Is it preordained that you will write a chosen one story?
Well the sales figures say yes.
As it turns out, dark lords and ancient evil cannot be defeated by military force, international
cooperation, or any other traditional method regardless of the time and resources brought
to bear by the best and the brightest the world can offer.
Only one person can stop evil and save the world, the most special person in the whole
universe around which everything revolves!
The Chosen One!
The Chosen One is the best cliche ever because it can be played completely as is without
any thought put into it whatsoever!
Even better, it gives the writer an excuse to give their Chosen One all kinds of amazing
powers and make sure that not only every other character obsesses over them, but that the
Chosen One is at the center of the story’s universe.
But surely there are pitfalls in making the main character the Chosen One?
Hmm...
Well I can’t really see any.
Oh wait!
There is one problem that must be addressed right off.
And that is how will the audience know the main character is the Chosen One?
Well the easiest way is to make up a prophecy.
Have a detailed outline for your story?
Add some purple prose and bam!
Instant prophecy!
Using a prophecy as a blueprint for your plot will in no way subtract from the story’s
dramatic tension.
No need to obscure the prophecy with vague language.
Thank goodness all fictional prophecies are 100% accurate and will point the way to the
Chosen One.
In fact, the prophecy is so accurate that even the bad guys will find the Chosen One
often before the good guys do.
Wait a minute.
Assuming that destiny and fate are a legitimate force in the universe, then that means that
the Chosen One is destined to eventually triumph over the dark lord or ancient evil.
So the forces of evil will send their best troops to destroy the Chosen One before they
even begin their quest.
However, the Chosen One would have never started their quest in the first place if the forces
of evil hadn’t attacked their home, forcing them to begin their hero’s journey.
Wouldn’t that mean that the only way for the dark lord to avoid defeat would be ignore
the machinations of destiny and gamble that he was living in a free will based universe?
Wouldn’t knowingly engaging with the prophecy only validate it?
What kind of philosophical implications does this present us?
Can the audience stay awake if the author mutters the word ‘philosophical’?
The answer to these deep and complex questions is very simple.
Who cares!
The fact that the forces of evil are trying so hard to prevent the prophecy only shows
the audience how much more special the Chosen One is to the point where the Dark Lord will
squander his best soldiers trying to kill the Chosen One rather than using his forces
to secure more valuable strategic objectives!
Speaking of the dark lord, it is imperative that our Chosen One has a direct connection
to the main antagonist even if this makes absolutely no sense.
Make sure this connection is deep and intimate in a way that slash fics will certainly not
take advantage of.
There are a lot of other ways to make our Chosen One even more chosen.
Special marks, special birthday foretold by the prophecy, special eye color, virgin and/or
royal birth, Latin chanting.
Being Chosen also means that the main character is assured one or more love interests.
We all know that love triangles are included in a discounted wish fulfillment package for
Chosen Ones.
I am sure the love interest will be thankful to the Chosen One for saving her from her
arranged marriage only so she can be arranged to marry the Chosen One!
Destiny says so!
Who cares that everything great about the Chosen One comes only from their destiny.
And in no way should an author have the Chosen One be self conscious about this.
Some may think that all of the special powers, destiny, fame, wealth, and otherwise sheer
volume of wish fulfillment might make the Chosen one a bit unrelatable.
We could flesh out a Chosen One with flaws or use the stress created by fame and the
weight of responsibility of saving the world to generate meaningful conflict.
Or an author could balance the wish fulfillment by withholding a core desire from the Chosen
One that no amount of special powers can ever give them.
But all that sounds like work!
Let’s take the easy way out!
All we need to do is give them a humble origin filled with petty bullies and mean foster
parents.
That should generate enough sympathy to last an entire series!
Now the details of the Chosen One’s backstory will vary based on genre.
Writing a fantasy story?
Make the Chosen One a lost royal heir living as a farm-boy in a defenseless ‘soon to
be burned down’ peasant village.
I am sure his youth spent as a field hand will prepare our hidden heir for the rigors
of managing his reclaimed Kingdom’s complex economic system and web of political intrigue.
Writing a dystopia story?
Make the Chosen One a member of a lower class of people with super powers.
Everyone knows that people with super powers are easy to oppress!
Her special status as chosen one will allow her to instantly upend centuries of systematic
oppression.
Just like how real life oppressive systems disappear overnight!
Now, occasionally, other characters will doubt Mary Sue’s... whoops!
I mean the Chosen One’s abilities or even question his or her decisions.
After all, no one else is capable of saving the world and should never express frustration
at their apparent uselessness.
If fact, the author should spend no time fleshing out the other characters in the story besides
the villain and Chosen One.
Having ordinary people rise up to resist destiny and face overwhelming odds to seize the day
and determine their own fate is not nearly as dramatic as the Chosen One instantly annihilating
the Dark Lord with their special powers, as telegraphed...
I mean foretold by the prophecy.
Nor should the author address the implication that only special chosen people are capable
of changing the world or resisting evil in any significant way.
We should all just accept that we are average and thus incapable of changing the course
of a deterministic universe.
The moral of a Chosen One story is pretty simple.
We should just sit around and wait for a special person to fix all of our problems.