Basic Trope: High school student protagonist who appears normal at the start of the work before becoming the hero in some fantastical plot.
- Straight:
- Alice is just your average student at Troperville High... until it is revealed that she must take up the Legacy of the Chosen and assist in defending her town from the minions of an Eldritch Abomination. Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World ensues.
- Alice has no powers or hidden responsibilities to begin with, but she finds a MacGuffin in a mysterious cabin that allows her to view the Eldritch Abomination. She finds herself as The Unchosen One who must do something to seal it.
- Exaggerated: Alice seems completely normal, until she realizes that she is an Amnesiac God, and has to quickly regain her powers to stop the universe from being destroyed by an Omnicidal Maniac.
- Downplayed:
- Alice is a regular student who, over the course of the series, becomes the Badass Normal head of a campaign seeking to keep Sadist Teachers out of public schools.
- Alice was already gifted and a star athlete before taking up the Legacy of the Chosen. She was only 'normal' in the sense of being a Badass Normal already being at the far end of the bell curve.
- Justified:
- The Oracle had to determine whether Alice was pure enough to be accepted among The Chosen Many.
- Alice is secretly the reincarnation of Alisandra, a legendary hero who has slain countless evildoers. She has the power she needs to prevail; the Oracle just has to reawaken her memories.
- Inverted:
- Alice is a Mysterious Waif who is implied to be of mystical origins. Over the course of the series we find out she's not so special, just quirky and not talkative.
- The Call Put Me on Hold
- Ryuji is the Foreign Exchange Student From Osaka is a Hot-Blooded Japanese Delinquent with a huge, golden blond pompadour that wouldn't look out of place being on a Stock Shōnen Hero, but as the series progresses, he's revealed to just be a relatively mundane kid with absolutely no ties to any supernatural things.
- Subverted: It is revealed that Alice had superpowers for her whole life, but also that Everybody Knew Already.
- Double Subverted: ...because everyone in this setting has superpowers. Although, like Alice's powers (at first), theirs are so diluted that it barely makes a difference. Alice only rises above the rest when she figures out how to enhance her powers and make good use of them.
- Parodied:
- As soon as Alice blows out her sixteen birthday candles, she is handed a hastily scrawled letter informing her that she is actually a vampyric werewolf with telepathy who must save the world from an ominous cult, a Zombie Apocalypse, and an Evil Sorcerer, all the while coming to terms with her sexuality. Oh, and this message will self-destruct in ten seconds.
- Alice's Unwitting Muggle Friend, Bob, constantly snarks about how he sure hopes nobody leaves a mysterious artifact at his doorstep or reveals his magical ancient heritage, because he sure wouldn't expect it at this age and would have no idea how to handle it what with all of the teen literature he reads that covers this very concept. He ends up indirectly giving Alice all of the knowledge she needs to save the world.
- Alice is secretly... an otaku! (Induction into the anime fan community is very over-the-top where she lives. It involves lots of LARPing.)
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- The story is a realistic Slice of Life, and Alice stays normal and average for the whole series.
- Everyone Is a Super of equal power.
- It's obvious from the start that Alice is The Chosen One.
- Enforced: "Make the protagonist a teenage girl, or any sort of high-schooler. That should appeal to the target demographic."
- Lampshaded: "Hello. I'm Alice. I'm just your run-of-the-mill student in high-school. Or at least... I used to be."
- Invoked: The Oracle is aware of the bizarrely high success rate of recruiting high school students to save the world. This inspires his plan to recruit Alice.
- Exploited: Lord Evulz tampers with the Codex of Destiny to trick the Oracle into choosing an easy foe to defeat.
- Defied: The Oracle founds a secret society dedicated to preparing for the Eldritch Abomination's return. With a pool of people already trained to fight a Lovecraftian horror, they do not have to resort to recruiting inexperienced high school students.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- So as it turns out, sending high school students to fight in a war against Eldritch Abominations is actually a really bad idea. Alice dies within five minutes.
- Alice does not die, but she does find herself out of her depth at being thrust into dangerous situations, tends to make things worse because of her inexperience, and endures a Trauma Conga Line that slowly breaks her.
- Alice is intimidated by the extreme amount of responsibility the Oracle is dumping on her all at once, so she tells them to leave. The Oracle is forced to find someone else.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice's powers finally awaken under the looming specter of death. The next step: figuring out how to access them at will.
- The Oracle plans ahead and recruits Alice years before the Eldritch Abomination is expected to awaken, giving her ample time for training.
- Alice's mundane skills are more useful than expected. While the Oracle can can barely operate a computer, Alice quickly learns that the Eldritch Abomination is using social media to recruit new followers. Alice is also a skilled Troll and spreads "This is What Glg'thar's Followers Actually Believe" memes. The villains become the laughingstock of the internet and recruitment takes a nosedive.
- Alice regrets turning away the Oracle in their time of need. She offers to help the Oracle and their new protege in any way she can... and possibly even becomes a Badass Normal in the process.
- Building on Played for Drama, Alisandra awakens to berate the Oracle for their callousness, reminding them that this isn't the first time they used The Needs of the Many to justify inhumane actions. Alice and Alisandra decide to become a Mind Hive instead. Each identity "tags in" based on the needs of the situation.
- Played For Drama: Building on Justified, reawakening Alisandra means erasing all of her memories as Alice. Alice is not happy about this.
Class is starting...
