History Main / YouCantFightFate

* True, had any ''one'' thing changed, the UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic would have not hit the iceberg. However, due to the nature of the Passenger Trade in the early 20th century (speeding while in ice fields [[StartXToStopX in order to avoid the danger]], non-mandatory wireless coverage, fixed number of lifeboats based on tonnage and not on capacity, etc), a disaster ''like'' the Titanic's, [[UpToEleven if not worse]], ''wasn't''. It all depended on When it would happen, Where it would happen, Which ship would sink, and How many people were going to die. In another world, [[Film/{{Titanic}} Jack and Rose]] may have struggled to survive the tragic sinking of the RMS ''Queen May'', and ''Titanic'' being just another footnote like her sisters.

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', Kratos finds you cannot only fight Fate, you can ''kill'' them too.
** Averted in a sense. Kratos was able to fight the Sisters of Fate, but in the game itself and the more recent ones it was revealed Kratos was fated to destroy Olympus. The implication being even the Sisters were bound by some higher power they could not control.

* Brother Blood from the ComicBook/TeenTitans is a strange LegacyCharacter. Back in the time of the crusades, he got PowerAtAPrice: he would be powerful, charismatic and immortal, but only up to the age of 100, when his son would kill him and become the new Brother Blood (with a similar curse to die at the age of 100 at the hands of his own son, and so on). Brother Blood No 6 and his son were both aware of this curse, and they both tried to escape from it. The father wants to be truly immortal and be Brother Blood forever, and the son despises his father and his activities. He escaped from him, to avoid that, but [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas when Brother Blood killed his mother]] (who was just one of his several wives) the kid began a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, and killed his father next to the pool of blood. And, after the deed was done, he accepted his fate, got into the pool of blood, and became Brother Blood.[[note]]By the way, this is the origin story of the first specific Brother Blood that the Titans and the readers have seen.[[/note]]

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Iluvatar (God) acts mostly through fate: Gandalf tells Frodo that "there are other forces at work in the world...one could say Bilbo was ''meant'' to find the Ring, in which case you were also ''meant'' to have it." Being a demi-god, he has seen a vision of the history of the universe before it was made, and therefore is able to predict that [[ItWasHisSled Gollum]] would destroy the Ring.

** The Lord of the Nazgul not only fits this trope but proves that Fate has backup plans. The prophecy that no man could harm him proved insufficient in the face of [[spoiler: being opposed by the woman Eowyn and the Hobbit Merry, one of whom is not a man by gender while the other is not a Man by race]]. However, it can be argued that Fate originally meant for the Nazgul Lord to face Gandalf [[spoiler: who is also not a Man, but an immortal Maia]] and had to go to [[TimeForPlanB Plan B]] after [[spoiler: Denethor's attempt to kill himself and his son forced Gandalf away from the battle at the crucial moment]]. If so, then [[spoiler:it's a Plan B that was thought out well in advance, because many months earlier Merry just happened to acquire a knife that was engraved with spells to defeat the Witch-King of Angmar, who just happened to be the selfsame Lord of the Nazgul, without which his stroke might not have weakened the Nazgul's power sufficiently for Eowyn to deliver the final coup]]. But that bit's not in the movie.
** The basic plot point of the story of [[CosmicPlaything Turin Turambar]], thanks to Morgoth's curse on Hurin's family. His attempts to fight it only lead to more misery, for him and everyone else. This leads to a really [[DownerEnding depressing conclusion]].

* This trope is also all over NorseMythology. If anything, this was the real [[HornyVikings Norse]] [[PlanetOfHats hat]], having four different words meaning inescapable fate, one of them being "{{do|omyDoomsOfDoom}}m". Even the gods can't fight their fate, when [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Ragnarok]] hits the fan. It's interesting to note that "''rok''" not only means "''fate''" but also "''development''", "''cause''" and suprisingly "''origin''".

-->'''Chaos:''' But I never liked Fate. Predestination goes against the grain. Besides, he cheats at cards. But if Fate has decreed that Aladdin always wins, what can I do? I mean, wheres the unpredictability in that? Ive got it! Allow me to produce a little scenario I call EvilTwin. I have no problem with Aladdin winning all his battles. The question is, which Aladdin?

* While time travel is still hypothetical (and a very shaky hypothesis at that), [[http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/61301/title/Taming_time_travel this article]] in ''Science News'' indicates that it would take this form. "A bullet-maker would be inordinately more likely to produce a defective bullet if that very bullet was going to be used later to kill a time travelers grandfather."

* Brother Blood from the ComicBook/TeenTitans is a strange LegacyCharacter. Back in the time of the crusades, he got PowerAtAPrice: he would be powerful, charismatic and immortal, but only up to the age of 100, when his son would kill him and become the new Brother Blood (with a similar curse to die at the age of 100 at the hands of his own son, and so on). Brother Blood Nº 6 and his son were both aware of this curse, and they both tried to escape from it. The father wants to be truly immortal and be Brother Blood forever, and the son despises his father and his activities. He escaped from him, to avoid that, but [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas when Brother Blood killed his mother]] (who was just one of his several wives) the kid began a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, and killed his father next to the pool of blood. And, after the deed was done, he accepted his fate, got into the pool of blood, and became Brother Blood.[[note]]By the way, this is the origin story of the first specific Brother Blood that the Titans and the readers have seen.[[/note]]

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Ilúvatar (God) acts mostly through fate: Gandalf tells Frodo that "there are other forces at work in the world...one could say Bilbo was ''meant'' to find the Ring, in which case you were also ''meant'' to have it." Being a demi-god, he has seen a vision of the history of the universe before it was made, and therefore is able to predict that [[ItWasHisSled Gollum]] would destroy the Ring.

** The Lord of the Nazgûl not only fits this trope but proves that Fate has backup plans. The prophecy that no man could harm him proved insufficient in the face of [[spoiler: being opposed by the woman Éowyn and the Hobbit Merry, one of whom is not a man by gender while the other is not a Man by race]]. However, it can be argued that Fate originally meant for the Nazgûl Lord to face Gandalf [[spoiler: who is also not a Man, but an immortal Maia]] and had to go to [[TimeForPlanB Plan B]] after [[spoiler: Denethor's attempt to kill himself and his son forced Gandalf away from the battle at the crucial moment]]. If so, then [[spoiler:it's a Plan B that was thought out well in advance, because many months earlier Merry just happened to acquire a knife that was engraved with spells to defeat the Witch-King of Angmar, who just happened to be the selfsame Lord of the Nazgûl, without which his stroke might not have weakened the Nazgûl's power sufficiently for Éowyn to deliver the final coup]]. But that bit's not in the movie.
** The basic plot point of the story of [[CosmicPlaything Túrin Turambar]], thanks to Morgoth's curse on Húrin's family. His attempts to fight it only lead to more misery, for him and everyone else. This leads to a really [[DownerEnding depressing conclusion]].

-->''"Be at ease," she advised. "If Thog wishes you, he will take you, wherever you are. That man you mentioned, who screamed and ran — did you not hear him give one great cry, and then fall silent? In his frenzy, he must have run full into that which he sought to escape. No man can avoid his fate."''

* This trope is also all over NorseMythology. If anything, this was the real [[HornyVikings Norse]] [[PlanetOfHats hat]], having four different words meaning inescapable fate, one of them being "{{do|omyDoomsOfDoom}}m". Even the gods can't fight their fate, when [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Ragnarok]] hits the fan. It's interesting to note that "''rök''" not only means "''fate''" but also "''development''", "''cause''" and suprisingly "''origin''".

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=1819]] Squigley, after a moment dramatically contemplating a universe where free will is mockery, says, "sure, why not?"

-->'''Chaos:''' But I never liked Fate. Predestination goes against the grain. Besides, he cheats at cards. But if Fate has decreed that Aladdin always wins, what can I do? I mean, where’s the unpredictability in that? I’ve got it! Allow me to produce a little scenario I call “EvilTwin”. I have no problem with Aladdin winning all his battles. The question is, which Aladdin?

* While time travel is still hypothetical (and a very shaky hypothesis at that), [[http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/61301/title/Taming_time_travel this article]] in ''Science News'' indicates that it would take this form. "A bullet-maker would be inordinately more likely to produce a defective bullet if that very bullet was going to be used later to kill a time traveler’s grandfather."

And of course, we are not talking about ComicBook/DoctorFate.

** ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E8FathersDay Father's Day]]'' and ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E05TheAngelsTakeManhattan Angels Take Manhattan]]'' further clarify this: you can change the future all you want... unless you know it. Once you know something is going to happen, you can't change it, even if somebody who doesn't know still can.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor Time of the Doctor]]'', this is invoked as part of the StableTimeLoop that explains why the Kovarian sect of the Silence couldn't stop the Doctor. In particular, they mention the attempt to steal the TARDIS and blow it up, which actually opened the very crack in the universe that [[spoiler: the Time Lords are using to relay their distress call, leading the Doctor to Trenzalore and causing the war to occur in the first place]].

[[caption-width-right:336: And you're ''still'' hungry.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: And you're ''still'' hungry.]]

* In ''[[Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods]]'', when Gregor's mom refuses to let him or his little sister go on the quest, [[spoiler: she falls ill with the plague he needs to help find the cure for.]] Conspiracy Time! Solovet.

** ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E8FathersDay Father's Day]]'' and ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E05TheAngelsTakeManhattan Angels take Manhattan]]'' further clarify this: you can change the future all you want... unless you know it. Once you know something is going to happen, you can't change it, even if somebody who doesn't know still can.

* In ''CaseyAndAndy'', veteran time traveller J.J. knows that any event that she personally observes becomes immutable. However, if she looks away, she can leave the outcome ambiguous enough for her to go back and change things.

* In WebVideo/TheEnd, whenever Brendon meets someone new he receives a vision of the end of that relationship and he cannot change what he sees. His only choices are to accept fate or not to pursue that relationship at all.

-> ''It is written.''

** Fear of this trope is also the reason why everyone wants [[EldritchAbomination Sacheverell]] to stay asleep. Supposedly, everything he sees becomes real, and while he's asleep, he can only see the present. When he's ''awake,'' however, he can see ''everything,'' past, present and future, which would result in the end of free will as they know it. For this reason, even his fellow [[AbusivePrecusor Yozis]] want him to stay asleep- they fear that even they would not be able to escape his predetermination.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has samsara, the concept that if you look upon Fate for absolute knowledge, then you must go with the results without any chance of deviating. That's why the Five Maidens are loath to look on samsara for knowledge. It's also why everyone wants to keep the [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Yozi]] Sacheverell asleep; whether he looks upon the present or the future with utter clarity depends on whether he's asleep or awake, and as long as he's asleep, free will is an option.

Since it's OlderThanDirt, most examples rely on a ProphecyTwist. If time travel is involved, it's called YouAlreadyChangedThePast. See also StableTimeLoop and PrescienceIsPredictable.

** It seems like a situation like this is starting to arise in ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'' too. [[spoiler:It [[TheReveal has been revealed that both Shark and Rio were two of the Seven Barian Emperors in their past lives]], and at least one of the current Emperors, Durbe, is trying to convince Shark that this Trope applies to him. (Of course, given the history of the franchise and how the good guys usually respond to such claims, especially [[{{Badass}}guys like Shark]], it probably isn't as clear-cut as Durbe thinks.]]