History Main / FamilyExtermination

The devastation can be limited to a set of parents and their offspring (i.e, nuclear family) or target a much wider swath of lineage.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', This is the World Government's M.O when it comes to Gold Roger since he was such an infamous pirate that influenced the Great Pirate Era. As such they try to find any traces of his bloodline or loved ones and snuff them out just to send a message to pirates around the world. [[spoiler: This ended up including Roger's then newborn son, Ace, as they were so paranoid they instantly targeted him for death. Ace's mother had to actually hold in her pregnancy with him to fly under the radar of the Marines before giving birth to him. Years later, they ultimately succeed when Ace takes a fatal hit to protect Luffy from Akainu's lava powers and dies.]]

* Creator/GeoffJohns' opening arc for ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'' focused on immortal villain Vandal Savage orchestrating the murders of entire superhero families in order to stop the hero identities from being passed on through the generations. By the first issue, he's already wiped out the last remaining blood relatives for patriotic heroes such as Mr. America, Minute-Man, and General Glory. He has the Neo-Nazi team the Fourth Reich attempt to murder everyone at the Heywood Family reunion (the Heywoods being descendants of Commander Steel). Only a handful of kids and Nate Heywood survive, with the events ironically leading to Nate's transformation into Citizen Steel. Meanwhile, a new Mr. America, one who was friends with the previous version and with no blood relation to the original or his family, takes up the mantel showing Savage's plan was never going to fully succeed.

** The backstory of just about every version involves the Castle family being killed by gangsters, usually by accident (they saw said gangsters killing someone and the gansters went LeaveNoWitnesses). Unfortunately for the underworld, there was a SoleSurvivor.
** In ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'', Bullseye has been hired to kill Frank and decides that ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim, and accordingly has several families tied up and shot down whie he's pretending to have a picnic with them, something the Kingpin finds disturbing after the third time.

* ''Film/CityWar'' have the two protagonists, Ken and Dick, the former who have a family consisting of his loving wife, daughter and son. Halfway through, rival mobsters after the duo attacks Ken's house with Dick as a dinner guest, and in the confusion Ken's wife and daughter was pumped full of lead while his son was injured and last seen in a hospital ICU - leading to the duo's RoaringRampageOfRevenge in the climax.

* In ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', main antagonist Lyutsifer Safin's family was assassinated by Mr. White on orders from SPECTRE. The film opens to a flashback of Safin gunning down Mr. White's wife -- Madeline's mother -- during Madeline's childhood in revenge, with this desire for vengeance in turn motivating his agenda during the film's main events.

* In ''[[Film/CountYorga Return of Count Yorga]]'', Yorga becomes smitten with a girl named Cynthia and wants her to willingly accept him and become a vampire. To do so, he sends his brides to her household and has them feed on the entire family save her (Though Cynthia's sister, Helen, is turned and becomes a bride) then having Cynthia brought to his manor where he claims she was in a car accident that killed her family. Over the course of the movie, however, she slowly starts to regain her memory.

* One of the most horrifying episodes of ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'' is this, the climax of the Grangerford/Shepherdson feud. It's a RoaringRampageOfRomance set off by the {{Elopement}} of Harvey Shepardson and Sophia Grangerford. By the end, all of the men (and teenage boys) of the family who has taken Huck in are dead, along with many of their relatives and at least some of the other side.
* In ''Literature/AlwaysComingHome'', after The Condor [[OffingTheOffspring executes his son]], he also executes his wives, concubines, children and slaves.

* In the ''[[Literature/{{Belgariad}} Malloreon]]'', emperor 'Zakath vows to wipe out the entire bloodline of Murgo king Taur Urgas after a scheme of the latter's got his fiancee executed. The only way to stop him from killing the surviving prince Urgit is revealing that the Queen cheated on Urgas with a Drasnian emissary, and the reason he was the surviving "son" was the mental advantage of being the only one not RoyallyScrewedUp.
* In ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude'', 16 of colonel Aureliano Buendía's sons are killed at the same time when he threatens to arm them against the government. The only ones not killed here are Aureliano José who was killed earlier, Aureliano Amador who manages to escape until he is killed much later.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has House Reyne and House Tarbeck, who rebelled against their liege lords, House Lannister. Tywin Lannister retaliated by marching on their respective seats of power. Tywin first attacked the Tarbecks at Tarbeck Hall, and after defeating them, he had all the men of the family beheaded, before burning down Tarbeck Hall, with the family matriarch, Lady Ellyn trapped inside. The Reynes and their retainers, meanwhile, attempted to seek protection from the Lannister army in their keep, Castamere, which was a large underground castle, carved out from an old mineshaft. But instead of besieging the keep, Tywin instead had a nearby river redirected to that it would flood the keep, and blocked all exits to prevent any escape. The latter house's downfall is popularized in-universe in the song "The Rains of Castamere", which features as a symbol of the Lannisters' intimidation and power.

* This is Patrick Jane's basic TragicBackstory in ''Series/TheMentalist''. Jane was a celebrity "psychic" using cold reading and psychology to make people think he could read minds and talk to dead loved ones. After he insulted a serial killer, Red John, on live TV, Jane came home to discover Red John had killed his wife and young daughter. In the series Jane works as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation and has [[CrusadingWidow vowed to catch Red John]] and [[PayEvilUntoEvil do to him what he did to Jane's family.]]

** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Vengeance Factor" features this twice over. A century earlier, the planet Acamar was caught up in an endless series of [[FeudingFamilies blood feuds]] between rival clans, one of which, the Tralesta, was nearly completely destroyed by another clan, the Lornak. The handful of survivors agreed to turn one of their own into a biologically immortal assassin so that she could hunt down ''every single Lornak'' no matter how long it took. By the time the episode takes place, the few other remaining Tralesta are all long dead, only the assassin, a mild-mannered [[OlderThanTheyLook "young"]] woman named Yuta, remains. While she's long since grown weary of the killing and death, the process that made her stop aging also seems to have locked in the state of grief and pain over losing her clan and she's ''very'' close to completing her mission. As she puts it to the penultimate Lornak, "I am the last of my line, but my clan will outlive yours!". Her chemistry with Riker is ''almost'' enough to convince her to give up on the vendetta, but not quite and he is forced to vaporize her before she can finish off the last survivor (an important political leader engaged in peace talks).

* ''Series/UtopiaUS'': Two whole families are massacred by Harvest agents, Wilson's and even one of their own employee's who objected against planning ''another'' massacre.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' has a rare case where the family in question ''[[AssholeVictim deserved it]]''. In the [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Castle of Dreams]], Aqua plotted to murder Lady Tremaine and her daughters because they're [[MadeOfEvil demons]], and their [[EvilIsPetty petty]] and [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] nature makes them a threat to the universe. Subverted when she's stopped by the FairyGodmother, since using light against darkness is also dangerous. Then double-subversion when the Tremaines [[MoralEventHorizon summon the Cursed Coach to murder Cinderella]] [[ThePowerOfHate out of sheer hatred]], only for a bomb coming from the Unversed to drop on the demonic family and [[KillItWithFire incinerate them alive]], with the implication that [[KarmicTransformation they became Heartless]] or got thrown into the [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Lake of Fire]].

* In ''Webcomic/GumballWarrior'', Bate's entire family is subjected to this fate at the hands of CoDragons Mara and Lucian. The latter would do more of the hands on work, also being responsible for the murders of some of Bate's close friends during his life. [[spoiler:All of this was an attempt by the real BigBad, Shieff, in an attempt to destroy Bate's will. When that fails, he makes things personal in Chapter 13.]]

* This is the short-term goal of Mysto Majora Kijadhimov, the BigBad of the roleplays of ''Webcomic/WhiteDarkLife'' — specifically, she seeks to exterminate [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} the Belnades family]] to undo a protective spell they cast on the Vatican, so that she can proceed with her longer-term goal of [[FinalSolution completely eradicating the Abrahamic religions]] in order to secure the security and prosperity of [[Myth/SlavicMythology the old Slavic faiths]] and their followers. [[note]]Mysto's brother, Mysta, is also attempting this trope, but he fits better under the RulingFamilyMassacre subtrope.[[/note]]

* In ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude'', Colonel Aureliano Buendía's sons (16 in total) are killed at the same time when he threatens to arm them against the government, except for Aureliano José who was killed earlier, Aureliano Amador who manages to escape until he is killed much later.

* This is Patrick Jane's basic TragicBackstory in ''Series/TheMentalist''. Jane was a celebrity "psychic" using cold reading and psychology to make people think he could read minds and talk to dead loved ones. After he insulted a serial killer, Red John, on live TV, Jane came home to discover Red John had killed his wife and young daughter. In the series Jane works as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation and has [[CrusadingWidower vowed to catch Red John]] and [[PayEvilUntoEvil do to him what he did to Jane's family.]]

* This is Patrick Jane's basic TragicBackstory in ''Series/TheMentalist''. Jane was a celebrity "psychic" using cold reading and psychology to make people think he could read minds and talk to dead lived ones. After he insulted a serial killer, Red John, on live TV, Jane came home to discover Red John had killed his wife and young daughter. In the series Jane works as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation and has [[CrusadingWidower vowed to catch Red John]] and [[PayEvilUntoEvil do to him what he did to Jane's family.]]

* ''Series/Foundation2021'': The [[TheEmperor Galactic Emperor]] makes Azura an UnPerson by ordering the assassination of everyone related to her through her great-great-grandparents, as well as everyone she's ever had a meaningful relationship with. The first group comprises 712 relatives.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' labels murderers that kill entire families as "Family Annihilators". The most (in)famous example from the show is probably Karl Arnold AKA The Fox. A PsychoPsychologist, Arnold targeted families he judged were falling apart due to a lack of a "strong paternal figure" (read: a father that ruled over them with an iron fist). He would murder the father first, then the families after a few days of acting as the head of the household and making it appear as a murder-suicide committed by the father.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': The Queen of Fables pulls a pretty brutal massacre over the course of a few minutes at the Praxis [[FamilyDisunion Family Reunion]]. She explains to Harley's crew why she wanted to be as thorough as possible.
-->'''Harley''': But why?!\\

An entire family has been targeted for murder in a single attack or systematically. This massacre may be carried out by [[GenocideFromTheInside a disgruntled family member]], someone with a grudge against the family, or a complete stranger, and for many kinds of reasons, such as FeudingFamilies, a way to [[DespairGambit psychologically hurt their target]], a way of making their target pay for not doing what they want, a bout of [[SerialKiller serial killing]], specifically wanting to end their lineage, etc.

* President Snow of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' threatens Katniss Everdeen of murdering lots of her relatives if she doesn't keep her pretended couple with Peeta Mallark.

* The backstory of ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' involves the Castle family being killed by gangsters. Unfortunately for the underworld, there was a SoleSurvivor.

* ''Vengeance'' (2009 HeroicBloodshed movie) literally opens with the massacre of Sophie Costello's family, with her husband and sons getting gunned down by mobsters and herself barely surviving, leading to her father, RetiredBadass and former mob enforcer Francis Costello to discover the circumstances behind her demise and avenge her family.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/ThePunisher https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/family_extermination_8.png]]]]

-->'''Merno''': The zealots got fearless. They wiped out whole cities in Su'un. Massacred Slayers by the hundreds. Then...they — I used to have so many cousins, aunts, and uncles. My grandparents, my mother. My father was spared...so they’d have someone to give Kie's head.

'''Queen of Fables''': You were there... that guy ratted us out so I killed that guy. Then everyone saw me kill that guy. so I killed everyone. You gotta end the bloodline and prevent any [[YouKilledMyFather revenge killing]]. I mean that's just Evil 101.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' labels murderers that kill entire families as "Family Annihilators". The most (in)famous example from the show is probably Karl Arnold AKA The Fox. A PsychoPsychologist, Arnold targeted families he judged were falling apart due to a lack of a "strong paternal figure" (read: a father that ruled over them with an iron). He would murder the father first, then the families after a few days of acting as the head of the household and making it appear as a murder-suicide committed by the father.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Godbound}} the "Sever the Line" power from the Fertility word renders the target sterile and does damage (which if they are ordinary humans will likely kill them) to all descendants up to the fifth generation. The user may choose to spare particular descendants.

* ''Vengeance'' literally opens with the massacre of Sophie Costello's family, with her husband and sons getting gunned down by mobsters and herself barely surviving, leading to her father, RetiredBadass and former mob enforcer Francis Costello to discover the circumstances behind her demise and avenge her family.

* ''Series/Foundation2021'': The [[TheEmperor Galactic Emperor]] makes Azura an {{Unperson}} by ordering the assassination of everyone related to her through her great-great-grandparents, as well as everyone she's ever had a meaningful relationship with. The first group comprises 712 relatives.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The Petit family was exterminated, apart from the father (who survived), by Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevski, who came to burglarize the Petits' house and then, after raping the mother and her two daughters, set fire to the building.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Cold_Blood Herbert Clutter]], a wealthy farmer residing in Holcomb, Kansas, was murdered, along with his wife, Bonnie, and his two younger children, Nancy and Kenyon, by the recently paroled Richard Eugene "Dick" Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, who wanted to rob the safe they thought was there. Hickock and Smith were hanged in 1965 and were the last to be executed in Kansas since. It inspired Truman Capote in writing ''Literature/InColdBlood''.
* In 1869, from August 24 to September 19, [[http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/01/19/1870-jean-baptiste-troppmann-mass-murderer/ Jean-Baptiste Troppmann]] murdered his associate, Jean Kinck, his wife Hortense, and six of their seven children, the last one being with a wet nurse. Troppmann became one of the more reviled criminals in 1870s France before being beheaded in 1870.
* On January 1873, in Lyons's suburbs, Jules Seringer, a sailor, killed his mother, his stepfather, and his half-sister. He was beheaded in August 1873.
* The postman Jean Mano thought living under the same roof as his in-laws was unbearable. On April 10th, 1872, he killed his father-in-law, his mother-in-law, his wife, and their two daughters with a pickaxe, sparing the lives of his two sons. Sentenced to life imprisonment in March 1873 in Bordeaux, he was judged a second time in Agen next June. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he died at the New Caledonia penal colony 29 years later.
* On April 13, 2003, David Hotyat exterminated Xavier Flactif and his family, [[DrivenByEnvy out of jealousy]] because Flactif was wealthier than Hotyat.
* This happens sometimes in gang wars involving the more hermetic, blood-relation-based organized crime groups such as the Sicilian Mafia and, more recently, the drug cartels of Central and South America. Simply having the same last name as an opposing faction is reason enough to be killed, especially in the "vendetta" culture of Sicily, where males are often honor-bound to avenge their slain relatives. In such a culture, it makes perfect (if chilling) sense to just [[KillEmAll kill an entire family]] and not have to worry about vengeance being taken years down the road.
* In 2016, in Pike County, Ohio, four members of the Wagner family [[https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/13/us/ohio-piketon-killings-arrests/index.html murdered eight members of the Rhoden family]], possibly over child custody.
* In 1987, an arsonist who was never identified attempted this on the late Music/TomPetty and his family by setting their house on fire. No one was killed this time, but a guest was injured.
* On Christmas Eve 1985, far-right fanatic David Lewis Rice murdered Charles Goldmark, his wife Annie and their two sons 12-year-old Derek and 10-year-old Colin, believing Goldmark was a Jewish leader of a Communist conspiracy to take over America.
* The most severe punishment in ImperialChina, as well as Korea and Vietnam, was the nine familial exterminations, usually reserved for the worst sort of treason. This involved killing the parents and grandparents, children and grandchildren over the age of 16 (with those under being enslaved instead), siblings and siblings-in-law, uncles and aunts with their spouses, cousins, spouses, spouses parents, and finally the criminal himself, often done via [[ColdBloodedTorture slow slicing]].
[[/folder]]

* A double-subversion happens in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep''. In the [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Castle of Dreams]], Aqua has assigned herself on a mission to assassinate [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether Lady Tremaine and her daughters]] because she [[DetectEvil sensed their]] [[MadeOfEvil very strong darkness]], and is convinced that they could destroy the universe given their [[ItsAllAboutMe entitled]], [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] nature, and willingness to use the Unversed to commit mass murder for petty reasons (which was shown in Terra's scenario). Aqua gets stopped by the FairyGodmother, who warns her that using light to attack three [[DemonOfHumanOrigin demonic women]] could also endanger the universe. The double-subversion comes when the Tremaines [[MoralEventHorizon attack Cinderella with the Cursed Coach]] [[ThePowerOfHate out of sheer hatred]]. The Unversed drops a bomb on them while they laugh in sadism, wiping out the [[BeyondRedemption irredeemably evil family]] from the Realm of Light, and leaving their ultimate fates unknown. This is a rare case where the family in question ''[[AssholeVictim deserved it]]''.