less “chosen one” heroes, more heroes that chose THEMSELVES. give me heroes that see a problem, look around, and think, “WELP, clearly no one ELSE is gonna fix it, so APPARENTLY it has to be me” and goes to their friends and is like “Y’ALL, GET YOUR SHIT, WE’RE GOING ON A QUEST”
“what wait why”
“the world is broken and the people in charge aren’t doing anything, so we’re gonna do something for them”
“didn’t the prophecy say a wise and noble mage would choose someone to conquer the evil?”
“yeah well, i can do magic, and i’m pretty fucking wise and noble, right?”
“…..”
“……………….RIGHT?!”
*hasty statements of agreement*
“exactly. so, i’ve come to the conclusion that i’m the mage of the prophecy. and guess what. i choose myself. now let’s go.”
If you have this player at your table, you are blessed.
“And Susan was bright enough to know that the phrase “Someone ought to do something” was not, by itself, a helpful one. People who used it never added the rider “and that someone is me.” But someone ought to do something, and right now the whole pool of someones consisted of her, and no one else.”–Hogfather (Terry Pratchett, 1996)