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{{trope}}
Curious phenomenon where there's only ''one'' true descendant of the some legendary hero/villain or chosen one. Usually it's only that one person who can save the day or bring about [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]]. [[Because Destiny Says So]], of course. And often it ''has'' to be [[Lineage Comes From the Father|the male line]], or whichever keeps the last name. The fact that there's multiple branching into different last names doesn't count genetically for some bizarre reason.
 
This is curious in itself. Most family trees branch quite a bit due to multiple children having multiple children. In fact, if you look [[wikipedia:Identical ancestors point|far enough into the past]], you reach a point where every human being alive then is either the ancestor of everybody or nobody who is currently alive. Here apparently only one child was born per generation. In older legends, it was explicitly stated that only the firstborn "counts", but the socioeconomic systems that fostered that kind of thinking withered away, leaving only this trope.
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* A character in ''[[Dogma]]'' is the only member of {{spoiler|[[Jesus]]'s brother's}} bloodline (through a sibling of the "ancestor" instead of the "ancestor" himself).
* In ''[[Underworld (Filmfilm)|Underworld]]''. The [[Our Werewolves Are Different|Lycans]] are searching for a human descendant of the progenitor of both werewolves and vampires, but they need one with a specific gene and a wall filled with crossed over photographs tell us that there has been a lot of failures before the events of the movie. But that's because all they have to go on to find that one descendant is his last name, Corwin, which isn't exactly rare or unique. Depending on how long they've been looking for this guy, and killing the ones who don't meet their specifications, the Lycans may be the ''reason'' there's only a [[Single Line of Descent]].
* ''[[The Shadow]]'', the [[Big Bad]] is the last descendant of Genghis Khan. And now compare this to what is written in the [[Real Life]] section.
* Explained in ''[[The Covenant]]'' that only the firstborn males in each generation receive powers. There may well be many descendants of the original (male) witches of Salem, but only five males with the Power per generation (there are five families).
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== Literature ==
 
* Not so in [[JRRJ. TolkienR. (Creator)R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', where multiple lines and descendants exist. An example are the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, respectively founded by Elendil and his sons, who are descended from a sideline branch of the Numenorean royal family: in both cases there are various people (both properly royal and more mundane ones) appearing and mentioned as descending from the same ancestor as the "main descendant(s)" of that line. Gondor even eventually [[Succession Crisis|endured a civil war over the question of inheritance, had problems with multiple potential claimants, and eventually no viable successor could be found who would have pleased everyone, resulting in the Stewards taking over]]. When the Gondorians first had trouble finding a royal successor, the Arnorian line and kingdom was still fully intact, and the Arnorian king tried to take over (on account of both dynasties being descended from Elendil and being married to the last Gondorian king's daughter) but was rejected. His descendant Aragorn would later succeed where he had failed.
** By which point, however, Aragorn basically was the last direct descendent of Elendil, thus re-invoking the trope.
* In the movie of ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'', there is only one surviving member of {{spoiler|Jesus'}} bloodline. (In the book, though, the corresponding character has a sibling, and it's stated that they aren't the ''only'' line of descent, just the most reinforced and "qualified". That apparently wasn't dramatic enough for the movie, though.)
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== Live Action TV ==
 
* A rare female example in ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]''. The Charmed Ones are three sisters who are the last decendents of 17th century witch Melinda Warren. Apparently, up until the birth of the protagonists, there never was more than one daughter per generation.
** Kind of subverted in season 4 when we find out about [[Long-Lost Relative|Paige]]. But of course nobody had thought of her yet in season 1 when the trope was established.
* In the ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' episode "Sub Rosa", we learn that a "ghost" named Ronin has been bedding Dr. Crusher's female ancestors for centuries, moving from mother to daughter, and is now moving onto Crusher following the death of her grandmother Felisa Howard. The logical flaws start with the fact that all her female ancestors were apparently named "Howard", indicating that Crusher is the first woman in her family to lose her maiden name, despite her living in the twenty-fourth century and the ancestor this started with living in the seventeenth century.<ref>It is established that the Howard family is from Scotland, where it was commonplace for women to keep their maiden names until the twentieth century. However, the premise is still logically flawed as it requires that the Howard women passed their maiden name on to their daughters.</ref> Not to mention what would happen if a Howard woman failed to produce a daughter. (Would Ronin have to move onto [[Creator's Pet|Wesley]] after Dr. Crusher died?)
 
== Tabletop Games ==
 
* Strongly averted in ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' where the direct descendents of the two dozen or so gods and heroes that founded Rokugan number in the tens of thousands. And that's not counting the two million or so samurai that carry those gods' and heroes' names through fealty. It does appear in the first Imperial line, but only because when a new Emperor takes the throne, all of the other candidates must renounce their family name and be adopted into one of the secondary Imperial families. Interestly, this does lead to the logical conclusion of the Imperial family being wiped out in the first story arc. An heir turns up [[Moses in Thethe Bulrushes]]-style in the third arc... but he's the new [[Big Bad]].
 
== Video Games ==
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** Though it's an aversion as well: the murdered Emperor ''had'' other sons, three of them, in fact, all of whom were taken out in similarly nefarious assassinations shortly before the game begins (making the Cyrodiilian Secret Service the worst bodyguards in history). Martin survived because, as the bastard son of the Emperor, his existence was kept so secret that even ''he'' didn't know who he was.
** Incidentally, if you sit down and read [[All There in the Manual|the in-game books]], neither Martin nor Uriel Septim are actually blood descendants of the person who made the original pact in the first place. The original pact was between Akatosh and the Slave Queen Alessia. The Septims (ostensibly) descend from Tiber Septim. Firstly, Tiber Septim wasn't related to Alessia, and secondly, such levels of in-fighting, fratricide, and incest characterise the Septim dynasty that it's unlikely Martin is even related to Tiber. This is validated in-game when {{spoiler|the [[Big Bad]] puts on the Phlebotinum required to maintain the Dragonfires without any negative repercussions.}}
* Done in ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'', where only the Royal Family of Guardina is said to be descended from Ayla and Kino, ancestors some ''65 million years'' back. Then again, over the course of 65 million years, pretty much everyone can trace their lineage to them at some point.
* In ''The Lost Crown'', William Ager was a villainous example. Unusual in that he died of tuberculosis with no heir to pass on the family secrets to, hence let down both Destiny and centuries of bloodthirsty tradition.
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'''s [[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Jugdral]] timeline has holy blood passed down from the [[Precursor Heroes|Crusaders]]. [[Word of God]] explains that if the child of someone with "major" blood (and is able to use the Crusader's [[Ancestral Weapon]]) gets "minor" (just some stats bonus) or "major" blood is completely random (birth order and sex play no part) and that the blood can be determined by a birthmark, this doesn't explain why only nobility seems to have even minor blood.
* Averted all over the place in ''[[Blaze Union]]''. {{spoiler|Medoute}}, the descendant of Gill the legendary dragonslayer, mentions repeatedly that she's from the secondary line. Characters also discuss that due to the Imperial bloodline being so diluted and spread throughout the people, it's not unusual for children qualifying as Brongaa's descendants to be born in all walks of life; the interesting thing about Gulcasa is that he's the first pureblood to be born in centuries.
* Also averted in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'', where the family of the Chosen is huge, has many branches, and is scattered all over the world so that if something happens to one branch, the bloodline will still exist.
* In ''[[Dragon Quest VIII (Video Game)|Dragon Quest VIII]]'', the [[Big Bad]] is tracking down the descendants of the Seven Sages who originally [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|sealed him away]], as their deaths are the only way to release his original body. The game establishes that only one descendant in each most recent generation is the heir (as Jessica's brother Alistair held the bloodline whereas Jessica just received magical strength), but that all goes to hell when it comes to Marta. She's still the holder of the bloodline even though she has ''a freaking son''. [[Plot Hole|It really makes no sense]].
* Inverted in ''[[Fable|Fable 3]]'', only the ''youngest'' of the Hero of Bowerstone's two children gets any Hero powers.
 
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* Subverted in ''[[Girl Genius]]''. Part of the plan of Zola (the fake Heterodyne) is to ally with and marry a direct descendent of Andronicus Valois, the Storm King. When Gilgamesh skeptically points out that, if the legends are true, half of Europe is descended from the Storm King, she angrily specifies that it's a descendent who the Fifty Noble Families of Europe will recognize.
** Later, when she explains more of the plan to him, she specifies ''why'' this one's confirmed, {{spoiler|and it has something to do with the Mongfish family being specially gifted in the biological sciences.}}
* Subverted in ''[[Digger (Webcomic)|Digger]]''. The ghost of Helix, a wombat who's been dead for a thousand years, give or take, immediately pegs Digger as a descendant. He had nine sons a thousand years ago, so it's more likely than not.
* Parodied in ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', where a demon can only be slain by one of "pure Belstein blood". There is only one left, who's deformed and in a wheelchair due to generations of inbreeding.
 
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