History Main / SlidingScaleOfFreewillVsFate

** Either there is no such thing as fate or there is no way to find out what is "fated," no way to see into the future and no prophecies, two states that are effectively indistinguishable. If the prophecy exists then it is little more than a portentous guess with no actual power or fate behind it.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' lies somewhere very high on the scale. Causality plays a big role in the Berserk universe. People like Guts are able to struggle against causality, but are unable to completely overcome it and/or maintain their struggle indefinitely. One character who would know (but who may not be [[UnreliableExpositor the most reliable source]]) compares him to a fish in a stream: the fish can leap into the air, but it cannot alter the course of the stream. If accurate, that would put it somewhere between YouCantFightFate BecauseDestinySaysSo and Fighting Fate Is Hard, depending on how much importance you want to place on the fate of the fish versus that of the stream.

* ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' solidly demonstrates that Fighting Fate is Hard. Timeline alterations tend be to ultimately inconsequential, as [[RubberBandHistory "Attractor Fields"]] lead [[AlternateTimeline diverging world lines]] to converge and lead to the same end result... ''unless'', that is, you locate a critical event and alter time drastically enough to shift to a world line in a ''different'' Attractor Field.

* In Franchise/{{the DCU}}, [[ComicBook/GreenLantern the Guardians of the Universe]] currently believe willpower is the source of chaos, when their attempt to make a corps defined by willpower went awry. Thus, they had created the Third Army with the goal of eradicating everyone's free will.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is at least a 3. Because people care a lot about prophecy. However there are prophecies that do not come to pass. Dumbledore also makes it clear to Harry that [[spoiler: the prophecy about him and Voldemort fighting to the death]] will only happen because Voldemort ''chooses'' to follow it; according to Dumbledore, it's a type 4.

** There is definitely a Destiny - the History Books kept by the Monks of Time describe the complete history of the Disc from beginning to end, Death's life timers start off with the appropriate amount of sand, ''something'' ensures Carrot arrives in Ankh-Morpork just as it needs a dragon-slaying king, and so on. But the History Monks can change what the books say, life timers can be smashed, turned over, or just mutate to eke out the sand as much as possible, and Carrot can decide Ankh-Morpork doesn't need a king after all. The ''Companion'' says "On the Discworld, the future is set. The job of everyone is to fight back."

** ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'': One character has been raised by a sect of monks dedicated to pure logic. Among other things, he can read people's emotions and thoughts in their faces and is able to manipulate people to a high degree. Being a fantasy series, there are prophecies, but it is unclear if they really mean anything.

** ''Literature/DiscipleOfTheDog'': The main character has a perfect memory and is able to see the patterns in people's behavior that those people are themselves often unaware of.

** In the short story ''The Warrior'', the archangel Uriel explains that it's possible for beings like himself to look downstream in the "river of time" and make a good estimate of what's going to happen. But he also explains that nothing is set in stone. If someone exercises free will, the effect is like digging out a trench and changing the direction the "river" will "flow". Harry improved peoples' fate this way three times over the course of the story, almost inadvertently.

* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' is difficult to place, but the general rule seems to be that prophecies are predictions. [[spoiler: The Observers are a group emotionless cyborgs who have the ability to jump around in the timeline with a great deal of freedom, but their predictions are probabilistic in nature and they can't be absolutely certain that their manipulation of the timeline will succeed, as they are ultimately destroyed by their failure to stop a ButterflyOfDoom: A genetically anomalous child Observer (later named Michael) proves to be a SuperiorSuccessor by possessing advanced cognitive and [[TheEmpath empathic]] abilities [[OneHeroHoldTheWeaksauce without needing an emotion-removing implant like the rest]]. The Observers realize that the child is a threat to their existence and attempt to dispose of him, but Michael is eventually sent back in time to [[RetGone stop the research that created the Observers in the first place]].]]

* Gerrard from ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' is an interesting example. He's a very ScrewDestiny GuileHero kind of person, and when prophecies start turning up calling him TheChosenOne, he scoffs at them and tells his friends that destiny isn't real. It gets harder and harder, however, when prediction after prophecy all agree on his being TheHero, and all of his friends and allies begin to view him as such. Still denying fate, he then discovers the truth: his bloodline was genetically engineered for a thousand years by a godlike {{Chessmaster}} named Urza as part of a master plan, and his entire life he had been [[BatmanGambit Batman Gambitted]] into being TheHero. Bitter, he eventually duels a depowered Urza to death in the BigBad's [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=209132 arena]] in both an attempt to both bring his friend Hanna back from the dead in a DealWithTheDevil and to ScrewDestiny. He does kill Urza, but he later escapes the BigBad as the BigBad becomes a nightmarish, sentient cloud of murderous death that begins to swallow the world. In the end, Gerrard consigns himself to his fate, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=19135 sacrificing himself to save the world]]. It's left open whether it really was his destiny, or whether it was his decision alone.
** In the novel of ''Mercadian Masques'', he seems to come to a conclusion about the nature of prophecies. He believes that prophecies are not predictions for what will be, but prescriptions for what ''should'' be.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', we have the Yulia Score, a prophecy that [[BecauseDestinySaysSo cannot be avoided in any way]]. Turns out [[spoiler: the main character, Luke, is a replica, and thus isn't predicted in the Yulia Score, so he isn't bound to it.]] The plan of the BigBad is to bring forth TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and then [[spoiler: [[WellIntentionedExtremist replacing it with a replica world that isn't bound to the score]]. [[{{Irony}} By doing so he is actually fulfilling the Score of destruction predicted by Yulia]].]] Luke manages to deviate from the Score a couple times (mainly in the [[spoiler: Tower of Rem, where Asch was supposed to die]]), and in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon he manages to [[ScrewDestiny overthrow the Score]].

* Fate plays a really big role in ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning''. The setting is at the far end of the sacle and for everyone in the world YouCantFightFate. There are people who have even learned to read the tapestry of fate and while they cannot predict when they can predict what will happen to someone. The hero is special in that having died and come back they no longer have a fate and can do what want which ends up having some consequences on the world unforseen by the person who brought you back.

* ''Webcomic/ExistentialComics'': The issue of how much (if any) free will people have, plus what it even means at all, gets discussed in detail with "[[http://existentialcomics.com/comic/70 A Dialogue On Compatibilism]]". Cory later argues that in fact the compatibilist view makes more sense and is ''less'' counter-intuitive, contrary to many claims, using ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' (and {{time travel}} in general) [[http://existentialcomics.com/comic/278 as an example]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Despite all the crazy, time-altering crap Phillip J. Fry has managed to do over the series, he's ''still'' managed to be born in order to save the universe from giant evil brains, Mom, nudists, and a tentacle god thing, even though he had to be his own grandfather to do it.

** '''Neither Fate Nor Free Will Exist''': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incompatibilism#Pessimistic_incompatibilism Pessimistic incompatibilism]]. The future cannot be determined from the past, but that's just due to inherent randomness in the laws of physics, not to any sort of free will.
** '''BecauseDestinySaysSo''': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinism Determinism]]. This has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_determinism hard]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_determinism soft]] variants, for whether or not free will exists. For example, in the hard variant, the father will kill his son. He has no choice. In the soft variant, he will have a choice, but certain influences will help make that choice.
** '''Prophecies Are Predictions''': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism_(metaphysics) Libertarianism]] (not the political ideology).

* ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum'' is all about working the scale: On one hand, we have a crazed stalker character (Ringo) who firmly believes in fate and sets out to fulfil the fate that's written down on her diary, and on the other, we have the Takakura siblings (Kanba/Shoma) who hate "fate" and wish to take destiny into their own hands. Then we have their sister Himari, who bestows fate ''according'' to her own rules.

* The ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' fic Fanfic/{{Intercom}} includes this in its discourse on the relation between a human and their (living) emotions. On one hand, when a human is awake, their emotions do have great control over memories and general emotional responses to certain things. However, when Riley visits her own Headquarters and asks about how much they control her reactions, the emotions say they only provide the general mood to react with. It's Riley who chooses how to move those moods into action.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles:''

** '''Prophecies Are Predictions''': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism_(metaphysics) Libertarianism]]. Not the political movement.

* ''VidoeGame/ShinMegamiTensei'' slides between both fate and free will.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{deltarune}}'' contrast each other in this regard. In Undetale, you have complete control of how the story goes: you can either be a complete pacifist and make everyone happy, slaughter the underground, or a mix of both. In Deltarune, however, you are told from the get go that you have no control over anything in the world, [[spoiler:Not even the player character]].

* This is the nature of a theological debate in ''Literature/TalesOfTheBranionRealm'', where precognitive {{Seer}}s play a major role.

** [[MultipleChoiceFuture Prophecies Are Optional]] There are several theories of cosmology that suggest the future might not be fixed and/or there might be multiple futures, either due to their being [[TheMultiverse multiple universes]] or the universe being more probabilistic than deterministic (I.E X is 50 percent likely to happen, as opposed to X is predetermined to happen.)

-->-- '''[[ScrewDestiny Jojo]]''', while speaking to [[{{Protagonist}} Parson]] of defying fate, ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}''.

** [[MultipleChoiceFuture '''Prophecies Are Optional''']] There are several theories of cosmology that suggest the future might not be fixed and/or there might be multiple futures, either due to their being [[TheMultiverse multiple universes]] or the universe being more probablistic than deterministic (I.E X is 50 percent likely to happen, as opposed to X is predetermined to happen.)

** [[MultipleChoiceFuture Prophecies Are Optional]] There are several theories of cosmology that suggest the future might not be fixed and/or there might be multiple futures, either due to their being [[TheMultiverse multiple universes]] or the universe being more probablistic than deterministic (I.E X is 50 percent likely to happen, as opposed to X is predetermined to happen.)

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'': everything the Dragon advises Merlin to do is BecauseDestinySaysSo. The Dragon gives advice to save Arthur. But when it comes to Mordred or Morgana, he advises Merlin to make them die to prevent destiny from happening. But Merlin never follows ''this'' advice.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'': Premonitions usually come true, but it is possible to stop them from happening with such knowledge.

* ''Literature/TheBible'' varies. If {{God}} makes a prophecy about something He wants done, it will be done. Prophecies about the future decisions of people tend to be more like suggestions.
* Islamic doctrine includes the idea of Predestination (essentially synonymous with Fate of Destiny). Interpretations obviously differ, but as generally taught to non-scholars it ties into the concept of Omniscience as possessed by God. God knows everything, so he knows what's going to happen. The popular interpretation is that humankind's actions dictate the map of the future, and not the other way around. God just saw how it would all pan out from the Beginning. So... the future's like the weather, with the assumption that God is the best weatherman ever. If we could see the future, then theoretically its more of a guide, with the assumption that God saw it all coming anyway.

* ''Webcomic/ExistentialComics'': The issue of how much (if any) free will people have, plus what it even means, is discussed in detail with "[[http://existentialcomics.com/comic/70 A Dialogue On Compatibilism]]".

* It's not known what governs reality, but the main theories among philosophers are:

** This one denies free will stating that our choices are just brain-made "echoes" while also denying any "higher power" that decides fate. In theory you can predict people's actions but you would run up against the same problems as predicting the weather and such predictions are in no way mystical.

** However, Sapphire's is presented a bit differently in the episode "The Answer," seeming to be more of a case of "Fighting Fate is Hard," as Ruby, a foot soldier assigned to her, was fated to die in battle. When she instead escapes her fate to fuse with Sapphire, she's astonished, to say the least, and it's revealed in the end of the episode that the only way Ruby managed to escape her destiny was through Trope/ThePowerOfLove .

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': There is definitely a Destiny - the History Books kept by the Monks of Time describe the complete history of the Disc from beginning to end, Death's life timers start off with the appropriate amount of sand, ''something'' ensures Carrot arrives in Ankh-Morpork just as it needs a dragon-slaying king, and so on. But the History Monks can change what the books say, life timers can be smashed, turned over, or just mutate to eke out the sand as much as possible, and Carrot can decide Ankh-Morpork doesn't need a king after all. The ''Companion'' says "On the Discworld, the future is set. The job of everyone is to fight back."

* The ''Film/StarTrek'' fic ''Fanfic/WrittenInTheStars'' has this as a theme. The Fem!Kirk of the Alt Reality wants to make her own choices, while her Prime counterpart tries to convince her to hook up with Spock, since the Primes did in the original universe. When it's revealed that Fem!Kirk and Spock hooked up in two other realities, it leaves the question of whether they're all just making the same choices or whether the two are just fated to be together.

* ''Franchise/EverAfterHigh'' has this as part of its theme. The characters are children of fairytale characters and each have their own views on their destinies. The Royals believe that they should follow their parents destiny, Apple White is sure to have a happy ending, but Duchess Swan is doomed to become a swan permanently. The Rebels choose to not follow the destinies set before them, Raven Queen for one refuses to follow her mothers footsteps as the next Evil Queen.

* '''Neither Fate Nor Free Will Exist'''