The Chosen One / Literature

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• In the Aeon Legion universe, there are those with a special connection to destiny called Qadar. They have a bad habit of dying though, usually to stop some threat from destroying history.
• Averted in the Ahriman Trilogy. Gabriel Bell was supposed to be the one, but he dies in Chapter 1. This leaves the middle child Simon, the one no one ever expected anything of, to pick up the mantle.
• In 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.)
  • Even among those chosen four, however, Tobias stands out. The Ellimist goes to great lengths to ensure his birth, manipulating Elfangor's life in such a way that he would sire Tobias and then be separated from him. He then targets Tobias specifically to save a pair of Hork-Bajir, telling him he is 'a point on which a timeline may turn'. Strangely, the Ellimist's high prediction never seems to go anywhere: while Tobias succeeds in saving the Hork-Bajir, his role in the rest of the series is minimal and ultimately he even opposes the strategy which ends up winning the war.
    • Bear in mind that the Ellimist and Crayak are playing a Long Game on a universal scale in time frame of eons — who's to say that Tobias' actions were ever meant to have an immediate effect? (Remember the Iskroot?)
• In Annals of the Western Shore, Memer is chosen to read and speak the prophecies of the Oracle when it's revived. It's a little overwhelming.
• When Rook is in jail at the beginning of Astral Cafe, he remembers being called to be a Chosen One. As the series progresses, there are hints that it did not go well for him. Especially since after that he was chained to a wall for five years fighting a never ending battle.
• In A Bad Day for Voodoo, Esmeralda, the maker of the voodoo dolls, explains to Tyler and Kelley that Adam is this, and will one day defeat the hobgoblins. When Kelley questions this, she explains that only the chosen one could have made the voodoo dolls so powerful.
• In L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth, Johnny Goodboy Tyler is recognized as the one, the individual who almost single handedly defeated an empire of billions of beings on thousands of planets. He is even introduced to the alien ambassadors as a force majeure, an unpredictable and unstoppable factor whose coming changes the whole Multiverse.
• Bazil Broketail: Relkin used to be a Sinni, but was reborn as a human and made into a living weapon against Waakzaam. This is why he shows great resistance to dark magic, especially that of the Dominator himself. He was essentially destined to be the one who destroys Waakzaam since his birth.
• In The Belgariad and The Malloreon, Garion (or Belgarion, his adult name) is the Chosen One (his actual prophetic title) who has to save the universe, kill the bad god, raise the new one, and keep control of his wife. And that is no mean feat. Then he has to do it all again in the sequel series.
  • This series takes this trope quite literally. The voice in Belgarion's head tells him that the world's reason for existence is to give him a place to stand when he achieves a Moment of Awesome.
  • Slight subversion with the Prophecy of Light: while Garion technically is the main Chosen One, the prophecy makes use of several others for various reasons. Driven home when the Prophecy itself informs Garion that what's happening with two of the others is, quite frankly, none of his business.
• David Drake's Belisarius Series: The eponymous general (who formed, along with the 5th century AD Roman Empire he served in Real Life, the historical basis of The General Series) being chosen by Aide.
• The Black Company decides to protect one after their employer turns on them. In this case she's the reincarnation of The White Rose, a hero who is supposedly able to defeat The Lady. The original was responsible for putting The Lady in the can along with her husband and sorcerers. It's implied that she was able to do this because she nullifies all magic around her.
• 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.
• Blowing Up the Movies: The Star Wars essay focuses on this.
• In Books of Pellinor 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. The series is not known for subtlety.
• Subverting this is what The Brightest Shadow is all about. The Hero is explicitly and undeniably chosen by destiny, but what he intends to do is horrifying to the characters (and presumably the reader).
• Torak in The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. It's not exactly easy for him, but it does get him a wolf friend.
• Lampshaded and subverted thoroughly with Shan's story in The Chronicles of Magravandias. Shan was actually Taropat's back-up choice since the real chosen one was killed by the Magravandians. Taropat decided to Screw Destiny and create a new hero to defeat Magravandias. Further taken apart by Shan ultimately not being the hero of the story anyway, even if he plays a key role; he is the Warrior, not the King.
• The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is a deconstruction of this trope, with Covenant being quite possibly the worst chosen one ever. A first class Jerkass, buries the needle on the cynical side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism, christens himself "The Unbeliever" because he refuses to believe the world he is supposed to save is real, and within in his first day in said world crosses a major Moral Event Horizon by raping a 16-year-old girl.
• El Conquistador. Quetza fills this trope, as well as The Cassandra, as he is more of a tragic character.
• Constance Verity from the Constance Verity Trilogy is "The Snurkhab", a sort of Messiah Archetype who's destined for greatness, a grand, intergalactic conspiracy having been established to ensure that she fulfills her destiny and save the universe(s) from whatever threatens it. In her case, it makes her into a Weirdness Magnet that has to slay every monster, unearth every Ancient Conspiracy and free every oppressed civilization she stumbles across. Root describes her as a sort of "corrective measure" for a universe that requires constant maintenance. In the climax of The Last Adventure of Constance Verity, it's revealed that her status as the Chosen One is the result of an anomaly within The Engine's attempts at instill order onto a disorderly multiverse, making her "the embodiment of everything unpredictable.
• Cradle Series: The books manage to combine this with The Unchosen One. Wei Shi Lindon was no one special, with no exceptional fate or destiny. He was an Un-Sorcerer spat on for most of his life; his most likely future was a life full of struggle, eventually marrying a nice girl, and then dying at middle age when a Dreadgod destroys his home. However, when an ascendant being descends and begins slaughtering all the greatest sacred artists of the Valley, he tries to help. This does literally nothing, but Suriel of the Abidan is impressed with his courage. As she's reversing time to undo the damage, she speaks with Lindon, showing him his potential future, and giving him advice to leave the Valley and gain the power to save his home. She gives him absolutely no help beyond that, and brief chapters from her point of view make it clear that she fully expects him to die at multiple points and plans to do nothing about it, but she is fond of him. One of her peers tweaks his plans to push Lindon harder rather than undoing Suriel's intervention because he knows Suriel likes him, and another lower-ranked Abidan refers to him as "Suriel's mortal."
• Crescent City: Ruhn's power mostly comes from his mother, but his ability to summon a tiny bit of starlight makes him this in the eyes of the Fae.
• Dagger-Star by Elizabeth Vaughan had a prophecy that only a person with a dagger-shaped birthmark can free the land of Palins from its tyrant and become its rightful ruler. It turns out that a lot of people have this birthmark, but most of them are mere children, and the tyrant, thinking that the prophecy only referred to one person, captured a woman with this birthmark and made her a Sex Slave until her mind broke. The Action Girl Red Gloves, not really caring about the prophecy, defeats the tyrant (being a Nay-Theist, Red Gloves says that she won because she was a better fighter, not because of some prophecy), then retires and lets another girl with the birthmark named Gloriana become the Queen.
• In The Death Gate Cycle, the true name of Alfred Montbank is Coren, which is the Sartan word for "Chosen" or "To Choose". It's apparently a very common name among Sartan, as parents hope their child will be chosen for some great destiny. Alfred comes to hate his name when sheer chance results in him being chosen to be the only survivor of the Sartan community on Arianus.
• In The Oaken Throne, a prequel to Robin Jarvis' Deptford Mice trilogy, a Silver Acorn pendant literally falls into the paws of a squirrelmaiden named Ysabelle. It is the symbol of office for the squirrel monarchs known as Starwives, and she is thus chosen as the successor to the throne.
• Kajiya and all the magiks in Destined to Lead , Kajiya being a rare case where her 'chosen one' status is revoked.
• From Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
  • Inverted with Rincewind in The Light Fantastic, who learns that he was Chosen by the Eight Spells to carry one of them around in his head. Not because he's actually expected to do anything heroic or impressive, but because he's a coward who's good at escaping danger, so can at least be expected to survive until the spell is needed.
  • Subverted by Carrot. From the first book he appeared in (Guards! Guards!), it has been obvious that he was the Chosen One to be king of Ankh-Morpork: he's pure of heart, he has a cool sword, etc. However, even though later books have made it obvious that Vimes, Vetinari, Carrot, and other members of the Watch know he is the Chosen One, Carrot prefers to remain in the Watch. Part of it is that what he's destined for is to restore the monarchy, and he thinks the current administration is better.
  • Brutha Small Gods. The trick here is that Brutha doesn't want to become the prophet, but is actually the Only One that believes in Om...
  • Also subverted in the later Discworld novel Going Postal, in which Moist von Lipwig is the Chosen One simply because he's the One who happens to be available. "At a time like this, any One will do!"
• In Dragon Bones it turns out that the valet Axiel is actually, as he claims to be when he's very drunk, the dwarf-king's son, and he has been staying at Hurog as the servant of the quite nasty-tempered Hurogmeten because his father had a dream about a chosen one who would be born there, who would set right what was done to the dragons long ago. He wanted to be at the right place at the right time.
• The Dresden Files has so far left the nature of 'starborn' ambiguous. However, because the protagonist is a starborn, fans often assume that they are Chosen Ones.
• Dune — the trope is thoroughly deconstructed with Paul Atreides and his son Leto. Played straight with Duncan Idaho in the final book.
  • Not quite played straight in fact, since he was chosen by the Tleilaxu — and it doesn't quite work out as planned.
• Sparhawk in The Elenium trilogy by David Eddings is the one destined to wield the mystical sapphire rose known as the Bhelliom. Eventually, this is explained by the fact that the Bhelliom, centuries back, actually spawned a human offspring, from whom Sparhawk is descended. Sparhawk is, essentially, a minor god and never knew it. This is about the only thing he's destined to do, because he's Anakha, the Man without a Destiny — a trait that scares gods because, unlike any other person with a destiny, they can't predict what he's going to do from one moment to the next.
• The Empirium Trilogy: The Sun Queen is stated to be a human girl who has access to all seven elements. She will be the one to save the world from the Blood Queen, another human girl with the same or similiar powers who is destined to destroy the world. When Rielle reveals that she can control not just fire, but earth and air, people wonder which of the two queens she might be.
• In Vasiliy Golovachev's The Envoy, the protagonist accidentally becomes a witness to the ambush of the previous Envoy, whose task is to gather the most powerful wizards in the Worldfan in order to prevent Lucifer's return. The protagonist ends up touching the strange dying man, and later notices a tattoo of sorts forming on his shoulder. His best friend tells him that he is the new Envoy and must finish the task. In fact, he ends up doing a lot more than just finding and gathering the wizards, becoming the one who actually stops the Big Bad. In the sequel The Deliverer, his son is prophesied to be the new savior of the Worldfan, so the former protagonist recruits a retired special forces operative to serve as his son's protector. In the end, the protector is revealed to have been the true Deliverer.
• In The Fallen, Aaron Corbett finds out on his 18th birthday that he is a Half-Human Hybrid called a Nephilim, the son of a Fallen Angel and a human mother. Moreso, he is a special Nephilim prophesied long ago to someday redeem the fallen angels and return them to Heaven. Like all fallen angels and Nephilim, he is being hunted by the Powers, a group of dedicated angels who consider it their divine mission to erase the stain of the angel rebellion by killing all the rebels and their offspring. In the last part of the mini-series, Aaron finds out that his father is Lucifer Morningstar, who wants to be redeemed and start another war against the Creator. Like all the angels and Nephilim, Aaron can speak any language (including animals), manifest and use flaming swords, throw fireballs, and fly on wings. He also has the unique power of Redeeming, which can send the soul of any fallen angel who truly wishes redemption back to Heaven.
• In Fate of the Jedi, several people see visions of Allana Djo Solo (Han Solo and Leia Organa's granddaughter, Jacen Solo and Tenel Ka Djo's daughter) sitting on the Throne of Balance. Many people interpret this to mean Allana is destined to become a "Jedi Queen" who will rule the galaxy. Several factions either try to help her or assassinate her.
• Isaac Asimov's Foundation's Edge: Golan Trevize is chosen by Gaia, to determine the fate of humanity, because he makes good decisions instinctively. He is, every so often, certain, and these decisions are always correct. To be more precise, Gaia manipulated the Second Foundation to manipulate the First Foundation to send Trevize away with a specially-made ship so that he could play kingmaker in the three-way Mexican Standoff that Gaia was arranging near Sayshell.
• Galilee by Clive Barker discusses the trope on several levels. First, Maddox believes himself to be the one, considering that the book you are reading has been written by him as part of his sacred mission to tell the Barbarossa stroy. In his mind he's the only one fit to accomplish it because he's only an observer, not an actor. As such, he plays the trope while having almost no relevance to the story unfolding. He grows slowly out of it during writing as he realizes no book will never tell the whole truth in all its detail despite his omniscient tendencies. It's subverted for good at the end when the book is left unfinished.
• At the end of Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts novel Ghostmaker, with the eldar who could have closed the Way dead, Inquisitor Lilith must take his place. The eldar there are struck by her name, which they take as Lileath, and Gaunt points out that her whole life has led there. It merely states, however, that "perhaps" she had been born to do that.
• In the David Drake military SF series The General Series, Raj Whitehall is 'Chosen' by an ancient AI to save Human civilization on the planet Bellevue, while his friend Thom Poplanich is chosen by the same AI for a related role that results in Thom being offscreen practically the entire series — it turns out to be handling the governance aspects of saving Human civilization on Bellevue once Raj has set the stage through military acumen. Followed up with several other Chosen, in several sequel series.
• Deconstructed in A Girl Of Fire And Thorns. Godstone bearers are chosen to perform a great act of service for God. However, this could conceivably be any act, from digging a well to painting flowers, seemingly with no rhyme or reason. By the end of the first book, several objects from previous bearers are used to forge an amulet to defeat the enemy mages. Scripture and prophecy regarding the bearers are so vague that they're basically useless, and Elisa eventually realizes that she has no way of knowing if she fulfilled prophecy or not. In the end, despite Elisa having made peace with Invierne, defeated the deciregi, found the zafira, and made countless invaluable discoveries concerning magic,God, and their peoples, it turns out the great destiny she was selected for was finding a random oasis. This prompts Elisa to realize that bearers are simply the people that ensure Contrived Coincidences for a much bigger plan, and she decides to compile everything she knows to be passed on to the next bearer.
• In The Giver, Jonas is chosen by his society to be the new Receiver of Memory, a very revered position. Halfway through the book he decides that pulling a Screw Destiny will work for the better of society in the long run.
• Dexterity Jones and to some extent Zandakar in Karen Miller's Godspeaker Trilogy. Rhian also displays elements of this trope as she is mentioned by Hettie.
• Played with in Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. First, the Antichrist (who is the Chosen One in this case) is accidentally Switched at Birth one too many times, leaving the forces of Heaven and Hell to prepare the wrong boy for Armageddon for 11 years. Second, when they both finally track the real Antichrist down, he reveals he doesn't want to destroy the world or Take Over the World, so he convinces both sides to forget the whole thing. There are strong hints that the Powers That Be intended all of this to happen from the start.
• Sasha Hunter in Greek Ninja is chosen by fate to protect the world from the evil powers approaching it due to her being the reincarnation of Eli. Also Daichi, who is the Legacy of Hiroyuki and according to the prophecy from Pythia, the task Sasha is trying to carry out cannot be accomplished without him.
• Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-sky is led by the Ol-zhaan, the supreme judges, priests, healers and guardians of the Kindar. Once a year, two teenagers are Chosen from among that year's school graduates. During the next year The Chosen are paraded around the cities and treated like fledgling gods. Most get hooked on the adulation. But Raamo doesn't, and this is where the story really starts.
• Coryn, in Guardians of Ga'Hoole fits this. So do Soren and probably Hoole himself. At the time of Hoole's death, the Ember was hidden, and it was foretold a barn owl would come to be the next to retrieve the ember. This was Coryn. But it was also said there would be "another king, un-embered, but Glaux blessed". This is Soren.
• Subverted, while Harry Potter 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 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.
  • As much as the trope is subverted, it's also played out literally; Voldemort overheard a prophecy about a child who would/could destroy him, which might have applied to either of two infants. The ONE he CHOSE to go after (or at least to go after first) was Harry, and the rest is history.
  • Though, it is also worth mentioning that the infant Voldemort didn't choose (Neville Longbottom) ended up playing a major part in his defeat (destroying the last horcrux) as well.
  • Also played with, in that Dumbledore states outright that he believes prophecies are only fulfilled if people want them to be, Voldemort chose to believe that only Harry could kill him, also implying that if Harry decided to say Screw Destiny anyone could have done it.
  • The Film Theorists have come up with an alternative theory. Both are the Chosen One.
• In Heralds Of Rhimn, a Herald is essentially a divinely-appointed Chosen One to a specific god, destined to carry out that god's will. Whether or not they enjoy being a vessel for the divine is another matter entirely.
• Her Crown of Fire: Rose is referred to as "godstouched" by a few different characters. She later becomes the Queen of Lotheria. This is a spiritual title, not a political one (yet?), granting Rose as-yet-unknown abilities.
• The Heroes of Olympus: All of them were chosen by fate for their talents/gifts. No room for tag-along kids or the load.
  • Percy: Making a Splash (the only one we know of.)
  • Piper: Charm Person (excluding Drew-no-fighter.)
  • Leo: Playing with Fire (only one in decades.)
  • Frank: Animorphism/Immune to Fate/ Awesomeness by Analysis.
  • Hazel: Dishing Out Dirt/ Back from the Dead/ Cool Horse.
  • Jason: Blow You Away/ Shock and Awe (unique for flight.)
  • Annabeth: Teen Genius (Arachne didn't stand a chance.)
• The House of Night:
  • Zoey, who is already on the fast track to High Priestessdom.
  • Possibly Stevie Rae as well, in a different way.
• Katniss from The Hunger Games. Arguably, she chose herself when she stepped up to volunteer, but by the later books it's revealed that some of the other characters have gone to great lengths to keep her as the figurehead for the rebellion.
• Eragon of the Inheritance Cycle 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 doesn't much like his position either.
• In The Initiate Brother, the main religion believes that there will eventually come a great Teacher. When the sign spoken of in prophecy occurs, people naturally start looking for him, and some people wonder if it's the protagonist, Shuyun — including Shuyun himself. Eventually, it turns out that he isn't — it's another character who has been mentioned throughout the story but not seen until the very end. Shuyun is, however, the person who will bring the Teacher's work to the world.
• Joel Suzuki: In Fable of the Fatewave, Joel learns that he is the Virtuoso. According to an ancient prophecy, he will become the most powerful Wavemaker in history, capable of traveling through space and time, and will need to save the universe.
• Played with Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell where there is a prophecy about the two bringing magic back to England and they think of themselves as chosen ones, restoring magic to its peak, except that they don't match the archetype at all (especially Norrell). Additionally, their skills pale in comparison to those of earlier magicians, and in essence, they are pawns setting events in motion to hasten the Raven King.
• Deconstructed in Kalpa Imperial: Seisdimillia was born with the eyes open, and her family made a great fuzz about it; so she actually believes that she has a great destiny and she's willing to achieve it.
• In Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix, Arthur Penhaligon is designated "Heir to the House" by Mister Monday, because he was supposed to die shortly thereafter, in an attempt to keep the Will at bay. Ironically, this was suggested by the Will itself, and led to Arthur becoming a major threat to the Trustees of the House.
• The Land of Green Ginger employs, lampshades, and lightly parodies the trope. The hero, Abu Ali, says that his grandmother looks like a Button-Nosed Tortoise shortly after he is born, which turns out to be a sign that he is destined to solve the problem of the Land of Green Ginger when he comes of age. After a moment of mild bemusement, everyone just accepts this.
• Used in The Legend Of Phoenix Mountain, where there are two Chosen Ones. Discussed every time someone refers to them as one.
• Light And Dark The Awakening Of The Mageknight: Danny who is revealed to be the Mageknight prophesied to end the war between Order of Light and the Shadows in the Light's favor.
• The Pevensies in C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe are a Chosen Quartet. Shasta/Cor of The Horse and His Boy is prophesied to be the one to save "Archenland, when she be in the worst danger in which ever she lay".
• J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is chock full of them: Frodo Baggins, Bilbo Baggins, Aragorn. Although it can look like Frodo chose his task by himself, both he and Bilbo seem to have been pre-destined to carry the Ring: "Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and...[Frodo was] meant to have it." Word of God has confirmed that Frodo's apparent 'choice' was accepting his destiny, and mentions that no-one except Frodo could have got the Ring all the way to Mount Doom. Of course, he fails to destroy the Ring, so possibly subverted. The world is ultimately saved by Samwise Gamgee the gardener and Gollum the corrupted hermit, who destiny had nothing to say about whatsoever.
• In Magic for Liars, one student of the Osthorne Academy of Young Mages, Dylan DeCambrey, believes that he's the Chosen One due to a Prophecy given to his family. It turns out, however, that it's his half-sister, Alexandria, who is the Chosen One.
• In the Malazan Book of the Fallen, there are several possible 'Chosen Ones', such as the deathless Rhulad Sengar who is chosen by the Crippled God to be the ruler of his mortal empire (but is then brutally and unexpectedly dispatched by Karsa Orlong using loopholes in the laws of magic). A better match may be Ganoes Paran, who is chosen to become the 'master of the deck', the arbiter of who will be chosen for godhood, for fairly obscure reasons. However, this power is not overused as he is only present in three of the eight published novels so far.
• Deconstructed in Master of the Five Magics: Alodar starts out wanting to be The Chosen One whom the queen will single out as royal hero and spouse, and his path from one mentor and clue to another seems to be leading him to some great destiny implied by the novel's very title. Except the woman he finds himself truly attracted to, and vice versa, is Lady Aeriel rather than the queen, and the series of clues he follows wasn't laid out because anyone predicted a Chosen One would follow them someday, but because Handar and his fellow wizards knew that if anyone but someone skilled in all five branches of magic tried to confront a demon prince, they'd get squashed like a bug. Alodar wasn't so much a Chosen One as a Let's-Hope-Like-Hell-Somebody-Turns-Up-Who-Can-Handle-This One.
• The Mermaid Chronicles: Three thousand years ago, most mermaids and selachii (shark people) were cursed by the High Council to be unable to fully transform into humans and leave the ocean. There's a prophecy that the curse will be broken by a "fire mermaid" who can walk on land. Cordelia thinks the prophecy refers to her because of her red hair and tail, and because she is the only remaining mermaid who can turn all the way into a human. At the end of Secrets of the Deep, it turns out that the prophecy refers to both her and Wade, who is one of the few land-walking selachii left. Together, they're able to use the pearl to open a portal to the High Council to plead their case.
• Played with in many, many ways before all is through by the prophecy of the Hero of Ages in Mistborn. The Hero turns out to be Sazed. Vin, the actual main character, is also a Chosen One of sorts, but isn't the Hero and wasn't part of prophecy.
• Subverted in Mordant's Need, in which there are many Chosen One candidates, but it turns out everyone has a specific role to fill.
• Subverted in the third Matthew Swift book, The Neon Court. The Neon Court and the Tribe spend most of the book preparing to go to war over a prophesied Chosen One who's supposed to give victory to whichever side she chooses. Except the prophecy was a lie. The two groups are being set up by a third party to go to war and wipe each other out, along with the poor girl who was singled out as the supposed Chosen One.
• In The Neverending Story Atreyu is the Chosen One for finding the cure for the Childlike Empress which will stop The Nothing.
• In the Night Watch (Series) books by Sergey Lukyanenko, 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 destroy Twilight itself by killing the Tiger, its manifestation, eliminating magic from the world.
• One Rose Trilogy's Kallista Varyl makes the mistake of offering the One anything she wants if she'll save a city under attack. Turns out, the One wants Kallista to take care of a few things...
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians includes a prophecy that says there will be a chosen one that will decide the fate of the gods. No pressure. There is one catch, however. They don't know who it is. All they know is that it is the next child of The Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon or Hades) that turns 16. Eventually it showed that Percy Jackson was the chosen one.
  • Another, more tragic example, is Luke Castallen, who was always fated to betray the gods and serve Kronos, and to finally perform a Heroic Sacrifice to destroy Kronos.
• There are two chosen ones in Phenomena, Alk and Ilke.
• The Gatekeepers from The Power of Five.
• The Prophecy of the Stones names four significant people who will play a part in freeing the land. Three of them are girls with specific tasks, who end up getting kicked out of their homes because of the prophecy and questing around the land to figure out what the prophecy means. The fourth is actually called The Chosen One and is tasked with leading the forces of good in the final battle.
• Raybearer: Children of the Kunleo bloodline have a chance at being born with a power called the Ray, which lets them link their minds to eleven people they've formed an intimate connection with. Said connection will provide them with an immunity against one way to die. Later in the book, it's revealed that every generation is supposed to have not two, but four Raybearers: an empress, an emperor, a prince and a princess.
• In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Zaphod Beebelbrox is placed in the Total Perspective Vortex — a machine that tells whoever's inside it exactly how important they are in relation to the universe. This is mainly used as a form of execution, as everyone placed inside it so far has gone insane. However, Zaphod walks (not falls) out triumphant — he really is (as he thinks) the most important person in the universe! Thing is, this gets subverted since he is unknowingly actually in a parallel universe created specifically for the purpose of him surviving the Total Perspective Vortex — thus since the universe was created just for him, he is by default the most important person in it. He then pulls a spaceship out of his pocket and travels through time.
• Morgon of The Riddle Master Trilogy can't seem to get a break. The man just wants to farm, but no. Rather he agrees to take a simple journey to answer a dark Riddle (i.e. a prophecy) about the stars on his forehead, which ends up sending him halfway across the continent a few times, and getting him attacked by mysterious shape-shifters.
• Played straight with the Three Hunters and the Lord of the Vampaneze in The Saga of Darren Shan.
• Second Apocalypse: A scion the Anisurimbor royal family is prophesied to return at the end of the world to fight the Consult and defeat the second coming of the No-God. The Mandate await his coming, though the rest of the world laughs at them for their perceived superstitions. Anisurimbor Kellhus just so happens to be a descendant of that line, and he does in fact seize control of the vast majority of the continent with his Dunyain training, with the intention of defeating the Consult and slaying the No-God.
• Shadow of the Conqueror: After surviving his Bungled Suicide and getting his powers, Daylen decides that the Light must want him for this purpose, and (briefly) feels a new sense of optimism as he begins his Redemption Quest. By the end of the book, Ahrek and Lyrah both agree that this is the case — though obviously with a great dual of incredulity on Lyrah's part.
• The Silerian Trilogy: Josarian, the Firebringer. Armian was believed to be this, but turned out not to be, and he didn't want to throw himself into a volcano to prove it as required. Ronall, of all people, is the sea king, prophesied as the sea folk's monarch and consort to their goddess.
• Skulduggery Pleasant Resurrection introduces chosen one, Augur Darkly. In a twist, it's his brother, Omen, who becomes a major character.
• George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series seems littered with people who believe they are or who might be the Chosen One. The central prophecy of the series is the Prince That Was Promised, a messianic figure who possesses the "song of ice and fire". The other prophecy is Azor Ahai, a messianic figure among the worshippers of R'hllor who will lead the world in a combat against the Great Other, the Big Bad of their religion. The third prophecy is the Stallion Who Mounts the World, a figure from Dothraki myths, who will unite the Dothraki tribes and lead them to domination over Westeros. It's likely that the first two prophecies refer to the same figure, only originating from different continents (Westeros for the Prince, Essos for Azor Ahai).
  • So far, Rhaegar Targaryen, Rhaegar's son Aegon, and his sister Daenerys have all declared themselves or been declared by others to fit the prophecy of the Prince That Was Promised. The prophecy was first disclosed to members of the Targaryen dynasty, so naturally they assume it belongs to them. Rhaegar was chosen because of his prowess, but he came to believe that his son was the one who fit the prophecy. Then both died during Robert's Rebellion, and the prophecy is dormant for a while. In A Feast for Crows, however, Maester Aemon realizes that the prophecy was spelled out in High Valyrian, a gender-neutral language, which means it might refer to a female instead of a male, and he thinks that Daenerys is actually the Princess That Was Promised. Further complicated more in A Dance with Dragons, when someone who claims himself to be Prince Aegon Targaryen comes out of the blue and invades Westeros. Fans have also named Jon Snow as a possible candidate, as the theory that he is a son of Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark will neatly fit him as a "the song of ice (Lyanna) and fire (Rhaegar)".
  • The possible candidates for Azor Ahai are Stannis Baratheon and Daenerys. Stannis' foremost supporter is Melisandre, who is awed by his efficacy, sternness, and inability to bend the law. Daenerys' support lies in the Red Priests of Essos. Fans have theorized that Jon Snow and Bran Stark might fulfill the role, because of the former's fierce campaign against the White Walkers and the latter's adventures beyond the Wall.
  • In a subversion of the trope, Daenerys and Khal Drogo's son, Rhaego, is prophesied to be the Stallion Who Mounts the World. However, instead Rhaego is killed in childbirth by a witch who wanted revenge on Drogo for the destruction of her village, and the prophecy seems to be thwarted. Fans have argued, though, that the stallion actually refers to Daenerys' dragon and her "eldest child", Drogon, who does help Daenerys become the conqueror of Slaver's Bay and (hopefully) the Seven Kingdoms.
• So This is Ever After: Arek was chosen by prophecy to defeat the Vile One, receiving a special sword out of a bog (somewhat like Excalibur) and having five trusty companions. He slew the Vile One in the first chapter, after which his life gets more complicated.
• In The Stand, Mother Abigail is the one chosen by God to lead the side of good in Boulder.
• Subverted in Stranger And Stranger. When Ainslee learns that she is being possessed by vengeful spirits, she asks Shawna if that means the spirits where looking for her. Shawna says they were just looking for the best host. It's more a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time than being destined or the only option.
• The Supernaturals Series: In book 1 (The Earth Titan), Elizabeth Gray finds out on her seventeenth birthday that she's descended from a long line of sorceresses, and is one herself. As such, she's been chosen to protect the world from evil.
• Tempest (2011): When Tempest was a kid, her mermaid mother Cecily used to read her a poem about a half-human, half-mermaid fighting in a great battle between good and evil. The last line is, "A Tempest rising, without fail." Kona tells her the poem is actually an ancient prophecy. Most merpeople and selkies think it's about Tempest because of her name, her ancestry, and her powerful magic. Tiamat thinks so too, and ever since Tempest was ten, she's been trying to kidnap her in order to use her magic against everyone else.
• In Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions, Martinus speculates that Holger was drawn back to the world where he found himself by this. Holger doesn't like it; he feels free.
• Unusually for this trope, the process of finding and recruiting the very few people capable of Mental Time Travel in Jack Finney's novel Time and Again is handled rationally. The US government systematically trawls through army records.]
• Time Out of Time: Timothy is the Filidh, which are a people who's job is to preserve all legends and folklore in the world, as well as to be king of the Travelers' Market.
• In The Tome of Bill there are two. Bill is the chosen one of the vampire nation, being the legendary Freewill, while Sheila is his destined archenemy, the Icon.
• The Traveler's Gate: Alin is Eliadel, a natural-born Traveler of Elysia, the most powerful of Territories. He is central to an ancient prophecy stating that he will stop the human sacrifices, kill the king of Damasca, and throw open the gates of Heaven. It doesn't take long for this to give him a swelled head. It takes him much longer to wonder if any of these things he's prophesized to do are actually good.
• Played with in Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Duet. Aly is the chosen instrument of Kyprioth the Trickster God (and, naturally, pretends to be chosen of the God of War — everyone who bought this kicks themselves when the truth is revealed, since she's a spy). She's there to put the main Chosen One, a girl descended from two royal lines, on the throne, and is aided by a bunch of other figures chosen for their skills (The Warrior, The Strong One, The Wise One, etc). The rebellion and the oppressed people they represent are all very excited to put the beautiful, passionate and fair Sarai on the throne, since she fits the prophecy, even though she's more hot-headed then they'd like. She instead leaves the country to get married and not have to deal with ugliness of its politics. Everybody initially freaks the hell out until they remember that her younger, quieter sister also fits the prophecy...
• Un Lun Dun by China Miéville Double Subverts this and then goes on to make a new trope based off it. A book of prophecies says that Zanna is supposed to be the Shwazzy, the one who will save the world from Smog. When Zanna is injured, her friend Deeba must take up the fight against Smog, even though she's in the prophecies as the Plucky Comic Relief. Deeba is later christened "the Unchosen One" (which is now its own trope.)
• Subverted in War and Peace, where Pierre Bezukhov determines based on the gematria of his name that he is meant to save humanity by assassinating the anti-Christ Napoleon. Instead, he is captured for an unrelated act and forced-marched across most of Russia, where he learns the true meaning of his life.
• In James Swallow's Warhammer 40,000 Horus Heresy novel The Flight of the Eisenstein, the housecarl Kaleb prays over his master, Garro, who revives, convincing Kaleb that the God-Emperor had chosen him. This inspires Kaleb to regard his own actions as part of the Emperor's work and to sacrifice his life to save Garro. It makes a deep impact on Garro, who, on more than one occasion on their flight, takes an action in faith that his purpose will bring him through — including one that he knows, and everyone else knows, will kill them all if it fails.
• In James Swallow's Warhammer 40,000 Deus Encarmine, when Arkio picks up the Spear of Telesto, he briefly takes on the appearance of the primarch Sanguinius, and all the Blood Angels (even his brother Rafen) regard the miracle as evidence of his status. Shortly thereafter, one of them observes that those who object to this are dying and those who accept are living, which must be an omen, which is the point at which Arkio says he doesn't want it. But he is talked into carrying on, with all his doubts.
  • In Deus Sanguinius, both Arkio and Rafen foresee a Cain and Abel confrontation between them. When Arkio's forces confront those under Mephiston, Combat by Champion is proposed. When Mephiston is about to face him, Rafen shouts from among Arkio's men that he will do it. Mephiston reads his mind and discovers that he is not only pure but has been touched by a vision, and he stands aside to let Rafen take the challenge.
• Almost every main character in every single series in Warrior Cats. Firestar got to be the Chosen One twice. And in Power of Three, they got special powers, too.
• In the Wheel of Time fantasy series, Rand al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn - prophesied reincarnation of [1] Lews Therin Telamon.
  • It's also a deconstruction. Knowledge that all of existence rests on his shoulders, while foolish people are fighting their savior at every turn is slowly driving him insane. That much stress would drive anyone mad.
  • All the other main characters have their own role to play in prophecy, so he really shouldn't feel so alone. Though his role is more central, and he is regarded as the chosen one of several different prophecies, of whom the supporters of one still see little reason to cooperate with other people despite having the same chosen one.
• In Wrong Time for Dragons by Sergey Lukyanenko and Nick Perumov, 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) prophesied 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 being the protagonist's grandmother, meaning he's the grandson of a Dragon and a Dragon Slayer.
• One of the Young Wizards novels puts a strange twist on this trope: only at the very end of the novel, right after the Big Bad has been defeated, do the viewpoint characters learn that one of them had always been the Chosen One for that particular battle, and was the only person throughout all the timelines of all the universes who could have possibly pulled it off.

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