History TemptingFate / Literature

* In ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Sun Jian swears an oath that if he's hiding the Imperial Seal (recovered after the sacking of the capital), may he meet a violent end. You can guess what happened. Ditto for Cao Cao's ''[[WhatAnIdiot three]]'' lines to the effect of "If Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang had been smart enough to place an ambush here, we'd be doomed." By the second time, his companions have already become savvy... for all the good it does them, since he's not.

* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', Winston and Julia agree even though the Party controls absolutely everything else in their lives, it can never [[spoiler:stop them from loving each other]]. Take a guess as to what happens.

Return to the main page [[TemptingFate here]].

* In one ending of ''Literature/RomeoAndOrJuliet'', Juliet says "Hope we can... ''iron'' out our problems" after Romeo decides to stay at her house for longer than intended, only for her dad to run in and immediately start beating Romeo to death with an iron pole.

* At the start of ''[[http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=2019 The Sicilian's Tale: King Robert of Sicily]]'' by Longfellow, the King hears priests singing from the Magnificat: "He has put down the mighty from their seat, and has exalted them of low degree."

* In ''Literature/NightOfTheLivingTrekkies'', the group of survivors has organized and formulate a plan to eescape Houston before it is bombed; all they have to do is make it to the USS Stockard (an RV). Jim Pike's Sister Rayna, says, "could be worse." Then the Hotel's power fails. then when they make it to the stairwell, they can't hear anything and think the coast is clear. Rayna Says, "This should be easy", then they hear a whole mob of Zombies burst into the bottom of the stairwell. Finally, Jim snaps: "I order you to quit saying optimistic things."

* In the third book in the AlternateHistory ''Literature/WorldWar'', one of the Alien Invaders, who can't stand cold, has been reassigned to a new area in the winter and asks the pilot how cold it is. Upon being told that there is ice on the ground, he remarks: "That seems to happen a great deal on this planet. I don't suppose this Siberia can be too much worse than the rest."
** Also, this happens a ''lot'' to Fleetlord Atvar, the commander of the invasion force, starting with a derisive "And how much can a species change in 800 of their years?" in the very beginning of the series. (The very premise is based on that.)
** A few more:
** "Set off nukes in orbit, that should disrupt their communications and demoralize them to the point of surrender!" They end up proving to humans that nukes are possible and cause everyone to accelerate their atomic programs, and the global EMP failed to do anything significant due to mankind's lack of vulnerable technology.
** After [[spoiler:Russia sets off the first nuke]], "At least the Americans and Germans don't have nukes." Cue [[spoiler:Germany nuking Berslau and America nuking Chicago within a week of each other.]]
*** Leading to the best line in the series, where a flunky turns to Atvar and says, "Well, Exalted Fleetlord, now what?"
** "Those clumsy rockets the Germans use are as annoying as hell, but at least they're the only annoying ones." [[spoiler:America begins using short range rocket attacks.]]
** In ''Second Contact'', "Well, damn, I wasn't expecting ginger to exist. At least it can't get any worse now that the colonists are here." [[spoiler:It acts as a sex drug on their females, turning their entire mating cycle on its head and generating much lulz amongst humans.]]
** "Let's nuke one city in retaliation for every nuke used against us! Nobody would be crazy enough to ignore such a demand!" [[spoiler:Hitler. That is all]].
** At some point during that exchange, the US sets off a nuke in [[spoiler:Chicago]], causing the Race to make [[spoiler:Seattle]] go boom. They get a bonus, as [[spoiler:it turns out that Vice President Harry Wallace died in the blast, and FDR's strength fails him in January 1944, causing Cordell Hull to become President. The next time we see Atvar, he says something along the lines of "HA! Both of their legitimately elected leaders are dead! Surely they'll refuse to acknowledge Hull as their rightful ruler and collapse into civil war!" The US fails to collapse.]]
*** And [[spoiler:During the invasion of England, Atvar is puzzled when Winston Churchill tells him that he will use his "most dreadful weapons" and the answer isn't nukes. He decides that Churchill is bluffing on the grounds that nothing is worse than a nuke. Cue mustard gas massacre.]]
* In ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Sun Jian swears an oath that if he's hiding the Imperial Seal (recovered after the sacking of the capital), may he meet a violent end. You can guess what happened. Ditto for Cao Cao's ''[[WhatAnIdiot three]]'' lines to the effect of "If Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang had been smart enough to place an ambush here, we'd be doomed." By the second time, his companions have already become savvy... for all the good it does them, since he's not.
* In ''The Amorous Umbrella'' (sequel to ''The Incredible Umbrella''), Our Hero, who has a magical umbrella allowing him to enter fictional universes, uses it to attempt to find The Perfect Woman. At one point he uses it to enter the universe of 1950's soap operas. After being ensnared in {{Plot Twist}}s and {{Love Dodecahedron}}s for years, he appears to be trapped in that universe. However, he is GenreSavvy, and recalls the one foolproof way of getting out of a soap opera, which is by dying. And the One True Inescapably Lethal Thing one can do in a soap opera is to say "I have never been better in my life." As soon as he says it, he can leave that universe.
* ''Literature/JamesBond''
** Bond in ''Literature/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' says to his new wife on their honeymoon, "We have all the time in the world." [[spoiler:And then Blofeld shoots her in the head in a drive-by.]]
** Just as Bond says to the GirlOfTheWeek in ''Literature/LicenceRenewed'' that TheDragon Caber won't cause any trouble after diffusing the EvilPlan in BigBad's plane, he enters the room and starts a fight.
* Literature/CiaphasCain, '''[[FakeUltimateHero HERO OF THE IMPERIUM]]''', often says something along these lines. Is savvy enough to know he really should know better.
** His iceworlder compatriots have a proverb though that is much more sensible: "It can always get worse."

* In "Hover Car Racer" Jason Chaser is being told how he was the better racer even though his opponent just beat him and was offered a place on a pro team. He says "Yeah?, well I don't see the chiefs of any pro teams walking up to us and offering us a run in a grand slam race." As he says this a billionaire who runs a pro team walks up to offer them a place in the race.
* An early example is in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' by Creator/HGWells, courtesy of the astronomer Ogilvy.
-->'''Ogilvy:''' The chances against anything manlike on Mars are [[MillionToOneChance a million to one]].

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the second ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' book: villain Briar Cudgeon says that nobody can get to him in order to stop him. The paragraph right after that says, "Of course, you should never say something like that, especially when you're an arch villain. It's just asking for trouble."

* In the ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Blood Pact'', Gaunt sees the regiment growing steadily more restless due to the rest on Balhaut and hopes to get back into the war. He gets it, but not quite the way he wanted: [[spoiler: A Blood Pact kill-team infiltrates in search of a high-ranking traitor and the Ghosts are dragged in.]] He later recognises this.
* ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'': In ''The Tide of Victory'', the allied fleet attacks a Malwa harbor with their new cannon-armed warships. When the Malwa siege gun guarding the harbor finally fires, John of Rhodes assures a companion that they couldn't possibly hit anything on their first shot, in a night engagement. A moment later, the companion finds themself knocked on their back by the cannonball striking the ship, killing John as well with a direct hit where he was standing.
* In ''[[Literature/LordPeterWimsey Busman's Honeymoon]]'', the detective Lord Peter has reconstructed the trap that he believed killed the murder victim. His wife is dubious, thinking that it might have been noticed. This is followed by someone walking in and setting off the trap. [[spoiler:The murderer, no less.]]
* Nancy Mitford's 1935 novel ''Wigs on the Green'' was a satire, loosely based on Mitford's sisters Unity and Diana (Mosley): it portrayed the British Union of Fascists, fascism in general, and Nazi Germany, as a "harmless bunch of cranks". Understandably it was not reprinted until 2010.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', while training with Lionblaze, Rosepetal actually says, "What could possibly go wrong?" in response to Lionblaze saying that Toadstep shouldn't be so loud when he trains. Immediately after she says this, Bumblestripe appears and says that a dog is attacking his crippled sister, Briarlight.

* In ''[[Literature/HumanxCommonwealth Midworld]]'', after an encounter with a camouflaged predator that mimics a gap in the forest canopy, one of the skypeople makes a snide remark about how, at this rate, they'll run into something that "imitates ''nothing''" next. Three days later, they encounter something called the palinglass...
* When Emma is describing the hiking trail she's urging Lori to take at the opening of ''[[Literature/AuntDimity Aunt Dimity: Snowbound]]'', she is excessively optimistic:
--> "I'll put in a map of the trail." Emma leaned forward and patted my arm. "But I promise you, you won't get lost this time. Honestly, it's a simple, straightforward route. There's only one turning, and," she sailed on, blithely uttering the curse that had doomed travellers for centuries, "you can't miss it."
* In ''Literature/RallyRoundTheFlagBoys'', the chapter where Guido di Maggio gets his first impression of [[NoSocialSkills Walker Hoxie]] ends:
-->"Boy," he said to himself, "there is one guy I am never going to get mixed up with!"\\
Somebody Up There chuckled.
* ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: Spore''. DontGoIntoTheWoods. But... ehhh...
--> "It's so peaceful, I'm sure there's nothing dangerous here."
--> The sentence had barely left her mouth when [[WhenTreesAttack a bunch of vines wrapped themselves around Zak and pulled him into the air.]]
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', Oliver Wood, Gryffindor's Quidditch team captain mentions that Harry hasn't failed to win them a game as of yet. The next chapter, Harry is overcome by the effects of a dementor and, by no fault to himself, failed to catch the Snitch and lost the game.
** During the Quidditch World Cup in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Bagman thinks there's no chance Krum will catch the Golden Snitch in the World Cup final and yet Ireland will win, which Fred and George bet him forty-two Galleons, fifteen Sickles, and three Knuts will happen. This is exactly what happens one chapter later.
** Again in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Harry remarks to Ron at one point about Trelawney's frequent "predictions" about Harry's impending doom: "If I'd died as many times as she said I would, I'd be a medical miracle." [[spoiler:Cue three years later, when Harry [[HeroicSacrifices "dies"]] but manages to [[NegateYourOwnSacrifice come back without lasting harm]].]]
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Sirius taunts his dueling opponents about their incompetence, right before [[spoiler: Bellatrix kills him]].
** Near the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Bellatrix taunts her dueling opponent about what would happen to her children after she kills said opponent [[spoiler: with her joining her recently-dead son. Said opponent proves what an enraged MamaBear is capable of by killing her with a spell.]]
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's novelette, "Lost Legacy",
--> Brother Artemis, "[[SinisterMinister God's Angry Man]]", faced the television pick-up. "And if these things be not true," he thundered, "then may the Lord strike me down dead!"\\
The [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch coroner's verdict of heart failure]] did not fully account for the charred condition of his remains.[[note]]Although this was not actually a case of divine intervention.[[/note]]
* In ''Literature/TheDemonBreed'', the alien invaders have captured the ActionGirl heroine and the man she was attempting to rescue. With a firing squad ready to execute them, their captor delivers a speech which concludes:
-->In either case, Tuvela, your defeat and death signal the beginning of the hour of our attack on your world. And now, if it is within the power of a Tuvela to defy our purpose, show what you can do.
:: She does.
* The poem ''Casey At The Bat'' is about a baseball game featuring the Mudville Hens and their star player Mighty Casey. In the final inning, Mudville has two outs and two on base. Then, Casey goes up to bat. He's so sure of his skills, he actually allows the pitcher to get two strikes against him. Then, the pitcher throws the deciding pitch and Casey makes his swing...and strikes out.

* Jerin Whistler of ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' wants to mention that one of his mothers is pregnant by his father, who recently died in an accident. He decides not to say anything about it, because he doesn't want to tempt fate. (Miscarriages or stillbirths are common, especially with boy babies - thus the polygyny).
* In ''[[Literature/{{Newsflesh}} Deadline]]'', Shaun runs down a list of their current problems, then [[YouJustHadToSayIt he just]] ''[[YouJustHadToSayIt has]]'' [[YouJustHadToSayIt to say]]:
-->'''Shaun''': Okay, people, can anyone come up with a way to make this day any worse?\\
Cue outbreak sirens going off and Mahir calling to tell his colleagues they have no way out.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'':
** This trope is known locally as "tempting Tasio". [[SpeakOfTheDevil Just saying his name]] is believed to be enough to provoke some petty inconcience or large scale calamity.
** When Eric hits rock bottom at the start of A Mage's Power, he believes his day can't get worse. CueTheRain and Tasio's glee.
--->'''Tasio''': ''Oh you shouldn't have said that!''
** During ''Literature/ManaMutationMenace'', Annala said, "I really freakin' hate time travel" in response to her boyfriend's oracle. She was quoting Church of Chaos scripture, but it was apparently enough for fate because she spends the bulk of the next book, ''Literature/TranscendingLimitations'' jumping back and forth through time and coordinating with her time displaced selves.
* In ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' series, naming a ship ''Invincible'' is considered by the Navy people serving at the front as a challenge to the living starts to prove the name wrong. And it always is. Ships named ''Invincible'' tend to get shot up and destroyed much faster than any other ship name in the fleet, and this is by the standards of a war so brutal that they stopped making ships whose systems could last more than three years without needing a comprehensive overhaul because 99% of them wouldn't last that long anyway. But despite the fact that ''Invicible'' is such a bad-luck ship name that nobody in the fleet will allow parts salvaged from an ''Invincible'' to be installed on their own ships for fear of the bad luck rubbing off, the people in headquarters keep reusing the name.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': In the first book, Katniss reassures her sister Prim that her name won't be drawn for the Hunger Games … Seconds later, that's exactly what happens. And Katniss realizes that if you're referred to as "the girl who was on fire" enough times, eventually you do get actually lit on fire.

* In ''Literature/TheMadKing'' by Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs, the hero and heroine are fleeing the villain's men in a stolen car, but the poor quality of the road is slowing them down and the pursuers are gaining. When they reach the sealed highway that runs all the way to the city where their allies are waiting, the heroine joyfully exclaims that they're safe now. Immediately, "as though in answer to her statement", the car breaks down.
* Clip from the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' tells Nimander and his group to wait in their room while he goes out to the town's tavern to see what the obviously drugged townspeople are up to. Everyone thinks it's a bad idea. It isn't disclosed what exactly happened, but the group finds him the next morning on the tavern's terrace curled into fetal position and comatose.
* In ''[[Literature/HomecomingDrizzt Homecoming]]'' Quenthel has a vision of the founding days of Menzoberranzan, when drow were united under one cause by the presence of demons in their midst. Well, Quenthel could use some unification after the disastrous assault on the Silver Marches in ''Literature/CompanionsCodex''. So she decrees that all drow that can summon demons in the city do so, since that will totally not cause uncontrollable problems in the future.
* ''Literature/GravityFallsJournal3'': Upon noticing Agent Trigger spotted the journal, Dipper writes "I hope he doesn't ta..." The next page features Trigger's notes. Trigger's last note is about how people will never forget about the arrest they're about to make in "A Tale of Two Stans". Ford uses Fiddleford's memory-erasing ray to make the agents forget.
* In Creator/ReginaldBrettnor's short story "These Stones Will Remember", [[ItMakesSenseInContext a 19th-century Russian ghost]] says of his opponent in a duel (and [[TooDumbToLive against a warning by his friend that said opponent is a crack shot]]), "[[SarcasmMode We shall see how deadly [with a pistol] this prince is!]]". Which, of course, is [[{{Irony}} precisely what ensued]]...
* Note to any character in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': the minute you express either to yourself or others that you have; 1) a solid handle on what's going on, 2) that you know who exactly who you can or can't trust and/or 3) what you can do about anything -- you've just highlighted; 1) the breadth of what you don't know/ are mistaken about, 2) where or how whatever you plan could go wrong and/or 3) exactly ''where'' you don't want somebody or something to try stabbing you or your plan to death. Congratulations. If you're an prologue or epilogue one-shot character, a relatively minor repeater or a wandering minstrel and you state something hopeful, positive, badass or all three... Oh, you poor, poor dear and sweet summer child.
* The superstitious Literature/{{Dortmunder}} should really have known better than to ask "What's the worst that could happen?" before embarking upon a seemingly simple job in ''What's the Worst That Could Happen?''.
* In one ending of ''Literature/RomeoAndOrJuliet'', Juliet says "Hope we can... ''iron'' out our problems" after Romeo decides to stay at her house for longer than intended, only for her dad to run in and immediately start beating Romeo to death with an iron pole.
* In the children's picture book ''Purple, Green and Yellow'', Brigid's mother is reluctant to buy her markers because she's afraid that Brigid will use them to draw on the walls or even on herself. Brigid insists that she won't do that and eventually persuades her mother to buy her "super-indelible-never-come-off-till-you're-dead-and-maybe-even-later" markers. She obediently draws on just paper at first, but grows bored and decides that it wouldn't hurt to color just one of her fingernails with a marker... and then her other fingernails too... and then her hands... until she's turned her entire body into a smorgasbord of colors that no amount of washing will clean off.
* In ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' [[RetiredMonster Daylen]] notes in his journal before [[BungledSuicide his attempt at suicide]] that that he'd do everything differently if he had another chance, and "If [[SentientCosmicForce the Light]] truly wanted to punish me, [[CruelMercy it would curse me to live]]." He later decides that [[MilesToGoBeforeISleep his long quest]] is his own fault for wanting to make amends and do things over, because the Light seemed to [[TheChosenOne accept his offer]].
* ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' Played with in the first novel. When Sandokan boasted he felt like could kill a tiger he was promptly invited by lord Guillonk to take part to a tiger hunt, but Sandokan not only survived but made good on his boast.
* Creator/EllisPeters' [[Literature/FelseInvestigates Felse novels]]:
** Tamsin in ''A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs'', while exploring a tunnel:
--->"It's so straightforward here," said Tamsin, stepping out merrily in the lead, "you hardly need a light." And promptly on the word she tripped over a stone that tilted treacherously out of the sandy floor, and went down with a squeak of protest on hands and knees.
** At the beginning of ''The Knocker on Death's Door'', Detective Chief Inspector George Felse has a conversation with a local plod from a remote corner of the county, in which they remark that there's never any crime to interest George in that neck of the woods. Heavily lampshaded by the narrator.
** In ''City of Gold and Shadows'', a police team set out to search the spots on the river where things tend to wash up, in case a missing boy has fallen in the river. They've searched nearly all the places on their list when the junior member of the team incautiously remarks that it looks like the boy didn't go in the river after all -- and of course his body is in the next place they look. This gets him an angry YouJustHadToSayIt from his superior, as well as a lampshading from the narrator.
* ''Literature/StarWarsHonorAmongThieves'':
** Faced with a mission to Cioran, a heavily Imperial core world, Han remarks to Chewie that at least there won't be any of Jabba the Hutt's thugs after them there. He is, of course, incorrect.
** Han's learned his lesson by the time he meets Rebel spy Scarlet Hark and she expresses optimism after the first part of their infiltration of an Imperial data center goes well. Han [[LampshadeHanging promptly tells her off]].
--->'''Scarlet:''' See? No problem.\\
'''Han:''' Saying "no problem" is a sure sign that everything is about to go terribly wrong.\\
'''Scarlet:''' I'm so glad I brought you along to tell me these things.
* ''Literature/TheseBrokenStars'': Seriously, who calls a spaceship the ''Icarus''? [[AGodAmI Roderick [=LaRoux=]]], that's who.
* One of the oldest examples is ''[[Literature/AesopsFables The Tortoise and the Hare]]''. "Bah, that tortoise is so slow that he could never catch up to the likes of me, the hare. I'll just take a nap under this tree in the middle of our race. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong" Cue the hare waking up some time later to see the tortoise just short of crossing the finish line, and despite the hare's best efforts to sprint after him, it's too late and [[EpicFail he loses to the tortoise]].

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' Sirius taunts his dueling opponents about their incompetence, right before [[spoiler: Bellatrix kills him]].

* ''Literature/HarryPotter''

** At the beginning of ''The Knocker on Death's Door'', George has a conversation with a local plod from a remote corner of the county, in which they remark that there's never any crime to interest George in that neck of the woods. Heavily lampshaded by the narrator.

** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d most of the time by Rincewind, who is sensibly paranoid, as things around him are usually about to kill him. He epitomises this in ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', after the battle, all seems peaceful and quiet, and he calmly says "something is about to go wrong" (or something similar). It does.
** In ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'', when Rincewind arrives at Death's house, he overhears the whispers of the soon-to-be-dead, many of whom are TemptingFate, e.g. "Watch where you're pointing that bow, you nearly--"
** And in ''Discworld/ReaperMan'', Windle Poons marvels aloud at how easily they'd slain [[spoiler: the mall organism]], only to have the creature turn on him and his allies in its death throes. [[spoiler: While they're ''inside'' the creature.]]

** [[DeathByIrony Guess what happens to him]].
** Not so much. The Martians are entirely un-manlike.

-->'''Shaun''': Okay, people, can anyone come up with a way to make this day any worse?
-->Cue outbreak sirens going off and Mahir calling to tell his colleagues they have no way out.

-->'''Tasio''': ''Oh you shouldn't have said that!''

* Note to any character in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': the minute you express either to yourself or others that you have a solid handle on what's going on, that you know who you can or can't trust and/or what you can do about anything -- you've just highlighted what you don't know, where you're mistaken and/or what can't do, where or how whatever you plan could go wrong and exactly ''where'' you don't want somebody or something to stab you or your plan to death. Congrats. If you're an prologue or epilogue one-shot, relatively minor character or a wandering minstrel and you state something hopeful, positive, badass or all three... Oh, you poor, poor dear.