Line #22 Main/TheCallLeftAMessage


1	-> ''"In 1978, a Comms Department intern heard the Hotline ring and picked it up - going against every safety protocol in the manual. She never recovered, and the handful of witnesses required... extensive memory repression therapy."''
2	-->-- '''Dr. Casper Darling''', ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', "Case Files: Hotline"
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4	Sometimes, when the CallToAdventure is made, no one is there to pick it up. But YouCantFightFate, and the call [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive won't take no for an answer]]. If no one's there to pick up, the call will leave a message that can only be "answered" by [[ChosenOne the person(s) that it was originally intended for]]. This also has the added benefit of dispelling any doubt that the character might not really be a hero.
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6	It may be a literal message, or a [[MacGuffin magical artifact]] (usually a [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement sword]]), but regardless of its form, it has the same purpose.
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8	----
9	!!Examples:
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11	[[foldercontrol]]
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13	[[folder:Anime]]
14	* The [[MacGuffin MacGuffins]] of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'''s second [[StoryArc arc]], the Crests, only activate once their holder exhibits the trait that they were chosen for.
15	** Though they can also force a [[SuperpoweredEvilSide dark Digivolution]] if what motivates the user is the abuse of their trait; for example, reckless courage rather than for the sake of protecting others. It happened to Tai when he [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Flipped Off Cthulhu]] to force Greymon's evolution.
16	*** The second season does the same thing with similar artifacts, and the fourth has [[TransformationTrinket Spirits]].
17	* The Clow Book in ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': A strange-looking book, in the basement of the 10-year-old heroine, and of all the people who had handled it previously, she's the only one to unleash the cards.
18	* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' has Raising Heart, an [[EmpathicWeapon intelligent device]] found by Yuuno, an archeologist, who could not use it properly despite being a trained mage. She becomes fully functional when she was given to the titular heroine, a resident of a planet without magic.
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21	[[folder:Comic Books]]
22	* The Helmet of Fate tends to be this in ''Franchise/TheDCU''. It will transform the person it was intended for into the hero ComicBook/DoctorFate. If anyone else dons it, the results are not pretty.
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25	[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
26	* In ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', aliens leave the Monolith behind for humans to discover once they've advanced far enough to travel to the Moon.
27	* In ''Film/ANewHope'', Princess Leia is about to be captured by the Empire and entrusts the droid [=R2-D2=] with the stolen plans for the Death Star. She also has R2 carry a message for the reclusive Jedi master Obi Wan Kenobi, in which she begs him to take [=R2-D2=] to her home planet Alderaan so the rebels can use the plans. Luke Skywalker acquires R2 and sees the first part of the message, but R2 refuses to play the rest for anyone except Obi Wan. When they finally track down Obi Wan and show him the message, he says that he's getting too old for this sort of thing and Luke will have to help him do it.
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30	[[folder:Literature]]
31	* ''Literature/TheSpaceOdysseySeries'': In the original novel, aliens put a monolith one on Saturn (Jupiter in the film and in the novel sequels) for them to travel to when they've advanced far enough to do so.
32	* The staff Drum Billet passes on to Esk in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/EqualRites''.
33	* The [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone letters from Hogwarts]] that just ''keep on coming'. Throw one away? Another is delivered. Throw that one away? They come by the bucketload. Try to take him away to a remote place? A huge freaking giant comes and breaks down your door, bends your shotgun like a licorice stick and gives your son a pig's tail, THEN gives Harry his letter. At last. If that's not a CallToAdventure refusing to take no for an answer, what is?
34	* Another one based on (or blatantly ripped off from depending on your perspective) Arthurian legend, in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': there is the crystal sword, Callandor, the Sword That is Not a Sword, sealed in the Stone of Tear, which only the true [[ChosenOne Dragon Reborn]] can take from its resting place.
35	* Literature/OctoberDaye: ''Rosemary and Rue'' kicks off the plot with a message on Toby's answering machine from Evening Winterrose, ordering her to solve her murder - and geasing her in the process to ensure that it happens.
36	* Villainous example in ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'' where the Vampaneze have a coffin of fire, that only the true leader of the Vampaneze can sit in without dying horribly.
37	* One of the books in the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' series delivers the message rather forcefully when a bolt of lightning knocks an heirloom sword from its hiding place on a high weather vane. The weapon comes within a few feet of skewering its intended recipient.
38	* In ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'', [[spoiler: a magical message left for Verna forces her to become Prelate of the Sisters of Light]]. Despite all the other Sisters trying first, it could only be triggered by her.
39	* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/GloryRoad'', The Call comes to the hero in the form of a newspaper ad, specifically tailored to his interests, directing him to appear at a certain office at a certain time.
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42	[[folder:Myth And Legend]]
43	* OlderThanPrint: Myth/ArthurianLegend has more than one of these. Other than the Sword in the Stone, the most notable is the Seat (or Siege) Perilous, which was Galahad's call. No one but the greatest knight could sit in it, and considering the number of enemies Arthur had, no one had either the confidence or pure innocence of purpose to actually take the seat until Galahad got to the court some weeks later.
44	** In some versions of the legends, one knight did make a drunken vow that he would sit in the Siege Perilous. He regretted it when he sobered up but, rather than break his vow and be dishonoured, he sat in the seat and was incinerated.
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47	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
48	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', many Solars of the past left behind locks that only their reincarnated selves would have the knowledge to open. [[ChickenAndEggParadox Paradoxically]], solving the puzzle/activating the artifact/finding the hideout is how some characters ''became'' reincarnations to begin with (soul biology is weird).
49	** The Twilight Charm "Letter-Within-A-Letter Technique" lets someone write a message that only its intended recipients can read. It's explicitly said that many Twilights used this Charm to communicate with their reincarnations.
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52	[[folder:Video Games]]
53	* The Hotline from ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' is a SupernaturalPhone that can [[PhoneCallFromTheDead receive messages from beyond the physical world]]. Like the [[MagicalWeapon Service Weapon]], only [[TheChosenOne the Director of the Federal Bureau of Control]] can use it, and while it's never stated what exactly it does to anyone else who answers it, it most certainly isn't pleasant. When Jesse becomes the Director, she receives calls from [[SpiritAdvisor Trench]], [[EldritchAbomination The Board]], [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Darling]], [[KilledOffForReal Marshall]] and [[AndIMustScream Alan Wake]].
54	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' does this twice in quick succession with the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Master Sword]] and the [[MacGuffin Triforce of Courage]].
55	** ''Ocarina of Time'' inverts this: Link accidentally accepts TheCall seven years too early, rather than too late, [[TheCallPutMeOnHold forcing him to be put in stasis until he's actually old enough for it]]. Too bad Ganondorf was expecting that...
56	* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', the Protheans left their [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture warning about the]] [[AbusivePrecursors Reapers]] in beacons. Both [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] and [[TheDragon Saren]] answered.
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59	[[folder:Western Animation]]
60	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'', even after the Autobot Matrix has been given to Ultra Magnus, nothing really happens until [[spoiler: Hot Rod gets a hold of it and becomes Rodimus Prime]].
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Context Main / TheCallLeftAMessage