Unexpected Successor: Difference between revisions

* 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.

* In ''[[Betrayal at Krondor]]'', this is part of Gorath's backstory. He becomes chieftain at the age of ''twelve'' when his tribe very nearly gets massacred, including the former chieftain, his father. Oh, and a dark elf like him would otherwise be expected to spend at least a century or two getting prepped for the position and would need to have lots of accomplishments to his name before being considered even marginally eligible.

* 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.