Screw Destiny: Difference between revisions

** Considering that the intro for about half of part 2 basically went "Simon got screwed over by fate and wants to beat the shit out of it until it {{spoiler|gives his fiancee back}}. It's really not surprising they don't respond well to claims that [[You Can't Fight Fate]].

** [[Hot-Blooded|Simon]] [[Badass Boast|starts pouring out Screw Destiny speeches]] around the {{spoiler|[[Final Battle]]}}. Here's one:

** And another...

'''Simon:''' Of course we do! The tomorrow we're trying to grab for ourselves... Is not the tomorrow that you've set out for us! It's the tomorrow that we choose for ourselves--a tomorrow that we choose out of all of the infinite universes! We'll fight our way through! We'll keep fighting and {{spoiler|protect the universe! We'll stop the Spiral Nemesis, too!}} }}

* Orihime from ''[[Bleach]]'' literally has the power to do this.

** It can also be argued (if one tries to piece together the premise and plot of ''End of Evangelion'') that Shinji [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|willfully sabotaged]] the [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|Instrumentality Project]] by opting out of it (himself being the only person on Earth in a position to do so, protected, as he were, by Unit-01's AT Field and not <s>unconscious</s> {{spoiler|eaten by MP Evas}} like Asuka).

* Rakan from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is fighting a [[Reality Warper]]. Said reality warper proves that fighting is futile and that the outcome is already decided - calling Rakan a "puppet" and causing Rakan to suddenly be having a tea party with him mid-punch. Rakan's response is to get out the ''big'' guns, and more or less say "Puppet this!". With his now-metal fists.

** It is worth noting that [[The Dragon]] he is fighting is ''[[Meaningful Name|named Fate]]''.

* This is Garrod Ran's attitude in ''[[After War Gundam X|Gundam X]]'', in stark contrast to his [[Waif Prophet]] girlfriend Tifa, who initially believes [[You Can't Fight Fate]]. {{spoiler|At the end of the series, the first Newtype says that Garrod's [[Determinator|refusal to accept "fate"]] is precisely what allowed him to change it.}}

** At one point, he even interrupts Hecate's lecture on his destiny by shouting, ''"Screw you!"''

** In [[Hellboy (film)|the movie]], both sides make compelling arguments:

'''Grigori Rasputin:''' No you don't! }}

*** It's noted several times that the fact that Hellboy is capable of screwing destiny is the reason the Fae {{spoiler|and aliens}} have neglected to nuke him, and gives them hope that the coming Apocalypse may be averted.

* 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:

“That,” said John darkly, “is the best reason in the ''world'' for me to give it to him. Nobody's gonna ''mean'' anythin' for us except ''us''.” }}

*** 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.

* As ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' winds down to its conclusion:

'''Adama:''' '''''Wrong'''''. I've had it up to '''HERE''' with destiny, prophecy, with God or the Gods. Look where it's left us. {{spoiler|The ass end of nowhere; nearly half of our people are gone; Earth, a worthless cinder; and I can't even walk down the halls of my ship without wondering if I'm gonna catch a bullet for getting us into this mess.}} }}

* 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.

* 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 Colbert Report]]'' has Stephen report on a married couple who think they were destined to be together. [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/312630/june-15-2010/tip-wag---marshall-islands---disney-world-fate He thinks they should get divorced.]

* In the 1998 ''[[Merlin (TV miniseries)|Merlin-1998]]'' series, this mindset is taken by Mab, who wants to prevent her fate of fading from the world as the Old Ways die, and also by Merlin, who wants to avoid his destiny to be Mab's champion in screwing destiny. {{spoiler|Merlin succeeds. Mab doesn't.}}

* Season Five of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is devoted entirely to the Winchesters trying desperately to Screw Destiny - perfectly understandable, since their destiny involves the two of them {{spoiler|getting possessed by the archangel Michael and [[The Devil]], respectively, and then fighting each other to the death and destroying half the planet while doing so}}.

*** The ending seems to support this theory, as, {{spoiler|after defeating Van, Lorelei congratulates Luke on averting the destruction It had seen in Auldrant's future.}}

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', this trope is [[Big Bad|Ultimecia's]] entire motivating factor behind her actions. She's destined to die at the hands of SeeD, so she decides to compress time, absorb it, and become a goddess to make up the rules herself. This trope is also subverted because, as a response to the intense persecution she suffered for being a Sorceress, she became the very monster everyone said she would become which is highlighted in a ''very'' [[Large Ham|hamtastic]] [[New Era Speech|speech]].

* Screw Destiny becomes the cry of Yuna's party in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' when {{spoiler|Yunalesca confirms that the Final Summoning has absolutely no chance of killing Sin permanently because the Final Aeon that destroys Sin will become Sin in its place}}.

** Destiny gets to say Screw You in turn {{spoiler|by killing off Tidus. You only get to see him come back if you [[Guide Dang It|meet very specific conditions]] in the sequel.}}

** And, of course, the player character gets to screw this destiny in a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|very spectacular way]].

* Raziel in the ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' series (Particularly ''Soul Reaver'') is apparently the one being fate cannot control. Even people with explicit knowledge of the future have no idea what Raziel might do.

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

** Which doesn't stop him from being manipulated by each and every one of them.

** Also, Kain. Given the choice, to bring about [[The End of the World as We Know It]], or to sacrifice his life to save it {{spoiler|(thus ''ensuring'' [[The End of the World as We Know It]])}}, what does he do? To put it in his own words:

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

*** Eventually, {{spoiler|Raziel travels to the supreme dimension to KILL the supreme being, and thus not only Screwing Destiny, but totally obliterating it.}}

* In ''[[Erfworld]]'', after having a long talk with Wanda who has done some of the most deplorable things in the comic to get a hold of an Arkentool on the basis [[You Can't Fight Fate]], Parson decides he refused to be a gamepiece of fate, giving a [[Precision F-Strike]] (which he could not do before due to Erfworld's censorship) to signify how he won't be controlled. Judging from a recent chat with Charlie, he can now swear at will.

* ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'': After being told that [[You Already Changed the Past]] by {{spoiler|Sarda}}, Black Mage attempts this in [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/06/04/episode-1136-that-is-not-a-predictive-model/ 1136]. His attempt, [[Sociopathic Hero|as usual]], involves [[Cutting the Knot|obliterating his problems]] with a [[Kamehame Hadoken|Hadoken]].

* In ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'', the recent Maltak arc seems to conclude with an impressive destiny-screwing by [http://www.dominic-deegan.com/ Melna]. We've been getting the hint for months that she was supposed {{spoiler|to kill the crone of Maltak}}.

** Dominic actually screws destiny on a regular basis; one of the advantages of being a seer who can see into the future. The only time he lost was when he suffered a "Fated Fatal": a sign that someone a seer knows is about to die, and there is ''nothing'' that can be done to stop it. In this case, that someone was {{spoiler|Lord Siegfried}}.

* ''[[Bob the Angry Flower]]'' suffers from severe depression after failing to change a later frame of his comic which he had peeked forward into.

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', after Jack {{spoiler|prematurely begins the Reckoning and destroys Prospit and the Battlefield}}, and after repeatedly being told by the trolls and the gods of the furthest ring that she and her friends are doomed, Rose decides to {{spoiler|blow up her first gate and send a signal through the cosmos to other Sburb players instructing them on how to save themselves, then explore her planet to find answers}}.

** Which she does by {{spoiler|1=lifting landmarks from the ground with black magic and [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004629 cracking them open] to find clues inside.}}

** Because [[Prescience Is Predictable]], this seems to be one of the powers of the [[Psychic Block Defense|Heroes of Void]].

** Pulled again throughout most of the first season of JLU, with constant foreshadows being thrown towards the existence of the Justice Lords universe. [[The Question]], upon discovering the existence of the Lords'verse, goes, for want of a better word, a bit (more) mental and concocts the whole scenario that would be required for the League to go the same way as their Lords counterparts - most significantly, the death of [[The Flash]] and [[Superman]] subsequently murdering ''President'' [[Lex Luthor]]. The whole series had actually seemed to be going just that way, until the point at which the Flash ''does'' (well [[Only Mostly Dead|almost]]) die. Superman comes close to committing the murder that would see the world erupt into armageddon, but at the last minute says "Screw that" and chooses ''not'' to kill him, closely after which, the Flash is dragged back from the speedforce.

* 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]].

** Megatron's plot for ''[[Beast Wars]]'' was one big Screw Destiny. {{spoiler|He went back in time to kill Optimus Prime while he was in stasis lock. He almost succeeded, but his plot hinged on the support of someone who would have been eradicated from the timeline. [[Heel Face Turn|She had something to say about that.]]}}

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

* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'':

** "How Long is Forever": Time-travelling villain Warp arrives in the present to steal a clock because history says it disappeared. In his fight with the Titans, he accidentally brings Starfire to a [[Bad Future]] where the team has broken up [[Gone to the Future|due to her disappearance]]. Warp insists that Starfire can't prevent any of this, using his theft as an example of time's immutability. She proves him wrong by getting the future Titans back together, defeating him, and then returning to the past with the object he stole, ensuring it never disappears to begin with.

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

** Raven's series four arc, though it took some serious prompting from the rest of the Titans (pretty much all of whom were saying it from the start of the whole Trigon/prophecy thing).