History Main / StumbledIntoThePlot

* Katara and Sokka from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', who found Aang (whom ''is'' TheChosenOne) frozen in an iceberg.

* Often happened to ''Literature/{{Biggles}}'' in stories set in the GenteelInterbellumSetting: A typical example would open with Biggles and his friends looking for a new freelance gig and being offered a seemingly innocuous contract to deliver someone or something, which would then go badly awry in some way (often but not always involving SkyPirates) and leave them having to solve some mystery or criminal conspiracy almost as a side effect of extricating themselves from whatever predicament they'd landed in as a result.

* Jason from ''VideoGame/BlasterMaster'' is just a random kid who finds a CoolTank underground and destroys the mutant horrors from below, just because he was looking for his pet frog. Even by ExcusePlot standards, he's a very UnlikelyHero. The Jason in the ''[[VideoGame/BlasterMasterZero Zero]]'' canon became Sophia-III's pilot just by chance of finding Fred, and becomes more of TheUnchosenOne and destroys the mutant threat on Earth and other planets moreso for [[LoveInterest Eve]]'s sake.

* This is pretty much how every single mainline ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' game happens. An average pre-teen gets their very first Pokémon, they go around [[GottaCatchEmAll catching 'em all]] and beating a few Gyms for a while, then they find themselves in the midst of the latest villain's heinous scheme with little warning, and suddenly they're catching Legendary Pokémon and stopping anything between a mafia boss and TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Ironically, ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' subverted this for once, and the result is generally considered a weaker plot than previous games because of it.

If you've got a story that needs a protagonist you can either have them be a [[TheChosenOne chosen one]], where forces have already pre-determined who is to be TheHero that saves the day (eg. prophecy, bloodline, it's their field of work, etc). Or, you can just toss an IncitingIncident onto a random street corner and let the first Tom, Dick or Harry who comes across it be the protagonist.

* Find the IncitingIncident, and not have the IncitingIncident start happening in front of them.

* Not have any inherent qualities or circumstances that make them the hero beforehand.

So, for example: Meet our protagonist, [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice]], about to take a nap by a river. She notices a rabbit with a pocketwatch hurry past her, and since that's not something you see every day Alice decides to follow the rabbit. The rest - well, you know the rest (or maybe you don't, but what happens next isn't important). Why is Alice the protagonist? Because she saw the rabbit. If her sister had been the one who saw the pocketwatch-wearing rabbit and followed him, we'd likely be reading ''Alice's Sister's Adventures in Wonderland''.

* Rembrandt from ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' got caught up in Quinn's parallel world surfing adventure because he got caught up in their whirlwind while driving his car and, like the rest of the team, are trying to get back.

Supertrope to FallingIntoTheCockpit, for when the IncitingIncident happens to be the soon-to-be protagonist encountering a GiantMecha; ItBeganWithATwistOfFate, which mentions a specific decision that led the protagonist to the IncitingIncident. Not to be confused with StumblingUponTheLostWizard.

* In the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' FanVid ''WebVideo/TouhouBaseballInHeatStar2007'', the incident caused by a baseball stadium suddenly appearing was first found by Alice.

* Nobisuke Nobi from ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheIslandOfMiraclesAnimalAdventure'' was unintentionally dragged into the adventure when Gonsuke, the robot attendant tasked with escorting Nobita, accidentally entered the wrong ''era'' and took Nobita's father, Nobisuke (then a child who looks exactly like his future son) instead.

* The Playa from the original ''VideoGame/SaintsRow1'' is just a Stilwater nobody at the outset, accidentally caught up in a three-way gang shootout and almost executed as an unwanted witness. He is rescued by the VigilanteMan Julius Little and joins his 3rd Street Saints out of gratitude, as well as to CleanUpTheTown.