History Main / InTheBlood

** Later, after he developed his powers further by drinking more [[PsychoSerum demon blood]] to exorcise demons so he could prevent the Apocalypse and became addicted, it turned out that he'd been being prepped for years to open a different door [[spoiler:, the one to Lucifer's cage]].

** Destiny also grabbed the Winchesters by the veins in that they are apparently descended on both sides from a line of archangel vessels, and were ''born'' to house Lucifer and Michael for their final apocalyptic battle on earth. Lucifer says, "It had to be you, Sam. It always had to be you." Presumably,the Campbell line was Lucifer's vessels and the Winchester was Michael's, and the reason they had to bring the two together in John and Mary was that the final vessels needed to be brothers. Lucifer's lack of interest in Adam and Michael's in Mary might point this way, but it's not conclusive. The idea of destiny is thrown about a lot here, but given how hard Heaven and Hell both had to work to make it happen, Destiny may just mean 'the plan.' See also, TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive.

* In the game ''VideoGame/{{D}}'', the main character must find her father, a doctor at a sanitarium who has [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity gained some kind of supernatural power, causing him to go batshit insane]] and slaughter apparently everyone in the hospital and reality warp the living shit out of it. It is eventually revealed that [[TheReveal he is a decendant of Dracula, and has lost his mind thereby.]]

* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/{{Nox}}'', the world of Nox's Legendary Hero wipes out every member of the AlwaysChaoticEvil Necromancers, but spares the last Necromancer, a mere baby, sending her off to be raised by the primative but morally neutral Trolls without any knowledge of her true heritage. She grows up to be the game's BigBad, and inherits not only her ancestors' total evil, but also their raging Goth-ness. (Although the Wizard ending implies she was possessed by the evil spirits of all her evil ancestors, and without being indwelt by them she's actually a pretty decent lady).

->''I am the guilty one
->Ball and chain around my leg
->I am the cursed one
->Black cloud hangin' overhead
->Fill the heart that pumps bad blood
->All inside of me.''

* CyranoDeBergerac: Even When Cyrano reacts with shock at Roxane's intention to remain with them during the battle, and she responds, ''"Monsieur de Bergerac, I am your cousin."'' lampshades this in a positive context, [[BrokenAce Cyrano]] and [[DaydreamBeliever Roxane's]] [[BeautyEqualsGoodness obsessions]] and [[MasterOfDelusion denial]] [[LoveMartyr of reality]] fit them better with the sinister implications of this trope.

-->'''Red Arrow:''' Should I be concerned over the obvious delight our daughter takes in the ultra-violence?
-->'''Cheshire:''' It's genetic.
-->'''Red Arrow:''' Great.

*** The Nakama theme becomes much more evident in the Fishman/Mermaid heredity. Either species can give birth to an species each other with no qualms as it just means they must have had some ancestor to inherit it from.

* In the backstory of ''{{Nox}}'', the world of Nox's Legendary Hero wipes out every member of the AlwaysChaoticEvil Necromancers, but spares the last Necromancer, a mere baby, sending her off to be raised by the primative but morally neutral Trolls without any knowledge of her true heritage. She grows up to be the game's BigBad, and inherits not only her ancestors' total evil, but also their raging Goth-ness. (Although the Wizard ending implies she was possessed by the evil spirits of all her evil ancestors, and without being indwelt by them she's actually a pretty decent lady).

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':

* In ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'', the Lensherr[=/=]Eisenhart[=/=]Maximoff/Da-- ''{{Magneto}}'s'' family seems to have a lot of issues with this. The man himself tends to go mad fairly regularly, ScarletWitch was responsible for ''Avengers Disassembled'' and ''House of M,'' Polaris also seems to spend half her time as an evil lunatic, and {{Quicksilver}} (getting off more lightly than the others) went kind of crazy after getting his powers back following the decimation.

** Chapter 619 reveals that [[spoiler:the Uchiha Clan's tendencies of nihilism and self-destructive behavior are ''literally'' In The Blood. According to the revived Second Hokage, Uchiha experience love, friendship, and attachment more than any other clan, and are thus affected worse than anyone else at losing someone they care for. The Sharingan and its advanced forms are triggered by a change in brain chemistry caused by these negative emotions... a change that also triggers a shift in thought patterns that more often than not leads the Uchiha in question to nihilism, anguished rage, and madness. The entire Uchiha Clan is cursed by their core genetics to become monsters if they lose someone they love.]]

** Whether it's due to genetics or upbringing, most members of House Frey resemble their patriarch Walder frey in looks and morality (not a good thing).

* ''ChouseishinGransazer'' has a lot of hand-wringing {{wangst}} near the end when it is revealed that [[spoiler:some of the heroes, and possibly all humans, are descended from the Bosquito, an evil race of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent monsters that feed on the life force of others]]. But in the end it turns out that they aren't related to the Bosquito at all; it was just evil propaganda. A rather nasty WarpedAesop.]]

* Near the end of the ''[[NorthAndSouthUS North and South]]'' trilogy, the recurring villain (and increasingly AxCrazy Elkanah Bent is revealed to have been conceived when his mother's father raped her. Upon learning this, another character freaks out and ends an inner monologue with ".,his blood, his brain poisoned by his birth."

* In ''Film/TheWolverine'', Shingen Yashida [[spoiler:just like his father, is evil.]]

* ''TheLegendOfKorra'' gives us [[spoiler:Tarrlok and Noatak]], who inherited Yakone's insanely powerful bloodbending, and, in spite of originally good intentions, his lust for power.

* 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'.

* BuffyTheVampireSlayer has a somewhat more realistic example of this: Xander ends up cancelling his wedding because he fears turning out like his parents (his father, especially), who are abusive alcoholics.

* ''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 Dr. Wily.

** Understandable as this is a kid's series. Kids don't really understand 'grey' so much as they do 'GOOD' and 'BAD'. However, this is [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop not a good thing]] [[UnfortunateImplications to teach kids]].

* In [[KingArthur Arthurian literature]], Mordred, the [[BrotherSisterIncest born-by-incest]], [[FallenHero sometimes-tragic]] nephew-son of [[TheMessiah the King]], is a villain BECAUSE his parents consummated in sin. This is often the reason for the fall of Camelot as well. And Despite that in the original Welsh legends had Medrawd as a hero and unrelated enemy of Arthur's, with Arthur as the [[KnightTemplar villain]], and the incest originated in the Vulgate Lancelot-Grail Cycle.