Family Tropes

All the complex ties of blood and marriage.

Check that your trope doesn't belong in one of the subcategories before you add it here.

Compare Cohabitation Tropes.

Tropes:

• Accents Aren't Hereditary: A character speaks with an accent different from the rest of their family.
• Adoption Angst: A character discovers they are adopted, and don't take it well.
• Adoption Is Not an Option: A couple who are struggling to have children never think about adopting a kid.
• Adult Adoptee: An adult character is adopted into a different family despite being legally of age.
• Alternate Timeline Ancestry: A character, or an Alternate Self, is born anyway despite their ancestry being changed.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: A character has a parental figure missing from their life without any explanation as to why.
• Ambiguously Related: Characters' actions and similarities suggest they might be related.
• Amicable Exes: Parents remain on good terms with each other despite being divorced.
• Ancestor Veneration: The veneration, exaltation, and/or outright worship of one's ancestors.
• Anti-Nepotism: A character treats their family members coldly at work to avoid committing nepotism.
• Appeal to Familial Wisdom: My relative told me this, so it must be right.
• Apron Matron: An imposing mother figure.
• Aristocrat Team: A team where it is possible that certain members of rich/noble bloodlines team-up together.
• Artificial Family Member: A robot or an Artificial Human that is treated as their creator's own child.
• Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: A father tries to bond with his son, who is quite reluctant to do so.
• Baby as Payment: A family is broken apart after a parent (willing or otherwise) gives away their child in exchange for something else.
• Babies Ever After: A couple is shown to have started a family at the end of the story.
• Badass Family: A family who battles together.
• Band of Relatives: A musical group comprised of relatives.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: A horribly bleak, loveless, and all around dysfunctional family.
• Black Sheep: A character who sticks out from the rest of their family.
• Blended Family Drama: Tension among new stepparents and stepsiblings.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: Characters become close with each other upon finding out they both have missing/dead parents.
• A Boy, a Girl, and a Baby Family: A family where the children consist of one son, one daughter, and a baby of either gender.
• Breakfast in Bed: Family members making the first meal of the day for another as a show of love and appreciation.
• Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: A parent or parental figure who is shown as a better parent than their own.
• Brother–Sister Team: Siblings who work together.
• Cain and Abel and Seth: Two well known siblings have a third sibling no one really pays much thought to.
• Cannibal Clan: A family who kills and eats their dinner guests.
• Chaste Toons: Characters who have nieces and nephews but never any children of their own.
• Chubby Mama, Skinny Papa: The mother is plump while the father is thin.
• The Clan: A large extensive family, often one of nobility.
• Coattail-Riding Relative: A character who tries to leech off their family's wealth/status.
• Common Law Marriage: A family where the parents aren't legally married for some reason.
• Cool Uncle: An uncle (or sometimes aunt) that is beloved by their niece/nephew.
• Country Cousin: A relative that lives out in the rural south.
• Creepy Family: A very strange or downright scary family, often one literally of supernatural origin.
• Creepy Uncle: The uncle (or sometimes aunt) who lusts after their niece/nephew.
• Criminal Found Family: A gang of outlaws treat each other like family.
• Crossover Relatives: A work combining two franchises makes characters from one related to those of the other.
• Daddy DNA Test: A DNA test done to figure out who a child's father is.
• Dad's Off Fighting in the War: A character's parents are off fighting in a war.
• Denying the Dead Parent's Sins: A character refuses to believe that their deceased parent has a dark past.
• Did Not Die That Way: A family member's death turns out to be not what a character thought it was.
• Dinner and a Show: When dysfunctional families eat together, fights are likely to break out.
• Disappeared Dad: A character's mother is accounted for, but their father isn't so much as mentioned.
• Disneyland Dad: A divorced parent who spoils their children.
• Disowned Parent: A child of any age disowns at least one of their parents.
• Don't Split Us Up: Siblings are threatened with being separated from each other by divorce or foster care.
• Don't Tell Mama: A character doesn't want their family to know about their criminal activities.
• Doting Grandparent: A grandparent who's affectionate and spoils their grandchildren.
• Double In-Law Marriage: Two pairs of siblings are married to each other.
• Dreaded Kids' Table: During large family meals, kids who aren't quite adults are forced to sit with smaller children, much to their dismay.
• The Dreaded Pretend Tea-Party: When a family has a young daughter, it's inevitable that one of the members will be subjected to one of her pretend tea parties.
• Dying Alone: Someone dies without the presence of family, friends, or anyone else who personally cares about them to give them final comforts.
• Dysfunctional Family: The family where everyone behaves as though they don't like each other.
• Elder Abuse: A character treats their elderly family members horribly, either by physical abuse or Financial Abuse.
• Emancipated Child: A child who splits off legally from their parents.
• Embarrassing Relative Teacher: A relative becomes staff at a child's school, and humiliates them.
• Empty Nest: A home where a couple's children have grown up and left the house.
• Estranged Soap Family: Family members never show up for their relative's important life events.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Evil characters have their mother as their Morality Pet.
• Evil Matriarch: A mother or mother figure who is terribly wicked to her children.
• Evil Nephew: The villainous nephew who plots to murder his uncle.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Villainous characters who become parents strive to raise their children to be model citizens.
• Evil Uncle: The wicked uncle (or sometimes aunt) that mistreats their niece/nephew.
• Familial Body Snatcher: A Body Snatcher who only possesses members of their own family and/or descendants.
• Family Business: A business such as a store or a restaurant that's owned by a family.
• Family Disunion: Family reunions are a source of major drama.
• Family Honor: Families with a huge degree of honor and respect expect their members to live up to it.
• Family of Choice: A group of friends who don't have any blood/marital relations among themselves still treat each other as though they were family.
• Family Portrait of Characterization: A family portrait tells us something about the members.
• The Family That Slays Together: A family of murderers or other kinds of rogues.
• Family Versus Career: How dare a woman be good at her career job and have a family, too!
• Famous Ancestor: A character is a descendant of someone famous.
• Father, I Want to Marry My Brother: A child expresses an innocent desire to marry a family member.
• Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter: A mother is more traditionally feminine than her daughter, which may cause conflict.
• Feuding Families: Families who despise each other to the point of actually going to war.
• Financial Abuse: A character abuses their family member by using money to control them.
• Following in Relative's Footsteps: Character is inspired by their relative and decides to take up the same job.
• Formerly Friendly Family: Family members were once close, but grew to hate each other.
• Found Family via Work: A group of coworkers treat each other like family.
• Friends Are Chosen, Family Aren't: A character has a bad relationship with their family but a good relationship with their friends.
• Generational Trauma: Conflict arises due to unresolved baggage passed down from generation to generation.
• "Getting My Own Room" Plot: A family member wants their own room.
• Grandparental Obliviousness: A grandparent left in charge of their grandchildren is too senile to keep a proper eye on them.
• Grandparent Favoritism: A grandparent who shares a close bond with/had a preference for their children's offspring that they don't (or didn't) have with their children.
• Gruesome Grandparent: A grandparent who is abysmal to their grandchildren.
• Happily Adopted: A character lives a happy life with their adoptive family.
• Hereditary Curse: A curse is passed on through a family.
• Hereditary Hairstyle: A hairstyle that's passed down through a family.
• Heroic Lineage: Heroism is passed down through the family.
• The Hilarious Table: Family members are shown laughing and joking with each other around a table.
• Hippie Parents: Former flower children that have become parents.
• Historical Relationship Overhaul: Two historical domain characters are related differently in Historical Fiction, or aren't related at all, or the dynamic of their relationship is changed.
• Honor-Related Abuse: A character is mistreated or killed by their family for the sake of preserving the family's honor.
• Honorary Uncle: A character who is considered an honorary member of their friend's family.
• How Dad Met Mom: A character tells their children the story of how they met their spouse.
• I Am Not My Father: A character actively defies becoming like their parent.
• I Have a Family: A character pleads for their life by mentioning they have a family to care for.
• I Have No Son!: A character is disowned by their family.
• Identical Grandson: A character closely resembles their ancestor.
• Illegal Guardian: A wicked relative of a character gains guardianship of them through unscrupulous means in order to get their money.
• Intrafamilial Class Conflict: Class conflict between relatives.
  • Humble Parent, Spoiled Kids: One or both parents in a family are down to earth people while their kids are Spoiled Brats.
  • Rich Sibling, Poor Sibling: One sibling is wealthy and/or showered in love and praise; the other is degraded and impoverished.
• Interracial Adoption Struggles: A kid is adopted by a family with a different race or ethnicity, struggles and cultural clashes ensue.
• In the Blood: Family members tend to have similar personalities, behaviors and/or moralities.
• It Runs in the Family: Insanity and quirkiness runs in the family.
• Lamarck Was Right: A character inherits a non-genetic trait from their parents.
• Living Distant Ancestor: An ancestor many generations removed (usually an immortal) is still alive.
• Long-Lost Relative: A character meets someone that's later revealed to be related to them.
• Love Father, Love Son: The child of a character's unrequited crush marries said character
• Love-Obstructing Parents: The parents of the protagonist's Love Interest make their love life difficult.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: A character finds out their parentage in a plot twist.
• Mage Born of Muggles: Two non-magical characters give birth to a child who has magic.
• Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: The family of a criminal denies that their child could ever be such a thing.
• Meet the In-Laws: A character is introduced to their future spouse's relatives.
• Missing Mom: A character's father is present, but their mother is never accounted for.
• A Mistake Is Born: A character is unwanted by their family or the character is unplanned.
• Motherhood Is Superior: Mothers tend to love the children more than their fathers do.
• Muggle Born of Mages: Magic using characters have a non-magical child.
• Multigenerational Household: A home where a character lives with their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc.
• My Grandson, Myself: An immortal passes themselves off as their own descendant.
• Nephewism: A character lives with another relative (often an aunt or an uncle) without any explanation on where their parents are.
• Nepotism: A character shows favoritism towards a relative at work.
• Not Actually His Child: One character is believed the biological parent of another. Turns out they were wrong.
• Nuclear Family: The standard issue family consisting of a mother, a father, and their children.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: A character is hated on/mistreated by their spouse's relatives.
• Ode to Family: A song about family relationships.
• Offing the Offspring: A character kills or tries to kill their child.
• One Normal Night: An embarrassing family pretends to be normal when meeting their child's date.
• Outliving One's Offspring: A character's children die before they do.
• Paid-for Family: A character pays some strangers to pretend to be their family.
• Parental Abandonment: Neither the character's mother or father is seen or mentioned.
• Parent-Child Team: Parents work together with their children.
• Parents Know Their Children: Parents are able to recognize their children even when they're in disguise.
• Parents Walk In at the Worst Time: Parents have a habit of walking in on their children hanging out with their Love Interest.
• The Patriarch: A man who is the head of his family.
• Pater Familicide: A man murders his family.
• Platonic Co-Parenting: Characters who aren't romantically involved raise children together.
• Playing Catch with the Old Man: A (possibly surrogate) parent and their child's relationship is efficiently explained by showing them playing catch.
• The Power of Family: Members of a family share unbreakable bonds.
• Pursuing Parental Perils: A character decides to take up their dead parent's occupation.
• Raised by Grandparents: A character is raised by their grandparents rather than their parents.
• Real Men Hate Affection: The men in the family refuse to openly show affection for each other.
• Refused Reunion: Upon discovery, a character who's missing or presumed dead by their family chooses to remain missing and presumed dead.
• Relative Ridicule: Making fun of someone's family members, or mocking them for whom they are related to.
• Relatively Flimsy Excuse: A character claims to be the main character's relative.
• Replacement Sibling: A child is born to a couple whose previous child died.
• Royally Screwed Up: Royal families that are prone to breeding mentally ill/evil members.
• Ruling Family Massacre: A nation's royal family is murdered when an enemy nation seizes control.
• Satellite Family Member: A character defined by their familial relationship to another character.
• Searching for the Lost Relative: A character is searching for a lost relative.
• Secret Legacy: The Hero discovers his extraordinary family legacy.
• Secret Other Family: A character has another family that's unbeknownst to their other one.
• Shared Family Quirks: Family members tend to have similar behavioral traits.
• Shared Signature Move: A Badass Family or family consisting of action heroes can have a Signature Move that multiple members use.
• Shed the Family Name: A character changes their family name in order to disassociate themself from a hated family member.
• Single Sex Offspring: A family produces exclusively (or nearly so) male or female children.
• Small Parent, Huge Child: A character is noticeably larger than one or more of their parents.
• Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids: Super strict parenting causes the children to become good at hiding things from their parents.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Children closely resemble their parents.
• Struggling Single Mother: An unwed/widowed mother who deals with the stress of raising children on her own.
• Successful Sibling Syndrome: A character feels overshadowed by their more successful sibling.
• Super Family Team: A superhero team who happens to be a family.
• Support Your Parents: A child decides to financially support their parents.
• Tangled Family Tree: A family tree with a little too much incest going on.
• Teasing Parent: Parent(s) teasing their children and/or playing jokes on them.
• That Thing Is Not My Child!: A character refuses to consider a clone or artificially created person made from their DNA to be their family member.
• Thicker Than Water: Loyalty to family members always comes first.
• Three Successful Generations: Successive family members that have achieved success.
• Token Houseguest: Someone who lives with a family, even though they might not be related.
• Turn Out Like His Father: A character ends up becoming like their parent.
• Unknown Relative: A relative is unknown.
• Unpleasant Parent Reveal: A character meets their missing parent, only to find out that they're not anything like the child had hoped they would be.
• Villainous Lineage: When characters are born into an evil family, they run the risk of becoming evil themselves.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: The parent is spontaneous and goofy while the child is more sensible and The Stoic.
• What If the Baby Is Like Me: A parent to be worries about their child inheriting their negative traits.
• White Sheep: A non-evil member of an evil family.
• Woobie Family: A family that's prone to misfortune.
• Wrestling Family: A family of professional wrestlers.
• Your Tradition Is Not Mine: A character rebels against their family's way of living.