You know, it's always nice to feel special.
That's probably why most of us went through a middle school phase where we, like,
pretended to be a wizard, or part vampire, or, like, have a penguin for a soul, or something.
It's nice to feel like you naturally stand out,
especially if you're too young to really have any major accomplishments to stand out by.
At some point, we realized that being naturally gifted or special isn't the fast track to heroism
we thought it was, and we generally learned to appreciate
that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant,
and that it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.
But of course, we still find the idea that we were born special or different kind of appealing.
Theoretically speaking.
In practice, being born outside the norm usually just means having every single joke about your abnormalities memorized by age 10.
But still, theoretically speaking,
special feels good,
and this bleeds over into writing in several different ways.
Many heroes will explicitly have something super special about them,
like a unique or rare heritage, or an ability nobody else has,
and while many stories will paint this specialness as a source of internal conflict or external prejudice,
we're still supposed to find that specialness undeniably cool.
Doesn't matter that your anime pretty boy thinks his wings or his weird ears are hideous,
because we all think they're dope as hell.
It's something to set them apart from everybody else,
which is also conveniently a way to denote somebody as a protagonist,
to explain why nobody else could be doing this,
and more specifically, why this person is doing this,
and in its most extreme form, this becomes the archetypal designated special protagonist trait,
and turns into the Chosen One.
A person who is special and unique for cosmic reasons beyond their explicit control or understanding.
Now, interestingly, The Chosen One is actually a pretty vague descriptor most of the time.
Usually, it basically just means this character is the only one that can resolve the plot,
and however that ends up working out is how it works out.
This nebulous chosen-one-iness basically just stamps Designated Hero on someone's forehead,
and then the plot goes from there.
It's kind of cool, and it gives you an easy way to pull them through the plot,
because they're the chosen one, so OF COURSE the plot is working out around them,
but aside from the generic Chosen One descriptor,
there are a handful of less nebulous sub-variants
that can actually turn into fairly interesting storylines when examined more closely.
So, let's give 'em a look.
One of the most common variants is the Prophecy Chosen One.
This is a chosen one with a prophecy attached.
More specifically, they're a person who has been described in a prophecy,
and that prophecy usually says something vaguely menacing
but open to interpretation about what exactly their ultimate fate is gonna be.
Think Harry Potter, or Anakin Skywalker.
These are chosen ones who learn they're chosen
and what exactly they've been chosen to do at pretty much the exact same time.
They're not nebulously chosen, they've got a concrete destiny,
and usually they're just about the last person that'll learn about that destiny.
And, unsurprisingly, a chosen one who has a written down destiny trajectory
can frequently end up with problems resulting from that destiny.
This is because prophecies have this annoying tendency to come true no matter what,
so if your designated antagonist tries to stop the prophecy before it happens,
this intention invariably directly causes the prophecy to come true.
Or worse, if the prophecy sounds like a good thing--
for example, bringing balance to The Force,
it might play out in a super tragic way instead.
Like, for example, bringing balance to the force by murdering all but two of the Jedi
and turning into the second Sith.
Or from another perspective, bringing balance to The Force by murdering every Force user in the galaxy,
except your own children.
Prophecies are annoying, and being featured in a prophecy pretty much guarantees that
you're in for an annoying time.
Frequently, the prophecy chosen one won't really feel like a chosen one,
and/or they'll feel very pressured by the expectations of others
since they've got this whole Grand Destiny thing that everyone seems so certain of,
but they personally have no real way of actually knowing if they'll be able to pull it off,
and they might not even really buy into the whole prophecy thing.
Not to mention that having your future plotted out for you by some frustratingly vague prophecy
can be kind of grating on the old concept of free will and autonomy thing.
These are the chosen ones most likely to gripe about how annoying it is to be the chosen one,
and/or how they never asked for this,
but they're also usually the ones most likely to succeed.
Although, of course, they run the risk of suffering from annoyingly clever prophecy twists.
Another popular variant is the Literally Chosen One,
the character who's actively chosen by some sentient entity to do something or to be granted some power.
This character frequently shares the prophecy chosen one's general insecurities
about themselves and their personal worthiness,
and in the most extreme cases, will actively reject the choosing, although that rarely works.
This Chosen One's Chosen status is a little less secure in-story,
since rather than being nebulously chosen by the universe at large,
they've been literally chosen by a sentient, and potentially fallible, entity.
Where the Prophecy Chosen One's destiny will usually play out pretty much how the prophecy says,
barring some unfortunate twists or convenient loopholes,
The Literally Chosen One's future is a little more up in the air.
In fact, sometimes a villain will have been a literally chosen one,
and whatever entity chose them in the first place, has chosen someone new to try and get it right this time.
This variant really plays up the insecurity of this particular chosen one,
since not only is the chooser potentially fallible,
they're explicitly fallible because they've actually gotten this wrong before.
This chosen one might spend almost their entire arc convinced that their chooser chose wrong.
Or, more interestingly, they might be riding the high of being the chosen one
until they learn that the previous chosen one is some sort of horrible villain,
or, more embarrassingly, a total washout loser.
A lot of the time, this chosen one will be being observed very carefully by some cabal of higher-ups
judging the worth of their chooser by the measure of their personal success and competence,
which can add to the stress, since now you also got to make sure you don't let your chooser down
in front of all the important destiny people.
In this case, even if being the chosen one does come with a duty or corresponding powerup,
it can still feel a lot less genuine than the more ineffable kinds of chosen ones,
since practically speaking, this kind of chosen one was chosen by a person,
or at least something like a person, and people can always be wrong.
Bonus insecurity points if the chooser in question ACTUALLY questions
whether or not they made the right choice.
(Extra bonus points if they don't think the chosen one can hear them
when they do their little lack-of-faith-misunderstanding samba).
On the other end of the Chosen One fallability spectrum,
we have the chosen wielder variant, where the chosen one has been chosen by a basically non-sentient artifact,
that only they can use properly.
This one actually slides in and out of the Chosen One zone,
because sometimes clingy magical artifacts are just cursed or something,
and stick to the first person who picks them up,
and sometimes they work for anyone who fits the qualifications, but those qualifications are very rare,
and sometimes there are a bunch of choosy artifacts, and you're just one of a whole posse of chosen ones.
But most of the time an artifact that only works for you
has basically decided that you're the chosen one to wield it,
and, congratulations, now you're a chosen one.
Chosen wielders are often successors to previous chosen wielders,
mostly because a magic item is likely to outlive any individual user,
and will thus probably change hands over the centuries.
But sometimes, the artifact in question will only bond to your chosen one for whatever reason.
In some cases, the artifact was actually made for them,
and no one else can use it as a result.
Whatever the artifact's internal logic is, for the purposes of your story,
the chosen wielder is a chosen one.
Also, the choosing artifact doesn't actually need to be like, a physical thing.
Sometimes it's a nebulous powerup or something similarly non-physical.
Basically, the chosen wielder just has to be chosen by some rad ability or tool
that's not really sentient, but definitely has standards that define who gets chosen.
Also, sometimes an artifact of the chosen wielder will be kind of usable by not chosen wielders,
but will have extra abilities that only work for the chosen wielder,
and sometimes, that's how you find out they're a chosen wielder in the first place.
Conveniently, this brand of chosen one ends up, for the most part,
avoiding the chosen one pitfall of having a destiny that's too big for you,
since even if the choosy artifact comes with a destiny attached, which it frequently doesn't,
it'll usually also give you the ability to fulfill that destiny without too much trouble.
And even if you don't get it right away,
the artifact will also frequently unlock new powers when you need it to,
making it progressively easier to fulfill whatever destiny it slapped you with.
This is probably one of the cushiest chosen one scenarios to wind up with,
since it's basically just a shmancy powerup that tells you you're special.
Also, there's basically no arguing with a choosy artifact,
and they almost never actually make mistakes,
although sometimes they'll make choices that don't really make sense until later,
and sometimes they'll choose villains that fit their qualifications,
because artifacts are usually pretty amoral.
There's a slight variant that's kind of a combination of the chosen wielder and prophecy chosen one varieties
that also shows up fairly frequently, the Chosen Incarnation.
These are chosen ones who are born to embody some sort of cosmic whatever,
and usually get both some fancy powers and an important world saving job.
This is strongly influenced by the Dashavataras of Vishnu,
the Hindu god of preserving the world who would incarnate in a Dashavatara mortal form
to fix the world when something threatened to throw it out of whack.
It's also got shades of the Dalai Lama.
Basically, these chosen incarnations are born chosen,
and will usually have some kind of Cosmic Duty they have to fulfill.
Most of the time, they'll also have some kind of nifty chosen-one powers to make their job easier
and help them be identified as a chosen incarnation.
Following the Vishnu model, Chosen Incarnations will frequently be born
only when their particular Cosmic Duty needs doing.
Or, following the Dalai Lama model,
they might incarnate regularly and have some sort of catch-all world managing job to do.
A chosen incarnation also usually has just about the worst kind of chosen-one stress,
because not only do they have a job they explicitly have to do,
but they also have a seriously high bar to live up to, set by all of their previous incarnations.
And, for possibly the most classic chosen one variety,
we have The One True King, a chosen one with a very specific chosen-ness.
He's the true king.
Now, because this is such a historically prevalent trope,
it's also almost completely inconsistent,
because sometimes the one true king means the rightful heir,
and sometimes the one true king means MY king who is conquering your kingdom and taking your throne.
But it's cool because it's divinely mandated or manifest destiny or whatever.
Basically, the one true king can either be the actual rightful heir,
or he can be some rando who's meant to be the king by some metric.
The rightful heir version is more common in modern media,
but sometimes you get something like a rightful king
who would have been the rightful heir if the family hadn't been usurped four generations ago,
or they're descended from a long line of divine kings that
haven't technically held the throne in a few thousand years,
or, whatever.
As long as you can finagle a claim to the throne,
whether by genetics or divine right or whatever, you can be called the one true king.
This kind of chosen one doesn't inherently come with a destiny or much in the way of stakes,
but sometimes your one true king either wants to or has to reclaim their throne for whatever reason.
For example, if their universe works by Fisher King rules, and their kingdom is falling apart
just by virtue of not having its rightful ruler,
it might be necessary for them to reclaim the throne.
Whatever the case, this chosen one is generally fairly low-stakes,
compared to the prophecy chosen one or the literally chosen one.
However, sometimes it comes bundled with the chosen-wielder variant,
since true kings being chosen by magic swords is something of a staple in modern literature.
Also, more recent fantasy works will sometimes give your chosen lineage of kings
some kind of nifty magical power that only manifests in the kings.
That's kind of a variant of the chosen wielder...
Anyway, now the thing about writing a chosen one is that for the most part,
they're gonna end up defining the general trajectory for the plot.
A prophecy chosen one has a prophecy defining major events in their personal story,
where a literally chosen one or a chosen wielder frequently has a job they were chosen to do,
and the one true king comes pre-loaded with a happy ending endgame when they claim their throne.
A chosen one is basically going to direct the story as a whole, almost by their nature.
This means your chosen one is pretty much always going to be the central protagonist,
or in rare cases, they'll be the villain.
Fighting a chosen one is a living nightmare, because they usually have destiny on their side,
but there are ways to take them down without subverting their chosen-ness.
For instance, if they're a prophecy chosen one,
prophecies are dangerous since they can come true in unexpectedly nasty ways.
You know, if your chosen one bad guy has a prophecy of the format, you know--
"No man of woman-born can kill Macbeth",
I'm pretty sure you can think of a couple loopholes you can exploit in that situation.
Pretty much, if your heroes can find a way to fulfill that prophecy that also knocks the chosen villain
off their pedestal, they're pretty much good to go.
And if they're an artifact-empowered chosen wielder,
one or more of your heroes could fulfill the worthiness qualifications to wield the artifact in question,
stripping the bad guy of their empowerment and their chosen-one status all in one go.
But this doesn't happen all that often.
In most cases, your chosen one will be your central protagonist,
and in this case there are some interesting stories you can tell.
By far, the most common chosen one storyline is the crippling self-doubt plot,
and it usually shows up pretty early in their particular chosen one journey,
although sometimes it's played as a darkest hour thing and shows up late instead.
But basically, it's rough being saddled with a grand destiny or a magic artifact with a job attached,
and it's not unreasonable for your unexpectedly
empowered hero to buckle under the weight of being the chosen one.
Frequently, they might just not feel like a chosen one.
Shouldn't a chosen one be confident and powerful and solve their problems with ease or something?
This is basically rooted in the fear that the character might not actually be the chosen one.
It's pretty much literary imposter syndrome.
They keep getting told that they're the chosen one, but they can't really bring themselves to believe it.
Maybe the choosing entity seems a little too fallible to be trusted,
or the choosing artifact chose weirdly, or hasn't always made the best decisions,
or the prophecy is annoyingly vague, and sure, there's compelling evidence to think you might fit the prophecy,
or at least one major villain is convinced you fit the terms and is gunning for you on principle,
but regardless, the world keeps telling you you're the chosen one,
and you just can't bring yourself to believe that the chosen one could be someone like you.
This is compounded if the chosen one duties wind up being terrifying, or horrendously dangerous.
Or alternatively, you just mess them up somehow.
This can lead to the maximally powerful chosen one angst plot, the rejection of being the chosen one.
Where it goes beyond simple anxiety and self-worth problems
and turns into a full-on "Choose someone ELSE" scenario.
Sometimes the chooser can't choose someone else.
Maybe it's a bloodline thing, or a highly specific prophecy,
or an artifact that can only be handed off when the previous wielder dies.
But more annoyingly, sometimes the chooser won't choose someone else,
because they know they got it right the first time.
However it plays out, the chosen one usually can't get out of being chosen that easily,
and has to power through the initial angst phase into actually accepting their role as the chosen one
and all that that entails.
Although it's worth noting that the Disney movie Moana did an excellent job of subverting this
by having the ocean actually agree to unchoose Moana in her darkest hour,
and subsequently having her independently choose to take up the burden again,
making her the extremely rare self-chosen one.
Of course, the major overarching chosen-one storyline is fairly self-explanatory.
It's whatever they were chosen for.
Avatar Aang is a chosen incarnation whose job it is to restore balance in the world
and his story is his journey to being able to accomplish that.
In Trollhunters, Jim Lake is the chosen wielder of the amulet of Merlin,
making it his duty to protect the good trolls from the bad trolls,
and surprise, the plot is Jim Lake fighting off a whole mess of bad trolls and bad troll minions.
Harry Potter is a prophecy chosen one whose destiny is to vanquish Voldemort,
and over the course of seven books, that's what he does.
Because a chosen one comes with a pre-mapped plot trajectory,
some aspects of the overarching storyline will be that associated plot,
but it doesn't have to be the whole plot.
Taking Harry Potter as an example again,
While Harry is the chosen one and it's prophecied that he'll defeat Voldemort,
this basically just means that Voldemort spends all his time
targeting him in an attempt to kill him off, where the prophecy can come true.
Each book has its own plot, that's usually based on the premise that Voldemort did something bad,
but most of the time Voldemort is a subplot.
In the Goblet of Fire, the main plot is the Triwizard Tournament,
and the sneaky subplot is that the whole thing is gearing up to Voldemorts revival.
The major plot in Prisoner of Azkaban is that most-definitely evil escaped convict Sirius Black is gunning for Harry,
and so are a whole bunch of government-funded soul consuming wind socks.
In most of the books, the majority of the plot is basically school drama,
and all the sinister stuff happening behind the scenes is treated like a subplot.
Harry being the chosen one hardly ever actually comes up.
This is actually a fairly common way to play this.
When your hero is a chosen one, but still has a life,
one of the easiest stories to write is the dissection of how exactly being the chosen one messes up their life.
Troll Hunters plays this fairly straight. Jim Lake is the troll hunter,
but he's also a student with a struggling single mom,
and he's trying to get this theater girl to like him,
and also avoid getting beat up by this one bully.
Most of the early episodes focus on Jim constantly ruining his chances with the designated love interest
because his chosen one duties and all their associated baggage keep interfering.
It only gets worse when parts of his normal life start getting dragged into his chosen one life.
His love interest's baby brother is kidnapped and replaced with a changeling,
his charming homeroom teacher with a crush on his mom turns out to be a shape-shifting troll,
his love interest is attacked by goblins, and his mom ends up nearly dying for
complicated troll reasons.
Being the chosen one isn't easy,
and it doesn't leave much room for a personal life.
When your chosen one tries to maintain one anyway, you wind up with easy conflict,
and potentially easy tragedy, if you take it far enough.
A recurring theme in what we discussed so far is that it kind of sucks to be the chosen one.
Most of the time this is due to one simple fact.
Having responsibilities is annoying,
and almost every chosen one ends up with some kind of responsibility as a result of their chosen-ness.
A combination of ill-preparedness, sky-high expectations,
and potentially dire consequences in the event of failure
means this particular responsibility is going to be, at the very least, annoying to have to deal with.
Another factor that makes being the chosen one annoying
is that it'll almost certainly color the way other people see and interact with you.
Protagonists might be disappointed that you don't fit their chosen one preconceptions,
or jealous of the attention you receive for being the chosen one,
or just have annoyingly high expectations for your abilities,
while antagonists will be constantly gunning for you for reasons totally beyond your control.
Actually, this metaphor has kind of come full circle.
Being the chosen one really kind of is like being actually different or special in real life.
It has its perks, it has its drawbacks,
it pretty much adds a preconception to the way everyone perceives you,
and it can sometimes be more trouble than it's worth,
but fundamentally,
it's not something you can or really should change about yourself.
So...yeah.