History Main / LineageComesFromTheFather

* In ''HarryPotter And the Chamber Of Secrets'' people believe that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin through his pureblood father. He isn't. [[spoiler: Voldemort is through his pureblood mother. His mother's maiden name was "Gaunt" instead of "Slytherin" so it probably passed through a daughter at least one other time.]]

* Averted by the Watchers in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Giles' father was a Watcher before him, but Giles' father's ''mother'', not Giles' father's father, was a Watcher before ''him''.

** It may be strong enough to be an outright ''inversion,'' especially considering that it was strongly implied that Shell might be the ''only'' one of Melena's kids to be fathered by her husband, but no one cared.

* {{''Series\TinMan''}} follows the Oz books in this regard, at least in regard to the royal family. The Queen holds the authority, and it's passed along to her daughters. [[spoiler: Ahamo, the Queen's consort and girls' father, was a carny that lucked out and landed in Oz when his balloon went off course in a storm]].

* The drow of ''{{Drowtales}}'' are a complete inversion and only care about the maternal line, fathers almost never enter the picture. Noble titles especially are exclusively passed through the mother, as are inheritence.

* Played straight in ''TheDresdenFiles''. Pretty much all of the [[RoyallyScrewedUp royal family of]] [[EmotionEater White Court vampires]] were born from human mothers and got the vampirism from Lord Raith. Inverted for the main character himself, whose mother has so far been more important to the story than his father.

* In JRRTolkien's Middle-earth works (''TheSilmarillion'', etc) both exists. Familial traits are often followed through the male line, but that is partly a side-effect of following a patriarchal dynasty over generations. But characters are nonetheless described as having traits inherited or instilled by their mothers.

* In JRRTolkien's Middle-earth works (''TheSilmarillion'', etc) both exists. Familial traits are often followed through the male line, but that is partly a side-effect of following a patriarchal dynasty over generations. But characters are nonetheless described as having traits inherited or instilled by their mothers. Also, HumanMomNonhumanDad is inverted in ''all'' cases of mixed-race couples, although that's a side effect of a [[StandardHeroReward different]] [[EngagementChallenge gender]] [[TheHero archetype]].

* Played straight in ''TheDresdenFiles''. Pretty much all of the [[RoyallyScrewedUp royal family of]] [[EmotionEater White Court vampires]] were born from human mothers and got the vampirism from Lord Raith.

** Well, sorta. His character much, much more similar to his mother.

* [[MahouSenseiNegima Negi's]] mother eventually turns out to be pretty imporant, but you wouldn't have guessed that based on how often his father, the Thousand Master, [[GenerationXerox who he takes after and looks almost identical to]] comes up before then.

* Both played straight and averted in ''TheDresdenFiles''. On the one hand, pretty much all of the [[RoyallyScrewedUp royal family of]] [[EmotionEater White Court vampires]] were born from human mothers and got the vampirism from Lord Raith. On the other, magic is mostly inherited matrilinearly; thus Harry, for example, had a powerful wizard mother and a perfectly ordinary NiceGuy dad[[hottip:*:EpilepticTrees notwithstanding]].

* An inversion in [[TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Baum's Oz books]] that's also used in {{Wicked}}. The throne of Oz appears to be passed by matrilineal succession, and [[spoiler: Liir]] ends up picking up where his mother left off with his father barely a passing mention.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in some ways in the KushielsLegacy trilogies: Terre d'Ange's monarchy passes patrilineally, but the king only has one daughter, who proceeds to have two daughters of her own. Meanwhile, in Alba, inheritance passes from uncle to nephew, although this is later revealed to be motivated by [[spoilers:the male rulers not trusting that their wives' sons are actually theirs, and preserving the lineage through their sisters]]. Meanwhile Imriel's significant lineage comes from both sides of his family.

* If a man wishes to join Judaism and has a Jewish mother, he's in. If he only has a Jewish father, he has to complete a battery of tests only slightly less extreme than somebody with no Jewish blood joining.

* Mitochondrial genetic inheritance comes exclusively from females, whereas the Y chromosome of mammals is passed solely from father to son.

* Averted in most ancient societies: since it was easier to prove who the mother was, leadership positions at the very least were matrilinial (i.e., traced back via the mother, passed on from the maternal uncle).