History Main / GenerationalSaga

* ''Manga/OokuTheInnerChambers'' follows the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan in an AlternateHistory scenario where an [[{{Gendercide}} endemic disease called the Red Face Pox breaks out in the 17th century and kills 80% of Japan's men]], forcing the Tokugawa clan (as well as most of the noble families) to become matrilinear with a female Shogun. The story begins with the eighth Shogun Yoshimune, at a point where the Red Face Pox has long since become a fact of life, though through an early flashback we learn of how the Tokugawa family has fared ever since the third Shogun Iemitsu became the first woman to take the position. [[spoiler:The story looks to be ending with the fifteenth and last Shogun Yoshinobu, following the eradication of the Red Face Pox that has restored a normal gender ratio to Japan]].

** In ''L'Augellino Bel Verde'', prince Tartaglia becomes a king and goes to war, leaving his wife Ninetta under his mother's, Tartagliona, care; Tartagliona locks Ninetta in a dungeon and gives her twins, a boy and a girl, for his servant Pantalone to be killed, but the man simply casts the children in the water for someone to find, and tricks Tartagliona with deer hearts. The twins are found by a butcher named Truffaldino, who names them Barbarina and Renzo. After 18 years, Truffaldino says he can no longer afford to keep them. The twins get involved in many adventures, including seeking the singing apple and dancing waters, and release their mother Ninetta from their underground prison.

** In ''L'Augellino Bel Verde'', prince Tartaglia becomes a king and goes to war, leaving his wife Ninetta under his mother's, Tartagliona, care; Tartagliona locks Ninetta in a dungeon and gives her twins, a boy and a girl, for his servant Pantalone to be killed, but the man simply casts the children in the water for someone to find, and tricks Tartagliona with deer hearts. The twins are found by a butcher named Truffaldino, who names them Barbarina and Renzo. After 18 years, Truffaldino says he can no longer afford to keep them. The twins get involved in many adventures, including seeking the singing apple and dancing water, and release their mother Ninetta from their underground prison.

** In ''L'Augellino Bel Verde'', prince Tartaglia becomes a king and goes to war, leaving his mother Tartagliona in care of his wife Ninetta; Tartagliona locks Ninetta in a dungeon and gives her twins, a boy and a girl, for his servant Pantalone to be killed, but the man simply casts the children in the water for someone to find, and tricks Tartagliona with deer hearts. The twins are found by a butcher named Truffaldino, who names them Barbarina and Renzo. After 18 years, Truffaldino says he can no longer afford to keep them. The twins get involved in many adventures, including seeking the singing apple and dancing water, and release their mother Ninetta from their underground prison.

* Italian author Carlo Gozzi's 1700s operas ''L'amore delle tre melarance'' and ''L'Augellino Bel Verde'' (or ''The Green Bird'') can be read as one continuous generational saga: in ''L'amore delle tre melarance'', a prince is looking for a bride, and searches for the titular three oranges, releasing a maiden from the third one whom he marries; in ''L'Augellino Bel Verde'', the prince's wife gives birth to twins, but the prince's queen-mother casts them in the water and places puppies in their place, which leads to the queen being imprisoned in the dungeons, while her sons grow up at a distant place.

* In the first generation, it is told about the meeting between the parents of the titular golden children, and the children's separation from their mother and father by their aunts' doing;
* In the second generation, the aunts discover the children have survived and try to get rid of them by sending them on dangerous quests. However, the children also survive this attempt, despite some hindrances, and eventually unmask their aunts, rescue their mother and reunite their family.

* The french comic book series ''Le Décalogue" follows the history of the book "Nahik" in general, and of the Fleury-Nadal family in particular.

* The Literature/DollangangerSeries by Creator/VCAndrews (indeed, many of her series) is an example of this. The first series, which is the only one Andrews wrote herself before her death, begins with Cathy Dollanganger (Foxworth) and [[Literature/FlowersInTheAttic her brothers and sister]]. [[Literature/PetalsOnTheWind Woven into]] the first two novels are the back-stories of her parents and grandparents. The [[Literature/IfThereBeThorns third novel]] in the series takes place from the point of view of her sons, Bart and Jory. The [[Literature/SeedsOfYesterday fourth novel]] continues the story of Cathy and her children, and the [[Literature/GardenOfShadows last novel]] fills in the gaps as a prequel which tells the story of Cathy's grandparents and how they came to disown their daughter. It's just about as complicated and soap opera-ish as it sounds.
** Many of the series under Creator/VCAndrews' name include ''Literature/TheCasteelSeries'', the Literature/CutlerSeries, the Literature/LandrySeries, and the Literature/LoganSeries.

* The quintessential example for French literature is Emile Zola's ''Les Rougon-Macquart'' saga, which includes 20 books (the most famous being the 13th, ''Literature/{{Germinal}}''). Subtitled ''"Natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire"'', it follows the lives of the members of the two titular branches of a fictional family living during the Second French Empire (1852–1870).

* The ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' movies follow Rocky Balboa all the way from his days as a boxing champion in the 70s and 80s, to his days as a retired fighter mentoring [[Film/{{Creed}} the son of Apollo Creed]], his deceased rival and friend. The movies also explore his relationship with his own son, Rocky Jr.

* ''Literature/FamilyTreeSeries'' chronicles the lives of four generations of a family that is based in the seaside town of Lewisport, Maine through the maternal line as they each [[ComingofAge come of age]]. The final book intertwines all four generations--Abby, Dana, Francie, and Georgie [[spoiler:and a fifth generation in Abby's mother Nell, as revealed through the diaries she kept hidden in their first home.]]

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' follows generation after generation of the [[BadassFamily Joestar family]], starting all the way back in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood 1880]] with nobleman Jonathan Joestar. [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Part 2]] follows Jonathan's grandson Joseph Joestar in 1938. [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Part 3]] follows Joseph's grandson Jotaro Kujo in 1989, followed by [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Part 4]] with Joseph's illegitimate son Josuke Higashikata (who is also Jotaro's uncle despite being 12 years younger) in 1999. Then there's [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Part 5]] with Giorno Giovanna (who is Jonathan's biological son via rather complicated circumstances) in 2001, and finally [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Part 6]] with Jotaro's daughter Jolyne Cujoh in 2011.

* The Franchise/TheDCU and Franchise/MarvelUniverse can be thought of as two great, big generational sagas (especially in regards to team titles like Comicbook/TeenTitans or ComicBook/JusticeLeague for the former, and the many ComicBook/XMen or [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] titles for the latter).

** ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' with its [[ComicBook/SpiderVerse multiverse]] of spider-themed heroes, including ones [[ComicBook/SpiderGirl from]] [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManRenewYourVows futures]] in which he and Mary-Jane have a child who goes on to become a hero like their father. There's also ComicBook/MilesMorales, Peter's protege whose being set up as [[LegacyCharacter the next Spider-Man]], and [[ComicBook/SpiderMan2099 Miguel O'Hara]], a Spider-Man from the year 2099, where Peter Parker is hailed as one of Earth's greatest heroes. The web-head's come far since his humble beginnings.

* Creator/TheHistoryChannel's ''Series/{{Vikings}}'' deals with one generation's rise to prominence and the rise of the following generation of kings and [[JustForPun vikings]].

* The family from ''Rock 'n' Roll'' by Creator/TomStoppard aren't immigrants, but it does have the three generations of protagonists with the intermediate one being the odd one out.
%%%* ''The Long Christmas Dinner'' One act, four generations.

->''" I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine."''
-->-- '''John Adams''', 1780

* ''Literature/AguaDeBarrela'', written by Eliana Alves Cruz is a semi-autobiographical book that follows an Afro-Brazilian family for five generations, starting out as slaves captured from Africa and finishing with them free and occupying places formerly denied to them in Brazilian society.