Something I've been thinking about recently (for a story I'm writing) is the idea of free will verse destiny. It's always a big thing in sci-fi and fantasy, the idea of destiny.
Harry Potter's whole life was driven by a prophecy, he had no choice in the matter of Voldemort. The second Snape heard that portion of the prophecy, Voldemort was going to try and kill him and was going to continue to try until either Harry was dead or Voldemort was.
But at the same time, Harry had a choice about how he was going to live his life and he chose to live it and accept his role in the battle against Voldemort as opposed to staying in hiding and just letting the more experienced Wizards protect him at all times.
So, it would seem in the world of Wizards and Muggles at least that one can have free will to some degree despite destiny.
Such might not be the case in a series such as Battlestar Galactica.
Throughout the series's first three seasons we have been told that Starbuck (television's best female character ever, although President Roslin from the same show isn't far behind) has a destiny, and as Season 4 is about to begin it certainly appears that is true.
At the same time, many characters have uttered the phrase "All of this has happened before, all of it will happen again" taken from the human's scripture.
Well this phrase certainly argues against the notion of free will. Everyone has a part to play and no decision about it.
This idea works well for a television show (or a book series such as The Wheel of Time which employs a similar central thought), but I don't really enjoy the idea of this being true in real life.
Sure, the fact that we have no choice in our actions could make us feel better about some of the stupid things we've done, but overall, the idea that we don't actually have choices would make me feel trapped.
In real life, I'm not sure that there is much belief in destiny on a large scale, but you do often here the idea out there.
I'm sure most of us have even used the idea (even if we didn't realize it). Certain things definately feel "meant to be" and the idea that something is "meant to be" is nothing if not in the corner of destiny.
Maybe there are things that are supposed to happen, choices that we are supposed to make, things that are meant to be, but not necessarily destined to be.
Our free will still gives us an opportunity to make decisions that keep those things that are "meant to be" from actually being.
If that's true, then free will can be kind of a scary responsibility.
But I stand by the idea that I'd rather have the scary responsibility of free will (and the possibility that I'll frak it up) then the idea that I have no choice in what I do and instead am stuck on a path that I have no say about whatsoever.
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I liked that end section about "destined to be" versus "meant to be." Scary responsibility, yes...and certainly preferred.
But "scary" might not be quite the right word. Daunting. Significant. Scary in some senses, but not so much that one would look for "cover" in the ideas of destiny/little-to-no free will.
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