Let's talk about the Chosen One and on prophecy.

It doesn't matter if there are or aren't.

All portal fantasies essentially have the same plot, yet that's its own subgenre. All romances have more or less the same plot and that's a whole entire genre. So yes, all chosen one stories involve either fulfilling or preventing destiny; nothing wrong with that.

A story need not be limited or solely defined by its building blocks, any more than an individual human need be defined solely on their skeleton. There is scope for people to be individual, despite everyone having the same basic bone structure; same for stories.

I wrote a "Chosen One" novel, but in my case there were competing prophecies and "Chosen Ones;" one was the protagonist, the other the antagonist. It also tied into how magic worked and the way personal beliefs could warp prophecies and even the underlying rules of magic.

I guess my current book has somewhat of a chosen-one element, but it's handled as sort of a misinterpreted anti-hero prophesy. No one ends up saving anything, the world delves into chaos, and my MC rules over what's left.

Personally, I like to mess with my characters' minds with regards to prophecy. One of my characters, a supernatural entity, goes out of his way to summon a demon to the city, then when the demon arrives, he called it "Pestilence" specifically to invoke the mythology of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He does that to make everyone believe the world is on the verge of ending, and in their panic, they act accordingly. But, in the end, it's just a form of manipulation.

I wrote a Chosen One book once. It was actually my first novel that I wanted to try and get published, but it was pretty typical. I think the only difference was instead of 1 Chosen One there were 4 Chosen Ones, but I don't think it was enough to subvert the other tropes I had going.

While I've read the HP books...I could rant for days about prophecy, choices, and Chosen Ones in that verse and just how wrong/messed up/convoluted the characters in the world treat the whole thing. I've also read the Percy Jackson books where Percy has a prophecy over his head for the entire first 5 books. He doesn't know the prophecy word for word, but he knows it involves a half-blood child of the Big 3 Bros. I think this was handled much better, especially since oracles and prophecies are a common thing in Greek mythos in general. I could get behind Percy as a Chosen One because, unlike Harry, I found him a much more interesting character. So I think, if done well, a Chosen One trope can work, but each case is different.

Personally, in my current work, I'm trying to stay clear of the whole "Chosen One" trope because I was recently inspired by Illidan Stormrage's rejection of his fated prophecy and his declaration that, "There can be no chosen ONE. Only we can save ourselves." That REALLY inspired me and so I'm trying to work that into my 5-man band and how it's up to them to save themselves (and others) from the threat that's creeping into the world.

I avoid it like the plague.

I avoid it like the plague.

In the story I'm currently trying to write, I try to subvert this trope by making a character the chosen one, but he squanders the title and uses it for his own gain instead of actually helping people. He knows that if people think he is the chosen one, he will be showered with fame and fortune, and all he has to do is kill an old witch.

I deal with The Chosen One by not making the prophecy a central device. It drives my character, but it's more like poetic directions. My MC, though the chosen one, is not the most powerful in her crew. In fact, she doesn't have powers, where the others do. It's almost like a Chosen One as a sidekick. She's the leader, but she's not the most deadly.

I subvert this trope hard in my WIP. The young man finds out he's the descendant of the ancient high king, he gets the magic sword, then at the end of chapter 1 he's shot full of arrows by the real MC.

AwP_writer said:

I subvert this trope hard in my WIP. The young man finds out he's the descendant of the ancient high king, he gets the magic sword, then at the end of chapter 1 he's shot full of arrows by the real MC.

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Thus fulfilling the prophecy?

Well it turns out that a lot of people are actually descended from the high king, he got around. The priestly equivalent in that culture asked if he'd be willing to do it, since he united some of the clans already and led them successfully in battle, but really lots of people would be technically eligible.

If I ever write something along these lines, I'd likely try to subvert it in some way, or maybe to invert it

I was hoping for Neville Longbottom to be the true chosen one and for Harry to find out he'd been a decoy all along.

I try to follow a general idea of the Chosen One, without actually having prophecies. That way neither my MC or the readers assume he/she is the Chosen One or know what greatness he/she will do (or will fail to do).

But it's the same general idea. Hero finds out there is more to the world than their village, has some sort of interaction with the villain/antagonist, gets some version of a "call to adventure", everything goes horribly wrong and the conclusion. Of course, I like to play around with conclusions. Nothing ends with happily ever after, so I like to figure out what could possibly go wrong, who is negatively impacted and how these things impact the MC's outlook on life. While they may fill the unsaid "prophecy", I don't want it to mean everything is cupcakes, sparkles and rainbow unicorns.

A lot of the times, a Chosen One type story has a love interest that the MC usually gets. Would you rather see the MC happy with the person, or is it more interesting if something prevents the two from being together? I think this is a hard question for a lot of people. They want to root for the MC and his/her success with their love interest. At the same time, you see all this nit-picking about MC's always getting the girl and riding off in the sunset after a fulfilled prophecy.

I really like Aggy B's idea: I'd read it in a heartbeat <3

I kinda fell in love with the Chosen One concept early, mainly because I've always felt that every hero of the story is a Chosen One in their own right. But I'm always into Prophetic Chosen Ones, too. All my ideas have some flavor of Chosen One, be it basic or prophetic, though it's really hard for me to figure out a reason for there to be one, which I find to be very ironic, considering my love for it. I think I've found a compromise, though.

My MC knows she's different but has no idea how or why. Her existence is not anything preordained by the gods, but rather a correction of nature, and as such, there's no morality or fate associated with her. She's her own person, free to do as she wills (within the confines set forth by her over-protective husband). The story revolves around her journey of self-discovery and other's attempts to use her to their own ends.

I haven't used a prophecy yet, but if I did, it would be horribly misinterpreted.

I'm playing with the chosen one trope. My MC is a fairy, who's trying to find the humans who assaulted him seven months ago and killed another fairy more recently. About halfway through the story, one of the four deities of my world takes an interest in him. It's not even the one he worships.

At the end of the story, this god convinces him to set up as a private eye, helping the humans. Come the next story, his first major case is looking into the death of one of that god's acolytes. In so doing, he prevents the disruption of a major religious ceremony. He suspects that god only chose him for this reason and tells her off for it. Afterwards, she agrees to leave him alone unless he asks for her help.

I like when concepts are perverted from their current understanding.

For instance, imagine if a villain was the one to create a prophecy. And his prophecy is designed to find a chosen one, whose characteristics is more like the villain. The villain then secretly passes this prophecy down to an organization/religion/world/whatever is using the prophecy to benefit the world. Then the MC is chosen for the prophecy, and learns halfway through that he's actually a chosen evil one, and because of his journey thus far, has to choose if he wants to follow through with his path, or fight against it.

Imagine, in the Matrix, if the machines corrupted the oracle and gave her the wrong prophecy to give to Morpheous, and he uses it to find Neo, a man the machines know would destroy the humans.

Then it'd be interesting