History Main / SpareToTheThrone

* Ozorne in ''Literature/TheNumairChronicles'' was born last in line with six heirs ahead of him, and his own father declares him as just a "leftover". He doesn't mind it too much since it leaves him free to become a mage, but heirs to the crown keep ending up dead until he winds up second in line. Of course the whole thing is a prequel series to ''Literature/TheImmortals'' where ''Emperor'' Ozorne is a major character, so it's a ForegoneConclusion that he's going to end up on the throne one way or another.

*** Princess Céline of Firene says in one of her supports that due to her older brother Alfred suffering from chronic illness during their childhood, she was trained as though she were the heir in case he died, only for him to eventually recover. [[spoiler:If Alfred isn't S-Supported, he will die young in the epilogue, leaving Céline to take the throne (unless she dies on Classic Mode).]]

*** In the Fell Xenologue DLC, Alcryst's EvilCounterpart from the [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Elyos]] is more resentful of his position and believes he should be king instead. Alternate Diamant at one point says he suspects his younger brother is planning to assassinate him, which seems to be confirmed by how Alternate Alcryst will tell Lapis if she fights him that he wishes her alternate counterpart could have lived to see him ascend to the throne.

*** Céline, the princess of Firene, says in one of her supports that due to her older brother Alfred suffering from chronic illness during their childhood, she was trained as though she were the heir in case he died, only for him to eventually recover. [[spoiler:If Alfred isn't S-Supported, he will die young in the epilogue, leaving Céline to take the throne (unless she dies on Classic Mode).]]

*** In the Fell Xenologue DLC, Alcryst's EvilCounterpart from the [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Elyos]] is more resentful of his position and believes he should be king instead. Alternate Diamant at one point says he suspects his younger brother is planning to assassinate him, which seems to be confirmed by how Alternate Alcryst will tell Lapis if she fights him that he wishes her alternate counterpart could have lived to see him ascend to the throne.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'':

*** In the Fell Xenologue DLC, Alcryst's EvilCounterpart from the Alternate Elyos is more resentful of his position and believes he should be king instead of his older brother. Alternate Diamant at one point says he suspects his younger brother is planning to assassinate him, which seems to be confirmed by how Alternate Alcryst will tell Lapis if she fights him that he wishes her alternate counterpart could have lived to see him ascend to the throne.

* Happens a couple of times in the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series.

*** Céline, the princess of Firene, says in one of her supports that due to her older brother Alfred suffering from chronic illness during their childhood, she was trained as though she were the heir in case he died, only for him to eventually recover. [[spoiler:If Alfred isn't S-Supported, he will die young in the epilogue, leaving Céline to fulfill this (unless she dies on Classic Mode).]]
*** Alcryst is the second prince of Brodia, while his older brother Diamant receives far more attention within the game. This leaves Alcryst with a massive inferiority complex despite enjoying warm relationships with his father and brother. When Morion asks about the possibility of Diamant dying in battle and leaving him to take the throne, Alcryst is visibly distressed over this prospect, but firmly responds he will not let it happen.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'', one unit, Alcryst, is the second prince of Brodia, while his older brother Diamant receives far more attention within the game. This leaves Alcryst with a massive inferiority complex despite enjoying warm relationships with his father and brother.

See also HeirClubForMen and HiddenBackupPrince. A form of UnexpectedSuccessor. Contrast SiblingsShareTheThrone, where two or, less commonly, more siblings are raised to share the rulership.

See also HeirClubForMen and HiddenBackupPrince. A form of UnexpectedSuccessor.

* This happened in democratic India with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. She was grooming her elder son Sanjay to eventually succeed her as leader of the Indian Congress Party and go on to become Prime Minister someday. But Sanjay Gandhi had crashed his airplane into the ground three years prior. Now that she was dead too, the Congress party drafted her younger son, Rajiv, a carefree airline pilot with no interest in politics. His one term as Prime Minister was a mixed bag of much needed reforms but also beset by multiple corruption scandals. [[DownerEnding And then an assassin got him too.]]

* Film/MarvelCinematicUniverse:

** Louis XV, second son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, son of Louis the Great Dauphin, eldest son of Louis XIV. He only inherited the throne because an outbreak of measles wiped out everyone ahead of him in the line of succession.

* Shows up several times in the ''Literature/{{Chalion}}'' series.
** In ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'', the much younger half-brother of the infertile and secretly ill king is brought to court by the king's EvilChancellor to insure the succession. [[spoiler:When the prince dies shortly after the king's condition takes a massive turn for the worse, the entire [[DecadentCourt court]] instantly redirects its attention to the prince's marginally older sister.]]
*** Later in the same novel, the death of the rebellious elder son of the Fox promotes Bergon from spare to the Heir of Ibra -- and to the top of Iselle's short list of potential spouses.
** In ''Literature/TheHallowedHunt'', the eldest son of the hallowed King has recently died. Succession politics aren't central to the plot, but they are a crucial detail.

* ''Series/ImmortalsAfterDark'': This is part of Rydstrom's backstory. He had quite a wild youth because, as his father and older brother were immortal, he never expected to be king of the rage demons. Then they ignored the practice of keeping the king and heir separate in times of war and died in the same battle, putting Rydstrom on the throne. This led to him doing a 180 and becoming as grounded and steady as he knew how in order to be the best king he could be for his people.

* ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye''. Commander Roderick Blaine was the second oldest son in a noble family, who wanted nothing more than a Navy career and the chance to become Grand Admiral someday. His older brother George was in line to inherit the estates and title when their father retired but was killed in battle, leaving Rod as the heir.

** Barrayar has a really complicated political situation in regards to the throne. Aral's mother was a Princess of the royal family, giving him a claim to the throne of Barrayar if Salic law is ignored. Aral's own political capabilities and support among the military means he's first in line of around half a dozen claimants if something should happen to [[TheEmperor Gregor,]] and many readings of the family tree indicates he as a ''better'' right to the throne than Gregor. However, since Aral's son [[GuileHero Miles]] is deformed and a mutant [[FantasticRacism by Barrayaran standards,]] it would be unlikely for the Vorkosigans to take the throne even if Aral wanted the job. Another princess married into the Vorpatril family, who gave birth to Aral's cousin Padma. Padma had a son, [[BrilliantButLazy Ivan]], with Alys, a lady of the Vor. Ivan's high birth makes him another contender for the throne, and one character in ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' states that if Gregor had died, the Vorkosigans would have supported Ivan for the throne.

%% * The title character of ''Literature/IClaudius''.

* ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' has a non-royal example with the House of Barows. After his older brother Hiram was assassinated during the bloody Succession Conflict, Euram was thrust into the role of his father's heir, as well as dealing with his mother's extended [[DespairEventHorizon BSOD]]. This stress of this helps shape him into the irritating {{Epic Fail}}ing UpperClassTwit everyone has to deal with during the events of the game, until CharacterDevelopment enables him to grow out of it.
* Encouraged in ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings 2'': if your current character dies without an heir, it's game over, but the time period is ''extremely'' capricious and deadly. If you put all your hopes into one heir, and that heir dies before taking the throne, you're done. But if you have several heirs, then you're safe even if a couple of them bite it. Of course, this almost inevitably results in a succession crisis every time your current ruler dies, but them's the breaks.
** There can be a number of problems with multiple sons though. Such as the various things one has to do to keep them all happy. And if you have gavelkind succession your titles are split up among your sons. While if you're a Muslim unlanded sons generate Decadence, and considering that Islamic rulers are expected to have multiple wives a lot of sons are expected. Such situations are practically guaranteed to produce a SuccessionCrisis.
* In ''VisualNovel/ReflectionsOnTheRiver'', Prince Shun was adopted essentially for that purpose. The king and queen weren't sure that they'd ever be able to have children of their own, so arranged to adopt a prince from an allied kingdom — but now they ''do'' have their own child, and Shun became the backup. He doesn't hold any grudges against the new heir, but he does feel useless and unappreciated, as he's not allowed to ever do anything useful — he just has to hang around in idleness until they're sure he won't be needed.

* In ''VideoGame/TriangleStrategy'', Prince Roland of Glenbrook is initially this, as he's the younger brother of crown prince Frani and princess Cordelia. At the start of the game, he enjoys relative freedom to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. This changes after Aesfrost invades Glenbrook -- Frani dies trying to protect Roland, and his father, King Regna, is executed just days later. As a result, Roland ascends to the throne and gets gradually worn down by TheChainsOfCommanding.

** Much of Prince Harry's angst and foibles seem to stem from being hemmed into royal life despite knowing he'll never be king (at birth he was third in line for the throne, after his father and older brother, and he was only pushed further back when William started fathering children). He literally [[GenreSavvy titled his memoirs]] "Spare".

* The United States does this with elected leaders, by design, with the offices of President and Vice President. Originally, the Vice President was the first runner-up in the Presidential Election (meaning that oftentimes, they held opposing political beliefs), but over time the system evolved so that each party would run a ticket with a Presidential and a Vice Presidential candidate, with the two being considered a package deal. It has been wryly observed that the Vice President's primary job is to hang around in case the President dies, or in particularly "characterful" cases, dissuade attempts on the President's life.
** On at least one occasion, a particularly troublesome but popular political figure was appointed as Vice President, with the intent of it being a powerless but prestigious sinecure with which they could keep him out of their hair. And then someone went and assassinated UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley, which resulted in that Vice President becoming the most powerful man in the country. [[MemeticBadass You may have heard of him]], his name was UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt.

*** In the case that the Vice President also dies, then the next in line to the Presidency is the Speaker of the House. Since the Speaker is frequently a member of the opposing party and the President's strongest adversary in Washington, that would be one of the biggest political upsets in history. Fortunately, it hasn't happened yet, the closest America has come is when LBJ was almost shot by an understandably jumpy Secret Service agent who mistook him for a trespasser on the White House lawn the night after the Kennedy assassination[[note]]This was before the ratification of the 25th Amendment, which allowed the President to appoint someone to fill a vacancy in the vice presidency. Prior to this amendment, when a vice president ascended to the presidency, his former office would remain vacant until the next presidential election.[[/note]].
* It has been suggested that the American system of choosing a Vice President as successor to the President was inspired by the Gaelic system of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanistry tanistry]], whereby a clan would choose an heir or second-in-command for the chief from among the eligible dynasts. This system was particularly used in Ireland, where it was used to choose the kings of the various native Irish kingdoms that existed over the island's history.

* Bashar al-Assad was going to be an eye doctor, while his brother Bassel was being groomed to ascend to the position of dictator of Syria. One high speed car crash later and Bashar ended up with a sudden and drastic career change into a series of positions calculated to allow him to build networks of support, eliminate rivals, and gain experience in leadership. Six years after the crash that killed Bassel, their father Hafez died and Bashar assumed absolute power.

The thing is, despite any complexes being explicitly considered not as important as his older brother throughout his life might have given him, the spare isn't ''really'' expecting to inherit the throne. He may be brought up as a brave knight, skilled administrator, or member of the clergy, but he's not going to be trained to rule the same way as his older brother. So when the worst happens and the spare becomes heir, cue panicked cries of "I wasn't prepared for this! I didn't ask for the throne!" But everyone expects the rightful heir to suddenly step in and do a bang-up job he hasn't been prepared to do, even while he still grieves for the loss of his older brother. The closest analogy to this would be the FallingIntoTheCockpit scenario in HumongousMecha shows, just with less mecha and more monarchy.

** Edward IV eventually has two sons. His oldest, briefly becomes Edward V and his younger brother is Richard. The two boys disappear, going down in history as the Princes in the Tower. In the novel, rather than having them murdered, UsefulNotes/RichardIII is content to declare them bastards, which he sincerely believes they are, and is innocent of their murder.