History Main / SecretLegacy

* ''WesternAnimation/DawnOfTheNugget'': Molly spent most of her childhood not knowing the true history of her parents and the other former farm chickens. When she finds Rocky's old circus poster and begs him to tell her about it, he tells her what we can assume is a toned down version of how he met Ginger and the other hens (and Fowler). Molly is thrilled to learn about the past of her parents, enough that it inspires her to be a "lone free ranger" and go to the mainland (to her parents' horror). She even gets to see them in action when they break into Funland Farms.

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', Hinokami Kagura is a ceremonial dance passed down the Kamado family for four hundred years prior the begining of the story, used by the patriarch of each generation as a religious practice to ward off evil, keeping the Kamado family safe in the mountains where they have lived for centuries; despite it being preserved as a religious ceremony Hinokami Kagura functions like a martial art, the same foundation as Breathing Styles, the main discipline the Demon Slayers utilize to kill demons in the setting. Eventually the similarities are revealed to be not coincidental after all, [[spoiler:Hinokami Kagura actually is Sun Breathing, the foundation of all Breathing Styles created by the legendary slayer Yoriichi Tsugikuni, passed down to the Kamado family by pure coincidence as Yoriichi made friends with their ancestor Sumiyoshi who learned Sun Breathing by just observing Yoriichi humoring Suiyako, his wife, whenever she asked Yoriichi to show his beautiful swordsmanship, as the years went by Muzan Kibutsuji and Kokushibo went on a fit of paranoid induced manhunt to exterminate all Sun Breathing users Yoriichi formally taught, however, the Kamado lineage were informal inheritors who preserved the art in reclusion and for purposes other than actual demon slaying so they escaped the hunt for centuries straight, that is, until current events in the story had Muzan kill Tanjiro's family on a random whim to see if useful demons could be born, ironically setting the last Sun Breathing user, Tanjiro Kamado, to reignite Muzan's greatest fear once again, the prospect of a Sun Breathing user seeking his death]].

* The manga ''Manga/InitialD''. A character is left in the dust of an old Corolla, something he is understandably annoyed about, as he is riding an RX-7. He rides to a nearby gas station the next day to see if they know about the rust bucket, where the manager of said station implies that the only car fitting that description belongs to the main character's father, a local racing legend back in the day. The main character, however, couldn't care less about this bit of information (or about anything else at the beginning of the series.)

* ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'': In the classic continuity, [[Characters/Ben10BenTennyson Ben Tennyson]] discovers long after receiving his ImportedAlienPhlebotinum that his grandfather is a former [[TheMenInBlack Men in Black]]-esque alien hunter. As the various series go on, not only does he learn that the Omnitrix he wields was meant to go to his grandfather, but that some members of his extended family are aliens themselves (with his cousin Gwen learning that [[HalfHumanHybrid she's 1/4th alien]] and has her own alien form).

* The SeriesFauxnale[=/=]FullyAbsorbedFinale of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' reveals that ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' hero, [[Characters/DCAUTerryMcGinnis Terry McGinnis]] is actually [[spoiler: the genetic son of Bruce Wayne as part of a secret experiment by a government group to create a new Batman. Basically, they gave Warren [=McGinnis=] an injection that replaced his reproductive material (and thus DNA) with Bruce Wayne's. Then again, it's rather a subversion: the program was called off before the defining moment of Bruce's life could be recreated. Terry ended up becoming Batman all on his own, mostly through coincidence, wholly independent of his genetic heritage.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'''s Nana was resented by Kim, primarily for criticizing her clothes as too revealing and saying her world saving was just a phase, and that she'd grow out of it. What Kim's father never told her, but Dr. Drakken somehow knew, was that in TheSixties Nana studied with the Shaolin monks, was a top-rated aviatrix, and was the first woman to pass the Navy's underwater demolitions training course. He then uses a mind-controlling hearing aid to force Nana to fight Kim, a fight Nana ''wins''.

* '' WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': [[Characters/StevenUniverseStevenQuartzUniverse Steven Quartz Universe]] went his entire life believing he was the son of [[RebelLeader Rose Quartz]] but the episode "A Single Pale Rose" it's revealed to him (and the audience) that [[spoiler:Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond, one of the four rulers of the [[TheEmpire gem Homeworld]] who was originally going to [[PlanetLooters colonize]] the earth. She [[HeelFaceTurn grew to care]] for the planet's inhabitants and [[{{Shapeshifting}} changed her appearance]] and eventually [[FakingTheDead faked her death]] at Rose's hands (actually the disguised Pearl) in order to protect earth from Homeworld. Which also means earth technically belongs to Steven]].

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', where should we start? Gendry, Arya's companion in early books [[spoiler: is King Robert's bastard]].
** Young Griff doesn't have a Tyroshi mother and blue hair as well, [[spoiler: he dyes his hair to hide his natural silver-blond hair beacause he's Aegon VI Targaryen...or maybe not.]]
** Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen are not of royal blood, [[spoiler: they are Lannister from both parents' side as a product of {{Twincest}} between the queen and her brother.]]
** In the "Bael the Bard" song, the Lord Stark grandson of Brandon the Daughterless had no idea that Bael the Bard was his father and kills him.
** If certain fan theories are correct, there's also [[spoiler: Jon Snow, Lyanna Stark's son with Rhaegar Targaryen.]]

** During UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} and UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|of Comic Books}}, Kal-El came to Earth as a toddler and had total recall of his days on Krypton.

** The only exception to this legacy is [[BigBad Marshall D. Teach]], who, while certainly infamous and powerful in his own right, is shown to beg for his life if it is in any real danger. [[spoiler:This leads Whitebeard to conclude that "the man Roger is waiting for" is not him, insinuating that despite having the initial, Teach is not a true inheritor of the Will of D.]]

** This legacy is so secret that not even those who carry it know what it means. Luffy and Saul don't even get the reference when asked about the D. This makes Roger notable as the only D. (thus far) who actually knew what it meant. [[spoiler:Law is a special case in that all he knew is that he had to keep his full name a secret. While it can be assumed that he doesn't know what the initial means, he does know that those who have it are sure to cause trouble wherever they go]]. The World Government, however, does know that the D. are dangerous -- it's speculated that the main reason why Roger was called "Gold Roger" instead of his real name was to hide the fact that he was a D. and keep people from trying to find out more about the initial. [[spoiler:This is later confirmed to be the truth after Luffy officially becomes one of the Four Emperors, and the Five Elder Stars try to remove the initial from his name on his bounty poster]].

* In ''Series/{{Tracker}}'', Mel spends most of the series thinking she's an ordinary human who just happened to run into the alien Cole after he landed, only to find out near the end that she's part of an ancient hybrid bloodline devoted to guarding a DoomsdayDevice from the bad guys.

* While not an adventuring hero at first, Brother Martin of ''The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'' did noble work as a priest and healer, raised to such all his life after being left at a monastery as a baby, until one day somebody who WAS an adventurer came along and revealed to him that, all along, he was secretly the son of an Emperor.

** Young Griff doesn't have a Tyroshi mother and blue hair as well, [[spoiler: he dyes his hair to hide his natural silver-blond hair beacause he's Aegon IV Targaryen...or maybe not.]]

Heroes are a lonely lot. Whether a SuperHero, [[PsychicPowers psychic]], the LastOfHisKind, or an IgnoredExpert fighting uphill for the sake of the ungrateful masses, heroing is a solitary and unpopular path that separates one from all other {{Muggles}} and [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies even loved ones]]. His own family can come to reject the hero, [[WellDoneSonGuy denying their approval]] or outright [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer scorning him as a freak]]; it's not like their career choice is following the ancient family legacy. Or is it?

* In the ''Army of the Sun'' trilogy, the main character is an orphan whose mother told him that he was born from a one-night stand with a crewman on a spaceship. In the third novel, he finds out that he is the direct descendant of [[spoiler:the last human emperor, thus being the only human with the genetic key to the Solar System]].
* In Karen Chance's ''Hunt the Moon'', from the ''Literature/CassandraPalmer'' series, Cassandra Palmer finds out that the reason the power of the Pythia transferred to her after the reigning Pythia died is because [[spoiler:her mother is Artemis, the goddess of death]], and the other candidates, despite being well-trained (and under the mages' control--while Cassie had no training whatsoever) stood no chance because of that.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'', the children are kept ignorant of their own legacy with systemic LaserGuidedAmnesia and {{Restraining Bolt}}s. They learn in due course that they are [[spoiler: being held hostage]].
* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', Tavi has the dubious distinction of being the [[TheCallPutMeOnHold one and only normal guy]] in a world where ''everyone'' has ElementalPowers. He proceeds to save the world repeatedly anyway through a combination of badassitude, [[GuileHero intelligence]], and leadership skills. It turns out that in this last especially, [[spoiler:he, Gaius Oc''tavi''an takes after his dad, Gaius Septimus. The reason Tavi is a BadassNormal is that his mother, masquerading as his aunt, stunted his growth and magic to hide him, knowing that as the heir to the throne he'd be a huge target to the same people who went after his father. And eventually he starts to display the [[PersonOfMassDestruction other traits]] he inherited...]]
** In a bit of a RewatchBonus, this is hinted at several times by other people who are LockedOutOfTheLoop, only to get a EurekaMoment after interacting with Tavi for a while and realise [[spoiler:how much he's acting [[LikeFatherLikeSon exactly as Septimus would in the same situation]], a fact furthered by Tavi's growing resemblance to Septimus in his younger years as he grows older]].

* Jim Butcher's ''Proven Guilty'' of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Charity Carpenter doesn't tell her oldest daughter Molly [[spoiler: that she once had potential to be a wizard but chose not to use it]] even after Molly is almost executed for misuse of her power. When she finds out, Molly even cites the parable of the talents, a story from the Bible whose {{Aesop}} is "make the best use of what you're given."
** As Harry figured out, to be eligible to be a Knight of the Cross, one has to be the descendant of royalty. Since most people don't know whether they are partially royalty, Knights of the Cross are this.

* In book three of the Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles, the king of the Enchanted Forest is trapped in a [[TailorMadePrison magical prison]], and the only person capable of [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield wielding the sword]] that can free him would be his son, Daystar -- who's nine months old at the time. To make matters worse, the [[LegionOfDoom Wizards]] can track any bearer of the sword who ''knows what he's carrying'', meaning when Daystar does take up the weapon, he will have to be kept LockedOutOfTheLoop . So Daystar's mother, the [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething badass Queen]] of The Enchanted Forest, brings him up outside the forest, ignorant of his heritage. The fourth book's plot follows a seventeen-year-old Daystar as he takes the sword into the forest, saves his father, and discovers what's InTheBlood of the [[RoyaltySuperpower magic-commanding]], [[ReallyRoyaltyReveal kingdom-ruling]] family he's part of.

* The entire Royal line of [[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Valdemar]] is secretly descended from Vanyel, the Last Herald-Mage, through a bargain struck to preserve the continuity of the Monarchy during a time of major political upheaval. This is crucial to the plot, as his descendant, Princess Elspeth, takes up the mantle of being Valdemar's first new Herald-Mage six hundred years later. She subsequently meets up with yet another descendant of Vanyel, Firesong K'Treva of the Tayledras -- in fact, he's the one who tells her, as the Hawkbrothers were the only ones Vanyel entrusted with the knowledge outside of the inner Royal circle.

* In Creator/DanAbnett's Literature/{{Bequin}} novel ''Pariah'', Beta learns, late in the novel, that she is [[spoiler:not quite a clone of another Alizabeta Bequin -- making her name a MeaningfulName]].

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Literature/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/AWitchShallBeBorn", Salome learned that she was born to the royal family and her sister was queen.
-->''He had told me who I was, of the curse and my heritage. I have returned to take that to which I have as much right as you. Now it is mine by right of possession''.

* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko and Creator/NickPerumov's ''Literature/WrongTimeForTheDragons'', Victor is an ordinary man from our world ends up in the Middle World, which is located between the world of magic (Trueborn World) and our non-magical world (Outworld). He is destined to become the next Dragonslayer, tasked with defending the Middle World from invasion of the Winged Lords of the Trueborn World (i.e. dragons). He is being hunted by the previous Dragonslayer who now believes that it is necessary for a Dragon to survive. In the end, Victor has a vision that reveals that his strange grandmother is actually from the Middle World and was banished by the Dragonslayer after being raped by him (ItMakesSenseInContext), making him the guy's grandson.
* Princess Ozma in the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' series doubles down on the 'secret' part: she didn't even know she was a ''girl'' until TheReveal, as the witch that took her in transformed her into a boy, let alone that she was the lost princess of Oz.

* ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'': In the classic continuity, Ben discovers long after receiving his ImportedAlienPhlebotinum that his grandfather is a former [[TheMenInBlack Men in Black]]-esque alien hunter. As the various series go on, not only does he learn that the Omnitrix he wields was meant to go to his grandfather, but that some members of his extended family are aliens themselves (with his cousin Gwen learning that [[HalfHumanHybrid she's 1/4th alien]] and has her own alien form).

* The SeriesFauxnale[=/=]FullyAbsorbedFinale of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' reveals that ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' hero, Terry [=McGinnis=] is actually [[spoiler: the genetic son of Bruce Wayne as part of a secret experiment by a government group to create a new Batman. Basically, they gave Warren [=McGinnis=] an injection that replaced his reproductive material (and thus DNA) with Bruce Wayne's. Then again, it's rather a subversion: the program was called off before the defining moment of Bruce's life could be recreated. Terry ended up becoming Batman all on his own, mostly through coincidence, wholly independent of his genetic heritage.]]

* '' WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Steven went his entire life believing he was the son of [[RebelLeader Rose Quartz]] but the episode "A Single Pale Rose" it's revealed to him (and the audience) that [[spoiler:Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond, one of the four rulers of the [[TheEmpire gem Homeworld]] who was originally going to [[PlanetLooters colonize]] the earth. She [[HeelFaceTurn grew to care]] for the planet's inhabitants and [[{{Shapeshifting}} changed her appearance]] and eventually [[FakingTheDead faked her death]] at Rose's hands (actually the disguised Pearl) in order to protect earth from Homeworld. Which also means earth technically belongs to Steven]].

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the main character's name is Monkey '''D.''' Luffy. For the first hundred chapters or so, this is just a quirky part of his name, but as the series goes on, it's gradually revealed that there's a lot more to it. The people with "D." in their name are said to have "The Will of D." They all seem to share similar characteristics (being {{Big Eater}}s, having principles they stick to no matter who or what is in their way...) and their actions tend to have far-reaching consequences (Luffy's being most apparent in his various adventures), but others such as Jaguar D. Saul saving Nico Robin who is now the only person who can read poneglyphs and seeks to discover the mystery of the [[AncientConspiracy Lost One Hundred Years]] have cropped up, not to mention Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King, who turned the world upside-down with his legendary feat of reaching the end of the Grand Line and his proceeding actions that led to the start of the Golden Age of Piracy.

* In ''Webcomic/MagickChicks'', witch-in-training Melissa Hellrune finds out that her parents were once a powerful MagicalGirl and her arch-nemesis.[[note]][[HasTwoMommies A witch.]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext It's complicated]].[[/note]] She's told this after she's given a wand that lets her tap into her Magical Girl powers. Eventually, she gains the ability to use her witch and magical girl powers at the same time and separate herself into witch and magical girl halves.

* ''Webcomic/{{Megatokyo}}'' has the Sonoda family. Meimi, the mother, has been shown to have been a MagicalGirl many years ago, but has given up that life to raise a "normal" family. Her daughter Yuki [[PubertySuperpower starts manifesting abilities]], culminating in disaster when she falls from a [[IHaveTheHighGround telephone pole]]. Embarrassed, Yuki only discusses actual events with the unfortunate victim. When her mother overhears, Yuki covers by saying they were discussing an {{anime}}. The next two strips feature Meimi wondering about [[LampshadeHanging the silliness]] of MagicalGirl [[GenreSavvy shows]]

* In ''Literature/LunarChronicles'', Linh Cinder is revealed to be the long lost princess of Luna (the Moon) who was believed to have died in a fire as a child.