Is there a name/category for this sort of plot?
(“messiah ex machina” or somesuch…?)
Character starts from humble beginnings, and, through calamity or unexpected events, either discovers true self/hidden potential or discovers the true meaning of <something>…
Examples (off the top of my head):
- Luke, Star Wars
- Neo, The Matrix
- Stitch, Lilo & Stitch
- Dorothy, Wizard of Oz
- Frodo, Lord of the Rings (and similarly Bilbo beforehand)
- Valentine, Lord Valentine’s Castle (SF book, Silverberg)
Sounds like “The Hero’s Journey” to me. It’s a story archetype. Neo’s visit to the Oracle, which struck me as thoroughly out-of-place for the setting (spoon notwithstanding), is a nod to the “visit the mystical advisor” waystation on the standard Journey.
“Hero’s Journey” comes to mind, but I don’t think there’s a single term.
By the way, The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell deals with this recurring mythological theme.
I don’t know if that’s so much a plot as it is a fairly common aspect of character development. And the only name I can think of for it is “protagonist.”