While reading this thread, I was wondering, surely the “Force Balance” prophecy isn’t the only one to be misread/misinterpreted.
What are some others?
How about ones that are just plain wrong?
Oedipus and Macbeth spring to mind. (Macbeth crams two in there. Way to go, Bill!)
One of the most well-known such stories is told about Croesus, the legendary king of Lydia; he asked the Oracle of Delphi to prophecy what would happen if he crossed the River Halys and invaded the Persian Empire. The Oracle replied that “a great empire shall be brought down”.
Of course, it turns out the “great empire” which fell was Croesus’ own kingdom. Those dad-blamed oracles are sneaky that way.
Off the top of my head:
- The “No Man” prophecy in the LoTR cycle
- the Biblical messainic prophecies
- the prophecy concerning Harry Potter
- the ‘prophecy’ in the Matrix series
It also illustrates what a bunch of con-men (or women) oracles and mystics were, even back then.
*Croesus: O Oracle! What will happen if we push across the River Halys and invade the Persian Empire?
Oracle (to self:) Fuck. I have no idea. How do I answer this idiot? Let’s see…something mystical, yet vaguely affirming, without being too committal. I have it!
Oracle (out loud, waves hands mystically:) A great empire shall be brought down!
Croesus: Thank you, O Oracle! I shall make military preparations forthwith! I shall give a gift worthy of kings to the Oracle of Apollo!
Oracle (to self again:) Sweet! What a chump. I wonder if it’ll occur to him that I just simply told him “If you invade Persia, someone’s gonna lose,” as his army is ground to doggie chunks against the River Halys. Ah well, he’s obviously too stupid to be king.*
Sweet Jesus! This attack of the smileys was foretold! Let’s try that one more time.
It also illustrates what a bunch of con-men (or women) oracles and mystics were, even back then.
*Croesus: O Oracle! What will happen if we push across the River Halys and invade the Persian Empire?
Oracle (to self): Fuck. I have no idea. How do I answer this idiot? Let’s see…something mystical, yet vaguely affirming, without being too committal. I have it!
Oracle (out loud, waves hands mystically): A great empire shall be brought down!
Croesus: Thank you, O Oracle! I shall make military preparations forthwith! I shall give a gift worthy of kings to the Oracle of Apollo!
Oracle (to self again): Sweet! What a chump. I wonder if it’ll occur to him that I just simply told him “If you invade Persia, someone’s gonna lose,” as his army is ground to doggie chunks against the River Halys. Ah well, he’s obviously too stupid to be king.*
The Master will kill the Slayer.
Sure he DOES but mouth to mouth brings her back.
Heh. Ever watch anything produced by Joss Whedon?
“The Slayer shall die, and the Master shall rise.”
“The Father shall kill the son.” (could be seen as being misinterpreted, or just made up, depending on how deep you read into it)
I don’t suppose “If you build it, They will come” counts, does it?
[hijack]
The Cartoon History of the Universe puts it differently.
Roughly paraphrased, this was the reaction:
“WHICH empire? That was why I consulted an oracle in the first place! You might as well flip a coin! &$#! greedy oracles…”
[/hijack]
“If you go to Za’ha’dum, you will die.” Well, yeah. Eventually.
Strangely enough, all the other prophecies from that show did come true.
The prophecy in Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn was misinterpreted in a rather unfortunate way. Excellent series.
My favorite one was the final fate of B5 (or as I like to call it: The Coffee Mug Prophecy). Turns out, it DOES end exactly like it did in the coffee-mug vision from the first season.
Sherri Tepper wrote a book called “Revenants”. In this book, there is a prophesy that’s really long and involved. The main characters start to wonder if it has anything to do with them, but it doesn’t exactly fit.
Anyway, at the end of the book, the characters end up going back in time. They write about what will happen to them.
The manuscript sits in a library for centuries. It is read by a librarian. Then the library burns down and it is destroyed. The librarian tries to write it down, but he gets it wrong.
That’s why it didn’t quite fit the events of the book.
My favorite is the naming of The Beast by Adam the Antichrist in Good Omens, which didn’t turn out quite the way Hell’s minions expected. I especially like the part about the ear.
I thought he did die, but was given back a limited amount of life.
Right, he died, but he got better.
Wicked (the musical, I don’t know about the book…)
Elphaba sings: “And I just had a vision almost like a prophecy. I know it sounds truly crazy, and true, the vision’s hazy. But I swear, someday there’ll be a celebration throughout Oz… that’s all to do with me! […] I’ll be so happy, I could melt!” She later becomes the “wicked” witch of the West, so yes, there will be a celebration that’s all to do with her, but not the way she thinks.
I’m not sure he died, exactly. I think he should have died, but Loren kept him in some sort of Heisenbergian dead/not dead state until he could figure out what to do with him.