History Main / PropheciesRhymeAllTheTime

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Faeries1999}}'' had: "Two human children from otherwhere, one foot wet, flaming hair, when they appear,
the time is near."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Faeries1999}}'' had: "Two human children from otherwhere; one foot wet, flaming hair; when they appear;

->''"Most of the prophets of the past millennium were more concerned with scansion than accuracy. You know, '[[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe And thee Worlde Unto An Ende Shall Come, in tumpty-tumpty-tumpty One.]]' Or Two, or Three, or whatever. There aren't many good rhymes for Six, so it's probably a good year to be in."''

* Parodied in ''TheRook'' where the Checquy encounters many false prophecies that, "inevitably rhyme but don't scan."

Mind you, the translators of the classical poets like Homer, Virgil, the author of Beowulf, or Dante often find it worth the effort to make their translations rhyme. But the harder you work at something like this, the more you sacrifice things like keeping the actual meaning of the prophecy intact. And surely most prophecies are vague enough already without translating them in a way that carries their meaning even farther away from the exact events that fulfill the prophecy. In that sense, if you hear a translated prophecy that rhymes, you should be worried that it was an especially ''In''conveniently ''Im''precise translation. Remember, a poem is a toy, but a prophecy is a tool.

* Every prophecy in ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' and the sequel series, TheHeroesOfOlympus, rhymes, except for one conspicuous aversion in ''The Son of Neptune''.

* A rare aversion in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', no less. Twice, Professor Trelawney has delivered prophecies, neither of which exactly rhyme: Once concerning Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', and again, nearly twelve years prior concerning Harry and Voldemort.

* From ''Series/DoctorWho'':

* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', [[ArcWords "Two by two. Hands of blue."]] may count, but River's crazy like that.

* Very few people know that the prophecies of Nostradamus rhyme in French, because they definitely do not in English. Note that Nostradamus' French is archaic and barely counts as French, even for its time. It's one of the reasons that people can so easily lend meanings to his words.

Mind you, the translators of the classical poets like Homer, Virgil, the author of Beowulf, or Dante often find it worth the effort to make their translations rhyme. But the harder you work at something like this, the more you sacrifice things like keeping the actual meaning of the prophecy intact. And surely most prophecies are vague enough already without translating them in a way that carries their meaning even farther away from the exact events that fulfill the prophecy. In that sense, if you hear a translated prophecy that rhymes, you should be worried that it was an especially ''In''conveniently ''Im''precise translation. Remember, a poem is a toy, but a prophecy is a tool

* Parodied in TheRook where the Checquy encounters many false prophecies that, "inevitably rhyme but don't scan."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' has this prophecy regarding Mythology/KingArthur claiming Excalibur; "Isle of towers, glass and stone / The lady waits for him alone / Ebon glass in emerald frame / Pure white lilies speak her name / Blood red bane in dragon stone / Excalibur waits for him alone."

-->'''Vitruvius''': ''"I know this prophecy to be true... because it rhymes."

** Both prophecies, in fact: "Wrong will be right, When Aslan comes into sight, At the Sound of his roar, Sorrows will be no more, As he bares his teeth, Winter shall meet it's death, And when he shakes his mane, We shall have spring again."

* A rare aversion in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', no less. Twice, Professor Trelawney has delivered prophecies, neither of which exactly rhyme: Once concerning Peter Petigrew/Wormtail in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', and again, nearly twelve years prior concerning Harry and Voldemort.

->'''Fates:''' In eighteen years, precisely, the planets will align ever so nicely...\\

* Ithlinne's Prophecy in Andrzej Sapkowski's ''Franchise/TheWitcher Cycle'' is, in its pure form, a partial example, consisting of both non-rhyming and rhyming parts. However, it is subverted and lampshaded when another character gives a concise, non-rhyming summary of this prophecy to the eponymous Witcher, who then [[DeadpanSnarker expresses sarcastic disbelief]], because all the prophecies worth the name rhyme.

Possibly justifiable, as rhyming when translated into the language spoken by the people who have to do something about it, and not in any language existing at the time the prophecy was written, is a clever way to prove that it's a real prophecy. But that only works if it's a sufficiently straightforward translation to show that the prophet did it rather than the translator.

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' is an {{egregious}} user of this trope; all of the prophecies rhyme, even if they're translated from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
** ''[[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Yu-Gi-Oh!]] [[TheMovie The Abridged Movie]]'' [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this with Yugi actually asking if the prophecy was written by Dr. Seuss.
* The 4Kids dub of ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'' had the witches-in-training chant a rhyming couplet stating their spell's intention, rather than a string of magical words ending with a command as in the original.
** Amusingly, this is just what Comicbook/DoctorStrange does when casting spells.