History Main / EveryoneIsRelated

->'''Evelyn''': ''[about a telenovela]'' So, you see that stripper? She used to be a nun and she's pregnant with the butcher's baby, but she doesn't know that the butcher is her second cousin.\\
'''Wilhelmina''': A story as old as time.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', most of the main characters are Mishimas. Jin is Kazuya's son, who is Hehachi's son who is Jinpachi's son. Lee is Kazuya's adopted brother and, in ''T6'', we learn that [[spoiler:Lars is Heihachi's illegitimate half-Swedish, half-Japanese son]]. Meanwhile, Jin's mother Jun turns out to be Asuka's aunt (her brother is Asuka's father).

[[folder:Web Comics]]

Subtrope of OneDegreeOfSeparation. For the non-familial version, see EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

** The entire playable cast (almost) is related in some way, shape, or form. [[TheHero Kaim]], [[TheLancer Seth]], [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Ming]], [[spoiler:[[TheChick Sarah]], AND [[BigBad Gongora]]]] are all immortals, and all have the same origin story. What's more, Kaim and Sarah are married, and [[TagAlongKid Cooke and Mack]] are their grandchildren, Seth is [[spoiler:Sed's]] MOTHER, [[HandsomeLech Janson]] and Ming are [[spoiler:LoveInterests, and end up married at the end]]. Finally, Tolten is... [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg just Tolten]].

* Ever try to make a ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' family tree? If they ain't related, they're dating...or they're related AND dating.

* The royal families of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI were all related to each other. Because Queen Victoria and Prince Albert married their children into many different monarchies (and their grandchildren later married into other monarchies as well), their descendants included: the King of England, the Kaiser of Germany, the Tsarina of Russia, the Queen of Greece, the Queen of Norway, the Crown Princess of Sweden, the Queen of Spain, and the Queen of Romania. The Norwegian throne was created in 1905, and a Danish prince was chosen to be King, so they were related to the Danish royal family as well. The rulers of Austria-Hungary were related to the Spanish rulers: Francis II was the child of a Spanish princess, and Franz Joseph I of Austria (Franz Ferdinand's father) was the grandson of Francis II. Austria-Hungary was also related to Italy: Franz Joseph was from the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, and so was Maria Theresa of Austria, who was the great-grandmother of Victor Emmanuel III. The King of Serbia was married to Princess Zorka of Montenegro, whose sister married Victor Emmanuel III, connecting Serbia to the family as well. Franz Joseph married Empress Elizabeth of Austria, whose niece married Albert I of Belgium (in addition, her grandfather was an exiled king of Portugal). Ferdinand I of Romania was the son of a Portuguese princess, and [[NamesTheSame Ferdinand I of Bulgaria]] was from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the same as King George V of England. Even the minor countries where involved: the de facto Albanian king was descended from Romanian and Dutch royalty, and the reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg was, again, descended from the Portuguese monarchy. The mother of the King of Montenegro was the aunt of a woman who married an Italian prince. For Liechtenstein, the Ruling Prince's sister married Arnulf of Bavaria, whose uncle was King Otto of Greece (and Otto's grandson was the King who married one of Victoria's grandchildren); Arnulf of Bavaria was also the Stewart Pretender to the British throne. Aside from the obvious exceptions (either not part of Europe or with no monarchy), the Ottoman Empire ''may'' be the only exception: there is a claim that they were related to the Habsburgs through the Byzantine Empire [[hottip:*:there may be some truth to this - the Byzantine Empire, which became the Ottoman Empire, and the Holy Roman Empire, which became Austria-Hungary, were both descended from the Roman Empire]], and despite the fact that the Ottoman Sultans preferred to marry normal women rather than foreign princesses, a legend states that one spouse was related to Napoleon, whose wife was from the House of Habsburg. World War I could be described as the nastiest family quarrel ever.

** The featured Incarnations in ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' all turn out to be related by the end of the series. Greatly assisted by the fact that they're very long-lived by virtue of their Offices, and the existence of a literal Fate playing a centuries-long chess game against the Devil. [[spoiler:Niobe (Incarnation of Fate) is the mother of Orb (Incarnation of Nature), who's married to Parry (Incarnation of Evil). Orb is the mother of Orlene (Incarnation of Good), whose father was Mym (Incarnation of War). Orlene had a significant but doomed relationship with Norton (Incarnation of Time). Luna, another of Niobe's granddaughters, has a more successfuly relationship with Zane (Incarnation of Death). Kerena (Incarnation of Night) is a distant ancestor of Orlene's dead husband, and there's a very strong hint that her sister Katherine is a distant ancestor of Niobe, thus also of Orb, Luna, and Orlene.]]

* Creator/JRRTolkien's Middle-earth (''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', etc.) has many related protagonists by virtue of them mostly being from various prominent families or ruling dynasties. But there aren't really any cases of 'surprise-relatives' (which this trope seems to be about). Well, except perhaps Túrin getting told that his wife is actually his grown-up and amnesiac baby sister, but the reader knows that from the start. This is most apparent in the First Age, where all the main Elves and Men are descended from the three 'fathers' of their respective races (Ingwë, Finwë and Elwë/Elu Thingol for the Elves, and Bëor, Marach and Haldad for the Men), and there is much intermarriage between the descendents, which eventually leads to the birth of Elrond and Elros, who are descended from all of them simultaneously. This trope becomes less apparent in the Second and Third Ages, as the First Age [[KillEmAll thinned the cast a bit]].

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': The marriage of Agatha's parents - Bill Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish - means Agatha is related in some way to a large chunk of the cast. {{Lampshaded|Trope}} when the beans are spilled on her parentage by [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040823 one character]] who realizes he and Agatha are cousins now. The PrecursorHero duo that everyone in Europe tells their kids bedtime stories about are Agatha's dad and uncle. The setting's BigBad dubbed "the Other" is Agatha's [[spoiler:mother, secretly]]. The fake Heterodyne heir Zola is ironically Agatha's [[spoiler:cousin, but on the Mongfish side]]. Those in the main cast who aren't related to Agatha by blood are at least related to an old friend of her parents.

->'''Evelyn''': ''[about a telenovela]'' So, you see that stripper? She used to be a nun and she's pregnant with the butcher's baby, but she doesn't know that the butcher is her second cousin.
->'''Wilhelmina''': A story as old as time.

* [[Myth/KingArthur Arthurian legend]] also tends toward this, for the same reason that most feudal stories do.
* [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek mythology]] tends to include complex genealogies for almost every God, Goddess, monster, king, hero and villain mentioned. Mostly connected to each other.

* ''[[Franchise/StarWars]]'' is often accused of this, as seemingly every major character is revealed to related or connected to each other in some way as the movies go on. It started with the dramatic, well-received reveal that Vader was Luke's father, followed up in the next movie with the not-as-well-received reveal that Luke's possible Love Intrest was actually his ''sister''. The prequels continued the trend by establishing, amoung other things, that the lovable droids from the first trilogy were actually friends and companions to Anakin and Obi-Wan. Finally, the sequels had both the main character ''and'' villain be descended from major characters from the previous films.

* An unusual variation: Creator/KevinSmith's [[Film/TheViewAskewniverse Askewniverse]] movies include a member of the Hicks family in every movie; in either a main, supporting, or cameo role. The character is always played by Brian O'Halloran.

-->'''Phil''': But she didn't know we were related.\\

* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', many of the characters marry into the Dewclaw or Kindle families (Fiona's mother remarried to Kell's brother Ralph, and her father married Kevin's sister Danielle, which technically makes her Rudy's [[KissingCousins cousin]]), thus becoming related to the main characters, or are revealed to be related to them somehow (Corrie turns out to be Ralph's daughter, and a minor character, Wendell, is one of Dorothy's over 240 grandchildren). Some of the fans have even come up with a name for the phenomenon, "Dewclaw assimilation".

** UpToEleven in ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'' where almost everyone is related to Leto though the Ghanima/Farad'n line, then continued and taken up even more in ''Literature/HereticsOfDune'' and ''Literature/ChapterhouseDune'' where almost everyone are Atreides from the Siona/Idaho line, including the entire Bene Gesserit sisterhood, many of the Honored Matres such as Murbella and others throughout the Imperium and in the Scattering. Plus on a personal level, Odrade being the daughter of Teg.

* The {{Fanon}} that Wander from ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' is secretly related to one or more of his enemies is parodied in the episode "The Legend", where one of the kids claims that "the hero of legend" is related to ''all'' his enemies, including Lord Hater ([[LukeIAmYourFather his father]], Lord Dominator (his sister), and even ''Sourdough the Evil Sandwich'' (his cousin).

* The {{Fanon}} that Wander from ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' is secretly related to one or more of his enemies is parodied in the episode "The Legend", where one of the kids claims that "the hero of legend" is related to ''all'' his enemies, including Lord Hater, Lord Dominator, and even ''Sourdough the Evil Sandwich''.

* 12 out of the 18 characters ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' starts out with are direct family of each other whether by blood or by marriage. Then again, [[JustifiedTrope most of the story takes place during a family conference]]. (The other 6 characters are five of the family head's servants, and a friend of his.) As for the characters who show up later ([[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and there are a lot]]), a number of them are Meta characters, two characters are [[{{Expy}} based on characters from a previous work]], [[spoiler:and a number of characters are really one person going under different identities.]]

* Between the Summers family, the House of Magnus and to a lesser extent the Darkholme family, the Franchise/MarvelIniverse can feel like this.

* In ''VideoGame/DigimonStoryCyberSleuth'', [[spoiler:the protagonist, Arata, Nokia, Yuuko, and Yuugo were the five children that were the participants of the first EDEN beta test that ended up with them discovering a portal to the Digital World and left traumatized by the events that transpired in them which led to Yuugo becoming patient zero of EDEN syndrome, which forced the scientists to wipe off their memories.]] Coincidentally, they all meet together in their late teens, none the wise of what happened back then.

** Robert Baratheon's ArchEnemy, Rhaegar Targaryen, was his second cousin. Robert's grandmother was a younger sister of Jaehaerys II, who was Rhaegar's grandfather. Incidentally, the reason why Robert is able to reign on the Iron Throne (and why Stannis and Renly have a claim later on) is because his grandmother is a Targaryen. Even before this, the Baratheons as a whole are a cadet branch of the Targaryens, descended from a bastard son of Aegon I.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has a major case of this; to make a long story short, ''everyone'' is related to Harry, and if they aren't [[OneDegreeOfSeparation they're related/connected to someone who is]]. ''COTS'' was the first work get [[TangledFamilyTree/ChildOfTheStorm its own Tangled Family Tree page]] for a reason. This is an at least marginally justified example, as InUniverse ComicBook/DoctorStrange has been manipulating events for eons to arrange ever closer connections to provide a united front against Thanos (and this version came from a time when kinship groups were a major basis for alliances)... though WordOfGod has admitted that it got out of hand early on.