History Main / TheCallKnowsWhereYoulive

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

** Most conspicuous in the [[ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX MAX miniseries]] ''Born'', set during Castle's time in Vietnam. Castle is seen having an internal monologue with himself, pushing him towards violence and guaranteeing that he could keep Castle's war going on forever. [[spoiler: Towards the end of the book, Castle is in the middle of a truly hopeless battle, alone versus a massive amount of VC. The voice says that it will let Castle live and continue to fight... if he pays a price. Castle agrees, goes on to murder the entire enemy force alone, but promptly leaves the service, planning to live in peace with his wife and children. The voice then reminds him, there's a price to be paid.]]

* In ''VideoGame/WildCard'' Ace's initial reaction to discovering that the magic rock he and his sister Kris found is one of the rune stones that are supposed to be [[SealedEvilInACan keeping the demon Rasha'yad imprisoned]] is to leave it with the town wise man so he can get some actual adventurers to deal with the mess. Then they return to the family farm only to find it destroyed by the local thieves' guild, whose leader wants to collect the stones for his own purposes.

* At the start of ''StarshipTitanic'', the eponymous starship literally [[BreakingTheFourthWall demolishes the fourth wall]] by crashing into the player's house.

* Elsewhere in the TheSlenderManMythos: Noah from TribeTwelve begins hearing noises around his house after posting his cousin's videos, and WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID [[spoiler: starts out as an in-universe parody, only to be hijacked by the real deal.]]
* Bladedancer of the WhateleyUniverse. When she didn't really get with the program, a demon-lord from a fiery hell invaded her home, killed her father, burned down her house, destroying the magical artefact that allowed her to resume her natural form, and chased her halfway across the country to sanctuary at Whateley Academy.

* Active in ''DeptHeavenApocrypha'', where [[BecauseDestinySaysSo fate]] was so insistent that Nessiah wind up exactly as messed-up as [[YggdraUnion his canon self]], his only place of sanctuary--his previous school--was destroyed when [[spoiler:his unstable magic went out of control]].

* ''[[MercedesLackey Children of the Night]]'': 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 her 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.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', every Origins story ends with you having to conscript to the Grey Wardens to escape jail or death giving you little choice in the matter. In many of these events people close to you get hurt or killed. Then at Ostagar [[spoiler:every Grey Warden in Ferelden gets killed except for you and Alistair when Loghain leaves them, King Cailan and his forces to die at the hands of a whole lot of Darkspawn.]]

* In ''PennyArcadeAdventures'', The Call smashes your house. Twice. The second time it ''literally'' knew where you lived and was going there to pick you up.

* In ''Wildcard'' Ace's initial reaction to discovering that the magic rock he and his sister Kris found is one of the rune stones that are supposed to be [[SealedEvilInACan keeping the demon Rasha'yad imprisoned]] is to leave it with the town wise man so he can get some actual adventurers to deal with the mess. Then they return to the family farm only to find it destroyed by the local thieves' guild, whose leader wants to collect the stones for his own purposes.

Related to DoomedHometown, only viciously more [[WatchingTroyBurn personal]]. Contrasts with StuffedIntoTheFridge, where the similarly [[ItsPersonal personal]] tragedy is exceptionally cruel but there was no RefusalOfTheCall and the event seems largely unnecessary for the story. Villains may inflict this on the hero's friends because "TheyWereHoldingYouBack."

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]]. See also TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive for a possible reason for the Call Knowing Where You Live. May be referenced in a TroubledBackstoryFlashback. Contrast with PlotDetour. See also NiceJobBreakingItHerod for when this is the result of a SelfFulfillingProphecy.

* During World War II, the US public was reluctant to enter the conflict, instead aiming for a peaceful resolution (meanwhile, the government was already participating via the Land Lease program and American ships were shooting at German ships and vice versa). The bombing of Pearl Harbor pushed them over the edge and precipitated the US's active involvement in the war.

If the villain or villains were not introduced earlier, it is usually at this point where they will make their presence, and their evil, felt for the first time. Friends or loved ones may be hurt, kidnapped or outright slain. Homes or even hometowns may get razed to the ground. The hero may well find himself actively hunted or worse. Whatever the form it takes, bad and often tragic things happen to the hero and his world, and the point is driven home that [[YouCantFightFate he can't run away]] from his life mission.

* ''ComicBook/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.

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

* This happens to poor old Banjo in both 'VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' and ''Banjo-Tooie'' with the kidnapping of his sister and the death of a dear friend, respectively.
* Two examples in Franchise/AssassinsCreed:

* 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.]]

* An oddly literal variation occurs in the first ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' film: Elizabeth's cursed gold piece actually 'calls' to the pirates, which brings them to her DoomedHometown.
** Port Royal did survive the undead pirates' attack, though it got a serious dose of RapePillageAndBurn.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] In HunterTheReckoning. The Imbued are the ones who JumpedAtTheCall, and receive powers to fight the supernatural forces. But there are those who RefusedTheCall, referred to as Bystanders - they don't get powers, but the ability to see the supernatural ''doesn't go away,'' and TheMasquerade remains [[BrokenMasquerade broken]] for them, so they ''still'' can't ignore it. TheCall is thorough indeed.

* In ''LostOdyssey'', the call most definitely knows where Kaim lives. In fact, the call essentially comes (for all the immortal characters) in the form of the main villain, who, years ago, inflicted tremendous emotional pain to the point that the damage to their psyche was literally a fate worse than death, then subsequently sealed off their memories and left them to become walking corpses, eternally (but NOT desperately) searching for their purpose in life.

* Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows: Watson refuses to be involved in Holmes' investigations anymore as he wants to live a happy married life. Moriarty decides to target him anyway. Holmes thwarts the attempt on Watson's life onboard the train he took on his very honeymoon, and Watson is then forced to go back in action.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The DangerouslyGenreSavvy Fire Nation tries to exploit this trope by killing of potential Avatars before they can be a problem.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}}'', during a RiteOfPassage to test if he's ready for kingship, young Prince Lion-O receives a brief, [[VaguenessIsComing vague]], frightening MirrorMonster [[{{seers}} vision]] in the Sword of Omens, but [[CannotSpitItOut avoids telling anyone]] for fear his longstanding reputation as a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} will be further cemented. He sees his Kingdom destroyed and his father assassinated by ancient OutsideContextVillain and series BigBad Mumm-Ra, the very enemy whose face he saw in the sword.

* 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 Nazgûl 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...)

* ''TheNameOfTheWind'': Kvothe leaves to gather firewood for five minutes, and comes back to witness the (supposedly fictional) Chandrian kill his entire acting troupe, family included.

* Happens ''twice'' in ''BaldursGate''. First, the protagonist's foster father is killed. Later, [[spoiler:almost everyone in your entire home town is killed and replaced by evil shapeshifters loyal to the BigBad.]]