History Main / InTheBlood

** [[http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200809/the-50-0-50-rule-why-parenting-has-virtually-no-effect-chi The latest thinking]] is the 50-0-50 rule. In terms of Genetics/Parenting/Environment, Parenting doesn't matter... sort of. The reason you and your siblings turn out so different despite having the same parents is that everything about your parents is already accounted for in either genetics (the ways you're alike) or environment (the ways you're different).

** Jon, who is already recognizable as Ned Stark's [[HeroicBastard illegitimate son]], is said by [[Slimeball Janos Slynt]] to be "untrustworthy" due to his "wolf" blood as Jon's father "died a traitor".

** Sansa and Jon in regard to their father, Ned Stark -- Ned is one of the series' protagonists and beloved by his family and the North but depending on the character who likens them to their father, the comparison may or may not be meant as a compliment. After Ned is presented [[spoiler:as a "traitor" by the crown when he must make a false confession to save Sansa's life, Sansa is told she has "traitor's blood" by her family's enemies in King's Landing. Meanwhile, Jon, who is already recognizable as Ned Stark's [[HeroicBastard illegitimate son]], is referred to as a "traitor's bastard" by other antagonist characters.]]

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* ''[[Literature/OldKingdom]]'': It is implied that being a berserker runs in the Royal blood. Also, Charter bloodlines seem to share certain personality trains, most prominently in the heads of the bloodline (i.e. tendancy towards soliture in the Abhorsens, charisma in the Royal line, a certain airiness in the Clayr). Admittedly, it is sometimes unclear whether these are in the Blood, or the result of familial culture. Certainly they're related to the Charter abilities that run in the Blood (Clairvoyance for the Clayr, the Death sense for the Abhorsen, innate talent with creating things for the Wallmakers, innate abilities to lead(?) for the Royals).

** Lestat de Lioncourt acknowledges that he inherited his father's temper, and considers it a curse. Lestat's father had beaten him when he was a boy. Later as an adult, Lestat physically abuses his boyfriend Louis and his vampire daughter Claudia.

** The Targaryen dynasty has always walked a fine line between brilliance and madness, a trait they cannot shake because of their three-hundred year old tradition of incest to keep the "blood of the dragon" pure, which is also believed to be important to their RoyaltySuperpower of connecting with dragons. Aerys Targaryen was insane and he passed this on to Viserys. [[spoiler:As well as Daenerys]].

** Claudia takes after Lestat, her maker; they're both vicious killers, prone to histrionics, have fallen madly in love with a mortal, hold little regard for human etiquette (e.g. they're both rude at funerals), are stalkers, and on at least one occasion, are [[ThePeepingTom peeping toms]]. They both adore Louis and want to separate him from the other.

* The [[FramingStory plot]] of the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series run on this trope -- the gameplay is In The DNA, a lineage going from Altaïr Ibn La'Ahad ("Eagle, Son of No One") to Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ezio derived from a Greek word for Eagle) to [[PlayerCharacter Desmond Miles]]. Later implied to be literal, as [[spoiler:Altaïr's bloodline may all be descendants of a past human-Those Who Came Before hybrid]], partially since Altaïr's bloodline are the only Assassins known to use the ability of Eagle Vision in the games, though ''[[AllThereInTheManual Project Legacy]]'' revealed that [[spoiler:Giovanni Borgia -- whose father was an Assassin]] also had it too.

* Webcomic/CiemWebcomicSeries Candi Levens' ancestry includes [[HornyDevils Honeybee Samuel and Dwayne Lloyd]]. Sure enough, she and her sisters are completely obsessed with sex.

** Lestat de Lioncourt acknowledges that he inherited his father's temper, and considers it a curse.

** Claudia takes after Lestat, her maker; they're both vicious killers, prone to histrionics, have fallen madly in love with a mortal, hold little regard for human etiquette (e.g. they're both rude at funerals), and on at least one occasion, are [[ThePeepingTom peeping toms]].

* OlderThanFeudalism: Played straight and averted in ''Literature/TheBible''. All humans end up inheriting original sin and death from their ancestors Adam and Eve. Averted with Abraham and David, where {{God}} makes a covenant with them to set up a nation and monarchy, respectively, with their descendants hoping that they will be as faithful as their ancestors. Save for a few notable exceptions, he turns out to be dead wrong.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Lestat de Lioncourt acknowledges that he inherited his father's temper, and considers it a curse.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* ''Franchise/XMen'':

* OlderThanFeudalism: Played straight and averted in ''Literature/TheBible''. All humans end up inheriting original sin and death from their ancestors Adam and Eve. Averted with Abraham and David, where {{God}} makes a covenant with them to set up a nation and monarchy, respectively, with their descendants hoping that they will be as faithful as their ancestors. Save for a few notable exceptions, he turns out to be dead wrong.

Compare StrongFamilyResemblance, where a character physically resembles their relative, and FamilyEyeResemblance, a subtler way of hinting at the inheritance using eyes. Supertrope to HeroicLineage and VillainousLineage, where the inherited personality traits are, respectively, [[TheHero heroism]] and villainy. See also SharedFamilyQuirks.

* ''ComicBook/FireflyBrandNewVerse'': Emma Washburne, daughter of Zoe and Hoban Washburne, is a pilot and semi-leader on ''Serenity'' (Zoe is captain and no word where Mal went) just like Wash was its pilot. She also seems to like bright shirts with patterns like her dad. But she has her mom’s warrior side and stubborn streak leading to some butting of heads between her and Zoe.

* A recurrent theme frequently {{discussed|Trope}} in ''Literature/{{Murderess}}''. Lu was warned not to reveal her heritage to anyone, for fear of people reacting based on this; some apparently do, others don’t. Lu herself struggles with this notion, wondering whether or not she is naturally inclined to kill, but seems to be too horrified when she has to kill even to save her own life.

** In "Chapter 26", Gabrielle discloses to Syd that insanity runs in her family, and Syd concludes that Gabrielle's son David got his madness from his mother.

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* Used in ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' and ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'', with the "Osborn Legacy" ending up twisting three generations of Osborns. There's no evidence that any of them were evil before Norman, and if his formula affected his genes, Harry was already a teen at that point. Harry's son Normie, however, turns out to be an IneffectualSympatheticVillain, and gets better ''real'' quick. However, Peter has suspicions along these lines, so doesn't entirely trust him.

* Played humorously on ''Series/TopGear'', in an episode featuring the presenters' mothers. While some personality influences are obviously present, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond's mothers are slow, careful drivers, and James May's is remarkably aggressive and fast.

* The ''Shadows of Mexico'' setting for ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' portray the [[VampiresAreSexGods Daeva]] native to that region, called Xoxocti, as priests of the gods. Thanks to centuries of foreign influence, their present day childer don't care about the old ways anymore. Instead, they use their vampiric powers to [[MundaneUtility become]] [[FanService sexy]] [[LatinLover Latin pop stars]], forcing their ancestors to view them as the children of kings who've been [[SonOfAWhore screwing whores]]. This CulturalPosturing is actually ''a large part of the setting's plot.''
* Used extensively in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. The God-Emperor of Man created the twenty Primarchs, and when each wound up being raised on an alien planet by whoever happened to stumble across them, each become an immensely skilled warrior, and most of them ruled a planet or ten. The modern-day Space Marines are all genetically modified with gene-seed based on one of the Primarchs, and all exhibit behavior similar to that Primarch -- the Blood Angels and their descendants, for example, all tend to be pious, noble, and prone to turning into bloodthirsty kamikaze maniacs intent on ripping the enemy limb from limb and drinking their blood.

** In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Blazing Sword]]'' we have minor villain Erik, son of the corrupt Marquess Darin. In the next game in the continuity, Erik has grown up to be exact same tyrannical ruler his father was, and repeats his predecessors' mistakes [[HistoryRepeats step by step]], even going so far as to kidnap a little girl (for different reasons, but still). This is bothersome as Darin wasn't truly evil until he met Ephidel and Erik seemed repentant after being defeated by Eliwood and Hector.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WebComic/{{Precocious}}'':

* The sons of Luk River from [[http://subcultura.es/webcomic/elis/1 Irregular Elis]]. They formed a BadassFamily of [[{{superhero}} Superheroes]] with a lot of hereditary powers.

** They didn't manage to get Sun Tzu's DNA (who was targeted specifically to give Serpentor wisdom and prudence), so they replaced it with Sergeant Slaughter's, whose strategic abilities can be summed up as punching people in the face while insulting them. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity]] [[GeneralFailure (and failure)]] [[HilarityEnsues Ensues]].

* A different and literal take in the movie ''Film/{{Twins}}''. An experiment was conducted where a machine was used to filter positive and negative genetic traits from 10 different men and impregnate a woman. However the experiment failed: rather than making one genetically perfect baby they had twins -- one who had the best traits of all his parents (Arnold Schwarzenegger) while his twin brother (Danny [=DeVito=]) got all the undesirable ones, literally being made of 'genetic garbage'.