Advice for Prophecies in Fiction
Oct. 23rd, 2015 05:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingedbeastI would like to thank the makers of the trailer for the movie Pan. With utmost efficiency, they have let me know not to watch this movie. The reason is simple, prophecy.
I hate that prophecy is such sign of bad storytelling. But, it is. Every Tom, Dick, and Fantasy flick has a prophecy and... they all use them wrong. Prophecy has a long history as a story element, a long history of being used well. There's a reason some of our longest enduring stories deal with people responding to prophecy.
With that in mind, let's sort out some advice regarding using prophecy in stories.
1. To repeat, "people responding to prophecy". That is the stroy. Not people fulfilling prophecy, but responding to prophecy. People fulfilling prophecy is, in terms of storytelling, just acting out a story that's already been told.
We don't need any more stories of a The One that is prophecied to fix everything and then... fixes everything. Feel free to have an Oracle. Feel free, also, to make it clear that Neo isn't actually The One. The Film Theorists have a theory about the Matrix trilogy that greatly improves the story as I see it.*
2. Pit Protagonists Against Prophecy
Rather than have prophecies speak of how great the main character is, have the prophecies, instead, speak of how the main character will destroy what he loves. Consider that Oedipus Rex is a story about a man who fled a prophecy claiming he would kill his father and marry his mother (either one of which being something to avoid). He finds out that his birthparents did the same thing and the result is people fleeing right into prophecy.
We have enough stories of villains that try to route prophecy of someone destroying them. Instead, test your protagonist to see if protagonist will allow paranoia to turn them into a villain.
3. The Protagonist Is Not The One
I almost decided to argue against "The One" in the first place. But, I can think of two examples that bucked this trend in a good way. Willow and The Golden Child. In both cases, "The One" isn't the main character and actually doesn't have any lines, whatsoever. So, go ahead, make a prophecied MacGuffin.
4. Establish Your Character Long Before Your Prophecy
Okay, maybe you do want to have a The One style character. There are thousands upon thousands of Chosen Ones throughout fiction. That, despite it's current overuse, is not new and not inherently storybreaking. The current problem with it is that it's used in place of character development. Before a prophecy comes around to explain things, show your protagonist being the special that the prophecy predicts.
Characters can know about the prophecy, such as a teacher or a leader or... I would advise only the bad guy. The prophecy that we learn two minutes before the showdown explains why the bad guy's been doing all the strange and evil things that aren't easily explained otherwise.
5. Proper Prophecy Response
Not to be overly self-referential, but I gave a bit of advice a while back on what to do if you're faced with a prophecy**. The most obvious options aren't the only options. People can try what I advise in that piece, managing the prophecy to give better potential outcomes.
Let's say someone knows the protagonist is going to kill him, so befriends the protagonist so that the protagonist will choose to delay the killing and/or do so for reasons more to said character's liking.
Options abound. Just not what we've had.
* https://youtu.be/VkMU1mKdwPI
** http://wingedbeast.dreamwidth.org/6663.html
I hate that prophecy is such sign of bad storytelling. But, it is. Every Tom, Dick, and Fantasy flick has a prophecy and... they all use them wrong. Prophecy has a long history as a story element, a long history of being used well. There's a reason some of our longest enduring stories deal with people responding to prophecy.
With that in mind, let's sort out some advice regarding using prophecy in stories.
1. To repeat, "people responding to prophecy". That is the stroy. Not people fulfilling prophecy, but responding to prophecy. People fulfilling prophecy is, in terms of storytelling, just acting out a story that's already been told.
We don't need any more stories of a The One that is prophecied to fix everything and then... fixes everything. Feel free to have an Oracle. Feel free, also, to make it clear that Neo isn't actually The One. The Film Theorists have a theory about the Matrix trilogy that greatly improves the story as I see it.*
2. Pit Protagonists Against Prophecy
Rather than have prophecies speak of how great the main character is, have the prophecies, instead, speak of how the main character will destroy what he loves. Consider that Oedipus Rex is a story about a man who fled a prophecy claiming he would kill his father and marry his mother (either one of which being something to avoid). He finds out that his birthparents did the same thing and the result is people fleeing right into prophecy.
We have enough stories of villains that try to route prophecy of someone destroying them. Instead, test your protagonist to see if protagonist will allow paranoia to turn them into a villain.
3. The Protagonist Is Not The One
I almost decided to argue against "The One" in the first place. But, I can think of two examples that bucked this trend in a good way. Willow and The Golden Child. In both cases, "The One" isn't the main character and actually doesn't have any lines, whatsoever. So, go ahead, make a prophecied MacGuffin.
4. Establish Your Character Long Before Your Prophecy
Okay, maybe you do want to have a The One style character. There are thousands upon thousands of Chosen Ones throughout fiction. That, despite it's current overuse, is not new and not inherently storybreaking. The current problem with it is that it's used in place of character development. Before a prophecy comes around to explain things, show your protagonist being the special that the prophecy predicts.
Characters can know about the prophecy, such as a teacher or a leader or... I would advise only the bad guy. The prophecy that we learn two minutes before the showdown explains why the bad guy's been doing all the strange and evil things that aren't easily explained otherwise.
5. Proper Prophecy Response
Not to be overly self-referential, but I gave a bit of advice a while back on what to do if you're faced with a prophecy**. The most obvious options aren't the only options. People can try what I advise in that piece, managing the prophecy to give better potential outcomes.
Let's say someone knows the protagonist is going to kill him, so befriends the protagonist so that the protagonist will choose to delay the killing and/or do so for reasons more to said character's liking.
Options abound. Just not what we've had.
* https://youtu.be/VkMU1mKdwPI
** http://wingedbeast.dreamwidth.org/6663.html
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Date: 2015-10-24 08:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-25 02:54 am (UTC)Random: Also, I was wondering why I wasn't getting your posts on my reading page! Then I realized that I hadn't even subscribed to you and so I quickly fix that mess! HAH! :D
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Date: 2015-10-25 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-25 02:42 pm (UTC)