History Main / ScrewDestiny

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'': The Black Records states that [[spoiler:someone will kill the corrupted Divine Beast using the sword of the end and unleash the curse of Erebonia to the entire world. Class VII's mission is to prevent that from happening in ''Cold Steel III'''s final chapter. Unfortunately for them however, not only did they horribly fail, but Rean ends up doing the deed himself and kills the Divine Beast with Millium as the sword. Played straight however in ''Cold Steel IV'''s GoldenEnding where Rean, Crow, and Millium were supposed to die but someone behind the scenes made sure that they live by letting Rean visit the remains of the Earth Divine Beast and give him the Earthen Prison to separate Rean from Ishmelga]].

* ''Film/{{Outlander}}'': Kainan's philosophy is "There is no gods. There is no fate. There is only me." In his case, this was as much about [[TheAtoner taking responsibility for his own mistakes]] as it was about forging his own path.

*** Yugi's Millennium Puzzle gives him the power to alter fate. By the final duel, he's mastered it enough to be able to draw whatever card he wants without fail.

*** Ishizu Ishtar has the ability to see the future, and predicts many things in relation to our heroes, the villain, and the Battle City Tournament. However, she loses this ability after AntiHero Kaiba defies his predicted defeat to her by his ''own'' vision of his past self. From Battle City onwards, half of Kaiba's dialogue is pretty much "Screw Destiny!" even after it's clear that [[YouCantFightFate he can't fight fate]].

** When Agent Smith asks Neo why he continues to fight in the face of inevitable defeat, his reply is: [[BadassBoast "Because I choose to."]]

* Subverted or played straight depending on which way you go in ''VideoGame/TheBardsTale'' (the newer one, for UsefulNotes/{{P|laystation2}}S2 and UsefulNotes/XBox). Sure, you could rescue the princess as TheChosenOne, or you could note that she's [[spoiler:a demoness bent on world domination]] and fight her, or just tell both sides to get stuffed and walk away. This isn't even mentioning the SWARMS of other people claiming to be TheChosenOne that die right in front of you constantly.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': Princess Fiona was rescued from the tower, not by the Prince Charming she always believed would save her, but by an ogre named Shrek. Her true love ended up being Shrek so she did find her happily ever after. However, this changed everything that was planned for her and those around. Her father has her placed in the tower, seemingly for her to be rescued by her true love. In reality, it was to pay off his debt to the Fairy Godmother for turning him human. His plans as well as the plans of every villain are foiled by [[SpannerInTheWorks Shrek's rescuing of Fiona and Fiona falling in love with Shrek]].

There are those characters who are mere {{Cosmic Plaything}}s in the scheme of an [[YouCantFightFate implacable Fate]] BecauseDestinySaysSo. And then there are those who don't care about that philosophical mumbo-jumbo and believe that as strong, free-willed individuals, there's no reason why ''{{the|UnchosenOne}}y'' [[TheUnchosenOne shouldn't decide their own futures]]. Screw destiny and all the others who try to [[TheFatalist discourage]] [[StrawNihilist them]]; they're ''not'' going to fulfill the prophecy of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt world destruction]] because they're the {{Big Bad}}'s [[VillainousLineage descendant]], or become a [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificial magician]]. They're going to become who they ''want'' to be.

* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': Cross manages to defy canon by managing to [[spoiler: save both the ''Going Merry'' (by feeding her a Devil Fruit that [[HumanityEnsues turns her into a child]]) and Ace (by [[ForWantOfANail changing events]] enough that Luffy has more backup at Marineford)]]. After the fact, [[JerkassGods B.R.O.B.]] directly tells Cross that short of warping reality, [[BeyondTheImpossible that shouldn't have been possible]]; not only that, but Cross himself was planned to die numerous times throughout the story for B.R.O.B.'s amusement, but he just kept surviving no matter what, which B.R.O.B. is genuinely impressed by.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/t2_nofate.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:...but what we make.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom''. Badass freakin' overlord Zetta gets a prophecy from an oracle that says that his netherworld will be destroyed. In an attempt to Screw it, Zetta tracks down and consults the Sacred Tome, a CosmicKeystone that contains the record of the Netherworld's reality, including (presumably) what would destroy it. When he discovers that the final page contains the sentence "Lord Zetta is stupid. His stupidity has doomed the netherworld to extinction", he burns the book in a fit of rage, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy consequently un-recording his own netherworld and proving the prophecy right]]. Further subverted when it's revealed that [[spoiler:the prophecy itself was a lie that Pram wrote in the Tome]].

* ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfDestiny'' features Eike, a man who's been murdered but has temporarily been saved by [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent a time-traveling homunculus]] so that he can prevent his own death. Given that the game has 7 different endings with 2 only available on NewGamePlus, Eike succeeds with differing levels of success.

* ''Shadows of Memory'' a [=PS2=] adventure game features Eike, a man who's been murdered but has temporarily been saved by [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent a time-traveling homunculus]] so that he can prevent his own death. Given that the game has 7 different endings with 2 only available on NewGamePlus, Eike succeeds with differing levels of success.

* ''Shadows of Memory'' a [=PS2=] adventure game features Eike, a man who's been murdered but has temporarily been saved by [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent a time-traveling homunculus]] so that he can prevent his own death. Given that the game has 7 different endings with 2 only available on NewGame+, Eike succeeds with differing levels of success.

* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' Trilogy:
** Subverted in ''Film/TheMatrix''. The Oracle has a pretty good grasp on people's reactions to prophecy, so she tells Neo (and others) exactly what they need to know for the future to come to pass. In particular, she tells Neo that Morpheus will die because of his mistaken belief that Neo is The One. When Neo says "screw destiny!" and charges in to rescue him, he realizes that he is The One after all. Also an example of [[MetaphoricallyTrue Jedi Truth]] as, from a certain point of view, Neo only becomes The One when he ''chooses'' to believe he is.

* ''Film/MinorityReport'': At first, it seems that YouCantFightFate, but by the end, knowing your destiny is enough to give you the choice to change it.

* At the end of ''ComicBook/TheBlackVortex'', Angel explains to [[Characters/X23LauraKinney X-23]] that he took up a portion of the titular power, gaining flaming wings in the process, because he saw what he would become in the future by meeting his present day self and decided "Screw that!"

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' it’s revealed that one of the Wardens [[spoiler: have to sacrifice themselves]] in order to defeat the Archdemon. You can go through with it and [[spoiler:willingly give your life away or let your other Warden companion do the deed]]. Or you can take Morrigan's offer and (literally) Screw Destiny.

** This is the primary motivation of Medivh. Forced into becoming the Guardian of Tirisfal by the machinations of his mother, his resentment and desire to break free of his fate was used to turn him evil and bring the Horde into Azeroth. Later, freed of evil taint, he would assume the role of a prophet and maneuver the humans, orcs, and night elves into a position to combat the Burning Legion and prevent their conquering of Azeroth. Medivh further screwed with Destiny by giving his own son, Med'an, what he never had: the ''choice'' to become Guardian of Tirisfal.

* The destiny of the Lunar and Solar {{Miko}}s in ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden'' is to be (re)born simultaneously into this world, fall in love with each other, turn [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday sixteen]], defeat the {{Orochi}}, [[spoiler:have one kill the other]], then have the whole incident [[RetGone erased from everyone's memories, including their own]]. Rinse and repeat. However, [[ThePowerOfLove their love is so powerful]] that they eventually say bollocks and break the cycle of reincarnation, [[spoiler:with Chikane returning to Himeko still on the latter's lifetime]].

* According to WordOfGod, this is the [[FridgeBrilliance underlying reason]] as to why every ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' match starts with the announcement "''[[GroundhogDayLoop The wheel of fate is turning]].'' '''[[ArcWords Rebel]] 1: ACTION!'''"
** In the true ending of both ''Calamity Trigger'' and ''Continuum Shift'', its basically all about the characters trying to defy their fates, even the antagonist Terumi took out Takamagahara in an attempt to be free of their meddling control.
** ''Chrono Phantasma'' reveals that The Origin, the girl piloting the [[DeusEstMachina Master Unit: Amaterasu]], [[spoiler: is destined to die at the hands of Ragna, her chosen hero. In fact, the [[CrapsackWorld crapsack state of the world]] is ultimately revealed to be due to her increasingly desperate attempts at defying this destiny and her subsequent despair at the realization that, even though she's practically omnipotent, it's impossible for her to succeed. In ''Central Fiction'' it's eventually revealed that only Ragna obtaining the Azure and using it to rewrite reality [[HeroicSacrifice and himself out of existence]] opens up the possibility of The Origin's salvation.]]
** ''Central Fiction'' also reveals that Terumi is, in fact, the one who's been trying the hardest to defy his destiny. [[spoiler: As a DestroyerDeity, his destined role was that of a NecessarilyEvil, so when he broke free from the Master Unit: Amaterasu's control, he found that there was no way for him to live without playing along with her wishes; he could either cease being evil and leave her creations be, like she actually wanted him to, or continue to destroy her world, thus doing what she created him to do anyway. This is also revealed to be why Terumi wants the Azure; so that he may use it to rewrite reality, make himself the TopGod, rewrite his own destiny and turn the universe into a cesspool of hatred and despair.]]

** Illidan was claimed to be the Chosen One of prophecy, meant to end the Age of Demons. He was skeptical and, when Xe'ra tried to forcibly "redeem" Illidan to ensure it came to pass, Illidan [[spoiler:killed Xe'ra]].