History Main / TheChosenOne

* Jaenelle Angelline from the ''Black Jewels'' Trilogy is Witch, a being born from the dreams of the people of her and other worlds to the end the corruption of two powerful witches. As such, she has god-like powers which surpass all others.

* In the web cartoon ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/316541 Animator vs. Animation]]'', a sadistic Flash animator creates a little stick man called "Victim" to torment. "Victim" quickly turns around and starts tormenting ''him'', [[InterfaceScrew tearing up the Flash GUI]] and playing kickball with the mouse cursor until the harried animator manages to close the program. Things escalate in ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/368557 Animator vs. Animation 2]]'', in which the animator makes the careless mistake of naming his creation ''TheChosenOne'': not only does this nightmare creature with the power of ten million stick men destroy the Flash interface, he ''[[BreakingtheFourthWall escapes to the animator's desktop]]'' and begins wreaking havoc there. The only thing that stops his rampage is the timely intervention of Avast Anti-Virus, after which TheChosenOne is rehabilitated as the best pop-up blocker ever (he ''incinerates'' the bastards!). Finally in ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/576381 Animator vs, Animation 3]]'' ''TheChosenOne'' escapes from his pop up blocker 'job' and begins [[InterfaceScrew wrecking havok again on the animator's desktop.]] The animator is forced to create another stickman named ''TheDarkLord'' to try and destroy the ''TheChosenOne''. Thier battle reaches all across the desktop and it ends with the computer blue-screening due to the two teaming up to destroy the animator's computer.

* ''{{Transformers}}: The Movie'' makes very literal use of The Chosen One, with [[spoiler:Hot Rod discovering he is the [[UnlikelyHero successor]] to the now-dead [[MentorOccupationalHazard Optimus Prime]], fulfilling the [[PropheciesAreAlwaysRight prophesy]] of one who would "light our darkest hour", and being upgraded by [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement The Matrix]] into Rodimus Prime in the process]]. He is referred to as "The Chosen One" several times throughout the third season.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' was a deconstruction. Yuna may be the only one who ultimately ''will'' save the world, but she's not the only one who is ''able'' to, and gets stiff competition -- and criticism -- from other summoners throughout her quest. And even if she succeeds, [[spoiler:she's only saving the world in the short term. If she does the thing she was chosen for, [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed the BigBad will just come back to life anyway]].]]
** Needless to say, the world gets saved regardless; Yuna's role in saving it just turns out to be a lot less singular.

* Subverted with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'''s Sephiroth.

* Tidus in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. [[spoiler:He was brought to Spira by Jecht who, upon becoming Sin, [[ChooserOfTheChosenOne decided]] that Tidus should be the one to defeat him]].

* Subverted, while ''HarryPotter'' is even given the "chosen one" title by the general wizarding public, though this is based on a correct guess anyway. Oddly enough, Harry is not chosen by destiny but instead by [[spoiler:his nemesis - who, in his ignorant paranoia, makes a rod for his own back.]] Played straight in the way Harry fulfills the role and the way most people treat him throughout the books.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** It's been made clear from the earliest parts of the manga that Urahara has been looking for "The One" for a long time. When Ichigo defeats the story's first Menos Grande, Urahara's followers become convinced Urahara has finally found "The One", with Yoruichi becoming convinced of this only after Ichigo's bankai training. Later on, it's indicated that Ichigo's path will take his future away from him, but that he needs to follow it to "protect everyone".
** In the final arc, the Vandenreich reveal that they are tracking down five Special War Potentials for reasons they do not fully reveal. Only three of those five have so far been confirmed:
*** [[spoiler:Kenpachi Zaraki]] is identified as one of them, but what the Vandenreich want to do about him is as yet unrevealed. Kyouraku, on the other hand, feels he is necessary to turn the tide in the war between the Soul Reapers and the Quincies.
*** Yamamoto is extremely disturbed when Yhwach reveals the reason why he invaded Soul Society. [[spoiler:He entered the Muken Prison to recruit Aizen to the Vandenreich's side. He claims that Aizen refused the request but Yhwach not only acts like he expected Aizen to refuse, he also seems completely unbothered to have been rejected.]]
*** Yhwach tells Ichigo that he had hoped to approach him differently, but an early awakening [[spoiler:of Ichigo's latent Quincy powers]] means he has no choice but to drag him back to the Vandenreich by force for "re-education". He fails only because he realises he's been affected [[spoiler:by Aizen]] in a mysterious way, forcing him to retreat back to the Vandenreich empty-handed.

*** Yamamoto is extremely disturbed when Yhwach reveals the reason why he invaded Soul Society. [[spoiler:He entered the Muken Prison to recruit Aizen to the Vandenreich's side. He claims that Aizen refused the request but Yhwach not only acts like he expected Aizen to refuse, but he also seems completely unbothered to have been rejected.]]
*** Yhwach tells Ichigo that he had hoped to approach him differently, but the early awakening [[spoiler:of Ichigo's latent Quincy powers]] means he has no choice but to drag him back to the Vandenreich by force for "re-education". He fails only because he realises he's been affected [[spoiler:by Aizen]] in a mysterious way, forcing him to retreat back to the Vandenreich empty-handed.

*** Yhwach tells [[spoiler: Ichigo]] that he had hoped to approach him differently, but the early awakening [[spoiler:of Ichigo's latent Quincy powers]] means he has no choice but to drag him back to the Vandenreich by force for "re-education". He fails only because he realises he's been affected [[spoiler:by Aizen]] in a mysterious way, forcing him to retreat back to the Vandenreich empty-handed.

* In ''Anime/{{Bleach}}'', there are ''five'' Chosen Ones present, the so-called "Special War Powers" that could easily turn the tide in the war between Soul Society and the Vandenreich: [[TheHero The hero Ichigo Kurosaki himself]], [[BigBad the previous Big Bad Sousuke Aizen]], and [[BloodKnight resident Blood Knight Zaraki Kenpachi]].
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' was a deconstruction. Chosen One? [[spoiler:You're going to die in vain, and if you do the thing you were chosen for, the BigBad keeps living.]]

* [[MeaningfulName Duck]] is chosen by Drosselmeyer to become the eponymous MagicalGirl of ''PrincessTutu'', in order to move along the plot of [[RewritingReality his story]]. He conveniently fails to mention [[DownerEnding how the story is supposed to end...]]

* ''UnLunDun'' by China Miéville subverts this. A book of prophecies says that Zanna is supposed to be the Shwazzy, the one who will save the world from Smog, the EvilOverlord. But when Zanna is injured, her friend Deeba must take up the fight against Smog, even though she's in the prophecies as the PluckyComicRelief.
** It goes so far as to have Deeba be christened "the Unchosen One" [[TheUnchosenOne Now its own trope.]]
* Subverted twice in ''Literature/GoodOmens'' by NeilGaiman and Creator/TerryPratchett. First, [[spoiler: the Antichrist (who is the Chosen One in this case) is accidentally SwitchedAtBirth one too many times, leaving the forces of Heaven and Hell to prepare the wrong boy for Armageddon for 11 years.]] Second, [[spoiler: when they both finally track the real Antichrist down, he reveals he doesn't want to destroy the world or TakeOverTheWorld, plus he manages to convince both sides to just forget the whole thing.]] There are strong hints that the PowersThatBe [[XanatosRoulette intended all of it to happen from the start.]]

* Eragon of the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' seems to be a Chosen One of sorts. Though he wasn't actually named in prophecy, he was chosen by the dragon Saphira to be her rider during the war between the Varden and the Empire. Since he is the only Dragon Rider not on the side of the Empire, the factions aligned with the Varden often laud him as their "only hope" to defeat Galbatorix, as they will fail without him. Not that they're very happy about this, given that he tends to ignore orders, lacks common sense, and tried to seduce one of their leadership figures. The dwarves are implied to conceal deep grudges against him. Eragon himself [[ResignedToTheCall doesn't much like his position either]].

** Another, more tragic example, is [[spoiler: Luke Castallen, who was always fated to betray the gods and serve Kronos, and to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath finally]] perform a HeroicSacrifice to destroy Kronos.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', four of the six main characters are chosen by the Ellimist, at least according to the Crayak. (Jake and Rachel were the odd ones out)

* Jaenelle Angelline from the ''Black Jewels'' Trilogy is Witch, a being born from the dreams of the people of her and other worlds to the end the corruption of two powerful witches. As such, she has god-like powers which surpass all others

** The Anointed One was also an intended chosen one, but instead was killed by a vampire who may not have been destined, but also wasn't stuck in the body of a child.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' desconstructs this with [[TheWoobie River Tam]]. Her exceptional intellect and implied latent [[PsychicPowers psychic ability]] got her "chosen" - to go straight to [[SchoolForScheming the Academy]]. She came out the other end a [[MindRape traumatized]] [[AxeCrazy mental wreck]] who [[ThereAreNoTherapists can't be treated]] and suffers from both schizophrenia and [[PowerIncontinence uncontrolled mind powers.]]

--->''It's bad luck to be you,\\

-->'''Fry:''' "So I really am important? How I feel when I'm drunk is correct?"\\

* In the web cartoon ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/316541 Animator vs. Animation]]'', a sadistic Flash animator creates a little stick man called "Victim" to torment. "Victim" quickly turns around and starts tormenting ''him'', [[InterfaceScrew tearing up the Flash GUI]] and playing kickball with the mouse cursor until the harried animator manages to close the program. Things escalate in ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/368557 Animator vs. Animation 2]]'', in which the animator makes the careless mistake of naming his creation ''TheChosenOne'': not only does this nightmare creature with the power of ten million stick men destroy the Flash interface, he ''[[BreakingtheFourthWall escapes to the animator's desktop]]'' and begins wreaking havoc there. The only thing that stops his rampage is the timely intervention of Avast Anti-Virus, after which TheChosenOne is rehabilitated as the best pop-up blocker ever (he ''incinerates'' the bastards!). Finally in ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/576381 Animator vs, Animation 3]]'' ''TheChosenOne'' escapes from his pop up blocker 'job' and begins [[InterfaceScrew wrecking havok again on the animator's desktop.]] The animator is forced to create another stickman named ''TheDarkLord'' to try and destroy the ''TheChosenOne''. There battles reaches all across the desktop and it ends with the computer blue-screening.

** Seen also in Drake's later BelisariusSeries, with the eponymous general (who formed, along with the 5th century AD Roman Empire he served in RealLife, the historical basis of TheGeneral) being chosen by Aide.

* The Book of Darkness, an all powerful magical tome from MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha chooses its master at random, and the most recent one is a paraplegic young Japanese girl by the name of Hayate Yagami. [[spoiler:this also makes her a different kind of ChosenOne, as Gil Graham, the TSAB admiral who had been tracking the book down decided that she will be the last master, as he planned to seal her together with the book when it goes berserk when it is completed since she was alone and nobody would mourn for her.]]

* In ''WrongTimeForDragons'' by SergeyLukyanenko and NickPerumov, the protagonist is an everyman from our world who ends up in a fantasy setting in the "middle" world (between our non-magical world and a world where magic is everywhere) prophecied to be the next Dragon Slayer and protect the "middle" world from another invasion by the Dragons of the magic world. However, he faces opposition from those who wish to see the Dragons win. In a twist, one of the people opposing him is the previous Dragon Slayer, who stopped the previous invasion by killing the lead Dragon, raping his mate and banishing her to the non-magic world. She ended up [[spoiler:being the protagonist's grandmother, meaning he's the grandson of a Dragon and a Dragon Slayer]].
* In the ''[[Literature/NightWatch Watch]]'' books by SergeyLukyanenko, Anton and Svetlana's daughter is supposed to be the next messiah, although the ending of the second book makes it unclear as to whether she will be the actual messiah or simply an extremely-powerful Other. As of the sixth novel, we're still not sure, although it's claimed that she has the power to [[spoiler:destroy Twilight itself by killing the Tiger, its manifestation, eliminating magic from the world]].

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', where unscrupulous ArmsDealer Marcus Kincaid tells an egotistical nerd that he is the Chosen One of prophecy for the sole purpose of selling him a gun for two million dollars.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' has the fat panda Po chosen as the Dragon Warrior by Master Oogway, seemingly just for bursting into the arena via fireworks. Seen as a decision marked by senility and coincidence by his disciple Shifu, Oogway nonetheless genuinely believes Po is more worthy than any of the highly trained Furious Five. It takes a while, but everyone realizes that the turtle's choice is absolutely right.

* ''Disney/TheLionKing 2]]'' makes use of this when referring to the cub Kovu, who was Scar's 'chosen one' as heir to the throne of the Pride Lands.

* Both JeffJarrett in WCW and Drew [=McIntyre=] in WWE have been specifically referred to as "The Chosen One." In both cases the divine destiny was more the fact that they were well liked by the bookers, with Jeff being personal friends with VinceRusso and Drew apparently being a [[CreatorsPet favorite]] of WWE owner VinceMcMahon. Jeff has had some ups and downs with his chosen one gimmick. Drew was, at first, nearly universally reviled by the internet wrestling community as most found him to be very boring in the ring and on the mic.
However, after he lost the Intercontinental Championship and was stopped being pushed as hard, he became an EnsembleDarkhorse.

* In ''[[Literature/BooksOfPellinor The Naming]]'' by Alison Croggon, Maerad is specifically mentioned in the dream of a seer centuries ago and is foretold to destroy the Nameless One in his greatest uprising of evilness and save the world. She's also known as The One, The Fated One, and The Foretold.

* Both JeffJarrett in WCW and Drew [=McIntire=] in WWE have been specifically referred to as "The Chosen One." In both cases the divine destiny was more the fact that they were well liked by the bookers, with Jeff being personal friends with VinceRusso and Drew apparently being a [[CreatorsPet favorite]] of WWE owner VinceMcMahon. While Jeff had some ups and downs with his chosen one gimmick Drew has been nearly universally reviled by the internet wrestling community as most find him to be very boring in the ring and on the mic.

* The Keyblades in ''KingdomHearts'' tend to choose keybearers for themselves when needed. This part goes to Sora and later also to [[spoiler: Mickey Mouse, Riku, and Kairi.]] Once chosen, a keybearer has to deal with a great amount of Heartless and Nobodies, who want to kill him/her because keyblades are the only true threat to them and also simply BecauseDestinySaysSo. Additionally, Sora was also chosen to open "the door to light" with his keyblade for reasons as yet unknown.