Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: Difference between revisions

== [[Film]] ==

* [[Kung Fu Panda]] is high in the fate scale as it can be seen from this 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:

'''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 Belgariad]]'' -- Both the ''Belgariad'' and its sequel, the ''Malloreon'' focus on two sides working towards two mutually exclusive prophecies. However, as absolute as these prophecies appear to be, at the same time there is a lot of scrambling by folks such as Belgarath to make certain events go as outlined.

** 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.}}

* ''[[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."

* In ''[[Slaughterhouse-Five]]'' the main character jumps through time at random to different points in his life- his honeymoon to his death and back to the war where he was taken prisoner- because all time is happening at once. Even the end of the world "has always happened and will always happen." In fact, according to the aliens that visit Earth, it is the only planet where people believe in free will.

* ''[[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 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}}.

* ''[[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]].

* 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]]}}.