[[MahouSenseiNegima http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/09.jpg]]
[[caption-width:496:Rakan hammers the point...]]

-->''Someday Mother will die and I'll get the money \\
Mom leans down and says "My sentiments exactly.\\
You son of a bitch, I Palindrome I."''
--> -- TheyMightBeGiants, "I Palindrome I"

Yes, we know that LamarckWasRight... but this is getting ''silly.''

You see, not only has our hero discovered his SecretLegacy and realized that, due to his SuperpowerfulGenetics, he has inherited all of Mum and Dad's abilities (including the ones [[LamarckWasRight courtesy of]] [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Charles Atlas]])... he's found out that he's destined/doomed to live out a replay of their lives.

This trope takes "following in your parent's footsteps" to a whole new level. The character hasn't just inherited their parents' character traits and superpowers -- they've inherited their entire life story.

They will meet the same people their parents met, or, if this isn't possible, they will have an [[{{Expy}} equivalent]]. If Mandy's best friend when she was a child was Polly the SoapBoxSadie, her daughter Mindy will befriend Paula the SoapBoxSadie on her first day of school. Sometimes it's just a coincidence, where the child seems to gravitate towards the [[FiveManBand same type of people]] as their mum and dad were drawn to, but often the new associate will have some direct tie to the parent's past (i.e. is the daughter of someone that knew the character's mum).

Often, certain key events will [[BecauseDestinySaysSo happen]] ''[[BecauseDestinySaysSo exactly]]'' [[BecauseDestinySaysSo as they did in the past.]] TurnOutLikeHisFather is most likely to fail when crossed with this trope. In [[NarrativeDevices many plotlines]], however, the outcome will change at the last moment since the hero(ine) has heard the story from their parents and has had the time to work out what went wrong and [[ScrewDestiny worked up the guts to change it.]] For example, if the hero's dad fell out with his best friend because neither would apologize to the other, the hero will figure out that saying sorry is the best way to keep his own friendship going.

To a certain point, this trope can be a JustifiedTrope. If the parents send the kid to the same school as they themselves went to, then it's not such a stretch to believe that the son or daughter will encounter the same people. If the parents kept in touch with their old friends, it's not unlikely that the child will befriend the children of those friends. However, if the parents moved to a different country, assumed [[SecretIdentity secret identities]] and [[MysteriousPast tried to forget the past]], only to have Junior come home from his first day of school announcing that his dad's [[TheLancer right hand man]] is his English teacher... that's [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality a bit more of a stretch]].

{{Mentors}} who become parental figures will also tend to pass on their life story, although karma rather than genetics will be held responsible for the resulting deja vu.

LoveInterests and [[LoveTropes relationships]] tend to get copied whole cloth as well. Whether it's the descendants of two StarCrossedLovers or the child of the OfficialCouple from a LoveDodecahedron finding out they have their parent's stable's children gunning for them with cupid's arrows.

And heaven help you if your parents/mentors made a mess of their lives, because guess what? Yup, that FatalFlaw was hereditary too. Better get to work figuring out just ''how'' they screwed things up, because if you don't, chances are the same tragedy's going to happen again. And it'll be ''your'' fault this time around, in which case you'll have no choice but to pass the entire scenario on to ''your'' son or daughter and hope that they can SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong -- a sort of generational GroundhogDayLoop.

See also InTheBlood, SecretLegacy, SuperpowerfulGenetics.

Very often, the [[IdenticalGrandson exact same actors]] will be used to portray the ancestors. The more distant they are, the more likely this is.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

*In ''PetShopOfHorrors'', Count D's dad is portrayed throughout the series as a nasty piece of work, a ManipulativeBastard supreme. It's surprising then, when a short story reveals that D's dad was much like his son when he was younger, to the point he even had a "Leon" of his own in the form of Vesca Howell -- a loud mouthed and brash best friend who he was exceedingly fond of [[spoiler: but whom he ultimately abandoned, just as D abandoned Leon at the end of ''Petshop'']]. The elder D's later "madness", [[spoiler: and the fact that he and Howell were eventually responsible for each other's deaths]], doesn't bode well for his son, especially given the "Count D" family's odd connection to karma.
* As much as Tomoya of {{Clannad}} hates his father for neglecting him to dull the pain of his mother's death [[spoiler: he has become exactly the same to his own little girl Ushio to forget that her birth killed Nagisa.]]
* One of the themes of ''{{Naruto}}'' is the recurrence of certain characters, traits, and patterns across the generations. Team 7's relations and characteristics, for example, are a dead ringer for those of the Legendary Sannin. This was one of the reason many fans were able to pick up on a LukeIAmYourFather revelation long before it was revealed in canon.
** Not that it was particularly subtle.
** As a matter of fact, the relationship between Naruto and his friend/rival Sasuke works as a GenerationXerox on three separate levels across multiple generations.
** What about the ''Ino-Shika-Chou'' trio?
*** Many aspects of Shikamaru much more closely parallel their sensei's than his father, though there is some overlap.
** Also, Gai/Rock Lee. Same haircut, same jumpsuit, same training regimen... Hell, I think they even have the same eyelashes.
*** Well, Guy made Lee like that. They ''do'' have the same eyelashes and hair color, though.
*** And Guy made Lee in his own image?
** Part of the drama/storyline is that Generation Xerox is present, but also a curse of types. Sasuke is the biggest example/offender that he seems like silly putty. Is he going to be a copy of Kakashi, Orochimaru, Itachi or Madara?
*One episode of ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'' features a duel between Yugi and a girl named Rebecca, who accuses Yugi's grandfather of stealing his Blue-Eyes White Dragon card from her grandfather. The duel ends up mirroring exactly a duel between the two grandfathers held in a caved-in archaeological site, with the last bit of water on the line. [[spoiler:Both Yugi and his grandfather ended up surrendering their duels even though they would have won with their last card draw.]]
* Subverted in OnePiece. The exploits of Luffy are implied to very closely mirror those of Gol D. Roger, the previous Pirate King; he also meets quite a few people who personally knew the guy(either that, or the successor of said person), and his actions are consistently described by these people as being exactly what Roger would do. However, it's pretty clear right from the start that Roger isn't Luffy's father, and it's outright confirmed later on. But the ''real'' kicker came in fairly recently: [[spoiler: Roger actually did have a son: ''Ace'', Luffy's brother, who absolutely ''despises'' the guy and wants nothing to do with him.]]
* The final episode of ''[[DigimonZeroTwo Digimon Adventure 02]]'', the second season of ''{{Digimon}}'', ends with a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue in which [[spoiler:all twelve of the heroes from the past two seasons bring their children to the Digital World for a get-together. Not only do many of the kids look somewhat like their parents, but ALL their partner Digimon are lower-level forms of their parents' own partner Digimon.]] This scene is [[{{Discontinuity}} not popular with the fans]], though that's mainly for [[ShipToShipCombat shipping-related]] [[OfficialCouple reasons.]]
** While {{Shipping}} is part of the reason for the [[{{Discontinuity}} hatred]] towards the DistantFinale, the other reason is that a lot of it ''[[WallBanger makes no sense]]''. This is especially prevalent in their professions. I mean [[spoiler: Astronaut Matt and Fashion Designer Sora?]] [[CharacterDerailment Knowing the characters, does this make any sense at all?]]
* Rapidly subverted in ''MahouSenseiNegima'' manga, which has the earnest, 10-year-old genius mage Negi following in the footsteps of his hugely-famous DisappearedDad, the "Thousand Master" Nagi... Only later Nagi is shown to be a laidback magic school dropout who --although quite powerful-- had to read spells off of a card and resorted to cheap tricks whenever possible (like, say, [[MundaneSolution luring a certain vampire into a covered hole in the ground]]). In power and personality, they're completely different, and Negi increases the divide even further by choosing [[spoiler:the powers of darkness]].
** That all said MANY comparasions can be made between generations, and grow with each relevation: Negi=Nagi, Kotarou=Jack Rakan, Setsuna=Eishun, and of course Ala Alba=Ala Rubra. For that matter Albrieo Imma is rather mischevious and the team healer, like Konoka. And with the Nagi calling the Zect his "master" recalls Ku Fei.
*** In chapter 258 Rakan flashback confirms above, and also shows that theres exist a sticking resemblance between relationship that Negi's parent's had and the one he shares with his partner, Asuna.
**** Asuna, of course, [[{{Squick}} being Negi's aunt]].
* Possible application in TsubasaReservoirChronicle. Due to time travel and reincarnation, [[spoiler: The Syaoran and Sakura that we start the manga with]] turn out to be the ''parents'' of one of the people they are [[CloningBlues cloned from]] and virtually identical to. Whether the clones are imitating their originals, or the younger male is imitating his father (who just happens to also be his clone) is a matter best left to ''[[MindScrew illegal substances]]''. Or at least [[INeedAFreakingDrink alcohol]].
* Played with in ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', where the villain notes that all of what the heroes are doing has been done before to no success. They succeed anyway.
* ''CodeGeass''. An Emperor and his partner, to whom he is ''very'' close, form a ''[[XanatosRoulette very]]'' [[XanatosRoulette elaborate plan]] to unite the world for its own good [[WellIntentionedExtremist by any means necessary]], so [[LoveMakesYouEvil those they love will be happy]]. Now, thinking carefully, [[spoiler: am I talking about Emperor Charles di Brittannia and Marianne "The Flash" Lamperouge, or Lelouch vi Britannia/Lamperouge and Suzaku "Knight of Zero" Kururugi?]]
** Then [[spoiler: Rolo]] is Xerox [[spoiler: V.V.]]
* A {{Pettanko}} sorceress from Zephilia meets a mercenary swordsman and they fall in love while fighting to make a buck. [[{{Slayers}} Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev]], or Lina's parents?
* A rough-looking JerkWithAHeartOfGold from the north punches his way through adversity, [[NoSenseOfDirection gets lost easily]] and is very HotBlooded. [[RurouniKenshin Sanosuke Sagara, or his father Kamishimoemon]]?
** Actually, I was thinking Conan the Barbarian.
* A HotScientist gets involved with one of her bosses, [[LoveMartyr is used and manipulated by her lover]], [[HeroicBSOD breaks down horribly]] when she realizes what has been truly going on, sees a very young girl as her rival [[spoiler: and kills her, sorta]], and ultimately meets her doom in quite the fucked up way. [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, or her mother Naoko]]?
*''[=~Jojo's Bizarre Adventure~=]'', so much.
* Seiichirou Kitano from AngelDensetsu not only is as scary as his father. He gets in the same exact problems at school because of that, and knows his girlfriend only when she understand he's TheMessiah. Exactly the same as his father's. The only, marginal, difference between the two is that Seiichirou trades in being TheJuggernaut (on top of being a LightningBruiser) for a metric ton of SelectiveObliviousness.
* ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'': Our main character is an over-powered MagicWarrior despite being an elementary schoolgirl. Her first magic teacher is Yuuno, [[ThoseTwoGuys she has a pair of ordinary friends of contrasting personalities]], and looming over the horizon is a brooding, mysterious DarkMagicalGirl rival who [[IHaveTheHighGround enjoys balancing on high places]] and is every bit her equal. Now, is this Nanoha Takamachi in the first season or Vivio Takamachi in ''[[SpinOffspring ViVid]]''? Of course, unlike her Nanoha-mama, Vivio has the advantage of the old cast looking after her, [[spoiler:so while DarkMagicalGirl Fate remained at large for the entire first season, DarkMagicalGirl Heidi got [[DefeatMeansFriendship befriended]] almost immediately at the start of ''[=ViVid=]'' when her attempt at TheWorfEffect on [[HollywoodCyborg Nove]] backfired on her]].
** In Chapter 6, [[spoiler:Vivio spars with Einhart and loses easily, disappointing her, as she thinks Vivio cannot possibly be the Sankt Kaiser. Vivio proposes a rematch in a week and hope to get strong enough to satisfy her. Since Vivio heard about Nanoha fighting Fate in the second StrikerS sound stage, it seems she's inherited Nanoha's ideas about making friends]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Both played straight and subverted for all it's worth in ''{{Runaways}}''.
* [[{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine's]] 19th century ancestor, Lady Johanna Constantine, is a suave, dashing sorceress with a tendency to doom her loved ones to horrible fates. The immortal Hob Galding also met an Elizabethan warlock called Jack Constantine, who came to a nasty end in a graveyard.
* In [[SpiderGirl Spider-Girl]], and related series like A-Next, most of the characters are awfully similar to their parents, mentors, or inspirations. The next generation of superheroes has [[DistaffCounterpart different demographics]], however, as a disproportionate number of daughters fill their fathers' shoes. In their favour, they often have different personalites and motives, just similar career and fashion choices.
** Spider-Man --> Spider-Girl; Spider-Woman --> Spider-Man; Captain America --> American Dream; Ant Man --> Stinger; Black Cat --> [[spoiler:Scarlet Spider]]; [[spoiler:Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and Ben Reilly]] --> Darkdevil; Quicksilver --> Blue Streak; Falcon --> Ladyhawk; Juggernaut --> J2; Wolverine and Elekra --> Wild Thing; etc, etc...
* An early ''LegionOfSuperHeroes'' story had Supergirl join a Legion who said they were the children of the Legion Superboy joined. This was never referenced again, and Superboy and Supergirl were members of the same Legion from then on.
**L.E.G.I.O.N. sometimes plays with this, with ''ancestors'' of the LOSH characters having similar stories.
*The basic theme of PeterDavid's ''[[{{Aquaman}} The Atlantis Chronicles]]''; Aquaman and Ocean Master are just the latest generation of feuding royal brothers, dating back to the founding of Atlantis.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

* Especially common in ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' and ''HarryPotter'' (Marauders or next generation) FanFic. Even before the Deathly Hallows epilogue.
** It's not just those two series, it's ''everywhere''. Most "Next Gen" fic will feature kids who are either 1.) Exact carbon copies of their parents or 2.) Have a blend of traits that the writer thought were the coolest aspects of said parents. This applies to personality, fighting styles, what the kids want to be when they grow up, etc.. Occasionally the kids will have certain aspects of their grandparents if they showed up in the series and they were likable enough. When you get right down to it, many of these "original characters" are the same damn people and the only difference will depend on what the writer's favorite name is.
*** And while we're on the subject, this leaches into the shipping as well. For example, if the writer is a Harry/Draco fan, this will come across/feature in an Al/Scorpius fic. Same goes for Rose/Scorpius = Hermione/Draco, among others.
** Hell, the Sailor Moon fanseries "Sailor Moon Z(odiac)" does this with by giving almost every named character a Silver Millenium counterpart, up to and including (Insert Name Here)'s family status and relationships!

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In the ''BackToTheFuture'' trilogy, George [=McFly=] is bullied by Biff Tannen; his grandson Marty [=McFly=], Jr is goaded into crime by Griff Tannen. Both characters' escape from their respective tormentor was catalyzed by Marty [=McFly=], Sr, who is himself (initially) goaded into crime by Douglas Needles (not a Tannen, but he fills the same JerkJock''/''CorruptCorporateExecutive role as Biff).
**Marty Sr is reluctant to send his demo tape to a record producer because he "couldn't handle that kind of rejection". George (in the original history) won't send his manuscript to a publisher for the same reason.
* ''StarWars'': Young Skywalker is whisked away from his home on Tattooine by a Jedi Knight. He then saves the day by flying a starfighter into battle and improbably blowing up the enemy space station, befriending R2-D2 in the process. He then receives training in the Force against Yoda's protests, leading him to overconfidently attack Palpatine's [[TheDragon Dragon]], losing an appendage for his troubles. Now, are we talking about Luke or Anakin?
** Arguably taken a step further in the ExpandedUniverse, in which Luke decides there's no such thing as a 'light side' and 'dark side', only the Force, henceforth using the force entirely as he sees fit. Later, after a certain incident, he comes to the rapid conclusion that he's made a terrible mistake, and cuts himself of from the unsavory elements of the Force. In some ways, reflecting how Anakin came to embrace the Dark Side, only to repent and slay the Emperor. Anakin's grandson follows [[strike:almost]] exactly the same path as Vader, all the while ironically looking back at history so he did not make the same mistakes, [[BrokenAesop which he did]]. The conclusion was arguably inverted as he ended up not repenting before his death.
* In ''ForrestGump'', both Bubba's mother and Lieutenant Dan are depicted as coming from long lines of service (the Blue clan comes from a long line of servants, and Lieutenant Dan's ancestors had died in each of America's wars.) In both cases, it's Forrest's intervention that breaks their cycles: He saves Lieutenant Dan from death (but not from losing his legs) in Vietnam, and he gives Bubba's mother a cut of his shrimping money (the last scene she's in has someone serving her.)
* ''{{Mamma Mia}}!'' has a mild version: Sophie's relationship with her best friends Ali and Lisa is identical to that of her mother Donna and ''her'' best friends Tanya and Rosie - both groups have their own friendship chants and the similarity is {{Lampshaded}} in a later scene when both groups unwittingly have a near identical conversation.
*The film ''The Duchess'' seems to be a determined attempt to present the life of Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire, as a foreshadowing of her collateral descendant Diana, Princess of Wales.
* In ''Tremors 4: Back to Perfection'', Burt's 19th century ancestor encounters the Graboids.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

*In ''HarryPotter'', this cuts both ways. Harry's father and his cohorts from their days at Hogwarts, the Marauders, map well onto Harry and ''his'' friends -- and he meets every single one of them before the end of the third book. And [[spoiler: the "first day at Hogwarts" at the end of ''Deathly Hallows'' is a dead ringer for Harry's own "first day" way back in ''Philosopher's Stone''. This is emphasised when Harry's daughter Lily whines that she wants to go to Hogwarts ''now'' to her mother, Ginny... who said the same thing six books earlier.]]
**This is also subverted to an extent with Harry's father -- Harry unthinkingly assumes that their characters were xeroxed until Harry's father James turns out to have been a pampered little idiot in his teenage years, properly maturing only when he was out of school. It's implied that Harry's unhappy upbringing has made him a better person in some respects. Dumbledore also comments to Snape he finds Harry's personality a lot like his mother's, rather than his father's.
* A non heroic example is present in Gabriel García Márquez's novel ''OneHundredYearsOfSolitude''. The names and the personality traits associated with those names emerges in each generation of the Buendí­a family, leading to a cycle of repeating mishaps and tragedies which only ends [[spoiler:with the death of the last member of the family and the destruction of the town the family founded]].
* It is rather subtle but the similarities between the younger generation of (especially, but definitely not just them) Stark children in ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}'' and the previous generation has been pointed out.
** Subtle??? How many times did Catelyn say Robb was just like Ned and then go into so mournful rememberance?
*''Every'' generation of the Ohmsford family in Terry Brooks ''{{Shannara}}'' series includes one member who, against his family's advice, [[JumpedAtTheCall Jumps At The Call]] of the druid Allanon (or his successors). This family member stands a good chance of being friends with the impulsive Prince of Leah, and will almost certainly encounter the King of the Silver River and be accompanied by a group of Men, Dwarves and Elves (probably including Elven royalty) against the BigBad. They may also have a more sensible sibling who accompanies them to stop them getting into trouble, encounter a LoveableRogue named Creel, and befriend a Moor Cat.
*In NealStephenson’s novel ''{{Cryptonomicon}}'' and its multipart {{Prequel}}, ''TheBaroqueCycle'', the characters of Lawrence Waterhouse and his ancestor Daniel are both descended from nonconformist preachers (Lawrence’s grandfather, Bunyan, and Daniel’s father, Drake). Despite an unconventional childhood, they attend a prestigious university (Princeton/Cambridge) where they form a strong but uneasy friendship with an obsessive, gay ubergenius (Alan Turing/Isaac Newton). They subsequently come onto the radar of the mysterious immortal Enoch Root, and become involved in a complex secret war involving hidden gold and cryptography, with the assistance of Sergeant Bob Shaftoe (of the US Marines/the King’s Own Black Torrent Guards), while also becoming involved with the political machinations of the Comstock family (Earl Comstock, first head of the NSA/Roger Comstock, Marquis of Ravenscar) and working on early computers (''very'' early in Daniel's case).
** Oh, and amongst the genuine historic figures Waterhouse meets is the famous military leader, Churchill (Winston Churchill/John Churchill, Duke of Marlbrough).
**Laurence’s grandson, Randy, in ''{{Cryptonomicon}}''[='s=] 1990s sections, also fits the pattern to some extent; he’s a computer geek, he becomes involved in Root’s conspiracy, works with Bobby Shaftoe’s son (and has a relationship with his granddaughter), and deals with the political machinations of Earl Comstock’s descendant. Admittedly, he starts out with an interest in his grandfather’s work, but that doesn’t explain all of it, and certainly not why his capitalist venture partner just happens to be descended from a member of the original Bob Shaftoe’s brother’s pirate crew (as, incidentally, is Goto Dengo, one of a handful of characters to appear in the 1940s and 1990s sequences of ''{{Cryptonomicon}}''. He’s a Japanese soldier who converts to Christianity; his ancestor was one of the "Kirishitan" Jesuits persecuted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi).
*The writing of David Eddings, especially the {{Belgariad}}/Malloreon series and the Elenium/Tamuli series, in which characters specifically point out the similarity of events. This repetition is put down to Destiny by {{The Obi Wan}}/{{Dirty Old Man}}/{{Byronic Hero}} Belgarath and {{Creepy Child}}/{{Oracular Urchin}}/{{Physical God}} Aphrael, respectively. At the end of both series, however, it is claimed that this cycle of Destined Events has been broken, making the future unpredictable.
*Subverted to some extent in {{Tamora Pierce}}'s ''Trickster's Choice'', where it is revealed that the daughter of female knight Alanna has no interest in becoming a knight herself, and in fact begins the book as a rather lazy and unambitious individual.
** It's a pretty mild subversion, though, because what she wants is to follow in the footsteps of her spymaster father instead...
*In ''WutheringHeights'', Heathcliff and Isabella's son Linton Heathcliff has the worst traits of both of his parents, being a nasty, cowardly snob. On the positive side, Hareton Earnshaw and Catherine Linton have a lot in common with young Heathcliff and young Catherine Earnshaw (in fact, Heathcliff deliberately keeps Hareton uneducated to mold him into a new version of himself), but turn out to be better than the older generation.
*There is something like this is seen in ''VanityFair''- Amelia, who is something of a WideEyedIdealist YamatoNadeshiko has a son George who she terribly spoils, leading him on a path to become like his father, George, who was a snobish JerkJock wannabe aristocrat, but whereas DoggedNiceGuy Dobbin wasn't successful in reforming the earlier George, he is able to mould the younger one [[spoiler: his step-son]] into a better person. The other [[VillainProtagonist "heroine"]], [[TheVamp Becky Sharpe]], has a FreudianExcuse for some of her behavior. She neglects her son Rawdon, who is named after his father who was better than most of his family who were a long line of [[AristocratsAreEvil evil aristocrats]]. While less of a character than young George, the younger Rawdon also seems to grow up to be a better person than his parents- he gives his mother a settlement [[CallingTheOldManOut not to come near him ever again]] which contrasts with how his grandfather, [[DastardlyWhiplash Sir Pitt Crawley]] tried to cheat his children out of inheritance owed to them.
* Happened in WelkinWeasels - even their names are very similar: the descendants of Mawk and Scirf are named Maudlin and Scruff, respectively.
* In Mercedes Lackey's HeraldsOfValdemar series, the Ashkevrons are shown to be very much like this generation after generation. The ones who don't fit the mold (such as Herald-Mage Vanyel) eventually run away from home.
* The ''SweetValley'' 'Saga' books rely on the idea that the present inhabitants of Sweet Valley largely are Xeroxed from the ancestors who are the subjects of the books. Patmans and Fowlers are of course in some way derived from nobility, for example.
*The whole plot of Madeleine L'Engle's ''A Swiftly Tilting Planet'' is Charles Wallace traveling through history tracing the interactions of three people [[{{Reincarnation}} reborn again and again]] doomed to repeat the same actions as their ancestors.
*In {{Discworld}} novels, "Old Stoneface" Vimes is the Knight Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, and is well known for his belief that ''nobody'' is above the law, to the extent that he famously arrested the ruler of the city. While this obviously refers to Sam, during the time period of the novels, it's also a description of Suffer-Not-Injustice, some 300 years earlier. (The difference: Suffer-Not-Injustice executed the king; Lord Vetinari was let off on a technicality, and it all turned out to be part of his XanatosGambit).

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

*Although the various generations of the ''{{Blackadder}}'' family are accompanied by {{Baldrick}} and an UpperClassTwit, it's not until ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' that we get a real sense of history repeating, with more recurring characters from previous series than before, including one-off characters who take their own plotlines from the earlier series with them (Bob the SweetPollyOliver, for instance, or Nurse Mary, who's a WWI version of Amy Hardwood from ''Third''). The fact the basic set-up is similar to ''Blackadder II'' (Edmund, Balders and the twit are all based in location 1. Blackadder is frequently summoned to location 2 where an obsequious hanger-on with equal status tries to get him in trouble with a psychotic loon who has power of life and death over everyone involved) is just the icing on the cake.
* In the ''StarTrek'' universe Dr Soong was an eccentric scientist, whose work on creating artificial humanoids made him distrusted. One of his more powerful creations turned out to be a concienceless monster who had to be stopped by the crew of the ''Enterprise''. Another, however, was a good person who aided the ''Enterprise'' crew in this. Arik (and Malik and Udar) from ''StarTrekEnterprise'' or Noonien (and Lore and Data) from ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration''?
* They might have got better ([[MindScrew kind of]]) but in ''{{Supernatural}}'''s ''Mystery Spot'', Dean died and Sam became a ruthless hunter, bent on revenge against Dean's killer. As you would recall, their mother died (she didn't get better) and their father became a ruthless hunter, bent on revenge against ''her'' killer. And yes, it's as [[{{Hoyay}} slashy]] as it sounds.
** Sam is John 2.0 Period.
* Played with in the first episode of the final season of ''{{Buffy}}'', when Dawn is joined by two outcast classmates - a mousy shy girl and a loudmouthed guy - and fights monsters on their first day at the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High. Those characters were subsequently forgotten.
* Pretty much the whole concept of the new series of ''{{Minder}}''. Archie Daley, the nephew of Arthur Daley? Who picked up a taxi driver as an assistant? Okay.
* In the ''Series/RobinHood'' episode "Bad Blood" {{Flashback}}s reveal that [[spoiler: the emnity between the Gisbournes and the Locksleys started due to a love triangle between Guy and Robin's fathers, which ended with the woman involved being killed by one of them (Malcom of Locksley, and unlike Guy's murder of Marian, it was an accident). Ghislane of Gisbourne also shows flashes of her daughter's political ambition, and gets shouted down by a sexist community leader in a similar manner to the arrival of Isabella's husband.]]
* In the ''{{Smallville}}'' episode ''Relic'', Clark sees flashes of his father's brief time in Smallville as a young man. Jor-El, Clark dad, falls in love with Lana Lang's aunt, Jonathan Kent's father is seen as noble farmer who helps Jor-El, and the bad guy is a Luthor, Lex's grandfather. [[spoiler: And a corrupt Sheriff. The first Sheriff in Smallville is also found out to be corrupt]]
* Lorelai and Rory from ''GilmoreGirls''. It's mentioned several times in the series how they alike their personalities are. Rory's first boyfriend reminded Lorelai of Rory's father for example.
* In ''Press Gang'', it is revealed in a flashback that Spike's mom and Spike's dad were carbon copies of Spike and Linda when in High School.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Music ]]

* Offspring's ''Way Down the Line'' is entirely about this trope.
-->There is a chain that's never broken
-->You know the story it's sad but true
-->An angry man gets drunk and beats his kids
-->The same old way his drunken father did
-->What comes around, well it goes around...
* Harry Chapin's song ''The cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon''.
-->And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
-->He'd grown up just like me
-->My boy was just like me
* The [[TheyMightBeGiants TMBG]] page quote from "I Palindrome I" works too; the song is about a man who kills his mother for the inheritence, and the TimeSkip last verse implies that his children are about to do the same to him.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Radio ]]

* Subverted in the ''Stanley Baxter's Playhouse'' episode "The King's Kilt", when Miss [=MacEvoy=], descendent of the kindly landlady from Walter Scott's ''The Chronicles of Canongate'', turns out to be a nasty, bad-tempered woman, who is insanely suspicious of the guests at her B&B. However, it's [[DoubleSubversion double subverted]] when it's revealed the original Janet [=MacEvoy=] was just as bad, but was blackmailing Sir Walter into his portrayal.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* Prior Walter, the protagonist of ''AngelsInAmerica'' has an extensive family history; the Walters go back for centuries, and Prior is an old family name. Not too long after discovering he is suffering from AIDS, Prior is visited by the ghosts of two of his ancestors, both of whom were also named Prior, and both of whom also suffered from fatal diseases and (as is implied might happen to Prior) died alone.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* An interesting example happens in [[DeusEx Deus Ex: Invisible War]], where [[spoiler: the lead character turns out to be the descendent of the character from the first game, kind of, and he/she faces some similar obstacles and decisions as JC Denton did the first time around.]]
* Subverted, deconstructed and generally hashed into pieces by ''MetalGearSolid 2''. The new player character seems to experience a sequence of events extremely similar to ones experienced by the previous player character in the previous game, with note-for-note character analogues and extremely similar level design. The character noticed this, too, and began to get pretty existentialist about it, wondering if he was somehow insane and imagining the whole thing. It turned out it was all [[XanatosRoulette deliberately orchestrated]] to have precisely that effect on him. The game was a satire of reiterated sequels, hence the dark use of this trope.
** An agent, codenamed Snake goes on a solo mission to rescue somebody. There he finds out plans to build a nuclear-armed tank. Eventually, he discovers that his mentor is part of the plot, and after a battle, kills the mentor in combat. Now, are we talking about Big Boss or Solid Snake (or even Raiden)?
*** [[spoiler:Made obvious by the end of ''MetalGear Solid 4'' when both are standing next to each other.]]
*** [[spoiler:Of course the point of 4 was that Snake isn't exactly like Big Boss after all. At the end he's the only one to be able to live his own life. Big Boss even acknowledges this saying "If you were in my place back then, perhaps you wouldn't have made the same mistakes I dd..."]]
** He was a child soldier in a 3rd world country, he was taken under the wing of a skilled soldier who wears a eyepatch, and later on his body was destroyed which led to him becoming a cyborg [[spoiler:Now am I talking about Frank Jaeger aka Gray Fox or Jack more commonly known as Raiden?]]
** Of course the most important fact in the entire timeline of the game. [[WhereItAllBegan It all began when]][[spoiler: Naked Snake/Big Boss (was forced into) killed The Boss]]. [[BookEnds The conflicts finally ended]] when [[spoiler:Solid/Old Snake (who is literally a [[CloningBlues a copy of Big Boss]]) killed (his FOXDIE did anyway) The Boss' son [[BigBad Ocelot]].]]
* The Belmont family from ''{{Castlevania}}''. For hundreds of years, each generation's males (and many of the females) had to fight Dracula (or ''his'' offspring) at least once. This is due to some vague "curse" in the family (which also carried over to other family lines).
** The Sorrow games go even further. The six main protagonists are Soma ([[spoiler:the reincarnation of Dracula]]), [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend his "friend" Mina]], vampire hunter Julius Belmont, witch Yoko Belnades, Genya Arikado ([[spoiler:aka Alucard]]), and Hammer (who was originally going to be playable in [[NonstandardGameOver Julius Mode]] in ''Dawn of Sorrow'', and fanon suggests would have played like Grant [=DaNasty=]). Everyone is essentially a counterpart to someone from the story behind ''Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse'', except that Mina (the Lisa counterpart) isn't dead.
* Played rather more literally with Cloud and Zack in ''FinalFantasyVII''. [[spoiler:after Zack's death, Cloud has a HeroicBSOD and reconstructs his own personality based on the memories of his dead friend, turning himself into Zack's {{Expy}}.]] However, there are other, more random, events that just so happen to play out the same way in both of their stories - especially those relating to Aerith.
* In FinalFantasyVIII, [[spoiler: Laguna Loire had a long-time crush on Julia Heartilly. When the two got to know each other more, Julia fell for Laguna. However, he is given a mission and never returned leaving Julia waiting to meet him again. When Julia became an IdolSinger, she married General Caraway and had a daughter named Rinoa. Laguna on the other hand was injured and nursed back to health in Winhill village. He fell in-love with Raine, the woman who took care of him and they had a child named Squall. Seventeen years later, Squall and Rinoa meet and as the story progresses, they fell for each other.]]
* Played with in ''ValkyriaChronicles''. Everyone thinks Welkin is following in his war-hero father's footsteps, while what he really wants is to become a teacher.
*In ''HarvestMoon DS (or [[DistaffCounterpart Cute]])'', all the characters are descendants of the characters from ''A Wonderful Life'' and ''Friends of Mineral Town''. They look the same (and most of them even have the same names), except for a few minor details in some of the characters (like eye color), act the same and fall in love with the same people.
** Tree of Tranquility takes this to an absurd point. If you start a NewGamePlus,you get to play as your son,or daughter,who looks [[IdenticalGrandson exactly]] like you,or your opposite gender counterpart. Also,the villagers ''revert back to their original statuses''.
** What about Elli [[spoiler:And to an even greater extent (especially in ''HM:64'', though it's never been confirmed she's Nina's granddaughter, Popuri]] in ''HM: 64''/''Back To Nature''/''Friends of Mineral Town'', who is very similar to [[spoiler:her grandmother, Ellen (yes, the old lady!) who was an eligible bachelorette in the original game for the Super Nintendo]]
** It's quite loose, whether [[spoiler: Ellen is the Ellen from SNES. She could be Ellen and Pete's daughter who shares her moms name, for all we know.]] They have different jobs, for example.
** Even worse in the case of DS/Cute and AWL is their wedding clothing. They wear similar clothing to their (great?) grandparents. For example, Celia. [[http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Puku6/Harvest%20Moon/1WeddingSerenaSm.png DS]] and [[http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/shilahalo/thCelia31.jpg AWL]]. Not that we see either on screen, but still..
* Despite not being related by blood, in ''PhoenixWright: AceAttorney: Trials and Tribulations'' 3 case 4, when a young Edgeworth appears in a flashback, he looks disturbingly similar to his mentor, Manfred Von Karma, even copying a few of his trademark gestures (like the [[GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger finger wave]]).
* The Yakras in ''ChronoTrigger''. The original posed as the chancellor of Guardia to get closer to the Queen so that he could kill her and sever the royal bloodline (which includes [[spoiler:Marle, a.k.a. the present-day Princess Nadia]]). All of his descendants followed a similar pattern, but you only get to kick the butts of Yakra I (600 A.D.) and Yakra XIII (1000 A.D., much later in the game).
* Sort of used in ''MegaManStarForce'', where Geo and all of his friends directly parallel Lan and company from ''MegaManBattleNetwork''. In fact, Echo Ridge looks almost exactly like AC/DC. Though in this case there's no biological connection, but it's still one hell of a coincidence that many of the same events played out between two very similar groups of people two hundred years apart.
* In the WorldOfMana games, the Vandole family suffers from this. It's vaguely established that the original Vandole was a young adventurer who stumbled upon and absorbed the power of the Mana Tree, which [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity drove him insane]] and altered his body composition so that he was no longer quite human. His descendants (or at least the notable ones) are all addicted to Mana and eventually fall prey to their bloodline's need to seek it, which leads them to duplicate their infamous ancestor's empire and/or gambit for the Mana Tree. At this point they all usually choose to go by their surname or [[FantasticRacism start being referred to as it by those opposing them]]. Every one of them also seems to have bright red hair and very dark green eyes, and they may or may not be the reincarnations of the original.
** This is a large part of the YouCantFightFate theme in ''SwordOfMana'', where many of the heroes have similar roles to the Gemma Knights, and Vandole's only living descendant [[spoiler:''literally'' gets [[HijackedByGanon possessed by his ancestor]] (or something) and tries to carry out the same kind of plan Vandole did]].
* ''GoldenSun DS'' fell into this trope hard and subverted it at the same time. Of the three known characters, two are virtually identical to previous protagonists. The third protagonist, a green haired girl, is driving the fandom insane from trying to figure out who she is. Then again, they '''are''' being marketed as the descendents of the main characters in the previous games.
* TheLegendOfZelda series does this as well, to the point of being Lampshaded by the opening cutscene of The Wind Waker.
* The BubbleBobble series. [[OneHitPointWonder Fatally]] [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting irritatingly,]] there is always going to be a green bubble dragon and a blue bubble dragon.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

*[[http://www.jaynaylor.com/betterdays/archives/chapter-21-fath/ Better Days]] Actually has a chapter called "Father's Footsteps" Reveals that the stories told to Fisk of his father's life were a lie. Instead of the honorable war hero he had believed his father to be, Jim was actually a hitman working for a secret underground operation who fought terrorist on a "more direct front" to defend the U.S., using Vietnam as his cover. One of the characters who explain this met Fisk in his adolescence ealier in the comic and was Jim's friend. Aside from one question accompanied by a frown, Fisk doesn't seem at all angered, dismayed, or even shocked by this ground breaking discovery. He of course hastily agrees to begin training for this new venture eventhough Beth was expecting him to come live with her and lead a more domestic life once his army contract expired.
* Surma sends her daughter Antimony to the same school as she herself attended -- ''GunnerkriggCourt''. It seems as if Annie's parents were the only members of that generation who moved away from the court, since Annie runs into most of her parents' social circle (who are now teachers), befriending the daughter (Kat) of Surma's friends. She also meets another acquaintance of Surma's -- Reynardine. Instead of walking up to her and saying "Hello, I knew your mum," however, Reynardine comes crashing through Annie's ceiling -- and she's the only student in the ''entire dorm'' to see him.
** Given her SecretLegacy, it also appears that Annie is destined to acquire Surma's role in the Court, as well as her powers.
*** A recent flashback has shown that Surma, who looks ''exactly'' like an older Annie, appeared to have had an almost identical relationship to Kat's mother as Annie has to Kat.
**** Arguably subverted, since Surma is shown in flashback to be more like Kat than Annie in personality. Meanwhile Anja (Kat's mother) is more reserved and Annie-ish.
* In ''GirlGenius'', Agatha's guardian had to give her an apparently magical (or at least sufficiently advanced beyond what the setting usually has--not that the series has stayed entirely away from magical effects) necklace specifically to prevent her from inheriting her hereditary position as the apparent center of the universe--within a week of losing it, [[spoiler:she's escaped from the ruler of Europe's airship after his son fell in love with her, in tow with a talking cat and a legendary hero who then tries to kill her, after having defeated a hive of body horrors and having her foster parents ripped to shreds by a construct made by her mother. And it only picks up speed from there.]]
** As one character puts it, "We're in a Heterodyne story now, these things happen."
**The LoveTriangle that is mirroring the one that took place two hundred years before involving the Storm King, a villainous Spark, and a Heterodyne princess. In fact she was the last girl to be born to the Heterodynes before Agatha,[[spoiler:adding to the confusion is the fairytale/Prophecy, that peace can only come to Europa when the Storm King weds the Heterodyne Princess. Now which of her two suitors is which? Gilgamesh, heir to TheEmpire who demonstated his eligablity to be the Storm King in his CrowningMomentOfAwesome, vs Tarvek, the descendant of the Storm King who, while quite a capable Spark, is more known for his being a MagnificentBastard.]]
** Agatha and her father, and uncle are a subversion, until them the Heterodyne family where a bunch of psychotic mass murdering MadScientist who where feared throughout Europe.
** There is evidence that [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041206 Klaus is a construct as well as a Spark]] and the Jagers joke about [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021216 Klaus breaking his Spark son Gilgamesh up and using him for parts]].\\
In a parallel vein, Agatha seems to be the only Spark [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040405 capable]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050504 of creating clanks]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090401 that have a Spark's power]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090420 to create]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090424 more clanks]].
** Also interesting that we learn that Punch (Adam Clay) is [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070516 allergic to electricity]] and not long afterward we see the effect that [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070523 coffee has on Agatha]]. Is Agatha herself a construct Spark creating clank Sparks?
*** The coffee scene is much more RuleOfFunny than anything, if not [[CaffeineBulletTime a trope unto itself]].
* Riff of SluggyFreelance seems to be following in his father's footsteps of reckless science, exploration and demonism. This is impressive because they last saw eachother when he was in kindergarten. Meanwhile he's dating a woman as controlling and evil as his mother (slightly less cruel, but more interested in exterminating humanity).

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

*A subversion of the "replay with last minute change" occurs in ''HeyArnold,'' where Helga is a finalist in the same spelling bee as her sister before her... and gets the same last word, "qualm". Like her sister Olga, Helga ''does'' know how to spell the word... but deliberately mis-spells it, in order to defy her father and step out of Olga's shadow.
** Don't forget a different episode of the same show where Grandpa tells Arnold about his childhood and the girl that bullied him. Although it skips a generation, we learn that Pookie picked on Phil the same way Helga picks on Arnold.
*** Or the one where Arnold and Gerald get in a fight. Phil and his best friend had a similar argument in their youth..
*** And then there was the episode where it was revealed that every man from his granpa's line dies at midnight of his 91st birthday. Arnold's granfather thought that he was going to die but then he realised that he did a miscalculation and he has 10 more years to live.
* In one episode of ''{{Rugrats}}'', Tommy's grand-aunt visits; at the end of the episode, we find out that, as a child, she had the same relationship with Grandpa that Angelica has with Tommy, and even mentions "those two kids from down the street, Bill and Jill".
* ''{{Transformers}}'': Optimus and his crew crash-land in the distant past on Earth, and must fend off attacks from Megatron and his band of miscreants while defending the planet and attempting to return to Cybertron. Now, are we talking about Prime or Primal? To further draw parallels, Cheetor takes up Bumblebee's mantle, and Terrorsaur makes a good [[TheStarscream Starscream]] {{Expy}}.
** In ''[[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Mosaic Transformers: Mosaic]]'', Optimus Primal notes the [[http://transformers-mosaic.deviantart.com/art/Symmetry-74330571 symmetry]].
***Except, of course, that's fanfic; therefore, kinda sorta, well... something that never happened.
*In the {{Western}}, IdenticalGrandson episode of ''JackieChanAdventures'', Valmont's ancestor is trying to release Shendu, and ends up being defeated by Jackie's ancestor.
** Lampshaded when Jade ''insists'' that one character was her counterpart, and a sudden dustcloud hides the character's replacement by Old West!Jade.
* Subverted quite a bit in ''BatmanBeyond''. As the DistantFinale shows Terry [[spoiler:was a TykeBomb that was designed to follow the path to becoming Batman almost exactly]], but despite this he ends up being somewhat different. For instance Terry is ''not'' [[ThouShaltNotKill afraid to kill his enemies]] if he has to, and as he demonstrated to [[spoiler:the Joker himself]], he's not afraid of fighting dirty or turning someone's mind games around on them.
** Another instance is that while by the time of ''BatmanBeyond'' Bruce is just a reclusive old man, Waller tells Terry that he doesn't have to [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies be a loner to be Batman]], and he's still seeing his high school girlfriend.
* In the WhatIf FlashForward episode ''[[{{Ben 10}} Ken 10]]'', Ben's [[IdenticalGrandson nearly-identical son Ken]] (he has darker skin, like his mother, and slightly darker brown hair, but is otherwise a Ben clone) is given an Omnitrix by his father on his tenth birthday because he got his when he was ten. It also has the same limitations as his original (time limit, limited number of aliens), and then Ken goes on to meet Devlin, the [[SuperpowerfulGenetics transforming, superpowered son]] of Ben's formal rival Kevin (ThemeNaming, anyone? Oh yes). Ken also offers Devlin the opportunity to join the Tennyson family, the same offer Ben made Kevin as a child. However, Devlin actually accepts the offer, unlike his father.
**This troper also thinks that Ken's name is a [[PortmanteauCoupleName mushed-up version of his parents' names, Ben and Kai]], and giving Gwen a brother with the same name was done ''after'' the fact...
*** Actually, in the annotations of the first series, Ken is actually mentioned, Ben idolized him.
*''Famous Five On The Case''. This troper can't help feeling it would have been more interesting if George's daughter had been the girly girl, and Anne's the tomboy.
* One episode of ''TotallySpies'' features the team that cam before Sam, Alex and Clover: Pam, Alice and Crimson.
** Heh...Crimson and Clover, over and over...
* An episode of ''KimPossible'' shows her 19th century ancestor as an adventurous reporter in the vein of Tintin, Ron's ancestor as her partner, and the ancestors of Shego and Drakken as her archenemies. (Of course that turns out to be AllJustADream... OrIsIt?)
**Naturally, Ron spends half the episode {{Lampshading}} the trope.
* In an episode of ''ThePowerpuffGirls'', the 19th century ancestor of Professor Utonium creates his own version of the Powerpuff Girls using steampunk technology.
* In ''TheFairlyOddparents'', Timmy's 19th century ancestor has Cosmo and Wanda as his fairy godparents. And his sucessor from the far beyod future will also have them. And his ''future kids''.
* An episode of ''AceVentura: Pet Detective'' shows Ace Ventura's medieval ancestor as a pet detective, Guado's ancestor as a corrupt sheriff and Woodstock's ancestor as the informer of Ace's ancestor (complete with a steampunk computer).
* One time-traveling (of sorts) episode of ''DannyPhantom'' revealed Jack's obsession with ghost hunting isn't self-contained; his pilgrim ancestor [[IdenticalGrandson John Fenton Nightingale]] did it, too!
* The French cartoon called ''Once Upon A Time... Mankind'' is about the history of humanity, and features the same five characters from prehistoric times until TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.
* ''TheVentureBros'' episode "ORB" shows a flashback of [[SteamPunk victorian era]] adventurers who all seem conspicuosly similar to modern characters. (Granted, the modern equivilants aren't a team anymore)

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Both BruceLee and his son, BrandonLee, died under mysterious circumstances, leaving half-finished films behind that would later be completed posthumously (Bruce ''Game of Death'', and Brandon ''TheCrow''). The similarities between their deaths led to a number of conspiracy theories involving the Triads and other Asian organized crime associations.
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