Or even in old folk tales the protagonist is often a small child. Granted depending on the culture being thirteen could also be seen as being an adult, but it always seemed weird that only this eleven year old grime covered farmboy can outwit the fae or slay a wizard.
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I mean, they’re only sometimes children. It happens from time to time. Fate probably does not discriminate based on age, so it would make sense that there’s more chosen children per capita than just, regular child adventurers.
There’s probably as many old ones, you just don’t notice them because an old person can only be “chosen” to offer support or advice. Granny isn’t going to make the trek to Mordor so it makes sense that you might not notice her chosenness as readily
Kids tend to overestimate their own survival skills and general toughness.
If you’re trying to defeat an evil wizard, who do you want along for the ride: A kid that thinks they are invincible or an adult beaten down by life who can’t be arsed to get out of bed?
The way the question is phrased is funny because it sort of makes it sound like children and adults are different species or races or something.
It’s just dependent on how early in their life they’re discovered or just rise to the occasion. sometimes it’s clear from a very young age that the person is a chosen one and they’re raised by people with that knowledge. Other times they’re young when crucial events happen and they must become heroes.
Or other times they’re just older.
There are stories where adults are the chosen one. However, the reason children are most often is a few factors. First is a lot of time chosen ones are chosen because of some sort of event that bestowed them power at their birth. Then usually the event they would need their power isn’t happening 25 years down the road, it’s sooner.
Next, young folks are more able body. I am not sure if you’ve hit 30 yet but going on an adventure seems like.something that would be painful for the body.
On top of that, getting adults to do something can be a bit difficult. Even fate of the world. Like man I just got off work and took off my pants, do I really have to travel across the country to defeat some wizard.
Finally, kids see things black and white. By bestowed upon them a quest it’s easier to get them to buy in on a bad guy. Adults can be a bit more nuanced and be a pain in the ass.
It started when people didn’t have the lifespan modern people do, especially in the lower social economic classes where heroes are selected from.
Then someone realised they haven’t updated the practice, now it’s become embarrassing, but nobody wants to raise the issue.
There is a certain window of age where you start gaining the ability to inflict change on your world but you haven’t been worn down enough by “that’s how it is” to lose the motivation to do so.
To use gaming terminology, at one point you get trapped in thinking about the current meta and following it through. Kids, people new to “the game”, aren’t trapped by meta thinking yet. Either allowing them to find something that was being overlooked or to invoke change by being random enough to throw the established powers off their game.
It weighs towards kids to be more willing to hope in. The older you get the more responsibilities you have. More likely to have families, friends, and careers that you become increasingly reluctant to risk. A kid? Especially one with seeming no future prospects such as a crime covered farm boy? They might be willing to do it just for the adventure. Being a farm boy means they have less reasons not to.
This is more of a selection bias among stories. A chosen one is either going to:
Or
/2. Only face significant challenges when they are new to being a chosen one, and do not have the full array of chosen one powers that allow them to overcome all obstacles. Aang briefly entering the Avatar State and defeating a blood bender is a fun anecdote, but it lasts about ten minutes and the outcome was never in doubt. Korra defeating a blood bender when she does not yet have access to the Avatar State and cannot simply overpower her opponent on a whim is the more interesting story.
The sarcastic answer is that kids are the only ones dumb enough to believe that “chosen one” crap without poking big holes in the whole system. Like who exactly is the one doing the choosing, why should we believe them, etc.
The real answer is that those stories always make their hero the archetypical Fool who must undergo a journey of self-discovery to become the archetypical Hero and save the world. That narrative arc lends itself to a young protagonist.