History Main / BequeathedPower

* In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', Pakunoda gets afflicted with a curse that causes her to die if she uses her powers. She makes her way back to the organization she works for and uses her powers one last time, to insert what she knows about her attacker into their memories so they all have detailed information about this assailant.
* In ''Manga/TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer'', Hangetsu Shinome uses his wish as one of the Animal Knights to bequeath his [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower phenomenal martial arts skills]] to Amamiya Yuuhi when he receives a mortal blow in battle.
* It's possible that Mikoto, the Red King in season 1 of ''Anime/{{K}}'', did this for [[spoiler: Anna Kushina]] to succeed him - his last words are said to [[spoiler: her, and she hears them even though she isn't there. She]] Awakens as the next Red King in the movie that comes between seasons 1 and 2, and when that happens, [[spoiler: she sees a vision of Mikoto giving her his "red" - his power as a King.]]
* In ''Anime/{{Scryed}}'', Cherise Adjani's sole power is to allow whoever she loves most to be resurrected from any sort of death at the cost of her own life.

* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' close to the end of the Dark Tournament Genkai gives Yusuke her Spirit Wave Power before she sacrifices herself to Toguro. However, Yusuke (and possibly the whole team) used his reward for winning the tournament to bring Genkai back to life.

* This is a mechanism of Devil Fruits in ''Manga/OnePiece''. Whenever the user dies, the power of the fruit is reborn---such as in the case of Ace's [[PlayingWithFire Flame Flame]] fruit.
* Silver Fullbuster in ''Manga/FairyTail'' passes his Ice Devil Slaying power to his son Gray before he dies.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' reveals that Grisha Yeager, Eren's father, got his titan powers from Eren Kruger this way. It also overlaps with AlmostDeadGuy.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Izuku receives One for All from his idol, All Might, who suffered from a crippling injury several years ago and severely limits him to perform heroics, knowing that he'll have to retire sooner or later. [[spoiler: Later chapters reveal that this is the nature of the One for All itself, as the original owner received a Quirk capable of stockpiling power, [[SuperiorSuccessor which he could pass on to another person that would make it even stronger]], and so on.]]

* In ''ComicBook/SavageDragon'', the superhero Mighty Man works in this manner. The most common version is nurse Ann Stevens who was unwittingly given the Mighty Man power while treating the previous, dying host.
* ''ComicBook/PowerPack'' is similar to ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' in that the kids get their powers from a dying alien, Whitemane, who was killed by the same aliens that kidnap their parents. They also inherit his SapientShip, Friday.
* When a Franchise/GreenLantern dies, their power ring flies off to find a new worthy wearer. Hal Jordan's was personally given to him by the dying Abin Sur, however.

* In Creator/CrossGen's Sigil universe, the eponymous PowerTattoo transfers, upon the death of the bearer, to their nearest blood relative. In addition to this being how Sephie of ''Meridian'' and Obo-San of ''The Path'' gained their respective marks, the later Negation War arc had shapeshifting Atlantean Capricia seduce SpaceMarine Sigil-bearer Sam Rey with the intent of bearing a child that could inherit Sam's extra-powerful Sigil, in addition to Atlantean powers. Unfortunately, that was the point where the company went bankrupt.

* ''ComicBook/EarthTwo'': Jay Garrick gets his powers of super-speed from a dying Hermes.

* In ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', the dying Jetfire insists that Optimus repair and augment himself with Jetfire's jet engines and other parts for his fight with the Fallen.
* ''Film/SgtKabukimanNYPD'': An dying old Japanese man transfers the power of Kabuki to a cop.

* In ''Film/TheCovenant'', a witch can give his power (and life force) to another by saying "I will you my power." The BigBad tries to get the hero to do this to him in order to save his friends and girlfriend. However, the hero's mother convinces her weak and dying husband to give up his life and power in order to save their son. This EleventhHourSuperpower ends up turning the tide of battle, allowing the hero to win.

* In ''[[Literature/TheSwordOfTruth Stone of Tears]]'', each Sister of Light--if she fails to convince a person with the gift to come train with them--passes her life force to another so that when the second one (or third one) attempts she has stronger MindControl powers to add to her arguments.
* In the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' this is how Quick Ben became so powerful. The Aren cabal of mages, numbering twelve members, fled into the desert to escape pursuit by the Malazan army that had conquered their city. It is kept vague what really transpired in the desert, but somehow the youngest and thus fittest and strongest of them managed to convince the others to transfer their power and life force to him upon their deaths from thirst. It is heavily implied that Quick Ben had somehow managed to acquiere the ancient, supposedly lost art of transferring souls between bodies, and taking the souls of eleven powerful mages into himself made him unparalleled in power and knowledge.

* In ''{{Literature/Sourcery}}'', a wizard is about to die ([[TheGrimReaper Death]] is standing by, waiting) and gives his staff to his newborn son--then projects himself and his wizard powers into it. This causes no end of problems for the kid as he grows up.

* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', the Behaim Circle, a family of [[TimeMaster chronomancers]], does this on a generational scale-each member sacrifices some of their personal time over the course of their lifetimes into a family store of power, creating a reserve which the family as a whole can grant to a single member, if necessary.
* In ''Literature/TheGirlFromTheMiraclesDistrict'', it eventually turns out that what little HealingHands magic Nikita has was given to her by her grandmother in an attempt to save her from Irena.
* In the climax of ''Literature/KafkaOnTheShore'', it appears as though [[spoiler: Nakata]] has passed on his ability to talk to cats to Hoshino.

* ''[[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009CMKYVM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities]]'' has this as part of its premise--the protagonist, Vincent, discovers that the local superhero, Captain Stupendous, is acting strange because [[spoiler:"he" is actually Vincent's crush, Polly, who just inherited HenshinHero powers when their art teacher died of a heart attack]].

* ''Literature/DragonlanceTheNewAdventures'': The ghost gold dragon Theoran gives Sindri actual magical ability, making him a real wizard rather than a [[FakeWizardry fake one]]. An unusual case in that Theoran was already a ghost, but Sindri and his companions helped him finally pass on.

* In ''Literature/TheBible'', Elijah promises to bequeath his power to his disciple Elisha if Elisha sees Elijah AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. Elisha does indeed witness this and inherits Elijah's mantle--figuratively and literally--as Elijah is taken into Heaven.

* In ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', Ralph Valetti somehow wound up killing The Invulnerable Ajax with a single gunshot, something that he has no idea how he accomplished given that [[ShootingSuperman Ajax was supposed to be immune to everything]]. In Ajax's dying moments, he stared into Ralph's eyes--and, according to the letter Ralph left in the Omega Team Time Capsule, that was when Ajax transferred his power of invulnerability to him.
** In general, considering that players are free to write whatever history they want for their characters, it is entirely possible for a player character's powers to have been bequeathed to them.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Zenonia}} 4'', the hero lives in a typical RPG village with his dad. However he soon discovers that he is actually trapped in a fantasy realty inside his mind, but thankfully his future self gives him all his powers to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.
* In ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', the move Healing Wish will faint the user immediately. The Pokemon that takes its place is healed to full capacity.

* In ''VideoGame/LegendOfDragoon'', after [[TheLancer Lavitz]] is stabbed to death by [[DragonWithAnAgenda Lloyd]] at the end of the first disc, he passes the Jade Dragoon Stone on to his liege and best friend [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Albert]].
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', Sam's blade is given to Raiden by Bladewolf at the request of Sam to destroy Senator Armstrong.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': When a Maiden of the Seasons dies, her power passes to the last person she was thinking of, so long as that person is a suitable vessel (female and younger than age thirty). If the person she's thinking of doesn't fit the criteria, the power goes to someone completely random who does. The problem is that it's pretty hard for a Maiden to control her thoughts as she's dying. In fact, murder is a semi-reliable way of stealing the power, as it's not uncommon for someone to be thinking of their murderer as they're dying. In season 7, [[spoiler:Fria, the Winter Maiden, sees Penny trying to comfort her as she dies while Cinder and Winter fight over her. Fria deliberately chooses to pass her power onto Penny]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'', this is implied to be how Tiger got his powers (though we never see the actual moment of transfer).

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Both subverted and played straight in the first movie. The titular hero's RobotBuddy Ochobot gave him and his friends the last of his energy after being fatally damaged by [[BigBad Bora Ra]]. This gives them all [[EleventhHourSuperpower power upgrades]] to defeat the villains once and for all. After the battle, [[DisneyDeath Ochobot turns out to be alive]] because Klamkabot transferred the last of his energy to him after the latter was convinced that Ochobot would be safe with [=BoBoiBoy=] from [[ThePowerOfFriendship witnessing the power of their friendship]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Both subverted and played straight in the first movie. The titular hero's RobotBuddy Ochobot gave him and his friends the last of his energy after being fatally damaged by [[BigBad Bora Ra]]. This gives them all [[EleventhHourSuperpower power upgrades]] to defeat the villains once and for all. After the battle, [[DisneyDeath Ochobot turns out to be alive]] because Klamkabot transferred the last of his energy to him after the latter was convinced that Ochobot would be safe with [=BoBoiBoy=] from [[ThePowerOfFriendship witnessing the spirit of their friendship]].

* ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'': Standard practice with the Breaths that power the FunctionalMagic of Awakening, since everyone is born with one as part of their AnatomyOfTheSoul and any useful effect needs multiple ones, although they can be passed on in life with only minor ill effect. One member of an AntimagicalFaction is horrified when a dying man forces 500 Breaths into her for safekeeping, and [[spoiler:it's revealed that the GodEmperor's phenomenal power comes from an inherited reserve of at least 50 000]].

* In the ''Literature/ActionFigures'' series, the superpowers of Carrie "Lightstorm" Hauser are the gift of a dying alien, who implanted his own energy-control devices into the palms of her hands. Much later, this results in Carrie becoming [[spoiler: drafted into an interstellar war by the forces that the alien once served]].

* In the ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' AfterTheEnd fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Gutters}}'', Denmark performs a HeroicSacrifice in order to let Sealand escape to safety. Through a mechanism that lets his body live three more days he bequeaths the remaining arable land of Denmark to Sealand, transforming him into a real nation.
* ''FanFic/InnerDemons'': When Rarity is heavily wounded by [[TheDragon Trixie]], her last act before slipping into a coma is to transfer the Element of Generosity and all its power to Spike.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' Part I, Zepelli transfers his [[KiManipulation Ripple power]] to Johnathan before he dies. In Part II [[GenerationXerox the same thing happens with their grandsons]].

->''"[=JoJo=], this is the last of my Hamon, TAKE IT FROM ME!"''
-->-- '''Caesar Zeppeli''', ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency''

-->-- '''Caesar Zeppeli'', ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency''

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': Enjin ensnares Aria Blaze with tentacles and starts pulling her towards his core for assimilation. Monster X grabs her and desperately tries to save her. Sensing that if this keeps up, he'll just get pulled in with her, she passes him her necklace, the source of her powers, then shoves him away, letting herself get absorbed. The power boost allows him to transform into his Kaiju form and defeat Enjin.

Compare TakeUpMySword and IAmDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin. Contrast DevourTheDragon, where a villain kills a subordinate to gain their power. See also YouKillItYouBoughtIt.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' Part I, Zepelli transfers his [[KiAttacks Ripple power]] to Johnathan before he dies. In Part II [[GenerationXerox the same thing happens with their grandsons]].

* In ''{{Discworld/Sourcery}}'', a wizard is about to die ([[TheGrimReaper Death]] is standing by, waiting) and gives his staff to his newborn son--then projects himself and his wizard powers into it. This causes no end of problems for the kid as he grows up.

* ''Comicbook/{{Nova}}'' has pretty much the same origin as ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' above. The main difference is that Richard Rider was a teenager, in order to recapture some of the original ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' feel.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': In the Virtual World Arc, Tristan, Duke Devlin, and Joey's sister Serenity are forced into a three on one duel against a member of the big 5 named Nezbitt. During the duel, Serenity constantly makes mistakes because she's never played before. Tristan sacrifices his monsters and lifepoints to save her, loses the duel, and gets dropped into a abyss. While not dead, he disappears for the rest of the episode. Before losing, he placed a face down card on the field, and for some reason it still remained on the field for the whole duel. When Serenity finally starts winning, and summons a powerful monster, she still needed one last power boost to win. Putting all their faith in Tristan's face down card, they activate it, revealing it to be the card they needed to win the duel.

** During the Finale Arc, Nightmare Mirror [[TakingTheBullet shields Applejack from Nyarlathotrot's attack]], then transfers her power to her. Applejack turns into an Alicorn as a result, Princess Veritas. She gives it up after [[NotHyperbole literally kicking Nyarlathotrot out of the universe]] to resurrect Mirror, but as an innocent foal with none of her memories.
* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': Enjin ensnares Aria Blaze with tentacles and starts pulling her towards his core for assimilation. Monster X grabs her and desperately tries to save her. Sensing that if this keeps up, he'll just get pulled in with her, she passes him her necklace, the source of her powers, then shoves him away, letting herself get absorbed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'', Optimus Prime gives the Autobot's Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus. It later goes to Hot Rod, which transforms him into Rodimus Prime, allowing him to easily defeat Galvatron and destroy the killer planet-robot from within.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'', Optimus Prime gives the Autobot's Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus. It later goes to Hot Rod.

Subtrope of EnergyDonation and SuperEmpowering, however, the deceased person isn't really known for this ability, and the fact that he has this power, in some cases, was never brought up before he died. The receiver usually is not a PowerParasite or the possessor of a CannibalismSuperpower.