"It's been chaos for four years. Five presidents, followed by an ineffectual council...We'll have a new president by the end of the Games, and there will be blood on the street."
— Commander Barrabas, The Victors Project
In theory, when the King dies, his heir steps straight into the vacancy, replacing him without any fuss, but too often that only happens in theory. In practice, the deaths of kings can be occasions of high drama. Rival claimants — with or without Royal Blood — dispute the succession, and even after the victor is crowned, they'll discover that their predecessor has left them with a host of problems, leaving their throne unstable for years to come.
The first problem is deciding who is the rightful heir. There might seem to be a single clear candidate, but any evil prince worthy of the name can produce documents 'proving' the Crown Prince is ineligible, and must be passed over in favor of themselves (if he doesn't decide to simply resort to outright murder). Missing heirs will come out of the woodwork, possibly impostors seizing the moment, possibly the real thing. Other powerful figures with no legitimate claims of their own but plenty of ambition (especially the Evil Chancellor) may set themselves up as Kingmakers so that they can become the Man Behind the Man for the winning side. And then there is sometimes The Usurper, who often prefers to dispense with questions of legitimacy and take the throne by force because no one else can or will stand up to him and/or he just slaughtered everyone with a legitimate claim to the throne. Expect lots of backstabbery in this Decadent Court.
This is naturally even worse when, in fact, there is no way to determine the rightful heir. For instance, Roman emperors never had their laws codify who was the emperor's heir (though some techniques were used to try to secure the succession), and while Peter the Great decreed that the Tsar would name his heir, he never actually designated one, leaving the field wide open. An Elective Monarchy is almost bound to have a crisis. If the position is electoral, why not just hold a vote? Election Denial will definitely get in the way of things, candidates crying out "voter fraud" at the drop of a hat under the pretense of a conspiracy.
If the rightful heir is foreign royalty, particularly the monarch of a rival country, almost the entire court will unite to prevent them from inheriting the crown out of simple self-interest. The foreign heir will object to this, vigorously, and he will have an army backing him up. When there are several candidates with a convincing legal argument, the dispute is normally settled on the battlefield, often with the death of one or more of the claimants.
Female heirs (and sometimes, even males claiming inheritance through the female line) may face more difficulty in becoming the next monarch. In countries with a long tradition of ruling Queens, they might stand as good a chance as anyone. Elsewhere, however, the alternative male candidates will argue that women shouldn't count, often with the help of an army. Such a situation occurred with Henry I of England's designated heir Matilda (Henry produced over 20 bastards, but only two legitimate kids who grew to adulthood, and she was the only one left by then).
Similar problems arise if there are other restrictions on who may hold the crown, such as race, religion, or magical talent. If the rightful heir is underage, they might be passed over completely, but more often, they'll get a regent. The great magnates will compete vigorously for this post, with its near-royal status and opportunity to corrupt the young ruler. However, even when the laws state that a Queen cannot rule, it is not unknown for a country to use Loophole Abuse to get out of a Succession Crisis — said loophole frequently being the laws not stating what gender a King must be. More than one nation has thus ended up with a woman King.
Sometimes there's a time limit involved: the prince must be crowned king within a specific timeframe or at a specific time, otherwise someone else gets the kingship. Other times, though, there are no traceable heirs. The late king was childless, and all his close relatives are dead, unacceptable, or unwilling to accept the crown. This gives all the neighboring countries an excuse to nominate a friendly noble, or discover some distant relationship.
Or there can be succession mandates with serious penalties. For example, the Grimaldi family owns the country of Monaco, because, basically, they got a contract from France saying so back in the 13th Century. However, their contract ends if the current Prince (or Princess) dies without a direct descendant. There were worries for a time that Monaco might revert back to French control as the then reigning Prince’s only son and eventual successor was unmarried and without legitimate children at the time and the law meant that if he died without children, the throne wouldn’t be able to pass to his sisters’ children, as they are not his direct descendants. It looks like there have been some changes in the activities of the members of the House of Grimaldi, and the chance that France would be able to take Monaco back effectively ended in 2002 when the two nations signed a treaty that allows Monaco to unilaterally change its succession rules if needed.
Even if the new king is the old one's son, they'll soon discover their training didn't properly prepare them for the reality. More often, in fiction, the throne will go to someone completely unprepared, either a young prince who didn't expect to gain the throne for many years, or a distant relative or younger prince who never expected to gain the throne at all, and the kingdom will be on the brink of disaster when they take over.
The crisis may be external — if the old king died in battle, the new king is going to have to rally a defeated army and turn the war around. Or, it may be internal — examples include an empty treasury, impending (or ongoing) famine, or a brewing rebellion. Either way, the new king will be sorely tested before their crown is safe.
If there is no real heir, the trope Offered the Crown can produce this as nobles intrigue to get their favorite candidate offered it.
The Rightful King Returns is also a common way for this plot to be resolved.
Should the crisis go on for long enough, a Revolving Door Revolution may result.
Note that this trope is not exclusive to monarchies by any stretch: For a particularly common political plot in the modern day, see the United States' 25th Amendment.
This is Truth in Television! However, the preponderance of constitutional monarchies (for those nations which still retain a monarch) make future occurrences of this trope highly unlikely. National legislatures ultimately dictate who is or is not eligible for the throne and most constitutional monarchies have clear chains of succession spelled out in law. In the UK, for example, it would take a severe disaster to eliminate heirs to get to the point where there would be a succession crisis. Even if a country declares itself a republic, this doesn't avert the situation entirely — the US has its share of difficulties. See below for Real Life examples.
Compare Deceased Estate Conflict, which is when the focus of the conflict is over the deceased's assets, not their leadership position.
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Anime & Manga
- Basilisk concerns a succession crisis being resolved in advance by having a proxy war between two ninja clans decide who the Shogun's heir would be. The war destroys both clans, which were on the verge of resolving their feud when the Shogun had them start killing each other for reasons that most of them didn't even know.
- In Beelzebub, if the current Lord Beezlebub has too many children (read: more than one), demons are obviously going to create factions over in-fighting, and civil war will eventually start, threatening both the family itself and the entire kingdom. Case and point: Baby Beel and his older brother En. Though, it's assumed that whoever inherits the Beelzebub is the true successor to the throne. Since En did not inherit the title despite being the eldest, it's obvious who their father's successor is. This causes En a considerable amount of (somewhat childish) angst, and claims that he is an "unwanted child," perhaps in realization of that and the fact that he tends to act like a Spoiled Brat.
- Berserk's Golden Age arc has one approaching in the Kingdom of Midland. The sitting king only has a daughter, Charlotte, so his brother is expected to inherit. But then said brother tries to murder Griffith due to the threat posed by the common-born mercenary, who was granted a peerage for his victories for the Crown and is courting Princess Charlotte. Griffith retaliates by having Guts assassinate the prince, and he accidentally kills the man's son in the process as well, making Charlotte the only heir. Then everything Goes Horribly Wrong.
- Le Chevalier d'Eon has a Russian story arc about the Palace Revolutions that brought Peter III and Catherine II to power.
- Code Geass is partially driven by the maneuvering of various claimants to the Britannian throne seeking to solidify their claim. The fact that the Emperor is still alive doesn't bother them too much. The series concludes with Lelouch brainwashing Pendragon's aristocracy and royalty, defeating Schneizel, and becoming the first ruler of the entire world... only to get assassinated by Suzaku two months later. It turns out, he planned his own death so that Nunnally would get the title of Empress, and rule in a peaceful world united by a mutual hatred of him.
- The Emblem of Blood incident was a feud among the various claimants to the Britannian throne during the period when Charles became Emperor. The death of their mother inspired him and his brother, V.V., to pursue their dream of slaying God.
- Averted in the Alternate Continuity manga Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally, where Cornelia and the Japanese expect one of these after Charles starts enacting his master plan and throws the Empire into chaos. Cornelia wants to have Euphemia succeed him and is expecting a bitter struggle, only to have their brother Schneizel shock everyone by throwing in his support for Euphie as well, leaving her with the backing of the one man who could have easily been her fiercest competitor. She stays as the 99th Emperor of Britannia at the end of the manga.
- A smaller-scale version occurs in Fruits Basket with the large, wealthy (and old) Sohma family. After Akito's father, Akira, dies, there's a huge dispute over whether his wife Ren or his child Akito should take over as Head of the Family. Akito ends up winning since it's in Akira's will, but considering that we only hear about that stipulation from the head maid (who has always despised Ren) after the conflict has had some time to escalate, it's possible she made it up. The factions among the servants are still butting heads a decade or so later.
- In Fullmetal Alchemist, the many clans of Xing are united under the Emperor, who sires an heir with a concubine of each clan. The current Emperor is ailing and, to prevent a civil war when he dies, has promised the throne to whichever of his children can bring him the key to eternal life. Ling and May are both driven by their desire to reach the throne, Ling to ensure peace and May to protect her clan, and independently come to Amestris in order to find a Philosopher's Stone. Ling ultimately becomes the Emperor, declaring his intent to abolish this system of clan warfare and specifically promising May that he will ally with and protect her clan from any aggressors. May is shown doing quite well in the epilogue.
- In The Heroic Legend of Arslan, there is Arslan who is making his move to free Pars from Lusitania and Silvermask/Prince Hermes, Andragonas' nephew who also wants to undermine Lusitania from within. Parsian officers in exile recognize that because there are two contenders for the throne, liberating Pars will not bring peace to the country. Not helping is the fact that King Andragoras has no intention of leaving his crown to either of them, despite the fact that no other potential successors exist.
- Jujutsu Kaisen: Upon Naobito Zen'in's death during the Shibuya Incident, a special clause in his will leaves Megumi as head of the clan instead of Naobito's son Naoya. Even though several members of the clan really would rather have Megumi lead them (since given the circumstances he is a better choice from a political point of view due to having better personal relations with the Gojo and Kamo clans), Naoya immediately begins plotting to have Megumi killed. This ends up biting him in the ass when Maki and Mai become collateral damage in his latest scheme: Mai's death pisses off Maki enough that she wipes out the entire clan.
- While not done with royalty, the Sumimura and Yukimura families of Kekkaishi have a vicious rivalry with one another over who is the legitimate heir to the Hazuma style of kekkai that their master, Tokimori Hazuma, developed. As both families possess the Houin mark on their bodies, the result has never been truly settled.
- Kinnikuman's final arc featured this. At the beginning of the series, everyone knew that Kinnikuman is the prince of the Kinniku tribe's royal family, but was far too stupid to be considered king. But after taking a level in badass and proving to be a worthy successor, it turns out that there was a fire in the hospital where Kin was born, and he could have been mixed up with five other babies. In true fashion, a wrestling tournament is held to see which Kinnikuman is the rightful heir.
- In Magi: Labyrinth of Magic, after the second Kou Emperor died of illness most likely a lie by his wife Gyokuen, everyone believed that the successor would be his first son Kouen. The fact that Gyokuen succeeded as the Third Emperor shocked everyone and supporters of Kouen immediately began to revolt.
- Ōoku: The Inner Chambers is about harem politics, so this trope is a constant.
- Reverend Kasuga's primary motivation in the second and third volumes is avoiding the massive succession crisis that she feared would occur if it became known that Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu died without a male heir. Anyone that has read volume one (set about 80 years later) is well aware that the secret came out at some point.
- Two shoguns later Tsunayoshi's only heir died, and even after she hit menopause, she held off naming her niece Ienobu successor as long as possible (despite Ienobu being obviously the most qualified candidate) because her father had been rivals with Ienobu's grandfather.
- Ienobu died with only one sickly, underage heir, reviving the succession crisis, which culminated in a scandal that brought down the senior chamberlain and the privy counselor. This rendered them unable to oppose the succession by coup of Yoshimune of Kii.
- Yoshimune's two older daughters are in competition for the throne (as the eldest has significant physical and emotional disabilities) but she resolves the crisis by abdicating in favor of the eldest and then ruling from behind the scenes to prevent her younger daughter, Munetake from seizing power.
- And then the crisis is revived yet again when Ieharu's only daughter dies, with Munetake promoting the claims of her daughter Sadanobu, only for Ieharu to remove her from the succession altogether after Munetake dies by having her adopted as the heir to another family, all at the instigation of Sadanobu's rival for the throne, Harusada. Then she abdicates her claim to the throne altogether to ensure that it goes to her son, making Ienari the first male shogun in decades. Harusada did this to ensure that she'd hold the power behind the throne, without the pressure to bear a daughter.
- However, that leads to the next succession crisis: Ienari has so many children that one of these is inevitable. Harusada took it upon herself to poison the grandchildren she doesn't like (and it's implied she did that because she was bored) and after her death, the various concubines started poisoning each other's children. However, Ienari took a page from Yoshimune and abdicated in favor of one of his sons. He also pre-empted another crisis by declaring Ieyoshi's daughter Iesada next in line after him, as she was the only one of his children to show any competence.
- Another begins to happen during Iesada's reign, as the nobles are divided between Lady Tomiko, who's closer in blood to Iesada but young and female, and Yoshinobu, whom many favor because he's male and quite intelligent, but Iesada considers him to be heartless and unfit to be shogun, believing he would cause the ruin of the Tokugawa regime. Complicating things further is that Iesada conceives a child, something she thought impossible to do because of all the times she was poisoned. She ends up dying in the middle of her pregnancy though, taking the child with her, and Tomiko is named heir, taking the name Iemochi.
- Iemochi was initially content to let Yoshinobu be her heir, knowing that many would have preferred him to be shogun over her anyway, but after he alienated everyone with his arrogance, she began seeking a new heir, adopting a boy from a branch family. Once she dies of beriberi-induced heart failure, her wishes for the succession are promptly ignored, with the excuse that they needed an adult to lead since they were at war. And then Yoshinobu's actions cause the shogunate to be abolished entirely.
- Reborn! (2004) has one of these when Xanxus shows up and demands to be the 10th boss of the Vongola Family. It's not a perfect example though, because the 9th is still alive. Well, for a while, anyways.
- One of these takes place in Red River (1995), a manga set in the Hittite Empire. Yuri Suzuki is the concubine of Prince Kail Mursili, one of the sons of King Suppilinuma I, and she arrived there via Time Travel when the King was very old and his consort, Kail's Wicked Stepmother Queen Nakia, was already scheming to get her son Juda as the heir and kill Kail (despite Juda not wanting to inherit). When the King actually died, around the same time The Plague hit Anatolia, things quickly went From Bad to Worse, with Yuri and Kail desperately trying to fend off Nakia's intrigues and help the kingdom...
- As they deal with the start of The French Revolution and the rise and fall of Napoléon Bonaparte, The Rose of Versailles and its sequel Eikou no Napoleon - Eroica deal with the trope repeatedly:
- Early during Louis XVI's reign, one of the critics levied against Marie Antoinette was about her inability to give him a male son. After she gives him two, however, there are rumors they're actually the children of her true love Fersen, and she's appalled when she overhears them being repeated by the Counts of Provence and Artois, AKA the king's brothers and the next in line after her children, as this could spark a succession crisis (the fact she and Fersen kept things strictly platonic precisely because of this trope only adding to her indignation). Eventually it ends as a moot point, as Marie Antoinette's elder son Louis Joseph dies of tuberculosis before the Revolution and her youngest Louis Charles dies of scrofula during it, leaving the Count of Provence free to name himself king Louis XVIII (with Louis Charles counting as Louis XVII due his father being executed before him).
- Later in Russia we have the Czarina, Catherine the Great, having decided to pass her son Paul over and name instead Paul's son Alexander as heir, but dies of a stroke right as she's about to put it in writing. Knowing her will, many of the nobles decide to proclaim Alexander as Czar before Paul can arrive from the Gatchina palace where Catherine kept him, but Alexander, out of respect for his father and the knowledge he'll be the Czar anyway, hides in a closet until Paul arrives, at which point he comes out and kneels in front of his father and in public view. Paul becomes the Czar and establishes a clear succession line with his son as his heir, with Alexander later becoming Czar after Paul alienated everyone and got himself assassinated.
- Upon becoming Emperor of the French, Napoleon becomes obsessed with having an heir, fearing disputes among his brothers could ruin his work. Thus the moment he has an illegitimate child from one of his lovers, proving he's not sterile, he goes on divorcing Josephine and marrying Marie Louise of Austria (daughter of the Austrian emperor and niece to Marie Antoinette), who goes on giving him a son.
- In the meantime Sweden has found itself on the verge of one, as their king was old and childless. Their solution was to ask Napoleon for permission to name his in-law Jean Bernadotte as the heir presumptive. Napoleon, after a moment of surprise at this request about his former political rival, figures out he can trust him, as his wife Desiree is the sister of his sister-in-law Julie and his former fiancee, and gives him permission. He's thus completely caught by surprise when Bernadotte leads Sweden to join the Sixth Coalition against him.
- Discussed in the aftermath of Malet's failed coup during the Russian Campaign: the coup hinged on Malet's claim that Napoleon had died in battle and was now tasked with forming an emergency government and arresting certain government officials, prompting Napoleon, upon hearing of the coup, to wonder why nobody had simply proclaimed his son emperor, making him realize his position was frailer than he thought. It once again ends up as a moot point, as after the failure of the Russian Campaign and his defeat in the War of the Sixth Coalition Napoleon is forced to abdicate for himself and his son, paving the way for Louis XVIII's reign.
- The Story of Saiunkoku has the princes fighting each other after their father deliberately set them against themselves to see who would become emperor, nearly destroying the country in the process. Not to mention exiling his former favourite son Prince Seien, the most competent out of his sons. In the end, after four of the six princes killed each other, the youngest prince Ryuuki becomes emperor, something he hated and never wanted.
- This trope triggers the plot of Voltes V. After the Emperor dies and it's time to choose a heir to the throne, the son of the Emperor's little brother, Gohl is chosen over the child of the Emperor and his concubine, Zambajil. Zambajil takes advantage of the Fantastic Caste System in Boazania and exposes his cousin as hornless, thus condemning him into slavery. Gohl uses his knowledge of science and technology to help slave rebellions across the Empire, his spirit inspiring many to join him. However, he is eventually forced to flee Boazania as it's too dangerous for him, and settles on Earth where he has Kenichi, Daijiro and Hiyoshi with Mitsuyo. Zambajil eventually calls Gohl back to Boazania, saying that ever since he left, the technology of Boazania has weakened, and he will award Gohl with the status he had before he was exposed if he agrees to collaborate with him. Gohl rejects this and is subsequently enslaved. Spending years believing their father was dead, Kenichi, Daijiro and Hiyoshi are shocked to discover there's a chance he's alive, and strive to save him and liberate Boazania.
Comic Books
- Power Pack: This was the default for the alien Snark empire every time an Emperor died, with all-out war of the whole society. It was so bad, the guy proposing government by gladiatorial combat was a heroic reformer.
- In S.W.O.R.D. (2020), the Snarks are in the midst of another Snarkwar. Abigail Brand, who by pure coincidence lost her father to a previous war, decides to speed things up a little by removing a few contenders via murder.
- In the second series of Runaways, Los Angeles is suffering from a power vacuum after the sudden death of the Pride, and thus the Runaways are forced to face off against a horde of third-rate supervillains seeking to make names for themselves.
- Supergirl: In "The Super-Steed of Steel" Endor, King of planet Zerox, must lead an annual royal parade on a flying horse if he wants to keep his crown. His nephew Nomed attempts to sabotage the celebration so his uncle cannot revalidate his kingship, thus triggering a crisis which will let Nomed take over the throne.
Comic Strips
- One story arc in the Popeye comics featured King Blozo of Spinachia being pressured into marrying because his subjects were fearing this trope. He didn't like the idea of having a wife but was reconsidering because the people of Spinachia were threatening to depose him and elect a President.
Fan Works
- In the Discworld, A.A. Pessimal greatly expands the continent of Howondaland in terms of its social structures, ethnic breakdown and physical/political geography. One of its parallels to our own dear Roundworld is that the Zulu Empire exists, much as it did in our 19th century, but stronger and occupying more physical space. note . By the time of the Strandpiel series of epic writingsnote , the old Paramount King, the absolute feudal ruler, is dying. The Zulu Empire arc of the story concerns how "too many children", all Princes and Princesses of the Paramount House, are whittled down to two final contenders in a Game of Throne. And the dying wish of the old King (aware that males take precedence in the succession) is that his grandson takes the throne. As the Heir is only a few weeks old, under Zulu law and custom, his mother, the Paramount Crown Princess, is now obliged to rule the Empire as Queen-Regent on his behalf. But she has a powerful brother who absolutely resents their father's command...
- Bequeathed from Pale Estates:
- After the death of Robert Arryn and his mother Lysa Tully Arryn during The Plague, the Vale descends into one as Jon Arryn no longer has any immediate family to serve as his heir. Several noble families are searching their family trees for the closest Arryn relative so they can stake a claim on the Eyrie and thus the Vale altogether. The situation eventually becomes so dire that Jon leaves his office as Hand of the King to Tywin so he can settle the matter personally, with the North's help to quell the unrest.
- The Crown enters one after Joffrey's madness becomes widespread knowledge after an incident at a major banquet. One of the reasons Robert's rule was tolerated was because it got the Mad King Aerys off the throne. Westeros will not tolerate another Mad King, to the point of going to war over it. This is an issue because Tommen, Myrcella, and Stannis all died during the Plague — and with Renly disqualified from the line of succession due to having a male soulmate, that leaves Shireen as the only other possible heir. For what it's worth, Robert has been trying for more trueborn children, but Cersei has been thwarting his efforts through a careful schedule of moon tea so she can have Jaime's kids instead.
- Black Sky has the Zabini family, a dynasty ruling over the Principality of Sabina since Ancient Roma's era. As the ruling Prince refused to remarry following his beloved wife's demise, his grandson by his only daughter was acknowledged as heir, but his eligibility was shaky because it was female inheritance. Then it's discovered the Prince sired a bastard son who's actually missing, right after marrying and impregnating his brand-new wife. Only, the baby can't be the Zabini heir since the wife's inheritance takes precedence, which forces the Zabinis to search for the guy.
- As one could guess by the title The Britannian Succession Crisis of 2017 A.T.B
is such a tale set in Code Geass. Due to the death of not only The Emperor Charles Zi Britannia, but also his eldest son Odysseus and most powerful son the second prince Schneizel during a single luncheon, the story sets the Britannian royal family into one shortly before the battle of Narita: the throne falls by default to Guinevere De Britannia but very few people want her to stay there and with the fic having eighty-six royals in the line of succession and signs of both actions to take power and Guinevere's own counter-actions to keep power within two weeks of the deaths a conflict will be inevitable, even without asking what outside powers or Lelouch will do with the conflict.
- A Dovahkiin Spreads His Wings has a nasty one brewing in the background, involving three different factions:
- The Lannisters want to keep their grip on the Iron Throne through Cersei's children: unfortunately, her eldest Joffrey is extremely bloodthirsty, sadistic, and dumb about it, to the point his grandfather Tywin seriously considers to disinherit him. He could be replaced by his younger brother Tommen, who's actually nice... too nice, plunging into Extreme Doormat territory. Their sister Myrcella inherited brains, kindness, and assertiveness, if there was not for her gender. And that's without taking into account their true incestuous parentage, which deprives them of any kind of claim to the crown.
- On the Baratheon side, Stannis was suddenly killed by a bowel sickness, leaving his daughter Shireen behind. Not only is the girl young and in deep mourning, but people are also looking at her askew for surviving grayscale with a heavily scarred face and potentially falling sick again, unleashing an epidemic in King's Landing. After Shireen comes her uncle Renly, who's rather proficient as a courtier and diplomat but completely inefficient as a warrior, something the martial Seven Kingdoms tend to mislike. Being gay also means the probability of him siring a successor is depressingly weak.
- For those dreaming of a Targaryen restoration, the candidates are rather lacking. Viserys was completely off his rocker before he got the brilliant idea to annoy his barbarian brother-in-law into murdering him, so nope. Viserys' younger sister Daenerys could have inherited the crazy gene in light of her currently destabilizing Essos, on top of being too female for a ruler. It leaves their nephew "Jon Snow", born Jaehaerys Targaryen, who's an accomplished warrior, deeply charismatic, genuinely concerned for the smallfolk's welfare... and very busy dreaming of definitely leaving Westeros behind to spend his life in Skyrim, so he's not interested in being enthroned as King.
- In An Eagle Among Lions, the sudden death of Adrestian Emperor Ionius IX in an alternate version of Fódlan sparks competing claims for the throne by Edelgard's two oldest brothers. The bitter conflict spills into the greater war between the Church of Seiros and the Kingdom of Faerghus as those in the Empire who support oldest brother Burkhart's claim (including Edelgard) stand with the Kingdom, while second-oldest brother Anselm is backed by the Church, taking a few of Edelgard's other siblings along with him.
- Emael Mosekhesailho mentions that many Klingon noble houses are facing succession crises due to the deaths of patriarchs and heirs in the Dominion War. The Romulan Star Empire views the chaos as an opportunity to gain an edge over their traditional rival, until Shinzon's coup throws their government, too, into chaos.
- An Everdistant Horizon: Leviathan's attack killed not only Massachussetts' Governor, it also killed everyone else in the line of succession according to the state's constitution. With all surviving politicians deciding that the best thing to do is to argue non-stop over who should succeed them, the President is forced to resort to declaring martial law by Executive Order and appointing the highest ranking military officer in the immediate area as Acting Governor just so somebody can officially perform necessary tasks such as activating the National Guard or requesting FEMA assistance.
- The Fate of the Dowager Queen:
- While Rhaenyra's position as heir is much more secure than it was in the previous timeline, there are still plenty of detractors who would prefer to have Aegon on the throne. Luckily, with Alicent having no desire to enthrone her son and Aegon himself having a very close relationship with Rhaenyra, the danger of that particular threat has decreased significantly. To help shore up support, Rhaenyra has Jaecerys and Helaena betrothed to make the Hightowers less likely to rebel.
- The Velaryons still remain an issue, as Rhaenyra declines to marry Laenor, and then later declines to have one of Daemon's daughters betrothed to Jaecerys.
- For the Glory of Irk: One of these situations happening in the Irkens' history led to the system of appointing leadership to whatever Irken is the tallest alive. When Queen Urilia died without any direct heirs, leaving three relatives fighting for the throne, the original Control Brain decided to simply crown the one who was tallest, on the logic that royal Irkens tended to be taller than commoners.
- Actually addressed in How I Became Yours. Mai brings up a pretty good point that not only would this scenario be inevitable if the existence of Zuko's bastard child with Katara became public knowledge, but also that there would be some very serious social fallout in the still struggling-to-recover Fire Nation as well.
- In Misplaced Cardinal, Eberwolf and Darius assume the Emperor is very interested in Hunter because he wishes to prevent one of these — the Emperor's health isn't the best but he won't appoint a successor among his Head Covens and his only known relative has perished several years ago. Enter Hunter who shares a startling likeness to said late nephew, leading to the logical conclusion the teen might be the Emperor's grandnephew and as such the rightful heir.
- Discussed in Narnia and the North. The Pevensie siblings were aware that any children they would sire would fight each other for the throne, so it was ruled that the High King's bloodline alone would be considered for succession. Then said High King disappears with his brother and his younger sister, leaving his other sister as the only royal able to produce heirs — it causes tension until she gives birth to a healthy son.
- The tengu face one in A New World. For a very long time, they've worked in a well-arranged meritocracy/bureaucracy. However, there's no clear successor and the bureaucracy needs time to determine a new one. This means the Great Tengu is reticent to directly fight the Lunarians, since his death could unleash a horrible tengu civil war, which there's no time for in the middle of the oncoming attack. So he stays put, duels his assassin, and dies bequeathing his position to whoever kills his murderer, satisfying every tenet of the Tengu. Momiji succeeds, and is crowned as the new Great Tengu.
- The Parselmouth of Gryffindor sees such a situation within the confines of the Ministry of Magic after Fudge disappears. Senior Undersecretary Slughorn and Hermione run through every possible candidate for an acting minister, and can only come up with Percy Weasley.
- Path of Needles: The Hyuuga clan has one because the current heir, Hanabi, likely won't ever marry a man. The daughter of Hanabi's older sister will likely be betrothed to a distant cousin and end up the next heir.
- Queens of Mewni:
- Eclipsa caused one when she abandoned her throne, as her heir Luna was believed to be dead, the Mewnian people would have never accepted her half-monster bastard, and it'd take a while to sort out which of the houses that Butterfly ancestors married into had the best claim. The crisis is resolved, however, when it turns out Luna was still alive.
- House Avarius is currently heirless since the head of the house, Ludo, isn't exactly husband material.
- Mewni's New Generation, a Recursive Fanfiction, has its own share of crises:
- Despite Solina being the elder child, the fact that she was born out of wedlock stigmatized her, and Mewnians favored her half-sister Helena, born in wedlock, for the throne. Eventually, Helena accepted their reasoning and attacked Solina before she could get the wand, causing a civil war that she won. (History would not be too kind to her, though, as despite calling herself the Rightful Sun, she would go down in history as decreed by her own daughter no less as the Usurper.
- One threatened to loom when Astra's twins were born: Eureka was female but sickly, while Heliador was healthy but male (but unusually for his gender, magical). Astra decided to name them co-heirs and they ruled Mewni together as the Ruling Siblings, with Heliador's daughter Oneira being named heir since she was born first.
- The Raven's Plan:
- Subverted with the Baratheons, who think they're in the middle of one after they find out about Jon Targaryen, with Stannis in the Black Cells and Shireen missing, leaving Renly as Robert's only viable heir. In reality, they're an Authority in Name Only — all the kingdoms except Dorne and the Stormlands have sworn fealty to Jon, and Dorne is stuck in a Civil War right now, leaving their involvement limited to nonexistent (they wouldn't side with either of the claimants anyway). The only other two Targaryen heirs, Daenerys and Viserys, are fully supportive of Jon's claim, with the former possibly even marrying him down the line if things work out. Put this all together, and anyone with a brain can see that Jon's practically king already, and that the Baratheons are the only ones yet to realize this.
- Dorne plays this straight, even if they haven't referenced it directly. Due to Trystane's death in the Water Gardens Bloodbath, Doran's current heir is his younger brother Oberyn, a hot-headed middle-aged man with no legitimate children. If they both die during Dorne's ongoing Civil War, an already horrible situation will go straight to the crapper and it's likely that other regions will have to suppress the violence until the Crown can intervene.
- One of those seems to loom in Reluctant Hero's near future: Zuko cannot become Fire Lord because he's revealed as the new Avatar, his younger sister Azula can't be trusted with governing a kingdom, and Iroh is quite old and hasn't remarried or had any other children since his wife and son's deaths. Since Iroh is the late Fire Lord's firstborn, his subordinate Jee begs him to remarry and produce another heir to legitimize his claim.
- In Robb Returns, due to Cersei's infidelity exposed and her children being proven as not being Robert's, Westeros is in one. The immediate options are to name Stannis as heir presumptive (which has the problem of him only having one heir himself at the moment, who is female), Robert remarrying (which has political implications no matter who he picks, and it would take at least a year to get a new heir, and years more to see if said heir is suitable), or legitimize one of Robert's bastards (who are presently untrained for leadership, and only one of whom has a noble-born mother). In the immediate term, Robert has declared Stannis as heir presumptive, while reserving the right to name a new heir should one of his bastards prove fit for the job or he ends up remarrying and siring an actual heir.
- In Rodrik the Red Wolf, one of these has reared its ugly head regarding the succession of Barrowton. Lady Barbrey has named her nephew Domeric as heir, but he is Roose Bolton's son and this would give the Boltons too much power. The next closest relation is Rodrik, but as a bastard son and a Stark bastard son, this looks like Ned is consolidating power and using Nepotism.
Barbrey: [exasperated] Then what? Who am I to pass Barrowton to? I raised [Rodrik], and I raised Domeric. I ensured both of you were well educated, trained and able to take on the task. If not you two, then who?
- Second Bite of the Cherry: Lan Qiren is reluctant to adopt Wei Ying as it would give her or her eventual husband a claim to the Sect Leader position. The Lan elders solve the problem by suggesting marrying the girl to a pre-existing heir.
- In The Seven Misfortunes of Lady Fortune, much of the plot is being driven by a succession crisis in the French Triad branch. At the end of the fic, all the main candidates are dead, and the new head is assigned by China.
- There and Back Again:
- The Vale is thrown into one when Jon Arryn is informed by Varys that Robin is not his son and heir but Lysa's bastard son from her affair with Littlefinger in Chapter 8. After some time, they eventually try things again and following a five-year Time Skip, have a four-year-old daughter and another child on the way. However, this doesn't solve the crisis either as Jon's great-nephew Harry Hardyng is staking out his own claim on Lordship of the Vale, believing Jon has gone soft in his old age.
- A second one is brewing for the Iron Throne.
- Thanks to Littlefinger leaving an anonymous tip, Robert Baratheon learns of the canonical incestuous relationship between his wife Cersei and her brother Jaime and thus, the true parentage of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen. Legitimizing one of his bastards would have its own set of problems and knowing he has to remarry and sire a legitimate successor (as the throne will pass over to either of his brothers and their children if he has no other named heirs), Robert tries to solve this problem... by betrothing himself to Sansa, who is physically thirteen years old. This action ends up forcing Ned to reveal Jon's true parentage to the rest of the North and begin openly plotting to overthrow Robert and reclaim the Iron Throne in Jon's name.
- Olenna Tyrell advises her granddaughter Margaery (whom Robert passed over as a potential wife) to take advantage of the crisis and the brewing Civil War between the crown and the Westerlands in her upcoming marriage to Renly by siring an heir and count on the likelihood of Robert meeting his end on the battlefield since he's way past his physical prime.
- In thunder follows lightning strikes, arranging for a successor to Tinté Vos when the old lady is deemed guilty of killing the previous Sheyf quickly becomes complicated as the competent and smart grandson is a Jedi monk who has sworn politics off, the heir after said grandson is a trader who has left the planet and is currently missing, and the heir after that outright threatens to flee the stellar system if they attempt to crown her. Since a more distant relation would give another clan the opportunity to seize the power and invite more instability, the regent begs the Jedi Order to release Quinlan from his vows so as to allow him to be enthroned as the new Sheyf, which is granted — even if Quinlan isn't exactly enthusiastic about the prospect courtesy of Xanatos and Dooku setting very bad precedents when it comes to people dropping the order to resume their duties as rulers.
- Vow of Nudity: A large part of Gloria's backstory. The king of Duskvale was infertile, and so he adopted her from a hobgoblin tribe to continue his dynasty, through name if not blood. Her struggles surviving her childhood as an outcast heir to the throne is the main reason she's so distrustful, calculating, and ruthless by the time Spectra eventually meets her.
- The Weaver Option: A variant occurs when Wei Cao's father becomes Governor of Wuhan after his brother's death. While his ascension is without a strong rival, his many children all fall to vying for the title of heir by the simplest means of killing the other claimants. Wei Cao joins the Guard on the reasoning that fighting xenos horrors is safer than staying on Wuhan. The remaining siblings spend years assassinating one another until one turns to Chaos and kills his father, giving Taylor sufficient cause to step in.
- What is a promise worth?:
- The main reason Catelyn won't remarry is that she doesn't want to risk one of the other Houses using it as an opportunity to usurp her children with Ned with any she might have with her second husband.
- There's the canonical one with the Lannicest, which results in Stannis and Renly rebelling and Balon trying to take advantage. This is further complicated by Joffrey's behavior taxing Tywin even more (leading him to plan to have Tommen replace Joffrey after the war is over) than usual, and the war lasting longer because of Stannis relying less on Melisandre and those making more wise moves. And then Daenerys gets involved, complicating things even further.
- The Riverlands have a minor one after Edmure's wife dies in childbirth and their child is stillborn. While Edmure is still young enough to take another wife and sire more children, as it currently stands, Bran is the heir to House Tully.
- The Will of the Empire: As in canon, Palpatine had not named an official heir, "but it was generally understood that in such an event, it was Lord Vader who would take the throne." In this case, on the eve of the Battle of Endor, Vader himself decides to take steps to ensure the Empire ends up in the right hands, first by declaring himself the Emperor's official successor and that, in the event of his own demise, his chosen heir — his son, Luke Skywalker — will take the throne next. He also sets things up to avoid a succession crisis, by eliminating any others (like Ysanne Isard, and certain dissenting Moffs) who might try to seize control from Luke; these orders go into effect when he contacts Admiral Piett (who'd remained in charge of the fleet but was transferred to another Star Destroyer in order to increase his odds of survival) during his dying moments. By the time Luke himself finds out, most, if not all other potential claimants have been dealt with.
Film — Live-Action
- The backstory to Bitter Lake is that the king was assassinated, then three of the kingdom's four provinces refused to crown his young son, leading to a four-way civil war that lasted for twelve years. It starts as the provinces are sending their leaders to negotiate a peace treaty, but there's a fifth faction that doesn't want the talks to go as planned.
- The Death of Stalin: Officially, the succession is straightforward: an established rule dictates that on the leader's death he will be succeeded by his deputy. However, Georgy Malenkov is a weak-willed ditherer (Stalin made him his Number Two specifically because he wouldn't pose a threat to his own power and become The Starscream), so there's still a conflict among the more strong-minded and devious officials to determine who will be unofficially but actually in charge. Per history, Nikita Khrushchev emerges the victor, and later dismisses Malenkov to become the new General Secretary... until it's indicated that in a few years' time Krushchev himself will end up being replaced by an ambitious soldier named Brezhnev.
- One segment of The Great Race involved a The Prisoner of Zenda style plot to replace Crown Prince Hapnick with a double before he's crowned King of Carpania.
- King Ralph has elements of this; after a freak accident cooks the entire British royal family, you've got one Evil Chancellor type trying to usurp the throne, one legitimate heir of less than ideal character who didn't know about it in the first place, and one heir actively trying not to be king.
- An example without a war happens at the beginning of Kull the Conqueror. The paranoid king of Valusia slaughters most of the royal family out of fear that someone will try to kill him. Kull, a barbarian from Atlantis, ends up mortally wounding the king. Kull picks up the crown, not knowing what to do with it. Immediately, General Taligaro and the king's cousin each demand that Kull hand him the crown. As a final "fuck you", the king manages to proclaim Kull his successor, pointing out that Kull will now have to live in constant fear of assassination. The high priest confirms that the king has that right, resulting in Taligaro and the king's cousin plotting to get rid of Kull by resurrecting an ancient sorceress. Naturally, it doesn't go according to plan.
- Lady Jane is about the extremely messy one that blew up in 1553 when King Edward VI of England died. Edward died at the age of sixteen without any children. The obvious choice was his older sister Mary, but she was a Catholic and thus unacceptable to the Protestant elites who ran England under Edward. Then there was Edward's other sister Elizabeth, who was a Protestant but of dubious legitimacy, Henry VIII's divorce from his first wife and marriage to Anne Boleyn being pretty dodgy. So Edward, on his deathbed and at the bullying behest of his guardian the Duke of Suffolk, names as his successor...Lady Jane Grey, his cousin Frances's daughter. Hardly anybody buys it and Jane is overthrown after reigning as queen for nine days.
- This trope is what starts the main plot of Maleficent: King Henry, the cruel ruler of the humans, is fatally wounded in battle by Maleficent. Because he has no male heir, he proposes to the noblemen assembled before his deathbed that whoever can kill Maleficent will ascend the throne and have his daughter's hand in marriage. At the same time, Stefan, Maleficent's childhood friend, overhears Henry's decree (as an adult, Stefan now works as a servant in the king's castle) and, realizing that this is the perfect opportunity to fulfill his dream of being king, goes to Maleficent, claiming to have come just to warn her. Once he has her drugged and asleep, however, Stefan cannot bring himself to kill her, and simply cuts off her wings and lies to the king, thus gaining the throne in return. Unfortunately, Maleficent is still alive (if no longer able to fly), and out for revenge...
- The Prince and the Pagoda Boy involves one for the majority of the film. Once the king dies, he names his eldest son his heir. However, one of his sons disagrees and creates a civil war over the throne. He has his brother assassinated to take his place, and after declaring himself king, kills another brother with his bare hands even after this brother surrendered.
- The Princess: The queen not having given birth to any sons is what caused the very concerned King to promise the Princess's hand to Julius to begin with. The Princess defeating Julius in the end convinces him to change the law so that women can inherit the throne.
- During Parliament's meeting in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, Viscount Mabrey reveals that his nephew, Lord Devereaux, is another heir to the Genovian throne. Despite Queen Clarisse's objection, the only way Mia can assume her duties as Queen is if she marries within the next 30 days. Devereaux didn't actually want the throne (he was told that was what his father wanted — it was really a lie created by his power-hungry uncle), and Mia eventually does gain the crown by initiating a new law during her cancelled wedding to allow a queen to be crowned without being married. The fact that Devereaux and Mia were falling in love with each other probably helped.
- The original movie centered around this as well, as the death of Mia's father, Phillipe, forced Clarisse to seek out Mia, as she was his only child and the last heir from the Renaldi lineage, and without her, the throne would pass to the unlikable Baron von Troken.
- The Japanese period piece Shogun's Samurai is set entirely around one of these. The Shogun seems increasingly likely to make his younger son Shogun when some court insiders who prefer the elder son poison him, resulting in a situation where several powerful lords (and a scheming, Manipulative Bitch mother) favor the more handsome and charismatic younger son, while the rules and a few court insiders like the Yagyu clan favor the elder son. Interestingly, the director was more known for making Yakuza films, but claimed that there was little difference in the end, summarizing it as "The old boss dies, and the question is about who will become the new boss."
- Star Wars: The Galactic Empire fell into this days after their loss at Endor. Palpatine never named a legit successor, as he intended to rule the galaxy for all eternity,note Imperial warlords sprung from the ruins of the Empire in an attempt to take back the Galaxy from the newly formed New Republic. That failed and forced the Empire to sign a treaty officially ending its rule, though warlords of the ex-Empire escaped into the Unknown Parts of the Galaxy, rebuilding the new Empire, The First Order.
- In Star Wars Legends the Empire followed a similar tajectory as various Imperial commanders fell into warlordism until the various remnants were united by Admiral Daala. Nineteen years after the Battle of Yavin the remnants of the Empire finally made peace with the New Republic when Grand Admiral Pellaeon realized it was past time to fold 'em.
- The gang war that is at the center of Yojimbo centered around one. The boss of the one gang in town wanted to step down and leave the gang to his son, but his second in command objected and took half the gang with him. This resulted in two gangs fighting over dominance of the local silk trade until Sanjuro wanders into town and disrupts the balance of power.
Live-Action TV
- Andor: Andor's rendezvous with a resistance cell goes badly awry because the leader of the group has gone missing (likely dead) and didn't leave a clear second-in-command, leading to squabbling that turns into an outright war.
- Babylon 5: Centauri Emperor Turhan died without an heir to take over as his son had died a year earlier. Additional Lord Refa had Prime Minister Malachi assassinated. Several families laid claim to the throne and largely wiped themselves out fighting with each other over the throne. With all other candidates eliminated and Malachi dead, Refa was able to put the Emperor's nephew Cartagia on the throne, with disastrous consequences for the Centauri.
- Designated Survivor: Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) is the idealistic but unassuming United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who is told on the day of the State of the Union speech that the President has decided to have him Kicked Upstairs after the speech, during which he'll be kept as the Designated Survivor to keep him out of the way. Then the House of Representatives is blown up in an act of terrorism, killing the entire Government and nearly all of the House and Senate, abruptly pushing Tom to the position of President - and several of the first episodes deal with him having to work to establish he is the legitimate President.
- Doctor Who: "The Androids of Tara" is basically a version of The Prisoner of Zenda. Prince Reynart must be crowned at a specific time. Trying to stop him is an evil count, who plans to kill him or prevent his attendance so the next in line, Princess Strella, takes over — or more specifically an android double. However, the prince has an android double of himself and Strella looks exactly like Romana. Spare a thought for Mary Tamm, who had to play both roles and doubles of each.
- Much of the first season of Downton Abbey revolves around a variation of this: instead of a country trying to figure out who will be the next monarch, it's a group of nobles — the Crawley family, the head of which holds the title Earl of Grantham — trying to determine who will be the inheritor of their estate and its title, after the heir presumptive dies aboard the Titanic. The current (6th) Earl, Robert, would very much like to leave as much as possible to his eldest daughter, Lady Mary, but the terms of his marriage contract with his wife Cora put the kibosh on that. You see, the 5th Earl foolishly stipulated that Cora's fortune would be entailed to the estate — that is, assigned to whomever inherited the title "Earl of Grantham." With a few rare exceptions — and this isn't one — British peerages go to "the heirs male of the body" of the grantee; they cannot be inherited in the female line. Lord and Lady Grantham went on to have three daughters and no sons. The solution was for Mary to marry the next male in line, her second cousin and good friend of the family Patrick Crawley (the Earl and Patrick's father were friends growing up), and thus keep hold of her mother's money, but then the Titanic happened, and Patrick was on it. The next closest male relative is the Earl's third cousin once removed (and thus fourth cousin to Mary and her sisters), and he's a Self-Made Man who's not sure he wants to marry Mary and give up his career as a corporate-law solicitor to "run the estate" (i.e. be an idle aristocrat). Eventually he does, quite happily, we might add...but he's so very businesslike about that it drives the Earl mad, actually doing things to improve the estate's profits as a farming operation and engaging in some residential/commercial property development as well. He also gives Mary a son, ensuring that the money would stay in the family...and dies literally hours after his son is born.
- Dynasty is the Wuxia story of the Yongzheng Emperor's ascension, reign, and assassination.
- A variation occurs in Farscape's "Look at the Princess" trilogy. Moya's crew lands on a Sebacean planet where succession goes through the eldest child regardless of gender, but only if they are married (to someone who can give them viable offspring) by a certain age. Since Princess Katralla's DNA was poisoned by her younger brother, she despairs ever finding a Sebacean male who is compatible and thinks she will have to forfeit the throne. This is particularly problematic since Prince Clavor will lead society into destruction at the hands of the Scarrans if he is allowed to rule. Fortunately for her, John shows up. As he is human and not Sebacean, he is genetically capable of producing an heir with her and is practically forced to wed her. The Queen even has her daughter artificially inseminated with his DNA to make sure there will be a continuing line.
- Game of Thrones universe:
- Game of Thrones:
- The show featured this by the end of season 1, with Robert's death causing the "War of Five Kings" between the elder of Robert's two brothers Stannis, his younger brother Renly, and his son Joffrey, all competing for the Iron Throne. During the chaos, two smaller kingdoms also declared themselves independent, not recognizing any king on the Iron Throne and instead their own local high lord. In this case, Stannis is the rightful king as Joffrey (along with all of Robert's children with Cersei) is a bastard and not actually Robert's son. This seems to be resolved with the victory of the Lannisters in the War of the Five Kings, and they seem to reestablish control of the throne over the kingdoms.
- As of the end of Season 6, all the contenders from the War of the Five Kings are deceased, which leaves Cersei Lannister as the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms after her youngest son's suicide and Cersei's murder of many rivals after she blows up the Sept of Balor. Daenerys Targaryen, the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, finally comes home to Westeros to reclaim her birthright. However, Daenerys was rendered barren by Mirri's spell and cannot have children. Tyrion attempts to discuss it by offering alternatives about who should succeed her, but Daenerys is unwilling to hear it and will only address this after her conquest is complete. Making things even more difficult is her forming a relationship with the new King of the North, Jon Snow, who is revealed to the audience as the trueborn son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, Aegon Targaryen (making him Ned Stark's nephew, not his illegitimate son, as well as Daenerys' nephew), and therefore, by the laws of succession, is the rightful king of Westeros.
- This is the crux of the final season. Jon and Daenerys eventually learn about the former's parentage though he never wants the Iron Throne; however, the latter fears others will use it to press claims over hers — and she's not wrong. When Jon's sister, Sansa Stark, learns the truth, she breaks her promise to Jon not to reveal this secret and tells Tyrion (who tells Varys) in hopes of putting Jon on the throne over Dany. This results in Varys scheming for the same purpose. Tyrion argues that Daenerys and Jon should get married since incestuous marriage has been a traditional Targaryen practice but Varys speaks against this, saying that marrying one's aunt is not common practice in the North, where Jon grew up. Eventually, Daenerys crosses the line, forcing Jon to kill her and accept banishment in lieu of execution. The remaining High Lords settle on turning Westeros into an Elective Monarchy.
- House of the Dragon: The crux of Season 1 is the buildup towards the catastrophic succession crisis turned Civil War known as the Dance of the Dragons following the death of King Viserys Targaryen, between his daughter Rhaenyra from his first wife Aemma and Rhaenyra's Targaryen-Hightower half-siblings and House Hightower, who crown male heir Aegon in a coup. Viserys stood by his promise to have Rhaenyra succeed him all his life and tried to maintain peace, but as soon as he's dead, everything goes downhill.
- Game of Thrones:
- General and I: He Xia tries to start one by putting Sima Hong in a coma and poisoning his sons. Averted when Sima Hong recovers and makes his half-brother his heir.
- I, Claudius: True to Real Life, the order of succession among the gens Julii is in almost constant flux, pending patricide, fratricide, regicide, suicide, exile, bribes, threats, insanity, back-room politicking, bed-room politicking, poison, and favoritism among the Praetorians.
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia features a non-monarch version. In the appropriately titled episode "Frank Retires," Frank announces he's retiring and the rest of the gang have to figure out who gets his shares of the bar and becomes the majority owner. Remembering that they all signed a pact where "the next of kin" gets anyone's shares, Dennis and Dee claim the shares as Frank's children. However, Charlie points out Frank is their adoptive father while he may actually be Frank's biological son from an affair Frank had with his mother. Charlie sets out to get a blood test to prove he's Frank's son while Dee and Dennis plot against each other so they will be the sole owner. Eventually, everything is rendered moot when Frank decides not to retire.
- Merlin is actively trying to prevent this throughout the course of the show by keeping Arthur alive, the undisputed heir. Were he to die at least before he married Gwen, quite honestly, it's hard to imagine what could happen. Then it gets complicated when it's revealed Morgana is his older half-sister, which apparently gives her a legitimate claim to the throne despite her being a female bastard.
- Happens at the end of season 3 of The Musketeers. King Louis is Secretly Dying and his 6-year-old son is in line for the throne. Governor Feron and Grimaud are plotting, with the help of the King's brother Gaston, to challenge this. To further complicate things, the regent would normally be Queen Anne; however, since she is Spanish and France is at war with Spain, that is disputed as well.
- The Sopranos:
- Early in season 1, the DiMeo crime family's acting boss Jackie Aprile Sr. dies from cancer. The resulting power vacuum leads to a major struggle between Tony Soprano and his uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano (both high-ranking caporegimes), which lasts most of the first season. Tony initially agrees to recognize Junior as boss while secretly running the family behind his back with the other capos, but he finally sees an opportunity to seize control when Junior is indicted for racketeering and put under house arrest.
- The rival Lupertazzi family of New York has their own succession crisis in Seasons 4 and 5 after their long-time boss Carmine Lupertazzi dies of a stroke, leading to a brief power struggle between Carmine's underboss John Sacrimoni ("Johnny Sack") and his son Little Carmine. The power struggle ends after Little Carmine (who isn't terribly interested in mob life) agrees to let Johnny succeed his father, but things become a bit more complicated after Johnny is subsequently indicted for racketeering—allowing the truly ruthless Phil Leotardo to take over.
- Reborn Rich has the children and even grandchildren fight over who will inherit their (grand)father's company, called Soonyang Group. They're willing to sell each other out for it. Then, their father, Young-cheol, and Do-joon almost get killed in an intentional car accident because their father is favoring his grandson Do-joon, it turns out that it's his wife is the one who planned the murder because she didn't want her step-grandson to inherit the company even if it might've killed her husband. When Young-cheol finds out it was a murder attempt, he suffers a psychotic break and gets really frightened that his own family would do this to him over the company.
- Succession is a non-monarch version (it's even in the title!). The aging head of a media conglomerate (transparent Expies of Rupert Murdoch and News Corp., respectively) has to decide which of his entitled, incompetent children will inherit the company; petty in-fighting ensues.
- Y: The Last Man (2021): The series is setting this up as Jennifer was elevated to Speaker and then President despite being a Democrat when the Republicans are in control. The late President's daughter is already making moves to convince other remaining Republicans that they should be in charge as the "lawfully elected party." To complicate matters further, the actual woman who was in the line of succession, Regina Oliver (known as a borderline lunatic), is found alive in Israel, meaning she should be President despite how Jennifer was already sworn in with everyone citing the Constitutional crisis (not helped by how there are only three Supreme Court Justices left alive, though It's notable that filling the Supreme Court should be (comparatively) easy as there are many female judges to pick from. Supreme court justices are picked by the president and then approved by a simple Senate majority, though heaven knows how much of the Senate still exists...).
Music
- Sabaton's "Long Live the King" references the real-life succession crisis in Sweden following the death of Charles XII at the Siege of Fredriksten. Charles, being somewhat of an Honor Before Reason type, had failed to marry or produce an heir, so the throne went to his sister. This brought on the final collapse of the Swedish Empire (already well underway after Charles was forced to surrender to Russia in The Great Northern War).
Myths & Religion
- Many legends of the Man in the Iron Mask have him with a twin brother imprisoned to prevent this. The problem was complicated by a popular belief that in case of twins, the firstborn was the younger, and the second the older — the birth order showed the order they were conceived in. Either one, therefore, could be described as the rightful heir.
- The Arthurian Legend involves one. Uther Pendragon fell in love with Ygraine, wife of his enemy Gorlois. In exchange for Merlin's help in winning her, Uther promised his and Ygraine's son to Merlin, who gave the child into the custody of the knight Sir Ector. The nobles of Britain were unaware of this though, so after Uther died, seemingly childless, the nobles fought amongst themselves for the right to become king. Bishop Brice prayed for a miracle that would resolve the crisis; thus, the Sword in the Stone appeared. The nobles and knights in turn tried to pull the sword, but all failed; finally, a tournament was held to decide who would become king, but it was interrupted when it was discovered that Arthur had pulled the sword from the stone, and after it was replaced, it was proven that only he could remove it. Even then, the crisis wasn't fully resolved because several of the nobles refused to accept Arthur as king because of his young age; it wasn't finished until he defeated all these rivals to the throne in battle, followed by securing his kingdom against the invading Saxons and other foes.
- The Book of Mormon:
- Defied by King Mosiah, after his oldest son refuses to take the crown. Rather than risk a later conflict, he persuades the people to end the monarchy and institute a form of democracy.
- Played straight after the death of chief judge Pahoran. Three of his sons compete for the job, which eventually gets them all killed, and the position reverts to the line of Alma. This despite officially being a democratically elected position.
Tabletop Games
- The classic Avalon Hill game Kingmaker is about the Wars of the Roses.
- In 1st Edition Dungeons & Dragons, the death of the chief modron Primus would always set off a Succession Crisis between the four secundi — the only time that modrons would fail to act as a unified force. Slightly subverted in that the decision process involved a cutthroat competition instead of out-and-out war.
- And once a Secundus became the new Primus, a Tertian had to be promoted up to fill that empty Secundus spot, and then a Quarton had to be promoted up to fill the Tertian position, and so on all the way down.
- In the Eberron campaign setting, this is what set off the Last War. King Jarot kicked the bucket, and, thanks to the military buildup during his reign for an invasion that never came and his habit of encouraging his children to squabble incessantly, he paved the war for a century-long war that split the unified kingdom of Galifar into twelve current nations of Khorvaire and only ended when one of the original five provinces was wiped off the map and the great-grandchildren of the royals who started it decided things had gone on long enough. Way to go there, Jarot. Unusually, the problem wasn't that there wasn't a dedicated heir, since on his deathbed Jarot declared the queen of Cyre the new ruler of Galifar; it's that of the five possible heirs, one decided that he had the divine right to be king, one believed he had the military right to be king, and one believed it was time to abandon the old tradition of kicking out the old royal family of each nation and handing them over to the new ruler of Galifar's kids.
- The classic 1st edition module "Destiny of Kings" is all about this. The PCs must find and rescue an 18-year-old prince before his uncle claims the throne.
- This is set up as a potential plot hook in the Al-Qadim setting. Grand Caliph Khalil al-Assad al-Zahir, Master of the Enlightened Throne, Most High Sovereign of the Land of Fate, the Worthy of the Gods, Scourge of the Unbeliever, Confidant of the Genies, has no sons (despite the best efforts of his harem). It's left up to the GM just what the reason is; suggestions include all his sons being raised in secret, and a cursed item in the harem causing sterility.
- The core Backstory of BattleTech is a Succession Crisis that lasted almost 300 years (from 2781 when the Star League officially ceased to exist, until 3049, when the invasion of the Clans disrupted the balance of power too much to continue the fight), with 5 powers each claiming the throne, known as the Succession Wars. All of these powers have had internal Succession Crises of their own along the way.
- House Davion had a succession crisis that caused a civil war so bad that they rewrote the rules of succession to be exceedingly specific so that there could be no ambiguity as to who would succeed who. It... didn't work. Well, technically, the rules would have worked, but when the populace (and various nobles) simply accepted a new ruler in clear violation of those laws, they were shown to be nothing more than ink on a page. A civil war erupted a few years later.
- In the Legend of the Five Rings setting, they seem to happen regularly to supply plot prizes for the year's tournaments.
- In Exalted, part of the Scarlet Empress' policy of keeping anybody from accumulating the power to overthrow her was to make the line of succession as obscure and convoluted as possible. Her Dynasty consists of twelve extended families (not counting the tens more that have been destroyed during her rule), and she herself continuously delayed officially announcing a successor, ultimately stating that she would do so on the 1000th anniversary of her reign (she said this in the 590th year of her reign). This lack of clear succession is one of the reasons why, in the wake of her mysterious and unexpected disappearance, the Realm is on the verge of collapse.
- Both of the Third Imperium's civil wars in Traveller were succession crises:
- In the first one, a disgruntled admiral assassinated the Empress and declared himself Emperor, only to be killed a couple years later by some of the other claimants. The First Civil War saw eighteen "emperors of the flag" in eighteen years before Arbellatra simply named herself regent and looked for a more legitimate heir for seven years before finally accepting the throne and founding a dynasty.
- In the Megatraveller timeline, Archduke Dulinor assassinated Emperor Strephon and his wife and daughter to proclaim himself Emperor, but the Imperial Moot wouldn't accept his claim and there was a Second Civil War. That one ended in a sentient computer virus tearing the Imperium apart.
- Warhammer Fantasy.
- In either franchise, killing an Orc/Ork Warboss will cause a power struggle within the WAAAGH!!!, where the highest-ranking Nobs start slugging it out to see who becomes the new Boss. In a best-case scenario, the greenskin horde breaks down into a civil war while their enemies mop up the remains.
- When an Emperor dies, the Elector Counts are given the task of deciding the successor, and sometimes they are very insistent about their choice (especially if it's their self). Once there was the time of the Three Emperors, where three Counts declared themselves as the true Emperor of the Empire.
- Nehekhara had an unconventional one when most of its dozens of previous rulers were animated as free-willed undead mummies. All of them the rightful king of Nehekhara, ambitious and prideful, they launched into civil war against other dynasties and their own descendants and ancestors. It was resolved when one awoke the legendary Settra, founder of Nehekhara, who quickly demonstrated his reputation was not overblown and forced them all to submit.
- The classic Ironclaw adventure module "The Lost Heir of the Rinaldi" takes place during a brewing succession crisis. The High King Fidelio di Rinaldi has been murdered along with his eldest son, probably by his new wife, the necromancer Lady Amalsand Jakoba; however, his second son Fabrizio is missing and could still be alive. The players are usually hired by a banker to whom the king owed a lot of money and who is being pressured by the Great Houses to foreclose on the Rinaldi estate so they can buy it from him, but he can't until they know what happened to the prince. His stepmother drove him completely insane with a curse, he can't even speak coherently. And there's at least two other factions looking for him, and an impostor, and Amalsand wants him dead so her own son can claim the throne.
- Successors is a game that begins right after the death of Alexander the Great, and chronicles the violent implosion of the Macedonian empire as Alexander's generals fight each other over the empire. Players struggle to either prove themselves the legitimate heir to Alexander's empire, to install one of Alexander's sons on the throne as a Puppet King, or to let Alexander's empire fall, murder his heirs, and carve out the strongest successor state from the ashes.
- The Deckbuilding Game Heart of Crown involves a succession crisis where you back one of 7 (later as many as 12 with expansions) different princesses to rule the Empire.
- The Dark Eye: The Middle Realms fell into a bad one 150 years ago after the sudden death of emperor Valpo the Drinker, who left no heirs. During the following 31 years at least 74 people declared themselves emperors in a lengthy civil war. There might be another crisis lurking at the horizon, as the current emperess is in her early fourties and still childless, and the closest thing to a legitimate successor is the grandson of her grand-grandfathers sister (whose father was disgraced after an attempted coup on top of it).
Theatre
- Westeros: An American Musical: Robert's death creates one. Joffrey would have been Robert's proper heir if he had actually been Robert's son, but he's not and Joffrey family won't let others take him off the throne without a fight. Stannis is the rightful heir, but quite unpopular. Renly has the backing of a family with a large army and their own ambitions to get more political power.
Visual Novels
- AQUARIUM (2022): Theo's grandfather was the lord of the land. With his abrupt demise, his two sons had a rivalry until Theo's uncle got banished. Theo's father is still busy suppressing the coup at the story's time, and rebels eventually attack the mansion.
- Sunrider had one of these in the backstory. When the God-Emperor of the galaxy-spanning Holy Ryuvian Empire and his eldest son were assassinated, his two remaining sons — either of whom could have been behind the assassinations — went to war over the throne. Since the war took place two thousand years ago and the Ryuvian Empire has long since fallen from power, nobody knows which side won.
- In Umineko: When They Cry, it's the Ushiromiya family's crazy hierarchy that causes the murders, in theory.
- Under the Moon concerns a succession crisis in the demon world, a land ruled by whoever is most powerful. As the story begins, the current king is growing weak and has potential successors picked out. The king's daughter, our heroine, makes it her job to persuade one of them to take the throne.
- In Long Live the Queen:
- Crown Princess Elodie faces one of these when Fabian, Duke-regent of Elath, dies. His son Adair, the proper Duke via his deceased mother, is still too young to take the reins, and so it's up to Elodie to appoint a regent in his stead. Certain choices can further complicate this, as Adair may end up getting assassinated as a result with the implication that agents from a foreign nation, whose duke would technically be next in line after Adair to inherit the duchy, were responsible.
- The duchy of Caloris faces one. Duke Joslyn only has one trueborn child, Elodie, who can't take Caloris because she is the crown princess, and his wife's assassination is obviously a big problem for him producing an heir to the duchy. Possible solutions involve convincing him to marry a minor noble or a priestess in order to produce an heir, having him marry Brin in order to solve his own problems and act as The Beard for her, or simply directing suitors to his brother Armand. If he dies or is mentally incapacitated in the final battle, someone claiming to be his illegitimate son comes forward and can be granted the duchy. Elodie can also give Caloris to a minor lord or her maternal uncle.
Web Comics
- In Drowtales:
- This is one of the biggest problems that faces the Sharen clan. Though Diva'ratrika has largely retired from public life and only officially remained alive, since she was in fact murdered by three of her daughters, her daughters have squabbled to assert their own authority. Nishi'kanta has been broken by the taint and the loss of her family, and is thus considered out of the running, but she has disappeared and her plans are unknown, making her a potential Wild Card. As the only unbroken, loyal daughter, Sil'lice is the favorite of what little remains of both Diva herself and those who were still loyal to her like Sker, but she was framed for treason and has few followers left alive. Snadhya'rune, the would-be favorite, has pretended to have no interest in ruling, and she certainly has no interest in ruling the Sharen, just the empire. The biggest contenders for the Sharen throne are Sarv'swati and Zala'ess. Sarv'swati continues to control the empire through an impostor Puppet Queen, but Zala'ess has the largest family and amassed the great clans of Nuqra'shareh to back her claim. The fallout when those two inevitably met up again came to a head in chapter 47, leaving us with Sarv'swati dead by Quaintana's (and Zala'ess') hand(s) through secret sabotage from the latter, and those left alive join forces out of sheer desperation as Snadhya'rune's insanity finally reaches its peak in the form of mass mind control plus a plant virus that threatens the entire underworld.
- The Sarghress clan ends up facing the same problem. Quain'tana's eldest daughter, Mel'arnach, is rebellious to the point that she would gladly destroy the Sarghress clan. Quain'tana's eldest son, Kel'noz, is competent, but a male in a Matriarchy, which would make things difficult for him even in the relatively egalitarian Sarghress clan. Laele'aell was perfect, but was broken beyond repair by Demonic Possession and a botched experiment to exorcise her. Syphile ended up as a short-sighted loser. Ariel and Koil'dorath aren't completely hopeless, but they aren't quite leaders by nature either and are more or less Reluctant Rulers. When Quain'tana dies, the clan is wrecked by internal divisions. Koil'dorath fails to keep the clan together and ends up dying. Ariel, Quain'tana's official successor, loses most of her backing and is eventually branded a "traitor" by what little leadership the Sarghress have left.
- The backstory of Girl Genius had most of Europa united under the rule of Andronicus Valois, the Storm King, who disappeared shortly after his political marriage to the sister of his nemesis, Bludtharst Heterodyne. Between that timing and his proclivities before marriage, he left behind no legitimate heirs and far too many illegitimate ones. Two hundred years later, the nobility are still at war with each other about who the rightful heir to the Lightning Throne is, with Tarvek and Martellus being two of the most notorious contenders. It has been said on-page that half of Europa can claim direct descent from him.
- In The Silver Eye, Gallitan has one after their king and queen both die within a week of each other, leaving behind only their newborn son.
Web Animation
- Princess Natasha: When Natasha's grandfather King Hector died, his son Lubek became King of Zoravia but was so hated by his subjects they made a referendum and Lubek's younger brother Carl was elected King. Lubek trying to retake the throne forms the main conflict of the plot.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- In the Grand Finale, Iroh explicitly cites this trope as why Aang has to be the one who defeats Fire Lord Ozai. Sure, Iroh could possibly beat Ozai in a fight, but doing so will merely plunge the Fire Nation into civil war over succession and throw the world into imbalance all over again, as the event would be seen as just another instance of a man killing his brother to grab power. The Avatar intervening to end Ozai's reign, however, would make a real lasting difference. Preventing this trope is also why Zuko spends the final battle dueling Azula for the throne; she's the only other candidate to be Fire Lord, and not dealing with her before Ozai is defeated would risk dividing the country's loyalties between the siblings.
- Years later in The Legend of Korra, the Earth Queen is assassinated and the country descends into chaos practically overnight. Over three years, a soldier named Kuvira reunites the country with increasingly harsh practices, and eventually declares herself ruler. Meanwhile, the actual heir, Prince Wu, is a generally nice but rather selfish and clueless person living in Republic City. Kuvira seems more popular with the people, but most of the other world leaders want Prince Wu on the throne, albeit with lots of advisers they've chosen to help him. Ultimately, Kuvira is defeated and imprisoned, but Wu decides to dissolve the monarchy altogether and make it a republic. The transition into democracy is almost as tense as the succession crisis itself, especially since one of the candidates secretly intends to subvert the new system from the inside out.
- Invoked by the wizard in The Care Bears: Adventure in Wonderland, who kidnapped the Princess of Heart just as she was about to be crowned queen, meaning he would take over.
