History Main / InadequateInheritor

--?-> ''"'''Twenty-five generations''' of my sons have withered and died before me. I do not expect any of you will achieve much else."''

* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', Zepheniah Mann, seeing his sons [[MeaningfulName Blutarch and Redmond]] as idiotic and incompetent, gives them both half of his (worthless) empire to squabble over (minus his company, Mann Co, which he gave to [[TestosteronePoisoning Saxton Hale]]'s (grand?)father). The two proceed to go to war with each other via an army of mercenaries, a war that lasted from 1850 to 1970.

--> ''"'''Twenty-five generations''' of my sons have withered and died before me. I do not expect any of you will achieve much else."''

-->''“Let me tell you a secret, Ned. More than once, I have dreamed of giving up the crown. Take ship for the Free Cities with my horse and my hammer, spend my time warring and whoring, that’s what I was made for. The sellsword king, how the singers would love me. You know what stops me? The thought of Joffrey on the throne, with Cersei standing behind him whispering in his ear. My son. How could I have made a son like that, Ned?”''

* In ''Manga/Reborn2004'', due to the Ninth boss growing older, [[spoiler: Xansus not having the blood of the Vongola]] and other candidates dying, Tsuna is the only one left to inherit the Vongola mafia, the most powerful mafia group in Italy. However, unfortunately for Tsuna, he is not in any way capable of leading or protecting anyone and he wants nothing to do with the mafia. Which is why the Ninth sent Reborn to tutor him. [[spoiler: Hints in the future arc shows that he does become a successful mafia boss.]]

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': When the protagonist gets [[AdoptedIntoRoyalty adopted into nobility]] and meets her slightly older brother Wilfried, she finds him in no state to become their father's heir. Their father is giving primogeniture a try in a setting that usually has heirs compete with each other before one is chosen. As a result, Wilfried has grown so complacent that at age seven, he only knows part of the alphabet, can't do basic math and doesn't know a single song despite being expected to play one in public for his upcoming social debut. Being spoiled by the people who are supposed to educate him and his doting grandmother also made him a RoyalBrat.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': All Might's former sidekick Sir Nighteye wasn't thrilled to learn that All Might had chosen Izuku Midoriya, whom he saw as a random Quirkless kid, to be the inheritor of One For All, and during the internship he constantly belittles Izuku and tries to convince him to give the One For All to Mirio Togata, thinking that he'd be a better successor for having not only the skills and power, but also the personality to become the next Symbol of Peace. He later changes his mind when Izuku [[ScrewDestiny defies Sir Nighteye's Foresight Quirk]], proving him that what he sees isn't set in stone. [[spoiler:And in an ironic twist, it's later revealed that [[CursedWithAwesome being Quirkless actually]] ''[[CursedWithAwesome made]]'' [[CursedWithAwesome Izuku a better suited inheritor]], since One For All has the side effect of shortening the wielder's lifespan if they already have a Quirk upon receiving it]].

* In ''ComicBook/DarkCrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', this seems to be the view concerning Jon Kent as Superman. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League is claimed to have been killed, Jon goes out of his way to recruit a new Justice League. However, most of them refuse to join for different reasons, leading him to take up a RagtagBandOfMisfits. Black Adam, the SoleSurvivor of the League's death, runs Jon through the coals with his choices and tells him that it should have been ''Nightwing'' to lead the charge, not him.

[[folder:Film]]

-->'''Mordekaiser''': (upon killing Swain) Clearly, your ambition outpaced your ability.

* The fourth SuccessionCrisis in ''Manga/{{Ooku}}: The Inner Chambers'' kicked off because of this: Yoshimune's eldest daughter Ieshige was physically disabled, and especially compared to her younger sister Munetake, looked like this trope to the councilors, who feared Ieshige was also mentally disabled. Yoshimune, however, determined that Ieshige was of sound mind to inherit the shogunate. Munetake resented not getting the throne and it fueled the ''fifth'' succession crisis. Inverted, however, with Iesada: Ienari named her next in line after Ieyoshi because she was the only one of his children who ''wasn't'' inadequate.

* In ''ComicBook/DarkCrisis'', this seems to be the view concerning Jon Kent as Superman. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League is claimed to have been killed, Jon goes out of his way to recruit a new Justice League. However, most of them refuse to join for different reasons, leading him to take up a RagtagBandOfMisfits. Black Adam, the SoleSurvivor of the League's death, runs Jon through the coals with his choices and tells him that it should have been ''Nightwing'' to lead the charge, not him.

* Subverted in ''Manga/{{Mars}}''. Takayuki wants his son Rei to be the next president of his company when he decides to step down and Rei is not interested, given his passion to be come a professional motorbike racer. Takayuki forces Rei to give up his dream and focus on learning the family business in order to get shelter for Rei's girlfriend Kira who cannot go back home. However, after noticing how miserable Rei is in this role and with a little push from Kira, Takayuki gets over his reasonable fears of Rei pursuing a professional racing career and let's go of this wish.

* The Indian epic ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'' has this as a recurring problem for the Kuru dynasty. First, the dynasty’s progenitor King Bharat states that none of his nine sons are worthy enough to inherit his kingdom, so he adopts a Brahmin boy and names him Crown Prince. Then king Shantanu initially picks the more than capable Devavrat to be his successor, but circumstances force Devavrat to [[DecliningPromotion abdicate]] and pass the throne on to his step brother(s). Both of them die rather ignoble deaths very quickly, leaving the kingdom bereft of any ruler. Then we have Dhritharashtra inheriting the kingdom from his brother Pandu, but proving to be an EntitledBastard who is willfully ignorant of his son Duryodhan’s many character flaws. And finally, Duryodhan inherits the kingdom from his father and proves to be a grown up EnfantTerrible whose many transgressions include murder, attempted murder, attempted sexual molestation, DroitDuSeigneur [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and cheating at dice games]]. It takes a bloody civil war to depose him and put the capable Yudhistir on the throne.

** In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'', Prince Charmles (the obligatory "PrinceCharmless" pun is made early and often), heir to the throne of Argonia, is fat, lazy, spoiled, and dishonest, despite his father King Clavius' attempts to encourage, prod, or shame him into making something of himself. In the post-game content it comes out that [[spoiler: the Hero is a HiddenBackupPrince, the son of Clavius' older brother, and therefore has a better claim to Argonia's throne than either Charmles OR Clavius. The GoldenEnding has Clavius denounce his own son as the fraud he is (he cheated his way through his RiteOfPassage) and instead backs the Hero.]]

-->'''Urgot''': A pale imitation.

-->'''Mordekaiser''': (first encounter with Swain) Clutch your borrowed power, Grand General. Your soul is already mine.

*** This is still the case in the modern world. This has left Japan as the country with the highest adoption rates in the world, as well as the highest average age of the adopted (adoption is also used as a replacement for gay marriage, which is illegal in Japan, but that is neither here nor there).

* This is a brewing problem in ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'''s nation of Breland. The king is wise and has achieved great things, but he's also ''[[CoolOldGuy old]]'', and none of his heirs are anywhere near worthy to take on the position. There is a significant republican movement...but its main backer is LawfulEvil and expects it to make ''him'' [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny effectively the next king.]]

* This dynamic caused the collapse of the Assyrian and Mongol empires, and contributed quite a bit to the Ottoman Empire's stagnation as the "sick man of Europe".

* This has been the pattern for the majority of famous ancient leaders. Basically, the good leader gets power, has a lot of kids, and establishes an elaborate court in which said kids spend all of their time squabbling and enjoying the facilities instead of governing. Examples of this include Yaroslav the Wise, Suleiman the Lawgiver, Akbar the Great, [[OverlyLongGag Mansa Musa II, Asoka, Chandragupta II, Emperor Qin...]]