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Trope of the Month February: The Chosen One

The way I see it, either that has to be true (i.e: the protagonist's motivations would make sense, even if they were not chosen by fate or whatever), or the plot has to seriously think about the implications of being Chosen. If the protagonist (Or character, there's no particular reason this has to be a protagonist) believes themselves to me destined to do something or be something, how to they react to that? What if they have doubts? This is a subtle difference between The Lord of the Ring's Aragorn in the film and the book. Book Aragorn is supremely, almost annoyingly confident, whereas the film version has him anxious about whether he'll really be up to the task of being the rightful king. I'd suggest this is one aspect the film adaptation absolutely improves on, because Aragorn becomes a more rounded character than the archetype he easily falls into in the book.
 
This might change in the future, but I find more and more that I'm enjoying stories where fate and destiny and grand world-affecting events don't matter so much. There are exceptions (The Witcher) but I'm really appreciating stories about ordinary people, or about heroes who aren't on the world stage, but a local one. Maybe it's just burnout from all those MCU films, or something.
 
The Chosen One is a really hard trope to use or enjoy for me because I always need a concrete reason behind why someone is chosen. I'm not gonna lie -- Hands of Creation has shades of this, but I'm never outright saying, nor do I agree with the notion, that these characters who are in this divine situation were "chosen" arbitrarily. And no, it isn't that they happened to have a "special soul" or whatever, either, because I'm not fond of that trope, either.

I guess if someone is "Chosen" for no reason more than getting the plot started, I consider it a fairly weak element in the story, and not having an explanation or at least an in-universe promise for a good reason why they were Chosen.... If that's not there, it's gonna be a turn-off if you're trying to go for a deep plot. But maybe that's me and my somewhat extreme view on the trope.
 
I'm inclined to agree, Namo! Particularly in that if the only reason is to move the plot, it's unappealling. Like, that's the best reason you can come up with? That it's Gotta Happen? Come on!
 
I'll defend the Star Wars prequel trilogy for many things, but the chosen one prophecy in it was handled pretty badly and very unnecessary.
 
Honestly, although it was definitely unnecessary (and never, I believe, brought up in the original trilogy) the prophecy in the Star Wars prequels was at least an interesting twist on the chosen one; Qui Gon's belief in it led to him overriding the Council's judgement that Anakin shouldn't become a Jedi, then after they relent (likely due to it being his dying wish) it turns out Anakin really shouldn't have become a Jedi.
He eventually fulfilled the prophecy but only after making everything so much worse.
 
Honestly, I think it bothers me so much because Lucas claims the prophecy was just straight-up true, and fulfilled with the death of Palpatine. "It was wrong" or "balance involves no Jedi or Sith" would have been better takes than that. I know about Death of the Author and all, but it's not like it was even necessary. Qui-gon could have inducted Anakin for showing great Force sensitivity, and nothing more.
 
It's a plot point that really should be cut. If you simply removed the prophecy entirely, the rewriting required to make the plot work would be minimal:
  1. It doesn't have any effect on Anakin's character development, because he never references it.
  2. It doesn't negate Obi-Wan's grief over how it all turns out, because they're close anyway.
  3. It doesn't even necessarily force Qui-gon's hand in training him, as the cat pointed out.
The problem I have with it is that it doesn't really go anywhere. It just seems tacked on, given that the films spend more time enthusing over how crazy powerful Anakin is rather than being a symbol of spiritual hope
 
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