The Trouble With the Chosen One

The last days of a dying Chosen One

Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, and Neo from The Matrix were all destined for greatness before birth, and recognized as The Chosen One by others. Science fiction and fantasy love the Chosen One mythos and recycle it endlessly. The Chosen One’s coming is always foretold; indeed, the Chosen One may be the last to recognize his own (and it’s usually “his”) greatness. But once he does, he unleashes righteous fury on the nations.

While science fiction loves literal Chosen Ones whose presence purges humanity’s impurity, other genres love a more subdued Chosen One. Hero teachers like Jaime Escalante in Stand By Me and Erin Gruwell in The Freedom Writers, or hero cops like Popeye Doyle and Dirty Harry Callahan, serve the same role, though their reach is circumscribed by their form. Seems like storytellers love finding that one superlative individual who will instantly repair all our woes.

Sort of like Jesus or the Buddha.

Most people, I suspect, would agree that we don’t fall on hard times because one person did us dirty. We might point fingers at an unpopular president, or the public face of a designated “other” like Hitler or Saddam Hussein. But realistically, most people realize these highly visible individuals didn’t cause widespread social crisis, they simply exploited it for personal or ideological ends. Society feels like it’s been skidding for a while.

Yet despite knowing individuals didn’t cause our unhappiness, we nevertheless seek individuals to reverse that perceived skid. Whether we seek that salvation in fictional characters, like Luke Skywalker or Katniss Everdeen, or in (putatively) factual individuals like Jesus or Muhammed, we want one person to take responsibility for solving the crisis. Solving social problems collectively is hard; we’d rather throw everything on the person of a Chosen One.

That’s where things get sticky. Jesus Christ claimed a unique ability to guide his people out of darkness. So did Donald Trump. The former president’s 2016 mantra of “I alone can fix this” seemed, for many people dispossessed by a changing economy, to be a necessary tonic for the Obama Administration’s embrace of collective responsibility and systemic reform. Obama’s approach was difficult, slow, and unpleasant; Trump’s response was easy and instantaneous.

Not every Chosen One necessarily brings salvation through their person. (I use the word “salvation” loosely here; please bear with me.) Jesus Christ said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light,” making himself individually the bearer of transcendence. The Buddha, by contrast, placed his teachings above his person. Had Siddhartha Gautama not achieved Enlightenment, somebody else would have, and the Truth would’ve shone through anyway.

A Chosen One and his girlfriend walk into a bar...

Few modern Chosen Ones would be so modest. Whether religious messiahs like Jim Jones or Sun Myung Moon, or secular deliverers like Donald Trump or (dare I say) Adolf Hitler, they always proclaim themselves, personally, the source of redemption. Jesus, Buddha, Hltler, and Trump all arrived at times of deteriorating empire, when old ways of government and religion weren’t working anymore, and promised deliverance. Some succeeded better than others.

Don’t misunderstand me: I don’t mean Hitler and Trump are morally equal to Jesus and Buddha. Others might say that, but I won’t. Rather. Jesus and Buddha promised to free humanity by stepping outside this world’s social, political, and economic limitations. Jesus promised to make all things new, while Buddha promised knowledge from this world’s ignorance. Political messiahs, however, inevitably pledge relief by reinforcing this world’s doctrinaire tendencies.

For this discussion, the particular deliverance each messiah offers matters less than their promised methods, and how their congregation receives them. The Chosen One always promises to relieve the suffering congregation’s pains, whether that congregation is genuinely oppressed, or merely feels themselves oppressed. Peace and consolation await True Believers willing to invest their every hope into the Chosen One.

Secular Chosen Ones generally don’t end well. Donald Trump’s congregation progressed from nodding agreement at his campaign rallies, to the violence of January 6th, 2021, with almost Life of Brian-like haste. And while Jesus told his disciples to sheathe their swords and not answer evil with violence, two millennia of people speaking on Jesus’ behalf have fomented Christian crusades and sectarian holy wars. That’s pretty bad PR for the Prince of Peace.

Fundamentally, a Chosen One lets True Believers relinquish their agency. When 909 people commit suicide in Jonestown, no individual congregant is truly responsible. Indeed, it’s likely that hundreds looked for one other person to say “no” first. Because when a Chosen One goes bad, the only hope is another Chosen One.