History Main / InTheBlood

** Whatever it is in the Bolton linage, you know it ain't good news when enough [[{{Sadist}} Sadism]] of various descriptions has cropped up to get you a flayed man as a readily identifiable House sigil. As well a broad collection of very nasty rumours piling up over centuries, as well. Added to all that, is a House seat called... ''[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace The Dreadfort]]''. [[ObviouslyEvil You can't say you're not warned...]]

** Whatever it is in the Bolton linage, you know it ain't good news when enough [[{{Sadist}} Sadism]] of various descriptions has cropped up to get you a flayed man as a readily identifiable House sigil. As well a broad collection of very nasty rumours piling up over centuries, as well. Plus a House seat called... ''[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace The Dreadfort]]''. [[ObviouslyEvil You can't say you're not warned...]]

** Whatever it is in the Bolton linage, you know it ain't good news when enough [[{{Sadist}} Sadism]] of various descriptions has cropped up to get you a flayed man as a readily identifiable House sigil. As well a broad collection of very nasty rumours over centuries, as well.

* Very subtle in ''FireEmblemRadiantDawn,'' but present nonetheless: One of the most amoral members of the Greil Mercenaries turned out to be [[spoiler: the son of the BigBad from the previous game.]] Possibly averted in that despite being amoral, he is also fiercely loyal ([[HoYay ahem]]) to Ike, and for lack of a conscience of his own, he often follows Ike's.
** In ''FireEmblemBlazingSword'' 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.

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Dr. Juuzo Kabuto was a brilliant scientist and builder of HumognousMecha. His son Kenzo was a brilliant scientist and builder of HumongousMecha. His elder grandson Kouji was a pilot of HumongousMecha and he was already designing and building ufos for the age of nineteen. And his younger grandson Shiro is also pretty smart for his age. Usually all members of Kabuto family combine high intelligence with CrazyAwesome.

* It probably has as much to do with nurture (or lack thereof) as nature, but [[spoiler: Dahlia Hawthorne]] is at least as petty and murderous as [[spoiler: her mother Morgan Fey]] in ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney: Trials and Tribulations''. Fortunately it seems to have passed over [[spoiler: Pearl and Iris]].

* For an example of someone who doesn't give a second thought to their villainous ancestry, look no further than [[{{Flash}} Bart Allen]] -- better known as Impulse/Kid Flash II. It's common knowledge that he's the grandson of the Silver Age Flash. What ''isn't'' common knowledge [[note]]Only about a dozen or so people in-universe know this[[/note]] is that he's also descended from Barry's psychotic EvilCounterpart, Professor Zoom. He's long known this fact [[note]]Impulse #25. He's more upset that Meloni didn't spill the truth earlier.[[/note]], but doesn't really think about it, let alone talk about it, unless someone explicitly brings it up, and more-or-less laughs off Zoom's accusation of "[[FeudingFamilies bloodline betrayal]]":

* 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 when 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'.

* In Harry Potter fanfic, [[DepravedHomosexual Arcturus Black]] is [[{{Yandere}} disturbingly obsessed]] over Harry and he is not alone in obessession—apparently it's called the "Black Family Madness" because the entire family tends to get unhealthy, destructive obsessions to the point of insanity. Arcturus's grandfather abducted and raped the women he wanted to marry and his aunt fervently worshiped a made-up deity..
* ''FanFic/MegaManReawakened''plays this straight with Quentin Emerald, whose father was a terrorist, but subverts it with Dr. Regal, who isn't evil despite his father being Wily.

* In Harry Potter fanfic, [[DepravedHomosexual Arcturus Black]] is [[{{Yandere}} disturbingly obsessed]] over Harry and he is not alone in obessession—apparently it's called the "Black Family Madness" because the entire family tends to get unhealthy, destructive obsessions to the point of insanity. Arcturus's grandfather abducted and raped the women he wanted to marry and his aunt fervently worshiped a made-up deity..

The hero's fear in this situation is that their "evil genes" will inevitably doom them to become as evil as their ancestors BecauseDestinySaysSo, it's written InTheBlood -- despite the fact that up to the point before TheReveal they had a solid reputation, moral compass, and personality, capable of using HeroicWillpower to resist just about any evil supernatural coercion. It seems heroes are as insecure about their ancestry as their [[SlaveToPR reputation.]]

* Likewise, in the ''DivineDivinity series'', the Hero spares TheAntichrist because he's just a little baby, and tries to raise him as his own son and a champion of truth and justice. This ''does not'' work out, at all (although the failure was at least in part caused by external factors, namely the ReligionOfEvil sending an agent to tempt him to the Dark Side).

* In ''EurekaSeven'', the Thurston family (especially the males) are all well-respected and loved people. Axel Thurston was respected by the military for his design and contributions for the LFOs, Adrock Thurston was remembered by the people for his HeroicSacrifice to save the world, and Renton Thurston was also known by all for saving the world and became a hero (his name is displayed on the moon for all to see, as well as a street named after him in the ending).

* In P.C. Hodgell's ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath series, Shanir (magic) powers are inherited genetically among the Highborn race. Incestuous breeding programs in the past to breed stronger Shanir have led to some very damaged bloodlines, exacerbated by dwindling numbers (and probably causing them, too, due to impacts on fertility). Heroine Jame and her twin brother Torisen are of the "royal" house of Knorth, inheriting both powerful abilities and the possibility of insanity; Torisen constantly worries that he carries the Knorth madness and worries he'll become his father. One of those abilities is also InTheBlood; blood-binding. Anyone who consumes their blood will be bound to them mind, body and soul until death and beyond. Creepy stuff.

* The Avatara in ''{{Carnivale}}'' get their powers and Dark or Light natures genetically. Siblings of the Avatara, called Vectori, are said to have minor abilities of their own and tend toward insanity.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', the protagonist of Part V, Giorno Giovanna, is the son of Dio Brando. However, since Dio conceived Giorno after he had stolen Jonathan Joestar's body, Giorno is biologically Jonathan's son and thus is part of the Joestar bloodline. Joseph and Jotaro are initially concerned that he'll turn out like Dio. Fortunately, Giorno takes after his more heroic lineage instead, though he ''does'' have Dio's "WRRRRYYYY!" battle cry.

* ChristopherTitus has made a career of 50% DysfunctionJunction and 50% this trope. A lot of his material comes from the fact that he can't escape the habits that he seems to have learned, or genetically inherited from his parents, including the nervous breakdown he had when he read so much as the ''title'' of a Life magazine article titled: "Mental Illness: Genetic?" His father had an extremely promiscuous and addictive personality and his mother was crazy.

* ''Disney/TheLionKing II: Simba's Pride'' used this with Nuka, the only son of Scar. He is evil, [[BeautyEqualsGoodness very]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute ugly]], and receives a DisneyVillainDeath. Ironic, as the film was supposed to be subverting InTheBlood. The film was supposed to have Scar's son as a protagonist, but that wasn't possible because it would've made its Romeo and Juliet [[KissingCousins cousins]]. Though Nuka is a lot more sympathetic than Scar, since he just wants his mother to be proud of him. A last crazed attempt to earn her pride even gets him killed.

* In ''CrusaderKings'', characters will pass onto their offspring a tendency to have similar stats. This was strong enough in earlier versions that a form of Darwinian evolution could be observed, where since characters with higher stats were more likely to survive and to succeed as rulers and pass their traits on, everyone in the late game had insanely high stats

** It turns out that the ability to touch Saidar or Saidin is inherited ... and the Red Ajah has been culling male channelers because they go insane and kill everyone in their general area. Oops.