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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as random or as clumsy as a blaster, but [[Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age|an elegant weapon for a more civilized age]]."''
|'''[[The Obi-Wan|Obi-Wan Kenobi]]''', |''[[Star Wars]]''}}
 
The hero [[Unexpected Inheritance|receives a weapon that once was carried]] by his father or a more distant ancestor. Nine times out of ten this is either a sword or a gun, depending on the setting.
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* ''[[True Grit]]'', a 1969 western. Mattie, a 14-year old daughter of a killed [[Rancher]] seeking revenge, carries her father's revolver with her. She actually gets to shoot the murderer with it (though he survives it).
* In ''[[The Three Musketeers (1993 film)|The Three Musketeers 1993]]'', Musketeer-wannabe D'Artagnan bears a sword carried by his father, a Musketeer killed years earlier by [[The Dragon|Rochefort]]. After D'Artagnan is captured, Rochefort takes the sword. D'Artagnan later gets it back {{spoiler|and uses it to avenge his father}}.
* In the movie ''[[Puma Man]]'', Tony receives a very gaudy-looking belt, which once belonged to his father, and gives him the powers of the Pumaman. He never does much with them of any consequence, though.
* In ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'', the dying {{spoiler|Eytukan}} gives his daughter his bow and charges her with protecting their clan. {{spoiler|She kills Quaritch with it.}}
 
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** Also, Raistlin Majere passed down a powerful magical artifact he was given, the Staff of Magius, to his nephew Palin Majere.
* Power-forged heron-mark blades in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' all date back more than three thousand years (back to the time when Aes Sedai were still allowed to make weapons), and have been passed from one blademaster to the next the entire time.
* Arguably ''deconstructed'' in the ''[[Discworld]]'' book ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]].'' After {{spoiler|saving the dwarven kingdom from a crazy plot,}} the Low King grants Sam Vimes with a dwarven axe. In keeping with the tradition versus modern-thinking spirit of the rest of the book, he goes on to indicate his own axe and explain how, despite having been given new handles to keep with the fashions, and new blades when the old one wore out, and in fact having been remade completely several times as time went by, it was still his ancestral axe in every detail - that there was more to the "ancestral" component than simply "his father handed him a really old axe at some point."
** It's based on a philosophical paradox called the Ship of Theseus. [[The Other Wiki]] has an article on it [[wikipedia:Ship of Theseus|here]].
** Come to think of it, Carrot's sword. The dwarves that raised him found the sword in the same cart where they found him after a bandit attack. It turns out to be {{spoiler|the Sword of the Kings of Ankh}}. But he's keeping that quiet.
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* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'', Jame carries her father's broken sword, Kinslayer, to return to her brother; it is reforged, but in a subversion, by the enemy. Jame comes across it within the Master's House and retrieves it, and discovers that its legendary ability to cut its way through enemies like butter remains, along with its fearful joy in slaying; the name is hardly auspicious in that regard, either...
* In the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' series, Valyrian steel swords (the knowledge of making it has been lost) are passed down through the lines of noble houses. These heirlooms are so important that even the most impoverished noble houses will not sell them.
* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|Gods of Mars]]'', a young man who John Carter meets recounts setting out with his father's sword.
* The sword of Grand Master Mandulis in the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' novel ''[[Grey Knights]]''. Unsurprisingly, it's a plot element.
* Riva Iron-Grip's sword in the ''[[Belgariad]]'': forged at the instruction of Riva's father-in-law, with a built-in clamp on the pommel for the Orb of Aldur (which makes the thing light enough to wield - it's portrayed as being roughly the same size as the [[Berserk|Dragonslayer]]), it collects dust for a few centuries until Garion finally shows up to collect it.
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* The Scourge of Rkard from ''[[The Prism Pentad]]'' is this for the main character. In a variation, it's later revealed that it was used by the [[Big Bad]] when he was [[One-Winged Angel|still in human form.]]
* The Sword of Leah in the ''Shannarra'' series has been passed down by kings and princes of Leah for generations. Due to the enchantment put on it by Allanon in ''Wishsong'', it avoids the Ship of Theseus question because while the scabbard and hilt occasionally need replacing, the blade itself remains the same (Save for the time it was broken and had to be magically remade). The titular Sword of Shannarra does not count, as while it is used by various members of the same bloodline as generations go by, it tends to be left in storage for centuries at a stretch between uses.
*In [[Kim]] there is a gun parked by the museum at Lahore that according to legend would always be held by whichever ruler ruled over the area. It had in the past been owned by several Rajahs, and now was owned by the Queen. It's [[Real Life]] inspiration, by the way, is owned by the Indian government and is a tourist attraction. [[So, Yeah]].
 
== [[Live -Action TV]] ==
* D'Argo's Qualta Blade in ''[[Farscape]]''.
* The [[Mirror Universe]] episode of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' "In a Mirror Darkly" featured Mirror Commander Archer having and treasuring the shotgun used by Mirror Zefram Cochrane to kill the Vulcans who made [[Star Trek: First Contact|first contact]] with them.
* In ''[[Blue Bloods]]'', Police Commissioner Frank Reagan carries a .38 Special revolver because it's the weapon his father and his grandfather carried.
* Fat Neil's D&D character in ''[[Community]]'', named DuCain, has inherited the Sword of DuCain from his ancestors.
 
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], [[Myth and Legend]] ==
* This is at least [[Older Than Feudalism]]: In [[Greek Mythology]], Theseus received his father's sword from his mother Aethra, and his father Aegeus recognized him because of this sword.
* In the [[Norse Mythology|Old Norse]] ''[[The Saga of the Volsungs|Volsunga Saga]]'' (as well as in [[Richard Wagner]]'s 19th-century [[The Ring of the Nibelung|operas]] based (in part) on them), the hero Sigurd (Siegfried) receives the fragments of his father's sword, which he must then reforge.
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* [[Sly Cooper]]'s [[Hooks and Crooks|hook cane]].
* Both Dante and Vergil´s blades in the ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' series are keepsakes from their demonic father Sparda. Subverted in Dante's case: Force Edge/Sparda is tossed aside at the end of the (chronologically second) first game, and he uses his own weapon, Rebellion, in every game since. Played straight with Vergil, who uses Yamato whenever he appears (either as himself or {{spoiler|Nelo Angelo}}).
* ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'': The [[Katanas Are Just Better|Dragon Sword]] wielded by [[Highly-Visible Ninja|Ryu Hayabusa]] is an ancient sword handed down by generations in the Dragon Lineage and the Hayabusa Clan. It is also mentioned in both the NES and the [[Xbox]] series that Ryu got the blade directly from his father.{{context}} <!-- MOD: The name of this game would be a nice addition to this example. -->
* ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'': {{spoiler|Jack Marston taking up his father's guns after he's killed by Ross' goons}}
** And before that, in ''[[Red Dead Revolver]]'', {{spoiler|Red eventually gets back his father's Scorpion Revolver}}
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* Played straight with well -made swords in many cultures, Japan being the most famous for the practice. Except for the Japanese Shin-Gunto type blade, which is a subversion in Japan, being issued by the military, as as [[World War II]] ramped up, made by machines, and played straight in the United States, where they were brought back as war trophies and became family heirlooms.
* Firearms also have a high potential for this trope, and while obsolete weapons eventually get relegated to wall hangers a quality gun can stay in use for multiple generations with proper maintenance and storage.
** AK-47s are becoming these for some families in Africa and Asia.
* Shields were often this to Greek Hoplites. While spears were expendable, Greeks thought shields were ''really'' cool and would hang them over their fireplace.
** Yes they did find them cool, but actually two things factor with Aspidae (Hoplite Shield). Firstly, its durable enough to last ages. Secondly, Greeks fought in a Phalanx, a formation where shields were of paramount importance, whereby you covered your COMRADE to the right of you while your friend to the left covers you. This made it culturally significant, whereby an individual is shown as being part of a community, and thereby became worthy heirlooms. Its not from a state armoury (unless you're spartan), which means YOU BOUGHT THAT SHIELD in the first place.
* The [[British Royal Family]] has five swords as part of their regalia.
* Before gunpowder, swords and armour would most likely be passed down the line since they were quite expensive.
* ICBMs might count as a collective version as some have surely been around for generations without being replaced. Come to think of it, some of them may not even go off when they are told to anymore.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Ancestral Weapon{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Dark Age Europe]]
[[Category:Older Is Better]]
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
▲[[Category:Ancestral Weapon]]
[[Category:Will and Inheritance Tropes]]
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