrinths of the World 11: The Wild Side'' Jagan tries to ritually sacrifice Princess Manu, the only human in the animal worlds, because of a prophecy which foretold a human causing his death. He [[DisneyVillainDeath falls into a crevasse]] when Simon, a human visitor, blows a magic horn to disrupt the ritual.

* In ''Webcomic/TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'', Vulcan Raven, having the gift of future sight, is puzzled when he is unable to see past his upcoming encounter with Solid Snake. Somewhat inverted when, near the end, he guesses that the reason he can't see past that point is that he will die in that battle. Since the webcomic is based off of the game ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and Raven had a role as a simple boss and only appeared in that one game, [[DoomedByCanon one can guess how this prophecy plays out]].

* In the ''Webcomic/CiemWebcomicSeries'', Arfaas keeps trying to kill Candi because he believes "liPo" refers to "Flippo." It really means [[spoiler:library position]], so it ''[[RedHerringShirt actually]]'' referred to [[spoiler:Dolly]] the whole time! Worse, believing it to be Candi so long only resulted in him inadvertently motivating and giving ''[[EitherOrProphecy both]]'' of them the means to undo the Hebbleskin Gang!

* In ''Manga/RaveMaster'', a seer sees Haru (hero) stabbing Elie (heroine) with his sword. Turn out, Elie's magic was going to go crazy and Haru activated the next form of his sword that can cut magic but nothing of substance, thus sealing her nearly-rampaging magic and saving everyone. After this, he waves the sword through his arms a few times to demonstrate.
* In ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'', the prophecy of the Blue-Clad One refers to a great leader, a bird perched on his shoulder, appearing from a field of gold to lead the nations to peace and unity and save them from the Sea of Corruption. What it actually foretold was [[spoiler:Nausicaa, her [[DressingAsTheEnemy Dorok tunic]] stained deep blue and indigo from a baby Ohmu's blood, being lifted high into the air by the shining, golden feelers of innumerable Ohmu, her long and bushy-tailed squirrel-fox Teto on her shoulders]].

* ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' manages this despite the "prophecy" being something the protagonist ''[[TrickedOutTime saw with his own eyes.]]'' [[spoiler: Turns out "the female lead dies" was a red herring for the real fixed point in time: "the main character sees the female lead lying in a pool of blood, prompting him to send the text message that leads to the discovery of time travel."]]
* ''Manga/UshioAndTora'' led up to the climactic final battle with a time-traveling bakemon visiting the future, when the actual final battle is in full swing. He sees the vaunted Beast Spear shattering into tiny pieces, and his report drives the bakemon coalition to try and forge their own new Beast Spear since the original will fail. Turns out [[spoiler: this was the Beast Spear's own intent, splitting itself into shards to attack every Memory Eater that the big bad had sicced on the populace and the heroes' allies.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the Great Toad Sage from Mount Myoboku foresaw Jiraiya travelling the world, writing a book and being the master of someone who will bring a great change in the world, who which either save it or destroy it. Jiraiya would then have to make a difficult choice. And that choice will determine the fate of the world. Listening the prophecy, Jiraiya then travels the world, meets people, write a book and take various pupils: Nagato, Minato and Naruto. All three have the requirements to become the chosen one. Over the course of the story, Minato dies, Nagato takes the path of evil and then dies, leaving only Naruto to takes the role of the Chosen One, since he's the last pupil of Jiraya still alive.

* This was the basis of Dream Girl's use in the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes''. Her prophecies were always completely accurate but often misinterpreted.
* This was the major conflict behind ''ComicBook/CivilWarII''. The Inhuman Ulysses would see flashes of the future, but not exactly what happens. [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Carol Danvers]] is more than happy to use these flashes [[PreCrimeArrest to stop crimes before they happen]] while [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] constantly warns her that they're not 100% accurate and can't be trusted.

* ''Film/{{Willow}}'' sees the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen evil Queen]] Bavmorda come across the prophecy of a child bearing a mark, who will lead to her destruction. Naturally, she scours the land capturing all pregnant women in search for this child. When Elora Dannan is born, all those people who have heard of the prophecy rally to protect the newborn so she can fulfill her destiny... accidentally bringing together a force that can storm Bavmorda's castle, while the queen herself is destroyed by the very spell she intended to kill baby Elora with. In the ([[BrokenBase divisive]]) sequel novel series ''Chronicles of the Shadow War'' this leads to all sorts of problems when she grows up as TheChosenOne who's already done what she was Chosen to do (it involves alternate timelines and inter-dimensional travel).
* In ''Film/PrinceValiant1997'', the bad guys steal Excalibur, but in their base, the sword embeds itself into the floor. Morgan le Fay orders her MagicMirror to show them a person worthy of pulling the sword out besides King Arthur. It shows what appears to be Sir Gawain, so they try to kidnap him and force him to pull it out. Naturally, the mirror had shown Prince Valiant in Sir Gawain's armor.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books, Voldemort hears half of a prophecy about a boy about to be born who will be his nemesis. With two possible choices, he chooses Harry, but in the process of trying to kill him, gives Harry both the power and a reason to defy him, which was the half of the prophecy that he missed. Also a SelfFulfillingProphecy.
** It's implied that the prophecy still would have been true if he had attacked the other boy, in a bit of a SchrodingersGun.
** It's also clear that Voldemort intended to kill both children, just to be sure. But once Harry survived the attempt and Voldemort was temporarily reduced to a near-death state, it became obvious that he was the one the prophecy referred to and thus Voldemort lost interest in the other child. He didn't realize, [[spoiler:and never did figure out]], that Harry was only TheChosenOne of the prophecy because ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard Voldemort was the one who chose him]]''. As mentioned above, that's the Fallacy part of the PropheticFallacy. Also, the other child [[spoiler:([[TookALevelInBadass Neville Longbottom]])]] ended up being instrumental in his defeat, by [[spoiler:killing Nagini, Voldemort's final [[SouJar Horcrux]]]].

* In the story ''An Appointment in Samarra'', a servant is sent to a Baghdad marketplace where he sees Death make a threatening gesture. His master lends him a horse to flee to the town of Samarra. When the master finds Death, and asks why she made the gesture, she replies that it was only a start of surprise at seeing him in Baghdad, since their appointment was that night in Samarra.
** As a parody on this, Death's introduction as a character in the very first ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel goes like this: Rincewind runs into Death, who comments that they have an appointment soon somewhere else and asks if Rincewind would mind going there. Rincewind declines.
*** In the same novel, a fortune-teller sees her own death in a crystal ball, panics, sells all her possessions and sets off for a far away city. She is killed by a freak avalanche at the ''exact same instant'' that her house collapses into a pile of ashes. The narrator informs us that this just goes to show that Death has a sense of humor too.
* In the trilogy ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'' by Creator/TadWilliams, a prophecy speaks about three swords that have to be united, so the early can resist against the late. This is interpreted by the protagonists that they have to [[GottaCatchThemAll get all three swords]] to resist the undead Storm King. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, no one remembered the fact that the elves lived in the world ''before'' the humans arrived]]. Or, for that matter, that the prophecy was written by a servant/victim of the BigBad.

* The ''Journey of the Catechist'' series has the main character repeatedly warned that if they continue they will die. They do, only to be resurrected immediately afterward.
* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': Arthur Dent knows that he can't be killed until he visits Stavromula Beta and has an attempt made on his life while there, thanks to his encounter with Agrajag. Dent assumes it's a planet and does his best to find out where it is, so he can avoid it. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a nightclub, Stavro Mueller's Beta. He doesn't realize that this is the name of the nightclub until he enters it. The attempt on his life is made, and he's killed seconds after that]].
* Much of ''Literature/TheDarkswordTrilogy'' concerns an ancient prophecy about [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the destruction of the world]]. Unfortunately, the prophet [[FaintingSeer died in the middle of speaking it]], leaving it unfinished. Naturally, when the final line of the prophecy is eventually revealed it completely changes the meaning. Turns out the people who have been trying to prevent the end of the world have been doing ''exactly the wrong thing'' for several thousand years now. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oops]].
* ''Flashforward'' by Robert J. Sawyer plays with this trope and adds a tragic twist to it. AppliedPhlebotinum briefly transports the mind of everyone on Earth to the future, giving everyone a short "vision" of what is to come. Believing this means the future is predestined, people make assumptions based on what they saw themselves doing in the future. Some start doing whatever their future selves did while others are devastated by their visions. This drives one character who wanted to be a writer but saw himself as a bus boy to kill himself, ironically proving that the future wasn't predestined anyway. It's also implied he was working as a bus boy [[ItsForABook for book research]].
* A subversion in ''Literature/GoodOmens'' by Creator/TerryPratchett and Creator/NeilGaiman. One of the main characters owns a book of prophecies made by a distant ancestor that's been passed down from generation to generation. Every last prophecy is perfectly accurate-but pronouncedly unclear. The subversion is that this character, and generations previous, were fully aware of this, and it became a sort of family business to try and decipher them. This wasn't an easy job, since the best explanation that she can give another character was that Agnes Nutter, the original seer, was looking at things she didn't understand through a very small metaphorical tube, in no discernible order, and so while things often slot into place afterward (some in time to do some good even, like, "Dont buye Betamacks"), until then what anyone ''thinks'' the original seer was predicting is as good a guess as anyone else's.
** On the other hand, the prophecies are indeed so accurate that the characters eventually realize they can just [[spoiler:pull one out at random and it'll be the one they need]].
** The ones relating directly to her family tend to be extremely straightforward, like "at this date and time avoid a falling brick". There's also a clear prophecy that the pair above will fall in love and have sex while working on the problem (with lots of "encouraging" commentary from generations in between in the notes); the non-descendant is rather disturbed to learn this.
* ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'': The sea nymph Marinell's mother was scared by a vague prophecy made by a sea god Proteus that a woman would be the cause of her son's doom. Assuming that the woman who could hurt him the most would be the one he loved, she forbade her son from falling in love or getting married... eventually leaving his girlfriend [[DamselInDistress Florimell]] easy pickings for [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty Proteus]]. Meanwhile, the prophecy was fulfilled when Marinell was severely injured ''in battle'' with the ActionGirl KnightInShiningArmor Britomart. His mother eventually saw her error in interpreting the prophecy and got Zeus to release Florimell and give Proteus a stern lecture on abusing the power of prophecy to manipulate people.
* Creator/HarryTurtledove's fourth ''Literature/TalesOfTheFox'' story has a prophecy about "bronze and wood" that fools even the clever and well-educated Fox into thinking it just refers to chariots, but that's okay; it wasn't meant for him anyway, but for his son and his demigod houseguest, who puzzle out the true meaning just in time to save the Fox's army.
* In Daphne du Maurier's short story ''Don't Look Now'' (later made into a film), John Baxter stays in Venice because he sees his wife on a boat. [[spoiler: Turns out he can see the future, and she was actually returning to Venice for his funeral]].
* In Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', the witches prophesy that Macbeth [[NoManOfWomanBorn 'need fear none of woman born']]. Macbeth is eventually killed in battle by Macduff, a man born by caesarean section. The trope is downplayed in that the prophet is himself a hint of the prophecy twist: a bloody child.
* In a ''Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier'' novel, a scientist is given a vision that he'll die on his 43rd birthday. When the day comes and goes, he is relieved...until he finds out that his assistant had been surreptitiously altering things on his project, inadvertently speeding up the clocks in the process. A raiding party promptly beams onto their station and kills him...on his 43rd birthday.
* In the ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' series, the Red Adept receives an Oracle prophecy stating that she would be "destroyed" by Adept Blue. Red sets about striking first; murdering Blue and making an attempt at Blue's "other self", Stile, in Proton (scientific twin world to Phaze's magical one). When Red and Stile finally meet, and Red confesses why she's been trying to kill him, Stile points out that, had she not killed Blue, Stile never could've entered Phaze. And probably wouldn't have anyway, if Red's first attempt to kill him hadn't left him unable to race horses. Turns out The Oracle (Who was really [[spoiler: a self-aware super-computer with connections in both Phaze and Photon]]) intentionally phrased Red's prophecy in such a way that her paranoia would do the rest, [[BatmanGambit counting on her not to stop and think about it]].
* In ''[[Literature/MythAdventures Myth-Gotten Gains]]'', a prophecy states that the Golden Hoard will be reunited by a green hand. Normally this would be a helpful clue, except that both Aahz and Barrik have green scales, and Tananda's skin has a touch of green to it: ''everyone'' who's a candidate to find the Hoard fits the description, making the prophecy worthless due to its imprecision.
* Done quite impressively in the ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' books. The GodOfEvil Ruin is [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned]] in the Well of Ascension, but can still affect the world in subtle ways, especially changing writing, so he carefully reworded the prophecies about [[TheChosenOne the Hero of Ages]] to say that they need to do the exact ''opposite'' of what they're supposed to. The first time round he was foiled by a man with a PhotographicMemory, but [[UnwittingPawn it worked spectacularly the second time]].
* Done on a galaxy-wide scale in the ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novels. Whilst on the brink of death, Horus is shown a vision of the future where his father, The Emperor of Mankind, is worshipped as a god across the entire galaxy. He "visits" a world devoted solely to the Emperor's worship and sees statues devoted to the Emperor and the Primarchs, only to note to his compounding fury that only ''some'' of the Primarchs are so honored -- Horus himself and the Primarchs he is closest to are all missing. Horus draws the conclusion that the Emperor wants to install himself as a god, and will furthermore suppress all knowledge of Horus, his faithful Warmaster, out of a desire to claim all the glory, as though he'd conquered the galaxy without help. Thoroughly incensed, Horus launches a galaxy-wide rebellion that will eventually lead to the Emperor being unwillingly deified as he languishes on life support, and Horus and the "missing" Primarchs very well known indeed, as the arch-traitors of all mankind.
* In ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain The High King]]'', when the sword Dyrnwyn is stolen, the main characters get two prophecies about regaining the sword[[note]]"Ask, sooner, mute stone and voiceless rock to speak", and "Quenched will be Dyrnwyn's flame;/Vanished, its power./Night turn to noon/And rivers burn with frozen fire/Ere Dyrnwyn be regained"[[/note]]. They interpret them as meaning "Ain't gonna happen"; it's actually a reasonably literal chronicle of events leading up to the sword's recovery.
* ''Literature/AngelsOfMusic'': In the climactic section, Unorna receives a warning in a vision, the true meaning of which is not apparent until it's too late to be useful. [[spoiler:The warning — "One of us is not to be trusted. One of us is not who she seems." — is actually two separate warnings. The Angel who is not who she seems is entirely trustworthy, while the traitor Angel is untrustworthy for reasons that have always been apparent]].

* In ''Literature/AlwaysComingHome'', Stone Telling has a vision at one point of [[spoiler:her father's corpse]]. When he shows up later, she believes her vision to be false, but later, when he helps her [[spoiler:escape the Dayao people]], she realizes it must have been a vision of the future.

* On one episode of ''Series/{{Taxi}}'', Reverend Jim gives a number of prophecies that seem to come true. When Jim declares that Alex Rieger will die the following Thursday at 7 PM, Rieger is skeptical. One the night of the prophecy, Louie goes to visit Rieger to keep him company and to help avert whatever tragedy is to fall him. As the highly improbable prophesied chain of events leading up to Rieger's death start to come true, Louie grows more concerned and Alex grows more incredulous. He finally decides to tempt fate by acting out the more ridiculous of Jim's prophecies, just to prove to Louie that it's all a bunch of hogwash. Finally, at 7 PM, there's a knock on the door. Alex pushes Louie aside, opens the door, and there is [[spoiler:a Girl Scout selling cookies. Louie screams, the Girl Scout [[ReactiveContinuousScream screams]] and flees, and Louie says to Alex: "Did you see it, Rieger?! It was ''hideous!!''"]]
* ''Series/{{Medium}}'' uses this a lot. The main character [[spoiler: and her three daughters]] has lots of visions that often take days to figure out what those visions really are saying.
* Happened numerous times in ''Series/{{The Outer Limits|1963}}'' and other supernatural anthology shows, typically involving someone trying to avoid their death at a given time/date, but learning that he was supposed to die a little while later.
* The series that was truly the king of this trope was the contemporaneous ''Series/{{One Step Beyond|1959}}'', which seemingly used this twist every other episode.
%%* Also happened in ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', though rather more rarely.
* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Cassandra", the eponymous computer predicts that Rimmer will die of a heart attack. However, he notes that Cassandra does not know that he's Rimmer, and tricks a crewman into wearing his jacket (with nametag). Sure enough, the crewmember dies. (Also a SelfFulfillingProphecy: he dies of a heart attack brought on by the stress of being told he's going to die of a heart attack). However, we later learn that several of the predictions she made were intentional lies in an attempt to get revenge on Lister for killing her. It fails and Lister does kill her, but it's more a RubeGoldbergDevice-esque accident than any intentional murder.
* ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'' is entirely built around this, as Raven's brief glimpses of the future never give her the whole story. She tries to fix what may or may not actually be broken -- [[SelfFulfillingProphecies and breaks it]]. And learns her lesson... for [[AesopAmnesia precisely twenty-three hours and five minutes]].
* In one episode of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess,'' a widower king's evil advisor tries to get him to kill a child prophesied to take his throne. Eventually, the plot's exposed, the king marries the infant's mother, and the baby will, in the fullness of time, take the king's throne. But he will take the king's throne as his heir, not his usurper. The series is (loosely) based on Greco-Roman myth, where this sort of thing was common, though usually more tragic.
** Also quite nicely subverted in season four. The entire season features Xena being haunted by a vision of herself and Gabrielle being crucified, and slowly the pieces seem to start coming together for it to happen: she recognizes a nearby mountain peak as in the background of the vision, and is forced to cut Gabrielle's hair to the length she saw. So much time is spent on this over an entire year's worth of episodes that the audience pretty much all assumed that there was going to be some twist to get them out of it. Nope; things happen exactly as Xena saw, and she and Gabrielle die on their crosses. Of course, this being the show it is that's no obstacle for them continuing to star on the show.
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' did an episode with a number of these, that always cut off right before revealing that the scene shown is actually to their benefit.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** In the first season finale, Wes translates a prophecy to say that Angel will die. In the end it is revealed that [[spoiler: Wes mistranslated it, and the real prophecy said that he would "live and die" (the language of the prophecy uses the same word for both); in other words, become human]]. Of course, [[spoiler: the prophecy only said "the vampire with a soul," so in the fifth season, a conflict is introduced that it could have been Spike they were talking about. At the time the prophecy was translated, Angel was not only the only vampire with a soul, but the only one that had ''ever'' existed, nobody had even considered the idea that it could refer to someone else]].
** Also the prophecy [[spoiler: "the father will kill the son"]], which drove multiple episodes in the back half of the third season, was [[spoiler:faked by the [[DirtyCoward demon Sahjhan (who, upon revealing this, taunts "read any good prophecies lately?") because the true prophecy was "the one fathered by the vampire with a soul will grow to manhood and kill Sahjhan"]]]]. When Wesley goes to one of the Loa for clarification, he is told that the vampire will certainly devour his child. [[spoiler: Angel's blood supply from the butcher had been spiked with Connor's blood by Wolfram & Hart]]. As pointed out by WordOfGod, the fake prophecy does still come true in a way: [[spoiler: in the season 4 finale, Angel 'kills' Connor: he destroys Connor's true identity, giving him a fake one to save his sanity by giving him a normal family life, one that carries no memory of his real life, and enacting this spell involves slashing Connor's throat]]. Also, Sahjan hearing only "the son would kill Sahjan" led to [[spoiler:him causing Connor to be in [[SelfFulfillingProphecy the exact position to do just that]].]][[invoked]]

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the [[TheNthDoctor Tenth Doctor]] is told that before he regenerates, "he will knock four times." Considering the last episode was set to feature the return of TheMaster (who, in the new series, constantly hears [[TerribleTicking four drum-beats in his head]]), many presumed the seemingly obvious. Turns out [[spoiler: it wasn't the Master, nor was it the power-mad President of the Time Lords...it was Wilf, after all the trouble had been sorted, knocking quietly on the door of the broken containment chamber that's about to be flooded with radiation. And he even knocks four times a sequence of four times. The only way for the Doctor to get Wilf out is for [[HeroicSacrifice the Doctor to lock himself in the adjacent chamber]], thus triggering his regeneration]].

* An AppliedPhlebotinum / TechnoBabble-powered example occurred in the first episode of ''Series/BlakesSeven'' after the super-computer [=ORAC=] joined the cast, when they tested out its future-prediction capabilities and got a short video clip of what appeared to be the ''Liberator'' exploding. [[spoiler:Turns out it was another ship of the same design, launched in pursuit after they spent the episode trying to escape the people who built the ''Liberator'' and disputed their salvage claim, and it turned out to have been [=ORAC=] who sabotaged it.]] Apparently they decided that getting [=ORAC=] to predict the future was more trouble than it was worth after that, as it was never used again. It's also vaguely implied that [=ORAC=] was intentionally screwing with them, either to make a point or for its own amusement.
* This happens a fair bit in ''Series/TheDeadZone'', with Johnny getting visions where the intended target/victim is unclear or he jumps to the wrong conclusion about what he is seeing because he doesn't know what he's seeing is incomplete. A particularly good example occurs when he has a vision of himself [[spoiler: killing a stranger]] and the clues lead him to believe Sarah or JJ are in danger ([[spoiler: the victim is really Bruce and it's a complete accident.]]) At the end of the episode, Johnny laments that he just sees flashes of events out of context which makes trying to predict (and prevent) the future very difficult.
** In another episode Johny gets a vision of a school shooting but does not see the shooter's face. The school principal believes him and institutes a zero-tolerance policy in order to prevent the event from occurring. At the end of the episode Johny realizes that the vision was from a few years in the future and the shooter is still a young boy who has yet to experience the abuse that will turn him into a killer. Johny exposes the pedophile teacher that would abuse the boy and prevents the tragedy. However, the school's heavy handed tactics cause another student to rebel because of the harassment he received and then a paranoid security guard shoots the student thinking that the he is the shooter from Johny's vision.

* In Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', the witches prophecise that Macbeth [[NoManOfWomanBorn 'need fear none of woman borne']]. Macbeth is eventually killed in battle by Macduff, a man born by caesarean section. The trope is downplayed in that the prophet is himself a hint of the prophecy twist: a bloody child.

* Done quite impressively in the ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' books. The GodOfEvil Ruin is [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned]] in the Well of Ascension, but can still effect the world in subtle ways, especially changing writing, so he carefully reworded the prophecies about [[TheChosenOne the Hero of Ages]] to say that they need to do the exact ''opposite'' of what they're supposed to. The first time round he was foiled by a man with a PhotographicMemory, but [[UnwittingPawn it worked spectacularly the second time]].

** WordOfGod claimed that the last was inspired by ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'': Tolkien always thought that the quibble about Macduff not being "a man of woman born" was too inelegant, and it would have been much more satisfying if Macbeth had simply been killed by a woman. Similarly, the Last March of the Ents comes from Tolkien's disappointment that Birnham Wood didn't ''literally'' march on Macbeth's castle.

This can be used to deliver a moral about not jumping to conclusions. If this trope is used comedically, then [[HilarityEnsues hilarity may ensue]].

* ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'' is entirely built around this, as Raven's brief glimpses of the future never give her the whole story. HilarityEnsues as she tries to fix what may or may not actually be broken - [[SelfFulfillingProphecies and breaks it]]. And learns her lesson... for [[AesopAmnesia precisely twenty-three hours and five minutes]].

* The series that was truly the king of this trope was the contemporaneous ''Series/OneStepBeyond'', which seemingly used this twist every other episode.

* On one episode of ''Series/{{Taxi}}'', Reverend Jim gives a number of prophecies that seem to come true. When Jim declares that Alex Rieger will die the following Thursday at 7pm, Rieger is skeptical. One the night of the prophecy, Louie goes to visit Rieger to keep him company and to help avert whatever tragedy is to fall him. As the highly improbable prophesied chain of events leading up to Rieger's death start to come true, Louie grows more concerned and Alex grows more incredulous. He finally decides to tempt fate by acting out the more ridiculous of Jim's prophecies, just to prove to Louie that it's all a bunch of hogwash. Finally, at 7pm, there's a knock on the door. Louie hesitantly opens the door, and sees [[spoiler:a girl scout selling cookies. Louie screams, the girl scout screams and flees, and Louie slams the door in terror: "Did you see it, Rieger? It was ''hideous!!''"]]

Like most TwistEnding tropes, '''Beware of Spoilers'''.

** Also the prophecy [[spoiler: "the father will kill the son"]], which drove multiple episodes in the back half of the third season, was [[spoiler:faked by the [[DirtyCoward demon Sahjhan (who, upon revealing this, taunts "read any good prophecies lately?") because the true prophecy was "the one fathered by the vampire with a soul will grow to manhood and kill Sahjhan"]]]]. When Wesley goes to one of the Loa for clarification, he is told that the vampire will certainly devour his child. [[spoiler: Angel's blood supply from the butcher had been spiked with Connor's blood by Wolfram & Hart]]. The fake prophecy does still come true in a way: [[spoiler: in the season 4 finale, Angel 'kills' Connor: he destroys Connor's true identity, giving him a fake one to save his sanity by giving him a normal family life, one that carries no memory of his real life, and enacting this spell involves slashing Connor's throat]]. Also, Sahjan hearing only "the son would kill Sahjan" led to [[spoiler:him causing Connor to be in [[SelfFulfillingProphecy the exact position to do just that]].]]

** Also the prophecy [[spoiler: "the father will kill the son"]], which drove multiple episodes in the back half of the third season, was [[spoiler:faked by the [[DirtyCoward demon Sahjhan (who, upon revealing this, taunts "read any good prophecies lately?") because the true prophecy was "the one fathered by the vampire with a soul will grow to manhood and kill Sahjhan"]]]]. When Wesley goes to one of the Loa for clarification, he is told that the vampire will certainly devour his child. [[spoiler: Angel's blood supply from the butcher had been spiked with Connor's blood by Wolfram & Hart and at the season 4 finale, Angel 'kills' Connor: he destroys Connor's true identity, giving him a fake one to save his sanity by giving him a normal family life, one that carries no memory of his real life. Also, Sahjan hearing only "the son would kill Sahjan" led him to causing Conner to be in [[SelfFulfillingProphecy the exact position to do just that]].]]

* ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'': The sea nymph Marinell's mother was scared by a vague prophecy made by a sea god Proteus that a woman would be the cause of her son's doom. Assuming that the woman who could hurt him the most would be the one he loved, she forbade her son from falling in love or getting married... eventually leaving his girlfriend [[DistressedDamsel Florimell]] easy pickings for [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty Proteus]]. Meanwhile, the prophecy was fulfilled when Marinell was severely injured ''in battle'' with the ActionGirl KnightInShiningArmor Britomart. His mother eventually saw her error in interpreting the prophecy and got Zeus to release Florimell and give Proteus a stern lecture on abusing the power of prophecy to manipulate people.

* An Inhuman in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' could grant people brief glimpses of their future, and this trope was in effect. For example, one vision left out the context that what was being seen was a reflection in a mirror.

** The ones relating directly to her family tend to be extremely straightforward, like "at this date and time avoid a falling brick". There's also a clear prophesy that the pair above will fall in love and have sex while working on the problem (with lots of "encouraging" commentary from generations in between in the notes); the non-descendent is rather disturbed to learn this.

** Londo Mollari had a vision of his own death: when he is an old man, he and a Narn will strangle each other to death.When he meets G'Kar, Londo recognizes him as the Narn from the vision and treats him as a personal enemy (it didn't help that their people had been enemies for decades). [[spoiler: While this occurs exactly as Londo saw, he misread the ''context'': he and G'Kar are no longer enemies, and G'Kar killing him is an act of mercy because Londo's "[[PuppeteerParasite Keeper]]," will not let him [[ICannotSelfTerminate kill himself]]. He strangles G'Kar because the Keeper wakes up and tries to defend itself.]]

* As befitting a game that the developers call a "playable Greek Tragedy," this occurs in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'', during the "Family Values" quest. Supideo has locked himself in a cage much to his parents consternation, after an oracle told him his mother's blood would be spilled on the ground and his father would scream to the heavens. He contracts the protagonist with finding his sword and his shield with which his parents will protect themselves from his supposed wrath, but by the end of it, his parents reveal that [[spoiler:he was adopted, the protagonist murdered his birth mother to get his shield, and they may or may not have also had sex with his birth father, which was why he was screaming to the heaven--just in ''agony.'' Supideo proceeds to free himself from the cage, running screaming from the revelations, and goes blind, upon which he curses the protagonist.]]

* At one point in ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'' the protagonists receive more-or-less intangible gifts from the SealedGoodInACan. Raven's is a vague but unpleasant piece of advice: "you will have to choose between the one you love and the one who made you. You will choose the latter." He thinks (being a former [[{{mook}} evil drone]]) the one who made him is TheBigBad, while the one he loves is, as he's slowly realising, TheHero - Credenza. Raven's very unhappy about this, but in the end, his choice turns out to be about something else: [[spoiler: when he ends up in a LotusEaterMachine, the real Credenza (who [[CharacterDevelopment made him the person he is]]) is trying to reach out to him, while a perfect illusion of her (to whom he's married in the dream) is trying to keep him there. He must choose the real one to break out.]]

* At one point in ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'' the protagonists receive more-or-less intangible gifts from the SealedGoodInACan. Raven's is a vague but unpleasant piece of advice: you will have to choose between the one you love and the one who made you. You will choose the latter. He thinks the one who made him is TheBigBad, while the one he loves is, as he's slowly realising, TheHero - Credenza. Raven's very unhappy about this, but in the end, his choice turns out to be about something else: [[spoiler: when he ends up in a LotusEaterMachine, the real Credenza (who [[CharacterDevelopment made him the person he is]]) is trying to reach out to him, while a perfect illusion of her (to whom he's married in the dream) is trying to keep him there. He must choose the real one to break out.]]

* At one point in ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'' the protagonists receive more-or-less intangible gifts from the SealedGoodInACan. Raven's is a vague but unpleasant piece of advice: you will have to choose between the one you love and the one who made you. You will choose the latter. He ''thinks the one who made him is TheBigBad, while the one he loves is, as he's slowly realising, TheHero - Credenza. So he's very unhappy about this, but in the end, his choice turns out to be about something else: [[spoiler: when he ends up in a LotusEaterMachine, the real Credenza (who [[CharacterDevelopment made him the person he is]]) is trying to reach out to him, while a perfect illusion of her (to whom he's married in the dream) is trying to keep him there. He must choose the real one to break out.]]

* Also happened in ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', though rather more rarely.

** It's also clear that Voldemort intended to kill both children, just to be sure. But once Harry survived the attempt and Voldemort was temporarily reduced to a near-death state, it became obvious that he was the one the prophecy referred to and thus Voldemort lost interest in the other child. He didn't realize, [[spoiler:and never did figure out]], that Harry was only TheChosenOne of the prophecy because ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard Voldemort was the one who chose him]]''. As mentioned above, that's the Fallacy part of the PropheticFallacy. Also, the other child ended up being instrumental in his defeat.

*** Kreia is a quintessential UnreliableExpositor: pretty much everything she says, prophetic or not, is [[FromACertainPointOfView a semi-lie]] that [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates everyone and everything to following her grand plan]]. For instance, she says the Jedi cut the player off from the Force. When in fact it was the Jedis' flawed teachings that led to the Mandalorian Wars, during which [[spoiler:the Exile cut him/herself off from the Force due to self-inflicted trauma at the Battle of Malachor V]]. The Exile goes looking for the Jedi to get some answers... and, well, they don't survive long.