Tangled Family Tree: Difference between revisions

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''You have got to live''
''Through time travel, death, and cloning,''
''But that's the way it is.''|''[[X-Men]]'' filk, to the tune of "Wannabe" by the [[Spice Girls]]}}
|''[[X-Men]]'' filk, to the tune of "Wannabe" by the [[Spice Girls]]}}
 
Tropes like [[Luke, I Am Your Father]], [[Family Relationship Switcheroo]], [[Separated at Birth]], [[Everyone Is Related]], [[My Own Grampa]], [[Cain and Abel and Seth]] and the [[Evil Twin]] make for drama, and they're an easy way of shaking up the dynamics of a long-running series. Sometimes a little ''too'' easy. Layer too many of those tropes onto the same group of characters, and what you end up with is a '''Tangled Family Tree'''. This isn't just a [[Dysfunctional Family]], this is a family with members so numerous, relationships so tangled, and circumstances so bizarre that it's impossible to keep track of them without a flow chart.
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'''SPOILER WARNING.''' These convoluted relationships tend to be tied in with every event in the plot, especially the family secrets.
{{examples}}
 
{{examples}}
== Anime &and Manga ==
* ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'': [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111201040848/tenchi/images/d/d8/Tenchi_ova_family_tree_updated.png This says it all, really....] Words do not exist to refer to most of those familial ties. Most likely, if the people involved didn't all live so damn long (or possess magical symbiotic trees), the extended Juraian royal family would have traits that make the Habsburg Chin look positively ''normal''.
** That doesn't even get into the alternate universes, including one featuring Tenchi's ''half-brother''.
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* Let's map the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' family tree, which can be quite a doozy due to all the clones, adoptions, and miscellaneous [[Artificial Human]]-related goodness. First there's the Takamachi family with Nanoha, who's now the mother of Vivio, who's now also the daughter of Fate, who in addition to being the daughter of Precia, is also the daughter of Lindy, connecting her to the Harlaown family which includes Chrono, Amy, Erio, and Caro. {{spoiler|Vivio was cloned from Olivie Segbrecht}}, who has romantic ties with Klaus Ingvalt, the person Einhart was reincarnated from. {{spoiler|Vivio's}} creator-father is Jail Scaglietti, who is also the creator-father of the Numbers, four of which are now {{spoiler|a part of the Nakajima family}}, and is also the creator-father of Zest's clone, who was the father figure of both Lutecia and Agito. He was also the co-creator of {{spoiler|Fate}}. {{spoiler|Agito had since}} been adopted into the Yagami family, which includes Hayate, Reinforce Zwei, and the Wolkenritter. Speaking of the Wolkenritter, it includes Signum, who is implied to be {{spoiler|Agito's original Master}} and thus the person she was born from. Incidentally, Reinforce Zwei was born from the Linker Core organ of both Hayate and Reinforce Eins ({{spoiler|which had been merged}}). Back to the Nakajimas, Subaru and Teana seems to have romantic ties, and Subaru was going to adopt {{spoiler|Tohma, who is currently in a sort of [[Love Triangle]] with Lily and Isis, and is also being sought out by the Huckebein family since they plan to adopt him into their family}}. All clear? Good.
* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', {{spoiler|Kinzo and Beatrice I had a daughter, Beatrice II. Kinzo then [[Squick|had another child]] [[Parental Incest|with Beatrice II]]: Yasu/Shannon/Kanon/Beatrice III. Now realize that Yasushkannontrice is a relationship with two or three of Kinzo's grandchildren, and how ''those'' guys are actually connected in the family tree.}} Yep.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
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** It could be argued that Cyclops is Galactus' father-in-law, although you do have to go through two different alternate timelines to get to that point.
*** This is not an exaggeration, by the way. In the ''[[Earth X]]'' trilogy, it's revealed at the end of the first series that {{spoiler|[[Fantastic Four|Franklin Richards]] is destined to take Galactus' place. And more than one timeline shows that he and Rachel would have fallen in love as young adults had she grown up in her own time.}}
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100212221122/http://members.core.com/~mindset/tree.txt This] is an incomplete version of the actual family tree. Tremble with fear, puny mortals.
** [http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/4/7/10/awesomeness/f_Summersfamim_b1d0238.gif This] is another version of the Summers family tree with fewer ancestors you've never heard of and more pretty colors.
** Still [http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3049/1270629590007.jpg another] which, via tracking minor hookups, encompasses nearly all Marvel's marquee players.
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** Add to that the general [[True Companions|familial nature]] of the Rogues, and the fact that Iris Allen is, well, ''was'' raising Weather Wizard's [[It's a Long Story|son]] and the ties begin to bind a little more. Oh, and since time travel's involved, there's a good possibility that Boomer (who's aged normally into his early twenties) is actually [[Younger Than They Look|Bart's]] ''little'' brother.
** It gets even crazier when you throw in the [[Feuding Families|millennia-old feud]] the first two families have with the third, and that a major reason for the feud is due to said families being related in the first place... [http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Allen_Family hope you have plenty of time on your hands and a firm grasp on your sanity, you'll need it.]
* And [[Superman]], both in his past (the House of El) and present and several alternate futures: the Superman Dynasty, various clones and half-clones, the [[Goo-Goo Godlike]] Ariella Kent (the child of Alt!Superman and one of the Supergirls—no, NOT''not'' the cousin!), an adopted son who is the biochild of General Zod, and dead-then-retconned-out-of-existence/thefamily-then-back-again [[Power Girl]] and the other [[Supergirl]] (the one who ''is'' the cousin). Incidentally, Power Girl and the current Supergirl are essentially the same person, except from different universes. And Power Girl is...ahem...[[Most Common Superpower|bigger]].
** And to make matters worse/better, both the Earth-2 (The original [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] 1930s version, and Power Girl's cousin) and Earth-22 (The [[Kingdom Come]] version) Supermen stopped by the Main DCU durring the 2000s. One of whom died, and came back as a Black Lantern.
*** Them and half a dozen more: Superboy-Prime (A teenage [[Face Heel Turn]]-ed Superman from 'our' Earth), [[Evil Twin|Ultraman]], [[Final Crisis|Overman]], some future Superman who could be from an alternate timeline...
* Decades of [[Donald Duck]] and [[Disney Ducks Comic Universe|Scrooge McDuck]] stories by [[Carl Barks]] and other authors have left them with a respectably tangled family tree, as well. Barks' successor [[Don Rosa]] actually drew the extended (Mc)Duck tree once, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070901021552/http://duckman.pettho.com/tree/american.html as seen here].
** [http://goofy313g.free.fr/calisota_online/trees/ducktrees/myducktree/index.html extended family tree].
* The [[Hawkman]] family tree is almost as bad as the Flashes; no time travel but lots of [[Reincarnation]]. The short version is: Prince Khufu of Egypt and his wife Chay-Ara are continually reincarnated. They become Brian Kent and Lady Penbrook, Nighthawk and Cinnamon etc. etc. etc. until,In the 1940s, they become Carter Hall and Shiera Saunders who were [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] Hawkman and Hawkgirl. They get married and have a son, Hector, who grows up to be the Silver Scarab. Hec marries Lyta Trevor, aka the Fury, daughter of the [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] Fury and adopted daughter of Miss America (a [[Retcon]]; [[Pre Crisis]] Lyta was the daughter of the [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] [[Wonder Woman]]). Then he dies and ends up in The Dreaming, taking on the [[Legacy Character|legacy]] of Garret "The Sandman" Sanford. He temporarily takes Lyta to live there, but when [[The Sandman|the Lord of that realm]] returns, he's banished to the afterlife and Lyta is sent back to Earth. She then has a son, Daniel, who goes on to become {{spoiler|the new Dream (and is therefore in some sense a sibling to the rest of the Endless.<ref>And therefore a spiritual uncle to Superman, since Despair is ultimately responsible for Superman's birth and therefore a mother in spirit, tying in the House of El tangle above)</ref>}} Here's where it gets [[Continuity Snarl|really complicated.]] Immediately [[Post-Crisis]], there were 2 separate Hawkmen in continuity. The original [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] version, and the [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] version both surviving [[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]. A third new version was created in a book called Hawkworld, with the intent of making a fresh [[Continuity Reboot]] like the [[Batman: Year One]], or Superman Man Of Steel limited series. However, nobody bothered to tell the guy making it that both other versions of Hawkman had already been introduced [[Post-Crisis]]. This [[Continuity Snarl|snarl]] was one of many [[Post-Crisis]] continuity problems DC [[Author's Saving Throw|tried]] [[It Got Worse|(and failed)]] to [[Cosmic Retcon|"fix"]] in [[Zero Hour]], so they came up with the idea of merging all three into one single being, which eventually lead to the creation of the "Hawkgod" as well. Meanwhile, Sheira's cousin Speed has a granddaughter, Kendra, who tries to kill herself at the same time as anyone named "Hawk-" is getting written out by ''Zero Hour'' because of the [[Continuity Snarl]], and Shiera takes her over as a walk-in spirit without realising. She eventually becomes the new Hawkgirl in ''[[Justice Society of America]]''. Hector (remember him?) is also reincarnated in ''JSA'' as the son of Hank "Hawk" Hall (no relation!) and Dawn "Dove" Grainger and becomes the new Doctor Fate, but still thinks of Carter Hall (who was resurrected, rather than reincarnated) as his father. Since Hector's {{spoiler|second death (along with Lyta; they were taken back into the Dreaming)}}, Dawn has turned out to have a sister, Holly, who became the new Hawk, and is technically the second Hector Hall's aunt.
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* [[Swamp Thing]]'s supporting character Tefe Holland: The character is the daughter of Swamp Thing and Abby Arcane Holland. Tefe was originally a floating spirit called Sprout, who tried to find a body from a recently deceased person, was eventually given a body through Abby Holland having a baby, which was conceived through the Swamp Thing possessing [[John Constantine]] and having sex with her. Due to Constantine having the demon Nergal's blood in his veins at this time, Tefe is also part demon. She eventually became an Earth elemental like her father, beginning a line of human Earth elementals as a new Swamp Thing in Swamp Thing vol. 3, having all of her father's powers, but retaining a human appearance.
 
== FanfictionFan Works ==
* The [[Harry Potter]] example below is implied in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120427144433/http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3024797/1/That_Malfoy_Family thisThat Malfoy Family]'', a [[Ho Yay|Harry/Lucius Mpreg fanfic]], in which Harry thinks it's very crazy that he's carrying Draco's sibling when they're the same age.
{{quote|'''Harry:''' This will be the weirdest family.
'''Draco:''' If you think that, you haven't seen the Malfoy family tree. ''*shuddering*'' That ''really'' isn't a pretty sight. }}
* A series of short ''[[Vampire Knight]]'' fanfics (''Irit’s Daughter, Gertrude’s Closet, Jocasta at the Crossroads'', and ''Vashti’s Feast'') written by Ms Izzy takes the already messed up Kuran family, and tangles it further. The fact that Yuuki’s parents are canonly brother and sister seems tame compared to Ms. Izzy’s version. While the family itself is pretty small, it is impressively tangled, with their unnamed mother being the product of another brother and sister pair, and upon her mother’s death took it upon herself the continue the family line with her own father, giving birth to Rido and Haruka with him. It is further implied that she had conceived Juri with her brother/son Rido, rather than her father/husband. Not bad for a series that’s under 2300 words.
* The ''[[Death Note]]'' [[Troll Fic]] ''[[Light and Dark - The Adventures of Dark Yagami]]'' is an impressive continuity snarl that features Dark Yagami, Light Yagami's [[Copy Cat Sue|Copy Cat]] [[Marty Stu]] [[Long Lost Sibling]] who is shagging [[Parental Incest|Light's mom (who is also his mom)]]. But it gets more twisted {{spoiler|he apparently went back in time and fathered himself and later became Light's dad.}}
* In the world of the [[Mega Crossover]] [[Fanfic|fan]][[Web Comic|comic]] ''[[Roommates 2007|Roommates]]'' and its [[Spin-Off]] ''[[Girls Next Door]]'' every [[Witch Species|magical]] [[The Fair Folk|being]] from every [[Fanon]] is related. This is as chaotic and [[Mind Screw|weird]] as you might guess and some even have [[Time Master|time magic]] to boot. Someone theorized in the comment section once that the magic family tree must be the unholy bastard child of an elaborate Celtic knot and the [[Timey-Wimey Ball]].
** The other [[Spin-Off]] ''[[Down the Street]]'' seems to do this with [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]].
** And yet another, the [[Ho Yay]] one about the Valjean/Javert ship titled ''Superintendent'' with the characters of [[Victor Hugo]].
* In ''[[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]]'', Ronan has this problem with his harem, which consists of Sakura, Mandy, Taliana and Atni at various points. The first problem is that Mandy is his and Taliana's daughter. The second is that Taliana is Ronan's mother. The third and most perplexing problem is that Taliana is also a clone of Sakura; while it was easy enough to make sense of the first two, that revelation makes Ronan's family tree impossible without time travel, and impossible to draw in a traditional format.
 
 
== Film ==
* In the ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' movie, Sam's [http://tfwiki.net/w2/images2/c/c7/Witwickytree.jpg family tree] apparently suggests two generations of inbreeding. It's more likely however that Sam just did a very poor job on his school assignment.
* In [[The Devil's Rejects]], how the members of the Firefly [[The Clan|clan]] are related to one another is complicated and never fully explained. Otis and Baby refer to each other as brother and sister throughout the movie; Captain Spaulding is Baby's father but doesn't appear to be related to Otis; Mama Firefly is presumably the mother of Baby, Otis (in [[House of 1000 Corpses]] they say she adopted him into the family) as well as Tiny, the deformed giant, and Rufus (from the beginning of the movie). Then we meet a black pimp named Charlie who Captain Spaulding says is his brother (presumably his half-brother).
 
 
== Literature ==
 
* Isabel Allende's ''House of the Spirits'' focuses on a family tree that gets rather ridiculously convoluted by the end, and that's without the aid of anything particularly supernatural.
* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' features lots of [[The Clan]], but only one family can have a Tangled Family Tree - House Frey, whose elderly patriarch Lord Walder Frey is on his eighth wife and has over a hundred living descendants.
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** Lazarus Long did NOT make his mother pregnant with himself (as implied), but in the later books, he is the ancestor of about 99% of all humans. And he did have children with at least 2 of his female clones!
** "[[All You Zombies]]" by [[Robert A. Heinlein]]. It's a very tangled family tree, considering that {{spoiler|there's only one person in it}}.
* [[Discworld]]:
* * Nanny Ogg of the [[Discworld]] novels is said to be matriarch of a family tree that makes a mangrove swamp look straightforward.
** The Nobbs family is said to have a similar condition. It's described as being less of a tree, and more of a briar patch. Add this to the sheer number of artifacts the family has "acquired" over the years and, as Sam Vimes once pointed out, you could probably prove that Nobby is the Dowager Duchess of Quirm.
*** In ''[[Discworld/Feet of Clay (novel)|Feet of Clay]]'', Nobby is actually revealed to be the Earl of Ankh. Of course, the source of this information is an obsessive-compulsive vampire whose hobby involves editing the Morporkian royal line for desirable genetic traits, and had thus obviously never met Nobby Nobbs.
** Also, Pteppic's family in ''[[Discworld/Pyramids|Pyramids]]''. Because they are royal, and the "divine blood" must never be watered down, they already had quite an interesting incestuous family to begin with; Pteppic's marriage prospects are his aunt or his sister. Add this to the fact that anything spoken by a ruling royal is automatically law and treated as such unless repealed, AND''and'' combined with the fact that the empire is seven thousand years old, this makes for a VERY''very'' interesting set of circumstances. Also, Pteppic's grandmother declared herself to be a man in order to keep the throne, so at this point, Pteppic may in fact be his own father, aunt, grandmother, AND''and'' sister, or something to that effect.
* The Ancient and Most Noble house of Black from ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''. Their [http://www.harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Black_Family_Tree.png family tree] is so big and large that you'd be lucky to find a character that ISN'T'isn't'' related in some way to the Blacks.
** It's almost as bad with the [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/thumb/e/e0/Familytree2.jpg/700px-Familytree2.jpg Peverell Family tree.] Seriously, Voldemort is like Harry's great-great-great uncle thrice removed.
*** And yes, the Peverell family tree includes the Black family tree, as well as ''almost every major character in the series''. Wizards are rare enough that they're all varying degrees of comparatively close cousins at this point.
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* The incestuous Mayfair family in [[Anne Rice]]'s Mayfair Witch series.
** Also, [[The Vampire Chronicles|The Great Family.]]
* Margit Sandemo's ''Sagaen om Isfolket'' has this. The 47 book long story begins in 1581, and ends sometime in the 1960's, and it follows a family/clan. The family branches all over Scandinavia, and [https://web.archive.org/web/20120507110859/http://home.c2i.net/ehaehre/katta/sagaen_om_isfolket_slektstre.htm the family tree] rivals that of the European royal houses. Just about everyone can trace themselves back to the founders of the modern Isfolk in several ways, and the older, pre 1581, Isfolk were even worse with their inbreeding, though not willingly all the time. For more convolution throw in {{spoiler|Lucifer, Lilith and Typhon}} as ancestors to some of the modern ones.
* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' plays this for laughs by combining it with [[My Own Grampa]]. While the family tree of Zaphod Beeblebrox (who calls himself "the First") isn't fully revealed in detail, his father is Zaphod Beeblebrox the Second, his grandfather is Zaphod Beeblebrox the Third, and his great-grandfather is Zaphod Beeblebrox the Fourth. In addition, Zaphod the Fourth says Zaphod the First is actually Zaphod the Nothingth. (Confused yet?) According to Zaphod the First/Nothingth, this was all caused by "[[Noodle Incident|an accident with a contraceptive and a time machine.]]"
** It's also known that Ford is his semi-cousin because they share two mothers.
* The Vangers in Stieg Larsson's ''[[The Millennium Trilogy|Millennium]]'' Trilogy are an incredibly screwed-up family with lots of members.
* Due to their obsession with blood purity and the resulting intermarriages and incest, <small>ALL</small> Masters in ''[[The Stone Dance of the Chameleon]]'' are somehow related, although tracing the exact kinships can be a nightmare. The author's website helpfully provides some (complicated) [https://web.archive.org/web/20130122233609/http://www.ricardopinto.com/work/stone_dance/topics/personae/family_trees/index.php family trees.] (Beware of a spoiler in the House of Masks.)
* ''[[Warrior Cats]]''. The authors originally said that there were no possible family trees for the first book, and not without reason. Imagine the mess it caused when they wrote a prequel. And now that they're several generations past the original cast, well... [[Kissing Cousins]] and [[Incest Is Relative]] abound.
* The Pollard family in [[Dean Koontz]]'s ''The Bad Place''. The present generation (co-protagonist Frank, villain "Candy", and their sisters Violet and Verbena) have ''two'' great-grandparents instead of the usual eight, ''two'' grandparents (who were brother and sister) instead of the usual four, and ''one'' genetic parent (a hermaphrodite who [[Truly Single Parent|self-impregnated]]).
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* In [[Middlesex]] by Jeffrey Eugenides, Cal/Calliope's family tree is like this. His parents, Tessie and Milton, are 2nd cousins. His grandparents, Lefty and Desdemona, are actually brother and sister. Then there's the offhand mention early in the book that Lefty and Desdemona are also 3rd cousins...
 
== Live -Action TV ==
 
== Live Action TV ==
* True to its comic book roots, the Petrelli family tree on ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is slowly but surely getting its way there. It started with mom Angela, sons Peter and Nathan, and Nathan's wife and kids. Then Claire was revealed as a Secret Petrelli Child (by Nathan), tying in her adopted family the Bennets and biological mother Meredith. Later we found out that Flint is Meredith's brother, and that Angela's husband Arthur and sister Alice were still alive.
** For a while, it was teased that Sylar was a third Petrelli brother, but this turned out to be a big fat lie. But Sylar has his own problems, as his relationships with his parents and their siblings are kind of screwed up. {{spoiler|Then he joined the Petrelli tree for real by becoming Nathan's [[Replacement Goldfish]].}}
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* On ''[[American Horror Story]]'' Constance has four kids (three of whom we meet). Her son Tate ends up {{spoiler|impregnating Vivien, who also gets pregnant by her husband Ben on the same day, meaning her twins have different fathers. Meanwhile, Tate falls in love with Vivien and Ben's daughter Violet. And all of this crazy happens before we bring up the fact that Tate is also a ''freaking ghost!''}}.
* [[Married... with Children]]: "In Wanker County, nobody's really outside the family."
 
 
== Music ==
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130708120018/http://www.subliminalmessages.com/settlement_71a.htm I'm My Own Grandpa]"
* "None but the Lonely Heart"—A [[Spike Jones]] Soaperetta
 
== Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends ==
 
== Religion & Mythology ==
* Pretty much every named character in [[Classical Mythology]] can be placed somewhere on one massive and convoluted family tree. This is partly because the "long-running continuity" we're talking about here stretched over centuries of oral tradition and scores of different storytellers, and partly because... well... Zeus slept around a ''lot.'' Seriously, on any given family tree he's everyone's ancestor in at least two different places.
** It really doesn't help that the Olympian gods, who via traditional and less-than-traditional means birthed the majority of the gods, were children of the Titans, who were themselves the children of Gaia and Ouranos ([[Incest Is Relative|see a pattern]]?), and that Zeus was far from the only one who considered monogamy beneath him.
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== Radio ==
* ''[[The Archers]]'' has a bit of this going on. The website provides some [https://web.archive.org/web/20111016183237/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/the-archers/whos-who/family-tree family trees].
 
 
== Tabletop Gaming ==
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** Try living in Malfeas, the Demon City, where a significant portion of the local vocabulary is devoted to describing such phenomena as being related to someone's twenty-seventh soul, being the whole-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts of hundreds of [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|demon lords]], or living in a portion of the landscape that happens to also be [[Genius Loci|your father.]]
* The original Black Box edition of the [[Ravenloft]] setting included a series of family trees for such prominent bloodlines as the Boritsis, d'Honaires, Weathermays and Von Zaroviches. As the purpose of these was to seed people's Ravenloft campaigns with story ideas, each tree had several built-in plot hooks, and a few were connected to others through intermarriage or the like.
 
 
== Video Games ==
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** To top everything off, all humans are {{spoiler|descended from Lavos in multiple senses, as the parasite's planetfall wiped out humanity's competition in prehistory, and contact with the Frozen Flame accelerated human evolution and imbued the magical powers that led to Zeal}}.
* ''[[The Sims|The Sims 2]]'' premade neighborhood Strangetown comes with a rather complex family tree. A dead Sim, Glarn Curious, was originally married to Glabe Curious (another theory is that she is his sister). He was abducted by aliens and [[Mister Seahorse|impregnated]] by Pollination Technician 9. After giving birth to twins, Glarn left Glabe and married Kitty Hogleg. They had four kids, and the oldest (Jenny) ended up marrying and having children with Pollination Technician 9 when he crash landed on Earth...
** [[It Got Worse|It gets worse]] with the sequels. In ''The Sims 2'' for PSP, Jenny and the Curious brothers get a new cousin out of nowhere named Sinjin Balani and Pascal Curious gave birth to his alien child, Tycho. In ''The Sims 3: Ambitions'', the family tree is expanded again with Notzo Curious and Zo Curious' parents being revealed. [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/sims/images/6/60/PollyFamTree.png Here is the family tree for those interested]{{Dead link}}.
** Thanks to Story Progression, it can even happen randomly to players. The mechanic will pair up any sims Young Adult or older as long as they're not directly related. Since the game is only able to keep track of so many relationship taboos, which often leads to [[Kissing Cousins|second cousin marriages]] and the like. Sims can also marry their ex-aunts and uncles (since the game only counts them as related if they're married to a relative) and become their cousins' step-parent. Their new child will be the cousin/stepchild's half-sibling/nephew/niece. To further convolute things, the cousin/stepchild can go on to marry the step-parent/cousins nephew or niece. To complete the circle of fuckery, their child can marry and have kids with the ghost of one of their ancestors. Does your head hurt yet?
* Although one might not count it as a "family" tree, the sheer number of people in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series who are, were, pretended to be, or were semi-kinda-possessed-by-fake Ansem is staggering. {{spoiler|1=Master Xehanort took over Terra's body, becoming the character known as "Xehanort." He pretended to be Ansem, and the Ansem in the first game ("Ansem, Seeker of Darkness") is Xehanort's Heartless. The antagonist of ''KHII'' (Xemnas, an anagram of Ansem with an X added in) is Xehanort's Nobody. Also, Riku (who was possessed for a time and even had his body stolen by ASOD in the first game), using ASOD's powers, took on the form and name of that Ansem. The actual real Ansem (Ansem the Wise, the former ruler of Radiant Garden) is first introduced in ''Chain of Memories'' as "DiZ" (short for "Darkness in Zero") and his true identity is discovered near the end of ''II''.}}
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** ''[[Kingdom Hearts 3D|3D]]'' has taken this trope and ran with it to ''extreme'' levels of litigiousness. {{spoiler|Master Xehanort, [[Back from the Dead]], is gathering together a new Organization XIII. Who are among its ranks? ''Thirteen Xehanorts brought together across various timelines.'' A younger incarnation Master Xehanort (known better to players as the [[Bonus Boss|Unknown/Mysterious Figure]] from ''BBS'' and co-existing alongside his older self) was tasked by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (who was able to time travel due to his lack of a body) of gathering thirteen incarnations of Xehanort. Aside of Master Xehanort, Young Xehanort, Xemnas, and Ansem, Braig and Isa (the original personas of Xigbar and Saïx) are revealed to be Xehanorts as well, having been infused with a part of Master Xehanort's heart and gradually turning ''into'' Xehanort (slowly adopting features of his such as golden eyes and pointed ears). Additionally, the plan was to turn ''Sora'' into the final member of this group (luckily, it was thwarted by a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment from Lea, Axel's original identity), and the original plan for the first Organization XIII was to use the Nobodies as vessels for Xehanort's heart.}}
 
=== Visual Novels ===
 
== Visual Novels ==
* ''[[Princess Waltz]]''. It's hard to get into too much detail without major spoilers, but let's give it a shot. A man and a woman got married, and had a son. The woman's sister had two daughters. When the second generation grew up, the elder of the daughters married the son (her cousin), and had a son. However, the younger sister seduced him as well, and had a daughter. When the third generation grew up, {{spoiler|they became the protagonist of the game and his primary love interest}}. Interestingly, [[Elephant in the Living Room|no one ever mentions this]].
 
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' over various spinoffs, has introduced enough cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews, and even ''siblings'' of Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Daphne, and Velma (most of them appearing only once and then never to be seen again) that they probably fall under this trope.
* ''[[Futurama]]'' brings us Fry's family tree, [http://theinfosphere.org/Fry_family_tree seen here]. Both he and his father are [[My Own Grampa|their own grandpas]].
 
 
== WebcomicsWeb Comics ==
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' Bob's adopted daughter Molly is a pink furry monster who was spontaneously generated in a lab accident. Molly shares a tiny bit of genetic material with Bob's girlfriend Jean, making Jean her biological mother "just a little bit." Molly lived for a time with Jean's Uncle Cestus Poole, whom Molly addresses as Uncle Cess. Molly built a sentient robot named Roofus, who regards her as his mother, which makes Bob and Jean his grandparents. Roofus now lives on another planet, being raised by Bob's alien friend Voluptua, whom Molly addresses as "Auntie Voluptua." Molly also has a genetically identical cloned "sister" named Galatea, grown by Dean Martin (no, no ''that'' Dean Martin), who is her de facto father. She is also Jean's biological daughter "just a little bit" just as Molly is. Galatea addresses Bob as "Uncle." Molly regards Roofus as Galatea's nephew.
** Molly now also has a ''second'' clone sister named Djali ("Jolly"), short for Djaliana, who was grown by Galatea. Jolly looks like her sisters except for being [[Kaiju|a couple of hundred feet tall.]] Despite being grown by Galatea, she still considers Jean her mother.
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** And now as of Act 6 {{spoiler|we have an [[Alternate Universe]] where the human ectobiological parents are now the children, and vice versa.}} Just to make things more confusing.
* Though it is (so far) without time travel, he Val'Sarghress family tree in ''[[Drowtales]]'' is quickly becoming this with recent revelations about {{spoiler|Kalki Nidraa'chal}}, who turns out to be {{spoiler|the child of Snadhya'rune Vel'Sharen and Mel'arnach Val'Sarghress ([[Family Relationship Switcheroo|who is Ariel's real mother]]) who are [[Homosexual Reproduction|both women]], and technically makes Kalki Ariel's half-sister}}. And that doesn't even touch on the fact that {{spoiler|Ariel's father is a dark-elf turned ''giant spider''}} or how {{spoiler|Diva'ratrika}} is technically Ariel's {{spoiler|step-grandmother}}. Spoilerific chart [http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9600/sharensarghressfamilytr.png here] for those daring.
 
 
== Web Original ==
* The majority of the cast in ''[[Thalia's Musings]]''. It's the Greek Pantheon.
* Creative (ab)use of the relationship settings on [[Facebook]] can result in these.
 
 
== Real Life ==
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*** The Hapsburg case is one of wanting to keep it "all in the family." Unlike many of Europe's dynasties, they came by the vast majority of their titles through lucky inheritances (having come to power after the black plague devastated most of the noble houses of europe) rather than war, and they didn't want to lose any of them the same way they had earned them. As has been noted, this ultimately produced a literal genetic recipe for disaster.
* [[Older Than Dirt]]: Any given [[Ancient Egypt]]ian dynasty, whose [[Royal Blood]] was traditionally "preserved" via so much incest that it gave Pharoah Tutankhamun a club foot and a cleft palate, and was probably the reason he had no surviving offspring.
** The Greek Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt (founded by Ptolemy, which means "Warrior" who was one of Alexander the Great's Generals.) is so knotted and twisted that it almost defies description. [httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20060701120643/http://www.geocities.com/christopherjbennett/ This website makes a brave effort.] [[wikipedia:Ptolemy VIII|Ptolemy VIII Tryphon]] and his wife (and double-niece) [[wikipedia:Cleopatra III|Cleopatra III]] produced five children: [[wikipedia:Cleopatra IV of Egypt|Cleopatra IV]], [[wikipedia:Ptolemy IX|Ptolemy IX]], [[wikipedia:Cleopatra V Tryphaena|Tryphaena]], [[wikipedia:Cleopatra Selene I|Cleopatra Selene]], and [[wikipedia:Ptolemy X Alexander I|Ptolemy X Alexander I]]. Ptolemy IX secretly married his sister Cleopatra IV, but their mother forced them to divorce (they'd already produced two sons, [[wikipedia:Ptolemy XII Auletes|Ptolemy XII Auletes]] and [[wikipedia:Ptolemy of Cyprus|Ptolemy of Cyprus]]). Cleopatra IV then married their cousin [[wikipedia:Antiochus IX Cyzicenus|Antiochos IX of Syria]], and had another son with him, [[wikipedia:Antiochus X Eusebes|Antiochos X]]. She was then murdered on the orders of her sister Tryphaena (who was in turn executed by Antiochos IX). Her brother/ex-husband Ptolemy IX meanwhile married his other sister, Cleopatra Selene, by whom he had a daughter, [[wikipedia:Berenice III of Egypt|Berenike III]]. He was expelled by Egypt by their brother, Ptolemy X Alexander I, who then married Cleopatra Selene himself (they had a son named [[wikipedia:Ptolemy XI Alexander II|Ptolemy XI Alexander II]]). After they divorced, Cleopatra Selene married three successive kings of Syria, becoming history's only known quintuple queen: [[wikipedia:Antiochus VIII Grypus|Antiochos VIII]] (widower of her sister Tryphaena), [[wikipedia:Antiochus IX Cyzicenus|Antiochos IX]] (widower of her other sister, Cleopatra IV) and finally [[wikipedia:Antiochus X Eusebes|Antiochos X]], her own nephew, by whom she had two sons. Ptolemy X Alexander I married his niece/stepdaughter, Berenike III, and had a daughter by her, [[wikipedia:Cleopatra V of Egypt|Cleopatra V]]. After his death, Berenike married her half-brother/cousin/stepson, Ptolemy XI Alexander II, who had her murdered and was subsequently murdered himself. [[wikipedia:Ptolemy XII Auletes|Ptolemy XII Auletes]], the son of Ptolemy IX and Cleopatra IV, became king and married his niece, Cleopatra V, by whom he was father of the famous [[wikipedia:Cleopatra VII|Cleopatra VII]] (she of Caesar and Mark Antony fame). This tangled web is not at all helped by the fact that all the principal players shared only about four names and have to be distinguished by Roman numeral.
*** If Mark Antony had won the war, it would have gotten a lot worse. For example, the [[wikipedia:Donations of Alexandria|Donations of Alexandria]] would have divided the Roman holdings in the Eastern Mediterranean (and parts of Armenia and Persia conquered by Mark Antony in the name of Egypt) into various kingdoms, each with one of Mark and Cleo's children as King or Queen. In Alexandria, Cleo would have been crowned "High Queen and Queen of Egypt". Her son by Caesar, Ptolemy Ceaser (better known by his Latin nickname [[wikipedia:Caesarion|Ceasarion]], meaning "Little Ceaser"), would be crowned "High King, King of Egypt, heir to Caesar (who was by that point raised to the status of living god), Dictator of Rome". You just ''know'' the various lesser kings and queens would get into all kinds of family feuds and incestuous marriages like later day European royalty. Potentially even Twincest since Alexander Helios ([[Meaningful Name|Alexander Sun]]) and Cleopatra Selene II ([[Theme Naming|Cleopatra Moon II]]) were twins, and both included in the land grab. However it gets really interesting when you consider that the King and Queen of Egypt, traditionally ruled together, were related, and [[Parental Incest|married]]. So Cleo's relationship record would've gone "Brother, other Brother, Caesar, Mark Antony, Son."
* Both Queen Victoria of Britain, and Christian IX of Denmark had a lot of children that were married off to the royalty of Europe according to custom. During [[World War I]], every monarch in Europe, even the rulers of minor nations like Romania, and Greece, were the grandchild of Vicky on one side, and Chris on the other, making them both maternal and paternal cousins. (Victor Emmanuel III of Italy being probably the only exception.) Both the Russian Tsar, and the German Kaiser, spoke English as their first language, and the Swiss press at the time called it "the cousins' war". Surreal.
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