History Main / TheJinx

->''"I am no one's blessing, \\
I'll just bring you harm.\\
I'm a cursed black cat, I'm an albatross, I'm a mirror broken,\\
Sad to say, I’m your bad luck charm!"''

* American tropers will be familiar with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkvjtRap3ak All State's Mayhem]] who occasionally dabbles in this trope, but his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3CrTRHq8so counterpart used for advertising in Latin America]] plays this to the hilt - he's literally named 'Mala Suerte' which translates to "Bad Luck".

[[folder:Adverising]]

[[caption-width-right:350:And Veronica is ''very good'' at attracting boys.[[labelnote:*]]Also, his jinx range must be ''at least'' [[ExaggeratedTrope half a mile]], if he made those planes crash. And just what is [[UsefulNotes/GraphicalPerspective going on]] with that building on the right?[[/labelnote]]]]

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-181 SCP-181]] appears on the surface to just be [[BornLucky lucky to a supernatural degree]]. However, one of the researchers noticed that casualty rates at the site increased by an unspecified ''triple''-digit percentage and realized that his luck comes at the cost of inflicting bad luck to everyone around him. They then hypothesize that through chaos theory he runs the risk of causing bad luck on a [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt global scale]], and moved him to solitary confinement indefinitely to prevent it from spreading.

* Overlapping with MeaningfulName, the ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' animated series ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'' reveals that the aptly named [[AxCrazy Jinx]] earned that moniker during her youth, as whenever she was brought along on missions with her fellow street urchins, she would end up screwing up everything. The plot of the series is instigated when she tinkers with some magical crystals in a lab her group is robbing, causing an explosion that tips off the Piltovan authorities, and things only get worse from there. By the end of the first season, her actions [[spoiler:turned what would have been a successful rescue operation into the deaths of most of her entire adoptive family thanks to a bomb that [[GoneHorriblyRight worked too well]]; endangered the criminal operations of Silco, who took her in after that event; set the groundwork for another all-out war between Piltover and the Undercity/Zaun; and result in the death of Silco, just after learning that he truly did see her as LikeADaughter]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'', a high-school student named Annie is known as [[InUniverseNickname "the blonde widow"]] by her classmates because of the tendency of her dates ending in hospitals because of some accident.
** On the episode she is introduced, she drops Rex from a cliff TWICE, put him on fire before throwing water (alongside the glass) at his face, destroys a restaurant because she sneezed (no details but a "long story" according to Noah), nearly strangles him trying to fix his tie, shoots him with a missile trying to get a spray from her purse, throws the spray right at the missile he managed to catch (he survives), opens a door right in his face, shoots him with a missile twice (though Rex told her to for the second one).
** She weaponized it by dropping a pebble from a cliff which caused a full blown landslide on the bad guy and dropping the ceiling on an EVO just by walking upstairs.

* In the infamous ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode, "No Such Luck," Lynn believes that Lincoln is a jinx after he comes to one of her baseball games and her team loses. Pretty soon, the whole family starts to believe it as well and they make Lincoln sleep in the backyard.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw,'' the title character is both BornUnlucky and a jinx (though he apparently doesn't like "the 'J' word"). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARTRJQfV90k The theme song]] establishes this pretty well, as he [[DissonantSerenity deftly and happily dodges disasters]] that instead hit the people around him.

* ''LightNovel/TheFruitOfEvolution'': Altaria Grem, the second of Seiichi's girlfriends, was born with a curse that gives her a -2,000,000 of Luck (that's right, in the ''negative''), which causes misfortune to everyone around her, and she keeps away from people because any adventurers she teams up with end up dead. Thankfully, Seiichi manages to reverse it by giving her a ring that multiplies her luck by -2, for which she's really grateful.

* ''LightNovel/ShinkaNoMi'': Altaria Grem, the second of Seiichi's girlfriends, was born with a curse that gives her a -2,000,000 of Luck (that's right, in the ''negative''), which causes misfortune to everyone around her, and she keeps away from people because any adventurers she teams up with end up dead. Thankfully, Seiichi manages to reverse it by giving her a ring that multiplies her luck by -2, for which she's really grateful.

Not to be confused with [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Jynx]], [[Series/RuPaulsDragRace Jinkx Monsoon]], or that [[VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends Jinx]][[note]]Though she is an example[[/note]].

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Towards the end of Volume 4, when Ruby demands to know why her {{honorary uncle}} Qrow was secretly following her current team (RNJR) instead of just traveling with the reveals that his [[PersonalityPowers Semblance]] is this trope, bitterly joking how well it fits his name (since crows are considered unlucky). Said semblance is permanently active and thus uncontrollable; great for dealing with opponents in battle, but not so great if you're fighting alongside any allies, hence why Qrow tends to keep his distance from friends and family in general. The page quote is from his ImageSong, which describes his feelings about this "helpful" ability of his.

* Overlapping with MeaningfulName, the ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' animated series ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'' reveals that the aptly named [[AxCrazy Jinx]] earned that moniker during her youth, as whenever she was brought along on missions with her fellow street urchins, she would end up screwing up everything. The plot of the series is instigated when she tinkers with some magical crystals in a lab her group is robbing, causing an explosion that tips off the Piltovan authorities, and things only get worse from there. By the end of the first season, her actions [[spoiler:turn what would have been a successful rescue operation into the deaths of her entire adoptive family sans her sister Vi, which causes Vi to angrily affirm that her baby sister is a horrid jinx before walking off in grief; constantly risks the stability of the criminal operations of Silco, who took her in after that event and is now getting heat from other crime bosses and his own underlings for her recklessness; sets the groundwork for another all-out war between Piltover and the Undercity/Zaun by committing large-scale attacks against city authorities without Silco's permission; and ends up killing Silco while in the middle of one of her hullcinatory episodes, just after learning that he truly did see her as his daughter and never planned to give her up]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'', Annie is known as [[InUniverseNickname "the blonde widow"]] because of the tendency that her dates have to end in hospitals because of some accident.
** On the episode she is introduced, she drops Rex from a cliff TWICE, put him on fire before throwing water (alongside the glass) at his face, destroys a restaurant because she sneezed (no details but a "long story" according to Noah), nearly strangles him trying to fix his tie, shoots him with a missile trying to get a spray from her purse, throws the spray right at the missile he managed to catch (he survives), open a door right in his face, shoots him with a missile twice (though Rex told her to for the second one).

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In volume four, when Ruby demands to know why Qrow followed them instead of just traveling with them, he jokes bitterly about his name, explaining that his Semblance causes misfortune to those around him; he was given the name "Qrow" because crows are considered unlucky. He observes that it's permanently active so can be neither controlled nor switched off, which is great for dealing with opponents in battle, but not so great when trying to interact with friends and family. The quote at the top of this page is from his ImageSong, and it accurately describes his feelings about his Semblance.

* Overlapping with MeaningfulName, the ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' animated series ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'' reveals that the aptly named [[AxCrazy Jinx]] earned that moniker during her youth, as whenever she was brought along on missions with her fellow street urchins she would end up screwing up everything. Sure enough, the plot of the series is instigated when she tinkers with some magical crystals in a lab her group is robbing, causing an explosion that tips off the Piltovan authorities. This ends up culminating in [[spoiler: her going off on her own to rescue her father figure after he gets kidnapped, despite being told by her sister Vi to stay behind while her group staged a rescue attempt. In the process, she ended up botching the rescue attempt with one of her bombs, which led to the deaths of said father figure and two of her friends. When Vi found out, she abandons her and calls her nothing but a Jinx, causing the moniker to stick]].

* "Jinxie" Penlan, one of the 597th's {{Mauve Shirt}}s in the ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novels, has an interesting habit of [[BornUnlucky having terrible luck]] which inevitably [[SpannerInTheWorks ruins whatever plan, ambush, or surprise]] the enemy is cooking up, or points her in the right direction to kill them. Oddly enough, her squad's morale is better than most, believing that misfortune will happen to her, leaving the rest of them unscathed.

Not to be confused with [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Jynx]], [[Series/RuPaulsDragRace Jinkx Monsoon]], or that [[VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends Jinx]].

[[caption-width-right:350:And Veronica is ''very good'' at attracting boys.[[labelnote:*]]Also, his jinx range must be ''at least'' [[ExaggeratedTrope half a mile]], if he made those planes crash. Also, what is [[UsefulNotes/GraphicalPerspective going on]] with that building on the right?[[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:And Veronica is ''very good'' at attracting boys.[[labelnote:*]]Also, his jinx range must be ''at least'' [[ExaggeratedTrope half a mile]], if he made those planes crash.[[/labelnote]]]]

* A "bad luck for others" example in the ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' "Accidents sketch" where a man goes to a house and disaster ensues, with multiple people being killed. Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUeLs4yFGTg here]].

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "The Goldberg Variation": A man has the power to make everything go his way, but avoids using it because every time he does he becomes a powerful jinx because of EquivalentExchange.
* In the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode "Grail", there is a character nicknamed "Jinxo" who believes himself to be one of these, after his departure from the previous four Babylon stations happened just before each one met some kind of ignominious fate. The final conclusion seems to be that it was just a temporary string of unfortunate coincidences. One character even suggests that he should have been called "[[BornLucky Lucky]]", since he'd left the first four Babylon stations just in time to avoid ''personal'' disaster.

* One episode of ''Series/BigTimeRush'' involves the boys trying to help a friend of theirs get a singing gig. But disaster follows her wherever she goes, costing her a lot of jobs. This includes hospitalizing a large number of international agents by triggering a large explosion trying to perform for them (at the Palm Woods, because the boys were afraid they'd endanger the city taking her out to meet them). Ultimately, they find a band who is looking for a super destructive lead singer, which her natural 'talent' made her perfect for.

* Barney on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' was convinced someone was a jinx in one episode.

* In the "Valentime's Day" episode of ''Series/NickyRickyDickyAndDawn'' he quads feel like they have jinxed their parents' Valentine's Day after seeing part of a video made when their parents first found out they were having quadruplets. They try to help their parents reconnect with Valentine's Day, but everything they do messes it up wherever they go.

* The Jackelope's foot in ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' gives the owner exceptional good luck, at the cost of giving exceptional bad luck to everyone else in the posse. This reflects the fact that, when alive, the Jackelope acts in much the same way, as it feeds on the souls of those killed by the accidents its bad luck aura causes.

* Kasandra, a unique Blade from ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', is a cheerful and sunny character who seems to have no idea about the misfortune that seems to follow her. The fox mask she wears on the back of her head rattles whenever something bad is about to happen, which it frequently does. Her previous Driver was a Nopon (which is in itself a rarity) who was one of the most celebrated salvagers of Argentum, until he got eaten by a gigantic fish monster; presumably as a result of the bad luck that seems to plague Kasandra. After you learn about this and defeat that same monster, you obtain her core crystal, labelled as the '[[{{Irony}} Lucky Core Crystal]]'.
** As if to highlight Kasandra's status as this, her heart-to-heart conversation just happens to be where a powerful BonusBoss [[spoiler:(Artifice Ophion)]] appears after Chapter 10, which can result in it photo-bombing the scene [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight while Kasandra and her Driver pay it no mind,]] or worse, [[ThisIsGonnaSuck ambushing the party as soon as gameplay resumes.]]

* ''Videogame/GenshinImpact'' has Bennett, a young adventurer with infectious bad luck and the leader of "Benny's Adventure Team". He's also coincidentally the only member of Benny's Adventure Team since everyone has ditched him due to how just being around him will cause all sorts of disasters ranging from getting struck by lightning to getting a single piece of Mora as loot. Bennett for his part take everything in stride and doesn't let any of this break his spirit.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Deconstructed in ''WebVideo/DanganronpaRebirth'': [[spoiler:Ayumu Fujimori's talent as the Ultimate Unlucky Student proved to be so destructive that the Japanese government, despite him being a genuine NiceGuy, hired a ProfessionalKiller to assassinate him.]]

* Jinx from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' is so named because she [[WindsOfDestinyChange can bestow bad luck at will]]. Mostly she uses it on inanimate objects to make them collapse.

* Sam Dullard in ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' was temporarily this in one episode.
* Misery in ''WesternAnimation/RubyGloom''. Usually, the bad luck [[BornUnlucky only strikes her]], but every Friday the 13th it reverses and she gets good luck while everyone around her is hit by bad luck.
* Badluck Schleprock, a regular on ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/ThePebblesAndBammBammShow''.
* The black cat in ''WesternAnimation/BadLuckBlackie'' actually uses his natural bad luck to help out cats in need of his services. He helps a small kitten who is being bullied by a bulldog out by causing the dog bad luck, which usually takes the form of [[AnvilOnHead heavy objects falling on the dog out of nowhere]].

* Lucky the black cat in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats'' does get a lucky charm for a while, but that protects only himself, not nearby characters.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode "Fortune Cookie", Filburt gets jinxed by a MisfortuneCookie. At the end of the episode, his lucky charms do get him a small victory but pretty much wreck the world in the process. Luckily (well, relatively), later episodes disregard the cookie's promise of eternal misfortune.

* Ringo thinks he's a jinx in ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' episode "Good Day Sunshine."

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'', a goblin places a curse on Puss to turn him into a black cat, thus becoming a Jinx. He ultimately decides for the good of his friends, to exile himself from town until he can find a cure.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw,'' the title character is both BornUnlucky and a jinx (though he apparently doesn't like "the 'J' word"). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARTRJQfV90k The theme song]] establishes this pretty well, as he [[DissonantSerenity deftly and happily dodges disasters]] that instead hit the people around him.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': In "Hurricane!", Stan said to be a jinx any time he tries to help somebody, as shown when he tries to protect his family during a hurricane. In fact, Francine even tells him to his face that ''any'' idea, no matter how practical, is automatically doomed to fail on the mere grounds that he thought of it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'', Annie is known as [[InUniverseNickname "the blonde widow"]] because of the tendency that her dates have to end in hospitals because of some accident.
** On the episode she is introduced, she drops Rex from a cliff TWICE, put him on fire before throwing water (alongside the glass) at his face, destroys a restaurant because she sneezed (no details but a "long story" according to Noah), nearly strangles him trying to fix his tie, shoots him with a missile trying to get a spray from her purse, throws the spray right at the missile he managed to catch (he survives), open a door right in his face, shoots him with a missile twice (though Rex told her to for the second one).
** She weaponized it by dropping a pebble from a cliff which caused a full blown landslide on the bad guy and dropping the ceiling on an EVO just by walking upstairs.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', while Ladybug has the power of good luck, Cat Noir has the power of bad luck. These are mostly [[InformedAbility informed abilities]] and seem to only exist as a reference to the "miracle"/"lucky charm" theme of the Miraculous heroes. Perhaps the most bad luck that Cat Noir has is his [[TouchOfDeath Cataclysm]] power (he had more powers of destruction in [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the original concepts]]), Ladybug can save the day without him whereas he can't (as he cannot purify akumas), his father is controlling and neglectful, his mother is missing, and Ladybug doesn't reciprocate his love because she loves someone else ([[TwoPersonLoveTriangle his civilian identity]]). Depending on how you look at it, however, it could be seen as {{irony}}, given that Ladybug's civilian identity frequently suffers from her own clumsiness and lack of confidence while Cat Noir's civilian identity seems to have it all.
* The aptly listed [[ThirteenIsUnlucky Numbuh 13]] in ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor''. He's a bit of a brat who is completely oblivious to the fact that he brings anything he touches to ruin. He makes Sector V's lives Hell until they finally ditch him with the villains at the end of his debut episode.
* In the infamous ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode, "No Such Luck," Lynn believes that Lincoln is a jinx after he comes to one of her baseball games and her team loses. Pretty soon, the whole family starts to believe it as well and they make Lincoln sleep in the backyard.
* Lynx the Jinx was a lugubrious wildcat in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheDeputyDawgShow'' whose bad luck proves hazardous to Deputy Dawg. Lynx tries to get arrested in a scheme to get three hots and a cot, but DD thwarts him.
* One episode of WesternAnimation/AaahhRealMonsters has Oblina step on a slug, which is a monster superstition of causing bad luck and soon enough bad things keep happening to her and around her.

* Seina Yamada in ''Anime/TenchiMuyoGXP'' is not only unlucky enough to count as a CosmicPlaything, it usually bleeds off onto those around him. One subtly extreme moment comes when a horse jockey falls off his horse in the middle of a race because a man cheering for him was listening to the race on the radio when Seina happened to be riding on his bike nearby.

* Yuuko Aioi of ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' is an inversion. The biggest ButtMonkey of the series, the final episode displays that for all of her ''own'' rotten luck, she is unwittingly helping people around her, such as bumping into her friends and knocking them out of the way of something that was about to hit them, or pulling at them and inadvertently stopping them from stepping on ants.
* Asebi Inoue of ''LightNovel/BenTo'' is this to nearly '''everyone''' around her.
* Terry Sanders Jr. of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam'', who has been the SoleSurvivor of several squadrons is shunned by most of his fellow soldiers and believes himself to be cursed. His idealistic CO Shiro Amada, the original EnsignNewbie, struggles to help him overcome it.
* ''Anime/GenesisOfAquarion'' has Reika, whose [[BlessedWithSuck Element Power apparently consists of having minor bad things happen to and around her]] all the time. She also believes that anyone who gets close to her will also suffer misfortune, which leads her to push most people away. On the other hand, on several occasions she's been able to channel her misfortune into raw power while piloting Aquarion, and she kills a few Mythic Beasts and Cherubim with it.
* Takeo Inou, the protagonist of ''Manga/TakeoChanBukkairoku'', [[BornUnlucky has such terrible misfortune]] that she has to wear excessive safety gear just to survive the various mishaps that happen to her en route to or from school. She keeps herself distant from others at the start of the series because that misfortune can jinx others who are around her. Her home's landlord and master, a god of fortune she calls Mu-chan, can negate much of this if they're together. When they're apart, it kicks right back up again.
* Blitz T. "Lucky" Abrams from ''Manga/BloodBlockadeBattlefront'' is lucky in that he himself is immune to the disasters he brings with him wherever he goes, since he has been cursed so many times.

* PlayedForDrama with Simon from ''Manga/TheAncientMagusBride''. Due to circumstances around his birth, anyone who eats the sweets he makes is cursed to die a very short time later. His grandmother and mother were the first victims, and by the time he was 18 he'd accidentally killed his aunt, uncle, and cousin. Even the love of his life died because of it. The moment he finds out it really is his fault, he immediately tries to kill himself.

* Fuuko Izumo of ''Manga/UndeadUnluck'' was born with the unfortunate side effect of bringing anything she touches misfortune, which is multiplied if she had any personal attachments to them. Travelling around with leading man Andy, however, allows her to Exploit the trope; by becoming attached to him, directly touching him can become a huge asset in battles (especially since he's immortal and can shrug it off), while she has a means of protecting herself when she's facing enemies alone.

[[folder:Comics]]

* Joe Btfsplk from ''ComicStrip/LilAbner'' (who has his own article on Wiki/TheOtherWiki).
* "Unit Jinx" is an official military position in ''ComicBook/TankVixens'', and an inversion, they're BornUnlucky and luck works like magnetism, so those around them get good luck. Sonya Guildencrantz is the official jinx for the 101st Tank Crushing Brigade.
* The ''ComicBook/StrontiumDog'' story arc "A Sorry Case" had Johnny deal with having to escort someone off-planet, a fellow by the name of Sorry Bobbs with whom bad luck follows wherever he goes. Naturally, that makes the simple escort a lot harder than it initially sounded. On several occasions Sorry Bobbs flat-out calls himself a jinx.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' views himself as a jinx, citing all of the horrible things that have happened to his friends, family, loved ones and associates -- attacks by supervillains, deaths, mutation, experiments by {{Mad Scientist}}s, etcetera. Whether he's ''actually'' this or he's simply hamming up the usual run of ill-luck that tends to befall any superhero in a more dramatic series is up to the reader.
* Weaponized by the ''ComicBook/BlackCat'', who [[EmpoweredBadassNormal deliberately had herself augmented]] with the ability to [[WindsOfDestinyChange inflict bad luck on people around her]]. The original version of this powerset, which she got from the Kingpin, suffered from PowerIncontinence, so she was also a source of bad luck to people around her ''even when she didn't want to be'' -- this wasn't the ''only'' thing that led to her breaking up with ComicBook/SpiderMan, but it played a part. She had these faulty powers removed by ComicBook/DoctorStrange... and then got a new and better version of them installed by MadScientist Dr. Tramma.

* ''ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer''. You'd think that, as monumentally stupid as he already is, he wouldn't need the help of this trope on top of it. You would be wrong.
* DependingOnTheWriter but generally speaking ComicBook/{{Loki}} can cause mischief by standing still and if there is one thing you can be certain around them that is ''things won't go as expected''.
* [[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} Asterix and the Roman Agent]] has Tortuous Convolvulus plays with it, as he most often utilises his unique talent for psychological warfare, strife and anger for his own machiavellian enjoyment. However at times he seems to cause that naturally by his mere presence. Sort of an indirect jinx, as a lot of destruction comes in the wake of that.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' had Larry Lynx, who caused harm to anyone near him - Sonic's attempt to rescue him from a tree ended with all of the Freedom Fighters injured. These injuries ended with them captured by Swatbots, all but Sonic and Larry. Sonic got the idea to weaponize Larry's bad luck and sent him out against the Swatbots, which ended up saving the day. Having used his jinx to do good for the first time apparently broke Larry's curse, and the end of the story shows him enjoying a streak of ''good'' luck.

[[folder:Film]]
* The Spanish film ''Intacto'' has this as its main premise: certain individuals in the world have the ability to suck people's luck to add to their own. The luckiest of them all(played by MaxVonSydow) is '''so''' lucky, he plays Russian roulette with ''five bullets to one empty chamber'' and always wins.

* In ''Film/TheCooler'', Bernie Lootz is employed by a Las Vegas casino to simply wander near any gambler who is winning too much. Because of his aura of bad luck, the gambler will instantly start losing.
* The main character in ''Film/MrHulotsHoliday'' tends to accidentally create chaos wherever he goes, frequently getting caught up in the aftermath. In one incident, the simple act of searching for a lost ping-pong ball results in an entire hotel lounge full of people starting to fight with each other.
* Douglas Fackler in several ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' films. In the first film, an apple core casually thrown by him escalates into a city riot. Simply walking through an office is enough to start a localized disaster that results in dozens of people injured. He's completely oblivious to all this, of course.
* In ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', everytime Ford Brody is with a group of people, he tends to be the sole or one of the few survivors.
* The Italian film ''Film/AmicheDaMorire'' has Crocetta, one of the protagonists, as the official jinx in town. Every guy she has ever dated has been cursed with utter misfortune, and that's why she's a ChristmasCake in her late thirties. [[spoiler: Turns out it wasn't true: it was her [[MyBelovedSmother beloved (s)mother]] who keeps arranging incidents for her suitors, so she wouldn't ever leave home.]]
* ''Film/{{Dangerous}}'': Everybody in the theater world believes that Joyce the actress is this. Joyce believes that she is this, telling Don about the men she's accidentally ruined and the stage shows she's been in that failed. In the back story she ruined her husband, and when she meets him again in the movie, she causes a car wreck that cripples him. And Don is ruined when he backs Joyce in a play only to see it fail. Subverted, however, when Don tells Joyce that it's her selfishness and not any jinx that's the problem.

* The title character in the book ''Jinx'' by Creator/MegCabot.

* ''Literature/TheOdyssey'': Odysseus had this problem, due largely to Poseidon hating his guts.

* The Mariner's crew considers him one after shooting an albatross, his ship's good luck charm, in ''Literature/TheRimeOfTheAncientMariner''. After the attack, his crewmates force him to wear the albatross around his neck as a sign of his guilt, and they all die subsequently, each cursing him "with his eye" as he drops; the albatross only falls off the mariner afterwards, when he relents in his malice towards the dumb chums, and blesses the water-snakes.
* "Jinxie" Penlan, one of the 597th's {{Mauve Shirt}}s in the ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novels, has an interesting habit of [[BornUnlucky having terrible luck]] which inevitably [[SpannerInTheWorks ruins whatever plan, ambush, or surprise]] the enemy is cooking up, or points her in the right direction to kill them. Oddly enough, her squad's morale is better than most, believing that misfortune will happen to her, leaving the rest of them unscathed.
* The main character "Mitchie" from the SF short story ''Prone'' - a patriotic youth who joined the army in the midst of an prolonged interplanetary war, and whose Jinx abilities [[OhCrap have been growing exponentially over time]]. [[spoiler: after his presence nearly destroys the military academy, he's secretly sent to live as a civilian on the enemy homeworld, which will probably win the war in a few years]]

* This is Magician Murphey's magical talent in the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' books.

* Carson Clinkscales in ''[[Litearture/HonorHarrington In Enemy Hands]]''. His extreme clumsiness is legendary, although he gets better by the end of the novel. During one incident, he manages to trip over his own feet during a staff meeting, knocks a cap off another crewmember's head while falling, which hits a pitcher of water standing on the conference table, which falls and breaks open, soaking the captain's pants in water. Honor then asks him to help out with setting up a format dinner, shuddering at the thought of letting him anywhere near a table with food.
* Luna from the ''Literature/AlexVerus'' series has a hereditary curse that turns her into this in a very literal way, shunting her bad luck onto anyone and anything nearby (despite her desperate wishes to the contrary). And it clings to things. Any pet she owned would die within a month; likewise anyone sharing her house would wind up hospitalized or worse. Anyone who actually touches her is liable to wind up dead from a freak accident. As the series goes on she gets better and better at controlling it, to the point that it can be safely considered WindsOfDestinyChange.
** Even after gaining control, her curse still interferes with a couple of things. She has trouble using focuses to channel her power, because her curse tries to destroy them from the inside instead of flowing through them properly. [[spoiler:Arachne ends up making her a custom focus capable of playing nicely with her power.]]

* In the ''Literature/{{Nevermoor}}'' series, children born on Eventide, such as our heroine Morrigan, are said to be cursed. Not only will they die at midnight at the end of the Age, but they're said to bring bad luck everywhere they go. When we first meet Morrigan, she's in a monthly meeting with a social worker, going over how many letters of apology she'll have to write this month. She, for her part, strongly suspects that at least some of the things she's blamed for aren't actually her fault--for example, a lunch lady who admits she left a potholder on a stove, causing a small fire, but says it's because Morrigan made eye contact with her earlier that day. [[spoiler:Morrigan's right; it turns out the curse isn't real. Children born on Eventide are murdered by Ezra Squall for his own reasons, and the whole "bad luck" business came about because people couldn't resist an easy scapegoat for their own wrongdoings.]]

** As if to highlight Kasandra's status as this, her heart-to-heart conversation just happens to be where a powerful BonusBoss [[spoiler:(Artifice Ophion)]] appears after Chapter 10, which can result in it photo-bombing the scene [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight while Kasandra and her Driver pay it no mind,]] or worse, [[OhCrap ambushing the party as soon as gameplay resumes.]]

* Music/MickJagger became known as this in Brazil during UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup in 2010. He was attending the United States knockout match alongside Kobe Bryant and Bill Clinton (US Team lost), then his own England ([[CurbStompBattle 0-4 defeat to Germany]]), and finally Brazil alongside his South American son (1-2 defeat, scoring first). In addition, his assessment of being impressed by Argentina led them to also lose 0-4 to the Germans, and a local network discovered Jagger was attending England's elimination in both the 1998 and 2006 Cups. As a consequence of this MemeticMutation, doctored images or cardboard cutouts of Jagger wearing the adversary's jersey became wildly common among football supporters. The next Cup in 2014 had [[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brazil-mocks-mick-jagger-as-world-cup-jinx/ him jinx England, Portugal and Italy while on tour]] before attending in person Brazil's '''[[EpicFail 7-1]]''' trouncing by Germany. [[http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/10/mick-jagger-world-cup-curse-brazil Jagger took the blame off the last one]] ("I can take responsibility for the first German goal but not the other six!"). Even as England had a successful run in 2018, [[https://twitter.com/MickJagger/status/1017105856587059216 the fact Jagger went to Russia to attend the semifinal eventually lost]] kept his jinx fame alive (90% of the "Retweets with comment" are Brazilians noting Jagger's "luck" striking again!).

* Fuuko Izumo of ''Undead Unluck'' was born with the unfortunate side effect of bringing anything she touches misfortune, which is multiplied if she had any personal attachments to them. Travelling around with leading man Andy, however, allows her to Exploit the trope; by becoming attached to him, directly touching him can become a huge asset in battles (especially since he's immortal and can shrug it off), while she has a means of protecting herself when she's facing enemies alone.