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Unexpected Successor

745 statements
140 feature instances
117 referencing feature instances

Unexpected Successor	type	FeatureClass
Unexpected Successor	label	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor	page	UnexpectedSuccessor
Unexpected Successor	comment	A character is way down in the line of succession for some political office, to the point where it's reasonable to assume that they're never going to actually take it. Then everyone ahead of them dies or is otherwise disqualified. Usually this is either because some giant disaster occurs, the character in question is evil and killing everyone ahead of them, a Succession Crisis throws the process into disarray, The country has VERY strict succession rules. In a monarchy, this often means that some distant or estranged relative of the previous monarch is ascending the throne, frequently leading to a great deal of Fish out of Water humor, as the Unexpected Successor has not received the extensive preparation for power usually given to an heir apparent. Also note that, due to the generally predictable nature of royal succession, it's possible for someone to start their life rather far down the line of succession and still be expected to become monarch someday. For example, Queen Victoria was born fifth in line to the English throne, but everyone ahead of her was at least a generation older than she was and unlikely to have more children. So she grew up expecting to be queen and being groomed for the role, and thus would not be a Real Life example of this trope. Also contrast Offered the Crown, where the monarch is selected, and Succession Crisis, where there are problems due to ambiguity about who the rightful successor is. This can happen in democracies as well, if the elected leader suddenly resigns or is incapacitated and someone has to take their place until new elections can be held. While most countries have established lines of succession to make this as orderly as possible, the person who rises to the top of the list can be surprising... such as an Agriculture Secretary who must go from teaching farmers how to grow peanuts to running a country as Hilarity Ensues. In the United States, rules for succession beyond Vice President -> President are set by Congress, not the Constitution. The Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate are next, then Cabinet secretaries in order by age of office. In fiction, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is almost always a member of a different political party than their predecessor. Usually the Speaker resigns their seat in Congress (as required by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947), but for added turmoil, they won't. This trope can also happen in other organizations; such as military commands, corporations, criminal syndicates, and schools. See also 25th Amendment. Supertrope of Spare to the Throne and Hidden Backup Prince. Compare Dark Horse Victory.
Unexpected Successor	fetched	2024-04-09T21:46:18Z
Unexpected Successor	parsed	2024-04-09T21:46:18Z
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to BannerOfTheStars: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to BigBad: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to DLC: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to DisappearedDad: Not an Item - FEATURE
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Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to HiddenBackupPrince: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to HoistByHisOwnPetard: Not an Item - FEATURE
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Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to ImpoverishedPatrician: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to InsaneTrollLogic: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to LockedOutOfTheLoop: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to LogicalExtreme: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to LovableCoward: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to MaxPayne2: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to ObviousRulePatch: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to ScaryBlackMan: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to ShanghaiKnights: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to StartOfDarkness: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to StreetUrchin: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to SuccessionCrisis: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to SuddenlySignificantCity: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to TakeThat: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to TheEmperor: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to UnexpectedSuccessor: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to WordOfGod: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to YesPrimeMinister: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Unexpected Successor	processingComment	Dropped link to immortality: Not an Item - FEATURE
Unexpected Successor	processingUnknown	ShanghaiKnights
Unexpected Successor	processingUnknown	BannerOfTheStars
Unexpected Successor	processingUnknown	DLC
Unexpected Successor	processingUnknown	YesPrimeMinister
Unexpected Successor	processingUnknown	MaxPayne2
Unexpected Successor	processingUnknown	GalaxyAngel
Unexpected Successor	isPartOf	DBTropes
Unexpected Successor / int_10c105b6	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_10c105b6	comment	Discussed in Lesser Evils, the second Brimstone Angels novel when Brin admits he's closely enough related to the royal family of Cormyr to officially be part of the line of succession. Havilar remarks that it puts her in minds of stories where entire royal families get offed in some catastrophe and, before you know it, "some swineherd's the king." Of course, Brin goes on to admit he's rather closer to the throne than that...
Unexpected Successor / int_10c105b6	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_10c105b6	featureConfidence	1.0
Brimstone Angels	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_10c105b6
Unexpected Successor / int_11366f17	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_11366f17	comment	In Betrayal at Krondor, this is part of Gorath's backstory. He becomes chieftain at the age of twelve when his tribe very nearly gets massacred, including the former chieftain, his father. Oh, and a dark elf like him would otherwise be expected to spend at least a century or two getting prepped for the position and would need to have lots of accomplishments to his name before being considered even marginally eligible.
Unexpected Successor / int_11366f17	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_11366f17	featureConfidence	1.0
Betrayal at Krondor (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_11366f17
Unexpected Successor / int_183290f3	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_183290f3	comment	Tactics Ogre is in love with this trope. The previous monarch, King Dorgalua, was a commoner who managed to become the first king of Valeria by defeating his biggest rival, King Roderick, in the middle of a bloody ethnic civil war. Dorgalia has a legitimate son with a Bacrum noblewoman, but he dies at a young age and so does the Queen. This leaves Valeria in yet another civil war, which each one of the ethnic groups being led by a different pretender, all trying to become King. Ultimately it turns out that Catiua, the protagonist Denim's adopted sister, is the unknown bastard daughter of King Dorgalua, and thus the rightful Queen. Depending upon the ending, either she can be the Unexpected Successor, or it can be Denim himself if she gets killed. Denim's military might is really the only thing that holds together either crowning. Literally every other rival is dead by then. God only knows who will become King in the bad ending, where Denim gets assassinated on his coronation day. But Catiua becoming Queen seems to be the canon ending.
Unexpected Successor / int_183290f3	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_183290f3	featureConfidence	1.0
Tactics Ogre (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_183290f3
Unexpected Successor / int_18acb3a5	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_18acb3a5	comment	In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the episode "Nice Lady" sees Will acting as a guide for Lady Penelope Fowler, the daughter of butler Geoffrey's old employers; when Will states that Lady Penelope is "just a girl", Geoffrey responds with "Just a girl? Master William, if all 895 members of the Royal Family suddenly died, she would be the next Queen of England."
Unexpected Successor / int_18acb3a5	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_18acb3a5	featureConfidence	1.0
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_18acb3a5
Unexpected Successor / int_19948e9a	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_19948e9a	comment	Shi Ryuuki in The Story of Saiunkoku unexpectedly became the imperial Crown Prince at age eleven, during a civil war in which four of his five older brothers killed each other trying to lay claim to the succession. In the process, Ryuuki moved from the bottom of his family's pecking order to his father's anointed successor. The only other surviving heir, Prince Seien, was already in exile when the civil war began because his mother's kin had made a power play too early. Ryuuki — who isn't interested in being The Emperor, believes himself to be incapable of ruling well, and wants nothing more than to see his favorite elder brother again — stubbornly resists ruling and plays dumb in hopes that his courtiers will give up and offer the throne to Seien. As Ryuuki's advisers eventually point out to him, recognizing his own shortcomings and trying to avoid making worse proves him smarter and more grounded than anybody else in his family and thus the Closest Thing We Got to a decent heir.
Unexpected Successor / int_19948e9a	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_19948e9a	featureConfidence	1.0
The Story of Saiunkoku	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_19948e9a
Unexpected Successor / int_1a8119af	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_1a8119af	comment	Happens twice in the same country in Dragon Quest VIII. King Clavius of Argonia only became the king because his elder brother deserted the country. Then his useless son Prince Charmles is expected to be his heir, until the Rite of Passage ceremony, where he needs to get a jewel called an Argon Heart from an Argon Lizard. The heroes are sent to assist him, and get a decently-sized Heart after obtaining a bunch of small ones. Then he goes back to town and buys a larger one, which his father witnesses. In the Good Ending, the Hero is revealed to be Clavius's long-lost brother's son, making him a potential heir. And care to guess which potential heir produced a legitimately-obtained Argon Heart?
Unexpected Successor / int_1a8119af	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_1a8119af	featureConfidence	1.0
Dragon Quest VIII (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_1a8119af
Unexpected Successor / int_1aacbbc9	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_1aacbbc9	comment	Dragon Age: Dragon Age: Origins: When King Cailan dies at Ostagar, the only member of the Theirin bloodline left is his half-brother Alistair, who is not only a bastard but a supposedly politically neutral Grey Warden. The only other viable candidate for the throne is Cailan's widow Anora, who is herself only second-generation nobility with no blood claim to the crown at all. In Dragon Age II, meanwhile, the position of Viscount of Kirkwall is left vacant for years after the old Viscount and his son are killed, with Knight Commander Meredith seizing control and refusing to allow a new appointment to be made. After Meredith's downfall, the post can (briefly) be filled by Hawke, who soon disappears and leaves leadership of the city to Seneschal Bran and Guard-Captain Aveline. Eventually, once the main plot of Dragon Age: Inquisition has run its course, a new Viscount is finally named: Varric Tethras, an author and merchant who isn't even human.
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Unexpected Successor / int_1aacbbc9	featureConfidence	1.0
Dragon Age (Franchise)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_1aacbbc9
Unexpected Successor / int_1af1f707	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_1af1f707	comment	Eagle Eye. ARIIA, The Pentagon's supercomputer, attempts to assassinate the president, vice president, and the entire line of succession (except for the Secretary of Defense, to whom ARIIA plans to pass the presidency).
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Eagle Eye	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_1af1f707
Unexpected Successor / int_1b4b2f5c	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_1b4b2f5c	comment	Among the background events in Highschool of the Dead, Presidents of the United States keep getting infected. Each time someone new ascends to the office, he asks himself, "Should we nuke China before our government totally collapses?" One of them decides he should.
Unexpected Successor / int_1b4b2f5c	featureApplicability	1.0
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Highschool of the Dead (Manga)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_1b4b2f5c
Unexpected Successor / int_1cc09117	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_1cc09117	comment	Bleach: Although Yhwach doesn't have a named successor, the Sternritter are convinced that Haschwalth is his successor in all but name, until Yhwach randomly announces his successor's identity. To say the army's upset that it's not Haschwalth is an understatement. Yhwach reveals Uryuu Ishida's existence and names him successor at the same time. It's done to sow dissent and confusion among his men, to isolate Uryuu from plotting betrayal, and to nurture Uryuu's secret (and potentially superior; even the nigh-omniscient Yhwach isn't sure how Uryuu managed to survive the AuswÃ¤hlen) power for mysterious ends.
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Bleach (Manga)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_1cc09117
Unexpected Successor / int_1cdbedf3	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_1cdbedf3	comment	In Black Sky, no one would have thought the Prince of Sabina able to father a son due to his obsessive mourning for his late wife. The Zabini are not happy with him when they discover that yes, he did have a bastard son but never acknowledged him, and now they have to find the kid.
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Black Sky (Fanfic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_1cdbedf3
Unexpected Successor / int_1f207ac7	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_1f207ac7	comment	The Dalemark Quartet: Dagner Clennensson winds up Earl of the South Dales because his mother Lenina is the niece of a previous earl, and every other male heir dies in an attempted invasion of North Dalemark when Dagner's younger brother Moril closes the only pass with Magic Music. He'd much rather be a Singer. Mitt winds up the King of Dalemark, to his extreme surprise, because he's descended in a direct father-to-son line from the last king, who ruled two hundred years before. Oh, and he's of the Undying, as well. The magical objects (a ring, sword and cup) that belonged to the last king recognize him as the rightful heir.
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The Dalemark Quartet	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_1f207ac7
Unexpected Successor / int_210767ac	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_210767ac	comment	Happens at times in Crusader Kings and its sequel. There's a couple of major reasons. Firstly, because this is the Middle Ages, essentially anyone in the line of succession may abruptly die of pneumonia/assassinations/hunting accidents at any time. Secondly, some of the succession laws can be kind of hard to predict, specifically Elective, since in the first game it's largely based on the number of provinces and so can swap at any time, while in the second game it depends on how the vassals feel at the precise moment the previous ruler dies. Lastly and most importantly, sometimes the minor distant relation with no real expectation of getting the throne is in the player's dynasty, and the player will stop at nothing to make this trope happen.
Unexpected Successor / int_210767ac	featureApplicability	1.0
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Crusader Kings (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_210767ac
Unexpected Successor / int_223d85a9	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_223d85a9	comment	In Summer Knight, Harry Dresden must stop the insane Summer Lady Aurora from destroying the cycle of the seasons, which would either cause a new ice age if Winter came out on top, or an explosion of all forms of life if Summer won, and not just humans, animals, or flora, but bacteria and viruses. With this death, the Mantle of the Summer Lady flows into the next closest Summer-aligned being, a young changeling woman named Lily, who at the time had been carrying the mantle of the Summer Knight against her will, as part of Aurora's plans.
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Summer Knight	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_223d85a9
Unexpected Successor / int_2259e864	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_2259e864	comment	Prince Vegeta in A Glad Day plans to throw a wrench in political schemes and protect his lover Bulma by naming Romayn (a third-class child) his heir. Ironically his half-breed son Trunks winds up holding the title of king until Vegeta turns out to not be dead.
Unexpected Successor / int_2259e864	featureApplicability	1.0
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A Glad Day (Fanfic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_2259e864
Unexpected Successor / int_230b3240	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_230b3240	comment	Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Ryanverse novels. He's only Vice President, meaning he is directly next in line, but a) he was explicitly told, and had it as a condition of accepting the post, that he would not have to do much of anything, b) he was not expected by anyone, readers included, to ever run the country, c) he was only going to be VP for a few months (it was an election year and Ryan wasn't going to be the VP candidate on the ballot), an unlikely time frame for an assassination, and d) he was only VP for an hour, tops, before becoming President.
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Jack Ryan	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_230b3240
Unexpected Successor / int_2372359	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_2372359	comment	In The Belgariad and related works: In the prequel Polgara the Sorceress, the whole hidden Rivan line of succession Polgara spends half her life protecting flows from a youngest grandson, the sole survivor of a slaughtered royal family. Subverted in that he doesn't actually get to rule; they need to hide him and his descendants. One could make a good case for Urgit being an Unexpected Successor to Taur Urgas. He's physically weak, in a country where killing those ahead of you in the line of succession is an accepted part of the succession code. Urgit just realized that there was no requirement that the wannabe heir kill his rivals personally, stole a key to the royal treasury, and hired killers. The first Sendarian king may count as well, since they (being iconically sensible people) resorted to voting - the process took far longer than expected, and the winning candidate had forgotten he was in the running while he went back to tending his rutabaga farm. He was very surprised when a bunch of nobles showed up, declared him the king, and knelt before him, especially since they did so in a freshly fertilized field.
Unexpected Successor / int_2372359	featureApplicability	-0.3
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The Belgariad	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_2372359
Unexpected Successor / int_24e07b32	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_24e07b32	comment	Deputy: Bill Hollister becomes acting sheriff as he was the longest serving member of the previous sheriff's mounted posse (interpreted as the LASD's mounted division).
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Deputy	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_24e07b32
Unexpected Successor / int_25f6f1a0	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_25f6f1a0	comment	Eva Ushiromiya in Umineko: When They Cry. More exactly, in the third arc. Although she's not actually that far down the chain, there was no reason to expect her brother Krauss to pass away, and after he does, the hope would be that Jessica's husband could succeed him. In addition, Eva has the Heir Club for Men baggage to deal with. Kinzo Ushiromiya himself is one of these too.
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Umineko: When They Cry (Visual Novel)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_25f6f1a0
Unexpected Successor / int_2cb4285e	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_2cb4285e	comment	A major plot-point in 1865. Nobody, not even Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, expected Johnson to become president. Lincoln primarily took him on Vice President in hopes to keeping Border States from joining the Confederacy. Johnson becoming president at such a crucial times for America, and his opposition to many of Lincolnâ€™s policies, forms the bulk of the plot and his conflict with Edwin Stanton.
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1865 (Podcast)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_2cb4285e
Unexpected Successor / int_2d165a50	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_2d165a50	comment	Ōoku: The Inner Chambers: Tokugawa Yoshimune was not only from a minor branch of the Tokugawa dynasty, but was the third daughter of said branch, so it was considered unlikely that she'd even become the head of her family, much less shogun. Her older sisters were poisoned to remove them from the succession, and the sickly nature of the direct line meant that the last two members both had short reigns, so she took advantage of the Succession Crisis and proclaimed herself shogun. Which was in fact lampshaded by Ten'ei-in, the consort of a previous shogun: The only time they met, the elderly Shogun Tsunayoshi noted to Yoshimune that she was herself an Unexpected Successor, being the third daughter of Iemitsu the Younger, and had only inherited the throne after her oldest half-sister Ietsuna died without issue. By primogeniture, her middle half-sister Tsunashige should have been the successor, but her mother Iemitsu preferred Tsunayoshi's father over Tsunashige's and seems to have favored his daughter in the order of succession. Now the ultimate example: Harusada abdicates her claim to the throne in favor of her son Toyochiyo, making the now Shogun Ienari the first male shogun in generations. With the male population slowly getting back to normal levels (due to an effective Redface Pox vaccine) and Ienari himself being succeeded by his son Ieyoshi, it was a big surprise when Ienari declared Ieyoshi's daughter Iesada next in line. Ienari did so because Iesada was the only one of Ieyoshi's children to show anything resembling competence.
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Unexpected Successor / int_2e80e66f	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_2e80e66f	comment	A Diplomatic Visit: Chapter 2 of the sequel Diplomat at Large reveals Thorax is this. He's the first normal drone to ascend to Royal status since the last of the original generation of Queens did so; Chrysalis had no Royal offspring to take her place, so there wasn't much of a choice.
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A Diplomatic Visit (Fanfic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_2e80e66f
Unexpected Successor / int_340a9b68	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_340a9b68	comment	Wikibending: King Bumi was the illegitimate son of the previous King of Omashu, and so was never expected to take the throne. However, Bumi became the heir when his legitimate half-brother was killed early into the Hundred Year War at the Delegation of Reckoning.
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Unexpected Successor / int_35af2104	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_35af2104	comment	The Fifth Elephant: The Low King of the Dwarves plays with the trope a bit, since the post is an Elective Monarchy. The appointment was rather hotly contested thanks to dwarven society going through some cultural shifts that not everyone was happy about (which would go on to drive the plot of Thud!), and the new Low King is said to have been from a small and not particularly significant clan that had barely been involved in the power struggle, and got the job largely because nobody disliked him enough to really oppose him as a candidate. If certain factions were hoping this would mean he was a biddable nonentity who'd sign what he was told to sign and not make waves, they were thoroughly disappointed.
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The Fifth Elephant	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_35af2104
Unexpected Successor / int_366a284d	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_366a284d	comment	Kenshiro of Fist of the North Star was a distant third to inherit the Hokuto Shin Ken style of martial arts from his teacher/adoptive father. But when leading candidate Toki was stricken with a fatal case of radiation poison that sapped his strength and Raoh left to form his post-apocalyptic army, the title of 64th master fell to a surprised Kenshiro.
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Fist of the North Star (Manga)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_366a284d
Unexpected Successor / int_36f2432	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_36f2432	comment	unOrdinary: Traditionally a school's Turf War king is the male student with the highest ranked power, and while Blyke was expected to inherit the position once Arlo graduated once John is forced to stop hiding his abilities Blyke is the third strongest known male student, and ends up king before Arlo graduates because Arlo refuses to take back up the postition after John defeats him and John doesn't want it. The queen position is also in unusual hands, as Remi is queen even though Sera is the strongest female student (and overall student) since Sera quit the Turf War team.
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unOrdinary (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_36f2432
Unexpected Successor / int_377c27f1	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_377c27f1	comment	In Dirge for Prester John It's debated whether or not John should be allowed to take part in the Abir when he knows so little of Pentexore's ways, because what if he becomes someone important? And then he's the king.
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Dirge for Prester John	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_377c27f1
Unexpected Successor / int_37ee9dd3	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_37ee9dd3	comment	An arc in Doonesbury had the characters (during the Reagan administration) playing a computerized war game. Overreaction to a "Soviet provocation" results in nuclear war. In one of the last strips, the line of succession has resulted in Secretary of the Interior James Watt being President — with nothing much left to preside over. Watt's perceived anti-environmentalism is referenced with the remark, "Guess he got rid of all those trees."
Unexpected Successor / int_37ee9dd3	featureApplicability	1.0
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Doonesbury (Comic Strip)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_37ee9dd3
Unexpected Successor / int_3f6c7a68	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_3f6c7a68	comment	In Cold Days while Sarissa, daughter of Mab and twin sister to current Winter Lady Maeve, is trained by Winter Queen Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness, to be a Spare to the Throne for Winter Lady Maeve, the candidate is also this because Maeve killing the current Summer Lady Lily, when Sarissa is close by, forces the Mantle of the Summer Lady to find the next acceptable host. Sarissa is the next closest option and the Mantle forces itself into her, binding her to her mother's enemy court.
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Cold Days	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_3f6c7a68
Unexpected Successor / int_3fa584fa	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_3fa584fa	comment	one day at a time (Nyame): It's outright stated in the summary that Jason Todd was never supposed to be Batman. According to Word of God and the story itself, he only got the job after Dick Grayson's death due to Tim Drake (the presumed successor after Dick) outright refusing the mantle for his own reasons. Even then, it was supposed to be temporary — Damian Wayne wanted it, but he was too young and inexperienced at the time to take it up properly. Then they both ended up dying a mere two years later, making Jason Batman permanently. This also applies to Wayne Enterprises and the Wayne fortune in general. Jason was forced to succeed his younger brother Tim as CEO to the former after his death, and the death of Damian left Jason and their sister Cassandra Cain the only known heirs to the latter until their younger sister Helena Wayne showed up. As Jason was a Street Urchin that only met and was adopted by Bruce due to chance, he's just about the last person anyone expected to be Bruce's ultimate successor in the end.
Unexpected Successor / int_3fa584fa	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_3fa584fa	featureConfidence	1.0
one day at a time (Nyame) (Fanfic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_3fa584fa
Unexpected Successor / int_41b0198a	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_41b0198a	comment	The Dresden Files: In Summer Knight, Harry Dresden must stop the insane Summer Lady Aurora from destroying the cycle of the seasons, which would either cause a new ice age if Winter came out on top, or an explosion of all forms of life if Summer won, and not just humans, animals, or flora, but bacteria and viruses. With this death, the Mantle of the Summer Lady flows into the next closest Summer-aligned being, a young changeling woman named Lily, who at the time had been carrying the mantle of the Summer Knight against her will, as part of Aurora's plans. In Cold Days while Sarissa, daughter of Mab and twin sister to current Winter Lady Maeve, is trained by Winter Queen Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness, to be a Spare to the Throne for Winter Lady Maeve, the candidate is also this because Maeve killing the current Summer Lady Lily, when Sarissa is close by, forces the Mantle of the Summer Lady to find the next acceptable host. Sarissa is the next closest option and the Mantle forces itself into her, binding her to her mother's enemy court.
Unexpected Successor / int_41b0198a	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_41b0198a	featureConfidence	1.0
The Dresden Files	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_41b0198a
Unexpected Successor / int_426a7572	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_426a7572	comment	Used as a gag in the Animaniacs episode set in Anvilania. Yakko arrives to take over the throne, and sings a very complicated song explaining where he fits in the line of succession (extremely low), which ends with him noting sadly that everyone named in the song is dead, leaving him King.
Unexpected Successor / int_426a7572	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_426a7572	featureConfidence	1.0
Animaniacs	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_426a7572
Unexpected Successor / int_43576f5	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_43576f5	comment	Supernatural: In "Stuck In The Middle (With You)" it's revealed this is how Crowley became the King of Hell. Following the end of Season 5 Azazel, Lilith, and Alistair are dead and Lucifer is back in his cage leaving Hell without leadership. Crowley Offered the Crown to Ramiel the Prince of Hell, and not only did Ramiel turn it down, he said the other Princes would all turn it down too. He suggests that Crowley take the crown before some other "young and hungry" demon does instead.
Unexpected Successor / int_43576f5	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_43576f5	featureConfidence	1.0
Supernatural	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_43576f5
Unexpected Successor / int_43f52aa9	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_43f52aa9	comment	In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, after The Emperor Uriel Septim was assassinated, along with all four of his sons, it turns out that he has an unknown illegitimate son — Martin Septim — who becomes Emperor after you deliver the Requisite Royal Regalia... and then deliver Martin. Though he has to make a Heroic Sacrifice before he is formally declared Emperor by lighting the Dragonfires, leaving the throne empty. In Skyrim, this is the outcome of several major guild/faction questlines, where the Player Character starts off as a new recruit and running a few errands for higher ups. Before long they are getting involved in some larger crisis the group is dealing with, which inevitably leads to the death of the current leader (or in the case of the Thieves' Guild their exposure as a traitor). It falls to the player and some of their mentors in the guild/faction to resolve it, and at the end they are chosen as the new leader over several more senior members who have been around for years.
Unexpected Successor / int_43f52aa9	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_43f52aa9	featureConfidence	1.0
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_43f52aa9
Unexpected Successor / int_4508f43d	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_4508f43d	comment	In Shogun: Total War, because of the way that births of heirs, aging, and succession are modelled, if you fail to manage your family properly, odd stuff can happen. Only the player's current character can die of old age or sire children, and the chance is random on any turn with penalties for age. For instance, the 90-year-old uncle of the current Daimyo, immune to age since he's not the head of the family, could be the only one left if the Daimyo's sons all die in battle or assassinations. He succeeds the throne when his 60-some-year-old nephew dies, and then himself dies the next turn on a random old-age roll buoyed up by 30 years of penalties, ending the game.
Unexpected Successor / int_4508f43d	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_4508f43d	featureConfidence	1.0
Shogun: Total War (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_4508f43d
Unexpected Successor / int_468bebb0	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_468bebb0	comment	In the Discworld novels, Mustrum Ridcully had actually retired from wizardry, and thus an unlikely prospect to become Archchancellor of the Unseen University. However, after the events of Sourcery, he was the highest ranking wizard still alive who had not been involved in the events of said novel, and thus could not be tied to the resultant scandals, and so he was offered the position — and managed to hold onto it for the rest of the series, despite centuries of tradition of Klingon Promotion within the University, by virtue of being unkillable.
Unexpected Successor / int_468bebb0	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_468bebb0	featureConfidence	1.0
Discworld	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_468bebb0
Unexpected Successor / int_475972f0	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_475972f0	comment	Margaret Valentine in Y: The Last Man was the US Secretary of Agriculture. When all the men suddenly died, she was suddenly promoted all the way to President because everyone ahead of her in the succession was either male or died in the ensuing chaos.
Unexpected Successor / int_475972f0	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_475972f0	featureConfidence	1.0
Y: The Last Man (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_475972f0
Unexpected Successor / int_49a87cb3	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_49a87cb3	comment	In Final Fantasy VII, after the succesive deaths of President Shinra and his son, new President Rufus, the various less competent Shinra executives enjoy a brief stint running the show.
Unexpected Successor / int_49a87cb3	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_49a87cb3	featureConfidence	1.0
Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_49a87cb3
Unexpected Successor / int_49a88435	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_49a88435	comment	Final Fantasy XII sees command of the Imperial army fall into the lap of Judge Zargabaath, the rarely seen low man on the Judge Magistrate totem pole simply because all the other Judges are either dead or have jumped ship.
Unexpected Successor / int_49a88435	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_49a88435	featureConfidence	1.0
Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_49a88435
Unexpected Successor / int_4a9ecddc	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_4a9ecddc	comment	In I, Claudius, Caligula is dead, and some of the conspirators who killed him are killing every member of Caligula's family they can find. The last thing they expect is the Praetorian Guard to declare Caligula's harmless uncle Claudius emperor.
Unexpected Successor / int_4a9ecddc	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_4a9ecddc	featureConfidence	1.0
I, Claudius	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_4a9ecddc
Unexpected Successor / int_4dc4fbf5	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_4dc4fbf5	comment	Jericho (2006). Nuclear attacks leave the Secretary of Health and Human Services as the highest surviving official. Some people, such as a junior senator from Wyoming, do not agree...
Unexpected Successor / int_4dc4fbf5	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_4dc4fbf5	featureConfidence	1.0
Jericho (2006)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_4dc4fbf5
Unexpected Successor / int_4ed9d17f	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_4ed9d17f	comment	In American Flagg!, Flagg's friend Bill Windsor-Jones is the rightful King of England (most of the royal family having been killed by a German nuclear strike on London at some unspecified point in the past, and Britain subsequently becoming a communist puppet state of the Pan-African League.)
Unexpected Successor / int_4ed9d17f	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_4ed9d17f	featureConfidence	1.0
AmericanFlagg	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_4ed9d17f
Unexpected Successor / int_4efd642a	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_4efd642a	comment	Isaac Asimov's Inferno by Roger MacBride Allen. Political wags had joked that nobody would assassinate the governor of the planet, Chanto Grieg, because the designated successor to the office was widely expected to be the equivalent of the Speaker of the House in the USA: President of the Legislative Council Shelabas Quellam, a man widely known to be good-natured but completely ill-suited to the office of Governor were he to ascend to the office. But Governor Chanto Grieg of the planet Inferno is indeed assassinated. Imagine the look of surprise on everybody's face when Chanto Grieg's will is officially read by his lawyer. The next Governor of Inferno is actually Sheriff Alvar Kresh. Suffice it to say that Grieg knew what he was doing.
Unexpected Successor / int_4efd642a	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_4efd642a	featureConfidence	1.0
Isaac Asimov's Caliban	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_4efd642a
Unexpected Successor / int_526d4c5c	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_526d4c5c	comment	Subverted in Knights of the Old Republic. Canderous seems an unlikely pick to become leader and de facto patriarch of the Mandalorian people. But the backstory and a few hints he drops in-game point to the fact he wasn't just a low-ranking Mook in Mandalore's forces; he'd merely fallen on hard times after his peoples' defeat. Revan sealed the deal by handing over his predecessor's mask and telling him that he's in charge now.
Unexpected Successor / int_526d4c5c	featureApplicability	-0.3
Unexpected Successor / int_526d4c5c	featureConfidence	1.0
Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_526d4c5c
Unexpected Successor / int_55c20cb5	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_55c20cb5	comment	Overlord (2012): The kingdom puts together the biggest army they've ever had for its yearly skirmish against the Empire. Unfortunately, that year was also the one Ainz chose to ally with the Empire, and he plows through half their army without effort. As a result, the kingdom's nobility is decimated, leading to second or third sons (in some cases, spares to the Spare to the Throne) finding themselves in positions of power they never trained for and certainly never expected to have.
Unexpected Successor / int_55c20cb5	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_55c20cb5	featureConfidence	1.0
Overlord (2012)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_55c20cb5
Unexpected Successor / int_569093cc	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_569093cc	comment	DuckTales (2017): Only Scrooge McDuck's true heir can find the Papyrus of Binding. In the end it's not his nephew Donald, his niece Della, or any of the triplets, Huey, Dewey, or Louie, but Webby that is Scrooge's true heir. Not only does she embody all of Scrooge's best traits, and he considers her family, it's discovered in the Grand Finale she's his Opposite-Sex Clone, thus also a biological heir.
Unexpected Successor / int_569093cc	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_569093cc	featureConfidence	1.0
DuckTales (2017)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_569093cc
Unexpected Successor / int_5773b09	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_5773b09	comment	Kull the Conqueror starts with the eponymous barbarian (played by Kevin Sorbo) being denied in joining the king's army, as all of them are noble-born. Then the king goes berserk and murders most of his successors before being mortally wounded by Kull. While the captain of the guard and a nobleman bicker over who should claim the crown, the king decides that all three should be punished and gives the crown to Kull before dying. The priesthood approves, and, suddenly, the captain of the guard must bow down before a barbarian he has just rejected from the army.
Unexpected Successor / int_5773b09	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_5773b09	featureConfidence	1.0
Kull the Conqueror	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_5773b09
Unexpected Successor / int_57c78834	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_57c78834	comment	This is the fuel that drives the plot of Mr. Deeds (and by that virtue Mr. Deeds Goes to Town). Upon the untimely freezing-at-the-top-of-Everest of Preston Blake, the entirety of Blake Media and its vast fortune now belongs to the only known relative of Blake, Longfellow Deeds (played by Adam Sandler, or by Gary Cooper in the original film), a greeting card writer and pizza shop owner from a small town in New Hampshire. This is played twice, being that in the climax of the film, when Deeds gives up and leaves town, he leaves the company up to his crapsack lawyer, who tries to fire everyone (here meaning 50 thousand employees). Just before he takes control, Deed's girlfriend pops back up with Blake's diary and a worker's manifest, which points to... Blake's longtime butler, John Turturro, who may very well be his son!
Unexpected Successor / int_57c78834	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_57c78834	featureConfidence	1.0
Mr. Deeds	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_57c78834
Unexpected Successor / int_5822abdd	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_5822abdd	comment	In Legostar Galactica, Carl Weyland is introduced as the Minister of Restructuring, the man in charge of ensuring a smooth transition from one President to the next. Given that the Presidents and Vice Presidents he's serving under tend to be Sith Lords with the Chronic Backstabbing Disorder that comes with, he's got his work cut out for him. When the Sith are overthown wholesale, Weyland, suddenly without a new President to transition to, ends up stepping into the top spot himself. Fortunately for everyone, he's a far more Reasonable Authority Figure than his predecessors.
Unexpected Successor / int_5822abdd	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_5822abdd	featureConfidence	1.0
Legostar Galactica (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_5822abdd
Unexpected Successor / int_58e3b9fc	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_58e3b9fc	comment	On The Last Ship, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jeff Michener, normally number 12 on the Presidential line of succession (a fact he points out himself), is the only member of the line who happens to have a natural immunity to the Red Flu, leaving him the highest-ranking surviving member of the US federal government and default President. At the end of Season 2, a judge formally swears him in, making it official. Season 3 reveals that for his Vice-President, Michener chooses Howard Oliver, the Mayor of St. Louis... mostly just because that happens to be the city chosen as the new capital, and because Oliver did a fairly decent job managing the quarantine there. Midway through the season, Michener is assassinated by The Conspiracy, and Oliver becomes President.
Unexpected Successor / int_58e3b9fc	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_58e3b9fc	featureConfidence	1.0
The Last Ship	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_58e3b9fc
Unexpected Successor / int_58f28be1	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_58f28be1	comment	In The Godfather, Don Vito Corleone always knew that his son Sonny would follow him into crime given his temperament, and he knew his son Fredo would fall in because there was nothing else he could do, but everybody expected Michael to be kept out of the business. Ultimately, it is Michael who succeeds Vito as Don of the family after Sonny is murdered during the mob wars, and Fredo is passed over because no one believed he could do it.
Unexpected Successor / int_58f28be1	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_58f28be1	featureConfidence	1.0
The Godfather	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_58f28be1
Unexpected Successor / int_5c897f4a	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_5c897f4a	comment	Schlock Mercenary Book 15 ends up with Breya, previously kicked upstairs to the uneviable position of "lobbyist manager", effectively leading the UNS due to a Staged Populist Uprising killing most everyone above her. Ironically, the revolution was supposed to be kickstarted by her assassination, but the Toughs accidentally foiled that.
Unexpected Successor / int_5c897f4a	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_5c897f4a	featureConfidence	1.0
Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_5c897f4a
Unexpected Successor / int_5d354f8	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_5d354f8	comment	Red Dwarf plays with this trope, albeit with the role of captain rather than political office. True to the trope, Rimmer was very far from being captain and then everyone between him and the position was killed (as in, he was outranked by everyone except one person and that was the only person not killed). Rimmer likes to think of himself as being in effective command of the ship as the most senior crewmember. However, no one other than Rimmer seems to consider Rimmer the commanding officer. An unusual case as technically the list of people killed includes Rimmer.
Unexpected Successor / int_5d354f8	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_5d354f8	featureConfidence	1.0
Red Dwarf	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_5d354f8
Unexpected Successor / int_5ed710fb	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_5ed710fb	comment	The main character in Kind Hearts and Coronets becomes a duke after the deaths of the eight people ahead of him, all of whom are played by Alec Guinness. (He murders most of them, though a couple save him the trouble by dying on their own initiative, such as an elderly man who dies of shock when hearing he has been made duke.)
Unexpected Successor / int_5ed710fb	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_5ed710fb	featureConfidence	1.0
Kind Hearts and Coronets	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_5ed710fb
Unexpected Successor / int_5f5b8099	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_5f5b8099	comment	In The Parselmouth of Gryffindor, lowly clerk Percy Weasley becomes the Acting Minister after Cornelius Fudge disappears, because, after pondering it long and hard, Hermione and Slughorn decide that no other person in the Ministry is both qualified and willing to take the job.
Unexpected Successor / int_5f5b8099	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_5f5b8099	featureConfidence	1.0
The Parselmouth of Gryffindor (Fanfic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_5f5b8099
Unexpected Successor / int_5ff059fa	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_5ff059fa	comment	In The Wolverine, Shingen Yashida thought he would inherit his father Ichiro's corporation after the latter's impending death. Then Ichiro snubbed Shingen by naming Shingen's daughter Mariko as his sole heir in a new will. Mariko isn't happy about this either, since she never wanted that much power and authority in the first place. Ichiro was plotting to cheat death all along by stealing Wolverine's Healing Factor. The reason he named Mariko his successor instead of Shingen was because Shingen would never be content to be a puppet with authority in name only.
Unexpected Successor / int_5ff059fa	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_5ff059fa	featureConfidence	1.0
The Wolverine	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_5ff059fa
Unexpected Successor / int_60570997	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_60570997	comment	In S.S.D.D. Robert gets unexpectedly promoted to 1st Engineer on the Britannia after a Killer Robot attack kills all his co-workers. Largely because he was a cyborg without a pulse.
Unexpected Successor / int_60570997	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_60570997	featureConfidence	1.0
S.S.D.D. (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_60570997
Unexpected Successor / int_608516dc	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_608516dc	comment	Mars Attacks!!. After the death of all top U.S. officials, at the end of the movie the President's daughter is apparently in charge of the government.
Unexpected Successor / int_608516dc	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_608516dc	featureConfidence	1.0
Mars Attacks!	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_608516dc
Unexpected Successor / int_621bb4b9	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_621bb4b9	comment	In Songs of the Spheres, no one had expected Toph to be the successor to Queen Luna of Lai.
Unexpected Successor / int_621bb4b9	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_621bb4b9	featureConfidence	1.0
Songs Of The Spheres / Fan Fic	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_621bb4b9
Unexpected Successor / int_629cd094	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_629cd094	comment	Dragon Age: Origins: When King Cailan dies at Ostagar, the only member of the Theirin bloodline left is his half-brother Alistair, who is not only a bastard but a supposedly politically neutral Grey Warden. The only other viable candidate for the throne is Cailan's widow Anora, who is herself only second-generation nobility with no blood claim to the crown at all.
Unexpected Successor / int_629cd094	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_629cd094	featureConfidence	1.0
Dragon Age: Origins (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_629cd094
Unexpected Successor / int_6348f5cf	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_6348f5cf	comment	Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid reveals that the last Sankt Kaiser, Olivie SÃ¤gebrecht, was this. When she was born, her constitution was deemed too weak to succeed as the next King, so she was instead used as a political hostage for the kingdom of Shutra. However, her combat and magical prowess grew under the tutelage of Wilfried Jeremiah, until she gained a reputation as a warrior deemed second to none. Thus, when the time came, she was called back to her home country to become the next, and ultimately last, King of the Cradle.
Unexpected Successor / int_6348f5cf	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_6348f5cf	featureConfidence	1.0
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid (Manga)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_6348f5cf
Unexpected Successor / int_64b51b44	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_64b51b44	comment	During a kidnapping crisis, the President temporally steps down, and since there is no Vice-President at that moment, he appoints the Speaker of The House as the new commander-in-chief. Bear in mind, in this scenario a Democrat is passing the power to a Republican. And the Republican who gets the job? King Ralph, himself.
Unexpected Successor / int_64b51b44	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_64b51b44	featureConfidence	1.0
King Ralph	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_64b51b44
Unexpected Successor / int_654ab3ee	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_654ab3ee	comment	Assassin's Creed: Revelations: The database entry for Prince Suleiman explicitly describes him as the last man anyone would've expected to become Sultan, what with his father Prince Selim being third in line for the throne. By the time Ezio meets him, Suleiman is but an unambitious, learned Gentleman and a Scholar who is fond of travelling and has a passion for the arts and culture. During the events of the game, his father is waging war against Sultan Bayezid II, who ultimately names him Sultan in Ahmet's place; upon his return to Constantinople, Selim murders his own brother by strangling him and dropping him off a cliff to his death, after which he reigns as Sultan for 3 measly years before dying to sickness and passing the throne to Suleiman, who goes on to become Sultan of the Ottoman Empire at the very young age of 26.
Unexpected Successor / int_654ab3ee	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_654ab3ee	featureConfidence	1.0
Assassin's Creed: Revelations (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_654ab3ee
Unexpected Successor / int_6738714d	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_6738714d	comment	There is a school of thought that should someone very low in the order of succession find themselves elevated to the presidency such as in Designated Survivor or The Last Ship, their duty isnâ€™t to assume the presidency and govern, it is instead to identify an individual who is actually more capable of governing, appoint him or her Vice President and then resign. The reason being that if they themselves were actually capable of governing the nation, they would have been appointed to a much more important cabinet role.
Unexpected Successor / int_6738714d	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_6738714d	featureConfidence	1.0
Designated Survivor	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_6738714d
Unexpected Successor / int_67855503	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_67855503	comment	Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle has a double example with the royal family of the New Kingdom Atismata. Count Atismata was a noble in the country that preceded the New Kingdom, the Old Arcadia Empire. He had two daughters, the elder of whom was Lisha. The Count led a rebellion against the Empire, causing Lisha to be kidnapped as a hostage. He chose to continue his rebellion, with his younger daughter set to become princess of the royal family that he would establish. Although the rebellion was successful, both Count Atismata and the younger daughter was killed. As a result, the Count's sister Raffi became Queen, and she adopted Lisha as her own daughter and made her the princess.
Unexpected Successor / int_67855503	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_67855503	featureConfidence	1.0
Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_67855503
Unexpected Successor / int_67c0a723	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_67c0a723	comment	Worldwar: Striking the Balance by Harry Turtledove. In an alternate history, Secretary of State Cordell Hull assumes the Presidency after Franklin Delano Roosevelt's death. Vice President Henry Wallace had been killed when Seattle was nuked by the Race, and the succession law of the time put the Secretary of State next in the line of succession.
Unexpected Successor / int_67c0a723	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_67c0a723	featureConfidence	1.0
Worldwar	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_67c0a723
Unexpected Successor / int_67ce5a04	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_67ce5a04	comment	Hinoka in the Conquest route and Leo in the Birthright route of Fire Emblem Fates: neither of them expected to succeed to the throne cause they were third in line to their respective thrones, but both Hinoka's brothers died before her and Leo's brother died and his sister abdicated. Technically speaking, the Avatar becoming king/queen of Valla in Revelations also counts, first off because the country technically didn't exist or rather had been cursed into being forgotten, and second because Azura was the rightful heir, but she willingly gives it up in the Avatar's favor (unless they're married, in which case they're co-rulers).
Unexpected Successor / int_67ce5a04	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_67ce5a04	featureConfidence	1.0
Fire Emblem Fates (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_67ce5a04
Unexpected Successor / int_688cfe4e	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_688cfe4e	comment	Black Tide Rising: Under Secretary of Defense Frank Galloway, the man who as National Constitutional Continuity Coordinator becomes acting head of what's left of the US government during the Zombie Apocalypse until an actual member of the presidential line of succession can be found, is noted to have been 126 on the list of people with the authority to take that position.
Unexpected Successor / int_688cfe4e	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_688cfe4e	featureConfidence	1.0
Black Tide Rising	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_688cfe4e
Unexpected Successor / int_696b75c2	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_696b75c2	comment	The royal family in A Brother's Price all sort of rules as a unit (especially after the last time they tried to "split" the royal family as some large families do, two generations back, led to civil war). Nevertheless, the Eldest of their family, like any other family in this setting, holds particular authority. When nine of her older sisters are killed in a theater explosion, Princess Rennsellaer is thrust into the role of Eldest without having been raised to prepare for it. Some drama stems from the fact that some people (including Ren herself, for a while) thought her younger sister Halley might have been a better fit.
Unexpected Successor / int_696b75c2	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_696b75c2	featureConfidence	1.0
A Brother's Price	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_696b75c2
Unexpected Successor / int_6f1bcb62	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_6f1bcb62	comment	Ashnard in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance killed his father and everyone who was ahead of him in order to get the throne of Daein, starting from fairly far down the line of succession. The sequel claims he killed everyone else off by making his father sign a blood contract, then invoking it, and everyone but his father died randomly in what people thought was a plague. This is unpopular among the fanbase as it seems to have been thrown in there to demonstrate the power of the blood contract (which was never mentioned in the first game), and takes away from Ashnard's personality of loving to kill people firsthand. Also from Path of Radiance is Elincia, who was a Hidden Backup Princess that most of her country didn't know existed until word of her leading the Crimean army spread. The only reason she's next in line for the throne is that her father and uncle died. Actually, her uncle survived and is Brainwashed and Crazy, but same difference. And he lets her rule when he's cured in the sequel. This has repercussions in the sequel, where her first years as Queen are difficult due to many of the nobles disapproving of her. And finally, Micaiah in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn becomes Queen of Daein, despite having no ties to its royal family at all, due to Pelleas either dying, or being revealed to not be Ashnard's son. And Ashnard's real son isn't aware of his heritage and likely doesn't care. A more positive example is in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Erinys was just an elite Pegasus Knight from Silesse, but is not of any nobility nor did she possess a Holy Blood, but after the disastrous Battle of Belhalla, the supposed successor/Prince, Lewyn (canonically her husband) was killed, and then his mother Queen Rahna was also killed defending her home, and since her more capable sister Annand has been long dead, Rahna entrusted Erinys as the next Queen of Silesse. Erinys went on to be a loving High Queen popular amongst the population and her children looked up to her. In the same game's epilogue, Verdane will only has a successor period if Jamke married someone in the first generation, in which case one of his children will inherit it, regardless of who they are. Everyone else in its royal family died during Sigurd's invasion in the first generation, and the country has been lawless ever since. (And remains that way if Jamke wasn't paired) Hinoka in the Conquest route and Leo in the Birthright route of Fire Emblem Fates: neither of them expected to succeed to the throne cause they were third in line to their respective thrones, but both Hinoka's brothers died before her and Leo's brother died and his sister abdicated. Technically speaking, the Avatar becoming king/queen of Valla in Revelations also counts, first off because the country technically didn't exist or rather had been cursed into being forgotten, and second because Azura was the rightful heir, but she willingly gives it up in the Avatar's favor (unless they're married, in which case they're co-rulers). In the Verdant Wind route of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, it's Byleth, not Claude who ends up ruling the United Kingdom of Fodlan in the end, as Claude would rather focus on reforming and ruling his former homeland of Almyra. Byleth also becomes this on the Silver Snow route, as the ruling parties of all Fodlan's major powers died or went missing in the war. The last one is particularly interesting, as Byleth has two separate claims as both mother and grandchild to the previous ruler (it's complicated), something Rhea was aware of. Byleth, however, just considered it a part of their Mysterious Past and never would have used this to legitimize a claim until the situation was dropped in their lap.
Unexpected Successor / int_6f1bcb62	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_6f1bcb62	featureConfidence	1.0
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_6f1bcb62
Unexpected Successor / int_6f48e446	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_6f48e446	comment	GDI Director Redmond Boyle in Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars was originally the GDI Treasurer, and was the only ranking member of GDI government not on the Philadelphia when it was destroyed. However, it is revealed in the Expansion Pack that Kane purposely manipulated events so that Boyle would become Director.
Unexpected Successor / int_6f48e446	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_6f48e446	featureConfidence	1.0
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_6f48e446
Unexpected Successor / int_72262aee	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_72262aee	comment	Avatar: The Last Airbender: Fire Lord Zuko, although he was technically Crown Prince for at least five years before gaining the throne. He'd been banished and then declared a traitor (twice), so he wasn't even in the running anymore. But when you and your friends oust the only two legitimate rulers with the support of a possible third, no one is going to say anything. Zuko's father, Fire Lord Ozai, fits even better. He was either second or third in line after elder brother Iroh, and possibly his nephew Lu Ten. Then Lu Ten died in battle and Iroh fell into a deep depression just as the then-current Fire Lord, Azulon, died. Just before this, to punish Ozai for talking to Azulon about removing Iroh from the line of succession, Azulon ordered him to kill Zuko. Ursa found out and made a deal with Ozai: she would kill Azulon and leave the palace if Ozai doesn't kill Zuko. Ozai agreed. Ozai announced a very convenient deathbed wish by Azulon for Ozai to inherit, and Iroh, half a world away and still in mourning for his son, did not oppose him (and likely was unwilling to plunge the Fire Nation into civil war to wrest power away from his younger brother when he returned to the capitol).
Unexpected Successor / int_72262aee	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_72262aee	featureConfidence	1.0
Avatar: The Last Airbender	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_72262aee
Unexpected Successor / int_755e2357	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_755e2357	comment	Noob: The titular guild starts out with four members: ArthÃ©on, Omega Zell, Gaea and a Stupid Good Manchild Sparadrap. In Season 4, by which the guild has two newer recruits, ArthÃ©on takes time off to pursue other activities and makes Omega Zell acting guild master. Power struggles and personal ambitions cause Gaea and Omega Zell to leave the guild. When the holder of the acting Guild Master leaves, the seniormost of the remaining guild members gets it; now eveyone left has Sparadrap as their leader. And due to refounding the guild after ArthÃ©on dissolved it in a fit of rage, his guild master office ends up permanent.
Unexpected Successor / int_755e2357	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_755e2357	featureConfidence	1.0
Noob (Franchise)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_755e2357
Unexpected Successor / int_7668653b	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_7668653b	comment	The Reaper invasion in Mass Effect 3 leads to several of these happening: General Adrien Victus finds himself promoted to Primarch of the turian race (essentially Commander-in-Chief of the entire military-structured Turian Hierarchy) in the opening days of the Reaper War. This comes as an extreme surprise to him: while he's a very competent military commander, the fact that he has a habit of ignoring standard military doctrine in favor of unorthodox tactics means that he's always been passed up for further promotion. The fact that he of all people has been promoted so high up is a sign of just how badly the war is going for the turians. Later, it's possible for Shepard to tease Garrus about the possibility of becoming Primarch Vakarian, given his evident yet nebulous high position in the turian military (he has no official rank, but an impressive amount of resources were laid at his disposal a few months before the Reapers finally attacked). Garrus is unwilling to even discuss the possibility. The Codex mentions in passing that Admiral Hackett, recently the commander of the Systems Alliance Fifth Fleet, is now the de facto leader of humanity as a whole, due to his rallying of surviving human forces after the initial Reaper assault, and his leveraging the surviving colonies to get support for the Crucible, while trying to delay the Reaper advance. By the end of the game, he is arguably the single most powerful organic being in the galaxy by right of his position leading the combined military forces of the entire Milky Way galaxy in the climactic battle. If you completed the "Bring Down the Sky" DLC in Mass Effect, a sidequest reveals that Balak, the Big Bad of that mission, is currently the highest-ranking military officer in the batarian forces. This is a sign of just how badly the batarians were decimated during the initial invasion — Balak is a captain. Mass Effect: Andromeda: Director Tann was eighth in line for leadership of the Andromeda Initiative (he was originally Head of Finances and Accounting), but an unexpected cosmic exploding spiderweb destroyed most of the ship and left the survivors ripe for lynching by rioting colonists, leaving the arrogant and hard-ass Tann in a position he was clearly never meant for.
Unexpected Successor / int_7668653b	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_7668653b	featureConfidence	1.0
Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_7668653b
Unexpected Successor / int_76c01b30	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_76c01b30	comment	In V for Vendetta, following massive social upheaval, the monarch of Great Britain is "Queen Zara." When the first issue was released, Zara Phillips (now Zara Tindall) — the eldest granddaughter to Queen Elizabeth II via her daughter Anne, Princess Royal — was a child of about seven and seventh in line for the thronenote As of April 2021, she is nineteenth in the line of succession and likely to drop further as time goes on.
Unexpected Successor / int_76c01b30	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_76c01b30	featureConfidence	1.0
V for Vendetta (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_76c01b30
Unexpected Successor / int_77f68788	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_77f68788	comment	xXx: State of the Union: The Secretary of Defense attempts a coup that will wipe out key members of the government during the President's State of the Union address, leaving him in charge.
Unexpected Successor / int_77f68788	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_77f68788	featureConfidence	1.0
xXx: State of the Union	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_77f68788
Unexpected Successor / int_7cfd4672	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_7cfd4672	comment	The miniseries Give Me Liberty. After the death or incapacitation of everyone higher up in the line of succession, the Secretary of Agriculture, Howard Nissen, assumes the presidency.
Unexpected Successor / int_7cfd4672	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_7cfd4672	featureConfidence	1.0
Give Me Liberty / Comicbook	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_7cfd4672
Unexpected Successor / int_7d8c61a2	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_7d8c61a2	comment	Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire: during the Eternal Empire Conquest of the galaxy, a rival Sith Empire has its ruling system decimated to the point that the highest official able to negotiate the treaty is the Minister of Logistics. In the aftermath, the only Sith of the ruling Dark Council not dead or in hiding is Darth Acina, an extremely minor character, who proclaims herself the new Empress.
Unexpected Successor / int_7d8c61a2	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_7d8c61a2	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Wars: The Old Republic (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_7d8c61a2
Unexpected Successor / int_7d958192	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_7d958192	comment	The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten: By the 1/3 point of the book, the mayor is missing (killed by his wife), the police chief got killed by a zombie while cleaning out the funeral home, and the three town councilmen are dead at the funeral home, old and sick, and visiting Florida respectively. This leaves part-time deputy Stevie Ray in charge until a new mayor can be elected.
Unexpected Successor / int_7d958192	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_7d958192	featureConfidence	1.0
The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_7d958192
Unexpected Successor / int_7fc78282	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_7fc78282	comment	In the backstory of The Lord of the Rings: The second king of Gondor was Meneldil, the fourth son of the first king, Anarion. Anarion and his three elder sons all died in the wars of the Last Alliance. Same for the kingdom of Arnor. Isildur died in an ambush (the one where the Ring was lost) along with his three older sons while he was returning from the war with Sauron. The only one to survive was Valandil, a child too young to participate in that war, who lived in Rivendell. That caused Gondor to become an independent kingdom — Anarion was officially Isildur's vassal, but Valandil didn't have enough authority.
Unexpected Successor / int_7fc78282	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_7fc78282	featureConfidence	1.0
The Lord of the Rings	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_7fc78282
Unexpected Successor / int_85237000	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_85237000	comment	Pope Joan: When Pope Sergius II dies everyone expects a new Pope to be elected from among the powerful families running Rome, not the advisor and healer called Johannus Anglicus - who is a woman named Johanna that disguised herself as a man prior to coming to Rome. She and her lover Gerold are looking to get out of Rome in a hurry because whoever the next Pope was he would not likely be someone friendly to her given Johanna being a close advisor to Sergius. When Johanna and Sergius hear footsteps coming down the hall they fear they are too late and are about to be killed, but it's a deacon announcing that she had just been elected Pope.
Unexpected Successor / int_85237000	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_85237000	featureConfidence	1.0
Pope Joan	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_85237000
Unexpected Successor / int_8a08048e	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_8a08048e	comment	Joked about in the first episode of Taskmaster; during his introduction for Tim Key, one of the contestants and a performance poet, Greg Davies sarcastically notes that Key will one day be Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom "if there's some sort of massive poet disaster."
Unexpected Successor / int_8a08048e	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_8a08048e	featureConfidence	1.0
Taskmaster	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_8a08048e
Unexpected Successor / int_8bb042d4	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_8bb042d4	comment	In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale has the Kingdom of Ehb ruled by the wise King Conreid, whose wife and only son were killed in a raid many years before during the kingdom's period of strife. The only heir is the King's nephew Duke Fallow, for whom royalty is just a way to enjoy himself. Fallow may be good with a sword and a bow but is terrible at ruling a nation or waging a war. He is even willing to ally himself with the Big Bad in order to hasten Conreid's death. The Big Bad poisons the King and, although the King's magus manages to remove the poison, Conreid's life is coming to an end. Meanwhile, Farmer is... well, a farmer, who was raised to value hard work and self-reliance. The King's magus brings the two together and reveals that Farmer is Conreid's lost son, saved from the raid by a stableboy and raised as his own. Just as Conreid dies (thanks to the poison and Fallow's arrow), Fallow laughs that he is now in charge and, even knowing about the treachery, the King's loyal general can't raise a hand against his lord. The magus then announces the existence of Conreid's son, and Fallow is arrested (or executed, in an alternate scene). Luckily for Ehb, Farmer, having grown up among the people instead of being pampered in the castle, shares his father's values.
Unexpected Successor / int_8bb042d4	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_8bb042d4	featureConfidence	1.0
In the Name of the King	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_8bb042d4
Unexpected Successor / int_8f794c68	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_8f794c68	comment	In Wings of Fire: Darkstalker, the six-year-old princess Pearl escaped a killer's rampage through the palace by staying still and covering herself with blood. Since all the older heirs are dead or male, she is crowned queen.
Unexpected Successor / int_8f794c68	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_8f794c68	featureConfidence	1.0
Wings of Fire	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_8f794c68
Unexpected Successor / int_9264f35d	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_9264f35d	comment	The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Maia is an unfavored son of the emperor, raised in seclusion all his life until his father and three older brothers die in an airship crash. Fortunately, he's received some education, although he still knows very little about court life.
Unexpected Successor / int_9264f35d	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_9264f35d	featureConfidence	1.0
The Goblin Emperor	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_9264f35d
Unexpected Successor / int_96a4ad60	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_96a4ad60	comment	Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72 is an alternate history story that kicks off with a Presidential succession crisis after a hung election. Through a series of complications, Spiro Agnew ends up as Acting President. He promptly restarts the Vietnam War, tanks the economy, and makes a lot of senior officials fear he'll kick off World War Three. Then his criminal history comes out and impeachment efforts start. Because he's technically still the Vice President, the Oval Office would fall into the hands of the Speaker of the House... who's a Democrat. Agnew assumes his own party won't hand the Executive over to the other side, regardless of what they think of his job performance, an assumption the Speaker shares. So the Congressional leadership exploits the loophole discussed at the top of this page: the Speaker of the House can be anyone. The House membership appoints the Speaker, but it's only long-standing tradition that the Speaker is a member of the majority party. Legally, any American citizen can be made Speaker so long as the House membership elects them to the office. Thus, the non-partisian retired Lieutenant General James "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin is appointed as Speaker, and Agnew is promptly kicked out of the White House.
Unexpected Successor / int_96a4ad60	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_96a4ad60	featureConfidence	1.0
Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_96a4ad60
Unexpected Successor / int_9a67b688	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_9a67b688	comment	Case Closed: Natsue Hatamoto. Sure, her Disappeared Dad was the eldest son of the Hatamoto family, but it was expected that the second son/Natsue's uncle Jouji or her uncle Kitarou (as the eldest daughter/Natsue's aunt Mariko's husband) would get the family riches, or even her older sister Akie... Also, in the Yabuchi family case, everyone was shocked to know that Carlos, supposed to be a mere Scary Black Man working as a bodyguard, was taking the place of his dead father Yoshifusa among the inheritors. The dead patriarch Yoshichika did know, but he didn't tell anyone — except for signaling it in the tape that was his last will. (Oh, and the old man whom everyone thought he was Yoshifusa? He was Yoshifusa's best friend Dickson Tanaka, who pulled a Dead Person Impersonation to protect Carlos.)
Unexpected Successor / int_9a67b688	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_9a67b688	featureConfidence	1.0
Case Closed (Manga)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_9a67b688
Unexpected Successor / int_9b2f1a7a	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_9b2f1a7a	comment	Orson Scott Card's Empire: Terrorists assassinate the President, Vice President, and the entire Cabinet, so the Speaker of the House is president until the next elections.
Unexpected Successor / int_9b2f1a7a	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_9b2f1a7a	featureConfidence	1.0
Orson Scott Card's Empire	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_9b2f1a7a
Unexpected Successor / int_9d47a2a2	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_9d47a2a2	comment	This is deconstructed in the A Song of Ice and Fire world. Westeros law states that only the firstborn male can inherit titles. Heirs are then trained from childhood for leadership. The younger sons are left to their own devices. This can then create a problem if the heir dies before succeeding. The surviving heirs must succeed regardless of ability or even interest. The quality of unexpected heirs can vary from the competent Eddard Stark, to the ineffective Tytos Lannister, to the Cloud Cuckoolander Baelor the Blessed.
Unexpected Successor / int_9d47a2a2	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_9d47a2a2	featureConfidence	1.0
A Song of Ice and Fire	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_9d47a2a2
Unexpected Successor / int_a07ca67c	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_a07ca67c	comment	The Will of the Empire: The contingency that Darth Vader puts into place right before the Battle of Endor involves officially declaring himself the Emperor's heir, and secretly naming his son Luke as his heir in turn. When Admiral Piett and the other officers entrusted with this information make it public following the battle, everyone (especially Luke himself) is shocked to learn that the next official ruler of the Empire is one of the people leading the fight against it. Most of the conflict in the story comes from the various Imperial factions that are refusing to accept Luke's ascension to the throne.
Unexpected Successor / int_a07ca67c	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_a07ca67c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Will Of The Empire / Fan Fic	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_a07ca67c
Unexpected Successor / int_a32b6a64	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_a32b6a64	comment	The West Wing: During a kidnapping crisis, the President temporally steps down, and since there is no Vice-President at that moment, he appoints the Speaker of The House as the new commander-in-chief. Bear in mind, in this scenario a Democrat is passing the power to a Republican. And the Republican who gets the job? King Ralph, himself. In another episode, the president meets with the Designated Survivor before a State of the Union and he advises him on what to do should the unthinkable happen (notably, in real life, the designated survivor is never briefed or advised on emergency procedures, presumably to prevent this second-rank secretary getting in the way of people who actually know what they are doing).
Unexpected Successor / int_a32b6a64	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_a32b6a64	featureConfidence	1.0
The West Wing	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_a32b6a64
Unexpected Successor / int_a465e6bd	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_a465e6bd	comment	Jujutsu Kaisen: After Naobito Zen'in dies during the Shibuya Incident, he names his son Naoya his successor as head of the Zen'in clan in his will. However, said will also contains a special clause which dictates that, if for whatever reason anything should happen to Satoru Gojo that would incapacitate him (which is exactly what set off the Shibuya Incident in the first place), then Megumi is to become head of the clan instead. Naoya does not take this well.
Unexpected Successor / int_a465e6bd	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_a465e6bd	featureConfidence	1.0
Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_a465e6bd
Unexpected Successor / int_a4a6b86a	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_a4a6b86a	comment	Code Geass: Lelouch, who was originally 17th in line for the throne, becomes emperor of Britannia after killing his father and using his Geass to force people to accept him as emperor. And at the very end of the series, his sister Nunnally becomes Empress of Britannia, and she was 87th in line! Although, considering that Lelouch was the last emperor would change things around a bit. Nunnally would likely have become first in line simply because she was Lelouch's closest living relative. Both Schneizel and Cornelia (who both survived the end of the series and were originally ahead of Nunally) would have had a lower standing as they were only half-siblings. A more bureaucratic version of this is averted when Guilford steps into command after the Black Knights kill Viceroy Calares in the first arc of R2, and everyone else in that line of succession down to a civil servant who would not have been able to govern in a situation like that.
Unexpected Successor / int_a4a6b86a	featureApplicability	-1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_a4a6b86a	featureConfidence	1.0
Code Geass	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_a4a6b86a
Unexpected Successor / int_a68c19b8	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_a68c19b8	comment	A more positive example is in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Erinys was just an elite Pegasus Knight from Silesse, but is not of any nobility nor did she possess a Holy Blood, but after the disastrous Battle of Belhalla, the supposed successor/Prince, Lewyn (canonically her husband) was killed, and then his mother Queen Rahna was also killed defending her home, and since her more capable sister Annand has been long dead, Rahna entrusted Erinys as the next Queen of Silesse. Erinys went on to be a loving High Queen popular amongst the population and her children looked up to her.
Unexpected Successor / int_a68c19b8	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_a68c19b8	featureConfidence	1.0
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_a68c19b8
Unexpected Successor / int_aba7ffb9	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_aba7ffb9	comment	In the backstory of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, Emperor Dreichels the Lionheart was the illegitimate son of a common-born mistress, and such wasn't technically in the line of succession for the throne of Erebonia at all. But after a five-way civil war left him the last man standing in the royal family, he was crowned anyway.
Unexpected Successor / int_aba7ffb9	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_aba7ffb9	featureConfidence	1.0
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_aba7ffb9
Unexpected Successor / int_ac70897e	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_ac70897e	comment	In Stardust, after the king dies, his sons kill each other so the remaining one can take the throne. They all end up dead, but Tristan's mother reveals that she is the king's only daughter, meaning that Tristan is the only surviving male heir and thus, the new king.
Unexpected Successor / int_ac70897e	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_ac70897e	featureConfidence	1.0
Stardust	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_ac70897e
Unexpected Successor / int_ae54c340	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_ae54c340	comment	Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Ted Williams's hiring as the new alchemy teacher in volume 4 comes as a surprise to him most of all: he remembers his predecessor, Darius Grenville, criticizing him harshly when he was his student. It turns out that Grenville actually had a much better opinion of his abilities as an alchemist behind his back and recommended him for the job.
Unexpected Successor / int_ae54c340	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_ae54c340	featureConfidence	1.0
Reign of the Seven Spellblades	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_ae54c340
Unexpected Successor / int_af10a8a7	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_af10a8a7	comment	In Invincible, the last novel in the Legacy of the Force series, Luke Skywalker forces the Moff Council to accept Jagged Fel as the new leader of the Imperial Remmnant. This is to the complete surprise of Fel, who was kept in the dark about Luke's plans so that no one could later claim that Fel and Luke had planned for Fel to take over.
Unexpected Successor / int_af10a8a7	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_af10a8a7	featureConfidence	1.0
Legacy of the Force	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_af10a8a7
Unexpected Successor / int_b0666b59	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_b0666b59	comment	In the Neverwinter Nights module The Bastard of Kosigan, your character is the illegitimate son of the present Count's younger brother; the present Count has two legitimate and one illegitimate son, and the elder legitimate son has a wife and son. Over the course of the game, all five people in line ahead of you (your father is already dead) get killed off by you/Alex/each other/French assassins, leaving your character with the best claim. The French plot initially involved killing you off as well, which would have left a French general with the title by virtue of being of a branch of the family that diverged several centuries ago.
Unexpected Successor / int_b0666b59	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_b0666b59	featureConfidence	1.0
Neverwinter Nights (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_b0666b59
Unexpected Successor / int_b241c71f	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_b241c71f	comment	In the Age of Fire series, the Copper/RuGaard is adopted into the Lavadome's Imperial Line as Tyr FeHazathant's grandson, a position solidified later by being mated with the Tyr's granddaughter Halaflora. However, he's still so far down the line (and disfavored for his various crippling injuries and personality quirks) that no one, least of all him, expects him to ever become Tyr... but by the end of his focus book, everyone higher than him in the line is either dead or in exile, allowing him to become Tyr.
Unexpected Successor / int_b241c71f	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_b241c71f	featureConfidence	1.0
Age of Fire	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_b241c71f
Unexpected Successor / int_b30ae4db	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_b30ae4db	comment	Game of Thrones: Jon Snow, Ned Stark's bastard son, who had previously forsaken all rights to own land and wear crowns when he joined the Night's Watch, succeeds his half-brother Robb Stark as the King in the North when the Northern lords proclaim Jon as their king. It's also revealed that he's the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Ned's sister Lyanna Stark, meaning he's the rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms...if that knowledge becomes public. Egg (King Aegon V Targaryen) was not the eldest son and was not expected to become king. Maester Aemon was not the eldest son either. But the heir to the throne died, and Aemon refused the throne due to his vows as a maester (and not wanting to fight his own brother) and left to join the Night's Watch to remove himself from court. Thus the crown passed to Aegon V.
Unexpected Successor / int_b30ae4db	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_b30ae4db	featureConfidence	1.0
Game of Thrones	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_b30ae4db
Unexpected Successor / int_b358111c	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_b358111c	comment	King Airyglyph in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, who was known as Airyglyph the Unlikely.
Unexpected Successor / int_b358111c	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_b358111c	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_b358111c
Unexpected Successor / int_b38f090c	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_b38f090c	comment	No one expected a newly named Russian Cardinal to be elected Pope in The Shoes Of The Fisherman, least of all the newly named Russian Cardinal.
Unexpected Successor / int_b38f090c	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_b38f090c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Shoes Of The Fisherman	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_b38f090c
Unexpected Successor / int_b704a08a	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_b704a08a	comment	Reborn! (2004). After retiring to Japan, the first Vongola boss had a family there. In the present day, the oldest three of the current generation of Vongola heirs die separate bloody deaths, while the youngest heir turns out to be illegitimate as he was adopted. The only descendant of a Vongola boss left is Tsunayoshi Sawada from the Japanese family, getting an ordinary Japanese kid into a Mafia family he didn't know he was related to. Tsunayoshi's father Iemitsu could have also succeeded the Ninth, being a member of the bloodline, and was far more qualified than Tsunayoshi, being actual Mafia, but since he commanded the CEDEF, the Vongola's outside advisory group, it took him out of the line of succession as well, leaving his son as the next boss.
Unexpected Successor / int_b704a08a	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_b704a08a	featureConfidence	1.0
Reborn! (2004) (Manga)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_b704a08a
Unexpected Successor / int_b7548b3d	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_b7548b3d	comment	Featured in The Onion article "Secretary Of Interior Takes Presidential Oath Of Office." According to now-President Sally Jewel, "I still can't believe the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, President Pro Tem, Sec. of State, Sec. of the Treasury, Sec. of Defense, and Attorney General were all in that hot-air balloon."
Unexpected Successor / int_b7548b3d	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_b7548b3d	featureConfidence	1.0
The Onion (Website)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_b7548b3d
Unexpected Successor / int_b962c879	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_b962c879	comment	Fairy Tail: After Master Makarov and all of his potential successors (along with a good chunk of Fairy Tail's aces) were presumed dead after Acnologia seemingly blew up Sirius Island, minor Fairy Tail member Macao Conbolt ended up being sworn in as the guild's Fourth Master and led them over the seven year Time Skip. While Macao is a veteran member, it's clear it was a position he never imagined he'd have nor one he ever wanted, especially given the circumstances. To emphasize how far down the ladder Macao is, Makarov decides to let him keep the position for a laugh while he looks for a more suitable successor when they finally come back, which Macao himself is all for.
Unexpected Successor / int_b962c879	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_b962c879	featureConfidence	1.0
Fairy Tail (Manga)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_b962c879
Unexpected Successor / int_bfd7c6e0	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_bfd7c6e0	comment	Sil'lice Val'Sharen of Drowtales as a middle child of the queen Diva'ratrika, never really received much attention from her mother, who outright thought Sil'lice did not display traits worthy of being her heir. Then the Nidraa'chal war started and three of Sil'lice's sisters betrayed their clan, killed off their mother and successfully broke the will of the last daughter of Divaratrika, taking full control of their clan at the same time. Sil'lice was the only one who remained true to their mother and is the last true Val'Sharen and now hides among the Val'Sarghress, taking every effort to destroy her sisters and keep the Val'Sharen clan true.Diva, a former slave whose body now contains the soul of Diva'ratrika, is working alongside Sil'lice, well keeping the fact she is Diva'ratrika secret.
Unexpected Successor / int_bfd7c6e0	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_bfd7c6e0	featureConfidence	1.0
Drowtales (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_bfd7c6e0
Unexpected Successor / int_bfef9cdb	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_bfef9cdb	comment	Welcome to Night Vale: In the Night Vale mayoral election, neither of the two candidates, Hiram McDaniels and The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home, won, the office instead passing to Dana Cardinal.
Unexpected Successor / int_bfef9cdb	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_bfef9cdb	featureConfidence	1.0
Welcome to Night Vale (Podcast)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_bfef9cdb
Unexpected Successor / int_c0eae17	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_c0eae17	comment	This can happen to the player in the Total War series. In Shogun: Total War, because of the way that births of heirs, aging, and succession are modelled, if you fail to manage your family properly, odd stuff can happen. Only the player's current character can die of old age or sire children, and the chance is random on any turn with penalties for age. For instance, the 90-year-old uncle of the current Daimyo, immune to age since he's not the head of the family, could be the only one left if the Daimyo's sons all die in battle or assassinations. He succeeds the throne when his 60-some-year-old nephew dies, and then himself dies the next turn on a random old-age roll buoyed up by 30 years of penalties, ending the game. In later games in the Total War series, the game doesn't end, your country "merely" goes into civil war as any general with a drop of royal blood tries to claim the throne. The player is allowed to pick one of the claimants to make the de facto legitimate heir, and everyone else gets treated as a Rebel faction by the game. Players at risk of this have been known to marry a princess to their best general, which gives him a claim to the throne too. After all, if you're gonna have to fight your own guys, might as well do it with your best commander and biggest army. In in-game terms, this can result in a minor lord, knight, or even commoner being vaulted onto the throne. Which, considering how one of the three Great Unifiers of Japan was a peasant-born samurai, makes it a rather delicious bit of irony for a player.
Unexpected Successor / int_c0eae17	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_c0eae17	featureConfidence	1.0
Total War (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_c0eae17
Unexpected Successor / int_c17ac72a	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_c17ac72a	comment	Shin Godzilla: Satomi is an obscure minister of wildlife and fisheries who doesn't even appear prior to the core cabinet being wiped out, and he only becomes the new prime minister due to to party loyalty making the government secretaries rush him into the role.
Unexpected Successor / int_c17ac72a	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_c17ac72a	featureConfidence	1.0
Shin Godzilla	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_c17ac72a
Unexpected Successor / int_c1ef941d	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_c1ef941d	comment	Souma from How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom may qualify as he was made King of Elfrieden in episode 1, complete with an engagement to the princess. This surprised everyone, especially Souma, as due to being from an entirely different world to everyone else, he wasn't even in the official line of succession until the King abdicated and named him as the new king. Much later it's revealed that Queen Elisha of Elfrieden was this as well. She chose to stay out of the then-ongoing Succession Crisis and marry Albert, a humble knight and advisor to her father who was Beneath Notice by the other royals and nobles, which allowed her to emerge as the only survivor, thus leaving her as the only viable member to take the throne.
Unexpected Successor / int_c1ef941d	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_c1ef941d	featureConfidence	1.0
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_c1ef941d
Unexpected Successor / int_c43df4d8	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_c43df4d8	comment	Doctor Who: In "Aliens of London"/"World War Three", the villains' plan revolves around this. They make the Prime Minister "disappear" and arrange for the Cabinet to be stranded outside London, leaving the most senior government Member of Parliament in the city to take the role of acting PM during a crisis involving an alien spacecraft crashing in the city a man who has been killed and impersonated by the villains' leader. When the crisis is over Harriet Jones, junior MP from Flydale North who is the only elected representative remaining in 10 Downing Street, ends up in the spotlight and is selected as the new PM.
Unexpected Successor / int_c43df4d8	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_c43df4d8	featureConfidence	1.0
Doctor Who	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_c43df4d8
Unexpected Successor / int_c88ea794	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_c88ea794	comment	ErmintrudeDaphne from Nation by Terry Pratchett spends her childhood being told by her grandmother that she needs to learn how to behave like a lady; if 138 people die, her father will become King of Great Britain and Ireland. One outbreak of Russian Influenza later, he is. When the Gentlemen of Last Resort arrive with the news, she asks nervously if her grandmother had done anything ... silly. Note that the Gentlemen are so insistent that Daphne's father assume the throne ASAP, in part, because if he fails to do so within a specified time limit, an even more Unexpected Successor — a Frenchman! — will be entitled to claim it instead.
Unexpected Successor / int_c88ea794	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_c88ea794	featureConfidence	1.0
Nation	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_c88ea794
Unexpected Successor / int_ce197d30	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_ce197d30	comment	Starter Villain (2023): Charlie unexpectedly takes over his Uncle Jake's supervillain business, which is explicitly equated in power to several nation-states. All of Jake's enemies start trying to understand who Charlie is and what to do about him. That was all part of the plan.
Unexpected Successor / int_ce197d30	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_ce197d30	featureConfidence	1.0
Starter Villain (2023)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_ce197d30
Unexpected Successor / int_d1b8ec90	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_d1b8ec90	comment	God Save the Esteem does this with the Lawndale High social structure. All of the popular girls go to war with each other, spreading vicious rumors until all of them have reputations as frigid sluts who have abortions and are riddled with STDs. By the time it's over the boys at school are too afraid to date any of them. Instead they start to gravitate toward Cindy, an O.C. Stand-in who was apparently the cutest/most popular girl who wasn't cute/popular enough to be a target of anyone's wrath.
Unexpected Successor / int_d1b8ec90	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_d1b8ec90	featureConfidence	1.0
God Save the Esteem (Fanfic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_d1b8ec90
Unexpected Successor / int_d461f757	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_d461f757	comment	Laura Roslin from Battlestar Galactica, who as the Secretary of Education was 43rd in line of succession. She became President after the Cylons' nuclear attack killed everyone higher-ranking than she. She was actually asked to resign her position by the President a few days earlier, after going against his wishes when dealing with a teacher's strike. Her resignation would have been made official when she got back to Caprica from the Galactica.
Unexpected Successor / int_d461f757	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_d461f757	featureConfidence	1.0
Battlestar Galactica (2003)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_d461f757
Unexpected Successor / int_d47b7f5f	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_d47b7f5f	comment	The Balitang family in the Trickster's Duet — the line of succession in the Copper Isles goes as follows (based on the beginning of Trickster's Choice): Oron, Hazarin, Dunevon, Mequen Balitang. When Oron dies from old age and Hazarin becomes king, the fact that Mequen's in line to the throne becomes a lot more important. When Hazarin dies and Mequen is murdered, his (toddler) son Elsren becomes second in line to the throne, which is held by another toddler. Things go downhill from there.
Unexpected Successor / int_d47b7f5f	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_d47b7f5f	featureConfidence	1.0
Trickster's Duet	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_d47b7f5f
Unexpected Successor / int_d4fad440	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_d4fad440	comment	In Johnny English: Villain Pascal Sauvage gets the Queen to abdicate so that he, a descendant of William the Conqueror, is named her successor. Also, Johnny English himself only gets promoted to field agent because every single other field agent gets killed. Because of him.
Unexpected Successor / int_d4fad440	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_d4fad440	featureConfidence	1.0
Johnny English	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_d4fad440
Unexpected Successor / int_d518ee3e	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_d518ee3e	comment	In January Dancer, Hugh is the rightful head of government because he was out of town doing education stuff when the coup hit. He really preferred being in charge of education.
Unexpected Successor / int_d518ee3e	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_d518ee3e	featureConfidence	1.0
Spiral Arm	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_d518ee3e
Unexpected Successor / int_d5cc6418	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_d5cc6418	comment	The whole premise of Largo Winch: After the unexpected "suicide" of Nerio Winch, leader of a large corporate empire, his underlings are fighting over his succession because the man was celibate and never had children. However, it turns out that Nerio secretly adopted Largo, a Yugoslav orphan raised by his uncle and aunt in modest conditions. Nerio also trained Largo to run his business in a remote island. Naturally, many of the underlings are unhappy about it and some even conspire against the young billionaire.
Unexpected Successor / int_d5cc6418	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_d5cc6418	featureConfidence	1.0
Largo Winch (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_d5cc6418
Unexpected Successor / int_d5e9a8ed	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_d5e9a8ed	comment	In The Ultimates, in retaliation for a full-scale nuclear attack by the United States on his City (which he created overnight by expanding it over most of Europe, killing most of its inhabitants. Yeah it's complicated), Reed Richards launches an anti-matter attack on Washington D.C., killing almost the entire U.S. government. The Secretary of Energy survives because he was away reviewing windmills, so he becomes the new President. Justified in this case because U.S. Government policy is to always have one of the officials in line of succession out of the city in case of a massive attack that destroys the government.
Unexpected Successor / int_d5e9a8ed	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_d5e9a8ed	featureConfidence	1.0
The Ultimates (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_d5e9a8ed
Unexpected Successor / int_d7e94801	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_d7e94801	comment	Warday by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka. After a limited nuclear war, the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (the highest ranking remaining official) becomes the self-described caretaker President.
Unexpected Successor / int_d7e94801	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_d7e94801	featureConfidence	1.0
Warday	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_d7e94801
Unexpected Successor / int_d908efc	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_d908efc	comment	In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, among Jigoroâ€™s students there was a clear divide between the eldest disciple Kaigaku and the youngest Zenitsu; Kaigaku was a seen as the much stronger one, who was keen on being Jigoroâ€™s successor, while Zenitsu had no expectations on being Jigoroâ€™s chosen one at the time, as the boy seemed to lack talent and any drive to push forward. However, throughout the series Zenitsu slowly but surely grows past his limitations, and Kaigaku turns out to be a nasty traitor who becomes a demon, who Zenitsu then kills. In the end Zenitsu, wears Jigoroâ€™s haori, being his sole successor, and Zenitsu himself never thought he would be the one to succeed his master.
Unexpected Successor / int_d908efc	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_d908efc	featureConfidence	1.0
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Manga)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_d908efc
Unexpected Successor / int_db30cf92	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_db30cf92	comment	Warrior Cats has a few examples. While Firestar's ascension to the leader of Thunderclan itself was not unexpected, him becoming the next in line before said succession happened very much was. There is only one official warrior rank in the line of succession below leader, the deputy, and it almost universally goes to a senior warrior who has lived in the clan for many years and seen countless battles. Firestar was the youngest warrior at the time, was not born in the clan, and was quite the rulebreaker to boot, making him possibly the least likely candidate other than the apprentices and kits. He was only chosen because he saved Bluestar's life from her previous deputy, making him the only one she fully trusted due to her being shaken by her trusted deputy's betrayal. Tigerstar's ascension to the leader of Shadowclan was especially unexpected, given that he wasn't even a member of the clan at the time. After being exiled from Thunderclan, he came across Shadowclan, which was being ravaged by a horrible illness. Both its leader and deputy had been killed by said sickness, and the rest of the clan were either gravely ill or too demoralized to step up to the position. Thus, when Tigerstar, a healthy, powerful, and well-respected cat showed up, they desperately begged him to take up the position of their leader.
Unexpected Successor / int_db30cf92	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_db30cf92	featureConfidence	1.0
Warrior Cats	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_db30cf92
Unexpected Successor / int_dbbf2001	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_dbbf2001	comment	Prince Roger of the Prince Roger series is behind two siblings and his brother's kids in line for the throne. Then while he's marooned on a backwards planet all of them except his mother are assassinated and she's raped both physically and mentally until she can't carry out the business of government. By the end of the series, he takes the throne.
Unexpected Successor / int_dbbf2001	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_dbbf2001	featureConfidence	1.0
Prince Roger	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_dbbf2001
Unexpected Successor / int_de32e214	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_de32e214	comment	The Princess Diaries starts when Mia — the result of one of the young Prince of Genovia's many dalliances — is informed that her father was just diagnosed with testicular cancer. Suddenly the succession became a lot more shaky than everyone involved had thought it would.
Unexpected Successor / int_de32e214	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_de32e214	featureConfidence	1.0
The Princess Diaries	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_de32e214
Unexpected Successor / int_e04f934e	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_e04f934e	comment	In the Verdant Wind route of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, it's Byleth, not Claude who ends up ruling the United Kingdom of Fodlan in the end, as Claude would rather focus on reforming and ruling his former homeland of Almyra. Byleth also becomes this on the Silver Snow route, as the ruling parties of all Fodlan's major powers died or went missing in the war. The last one is particularly interesting, as Byleth has two separate claims as both mother and grandchild to the previous ruler (it's complicated), something Rhea was aware of. Byleth, however, just considered it a part of their Mysterious Past and never would have used this to legitimize a claim until the situation was dropped in their lap.
Unexpected Successor / int_e04f934e	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_e04f934e	featureConfidence	1.0
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_e04f934e
Unexpected Successor / int_e144ba19	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_e144ba19	comment	In Dragon Age II, meanwhile, the position of Viscount of Kirkwall is left vacant for years after the old Viscount and his son are killed, with Knight Commander Meredith seizing control and refusing to allow a new appointment to be made. After Meredith's downfall, the post can (briefly) be filled by Hawke, who soon disappears and leaves leadership of the city to Seneschal Bran and Guard-Captain Aveline. Eventually, once the main plot of Dragon Age: Inquisition has run its course, a new Viscount is finally named: Varric Tethras, an author and merchant who isn't even human.
Unexpected Successor / int_e144ba19	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_e144ba19	featureConfidence	1.0
Dragon Age II (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_e144ba19
Unexpected Successor / int_e2b86487	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_e2b86487	comment	In the The Riftwar Cycle series, Arutha starts the series as the lowest member of the royal family and was expected to become a minor duke, but in the first book alone so many nobles get killed off he becomes the second most powerful man in the Kingdom. He never becomes king himself, but that's because he renounced his claim to the throne in favor of his sons when his brother the king dies of old age on the grounds that he's too old for the job. In fact this trope is ever present in the series as nobles die and need to be replaced at a very fast rate.
Unexpected Successor / int_e2b86487	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_e2b86487	featureConfidence	1.0
The Riftwar Cycle	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_e2b86487
Unexpected Successor / int_e6267766	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_e6267766	comment	Star Wars Legends: In Invincible, the last novel in the Legacy of the Force series, Luke Skywalker forces the Moff Council to accept Jagged Fel as the new leader of the Imperial Remmnant. This is to the complete surprise of Fel, who was kept in the dark about Luke's plans so that no one could later claim that Fel and Luke had planned for Fel to take over.
Unexpected Successor / int_e6267766	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_e6267766	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Wars Legends (Franchise)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_e6267766
Unexpected Successor / int_e694aadb	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_e694aadb	comment	In the Ciaphas Cain novella Old Soldiers Never Die, Jonas Worden's mother had renounced her place in Lentonia's ruling family decades before the story begins. But after the prior governor set a speed record for inciting a rebellion, and the rest of his relatives practically went to war over which of them would get the post, the Imperial generals stuck with cleaning up the mess drafted Jonas as the new governor specifically because he hadn't been involved.
Unexpected Successor / int_e694aadb	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_e694aadb	featureConfidence	1.0
Ciaphas Cain	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_e694aadb
Unexpected Successor / int_eb3f3551	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_eb3f3551	comment	Mass Effect: Andromeda: Director Tann was eighth in line for leadership of the Andromeda Initiative (he was originally Head of Finances and Accounting), but an unexpected cosmic exploding spiderweb destroyed most of the ship and left the survivors ripe for lynching by rioting colonists, leaving the arrogant and hard-ass Tann in a position he was clearly never meant for.
Unexpected Successor / int_eb3f3551	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_eb3f3551	featureConfidence	1.0
Mass Effect: Andromeda (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_eb3f3551
Unexpected Successor / int_eec04867	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_eec04867	comment	Deep Six, a Dirk Pitt Adventures novel by Clive Cussler. The Secretary of State becomes the Acting President when the President, Vice President and Speaker of the House disappear. Then the President reappears, having been brainwashed into being a Soviet puppet. Then the Speaker is rescued, and starts efforts to remove the President from office, leaving the heroes scrambling to find and rescue the Vice President before the Speaker claims the presidency for himself.
Unexpected Successor / int_eec04867	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_eec04867	featureConfidence	1.0
Dirk Pitt Adventures	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_eec04867
Unexpected Successor / int_ef89cace	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_ef89cace	comment	To Forge an Heir: After the death of Arnold Arryn, Rhaenyra finds herself heir to the Vale, as Jeyne Arryn's closest living relative after their aunt Amanda (who is very unlikely to outlive either of them). Since Rhaenyra is heir to the Iron Throne and can't succeed Jeyne as Lady of the Eyrie herself, the position is instead given to her second son by Laenor, Lucas.
Unexpected Successor / int_ef89cace	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_ef89cace	featureConfidence	1.0
To Forge an Heir (Fanfic)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_ef89cace
Unexpected Successor / int_f10619d8	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_f10619d8	comment	Peony in Tales of the Abyss. He's the illegitimate son of the emperor, when his half brothers all die he ends up being shipped back to the capitol for Cram School a la governing, instead of going down a cadet line, or some other noble house. In this case, "unexpected" only describes an outside perspective, though: because The Score (the prophecy that controls the world's fate) is a completely accurate prediction of the future, Peony's father had been told that he would eventually ascend to the throne. That was why Peony was sent away from the court intrigues to live incognito, where he ran off from his guards to play with commoner children.
Unexpected Successor / int_f10619d8	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_f10619d8	featureConfidence	1.0
Tales of the Abyss (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_f10619d8
Unexpected Successor / int_f6477a2b	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_f6477a2b	comment	In the novel Alas, Babylon the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare inherits the presidency after nuclear war.
Unexpected Successor / int_f6477a2b	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_f6477a2b	featureConfidence	1.0
Alas, Babylon	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_f6477a2b
Unexpected Successor / int_f849875f	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_f849875f	comment	It's Walky!: Walky's mother becomes Big Boss after the previous one is killed and everyone ahead of her on the SEMME hierarchy is too old, crazy, or dead to take over.
Unexpected Successor / int_f849875f	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_f849875f	featureConfidence	1.0
ItsWalky	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_f849875f
Unexpected Successor / int_f9b9dfe4	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_f9b9dfe4	comment	And finally, Micaiah in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn becomes Queen of Daein, despite having no ties to its royal family at all, due to Pelleas either dying, or being revealed to not be Ashnard's son. And Ashnard's real son isn't aware of his heritage and likely doesn't care.
Unexpected Successor / int_f9b9dfe4	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_f9b9dfe4	featureConfidence	1.0
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Video Game)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_f9b9dfe4
Unexpected Successor / int_fc281dbc	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_fc281dbc	comment	The Sunne in Splendour takes places during The Wars of the Roses and early in the book Edward defeats the Lancastrians and has himself crowned Edward IV. A couple of decades later Edward dies, and his younger brother Richard stages a coup and seizes the throne for himself. In the book, Richard has been given a Historical Hero Upgrade and only takes the crown when he realizes his Woodville in-laws are plotting against him and that his late brother was hiding the fact that his children were illegitimate.
Unexpected Successor / int_fc281dbc	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_fc281dbc	featureConfidence	1.0
The Sunne in Splendour	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_fc281dbc
Unexpected Successor / int_fc439a61	type	Unexpected Successor
Unexpected Successor / int_fc439a61	comment	In the Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth manga, Charles Toynbee is the second son of the president of Toy-be, but drops down to third after his half-brother Brodie appears and inherits the presidency after the death of their father. After Brodie's death, Tucker, who's between Brodie and Charles, and next in line for the presidency, relinquishes the position, fearing a "curse". It turns out that Charles killed Brodie and was almost certainly counting on Tucker to get scared and run away.
Unexpected Successor / int_fc439a61	featureApplicability	1.0
Unexpected Successor / int_fc439a61	featureConfidence	1.0
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (Visual Novel)	hasFeature	Unexpected Successor / int_fc439a61

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Unexpected Successor	processingCategory2	Death Tropes
Unexpected Successor	processingCategory2	Royalty and Nobility Tropes
Unexpected Successor	processingCategory2	Will and Inheritance Tropes
Tenchi Muyo! GXP / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Gallifrey (Audio Play) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Irredeemable (Comic Book) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
V for Vendetta (Comic Book) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Y: The Last Man (Comic Book) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Phantom (Comic Strip) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
AmericanFlagg	seeAlso	Unexpected Successor
Showa & Vampire / Fan Fic / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Zero vs Kira / Fan Fic / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
A Cold Calculus (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
A Diplomatic Visit (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Attack Of The Grey Lantern (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Compass of Thy Soul (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Gate: Thus the Dominion Fought There (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
God Save the Esteem (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Let the Galaxy Burn (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Manners and Misunderstandings (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Ned Stark Lives (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
one day at a time (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
one day at a time (Nyame) (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Queen In The North (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Running Around in Circles (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Saerang (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Accidental Warlord And His Pack (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Chosen Six (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The King Nobody Wanted (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Parselmouth of Gryffindor (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
To Forge an Heir (Fanfic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Advise & Consent / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
By Dawn's Early Light / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Eagle Eye / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Kimmy vs. The Reverend / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Kind Hearts and Coronets / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
King Ralph / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Kingsman: The Secret Service / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Kull the Conqueror / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Mars Attacks! / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
My Fellow Americans / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Stardust / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Wolverine / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Fire Emblem (Franchise) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Hohenzollern Empire (Lets Play) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Story of Saiunkoku / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
A Brother's Price / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Age of Fire / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Alas, Babylon / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Archmaester Gyldayn's Histories / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Beowulf / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Black Tide Rising / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Ciaphas Cain / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Clear and Present Danger / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Danganronpa Togami / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Deryni / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Deverry / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Executive Orders / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Fall, or Dodge in Hell / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
For Want of a Nail / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Full Disclosure / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Isaac Asimov's Caliban / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Legacy of the Force / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Manticore Ascendant / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Moving Pictures (Discworld) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Nation / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Overlord (2012) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Phryne Fisher / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Spiral Arm / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Starter Villain / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Starter Villain (2023) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Chronicles of Amber / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Cousins' War Series / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The General's President / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Goblin Emperor / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Interdependency / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Laundry Files / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Legacy of the Glorious / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Queen's Thief / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Riftwar Cycle / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Sorcerer's Daughter / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Story of Saiunkoku / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Zombie Knight / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Victorian Omegaverse / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
War Day / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Worldwar / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Aethelflaed	seeAlso	Unexpected Successor
AlfredTheGreat	seeAlso	Unexpected Successor
CharlesTheFirst	seeAlso	Unexpected Successor
JohnTyler	seeAlso	Unexpected Successor
Micah	seeAlso	Unexpected Successor
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers (Manga) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Reborn! (2004) (Manga) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Shitsurakuen (Manga) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Critical Hit (Podcast) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
A Dynasty of Dynamic Alcoholism (Roleplay) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Price Of Wisdom (Roleplay) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Battlestar Galactica (2003) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Deputy / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Designated Survivor / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Inday Will Always Love You / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Jericho (2006) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Salvation / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Caesars / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Last Ship / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Chicago By Night (Tabletop Game) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Twilight: 2000 (Tabletop Game) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Dragon Quest VIII (Video Game) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Hitman 3 (Video Game) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Ravenmark (Video Game) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Video Game) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The New Order: Last Days of Europe (Video Game) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Thousand-Week Reich (Video Game) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Umineko: When They Cry (Visual Novel) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Roomies!, It's Walky!, Joyce and Walky! (Webcomic) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
The Onion (Website) / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor
Warrior Cats: Omen of the Stars / int_aaff69d0	type	Unexpected Successor

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