Thirteen Is Unlucky: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"The hotel I'm staying in has [[Missing Floor|no 13th floor]] 'cause of superstition. But people on the 14th floor: You know what floor you're '''really''' on. What room are you in? 1401? No, you're not! If you jump out that window, you will '''die earlier'''."''|[[Mitch Hedberg]]}}

 

* The comic book series and videogame ''[[XIII]]'', which is about a man with amnesia, the number XIII tatooed on his back, and a knack for using weapons.

* In ''[[ABC Warriors]]'', during the Volgan War [[Arc]], Volkhan recruits thirteen (well, twelve plus Mek-Quake) disciples.

* As everyone knows, ''[[Garfield]]'' hates Mondays. Slightly less known is the fact that he hates February. One strip had him take Jon's announcement that it was February ''and'' Monday in stride...only to scream when Jon points out that it was also the 13th.

* Dark Horse's [[Spy Boy]] skipped the 13th issue, but eventually it appeared as a miniseries that is numbered as 13.1, 13.2 and 13.3. Very bad things happen to a cast member on it.

* Rincewind from the [[Discworld]] novels was born on, you guessed it, the thirteenth.

* ''[[The Hobbit]]'' has a group of thirteen Dwarves - plus Bilbo, "the lucky number".

* ''[[The War Against the Chtorr]]''. When the protagonist first encounters the [[Government Agency of Fiction|Uncle Ira Group]], they take him to the [[Missing Floor]] of a hotel (which is naturally on the 13th floor) and put him in Room 1313. He doesn't Have A Bad Feeling About This until he finds the door locked and his access to a terminal cut off. When the Uncle Ira Group does let him out, it's because they've decided to [[Make It Look Like an Accident|set him up to be killed]].

* District 13 in the ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' gets destroyed.

* [[Patricia C. Wrede]]'s ''Thirteenth Child''. Though Eff's actual problem is that people ''expect'' a thirteenth child to turn out bad. (She's also the [[Lucky Seven|seventh]] daughter, as other characters point out.)

* In the [[Harry Potter]] books, Professor Trelawney has a fear of thirteen, and in particular mentions the superstition that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise from the table will be the first to die. {{spoiler|In ''Order of the Phoenix'', she's right.}}

** Arguably played straight when {{spoiler|Rex the Darklings try to turn Rex into one of them.}} Although they are mostly unsuccessful, he finds that he is now repulsed and weakened by the number 13, just like the Darklings, though not as strongly because he is still mostly human.

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' series, the pub used as a meeting ground is said to have thirteen column and thirteen tables as a way of dispersing magical energies. While not unlucky per say, it does rely on thirteen being a number intrinsically adversed to the workings of magic.

== Videogames ==

 

** The means of trying to reclaim their hearts, however, involves the distortion of the heart of all worlds. Pretty unlucky.

** And don't forget what happened to Number XIII himself...

* Subverted in ''[[The Longest Journey]]'' where 13 pops up continuously until you learn that it's actually a ''lucky'' number in the setting. And an [[Arc Number]], to boot.

* ''[[Ace Combat]] 6'' had the Strigon Squad, [[The Rival|A Rival Ace Squad]] to the player in the game. It is noted in Toscha Mijasik's (aka ''Strigon 12'') Assault recored that he retained the team's number 12 since the prelude because of his Triskaidekaphobia (aka a fear of 13). Ironically, the person he looked up to was killed and the city they occupied since day one was liberated on '''Mission 13!'''

* ''[[Blaz Blue]]'': Nu-13 {{spoiler|causes the End Of The World repeatedly}} when awakened underneath the 13th Hierarchical City, Kagutsuchi.

* Thanks to being one of [[Evilutionary Biologist|Hojo's]] intended recipients of [[The Virus|Jenova cells]], and therefore (presumably) a future Sephiroth-clone, Nanaki of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' was given the tattoo "XIII" and even called Red XIII. He is also apparently [[Last of His Kind|the last (or next-to-last) of his race]]; had [[Disappeared Dad|his father]] [[Taken for Granite|petrified]] while facing off with the Gi; was held prisoner by Shinra, experimented upon, and [[Improbable Species Compatibility|was slated for interracial breeding with Aeris]]; and [[Tear Jerker|loses his grandfather]] during the course of the story. On the other hand, at least he lives all the way through, is still around 500 years later, and is one of the party's better balances between magic-user and brawler, if properly equipped and leveled. And he certainly seems to [[Warrior Poet|bear his misfortunes with dignity and fortitude]].