Only You Can Save Us: 20 'Chosen Ones' We Love

Alright, before gushing about the Chosen One trope, a disclaimer: it kinda sucks. It is not as universal as people think, and it carries with it a simplistic and even predictable narrative structure, as we recently discussed. The Chosen One trope is inherently related to the Hero’s Journey, which is not only a kinda misogynistic and highly culturally-specific storytelling format, but also (or rather, therefore) the exact type of selfish and individualistic model of spiritual growth peddled by those with an explicit ideological interest in, well, the world burning. Sheesh, that was a harsh disclaimer. Okay, disclaimer over!

We love the Chosen One trope. Yes, yes, we just said it sucked, but the fact that it does, it smuggles in chodie worldviews, and it’s the basic template of pretty much every single Hollywood blockbuster in recent times does not mean there aren’t good examples. Yes, creating a world suitable for our grandchildren (to read classic Cracked articles!) requires we stop thinking we’re the protagonists of the story and everything just concerns us, and yes, such a paradigm shift demands to begin questioning the basic ways we tell stories, okay, sure, but also, counterpoint: movies. Yeah, you like movies, don’t you? Okay, disclaimer definitely over. Now let’s take a look at 20 awesome Chosen Ones we want to unilaterally save us from, well, everything.