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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ย. 2023
- The best thing to do when writing a chosen one is ironically enough to stop focusing on the chosen one, and focus on the characters who are not chosen.
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My favorite subversion of the chosen one is when the chosen one chooses to not be the chosen one.
"Prophecy says that you will destroy the big bad."
"I refuse to destroy the big bad."
"Then I will force you to destroy the big bad."
"Whose the villain again?"
"shouldn't my chosen-ness come radiating out of me, alerting all the allies of good?" "the only thing radiating out of you is stupidity" -Maxx and Cyril, roughly, at some point in time
"If destiny exists, and cannot be guided or changed, free will doesn't exist"
This is a core idea explored in the novel I'm writing. The hero ends up resenting being strung along by "destiny" that he feels obligated to openly challenge it. I'm also thinking about exploring other themes like societal, familial, and other forms of determinism.
oooooh i remeber in magnus chase the theme was destiny die sexist, the world will invetitabky end but we can change the details. your take on destiny sounds so cool cool, good luck!
That's such a cool idea, reminds me of Berserk
What’s the name of your novel when are you publishing it and where can I find it?
two words:
Eren Jaegar
I can never get obi wans voice out of my head when I hear the words “chosen one”
This channel needs to blow up in subscribers. Its the most effective and comprehendable writing advice channel ive ever seen.
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@@ScritRighter WILL DO!
I've been thinking how any story idea where a character is forced into a situation is always going to be more appealing. Most people don't question how ancient people could create giant stone traps in their temple, or even the giant temple to begin with, but the escape from said temple is always popular in movies.
One good example i think worth mentioning is Giorno from JJBA part 5. From the start we already get the sense that he’s destined to defeat the villain and achieve great things, however throughout the story, he along with his group faced seemingly impossible odds and struggled a great deal to overcome them. Hell more often than not the arcs doesn’t even focus on him rather the characters around him. Even though we know he’s a Chosen One yet in the face of danger, he motivates and instills hope into his friends to steel their resolve and become Chosen Ones just like him. This is further supported by Araki’s way of writing fate, in JJBA “fate” isn’t something abstract but is an actual concept, an unmoving force of nature that steers the storyline, fixes all anomalies into how the story is supposed to happen. It rewards justice and punishes those who take shortcuts through the plot, even the Chosen Many protagonists themselves.
Pfp source?
@@NunyaMcBusiness 💀💀
Also JoJo is probably one of the only series that presented the concept of Fate/Destiny in a more Organic way,
where it's depicted not as a force of god that enforce character to do and experience certain things,
but as universal law that exists as a force that take someone from one place to another,
which Dio once compared with Gravity.
with imagining Fate as a force of nature like Gravity, it suddenly changes the perception of Fate for me,
it's not something you have to deny and overcome, because the "gravity" will crush you in it's weight,
but have to accept it and stand strong in your belief, so the "gravity" will favor you.
I think an example of a Chosen One story that admits it's a Chosen One story while showing the struggle may be Wheel of Time (the books, not Amazon's adaptation), more so of how it affects the main character and ties him into the overall story/worldbuilding. While I'm not completely sure if how much the series delves into "fate vs free will" because I'm only on book 3, it is somewhat played with, e.g. the sayings "The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, and we are only the thread of the Pattern..." or "There are neither beginnings nor endings to the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning."
Of course, like you said, the thing about misuse of the Chosen One trope is most to uplift the character without really tying it into said character. It's just "there," sometimes existing at the expense of the character (from their growth to their wants/needs to etc.) and maybe even the story itself. You can see this with the SW prequels, where the prophecy of "one who will bring balance to the Force" doesn't really affect Anakin--to the point any mention of it could be removed without affecting the overall plot. Of course, that particular prophecy or what balances means are never fully explained (let alone anything about the Force being properly explored), as well as how the whole thing undermines a lot from the OT (Yoda saying "Always in motion is the future," Luke defying "his destiny"--imposed upon by Obi-Wan and even Vader--which was a big part of becoming his own man, how the Force wasn't made more into a literal god by interfering in the galaxy, etc.).
I started thinking of undertale when you mentioned a good prophecy. When I think about it, it's the epitome of subverting expectations and takes two paths in what it means.
"The Angel, the one who has seen the surface, they will return and the underground will go empty."
2:48 or make it a plot point that gives the character a existential crisis ex: she ra 2018. i liked that they really explored their chosen one concept in adora and her personhood through the seasons. authenticity and the self is a large theme which can come in conflict with adora being the chosen one and her childhood traumas influencing her to take up that mantel.
Let's be honest here Jesus is the best "chosen one" charactet ever Even if you are not religious you have to check out the book of Revelation cuz the stuff is epic. It's a shame no one in Hollywood has the balls to turn this into a movie like a proper adaption of what happens lol
First comment I found on this video and it's already fire
Lame
He does not have any flaws, he is a Gary Stu, no other characters are truly fleshed out, the 'dark lord' is vague and abstract: kindly rewatch the video
@paulkanja9481 He's actually pretty flawed. Did you not read the Bible? Bro was out there, flipping table, whipping people, disobeying his parents, and wandering off. Not everyone liked him. In fact, bro was publicly executed, and even at gatherings, he still had haters. I'm not saying you gotta like him, nor am I saying he's the most well round being every, but you do gotta admit Jesus is pretty human in his own way
@@paulkanja also 🤓
perfect video I needed to find
making a comic about a scientist who uses science to try and attain the powers of a celestial but he ends up being possessed in stead and because of an accident, his son ends up with said celestials power
so this evil celestial might only be defeatable by this son
he however doesnt wanma kill him because he is still holding out hope that his father can be saved
One great example of a "chosen one" or "having a destiny" that completely subverts the trope but also fully embraces it is told by Jolee Bindo in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Jolee tells the main character about a young man named Andor who knew he had a destiny and let that blind him to the dangers of the galaxy and what it meant. They got picked up by pirates led by a very powerful warlord and Andor's destiny had come. Unfortunately Andor felt his destiny made him invincible, made a bunch of demands and taunted the pirate lord. Andor ended up getting picked up by the neck and chucked into the reactor, where he should have been vaporized but somehow hit something sensitive in the process and his death caused a chain reaction which destroyed the ship and killed the pirate lord, altering the fate and power structure of that corner of the galaxy for years to come.
It came to my mind while watching your video and I was thinking "there's nothing that says the chosen one has to live past their victory either, and sometimes they may fulfill their destiny because their death meant more to those around them that it inspired others, or caused a chain of events to blow up a starship."
Interesting idea you gave Me is if the chosen one is destined to kill the dark lord but the doesn't is trying to find away around that because the dark lord is a child or something. The main antagonist could be the God that chose the chosen one
They fill the story, that’s helpfull for a plot. I choose to have multiple chosen ones. Maybe a chosen one that is not the main character. How are they not heroic if they arn’t a hero. It’s about the action. They need a reason to be chosen.
I don't think Bell Cranel is an example of a bad chosen, since he's journey has not been easy, its been quite the opposite in my opinion for how hard he has been struggling, especially in the sort of newest season of the anime. For example his second fight against the minotaur, where you could only feel embarrassed.
There is more about that fight and whole season but i don't feel like spoiling it soooo...
Still a good vid though
To me it's moreso the fact that Bell does the bare minimum kindness to anyone, and it's treated as if he's the only person in the world capable of doing so.
Female characters aren't really allowed to have a love interest or personality that does not revolve around him.
Even when there are more experienced characters than him, he still manages to outpace them.
Just because he endures some sort of struggle, that doesn't make his character well written. And often times the struggle consists of:
Bell got his ass kicked with one hit!
Bell survived!
Bell is real bloody now!
Bell pulled a new power out of his pants!
Bell wins!
The mere fact he lost to Asterias isn't really enough, either. After all, Asterias solo'd the most powerful guild in the world. There was no universe Bell won that fight.
In other portions, he fights an adventurer who kicks his ass in a bar without any issue, but then suddenly they become a complete pushover when it's time for Bell to win. They go from a somewhat menacing bully antagonist to a whimpering little bitch who gets destroyed with one punch.
I watch Danmachi cuz it's one of those shows I love to hate. Bell is a Gary Stu, but that doesn't mean the show isn't entertaining, or that the setting isn't interesting. It is a favorite pastime of mine to shit on Bell Cranel. He does have some good moments, but it ultimately returns to the Gary Stu I love to hate.
On top of that, there's also a lot of contrivancies and annoying writing moments. The evil cat villain boy trying to control the big dark scary monster literally monologues and taunts them repeatedly over the course of SEVERAL episodes. Always repeating the exact same "Mwahahaha, I killed your guild, and now i'm gonna control this terrible monster mwahahaha" Only for neither of them to really do anything but allow him to monologue. All so the plot can put them a few floors down and they can 'struggle'.
But the struggle consists of the elf not realizing she is a healer who can regen her magic with a long rest, and Bell has to repeatedly remind her that she is literally necessary for his survival because he cannot heal himself. But the kicker is that she's an experienced adventurer, so she should realize that... but she doesn't.
Characters become dumber so Bell can look smarter.
@ScritRighter I agree with you about the love interests, but I find the struggle he go's threw did make him well developed
When nearly every familia hated him for protecting Weina. Even though he was a sort of celebrity at the time he still decided to protect het. He was only redeemed by getting his ass kicked.I find that to be good writing since it allows us to truly know the characters limits on what their willing to do
The only time i can truly think of in which he beat a high rank adventurer was when the Apollo familia attacked. So i do agree with you there, the anime didn't really explain how he was able to win, but all the other times it was specifically a person helping or giving bell a boost in power, a temporary one at that. It might be a bit lazy but it is still telling us the audience that he still has a long way to go before he can truly fight on that level.
And the elf being suicidel was kinda a good thing in my opinion. Whenever she does that it shows us that she has actually been affected by her whole familias death. Bell was the only one who could tell her at the moment that she was being idiot for being that suicidal , pretty much anyone could have told her that in the story. So her being dumber for bell to be cooler is not actually true in my opinion
I find the struggle of the dungeon works because it really tests his metal.It truly showed us why he was the special one amongst the many others in the story, its like the first Asterios fight in a way because it shows us something truly special about Bell.
I get where you are coming from when it comes to hating Bell,since i love hating on Kirito and SAO in whole honestly, its just fun you know . I made this just to defend the anime i actually see potential in.
i kinda want to write a story where the chosen one ends up dying, and we find out that the prophecy maker only knew that the dark lord would fall, and that the chosen one was only the most likely candidate.
imagine having a character who is explicitly shown to not be the chosen one, take on the role of being the chosen one simply because he wants to. seeing how much more he has to struggle to achieve the same thing as a true chosen one would if given the same tool, but decides to go along anyways.
that would be a pretty good concept if done properly.
@ScritRighter is writing the chosen one trope hard?
Several years back I read a book series that is certainly flawed, but that I think had an interesting take on the idea of a "chosen hero" fortold by prophecy called "Gregor the Overlander." In that series, Gregor finds an underground civilization that has a series of small prophecies about a hero. These prophecies build up until the hero defeats an enemy of this civilization. Gregor, as you might expect, begins fulfilling these prophecies until the civilization is convinced he is the hero of the prophecies. Sometimes the prophecies seem to not quite match up to what happens, but they are vague enough that you can usually make them match up pretty well.
However, near the end of the series, one of Gregor's mentors tells him something interesting. He says that this underground civilization has had multiple instances where they believed someone to be the chosen hero. These heroes would fulfill the first couple of prophecies, but then something would go very different than expected, or the hero would be killed. The civilization would then just shrug their shoulders and say that they must have been wrong, and that the chosen hero hasn't actually arrived yet. The mentor then points out that if the civilization does this enough times, eventually there will be someone who seems to fulfill the prophecies, even if the prophecies were never real in the first place. And even if the prophecies were real, it wasn't actually certain whether Gregor is the chosen hero, or just another in a long line of 'false' heroes
At the end of the series, it isn't clear whether the prophecies were true or not. Some details didn't match up unless you took a few leaps in logic, but the major parts of the prophecies still came true. The end leaves the answer up to the reader. Were the prophecies real? Did Gregor really fulfill them? Does it even matter at this point? It's been a long time since I read that series, so the details are fuzzy; but that skew on the "chosen one" trope always stuck with me.
11:20 i think this part is the idea behind eren yaeger in the last part of the story, he knows he will achieve his goals, but his goal will kill almost all of humanity
I hadn't thought of that, but you make a good point. Eren is a subversion of the Chosen One trope.
Bruv said the lightning thief series when it’s called the Percy Jackson Series
Um *Snort* Acktually *Pushes up Glasses* It's called the Percy Jackson & The Olympians Series *Wheezing laugh followed by choking on one's own saliva* Shows what YOU Know!
konosuba has great chosen 1 :)
Can we truly say Luke Skywalker is a chosen one when he has no prophecy nor is chosen except by yoda n obi wans insistance that he defeat Vader? Even then, Luke subverts that and defeats everyone's idea and goes his own path to beat Vader by ressurecting Anakin. 🤷🏾♂️ i feel everyone sees Luke one way but is definitely more just a person who becomes the hero... same as Han and Lando but we are more focused on the Jedi path.
Anyway, totally agree with what you say on the chosenness story trope
What's interesting about the Star Wars prophecy and Luke being the chosen one is that he kinda isn't. Anakin is, always was, and continued to be the chosen one even when he became 'the dark lord'. Anakin brought balance to the force. However, Luke is a 'chosen one' as far as the audience is concerned for the majority of the series.
"You were the chosen one Anakin!" Yea he was for like what, two movies?
@@davidlz830 The Chosen One was prophesized to bring balance to the force in times of darkness. At the beginning of the original trilogy, the Sith have supreme rule over the galaxy, and the Jedi have been completely hunted to extinction (ignoring extended universe shenanigans cuz George Lucas never expected the movie to be successful or long running when he made it). The Force was out of balance in favor of The Dark Side. Sidious and Vader ruled over it all almost completely uncontested aside from a stray rebellious alliance. And during the final movie of the trilogy, it is not Luke who slays Sideous, it's Vader. Anakin, in the most roundabout way, brings balance to the force by killing himself and Sideous so that his son can live on and foster a new generation of Jedi.
How to write a good chosen one:
1- you... you don't... you simply don't... because there is not such a thing as a well-written chosen one.
2- If you insist on making one, then you better kill him by the end of his arc to add actual tragedy to his story.
3- Give him an existencial crisis around the fact that he is a chosen one, such as making him feel his victories undeserved, avoid hedonistic life, give him a PTSD or something to mess with his life, have society hate him when someone dies, etc.