There Are No Coincidences: Difference between revisions

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* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm|Up Jim River]]'', when she hears of a murder of a woman she spoke with, the harper thinks it can't be a coincidence. She tells Donovan, and he agrees.

* In the [[Liaden Universe]] series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, fate often seems to be an active agent with a will of its own. Characters refer to it as "event" or "the Luck," and it is said to move in strange ways around those of Clan Korval and Line yos'Phelium in particular, making them the ultimate [[Weirdness Magnet]]. Individuals who are [[Genre Savvy]] enough to recognize it (including those of Korval themselves) make allowances for it in their plans—{{spoiler|Bechimo's builders who warned him to steer clear of Clan yos'Phelium}} in ''Ghost Ship'', and {{spoiler|Zaneth Katrina who wishes nothing to do with Clan Korval at the present time because the Luck is too unsettled}} in ''Dragon Ship''. Those who don't believe in the Luck or the powers of the ''dramliza'' end up puzzled by the way Korval is always at the nexus of extraordinary happenstance and often assign human intentions to utter coincidence. (Or what ''would'' be utter coincidence if it weren't for the Luck causing it.)

** For example: what are the odds that a half-brainwashed Agent of Change disengaging from a mission would meet, become companions with, and eventually {{spoiler|lifemate}} a woman who happens to be {{spoiler|the granddaughter of a missing member of a long-lost clan with whom his is allied—a woman who grew up on the planet that his cousin is shortly going to civilize so Clan Korval can move to? And that this woman's own clan's world is about to be invaded by ~~Yxtrangi~~, bringing with them the very member of that race he had encountered ten years before}}? The ''entire series'' is one long chain of increasingly unlikely "coincidences". (It drives the Department of the Interior, and more than a few people who are actually ''in the know'' about Clan Korval's history with the Luck, right up the wall.)

** For example: what are the odds that a half-brainwashed Agent of Change disengaging from a mission would meet, become companions with, and eventually {{spoiler|lifemate}} a woman who happens to be {{spoiler|the granddaughter of a missing member of a long-lost clan with whom his is allied—a woman who grew up on the planet that his cousin is shortly going to civilize so Clan Korval can move to? And that this woman's own clan's world is about to be invaded by Yxtrang, bringing with them the very member of that race he had encountered ten years before}}? The ''entire series'' is one long chain of increasingly unlikely "coincidences". (It drives the Department of the Interior, and more than a few people who are actually ''in the know'' about Clan Korval's history with the Luck, right up the wall.)

* This is a major plot point in ''[[Bridge of Birds]]'', with Master Li slowly realizing that all the unlikely events and reappearances of characters and side stories that keep happening to him and Number Ten Ox are the work of a god doing his best to clue them in on their [[Fetch Quest]] being part of a much bigger quest without breaking the rule of gods not being allowed to intervene ''directly'' in mortals' affairs. The chapter where he explains all this to Ten Ox is even titled "There Are No Coincidences in the Great Way of Tao".