History BigScrewedUpFamily / Literature

** The Stratton's in ''Decider'' are introduced shortly after the death of the present patriarch and consist of his sister, his three sons (and their wives), their four children, one great-grandchild, and the stepson of his second son. The eldest son was a drug user in his youth (but cleaned up after a friend OD'd), while one of his children is a headstrong RichBitch who DoesNotLikeMen and the other is a NiceGuy but is preoccupied with how he is going bald. The second son is TheResenter due to being a younger twin who only missed being the primary heir by minutes. He's had four wives (two divorced him and one killed herself), and engages in MaritalRapeLicense [[spoiler: as well as ParentalIncest, making him both the father and grandfather of his daughters son]]. The youngest brother is an UpperClassTwit with a son who almost got arrested for InsuranceFraud. The dead man's sister is an IronLady who rules over the rest of the family unapologetically through a mixture of simple deference and blackmail.
** ''Reflex'' Features the Nore's. Lavinia Note, the matriarch of the family ( a widow) disowned her daughter Carolina for getting pregnant by Lavinia's new fiancee, and later disowns her son James for being gay, because IWantGrandkids, just not grandkids who share the blood of the man she loved who betrayed her. Caroline has since died of a drug overdose after giving brith to a second child (with a different father) who is being raised by a cult. Dying of cancer, Mrs. Nore ends up hiring her grandson Phillip (a jockey with problems of his own) to find his half-sister near the beginning of the novel.

* ''Literature/CampHalfBloodSeries'': The entire franchise is centered around this on an epic scale. The Olympians in their Greek and Roman aspects are just as dysfunctional as in the myths, they send their descendants in both camps on highly dangerous quests, and two of the {{Big Bad}}s, Kronos and Gaia, are directly related to the pantheon.

* ''Literature/Hannibal'': The "Verger meatpacking dynasty." Mason was a child molester who escaped prison time thanks to the family connections, while dad Molson was a sociopath who killed a child's 4-H pig at a swine fair, had the kid's father beaten for confronting him, and disowned his daughter for being a lesbian.

* ''Literature/HannibalLecter'': The "Verger meatpacking dynasty." Mason was a child molester who escaped prison time thanks to the family connections, while dad Molson was a sociopath who killed a child's 4-H pig at a swine fair, had the kid's father beaten for confronting him, and disowned his daughter for being a lesbian.

** The Noble and Ancient House of Black. Their house elf servants are traditionally ''beheaded'' once they're too old to fetch and carry, and anyone who shows signs of not being a FantasticRacist is kicked out and has their name blasted off the family tapestry.[[labelnote:Including]]Isla Black was disowned for marrying Bob Hitchens, a Muggle. Phineas Black (not to be confused with his son Phineas Nigellus Black, Hogwarts' least popular headmaster) was disowned for supporting Muggle rights. Marius Black, third generation son of Cygnus and Violetta Black (née Violetta Bulstrode), was disowned as he was a Squib. Marius's cousin Cedrella was disowned for marrying a "blood traitor", Septimus Weasley, and is Ron's paternal grandmother. Sirius Black got disowned for running away from home and being sorted into Gryffindor rather than Slytherin, while his Uncle Alphard was posthumously disowned for leaving gold for Sirius in his will. And Sirius's cousin Andromeda was disowned for marrying Ted Tonks, a muggleborn.[[/labelnote]] Sirius's brother Regulus was considered TheDutifulSon for joining the Death Eaters, [[spoiler: though he eventually got a dose of reality]]. [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/4/4f/JKRBlackFamilyTree.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120710010553&format=original The expansiveness of the House is such]] that Harry and Ron each have a Black for a paternal grandmother (Arthur Weasley's mother was Cedrella Black, who also got blasted off the tree; while James Potter's mother was Dorea Black, Sirius's great-aunt on his mother's side).
** The Dumbledores may also count. [[spoiler: Percival maims a group of Muggle boys who hurt his daughter Ariana, and goes to Azkaban, Kendra is thought to have imprisoned Ariana for being a Squib though it was common knowledge that she herself was Muggle-born, Ariana was driven insane by the Muggle boys and hidden by her mother and became a host to an Obscurus parasite. Albus started dating Gellert Grindelwald, who later gets into a fight with him and Aberforth, and one of the three winds up killing Ariana. Then Albus and Aberforth get into a fight at Ariana's funeral, and they have a very strained relationship for years. Oh, and then there's the introduction of [[Film/FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald Credence Barebone, aka Aurelius Dumbledore]] into canon. He turned out to be the product of Aberforth getting his girlfriend pregnant as a teenager. She was sent away by her family to hide it but rumors persisted about a child. He was believed to have drowned in a shipwreck as a baby and was mistakenly adopted by an American woman who turned him into an Obsurial like Aunt Ariana]]. Whew.

** The Noble and Ancient House of Black. Their house elf servants are traditionally ''beheaded'' once they're too old to fetch and carry, and anyone who shows signs of not being a {{Fantastic Racis|m}}t is kicked out and has their name blasted off the family tapestry.[[labelnote:Including]]Isla Black was disowned for marrying Bob Hitchens, a Muggle. Phineas Black (not to be confused with his son Phineas Nigellus Black, Hogwarts' least popular headmaster) was disowned for supporting Muggle rights. Marius Black, third generation son of Cygnus and Violetta Black (née Violetta Bulstrode), was disowned as he was a Squib. Marius's cousin Cedrella was disowned for marrying a "blood traitor", Septimus Weasley, and is Ron's paternal grandmother. Sirius Black got disowned for running away from home and being sorted into Gryffindor rather than Slytherin, while his Uncle Alphard was posthumously disowned for leaving gold for Sirius in his will. And Sirius's cousin Andromeda was disowned for marrying Ted Tonks, a muggleborn.[[/labelnote]] Sirius's brother Regulus was considered TheDutifulSon for joining the Death Eaters, [[spoiler: though he eventually got a dose of reality]]. [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/4/4f/JKRBlackFamilyTree.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120710010553&format=original The expansiveness of the House is such]] that Harry and Ron each have a Black for a paternal grandmother (Arthur Weasley's mother was Cedrella Black, who also got blasted off the tree; while James Potter's mother was Dorea Black, Sirius's great-aunt on his mother's side).

** [[BigBad Caine Soren]] and [[DarkChick Diana Ladris]] both came from big, (rich), messed up families, which could have been {{foreshadowing}} for their future relationship. Caine's mother gave him up for adoption and then he was adopted into a family with a stepfather and mother who literally thought he was evil and sent him away to Coates Academy so they wouldn't have to deal with him (he never hears from them again). Diana's situation was arguably even worse, as her father was having an affair, and her parents were getting divorced. That's not even the bad part. Then her mother fell down a flight of stairs and became paralyzed from the neck down, and Diana blamed her dad, who was arrested and imprisoned. It was even lampshaded that Diana was sexually abused by her mother's boyfriends (her mother was apparently, also unfaithful).

* ''LightNovel/AccomplishmentsOfTheDukesDaughter'': The Royal Family is a mess. There's a succession crisis, the current Queen [[spoiler: killed the previous one and is trying to kill her stepchildren]], the older prince is a BrokenBird with trust issues after losing his mother and him and his sister being failed by their dad, the younger prince is a RoyalBrat disliked by his half siblings and the King is too weak willed to do anything about any of this. And this was before Edward got engaged to a girl who is a moron at best and a GoldDigger at worst [[spoiler: with increasing hints suggesting she is a spy]].

** Our main protagonist, the Stark family, seems immune at the start of the series [[spoiler: which doesn't save them at all. On the other hand, though they have currently been displaced from their lands, they look more likely to win in the long term than many of the more villainous families]]. However, even they don't have it peachy, as Catelyn [[WickedStepmother notoriously treats Jon like dirt]] despite her husband and children loving him (though this isn't entirely her fault, on account of Ned's refusal to disclose his parentage and the traditional treatment of bastards in Westeros).

** The Lannisters are pretty much a textbook example. Not only are they wealthy, powerful and ambitious, but [[TheChessmaster scheming]] and [[DeadpanSnarker snarking]] seem to run in the family. Not to mention [[{{Twincest}} incest]], [[CallingTheOldManOut father-son conflicts]] and [[TheUnfavourite horrendous parenting]]. They also scheme against each other almost as much as they do to other people.
** The Targaryens are not very far behind, similarly incestuous, and RoyallyScrewedUp to boot. Especially prevalent during the Dance of the Dragons, with the branches from Viserys I's two marriages scheming against each other, while Viserys' ambitious and dangerous brother Daemon plotted to gain more power, even marrying his niece Rhaenyra to assist him. The only difference from the Lannisters is that we don't get to see much of it, because, by the start of the main series, years of political scheming had pretty much [[TheRemnant reduced the Targaryens to a pair of siblings]], one of whom bites the dust midway through [[Literature/AGameOfThrones the first book]]. While she definitely did not grow up happy, at least Daenerys can discount family from things she has to deal with, [[SpareToTheThrone for now]].

* The Wildesterns from Oisín [=McGann's=] ''Ancient Appetites'' heartily approve of the use of ''murder'' to improve one's standing in the family.

* Creator/JBPriestley's ''Benighted'' ([[AdaptationDisplacement more well-known]] from its film adaptation ''Film/{{The Old Dark House|1932}}'') features the charming Femm family. Of the group, only Sir Roderick, the oldest, seems sane, but he's also bedridden and effectively trapped upstairs. His brother Horace is on the run for committing some mysterious crime, while his sister Rebecca, who is almost completely deaf, suffers from religious mania. [[spoiler: And then there's the murderous Saul, kept locked away -- until the drunken servant lets him out.]]

* The Literature/JoePickett novel ''In Plain Sight'' centres around the Scarlett family: one of the oldest and most powerful families in the Twelve Sleeps Valley. The matriarch of the family regards herself as the rightful rule of the whole county and deliberately plays her sons of against one another. When Sheridan has dinner with the family, she suddenly understands the meaning of the term 'Gothic' for the first time.
* Creator/PGWodehouse's [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Woosters]] are this trope PlayedForLaughs. "Family rows" are nasty and complicated, there's more than one instance of diagnosed insanity, a lot of things are kept hushed up, and EvilMatriarch Aunt Agatha frequently resorts to bribery and trickery to stop members of the family from marrying into common blood. According to Bertie, the Woosters can trace their ancestry all the way back to the Crusades.

* The Buchanons, from the Maggody mysteries. No, they're not even close to rich, but they're screwed up enough to qualify for this trope several times over.
* The Literature/MastersOfRome series has nothing ''but'' Big Screwed Up Families in it - and since the 'Famous Families' are all interrelated by marriage and adoption you might say the entire ruling class is one supersized example.
* The Patrick Melrose novels, the titular character was raped as a child by his father and neglected by his mother (who knew what her husband was doing to their son but did nothing.) leading him to grow up to become a addict of drugs and alcohol, it took him years to beat his addiction and come to terms with his past and move on. Melrose was also the product of rape when his father forced himself on his mother.

* Most of the Israeli author Meir Shalev's books contain examples of this; examples appear in, among others, ''Esau'', ''A Russian Novel'', and ''A Pigeon and a Boy''.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': The Raiths, [[RoyallyScrewedUp the royal family]] of the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent White Court]], are a whole bunch of scheming [[HornyDevils succubi and incubi]] with a SmugSnake at the head. On the other side of the playing field, [[TheHero Harry's]] family is also pretty screwed-up, with multiple people treading dangerously close to the BlackMagic line. [[spoiler:Amusingly enough, these two families are actually related through Harry and Thomas's mother, making it one ''giant'' screwed-up family.]]

* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Has the Akura clan.