Apocalypse Maiden: Difference between revisions

[[File:83c111d436e311e244460dc07b2338c7_457583c111d436e311e244460dc07b2338c7 4575.jpg|link=Touhou|thumb|400px|More like "Apocalypse [[Moe]][[A Worldwide Punomenon|den]]"<ref>[[Catch Phrase|Take it easy!]]</ref>]]

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 [[The Legions of Hell|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 Childhood Friend|Unlucky]], [[Victorious Childhood Friend|Victorious]] or [[Forgotten Childhood Friend|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 [[In the Blood|inherited]] a form of [[Enemy Within]] capable of a truly [[Unstoppable Rage]] that can destroy worlds, or have been [[Demonic Possession|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]].

* Played with in ''[[HoshiLucifer noand the Biscuit SamidareHammer]]''. The [[Apocalypse Maiden]] ''wants'' to cause the [[EndoftheThe End of the World Asas We Know It]], and the [[Anti-Hero|protagonist]] is helping her to accomplish that goal. {{spoiler|At least, that was his cover for almost the entire span of the series. Turn out he had been plotting to ''stop'' her since Day 1}}.

* In the second season of ''[[Darker Thanthan Black]]'', {{spoiler|Yin ("Izanami")}} 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 {{spoiler|she was possessed by an [[Eldritch Abomination]] but managed to suppress it for a while; when it woke up, she causes Contractors to commit suicide and attempts to reach [[Eldritch Location|Hell's Gate]]. When she's met there by her counterpart "Izanagi" (Shion), she can cause the Gate to open, which, whatever it does, can't possibly be good given what we've seen of the place and some very apocalyptic-sounding prophecies from Amber. Hei spends most of the season trying to find her and [[Shoot the Dog|kill her]] to prevent this. He ends up basically exorcising her instead}}.

* 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 ''[[Record of Lodoss War]]'', it is revealed that {{spoiler|Little Neese, the girl that spends most of the first part of the show sleeping in the arms of several of the older characters, or as an [[Shrinking Violet|extremely shy]] [[Mystical Waif|teenage priestess]] in the second}} 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 [[Storming the Castle|to take him down before he finds her]].

* Also done with Colossus in Whedon's run on ''Astonishing X-Men: the [[Mad Oracle|Augurs]]'' of a [[Planet of Hats|Planet Of]] [[Blood Knight|Blood Knights]]s 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.

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[The Haunting of Molly Hartley]]''.

* This is the entire plot of the movie ''[[End of Days]].''

* ''[[Ghostbusters|]]'': "Take me now, subcreature."]]

* The 1968 horror flick ''[[Main/ptitlexckpdwgg|Rosemary's Baby]]'', based on a book by the same name. In fact, this is the entire point of the book/movie.

* [[Tyke Bomb|Coin]], from [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/Sourcery|Sourcery]]''. Prophecy states that the existence of a [[Person of Mass Destruction|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 [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|do]] [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|something]] [[Love Makes You Dumb|stupid]]...

* Cyradis in ''The Malloreon'' --— arguably, she wasn't going to destroy the world as such, but had she chosen {{spoiler|Geran over Eriond}} then the world would have been thrown into evil, via {{spoiler|Geran- Garion's son}}.

* In ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians|Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', the Olympians discuss killing him -- tohim—to his face! -- because he ''might'' be a dangerous prophecied-of character.

* In Nick Kyme's ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' novel ''[[Salamanders|Firedrake]]'', it is established beyond a doubt that Dak'ir is the person prophesied to destroy the planet. {{spoiler|They imprison him while deciding whether to kill him, at the end}}.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

** 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 {{spoiler|Lucifer}} that he'd kill himself before giving in. {{spoiler|[[Back Fromfrom the Dead|Not that suicide would do any good]]}}.

== [[MythologyOral Tradition]], Folklore, Myths and [[Religion]]Legends ==

** 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.

* Princess Elise in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 (video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]''. {{spoiler|Iblis, the immortal fire monster, is sealed inside her and will be released to destroy the world if she cries}}.

* The reason why Richter's after Marta in ''[[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]''. {{spoiler|He should have been more concerned with Emil}}.

* Most of the ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' games have at least one Apocalypse Maiden, usually referred to explicitly as "The Maiden". Yuko Takao of ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne|Nocturne]]'' is the most obvious; without her, [[World of Silence|Hikawa]] would not have been able to [[EndoftheThe End of the World Asas We Know It|create the Conception]] that kick-starts the plot.

* In the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series, it first appears that {{spoiler|the [[Player Character]] him-/herself, along with all the other Bhaalspawn}}, is prophesied and destined to bring about not quite the [[EndoftheThe End of the World Asas We Know It]] but hell of a lot of slaughter and chaos simply by existing. Eventually, it turns out that {{spoiler|the prophecy in question actually tells about what will happen if the protagonist should fail, making them [[The Chosen One]] instead}}.

* Kachi is treated as one of these by the villains in ''[[Sin and Punishment|Sin & Punishment: Star Successor]]''.

* [[The Protagonist|Conor]] in the Podcast Novel [https://web.archive.org/web/20131103113019/http://podiobooks.com/title/shadowmagic/ Shadowmagic]. {{spoiler|The prophecy ends up being true, it just refers to someone else}}.