Line #41 Main/QuestForAWish


1	In the setting, there exists an entity that [[MakeAWish grants wishes]]--any wishes, and not in a [[JackassGenie jerkass way]]--to those who reach it. However, the path to this entity is long and perilous, so that only those of strong conviction can reach it. The plot of the story then centers on a character or characters trying to do just that. Possible plot points may include:
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3	* The group being a RagtagBunchOfMisfits having their own selfish goals but banding together for a better chance of success.
4	* Finding out what each character's wishes actually are.
5	* The [[ItsTheJourneyThatCounts individual wishes changing as they get closer to the goal]], possibly culminating in a SelflessWish.
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7	!!Examples:
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9	[[foldercontrol]]
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11	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
12	* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', the person who [[GottaCatchThemAll collects all the eponymous artifacts]] gets a single wish granted, then all the Balls split off randomly to wait again.
13	* In ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', the eponymous hero was originally searching for the Sacred Jewel in order to get his wish to be a full demon granted.
14	* The Blue Crystal Rod that waits at the top of the ''Anime/TheTowerOfDruaga'' is said to grant a single wish to whoever claims it.
15	* In ''Manga/BananaNoNana'', the legend says that whoever reaches the legendary land of Oz (reference intentional) in the far west of the continent can ask for any wish to be granted. The title heroine plans to become the king of the world this way. [[spoiler:In the ending, it turns out that Oz is actually on the moon, and while it ''can'' grant any wish to anyone, that person must then kill the one they love the most with their own hands or the world will be destroyed.]]
16	* One episode of ''[[Anime/{{Tamagotchi}} GO-GO Tamagotchi!]]'' is about Mametchi and his friends racing to reach the top of Moshimo Mountain, their motivation being a rumor that whoever reaches the top of the mountain will be granted one wish.
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19	[[folder:Comic Books]]
20	* One issue of ''ComicBook/{{Miracleman}}'', toward the end of the series, is about a group of people climbing a mountain to meet the now-godlike Miracleman and petition him to grant their respective wishes. Some of them are being less than honest about their reasons for doing the pilgrimage. Not all of them make it to the top, and not all those who do get a satisfactory result for their trouble.
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23	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
24	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', the Cave of Wonders serves as a mini-quest in order to find the wish-granting genie's lamp - not only must the person who enters the cave be a "Diamond in the Rough", but said person must refuse to touch any of the treasures, except for the lamp. While Aladdin is unaware of the genie, Jafar essentially sends Aladdin on the quest to get the genie for him.
25	* Downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/GuillermoDelTorosPinocchio''. The Wood Sprite promises Sebastian the cricket one wish if he looks after Pinocchio, but he's the only person who knows or cares about this. At the end of the film, [[spoiler:Sebastian uses it up in a SelflessWish to bring Pinocchio back to life]].
26	* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': Puss becomes fearful of permanently dying after losing [[CatsHaveNineLives his eighth life]] and retires, until he hears of [[WishUponAShootingStar a magical shooting star]] that has landed in the [[EnchantedForest Dark Forest]] which will grant any wish to the first person who reaches it. Puss's adventuring courage is rejuvenated as he realizes he can wish his eight lives back. However, he's not the only one looking for the star; he reencounters his old paramour Kitty Softpaws, and they [[TeethClenchedTeamwork reluctantly team up]] against [[Literature/{{Goldilocks}} Goldilocks and the Three Bears]], as well as "Big" Jack Horner and his squad of fighting bakers. [[spoiler:In the end, [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner no one gets the wish]], as Goldilocks, Puss, and Kitty realize they didn't really ''need'' it, and they destroy the star to prevent Jack from using its power to TakeOverTheWorld.]]
27	* The plot of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' movie ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish''. All the characters race to find a fallen star; the first one there gets one wish. [[spoiler: Interestingly, while Wakko of course gets the wish, his wish ends up granting the wishes of nearly every other good character in the EnsembleCast.]]
28	* The Disney animated musical ''WesternAnimation/Wish2023'' is a variation: The heroine [[MakeAWish makes a wish]] to save her homeland from a sorcerer king who ''can'' grant people's wishes but instead secretly hoards most of them for his own benefit, and an actual anthropomorphic star comes down to give her the means to do so. From there, she and her companions must first free the captive wishes so the star can grant them.
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31	[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
32	* ''Film/Stalker1979'', adapted from ''Roadside Picnic'', goes even further than the novel, with the Stalker refusing to ask anything, the Writer having his wish granted while getting there, and the Professor [[spoiler:abandoning his original plan to nuke the Room altogether]].
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35	[[folder:Literature]]
36	* The first half of ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' consists of Dorothy going to Emerald City to see the Wizard so he can send her home. Along the way she meets three other characters who join her to have their own wishes granted.
37	* The final chapters of ''Literature/RoadsidePicnic'' detail Redrick's attempt to reach the Golden Sphere to ask for his crippled daughter's recovery. However, journeying with his WideEyedIdealist of a partner leaves him in the state of confusion about his true wish as the book closes.
38	* The first volume of ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' has a framing narrative which is all about a group of pilgrims traveling to the home of the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Shrike]], a mysterious entity that, well, usually it just kills everyone who encounters it, but it ''has'' been known to kill all but one member of a party of pilgrims, and grant the survivor one wish. Yes, they're all that desperate.
39	* A subplot of ''Literature/DeepSecret'' by Creator/DianaWynneJones has the heroine and her brother going on a quest to find a wish-granting entity that can heal her of a magical injury inflicted on her by the villain.
40	* ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' books frequently involve quests to have one's problems solved by Magician Humphrey, a grouchy old wizard who sets all kinds of dangers and tests at his tower. In the first book the plot is set off because Bink, a man who's going to be exiled for being the UnSorcerer, tries to find out his talent from Humphrey but even he is stumped.
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43	[[folder:Live-Action Television]]
44	* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
45	** ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'': After getting sucked into the monster-infested [[DarkWorld "Mirror World"]], the idealist IntrepidReporter Shinji is forced to [[BondCreature bond with the dragon Dragredder]] and participate in the Rider War - a contest between 13 people where [[ThereCanOnlyBeOne the last one standing]] will be granted a wish. Shinji is more interested in protecting civilians from Mirror Monsters than in using the wish for himself, but his fellow Kamen Riders are a [[EvilHero far cry]] from the {{Ideal Hero}}es of past installments, some being outright psychopaths or just convinced that their wish is [[IDidWhatIHadToDo important enough to sacrifice human lives]]. In addition, the war turns out to be rigged by the presence of the PurposelyOverpowered Kamen Rider Odin, whom the organiser placed in an attempt to claim the wish for himself. [[spoiler:Odin's powers also include [[TimeTravel travelling back in time]]; this is in fact the latest in a series of attempts by the BigBad to claim the wish and save his sister's life, which every time have [[SpannerInTheWorks been foiled by]] the Ryuki powers somehow ending up in Shinji's hands instead of the person he'd intended.]]
46	** The first arc of ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'' boils down to this. Several parties are trying to collect the [[MacGuffin 15 Heroic]] [[TransformationTrinket Eyecons]] so they can get a wish: [[TheHero Takeru]] wants to wish himself back to life, [[SixthRanger Makoto]] wants to restore his little sister, and [[BigBadWannabe Saionji]] wants power. [[spoiler:Takeru gets the wish and restores Makoto's sister; his "resurrection timer" gets reset shortly thereafter. At the end of the series he's granted a second wish and comes back to life.]]
47	** ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Geats is a multiple-time champion of the "Desire Grand Prix", a DeadlyGame which grants a wish to the winner. However, the management refuse to grant his ''actual'' dearest wish no matter how many times he's asked (being reunited with his mother) so he's spent his wishes on things like wealth and immortality instead.
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50	[[folder:Roleplay]]
51	* This serves as the entire premise of ''Roleplay/NothingIsSacred''. By collecting mystical artifacts and using them to empower her Sacred Beast before the other chosen are able to do the same, Stella will be granted a single wish. Her wish of choice? [[TakeOverTheWorld World domination]].
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54	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
55	* ''Magical Burst'' is about {{Magical Girl}}s that kill Youma and collect their Oblivion Seeds. A Magical Girl that collects 13 Oblivion Seeds can have a single wish granted.
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58	[[folder:Theatre]]
59	* The ScreenToStageAdaptation of ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'', aptly named ''Puyo Puyo On Stage'', features the characters trying to find the mythical “White Puyo” which grants wishes. [[spoiler: It’s revealed to the audience early on that this is all a trick by [[ClingJealousGirl Rulue]] to mess with Arle]].
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62	[[folder:Video Games]]
63	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
64	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'':
65	*** The game revolves around Link's quest for the wish-granting Triforce; he wants it less to make a wish of his own and more to get it out of the hands of Ganon, who had previously used it to take over the Sacred Realm (in the process turning it into the Dark World) and is currently using it to invade the Light World. Once Link gets it, however, he realizes that he can use it to undo all of Ganon's evil works.
66	*** Link has to make a wish to unlock the second pendant palace, though the wish is unstated. Notably, the palace entrance requirement is that he make ''a'' wish, not a specific one: it's entirely possible that he just wished to enter the palace.
67	** Like ''Link to the Past'' after it, ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' revolved around Link questing for the Triforce of Courage in order to restore the full Triforce as well as [[VestigialEmpire Hyrule's glory]], and use it to lift the ForcedSleep curse on Zelda's ancestor.
68	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'', a distant sequel to ''A Link to the Past'', has [[spoiler: Hilda and]] Yuga of Lorule scheme to steal Hyrule's Triforce to replace Lorule's, which had been destroyed centuries before by {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s who were unaware that it was a CosmicKeystone without which their world would slowly crumble. Once again, Link is more concerned with keeping it out of [[spoiler: their]] hands than using it for himself. [[spoiler: Once he recovers it, he realizes that he can use it to wish for the Lorulian Triforce to be restored. Win-win!]]
69	** In the climax of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', a DistantPrequel to the entire series, Link goes on a quest for the Triforce again in order to use its power to kill the BigBad, the [[MaouTheDemonKing Demon King Demise]]. [[HijackedByGanon It doesn't last.]]
70	* ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar''’s Milky Way Wishes gamemode consists of Kirby collecting seven stars to make a wish on the comet NOVA and get the sun and moon to stop fighting. [[spoiler:[[TreacherousQuestGiver Marx]] steals the wish and attempts to take over Popstar.]]
71	** ''[[UpdatedReRelease Super Star Ultra]]'''s Meta Knightmare Ultra mode has Meta Knight use NOVA as well, and his wish is to fight the [[WorldsBestWarrior galaxy's greatest warrior]]. As such, NOVA summons Galacta Knight to be the campaign's FinalBoss.
72	* The plot of ''VisualNovel/ThePiratesFate'' is kicked off by this: Darious, a generally kind soul, has discovered the truth behind the folktale of magical coins that can change a person's identity. He assumes that by gathering all of them, one can make a wish to change anything in the world, and he intends to use it to better the world. Unfortunately, not everyone has such benevolent intentions for them, and the coins are, in and of themselves, dangerous enough...
73	* The story mode of ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo15thAnniversary'' has your selected character play through a [[TournamentArc puyo tournament]] with the winning prize of being granted one wish by a magic medal. Each character, naturally, makes a different wish once they win... but the medal takes their words at face value and [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor usually mangles the wishes as a result]]. For example, Amitie wishes to be the greatest magician she can be, but the medal does nothing since it thinks she's already a good magician, Klug's wish to be in a magazine falls flat since he has to become famous first, and Sig's wish for new bugs in the forest is outright rejected because the medal dislikes insects.
74	* ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'': When the Kingdom of Valentine fell, its inhabitants were cursed into becoming Pooka, and with many magic spells unable to break the curse, they turned to another solution: by collecting all of the enchanted coins minted in their kingdom, the collective magic can be used for a wish; in this case, it's to undo the Pooka's Curse. This is reflected in-game by the Valentine Coins being the only currency accepted by the Pooka Cafe and shops. [[spoiler: The game's True Ending has a final scene where Cornelius and Velvet finally manage to collect all of the coins, and undo the curse.]]
75	* The grand prize of ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' and most of its sequels is one wish, anything you want, granted by the enigmatic host Calypso. Unfortunately, Calypso is a bit of a ''JackassGenie''...
76	* In the first special episode of ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers'', ''Bidoof's Wish'', Bidoof goes on a quest to Star Cave to get a wish from the wish-granting Pokémon Jirachi.
77	* ''VideoGame/Destiny2'': The aptly named ''Season of the Wish'' focuses on the Coalition trying to reach an agreement with Riven to [[spoiler:make a wish to open a path to the Pale Heart of the Traveler]]. Complicating things is that Riven's physical body was killed all the way back in ''Forsaken'' which, while not being too inconvenient, has made Riven rather angry at the Tower, especially since the Guardians wiped out almost all of the other Ahamkara. Additionally, Riven confirms that her physical death has weakened her powers such that this wish will be her final one, with the caveat being that she will only grant it if the Guardians can retrieve all of her surviving, untainted eggs.
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80	[[folder:Web Original]]
81	* ''WebAnimation/BamanPiderman''. In the episode "Happy Winter Friends", Baman and Piderman realize that Pumkin is rotting, so they set off on a quest through another dimension to find a [[YouMeanXmas Winter Friends]] Wish so they can use it to save Pumkin. Instead of a wish, they find a Sousaphone, who tells Baman [[spoiler:that [[MagicFeather the wish was inside him all along]]. As in, literally inside Baman's chest. Not only does the wish heal Pumkin, it also gives him arms and legs.]]
82	* ''WebAnimation/BrawlOfTheObjects'' has [[spoiler:a wish-granting Golden Ticket as the mysterious Grand Prize, which is only revealed in the final episode, but retroactively makes the entire series up to that point an example of this trope. Despite not being the winner, Pinecone is the only who gets to make a wish when he steals the Ticket while everyone else was focusing on the race between the final two.]]
83	* One episode of ''WebVideo/CounterMonkey'' tells the story of a group of adventurers seeking a genie's aid in removing a curse that was going to turn them into animals. Unfortunately, when they reach the center of the genie's temple, [[spoiler:Vegan Steve, the party thief, wishes for a Deck of Many Things instead, and has to run like hell when his friends realize what he just did. Not only does the Deck grant him a cure for the curse, he gets [[BornLucky EVERY SINGLE GOOD CARD IN THE DECK OF MANY THINGS, save one]]. When the rest of the party finally catches up to him, they find his body surrounded by treasure, the deed to a castle clutched in one hand, the [[FateWorseThanDeath Void card]] in the other. [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]], realizing how downhill his campaign had become, decides there was enough cure for the rest of the group to undo their curses]].
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86	[[folder:Western Animation]]
87	* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "To the Limit", Finn and Jake explore a dangerous labyrinth alongside a bunch of [[ItMakesSenseInContext talking hot dogs]] to get their wish of having an Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant. When they reach the wish granter, the hot dogs are so stupid they waste their wishes and Jake is so exhausted he wishes for a sandwich, leaving Finn to choose between [[SadisticChoice saving his friends but making their journey pointless or getting the elephant but losing Jake.]] [[spoiler: He beats the choice by choosing the elephant and psychically dominating it to make it use ''its'' wish to save the others.]]
88	* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': In "Blendin's Game", Dipper and Mabel compete in a [[GladiatorGames futuristic gladiator tournament]] known as Globnar, which gives the winner a Time Wish that can fix any impossible problem, even the ability to change history paradox-free. They initially compete (after being drafted into it by their enemy) in order to wish that [[DisappearedDad Soos's dad]] had come to his 12th birthday, [[BirthdayHater fixing the trauma from all future birthdays]]. But in the end, they give Soos the wish so he can make the choice himself. [[spoiler: Soos, after seeing how much Mabel and Dipper did for him, decides his dad wasn't worth it, and instead uses the wish for his friends... and [[MundaneMadeAwesome an infinite slice]] [[MundaneWish of pizza]].]]
89	* A villainous example in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', where it is revealed that [[spoiler: Hawk Moth/Papillon's attempts to capture Ladybug and Chat Noir's [[TransformationTrinket Miraculous]] are for this reason - their power combined will grant the owner one wish, implied to be the restoration of his lost wife.]]
90	* ''WesternAnimation/ObanStarRacers'': The Ultimate Prize for winning the Grand Race of Ōban is purported to be the granting of any wish, any dream. After learning this Molly hopes to use it to bring back her dead mother. [[spoiler:But it turns out the real prize is becoming the galaxy's next Avatar, who is powerful but can't raise the dead.]]
91	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePatrickStarShow'': In "[[Recap/ThePatrickStarShowS1E22DadsStacheStashARootGaloot A Root Galoot]]", the family meet a Shmandrake root that promises a wish to whoever in the family it likes best, leading them all to try to get on Shmandrake's good side. We see the characters' individual wishes: Bunny wants to be a superhero with [[NeatFreak super cleaning powers]], Cecil wants to be a SupremeChef, [[GrumpyOldMan GrandPat]] wants nothing more than for the world to be wiped out (with him safely watching from a distance), and [[TheDitz Patrick]] can't even think of what he wants his wish to be. In the end, Shmandrake turns out to be a BitchInSheepsClothing but wasn't planning on giving his wish to anyone. Once Squidina catches him in the act, she uses an ImpliedDeathThreat to get him to grant her wish: [[ResetButton that they never found him in the first place]].
92	* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "[[ChristmasEpisode It's Christmas in Canada]]" is basically [[OffToSeeTheWizard the same premise as]] ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', only instead of getting wishes granted, the protagonists merely wanted to repeal some unfavorable laws. Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny were just along for the ride.
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Context Main / QuestForAWish