The Unachievable Heights of the Chosen One

​This post was originally published in Katherine Vick’s blog and is used here with permission.
 
Ah, The Chosen One. That staple of the fantasy world. Destiny’s Child, born under an auspicious star, with a unique birthmark foretelling their glorious fate, generally blessed with a stunning or striking appearance, an unusual eye colour and unexpectedly modest origins for their impressively regal heritage, watched over at a distance by a guardian just waiting for the right moment to reveal their secret power and fated purpose in saving their realms from a lurking evil. Step forward, all you fantastical Eriks out there, for you are legion.

​But as anyone who has read my novels may have guessed, I have a few issues with the trope of The Chosen One. Because as the father of modern fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien himself, dictated, fantasy is escapist but also aspirational. And although his work does have a Chosen One—Aragorn, I’m looking at you—who does his bit extremely well, he isn’t the one who saves the day. That role falls to a couple of very ordinary little hobbits. And ultimately, it is Sam with his very ordinariness and lack of ambition who makes the whole thing work.
 
And that, to me, is a far better story than a person marked by destiny standing up and saving the day as they were always meant to. For isn’t it far more inspiring to the rest of us to see someone as ordinary as we are coming good for us all? Ordinary people standing up for what they believe in against the wrongs of the world is something anybody can achieve if they are called on to do so—the Resistance in Europe during the Second World War for example, or even just the British Home Guard, straightforward people who’d lived straightforward lives now willing to protect their homes against a looming evil. These are people we can aspire to emulate—though one would hope we never have to. Unlike a Chosen One, they are people we could be.
 
I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I am shockingly lacking in flashing eyes of a special hue or magical gifts or impressively regal heritage. And so, if one extracts Pleasance from the equation, are my heroes. But, I do hope at least, they are people my audience can see themselves in. At the end of the day, we can all support our friends and do the right thing in spite of ourselves like Shoulders. We can all rail against the impressions others have of us and show them what we can do like Flirt. We can all fight against who we are supposed to be and be who we are like Pleasance. We can all embrace learning and teach ourselves new skills like Dullard, and most importantly, we can be kind like him. And like Fodder, we can all stand up for what we feel is right against ridiculous odds.
 
Because ultimately, it should not be up to some flashy, unachievable hero to save the world on our behalf—it should be ordinary people who see injustice, stand up, and say “no more.” And, unlike being a Chosen One, that is something we can all aspire to.

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Katherine Vick

Katherine lives in the middle bit of England and is the author of the fantasy-parody adventure series The Plot Bandits, hailed as a “rip-roaring underdog tale.” She’s also secretly famous for writing fanfiction stories (under a pseudonym). Check out her Facebook and her blog for more fun, thoughtful content.