Waif Prophet: Difference between revisions

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See also: [[Mysterious Waif]], [[Whoopi Epiphany Speech]], [[Oracular Urchin]], [[Mad Oracle]]. This is a variant of [[Creepy Child]], and sometimes overlaps with the [[Squishy Wizard]].
 
Contrast [[Blind Seer]], whose archetypal disability seems not to be a hindrance. Compare [[Cursed Withwith Awesome]].
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
* Tomoe Hotaru in the ''[[Sailor Moon (Manga)|Sailor Moon]]'' manga.
* Alvis in ''[[Last Exile (Anime)|Last Exile]]''.
* Subverted by Zefie, in ''[[Hack .hack//Sign|.hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet]]''. Her "mother" is the [[Creepy Child]]''/''[[Waif Prophet]] Aura, who was the [[MacGuffin]] for ''[[Hack Sign|.hack//SIGNSign]]''. Zefie seems similar at first, but it quickly becomes apparent that she's really sarcastic, mischievous, and outspoken.
** And occasionally unhesitatingly violent.
* Mashiro Kazahana from ''[[MaiMy-HiME]]'', who spends almost the whole series confined to a wheelchair, and appears to be no older than Mai's kid brother Takumi. In addition to being the current headmaster of Fuuka Academy, {{spoiler|1=she was the previous HiME Festival's champion and master of Mai's CHILD Kagutsuchi, ''[[Vicious Cycle|three hundred years ago]]''. }}
* Quon from ''[[Rah XephonRahXephon]]''.
* The Young/Old people from ''[[Akira (Manga)|Akira]]'', specifically the bedridden Kyouko.
* A few of the characters in ''The Five Star Stories'' possessing "Para-Diver" powers. Also many of the [[Artificial Human|Fatima Fates]], especially Clotho have elements of this, despite the fact that they are at least twice as strong as a normal person.
* In ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', {{spoiler|Seiya's lost sister Seika grew up into one of these after getting [[Laser -Guided Amnesia]] years ago.}}
* Ilya takes this role in the Heaven's Feel route of ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]''. Although she's mostly on Shirou's side, she only hints at the many important things she knows (like the true identities of {{spoiler|Archer and the shadow-monster}}), saying he'll figure them out eventually. She's also small... and {{spoiler|doomed}}.
* Male example: Subaru Sumeragi, during his ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'' days.
** Despite his slight build, Subaru is physically extremely strong, but he gives the impression of weakness sometimes when he over-exerts his spiritual powers.
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** [[Spear Counterpart|Kakyo]] and [[Ill Girl|Kotori]] qualify as well.
* Played with in the ''[[Fatal Fury]]'' movie. Sulia Gaudeamus is a waifish [[Healing Hands|healer]] without any fighting abilities and who's got an [[Psychic Link]] to the [[Big Bad]] ( {{spoiler|read, she's the twin sister of the guy who's got said [[Big Bad]] [[Enemy Within|inside of him]]}}), but she's more of [[The Smart Guy]] of the group due to [[Mr. Exposition|her encyclopedic knowledge of the myths behind the whole deal]]. Therefore, her insight in the plot is not necessarily related to epiphanies.
* Mary Magdalene in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', an orphan girl whose prophetic powers were so strong and overwhelming, she forgot her own childhood and name--Maryname—Mary is the name given to her by the religious order who took her in.
* [[Oracular Urchin|Rika]] from ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'' appears to be this. In fact, {{spoiler|she doesn't have any kind of future-reading powers. She's just already been through the future - and died horribly in it - hundreds and hundreds of times}}. Can you blame her for trying to tell someone?
* In ''[[Nightschool]]'', it's noted that "seers who are still sane are rare." Marina, a pixieish young seer who can't be much older than 13 or so, has to regularly take special medication in order to stay lucid, but her visions get compromised as a side effect. Unfortunately, her employers at the start of the series care more about receiving accurate predictions about the stock market than her mental health. When Marina's [[Badass Teacher|teacher]] finds this out, the employers are rightly [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomped]]
* A subtle instance in [[Tekkon Kinkreet]]: [[Constantly Curious|White]] is exceedingly immature for his age, and only as physically strong as a small ten-year-old can be expected to be. But at the same time, he occasionally shows a nearly supernatural insight and seems very in-tune to Black and the city around them.
* [[After War Gundam X (Anime)|Tiffa Adil]] ([[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|no, not that one]]) is shown numerous times predicting the future and uses this ability to drive the plot at one point. However just as often her ([[It Got Worse|often VERY bleak]]) predictions are [[Screw Destiny|proven wrong]] by her [[Hot -Blooded|boyfriend]] [[Kid Hero|Garrod]].
** The poor girl is also quite [[Blessed Withwith Suck]], as her future-reading powers and empathy come from her being among the ''very'' few [[Last of His Kind|surviving]] [[Telepathic Spacemen|Newtypes]]... and are the reason why [[Barrier Maiden|everyone pursues her.]]
 
 
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*** [[The Stand|M-O-O-N]] and that spells Tom Cullen. Laws, yes. Not to mention [[Magical Negro|Mother Abagail]] herself...
* Fiver, the [[Oracular Urchin|runt of the litter]] "seer rabbit", whose visions of Man's encroachment drive the plot in the various adaptations of ''[[Watership Down]]'', is a nonhuman variant of this character. This is especially played up in the animated TV series, where he spent an episode terrified that his visions actually ''caused'' the dangers he predicted.
{{quote| '''Fiver:''' ''(to a still [[Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated|very much alive]] enemy rabbit)'': Believe me, I am very sorry for your death.}}
* Jenny Wren in [[Charles Dickens (Creator)|Charles Dickens]]' novel ''Our Mutual Friend'' - a tiny, crippled teenager, who has otherworldly visions, and is also an unusually perceptive and insightful observer of the characters around her. These two abilities are interconnected, and both suggested to be either a [[Disability Superpower|compensation for or result of her disability]]. Her insights and her visions help resolve one of the novel's main plots. However, it should be also pointed out that although her abilities and plot function fit the trope perfectly, Jenny's personality is much closer to the [[Deadpan Snarker]].
* The mute child Estrella in ''[[Ea Cycle]]''.
* Hai from Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' ''Wyvernhail''. Her unstable magic allows her to view many possible future outcomes of decisions, but does not always render her the most lucid.
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** As is Drusilla from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', who had been severely damaged by a mob attack that left her physically weak. She regained her strength part-way through the second season and remained somewhat prophetic; but was still completely crazy. [[Joss Whedon]] seems to like this trope in general.
* Trance Gemini in ''[[Andromeda]]''
* Gabe in ''[[The Collector (TV series)|The Collector]]''.
* Maia in ''[[The 4400]]''
* Kes in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' has a highly developed brain, as a result she can communicate telepathically, see the future or possible alternate futures and even prophesy events that occur after her physical death.
* Tim in ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood".
* The girl with the tarot cards in ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]''.
 
 
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* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', you encounter a small child in a village called Ember who prophesies that the entire village will be slaughtered soon. Though everyone else is doomed, the child also tells you he himself will survive if one of your party members offers up his hunting knife. {{spoiler|Later, when you've been framed for the destruction of the village, the kid comes in handy at your trial, using both his testimony and his mysterious power of prophecy to make the prosecuting attorney decidedly uncomfortable.}}
** A random prophet in Storm of Zehir sees the coming of 4th edition rules. Seriously, the transition was canonically the cause of huge disasters in the Forgotten Realms setting as the magic system shifted.
* The siblings Ninian and Nils from ''[[Fire Emblem]] 7'' fit this trope a bit, [[My Significance Sense Is Tingling|being able to sense danger]] among other things (which [[Spoony Bard|don't include fighting]], though, which makes some players think [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|they're useless * as a whole* in battle]]).
** Semi-subversion with Micaiah. She has [[White -Haired Pretty Girl|waif-like qualities]], she senses the future, she can [[Cursed Withwith Awesome|heal others by taking on their wounds]]... and she's also the [[Jeanne D 'Archetype]] of ''Radiant Dawn'', complete with leading [[La Résistance]] and being more popular than the king.
* Fon Master Ion from ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' is a [[Rare Male Example]] of this trope ([[Viewer Gender Confusion|although you wouldn't know this by looking at him.]])
* Pharos in [[Persona 3]] is a creepy, sickly-looking young boy who visits the [[Silent Protagonist]] on various nights with information relating to the near future.
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* Eresh from ''[[Suikoden V]]'' is a textbook example, complete with [[Squishy Wizard|superior magical ability yet painfully low defense]], [[In the Hood|face cloaked in shadow]], and a [[Magic Wand|staff]] quite reminiscent of [[Final Fantasy X|Yuna's]]. A few of the more enigmatic characters, such as [[Hot Witch|Jeane]] and [[Mystical Waif|Zerase]], seem to have past connections with her, hinting that there may be more to this young witch than meets the eye...
* Klara from ''[[Pathologic]]''.
* The Forecaster of ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', a psychic orphan who wears a psychic inhibitor and can be paid to give his prophecies on certain things pertaining to either the upcoming Battle of Hoover Dam, the Mojave itself and even The Courier.
* The "I'm different" Turret you can rescue in ''[[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]]'' foreshadows just about everything that happens later on, from {{spoiler|Cave Johnson's Lemon speech to the old testing areas to [[G La DOSGLaDOS]] being pecked by birds.}}
 
 
== Webcomics ==
* Jonas of ''[[The Phoenix Requiem]]'' is a [[Rare Male Example]].
* ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' has them pretty much everywhere, being that the main cast are all thirteen years old or the equivalent and that half of them are girls. Everyone with a dreamself on Prospit can use the clouds of Skaia to see glimpses of the future, as first shown with [[Genki Girl|Jade Harley]]; virtually everyone has lost this ability with the deaths of their dreamselves, Jade being the first to lose it. The Seer [[Character Class]], whose two seen members are both female, has a more comprehensive prophet ability, being able to see the outcome of any possible course and thus discern the correct future path. [[Blind Seer|Terezi Pyrope]], the Seer of Mind, is well-versed in this ability; [[Black Magician Girl|Rose Lalonde]], the Seer of Light, never gave herself the opportunity to learn to use or develop it. Finally, two of the [[Troll|trollstroll]]s - [[Stringy -Haired Ghost Girl|Aradia Megido]] and [[Mad Oracle|Sollux Captor]] (a male example) - have the ability to hear the voices of the dead, who foreshadow the future for them; Sollux loses it upon being blinded.
 
 
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