| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% The examples on this page have been put into alphabetical order. |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | %% Please add new examples in the correct order. |
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| 6 | |
| 7 | ->''"What prophecy doesn't have vague, apocryphal signs? Let's see, the usual ones cited are the appearance of Thin Bloods, Caine sightings, doom, gloom, that route."'' |
| 8 | -->-- '''Beckett''', ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' |
| 9 | |
| 10 | So the plot of your standard adventure story needs to keep referencing the story arc or continuing plot, and the heroes need to know there's some sort of threat and it's big and dangerous and evil. Not a problem, unless you can't let the heroes, or the audience, know what that threat is specifically. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Hence we get [[MadOracle crazy visions]] and [[InfallibleBabble nonsense prophecies]] and bits of [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness shadowy groups talking of vagueness]]. They typically consist of "[[MadeOfEvil Evil]] is coming", "The darkness will arrive" or possibly "TheEndIsNigh", or some such. The audience is reminded of a coming villain or threat but is never really given a clue what it might be. It could occur once or in [[OncePerEpisode every episode]]. Omens, like strange animals, strange behavior or peculiar weather can also work. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | When the threat is never made explicit and only the effects are shown, see TakeOurWordForIt. If the actual threat fails to impress our frightened heroes, see FeetOfClay. Conversely, if the threat (or the character's reactions to it) uproots the existing status quo, see NothingIsTheSameAnymore. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Goes beyond {{Foreshadowing}}. See also CrypticConversation and TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness. Often YouWillKnowWhatToDo. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Subtrope of PortentOfDoom. AStormIsComing is a specific subtrope. Related to ArcWords. PoorCommunicationKills goes with the territory if the confused characters aren't asking the obvious questions or for clarification. Not to be confused with HarbingerOfImpendingDoom. |
| 19 | ---- |
| 20 | !!Examples: |
| 21 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 24 | %%* Some of Tiffa's predictions in ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' fall under this. |
| 25 | * In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', [[spoiler:Reiner and Bertolt]] after revealing themselves make vague references to a force that lies beyond the walls also "their hometown", and repeatedly state that "there's no future inside the walls". [[spoiler:Uri Reiss]] also made similar statements. It turns out what they refer to in TheReveal is [[spoiler:the Kingdom of Marley who are among living proof that humanity is thriving outside the walls and they plan to conquer for their resources along with the Coordinate]]. |
| 26 | * ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': |
| 27 | ** The Skull Knight makes his first appearance [[spoiler:after Guts defeats Griffith and leaves the Band of the Hawk]] and tells Guts that from that moment up until [[spoiler:the Eclipse]] in one year, he and his friends have begun walking toward their doom. Though he does not give any more detail about what [[spoiler:the Eclipse]] actually does or signifies, he doesn't hesitate to tell Guts that when it does go down, horrible things will happen, saying that [[AStormIsComing a storm of death will come and consume the Band of the Hawk]] [[spoiler:which is quite literal when the Eclipse actually does happen -- and the chapter where it all starts going down is even called "Storm of Death."]] A year later, [[spoiler:when Griffith reaches his DespairEventHorizon and activates his [[ChekhovsGun Crimson Behelit]] and the Eclipse finally happens]], all Guts could think was that he and his comrades were in terrible danger. |
| 28 | ** All of the times that Nosferatu Zodd popped in to remind Guts and the Band of the Hawk about his prophecy was doom on a layaway plan. |
| 29 | ** The Holy See has a prophecy about the sun dying for the fifth time and appearing above a red lake, signifying the appearance of the Hawk of Darkness that will bring about an age of darkness and chaos. It's unclear what is meant, though the first part refers to The Eclipse [[spoiler:with the sun dying for a fifth time being the creation of the fifth Godhand and the red lake being the copious amounts of blood from the Band of the Hawk sacrifices]]. The Millenium Falcon arc eventually reveals that the Hawk of Darkness is none other than Griffith, and the age of darkness and chaos [[spoiler:has him open the paths and merge the astral and physical realm together, resulting in all sorts of mythical creatures to appear and basically create HellOnEarth, with reality-bending inwards upon itself]]. |
| 30 | * In a sense, the Super Saiyan prophecy is this in the Namek arc of ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Despite how ubiquitous it is now, at the time all that was known was that a prophecy existed of a Super Saiyan who would be a bloodthirsty apex of the Saiyan Race, and very little was known about it. Nowadays it's essentially an open secret. |
| 31 | * In ''Anime/{{Endride}}'', [[FaintingSeer Eljuia ]]is pretty upfront that he doesn't have much to go on in his visions of what's about to come, but it always looks ominous. |
| 32 | * Since the start of the Grand Magic Games in ''Manga/FairyTail'', the story constantly tries to foreshadow some terrible, apocalyptic event that would happen the day after the Games end. A few clues are given to what might happen ([[spoiler:Lucy will in some way be taken out from the plot and Levy will take over her narrator role, several people will die, the knight Arcadios is thinking out the so-called Eclipse Plan which will involve a Stellar Spirit Mage that will be either Yukino or Lucy, and there has been a mention of the Dragon King Feast where humans, dragons, and demons will meet]]), but most of it is shaded in mystery until the end of the arc. |
| 33 | * In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureTheJOJOLands'', after Jodio outwits Rohan as the group succeeds in obtaining the [[GreenRocks lava rock]], Rohan warns them that they will be hunted by an unknown party, but refuses to elaborate further. |
| 34 | * Played with in ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess2016''. Having already had one disastrous run-in with the CallToAdventure, Link is quick to pick up on even the most subtle PortentOfDoom as a sign that shit is about to go down and [[DoomMagnet he'll be the center of it]]. But he's also desperate to hold onto the new life he's carved out for himself for as long as possible, and the building guilt and fear he feels for doubling down on pretending everything is just fine result in seemingly unprovoked mood swings that serve as a much more obvious omen than any spooked animals or inexplicably blighted bumper crop. When people start disappearing, one of the villagers immediately identifies Link as a DoomMagnet, and Link finally breaks. |
| 35 | * ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' gives this as an ability to the Saint Church's knight, Knight Carim, allowing her to write vague poems that apparently predict the future. She can only write them once a year and they're all written in Ancient Belkan (resulting in details being LostInTranslation), as well. It's lampshaded within the show, with the TSAB's higher-ups [[CassandraTruth refusing to believe her prophecies due to vagueness.]] The most major instance of this is when she prophesies the "Ship of Law guarding the land" being destroyed. When [[spoiler:Section Six and the Ground Forces]] are subsequently destroyed, they thought that this was what the prophecy meant (and what the heroes were trying to prevent). [[spoiler:Until the ancient warship of the Belkans, a Lost Logia, is reconstructed by Jail Scaglietti. The prophecy was pointing to Section Six successfully destroying it.]] |
| 36 | %%* Third Impact from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. |
| 37 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 38 | ** When Blackbeard defeats Ace in the duel on Banaro Island, the narrator noted this event will give rise to a major change in the status quo of the world. And it didn't disappoint. Ace's capture leads to the Summit War, which leads to Ace dying in Luffy's arms after fatally intercepting an attack by Akainu. Blackbeard himself showing up and killing Whitebeard. Whitebeard defiantly revealing "One Piece does exist" ''to the entire world'' before [[DiedStandingUp dying while still standing proud]]. Blackbeard achieving the impossible InUniverse feat of having two Devil Fruit abilities by somehow stealing Whitebeard's Devil Fruit, and finally Blackbeard and his crew managing to take Whitebeards position as one of the Four Emperors during the Two year TimeSkip. |
| 39 | ** Law notes during the Summit War that "D will always cause another storm" while rescuing a [=KOed=] Luffy. It's revealed later in the Dressroa arc that Law heard this from his BigBrotherMentor, Corazon, when he revealed that those who carry the Will of D are the natural enemies of the Gods. In this case referring to the World Nobles who consider themselves Gods because they are the descendants of the creators of the world, i.e., the 19 Royal Families who founded the World Government several centuries ago.[[note]] There were actually 20 Royal Families who founded the World Government but one of them, the Nefertari Family, decided to remain in their home kingdom while the rest moved to the [[HolyCity Holy Land of Mariejois]]. Thus, the Nefertari descendants are not considered World Nobles.[[/note]] [[spoiler:The repeated mention of D being enemies of the Gods by the secret King of the World, Imu, hints that the characters who carry the name D will trigger some kind of massive event that destabilizes the world currently ruled by the World Nobles.]] |
| 40 | ** When the Straw Hat Grand Fleet first formed at the end of the Dressrosa arc, the narrator foreshadows they will be the cause of a major world changing incident sometime in the future. |
| 41 | ** When the Mink tribe is introduced in the Zou arc, we learn of an event called the "Dawn of the World". Not much is known about this event other than the Minks are waiting for someone to bring about this dawn.[[spoiler:When Pedro [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself to allow the Straw Hats to escape]] during the Whole Cake Island arc, he tells Carrot that he firmly believes that they are the ones who will bring about the dawn of the world.]] |
| 42 | ** [[spoiler:As the World Government ships surround the Egghead island to eliminate Luffy and Vegapunk, the narration notes that this event will lead to a massive change in the status quo.]] |
| 43 | * ''Manga/QueenMillennia'': Yayoi has a habit of saying that Hajime has to do important things for important reasons with no explanation until after they happen. |
| 44 | * ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'': A Holy War was prophesied to engulf all of Britannia. However, who the Holy War would be against is not stated. The King of Lyonesse tried to prevent the war by asking his knights to lay down their swords. The Holy Knights instead decided to prevent the war by overthrowing the king and forcing the various civilians to make preparations for it. |
| 45 | * Justified in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' when Guame makes a pair of cryptic references to humanity's "true enemy" and the danger of Spiral Power (referring to [[spoiler:the Anti-Spirals]] and [[spoiler:the Spiral Nemesis]] respectively). In the first case, he was musing aloud and in the second he was speaking to his boss who already knows about both; so he doesn't provide details because he doesn't need to. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 49 | * In ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', Veronica Cale spends a panel foreshadowing ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' with a vague, oracular monologue. |
| 50 | * During Creator/GrantMorrison's run on ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'', the yellow aliens (who first gave him his powers) gave him these words of warning: "Terrible times are coming. Be strong. Be careful." It's unclear whether they're referring to the Second Crisis (the incident with the Psycho Pirate, or ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime) which he saw an image of beforehand or the events following [[spoiler:his family's murder]]. |
| 51 | * Parodied in ''[[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} Asterix and the Soothsayer]]''. It is about a soothsayer who predicts the vague things that each one wants to hear. That the storm will end and then there will be good weather, that Obelix would find a girl, that Cacofonix's voice would become a music trend, that the Roman centurion will be promoted... stop. The Roman centurion tells him that all Gaul soothsayers must be taken to prison, so he cravenly admits he is a fraud who cheats people. But the centurion is so arrogant that he is damn sure that he would be promoted, and so keeps treating him as a real soothsayer. He even warned the Gaul village (under Roman orders) that the air would be polluted, and that they had to escape; Getafix played a joke on him by actually polluting the air on purpose. |
| 52 | * In the issues before ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' started, there would be a page of a mysterious fist pounding at a wall, proclaiming "Doomsday is Coming" until it busted through, in which it went "Doomsday is Here!" |
| 53 | * Various characters in ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'' get thoroughly fed up with this; the ghost of Colin Piggy aka [[spoiler:the avatar of Hope]] appears to both Snow White and Rose Red to warn them things are about to get tougher and they need to brace themselves. Both of them repeatedly ask for useful details, but the vision says it can never stay for very long and always disappears before giving any information that would actually help them prepare a plan. The discovery of what the vision really is makes this a JustifiedTrope; [[spoiler:Hope isn't about reason or making strategies to survive, its province is the simple refusal to lie down and give up the fight, so it makes sense that it only tells people to summon their strength]]. |
| 54 | ** Ozma the witch gives young Ambrose Wolf a prophecy about his siblings, which he relays to Snow and Bigby. The prophecy is actually quite detailed, but it doesn't give anyone any information on how to avoid it. As of the end of ''Cubs in Toyland'' [[spoiler:certain parts of it have already come true]]. |
| 55 | ** The Forsworn Knight shouts prophecies that are vague even by the standards of this trope (i.e. "The time is coming!" and nothing more than that), and Bufkin the monkey gets thoroughly fed up with it and directly lampshades the fact that he never says anything useful and never does anything beyond sound ominous. |
| 56 | * In the ''ComicBook/FinalDestination'' comics (as well as some of the films) the words "it's coming", and "it's here" can be seen at various points. |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy:'' Throughout the first half of Vol 2, there are several mentions of "the death of the future-tense", which is apparently serious enough to bring time-travellers back to 2007 to try and kill the Guardians. It turns out this means [[spoiler:the appearance of The Magus causing every single timeline to turn into one where he and the Church of Universal Truth rule the universe]]. |
| 58 | * ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2020'': Doctor Doom teleports to Throneworld to claim Hulking's space sword because, in his own words, "Something is coming." [[spoiler:It turns out the "something" is Dormammu, and Doom knows this because he's kind of responsible.]] |
| 59 | * ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' was set up for years by DC, and during the course of this long game, various characters would make mysterious speeches about "a time of great darkness" and other such variations on that theme. |
| 60 | * Played quite seriously in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': leading to the Day of Chaos event, a cadet with psionic abilities named Hennessy begins to see vague but harrowing visions of the future, of death and destruction yet to come, but everyone tells her to be more specific, something she can't find herself to do. [[spoiler:In the end, it is precisely this vagueness that leads to Dredd being unable to prevent it.]] |
| 61 | * In Grant Morrison's ''ComicBook/{{J|usticeLeagueOfAmerica}}LA'' run, the various ComicBook/NewGods the JLA run into say something along the lines of "IT'S COMING!" to foreshadow the arrival of ancient god-weapon Mageddon. |
| 62 | * In the ninth issue of ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020'', Dream Girl warns everyone that a "[[ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga Great Darkness]]" is coming. |
| 63 | * From ''Comicbook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'' comes, together with general warnings to be brave/strong/careful/etc. and remember, this piece of oddity: "That which is called '''ego-death''' is coming to you.", which was given to a time travelling Doctor Doom by [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Evil!Future!Loki's skull "friend"]], and Loki themself by one of Odin's crows. |
| 64 | * Creator/MarvelComics' ComicBook/{{Onslaught}} was introduced without anybody knowing who Onslaught was, [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants including]] its creator. [[TheWorfEffect Just Juggernaut]]... falling from the sky, and when asked who/what happened [[HisNameIs all he could say]] was [[https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-116/2/ "Onslaught."]] |
| 65 | * ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': This trope is invoked by Destiny in one issue, describing his encounter with the Three Fates: "Their comments were, unsurprisingly, oracular and ambiguous." |
| 66 | * The ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' played with this a ''lot'' before Creator/IanFlynn took over as the writer. Creator/KenPenders in particular was fond of hinting at various important magical destinies for the cast, [[SequelHook only to implore readers to buy the next issue to see what happens]]. When he finally quit the title, a lot of plot threads from him and various other writers were left hanging, so Flynn spent his first year wrapping all of them up before moving onto new stories. |
| 67 | * ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'': |
| 68 | ** ''ComicBook/UltimateOrigins'': The Watchers show up to watch some imminent devastation, and empower a human to deal with it, which they know nothing about, other than it will happen. |
| 69 | ** ''ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy'': The video of the dying aliens really knows how to get a point across, but doesn't really say much that might be actually useful. "No. No escape. No escape. It comes. And there's no escape. All the stars got out. You are already dead. It comes and you are all dead. We are all dead. Listen. There is only death for you. There is only small life. Then there is this. We he I send this tell this warn this. There is only horror now. There is only death now" |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 73 | * ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': One of the people in Berezniki who's psychically affected by [[TheAssimilator the Many]] and/or [[spoiler:Ghidorah]] says the following regarding their EvilPlan for [[AdaptationalHeroism Monster X]]: |
| 74 | ---> "[[BilingualBonus palach]] ''is coming''" |
| 75 | * ''Fanfic/AceSavvyANewHope'': In TheStinger, Lisa alludes to something really bad coming that threatens all of Royal Woods but doesn't specify what it is. |
| 76 | * ''Fanfic/AlwaysVisible'': The very first thing you read is Delia's nightmare of five men killing an invisible man. This is a foreshadowing of what the story will tell later about her friend Jo, whom society has effectively "made invisible" from her own eyes. |
| 77 | * In ''Fanfic/AquamanMonster'', the creatures around Atlantis are known to make prophecies and comments on the future, which only Arthur can hear and understand. Unfortunately for Arthur, they tend to be vague and hard to parse at best. |
| 78 | * Azael in ''The Foreteller'' seems to only make prophecies using these |
| 79 | --> '''Azael:''' I see three adventures, coming in due time, they are the subject of this rhyme. Before you think “Can he read my mind?” you, large one, are not the last of your kind. Though they are few and scattered away, you will meet them, soon, someday. However, this discovery comes at a price, as you must fight demons, born from ice. Listen to this second vision, in this you will all be found. Fighting the White Death in the forest underground. In the final vision that I see, the Earth will crack asunder, sending you out at sea. You will meet many things that, in the oceans prowl, in particular a cutthroat crew of pirates, foul. However you will be saved, as you should, by one of their number, like you, a villain turned good. That is all that I see, these visions are what they are, do not blame me. |
| 80 | * ''Fanfic/TheFlashSentryChronicles'': |
| 81 | ** Mist Veil, Flash Sentry’s mother, was born with the ability to see into the future. However, in ''Season 4'', she stops having visions, but the last vision that she had involved an armored stallion who had wings and a horn. |
| 82 | ** In the ending of ''The Forgotten Darkness'', Shade warns that there is a shadow coming to consume Equestria, and that he’s going to remain in prison so that he won’t get in its way. |
| 83 | * ''Fanfic/AFutureOfFriendshipAHistoryOfHate'': The [[CoDragons heralds]] each seek out their counterpart among the Mane Six just before [[BigBad Ruinate]]'s escape from his [[SealedEvilInACan prison]] to creepily give a warning/prophecy about it. The girls react with various degrees of fear and confusion. |
| 84 | * In ''Fanfic/HogwartsSchoolOfPrayerAndMiracles'', both Hagrid and Dumbledore repeatedly say that "dark days are coming", but don't offer much explanation. |
| 85 | * In ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/8793565/chapters/20159878 How the Light Gets In]]'', Laurel is suddenly brought BackFromTheDead through witchcraft. While they're happy at her return, she and Dean (and probably Sam and Castiel) all know that her resurrection is unnatural, and there will be consequences. |
| 86 | -->"What's happening here - this open defiance of the natural order of things - is wrong. Her very existence is wrong. She is not a miracle. She is a consequence. Something has gone terribly wrong here. Somewhere under the denial and the desperation to believe that they can go back to the way things were, Dean knows that too. There's something coming. Something bad. She can feel it, smell it, practically taste it in the air, and he can try but he won't be able to protect her from it." |
| 87 | * The ''Series/{{Firefly}} / Series/DoctorWho'' crossover "Fanfic/TheManWithNoName" has this, with the way River often talks . In this case, she predicts the Doctor at the end of the first chapter. By one of his ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast scary]]'' names. |
| 88 | -->'''Mal:''' She said, and I quote, 'AStormIsComing.'\ |
| 89 | '''Inara:''' [[LampshadeHanging That's...vague]]. |
| 90 | * According to [[CompositeCharacter Professor]] [[RougeAnglesOfSatin Sinatra]] from ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'', "drak times are near". The threat alluded to is obvious - Voldermort and "Da Death Dealers" -, but it sounds overly dramatic for what amounts to a petty thug who goes around begging Enoby to kill Harry with a knife. [[spoiler:Also manages to be shockingly accurate, since they do take over Hogwarts in the final chapters.]] |
| 91 | * The ancient prophecy introduced late in ''FanFic/MyLittleAnimaniacs''. It describes many creatures from a faraway land saving everyone from evil. |
| 92 | * Happens in the end of Chapter 9, remastered version of ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls''. [[OurDemonsAreDifferent The Rat]], after [[spoiler:being given Morgan's Soul]] by Kyril, tells the Hunter that another war is imminent, "TheOldGods are waking", and they may have in need of him in the future. It is unclear what all these mean specifically, and Kyril doesn't even question The Rat further. The chapter even ends off with the Rat saying, "I hope the Goddess is ready...", with little elaboration. |
| 93 | * In the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', the [[BadFuture Dark World]] Series has this happen, starting with the StormingTheCastle Arc: [[spoiler:It starts with [[TheStarscream the Valeyard]]'s FinalSpeech implying that Discord isn't the only BigBad they need to worry about. Then Aquamarine, a Sea Pony they meet, warns of an Alicorn Witch coming to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy the world]], and after helping defeat [[OneWingedAngel Odyne]]![[TheDragon Cruelty]], Fluttershy's ghost warns them that they're "Apple Pie's hamster" (Apple Pie's pet hamster is named {{Groundhog|DayLoop}}). These are all warnings about the true BigBad, [[KnightTemplar Nightmare Eclipse/Paradox]]]]. |
| 94 | ** Comically subverted with the prophecy [[spoiler:Princess Thalia (Pinkie's potential future Alicorn incarnation) gave her potential followers, the Love Cats]]. It is ''very'' specific [[spoiler:right down to mentioning that Moth and her fellow reformed Changelings aren't bad guys. It specifically says the Changelings are the bad guys 'except the one who looks like Bon Bon and her friends.']] |
| 95 | --> '''Princess Luna''': We wondered which of our siblings or potential siblings would make such an oddly specific prophecy. |
| 96 | * ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': Before succumbing to his wounds, [[spoiler:Jaro Tapal]] has a dying vision of what's to come and cryptically warns Mace Windu about a secret war, and that both the Republic and Jedi are at risk of being consumed by the "chaos" that is soon to follow the Imperium of Man's invasion of their galaxy. |
| 97 | * President P. Resident in Fanfic/TwilightSparklesAwesomeAdventure is bad at describing what Enemy Boss Leader's weapon will do. |
| 98 | --> '''P. Resident:''' And he has an evil weapon that will do bad things to people if you don’t stop him. |
| 99 | * ''[[Fanfic/TheUltimateEvil The Stronger Evil]]'': Shortly after Shendu's turned to stone once again, the world is [[NaturalDisasterCascade unnaturally affected by powers of nature]] which the magically aware people explain to be a result of the unbalancing chis of the world. They're caused by the awakening of an unknown entity with CreepyBlueEyes, who is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:Tiamat, the primordial god of creation and mother of the Demon Sorcerers]]. |
| 100 | * ''Fanfic/TheVerySecretDiary'': While trying to sort Ginny into her house, the Sorting Hat detected Tom Riddle's presence, but only warned, "There is something alien in this brain of yours, my girl...take heed...". Ginny, of course, didn't understand the problem. |
| 101 | * Chapter 2 of ''Fanfic/WhatAStrangeLittleColt'' has a [[TheStinger stinger]] where Princess Luna only says she “brings terrible news” before the chapter ends. |
| 102 | * {{Invoked}} by Jim in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12814121/1/Withhold Withhold]]'', who is GenreSavvy enough to make his warnings of the future cryptic enough so that the trolls will believe he's a seer and ''not'' a PeggySue trying to change the past. |
| 103 | * Invoked by Lilith in ''Fanfic/YoungJusticeDarknessFalls'' when she foreshadows the coming of Trigon. |
| 104 | [[/folder]] |
| 105 | |
| 106 | [[folder:Film — Animated]] |
| 107 | * This is how the main conflict of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'' is set up. Abe Simpson has a "religious experience" in church, culminating in a [[MadOracle strange prophecy]] that everyone initially dismisses as just a foolish old man's eccentricities. His ravings during the episode are all in the form of riddles, so they sound incomprehensible and aren't taken seriously. |
| 108 | -->"People of Springfield, heed this warning! A twisted tail! A thousand eyes! TRAPPED FOREVER! EPA! EPA!" |
| 109 | * In ''WesternAnimation/WatershipDown'', Fiver's descriptions of his prophetic visions take this form: "I know now… a terrible thing is coming." … "something ''very bad is about to'' happen...! ''It's all around us!"'' and later, "There's a ''bad'' danger coming--" "--It's not good!" (it indeed proves to be [[SugarApocalypse very bad]]). This makes sense, as Fiver is not only a ''rabbit'', but a little kid, and the [[ConLang rabbit language]] that [[TranslationConvention all the dialogue is being translated from]] almost certainly has no words to even remotely describe [[spoiler:the warren being filled with poison gas]]. |
| 110 | [[/folder]] |
| 111 | |
| 112 | [[folder:Film — Live-Action]] |
| 113 | * ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact''. Dave Bowman arrives and tells everyone they've got to get their butts in gear and leave within 2 days. ''Everyone'' asks what's going to happen, and all Dave bothers saying is "Something wonderful". Perhaps "[[spoiler:The monolith is going to transform Jupiter into a sun]]" would be too hard for folks to understand. |
| 114 | * Renfield in ''Film/BramStokersDracula'': "The Maaaster is coming!" ([[DramaticIrony of course the audience know who the Master is, but the unwitting inhabitants of London don't, yet]]). |
| 115 | * ''Film/EventHorizon'' - when [[spoiler:Justin temporarily regains consciousness after spending time in vacuum]], his contribution to the conversation is "It's coming... the ''dark''..." |
| 116 | * The trailer for ''Film/FantasticFour2015'' went this route. |
| 117 | -->'''Victor:''' You don't know anything about what's coming.\ |
| 118 | '''Reed:''' What ''is'' coming?\ |
| 119 | '''Victor:''' Doom! |
| 120 | * {{Subverted|Trope}} [[PlayedForLaughs For Laughs]] in ''Film/HerbieGoesToMonteCarlo'': Herbie is rampaging through a Romani camp. Inside a tent, a fortune teller is reading a frozen-horrified client his fortune: |
| 121 | -->'''Fortune teller:''' Darkness is about to fall on you.\ |
| 122 | Herbie hits the tent, collapsing it. |
| 123 | * Parodied in ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'' about the arrival of the Chosen One: |
| 124 | -->'''Master Tang:''' My friend told me there would be a Chosen One.\ |
| 125 | '''Friend:''' ''[in flashback]'' There will be a Chosen One.\ |
| 126 | '''Master Tang:''' Then, he told me of the significance.\ |
| 127 | '''Friend:''' ''[in flashback]'' It will be significant.\ |
| 128 | '''Master Tang:''' [[BreadEggsMilkSquick And then, he killed the dog]].\ |
| 129 | ''[flashback, the friend gets a tense face, farts, and a dog yelps and collapses]'' |
| 130 | * ''The Living Wake'' centers around the protagonist's "vague and grave disease". |
| 131 | * Occurs at various points throughout ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' films. |
| 132 | ** "Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumors grew of a shadow in the east... whispers of a nameless fear." "Smoke [[RollYourRs rrises]] from the mountain of Doom. The hour grows late..." "The stars are veiled. Something stirs in the east... a sleepless malice. The eye of the Enemy is ''moving!"'' Granted it can be excused, as due to the current times ''everyone'' knows what's being talked about. |
| 133 | ** In trailers for ''Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug'', the narrator says that "Darkness is coming...", presumably alluding to The Battle of Five Armies and, of course, Sauron and the One Ring. |
| 134 | * Bert in ''Film/MaryPoppins''. "Wind's in the east. Mist coming in. Like something is brewing, about to begin. Can't put my finger on what lies in store. But I feel what's to happen, has all happened before." |
| 135 | * ''Film/MenInBlack'': |
| 136 | ** The disguised alien who James Edwards chases down at the beginning delivers several panicky warnings that "your world is gonna end" and "he's coming!" |
| 137 | --->'''Edwards:''' Yeah, and when he gets here I'll arrest his ass, too. |
| 138 | ** Apparently this is something MIB has to handle on a regular basis. |
| 139 | --->'''Edwards:''' He said the world was gonna end.\ |
| 140 | '''K:''' ''[without a blink]'' Did he say when? |
| 141 | * The omnipresent thread of the looming {{Nothing|IsScarier}} in the first half of ''Film/TheNeverendingStory''. Though in this case, it seems like even the people talking about the Nothing have no idea what it is. Figuring it out is actually a major plot point. |
| 142 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 143 | ** The Jedi council deals with this in the three prequels. "Dark, his future is..." as Yoda describes it -- but evidently not so dark as to interfere. |
| 144 | ** In [[OncePerEpisode every film]] there's a least one person who has "…a bad feeling about this." |
| 145 | ** Even the subtitle of ''Episode I'', ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', suggests this (it's clear to someone familiar with the original trilogy but otherwise it's played straight). |
| 146 | ** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' had this in its very first teaser with Supreme Leader Snoke's voiceover: "There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? The dark side...and the light." Subsequent trailers did little to clarify this. Even after the film's release, the precise nature of this "awakening" remains unclear. |
| 147 | [[/folder]] |
| 148 | |
| 149 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 150 | * "AStormIsComing" in Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/AmericanGods'' - the storm is mostly [[{{Foreshadowing}} metaphorical]]. |
| 151 | * {{Subverted|Trope}} in Creator/MercedesLackey's ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Brightly Burning]]'': a very young, recently Chosen Herald Trainee snaps with a vision of his mentor Herald caught up in the middle of flames. They speculate that it symbolizes being caught up in the chaos and hell of war. It turns out that [[spoiler:the Herald was caught up in the massive flames of Lavan Firestorm's final storm]]. |
| 152 | * {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' spinoffs, notably ''Belgarath the Sorcerer'', which outright states that all prophets are madmen. Unfortunately, not all madmen are prophets, so many books of alleged ''prophecy'' are just plain nonsense -- fortunately, as an immortal, Belgarath has enough time to sort it out. |
| 153 | * Parodied in ''Literature/BoredOfTheRings'', where Goodgulf tries to warn Dildo with a series of portentous statements, going from "Evil Ones are afoot in the lands" to "There is a dog in the manger." |
| 154 | * In Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/BlackColossus", a terrible storm is combined with other omens. |
| 155 | -->''"Whence came Natohk?" rose the Shemite's vibrant whisper. "Out of the desert on a night when the world was blind and wild with mad clouds driven in frenzied flight across the shuddering stars, and the howling of the wind was mingled with the shrieking of the spirits of the wastes. Vampires were abroad that night, witches rode naked on the wind, and werewolves howled across the wilderness. On a black camel he came, riding like the wind, and an unholy fire played about him; the cloven tracks of the camel glowed in the darkness. When Natohk dismounted before Set's shrine by the oasis of Aphaka, the beast swept into the night and vanished. And I have talked with tribesmen who swore that it suddenly spread gigantic wings and rushed upwards into the clouds, leaving a trail of fire behind it. No man has seen that camel since that night, but a black brutish manlike shape shambles to Natohk's tent and gibbers to him in the blackness before dawn."'' |
| 156 | * ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Predicting the future is always imprecise, not least because Fate can, in fact, be changed. Dream and Shadow madra tend to be the best at it, but even Akura Malice, inarguably the greatest Shadow artist in the world, has difficulty determining more than "this person will be important soon." So it's rather worrying in ''Reaper'' when suddenly every single seer starts predicting the exact same thing with crystal clarity. [[spoiler:When the Mad King appears in the sky, the entire world ''trembles'', any seer of any power starts screaming, and various oracle devices begin repeating "a destroyer has come" over and over. When [[AlwaysABiggerFish Ozriel, Eighth Judge of the Abidan Court]] appears to challenge him, the trembling stops, and the message changes to "The Destroyer has come."]] |
| 157 | -->'''Sage of Calling Storms:''' He is here.\ |
| 158 | '''Reigan Shen:''' Who?\ |
| 159 | '''Sage of Calling Storms:''' The Reaper. |
| 160 | * ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'' is ''named'' after this trope. [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]], in that while the only description of the Forces of Evil given in the prophecy is "When the dark comes rising," and that's it, the rest of the prophecy lists out, quite succinctly, the forces of ''Good'' that shall be mustered against it. The series is then a step-by-step process of attaining the {{Plot Coupon}}s listed in the prophecy, and bringing together the Six who shall turn the darkness back. |
| 161 | * ''Literature/DaveBarrySleptHere'': |
| 162 | -->The only really positive aspect of the situation was that at least the nation was at peace. Yet at that very same moment, across the dark, brooding waters of the Atlantic, there was growing concern. "My God, look at those waters!" people were saying. "They're ''brooding''!" Clearly this did not bode well for the next chapter... |
| 163 | * The first ''Literature/DeptfordMice'' book includes a scene where the prophet bats outline the main plot of the trilogy, but in a way that's not much practical help to anyone. |
| 164 | * ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'': In a bit about the various timekeeping methods on the Disc, this comes up: |
| 165 | --> The calendar of the Theocracy of Muntab counts ''down'', not up. No-one knows why, but it might not be a good idea to hang around and find out. |
| 166 | * The souls of the dead in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' often warn Dante that his native city is only going to get worse and worse and that his own fate will be shaped by the sins of Florence. These prophecies refer to Dante's real-life exile from Florence four years after the ''Comedy'' is set. |
| 167 | * Justified in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' — vague statements and misdirection are a way of preventing time paradoxes. For example, the Gatekeeper's extremely vague message about dark magic in ''Literature/ProvenGuilty'' is actually the start of a convoluted GambitRoulette to get around the fact that if he told the rest of the White Council about [[spoiler:the impending vampire attack]], they'd evacuate and [[spoiler:the attack]] wouldn't happen, so he couldn't have foreseen it. It also serves to set up events so that [[spoiler:Molly isn't executed as a warlock]]. |
| 168 | ** In Harry's internal monologues, he's noting a decreasingly-vague threat in the form of the Black Council. FridgeLogic has that because in the Dresdenverse names have so much power, it's possible that by thinking about and searching for the Black Council, he's defining its essence. It's also possible that they didn't really have their act in gear before. We'll see. |
| 169 | * [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''[[Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos Fugitives of Chaos]]''. The supernatural "princes of the middle air" like to bet on people's fates, and they tend to cheat by sending helpful prophecies to the mortals they've bet on. They deliberately make these prophecies vague and ambiguous as a form of plausible deniability: if caught in the act by their peers, they can claim they weren't really telling the humans anything they shouldn't know. |
| 170 | * ''Literature/TheGanymedeTakeover''. Mekkis opposed the conquest of Earth because his Oracle (a [[ServantRace creeche]] capable of precognition) foresaw a 'coming darkness'. The apparent [[VichyEarth success of the invasion]] means that Mekkis is now discredited. When Mekkis demands an explanation, the Oracle can only repeat the same vague warnings. |
| 171 | * Justified in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', which features ''The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch''. The Author managed to foresee centuries worth of events, including [[BurntheWitch her own death]] ([[TakingYouWithMe for which she planned accordingly]]), the apocalypse [[spoiler:[[AntiAntiChrist or lack thereof]], and the world that came after.]] The problem is that she saw things well beyond her time, and described them in ways that could rarely be deciphered until after they came to pass. How could one describe the Kennedy assassination in a time when Dallas didn't exist? She also cared more about things affecting her descendants more than general history; she didn't mention Dallas, but the warning about a falling brick on the same date was clearly understood. |
| 172 | * The story of Literature/HarryPotter's life. He's given nibbles that there's something terrifying on the horizon - and as a matter of fact, a very clear prophecy was given about him… that he isn't told about for five books. There's also the centaurs…"Mars is bright", indeed. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Hagrid, who doesn't have a lot of patience for cryptic centaur speech. |
| 173 | * Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' series. Over the course of several books, Flinx learned of a horrible undefined threat that was sweeping toward Humanx space and would annihilate everything (and everyone) in its path. In ''Flinx Transcendent'' he destroyed it. |
| 174 | * Mocked by Angela the herbalist in ''Eldest'', the second book of ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' in making a DoomyDoomsOfDoom prediction. "Mmm....she's doomed! You're doomed!! They're all doomed! Notice I didn't specify what kind of doom, so no matter what happens, I predicted it. How very WISE of me." |
| 175 | * ''Literature/KittyNorville'': In "Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand" Odysseus Grant keeps giving Kitty vague warnings to stay away from the Band of Tiamat. When she asks for specifics, Grant tells her [[YouWouldntBelieveMeIfIToldYou she wouldn't believe him if he told her]]. Kitty responds, "I'm a freaking werewolf! Try me!" |
| 176 | * Spoofed and lampshaded in A. Lee Martinez's ''The Last Adventure Of Constance Verity'', when perennial WeirdnessMagnet/adventuress Connie grouses about how prophecies ''never'' just state things outright. When Tia suggests that prophets speak that way to maintain a "sense of mystery", Connie points out that the future is '''already''' mysterious, so if prophets genuinely valued mystery they'd simply stop saying ''anything'' about it. |
| 177 | * ''Literature/TheLeftHandOfDarkness'': {{Subverted|Trope}}, much to the protagonist's surprise, when he visits a group of {{Seers}} he's skeptical about. Having heard stories about their [[MathematiciansAnswer Mathematician's Answers]] and other unclear responses, he asks them whether the planet will join the Ekumene within the next five years and gets a BluntYes in response. They're correct. |
| 178 | * In ''The Screaming Staircase'', the first book of ''Literature/LockwoodAndCo'', the first things that the whispering skull tells Lucy is that "death is coming" and that "death is in life and life is in death." Both do have actual meaning and the latter becomes particularly meaningful in light of the revelations of the final two books of the series. Both, however, are so irritatingly vague at the time that Lucy's immediate reaction is to close herself off from communication from the skull and leave it be for time being, despite the fact it's the first known instance of ''anyone'' communicating with a type III ghost since Marissa Fittes. |
| 179 | * This appears in the premiere book of ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'' as "the thing to come." Mr. Benedict and his crew are already aware that "the Sender" is the cause of the phenomenon known as the Emergency and due to a number of factors have good reason to believe that something much worse is coming. Due to their limited ability to gather information up until the arrival of the main characters (the titular society), they don't know what this "thing to come" is, only that for them and those like them whose minds have a powerful love of truth, it is likely to be very bad indeed. |
| 180 | %%* Lampshaded and made fun of by [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Zawisza Czarny of Garbów]] in Andrzej Sapkowski's ''Literature/{{Narrenturm}}''. |
| 181 | * Invoked by Lawrence Bristow in ''Literature/{{Pale}}'', where he justifies his dictatorial plans for the practitioner community with the need to protect and organize against future threats, and when defeated declares that a threat of great magnitude will emerge within a few decades at most, but never provides specifics. He's proven right, after a fashion, a few months later, when [[spoiler:[[TheOathbreaker Charles Abrams]] seizes the throne of the Carmine Beast and begins levying arbitrary punishments on practitioners across Ontario, depriving them of magic at the worst possible times]], but it's noted that he could not have predicted this-he was simply referring to the continued decay of systems that keep the peace between human and Other, the growing human population, and the new interconnectedness of the practitioner community with the rise of modern communication, holding that enough will go wrong eventually to produce a major threat. |
| 182 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': DoubleSubversion in the house motto of House Stark: "Winter is coming". In itself, it is perfectly straightforward and not vague at all, only a warning that the cyclic [[EndlessWinter years-long winter]] will be coming in due time. However, this time, winter includes a mounting potential threat of invasion by [[TheFairFolk the Others]] and the reanimated zombies of their victims coming down from the North to invade Westeros. |
| 183 | ** The prophecies about the 'The Prince that was Promised' and the 'Song of Ice and Fire' fit the trope as well. |
| 184 | * ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': |
| 185 | ** In the novels ''Literature/{{Thrawn}}'' and ''[[Literature/AftermathEmpiresEnd Empire's End]]'', a threat in the Unknown Regions of space is alluded to by several characters. We never learn what it is, but it spooked [[BigBad Palpatine]] and also was serious enough that [[TheChessmaster Thrawn]] felt the need to go looking for allies to combat it. It's implied to be the BigBad of ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', Supreme Leader Snoke, but there's no telling for sure at the moment. |
| 186 | *** ''Film/StarWarsTheRiseOfSkywalker'' implies it's [[spoiler:Exegol, the lost planet of the Sith - and the legion of Dark Side worshiping cultists who call it home, with millennia worth of Sith magic and evil science at their disposal]]. |
| 187 | ** Many of the prophecies of the Jedi mystics in ''[[Literature/StarWarsMasterAndApprentice Master and Apprentice]]'' are of this nature, such as "When the kyber that is not kyber shines forth, the time of prophecy will be at end." Kenobi laments the seeming absurdity of there being a prophecy ''about'' prophecy. |
| 188 | * ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'', Luke felt the coming of the man who doesn't exist. Not kidding. |
| 189 | * ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': |
| 190 | ** The ArcWords: "The sun approaches the horizon. The Everstorm comes. The True Desolation. The Night of Sorrows." Interestingly, while the first seems metaphorical, [[spoiler:the Everstorm comes in the climax of ''Words of Radiance'']], and the Desolations are real events that are much worse. One starts to wonder how terrible the Night of Sorrows will prove... |
| 191 | ** Then there are the Death Rattles, prophetic whispers sometimes uttered by the dying. They describe many of the events of the books weeks or even months before they happen, but use such obscure terminology it's nearly impossible to puzzle them out even after the fact. Notable that the ArcWords were a Death Rattle, and bits and pieces of them show up all the time. |
| 192 | * Explained in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' as a limitation of prophecy and a language barrier of sorts: first of all, there are a lot of variables that the prophet isn't let in on. Secondly, prophets have a very hard time describing the phenomenon to anyone without the gift of prophecy - it would be at least as hard as explaining colors to a person born blind. Adding to the excitement, some prophecies are false, a prophet rarely has a sense of time or place regarding when or where their prophecy will occur, and a prophet rarely has context for a prophecy - he might witness cheering at an execution, and get the wrong impression because he doesn't know that the person being executed was a mass-murderer. |
| 193 | * Used many times in the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series. For example, in ''Midnight'', we actually see [=StarClan=] receive the vision, but they are ''incredibly'' vague about it. A conversation from the first two pages: |
| 194 | -->'''Bluestar:''' A new prophecy has come! A great doom that will change everything has been foretold in the stars.\ |
| 195 | '''Oakheart''': I have seen this too. There will be doubt, and a great challenge.\ |
| 196 | '''Bluestar:''' Darkness, air, sky, and water will come together and shake the forest to its roots. Nothing will be as it is now, nor as it has been before.\ |
| 197 | '''Random cat:''' A great storm is coming.\ |
| 198 | '''Nightstar:''' Can nothing change what is about to happen? Not even the courage and spirit of the greatest warrior?\ |
| 199 | '''Bluestar:''' The doom will come. But if the Clans meet it like warriors, they may survive. |
| 200 | ** And what did all that vagueness refer to? Humans building a housing development in the forest. |
| 201 | ** An [[https://warriorcats.com/content/article/writing-a-good-prophecy article]] written by the story team revealed that they ''intentionally'' write the prophecies vague because they don't plan out a full arc in advance and want to leave room for reinterpretation in case they change things. |
| 202 | * ZigZaggingTrope in ''Literature/WatershipDown'' -- the [[WaifProphet prophetic rabbit]] Fiver foresees disaster for the warren but is unable to [[YouHaveToBelieveMe coherently explain it]]. The canny Chief Rabbit does not entirely dismiss the possibility, but he decides that whatever the disaster might be, it will be safer to wait it out. It turns out to be a calamity beyond the ability of rabbits to describe. |
| 203 | ** This happens twice more in the novel, despite Hazel knowing better than to ignore Fiver's prophecies, [[WhatTheHellHero as Fiver points out]]. Unfortunately, it's only after misfortune strikes that Fiver is able to [[EurekaMoment put his visions in context]] and act to save the situation. |
| 204 | * In the second ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' series, Moon's prophecy- the only hint of an overarching plot- begins: |
| 205 | -->''Something is coming to shake the earth,\ |
| 206 | Something is coming to scorch the ground...'' |
| 207 | * ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': Happens both in the original story and the sequel, ''Literature/{{Ward}}''. In both precognitive parahumans are able to perceive that an apocalyptic disaster is coming and humanity is very unlikely to survive... but they can't see what exactly that disaster ''is''. All they can really tell in both cases is that there is a very high chance that ''billions'' will die if nothing is done, with total human extinction a very real possibility. |
| 208 | [[/folder]] |
| 209 | |
| 210 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 211 | * In the first episode of ''Series/AgentCarter'', the NebulousEvilOrganisation for the series is introduced in suitably ominous terms. |
| 212 | -->'''Leet Brannis:''' Leviathan is coming.\ |
| 213 | '''Peggy Carter:''' Who?\ |
| 214 | '''Leet Brannis:''' They'll tell you themselves soon enough. [[CrapsackWorld You're not going to like the future; such as it is.]] |
| 215 | * ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': |
| 216 | ** In [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E16Afterlife "Afterlife"]], Gordon tells Cal that his violent behavior has decided his fate as well as Skye's. It later turns out that he was talking about Cal's exile, meaning he would be permanently separated from his daughter. |
| 217 | ** In [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS5E4ALifeEarned "A Life Earned"]], there is a prophecy that S.H.I.E.L.D. will come to save the people of the Lighthouse from the Kree. The Kree find the whole prophecy annoyingly vague, as they don't know how many agents are coming--there could be two, or twenty. Deke points out that it would probably be less vague if the Kree hadn't killed everyone who knew anything about it. Indeed, we briefly see one of the last people to know the full details of the prophecy, and he knew exactly who was coming, when they were coming, and was able to recognize them on sight. |
| 218 | ** Robin, the seer who provided the prophecy in the first place, is a subversion. Her prophecies are simple, easy to understand, and accurate. Unfortunately, her mind is unstuck in time, so she often forgets which of her prophecies are relevant at the moment. She spends much of her childhood desperately trying to warn people about dangerous events that won't happen for another fifty years. |
| 219 | * PlayedForLaughs when Creator/HowieMandel appeared on ''Series/TheArsenioHallShow''. Howie told a story about walking down a street in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and encountering another pedestrian who was yelling "Look out! He's coming!" at the top of his voice: |
| 220 | --> Howie: ....then he turns to look at me and he goes, "You're the CRAZY guy! ''[Audience laughs]'' |
| 221 | --> Arsenio: Who do you think that guy meant when he was saying, "He's coming"? |
| 222 | --> Howie: [[Creator/PaulReubens Pee-wee Herman]]? |
| 223 | --> Arsenio: I should just shut up now. |
| 224 | * In ''Series/{{Atlantis}}'', the soothsayer tells Jason that he is the subject of a prophecy and vague destiny and doom and fate and other stuff is in his future. He's also TheChosenOne, although she doesn't tell Jason that or what exactly he is chosen ''for''. Specifics are rather thin on the ground. |
| 225 | * ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'': In "Lay Down Your Burdens: Part 1", Sharon tells Helo that a "dark time" is coming for humanity. Presumably she's [[{{Foreshadowing}} referring]] to the Cylons catching up to humanity on New Caprica which happens [[TimeSkip one year later]] (which may lead viewers to wonder how she could know about that). |
| 226 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': |
| 227 | ** Much of the fanfare around the First Evil -- ''"From beneath you, it devours."'' |
| 228 | ** Dawn was anticipated three times in a DreamSequence: Faith talking about "Little Miss Muffet", and with Faith saying "Little sis is coming" and Buffy responding [[YouWillKnowWhatToDo "I know."]] And once with Tara saying "be back before Dawn." Note, the first of these was at the end of Season 3. Dawn came around in Season 5. Joss plans way too far ahead. |
| 229 | ** The Beast's arrival in season 4 of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' is foreseen in vague implications of fire and blood. Before that, in season 3, the Nyazian scrolls contain vague forebodings about Angel's child, the return of Holtz, and the imminent destruction of mankind. Angel's crew and Wolfram and Hart repeatedly misinterpret the prophecies to their chagrin. [[spoiler:It turns out that a time-traveler had ''edited'' the Nyazian scrolls for his own benefit, making their misinterpretations inevitable.]] |
| 230 | * The second episode of ''Series/DinosaurPlanet'' revolves around a catastrophic volcanic eruption threatening the lives of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous Elkhorn Range. The dinosaurs being animals, they don't properly process what's about to happen, only being plagued by the telltale signs of the approaching disaster like violent explosions of gas and the smoking mountain. It's not until the pyroclastic flow from the eruption wipes out half of the region that the dinosaurs finally recognize that whatever is coming is a threat. [[spoiler:By then, it's too late, and the entire cast is wiped out.]] |
| 231 | * ''Series/DoctorWho:'' |
| 232 | ** Practically all of the ArcWords of the new series count as a vague threat — "Bad Wolf" (though that turned out to be a good thing), "You have something on your back", "He will knock four times", "The song is ending", "Darkness is coming", "The Pandorica Will Open", "Silence Will Fall", "Tick-Tock, goes the clock". |
| 233 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E11FearHer "Fear Her"]]: At the end, the Doctor announces that AStormIsComing, not-so-subtly hinting at the upcoming SeasonFinale. |
| 234 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii "The Fires of Pompeii"]] is chock-full of this in [[IceCreamKoan an even more bizarre form]] than usual, because the characters are ancient Romans being influenced by an alternative timeline to develop psychic powers which they naturally attribute to the gods, and accordingly couch in all kinds of MeaninglessMeaningfulWords. Which is why it's nice when the Doctor eventually gets sick of it. |
| 235 | --->'''Pyrovile:''' We... are... awakening!\ |
| 236 | '''The Doctor:''' Name yourself! Planet of origin, galactic coordinates, species designation according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation!\ |
| 237 | '''Pyrovile:''' WE... ARE... RISING!!\ |
| 238 | '''The Doctor:''' ''[imitating it]'' TELL... ME... YOUR NAME! |
| 239 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead "Planet of the Dead"]]: At the end, psychic Carmen gives the Doctor a prophecy that's vague but still enough to unnerve him: |
| 240 | --->"It is returning, returning through the dark." |
| 241 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow "The Beast Below"]] has a creature that everyone refers to only as... [[TitleDrop the Beast Below]]. |
| 242 | ** "''Silence will fall''" is especially terrifying, given the circumstances under which it's revealed. And then we find out it's a bit of a mistranslation; "[[spoiler:Silence ''must'' fall, when the question is asked]]". |
| 243 | ** The General tries to do this in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]] with regard to the Hybrid (a fabled super-warrior, supposedly half-Time Lord, half-Dalek), a creature of prophecies that had been haunting the Doctor throughout Series 9. The Doctor, the one person who knows the truth about it, is having none of it. |
| 244 | --->'''The General:''' Legends say--\ |
| 245 | '''The Doctor:''' Nope.\ |
| 246 | '''The General:''' ...some prophecies suggest--\ |
| 247 | '''The Doctor:''' No.\ |
| 248 | '''The General:''' ...many prophecies--\ |
| 249 | '''The Doctor:''' ''No''.\ |
| 250 | '''The General:''' ...''all'' Matrix prophecies ''concur'' that the Hybrid will bring ruin to Gallifrey. |
| 251 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E5FugitiveOfTheJudoon "Fugitive of the Judoon"]]: Companions Graham, Ryan and Yaz encounter [[spoiler:Captain Jack Harkness]], who is trying to reach the Doctor but is unable to get a lock on her with the equipment he's using due to interference. He passes on a message to [[spoiler:"Beware the lone Cyberman" and to not give it what it wants]], running out of time before he can go into detail. |
| 252 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWho60thASTheStarBeast "The Star Beast"]]: Before the Meep is taken away, they tell the Doctor that they'll have the last laugh because "the boss" will be very pleased when he finds out that there is another being with two hearts on Earth. |
| 253 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWho60thASTheGiggle "The Giggle"]]: While boasting to the Doctor about various other powerful beings he has defeated, the Toymaker mentions "The One Who Waits", a being that even he didn't want to face. |
| 254 | * Played dead straight in the 2011-12 season finale of ''Series/{{Fringe}}''. After the main action of the episode is wrapped up, one of the Observers appears to say to the hero "They are coming," and the season ends. |
| 255 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'' made the books' prophecy of "The Prince That Was Promised" even more vague by stating that, in the language of the prophecy makers, the word for "Prince" was gender neutral. Meaning now the ever-growing list of those who might qualify as "The Prince" just doubled. |
| 256 | * In ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'', early on several characters have visions of a mysterious woman who looks [[IdenticalStranger identical to Team Gaim's Mai]] and gives vague warnings about how dark times are coming and that they can achieve their heart's desire if they have the strength to persevere. [[spoiler:And then late in the series, we find out that this woman actually ''is'' Mai, who after gaining god-like power from the "Golden Fruit" used TimeTravel to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong try and prevent all the terrible things that have happened]]. And she wasn't vague on purpose, either; because she didn't have full control over her powers, her direct warnings like "Do NOT put on [[TransformationTrinket that belt]]!" were warped into the cryptic messages we saw [[OnceMoreWithClarity the first time around]].]] |
| 257 | * ''Series/{{Lost}}'' adored this trope. Just about every season finale/season premiere (and quite a few regular episodes) would end with someone saying something along these lines. At least once, it was actually lampshaded -- the psychic who advised Claire about her baby warned her that blurriness is a very bad sign in a premonition. |
| 258 | * In ''Series/NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger'', every plan the [[StandardEvilOrganizationSquad Jakanja]] devise is to invoke a mysterious phenomenon called "It". Every time they send out a MonsterOfTheWeek it's as part of a plan to summon "It", every new piece of information that comes up has something to do with "It" and everything the Hurricanegers are working to stop is involved in "It". It takes until the final few episodes of the series for us to get a good idea of what "It" is -- [[spoiler:an EldritchAbomination seeking to destroy and remake the universe.]] |
| 259 | * In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' Jor-El tries to get Clark to stop Darkseid's hold on the world but is so vague about it that Clark thinks he's talking about something else entirely, and stops that instead. Jor-El responds by yelling at him. Well ''sorry'' Jor-El, but maybe if you communicated better you wouldn't have this problem. Considering [[IgnoredExpert his prior track record]]...yeah. |
| 260 | * In the [[MadeForTVMovie miniseries]] version of ''Literature/TheStand'', Mother [[MagicalNegro Abagail]] helpfully informs the heroes: ''"The Beast is loose in the fields of Bethlehem. The rats are in the corn!"'' She also says "AStormIsComing. ''[[HeWhoMustNotBeNamed His]]'' storm!" And "the rats are his." |
| 261 | ** Both quote Creator/WilliamButlerYeats: "What rough Beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards [[FauxSymbolism Bethlehem]] to be born?" |
| 262 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': |
| 263 | ** In the episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E21AllHellBreaksLoosePartOne "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" (S02, Ep21)]], Sam says, "I mean, the size of what's coming -- it's bigger than anyone has ever seen. I mean, it's gonna get bad." But, Sam really does not flesh this out further. |
| 264 | ** In S10, Death says getting rid of the Mark of Cain will unleash the Darkness. WHAT the Darkness is exactly is completely vague. [[spoiler:Even now that the Darkness IS released. It takes the form of an attractive woman, but she doesn't know much of anything, even wondering "who is this 'Death'?" when Dean told her that Death knew about her.]] |
| 265 | *** Pretty much a summary of Season 11's overarching mythology plot. The Darkness' moniker is whispered by fearful souls, and the immortals quake, but no one really knows what she's capable of. She rarely shows her powers on screen and when she does, it's powers that are visually unimpressive like fog (albeit fog that kills people). Her powers are never fully explained, only implied by the fact that she is God's sister who has inverse powers. What exactly she plans to do to the universe is never completely explained beyond the idea that she wants to "end it." Her infatuation with Dean is never really clarified other than he freed her and he's one of God's creations. It's almost like the writers wanted to create a threat that would be difficult for any combination of the Winchesters, Castiel or God to neutralize, but had no idea where to go with it once they came up with a concept. |
| 266 | * ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': |
| 267 | ** The Abaddon gets a few of these in the first series. |
| 268 | ** ''"The twenty-first century is when everything changes."'' Repeated every few episodes, and in the opening narration. |
| 269 | ** From "Children of Earth": "WE... ARE... COMING!" |
| 270 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''Literature/TrainMan2004''. The main character often says "IT IS COMING...!" on his message-boards. |
| 271 | * In the first season finale of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', Rick's group is being allowed to escape the self-destructing CDC by Dr. Jenner. Rick tells Jenner that he's grateful he's letting them escape and live, but Jenner cryptically warns him, "the day will come when you won't be." Jenner is accurately predicting the hardships that the group will face out in the apocalypse, but the Season 7 premiere, named after Jenner's quote, strongly implies that the day [[BigBad Negan]] arrived was the day Jenner inadvertently warned Rick about all those years ago. Even before the Season 7 premiere, hints foreshadowing Negan's arrival came off like this, such as the presence of the Saviors mentioning their unseen boss with reverence in early Season 6, making us wonder just who they're talking about. In the mid-season premiere of Season 6, a Savior tells the characters that they must submit to Negan, but at the time, we don't know who he is or what he's talking about. |
| 272 | * The ending of ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' depicts the Cretaceous extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. In their final moments, the dinosaurs of Montana are all seen pausing and looking up at the sky, sensing ''something'' approaching. The kid-friendly ''Prehistoric Planet'' version also emphasizes that the dinosaurs don't know what's coming, even if they can sense something. |
| 273 | [[/folder]] |
| 274 | |
| 275 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 276 | * "Bad Moon Rising": "Hope you have got your things together / Hope you are quite prepared to die. / Looks like we're in for nasty weather / One eye is taken for an eye". While the original is pretty upbeat, Rasputina did a pretty ominous-sounding cover version. |
| 277 | * The entirety of Music/BobDylan's famous song [[AStormIsComing "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"]] (about [[NukeEm nuclear]] [[TheEndIsNigh armageddon]], if you listen closely enough) is made of this trope. Here's an excerpt: |
| 278 | -->I saw a [[WildChild newborn baby with wild wolves all around it]].\ |
| 279 | I saw a [[GhostCity highway of diamonds with nobody on it]].\ |
| 280 | I saw a [[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank black branch with blood that kept drippin']].\ |
| 281 | I saw a [[{{Gorn}} room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin']].\ |
| 282 | I saw a [[BladeofGrassCut white ladder all covered with water]].\ |
| 283 | I saw [[TheSpeechless ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken]].\ |
| 284 | I saw [[ChildSoldiers guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children]] ...\ |
| 285 | \ |
| 286 | I heard [[ThunderboltsAndLightning the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin']].\ |
| 287 | I heard [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world]] ...\ |
| 288 | Heard the [[SadClown sound of a clown who cried in the alley]] ...\ |
| 289 | \ |
| 290 | I met a [[MoodDissonance young child beside a dead pony]].\ |
| 291 | I met a [[BlackAndWhiteMorality white man who walked a black dog]].\ |
| 292 | I met a [[IncendiaryExponent young woman whose body was burning]].\ |
| 293 | I met a [[SugarWiki/AHallmarkPresentation young girl, she gave me a rainbow]]...\ |
| 294 | \ |
| 295 | Where the people are many and their hands are all empty\ |
| 296 | Where the [[GaiasLament pellets of poison are flooding their waters]] ...\ |
| 297 | Where the [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen executioner's face is always well hidden]] ...\ |
| 298 | Where [[DarkIsEvil black is the color]], where [[NumerologicalMotif none is the number]]...\ |
| 299 | \ |
| 300 | And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard\ |
| 301 | And [[AStormIsComing it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall]]. |
| 302 | * Still more ominous is Tom Waits' "Starving in the Belly of the Whale", delivered in his usual cross between MetalGrowl and drunken hobo singing: |
| 303 | -->Don't take my word\ |
| 304 | Just look skyward\ |
| 305 | They that dance must pay the fiddler\ |
| 306 | Sky is dark'ning\ |
| 307 | Dogs are barking\ |
| 308 | The caravan moves on |
| 309 | |
| 310 | * Music/{{Nightwish|Band}}: |
| 311 | ** In the lyrics of "7 Days to the Wolves" time is running out and some wolves are coming, and… that's about it. |
| 312 | ** In "End of All Hope", this is the end of all hope, because... [[WordSaladLyrics well]], it's the end of all hope. |
| 313 | * Music/WithinTemptation: |
| 314 | ** In "The Howling", the protagonist is running from wolves (or possibly something metaphorically resembling wolves) for reasons unspecified and time is apparently running out. |
| 315 | ** In "Stand My Ground", "it" is totally coming and she's going to stand her ground against it. |
| 316 | ** In "Forsaken", the day has come and there's no time any more, and they are forsaken. (What vague detail there is sounds a bit like the fall of {{Atlantis}} or something like it.) |
| 317 | ** In "Our Solemn Hour", the protagonist wishes for God to save her from some terrible, awful thing that is starting to occur but what exactly is going to happen isn't mentioned. |
| 318 | * Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Your Horoscope For Today" is [[InvertedTrope bizarrely specific]] for all its predictions, but tells Taurus "...The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep." In context (most of the other predictions are either threatening or insulting), this was less being ominous and more implying the reader's life is so boring that nothing of note will ever happen. |
| 319 | [[/folder]] |
| 320 | |
| 321 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 322 | * [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] was VERY bad with this during the THEY storyline. For most of the arc, Wrestling/{{Sting}}, Wrestling/KevinNash, and the Pope were being so vague that if they had just told Dixie Carter who THEY were, the whole mess that they have on their hands right now could have been dealt with! |
| 323 | [[/folder]] |
| 324 | |
| 325 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 326 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Dixit}}'' requires a player to give a hint, and then provide an image card that matches their hint (shuffled in with cards from other players that attempt to match the hint). This hint needs to match a level of vagueness that allows at least one player to correctly guess the card, and at least one player to make an incorrect guess. |
| 327 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Mysterium}}'', the ghost cannot simply say “it was the barber who killed me in the garden with a hammer.” Instead, the ghost only provides abstract images, like... [[AliceAllusion a bunch of rabbits falling into a tunnel.]] A man in a plague mask on a train. A falling top hat. It’s up to the players to determine what the image or set of images is intended to communicate. |
| 328 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Obscurio}}'' has clues given out by the grimoire, pointing to two specific locations on two images (or pointing at the image itself to indicate the whole image is a clue), to guide wizards into picking the correct image in a set of six. There is also a hidden traitor, who also attempts to confuse players as well by picking images that look similar, and traps that also make things harder to interpret. |
| 329 | * The TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}} metaplot features a prophecy that alludes to a [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Time of Unparalleled Darkness"]]. Very few details are given as to the specifics, other than it sounds bad. Events like the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Grand Conjunction]], the Grim Harvest, the disappearance of Ruldolph van Richten, and the outright disappearance of several island domains have all been hinted as leading up to this time of [[BuffySpeak climactic badness]]. Considering the [[CrapsackWorld themes]] already present in the ''Ravenloft'' setting as a default, that's saying something. |
| 330 | ** The Grand Conjunction itself was one at the time. A prophecy by the Hyskosa, the setting's Nostradamus analogue, laid out six incredibly vague events that, when brought to pass, would lead to the destruction of the entire demiplane. Only interference by Azalin, who had been [[TheChessmaster manipulating events]] to bring the prophecies about ahead of time and inadvertently [[NiceJobFixingItVillain juxtaposing the last two verses]] prevented the Grand Conjunction from taking hold in full. Even so, the turmoil was tremendous, leading to a modified [[ApocalypseHow Class 1]], with several domains shuffled, lost, destroyed, and discovered, along with a massive {{Bottomless Pit|s}} covering hundreds of square miles in the center of the Core's landmass. |
| 331 | [[/folder]] |
| 332 | |
| 333 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 334 | * [[JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples The three witches]] of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' only mention [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "something wicked"]] once, [[GreekChorus to introduce]] the title character now that he's become an evil tyrant, but their "Double, double toil and trouble" speech counts. Shortly after King Duncan's murder, and [=MacBeth=]'s subsequent coronation, idle soldiers gossip to each other about unnatural and terrifying manifestations in the animal kingdom, like a herd of horses attacking and eating one another ([[FisherKing a murderer and usurper on the throne means that the land itself is sick and going mad]]). |
| 335 | [[/folder]] |
| 336 | |
| 337 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 338 | * In ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'', Gaaki's Mask of Clairvoyance gives her visions of the future, and for some reason causes her to speak in extremely vague terms. However, her teammates are occasionally able to decipher her ramblings, e.g. "Seekers of Shadows" means the Dark Hunters. |
| 339 | [[/folder]] |
| 340 | |
| 341 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 342 | * ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': In the epilogue serving as a SequelHook, Dr. G reveals that C's actions were actually perpetrated by an unknown NebulousEvilOrganization that would eventually make another move. On top of that, a [[StoryBreadcrumbs document]] found in a research room at The Consortium mentions that the energy emanating from the [[EldritchLocation Limen crater]] is slowly growing and could bring about an apocalyptic event without precedence on the planet. |
| 343 | * In Chapter 2 of ''VideoGame/AnotherCode'', one of the puzzles you solve reveals the message "Bill will come". You don't get any more info about Bill until Chapter 4, but it's a nice, vague warning about the game's antagonist. |
| 344 | * ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' starts with the PlayerCharacter emerging from the wreckage of a shot-down blimp, who then talks to the only other survivor, a gnome named Preston Radcliffe [[spoiler:who is actually a disguised dwarf named Stennar Rock-Cutter]]. He gives the player a ring and tells them to "find the boy", as well as informing them that he "escaped" from somewhere and that someone is "coming back" to destroy everything, all the while not elaborating on any of the information that he just gave you. This is {{justified|Trope}} by the fact that he [[AlmostDeadGuy was dying]], and it was a painful struggle just to get each word out. |
| 345 | * The original ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' is full of references by miscellaneous oracles and people in the know to something dark being about to happen in general and looming in the PlayerCharacter's destiny in particular. When you're playing a second time and know what it is all about, it's amazing you didn't guess the answer the first time from all the hints. |
| 346 | * One of the side missions in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' ends with Batman receiving one of these, ostensibly as a SequelHook. |
| 347 | * ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has/had "The Coming Storm", which was introduced in Issue 9 as the background plot justification for Ouroboros (Which lets you travel through time). The plotline was dropped until Issue 19 (that's right, 10 whole issues), where "The Coming Storm" seems to be happening now, with the incursion of the Praetorians. |
| 348 | ** The Praetorian invasion may not even have been it. Issue 21 (12 issues later) brings a meteor storm / Shivan invasion that would seem to be the beginning of the "storm", as it ties in with a mission in the Ouroboros introductory arc. As of issue 22 (February 2012), the Dark Astoria arcs somewhat clarify what "the Coming Storm" may be: [[spoiler:An alien invasion force known as the "Battalion", of which the Shivans are only part of their force.]] Naturally, the contact who tells you this admits that they aren't certain of it, however. |
| 349 | ** In addition to Ouroboros, the NPC [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Prometheus]] who offers semi-tutorial information for the [[ExtendedGameplay end-game]] [[PrestigeClass Incarnate system]] also can be coaxed into revealing non-specific hints as to future events (or confirm your own suspicions about the events occurring in the world). However, to unlock [[DialogueTree these discussions]], you'll have to show completion of certain tasks and trials. |
| 350 | * ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer3TiberiumWars'': In the few missions before he [[FakingTheDead supposedly dies]], Kane is very nearly giddy about the arrival of... something. It's only once it shows up that anybody else, player included, learns that it's ''aliens''. '''[[AlienInvasion Hostile]]''' aliens. He's equally cryptic about what "ascension" is ([[spoiler:he's an alien who was exiled onto Earth in prehistoric times and after [[GeneralFailure Vega]] crashed the ship Kane built to escape the planet in GDI territory, [[MagnificentBastard Kane intentionally lured the Scrin onto Earth in order to hijack their]] [[PortalNetwork wormhole technology]] [[XanatosSpeedChess instead]]]]), and [[TheChessmaster everything else]]. |
| 351 | * ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': This game is full of prophecies about "the Knight", but you never learn what the Knight is or what it's trying to do, at least in chapter 1. |
| 352 | * ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' is a ''big-time'' repeat offender. The Darkness is coming. An ancient power slumbers below. Something dark lies beneath. The shadow rises, we need your light. The dark is strong here. |
| 353 | * In the Witch Hunt DLC for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', Morrigan alludes to some great upheaval that is coming to the setting of Thedas, though she specifically avoids sharing any concrete details. |
| 354 | -->'''Morrigan:''' Change is coming to the world. Many fear change and will fight it with every fiber of their being. But sometimes … change is what they need most. |
| 355 | * In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Flemeth herself hints that Thedas will be undergoing some major turmoil, though in [[CrypticConversation typical fashion for Flemeth]], she refuses to say exactly what. |
| 356 | -->'''Flemeth:''' We stand upon the precipice of change. The world fears the inevitable plummet into the abyss. Watch for that moment ... and when it comes, do not hesitate to leap. It is only when you fall that you learn you can fly.\ |
| 357 | '''Hawke:''' Cheap advice, [[ScaledUp from a dragon]].\ |
| 358 | '''Flemeth:''' We all have our challenges. |
| 359 | ** In the same game, talk to Sandal enough and he'll suddenly come out with an ominous prophecy. |
| 360 | -->"One day the magic will come back, all of it. Everyone will be just like they were. The shadows will part and the skies will open wide. When he rises, everyone will see." |
| 361 | * In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', both Cocoon and Gran Pulse are prophesied to be doomed, but the exact nature of the calamity remains unclear because time has been twisted and warped so many times that any of a number of things could cause it. |
| 362 | * The tutorial level of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' has quite a lot of this. But don't be afraid - the door's not yet open. |
| 363 | * In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'', Beryl, a creepy girl who is head of the Occult Club, ''loves'' making predictions of darkness and impending disaster, but is rarely specific as to exactly ''what'' will happen. |
| 364 | * ''VideoGame/LostSoulAside'': In the 2016 trailer, the playable character mentions that "a new war is coming." |
| 365 | * ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'': The game starts after ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon'', with [[TheBadGuyWins Shao Kahn victorious]] and all the heroes dead. [[BigGood Raiden]] uses the last of his power to send a message back in time to himself around the time of the first ''VideoGame/{{Mortal Kombat|1992}}'' game, including images of some of the disasters that have come to pass and the words "He must win." Past!Raiden does his best to act on this cryptic warning, but his attempts [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tend to backfire spectacularly]], like how [[spoiler:he keeps Smoke from getting [[UnwillingRoboticisation turned into a cyborg]] and ends up causing the same fate to befall the second Sub-Zero]]. It isn't until the end of the game when Raiden finally realizes what his future self was trying to say: [[spoiler:the "he" is Shao Kahn himself -- once he breaks the rules by merging Earthrealm and Outworld without winning the Mortal Kombat tournament, the Elder Gods finally get off their divine asses and smite him. Unfortunately, at that point, most of the cast is dead, including [[TheHero Liu Kang]], and Earth is in ruins thanks to the invasion. As well, Shinnok is waiting in the wings for ''his'' chance to take over ...]] |
| 366 | * In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', Igor repeatedly mentions the "coming ruin." Good luck getting anything solid from him about the "coming ruin." [[spoiler:However, this is {{Justified}} when it turns out that the one speaking is the impostor [[BigBad Yaldabaoth]], having imprisoned the real Igor as part of an AssimilationPlot. Thus, it's fully in his interests to not disclose what's going on, and talking about his own ominous threat essentially lets him indulge in EvilGloating without suspicion]]. [[spoiler:The wording itself is also a hint that this Igor is an imposter; the real one is ''much'' more vague]]. |
| 367 | * ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmagoria}}'' has the FortuneTeller's message: "Evil will walk once more." |
| 368 | * ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'': After praising the player for completing their training on the Isle of Armor, Mustard says under his breath that maybe they'll be prepared for what's to come, possibly alluding to a follow-up in the Crown Tundra DLC. |
| 369 | * ''VideoGame/StarControl Origins'': Throughout the game, aliens you meet repeatedly make mention of some dire threat that is heading for the local area of the galaxy, but none of them seem to want to discuss the nature of this threat. All that's known is that it's wiping out entire civilizations and everyone's reaction is basically to just run away as fast as possible. It isn't until the post-game that we even get some kind of a name for this threat: [[spoiler:the "Outsider phenomenon"]]. What's particularly scary though is that it isn't just weaker or less advanced civilizations fleeing from it... the HigherTechSpecies and borderline SufficientlyAdvancedAliens are ''also'' fleeing. |
| 370 | * ''VideoGame/TatteredWorld'': Chrysa regularly lampshades the fact that the prophecies she gets are of this nature, and is none too happy about it. |
| 371 | * The Keepers in ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' are an organization dedicated to interpreting such prophecies, devoting years of study to each of them and maintaining a gigantic library full of materials on them. Garrett (on those rare occasions that he works with them) is notably irritated by how vague the prophecies always are. |
| 372 | * Probably one of the harder-to-find examples: buried within the code of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is Entry #17, the only one not among [[spoiler:Alphys' notes in the [[VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon True Lab]]]]. The entry was apparently written by [[TheGhost Doctor W.D. Gaster himself]], and references his monitoring of some kind of ever-increasing darkness (in which photon readings are apparently ''negative''), before asking "What do you two think?" The identity of those he addresses are unknown. |
| 373 | * TheWildHunt in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'' games is played for this trope, a mysterious force that Geralt is either chasing or fleeing even though he doesn't even know why. It seems that it's being set up as a major plot element of the inevitable third game. |
| 374 | ** [[VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt Said third game]] couples this with a mild ProphecyTwist - the Wild Hunt [[spoiler:are elves from another dimension, and they're fleeing the ''true'' threat of the White Frost.]] |
| 375 | * Play through Universe mode in the ''VideoGame/{{WWE|VideoGames}}'' series and sooner or later an angle will crop up hinting The End is Coming. One of the guys or girls on your roster is going to be pushed into an Undertaker or Sting style feud, generally a FaceHeelTurn, with all the hoopla such a feud entails. |
| 376 | [[/folder]] |
| 377 | |
| 378 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 379 | * Lampshaded in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150906195105/http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/0134.html this]] ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}'' strip. A mysterious hooded NPC warns that "'It' is about to rise, and the 'Time' is upon us." Ardam asks him if he could possibly be more vague. |
| 380 | * Generally averted in ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan''. All seers are as specific and detailed about their visions as possible. Dominic himself is somewhat dismissive of this trope, quipping that a seer who resorts to this is "disguising his ignorance with cliché mysticism". That said, the comic doesn't completely avoid this trope, using once in a while for some tension. |
| 381 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Doodze}}'', [[http://seguemediagroup.com/doodze/?p=749 there's trouble coming, I just know it.]] |
| 382 | * In ''Webcomic/ImpureBlood'' [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue4PAGES/ib078.html Dark forces are rising.]] |
| 383 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': The Dark One, god of the goblins, averts this with his message for Redcloak -- [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0704.html "Don't screw this up."]] |
| 384 | -->'''Redcloak:''' Well, as theological revelations go, I guess that's refreshingly direct.\ |
| 385 | '''Jirix:''' Then he added, "No pressure, though," which I thought was nice. |
| 386 | * In ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'', the great prophet's last prophecy is "the earth is in trouble!" Several A-rank heroes lampshade the utter uselessness of this prophecy. |
| 387 | * In [[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/11/23 this]] ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'', an impending hell[[note]][[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/03/20 Scarytown, probably.]][[/note]] of a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' session incites deathly chills. |
| 388 | * What may be the final years-long mega StoryArc in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' started with hints that the Web of Fate has an enormous tangle of some sort and is due to break soon, indicating some kind of cataclysmic events in the world, which it reflects. It's since been revealed that this apparently refers to [[spoiler:events, seen to be taking place in the future in several parallel dimensions, where almost everything on the surface of the Earth is sent to other random dimensions, also potentially leading to a collapse of the whole dimension from such abuse of portal technology]]. However, the exact form of the events taking place in the here and now is still unknown. |
| 389 | * ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'': |
| 390 | -->'''[[TheChessmaster Yu Han Sung]]:''' Soon a wave strong enough to shake the entire Tower will form. |
| 391 | ** And that wave is Twenty-Fifth Bam. |
| 392 | [[/folder]] |
| 393 | |
| 394 | [[folder:Web Games]] |
| 395 | * In the ''[[Toys/{{Bionicle}} Mata Nui On-line Game]]'', the player passes out from the cold in the Ko-Wahi mountains, then sees a vision with cipher text that reads "beware the swarm" as a strange symbol zooms in. At the end, he witnesses the awakening of the destructive Bohrok swarm. |
| 396 | [[/folder]] |
| 397 | |
| 398 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 399 | %% * Manga/{{Violence|Jack}} [[WebVideo/BennettTheSage is coming]]... |
| 400 | * In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, Chaka received a rhyming prediction (or series of predictions) from a prognosticator. The entire team has sat down and gone over the poem, and not even TeenGenius Phase can make any sense out of it. |
| 401 | * Parodied in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'', when a RecapEpisode summarizes Shadi's vague prophecies. |
| 402 | -->'''Shadi:''' Allow me to bamboozle you with my cryptic nonsense that won't pay off for about five seasons. |
| 403 | * ''WebVideo/ScottTheWoz'' has a subtle one in ''False Advertising''. |
| 404 | -->'''Scott:''' No matter what, false advertising is always gonna stick with gaming. It's been there since the very start, and will be there 'til the very end in four months.[[note]]This episode was released on June 13, 2021.[[/note]] |
| 405 | [[/folder]] |
| 406 | |
| 407 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 408 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'', during the flashback from "The Core and the King", it is revealed that Leif's motives for stealing the Calamity Box and hiding it in Earth was that she had a vague vision upon touching the gems where she saw how Amphibia would be destroyed by further use of the box. [[spoiler:[[AllForNothing She didn't know that this was actually a self-fulfilling prophecy]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and that by betraying Andrias and hiding the box on Earth, she just kickstarted the events of the entire series.]]]] |
| 409 | * ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'': Following the events of "Realm of the Jaquins", Quita Moz warns Elena there's a darkness rising somewhere that not even he knows about, and she must relinquish this darkness or she'll never become queen of Avalor. Then she encounters Shuriki, the thought-to-be-gone sorceress she defeated a while ago, and eventually she manages to kill her off...but it turns out Shuriki's rise was not the darkness as predicted, and this one's even worse than her. |
| 410 | * ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': |
| 411 | ** Near the end of "Dreamscaperers", [[TheDreaded Bill Cipher]] tells the Pines Twins (and Soos) that "A darkness approaches... a day will come in the future when everything you care about will change. Until then, I'll be watching you! '''I'LL BE WATCHING YOU...'''" |
| 412 | ** And in a flashback from "A Tale of Two Stans", Stanford's assistant Fiddleford makes this rambling after poking his head into the interdimensional portal. |
| 413 | -->"When Gravity Falls and Earth become sky, fear the beast with just one eye." |
| 414 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/HotWheelsBattleForce5'' episode "Better Off Red", Sage states something even worse than the Red Sentients is coming and she's building a weapon to try and stop it. A lot of her strange behavior that episode seems to simply be because she's terrified of whatever this evil is to the point she didn't want to tell the group about it and hoped never to face it. The season finale reveals that this new enemy is the Ancient Ones, but nothing more is explained except rather frightening shadowy images of them and the fact they predate the Sentients (who created the multiverse). These facts, along with the fact their name seems to be a ShoutOut to the Old Ones, heavily implies they're in EldritchAbomination territory. |
| 415 | * In the season 3 premiere of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Princess Celestia is signing papers in her throne room when a guard rushes in to inform her "''It'' has returned", causing her to drop everything. "It" turns out to refer to [[VanishingVillage the Crystal Empire]]. |
| 416 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' has the plans of [[KnightOfCerebus Emperor Belos,]] the BigBad of the show and an event he calls "The Day of Unity". [[spoiler:It eventually turns out that he's planning to use the power of a solar eclipse combined with his subjects' coven sigils [[FinalSolution to wipe out all the witches and demons on the Boiling Isles]]. All the talk of unity was just posturing to manipulate the masses into signing their own death warrent.]] |
| 417 | * The second half of the second season of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' had the ArcWords "Nibiru is coming". Nibiru isn't really a person but rather an event [[spoiler:that will enable the evilest creature in the ''Scooby Doo'' franchise to enter this dimension]]. |
| 418 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}'' mocks this trope on a number of occasions with Granny's {{Ghost Stor|y}}ies... which invariably [[WeirdnessMagnet come true]] and the actual menace turns out to be every bit as [[FeetOfClay vague and nonsensical]]. |
| 419 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': At the beginning of [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E19ZeroHour "Zero]] [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E20ZeroHourPartII Hour"]], [[spoiler:Kallus]], aka [[TheMole Fulcrum]], is only able to send the Rebels a brief message about what the Empire's about to do due to his transmission being blocked partway through. |
| 420 | -->"This is Fulcrum. Thrawn knows abou–" |
| 421 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'': In [[Recap/StarWarsResistanceS1E11Bibo "Bibo"]], Tam calls out [[spoiler:Kel and Eila]] for doing this when describing the latter's [[DreamingOfThingsToCome future dream]], saying she doesn't like vagueness. |
| 422 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In "The Phantom Apprentice" (which takes place at the same time as ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''), Maul reveals to Ahsoka that he's been [[DreamingOfThingsToCome having visions of things to come]], namely in that Darth Sidious will soon change everything forever. He doesn't know the exact details, but he does know that Sidious is eyeing Anakin as his new apprentice, and once that happens, it's over. Since he lacks (or won't say) any further details and she still believes in her former master, Ahsoka refuses to listen to anything else Maul has to say. |
| 423 | -->'''''"YOU'RE ALL GOING TO BURN! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"''''' |
| 424 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': |
| 425 | ** At the end of "Ocean Gem", Garnet and Pearl muse about what the future will bring after Lapis Lazuli manages to leave Earth. |
| 426 | ** In "Catch and Release", [[spoiler:the Crystal Gems capture Peridot, who cryptically rambles about the Cluster, which is later revealed to be a dangerous experiment done by the Homeworld that could spell the end of Earth if it "awakens"]]. |
| 427 | * [[VillainOfTheWeek Protoclown's]] arrival on ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' was simply described as "It's coming!" |
| 428 | * ''WesternAnimation/UnicornWarriorsEternal'': After merging with Alfie and meeting him in the cosmic realm, Seng tells him "The future has been altered, but there is still time". It isn't clear yet what this could mean. |
| 429 | * ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': Count the number of times you hear the phrase "a thousand years of darkness". It's pretty much used [[NeverSayDie in place of saying]] "the world will be destroyed". |
| 430 | [[/folder]] |
| 431 | |
| 432 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 433 | * UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}} wasn't exactly clear with his predictions. Skeptics believe that he made them this way so that [[SharpshooterFallacy if only a few seemed to come true, people will believe the rest must as well]]. The few times he slipped up and made specific predictions they were wrong. |
| 434 | * Literature/TheBible's Literature/BookOfRevelation can apply to many ages. |
| 435 | * "Prophets" who have predicted TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt tend to keep things vague so they can update them when their 'prophecy' doesn't pan out. |
| 436 | * In general, clairvoyants, astrologers, tea leaf readers, fortune tellers, cold readers -- anyone who claims to be able to talk to the dead, predict the future or glean specific details about a person -- will make statements so vague they're meaningless and let the listener fill in the details. This is done because a statement like "You will face hard times, but things will get better" applies to absolutely ''everyone'', so they can always claim to be correct. Which is why, if you ever do actually get a ''specific'' prediction, ''THAT'' would be the time to start worrying... |
| 437 | ** That, or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_end_times_prediction just ignore it like every other insane prediction.]] |
| 438 | ** Our brains are wired to make order out of chaos and find patterns in things which have none. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia Pareidolia]] is what this is called. So no matter what random line of words you are given, given enough time you can figure out some meaning in it. No matter how vague a psychic's prophecy is, if you put your mind to it you'll figure something out. Psychics argue that if it's helping people handle things in the end, then there's no harm done. Those who have had their money taken and finally realized that they've been fed a load of bull may beg to differ. |
| 439 | ** An experiment demonstrating the vagueness of horoscopes has a lot of people given a piece of paper with "their" horoscope written on it. When asked if it applies to them (and invariably it will, being so vague), they're asked to switch it with their neighbor and see if it still applies. When they switch them, they find out that all the horoscopes are identical, and just written so vaguely they apply to everyone in the room. |
| 440 | [[/folder]] |
| 441 | ------- |
| 442 |
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