Sins of Our Fathers: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Peter''': ''"[[Big Screwed-Up Family|They're]] responsible for this..."''<br />

'''Adam''': ''"Parents sin, children suffer."''|'''Peter Petrelli and Adam Monroe''', ''[[Heroes (TV)|Episode 2-10 - Truth and Consequences]]''}}

This one's really popular with immortal or [[Undead]] antagonists, such as vengeful ghosts, liches, vampires, dragons, and the like, as well as many a [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can]], whose first order of business upon getting out of said can is often meting out some very nasty payback on the descendants of the people who put it in there to start with. As said descendants have typically (though not always) done nothing wrong other than be descended from the people who originally wronged the villain, the result is often a monstrous injustice that a hero will have to set to rights, usually by taking down the villain in question. Or a villain may [[Curse]] a family, with it descending to generation after generation of innocents. On the other hand, if the descendant in question is carrying on their ancestor's role in whatever annoyed the attacker in the first place (for example, fighting evil demons like their ancestor did), it makes a lot more sense.

Sometimes an [[Anti-Hero]] will do this to a villain's children, in hopes of [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|drawing on their parental feelings]] and dragging said villain out of their fortress.

A variant is the "hereditary prison", when children of prisoners are born in prison and stay there for the rest of their lifelives, and so on.

The villain may justify it on the grounds that the children profited by the original crime. Particularly when they own something that belonged to the villain. Do not expect the villain to be deterred by questions such as how he came into possession of the item in the first place, whether the children knew or could have been reasonably expected to know of the provenance of the item, or if they might give it back if they knew. Not that a return might assuage a sufficiently off-his-rocker villain anyway. (On the other hand, the children, aware of the tainted source, may attempt to [[Buy Them Off]] but refuse to restore, which tends to move the situation out of the scope of this trope.)

Contrast [[Revenge Byby Proxy]], where the target is the child or other associates in preference to the character who actually wronged them, in order to make that character suffer more. [[Revenge Through Corruption]] is when the method of revenge is trying to effect a [[Face Heel Turn]] upon the offspring of one's enemy. See also [[Generational Trauma]], which might overlap if someone decides that the best way to resolve the family issues is to get vengeance on the descendants of the traumatiser, or the trauma could stem from the descendants of the Sinning Father getting shamed and stigmatised or outright physically harmed for said ancestor's legacy.

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

** And a more notable case in ''[[Dragon Ball GT]]'', where Baby, - [[Last of His Kind|last of the Tuffles]], a race who were exterminated by the Saiyans, - seeks retribution against Goku and Vegeta [[Revenge Byby Proxy|as well as the inhabitants of their new home, Earth]].

** Aleister (Amelda in the original Japanese) from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]!'', with the subversion that he actually has a point. He hates Kaiba Corp because he believes Gozaburo Kaiba responsible for the death of his family (though it was [[Treacherous Advisor|actually Dartz, Aleister's boss]]), and objects to Seto and Mokuba Kaiba living comfortably off of blood stainedbloodstained riches. AlthoughHowever, the Kaiba brothers weren't responsible for the wars that Gozaburo financed (and there were genuine ones), they'rehaving certainlygone willingto great lengths to benefitconvert KaibaCorp from thema military contractor to an entertainment company and despite being a beneficiary, Kaiba freely admits his adoptive father was a snake and offers to make amends. (Possibly the closest Kaiba ever came to giving someone a genuine apology.) Refusing to accept such an offer and focus more on a mad desire for revenge doesn't exactly earn Aleister much sympathy.

** Also played with in the anime, where Rebecca Hawkins wants to battle Yugi because her grandfather lost a game to Yugi'sSolomon.

** Yusei Fudo of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 Ds5D's]]'' has definitely born his share of suffering and guilt because of his father designing/discovering Momentum, which was responsible for Zero Reverse and all sorts of problems thereafter.

* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Evangeline A. K. McDowell was [[Stalker Withwith a Crush|spurned]], [[Power Limiter|has the bulk of her power sealed]], and ended up trapped within a Japanese [[Elevator School]] by Nagi Springfield some fifteen years ago. When ten year old Negi Springfield showed up to teach in the class she was attending... she was not happy. Justified by the fact that she also wants Negi for his blood, as it mitigates his dad's curse.

** Although she lightens up a bit when learns that Nagi is actually still alive. She even agrees to be Negi's [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|magic]] [[Training Fromfrom Hell|trainer]]. And is now transferring her ''other'' feelings [[Loving a Shadow|towards the father to the son]].

* ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma½]]'': Ranma Saotome usually has to deal with the problems his dad created in the past. Of course this isn't because his father is dead, it's because he's justa glutton, a big coward, and prone to making deals and running up bills in his son's name.

** Soun Tendo also causes this sort of trouble --nottrouble—not only did he and Genma seal up [[Old Master|Happosai]] and leave him for dead (only to have him come back later to [[Dirty Old Man|annoy the younger generation]],) but he also promised [[Equivalent Exchange|one of his daughters in exchange for a meal at a French restaurant]].

* This is sort of what happens in ''[[Otome wa Boku Nini Koishiteru]]'': Mizuho lives in the room that his late grandfather arranged for him, when in fact, the very same room belonged to his [[Missing Mom]] during her school days and it is also the very room where {{spoiler|his mom's devoted [[Sempai-Kohai|kohai]] died of exhaustion while waiting for her to return. Things ain't that grim, however, as it turns out that said kohai survived as a (rather cheerful) ghost and it is Mizuho's task to make amends to her for his mom's untimely leave 22 years ago}}.

* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', Char plots the deaths of the Zabi family - including youngest son Garma, his best friend from military academy - because he's convinced their father, Sovereign Degwin, murdered his father. It starts out as [[Revenge Byby Proxy]], with Char killing the Zabis to make Degwin suffer, but he continues on after Degwin's death (at the hands of eldest son, Gihren), pushing him into this territory.

* ''[[Inuyasha|Miroku]]'': Miroku bears an [[Cursed Withwith Awesome|all-consuming wind tunnel on his hand]] [[Blessed Withwith Suck|that will eventually devour him and anyone around him]] and has been passed down from his father and ''his'' father. Like everything else, it's the work of [[Big Bad|Naraku]].

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'s': The Black Moon clan. They'reembody both versions of this trope. They're descents of criminals Neo-Queen Serenity banished to Nemesis rather then killing (Asas she does not kill humans(And -- or human/humanoid aliens) -- if she can avoid it.) They originally want to move to Earth peacefully but are manipulated by Wiseman to blame Serenity and seek revenge on her and all of earth.

* In ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum (Anime)|Mawaru Penguindrum]]'', {{spoiler|the Takakura parents turn out to be members of a terrorist organization that bombed the Tokyo Subway 16 years before the action took place. One of the victims was a little girl named Momoka Oginome... the childhood girlfriend of Shoma and Kanba's teacher, Keiju Tabuki, and the older sister of Shoma's friend/prospect [[Love Interest]] Ringo. Shoma actually spells out the trope while revealing to Ringo what he knows about said tragic incident as well as referring to his sister Himari's almost-definitive death that follows as "a curse befalling on the family... as punishment"; he then goes further via [[It's Not You, It's Me|cutting off all contacts with Ringo]], since he's so wrecked with guilt and self-hate that ''he simply can't believe that Ringo refuses to hate him and his family for Momoka's demise''. It takes Ringo quite the effort to even try convincing him otherwise and let her hang out with him and Himari.}}

* In ''[[Hell Girl (Anime)|Hell Girl]]'', {{spoiler|Ai Enma tries to [[Mind Rape]] Tsugumi Shibata and make her send her father Hajime to Hell because he is either a descendant or the reincarnation of the [[Forgotten Childhood Friend]] that betrayed her.}}

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Mangamanga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]''{{'}}s plot boilboils down to Edward and Alphonse cleaning up a mess that their father Hohenheim created. They have to stop an evil man who looks just like their father, Van Hohenheim. As it turns out, {{spoiler|the man, Homunculus/"Father", was borne of Hohenheim's blood, and used his progenitor as an [[Unwitting Pawn]] in his gambit to become immortal, consuming Hohenheim's home country of Xerxes in the process; now, he intends to repeat the same act on the Elric brothers' home country of Amestris, a country he designed ''from scratch'' for this very purpose}}. Fortunately, Hohenheim is working to make amends for his mistakes, and joins his sons in their counterattack late in the game.

** In [[Fullmetal Alchemist (Animeanime)|the 2003 anime version]], things are much different. They have to stop the machinations of Dante, a spurned lover of Hohenheim of Light's. {{spoiler|The two were lovers a long time ago, but when one of the two fell deathly ill, the other successfully transferred the soul from the dying body to another living human's. Seeing the potential of this action, both proceeded to body-snatch and effectively live forever, but as the side effects of these actions - their bodies rejecting the souls and visibly rotting, mainly - started to kick in earlier and earlier, Hohenheim eventualy relented and settled with Trisha, while Dante manipulated the entire government to enable this scheme even further}}. This Hohenheim is also repentant, but isn't quite as effective - he makes an attempt to confront Dante over her plot, but {{spoiler|is promptly banished beyond [[Gate of Truth|the gate]], and spends the rest of his life on ''our'' Earth, unable to have an effect on Dante's plans any longer}}.

* In ''[[High School of the Dead (Manga)|High SchoolHighschool of the Dead]]'', {{spoiler|Shido [[Moral Event Horizon|rigs Rei's grades]] [[Disproportionate Retribution|because his father was being investigated by her father for political corruption]].}}

* This... sort of, almost, counts: In ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'', the blood of all who have stolen from the Cursed Aztec Chest must be spilled onto it in order for the curse to be lifted. Unfortunately, Bootstrap Bill Turner happened to piss off his crew mates by mailing of a piece of the cursed gold to his son, and was tied to a cannon and dumped into the ocean. Thus, Barbossa is forced to look for his descendant, who apparently would have both the [[MacGuffin]] and the required blood. Of course, a young Elizabeth (assuming that it was a pirate medalionmedallion, and not wanting young Will to be executed as one) steals said [[MacGuffin]], and then later (assuming the pirates would kidnap her due to her being the governor's daughter) uses the ''one name'' that would ensure her kidnapping. (To be fair, she didn't know that.) Thus pretty much setting the plot of the trilogy in motion. The [[Sins of Our Fathers]] part comes in when the crew of the Black Pearl is willing to ''kill'' the Turner child after they're done with them. (Because honestly, do you really think they would have let Elizabeth go if her blood worked?)

* In the 1999 version of ''[[House On Haunted Hill (Film)|House Onon Haunted Hill]]'', the vengeful ghosts arranged the guest list for the party specifically to include the descendants of five members of Vannacutt's staff who didn't die in the long-ago fire so they could kill the descendants of the staff who tortured them decades ago.

* In Lindsay Lohan's version of ''[[Freaky Friday]]'', Anna's teacher subjects her to unfair treatment - simply because, when the teacher was younger, Anna's mother turned him down for a date with him.

* In ''[[Hook (Film)|Hook]]'', the eponymous villain tries to get revenge against Peter Pan by corrupting his children into recognizing him as their father. In the climax, in order to goad Peter Pan into fighting him, Hook threatens to hound Peter's children and their children's children for eternity.

* In "''[[Sharpe|Sharpe's Peril"]]'', [[Sharpe]] discovers that {{spoiler|Barabbas is actually the son of the man that killed Sharpe's wife. Sharpe then tries to kill him for the sins of his father, but he is stopped by Harper. Later, Sharpe asks Barabbas for his forgiveness, which is given, and at the end Barabbas saves Sharpe's life.}}

* Severus Snape, ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', and James Potter.:

** [[Psycho for Hire|Fenrir Greyback]] [[Our Werewolves Are Different|bit]] [[The Woobie|Lupin]] in retaliation for theLupin's older Lupinfather offending him.

* ''[[The Book of Lord Shang (Literature)|The Book of Lord Shang]]'' advises that, if one charged with maintaining the law is to break the law, then he should receive the death penalty, and his children and grandchildren also be punished.

* In ''[[The Children of Hurin (Literature)|The Children of HurinHúrin]]'', Morgoth exacts his revenge on Hurin for defying him by cursing his children and [[Forced to Watch|forcing him to watch]] as he slowly destroys their lives.

** It is also mentioned in a couple episodes that the dishonor for certain crimes in Klingon culture is passed down for a certain number of generations. Worf actually lies about the heritage of the children of Klingon [[PO Ws]]POWs that he discovered because allowing oneself to be captured shames the family for three generations, meaning that said children, and any future children they might have, would be tainted in Klingon society for their parent's perceived sins.

* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' also had an episode named "Sins of the Father", where Uther's [[Backstory]] and Arthur's birth comes to light. It ain't pretty.

* In ''[[Sharpe]]|Sharpe's Peril]]'', Sharpe happens to run into the bastard son of his late nemesis Hakeswill, currently under arrest for {{spoiler|a theft he didn't commit}}. Sharpe beats the poor guy up until Harper stops him, but in the end {{spoiler|Hakeswill Jr. saves the day and Sharpe and Harper's lives.}}

* ''[[CSI]]'': A recent episode had the killer of the week hunting down and executing the grandsons of the men responsible for her grandparents' deaths.

* The Centauri start out in ''[[Babylon Five5]]'' as the targets of this from the Narn. Later they start doing their own sins.

* An episode of ''[[Law and& Order: SVUSpecial Victims Unit]]'' had a whole plot centered around this. A teenage girl is found dead and about two or three months pregnant. At first, the detectives suspect her music teacher...but then it turns out he never touched her, only let her and her boyfriend use his apartment to [[Secret Relationship|have sex]]. It's then revealed that the baby has 62% of its DNA from the mother, meaning that the father is [[Incest Is Relative|related to her]]. {{spoiler|It turns out that her boyfriend, who fathered the baby, is her half brother since her mom's boyfriend (and her biological father) is her boyfriend's father, married to another woman.}}

* Happens in the ''[[Tales Fromfrom the Crypt]]'' episode "Suprise Party", with a side of [[Laser-Guided Karma]]. A man murders his father so he can inherit a house, which hosts partygoers who are eventually revealed to be the vengeful spirits of people his father had burned to death several decades ago. They'd been wanting to return the favor, but since the father is dead, they settle for getting revenge on the son instead.

* In ''2BrokeGirls[[2 Broke Girls]]'' Caroline is hated by many people because her father run a [[Ponzi Scheme]] that cost thousands of people their life savings. While Caroline did not know about the fraud, her lavish lifestyle was funded by the stolen money.

* In [[The Bible]], the penalty of breaking #2the second of the Ten Commandments (worshiping an idol or a false god), is that God will descend his punishment unto you, and your descendants up until the fourth generation. However on the flip side, glorifying him in a manner God finds acceptable, means blessings for ''a thousand'' generations.

*** It's not like the Orks to complain about an inexhaustible source of fresh battle, and they also avert this trope for the same reason, and more so: killing Orks makes them release a lot of spores, that might otherwise come out only much later, if ever. [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil|Don't expect them to thank you, though,]] [[The Berserker|except with]] [[More Dakka]].

* In ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse (Tabletop Game)|Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'', players can choose a flaw for their characters that has them hunted for the misdeeds of an ancestor, either by one extremely longlived being (which are a dime a dozen in the WoD) or by a line of hunters passing down the hunt over the generations. It makes a little more sense in the WoD, as [[Our Werewolves Are Different|werewolves can channel their ancestors' spirits]].

* Heavily used in the ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting.{{context}}

* There's a quest in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] IV: Oblivion]]'', where you must prove that the father of two characters you helped in a previous quest was a thief and recover what he stole. Here's the quest on the [http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Sins_of_the_Father UESP Wiki].

* In ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] 2'', {{spoiler|Firkraag}} torments you partially to take revenge upon your foster father, Gorion, who injured him in a battle many years previously: Gorion died in the beginning of the first game, so he's had to settle for the second best thing. He himself admits that it wouldn't really bring him any closure or anything, [[Chaotic Evil|but he can do it and thus he did]].

* ''[[Call of Duty]] 4'' plays with the concept and [[Lampshade|lampshadeslampshade]]s it: the [[Big Bad]]'s only son is also [[The Dragon]], so [[The Squad]] goes after him, hoping to lure his father out. They succeed... in a way.

{{quote| '''Gaz''': The sins of our fathers...<br />

* ''[[Dragon Quest VIII (Video Game)|Dragon Quest VIII]]''. Rhapthorne, through his various proxies, hunts down the descendants of the seven sages who sealed him in the sceptre, many of whom are quite surprised and know literally nothing about him. Admittedly this was also pragmatic, since he had to kill them all to release his full power.

** The [[Devil May Cry: theThe Animated Series|anime series]] gives us a demon who was once Sparda's apprentice and whom Sparda abandoned before or after his [[Heel Face Turn]]. Naturally, he wants revenge on Dante since Sparda is long dead at that time.

* ''[[Homeworld]]'': The Taidan Empire also uses this trope to wipe out the Kushan's [[Video Game/Homeorld|Homeorld]]planet. They broke a 4000 4,000-year -old treaty forbidding the development of hyperspace engines... a treaty said descendants knew nothing about.

* In the first ''[[Gabriel Knight (Video Game)|Gabriel Knight]]'' game, appropriately subtitled...''[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Sins of the Fathers]]'', the main antagonist wants to exact revenge on Gabriel because {{spoiler|he comes from a family of "shadow hunters", that is, hunters of the supernatural, and one of his relatives had angered the local undead voodoo priestess}}.

* In ''[[Arcanum: ofOf Steamworks and Magick Obscura]]'', the Isle of Despair is a prison colony that no one ever escapes from. Men and women are sent there, and the women who don't flee to the [[Lady Land|Women's Camp]] become property in the men's camp. As do their female children.

*** ''[[The Forerunner Saga]]'' clears some stuff up. Apparently, {{spoiler|humanity was once an interstellar superpower on par with the Forerunners. They encountered the Flood first, and came up with a way to defeat it and drive it away (although it resurged later)}}. The Gravemind's belief that the Flood consuming the galaxy will bring unity ("no more sadness, no more anger, no more envy...") puts his "who is victim, who is foe?" comments into perspective: he thinks he's helping, and humanity and the Forerunners are evil for stopping him.

*** Possibly [[Justified Trope|justified]] in the case of the Quarians; Asari can live [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|over a thousand years]], so many of them probably remember the Geth uprising firsthandfirst-hand.

** [[Wrench Wench|Tali]] references this trope after [[Drowning My Sorrows|getting drunk]], in response to Miranda {{spoiler|killing her father}}. She had discovered her own father had gotten himself, and everyone else on a research vessel, killed trying to reprogram the geth, endangering the entire live fletfleet in the process, leading her to ask "When do we get to stop reacting to our parents and start living for ourselves?" when asked is she sees a bit of herself in Miranda's confictconflict with her father.

* In ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins]]'' - [[Expansion Pack|Awakening]], Nathaniel Howe is attempting to Atone for his father [[Complete Monster|Arl Rendon Howe's]] sins. A disturbingly high amount of players opt to have him killed in retaliation for his father's crimes despite the fact that Nathaniel hasn't seen his father since he was a child.

* In ''[[Star WarstheWars: The Old Republic]]'' the player is sent to a Republic prison planet that is experiencing riots and uprisings among the prison population. One of the rebelling groups is composed of descendants of prisoners. They are very angry that they are imprisoned on the planet even though they are not guilty of any crimes themselves.

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]|World of Warcraft: Cataclysm]]'', the black dragon Wrathion makes it clear that he will not be held accountable for the crimes of Deathwing and the black dragonflightdragon flight.

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':

{{quote| '''Horis Hurlbut''': You are ''banned'' from this historical society! And your children! And your children's children! ... For three months.}}

** In "Treehouse of Horror VI", when no one bothered to help Willie as he was burning to death, [[A Nightmare Onon Elm Street|he vowed to kill their children from their dreams]].

* The 2007 motion capture 3-D movie adaptation of ''[[Beowulf]]'' had this for the eponymous [[Broken Ace]] with his illicit affair with Grendel's mother leads to the birth of a half demon (dragon?), golden -skinned son. When the truce between him and the female demon is broken, she sends out their son, who attacks a village in its dragon form, sparing alive a horribly burned survivor so that he would relay these exact words to the now king Beowulf: The sins of the father are visited upon the sons.

== Webcomics[[Web Original]] ==

* Even over 6070 years after [[World War II]] ended, current German citizens still have to deal with their nation being mocked (and in some cases, hated) by other countries due to the actions of the Nazis. Hence the seemingly-draconian-yet-understandable laws enacted by German authorities to ban anything about Nazism unless they are mentioned or depicted in a historical or artistic light.

[[Category:Sins of Our Fathers{{PAGENAME}}]]