How to Choose Your Chosen One

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Everyone wants to be special, at least a little bit. We want to believe that the world really does revolve around us and that we’re here for some great purpose. Luckily for us, we can project our desires onto fictional characters.  

Enter, Chosen Ones—characters that are literally chosen for greatness. They are typically the protagonist and have been selected to perform heroic deeds. However, there are many different ways to actually be Chosen, and the method often impacts what sort of character they become. So, which version should you choose? Let’s examine three of the most popular versions.  

Chosen by Prophecy

In the Harry Potter series, prophecy states that “the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord” will be born under very specific circumstances, and he is seemingly the one that must kill Voldemort. Enter... well, Harry Potter. His birth matches the prophecy, and he survives an encounter with Voldemort despite being a baby.  

 That’s good enough for the wizarding world, and they promptly make Harry their official Chosen One. Despite only learning this himself at age 12, practically everyone puts all their hopes on him to defeat Voldemort once and for all. And he does, after a few years and with some help. But that is a lot of pressure to put on one person, especially a child. 

Prophecies are tricky business. They usually dictate that a special individual will rise up to do... something. Prophecies are extremely vague and can be interpreted in different ways. Neville Longbottom was just as likely to become the Chosen One, but it was Voldemort’s actions that solidified the true bearer of the prophecy. One thing is for sure: these prophecies will come true in some form, and our Chosen One is going to make it happen. 

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, prophecies are conveniently stored in these ominous orbs.

The Literally Chosen

Unlike winning the magic lottery and being prophesied, these characters are individually selected to become Chosen Ones. It is not fate that chooses, but a specific character like a mentor figure. This chooser has free will and, more importantly, they are not infallible. The Chosen One has no destiny or prophecy to guarantee success—more often than not, they’re just a regular person that is granted power. 

 One of the most popular examples in recent years comes from My Hero Academia. Izuku “Deku” Midoriya is one of the unlucky few not to be blessed with superpowers, or ‘Quirks’. After proving his heroism despite this, he is gifted a Quirk by legendary hero All Might.  

 Because their power and status is gifted to them, these Chosen Ones are the most likely to try and return it. Deku tries to pass on his Quirk to others he believes are more worthy on several occasions. These Chosen Ones are different from other iterations due to the fact that they were personally chosen, not by destiny or reincarnation. Speaking of... 

Despite appearances, there two are some of the most powerful characters in My Hero Academia

The Chosen Incarnation

These Chosen Ones are less random than others. They are regularly reincarnated in the world to fulfill their duty—usually a general ‘fight evil’ gig—and will be replaced with a new iteration upon death.  

 In the Avatar universe, the Avatar is a figure that can control the four elements, and their duty is to keep peace between the nations and maintain balance. Aang, the Avatar in The Last Airbender, is a twelve-year-old boy that must end a hundred-year war. Maintaining peace of the entire world is a lot to put on one individual, no matter how strong they are.  

 Reincarnated Chosen Ones have even more stress than other Chosen Ones. Not only do they have a massive life-long duty, but they also have the extremely high expectations set by all of their previous incarnations to live up to.  No pressure.

The Four Seasons, by Scott Wade. A depiction of the Avatar cycle.

By its nature the Chosen One trope heavily impacts both the plot it’s featured in, and the characterization of your Chosen One. Typically, your Chosen One will face serious self-doubt throughout their story—there’s about a 99% chance they will at some point shout “I never asked for this!” Likewise, the broad strokes of the story are generally the same. The story often starts with the Chosen One’s discovery and often ends when they’ve fulfilled their Chosen Duty. 

 But no two Chosen Ones are the same. Even in Avatar, Aang and the next iteration Korra have very little in common besides being the Avatar. Practically the only thing the three stories we discussed have in common is their protagonists being Chosen Ones.  

 Being Chosen should be an important part of your character and story, but it doesn’t have to be the only part. There are countless ways to create a Chosen One, so find what works best for you. You can choose your own destiny. 

Cor O’Neill

Cor is a Professional Writing student at Algonquin and a horror enthusiast. If he’s not working at the library or attending class, he’s usually creating in some form. He writes in a wide variety of genres and his life dream is to meet Mothman.

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Spoilers for Mike Carey’s Lucifer (2000), Paul Jenkin’s Inhumans (1998), Swamp Thing Vol 2. (1984) and Hellblazer: Constantine.

 

Lucifer #43 (Vertigo, 2000)

There’s something fascinating in watching intricate and complex plans get executed to perfection. Something captivating about watching all the pieces come together to end in a masterstroke.

Chessmasters always have an objective and a plan to achieve it. They will make any gamble and sacrifice anyone necessary to complete that objective. In a pursuit of glory, money and power, the chessmaster villain has such control that the metaphorical pieces don’t even know they’re in the game. That’s what makes the chessmaster so dangerous. And terrifying.

But what about when the chessmaster is the hero of the story?

When we read a story where the chessmaster is a protagonist, our perspective has to shift. These characters make appalling sacrifices and take terrible risks throughout their stories. A likable and well-developed side character will, often unwillingly, become collateral damage as the hero makes their play to finish the game. How can we, the audience, appreciate and encourage such a ruthlessness? With a strong thematic character hook, that’s how.

In Mike Carey’s Lucifer series, the fallen angel Lucifer is obsessed with escaping predestination. He isn’t interested in people, souls, morality, or anything at all. Nothing except resenting an existence that anticipates every action he could possibly take.

So Lucifer finally devises a plan that he thinks will achieve his goal. Goading a bloody war with heaven and rescuing God’s demiurge, Micheal, Lucifer manages to create his own universe, a universe without destiny. When Micheal asks him what this new universe is for, Lucifer responds, “The culmination of all my efforts. The end of predestination. The end of tyranny. I have escaped providence.”

Then in Paul Jenkins’ Inhuman miniseries, the xenophobic Inhuman city of Attilan is under attack and their society roils from internal dissent stirred by the madman Maximus. The thematic line through the story is Black Bolt, the Inhuman leader, and his struggles as a ruler. Black Bolt is forced to constantly make decisions that cost lives and endanger his people. Silent and stoic, his inner monologue occasionally interjects the story to confront us with questions of how we might deal with the events of the story.

Inhumans Cover #5 (Marvel, 1998)

Vengeance #6 Cover (Marvel, 2012)

On the eve of defeat, Black Bolt’s plan is revealed- to bait the interlopers into a massive attack and stage a natural disaster that both forces back the invading army and falsifies the destruction of Attilan. The Inhumans are now hidden from the world and safe from interference.

Black Bolt has been holding all the cards the whole time but has sacrificed many lives to his end. The story closes with Black Bolt’s final question for the audience: “Imagine that you could save a family by sacrificing a child, but that you had to explain it to the child… What would you say?”

From the other side, Hellblazer explores what being a callous chessmaster can do to a person. In the pages of Swamp Thing (Alan Moore, 1984), John Constantine organizes a group of magical superhumans and entities in a bid to prevent the end of the world. While eventually successful, Constantine orders and then watches as many of his friends and comrades are killed in this battle.

In Hellblazer, Constantine struggles with the guilt of his decisions. Perhaps he had the best of intentions. Perhaps he didn’t really believe they would die. Or perhaps he just thought he could take it if they did.

Alcoholism, depression, and self-destructive tendencies plague Constantine wherever he goes and whatever he does. More battles rise and more friends fall into the pyre. As Constantine notes, “Getting too close to me can be bad for your health. I’m radioctive.”

A trope is what a writer makes of it. Strong motivations and character explorations can elevate stories and the tropes they use. Used well, tropes help us explore facets of story and human nature in dynamic and interesting ways. The Chessmaster is no different. Lucifer, Black Bolt, and Constantine might be chessmasters, but that’s just the lense by which we can examine their struggles with destiny, leadership, and guilt.

hellblazer: all his engines (Vertigo, 2005)

 

This is Andrew’s final blog post for Genre Savvy Grab Bag. You can read Andrew’s other blogposts here, here, and here!

Andrew Gilvary

Andrew is a former graduate of the University of Ottawa where he got his B.A. with a Major in English Literature. He enjoys doing nerdy things and cuddling his cat.

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Believe Everything. The Earth may have been birthed from primordial Chaos, as the Greek myths say. That doesn’t mean that Odin didn’t fashion the Earth from bones and blood of Ymir the Frost Giant. It also doesn’t mean that Izanagi didn’t create the Earth using his jeweled spear. It all happened. Well, most of it. Maybe.

In a story that explains how the myth of Orpheus is true, death proclaims that other myths do not necessarily apply (Sandman- The Song of Orpheus, DC comics)

This trope has been a mainstay of contemporary fantasy for years, across almost every medium imaginable. Supernatural and metaphysical events from multiple world mythologies can share the same space in stories that engage this trope. Any and all legends and folklore are up for grabs. Even God with a capital G is a frequent resource to mine in these stories. Examples of this trope include- television series like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Charmed, and Supernatural- video games such as God of War and Assassin’s Creed- comic books like Hellboy, Fables, and Sandman- and in books such as Harry Potter, The Dresden Files and American Gods.

Mining the rich mythological traditions of different world religions is a really effective tool in story writing. Using world mythologies that the reader might be familiar with engages them. And a good writer can take advantage of that intrigue.

In Neil Gaiman’s stupendously excellent Sandman series, for example, gods are created from the power of human worship (not necessarily belief). Gods who remain popular, like Odin or Thor, also remain powerful; less popular gods, like the Egyption goddess Bast, are withering away. When Gaiman begins to introduce aliens in this universe then the audience has to wonder, “do these people’s gods exist?” What do the gods of aliens even look like? (Whoops, wrong comic book universe)

Believe Everything is also effective because, ironically, it means the audience doesn’t know what to expect. Contrary to the trope name, not everything is true when it comes to the mythology being adapted. Another example from Sandman is the Orpheus myth, a central piece of mythology to the through-narrative of the comic. In this version, Orpheus visits Death to learn how to enter the underworld, understanding that the Greek hero Herakles had done so. Death disillusions Orpheus, and the audience, on the reliability of those Herakles exploits (see image above). This subversion sets up an important rule and theme for the entire narrative; avoiding death might actually be worse than dying.

Winged Horses are “technology” you see (Thor- Ragnarok, Marvel Studios)

Often it is prudent to create rules for why, or at least how, the creatures and characters of mythology exist within the world. Hellboy comics play it straight where mythical beings are simply a part of the world just like humans; not all folklore is true, but folklore is inspired by beings’ existence. On the other hand is Marvel comics, where the godly heroes of Asgard are actually aliens with technology so advanced it seems like magic.

This isn’t an issue in stories like Harry Potter, where the magical world is kept secret, including the magical creatures. The mythical creatures, like Fluffy and Buckbeak, are simply an extension of the zoology of that narrative. However, the rules need to made clear in worlds like Marvel’s so that readers understand how these characters might be allowed to interact with a non-myth narrative. If Loki is an alien, we can expect that myths where he transformed into a mare and gave birth to an eight-legged horse are not applicable, for better or for worse.

Andrew Gilvary

Andrew is a former graduate of the University of Ottawa where he got his B.A. with a Major in English Literature. He enjoys doing nerdy things and cuddling his cat.