History Main / ThePoorlyChosenOne

* Tai Lung in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. His mentor Shifu let the pride he felt for his adoptive son blind him to both Tai Lung's [[StartOfDarkness growing personal issues]] and the possibility that he may not be cut out for the title of Dragon Warrior. As a result, Lung grew up thinking he was entitled to the role, so when he was rejected, he... [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge didn't take it well, to put it mildly]]. [[spoiler: The big twist is that ''because'' he was such an accomplished and confident martial artist, the actual benefits of the title would have been worthless to him anyway; Shifu had badly misunderstood what it meant.]]

** Once Ruti eventually manages to suppress her Hero's Blessing and convert it into a new one, a new holder of the Hero's Blessing appears. In contrast to Ruti, Van is devout, gung-ho about being the Hero and, as TheFatalist, believes in embracing ones' Blessings.This manifests in a LackOfEmpathy such that he can brush off death of any kind, be it incidental or caused by him directly, with DissonantSerenity because he regards it as the dead simply fulfilling their destinies and be a {{Jerkass}} towards people who are only trying to be kind to him, such as snapping at someone giving him food simply because the Hero doesn't need to eat.

** Once Ruti eventually manages to suppress her Hero's Blessing and convert it into a new one, a new holder of the Hero's Blessing appears. In contrast to Ruti, Van is devout, gung-ho about being the Hero and, as TheFatalist, believes in embracing ones' Blessings.This manifests in a LackOfEmpathy such that he can brush off death of any kind, be it incidental or caused by him directly, with DissonantSerenity because he regards it as the dead simply fulfilling their destinies and be a {{Jerkass}} towards people who are only trying to be kind to him by, such as snapping at someone giving him food simply because the Hero doesn't need to eat.

* ''Literature/BanishedFromTheHerosParty'': People in the setting are given blessings by the gods that determine their abilities and natures. This can quickly turn into BlessedWithSuck when a person's given blessing runs counter to what they want to actually ''do'', such as a boy who wants to become a town guard like his dad, but whose "Bar Brawler" blessing makes him a short-tempered, violent bully. Then there's Ruti Ragnason, a teenage girl who has the Blessing of the Hero. Ruti's blessing gives her the power of a OneWomanArmy and compels her to help others. It also makes her not need sleep, FeelNoPain, and prioritize others' survival over her own, regardless of how she personally feels about them. The one and only thing keeping her motivated in her journey to fight the Demon Lord's Army was her older brother Gideon's presence and support. When he's convinced to leave the party without telling Ruti, the only thing keeping her on track is the fact her Blessing won't allow her to do anything else. Unsurprisingly, the moment Ruti learns of a means to suppress her Blessing's compulsions she grabs it with both hands and abandons her quest entirely to find and settle down by her beloved brother.

* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition'' adventure ''TabletopGame/DragonlanceShadowOfTheDragonQueen'', the gods of good chose the Solamnic knight Zanas Sarlamir to mediate a dispute between the people of the flying city of Onyari and the metallic dragons whose sacred burial ground had been desecrated by those people to make their city fly. But rather than find a peaceful solution to the problem, Sarlamir slew the dragons' leader using a dragonlance in an act of paranoia. This murder outraged the other dragons, sparking a battle which led to the city's destruction and the deaths of everyone involved, Sarlamir included.

* ZigZagged in the ''Toys/{{Bionicle}} Adventures'' books. Toa Lhikan secretly arranges for six seemingly unfit Matoran citizens to become the Toa Metru, his successors who would save the city of Metru Nui. Unknown to him, the names of this team were planted into his mind by [[BigBad the Makuta]]. The Toa Metru do fail, they can't keep Makuta from destroying the city, wiping its people's memory and [[spoiler:killing Lhikan]], however they do stop him just before he could take over. As the new Toa look for a place to evacuate the mind-wiped Matoran, they find proof that others were destined to become Toa, not them. This blow almost destroys what little was left of their morale, but after many further failings, adventures and battles (like being tricked into setting Makuta free, undoing their own biggest victory) they eventually reform and complete their task, becoming wise and capable leaders burdened by their past. Meanwhile they discover [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption their failure was meant to happen]] as part of PhysicalGod Mata Nui's contingency plan. Mata Nui had changed the prophecies, tricking Makuta into thinking other Matoran were destined to be Toa, so Makuta tried to cheat fate by choosing the worst possible candidates and coerced Lhikan into giving his Toa powers to them. Thereby Makuta unknowingly picked the best team who could stall his plan, recuperate and establish a new society following their failure to save the city. Their contrasting ideologies that initially lead to much infighting also proved helpful for guiding the Matoran later on.

* Played with Priestess in ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'': {{Top God}}dess Illusion had favored Priestess, but the latter loses her status to no fault of her own, [[spoiler:but rather [[KillerGameMaster Illusion being horrible at dice rolls]]. This explains [[TotalPartyKill the disastrous results]] of the Greenhorn Team at the start of the series; however, Priestess is spared [[BigDamnHeroes due to the timely arrival of the titular Goblin Slayer]], which altered her fate, as Illusion had essentially given up on Priestess. In later volumes, Priestess' new ability "[[MySignificantSenseIsTingling Revelation]]" is implied to be a gift previously bestowed upon her by Illusion when she was the goddess' favorite]].

* ''ComicBook/VenomEwingAndRamV'' reveals Knull is one of these. The Celestials had intended the King in Black to be a form of multiversal maintenance. Knull disagreed, and figured wiping out all life was the best way to "burn the draft card". After all, if there's no-one and nothing to watch out for, he doesn't have to do the work.

* Played with Priestess in ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'': {{Top God}}dess Illusion had favored Priestess, but the latter loses her status to no fault of her own, [[spoiler:but rather [[KillerGameMaster Illusion being horrible at dice rolls]]. This explains [[TotalPartyKill the disastrous results]] of the Greenhorn Team at the start of the series; however, Priestess is spared [[BigDamnHeroes due to the timely arrival of the titular Goblin Slayer]], which altered her fate, as Illusion had essentially given up on Priestess. In later volumes, Priestess' new ability "[[MySignificantSenseIsTingling Revelation]]" is implied to be a gift previously bestowed upon her by Illusion when she was the goddess' favorite]].

Not to be confused with TheChosenZero, where the Chosen One is a loser ''socially'', but ultimately follows the criteria of their chosen-ness. When the apparent Chosen One [[TheAce functions perfectly on his prophetized vocation]] up until the moment he snaps, see TheParagonAlwaysRebels.

* The ComicBook/GreenLantern Corps' [[TheChooserOfTheOne Guardians of the Universe tend to be prone to this]], one of their most humiliating examples being ComicBook/TheNewGuardians who were a team of {{Captain Ethnic}}s selected to represent all of humanity and [[MarsNeedsWomen breed a new race of superhumans]]. Out of the twelve people selected, one (Terra from ComicBook/TeenTitans) was already dead, two were killed off early, another was an AngryWhiteMan who refused to work with minorities, and of the ones who actually ''did'' join the team one [[IncompatibleOrientation was gay]] and another was a PlantPerson.