History Main / BecauseDestinySaysso

* How much of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' and its sequels are TheChosenOne acting out a preordained destiny, and how much is actually TheMessiah ''choosing his own'' destiny and then being forced to live it out unto the bitter end? Creator/FrankHerbert would like you to think about it.

* WinstonChurchill wrote the following about his accession to the office of Prime Minister on May 10, 1940, the same day that the Germans launched their long-awaited attack on the Western Allies:

An [[InvokedTrope invoked]] form of YouCantFightFate, Because Destiny Says So is when a character accepts a prophecy or similar foreknowledge of future events as inevitable, and does everything in their power to realize said future events because of it.

* Played with quite a bit in ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', although in this case it's more "Because [[spoiler:Drosselmeyer]] Says So". All of the main characters have a particular destiny laid out for them, and most of them decide to ScrewDestiny. Autor actually invokes this trope at one point, but he's perfectly content to submit destiny, no matter where it might lead him.

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* ''TwelveMonkeys'': The past is immutable. Everything the characters do to try to change the past leads to ensuring events unfold just as they did.

* ''SlumdogMillionaire'' concludes that [[spoiler:"It is written"]] explains why Jamal [[spoiler:manages to survive, win the quiz game, and get the girl]], although some viewers may suspect that it's all a ContrivedCoincidence.

* TheTerminator said it best in part 3; "Because you're John Connor".
* The members of TheAdjustmentBureau will do everything in their power to ensure "things happen according to plan", regardless of reasoning.

* In Disney/{{Tangled}} -- Flynn and Rapunzel argue.
-->'''Rapunzel:''' Something brought you here...Fate...Destiny...\\
'''Flynn:''' [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane A horse.]]

** And in the sequel, Ad Avis invokes a prophecy to revive the evil djinn Iblis, which implies that he is guaranteed to win. It isn't until after you beat him that you learn that the prophecy Ad Avis was using was horrifically mistranslated. The true prophecy predicts that an attempt to revive Iblis would occur, but did not ensure that it would succeed[[hottip:*:which does not, however, mean that [[ItsAWonderfulFailure it can't]]]].

* The Royals of ''Franchise/EverAfterHigh'' do their best to make sure they [[FollowInMyFootSteps follow in their]] [[GenerationXerox parent's footsteps.]] After all, they have a Happy Ever After too look forward, too, right? This does not sit well with the Rebels, which is where the trouble starts...

* In ''{{My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic}}'', ponies get a "cutie mark," a symbol that magically appears on their flank, when they realize their destiny. Many of the show's older fans questioned this apparent case of determinism, asking if any ponies ever get stuck with a cutie mark they don't want. The season 3 finale "Magical Mystery Cure" tackles this issue head on when the main characters' marks are switched around by a spell gone wrong.

* In {{Erfworld}} how much the Fate affect the life is an important part of the characterization and a source of drama to the characters. in Erfworld you not only [[YouCantFightFate can't fight Fate]] (except with [[WindsOfDestinyChange Carnymancy]]) but also trying to fight it would cause you and everyone around you more suffering, this is for example the reason of the [[TheFatalist fatalism]] of [[TheLancer Wanda Firebaugh]], in her early life she refused to believe she couldn't decide her own Fate and tried to rebel against the [[PropheciesAreAlwaysRight prophecy]] made on her, it didn't turn well and so she came to believe that the only way to avoid suffering is trying to fulfill your Fate as quick and straigh as possible.

* From ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' onward, the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books were all about the prophecy "...neither can live while the other survives." Technically, ''all'' of the books (or at least Voldemort's motivations) were about that, but until OOTP, neither Harry nor the reader knew it.

An [[InvokedTrope invoked]] form of YouCantFightFate, Because Destiny Says So is when a character accepts a prophecy or similar foreknowledge of future events as inevitible, and does everything in their power to realize said future events because of it.

** [[spoiler: Clara realised after hearing about the Dalek Asylum that it was inevitable for her to jump into the Doctor's Timestream, scattering herself into a million pieces, to save his life. She even states that she was "Born to save the Doctor."]] Her doing this was so important that the majority of things that have happened in the show wouldn't of happend without her input. The Doctor wouldn't have even [[spoiler: stolen the current TARDIS he owns.]]

* In the season 7 finale of ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[spoiler: Clara realised after hearing about the Dalek Asylum that it was inevitable for her to jump into the Doctor's Timestream to save his life. She even states that she was "Born to save the Doctor."]]

** Of course, this was said by a Repentia Mistress who does nothing but spout of litanies and such.

** In "The Tower of the Elephant" Yog tells Conan that he is the hand of fate.

An [[InvokedTrope invoked]] form of YouCantFightFate, BecauseDestinySaysSo is when a character accepts a prophecy or similar foreknowledge of future events as inevitible, and does everything in their power to realize said future events because of it.

In such cases, TheHero will often continue the TrainingFromHell they are currently terrible at because they were named TheChosenOne, {{Big Bad}}s will insist on [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroying the world]] despite the harm it will bring to their [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes loved ones]] because it is their [[LaserGuidedKarma karmic destiny]], and religious orders will [[ObstructiveBureaucrat refuse]] to hand over badly needed {{MacGuffin}}s in times of crisis because prophecy says [[YouAreNotReady it is not yet time]]. BecauseDestinySaysSo is also a common excuse for why TheChosenOne is TheOnlyOne allowed to save the world, or what have you.

** This is also a literal case of BecauseDestinySaysSo when the ChosenOne, not knowing what to do next, consults the prophecies written about himself in a deliberate effort to fulfill them.

* Two of the main characters in NeilGaiman and Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/GoodOmens'' possess a book of highly accurate (if not always understandable) prophecies from Agnes Nutter, witch. The BecauseDestinySaysSo reaches such a point that, toward the end of the book, these two characters realize correctly that they can pretty much select any prophecy at random and it will be ''exactly'' the one they need at that time.
** This is also the logic with which Anathema lives her life, [[spoiler:until [[ScrewDestiny Newt convinces her to live her own life instead of sticking to her ancestor's prophecies.]] [[BecauseDestinySaysSo Though this part may also be playing it straight,as knowing Agnes Nutter, she might have predicted this too.]]]]

* BecauseDestinySaysSo is a factor in the ''Sign of Seven'' trilogy by Nora Roberts. After their friends have gotten involved in relationships with each other. Gage and Cybil are actually pretty annoyed at the idea that they should get romantic because destiny said to. (They do anyway.)

** Oddly enough, in the sixth book Dumbledore outright told Harry that he was under no obligation to do anything the prophecy said, and hinted that some of the genuine magical prophecies from the fifth book had NOT come true.

* In PhilipPullman's ''HisDarkMaterials'', various witches claim that most of what Lyra does is destiny ([[SubvertedTrope although]] just because it's destiny doesn't mean it ''has'' to happen).

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* In most cases, Destiny is tied to the concept that any event, when played through multiple times in the exact same context, will never have a different outcome. This concept is assumed to be most applicable on small scales, on the order of individual atoms or trajectories of single butterflies, etc. When those tiny events are all part of a sequence, like a war, than it follows that their interaction in the larger event or sequence of events will also have the exact same outcome no matter how many times repeated. This is applicable to any and all events and gives cause-and-effect predictions absolute weight. This concept is taken two ways:
** One way of looking at it, more popular in fiction, is that the sum total of the story of life was determined from a cause and effect chain starting from the very first event in the universe, each of which could only have had one outcome--this sequence of outcomes is Destiny. As such the end result of an action is not so much caused by an individual so much as it was determined from the beginning of the universe. This turns choice into something external. The concept of those choices being external and of all events being predetermined is Destiny.
** The other way of looking at it is that the sum total of the story of life may perhaps be predicted from the very birth of the universe (via predicting every cause-and-effect that will result), but the process of doing so in fact