History Main / TheCallKnowsWhereYoulive

Even if a hero wishes to [[RefusalOfTheCall refuse]] the CallToAdventure, destiny has ways of making sure that it can't be ignored, and one of the biggest ways is by making it personal, hitting the hero right where he lives and tearing his world apart. Friends or loved ones may be hurt or slain, homes or even hometowns may get destroyed, and the hero may well find himself actively hunted or worse by the villains. Whatever the case, the point is driven home that [[YouCantFightFate he can't run away]] from his life mission.

Even if a hero wishes to [[RefusalOfTheCall refuse]] the CallToAdventure, destiny has ways of making sure that it can't be ignored, and one of the biggest ways is by making it personal, hitting the hero right where he lives and tearing his world apart. Loved ones may be hurt or slain, homes or even hometowns may get destroyed, and the hero may well find himself actively hunted or worse by the villains. Whatever the case, the point is driven home that [[YouCantFightFate he can't run away]] from his life mission.

Even if a hero wishes to [[RefusalOfTheCall refuse]] the CallOfAdventure, destiny has ways of making sure that it can't be ignored, and one of the biggest ways is by making it personal, hitting the hero right where he lives and tearing his world apart. Loved ones may be hurt or slain, homes or even hometowns may get destroyed, and the hero may well find himself actively hunted or worse by the villains. Whatever the case, the point is driven home that [[YouCantFightFate he can't run away]] from his life mission.

Even if a hero wishes to [[RefusalOfTheCall refuse the call of destiny]], the villain may attack his home or loved ones to drive home the point that [[YouCantFightFate he can't run away]] from his life mission.

* Anti-hero Josey Wales is content to be a poor dirt farmer in Clint Eastwood's ''TheOutlawJoseyWales''; until the Union's brutal "Red Legs" militia burned his farm and murdered his family, which he barely survives. After he's had time to recover, he's met by and joins up with a Confederate guerilla band; achieving notoriety as a skillful and unrelenting fighter, and a substantial bounty is placed on his head by the Union. After the war, he ends up defending several First Nations individuals from brutal exploiters, and an innocent homestead from former Union Red Legs turned bounty hunters and bandits.

* Illya from ''Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya''. In the first season she becomes a MagicalGirl by being forced, the second season starts with Rin and Luvia straight-up kidnapping her to force another mission.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': Poor 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]] (ItsAllThereInTheManual), [[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.

* ''JusticeSocietyOfAmerica''. VandalSavage gets pissed off about legacy heroes and decides to bump off entire blood lines. Works in some cases, creates new heroes in others. Try not to send the guy powered by steel to kill the relatives of Commander Steel.

** Which is a rip-off of the memo John Denver gets from the Almighty in ''Film/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 ''Film/{{Click}},'' in which the protagonist is repeatedly given a remote.

* In ''MagicalProjectS'' Sasami doesn't want to be a magical girl. Too bad her enemy Pixy Misa knows her secret identity and tortures her wherever she is.

* ''MahouSenseiNegima''. [[spoiler: His parents' actions during the Great War (not either of the historical ones, but an InUniverse conflict) 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.

* Illya from ''FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya''. In the first season she becomes a MagicalGirl by being forced, the second season starts with Rin and Luvia straight-up kidnapping her to force another mission.

* ''GundamSEED'': Poor 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 Amuro Ray. In Anime/MobileSuitGundam, 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.

** Elsewhere in the TheSlenderManMythos: Noah from TribeTwelve begins hearing noises around his house after posting his cousin's videos, and EverymanHYBRID [[spoiler: starts out as an in-universe parody, only to be hijacked by the real deal.]]

* MarbleHornets. [[spoiler:WE WILL WAIT FOR YOU NO MORE]]

* In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series, if you are destined to be a Herald, a [[SapientSteed Companion]] ''will'' show up to Chose you. Even if it means shanghaing you from wherever you are and carrying you off to the Collegium without so much as a by-your-leave.

* In ''LegendOfTheSeeker'', Richard displays a significant amount of sense in being completely weirded out by Kahlan and Zedd trying to name him Seeker. Meanwhile, [[spoiler: his dad is being killed, his house burned, and his brother set up against him.]] Contrast it to the less cinematic example in [[SwordOfTruth source material]].

* In ''LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', [[BrilliantButLazy Yang Wen-li]] doesn't have any other ambition than to be a historian and to enjoy his tea. However, circumstances force him to join the military, where he has to use his tactical genius time and time again to survive in the long conflict against a rejuvenating Galactic Empire, cultimating in [[spoiler: him becoming the military leader of [[TheRemnant the only remaining pro-democracy force in the universe]]]]

->''Life is good. I hope I never have to leave my beloved village.''

* In ''Star Wars Episode IV: Film/ANewHope,'' Luke is obliged to become a Jedi when his home is burned down with his aunt and uncle left as charred remains outside. However, he wanted to help fight the Empire in the first place but his Uncle and Aunt wouldn't allow it. So it was more their refusal than his. (Note that the scene where he says "That would lead them...Home!", and the scene after it (see the page image) are based on a sequence from ''TheSearchers'', above.)

* SherlockHolmes overworked himself on more than one occasion, which usually prompted [[TheWatson Dr. Watson]] to take him on a vacation so he could relax. Unfortunately, no matter where Watson seemed to choose as their vacation spot, there would inevitably be a mystery and people seeking Holmes' help. The good Doctor was never very happy at this, but ironically enough Holmes' investigating the problem actually seemed to revitalize him. See ''The Adventure of the Reigate Squire'', ''The Adventure of the Devil's Foot'', and any number of pastiches as examples of when Watson and Holmes try to relax on vacation, only for Holmes' reputation as a detective to precede him.
** HerculePoirot and MissMarple tended to have similar problems. As did Jessica Fletcher of ''MurderSheWrote''. Come to think about it, if you're a literary detective, amateur or professional, all vacations are [[BusmansHoliday working vacations]].

* In ''TheSilverCrown'' TheCall not only knew where the heroine lived, it firebombed it. If she'd not opted to go on an early-morning stroll, it'd have been a rather different story.
* In the SwordOfTruth, Richard has one of these. In an unusual example, three weeks ''before'' the events of the book, in the form of his dad getting gruesomely murdered. He's essentially been wandering around trying to deal with it until Kahlan shows up.

* In ''InuYasha'', after returning to her time after her first trip to the feudal era, Kagome assumes the whole experience was a dream and proceeds to forget about the whole thing... until Inuyasha barges into her house while her family is having dinner. She still tries to rebuff him, but one of the villains seeking the Jewel of Four Souls begins reaching through the well shortly after, quickly settling the argument.

* In [[Creator/JossWhedon Joss Whedon's]] comic ''{{Fray}}'', new slayer Melaka Fray drags her heels over her destiny until [[spoiler: her young friend Loo - TheCutie - is murdered]]. The really awful twist is that [[spoiler: she wasn't killed by vampires, but by MrExposition Urkonn, specifically in order to motivate her]].

* This was Standard Operating Procedure for the Scions, a group of evil telepaths in the ''GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. When they detected the development of a young new telepath, they'd approach the child's parents in the guide of a SuperHeroSchool that would train the child in the use of their new abilities. If the parents agreed, all was right with the world. If the parents didn't agree, they'd mentally manipulate the parents into some sort of fatal situation (murder-suicides were popular) and then manipulate whoever they needed to get the kid anyway.

[[quoteright:300:[[Film/ANewHope http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vlcsnap-2011-10-18-19h38m31s174_6747.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Uncle Owen? Aunt Beru?]]

* Dates back as far as the 1956 classic ''Film/TheSearchers''.

-->--'''Erik the Swift'''[[note]]Moments before his alien abduction[[/note]], ''VideoGame/TheLostVikings''

* In both the second and last ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant, Lord Foul exerts influence in our world to torment the previous heroes until they return to the mythical Land to confront him, as his plans [[BatmanGambit require their powers]].