History Main / EitherOrProphecy

* Parodied in a fairy tale in which a woman asks a wizard about the sex of her unborn child. She is told: "The child will be either a boy or a girl."
** But in fiction it's sort of [[AmbiguousGender good news already]].

* In the film ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'':
-->When single shines the triple sun
-->What once was sundered and undone
-->Shall be made whole; the two made one
-->By Gelfling hand, or else by none.
** The Skeksis massacred the Gelflings to prevent the healing of the Crystal, following the logic that so long as no Gelfling was alive at the conjunction, nobody could repair it. They missed two.

* Creator/DerrenBrown claimed in an interview to have heard a psychic tell the person they were "reading," [[CaptainObvious "You either live alone, or with other people."]]
** A basic trick for mentalists and phony psychics is to throw these out so fast you only notice the correct sides.
** Just having [[CrazyCatLady pets]] is [[TakeAThirdOption neither]].

* The prophecy at the heart of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' novels does not describe the eventual triumph of good over evil, but instead simply declares that Harry and Voldemort are destined to battle each other to the death. The ''aftermath'' of that battle is not something with which the prophecy is concerned.

* TheBible ''kinda'' has one of these in [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings+19:17&version=NIV 1 Kings 19:17]], with God giving Elijah a kind of "flow chart" prophecy: any of the apostate Israelites that the king-to-be Hazael of neighboring Aram doesn't slaughter with his armies, the king-to-be Jehu of Israel will finish off. Anyone who escapes Jehu, Elijah's own successor Elisha will put to death. Each prophecy was then fulfilled in following chapters except for the part about Elisha because it proved unnecessary; so far as the book indicates, Elisha never had to execute anyone himself because ''nobody'' escaped King Jehu's zealous purges.

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'', Thomas Covenant is prophesied to "save or damn" the world.
* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' by Ceator/DavidEddings has this trope as the underlying premise of the whole series. There are two competing prophecies which, combined, amount to one big Either-Or Prophecy. In the sequel series, the same continues in a slightly tweaked form, so that the winning future is determined by one person who is supposed to be totally impartial.

** When the prophecy was made, it specified a child who could be either Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom, and only Voldemort's actions settled it on Harry.

As its name implies, an Either-Or Prophecy specifies two possibilities. '''Either''' the good will triumph over evil '''or''' the BigBad will mop the floor with the pesky heroes and reign unconquered forevermore. The point is that there is no middle ground.

--> '''Dax''': During the reckoning, the Bajorans will either suffer horribly, or... eat fruit.
--> '''Sisko''': [[LampshadeHanging Eat fruit?]]
--> '''Dax''': Given the tone of the rest of the inscriptions, I would bet on horrible suffering.
-->-- Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine: [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E21TheReckoning "The Reckoning"]]
--> ''The answer? [[spoiler: Eat fruit. Look at what Kira is eating at the start of the episode.]]''

* In ''{{Vindictus}}'', the main plot is that the goddess will appear when all the fomors are dead. It turns out that the fomors have their own prophesy with a similar outcome. [[spoiler: By the end of Chapter 10, they both start coming true.]]

* One Norweigan folktale has a village idiot make his way to fame and fortune via well-timed ambiguous statements. The last test set before him by the king is to predict the sex of the queen's unborn child; he has her walk towards and away from him before declaring, "When she walks towards me it looks like a boy, but when she walks away it looks like a girl." She gives birth to twins.

* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'', the Fates prophesize that Hades will overthrow Zeus at a time when the planets align perfectly unless Hercules fights to stop him. Hades spends most of the rest of the movie doing his darnedest to kill Hercules before the deadline.

** The Skeksis massacred the Gelflings to prevent the healing of the Crystal, following the logic that so long as no Gelfling was alive at the conjunction nobody could repair it. They missed two.
* In ''Film/TheMatrix'', the Oracle examines Neo and says, "But you know what I'm going to say, don't you?" "I'm not the [[ChosenOne One]], he says." The Oracle tells him that he has [[RealityWarper the gift]] but that he seems to be waiting for something--"Your next life, maybe." She then tells him that, soon, Neo's life or that of Morpheus's will hang in the balance, and that he can save himself or Morpheus. Because Neo believes (but the Oracle did ''not'' confirm) that he is not the One, Neo chooses to save Morpheus. Neo dies and arrives [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers in his next life]] once he disbelieves the reality of the Matrix.

* The prophecy at the heart of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' novels does not describe the eventual triumph of good over evil, but instead simply declares that Harry and Voldemort are destined to battle each other to the death. The ''aftermath'' of that battle is not something the prophecy is concerned with.
** When the prophecy was made it specified a child who could be either Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom, and only Voldemort's actions settled it on Harry.

** Also used in one of the prophecies regarding Mat Cauthon, who was told "You will go to Rhuidean." He asked the prophet "Why do I have to go," and was told "If you do not, you will die." Mat could theoretically tell his destiny to screw off, if he was willing to die for it and possibly doom the world.

* ''{{Series/Lexx}}'' has the Time Prophet basically state that a Brunene-G will destroy His Divine Shadow. So, of course, HDS kills all of the Brunen-G... Only to turn the last one into a BrainwashedAndCrazy undead assassin. It was a specific case of His Shadow trying to ScrewDestiny, since He never thought that Kai would recover from being brainwashed (not so much the undead bit), nor that Kai would just so happen to have a brain-eating Cluster Lizard handy when His Shadow transferred back into the body of a [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere planet-sized Insect]]. Although the prophecy ITSELF is cut and dry, it falls into this trope because the Time Prophet specifically makes her predictions by looking "more or less into the [[HistoryRepeats cycles of Future-Past]]", which basically means "Since all this happened this way before under different names, it will happen again, probably, unless it doesn't".

* ''ComicStrip/{{Candorville}}'' parodies this during TheReveal. [[spoiler:If a vampiress can produce a {{Dhampyr}}, which Roxanne managed to do thanks to modern fertilization techniques, she'll lose all the standard weaknesses and the need for blood while retaining all the assets. It's prophesied that she'll someday rule over mankind--unless she gives into her still-existing ''[[HorrorHunger desire]]'' for blood, in which case she'll be returned to normal having gained nothing. "[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And her APR would shoot up to 29.97%.]]"]]

* The game ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' revolves around a prophecy of multiversal destruction written in a book called the Dark Prognosticus, rivaled by a prophecy that the multiverse will be saved by a band of heroes written the book's Good Counterpart, the Light Prognosticus.

* Creator/DavidEddings loves this. ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' has two competing prophecies which, combined, amount to one big Either-Or Prophecy. In the sequel series, the same continues in a slightly tweaked form, so that the winning future is determined by one person who is supposed to be totally impartial. [[spoiler: The dark prophecy tries to cheat at the last second... and it backfires, as they send the person making the choice into such a meltdown that she throws herself at the light prophecy.]]

** The very same prophecy also mentions his beloved will betray him. It's never explained completely, but I assume it meant that they both thought she was betraying him, while later they both realised she had not been betraying him. Or something.
*** His beloved ''has to'' betray him (and it is foretold that she will do so [[spoiler: "in her blood"]]) in order for him to [[spoiler: enter the Temple of the Winds through [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Path of the Betrayed]]]]. And she does. Once [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she realizes]], she begs the only witness not to tell Richard. The witness's response: [[spoiler: "I think 'Richard' already knows."]]

* In ''Literature/TheLastRune'' series people are trying to save or kill Travis since he's fated to both save and destroy the world (usually based on how optimistic they are). Turns out he destroyes the world then rebuilds it exactly the same only without the BigBad.

* Historical example: King Croesus of Lydia asked the Oracle of Delphi what the result would be if he took his troops across the Halys River and attacked the Persians. Her answer was, "If you do, a great empire will be destroyed." The seer didn't specify ''which'' great empire. In the end, it was Croesus' kingdom, not Persia, that was destroyed, but the seer would have been "right" either way--but note that there was no way the seer could have known that Lydia or Persia would be utterly crushed (rather than a stalemate or minor gains for one side or another). That makes this a classic example of the trope, eliminating all possible middle ground.

--> '''Dax''': The people of Bajor will either suffer horribly, or... eat fruit.

--> '''Dax''': Given the tone of the rest of the prophecy, I highly doubt it's the latter.

-->-- ''The answer? [[spoiler: Eat fruit. Look at what Kira is eating at the start of the episode.]]''

-->-- Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine: [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS6E21TheReckoning "The Reckoning"]]

-->-- ''The answer? [[spoiler: Eat fruit. Look at what Kira is eating at the start of the episode.]]

** [[spoiler:When Belkar complains that the prophecy didn't come true, the Oracle tries to convince him that he [[HalfTruth caused all of their deaths already]]. Belkar doesn't buy the ProphecyTwist so well and [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0567.html goes]] [[SelFulfillingProphecy for the last one]]. Except that it turns out that the Oracle was CrazyPrepared, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0568.html engineered circumstances]] that resulted in the murder backfiring on Belkar through his [[RestrainingBoltMark of Justice curse]], and arranged for clerics to resurrect him after Belkar left.]]

* "Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* "Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** Belkar asks the question from the Oracle:
--> "Do I get to cause the death of any of the following: Miko, Miko's stupid horse, Roy, Vaarsuvius or you?"
** The answer is of course [[MathematiciansAnswer "yes"]].
** [[spoiler:When Belkar complains that the prophecy didn't come true, the Oracle tries to convince him that he [[HalfTruth caused all of their deaths already]]. Belkar doesn't buy the ProphecyTwist so well and goes [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0567.html for the last one]]. Except that it turns out that the Oracle was CrazyPrepared, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0568.html engineered circumstances]] that resulted in the murder backfiring on Belkar through his [[RestrainingBoltMark of Justice curse]], and arranged for clerics to resurrect him after Belkar left.]]
[[/folder]]

** [[spoiler:When Belkar complains that the prophecy didn't come true, the Oracle tries to convince him that he [[HalfTruth caused all of their deaths already]]. Belkar doesn't buy the ProphecyTwist so well and goes for the last one. Except that it turns out that the Oracle was CrazyPrepared, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0568.html engineered circumstances]] that resulted in the murder backfiring on Belkar through his Mark of Justice curse, and arranged for clerics to resurrect him after Belkar left.]]

** Incidentally, Belkar himself is prophesized to "Draw his last breath- Ever -before the end of the year"

* "In Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick, Belkar asks the question from the Oracle:

* ''BaldursGate II: Throne of Bhaal'' reveals that the prophecy about the Bhaalspawn bringing great destruction was actually an either-or condition: Either the PlayerCharacter will succeed, ''or'' the destruction will take place. (That is to say, even more destruction. Apparently the prophet specified some high level of destruction that would be even worse than what did happen in the games and potentially could happen because of what the PlayerCharacter could do after them.)

* In ''BrutalLegend'', the prophecy foretelling Eddie's arrival from the Modern World to the Age of Metal says that he will either destroy the world or deliver the humanity from the demons' evil. [[spoiler:It is an early foreshadowing of the fact that he is half-human, half-demon.]]

* Almost all important prophecies in TerryGoodkind's ''SwordOfTruth'' series of novels are of this type. The fourth book puts a twist on this, as both possible fates seem to require the hero's death...

* Depending on what happens to the Lightstone in the ''EaCycle'', either an Age of Darkness would start and a monster would destroy most of the universe or TheChosenOne would bring about an Age of Light and lift everyone to a higher state of existence.

* In ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', there is a prophecy that a half-blood child of one of the big three will either save the Olympian gods or damn them... [[spoiler: or so we believe for the whole freaking series. what it actually says is that ''when'' the next child of the big three turns 16, ''a'' hero will make a choice to save or damn he Olympian gods...this hero and the halfblood aren't the same person.]]
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', a prophecy says, "Fire alone can save our clan". It doesn't specify if it will or not.

** Min's viewing of Siuan Sanche and Gareth Bryne said that "You must stay close to each other or you will both die." [[spoiler: They end up saving each others lives after an assassin carrying a poisoned needle attacks them (Gareth kills the assassin and Siuan heals him from the poison). Later, during Tarmon Gai'don, they are separated, and just after Min reveals that the viewing is still in effect, Siuan is killed in an attack. The effect of the warder bond makes Gareth go berserk and get killed.]]
** The various viewings of the future beyond the Last Battle, including Min's, qualify as well. They're accurate readings of The Pattern that shapes the past and future. However if the Big Bad wins The Pattern itself will be destroyed, rendering the viewings false.