Apocalypse Maiden

caption-width-right:350:More like "Apocalypse [[Moeden"

In most stories, the Big Bad is the one who wants to bring about The End of the World As We Know It with anything from an Earthshattering Kaboom to a demonic invasion. Usually it's because they will become The Antichrist and are prophesied to destroy the world.

You can understand why The Hero will get very confused when he finds out it's actually their Love Interest, their younger or older sister, his childhood friend (either Unlucky, Victorious or Forgotten) or another member of the Five-Man Band (most likely The Lancer or The Chick) who is The Chosen One fated to destroy the world. The reasons vary, maybe they have inherited a form of Enemy Within capable of a truly Unstoppable Rage that can destroy worlds, or have been possessed by an Eldritch Abomination, or most heart wrenchingly they are completely innocent yet their mere existence acts as a Butterfly of Doom that can destroy the Cosmic Keystone. Either way, they're going to somehow bring about the apocalypse in some form Because Destiny Says So.

Needless to say, the villains (and certain heroes) who realize this want to nip this in the bud by killing said Chosen One. Of course, seeing as that person is one of their True Companions (usually a Love Interest), the heroes say Screw Destiny and try to protect the chosen one from others and potentially, even themselves. Then again, some villains (and certain heroes) may well want them to destroy the world, and kidnap them in order to brainwash or sacrifice them in a manner that kick starts the apocalypse. In which case the heroes have to find a way to stop the world ending and save their friend... and both may be mutually exclusive.

Sadly, because You Can't Fight Fate these attempts to prevent the cataclysm may become self fulfilling because Prophecies Are Always Right (in such a case, its a Downer Ending). Optimistically, their friend's efforts and The Power of Trust may embolden them to become an Anti-Anti-Christ and successfully rebel against their destiny... even if it requires the ultimate sacrifice.

Prophetic Fallacy may also be a cause for the villain's alarm, or maybe The Powers That Be were merciful.

This is more of a plot than a character (it could be either). Much like Barrier Maiden, this trope is open to both genders. See also/contrast Big Bad Friend, Save This Person Save the World and Barrier Maiden. May well become an Anti-Anti-Christ.

This trope is inspired by if not outright based on the Harlot from the biblical Book of Revelation.

Subtrope of the MacGuffin Girl.

Anime and Manga

 * Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion, as part of an Assimilation Plot. (She was the FORMER PAGE IMAGE!) She is unusual in that . Sort of. Maybe. We think.
 * NGE also gives us a rare male example: Kaworu Nagisa. Unlike Rei,.
 * And even then, Rei encourages Shinji not to go through with it, but he is adamant about wanting her to cause Instrumentality due to everything that happened to him up until then.
 * Which ironically, implies that Shinji is the Anti-Christ. Makes a weird spin on the whole Everybody Is Jesus in Purgatory thing.
 * In Naruto; there are the two male versions of this; Chosen Children Naruto and Nagato who were destined to bring a new golden age to the world.....or bring it into complete and utter ruin; the latter took the second road at least until before he died while the former still remains the saviour...for now.
 * In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, . Played at its straightest when.
 * This is, not incidentally, the point where most first-time watchers start baying for the blood of the show's ultimate antagonists. Not because of The End of the World As We Know It - that's just what villains do, you can't really hate 'em for it - but for doing that to.
 * Played with in Hoshi no Samidare. The Apocalypse Maiden wants to cause the Endofthe World As We Know It, and the protagonist is helping her to accomplish that goal..
 * Hotaru Tomoe (Sailor Saturn) from Sailor Moon. The Outer Senshi misunderstand her job thinking it is a bad thing (And confuse her with Mistress 9 who's possessing her and is The Antichrist) and try to prevent her from awakening. They fail and she explains her job is to serve as a reset button in the event that the bad guys win, allowing Moon to restore the world into its' proper form. She doesn't get to destroy the world in the anime (she defeats the Big Bad with Moon's help, then is reborn as a baby), but does in the manga; Sailor Moon restores it moments later.
 * One of the main characters of Blue Seed gets this status near the end of the series...
 * Mahou Sensei Negima appears to be falling into this with the recent chapters..
 * A major theme in Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, the reason most of the gods are trying to kill Loki is simply Because Destiny Says So that he will destroy the world.
 * Scrapped Princess is the obvious example - there, the main character, who is also the eponymous character, basically lives this trope. 99% of the world wants to kill her because she's destined to bring about The End of the World As We Know It, while the remaining percent wants to protect her because it's not HER fault. Resultantly, we've got both 'villains' who are really just scared people who are afraid to see their world collapse around their ears, or obeying orders from up on high... and REAL villains who are manipulating events for their own advantage, with complete disregard for the number of lives involved. Not to mention some of the 1% that help her are pretty crazy.
 * Unlike the other series, the The End of the World As We Know It in this series is a GOOD thing.
 * Slayers, more specifically the second season (NEXT), may have fallen into this. When the team is facing the Big Bad, Lina wonders if she should fight it because a) she doesn't think think she can possibly win and b) the only way she can win is with a Dangerous Forbidden Technique called Giga Slave that has a high chance of wiping out all existence. At this point, some of the members have to warn her that under certain circumstances, they may have to fight her. Turns out that the true Big Bad wants her to use the technique and tries to force her into it, because the ultimate goal of demons is to return the universe to empty blackness.
 * Sonic X: turns out.
 * Hayate Yagami of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, the latest friend of Nanoha's group during that season who also happened to be the latest master of the Book of Darkness, a rather hazardous title considering how all previous masters died blowing up their worlds after the book possessed them and went omnicidal. Much discussions about the cruelty of fate were had.
 * Elie  in Rave Master.
 * Lucy from Elfen Lied definitely fits this, inner demon style. Eventually,.
 * In the second season of Darker Than Black, ends up as one of these. Although the Gainax Ending and Mind Screw make it hard to say for sure exactly what happened, it appears that.
 * In a rather weird example, Haruhi Suzumiya can bring about the end of the world on a whim, and she does not know it. Everyone tries to keep her pretty happy and/or occupied, so her subconscious doesn't act on such things. Although Kyon tends to push this when he gets annoyed at her.
 * In Gate Keepers,  is briefly turned into this by the enemy when she becomes Brainwashed and Crazy by the Big Bad..
 * Mayo Sakaki from the 3rd Fushigi Yuugi OVA. She very nearly destroys the entire Universe of the Four Gods just to get a fairy-tale ending with Tamahome.
 * In CLAMP's X 1999,  are "twin stars" - one destined to save the earth, the other destined to destroy it.   chose to save the world, so   got stuck with the role of destroying it, along with gaining a evil personality change to go with his Face Heel Turn.
 * To clarify,.
 * in Romeo X Juliet.
 * In Record of Lodoss War, it is revealed that  is one of the three key objects for a ritual that will destroy the entire continent. As there's no place where she would be safe from being kidnapped by the evil sorcerer and she has known her condition as an Apocalypse Maiden ever since she was young, she rather takes her chance and tries to take him down before he finds her.
 * in Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt,
 * Played brutally and tragically straight with Chise from Saikano.
 * Macross Frontier has engineered to affect the Vajra with their singing and keep them off the Big Bad until she can use  to pull off an Assimilation Plot for the entire galaxy. Also, Ranka's pet Ai-kun counts to some extent since the cute little critter is.
 * Miharu from Gasaraki seems to be one..
 * One Piece: Luffy has actually become this in the latest arc (or at least is believed to be one), where the fortune teller Madame Shirley foretells a boy with a Straw Hat who will spell doom for Fishman Island.
 * Puella Magi Madoka Magica:  . It's that kind of show.
 * In the Ah My Goddess movie, we have
 * In the Ah My Goddess movie, we have

Fan Works

 * The Hiiragi twins in Stars Above.

Comic Books

 * The eponymous character of Hellboy is prophesied to bring about the end of the universe.
 * Raven from Teen Titans of course.
 * Uncanny X-Men #137, "The Fate of the Phoenix". The Phoenix Force, pretending to be Jean Grey, was so powerful she could no longer control it, and became the Dark Phoenix, risking the destruction of the universe. She eventually made a Heroic Sacrifice to end the threat. It gets retconned back and forth all the time whether it was actually Jean or the Phoenix Force pretending to be Jean who did this, but it fits the trope either way.
 * Also done with Colossus in Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men: the Augurs of a Planet Of Blood Knights called Breakworld predict he will destroy the planet, so they try to kill him. Fortunately, an organization of Space Police are on Colossus' side.
 * Alan Moore's Promethea is all over this.
 * Captain Atom in Captain Atom: Armageddon discovers that he is going to destroy the Wildstorm universe if he stays there, and that he also can't leave, and that if he dies, the destruction will happen instantly..
 * Played with in Les Legendaires during the Anathos Cycle; the story starts with the protagonists learning that one of them is gonna serves as a host for the reincarnation of a Omnicidal Maniac God of Evil known as Anathos. When they finally find out which one of them it is, it turns out to be Shimy, the group's elf. Team Leader Danael then pull out a Batman Gambit to prevent Anathos from reincarnating into her... only to end up Out-Gambitted by the God, who turns out to have planned this and reincarnate into him instead.

Film

 * In Night Watch, the center of a coming apocalypse causing storm is a seemingly normal Innocent Bystander. As the story goes on, we discover she is an Other (basically a witch) who is riddled with guilt over manipulating her mother into rejecting a life saving kidney transplant by revealing she was the donor. The spiraling guilt would have destroyed the world had Anton not talked her down (er, up?) from her depression. In the process, he gained a love interest for the next movie who was also.
 * The Haunting of Molly Hartley.
 * This is the entire plot of the movie End of Days.
 * "Take me now, subcreature."
 * The 1968 horror flick Rosemary's Baby, based on a book by the same name. In fact, this is the entire point of the book/movie.

Literature

 * Coin, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Sourcery. Prophecy states that the existence of a sourcerer will mean the end of the world, and it's stated that the prevention of such a birth was the original reason for the celibacy of wizards. Of course, someone always has to go and do something stupid...
 * Cyradis in The Malloreon -- arguably, she wasn't going to destroy the world as such, but had she chosen  then the world would have been thrown into evil, via.
 * In Percy Jackson and The Olympians, the Olympians discuss killing him -- to his face! -- because he might be a dangerous prophecied-of character.
 * In The Amber Spyglass the priests send an assassin to whack smartass kid Lyra because it is prophecied that she will be the new Eve and bring about a new fall of Man. Just one of the many reasons why there won't be any sequels to The Golden Compass...
 * In Nick Kyme's Warhammer 40000 novel Firedrake, it is established beyond a doubt that Dak'ir is the person prophesied to destroy the planet..
 * Garth of The Lords of Dûs trilogy was destined to bring about the Age of Destruction by taking up the sword of Bheleu. By doing so, he also started the clock on the Age of Death, said to be the end of Time itself. Turns out

Live Action TV

 * Supernatural, with Gordon (and associates) trying to kill Sam before he can go bad and lead demon armies to conquer the world.
 * Gordon isn't the only one who has it in for Sam. His own Dad was afraid killing Sam might be necessary some day (which might go a long way in explaining the guy's obsession and control issues).
 * Even Sam thinks his own death might someday be necessary. He made Dean promise to kill him if he ever went bad, and in Season Five he even swore to  that he'd kill himself before giving in..
 * But then the angel  says no problem, they'll just.
 * And in an actual literal example,  is literally the final seal to release the apocalypse. Of course, Sam doesn't find this out until he realizes that maybe the tortured demonic soul of a former witch who got him hooked on demon blood might not be entirely invested in his best interests.
 * In his defense, he thought it was okay to believe Ruby about Lilith since even the said that they agreed with her.
 * Dawn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 5. True to form, Buffy promises to protect her at all costs, even if it means the end of the world.
 * In Angel, although no one realizes it until after it's already done, Connor and Cordelia are a matching pair of these; both are needed to bring forth Jasmine.
 * This appeared to be Sofie's role in Carnivale, but the show ended before they could really explore it.
 * Stargate SG-1 had this as well. When Hanka is wiped out by Nirrti, the team finds a sole survivor: a little girl by the name of Cassandra. Later it turns out that her body contains a globule of naquadah that has attracted all the potassium in her body and can cause cardiac arrest if someone attempts to remove it. Why is that a problem? Stargates contain over 29 tons of Naquadah. Naquadah reacts to potassium violently. And I mean VERY violently.
 * Edith Keeler. Damn it.
 * In Kamen Rider Decade,
 * In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon,  of all people.
 * The X-Files has this at least three times: the people in the snake church  their leader's daughter with , both main wives and all past ones in "Terms of Endearment"  , and   in a season 9 episode. The worst part of that last example is that  , and just getting used to a newly-added Doggett.

Music

 * A major theme in Luca Turilli's album Prophet of the Last Eclipse, particularly the song Demonheart.

Mythology and Religion

 * Shiva is said to dance the dance that creates, sustains, and destroys the universe all the time. However, it is specifically noted that he does this when his wife, Sati, sets herself on fire after being insulted (by her father) for marrying Shiva in the first place. It took Vishnu's discus cutting up Sati's body to stop Shiva from completely destroying the world. Similarly, Shiva acts as a Barrier Maiden when his wife in another form, Kali, goes on rampages.
 * Oddly enough, Jesus according to Christian belief. His Second Coming in the Book of Revelation foretells The End of the World As We Know It. However, it's ultimately The Antichrist who brings about the End of Days.
 * There isn't really a reference to an entity called The Antichrist in the Book of Revelations, or to anything indicating that the End of Days would be anything but a part of the original divine plan. The Beast, so often interpreted as The Antichrist appears as a part of the prophecy, not its cause.

Video Games

 * Princess Elise in Sonic the Hedgehog 2006..
 * Another example might be Devil May Cry 3. It turns out that everyone involved (except Arkham, who's orchestrating it all) is required to open the gates of hell, meaning that if any of them had died before then, hell can stay closed forever. Of course, it was prophesied that the Sons of Sparda would save the day, so it may be a subversion (odd in that the demons seem have it out for them)
 * from Legend of Dragoon, along with . The prophecy didn't come to pass because.
 * Bastila in Knights of the Old Republic possesses great skill with battle meditation, which allows her to tilt large-scale battles in favor of either side. Needless to say, she is a much-sought-after resource for both sides of the central conflict.
 * Her link with is also important, as she could theoretically serve as a Morality Chain to turn him to either the Dark or the Light. Fortunately for Lightside!, it works both ways.
 * In Loom, the Elders try to stop the player character from destroying the world..
 * In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, the main villain Celia Fortner seeks to revive Dracula.
 * Oddly, this is a twisted example. Celia's cult, unlike Graham's from Aria of Sorrow, worships God, and they fear for the Light if there is no Darkness. Hence, they wish for a new Dark Lord only to cover their own asses.
 * The reason why Richter's after Marta in Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World..
 * in Tales of Vesperia..
 * Shirley from Tales of Legendia..
 * Lufia has.
 * Persona 3 plays with this..
 * In Super Paper Mario, it's . No, really.
 * In Dawn of Mana, Unlucky Childhood Friend Ritzia accidentally becomes this because she gets possessed by Sealed Evil in A Can.
 * In Silent Hill 3, the Apocalpse Maiden is . The heroes consider the possibility that the only way to save the world might be to kill her; one of them simply can't bring himself to do it, while another mistakenly thinks he's found a third option that'll solve the problem. In the end,.
 * In Final Fantasy XIII, generally anyone who has been branded a "Pulse l'Cie" will be given a Focus to become an Apocalypse Maiden (Ragnarok). Once branded they either have the choice of carrying out their Focus (destroy the world) or becoming a mindless monster if they refuse.
 * In Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones Lyon the prince of Grado gets possessed by the demon king, an evil monster who was about to spread darkness over the world but was sealed into one of the sacred stones which Lyon then breaks in half. After that he holds on to the stone with the demon king in and becomes a vessel for him.
 * Most of the Shin Megami Tensei games have at least one Apocalypse Maiden, usually referred to explicitly as "The Maiden". Yuko Takao of Nocturne is the most obvious; without her, Hikawa would not have been able to create the Conception that kick-starts the plot.
 * In the Baldurs Gate series, it first appears that, is prophesied and destined to bring about not quite the Endofthe World As We Know It but hell of a lot of slaughter and chaos simply by existing. Eventually, it turns out that.
 * It's a little more complicated than that.  making them both the possible agent of the apocalypse and the potential means to avert it.
 * In Lunar, nearly destroys the world after being brainwashed by the Magic Emperor.
 * In Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, this same role falls to, whose job it is to destroy Lunar to prevent Zophar's rise to power. She chooses not to. However, this allows Zophar to capture.
 * Furiae in Drakengard. Her body is one of the few seals that prevent the end of the world- Thus it's her brother Caim's job to protect her..
 * Kachi is treated as one of these by the villains in Sin & Punishment: Star Successor.
 * In FEAR, Armacham's researchers, particularly Harlan Wade, came to the conclusion that Alma  was perfectly capable of destroying the world with her Psychic Powers. This was one of the reasons why they sealed her away in the Vault at the age of eight. However, this only delayed the inevitable, and the efforts of Project Origin to make supersoldiers by   only made things worse.
 * The Dark Elf of the Mega Man Zero series. Originally created to become the cure to The Virus that caused the war in the Mega Man X series, she was later corrupted into servitude under a Complete Monster, who uses her as a way of committing genocide on the planet.

Visual Novels

 * in the Heaven's Feel path of Fate Stay Night.
 * too, for related yet mutually distinct reasons.
 * The holocaust at the end of the previous Heaven's Feel demonstrates just how much..

Web Comics

 * Gwynn from Sluggy Freelance during the period(s) when she was possessed by the demon K'Z'K.
 * In Homestuck, Aradia . Her username for a messaging service is even apocalypseArisen.
 * Her last name is also Megido, a name derived from the mountain connected to the end of the world (Armegeddon is a shortened form of Har Megidon), and her title is Maid of Time.
 * More directly and on the evil side, there's Snowman, a member of the Felt whose life is tied to the life of the universe.  She mostly uses this to mess with Spades Slick without him being able to fight back.

Web Original

 * In the Global Guardians PBEM Universe, Esmeree is a sorceress and a member of the evil Circle of Black Thorns. She became a black magician after her mother (an oracle) produced a prophecy that said that Esmeree would become great in the knowledge of the Black Arts, and would in the fullness of time overthrow heaven and destroy the world. It hasn't happened, yet...
 * Conor in the Podcast Novel Shadowmagic..
 * A lot of people in the Whateley Universe believe Carmilla is going to be this. Right now, the protagonists are treating her as their best friend, to the point that Bladedancer is trying to find out who is trying to kill Carmilla. This could turn out really badly somewhere down the line.
 * In the Gamer's Alliance, becomes this when he almost manages to regain his Andain powers during the First Battle of Remonton. He realizes at that moment that as long as he exists as a revenant, his existence will eventually make magic disappear and cause the end of the world.

Western Animation

 * in Teen Titans. A prophecy made at her birth pretty much guarantees that she will.
 * Of course, it was a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy..