The Oracle Fish's prophecy - a plot hole?

[Doctor.]

As we all know, 39 years prior to the Battle of Gods arc, the Oracle Fish prophesied the appearance of a Super Saiyan God. It happened to be Goku who fulfilled it, but it could have been any of the 8 Saiyans alive (now I want to see a Super Saiyan God fetus Pan, Videl fighting Beerus). The problem comes in when you take into account that what was supposed to happen was that Goku should have died due to his heart disease, and everyone else would have died against the Artificial Humans, meaning there wouldn't be enough Saiyans remaining by the time Beerus woke up (and we know the only time the timeline diverged was when Trunks came back), so the prophecy could have never been fulfilled.

We've got a few solutions here:
1) It's a plot hole.
2) The Oracle Fish seems pretty forgetful, so it's simply possible that he went with Beerus' idea just to appeal to him (especially in Super, where he's just forced to think about it).
3) The Oracle Fish did say that a Super Saiyan God would be born, but we don't know if his prophecies are final. So, he could have just been wrong.
4) The timelines, somehow, diverged even before that and there's no prophecy in Trunks' timeline.
5) The Androids were "anomalies" that changed destiny, so even if Goku died, the prophecy would have been fulfilled with Tarble plus the 5 alive Saiyans.

What do you guys think?

[Hugo Boss]

Before saying it's a plot hole, I think any of the other 3 hypothesis (except for the 5th) work just fine, but I'm more inclined to believe in the 4th. Or:

6) There aren't Gods of Destruction in Mirai Trunks' timeline and he happens to be the strongest being there.
7) Mirai Trunks impregnates 5 Earthling women and thus accomplish the requirements for the ritual.

[Lord Beerus]

It seems like one those plot devices that wasn't really thought through. I don't think it's a plot hole per se, it's just more contrived reason for a possible conflict to occur. I don't think Toriyama or any of the BOG writing staff took into account what happened in regards to the wacky timeline shenanigans of the Android and Cell arc, and was just looking for the most convenient way for the prophecy of the Super Saiyan God to seem legitimate.

As far an in-universe answer goes, I think option 2) sounds the most plausible.

[nickzambuto]

Since Oracle fish can see the future, in Trunks' timeline he would have saw that the Saiyans died and therefore there wouldn't have been a prophecy. In the current timeline, the fish saw Trunks saving Goku from the heart virus and thus allowing the God stuff to happen, and therefore he was able to give the prophecy. When you have a character who can see the future, it's certainly possible for the timelines to have diverged before the time traveling actually took place.

[Daisetsu]

Goku is supposedly still around in the after life, so he and Beerus can use the Namekian dragon balls to revive/summon other saiyans to do the ritual. That's if one can become Super Saiyan God while dead, though...

[Doctor.]

Goku is supposedly still around in the after life, so he and Beerus can use the Namekian dragon balls to revive/summon other saiyans to do the ritual. That's if one can become Super Saiyan God while dead, though...

They could make Trunks the Super Saiyan God. Not sure if the energy of a dead Goku would work, though.

[Daisetsu]

And then there's the timeline where Cell kills Trunks... they could always make Tarble the Super Saiyan God...

Also, if a 1/4 saiyan fetus counts towards the required number, then I'm sure a full-blooded dead one would, too.

[Polyphase Avatron]

The Oracle Fish saw that the timeline would be changed and took that into account

[Blackstripe]

Since the Oracle Fish can predict the future, I like to imagine he saw Trunks' intervention as well.

[rereboy]

As we all know, 39 years prior to the Battle of Gods arc, the Oracle Fish prophesied the appearance of a Super Saiyan God. It happened to be Goku who fulfilled it, but it could have been any of the 8 Saiyans alive (now I want to see a Super Saiyan God fetus Pan, Videl fighting Beerus). The problem comes in when you take into account that what was supposed to happen was that Goku should have died due to his heart disease, and everyone else would have died against the Artificial Humans, meaning there wouldn't be enough Saiyans remaining by the time Beerus woke up (and we know the only time the timeline diverged was when Trunks came back), so the prophecy could have never been fulfilled.

We've got a few solutions here:
1) It's a plot hole.
2) The Oracle Fish seems pretty forgetful, so it's simply possible that he went with Beerus' idea just to appeal to him (especially in Super, where he's just forced to think about it).
3) The Oracle Fish did say that a Super Saiyan God would be born, but we don't know if his prophecies are final. So, he could have just been wrong.
4) The timelines, somehow, diverged even before that and there's no prophecy in Trunks' timeline.
5) The Androids were "anomalies" that changed destiny, so even if Goku died, the prophecy would have been fulfilled with Tarble plus the 5 alive Saiyans.

What do you guys think?

It really depends on how good the oracle fish's powers are. His powers could simply be so good that they actually took into account Trunks' interference in the timeline of the main story, thus making a correct prediction, while the oracle fish in Trunks' timeline simply didn't make the prediction due to his powers knowing that Goku wouldn't reach that far.

[Pantalones]

It's possible that prophecies are "seeing a possible future" rather than "seeing the future." The future being a "set" thing that nobody can change wouldn't make any sense at all with how we know Dragonball's timelines work, after all -- just time-travel and kill somebody and suddenly you've got a completely different timeline branched off from your own, or from how that timeline would've gone without you getting involved.

Plus, Beerus doesn't seem to be all that surprised when he hasn't found a Super Saiyan God despite fighting the handful of surviving Saiyans, which says to me that he's not really expecting the Oracle Fish's prophecy (or his own prophetic-ish dream) to be something that's guaranteed to come true no matter what. It's more like something he wants to happen so he can have a good fight for once.

[irreality]

Maybe the Fish doesn't make the prophecy in Mirai Trunks Timeline. Oracle Fish prophecies are paradox proof -- he only makes them in the right timelines.

[Polyphase Avatron]

The bigger issue is that if the prophecies are always 100% accurate, doesn't that mean there is no free will and everything is predetermined?

[irreality]

To quote Uncle Screwtape: obviously to watch a man do something is not to make him do it.

No: prophecies don't take away free will. They are just describing events that will happen: they don't cause events to happen.

[rereboy]

The bigger issue is that if the prophecies are always 100% accurate, doesn't that mean there is no free will and everything is predetermined?

That's like saying that if I predicted that in the next 10 minutes a certain person will choose to continue to breathe, I would be removing their free will to stop breathing for 10 minutes. Prophecies are like that, they guess or describe events with a similar degree of certainty as me guessing that a person will choose to continue breathing for the next ten minutes. In truth, there's nothing stopping that person from stopping to breathe for 10 minutes using whatever means that person wanted to achieve it, from exercising their free will and choosing another outcome, but will that person really stop breathing with their free will?