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{{trope}}
{{quote|"'''[[Superman|Clark]]''', [[Screw Destiny|you choose your own destiny]].
Nobody can decide that for you, son." |[[Smallville|Jonathan Kent]] }}
{{quote|"[[Because Destiny Says So|Fulfill your destiny]], '''[[Superman|Kal-el]]'''." |[[Smallville|Jor-el]] }}
How much free will do characters really have?
The relationship between free will and fate is not necessarily constant. It can vary between stories and even inside those stories, although how much this is actual change and how much it is simply the revelation of the true nature of Fate also differs.
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* '''Neither Fate Nor Free Will Exist'''
** This one denies free will stating that our choices are just brain-made "echoes" while also denying any "higher power" that decides fate. In theory you can predict people's actions but you would run up against the same problems as predicting the weather and such predictions are in no way mystical. A [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] may insist that we live in such a world.
* '''[[Because Destiny Says So]]'''
** All things are predestined and we all just play our parts. At some point the father will act in such a way as to kill his son and [[You Can't Fight Fate|nothing can be done to avert that]]. [[You Already Changed the Past|Even trying to change fate through time travel is pointless]].
* '''Fighting Fate Is Hard'''
** Fate exists but is not the be all and end all. Either only some people can [[Screw Destiny|defy fate]] or defying fate takes a lot of effort or resources, almost as if Fate is reality's path of least resistance. Unless a lot of effort is expended or a hero gets involved at some point the father will act in such a way as to kill his son.
* '''Prophecies Are Guides, Not Rules'''
** While there is fate it is simply the expression of what will happen if nothing else changes and is predictable, but knowledge of fate allows you to overcome it without extraordinary effort. If the people involved are not warned then at some point the father will act in such a way as to kill his son but as soon as someone involved knows that then it may not end up happening.
* '''Prophecies Are Predictions'''
** Predicting the future is like predicting the weather. There is no plan but it is possible to make prophecies and identify destinies by extrapolating from now. The father killing the son is simply the most likely outcome given the current situation but it is open to change at any time.
* '''[[Screw Destiny]]'''
** Either there is no such thing as fate or there is no way to find out what is "fated," no way to see into the future and no prophecies, two states that are effectively indistinguishable. If the prophecy exists then it is little more than a portentious guess with no actual power or fate behind it.
{{examples
== [[Anime]] & [[Manga]] ==
* [[Princess Tutu]] has themes regarding these. The show's catchphrase is "May all who accept their fate find happiness. May all who defy their fate find glory."
* ''[[Berserk]]'' lies somewhere very low on the scale. Causality plays a big role in the Berserk universe. People like Guts are able to struggle against causality, but are unable to completely overcome it and/or maintain their struggle indefinitely.
* [[
* [[
* [[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]] is considered high in the fate scale.
* In ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'' the Future Diaries can be changed almost immediately as they predict.
* ''[[
== [[Film]] ==
* [[Kung Fu Panda]] is high in the fate scale as it can be seen from this quote:
{{quote|
** The [[Kung Fu Panda 2|sequel]] renforces this as when the villian tried to stop his fate, being defeated by a warrior of black and white, he instead sealed it for {{spoiler|when he massacered the Panda village and Po escaped, he just simply transferred him to where he would be in prime postion to stop him.}}
* In ''[[Lawrence of Arabia]]'', Lawrence's batman disappears in the desert. The bedouin refuse to try to save him because "it is written" (and because a bedouin would know well enough to be afraid of the desert). Lawrence rides off claiming, "nothing is written" and comes back in a few hours with his batman. {{spoiler|However it is ultimately revealed that it really was written, given that Lawrence ultimately has to execute the batman}}.
* This was a major theme in the ''[[Matrix]]'' series, with Smith and Neo becoming the embodiments of fatalism and free will respectively. The climax of the trilogy sums it up nicely with this exchange:
{{quote|
'''Neo''': Because I choose to. }}
* In ''[[Push]]'' Watchers see the outcome of decisions, not really fate. But their predictions usually either come true or [[It Got Worse|get worse]].
* The ''[[Terminator]]'' films absolutely cannot make up their minds about where they stand on this because of the [[Timey
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism'' in which the men were sent away by Solomon. The story usually ends with Death saying he hadn't meant to frighten the person, it's only that he was so surprised to see them when he had an appointment with them in the town they were fleeing to.
* [[The Elric Saga]]: Elric is quite probably a 2. He could have fought Fate (in his case, by abandoning his sword [[Evil Weapon|Stormbringer]]), but he was unable to do so, despite many bitter soliloquies bemoaning his circumstances.
* ''[[Harry Potter]]'' is at least a 3. Because people care a lot about prophecy. However there are prophecies that do not come to pass.
** Dumbledore also makes it clear to Harry that {{spoiler|the prophecy about him and Voldemort fighting to the death}} will only happen because Voldemort ''chooses'' to follow it.
* This crops up a lot in the ''[[
* [[Un Lun Dun]]: Its heroine Deeba is the Trope Namer for [[The Unchosen One]]. She fought the [[Big Bad]] even though the Book of Prophecies listed her as [[Plucky Comic Relief]].
* ''[[The Belgariad]]''
** It's later stated that they purposefully make sure to follow either of those prophecies, because it limits the world to two predictable outcomes, one of which is desirable. Failure to keep up will cause the emergence of a ''third'' prophecy with [[Unpredictable Results]]. {{spoiler|Oddly, they ''don't'' [[Take a Third Option|take the third option]] here, and stick to accomplishing the good prophecy to the end.}}
* Modern literature is filled with examples of vague prophecies that are stoppable, twist-able, or just plain wrong since
* ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'': Minshus has a greater plan that WILL come to pass. But the lesser details can be altered rather freely by other characters. Even so, any one character trying to change ''too many'' details of prophecy almost always results in [[Stuff Blowing Up]] both figuratively and literally, rather than anything good coming of it. Course-correction is poorly lubicrated and the cosmos is volatile. The [[Butterfly of Doom]] and [[Genocide Backfire|Dandelion Of Doom]] [[Clock Roaches|stand at the ready]] to punish any would-be offenders of the Big Picture.
* ''[[Discworld]]'': There is definitely a Destiny - the History Books kept by the Monks of Time describe the complete history of the Disc from beginning to end, Death's life timers start off with the appropriate amount of sand, ''something'' ensures Carrot arrives in Ankh-Morpork just as it needs a dragon-slaying king, and so on. But the History Monks can change what the books say, life timers can be smashed, turned over, or just mutate to eke out the sand as much as possible, and Carrot can decide Ankh-Morpork doesn't need a king after all. The ''Companion'' says "On the Discworld, the future is set. The job of everyone is to fight back."
* ''[[Twilight (
* In ''[[Slaughterhouse
* ''[[Deverry]]'' uses the term "Wyrd" and states that the future is shaped as much by chance as wyrd. You may inherit certain traits and tendancies from past lives as your wyrd (such as a talent for magic, a crush on a certain person or a tendency to get in a certain kind of trouble) but this can be influenced at changed by conscious choices or random chance. Occasionally a sorceror can create a true prophecy but these are susceptible to [[Prophecy Twist]] (E.g. "He shall not die in battle except by a sword, but no man can kill him with a sword" - was killed by a girl, but he could also have been killed by his chief rival who turned out to be a half-elf.)
* The ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' weaves [[Because Destiny Says So|how people live and what they do]], and although there are people, ta'veren, around whom the wheel weaves, even they don't have anything to say in their own lives, because
** The entire series is weird in regards to how much power the wheel actually has. On the one hand you have the main character who's constantly struggling with why he fights, a [[Dragon]] trying to convert him and {{spoiler|only recently finding that motivation, during his attempted destruction of the world}}, then you have cases like Verrin, who was completely unable to use her magic properly because the wheel wanted her in a specific spot.
* In ''[[The Foundation]]'' series, psychohistory makes quite good predictions but it can go off-course - the predictions are not 100% sure {{spoiler|as clearly demonstrated by Mule}}.
* In Robin Hobb's ''[[
* In ''[[Dune]]'' the [[Seers]] do not prophesy to others but use their prophecies to guide their actions, as the prophetic visions themselves are not absolute inevitabilities but rather one of several possible paths (although the longer you fulfill a particular vision, the harder it is to avert the rest of it).
* ''[[Neuropath]]'' is one of the very few works in existence that is squarely '''Neither Fate Nor Free Will Exist'''. The brain is a physical organism, therefore it is governed by the same laws of nature as everything around us. People's actions are completely predictable and can be manipulated to an extreme degree.
** Another book by the same author, ''[[Disciple of the Dog]]'', has shades of this as well. The main character has a perfect memory and is able to see the patterns in people's behavior that those people are themselves often unaware of.
* ''[[
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', firmly believes in "No fate but what we make" and the entire series comes down to Sarah and John trying to prevent the events of T3 right up to the end. Then the series throws the whole thing for a loop when {{spoiler|John Connor jumps ahead through time past the point of Judgment Day, and it turns out that the resistance is still alive and kicking without him.}}
* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'': everything the Dragon advices Merlin to do is [[Because Destiny Says So]]. The Dragon gives advices to save Arthur. But when it comes to Mordred or Morgana, he advices Merlin to make them die to prevent destiny from happening. But Merlin never follow ''these'' advices.
* ''[[Power Rangers]]'': Sometimes, through tremendous effort, fate can be changed... and sometimes it can't, and trying to change things changes only the details. Prophesies tend to be fairly spot-on, and time-travelers usually need several attempts to come even close to changing things, although with [[Power Rangers Turbo|one notable]] [[Power Rangers in Space|exception]], they're usually successful if they're Rangers.
* ''[[
** Specifically, Flash Forward's verse is based on the concept 'what would happen if quantum mechanics worked on a macrosopic scale?' - so you can screw destiny on the small scale but not on the large.
* As indicated by the page quotes, ''[[Smallville]]'' experiments with this trope quite a bit. While Jor-El pushes Clark to fulfill his destiny (completing tasks that seem to push him towards becoming Superman), Clark manages to defy Jor-El and his own destiny on occasion in character-establishing moments that push him towards... becoming Superman.
** A season three episode features a character who can see people's deaths by touching them, but Clark manages to prevent one of these deaths, something no one before had been able to do. Clark is speculated to be able to change people's destinies.
* ''[[Supernatural]]'': Starting in Season 4, the angels try really hard to convince the main characters that the world is
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': Although averting fate is clearly possible, only {{spoiler|Londo}}, manages to do so over the course of the series, and even then {{spoiler|the option of changing his destiny}} had already been predicted. Other characters have no luck in averting fate. {{spoiler|Sheridan}} tries to avert destiny and actually causes the future to happen, {{spoiler|Babylon 5 is blown up}} at the end of the series, and {{spoiler|Lennier}} betrays {{spoiler|the Rangers}} despite all efforts not to.
* ''[[
== [[Mythology]] and [[Religion]] ==
* [[Greek Mythology]] and [[Norse Mythology]] are high up on the fate scale as not even the gods can escape it.
* The concept of Wyrd in Nordic- and Germanic-derived Neo-Pagan traditions (Heathenry, Asatru) basically states that every choice people make is woven into the web of Wyrd, and that web determines the choices which will be available to be made from there on in.
* ''[[
* Islamic doctrine includes the idea of Predestination (essentially synonymous with Fate of Destiny). Interpretations obviously differ, but as generally taught to non-scholars it ties into the concept of Omniscience as possessed by God. God knows everything, so he knows what's going to happen. The popular interpretation is that humankind's actions dictate the map of the future, and not the other way around. God just saw how it would all pan out from the Beginning. So... the future's like the weather, with the assumption that God is the best weatherman ever. If we could see the future, then theoretically its more of a guide, with the assumption that God saw it all coming anyway.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Gerrard from [[Magic:
** In the novel of ''Mercadian Masques'', he seems to come to a conclusion about the nature of prophecies. He believes that prophecies are not predictions for what will be, but prescriptions for what ''should'' be.
* In ''[[
** The contradiction between Fate and free will is actually a relevant source of trouble for the Sidereal Exalted. When you've devised the pattern of history according to one assumption of what somebody will do, and that person just plain doesn't do it (even if they're a mortal), it creates problems with the general fabric of causality that need to be addressed.
** Of course, then there's [[You Can't Fight Fate|Samsara]], the pattern that develops from Creation's cosmological foundations (although the setting is vague on how much this is "incontrovertable future" or "unshakable compulsion in the only people wo can observe it").
** Interestingly, 'fate' only applies to Creation itself. [[Primordial Chaos|The Wyld]], [[The Underworld]], and [[Hell|Malfeas]] are all outside Fate, and people from those places don't have a destiny.
* In ''[[Scion]]'', Fate can be overcome but is very powerful and some individuals and pantheons have been totally ensnared by it (the Norse for one).
* ''[[
* ''[[
* In the ''[[Eberron]]'' Campaign Setting, the Draconic Prophecy tends to give "if A then B" scenarios, with various groups trying to cause or prevent A. It's more of a suggestion than a prophecy, really.
* Fate is a very strong theme in [[Legend of the Five Rings]], it is said that everyone has their Dharma, their place under Heaven, and that they WILL fullfill their destinies. Of particular importance are the Seven Thunders, the champions of Heaven that define the destiny of the world every 1000 years, when they fight the Champion of Hell, the outcome of the battle, however, is anyone's guess. So, destiny can be changed, only by a few, select, destined individuals...
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'': It is stated that fate is undefeatable. However, {{spoiler|later it is not only revealed that can fate can be fought, but that humans are the only ones with true free will -- something not even the Fal'cie had. Hence the reason Fal´cie create lu'cie, to use their unlimited potential}}.
* Whole point and theme of the aptly named ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' shifts back and forth. Several times [[You Already Changed the Past]] is demonstrated, such as in ''Soul Reaver 2'' when {{spoiler|Raziel kills his human self in the past}}. However, history can be changed by creating a temporal paradox powerful enough to distort the timestream, at which point it will restructure itself according to the outcome of the situation that created the paradox, adjusting to the new chain of events in a butterfly effect-like ripple. Raziel {{spoiler|has a future version of his own soul bonded to his arm as a sword}}, so by nature of simply existing Raziel {{spoiler|is a walking paradox}} and has the power to change history with every action he takes. However, even he isn't completely immune to destiny, as ''Soul Reaver 2'' ends with {{spoiler|Kain warning Raziel about the Hylden}}, which means Kain remembers the results of something Raziel hasn't done yet. ''Defiance'' clarifies this with Moebius saying that Raziel's free will means his path can't be foreseen, but the results of his actions based on his current path ''can'' be seen, though he can still change his mind.
* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' slides between both fate and free will.
* ''[[Shadow of Destiny]]'' basically uses this scale like a teeter toter, using both ends ''at the same time''.
* The ''[[House of the Dead]]'' has James Taylor - and about every hero - with a [[Screw Destiny]] attitude, especially toward any villains he faces, who are always with [[You Can't Fight Fate]].
{{quote|
* this trope is a major theme in [KingdomsOfAmaalur:Reckoning\] The game pretty much starts out as "because destiny says so" except for the main character and it's the point of the main questline to put a stop to that.
* By the end of ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', it is definitely {{spoiler|Free Will that wins in the end, via [[Screw Destiny]]}}.
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* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' plays with this often, as seen in ''The Fortuneteller'' and Aang's final decision against the Fire Lord.
* ''[[Futurama]]'': Despite all the crazy, time-altering crap Phillip J. Fry has managed to do over the series, he's ''still'' managed to be born in order to save the universe from giant evil brains, Mom, nudists, and a tentacle god thing, even though he had to be his own grandfather to do it.
* ''[[
== [[Real Life]] ==
* It's not known what governs reality, but the main theories among atheists are:
** '''Neither Fate Nor Free Will Exist''': [
** '''[[Because Destiny Says So]]''': [
** '''Prophecies Are Predictions''': [
* Theists run the gamut, as it's largely just a question of to what extent God intervenes. '''Screw Destiny''' is probably one of the most debated issues with various schools of thought having different standpoints and justifications for them.
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[[Category:Fate and Prophecy Tropes]]
[[Category:Sliding Scale Of Free Will Vs Fate]]
[[Category:
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