Anime & Manga
Are you beginning to understand how those who have been chosen suffer? The pain. The loneliness. You wonder why you were chosen. Why you are the only one who has to suffer this fate. No matter how you try to avoid them there's no escaping those questions. You long for understanding. Someone who will hold your hand. But that someone never comes. Loneliness is the burden of the Chosen. It is how we are distinguished.
— Satyajit Shyamalan, Birdy the Mighty: Decode
The spirits told me many times that I was chosen... Why me? Why? I didn't have time to think about that. I was just blindly fighting the waves overcoming for me. Monsters attacked me, I became a wolf... I had to go there and collect this and fight that. And with all these sparks falling on me, I never even had the chance to think of what I wanted. Test... after test... after test! I've had enough! Set me free!
Film — Live-Action
Bethany: (sobbing) I don't want this. It's too big...
Metatron: That's what Jesus said. I had to tell him. You can imagine how that hurt The Father, not to be able to tell The Son himself, because one word from His lips would destroy the boy's frail human form. So, I had to deliver the news to a scared child who wanted nothing more than to play with other children. I had to tell this little boy that he was God's only son, and it meant a life of persecution and eventual crucifixion at the hands of the very people that he'd come to enlighten and redeem. He begged me to take it all back, as if I could. He begged me to "make it all not true." And I'll let you in on something, Bethany, and it's something I've never told anyone before. If I'd had the power... I would have. It's unfair. It's unfair to ask a child to shoulder that responsibility, and it's unfair to ask you to do the same now. I sympathize, I do. I wish I could take it all back... But I can't. This is who you are.
Metatron: That's what Jesus said. I had to tell him. You can imagine how that hurt The Father, not to be able to tell The Son himself, because one word from His lips would destroy the boy's frail human form. So, I had to deliver the news to a scared child who wanted nothing more than to play with other children. I had to tell this little boy that he was God's only son, and it meant a life of persecution and eventual crucifixion at the hands of the very people that he'd come to enlighten and redeem. He begged me to take it all back, as if I could. He begged me to "make it all not true." And I'll let you in on something, Bethany, and it's something I've never told anyone before. If I'd had the power... I would have. It's unfair. It's unfair to ask a child to shoulder that responsibility, and it's unfair to ask you to do the same now. I sympathize, I do. I wish I could take it all back... But I can't. This is who you are.
— Dogma
Grace: (referring to Dani) Why do you care what happens to her?
Sarah Connor: Because I was her. And it sucks.
Sarah Connor: Because I was her. And it sucks.
Literature
"I would not take your place for all the world, not with the fate that accompanies it. Death or madness, or both. "His blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul..." That is what The Karaethon Cycle, the Prophecies of the Dragon, says, is it not? That you must die to save fools who will heave a sigh of relief at your death. No, I would not accept that for all your power and more."
— Jasin Natael to Rand Al'thor, The Wheel of Time
Live-Action TV
"Pablo, how may times you heard me say this, huh? Why me?! Who am I?! Nobody. Nobody! Guy from Elk Grove, Michigan. Where the fuck is that? In the middle of jack-shit nowhere, that's where! You know what? I got news for you. I didn't ask for this! You think I want this horse shit? Be covered in blood 24/7? Who the fuck would want that?!"
— Ash Williams, Ash vs. Evil Dead
"Do you think I chose to be like this? Do you have any idea how lonely it is? How dangerous? I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys or... God, even studying! But I have to save the world. Again."
— Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Mordaunt: The sword has chosen! You are the new saviour; the champion of good, the master of Excalibur. Welcome to your new destiny!
Piper: Aw, crap.
Piper: Aw, crap.
— Charmed (1998), "Sword and the City"
"Sometimes a person has to choose. Sometimes the world forces his hand. If a man knows what he is and remains true to himself... the choice is no choice at all. He must fulfill his destiny. And become who he is meant to be. However much he may hate it."
—Stannis Baratheon, Game of Thrones
"What can I say? You've been chosen...and it sucks. Believe me. There's no use asking "why me?", 'cause the angels, they don't care. I think maybe they just don't have the equipment to care."
— Dean to Kevin, Supernatural, "Reading is Fundamental"
Music
What is this that stands before me
Figure in black that points at me
Turn round quick and start to run
Find out I'm The Chosen One
OH NOOOOOOOOOOO!
Figure in black that points at me
Turn round quick and start to run
Find out I'm The Chosen One
OH NOOOOOOOOOOO!
— Black Sabbath, "Black Sabbath"
It may sound absurd, but don't be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed, but won't you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed, but won't you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me
Overwhelmed as one would be when placed in my position
Such a heavy burden now to be The One
Born to bear and bring to all the details of our ending
to write it down for all the world to see.
Such a heavy burden now to be The One
Born to bear and bring to all the details of our ending
to write it down for all the world to see.
— tool, "Rosetta Stoned"
Tabletop Games
Everyone thinks I should be jealous of my big sister [...] But they don’t understand. They’re not the ones who have to help her sew her wounds closed, they don’t wake up early to help her cover up scars or hold her when she cries all night.
Theater
"I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But once in a while can't You choose someone else?"
— Tevye, Fiddler on the Roof
Video Games
"Oh, it's bad luck to be you."
"A chosen one of many isn't new."
"When you think you're full of luck, in the bullocks you'll get struck."
"Oh, it's bad luck to be you."
"A chosen one of many isn't new."
"When you think you're full of luck, in the bullocks you'll get struck."
"Oh, it's bad luck to be you."
— The starting verse for every variant of "It's Bad Luck To Be You" by the Trow Band, The Bard's Tale
Clive: You're... You're a Dominant.
Cid: I am, aye. Though not by choice, mind. Whole bloody realm of strapping young lads... and it was this sorry sack of bones Ramuh saw fit to haunt.
Cid: I am, aye. Though not by choice, mind. Whole bloody realm of strapping young lads... and it was this sorry sack of bones Ramuh saw fit to haunt.
"What if... one day you realized that you just weren't meant to be a fighter? Yet the only thing people ever said was that you were born into a family of the royal guard, and so no matter what you thought, you had to become a knight. If that was the only thing you were ever told... I wonder then, would you have chosen a different path?"
— Princess Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
"What does it mean to wield the Sands of Time? To be the chosen one? It means making choices that break your heart."
— Liu Kang, Mortal Kombat 11
Web Video
Professor X: You're the chosen one, Peter. Without you, we'll leave the fate of this world to chance. You have no choice. You must not fail!
Spider-Man: Hey! I'm freaking 16 years old here! How much pressure are you gonna put on me?!
Professor X: You're the chosen one.
Spider-Man: Yeah, so was Anakin Skywalker! And look how well that turned out!
Spider-Man: Hey! I'm freaking 16 years old here! How much pressure are you gonna put on me?!
Professor X: You're the chosen one.
Spider-Man: Yeah, so was Anakin Skywalker! And look how well that turned out!
— Marvel/DC Harry Potter Parody
Western Animation
Aang: I must have taken out a dozen Fire Navy ships, but there's just too many of them. I can't fight them all.
Yue: You have to! You're the Avatar!
Aang: I'm just one kid.
Yue: You have to! You're the Avatar!
Aang: I'm just one kid.
Adora: Don't I get a say in what happens to me? Don't I get a choice!?
Light Hope: No. This is your destiny. You do not choose, you were chosen.
Light Hope: No. This is your destiny. You do not choose, you were chosen.
