History Main / OnlyTheChosenMayRide

* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'': While Sam Witwicky is looking for a car to buy for his birthday at a used car dealership, the dealer explains to him that ‘the driver doesn’t choose the car, the car chooses the driver’. Though in this case, it’s because the car in question is a sapient TransformingMecha, named Bumblebee, who was tasked with protecting Sam.

* Played straight in "Wildwood Boys" by James Carlos Blake -- Quantrill rides the most meanest horse in whole regiment. And he is quite fond of that dog-killing and people-biting big roan. Even names him "Charley".

Subtrope of CoolHorse and sister trope to OnlyTheChosenMayWield. Related to SapientSteed which often goes hand in hand with this trope. Compare OnlyICanMakeItGo, which has to do with cars. Compare/Contrast BondCreatures and {{Familiar}} for creatures with a similar bond that is created through more magical or psychic means. Not to be confused with YouMustBeThisTallToRide.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': In the episode [[Recap/PokemonS1E33TheFlamePokemonathon "The Flame Pokemon-athon!"]], it is stated that Ponyta's (and most probably also Rapidash's) [[FlamingHair fiery mane]] burns anyone who he/she does not trust. Ash (who's supposed to be riding Lara's Ponyta in a race) gets burned the first ([[RunningGag and second]]) time he tries to touch Ponyta, but eventually the two learn to work together.
** Although [[{{Mon}} not a mount]], Ash's [[{{Ninja}} Froakie]] is said to leave any trainer that doesn't live up to its standards, and had done so multiple times before it finally met Ash.

** in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', Epona is empathic with Link from the very beginning. Link loses her after entering the twilight the first time, but when she returns in Kakariko village she is seen [[HorsingAround bucking off]] several bokoblins who try to capture her, only calming down when Link captures her.

* ''LightNovel/TheFruitOfEvolution'': While searching for a steed, Seiichi comes across a talking female donkey named Rurune who is extremely violent and won't let anyone ride her. He manages to tame her by grabbing her by the hind legs when she tries to kick him, throwing her up in the air and putting her back into her pen like a helpless baby, making Rurune accept him as her master.

[[folder: Film]]
* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': The Ikran are dragon-like creatures that the Na'vi use as mounts. Every Ikran chooses its own master, and only then if the one they choose can best them in combat and tame them.
** Worth special mention is Toruk, who is said to be untameable by even the strongest of Na'vi. Jake manages to do so.

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'', the traumatic events which lead to the death of Prince Théodred cause his horse Brego to become completely wild and possibly mad. Only Aragorn is able to soothe the beast and ease his troubled mind; he then turns Brego loose, but the horse finds him later and serves as his mount for the rest of the series.
* An interesting take occurs in the first ''Film/TheLoveBug'' movie. Herbie, the titular vehicle is a living car that moves on its own, has emotions, and even speaks to some degree (albeit only through use of his horn). He decides for himself who he'll let drive him, and anyone he doesn't like could just as easily be thrown out of the seat.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'': While Sam Witwicky is looking for a car to buy for his birthday at a used car dealership, the dealer explains to him that ‘the driver doesn’t choose the car, the car chooses the driver’. Though in this case, it’s because the car in question is a sapient TransformingMecha, named Bumblebee, who was tasked with protecting Sam.

* The titular ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' are chosen this way. The dragons form an empathic bond with a particular human, who is then shanghaied into the life of a dragonrider. The bond is so strong that riders of dragons who mate often wind up having sex as well whether they have a relationship or not. There are some cases (such as Holth and Moreta) in which a dragon will temporarily allow someone other than the rider they are attached to to ride him/her, which usually requires approval from that dragon's usual rider (and possibly from the temporary rider's usual dragon) and for the dragon involved to either like the temporary rider (such as Ruth agreeing to let Brekke or Sharra ride him without usual rider Jaxom being along on that trip) or be convinced that the situation requires it.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', the kinto'un is a semi-sentient magic cloud that OnlyThePureOfHeart may ride. (That trope was originally called NimbusPrivileges, after a common dub name for the kinto'un.) Goku, Chi-chi, and Gohan are its most common riders.

* Kokuo, [[BigBad Ken-oh/Raoh's]] steed in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', is portrayed as being very selective in who it lets try to ride him. That it is also ''huge'' also doesn't help matters. Only two other people earned enough of his respect to ride him: Juza and Kenshiro, the latter having defeated Raoh/inherited his legacy.
* ''Manga/Overlord2012'': Albedo tries to ride a HellishHorse called a bicorn, the EvilCounterpart to a unicorn: two horns instead of one, black instead of white, and as it turns out, can only be ridden by non-virgins (it just trembles and refuses to move). Particularly embarrassing for her because she's a succubus.

* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' has Jolly Jumper, who will do painful or embarrassing things to anyone trying to steal him. Once an [[MeddlesomePatrolman annoying mountie]] tried to confiscate him, but Luke tells Jolly to "take him to the end of the world". Jolly gladly does so, and in the next scene the confused mountie is in an icy field, asking a ''penguin'' "Have you seen a horse?"

* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'': While Sam Witwicky is looking for a car to buy for his birthday at a used car dealership, the dealer explains to him that ‘the driver doesn’t choose the car, the car chooses the driver’. Though in this case, it’s because the car in question is a sapient TransformingMecha, named Bumblebee, who was tasked with protecting Sam.

* An interesting take occurs in the first ''Film/TheLoveBug'' movie. Herbie, the titular vehicle is a living car that moves on its own, has emotions, and even speaks to some degree (albeit only through use of his horn). He decides for himself who he'll let drive him, and anyone he doesn't like could just as easily be thrown out of the seat.

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'', the traumatic events which lead to the death of Prince Theodred cause his horse Brego to become completely wild and possibly mad. Only Aragorn is able to soothe the beast and ease his troubled mind; he then turns Brego loose, but the horse finds him later and serves as his mount for the rest of the series.

* In the ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'' duology, the protagonist's love interest is given a horse. She mounts it, and suddenly everyone cheers. She is then told that this horse has only been ridden by the protagonist and his little sister, and usually accepts no other rider. The horse seems to be entirely unmagical, and the woman in question is rather embarrassed, because everyone takes her to be the chosen one ... which in this case means the one destined to marry the protagonist. She likes him, but she is a fighter and spy, and marriage is not on her to-do list. She feels she has to refuse him so that he can marry a proper housewife.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has Shadowfax of the Mearas. Even the [[BornInTheSaddle Rohirrim]] were not able to tame him. [[WizardClassic Gandalf]] however, was able to subdue him quite easily, and Shadowfax served as his steed from then on.
* The Companions of the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series are [[SapientSteed magical white horselike beings]] which [[BondCreatures bond]] to a particular human rider. The Companion always [[TheChooserOfTheOne chooses the human]], never vice versa. Being Chosen by a Companion makes someone [[TheOrder one of the titular Heralds]], who have PsychicPowers and serve as a combination of Mounties, rapid messengers, {{Circuit Judge}}s, military scouts and special forces, and Search and Rescue service, among other things. Heralds are considered to be intrinsically [[IncorruptiblePurePureness incorruptible]], because the Companions don't Choose people who would take bribes or the like. Because of this, it is required that the ruler of the country be a Herald, and no one who has not been Chosen by a Companion is eligible to be ruler or heir.
** In ''Exile's Valor'', Prince Karathanelan assumes the Companions are just distinctively-colored horses and heads off to Companions' Field to break one of them to saddle. The only reason he survives to the novel's final fight scene is because Caryo goes easy on him.
** Companions will only bear someone other than their Chosen in an emergency, or if that person is a very great friend of their Herald. They also only [[{{Telepathy}} Mindspeak]] with each other and their own Chosen, even though most can make their thoughts heard by anyone. Companions who habitually break these rules are rare, and are considered somewhat eccentric.
** Shin'a'in warsteeds from the same universe may be outright dangerous to strangers approaching, let alone trying to ride, them. There's no magic to that, though; it's merely a combination of selective breeding (giving them a desired, breed-typical temperament) and training. For practicality reasons Tarma and Kethry have their horses, Hellsbane and Ironheart, trained so that each will accept either of them to ride it.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Hippogriffs choose who they will allow to ride them. As Malfoy finds out, insulting one is a good way to get sent to the hospital.

* ''Literature/TheWarGods'' has the Sothoii Coursers, the descendants of magically altered horses. They are as intelligent as humans as well as being larger, stronger, faster and having more endurance than any natural horse. Some of them will enter into a psychic bond with a human (who are called Windriders). Like the Heralds and their Companions, the Windriders are respected by all Sothoii, and are guaranteed to be honorable (as the Sothoii see it anyway). Coursers won't associate with anyone who isn't.
* Early in the ''Literature/{{Gor}}'' series it is established that only natural tarnsmen are able to ride war tarns (giant birds used as cavalry), and even then if a tarn doesn't like a particular tarnsman it could just as easily rip him to shreds. In later stories the craft of tarn domestication is further advanced such that [[SubvertedTrope any trained rider can ride any tarn]].
* ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'' has a mundane example in Peachblossom. He's a gelding with a foul temper and generalized misanthropy after having been abused, and Daine has to persuade him to let Kel ride him. Kel is the only person who can do so (he'll kick or bite anyone else) until Tobe, who has horse magic and can communicate with him like Daine does.

* In ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Red Hare, a huge CoolHorse so named because "it can run fast as a hare and is colored red", only ever allowed [[WorldsStrongestMan Lu Bu]] and later--after the Lu Bu's disposal-- [[WarGod Guan]] [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Yu]] to ride him, as no one else could tame him.

* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': The Ryshadium, a breed of horses that pick their riders. Dalinar and Adolin each have a Ryshadium mount, larger and smarter than other horses. Their antagonist, Sadeas is frustrated that he is unable to have a horse as fine, despite his great wealth. An offhand mention in the [[Literature/WordsOfRadiance second book]] implies that the Ryshadium originally belonged to the [[TheOrder Knights Radiant]], and millennia-old worldhopper Hoid is pleasantly surprised when he discovers them. There's a scene in ''Words of Radiance'' where for plot reasons Dalinar's Ryshadium needs to carry Adolin for a short while and it apparently took a lot of convincing.
* ''{{Literature/Dinotopia}}'': Only a Skybax's rider can even get close, and the creature itself chooses when the rider has proven himself or herself as worthy to be made an apprentice and later a master rider.
* This seems to be how [[DragonRider dragon riding]] works in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** While not as [[BondCreature intimately connected]] as the Starks' direwolves, each dragon is connected to a specific driver, who has to qualify to some nebulous criteria which aren't fully established, although various theories are advanced involving [[InTheBlood legendary bloodlines]], magical dragonbinding horns, and more mundane bonding rituals. Also, if you are a rider of a specific dragon, you'd better not try to approach another one: the criteria are not interchangeable. Dragons also bond for life; until that dragon's rider dies, it will ''not'' follow other people's commands.
** A plot point is how Daenerys Targaryen struggles to rein in her three dragons. By ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'', she has successfully mastered Drogon, but because one person can only command one dragon, this means that the rest of her dragons (Rhaegal and Viserion) will always be wild if she keeps them to herself. A vision in ''Literature/AClashOfKings'' suggests that Daenerys must find two other riders to tame them ("The dragon has three heads").
** The original reason why the Targaryens, and the Valyrians before them, practiced incest is because they believed it would preserve their ability to ride dragons. However, having Valyrian blood is not a guarantee for a successful bonding, as Quentyn Martell (whose ancestor was a Targaryen princess) finds out the hard way.
* In ''Taran Wanderer'', the fourth book in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'', this trope comes into play when Taran's beloved horse Melynlas is stolen. He's able to prove that the horse is his when Melynlas refuses to cooperate for any rider except Taran.
* {{Inverted}} in ''{{Literature/Everworld}}''--no horse, whether normal or sapient, will allow a witch like [[TokenEvilTeammate Senna]] to ride it.
* Played straight in "Wildwood Boys" by James Carlos Blake - Quantrill rides the most meanest horse in whole regiment. And he is quite fond of that dog-killing and people-biting big roan. Even names him "Charley".
* ''Literature/TheBlackStallion'' series has both the Black and an island horse named Flame who are so wild that only the two young men they've formed a bond with can ride them. In ''The Black Stallion and the Girl'', the Black accepts gentle Pam Athena as his jockey, but even then he doesn't give her full control.

* ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'' has the Angel of Valhalla, a white [[HorseOfADifferentColor Chocobo]] spoken of in legend in the Wildlands that can only be tamed by its one true master. This of course turns out to be [[TheHero Lightning]]. Justified since [[spoiler: the angel is actually the reincarnation of her Eidolon, Odin.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has themed mounts which drop from each expansion's Extreme trials bosses. By the final patch of the expansion (X.5 or so), if the Warrior of Light has collected all of them in a set, they can go to take on a quest that allows them to meet the [[AuthorAvatar Wandering Minstrel]] who gifts them that expansion's biggest mount.
* Aloy is the only person in ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' who can ride Machines. This is because she's figured out how to override their code with a device she scavenged off a dead Corruptor, effectively taming them. Since no one else knows how to do this, no one else can ride.
* It is revealed in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel II'' that only the Awakener can pilot a Divine Knight. However, secondary contractors are allowed inside the Divine Knight but cannot operate it as Alisa finds out in her bonding event.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiritRidingFree'', Spirit (like [[WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron his eponymous sire]]) is too rebellious to be broken by any methods available to Miradero's settlers. In typical IntelligentAnimal fashion, he ''allows'' Lucky to ride him, because they established a rapport before he was caught and he knows she had nothing to do with his capture. Of course, any sort of saddle or paddock is out of the question- they ride together, because they're kindred spirits, but Lucky knows she does not own him.

** The Black Lion at first chooses Shiro to pilot it. But in Season 3, after Shiro ‘disappeared’ in the season 2 finale, the Black Lion then chooses Keith to pilot it.

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* This seems to be how dragon riding works in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Each dragon is a BondCreature to a specific rider, who has to qualify to some nebulous criteria which aren't fully established, although various theories are advanced involving [[InTheBlood legendary bloodlines]], magical dragonbinding horns, and more mundane bonding rituals. Also, if you are a rider of a specific dragon, you'd better not try to approach another one: the criteria are not interchangeable.

** in ''VideoGame/TwilightPrincess'', Epona is empathic with Link from the very beginning. Link loses her after entering the twilight the first time, but when she returns in Kakariko village she is seen [[HorsingAround bucking off]] several bokoblins who try to capture her, only calming down when Link captures her.

* The titular ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' are chosen this way. The dragons form an empathic bond with a particular human, who is then shanghaied into the life of a dragonrider. The bond is so strong that riders of dragons who mate often wind up having sex as well whether they have a relationship or not. There are some cases (such as Holth and Moreta) in which a dragon will temporarily allow someone other than the rider they are attached to to ride him/her, which usually requires approval from that dragon's usual rider (and possibly from the temporary rider's usual dragon) and for the dragon involved to either like the temporary rider or be convinced that the situation requires it.

* [[MeaningfulName Epona]] from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' may be this. She is described by [[BadBoss Ingo]] as being a "wild horse". The only ones she seems to be friendly with are Malon, who raised her, and [[TheChosenOne Link]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Rainbow and Stardust are a pair of horses with intelligence that gets them compared to humans and they run as wild horses and refuse to be captured or ridden most of the time, but allow Diana and Etta to ride them after the women save Rainbow after the stallion was shot by criminals.

* In ''BarbieAndTheSecretDoor'', Princess Alexa is the only one allowed to ride the Queen Unicorn.

* In ''Zoids: New Century'', Liger Zero is stated to go beserk when any other warrior (save Bit Cloud) tries to pilot it.

* In ''{{Series/Dinotopia}}'', the Skybax played this up more than the books, choosing their riders after training was finished.
* Only [[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess Xena]] could ride the second Argo, although the horse did allow Joxer to keep her in his corral, probably because he had taken care of her dam, and presumably her as a filly.

* ''VideoGame/NinjaShadowOfDarkness'': The Sky City level ends with a boss battle against a winged T-Rex, which you have to whittle his health down to a small fraction... at which point a cutscene will show you taming the beast and riding it to escape the city, to the next level which is the beach.

* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': When the Paladins arrive at the Castle of the Lions, and awaken Princess Allura, she explains to them that the only the Lions may choose their paladins.
** While the Green and Yellow lions stick to their chosen paladin throughout the whole series, the Black, Red, and Blue lions each choose a different paladin at one point in the series.
*** The Black Lion at first chooses Shiro to pilot it. But in Season 3, after Shiro ‘disappeared’ in the season 2 finale, the Black Lion then chooses Keith to pilot it.
*** The Blue Lion, which was the first lion that the paladins discovered, only allowed Lance to pilot it, before choosing Princess Allura as its new Paladin, when the Red Lion chose Lance as its new paladin.

Subtrope of CoolHorse and sister trope to OnlyTheChosenMayWield. Related to SapientSteed which often goes hand in hand with this trope. Compare OnlyICanMakeItGo, which has to do with cars. Compare/Contrast BondCreatures and {{Familiar}} for creatures with a similar bond that is created through more magical or psychic means.

-->--'''The Hyrule Compendium''' describing [[HellishHorse the Giant Horse]], ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''

* In ''[[Film/LordOfTheRings The Two Towers]]'', the traumatic events which lead to the death of Prince Theodred cause his horse Brego to become completely wild and possibly mad. Only Aragorn is able to soothe the beast and ease his troubled mind; he then turns Brego loose, but the horse finds him later and serves as his mount for the rest of the series.