History Main / PropheciesRhymeAllTheTime

* ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'': The 4Kids dub has 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.

* Lampshaded in Issue 1 of ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'', where one character translates an ancient message in rhyme, and is called on it.
* Similarly lampshaded in an issue of Creator/DCComics's old ''ComicBook/ForgottenRealms'' comic, in which a character coming out of a trance and wondering what happened is laconically informed that he was just "spouting prophetic poetry. ''Bad'' prophetic poetry, at that."
* In ''[[{{Comicbook/Fables}} Fables]]'', Ozma made a prophecy about Bigby & Snow's children. Some people have questioned if it was a real prophecy, but most think it is since she mentions all seven children (most people think they only have six, since they've hidden Ghost's existence).

* In ''Fanfic/{{Kage}}'' (a crossover between ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}''), Yua was told by a friend called Kage centuries ago of a prophecy regarding a blue girl who's apparently Jade Chan (or the [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Queen of the Shadowkhan]]), destined to [[AntiChrist end Kandrakar's influence over the W.I.T.C.H. universe]].
--> "From another realm, another place; comes a dark child of a long forgotten race; from thrive to trial she will reach her throne; the light of the sky will be darkened by her will alone."
* Lampshaded to hellangone in ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World''. Right from the start the four encounter a poem carved in a wall. John immediately sneers at how bad it is, and complains that if it's meant for them, he does ''not'' want to be communicated to that way. They soon run into more poems and lines of poetry, all bad (“Hooray, more shitty poetry!” John cries at one point). When they find out that the gods wrote some of this stuff, John sniffs, “Well, now we know they ain't the gods of poetry.”)
* ''Fanfic/TheLastSon'': [[ComicBook/XMen Irene Adler's]] prophecy regarding [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Superman's]] fate reads as follows:
--> "All of you now, from near and from far, mark well the Child that comes from the Star! Great power he has, which no man can match, the dark he will fight, and swiftly dispatch. Death will fall from the sky, with unquenchable fire, but the Child will strive on, and shall never tire. Monsters shall rise, in a world full of hate, yet the Child will bring light, to challenge this fate. Another will come, with might equal to he, but he will still win, in ways we can't see. And all around him, mutantkind shall unite, to drive back the dark, in a terrible fight. And hope shall be gone, as victory seems far, but hope shall return, with the Child of the Star."
* ''Literature/HarryPotter''[='=]s Prophecy famously averts this trope, which Hermione finds surprisingly underwhelming in ''Fanfic/TheParselmouthOfGryffindor''. Leading to this bit of dialogue:
-->'''Hermione:''' "Blah. That doesn't even rhyme."\\
'''Dumbledore:''' "''Miss Granger!''"\\
'''Hermione:''' "Sorry. Sorry. That was uncalled for."

->''"Most of the prophets of the past millennium were more concerned with scansion than accuracy. You know, '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."''
-->-- '''Aziraphale''', ''Literature/GoodOmens''

The trope probably originates from the Delphic Oracle in ancient Greece, where it was standard practice for the priests attending the oracle to render her visionary ravings into elegant hexameter verse for petitioners. More generally, in pre-literate societies poetry was an important mnemonic tool - prophecies that rhyme or scan stand a far better chance of being remembered precisely than prophecies which do not, and precise wording is generally very important where prophecies are concerned.

* 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.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon 2000}}'' (dub only): "Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice, or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they '''clash'''. Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone his song will fail; thus the Earth shall turn to '''ash'''." Et cetera.

* Lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': Hades sweet talks the Fates into telling him the future and they consent. On hearing the first few lines of the prophecy, Hades comments it.
-->'''Fates:''' In eighteen years, precisely, the planets will align ever so nicely...\\
'''Hades:''' [[LampshadeHanging Oy, verse.]]
* Lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'' early on, though it later turns out [[spoiler:Vitruvius made up the prophecy and the rhyming was just for effect.]]
-->'''Vitruvius''': ''"...and be the greatest, most interesting, most important person of all times. All this is true... because it rhymes."

* The prophecy in ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'':
-->When single shines the triple sun,\\
What was sundered and undone,\\
Shall be whole; the two made one!\\
By Gelfling hand, or else by none.
* From ''Film/TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny'': "From where you came you shall remain \ until you are complete again". It was originally in Latin too.
* Played straight, subverted, ''and'' lampshaded in the film version of ''Film/TheChroniclesOfNarnia: Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe''.
-->'''Mr. Beaver:''' When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone/Sits at Cair Paravel in throne/The evil time will be over and done.\\
'''Susan:''' You know, that doesn't really rhyme...\\
'''Mr. Beaver:''' You're kinda missin' the point.

* Not a prophecy as such, but in ''Film/AskAPoliceman'', Harbottle remembers an old poem about the HeadlessHorseman which supposedly contains vital information. Unfortunately, he can't recall the last line, which contains the information, and makes something up that makes no sense. When the characters eventually learn the real final line, it completely destroys the scansion of the poem.

* In Book 4 of the ''Literature/LoneWolf'' series ''The Chasm of Doom'', Lone Wolf can meet a mysterious old man, [[spoiler:Gwynian the Sage of Varetta]], who gives him a Scroll with an ominous prophecy foreshadowing the true nature of the threat in the book. Fortunately, this is one of those prophecies that ''can'' be foiled. Said prophecy of course rhymes.

* No one who has ever had anything important to say in the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' books has had the ability to avoid saying it in rhyme.
* In the first ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' book, the translation of the Book of the People inexplicably rhymes.
* Averted in the ''[=DragonCrown=]'' War series by Creator/MichaelStackpole. In the first, a prophecy is made in Elven, then translated into English. It doesn't rhyme in the slightest, in either language, nor was it expected to.
* Perhaps one of the most famous is the Ur-quote from Lovecraft's Necronomicon: "That is not dead which can eternal lie, / And with strange aeons even death may die."
** It twisted the history of and etymology of the English language so that it would rhyme.
** Some later mythos writers have also suggested that the reason successive translations of the Necronomicon are of decreasing usefulness (which is a plot point in ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror'') is that the writers were obsessed with this trope to the point of sacrificing accuracy for the sake of preserving the book's poetic meter. The aforementioned quote supposedly mentions something about Cthulhu's location in the Pacific Ocean in the original Arabic.
* Spoofed in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', as seen in the page quote. Later, Aziraphale finds the only book of ''accurate'' prophecies, and his theory is apparently confirmed as they don't rhyme at all:
-->1111. An the Great Hound sharl coom, and the Two Powers sharl watch in Vane, for it Goeth where is its Master, Where they Wot Notte, and he sharl name it, True to Ittes Nature, and Hell sharl flee it.
* Not only does the prophecy in ''Literature/TheDarkangelTrilogy'' rhyme, but it is also revealed a couple of stanzas at a time in each volume.
* The two prophecies central to ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'' series, each of which are some twenty lines long, read like this.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''
** The inscription of the One Ring: "''Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul,''" which rhymes "find them" with "bind them," and (depending on your definition of "rhyme") "them all" with itself. "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." Considering that Tolkien was explicitly invoking the TranslationConvention for his work, this suggests that it's a rhyme in at least ''three'' languages (our English, the Black Tongue, and the Westron language the notional "real" text was translated from).
** Also, ''All that is gold does not glitter'', prophesying the return of the King.
* 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, the Black Sun Prophecy, which foresees "sixty women of crowns of gold who will fill the rivers with blood", might be just a power play of sorcerers wanting to remove unwanted heiresses and it doesn't rhyme. Geralt [[DeadpanSnarker expresses sarcastic disbelief]], because all the prophecies worth the name rhyme.

* Whenever a prophecy is delivered in ''Fool'', regardless of who is delivering it, it rhymes, much to Pocket's increasing ire and bemusement.
* In Steven Brust's ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' novels, a poem describes the Cycle of how the seventeen Houses take turns ruling the Empire. Not only does this rhyme tell what's yet to happen in future history, but what's ''already'' happened, over and over again, in the past. The Cycle turns almost entirely by natural processes (each House has genetically-determined preferences of rule and blind spots), and it's been clear what happens when for nearly two thousand centuries, so this could have sprung up later rather than being a prophecy. Comparing the English poem to what it refers to, it actually looks like a translation where some lines were changed for the sake of preserving rhyme, as some don't properly describe their House's role, or their House... or even their ''animal''.
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and parodied in Creator/JohnMoore's ''Literature/HeroicsForBeginners''. The hero meets a mysterious fortuneteller, but complains that her prophecies don't rhyme. Exasperated, she whips up a quatrain on the spot (or tries to ... she has to send him a message later with the last line).
* Every prophecy in ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' and the sequel series, ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', rhymes, except for one conspicuous aversion in ''The Son of Neptune'', which is, naturally, lampshaded. As it turns out, with [[MoreDakka enough dakka]], one can ignore all the traditions one wants.
* A rare aversion in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', no less. Twice, Professor Trelawney has delivered prophecies, neither of which exactly rhyme, though they contain repeated phrases: Once concerning Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', and again, nearly twelve years prior concerning Harry and Voldemort.
* Parodied in ''Literature/TheRook'' where the Checquy encounters many false prophecies that, "inevitably rhyme but don't scan."
* The witch that foretells Arrow-Odds fate at the beginning of ''Literature/TheSagaOfArrowOdd'' delivers her prophecy in alliterative verse.
* Early in ''Literature/IClaudius'', we see two Sibylline prophecies that hint of Claudius's rule. Both prophecies rhyme, though that wasn't a typical feature of Greek or Latin poetry (or prophecy). Arguably it's TranslationConvention, translating Greek verse (which was based on patterns of long and short syllables) into an equivalent English poetic form (based on stressed syllables and rhyme).
* Parodied by Portentia the oracle in ''Literature/TheSecretsOfDroon''. She'd ''like'' to give her prophecies as rhyming riddles, but she's not very good at it. From her second appearance onward, her presentation gets much better.
* Thankfully averted in ''Literature/WarriorCats''. The prophecies NEVER rhyme. They may be (seemingly deliberately) obtuse and delivered like clockwork when the main characters are done fulfilling the last one, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking but at least they don't rhyme]].
* In ''[[Literature/NightWatchSeries New Watch]]'' by Creator/SergeyLukyanenko, Arina's student Maria was given to making rhyming prophecies. This practice makes it hard for Arina and Anton to determine which Russian ruler Maria prophesied a bloody reign for as "tsar" is much easier to rhyme than "secretary general" or "prime minister."
* In ''Literature/RowanOfRin'', every one of Sheba's prophecies rhymes.
* In ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles'', all of Sandwich's prophecies rhyme.
* ''Literature/ProphecyApprovedCompanion'': The Golden Prophecy:
--> “From humble village a [fighter/mage/rogue] awakes.\\
Then Evil destroys and [their] heart breaks.\\
[Their] childhood companion, [their] guiding light,\\
[They] set off to make the world right.\\
[They] shall find the forest’s heart.\\
And steal the fire’s guarded start.\\
[They] shall make the water cry\\
Then fall into unbroken sky\\
And fight the darkness deep inside\\
And turn away from brightness’ pride.\\
Then find in time’s endless halls\\
The echoes of their lost ones’ calls.\\
To slay what once was so adored\\
So what was lost can be restored.”

* ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' features an Egyptian curse in rhyming English. The tablet with the cryptic solution also proves to rhyme in English.
* Averted in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Prophecies are not unusual in either show, but they rarely rhyme; indeed, they're usually just a line or two of prose.
** However, in "Hush," Buffy has a prophetic dream when an OracularUrchin [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHIjoHpEa5g sings a song]] about the incoming [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]].
* Averted in ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'':
--> "As long as the Mother Confessor's pure heart beats, [[BigBad the Keeper]] is doomed to fail."
* Played with in ''Series/DoctorWho'', the poem about the good man that goes to war. Though technically prophetic, poem is actually historical, relating to an event that had already happened (relatively speaking) rather than what will happen in the (again, relative) future. Though as with all things Doctor Who, TimeyWimeyBall makes a hash out of that particular point.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Averted with Bajoran prophecies, with the notable exception of Horran's Seventh which begins, "He will come to the palace, bearing no malice, carrying a chalice, filled with sweet spring wine."
* In the first episode of ''Series/TheWitcher2019'' Geralt dismisses a prophecy for not rhyming.

* In ''Theatre/OnceUponAMattress'', both the Marriage Law and the curse on King Sextimus are stated as rhyming couplets.

* In ''TableTopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the ''divination'' spell is described as giving answers sometimes in the form of a "cryptic rhyme". The (3rd edition) ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' gives some advice on how to handle this:
--> Cryptic rhymes are often difficult to come up with in the middle of the game. One trick is to create a rhyme ahead of time that can fit just about any question, such as "If X is the seed you sow, reap you will Y and know," where X is an action and Y is the result. Or "If into X fate doth thee send, thou wilt find Y in the end," where X is a place and Y is a result or consequence such as "danger" or "treasure".

* ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryI'' has the following prophecy, which does outline what you need to do through the game:
-->''Comes a hero from the east\\
Frees the man from the beast\\
Brings the child out from the band\\
Drives the evil from the land''

* Shows up in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' as Goombella spouts off lines from the legend of the titular door.
-->''To find the treasure of yore\\
take the [[MineralMacguffin seven Crystal Stars]] to the Thousand-Year Door.\\
Hold the Magical Map aloft before\\
the entrance to the Thousand-Year Door.\\
Then the stars will light the way\\
that leads to the stones of yesterday.''
* When Sophia the Goddess is freed from her imprisonment in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' one of her followers recites a prophecy for her return.
-->'''Demiurge''': With scales in hand, the Goddess shall arise\\
and righteously cast off Her cursed pall.\\
That She with wrathful wyrmking at Her side\\
might judge and thence bring balance unto all.
* Not all of what's written in the Book of Prophecies in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'' rhymes, but the prophecy foretelling the end of the world does.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Averted in ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'', where they may not even be a complete sentence.
* In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', Madeline's quest hooks, courtesy of Derek the Cleric.
-->'''Mimic:''' Am I on Creator/DrSeuss's Candid Camera?
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': "The Gem was born of evil's fire;/the Gem shall be His portal./He comes to claim, He comes to sire/The end of all things mortal."
* It also happens in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' when Kim is trying to protect a young prince from the descendants of the Royal Families treacherous knights:
-->'''Kim''': Awaiting the light of a full harvest moon; Rodigahn's foe will soon face his doom.\\
In the shadow of the palace we will not be deterred; the monarchy ends with Wallace The Third.
* The [[LighterAndFluffier toned-down]] children's TV series of ''WesternAnimation/WatershipDown'' turned WaifProphet Fiver into an OracularUrchin whose every prophecy RhymesOnADime.
* Parodied in a live-action segment in the ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow''. Luigi made his brother disappear. The spell to bring him back (according to the GuestStar) was something like "Ping-ping pear... wing-wing wear... make old Mario... Re-a-pear!"

* "When WesternAnimation/GravityFalls and earth becomes sky, beware [[BigBad the beast]] [[{{Cyclops}} with just one eye]]!"
** Lampshaded in [[Recap/GravityFallsS2E10NorthwestMansionMystery an earlier episode]]:
-->'''Dipper''': Pacifica! The ghost is turning everyone into wood and... started rhyming for some reason.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': As Mother Olm relays "The Prophecy" toward our heroes:
-->'''The Prophecy:'''\\
''Three stars burning Bright;''\\
''Come from Beyond to Expel the Night;''\\
''Should they fight or embrace the Fall;''\\
''Their choice will determine the fate of All!''
* ''WesternAnimation/ThundarrTheBarbarian'': The episode "Prophecy of Peril" starts with the Crystal of Prophecy and Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla's attempt to steal it. The Crystal held an unknown prophecy that told how to bring about the downfall of the evil wizard Vashtar. When the Crystal shatters, because Vashtar zaps it to try to destroy it and the prophecy, the freed spirit tells all present the prophecy of the three women who will bring down Vashtar, with pictures.
--->'''Prophecy Crystal Spirit:'''\\
''One lies beneath Endor with Silver to bind her;''\\
''One comes from the past and her foe will find her;''\\
''One dwells in the Canyon of Death, lonely-hearted;''\\
''Unite them, and Vashtar's power is thwarted!''
* From the ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' short, ''WesternAnimation/AladdinAndHisWonderfulLamp'':

''This lamp is well guarded by torrents & flame---''\\

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 [[LuckyTranslation sufficiently straightforward translation]] to show that the prophet did it rather than the translator.

-->'''Kim''': Awaiting the light of a full harvest moon; Rodigahn's foe will soon face his doom\\

* It also happens in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' when Kim is trying to protect a young prince from the descendants of the Royal Families treacherous knights: "Awaiting the light of a full harvest moon;/Rodigahn's foe will soon face his doom/In the shadow of the palace we will not be deterred;/the monarchy ends with Wallace The Third."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': As Mother Olm relays "The Prophecy" toward our heroes.
-->'''Mother Olm''': Three Stars Burning Bright, Come from Beyond to Expel the Night.\\
'''Mother Olm''': Should they Fight or Embrace the Fall, their Choice will Determine the Fate of All.

'''Mother Olm''': Should they Fight or Embrace the Fall, Their Choice Will Determine the Fate of All.

-->'''Mother Olm''' Three Stars Burning Bright, Come from Beyond to Expel the Night.\\
'''Mother Olm''' Should they Fight or Embrace the Fall, Their Choice Will Determine the Fate of All.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': As Mother Olm relays "The Prophecy" towards our heroes.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' As Mother Olm relays "The Prophecy" towards our heroes.

* Played with in several of the prophetic books in the Bible, which do follow a poetic structure...but they're written in the style of ''Hebrew'' poetry. Hebrew poems don't normally rhyme in the modern sense (even in the original language), but instead "rhyme" ideas by saying the same thing in two different ways, or two closely-related things in similar ways. For example, Isaiah 53:5-6 says:

''Film/TheScorpionKing'': Deleted scenes reveal that the prophecy of the Scorpion King was done in rhyme. Given how awful the rhyme is, it's not a surprise that it was cut from the film (even if that required a few scenes to be butchered as a side effect).

** The prophecy rhymes... supposedly: "When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone, Sits at Cair Paravel in throne, The evil time will be over and done." Susan calls this out in the movie ("You know, that doesn't really rhyme.").

-->'''Hermione:''' "Blah. That doesn't evenr rhyme."
-->'''Dumbledore:''' "''Miss Granger!''"
-->'''Hermione:''' "Sorry. Sorry. That was uncalled for."

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

Mind you, the translators of the classical poets like Creator/{{Homer}}, Creator/{{Virgil}}, the author of Literature/{{Beowulf}}, or [[Literature/TheDivineComedy 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' has this prophecy regarding Main/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."

** Some later mythos writers have also suggested that the reason successive translations of the Necronomicon are of decreasing usefulness (which is a plot point in ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror'') is that the writers were obsessed with this trope to the point of sacrificing accuracy for the sake of preserving the book's poetic meter.

* Spoofed in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', as seen in the page quote. Interestingly, when Aziraphale finally gets his hands on Agnes Nutter's book - the only book of true prophecies - they don't rhyme at all.

* Spoofed in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', as seen in the page quote.

* In ''[[{{Comicbook/Fables}} Fables]]'', Ozma made a prophecy about Bigby & Snow's children. Some people have questioned if it was a real prophecy, but most think it is since she mentions all seven children(most people think they only have six, since they've hidden Ghost's existence).

* In ''[[Literature/NightWatch New Watch]]'' by Creator/SergeyLukyanenko, Arina's student Maria was given to making rhyming prophecies. This practice makes it hard for Arina and Anton to determine which Russian ruler Maria prophesied a bloody reign for as "tsar" is much easier to rhyme than "secretary general" or "prime minister."

* The prophecy in ''Film/TheDarkCrystal''.

* Lampshaded in ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'': Hades sweet talks the Fates into telling him the future and they consent. On hearing the first few lines of the prophecy, Hades comments it.