Erfworld, The Thread.

[Douglas]

Predictamancy doesn't work that way, as far as we know--it's not a 100% guarantee that what is predicted will happen. Delphie, also a Predictamancer, tried to manipulate Wanda into a different course in order to avoid the future she predicted, and I don't think she'd have bothered if that future was set in stone and unavoidable, do you?

Delphie didn't try to avoid what she Predicted, she tried to choose how to fulfill it.

Predictamancy, from everything shown so far, is in fact a 100% guarantee that what is Predicted will happen. It's just that it Predicts only specific details rather than the whole picture. Delphie Predicted that Olive would be Wanda's Chief Caster for a long time. She did not Predict how this would come to pass. Given that one certainty, she attempted to arrange for it to happen by means of a voluntary trade, thereby putting Wanda under Olive's command - as Predicted - while improving Goodminton's position by whatever Haffaton was willing to pay for her.

For Jillian's situation, the following things have been Predicted: Wanda will serve FAQ for some amount of time; Jillian will be involved in how this happens; King Banhammer will die; FAQ's capital city will fall. Those are officially unavoidable. How they happen is up for grabs.

Jillian could lead FAQ's entire army to take Haffaton city, as she seems to be planning; she could make a one-person raid; she could turn herself in and talk Wanda into defecting together; she could get captured, get taken back to Wanda, and talk her into defecting; or any number of other possible routes for Wanda to switch allegiances with some manner of prompting by Jillian.

FAQ could fall to Haffaton; FAQ could be overrun by barbarians; FAQ could raze its own capital; FAQ could go bankrupt and disband; FAQ could get taken by surprise by some other side (as we know from our privileged audience position eventually happens with Stanley).

Banhammer could get croaked when FAQ is taken (by whoever); Banhammer could suicide by walking through the Magic Kingdom portal; Banhammer could lead an army in the field and die there; Banhammer could trip and fall, breaking his neck in a freak accident.

Certain extremely specific outcomes are dictated by Fate and revealed by Predictamancy. That still leaves a great deal of flexibility in how those outcomes happen and what any related outcomes are, and planning and scheming to make the best of it - still fulfilling every Predicted detail in its entirety, but in the manner you choose - can work, and that is what the best Predictamancy is all about.