CHOSEN ONES - Terrible Writing Advice
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Only the chosen one can save a story from poor sales! Is your fantasy or science fiction universe plagued by dark lords and ancient evil? Fix that problem with a chosen one! Results may vary. Contact your doctor if the dark lord persists more than three books. We cannot be held responsible for inaccurate prophecies or chosen ones turning evil. Side effects may include poor characterization, overpowered magic, overshadowed side characters, sudden mentor death, and Mary Sues.
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One of the best part of the Lego Movie was how it ruthlessly parodied this trope.
That movie is incredibly clever for what it is.
Reuben Staley
Only for what it is?
You have to BELIEVE in yourself, I know that sounds like a quote from a cat motivation poster, but it's true!
This is all true, because it rhymes.
Alex Stallwitz I recommend playing A Bard's tale. It massively makes fun of this trope too.
Hey Anakin was the chosen one I heard he's great with kids
LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I've heard he also likes to go to the beach with his wife! After all, he loves sand!
LMAO
E Gray he did balance the force by killing all the Jedi then killing palpatine thus destroying the sith
YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE ANNIKAN
I remember reading a short story about a dark lord who is told a prophecy that a boy from a certain village would 'rise up, dismantle his government and cast him out of his palace' so he goes to this village finds the three most likely candidates adopts them and turns the village into an experiment for social reform in his empire, as the story goes along the three boys start to take more of an interest in politics and change some of the dark lords long-standing policies, until he retires and names one of them his hair and it's only when he's leaving his fortress for the last time that he realizes that the prophecy was technically fulfilled
That's an interesting take on the concept, got a hearty laugh out of me.
Idk man if it was me I'm sure I won't be flattered to be named the HAIR of a Dark Lord :3
I think they ment "Heir", not "Hair"
The one who wrote this story is a genius as people say,slowly but surely
Some even adds more plot twist as when the Dark Lord's past was a normal folk believes they were a chosen ones from the exact prophecy but their flaws made them fell to the darker side, leading them to their doom and eventually changed them to the Dark Lord like Anakin, Superboy or that short series I forgot.
Rule number 1: The chosen one should be always a shy morally perfect teenager.
Ioan Funny you should say that. I wrote an original story that centered around a Chosen One who as incredibly shy, but morally flawed. She alwo has several internal conflicts. I only did that so that her experiences could give her character development over time. The shyness never fully goes away though.
Or a teenager who kills an entire village for the revenge of his Dead mother.
Ioan *cough* kirito *cough*
Or Keanu Reeves
@@berdansargol1577 anakin
Does this mean that spy kids 3 is well written, the “chosen one” dies in like 3 seconds and the others have to pick up the slack
No. Just because a story has a single interesting idea doesn't automatically make it good.
Huh neat
Was it really that bad? I remember liking it
nargacuga05 better than most fantasy
Spy Kids 3 is the best thing ever written
I knew a chosen one story, he killed the people who he prophesied to save and then took over the galaxy because of a guy who calls himself the senate
Man, it would be rad to see the senate generate lightning from his fingers, all that power probably motivated the chosen one to join him
HansyPansy and scream "uNlImItEd PoWeR!!"
I heard about that story too. But I thought this “senate” guy wasn’t the senate yet.
@@annnnnnnn394 But at that point, it was treason then
@@Mynti_Dragon man. That guy would be too dangerous to be left alive.
Love triangles? I prefer love hexacontakaienneagons. They're clearly the best writing device.
How many sides is that.?
69 !
One
don't you mean love rhombicosidodecahedron
Love interests are like a good spice, you sprinkle a ton of them over the story to make it interesting.
I want two _chosen one_ stories:
1) The "hero" is a psychopath who want to be a "chosen one". So he sneakily arrange the burning of his own village and his parent's murder so he can get on his journey. He'll also murder his hot "love interest" so he can have an awesome tragic moment in his story.
---
2) The _chosen one_ is actually a decoy created by the kingdom so that some special forces or army can get behind the enemy lines and vanquish the Dark Lord with a surprise attack. The hero and his companions are not aware of that, of course.
Woah, now that's som big brain writing ideas ngl
Now that would be a good story.
#2 is awesome! ❤️👌
I am doing the option two, but saying that the hero eventually will turn to fight the royal ending in a big bloodshed and chaos, only for the prophet to achieve his long waited vengeance against the royal, the people and even the "bad guys", if the hero dies in the process, he will just point another one... A little too edgy, i know
That first one reminds me of a really dark Pokemon Nuzlocke story where the main character is an absolute PSYCHO. He did beat N and Ghetsis, but his own Pokemon KILLS HIM for being weak. I think it was called Pitch Black.
Actually I was planning to write a fantasy story in which the prophesised chosen one destined to defeat the ultimate evil is actually the villain. Having been told all along that he was the most special person in the universe he goes on to do terrible things in search of more power to help him fulfil the prophecy under the assumption that he couldn't be in the wrong, because destiny told him so.
Pretty interesting idea
The only aspect to that I can't remember seeing in the text of a story is the fact that this character actually is the chosen one of the prophecy. I can think of a few characters who justified their actions with "I'm chosen, because Fate says so", but it turns out they're not, so it looks like they're just assholes using someone else's word for their own gain.
You should look into the Miracleman series by Alan Moore, it has this good guy becomes bad guy in a very fucked up way.
Yeh I feel like a few stories have sort of pulled that. Like Deathnote, except light was never really a chose one- it all pretty much happened because a death god got bored and Light convinced himself he was a miracle to the world. .
Richard Jones soooo.....anakin skywalker?
Idea, in a world where the public puts too much emphasis on destiny, the dark lord invents a chosen one prophecy to fool the public into thinking their only hope is teenagers, just to make his job easier
S Clair Best-seller material right here!
I am so stealing that! Oh wait, nap time. Never mind (zzzz)
S Clair that's..... legit awesome
S Clair I did think of that,where the chosen one prophecy is just a lie.But then we may just have them still win defeating the purpose of the twist...unless you're me and will kick that shit to the curb and make the evil person win over the not so special chosen one.
And then the hero motivated by the thought that they were the chosen one gains the training items and allies necessary to beat the dark lord anyway and the only reason they have all those things is because everyone thought the hero was the chosen one so they just gave it to them and when they learned this wasn't true they just said fuck it.
How DARE you sarcastically insult the chosen ones. I am a chosen one myself. According to the profecy I will spend my whole life living in my moms basement.
Lol
Lol
Lol
tendies
Lol
Anakin may be the Chosen One, but Kenobi was the Obi One!
Actually anakin wasn't the chosen one the high ground was
Shadowmaster 192192 I thought it was the coarse sand...
"Obi Wan, you're our Obi hope!"
Yes, Master Kenobi is truly Wan of a kind.
TheDarthDestruktor gay
boooooh.
My English teacher is rewriting her entire curriculum because of you. I showed her your Evil Empires video and she just instantly fell in love with your way of explanation.
God damn I wish I had gone to your school.
I hope this is a joke. I really do. This channel basically tells you what NOT to do!
Kelcey ...
Kelcey that's the point
VocalCalibration Aiden Scott I know I was joking
And remember... the prophecy was foretold 1000 years ago.
VintageGamer It is actually 962 years, but 1000 sounds more ominous...
The unwilling Chosen One:
"Has it ever occurred to any of you that we might not be able to trust the words of a bunch of senile old men who died five centuries before I was born?!"
The prophecy was spoken in a dead language whose connotations differ greatly from current languages and therefore can prove fatally wrong if interpreted incorrectly...
Now _that_ would be an interesting story. You're the chosen one and each mysterious old man you meet has a completely different interpretation of your destiny. So finally you ask 'ye olde towne librarian' and she reveals the true passage and its most literal translation... but by the end of the game/series/whatever it turns out even that one was false, because you need to translate thought by thought, not word by word? Either that, or the prophecy was originally 'translated' from gold plates via magic hat, and they don't say anything about a prophecy at all.
Many myths have a cyclical world. How about a story where the chosen one is part of this cycle. So, he feels like nothing matters and doesn't fight the dark lord?
would be funny to write a book ware the main character thinks they are the chosen one throughout the whole story and finds out at the end they are not. or one ware the prophecy is simply wrong.
chosen one: but the prophecy said I would defeat you
Villain: you believed that? it was written by shaman hundreds of years ago while they were high on crack.
chosen one: *hangs head in defeat, feeling dumb*
Haha.
thundermw That kinda happened in Percy Jackson and the Olympians lmao
It's an old book, but "May Bird and the Ever After" did that.
thundermw There was a Fairy Odd Parents movie where they thought Timmy was a chosen one, only to figure out after he defeated the bad guys that he wasn't supposed to be the one who saved the day
another one that would be funny is one ware it turns out the villain secretly wrote the prophecy himself just to mess with people and see how many stupid plucky teenagers would show up at his door trying to fulfill it.
Concepts:
- Chosen One is killed before the beginning of the story, unbeknownst to everyone. The prophecy as it is known is vague, but the real prophecy is actually very detailed and precise - and completely wrong as it turns out. A hero rises to the occasion, but the legendary weapon informs him that he doesn't fit the description of the Chosen One. The hero argues that the Chosen One hasn't shown up and the world needs saving _now,_ so the legendary weapon accepts. The unchosen hero proceeds to save the world, in defiance of the actual prophecy.
- Chosen One is alive and well, but not the protagonist. The protagonist is a minion of the dark lord and student of magic. Chosen One repeatedly attacks the dark lord's fortress, but fails time and again. One day, Chosen One tries to attack again but is met with surrender. Protagonist has already killed the dark lord, permanently, in Chosen One's absence. Turns out the minions didn't like the dark lord either.
That Idea sounds a bit like you are struggling to not have a choosen one but you still have one
For the first story what if the legendary weapon doesn’t accept so the hero has to fight some other way, or give it up for someone else who fits the description (if there is)
The first idea is actually what they did in TloZ: The Wind Waker. Link's sister is kidnapped and he actually "forces" Hylia to accept him as the "chosen one"
The second one could make for great fantasy comedy.
What about a character that's not the chosen one, yet manages to defeat the evil dark lord without using the magic sword / power up destined for the chosen one as the only way to overthrow him by using some clever countermeasure?
Somehow, I get the feeling these videos are examples of what NOT to do.
Nah...
Luke William they re you dumb as.
That is a reason why he name his channel TERRIBLE Writting Advice
Untitled and Just: Whoosh or troll?
because these are
Why isn't this shown in high school English classes?
Ha, good one.
Ginger Grant cuz kids are dumb
Ginger Grant because they aren't creative writing classes
Yeah there are.
I CRI EVERY TEIM
Imagine in a surprisingly idyllic town in a supposedly grim and dark dystopia a child being born. Suddenly, the sky clears up to throw a single beam of light at the baby and melodic latin chanting is being heard from the distance. This child eventually grows up to avoiding to learn that they're the chosen one at any costs. Mysterious glowing sword found in the woods? How about not touching it but telling the officials about it. There's a wise old man creeping around the city for decades now? Let's do the reasonable thing and not talk to him. Soldiers are approaching the city? Let's move to another city. At the climax the dark overlord catches up the hero and offers him either a position at his side or deadly combat. The hero of course choses the position at -Saurons- the dark overlords side and has a pleasant life as politician. The end.
LeSpeederus good, but you failed to work in the required memory loss angle.
Someone make this comedy now!
LeSpeederus the most ridiculous part of all of that is "pleasant life as a politician"
But where's the love triangle?
On the wise old man - how about the chosen one has him arrested for stalking?
YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!
YOU WERE TO DESTROY THE CLICHES NOT JOIN THEM!
YOU WERE TO DESTROY THE LAZY WRITING NOT LEAD IT IN DARKNESS...
Chosen One:I HATE YOU!
Ironically, Anakin is not a bad example of a Chosen One. Sure, he fulfills the prophecy, but nobody really thought through what that meant. The Jedi were so self-righteous that they didn't realize that in order to bring balance to the force, THEY would have to be cut down, not their enemies.
I liked how being groomed as the chosen one made Anikin arrogant and unable to face his own failers, projecting them on his master as purposefully holding him back.
Nick Johnson
Eh, I still prefer the interpretation were it's Luke who is the true Chosen One who erased the remaining Sith (pre-extended universe and sequels) after the Jedi nearly got wiped out because they became focused more on politics than the will of The Force, with the understanding that the Dark Side itself was the agent of unbalance. It's in the same sense that a balanced breakfast isn't 50% fresh fruit and 50% battery acid.
Chosen One: Where is my fanbase? Are they safe? Are they all right?
Publisher: It seems, in your popularity, you killed them.
This was done exceedingly well in Morrowind.
Basically, the player character fulfills some criteria of an ancient prophecy, telling of the reincarnation of a legendary dark elf hero. So you set out doing some tasks, researching the other criteria of the prophecy, etc.
So as you slowly begin to fulfill the criteria, everyone is like "yeah, you might be, you might not. If you survive this trial, we will just assume you are."
You go to some remote location, where the Daedra Azura tells you that you are indeed the Nerevarine... But even then who will believe you? Just because you claim that some goddess told you that you are indeed the chosen one? So by various means, you go get support from all the tribes and the three great houses and that settles it. Because when the leaders of all the factions on the damn island say that you are the chosen one, then people might as well just roll with it.
Even after you have defeated the big bad of the story, and Azura appears before you again, you STILL don't know whether you are actually the reincarnation of Nerevar or whether Azura was just through some convoluted plot fooling some random mortal into killing a demigod she herself could not touch due to her limited influence on the mortal plane.
naphackDT The thing I like about it as well is that there's a cave in the game full of ghosts that were supposedly the Nerevarine. Meaning that there were people before the protag that fit the criteria for the Nerevar.
I still prefer the Hero of kvatch. He was a criminal, like the nerevarin, but instead of turning good from a prophecy like the nerevar, he turns good because the emperor told him to. (The hero wasn't there because of the emperor's dreams, he was in the emperor's dreams because he was there.)
Tes games post their third game always have some prophecy. There might be next prophecy on the next es game if they don't follow the first and second tes plots. Nerevarine Prophecy, Emperor's Dreams and Alduin's Wall were the main triggers of the game's main purpose themselves.
I still prefer the hero of ferelden since it his destiny and so is those with the blood of the grey Warden to stop the Blight and along the way you can do some pretty cruel choices
also fallout 2 your town chooses to go trough trials to get the geck and avoid death but outside your town literaly no one cares of your title so you do normal crap and destroy the corrupt us goverment
The LEGO Movie actually used this pretty well, especially when Vitruvius reveals that the prophecy was made up.
yeah it did pretty well
Chosen one: *burning*
Comic relief character: *Z A P P E R S*
Story idea: Since chosen ones always begin the quest after their hometown is destroyed by the Dark Lord, the Dark Lord tracks down the chosen one not to attack, but instead to try and make their life as comfortable as possible so that they'll never want to begin their quest. Circumstances conspire to bring the chosen one down, but the Dark Lord must make sure it never happens so that the chosen one can remain happy in their peaceful little village while the Dark Lord's forces can be free to rule in terror everywhere else.
That's actually an interesting idea
I'm constantly comparing the stories I am trying to write to this... Not sure I like what I am seeing in my stories...
Don't be discouraged, just keep your story entertaining. I've loved a lot of works that have clichés in them, and these videos are primarily about clichés.
Worry not good sir, take these lessons and learn
Derek Mijangos If the cliche bothers you enough, you can edit it out of the story. Don't spend too much time trying to make a perfect story, though, because you'll never get it done.
You could point out cliches in every successful book. Don't worry about it. They became cliches because people used them. And people used them because they worked.
Don't be too dismay with what cliches you are using. Remember, all tropes are not bad. It's just depends of how you executed them. You can use that cliche and foil however you gonna do it to make it unique instead of pursuing the story to make it "original" (no tropes and stories are original). For example, Harry Potter did a good job playing around with the chosen one trope. How to Train Your Dragon films contain a abundant of tropes and cliches like the misunderstanding, but how they handled it was extremely well-done and thus ended up being Dreamwork's most successful films.
Now I want to make a story about a supervillain who's hears of a prophecy that they will lose their kingdom to a special chosen person. They manage to identify them before anyone else, as a very young child, and kidnap it to raise as their own. The Villain acknowledges the power of fate, but is smart and decides they may as well continue their legacy, even after losing power.
didn't something like this happened to Moses in the Bible? it backfired powerfully
Makes you appreciate Avatar: The Last Airbender even more. That is how you handle a chosen one story correctly.
exactly what I thought of when he talked about stress and conflict in the chosen one
I would say Percy Jackson also handles the chosen one prophecy really well
Avatar is just a trope destroying machine
@@ethanmcfarland8240 It really is. The best way to break a trope is to use it and then subvert it. Not in the "recent star wars trilogy" way, but in the "Knives Out' way.
Yeah one of my favourite details is that the avatar is meant to restore balance to the world. It never means aang is the only one who can restore balance. Theres always a chance he could fail and it could be up to the next avatar. So there's still some tension on whether or not he'll succeed.
I love how you wrote J.P. as a tragic figure, with his use of complex narrative insight on occasions and expansive vocabulary hinting at mountains of missed potential and hidden skill, all willingly and unknowingly suppressed by his own short term, egocentric mindset, while still giving self-depreciating humour on occasion to hint at him being slightly aware of his own self-squandered skill.
Oh shit
How dare you deeply analyze Funny Love Triangle Man?
makes it seem way deeper than it is
Heres an idea for a chosen one story. The chosen one is discovered and is about to begin training with the wise old mentor, but they are overconfident believing that they are destined to win and rush off to fight the villian before they even start their hero training. The chosen one dies and the villian becomes overconfident, believing they have defeated their only real threat which eventually leads to the villain being caught completely by suprise when the average folk rise up and successfully overthrow and kill them.
Similar to the Emperor
Zach Haake So Miraak?
Hmm i thought it had a star wars ring to it
Also who's Miraak again? Is he related to a certain Skyrim DLC?
Also he tries doing good deeds for everyone in the village but most of them fail or even break the law, but because of his cockiness he gets thrown into prison at one point and tries (unsuccessfully) to get the guards to let him out.
@Casandshail He's the anragonist in the Skyrim DLC Dragonborn
only irresponsible teenagers can save the world: every anime
Majority of those journey types of anime are like that but not all of them are.
Me:laughs in MHA
Every Gundam ever.
Not EVERY anime
That describes Joseph Joestar in Part 2 perfectly
Here is a fun idea for a story: The Dark Lord hears that a chosen one from a certain village will kill him. But being in the dark lord business for a while, he knows that murdering everyone the chosen one ever knew and loved will just make him kill the dark lord even more, so instead he builds the village a hospital.
I love the way UnLunDun handled this trope. There's a protagonist living a nornal life, supernatural shit occurs and a prophecy is made. 3 chapters later, she gets incapacitated and her best friend says "fuck the prophesy" and takes over the role of protagonist for the rest of the 500 page book.
Okay, your name is one of the first ones to make me laugh out loud.
Thanks for the recommendation though.
I was working on a story back in High School with a Chosen One... that I like to think subverted the concept. I had gotten tired of the “chosen one grows up with no knowledge of their destiny” trope, and wanted to see what would happen if the chosen one was actually trained and prepared.
The world was dying, magic was running out, and the “prophecy” was less about fate and more about one unscrupulous seer’s long-term plan to stop the decline by saving up some of the little remaining magic into artifacts that could unlock the potential in two people, so they could break through the four seals and get magic flowing again.
Only...
1. The proxy who was supposed to pick two “chosen ones” decided to save two dying children (a brother and sister) and then went off the grid, instead of picking someone already competent.
2. He raised & trained the siblings and told them they were meant for great things, but never explained himself properly.
3. The younger brother (3 at the time of his empowerment) had zero idea what it was like to be weak or helpless, and became an entitled sociopath with no interest in saving the world. “It’s dying slow enough that I can conquer the land with my magic and live out a life of luxury and power. If I release magic back into the world it will keep everyone from eventually wasting away... but then I’ll just be an average guy because EVERYONE will have these gifts, so no thanks!”
4. The sister was too idealistic to see her brother’s betrayal coming, and got locked in an enchanted sleep for seven years. So when she woke up, she not only had to deal with traveling the land to break the four Seals, but her brother’s army trying to stop her. Oops.
Ajehy dude where is this story, i gotta read it, please
That’s kinda awesome, please tell me your gonna publish it...
Ajehy Um....where is this story, my guy? 👀
That actually sounds REALLY cool
Benu_Bird screen shot it maybe, one day if something shows up, we’ll lnow
TH-cam algorhytms love this guy, a lo of people found him randomly, myself included.
sadly its not for the best reasons but this is still a quality video
I’m currently writing a book with a concept of “the chosen one” sprinkled about on the main character, as he was handpicked to assassinate a important politician in another timeline, but for the entire concept turned on its head when the events of the story prove that the main character is one of the worst people to lead. And that there is nothing special about him in particular except for the fact that he has been so destructive to the social dynamic of the world.
When the readers read the story, they would see so many characters that are more worthy of being the hero of the story and should lead instead of the main character. Infact, I’ve even written the story as if another story was already half way in before the main character showed up with his Mission and messed everything up.
And no, I’m not running the cliche where the hero of the story fucks up then fixes it at the end. My hero progressively gets more and more involved past a point where it’s too late to reverse what has been done.
A lot of you might be thinking that why did I write the main character as such a calamity to the story and think the main character won’t be likeable. The issue is, that even the reader won’t realise the main character is constantly making the wrong decisions. The main character has good intentions, and is on the side of morality, but because the main character lacks the perspective of the antagonists, he eventually becomes the villain of the story before we realise it.
The “chosen child” trained to assassinate an authoritarian politician eventually is revealed to have doomed everyone.
Wow, that sounds great 😍😍
Hows the story?
damn, can I have a link of the wattpad or wherever you're writing it
So how's it going?
It's okay if you haven't written anything substantial, my ultimate story set in the Pokémon universe is mostly in my head too.
@@ArcanineEspeon oof, has it really been 9 months since I’ve posted this? I’ve had a hard time getting through Uni, but I’ve made only a bit of progress, but I’ve fleshed our the story a lot more and added a few more side characters that get more prominent in later sequels.
Taking the time off to iterate on this story instead of forcing myself to write it all down has done wonders. I’ve even studied a bit of philosophy and realised so many of my characters hold many philosophical and ethical values that challenge our system norms. I’ve decided to go back and flesh out a lot of these philosophical values and make it a pivotal arc for their character!
This basically explains why the LEGO movie is great
A.H. Holland
"And all this is true
Because it rhymes"
I know it sounds like a cat poster, but it’s true
A special one with face of yellow
What I'm about to tell you will change the course of history.
(dies)
What if: there's a chosen one that when he/she is found, the powerful characters lay back because they "know" the chosen one will succeed. Then the chosen one, who doubts this, has to go through the struggle of bringing people with low level power together to fight alongside him/her in the quest. The love triangle that follows the hero as described in the prophecy troubles the hero, because they question if these lovers only love them because he/she is the chosen one. When the villain is finally defeated, he/she discovers that when the prophecy meant chosen one, it is revealed that the prophecy was a lie, and that through hard, grueling work, the hero and their comrades saved the world together. Someone make this.
Then a real romantic relationship develops between the "chosen one" and one comrade that develops over the course of the story.
Lol at the Wheel of Time references. Especially the farmhand one. It always bugged me how a boy working the fields at a farm somehow became ruler of the world merely because he was super duper special and/or chosen.
IMO, Wheel of Time did the Chosen One about as well as it can possibly be done by using its huge cast to show that no, you DON'T have to be chosen by fate to be instrumental in saving the world. That's why all the non-destined main characters, from Egwene to Androl, are so important.
Yeah, Rand's a bit boring but the other characters make the story.
well i mean if you actually READ the books, he gets drilled on the shit constantly by Egwene, and dosent really DO everything. he dosent deal with finances, or really anything not related to war or certain laws. he had people who WERE experienced in that shit to handle it for him.
tMeanwhile most of the world spends their time hating him and working against him. And he's going mad.
What's really bugging me, though, is that this video depicts Aviendha as blonde. (that, or she and Elayne switched clothes, as Elayne is reddish blonde afaik)
That only applies to the court intrigue aspect in WoT. The rest he leaves in the hands of those actually skilled in those areas. And even in intrigue, the prophecy and his status unbalance the nobles enough to give him time to git gudder at it.
Still don't like the romance portion though.
Also, the two Blind Guardian songs on the series are awesome.
Idea:
The majority of a story points to the chosen one being the author, an ugly child. As everyone begins to learn that they must place their trust in the child. Then, as the time of the final battle draws near (or halfway through it) the real hero emerges, a true professional who has been preparing for the moment their whole life. Everyone, despite learning to love the main character, completely abandons them, they return home, and the real hero saves the day. The end.
How about a story where there are multiple prophesies and nobody knows which one is actually true? Does something like this exist?
The "Mallorian", by David Eddings (a five book sequel to his series "Belgariad") is an epic story about two warring prophecies.
S Isn’t that basically Game of Thrones?
real life
@Tangent of circle. That's depressing and inspiring at the same time
The underlander chronicles a little bit, but it’s brought up mostly in the last book out of five
suggestions for future terrible writing advice videos:
Shakespeare
kids books
poetry
Yes, do poetry!
Casual CraftMan i kinda agree about kids story/ books/ movies. Oh, i might also add :
- artsy film
- religion films
- rasicm-related films
- ancient weapons
- ancient civilization
- madman antagonist (like Joker from Batman)
- cyberpunk
- weird anime-ish super power
I feel like to properly criticize a religious film, you need ot have firm grasp of the religion it's stemming from and its history, to properly point out how bad and inaccurate most films of that type are.
FAH Holliday nah, i don't mean to that extend. What i mean by religious movies are the one that poorly represent and done an incredibly poor job in 'introducing' the religion aspects. So much so, that none of their persuasion makes any goddamn sense, and makes even the religion group itself loathe it
Even religious people hate most religious movies... their music is cool though.
"The Hero of Light will triumph and totally become a bestseller and put those stupid bullies ago school in their place who made fun of my fanfics!"
GodwritterT24omni
Hmm.. how about..
A story about the typical “chosen one” Except, they really just don’t want to be a hero. They want to be a normal child, and want to be famous for.. lets say.. writing a book.. And not because she slays some evil lord. Everyone Starts pressuring her about being a hero, and being the chosen, that she straight up snaps and starts hurting- then eventually killing everyone with the powers the gods have given her.
And after all the chaos she has caused, she looks at herself one last time,
Just to realize, she couldn’t live as the hero she meant to be, and lived long enough to see herself become the very thing she was born to kill.
Does it sound good?
I like it
Where can I read this?
That's basically Neon Genesis Evangelion
@@jasonsmith8802 Then why does everyone seem to be mocking it?
@@milicadiy Mocking what, Evangelion or the Chosen One trope?
I'm christian, but I think an interesting take on the "chosen one" story would be a pantheon, each god/demi god having their own "special" mortal as they use them as pawns against each other for their own amusement.
This is basically Exalted.
Never heard of it. I'm disappointed that its already been done though. (and here I thought I had an original idea. :/)
To be fair that's how you know it's a good idea, someone has already done it.
Aldin Lewis lol thanks?
Aldin Lewis Great minds think alike, annoyingly.
The only chosen one story I can think about that actually does something new is
The Star Wars Prequels
The Chronicles of Riddick is actually unclear about the fact who was the chosen one who brought the downfall of the evil overlord: Riddick who finished him, or Purifier who had saved Riddick before on Crematoria from being cremated?
@@Mysikrysa One evil to defeat the other one ... everyone's evil in this movie so it doesn't matter. At the end, nothing changed for the universe. Love the movie.
@@johnleorid Riddick isn´t evil, he´s chaotic neutral. He´s labeled as evil by general society because he killed some people and it´s strongly hinted in Pitch Black it wasn´t just because. He also doesn´t want to convert everyone to insane religious cult, he just wants to be left alone, and he has never killed anyone unless it was neccessary, so I wouldn´t say nothing changed for the universe. Riddick as the leader of the Necros is certainly an improvement when you compare him to Lord Marshal.
And the LEGO movie
My favorite type of chosen one/prophesied hero story that I would love to read is one where the hero/good guys team up with the dark lord/bad guys to kill and defy or seal away fate and destiny itself which can be referred by the name narrative or the god or devil that is controlling everything behind the scenes because they want entertainment, because surprise surprise they don’t exactly like the fact that they have nearly no control over their future and that something else is controlling it.
That basically what happen in the final season of supernatural but I won’t say more because spoilers
Have I told you about _LOVE TRIANGLES?!?!?!_
*Knock* *knock*
*The door opens*
Hey sir, have you heard about LOVE TRIANGLES?!?!?!
"Have you heard of the Church of the Holy Triangle?"
We have a lot of cheap romance bad books for 14 years old *EJEM* *EJEM* Dystopias and urban fantasy novels to choose!
How to write 101: STEP 1: Perfect hero with *TRAGIC* (edgy) backstory. STEP 2: Supah evil guy. STEP 3: Hot monster love triangle. $TEP 4: G3T D4 $W44T M0N3Y.
Don't forget that the hot love interests should have a *TRAGIC* backstory as well. Bonus points if one of them is somehow connected to the evil guy.
I once had the idea for a story about a chosen one whose role is to observe a fantasy world over the ages but never directly interfere with the flow of history
Dunno maybe i should just try writing it
Go ahead and do it. Sounds like an interesting plot.
I swear every fanfic writer takes your videos seriously
What if someone actually took all this advice seriously and wrote a book.
Wait a minute....
THE CREATOR OF THIS CHANNEL HAS A NEW BOOK IDEA IF HE READS THIS COMENT!
Dean Becker then we would have a boring, paint by numbers chosen one story, a bad Star Wars knockoff, and twilight, all in one book.
Rick Harris Well, to be fair according to Elders Scrolls lore the chosen Juan happens to stumble into the prophecy. That means that even if your character dies some rando will accomplish the prophecy anyway. (I'm spending too much time on elder scrolls lore sub-reddit)
Rick Harris wasnt that what Eragon was pretty much
Star Scrolls: Rise of the Space Wizards
instear of some one you should say a whole generation of writers.
I love this channel so much. It's one of those rare channels that's both informative and hilarious at the same time.
"Thank goodness all fictional prophecies are 100% accurate and will point the way to the chosen one!" Hit me harder than it should.
“The chosen one is the best cliche ever!”
Love triangle:SAD LOVE TRIANGLE NOISES
Well if MMORPGs have helped me learn anything at all is that if you live close to a dangerous place then you CAN get the chosen one to do your laundry, it will also somehow make them a tiny bit stronger...
If you have enough laundry, you can get every chosen one to wash it for you as well. Don't worry, you can generate money from nothing, screw inflation.
Douglas Dragon just ask him to get a rare gem for you worth 1000 dollar and pay him 1 for the effort
Wheel of Time does it good. At first it's cliche but then it gets extremely complicated with the chosen one losing his mind and everyone trying to manipulate him to do the "right" thing
HAIL THE EVIL BADASS EMPIRE!
generic username Down with Mary Sue! Impeccable looks are inferior to badass armor!
The Dark Lord did nothing wrong.
Hey JB, I was wondering if you have read the Eragon series? The books did a lot wrong, but also did a lot right in terms of having a slow burn romance that was always secondary to the story (no love triangle), he wasn't really the chosen one, needed 100x the help to defeat the Dark Lord (still almost lost), and had many of the normal people (his step brother) who were only human be massively helpful, resourceful, and equally strong physically (arguably stronger mentally), no prophecy, and the "Dark Lord" only attacks the protagonist when the protagonist begins to build an army (kinda funny that there was relative peace until the protag did that), the "good army" was criticized by the normal townsfolk in some areas because they were seen as terrorist, the hero didn't get what he wanted in the end, and the power vacuum was addressed nicely. Even the elves were shown to have flaws.
Also, I'm writing my own book and these videos have really given me the inspiration to write. Glad to see another was made.
A personal favorite "Chosen One" Type is the one that follows a thing I like to call Karmatic Balance. Basically, the chosen exists to counter ancient evil. Which means, that, as forces of the same magnitude, they cant activelly destroy eachother, only beat the other back temporarily. Which means that their most valuable assets are the little guys, like villages and soldiers :)
Thank you for this informative video. I'll be sure to use you're advice in my *wattpad* story. I even already know what to call her.... what about... *Mary Sue*
wiem o tobie
The wrong your was a nice touch
call em sue mary, they'll never know
Your character ain't Mary Sue if yourself realizes them. It's a joke or comedic character like Deadpool or Squirrel which some fan cannot withstand the amount of rage.
This reminds me of a story I wanted to write a long time ago. This video made me realise it would've fulfilled almost every single cliché, only differences were that there wasn't an actual prophecy and the character wouldn't have had a love interest.
some suggestions:
time travelling
multiple dimensions
immortal characters
actual chemistry between characters (friendship/family/love interest)
keep up the videos, you're awesome as hell c:
Time Travel can be the absolute worst. I would love to see an episode on that!
How do you feel about this time travel scenario:
I wrote a story with time travel which ended up not helping my character at all. He ends up saving some people but I only creates a separate branch in time so when he returns to the future nothing has changed except since the Villain went back with him the "hero" (Very loose term) is all alone in a broken down world.
The Harry Potter series does a great job then:
1. It's well explained why Harry is the only one who can defeat Voldemort;
2. The power that Harry has against Voldemort only works against him. To other people Harry is a normal adversary, so he's not overpowered in any way;
3. The prophecy actually has some complexity in it, showing how choice and free will is involved, because two kids were the possible recipients of the prophecy. Voldemort had to make a choice and he chose Harry. And the connection they have was only established after that choice.
4. Harry has many flaws that are thoroughly explored during the series.
Correct me if I'm wrong (it's been a while since I've read Harry Potter) but doesn't Dumbledore also mention that the prophecy is only true because Voldemort believes in it and continues to act on it? So if he had never heard the prophecy or had simply ignored it, he would actually not be in any danger from Harry at all (well, no more than from any other wizard or witch). I seem to remember saying that the Department of Mysteries was full of prophecies that hadn't been fulfilled.
Yeah. That's why it's a successful movie franchise and one of the best books ever.
The problem with HP was that every time he was needed, Dumbledore had to take a dump, leaving his students to fix the problem.
Honestly, what I like the most about it is that Harry is an _actual_ Chosen One, because Voldemort chose him. As far as I'm concerned, heroes of prophesy are usually not real chosen ones because there wasn't a choice involved.
Only the last point bothers me. Besides his adolescent crisis in book five, what flaws does he have?
You heard about anakin, now that’s really “where the fun begins”
I think Terry Pratchett did a very good job in satirizing the chosen one cliches with his character Carrot in the Discworld. He used them to his advantage in very clever ways.
Anthony David i was just thinking about that as i watched the video... carrot has all the makings of a chosen one/mary sue but is actually a very interesting well rounded character largely because he never wants to be anything more than a police officer
Paul Atreides and his terrible purpose is an interesting one, his prescience and being the kwisatz haderach put him in definite chosen one territory but he's got to deal with his terrible purpose and the inevitable Jihad in his name.
The manga "Berserk" does an interesting twist on this by making the CHOSEN ONE a terrible villain. Its an awesome story, but its goes on forever.
The Chosen One title should be a title that is earned through a character’s deeds and actions along their quest, not given.
Well, actually it is? Most protagonists do one or two cool things and then people tell them: "You must be the chosen one, go fight the evil overlord."
You should do a video on "subtle" political commentary. Or don't, not like I matter.
Are you talking about animal farm and 1984?
You dont.
Intergalactic Human Empire - Yeah, like Doctors Without Borders doesn't exist in Elysium.
You're the chosen one! Of course you matter. The prophecies all foretold your pedagogical truth bombing of this comment section.
My guess would be the current trend of "take that" moments directed at "acceptable targets" that instantly date a game or show, and only serve to annoy half of the potential audience.
I've been thinking. If there's a prophesy foretelling the hero's destiny, then the hero can't really be a chosen one. Because, well, being chosen implies you were deliberately picked out by some kind of entity with, you know, agency. By extension it means the chosen one was chosen for a reason, like having certain qualities that made him or her qualified for the job.
A prophesy simply says: "This random person just _happens_ to be the one who will solve the problem, because destiny." A chosen one was singled out to be the champion of whoever did the chosing, so it can't just be some random plucky teenage farmboy with a good heart. Or, well, he can but only if there's a reason it's that _particular_ one.
I know I'm late but..
Chosen One: Gets prophecized
Villian: Hehe, I'm in danger
Someone should make a story where the prophecy actually turns out to be mystic bullshit, and the protagonist who was so convinced of the prophecy became indulged in his own ego and sense of superiority and plunged into degradation of character (sort of like a reverse character development, he starts out strong and ends flawed and broken) whereas his rivals are the one to defeat the almighty evil, who was afterwards succeeded by our own protoganist, and now our protagonist is the ultimate evil... oh wait this sounds partly like Star Wars doesn't it? Just realised lol
That's like basically the plot of the prequels
Now I want to write a subversive fanfic where the hero goes on an epic journey to face his/her destiny, only to find a senile old wizard who needs help wiping his ass and created a prophecy about it.
This is one of the reasons that Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are such good stories; they don't have a chosen one.
inb4 "Gandalf is a chosen one".
That's debatable, because he's a Maiar that incarnated onto Middle-Earth as a wizard, so he has magical abilites and is primordial, but he's not the main character and to my knowledge he isn't specifically prophesied to save the world.
You could argue Frodo is the chosen one for the Lord of the rings and maybe bilbo in the hobbit... however you could argue frodo isn't because there's sam who also had the potential to do what frodo did if frodo had died... and there was no overall prophecy
Remember: the Chosen one always is the descendant of the only Person who had a special power no one has
Wouldn't it technically be a fatalistic universe and not a deterministic universe? A deterministic universe means everything happened because it was going to happen due to conditions leading up to an event. A fatalistic one is where stuff happens because its preordained.
I love how his sidekick is Mary Sue
Ah, the self-fulfilling prophecy. Thanks for actually covering that shit-show of a paradox!
My idea for a story:
Two main characters. One *thinks* they are the chosen one but aren't, and tries to do things the prophecy says the chosen one will do, the other *is* the chosen one but doesn't want to be, and tries to avoid doing things the prophecy says the chosen one will do, but ends up doing them anyway. This also allows for a good rivalry as the character who thinks they're the chosen one feels like the one who doesn't want to be is stealing their thunder, and they may pretend to be the prophesized one without actually doing anything.
The anime D.Gray-Man has a pretty interesting take on this. You start off with a character who is definitely a "Chosen One", even if they don't say it outright. There is no apparent reason for him being chosen. Then later on as the story progresses, you learn more and more and realize that there is more to it. You had no clue at first, but there is actually a reason why he is so important.
I gotta say though, waiting so long to reveal that is a bold move and has probably costed them many fans. If you do get through it though, it's totally worth it.
Do a video only about love triangles!
something i want to try: a villain protagonist keeps trying to beat the "good guys" of the story. the bad guys win despite a prophecy (think star wars here). after the hero that everyone thought the prophecy was about dies, the villain realizes that HE was the one in this prophecy. he tries to be the hero and dismantle his empire, but struggles with the still very "bad" side of him. eventually both heroes and other villains grow to dislike him for the conflicting sides and try to kill him. so now, the villain must face off against both heroes and villains that are trying to kill him, continue dismantling his empire, and eventually, choose to align with the heroes and focus on killing the villains, but the other heroes do not know of this choice and their leader kills the villain, now turned hero in the end, thinking of himself as the chosen one. he finds that he cannot rule the kingdom he now has and it falls to dust.
basically, it is a jab on the fact that prophecies are not always clear on WHO is the "Chosen one". so we have people being killed thinking they are the "chosen one" of a story, we have the actual chosen one fulfilling the prophecy, then finally another person who thinks he is the chosen one destroys it all.
end the end, all that is left are the people of the kingdom, who would rebuild it without the guidance of a prophecy. they understood what had happened and are not going to let history repeat itself
Fascinating idea...
I feel like one of the few ways to do a good chosen one story is to make the CO one in a long line of COs ala Buffy and Avatar.
Or wheel of time
Also, prophecies written in an ancient language always manage to perfectly rhyme when translated into English.
Irl really skilled translators are able to maintain rhyme and rhythm in artistic literature, so that's not the most unbelievable thing
I'm glaring at you Skyrim.
except what actually do you end up saving in Skyrim? Whether you pick Stormcloak or Imperials, you end up helping the Thalmor. You know, the elf Nazis. Not that that's a criticism: I always played Aldmeri Dominion in ESO. Because roleplaying bad guys is fun.
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!?!?
My comment was because of the obnoxious and constant "DRAGONBORN!!! DRAGONBORN!! OMG YOU ARE DRAGONBORN HOLY CRAP!!" kind of deal that skyrim puts you through the whole game.
But can all your sweet powers that everyone thinks are so special actually save anyone or anything? nope.
So, it's a parody. The whole point is to be obnoxious. The entire Elder Scrolls series is pretty much a parody of rpgs.
Sophie Jones It's the magical power of the Chosen One ^^
At least in Oblivion or Morrowind you weren't constantly nagged as some dumb super hero figure right off the bat.
The problem with the Dragonborn is that he's special only because the game says so, not because of the character's actions or deeds.
@Bayek of Siwa
Right? i mean, if Bethesda committed to this idea of the "super being" they should have gone all the way with it. Instead, we get a super powerful, legendary figure that is able to defeat the one menace in skyrim that nobody else can and what does everyone of importance do? They just treat you like trash either way, in Winterholm you start as a nobody, in either army campaign you start from the bottom rank and some dumb guards even have the nerve to extort you for a bribe. (glaring at Riven) Worse is, you are forced to cope with all this instead of using your Dragonborn influence whenever you seem fit.
Frodo was not actually a chosen one xD
Basically the ring chose him.
Nope, the ring didnt. Bilbo dropped it agaisnt the rings will and Frodo picked it up
preetty sure the ring changes ownership of its will not by mistake but my real question...
is it because Frodo was the chosen 1/2 ? ooooooooooo
GET IT FRODO IS SHORT !! HA HA HA HA HA
ha
Didn't Frodo volunteer to carry the Ring to Mordor? Doesn't exactly sound like something that one would describe as a Chosen One.
Actually, I am conceptualizing an idea of a Chosen One not by destiny or Prophecy itself, but rather by beings of a higher power manipulating world events for their own desires. Specifically, that there are two Chosen Ones as both are half man, half dragon (via science). Now, one of these Chosen Ones--the main character--doesn't really care all that much and would likely go about killing--or at least attempting to kill--those who force their will and desires upon him (he prefers to be left alone). The other embraces the role of Chosen One, but hates the main character so greatly he is willing to sabotage the grand plans of these higher beings just to kill him.
So, yup. I think I can do the Chosen One trope in a somewhat unique way. Mainly because the plot isn't about the Chosen One but rather the characters themselves.
Mike Gordan "beings of higher power minipulating world events for there own desires." So Mistborn.
YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE ANAKIN
IT WAS SAID THAT YOU WOULD DESTROY THE SITH NOT JOIN THEM!
I like how Shin Megami Tensei II does the chosen one trope. Throughout the game you are made to believe Aleph was created by god to bring forth his thousand year kingdom but turns out he was created by the archangels to fulfill god's prophecy since they grew tired of waiting for the real Messiah
Destiny has brought me to this moment.
My "chosen one" story is basically some otherworldly being choosing a new guy who he thinks is worthy to defeat the darkness.
Avatar did the chosen one well.
Well, yeah, but he didn't technically kill the guy in the end, he just did what he learned from Lion-turtle-ex-machina.
That's really my only complaint with ATLA, the lion turtle ex Machina. They should have set that one up better, cause I don't remember any mention of Lion turtles before that episode
The Library episode Aang pulls out a book and show Katara, a picture, "Hey, Katara, look at this weird Lion Turtle thing."
Sokka looks at the picture: "Eh, I've seen weirder."
But what bugged me was the Lion Turtles connection in Korra. I feel like it just erased all the world building from ATLA because that show said it was the Moon and Ocean spirits who taught water bending, the badger moles who taught earth bending, the bison who taught air bending, and the dragons who taught fire bending.
Then in Korra, its like, nope, these giant turtle things gave people these bending powers, not just something called energy bending, but all the elemental bending powers were given to humans by these turtles.
Zinervawyrm To be fair, the previous explanation could easily have just been a legend, given how long ago the Juan story occurs.
blah blah well, it still could be true. When the people were granted their bending, it was used only as a crude weapon and not like an extension of one's own body. Perhaps the raw power was bestowed upon the people by the lion turtles but bending as an art form was taught by nature.
I'm amazed that all that wish fulfillment and entitlement don't turn chosen ones into unlikable pricks 100% of the time.
cough goku cough cough
Avatar the last airbender did this in an amazing way and I'm not gonna go into detail because there have already been tons of videos discussing why it was great
5:15 the mindset of people when it comes to elections
Here's my advice: Make your story as long as possible! Just keep adding paragraph after paragraph, chapter after chapter, book after book! Add details upon details upon details. Hell, add details to your details! Just keep explaining every little insignificant thing you can think of. Anything to up that word count!
Who cares if you ran out of creative ideas and a cohesive plot years ago? If you don't keep cranking out drivel, you can't milk your franchise for all it's wor- I mean you won't fully capture the attention of your audience! Don't feel like dedicating a decade to a long series? No worries, just make a trilogy!
Every trilogy is scientifically proven to be amazing, no matter how old and cliche the contents. So go on, keep slapping cliffhangers onto the end of your books! Because a single novel, or god forbid a short story (shudders), has never been more interesting or original than a 12 piece epic!
(This isn't poking fun at any story out there, it's a reminder to myself not to give in to my bad habit of over explaining everything. I don't need to wax poetic about the stripes on that cat, just list the different colors and move on. Sometimes 4,000 words is as good, if not better than 40,000.)
If you remember seeing this on a different video, that's because I'm copy-pasting it on all the ones I frequently rewatch.
"Wouldn't that mean that the only way for the dark lord to avoid defeat would be to ignore the machinations of destiny and gamble that he was living in a free-will based universe?" I've actually seen played out before.
There was an Anime that was produced at some point last year called "Endro~!" that actually has a story like this. Due to the hero's stupidity, the dark lord is always sent back in time to a point before the hero and villain are to have their destined fight with one another and so the only way for the villain to deal with fate is for the dark lord to basically quit being the dark lord. She instead enrols as a teacher at the hero's school. From there, light-hearted shenanigans ensue.
Use your Mary Sue powers wisely, my child!
I’ve come up with a story that has a spin on the chosen one prophecy
Ok so basically, it’s a basic “chosen one” hero but after he defeats the villain he kind of lets the fame and victory go to his head. Then, a journey makes him realize that he isn’t the chosen one. He goes on this mad rampage looking for the newborn chosen one. At first, he wishes to train the protagonist from the upcoming threat but eventually he devolves into wanting to kill the chosen one, as his friends that he fought with try to stop him. As he either kills or drives away the ones he called friend and subjugating the world he had liberated from the evil empire with the rebellion that had fought to free the world because they had gained loyalty to the protagonist. eventually, he finds where the chosen ones village is and slaughters and burns it, becoming the villain the prophecy predicted and cementing the chosen one on his path to heroism. The chosen one was saved in the chaos of the massacre and grows up to challenge the protagonist and the protagonist is eventually defeated by the real chosen one.
So wait, if the prophecy is destined to come true, then why do the good guys need to know the prophecy? And if the prophecy's reliability is questionable at best, then why do the good guys need to know the prophecy? Is there any reason for somebody to write down the prophecy, or is it completely self-fulfilling? In that case, shouldn't people only read prophecies they know/have heard will result in a good outcome?
What's worse than the chosen one cliche is the inherited super power cliche. Why work hard when you can just be handed special powers or be a (so not) secret child of a hero and inherit their genes?
I loved that the owl house basically subverts this trope in the second episode.
I like how the Deltora Quest series is a Chosen One story that dodges all the problems you bring up. It is about 2/3 of the way through the last book that it is revealed that the protagonist is the Chosen One*. I do not remember there being a prophecy, but even if there was one, the problems prophecies create are side stepped, because neither the protagonists nor antagonists know that he is the Chosen One.
* The reveal is actually done when and is not obvious, but I'm not about to explain the whole plot of the series right here, so trust me on this.
EDIT: I just accidentally stayed up until 1:00 AM binge watching all of your episodes. Fun Fact; what I just did is the best proof that quality > quantity.
Not a prophecy per se, just that the belt only has its full power and can thus chase the Shadow Lord from the land if worn by the true heir of the first king Adin. The rub being his parents expected the belt to activate as soon as the last stone was fitted and he put it on, not knowing a particular order to the stones was also required. There was also a couple fake outs during the last book, to keep you guessing.
That being said the same author of that series Emily Rodda, did do a series called Rowan of Rin that used prophecies but they were played more as riddled hints of the future that provided warnings if you could puzzle them out, but you still had to do the work yourself to overcome the danger. And that series kind of had a chosen one prophecy in the main prophecy "Seven hearts the journey make, seven ways the hearts will break. Bravest heart will carry on, when sleep is death, and hope is gone. Look in the fiery jaws of fear and see the answer white and clear, then throw away all thoughts of home for only then your quest is done."