Tempting Fate

Heinrich Hoffmann sends his condolences.

"Fate is like a caged gorilla. It will pelt you with dung if you mock it."

— Warriv, Diablo II

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Some things just shouldn't be said, even in jest. Taunting a monster or Bullying a Dragon is likely to end badly. (Mugging the Monster definitely will.) Monologuing will invariably give The Hero the time he needs to defeat you. And then there's this trope.

Tempting Fate is when a character says something that dares the universe into making things miserable for them, and the universe takes them up on the challenge. Oftentimes, the character is commenting on how they've hit Rock Bottom and how things couldn't possibly get any worse — right before things do turn From Bad to Worse. Conversely, they may talk about how things are absolutely perfect, only for their world to come crashing down five seconds later. Also watch out for a Gilligan Cut.

And sometimes tempting fate can get downright lethal. For example, that guy in every horror movie who tells his friends "I'll be right back" before wandering off by himself is most assuredly not going to be back. Or that guy in every war movie who shows that picture of his family to the others and expresses his hope to get through this and make it back home to them, which all but ensures that he won't make it. Or that veteran cop in every action movie who's just a few days away from Retirement, and thus doomed to be gunned down in his final case. This particular variant of Tempting Fate is known as a Death Flag.

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The fate-tempting words may be followed up by a friend saying "You Just Had to Say It!" Of course, whether fate really had a hand in it or not depends on the situation. After all, it's not like fate just magically materialized that guard ambushing you from nowhere, right? What matters is that events pre-planned or not conspire to make things terrible the moment such phrases are uttered.

For the supertropes to this, see Trope Telegraphing and Be Careful What You Say. Compare Schmuck Bait, Instantly Proven Wrong, Speak of the Devil, Famous Last Words. Contrast the Godzilla Threshold for where things really can't get any worse. See also Too Good to Be True.

And don't forget the Evil Overlord List, either.

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Subtropes:

• "At least it isn't raining." — Cue the Rain. Alternatively, a worse type of weather will occur instead.
• "At least X isn't here to see this." — X's cue to arrive.
• "At least X still likes me." — Even X doesn't like him anymore.
• "But that's just a legend, right?" — No, it isn't. It is very real. Oh, and it's right behind you, about to eat you.
  • In the same vein — "There's no such thing as X!" — Actually, there ''is'' such a thing as X. Oh, yeah, it's right behind you, about to eat you.
• "But you said you would let them/him/her/me go!" — "Yeah, about that, I lied." Or, if the person in question of being let go is being dangled off of a cliff of other high spot, then they will quite literally be "let go" by being dropped.
  • Of course. But I didn't promise my friend here wouldn't kill them, did I?
• "I'll be right back." — No, you won't (unless you're an Implacable Man or a Determinator, and sometimes not even then). George R. R. Martin is particularly fond of this.
• "I think I can take him." — No, you can't; so, enjoy the taste of that curb.
• "If We Get Through This..." — At least one of you won't.
• "It'll happen when pigs fly." — Cue the Flying Pigs.
• "Nothing Can Save Us Now!" — Cue the Big Damn Heroes/Villains.
• "No One Could Survive That!" — Could, would and did.
  • "Did we get them?" — As with the previous example, no, you didn't.
• "Nothing Can Stop Us Now!" — Can and will.
• "Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here." — Give it a minute.
• "It Will Never Catch On." — It will.
  • "This Is Going to Be Huge." — Played with. It will not normally, unless someone subsequently says the above. Alternately, if it is, it might fall right on top of you.
• "It's perfectly safe here/You'll be safe with us!" — It's an Unsafe Haven.
• "It's Probably Nothing." — No, it's not: it's definitely something. Which is probably nasty, behind you and about to eat you.
  • Related, "It's just your/my imagination." — It never is.
• "It's Quiet… Too Quiet." — It's about to get a whole lot louder.
• "Things couldn't possibly get any worse." — Things go From Bad to Worse.
  • The simplest way to invoke this is pairing it with the Cue the Rain example above.
• "Things can get worse because X could always happen!" — Speak of the Devil.
• "This Is No Time to Panic!" — Start Panicking / You Can Panic Now.
• "This place isn't a mess..." — Cue the Falling Object.
• "You don't have the guts!" — Yes he/she does.
• "You cannot hurt/beat me!" — Can and will. Badly. And in many more ways than you can even think of.
  • Alternatively, you're right. They cannot hurt you. Unfortunately, that does not mean that someone (or something) else won't.
• "You can't handle my powers!" — Watch them No-Sell your alleged "powers" without even flinching. Bonus points if you can't handle their powers, or even better, if they use yours against you.
• "She Is Not My Girlfriend!" — Way to give the fanbase ideas. Oh, and by the way, she's right behind you. And she's none too pleased to hear what you just said.
• "Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter!" — Happy to oblige! (SMITE!)
• "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" — Exactly what you don't want going wrong.
  • And a common variation — "How hard can it be?" — A lot harder than you think.
• "Oh, come on, what are the chances of that happening? There's, like, a one in a million chance..."— Bet on it happening.
• "You're gonna pay for that..." — The most common response to this one (before the hero shows he doesn't believe it) is, "Just send me the bill." Deadpan Snarker heroes never get tired of that one.
• "What Does This Button Do?" — Screw everything up or blow it sky high, that's what! Don't Touch It, You Idiot!
• "Who Would Be Stupid Enough? to fall for that Schmuck Bait?" — Someone is (singular) or they are (plural). Bonus points if the speaker fell for it.
• "You and What Army?" — That army. Alternatively, he/she doesn't need one.
• "May God strike me down if I'm lying/wrong!" — Cue the Bolt of Divine Retribution.
• "I am not going to do what you just said!" — Yes, you are.
• "You missed!" — I wasn't aiming at you! Alternatively, the boomerang they just threw is about to pull a 180 and hit you in the back of the head.
• "This Cannot Be!!" — It is, often followed immediately by a bad attack of Critical Existence Failure.
• "I'll endanger your friends!" — I don't like them, either.
  • Alternatively, you've just bought yourself a world of pain.
• "I Have Your Wife!" — You Can Keep Her. In two days you'll beg me to take her back. Alternatively, cue Unstoppable Rage-fueled Roaring Rampage of Rescue.
• "I cannot believe that idiot bought the story I fed him!" — S/he is right behind you or at least listening in on you.
• "S/he looks like a total wimp!" — (S)he's a Killer Rabbit, a Badass Adorable or a Cute Bruiser. Or all three. Oh, yeah, and I forgot, he/she is right behind you. AND S/HE'S ABOUT TO MESS. YOU. UP.
• "Let a real expert handle this." — Famous last words of The World's Expert on Getting Killed.
• "Let Us Never Speak of This Again" — Cue people discovering what you didn't want to be spoken of.
• "You Wouldn't Shoot Me!" — *BOOM!* Headshot! Alternatively, they don't have to; there are plenty of methods they WOULD use.
• "I'm going to retire after completing One Last Job." — Don't expect to survive the job. Alternatively, you DO survive the job and retire, only to come back out of retirement anyway.
• "I'm just breaking balls!" — You're going to get your ass kicked if you keep up that mouth, if not whacked.
• "I AM INVINCIBLE!" — Right up until you said that, maybe.
• "Noooo!! The ICARUS XCII was supposed to fly FOREVEEEEER!!!!" — With that name, really?? What did you expect when you named it that, dummy?
• "This time I cannot miss!" — Not only will you miss, you'll probably be killed by your own weapon.
• "We'll have this war won in time for Christmas." — It's going to take a lot longer than you planned, if you even manage to win at all.
• "With these Death Traps and Elite Mooks in my lair, it is fool-proof. The Heroes can never reach me! Muahahahahahaha!" — Cue Dungeon Bypass. That ill-advised laugh also means they are just about to knock on the throne room door.
• "Was that supposed to hurt, little man?!" — Pray you're right.
• "The enemy is retreating!" — They're actually circling around to flank you or doing some other tactically nifty maneuver. Alternately, they're getting out of the way before something worse shows up. Or, leading you back into a massive ambush. Take your pick; it's all ending badly.
• "Over my dead body!" / "You'll have it when you pry it from my cold, dead, lifeless fingers!" / "You'll have to kill me first!" — Terms accepted. *shot*
• "Now its power is mine!!!" — Seconds later, the villain is killed by the Artifact of Doom... Or, it takes them over and their power belongs to it. Whichever or both.
• "No man can defeat me!" — "I AM NO MAN!" *Cue the Curb-Stomp Battle*
  • Alternately, your foe isn't even human, and you just gave it the perfect excuse to eat you alive.
• "Everything is going as planned." — Cue the Spanner in the Works and your plans are going right down the drain.
  • Alternately, they are going as planned... just not the way 'you' planned.
  • Alternately, they are going the way you planned... better, even... unfortunately, that is NOT a good thing.
    • Especially if what you wanted when making the earlier plan contradicts what you want now.
• "I Wished You Were Dead" or another variant. — Be Careful What You Wish For because when it happens it will be your biggest regret.
• "You Have No Chance to Survive!" — They do; you probably don't.
• "I can't WAIT to meet them! They're my greatest heroes!" — Prepare to have that pedestal dashed from a great height. Or, less commonly, you just won't get to meet them.
• "There is no one else here" — Cue someone entering the scene, possibly to kill you. Alternatively, you're about to find out why nobody else is there.
• Going into Sarcasm Mode for any reason — the person your sarcastic snark was aimed at is Sarcasm-Blind, causing them to do exactly what you didn't want them to do.
• "God Himself could not stop this from happening!" — God loves a challenge; something will stop it at the worst moment possible.
• "Is That the Best You Can Do?" — Nope, not by a looong shot.
• "Oh, it's you." — At the Nasty Party, you'll end up dead.
• "You wouldn't dare!" — Would, could, and will.
• "I'd like to see you try it!" — They'll do much more than "try".
• "Who's gonna make me?" — This threat usually makes someone even more inclined to make you.
• "No matter what happens, don't do this." — The person always will. Unless, of course, you later need them to for some reason, in which case your previous instructions not to will be followed rigidly.
• "Yeah, right! You're crazy!" — The person wasn't crazy and you should have listened.
• "I've got you all figured out." — Nope. More like you're about to fall victim to a Kansas City Shuffle and/or you're blind to Character Development since you last met, what's actually Beneath the Mask, the possibility of Obfuscating Stupidity or just Hidden Depths. Whoops.
• "The boss will surely fire you for this mess!" — The boss will instantly fall in love with the "mess", promote its creator and reprimand you for not thinking of it sooner. Or the boss will fire you for it instead.
  • Alternatively, the boss dislikes the mess but less so than the snitch who told him about it and gets reprimanded for "not being a team player."
• "I/We/They won't make that mistake again!" — Oh yes you/they will.
• "We didn't need that loser anyways!" — Turns out you did, and you've set yourself up for failure by getting rid of them. Alternatively, if you're saying it to his/her face, (or if they're eavesdropping) expect them to join the other side and make things utterly miserable for you.
• "I won't get [serious disease that's going around] because I got vaccinated last year/I'm the healthiest X in the world/I'm Born Lucky/I never get sick/I come from a family line that never gets [disease]/I'm invincible/I have magic" — you will get the illness, and if it doesn't kill you it will at least make your talents void.
  • A variant: "I'm not sick, it's just allergies", or "I'm not seriously ill, it's Definitely Just a Cold" — even if you truly believe this and are not in denial, you probably are sick and it will come back to bite you.
• "X isn't invincible! I can beat X!" — No, you can't, and you're about to witness firsthand just why.
• "I can take care of myself!" — You are now the bad guy's next target, and it will be too much for you to take on alone.
• "That was easy!" — Hope you're prepared for the incoming Elite Mook, final form, or second wave.
• "The volcano won't erupt, it's been dormant for centuries" — it will erupt.
• "I've got him right where I want him!" — Actually, he's got you right where he wants you.
• "I practically got away with this crime!" — The laser will hit faster than you think, and even if it misses that doesn't mean it would keep missing and if it does hit after a long time of being a Karma Houdini it is often a long Humiliation Conga.
• "You're trapped in here with us!" — Expect a menacing reply of "No, YOU'RE trapped here with ME."
• "Let's bully this one person, I know that he/she is an Extreme Doormat." — Pray that you're right because if you're wrong being sent to the curb should be the least of your worries.
• "At the first sign of trouble, we'll abort the mission." — This guarantees that not only will the mission go south, but also that any attempt to abort the mission will fail — either The Hero will disregard orders and press on or circumstances will trap him/her in the mission until he/she succeeds...or dies.

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Examples

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Asian Animation

• In Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, any unfortunate ideas that Jonie comes up with are almost guaranteed to happen immediately after she mentions them. In particular, if she says anything related to Wolffy appearing, you'd better watch out for him.

Comic Strips

• Peanuts has a few where the universe often takes offense to a character's Badass Boast:
  • In one arc, Linus gets a new hobby, drawing on air. Simply put, he traces things on air with his finger, and being a Mr. Imagination, perceives it as art, one that costs no money and needs no materials. However, he enjoys it a little too much, saying "nothing can interrupt your work! Nothing, nothing!" And then it starts to rain.
  • In another arc, Linus' hobby is building snowmen; he builds lots and lots of snowmen. However, he gets a little Drunk with Power, and starts talking to them like a general leading an army. "I am your leader!" he shouts to his "troops". "Stand behind me and you will be invincible! Nothing can stop us, nothing, nothing, NOTHING!" And then the sun comes out and melts them all.
• Garfield likes to play with this trope. If someone says things can't get worse, they will (usually with Garfield warning not to say it). However, if a character admits things could get worse, they get worse.
  • The October 25, 1981 strip had Garfield invoke the old "sticks and stones" saying, only to then get hit by a dictionary, disproving the "words can never hurt me" part of the mantra.
  • In December, 15, 2011, Garfield told a spider that was under a mistletoe to forget it and that he'd rather kiss a dog. Odie then showed up.
  • At the beach, Jon tried to get the attention of a girl by screaming "Shark!". He was trampled by everyone who ran away out of fear, was slapped by the girl and, when he said things couldn't get worse, a shark appeared.
  • Jon sees a fly in his coffee cup in this strip. After the fly leaves, Jon asks "What could be more disgusting than that?!" Cue a swarm of flies setting up on and around his cup and treating it like their own beach resort.
  • Exaggerated in this strip.
  • Garfield wonders what the new year will bring in the December 31, 2020 strip. Cue Jon telling Garfield that he just found a great new tofu recipe.
  Garfield: Bring back the old year!
• U.S. Acres:
  • In the November 3, 1987 strip, Orson said even Lanolin couldn't ruin that day. She shouted "I just washed my car!" and it rained.
  • In the March 24, 1989 strip, Booker blows on a dandelion seed head, causing the seeds to disperse and fly away. The flower next to it laughs at the seed head, only to be plucked by Orson immediately afterwards.
  • Booker asks Orson to make a story scary in the March 15, 1987 strip. Orson being Mr. Imagination, it doesn't take long for Booker to change his mind.
  • Booker encourages Wade to jump into a pool in the August 30, 1987 strip, telling Wade that his inner tube will keep him afloat. Once Wade jumps in, he slips right out of his inner tube and sinks, though he manages to save himself before drowning by drinking the pool water.
  • In the April 9, 1986 strip, Orson finds a book of jokes and claims that he's in the mood for a good laugh. Upon opening the book, he finds himself the target of a joke.
  • In the November 13, 1986 strip, Orson warns Roy not to eat corn so close to the stove, but Roy dismisses him. It turns out to be popcorn, which promptly pops inside Roy's body, much to his discomfort.
  Orson: I know it's popcorn.
  Roy: Why didn't you warn me?!
  • In the June 24, 1987 strip, Booker decides to do a cannon ball dive with a jump onto the springboard. It bounces him off in the direction from whence he came.
  Sheldon: Whoops, backfired.
  • Orson, after donning his "Power Pig" costume, declares himself leaping over barns in the August 22, 1987 strip. He ends up slamming into a wall of a barn.
  • In the October 17, 1988 strip, Booker succeeds on getting onto a hammock. He claims "Victory!", only for the hammock to flip him off it.
  • In the November 15, 1988 strip, Bo is excited to see the sunset, but Lanolin is not enthused, claiming sunrise and sunset always happen the same way. Cue the ensuing sunset taking place in a very unconventional way (i.e. turning out to be a flat disk and falling over after hitting the ground), which piques Lanolin's interest.
  Bo: *yawns* Coming to bed, Lanolin?
  Lanolin: Not tonight, Bo. This should be one interesting sunrise.
  • Lanolin tells Roy to stop smirking in the June 14, 1988 strip, or else she'd slap it to the moon. Roy, however, dismisses her. Bad move — the strip ends with Roy's mouth landing on the moon.
  • Possibly played with in the April 4, 1986 strip, in which Orson wonders where his food is, but a corn on a cob is thrown and hits him on the head before he even finishes the question.
  • When Booker places a gigantic megaphone at Roy in the January 1, 1989 strip and claims "Prepare to Die, rooster!", Roy dismissively mocks him with "What are you going to do, cheer me to death?". Booker promptly throws a small snowball into the megaphone... which becomes big enough to cover most of Roy's body when it gets out of said megaphone.
  • When Wade hears the sound of sleigh bells in the December 19, 1988 strip, he gets inside a chimney and looks upwards for Santa Claus. The strip ends with a large bag full of toys falling on top of him.
• One segment of Calvin and Hobbes has Calvin try and snowball Susie in the back, only to miss with every single one. After the barrage ends, Susie turns around to laugh at Calvin's throwing ability... and THAT'S when Calvin's aim finally pays off.
  • In another strip, Calvin doesn't feel well in the middle of the night:
    Calvin's Mom: Calvin probably just ate too much dessert. If he's going to get me up at this hour, he'd better really be sick.
    Offpanel, we see a massive "BAAARRFF" as she reacts in horror)
    Calvin's Mom: (Shouting to the heavens) I DIDN'T MEAN IT!
• FoxTrot does it on multiple occasions:
  • In one arc, Jason accidentally makes Eileen Jacobson fall in love with him thanks to a poem he wrote for his mom. Then this happens:
    Jason: Could anything be worse?! Could this situation possibly be any more dire?!
    Huge crowd of students: JASON AND EILEE-EEN, SITTIN' IN A TREE... KAY-EYE-ESS-ESS-EYE-EN-GEE!
    Jason: Boy, that question sure got answered in a hurry.
    Eileen: I hope you don't mind, but I told a few of my friends.
  • One week of strips revolves around Paige getting a surly Tamagotchi knock-off called a Tamagrouchy. Near the week's end, she sends it to Jason, who thinks he can reprogram it.
    Paige: I figure it can't get any more annoying.
    (cut to upstairs)
    Tamagrouchy: (Beep) Feed me and give Jason $10.
    Paige: I take that back, Peter.
  • Jason and Paige try the so-called "super gum" invented by Marcus' uncle. With all the upsides, Paige has to ask, "Does this gum even have a downside?" while they're each blowing a monstrous bubble. They spend the next three strips stuck to each other.
• In one Zits strip, Pierce runs off a list of his many, many body piercings, including an impressive twelve earrings on each ear.
  Pierce: I defy anyone to find a way to attach more metal to my head.
  (cut to Pierce at an orthodontist appointment)
  Mr. Duncan: Pierce, you need braces.

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