History Main / PropheciesAreAlwaysRight

* Seems to be the case so far in the ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' series. In the first film, it was said that the Dragon Warrior would save the Valley of Peace. And it happens by the end of the film. In [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2 the sequel]], Lord Shen is told that he will be defeated by "a warrior of black and white". Lord Shen tries to keep this from happening by killing all the pandas, but Po survives and ends up defeating him by the end of the film.

* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' the Apple of Enlightenment foretells the downfall of [[BigBad Giygas]] at the hands of four children (Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo) that are the [[TheChosenMany Chosen Four]]. Giygas, who lives in a future timeline where he had succeeded in destroying the world, sends his henchmen to the past to kill Buzz Buzz, who was trying to help Ness start his adventure to stop Giygas. The plan fails, but Giygas keeps sending his mooks all over the world to stir up chaos and hinder Ness's journey. Giygas then travels to the past so that he can continue to keep attacking while the heroes presumably can't time travel to confront him. Ness and his friends go back in time with the help of Dr. Andonuts and the Mr. Saturns and destroy Giygas anyway, just like the prophecy foretold.

** {{Double Subver|sion}}ted with "TheChosenOne" prophecy. WordOfGod has it that it isn't a subversion because Vader brought balance to the Force by killing Palpatine, the last Sith, and leaving only the Light Side with Luke as the last Jedi, although that didn't stop Yoda from admitting that the prophecy had been misinterpreted in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Which aren't necessarily contradictory; none of the Jedi had interpreted "bringing balance to the Force" to have preconditions like their own deaths and nearly 20 years of Sith tyranny over the galaxy before it could happen.

** Also, in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Yoda foresaw Han, Leia, and Chewie getting tortured in Cloud City (true) but also warned that if Luke got involved, "it would destroy all which they have fought and suffered" (not true). However, Yoda had also suggested that Luke's action could help them, but in the end, Luke was the one who needed saving since Lando ended up freeing Leia and Chewie while Luke was getting knocked around by Vader.
*** Another one occurred in "Empire" when Vader tells Luke that he had foreseen the two of them managing to "end this destructive conflict" and "bring order to the galaxy" as father and son. Vader clearly thought this meant WeCanRuleTogether, and could even have been lying to sway Luke to his side, but the pair ''do'' manage to end the war and bring peace to the Galaxy by killing the Emperor.
** In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-Gon tells Obi-Wan that he has foreseen him becoming a great Jedi knight which is pretty much the only prophecy in the films to actually be 100% true.
** Yoda does warn that "always in motion is the future", so prophecies made by Jedi (or Sith) should never be taken as absolute. As circumstances change, so too do the foretold events. And moreover, what you ''think'' a prophecy foretells and what it ''actually'' foretells aren't necessarily the same thing. Many of the examples listed above play this out, as the prophecies ''are'' true, but are misinterpreted by the biases of the people making them.

* {{Averted|Trope}} in the case of [[{{Seers}} Susabi]]'s childhood in ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]''. Not all of his prophecies were correct, and so he became TheCassandra, hated and eventually killed by his villagers before ending up in the Afterworld. [[BrokenBird That does not end well for the young man's mentality as an adult]].

** Played straighter with all the other prophecies-- whether via Centauri death-dream, Vorlon vagueness, StableTimeLoop, or whatever Lorien's deal was, they all get taken utterly seriously, met with trepidation and some degree of fatalism by all parties involved.

* One of many tropes subverted by ''Literature/TheFirstLawTrilogy''. Whirrun of Bligh constantly claims that he has ProphesyArmor because the witch Shoglig told him "the time, and the place, and the manner" of his death, "and it is not now." He ends up dying entirely differently from her prediction, in part ''because'' he was so sure of his invicibility that he never bothered to wear armour, concluding with his final breath that "Shoglig was talking shit."

** Melisandre foresees that if King Stannis marches against Kings Landing, his brother Renly will crush him, but if he attacks Storms End he'll defeat his brother. [[spoiler:Turns out both happen; at Storms End Stannis uses Melisandre's sorcery to kill his brother, forcing the majority of Renly's army to come over to his side. He then marches against Kings Landing, only to be crushed by a combined Lannister/Tyrell army led by 'Renly's ghost' (actually someone wearing Renly's armour in an ElCidPloy).]]

* In William King's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Literature/SpaceWolf novel ''Wolfblade'', Ranek invokes this to defend Ragnar, who threw their prized relic [[BladeOnAStick The Spear of Russ]] into a Chaos warp gate, despite the prophecy that their primarch would take it up when he [[KingInTheMountain returned]]. The Spear would doubtlessly return in good time to fulfill the prophecy, if it is a true prophecy. One of those who wish to punish Ragnar sneers at Ranek's faith -- [[BerserkButton a sad misstep on his part]]. [[spoiler: It really is recovered in the end of the series.]]

* [[spoiler: The Rail Tracer]] in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''. In reality, it's what happens when let someone as AxCrazy as [[spoiler: Claire Stanfield]] hear about it and then give him a reason to act it out. Certain comments reveal that the reason the story about [[spoiler: the Rail Tracer]] is so accurate is because [[spoiler:Claire was probably the one who made up the story in the first place]].

* In ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', Link is told he's destined to save Hyrule, and that's exactly what he does.

** The 'Always' part of the trope is, however, averted, because it's mentioned that Agnes Nutter is the only prophet in human history to have 100% accurate prophecies (which is speculated as the reason [[CassandraTruth why her book didn't sell]]). While other famous prophets of human history such as St. John, Nostradamus and St. Malachi had some seer-abilities, they were muddled by Heaven and\or Hell sending some interferences into their 'mental channels', by the prophets themselves often developing substance abuse habits to cope with the flood of information they recieve from the future, and prophets prioritizing rhyming and meter over total accuracy when writing their visions down. So most prophecies include some element of the truth, but also some major inaccuracies. Save for Agnes Nutter.

* ''ComicStrip/TheFortunesOfFlossie'': Superstitious Flossie is constantly seeking out dodgy soothsayers and shady psychics to divine the future. While the majority of the fortune tellers she meets are demonstrably [[[PhonyPsychic faking it]], their predictions wind up coming true more often than not ([[ProphecyTwist though never in the way Flossie expects]]). Some examples include:

* Creator/AgathaChristie of all people plays with the trope in a short story ''The Lemesurier Inheritance''. The Lemesuriers are cursed from medieval times: no firstborn son can ever inherit. But when it’s obvious somebody is deliberately trying to kill little Ronald, the firstborn and heir apparent, his mother rushes to Hercule Poirot for help. Poirot saves the day, Ronald inherits, Hastings remarks that Poirot has definitely got rid of the old curse… [[spoiler:and Poirot reveals that it was pretty obvious Ronald wasn’t a Lemesurier firstborn: he was born from the mother’s liaison with a secretary; so the true firstborn Gerald never inherited after all]].
* ''Literature/TheReluctantKing'': A plot point in the second book, where two prophecies made by the high priest and the high priestess of the city foretell that 1) Iraz will be saved by the clock tower and that 2) Iraz will later be saved by a barbarian, and thus apparently contradicting each other. Turns out, ''both'' are correct: Jorian (who's a foreigner and thus considered a barbarian by Iraz' standards) saves the city from the besieging armies by changing the hour on each of the four clocks so that their coordinated attack is thrown into disarray, with each of the four armies attacking separately and ending up destroyed.
* In ''Literature/SevenStars'', a set of prophecies by UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}} (the "suppressed quatrains") are a recurring plot point. They all come true, although sometimes in ways that are only clear once they've happened.
* ''Literature/MagicForLiars'' has a B-plot about Dylan [=DeCambrey=], who is obsessed with fulfilling a family prophecy as [[TheChosenOne the greatest mage of his generation]]. [[spoiler:Turns out it meant his half-sister.]]
* The Bill Prozini short-short "The Prophecy" tells of a famous seer predicting that the world will end on a specific day at high noon. He's never been wrong before, the world holds its breath, the moment arrives and... [[spoiler: nothing happens. It turns out the prophecy was indeed wrong. By two hours and forty five minutes.]]
* ''Literature/LizardMusic'': Reynold tells Victor that one of the reasons they're so hospitable is that they have an ancient prophecy that one day a visitor to the island will bring about a new era of prosperity. Sure enough, it comes true during Victor's visit [[spoiler:thanks to Claudia]].
* Creator/CliveCussler's ''Atlantis Found'' features a prophecy from a lost advanced ancient civilization, which claims that the twin of a comet that destroyed most of said civilization in 7120 BC will eventually strike the Earth as well. [[spoiler:This is then subverted, as the prophecy is proven to be false by modern scientists; not that it would have mattered terribly, as the re-arrival of the comet is said to be thousands of years into the future.]]
* According to Ponder Stibbons in ''Literature/TheLastHero'', this is why Literature/{{Discworld}} magic users mostly avoid making prophecies. If you don't look at the future, it could be anything, but once you do, you're stuck with the one you saw.

* Subverted on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' though; in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E12ProphecyGirl Prophecy Girl]]", the prophecy about Buffy says she's going to die to free the Master--she does, technically, but is revived by {{CPR|CleanPrettyReliable}}, and is more or less prophecy-free from there on out.
* Near the beginning of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', Aeryn mutters, of Rygel, "One day, your greatest fear will be realized: you will be killed by a Peacekeeper." Aeryn is one of a very few characters in the show to ''never'' show any signs of precognitive ability, but the prophecy still gets fulfilled [[spoiler: by Aeryn's mother]].

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine,'' the "prophets" of Bajor turn out to be the aliens who created the Wormhole, who exist outside of linear time, and who can therefore foresee prophecies by simply reading the future. Even when people use the prophecies to try to avoid them, the attempt only ends up ''fulfilling'' them.

* ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'', like the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' books its based on, has various prophecies that, naturally, always turns out to be true. And yet many characters desperately try to change them. The main one, of course, is the one about Richard himself, as he is prophecied to defeat [[BigBad Darken Rahl]], causing the NiceJobBreakingItHerod trope to take effect. Rahl's troops slaughter every firstborn in the town of Brennidon. Naturally, Richard is saved from the massacre and grows up as a woodsman far from [[TheEmpire D'Hara]]. By the end of the first season, that prophecy is fulfilled. Interestingly, the same episode initially shows it ''not'' being fulfilled (i.e. Richard is sent into the BadFuture, where Rahl fell by his own son's hand who became an even greater tyrant). Many other prophecies (often seemingly contradicting one another) show up in the second season. All of them end up coming true, in one form or another.
* ''Series/MythQuest'': Cleo is a teenager who travels into a Greek myth and takes the place of the Oracle of Delphi. While there, she has visions of events that will happen later on in the myth, as well as in her own modern world. They all come true eventually.

* ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' has a subversion in one of the playable archetypes: The tribe of the character is known for its oracles and she utters quite a few prophecies. However, she never learnt the rite for receiving them and just makes them up as she goes to lend her own plans more weight than they'd be afforded otherwise since she is a Metis (shameful and near-outcast offspring of two werewolves mating with each other).

* Justified in ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}''. The Draconic Prophecy as a whole can never be wrong, because it defines ''every'' possible future and all of the events leading up to each future. However, that means that it's a vast network of branches rather than a single pre-ordained future, and most of the setting's Chessmasters who are long-lived enough to look at time in terms of centuries (or longer) are keen on studying the Prophecy in order to learn how to make their desired outcome come true- and how to shut down any outcome they ''don't'' want.

* In the opera ''Theatre/{{Carmen}}'', the title character and her friends are reading tarot cards. Her friends see love and fortune, but Carmen sees only death for herself and her lover, in that order. By the end of the opera, [[spoiler: Carmen is murdered by her [[IfICantHaveYou ex-boyfriend Don José]], and it's implied that he himself will be executed for his crime]].
* Similarly, in Verdi's opera ''A Masked Ball'', King Riccardo of Sweden visits the gypsy fortuneteller Ulrica, who foretells that he will be murdered by the next man whose hand he will shake. In an attempt to disprove the prophecy, Riccardo shakes the hand of his best friend and secretary Renato. In this case, however, it turns out to be a SelfFulfillingProphecy: [[spoiler: Riccardo is in love with Renato's wife Amelia, and Renato, erroneously believing his wife to be faithless, [[MurderTheHypotenuse shoots Riccardo at the titular masked ball]]]].

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' has several item descriptions referring to a 'prophecy' that some people saw in visions, a prophecy in which the [[WorldTree Erdtree]] is set aflame, an act that is considered the first cardinal sin of the Golden Order. These people were [[CassandraTruth banished for their heretical thoughts]], and [[spoiler: it turns out they were completely right, as in order to complete the game, the player character has to take access to the Flame of Ruin and set the Erdtree on fire - though it doesn't actually destroy it. It fits doubly so in the Lord of Chaos ending, in which the player character becomes an avatar of the Frenzied Flame, rupturing and burning the Erdtree from the inside and destroying it for good.]]
* ''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines]]'': [[MadOracle Rosa]] and a Malkavian PC makes a number of mad prophesies and foretellings about the plot of the game. [[spoiler:All of them turn out to be utterly correct, but not always in the context you'd expect.]]

* Subverted in ''[[VideoGame/MightAndMagic Might and Magic IX]]'', via the False Prophet version. The overall plot of the game involves your party receiving a Writ of Fate from the Oracle prophesying that your destiny is to stop the warlord Temur Lang from conquering the world. However, when you finally run into Temur Lang, you learn that he's trying to conquer the world because ''he'' received a Writ of Fate from the Oracle prophesying that it's his destiny to do so. After comparing notes, you join up to go against the Oracle, who's the real BigBad, basically making up false prophecies for shit and giggles.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'': Igor tells you that you are going to be involved in a 'great mystery'. Guess what happens only a day after you arrive? Yup [[spoiler:Mayumi Yamano dies, lighting the spark that leads to the whole world almost being destroyed]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}: Innocent Sin'' has the Oracle of Maia, a prophecy that dictates the coming end of the world in flowery poetic terms. As is to be expected, it starts coming true. Mostly because [[spoiler:the Oracle is actually a Cliff's Notes version of the BigBad's plan, part of which involves the plan being released ''as part of the plan'']].
* There is a legend in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' that a hero will rise and be acknowledged by one of the mythical dragons of truth and ideals that helped create Unova. [[spoiler: The antagonist, N, is apparently TheChosenOne. The player character summons the ''other'' dragon [[TheUnchosenOne just to take him down a peg]], resulting in ''two'' heroes who both fulfill the prophecy. TheManBehindTheMan DidntSeeThatComing.]]
* All the characters in ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'' knew of the forthcoming Armageddon and the events that will unfold. Eventually it did happen as foretold. If the player chooses not to follow the prophecies, you will get the bad ending.
* Tragically {{averted|Trope}} in the case of [[{{Seers}} Susabi]]'s childhood in ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]''. Not all of his prophecies were correct, and so he became TheCassandra, hated and eventually killed by his villagers before ending up in the Afterworld. [[BrokenBird That does not end well for the young man's mentality as an adult]].
* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' the Apple of Enlightenment foretells the downfall of [[BigBad Giygas]] at the hands of four children (Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo) that are the [[TheChosenMany Chosen Four]]. Giygas, who lives in a future timeline where he had succeeded in destroying the world, sends his henchmen to the past to kill Buzz Buzz, who was trying to help Ness start his adventure to stop Giygas. The plan fails, but Giygas keeps sending his mooks all over the world to stir up chaos and hinder Ness's journey. Giygas then travels to the past so that he can continue to keep attacking while the heroes presumably can't time travel to confront him. Ness and his friends go back in time with the help of Dr. Andonuts and the Mr. Saturns and destroy Giygas anyway, just like the prophecy foretold.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** The kobold oracle has so far been 100% accurate, even to the point of setting up arrangements in advance for allied clerics to [[ThanatosGambit teleport in and raise him from the dead minutes after his murder]]. The oracle has no fourth wall either and erases the minds of everyone after leaving his valley except the specific prophecy they ask for. He'll make snarky comments on the events to come as well as talk directly to the audience. When he's really snarky he'll give the most cryptic answer he can to screw with the audience. 'The Right four words for the wrong reasons' caused years of crazy fan work about every four words until a strip was called The Wrong Reasons.
** It's revealed in the Origin of PC's prequel that Durkon's "mission" to explore the Human lands is an attempt by his clerical superiors to avert this as it was prophecied that when he next returned home, the Dwarves would suffer a great disaster. Durkon never knew about the prophecy, but is loyal and obedient enough to obey the instructions never to return until he is called for (which he never will be). His only consolation is a prophecy provided by the kobold oracle that he ''will'' eventually return home, "posthumously" (so at least his remains will presumably be put to rest with honors alongside his ancestors). [[spoiler: Turns out, BOTH prophecies come true at once, as Durkon is killed and made into a vampire, and the evil spirit which now controls his body returns to Dwarven lands with a plot to destroy the world and enslave EVERY DWARVEN SOUL.]]

* In ''Music/TheUltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny'', it's prophesied that "only one will survive--" and it comes true: [[spoiler: Mr. Rogers]]!

* ''{{Webcomic/Goblins}}'': Goblins use PropheticNames, which as you can imagine is hard on poor Dies-Horribly. In an attempt to show him it's not set in stone, Saves-A-Fox tells him of the time she found a sick fox and, with the whole village watching her get ready to make her name come true, she gave it a MercyKill. Dies just looks glumly at her and asks for a few details before confirming that it had a particularly painful and fatal affliction, so she'd saved the fox from a long, drawn-out death.
* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Jadis is a Demiurge who has seen the True Shape of Creation, and [[TheOmniscient now knows all things]]. Unfortunately, this attempt nearly killed her; she is now sealed in a block of glass, whispering perfect prophecies that cannot be false. However, her priests are fully capable of misinterpreting her words, as demonstrated with the Prophecy of the Successor. Everyone believes that the prophecy refers to Zaid, Allison's boyfriend, so the Thorn Knights kidnapped him to keep him safe and let him rise to his rightful power. They believe that they "broke the prophecy" by grabbing him too early, resulting in Allison receiving the power instead, and spend the entire comic fighting to kill her and give the power to Zaid. The idea that they could have simply identified the wrong Heir never occurs to them.

* Double Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', when foreign exchange student/heir to his country's throne, Prince Wally, is almost killed in an assassination attempt to fulfill an ancient prophecy that the country's monarchy will end with Prince Wally. The characters pat themselves on the back for a good job averting the prophecy, when Wally, impressed with Democracy, claims he will AbdicateTheThrone, thus fulfilling the prophecy.

* In the Polish animated series ''Film pod strasznym tytułem'' (The Film with Scary Title), the cruel leader of [[BlackKnight Marbats]] is told by his generals a fake prophecy about a child that is going to defeat him. The prophecy is fulfilled at the end.
* In ''The Bear's Island'', the prophecy saying that when the main characters find the title island, the members of the 4 elements will lose their power, is simply fulfilled without direct justification: when the protagonists succeed, the {{Mooks}} of the members rebel.

* Averted in one story/episode of ''Manga/{{Mushishi}}''. There is a man with a reputation for prophetic dreams, caused by a mushi infection. Ginko gave him medicine to control the infection, but only said controlling the infection was important. It wasn't until the man stopped taking the medicine that he found out why. The mushi did not give him prophetic dreams. They made his dreams real, both the pleasant ones and the nightmares.
* In ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'', we learn of a prophecy where some messiah dressed in blue will restore mankind's connection with the earth. Of course, in the end that messiah turns out to be no other than the heroine, ''Nausicaä''.
* ''Anime/PanzerWorldGalient'': According old legends of planet Arst: "when evil rules the world, [[HumongousMecha Galient the Iron Giant]] will manifest, and cleanse this world of darkness". And that's exactly what happens.
* ''Manga/CellsAtWork'': The Memory B Cell is always going on about "prophecies" of pathogen attacks recorded by his predecessors, which represents [[ShownTheirWork how memory B cells produce antibodies based on pathogens the body has encountered]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Aquila}}'': Boudicca is given a vision that the Britons will one day free themselves and rule an Empire greater even than the Roman one, while Locusta foresees that there will be a new god taking power in Rome, although she thinks it will be Nero. Triscus also foresees that Pompeii won't be a good place to be in a while.

* In ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod'', Gendo and Fuyutsuki use several prophecies like guidelines. They usually are reliable. In the prologue, Gendo quotes a prophecy after it has come to pass.
* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'': This turns out to be the big [[TheReveal Reveal]]. [[spoiler:Dumbledore had heard a prophecy that Harry would destroy the world, so in desperation he listened to ''every prophecy in the Hall of Prophecy'', which allowed him to plot an extremely precise GambitRoulette to avert an apocalypse. As he explains, not one of the prophecies stated whether Harry would destroy the ''people'' of the world, making it clear that his job was to ensure Harry would "destroy the world" in a way that humanity at large could live through.]]
* The Salmon of Knowledge observes this as a reason why it hates prophecies in ''Fanfic/SonOfTheWesternSea''. Considering that Percy ended up joining the Wild Hunt in chasing the Twrch Trwyth across Ireland and by utter coincidence ended collapsing a cliff on the Isle of Man above the Salmon, it has a point. However, ProphecyTwist is in full effect.
* In ''Fanfic/TheLastSon'', BlindSeer Irene Adler insists that her prophecies are never wrong, even when Mystique tries to argue that she's got her first blemish on her record, as Franchise/{{Superman}} refused to join with Magneto to rule mutantkind. Adler however refutes that, when Superman destroyed the meteors that Magneto tried to drag to Earth to destroy humankind and claim the planet for mutants, he fulfilled the first part of the prophecy ''("[[DeathFromAbove Death will fall from the sky]], [[ColonyDrop with unquenchable fire]], but the Child will strive on, and shall never tire")''. Adler states that her prophecy isn't wrong, just still on track, and that Mystique and Magneto simply misinterpreted Superman's destiny.
* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': In "The Protection Payment" and "The Seer," Kelvin the labradoodle is able to predict the future, and from what the stories suggest, he's always right. He correctly prophesizes Mittens's imminent karmic meeting with Bolt, among other things.
-->'''Kelvin:''' It’s a gift. I get these nagging sensations in my gut and my bones, and I see apparitions from the future. Among other things, I predicted Pluto would be demoted to a dwarf planet, Kosovo would declare its independence from Serbia, and Carrie Underwood would win ‘American Idol.’ Haven't missed with a single prophesy yet.
* An odd example comes up in the fourth book of the ''Fanfic/{{Dangerverse}}'', in which a prophecy warns of a potential attack on the Den, and then the next several lines are instructions on what to do in response to that attack succeeding. In theory, a large chunk of the prophecy could have been negated if the Pack-adults had paid closer attention to the earlier lines and stopped the attack on the Den. In the actual story, of course, they miss this and the attack goes off as planned, bringing the next set of lines into play.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'', Vitruvius reveals that the prophecy was made up by him. [[spoiler: However, Emmet manages to convince Lord Business to disarm the Kragle.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'' All of Bruno's prophecies come true, though some are simple facts of life (your goldfish will die, you will go bald) while others are complex and harder to understand, [[spoiler: such as why Mirabel was seen in front of a crumbing Casita,]] until after they've happened. However some have elements of SelfFulfillingProphecy, such as his prediction for his niece Dolores that the love of her life "would be just out of reach, betrothed to another" meaning she never approached him.

* This is actually somewhat averted in ''Film/TheBeastmaster'', although it might not have been the writer's intent for it to be so. Basically, at the beginning of the film it is prophesied that the BigBad will "die at the hands of Zed's unborn son", which of course results in the BigBad trying to kill Zed's unborn son, failing, and unwittingly [[NiceJobBreakingItHero giving the young man a motive to kill the guy when he grows up]]. About 3/4ths of the way through the film, the hero does end up shanking the BigBad in the stomach, but this doesn't actually kill him. Instead he gets back up and tries to stab the hero in the back, but suddenly gets tackled by a ferret and falls into a pit of fire without the hero lifting a finger or even realizing the guy is still alive.
* At the beginning of the second act in both ''Film/TheInterview'' and ''Film/ThisIsTheEnd'', Creator/JamesFranco describes, off the cuff, how he wants the story climax to play out and is correct both times.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** This trope normally holds true but is subverted by [[spoiler: Dany's son being satanically miscarried instead of leading the Dothraki to conquering the whole world as was prophecized]]. But it leads to [[spoiler: Dany trying to take over the world]].
** Melisandre foresees that if King Stannis marches against Kings Landing, his brother Renly will crush him, but if he attacks Storms End he'll defeat his brother. [[spoiler:Turns out both happen; at Storms End Stannis uses Melisandre's sorcery to kill his brother, forcing the majority of Renly's army to come over to his side. He then marches against Kings Landing, only to be crushed by a combined Lannister/Tyrell army led by 'Renly's ghost' (actually someone wearing Renly's armour in an ElCidPloy).]]
** Prophecy in the series also often has the twist of becoming true because of people directly acting to fulfill or avoid the fulfillment of the For example, Cersei Lannister's predicted future by Maggy the Frog has been eerily accurate. It's beginning to become implied that the things Cersei does in fear of the prophecy are, in actuality, directly fulfilling the things that have yet to come which she fears most.
* In William King's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Literature/SpaceWolf novel ''Wolfblade'', Ranek invokes this to defend Ragnar, who threw their prized relic [[BladeOnAStick The Spear of Russ]] into a Chaos warp gate, despite the prophecy that their primarch would take it up when he [[KingInTheMountain returned]]. The Spear would doubtlessly return in good time to fulfill the prophecy, if it is a true prophecy. One of those who wish to punish Ragnar sneers at Ranek's faith -- [[BerserkButton a sad misstep on his part]]. [[spoiler: It really is recovered in the end of the series.]]
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'': The prophecy is an interesting case -- right from the start, it's clear in the prophecy that it could [[EitherOrProphecy go in two different directions]] -- he could "save or destroy" the Land, and he definitely will do one or the other. Knowing Thomas, it initially seems like a bit of a free kick that the Land is stuffed.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles''. The series revolves around the prophecies of Sandwich (no, really), who wrote numbers of them in his tenure in the Underland some time before. At first, these prophecies seem to be always turning true (the first two books for example), but the third and fourth books become increasingly stretched to fit the prophecy. It all comes to a head when it is revealed that in the last prophecy, [[spoiler: Gregor is supposed to die]]. After going into the final battle, Gregor [[spoiler: does not die]], and not all of the prophecy comes true, as is noted by several characters throughout the book such as [[spoiler: Ares, Gregor, Ripred, and Luxa]]. However, they still manage to con the people and creatures of the Underland that the prophecy is true [[spoiler:with a little help from Luxa's "prophetic" cousin, who believes the prophecies are true in order to bring peace amongst the humans and rats]].
* In ''Fell'' by David Clement-Davies, there is a prophecy that a wolf will be reborn from the water and sprout two heads. The protagonist at one point emerges from behind a waterfall feeling "reborn" and has a shadow with two heads in a later scene due to lantern placement. These seem like weak justifications for the prophecy's fulfillment, especially when the book's predecessors had been so prophecy heavy. [[PlayingWithATrope Later in the story, however]], [[spoiler: when the ghost of an old Antagonist, Morgra, is summoned using a well, and proceeds to possess two people.]]

* Played absolutely straight in Meredith Ann Pierce's ''Literature/TheFirebringerTrilogy''. There are three prophecies regarding the unicorns' promised hero the Firebringer, each delivered by a different dreamer. The first describes his coloration; the seconds describes "burning blood, sparking hooves and a tongue of flame: a colt born at moondark out of a wyvern's belly and sired by the summer stars"; and the third claims he would be a Renegade outside the Law and "would storm out of heaven in a torrent of fire, and his advent would mark the ending of the world." The unicorns think only the first prophet was correct and the last two were insane. [[spoiler: By the end of the trilogy, however, every word off all three prophecies comes true, if not literally than at least metaphorically.]]
* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': Played perfectly straight. You cannot fight fate, in part because prophecies always take into account the future--meaning that if you trigger them by trying to avert them, it's because you learned of them, and guess what? [[YouCantFightFate That was taken into account.]] On the other hand, the prophecies are worded in a fashion that leaves them open to multiple interpretations, with few parts being obvious and unambiguous. Of course, this is based on Greek mythology, so this is only natural.
* ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'', by Creator/FrankHerbert, makes some interesting uses of prophets and prophecies. The Bene Gesserit, the supreme [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] of the galaxy, set up religions to suit their needs and seed them with messianic prophecies that they can later manipulate to their advantage. At the same time, they are seeking to breed a human with oracular powers. Unfortunately, an error causes the breeding program to produce this "Kwisatz Haderach" one generation too soon. Paul Atreides takes their prophecies and runs with them, setting himself up as a MessianicArchetype and Emperor of the galaxy, and his son, Leto II, is even stronger, locking humanity into a singular course for close to ten thousand years. What makes this an interesting example, however, is the question the books ask: does the oracle ''predict'' the future, or ''create'' it?
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Both of Trelawney's prophecies in the series come true, although Divination is otherwise treated as a very imprecise art. Also, Dumbledore is quick to point out in the sixth book that not all of the prophecies studied by the Department of Mysteries have or will come true, saying by way of example that had the prophecy regarding Harry and Voldemort not been overheard and relayed to Voldemort, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy it would have never meant anything.]]
** It's also played with, as even though everyone thinks of Trelawny as a poor seer, every single one of her predictions comes true in some way or another. An obvious example is in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' when she refuses to sit down at a table with twelve people at it, as that would make thirteen sitters, and therefore the first to rise would be the first to die. She's eventually persuaded to sit anyway, and that particular book is [[AnyoneCanDie one of the few]] in which EverybodyLives. Except [[spoiler:Peter Pettigrew was in Ron's pocket, disguised as Scabbers, meaning there were thirteen people sitting there before she arrived; Dumbledore rose to greet her and he's the first sitter to die (although not for another three books)]].

* In Creator/HilariBell's ''The Prophecy'', a prince finds a prophecy with instructions for how to slay a dragon. It turns out the whole thing was made up by the prophet for his own ends, but the prince kills the dragon anyway.
* In Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's ''Literature/GoodOmens'', prophet Agnes Nutter was completely accurate about everything she predicted. Her priorities as to what she prophesied, though, were somewhat odd. For example, for the day Kennedy was assassinated she wrote a warning about a falling brick in her hometown. She even set up a scheme to deliver a second volume of her prophecies to the main character after all of her early prophecies had been fulfilled.
** Though as Anathema points out, Agnes was mostly concerned with her descendants: as they lived in Smalltown, England, there was a chance they might get hit by a falling brick in Kings Lynn and very little chance of being hit by a stray bullet in Dallas.
** Given the laughter of her ghost when the new book was destroyed (which she undoubtedly saw coming), plus the way it appeared out of nowhere when how she got the first printed was a subplot, this was probably just an elaborate prank on her part.
** The 'Always' part of the trope is, however, averted, because it's mentioned that Agnes Nutter is the only prophet in human history to have 100% accurate prophecies (which is speculated as the reason [[CassandraTruth why her book didn't sell]]). While other famous prophets of human history such as St. John, Nostradamus and St. Malachi had some seer-abilities, they were muddled by Heaven and\or Hell sending some interferences into their 'mental channels', by the prophets themselves often developing substance abuse habits to cope with the flood of information they recieve from the future, and prophets prioritizing rhyming and meter over total accuracy when writing their visions down. So most prophecies include some element of the truth, but also some major inaccuracies. Save for Agnes Nutter.

* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': Prophecies are always true in the series, and several of the books start out by having the characters learning of one that holds dire consequences for them, or suggests they'll act entirely contrary to their goals and character. The trick is, while they're always true, they're ''also'' always vague, and almost never to be taken literally. Even the ones that ''are'' literal are so only on the surface level, and the reasons ''why'' the characters end up doing the crazy things eventually make sense.
* In Creator/SusanCooper's ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'' series, the series of prophecies that guide the Light come true exactly as written. It's stated that the Dark has its own set of prophecies, but we aren't told anything else about them.
* In ''[[Literature/DarkRendezvous Yoda: Dark Rendezvous]]'' the young Padawan Whie Malreaux regularly [[DreamingOfThingsToCome dreams about what he'll be doing in the future]]. Details seem to be obscured--he once knows that someone will beat him but not who or how, even though when it was actually happening her name is stated--but the gist always happens. He knows that a Jedi will kill him and it will surprise him; he thinks this means he'll turn to the Dark Side and be hunted down, but in actuality Anakin Skywalker kills him in the Temple in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Despite the future always being in motion, some things are apparently set.[[note]]Heaven knows what we'll see in ''Yoda: Dark Rendezvous II: Electric Boogaloo''.[[/note]]
* In ''Literature/{{Eragon}}'', first book of ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'', witch Angela makes a prediction, of Eragon falling in love with someone of noble birth but having to go away and never return. Both of these happen as predicted, the first quite soon and the latter, unsurprisingly, at the end.
** At the same time, Angela's werecat offers Eragon two pieces of advice, both of which make absolutely no sense to him at the time. Later, Eragon actively pursues the advice and understanding it in order to achieve his goal, which he could not have done otherwise.

** Sam Gamgee also has a vision in the beginning, that he "has something to do before the end," and that he "must see it through." Of course, this comes true.

** These could be somehow justified as Tolkien pretty much stated that the fate of the world was pre-created during the Great Music (aka creation). It does not apply 100% (though it seems to be the case for all the time up to the end of the Third Age, maybe because the stories tend to be too "large" to be affected by one or a few people who don't act as expected), but does work for most, if not all of the above mentioned.

* Played with in the ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time]]'' series. The Dragon is a reincarnated hero who appears throughout time to battle the [[BigBad Dark One]]. Numerous prophecies have been written regarding how this will play out. The thing is, The Dragon doesn't exactly know what to do once he realizes who and what he is and there have been numerous "False Dragons". Rather than be led around by people trying to manipulate him, he decides to use the prophecies as a sort of PR tool. Even if he doesn't believe that they predict the future, fulfilling them convinces other people that he's the real deal. Additionally, most prophecies are extremely confusingly-worded, and the wording is often revealed to the reader well before the fulfillment of the prophecy. What the characters (and the reader) think each prophecy means, and what actually happens rarely match.
** The Aiel cleverly avert this: when they figure out that a certain Ter'angreal in their possession allows them to see a/the future, they have the Wise One to whom it gave visions not tell anyone certain minor details of what she'd seen, and then ''change those details''. They reasoned that if prophecy is infallible, somehow they'll be unable to change those details -- just like how Ta'veren bend probability to get who and what they need. It works like a charm, and several details, small and large, are shown to be different from her vision. [[spoiler: Which is fortunate, since the vision predicted the genocide of the Aiel, among other things.]]
* JustifiedTrope in Creator/JohnScalzi's ''Literature/TheAndroidsDream'' since the Church of the Evolved Lamb has several members who recognize that its founding was a total scam but are devoted to making its prophecies come true anyway.
* Subverted at least once in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry is told that if he sticks his nose into the problem ''du jour'', he'll die, but if he ''doesn't'', his friends will die. Naturally, he sticks his nose into it and [[spoiler: doesn't die because [[HeroicSacrifice one of his friends took the curse that would have killed Harry into himself]], saving Harry]].
** [[spoiler: {{Double Subver|sion}}ted: his actions start a series of events (most centrally, but far from exclusively, having sex with Susan and conceiving their daughter) across the series that culminate in ''Changes'', in which he does die.]]
* In ''Dog and Dragon'' a kingdom has been in a perpetual state of war for many generations and the hope of the common people is the prophecy of the Defender who will come, bring peace to the land and anoint a new king. The prophecy was made up by a powerful mage who intends to use his magic to keep himself alive for as long as it takes for him to find his son who was lost in another dimension. Once he is reunited with his son or his descendants, he will declare a convenient patsy to be the Defender, use his magic to make it seem like the prophecy is fulfilled and then have his son anointed as the new king. His plan is thwarted when Meg, a powerful but untrained female mage, arrives from another dimension and accidentally starts to fulfill parts of the prophecy. At the end it is revealed that [[spoiler: Meg was his lost 'son'. Due to the circumstances of her birth no one ever told him that the child was female]].
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': Before his death, Dr Hari Seldon records several messages prophesying about what will happen to the Foundation--and arranges for these messages to be played during the nearest [[FoundingDay anniversary of colonization]]. The main effect is to reassure the Foundation that everything is on track.
** In "Literature/TheEncyclopedists", long-dead Hari Seldon appears during the 50th anniversary of colonizing Terminus via hologram. He announces that the Encyclopedia Foundation is a fraud, and that Terminus was actually founded as the next Galactic Empire. He also points out that they're already in the middle of their first socio-political crisis, and the solution to their problem is "obvious". Which the resolution of the story proves right.
** "Literature/TheMayors": During the [[FoundingDay 75th anniversary of the Foundation colonizing Terminus]], a {{hologram}} of [[PosthumousCharacter the dead]] Hari Seldon appears, and [[AllAccordingToPlan describes the way the Foundation has used religion to subvert control from their more powerful neighbors]]. He also points out the "BalanceOfPower" that was used this time and last time will not be enough for the next crisis, occurring in "Literature/TheMerchantPrinces".
** "Literature/TheMule": When the {{hologram}} of [[PosthumousCharacter Hari Seldon]] appears, the Foundation expects to hear a prophecy about the war they're fighting against the Mule's new Empire, but they instead hear a [[SubvertedTrope completely wrong prophecy]] about a Foundation civil war ([[ConflictKiller that never happened, since the factions involved all saw the Mule as a greater threat]]). [[spoiler:And DoubleSubverted when the Second Foundation, whose job it is to [[XanatosSpeedChess account for the unexpected as it appears]] manages to get the Seldon Plan back on track before the events of ''Literature/FoundationsEdge''.]]
* In ''Literature/ClaudiusTheGod'', Claudius is told by his wife Messalina that a prophecy says that her husband is going to die in a month. For this reason they divorce and she marries another man. When Claudius realises that it was a plot against him, he sentences that man to death. Other prophecies also are true.
* Duchess Sylvie, a full-blooded troll from ''Literature/MaledictionTrilogy'' has a limited ability to foretell the future - in the form of cryptic rhymed prophecies. Her prophecy concerning the marriage of troll prince Tristan (her nephew) to a human girl is what sets the events of the trilogy in motion. And although it seems not to be working, [[spoiler: by the end of book two it turns to be absolutely right]].

* In ''The Revenants'' by Creator/SheriSTepper, the protagonists set out to fulfill a prophecy, not knowing that the copy they have was written out by an old man with a failing memory and contains several distortions and inaccuracies. By the end of the novel, the true prophecy has come about -- and so has the inaccurate one.
* Discussed by the Fool in the ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'' series when Fitz questions the validity of his prophecies. The Fool claims that prophecies that were written down often turn out to be true, but that it's also impossible to tell ''which'' prophecy will eventually be the one to surface, because there are a number of possible futures. All of those futures can be foretold, but it's only after the fact that one can say 'yes, that happened exactly as it was foretold'. Hence prophecies, when written down, tend to be so infuriatingly vague that they leave enough room for interpretation.
* Parodied in ''Literature/HeroicsForBeginners''. The seeress who gives Kevin a warning of doom is ''amazingly'' specific; when told to beware a tall man in dark clothes, Kevin complains that it could be anyone - she responds by giving him detail down to the ring on his finger and how he likes his tea and biscuits. A stunned Kevin notes that if she were ''really'' that good, she'd be making a fortune on the stock market; her response is to mutter that she needs to check on her investments and leave before the hero can hear more about her financial planning.

* Subverted in Creator/KarlEdwardWagner's ''Darkness Weaves'' (part of his Literature/{{Kane}} series): Roget, Lages and M'Cori each have their fortunes told. Roget is told he will find great glory in battle, Lages will become king and M'Cori will marry her true love and bear seven sons. [[spoiler:Roget's prophecy comes true, although he dies soon after. Lages never becomes king. M'Cori dies before getting married or having any children.]]

* ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'': Played straight -- all of the prophecies of the Oracle of Grendel are true, until a minor character does some research and finds out that 3 of the 5110 prophecies so far have been wrong. (There were also an unspecified number where the evidence wasn't clear-cut or which still hadn't occurred, so the track record could be worse.) Then subverted when we find out that the 5111th prophecy that drives the plot of the show was partially made up to push a specific political agenda. [[spoiler: It is revealed the prophecies were made by the evil angels who imprison humanity. They were wrong at least three times. Of course, they have the power to control humans, so they could have ''made'' all the others correct.]]

-->-- '''Robert James Lees''', ''Comicbook/FromHell''

* ''Literature/MagicForLiars'' has a B-plot about Dylan DeCambrey, who is obsessed with fulfilling a family prophecy as [[TheChosenOne the greatest mage of his generation]]. [[spoiler:Turns out it meant his half-sister.]]

** Narns are the only species with no telepaths. When Narn Ambassador G'Kar yells in the first season that one night, the Centauri will awaken to find the Narn's teeth at their throat, it's clearly just ambassadorial bluster...that also happens to come true.

* Double Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', when foreign exchange student/heir to his country's throne, Prince Wally, is almost killed in an assassination attempt to fulfill an ancient prophecy that the country's monarchy will end with Prince Wally. The characters pat themselves on the back for a good job averting the prophecy, when Wally, impressed with Democracy, claims he will AbdicateTheThrone. Thus fulfilling the prophecy.

* In Polish animated series ''Film pod strasznym tytułem'' (The Film with Scary Title), the cruel leader of [[BlackKnight Marbats]] is told by his generals a fake prophecy about a child that is going to defeat him. The prophecy is fulfilled at the end.

* Subverted in ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles''. The series revolved around the prophecies of Sandwich (no, really), who wrote numbers of them in his tenure in the Underland some time before. At first, these prophecies seem to be always turning true (the first two books for example), but the third and fourth books become increasingly stretched to fit the prophecy. It all comes to a head when it is revealed that in the last prophecy, [[spoiler: Gregor is supposed to die]]. After going into the final battle, Gregor [[spoiler: does not die]], and not all of the prophecy comes true, as is noted by several characters throughout the book such as [[spoiler: Ares, Gregor, Ripred, and Luxa]]. However, they still manage to con the people and creatures of the Underland that the prophecy is true [[spoiler:with a little help from Luxa's "prophetic" cousin, who believes the prophecies are true in order to bring peace amongst the humans and rats]].