Unexpected Successor: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

A character is way down in the line of succession for some political office, to the point where it's reasonable to assume that they're never going to actually take it. Then everyone ahead of them dies or is otherwise disqualified.

 

Usually this is either because a) some giant disaster occurs, or b) the character in question is evil and killing everyone ahead of them. It can also result from a [[Succession Crisis]].

 

 

Also contrast [[Offered the Crown]], where the monarch is selected, and [[Succession Crisis]], where ambiguity about who the rightful successor ''is'' causes problems.

During the State of the Union, the President usually sends a member of his Cabinet far away in case the Capitol gets blown up, as the "designated survivor." Usually this is someone who no one would notice actually showing up, like the Secretary of Agriculture. When the Capitol ''is'' blown up, the Secretary of Agriculture must go from teaching farmers how to grow peanuts to running a country. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

 

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Code Geass]] R2'', {{spoiler|Lelouch, who was originally 17th in line for the throne, becomes emperor of Britannia after killing his father and using his Geass to force people to accept him as emperor.}}

** And at the very end of the series, {{spoiler|his sister Nunnally becomes Empress of Britannia, and she was ''87th'' in line!}}

* Friedrich IV, [[The Emperor]] in ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]'', was fourth in line to the Imperial Throne, with the three front of him both much better politicians and much more ambitious. Friedrich, believing that he'd never get anywhere near the throne, spent his youth being a wastrel and a careless hedonist until events in the [[Deadly Decadent Court]] made all prior claimants unsuitable. Even as Emperor, his lack of preparation or even desire for the throne colours much of ruling decisions.

* {{spoiler|Natsue Hatamoto}} from [[Detective Conan]]. Sure, {{spoiler|her [[Disappeared Dad]] was the eldest son of the Hatamoto family}}, but it was expected that {{spoiler|the second son/Natsue's uncle Jouji}} or {{spoiler|her uncle Kitarou (as the eldest daughter/Natsue's aunt Mariko's husband)}} would get the family riches, or even {{spoiler|her older sister Akie}}...

** Kinzo Ushiromiya himself is one of these too.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* The graphic novel ''Give Me Liberty'' by Frank Miller. After the death or incapacitation of everyone higher up in the line of succession, the Secretary of Agriculture, Howard Nissen, assumes the presidency.

* In ''[[V for Vendetta]]'', following massive social upheaval, the monarch of Great Britain is "Queen Zara." Zara Phillips is currently thirteenth in line for the Crown (although when the comic was written, she was only sixth).

 

 

* [[Marissa Picard]] and her best friend Clara Stutters discovered that they are princesses of the planet Essex.

 

* This is the entire plot of ''[[King Ralph]]''. In that case, it involves the British Royal Family, and the person selected had no idea he was in line in the first place.

* ''[[Shanghai Knights]]'' had an noble who was way, way far down the line of succession hatch a conspiracy to kill everybody ahead of him so he could ascend to the throne.

'''Lord Rathbone''': (''annoyed'') Tenth. }}

* ''By Dawn's Early Light'', an adaptation of ''Trinity's Child'' below.

* ''[[Eagle Eye]]''. {{spoiler|ARIIA, The Pentagon's supercomputer, attempts to assassinate the president, vice president, and the entire line of succession (except for the Secretary of Defense, who ARIIA plans to pass the presidency onto).}}

** But then, the only thing she's actually seen doing is presenting Richie with his medal, probably because Richie isn't really the type for a more formal ceremony. One assumes that someone else would be in charge.

*** That would be the mariachi band leader.

** Also, Johnny English himself only gets promoted to field agent because every single other field agent gets killed.

* In ''Stardust'', after the king dies, his sons kill each other so the remaining one can take the throne. They all end up dead, but Tristan's mother reveals that she is the king's only daughter, meaning that Tristan is the only surviving male heir and thus, the new king.

* Used as a one-off joke/[[Take That]] at the end of ''[[My Fellow Americans]]''. {{spoiler|Because they were corrupt and caught,}} The President and Vice President both resign. Former Presidents Kramer and Douglas (the protagonists) realize that that means the Speaker of the House is next in line, and Douglas remarks "Oh no, not '''him!'''". At the time of filming, the speaker was Newt Gingrich.

* ''[[Kull The Conqueror]]'' starts with the eponymous barbarian (played by [[Kevin Sorbo]]) being denied in joining the king's army, as all of them are noble-born. Then the king goes berserk and murders most of his successors before being mortally wounded by Kull. While the captain of the guard and a nobleman bicker over who should claim the crown, the king decides that all three should be punished and gives the crown to Kull before dying (believing that Kull will hate being king). The priesthood approves, and, suddenly, the captain of the guard must bow down before a barbarian he has just rejected from the army.

* <s>Ermintrude</s>Daphne from ''[[Nation]]'' by [[Terry Pratchett]] spends her childhood being told by her grandmother that she needs to learn how to behave like a lady; if 138 people die, her father will become King of Great Britain and Ireland. One outbreak of Russian Influenza later...

** When the Gentlemen of Last Resort come with the news that her father is now king, she asks nervously if her grandmother had done anything...silly.

* Also briefly mentioned in Gaiman's story, "We Can Get Them For You Wholesale".

* ''Deep Six'' by Clive Cussler. The Secretary of State becomes the Acting President.

* ''Trinity's Child'' by William Prochnau. As the result of a nuclear attack on the U.S., the Secretary of the Interior assumes the Presidency. Later, the President is found to still be alive, and a power struggle ensues.

* ''Warday'' by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka. After a nuclear attack, the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (the highest ranking remaining official) becomes President.

** This is several years after Washington, D.C., is nuked by the [[Lizard Folk|Race]] near the start of the [[Alien Invasion|invasion]], eliminating much of the succession line, including the VP.

** A sort-of case in the ''Colonization'' series, taking place 20 years after ''Worldwar'' with Vyacheslav Molotov, who is the leader of the Soviet Union after Stalin's death. In [[Real Life]], Molotov never wanted to lead the country, although he was temporarily a member of a triumvirate. Additionally, Heinrich Himmler is the new führer of the Greater German Reich after Hitler's death, although that is not unexpected.

** King Robert Baratheon hails from a cadet branch of the Targaryen line, so his succession was just as unlikely. By all accounts he graciously accepted the position of King after he smashed the Targaryen dynasty, but before he could even be crowned there were a few tense moments where anyone from Ned Stark, Tywin Lannister, and even Jaime Lannister could have proclaimed themselves king, but didn't. Then there's also the unfortunate fact the legitimate successor that he killed (Rhaegar Targaryen) would have been a perfectly decent king compared to his father Aerys.

** Later, in the North, Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North at the start of the books, has five legitimate children (three boys, two girls), an illegitimate son and a younger brother. Both brother and bastard son have taken the vows as members of the Night Watch and are therefore removed from succession (Jon Snow, the illegitimate son couldn't have inherited anyway). {{spoiler|After Lord Eddard is executed, Robb, his oldest son becomes King in the North (the old title his family held before the Tagaryen conquest). His younger brother Bran is his heir until he has children of his own. Then both younger brothers are presumed dead, and succession passes to the oldest sister. The younger sister is also considered dead by this point. Somewhat desperate, the young king decides to legitimize his brother (the uncle is also missing by now) and name him heir. He then dies. So, Jon Snow is the king in the north and doesn't know it... Talk about unlikely.}}

*** In ''A Dance with Dragons'', we learn that {{spoiler|her nephew, Aegon Targaryen, actually survived and has been living in hiding, which makes ''him'' first in line for the Targaryen succession, as the eldest male descent of the last Targaryen king. This all only makes Dany ''even more'' unexpected.}}

* Prince Roger of the ''[[Prince Roger]]'' series is behind two siblings and his brother's kids in line for the throne. Then while he's marooned on a backwards planet {{spoiler|all of them except his mother are assassinated and she's raped both physically and [[Mind Rape|mentally]] until she can't carry out the business of government.}} By the end of the series, he takes the throne.

* The Balitang family in Tamora Pierce's ''[[Tortall Universe|Daughter of the Lioness]]'' books- the line of succession in the Copper Isles goes as follows (based on the beginning of ''Trickster's Choice''): Oron, Hazarin, Dunevon, Mequen Balitang. When {{spoiler|Oron dies from old age and Hazarin becomes king,}} the fact that Mequen's in line to the throne becomes a lot more important. When {{spoiler|Hazarin dies and Mequen is murdered, his (toddler) son Elsren becomes next in line to the throne. Things go downhill from there.}}

** In the prequel ''Polgara the Sorceress'', the whole hidden Rivan line of succession Polgara spends half her life protecting flows from a youngest grandson, the sole survivor of a slaughtered royal family. Subverted in that he doesn't actually get to rule; they need to hide him and his descendants.

* ''Inferno'' by Roger [[Mac Bride]] Allen. Political wags had joked that nobody would assassinate the governor of the planet, Chanto Grieg, because the designated successor to the office was widely expected to be the equivalent of the Speaker of the House in the USA: President of the Legislative Council Shelabas Quellam, a man widely known to be good-natured but completely ill-suited to the office of Governor were he to ascend to the office. But Governor Chanto Grieg of the planet Inferno is indeed assassinated. Imagine the look of surprise on everybody's face when Chanto Grieg's will is officially read by his lawyer. The next Governor of Inferno is actually {{spoiler|Sheriff Alvar Kresh}}. Suffice it to say that Grieg knew what he was doing.

 

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** She was actually asked to resign her position by the President a few days earlier, after going against his wishes when dealing with a teacher's strike. Her resignation would be have been made official when she got back to Caprica from the ''Galactica''.

* Part of the aliens' plan in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Aliens in London" was to kill off enough of the British government to make the MP who they'd replaced with an alien into Prime Minister.

* ''[[Jericho]]''. Nuclear attacks leave the Secretary of Health and Human Services as the highest surviving official. [[Divided States of America|Some people do not agree...]]

* A sketch in one of [[Spike Milligan]]'s shows had a Britain devastated after a nuclear war where the national anthem was "God Bless Mrs Ethel Stokes".

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

 

 

* Ashnard in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance'' killed his father and everyone who was ahead of him in order to get the throne of Daein, starting from fairly far down the line of succession. The sequel claims he killed everyone else of by {{spoiler|making his father sign a blood contract, then invoking it, everyone but his father died randomly in what people thought was a plague}}. This is unpopular among the fanbase as it seems to have been thrown in there to demonstrate the power of the {{spoiler|blood contract}} (which was never mentioned in the first game), and takes away from Ashnard's personality of loving to kill people firsthand.

* This can happen to the player in ''Shogun: [[Total War]]'', and possibly its sequels. Because of the way that births of heirs, aging, and succession are modelled, if you fail to manage your family properly, odd stuff can happen. Only the player's current character can die of old age or sire children, and the chance is random on any turn with penalties for age. For instance, the 90-year-old uncle of the current Daimyo, immune to age since he's not the head of the family, could be the only one left if the Daimyo's sons all die in battle or assassinations. He succeeds the throne when his 60-some year old nephew dies, and then himself dies the next turn on a random old-age roll buoyed up by 30 years of penalties, ending the game.

** In later games in the [[Total War]] series, the game doesn't end, your country "merely" goes into civil war as any general with a drop of royal blood tries to claim the throne. The player is allowed to pick one of the claimants to make the ''de facto'' legitimate heir, and everyone else gets treated as a Rebel faction by the game. Players at risk of this have been known to marry a princess to their best general, which gives him a claim to the throne too. After all, if you're gonna have to fight your own guys, might as well do it with your best commander and biggest army. In in-game terms, this can result in a minor lord, knight, or even ''commoner'' being vaulted onto the throne.

* A [[Succession Crisis]] in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' leaves nearly everyone with a semi-legitimate claim to the throne either dead or otherwise disposed of, paving the way for Delita, a once-poor [[Farm Boy|stable boy]] who worked his way up through the military via masterful [[Xanatos Speed Chess]], to take the throne of Ivalice by marrying Ovelia, the only surviving claimant just before her coronation. Ovelia's ascension was just as unlikely and just as masterfully orchestrated, only by powers beyond her own control. She too was a commoner who was [[Changeling Fantasy|switched at birth]] with the ''real'' Princess Ovelia, who had already died, and raised as the ailing king's younger sister. She was then used as a political pawn by Duke Goltana, who intended to place her on the throne, assume power as her regent, and then have her executed. Ultimately, Goltana is betrayed and murdered (by Delita), even though his faction wins the War of the Lions, so Ovelia ascends to the throne as a proper queen ... or would have, had Delita not married her and become king by default. {{spoiler|He then goes on to kill her, but that's just because she went crazy and tried to kill ''him'' first}}.

* ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' sees command of the [[The Empire|Imperial]] army fall into the lap of Judge Zargabaath, the rarely seen low man on the Judge Magistrate totem pole simply because all the other Judges are either dead or have jumped ship.

* In the ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' module "The Bastard of Kosigan", your character is the illegitimate son of the present Count's younger brother; the present Count has two legitimate and one illegitimate son, and the elder legitimate son has a wife and son. Over the course of the game, all five people in line ahead of you (your father is already dead) get killed off by you/Alex/each other/French assassins, leaving your character with the best claim. The French plot initially involved killing you off as well, which would have left a French general with the title by virtue of being of a branch of the family that diverged several centuries ago.

* The player character in the ''[[Mechwarrior]]'' reboot is fourth in line of succession for his family, the planetary rulers, and ends up becoming a lazy, party-loving [[Jerkass]] as a result. Then the rest of his family is assassinated and he suddenly finds himself in the front lines...

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* As his [[Start of Darkness]] reveals, Redcloak from ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' was the newest acolyte in the hierarchy of the Dark One's priesthood, and became the High Priest because {{spoiler|the Sapphire Guard killed everyone else in the order except him.}}

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'':

** Azula becomes very briefly Fire Lord in the end of Season Three (though the coronation gets interrupted just before she's actually crowned). As far as we are given to understand their succession scheme, she is the lowest in the entire line of Sozin: the youngest ''and'' a girl, though since she's also the only girl born into the family in the period we see we don't find out how much that impacts her eligibility. It doesn't seem and isn't treated as odd because she was the only one left anyway. But ten years earlier? The succession evidently ran Azulon --> Iroh --> Lu Ten --> Ozai --> Zuko --> Azula. Sixth and last in line. After this we have to go to pretty distant cousins who never appear, given Sozin and Azulon were apparently only children.

== [[Real Life]] ==

* Further down [[The House of Windsor]], George VI was not expecting to become King, going for a military career. Then his brother abdicated.

* While it has never actually come into play beyond the well-known examples of Vice Presidents taking over for their dead Presidents, the US government has a very specific [[wikipedia:United States presidential line of succession|line of Presidential succession]] that specifies who would become President in the event of the inability of multiple people in line to serve. This did come up among pundits in the aftermath of the 1981 assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan, where Secretary of State Al Haig stated to the press, "Pending the arrival of the Vice-President, I'm in charge here at the White House." While he meant that he was just running the White House and Presidential offices until VP George H.W. Bush could return from his vacation in Maine, the pundits all ignored the context and treated it as if Haig was trying to stage a coup. (Until Bush could be contacted, the acting President was technically Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, though his primary responsibility was command over US nuclear forces until Bush could be contacted.) Because this line of succession also puts a hard limit on how far down the governmental food chain the Presidency can fall, the Secret Service makes certain that, at any event where the entire succession would be expected to appear (such as a State of the Union Address), one person in the line of succession is ''not'' in attendance, instead being kept at a safe house far enough away that no single plausible catastrophe could kill him along with the rest of the succession.

** The "Designated Survivor" rule has been unofficially extended by Congress to include at least one Senator and one Representative, so that in the event of a decapitation strike there would also be successors to the roles of Senate President Pro Tempore and Speaker of the House.

** The aforementioned line of succession is somewhat random. Currently, if something happens to Obama, the office passes first to Vice-President Biden, then Speaker Boehner. Okay so far. If something happens to all three, as of December 2011, the man the United States would turn to is...Daniel Inouye, the 85 year-old Senator from Hawaii who holds his position solely by virtue of being the longest-serving member of the majority party. (The spot was held by the even older Robert Byrd until his recent passing.) The Secretary of Homeland Security, who you'd think ought to be in charge after a decapitation strike, is ''last'' in the list. This is because the rest of the line of succession is determined by the age of the office, and since the Department of Homeland Security is the newest department, the Secretary of Homeland Security is last in line, while the fourth in line is the Secretary of State. (Besides, one imagines they'd be rather busy at that moment.)

* [[Gerald Ford]], the only ''truly'' unelected President Of The United States. All arguments about contested elections aside (and there are plenty), Ford was never elected to the vice presidency (he was appointed after Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned), then became president after [[Richard Nixon]] resigned. Then he lost his first election. All Gerald wanted to do was be Speaker of the House.

* While we're discussing the Tudors, in 1547, when Henry VIII died, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots was 4th in line for the English Throne. With three healthy legitimate children alive, it was considered very unlikely the Stuarts would ever get a hold of the throne. All three of his legitimate heirs assumed the English throne at some point, and all three died childless. 56 years after the death of Henry VIII, [[The House of Stuart|James VI Stuart]] of Scotland assumed the English throne as James I.

* The possibly greatest subversion of the trope was [[wikipedia:Ramiro II of Aragon|Ramiro II of Aragon]]. The fourth son of King Sancho, he wasn't expected to inherit or hold a political position at all and became a priest. However, all three of his elder brothers died without issue, two of them after having seized the crown. He was then literally taken from his abbey, given a Papal permission to abandon his vows so he could guarantee the survival of the dynasty and crowned. He complied, married, had a daughter, abdicated to her and had her married when she was ''1 year old''. With his deed accomplished in record time, he took the vows again and went back to his abbey.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Politics Tropes]]