History Main / RoyalBlood

Compare BlueBlood, IdleRich.

SuperTrope of RoyaltySuperpower and ReallyRoyaltyReveal. Almost always required for the RightfulKingReturns. May lead to the ManInTheIronMask or HiddenBackupPrince. Will likely be inherent in a PrincessClassic and PrinceCharming. Obviously common in the StandardRoyalCourt or DeadlyDecadentCourt. Will often appear with ErmineCapeEffect and RequisiteRoyalRegalia, where royalty uses visible clothing to show off their status -- all the time. Conversely, ModestRoyalty may appear humbly dressed all the time (in RealLife, royalty will usually dress practically, and in special circumstances, dress to impress).

* A rather dark case in ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'', with the Cursed Blood of Malafi. This noble lineage was tended to for nearly a hundred years to create intelligent, ruthless, and powerful men and women to rule the worlds of man. Unfortunately, they got exactly that in a DeadlyDecadentCourt environment, which resulted in creating some of the worst monsters of all time, and what's even worse, it's InTheBlood as the traits that made them into such powerful men is passed on through the generations.

----

* Something similar to the ''Stargate'' take occurs in ''Anime/MaiOtome'', where the members of the Windbloom royal family have the inherited ability to activate LostTechnology. This becomes important later, as some believe Mashiro to be an impostor, and therefore unable to activate the Harmonium. [[spoiler:While Mashiro was able to activate it a little, since she knew the song and had an Otome with her, she couldn't unlock its full power because she was indeed an impostor. ''Nina'', however, is the real Mashiro, and since she fills all three requirements: is a Windbloom, knows the song, and is an Otome, she unlocks its full power.]]

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' talks quite a bit about the royal family and being of royal blood. The [[spoiler:Reiss]] family are the [[spoiler:''true'' rulers of the walls on Paradis Island, and the Fritz family that's in charge at the start of the series is a puppet family. Christa Lenz, real name Historia Reiss, is the true queen of the walls and eventually gets crowned. Grisha Yeager's first wife Dina was [[TheLastOfHisKind the last remaining descendant]] (at least before birthing her son Zeke) of the Fritz family that didn't accompany the king to Paradis Island when he fled there]]. While we don't know if there are any ''specific'' royal family powers, [[spoiler:the Founding Titan has been passed down the Fritz/Reiss family for generations (until it was stolen by Grisha and then given to Eren)]] and only a member of the royal family can fully unlock [[spoiler:its Coordinate ability, which includes the powers to control Titans and alter memories of Eldians. As Eren, the current holder of the Founding Titan, is not of royal blood, it remains to be seen if he'll be able to master the Coordinate. He seems to be able to use some of its powers when he touches a member of the royal family (such as in the case of the Smiling Titan, aka his step-mother Dina), however]]. Also, [[spoiler:the Founding Titan is currently what the Kingdom of Marley are after and the reason why they attacked Paradis Island in the first place was to retrieve it from the Reiss family. Too bad Grisha got there first.]]

** An example of this being subverted is Isana. She's just a steadholder, and her power is apparently limited. However, in ''Captain's Fury'' and later ''Princeps' Fury'' she realizes that the concept of power being limited to station is so heavily ingrained into her — and by extension, the rest of Alera's — consciousness that it was effectively blocking her full potential. [[spoiler:By the end of the final book, the new First Lord effectively dismantles the caste system and empowers everyone to be as strong as they want to be, effectively defying this trope.]]

* Poked fun at in one of the ''Literature/GarrettPI'' novels, when Morley grumbles about the ArrangedMarriage his elvish relatives tried to foist off on him. His would-have-been fiancee lost interest, but his ''own'' family kept nagging him to try to win her back, as her family has RoyalBlood ... which, Morley snarkily points out, applies to nearly every elf alive, given how randy elvish royals have always been.

* In the ChivalricRomance ''Roswall and Lillian'', Roswall has been reduced to poverty and the king's service, but the princess Lillian, even when told his father was of low degree, correctly discerns his Royal Blood.

* In ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'', Laurence is revealed to be a distant relation of the Plantagenet line, specifically [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_III_of_England Edward III of England]]. This is enough proof for the Chinese to allow him to be Temeraire's companion, albeit reluctantly and mostly because Temeraire would not be swayed.[[spoiler:Later on, he is actually adopted by the Chinese emperor and treated as an actual prince upon his return to China many years later!]]

* In Mary Stewart's ''Literature/TheCrystalCave''since it's aretelling of the Arthurian story, only Arthur can claim the sword and hence the throne. [[/folder]]

* A rather dark case in ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'', with the Cursed Blood of Malafi. This noble lineage was tended to for nearly a hundred years to create intelligent, ruthless, and powerful men and women to rule the worlds of man. Unfortunately, they got exactly that in a DeadlyDecadentCourt enviroment, which resulted in creating some of the worst monsters of all time, and what's even worse, it's InTheBlood as the traits that made them into such powerful men is passed on through the generations.

* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', the females of the royal family are endowed with PsychicPowers, often the [[MacGuffin Triforce of Wisdom]] and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the name "Zelda"]]. Also, even without the Triforce, said PsychicPowers cause her to be an almost endless source of magical energy. All of this combined causes the Princesses Zelda to be very [[DamselInDistress popular targets of supernatural kidnappers]]. Therefore, it sucks to be royal and female in Hyrule. No wonder that the Hyrulean Princesses tend to [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime develop]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker a]] [[{{Tomboy}} tomboyish]] [[RebelliousPrincess side.]]
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' explains much of it: [[spoiler:the Hyrulian Royal Family is SemiDivine, as the first Zelda was herself a human reincarnation of a goddess. Also, an incredibly powerful demon king decided to hold a post-mortem grudge on her, cursing her line to forever be harassed by an incarnation of his hatred]]. The fact that they're all called Zelda, however, is simple legal obligation - as in there was literally a royal decree somewhere down the line requiring that all female members born into the family be named Zelda. Monarchs can be weird sometimes.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Orzammar SuccessionCrisis puts the PlayerCharacter in the dilemma of choosing between a radical Royal Blood heir and a more reasonable mere-noble successor named in the late king's last will. The twist is that [[spoiler:the royal heir is very progressive but tyrannical and the other sucks as a ruler]]. Also, after the Landsmeet, the protagonist has to decide between making [[spoiler:the HeroicBastard Alistair]] king, thus preserving the Royal Blood, or confirming the IronLady Anora (the widow of King Cailan [[spoiler: and Alistair's sister-in-law]]) as queen. Thankfully, there is a [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] here: [[ShipperWithAnAgenda persuading the two of them to marry]] [[AltarDiplomacy so they can have their cake and eat it]], too. There is even a fourth option, if the character is a human of noble blood... have one of them marry him or her! The player needs just need to be suave enough.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has the [[PhysicalGod Diamond Authority]], which are revered as the next best things to goddesses by the other Gems. With the reveal of [[spoiler:Rose Quartz being actually Pink Diamond, Steven is not half-Quartz, but rather ''[[SemiDivine half-Diamond]]'', and therefore, as the son of Pink Diamond, he is the second generation of the Diamonds, yet ironically he is the only one with blood.]]

** To illustrate this point, a 12-year-old student Bridge​Anne d’Avignon doing a simple project into lineages managed to prove that every single American President (up to Obama, as this happened during his term), with the sole exception of UsefulNotes/MartinVanBuren, is descended from King John of England. (Yes, this includes UsefulNotes/BarackObama, through his distinctly Anglo mother.) As if to highlight this further, Van Buren is also the only President to whom English was a second language (he was ethnically Dutch and had Dutch as a first language).
[[/folder]]

----

* In the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, the Acorn bloodline plays a number of important parts in the story, though it was mostly so Sally could use a powerful artifact of her family's. An interesting plot point was made, though, when Sally's brother Elias stepped up to the throne -- their mother, Alicia warned that his wife's child could never be a princess because he didn't sire her. He's more than happy to make sure she never takes up the throne.

SuperTrope of RoyaltySuperpower and ReallyRoyaltyReveal. Obviously required for the RightfulKingReturns. May lead to the ManInTheIronMask or HiddenBackupPrince. Will likely be inherent in a PrincessClassic and PrinceCharming. Obviously common in the StandardRoyalCourt or DeadlyDecadentCourt. Will often appear with ErmineCapeEffect and RequisiteRoyalRegalia, where royalty uses visible clothing to show off their status -- all the time. Conversely, ModestRoyalty may appear humbly dressed all the time (in RealLife, royalty will usually dress practically, and in special circumstances, dress to impress).

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the royal line of Númenor/Arnor/Gondor and thusly Aragorn descend from various elven royal families and human royal families of the First Age, and a divine spirit as the first of several cross-race-marriages. The people of Gondor have the saying of the opening quote, that royal blood gives him [[HealingHands healing powers]].

* The Princesses of Zahard from the Manhwa ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' are all adopted, but the receive his blood in a [[BloodMagic ritual]] to [[ThePowerOfBlood increase their strength dramatically]].

* In ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', her royal blood is the reason Kida is transformed into a serene goddess-like figure upon contact with the main crystal while Rourke is... well... [[NightmareFuel not so lucky]]. Unfortunately, Disney actually did not realize this, since they accepted "any other" and excluded "some of royal blood", despite considering Rourke as an official Disney Villain.
* In ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'', Rapunzel, in a switch from the fairy tale. (Then she marries a prince in the tale, but not here.)
* In ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', Naveen has it on both sides of his family, according to Facilier -- who says he's royal on his mother's, though it's hard to tell whether he's serious.

** ''Discworld/WyrdSisters''; they end up choosing between two half-brothers, but they are not the king's illegitimate and legitimate sons, but his ''court jester's'' legitimate and illegitimate sons. The king's ghost (who doesn't know any of this) is still happy.

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' comics, [[spoiler:Hellboy]] was recently revealed to be [[spoiler:the last living descendent of King Arthur, which makes him the rightful king of England]]. Among other things, this means that [[spoiler:he can use {{Excalibur}} and call forth an army of England's dead soldiers.]]

* In the ComicBook/XWingSeries comics, the BoisterousBruiser of the group, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Plourr.jpg Plourr Illo]], was revealed to be the last of the Eiattu royal line, her parents and sisters having been killed by other nobles in a revolution. A noble who she initially believes to have been in on that gets her to head back to her homeworld, Rogue Squadron in tow, to try and take over. Most of the nobility is happy enough with that, especially since there's another revolution going on, this one led by someone who claims to be another survivor: her brother. [[spoiler: He's not.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', only one of the Dragon's Blood can wear the mystical [[MacGuffin Amulet of Kings]], or so the stories say. The BigBad of the game is ALSO able to wear the Amulet, on account of his descent from an older, discredited royal blood line.
** Seems to apply for any Dragonborn Emperor, as the protection worked for Empress Alessia (Dragonborn) and her line, Emperor Reman (Dragonborn) and his line, and Emperor Tiber (Dragonborn) and his line. Which makes sense, since all Dragonborn are essentially Dragons incarnated in mortal flesh, and all Dragons are the children of Akatosh, the Aedra whose blood resides within the Amulet.

In Mary Stewart's ''Literature/TheCrystalCave''since it's aretelling of the Arthurian story, only Arthur can claim the sword and hence the throne. [[/folder]]

[[/folder]]

* Something similar to the ''Stargate'' take occurs in ''Anime/MaiOtome'', where the members of the Windbloom royal family have the inherited ability to activate LostTechnology. This becomes important later, as some believe Mashiro to be an impostor, and therefore unable to activate the Harmonium. [[spoiler: They're right. ''Nina'' is the real Mashiro, and is able to activate the Harmonium.]]

* Something similar to the ''Stargate'' take occurs in ''Anime/MaiOtome'', where the members of the Windbloom royal family have the inherited ability to activate LostTechnology.

* In the ComicBook/XWingSeries comics, the BoisterousBruiser of the group, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Plourr.jpg Plourr Illo]], was revealed to be the last of the Eiatu royal line, her parents and sisters having been killed by other nobles in a revolution. A noble who she initially believes to have been in on that gets her to head back to her homeworld, Rogue Squadron in tow, to try and take over. Most of the nobility is happy enough with that, especially since there's another revolution going on, this one led by someone who claims to be another survivor. Her brother.

->''"The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known."''

Royal Blood! It's real, it's significant, and only the person who's really got it is suitable for the throne. In {{Fantasy}}, may actually [[RoyaltySuperPower endow the person with magical powers]], or even be required [[FisherKing by the land]] (and, unfortunately, making it useful in BloodMagic). Features even in SF for a FeudalFuture. And when it comes to being OfferedTheCrown, Royal Blood may encourage them to choose you.

Useful rule for at least curbing a bloody SuccessionCrisis. On the other hand, the {{Arranged Marriage}}s to preserve it [[RoyalInbreeding may lead]] to RoyallyScrewedUp [[BigScrewedUpFamily Families]], especially since the parents, and grandparents, etc. of the bride and bridegroom were also, likely KissingCousins. (The ArrangedMarriage is very common, although fictional royalty find it remarkably easy to throw off the arrangements, marry for love, and face no repercussions. Like, say, war in the event of a dynastic marriage.) HeirClubForMen and IWantGrandkids are common.

SuperTrope of RoyaltySuperpower and ReallyRoyaltyReveal. Obviously required for the RightfulKingReturns. May lead to the ManInTheIronMask or HiddenBackupPrince. Will likely be inherent in a PrincessClassic and PrinceCharming. Obviously common in the StandardRoyalCourt or DeadlyDecadentCourt. Will often appear with ErmineCapeEffect and RequisiteRoyalRegalia, where royalty uses visible clothing to show off their status -- all the time. Conversely, ModestRoyalty may appear humbly dressed all the time. (In RealLife, royalty will usually dress practically, and in special circumstances, dress to impress.)

* In Creator/AlfredLordTennyson's "Ballad of Lady Clare", the titular lady is the daughter of a deceased earl and betrothed to her cousin, Lord Ronald. The day before the wedding, however, her aged nurse confesses that the earl's real daughter died in infancy -- Lady Clare is the nurse's daughter, whom she substituted for the dead baby. Everything she inherited from the man she thought was her father rightfully belongs to Lord Ronald, who is the next in line. When she tells him, however, he assures her that her lack of royal blood doesn't bother him at all; [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments they'll still get married the next day as planned, "and you shall still be Lady Clare."]]

SuperTrope of RoyaltySuperpower. Obviously required for the RightfulKingReturns. May lead to the ManInTheIronMask or HiddenBackupPrince. Will likely be inherent in a PrincessClassic and PrinceCharming. Obviously common in the StandardRoyalCourt or DeadlyDecadentCourt. Will often appear with ErmineCapeEffect and RequisiteRoyalRegalia, where royalty uses visible clothing to show off their status -- all the time. Conversely, ModestRoyalty may appear humbly dressed all the time. (In RealLife, royalty will usually dress practically, and in special circumstances, dress to impress.)

[[folder:Fan Works]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In Creator/AlfredLordTennyson's "Ballad of Lady Clare", the titular lady is the daughter of a deceased earl and betrothed to her cousin, Lord Ronald. The day before the wedding, however, her aged nurse confesses that the earl's real daughter died in infancy -- Lady Clare is the nurse's daughter, whom she substituted for the dead baby. Everything she inherited from the man she thought was her father rightfully belongs to Lord Ronald, who is the next in line. When she tells him, however, he assures her that her lack of royal blood doesn't bother him at all; [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments they'll still get married the next day as planned, "and you shall still be Lady Clare."]]
* Chell in ''Literature/MasksOfAygrima'' is the last in the line of succession in his kingdom of Korellia and as such, doesn't have as much authority as his siblings but he did have enough authority to organize and lead an expedition to the long forgotten land of Aygrima which ends up saving Aygrima from the evil [[BigBad Autarch]].
* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', the fact that Jerin's grandfather was a kidnapped prince makes him a SuddenlySuitableSuitor for the current princesses, since royals can't marry commoners. What it doesn't do is make him eligible to rule in any way. Men in this setting just don't, nor does he have any desire to. However, it ''does'' mean that a noble family could kidnap and [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe marry him]], making ''those'' sisters eligible.

** In ''The Chessman Of Mars'', Corpals "[[{{Necromancer}} that by commanding the spirits of the wicked dead gains evil mastery over the living]]" are said to be killable only by those of Royal Blood. And the weak and cowardly king cannot be deposed for a noble and brave nobleman; fortunately, he also has a brave and popular son whom he hasn't killed yet.

* Invoked in Creator/GKChesterton's ''Magic''

-->''To avoid the possible chance of hereditary diseases or such things, we have abandoned hereditary monarchy. The King of England is chosen like a juryman upon an official rotation list.''

** Though this is implied to be as much AsskickingEqualsAuthority as it is Royal Blood- more powerful crafters automatically get more respect, and therefore get high titles, and therefore pass both powers and titles on to their children.
** An example of this being subverted is Isana. She's just a steadholder, and her power is apparently limited. However, in ''Captain's Fury'' and later ''Princeps' Fury'' she realizes that the concept of power being limited to station is so heavily ingrained into her - and by extension, the rest of Alera's - consciousness that it was effectively blocking her full potential. [[spoiler: By the end of the final book, the new First Lord effectively dismantles the caste system and empowers everyone to be as strong as they want to be, effectively defying this trope.]]

* In Creator/StephenHunt's ''The Court Of The Air'' and ''The Rise of the Iron Moon'', a very bad thing to have: Jackals keeps around royals to be abused, and deliberately breeds them.
* Played very straight in Katherine Kurtz's Literature/{{Deryni}} books. Faced with a [[TheCaligula tyrannical king]] Camber's family track down the last descendant of the ''previous'' royal house (which was overthrown three generations ago)... and when they find him minding his own business as a celibate monk under a vow of silence, they [[MoralDissonance kidnap him in the dark of night]], hold him prisoner for nearly a year, force him to marry at swordpoint, and use mental and magical coercion to make him into a king. The resulting three centuries of persecution for the Deryni might be viewed as karma.

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'' there is a lot of royal blood, as the kings are often adulterers. The ruling king has a bastard brother, who has a position at court, and a legitimate brother whom he locked up in order to have him out of the way. Ironically, the bastard brother is a much nicer man than the king.

* In Creator/GarthNix's ''Literature/OldKingdom'' series, several bloodlines including the royal one were invested with a lot of the power of the makers of the Great Charter. Prior to the events of ''Sabriel'', the Old Kingdom had been in steady decline since the apparent loss of the royal bloodline protecting it.

[[folder:Theater]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' has the Butterfly family, the [[TheHighQueen matrilineal]] royal bloodline of the kingdom[[note]]queendom?[[/note]] of Mewni. This becomes a plot point in season 3, [[spoiler: when [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Eclipsa's]] escape from prison and subsequent trial reveals that every Butterfly who took the throne after Eclipsa wasn't actually a Butterfly, but were descended from a peasant girl the Magical High Commission used to [[FantasticRacism replace]] Eclipsa's [[HalfHumanHybrid half-Monster daughter Meteora]]. Star is distraught by this revelation since, because their royalty is determined through the mother, it means Eclipsa's not her 9th-great grandmother, and Star isn't a real princess]].

* In Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novels, this appears to be standard for Knights of the Cross. Every long term bearer of a Sword held a connection to famous kings, such as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne Charlemagne]],[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin Saladin]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8D_Tai Sho Tai]]. However, it is by no means ''necessary''. After all, both [[spoiler: Susan]] and Murphy become temporary Knights during ''Changes'', and there's no indication that either of them have royalty in their ancestry - just righteous amounts of love and faith, respectively.

* In ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'', Laurence is revealed to be a distant descendant of the Plantagenet line. This is enough proof for the Chinese to allow him to be Temeraire's companion, albeit reluctantly and mostly because Temeraire would not be swayed.[[spoiler: Later on, he is actually adopted by the Chinese emperor and treated as a prince upon his return to China many years later!]]
* ''Literature/VampireAcademy'':

** An example of this being subverted is Isana. She's just a steadholder, and her power is apparently limited. However, in ''Captain's Fury'' and later ''Princeps' Fury'' she realizes that the concept of power being limited to station is so heavily ingrained into her - and by extension, the rest of Alera's - consciousness that it was effectively blocking her full potential.

* This is part of the conflict in ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}''; as with the ''FireEmblem'' example above, Royal units tend to have higher starting stats. This is the only real difference between Royals and "normals"- [[EvilOverlord Stanley]] was made an heir by [[IncrediblyLamePun King Saline IV]], which [[TheAce Ansom]] takes as a ''[[BerserkButton grave]]'' mistake.

* In most of the ''FireEmblem'' series, you have one or more 'Lord' units. Invariably of Royal (or at least highly noble) Descent, they also tend to have higher stats than any unit you haven't deliberately [[{{Twinking}} twinked]] out. Not to mention being heroic, beautiful, inspirational, and so on and so forth...

* ''OnePiece'' has yet to show how much it is buying into this trope, but the Marines certainly believe in it. The royalty they are tracking is [[spoiler: the Pirate King]]'s. And then there are the Celestial Dragons, [[spoiler:descendants of the founders of the World Government]]. Their royal blood affords them immense wealth and political power which they are more than willing to abuse for the sake of their own amusement.

* In Alfred, Lord Tennyson's ''Ballad of Lady Clare'', the titular lady is the daughter of a deceased earl and betrothed to her cousin, Lord Ronald. The day before the wedding, however, her aged nurse confesses that the earl's real daughter died in infancy -- Lady Clare is the nurse's daughter, whom she substituted for the dead baby. Everything she inherited from the man she thought was her father rightfully belongs to Lord Ronald, who is the next in line. When she tells him, however, he assures her that her lack of royal blood doesn't bother him at all; [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments they'll still get married the next day as planned, "and you shall still be Lady Clare."]]

* In ''Acca13TerritoryInspectionDept'', the king's grandson, Prince Schwan, is the only heir to the throne, [[spoiler: until it is revealed that the main character Jean Otus, and his sister Lotta, are of royal blood through their mother, a princess who was thought to have died in a shipwreck before they were born. Jean is older than Schwan, making him the true heir to the throne.]]