History Main / TomesOfProphecyAndFate

* In the first book of the ''YoungWizards'' series, the protagonists use a Tome of Fate to [[spoiler:alter the nature of the BigBad, from irredeemable to redeemable]].

* ThePowerOfFive series has a dream world where the five main characters can talk to each other. It has a library that holds the book of every person who has ever lived (and possibly who will live). Each book tells the entire life story of that person from birth to death, [[spoiler: Matt reads his in order to find out how to defeat the Old Ones]].

No, not THAT [[{{TOME}} Tome of Fate]]. [[VideoGame/TalesOfMajEyal Or that one.]]

* In the ''{{Redwall}}'' series, there is a cavern that functions as a Tome of Prophecy in Salamandastron behind the Badger Lord's throne, sealed with a boulder so huge that only a badger warrior can move it. The warrior seer badger lords retreat into this cavern when so moved and paint their prophetic visions on the walls. Outsiders are allowed in only at the behest of the current Badger Lord, so generally only the lords themselves know what is painted there.

* One interpretation of the ''Literature/BookOfRevelation'' is that it is this trope.

* The Dead Sea Scrolls in Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion are some imprecise combination of this and AkashicRecords. The exact details are ambiguous and never fully touched on in the series itself, but some of the [[AllThereInTheManual background materials]] suggest that they are a prophecy regarding the fate of the world that has already mostly played out by the time the series begins.

* The Book of Three in the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'' is a Tome of Prophecy.

* ''[[Creator/PhilipKDick The Galactic Pot-healer]]'' has the Book of Kalends, telling (in many languages) what shall be. Do Kalends make things happen in writing their book? is a [[MindScrew major question]] for the characters.

* The Oraculum in Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/AliceInWonderland'' is a Tome of Prophecy.

People have wanted to know the future ever since the concept of "future" existed, so the idea of [[InvertedTrope inverting]] a History Book from a recounting of the past into a '''Tome Of Prophecy''' that predicts the future has found [[OlderThanFeudalism lasting appeal]]. This tome is pretty much [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Exactly What It Says On The Cover]]; it's a book written by a prophet[[note]]Or possibly dictation of their [[JunkieProphet drug induced visions]][[/note]], a school of seers, or [[ForgedByTheGods possibly even a]] ''[[ForgedByTheGods god]].'' As such all the FateAndProphecyTropes apply, including being open to interpretation, often compounded by being written in a dead language. Inexactness notwithstanding, just about everyone and their HotLibrarian will want to steal this MacGuffin.

Now, imagine what would happen if rewriting parts of the Tome of Prophecy didn't make it inaccurate, but instead ''[[ScrewDestiny changed]]'' the prophecy. In these cases, what you have is a '''Tome of Fate''', the "big brother" to the Tome of Prophecy. Rather than be a normal book with a mystic prophecy written on it, you have a mystic book that turns whatever is written in it into fact. A Tome of Fate can vary considerably from setting to setting in what it can do, though usually they can do one or all of the following: provide an exhaustive [[TheOmniscient record of every event]] past and future written in its [[GreatBigLibraryOfEverything nigh infinite]] but [[GreatBigBookOfEverything comfortably portable pages]], act as a [[strike:LiteralGenie]] literary genie (with [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor all the risks]] that that [[JerkassGenie implies]]), and serve as a CosmicKeystone that defines the nature of existence and [[RealityWarper is capable]] of RewritingReality. If a TomeOfFate is indeed magic, rather than merely being written by someone who is magic, then it will probably overlap with RealityWritingBook.

* In the DragonMagazine comic ''Libram X'', the eponymous tome is both the accurate self-writing log and [[RealityWritingBook can be written]] (one magic quill is included in the kit). Which naturally explains why [[MacGuffin everyone and their dogs tried to find it]] all this time.

** A storyline that ran for several issues of ''ComicBook/TheBraveAndTheBold'' had Destiny lose the book and several characters using it to change events, so it ''can'' be edited. Note however that this story is from the main DCUniverse and so not canonical with Sandman's version.

* The titular comic book in the series ''DarkOracle'' can tell the future and is rewritten by the decisions of the characters.

* The trope is somewhat parodied in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders'' with the character [[Music/OingoBoingo Boingo]] and his Stand Thoth, who manifests itself as a comic book in which the future is progressively drawn in a [[ArtShift really weird art style]] and with a childish writing. It's a Prophecy-type book as everything that is drawn in Thoth ''will'' happen, even if it seems implausible at first because of some overlooked details. For example, the book said at one point that a character will hit a woman in the neck and she would thank him for that, but it didn't said that was because there was a scorpion on her neck. Later, it is said that this character will defeat the entire good guys team by putting his fingers in the nose of one of them (the book just didn't show that because of that, the team would cross the road and ''get hit by a car'').

The Tomes of Prophecy and Fate need not mean that YouCantFightFate; a lot of the time they're designed to work without compromising free will, though they do exert (or reflect) a great deal of power over existence. As a carry-on size DeusExMachina, the Tome of Fate [[HowToStopTheDeusExMachina may be safeguarded]] with a number of features, especially when it doubles as a CosmicKeystone. It may be a ClingyMacGuffin that can't be destroyed except under specific circumstances, paired with a magic quill, ink, or eraser to make rewriting it more difficult, or out and out made "read only" to avoid {{Edit War}}s.

* One interpretation of the book of the Literature/BookOfRevelation is that it is this trope.

* ''MakaiKingdom''. The Sacred Tome predicts the future with absolute certainty, and [[RealityWritingBook whatever is written in it BECOMES the truth]]. 'Badass Freakin' Overlord' Zetta is pissed off because the tome claims that he will destroy his own Netherworld through foolishness and arrogance, so he burns it. This causes the entire world to collapse, and he has to quickly transform HIMSELF into the Sacred Tome to prevent a total collapse, though his own Netherworld still bites it, thus [[SelfFulfillingProphecy proving the prediction true]]... Most of the gameplay basically centers around using the powers of the Zetta-Tome, by having various characters write 'wishes' into it, thus making them come true.

No, not THAT [[{{TOME}} Tome of Fate]]. [[{{TalesOfMajEyal}} Or that one.]]

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has the eponymous scrolls that supposedly contain a record of everything that ever has and ever will happen. Some of them are kept in the Imperial Palace and studied by an order of monks who gradually go blind from reading them. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', the Thieves' Guild final quest is to steal one. It looks like a large sheet of parchment covered in [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm bizarre runes, lines and geometric shapes]]. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', you find one in an ancient Dwemer ruin, and reading it in the right place gives you a vision of the dragon Alduin's first defeat. Reading it anythwere else temporarily blinds you.

* The titular comic book in the series ''DarkOracle''can tell the future and is rewritten by the decisions of the characters.

No, not THAT [[{{TOME}} Tome of Fate]]. [[{{TalesOfMajEyal}} or that one.]]

No, not THAT [[{{TOME}} Tome of Fate]]. [[{{TalesofMaj'Eyal}} or that one.]]

No, not THAT [[{{TOME}} Tome of Fate]]. [[{{TalesOfMaj'Eyal}} or that one.]]