Missed the Call: Difference between revisions

Then, as soon as they've adjusted to the heroic lifestyle, [[Because Destiny Says So|Destiny]] calls back. "Remember when you answered The Call? Turns out I had the wrong number; I was actually trying to find that ''other'' orphan with a [[Orphan's Plot Trinket|plot trinket]]."

 

 

Either way, their feelings are irrelevant. Destiny may not have planned it this way originally, but it did ultimately choose ''them'', and the Hero who started this adventure will be the Hero to see it through. They'll either be all the more [[Wangst|angsty]] about it, or [[The Unchosen One|they'll triple their efforts to prove themself worthy of The Call]].

 

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* In ''[[Jubei-chan]]'' [[Yagyu Jubei]] passed on his power in the form of a [[Eyepatch of Power|"Lovely Eyepatch"]], eventually going to a girl hundreds of years in the future because he believed his heir had died in Russia. Actually, she didn't. She was just [[Human Popsicle|frozen in an iceberg]]. By an amazing coincidence, she dethaws in the same time period Jiyu receives the Eyepatch and is furious she didn't get it.

* Ken from ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' was about to receive his Digivice when his older brother Osamu insisted that it was really for him. The resulting jealousy and anger, [[More Than Mind Control|played on by outside forces]], left Osamu dead and Ken evil.

** Well, Ken ''sort of'' missed the call. He did answer it for Wonderswan game ''Tag Tamers'' (which, naturally, [[No Export for You|wasn't released outside of Japan]]) to team up with [[Canon Immigrant|Ryo]], and they defeated Millenniummon, who was responsible for the dark spore in his neck. When Ken got back, Osamu got pissed off at him for touching the Digivice, and you know the rest. In a sense, he picked up the call, then dropped it.

** Hikari also missed the call at the start of ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' due to being sick. Coincidentially, her partner was in the hands of a [[Big Bad]] by then, having been lost as an egg and taken in by Myotismon... which raises the question of what would've happened had Hikari not missed the call and gone to the Digital World anyway.

** Four random kids in ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'', Katsuharu, Teppei, Chiaki and Teruo, ironically, miss the call to ''go home'' from the Digital World and end up just wandering around doing all of nothing while the real adventure is taking place on the other side of the planet.

* Depending on how you define "the call," almost everyone in ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' misses it in some way, but the title character in particular {{spoiler|voluntarily gives up her fated role as Mytho's true love, [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|allowing Rue to marry him instead]]}}.

* In the BW arc of ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', the call wasn't missed; it ''broke''. Bianca and Cheren were chosen to be Dex Holders (which is a pretty big deal in this series), but unfortunately their Pokedexes were dropped into a puddle and short-circuited. Meanwhile, Black (who was also chosen) kind of ran off with the last Dex without seeing what happened to the other two. At least Bianca and Cheren still got their starters...

 

== Comic Books ==

** In a more direct example of the trope, it is revealed at one point that the ring Hal Jordan received could have gone to either him or Guy Gardner. Hal was chosen because he was physically closer. Guy, of course, would later receive his own call.

** Ironically, Kyle Rayner is widely considered the greatest Green Lantern BECAUSE he was chosen at random. For Hal, Guy, and thousands of other Lanterns, 'fear' is just a word in the dictionary. Kyle, as a normal guy, understands terror, and is thus one of the few Green Lanterns actually able to overcome fear.

* In the Top Cow Productions comic book series ''Freshmen'', Norrin, the only member of the team who ''wanted'' to be a superhero was out for pizza when the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] exploded and gave everyone else superpowers. He takes it fairly well and becomes the team leader and resident [[Badass Normal]].

* [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] has a villain version: It was revealed that Charles Xavier, not Cain Marko, was actually intended to get the Ruby of Cyttorak and become the Juggernaut, but as luck would have it, Cain was really, really ''good'' at being Juggie in the end, so the demon Cyttorak didn't make a fuss... until Jug's [[Heel Face Turn]].

* The premise of the comic book ''[[Major Bummer]]'': the [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]] that gave uber-slacker Lou Martin his powers was intended for uber-samaritan Martin Louis, but the alien who left it on Lou's doorstep didn't realize that the phone book prints last names first. Since the phlebotinum can't be removed without a fatal surgical procedure, Lou's stuck with his powers, but for the entire length of the series, he tries his hardest to maintain his slacker lifestyle. Unfortunately, the [[Weirdness Magnet|plot keeps finding him]].

* In the future setting of ''[[Fray]]'', the demons that plague the buffyverse were largely evicted years ago, leading to the weakening of the slayer lineage. Cue the return of the vampires, and the calling of Mekala Fray who has the strength, agility and speed of a Slayer but none of the dreams and memories of those who came before her. {{spoiler|Turns out it had all gone to her twin brother, Harth, who was turned and became the [[Big Bad]].}}

 

== Folk Lore ==

* [[Older Than Print]]: In Arthurian legend, Galahad missed the call and it went to his father Lancelot instead.

** There was actually quite a number of sons and all but one of them were gathered in the house because they were apparently that impressive. The runt of the litter (David) was outdoors tending sheep.

** Then there was that whole Jacob-Esau mess. Esau eventually mellows.

** No, Nafai ''assumes'' he was plan B, but the Oversoul tells him "Elemak is far more crippled than [[Genius Cripple|Issib]]." If Elemak wasn't an arrogant Jerkass, he probably would've been plan A--but he wasn't, so he wasn't.

* In ''[[The Westing Game]]'', Sydelle Pulaski is noted as being the only heir with no connection to Sam Westing. This is discovered to have been because {{spoiler|she was never supposed to have been an heir in the first place. The invitation to the game she got was actually supposed to have gone to a ''Sybil'' Pulaski who was friends with Westing's wife.}}

** Most importantly, though {{spoiler|the real Antichrist ends up getting groomed to be... a perfectly ordinary little boy. Phew!}}

* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', during the story arc of the three, {{spoiler|Jayfeather believes that Hollyleaf is the third cat because he and Lionblaze are two of the chosen cats and she's their sister. As it turns out, Hollyleaf was completely normal and the real third wasn't even born yet.}}

== Live Action TV ==

* A variation happens in [[Buffy]], seventh season. {{spoiler|Dawn and everyone else believes she's been chosen as one of the Potential Slayers, due to Willow's location spell seeming to aim right for her. Unfortunately, she later finds out it was in fact aimed at the girl ''behind her'', behind the door, in fact, just outside the house. She takes it remarkably well, considering her history. Almost... heroically well.}}

 

 

== Film ==

* Nearly happens to Brian in ''[[Life of Brian|Monty Python's Life Of Brian]]'', when the wise men come to the wrong stable. Luckily, they realise the Messiah they were looking for is just down the road.

*** {{spoiler|one interpretation of his statements, that all the other characters miss, is that she is not the Alice shown on the scroll because it is not yet the Frabjous Day.}}

* This trope functions as the center point of Shrek II, as prince charming shows up to woo Princess Fiona as part of his role as the hero, but instead finds out that Shrek had saved her during the events of the first film. This causes the catastrophe of events that follow in the sequel.

 

== Toys ==

* Little known RPG ''Gaurdian's Crusade'' actually does this twice. First with the adventuring party of Kalkanor, who clad in white armor usually tends to defeat or at least weaken all major bosses before you arrive and generally act as the hero of the tale, until he is betrayed. Second is Darkbeat, whom most everyone in the game assumes is the real hero after all, and sends you off to gather the Holy Equipment in his place. Of course, he didn't know that gathering the equipment was the test after all.

* Dan from ''[[Street Fighter]]'' got a most literal taste of this. During the events of the Alpha [[Story Arc]], Dan befriended Blanka, who was in the Street Fighter II games, while Dan was not. With his emergence in Street Fighter IV, Dan's absence from the II games was explained as such: Blanka did try to call him, but Dan had his phone cut after he hadn't pay his phone bill.

** And according to some theories, Tohsaka was trying to summon the most powerful Servant in her current cycle. {{spoiler|Archer is ''probably'' the strongest Servant, despite several of the other ones being outright [[Game Breaker|breaking the game]].}}

* The main character to ''The Longest Journey'' series April Ryan practically defines this trope. She spends the game begrudgingly sacrificing everything by fulfilling one prophecy after another to prove that she's next in line to be the Guardian who will watch over the universe for the next 1,000 years. She's even told so by several people who know what they're talking about, {{spoiler|it's revealed that she's not actually the Guardian at all. The true Guardian was the villain April just fixed. April ends the game having given up everything because destiny told her to and having no purpose to her life after all}}. Talk about a downer.

 

== Webcomics ==

** Though near the end of the series it is revealed that they went on a different adventure of unspecified details. We're told that it involved other dimensions, but beyond that, it's never made clear.

* ''[[Captain SNES]]'' suggests that Ryan was originally supposed to be the Game Master, but Alex ([http://www.captainsnes.com/?date=20021226 "Second best Captain SNES"]) ended up filling the role instead. The reasons why are not entirely clear, but it's fairly clear that the certified perfectly ordinary cat was somehow involved.

* In The Drunk Duck webcomic ''The Wrong Hero'', a top hat wearing cat ends up 'waking' the wrong man. It's too late for the right guy as his house explodes, so Simon (the titular Wrong Hero) is stuck with it, whatever ''it'' is...

* Harrison the Shark of ''[[Nedroid]]'' constantly pines away to be swept up in some big heroic adventure like Beartato and Reginald often are. He's offered several chances practically on a silver platter, but turns his nose up at all of them until recently. Then he comes across Beartato<ref>Well, actually just a Beartato [[Doppelganger]]</ref> and Reginald, who literally ''fell'' into the same thing he was chosen to do.

 

== Web Originals ==

* Nara of [[Journey Quest]] seems to feel like this about the Sword of Fighting going to Perf instead of her.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** And in the early second-season [[Alternate Universe]] episode ''Gwen 10'', {{spoiler|it's ''Ben'' who misses the call. He gets a [[Peggy Sue]] back to the start of the series and inadvertently screws things up by knowing too much... causing Gwen to be the one who winds up with the Omnitrix. Ironically, the episode ends with the Omnitrix attached to ''Grandpa Max'' after Vilgax removes it from Gwen}}.

 

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[[Category:Stock Aesops]]

[[Category:Call to Adventure]]