History Main / SuccessionCrisis

* One of those seems to loom in ''Fanfic/ReluctantHero''[='=]s near future: Zuko cannot become Fire Lord because he was revealed as [[TheChosenOne the new Avatar]], his younger sister Azula is... [[AxeCrazy Azula]], and [[CoolUncle Iroh]] is quite old and childless since his son's death. Since Iroh is the late Fire Lord's firstborn, his subordinate Jee begs him to remarry and produce another heir to legitimate his claim.

** The Crown enters one after Joffrey's madness becomes widespread knowledge after an incident at a major banquet. One of the reasons Robert's rule was tolerated was because it got the Mad King Aerys off the throne. Westeros will not tolerate another Mad King, to the point of going to war over it. This is an issue because Tommen, Myrcella, ''and'' Stannis all died during the Plague — and with Renly disqualified from the line of succession due to having a male soulmate, that leaves only Shireen as the only other possible heir. For what it's worth, Robert has been trying for more trueborn children, [[spoiler:but Cersei has been thwarting his efforts through a careful schedule of moon tea so she can have Jaime's kids instead]].

* As one could guess by the title ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13452124/1/The-Britannian-Succession-Crisis-of-2017-ATB The Britannian Succession Crisis of 2017 A.T.B]]'' is such a tale set in ''Anime/CodeGeass''. Due to the death of not only TheEmperor Charles Zi Britannia, but also his eldest son Odysseus and most powerful son the second prince Schneizel during a single luncheon the story [[RoyallyScrewedUp sets the Britannian royal family into one]] shortly before the battle of Narita: the throne falls by default to Guinevere De Britannia but very few people want her to stay there and with the fic having [[MassiveNumberedSiblings eighty-six royals in the line of succession]] and signs of both actions to take power and Guinevere's own counter-actions to keep power within two weeks of the deaths a conflict will be inevitable, even without asking what outside powers or [[FallenPrincess Lelouch]] will do with the conflict.

** On the Baratheon side, Stannis was suddenly killed by a bowel sickness, leaving his daughter Shireen behind. Not only the girl is young and in deep mourning, people are looking at her askew for surviving grayscale with a heavily scarred face and potentially falling sick again, unleashing an epidemic in King's Landing. After Shireen comes her uncle Renly, who's rather proficient as a courtier and diplomat but completely inefficient as a warrior, something the martial Seven Kingdoms tend to mislike. Being gay also means the probability of him siring a successor is depressingly weak.
** For those dreaming of a Targaryen restoration, the candidates are rather lacking. Viserys was completely off his rocker before he got the brilliant idea to annoy his barbarian brother-in-law into murdering him, so nope. Viserys' younger sister Daenerys ''could'' have inherited the crazy gene at the light of her currently destabilizing Essos, on top of being too female for a ruler. It leaves their nephew "Jon Snow", born Jaehaerys Targaryen, who's an accomplished warrior, deeply charismatic, genuinely concerned for the smallfolk's welfare... and very busy dreaming to definitely leave Westeros behind to spend his life in Skyrim, so not interested in being enthroned as King.

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}}, Creator/AAPessimal greatly expands the continent of [[UsefulNotes/{{Africa}} Howondaland]] in terms of its social structures, ethnic breakdown and physical/political geography. One of its parellels to our own dear Roundworld is that the Zulu Empire exists, much as it did in our 19th century, but stronger and occupying more physical space. [[note]]Translated to Earth-Africa, the Zulus would rule everything in East and Southern Africa from Kenya, Uganda and Somalia, right down to the border with land colonised by a pugnacious white people of "Dutch" and "British" origin[[/note]]. By the time of the ''Strandpiel'' series of epic writings[[note]]epic in length if not in literacy excellence - that's WordOfGod[[/note]], the old Paramount King, the absolute fuedal ruler, is dying. The Zulu Empire arc of the story concerns how "too many children", all Princes and Princesses of the Paramount House, are whittled down to two final contenders in a Game of Throne. And the dying wish of the old King (aware that males take precedence in the succession) is that his grandson takes the throne. As the Heir is only a few weeks old, unbder Zulu law and custom, his mother, the Paramount Crown Princess, is now obliged to rule the Empire as Queen-Regent on his behalf. But she has a powerful brother who absolutely resents their father's command...

** The Riverlands have a minor one after Edmure's wife dies in childbirth and their child is stillborn. While Edmure is still young enough to take another wife and sire more children, as it currently stands Bran is the current heir to House Tully.

** Despite Solina being the elder child, the fact that she was born out of wedlock stigmatized her, and Mewnians favored her half-sister Helena, born in wedlock, for the throne. Eventually Helena accepted their reasoning and attacked Solina before she could get the wand, causing a civil war that she won. (History would not be too kind to her, though, as despite calling herself the Rightful Sun, she would go down in history-as decreed by her own daughter, no less-as the Usurper.
** One threatened to loom when Astra's twins were born: Eureka was female but sickly, while Heliador was healthy but male (but unusually for his gender, magical). Astra decided to name them co heirs and they ruled Mewni together as the Ruling Siblings, with Heliador's daughter Oneira being named heir since she was born first.
* In ''Fanfic/SecondBiteOfTheCherry'', Lan Qiren is reluctant to adopt Wei Ying as it would give her or her eventual husband a claim to the Sect Leader position. The Lan elders solve the problem by suggesting to marry the girl to a pre-existing heir.

** Jon Arryn learns that [[spoiler:his "son" Robin Arryn is actually his wife's son from her affair with Littlefinger]], putting the future of his titles Lord of the Vale and Warden of the East into question. Jon and Lysa decide to try things again and five years later they have a daughter and another child on the way. However, this doesn't solve the crisis ''either'' as [[spoiler:Jon's great-nephew Harry Hardyng]] declares that he should be Lord of the Vale, believing Jon has gone soft in his old age.
** Robert Baratheon learns of the canonical incestuous relationship between his wife Cersei and her brother Jaime. Realizing he has no successor, he tries to solve this problem by betrothing himself to the pre-teen Sansa Stark.

* The [[JidaiGeki Japanese period piece]] ''Shogun's Samurai'' is set entirely around one of these. The Shogun seems increasingly likely to make his younger son Shogun when some court insiders who prefer the elder son poison him, resulting in a situation where several powerful lords (and a scheming, ManipulativeBitch mother) favor the more handsome and charismatic younger son, while the rules and a few court insiders like the Yagyu clan favor the elder son. Interestingly, the director was more known for making {{Yakuza}} films, but claimed that there was little difference in the end, summarizing it as "The old boss dies, and the question is about who will become the new boss."

* ''Manga/Reborn2004'' has one of these when [[spoiler:Xanxus]] shows up and demands to be the 10th boss of the Vongola Family. It's not a perfect example though, because the 9th is still alive.
** Well, [[RageAgainstTheMentor for a while, anyways]].

* ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'''s final arc featured this. At the beginning of the series, everyone knew that Kinnikuman is the prince of the Kinniku tribe's royal family, but was [[IdiotHero far too stupid]] to be considered king. But after [[TakeALevelInBadass taking a level in badass]] and proving to be a worthy successor, it turns out that there was a fire in the hospital where Kin was born, and he could have been mixed up with five other babies. In true fashion, a wrestling tournament is held to see which Kinnikuman is the rightful heir.
* While not done with royalty, the Sumimura and Yukimura families of ''Manga/{{Kekkaishi}}'' have a vicious rivalry with one another over who is the legitimate heir to the Hazuma style of kekkai that their master, Tokimori Hazuma, developed. As both families possess the Houin mark on their bodies, the result has never been truly settled.
* ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'' concerns a succession crisis being resolved in advance by having a proxy war between two ninja clans decide who the Shogun's heir would be. [[spoiler:The war destroys both clans, which were on the verge of resolving their feud when the Shogun had them start killing each other for reasons that most of them didn't even know.]]
* A smaller-scale version occurs in ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' with the large, wealthy (and old) Sohma family. After Akito's father, Akira, dies, there's a huge dispute over whether his wife Ren or his child Akito should take over as Head of the Family. Akito ends up winning since it's in Akira's will, but considering that we only hear about that stipulation from the head maid (who has always despised Ren) after the conflict has had some time to escalate, it's possible she made it up. The factions among the servants are still butting heads a decade or so later.
* In ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}'', if the current Lord Beezlebub has too many children (read: more than one), demons are obviously going to create factions over in-fighting, and civil war will eventually start, threatening both the family itself and the entire kingdom. Case and point: Baby Beel and his older brother En. Though, it's assumed that whoever inherits the Beelzebub is the true successor to the throne. Since En did not inherit the title despite being the eldest, it's obvious who their father's successor is. This causes En a considerable amount of (somewhat childish) angst, and claims that he is an "unwanted child," perhaps in realization of that and the fact that he tends to act like a SpoiledBrat.
* In ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'', after the second Kou Emperor died of illness [[spoiler: most likely a lie by his wife Gyokuen]], everyone believed that the successor would be his first son Kouen. The fact that [[spoiler: Gyokuen]] succeeded as the Third Emperor shocked everyone and supporters of Kouen immediately began to revolt.
* ''Literature/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'' has the princes fighting each other after their father deliberately set them against themselves to see who would become emperor, nearly destroying the country in the process. Not to mention exiling his former favourite son Prince Seien, the most competent out of his sons. In the end, after four of the six princes killed each other, [[TheUnfavourite the youngest prince Ryuuki]] becomes emperor, something he hated and never wanted.
* In ''Literature/TheHeroicLegendOfArslan'', there is Arslan who is making his move to free Pars from Lusitania and [[spoiler:Silvermask/Prince Hermes, Andragonas' nephew]] who also wants to undermine Lusitania from within. Parsian officers in exile recognize that because there are two contenders for the throne, liberating Pars will not bring peace to the country.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'''s Golden Age arc has one approaching in the Kingdom of Midland. The sitting king only has a daughter, Charlotte, so his brother is expected to inherit. But then said brother tries to murder Griffith due to the threat posed by the common-born mercenary, who was granted a peerage for his victories for the Crown and is courting Princess Charlotte. Griffith has Guts assassinate the prince, and he accidentally kills the man's son in the process as well, making Charlotte the only heir. Then everything GoesHorriblyWrong.

* ''LightNovel/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'' has the princes fighting each other after their father deliberately set them against themselves to see who would become emperor, nearly destroying the country in the process. Not to mention exiling his former favourite son Prince Seien, the most competent out of his sons. In the end, after four of the six princes killed each other, [[TheUnfavourite the youngest prince Ryuuki]] becomes emperor, something he hated and never wanted.

* Interestingly enough, the events of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' are set forth by a Succession Crisis, and unlike another game made by some of the same people, ''Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together'', this takes central stage early on, but later the plot about [[CorruptChurch corruption in the Church]] becomes more important, and the War of the Lions is relegated to the background. [[spoiler:In fact, the succession crisis was ultimately instigated and extended ''by'' the church, in an attempt to reclaim their moral authority and position of power that was usurped by the strong monarchy.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Literature/LookToTheWest'', being set primarily in the 18th and early 19th centuries, naturally has a lot of them. It even references the Yongzheng Emperor's strategy mentioned in the introduction to this trope... [[spoiler:not that it works if the Emperor writing the note is quietly bonkers and chose a son who had died years before as heir]].
* In ''Literature/AMorePersonalUnion'', the death of [[spoiler:Queen Ursula of Spain]] prior to the birth of an heir causes a major one of these. Before long, her husband (whose only claim was through their marriage), her brother, and a couple of distant cousins are all fighting for the throne.

* ''WesternAnimation/PrincessNatasha'': When the titular Princess' grandfather King Hector died, his son Lubek became King of Zoravia but was so hated by his subjects they made a referendum and Lubek's younger brother Carl was elected King. The series is about Lubek trying to retake the throne.

** Nehekhara had an unconventional one when most of its dozens of previous rulers were animated as free-willed undead mummies. All of them the rightful king of Nehekhara, ambitious and prideful, they launched into civil war against other dynasties and their own descendants and ancestors. It was resolved when one awoke the legendary Settra, founder of Nehekhara, who quickly [[AuthorityGrantsAsskicking demonstrated his reputation was not overblown]] and forced them all to submit.

*** This is the crux of the final season. Jon and Daenerys eventually learn about the former's parentage though he never wants the Iron Throne; however, the latter fears others will use it to press claims over hers — and she's not wrong. When Jon's sister, Sansa Stark, learns the truth, she breaks her promise to Jon not to reveal this secret and tells Tyrion (who tells Varys) in hopes of putting Jon on the throne over Dany. This results in Varys scheming for the same purpose. Tyrion argues that the Daenerys and Jon should get married since incestuous marriage has been a traditional Targaryen practice but Varys speaks against this, saying that marrying one's aunt is not common practice in the North, where Jon grew up. Eventually, Daenerys crosses the line, forcing Jon to kill her and accept banishment in lieu of execution. The remaining High Lords settle on turning Westeros into an ElectiveMonarchy.

* The classic Creator/AvalonHill game ''Kingmaker'' is about the Wars of the Roses, see RealLife, below.

Or there can be succession mandates with serious penalties. For example, the [[UsefulNotes/TheMonegasqueRoyalFamily Grimaldi family]] owns the country of Monaco, because, basically, they got a contract from France saying so back in the 13th Century. However, their contract ends if the current Prince (or Princess) dies without a direct descendant. There were worries for a time that Monaco might revert back to French control if both of Prince Rainier's children, who are [[TooDumbToLive not exactly known for participating in safe practices]], were to be killed and he didn't get married and have another kid fast enough. It looks like there have been some changes in the activities of the members of the House of Grimaldi, and the chance that France would be able to take Monaco back effectively ended in 2002 when the two nations signed a treaty that allows Monaco to unilaterally change its succession rules if needed.

* ''{{Series/Succession}}'' is a non-monarch version (it's even in the title!) The aging head of a media conglomerate has to decide which of his entitled, incompetent children will inherit the company; petty in-fighting ensues.

The first problem is deciding who is the rightful heir. There might seem to be a single clear candidate, but any EvilPrince worthy of the name can produce documents 'proving' the Crown Prince is ineligible, and must be passed over in favor of themselves (if he doesn't decide to simply resort to outright murder). [[HiddenBackupPrince Missing heirs will come out of the woodwork]], possibly impostors seizing the moment, possibly the real thing. Other powerful figures with no legitimate claims of their own but plenty of ambition (especially the EvilChancellor) may set themselves up as {{Kingmaker}}s so that they can become the ManBehindTheMan for the winning side. And then there is sometimes TheUsurper, who often prefers to dispense with questions of legitimacy and [[MightMakesRight take the throne by force]] [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority because no one else can or will stand up to him]] and/or [[RulingFamilyMassacre he just slaughtered everyone with a legitimate claim to the throne]]. Expect lots of backstabbery in this DecadentCourt.

** Nehekhara had an unconventional one when most of its dozens of previous rulers were animated as free-willed undead mummies. All of them the rightful king of Nehekhara, ambitious and prideful, they launched into civil war against other dynasties and their own descendants and ancestors. It was resolved when one awoke the legendary Settra, founder of Nehekhara, who quickly [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking demonstrated his reputation was not overblown]] and forced them all to submit.

* ''VisualNovel/UnderTheMoon'' concerns a succession crisis in the demon world, a land ruled by [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority whoever is most powerful]]. As the story begins, the current king is growing weak and [[OfferedTheCrown has potential successors picked out]]. The king's daughter, our heroine, makes it her job to persuade one of them to take the throne.

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AccomplishmentsOfTheDukesDaughter'' has this as a background element in the first volume, which gradually grows in importance until it comes to a head in the climax of the fourth. The King of Tasmeria is ill and fading, leaving behind two sons by two different wives. By established law, the firstborn, Prince Alfred, is the rightful heir. But between the ambitious scheming of the second queen's family and the fact that he's a far more visible public figure (largely because Alfred is trying to avoid his stepmother's scheming while he builds his powerbase), the second prince, Prince Edward, has a large following that wants him to take the throne. [[spoiler:Alfred wins the throne by demonstrating his competence in dealing with a national crisis while Edward demonstrates his incompetence, causing Edward's faction to collapse. And then in the fifth book, the succession goes to a dark horse - after Alfred is erroneously declared dead in battle, he decides to not correct the record and leaves the throne to his sister Leticia while he lives the rest of his life under an assumed identity in which he becomes the consort of the heroine.]]
[[/folder]]

* ''LightNovel/AccomplishmentsOfTheDukesDaughter'' has this as a background element in the first volume, which gradually grows in importance until it comes to a head in the climax of the fourth. The King of Tasmeria is ill and fading, leaving behind two sons by two different wives. By established law, the firstborn, Prince Alfred, is the rightful heir. But between the ambitious scheming of the second queen's family and the fact that he's a far more visible public figure (largely because Alfred is trying to avoid his stepmother's scheming while he builds his powerbase), the second prince, Prince Edward, has a large following that wants him to take the throne. [[spoiler:Alfred wins the throne by demonstrating his competence in dealing with a national crisis while Edward demonstrates his incompetence, causing Edward's faction to collapse. And then in the fifth book, the succession goes to a dark horse - after Alfred is erroneously declared dead in battle, he decides to not correct the record and leaves the throne to his sister Leticia while he lives the rest of his life under an assumed identity in which he becomes the consort of the heroine.]]

->''A legend is sung of [[YeGoodeOldeDays when]] [[TheGoodKingdom England]] [[YeGoodeOldeDays was young\\
and knights were brave and bold]]\\
The good king had died and no one could decide\\
Who was rightful heir to the throne\\
[[DarkestHour It seemed that the land would be torn by war\\
Or saved by a miracle alone]]\\
And that miracle appeared in London town\\
[[TitleDrop The Sword in the Stone...]]''
->'''Narrator''': And below the hilt in letters of gold were written these words: ''"Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of England."'' Though many tried for the sword with all their strength, [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield none could move the sword nor stir it]]. [[WhamLine So the miracle had not worked]], and England was still without a king — and in time, the marvelous sword was forgotten. This was a [[DarkAgeEurope dark age, without law and without order]]. Men lived in fear of one another, for the strong preyed upon the weak.
-->-- The OpeningNarration, ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone''

** In ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' the Empire followed a similar tajectory as various Imperial commanders fell into warlordism until the various remnants were united by Admiral Daala. Nineteen years after the Battle of Yavin the Empire finally made peace with the New Republic.

** ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': The crux of Season 1 is the buildup towards the catastrophic succession crisis turned CivilWar known as the Dance of the Dragons following the death of King Viserys Targaryen, between his daughter Rhaenyra from his first wife Aemma and Rhaenyra's Targaryen-Hightower half-siblings and House Hightower, who crown [[HeirClubForMales male heir]] Aegon in a [[TheCoup coup]]. Viserys stood by his promise to have Rhaenyra succeed him all his life and tried to maintain peace, but as soon as he's dead, everything goes downhill.

* ''[[Franchise/ASonfOfIceAndFire Game of Thrones]]'' universe:

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** The show featured this by the end of season 1, with Robert's death causing the "War of Five Kings" between Robert's elder brother Stannis, his younger brother Renly, and his son Joffrey, all competing for the Iron Throne. During the chaos, two smaller kingdoms also declared themselves independent, not recognizing any king on the Iron Throne and instead their own local high lord. [[spoiler:In this case, Stannis is the rightful king as Joffrey (along with all of Robert's children with Cersei) is a bastard and not actually Robert's son.]] This seems to be resolved with the victory of the Lannisters in the War of the Five Kings, and they seem to reestablish control of the throne over the kingdoms.
** As of the end of Season 6, [[spoiler:all the contenders from the War of the Five Kings are deceased, which leaves Cersei Lannister as the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms after her youngest son's suicide and Cersei's murder of many rivals after she blows up the Sept of Balor. Daenerys Targaryen, the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, finally comes home to Westeros to reclaim her birthright. However, Daenerys was rendered barren by Mirri's spell and cannot have children. Tyrion attempts to discuss it by offering alternatives about who should succeed her, but Daenerys is unwilling to hear it and will only address this after her conquest is complete. Making things even more difficult is her forming a relationship with the new King of the North, Jon Snow, who is revealed to the audience as the trueborn son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, Aegon Targaryen (making him Ned Stark's [[{{Nephewism}} nephew]], [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold not his illegitimate son]], as well as Daenerys' nephew), and therefore, by the laws of succession, is the rightful king of Westeros]].
** This is the crux of the final season. [[spoiler:Jon and Daenerys eventually learn about the former's parentage though he never wants the Iron Throne; however, the latter fears others will use it to press claims over hers — and she's not wrong. When Jon's sister, Sansa Stark, learns the truth, she breaks her promise to Jon not to reveal this secret and tells Tyrion (who tells Varys) in hopes of putting Jon on the throne over Dany. This results in Varys scheming for the same purpose. Tyrion argues that the Daenerys and Jon should get married since incestuous marriage has been a traditional Targaryen practice but Varys speaks against this, saying that marrying one's aunt is not common practice in the North, where Jon grew up. Eventually, Daenerys crosses the line, forcing Jon to kill her and accept banishment in lieu of execution. The remaining High Lords settle on turning Westeros into an ElectiveMonarchy.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', [[spoiler:it's the Ushiromiya family's crazy hierarchy that [[KillEmAll causes the murders]], in theory]].

* In ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'', Crown Princess Elodie faces one of these when Fabian, Duke of Elath, dies. His son Adair is too young to take the reins, and so it's up to Elodie to appoint a regent in his stead. Certain choices can further complicate this, as [[DeathOfAChild Adair may end up getting assassinated]] as a result [[spoiler:with the implication that agents from a foreign nation, whose duke would technically be next in line after Adair to inherit the duchy, were responsible]].

And [[AChildShallLeadThem that miracle]] appeared in Londontown\\
[[TitleDrop The Sword in the Stone]]...''