History ThePoorlyChosenOne / AnimeAndManga

* Aseo from ''Manga/EldenRingTheRoadToTheErdtree'' stands in for the Tarnished protagonist from the original game, and as such is chosen by Torrent as his steed. Unlike in the game, where Torrent sensed the Tarnished's potential to become Elden Lord, Torrent's criterium here is that Aseo has "nice, firm haunces." In other words, Aseo has a great ass, which is a very important trait for horses like Torrent. Aseo ends up being a LethallyStupid LovableCoward who'd much rather just run away than confront any of the game's big scary bosses, but [[TookALevelInBadass grows in both knowledge and strength as time goes on]], until he's a warrior worthy of the Elden Throne.

* Mahito from ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'' is propped up by his fellow Disaster Curses to be able to defeat the sorcerers once and for all due to his youth, [[BodyHorror power]], and growth potential. But a couple of dozen chapters after this sentiment is expressed, [[spoiler:he is [[CurbStompBattle utterly defeated by Yuji]] and attempted to flee, in contrast to the VillainousValor shown by his peers during their own deaths, and ultimately assimilated by Geto for the said power.]]

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', Ren, Itsuki, Motoyasu and Naofumi are [[TrappedInAnotherWorld brought to the Melromarc Kingdom as the Four Cardinal Heroes]], them being the Sword, Bow, Spear and Shield Heroes respectively. Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu are handed everything they could ever need and are treated with reverence (the Three Heroes Church even believing them to be gods) while Naofumi is [[HeroWithBadPublicity treated like a devil]] by virtue of being the Shield Hero and [[FalseRapeAccusation falsely accused of rape]] by Princess Malty ForTheEvulz. As time goes on however, Naofumi proves to be a competent and compassionate (albeit [[JadeColoredGlasses cynical]]) hero who slowly wins over the people. Meanwhile, Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu's clashing egos and tendency to treat the world like it's a game lead to their [[NiceJobBreakingItHero idiot heroics only making things worse]]. It got to the point that the church that worshipped the Heroes of the Sword, Spear, and Bow decides to brand them as "fake" and kill them all simply because of their incompetence. [[spoiler:Finally, they completely bungled the Spirit Tortoise disaster in an attempt to get back the respect they thought they deserved, leaving them universally disliked.]] The reason Naofumi surpasses them is that the Heroes should have been summoned one at a time in different rituals. Summoning all of them at once interfered with the ability of the Weapons to choose an ideal wielder. The Shield was able to choose the perfect match while the other Weapons had to make due with lesser wielders.

* In the ''Fortune Lover 2'' arc of ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', we learn that [[spoiler:in said sequel, Katarina Claes is supposed to wield the Dark Covenant and spread evil with a Dark Familiar -Cerberus- by her side as the Chosen Champion Of Darkness]]. In the series proper, [[spoiler:the real Katarina has firmly established herself in the opposite different alignment of that, and would be more likely to kiss the Chosen Champion of Light -Maria, who holds the Light Covenant- than to menace her.]]

* Mahito from ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'' is propped up by his fellow Disaster Curses to be able to defeat the sorcerers once and for all due to his youth, [[BodyHorror power]], and growth potential. But a couple of dozen chapters after this sentiment is expressed, [[spoiler:he is [[CurbStompBattle utterly defeated by Yuji]] and attempted to flee, in contrast to the Villainous Valor shown by his peers during their own deaths, and ultimately assimilated by Geto for the said power.]]

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', Ren, Itsuki, Motoyasu and Naofumi are [[TrappedInAnotherWorld brought to the world of Melromarc as the Four Cardinal Heroes]], them being the Sword, Bow, Spear and Shield Heroes respectively. Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu are handed everything they could ever need and are treated with reverence (the Three Heroes Church even believing them to be gods) while Naofumi is [[HeroWithBadPublicity treated like a devil]] by virtue of being the Shield Hero and [[FalseRapeAccusation falsely accused of rape]] by Princess Malty ForTheEvulz. As time goes on however, Naofumi proves to be a competent and compassionate (albeit [[JadeColoredGlasses cynical]]) hero who slowly wins over the people. Meanwhile, Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu's clashing egos and tendency to treat the world like it's a game lead to their [[NiceJobBreakingItHero idiot heroics only making things worse]]. It got to the point that the church that worshipped the Heroes of the Sword, Spear, and Bow decides to brand them as "fake" and kill them all simply because of their incompetence. [[spoiler:Finally, they completely bungled the Spirit Tortoise disaster in an attempt to get back the respect they thought they deserved, leaving them universally disliked.]] The reason Naofumi surpasses them is that the Heroes should have been summoned one at a time in different rituals. Summoning all of them at once interfered with the ability of the Weapons to choose an ideal wielder. The Shield was able to choose the perfect match while the other Weapons had to make due with lesser wielders.

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', Ren, Itsuki, Motoyasu and Naofumi are [[TrappedInAnotherWorld brought to the Fantasyland of Melromarc as the Four Cardinal Heroes]], them being the Sword, Bow, Spear and Shield Heroes respectively. Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu are handed everything they could ever need and are treated with reverence (the Three Heroes Church even believing them to be gods) while Naofumi is [[HeroWithBadPublicity treated like a devil]] by virtue of being the Shield Hero and [[FalseRapeAccusation falsely accused of rape]] by Princess Malty ForTheEvulz. As time goes on however, Naofumi proves to be a competent and compassionate (albeit [[JadeColoredGlasses cynical]]) hero who slowly wins over the people. Meanwhile, Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu's clashing egos and tendency to treat the world like it's a game lead to their [[NiceJobBreakingItHero idiot heroics only making things worse]]. It got to the point that the church that worshipped the Heroes of the Sword, Spear, and Bow decides to brand them as "fake" and kill them all simply because of their incompetence. [[spoiler:Finally, they completely bungled the Spirit Tortoise disaster in an attempt to get back the respect they thought they deserved, leaving them universally disliked.]] The reason Naofumi surpasses them is that the Heroes should have been summoned one at a time in different rituals. Summoning all of them at once interfered with the ability of the Weapons to choose an ideal wielder. The Shield was able to choose the perfect match while the other Weapons had to make due with lesser wielders.

* In the ''Fortune Lover 2'' arc of ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', we learn that [[spoiler:in said sequel, Katarina Claes is supposed to wield the Dark Covenant and spread evil with a Dark Familiar -Cerberus- by her side as the Chosen Champion Of Darkness]]. At this point in the series, [[spoiler:the real Katarina has firmly established herself in the opposite different alignment of that, and would be more likely to kiss the Chosen Champion of Light -Maria, who holds the Light Covenant- than to menace her.]]

* Introduced in the very opening of ''Anime/BeastTamer'', we have the [Hero] Arios Orlando, coming from a long family line of heroes. He is the chosen hero at the start of the story because he inherited the [Hero] skill one would need to have in order to stand a chance against the AlwaysChaoticEvil Demon Lord and his armies. Sadly, it turns out there's absolutely nothing heroic about him. He's cruel, entitled, and petty, believing that just because he's a [Hero], he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, to whomever he wants, without ever worrying about consequences, and becomes murderously vengeful when this is shown to not be the case.

* ''Anime/CorrectorYui'': Haruna was supposed to be the Corrector instead of Yui, but the moment she finally takes the reins, Drosser (the Evil A.I. BigBad) decides to say "LetsGetDangerous" and curb-stomped-slash-corrupted her in her very first battle. It turned out that Drosser had a crush on Yui and decided to manipulate events so she would become the Corrector because that way he would be able to meet her better, fulfill her MagicalGirl fantasies... and he was holding back because he didn't wanted to hurt her (bad).

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', Ren, Itsuki, Motoyasu and Naofumi are [[TrappedInAnotherWorld brought to the Fantasyland of Melromarc as the Four Cardinal Heroes]], them being the Sword, Bow, Spear and Shield Heroes respectively. Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu are handed everything they could ever need and are treated with reverence (the Three Heroes Church even believing them to be gods) while Naofumi is [[HeroWithBadPublicity treated like a devil]] by virtue of being the Shield Hero and [[FalseRapeAccusation falsely accused of rape]] by Princess Malty ForTheEvulz. As time goes on however, it is proven that while Naofumi proves to be a competent and compassionate (albeit [[JadeColoredGlasses cynical]]) hero who slowly wins over the people, Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu's clashing egos and tendency to treat the world like it's a game lead to their [[NiceJobBreakingItHero idiot heroics only making things worse]]. It got to the point that the church that worshipped the Heroes of the Sword, Spear, and Bow decides to brand them as "fake" and kill them all simply because of their incompetence. [[spoiler:Finally, their decision to release a powerful monster just to prove a point and then failing to defeat it and causing a disaster of epic proportions utterly '''destroyed''' what little faith people had left in them.]] The reason Naofumi surpasses them is that the ritual which summoned the Heroes interfered with the ability of the Weapons to choose an ideal wielder. The Shield was able to choose the perfect match while the other Weapons had to make due with lesser wielders.

* In the ''Fortune Lover 2'' arc of ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', we learn that [[spoiler:in said sequel, Katarina Claes is supposed to wield the Dark Covenant and spread evil with a Dark Familiar -Cerberus- by her side as the Chosen Champion Of Darkness]]. By this point in the series, [[spoiler:the real Katarina has firmly established herself in the opposite different alignment from that, and would be more likely to kiss the Chosen Champion of Light -Maria, who holds the Light Covenant- than to menace her.]]

* Mahito from ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'' is propped up by his fellow Disaster Curses to be able to defeat the sorcerers once and for all due to his youth, [[BodyHorror power]], and growth potential. But a couple of dozen chapters after this sentiment is expressed,[[spoiler: he is [[CurbStompBattle utterly defeated by Yuji]] and attempted to flee, in contrast to the Villainous Valor shown by his peers during their own deaths, and ultimately assimilated by Geto for the said power.]]

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Jiraiya was told as a young man that someday he would mentor a child of prophecy who would either save the world or destroy it. At first, Jiraiya thought it would be Nagato, a war orphan from the Land of Rain who possessed the [[MagicalEye Rinnegan]], a power once wielded by the legendary Sage of Six Paths, and despite the boy's initial fear of his own powers, he matured during his training with the help of his fellow students/orphans/friends Yahiko and Konan. Unfortunately, after their training concluded and they parted, Jiraiya lost hope when he learned they all died during their attempts to reform their country. [[spoiler:In reality, only Yahiko died, but something in Konan and Nagato definitely died with him and Nagato became a DarkMessiah as a result]]. Later, he believed it would be Minato, who despite having no bloodline jutsu was TheAce and became the youngest Hokage of the Hidden Leaf...only for him to make a HeroicSacrifice to stop the Nine-Tailed Fox. Ironically, the ''actual'' chosen one, Naruto, was somebody Jiraiya never considered it being [[spoiler:until shortly before his own death at the hands of Nagato]].