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1%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1318308618021944200
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3%%
4[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theking_2.png]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:[-''[[Music/SirMixALot My anaconda]] [[Music/NickiMinaj don't want none]] [[WaxingLyrical unless you bear sons, hun!]]''-] [[labelnote:Also]]The Music/{{Prince}} is dead. Long live the Music/{{Prince}}![[/labelnote]] ]]
6
7->'''Aloy:''' Has there ever been a Sun-Queen?\
8'''Priest:''' Many wives and consorts, of course. Or -- you mean for the Sun to choose a Queen? This has not happened.\
9'''Aloy:''' Why not?\
10'''Priest:''' The Sun is masculine, of course, and he would choose his heirs thus.\
11'''Aloy:''' It's a light in the sky. I've never seen anything dangling from it.
12-->-- ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn''
13
14%%Quote changed per [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1327331003042025100&page=257#comment-6411 this]] thread. If you want to change the quote, take it to the thread.
15
16This trope takes two main forms:
17* '''Agnatic Succession''': When there is no male [[RoyalBlood heir]] ''there is no heir''.
18* '''Agnatic-Cognatic Succession''': Women may inherit, but only if there is no suitable male heir.
19
20The distinction is less clear than you might think. It's rarely the case that there are ''no'' male claimants, however, so if there's no ''clear'' heir (the king has no sons, but does have uncles, brothers, nephews, or male cousins) then a SuccessionCrisis often results. The threat of such a crisis is reason enough for kings of countries with these laws to go to great lengths to ensure that they have at least one son on the ground who is both legitimate and his official heir.
21
22If the king has no son or circumstances seem to be making that problematic, the courtiers may get into the act. A SuccessionCrisis can be unpleasant all around. This is done commonly with a grieving widow queen or widower king, who is likely to be told YouHaveWaitedLongEnough with great promptness.
23
24Even in the fortunate case where the king has a healthy male heir, this only secures the monarchy for one generation. As soon as that son comes of age, he will start feeling pressure to [[IWantGrandkids marry and produce an heir of his own]]. Furthermore, only one child is dangerous; surely you need [[SpareToTheThrone at least two]] to guard against tragedy (although this drastically increases chances of producing TheEvilPrince, which comes with its own set of problems). This is one of the few situations where either MyBiologicalClockIsTicking or IWantGrandkids is likely to [[GenderInvertedTrope apply to a male character]].
25
26Additionally, it's a good idea to guard against fraud. MamasBabyPapasMaybe may raise doubts about whether the baby is suitable. Some monarchs will avoid putting all their eggs in one basket and make the spare a HiddenBackupPrince. (Bastards of the king are popular for fulfilling both these tropes, although as making them heirs defeats the purpose of AltarDiplomacy, they are best avoided.)
27
28Although most common in stories about royalty, this trope also includes the common people. This trope is about heirs, and it is not intended to cover cases where the parent(s) merely wish for a boy (or girl) because they would like one, but is only when they wish for one to continue the family name -- when tradition demands it.
29
30Also: The blurb is a reference to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_Club Hair Club for Men,]] a company that specializes in hair restoration and hair replacement. The blurb is their actual sales pitch from their website... with a few words changed to fit this trope.
31
32Of course, in the case of a {{Matriarchy}}, this trope is automatically [[GenderInvertedTrope gender-inverted]] (though with the benefit of removing all chance of MamasBabyPapasMaybe). See also RoyalMess for the ways in which this can get interesting.
33
34----
35!!Examples:
36
37[[foldercontrol]]
38
39[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
40* In ''Manga/Acca13TerritoryInspectionDept'', Prince Schwan is regarded as the heir because he is the only (known) son of the king's daughters. [[spoiler:When he realizes Lotta is his cousin, he doesn't care, because she is a girl... until Magie tells him Lotta has a brother.]]
41* The plot driver of ''Ribbon No Kishi'', a.k.a. ''Manga/PrincessKnight'', which provided direct inspiration for other mangas like ''Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles''. A male heir must inherit the throne, Sapphire is born with a conspicuous lack of penis, her father the king decides to bluff the public and Sapphire becomes a SweetPollyOliver.
42* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': Rishid in the original was adopted by the Ishtars to provide a male heir. Then Ishizu and Marik were born in turn, and Marik the son was chosen as the official heir. A particularly potent example: Rishid/Odion desires the position of Tombkeeper more than anything, whilst Marik wants nothing more than to be rid of it.
43** Though notably Rishid/Odion wants the position BECAUSE Marik wants nothing to do with it. And for the sake of geniunely wanting to fulfill the family duty rather than for the power of the position. Mostly out of loyalty because Marik truely does love him as a brother and he wants to relieve him of the unwanted burden, and on a lesser note out of practicality to the family that took him in as it would obviously make more sense for the critical family position to be filled by someone that actively wants the job.
44* Needing a male heir, in particular, a biological one, is the source of much of the trouble related to adopted child Amon in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''. Like Rishid, Amon was adopted by the Garams to be their heir after he was abandoned by his biological family and felt he had nothing to live for. Then the Garams have a young son, Shido, who becomes the heir and Amon is expected to essentially do everything in his power to support Shido.
45* Miroku of ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' needs to perpetuate his line (with a son) before the affliction that plagues all men in his family kills him. He attempts to do so by propositioning '''every''' girl he meets. [[spoiler:He loses the affliction before the end of the story but has at least three kids anyway with Sango, and one's a boy.]]
46* In the fictional Kingdom of Sauville in ''Literature/{{Gosick}}'', the Queen Coco Rose was deposed of by King Rupert because of her inability to bear a child. [[spoiler:Which later turns out to be a ruse: it was King Rupert who was sterile. To add insult to injury, Coco Rose became pregnant... with Leviathan the Alchemist's child.]]
47* Thought to happen in Syaoran's family in ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', as he is considered the head of his family (despite having four older sisters) since his father passed away. This status is limited in Syaoran's case, however, given his young age. [[WellDoneSonGuy It puts a lot of pressure on him.]]
48* The aversion of this trope forms the basis of ''Literature/TheAmbitionOfOdaNobuna''; its AlternateUniverse version of [[JidaiGeki Sengoku period]] practices equal primogeniture which justified its {{gender flip}}ping some historical figures but not others.
49* This is why Ryuunosuke Fujinami was RaisedAsTheOppositeGender in ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''; her father was obsessed with the idea that only a ''boy'' could be a worthy heir to his family legacy of... running a ratty little beachside store. This is used for roughly equal parts comedy and to paint Mr. Fujinami as [[AbusiveParents creepy and insane]].
50* In ''Literature/MayoChiki'', Subaru's family has had a tradition of serving as butlers to the Suzutsuki family, but her mother died a few years after giving birth to her, and her father, the current butler, does not wish to remarry. The head of the Suzutsuki family is willing to allow Subaru to be the next butler in an exception to the rule that only males can do so, but under the condition that she keep her gender a secret for her high school years- the plot is kicked off by Jirou discovering her secret.
51* A serious plot complication during the second and third[[note]]first and second chronological[[/note]] arc of ''Manga/OokuTheInnerChambers'', given the ongoing plague-driven {{gendercide}}. [[EvilMatriarch Reverend Kasuga]] did not, at any point in her machinations to keep the House of Tokugawa from extinction, consider the possibility of Shogun Iemitsu's daughter actually ''ruling'', while upon taking the throne openly Iemitsu the Younger (nee Chie) herself considered female rule to be only a stopgap and [[DeathByChildbirth died from repeated miscarriages suffered in trying to bear a son]] ''after'' she had three healthy daughters. By the latter's [[ForegoneConclusion great-granddaughters' time]], the Shogunate and Japan at large were firmly of the [[LadyLand opposite school of thought]].
52** Interestingly, after they end up with two male shoguns in a row (Ienari and Ieyoshi), many courtiers expressed the wish to return to female rule, if only because women are limited by gestation time in how many children they can bear. Ienari and Ieyoshi each sired dozens of children by scores of consorts and concubines, all of whom had to be supported at public expense and suitably married-off, and many of whom could vie for the throne, fueling succession crises.
53* In ''Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles'', General de Jarjayes, annoyed after his latest attempt at having a male heir to inherit his titles ([[JustifiedTrope necessary due to French law]]) failed, decided to raise his youngest daughter as a man. Differently from usual instances, everyone knows that Oscar is actually a woman, but she's so confident in men's clothing and so talented in her military role that French society basically treats her as an 'honorary' man for all intents and purposes. At one point General de Jarjayes [[OhCrap realizes that Oscar will fight in the imminent]] [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution French Revolution,]] and tries to just marry her off... Only to have her scare any and all prospective grooms away.
54* Plays into the backstory of half-siblings Kakeru Manabe and Machi Kuragi in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. Kakeru is both older and a boy, but he's the [[HeroicBastard son of a mistress]]. Machi is a legitimate child, but she's younger and a girl. Both women pushed their children to be perfect so as to be named heir. Kakeru's mother eased up when he rebelled, but Machi's only let up after giving birth to a son. Not only does she refuse to [[NeverMyFault acknowledge]] that it's her fault her daughter is "dull", but she and her husband kick her out when they catch her trying to cover her brother with a blanket, assuming she was trying to smother him to death.
55* Subverted in ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom''. When Katarina is eight her family adopts a distant relative to take over the Claes family name, but it's quickly made clear that this isn't because women can't inherit but because she got engaged to a prince, meaning when she gets married she'll need to lose the family name. It is further mentioned a boy was chosen because he has strong magic capabilities, which is beneficial in a {{magocra|cy}}tic society.
56* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', Quatre is the heir to the Winner Family fortune, despite having 29 older sisters.
57[[/folder]]
58
59[[folder:Ballads]]
60* Twisted in the [[Literature/ChildBallads Child Ballad]] ''Literature/FauseFoodrage''. Aware that only a son would be a serious danger to him, the king's killer tells the queen that he will spare a daughter but kill a son. The queen escapes and persuades a noble to take her son and give her his daughter. In due course, the son returns to kill the king's killer and take the throne.
61[[/folder]]
62
63[[folder:Comic Books]]
64* In ''ComicBook/AmethystPrincessOfGemworld'' Dark Opal's repeatedly attempted to get himself an heir, but his own children are all misshapen and he locks them away in another dimension, except Granch, who understandably rebels against him. Then he "adopts" Carnelian, an [[spoiler:earthling]] and that ends up much the same way.
65* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Ra's al Ghul needs an heir to take over his criminal empire, who must marry his daughter, Talia to inherit it. In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Batman once refers to him as "the world's oldest chauvinist" (especially since Talia has proven at least as capable as Pops). Ghul's somewhat successful when Talia conceives Damian.
66* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour:'' Dorrek, emperor of the Skrull Empire, has a daughter. He spends a lot of his page time ranting and raving about how much he hates her for not being psychotically evil like he is, and also being a ''girl''. As far as dad's concerned, all Anelle is good for is marrying some guy who'll be emperor instead of her, and if she weren't his ''only'' kid (y'see, Dorrek isn't the legit inheritor of the crown - that's his wife, and she ''despises'' Dorrek) he'd just kill her. Dorrek did sort of get his wish eventually, when Anelle's child was a boy, but Anelle got the last laugh since her son is a good guy.
67* ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'': Transvestite shaman Lord Fanny was born a boy in a family with a long line of ''brujas''. After his mother's second attempt to have a child ended in a miscarriage, his grandmother ordered him to be raised as a girl. Fortunately, Fanny took quickly to cross-dressing and ably took up the family tradition.
68* In one of ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'''s later story arcs, the plot is driven by [[GeniusBruiser Tambi's]] machinations to get [[BrokenBird Katchoo]] to produce an heir for the Baker-Choovanski clan.
69* A modern, political example happens in ''ComicBook/SinCity''. The Roarke family is the most powerful family in the country and corrupt to the core. They have been running the city for over a century but during the events of the series, there was only one heir to the "royal family": Junior Roarke, a SerialKiller and child molester. [[spoiler:Junior is castrated and later killed by Detective John Hartigan,]] resulting in the Roarke legacy being cut off for good.
70* ComicStrip/ThePhantom, Lee Falk's masked hero, has a complex situation. Both the suit and the title always go from father to son, so each Phantom must have always had a male heir. The current, 21st Phantom has a son and a daughter. The families of the previous 20 generations haven't been fully revealed ([[ContinuitySnarl and what has been revealed isn't always consistent]]), but it's known that the [[http://www.phantomwiki.org/The_8th_Phantom 8th Phantom]] had four sons (of which the youngest succeeded him, the others pursuing other careers) and the [[http://www.phantomwiki.org/The_16th_Phantom 16th Phantom]] had both a son and a daughter (the latter worked for a while as a female Phantom, then married and lived a normal life). The fates of any other Phantom children are unclear.
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
74* "Literature/{{Donkeyskin}}": The king and queen only had a daughter, and were content with this. But the queen fell ill and died without leaving a male heir, but not before saddling him with the additional restriction that his new wife equal her in beauty and other attributes. Which, after many failed considerations, leads him to the conclusion that his new wife should be [[spoiler:[[ParentalIncest his own daughter]]]]. Because that would be more acceptable than simply [[spoiler:letting her inherit the throne. She manages to escape that situation, and marry a prince who thankfully is unrelated to her]].
75** One version of the story actually explains this; though the princess apparently has all the traits needed to be a good queen, she would be required to marry royalty, which would mean marrying a foreign prince, who would either take her away and thus leave her father without an heir or if he did stay and share the throne, their children would be seen as part-foreign and this would cause neighboring countries to rise up against them.
76* Other tales of this type include: Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's [[https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm065.html "All-Kinds-of-Fur,"]] [[https://web.archive.org/web/20200221220140/https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/kingdaughter.html "The King Who Wished Marry To His Daughter,"]] [[https://web.archive.org/web/20200222051852/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/shebear.html "The She-Bear,"]] [[https://web.archive.org/web/20200131052655/http://surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/margerywhitecoat.html "Margery White Coats,"]] and [[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510b.html#canziani "Golden-Teeth."]]
77* In "Literature/{{Catskin}}", the nobleman doesn't care about his daughter because he wants a son. When she grows up, he orders her married off to the first man who will have her and she has to run away.
78* Creator/FranzXaverVonSchonwerth's "Literature/NineBagsOfGold": Subverted. Hans and Michael inherit their father's mills. Since his wife cannot conceive children, Michael intends to pass his mill on Hans' child. When Hans' wife gives birth to their daughter Marie, Michael angrily declares he will only give his mill to a male relative. However, when Marie's son is born, he takes him up as apprentice, Marie's parents move with Michael...and Marie gets her father's mill.
79[[/folder]]
80
81[[folder:Fan Works]]
82* A [[FandomSpecificPlot common]] [[WildMassGuessing fan theory]] for why [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]] chose [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride Kovu]] as his heir is that Nuka was too weak and idiotic and Vitani was female. It's actually a major plot point in the third part of the fan webcomic, ''[[http://savu0211.deviantart.com/gallery/25272699 The Relatives of the King,]]'' where Zira and Scar keep having cubs in an effort to produce a strong, male heir. [[spoiler:In the end, they just end up adopting (or more accurately stealing) Kovu and proclaiming him next in line.]]
83* In ''Fanfic/IfThemsTheRules'' Arcturus figures it would be okay to kill Marchosias for talking to Harry since Marchosias has a son. [[SexlessMarriage This is also the only reason he slept with his wife.]] They only slept together twice in their marriage because their first child was a girl.
84* The Black family in ''Fanfic/BlackSky'' is elated to learn that one of Dorea's unborn children is male, meaning he would automatically inherit the Black Lordship over his mother. However, it's justified by the Family Magic being dangerous for a witch's health, so a female heir is prohibited in order to protect her.
85** Only a Sky can hope to inherit the mantle of Don Vongola. It's mentioned that Daniela Vongola became Ottava for being the only one of Settimo's children to have Sky Flames.
86* This is gender-inverted in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fic ''Fanfic/InSottoVoce''. Only female heirs are allowed in Hyrule. The royal family must always have a princess or queen named "Zelda".
87* ''WebAnimation/ToBelong'': Pocahontas is the oldest sibling, yet her father wanted his sons to rule over his land instead of her. Thus, Charming and John are the lords of their land despite being less fit for it than their half-sister. Charming doesn't even want to be a lord.
88* ''Webcomic/AlternateHistory'' predates the confirmation that being Fire Lord is unisex. With her older brother banished and her father aging, it's up to Princess Azula to produce an heir. She has had three kids so far, but they're all girls.
89* In ''Fanfic/LetTheWorldSmile'', Princess Zelda is only considered good for marrying off. Her mother had her late in life and was so ashamed about her only child being female that she was DrivenToSuicide.
90* ''Fanfic/GhostsAndDreams'': This is why the Targaryen loyalists prioritized the safety of Aegon and Jae over Viserys and Daenerys. Since they're the sons of Rhaegar, their claims are superior per the rules of male-preferred primogeniture. No one has any intentions of enthroning Viserys anyway since he's mad, while Dany's only political value right now is as a marriage piece.
91* ''Fanfic/NihonversePocketville'': Gender-inverted for Onmyou. It it said that the Omori dynasty is a {{Matriarchy}}, and that the title of monarch as well as the Friendship Heart is passed down to the eldest daughter. There was only one king regnant, however, but his reign did not last long as his status was then taken by his sister.
92* ''Fanfic/ThePrinceOfDorne'': Played with regarding the succession of Spotswood. Lewyn Martell explains that Dorne practices absolute cognatic primogeniture, meaning that Ser Symon Santagar's eldest daughter can inherit her father's lands. However, she cannot inherit his ''title'' because the Faith of the Seven does not allow women to be knights.
93* In ''Fanfic/TheSecret'', dwarves pass the crown to male heirs[[note]]part of this may be due to there being far fewer female dwarves than male dwarves[[/note]]. As such, one of the reasons Thorin is being pressured to marry Leena is so he can have a son to be the next king; originally his nephew Fili was his heir but unfortunately both he and his brother Kili were killed. Thorin's sister Dis is apparently not considered in the running, although her sons were.
94* ''Fanfic/WithGraceAndElegance'': Gender-inverted for the Hayashida School of Sensha-do, since the sport is traditionally feminine and the Head must practise it, so the Head and Heir need to be female. [[SexShifter Ranma]] wonders if he qualifies as a potential heir courtesy of being born male, but his grandmother seems alright with him as her successor.
95* Like the series it's based off of, ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', the fanfic ''Fanfic/QueensOfMewni'' is a gender-inverted example; a matriarchy where the heir is always female. Since this was written before Seasons 3 and 4 and the existence of Jushtin was discovered, the reason here is a magical gene that always ensures the firstborn child is female. While ''Queens'' itself does not ever challenge the status quo, some of the Fanfic/QueensOfMewniSpinoffs do:
96** [[https://www.deviantart.com/tsukinekoi/gallery/66853413/mewni-s-new-generation Mewni's New Generation]] by Tsukenekoi: Heliador the Boundary Breaker would be the first male Queen of Mewni, fitting for the Day Queen of the Age of Innovation/Enlightenment.[[note]]Previously, it had been planned that he would be joint rulers with his twin sister Eureka, but Tsukenekoi decided to retcon that.[[/note]]
97** [[https://www.deviantart.com/fanloverstarsnew/gallery/83178662/history-of-mewni-continuation-of-jgss0109-history History of Mewni]] by [=FanLoverStarsNew=]: When Starwynne the Astronomer's daughter Ceres died, she was left in the unenviable position of naming her only other heir-her son Kupier-as heir to the throne. This caused outrage among her nobles. However, Kupier, who didn't want the throne anyway, had secretly been corresponding with Starwynne's estranged sister Aquata, and offered her the throne, which she accepted, making her the first queen of two kingdoms (she was currently regent for her son Rigel). [[spoiler:Fans note this decision, more than anything, led to the Age of Downfall, for if Aquata hadn't become queen, she wouldn't have disinherited her oldest daughter Mephona for being unfit for the throne (her technically being a bastard didn't help) and Mephona wouldn't have usurped the throne from her sister Neptune.]]
98** [[https://www.deviantart.com/danaedezeusia/gallery/73222856/queens-of-mewni Future History of Mewni]] by [=DanaeDeZeusia=]: Equinox the Legacy Breaker became the first male Queen of Mewni (rather fittingly, during the Age of Mystery) due to his mother Thea being unable to have any more children. Due to his gender, some of the nobles tried to supersede him and put his cousin Selene on the throne, but both Selene and her father Solario rejected the idea out of the love Solario had for Thea.
99[[/folder]]
100
101[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
102* The king in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' wants his son to marry so that he (the king) may have grandchildren. Subverted in that the king [[IWantGrandkids is more interested in "the pitter patter of little feet"]] rather than having an heir to the throne.
103* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the ''[[WesternAnimation/HortonHearsAWho2008 Horton Hears a Who!]]'' film: in Whoville, the position of mayor passes from parent to oldest child, and the firstborn [=McDodd=] child, [[SilentSnarker JoJo]], just happens to be the only son with [[MassiveNumberedSiblings 96 younger sisters]]. As a result, he's still the one [[BumblingDad Nedd]] gives most of his attention to.
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
107* ''Film/AllIsTrue'': Shakespeare has a granddaughter, but badly wants a grandson.
108* Emperor UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}} from ''Film/{{Caligula}}'' refused to marry Caesonia until she bore him a son. When his sister Drusilla pointed out that it would be impossible to tell if the child was actually his, he replied that he would simply keep her under constant guard. The guards would be homosexuals... who'd been castrated.
109* The king in ''Series/{{Fantaghiro}}'' really insists on having a male heir, as (paraphrased) when his third child was born:
110-->'''King:''' ''(as servant brings the baby)'' I have no doubt it's a prince this time! You will bow to him, daughters, for he is SUPERIOR!\
111''(unwraps the baby on-screen, vagina ensues)''\
112'''King:''' A GIRL? What SORCERY is this? That white witch must have CURSED me!
113* Played with in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', as Marcus Aurelius laments that Lucilla was not born a man, noting "What a Caesar you would have been," to her. Only to deny her brother and expected blood heir the throne and promise it to Maximus instead, setting off the events of the movie.
114* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': [[BigBad Immortan Joe]] uses women as [[BreedingSlave breeding stock]] to birth children for him in the hopes of eventually getting the perfect male heir to succeed him over his [[DumbMuscle strong but dumb son]], Rictus Erectus, and smart but weak and disabled son, Corpus Colossus. [[spoiler:When his favorite pregnant Wife, Splendid, is dying after being run over]], he demands the Organic Mechanic removes the baby as quickly as possible. When it's shown to be beyond saving, he sadly asks if it was a male.
115* The RealLife pressure and eventual failure of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte and UsefulNotes/JosephineDeBeauharnais to produce a male heir is often brought up in films about Napoleon's life, such as Creator/SachaGuitry's ''[[Film/Napoleon1955 Napoléon]]'' (1955), Abel Gance's ''Film/{{Austerlitz}}'' (1960) and Creator/RidleyScott's ''Film/{{Napoleon|2023}}'' (2023).
116* In ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', Captain Vidal is determined to have a male heir no matter the cost to his wife or his stepdaughter.
117* Frederich is shown praying desperately for a son in ''Film/SnowWhiteATaleOfTerror''. It seems to be the only reason he married Claudia as he is still in love with his dead wife. Claudia, who admitted to her mirror that she really loved him, is not happy when she realizes this.
118* The fact that only males can inherit the throne in ''Film/{{Stardust}}'' means that Princess Una isn't a target of her brothers, who are busy killing each other off because the law also demands that there be only one male contender. Of course, it helps that they have no idea where she is, as she was kidnapped years ago. [[spoiler:It's also why, once the brothers are all dead, Una's son Tristan becomes the new king.]]
119* Possible examples in ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1940''; Jaffar's stated reason for asking for the hand of the princess of Basra is that he wants to start a dynasty. The sultan of Basra then says, "I tried that once, and what have I got? A daughter!" (Of course, Jaffar ''is'' a usurper, for whom having a marriage and heir with royal blood would probably be a bit more important.)
120* In the Soviet film ''Film/UnbelievableAdventuresOfItaliansInRussia'', an Italian mafioso has half a dozen daughters and not a single son. Being a traditionalist, he wants a male heir and is desperately hoping that his currently pregnant wife finally produces one. At the end of the film, he receives the news... it's another girl. He's not happy.
121* ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'' has the deleted scene where the contents of Baron Frankenstein's will were revealed. In his will, Baron Frankenstein described Frederick as his only ''male'' heir, and never considered leaving anything to his granddaughter.
122* ''Film/TheMummy2017'': Ahmanet was the heir to her father's throne but lost the status as soon as her brother entered the line. Instead of taking the path some Egyptian princess took (IE: [[{{Squick}} marrying her brother]]), she decided to turn to [[TakeAThirdOption murder and necromancy instead]].
123* In ''Film/TheDraughtsmansContract'', it is mentioned that Mr. Herbert doesn't believe in women owning property, leading to uncertainty as to what will become of his inheritance unless his daughter Mrs. Talmann has a son.
124* ''Rudhramadevi'' begins with the birth of the title character, a girl, to the king of a nation surrounded by enemies eager to take over. Thus the decision is made to [[SweetPollyOliver raise her as a prince.]]
125* In ''Film/ThePhantomOfCrestwood'', Aunt Faith tells Esther that a woman's only function is to bear healthy sons and that she intends to oppose Esther's marriage to Frank as she does not consider Esther's bloodline pure enough to ensure this.
126* In ''Film/FrankensteinsCastleOfFreaks'', Count Frankenstein laments that his wife died giving birth to a stillborn son, so there is no one to carry on the Frankenstein family name. Krista hints, none too subtly, that it is not too late for him to remarry and father a male heir.
127* In the remake of ''[[Film/Overboard2018 Overboard]]'', Don Montenegro, owner of [[Fiction500 Montenegro Industries, the largest construction supply company in the world,]] is lying on his deathbed, his eldest daughter Magdalena - who has been essentially running the company - becomes angry at the fact that her brother, the [[IdleRich hard-partying]] [[SpoiledBrat Leonardo]], is named the new owner of the company should Don Montenegro die. When Leonardo, after a drunken escapade on his yacht, washes up on shore an amnesiac, Magdalena leaves him behind in the mental hospital; she tells her father and younger sister Sofia that Leonardo was killed by a shark, and she's given control of the company. Later, when Leonardo is found again, his father hands him back the company, angering Magdalena again. When Leonardo tries to go back to his "wife" Kate, Don Montenegro disowns him for choosing a poor woman over his family... and gives the company to ''Sofia'', citing the fact that Magdalena abandoned Leonardo. Sofia [[PunishmentDetail names Magdalena the head of their charity organization.]]
128* ''Film/LastKnights'' has Lord Bartok, who has only one daughter, designating his knight Raiden as heir to head his clan.
129* ''Film/HotSpur'': During their argument, Jason O'Hara bitterly taunts his wife Susan that he has given her everything she ever wanted, but she has failed to give him the one thing he wants: a son.
130* In ''Film/{{Noelle}}'' Santa Claus is a LegacyCharacter whose title has been passed from father to son for 2,000 years. When the new Santa, Nick Kringle, decides he's not up for the job and leaves, his sister Noelle gets passed over by the Elf Elders in favor of their techbro cousin Gabriel, [[TyrantTakesTheHelm who makes a mess of things in the name of efficiency.]] [[spoiler: In the end, Nick is convinced to return to the North Pole, but makes a compelling case for Noelle to be Santa, and the head elder admits he re-read the laws and they didn't specify gender.]]
131* ''Film/SurfNinjas'': The young princes of Patusan are spirited to safety during a RulingFamilyMassacre so that they can return and liberate the country once they grow up. An older girl who appears to be their sister is left behind, makes no effort to flee, and is KilledOffScreen.
132* ''Film/{{The Princess|2022}}'': The reason for the princess being engaged by her father to a foreign prince was so he could have a male heir, since it's made clear that she can't inherit directly from him. [[spoiler:At the end though he changes this after she successfully saves herself and the family from Julius, and she's made his heir.]]
133[[/folder]]
134
135[[folder:Literature]]
136* ''Literature/AccomplishmentsOfTheDukesDaughter:'' a recurring theme is that talented women get sidelined for mediocre men due to male preference.
137** Iris is put in charging of managing the ducal fiefdom and does such a fantastic job that her family is seriously considering just skipping Berne for succession entirely. He was first in line despite being her younger brother, but her sheer talent and effort compared to his wasting his time really shows the difference between them. However, in the end despite being significantly more capable than him it's indicated that she'll be ultimately sidelined, most likely due to her gender.
138** It happened even earlier with Queen Arya. Her older brother the crown prince died before succeeding the throne, putting her first in line. However, a female monarch was unprecedented, so she quickly made to marry a duke who became the king rather than a prince consort. That being said, she was still probably the more powerful of the two and keeps herself involved in the state of affairs.
139** This then gets averted at the end of book 5 when [[spoiler:Iris becomes Duchess and Leticia becomes Queen]], and both make it quite clear that they are remaining in charge of their demesnes after marrying instead of ceding control to their husbands.
140* ''Literature/TheAccursedKings'': Ends up causing the Hundred Years' War due to a string of mishaps. Buckle up, it gets complicated:
141-->1. King Philip IV has three sons (Louis, Phiip, and Charles), all married to daughters or nieces of the same woman, Mahaut d'Artois.\
1422. Louis X's wife Marguerite de Bourgogne has a lover, who is caught and confesses. This causes Marguerite to be thrown into prison and later murdered, and the possibility that her and Louis' daughter Jeanne de Bourgogne is illegitimate becomes taken for granted.\
1433. Louis remarries to Clementia of Hungary, but is poisoned by Mahaut in revenge for his imprisonment of Marguerite.\
1444. Louis has a posthumous son with Clementia, who is also poisoned by Mahaut so her daughter Jeanne (married to Philip V) can take the throne.\
1455. In order to strengthen his claim to the throne without calling Jeanne de Bourgogne illegitimate (which would piss off the powerful Bourgogne faction), Philip V dredges up an old Frankish law from the Salins region (the infamous "loi salique") and applies it to French royalty, ensuring women cannot inherit the throne.\
1466. This works at first, but Philip V's son dies in infancy and he only has daughters when he dies young, ensuring the throne goes to his incompetent brother Charles.\
1477. When Charles dies with no heirs either, the throne goes to his equally inept cousin Louis-Philip. This causes Philip IV's daughter to demand the throne for her own son Edward III (the crown prince of England) arguing that a grandson is closer to the throne than a nephew.\
1488. The French don't want to be ruled by an Englishman, various characters have their own ambitions that affect international policy, and the end result is that France and England are at war with each other, again.
149* In Creator/PiersAnthony's ''A Spell For Chameleon'', the Magician Trent must marry the Sorceress Iris in order to remain in Literature/{{Xanth}}; this condition is set because only Magicians can rule in Xanth, and in hopes that their powers will ensure that they have a Magician son. In ''The Source of Magic'', the widowed Trent has difficulty ensuring an heir because he's still in love with his first wife; they do succeed, in time, in having a child, but a daughter. Finally, in ''Night Mare'', when Magicians are being removed as soon as they are King, during an invasion, LoopholeAbuse is invoked: the laws of Literature/{{Xanth}} forbid a ruling queen, but [[SheIsTheKing do not explicitly require that kings be male]]. Sorceresses, both Iris and her daughter, ascend the throne as Kings.
150* ''Literature/TheAscendantKingdomsSaga'': It's discovered in the first book, ''Ice Forged'', that a long-ago ruler, King Hougen, anchored humanity's control of magic to the bloodlines of himself and twelve of his followers, anchors that are ''only'' passed along the lines of firstborn sons. [[DeconstructedTrope Because of this]], over half the anchoring bloodlines, including that of Hougen himself, ended even ''before'' a FantasticNuke attack kills off almost all of Donderath's noble houses and brings on [[ApocalypseHow the collapse of human civilization across the Continent]]. This leaves protagonist Blaine [=McFadden=], who was exiled for murder at the start of the series, as the last surviving Lord of the Blood and therefore the only one able to re-anchor magic.[[note]]Technically one of the others survives, but he's a wraith so he doesn't count as far as the magic is concerned.[[/note]]
151* Creator/IsaacAsimov and Creator/JanetAsimov's ''Literature/NorbyAndTheCourtJester'': The inheritance and deaths of a few generations ago nearly causes a SuccessionCrisis in this book. Queen Tizzle's great-great-uncle Orz was the older of the two boys born to the then-queen of Izz. Since there was no [[{{Matriarchy}} female to inherit the throne]], Orz chose to abdicate, and allow his younger brother, Narrin, to rule instead. However, Orz's first wife divorced him, and he remarried to produce a son. Garus is related through male ancestors to Queen Tizzle. What's more, Orz's first wife remarried and had a daughter. Xeena is her descendant, through matrilineal inheritance, giving her a claim to the throne that she attempts to act upon in this novel.
152* ''Literature/AssassinFantastic'': In ''Coin of the Realm'', Princess Rosalind's father had six daughters before finally getting the son he wanted to succeed him. He regards his daughters as nothing more than "coin to be traded", with no more value than whatever he can get for marrying them off. This, naturally, doesn't sit well with Rosalind at all.
153* ''Literature/TheAssassinsOfTamurin'': The success of Makina Seval's plot hinges on her adopted daughter Ashken having a male heir with Ardavan. Nilang assures Lale she has a contingency plan -- if Ashken's first child should happen to be female, she will quickly be SwitchedAtBirth with a male child before anyone is the wiser.
154* In ''[[Literature/AuntDimity Aunt Dimity and the Lost Prince]]'', Tappan Hall actually belongs to Lady Barbara Booker's great-nephew due to an entail. Even so, he declines to be addressed by the title "Lord" while she's still alive, insisting that she should rightfully have it.
155* Creator/JaneAusten:
156** One of the major plot motivators in ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' is the Bennets' lack of a male heir. Their family estate is entailed, which means that it is bound legally to be inherited by the next male relative in the family line, which is their distant cousin, Mr. Collins. He kind of felt for the Bennet sisters and proposed to one of them; however, she didn't want to marry a stupid and obnoxious person because of property.
157** ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'': Sir Walter's estate Kellynch Hall is entailed and he has no son. His heir presumptive is Mr. Elliot, a distant cousin to his daughters. The family wished he would marry the eldest daughter Elizabeth, but he married a low-born woman for money. When he became a widower, he set his eyes on the younger Elliot daughter Anne; Anne, though not as handsome as her sister, is very intelligent, gentle, and nearly an angel. He appreciates her character, but his strongest motive to remarry is to be closer to the family so that he can keep an eye on Sir Walter (also widowed), who might get married again soon and produce a son of his own after all, which would cut his inheritance of the baronetcy and the estate.
158** In ''Literature/LoveAndFreindship'', Laura's father-in-law remarries in hope of a son -- and gets one.
159* ''Literature/TheBeastPlayer'': Inverted. The title of the [[GodEmperor Yojeh]] is passed down from mother to daughter because the FounderOfTheKingdom, Jeh, was a woman.
160* Notably averted in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', by the fact that all sisters of a family rule together, and their daughters are all considered heirs to the throne. Men presumably cannot inherit the throne, but as boys are so rare that a family with four boys out of thirty-two children is considered lucky, this is not a problem that is likely to ever present itself.
161* ''Literature/TheBurningKingdoms'': Malini is not considered a viable candidate for the throne, even though she's far more politically adept than either of her brothers, due to her gender.
162* In ''Literature/TheCastleOfOtranto'', a nobleman's sole male heir is mysteriously killed, and he immediately begins making plans to marry his late son's fiancée, annulling his current marriage and consigning his wife and daughter to ruin. Played with, in that he acts this way because he fears that failure to produce another son will bring an ancestral curse down on him, not because he actually cares about his bloodline's future.
163* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfDorsa'': Andreth the Just, Tasia's father and the Emperor, has no living sons (her brother died years ago). He pressures her to get married so [[HeirInLaw her husband]] or son can be this. Unusually though he then decides to make Tasia his heir, despite it going against tradition and angering his own nobility because of it.
164* Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': In ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'', it is when the usurping EvilUncle finally gets a male heir that jump-starts the plot and gets Prince Caspian moving. Fast.
165* In the Creator/JimButcher series ''Literature/CodexAlera'', which is based on Ancient Roman culture, the First Lord (i.e. the emperor) is passed down through male heirs. One of the major political issues is that the First Lord has no heir, since his son died in an attack on a remote area of Alera, so there is a lot of political maneuvering for the throne. About midway through the series, this comes to a head. We find out that there is indeed a long lost heir [[spoiler:'Tavi' a.k.a. Octavian, the First Lord's grandson]] who remained hidden for good reasons.
166* In Creator/RobertEHoward's stories of Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian after he became king, several times it is a plot point that Conan's death creates a problem, as he has no son. Oddly enough, we never see any pressure on him to marry and have one, though in other stories he does eventually get married and have a son.
167* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'', Roya Orico grasped that the [[spoiler:titular curse]] lay with him and convinced his Royina to secretly lie with his (evil) Chancellor (who was at least polite about it) and said Chancellor's even more evil brother (who was not). When that plan proved unsuccessful (and Royina Sara threatened to kill herself), he summoned his much younger half brother Teidez to court along with his sister Iselle. [[spoiler:Bujold eventually subverts it when Iselle (the bright one to begin with) is left the last of Fonsa's line alive when the titular curse is finally broken.]]
168* ''Literature/TheDalemarkQuartet'': This is how Dagner [[UnexpectedSuccessor winds up]] Earl of the South Dales -- his mother is the niece of a previous Earl, and every other male heir was killed during an attempted invasion of the North when his younger brother Moril used MagicMusic to close the pass, leaving him the heir. Kialan finds this hilarious. Dagner himself would rather be a [[WanderingMinstrel Singer]].
169* In ''Literature/DarkOnesMistress'', this is the main reason Clara, along with four other women, was kidnapped in the first place.
170* ''Literature/{{Darkover}}'' is obsessed with this trope and wanting sons, though with several exceptions. The Aillard line is matriarchal and matrilineal, and Renunciates are forbidden from playing the game; they must vow to never make a traditional royal marriage or become a concubine, and "to bear children only in [their] own time and season," not for their family's ambitions. This is justified because [[PsychicPowers laran]] is determined [[SuperpowerfulGenetics genetically]].
171* A particularly ironic {{lampshade|Hanging}} is placed on Rhys in Katharine Kerr's {{Literature/Deverry}} Cycle, when he puts aside his wife for being infertile... and she remarries (to a widower with sons from his first marriage, and thus didn't need to care about the fertility of a later spouse) and is immediately knocked up by her new husband, much to the amusement of everyone involved, except Rhys. A much less amusing example in one of the flashback story arcs involved a king who had three daughters and no sons. When he died, the fathers of his grandsons each declared that their firstborn son was the rightful king (and that the father of the 'rightful' king was naturally his regent until the king came of age). This kicked off a century-long SuccessionCrisis known as the Time of Troubles.
172* ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'':
173** In the [[Literature/{{Dune}} original novel]], Duke Leto's concubine Lady Jessica was supposed to have a daughter for the Bene Gesserit, but Leto wanted a son, and she went along with him, although it is not made clear if he wanted a son for reasons of getting an heir or just wanted a son because he wanted a male child. This is added to by the fact that the Bene Gesserit's [[ThePlan plan]] was [[spoiler:aiming for a daughter so that they could produce a male heir with a Harkonnen]]. Making the Bene Gesserit an Heir Club for Witches?
174** Also in the original novel, since the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV had no sons, the throne would pass not to his eldest daughter Irulan but to the man who married her.
175** In the ''Literature/PreludeToDune'' prequels, the Emperor's wife deliberately prevented this, probably under orders from the Reverend Mothers, who planned to bring the Kwisatz Haderach into existence within a few generations, and needed the throne empty for him to assume. The same trilogy also reveals that Jessica chose to give Leto a son because [[spoiler:he'd just lost his first son Victor to his first concubine (and Victor's mother) Kailea Vernius's misguided attempt to assassinate Leto. The failed attempt not only got their son killed but also horribly disfigured Kailea's brother Rhombur]].
176* ''Literature/EarthsChildren'':
177** Justified in the case of the Clan. Since Clan women are inherently incapable of leadership, each clan is led by a man who invariably passes the leadership on to another male. The new leader is traditionally the oldest son of the previous leader, though there are exceptions. For example, Creb is the oldest son of a leader, but, because he is crippled and therefore unable to truly become a man in the eyes of the Clan, he has instead become his clan's Mog-ur (shaman), while his younger brother, Brun, is the leader of the clan.
178** On the other hand, Clan men lack the racial memories of healing plants which medicine women possess, resulting in an [[GenderInvertedTrope Heir Club for Women]], in which each medicine woman passes on her knowledge only to her daughters.
179* The cause of more than a few problems in Creator/RobinHobb's ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings The Farseer]]''. Chivalry, the crown prince, caused a scandal when he married who he wanted instead of for politics, and then she turned out to be [[LawOfInverseFertility too infirm to carry a child to term]]. When word came that Chivalry had a bastard son, Fitz, he stepped down in favor of his brother, Verity. Verity eventually marries but [[spoiler:wrecks his health so much with using the magical Skill that he can't father children]], so Verity [[spoiler:takes over Fitz's body to have sex with his wife in hopes of continuing the royal line, even if through a bastard]], since the Skill is strongest in the royal bloodline and if lost there may die out altogether.
180* In ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'', this drives most of the plot. The elven emperor was very dutiful in begetting sons; he not only divorced one wife for barrenness, but he also produced a total of four sons with different wives. Only because those three sons and he himself died in an airship accident does his half-goblin son Maia inherit the throne. And is then promptly told by his advisors that he has to produce a male heir. Maia agrees that arranging a marriage for him is the wisest course of action, but does not manage to get really enthusiastic about it, and at one point invalidates his own claim to the throne by calling the barren ex-wife of his father "zhasanai", a title reserved for the emperor's ''widow''. As he already has an underage nephew who could inherit the throne after him, producing a male heir is less about securing that there is an heir, and more about making sure that those who would like to see his nephew on the throne don't just have to murder ''him'' to get there.
181* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': The Black Family's fortune and house are traditionally passed down the male line to the eldest heir with the Black surname, meaning that Sirius ends up inheriting it all in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', despite having been disowned by his parents for running away at age 16 since his brother Regulus had died young. [[spoiler:When Sirius dies at the end of the book, the Black male line extinguishes with him, but he had the foresight to write a will naming Harry, his godson, as his sole heir, preventing his cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa from having a claim to the fortune and house]].
182* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series:
183** Notably {{averted|Trope}} by the Valdemaran royal family; with Companions Choosing girls as well as boys, the Heralds know better than to think a Queen would be less effective a ruler than a King. Queen Selenay rules both before and during her marriages (and her husbands remain Prince Consorts), and her daughter Elspeth remains Heir even after her younger half-brother is born until she explicitly {{abdicate|TheThrone}}s. Valdemar's nobility, however, is not so enlightened, preferring male heirs strongly.
184** The neighboring kingdom of Rethwellan is less enlightened overall but still averts this with its monarchy, especially when they have access to the Sword that Sings, a much revered artifact that indicates the best available King or Queen.
185** A side plot in the ''Literature/LastHeraldMageTrilogy'' is that [[spoiler:King Randale is sterile. To hide this fact, Vanyel sires a child on Randale's lifebonded mate (at her request)]]. In Vanyel's pre-Herald life he was regarded as his noble father's InadequateInheritor, being [[InTouchWithHisFeminineSide small and feminine]]; he had a {{Tomboy}} older sister, but Lissa was never in the consideration to inherit.
186* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' example: The Star Kingdom of Manticore has allowed primary succession by women ever since their second monarch, Elizabeth the First. The current queen is Elizabeth the Third. Grayson has recently tweaked the law to allow women to inherit (with a [[{{Pun}} grandfather clause]] for current heirs), especially making sense due to the population being 75% female. The Andermani had a better solution: their first female Emperor, Gustav VII, dealt with rules forbidding female inheritance by [[SheIsTheKing declaring herself to be a man.]] It helped she took control of the Imperial Fleet beforehand. "He" is considered one of the best rulers of an empire whose rulers are [[BunnyEarsLawyer well known for their eccentricities]].
187* In Cornelia Funke's ''Literature/{{Inkheart}}'' series, the Adderhead is terrified of death; and somehow this makes him think he needs a male heir.
188* ''Literature/TheInterdependency'': Averted in ''The Collapsing Empire''. Not only is it perfectly acceptable for a woman to inherit a noble title, the first emperox of the [[TheEmpire Interdependency]] was female (who was also declared a prophet). One of the protagonists is Cardenia Wu-Patrick, the illegitimate daughter of the previous emperox. She was never supposed to rule, but then her half-brother got himself killed in a race, and her father named her as his new successor instead of any number of cousins and nephews. One of the other protagonists (the son of a nobleman) finds out that his father changed his order of succession and named his daughter the heir presumptive instead (this is just to allow his son to leave the planet without much scrutiny).
189* In ''Literature/{{Ladylord}}'', trouble regarding a lack of male heirs makes an appearance twice in the story. The whole premise of the book is kicked off when a lord doesn't have any sons but declares his daughter to be [[SheIsTheKing his "son" and heir]] anyway. In the other case, a lord has trouble acquiring an heir due to impotence, making the pregnancy of one particular concubine particularly valuable to him. This grants said concubine more leeway in court than she would otherwise have. After the child is born, she is part of a plot to have him kidnapped by the lord's enemies, in part because this preserves her necessity - she's the only woman ever to bear the lord a son, and he can't kill her if he thinks he needs to make another one. (In fact, the first child [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe isn't even his]].)
190* In Lynda Robinson's ''Lord Meren'' mysteries, Meren is perfectly happy having his ''adopted'' son Kysen as his legal heir. His relatives, on the other hand, loathe the idea of a common-born adoptee carrying on the family name and keep badgering the widowed Meren to remarry and produce a "proper" son.
191* Also averted in ''Literature/MasterOfFormalities'', where the ruler of planet Apios is Lady Joanadie Jakabitus. While her husband Frederain is referred to as "Lord Frederain", he is, in fact, only a consort (he doesn't care, his main goal is to raise their son to be a good leader). Even among the brutish Hahn, it's pointed out that Lord Kamar Hahn's son Hennik isn't the heir presumptive, as he has an older sister. But given that his sister Shimlish is also the supreme commander of the Hahn military, it's possible that she could die in battle, leaving Hennik as the heir.
192* The entire plot of the ''Literature/MerryGentry'' series is TheFairFolk being mostly infertile, and whether Prince Cel or Merry can deliver an heir first.
193* Creator/AndreNorton examples:
194** ''[[Literature/WitchWorld The Jargoon Pard]]'': Lady Heroise is determined to bear a son she can mold into her puppet and so rule Car do Prawn. Unfortunately, her child is a daughter. Luckily the expectant couple in the next room has [[SwitchedAtBirth just delivered a son]]. But unbeknownst to Heroise, the father just happens to be her own long lost half-brother...!
195** ''The Crystal Gryphon'' and the prequel short story "Of the Shaping of Ulm's Heir" are begun by this trope. Lord Ulric of Ulmsdale had been unable to father any living children, so he divorced his second wife and married the widowed Lady Tephana because she was of proven fertility, having a son from a previous marriage. This led to a great deal of trouble starting at the end of the short story and picking up at the beginning of the novel when Lady Tephana utterly rejected her son by Ulric - Kerovan - and settled down to scheming on behalf of her first-marriage son and later her daughter by Ulric. (The latter could inherit if Kerovan died or was publicly rejected as being unqualified to rule, e.g. because of mental or physical infirmity).
196** Joisan, the female lead of ''The Crystal Gryphon'' is involved in another potential SuccessionCrisis. Her paternal uncle, the lord of Ithdale, has no children but two potential heirs: Joisan (his half-brother's only child) and his younger sister's son, Toross. Although Joisan has been in an ArrangedMarriage since early childhood, Toross's mother keeps trying to throw her together with Toross in the hopes of securing the succession for him. And Toross goes along with it because [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend he's genuinely in love with Joisan]].
197** In ''Literature/IceCrown'', downplayed; Princess Ludorica says her grandfather would have preferred a prince but has used her.
198** Downplayed still more in ''Literature/TheZeroStone'', where the only effect is that Jern's father tried to teach him and his brother but not their sister.
199* ''Literature/OfFireAndStars'': Mare's father, the king of Mynaria, believes the succession should pass from father to son, so he made her brother Thandilimon his heir instead of her. She's fine with this, having no wish to be queen with all the burdens being the monarch brings.
200* The background of the ''One Dozen Daughters'' series by Creator/MercedesLackey is a tiny kingdom where the royal couple of a nation that practices strict primogeniture ends up producing thirteen children before they finally get an heir. Then they realize that such a small kingdom can't afford a dozen royal dowries, so it is decided that as each daughter comes of age, she has to leave the kingdom and seek her fortune somewhere else (The books themselves follow the adventures of said daughters).
201* ''Literature/TheOrdinaryPrincess'': All children born to a King of Phantasmarania are girls. Each King's next in line for the throne is his eldest daughter's youngest son.
202* An inverted non-royal example in Creator/AnneRice's ''Literature/QueenOfTheDamned''. Maharet, one of the first [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]], had a daughter before being turned. Since then, she has tracked all of her matrilineal descendants without regard for any descendants of males. While this made more sense in ancient times without [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe reliable (or any kind of) paternity testing]] (although she did assume that all women cheat), this is more of a tradition than anything in modern times. She even acknowledges that many of her male descendants have certainly fathered children, even if she doesn't know who they are.
203* ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'':
204** The nobility of Arcasia adhere to the Agnatic-Cognatic Succession model: Persephone is a Countess who inherited her title due to a lack of living brothers.
205** Inverted with the Telchines dynasties that preceded them, which were both matriarchies.
206** Glycon, a nation populated by the descendants of the Telchines and ruled by a theocracy made up of priestesses, also inverts the trope.
207* Male heirs are the norm in ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'', with the Princedom of Corisande being of particular note, as Prince Hektor regards his heir as an InadequateInheritor, and would gladly make his daughter Irys the heir of Corisandian law allowed it. There are exceptions though, primarily with Sharleyan of Chisholm, who inherited and kept the Crown despite the shadow of a less competent queen hanging over her. She later became the co-ruler and TheLancer to Cayleb of Charis, and nobody has any doubt that Cayleb and Sharleyan's daughter Alahnah will be their heir in the fullness of time.
208* ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' has only female Queens. Men can't become rulers, and there never were any Kings; even the idea is deemed ludicrous.
209* ''Literature/TheShadowhunterChronicles'': All of the Unseelie King's fifty children and potential heirs are male, and it is rumored that the King killed any daughters he had because he cannot imagine a woman succeeding him. It is later revealed that the King and the Seelie Queen once conceived an heir as a way to unite the two faerie courts, but the idea was dashed when the child, Auraline, turned up female, something the King could not accept. Auraline eventually escaped to the human world and married a Shadowhunter, which scandalized the King so much that he decreed that any daughter he has will be killed at birth.
210* ''Literature/SheWhoBecameTheSun'': Set in Yuan-dynasty China, women aren't eligible for the line of succession (or [[StayInTheKitchen much of anything]], as a rule). Prince Esen-Temur's household is growing worried that he's only fathered daughters. [[spoiler:Consequently, an old victim of the Temurs ends their bloodline by killing Esen and his father.]]
211* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': The kingdom of Númenor had a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primogeniture#Agnatic_primogeniture Agnatic Primogeniture]] law applied to its line of Kings. Tar-Aldarion, having no male heirs and having only a daughter, changed the Law of Succession, replacing the principle of agnatic primogeniture with that of fully equal primogeniture and she (as Tar-Ancalimë) became the first Ruling Queen of Númenor. Afterward, the oldest child inherited the throne whether they were male or female.\
212\
213His legal changes were largely undone in practice, however, as only two other queens claimed the throne in the next 16 generations. The odds of this happening by pure chance are ''extremely'' low, assuming male and female royal offspring were equally likely to be born and survive to inherit.
214* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
215** The nobility of Westeros practice a form of male-preference cognatic primogeniture, meaning that lordly titles are passed down from father to child, in order of age, preferring sons over daughters. A younger son can inherit if his elder brother dies without any issue[[note]]or joins the Night's Watch, the Maesters, or the Kingsguard -- all celibate orders that require the renunciation of titles held or expectant[[/note]], a female heir can only inherit if she has no surviving brothers and none of her brothers have any issue, but will inherit before her father's brothers. In practice, however, families often cast a wide net to find a male heir among the cadet branches and other distant relations rather than allow a female to hold power in her own right, [[KissingCousins and may resort to cousin marriage in a pinch]][[note]]Westerosi culture strongly rejects sibling incest outside of the royal house, but is more tolerant of cousin matches, especially if distant[[/note]]. This is because should a female heir marry, her husband would take the power of her inheritance through her, more or less starting a new house traced through his own line and cutting out the existing family entirely. This has implications when daughters of defeated noble houses are forced into marriage with the victors, that the victor's family might lay claim to the defeated family's holdings. This also gets the obvious {{deconstruct|edTrope}}ion that many suitable, even decent female candidates are passed over to give power to men who are just vicious, insane, and/or incompetent, with [[MoralEventHorizon entirely]] [[TheCaligula predictable]] [[CrapsackWorld results]].
216** This is certainly the case later on in the books. After [[spoiler: Robb Stark's death at the Red Wedding and the presumed death of his two younger brothers]], Sansa is the presumptive heir of the Stark family. Accordingly, as the spoils of war, Lord Tywin marries his son Tyrion to her; as the husband to the Starks' rightful heir, Tyrion could then rule the North in the name of House Lannister. Robb attempts to preemptively thwart this when he [[spoiler: declares to Catelyn his intention to make a will that will name Jon Snow his heir in the event he dies childless, disinheriting Sansa (and Arya if she resurfaces alive under Lannister control too, although Robb thinks she's more likely dead)]]; but if any of the witnesses to this are around, they're not in a position to press the issue.
217** Unlike the rest of Westeros, Dorne exercises absolute cognatic primogeniture, wherein the eldest child of the ruler inherits, period, regardless of gender. Like most legal snafus, this causes trouble when Arianne Martell, the heir apparent of Dorne, schemes to make Myrcella Baratheon the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, as by Dorne's laws she would be the rightful heir and Arianne has influence over her. Part of Arianne's scheming comes from a plot by her father, Prince Doran, that (mistakenly) makes her believe that he means to scam her out of her rights in favor of her younger brother, Quentyn. In actuality, he did originally want to disinherit her as Princess of Dorne... so she could become the ''Queen of the Seven Kingdoms'' by marrying Viserys Targaryen. But the plan was thrown into disarray when Viserys died and Doran ended up having to switch his children's intended roles back around. [[spoiler:Not that it matters, since Quentyn ends up meeting his end by dragonfire when he tries to steal a dragon after Daenerys Targaryen declines his offer of marriage]].
218** Subverted in the case of the Dothraki. Daenerys expects her unborn son to become the heir to Khal Drogo's khalasar simply by being his child after Drogo dies, but Jorah Mormont tells her that the Dothraki do not honor blood and will only follow the strongest. The khalasar is then splintered by new khals who take the remnants, while Daenerys is left with around 100, consisting of her bloodriders, handmaidens, old men, women, and children. And even then, it takes [[spoiler: the birth of her dragons]] before they accept her as leader. Drogo himself is the son of a great khal, Bharbo, but did not inherit his father's armies. It is also noted that Drogo is a very young khal, leading an immense khalasar of his own before the age of 30.
219** Also subverted in much the same way with the wildlings (apart from the Thenns, who are ruled by a hereditary Magnar they regard as near-divine), as Jon Snow has to constantly explain to Stannis and Melisandre: yes, Mance Rayder is King-Beyond-the-Wall, but that isn't the same sort of thing as Westerosi royalty, and Mance's son is ''not'' a prince -- "You don't become King-Beyond-the-Wall because your father was." There is one family descended from an old King-Beyond-the-Wall who keep boasting that they should be in charge, but the other wildlings see them as kind of pathetic.
220** The laws can get confusing at times. After Lord Rickard Karstark is killed his one surviving son Harrion inherits but his uncle Arnolf tries to have his son Cregan marry Rickard's daughter Alys so that he can inherit after they get Harrion killed. Cregan can't inherit the title without marrying Alys, and she realizes that, so she runs away [[spoiler:and chooses to marry the Magnar of Thenn instead, to get martial support against her EvilUncle]].
221** The Iron Islands ostensibly follow the same inheritance laws as the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, but when King Balon dies with all of his sons presumed dead, there is enough opposition to the idea of a woman (his daughter Asha) ruling in her own right that they revive the centuries-dead tradition of ElectiveMonarchy (in the form of a kingsmoot, which Asha attempts [[InsistentTerminology to turn into a queensmoot]]) instead. [[spoiler: The crown winds up going to Balon's brother Euron, who ''would'' have been the heir under agnatic (male-only) primogeniture rather than agnatic-cognatic (male-preferred).]]
222** Queen Selyse is very concerned with producing a male heir for her husband Stannis, at one point claiming that their marriage bed was cursed because his brother Robert drunkenly had sex with her cousin Delena in it before they could consummate, and if Stannis burns the resulting child as a sacrifice she will be able to give him sons. Stannis himself seems far less concerned, referring to his daughter Shireen as his heir, and ordering that she be crowned queen in the event of his death.
223** House Mormont is notably led by a woman, Maege, whose heir, Alysane, is also a woman. Both passed their family name on to their children, whose fathers' identities are unknown to the public. They only became this because the Mormont men were unavailable; Maege's brother, Jeor, joined the Night's Watch, while his son, Jorah, was exiled to Essos for breaking the law by selling poachers into slavery. Maege has no son, so the succession ends up in the hands of women.
224** [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Cersei Lannister]] would love to become head of her house, but despite being the eldest, she has two younger brothers who would normally inherit first (and Tyrion, at least, has shown himself to be far more competent in the affairs of the kingdom than she). (Un)fortunately, she wins; her younger twin Jaime became a Kingsguard and so could not succeed the house, while her other brother Tyrion ends up becoming a fugitive after being branded a kingslayer and kinslayer (only the latter part is true). As of ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'', Cersei is the head of House Lannister and [[StupidEvil quickly runs it (and The Seven Kingdoms) into the ground]].
225** In the present day, Daenerys Targaryen is the only female claimant to the Iron Throne, but that's because, as far as she and many others can tell, she is the ''only'' Targaryen left in the world (her parents and her older brothers Rhaegar and Viserys have all died when she declares herself queen). The only other publicly known living Targaryen besides her is the elderly Maester Aemon, who had long forsaken his claim to the Iron Throne to support the ascension of his younger brother Aegon V ("Egg") by both becoming a maester and joining the Night's Watch. [[spoiler: Therefore, Daenerys is pushed down the succession when a young man claiming to be her nephew Aegon VI (Rhaegar's son) reveals himself to be alive to the world and decides to invade Westeros, although Tyrion notes that it is far-fetched to think that Daenerys, a legitimate Targaryen with an army and three actual dragons to support her, will give up the idea of ruling that easily]].
226** ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' explores it from several sides:
227*** Rhaena, sister-wife of Aegon the Uncrowned, was passed over as a candidate for inheriting her father's crown because she's a gal in favor of her younger brothers Aegon and Jaehaerys. It's one of the many, many things she's salty about later in life. It should be noted that despite said saltiness, she never showed any actual interest in getting involved in government matters anyway, just spending her time sulking on Dragonstone. Further complicating things are that her daughters are Aegon the Uncrowned's only children, making them the senior male line descendants of Aenys I. Fortunately for the line of succession, neither Rhaena nor her daughters had any further children.
228*** Jaehaerys' wife Alysanne tried arguing against this, pointing out that as far as good king-making qualities went, gonads were not a requirement (this is despite the fact that the only reason she's queen is because of her nieces were passed over). She was ignored, and when the matter of who would succeed Jaehaerys came up (since the couple had several kids, some of whom had died already), the ultimate choice was Viserys, a man. Before he died, Viserys' father, Baelon, was designated the successor over his niece, Rhaenys, the daughter of Baelon's deceased older brother Aemon. Rhaenys technically had precedence over Baelon, but was passed over because of her gender. She later attempted to make a claim for her son Laenor as the only male descendant of Aemon, but the assembled lords decided to go with Viserys. She was thus called "The Queen Who Never Was". Speaking of Viserys...
229*** Viserys decreed that in defiance of tradition, his daughter, and at the time only child, Rhaenyra would be made queen if he died, to much upset -- ''but'' he at least had the foresight to get some of his lords to swear to stand by that decision. The problem was, he also married one Alicent Hightower, who ''didn't'' like Rhaenyra, and then had sons with her, throwing the line of succession into question. Then, when Viserys died, his oldest son Aegon declared he was automatically king, and since several of the lords who had sworn to support Rhaenyra had since died, their sons declared that ''they'' never swore any such oath and sided with Aegon. Rhaenyra didn't take this well. Hilarity did not ensue for anyone. Instead, a particularly nasty civil war broke out, ending with Aegon II and Rhaenyra and most of their families dead -- Aegon technically won, but, birth order notwithstanding, he was also such an abjectly terrible monarch that his own supporters ended up poisoning him.
230*** In the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons, the only candidates for royalty left were Aegon III, Rhaenyra's by-now ''extremely'' traumatized kid, Jaehaera, Aegon II's even ''more'' traumatized kid, and Baela and Rhaena, the not-as-traumatized-as-they-should-be daughters of Rhaenyra's second husband/uncle Daemon (Viserys I's younger brother and therefore a viable claimant in his own right) from an earlier marriage. ([[SpareToTheThrone They actually had a surviving son, Viserys]], but he was kidnapped and wouldn't resurface until years later). Aegon III's councilors got worried, with one of them insisting that whoever followed Aegon III if something were to happen to him (since at the time he's too young to be making kids) ''must'' be a boy... until it's pointed out that there were none. However, Aegon III ended up siring two sons from his second marriage to Daenaera Velaryon, and they did succeed him as kings (until they died without issue, after which the throne passed to the aforementioned Viserys).
231* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' gives us the matriarchal Hapans. But Ta'a Chume, the Hapan queen, never had a daughter, so her daughter-in-law, from the primitive and also matriarchal Dathomiri, becomes the new queen. But mostly she doesn't want Jedi to rule her kingdom. Three guesses what religion her granddaughter joins.
232* In the first book of Melanie Rawn's ''Sunrunner'' series, ''Literature/DragonPrince'', the realm is in an incredibly fragile political situation due solely to the fact High Prince Roelstra has ''seventeen'' daughters, yet no male heir; like Henry VIII in real life, Roelstra has put aside wife after wife, and his daughters (legitimate and illegitimate) are both opportun''ists'' and opportun''ities'', politically. One of the book's key intrigues rests on ensuring (via an elaborate deception) that Roelstra's fourth and current wife bears -- or ''appears'' to bear -- a son.
233* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Vorin kingdoms often insist that their views on gender are "separate but equal" (most roles in society are only allowed to either men or women, with very little overlap, and they are supposed to complement each other equally), but inheritance is where this fiction breaks down. Money, titles, and rank are passed down to firstborn sons, ignoring daughters. If daughters are supposed to inherit anything from their mothers, it's never mentioned. This is a problem with Alethkar, where Elhokar inherited the throne from his father, even though his ''far'' more capable older sister Jasnah would certainly have been a better choice. In ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'', [[spoiler: when Elhokar is killed and his cousin Adolin refuses the throne, Jasnah becomes queen after all]].
234* The ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series:
235** The House of Rahl takes it a step further: not only must they have a male heir, but the heir must have the magical gift. More recent generations (particularly Darken Rahl) took to killing any female and/or non-gifted children.
236** Inverted in the case of the Confessors. Any ''male'' child of a Confessor had to be killed because they invariably ended up abusing their power.
237* In the ''Literature/TalesOfTheBranionRealm'', equal primogeniture is used, possibly because the sovereign doubles as a [[GodInHumanForm religious avatar]] and the God in question neither recognizes nor cares about gender. It doesn't care about bastardy either, which drives the plot of the third book when the royal family has converted to a different faith and a woman [[StalkerWithATestTube seduces]] the monarch to bear his firstborn. A civil war ensues.
238* This trope is played with by Creator/SheriSTepper in three novels. In ''Six Moon Dance'' the founding mothers of the planet Newholme create an artificial scarcity of female babies, and a dominant ideology that females are the stronger sex and males are the weaker, leading to the population desiring female heirs. In ''Raising the Stones'', the power derived by males from their heirs is eradicated by legally denying the father-child relationship. Heirs are only accepted through the maternal line, and any male claiming fathership is frowned upon. And in ''Literature/TheGateToWomensCountry'' the women and men of the story live in different quarters, and when a male comes of age they must choose which quarter they permanently wish to live in. If they, for example, choose the men's quarter, then their mother can no longer claim them as an heir; if they choose the women's quarter, then the father no longer has fathership.
239* In Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'', the king of Glome wants a male heir and gets three daughters. His anger about this is the source of much tension in his family and the court. In the end, his oldest daughter seizes and holds the throne after his death.
240* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'':
241** ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'': According to Thayet ''jian'' Wilima, a document called the ''Book of Glass'' states that this is the case for her home country of Sarain, and apparently it's magically or divinely enforced, which is why she can't take the throne despite being the only child of the late Warlord.
242** ''Literature/TrickstersDuet'': The Copper Isles worked this way under the rule of the Rittevon family. This is in sharp contrast to the Isles under their former rulers, the raka House of Haiming, where only women could inherit the throne.
243* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''Literature/TrashOfTheCountsFamily''. It's never outright stated, but women are shown to be just as capable of inheriting and holding titles in this world as men are. For example, the Viscountess Ubarr is the one who holds power in her territory, not her husband, and her daughter is her heir. Inheritance seems to be mostly based on age regardless of gender with exceptions being that the oldest is an InadequateInheritor.
244* In ''Literature/TriumphOfATsar'', one of the reasons Tsar Alexei II marries so young -- barely twenty-one -- is because he knows that his hemophilia means he needs an heir sooner rather than later, and only men can inherit. Fortunately, his wife Princess Ileana of Romania conceives ''very'' quickly and [[spoiler:their first child is a son, Konstantin, who is followed by twins Dmitri and Rostislav]]. By the time their daughter Anastasia is born, Alexei and Ileana [[spoiler:can relax in the knowledge that the succession is more than secure]].
245* The ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' has Emperor Gregor, last of a RoyallyScrewedUp line of emperors, who seemed quite averse to marriage and heir-production. Which caused no end of trouble for his Prime Minister, [[{{Cincinnatus}} Aral Vorkosigan]], who was arguably the most legitimate claimant to the throne but adamantly did not want the job, as well as his son, Miles.
246* Inverted in Robert Jordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. Andor is always ruled by a queen, and it's said that no man has ever survived sitting on the Lion Throne. The first in line is ideally the queen's eldest daughter, the aptly titled daughter-heir, and her oldest son (regardless of which came first) is the first prince of the sword, dedicated to protecting the nascent queen but not to be elevated himself. Every so often there are minor "[[SuccessionCrisis wars of succession]]" because it's unclear which woman is next in line. This is also true in Seanchan, which has not been ruled by a male emperor in nine hundred years, although this implies a female preference rather than female-only system.
247** PlayedStraight in several other nations, however. Amadicia is always ruled by a man due to their BurnTheWitch mentality against women in general. The Companion also reveals that Arafel and Shienar are always ruled by men in the late New Era. ZigZagged in Tarabon, which has an always male king balanced by an always female Panarch.
248* Downplayed in ''Literature/TheWitchlands'' -- Vivia is the heir to the Nubrevnan throne despite having a younger brother, but the Council gives her a lot of grief for being a woman and it's quite obvious that they'd rather marry her off to have a man on the throne or somehow get Merik to be the king. Vivia also notes that while there's no formal rule about the gender of the Council members, all women eligible for a seat end up sending a male relative in their stead. [[spoiler: At least until the end of the second book.]]
249* ''Literature/WolfHall'' covers the failure of Henry VIII's first two marriages from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell. When the Duke of Norfolk says it's impossible for a woman to lead an army, Cromwell reminds him that Mary Tudor's grandmother--Isabella of Spain--did just that and gets told to butt out. As Anne Boleyn approaches birth, he also tries to get the proclamation-writers to leave enough of a gap on the drafts to write 'ss' after the word ''prince'' just in case, considering it to be TemptingFate ([[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI with reason]]). And it's Anne's failure to give Henry a living son that causes Henry to fatally turn against her. The third book of the series will presumably include Jane Seymour giving birth to Edward VI.
250* ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' has a full inversion: only female dragons can inherit the throne, specifically the sisters, daughters, granddaughters, or nieces of the Queen in question, with no consideration being given to cousins or in-laws. A mysterious assassin targeting female royal [=SeaWing=] eggs has resulted in uncountable numbers of princes, because the [=SeaWing=] royal couple keeps having children in hopes of a daughter who can inherit. There is never any consideration given to a male ruler. However, the dragons decide which specific heir inherits via a a trial by combat with the current queen- YouKillItYouBoughtIt. This, as you may imagine, tends to cause a SuccessionCrisis if the queen dies outside of an official trial.
251* Averted in ''Literature/{{Blindfold}}'', as the oldest child of any sex can inherit a holding.
252* Also played straight in ''Literature/EndoAndKobayashiLive The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte'', in that this is practiced in the ''[[FictionalVideoGame Magikoi]]'' universe, and is especially evident in the Riefenstahls' succession plans. Marquis Bruno Riefenstahl has several daughters, but he would need to adopt Baldur as heir. [[spoiler:And after Fiene's parentage comes to light, she becomes Bruno's successor as she's undoubtedly the most senior Riefenstahl of her generation... but only for property rights. The title of the marquis goes to her (supposedly male) spouse.]]
253[[/folder]]
254
255[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
256* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfShirleyHolmes'':
257** As revealed in the intro, Literature/SherlockHolmes expected a "young ''man''" to solve his puzzle. Shirley didn't seem to mind.
258** In [[spoiler: "The Case of the Rising Moon", a Princess was being targeted because some of her subjects didn't like the idea of a woman being their ruler]].
259* ''Series/{{Attila}}'': Emperor Valentinian sits on the Roman throne despite being something of a halfwit controlled by an EvilMatriarch. His much brighter sister Honoria laments the fact that she can't rule because she's a woman and later attempts to [[TheStarscream overthrow him]] in a failed plot.
260* Parodied on ''Series/TheDailyShow'' after newscasters started congratulating Kate Middleton on giving birth specifically to a boy as though this is an achievement, and preferable to giving birth to a girl, as opposed to a near fifty-fifty shot with no way to influence the process.
261-->'''John Oliver:''' What would your response have been if it had been a girl? "Damnation upon your cursed womb, Catherine! Burn the princess, for she hath produced a baby of the weaker sex! Burn the princess! Burn them both! Burn them!"
262* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' has a plot related to the entail of the estate, which is a similar issue to the situation in ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' whereby the daughters cannot inherit and the male heir is somewhat distant to the family (he's the Earl's fifth cousin). Fortunately, the heir-presumptive is a young bachelor of an age where he could marry one of the current Earl's daughters -- particularly the eldest, Lady Mary -- and keep the property and title in the family. [[spoiler: He does -- marrying Mary (who, as it turns out, is [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage perfect for him]]) and producing an heir -- but there's a lot of drama before they get there.]] Previously, Mary was set to marry another cousin, who was to be the heir. Then [[spoiler: the ''Titanic'' sunk with him on board, although a later episode reveals he may have survived]].
263* A subversion occurs in ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. The crew lands on a Sebacean breakaway colony where succession goes to the eldest child regardless of gender, but the law states that a husband and wife must rule together. As such, the princess cannot become empress unless she finds a male who can give her children before she reaches a certain birthday (and, due to some gene poisoning by her brother, only Crichton fits the bill).
264* The episode "Heart of Gold" of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' has Burgess, a man who knocked up a whore and wants the child, as it is male, for an heir. And he didn't do it accidentally; rather, Burgess' wife is implied to be infertile and when he receives the news that it's a boy, his wife is present and appears to be as relieved as Burgess is.
265* ''[[Franchise/ASongOfIceAndFire Game of Thrones]]'' universe:
266** ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Most noble families seen thus far practice male-preferential primogeniture: the eldest living son inherits, but a daughter can make do if there are no sons, and will come before an uncle. However, according to Septa Mordane, the Iron Throne can only be inherited by males, though later episodes imply succession to the Iron Throne uses an extreme variation of male-preferential primogeniture where a female can inherit, but only if there are no eligible males at all (including uncles and cousins). As referenced in the series and portrayed in the prequel series ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'', about 150 years before the main events of the series, Princess Rhaenyra, daughter, oldest child, and named heir of King Viserys I, had her throne usurped by her half-brother Aegon II and launched a brutal and bloody CivilWar known as "the Dance of Dragons" to take it back. It ultimately ended with [[spoiler:both claimants dying and Rhaenyra's son eventually inheriting the throne and continuing on the royal line, so there's one king who inherited through the female line]].
267*** At the end of the sixth season, [[spoiler:Cersei Lannister takes the Iron Throne as the first-ever ruling queen despite having no hereditary claim whatsoever (or [[https://mashable.com/article/game-thrones-heir maybe she does?]]), mostly because there isn't an obvious heir after the suicide of her son Tommen Baratheon (the king), and she had incinerated all of the nobility in the capital who might dispute her claim. Cersei's claim mostly stems from her being the last living member of the royal household as well as commanding the Lannister army occupying the city.]]
268*** Daenerys's own claim to the Iron Throne is derived from the fact that she is literally the last Targaryen after Viserys's death; she wouldn't be considered for the throne by Targaryen loyalists otherwise. [[spoiler: This is why she is so upset to learn that her lover Jon Snow is actually the trueborn son of her older brother Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. As a trueborn Targaryen, born of the loins of the previous crown prince, his claim supersedes hers (gender not even mattering), and if it were to get out, it's very likely the majority of Westeros would support him over her]].
269*** Stannis Baratheon names his sickly daughter Shireen (his only child) as his heir. However, Stannis lacks a son and the fact that he doesn't get on with his wife Selyse, who suffered numerous miscarriages and appears to be near the end of her childbearing years, means the odds of a son being born are very slim. Book!Stannis is much less concerned with fathering a son (though he does mention it).
270*** Aeron Greyjoy is the first to cast doubt on his niece Yara's position as heir to the Salt Throne of the Iron Islands, giving her a blunt reminder that the Ironborn have never once elected a queen. The fact that he invokes that Yara should be elected when her father Balon was never elected is a further indication of his sexism. In the books, Aeron argued for an election because he disagreed with Balon's choice of Yara/Asha as his heir and also because of a genuine succession dispute between Balon's son Theon and his other brothers Victarion and Euron, the latter of whom had physically seized the throne upon Balon's death. A kingsmoot hadn't been held for ''centuries'' before the Conquest, later Ironborn kings like the Hoares were hereditary monarchy. Aegon the Conqueror did allow the Ironborn to elect their new lord paramount and the Greyjoys became hereditary [[FeudalOverlord Feudal Overlords]] of the Iron Islands, and Balon certainly didn't submit himself to an election, so the kingsmoot is less a case of Ironborn custom and more an instance of MovingTheGoalposts to prevent a woman from making her claim. In the books, of course, he doesn't deny her right to a candidacy — he simply thinks no true Ironborn will vote for her. When she actually gets a sizable portion of the votes midway through the kingsmoot, he is stunned and has no fallback plan — then Euron shows up, just as in the show, where, despite Yara having the well-deserved UndyingLoyalty of her own men, the majority of Ironborn vote for Euron even after he admits to killing Balon.
271*** The one kingdom in Westeros that averts this is Dorne, the desert kingdom in the furthest south of the continent; Dornish law provides for absolute primogeniture, meaning that the oldest child inherits, regardless of gender. This means that Dornish noble houses have had female heads roughly as often as male ones, unlike in the other kingdoms, and in fact the previous ruler was Prince Doran Martell's mother.
272** ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'':
273*** After both of King Jaehaerys Targaryen's sons pre-deceased him, a Great Council preferred his grandson Prince Viserys over his granddaughter Princess Rhaenys (Viserys's cousin) to succeed him on the Iron Throne simply for being male, even though the Rhaenys was the elder of the two and had the stronger claim as the only child of the late crown prince (as well as being better suited in temperament for the job of leadership), leading to her being nicknamed "The Queen Who Never Was". Although there was no violence between their supporters to contest the matter, and the cousins retained a friendly relationship despite Rhaenys being disappointed her claim was denied by the assembled lords. Her husband Lord Corlys Velaryon was more resentful about it.
274*** Viserys and his queen consort Aemma Arryn [[LawOfInverseFertility tried and failed multiple times to have a son]] (in part to keep Viserys's volatile and unpredictable younger brother Daemon from inheriting the throne), and when Aemma tragically [[DeathByChildbirth dies giving birth]] via TraumaticCSection to a son [[AllForNothing who only lives for a grand total of one day]], Viserys decides to name their daughter Rhaenyra his heir. As shown multiple times throughout the first season, from the nobles' constant skepticism to the peasants of King's Landing laughing at a play making fun of her, the realm is largely not open to the idea of being governed by a woman, and there's a more or less overt push by the realm's nobility for Viserys' son with his second wife Alicent Hightower, Aegon II, to become heir instead, but that doesn't prevent Rhaenyra from ambitioning to rule one day, and her father stands by the vow of having her succeed him. When Viserys eventually dies, a SuccessionCrisis kicks off that rapidly turns into an all-out CivilWar.
275--->'''Rhaenys (to Rhaenyra):''' [[LampshadeHanging Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne.]]
276* Parodied in ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace'', where [[PrimaDonnaDirector Garth]] at one point [[{{Wangst}} mopes and monologues]] about his wife "denying him an heir" by only having daughters before she went through menopause. Garth isn't royalty of any sort, just a mundane horror writer (and not an especially good one either); he's a rather pathetic bigot with a [[SmallNameBigEgo laughably overblown ego]], so he continues to subscribe to beliefs like this long after they died out, even when they wouldn't really apply to him anyway.
277* This is the only reason LipstickLesbian Margot Verger sleeps with Will Graham in ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'': the only way she can get control of her family's company is if she produces a male heir, as otherwise it will go to a church when her brother Mason dies. [[spoiler: When Mason finds out what she is planning, he arranges a car 'accident' to get her in an operating room and sterilizes her, aborting her child in the process. He... doesn't like Margot much.]] This doesn't stop Margot, however; in season 3, [[spoiler: with Hannibal's help, she gets hold of Mason's sperm and her wife Alana uses it to become pregnant and give birth to a son]].
278* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': It's implied that in Khazad-dûm, only the firstborn sons can inherit the throne, the name Durin, and all the memories of their predecessors.
279* ''Series/MayfairWitches'': {{Inverted}} with the Mayfair family, whose matriarchs have passed down their property only through daughters for centuries.
280* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'': When Uther couldn't get an heir, he turned to magic, and it gave him one but cost him the life of his queen, Ygraine.
281* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': The murders in "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS13E2 The Sword of Guillaume]]" ultimately stem from a bizarre attempt to secure an heir for her son, who is a brain-damaged, quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair following an accident. The plan involved arranging a marriage and then extracting sperm to impregnate the wife.
282* The ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "Newborn King" features a Marine who was sent home after she got pregnant from a fling with a soldier from Afghanistan. The father turned out to be the only heir to a tribe that owned a valuable piece of land, and when he died, his family became ''very'' interested in getting their hands on that baby, sending a trio of Russian mercenaries after the Marine. [[spoiler:It all ends up for naught, as not only does Team Gibbs subdue the mercenaries, but the Marine gives birth to a girl, who is ineligible to inherit.]]
283* ''Series/TheOutpost'': Prince Anton, despite being younger than her, would have the rightful claim to the throne ahead of Rosmund, as he's male.
284* ''Series/ThePalace'' featured a haughty princess scheming to dethrone her younger brother by destroying his reputation. (There was also another brother in line before her, but getting rid of him would be a [[RoyalBrat piece of cake]] -- assuming the public [[TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone even let him become king]] in the first place.)
285* In ''Series/RobinHood'', Guy of Gisborne makes it very clear on a couple of occasions that he expects Marian to provide him with an heir as soon as possible. He even uses it as a ''pick up line'' after the death of her father.
286--> ''What better way to grieve than to create new life?''
287* A version that pops up in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' has to count. Lionel Luthor might not have been all that concerned with his son, but when his AlternateUniverse counterpart comes to the regular world to take the dead Lionel's place, he makes it clear that he wants Lex to carry on his legacy and be the heir to the Luthor [[CorruptCorporateExecutive "kingdom"]]. He actually ousts his daughter from ''the exact position that he wants a Luthor heir in,'' because she's not his ''son''. (Though her earlier HeelFaceTurn might also have been a contributing factor.) Lionel is so obsessed with bringing his son back to take his place that he's also completely willing to [[spoiler:[[OffingTheOffspring kill said daughter]]]] to make it happen.
288* ''Series/TheTudors'' has this in spades, not surprising considering that it's a show about UsefulNotes/HenryVIII.
289* An episode of ''Series/TheWestWing'' features a muck-raking and inaccurate "exposé" memoir from a former staffer fired for incompetence which, amongst other things, alleges that the President wore special undergarments in order to produce a male heir when conceiving the child that ended up being his youngest daughter. The President is bemused, to say the least.
290* ''Series/TheWitcher2019'': "Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials" features two storylines with different attitudes to this trope.
291** Yennefer's storyline plays it straight as she's travelling with a Queen whose husband hires an assassin to kill her for birthing another daughter. Yennefer wryly notes that the Queen has "run out of chances to provide your King a male heir".
292** Meanwhile, Geralt's storyline sees him attending a feast where noblemen present themselves as potential matches for Princess Pavetta of Cintra. One prince from Nilfgaard cites his being one of five brothers as evidence that his "potent seed" will provide Pavetta with strong ''male'' heirs. This [[SubvertedTrope isn't received well]] as Pavetta is the sole heir to a throne currently held by her ''mother'', indicating that Cintra doesn't restrict succession based on gender.
293* ''Series/WolfHall'', adapted from the first two books in the Cromwell trilogy, has this. When Anne delivers a girl, all Henry can manage is an almost angry "call her [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI Elizabeth]]" and stalks out of the room without even asking how his wife is after the birth.[[note]]Incidentally, despite Henry's ''myriad'' flaws, this is not how he was reported to have reacted in real life; though he had, of course, wanted a boy, he was reasonably content with the fact that Anne's first pregnancy had gone to term and produced a healthy, living child, even if it was a girl, as he assumed at that point that he and Anne would have more children. It was only after a pair of miscarriages in succession -- at least one of them confirmed to be a boy -- that he truly began to turn on her.[[/note]] He only shows affection towards the baby when Anne is pregnant again, assuming as blithely as he did the first time that it'll be a boy. When that pregnancy and her third end in miscarriage, he decides he's been "bewitched" so he can get a new wife.
294[[/folder]]
295
296[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
297* In the [[Literature/BookOfExodus book of Numbers]], the daughters of Zelophehad come to Moses with a problem. Their wealthy father has just died, and they have no brothers and are not married, but it's accepted in this society that women cannot inherit property or titles. Moses takes this issue to God, and God comes up with a solution that's pretty FairForItsDay: they ''can'' inherit their father's property, but they must marry men from their own tribe. (Note that this only applied in cases like the above, where there were no sons or sons-in-law to be the inheritors; if they had a brother, or if these women were married, the property would go to their brothers or to their husbands, not them.) And if they had sons later, the property would be passed onto them.
298** Even earlier than that, this was the idea behind the custom of levirate marriage: that is, if a man died without any heirs, his widow was to be married off to his brother (whether she wanted to or not), and their first son would carry on the deceased man's lineage.
299*** This becomes a major plot point in the Literature/BookOfGenesis, when Tamar's husband dies. She marries his brother Onan (as per custom), but he always pulls out because he doesn't want to do his duty, and dies[[note]]Onan's sin was later interpreted as masturbation[[/note]]. Next in line is a boy named Shelah, who is conveniently not old enough for marriage yet. Her father-in-law Judah, believing Tamar to be [[CartwrightCurse cursed]], tells her to move back in with her parents and wait until Shelah is old enough, which she does. Eventually, as Shelah gets older, Tamar realizes Judah has no intention of marrying her to Shelah, and there are no other brothers Tamar can marry. So, in response, Tamar disguises herself as a shrine prostitute, and sleeps with Judah, making sure to take his seal, cord, and staff as collateral. Three months later, when her pregnancy begins to show, and Judah sentences her to be burned to death for engaging in illicit sex (thus shaming the family), she reveals that the father is the owner of these items. Judah recognizes what she did, and [[LastMinuteReprieve spares her life]].
300** Archaeological troves of marriage contracts (including lists of which property each person brought into the marriage, which would be jointly owned, and which would not) and other legal documents show that, in Ancient Israel under the Law of Moses, women could and did own, purchase, sell, inherit, and pass down property to/from both male and female members of the family (as well as, in the case of buying and selling, unrelated people). The issue with Zelophehad's daughters was that they would be the sole inheritors of the entire family property, which included land that was the inheritance of their entire tribe, hence the decision that they could only do so as long as they married within their tribe; the child's Hebrew/Jewish status comes from the mother, and tribe from the father, so they needed children who were members of their tribe to inherit their tribal land. In the Bible itself, there are several examples of women owning/inheriting land, like Caleb's daughter and the "virtuous woman" of Proverbs 31.
301* UsefulNotes/{{Albania}}n {{folk hero}}ine Myth/NoraOfKelmendi was the daughter of an Albanian Christian warrior that [[WantedASonInstead wanted a son]] so that he could raise him to fight against the UsefulNotes/OttomanEmpire. He abandoned her in an orphanage when she was born, but she was adopted by her aunt, who, knowing what her brother did, raised her as a boy. Nora's biological father still wanted to train a young man to become a fighter so he chose to train his sister's adopted "son" and unknowingly made Nora an ActionGirl.
302* In Myth/ClassicalMythology, Atalanta's father was a king who had her abandoned on a mountaintop because he wanted a son instead. She was found by [[RaisedByWolves a bear]], [[RaisedByDudes then some hunters]] and grew up to be the rare mortal ActionGirl.
303* Myth/NyangaMythology: GenderInvertedTrope in the ''Epic of Mwindo,'' from Congo's Nyanga people. Shemwindo wants daughters so that he can bring in lots of bride-prices without ever having to pay one out. Six of his wives have girls, but his seventh and favorite has the titular Mwindo, who is both male and [[RandomlyGifted inexplicably magical]].
304[[/folder]]
305
306[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
307* Averted in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''. The Successor States don't seem to care what gender their rulers are, so long as they have the right last name. Famously, Katrina Steiner was one of the Lyran Commonwealth's best and most beloved leaders, and her daughter Melissa inherited the title (though she also married Hanse Davion, ruler of the Federated Suns, making them joint rulers of the combined Federated Commonwealth). Hanse and Melissa name their eldest son, Victor Ian-Steiner Davion, as their heir, but that has more to do with him being firstborn. Their eldest daughter, Katherine (who later changed her name to Katrina) eventually takes the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth independent and rules it for several years before sneaking in behind Victor's back and ruling the Suns half as well, which is technically illegal. Not because she's a woman, but because she didn't undergo the five years of military service required for anyone to assume the title of First Prince of the Federated Suns.
308** Thomas Marik also recognized his illegitimate daughter Isis as a potential heir when his legitimate, male heir developed severe leukemia. While his son's [[spoiler:eventually terminal]] illness forced his hand, his reasons for keeping Isis illegitimate as long as possible had nothing to do with her gender.
309** The Celestial Throne of the Capellan Confederation came to Romano Liao after Maxmillian Liao's death, even though Romano was Maxmillian's younger daughter. His older daughter, Candace, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere left the Confederation to rule the St. Ives' Compact, an independent state carved out of the Confederation by the Federated Commonwealth's trouncing of the Confederation in the Fourth Succession War.]]
310** The Draconis Combine seems to play this straight, which is fitting since they are generally portrayed as the most conservative and tradition-bound realm in the setting. Theodore Kurita's son, Hohiro, is set to rule the Combine after his father's (and grandfather's) death, while his sister, Omi, is set to become Keeper of the House Honor. It's not a true leadership position, but ''does'' grant a measure of political power, including advising the actual (male) ruler.
311*** The ''Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse'' shows that while male succession is ''preferred'', it isn't set in stone; there have been three women who have ruled the Combine and they were among the best rulers in the Combine's history.
312[[/folder]]
313
314[[folder:Theatre]]
315* Subverted in Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/TheWintersTale''. His courtiers want Leontes to remarry, to provide an heir, but the oracle had said that he would live without an heir unless his lost daughter was found, and so he refused.
316* In ''Theatre/AnneOfTheThousandDays'', Anne promises to give Henry "boys in plenty" if and only if he makes her his queen. When Anne has a daughter, she becomes determined to have Elizabeth succeed him as queen. Henry agrees to order the necessary murders on the condition that she give him a son--which she proves unable to do. Anne later asks him why a daughter won't do, and he replies, "This country's never been ruled by a queen."
317* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'': A few cases from the original story get a nod. To wit:
318** When Walder Frey accepts to marry off one of his daughters to Robb, he gets enthusiastic about a yet-to-be born grandson eventually becoming a ruler.
319** After Sansa gets married, there is a discussion about the fact that if Robb dies, her husband will be his effective heir.
320** During an IWantGrandkids moment, Tywin expressly asks for a grand''son''.
321[[/folder]]
322
323[[folder:Video Games]]
324* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
325** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' and its sequels play this straight. It is never used as a focal point, but it's made clear that males are the preferred heirs in several conversations. Marth is the younger brother of Elice, yet he's clearly established as the heir of Altea, and the same applies for Jubelo of Grust; he has an older sister, Yuliya. In addition, Nyna enters a political marriage with Hardin after ''Shadow Dragon'' to put a king on the Archanean throne. That doesn't mean women ''can't'' inherit; both Minerva and Sheena become queens after the previous kings of their countries die without male heirs.
326** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', [[spoiler:Manfroy pesters Arvis, the heir apparent of Velthomer, to have a son with his wife Deirdre (stolen away from Sigurd of Chalphy). This is more in line with Manfroy's plan to make a SoulJar for the dark dragon god Loptyr, but since he demands a son, it still applies]]. Also, at the very end, when Seliph is dividing up territories for the rest of his party to rule, if a female is married, then she will go by her husband's side, and he will be the regnant of whatever land he owns, regardless of whether or not the female in question has the right to rule on her own. Even if she is unmarried, the territory will only go to her if her brother is deceased.
327** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'''s ending, Finn mentions that Leif is the only male heir across the four main territories of the Manster District (Princess Miranda is the only heiress of Conote, and was up for a possible arranged marriage with Leif), and is more than likely going to wind up as Leonster's king. This is despite the fact that not only does he have an older sister, said sister is the inheritor of Major Noba Blood and the wielder of the Gae Bolg lance from their father Quan; Leif has two types of minor blood (Noba from Quan, and Baldur from Quan's wife Ethlyn). However, this one is justified since [[spoiler:Altena was kidnapped at a young age and raised as a princess of Thracia. Even though Altena ''does'' find out that she's Leif's older sister, the people of Leonster would certainly be very leery of a woman who is for all practical purposes a princess of Leonster's hated enemy taking the throne.]]
328** Subtly implied for the Kingdom of Bern in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade''. In the former, Queen Hellene seems rather proud of the fact that she bore King Desmond a prince (Zephiel), while dismissing his mistress for giving him a princess (Guinivere). In the latter game, when Guinivere tells Roy the story between her father and her brother, there's one part where she says that, after Desmond refused to make Zephiel heir to the throne, he announced that "The next King of Bern would be Guinivere's husband". [[spoiler:At the end, Guinivere takes the throne as Queen of Bern after her brother is killed in battle against Roy.]]
329** {{Gender inverted|Trope}} by the dual office of Empress and Apostle of Begnion in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn''. [[spoiler:The two offices are inadvertently separated when the first-born female of the current generation is thought to have been assassinated, leaving an Empress who cannot hear the Goddess's voice. The true apostle isn't dead, though.]]
330** Averted in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. The countries of Ferox and Plegia do not have a dynastic line; Ferox has leaders based on strength and Plegia appears to have an elected monarchy. [[spoiler:Gangrel became king through trickery and Validar was a priest of the Grimleal]]. Rosanne appears to be a dynastic line, but the only character mentioned is the male Virion. Justified aversion in Ylisse. Emmeryn became Exalt because she was the eldest-- at the age of nine. Her younger brother Chrom does not ascend the throne when he is old enough, [[spoiler:he only does after she dies, and even if you do the Spotpass Paralogue that reveals she's still alive, she's [[TraumaInducedAmnesia no longer in a state where she can rule]]]]. Also averted and justified in the Future Past; only [[spoiler:Lucina]] can become Exalt because [[spoiler:only she can use the Falchion to kill Grima]], and whether she has a younger brother or not doesn't have any effect on the plot. The exact inheritance law for Ylisse appears to be "Eldest child of the previous ruler who bears the [[BirthmarkOfDestiny mark of Naga]]". That last point factors into Lissa's character during supports: by all accounts, she's Emmeryn and Chrom's full-sibling and completely legitimate, yet doesn't have the mark, which would make it incredibly difficult for her to press a claim if something happened to Chrom. [[spoiler:Her son Owain inherits the mark, proving her bloodline once and for all, but by the time this is learned it's become a moot point.]]
331** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' plays this straight in Hoshido and averts it in Nohr. In ''Birthright'', you learn that since heir apparent Xander [[spoiler:died at the end of the war]], Camilla is nominally next in line for the Nohrian throne, but she chooses to AbdicateTheThrone, and Leo becomes king.[[note]]Technically, the exact legal precedent for Nohrian succession wasn't revealed in ''Fates'' - after many children by mistresses were killed in the power games in the DecadentCourt, the last four realized they held the four strangest claims, sorted out the exact order amongst themselves, and told anyone who had a problem with that to jump off a cliff. ''Warriors'' seems to clarify Nohr has egalitarian succession and the kids are following birth order while refusing to kill each other over it, see below.[[/note]] In ''Conquest'', when Hinoka becomes queen of Hoshido, she admits that she never expected to become queen since she always assumed heir apparent Ryoma or, God forbid something happened to him, her younger brother Takumi would become king. [[spoiler:Too bad they both die late in the war.]]
332** Discussed in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriors'' in Lianna and Leo's support conversation. Leo assumes that Lianna is Aytolis' heir apparent due to her slight age advantage over Rowan, but she informs him that since Rowan is a male and she is not, he still has a legitimate claim to the throne. It's further complicated by the fact that neither sibling actually wants the throne. [[spoiler:They decide to become co-rulers in the end.]]
333** This appears to be the case for the Kingdom of Askr in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes''. King Gustav repeatedly lectures his eldest son Alfonse over his reckless actions in the name of heroism, since Gustav is concerned what will happen if his son and heir dies, despite the fact that he has a younger daughter, Sharena.
334* {{Gender inverted|Trope}}... Again: In ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'', the country of Falerna is ruled by a royal house who practice female inheritance of the throne. The Queen rules the country and takes a male consort (decided by an InevitableTournament between the country's various noble houses and other competitors), who becomes commander of the country's armies and Knight Commander of the Queen's royal knights. The main character, who is the eldest-born prince, has no right of succession and is groomed to becoming a statesman or a general in the armies, while his younger sister is groomed to be Queen.
335* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' has the odd example of [[spoiler:Naoto Shirogane]]. As a female [[spoiler:born into a long family of detectives]] she's convinced that she'll never be able to continue the family tradition as a girl [[spoiler:and tries to pass herself off as male until she's exposed]]. Interestingly, this does not seem to be her family's view at all. [[spoiler:We never meet her grandfather, only one of his servants, but from the message he delivers it's clear he has no doubt that his granddaughter will make a fine detective and in fact was concerned that she wasn't being true to herself by faking being male.]]
336** This is less about inheritance and more a statement about Japan's wide gender gap, despite it being a first world country. [[spoiler:Naoto emulates the male sleuths of her favorite detective novels by cross-dressing because she feels as if she wouldn't be taken as seriously if she acted more openly female. This in itself is made worse by the fact that Naoto has no problem with femininity ''at all,'' but it all returns to gender inequality.]]
337** Averted with the Amagi Inn; Yukiko is the heiress, and has spent a large chunk of her youth receiving training for things such as practicing business management. Her Valentine's Day date in [[UpdatedRerelease Golden]] even has her mention that if she and the protagonist were to get married, he'd likely be the one [[TookTheWifesName taking her last name rather than the other way around]].
338** Zig-zagged with the Ichijo family. Kou, one of two possible Strength Social Links and an adopted son of the family, is replaced when his parents have a biological daughter, causing him to wonder whether he has a place in the family. However, late in the Social Link, Kou offhandedly mentions that his sister will not pass on the Ichijo family name, unlike Yukiko.
339* In ''VideoGame/TheWitcher2AssassinsOfKings'', one of the triggers that start the events of the game is that king Foltest has a lack of proper male heirs: He has a bastard son, who is still technically higher on the succession line than Foltest's acknowledged daughter[[note]]Adda is a bastard child of brother-sister incest, a striga (were-abomination), a general hedonist / conspirator, and may be killed by Geralt in self-defense. If none of these are enough to justify her disinheritance, then the anvil that breaks the horse's back will be her getting married to King Radovid, the genocidal ruler of Redania[[/note]]. [[spoiler:The poor boy is assassinated halfway through the game, leaving his other sister (Foltest's youngest, a bastard daughter) as their incumbent. Geralt's actions may end up helping to legitimize her claim.]]
340* An integral part of ''VideoGame/{{Sengoku}}'' is ensuring you have male heirs. If you don't, and your clan leader dies, you lose.
341* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', it's indicated that [[ParentsAsPeople Magni]] was disappointed because his only child Moira was not a male heir. As his only child, Moira was still the heir, but Magni had a sexist streak and believed that a man would be a better ruler. This embittered Moira, who ended up falling in love with and marrying the emperor of a rival group of dwarves because he respected her in a way her father did not. When Magni later got [[TakenForGranite turned into diamond]] in a ritual gone wrong, Moira returned to Ironforge to claim her throne after her father, and her bitterness caused a lot of trouble before [[TheWisePrince Anduin]] persuaded his father King Varian to guide Moira into being a better leader.
342* ''VideoGame/CrusaderKingsII'' has three gender inheritance laws. Agnatic inheritance only allows men to rise to power, Agnatic-Cognatic allows women to inherit if there are no valid male inheritors[[note]]of the same level, so, for example: son > daughter > brother > sister > any distant relative by strength of claim[[/note]] (but still prefers women with male issue to ones without), and Absolute Cognatic is gender-neutral (but can only be enacted if your ruler is of the Basque culture or follows [[TheHeretic Catharism]], or if you add the ''Conclave'' DLC and enact laws to expand women's rights). However, if you pick a less traditional inheritance law (such as ElectiveMonarchy), it's possible for women to inherit fairly easily. Rulers with female heirs get a relation penalty to all their male vassals, as do all female rulers. The game also has two more gender inheritance laws coded in: Enatic, which allows only women to rise to power, and Enatic-Cognatic, which allows men to inherit only if there are no valid female heirs. Neither of these are actually implemented in the game, obviously, but they can be modded in if one wants.
343** The ''Holy Fury'' DLC later allowed for pagans to reform their religions and choose Enatic succession laws as one of the reformation beliefs, turning their Kingdom/[[TheEmpire Empire]] into a {{Matriarchy}}.
344* In those ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' games, where you have a royal family, only male heirs can inherit. Females can only be married off. However, there is nothing stopping you from adopting an able commander into your family. Some players have even gone so far as to adopt a capable and respected commander and then [[UriahGambit send the inept biological heir to fight an unwinnable battle]]. Thus, the adopted son becomes next in line, and all is well.
345* In [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Sangheili]] society in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', only the male children can inherit the title of ''kaidon'' (feudal lord) of their clan. Females technically serve as advisors or rule the keep as scions, not the clan, and on the occasions where all her brothers are dead, she is expected to marry another male, be they a lesser kaidon or one of their sons. That said, being [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy a Sangheili]], it isn't uncommon for scions to refuse and fight for the right to rule alongside loyal vassals, and some have even managed to rule this way for their entire lives.
346* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': In the backstory, the Empire of Mor Ardain has been ruled by men for its entire history. Shortly before the story starts, for the first time ever, there were no male heirs available, so Mòrag was raised to be Empress. Before she could take the throne, her cousin Niall was born, and he became the heir apparent. Mòrag stepped aside without complaint, but Niall spends much of his time worrying that she could do a better job than him. Of course, it doesn't help that [[AChildShallLeadThem he had to take the throne at a young age]].
347* Subverted in the GUDAGUDA Meiji Revival event of ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder''. Oda Nobunaga (in this universe, [[GenderFlip a girl]])'s profile in the ''Fate/Grand Order Material I'' book states that her father originally planned to have her younger brother Nobukatsu head of the Oda clan. However, Nobukatsu was deemed as lacking in the ability to protect the Oda clan while Nobunaga showed great potential, so she ended up becoming the heir after all.
348* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': The Carja have been ruled by the Radiant Line of the Sun-Kings since time immemorial. When Aloy asks if there has ever been a Sun-Queen, she is informed that the Sun only chooses male heirs--because "the Sun is masculine, of course."
349-->'''Aloy:''' Um, it's a ball of light in the sky. I've never seen anything dangling from it.
350* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': King Eryk is considered to have no heir despite having three daughters. One of the requirements to get the GoldenEnding is to finally produce one, a task which is made more complicated by the fact that [[spoiler:Queen Aurelea was cursed to have trouble having children, and to produce only daughters if she got pregnant at all]].
351[[/folder]]
352
353[[folder:Visual Novels]]
354* In ''VisualNovel/TheConfinesOfTheCrown'', succession works a bit differently: the ruler is the King, but the King is the man who marries the firstborn ''princess''. This means that a realm needs to have a female heir; princes are sent wife-hunting. [[spoiler:This means that, when one kingdom found itself without a princess, they had to turn to a ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Alchemy}} farmakeist]]'' to ''make'' one.]]
355* {{Gender inverted|Trope}}: the Fey Clan in ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' values females over males because [[GenderRestrictedAbility only women can be spirit mediums]]. This means that if a couple has a daughter, the father gets pressed out of the light from ''both'' directions. End result: Kurain Village, home of the Fey Clan, has an ''extremely'' disproportionate divorce rate for its size.
356* Poor Eva Ushiromiya from ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. She and her father knew she was more competent and a better fit as the heir than her older brother, but their father refused to allow her to be the heir. [[AltarTheSpeed But then she married around the time Krauss and Natsuhi were having trouble conceiving]], had a child before Natsuhi (and Natsuhi never had a son whereas Eva did), and groomed him to be the perfect heir to steal the title from the incompetent Krauss. [[spoiler:[[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning Oh, and when she solves the epitaph...]]]]
357[[/folder]]
358
359[[folder:Web Animation]]
360* ''WebAnimation/MoniRobo'':
361** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bednM7Q19mY Hanayo's dad]] wanted his wife to bear him a son to inherit his company, but she was infertile and eventually decided to seek a mistress to have a son with when Hanayo turned 10. After so much rejection, he went as far as to collude with his younger brother to adopt the latter's son as his heir. Without the mother's consent, that is.
362** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SUye02OM0k A CEO]] not only cheated on his wife with Ren's abusive mother but let her kick his wife out of the house after moving in, just because the latter woman was infertile and therefore couldn't bear him any sons.
363[[/folder]]
364
365[[folder:Web Comics]]
366* ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'':
367** Galasso in keeps trying to get people to breed with his daughter Conquest, even though she is a decent heir herself. What's particularly weird, [[http://www.shortpacked.com/2012/comic/book-14/04-proposition-for-69k/daughter/#comment-84591 as Conquest points out,]] is that Galasso has some weird inability to tell the difference between males and females, so his chauvinism is based on labels that he doesn't even understand.
368** Connie also mentioned to Ethan (after they had sex at Galasso's command) that she was "on the pill", indicating that she may be a bit more assertive than she lets on. She eventually gets sick of this and starts her own business, which appears to be more successful than Galasso's own.
369* {{Gender inverted|Trope}} in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' due to a matriarchal society. Thanks to an injury from an enemy, Quain'tana has been unable to produce a suitable ''female'' heir for her clan despite having several daughters. The first hates her and mingles freely with the enemy, the second is possessed by a demon, and her adopted daughter was disowned after being tainted and generally considered a failure. She eventually resorts to [[spoiler:stealing her eldest daughter's first child]] to solve this.
370* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': The need to produce a suitable heir to the title of Storm King was central to the plans of [[AncientConspiracy the Knights of Jove]] to reclaim Europa (due to the fact that the Fifty Royal Families care a great deal about succession as security to their power; the Sparks aren't really all that bothered about it). Gil guesses that it was complicated by a long line of fops, idiots, madmen, and women. Apparently, Lucrezia Mongfish solved their problem with the aid of [[SchizoTech genetic engineering]].
371* ''Webcomic/MenOfTheHarem'': PlayedWith. The Emperor of Tarium has a RoyalHarem of consorts and concubines in addition to his legal wife, meaning he has heirs to spare. Technically, if any of the Empress’s sons cannot succeed, her daughter becomes heir, but more often than not, she is passed over for a consort’s son. Ultimately subverted by the previous Emperor, who names his daughter by his Empress his successor over his son by a consort after the Empress’s only son abidicates.
372* This seems to be the reason (or at best one of the reasons) the Erlkönig tries very hard to reconnect with his only son [[spoiler:Jareth]] despite having an older daughter in ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}''. Made harder by the facts that the boy hates his guts for [[DisappearedDad abandoning him]], already [[StartMyOwn founded his own kingdom]] and the king has some very strange ideas about how to do reconnecting ("AnOfferYouCantRefuse", to date he could).
373* In ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'', Princess Rosaline [=Lanistark=] poisoned her parents, the King and Queen of the Angelonian Empire, into a coma for trying to conceive a male heir.
374[[/folder]]
375
376[[folder:Western Animation]]
377* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
378** The fifth season episode "Burns' Heir" is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
379** And "I don't know what phallocentric means, but no girls!"
380** The story of King Henry VIII from "Margical History Tour":
381--->'''Marge:''' Sweetie, sometimes a daddy and a mommy decide to live apart. It's not your fault. [[DistinctionWithoutADifference It's just that you came out the wrong sex and ruined everything.]]\
382'''Homer:''' So grow a penis or get lost.\
383'''Lisa:''' (grunts and struggles) I can't.\
384'''Homer:''' Bye-bye!\
385'''Lisa:''' Well, why can't your heir be female? Or why can't we elect our leaders?\
386'''Homer:''' I wonder if I could [[DeadlyEuphemism canonize a child?]]\
387'''Lisa:''' Leaving!
388* On ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold,'' Ra's al-Ghul (see under Comic Books above) tries to convince Robin to [[WeCanRuleTogether join his side]], noting that as effective as [[DaddysLittleVillain Talia]] is, she can't compete with a male heir. Talia is not pleased, and [[spoiler:helps Robin and his companions escape R'as' DeathTrap]].
389* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'':
390** Vanzilla, the family van, is mentioned to have been Lynn Sr.'s first car, his dad Leonard's first car, and ''his'' dad's first car. Lynn Sr. plans to pass it down to his only son Lincoln, even though Lincoln has five older sisters, the eldest two of whom already have driver's licenses.
391** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'', the Louds find out they were descended from Scottish royalty, and Lincoln is soon crowned the Duke of Loch Loud. They also find out Lincoln's ancestral double, the previous Duke, was ''also'' the only son in his generation.
392** "Present Danger" has Lincoln receive the first ''[[ShowWithinAShow David Steele]]'' comic book issue on his 12th birthday. It's explained that this issue is passed down from one Loud man to the next whenever they turn 12. Again, Lynn Sr. got it from Leonard when he turned 12, and Leonard himself received it from ''his'' dad when he turned 12.
393* Gender-Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', where succession to the throne of Meridian/Metamoor is traditionally female, which is why the younger [[spoiler:Elyon Brown]] is the rightful heir to the throne, over her older brother, Prince Phobos. Then again, considering he probably killed their parents, that's a good thing.
394* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' has this as a minor plot point: Andrew Landon all but admits that after raising two girls, his infant son Evan is his favorite. Unfortunately, he seems to have divided up the "heir" duties so that Evan will become a football player, while Jodie [[EducationMama still has to slave in her school work]].
395* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Gender-inverted for the matriarchal Kingdom of Mewni. The title of the ruling monarch is "Queen" and the line of succession prioritizes female heirs. The defictionalized Magic Book of Spells reveals one chapter written by Jushtin the Uncalculated, Skywynne's son and heir. Skywynne genuinely wanted him to become queen but was ultimately pressured by her people into trying for a daughter [[note]]Solaria the Monster Carver[[/note]] and succeeding, cutting his chapter short.
396* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'':
397** Presumably the case in Enchancia, as Roland took the throne instead of his older sister Matilda, and James is treated as heir apparent [[SiblingSenioritySquabble despite being a few minutes younger than Amber]], until [[SubvertedTrope the final season revealed]] that Matilda had simply abdicated due to not wanting to rule and recognizing Roland's worthiness to be king. Roland himself was as shocked to discover this as anyone. Amber is delighted to learn that she's going to be queen, while James takes some time to come around to the idea.
398** ''Every other royal family'' depicted either has only one child (Prince Xander, Princess Vivian), has the son be the eldest (Jin and Jun), or has the children be the same gender (Hildegard and her older sister, Hugo and his older brother), neatly sidestepping the issue for every other kingdom.
399[[/folder]]
400
401[[folder:Real Life]]
402* Examples from Europe:
403** Seven European countries have done away with this altogether: Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. In other words, these countries provide that a woman can inherit the throne even if she has younger brothers (sometimes known as "absolute primogeniture"). The first of these changes was passed in Sweden effective January 1, 1980, and so far no woman has actually inherited a crown via absolute primogeniture; Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria is likely to eventually become the first woman in the modern world to inherit a crown despite having a living legitimate brother.[[note]]Or, at least a brother who is eligible to inherit. England's Mary II and Anne had a living legitimate brother who was barred from the throne for being Catholic.[[/note]]
404** The British example is, as usual, a little bit odd, in that it was only passed in 2013 but would not make a difference to the current succession as Prince George, the first royal child born after the law change, is the oldest child and thus would've had the same place in the succession under the old laws; his younger sister, Princess Charlotte, will inherit before their younger brother should anything happen to George.[[note]]Bear in mind that the [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth Commonwealth Realms]] put a substantial wrinkle in this; see below for details.[[/note]] In fact, none of the British monarchs since 1910 (George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II, Charles III, and the future William V and George VII would have been or would be affected by the change.[[note]]All except George VI were the preceding monarch's firstborn child (Elizabeth got the throne because her father had no sons). As for George VI, he was George V's second child (his only sister was younger than him), and he got the throne because his brother David--that is, Edward VIII--[[AbdicateTheThrone abdicated]] and had no children.[[/note]] You have to go back to 1841 for an example of male-preference primogeniture at work, when Prince Edward Albert (the future Edward VII) was born and displaced his older sister Princess Victoria[[note]]Who later married Frederick, the Crown Prince of Prussia, and ended up becoming German Empress for all of a few months before her beloved husband died. Their son was none other than [[UsefulNotes/PrussianKings Kaiser Wilhelm II]]. Yes, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI that one]].[[/note]] as Queen Victoria's heir.
405*** In male-preference primogeniture, there is one rare circumstance where a female would become heir apparent: if the monarch's oldest son died and had only fathered daughters, the oldest of those daughters would become the heir and could not be displaced. A version of this is actually how Queen Victoria came to the throne - all of her father's older brothers had died without living legitimate children.[[note]]George IV's only daughter suffered DeathByChildbirth along with her baby; Prince Frederick had no children; William IV had several living ''il''legitimate children, but his only legitimate daughters both died as infants. Victoria was technically ''heir presumptive'' during William's reign, because there was always the possibility he could father a child who would displace her. In fact, Victoria's accession proclamation noted her claim to the throne was only secure when it could be assured William's widow (who was 44 and had frequently miscarried) wasn't pregnant.[[/note]] Her father had also died when she was a baby, leaving her as his only child, and she inherited the throne in his place, ahead of his younger siblings and their children (including the sons of the Duke of Cumberland[[note]]Who inherited the throne of Hanover--which applied the Salic Law[[/note]] and the Duke of Cambridge[[note]]Whose granddaughter was none other than Mary of Teck, Queen Consort to George V and mother of both Edward VIII and George VI[[/note]]).
406** Of the other European countries that still have monarchies, Spain and Monaco have succession laws like the UK had until 2014, i.e. male-preference primogeniture (younger brothers inherit the crown before their older sisters), although Spain has some vague plans to adopt absolute primogeniture for the successors of current King Felipe VI (not that it matters, since he only has daughters). Liechtenstein follows what's known as "semi-Salic law", in which a woman can only inherit the crown if the entire royal family runs out of male heirs, including her own sons. Another once-common succession law was the "Salic law" (the non-"semi" version), in which only male descendants in male line could inherit the crown at all; this was applied in France and some other countries, but none of the extant European monarchies still follow it.
407*** While Spain tries to get absolute primogeniture, there is already a law that states that when a new king ascends and a new Prince or Princess of Asturias (the heir) is appointed, nothing but death can move him or her from there. So, once a Princess of Asturias is appointed, she is the heir even if a brother appears later (which is still possible, though increasingly unlikely as King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia have reached their fifties).
408** The Disunited Kingdom:
409*** It was this issue that started a period in English history known as The Anarchy, when Henry I named his lone surviving legitimate child, Matilda, his heir. It was a bit more complicated, in that not only were the Anglo-Norman barons wary of having a woman on the throne, but her husband was from Anjou, Normandy's rival. A faction of barons helped Stephen, Count of Blois, onto the throne; significantly, Stephen's claim was through his mother, the sainted Adela of Normandy (William I the Conqueror's youngest daughter and the only one who married and had children), showing that the issue wasn’t inheritance through the female line but rather a combination of a suspicion that women could not wield power effectively in the rough-and-tumble world of 12th-century France[[note]]The Norman lords weren’t worried about England, which between the Anglo-Saxon heritage of centralised royal power--[[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWessex pre-Conquest England]] had been the most centralised and capable royal state in Western Christendom by a country mile, competing only with Byzantium and the Caliphate of Córdoba on that front in all Europe--and William I's diligent efforts to ensure that all landholding derived from him was a pretty peaceful place. They were thus more worried about Matilda becoming Duchess of Normandy than they were about her becoming Queen of England.[[/note]] and a fear that Normandy would be subjected to Anjou. This plunged England into 19 years of civil war until a resolution was reached where Stephen's own sons would be bypassed for succession in favor of Matilda's son, the future [[UsefulNotes/HenryTheSecond Henry II]], founder of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet. (This proved to be a bit of a mixed bag for the Anglo-Norman lords: on one hand Henry was extraordinarily competent and gave them the kind of peace and stability that could make them richer than their wildest dreams. He also more or less told the Anglo-Norman lords to have at Wales and Ireland, which several families did with gusto and thereby became richer still. And his marriage to UsefulNotes/EleanorOfAquitaine--a match that only made sense because Aquitaine was contiguous with Anjou--gave them easy access to the really good wine from Bordeaux and the wider Gironde--to this day the [[UsefulNotes/NationalDrinks favoured wine of]] [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the British upper crust]]. On the other, he opened the doors of England to lords from Anjou, and also now had to defend Anjou as well as Normandy from the raids and schemes of the Capetian Kings of France in Paris. While this might not have been a huge issue if Normandy and Anjou were contiguous, in reality they were separated by hundreds of miles, meaning resources were stretched thin.)
410*** Matilda's son Henry II profited from this when King Louis VII of France grew so worried over his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine so far only bearing daughters that he had his marriage annulled (officially on grounds of consanguinity) even though that meant losing control over Aquitaine. To make matters worse from Louis's point of view, Eleanor then married Henry II (handing over Aquitaine to England) and bore him four sons, including UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart and [[UsefulNotes/KingJohnOfEngland John]] Lackland. Of course from Henry Plantagenet's point of view that may have been too much of a good thing because his sons kept conspiring and fighting against each other as well as against their father.
411*** [[UsefulNotes/HenryVIII Henry VIII of England]] divorced his first wife because of this. He even went so far as to reject the Roman Catholic Church because they wouldn't annul his first marriage. He had some justification -- his father was an upstart who'd taken the throne after a [[UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses long civil war]], and he couldn't be sure a daughter would be accepted. To make matters worse, enemies could make a very good case that both of his daughters were illegitimate -- and in the case of Elizabeth, that she wasn't even his daughter. He eventually got the son he wanted with his third wife. However, his attempts to keep the throne in the family failed since his son died in his teens after only a few years on the throne and was succeeded by his sister Mary I and later Elizabeth I. All three died childless and the throne was inherited by a Scottish cousin.
412*** To be clear, Elizabeth and Mary were both legitimate at birth, but the marriages of both of their mothers were later invalidated and they were thus declared illegitimate for a time. Elizabeth was almost certainly Henry's daughter (he himself noted similarities between them), but her mother having been convicted of adultery meant that her legitimacy could be questioned.
413*** In a clever compromise to get around this trope, the later Mary II and her husband/cousin William of Orange, a Dutch nobleman who was the quasi-hereditary chief magistrate of the Dutch Republic, were appointed as [[RulingCouple equal co-monarchs]]. This was seen as the best of both worlds: William was the first male in line to the throne in his own right, and despite being a foreigner he was more importantly at the time a Protestant (and as an added bonus was comfortable with the idea of an assembly placing constitutional limits on his authority, which was another major interest for Parliament); meanwhile, Mary was a woman, but she was also a direct descendant of the established dynasty and the first Protestant in line for the throne (if women weren't barred). As a further bonus, theirs also seems to have been a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage. The only ''minor'' hiccup was that Mary's father James II was still alive at the time and was deposed for Catholic sympathies. (Ultimately, William and Mary had no surviving children, so after they both died, [[ZigZaggingTrope Mary's sister Anne succeeded them, ruling in her own right]].)
414*** Nowadays, the UK is moving beyond this: Until recently, women could inherit [[DoubleStandard if they had no living brothers]] (male-preference primogeniture), but on the announcement of the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy, a new law was passed so that her children (and any future generations) will inherit in age order regardless of gender. [[GrandfatherClause No such luck for Princess Anne, though, who is still stuck behind her two younger brothers and all their children]]. Since the Duchess's three children (as of 2018) were born male - female - male, this law prevented Princess Charlotte from being dropped below her younger brother Prince Louis in the succession even though neither will ever sit on the throne unless something happens to their older brother Prince George.
415** Germany and nearby areas:
416*** The Kingdom of Hannover was once in a personal union with the United Kingdom, but they followed the Salic Law (forbidding women to take the throne) while Britain did not; this caused a split when [[UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria Victoria]] became Queen (her uncle Ernest Augustus became King of Hannover instead). This was generally regarded as a good riddance in Britain, where many saw the monarch's German territories as an unwanted Continental entanglement, leaving Britain with less of a free hand to mess with the BalanceOfPower (which had been English and then British policy, enabled by its island status, since at least Tudor times). It was also seen as a good riddance in Hannover, as the association with a Great Power made it harder for Hannover to make the alliances that were good for it on the Continent, and also the liberal British were always sticking their noses in and making reforms where the more conservative Hannoverians would prefer things be left alone (or at least to change not too quickly, so as not to piss off the terrifying Prussians—who besides being the most aggressive land power in Europe were almost literally on Hannover's doorstep—and less-terrifying-but-still-scary Austrians).
417*** The House of Hapsburg lucked into Castile/Aragon/Burgundy/the Low Countries because the Houses of Valois and Trastámara married a princess into their dynasty and failed to pop out a male heir. To avoid being on the receiving end of this the two branches of their house swapped most of their princesses between the Spanish and Austrian courts. The long-term effects of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Carlos_segundo80.png this policy]]... did not [[UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain work out too well]] for the [[UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession Madrid branch]], and the male line of the Vienna branch puttered to a halt not long afterward with [[UsefulNotes/WarOfTheAustrianSuccession predictable results]] (luckily for them, the line continued through Maria Theresa and her children were content to take the Hapsburg name).
418*** UsefulNotes/MariaTheresa of Austria had her father's approval but not anyone else's. When a series of unfortunate events killed all available male heirs, her father issued a pragmatic sanction that left the Habsburg domains to her. He paid many rulers to accept it and not contest her claim to the throne once she would succeed him. Of course, when he did die, many thought this was a prime opportunity to go back on their word and grab some land. It mostly didn't work out (Silesia was lost to Prussia, the Habsburgs ''almost'' gained Bavaria, but otherwise Maria Theresa went on to rule the Habsburg domains for 40 years).
419*** Much like the Kingdom of Hanover decades earlier, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was obliged to break off a Personal Union in 1890 due to Salic Law. King Willem III of the Netherlands was succeeded upon his death by his 10-year-old daughter, while [[ThisIsMyNameOnForeign Grand Duke Guillaume III]] of Luxembourg was succeeded by his 73-year-old 17th cousin once removed Adolf/Adolphe (the dispossessed Duke of Nassau). Of course, when Adolph's only surviving son Guillaume IV had nothing but daughters he chucked Salic Succession anyway leaving his throne to 17-year-old Marie-Adélaïde in 1912.
420** France through history:
421*** The Frankish Salic Law that prohibits females from inheriting noble titles in their own right dates from the 6th century, although until the end of the 14th century, it applied only to the inheritance of land and property. It was first invoked in relation to the royal succession in the 15th century, halfway through the Hundred Years' War. After the deaths of Philip IV the Fair and his youngest son Charles IV the Fair, the French nobles and their legal experts excluded women from the succession without mentioning the Salic Law. In both cases, other legal concerns -- a notorious case of marital infidelity implicating several princesses and the fact that the French nobility did not want to become vassals to an English king -- played a larger role than absolute opposition to female rule. Up until Charles IV, the Capetian kings, and their queens had, amazingly, always managed to produce one or more male heirs in every generation.
422*** When France still had a monarchy there were laws against women inheriting the throne. It wasn't that the French considered women unfit to rule -- women acting as regents was permissible, as shown by the example of Blanche of Castile, who ruled France during the minority of her son Louis IX (Saint Louis) and also during his absences for his two Crusades. It was just the contention of French lawyers and theologians that the French King was too holy and sacrosanct for that office to be held by a woman. There was also distaste for the idea that a female heir might marry a foreign prince, resulting in Kings of France who were not French.
423** In 1885, King Alfonso XII of Spain died, and his five-year-old daughter and heir presumptive, María de las Mercedes, was not declared queen because Alfonso's widow Queen Maria Christina was three months pregnant so there was the possibility a brother could be born and supplant her claim (Spain, like other monarchies, used male-preference primogeniture for inheritance). The government and the royal court was praying for this to be the case because the troubled reign of Isabella II two decades earlier was still relatively fresh in everyone's minds and the country was worried it wouldn't survive another female monarch. Not proclaiming Mercedes queen created a bit of a paradox because Spain operated under the principle that the new monarch ascends the throne the moment the previous monarch dies, so theoretically there is always a monarch (not that it mattered much in practice because both possible monarchs would be young children and Maria Christina would be reigning as regent for over a decade either way). A son was born six months later, who immediately became king as Alfonso XIII, and Mercedes was never recognized as queen and officially there was a six-month interregnum between monarchs.
424** In ancient Rome, if you weren't able to produce a biological heir, adopting one worked just as fine. In fact, the majority of Roman emperors inherited the empire after having been adopted by the previous emperor. Some even disregarded their biological children in favour of an heir of their choosing. UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, for example, had a son by UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII but chose to adopt his sister's grandson as his firstborn son and made him his heir instead. This adopted son later became known as Emperor UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, who in turn adopted his wife's first son (fathered by her previous husband) as his heir. This proved to be a smart tactic, as often the person who seemed best suited to take over the empire would be adopted by the emperor instead of trusting that pure biology would make someone a great leader.
425* Much like Ancient Rome, the royals of the many kingdoms of UsefulNotes/{{India}} had similar rules. It was quite common to adopt or nominate an heir to the throne if none were to be had through procreation (they did mostly tend to be male, though women rulers were not uncommon). The British were, understandably enough, [[MoralMyopia none too pleased with the situation when they landed up,]] since it took away a [[FlawExploitation major exploit]] they'd used in Europe for their power plays and promptly introduced a [[BerserkButton much-despised "law"]] known as the [[DeadlyEuphemism Doctrine of Lapse]].
426** Under this law, if a Ruler had no legitimate heirs [[InsistentTerminology (i.e. from procreation)]], their lands would "lapse" into the control of the [[TheEmpire ''rightful'']] rulers of the land - [[MegaCorp the British East India Company]]. The East India Company, unsurprisingly, also was in the habit of ''falsely'' claiming that rulers had died without legitimate heirs even in cases where it was plainly obvious that they had a legitimate, non-adopted son to take their throne.
427** To say that this "law" was deeply unpopular is putting it mildly. 1857 showed just how much it was hated - while the Indian Government today likes to style the uprising of 1857 as the [[InsistentTerminology First War of Indian Independence]], a more pragmatic observation is that it was largely the local nobles (and their armies, of course) doing most of the killing and maiming - [[ValuesDissonance all Britishers they could get their hands on, almost all of them being Company officials or their mercenaries]] - in retaliation for them trying to snatch their lands away. Good luck trying to find anyone who sympathises with [[AssholeVictim the Company]] in India today though - [[FlameBait it's a touchy subject.]] UsefulNotes/TheRaj that came afterward, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm understandably enough]], withdrew the law - AndThereWasMuchRejoicing. For the nobles anyway.
428* As of 2011, UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealthOfNations has begun the process of changing to equal primogeniture[[note]]and also removing the bar on those who had married Catholics to succession to the throne; however, the requirement that the monarch be a Protestant has not been removed, as he or she will continue to be the Supreme Governor of the Church of England[[/note]] and the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth Realms have all agreed in principle to the modification. However, as the Commonwealth monarchy is governed by separate but identical laws in all the Commonwealth Realms, the change requires parliamentary approval in all Realms save UsefulNotes/NewZealand and Papua New Guinea. Canada and Australia create further problems: the Canadian provinces and Australian states are legally distinct monarchies organized in voluntary national confederations, so it will require the approval of all ten [[UsefulNotes/CanadianPolitics provincial parliaments]] and all six [[UsefulNotes/AustralianPolitics state parliaments]], not just their national parliaments. Some feared that Quebec might hold up the process as a means of getting long-desired concessions from Ottawa, particularly as the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois was in power during negotiations, but the main hurdle in Canada was actually court challenges over arcane points of constitutional law (and Canadian constitutional law can be ''incredibly'' arcane--it makes American constitutional law seem downright straightforward),[[note]]As of March 2015, these challenges were still ongoing[[/note]] while the jurisdiction that delayed passing the legislation the longest was Western Australia, where a senior WA MLA has basically admitted that their reason for the delay was "erm, we forgot". (Ironically, the Perth Agreement where all the Commonwealth Realm heads of government had agreed to the switch to absolute primogeniture was negotiated and signed in the capital of Western Australia, at a conference center literally down the street from the WA Legislative Assembly's debating chamber.)
429* Parodied in [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080313035311/http://www.theonion.com/content/news/clinton_chastises_hillary_for this article]] in ''Website/TheOnion''.
430* UsefulNotes/{{China}}'s One Child Policy, combined with Chinese tradition favoring male heirs, means many families have been having (or ''[[OffingTheOffspring keeping]]'') too many sons and not enough daughters, which means not enough wives to go around once those extra sons grow up. Oops! The government eventually had to compromise by creating numerous exceptions so that only about half of all households were subject to the full policy, allowing girls to inherit their family name, and giving families "incentives" (read: money) to have baby girls before abandoning the OCP altogether in early 2016, but 35 years of the policy means that by 2020 there were somewhere between 24 and 36 ''million'' more Chinese men than women of marriageable age. The lower-bound estimate comes from the Chinese government themselves, and that even ''they'' have admitted the problem exists is a sign of how dire the implications could be.
431* In UsefulNotes/HongKong, according to the Small House Policy, each male indigenous villager can build a small homestead or "Ding House" in the New Territories and pass the house and land to their male heirs. This right cannot be exercised by women, nor can homesteaders pass land to their daughters since by Chinese tradition a clan's legacy can only be maintained by the male heirs.
432* India has not been immune to the same pressures: despite the absence of a policy ''requiring'' that families limit their size, increasing prosperity and a government awareness campaign on overpopulation have caused many Indians to want to limit the size of their families (typically 2-3 children). However, the traditional preference for sons still has influence, and many Indian women selectively abort female children, although this is technically illegal. While the gender ratios in India are nowhere nearly as skewed as in China, it is a problem that the Indian government is taking quite seriously.
433* The current Japanese constitution doesn't allow women to inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne, or men to inherit through female ancestors, at all. By the 2000s, the imperial family looked like it was heading towards a succession crisis as all of the emperor's grandchildren were girls. A constitutional amendment was in the works to at least allow his daughters' sons to inherit until Princess Akishino gave birth to Prince Hisahito in 2006, meaning the question was staved off for at least another generation.
434** Male-only succession is NewerThanTheyThink for the Japanese monarchy, as throughout its history, there have been eight ruling Empresses. While Empresses were usually succeeded by their sons, there was also one mother-to-daughter succession. Only in the 19th century were [[LineageComesFromTheFather the male-line succession rules]] firmed up to bring Japan more in line with Western-style monarchies.
435** With the post-American occupation constitution, the rules were made even stricter in order to limit the size of the imperial family and prevent cadet branches from establishing claims to the throne. A princess must renounce all her titles upon marrying a commoner, and her sons are barred from the succession. As a result, the imperial family is shrinking, and every princess that leaves increases the burden of royal duties on the aging men who remain.
436* In Russia, Peter I the Great had set down a house law that monarchs could appoint their own successors. As a consequence, his widow Catherine inherited his throne, and succession was settled by a palace coup a number of times during the 18th century, resulting in three more ruling Czarizas. Czar Paul I, who bore a grudge against his mother UsefulNotes/CatherineTheGreat for deposing his (supposed?) father Peter III and allowing him to be murdered (and also because she possibly wrote a will that bypassed him in the line of succession and gave the crown to his eldest son), enacted a new house law of semi-Salic succession, under which any male heir was preferred to any female. This ended the era of ruling Czarinas, as it gave a late king's brothers and nephews precedence over his widow or surviving daughters. The last Czar's only son was a hemophiliac (which prompted UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk to enter the picture), and [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober the uncertainty of his succession helped erode faith in the Russian monarchy]].
437* In Korea, a father who's had multiple daughters in a row is referred to as being "rich" as a way of gently needling him for continuing to try for a son without due consideration of the financial burden of supporting the children he already has. Bonus points if the man does have a son who's much younger than his eldest sister.
438* In one ''Dear Abby'', a woman complains about her father-in-law, who kept insisting that she needed to have a son because he wanted a grandson. When she points out he already ''has'' a grandson, he makes it clear he wants a grandson with ''his'' last name, and since the woman's husband is his only son, there's no other way for him to get one.
439* The belief that only men could rule played a pivotal role in the downfall of UsefulNotes/TheEmpireOfBrazil: UsefulNotes/PedroII lost both of his sons when they were toddlers, and while his daughter Princess Isabel was both intelligent and eligible to take the throne, he and his advisors didn't believe a woman was fit for the task of ruling Brazil. With no male heir, Pedro took no steps toward ensuring his throne would outlast him.
440* As of 2024, thanks to many of its monarchies abandoning agnatic and/or agnatic-cognatic primogeniture (as detailed above), Europe has ''six'' future queens regnant: Crown Princess Victoria (Sweden), Princess Élisabeth, Duchess of Brabant (Belgium), and Princess Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange (the Netherlands) are the heirs apparent to their respective monarchies, while Princess Leonor, Princess of Asturias is heir presumptive to the Spanish throne and Princess Ingrid Alexandra[[note]]daughter of Crown Prince Haakon[[/note]] and Princess Estelle[[note]]daughter of Crown Princess Victoria[[/note]] are the heirs apparent-in-waiting to the Norwegian and Swedish thrones, respectively.
441[[/folder]]

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