"I'm sorry, Papa. This isn't how I wanted this to happen. I had to. You left me no choice, and I'll do what I must to protect our home, even if that means I have to hurt you Papa!"
— Ochō, Star Wars: Visions
Sometimes, family doesn't stay together forever.
This trope is based on when family members, for whatever reason, end up fighting one another. Generally, this is because of one member making a Heel–Face Turn or the inverse, but can often happen due to someone manipulating another as in Deceptive Legacy and Insidious Rumor Mill.
This rarely if ever comes up in works where Status Quo Is God. If a family member changes sides, then they are fighting their former family until the series ends or someone ends up dead. See Big Brother Bully, Cain and Abel, Abusive Parents, Archnemesis Dad, Hates Their Parent, Gruesome Grandparent, and Evil Uncle for examples of characters that tend to end up here.
Note that in order for families to count, both sides have to know that they were family before they started fighting. So Darth Vader and Father (the one from Codename: Kids Next Door) don't count as the family they were fighting didn't know about their relationship until later in the series.
Subtrope of We Used to Be Friends and Dysfunctional Family. Contrast Thicker Than Water. Also see Big, Screwed-Up Family and Friends Are Chosen, Family Aren't. It frequently overlaps with Prodigal Family, when estranged family members showing up after a long time complicates a character's life.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Cross Ange: Ange loved both her siblings until her older brother Julio outed her as a Norma, was responsible for her parents being killed and her being dispatched to Arzenal, and attempted to have her killed first by baiting her back with her sister and then by ordering a massacre of all the Norma; her sister Sylvia also turns on her, hating her for being a Norma and holding her responsible for her mother's death.
- Naruto: Sasuke once adored his older brother Itachi until Itachi murdered their entire clan, leaving Sasuke orphaned and traumatized.
- Star Wars: Visions: "Lop & Ocho": Lop is a runaway slave adopted by Yasaburo at the insistence of his daughter Ocho. They become close as sisters, but as Imperial oppression continues under the guise of bringing the backwater world of Tao to modernity, Ocho believes working with the Empire is the right solution, while Yasaburo starts resorting to terrorism to fight back. It culminates in Ocho joining the Empire for good, Lop inheriting their father's heirloom lightsaber, and Ocho disowning her sister.
Comic Books
- Runaways: After finding out their parents are evil and trying to destroy the world, the titular group gains this dynamic while swearing to stop them whatever it takes.
Fan Works
- In the Better Bones AU, Gorseclaw, Spottedpelt and Ripplestar used to be siblings who loved each other, but Gorseclaw betrayed the other two when he felt Ripplestar attacking the Clans at a peaceful gathering to get territory for SkyClan to return to was going too far, and ended up killing Spottedpelt in the ensuing battle.
- Hollyleaf not only turns against her mother Leafpool as in canon but also her brother Jayfeather, feeling he has defied StarClan one too many times by having kits with Poppyfrost and believing she needs to prove herself as the hero she thought she was by punishing every wrongdoer.
- The three Kiryuin sisters (Satsuki, Ryuko, and Nui) in Natural Selection used to be a loving trio of siblings that looked after and cared for one another. Ragyo's machinations, abuse, and control over their lives drove them apart, and now they're on opposing sides in the war of the Life Fibers.
Films — Animation
- Frozen (2013) features a softer variation between sisters Elsa and Anna; they aren't malicious towards each other but have been estranged for years. They were best friends as young children but when Elsa inadvertently injured Anna with her ice magic, Anna's memories of Elsa's magic were removed. Anna still remembered their close bond, and so was hurt and confused when Elsa seemingly began shutting her out for no reason. Elsa was terrified of losing control and hurting her sister again, believing avoiding her (and everyone else) was the only way. Even after their parents died, they remained distant despite Anna's attempts to reach out. This culminates in a public fight between them during which Anna gives Elsa a "Reason You Suck" Speech and Elsa's powers are revealed. Anna realizes this is why Elsa has been cold towards her and sets out to reconcile with her which helps Elsa to gain control of her powers.
Anna: Elsa and I were really close when we were little but then one day she just...shut me out and...I never knew why.
- Legend Of The Guardians The Owls Of Ga Hoole: Brothers Soren and Kludd start off close as could be until they are kidnapped by the Pure Ones. At that point, Kludd slowly ends up believing the Pure Ones's mission and attempts to sabotage an escape attempt Soren makes. It ultimately ends with the two brothers fighting in a flaming forest followed by Kludd seemingly falling to his death.
- This was explicitly not the case in the original books, where Kludd was hateful and violent towards Soren from the very beginning, and in fact was the one responsible for him being thrown out of his nest.
- The Prince of Egypt: Moses and Rameses are very close at the start of the movie, with Moses even trying to defend him from their father. Even after Moses returns many years later, both want to continue their close relationship. However, due to Moses being the one who has to free the slaves, he is forced to do worse and worse things to the people Rameses rules over as Rameses continues to refuse, despite Moses begging him to. Finally, after the final plague which results in the death of every firstborn son in Egypt, Rameses lets the slaves go. However, at the crossing of the sea, Rameses returns to try and kill all the slaves, Moses included, making it clear things are over between the two former brothers.
- In Turning Red, according to Grandma Wu, she was close to her daughter, Ming, until Ming gained her giant red panda form leading to them fighting and never fully reconciling.
Films — Live-Action
- Star Wars: Kylo Ren, formerly known as Ben Solo, is the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia. However, after a grave misunderstanding with his uncle Luke and being tempted by the Dark Side turns him evil, he ultimately murders his father. However, he later returns to the light side thanks to both Rey and a final talk with his father.
Literature
- In the Warrior Cats arc Dawn of the Clans, the series begins with half of the Tribe of Rushing Water finding a new home; among them are brothers Gray Wing and Clear Sky. Eventually Clear Sky decides that he'd rather live in the forest than on the moor and starts his own group. He then becomes more and more power-hungry and paranoid that the moor group wants to stop him, which leads to battle between the two groups and Clear Sky nearly killing his brother. Clear Sky's son Thunder also decides he can't stand living with his father and starts his own group. Ultimately, what was once one community splits into five. Although the family members reconcile to an extent, their groups, henceforth known as Clans, remain separate forever.
- A Song of Ice and Fire:
- For most of the series, Jaime was the only immediate family member that Tyrion had a good relationship with. Near the end of the third book, Jaime confesses that years ago he lied about Tyrion's first wife, Tysha, being a whore paid to take his virginity when in reality she was genuinely in love with him. Feeling furious and betrayed, Tyrion lashes out by falsely confessing to murdering Jaime's son and exposing the fact that Cersei had been cheating him.
- Catelyn and Lysa Tully were very close as girls, but their father's ward Petyr drove a wedge between them. Lysa was infatuated with Petyr, who only had eyes for Catelyn, who only saw him as a little brother and married someone else. Lysa's jealously festered into full-blown hatred of her sister by the time they were adults. In fact, Lysa gleefully set into motion a series of events that ruined Catelyn's life and ultimately led to her death.
- After Robert Baratheon's death, House Baratheon literally go to war with each other over the Iron Throne. Stannis Baratheon claims he's the rightful heir as Robert's eldest brother, because Robert's children are actually bastards born of incest. Robert's widow Cersei and her family, House Lannister, back Joffrey, who is ostensibly Robert's son. Then Robert and Stannis' younger brother Renly proclaims he should be king because he's more popular and better at winning supporters than Stannis. Renly gets assassinated by Stannis via magic and Joffrey gets poisoned by Littlefinger and Olenna Tyrell for being The Caligula; Stannis has put his war with the Lannisters on hold to deal with the North.
- The Grisha Trilogy: The Darkling was once very close to his mother, Baghra. Though she still loves him, she becomes determined to stop his plans to take control of the Shadow Fold and overthrow the King of Ravka. As punishment for going against him, he rips out her eyes.
- Captive Prince: Prince Damianos had a happy childhood with his older half-brother Kastor and is taken completely off-guard when Kastor usurps the throne. Subverted when Laurent, who's much more adept at deception, realizes that Kastor had always hated Damianos for supplanting him in the line of succession, and might actually have tried to kill him before.
Live-Action TV
- Harlots: Charlotte has a falling out with her mother Margaret after Margaret's actions almost got Charlotte and her lover Daniel executed for a crime they didn't commit. She leaves home to work for her mother's competitor. Charlotte and Margaret eventually reconcile.
Video Games
- Assassin's Creed III: The core conflict of the game is a battle between a father and son over their beliefs. Haytham the Templar father is trying to show the dangers of given "the people" a semblance of power while Conner the assassin son is trying to demonstrate that you have to fight to ensure freedom and peace for all. And given that they picked sides in a Forever War, it is a conflict that goes from words to blades.
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: Downplayed with The Shadow Sirens. Beldam bullies both of her sisters but they work together and all start out as enemies to Mario, but after Beldam mistreats the youngest sister, Vivian, one too many times, she gets fed up and switches over to Mario's side, where she stays for the rest of the game. In the epilogue, they do make up.
- Pokémon:
- Pokémon Black and White: Ghetsis took in N and raised him to be king, with the latter truly seeing him as a father. Plus, there are no hints of abuse whatsoever. Then it turns out that Ghetsis only saw N as a tool for power. By Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, they're outright at war.
- Pokémon Sun and Moon: Lillie had a perfectly normal relationship with her family...at least until her father disappeared. After that, her mother Lusamine became obsessed with Ultra Beasts, while her brother Gladion left her behind after noticing his mother increasing obsession. By the events of the game, Lusamine hates both of her children (with the feeling being mutual in Gladion's case), while Lillie slightly resents Gladion. They make up in Pokemon Ultrasun And Ultramoon. In Sun and Moon...not so much.
- Tekken
- Heihachi Mishima used to be deeply in love with his wife, Kazumi. However, when she reveals that the only reason she married him was to assassinate him before his ambitions for world conquest ruined the world, he is forced to kill her in self-defense. In turn, this made Heihachi bitter towards not only her but their son (because he had the same supernatural curse in his blood that she did). Likewise, when a young Kazuya learned that Heihachi had killed his beloved mother, Kazuya attacked him. Then, both as a test to see if the boy would succumb to his curse and out of spite, he tossed Kazuya off a cliff. Sure enough, the Devil took hold and from that moment on, both father and son were mortal enemies.
- Tekken 7 reveals that while Kazuya loved his mother so much as to try to avenge her after Heihachi killed her, she saw Kazuya as nothing but another aspect of her mission. In fact, she had already arranged for Akuma of Street Fighter fame to kill both her husband and son if anything ever happened to her. Kazuya overhears Akuma telling Heihachi this and is genuinely surprised and hurt to learn that his beloved mother had wanted to kill him. However, being Kazuya, he quickly laughs at the irony, as it no longer mattered.
- Kazuya was also very fond of his paternal grandfather, Jinpachi, who partially trained and doted on him as a youth before Heihachi betrayed him. By the time Kazuya had grown up, Jinpachi had been consumed by a wicked demonic power and Kazuya himself had embraced his devil persona. Thus, in Kazuya's Tekken 5 ending, he briefly holds his injured grandfather in his arms and the two recollect their happier years together...before Kazuya's eyes burn red and he flashes a Slasher Grin before finishing Jinpachi off.
- History repeated with Kazuya's son, Jin Kazama. While not exactly "loving" of his grandfather, Jin was told by his mother Jun to seek Heihachi if something ever happened to her (which it did). Heihachi raised and trained Jin, and even enrolled him in his school, but it was all part of Heihachi's plan to lure out Jun's killer: a creature called Ogre. When Jin gets to Ogre first and slays him, Heihachi decides that he has outlived his usefulness and orders his men to gun him down. Once again, Jin survives because the Devil he inherited from his father takes control, and Jin spends the next several years despising and plotting the downfall of every member of the Mishima family.
- After Jin himself underwent a Face–Heel Turn upon seizing control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, one of his strongest subordinates in the Tekken Force was Lars Alexandersson, who is later revealed to be Kazuya's half-brother (and thus, Jin's half-uncle). While their relationship was mostly that of commander and loyal subordinate (as neither knew they were family at the time), the moment that Jin betrayed him and got the men under his command killed, Lars and Jin became bitter enemies, and in fact, being part of the same family they both despised only made their animosity that much greater. In Tekken 7, the two are forced to bury the hatchet to deal with Kazuya, who had finally killed Heihachi and was now poised to conquer the world unopposed.
- Finally, there's Lee Chaolan, who's Heihachi's adopted son and thus the adopted brother of Kazuya and adopted uncle of Jin. Initially he was something of an Opportunistic Bastard who worked with Heihachi or Kazuya against the other, but he was eventually exiled and after seeing how badly things were going for the world due to the Mishima family feud, he ultimately ended up teaming up with Lars to try and put a stop to things, positioning himself as a Big Good who was trying to prevent the others from wrecking the world with their fight.
Visual Novels
- In Daughter for Dessert, when Cecilia starts feeding Amanda information about Lainie, she grows cold toward the protagonist, and makes secret plans to move out of their apartment.
- Exploited by Tamara in Double Homework. She and the protagonist used to be the best of friends before the avalanche, but she goes through a period of not talking to him, even after he starts to leave his room again. As it turns out, she’s trying to manipulate him into sex.
- In Melody, Melissa’s death took a heavy toll on her immediate family, with Melody acting out in different ways and Arnold sinking into near-depression. They also grow apart until some intervention from the outside causes them to reconcile.
Web Animation
- In RWBY, twins Qrow and Raven Branwen joined Beacon Academy together. They trained together in the same team and finally became part of Ozpin's inner circle. Then Raven abandoned her team and by Volume 5 tries having Qrow killed.
Webcomics
- Sticky Dilly Buns: Amber and Ruby Larose were apparently fairly close as children. However, once Amber hit puberty, she became increasingly remote from Ruby, just as the latter found herself increasingly isolated and something of a Bully Magnet at school; Ruby became jealous of Amber's attractiveness, social success, and (in Ruby's eyes) favored status with their parents. Then, after Amber left home, the young Ruby discovered (in highly embarrassing circumstances) that Amber had become a porn star — and Amber persuaded the naturally truthful Ruby to keep this a secret from their parents. Then, when the strip begins, the sisters find themselves obliged to share an apartment. Their ensuing conflict never rises above the level of continual sniping from the embittered Ruby at the confused Amber (who somehow never works out why Ruby should be quite so hostile), but Ruby is consistent about it.
Western Animation
- Arcane: Vi and Powder were incredibly close as kids growing up in the slums of the Under City, with Powder idolizing her older sister who treated her more leniently as The Baby of the Bunch of their adopted family. Powder's reckless bomb killing the rest of their family causes Vi to lash out physically and verbally at her. When Vi storms off to cool down, it seems like she's abandoning Powder when Vi's arrested before she can return. Post time-skip, their relationship is fraught and messy. Both are torn between a desire to return to their old relationship and how much they've changed as people.
- Codename: Kids Next Door:
- The Lincoln sisters Abby a.k.a. Numbuh Five and her older sister Cree, formerly Numbuh Eleven. Back when Cree was still a KND operative, she and Abby were as tight as could possibly be, with Cree even being the prior owner of Abby's hat. However, in present day, Cree is now a teen and a traitor to the KND, as well as being a common minion of Father's, with the two now being bitter enemies.
- Numbuh Three and her younger sister, Mushi, start the show very close, with there being hints that Mushi looks up to Kuki. Then Mushi ends up falling for King Sandy and things take a turn for the worse. She ends up stabbing Kuki's Posh Party rainbow monkey, leaving the sisters hating each other.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender gives us Zuko and Iroh. Both were once close with Ozai and Azula, but following Zuko's banishment, Iroh doesn't view them as highly and has joined the White Lotus in hopes of defeating them. It takes Zuko far longer, as he still clings to a belief he can impress his father, but after both he and Azula take a flying leap over the Moral Event Horizon, Zuko realizes he's been on the wrong side of the war and does a Heel–Face Turn, leaving them as enemies for the remainder of the series.
- DuckTales (2017): At the beginning, Donald Duck and his uncle, Scrooge McDuck, haven't spoken for over ten years. Donald drops Huey, Dewey, and Louie off at Scrooge's mansion so they stay out of trouble while Donald goes to a job interview, with it being painfully clear this is a last resort. Later, it is revealed that their conflict stems from Donald's twin sister and the triplets' mother, Della, getting lost in space, and Scrooge not doing enough to search for her in Donald's eyes, as well as not stopping her from taking off on the doomed flight. In the penultimate episode of Season 1, Scrooge's family abandons him as the triplets learn the truth about their mother, but their feud is over by the season finale.
