Inadequate Inheritor: Difference between revisions

To throw away on ingrates.|'''Rotti Largo''', ''[[Repo the Genetic Opera (Film)|Repo the Genetic Opera]]''}}

 

 

Whatever the case, the prospective retiree doesn't think they deserve their potential inheritance... at least, not as they currently are.

Cue an [[Impossible Task]], search for a non standard heir from outside the family (who has a statistically abnormal chance to be an orphan/bastard child of the retiree), or otherwise trying to reform their potential heir or forcibly change them one way or another. Results vary: the heir may become worthy, rebel against their "benefactor" (which may be what they [[Batman Gambit|always]] [[Manipulative Bastard|wanted)]] or fail outright and prompt the retiree to switch to plan B, become [[Immortality|immortal.]]

 

 

May be related [[The Wrongful Heir to The Throne]]. If the inadequate inheritor actually gets the position, through guile, lack of other candidates or sheer luck, they may either turn into a surprisingly good leader once actually in that position, or they will become a [[Sketchy Successor]]. Compare [[Game Between Heirs]].

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' anime, Gozaburo Kaiba was heavily disappointed in his son Noah because he wasn't dedicated enough to be heir of his company (not to mention the fact that he was ''[[Virtual Ghost|dead]]''). So instead he adopts an orphan and gives him some [[Training From Hell]] to make him just such a ruthless manager as he himself is. Not his brightest idea, since this one is competent ''and'' evil enough, and takes over his adopted father's company quite rapidly, [[Self Made Orphan|driving him to suicide]].

* In a flashback in ''[[Naruto]]'', Hiashi states that he's disappointed with Hinata's performance and notes that the clan doesn't need a weak heir, but never goes so far as to openly disinherit her. This, however, is ''before'' Hinata [[Took a Level In Badass]], and the two have not been seen interacting in canon since, so fan works have several interpretations over whether Hinata lost her right to inherit the clan back then, and whether she would be considered worthy to inherit the Hyuga clan when the time came.

* A [[Rumiko Takahashi]] short story focused on a variation of this. Under insistence from her boyfriend Susumu, a woman named Nozomi pretends to be her dead best friend Noriko in order to claim an inheritance from Noriko's long dead grandmother. It helped that the last time Noriko's family saw her was with her mother when she was a little girl. Nozomi winds up receiving help from the grandmother's spirit, on the condition that the first thing she does with the money is provide a proper burial for Noriko (Nozomi was extremely offended that Susumu suggested such a ruse, but conceded because they have massive debts). Eventually, Nozomi learns that her Noriko's mother had nearly been disowned by the family for eloping with a man, and only came back once when Noriko was a child to meet grandmother. It's implied that the grandmother didn't like the family any more than Noriko's mother did, as she made it clear that no one other than Noriko could touch the property registry. It's also implied that the family might have killed the grandmother themselves.

** The resultant granddaughters are twins, but Alexandra has no interest in the company, and Eve is far too evil to inherit it. {{spoiler|Eve manipulates herself into Kate's good graces again, but winds up with a [[Fate Worse Than Death]].}}

** {{spoiler|Alexandra has a son, and at book's end Kate is already making plans to mold him into a suitable heir at last...}}

* ''[[The Shadow of the Wind]]'' has Don Ricardo, a rich industrial who thinks his son Jorge unfitted to take over his business, {{spoiler|so he seeks out the woman he impregnated fifteen years earlier, trying to groom their son Julián into his heir, glad he was not aborted as Ricardo had ordered the woman. He's not so glad about it later on.}}

* In the first ''[[Joes World (Literature)|Joes World]]'' novel, the world's richest businessman decides that his children are unfit to inherit his fortune, so he has them all murdered. Then he does the same thing with all of his grandchildren. One of his great-grandchildren does prove himself suitable, by putting a hit on his great-grandfather. {{spoiler|This whole thing turns out to be for naught, as the heir is murdered by one of his cousins, and the entire estate gets spent on death taxes, hiring assassins to kill rival heirs, and legal fees. In the end, all that's left is one bottle of brandy, which is given to the butler.}}

* In ''[[Kim Possible]],'' Señor Senior, Sr. is a classic [[Affably Evil]] Villain whose greatest disappointment is his [[Cloudcuckoolander]] / [[Minion With an F In Evil]] son, Señor Senior, Jr. He is constantly lecturing his son on [[Contractual Genre Blindness|how a 'proper villain' must behave]].

** This doesn't seem to bother Junior all that much, however. If anything, it only annoys him. Also, it's clear that Señor Senior, Sr. loves his son and fully intends to make him his heir, he's just a little frustrated.

* In ''[[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode, ''Burns, Baby Burns'', Mr. Burns' son, Larry, is considered to inherit Mr. Burns' fortune, but has a tough time fitting in.

* In ''[[Thundercats 2011 (Western Animation)|ThunderCats (2011)]]'', almost everyone in [[The Kingdom|Thundera]] ''thinks'' young prince Lion-O isn't as worthy an heir to the throne as his adopted brother Tygra, since Tygra is [[Always Someone Better]] and Lion-O is viewed as eccentric for believing in the stories of "[[Lost Technology|technology]]," and defending the [[Fantastic Racism|supposed rights]] of other, lower [[Petting Zoo People|Animals]]. His refusal to conform to Thundera's [[Cultural Posturing|cultural paradigm]] of [[Might Makes Right]] and [[Superior Species|species dominance]] doesn't help his case either. It's only when Thundera is invaded that Lion-O is vindicated, and proves his worth.