The Curse of The Chosen One : A Discussion on Destiny

[Bells]

"You are the chosen hero of destiny of the prophecy!"

"Oh cool! That means we already won!"

"No! Your journey is a dangerous one... many perils wait you, ready to strike you down"

"But i'm the hero of the prophecy! The chosen one! It's my Destiny, isn't it?"

"Why... yeah... it is! it is written and foretold, so it is!"

"So... the prophecy says i'm the hero of destiny that will destroy the evil, that means we already won! Cause that's my destiny. That's the prophecy! If i die, that means the prophecy was wrong all along."

"well... it's complicated."

So, yeah... that stuff.

The more i write, the more i'm faced with the need to dodge this stuff, and the more i read, watch, play stuff the more it annoys me, cause it's just so damn common... i would make this thread in the Writing and Art section, but it's a broad enough issue for a Media Discussion. Specially cause there are so many variations of this stuff...

So, does it annoy you guys when that's the story? Cause, quite often that's the story. Of everything. I mean, the Entire Legend of Zelda is nothing BUT this... as it is the Matrix series. And pretty much 80% of all anime...

It is always about that One special dude, that unique individual that is above all else and that will rise to the task when the time is right, cause some ancient bullshit says so... and that is made even worse when it's used to justify "Power Ups". Like the hero awakening his true power when he is beaten down and had clearly no way of justifying his new power... but it's ok, cause it's prophecy fulfillment.

I mean, take for example Rurounin Kenshin. Kenshin is not the most powerful being ever... hell, it is made clear in the story that he was stronger and deadlier when he was a ruthless killer... he is a character that actually nerfed him self down on purpose in order to uphold morals and values he came to believe in, and that makes the character more interesting and easy to relate to! As the story progresses he mets older warriors that are more powerful than him (mostly cause they still have that killer side he set aside) and as the story progresses further, he meets younger warriors that are on his level or even peaking higher... showing him as a character that moves with the times.

On another take in the same medium, take a look at Dragonball and the whole Super Sayan stuff.... there was supposed to be ONE super sayan, that's the Myth, that's the prophecy... but it turns out, the prophecy is wrong and any sayan can become a Super Sayan if they train hard enough. Soon, even kids are becoming Super Sayan, unless you are a girl of course (sorry pan...) ; That later on came to be corrected (maybe, kinda, sorta) with Brolly, who in the movie universe is the actual Legendary Super Sayan, but movies aren't canon...

And then, rounding up the anime medium we have Bleach where a main character literaly says "I'll beat you cause i have to" and he does so, AFTER HE DIES, and then he gets better... cause, y'know... "Fate of the Hero" is just a silent way of being the Chosen one...

I'm sure we have examples on Books and Comics (oh dear lord the comics...) and movies, but this is just a starter. Is it always lazy writing? Is it a quick fix to storytelling?