Screw Destiny: Difference between revisions

[[File:t2 nofate-300x124.jpg|link=Terminator (franchise)|frame|...but what we make.]]

 

 

There are those characters who are mere [[Cosmic Plaything]]s in the scheme of an [[You Can't Fight Fate|implacable Fate]] [[Because Destiny Says So]]. And then there are those who don't care about that philosophical mumbo-jumbo and believe that as strong, free-willed individuals, there's no reason why ''[[The Unchosen One|they]]'' [[The Unchosen One|shouldn't decide their own futures]]. '''Screw Destiny''' and all the others who try to [[The Fatalist|discourage]] [[Nietzsche Wannabe|them]]; they're ''not'' going to fulfill the prophecy of [[The End of the World as We Know It|world destruction]] because they're the [[Big Bad]]'s [[In the Blood|descendant]], or become a [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrificial magician]]. They're going to become who they ''want'' to be.

When someone is pushed dangerously close to the [[Despair Event Horizon]], they may prefer this trope's opposite: [[Resigned to the Call]].

 

 

[[Winds of Destiny Change]] and [[Immune to Fate]] are about having the ability to screw destiny as a superpower; the former is changing the odds to favor you instead while the latter is just being flat out [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|immune to fate]].

* In ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum]]'', some of the characters love fate and some hate fate (and we get monologues from both perspectives.) Some of the characters fight against fate, most notably {{spoiler|Kanba, who is willing to do anything to change fate and save his dying little sister.}}

* Deconstructed in ''[[Kurokami]]''. Destiny isn't something that should be screwed with in the first place, so if you somehow accidentally manage to stay alive when it's decreed that you should've been killed off, [[Doom Magnet|bad shit will keep happening to you and the people around you until you finally ''do'' die]]. And trying to stay alive on ''purpose'' means that you have to kill others and drain their life force to keep on living.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Used a lot in ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', with several issues being about them averting some "pre-destined" tragedy. Certain mutants can see the future, however, Destiny being one of them. Mystique does [[Incredibly Lame Pun|screw Destiny]] to "father" Rogue.

* In ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' {{spoiler|Ozymandias predicts the coming of the nuclear war and decides to do ''whatever'' is necessary to head it off and heal the rift between East and West.}}

* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', elves who refuse to become lifemates with someone they've Recognized count as this trope, {{spoiler|particularly if they resort to bashing their Recognized one's head in with a club, like Dodia did to Door}}.

* The reason that [[Adam Warlock]] can fight [[Thanos]] during the [[Infinity Gauntlet]] saga is because he stands outside the loop of destiny, and can therefore do things that no one else could.

* A sci-fi example in ''[[Paperinik New Adventures]]'': A time traveller warns about a major disaster that will destroy a large part of Duckburg, killing thousands - but the resident [[Time Police]] (supposedly the good guys) are doing everything in their power to make sure it goes down 'like it's supposed to'. After all, in their time, it's already happened. Obviously, Paperinik (Donald Duck's superhero alter ego) isn't going to take that lying down.

* The entire point of the series ''[[Lucifer (comics)|Lucifer]]'': pretty much all the protagonist's actions are aimed at escaping God's plan.

 

* This trope, along with other tropes about [[Fate and Prophecy Tropes]], is one of the [[Central Theme|central themes]] of the [[Redwall]] fanfic [[The Urthblood Saga]], where the titular character receives a prophecy foretelling of a dark crisis that will sweep over the world, and gathers a huge army with the goal of uniting the lands under his power in order to prevent it. At the same time, he does often slip into the [[You Can't Fight Fate]] mindset over other details about the future, and since the story is [[Dead Fic|not yet finished]] it's still unclear whether this trope or the more fatalistic one will come true in the end.

* In ''[[With Strings Attached]]'', while the others are sitting around waiting for As'taris to do something with Paul, who has been turned into a diamond statue, they discuss the fact that he got no magic. John, who had gotten his water-charm at the same time Paul was diamondized, speculates that Paul was supposed to get it and plans to give it to him once he's restored to normal. Which prompts the following exchange:

 

== Film ==

** Which is the exact opposite of what happened IRL where the Oracle specifically told King Leonidas that either a Spartan King must die or a Persian King would rule in Sparta.

*** Also, they completely overlooked the fact that the US government likely had records on Dyson's research, and simply had a team working on it in secrecy beyond what could be researched by the likes of Sarah and John Connor.

** ''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'', of course, [[Ass Pull|completely ignored the message]] and went right back to [[You Can't Fight Fate]] (though John Connor does try to invoke this trope by name at least once).

* Subverted in ''[[The Matrix]]''. The Oracle has a pretty good grasp on people's reactions to prophecy, so she tells Neo (and others) exactly what they need to know for the future to come to pass. In particular, she tells Neo that Morpheus will die because of his mistaken belief that Neo is The One. When Neo says "screw destiny!" and charges in to rescue him, he realizes that he is The One after all.

** Screw Destiny is played out on a grander scale in ''Reloaded'' and ''Revolutions'' when it is discovered that {{spoiler|the Prophecy about The One is a lie and just another means of control by the Machines, and that The One is not meant to end the war at all, but to perpetuate it by selecting the next inhabitants of the new Zion once the current Zion is destroyed by the Machines, like so many other Ones before him. Neo is the first One to defy this system of control and bring about the true end of the war}}.

** When Agent Smith asks Neo why he continues to fight in the face of inevitable defeat, his reply is: [[Badass Boast|"Because I choose to."]]

* The premise of ''[[Minority Report]]''. At first, it seems that [[You Can't Fight Fate]], but by the end, knowing your destiny is enough to give you the choice to change it.

* Barbossa makes several statements along these lines in the third and fourth ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' films. Justifiable, since his destiny has been completely out of his hands for nearly twelve years- placed under a sense-killing curse for ten years, killed right after the curse is lifted, and resurrected just in time to be dragged into a war. He deserves a break.

* Emperor Palpatine tries to do this in ''[[Star Wars]]''. He ends up, years later, [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|torturing the son of the man who was prophesied to kill him, prompting the man to, erm, kill him]].

 

== Literature ==

** Captain Carrot of the Ankh-Morpork Watch lives out this motto, although he probably wouldn't use quite that verb.

*** Although it might be argued he's often more a living [[Prophecy Twist]]. It did say the rightful king would be law and order to the town. Didn't say anything about him taking the role of king...

*** In forcing what wasn't destined to occur into happening anyway, Moist is, in fact, following Weatherwax's philosophy to the hilt. It's a double inversion.

** An interesting use is found in the form of the Omniscope from ''The Last Hero''. Its settings can be fiddled with to view anything, anywhere, anywhen - but as Ponder Stibbons explains to the Patrician, it's best not to look into the future. If you don't know what will happen, anything can happen. But whatever potential future the device shows you will inevitably happen, and it might not be the future you like...

** The Discworld pantheon includes [[You Can't Fight Fate|Fate]] and his eternal opponent (and personification of this trope), the Lady (i.e. Lady Luck).

* In the novel ''[[Good Omens]]'', {{spoiler|Adam, the boy Antichrist, decides to ignore his destiny and calls off the Apocalypse}}, saying that it doesn't matter what is "written", because "it can always be crossed out".

* This is Richard's attitude in the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series, despite half the supporting cast in the early books trying to railroad him down prophecy's past. The twist—a [[Prophecy Twist|rather predictable one]] for anyone that's ever glanced at the back cover of a fantasy book before—is that he pretty much always ends up fulfilling the prophecies anyway, just not in the way that anyone thought was going to happen.

** Lackey seems to like this trope. In the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series, there are characters who have Destinies, or find that [[There Are No Coincidences]], and scurry for a way to assert their agency, yelling "Screw destiny!" at the tops of their lungs. Nevertheless, things tend to turn out as they should.

* This trope is arguably the entire reason for Alice Cullen's appearances in the ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' series; with her powers, she gets the characters out of many a jam - and it's touched upon that she's the reason the Cullens are so fabulously wealthy (really - '' 'Isle Esme?' '') Subverted somewhat in that the further away from being a vampire you are (humans are harder to read than vamps, and she can't read for werewolves), the harder it is for her to envision your doings in the future.

** Of course, it's convincing when Voldemort doesn't want either of them to Screw Destiny, and will track down Harry and duel him in order to fulfill the prophecy.

** "Neither can live while the other survives." In the final analysis, the trope is completely beside the point as neither Voldemort nor Harry have any interest in averting the prophecy in the end. Voldemort knows Harry has the power to defeat him eventually, but there's no certainty he'll actually do it, and Harry (as aforementioned) takes it upon himself to fulfill this thing that's been hanging over his head. Dumbledore had said years before that the choices a person makes are what is important, so Harry chooses himself and lets whether Fate chose him or not hang.

* In [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''The Avatar'', {{spoiler|[[Blithe Spirit|Caitlín's]] refusal of [[Transhuman Aliens|the Others]]' offer of [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|ascendance]]}}.

* ''[[The Saga of Darren Shan]]''. After learning that {{spoiler|either he or Steve will become Lord Of The Shadows, i.e. evil, depending on who survives, Darren goads the dying Steve into attacking and killing him.}}

* ''[[Lois Duncan|I've Been Waiting for You]]'' looks at this by way of [[Reincarnation]], as the events of the Salem witch trials play out again in the present, but one of the girls whose accusations started the trial refuses to play her part. {{spoiler|This time around, she manages to redeem herself and [[Everybody Lives|keep everyone alive]].}}

 

* Subverted in ''[[Lexx]]'': When Kai finds out that His Divine Shadow is going to wipe out the Brunnen G, he tries to rally his people into fighting him. This isn't him trying to say Screw Destiny, though; he just believes that going out fighting like the race of [[Warrior Poet|warrior poets]] they used to be is much better than just [[Dying Like Animals]].

** Doubly subverted, actually—His Divine Shadow was bothering as he had found out a Brunnen G was destined to get him killed. Thus, His Divine Shadow exterminated the race, save for Kai, who he reworked into a technologically undead servant. {{spoiler|This, of course, eventually got His Divine Shadow killed.}}

* ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'' seems to have this trope as a major thematic element; its opening theme is called "Break the Chain" and contains lyrics about "breaking the rules of fate", and the "next time" blurb contains the phrase "Break the chains of destiny (albeit in Japanese)."

** For that matter, pretty much every Showa-era KR series had some variation on "[[Phlebotinum Rebel|hero gets cybered-up by evil organization and winds up fighting them]]" as the setup.

** Later, the episode 'The Girl Who Waited' is all about this trope. When Amy is accidentally forced to wait for 36 in solitary confinement, the time stream seems to suggest that Rory and the Doctor will never save her younger self. The Doctor says the above page quote as encouragement, basically saying "if you want to, you can do whatever you like with destiny", probably referencing not only Amy's life but also {{spoiler|his death at Lake Silenco.}}

* Despite her [[Trope Namers]] talk in ''[[Angel]]'', Fred's ultimate fate is {{spoiler|to be taken over bodily, her soul supposedly destroyed, by an ancient evil}}, in [[You Can't Fight Fate|full agreement with ancient prophecy]].

** Worth noting is that Destiny ''could'' have been screwed, but only by essentially killing everyone between California and England {{spoiler|as the ancient evil in question tried to possess anyone and everyone it could fighting the pull back to its [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Can]]}}. Or, you know, if Angel had just taken her with him when he went to England.

*** Actually, while Illyria's rebirth was apparently pre-ordained, that Fred would become her vessel wasn't actually her fate. Which makes it all the more tragic.

{{quote|'''Adama:''' In other words, it's our destiny to go after her, right?

'''Starbuck:''' (facial expressions and body language indicates "yes")

* Attempted in ''[[Power Rangers]]'', only to fail ''hard''. Back in season 5, ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'', a robot policeman came back in time to prevent a war that was to happen two years later. All he did was cause it to happen [[Power Rangers in Space|the next year]], instead.

** Played straight in ''[[Power Rangers Time Force]]'' and its source, [[Mirai Sentai Timeranger]], where the main theme is choosing one's own path regardless of what the history books in the future say.

* The whole point of the fight [[The X-Files|Mulder, Scully, and allies are putting up against the Syndicate]]. Summed up in [[The X-Files (film)|the movie]] and "Three Little words"—Fight the Future.

* Subverted in ''[[Red Dwarf]]''. Having heard from a computer capable of predicting the future with 100% accuracy that he would destroy it, Lister states that there is no such thing as destiny, "otherwise we're just actors in somebody else's script." As he turns to leaves, he places a piece of chewing gum on the wall, which sets of a chain reaction of events that does, in fact, destroy the computer. His reaction? "Smeg."

* The ''[[Roswell]]'' main characters, who decide to stay on Earth and be happy instead of accepting their destiny as royalty of their planet.

* In ''[[Smallville]]'', the episode "Hereafter" reveals this to be one of Clark's powers when he saves a person from being hit by a car, despite Jordan Cross having a vision of that person dying. As his visions are ''never'' wrong and can ''[[You Can't Fight Fate|never]]'' be changed, he is naturally freaked out by Clark's ability to alter destiny, particularly when he starts having visions showing ''other'' people dying before he knows they are ''supposed'' to.

 

== Music ==

{{quote|'''Kain:''' Yet Raziel retains his free will. And that's what frightens you isn't it, Moebius? You cannot see his paths, and so you cannot control it.

'''Moebius:''' And neither can you. }}

{{quote|'''Kain:''' Either way, the game is ''rigged''.(...)

'''Raziel:''' You said it yourself, Kain - there are only two sides to your coin.

'''Kain:''' Apparently so. But suppose you throw a coin enough times... ...suppose one day, it lands on its ''edge''. }}

* Subverted or played straight depending on which way you go in ''[[The Bard's Tale]]'' (the newer one, for [[PlayStation 2]] and Xbox). Sure, you could rescue the princess as [[The Chosen One]], or you could note that she's {{spoiler|a demoness bent on world domination}} and fight her, or just tell both sides to get stuffed and walk away. This isn't even mentioning the SWARMS of other people claiming to be [[The Chosen One]] that die right in front of you constantly.

* Played straight in ''[[Odin Sphere]]'' with the characters all trying to avert the prophecy of end of the world. {{spoiler|Then it's subverted when they find the [[You Can't Fight Fate|world collapsing into chaos anyway]], but fulfilling the prophecy at least leaves ''some'' alive.}}

** Made much more terrifying when you realize that, by screwing destiny in ''Dissidia'', the heroes are quite possibly instigating the 2000 year Time Loop in ''[[Final Fantasy I]]'', since {{spoiler|Garland's on his way to becoming Chaos in the end.}}

* The ''entire point'' of {{spoiler|Kreia's}} game of [[Xanatos Speed Chess]] in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]] 2''. {{spoiler|Because the Force has a destiny and a plan for everyone and everything in the universe, she despises it. She wanted to use Exile as a means of breaking and destroying what is, in effect, the GFFA's equivilent of God! (Maybe because she's jealous the Force is a better manipulator than she is...)}}

* The party in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' were [[Blessed with Suck]] and became [[The Chosen One|l'Cie]], and in doing so were left with only two options, fulfill their focus/mission and be crystallized for all eternality or become mindless Cie Corpses for all eternality. The party naturally opted to take a [[Taking a Third Option|third option]] in an attempt to change their destinies. This act inspired {{spoiler|Cid Raines}}, who {{spoiler|was also a l'Cie, thus [[Blessed with Suck]] as well}} to try and change his destiny as well. Unfortunately, this involved him {{spoiler|regrettably doing a [[Face Heel Turn]] and fights against the party}}.

* The Reapers of ''[[Mass Effect]]'' like to think of themselves as agents of Destiny and that there is no point in trying to resist being annihilated by them. However from what is known, every galactic civilization they destroyed still chose to try their luck.

** How bad is everything altered? How about the fact that the Nadesico crew get the Aestivalis Customs, Super Aestivalis, Black Salena and Nadesico C three years before they should! And when you return to the present you find either Char isn't a humongous dick or that Akito and Yurika are still normal (especially Akito!)

* This is the primary motivation of the ''[[Warcraft]]'' character Medivh. Forced into becoming the Guardian of Tirisfal by the machinations of his mother, his resentment and desire to break free of his fate was used to turn him evil and bring the Horde into Azeroth. Later, freed of evil taint, he would assume the role of a prophet and maneuver the humans, orcs, and night elves into a position to combat the Burning Legion and prevent their conquering of Azeroth. Medivh further screwed with Destiny by giving his own son, Med'an, what he never had: the ''choice'' to become Guardian of Tirisfal.

* [[Spyro the Dragon]] in the ''Legend of Spyro'' games has an interesting version. Malefor believes he, and all Purple Dragons, are destined to bring about the end of the world; Spyro believes his destiny is to fight for good and ultimately save the world. {{spoiler|Spyro turns out to be right and saved the world}}. So Spyro managed to [[Because Destiny Says So|fulfill one destiny]] while screwing the other, at the same time.

* [[Umineko no Naku Koro ni|Ange]] tries to do this, but [[You Can't Fight Fate]]

* ''[[Xenoblade]]'' allows you to Screw Destiny on a regular basis. The [[Sword of Plot Advancement|Monado]] frequently offers Shulk glimpses of the future, and in addition to the myriad plot examples, this is [[Story And Gameplay Integration|used as a game mechanic]]. During battle, Shulk will sometimes receive visions of would-be fatal attacks several seconds in advance, and from there, the player can either manipulate the prediction to make it less dangerous (heal or protect the victim so the hit isn't fatal, draw aggro to someone else who can take the hit, use [[Standard Status Effects]] to make it use a different attack) or kill the initiating monster and shatter the destiny tag outright.

** {{spoiler|Screw Destiny actually becomes the ''main conflict'' of the game, after a certain [[Wham! Episode]]. The [[Big Bad]] [[God Is Evil|Zanza]], the god who created the world of [[Xenoblade]] controls the passage of fate itself. Every couple of thousand years or so, Zanza and another god, Meyneth, destroy the world and remake it anew in a neverending cycle, in order to prevent their creations (humans) from leaving the world and going into space, which would result in Zanza and Meyneth dying. Everyone cites this as an inevitability, but [[The Hero|Shulk]] cries Screw Destiny and kills Zanza anyway, using a [[Sword of Plot Advancement|Monado]] created from the ''sheer will'' to Screw Destiny. And finally, after Zanza's demise, Shulk is asked to become the god of the new world, but he refuses and goes down his own path, where there are no gods and humans make their own choices.}}

* During the extraordinarily long "The Sign" quest in ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'' you're given a choice of how you would spend your last day alive if you knew the world would end tomorrow. The correct answer is 'What else? Save the world!'.

** {{spoiler|The [[Big Bad]] ''created'' the Fateless One in her own attempt to Screw Destiny since she was otherwise fated to never escape her prison. This backfires immensely since the Fateless One is also the only being capable of killing her since she was also otherwise fated to never die. She also has the same power to weaponize the threads of Fate which she uses in the final battle.}}

 

== Web Comics ==

* Inverted in ''Transformers: [[Beast Wars]]'': {{spoiler|Dinobot}} reads the "Sounds of Earth" disc, and foresees his own death. However, he later discovers that there is nothing ''[[You Can't Fight Fate|forcing him]]'' to play it out as [[Temporal Paradox|the future can be changed]], but he instead finds himself freely choosing to go through what he knows will cause his death to {{spoiler|prevent Megatron from destroying the ancestors of the human race}}. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|And so he did]].

{{quote|"The question that has haunted my being has been answered: The future is not fixed. My choices are my own. And yet, how ironic, for I now find I have no choice at all. I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined."}}

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' had a [[Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book 1/14 The Fortuneteller|whole episode]] dedicated to "you can shape your own destiny, and what the fortuneteller says is not set in stone".

** It is shown also on a grander scale when Aang, {{spoiler|despite being told by almost everyone that he has to kill the fire lord, merely takes away his powers.}}

{{quote|'''Starfire''': The past cannot be repaired. The future cannot be altered. No matter how wrong it seems.

'''Nightwing''': So - it's impossible? Good! If memory serves, we've done the impossible before. }}

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Time Travel Tropes]]

[[Category:Motivation Index]]

[[Category:Screw This Index, I Have Tropes]]