"Ashes (ashes!), dust (dust!)...
My children were a bust.
They shall inherit nothing.
No... no...
My legacy is too great
To throw away on ingrates."
My children were a bust.
They shall inherit nothing.
No... no...
My legacy is too great
To throw away on ingrates."
— Rotti Largo, Repo! The Genetic Opera
A successful bigwig, be it in business, politics, magic or even world conquest, is growing old, and in preparation for an eventual retirement and death, looks to their adult children to see who among them can take up their mantle... and is faced with incompetence, The Slacker, lack of interest, or a Corrupt Corporate Executive in the making. These are by no means an exhaustive list of possible shortcomings, indeed just about anything that can make a parent ask "Why Couldn't You Be Different?" is grounds for this trope. Special mention should go to times when the Inadequate Inheritor is not good/heroic enough, too evil, or not evil enough.
Whatever the case, the prospective retiree doesn't think the inheritor deserve their potential inheritance... at least, not as they currently are.
Cue an Impossible Task, search for a non-standard heir from outside the family (who has a statistically abnormal chance to be an orphan/bastard child of the retiree), or otherwise trying to reform their potential heir or forcibly change them one way or another. Results vary: the heir may become worthy, rebel against their "benefactor" (which may be what they always wanted) or fail outright and prompt the retiree to switch to plan B, become immortal.
Expect this to be a knife through the heart of any children who just want their parent to say "I'm So Proud of You" but have been passed over. In the most extreme cases, they might get an actual knife in the heart to make way for a more suitable candidate. Especially nasty when an iron-handed Patriarch crushed their spirit into Nice Guy and The Dutiful Son and now despises them for it — with bonus points if he had used the threat of Passed-Over Inheritance to help crush them.
May be related The Wrongful Heir to the Throne. If the inadequate inheritor actually gets the position, through guile, lack of other candidates or sheer luck, they may either turn into a surprisingly good leader once actually in that position, or they will become a Sketchy Successor. Compare Game Between Heirs. Contrast Superior Successor and Rejecting the Inheritance. Sometimes (particularly in Feminist Fantasy), a girl will be seen as this because of her gender, and/or be passed over in favor of a less competent male. See also Sucksessor, which includes cases where bloodline is not (supposed to be) a determining factor though sometimes it can (and will) overlap. To avoid this, see Disinherited Child.
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Comic Books
- Astro City: Jack Johnson, the first Jack-in-the-Box, was a Gadgeteer Genius who designed all manner of clown-based crimefighting equipment and fought with the proficiency of any Badass Normal. His son Zach, who only discovered the truth after the original's death, was, if anything, better than his old man. However, after Zach began training the third, a street orphan named Roscoe James, this left his own son, Jerome, somewhat out in the cold. As it turned out, Jerome was neither a mechanical whiz, nor was he a good athlete (his only attempt at it ended in a busted knee). While his father was entirely okay with this, as it meant he'd live a much safer life, Jerome still clearly felt unhappy he wouldn't be able to carry on the legacy—though he did end up saving a few lives thanks to his medical training.
- Batman:
- One of Batman's foes Ra's al Ghul has stubbornly clung to life for centuries via Lazarus Pits and body snatching from beyond the grave since he doesn't believe any of his children are worthy of taking over his criminal empire. He first crossed paths with Bruce Wayne because he thought he could convince Bruce to become his heir with the temptations of power (his empire) and love (his daughter Talia al Ghul). Notably, Talia is competent enough to be his heir, but he has issues with her being a woman and would rather have her give him a male heir, with Bruce as the Chosen Conception Partner.
- Another example is Damian Wayne. It's shown that, in the future, he will become Batman after he accidentally causes the death of Dick Grayson (the first long-term, accepted Batman successor). Bruce calls him out on this immediately, and Damian himself even admits that he can't measure up to Bruce or Dick, but will try anyway, because he promised to protect Gotham. And so he cheats, making a deal with the devil so that he cannot die, and even then, he is still inferior. Bruce sees a vision of this future and thus tells Damian that he can't ever become Batman.
- Disney Ducks Comic Universe: Whether or not Scrooge McDuck considers Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander to be this, thus leaving his fortune to the triplets Huey, Dewey and Louie instead, is a case of Depending on the Writer. Although the usual paradigm is that this is the case, as Donald is typically set up as too likely to squander it and Gladstone's luck-dependent laziness offends Scrooge, some stories instead present Donald as the heir, but one who desperately needs some training (at least in Scrooge's eyes).
- The decision to have the triplets be Scrooge's heirs was made most prominently in the 1953 Carl Barks story "Some Heir over the Rainbow". Taking advantage of the legend of a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, Scrooge made a Secret Test of Character. To test his potential heirs' skills, he wanted to give one thousand dollars to each one of them without them knowing the money came from him. Using three rainbows and three pots, he managed to give one thousand dollars to Huey, Dewey and Louie, another thousand to Gladstone and the last one to Donald. Donald spent the money on a down payment for a new car; Gladstone saw no immediate need for the money so he decided to hide it somewhere; and Huey, Dewey and Louie used their money to help a man search for a treasure. Before Donald's nephews had a return from their investment, Scrooge would, despite considering an "awful injustice" to allow Gladstone to inherit his fortune, choose the lucky bastard over Donald for being the least likely to squander it.
- However, Donald was earlier declared Scrooge's heir in the 1949 story, "Race to the South Seas". And three years after "Some Heir Over The Rainbow", in 1956's "Two is Company", Donald and Gladstone were again competing for the position of Scrooge's heir. And in the 1961 story, "Bongo on the Congo", the whole plot is Scrooge considering Donald his heir and trying to make him better fitted for the role.
- Also, Donald's inadequacy is as writer-dependent thing; in several stories, such as "City of Golden Roofs" and "Crocodile Collector", whilst Scrooge still "wins out" at the end, Donald still displays considerable business savvy. For example, in "City of Golden Roofs", although Scrooge wins by receiving a huge golden nugget, the sizable amount of worked golden goods and sculpted jewels Donald earned would probably have a greater value than Scrooge's huge nugget. And in "Crocodile Collector", Donald allows Scrooge to swindle him out of the $10 thousand he was promised so that he can secretly claim the far larger treasure he discovered whilst searching for Scrooge's special crocodile.
- Empire: Golgoth, a villain who took over the world, has been grooming his daughter who is an innocent princess lookalike, to take over after him. He discovers she killed his wife because she was holding him back and did several other very, very bad things. Following his example. He snaps her neck. Sadly, of course.
- New Gods: Darkseid is known to take a dim view of any of his lieutenants being able to control his empire after he dies... especially his son Kalibak.
- Of course, when he so much as disappears for a few days they immediately descend into declaring open war on each other, so it's probably a justified view.
- Primal Warrior Draco Azul: Ekchuah notes that unlike Draco Azul's past pilots Eric Martinez—a history teacher thrust into the role by bad luck—isn't a trained warrior, and Eric himself laments that he's not cut out for the job. Ramona restores his confidence by showing him people admire Draco Azul as a hero, and that his efforts haven't all been for nothing.
- Robin: While the Rahul Lama is unquestionably disappointed with his grandson's arrogance and views on martial arts he still leaves his school to him in hopes that he'll change and with the sad knowledge that the ancient art he's the last living master of will likely die with him. Following his death his grandson indeed proves to be a Sketchy Successor and their martial arts school ends up replaced with a fast food joint.
- Superman: In Dark Crisis, this seems to be the view concerning Jon Kent as Superman. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League is claimed to have been killed, Jon goes out of his way to recruit a new Justice League. However, most of them refuse to join for different reasons, leading him to take up a Ragtag Band of Misfits. Black Adam, the Sole Survivor of the League's death, runs Jon through the coals with his choices and tells him that it should have been Nightwing to lead the charge, not him.
- Watchmen:
- Subverted with Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt: he was more than capable of inheriting his father's wealth, but instead he gave it all away and built his own financial empire.
- There are hints (but nothing overt) that this was also largely influenced by the fact that his parents had been Nazis. Adrian changed his name and left any connection to them behind.
- Also subverted with Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II. His father was a successful banker/financier who, despite never really getting his son's obsession with birds, left him the money he uses to pay for his crime fighting career. Additionally, Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl was more than happy to let him carry on the name and costume-theme after he retired to be a mechanic.
- Subverted with Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt: he was more than capable of inheriting his father's wealth, but instead he gave it all away and built his own financial empire.
Films — Animated
- Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats: Gertrude Vandergelt left her entire fortune to her niece because she hates her other relatives. No reason for this hatred was mentioned, but given their negative reaction to learning someone else was inheriting instead of them, it's not surprising.
Tabletop Games
- A recurring and profound issue in BattleTech. For every great leader bringing their House to an apex of greatness, there is eventualy a wholly incompetent one who squanders the efforts of their forebears. Perhaps most notable with the Davion family of the Federated Suns, whose prior luminaries included Hanse Davion or Victor Steiner Davion. Unfortunately for House Davion, they ended up with the cowardly, wildly unethical, and actually psychotic Caleb Davion (as in, he experiences severe untreated paranoid schizophrenia that manifests as an Imaginary Friend who acts as a Toxic Friend Influence to encourage all his worst urges). The previously dominant Federated Suns was invaded and nearly conquered (in fact losing its capital world of New Avalon) during Caleb's reign and it takes his successor Julian to just barely start pulling things back.
- Eberron:
- This is a brewing problem in Breland. The king is wise and has achieved great things, but he's also old, and none of his heirs are anywhere near worthy to take on the position. There is a significant republican movement...but its main backer is Lawful Evil and expects it to make him effectively the next king.
- Accusing a Valenar elf of being this is typically followed by rolling initiative. The core of Valenar culture is the belief that the spirits of their greatest ancestors are kept in existence through living elves emulating the ancestors who choose them, and most of the Valaes Tairn take this responsibility deadly seriously. As such, the accusation that someone is failing to live up to that standard - or, worse, actively disgracing the ancestor's legacy - is a direct called shot to the stereotypical Valenar elf's greatest source of pride and biggest insecurity all at once, and when the person you're targeting is a member of Khorvaire's most notable Badass Army, it's a shot you want to be very careful about taking.
- In the Ravenloft setting, Azalin's son Irik was considered an unsuitable successor by his Lawful Evil father due to actually being a decent guy. Azalin eventually executed his own son for rebelling against him, and with no "suitable" heir, was "forced" to become a lich.
Theatre
- King Henry in Shakespeare's Henry IV parts one and two believes his son Hal to be this, since instead of being a proper, honorable prince, Hal spends his time drinking, stealing and chasing skirts with the commonest of lowlifes. Henry eventually confronts his son about his behavior, and in the 2012 BBC production, Hal's rather flippant response earns him a slap in the face
. (Hal isn't really an example, though; he's engaging in Obfuscating Stupidity — well, obfuscating debauchery, but there isn't a separate trope for that — so that he can appear to reform overnight once he becomes king. Shakespeare's audience would have known perfectly well that he grows up to be Henry V, considered one of the most successful of English kings.)
- The titular aging monarch in King Lear prepares to bestow the best portions of his kingdom among his three daughters; after Goneril and Regan have made eloquent professions of their love for their father, Cordelia declares that even though her love for Lear has been dutiful, she proclaims that her future husband will share the duties. Lear ousts a dowerless Cordelia from the kingdom and the king of France marries her, while Lear divides his kingdom between Goneril and Regan, who treat him and his company of knights inhospitably, reducing the number to none, with Lear finding the stormy elements more hospitable than his harsh daughters. Old Gloucester, who himself has erroneously believed a forged letter by his bastard son Edmund that frames Edgar as conspiring against his father's estate, is blinded by Regan and Cornwall, and he joins Kent in rendering his services to Lear, while Cordelia goes out and nurses Lear back to health, before Edmund's forces capture them, with Goneril poisoning Regan before she commits suicide, and Lear reconciles with Cordelia before their deaths.
Visual Novels
- In Ace Attorney, Franziska von Karma accuses Edgeworth of disgracing her father's family name due to his losses at the hands of Phoenix Wright. She's flummoxed when he doesn't care about the insult, since he's had Character Development and learned there were more important things than a perfect winning streak. And because von Karma was a murderer who killed Edgeworth's father and tried to get him accused of murder, but that issue is never really brought up.
- In the Fey clan, Morgan is the eldest daughter, but because of her practically nonexistent spiritual power, she's passed over for the position of Master in favor of her younger sister Misty.
- The final case of Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit reveals that this to be true of the current president of Zheng-fa, Di-Jun Wang. Or, more accurately, the Body Double who has been impersonating the president for 12 years. The Double resented risking his life for the president, and pulled a Kill and Replace scheme. However, the Double proved to be absolutely terrible at running the country.
- This is how Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in is defeated in Spirit Of Justice. It's a legal requirement that the Queen of Khura'in be a Medium capable of channelling the spirit of the Holy Mother, the founder of the Khura'in country and religion, which Ga'ran cannot. Not only does this remove her as queen, ending a Civil War, but it also ends decades of Miscarriage of Justice as any laws she introduced, including the Defence Culpability Act, are declared null and void.
- Shinji in Fate/stay night is a total loser who thinks he's a genius. Except he really does recognize that he sucks and isn't even a magus. That's why Zouken Matou adopted Sakura into the family. Nobody even bothered to tell Shinji that he was now entirely obsolete until a decade after she arrived. The fun part is that the inadequate inheritor and the inheritee? Lose big time to the 'substitute magus.'
- Only in one route, though. In the other two, Shinji loses big time to Shirou instead, after Sakura gave Rider to him. And, of course, Sakura has spent the last eleven years being horrifically abused by both of them, so she's hardly won either....
- As was implied in Fate/stay night and shown in Fate/Zero, all the Matou line after Zouken himself have been Inadequate Inheritors. Shinji is just the culmination of the trend, having no magic potential whatsoever. (His soul does have sort of vestigial remnants of magic circuits, but that turns out to be a really bad thing for him in the only route where it's relevant.)
- It's also made clear that this trope is self-inflicted on Shinji, as he's actually fairly good at non-magus skills. He just wants to inherit a position he was never suited for.
- Haruka in Little Busters! is this to her Big, Screwed-Up Family, who declared that the child of the "criminal" (read: the son-in-law they had thrown in jail when he attacked them in the name of protecting his wife and co-husband) couldn't be the family heir. Kanata, the other twin, was declared by a series of tests to be the "better" child and became the heir. However, despite Haruka spending her entire life thinking Kanata had the easy life, Kanata was also this, belted when she was anything less than perfect and constantly under suspicion of being the "bad one" herself. Learning this and the fact that Kanata was forced to treat her so cruelly by the family under threat that they'd kill both sisters leads Haruka to reluctantly realize that there is no good or bad one and a Daddy DNA Test won't make the extended family love them.
- Shiki in Tsukihime is disinherited because he is extremely sick after an almost deadly accident, and even after recovering is still too bad as a result. Also, he is not a real Tohno, only was fooled - and thus fooled the others - in believing to be. The real Tohno SHIKI was killed, and even after coming back to life he was too mentally unstable.
- In Umineko: When They Cry, wealthy head of the Ushiromiya family Kinzo is dying. His heir, Krauss, has made several bad investments and lost a lot of money. The second oldest, Eva, is intelligent and ambitious, but not very personable and is borderline crazy. The third oldest, Rudolf, is just a womanizer. The youngest, Rosa, has an illegitimate daughter. So what does he do to remedy the situation? Teach them to be better heirs? No. Because he's been dead for over a year before the series begins anyway. In EP7, an Alternate Timeline shows who Kinzo would have considered his ideal inheritor: Lion, the child of his unholy union with his illegitimate daughter, who he gave to Krauss and Natsuhi to raise as their own.
Webcomics
- Drowtales:
- Quain'tana is not necessarily a villain, but has been disappointed by at least three daughters looking to succeed her before settling on Ariel who is really her granddaughter.
- Snadhya'Rune turns out to be an even worse mother when she disowns her daughter Kalki violently, who has kicked the dog in three different dimensions, killing one of Ariel's friends and one of her own after a dinner party. Bonus points to Snadhya'Rune for throwing one hell of a temper tantrum herself (and then pretending it never happened).
- Kill Six Billion Demons:
- Solomon David, an Ageless, ancient God-Emperor with serious Enlightenment Superpowers, allows his sons to serve as his councilors, but will only cede the throne to someone who can draw his blood in a formal tournament. None of them dare to try.
- "Twenty-five generations of my sons have withered and died before me. I do not expect any of you will achieve much else."
- This is the opinion the other six demiurges have of Incubus, viewing him as not worthy of his Key of Kings and associated throne since Maya should have been the one to get them, but refused and chose to walk away from it, leaving them for him to pick up. A fact that Incubus is very bitter about.
- Solomon David, an Ageless, ancient God-Emperor with serious Enlightenment Superpowers, allows his sons to serve as his councilors, but will only cede the throne to someone who can draw his blood in a formal tournament. None of them dare to try.
Web Original
- In A Rake by Starlight, Baron Tylaris knew that his only son was an idiot, so he planned to have someone else take over once he died: himself, via cloning.
- Fen Quest: Lily's woe is that her family has no adequate inheritor: The patriarch's title comes with a duty that requires magic, but none of his descendants (nor their consorts) have shown any magical talent, which means the entire family will lose the title (and all that comes with it) when he dies. She's agreed to her upcoming Arranged Marriage to Lord Shup because his end of the bargain involves supporting her family.
- Homestar Runner: In the Strong Bad Email "replacement", Strong Bad wonders who will take up his email-answering mantle after he retires. He's so disappointed with all the candidates that he resigns himself to "checking e-mails and kicking Cheats 'til the day I die."
- Bruce Goodkind, the richest man in the Whateley Universe and head of the mutant-hating Goodkind family, seems to be having this problem. Oldest son? Came out as a transgender woman and left the family. Oldest daughter? Left to be a movie starlet a la Paris Hilton. Second daughter? Not good with business and won't make an adequate businesswoman. He's left with three sons: one is a brat, but might make good (if he doesn't become a mutant, which is incredibly unlikely at this point), one who is doing a decent job, and the second-youngest, who is a complete genius who would have been an amazing heir had he not become a mutant and thus been thrown out of the family.