History Main / TheCallKnowsWhereYoulive

Related to and sometimes overlaps with DeathByOriginStory. The ForgottenFallenFriend is the name of the trope where, after the hero starts the adventure, he or she gets over the deaths with [[AngstWhatAngst remarkable aplomb]]. May be referenced in a TroubledBackstoryFlashback. Contrast with PlotDetour.

* In a literal case, in ''BruceAlmighty'', Bruce finds a pager which he cannot lose or destroy with a number. When he calls the number, he is told to go to a certain address "or we'll just keep beeping you."
** Which is a rip-off of the memo John Denver gets from the Almighty in ''OhGod'', which he throws away over and over again only to have it keep resurfacing, even when he's at home in bed (it's under his pillow).
** And ''Click,'' in which the protagonist is repeatedly given a remote.
* In ''TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' The call knows where Sam goes to school and where his [[Creator/MontyPython parents went on vacation]]. It's a very thorough call.

* [[TheLastStarfighter Alex Rogan]] wasn't crazy or stupid enough to hop into the middle of a space dogfight that had absolutely nothing to do with him...until Xur decided to send assassins to Earth to hunt him down and kill him. [[ConservationOfNinjutsu Cue epic one-man god mode wipeout]].
* Played with a little in {{Tombstone}}. Wyatt Earp leaves Dodge to have a normal life, only to wind up living and working in a town where a gang of lawless thugs are running things. His brothers answer the Call and become lawmen, but Wyatt keeps resisting... and then the bad guys start targeting his family. Cue RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* In ''SpaceCowboys'', the call literally knew where Frank Corvin lived. It caught him fooling around with his wife while stuck in their garage during a failed garage door opener replacement.

* StrangerThanFiction has a far less tragic example, but after finding out that he's living out a novel, Harold tries staying at home and doing ''nothing'' so his narrative can't move forward and he can take back control of his life. This ends in [[CrowningMomentOfFunny a wrecking crew smashing through his apartment wall]].

* In ''TheLastStarfighter'', Alex turns down the chance to be a Starfighter for real and returns home. However, Alex learns the hard way that Xur already knows about him and is sending assassins to kill him at his home. Thus he realizes that he now has a better chance to survive on duty as a starfighter.
* In ''PacificRim'', after his retirement due to [[spoiler: his brother's death]], Raleigh was specifically sought out by Marshall Pentecost because he is the only Mark-3 pilot still alive.

** Eren Yeager wanted to answer the call, and had argued with his mother over this. Cue the Colossal Titan kicking in the Wall, and a chunk of debris landing on the Yeager house. Eren (and his foster sister, Mikasa) are forced to helplessly watch his mother be EatenAlive by a Titan.

* In ''{{Thief}}'', Garrett refused to become a Keeper (an agent of "Balance" in the City) and started life as a thief for hire. This doesn't stop him from being dragged into various missions to preserve said Balance in all three games. In the end, he finally accepts the mantle of Keeper -- indeed, he ends up being the ''last'' true Keeper.

* [[Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}} Peter Parker]] was taught that power comes with [[ComesGreatResponsibility responsibility]] through the [[DeathByOriginStory death of his Uncle Ben]].

* ''MahouSenseiNegima''. [[spoiler: His parents' actions during the Great War (no, neither [[WorldWarI that one]] or [[WorldWarII the other]]) made enemies with two [[AncientConspiracy Ancient Conspiracies]] -the Cosmo Entelechia and the Megalosembrian Senate-, the latter so bad that his mother was scheduled for execution and his father had to bail her out and [[FakingTheDead fake her death]]. It's no wonder that they decide to leave the boy to some relatives in a village on a different '''planet''' inhabited by mages. Unfortunately, the senate managed to get the intel on his whereabouts and send a demon army to wipe them out.]] The [[DoomedHometown destruction of the village]] would define Negi's character for years to come.

* Poor [[GundamSEED Kira Yamato]]... this happened to him ''twice''. The first time he [[FallingIntoTheCockpit Falls Into The Cockpit]] and reluctantly joins. By the second season, he's taking care of orphans with his girlfriend, when [[BigBad Durandal's]] assassins come and blow everything up.
** It's pretty much the same for [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Amuro Ray]]. In the first series, he ends up FallingIntoTheCockpit. When ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' starts up, he's a shell-shocked veteran who's being confined by the Federation because he's a Newtype. As much as he doesn't want to, he ends up taking up the controls of an MS.

* In the [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] / [[StargateSG1 Stargate]] Fan Fiction [[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-4301/Kei+Trick+Or+Treat.htm Trick or Treat]], Xander is told point blank by an agent of the PowersThatBe that he is going to go along with their plan, one way or another. Subverted in that once his [[BerserkButton girls are attacked]], he dedicates a remarkable amount of insight into [[ScrewDestiny derailing]] not only their grand plans for him, but a for few of their favorite champions as well. [[spoiler: He succeeds.]]

** Joss likes this trope. See also, ''Film/{{Serenity}}''. Crew decides maybe they'd better not, y'know, mess with an entire interplanetary government. Then the Operative starts destroying all their safehouses...

* As mentioned above, ''Serenity'' -- several times, in fact. The crew and River are reasonably content in their lives flying under the radar until the Operative remotely triggers River's Psycho WaifFu mode with a subliminal broadcast. ''Then'', the crew is fine with going to ground until the whole thing blows over, except that the Operative's men destroy nearly all of their safehouses, including killing dozens of innocents and their personal friend Shepherd Book. Hell, Mal was ready to turn them out (he ''did'', in fact, for a very brief period) until the severity of the situation pushed all his [[PapaWolf loyalty-to-the-crew buttons]]. In short, ''Serenity'' is a tale of eight friends (and a [[BlackDudeDiesFirst dead black guy]]) who the government just plain won't leave alone, to their peril.
** To be clear, that peril is the governments peril, not the crews... though that isn't to say the crew doesn't face... trouble.

* During World War II, the US was reluctant to enter the conflict, instead aiming for a peaceful resolution. The bombing of Pearl Harbor pushed them over the edge and precipitated the US's active involvement in the war.
** Note this was 1941, and Hawaii was not quite a state yet (though it was an incorporated territory, which was essentially the same thing). So it was specifically The Call Knows Where Your Strategically-Located Island Territories With Military Installations Are. ''TheOnion'''s faux headline parodying Pearl Harbor read: "Dastardly Japs Bomb Colonially Occupied U.S. Non-State".
*** Note also, however, that American and German ships had been "unofficially" firing on one another for at least a year prior to this and FDR was faintly desperate to get involved. It would be more accurate to say that the ''populace'' wanted a peaceful resolution (viewing the conflict as largely a European problem) while FDR and several others in his administration knew that it was impossible and were looking for a way to get the USA involved. Pearl Harbour gave them the rationale for something they wanted to do anyway and AdolfHitler sealed the deal (and his doom) when he declared war on the USA a few days later.
*** Well, when you're [[NeutralNoLonger clearly supporting one side]] through the Lend-Lease program (and more importantly to the Japanese, an oil embargo), are you surprised when their enemies (they) try to disrupt your supply shipments (cripple your navy)?
** A LOT of neutral countries got this in spades during WWII. In sequential order: China, (arguably) Czechoslovakia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Greece, Yugoslavia, and the Philippine.
*** It might be more of The Call Knows You Are In The Way in many of those cases.
*** The call knows you've neglected your armed forces and would be an ideal landing point for an allied invasion?

* [[MercedesLackey Di Tregarde]], refusing the call to use her Guardianship, ignores an inept sorcerer's plans to summon an inhuman demon that was too strong for him, thinking it's [[BystanderSyndrome not my problem]]. Naturally he summoned the thing, it killed him and was wounded in the process, and it then went after Di, because even if she wasn't doing anything with it Guardianship sticks around. She beat it, but the panic attacks triggered by anything that reminded her of it lingered, as did the lesson that ignoring these things, on a purely selfish level, meant that they would meet her on ''their'' terms.

** HerculePoirot and MissMarple tended to have similar problems. As did [[MurderSheWrote Jessica Fletcher]]. Come to think about it, if you're a literary detective, amateur or professional, all vacations are working vacations.

** Nobody knows better about the irresistible will of God than Paul, who got his call to serve while on the road to ''persecute'' God's new people. Paul would then go on to be a staunch proponent of the doctrine of predestination.

* ''{{Summoner}}'' is funny because it unites JumpedAtTheCall, RefusedTheCall, and TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Joseph is identified as a summoner by a passing monk, who offers him a summoner's ring and to help him study his power. Joseph gladly takes the offer. Raiders attack the village, and Joseph calls forth the demon of darkness that resides inside the ring. The demon slays everyone in town, raider & villager alike, except for Joseph and the monk and one other guy. Joseph decides he wants nothing to do with the summoner's legacy and tosses the ring down a well, fleeing to live as a farmer in another village. Then TheEmpire attacks the village, looking for the one with the mark of the summoner, who is prophetized to kill the emperor. Joseph has no choice but to take on the legacy he threw away earlier if he wants to live and save TheKingdom.

** Hope also isn't very keen about the whole fighting the Sanctum thing, but changes his mind after his fathers home gets demolished by a strike team.

* Poor [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]]. No matter [[LegacyCharacter which incarnation]] it is, the poor guy just can't seem to catch a break and be allowed to live his life in peace. Either he's [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda walking along minding his own business when he comes across an old lady being mugged]], [[ALinkToThePast woken up in the middle of the night by a telepathic distress call]], [[Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime dragged off by the local tree-deity first thing in the morning]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker has his sister kidnapped on his birthday]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess or his idyllic life as a rancher is interrupted when his village is raided and he gets shape-shifted and dragged off]]. Of course, there's a [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword reason for that]] as a [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil curse]] was placed on that Link's descendants and on the fledgling Hyrule.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Aang finds out he is TheChosenOne. Aang runs away. His entire race is exterminated. No one ever said the call was subtle.
** It's implied that if he had not run away, Aang would have been killed along with the rest of the Airbenders, but nevertheless, he still had to accept his destiny as the Avatar and take care of the mess the world was in 100 years later.
*** Killing the Avatar just causes him to be reincarnated. [[FridgeHorror By running away]], [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Aang gave the Fire Nation a hundred years of free reign]] instead of just the 10 to 20 that the reincarnated Avatar would have needed to grow up into a formidable enemy.
*** Unfortunately, due to the Avatar cycle and its tendency to choose a host from a different location from the last one, the Fire Nation had a very good idea where the next Avatar would be born. Kuruk was born in the Northern water tribe, hence the next would be born in the southern. The reason Katara is the last waterbender in her tribe is because the rest had been slaughtered in order to kill off the next Avatar.
*** Also, without an Airbender to teach the next Avatar, any subsequent Avatar would never master all four elements and gain his full power, making said Avatar significantly less of a threat.
*** It also wasn't ''his'' idea to get frozen in ice, which was the reason for the 100-year gap; the running away just kept him alive. Though it is one of the great mysteries whose idea it ''was''. It just kinda happened. Magic spirit ice. Looks like TheCall wanted to be put on hold or something.
** Also: Aang wakes up, and proceeds to hang out with the Southern villagers, incognito. Aang finds out about the war. Continues to be incognito, does not have any idea how to cope. Unfortunately for him, [[OverlordJr Prince Zuko]] is in the neighborhood, and everything gets busted wide open. Zuko's continued pursuit motivates the first season in a way 'stop the world war' just ''couldn't'' for a bunch of kids, especially a kid like Aang. Many fans, and possibly Iroh, consider Zuko to be the long arm of Aang's destiny, prodding him in the butt. [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain It's not a dignified position.]]

* [[Literature/InheritanceCycle Eragon]] finds his uncle's house blown up and his uncle dead; abruptly he realizes that dragon ownership comes with responsibilities.....

* Occurs repeatedly in TheBible:
** God wants [[Literature/TheBible Jonah]] to deliver a message of damnation to Nineveh. Jonah says no, because he thinks that if Nineveh will repent, God won't destroy them. Jonah attempts to flee God. Cue great fish. [[spoiler:Ninveh did repent. God was pleased. Jonah wasn't.]]

* [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber Amber Diceless]] also operates on this assumption, since your allies and your enemies tend to have many powers, including that of walking between dimensions: trying to dodge your problems by laying low in one of the game's many universes is just liable to cause an enemy to [[DisproportionateRetribution destroy that entire universe]] just to smoke you out.

** Mel Gibson is good at roles like these. In ''MadMax'', his very first action movie, the killing of his partner ''drove him out'' of the force. The killing of his family drove him to vigilantism.

* Without a doubt, the original example for this trope when it comes to comic books is {{Batman}}.

* Matt Murdock loses his strict but loving father when the old man refuses to [[ThrowingTheFight take a dive in a prizefight]]. [[DeathByOriginStory Father is killed]], ''ergo'' {{Daredevil}}. (Note that Spider-Man and Daredevil were created by [[StanLee the same person]].)

* In ''LordOfTheRings'', Frodo Baggins never ''actively'' resists the Call, but he drags his feet about leaving the Shire to the point that he just avoids meeting a Nazgul on (literally) his front doorstep. (And it turns out that, at the same time, Saruman's thugs were invading the Shire from a different direction...)

[[folder:Mythology]]
* God wants [[Literature/TheBible Jonah]] to deliver a message of damnation to Nineveh. Jonah says no, because he thinks that if Nineveh will repent, God won't destroy them. Jonah attempts to flee God. Cue great fish. [[spoiler:Ninveh did repent. God was pleased. Jonah wasn't.]]

* In ''AttackOnTitan'', not only does the Call know where you live.....it will probably make certain that your hometown is destroyed and everyone you love is EatenAlive.

** Jean Kirstein spends a good amount of time talking about his intention to join the Military Police Brigade and live a comfortable, completely Titan-free life. Then, the day after graduation, his hometown becomes the site of a major battle and he is forced to step up to the plate and take command of the other stranded Trainees. And just to make sure he doesn't reconsider accepting the Call, in the aftermath of the battle he discovers [[spoiler: the [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe mangled]] corpse of his best friend, Marco]]. Even so, people are genuinely surprised when he decides to answer it and abandon his selfish ways.

* Hogwarts sent HarryPotter a series of acceptance letters, pinpointing his near-exact location at the time the letter got there. Uncle Vernon went to great effort to [[ScreeningTheCall keep Harry from getting the letter]], up to moving the entire family to a small shack on a rain-swept island - where Harry got the call in the un-ignorable, unavoidable form of Hagrid.

* In ''BarbieAndTheDiamondCastle'', Liana [[JumpedAtTheCall jumps at the call]] (despite her friend Alexa's [[RefusalOfTheCall reluctance]]) after their home is destroyed by the BigBad's [[TheDragon literal dragon]].

* ''StationeryVoyagers'' offers Pextel, who gets pretty roughed up by the Call without any warning or provocation.