Books Five Books Five SFF Stories About Fighting Fate Attempts at changing one’s destiny, escaping prophecy, or rewriting the future… By James Davis Nicoll | Published on January 13, 2025 “Consulting the Oracle” by John William Waterhouse (1884) Comment 0 Share New Share “Consulting the Oracle” by John William Waterhouse (1884) Is fate fixed… or can a sufficiently cunning person write their own future? Many stories tell us no. A tale first found in the Babylonian Talmud (but possibly much older) concerns two men who traveled to the district of Luz to avoid death—where they met their death. The story reappears in Islamic sources, and eventually in stories by Somerset Maugham and John O’Hara. Trying to elude your fate will only deliver you to it. Indeed, the mythologies of many cultures are filled with stories of people trying and failing to escape prophecy1. Whether you believe in fate or not, you can still enjoy stories about characters attempting to evade it. There are many such stories. Here are five. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843) Scrooge’s relentless pursuit of profit made him rich. In almost every other way, it left him poorer. Too stingy to spend his money, he received little personal benefit from it. He lost his beloved fiancée when she concluded that he loved money more than he loved her. Scrooge has done his very best to alienate every person who might care for him. It’s never a good sign when spectral figures decide that a sinner demands personal attention. Scrooge is taken on a tour of his past, present, and future to ensure he understands what is waiting for him at the end of the road he chose. Beyond terrorizing an unpleasant old man, is there a point to this? This famous story is an example of social reform achieved by enlightening the ruling classes. This strategy has always been popular with the bien-pensant folks in power. It is taken for granted that the ruling class has the power to carry out reforms. And, it offers the hope of meaningful change with minimal inconvenience to the powerful. If Dickens had written The 1844 Trial and Execution of the Miser Scrooge By The Workingmen’s Tribunal it would not have been nearly as well received as was A Christmas Carol. “The Man Outside” by Evelyn E. Smith (1957) Martin is an unpleasant little boy who will become an unpleasant man. The only significant accomplishment Martin will achieve is to father the man who will give humanity the super-drive. Thanks to the super-drive, humans will escape the solar system and replicate on a far vaster scale the sins of old Earth. Martin’s great-great-grandson Conrad, having come into possession of a time machine, is determined to protect the galaxy from humans by eliminating the super-drive. Martin’s son being too saintly to consider killing, Conrad’s target is Martin. Conrad’s relatives, eager to protect their existence, embrace the task of protecting Martin. Too bad that Martin’s guardians do not truly understand Conrad’s plan… although cunning Martin does and approves. As Upton Sinclair observed, “it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” In the case of all but one of Martin’s descendants, that something is whether it’s bad to brutally exploit aliens or to occasionally sterilize whole worlds. Reform would make them somewhat less rich, hence their willful blind spots. “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” by Roger Zelazny (1963) The old Martians were once a great race. Now they seem resigned to sterility, decline and extinction. At least, that’s Gallinger’s impression. This is no casual prejudice on Gallinger’s part: he can see the evidence around him on Mars, and he has mastered ancient Martian languages and can read their texts. An assignation with a temple priestess results in a quite unexpected pregnancy. Perhaps the infertile Martians can be saved, but only if Gallinger can somehow overcome Martian fatalism. Gallinger is a bold man who is up to the task of transforming an ancient civilization’s worldview. Alternatively, Gallinger is an overconfident fool who does not understand his true role in Martian history. Rereading this tale, I only now notice parallels between Rose and a late 1980s reimagining of the comic book character Adam Strange from planetary hero to despised but fertile foreigner. I wonder if Zelazny’s story inspired the later retcon? Mort by Terry Pratchett (1987) Keenly aware that young Mort was unsuited for the family business, Mort’s father arranged an apprenticeship for Mort. Let Mort’s curiously slender new master worry about Mort’s alarming combination of curiosity and negligible common sense. Just as well for Mort’s father’s equanimity that he cannot see that the person to whom Mort is apprenticed is Death itself. Death may be the personification of an abstract concept, but even Death does not fully appreciate Mort’s capacity for well-intended catastrophic missteps. Despite learning that mortal fate cannot be changed, Mort prevents Princess Keli’s ordained murder. Keli learns a valuable lesson about fate’s implacability, while Mort will discover unforeseen hazards in being Death’s apprentice. In Mort’s defense, an utter and comprehensive lack of common sense is in no way unheard of on the Discworld. Indeed, it might be said to be a common malady. One wonders why better coping mechanisms have not yet appeared2. The Kingdom of Three Duology by Joan He (2022–2024) The Xin Empire is temporarily divided between three determined warlords: Cicada in the south, Xin Ren to the west, and Miasma ruling over the rest. Amoral Miasma has vast armies, possesses the formal title of Prime Ministress, and is the guardian/jailor of the Empress Xin Bao. Her eventual victory would seem to be assured. Xin Ren’s strategist3 Rising Zephyr is determined to see her mistress on the throne. The fact that Xin Ren is utterly loyal to Xin Bao and only wishes to see the empress freed from Miasma is but a minor impediment for brilliant, determined Zephyr. That fate has ordained Xin Ren will not prevail is a more serious impediment. Fate cannot be changed. At least, not without a tremendous cost. One might almost call this duology a romance of three kingdoms, except that the focus isn’t really on romance save as something incompatible with ambition. This book explores what it might take to divert history… even if only for a little while. Tales of mortals wrestling against fate, whether mundane or divinely ordained, are as old as writing and no doubt much older. These five tales are only a small sample plucked from a very large field. No doubt I’ve overlooked some reader favorites. Feel free to name them in comments below.[end-mark] In fact, there’s a rather depressing physics experiment easily performed at home via methods so straightforward I won’t insult you by detailing them here. Pick some random head of state such as American President Huey Long. Travel back before his 1936 victory and shoot him dead. Return to 2025, and you will find that despite your efforts, President John G. Agar took office after winning the 1936 election, just as history has always recorded. Even if you were to try again, perhaps using some subtle poison, it would be futile. President Roosevelt would still be victorious. ︎To his credit, Mort’s father almost immediately rejects the idea of sending Mort off to magic school, after an interval just long enough to imagine the worst-case scenario of Mort mastering magic. ︎Each warlord employs strategists, each as brilliant as their expected lifespans are short. One would expect government via genius-by-proxy would function efficiently, without catastrophic civil wars. Oddly, this does not seem to be the case. Perhaps it would be better to select highly educated functionaries via some sort of neutral but generally respected testing system. Has anyone tried that? ︎The post Five SFF Stories About Fighting Fate appeared first on Reactor.