Examples of The Poorly Chosen One in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- The Harry Potter/X-Men fic eXtra power twin sees Dumbledore fixate on the idea that Aiden Potter- Harry's twin brother- is the subject of the prophecy, to the extent that he convinces James and Lily that Harry is a squib after Voldemort's defeat when in reality Harry had just temporarily exhausted his magic. Once Harry and Aiden start at Hogwarts, it swiftly becomes clear to everyone but Dumbledore that Aiden is an average wizard at best where Harry is a more driven person even without his mutant abilities and the training he received from the X-Men, culminating in Voldemort easily killing Aiden in the Ministry while Harry rejects any of Dumbledore's attempts to establish himself as a mentor in favour of his established bonds with the X-Men.
- Fairies of the Shattered Moon: Played With regarding Summer Rose. Ozpin believed she was the one who'd finally be able to defeat Salem. After she falls, he admits that his mistake wasn't choosing her, but the fact that he put the burden entirely upon her shoulders, rather than trusting and working with Team STRQ as a whole. He hopes to avoid making that same mistake with Ruby and Team RWBY.
- In the Harry Potter/Stargate Atlantis/Torchwood crossover Harry Potter and the Ancient's Bane, Harry's brother Thomas is incorrectly presumed to be the subject of the prophecy even before Harry is apparently killed during Voldemort's attack on Godric's Hollow (in reality Harry was found and adopted by Torchwood operatives who assumed he was the only survivor). Due to Dumbledore and Lily pandering to his ego, Thomas grows up with an inflated opinion of himself even though he is never more than an average wizard, with Dumbledore forced to cover up such moments as Thomas's indirect role in Hermione's death. This concludes with Thomas being left in a coma after Lily tries to help him claim the prophecy to restore faith in him, with Harry ultimately finding a way to stop Voldemort himself with some help from James and the Department of Mysteries.
- Watching Amphibia: Valeriana regards the Calamity Trio as having been poorly chosen, declaring that Sasha and Marcy both failed at fulfilling the roles they were meant to play when they let themselves be manipulated into giving up their powers to refuel the Calamity Box. She shows No Sympathy for the surrounding circumstances, treating them with disdain while remarking that "Strength" and "Wit" tend to be the first to fail. It's heavily implied that part of the reason why she's so dismissive is because she's convinced that History Repeats, given how Leif, Barrel and Andrias fell apart as well.
- The Savior King, the Master Tactician and the Queen of Liberation: By the end of the big war, most of the Agarthans feel that Edelgard was a terrible choice to be their champion in their fight against the surface-dwellers and the Nabateans. Marian thinks Dimitri would have done a better job, while Thales grouses that he should have snatched up Claude instead.
- Blindness: After learning that Harry is disabled, Dumbledore decides that he can't be the child of prophecy, since teaching him magic would be next to impossible due to the wizarding world's Medieval Stasis. This spurs him to dismiss Harry as poorly chosen in favor of focusing on Neville.
- In The Boy Who Wasn't, Dumbledore had fixated on Neville as The Boy Who Lived and the subject of the prophecy, leaving Harry to be Sorted into Slytherin and build exceptional abilities without Dumbledore's attention on him, while Neville wound up spoiled and arrogant, with poor scholastic performance, thanks to Dumbledore's fussing over him, as well as simply not being the right wizard for the role. Harry, meanwhile, winds up as part of a three-person marriage with Susan and Tracey, and the trio join an elite magical organization.
- Dodging Prison & Stealing Witches: John Potter suffers this twice over:
- Firstly, Dumbledore gets paranoid about Harry and selects John as a replacement Boy-Who-Lived. This results in Voldemort winning.
- Death and Fate then decide to send John back in time and give him another chance to fulfill the prophecy... despite how it was never about him in the first place. Despite getting a four-year head start, he ultimately fails again.
- Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin: Played With through Jim, who is widely (and incorrectly) believed to be the Boy-Who-Lived. However, this doesn't make him The Load; he still has some kind of mysterious connection with Voldemort that triggers headaches whenever he's near, and he's a martial artist who spends most of his first summer break training. He might not the ultimate hero whom everyone mistakes him for, but he's trying his best regardless.
- Checkmate (Anla'Shok): The decision to make Katniss and Peeta joint victors is the culmination of Mags and her allies constantly trying to bring attention to duos of tributes (including Finnick and his District partner, a Tragic Bromance between Wolfe of District 2 and Sawyer of District 4, a Badass and Child Duo, and twins from District 3 who Beetee rigged the reaping for in the hopes that the Capitol would spare them both). However, all of those previous efforts ended in failure and tragedy (although they helped Finnick, Wolfe, Magister, and possibly others win), especially with the twins from 3, who were murdered by their supposed ally, Bale of District 10 (who wins and later goes on to be the only non-District 2 victor to fight for the Capitol in the Rebellion).
- Salt Fics frequently portray Adrien/Chat Noir as one, emphasizing and exaggerating his worst traits.
- Cheshire: Master Fu selects Max and Kim as Miraculous heroes to fight alongside Misterbug/Adrien. Both turn out to be poorly chosen in different ways:
- Max/Pegasus feels entitled to know everything about the Miraculous; when Klaaki keeps telling him that she's not at liberty to share that information, he orders her to stay silent until she can. He also attacks Cheshire while she's comforting the de-akumatized Newscaster, trashing any chance of her trusting them and tarnishing Team Miraculous' reputation.
- Kim/King Monkey witnesses Chloé stealing the Bee Miraculous from Marinette and lets it happen, believing Chloé would make a better hero. He also prioritizes attacking Cheshire over dealing with akuma, further wrecking Team Miraculous' reputations.
- Fu and Adrien both want to recruit Marinette, who would be poorly chosen in another sense, as neither realizes that she's none other than Cheshire herself.
- In Crimson Beetle and Chartreux Noire, Master Fu selects Kim and Alix to become the titular heroes. He swiftly comes to regret this, as both prove to be extremely reckless and prone to unnecessary showboating. For instance, Alix/Chartreux Noire loves making Dramatic Entrances by bursting through windows. He attempts to rectify this by giving the Fox Pendant to Kagami, hoping she'll be able to reign them in.
- Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe: Juleka comes to see Adrien as an example of this after learning his Secret Identity, as she sees just how skewed his priorities are, to the point that he's actively sabotaging his "partner" Ladybug.
- The Karma of Lies:
- Adrien believes that since he was chosen to become Chat Noir, he has Protagonist-Centered Morality: everything he does is automatically right by default. He's also incredibly self-centered, refusing to do anything about Lila because he's convinced her lies can't hurt him since he already knows her true nature. He repeatedly resists all nudges towards taking action, smugly insisting that his happy ending is already guaranteed and he doesn't have to lift a finger for it. He's only convinced to start doing anything once it becomes clear that his Karma Houdini Warranty has run out, and even then, he remains focused on taking back what he considers to be rightly his.
- Marinette decides that she was wrong to trust any of her classmates with Miraculi, given how easily they betrayed her before. When the subject comes up during an interview, Ladybug takes the opportunity to declare that most of the temporary heroes will never be entrusted again.
- In LadyBugOut, Adrien was chosen in hopes of granting the Lonely Rich Kid some freedom, but proceeds to treat protecting Paris as just a game, more focused on joking around and flirting with his partner. What's worse, he convinces himself that since the Black Cat and Ladybug are a matched set, he and Ladybug are meant to be together, acting entitled to her affection and insisting that You Can't Fight Fate. This ultimately leads to him getting stripped of the ring after being repeatedly called out on his bad behavior.
- To a lesser extent, Rena Rouge, Carapace and Queen Bee. Though decent temporary bearers for their respective Miraculouses, their actions outside of their superhero identities call their trustworthiness into question; thus, three others are chosen as their permanent bearers. Alya's particularly upset to learn this.
- In Leave for Mendeleiev, Adrien is more concerned with figuring out Ladybug's Secret Identity despite being repeatedly warned against it, because he feels entitled to her and everything about her. He also firmly believes that since his partner's Miraculous Cure magically repairs the damage done by akumas, there's no real reason for him to take fighting them seriously. He also pettily abuses his kwami for scolding him about his misbehavior, and is prone to trying to guilt-trip others into doing what he wants by acting like he's "taking the high road" and disappointed by their behavior.
- Rise of Mariposa: Played With; while Nooroo was drawn to Marinette due to her selflessness and heroism, the Butterfly is meant to serve as a Support Party Member, letting their Champions handle the fighting while they avoid direct confrontation. But Marinette hates standing by while others are in harm's way. Ironically, Nooroo notes that she would make an excellent Ladybug, due to such heroes being more in the vein of Lightning Bruiser rather than Fragile Speedster.
- Played With in Scarlet Lady; Chloé wasn't actually chosen, but stole the Ladybug Earrings from Marinette shortly after Master Fu snuck them into her handbag. Unaware of this, Adrien is left wondering why somebody so self-absorbed, vain, petty and incompetent was chosen as The Only One who can purify the akuma, forcing everyone to grit their teeth and deal with her. Master Fu, for his part, initially denies having anything to do with this; however, he later acknowledges the part he played in the whole debacle.
- In I am not Done, this is shown to be one of the main problems with Katsuki. Many of the adults and would-be authority figures surrounding him took one look at his Quirk and decided it meant he was destined for greatness, showering him with praise and giving him special treatment, such as the staff at Aldera turning a blind eye towards his Barbaric Bullying. This has given Katsuki a grossly overinflated ego and turned him into a Psychopathic Manchild who sees absolutely nothing wrong with how he blew off Izuku's arm or subjected Hatsume to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown purely because he knew they were one of Izuku's friends.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- The Negotiations-verse: In Fallen, several of the Multiple Endings involve the higher forces in Equestria making clear that Fluttershy is the only one of the Element Bearers that still has their favor, as Princess Celestia and the other members of the Mane Six have become Fallen Heroes due to waging war against humanity in an effort to force them to convert to ponies or die. This typically results in them having their powers and status revoked.
- Vengeance of Dawn: Breaking Dawn was once Princess Celestia's personal student and potential candidate for the Element of Magic, but her laziness, spoiled attitude and delinquent behavior resulted in her losing her position to Twilight. She didn't take being replaced well, and her behavior grew worse until Celestia was forced to expel her from the School for Gifted Unicorns. At the beginning of the story, Dawn is living in a cheap apartment and working a low-end job at a clothing store, still bitter about what she could have had and blaming her failures on Twilight, who not only succeeded as the Element of Magic but has become an alicorn princess.
- Hope of the Shield Hero: Not only do the three non-Shield Heroes start off this way, looking through the Church's records reveals that this is far from a unique phenomenon. Their accounts are filled with tales of heroes turning against one another, declaring and holding petty grudges, fighting, even starting off wars. Then there's one who outright abandoned the job in favor of forming a harem full of catgirls.