Heroic Lineage

Cabbage: Listen, my son. The men of our family have been legendary heroes for generations.
Cucumber: ...but you're not a—
Cabbage: SO IT SKIPS A GENERATION HERE AND THERE!

— Cucumber Quest

Got a good Ancestral Weapon? Got a cherished family recipe for whoop-ass? There's only one thing to make this heroic picture complete: at least one sword-wielding, name-taking hero in your family tree. Maybe more. No wonder you've got a thing about saving people—it's In the Blood.

Maybe not as shiny as full-on Divine Parentage,^note Then again, many heroes did have Divine Parentage back in the day, so this could be a two-for-one special. but it certainly explains that Orphan's Plot Trinket.

Makes a great surprise if there's a Luke, I Am Your Father moment in store.

In short, a character is a descendant of a famous hero, regardless of if he knows it or not, or how strong the blood is. Compare Tell Me About My Father, where the character loves to think about his dead/absentee parents as heroes, regardless of the truth. Compare Single Line of Descent where apparently there's only one person per generation who carries the gene.

Almost guaranteed to inherit an Ancestral Weapon at some point.

Subtrope of Famous Ancestor and In the Blood. Generally found or at least claimed among those with Blue Blood, although they may not initially know about it. Master-Apprentice Chain and Legacy of the Chosen are similar concepts without necessarily involving blood relation.

Inverse of Villainous Lineage. See also Legacy of Service and Bodyguard Legacy for other inherited roles.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Naruto:
  • Naruto:
    • Naruto counts as this, being the son of the Fourth Hokage.
    • But really, every person who is in any way related to the Uzumaki, Uchiha, Senju, and some other ninja clan, counts as this. because all of these clans come from either Indra or Asura, the sons of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, a.k.a the Sage of Six Paths.
    • Played with Tsunade, who was partly chosen to be Fifth Hokage precisely because she was the granddaughter of the First. Early on, she's less than thrilled with the notion herself, as it just means she's from a lineage of people who got themselves killed in battle.
    • The Sage's twin brother also had descendants of his own; the Hyuuga clan (whose members include Hinata and Neji), and Toneri, the Big Bad of the canon tenth film.
  • Boruto:
    • Boruto and his younger sister Himawari count as this obviously, being the children of Naruto and Hinata, and thus having also the Hyuuga name in their lineage on top of everything else. Boruto invokes this trope after Kawaki uses Omnipotence to swap their places in the minds of everyone, being determinated to prove prove his identity.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is all about the Joestar lineage, started by Jonathan Joestar, known to both friend and enemy as "JoJo" and continued by his descendants who all end up with his nickname one way or another (giving the series a sort of Legacy Character Title).
• The Asuno family of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE have three generations of badass Gundam pilots: Flit (the first-gen) contributed in the creation of his own Gundam, became an Ace Pilot at age fourteen, grew up to command the entire military, and STILL kicked all kinds of ass in his sixties. Asemu (the second-gen) may have lacked the Psychic Powers that his father and son had, but that did not stop him from becoming a SUPAH PAIROTTO. And Kio (the third-gen) possesses truly insane levels of Psychic Powers, arguably more than even the strongest among the enemies.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid has Einhart Stratos, the descendant of Hegemon Claus Ingvalt, a Warrior Prince from the Ancient Belka era who is always depicted as an extraordinary hero whenever he appears in legends. Besides inheriting his silver hair and mismatched eyes, she also inherited his Genetic Memory, which causes her no small amount of angst as the strongest of these memories is his greatest failure of not saving his beloved Olivie.
• Dragon Ball
  • Goku started a lineage with his first son, Gohan, and then Goten, both who are heroes in their own right. This extents to his granddaughter, Pan.
  • As far as Earthlings are concerned, Videl and Pan come from the heroic lineage of Mr. Satan.
  • How 'heroic' is Vegeta is questionable, but he made a lineage with Trunks, his future counterpart, and Bra.
    • Piccolo sort of invokes that trope, when giving a pep talk to Goten and Trunks after they get their ass kicked by Boo the first time.
• Luffy from One Piece plays with this. Luffy's grandfather, Garp, is a well-known marine hero who nearly cornered Gold Roger several times. At the same time his father, Dragon, is the most wanted criminal in the world trying to overthrow the government. Among fans, Dragon counts as a hero given that the the government is corrupted and run by Jerkasses.
• Played with Pokémon: I Choose You!. Verity is the daughter of the great and powerful Sinnoh champion Cynthia. She however doesn't share her mother's amazing Pokémon battling skills and feels in her mother's shadow. Despite this, she still ends up on an adventure in I Choose You and meets several legendary Pokémon.
• Pretty Cure
  • In Heart Catch Pretty Cure, Kaoruko Hanasaki was once the powerful Cure Flower who was responsible for defeating the Big Bad of the season nearly 50 years prior, and while the Pretty Cure power did skip a generation, it ultimately landed back in the Hanasaki family with her granddaughter Tsubomi/Cure Blossom. The epilogue also reveals that Tsubomi's younger sister Futaba also becomes a Pretty Cure, but we are never shown to what extent.
  • HuGtto! Pretty Cure: Hana Nono is Cure Yell, the lead Cure of the season. Her Kid from the Future, Hagumi, is Cure Tomorrow, but Hana never knows this as Hagumi reverted into a baby after over-exhausting her time travel abilities in order to prevent the Bad Future where she came from.
  • A non-Cure example happens in Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure with Takumi Shinada, who's dad was once a warrior of the CooKingdom. After discovering and unlocking the power of his amulet, Takumi took up his personal mantle of Black Pepper in order to protect his childhood friend Yui, who fights on the frontlines as Cure Precious.
• The Kinniku family in Kinnikuman and Kinnikuman Nisei/Ultimate Muscle are heroes, and also royalty. Other families worth noting are the Robin and Terry families, both having several generations of heroes.
• My Hero Academia:
  • Tenya Iida comes from a long line of heroes named Ingenium, dating back to the days of his grandfather. All members of the Iida family have an Engine Quirk passed down through the generations that grants them the power of Super-Speed. The current bearer of the Ingenium name is Iida's older brother, Tensei. At least until he suffered a Career-Ending Injury at the hands of the Hero Killer: Stain.
  • Shoto Todoroki's father is the Number 2 Hero, Endeavor, but this is a darker example because of what happened in the family behind the scenes. Todoroki, therefore, is torn between wanting to be a Hero himself and not wanting to give his father the satisfaction of being the perfect heir that he's always wanted. Later on in the series, Endeavor realizes his wrongdoing and tries to make amends with his family, although his efforts have mixed results.
• In Area 88, Mario reveals that Hoover is the son and grandson of ace fighter pilots.
  Mario: You must be Hoover Kippenburg, ex-major of the West German air force. Adolph Kippenburg, your father, shot down 130 planes with his Messerschmidt during World War II. And your grandfather, Karl von Kippenburg, was one of the Blue Maxes during World War I. You've got one impressive family background.
• In the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1999) manga, Rauru tells Link that his deceased father was a Hyrulean royal knight who died in battle.
• Laughing Under the Clouds follows the Kumo family, who have been in conflict with the Ourachi serpent for six centuries. Supporting characters and antagonists tend to have similarly long and proud martial heritages.

Comic Books

• Batman: While none of Bruce Wayne's ancestors were costumed crimefighters, many of them fought injustice in their own ways — his father created the Wayne Foundation charity, and the Batcave was originally part of the Underground Railway during the Civil War, when Judge Solomon Wayne helped former slaves make their way North.
• Beast Wars: Uprising: Magna Stampede makes mention of being a descendant of Pyra Magna, an Autobot commander during the ancient Cybertronian wars.
• Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!: The team's speedster, Fastback is, unknowingly, the nephew of one of DC's earliest Funny Animal superheroes: the Terrific Whatsit, aka Timmy Joe Terrapin's Uncle Merton McSnurtle.
• Crossed: Harry's family dates back to the Norman Conquest of England and he has an ancestor who has fought in nearly every major British war and campaign from Hastings to the Somme, a storied family tradition which has earned them at least two Victoria Crosses and is implied to have earned them a sizable family fortune through war spoils and colonial enterprises, which waxed and waned throughout the centuries. Harry's own Grandfather fought through the entirety of World War II from North Africa to the Rhine, while his father (Who is implied to have been an abusive alcoholic) fought in the Falklands War and served three tours in Northern Ireland.
• The Flash:
  • Every future Flash for many generations is the descendant of either Barry Allen or Wally West, not any of the other speedsters.
  • Jesse Quick is descended through her superhero mother from the (in-universe) earliest flag-based costumed adventurer Miss Liberty (Bess Lynn) who fought alongside Tomahawk during the revolutionary war.
• The Godzilla (2014) tie-in prequel graphic novel Godzilla: Awakening shows that Ishirō Serizawa's father did not die in Hiroshima: they both survived, and Serizawa's father joined the freshly formed Monarch, being one of the first men discovering Godzilla's existence. Ishirō followed in his father's footsteps after he died, becoming Monarch's top Godzilla expert and advocate.
• Hellblazer: The Constantine family tree is an example. The lineage is known in history as Laughing Magicians; mortals who exist only to bluff, trick, and humiliate gods. This family existed just after the creation of gods and existence. Though not always seen as heroic, many of the family makes up a great Magnificent Bastard. Not to mention saving the world countless times.
• Inferior Five: Subverted, as the Inferior Five are the children of various Captain Ersatzes of DC heroes— and utterly incompetent.
• Justice Society of America:
  • In one story, Vandal Savage and the Fourth Reich try to wipe out the families of patriotic-themed superheroes, such as the grandsons and great-grandsons of Mr. America (one of whom has become Legacy Character), or the many descendants of Commander Steel. Savage wipes out at least two families (with the status of a third being unclear, given how an estranged member may not have been present at a wedding massacre) but fails in other cases (even creating a successor to Commander Steel's identity with his attack on that family). The ending also emphasizes the futility of his actions by showing how plenty of Legacy Characters are unrelated to their predecessors.
  • World War II superhero and Civil Rights movement activist Amazing-Man is succeeded in his identity by two of his grandsons at various points.
• The Phantom: The entire concept is that the title is passed from father to son through generations, inspiring the legend that the Phantom is immortal.
• Robin (1993): One storyline featured a group of special ops soldiers that included Johnny Cloud II, grandson of Johnny Cloud of the Losers (not those ones) and Ilsa von Hammer, great-granddaughter of Hans von Hammer.
• Superman:
  • The Krypton Chronicles delved into the lineage of Pre-Crisis Superman and Supergirl. In addition to brilliant scientists, reputable lawmakers, ambitious city-builders... several of their ancestors were army generals -of the kind who ends wars forever-, revolutionary leaders, and in the far past, conquering warlords and chieftains.
  • As of DC Rebirth, Superman now has a son with Lois Lane, Jonathan Samuel Kent, who has taken up the mantle of Superboy.
  • DC Future State: The House of El features a large clan of far-future Superman descendants.
• Ultimate Marvel: "Doctor Strange" is a title that passes from father to son. Dr. Strange Sr., similar to the mainstream one, had a Death by Origin Story. The current one is just a novice, trying to learn the tricks of his father.
• Watchmen: The Silk Spectre is a title held first by Sally Jupiter and then by her daughter Laurie.
• Wonder Woman Vol. 2: As a result of aging the characters back down post-crisis the Steve Trevor of this reality was not a WWII Ace Pilot, however it is revealed that his mother was a WASP who crashed on Themyscira after the war and died helping the Amazons fight monsters trying to escape from Dooms Doorway, so Steve's piloting and inclination to help fight against inhuman and superhuman threats comes from his mother.
• X-Men: The Clan Pyre in X-Men: Phoenix – Legacy of Fire were directly descended from the Phoenix Force and are capable of using its power through an Ancestral Weapon passed from generation to generation. Their hereditary power is so great that even dead remains can be used by other people to channel its energy and use the sword's powers, such as the Shadow King who is revealed to be using the skull of Jena's mother to wield the Phoenix Sword.

Fan Works

• Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Ren Serizawa, though he starts out more belligerent and ambivalent than his late father Ishirō, starts growing into his father's shoes when he starts helping Monarch — the same kaiju-monitoring organization that his father headed — to look out for Monster X and to combat Keizer Ghidorah, before he becomes Monarch's spy within Apex Cybernetics.
• Blood and Honor: Sanguis's mother earned a name for herself in the last war, made Darth and found widespread respect among her fellow Imperials. Sanguis is very proud of this and tries to follow in her mother's footsteps.
• Child of the Storm has more than a few examples, partly due to the fact that superpowers are frequently genetically based and thus hereditary, and Doctor Strange is methodically arranging things behind the scenes. This culminates in Harry, who is faintly baffled and exasperated to find out that he's the son of Thor (James Potter was a first, semi-successful attempt at the whole 'humility' thing), and thus has a bloodline chock full of Royals Who Actually Do Something extending back over a million years, one which may or may not have a connection to the House of El (though Word of God has indicated that even if there is a blood connection, it's far enough back to be watered down to the point of homeopathy). His human side is a bit less storied, but since Lily was related to the Grey family (as in 'Jean Grey'), it's not short on this either. However, as Harry somewhat sourly points out about two thirds of the way through the first book, in terms of practical advantages, this lineage has actually done very little for him other than give him the occasional nasty case of Power Incontinence and make him even more of a target than he already was, requiring every bit of guile, daring, and frankly, luck, he can call on to stay alive. Then chapter 70 happens.
• All of the heroes of the Flash Forward Fic Kingdom Hearts New Epic The First, being the sons and daughters of Sora, Riku and Kairi. It also apparently fits Deputy Mayor Sarasho, who had a war hero father, though his father was far less well received.
• Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron: Lelouch is Krolia's grandson, and it is her, not his parents, that Lelouch takes after most.
• Digimon Codex: Veemon is revealed to have a strong connection to the Royal Knights. The founder of the Royal Knights, Imperialdramon, was explained to have fathered the first two Veemon who went on to become the first two Royal Knights, UlforceVeedramon and Magnamon. It is confirmed that Veemon can Digivolve into multiple different Royal Knights, which in addition to the prior two include Examon and Dynasmon, and Flash guesses that due to Veemon's connection to the history of the Royal Knights there are ways he can turn into any of them. He can also become two different Legendary Warriors by Digivolving to them from his Armor Digivolutions.
• The Star Trek fic "Eclipsed" features Captain Janeway (Star Trek: Voyager) being charged with violating the Prime Directive when it's revealed that the Silver Blood duplicates of her crew ("Demon", "Course: Oblivion") got to Earth first. Admiral Owen Paris advises her to hire Sam Cogley, the great-grandson of the lawyer who defended James T. Kirk (Star Trek: The Original Series) for the death of Lieutenant Ben Finney ("Court Martial"); Cogley reveals that his ancestor not only cleared Kirk, but subsequently got Finney off on an insanity defence. Cogley subsequently proves his own skill by arguing that Janeway had been completely open about her decisions during the visit to the demon-class planet and had no reason to believe the duplicates would leave and come to Earth, so charging her of Prime Directive violations is completely unfair.
• The Naked Jedi: This fic is set almost a thousand years after the era of Luke Skywalker and the original trilogy; by this time, the current Grandmaster of the Jedi Order is Luke's descendant Sanda Skywalker, her son Kael is the Jedi who initially rescues Sarza from her planet, and another Council member is his distant cousin Linden Solo. Fellow Jedi Master Aayla Secura is speculated to be a distant relative of the "original" Aayla Secura, but so far back that it's not considered relevant. Even the current Empress is Leia Nabierre, all-but-explicitly stated to be a descendant of Padme's family on Naboo.
• The Ultimate Evil: The protagonists of Jackie Chan Adventures have an addition in the form of Valerie Payne, who turns out to be a descendant of Lo Pei, the sacred warrior who overthrew Shendu by turning him to stone.
• The TV version of Mike Stoker is portrayed as a descendant of Bram Stoker and the latest of the family's vampire hunters in the paranormal Emergency! fic Mike Stoker's Dracula. He isn't happy with his ancestor because although the book was written as fiction, Mike feels it made people too aware of vampires. He ends up having to stop a female vampire from turning Johnny, and does so by blasting her with water from the Ward LaFrance's tank, which he had blessed earlier in the day, turning it into a high powered blast of holy water.
• Flash Sentry has one in The Bridge, being from the Sentry family which includes many legendary and heroic royal guards and police officers. Flash worries he's failing at living up the legacy, but it is shown his heart is in the right place for being focused on helping others.
• In Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, Ash is confirmed to be, through his mother's side, a direct descendant of Sir Aaron, the legendary knight from the kingdom of Rota.
• In the Mega Crossover fanfic Earth's Alien History, it's eventually revealed that Spock is, through his mother, descended from a sister of Carter Grayson, both of whom are in turn descended from Dick Grayson.
  • Annabelle Park, an SPD Power Ranger, is the daughter of Kimberley Hart and Adam Park.
  • Katie Marek is a future daughter of Vin and Galen Marek.
• In RWBY Alternate, hunters who pass the third tier, known as "becoming the self", are granted silver eyes. These silver eyes are passed onto their descendants. Ruby has silver eyes because her mother and maternal grandmother passed third tier awakening.
• Remnants: People with silver eyes are considered destined to be great hunters. Ruby was born with silver eyes which she inherited from her mother Summer Rose. Summer was a famous huntress prior to her death and was a celebrity in her own right. Ruby feels a lot of pressure to be like her mother and wants to prove herself on her own merits.
• SAPR: Both Pyrrha and Jaune are descended from heroes, and try their best to live up to the example of their ancestors. Though Pyrrha's are quite a bit more famous than Jaune's.
• In Empire, Harry is implied to be the descendant of King Arthur himself.
• Hellsister Trilogy's first story arc has six different generations from Superman's descendants join the main cast to fight Mordru and his Legion of Super-Villains.
• Harmony's Warriors: The Borrsons, despite being named for Bor, take intense pride in being descendants of the first All-Mother Faust.
• In Superman of 2499: The Great Confrontation, both Alan Kent and Katherine de Ka'an are descended from heroes whose lineages have been protecting Earth since the 20th Century. In addition, Bron Wayn's family has been protecting Gotham City since the era of the first Batman.
• A Force of Four features Hippolyta, Warrior Queen of the Amazons, her daughter Diana, also known as Wonder Woman, and Diana's daughter Lyta Trevor, who is also a full-fledged heroine.
• Tales of Kitty-Whiskers and Ladybug: The Gramarye family were the previous holders and guardians of the Miraculous, with Trucy Wright being the latest weilder of the Cat Miraculous. Apollo, as the Ladybug hero, is also part of this lineage as Thalassa's son, though neither he nor Trucy are aware of this or the fact that they are blood-siblings.
• Three Strikes and The Demon's Song reveals that every pilot from the mainline Ace Combat games save Nemo and Phoenix are part of this - Kathryn Hamilton, aka Blaze, and her brother Allen Hamilton are the daughter and son of Cipher, while Roland and Naomi Foulke are Mobius 1 and Trigger, respectively, son and daughter of Larry Foulke aka Pixy.
• Yin-Yang: Both Adam and Adora are the children of King Randor, who is recognized as the hero of the Great Unrest and a legendary warrior. They also get this from their mother's side, descending from several ancient heroes of Greek mythology, such as Perseus and Odysseus. They also descend from the original bloodline of King D'Vann Grayskull and Captain Veena of the Hok, aka the First Ones.

Films — Animation

• The DC Animated Movie Universe has a series of movies following the adventures of Damian Wayne, the biological son of Batman and the current Robin.
• The Incredibles deconstructs this trope as the film is about a family of Superheroes and the problems that this can bring into the family, especially to the children.
  • Incredibles 2: An Establishing Character Moment has Jack-Jack watching a movie involving a Blatant Burglar. He then notices a raccoon digging through their trash and draws a comparison between it and the bad guy on screen, where he then uses his powers to drive it off.
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride: Simba tells Kiara that being a ruler (or future ruler), is in her blood.
• In Turning Red, Sun Yee is the originator of the Lee family's hereditary ability to transform into a giant red panda, an ability granted by the gods to help her fend off a bandit army that was threatening her daughters.

Films — Live-Action

• Played with in Forrest Gump with Lieutenant Dan. True, it's stated in the film that one of his ancestors died in every major war the US had fought in (cut to a montage of Gary Sinise briefly starring as each of his KIA ancestors). However, his desire to die in battle like his ancestors did is portrayed as pathological, and it's only after his post-military adventures with Forrest that he comes to believe that life is worth living.
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): Monarch Drs. Ilene and Ling Chen are both third-generation Monarch operatives in their family, after their mother and grandmother Mei before them; and their family is noted for making some of mankind's greatest evolutionary discoveries. See the Comic Books for Godzilla: Awakening and Multiple Media folders for more MonsterVerse examples.
• From Star Wars, the Skywalkers are a classic example with Luke following in the footsteps of his Jedi Knight father, Anakin, and wielding an Ancestral Weapon to fight the Empire. In the Star Wars Legends continuity, he would eventually father many more heroic Skywalkers. His mother, Padme Amidala, was also a hero in her own right, fighting to save the people of Naboo from Trade Federation control, occasionally going on missions for the Republic in the Clone Wars and being a founding member of the group that becomes the Rebel Alliance. Her daughter Leia takes after her, becoming a key member of the Rebel Alliance, one of the founders of the New Republic and general of the Resistance. Unfortunately, in the Continuity Reboot Leia's son preferred to follow in Darth Vader’s footsteps…
• Assassin's Creed (2016): The Assassin heritage of Callum Lynch includes Aguilar de Nerha and his mother, Mary Lynch, who both suffered greatly to keep the Apple of Eden out of Templar hands. Among the holograms that induct him into the Assassin Brotherhood, one of them appears to be Arno Dorian.
• Played for Laughs in Sky High (2005) as the main character is the —apparently normal— son of the two most powerful superheroes in the world.
• In The Phantom, the protagonist is the latest in a long line of heroes, and has a subplot about encountering the same villain who killed his father.
• In Watchmen, the Silk Spectre is a title held first by Sally Jupiter and then by her daughter Laurie.
• In Dr. Dolittle and its 2001 sequel, John's ability to talk to animals is inherited by his two daughters. In fact, younger daughter Maya goes on to become a veterinarian herself and stars in a trilogy of direct-to-video spinoffs.
• In Star Trek (2009), James Kirk's father George Kirk was captain of a starship for 12 minutes. He saved 800 lives, including James and his mother. 22 years later, Captain Pike dares young Kirk to do better. He does.
• In The Master of Disguise, Pistachio learns from his grandfather that he's descended from a long line of disguise artists who have used their abilities to do good and fight evil.

Literature

• In Beast Tamer, Arios Orlando, leader of the hero party, has a long, long bloodline of heroes behind him, and is chosen as the hero to save humanity from the Demon Lord and his armies. Problem is, he is personally not heroic, at all, but presumes that because he has the bloodline, he will always be viewed as a hero, no matter what he does, and gets murderously vengeful against anyone who would suggest otherwise, like the protagonist Rein Shroud. Eventually, when someone that also comes from a similar lineage is found, Arios' titles and position are taken away.
  • Rein's impressive beast-taming skills also come from being a descendant of a Hero, although he doesn't make much of it.
• The Lord of the Rings:
  • A classic example with Aragorn, whose lineage is certifiably heroic going back about 70 generations, and originates from the three "fathers" of both Elves and Men. Aragorn is also descended from Melian the Maia (an angelic being similar to a demigod) giving him Elvish, Human and Divine descent. Aragorn is descended on his human side from the Faithful Númenoreans who remained true to the Valar and resisted Sauron; his Elvish descent is from the House of Fingolfin, who also remained loyal to the Valar and opposed Morgoth.
  • On a minor note, Éowyn also argues that she's entitled to fight because of this trope. Her ancestors are not as illustrious as Aragorn but she is still a descendant of the kings of Rohan from both of her parents' sides.
  • Elrond is the son of Eärendil, who's currently flying a ship with a Silmaril in the prow as the morning star, having played a starring role in the War of Wrath by slaying Ancalagon the Black, a literally mountain-sized dragon. He's also the paternal grandson of the chosen herald of Ulmo and the Princess of Gondolin, the maternal great-grandson of Beren and Lúthien themselves, descendant of the Kings of Gondolin and Doriath... really, it would be quicker to list which First Age heroes he's not descended from.
    • Not to mention his daughter Arwen is the maternal granddaughter of Galadriel and Celeborn, two of the oldest elves in Middle-earth who both helped to defeat Sauron and destroy the evil fortress of Dol Guldur.
  • Lord Celeborn is a Sindarin prince of Doriath and the great-nephew of Elu Thingol, who was the elven Lord of Beleriand and instigated the Quest for the Silmaril.
  • Gwaihir is a descendant and vassal of Thorondor, the greatest Eagle in the First Age.
• The Edge Chronicles: The heroes of every book, spanning centuries In-Universe, are all part of the same family line.
• Harry Potter
  • Harry is the last living descendant of Ignotus Peverell, the noblest and cleverest of the three Peverell brothers; which makes Harry the closest thing the three deathly hallows have to a proper heir.
  • Harry's parents were members of the Order of the Phoenix, who defied Voldemort himself three times.
• Historia Regum Britanniae chronicles what happens to a splinter group of survivors from The Trojan War, which eventually settles in Britain. The name of the hero is Brutus, whose name eventually became the name for the Britons.
• In Dune, House Atreides claims lineage from King Agamemnon of Argos (or Mycenae, depending on the source), who fought in The Trojan War. This claim originally belongs to the Titan Agamemnon (not his real name) and taken up by his son Vorian Atreides, whose last name is derived from "Atreidae", the collective name for the descendants of King Atreus, Agamemnon's father (who was anything but heroic).
• The Saga of the Volsungs traces the history of the eponymous heroic clan over four generations. They are all descendants of one Sigi, who was possibly a son of Odin.
• In Ragnar Lodbrok and His Sons, the orphan Kraka discovers that she is the daughter of Sigurd the Volsung and Brynhild the Valkyrie.
• In Warrior Cats, almost all of the point of view characters in the main series are the descendants of the living legend Firestar, the first hero of the series.
• Deltora Quest, all kings and queens of Deltora are descendants of King Adin, a blacksmith who united the Seven Tribes to drive back the Shadow Lord's army. Searching for the King Endon's child was a part of the main quest in the first series. It's Lief, Dain was actually a Grade 3 Ol spy for the Shadow Lord.
• All the Abhorsens are of the same bloodline, so both Sabriel and Lirael of the Old Kingdom series are descendants of heroes as well as heroes in their own right. This holds true for all of the Charter bloodlines, Abhorsen, Clayr, Royal and Wallmaker.
• In The Dresden Files, Knights of the Cross tend to be descended from heroes and kings. Their predecessors were heroes and kings - the Swords of the Cross (which choose their wielders) were originally named Excalibur, Durandal and Kusanagi.
• The Wagner family of The Last Superhero have ostensibly (history is not noticeably different than our own) been influencing the history of the United States since its founding. The protagonists of the book are John Utticus Wagner II, his father Orville, and his grandfather, John.
• Tobias in Animorphs finds out that he's the son of the Andalite war hero Elfangor, who is also the dying alien who gave the kids the morphing technology.
• His Grace Commander Sir Samuel Vimes in the Discworld is the descendant of Commander Suffer-Not-Injustice Vimes, who liberated the city from a monstrous ruler ... although he sometimes seems to be the only person who sees it that way, with most Ankh-Morporkians taking the view that while obviously they don't want the monarchy back, there's something a bit off about someone who'd actually kill a king. (It's also mentioned that other Vimeses have been notable watchmen. Sam himself would probably say he has a Poor Bastards Too Bloody-Minded To Get Out of the Way Lineage.)
  • Eric suggests that Rincewind is descended from Lavaeolus, the Discworld analogue of Odysseus, which rings true, given Rincewind's life for years on end consisted of running from one danger into another all over the world (Lavaeolus is also faux-Greek for “rinse wind”).
• Skyward: Spensa's grandmother claims that Spensa is descended from basically everyone of any importance on old Earth. When pressed, she says that the Defiant are the rightful inheritors of all of Earth.
• A Song of Ice and Fire:
  • Averted with the Starks, despite appearances. While the living Starks at the start of the book are all honorable to a fault, Eddard's father, Rickard, is never implied to be especially heroic, his older brother, Brandon, was a noted womanizer, and there are plenty of Stark ancestors who were cruel (Theon the Hungry Wolf, who served as this world's personal Vlad the Impaler when the Andals invaded, the Night's King, not to be confused with the Night King, who usurped the Night's Watch and declared war on the North), ineffective (Brandon the Shipwright, who foolishly abandoned his people to sail into an ocean that no one has ever returned from and was lost at sea) to the destructive and insane (Brandon the Burner, who set the Northern fleet on fire after his father, the Shipwright, went missing).
  • Daenerys Targaryen's ancestors zigzag this. Her Targaryen ancestors include some of the greatest kings Westeros ever had (Aegon the Conqueror, Jaehaerys the Conciliator), but also some lunatic or bloodthirsty ones (Rhaenyra the Pretender, Aegon the Unworthy, and of course her own father, Aerys the Mad), though the vast majority are capable if mediocre.
• The Springer family of space explorers in The Medusa Chronicles by Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds are descended from Seth Springer, the astronaut who saved Earth in 1963, and boy, do they know it. The Springers encountered by Howard Falcon can roughly be divided into the ones who brag about their family history, and the ones who humblebrag about their family history. They get even worse when they marry into the Soames political family, which has a Real Life heroic lineage, claiming descent from Winston Churchill (presumably through this universe's counterparts of Christopher and Mary Soames).
• The Kinnison family in Lensman, as you'd expect for a family that has been the main focus of a breeding program by Sufficiently Advanced Aliens.

Live-Action TV

• Delenn in Babylon 5 is a descendant of Valen. In this case it almost verges on Divine Parentage.
• Kamen Rider Saber: Several of the swordsmen of the Sword of Logos come from families who've served the order for generations. Their leader is "Master Logos", an individual descended from the very first Master Logos who founded the guild. Although the current Master Logos is a subversion. Unlike his ancestors, he's not heroic at all. In fact he's the Big Bad.
• When Merlin (2008) finally meets his father, he finds out he was a Dragonlord, as was his father before him. A Justified Trope, since it's apparently hereditary.
• Supernatural: Samuel Campbell mentions how the Campbell line has been fighting monsters since before the New World.
• Super Sentai has used this more than once:
  • In Gosei Sentai Dairanger, Lin (the present-day Hou-Ouranger) is descended from the Dai tribe, and Ryou (the present-day Ryuranger) is of more direct lineage: He's the son of the original Ryuranger.
  • The present-day Kakurangers from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger are each descended from their respective predecessors, who sealed away the Youkai Army Corps long ago.
  • Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and Power Rangers Samurai feature samurai whose families have fought the monsters for generations; the Red Ranger from the Shiba clan and the others from the clan's retainers. When a friend of the Red Ranger wishes to join them as the Sixth Ranger, much is made of the fact that he is self-taught and has no such lineage.
• Saban's Masked Rider, a Power Rangers spiritual spin-off, starred Prince Dex of the planet Edenoi, the latest in a long line of Masked Riders, with the powers passed down the royal family for generations. The audience is introduced to his ten predecessors in "The Invasion of Leawood".
• Mel in Tracker (2001) finds out that she's part of a line of human/Cirronian hybrids created to protect the series' Doomsday Weapon.
• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Young Hercules would utilize this. In the latter's Pilot Movie, Jason even notes how almost everyone at Cheiron's Academy of Adventure has a famous parent, so this is often a fact of life in their society.
  • The Spin-Off Babies took background that was established on the original and explored what this trope meant for the young heroes. While much focus is given to Hercules dealing with having Divine Parentage, Iolaus is the son of a famous general, and Jason's father was the previous king of Corinth. The exploits of both older men are referenced with utmost reverence, but Iolaus expresses irritation that his father's repeated campaigns led to Parental Neglect, while Jason angsts about having to live up a notable legacy.
  • A crossover episode on Legendary Journeys takes this to its logical conclusion, as the new crop of cadets includes Tabor (Cheiron's son) and Seska (Jason and Lilith's daughter). Tabor in particular feels like he has something to prove, as he feels both inferior to Hercules (whom Cheiron regarded as Like a Son to Me) and insistent on keeping his father's legacy intact. Hercules even noted that Tabor more than any other cadet is expected to set a good example.
• Ms. Marvel (2022): The reaction that Kamala Khan's mother, Muneeba, has to the bangle that gives Kamala her powers and her constant references to dreamers in her family during the first episode strongly imply that Kamala's grandmother, at the very least, was involved in some superhero shenanigans.
• Echo (2024): It's revealed that Maya's female ancestors have long served as the protectors of their people, the Choctaw Nation. Her grandmother reveals the legacy and Maya assumes their mantle, protecting the Choctaw from a massacre Fisk planned against them.

Multiple Media

• MonsterVerse:
  • The Brody family and their extended relatives. Joe Brody in Godzilla (2014) is a former power plant engineer who saved an entire city from being exposed to a radiation cloud during the Distant Prologue, and afterwards he's obsessively investigating the Kaiju since he worked out that they were the true cause of the power plant meltdown and of his wife's death. In the same movie, Joe's son Ford is a U.S. Army lieutenant specializing in bomb disposal, and he takes up his father's mantle of combatting the kaiju when Joe is killed, ultimately helping to save the city and helping Godzilla to kill the much more dangerous MUTOs. In the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters TV series, it's revealed that Joe's sister-in-law and Ford's aunt, Michelle Duvall, is an operative in the Titan-combatting organization Monarch, having joined up to prevent anone else losing loved ones like how she lost her sister.
  • The Kong: Skull Island movie and Birth of Kong comic reveals that before Kong was even born, his ancestors as well as his parents fought tooth and nail defending the Iwis from the Skullcrawlers' reign on Skull Island. Now that Kong is the only remaining ape capable of dispatching the invasive monsters, he carries out their duty to keep his territory in check.

Tabletop Games

• Legend of the Five Rings RPG, famous ancestors can be bought as merits at character creation. Each of them gives some merits (and sometimes drawbacks) depending of what he was famous for. Amusingly, one of these merits indicates that your ancestor was completely average, making it hard for his descendents to stand out (people won't notice you in a crowd, making it easier to sneak up on enemies, but it's hard for you to gain any Honor or Glory as well).

Video Games

• Celestial Hearts:
  • Gail and Matthias Primrose are descended from Uno, Malady, Dylan, and the Zamaste royal family.
  • Vagrant, the manager of the arena, is Stray's grandson.
  • Almost everyone in the fourth arena rival team is descended from someone from the previous games. Alia is the great-granddaughter of Alduin, Minerva is the great-granddaughter of Meredith, and Guinevere is the great-granddaughter of Gwen. Played with in Ruthea's case, since she was adopted into Ruth and Gwen's family.
• Chest: The mayor of the Snow Village and the barkeeper Silin are descended from Aluxes, a legendary hero who defeated the demon army in the past.
• EXTRAPOWER: Giant Fist: At many points throughout the game, it is hinted or discussed that Zophy is possibly descended from the warrior Latour tribe of the ancient past. The Duba tribe speculate that he came from the tribe that defeated their own ancestors and drove them into the forest, and the ancient Magma-O confirms that Zophy is of Latour heritage, but so far into the past and so dilluted that ultimately he's a normal human. Just one with Super-Strength from a lifetime of training. But when Zophy defeats Zet, the last surviving Latour warrior who was alive back then, he recognizes in Zophy the legendary Latour hero Romes himself.
• Final Fantasy XII: Princess Ashe is the last surviving descendant of King Raithwall, who once united Ivalice under one banner in the distant past.
• Fire Emblem:
  • Lords as a whole universally qualify. Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War makes this an actual game mechanic: characters who are descendants of one of the Twelve Crusaders or the Dark God Loptous receive boosts to their growth rates, weapon levels, and can even use their respective ancestor's Ancestral Weapon in certain conditions. Notably, the game acknowledges that there's some inbreeding going on in order to keep the bloodlines strong; the villains's plans even require Brother–Sister Incest at one point.
  • In Fire Emblem: Awakening:
    • Chrom and the rest of his family are distant descendants of the "Hero-King" Marth, the main lord of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem.
    • SpotPass character Priam is descended from the "Radiant Hero" Ike, though no confirmation on whether it was Ike or his sister Mist his line traces back to.
  • Fire Emblem Fates:
    • The Royal Families of both Hoshido and Nohr, descendants of the Dusk or Dawn Dragons that shaped their world. That lets them use, among others, Sacred Weapons (locked to some of them of course) and Dragon Veins.
    • As 3 characters from Awakening migrated into the world of Fates, one of them a descendant of Marth and one of them a possible descendant of Marth, it is possible that 3 different children characters also descend from him.
  • In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, anyone who has a Crest is likely a descendant of the Ten Elites or the Four Saints who defeated Nemesis, and much like the Holy Blood in Genealogy, these Crests often offer benefits to their bearers, including the ability to wield Heroes' Relics without risk of harm to themself or turning into a Demonic Beast. However, the franchise's frequent use of this trope is deconstructed in the story. Even though the Church of Seiros has tried to discourage it with little success, a social system has been created where one's inheritance in combination with their social status is decided by whether they have a Crest or not, often to leading to situations where the Crest-bearer is valued more for their genes than their character (such as Crest-bearing women, especially those with exceptionally rare Crests, being expected to marry and have children). As such, all three of the house leaders and future heirs of Fodlan's three nations desire to reform or abolish this system in their own ways. And Crest-bearers being descended from heroes is actually a case of historical revisionism, where the Ten Elites were actually allies of Nemesis and got their Crests from killing and ingesting the blood of the Children of the Goddess, Sothis, and the Heroes's Relics made from their bones. Meanwhile, the Four Saints (as well as Seiros) are the surviving children of Sothis and simply shared their blood with those who opposed Nemesis.
• Susano from Ōkami is a descendant of the legendary hero Nagi. His resentment and later acceptance of his ancestor has a major impact on the plot of the first half of the game.
• The hero you can name yourself in Lufia & The Fortress of Doom is the descendant of Maxim, the hero who originally sealed the four Big Bads. This tradition is continued in Lufia: The Legend Returns with Wain, who is also descended from Maxim.
• The Legend of Zelda
  • Link and Zelda are usually not the same exact people in each game, but different incarnations from different time periods. Along with Ganondorf, all three are bound to one another as eternal bearers of the Triforce pieces that they embody.
  • All of the Zeldas are blood descendants of the Zelda from Skyward Sword, who was a reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia.
  • The Links are not necessarily blood-related but are said to share the "Spirit of the Hero" and are at least a spiritual lineage of heroes. Only the Links from A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess are explicitly stated to carry a special bloodline (the former being a descendant of the Hylian Knights, valiant warriors who aided the Seven Sages in sealing away Ganon after he defeated the Hero of Time), and according to the Hyrule Historia guidebook, the only confirmed relation between Links is that Link from Twilight Princess is a descendant of the Hero of Time from Ocarina of Time, who trains him as the Hero's Shade and refers to him affectionately as, "my child".
  • On a more speculative note, it is also worth noting that Skyward Sword had a very heavy Ship Tease subtext between Link and Zelda, and the ending implied that they would found Hyrule together. Furthermore, Demise's final curse is phrased somewhat ambiguously, targeting, "all those like you, who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero." That can be taken to mean Zelda and Link separately. However, it also implies that every Zelda since, and most of the Links, is directly descended from the original Link and Zelda, with the Links being from a branch of the royal family that split off - it would certainly explain why they're so frequently closely connected to Zelda from childhood. In that case, they'd get a double dose.
  • The Wind Waker gets special mention because it deliberately subverted the trope, revealing that its Link was not related to the Hero of Time's bloodline at all. Many of the powers that be doubt that he can save the day for precisely this reason, and Link proves them wrong. Zelda retains her lineage through the normal chain of succession. However the fact that she herself is unaware she carries that lineage is the surprise.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has a variant with Link, in that while he is not clearly either a descendant or reincarnation of a previous Hero, he is descended from a line of Hylian knights. In one memory, Zelda muses on the pressure of being a slave to one's lineage, and wonders if Link would have chosen a different path in life if this wasn't the case. Yunobo is a more straightforward example, being a descendant of the Goron Champion, Daruk. It's also implied with Riju since she's the Gerudo chief and thus is presumably a descendant of Urbosa, the Gerudo Champion who was also the chief 100 years earlier.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom plays it straight with the descendants of four out of the Six Sages who fought the Demon King in Hyrule's earliest history: Sidon is descended from the Sage of Water, Tulin is descended from the Sage of Wind, Yunobo from the Sage of Fire, and Riju from the Sage of Lightning. This is not the case for Mineru, the Sage of Spirit, as she's still around as a spirit placed inside of a Zonai construct. The Sage of Time, meanwhile, is Zelda herself after being displaced in time, but being the descendant of the first king of Hyrule, Rauru, and his wife, Sonia, means she counts for this trope.
    • This also means that this retroactively applies to Teba (Tulin's father) and three of the four Champions from Breath of the Wild, since they (specifically, Mipha, Daruk, and Urbosa) are related to the current Sages (Sidon, Yunobo, and Riju, respectively) and are therefore also descended from the first Sages. It's averted with Revali, who is not related to Teba or Tulin.
• Dragon Quest had you play as the descendant of the legendary hero Erdrick/Loto. Dragon Quest II had you play as the descendants of the first game's hero. Dragon Quest III had you play as Erdrick/Loto, who was himself the descendant of another hero. Somewhat subverted in Dragon Quest V, where the legendary hero is actually a descendant of the main character, who marries a descendant of the last legendary hero.
• A great part of Assassin's Creed covers the reliving of genetic memories of the ancestors of the bartender Desmond Miles, these being members of the ancient brotherhood of the Assassins: Altaïr, Ezio Auditore, and Haytham and Connor Kenway. Haythan being the only exception, as he's a Templar.
• In Valkyria Chronicles, Welkin Gunther is the son of a general and hero of the first Europa War. While he would prefer to pursue a career in education than carry on the family tradition of military service, he quickly proves that he has his father's knack for leading soldiers to victory against impossible odds after joining the Gallian militia. Similarly, his adoptive sister Isara is the daughter of the engineer who built General Gunther's tank, the Edelweiss, and she is just capable as a mechanic and tank pilot.
• Shiki Tohno in Tsukihime is a last descendant of Nanaya household, a lineage of pure-blooded humans (read: "weakest species in the setting"), who trained their bodies and honed their skills enough to fight most supernatural threats, be it Demons, vampires, or what have you.
• In Fable it is implied that all heroes are descended from the first Archon.
• A Mysterious Informant with this news kicks off the plot of Last Scenario. Actually a rare subversion. She was lying. Which leads to a moment where the supposed ancestor himself is executed, and with his last words acknowledges the heroes as the true "descendants" of his heroic spirit.
• ICO is the descendant of Wander, protagonist of Shadow of the Colossus. Though Wander's fame is debatable, and the one sign of the lineage (the horns) is more of a curse than a blessing for Ico.
• Heroes of Mana proves that Riesz is merely the latest of Ladies of War in the lineage of Laurent's amazon guard. Her deceased mother lead the guards of Laurent before her daughter, and her mother did the same, and so on.
• Rarely mentioned, but all the humans of Gensokyo (that didn't stumble from The Outside, anyway) are descendants of brave people who defeated the youkai to settle there.
• Overwatch has two examples of parent/child teams of heroes.
  • The first is Fareeha "Pharah" Amari and her mother, Ana; the latter is a founding member of Overwatch and a present-day sharpshooter and vigilante, while her daughter is a member of a heroic mercenary group.
  • The second is Torbjorn Lindholm, another founding member of Overwatch, and his youngest daughter Brigitte, a travelling companion of fellow Overwatch alumnus Reinhardt and an aspiring hero inspired by her father and her friend to build her own suit of armor and fight the good fight.
• The Belmont clan from Castlevania, always out to hunt the night. Most of the series' protagonists so far have been Belmonts. The Belnades/Fernandez clan get to do their share of vampire-butt-kicking over the years as well.
• In Dragon Ball Online, all Saiyan hybrid Player Characters were confirmed to be descendants of Goku, or Vegeta. Similarly, all Majins were descended from Fat Buu.
• In Dragon Age II, the Legacy DLC reveals that the protagonist's deceased father, Malcolm Hawke, was once tasked with fortifying the seals of an Ancient Grey Warden fortress. Because this required his blood in order to do so, this meant that any member of his lineage became keyed as the only ones capable of wielding "The Hawke's Key"; making them capable of either reinforcing or unlocking the seals containing Corypheus.
• Jak and Daxter: Jak's father is "the great warrior" Damas. Through him, he is a descendant of the historical founder of Haven City, Mar.
• Titan Quest: The Warrior Mastery's Lasting Legacy skill talks about how you're summoning the spirits of "your ancestors", and the skill it enhances, Ancestral Horn says that it "summon[s] forth ghostly heroes of old".
  The ominous call on this ancient heirloom will summon forth ghostly heroes of old from the Elysian Fields to do battle once more.
• Warcraft
  • Sir Anduin Lothar, one of the greatest human heroes was the last descendant of the Arathi royal bloodline which founded the first human empire on Azeroth. Sir Lothar took advantage of this to convince the High Elves to join the Alliance since the High Elves were indebted to the Arathi.
  • It's fairly common for Blizzard to retcon established characters into being related to another famous character. Falstad Dragonreaver was introduced in the novel Day of the Dragon as a capable fighter, but otherwise as a dwarf of no great importance. It later turns out that "Dragonreaver" is just a nickname, his actual last name is Wildhammer, making related to the great dwarf Kurdran Wildhammer, as well as the leader of the Wildhammer Clan. The elven ranger Veressa Windrunner was introduced in the same book, and later installments reveal that "Windrunner" was the last name of the Warcraft II hero Alleria, and they along with their sister Sylvanas are a trio of famous rangers. Danath was originally just a well established mercenary captain in Stromgarde, but World of Warcraft reveals that he's the nephew of the king of Stromgarde, Thoras Trollbane and the rightful heir to the kingdom. The orc Broxigar was introduced without a last name in the War of the Ancients trilogy, and he makes no mention of having any family and is even said to be lonely. Despite that, in the MMORPG he's said to have been the brother of Memetic Badass Saurfang.
• This is a gameplay mechanic in Massive Chalice: the demon-fighting heroes and heroines are supposed to retire at some point, settle down and get children who will inherit some of their heroic abilities and continue the fight. Since each new generation is slightly stronger than their parents, this is required to check the ever-increasing demon threat.
• In Ni no Kuni, Esther is the daughter of the great sage Rashaad, a legendary mage known for his many heroic deeds. Actually, every playable character is the son or daughter of a Great Sage: Oliver is Alicia's son, Esther is Rashaad's daughter, and Swaine is the son of the mage-emperor of Hamelin. In the PS3 version, you eventually also get Swaine's brother Marcassin, who shares the same lineage.
• The Star Ocean series has the Kenny family, a clan of notable military officers in the Pangalactic Federation, each of whom have played a key role in historical events in the galaxy. Each time a male member of the Kenny family has been playable, he has fought beside his future wife. Members of this clan include:
  • Ronyx J. Kenny, a supporting protagonist in Star Ocean. His eventual wife is Ilia Sylvestri, his first officer and another party member from the same game.
  • Claude C. Kenny, one of the main protagonists of Star Ocean: The Second Story and the son of Ronyx and Ilia. His implied wife is Rena Lanford, the game's other viewpoint character.
  • Stephen D. Kenny, a supporting character in Star Ocean: The Last Hope and a distant ancestor of Ronyx.
  • Emmerson T. Kenny, a supporting protagonist in Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness and a descendent of Claude and Rena. Like Ronyx, Emmerson eventually marries his first officer and fellow party member Anne Petriceani.
  • Marielle L. Kenny, a supporting protagonist in Star Ocean: The Divine Force and the granddaughter of Emmerson and Anne.
• Kult: Heretic Kingdoms: Alita, the protagonist, is a distant descendant of Arkor, the hero who killed God. That lineage is important, because only descendants of Arkor can interact with the magic of the very powerful sword he used. Various people have tried to control the bloodline, and Alita herself grew up in a dungeon (pending ritual sacrifice) because of her heritage.
• It has been lightly implied that id Software protagonists William "BJ" Blazkowicz, the nameless space marine colloquially known as "Doomguy", and Commander Keen share some kind of parental lineage to each other (made most evident in the Wolfenstein RPG for iPhones where BJ faces down a demon named the "Harbinger of Doom", who looks exactly like the Cyberdemon from Doom except with his arm and leg intact, which BJ proceeds to blow off during their battle and the Harbinger of Doom swears eternal vengeance against the descendants of Blazkowicz, presumably alluding to his eventual showdown with Doomguy).
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2:
  • The Tantalese royal family is descended from the hero Addam who saved the world five hundred years ago. Much of the country's identity is built around this, to the point that a few shops stock Addam's historical favorite foods. The truth is that they have no direct relation to Addam (though they did come from the same country, with DLC hinting ancestry from Addam's uncle Zettar). Following the chaos of Addam's disappearance, one family claimed a connection to him in order to take control. Praetor Amalthus, who knew Addam personally, has been blackmailing the country over this for five hundred years. Prince Zeke is devastated when he finds out, and is annoyed to discover that even the so-called favorite foods were just made up.
  • Rex has a better claim to being Addam's descendant than the Tantalese. While it's unknown if he is a biological descendant (the DLC story confirmed that Addam's wife was pregnant, but it's unknown where the baby ended up or if it even survived), Addam founded Rex's home of Fonsett Village on the Leftherian Archipelago. Only Leftherians can bypass Addam's seals, and Rex is pointed out to be very similar to Addam by several people who knew them both.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3:
  • The City was founded by the six original Ouroboros who escaped from Moebius. The six houses are therefore the nobles of the City; in particular, it was Guernica Vandham who made the protagonists Ouroboros, his daughter Monica is the Elder of the City, and her daughter Ghondor was the lead Ouroboros candidate and is currently an important field officer. Noah and Mio's son survived them and went to the City, but it's unknown if he founded one of the Houses or if that was something earlier. And Moebius N destroyed the City shortly after anyway, so it's unknown if any of his descendants survived.
  • Nia's Hero Quest heavily implies that Mio is at least descended from Nia and quite possibly her daughter, which would also probably make her the daughter of Rex, as seen in the photo of the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 cast near the end. Notably, Mio's bright gold eyes are one of the few traits she shares with Rex instead of Nia (whose eyes are a slightly different amber shade), and the previous game hinted that Rex himself could be related to Addam Origo, extending Mio's lineage even further back if both implications are true.
  • The Future Redeemed prequel DLC clears up some of the confusion. Noah and Mio's son Ghondor did indeed join the first City, and his grandchildren Matthew and Na'el became the Founders of House Vandham and House Doyle respectively. Furthermore, it was Rex's daughter Glimmer who founded House Rhodes, and Shulk's son Nikol who founded House Ortiz. Zeke and Pandoria's daughter Linka (Rex's niece) founded House Cassini, and Reyn and Sharla's daughter Panacea (Shulk's niece) founded House Reid. Which means that all six Houses were descended from the heroes of the first two games.
• Sly Cooper comes from a long line of Robin Hood like thieves, each having only stolen from people worse then them, with Sly attempting to recover his family's legacy being the plot of the first game.
• The protagonist in Teslagrad grew up to have a daughter, who stars in the sequel.

Web Animation

• RWBY: Jaune's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all heroes. However, Jaune has not been raised for combat, and dearly wishes he could live up to his ancestral reputation.

Webcomics

• Played for laughs in Cucumber Quest: Cucumber's father Cabbage tells his son that the men in their family have been heroes for generations, in order to convince him to become a hero as well. When Cucumber points out that Cabbage isn't a hero, he says that "it skips a generation here and there." He's not wrong though. The world of Cucumber Quest is stuck in a Vicious Cycle where the Nightmare Knight gets resurrected every 5,000 years, and every time a hero (one of Cucumber's ancestors) comes to stop him. The story takes place during his 100th resurrection.
• Several examples in El Goonish Shive:
  • Tedd's father is a higher-up in a mysterious government agency that monitors and controls the paranormal, and their mother was a monster hunter of great renown.
  • Susan is descended from Adrian Raven, and by extension Pandora. And Diane is a much closer descendant, being Susan's great-great-great-great-et cetera-aunt.
  • Elliot and Ellen... well. Actually, we don't know for certain what the deal is with their parents, but they're completely unflappable in the face of the paranormal and were able to coordinate a search and rescue, including using people with flying powers to search an area more efficiently.
• Zig-zagged in Girl Genius, where our heroine Agatha Heterodyne's father and uncle were indeed Legendary Heroes... and the White Sheep of an unbroken line of vicious warlords that were the terror of Eastern Europe for centuries. And then there's her mother's side of the family...
• Nearly every single one of the trolls in Homestuck has a famous, badass Ancestor. Later, it's revealed that every human player's caretaker is, in fact, their own heroic ancestor. And they are this for said ancestors in the alternate timeline, making each and every one of them My Own Grandpa. And now your head hurts.
• In Jupiter-Men, Nathan is the latest in the line of Star Guardians who protect the world from the ex-Primari who abuse their powers and threaten the stability of Prime, the source of the cosmic energy that gives the Primari their powers. Jupiter-Man, his father, used the power of the Star Seed to remove the cosmic energy from the starstruck to return them to normal. Nathan has been trying to keep subduing starstruck creatures following Jupiter-Man's disappearance, but knows it's useless without the Star Seed until he discovers that the Avalon twins have it.
• The daughter of Miss Melee becomes a superhero just like her mom.
• Super Robot Wars X: The Seven Dragon Gods created the song "El Ragna" and spread this gift of knowledge to three powerful maidens. Two of them just happened to be named Freya and Ikaruga, the maiden name of Ange and her mother and Sala's clan name respectively.

Web Original

• There is no GATE; we did not fight there
  • The Rhavenfell family, even considering the fact that it has only existed for around five decades, is definitely this.
    • First, we have the Grandfather of the protagonist, and the first to carry the name Rhavenfell. He slayed Thokar the Ravenous, an Earth Dragon that killed 90 MILLION, about 4/5 of the current total population of the empire. Then he built a city atop its corpse.
    • Second, there is the father of the protagonist. Currently one of the greatest warriors in all the empire, and responsible for the death blow against Jhin, the last of the Tyrants◊, one of Hardy's most powerful beasts. The Tyrant lived to kill Lords and Kings, enslaving the very spirits of the wind and storm.

Western Animation

• In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko (and by extension Azula) eventually learns that he's a descendant of Avatar Roku on his mother's side, despite his father being the Big Bad.
• Codename: Kids Next Door: In the movie, it's revealed that Nigel's dad was the legendary operative Numbuh Zero. Also, in the Series Finale, it's revealed that his mom was also in the organization. Interestingly, it's implied that the rest of the family is actually evil.
• The Samurai Jack episode "Birth of Evil" shows that Jack's father was no slouch himself, having defeated and imprisoned Aku as a young man.
• Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond is the son of Bruce Wayne, the original Batman, though not exactly by the traditional means.
• Episode "Time Out of Vengeance" of Batman: The Brave and the Bold shows that been Batman is a quite literal Heroic Lineage since Prehistory.
• In Defenders of the Earth, the heroes Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Mandrake and Lothar are each depicted with a son or daughter preparing to become part of their heroic legacy. (So is the Big Bad, only not so much with the heroic part.)
• In Phantom 2040, the protagonist learns that he is part of a heroic lineage that has been passed down from father to son from generations; his aunt, who raised him after his father was killed in action, didn't tell him about it because she was afraid he would Turn Out Like His Father.
• Kaz Kaan in Neo Yokio, much to his dismay, comes from a long line of psychic demon exterminators. The only relative we see use their powers is Kaz's cousin Jeffery, who uses his water magic to entertain his friends and turn his own father into a raccoon so he could inherit his father's house.
• Aerrow in Storm Hawks is last direct descendant of Lightning Strike, leader of the original Storm Hawks and considered the greatest Sky Knight in all of Atmos. It's all but stated that Strike is Aerrow's dead father (Aerrow is an orphan and the Dark Ace is still only a young adult despite being the very man who betrayed and killed Lightning Strike in the backstory).
• A Zig-Zagged Trope in the Darkwing Duck episode "Inherit the Wimp", Drake Mallard claims to be the descendent of many great heroes, including a Barbarian Hero, a Knight Errant, and The Sheriff. When Gosalyn uses a time machine to bring them to the present, it turns out that none of them are traditional examples of these heroic archetypes, and screw things up when they try to be, but they can achieve great things when playing to their own idiosyncracies.

Real Life

• There are descendants of Jon Sobieski in America. One is a movie star: Leelee Sobieski.
• Christopher Lee could trace his ancestry all the way back to Charlemagne himself (so can everyone, but he actually had the paperwork), and was actually a spy in World War II alongside Ian Fleming. On the set of The Lord of the Rings, he didn't mind telling Peter Jackson just how a stabbed person would die.
• The Heraklidae, the kings of Sparta, claimed to be descendants of Heracles himself.
• In Judaic tradition, the priesthood is hereditary. Therefore, any Kohen Jew is, theoretically speaking, presumed to be a direct male-line descendant of Aaron.

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