History Main / BirthmarkOfDestiny

** While not exactly physically obvious birthmarks, Crests in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' serve the same purpose as Holy Blood from the Jugdral games, said to be a gift from the Goddess, and specific Crests are represented by their own symbol. They come in a few categories: The Crests of the Divine, the Four Saints, the Ten Elites, and a few other Crests lost to history. Crests are also a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope, as not only are Crests a bit more commonplace than the trope would normally indicate, Fódlan's nobility culture is built around them, such as the Book of Seiros declaring [[ComesGreatResponsibility the Nobles who bear Crests have a "Noblesse Oblige" responsibility when wielding them]], leading to all sorts of social dysfunction. Most Crest bearers are nobles and/or [[HeroicLineage descended from one of the Ten Elites or Four Saints]], but lineage isn't guaranteed to produce a Crest, and Crests can pop up in commoners as well. This can lead to situations such as commoners trying to marry Crest-bearing nobles in the hope of increasing their own social status, non-Crest bearing nobles trying to marry into families with Crests, or nobles adopting Crest-bearing commoners. Children of noble lineage born without Crests can [[ParentalFavoritism lose their inheritance to a younger sibling with a Crest]], leading to internal power struggles. Noble children born with Crests don't have it much easier either, as aside from the aforementioned power struggles, they have high expectations placed on them and are frequently subject to loveless arranged marriages for producing more Crests or political advantages for their House. There is also at least one Crest (the Crest of the Beast) that ''nobody'' wants due to the storied past of its first human bearer, and so their descendants have experienced persecution. [[spoiler:In two known cases in recent times, the desire of a certain cult to get more power out of Crests led them to perform lethal experiments on children to give them two Crests (something conventionally considered impossible), and those who survived the experiments without being crippled or driven insane have a varyingly shortened lifespan. Also, the part about Crests originally being gifted by the Goddess is a historical revision made by Seiros and the Church to cover up the fact that they were stolen by humans, ingesting the blood of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nabateans]] like her family. Only the Crests of Seiros and the Saints, and maybe the Apostles, were actually gifts made to combat Nemesis; the rest were obtained by Nemesis and the Ten Elites (the latter getting a HistoricalHeroUpgrade) after killing Sothis and the other Nabateans in a massacre.]]

* Certain incarnations of Link from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' have a birthmark in the shape of the Triforce on their left hand. Occasionally happens to Zelda herself, though not as often.
** It appears to be a Triforce thing since said birthmark tends to show off which piece is theirs, and in some games it only appears when they have it. [[spoiler:Ganondorf also has one, though [[TheUnchosenOne unlike Link and Zelda he is never born with it]]]].

* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', Garion has a discoloured mark in the shape of a circle on one of his palms. [[spoiler: This mark is actually possessed by every descendant of Riva who is in line to inherit the Rivan throne. It dates back to Riva himself, who had the mark burned into his hand when he carried the Orb of Aldur.]]

* Literature/HarryPotter is an interesting case. He only got the lightning-shaped scar that identifies him as the hero ''because'' Voldemort "chose" him as his enemy when he was little ([[SelfFulfillingProphecy upon hearing an incomplete prophecy]]) and tried to kill him, [[NiceJobBreakingItHerod thus giving him the scar and the tools]] [[YouCantFightFate to ultimately bring him down]].

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Vanquishing evil is actually pretty easy: just grab a ChosenOne, give them a sword (or [[WithThisHerring just a herring]] -- {{Chosen One}}s are a very resourceful lot), point them in the right direction and just wait until the evil empire falls. In fact, the only challenge in this puzzle is figuring out just who and where the ChosenOne is in the first place. You don't want to end up with a FakeUltimateHero, after all.

For your convenience, the gods were nice enough to physically label your ChosenOne in some way. Typically, this comes in the form of an unusually shaped birthmark or [[MarkOfTheSupernatural strange hair/eye color]]. For bonus points, there will often be a vague allusion to this mark or phenotype that will only make sense once the ChosenOne actually appears.

* ''Anime/MyHime'': All twelve of the [=HiME=] bear a shooting star birthmark that shows that they are the {{Chosen One}}s [[spoiler:that will have to fight one another for the sake of the Obsidian Prince, [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne with the last girl standing winning a great power]]).]]
* Fakir from ''Anime/PrincessTutu'' has a scar-like birthmark across his chest that indicates that he's the reincarnation of the Knight from [[ShowWithinAShow the story]] ''The Prince and the Raven''. Unfortunately for him, instead of being the ChosenOne, this means that his predicted fate is to [[ShootTheShaggyDog die painfully without accomplishing anything of value]]. Naturally he decides to ScrewDestiny.

* In ''Literature/AutobiographyOfRed'', Geryon is a red-skinned WingedHumanoid born into an otherwise ordinarily human family. Another character explains that this is a sign of his being a [[ChosenOne Yazcamac]].

* On the original ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[spoiler: Turlough's long-lost little brother]] was believed to be the ChosenOne by his adoptive people, due to a distinctive mark on his shoulder. Subverted in that it wasn't a birthmark ''or'' a mark of Destiny, but [[spoiler: an identification brand placed on political prisoners by the ones who'd exiled both brothers]].

** While not exactly physically obvious birthmarks, Crests in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' serve the same purpose as Holy Blood from the Jugdral games, said to be a gift from the Goddess, and specific Crests are represented by their own symbol. They come in a few categories: The Crests of the Divine, the Four Saints, the Ten Elites, and a few other Crests lost to history. Crests are also a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope, as not only are Crests a bit more commonplace than the trope would normally indicate, Fódlan's nobility culture is built around them, such as the Book of Seiros declaring [[ComesGreatResponsibility the Nobles who bear Crests have a "Noblesse Oblige" responsibility when wielding them]], leading to all sorts of social dysfunction. Most Crest bearers are nobles and/or [[HeroicLineage descended from one of the Ten Elites or Four Saints]], but lineage isn't guaranteed to produce a Crest, and Crests can pop up in commoners as well. This can lead to situations such as commoners trying to marry Crest-bearing nobles in the hope of increasing their own social status, non-Crest bearing nobles trying to marry into families with Crests, or nobles adopting Crest-bearing commoners. Children of noble lineage born without Crests can [[ParentalFavoritism lose their inheritance to a younger sibling with a Crest]], leading to internal power struggles. Noble children born with Crests don't have it much easier either, as aside from the aforementioned power struggles, they have high expectations placed on them and are frequently subject to loveless arranged marriages for producing more Crests or political advantages for their House. There is also at least one Crest (the Crest of the Beast) that ''nobody'' wants due to the storied past of its first human bearer, and so their descendants have experienced persecution. [[spoiler:In two known cases in recent times, the desire of a certain cult to get more power out of Crests led them to perform lethal experiments on children to give them two Crests (something conventionally considered impossible), and those who survived the experiments without being crippled or driven insane have a varyingly shortened lifespan. Also, the part about Crests originally being gifted by the Goddess is a historical revision made by Seiros and the Church to cover up the fact that they were stolen by humans, ingesting the blood of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nabateans]] like her family. Only the Crests of Seiros and the Saints were actually gifts made to combat Nemesis; the rest were obtained by Nemesis and the Ten Elites (the latter getting a HistoricalHeroUpgrade) after killing Sothis and the other Nabateans in a massacre.]]

* ''Anime/MyHime'': All twelve of the [=HiME=] bear a shooting star birthmark that shows that they are the {{Chosen One}}s [[spoiler: that will have to fight one another for the sake of the Obsidian Prince, [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne with the last girl standing winning a great power]]).

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series, Carrot casually mentions having a crown-shaped birthmark, which marks him as the rightful heir of the Ankh-Morpork throne.

** In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'' the characters discuss birthmarks as if they're something that can be ''handed down from father to son''. [[spoiler: Carrot does, in fact, have one shaped like a crown, but he'd be the first to say that this doesn't mean ''anything''.]]

** In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'' the characters discuss birthmarks as if they're something that can be ''handed down from father to son''.

* The protagonist of the French-language series, ''ComicBook/LeScorpion'' has a scorpion-shaped mark on his back, from which he derives his name. Because of this mark, some people consider him to be the Devil's son. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a scar caused by being thrown against a red hot metal scorpion as an infant by Tribalidi, whom the Scorpion and the reader had been misled to believe is his father.]]

* ''Film/{{Willow}}'' - The movie introduction details this trope, exactly, right off the bat.