Crossovers
- Godzilla Junior is this amongst the benign kaiju in The Bridge. All of his teammates and allies had some sort of destiny or miraculous origin behind their being; Mothra is the heiress of a bloodline of protectors stretching back millions of years, Anguirus and Rodan are both artificial creatures created with elemental powers to serve as Guardian Beasts against the Big Bad, etc. Junior? Just a random mutated dinosaur who was raised by a unremarkable but kindly biologist. And yet with his randomly given powers and sheer force of will, he's grown up to be one of Terra's champions. This stirs Grand King Ghidorah's curiosity. As a fatalist, Grand King Ghidorah doesn't quite know what to make of Junior. One reason he challenges him is to determine whether Junior really is something special or if he's just a mistake that needs "correcting".
- Cardcaptor Rad has Rad himself. He learned from The Watery that Rachel was supposed to be the Cardcaptor but she Refused the Call so Kero had to make due with him. When offered to take the burden off his hands, he refuses and still continues on as he sees it as his responsibility anyway.
- Is It Stronger To Break: It's eventually revealed that unlike Marinette, Adrien isn't the true holder of the Black Cat Ring, but was the best option available. Despite this, they managed to do quite well in the role. Later, it turns out that he's the true holder of the Peacock instead.
- The Myth of Link & Zelda: Breath of the Wild adapts the events of the namesake game, and also makes extensive connections to the events of other games, including Skyward Sword. Among the connections is the revelation that Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Groose from the Era of the Skies. His actions during the canon game impressed the Goddesses enough that they decided to make him a third hero to fight Demise's curse... only for said curse to tether itself to his soul and corrupt him to become the very monster he was chosen to fight.
- Rise of the Dragon Child has a depressed Harry feeling like a mere substitute when he learns he was picked to be the Dragonborn only because the guy intended for the job has been killed right before starting. His mentor Paarthunax comforts him by telling him that as long as you can fulfill the job, the whole universe will hold you for the Chosen One... and once your adventure is finished, even if you didn't started as the Hero, you now are.
- Unlife Is Strange: The Red Queen wanted to make Chloe Price into her new champion, while considering Kate as a potential backup. While she successfully turns Chloe in the B timeline, she promptly slips through her fingers and gets protected by New Aascalon, while in the A timeline, Max successfully saved Kate, who proceeded to survive the storm. The Red Queen ultimately settled for Rachel as she was the only one who'd die no matter what happened; even then, she tries to claim the other girls as well.
- In Digimon Adventure 02: The Story We Never Told, it turns out that the second generation of Chosen Children weren't chosen by The Order; instead, they were set up as artificial heroes by Oikawa.
- In The Queen's Mercy, Anna isn't mentioned in the central prophecy; it doesn't even hint at her existence in any way. She doesn't come from an unusual or remarkable background, and only gets involved in the plot through pure, random chance... and stays involved through sheer determination.
- Twice Upon an Age: In All This Sh*t is Twice as Weird, it's ultimately revealed that Victoria is this, while Mahanon may actually be The Chosen One. She only touched the orb which made them both the Heralds of Andraste because he was holding it and it seemed to be hurting him. This discovery prompts a Crisis of Faith which is not easily resolved.
- Fate/Starry Night: By his own admission, Ritsuka was only brought to Chaldea to fill a quota, being the least qualified mage who only got in due to his absurdly high Master compatibility. He's not a born hero or someone expected to do great things, but he gradually rose to the challenge and has saved the world time and again.
- In Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, facing the prospect of going down in history as Harry's sidekick, Hermione sets out to make herself a hero.
- Torque: Due to Jak being brainwashed, Keira winds up taking on his destiny instead. She and Daxter learn as much while visiting Onin and the Oracle, as both make clear that she wasn't whom they were expecting to see. Onin even brings up Jak unprompted, catching Daxter and Keira's attention since neither had mentioned him.Onin: You're walking a path built for another. The road is treacherous and difficult, the moreso because you lack what he has. It is not impossible, for you have your own gifts – but take care all the same.
- Kingdom Hearts Ψ: The Seeker of Darkness: When the final clash with Xehanort's forces begins, everyone is shocked when Sora is not one of the designated Seven Guardians of Light, except Sora himself who reminds them that he wasn't supposed to receive the Keyblade in the first place, and as in Dream Drop Distance is happy just to support them. It's a divergence from canon, as Sora was one of the Seven in Kingdom Hearts III, but by this point in the story Terra has already been freed from Xehanort's control.
- The Princess Who Carries the Blood of the Goddess: The people of Hyrule didn't know exactly what qualifications were required to draw the Master Sword, but presumed it was dictated by destiny. Link took the saying "Anyone can be the hero" (meaning "We don't know who it is, so everybody should practice just in case you're it") to mean that anybody could take up the blade if they so chose. He thusly takes the Master Sword up because if he didn't, somebody else would have to.
- One Punch Deku: Since Toshinori passed One For All to Mirio the way Sir Nighteye wanted, Izuku is a Badass Normal who worked incredibly hard to build up his natural abilities to superhuman levels. He also makes clear that he intends to prove himself as a Pro Hero capable of following in All Might's footsteps without a Quirk.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Lero Michealides in Divided Rainbow. While Twilight Sparkle is the only one who can actually cure the Swapped, Lero's taken it upon himself to do everything in his power to ease their pain and make it possible for them to live normal lives. And he's very proactive about it. This gets conversed between them at one point:Twilight: Yes, but... you know that I'm the only one that can find the cure. You can't help them.
Lero: That, I take as a challenge, my dear Miss Sparkle. - Pony POV Series: During the Finale Arc, the gods choose and empower several characters to be their champions in the conflict. Flash Sentry wasn't one of them, but he plays a pivotal role in saving Princess Luna and even helps defeat the evil goddess Beldam in a fight. It helps that he's Immune to Fate.
- In Seeing the Pattern, Pinkamina uses her alter ego's Pinkie Sense to predict and prevent any of Ponyville's residents from suffering accidental deaths. A key factor is that said Pinkie Sense only triggers for Pinkie Pie, which naturally complicates matters... but Pinkamina doesn't let that stop her.
- To Serve In Hell: Sassy Saddles and Redheart become the elements of Honesty and Loyalty respectively, but both remark that it doesn't feel quite right, like they're not the intended wielders, implying that they are more "stand-ins" for the intended wielders, who are unavailable. Interestingly, Rainbow Dash, the intended element of Loyalty, is present when the elements chose their wielders, but the fact that the Point of Divergence for the entire timeline was her sonic rainboom makes her a living Cosmic Keystone much better suited for the element of Magic.
- Trixie in The Unchosen One, starting with an awkward visit to Ponyville with Twilight Sparkle, after her attack with the Alicorn Amulet, going awry with their train cab crashing down the mountainside. Trixie saves Twilight, and her role in the story only bursts from there.
- Wanted It To Be A Game: Adachi was never intended to be the champion of hope, but circumstances led to him switching positions with Seito.
- In Alola Galar, Leon did not endorse Gloria as a Gym Challenger, favoring his brother Hop and her brother Elios instead. This doesn't stop her from pursuing her dreams.
- Played With in Zub: The Adventures of Stuff; Zub was only "chosen" to save the world in the sense that he's being forced to do so. It's his punishment for having killed somebody in the past.
- Zodiac (EXO) has Kai, who was born with a rare mutation that gives him the ability to walk through and manipulate shadows. Since the Air Nation believes Shadow Walkers are Always Chaotic Evil, he was branded and kicked out, yet takes it upon himself to try and help save the world regardless.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
- A staple of Role Swap AU fics, with Catra regularly having to prove herself as a worthy wielder of the Sword of Protection in order to fully access the powers.
- Cat-Ra is a rare instance where she's actually ecstatic about Adora being the real chosen one; Catra immediately tries to give the sword to her in hopes of repairing their friendship after learning the truth, only to then be told that things have gone so off the rails, The Chooser of the One has decided to make her the new Chosen One anyway.
- In the Better Bones AU, Thistleclaw was destined to be leader according to Goosefeather's prophecies and Mosskit was supposed to overthrow him, but Bluestar defies destiny and becomes leader instead by giving up her kits, saving ThunderClan from the violence of Thistleclaw's reign.
