Following in Relative's Footsteps

A character is inspired by their relative (usually father but it can also be their mother, uncle, aunt, grandparent, brother, sister, cousin, etc). They may consider the relative a role model, or they could be inspired by the outstanding deeds or heroic acts their relative made, or maybe it's the relative's death that served as inspiration. In any case, the character decides to follow in that relative's footsteps, and choose the same job the relative had.

Note that examples only qualify if it's stated as the character's motivation (or at least, part of it) in the work (or by Word of God). Fan speculations and assumptions aren't enough.

A specific subtrope of this is Pursuing Parental Perils when the character specifically takes up a job their parent(s) died doing.

Compare Nepotism. Partially related to Legacy Character, Passing the Torch, Take Up My Sword, Taking Up the Mantle, Following in Their Rescuer's Footsteps. The job in question could be a Family Business. The character can also be a Heir to the Dojo. Contrast Follow in My Footsteps, where parents try to force their child to make this choice while the child doesn't want to. Also contrast Turn Out Like His Father and What If the Baby Is Like Me.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Devil Hunter Yohko zigzags the trope with Yohko and her mother Sayoko. The women of the Mano Family all receive the Devil Hunter power by retaining their virginity until they turn 16. Sayoko was supposed to become the 108th in the family line, but refused by giving up her virginity at age 15, which is how she became pregnant with Yohko. So Madoka (the 107th) couldn't retire until Yohko reached her 16th birthday and accepted the Devil Hunter power in Sayoko's place.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Fate Testarossa-Harlaown ends up following the career path of her adoptive older brother Chrono, becoming an Enforcer during the Time Skip after the second season. However, she ends up staying in that position well into her adult years, while he transferred to a command position by the time he was 20.
  • The Florian family does this twice over in the Reflection/Detonation movie duology. Amitie and Kyrie assist their parents' attempts to bring life back to their planet's dying ecosystem, and it's mentioned that both their paternal and maternal grandparents were members of the Planet Restoration Committee 40 years prior.

Comic Books

• Disney Kingdoms: In Figment 2, Capri wants to be an inventor like her great-great-great-granduncle Dreamfinder hence applying to the Academy Scientifica Lucidus despite being too young to attend.

Films — Animated

• The Jungle Book (1967): During their scenes together, Hathi Jr. (the baby elephant) says to Mowgli, "When I grow up, I wanna be a colonel, just like my [father]."
• The Princess and the Frog: Tiana has wanted to be a restaurant owner since childhood since she was inspired by her dad's cooking.
• Quest for Camelot: Since childhood, Kayley wanted to become a knight, just like her father, Sir Lionel. Although he died while saving King Arthur from Ruber's attack, Kayley still looks up to his memory and intends to follow in his footsteps.

Films — Live-Action

• Backdraft: The movie begins with the protagonist's father, who is a fireman, dying in a fire. Despite becoming terrified of fire as a result, Brian's determined to overcome this and grow up to be a fireman like his father. His older brother Stephen did too, becoming the commander of a fire station, becoming very protective of Brian when he joins so he won't die like their dad.
• Beyond the Lights: Kaz joined the LAPD, where his father is a captain. It appears this was part of his plan for Kaz's life.
• Forrest Gump: Lieutenant Dan is from a line of men who have served in the US Military and been killed in battle and plans to follow in their footsteps.
• The Good Shepherd: Edward Wilson is one of the leaders of the CIA. When he grows old enough, Edward Wilson Jr. joins the CIA as well, against his parents' wishes, and ends up inadvertently betraying his father.
• Hot Fuzz: Played with somewhat. After opening up to Danny, Nicholas talks about being inspired to be a policeman by his uncle Derek, who was a sergeant in London's Metropolitan Police. However, good old Uncle Derek was later revealed to be a Corrupt Cop, but rather than letting the disillusion him, Nicholas instead made a point of trying to be everything he believed a good cop should be.
• Space Jam: Young Michael Jordan dreams of playing basketball on a college championship team in North Carolina and then in the NBA, but also tells his dad that afterward, he wants to play baseball like Mr. Jordan did. His father approves of both dreams.
• Star Trek (2009): Spock Prime tells Kirk that in the Prime Universe, his dad (who is dead in the continuity of the reboot films) was his influence in joining Starfleet.
• Star Wars:
  • Zig-Zagged. Luke already wanted to be a fighter pilot even before meeting Obi-Wan and hearing about how his father was one in the Clone Wars, but there's a real sense of Passing the Torch that further informs his motivation when Obi-Wan hands over his father's lightsaber and sets him on the path to becoming a Jedi as well. When it turns out that daddy had made a turn to the Dark Side it shakes Luke's resolve some, but by the time he defiantly informs the Emperor that "I am a Jedi, like my father before me," it's clear that Luke has decided to honor his father's legacy while being slightly choosy about which parts of that legacy he emulates.
  • In the sequel trilogy, Kylo Ren is intent on following Darth Vader's footsteps and becoming a darksider like his grandfather.
• In both the 1993 and 2023 film adaptations of The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan states that he specifically wants to become a Musketeer because his late father was one.^note He doesn't specify such a reason in the novel. Although he does mention that his father was a veteran of the Wars of Religion under King Henry IV, he doesn't specify if he was a Musketeer.

Literature

• Animal Inn: Two of the Taylor children each want to take after a parent in this series.
  • Val takes after her father in her love of animals and chosen career as a vet, working at Animal Inn part-time to help him out.
  • Middle child Erin wants to be a ballerina like her mother, who performed in the Pennsylvania Ballet before her death.
• Eric: In addition to the whole getting his heart's desire thing, it's pointed out that Eric became a demonologist following in the footsteps of his late grandfather whom he'd had a special bond with.
• His Dark Materials: Will Parry thinks himself to be a soldier doing adventures across the world, like his father, imagining himself rescuing said father and bringing him back home.
• The Overstory: Mimi decides to become an engineer like her father.
• Protector of the Small: Neal had a promising future as a healer if his two older brothers hadn't died in the Immortals War. Because his house, Queenscove, always produced at least one knight per generation, he felt obligated to become a knight instead.
• A Song of Ice and Fire: Jon Snow decides to become a brother of the Night's Watch because of his uncle Benjen who serves there.
• Vorkosigan Saga: This is a major motivation for Miles Vorkosigan, the main protagonist of the series. Towards the end of The Warrior's Apprentice, Miles tries to justify his (admittedly rather over-the-top) actions by saying "I only wanted to serve Barrayar, as my father before me". In A Civil Campaign, another character says of Miles "I've often been afraid he'd break his heart trying to be [like his father and grandfather]". (The degree to which Miles actually manages to follow in these footsteps is complicated—Miles wanted "ship duty", like his father before him, and instead wound up with a career as a secret agent doing covert ops for the Imperium.)

Live-Action TV

• Barney Miller: Discussed and Zig-Zagged in the episode "You Dirty Rat". The precinct house has rats and the exterminating company Becker and Son is contracted to get rid of them. An old man shows up, identifying himself as the exterminator. Barney asks if his son is planning to come by later, only for the man to inform Barney that he is the son. He kept his old man's name in the company when he took over but his own son doesn't want to join the business, preferring to try to become a professional musician.
• Blue Bloods: All the male adults in the Reagan family are current or retired NYPD police officers. Frank Reagan followed in the footsteps of his father Henry and even achieved the same rank of police commissioner that Henry once held. Frank's son Danny joined up after he got out of the army and was followed by his brother Joe. Joe's death in the line of duty inspired Jamie, Frank's youngest son to also become a police officer rather than a lawyer. Frank's granddaughter Nicole is also considering joining the NYPD after graduating high school.
• CSI: NY: Detective Don Flack, Jr. follows his namesake into law enforcement because he looks up to him. His sister, Samantha, once states about police work, "You Flack men; it's in your blood."
• Deputy: Joseph's father was an LA County sheriff's deputy who'd been killed on duty, while he graduates to become one in the pilot. Both his mother and Hollister, his godfather who'd been his dad's partner, aren't entirely pleased with this. His mom outright wants him fired for Joseph to avoid death on the job as well. Hollister initially agrees, but then lets him stay. Joseph narrowly avoids his dad's fate after being attacked while on duty by inmates in the LA County Jail.
• House: In "Parents" the Patient of the Week aspires to become a clown because his father was one.
• Little House on the Prairie: In an early episode, Pa goes out looking for work while Ma and the daughters stay home to tend the farm. Pa ends up becoming friends with an Irishman who gets them jobs building the railway, where the Irishman is an experienced "powder monkey" — it's his job to carry the explosives that they set off to plow holes through the mountain. Powder monkeys don't have long careers though, and this one is no exception, blowing himself up. Pa goes to the man's homestead to tell his family about his death, and his son vows to follow in his father's footsteps and become the best powder monkey the world has ever seen.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Galadriel is a deconstructed example of why sometimes following same path as your relatives is a bad idea. As a child, she was very close to Finrod, and witnessing his demise at the hands of Sauron, she decides to follow into his footsteps and continue his mission of hunting down Sauron. While initially framed as a noble continuation of Finrod's mission, Galadriel's quest morphs into a singular obsession spanning centuries. Despite advices from others to give up the sword and travel to heal her wounds in Valinor, Galadriel continues her mission and her actions increasingly resemble those of a ruthless Knight Templar, blurring the lines between justice and vengeance.
• Monk: Troy, Dr. Kroger's son, tells the detective that he used to want to be a therapist "like [his] old man." He's considering it again by the end of the episode.
• The Murders: Kate is a police detective like her father was. Her mother is worried that she'll end up killed on duty as he'd been, and so she doesn't approve of Kate being in the force.
• The Night Agent: Peter became an FBI Agent just like his father.
• NYPD Blue:
  • At the start of the series Andy is estranged from his son Andy Jr., but after Andy cleans himself up they become close, and Andy Jr. eventually decides to join the police force following his father's footsteps. This doesn't work out so well for Jr. since he gets killed trying to stop a couple of robbers as they were attacking a waitress.
  • Andy's final partner John Clark is actually John Clark Jr., his father being an NYPD detective who has had bad blood with Andy in the past.
• The Spencer Sisters: Darby followed her deceased dad into the police force. He was killed on the job, so her mother opposed it, fearing that she would lose Darby too.
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: Enterprise: Jonathan Archer's reason for becoming a starship captain is because his now-dead father Henry designed the warp engine that would power future starships and Jonathan wanted to honour Henry.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: In "Family" the audience is introduced to Jean-Luc Picard's nephew René Picard, who very much wants to follow in his famous uncle's footsteps and join Starfleet. When leaving René tells his uncle that some day he'll be leaving for his ship too. Sadly, this was not to be.
  • It's averted in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Jake Sisko doesn't want to follow in his old man's footsteps and become a Starfleet officer. While Benjamin Sisko is a little disappointed, he fully supports his son's decision not to pursue a Starfleet career.
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds firmly establishes that brothers James T. and George S. Kirk joined Starfleet to follow the example of their father (who, unlike in an alternate timeline, didn't die in battle right after Jim's birth but instead lived to see Jim become the captain of the Enterprise). Jim directly states that his father's passion for helping others was an inspiration to him.
• S.W.A.T. (2017): Luca is a third-generation officer with the LAPD, following his father and paternal grandfather.
• Wild Bill: Bill's father was also a police officer. Initially he thought this was foolish, doing a dangerous job with a low salary. Then he decided to take up the work and do it more efficiently.
• Wild Cards (2024): Cole and Max both followed their parents' vocations.
  • Max is a con artist who learned it from her mom.
  • Cole is a cop like his dad.

Video Games

• APICO:
  • Nana Beelia is proud that you took after her and her husband in beekeeping since your father wasn't interested in the job.
  • Skipper bravely decided to take up sailing after his father lost a leg to the Krakenbee while out sailing himself.
• Art of Fighting: Ryo Sakazaki is both son and successor to his father, Takuma's, legacy. By the time of Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, Ryo was the new Headmaster of the Kyokugen Dojo and had inherited the mantle of "Mr. Karate II".
• Bioshock Infinite: Vivian Monroe saw his father fighting under Cornelius Slate and herself accepted to fight for him, first for Columbia and then against it under Slate.
• Elsword: The title character wants to become a powerful and famous knight to follow in the footsteps of his sister Elesis, a famed knight who has a high ranking position in her own guild, the Red Knights.
• Halo: Miranda Keyes went to the Navy to follow her father, the commander of his own starship, and also to distance herself from her mother Dr. Halsey, who wanted to keep Miranda out of danger. Her mother eventually pulls some strings to have Miranda assigned to a hospital ship far away from the frontlines, but it backfires when Miranda pulls off an astonishing victory with a weaponless ship, earns herself a medal, and becomes commander of her own ship shortly after.
• Inazuma Eleven: Endou Mamoru wants to become a legendary goalkeeper like his grandfather Daisuke. At first, his mother doesn't approve of it because she thinks her father was killed in a bus accident before a soccer match, but she later advises her son that he should do what he wants and not what she wants.
• Overwatch: Fareeha Amari (Pharah) while already coming from a family of soldiers wished to join Overwatch having grown up around the original team and following in her mother's footsteps (Ana Amari). Ana isn't too happy about this.
  • Somewhat averted with Brigitte who while being the daughter of an Overwatch member (Torbjörn) is more inspired by Reinhardt who acts as a father figure to her. She does however have Torbjörn's mechanical engineering passion.
• In Potion Permit, Mayor Myer took after his father in running Moonbury Town, and the pocket watch the latter gave to him when Myer was a kid inspired him to strive to be a diligent leader like him.
• In Roots of Pacha, Ata is often seen playing with her Hammer near her mother Acre's smithy because she wants to be a blacksmith like her. She also comes up with the idea for a smelter since she wants to help her mom out in making new tools out of bronze.
• Star Fox Command: One ending has the titular team disband after one final mission. Years later, Fox and Krystal's son Marcus decides to join the Cornerian Academy, follow his father's path, and subsequently rounds up Falco, Slippy's son and Peppy's granddaughter to form a Star Fox of his own.

Webcomics

• Eerie Cuties: The comic introduced Tiffany Winters as a would-be vampire slayer, who aspired to live up to her family's legacy. Except she was a ditz, who was always being distracted and wound up becoming best friends with her target.
• Forestdale: Dallas Burnside comes from a family of firefighters and fully intends to follow his parents' example and become one himself.
• League of Super Redundant Heroes: Nightwalker II, who's actually just being the legacy of his dad because it keeps him happy, and because it's a living while he's doing a paleontology doctorate.
• The Order of the Stick: Listening to stories about his heroic adventurer grandfather inspired Roy to become one himself. A snippet of an argument with Eugene is Roy holding the Greenhilt family sword and saying "Don't you know we come from a line of fighters?"
• Vampire Cheerleaders: Stephanie Kaine and Charlotte Roth were both born into families of cryptid hunters and chose to pursue the same line of work, once they came of age. But, in Stephanie's case, it became a matter of revenge against all cryptids, after her parents were killed.

Western Animation

• The Owl House:
  • In "Any Sport in a Storm", Willow starts up a Flyer Derby team at Hexside. While it's not specifically stated if her fathers were her inspiration for it, the fact that she looks at a newspaper clipping of their team back when they were her age while psyching herself up heavily implies it.
  • Amity Blight enters the Bonesborough Brawl in "Reaching Out" in the hopes of bringing home the championship belt like her father Alador did 20+ years earlier. Alador is less than enthused due to now considering it to have been a waste of his talents, thought he's clearly touched by her admiration of his accomplishment.
• Total Drama: Sky's sister is her role model and almost made it into Canada's Olympic team for rhythmic gymnastics, which inspired Sky to become a gymnast as well.

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