History Main / KlingonPromotion

*** The Sith who formalized the Rule of Two also anticipated ''this'', and fully expected it to be self-correcting. When a second apprentice gets brought into the mix, normally either the current apprentice is about to kill his master, or the current master is about to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness dispose of the current apprentice in favor of a more useful one]]. Or, if the second apprentice is unworthy, ''he'' gets to be the one discarded. In all those scenarios, the Rule of Two is restored. [[spoiler:Indeed, at the end of his reign as Sith Lord, Darth Bane and his apprentice Darth Zannah ''each'' had picked a new apprentice of their own. [[{{Irony}} Bane was worried that Zannah was going soft because she hadn't tried to kill him and thus decided to replace her, while Zannah had chosen that exact moment to overthrow Bane.]] Ultimately, Zannah killed Bane and took Bane's would-be second apprentice as her own.]]

* In the ''Fanfic/TheVictorsProject'', many of the Career Victors from Districts 1 and 2 get selected as tribute by killing or incapacitating the prior favorite to be chosen as that year’s tribute.

** In the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', the Zabi Family mostly use this tactic to get ahead. Zabi patriarch Degwin becomes the leader of Zeon in the first place by having Zeon Zum Deikun assassinated (or getting really lucky; it's never ''proven'' that Degwin ordered the assassination, or for that matter that he even ''was'' assassinated in the first place given that he had pre-existing health conditions that could have caused his fatal collapse, but several characters believe it to be fact, including Deikun's son Casval aka [[spoiler:Char]] who uses it as justification for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge). Then, late in the series, Degwin gets a taste of his own medicine when Gihren uses the Solar Ray to kill him before he can sue for peace, thus becoming Zeon's new leader. Gihren's victory is ''much'' shorter-lived than his father's, though, as his sister Kycilia in turn confronts him with his crime before shooting him dead on the bridge in full view of all the ship's crew. She then succeeds Gihren as Zeon's leader before meeting her end in the Battle of A Boa Qu.

* Inverted in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', where becoming captain of the Helmacrons involves the new leader being executed-dead leaders don't make mistakes, but live leaders can.

AsskickingEqualsAuthority is when you get a ''society'' that works based on this trope. TheEvilPrince tends to see the world this way, due to his position. Occasionally, a superior can forestall it with KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand. May result in YouAreInCommandNow if the replacement is lacking in qualifications for the position they gain and/or pulls off a Klingon Promotion ''by accident''.

* In the ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' manga, the MurderInc group the Eye of Michael appear to practice some form of this, as [[spoiler:Wolfwood]] apparently succeeded to the Chapel seat in the Guns by shooting his EvilMentor in the back, rather than being penalized by either organization. Though it turns out Master C isn't quite dead. Of course, it's possible he covered up that he'd been the one to do the shooting rather than owning up to the murder and Master C let him get away with it because he thought it was funny. Probably not, though; it's not like the most deadly assassins in the world are going to believe one of their number went down to a stray bullet. And the Eye and Guns are both made of crazy and believe that AsskickingEqualsAuthority.

* The Seguleh from the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' have a lineal rank structure among its warrior caste. Every ranked warrior is given a number with the lowest numbers indicating the best fighters. To progress through the ranks you have to defeat everyone ahead of you one rank at a time. If the current holder of a rank is unavailable, you wait till he/she returns or is declared dead. This trope gets inverted as you get to the top ranks as at those positions the fights are merely a test of skill rather than a fight to the death and actually killing your opponent is considered to be extremely bad form. If you show yourself to be a superior fighter the current rank holder will give up the position willingly since for the Seguleh leadership, AsskickingEqualsAuthority is a religion. A full inversion occurs when it comes to the top position of the One. The position cannot be challenged for and is a lifelong appointment. When the position becomes vacant it is offered to the current Two and if he/she declines, the offer is passed down the ranks till someone deems him/herself worthy of accepting it.

** The [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Clans]] practice a weirdly sanctioned form of this trope. If a Clan warrior believes their superior is incompetent, as a warrior they have a right to challenge the suitability of their commanding officer's qualifications to command. This usually comes in the form of TrialByCombat, and while death in trial is not the goal, it's also not uncommon, either, since losing such a trial is usually a career-killer regardless of whether you're the challenger or challenged. The catch is, though, that merely defeating or killing a superior officer is not enough; the officer above them must approve of the subsequent promotion, though seeing as how AsskickingEqualsAuthority among the Clans, an officer losing to their subordinate is usually evidence enough that they were not worthy of commanding that subordinate. Also, as they detest subterfuge due to HonorBeforeReason, Clan warriors will ''not'' simply backstab or assassinate a superior officer in a clandestine manner to advance themselves as a general rule, and those who do are considered dangerous aberrations by the rest of Clan society, often hunted down as no better than bandits and pirates. Klingon Promotions in Clan society are done ''above'' board, thank you very much.

** The Jiralhanae (Brutes) have this as their ''only'' [[TrialByCombat method]] of [[MightMakesRight ascension]] to the status of [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Chieftain]] (who wield symbolic and [[DropTheHammer very powerful hammers]]). However, it must be by way of a strict DuelToTheDeath, mano a mano. Heck, the chieftain in ''Literature/HaloContactHarvest'', Maccabeus (who's a ReasonableAuthorityFigure by Brute standards), recalls that when he challenged his own father for the right to lead, his father was ''happy'' when Maccabeus knifed him in the neck, as it was considered the best way for an old Brute warrior to go. For bonus points, the Brute who challenges and kills Maccabeus for leadership is none other than Tartarus, TheDragon in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}''.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Nebula}}'', Jupiter actively believes in this trope: he wants to kill Sun so that he'll get Sun's job as leader of the solar system. Whether or not it'd actually work out that way is irrelevant, since it's pretty clear that the chances of him managing to ''wound'' [[AssKickingEqualsAuthority Sun]], much less kill him, aren't exactly high.

* ''[[/Fanfic/AGrowingFireInMyHeart A Burning Flame In My Soul]]'': A non-lethal version exists with the ruler of the hippogriffs. The ruler can be challenged for the right to the throne through three traditional contests: swimming, flying, and combat. Whoever wins two out of three is declared ruler. During the 20 year TimeSkip, Princess Skystar became enraged at her mother Queen Novo at her treatment of Silverstream because of her relationship with Gallus, resulting in Novo permanently stripping Silverstream of her noble rank, and challenged her for the throne. Skystar won the swimming challenge, then lost the flying challenge, forcing things to be decided in the combat challenge, with Skystar surprising everyone by defeating her mother and replacing her as Queen.

*** Several Guilds and Factions in the game require this in order to become the new faction leader. Notably, this includes [[spoiler:the Imperial Legion, the Fighters Guild, Great House Redoran, and the Mages Guild. The Mages Guild is actually optional, but taking the non-Klingon option leaves you co-leader with an [[KickedUpstairs incompetent]] [[ThePeterPrinciple buffoon]] and also means you won't be able to loot his powerful items -- you ''can'' still get your hands on them without killing him, but only after the main quest is done.]].

* This trope is an inherent rule of the ''Series/{{Carnivale}}'' universe. One of the rules of being an [[TheChosenOne Avatar]] ([[NamesTheSame no]], [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender not that one]]; [[Film/{{Avatar}} or that one]]) is that one generation's Avatar can only [[PassingTheTorch claim the full measure of his power]] after personally murdering the previous generation's Avatar--even though an Avatar frequently serves as TheMentor to his successor, and [[{{Patricide}} an Avatar's successor may be his own son]]. Interestingly, a generation's [[MessianicArchetype Avatar of Light]] is just as subject to this rule as his generation's [[DarkMessiah Avatar of Darkness]], reinforcing that LightIsNotGood.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-507 SCP-507 ("The Reluctant Dimension Hopper")]]. [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/document-507-3b Document 507-3B]] is a list of the {{Alternate Universe}}s SCP-507 has been to while in Foundation custody. In universe [=7F2-WA3-193=], U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by his Vice President in order to assume the Presidency. Over time this became a standard procedure in which any qualified candidate could become President by assassinating the current President.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In the Literature/XWingSeries novel ''The Bacta War'', the captain of the ''Lusankya'' refuses to surrender, despite his ship being heavily damaged and outnumbered. He orders his men to crash the Super Star Destroyer into the planet Thyferra, which would kill all 250,000 people on the ship, millions more on the planet, and destroy the sole source of one of the galaxy's most effective medical products. One of his Lieutenants shoots him, promotes himself to Captain, and accepts the surrender offer.

* ''Film/Departed'' although it's unclear if the hierarchy was changed much

** At the end of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2TornaTheGoldenCountry'', it's revealed that Amalthus didn't become Praetor through noble means, slipping a poison into Praetor Rhadallis' wine and causing him to collapse over dead.
** In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'', Q reveals during Alexandria's Ascension Quest that Alexandria had poisoned the old Commander of Colony Iota and usurped the position from him, because she recognized that his leadership methods were causing Colony Iota to be on the verge of total collapse.

** In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Major John Sheppard became the military leader on the atlantis team by shooting shot his immediate superior [[TooDumbToLive the sexist self-rightous self-important]] Colonel Sumner.

* In ''Series/TheMandalorian'' whoever wields the Darksaber has the right to rule Mandalore. Defeating the current owner in a duel confers ownership of the weapon but there doesn't seem to be any requirement that the original owner needs to die.

* Done with ''numbers'' in [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/06/13/on-perspective this]] ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' strip.

* Inverted in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', where becoming captain of the Helmacrons gets the new leader killed-dead leaders don't make mistakes, but live leaders can.

** This is Frans' plan to become the President. As Gordito -and later the Doctor- points out: "That's ... not how our government works."

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', the Twelve Kizuki, a group of powerful demons, has their leader Muzan Kibutsuji making it clear only the strong belongs in his close circle, so he has established a Blood Succession Battle system where a demon seeking to be ranked higher within the Twelve Kizuki can just rip their way upwards against upper ranks and take the seats if they are up to the task.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', there are three ways to become a Captain. One requires achieving Bankai and demonstrating it to at least three of the other Captains (including the Captain-Commander); one requires receiving recommendations from at least six of the sitting Captains, and having approval from at least three of the remaining seven; the last, and the most ruthless one, is to kill a sitting Captain in a one-on-one in front of two hundred members of the Captain's division. The [[BloodKnight 11th Division]] exclusively use this final option, partially because being Kenpachi requires the shinigami holding the title to be the strongest in his generation of captains.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', this is how Redcloak [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0149.html becomes the supreme leader of the hobgoblins]]. Unwilling to take part in the painful, humiliating, and time-consuming initiation rituals, Redcloak is informed that he can become leader by killing the current leader, so he immediately kills the hobgoblin cleric who has been leading the initiation ceremony. However, it turns out that guy wasn’t actually the supreme leader, but the real supreme leader, seeing how powerful Redcloak was, chose not to press the issue.

* ''Fanfic/AlongCameASpider'' has an odd variation as well as an aversion. [[TabletopGame/BattleTech Candace Liao]] is forced to assassinate her sister [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Romano]] in order to stop her from attacking the St. Ives Compact and Federated Commonwealth at the beginning of the Clan Invasion and distracting them from the more important battle. It's also averted when Kali, her niece, assassinates both her and her husband Justin Xiang, but is quickly taken out herself, and Candace and Justin's son Kai assumes the throne, just long enough for a treaty made before the Clan invasion to fold the Capellan Confederation and St. Ives into the Federated Commonwealth with [[AltarDiplomacy the wedding of one of Kai's sisters to Victor Steiner-Davion.]]