History Main / RulingFamilyMassacre

* In ''[[Literature/AscendanceTrilogy The False Prince]]'', the entire royal family of Karthya is poisoned at once, leading to the plot of create a successful impersonator of the youngest [[HiddenBackupPrince prince]] who [[NeverFoundTheBody had been lost at sea]] several years ago. [[spoiler: And then it turns out that the [[GenuineImpostor "winnning" impostor was the real HiddenBackupPrince all along]].]]

* Season 6 of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' revealed one storyline which was not yet shown in the books: [[spoiler:Queen Cersei Lannister stayed in the Red Keep on the day of her trial because her plan was to burn down all of her enemies (the Faith Militant under the High Sparrow and House Tyrell of the Reach who are her in-laws) with wildfire at the Sept of Baelor. While she finally got rid of them for good, there is still one Tyrell who was not caught up with the flames (because fortunately she didn't want to be caught by the High Sparrow and went home instead) and that Tyrell allied with the returning rightful Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, Daenarys Targaryen, in order to avenge the deaths of her family]].

* Season 6 of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' revealed one storyline which was not yet shown in the books: [[spoiler:Queen Cersei Lannister stayed in the Red Keep on the day of her trial because her plan was to burn down all of her enemies (the Faith Militant under the High Sparrow and House Tyrells of the Reach who are her in-laws) with wildfire at the Sept of Baelor. While she finally got rid of them for good, there is still one Tyrell who was not caught up with the flames (because she didn't want to be caught by the High Sparrow and went home instead) and that Tyrell allied with the returning rightful Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, Daenarys Targaryen, in order to avenge the deaths of her family]].

* The main events of ''Film/{{Kull}}'' are kicked off when the King starts to murder his heirs left and right, as well as anyone who may legitimately lay a claim to the throne. He manages to slaughter his immediate family before being stopped and mortally wounded by Kull. Slightly subverted in that there is a remote member of the family who immediately demands the crown, only to have the general (also of noble blood) to claim that it's his by right. The dying King decides to give them a final "screw you" by handing the crown to Kull. The high priest acknowledges that this makes Kull the new king, despite the fact that he's a barbarian.

* In Literature/TheBible, this happens to several successive ruling families of the (ten-tribe) Kingdom of Israel, who unlike the Davidic monarchy of Judah did not have the unending blessing of divine right, thus meaning that the nation's history was rife with assassinations and hostile takeovers (the longest dynasty was four generations, because that is how long God promised King Jehu's line would have the throne). The most notable examples are the families of kings Jeroboam and Ahab, where God himself mandates that their male line will be wiped out as punishment for their sins.

* ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues'' starts with a somewhat interactive cutscene depicting the sack of Betancurian royal palace, wherein the entire royal family is massacred by the Dhorn. Only the youngest princess, who is also the PlayerCharacter, escapes with her life by sheer luck (whether it's good or bad one is debatable).

* The Human Noble [[MultipleGameOpenings origin]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' concerns the massacre of the Cousland family (teyrns/dukes of the largest province of [[TheKingdom Ferelden]]) by a treacherous vassal who usurps their titles and lands. Only the heir apparent, who is away fighting Darkspawn at the time, and his younger sibling (the PlayerCharacter), who is saved by the Grey Wardens, survive--but should the player [[SchrodingersPlayerCharacter pick another origin]], the Cousland family is strongly implied to have been completely wiped out (Fergus is lost on patrol, and the Warden never escapes the castle).

* ''Webcomic/{{Blindsprings}}'' has the ruling Llyn family killed by a mob. Interestingly, the man who dethroned them wanted to ''avert'' this trope; he put {{Power Nullifier}}s on all of them and placed them in house arrest. Two sisters survived though, thanks to the empress making a pact with spirits to save her two youngest daughters. [[spoiler: Turns out that after a failed rescue attempt, the house guards decided to kill all the Llyn's, and the whole incident was whitewashed.]]

* In 1906, Alexandre I and his wife Draga, King and Queen of Serbia, were massacred along with some of Draga's brothers and ministers by the Black Hand--the same organization whose assassination of Archduke Ferdinand would trigger UsefulNotes/WorldWarI eight years later.
* The murders of the Romanovs by the Bolsheviks during the Russian CivilWar, after the October Revolution. They had initially hoped to put the Tsar on trial in the fashion of the French and English revolutionaries but the Soviet at Ekaterinaburg fearing the encroachment of White soldiers into their territory ordered the execution of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their son Alexei, and all four of their daughters, as well as four servants, on July 17, 1918. All of the other Romanovs in the hands of the Bolsheviks were murdered as well. Nicholas's brother Michael was killed four days before the Tsar. Several other members of the extended Romanov family were thrown down a mineshaft near Alapayevsk the next day--despite the use of guns and hand grenades, most of them starved to death. Four more grand dukes were executed on January 28, 1919.

* ''{{TabletopGame/Battletech}}'' universe has the usurper Amaris murdering the entire extended Cameron family once he takes over the Star League. After he is deposed and executed himself, all his relatives are killed as well.

* The murders of the Romanovs by the Bolsheviks following the October Revolution in Russia 1918. The most infamous episode was the execution of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their son Alexei, and all four of their daughters, as well as four servants, on July 17, 1918. All of the other Romanovs in the hands of the Bolsheviks were murdered as well. Nicholas's brother Michael was killed four days before the Tsar. Several other members of the extended Romanov family were thrown down a mineshaft near Alapayevsk the next day--despite the use of guns and hand grenades, most of them starved to death. Four more grand dukes were executed on January 28, 1919.

* ''Webcomic/{{Blindsprings}}'' has the ruling Llyn family killed by a mob. Interestingly, the man who dethroned them wanted to ''avert'' this trope; he put {{Power Nullifier}}s on all of them and placed them in house arrest. Two sisters survived though, Tamaura made a pact with spirits to serve them for three hundred years in exchange for saving her sister. [[spoiler: Turns out that after a failed rescue attempt, the house guards decided to kill all the Llyn's, and the whole incident was whitewashed.]]

* From the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses:
** Henry VI of England was held captive by his Yorkist opponents for five years, 1465-70, but was not killed, presumably because his son Prince Edward was still free. Henry was recaptured in 1471 after having been briefly restored to the throne. Prince Edward was captured alive at the battle of Tewksbury and killed by the Yorkists. King Henry was then murdered in the Tower of London a couple of weeks later, rendering the House of Lancaster extinct.
** The House of York likewise fell into in-fighting. Edward IV ordered the death of his brother George Clarence after the latter mounted several rebellions against him. Then upon Edward IV's death, the single most controversial event of the entire conflict took place. His two young sons were declared illegitimate by their Uncle and protector UsefulNotes/RichardIII and taken into custody in the Tower of London. The "Princes in the Tower" disappeared and according to legend and Shakespeare was murdered by Richard III but later scholars have suggested, citing the treachery suffered by King Richard III at Bosworth Field, that the king was framed and the actions were undertaken by factions loyal to the invading Henry Tudor.

* The murders of the Romanovs by the Bolsheviks following the October Revolution in Russia 1918, during the Civil War. The most infamous episode was the execution of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their son Alexei, and all four of their daughters, as well as four servants, on July 17, 1918. All of the other Romanovs in the hands of the Bolsheviks were murdered as well. Nicholas's brother Michael was killed four days before the Tsar. Several other members of the extended Romanov family were thrown down a mineshaft near Alapayevsk the next day--despite the use of guns and hand grenades, most of them starved to death. Four more grand dukes were executed on January 28, 1919. The official reasons for the deaths was the invasion by the White Army that came close to Yekaterinaburg, where the Romanovs were held captive, the Reds not wanting to provide a symbol to rally behind executed the royal family.

* Henry VI of England was held captive by his Yorkist opponents for five years, 1465-70, but was not killed, presumably because his son Prince Edward was still free. Henry was recaptured in 1471 after having been briefly restored to the throne. Prince Edward was captured alive at the battle of Tewksbury and killed by the Yorkists. King Henry was then murdered in the Tower of London a couple of weeks later, rendering the House of Lancaster extinct.

* The murders of the Romanovs by the Bolsheviks following the October Revolution in Russia 1918. The most infamous episode was the execution of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their son Alexei, and all four of their daughters, as well as four servants, on July 17, 1918. All of the other Romanovs in the hands of the Bolsheviks were murdered as well. Nicholas's brother Michael was killed four days before the Tsar. Several other members of the extended Romanov family were thrown down a mineshaft near Alapayevsk the next day--despite the use of guns and hand grenades, most of them starved to death. Four more grand dukes were executed on January 28, 1919.

** Also from the prequels, House Vernius of Ix is nearly wiped out by the Tleilaxu (secretly backed by the Emperor, who has a score to settle with Earl Dominic Vernius). Averted initially in that all four members of the house survive and manage to escape. Then the Earl and his wife are hunted down and eliminated by the Emperor over the years, while their children are protected by the Atreides. [[spoiler:Then Kailea Vernius ends up committing suicide after accidentally killing her and Leto's son and crippling her brother Rhombur. Rhombur survives, but is unable to bear children, so his wife impregnates herself from the seed of a member of a distaff line. Rhombur ends up dying, while Bronso ends up being, eventually, executed by Alia for "spreading lies" (in fact, speaking the truth) about Paul. Thus, the entire Vernius line ends up being wiped out in less than a century]].

* The main events of ''Film/KullTheConqueror'' are kicked off when the King starts to murder his heirs left and right, as well as anyone who may legitimately lay a claim to the throne. He manages to slaughter his immediate family before being stopped and mortally wounded by Kull. Slightly subverted in that there is a remote member of the family who immediately demands the crown, only to have the general (also of noble blood) to claim that it's his by right. The dying King decides to give them a final "screw you" by handing the crown to Kull. The high priest acknowledges that this makes Kull the new king, despite the fact that he's a barbarian.

* RomeoXJuliet begins with the massacre of the Capulet family, with little Juliet being the only survivor.

* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' has this as a part of its backstory: The royal family split up, and the husband of the older sisters was infertile, so the younger sisters demanded that their children become heirs to the throne. This caused a civil war, in which the losing half was put to death. All of them. [[spoiler: Except Prince Alannon, who didn't want to be a backup prince and chose to stay hidden. And the main plot of the novel is some villains' attempt to overthrow the royal family by killing them all and using what weak claim to the throne a marriage to Alannon's grandson Jerin can provide to become Queens instead of the Queens.]]

* When the Abbasid Revolution overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate in 750 AD, the Abbasids killed most of the Umayyad family, meaning quite a lot of people; apparently, they declared amnesty for members of the family, eighty Umayyads gathered in Jaffa to receive pardons -- and all of them were massacred. (One cousin of the family, Abd ar-Rahman, escaped by the skin of his teeth, [[NobleFugitive spent five years on the run]], and eventually reached UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain, where he was adopted as a leader with royal prestige by a local faction, and ended up establishing the Emirate of Cordoba, which is therefore considered an extension of the Umayyad Dynasty. So he annoyed the heck out of the Abbasids, but didn't actually get to lead LaResistance.)

This trope is naturally countered by a HiddenBackupPrince (if the ruling family in question is productive and prudent enough) or a SoleSurvivor-slash-LastOfHerKind who somehow escapes the massacre.