Okay, no, but really. I have talked this week a bit about the inversion of the Chosen One narrative, and it is something that is just everywhere. Fucking everywhere.
Castlevania on Netflix? Constantly negotiating with the question of the Belmont's as a Chosen Bloodline.
Then we also have Baldur's Gate 3 and its takes on the Chosen One narrative. And oh boy, it has a lot of takes on this. We have a bunch of Chosen here: the three Chosen as the antagonists of course (and I will once more note that it would make so much sense if Enver Gortash was a Second Sundering Chosen. No, I will not shut up about this), but then also Shadowheart and Gale. Gale of course explicitly having been a Chosen and it nearly kills him. And Shadowheart who is mostly implied to have been Selûne's chosen and for that reason having been kidnapped, but either way: being a chosen is the worst thing that happened to either. And there is Arabella as well.
But also Dragon Age. Oh, Dragon Age as a series is so desperately negotiating against the concept of Fate. The Warden is not Chosen, and yet he is there to restore a royal bloodline. Hawke dips in and out of the Chosen narrative. The Inquisitor is in the middle of it - Inquisition is fully immersed in negotiating this one specific trope. And then there is Veilguard. And I am sorry, say about Veilguard what you will, but this was the narrative choice where it was consistent. It refused the Chosen One Trope. Rook is not a Chosen. Rook is the One who Chooses.
And of course Digimon. It is the reason I was aware of the trope at age 10. Because Digimon is in such a constant negotiation with the trope. Adventure? Yes! 02? Yes! Tamers? No! Frontier? Yes! Savers? Kinda Sorta But Not Really. Xros Wars? Kinda? Appmon? Yes, but also the characters still have to choose. Ghost Game? Not really. Beatbreak? We will see.
And it is almost like a curse. If you have an adventure story, you need to content with the Chosen narrative in one way or another. You can either confirm or deny the trope, but you do not get to not acknowledge it, because it is too centrally engrained in our culture.



















