History Main / TheCallKnowsWhereYoulive

* Played quite literally in Videogame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber. When [[spoiler:Richter]] decides to ignore the phone calls that encourage him to go and kill Russian mobsters, he finds his car on fire on the next day, with the very next call telling him not to tempt fate.

* ''VideoGame/WorldofWarcraft''had a rare villainous example in Gul'dan's alternate timeline. deformed Gul'dan is the village [[ButtMonkey butt-monkey]], but the shaman tells him to go seek the help of the Elements. He makes the long journey, despite his disability and his lack of food or water. When he gets there though, the Elements don't like him. There's so much hatred in him, so much anger at how he's been treated. Instead, another cosmic force reaches out to him: the fel. He ends up becoming one of the strongest warlocks in the entire universe and extremely evil (as well as quite literally power-hungry).

** Another episode has this trope played as tragically as possible. Merlin falls in love with a fugitive Druid named Freya. After a few days with her, he knows he needs to get her out of Camelot, and decides to leave with her. The night they're supposed to leave, the men hunting her catch up and stab her, causing her to bleed to death in Merlin's arms. It's sad enough, but the man who stabs her is [[TheChosenOne Arthur]](albeit in self defense), the destiny Merlin was running away from, and you can't help but feel that this was a case of fate saying TheyWereHoldingYouBack.

Even if a hero wishes to [[RefusalOfTheCall refuse]] the CallToAdventure, destiny has ways of making sure that it can't be ignored. One of which is to strike the hero ''right where he lives.''

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 [[DoomedHometown 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.

Embittered and hardened by the experience, TheHero thus takes up the call, either to avenge those that were hurt or slain, rescue those who were kidnapped, make the villains ''stop'' making his life a living hell, and/or make sure that whatever happened does not happen again to anyone else. Many an AntiHero has been shaped by this. HeWhoFightsMonsters almost certainly has. Multiply at least twofold if TheHero tried StartingANewLife.

** Done twice in the Diamond is Unbreakable part. The first time, Josuke's beloved grandfather is murdered by a Stand-using criminal, inspiring Josuke to vow to defend Morioh in his honor, starting with tracking down the murderer, the arrow that gave him his powers, and the various other crooks that gained powers from said arrow. The second time, Josuke's friends learn about a serial killer that's still at large, but aren't exactly eager to jump into investigating since 1)they're not sure that they have a Stand and 2)they don't even have a lead to go on. They soon get their first lead...from a schoolmate who manages to get a vital piece of evidence to them before the Stand-wielding serial killer kills him for stumbling onto his secret.

* In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series, if you are destined to be a Herald, a [[SapientSteed Companion]] ''will'' show up to Choose 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.

Embittered and hardened by the experience, TheHero thus takes up the call, either to avenge those that were hurt or slain, rescue those who were kidnapped, to make the villains ''stop'' making his life a living hell, and/or to make sure that whatever happened does not happen again to anyone else. Many an AntiHero has been shaped by this. HeWhoFightsMonsters almost certainly has. Multiply at least twofold if TheHero tried StartingANewLife.

Overlaps with DoomedHometown, only this trope is often viciously more [[WatchingTroyBurn personal]]; sometimes overlaps with DeathByOriginStory. Compare with TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive, a possible reason why the call keeps coming. Contrast with PlotDetour; and StuffedIntoTheFridge, where the similarly [[ItsPersonal personal]] tragedy is exceptionally cruel but there was no RefusalOfTheCall and the event seems largely unnecessary for the story. See also NiceJobBreakingItHero, for when this is the result of a SelfFulfillingProphecy.

* In ''Lightnovel/BeingAbleToEditSkillsInAnotherWorldIGainedOpWaifus'', the call is quite schizophrenic with the main character, Nagi, still, it reminds him that it knows where he is as the aristocrats of the world setting keep sending problems his way, basically for shits and giggles.

* In Lightnovel/BeingAbleToEditSkillsInAnotherWorldIGainedOpWaifus, the call is quite schizophrenic with the main character, Nagi, still, it reminds him that it knows where he is as the aristocrats of the world setting keep sending problems his way, basically for shits and giggles.

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

* In the ''Anime/SailorMoon''[=/=]''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' crossover FanFiction ''FanFic/WhiteDevilOfTheMoon'', Fate tries her damnedest to keep The Call away because Nanoha's still recovering from the damage to her Linker Core. Unfortunately, the Sailor Senshi are adamant in meeting [[spoiler:their Princess]]... and the Dark Kingdom decides to drop in on a wedding Nanoha was attending.
* ''Fanfic/KyoshiRising''; Kyoshi is perfectly happy with living as a [[FarmBoy Farm Girl]], refusing several people's suggestions that she might like to live elsewhere in the Earth Kingdom, even if only for a little while. But then a band of mercenaries attacks her home, and she's revealed to be [[PhysicalGod the]] [[TheChosenOne Avatar]].

* At the beginning of the XY arc of ''Manga/PokemonSpecial''; Team Flare [[spoiler: effectively burns Vaniville Town to the ground in an attempt to steal X's key stone and Kanghaskhanite. While X remains in a stupor in the early chapters due to his backstory's nature; it's effectively made clear to the main characters YouCantGoHomeAgain]].

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}''.

** The USSR. Just the USSR. They knew that the Axis Powers were up to no good regarding them (Fascists and Communists generally don't get along, even without Hitler's genocidal agenda regarding communists), but tried to postpone their involvement in the war as much as possible, even if that meant signing non-aggression pacts with Hitler. Then Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa and invaded them.

* 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 [[ExplainExplainOhCrap "That would lead them...Home!"]], and the scene after it (see the page image) are based on a sequence from ''The Searchers'', above.)

** In the fourth film The Hunger Game - Mockingjay part 2, Katniss wants to [[GenocideBackfire take revenge]] against the government. Briefly before the end, Katniss decides she needs to kill the evil president [[spoiler:Coin]] to save many additional children from being slaughtered.

* ''Film/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]].