History Main / LivingDistantAncestor

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive:'' Adrian Raven is an elf, a HalfHumanHybrid with an Immortal mother. He himself has lived for centuries, and lived all that time incorrectly believing that the ImmortalProcreationClause was in effect. As one character puts it, "Raven's effectively been an ignorant man stuck in his early twenties for multiple lifetimes." Because of this, in the present day he has at least two living descendants, [[spoiler:Susan and Diane]], who are, respectively, directly descended from a relationship from his original twenties and his biological child.

* In the ''Literature/IronDruidChronicles'' Atticus is over 2,500 years old and at one point was the patriarch of a large clan in Africa for a few centuries. He interacted with multiple generations of his descendants and even tried to share his immortality with them. When the prolonged lifespan caused his children to start going insane, he gave up on the idea and left the area for good. Presumably most of the people from that part of the world are his distant descendants.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': The Canmores are distantly related to both Macbeth and Princess Katharine, although they've never met either of them. Wolf teamed up with his distant ancestor Hakon, though Hakon isn't technically "living". WordOfGod says that the New Olympians are descended from the products of unions between mortals and Oberon's Children, since Oberon's Children are immortal, the ones responsible for the Olympains are likely still alive and qualify as this trope for the New Olympians.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Oggie the [[SuperSoldier Jäger]] is the great-great-grandfather of [[AuthorAvatar the Storyteller]]. He often pesters him about [[IWantGrandkids great-great-great-grandkids]].

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' plays around with this in its many story arcs. Dio Brando, the adopted brother of Jonathan Joestar and BigBad of the first story arc ''Manga/PhantomBlood'', is the BigBad again in ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' as DIO, having become a century's old vampire whose once severed head is now attached to Jonathan's decapitated body. Because of his encounter with a mystical arrow, he gains a Stand, as do all living members of Jonathan's bloodline, which includes Jonathan's grandson Joseph Joestar (hero of ''Manga/BattleTendency''), Joseph's daughter Holly, her son Jotaro Kujo (the hero of ''Stardust Crusaders''), Joseph's illegitimate son Josuke Higashikata (hero of ''[[Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]''[[note]]And already part of this whole wrong-age mess considering he is 12 years younger than Jotaro and is technically his uncle.[[/note]]), and [[TheCasanova all of DIO's illegitimate children]] including Giorno Giovanna (hero of ''Manga/VentoAureo''), Ungalo, Rikiel, and Donatello Versus (all villains in ''Manga/StoneOcean''). DIO's sons are all technically members of the Joestar family [[ExtraParentConception because it was Jonathan's body used to conceive them]], putting them in the same generation, technically, as Jonathan's son and Joseph's father George II, despite the fact that Giorno is 15 years younger than Jotaro, who is in the fifth generation of the Joestar family from Jonathan.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' plays around with this in its many story arcs. Dio Brando, the adopted brother of Jonathan Joestar and BigBad of the first story arc ''Manga/PhantomBlood'', is the BigBad again in ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' as DIO, having become a century's old vampire whose once severed head is now attached to Jonathan's decapitated body. Because of his encounter with a mystical arrow, he gains a Stand, as do all living members of Jonathan's bloodline, which includes Jonathan's grandson Joseph Joestar (hero of ''Manga/BattleTendency''), Joseph's daughter Holly, her son Jotaro Kujo (the hero of ''Stardust Crusaders''), Joseph's illegitimate son Josuke Higashikata (hero of ''Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable''), and [[TheCasanova all of DIO's illegitimate children]] including Giorno Giovanna (hero of ''Manga/VentoAureo''), Ungalo, Rikiel, and Donatello Versus (all villains in ''Manga/StoneOcean''). DIO's sons are all technically members of the Joestar family [[ExtraParentConception because it was Jonathan's body used to conceive them]], putting them in the same generation, technically, as Jonathan's son and Joseph's father George II, despite the fact that Giorno is 15 years younger than Jotaro, who is in the fifth generation of the Joestar family from Jonathan.

* Played with in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': Dio Brando, the adoptive brother of Jotaro's great-great-grandfather Jonathan, serves as the BigBad of the arc despite being over 120 years old. While Jonathan himself is dead, his body is alive enough for Dio [[TheCasanova to father at least four children with different mothers]] [[ExtraParentConception that are genetically considered Joestars]] despite being 60 years younger than their genetic nephew Joseph Joestar.

* In ''Literature/TheMoomins'', the Ancestor is a sort of Neanderthal Moomin who lives behind the stove.

* ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'': The gods are both immortal and in many cases [[ReallyGetsAround can't keep it in their pants]], resulting in them being alive at the same time as their distant descendants. For example, Zeus was both Heracles' father and [[TangledFamilyTree great^n-grandfather on his mother's side via Io]]. And because Zeus' grandmother Gaia was [[GeniusLoci the Earth]] itself, it meant Gaia and her own great-great-great granddaughter were alive at the same time (possibly four greats if you consider [[ParentalIncest her husband was also her son]]).

* Lehran in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' is the progenitor of [[spoiler:Micaiah and Sanaki's]] bloodline, having fathered a child nearly nine hundred years before the games started. [[spoiler:Micaiah and Sanaki's]] ''grandmother'' at one point addresses Lehran as "the father of her mothers''.
* Due to the premise of being a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' can have characters who are distantly related to one another. Lucina and Chrom are Marth's descendants, almost a thousand years apart. There is also Richter Belmont who fights alongside his ancestor, Simon Belmont.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'': Lysandre is said to be descended from Kalos royalty. Another character named AZ was also a king of Kalos some 3000 years ago but was granted immortality due to using a super weapon to obliterate Kalos to end a war. Somehow neither character seems to make the connection that they are related to one another.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Time travel example: In the last season of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' Drago Museveni went to the future to steal [[spoiler:Beka's]] DNA to create the Nietzscheans. The crew briefly suggests using her status as "the mother of all Nietzscheans" to get them to join the Commonwealth.

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', a character named Lysandre [[spoiler: The leader of Team Flare]], is said to be descended from Kalos royalty. Another character named AZ was also said to be a king of Kalos some 3000 years ago but was granted immortality due to using a super weapon to obliterate Kalos to end a war. Somehow neither character seems to make a connection that they are related to one another.

* The main character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Philip J. Fry, is Hubert Farnsworth's great-great-gajillion times great-uncle [[spoiler:as well as his ancestor, given that Fry is MyOwnGrampa]]. Of course, Fry is a HumanPopsicle who was frozen for 1000 years prior to December 31st, 2999, when he was first unfrozen. He is also this to Farnsworth's young clone-son [[spoiler:and Mom's son Igner]].

* In X-Men, several characters are members of or related to Clan Akkaba, making them direct descendants of the very much alive Apocolypse.

* Due to the premise of being a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' can have characters who are distantly related to one another. Lucina and Chrom are Marth's descendants, almost a thousand years apart. There is also Richter who fights alongside his ancestor, Simon.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Elrond and his brother were half-elves who had to choice to live as either elves or humans. Elrond chose an elven life and is therefore still alive thousands of years later during the main story. His brother chose a mortal life and became the very distant ancestor of Aragorn. Elrond is therefore Aragorn's uncle, but many hundreds of generations removed.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Elrond (an elf, technically a half-elf who chose to be an elf) is Aragorn's (human with a drop of Elven blood) great-great-great-gazillion-times-great-uncle. Elrond's brother Elros was the founder of the dynasty that eventually produced Aragorn.

* Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheBelgariad'': Belgarion spends a lot of time with the immortals Belgarath and Polgara who are, essentially, his ultimate grandfather and ultimate aunt — roughly 3000 years removed. He usually chooses to ignore all the "great-great-great"s he'd have to stick on their names.

Contrast KidFromTheFuture, where the descendant meets up with their ancestor before they could normally do so(or who died way before the kid was born in more distant ancestors), via time travel.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''Anime/{{Mnemosyne}}'', it is eventually revealed that all members of the Maeno family (Kouki, Teruki, and Mishio in the series) are descended from [[spoiler:Tajimamori, the immortal former Guardian of Yggdrasil, and genetically imprinted with his desire to seek out and to protect Rin — his millennia-old (mutual) love]]. In the final episode, Mishio even briefly gets to meet her bloodline's progenitor.

* ''Creator/DCComics'': ComicBook/VandalSavage, who has lived since caveman times, was revealed to have many distant descendants, [[GuineaPigFamily who he used as organ transplant donors]] whenever one of his body parts got damaged. One such descendant was [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Roy Harper]], aka Arsenal.

* In ''Literature/MorganvilleVampires'', Sam is Michael's grandfather ... his young adult grandfather.

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'': The gods are both immortal and in many cases [[ReallyGetsAround can't keep it in their pants]], resulting in them being alive at the same time as their distant descendants. For example, Zeus was both Heracles' father and [[TangledFamilyTree great^n-grandfather on his mother's side via Io]]. And because Zeus' grandmother Gaia was [[GeniusLoci the Earth]] itself, it meant Gaia and her own great-great-great granddaughter were alive at the same time(possibly four greats if you consider [[ParentalIncest her husband was also her son]]).

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': Due to the mechanics of Servant summoning - where you can summon "Heroic Spirits" of legend and history - this allows Minamoto no Yoshitsune (aka Ushiwakamaru) to meet her ancestor, Minamoto no Raikou.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Lehran in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and ''FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' is the progenitor of [[spoiler:Micaiah and Sanaki's]] bloodline, having fathered a child nearly nine hundred years before the games started. [[spoiler:Micaiah and Sanaki's]] ''grandmother'' at one point addresses Lehran as "the father of her mothers''.

!!Examples

* Played with in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': Dio Brando, the adoptive brother of Jotaro's great-great-grandfather Jonathan, is serves as the BigBad of the arc despite being over 120 years old. While Jonathan himself is dead, his body is alive enough for Dio [[TheCasanova to father at least four children with different mothers]] [[ExtraParentConception that are genetically considered Joestars]] despite being 60 years younger than their genetic nephew Joseph Joestar.

* In ''Anime/{{Mnemosyne}}'', it is eventually revealed that all members of the Maeno family (Kouki, Teruki, and Mishio in the series) are descended from [[spoiler:Tajimamori, the immortal former Guardian of Yggdrasil, and genetically imprinted with his desire to seek out and to protect Rin -- his millenia-old (mutual) love]]. In the final episode, Mishio even briefly gets to meet her bloodline's progenitor.

* In Creator/RobertHeinlein's ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' the 2,200-year-old Lazarus Long has millions of descendants, including roughly 90% of the other long-lived Howards and basically every named character from their planet, on account of his hundreds of wives and lovers over the centuries.
* Creator/DavidEddings' ''Belgariad'': Belgarion spends a lot of time with the immortals Belgarath and Polgara who are, essentially, his ultimate grandfather and ultimate aunt - roughly 3000 years removed. He usually chooses to ignore all the 'great-grea-great's he'd have to stick on their names.

* In ''Literature/MorganvilleVampires'', Sam is Michael's grandfather . . . his young adult grandfather.

* ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'': Jesse [[AmbiguouslyRelated isn't sure]] whether her eccentric Aunt Maharet is a relative or a family friend at first. After she learns about the {{Masquerade}}, it comes out that Maharet is a vampire and her great-grandmother by [[TimeAbyss 6000 years]] worth of "great"s.

* In ''Literature/RobotsAndEmpire'', Gladia meets a man who is her fifth generation descendant (she's 230, he's fifty). With the Spacers living for up to four centuries, this isn't actually uncommon, what is uncommon is the fact somehow being relevant and known, since it's a NoBloodTies society.
* ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'', Leto has many great-grandnephews at the age of over three thousand years (he had no children himself due to his transformation, but his sister had), while the latest Duncan Idaho clone is informed that his previous incarnations had numerous children... and he is talking to the descendant of one.
* ''Literature/KittyNorville'': In ''Kitty Goes to Washington'', Alette is a vampire who had two children before she was turned. The descendants of those children all work for her, and she loves them as her many-time-great grandchildren.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'': Sanae Kochiya is very distantly descended from the frog goddess Suwako Moriya. They live together in the Moriya shrine, but because of Suwako's short stature and immortality she ends up looking like a younger relative of Sanae.

* ''VideoGame/TheSims'' can have this happen, usually as a result of a Sim gaining extended lifespan or even immortality through various in-game items or supernatural life states. It can even reach the point that the game can no longer keep track of relations, and so one could end up dating their own [[{{Squick}} great-great grandchildren]]

* The main character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Philip J. Fry, is Hubert Farnsworth's great-great-gajillion times great-uncle [[spoiler:as well as his ancestor, given that Fry is MyOwnGrampa]]. Of course, Fry is a HumanPopsicle who was frozen for 1000 years prior to December 31st, 2999, when he was first unfrozen. He is also this to Farnsworth's young clone-son [[spoiler:and Mom's son Igner]].

-->'''Huey:''' Your parents are still alive?!
-->'''Louie:''' I can't believe ''you're'' still alive.
-->'''Fergus:''' He put a curse on us.
-->'''Scrooge:''' That is not fair! I very kindly rebuilt our ancestral castle for them! And I ''may'' have used some discount mystical druid stones that accidentally granted them immortality. I didn't know it would buy me an eternity's worth of criticism!
[[/folder]]

* ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'': The gods are both immortal and in many cases [[ReallyGetsAround can't keep it in their pants]], resulting in them being alive at the same time as their distant descendants. For example, Zeus was both Heracles' father and great^n-grandfather on his mother's side via Io. And because Zeus' grandmother Gaia was [[GeniusLoci the Earth]] itself, it meant Gaia and her own great-great-great granddaughter were alive at the same time(possibly four greats if you consider [[ParentalIncest her husband was also her son]]).