History Main / PlagueOfGoodFortune

# All this good luck damages the character's philosophy of the world being a miserable place. Yes, [[HonorBeforeReason some characters]] value that philosophy more than the results of the good fortune. Alternatively, the character getting good luck means that somebody else is getting all their bad luck, so the world is still miserable.

* This is OlderThanFeudalism: Creator/{{Herodotus}} tells the story of the Greek king Polycrates who had such good luck that he threw a cherished ring in the ocean to try and balance things out, hoping to dodge whatever doom the gods had in store for him. The ring was eaten by a fish, the fish captured by a fisherman, and the ring returned to the king. This sealed his fate--he lost everything.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' had Little and Big Dog on a ''ThePriceIsRight'' type game show who were giving out [[{{Zonk}} dog treats as consolation prizes]]. Little Dog tries everything he can to lose the games but each attempt backfires and he keeps winning. Even trying to cheat does nothing. That's right, he cheats to lose and still ends up winning.

* Snape suffers from this in ''FanFic/TheInquisitorCarrowChronicles''. Carrow frequently gives Snape fantastically valuable Potions ingredients as gifts for his assistance in various matters, but more than a few of the gifts are also fantastically ''illegal''.

* ''Series/GetSmart'': Maxwell Smart needs to lose big at gambling in order to infiltrate a KAOS cell, but he ends up staggering home with twice as much money as he started out with.
** He threw away a winning hand at poker only to be dealt an even higher winning hand, then leaned against a slot machine that paid out a jackpot without a coin even being inserted!

* [[Series/GetSmart Maxwell Smart]] needs to lose big at gambling in order to infiltrate a KAOS cell, but he ends up staggering home with twice as much money as he started out with.

* ''Literature/MobyDick'': A subtle example of type 4: Once Ahab has decided to destroy Moby Dick, a lot of good things (for a superior spirit, of course) happened to him: He discovers the beauty of nature, he appreciates the loyalty of his crew, he rediscovers love and charity again when he befriends Pip, Starbuck�s reminds him of his wife and son, the captain of the Rachel begs him to save his son� It�s like the whole universe conspires to save Ahab from his self imposed doom, to convince to abandon his philosophy of RageAgainstTheHeavens � he only can blame himself.

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* Snape suffers from this in ''FanFic/TheInquisitorCarrowChronicles''. Carrow frequently gives Snape fantastically valuable Potions ingredients as gifts for his assistance in various matters, but more than a few of the gifts are also fantastically ''illegal''.

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* ''Literature/MobyDick'': A subtle example of type 4: Once Ahab has decided to destroy Moby Dick, a lot of good things (for a superior spirit, of course) happened to him: He discovers the beauty of nature, he appreciates the loyalty of his crew, he rediscovers love and charity again when he befriends Pip, Starbuck’s reminds him of his wife and son, the captain of the Rachel begs him to save his son… It’s like the whole universe conspires to save Ahab from his self imposed doom, to convince to abandon his philosophy of RageAgainstTheHeavens … he only can blame himself.

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* ''ChanceInAMillion'' was British SitCom about Tom Chance, a man whose life was a neverending series of unlikely coincidences. It eventually reached the stage where the local police were ordered to never arrest him for anything, no matter how suspicious the circumstances.
* A well known episode of ''TheTwilightZone'' had a burglar seemingly sent to Heaven where he wins every game he plays. Heck even simply breaking the balls at pool just has them automaticlly going into the holes. [[spoiler: Eventually he grows bored and begs his "guardian angel" that he doesn't belong in Heaven and want to go to the "other place". Only to be to be told that this [[IronicHell "is the other place."]]]]
* An episode of ''NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' had Ned being nominated for class president. As he doesn't want to be, he ends up trying to do various things that make him look like a troublemaker, but they all backfire, one example being he tries to graffiti the lockers in front of a bunch of people but the paint ends up the same color as the locker, making everyone think he's trying to clean the school up.

* In ''ILoveLucy'' when they are touring Europe and in Monte Carlo, Lucy and Ethyl are forbidden from going to the casino to gamble. They sneak down to the casino, but are too scared to gamble. On their way out, Lucy finds a chip on the floor, and picks it up and tries to 'return' it by putting on a table - the roulette table. Of course, it wins and she has more chips now. The croupier, speaking French, tries to give them to her, but she pushes them away, and they win again. By the end of the night, she has a suitcase full of chips. Hilarity ensues.
* The episode of ''{{Friends}}'' where Phoebe's bank accidentally credits her account five hundred dollars, and her attempts to rectify the situation eventually land her with seven grand.

* Literature/CiaphasCain (HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!) may qualify too. He frequently tries to keep himself safe and sound above all else, but this usually through good (or, on his part, bad) luck makes him look even more heroic and boosts his reputation even further, putting him in even more dangerous situations. Needless to say, that is the absolute opposite of what he is striving for. In particular there's a running gag, practically once a story, where he makes up a bullshit excuse ("I've just got a feeling that...") and sends himself on a snipe hunt to avoid the worst of the fighting, only to stumble onto something more important and dangerous than what he was avoiding.

** Wait a sec... he [[MemeticMutation failed at failing?]]

* ''ChanceInAMillion'' was British SitCom about Tom Chance, a man whose life was a neverending series of unlikley coincidences. It eventually reached the stage where the local police were ordered to never arrest him for anything, no matter how suspicious the circumstances.

* A more mundane example: Who hasn't had a door ajar/dropped an important item/developed a maddening itch on the sole of the right foot during a car trip where you got all green lights?

* In the ''LegendOfTheFiveRings'' fiction, Bayushi Tangen, lived his life in shame because of what he viewed as a curse. What was the curse you ask... he was so lucky, the Gods would smile on him and allow even the most poorly thought out, suicidal plan to work perfectly. At one point, he defeated an entire enemy army because a tower fell on their archers, and a bolt of lightning struck their general just as he was about to kill Tangen. There is a drawback - nothing he ever does will be "his accomplishment", because his luck does everything for him.
* ''{{Paranoia}}'' has the "Machine Empathy" mutation, which causes robots, AIs and other machines to really, ''really'' like the affected individual and do everything they can to make their life better. Very nice, right? It also affects Friend Computer. That's ''great''! Except Friend Computer really doesn't like the idea of being manipulated like that, and runs heavy self-diagnostics to spot any signs of being uncharacteristically nice to any particular clone... and terminate them for treason. [[spoiler:Along with their whole clone family. Machine Empathy is the only mutation where the response is to purge the whole batch, rather than just the one confirmed traitor.]]

* In ''CanYouForgiveHer''? Anthony Trollope takes a very rich, very upper class, and young and spirited wife Glencora Palliser to a casino on the European mainland. A woman, and especially one of her elevated class, is expected to never actually gamble. She timidly bets a small amount and wins. Her husband, older and more staid, upbraids her for taking money that they didn't need and that wasn't theirs.

* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', Suzaku tries to have himself die in battle, only to fail due to either dumb luck, or later, Lelouch giving him a "live" command.

* One of the characters at the bar of the [[Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon Crosstime Saloon]] (a later book in the series) and a character in ''Literature/LadySlingsTheBooze,'' both by Creator/SpiderRobinson have strings of... well, luck...

* One of the characters at the bar of the [[Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon Crosstime Saloon]] (a later book in the series) and a character in ''LadySlingsTheBooze'', both by Creator/SpiderRobinson have strings of... well, luck...

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' had Little and Big Dog on a ''ThePriceIsRight'' type game show who were giving out dog treats as consolation prizes. Little Dog tries everything he can to lose the games but each attempt backfires and he keeps winning. Even trying to cheat does nothing. That's right, he cheats to lose and still ends up winning.

* One of the characters at the bar of the [[Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon Crosstime Saloon]] (a later book in the series) and a character in ''LadySlingsTheBooze'', both by SpiderRobinson have strings of... well, luck...

# All this good luck damages the character's philosophy of the world being a miserable place. Yes, some characters value that philosophy more than the results of the good fortune. Alternatively, the character getting good luck means that somebody else is getting all their bad luck, so the world is still miserable.

->''You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.''