History Main / RefusedByTheCall

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' backstory, near the end of the 2nd Era, the [[OldMaster Greybeards]] summoned TheChosenOne who would 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 "blasted to ash" by the Greybeards who declare Hjalti of High Rock (a young [[GodEmperor Tiber Septim]]) to be the one instead.

* While she is [[TheChosenOne a godwoken]], one of the [[TheChosenMany candidates]] to succeed the Divine, ''all'' of the gods, including her own, say Lohse in ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' should '''not''' be the next [[GodKing divine]], due to her demonic possession problem. Some of the gods even flat out tell the player character to kill her, and whenever Lohse goes through the same trials the other players do, the other gods are ignoring her. She doesn't seem too broken up about this, however - she does have the option to [[CallingTheOldManOut call out Rhalic]] when he pleads with her to not kill him, and the player can give some LaserGuidedKarma to the gods by making ''her'' the next Divine.

It is also possible that the hero hears and accepts the call, but brings other people with him. Those others are then refused: the call is ''only'' for the hero; groups, {{Sidekick}}s, [[TagalongKid tagalong kids]], [[BattleCouple Battle Couples]], BashBrothers and the like are not allowed. Those must return home, stay in the waiting room, or fight another adventure in the meantime.

* In ''LightNovel/TheTwelveKingdoms'', there's Yuka, an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who doesn't really fit into class, and spends all her time reading fantasy-stories and dreaming of going to another world -- somewhere she'd BELONG! Then, suddenly, a mysterious, golden-haired {{Bishounen}} appears at the school, searching for a missing queen... and finding Yuka's classmate, Youko Nakajima. Yuka, eager to escape her dreary existence, talks Youko into bringing her along into the Twelve Kingdoms. However, as Youko manifests more and more "specialness" in the other world, Yuka finds it harder and harder to convince herself that SHE should really be the "Main Character", with her desperate need to be "important" eventually driving her to become an antagonist. [[spoiler:At the end, however, she realizes that Youko is somewhat BlessedWithSuck, and that she's lucky to be just a "side-character". Understanding that she DOES belong back in the "real world", she returns home with a smile, intending to live a normal life. And failing, but that's another story...]]

** Tigress, being a deliberate counterpart to Tai Lung, also had this problem; OldMaster Oogway sensed TheChosenOne was present, got ready to point to him/her, and extended his finger towards Tigress... right at the moment Po crash-landed in front of her. She reacts to it in a similar way to Tai Lung (refusing to accept Oogway's decision and trying to prove that she was the rightful choice by deliberately starting a fight) but she wasn't far gone enough to attack the good guys and went after Tai Lung instead. Getting comprehensively defeated in that fight showed her the error of her ways, after which she is the first one to acknowledge Po as the true ChosenOne.

* In Creator/TimPowers' ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheDark'', there is a background character who believes he is [[spoiler:the reincarnation of KingArthur]], and that he has been summoned to Vienna to resist the forces of Suleiman. He continually tries to foist his tactical opinions on the local leaders, and reawaken the memories of his [[spoiler: [[TrueCompanions Knights of the Round Table]]]]. Sadly, while he was right about [[spoiler: KingArthur being reincarnated]], it was not him, and by the end of the story he is a drunken pitiful wretch, and somehow cobbles together a set of armor and a horse and charges alone against the Turkish army. It ends exactly the way you would expect that sort of thing to go.

** Arata Kagami of ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto'' attempts to become the titular rider only to have the [[TransformationTrinket Kabuto Zecter]] pair up with [[TheAce Tendou]]. [[SubvertedTrope Then he gets the powers of The Bee for a brief time and then becomes Gatack]].

--> [[spoiler: '''Kengo:''']] "I'm sure you realize it yourself. Sorry, but you're not the ChosenOne. The one who must [[spoiler: return to the Presenter]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome is me."]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'' has a villainous take on this. Cold, calculating general Steller is convinced that [[BiggerBad the Great Raven]] should have chosen him as his DragonInChief, but passed him by in favor of FauxAffablyEvil Captain Snow. To this day, he still can't figure out what he did wrong.

* While she is [[TheChosenOne a godwoken]], ''all'' of the gods, including her own, say Lohse in ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' should '''not''' be the next [[GodKing divine]], due to her demonic possession problem, with some of the gods even saying to just kill her now, and her own god basically ignoring her. She doesn't seem too broken up about this, however.

* [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends The Junior Jedi Knight series]] features Uldir Lochett, a teenager who seeks out Luke so that he can beg the Jedi Master to teach him the ways of the Force. But although Luke lets him study at the academy, Uldir ultimately has no chance of becoming a Jedi since he completely lacks any Force sensitivity. His frustration over this leads him to briefly side with the villain of the final book who (falsely) claims to be able to teach him how to use the Force, but switches back once he realizes that he's been deceived.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11309061/17/Consul-of-the-Underworld-The-Game-Begins Consul of the Underworld: The Game Begins]]'', Hades trains and teaches his daughter the best he can in the eventuality of her becoming the prophesied saviour of Olympus. When she reaches [[DangerousSixteenBirthday her sixteenth birthday]], the Fates reveal she's indeed fated to greatness... but hers is not the Great Prophecy's achievement.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11309061/17/Consul-of-the-Underworld-The-Game-Begins Consul of the Underworld: The Game Begins]]'', Hades trains and teaches his daughter the best he can in the eventuality of her becoming the prophesied saviour of Olympus. when she reaches her sixteenth birthday, the Fates reveal she's indeed fated to greatness... but hers is not the Great Prophecy's achievement.

** Not just anyone can use the [[TransformationTrinket Faiz Gear]] in ''LiveAction/KamenRiderFaiz''. When Mari tries to use it to defend herself from an attacking [[MonsterOfTheWeek Orphenarch]], the belt explosively rejects her. Desperate, she puts the belt around nearby [[TheHero Inui]], who had become caught up in the situation, and forces him to transform. It works. A few episodes later, [[WideEyedIdealist Keitaro]] steals the belt from Mari and Inui and attempts to become a hero. The belt likewise rejects him and he would've been killed by Orphenarchs had Inui and Mari not intervened.

* [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends The Junior Jedi Knight series]] features Uldir Lochett, a teenager who seeks out Luke so that he can be trained as a Jedi. Although Luke lets him study at the academy, Uldir ultimately has no chance of becoming a Jedi since he completely lacks any force sensitivity. His frustration over this leads him to briefly side with the villain of the story who (falsely) claims to be able to teach him how to use the Force, but switches back once he realizes that he's been deceived.

* [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends The Junior Jedi Knight series]] features Uldir Lochett, a teenager who seeks out Luke so that he can be trained as a Jedi. Although Luke lets him study at the academy, Uldir ultimately has no chance of becoming a Jedi since he completely lacks any force sensitivity. His frustration over this leads him to briefly side with the villain of the story who claims to be able to teach him how to actually use the Force, but switches back once he realizes that he's been deceived.

** Not just anyone can use the [[TransformationTrinket Faiz Gear]] in ''LiveAction/KamenRiderFaiz''. When Mari tries to use it to defend herself from an attacking [[MonsterOfTheWeek Orphenarch]], the belt explosively rejects her. Desperate, she puts the belt around nearby [[TheHero Inui]], who had become caught in the situation, and forces him to transform. It works. A few episodes later, [[WideEyedIdealist Keitaro]] steals the belt from Mari and Inui and attempts to become a hero. The belt likewise rejects him and he would've been killed by Orphenarchs had Inui and Mari not intervened.

* Arata Kagami of ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto'' attempts to become the titular rider only to have the [[TransformationTrinket Kabuto Zecter]] pair up with [[TheAce Tendou]]. [[SubvertedTrope Then he gets the powers of The Bee for a brief time and then becomes Gatack]].
* Shiro Kazama, ''Series/KamenRiderV3'', desperately begged Kamen Rider Ichigo and Nigo to turn him into a cyborg to avenge the deaths of his family. They refused, but when he's wounded, they're forced to, granting his wish.

* In ''Series/KamenRiderFourze,'' [[spoiler: Gamou]] knows darned well that he wasn't chosen for anything, though that doesn't stop him from acting like he is. Despite what he pretends, he actually has to resort to [[EvilutionaryBiologist forced evolution]], and even then, that doesn't get him Chosen. He gets called out on it in the penultimate episode.

-> ''You know, just leaving the rest of the kids behind to waste their ''"non-prophesized lives"'' away;''
-> "Of course you're welcome to Thorn Valley, there's plenty of education for everyo- ''ooh'', you're not a ''Messiah'', are you? Yeah, public school's down the stree''t''..."
-->-- ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' on the plot of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH2''.

Your [[TheHero Hero]] hears TheCall and, desperately wanting to fight evil aliens or demons or whatever [[JumpedAtTheCall jumps at it eagerly]] only to be told "Nope, sorry, not who we're looking for". Often the rejected party will become [[TheRival an antagonist]] to the real hero and get powers of their own somehow, but sometimes they just become [[TheResenter bitter]] and [[GreenEyedMonster envious]].

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]
* In ''TheTwelveKingdoms'', there's Yuka, an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who doesn't really fit into class, and spends all her time reading fantasy-stories and dreaming of going to another world - somewhere she'd BELONG! Then, suddenly, a mysterious, golden-haired {{Bishounen}} appears at the school, searching for a missing queen... and finding Yuka's classmate, Youko Nakajima. Yuka, eager to escape her dreary existence, talks Youko into bringing her along into the Twelve Kingdoms. However, as Youko manifests more and more 'specialness' in the other world, Yuka finds it harder and harder to convince herself that SHE should really be the 'Main Character', with her desperate need to be 'important' eventually driving her to become an antagonist. [[spoiler: At the end, however, she realizes that Youko is somewhat BlessedWithSuck, and that she's lucky to be just a 'side-character'. Understanding that she DOES belong back in the 'real world', she returns home with a smile, intending to live a normal life. And failing, but that's another story...]]

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* Early in the finale for ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfTime'', Literature/SherlockHolmes refuses [[KidHero Beth Lestrade's]] help in working on a case, based on the fact that she's from the future and knows what will happen (the case is one of the short stories, "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans"). ...this does not sit well with her.
* In ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE3QFF1tQ_w Puella Magi Abridged]]'', [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Madoka]] believes that only one character- the protagonist- can get magic hero powers. She is noticeably disgruntled when Mami also reveals them.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

** Tai Lung was a Kung Fu prodigy, raised by Master Shifu, trained to be TheChosenOne... but then, just as he was about to receive the Sacred MacGuffin, the OldMaster declared that he was unsuited, causing him to flip his lid and attempt to prove his strength against the master. (Which, as always, is a bad idea.) In the end, the REAL Chosen One turned out to be Po, an overweight AscendedFanboy panda. When Tai Lung breaks out of prison, the first thing he does is, of course, to track down Po and challenge him in order to prove his supremacy. 'cuz dammit, The Call was SUPPOSED to be for HIM!

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'': SpaceMarine recruitment procedures are so stringent (one comic has ''four'' in a single planet be an exceptional harvest) that it's not expected they'll all make it to the surgical enhancement part. Those who fail (and survive) can still serve the Chapter as serfs, who handle logistics and piloting the larger ships (as shipmasters, to avoid confusion with SpaceMarine Captains).

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''

* Sarkli in ''StarWars RogueSquadron 3'' has his accomplishments (including personally saving the lives of Luke Skywalker and General Dodonna on Yavin IV) completely ignored in favor of Luke going and grabbing Dodonna from his hiding spot in the first place, then he gets left behind on Dantooine while Luke flies off to rescue Tycho Celchu by himself. It's no surprise that [[spoiler: he promptly defects to the Empire where his talents will actually be recognized]].

* In the games ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokemon HeartGold And SoulSilver]]'', Ecruteak City's gym leader Morty is a case of this. He trained for years believing that he would be the one chosen to summon the legendary Ho-oh back to its home, but then the player shows up and takes that role instead. He takes it ''much'' more gracefully than many examples of this trope.
* ''LifeIsStrange'': David's application to join Arcadia Bay's police department after leaving military service was rejected on the grounds of his paranoia.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''LegendOfTheDragon'' has the "turns evil" variety where Ling becomes Shadow Dragon when she's unable to become the Golden Dragon.

[[folder: Real Life]]

* Riku in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts''. Maleficent (and the WordOfGod) says that the keyblade was originally meant for him. What Maleficent ''doesn't'' tell Riku was that it was his own fault the keyblade rejected him and chose Sora instead. Had Riku waited one more night and left with his friends on the raft the next day, he would have gotten the keyblade and likely remained their leader as they went on a world-saving adventure. Instead, he gave into his impatience (perhaps with some whispering temptation from the Darkness), and opened the door to his world's heart, allowing TheHeartless to spill in and consume that entire world and everyone in it. Riku's two friends only survive thanks to the keyblade, and all three of them are split up from each other and lost. Sora has to go save the world and find his old friends with a new set of friends.
** In ''Birth By Sleep'', Ven desperately wants to help Terra and Aqua on their mission and sneaks out to do so, but they constantly turn him down and tell him to return home. [[spoiler: This is because they want to keep him out of the Big Bad's hands, since he's an important component of the Big Bad's plan. But they can't tell Ven this because it would cause him to remember his traumatic past. Naturally, Ven goes along anyway, does remember, and becomes an emotional wreck. Ironically, at this point they do allow him to join them, because there's nowhere else to hide... but by then Ven's enthusiasm is long gone.]]

* ''{{Buffyverse}}'': Wesley's fatal flaw has always been that he considers himself The Hero of the piece. From as early as B3 to as late as A4, Wes has trouble conceiving the basic notion that the story does not revolve around ''him''. He takes it upon himself to make hard choices, and do make what he thinks are the right plays regardless of what others tell him, because at a fundamental level, he's certain that that burden of responsibility for saving the world and protecting everyone falls on his shoulders moreso than anyone else's. Basically every mistake he made through his entire character history has been rooted in this one flaw, from abducting Faith to stealing Angel's son.

* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Homecoming'' series: Elemak becomes his younger half-brother, Nafai's sworn enemy, mostly because the Oversoul chose Nafai over him, thereby stealing his legacy (He was slated to be heir to their father's trading fortune, before Volemak signed on 100% to the Oversoul's cause). The Oversoul admitted later that Elemak would've been Its first choice as leader, but couldn't trust Elemak not to hijack the entire expedition for his own purposes.

* Arata Kagami of ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto'' attempts to become the titular rider only to have the [[TransformationTrinket Kabuto Zecter]] pair up with [[TheAce Tendou]]. [[SubvertedTrope Then he gets the powers of The Bee for a brief time and then becomes Gatack.

* In OrsonScottCard's ''Homecoming'' series: Elemak becomes his younger half-brother, Nafai's sworn enemy, mostly because the Oversoul chose Nafai over him, thereby stealing his legacy (He was slated to be heir to their father's trading fortune, before Volemak signed on 100% to the Oversoul's cause). The Oversoul admitted later that Elemak would've been Its first choice as leader, but couldn't trust Elemak not to hijack the entire expedition for his own purposes.
* In ''TheSagaOfDarrenShan'', it's Darren's best friend Steve who wants to become a vampire. Mr Crepsley tests his blood, declares it "evil" and refuses, causing Steve to vow to kill Crepsley when he grows up. This is made worse when Crepsley makes Darren a (half-)vampire; although Darren only did it to save Steve's life, Steve thinks that Darren conspired to deliberately ruin his dreams. Years later, Steve reappears, [[spoiler: in league with Darren's enemies and out for blood.]]

* Antigra in the {{Redwall}} book ''Taggerung'' is convinced her son Gruven should have been the Taggerung (the chosen super-warrior) rather than Tagg, the hero of the book. She raises Gruven to be as bitter about it as she is, and everything goes horribly wrong for both of them because of it. It's even known among those that ''really'' know Gruven, as during the time that he's tracking Tagg he is whiny, an ineffective leader, and all-around useless. No wonder Valug Bowbeast and Eeffra abandon him.

* In ''TheSnowQueenSeries'', KissingCousins Moon and Sparks Dawntreader travel to a "choosing place" to try to become all-knowing sibyls. Moon is chosen, but Sparks is not. He becomes embittered when she chooses to follow the calling without him.

* Possible SecretTestOfCharacter version in ''MetalGearSolid3.'' The protagonist, Snake, is tasked with hunting down and killing his mentor, "The Boss." She's ''waiting for him'' right where he's supposed to be inserted into Soviet territory, beats him soundly with her bare hands, and tells him to go home, because he can't defeat her. She sends each of her subordinates after him one after another, which he beats, and each time Snake encounters and fights the Boss, he does better in their hand-to-hand encounters until he's finally good enough to be able to defeat her. [[spoiler: Since her mission was to be killed by him, it seems the entire operation was one giant SecretTestOfCharacter to strengthen him up.]]