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{{quote|''When Herod realized he had been deceived by the Magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained by the Magi.''|''[[The Bible]]'', Matthew 2:16}}
{{quote|''"Dorian forgot the first rule of killing innocents: one always escapes."''|''[[The Night Angel
The [[Big Bad]] has just learned that a child that can defeat him has or will soon be born. The obvious solution to this problem is to [[Screw Destiny]]. Nip this danger in the bud and kill the Infant Hero before he can become any kind of threat. This is the stage where the problems crop up. Either the [[Big Bad]] has no idea who this child actually ''is'', or other characters also aware of this destiny have taken the initiative to [[Moses in the Bulrushes|hide and protect the child]] before the [[Big Bad]] can actually reach him. Or the would-be killer ''thinks'' they've done the deed, but unbeknownst to them, some force or benevolent person intervenes and child is actually [[Not Quite Dead]]. Whatever the mechanism, the upshot is that [[You Can't Fight Fate]].
Often the only thing to do in cases where they can't identify the child is to attempt to track down the newborn hero, baby-by-baby if necessary. The [[Big Bad]] will investigate or, if impatient, simply kill any child in the proper age range to attempt to secure his
This being a form of [[Villain Ball]], it almost ''never'' occurs to anyone that a wiser thought might be to try to find and raise the child himself. Though you might occasionally see it among the more [[Genre Savvy]] villains, who take the view that the kid might love him too much to finish him or, in the worst case scenario, will be close at hand if he ''does'' [[Heel Face Turn]]. This often doesn't work either, though, and is irrelevant if the prophecy is that the child ''will'' defeat him.
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[One Piece]]'' revealed that the government went on a newborn hunt trying to find the unborn baby of {{spoiler|Gold Roger.}} The baby's [[Mama Bear]] protected her child ''[[Longest Pregnancy Ever|by staying pregnant for twenty months]]'' so the child could not be associated with his father.
** Also, (very, ''very'' big spoiler here) {{spoiler| the Gorosai seem to have known for more than eight centuries that the Gomu Gomu no Mi (Luffy's devil fruit) would fall into the hands of a dangerous enemy, as they tried to find and confiscate it many times during that 800 years to prevent this enemy from being created, always failing. In fact, the reason Shanks had it to begin with right before Luffy ate it is because he foiled their latest (and last, it seems) attempt. The Gorosai alone seem to know that the true name of the Gomu Gomu no Mi is Hito-Hito-No Mi Model Nika, and that rather than being a Parmecium (as most believed) it was a mythical Zoan named after the God of the Sun.}}
* An interesting variant in ''[[Elfen Lied]]''
* ''[[Scrapped Princess]]''. Legends speak of a royal princess who will destroy the world. When she is born, the [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Church of Mauser]] throws her off a cliff. {{spoiler|The queen arranges for someone to catch her.}}
* The main villain of ''[[Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara Dream Saga|Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara: Dream Saga]]'' actually does think of raising the kid himself. He just picked up all the kids it could have been and killed them when they proved not to be the one.
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* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' also has an example of this, though the infant is well identified. Renegade Gemini Saint Saga murdered the rightful ruler of Sanctuary, and tried to assassinate Athena's reincarnation which was still an infant. She was saved in the nick of time thanks to the sacrifice of Sagittarius Aiolos, Saga somewhat convinced himself that he had succeeded in getting rid of her, and had his comeuppance and a lot of cold sweating when he found out she was well alive, and had founded her own guard of Saints.
* ''[[The Storm Riders]]'' has a bit of a variation of this. Lord Conquer was given a prophecy for the first half of his life, which led to him slaughtering the families of the two heroes and adopting them to secure his reign, but isn't given the second part, in which they will bring him down, until they're grown. However, his attempt to stop this from happening cause it anyway.
== Comic Books ==
* The Messiah compleX arc of ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]''
* In ''[[Camelot 3000]]'', the reincarnation of Mordred experiences a flashback in which King Arthur attempts to drown him as an infant, apparently having learned that his bastard child will one day destroy Camelot. This naturally pisses off his new incarnation enough to instantly turn him from a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]-type to the [[Big Bad]]'s new Dragon. {{spoiler|Possibly a subversion, as the flashback is induced by Morgan le Fay, who has her own reasons to manipulate him and might've ''faked'' the vision to inflame his hatred.}}
== Fairy Tales ==
* In "[https://web.archive.org/web/20171112142905/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/english/fishring.html The Fish and the Ring]", "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130326131857/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/russian/russianwondertales/vasiliiunlucky.html Vasilii the Unlucky]", "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131217180139/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/29devilgoldhairs.html The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs]", "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/260.htm The King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate]", and many other fairy tales, a man who discovers finds his child [[Self
* The Queen in "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White]]" may be the most memorable example of this trope. She had little trouble finding the infant Snow White in the first place, but the kindly huntsman who spares Snow White's life and the Queen's ultimate downfall fully adhere to the trope.
== Film ==
* The villainous Shen does this in ''[[Kung Fu Panda]] 2''. It goes as well as you'd expect.
** It actually works twice. The {{spoiler|massacre of the pandas}} lets Po end up in the right place and the right time to become the Dragon Warrior and receive the training he will need for his eventual fight with Shen (well, he was training to fight Tai Lung, but still). Also, Po remembering {{spoiler|his mother's sacrifice during the massacre and coming to terms with it}} allows him to master the [[Chekhov's Skill]] that allows him to overcome Shen's weapons.
* ''[[The Prince of Egypt]]'' shows this scenario through an Egyptian-heiroglyphic animation dream sequence, followed by a final confrontation between the Prince Moses and Seti I, his adoptive father: "Sometimes," Seti says, with a look of utter horror on his face at the memory (or is it fear of divine judgment?), "sacrifices must be made...."
* In Disney's ''[[Hercules (
* Queen Bavmorda did something like this in ''[[Willow]]'', rounding up all the pregnant women in her domain and checking each of their children for the mark of the one prophesied to bring about her downfall. The fact that she's defeated not by the the prophesied baby, but by the people trying to keep her safe from her constant attacks makes this a particularly overt [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]].
▲* Queen Bavmorda did something like this in ''[[Willow]]'', rounding up all the pregnant women in her domain and checking each of their children for the mark of the one prophesied to bring about her downfall. The fact that she's defeated not by the the prophesied baby, but by the people trying to keep her safe from her constant attacks makes this a particularly overt [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]].
* ''[[The Omen|Omen III The Final Conflict]]''. Damien Thorn (the son of Satan A.K.A. [[The Antichrist]]) tries to kill all babies born during a certain time period in an attempt to prevent the Second Coming of Jesus.
* ''[[The Terminator]]'' movies are all pretty much Skynet's attempts at doing this. Further, in the first film, the Terminator hunts down everyone it can find named Sarah Connor. True to trope, all these attempts at taking his life do is better prepare John Connor for his fate.
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* The Prequel Trilogy of ''[[Star Wars]]'' subverts this. There is a prophecy about the Chosen One bringing balance to [[The Force]]; while some interpret this to mean that they'll decimate the Jedi who are more numerous than the Sith, the Jedi view, and the one espoused by [[Word of God]], is that they will root out and destroy the Sith Lord lurking in the shadows. Palpatine knows about this prophecy, and when the Chosen One is discovered he doesn't kill him. He spends quite some time befriending and grooming the boy until he could cause a [[Face Heel Turn]] and use him against the Jedi. However, the Original Trilogy then has the son of the Chosen One [[Love Redeems|redeem him]] and cause a [[Heel Face Turn]]. Palpatine tries to kill the son, and the Chosen One kills him, finally fulfilling the prophecy.
** The Sith have their own prophecy, of the Sith'ari, who will both destroy their order and bring it its greatest height of power (the order in which this will happen not being explicitly specified). While [[Word of God]] holds that prophecy had already been fulfilled 1000 years earlier, many fans find it more appealing for Anakin/Vader to be the fulfillment of ''both'' prophecies, by destroying the Jedi ''and'' the Sith.
== Folklore ==
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** Zeus himself was worried about being overthrown by his children. When it was predicted that if his lover Metis bore a son he would be overthrown, Zeus tricked Metis into transforming into a fly and swallowed her. Metis took up residence in Zeus' head, hammering armor for her future child, giving Zeus terrible headaches. Metis' child eventually was born, emerging full-grown and clad in armor [[Body Horror|from Zeus' head]], not a god but the [[No Man of Woman Born|goddess]] Athena.
*** In another version, Zeus was told that the off-spring of Zeus and Metis would be far more powerful than her father. And indeed, Athena ''[[Your Mileage May Vary|was]]'' more powerful than Zeus - but she was also totally loyal to her father and wouldn't dream of overthrowing him.
**** Zeus was perhaps right to fear, but could've been more [[Genre Savvy]] by now, since it runs in the family. Before Cronus, his father Uranus feared an overthrow, and had children capable of doing it sent to Tartarus. Unfortunately, they were all their mother's favorites, and Gaia sent Cronus to take
** Oedipus' parents tried to kill him as an infant due to the Oracle's prophesy that he would murder his father and bed his mother. Unfortunately for them, he got rescued by royals of a neighboring city-state. And so we have the [[Oedipus Complex]]...
*** Paris was also prophesied to cause the downfall of the kingdom and the death of his father. They pulled the same "we couldn't bear to kill him, let's just leave him to die/be found and brought up by a poor shepherd" that they did with Oedipus. This led to him being handy when Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite needed a judge for a beauty contest. Each goddess tried bribing Paris differently, with Aphrodite promising him the most beautiful woman in the world if he chose her, and the rest is history (or, you know, mythology).
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** In a subversion, Zeus manages to avert this fate by learning that a certain goddess's (Thetis) child will become more powerful than his father, and proceeds to very carefully ''not'' sleep with her. He wound up arranging her marriage to a mortal. The son? Achilles.
*** ... which is the Greatest Miracle Ever Performed in Greek Mythology. Slightly marred by the whole golden apple incident at the wedding, though. Eris probably wasn't very popular with the rest of Olympus for a while afterwards.
** Yet another time when Zeus was enough of a [[Magnificent Bastard]] to actually be successful in pulling off this maneuver was the case of Typhon. Gaia had supported Cronus in his uprising against his father Uranus, and then Cronus had proceeded to treat his own sons and daughters just as
** Typhon wasn't the last time. Gaia later attempted the same trick by giving birth to the Giants, snake legged creatures which could not be defeated by gods. Fortunately, Zeus and the others had enough of a warning to start getting hot and heavy with mortal women. By the time the Giants got born, they managed to breed Heracles, who was powerful enough to turn the tide.
** It is kind of averted at the end of the Trojan War. Astyanax, the infant son of Hector, is thrown from the walls of Troy so that he won't live to avenge his father's death. [[The Extremist Was Right|It worked]]. Of course, there was no prophecy involved, but the Greeks probably figured they couldn't be too careful.
** In short, Greek Mythology is full of this kind of stuff, although few times do the would-be destiny-screwers explicitly try to ''kill'' the child (or its mother) with a weapon or anything, preferring to leave them to die in the wilderness. This was because in Ancient Greek times, killing a blood member of your family was the largest sin imaginable, and doomed you to living the rest of your life hounded by the Furies.
* In [[Hindu Mythology]], the [[Avatar]] Krishna's uncle, [[Big Bad]] Kamsa, hears a prophecy that his nephew will kill him. So he imprisons his sister and kills her nine children one after another as soon as they were born, descending into becoming a [[Complete Monster]]. Of course, Krishna, the tenth child, escapes at birth. Needless to say, it does not end well for him.
== Literature ==
* King Herod's "Massacre of the Innocents" in [[The Bible|the Gospel of Matthew]] is the [[Trope Namer]].
** King Joash of Judah escapes the blade when his aunt protects him as an infant from his grandmother Athaliah, who seeks to kill all heirs to the throne so that she could become queen.
* ''[[Harry Potter
* An example of this occurred in the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series, where the prequel novel ''New Spring'' described attempts by the forces of the Dark to find and kill Rand right from the day he was born. Since they weren't entirely sure how old he was at the time, they went around killing pretty much every young male who showed signs of being a channeler.
** An interesting little [[Word of God]] statement mentions that this royally pissed off [[Big Bad]] Ishamael badly enough that he messily killed the head of the Black Ajah at the time.
* A large part of the prequels to [[David Eddings]]' ''[[Belgariad]]'' deals with Polgara's task of safeguarding the line of young Rivan kings from Torak's assassins. In the main story, Asharak gets the full treatment, as Garion enacts a [[Death by Irony|very specific form of revenge]] upon him for the deaths of his parents.
** This is touched off by an earlier
* "[[Heroics For Beginners]]" mentions a villain who succeeded to the throne of a kingdom by slaughtering the rightful ruler, his wife, their children, and so on. The catch was he couldn't get all of the
* ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Horse and his Boy]]'': The corrupt official Lord Bar in King Lune's court in Archenland learned of the prophecy that one of the twin newborn princes would someday save Archenland from the greatest danger that would ever threaten it. Even though Bar had no idea what this danger would be, on the off-chance it would be something he would cause, he decided to try to get said prince out of the way just to be on the safe side. Too bad for him Aslan was watching over things...
* Let's not forget [[Macbeth]] (the [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] version): Because the witches have told him that the offspring of Banquo will be kings, [[Macbeth]] decides it's a good idea to have Banquo and son murdered. The murderers kill Banquo, but naturally screw up the ''important'' part of the job. It's a ''variation'' on the trope, because [[Macbeth]] is not killed or overcome by Fleance, but his descendants later fulfilled the prophecy (at least according to the erroneous genealogies of Shakespeare's time).
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* [[Bizarre Alien Biology]] example: The Pak protectors, from the [[Known Space]] novels of [[Larry Niven]], are compelled to destroy even infant Pak that aren't related to them because they don't "smell right", thus eliminating their own offspring's competitors. The fact that their inter-bloodline feuds tend to leave their planets devastated and every combatant's bloodline extinct, qualifies their ''entire species'' for this trope.
** Also a [[You Fail Biology Forever|complete failure of biology]], as any Pak that successfully exterminated all rival genetic lines would then watch its own bloodline expire from inbreeding depletion.
* In Fiona McIntosh's Royal Exile, this happens twice: the first is at the very beginning {{spoiler|when King Brennus has another baby killed in order to protect his newborn baby daughter, and even the mother doesn't know what's up}}, and later on when the warlord orders all boys around the prince's age to be killed throughout all the kingdoms.
* In ''[[The Graveyard Book]]'', the Jacks of all trades hear a prophecy that some toddler is going to be their doom. They send in an assassin, who kills his whole family but fails to get the baby. You can guess where this is going.
* In ''[[Curse of the Wolfgirl]]'', it is revealed that [[Retired Monster]] Malveria pulled this one out of the playbook back before the "retired" part. Since then, she's become part of the heroes' group of [[True Companions]], and when the obligatory survivor turns up, it is as the [[Big Bad]] of the book.
* ''[[Vorkosigan Saga
* Subverted quite nicely in the short story "Another End of the Empire" by Tim Pratt, which you can read here: https://web.archive.org/web/20131030122012/http://www.strangehorizons.com/2009/20090622/empire-f.shtml
* In ''[[Gwenhwyfar]]'' by [[Mercedes Lackey]], which is based on Arthurian Legend, the protagonist hears of how Arthur, under the advice of the Merlin, killed all newborn babies in the kingdom (it's even implied that this is the reason why {{spoiler|Gwen's mother dies while giving birth to her baby brother, who also dies}}). Toward the end of the book, [[Big Bad|Medraut]] reveals that {{spoiler|Arthur was trying to kill his illegitimate (and incestuous) son, but Morganna and Anna Morgause foresaw it and worked a spell that caused Medraut to be born a few months early, saving him from Arthur's wrath}}.
* King Erius in ''The Bone Doll's Twin'' kills off female relatives who can challenge him for the throne (traditionally held by a queen due to divine mandate). He spares his baby sister Ariani, but has no intention of doing the same for her daughter - except that the daughter is passed off as stillborn and then raised in the guise of her dead twin brother.
* In ''The Idhún's Memories'', a trilogy by the Spanish writer Laura Gallego, in the world Idhún, Ashran the Necromancer uses an astral conjunction to wipe out all dragons and unicorns after hearing one of each will destroy him. Eventually, one baby dragon and unicorn are rescued and sent to the Earth through magic, which will end up killing him.
* Subverted in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. The maegi Mirri Maz Duur {{spoiler|magically kills Daenarys Stormborn's unborn son in utero, both for revenge against the father and because the unborn child is prophesied to be the Stallion That Mounts the World, an unstoppable city-smashing warlord. While it doesn't exactly turn out well for Mirri in the end, she DOES successfully prevent the boy from being born and fulfilling whatever his Super Special Destiny was supposed to be.}}
** We shall see, {{spoiler|his mother still lives, and she might well wind up taking her son's mantle and become the Stallion that Mounts the World.}} Prophecies in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' have a tendency to come true.
* Was a large part, although hidden, in the ''[[Ender's Game]]'' series. Specifically in ''Ender's Shadow'': Bean was the only survivor of 20-odd children. He then grew up to assist in the total destruction of the only other sentient species.
* ''[[The Earthsea Trilogy]]'' has a king who received a prophecy his empire will fall because of a person from the former royal house. By then, there were only two children left; a boy and a girl. He was afraid to kill them ([[Royal Blood]]), so he banished them to a desolate island. They survived until old age. Then, one day, Ged is washed ashore. The girl gave him an old family keepsake...
== Live-Action TV ==
* Again, ''[[Jesus of Nazareth]]'' (the TV series from the 1970s) has an AWESOME Peter Ustinov play the trope-name scenario perfectly. First seen as an [[Affably Evil]] [[Adipose Rex]] feasting and cynically chatting with Roman envoys about destroying newborn Messiahs 'like a new born scorpion, underfoot', he steadily degenerates over the course of the first two hours of the series as he fears the coming rival King of the Jews, finally falling into a gibbering near fugue state when he at last horrifies his court with the order to 'Kill! Kill! Kill them all! Kill! KILL THEM ALL!'
** Things don't work ''quite'' as he wants them to....
* An episode of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' used this plot.
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* In the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' ''Lost Tales'', James Sheridan is warned by a Techno-Mage that the grandson of the insane Centauri Emperor will become a villain and he must be killed. However, the troper is subverted when Sheridan decides to spare him and raise personally him to be of better character. Furthermore, Sherdian gets the Mage to all but confess that was his true plan all along.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Yoshi's Island]]'', the [[Evil Sorcerer|Magikoopa Kamek]] foresees the conflict between his ward - Bowser - and thinks getting rid of Mario and Luigi will avert the threat. He louses up royally, and if anything, only ''starts'' the conflict.
**
* Variation in ''[[Dragon Quest IV]]'': Aware that [[The Chosen One]] is currently growing up ''somewhere'' in the world, the monsters attempt various plans to track down and destroy that child. One of these plans gets the attention of Ragnar, who learns of the prophecy while thwarting said plot and leads him to set out in search of said hero. Later, it's revealed that Ragnar is one of [[The Hero]]'s Chosen Companions...
** Later, the monsters find the hidden village where the Hero is being raised. They attempt [[Doomed Hometown|the obvious solution]], which naturally doesn't work.
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* ''[[Fable II]]'' begins with Lucian murdering your sister and attempting to do the same to you because you have hero's blood and have the potential to unravel his plan. It would've been a very short game if he'd managed it.
* Zeus in ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'' is told of a marked warrior who will bring about his downfall. Naturally, he kidnaps the nearest birthmarked kid and imprisons him in Death's Domain. Unfortunately for Zeus, the kidnapped kid's brother is Kratos, who gets a tattoo in the image of his lost brother's mark. It's all downhill from there.
* Humans were created due to an act like this in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. The vrykul initially worshiped the Titans, but were eventually "abandoned" by them, an event that caused vrykul children born in a certain time to be "weak and ugly". King Ymir ordered these children killed, but at least some vrykul parents refused to do so, instead hiding their children in order for them to grow up far away from Northrend. Most of these "cursed" vrykul would migrate to the part of Azeroth that is now called Trisfal, and evolved into humans.
== Web Original ==
* Referenced in ''[[
{{quote|'''Moist''': There's a kid in Iowa grows up to become President. That'd be big.
'''Billy''': I'm not gonna kill a little kid. }}
* The [[Additional Evil Overlord List Cellblock B]] has some advice to [[Big Bad
{{quote|''If I hear about a prophecy or prophecies that state that a child will be born in a certain place with a birthmark or some other sign who will bring about my downfall, I will not immediately send troops to kill the child and its entire family. Instead, I will wait until the child is about five, while keeping it under surveillance, and then have it kidnapped and killed. Once this is done, I will bury the body in a careful location so the body does not get eaten by wild beasts, resurrected by the good guys or wash up on some foreign shore. And for everyone's sake, I will make sure that the child is actually dead, instead if just stabbing it once or suffocating it. Bullets are very helpful, especially fifty-fold.''}}
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''
** To their credit, the Fire Nation realized fairly quickly they missed Aang, and spent a century trying to track him down. (Most of them got much less concerned as the years went by and the Avatar never showed up.)
** Also, there's the Fire Nation's campaign of capturing and exterminating waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe. (The exact reasons for this are not explained, though [[Wild Mass Guessing|theories]] abound that they were trying to stop another Avatar and/or wipe out resistence.) They missed Katara, who went on to train Aang and play a part in their downfall.
* ''[[Sonic Underground]]'' featured Sonic the Hedgehog and two siblings being hidden from Dr. Robotnik by their mother the queen.
* Subverted as suggested in the opening paragraphs of this page: Hordak kidnaps Princess Adora and trains her as a general, until [[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe|He
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