History Main / VillainousLegacy

* Though Lord Farquaad was defeated and killed off at the end of the first ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' movie, he indirectly set off the villains of the next three sequels by convincing Shrek to defeat the dragon of the tower where Fiona was held prisoner: the Fairy Godmother wanted her son Prince Charming to rescue Fiona and opposed the big guy in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2''; Prince Charming took matters into his own hands to try to kill Shrek in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird''; and Shrek's rescue prevented Rumpelstiltskin from taking over Far Far Away as its monarch, provoking him to take revenge on Shrek in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter''.

This trope is when even though the villain of a work is no longer around, the plot continues to be driven by things they did while alive. This can be done by their organization being taken over by someone else, their descendants being evil themselves, someone continues their plans without them, and so forth. If it's an ongoing series where one way or another every villain can be traced back to the first one despite his defeat, it's this trope.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Nothing will stand in our way. [[Characters/StarWarsKyloRen I]] will finish... what [[Characters/StarWarsDarthVaderAndServants you]] started.-]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Nothing will stand in our way. I will finish... what you started.-]]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' Season 10 flashbacks show that [[spoiler:the A.I. Sigma]] qualifies for the Recollection Trilogy as a whole; [[spoiler:he's the BigBad of ''Reconstruction'', but he is killed after those events, and his influence on the Meta still remains in ''Recreation'' and ''Revelation''.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Nothing will stand in our way. I will finish... what [[DarthWiki/DarthVader you]] started.-]]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'': Even after Kurata is defeated, his genocide of Digimon makes King Drasil believe all humans are evil, and thus he attempts to destroy the human world to protect the digimon world.
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** King Piccolo expels an egg from his mouth mere seconds before his demise. This egg eventually hatches and gives life to Piccolo Jr., who consciously seeks to conquer the world and avenge his father's death. Fortunately, he makes a HeelFaceTurn in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', where he becomes an important ally.
** In ''Dragon Ball Z'', long after Goku destroyed the Red Ribbon Army, its ([[RememberTheNewGuy initially unmentioned]]) lead scientist Dr. Gero continues his work to defeat Goku, to the point where he still uses the Army's insignia on his androids. Gero himself has a legacy even after his death; after the destruction of his laboratory, a supercomputer in his lab's basement (which survived the destruction) continues to work on his final creation, the biomechanical android Cell. In [[BadFuture Future Trunks's timeline]], two of his creations go on to rule the world with fear and power for well over a decade.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'' has Zeref the Black Wizard. It's been 400 years since his death, and people are still fighting against demons and other evil artifacts he made back then. [[spoiler:And it turns out he's still alive, and intends to wage war on humanity. At this point in the series, he finally takes up the role of the overall BigBad]].
* The BigBad of ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'', [[spoiler:Araya Souren]], is killed by Shiki in the fifth chapter/movie. The remaining two chapters are driven by lesser villains, who never got a chance to play their intended parts in his EvilPlan before it was foiled, and so they went independent.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has main villain Dio Brando; even after his death, his shadow looms over the Joestar/Kujo Clan, causing them and the world much trouble. Even he, however, is a result of a much more ancient evil from Mesoamerica. Though Dio dies in part 3 of ''[=JoJo=]'', the initial enemies of Part 4 are a direct result of his actions, Part 5's protagonist is his son, and Part 6's BigBad is a devout follower trying to continue Dio's master plan.
* ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'' had the death of [[spoiler:Count Almeida]] happen [[PosthumousCharacter before the series began]], but their influence is felt by one of the experimental subjects continuing his work under his name long after his death.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'''s BigBad, Gihren Zabi, might have died at the end, but the state that he and his family built continues to antagonize the world for years afterwards, with both [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Haman Khan]]'s Axis-Zeon and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char Aznable]]'s Neo-Zeon laying claim to the name and legacy of the Principality of Zeon.
* The damage that Rau Le Creuset and his {{unwitting pawn}}s, Patrick Zala and Muruta Azrael did in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' has yet to be undone by ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny''. Grudges from the war they started continue to drive new conflict, Azrael's successor Djibril has taken over his terror organization, Zala faction loyalists continue to launch terrorist strikes against ZAFT and the EA alike, and [[DarkMessiah Gilbert Durandal]], the new BigBad, plots to unite the world under himself so that no one can ever do what [[OmnicidalManiac Le Creuset]] [[PlayingBothSides did]] again.
* Happens in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
** Once [[spoiler:All For One]], the resident {{Chessmaster}}, gets defeated by All Might, his pupil and [[TheHeavy recurring bad guy]] Tomura Shigaraki properly becomes the series' BigBad.
** Similarly, "Hero Killer" Stain is defeated in battle and captured fairly early on, but his rhetoric proves to be very popular among villains, and membership in the Villain League rises noticeably in the wake of his rampage.
** The villain Destro was captured and subsequently committed suicide, but people still respond to the ideals detailed in his autobiography and his child is trying to continue the Meta Liberation Army he founded in his name.
* This is [[ZigzaggedTrope zigzagged]] in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. For a while it appears that a still-living [[TheDreaded Madara Uchiha]] is behind most of the plot, though it's a bit odd that he always wears a mask. Then, during the WarArc, Madara gets revived as a zombie, proving that the man behind the mask is simply pulling a DeadPersonImpersonation, thus playing this trope straight. But it's ''then'' revealed that [[spoiler: the real Madara [[TakeUpMySword actually passed down his plans/ideals]] to the masked man (revealed to be an EvilFormerFriend of one of the protagonists) and planned for his successor to eventually revive him ([[TheStarscream though said successor didn't intend to do so]]) and left a few failsafes to make sure he was revived ([[DidntThinkThisThrough though they didn't work as planned]]). So ultimately this trope is zigzagged in the sense that Madara WAS dead for most of the series, but was still manipulating things in an indirect way. But even the real Madara himself was a pawn of the true mastermind and though said mastermind was defeated by Naruto, her people are trying to continue where she left off and cause trouble for [[Manga/BorutoNarutoNextGenerations Boruto]] and his friends....]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Arlong is defeated fairly early in the series, and the audience only learns about his motivations much later in the series. Years later (two in-universe, eleven outside), a pirate crew/insurrectionist movement in Fishman Island arises following [[FantasticRacism Arlong's example]], and taking it to a grander scale.
** Played with in regards to [[spoiler:Mother Carmel, a slave trader who died long before the series began. While her true nature was never revealed to the public, she nonetheless continues to blight the world through another, far more dangerous villain: Charlotte Linlin, aka Big Mom. It's an interesting example because Linlin is ''also'' completely unaware of Carmel's true nature -- rather, she idolized her for the kind facade that she put on, and the false dream she espoused to maintain it. After Carmel "disappeared", Big Mom took that dream and made it as her own, only to have it twisted by her insanity, selfishness, and cruelty, all of which were enabled by Carmel so she could exploit her destructive behavior as a talking point for a potential sale. The end result is a pirate Emperor who terrorizes the seas for the sake of ideals that were never real in the first place]].
** Roughly thirty-eight years prior to the main story's beginning, there was Rocks [[spoiler:D. Xebec]], who gathered together one of the most powerful pirate crews ever known, including many members who would themselves become world-renowned many years after his death, such as [[spoiler: Big Mom, Kaido, Whitebeard, Shiki, Captain John]], among others. Even the event where he was finally defeated would help propel his opponents, [[spoiler: Garp and Roger, to infamy, granting the former his title of "Hero of the Marines"]]. It's been implied that Blackbeard, one of the main candidates for overall series BigBad, views himself as Rocks' successor the way that Luffy is Roger's.
* A subversion occurs in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' with [[GameMaster Akihiko]] [[TheSociopath Kayaba]]; while his actions do result in over four thousand innocent people dying in TheMostDangerousVideoGame and his influence is felt long after his death, the impacts are largely beneficial afterwards.
** [[spoiler:A virtual remnant of himself is what allows Kirito to turn the tables on [[BigBad Oberon]] at the climax of ''Fairy Dance'']].
** The World Seed he created with data gathered from the Aincrad server is ultimately what allows [=VRMMOs=] to continue to exist after [[spoiler:SAO and the first ALO server are shut down]], thus setting up the events of all the following arcs.
** At the end of Mother's Rosario, [[spoiler:it's revealed that he was the original designer of the Medicuboid system that made it possible for [[IllGirl Yuuki]] [[NotDisabledInVR Konno]] to have a high quality of life in VR while her health rapidly deteriorated due to AIDS]].
* MagnificentBastard and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive CEO]] of the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor [[TheRival Seto Kaiba]] managed to be indirectly responsible for virtually all the conflict across the ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' timeline.
** He instigates the plot of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' by founding the AcademyOfAdventure and sending Jaden's cards into space.
** In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' his obsession with the game led to him creating the WretchedHive of [[NewNeoCity Neo Domino City]] and its oppressive Yu-Gi-Oh-based caste system. The man invented ''duel taxes'' and ''duel police'' and everyone's so used to his batshit antics that it goes unquestioned.
** In ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'', sending Jaden's cards into space is shown to not only have led to an alien civilization finding them, but basing [[CargoCult a religion and their entire development as a society around them]], kicking off the plot. The real kicker was that this was ''exactly his plan''. In his own words, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqwYvJXIDUM 'Cause I figure, if there is intelligent life out there, then let's teach 'em how to duel.]]" The man even finishes his sentence with an EvilLaugh!
** In ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', his research pioneered the HardLight technology used by the GreaterScopeVillain Zarc.
* In ''Manga/YuGiOhR'' Dark Bakura never appears, but [[spoiler:killing Pegasus]] in the Duelist Kingdom arc is what fuels the motivation of the BigBad, Yako Tenma, to [[spoiler:resurrect Pegasus, since Yako was his adopted son.]]
* In the anime adaptation of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Sakyo's]] plan to open up a tunnel between the demon and the human worlds during the Dark Tournament arc is explicitly stated as the inspiration for [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Sensui's]] plan to do the same thing in the Chapter Black arc. The only difference is that Sakyo intended to do so with [[ScrewtheRulesIHaveMoney money]] while Sensui believed he could build his tunnel with the power of a psychic.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'', there are future versions of practically every member of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s RoguesGallery on the prison at Pluto; the android version of Robin explains to "our" Batman (who switches places with the future one) that a few were simply inspired by the originals, while others came about through cloning, DNA splicing, and other scientific methods. (One of them, Comicbook/{{Catwoman}}'s future counterpart, gets her own issue in the series.)
* In ''Franchise/TheFlash'':
** Flash's EvilCounterpart Eobard Thawne/Professor Zoom was killed by Barry, but his legacy lived on in Impulse's evil counterpart Thaddeus Thawne/Inertia, while Hunter Zolomon was at least inspired to take a similar identity, even apart from the many times Eobard himself has returned due to time travel.
** The ''other'' Thawne legacy was Cobalt Blue. Malcom Thawne was consumed by his own power in his first encounter with Barry, but his PowerGem was wielded by many others over the next thousand years, imbuing them all with a hatred of the Flash legacy and Barry in particular, as seen in the "Chain Lightning" storyline.
* ''ComicBook/PathfinderWorldscape'':
** The titular demi-plane was created by [[PredecessorVillain Nex the Archmage]] of [[TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} Golarion]], who used the souls of those trapped in it as fuel to become a god. He died before achieving his goal, but his creation was left behind displacing warriors from three separate worlds and its [[TheMultiverse many, many different versions of it]]. [[spoiler:Its revealed that the Hyborian sorcerer Kulan Gath wants to finish Nex's work]].
** The [[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars Cult of Issus]] is the [[TheTheocracy state religion]] of the Worldscape, thanks to the White Martians' influence, even though Issus was not truly a goddess herself, and has been long dead after John Carter exposed her fraud.
* Two examples from the ''ComicBook/ShangChi'' comics:
** Shang-Chi's father Zheng Zu built a secret society that spans the world, and his family and followers are still feuding over it long after his death (before the SoftReboot, this was also true of Shang-Chi's original father, Fu Manchu - with the added complication that some antagonists wanted to find his Elixir Vitae and become LongLived).
** In the original ''ComicBook/MasterOfKungFu'' series, the assassin and WickedToymaker Mordillo dies in his first appearance. But his creations and his RobotBuddy endure and threaten Shang-Chi and his allies for a very long time.
* In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'', Shockwave has caused an incredible amount of troubles in the present day by performing callous, large-scale experiments and departing without bothering to clean up. In fact, [[spoiler:thanks to a StableTimeLoop, literally ''the entire setting'' came about because of his deranged experiment to understand how civilizations work.]]
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'':
** [[MagnificentBastard Mammoth]] [[DevilInPlainSight Mogul]]. Thousands of years ago, he founded the Order of Ixis, which eventually led to the creation of [[EvilSorcerer Ixis Naugus]], whose actions, [[spoiler:which may include starting the Great War]], in turn led to [[BigBad Dr. Robotnik's]] rise to power, whose [[spoiler:death]] ultimately led to nearly every villain in the book today, with Naugus [[spoiler:responsible for the ones that aren't Mogul]]. Naugus and Robotnik are still quite active (and are [[BigBadEnsemble top two villains]] of the series), whereas Mogul has semi-retired from active villainy, running a casino and deciding to use his immortality to outlive the heroes and make his move then.[[spoiler: Too bad he didn't take into account [[RetGone The Genesis Waves.]]]]
** The Knuckles spin off comics has Menniker who founded the Dark Legion, which led to the threat of his descendants continuing his work in the present day. This makes him responsible for Moritor Rex, Kragok, Lien-Da actions.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': Norman Osborn had this role for decades after he "died". Initially, he was limited to the ''Spider-Man'' characters. He had killed [=Spider-Man's=] girlfriend and created a [[LegacyCharacter supervillain legacy]] that not only included his own son, but several goblin-based villains that plagued Spidey for years. Of course, since DeathIsCheap, Osborn is back these days.
* Early on ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/ReignOfDoomsday'', Lex Luthor suffers an uncertain doom which takes him off the board possibly permanently (since his universe was destroyed shortly afterwards); but his evolved creation, Doomslayer, nearly succeeds in killing the Supers and destroying Earth.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Magneto died in ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'', but Quicksilver and Mystique tried to follow his steps after that.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWomanEarthOne'': Hercules is a large part of why Themysciran society is dangerously misandrist in this universe, though he was killed long ago by Hippolyta for his attack and rape of her people.
* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', after Stryfe is defeated, it turns out that he has left behind a virus that spreads through humans and kills those with the x-gene, devastating mutantkind for years. Appropriately, it is referred to as the Legacy virus, as before his death Stryfe was constantly ranting about legacies.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': Although [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonHumans Alan Jonah]] is killed roughly 2/3 through the story, [[TheAssimilator the Many]] which he created remains a threat for the rest of the story. Plus, the author thinks that it was from Jonah's mind specifically that the BigBad [[spoiler:Ghidorah]] learned through the Many about ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' and formed a particular part of its EvilPlan for [[AdaptationalHeroism Monster X]].
* ''Fanfic/AgesOfShadow'': Even though [[FallenHero Jade]] is defeated [[spoiler: and [[SealedEvilInACan permanently sealed]]]] at the end of the Third Age portion of the story, the Interlude is all about her [[TheDragon minion Zaben]] using what's left of the resources she left behind to carry out several {{Evil Plan}}s.
* Queen Chrysalis in ''Fanfic/CadenceInAMinor''. She never actually appears in person, but [[spoiler:raping a brainwashed Shining Armor while taking the place of his bride]] is the root cause of most of the fic's conflict.
* From ''Fanfic/{{Empathy}}'' and its sequel ''Fanfic/UnityFinmonster'':
** Gallaxhar's actions in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' ultimately set the stage for the events of ''Empathy'', as the technology his invasion left behind caused a technological and economic boom that led to [[WesternAnimation/BigHero6 San Fransokyo]] being the beacon of technological advancement that it is when the story begins. Said technology would also unwittingly lead to the portal disaster that caused Abigail to be captured by the Gorg, causing Callaghan's StartOfDarkness.
** Tighten/Titan's actions reverberate throughout ''Unity''. Metro Man's abandonment of Metro City led to his creation, and his refusal to stop Titan's rampage is the crux of his estrangement with Mr. Incredible. Said rampage is also implied to have killed Margo's parents, making him at least partially responsible for the events of ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe''. Most of all, Megamind's strong dedication to his HeelFaceTurn is motivated by his desire to atone for Titan's creation.
* ''Fanfic/HowOnEarth'': The entire Uno family is a long line of these. While Grandfather is responsible for Father turning out the way he did, the one responsible for ''Grandfather'' turning out the way he did was his own grandmother. According to Monty Uno, Grandfather's eldest son, there are tons of stories about the abusive parenting styles of his ancestors; Nigel is horrified to realize that Grandfather's terrible treatment of him thus far in the story is relatively ''benign'' in comparison.
* ''Fanfic/AThingOfVikings'': According to the epigraph in the last chapter of Book Three, Mac Bethad left one behind that paved the way for future conflicts that will probably start in the yet to be posted Book Four.
* [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords Darth Traya]] plays this role in ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger''. Despite being dead for thousands of years, the impact of her actions continue to be felt throughout the main story. Her former apprentice [[BigBad Darth Nihilus]] wouldn't be anywhere near the threat he is today without her guidance. She is the one who originally recruited Nihilus into the Sith and taught him how to drain entire planets with his power as part of her effort to [[KillTheGod destroy the Force]]. Nihilus's spirit eventually passes down her philosophies to Jaune, who starts espousing them to his friends [[spoiler:after falling to the Dark Side]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/OldWest'', which is set one year after the ending of the movie, the BigBad role is filled by [[ManOfWealthAndTaste Dufayel]], a [[CunningLikeAFox businessman fox]] who invested the EvilPlan of the late [[FatSweatySouthernerInAWhiteSuit Mayor]] [[TurtlePower Tortoise]] John. He reveals that when [[spoiler:a large gold deposit beneath the town of Dirt]] was discovered, he was offered it by the mayor who focused on his own plans. The current plot is driven by Dufayel attempting to drive anyone from the area so that he can claim [[spoiler:that gold]]. To make things worse, he owns all the business assets of his late business partner, [[IOwnThisTown including Dirt that is now known as Mud]]. When asked about his motives, Dufayel claims that he wants to [[VisionaryVillain modernize the West]] in a similar way to Tortoise John, only by using [[spoiler:gold]] instead of water as a tool in it. [[spoiler:He's actually threatened by bankruptcy due to him investing nearly all his money on Tortoise John's project.]]
* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeFanfic'':
** Even after Jason permanently killed Ra's al Ghul in the previous timeline, he still continued to haunt the Bat-Family. The ensuing CivilWar in the wake of his death for control over the League of Assassins culminated in the near-destruction of his entire house, with only Talia surviving when it was all over. Jason specifically points out Damian and Mara as victims as Ra's, implicitly noting that neither of them had to die and the only reason both of them did is because Mara couldn't let go of her childhood grudge against Damian -- which only developed because Ra's deliberately raised them as rivals instead of family. This is later deconstructed; [[spoiler:Ra's' legacy had such a negative effect on all the people who survived him, including his family and allies, that they all eventually came to reject it]].
** The Joker. Jason's entire life and the lives of his family were shaped by the Joker, one way or the other. [[spoiler:By killing Joker III, he unwittingly enabled the rise of Joker IV, who murdered Bruce and most of Bruce's original RoguesGallery, eventually forcing Dick and later Jason himself to become Batman. Joker IV later killed Joker V's husband during one of his rampages, leading to her murdering him in turn and forcibly replacing him as the next Joker. Through that, she caused Jason to accept Carrie Kelley as his first Robin and later created an entirely new RoguesGallery for him to fight, ensuring that he could never retire as Batman. Finally, her death led to the rise of Joker VI, whose actions eventually led to Jason becoming interested in making Terry his successor]].
** Black Mask. While he never appears in the story proper and was presumably killed in the Arkham Massacre in the original timeline, his influence was still felt throughout Gotham. His son took up his name and tried to revitalize Gotham's organized crime, starting by murdering the Penguin, the last of Gotham's original rogues. More noticeably, said son murdered Selina Kyle after she refused to work for him, leading to her daughter with Bruce, Helena, falling into Jason's custody. Helena would promptly become the sixth Robin and the second Huntress, with a major chip on her shoulder regarding organized crime.
** [[spoiler:Future Tim]], whose appearance is what prompted Tim to preemptively ban himself from ''ever'' becoming Batman, ensuring that Jason couldn't foist the mantle onto him after Dick died.
* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' has 20 Gyarados Bill, whose legacy comes up everywhere in the universe from why trainers can only have six Pokemon to Sabrina's mindset and Gurkinn's philosophies.
* Ace Swift, the AssholeVictim of ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm''. His immoral actions indirectly caused the conflict in the story, but it never met in person since he's dead.
* In the ''Manga/MedakaBox'' fanfic ''Fanfic/WorldAsMyth'', [[spoiler:Ihiko Shishime]] seems to be this, as his existence is heavily implied to be the reason for the BigBad's plans.
* ''[[http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_ch.php?id=119212&cid=407331 The War of Megazords Vs. Gundams]]'' has Patrick Zala and Mykan Yuki. They fueled each other's hatred towards Naturals and Coordinators receptively and are what sparked their respective wars.
* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'' fanfic series ''Fanfic/TheWolfInMe'': While Livia dies at the end of the first story, she continues to affect the heroes' lives. A vampire she imprisoned attacks Jade and Tori’s kids in one story. Her daughter is the villain for the rest of the series, trying to get revenge for her death. Margo's revealed to have been previously working for her. The only story she doesn’t have any impact in is “Double Trouble”, and even then, she's mentioned by Jade.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* [[spoiler:King Runeard]] from ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'' is already dead long before the events of the [[WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}} first movie]] but it's because of his attempts at oppressing the spirits of Nolthuldra and their people that the Enchanted Forest got sealed away, necessitating Anna and Elsa heading out to break the curse.
* ''Franchise/TheLionKing'': Scar's sinister influence is still felt years after his death, since the primary villains in [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride the sequel]] and TV show are his sympathizers wanting revenge. In ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'', Kion often fears that he'll end up becoming like Scar.
* Sunset Shimmer [[HeelFaceTurn abandoned her evil ways]] at the end of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'', but her bringing Equestrian magic to [[HighSchoolAU the human world]] had led to the conflicts of every movie since.
* Though Lord Farquaad was defeated and killed off at the end of the first ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' movie, he indirectly set off the villains of the next three sequels by convincing Shrek to defeat the dragon of the tower where Fiona was held prisoner: the Fairy Godmother wanted her son Prince Charming to rescue Fiona and opposed the big guy in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2''; Prince Charming took matters into his own hands to try to kill Shrek in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird''; and Shrek's rescue prevented Rumpelstiltskin from taking over Far Far Away as its monarch, provoking him to take revenge on Shrek in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' has Captain Nathaniel Flint, based on the original Captain Flint from ''Literature/TreasureIsland''. While he is long dead by the main story, it is his treasure that drives the plot [[spoiler:not to mention he set the planet to explode when the treasure was found]].

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'': Assuming ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' is in continuity with the rest of the franchise, the Engineer race serves as this, having created the Xenomorphs to begin with.
* Daryll Lee Callum is this in ''Film/{{Copycat}}''. Peter Foley, the actual copycat of the title, is a fan of serial killer Callum who is committing his killings in an attempt to impress the imprisoned Callum.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', ComicBook/RasAlGhul, TheLeader of the League of Shadows, is killed after he tries to [[KnightTemplar annihilate Gotham and all its citizens to rid the world of its corruption]]. In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' his influence continues to be felt since the League was not actually destroyed, and Ra's student ComicBook/{{Bane}} sets out to fulfill his dead master's plans [[spoiler:along with Ra's daughter ComicBook/TaliaAlGhul]], but wants Gotham to suffer first.
* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'':
** Many massacres committed by Jason Voorhees stem from the death of his mother, the BigBad of [[Film/FridayThe13th1980 the original 1980 film]].
** After Jason was (temporarily) KilledOffForReal in ''[[Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter The Final Chapter]]'', he was supposed to create a legacy as well in the form of [[Film/FridayThe13thPartVANewBeginning copycat killers]]. However, intense negative reception to this idea led to Jason himself being brought BackFromTheDead to reclaim the position of main series antagonist instead.
* ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'': [[Characters/MiddleEarthFilmIndependentVillains Smaug]] is dead after the film's opening, but his attack on Lake-town leaves the town completely destroyed, and drives the survivors to seek refuge in the City of Dale. The [[GoldFever Dragon Sickness]] Smaug's presence left on Erebor's treasure partly fuels Thorin's descent into madness even after Smaug has died, which in turn debatably influences the progression of the Battle of the Five Armies.
* ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': The ''Indominus rex''[='s=] [[LateArrivalSpoiler death at the jaws of the ''Mosasaurus'']] in [[Film/JurassicWorld the previous film]] is confirmed in the opening of ''Fallen Kingdom'', where her skeleton is discovered at the bottom of the ''Mosasaurus'' enclosure by a submersible. The bioweapon program that created her, however, deemed her enough of a success to move on to the next stage -- the ''Indoraptor'' -- and they collect one of the ''Indominus''' ribs to create it.
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** In spite of the Red Skull no longer being around, [[spoiler:ComicBooks/{{HYDRA}} have continued to be a major threat to the world as whole- his second-in-command simply rebuilt the organization within S.H.I.E.L.D. and it's never entirely disappeared since- Every time its leaders are killed or imprisoned, a new one takes their place, as per their motto]].
** Loki is ''the'' reason the Avengers, the team of Earth's mightiest heroes, was initially created. His actions in ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' helped motivate S.H.I.E.L.D. to go to more extreme measures to protect humanity in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''. He also set the stage for the events of ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' by bringing the Chitauri scepter containing the Mind Stone to Earth, [[spoiler:where it was eventually used to create Ultron and Vision.]]
** Outside of the Avengers, Loki's actions had lasting effects on the people of New York, with Adrian Toomes in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' and Hammer Industries in ''Series/{{Luke Cage|2016}}'' creating weapons out of those left behind in the battle, and his attack on New York allowing people such as Wilson Fisk in ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' to take advantage of the situation and rise in power.
** Zemo's villainous actions in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' are a result of [[spoiler: [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Ultron's attack on Sokovia]] killing his wife, son, and father. As a result, Ultron posthumously achieved his goal of breaking the Avengers apart, albeit in a roundabout way]].
*** Also, Crossbones' suicide bombing was the straw that broke the camel's back in regards of the Avengers being {{Destructive Saviour}}s and caused the Sokovia Accords to be implemented. The gauntlets he used to fight Captain America in Lagos were salvaged by Adrian Toomes' clean-up company/criminal group in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' and subsequently retrofitted with air-blast tech, becoming the primary weapons of Jackson Brice and Herman Schultz, aka The Shocker.
** After being the BigBad of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', [[spoiler:Thanos]] gets quickly ambushed and killed by the surviving Avengers by the beginning of ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. However, because he [[spoiler:destroyed the Infinity Stones]] before meeting his end, the Avengers have no way of being able to [[spoiler:undo the snap that turned half the universe to dust]], leaving them to pick up the shattered pieces for five years until Ant-Man discovered a method to TimeTravel to the past in order to retrieve the Infinity Stones and [[spoiler:reverse the snap]]. This in turn attracts the attention of [[spoiler:Past Thanos]] who decides to TimeTravel into the future in order to continue what his [[spoiler:future self]] started.
** Mysterio [[spoiler:''[[AmbiguousSituation may]]'' have been killed]] at the end of ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', but in one of his recordings, he manages to [[spoiler: not only expose Spider-Man as Peter Parker to the ''entire world'', but also framed him as his murderer using ManipulativeEditing, thus ruining his reputation. Peter, fed up with how the world treats him and his loved ones as a result of the fallout, goes to Strange to erase his public identity... causing the catastrophic multiversal events of ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' that ultimately led to Peter being alone and forgotten from the rest of the world]].
* ''Franchise/MonsterVerse'':
** The [[Characters/MonsterVerseMUTO MUTO pair]] which rampaged across the Pacific in ''Film/Godzilla2014'' are directly responsible for TheUnmasquedWorld in all [=MonsterVerse=] instalments set afterwards. In the ''Godzilla Aftershock'' graphic novel, set shortly after the events of the 2014 film, Monarch's research on the MUTO pair's communication and nesting habits contributes majorly to them forming an understanding of the MUTO Prime which Godzilla is pursuing around the world.
** After [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingGhidorah King Ghidorah]] is defeated and his ApocalypseHow stopped in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', what actions he managed to commit beforehand overall had some surprisingly positive effects. [[spoiler:The end credits indicate any lasting environmental damage from his global Titan-rampage is being cleaned up by the Titans; ''but'' humanity's global cities have suffered untold devastation. Ironically, Ghidorah's actions have ''aided'' the planet in the long run due to the Titans he awakened having a positive environmental effect after his death. While Ghidorah failed to make Earth his own hostile world or kill all life on it, he did succeed in making Earth a world of monsters]]. On the downside,[[spoiler:''Godzilla vs. Kong'' reveals that Ghidorah's surviving severed head is being used by Apex Cybernetics to create Mechagodzilla, and Ghidorah's influence is directly responsible for the mech going rogue]].
*** Both Ghidorah and [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju Camazotz]] respectively have a negative Villainous Legacy involvement in the destruction of Skull Island before the main time frame of ''Film/GodzillaVsKong''. The ''Kingdom Kong'' graphic novel reveals that Ghidorah left a [[PerpetualStorm Perpetual Superstorm]] over the Pacific Ocean which didn't dissipate, and two years after Ghidorah's downfall, this superstorm is drawn by Camazotz' influence away from its original position and into Skull Island's storm barrier, enveloping the island itself in a perpetual storm. Although Kong defeats Camazotz, the alterations Camazotz caused to Skull Island's climate using Ghidorah's storm are permanent. As a result, in ''Godzilla vs. Kong'', the Iwi minus [[LastOfHisKind Jia]] have been wiped out and Skull Island's ecosystem is invariaby dying, forcing Monarch to find a new home for Kong.
* ''Film/PansLabyrinth'': Captain Vidal, surrounded by rebels realizes that he would soon be killed. He hands his son over to Mercedes and calmly requests that the child will be told of his exploits. Mercedes cuts him off and says, [[{{DefiedTrope}} "No. He won't even know your name]]." It is the only time in the film he seems genuinely sad about something.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series, Jigsaw is killed in ''Film/SawIII'', but the series is continued by his apprentices and the plans he's left for them to follow. In the aforementioned movie, he's genuinely ''disappointed'' that one of them (Amanda Young) turned out to be a MisanthropeSupreme who didn't even bother with his philosophy, and built part of the plot around the consequences for her lack of mercy.
** ''[[Film/Spiral2021 Spiral]]'' shows that, years after the [[UncertainDoom presumed downfall of all of his apprentices]], Jigsaw managed to inspire even more successors without having personally trained them, as the movie's titular copycat killer adapts his techniques to fulfill his own mission and agenda.
* Ghostface has been played by 7 different people throughout all four films of the ''Film/{{Scream}}'' series. The original one was killed off in the third movie (and was TheManBehindTheMan for the first movie), but his actions have inspired copycats in both the second and fourth movies.
* ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'': Norman Osborn, posthumously. Although he dies [[spoiler:at the end of the first film]], his death haunts Harry throughout the rest of the trilogy and [[AvengingTheVillain motivates him to take revenge on Spider-Man]]. By the third movie, [[spoiler:Harry becomes the New Goblin]].
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': Despite dying at the end of the second film, Khan's thirst for revenge and his detonation of the Genesis Device directly influences the next two movies, and the last two as well if Kirk's demotion from admiral to captain is included.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** The Order of the Sith Lords, from the end of the New Sith Wars to the Galactic Civil War a thousand years later, practiced what's known as the RuleOfTwo which meant that at any given point in the history of the Republic, the order was comprised of two, ''and only two'', Sith warriors: a master and an apprentice. The apprentice becomes the master once their former master has died (often [[KlingonPromotion killed by them]], no less) and they have an apprentice of their own to continue the cycle. Of course, many Sith Lords have disobeyed this practice. Darth Sidious, for instance, established his "Rule of One" where he'll secretly harbor many apprentices all at once to do his bidding while he was the sole person in power, and many apprentices (including Sidious' last one, Vader) secretly kept apprentices of their own.
** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' takes place 32 years after ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', but we see [[TheRemnant the First Order]] carrying an almost cult-like devotion to both Emperor Palpatine and his Galactic Empire. Kylo Ren, in particular, literally worships [[spoiler:his grandfather]] Darth Vader's image, as he keeps his cremated helmet on display in his quarters and vows to "finish what [he] started", specifically the extermination of the Jedi Knights, namely [[spoiler:his uncle and former master]] Luke Skywalker. What makes this example especially sad is that Vader's last action was to perform a HeelFaceTurn and embrace RedemptionEqualsDeath.

[[folder:Literature]]
* Tolkien's buddy Creator/CSLewis gave us a potential example in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', speculating in ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' that that book's villain might be somehow connected to the White Witch from ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe''. However, since the villain of ''The Silver Chair'' remains a DiabolusExNihilo outside of that one vague hint, we ultimately don't know the nature of the possible connection between the two baddies.
* ''Literature/TheCosmere'':
** In ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'', {{the empire}} and [[PathOfInspiration religion]] founded by the [[ImmortalRuler Lord Ruler]] have repercussions long after his death [[DiscOneFinalBoss at the end of the first book]]. [[spoiler:The FantasticCasteSystem and its nobility cause ongoing problems, many of the [[TheRemnant outlying nobles]] [[HesJustHiding believe the Lord Ruler isn't dead]] (and some continue to worship him), his [[BlackMagic hemalurgically]]-engineered {{Super Soldier}}s are dispersed across the empire, and the {{omnicidal|Maniac}} GodOfEvil he built the Empire to keep {{sealed|EvilInACan}} is [[LeakingCanOfEvil waking up]].]] The ramifications drive the rest of the [[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy trilogy]] and have fallout in the later books. [[invoked]]%%re:"He's Just Hiding".
** Most of the problems seen throughout the Cosmere can be traced back to one threat: [[spoiler:Odium, the Shard of unbridled emotion. He caused the events of ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'' by killing Devotion and Dominion on Sel, created the Unmade and Voidbringers, is probably the cause of [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive the Desolations]], indirectly caused untold havoc on [[Literature/ShadowsForSilenceInTheForestsOfHell Threnody]] via his battle with Ambition, and much more]]. He creates mayhem and destruction everywhere he goes and is pretty much [[GreaterScopeVillain the ultimate villain of the setting]].
* ''Literature/TheEmpiriumTrilogy'': The impact Rielle's death had on Avitas can be felt even 1,000 years later. Eliana and many others blame her for the rise of the angels and rendering all elementals powerless.
* In the ''Literature/ErastFandorin'' series, the Azazel conspiracy that Fandorin busts in the very first book has by far the most impact on the later installments: e.g. the villain of book two turns out to be a student of Azazel's leader, while the one of book four is a former Azazel hitman who [[spoiler:killed Fandorin's first wife, among other people]].
* ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'' plays with this trope. There ''isn't'' a legacy, but the commonly believed presence of one, and the mysterious absence of another serve as early plot points: Golan Trevize of the First Foundation deduces the continued existence of the Second Foundation based on the Seldon Plan not only remaining accurate but seemingly becoming ''more'' accurate as time passed since the Second Foundation was believed destroyed, meaning that despite common belief the Plan's accuracy can't just be the legacy of the Second Foundation, they still have to be out there manipulating things in favour of the plan (he's absolutely right). Meanwhile, Stor Gendibal of the Second Foundation notices that the Plan is ''too'' accurate -- there should still be disruptions as a legacy of the Mule's reign the Second Foundation has to work against, but instead things are ''more'' in line with the Plan than what is statistically likely. From this, he deduces that there is some other organisation of Mentalics out there, a group of "anti-Mules" that for unknown reasons are also working to strengthen the Plan, at least for now. [[spoiler:He's absolutely right, and was ''led'' to this conclusion by said group as part of their plan.]]
* ''Literature/GracelingRealm:'' [[spoiler:King Leck of Monsea was one of the titular Gracelings, graced with the power to convince anyone of anything. Being a complete and utter sadist, he naturally abused this ability to the fullest. (For just one example, he was noted to be particularly fond of telling his advisors that they wanted to rape and vivisect random women ForScience. He'd then take notes, shove the bodies into a corner, and tell everyone that they enjoyed the stench and vermin). While he's killed near the end of the first book, the sequel is almost entirely concerned with trying to get a kingdom whose populace has had their minds broken and twisted out of all recognition back to something resembling stability. Worse, it's gradually revealed throughout the book that portions of his commands and conspiracies still remain in effect, resulting in otherwise honest government officials manipulating and subverting their queen's authority due to the random interaction of beliefs Leck implanted in them years ago.]]
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Voldemort's ancestor Salazar Slytherin, one of the original four founders of Hogwarts in the Middle Ages, is primarily responsible for his House's present-day obsession with magical purebloods and its tendency to produce {{Evil Sorcerer}}s. More directly, the giant Basilisk underneath Hogwarts that is revived by Voldemort centuries later used to be Slytherin's personal pet.
** Long before the series' main time frame, Marvolo Gaunt's deplorable treatment of his children (particularly his daughter Merope) not only led her to marry the elder Tom Riddle, but also the literal birth of Lord Voldemort himself (Marvolo's grandson) and therefore many of the conflicts in the ''Harry Potter'' series.
* In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', Lamia wove the spell that allows monsters to detect demigods, three thousand years ago. That one act has shaped everything that happened since.
* In the long-ago BackStory of the ''Literature/TheSharingKnife'' books, the ancestors of the Lakewalkers managed to kill their villainous sorcerer-king that threatened to destroy the world. However, it split into fragments and spread over most of a continent, each piece able to grow into a ''[[EldritchAbomination malice]]''. The Lakewalkers in the books are still clearing those out, several hundred years later.
* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Even after the BigBad Melkor/Morgoth was thrust by the Valar through the Door of Night beyond the Walls of the World into the Timeless Void, he was the ultimate cause of much of the evil in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. He is said to have created the orcs by cruelly torturing and corrupting captured elves, Sauron (the BigBad of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'') was one of the Maiar that Melkor corrupted and turned to the path of evil, and the Balrogs were other Maiar that Melkor corrupted. This was specifically stated in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''.
-->...the lies that Melkor, the mighty and accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has the NeglectfulPrecursors of the current Lords and Ladies. Martin goes out of his way to show that one VERY big reason that Westeros is such a CrapsackWorld - almost on par with the {{Realpolitik}} - is that [[CycleOfRevenge no one ever forgets their grudges]] [[SinsOfTheFather even when the people responsible are long dead]]. Oaths broken, wars fought, people killed - the actions of the past shape the ways the nobility interacts in the present [[InherentInTheSystem and will continue doing so well into the future]]. Tyrion sadly lampshades how each generation puppets the generation that comes after from beyond the grave.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'':
** There is an entire subgenre of books dealing with the immediate aftermath of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' (''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', the ''Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy'', the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', etc.) -- just because the Emperor is dead doesn't mean there's nobody who is interested in continuing the Empire. Also, the Sith as a whole based much of their tradition (including the Rule of Two) on Literature/DarthBane, the one who revived it in its more well-known incarnation after infighting among them led to near-extinction at the Jedi's hands.
** All the villains of the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology have motivations that revolve around Thrawn, who has been dead for over a decade.
* ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' gives us the ''first'' Marquis de Saint-Evremonde. By the time the story begins, he's already dead, but it's revealed in a flashback that he was the linchpin for everything bad that happened when he [[spoiler:raped [[BigBad Madame Defarge]]'s sister, causing the good Madame to [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge swear revenge and mark the Marquis' entire family and anyone who would help them for death]]]]. Unfortunately, this includes the completely innocent main characters.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* When The Shadows left the galaxy on ''Series/BabylonFive'', they left behind some technology, and at least one planet-killer ship--and their old HenchmenRace race the Drakh, who searched for and obtained some of these items for use in their own designs for conquest.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': In Season 5, [[spoiler:After [[BigBad Gus Fring]] dies, his killer [[VillainProtagonist Walter White]] inherits his drug empire and expands it to the entire nation and as far as Czech Republic and Germany in Season 5 mid finale. In Walt's own words however, he confessed that his past failures had made him so jaded that he wasn't able to leave a legacy that he kept on his meth business as 'atonement' for his earlier rashness. When Walt eventually falls in [[WhamEpisode 'Ozymandias']],]] [[spoiler:Walt's former ally and Hank's killer Jack Welker and Todd Alquist became the new meth kingpins, under the general public's misinformation that Heisenberg is still cooking all the blue meth. They achieved infamy and wealth to the level ''Walt himself'' was unable to achieve,]] [[spoiler:only for Walt to come, kill them all, and destroy the blue meth empire once and for all. Also in a positive manner, Walt succeeds in the main reason he turned to meth in the first place, by ensuring that his family will get 10 million dollars as charity, more than ''13 times the money he set to achieve for them''.]]
* Whenever ''Series/DoctorWho'' allows Davros to [[JokerImmunity stay dead]], he is this to the Daleks, his creations that continue to menace the universe long after his control over them is gone.
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
** Both Eobard Thawne and Hunter Zolomon leave a lasting impact on the show long after their defeats. Thawne is so integral to the timeline that even after Eddie Thawne kills himself to prevent his existence, a time remnant of his younger self remains to ensure his timeline plays out to completion, one that Barry will inevitably encounter numerous times in the future, as a taunting reminder of what the man did to him. Not to mention, the singularity created by Eddie's death was responsible for the events of Season 2, as it alerted Zoom to Earth-1's, and therefore Barry's, existence. Meanwhile, Hunter Zolomon is directly responsible for the events of Season 3, as his decision to murder Henry Allen drives Barry into creating Flashpoint. [[spoiler:Flashpoint then creates Savitar, a rogue time remnant of Future Barry, who is every bit as evil as Thawne and Zolomon (though, admittedly, significantly more tragic than both combined). Meaning, Zolomon actually was successful in corrupting Barry, if only indirectly]]. Essentially, Season 3 is not only an arc of Barry trying to move on from his self-hatred, but also from the damage his two greatest enemies have done to his life.
** This trope is a major plot point late in Season 5: [[spoiler:it's eventually revealed that Orlin Dwyer's [[SerialKiller actions]] as Cicada eventually inspire his niece Grace to [[FutureBadass grow up]] to become the [[LegacyCharacter second Cicada]] and continue his [[FantasticRacism anti-metahuman]] campaign]].
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Aerys Targaryen's actions continue to be felt by the people of Westeros twenty years after his death, and in entirely bad ways. Jaime still struggles to get out of the shadow of the name Kingslayer, Joffrey is compared to him a few times for his cruelty and borderline insanity, in Season 6 Cersei uses his wildfire caches to destroy the Sept of Baelor, along with a good chunk of her enemies, and in Season 7 Daenerys has to struggle with being his daughter who is known for using dragonfire to kill her enemies, which causes a lot of the Westerosi to fear she's just Mad Aerys 2.0. [[spoiler: They were right to fear as such, and Daenerys surpasses her father in that regard.]]
* In ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', this is how the character Jerome fits into the Joker legacy without upsetting the idea of The Joker being a CreateYourOwnVillain: [[spoiler:he is initially set up as the in-universe version of Joker, but upon his death it is revealed that he has instead gained [[FameThroughInfamy a massive following]] that has begun to manifest itself in an AsLongAsThereIsEvil sort of way. Then it turns out that his twin brother Jeremiah is the real future Joker when the latter is corrupted with an insanity gas after Jerome's death, turning his skin bleach white and causing Jeremiah to vow that he will be a superior successor to his brother's legacy]].
* ''Series/{{Justified}}'': Mags Bennett may have been dead since Season 2, but the three million dollars she left to Loretta [=McCready=], and her deal with Black Pike have continued to effect events in Bennett township and Harlan County ever since, with both her son Dickie and surrogate daughter Loretta trying to step into her shoes. One could make a similar case for Bo Crowder and Arlo Givens, whose legacies live on in the form of their sons Boyd and Raylan.
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': The whole of HYDRA is one, in a sense: Red Skull may most likely be long gone, but the organization is still very much alive and continuing to cause trouble, until S.H.I.E.L.D. (partnering with Gideon Malick and later Graviton) deals enough damage that it appears to ''finally'' be fatal, though Mitchell Carson is still out there.
*** Daniel Whitehall is the BigBad for the first half of season 2, but is abruptly shot and killed by Coulson in the midseason finale. Nevertheless, the ramifications of his actions are felt for the rest of the season, as his abduction and experimentation on Jiaying form the basis for her distrust of regular humans [[spoiler: and eventually leads to her succeeding him as Big Bad when the full scope of her insanity is revealed and she kicks off a war between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Inhumans]]. To a lesser extent, there's also Kara Palamas, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was captured by HYDRA, and who Whitehall brainwashed. After his death she falls in with Grant Ward, who takes her on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the people who (she feels) have wronged her.
*** Izel is killed in the season 6 finale, but Chronyca-2 was one of many casualties of her Shrike army when she was still alive, and the loss of their planet spurs the Chronicoms to take up the mantle of BigBad in the following season.
** ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Shades claims that her main motivation for making moves on Harlem is to accomplish the conquest of the area that her father attempted and failed to complete back in the day due to the opposition of Mama Mabel.
** ''Series/LukeCage2016'': Though long dead by the modern day (and even the flashbacks) Buggy is the man who started the Stokes descent into crime.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Ari Haswari. The first villain of Season Seventeen is one of his old partners in Hamas. By the time she appeared, Ari has been dead InUniverse for over ''fourteen years''. She's not even the first villain that's been connected to Ari over the years either; the BigBad of the first half of Season Twelve was his half-brother via his mother. All of this on top of his sister Ziva's lingering trauma over killing Ari confirms that he's the one villain that will ''never'' leave the series.
* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': Even after [[BigBad Helen Cutter]]'s death, it turns out over the course of the final two seasons that [[spoiler:she was the one who convinced Philip Burton to create the New Dawn project that almost destroyed the world in Matt's future]].
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Even when [[Characters/SupernaturalArchangels Lucifer]] is not onscreen, the repercussions of his actions are frequently making life hard for the Winchesters. His influence ends up driving Sam mad in Season 7. He passed the Mark of Cain onto Cain himself -- who subsequently passed it onto Dean, which ends in him being turned into a murderous Knight of Hell in Season 10. And after [[spoiler:his actual death]], his influence corrupts his vessel Nick, leading him to murder his family's killers and then try to [[spoiler:bring Lucifer himself back]].
** The [[Characters/SupernaturalLeviathan Dr. Gaines]] Leviathan dies early on in the season, but his food additive, with some refinements, is retained for use as part of the Leviathan's endgame.
** The [[Characters/SupernaturalApocalypseWorld alternate Michael from Apocalypse World]] has a surprisingly positive one. His MotiveRant to Castiel and Sam when he's their prisoner resonates, and when God returns he's visibly thrown when Sam asks him if any of it was true. [[spoiler:Once God seems a little too eager for Dean to kill Jack, this leads Sam to put the pieces together and realise that God is the GreaterScopeVillain who's been making their lives a misery from the start]]. When the main universe's Michael finally returns, Castiel shows him his memories in an effort to convince him that [[spoiler:God is actually evil - and it's his memories of this Michael's actions (and realisation he wasn't even the only Michael) that finally cause him to turn on his Father.]]
* ''Series/TheWarOfTheWorlds2019'': The Martians die off just like in the source material, but unlike in the source material, their AlienKudzu still spreads and [[HostileTerraforming Hostile Terraforms]] the Earth after their deaths, leaving an apocalyptic wasteland where the surviving humans are struggling to survive.
* ''Series/{{Taken}}'': In "Charlie and Lisa", Eric Crawford shows his daughter Mary the artifact found at the Roswell crashsite that his father Owen left him and invites her to join him at the UFO project so that she can continue the family legacy.
* ''Series/TheTribe'': Zoot, the leader of the Locos in season 1, continues to effect events long after his death. These include the Chosen, a fanatical cult who revere Zoot as a god, and a straight-up resurrection of his old tribe in the form of the Zootists with a Zoot impersonator. Though it seems his legacy will finally be laid to rest when the impersonator drops the act on a live broadcast and admits that the city has lived long enough in Zoot's shadow.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* In Wrestling/RingOfHonor, the Lovely Lacey was part of Special K, a bunch of rich stoners who tried to drug members of the ROH roster to increase their membership. When that group broke into two, one half became "Lacey's Angels" but she eventually dumped the Special Ks for The Forgotten (BJ Whitmer and Wrestling/JimmyJacobs). The end of Lacey Angel's lead into Jacobs starting The Age Of The Fall, a movement to 'save society'. Jacobs was also a founder of S.C.U.M ('''S'''uffering, '''C'''haos, '''U'''gliness, '''M'''ayhem), though leadership ended up defaulting to Steve Corino. Corino and Jacobs would eventually present Wrestling/MattHardy as S.C.U.M's centerpiece. After that group's end Jacobs would go on to form Decade (Three wrestlers who had been "loyal" to ROH for a decade attacking everyone who wasn't, even if they hadn't been around long enough) while Hardy would be a key player in The Kingdom (providing Wrestling/MariaKanellis and Mike Bennett with 'the title of love'). Thus, you can trace a successive line of factions that have terrorized the promotion since its very inception -- the strange part is that it's not one of the ''major'' factions, such as Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels' The Prophecy or Wrestling/CMPunk's Second City Saints, but rather a bunch of drugged out [[SpotMonkey Spot Monkeys]] that started all this. The only notable members of the stable to ever have a direct, lasting impact on the promotion were Lacey and later on, Wrestling/JayLethal.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** The passage of an Elder Evil is not a trivial thing. Even if the Evil is defeated, destroyed, or sent back into its can before it can destroy the world, its activity will likely have caused millions or billions of deaths and left society scarred and shaken. Even if the being is prevented from actually coming or awakening, its SignsOfTheEndTimes are often apocalyptic in their own right and can have terrible effects of society, geography and ecology alike. Dealing with and attempting to heal the fallout of an Elder Evil's rise and fall can be enough to take up an entire post-campaign in its own right.
** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': Kezef the Chaos Hound hasn't visited Faerûn in a very long time, but the last time he walked its surface he left behind several acid-filled footprints. Those prints, named the Death Shallows, remain there to the present day, disgorging a steady stream of oozes, paralementals and other foul beings into the world.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has Kazavon in the ''Curse of the Crimson Throne'' campaign, where defeating even a small part of his legacy is an epic adventure for a group of [[OneManArmy 17th level characters.]] A monstrous Blue Dragon and PsychoForHire who once served as Zon-Kuthon's [[TheDragon Champion]], Kazavon was killed long before the story began. His evil persists however, in the form of seven [[ArtifactOfDoom Artifacts Of Doom]] made out of his bones, which are so contaminated by the pure evil of his soul that they [[TheCorrupter corrupt]] all they touch, exacerbating the evil that is already there in the human soul. Queen Illeosa, BigBad of the setting, is wearing the Crown of Fangs carved out of his teeth; with her defeat the story is over, but the possibility of someone else picking up the Crown (or one of the other six items) remains a very real threat.
* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade: [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Gehenna]]'' - most commonly in "The Crucible Of God."
** As the epilogue makes clear, the Curse of Cain might be gone and vampires might be extinct, but they certainly managed to leave a lasting impact on the world before they died off: billions of people have been killed, society has been knocked back to Industrial Revolution-levels, and the Antediluvians have often left horrific remnants in their wake. All this will likely take decades to recover from, and the now-human player characters will have to deal with the lasting scars of Gehenna if they'd like to continue the game post-apocalypse.
** Malkav's reign drove hundreds - if not thousands - of people to insanity, from the hordes of the randomly chaotic "bacchantes" endlessly rampaging across the wastes in pursuit of prey, to the unfeeling human predators known as "[[TheSociopath isolates]]." Worse still, Malkav's Chosen also possess the power to [[InfectiousInsanity spread their madness]] to the ordinary humans they capture.
** The ghoul monsters created by Absimiliard still haunt the wilderness, and though some of them retreat to hibernation while they wait for their prey to replenish, others remain awake and active enough to breed.
** The Tzimisce Antediluvian not only warped countless thousands of plants, animals and humans alike over the course of its attempt at an AssimilationPlot, but the power of [[{{Biomanipulation}} Vicissitude]] lives on in many of them. Quite apart from the obvious danger of a human being possessing both a functioning intellect and the full range of Tzimisce powers, many of them also possess a uniquely Tzimisce derangement: sadism, obsessive territoriality, or the desire to drink blood. Maybe becoming mortal again wasn't such a good thing after all...
** The players themselves could be this, at DM's discretion. If they didn't turn into humans at the end, they suddenly realize that the effect of Withering had passed, and they are getting more powerful each night, regardless of their generation limit. In several millennia, the players turn into ''Antediluvians'' of a new age.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** Orks have a biological version of this: their corpses release spores that eventually mature into more orks, ensuring that a non-[[CityPlanet Hive/Forge]] planet that's been attacked once will pretty much always face them from then on.
** A more true to form version of this comes from the Literature/HorusHeresy. Nearly all of the troubles the Imperium has with Chaos are a direct result of Horus' rebellion. Not to mention the fact the Imperium that came out from the heresy is [[NotAsYouKnowThem not the same one that went into it.]] Horus may not have conquered the Imperium, but he certainly made it the galaxy wide hellhole it is today.
** Thanks to EvilVersusEvil, the GodEmperor of Mankind probably also qualifies, considering he created and initially led [[TheEmpire the xenocidal, expansionist Imperium]].
** Everything wrong with the galaxy can ultimately be traced back to the Necrontyr and the C'tan (Barring the [[OutsideContextProblem Tyranids]]). They are the reason Chaos even ''exists'', since it was the war they started that turned the Immaterium into a nightmarish hell dimension.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyBattle'': Nagash was defeated millennia ago, but his legacy (necromancy, vampires, Nehekhara's nature as TheNecrocracy) lasts to the present. Of course, given it's [[{{Necromancer}} Nagash]], he doesn't really ''stay'' gone.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Most of the conflicts that occur in ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' can be traced back to [[VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar Belka]]. Many scientists and engineers from the country went to various places around the planet to become arms dealers and weapons manufacturers to breed conflict and start wars to avenge their homeland.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate:'' Despite having been dead for a hundred years, Reginald Birch - former Grandmaster of the Templar Order - and the purge he inflicted on the Assassins of Britain has been so successful the Assassins still don't have a foothold on London, save one guy who was ReassignedToAntarctica. It's also what allows the Templars of the 1860s to have the stranglehold they do have on the city.
* Many of the obstacles the Vault Hunters face in the ''Videogame/{{Borderlands}}'' series are the results of three MegaCorp companies leaving their impact on Pandora: Dahl for creating the bandits by leaving prisoners and personnel staff to their fates after an unknown Vault incident as well as abandoning The Lost Legion on Pandora's moon after the Crackening. Atlas via the Crimson Lance for driving out what was left of Dahl's forces out of Pandora while forcing civilians and townsfolk to be in fiefdoms and killing any bandits and opposing Vault Hunters that interfered in the hunt for the Vault. With Knoxx's death, Atlas too left Pandora with the remnants of the Lance ironically becoming the bandits they themselves once hunted. Luckily Roland recruited the rest into the newly founded Crimson Raiders.
* ''VideoGame/Case02ParanormalEvil'': Nya, the recently deceased BigBad of ''VideoGame/LoserReborn'', had a hand in summoning Gla'aki to the real world. This makes them one of the main causes of the zombie apocalypse, though it's unknown how exactly they're connected to Gla'aki's cult.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries'': Joseph Stalin built the Soviet Union into an unstoppable military machine, and while he dies at the end of the first game, his successors continue his legacy of world conquest. This is especially pronounced in the case of the psychic DiabolicalMastermind Yuri, who reveals that he used to be a student and personal friend of Stalin.
* As of ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Contra: Shattered Soldier]]'', it turns out that [[spoiler:the [[GovernmentConspiracy Triumvirate]] is truly responsible for everything that has happened in the ''Contra'' series, when they had stole the [[ArtifactOfDoom Relic of Moirai]] and provoked the Alien Wars in the first place.]]
* ''Videogame/DarkSouls'':
** Manus, Father of the Abyss, is long dead by the time of ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII''. His remains eventually became the Abyss, a dark realm haunted by malevolent spirits, and the fragments of his soul embodying his emotions were reincarnated as his Children of Dark. One of those Children [[spoiler:Queen Nashandra, embodiment of Manus' desires]], is directly responsible for Drangleic's downfall. Even in death Manus spreads Dark.
** Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, is the single most impactful individual on the world of the series, seeing how it was he who committed the "First Sin", when he refused to let the first Age of Fire be succeeded by an Age of Dark, breaking the very foundations of the metaphysical world order to preserve the First Flame. The result was the repeated cycles of the First Fire fading and being rekindled, which precipitate both sequels, and ultimately, the turning of the entire world into ashes, as seen in the final DLC of the third installment.
* Gorden Amherst created the [[SyntheticPlague Dollar Flu/Green Poison]] to bring about the downfall of civilization in ''VideoGame/TheDivision''. By the time [[PlayerCharacter the Agent]], finds him, he’s been DeadAllAlong, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard killed by his own virus.]] Nonetheless, [[TheBadGuyWins he got what he wanted]] from the chaos caused by the outbreak, and a [[FaceHeelTurn rogue agent]] named Aaron Keener steals his research and equipment to start a new plague that he intends to use to seize power.
* The Grotesqueries Queen, FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' Ending E, becomes this in ''VideoGame/{{Nier}}'', since it was because of her that the Gestalts and Replicants were created to allow humanity to outlast the White Chlorination Syndrome caused by the Queen's remains. [[spoiler: The Queen is also responsible for humanity's subsequent extinction once the Gestalt project failed, necessitating the formation of [=YoRHa=] to cover the news so as to not let the androids lose hope, eventually causing the events of ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'']].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fable}},'' [[EldritchAbomination Jack of Blades]] inspires followers in the form of the Cult of Blades years after his death.
* Non-character example in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''. The BigBad of the [[VideoGame/Fallout1 first game]], TheMaster, was using the Forced Evolutionary Virus to mutate humans. The villains of the second game excavated the ruins of his lair to retrieve the FEV for their own uses, and the villains of the third synthesized their own version for their plan as well.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' and its expanded universe, all major villains trace themselves back to Jenova, an EldritchAbomination who tried to destroy the planet 2000 years ago. Jenova was found by [[{{Megacorp}} Shinra]], and the lab experiments produced by tinkering with her cells serve as the villains of the series, along with a few of the scientists who did said tinkering.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' has Ashnard, the BigBad of ''Path of Radiance'', who turns out to have been the cause of a ''major'' problem for Daein during the sequel. Of couse, he doesn't actively play a role due to being dead by then.
* Danette may be long gone[[labelnote:spoilers]][[OurGhostsAreDifferent for the]] [[BonusBoss most part]][[/labelnote]] by the time of the first ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'', but [[spoiler:their invention, the [[TitleDrop Gene]][[ArtifactOfDoom forge]]]] would come to be the catalyst for much of the conflict in the series to follow.
* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', although Ares is long dead by the third game, his original goal to make Kratos his pawn to destroy Olympus and kill his family is fulfilled successfully.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'': Billy Grey's betrayal hit the Lost hard. [[spoiler:Even after his death, most of the chapter refused to believe Billy was planning to betray all of them, causing a major split in the gang. This led to massive hindrance to Johnny's plans to expand, making him settle in [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Blaine County, San Andreas]], where he partners with a certain Trevor Philips, and to say things doesn't end well for them is a massive {{Understatement}}.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheHouseOfTheDeadOverkill'' has [[spoiler:Clement Darling]] discover the "[[NotUsingTheZWord mutant]] compound" responsible for the ZombieApocalypse. While they die at the end, TheStinger reveals he had "powerful friends" who had access to the compound, enabling all future outbreaks in the ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'' series.
* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': Even though the Injustice-verse version of the Joker was killed by a grieving Superman early in the game and only appears as a Fear Toxin-induced hallucination suffered by Harley Quinn in ''VideoGame/Injustice2'', his twisted legacy of causing Supes' FaceHeelTurn by tricking him into killing his wife Lois and nuking Metropolis has affected heroes and villains alike. As such, he's also indirectly responsible for [[WeUsedToBeFriends creating a wedge between Superman and Batman]], the deaths of people who died fighting Superman and his allies, and the general collapse of everything good in the Injustice-verse. The game and its sequel also play up Joker's role as TheCorrupter to Harley to make her HeelFaceTurn more plausible and enable more CharacterDevelopment to her story, as even she regrets associating with him. While most are too happy to be rid of him, Batman opines that Joker's legacy still haunts everyone to this day.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' reveals that the machinations of Ganon are the legacy of Demise, the Demon King who cursed Link and Zelda to be plagued by an incarnation of his hatred forever, manifested in Ganondorf (and perhaps others).
* In the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' video game franchise, this comes up a lot, as ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic's'' Dr. Wily rivals the TropeNamer as a master of HijackedByGanon.
** In the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series, it is discovered that TheVirus that turns Reploids into Mavericks originated from Zero, and both were Wily's final creations before he died long before the ''X'' series. The BigBad of the ''X'' series, Sigma, merges with the Maverick Virus and transforms it into the Sigma Virus.
** In the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series that comes after the ''X'' series, Dr. Weil (no connection to Dr. Wily according to WordOfGod) creates Omega as a DarkMessiah to subjugate and/or exterminate all Reploids. Omega's consciousness inhabits Zero's original body since Zero's mind was extracted after the ''X'' series in order to better study his body's status as the Maverick Virus's carrier. The Mother Elf, who becomes the Dark Elf, another major antagonist, was created by Ciel's ancestor from these studies as an antibody, which was used to eliminate the Maverick and Sigma Viruses (and putting a permanent end to Sigma), but Sigma's actions in the Maverick Wars are what inspired Weil's decision to use Omega, claiming that Reploids should be rendered totally subservient to humans and uncontent with "letting Reploids off easy".
** In the ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' series, all the [[TransformationTrinket Biometals]] are created from studying the original Biometal [[ArtifactOfDoom Model W]], created from the ruins of the [[KillSat Ragnarok satellite]] that Weil fused with at the end of ''Zero 4'' (and is still technically ''alive'' within).
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** [[spoiler:Major Zero]] is responsible of the creation of the Patriots, which he quickly loses control over and become the GreaterScopeVillain for most of the series.
** Big Boss, after his apparent demise at the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', looms like a shadow over the next two games as the villains -- both clones of him -- follow in his footsteps by rebelling against the US Government's authority and trying to establish a nation-state named Outer Heaven. Then his admirer/follower Ocelot, [[ItMakesSenseInContext who is apparently possessed by one of Big Boss's clones, and becomes Liquid Ocelot]], decides to establish Outer Heaven using private armies.
** The Patriots themselves, and to a lesser extent Liquid Ocelot, become this for ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''. The war economy [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome cannot simply stop dead even after their defeat]], continuing on into new avenues while different villains emerge to exploit it or stop it in their own destructive ways to accomplish their own goals.
* In ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'', the main antagonists of the series, the SpacePirates, suffer their final defeat in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' when the last of their forces, including their top leaders Ridley and Mother Brain, are destroyed with the planet Zebes after they have spent decades terrorizing and raiding remote colonies on the galactic frontier and starting at least one major war against the Federation. However, their technology and methods live on when corrupt Federation Army forces recreate Mother Brain as an AI and clone Ridley and Zebesian special forces soldiers [[spoiler: as well as Metroids]] in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion''. In ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'', it also turns out that [[spoiler: Raven Beak's plan for galactic conquest is nigh-identical to Mother Brain's methods by cloning and deploying Metroids as weapons of mass destruction, seeming to imply that she may have been influenced by him.]]
* Orochi in ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' makes sure the yet-to-be-lifted evil curses cast by him wouldn't fade away after his defeat by Amaterasu and Susano. In addition, as his soul flies away to the north of Kamui to reactivate the Ark of Yamato to summon [[spoiler:Yami, the Lord of Darkness]], he releases several monsters originating from that place so they can terrorize all of Nippon, starting with Kamui itself.
* Shuji Ikutsuki was a major antagonist in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' who was defeated and died. However, Sho Minazuki, his "son" (actually an orphan he experimented on) attempts to continue his legacy in ''VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax''. As much as he tries to deny it, all of Sho's villainous actions stem from Ikutsuki in some way.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' (and their {{Expansion Pack}}s, [[VideoGameRemake remakes]], etc.) Giovanni, the BigBad of the original ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' games, is AWOL in this entry but his organization is still committing crimes and experiments in his name. The Big Bad of these games is the DragonAscendant, who went nameless in the original ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' editions but was named Archer in the remakes.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' and ''Videogame/{{Portal 2}}'' have Cave Johnson, the [[MadScientist deranged]], [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and]] [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain non-wheelchair-friendly]] CEO of Aperture Science. Although [[PosthumousCharacter long dead]] by the time of the games, he's responsible for the company's horrific (and counterproductive) policies, as well indirectly responsible for creating [=GLaDOS=] and putting her in charge of the facility.
* ''VideoGame/ReKuroi'': The game has no active BigBad because the evil factions of the past are either inactive or neutralized. However, their actions still have lasting effects.
** The Magic School originally used the Black Pearl to create a monster army and rebel against the Western Kingdom. After the Magic War, the Magic School underwent its own civil war, resulting in damage to the Black Pearl that caused the Night of Black Snow. [[spoiler:This caused people in the northern mountains to transform into monsters. The surviving faction of the Magic School is trying to find a way to erase magic from the world to prevent monster transformations and misuse of magic.]]
** The Western Kingdom used ether drugs to create their own magical [[TykeBomb child soldiers]], [[spoiler:but this leads to the children becoming addicted to the drug or turning into monsters. In the present, one of their former spies, Asha, is still suffering from ether addiction. However, it's implied that the treaty with the Magic School put an end to the use of ether drugs by the Western Kingdom, though the drug itself is still in circulation in the black market]].
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** Albert Wesker is the overarching BigBad for most of the series, until he's KilledOffForReal at the very end of ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 5]]''. Even then, his influence leaves a shadow throughout the rest of the franchise. [[spoiler: Alex Wesker makes use of the Uroboros virus he created in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2 Revelations 2]]'', his illegitimate son Jake Muller is one of the protagonists of ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 6]]'', and a file in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard 7]]'' reveals that his organization, the H.C.F., had a role in the creation of Eveline and the Mold.]]
** Mother Miranda in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' is a greater version of this, as her interaction with [[spoiler:Oswell Spencer in the 60's is the trigger for all the tragedy in the Resident Evil games, including those above of Wesker]].
* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'': farmer-turned-EvilSorcerer Archibald Henderson died in 1906, but the aftereffects of his atrocities continue to plague Solomon Island as of 2012. For one thing, the [[ScaryScarecrows animated scarecrows]] he built to protect his property are back to killing people; for another, the farmhand he [[{{Transflormation}} transformed into a pumpkin monster]] is still haunting the island as a supernaturally-empowered serial killer. Worst of all, the experiments he performed to harness the hidden power of the island eventually paved the way for [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Nathaniel Winter]]'s attempt to do the same via [[AmusementParkOfDoom Atlantic Island Park]], leading to the creation of the [[EmotionEater Bogeyman]].
* In ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'', the BigBad is a mechanical owl named Clockwerk. But in [[VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves the second game]] Clockwerk is now destroyed, shut down, and separated into several pieces, but still a very dangerous potential threat if he were to be rebuilt. The Cooper Gang intend to try to steal and destroy his remains, but are beaten to the punch by an illegal spice distribution ring called the Klaww Gang. Most of the Klaww Gang's leaders are just using pieces of Clockwerk for their own small-time schemes, until it becomes clear that Arpeggio intends to fully rebuild Clockwerk to [[spoiler:take Clockwerk's body for himself so that he can be immortal. Then his protege Neyla backstabs him (which he really should have seen coming since she did that to everyone else) and takes Clockwerk's body for herself.]]
* Gerald Robotnik from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''. The main conflict of the story is against Eggman, but it was Gerald's actions 50 years in the past that caused many of the problems in the game.
* [[GoodAllAlong While not quite "villains"]], the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' StoryArc consisting of games 10 through 13 is generally referred to as the "Moriya arc", because the events of each game are caused by a character who debuted in the previous game, despite not appearing in the game in question, starting with the Moriya Shrine members. ''VideoGame/TouhouChireidenSubterraneanAnimism'' was caused by Kanako giving Utsuho [[FromNobodyToNightmare the tremendous power]] [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity that gave her ideas of megalomania]]. ''VideoGame/TouhouSeirensenUndefinedFantasticObject'' was caused by a geyser that Utsuho created launching the Palanquin Ship into the sky. And ''VideoGame/TouhouShinreibyouTenDesires'' was caused by Byakuren landing the Palanquin Ship on Miko's mausoleum, giving her the boost she needed to resurrect.
* ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'': Mondain is the BigBad of the first game. The second and third games have the villains as his lover and apprentice Minax, and their creation Exodus. The fourth game requires the player to retrieve Mondain's skull, and the fifth game has the villains as manifestations of the shards of his ArtifactOfDoom the player destroyed in the first game. In the sixth game, the Gargoyles summoned Mondain's spirit to embody their virtue of Control, along with Minax and Exodus. Finally, the Guardian, the villain of all subsequent games from ''VI'', was initially planned to be revealed as the combined form of the Shadowlords after they were cast into the Void, but this was axed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': [[spoiler:Blaise Debeste]] is this to the entire franchise, being the one who gave Manfred von Karma the first penalty in his [[ThePerfectionist perfect 40-year career]]. The penalty was for using a falsified autopsy report as evidence, but [[spoiler:Blaise was the one who had the report falsified in the first place]]. This in turn lead to the DL-6 Incident, a tragic event that was both directly and indirectly responsible for the backstories of several major characters.
* In ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'', [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]] died at the end of the [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc first game]], but [[spoiler:since the setting is a VillainWorld she created, there's no shortage of BrainwashedAndCrazy psychopaths looking to continue her work. Even when she's not the mastermind, [[HijackedByGanon she's still the mastermind]]]].
* ''VisualNovel/DayshiftAtFreddys'' draws several parallels between the series' main protagonist [[TheSoulless Jack Kennedy]] and the [[spoiler:thought]] deceased [[BigBad big bad,]] Henry Miller. They wear the same mascot costume, they both eventually open their own restaurants, they both team up with [[LikableVillain Dave Miller,]] and even look somewhat similar. Of course, whether or not Jack is evil depends on the player's choices, but in paths where he is evil he straight-up says that he's "trying to follow Henry," and the word "legacy" is even treated as an [[ArcWords arc word]] when it comes to Henry.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/AkumasComics'': One of the first major villains in the comic was the Sprite Eater, a being who travels to sprite comics and devour them. After being defeated he has left behind a son, the Undertaker. While he eventually evolves past the desire for revenge and moves onto improving and empowering himself, he remains a continuous thorn on the side of the heroes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' Season 10 flashbacks show that [[spoiler:the A.I. Sigma]] qualifies for the Recollection Trilogy as a whole; [[spoiler:he's the BigBad of ''Reconstruction'', but he is killed after those events, and his influence on the Meta still remains in ''Recreation'' and ''Revelation''.]]
* ''Roleplay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'': The Seven Jerk Dragons transformation of most of the human population of the PMD-B timeline is directly responsible for the state of that universe when the J-Team visits it. Specifically, Bahahkun's descendant Maleficent had designs on starting a whole new dragon war, which were cut short when she died.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* While humans in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' are long extinct ([[LastOfHisKind except for Finn]]), their [[AtomicHate "Mushroom War"]] not only led to [[TheMagicComesBack the return of magic]], but also one of their bombs unleashed [[WalkingWasteland the Lich]], who proceeded to spread monsters across the planet and [[OmnicidalManiac kill almost everything]]. The AlternateUniverse shows that even without the Lich, humanity's actions indirectly lead to an apocalypse.
* ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Fire Lord Sozin in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Avatar Roku's former friend turned evil, he used Roku's death as the chance to start the hundred year war, which resulted in the extinction of the airbenders, save for Aang.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': [[spoiler:Yakone was a crime boss who used bloodbending to commit his crimes until Avatar Aang took his bending away. He escaped to the Northern Water tribe, where he fathered two sons, Noatok and Tarrlok. When both sons were revealed to be waterbenders, he put through rigorous training to master his bloondbending to destroy the Avatar. His actions caused Noatok to hate bending and become Amon, while Tarrlok became a corrupt politician who wanted to outdo his father. Both became enemies of Aang's successor Korra, by which point Yakone was dead.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': The Joker might be dead, but his legacy (and the mysterious manner of his death) has resulted in roving gangs of criminals in various types of clown costumes and makeup all calling themselves "Jokerz" terrorising Gotham. [[CurbStompBattle Not that Old Bruce thought much of them]].
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'': Maltruant's plans for conquest in the final episode cement him as one for the entire ''Ben 10'' franchise, as his arriving on Earth in the past, with Ben, Rook and Skurd following him, are why pre-series Vilgax becomes interested in a device that grants the wearer shapeshiting abilities.
* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'':
** The Bishop [[spoiler: gets killed quickly by one of Dracula's minions. However, it is clear that his murder of Lisa Tepes still influences the story, even after he died.]]
** Dracula is killed at the end of Season 2. For the next two seasons, every other antagonist is either taking advantage of the resulting EvilPowerVacuum or trying to resurrect him.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Nathaniel Northwest's refusal to keep his word to the people of Gravity Falls resulted in the Lumberjack's ghost haunting his descendants. His influence even spread for generations into the modern day Northwest family, as they're a bunch of greedy, egotistical AbusiveParents that made Pacifica the way she has been up to this point.
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': [[BigBad Shendu]]'s seven Demon Sorcerer siblings appear only in Season 2 and remain imprisoned afterwards. However, in Season 5, it is revealed that the symbols used by the Eight Immortals to banish them were corrupted with some of each demon's chi left stored in the symbols. In ''Relics of Demons Past'', the chis are activated [[WhenThePlanetsAlign by an alignment of stars]], and Drago sets out to claim them in order to become powerful enough to conquer the Earth. It's embellished by how each demon chi causes its new host to look more and more like the demon which that chi originated from if it isn't removed quickly.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]] is restored to Princess Luna at the start of the series. Nearly every episode focusing on Luna has her deal with the bad reputation and guilt over her actions.
** Played with in the Season 3 opener. [[EvilOverlord King Sombra]] is still very much around, but too busy being held back by a barrier to do anything directly. So instead, most of his actual, onscreen threat is merely a RaceAgainstTheClock to bypass all the curses and traps he left behind during his original reign before the barrier eventually collapses. Yet he still manages a NearVillainVictory -- he was just that CrazyPrepared back then.
** The Season 4 opener has one of (the [[HeelFaceTurn since reformed]]) Discord's old plans finally activate after a long delay.
** "Castle Sweet Castle" is all about Twilight Sparkle dealing with her old home being destroyed by Lord Tirek, who's been [[DraggedOffToHell re-imprisoned in Tartarus]] by this point.
* WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs' enemy Gargamel seems to have come from a long family line of unscrupulous characters. In the final season of the cartoon series, where the Smurfs are constantly [[TimeTravel traveling through time]], different incarnations of the villain would appear, such as showing him as an Indian fakir, a Russian peasant, or a Spanish bullfighter. In one of the earlier episodes of said season, Papa Smurf theorizes that all these similar-looking men must be ancestors of the evil wizard of their present time.
[[/folder]]

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* In ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'', there are future versions of practically every member of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s RoguesGallery on the prison at Pluto; the android version of Robin explains to "our" Batman (who switches places with the future one) that a few were simply inspired by the originals, while others came about through cloning, DNA splicing, and other scientific methods. (One of them, Comicbook/{{Catwoman}}'s future counterpart, gets her own issue in the series.)

** Mysterio [[spoiler: ''[[AmbiguousSituation may]]'' have been killed]] at the end of ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', but in one of his recordings, he manages to [[spoiler: not only expose Spider-Man as Peter Parker to the ''entire world'', but also framed him as his murderer using ManipulativeEditing, thus ruining his reputation. Peter, fed up with how the world treats him and his loved ones as a result of the fallout, goes to Strange to erase his public identity... causing the catastrophic multiversal events of ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' that ultimate led to Peter being alone and forgotten from the rest of the world.]]
* Franchise/MonsterVerse:

* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Even after the BigBad Melkor/Morgoth was thrust by the Valar through the Door of Night beyond the Walls of the World into the Timeless Void, he was the ultimate cause of much of the evil in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. He is said to have created the orcs by cruelly torturing and corrupting captured elves, Sauron (the BigBad of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'') was one of the Maiar that Melkor corrupted and turned to the path of evil, and the Balrogs were other Maiar that Melkor corrupted. This was specifically stated in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''.
-->...the lies that Melkor, the mighty and accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days.
* Tolkien's buddy Creator/CSLewis gave us a potential example in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', speculating in ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' that that book's villain might be somehow connected to the White Witch from ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe''. However, since the villain of ''The Silver Chair'' remains a DiabolusExNihilo outside of that one vague hint, we ultimately don't know the nature of the possible connection between the two baddies.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has the NeglectfulPrecursors of the current Lords and Ladies. Martin goes out of his way to show that one VERY big reason that Westeros is such a CrapsackWorld - almost on par with the {{Realpolitik}} - is that [[CycleOfRevenge no one ever forgets their grudges]] [[SinsOfTheFather even when the people responsible are long dead]]. Oaths broken, wars fought, people killed - the actions of the past shape the ways the nobility interacts in the present [[InherentInTheSystem and will continue doing so well into the future]]. Tyrion sadly lampshades how each generation puppets the generation that comes after from beyond the grave.
* In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', Lamia wove the spell that allows monsters to detect demigods, three thousand years ago. That one act has shaped everything that happened since.
* ''Literature/TheCosmere'':
** In ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'', {{the empire}} and [[PathOfInspiration religion]] founded by the [[ImmortalRuler Lord Ruler]] have repercussions long after his death [[DiscOneFinalBoss at the end of the first book]]. [[spoiler:The FantasticCasteSystem and its nobility cause ongoing problems, many of the [[TheRemnant outlying nobles]] [[HesJustHiding believe the Lord Ruler isn't dead]] (and some continue to worship him), his [[BlackMagic hemalurgically]]-engineered {{Super Soldier}}s are dispersed across the empire, and the {{omnicidal|Maniac}} GodOfEvil he built the Empire to keep {{sealed|EvilInACan}} is [[LeakingCanOfEvil waking up]].]] The ramifications drive the rest of the [[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy trilogy]] and have fallout in the later books. [[invoked]]%%re:"He's Just Hiding".
** Most of the problems seen throughout the Cosmere can be traced back to one threat: [[spoiler:Odium, the Shard of unbridled emotion. He caused the events of ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'' by killing Devotion and Dominion on Sel, created the Unmade and Voidbringers, is probably the cause of [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive the Desolations]], indirectly caused untold havoc on [[Literature/ShadowsForSilenceInTheForestsOfHell Threnody]] via his battle with Ambition, and much more]]. He creates mayhem and destruction everywhere he goes and is pretty much [[GreaterScopeVillain the ultimate villain of the setting]].
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Voldemort's ancestor Salazar Slytherin, one of the original four founders of Hogwarts in the Middle Ages, is primarily responsible for his House's present-day obsession with magical purebloods and its tendency to produce {{Evil Sorcerer}}s. More directly, the giant Basilisk underneath Hogwarts that is revived by Voldemort centuries later used to be Slytherin's personal pet.
** Long before the series' main time frame, Marvolo Gaunt's deplorable treatment of his children (particularly his daughter Merope) not only led her to marry the elder Tom Riddle, but also the literal birth of Lord Voldemort himself (Marvolo's grandson) and therefore many of the conflicts in the ''Harry Potter'' series.
* In the Literature/ErastFandorin series, the Azazel conspiracy that Fandorin busts in the very first book has by far the most impact on the later installments: e.g. the villain of book two turns out to be a student of Azazel's leader, while the one of book four is a former Azazel hitman who [[spoiler:killed Fandorin's first wife, among other people]].
* ''Literature/GracelingRealm:'' [[spoiler: King Leck of Monsea was one of the titular Gracelings, graced with the power to convince anyone of anything. Being a complete and utter sadist, he naturally abused this ability to the fullest. (For just one example, he was noted to be particularly fond of telling his advisors that they wanted to rape and vivisect random women ForScience. He'd then take notes, shove the bodies into a corner, and tell everyone that they enjoyed the stench and vermin). While he's killed near the end of the first book, the sequel is almost entirely concerned with trying to get a kingdom whose populace has had their minds broken and twisted out of all recognition back to something resembling stability. Worse, it's gradually revealed throughout the book that portions of his commands and conspiracies still remain in effect, resulting in otherwise honest government officials manipulating and subverting their queen's authority due to the random interaction of beliefs Leck implanted in them years ago.]]
* ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'' plays with this trope. There ''isn't'' a legacy, but the commonly believed presence of one, and the mysterious absence of another serve as early plot points: Golan Trevize of the First Foundation deduces the continued existence of the Second Foundation based on the Seldon Plan not only remaining accurate but seemingly becoming ''more'' accurate as time passed since the Second Foundation was believed destroyed, meaning that despite common belief the Plan's accuracy can't just be the legacy of the Second Foundation, they still have to be out there manipulating things in favour of the plan (he's absolutely right). Meanwhile, Stor Gendibal of the Second Foundation notices that the Plan is ''too'' accurate -- there should still be disruptions as a legacy of the Mule's reign the Second Foundation has to work against, but instead things are ''more'' in line with the Plan than what is statistically likely. From this, he deduces that there is some other organisation of Mentalics out there, a group of "anti-Mules" that for unknown reasons are also working to strengthen the Plan, at least for now. [[spoiler: He's absolutely right, and was ''led'' to this conclusion by said group as part of their plan.]]

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has main villain Dio Brando; even after his death, his shadow looms over the Joestar/Kujo Clan, causing them and the world much trouble. Even he, however, is a result of a much more ancient evil from Mesoamerica. Though Dio dies in part 3 of ''[=JoJo=]'', the initial enemies of Part 4 are a direct result of his actions, Part 5's protagonist is his son, and Part 6's BigBad is a devout follower trying to continue Dio's master plan.

* ''Manga/OnePiece''
** Arlong is defeated fairly early in the series, and the audience only learns about his motivations much later in the series. Years later (two in-universe, eleven outside), a pirate crew/insurrectionist movement in Fishman Island arises following [[FantasticRacism Arlong's example]], and taking it to a grander scale.
** Played with in regards to [[spoiler:Mother Carmel, a slave trader who died long before the series began. While her true nature was never revealed to the public, she nonetheless continues to blight the world through another, far more dangerous villain: Charlotte Linlin, aka Big Mom. It's an interesting example because Linlin is ''also'' completely unaware of Carmel's true nature -- rather, she idolized her for the kind facade that she put on, and the false dream she espoused to maintain it. After Carmel "disappeared", Big Mom took that dream and made it as her own, only to have it twisted by her insanity, selfishness, and cruelty, all of which were enabled by Carmel so she could exploit her destructive behavior as a talking point for a potential sale. The end result is a pirate Emperor who terrorizes the seas for the sake of ideals that were never real in the first place]].
** Roughly thirty-eight years prior to the main story's beginning, there was Rocks [[spoiler:D. Xebec]], who gathered together one of the most powerful pirate crews ever known, including many members who would themselves become world-renowned many years after his death, such as [[spoiler: Big Mom, Kaido, Whitebeard, Shiki, Captain John]], among others. Even the event where he was finally defeated would help propel his opponents, [[spoiler: Garp and Roger, to infamy, granting the former his title of "Hero of the Marines"]]. It's been implied that Blackbeard, one of the main candidates for overall series BigBad, views himself as Rocks' successor the way that Luffy is Roger's.
* The damage that Rau Le Creuset and his {{unwitting pawn}}s, Patrick Zala and Muruta Azrael did in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' has yet to be undone by ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny''. Grudges from the war they started continue to drive new conflict, Azrael's successor Djibril has taken over his terror organization, Zala faction loyalists continue to launch terrorist strikes against ZAFT and the EA alike, and [[DarkMessiah Gilbert Durandal]], the new BigBad, plots to unite the world under himself so that no one can ever do what [[OmnicidalManiac Le Creuset]] [[PlayingBothSides did]] again.
* ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'' had the death of [[spoiler:Count Almeida]] happen [[PosthumousCharacter before the series began]], but their influence is felt by one of the experimental subjects continuing his work under his name long after his death.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'''s BigBad, Gihren Zabi, might have died at the end, but the state that he and his family built continues to antagonize the world for years afterwards, with both [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Haman Khan]]'s Axis-Zeon and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char Aznable]]'s Neo-Zeon laying claim to the name and legacy of the Principality of Zeon.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'' has Zeref the Black Wizard. It's been 400 years since his death, and people are still fighting against demons and other evil artifacts he made back then. [[spoiler:And it turns out he's still alive, and intends to wage war on humanity. At this point in the series, he finally takes up the role of the overall BigBad]].

* A subversion occurs in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' with [[GameMaster Akihiko]] [[TheSociopath Kayaba]]; while his actions do result in over four thousand innocent people dying in TheMostDangerousVideoGame and his influence is felt long after his death, the impacts are largely beneficial afterwards.
** [[spoiler:A virtual remnant of himself is what allows Kirito to turn the tables on [[BigBad Oberon]] at the climax of ''Fairy Dance'']].
** The World Seed he created with data gathered from the Aincrad server is ultimately what allows [=VRMMOs=] to continue to exist after [[spoiler:SAO and the first ALO server are shut down]], thus setting up the events of all the following arcs.
** At the end of Mother's Rosario, [[spoiler:it's revealed that he was the original designer of the Medicuboid system that made it possible for [[IllGirl Yuuki]] [[NotDisabledInVR Konno]] to have a high quality of life in VR while her health rapidly deteriorated due to AIDS]].
* Happens in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
** Once [[spoiler:All For One]], the resident {{Chessmaster}}, gets defeated by All Might, his pupil and [[TheHeavy recurring bad guy]] Tomura Shigaraki properly becomes the series' BigBad.
** Similarly, "Hero Killer" Stain is defeated in battle and captured fairly early on, but his rhetoric proves to be very popular among villains, and membership in the Villain League rises noticeably in the wake of his rampage.
** The villain Destro was captured and subsequently committed suicide, but people still respond to the ideals detailed in his autobiography and his child is trying to continue the Meta Liberation Army he founded in his name.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': Norman Osborn had this role for decades after he "died". Initially, he was limited to the ''Spider-Man'' characters. He had killed [=Spider-Man's=] girlfriend and created a [[LegacyCharacter supervillain legacy]] that not only included his own son, but several goblin-based villains that plagued Spidey for years. Of course, since DeathIsCheap, Osborn is back these days.
* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', after Stryfe is defeated, it turns out that he has left behind a virus that spreads through humans and kills those with the x-gene, devastating mutantkind for years. Appropriately, it is referred to as the Legacy virus, as before his death Stryfe was constantly ranting about legacies.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'':
** [[MagnificentBastard Mammoth]] [[DevilInPlainSight Mogul]]. Thousands of years ago, he founded the Order of Ixis, which eventually led to the creation of [[EvilSorcerer Ixis Naugus]], whose actions, [[spoiler:which may include starting the Great War]], in turn led to [[BigBad Dr. Robotnik's]] rise to power, whose [[spoiler:death]] ultimately led to nearly every villain in the book today, with Naugus [[spoiler:responsible for the ones that aren't Mogul]]. Naugus and Robotnik are still quite active (and are [[BigBadEnsemble top two villains]] of the series), whereas Mogul has semi-retired from active villainy, running a casino and deciding to use his immortality to outlive the heroes and make his move then.[[spoiler: Too bad he didn't take into account [[RetGone The Genesis Waves.]]]]
** The Knuckles spin off comics has Menniker who founded the Dark Legion, which led to the threat of his descendants continuing his work in the present day. This makes him responsible for Moritor Rex, Kragok, Lien-Da actions.

* In ''Franchise/TheFlash'':
** Flash's EvilCounterpart Eobard Thawne/Professor Zoom was killed by Barry, but his legacy lived on in Impulse's evil counterpart Thaddeus Thawne/Inertia, while Hunter Zolomon was at least inspired to take a similar identity, even apart from the many times Eobard himself has returned due to time travel.
** The ''other'' Thawne legacy was Cobalt Blue. Malcom Thawne was consumed by his own power in his first encounter with Barry, but his PowerGem was wielded by many others over the next thousand years, imbuing them all with a hatred of the Flash legacy and Barry in particular, as seen in the "Chain Lightning" storyline.
* Early on ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/ReignOfDoomsday'', Lex Luthor suffers an uncertain doom which takes him off the board possibly permanently (since his universe was destroyed shortly afterwards); but his evolved creation, Doomslayer, nearly succeeds in killing the Supers and destroying Earth.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Magneto died in ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'', but Quicksilver and Mystique tried to follow his steps after that.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:

* When The Shadows left the galaxy on ''Series/BabylonFive'', they left behind some technology, and at least one planet-killer ship--and their old HenchmenRace race the Drakh, who searched for and obtained some of these items for use in their own designs for conquest.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': In Season 5, [[spoiler: After [[BigBad Gus Fring]] dies, his killer [[VillainProtagonist Walter White]] inherits his drug empire and expands it to the entire nation and as far as Czech Republic and Germany in Season 5 mid finale. In Walt's own words however, he confessed that his past failures had made him so jaded that he wasn't able to leave a legacy that he kept on his meth business as 'atonement' for his earlier rashness. When Walt eventually falls in [[WhamEpisode 'Ozymandias']] ,]][[spoiler: Walt's former ally and Hank's killer Jack Welker and Todd Alquist became the new meth kingpins, under the general public's misinformation that Heisenberg is still cooking all the blue meth. They achieved infamy and wealth to the level ''Walt himself'' was unable to achieve,]] [[spoiler: only for Walt to come, kill them all, and destroy the blue meth empire once and for all. Also in a positive manner, Walt succeeds in the main reason he turned to meth in the first place, by ensuring that his family will get 10 million dollars as charity, more than ''13 times the money he set to achieve for them''.]]
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Aerys Targaryen's actions continue to be felt by the people of Westeros twenty years after his death, and in entirely bad ways. Jaime still struggles to get out of the shadow of the name Kingslayer, Joffrey is compared to him a few times for his cruelty and borderline insanity, in Season 6 Cersei uses his wildfire caches to destroy the Sept of Baelor, along with a good chunk of her enemies, and in Season 7 Daenerys has to struggle with being his daughter who is known for using dragonfire to kill her enemies, which causes a lot of the Westerosi to fear she's just Mad Aerys 2.0. [[spoiler: They were right to fear as such, and Daenerys surpasses her father in that regard.]]
* ''Series/{{Justified}}'': Mags Bennett may have been dead since Season 2, but the three million dollars she left to Loretta [=McCready=], and her deal with Black Pike have continued to effect events in Bennett township and Harlan County ever since, with both her son Dickie and surrogate daughter Loretta trying to step into her shoes. One could make a similar case for Bo Crowder and Arlo Givens, whose legacies live on in the form of their sons Boyd and Raylan.
* Whenever ''Series/DoctorWho'' allows Davros to [[JokerImmunity stay dead]], he is this to the Daleks, his creations that continue to menace the universe long after his control over them is gone.
* In ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', this is how the character Jerome fits into the Joker legacy without upsetting the idea of The Joker being a CreateYourOwnVillain: [[spoiler:he is initially set up as the in-universe version of Joker, but upon his death it is revealed that he has instead gained [[FameThroughInfamy a massive following]] that has begun to manifest itself in an AsLongAsThereIsEvil sort of way. Then it turns out that his twin brother Jeremiah is the real future Joker when the latter is corrupted with an insanity gas after Jerome's death, turning his skin bleach white and causing Jeremiah to vow that he will be a superior successor to his brother's legacy.]]

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Both Eobard Thawne and Hunter Zolomon leave a lasting impact on the show long after their defeats. Thawne is so integral to the timeline that even after Eddie Thawne kills himself to prevent his existence, a time remnant of his younger self remains to ensure his timeline plays out to completion, one that Barry will inevitably encounter numerous times in the future, as a taunting reminder of what the man did to him. Not to mention, the singularity created by Eddie's death was responsible for the events of Season 2, as it alerted Zoom to Earth-1's, and therefore Barry's, existence. Meanwhile, Hunter Zolomon is directly responsible for the events of Season 3, as his decision to murder Henry Allen drives Barry into creating Flashpoint. [[spoiler:Flashpoint then creates Savitar, a rogue time remnant of Future Barry, who is every bit as evil as Thawne and Zolomon (though, admittedly, significantly more tragic than both combined). Meaning, Zolomon actually was successful in corrupting Barry, if only indirectly]]. Essentially, Season 3 is not only an arc of Barry trying to move on from his self-hatred, but also from the damage his two greatest enemies have done to his life.
** This trope is a major plot point late in Season 5: [[spoiler: it's eventually revealed that Orlin Dwyer's [[SerialKiller actions]] as Cicada eventually inspire his niece Grace to [[FutureBadass grow up]] to become the [[LegacyCharacter second Cicada]] and continue his [[FantasticRacism anti-metahuman]] campaign.]]
* ''Series/{{Taken}}'': In "Charlie and Lisa", Eric Crawford shows his daughter Mary the artifact found at the Roswell crashsite that his father Owen left him and invites her to join him at the UFO project so that she can continue the family legacy.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Ari Haswari. The first villain of Season Seventeen is one of his old partners in Hamas. By the time she appeared, Ari has been dead InUniverse for over ''fourteen years''. She's not even the first villain that's been connected to Ari over the years either; the BigBad of the first half of Season Twelve was his half-brother via his mother. All of this on top of his sister Ziva's lingering trauma over killing Ari confirms that he's the one villain that will ''never'' leave the series.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** Orks have a biological version of this: their corpses release spores that eventually mature into more orks, ensuring that a non-[[CityPlanet Hive/Forge]] planet that's been attacked once will pretty much always face them from then on.
** A more true to form version of this comes from the Literature/HorusHeresy. Nearly all of the troubles the Imperium has with Chaos are a direct result of Horus' rebellion. Not to mention the fact the Imperium that came out from the heresy is [[NotAsYouKnowThem not the same one that went into it.]] Horus may not have conquered the Imperium, but he certainly made it the galaxy wide hellhole it is today.
** Thanks to EvilVersusEvil, the GodEmperor of Mankind probably also qualifies, considering he created and initially led [[TheEmpire the xenocidal, expansionist Imperium]].
** Everything wrong with the galaxy can ultimately be traced back to the Necrontyr and the C'tan (Barring the [[OutsideContextProblem Tyranids]]). They are the reason Chaos even ''exists'', since it was the war they started that turned the Immaterium into a nightmarish hell dimension.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyBattle'': Nagash was defeated millennia ago, but his legacy (necromancy, vampires, Nehekhara's nature as TheNecrocracy) lasts to the present. Of course, given it's [[{{Necromancer}} Nagash]], he doesn't really ''stay'' gone.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' reveals that the machinations of Ganon are the legacy of Demise, the Demon King who cursed Link and Zelda to be plagued by an incarnation of his hatred forever, manifested in Ganondorf (and perhaps others).
* ''VideoGame/ReKuroi'': The game has no active BigBad because the evil factions of the past are either inactive or neutralized. However, their actions still have lasting effects.
** The Magic School originally used the Black Pearl to create a monster army and rebel against the Western Kingdom. After the Magic War, the Magic School underwent its own civil war, resulting in damage to the Black Pearl that caused the Night of Black Snow. [[spoiler:This caused people in the northern mountains to transform into monsters. The surviving faction of the Magic School is trying to find a way to erase magic from the world to prevent monster transformations and misuse of magic.]]
** The Western Kingdom used ether drugs to create their own magical [[TykeBomb child soldiers]], [[spoiler:but this leads to the children becoming addicted to the drug or turning into monsters. In the present, one of their former spies, Asha, is still suffering from ether addiction. However, it's implied that the treaty with the Magic School put an end to the use of ether drugs by the Western Kingdom, though the drug itself is still in circulation in the black market.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'': Mondain is the BigBad of the first game. The second and third games have the villains as his lover and apprentice Minax, and their creation Exodus. The fourth game requires the player to retrieve Mondain's skull, and the fifth game has the villains as manifestations of the shards of his ArtifactOfDoom the player destroyed in the first game. In the sixth game, the Gargoyles summoned Mondain's spirit to embody their virtue of Control, along with Minax and Exodus. Finally, the Guardian, the villain of all subsequent games from ''VI'', was initially planned to be revealed as the combined form of the Shadowlords after they were cast into the Void, but this was axed.

* Non-character example in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''. The BigBad of the [[VideoGame/Fallout1 first game]], TheMaster, was using the Forced Evolutionary Virus to mutate humans. The villains of the second game excavated the ruins of his lair to retrieve the FEV for their own uses, and the villains of the third synthesized their own version for their plan as well.
* Gerald Robotnik from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''. The main conflict of the story is against Eggman, but it was Gerald's actions 50 years in the past that caused many of the problems in the game.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fable}},'' [[EldritchAbomination Jack of Blades]] inspires followers in the form of the Cult of Blades years after his death.
* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', although Ares is long dead by the third game, his original goal to make Kratos his pawn to destroy Olympus and kill his family is fulfilled successfully.
* ''Videogame/DarkSouls'':
** Manus, Father of the Abyss, is long dead by the time of ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII''. His remains eventually became the Abyss, a dark realm haunted by malevolent spirits, and the fragments of his soul embodying his emotions were reincarnated as his Children of Dark. One of those Children [[spoiler:Queen Nashandra, embodiment of Manus' desires]], is directly responsible for Drangleic's downfall. Even in death Manus spreads Dark.
** Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, is the single most impactful individual on the world of the series, seeing how it was he who committed the "First Sin", when he refused to let the first Age of Fire be succeeded by an Age of Dark, breaking the very foundations of the metaphysical world order to preserve the First Flame. The result was the repeated cycles of the First Fire fading and being rekindled, which precipitate both sequels, and ultimately, the turning of the entire world into ashes, as seen in the final DLC of the third installment.

* [[GoodAllAlong While not quite "villains"]], the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' StoryArc consisting of games 10 through 13 is generally referred to as the "Moriya arc", because the events of each game are caused by a character who debuted in the previous game, despite not appearing in the game in question, starting with the Moriya Shrine members. ''VideoGame/TouhouChireidenSubterraneanAnimism'' was caused by Kanako giving Utsuho [[FromNobodyToNightmare the tremendous power]] [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity that gave her ideas of megalomania]]. ''VideoGame/TouhouSeirensenUndefinedFantasticObject'' was caused by a geyser that Utsuho created launching the Palanquin Ship into the sky. And ''VideoGame/TouhouShinreibyouTenDesires'' was caused by Byakuren landing the Palanquin Ship on Miko's mausoleum, giving her the boost she needed to resurrect.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'': Billy Grey's betrayal hit the Lost hard. [[spoiler: Even after his death, most of the chapter refused to believe Billy was planning to betray all of them, causing a major split in the gang. This led to massive hindrance to Johnny's plans to expand, making him settle in [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Blaine County, San Andreas]], where he partners with a certain Trevor Philips, and to say things doesn't end well for them is a massive {{Understatement}}.]]
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** [[spoiler:Major Zero]] is responsible of the creation of the Patriots, which he quickly loses control over and become the GreaterScopeVillain for most of the series.
** Big Boss, after his apparent demise at the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', looms like a shadow over the next two games as the villains -- both clones of him -- follow in his footsteps by rebelling against the US Government's authority and trying to establish a nation-state named Outer Heaven. Then his admirer/follower Ocelot, [[ItMakesSenseInContext who is apparently possessed by one of Big Boss's clones, and becomes Liquid Ocelot]], decides to establish Outer Heaven using private armies.
** The Patriots themselves, and to a lesser extent Liquid Ocelot, become this for ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''. The war economy [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome cannot simply stop dead even after their defeat]], continuing on into new avenues while different villains emerge to exploit it or stop it in their own destructive ways to accomplish their own goals.
* In ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'', the BigBad is a mechanical owl named Clockwerk. But in [[VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves the second game]] Clockwerk is now destroyed, shut down, and separated into several pieces, but still a very dangerous potential threat if he were to be rebuilt. The Cooper Gang intend to try to steal and destroy his remains, but are beaten to the punch by an illegal spice distribution ring called the Klaww Gang. Most of the Klaww Gang's leaders are just using pieces of Clockwerk for their own small-time schemes, until it becomes clear that Arpeggio intends to fully rebuild Clockwerk to [[spoiler:take Clockwerk's body for himself so that he can be immortal. Then his protege Neyla backstabs him (which he really should have seen coming since she did that to everyone else) and takes Clockwerk's body for herself.]]
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': [[spoiler:Blaise Debeste]] is this to the entire franchise, being the one who gave Manfred von Karma the first penalty in his [[ThePerfectionist perfect 40-year career]]. The penalty was for using a falsified autopsy report as evidence, but [[spoiler:Blaise was the one who had the report falsified in the first place]]. This in turn lead to the DL-6 Incident, a tragic event that was both directly and indirectly responsible for the backstories of several major characters.
* In ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'', [[spoiler: Junko Enoshima]] died at the end of the [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc first game]], but [[spoiler: since the setting is a VillainWorld she created, there's no shortage of BrainwashedAndCrazy psychopaths looking to continue her work. Even when she's not the mastermind, [[HijackedByGanon she's still the mastermind.]]]]

* The Grotesqueries Queen, FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' Ending E, becomes this in ''VideoGame/{{Nier}}'', since it was because of her that the Gestalts and Replicants were created to allow humanity to outlast the White Chlorination Syndrome caused by the Queen's remains. [[spoiler: The Queen is also responsible for humanity's subsequent extinction once the Gestalt project failed, necessitating the formation of [=YoRHa=] to cover the news so as to not let the androids lose hope, eventually causing the events of ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'']].
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' has Ashnard, the BigBad of ''Path of Radiance'', who turns out to have been the cause of a ''major'' problem for Daein during the sequel. Of couse, he doesn't actively play a role due to being dead by then.
* As of ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Contra: Shattered Soldier]]'', it turns out that [[spoiler:the [[GovernmentConspiracy Triumvirate]] is truly responsible for everything that has happened in the ''Contra'' series, when they had stole the [[ArtifactOfDoom Relic of Moirai]] and provoked the Alien Wars in the first place.]]
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries'': Joseph Stalin built the Soviet Union into an unstoppable military machine, and while he dies at the end of the first game, his successors continue his legacy of world conquest. This is especially pronounced in the case of the psychic DiabolicalMastermind Yuri, who reveals that he used to be a student and personal friend of Stalin.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate:'' Despite having been dead for a hundred years, Reginald Birch - former Grandmaster of the Templar Order - and the purge he inflicted on the Assassins of Britain has been so successful the Assassins still don't have a foothold on London, save one guy who was ReassignedToAntarctica. It's also what allows the Templars of the 1860s to have the stranglehold they do have on the city.
* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': Even though the Injustice-verse version of the Joker was killed by a grieving Superman early in the game and only appears as a Fear Toxin-induced hallucination suffered by Harley Quinn in ''VideoGame/Injustice2'', his twisted legacy of causing Supes' FaceHeelTurn by tricking him into killing his wife Lois and nuking Metropolis has affected heroes and villains alike. As such, he's also indirectly responsible for [[WeUsedToBeFriends creating a wedge between Superman and Batman]], the deaths of people who died fighting Superman and his allies, and the general collapse of everything good in the Injustice-verse. The game and its sequel also play up Joker's role as TheCorrupter to Harley to make her HeelFaceTurn more plausible and enable more CharacterDevelopment to her story, as even she regrets associating with him. While most are too happy to be rid of him, Batman opines that Joker's legacy still haunts everyone to this day.
* ''VideoGame/TheHouseOfTheDeadOverkill'' has [[spoiler:Clement Darling]] discover the "[[NotUsingTheZWord mutant]] compound" responsible for the ZombieApocalypse. While they die at the end, TheStinger reveals he had "powerful friends" who had access to the compound, enabling all future outbreaks in the ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'' series.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'': Albert Wesker is the overarching BigBad for most of the series, until he's KilledOffForReal at the very end of ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 5]]''. Even then, his influence leaves a shadow throughout the rest of the franchise. [[spoiler: Alex Wesker makes use of the Uroboros virus he created in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2 Revelations 2]]'', his illegitimate son Jake Muller is one of the protagonists of ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 6]]'', and a file in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard 7]]'' reveals that his organization, the H.C.F., had a role in the creation of Eveline and the Mold.]]
** Mother Miranda in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' is a greater version of this, as her interaction with [[spoiler: Oswell Spencer in the 60's is the trigger for all the tragedy in the Resident Evil games, including those above of Wesker.]]
* Gorden Amherst created the [[SyntheticPlague Dollar Flu/Green Poison]] to bring about the downfall of civilization in ''VideoGame/TheDivision''. By the time [[PlayerCharacter the Agent]], finds him, he’s been DeadAllAlong, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard killed by his own virus.]] Nonetheless, [[TheBadGuyWins he got what he wanted]] from the chaos caused by the outbreak, and a [[FaceHeelTurn rogue agent]] named Aaron Keener steals his research and equipment to start a new plague that he intends to use to seize power.
* Most of the conflicts that occur in ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' can be traced back to [[VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar Belka]]. Many scientists and engineers from the country went to various places around the planet to become arms dealers and weapons manufacturers to breed conflict and start wars to avenge their homeland.

* Many of the obstacles the Vault Hunters face in the ''Videogame/{{Borderlands}}'' series are the results of three MegaCorp companies leaving their impact on Pandora: Dahl for creating the bandits by leaving prisoners and personnel staff to their fates after an unknown Vault incident as well as abandoning The Lost Legion on Pandora's moon after the Crackening. Atlas via the Crimson Lance for driving out what was left of Dahl's forces out of Pandora while forcing civilians and townsfolk to be in fiefdoms and killing any bandits and opposing Vault Hunters that interfered in the hunt for the Vault. With Knoxx's death, Atlas too left Pandora with the remnants of the Lance ironically becoming the bandits they themselves once hunted. Luckily Roland recruited the rest into the newly founded Crimson Raiders.
* Danette may be long gone[[labelnote:spoilers]][[OurGhostsAreDifferent for the]] [[BonusBoss most part]][[/labelnote]] by the time of the first ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'', but [[spoiler:their invention, the [[TitleDrop Gene]][[ArtifactOfDoom forge]]]] would come to be the catalyst for much of the conflict in the series to follow.
* In ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'', the main antagonists of the series, the SpacePirates, suffer their final defeat in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' when the last of their forces, including their top leaders Ridley and Mother Brain, are destroyed with the planet Zebes after they have spent decades terrorizing and raiding remote colonies on the galactic frontier and starting at least one major war against the Federation. However, their technology and methods live on when corrupt Federation Army forces recreate Mother Brain as an AI and clone Ridley and Zebesian special forces soldiers [[spoiler: as well as Metroids]] in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion''. In ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'', it also turns out that [[spoiler: Raven Beak's plan for galactic conquest is nigh-identical to Mother Brain's methods by cloning and deploying Metroids as weapons of mass destruction, seeming to imply that she may have been influenced by him.]]

[[folder:Visual Novel]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' Season 10 flashbacks show that [[spoiler:the A.I. Sigma]] qualifies for the Recollection Trilogy as a whole; [[spoiler:he's the BigBad of ''Reconstruction'', but he is killed after those events, and his influence on the Meta still remains in ''Recreation'' and ''Revelation''.]]

* While humans in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' are long extinct ([[LastOfHisKind except for Finn]]), their [[AtomicHate "Mushroom War"]] not only led to [[TheMagicComesBack the return of magic]], but also one of their bombs unleashed [[WalkingWasteland the Lich]], who proceeded to spread monsters across the planet and [[OmnicidalManiac kill almost everything]]. The AlternateUniverse shows that even without the Lich, humanity's actions indirectly lead to an apocalypse.
* WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs enemy Gargamel seems to have come from a long family line of unscrupulous characters. In the final season of the cartoon series, where the Smurfs are constantly [[TimeTravel traveling through time]], different incarnations of the villain would appear, such as showing him as an Indian fakir, a Russian peasant, or a Spanish bullfighter. In one of the earlier episodes of said season, Papa Smurf theorizes that all these similar-looking men must be ancestors of the evil wizard of their present time.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'': Billy Grey's betrayal hit the Lost hard. [[spoiler: Even after his death, most of the chapter refused to believe Billy was planning to betray all of them, causing a major split in the gang. This led to massive hindrance to Johnny's plans to expand, making him settle in Blaine County, San Andreas, where he partners with a certain Trevor Philips, and to say things doesn't end well for them is a massive {{Understatement}}.]]

* In ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'', the OverarchingVillain [[spoiler: Junko Enoshima]] died at the end of the [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc first game]], but [[spoiler: since the setting is a VillainWorld she created, there's no shortage of BrainwashedAndCrazy psychopaths looking to continue her work. Even when she's not the mastermind, [[HijackedByGanon she's still the mastermind.]]]]