Basic Trope: A person who will bring the end of the world simply by existing; the problem is that s/he is also well-known to or even the beloved of the main character.
- Straight: Bob's sweet little sister Alice is fated to destroy the world.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is such a sweet girl, if not for the fact that she's a Walking Wasteland, attracts hordes of alien bugs, and is fated to destroy the galaxy.
- Alice is absolutely loved by most, but her overwhelming power can obliterate the multiverse, and higher dimensions. Eventually, her intense feelings of hatred unleashes her immensely brutal side and wants to kill all other beings.
- Downplayed: The Jinx
- Justified:
- Alice's soul (or a component of her DNA, or whatever) is the key to activating the Doomsday Device.
- Alice is only a half-sister to Bob, her father is an Eldritch Abomination. Even if she does nothing, Alice's simple existence causes distortions in the fabric of reality, breaking the wall between Earth's dimension and the Eldritch Location, bringing down Hell on Earth.
- Inverted:
- Alice is a total Jerkass, but since the world will end without her, everyone is forced to protect her and satisfy her callous whims.
- Alice is a Barrier Maiden — without her, evils from outside the world will destroy the world.
- To Bob's sorrow Alice is destined to die death to bring forth a new world.
- Subverted:
- Alice might be fated to destroy the world, but the prophecy isn't exactly set in stone...
- It's only certain part of Alice that is fated to destroy the world. Remove that part, and Alice is free to live her life.
- The villains from another dimension kill Bob, which is what will supposedly lead to Alice unleashing the Eldritch Abomination inside her, destroying the world... But in Alice's rage, she gains control of the Eldritch Abomination. Who said that our world was her prophesied target?
- Alice leading to the destruction of the world is Metaphorically True at best. While she does lead to the destruction of the world, it is Bob's Roaring Rampage of Revenge that actually does the damage — because killing her in the first place is what causes Bob to conclude that any world willing to kill innocents to save itself isn't worth saving.
- Alice will in fact destroy the universe but it never states when or if it would be a bad thing. In fact Alice takes pacifism to such an extreme she refuses to harm any life in any form. She winds up outlasting not only Bob but everything else in the universe. It turns out its destruction is essential to its rebirth and is why she could never die despite all of the efforts to kill her to forestall a disaster that would never come.
- Double Subverted:
- ...but the attempt to subvert Alice's fate is the action that ends up destroying the world.
- ...But Alice still technically fulfilled the prophecy, and attempts to kill herself before she destroys any more worlds
- But the part of Alice that needs removing is integral to Alice's being... i.e., her soul.
- Parodied: After knowing that she's an Apocalypse Maiden, Alice dyes her hair pale blue and starts acting emo.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: The much-feared apocalypse isn't caused by a single person.
- Enforced: "The contradiction! The drama! Let's make the hero choose between the world or his little sister!"
- Lampshaded: "Ending the world?! This little missy here? You've got to be kidding me, dude."
- Invoked: Karen, an alien from the 26th dimension trapped in this mundane world, goad Alice into destroying the world so s/he can return to his/her origin.
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz kidnaps and mind rapes Alice into becoming his puppet, effectively keeping the world hostage.
- Defied: Some pragmatic people seal Alice in a can.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Bob is found centuries later without any trace of her old personality or past and her weapon was found in Alice's crypt still within her dead body. It is possible that someone stole her weapon and did it or she was forced into killing her and obliterated her own memory because of it.
- Deconstructed:
- Being an Apocalypse Maiden makes people mean to Alice, so she decides to fulfill her fated role to make the goddamn pain stop.
- Since people are mean to his little sister, Bob decided that the world should end and she wholeheartedly supports Alice to carry her role.
- Bob destroys the world before Alice can enact her role as an Apocalypse Maiden, to save her from the anguish of destroying the world with her own hands.
- Alice kills herself believing it's the only way to save the world.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob's love for Alice allows her to endure people's hatred.
- Bob and the others travel into Alice's soul to destroy the growing parasite within it that will destroy the world.
- Played For Drama: Saving Alice from Karen/Evulz/the pragmatic people/her dark side and convincing her that the world is worth living, even if Humans Are Flawed.
Back to Apocalypse Maiden, there might still be a chance to save both her and the world.